“Because black holes emit no light, scientists cannot see them with telescopes. Instead, they confirm their existence by observing signs, such as the extreme distortions they cause in the visible matter around them or by watching stars orbit a void. And if you refuse to observe these signs, adopting willful blindness, you cannot detect black holes. It’s a valid question to ask whether law enforcement agencies monitored any U.S. laws, rules, or regulations that apply to Little St. James, a 71-acre island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.” (02/10/26)
“The Guardian is very concerned about mining: ‘The Guardian view on the scramble for critical minerals: while powers vie for access, labourers die …. A mining disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo underscores the human cost of extraction. Intensified competition for resources isn’t helping.’ It’s fair to be worried about this. Hundreds have died just recently in a series of flood driven cave-ins at one area of mining in DR Congo, just as the one example. The problem is, of course, the absence of capitalism. For these mines are what are known as ‘artisanal’ mines. This means mines being dug and operated by the literally dirt poor locals with pick and shovel. … The problem is the economy around the mines, not the mines themselves.” (02/10/26)
“[O]fficials maintained that ICE agents were under attack in communities like Minnesota’s Twin Cities, claiming without evidence that ‘paid agitators’ were actively trying to stop enforcement. Federal agents have been heavily armed during attacks, arrests, and removal of residents, while protesters have been overwhelmingly peaceful. As my colleague Noah Lanard wrote in October, ICE agents are objectively not in danger: Reviewing ICE’s own data, he found that none of its agents have been killed by an immigrant in its more than two-decade history. The overwhelmingly leading cause of death was Covid-19, followed by cancers linked to the September 11 attacks.” (02/10/26)
“Last week, the US government announced it would be sending $6 million in aid to Cuba, on top of the $3 million it sent in January after Hurricane Melissa. This aid package might appear contrary to the significant escalation of the 66-year-long US criminal blockade, which has expanded to an all-out fuel blockade since December, with attacks on Venezuela, but it is in fact a core tenet of it. This maneuver seeks to exploit the US-manufactured energy and fuel crisis to bolster opposition groups, substantiate propaganda against the Cuban government and revolution, and force the island into total dependency and submission to the United States. This frankly genocidal strategy closely mirrors that of the US and Israeli ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,’ and the weaponization of starvation and aid for colonial and imperialist ends.” (02/10/25)
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Adam Ratzlaff & Lucia Gonzalez Camelo
“On January 7, the White House announced its plans to withdraw from 66 international bodies whose work it had deemed inconsistent with U.S. national interests. While many of these organizations were international in nature, three of them were specific to the Americas — the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, the Pan American Institute of Geography and History, and the U.N.’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. The decision came on the heels of the Dominican Republic postponing the X Summit of the Americas last year following disagreements over who would be invited and ensuing boycotts. These parallel developments raise important questions about how the region and the United States view their relationship.” (02/10/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Jillian York
Interview: “Yazan Badran is an assistant professor in international media and communication studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and a researcher at the Echo research group. His research focuses on the intersection between media, journalism and politics particularly in the MENA region and within its exilic and diasporic communities.” (02/10/26)
“Far too often, a chosen people, a ‘master race,’ decides to eliminate barbarians, inferiors, primitives, race enemies, whatever words are used to demonize other humans. Often, it’s said we must kill them before they kill us, so mass murder is defined and defended in terms of safety and security. The ‘bad’ people force us to kill them. We don’t want to do it – they make us! And we hate them all the more for making us kill. At the same time, mass murder is often quite profitable for the killers.” (02/10/26)
