Dear America- Pushing all commerce online to "Save A Tree" ends up decimating numerous forests and fields for energy and water hungry Data Centers. CEOs and our elected leaders take huge profits while taxpayers are left with escalating losses, including the surging loss of land and water for hyperscale Data Centers.

Amazing photo of a multigenerational Palestinian family’s olive picking in the occupied West Bank village of Duma. - Photo credit- Omar Dawabsheh

Dear America,

Many people worldwide know that Israeli "settlements" usurp Palestinian land, rights and peace, so new language is rising up to make Israeli Settler-terrorists look less evil and cruel: "Farm" is Cottage-core camouflage for Israeli law breakers empowered by "The Jewish State" to aggressively terrorize, displace and destroy Palestinian families.

Palestinian shepherds have been grazing their flocks of sheep and goats for centuries throughout The Holy Land. Palestinians were free to move from place to place until Israel inserted laws, walls, and outposts to intentionally bully, oppress, and shove Palestinian men, women, and children into forced exile.

Culture vulture invading Israelis have taken homes, lanes, lands, trees, gardens and food- large and small Zionist looting includes (for instance) expropriating ancient and indigenous Palestinian recipes like hummus.  Israeli chefs and food companies make money globally on Palestinian recipes, while Palestinians are pushed into abject poverty and accused of being antisemitic terrorists because they dare object.  Now we get to see photos of Israeli Settler-terrorists surrounded by flocks of goats as if they are a picturesque pastoral element of the landscape that belongs there...THEY DON'T!

America should not be supporting or excusing Israeli violence and bigotry in any way shape or form- but our elected officials force us to fund and arm Israel no matter what.  Even when it means undermining peace worldwide, as well as our own economy and infrastructure.

Rampant corporate and political greed and corruption are destroying the lives of countless men, women, and children here, there, and everywhere:  Artificial Intelligence "AI" delusions plus paid propagandist pollute the internet which was once an Information Highway but is now a scam happy scramble to take as much money as possible from We-The-People.  

Pushing all commerce online to "Save A Tree" ends up decimating numerous forests and fields for energy and water hungry Data Centers.  CEOs and our elected leaders take huge profits while taxpayers are left with escalating losses, including the surging loss of land and water and electricity for hyperscale Data Centers.

America is being impoverished and undermined from inside as money that should be spent on the people's needs (including preserving natural resources and shoring up Social Security and health care) is instead being spent on a massive war machine designed to create enemies by destroying faraway people and communities:  'Epic Fury' bombing Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and now Iran teaches the world that neither Israel nor America can be trusted.  WAR IS EPIC POLLUTION- and injustice.

VIOLENCE IS WRONG, rage inducing click bait is wrong, and so is misinformation. Worldwide there are many good and decent people who are Jewish and there are many good and decent people who are Muslims, Christians...etc... and there are also many good and decent people who want nothing at all to do with religion.

Religion should be private and personal, not a state funded project.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

"A [Palestinian] landscape that has endured for centuries, of steep terraced hills, olive groves, vineyards, lemon trees planted around springs, and fields of herbs and vegetables in the valleys, is consequently being ripped apart at breakneck speed." Palestinians brace as Israeli settler figures in coalition seek to cement West Bank gains before election

Slavery was Legal. Colonialism was Legal. Jim Crow was Legal. Apartheid was Legal. Legality is a matter of Power, NOT Justice

In a political wasteland dominated by billionaires, war criminals and mega-corporations, the head of the Catholic church is a rare figure of moral leadership

“AI capabilities are outpacing both scientific understanding and governments’ ability to adapt,” Mr. Bengio said. “With growing evidence of deceptive AI behaviour, science currently cannot guarantee that as capabilities continue to increase, AI will not cause catastrophic harm, either on its own or due to malicious users...”

A generational shift is transforming the US-Israel relationship. The Iran war has accelerated the fraying of ties. An end to unconditional US support would force a reckoning with reality - Kenneth Roth in the Guardian

“In the midst of all of our scientific and technological advances, we still suffer the plague of racial conflict. We have not learned the simple art of loving our neighbors, and respecting the dignity and worth of all human personality.” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma,” April 25, 1957

What is Ecocide? ...."unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts."

Super-rich’s assets cause outsized amount of climate harm, study says. Greenpeace calculates that wealthiest contribute nearly $1tn of damage a year with ownership-based emissions... "By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions."

"Tech billionaires are plowing hundreds of millions into political campaigns, to fend off attempts at regulation and evade accountability lest their endeavors go awry. They want to make sure nobody butts in as they work to reshape society. And they are largely succeeding – for now, no one with the power to stop them is butting in."

The space for freedom of expression is shrinking dramatically as governments use new technologies to suppress dissent and digital giants manipulate information online to enrich themselves, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, warned today. In her final report to the Human Rights Council, Khan highlighted the conflation of State and corporate interests to exploit vulnerabilities of the right to freedom of expression.

Crimson Thread: The new Israeli separation wall that cuts through the 'breadbasket of Palestine'... Israel's latest wall in the northern Jordan Valley is cutting Palestinian farmers off from their land, destroying crops and accelerating displacement

'The annexation process is taking place on the ground in full view of the entire world. It has been halted in the media, but it hasn't stopped on the ground'

- Mu'taz Bisharat, settlement expert

East Jerusalem: Israel Escalating Home Demolitions, Evictions Discriminatory Laws Drive Forced Displacement in Silwan

"The illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank [PALESTINE] is one of the most well-established positions in international law, resting on four distinct pillars: GENEVA CONVENTIONS, UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS, ICJ RULINGS, & UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY... No serious legal scholar disputes this consensus. The settlements are illegal. The only remaining question is whether the international community will act on it." William Dalrymple of Empire: World History

Israel continues to commit genocide by targeting children in Gaza, UN inquiry finds. Independent report says by aiming at children Israel is undermining capacity of Palestinian people to exist

DEAR AMERICA

Anti-immigrant legislation and excessive funding for ICE are more about protecting wealthy people and corporations, who can hire illegals knowing that the workers and their families will be too afraid to complain about dangerous working conditions, low pay, long hours, and slum landlord housing.

You can't win a modern war. You can destroy homes & families, you can usurp land & resources from the rightful owners, and you can undermine & destroy a free press and the fourth estate- but people worldwide have memories, as well as a sense of right and wrong that cannot be bombed into oblivion.

STOP THE BOMBS and the bigotry, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop accepting bribes & propaganda & bad advice from a very foreign country that seeks to destroy support for UNIVERSAL human rights and the rule of fair and just laws.

Along the way we learned that slavery is wrong. We learned that domestic violence is wrong. We learned that racist hate is wrong. SO WHY are we funding Israel and why are we bombing Iran for Israel!!!

Violence is a problem- not the answer

"Attacks on critical infrastructure are not only about what is destroyed, but also about the people left without what they need to live. Even wars have limits and they must be respected." ICRC Red Cross

The power of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality and dignity...

In 1945, 50 nations came together in San Francisco to create a new organization for peace, prosperity & human rights- the United Nations

"The United Nations is the only place on Earth where all the world's nations come together to discuss common problems and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. This intergovernmental organization born out of the ashes of the Second World War remains indispensable to the pursuit of world peace, justice, equality and sustainable development" https://www.un.org/en/

The right of refugees to return to homes and lands they were expelled from is an individual right and cannot be unilaterally abrogated by third parties.  https://imeu.org/resources/resources/fact-sheet-palestinian-refugees-the-right-of-return-under-international-law/441

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

"A [Palestinian] landscape that has endured for centuries, of steep terraced hills, olive groves, vineyards, lemon trees planted around springs, and fields of herbs and vegetables in the valleys, is consequently being ripped apart at breakneck speed." Palestinians brace as Israeli settler figures in coalition seek to cement West Bank gains before election

Ilhan Karajeh inspects olive trees destroyed by Israeli settlers. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum/The Guardian

Growing number of [Israeli] farm outposts using violence to seize territory, a process seemingly enabled by radical elements in Netanyahu’s government

Julian Borger in Ein Arik. Photographs by Quique Kierszenbaum

Wed 8 Jul 2026

The attack in Ein Arik came in the middle of the night and was aimed at the rudiments of life: the earth, water, roots and seedlings.

Ilham Karajeh awoke on Friday last week to find her family allotment raided and ruined. The thin black irrigation pipes had been sliced, grape vines cut and 70 young olive trees, the embodiment of the family’s aspirations for the future, had been uprooted.

On Sunday, Karajeh and her husband, Mohammed, were collecting the severed branches. “See – they are still wet with sap,” she cried out in horror at the cruelty of the act.

There was no doubt in this West Bank village about the perpetrators. Since a new settler outpost had been established last year on a neighbouring hill, violence has flowed down into the valleys in a gathering tide.

The outpost, which now calls itself Maoz Tzur, began with just a handful of Israeli settlers but they quickly set about seizing territory. Their first target was the Bedouin shepherd community on the surrounding hills and valleys. Then the pressure was turned up on the villagers. For more than a year they have been prevented from reaching family olive and citrus groves and springs on the hillsides to the south, nearest the new settler outpost. Those brave enough to venture in that direction were repeatedly attacked with clubs and stones.

The night attack on the Karajeh family’s small farm reflects an acceleration in the intimidation campaign around Ein Arik, extending northwards and up the slope towards the neighbouring village of Deir Ibzi. It is part of a surge of settler aggression across the West Bank driven by the febrile dynamics of Israeli politics.

Elections are looming. They must be held by the end of October at the latest and as things stand, Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right bloc is facing the prospect of defeat after more than three years of political domination. The radical settler elements in the coalition are scrambling to impose facts on the ground in the West Bank before the vote.

A landscape that has endured for centuries, of steep terraced hills, olive groves, vineyards, lemon trees planted around springs, and fields of herbs and vegetables in the valleys, is consequently being ripped apart at breakneck speed.

“These are going to be very tough months,” said Dror Etkes, the founder of Kerem Navot, an advocacy group dedicated to monitoring the unfolding land grab in the West Bank. “Firstly, it doesn’t look good for the current coalition, so there could be a new government. Secondly, all the attention is on the elections so the settlers can use this period to do whatever they want.”

Throughout 2025 and the first half of this year, the creeping de facto annexation of the West Bank has broken into a gallop, driven primarily by... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/08/palestinians-brace-as-israeli-settler-figures-in-coalition-seek-to-cement-west-bank-gains-before-election

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In a political wasteland dominated by billionaires, war criminals and mega-corporations, the head of the Catholic church is a rare figure of moral leadership

Pope Leo presides over mass at Vatican City, 29 June 2026. Photograph: Maria Grazia Picciarella/Shutterstock

Simon Tisdall: "Leo is not just talk. He has a plan. Presiding over a “consistory” – a rare gathering of all the Catholic church’s cardinals – in Rome last weekend, he sought to tighten up the just-war theory of St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas that is frequently hijacked to legitimise so-called preventive wars of choice. Leo argues war is only morally justified for “proportional self-defence”, and only after all peaceful options are exhausted. “War is never worthy of humanity, and it is never blessed by God,” he told the cardinals. “War is not merely a conflict between states”, but originates in “a culture of power”. The world must “rebuild a culture of cooperation”.

This struggle for the soul of today’s newly adversarial world order has drawn in Islamic and Jewish religious leaders and thinkers as well as other Christian denominations. Sarah Mullally, the newly enthroned archbishop of Canterbury, defiantly urged “faithful resistance” to Israel’s expanding occupation when meeting Palestinian Christians in the West Bank last month. The international community had a “moral responsibility” to relieve profound suffering there and in Gaza, she wrote in a pastoral letter – and the time to act was now. Middle East conflicts were “symptomatic of a deeper political and spiritual crisis – an abandonment of international law and an increasing recurrence of military force”.

It’s not necessary to be a person of faith to value truth, justice and human decency" .... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/05/world-leaders-immorality-pope-leo-war-criminals-corporations-catholic-church

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The immorality of world leaders is contagious. Thank heavens for the pope

“AI capabilities are outpacing both scientific understanding and governments’ ability to adapt,” Mr. Bengio said. “With growing evidence of deceptive AI behaviour, science currently cannot guarantee that as capabilities continue to increase, AI will not cause catastrophic harm, either on its own or due to malicious users...”

Unsplash/Aidin Geranrekab AI is currently revolutionising multiple industries, including smartphones.

‘The science is here’: UN chief welcomes first global AI assessment

1 July 2026 Culture and Education

Fresh scientific evidence and options for harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) were unveiled Wednesday following the launch of the first global, independent scientific assessment of opportunities, risks and impacts by a pioneering UN expert panel.

Key takeaways

The report outlines findings across seven key domains:

• AI science, advances and trajectories
• Societal applications in science, health, education and agriculture
• Economic implications
• Security, systems and environmental implications
• Human rights, information and democracy
• Cultural benefits, autonomy and child safety
• Management, governance and reliability

“The science is here,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the report launch. “We can no longer say we did not know. What we do with it is now up to all of us.”

The more AI advances without shared rules, the less say governments and people will have in the outcome, the UN chief said, adding “my message to governments is simple: do not wait.”

Aiming to build a shared understanding and evidence at this critical juncture, the Preliminary Report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI: Evidence-based assessment of opportunities, risks and impacts of AI was penned by the first global, fully independent scientific body dedicated to assessing its real impacts across economies and societies.

Read the full report here.

Why it matters   .... READ MORE  https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/07/1167853 

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Here are some of the panel’s warnings:

• There are no scientific guarantees that AI agent systems will not violate instructions, and evidence is accumulating of cases where they already are
• AI agent systems will soon complete tasks that currently take human programmers days or weeks, but their deployment raises urgent questions for labour markets, cybersecurity and the controllability of future AI systems
• Sycophantic AI behaviour, where responses reinforce users’ existing beliefs regardless of accuracy, has been linked to several severe mental health incidents, including documented deaths
• Criminals and bad actors have been documented using AI systems to assist in cyberattacks
• Advanced technical abilities may allow novice private actors to use AI in malicious ways across a range of applications such as fraud and disinformation
• Reliable methods for retaining control over highly autonomous AI systems are lacking

Many of these harms fall disproportionately on already disadvantaged populations, the report stated.

A generational shift is transforming the US-Israel relationship. The Iran war has accelerated the fraying of ties. An end to unconditional US support would force a reckoning with reality - Kenneth Roth in the Guardian

A generational shift is under way in the relationship between the United States and Israel. Tensions were already palpable because of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in pushing Donald Trump to join a counterproductive war against Iran was the last straw.

Stopping unconditional US support for Israel would certainly be important for curbing US complicity in Israeli war crimes. It may also be the best thing for Israel if it is to have any hope of avoiding the dangerous dead end of relentless military escalation. And it is a prerequisite for Palestinians to have any prospect of escaping Israel’s endless occupation.

The relationship between the two countries was not always as close as in recent decades. At Israel’s founding in 1948, Washington was supportive but with a certain reserve. President Harry Truman refused to send weapons to the new state. In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower forced Israel to withdraw from the Sinai.

But things changed when neighboring states attacked Israel in 1967 and 1973. Israel also benefited from portraying itself during the cold war as a bulwark against Soviet influence in the Middle East.

For many years, it became impossible to question Israel in discussions with most US officials. When in 2021 Human Rights Watch issued a report on Israel’s apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territory, it was widely welcomed around the world but landed in Washington like a lead balloon.

That extreme deference was visible even as Israel committed genocide. President Joe Biden stopped delivering the 2,000lb bombs that Israel used to indiscriminately decimate Palestinian neighborhoods but kept billions flowing in other military aid and arms sales.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/30/us-israel-relationship-shift  

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Slavery was Legal. Colonialism was Legal. Jim Crow was Legal. Apartheid was Legal. Legality is a matter of Power, NOT Justice

“In the midst of all of our scientific and technological advances, we still suffer the plague of racial conflict. We have not learned the simple art of loving our neighbors, and respecting the dignity and worth of all human personality.” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma,” April 25, 1957

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “The Role of the Church in Facing the Nation’s Chief Moral Dilemma,” April 25, 1957

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center

@TheKingCenter

https://x.com/TheKingCenter/status/2071201952256414185

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What is Ecocide? ...."unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts."

Ecocide

1. For the purpose of this Statute, “ecocide” means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.

2. For the purpose of paragraph 1:

   • “Wanton” means with reckless disregard for damage which would be clearly excessive in relation to the social and economic benefits anticipated;

   • “Severe” means damage which involves very serious adverse changes, disruption or harm to any element of the environment, including grave impacts on human life or natural, cultural or economic resources;

   • “Widespread” means damage which extends beyond a limited geographic area, crosses state boundaries, or is suffered by an entire ecosystem or species or a large number of human beings;

   • “Long-term” means damage which is irreversible or which cannot be redressed through natural recovery within a reasonable period of time;

   • “Environment” means the earth, its biosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, as well as outer space.

      https://www.stopecocide.earth/legal-definition  

     Sector-specific networks in support of ecocide law 

     https://www.stopecocide.earth/networks 

Super-rich’s assets cause outsized amount of climate harm, study says. Greenpeace calculates that wealthiest contribute nearly $1tn of damage a year with ownership-based emissions... "By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions."

Greenpeace said a large share of emissions was associated with the ownership of carbon-intensive assets and investments such as property developments. Photograph: A Amsel/Alamy

 Fiona Harvey in Bonn

Wed 10 Jun 2026 

Ultra-wealthy people zooming across the world on their private jets, lounging on yachts and conspicuous by their Instagrammable consumption are among the most easily identified individual culprits when it comes to the climate crisis – but new research argues that it is not just their heady lifestyles to blame, but also their bank accounts.

Through their ownership of companies and private financial and physical assets, from oil producers to property developments, the super-rich are responsible for an outsized slice of the greenhouse gases that are overheating the planet. The top 1% of people by wealth, through their shareholdings and investments, control about a quarter of global annual emissions in total.

Greenpeace has calculated the “climate debt” of these high net worth individuals, by attributing to them their share of the damage done to the climate by the assets they own. By this reckoning, the world’s richest cause nearly $1tn a year of damage to the climate.

Clara Thompson, the global lead campaigner on socioeconomic systems at Greenpeace International, said: “At a time when people are facing rising energy bills, rising living costs, and growing climate impacts, many are asking why ordinary households should shoulder so much of the burden, while some of the world’s wealthiest people continue to profit from the industries driving the crisis.”

Greenpeace estimates that the top 1% by wealth are responsible for about 40% of all “ownership”-based emissions – that is, the emissions produced by businesses and associated with privately owned financial and physical assets – which themselves make up 60% of global carbon output. Within that group, the top 0.1% account for about 17% of ownership-based emissions, and the top 0.01% about 9%. The top 1% is made up of people with wealth above about $2m, the top 0.1% people with wealth above about $7m, and the top 0.01% is people with wealth above about $38m.

By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/10/super-rich-assets-outsized-amount-climate-harm-study

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