Biden administration proposes development of new nuclear weapon. “The US military has announced it will try to develop a new nuclear bomb more than 20 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945 that led to the end of World War II. A Defense Department fact sheet says the new weapon, dubbed the B61-13, would have a blast yield similar to the B61-7 bomb’s 360 kilotons of TNT. By comparison, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a blast yield of 15 kilotons of TNT — making the new bomb 24 times more powerful. The creation of the B61-13 must first be approved and funded by Congress. ….’Since coming into office, the Biden Administration has taken a balanced approach between maintaining a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent and strong and credible extended deterrence, and taking those steps needed to the reduce the global salience of nuclear weapons and bring us closer to a world without nuclear weapons,’ a National Security Council spokesperson told The Post Monday.” https://nypost.com/2023/10/30/news/us-wants-nuke-24-times-more-powerful-than-one-dropped-on-japan/ Scanned several other stories, nothing about what this is projected to cost.
Organizers of Grand Central Station protest calling for Gaza ceasefire now say about 400 were arrested. “On Friday night, thousands of members of Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City and their allies shut down the main terminal of Grand Central Station during rush hour. It’s the largest sit-in protest the city has seen in over two decades. Many wore shirts that said ‘Not in Our Name’. ….One sign read, ‘Never again for anyone’. The multiracial, inter-generational movement says about 400 people were arrested, including rabbis, famous actors and elected officials.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/30/grand_central_protest
Only a slim chance remains of staying below 1.5 C in global warming say scientists. “At the imminent UN Cop28 climate summit in the United Arab Emirates there are likely to be disputes over calls for a phaseout of fossil fuels. The analysis found the carbon budget remaining for a 50% chance of keeping global temperature rise below 1.5C is about 250bn tonnes. Global emissions are expected to reach a record high this year of about 40bn tonnes. To retain the 50% chance of a 1.5C limit, emissions would have to plunge to net zero by 2034, far faster than even the most radical scenarios. The current UN ambition is to cut emissions by half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, although existing policies are far from delivering this ambition. If it was achieved, however, it would mean only about a 40% chance of staying below 1.5C, the scientists said, so breaking the limit would be more likely than not. ….Dr. Chris Smith, at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, who was also part of the study, said: ‘Governments can control the emissions but, at the moment, they have not done so. This is why we have an ever-shrinking carbon budget.'” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/30/climate-crisis-carbon-emissions-budget
Mourners at funeral in Iran for 16-year-old Armita Garavand reportedly beaten and arrested. “Iranian authorities have arrested a prominent lawyer and human rights defender as she attended the funeral of a teenage girl who died after a disputed metro incident, her husband has said. ….Journalists attempting to report on the funeral also claimed that Iranian security forces attacked, beat and arrested mourners and protesters who had gathered outside the Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, where Garavand’s family had gathered to bury their daughter. ….Garavand’s case was first reported on 3 October by the Kurdish-focused rights group Hengaw, which said she had been critically wounded during an incident on the Tehran metro involving Iran’s ‘morality police’ [who allegedly attacked her for not wearing a hijab]. Authorities say she suffered a sudden drop in blood pressure and denied that any ‘physical or verbal altercations’ had taken place.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/30/iran-arrests-top-rights-lawyer-at-funeral-of-teenage-girl-who-died-after-metro-incident
United Auto Workers and General Motors reach tentative labor deal. “Tentative agreements struck with Ford, Stellantis and GM each called for a roughly 25% raise over four years, as well as significant improvements on pensions and the right to strike plant closures. In a statement on Monday, the UAW celebrated the tentative deal with GM, calling it a ‘historic tentative agreement that paves the way for a just transition and wins record economic gains for autoworkers.'” https://abcnews.go.com/Business/general-motors-reaches-tentative-deal-end-strike-uaw/story?id=104476323 Average wages and benefits for Big Three autoworkers will rise to about $90 an hour, $35 to $45 an hour more than non-union workers. “At Tesla and foreign car companies, that same hourly labor cost sits between $45 and $55 per hour, industry experts estimate. ….These huge cost increases are likely to be tough for Ford, GM, and Stellantis to swallow, and some of that cost may be passed on to customers, analysts predict. …The wins the UAW notched in this strike could reverberate across the industry if the union can use these contracts to aid in organizing efforts at companies like Tesla, Toyota, and Volkswagen. ….’Workers at Tesla, Toyota, Honda, and others are not the enemy—they’re the UAW members of the future,’ Fain said last month.” https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-gm-stellantis-pay-raise-uaw-contract-tesla-labor-costs-2023-10
CIA may never have to give up its JFK assassination secrets. “As the 60th anniversary of JFK’s assassination approaches, the CIA has gained control of the historical record. As a result, the most important Kennedy files might never be seen, leaving unanswered the question of the exact nature of the agency’s interest in Lee Harvey Oswald. Was the CIA merely incompetent in dealing with the itinerant Marxist Marine, or did it use him for some still-classified purpose? Or is there another explanation for its unwillingness to share all it knows? The clandestine service is no longer under any obligation to answer such questions. When it comes to the Kennedy assassination files, the CIA has won the battle over full disclosure. ….The released records showed that former CIA director Allen Dulles compromised the Warren Commission’s investigation by shielding the agency’s operations around Oswald from scrutiny. Counterintelligence chief James Angleton sought to ‘wait out’ the commission by denying it key cables about the alleged assassin. And then-Deputy Director Richard Helms testified, falsely, that the agency had only ‘minimal information’ about Oswald before Kennedy was killed. ….In 2017, President Donald Trump let the JFK Records Act’s 25-year deadline for full disclosure slip. While proclaiming that the Kennedy files had been released, Trump acquiesced to the agency’s demand to keep portions of more than 11,000 documents secret. In 2021, President Biden did the same, while giving the CIA another year to release additional information. The National Archives now says that all Kennedy assassination files have been released — with the exception of no fewer than 3,648 documents that still contain redactions. No one knows when the American people will see these records, if ever.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/31/jfk-assassination-cia-files-full-disclosure/
Family of man fatally shot by Tennessee police officer while attempting to flee traffic stop sues. “Last November, 39-year-old Eric Allen reportedly drove away from a traffic stop with a Mt. Juliet police officer trapped inside the car. Lawyers for Eric’s family said in a press conference on Monday, Oct. 30 that the officer should never have gotten in the car in the first place. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said Eric was sitting in the passenger seat when the female driver was pulled over by two Mt. Juliet officers and asked to get out of the vehicle. Moments later, Eric was also asked to step out, but police body camera video shows Allen sliding into the driver’s seat and starting to drive away. However, Sgt. Josh Lo managed to get in the car and repeatedly asked Eric to stop while using his stun gun on him. ….According to [family attorney Todd] Yeary, the officer then shot Allen in the back… ‘at least three times’.” https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/family-of-man-killed-in-mt-juliet-officer-involved-shooting-files-wrongful-death-lawsuit/
Antioch, CA police officers shot fleeing burglary suspect nine times. “The [bystander] video was given to NBC Bay Area by a civil rights attorney. It was filmed from a balcony, and shows four Antioch police officers firing more than a dozen shots, on Oct. 1. The man they shot was a burglary suspect, Daniel Mackin. He was hit nine times but survived. Officers said they fired their weapons after Mackin pointed a gun at them while running away. The attorney who leaked the video demanded Antioch police to release body camera video proving their claims. On Tuesday, Antioch police released [selected] photos from body cam footage…. Police say the angle and perspective of the leaked video does not depict everything that occurred.” https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/east-bay/antioch-police-shooting-leaked-video/3351202/
South Carolina police officer is charged after woman injured during arrest sues. “John Salvatore Gambone, 51, is charged with second-degree assault and battery and misconduct in office. According to warrants, the charges stem from an incident in Horry County on Aug. 8, 2021, where Gambone used excessive force while arresting someone. The arrestee in the case is Jessica Melton, who sued the Surfside Beach Police Dept. stating Gambone used excessive force and violated her civil rights during her arrest. ….Gambone placed one handcuff on Melton before throwing her to the ground and striking her face on the road causing [her] to lose consciousness, the warrant said; it continued that Melton suffered multiple fractures to the face as a result of the incident.” https://wpde.com/news/local/surfside-beach-police-excessive-force-sergeant-arrested-john-salvatore-gambone-assault-battery-charges-midconduct-office-jessica-melton-lawsuit-violation-civial-rights-south-carolina-august-2021 The video shows the officer threatening to ‘take you down to the ground and hurt you’ and ‘take you down on the ground face-first’ if she doesn’t comply.
NYPD officer charged with selling fentanyl, heroin and cocaine. “According to the investigation, officer Grace Rosa Baez, 37, and Cesar Martinez, 43, who lived in Yonkers, had “numerous conversations” about wholesale narcotics trafficking with a confidential source of the U.S. Attorney’s Office — specifically the sale of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine. In one of these conversations, Baez allegedly told the source she could sell them two kilograms of fentanyl for $30,000 each, and the pair could negotiate the price of an additional 400 grams of heroin.” https://www.bxtimes.com/nypd-officer-drug-arrest/
Then vice president Joe Biden used two private email addresses to conduct personal and government business during Obama administration. “Joe Biden sent or received 82,000 pages of private email exchanges through three accounts using fake names when he was serving as vice president, according to the National Archives. Joe used a series of pseudonyms on emails that were about both official and family business, according to emails found on Hunter Biden’s now-infamous laptop and previously reported by DailyMail.com. But this is the first time the sheer volume of the correspondence has been revealed. The accounts that the over 82,000 pages of emails were sent or received from included: ‘robinware456@gmail.com, JRBWare@gmail.com, and Robert.L.Peters@pci.gov.’ The correspondence apparently spans over the entire eight-year period Joe was serving as Obama’s No. 2.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12690621/82-000-PAGES-emails-Joe-Biden-used-pseudonym-uncovered-Court-filing-reveals-VPs-staggering-use-three-fake-names-communicate-private.html
White House spokesperson compares students protesting against bombing of civilians in Gaza with neo-Nazis. “The exchange took place during the White House press briefing when Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Jean-Pierre… whether President Biden saw those [anti-Israel] protestors as ‘extremists’. ‘What I can say is — what we’ve been very clear about this when it comes to antisemitism, there is no place. We have to make sure that we speak against it very loud and be very clear about that,’ [Karine] Jean-Pierre said, adding that Biden decided to run for president in 2017 as a result of the violent Charlottesville, Virginia protest clash that year. ‘He saw neo-Nazis marching down the streets of Charlottesville with vile, anti-Semitic, just hatred. And he was very clear then, and he’s very clear now. He’s taken actions against this over the past two years. And he’s continued to be clear: There is no place, no place for this type of vile — and this kind of rhetoric,’ she said.” https://nypost.com/2023/10/31/news/jean-pierre-refuses-to-call-anti-israel-protestors-extremists-despite-fear-among-jewish-students/
Leaked Israeli government document proposes relocating Palestinians from Gaza to Sinai Peninsula. “The document, dated October 13, was published by the Hebrew language website Sicha Mekomit, and the Israeli government has confirmed its authenticity. According to The Times of Israel, Israeli government officials are downplaying the document, saying it only represents ‘initial thoughts’ and that they are currently focused on the war effort. The proposed plan would involve pushing the [2.3 million] Palestinians out of Gaza into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. They would first live in tent cities until permanent structures are built. The plan also includes a several-kilometer-wide ‘sterile’ buffer zone inside Egypt so the Palestinians could not live on the border.” https://news.antiwar.com/2023/10/30/leaked-israeli-intelligence-ministry-document-proposes-complete-ethnic-cleansing-of-gaza/
Former UK intelligence employee sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder of NSA employee. “A former British cyber-espionage employee who had become angry and resentful toward his agency’s work was sentenced Monday to life in prison for attempted murder in the vicious stabbing of an American intelligence worker assigned to the U.K. Joshua Bowles, 29, punched the woman and knifed her repeatedly in what was called a ‘politically motivated’ attack as she left a gym March 9 in the western England town of Cheltenham, which is home to the U.K.’s electronic spy agency, Government Communications Headquarters, better known as GCHQ. ….The woman, identified in court only by a code number, 99230, worked for the National Security Agency, which spies on electronic communications for the U.S., and places some of its employees at the Cheltenham facility. ….After [Steve] Bunn intervened, he said Bowles told him he would understand his actions if he knew what was being done at GCHQ and said he was appalled by the work of the NSA. ‘He was disgusted by the manner in which they gather information and use things against people,’ Bunn said, and said he could no longer ‘handle the murky waters of ethics and whether they are doing the right thing and the power that the American NSA have and the things they do.'” https://apnews.com/article/british-cyberespionage-intelligence-american-stabbing-d7de7a68523db9d91f6511597cd7cccf
Number of journalists killed while covering Gaza conflict rises to 30. “At least 30 journalists have been killed in the latest Palestinian-Israeli round of violence that began on October 7, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. These journalists include 25 Palestinians, four Israelis, and one Lebanese.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/30/never-seen-such-atrocities-palestinian-reporters-recount-war-horrors
South African government calls for U.N. force to protect Gaza civilians. “South Africa on Monday called on the United Nations to send a rapid protection force to Gaza to protect civilians from further Israeli bombardments. ‘The numbers of non-combatants killed, especially the numbers of children killed, requires that the world to show that it is serious about global accountability,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement.” https://www.africanews.com/2023/10/30/south-africa-calls-for-un-force-to-protect-gaza-civilians/
House Republicans propose funding $14.3 billion in aid for Israel by defunding IRS. “In one of the first major policy actions under new House speaker Mike Johnson, House Republicans unveiled a standalone supplemental spending bill only for Israel, despite Joe Biden’s request for a $106bn package that would include aid for Israel, Ukraine and border security. ….’House Republicans are setting a dangerous precedent by suggesting that protecting national security or responding to natural disasters is contingent upon cuts to other programs,’ Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democratic representative on the House appropriations committee, said in a statement.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/30/us-house-republicans-israel-irs-funding-cut “Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) argued on social media late Monday that ‘House Republicans are using aid for Israel as a political pawn in order to slash taxes for their wealthy donors. Making it easier for rich people to cheat on their taxes isn’t an offset, it adds to the deficit,’ Wyden wrote.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/republicans-israel-irs
Death toll in Gaza bombings rises to 8,300. “Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli attacks have killed more than 8,300 Palestinians, including nearly 3,500 children. …. Israeli strikes have killed at least 59 UNRWA [U.N.] employees, with many more believed to be trapped under the rubble.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/30/headlines/palestinian_death_toll_tops_8_300_as_israeli_tanks_advance_on_gaza_city Death toll in West Bank rises to 111. “The Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll from Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank has reached 111 since October 7. At least seven of those were killed by Israeli settlers, including 40-year-old Bilal Muhammad Saleh, who was fatally shot Saturday near Nablus as he was harvesting olives with his family.” https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/30/headlines/west_bank_toll_rises_to_111_after_israeli_settler_kills_palestinian_harvesting_olives
Biden administration prosecuting about as many corporate criminals as Trump did. “During Biden’s first year in office, corporate prosecutions fell to 90, just below the 94 that the Trump administration recorded in 2020 and far below the 304 prosecutions in 2000. The slight rise to 99 prosecutions in 2022—the fifth-lowest on record—matches the second-lowest number of corporate prosecutions during Trump’s four years in the White House. ….The new report points to several examples of companies that escaped prosecution through leniency agreements last year and in 2021, including Credit Suisse, Uber, and Stericycle. ‘A society that punishes the crimes of the poor while permitting the crimes of the powerful is not a just society,’ Public Citizen’s report says. ‘The principle that no one should be above the law includes corporations.'” https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-doj-corporate-crime
Progressive News Service 