The Evening Blues - 9-15-26
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues guitarist and singer Willie Thomas. Enjoy!
Butch Cage & Willie B. Thomas - Baby Please Don't Go
“It doesn't matter if justice is on your side. You have to depict your position as just.”
-- Benjamin Netanyahu
News and Opinion
No, We’re Not Having The “It’s Not Genocide” Conversation Anymore
It’s so undignified how Zionists keep trying to resurrect the “stop calling it a genocide” conversation about Gaza when every relevant human rights group on earth says that’s exactly what it is.
The latest effort to revive this long-dead debate comes in the form of a letter signed by 5,000 high-profile Israel supporters like Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, Zionist megadonor Haim Saban, and neoconservative war criminal Elliott Abrams.
“We the undersigned are outraged and sickened by the latest blood libel to be inflicted on the Jewish people: the lie that Israel committed ‘genocide’ in Gaza. We reject this accusation with contempt,” the letter says, followed by the usual mountains of hasbara verbiage.
Nah we're not doing this anymore. When every human rights group on earth says it's genocide (including the Israeli ones), the onus is on you to prove there's a secret global conspiracy between all human rights groups to subvert the interests of Israel. If you can't, then shut up.
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) September 11, 2026
The letter was assembled by a Zionist narrative management operation innocuously titled Creative Community for Peace, which was founded by music industry executives in 2011 to combat pro-Palestine activism.
And that’s it. That’s the whole entire story: a pro-Israel propaganda firm compiled a list of thousands of well-known Israel supporters telling the world they think Israel is nice.
You wouldn’t think “many influential people say they support Israel” is a particularly newsworthy story, but we’re seeing outlets like The Australian, The Times of Israel, The Wrap and Jewish News Syndicate publish articles about it like they’re doing actual news reporting, and hasbarists are frantically waving the letter around on every corner of the internet as you read this.
And all I can think to say to this nonsense is, nah. Nope. No. We’re not doing this anymore. This conversation is over.
In case you’re not aware, the list of human rights groups who say Israel is guilty of genocide includes the following:
2. The International Association of Genocide Scholars
3. B’Tselem (an Israeli organization)
4. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (another Israeli organization)
7. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
9. The International Federation for Human Rights
10. Oxfam
The list of humanitarian institutions who say Israel is NOT committing genocide in Gaza includes:
1. Nobody
2. No one
3. Zero
4. Nothing
5. Nada
6. Zilch
7. Sweet damn all
8. A complete absence
9. Diddly squat
10. Bupkis
Pick any major human rights group who might be expected to take a position on whether a genocide is being committed somewhere in the world, and you will be able to find a statement from that group explicitly calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide. There are zero comparable human rights groups taking the opposite position.
This means the debate is over. It’s been over for some time now. If you want to argue against the overwhelming consensus of experts in the relevant field today, then you must provide proof that all human rights groups are engaged in a secret conspiracy to spread lies about the state of Israel in order to undermine its interests. If you cannot provide proof of this conspiracy, you need to shut the fuck up.
That’s it. End of discussion. Tap out and go home.
Prof. John Mearsheimer : Trump Unintentionally Reshaping Middle East
High-resolution images of Saudi pipeline pumping station damage are beginning to appear.
Looks like comprehensive destruction to me. https://t.co/ZJE8vY464b
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) September 14, 2026
Oil Hits $109 per Barrel as Photos Show Extensive Damage to Key Saudi Pipeline
Fears of a global energy shortage are rising amid new revelations about damage inflicted last week on a key oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia.
According to a Monday report in The Associated Press, Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, which is used to transport oil to the Red Sea, will be shut down for weeks after being hit last Thursday by a drone strike.
Anonymous officials in the region told the AP that repairing damage from the attacks, which the Saudi government has blamed on Iran-backed militias based in Iraq, “could take three to five weeks, including at a major pumping facility.”
The Guardian reported Monday that “Saudi Arabia will run out of oil stocks for export” if the pipeline isn’t repaired within days, which could lead to “the loss of up to 4% of global supply.”
Satellite photos published on Sunday showed extensive fire damage suffered by a pumping station connected to the pipeline. Saudi Arabia had been using the pipeline to divert oil supplies to the Red Sea and away from the Strait of Hormuz, which has been mostly closed to commercial shipping traffic since President Donald Trump launched an illegal war against Iran in February.
In a news analysis published Monday, Bloomberg’s Alex Longley noted that damage to the pipeline couldn’t come at a worse time for global energy markets, which have already been under strain for months thanks to both the Iran War and continued fighting between Russia and Ukraine.
“Whatever happens, the oil market will need a quick fix,” Longley wrote of the pipeline’s closure. “It’s currently screaming for barrels.”
Even if the pipeline were repaired quickly, it would not bring immediate relief to global energy prices, given that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, Houthi fighters in recent days have ramped up their campaign to disrupt oil shipments through the Red Sea, and Trump’s refusal to forge a diplomatic solution with the Iranians continues with no end in sight.
The Houthis on Thursday seized the Yemeni port city of Mocha from Saudi-backed forces, giving the group a greater ability to launch attacks on vessels trying to transport oil through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The price of Brent crude surged past $109 per barrel during trading on Monday after news broke that the damaged Saudi pipeline would take weeks to fix.
The rising cost of oil has been creating pain for US consumers in the form of higher prices for gasoline and diesel fuel. Data released Monday by the American Automobile Association showed that the average price of gas in the US now stands at $4.32 per gallon, while the price of diesel hit another record high of $6.23 per gallon.
Lawrence Wilkerson: Saudi Arabia & Israel Could Disappear Soon
Iranian Security Chief Says No Talks With US Until ‘Iran’s Conditions Are Met’
Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Monday that there would be no talks between Tehran and Washington until “Iran’s conditions are met,” comments that came after President Trump claimed that Iran “badly” wants a deal.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social: “The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the USA. will choose to engage – The concept of which we are open to. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The post reflected a change in Trump’s position, as he recently said he was no longer interested in negotiations with Iran, something Rezaei pointed out in his response to the US president.
“Don’t get distracted by the US president’s mixed signals—from ‘no negotiations’ to ‘we’re ready to talk,'” Rezaei wrote on X. “The stakes around oil and the straits have changed. Damage control won’t stop what’s coming. No talks until Iran’s conditions are met. Period!”
Has Yemen's Resistance Ignited A Mass Uprising In West Asia?
Ansar Allah Takes Control of More Red Sea Islands, Launches Attack on Saudi Arabia
Yemeni sources told The Associated Press that Ansar Allah took control of the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish, which are 100 miles north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The report noted that the islands are also only 20 miles from the US military base in Djibouti.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, spokesman for the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF), announced on Monday morning that the YAF launched “a large-scale, qualitative military operation targeting military facilities and infrastructure, including aircraft hangars, radar installations, runways, ammunition depots, and other targets at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait,” located in southwest Saudi Arabia.
Saree said the attack was launched in response to Saudi Arabia “launching more than 300 airstrikes in the past five days” using US-made F-15 fighter jets and European-made Typhoon fighter jets. Later in the day, Saree said that Saudi Arabia had launched dozens more airstrikes.
“The criminal Saudi warplanes launched 54 airstrikes in the past 24 hours using F-15 and Typhoon aircraft that took off from enemy Saudi bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif, targeting the governorates of Taiz, Lahj, Al-Jawf, Ma’rib, and Hajjah. This brutal aggression will not go unanswered and unpunished, God willing,” he wrote on Telegram.
Wars Built on Fictional Narratives w/ Neil Oliver
Mahmoud Khalil sues Columbia University over years of alleged anti-Palestinian discrimination
Mahmoud Khalil announced on Monday that he’s sued Columbia University, accusing the New York City school he attended of a years-long history of anti-Palestinian discrimination, indifference to harassment, and retaliation. Khalil, a US green card holder of Palestinian descent, was a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) when he was arrested at his university apartment by federal immigration agents in March 2025, the first of a number of foreign nationals that the Trump administration has detained and sought to deport over their pro-Palestinian advocacy.
In a 60-page complaint filed in the southern district of New York, Khalil and members of the SIPA’s Palestine Working Group have now accused the university, its board, and the dean of the school, Keren Yarhi-Milo, of “deliberate indifference” and failure to respond to “severe, persistent, and coordinated harassment” directed towards him and other students who had been outspoken about Palestinian rights.
Khalil, who missed the birth of his first son while in detention, was released in June 2025 but is continuing to fight the administration’s efforts to deport him – a protracted legal battle that is expected to ultimately be decided by the US supreme court.
Still, Khalil has continued to speak out, both about Palestinian rights and about free speech in the US. In July, he sued the Trump administration and several pro-Israel groups, accusing them of conspiring to target him and others as punishment for their advocacy. Separately, he has filed a $20m false imprisonment and malicious prosecution case against the administration and sued them for records of collusion with anti-Palestinian doxxing groups including Canary Mission. In an earlier lawsuit filed in March 2025 he also sought to stop Columbia from releasing student disciplinary records to the House committee on education and the workforce, which has led the charge against universities in the aftermath of Israel’s war in Gaza and widespread campus protests in support of Palestinian rights.
“Columbia laid the groundwork for my targeting by the Trump administration through its deliberate indifference and discrimination aimed at intimidating Palestinian students,” Khalil wrote in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “For over two years, we pleaded with Columbia. Columbia did not care. Our safety and our wellbeing did not serve the ideological project its Board of Trustees was protecting, so they traded us away.” Khalil also warned of more lawsuits to come. “Next, I will turn to the hateful individuals at Columbia who were also responsible for what we endured,” he wrote.
US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink seemingly revealed Monday that the United States has launched into orbit “space-control weapons.”
“Today, we continue to ensure we remain ready to meet the challenges of evolving threats wherever they exist,” Mink said during a speech at an Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) conference in Maryland. “This is why the United States now has, on-orbit, space-control weapons capable of defending the joint force against hostile adversary action.”
SpaceNews reported that when asked about the comment by AFA president and CEO Burt Field, Meink declined to elaborate.
“That phrase was very well thought out,” Meink responded. “So whatever I said before is what I say again.”
“It is critically important that we maintain our dominance, not only in the air but in space,” he added, according to AFA’s magazine. “So, we’ve had to take steps to make sure that when we’re threatened, we can take care of that.”
Defense One noted that experts were “shocked” by his admission‚ including Victoria Samson, the Secure World Foundation’s chief director of space security and stability.
“Well, that’s huge, because I don’t think any US government official has ever said that before,” she said. “The US also now has to accept the Chinese and Russians doing/saying the same. I don’t think that this is going to be in the interest of US national security.”
Although Meink wouldn’t offer details on the weapons, Samson said: “I’m going to guess what he’s talking about is not a kinetic space-control weapon due to multiple comments government officials have said about avoiding debris causing counter space... So I’m going to go with my first guess: space-based jammers, electronic warfare.”
While President Donald Trump has made a habit of attacking international bodies and pacts, the United States is, in theory, limited by the Outer Space Treaty, as a founding party that signed the agreement nearly six decades ago.
Under that treaty—to which China and Russia are also parties—governments agree not to “place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner.”
Oil Execs DIRE WARNING: "Great Fuel Crisis Is HERE!"
US borrowing costs hit 5% for first time since 2023 amid bond sell-off
US government borrowing costs have risen to 5% for the first time since 2023 as soaring oil prices fuelled by the war in the Middle East trigger an intensifying sell-off in the global bond market. The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 10-year US Treasury bonds hit the psychologically important threshold on Monday, on a day of renewed selling pressure on Wall Street as the global oil price reached $108 a barrel.
With traders awaiting a crunch US Federal Reserve interest rate decision on Wednesday, the benchmark rate has steadily climbed from a low this year of 4% before the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran in late February. The yield was last above 5% in October 2023.
With fears mounting as the Middle East war escalates, bond markets have come under intense selling pressure. The US 10-year Treasury yield is used in global financial markets as a benchmark for pricing other assets, meaning a jump in borrowing costs for Washington has consequences for countries, businesses and households worldwide.
LtCOL. Karen Kwiatkowski : Impeaching Hegseth, US Steals Oil in an Emergency
Supreme court rejects Trump’s mail ballot restrictions for midterm elections
The supreme court on Monday rejected Donald Trump’s mail ballot restrictions for now, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting in the midterm elections already underway. The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they have used for years. The Trump administration had asked the court, once again at the center of a roiling political controversy, to clear the way for restrictions before the pivotal November contests for control of Congress. The case has major implications because nearly one-third of the country votes by mail.
“The government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the district court’s preliminary injunction,” states the one-paragraph unsigned order. “And the equitable factors applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this court do not favor a stay.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh filed a concurrence, ruling that he believed the government had “at least a fair prospect” of success defending the plan, but that implementation so close to election day would be “arbitrary and capricious”.
Justice Samuel Alito dissented, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. In the dissent, Alito blamed the litigating states for creating the conditions of a ruling so close to an election, and wrote that they should not benefit from a protracted process that they created with their suit. “The plaintiff states cannot claim the timing of the rule tilts the equities in their favor when they, and courts hearing their claims, are responsible for so much of the delay,” he wrote.
“It is alarming what the administration was seeking to do here,” said Kristen Clarke, NAACP general counsel and former head of the justice department’s civil rights division. “This was an 11th-hour effort by the administration to hijack the way that we vote by mail in our country.”
Civil rights groups could not have moved faster, she said. “At the earliest opportunity, civil rights organizations like the NAACP took to the court to stand up for voters. It’s important to remember that the final rule was not issued until about roughly 10 days ago. So, I find Justice Alito’s statements disingenuous … We should focus on the fact that the court is leaving in place an injunction that prevents this administration from turning our electoral system on its head. What the administration was attempting to do here would have unleashed chaos across the country.”
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyers told officers investigating voter fraud they would not be held responsible for violating state laws around accessing voter registration information, an anonymous whistleblower revealed on Monday. DHS officers also had concerns about the reliability of the data they were working with, the whistleblower said. The Trump administration has ramped up its investigation into noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. Noncitizen voting is extremely rare and the effort has only turned up a handful of cases so far.
As part of the effort, officers tasked with investigating potential non-citizen voters were told to take data DHS had compiled on voters and run it through state websites where voters can look up their voter information. Some states require voters to click attestations affirming that they are looking up their own voter information. On the Virginia Department of Elections website, for example, voters must click a disclaimer that says: “I certify and affirm that the information provided to access my voter registration is my own or I am expressly authorized by the voter to access this information. I understand that it is unlawful to access the record of any other voter, punishable as computer fraud.”
“In light of these instructions about access to the state websites, officers expressed concerns that accessing registered voter information on these websites may be illegal as officers are essentially misrepresenting themselves as the potential registered voter (with or without a specific attestation),” lawyers for Democracy Defenders Fund, who is representing the whistleblower, wrote in the disclosure.
A slide in the presentation officers watched in the initiative says DHS’ office of the general counsel “advised that this type of review is permissible as open-source research when conducted for purposes related to adjudicative or investigative responsibilities”. It also said there was an effort to get further clarification from DHS leadership, and officers were told that immigration officers and immigration service officers “are not personally liable for conducting these searches when done as part of their official duties and properly documented”.
“This statement suggests that there may be legal implications for accessing these websites, but that the officers themselves are simply not personally liable. This leads us to believe that USCIS-FDNS HQ is aware that the activity may be illegal, and yet they are still requiring officers to engage in this illegal activity with promises of personal liability protection,” lawyers for the whistleblower wrote. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Democracy indicators in US at lowest levels for 50 years
Key indicators of democracy in the US have fallen to their lowest levels in 50 years, with the global rule of law significantly undermined by the Trump administration’s “threats and actions”, data from a leading thinktank shows.
Around the world, judicial independence, credible elections and freedom of expression, press freedom and access to justice are all at their lowest levels for at least 30 years, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International Idea). The intergovernmental organisation’s annual Global State of Democracy report is considered the most comprehensive of its kind, covering 174 countries and measuring democratic performance since 1975.
International Idea said the decline in the US was particularly marked, but part of a global trend, with 2025 the 11th consecutive year in which more countries declined than improved democratically – the longest continuous downturn since the thinktank’s records began. “In 2025, the global challenges to democracy and the difficulty in stemming its erosion were both exemplified and compounded by political developments in the United States,” the report’s authors said.
“President Donald Trump quickly amassed power in the executive branch and wielded it to further a narrow set of personal goals and pursue retaliation against perceived enemies … The results have been far-reaching, undermining the rule of law domestically and internationally and testing longstanding alliances and multilateral cooperation.”
Kevin Casas-Zamora, International Idea’s secretary general, warned that the risk of conflict rose as democracies deteriorated. “The key message from our research is that investing in democracy should be at the heart of any country’s security strategy,” he said. “The connection between the erosion of the quality of democracy and increasing conflict is not being made either in policymaking or in the public debate.” Casas-Zamora said it was clear that events in the US influenced other countries. International Idea added the US to its list of “backsliding” democracies for the first time in 2021, pointing to a “visible deterioration” it said began in 2019. “Whatever happens in the US goes global. There is now an epidemic of election denialism, of which the patient zero is the current occupant of the White House,” Casas-Zamor said.
Alligator Alcatraz held detainees in cages the size of phone booths, DHS watchdog says
Before the facility was shuttered, detainees at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” federal immigration jail were frequently locked in outside metal cages no bigger than a phone booth, according to a damning government watchdog report that said the practice “does not align with standards for humane treatment”. The findings from the office of the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were published on its website – and offer rare criticism of the Trump administration by one of its own agencies.
The report also provides the first official confirmation that guards repeatedly used the highly restrictive cages on detainees in direct contravention of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rules. In December, the Guardian was the first to report an Amnesty International dossier detailing multiple alleged human rights abuses at the controversial camp in the remote Florida Everglades, including how people were regularly shackled outside in metal cages for hours as well as exposed to brutal heat, sunshine and swarms of mosquitoes.
At the time, a spokesperson for Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor whose administration ran Alligator Alcatraz on behalf of the federal government, dismissed the claims now confirmed by the DHS report as “fabrications” – and the Amnesty report as “a politically motivated attack”. On Monday, his office declined to answer why it falsely denied using the cages and instead attempted to portray the detainees – with no evidence – as “violent criminal aliens who have proven they cannot remain peaceful while awaiting deportation”. In a statement, Alex Lanfranconi, DeSantis’s communications manager, contended that “the leftwing media wants to focus on a confinement area” which “adheres to all federal standards for criminal confinement”. His statement added: “We’d make it even smaller if we could.”
Amy Fischer, Amnesty International USA’s director for refugee and migrant rights, said in a statement: “The findings confirm what we documented months ago: the horrific treatment of people detained at Alligator Alcatraz was real, not a hoax, as Trump administration officials were on the record saying. “This report should serve as a reminder that the public must never simply take the government’s word when officials deny that human rights violations are occurring.”
Turtle Man is alive!
Mitch McConnell returns to Senate after months-long absence
Mitch McConnell, the former Republican Senate majority leader, returned to the Capitol on Monday and cast his first vote after a months‑long absence that fueled rampant speculation about his health.
One of the highest-profile figures in Congress, the 84-year-old senator has been away from the Senate since mid-June, following what his office said was a fall that left him hospitalized. After weeks of silence, that spurred demands for greater transparency and stoked online conspiracies, McConnell disclosed that he had been “briefly unconscious” and “also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia”. He was discharged from a rehabilitation center last month.
McConnell arrived on Capitol Hill in a wheelchair, and briefly addressed reporters on Monday evening before voting to confirm a federal judge to a district in Ohio.
Appearing frailer, he said he was back to help advance the latest farm bill and to support legislation aiding “our good friends who are totally in the fight against the Russians”.
In a statement released on Monday, McConnell described his recovery as a “long and often frustrating process” compounded by the “lingering effects of childhood polio”.
Poll FLIP: Republicans Now Seen As 'Corrupt, Elite, Extreme'
Surprise! The biggest super-emitter of methane is a major Trump donor ...
US ‘super-emitters’ of planet heating methane identified by satellite analysis
Down a short gravel track in a largely nondescript corner of Louisiana sits a gas processing facility, operated by a company whose chief executive is a major donor to Donald Trump. It may be the largest emitter of methane in the US. The Energy Transfer site, located near the city of Shreveport, is named as the biggest single “super emitter” in new rankings of US oil and gas operations for the largest releases of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is rapidly overheating our planet, according to a new UCLA study, which is based on satellite data.
From January 2025 to June this year, the Shreveport facility spewed out methane at an average emission rate of 1.56 tonnes an hour, which is 15 times larger than the threshold defined in a Biden era program by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a super emitter event, according to the study. The Trump administration has put implementation of that program on hold but climate experts and advocates say reducing methane emissions is vital to limit the climate crisis.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer oversees a huge network of pipelines and processing properties in the US and is linked to four of the 15 sites highlighted in the new rankings, with the company responsible for 75 methane plumes in total over the study period – three times as much as the next operator. Other major corporate methane producers include Enterprise Products, Targa Resources and Enlink.
Kelcy Warren, Energy Transfer’s billionaire chief executive, donated millions of dollars to Trump’s last election campaign and has previously described as an “insanity” when asked what he thought about a newspaper editorial that said net-zero carbon emissions policies would ultimately mean oil was no longer needed.
Energy Transfer did not respond to questions on what it is doing to stem methane from its facilities or whether the Shreveport site has been intentionally venting the gas or has experienced some sort of leak. The company has previously described efforts it was taking to reduce methane emissions in company reports including optical gas imaging inspections across hundreds of its facilites. “Many of these sites are repeat offenders linked to not one but multiple mega plumes,” said Cara Horowitz, executive director of the UCLA Emmett Institute and author of the new report. “As America’s oil and gas industry ramps up production, it can no longer ignore what can only be described as super-sized pollution events seen from space.”
US ends limits on coal and gas plant emissions, removing key tool to battle climate crisis
On the heels of the hottest summer ever recorded in the US, the Trump administration has said it will erase any limits on emissions from coal and gas plants that are dangerously heating up our planet. The US Environmental Protection Agency said it will strip itself of its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions coming from power plants under the Clean Air Act, removing a key tool to address the climate crisis.
By erasing any limits on such emissions from coal and gas plants, the Trump administration has severely limited any future administration’s ability to curb this pollution. The EPA calculated the move will result in 123m metric tons of additional carbon emissions in the next decade, and save power plant operators $370m in direct compliance costs. Lee Zeldin, the agency administrator said the Trump administration is protecting American energy from a “war on coal”.
“Americans will see a decrease in electricity prices, but this is just the beginning,” said Zeldin, who unveiled the reversal of the 2024 carbon pollution standards at a G20 meeting in Houston on Monday. “We are working to go even further so that American energy can be fully unleashed. Realizing the full potential of American energy means more jobs, lower prices and a more prosperous America.”
The EPA said that greenhouse gas emissions from power plants have “no material impact on global climate change”. This is despite the fact that US electricity generation is responsible for a quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. If the sector were itself a country, it would be the fifth largest carbon polluter in the world, after China, the US, India and Russia.
Trump, who has called the climate crisis “bullshit” and “a hoax”, earlier this year overturned the foundational 2009 EPA endangerment finding – spurred by a supreme court ruling – that greenhouse gases pose a significant threat to public health and the environment. This has opened the way for the administration to scrub out any limits on the planet-heating gases that are causing our world to rapidly overheat and worsen deadly heatwaves, drought, wildfires and floods. In February, the EPA eliminated pollution standards for cars and trucks as part of a series of actions Zeldin described as “driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion”.
‘Tidal wave’ of Pfas being launched to satisfy AI industry
Pfas companies are launching a “tidal wave” of forever chemicals production to meet demand from the AI industry, a campaign organisation has warned. Despite alarm over the chemicals, which have been linked to cancer, a survey of the 10 biggest manufacturers found most had plans to increase production. Many frame their investments around the “AI revolution”, because of the role Pfas play in semiconductor production and next-generation datacentre cooling systems.
But opponents warn that the chemicals, which never degrade in nature, are a ticking timebomb for human and planetary health. They say increased production risks undermining nascent moves to restrict Pfas in Europe, the UK and parts of the US.
“These companies’ expansion plans show that unless governments and regulators insist on a rapid phaseout, we will face a new tidal wave of forever chemicals,” said Anne-Sofie Bäckar, the executive director of ChemSec, the Swedish chemicals watchdog that carried out the research. ChemSec’s survey found nearly all of the 10 biggest manufacturers of Pfas had plans to increase production, at sites in Europe, Asia and North America.
The boom in AI tech was leading demand, with Pfas used for “eco-friendly” datacentre cooling and in various stages of semiconductor manufacturing.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some of which defied fair-use abstraction.
The situation in Iran is dangerously escalating – but whatever you do, don’t call it a war
US Judicial Failure to Uphold the Law Against Genocide
Defending Most Infrastructure Is Now Impossible But No One’s Getting It
How Trump's Iran operation turned into a forever war
Price Of Diesel – Lack Of Foresight Is Catching Up With Trump
“End Times Fascism”: Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor on Billionaires, Bunkers, AI, Gaza & the Far Right
A Little Night Music
Butch Cage & Willie B. Thomas - Bugle Call Blues
Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - Since I Layed My Burden Down
Butch Cage & Willie B. Thomas - One Thin Dime
Butch Cage and Willie B. Thomas - You've Gotta Move
Willie B Thomas & Butch Cage - Jelly Roll
Butch Cage & Willie Thomas - The Piano Blues
Butch Cage & Willie Thomas - Me & My Chauffeur
Butch Cage & Willie Thomas - Butch's Blues
Butch Cage & Willie B. Thomas - Forty Four Blues
Comments
Butch and Willie
do the blues justice. Thanks for turning it on for us.
Not sure how much deeper trumpet can dig his hole.
Kinda think 40,000 one ton bombs are a bit over the top.
Israel does not have have a delivery system to handle them.
Can congress put some brakes on it? Doubtful. AIPAC bought
them out already.
Thanks for the EB's!
Zionism is a social disease
evening qms...
yep, butch and willie make some fine back porch blues. i wish they'd invite us all over.
i think that we will, as usual, have to be awed by the fact that maybe one or two congressworms will stand up on their hind legs and hold forth about the criminal nature of israel's project and insinuate that all of the congressworms will be tarred with the war crimes brush. the congressworms will then check their aipac accounts and vote as they are instructed by their aipac handlers.
Hey, joe!
Many years ago, a guy hired me to get custody of his 3 kids. He was an Army veteran. We got 'em.
One of his sons enlisted in the Army, later got assigned to the Space Force. He is based near Austin. He came by the office to give me a hug. When we spoke about his current assignment, he said if he told me what he was actually doing in the Space Force, he would have to kill me. He wasn't kidding. He said the same thing to his Dad. By the look in his eye, it is every bit as evil as conspiracy theorists believe it is.
We need a new wave of peacenik hippies.
I am impressed with Dmitri Lascarius and appreciate you introducing him to us, dear friend.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
evening otc...
i would assume that the "space force" which is trump's project is of a piece with all of the other evil shit that he's into. maybe worse, since it's largely enveloped in official secrecy.
have a good one!