Salamence

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8175124

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40071

Seattle (AP) — When tourists travel to Seattle, it’s common to take in the Space Needle and the downtown skyline from Puget Sound. It’s an itinerary that a newly arrived pod of killer whales appears to be following too. Three orcas that had not previously been recorded in the Seattle area have delighted whale watchers with several visits just off downtown this past month. They’ve also cruised by other shorelines in the region. “People … are all very happy to see this,” said Hongming Zheng, who photographs whales in his spare time. It took him 10 hours of driving to find the mysterious pod. “It was epic.” Researchers keep detailed records of killer whales that frequent the Salish Sea, the waters between Washington state and Canada, by identifying their fins and saddle patches — the grayish markings on their sides. So it was a surprise when this pod of three orcas showed up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in March. The three weren’t in any catalogs of local whales. After some digging, researchers located photos of the pod in Alaska waters last year, said Shari Tarantino of the Washington-based Orca Conservancy. The pod includes an adult female and what are believed to be her two offspring, including a large young adult male. They have now been designated as T419, T420 and T421 — the T standing for “transient,” not “tourist.” The visiting orcas have something that local whales don’t: circular scars left by cookie-cutter sharks, which latch on to larger animals and slice a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8175125

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40077

Researchers in Hawai’i have described 10 new species and seven new genera of moths, highlighting how much remains unknown about the Pacific archipelago’s biodiversity. Hawai’i is home to a large number of endemic species, plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Discovery of a new species is so common, “nobody turns their head,” study co-author Daniel Rubinoff, an entomologist with the University of Hawaiʻi, told Mongabay in a video call. He said finding a new genus is considered “kind of interesting, but to find so many really reflects how poorly known Hawaii’s fauna still is.” Genus is a broader grouping than species, so species in different genera typically diverged much earlier in their evolutionary history than species of the same genus. “Hawaiʻi is a world-renowned laboratory for evolution ,” lead author Kyhl Austin of the University of Hawai’i said in a press release. “By identifying these seven new genera, we are showing that these insects crossed thousands of miles of open ocean to reach Hawai’i far more frequently than we ever imagined.” Karl Magnacca, an entomologist with the O‘ahu Army Natural Resources Program, not involved with the study told Mongabay in an email that “this is a really important contribution, as many of our native insect groups haven’t been looked at in around 100 years.” In their search for new moths, researchers examined century-old museum collections and conducted field surveys in remote areas. They combined detailed anatomic examination with high-resolution imaging and genetic testing to reveal a hidden diversity of moths.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8195377

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40807

Childen’s Minnesota

Erin In The Morning is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

Some Minnesota families caught in the crosshairs of Trump’s war on trans kids can once again breathe a little easier, at least for now. Children’s Minnesota, a major regional hospital system, is reinstating the care it had paused on February 27 for transgender youth.

“The decision follows a federal court ruling that vacated a federal declaration attempting to restrict gender-affirming care,” a statement from the hospital, shared with Erin in the Morning, said.

“We are contacting patient families that were affected by the temporary pause in certain services. Offering science- and research-based health care to transgender and gender diverse youth is part of Children’s Minnesota’s vision of being every family’s essential partner in raising healthier children.”

Of the Gender Health program’s 700 active patients, less than 5% were directly and immediately impacted, the hospital said. In other words, the federal government’s crackdown targeted a program that was serving only a few dozen minors with these specific treatments.

The care pause only ever impacted puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. Children’s Minnesota never performed gender-affirming surgeries specific to trans patients under 18 and psychotherapeutic interventions were relatively unaffected.

“This pause was difficult and hard news for all of our patients,” the statement continued. “The temporary pause was a decision we did not want to make. It was a decision we had to make due to conditions at the time.”

On Dec. 18, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services issued a declaration that dubbed gender-affirming care for trans minors as medically unsound, and could therefore be restricted. However, the March ruling from Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai found that Kennedy does not possess the legal or scientific authority to render an entire field of health care “not medicine.” Therefore, the Dec. 18 HHS declaration, which excluded providers of such care from participating in federal healthcare programs, was deemed unlawful.

Over 20 states filed a federal lawsuit in December, including Minnesota, against the Trump regime in response to the attacks on trans people’s health care.

Then, in April, the BMJ reported:

The coalition argued that the HHS declaration unlawfully sought to pressure providers by threatening their participation in federal health programmes including Medicare and Medicaid. Accepting this argument, Kasubhai said, “There’s a theme of break it and see what others will do” in the way that the HHS attempted to change national health policy on gender affirming care, using a public statement without allowing the necessary public consultation.

“That’s not a system or method committed to the rule of law,” Kasubhai added.

Now, Judge Kasubhai must decide “whether the federal government should be barred from using the declaration’s reasoning in any future action against hospitals, according to legal analysts,” Becker’s Hospital Review, an industry publication, reported on April 1. In other words, it’s weighing whether the declaration can be cited or used as evidence in a court of law in the future.

“That question, which could determine how much leverage the administration retains over healthcare organizations going forward, remains unresolved.”

Recently, the Department of Justice also sued the state of Minnesota over its trans-inclusive bathroom and sports policies in schools.

“We have been living in a world in Minnesota that is inclusive of LGBTQ people for a long time, and these issues have never been prevalent—it’s not been a problem until we had a federal government that decided that we had to eradicate these people,” said Rep. Leigh Finke, the first openly transgender member of the Minnesota Legislature and a founding member of its Queer Caucus, in an interview with Erin in the Morning earlier this month.

Pam Bondi, who had been leading the charge at the DOJ since Trump’s return to office, was fired from her position as the Attorney General on April 2. It’s not immediately clear who will take her place—or how they will maneuver the upcoming legal battles over trans rights coming down the pike.

Erin In The Morning is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

From Erin In The Morning via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8195376

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40809

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday welcomed news of a two-week ceasefire in Iran as a step back from the brink of catastrophe, but said the war's aggressors—the US and Israel—deserved no praise for the temporary reprieve.

"Ceasefires are always good news. Especially if they lead to a just and lasting peace," Sánchez wrote on social media. "But this momentary relief cannot make us forget the chaos, the destruction, and the lives lost. The government of Spain will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket."

"What’s needed now: diplomacy, international legality, and PEACE," the prime minister added.

Drawing US President Donald Trump's ire, Spain's government has opposed the US-Israeli war on Iran from the start, calling it a "cruel, absurd, and illegal" assault and closing off Spain's military bases and airspace to American forces involved in the attack.

"Remaining silent in the face of an unjust war is an act of cowardice and complicity," Sánchez said last month.

Spain's foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said Wednesday that the government supports "the crucial work of the mediators," including Pakistan, in preventing further escalation of the conflict that the US and Israel launched in late February.

"Diplomacy, negotiation, and international law are the only path to the lasting peace that the citizens of the Middle East deserve," said Albares. "All parties must show responsibility and commitment to ceasing attacks and de-escalating, which Spain will continue to support."

The foreign minister went on to stress that the ceasefire "must extend to Lebanon," which Israel has invaded and bombed relentlessly in recent weeks, displacing 20% of the country's population, devastating its healthcare system, and killing more than 1,500 people. On Wednesday, the Israeli's unleashed a massive bombing blitz of Beirut, the nation's capital and largest city.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following Trump's announcement of the two-week ceasefire deal with Iran that the agreement "does not include Lebanon."

"Spain will not spare any efforts in supporting the Pakistani mediation efforts in the war in the Middle East and in paving the way for diplomacy," Albares said Wednesday. "Today is a day of hope that we hope will culminate in a definitive peace that must include Lebanon."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8194075

Leo used the address to denounce a world ruled by “a diplomacy based on force” and “zeal for war.”

In January, behind closed doors at the Pentagon, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre — Pope Leo XIV’s then-ambassador to the United States — and delivered a lecture.

America, Colby and his colleagues told the cardinal, has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.

As tempers rose, one U.S. official reached for a fourteenth-century weapon and invoked the Avignon Papacy, the period when the French Crown used military force to bend the bishop of Rome to its will.

That scene, broken this week by Mattia Ferraresi in an extraordinary piece of journalism for The Free Press, may be the most remarkable moment in the long and knotted history of the American republic’s relationship with the Catholic Church.

In the speech that enraged Pete Hegseth and top Pentagon officials, Pope Leo XIV said: “A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force.”

“War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading.

“The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined.”

Pete Hegseth’s pastor and mentor says the United States should ban public Masses, Marian processions, and Corpus Christi devotions.

Hegseth invited the anti-Catholic preacher to lead a prayer service at the Pentagon on February 14.

https://www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/pete-hegseths-pastor-wants-to-ban

For the first time in modern history, the Pentagon offered no Good Friday services for Catholics this year.

While Catholics don't celebrate Mass on Good Friday, they do venerate the cross of Jesus Christ and receive the Eucharist.

Earlier this year, Pete Hegseth invited his pastor to speak at the Pentagon. That pastor has called for banning public expressions of Catholicism in the United States.

https://www.thelettersfromleo.com/p/trump-vance-white-house-escalates

Here is an Archive link with the full article

https://archive.ph/H3cfR

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8140021

Tlatoani: Aztec Cities has fully released!

It's an isometric citybuilder game in the style of Caesar and other Impressions Games titles, but with an Aztec theme, and is very well researched (I helped out a bit!)

Check it out if you can, it's 30% off for $13 for the launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3161270/Tlatoani_Aztec_Cities/

TLATOANI - 1.0 RELEASE TRAILER | PARADOX ARC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khkSv3SqlZU&lc=UgyR2uggCHE0apYEri54AaABAg

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8140021

Tlatoani: Aztec Cities has fully released!

It's an isometric citybuilder game in the style of Caesar and other Impressions Games titles, but with an Aztec theme, and is very well researched (I helped out a bit!)

Check it out if you can, it's 30% off for $13 for the launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3161270/Tlatoani_Aztec_Cities/

TLATOANI - 1.0 RELEASE TRAILER | PARADOX ARC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khkSv3SqlZU&lc=UgyR2uggCHE0apYEri54AaABAg

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8166476

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40168

By Chris Gilbert  –  Apr 1, 2026

The debates about Venezuela on the left today leave a great deal to be desired in many respects. However, one of the most symptomatic pitfalls, in my view, has been the excessive focus on the question of whether Delcy Rodríguez’s government, in the wake of the January 3 attacks, has made a tactical retreat of the Brest-Litovsk type or not.

In these debates, “Brest-Litovsk” has become a kind of shorthand. It refers to V. I. Lenin’s decision, in the months immediately following the October Revolution, to make a separate peace with Germany that involved ample concessions, doing so as a way to save the revolution.

For many, this historical example is taken as the model of correct revolutionary decision-making from the Venezuelan leadership. For this group, Lenin’s decision serves to justify the concessions that Rodríguez has made under duress to US imperialism, as a means for guaranteeing the revolution’s survival and buying time.

By contrast, there is a second group that is skeptical. They claim that a tactical retreat of the Brest-Litovsk kind is impossible in Venezuela, allegedly because there is no strategic vision or the concessions are too substantial. Instead of a retreat, they believe there has been capitulation.

One symptomatic feature of this debate is how both groups’ excessive focus on the Brest-Litovsk dilemma—which centers on the question simply of whether to fight or make a tactical retreat—erroneously compares Venezuela today, which is a relatively longstanding revolutionary process, to the Russian situation just four months after the October Revolution had taken place. The Russian Revolution was glorious and extraordinary (arguably it was the most important event of the twentieth century), but it was just getting going at the time of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty.

Thus, the focus on Brest-Litovsk amounts to a failure to accurately locate the historical moment, and it effectively denies that the Bolivarian Revolution has had substantial material and organizational achievements over the past quarter of a century. On a theoretical level, we see how focusing the debate on a “Brest-Litovsk moment” completely sidelines Hugo Chávez’s claims about the revolutionary “irreversibility” that had been achieved over the course of the revolution.

Unfortunately, this is typical of how intellectuals from the global North—even sympathetic ones—tend to perceive events in Venezuela, to say nothing of their perspective on the rest of Latin America. For many years, a large group of global North intellectuals insisted that the Bolivarian Revolution had made no real progress because it had failed to liquidate the bourgeoisie and nationalize all the major means of production.

Another common claim was that the popular movement in Venezuela and the government were in a relation of “dual power.” Since dual power refers to the period in Russia between February and October 1917, before the October Revolution, this implicitly suggests that Chávez (and later Maduro) were simply “Kerenskys,” and the real revolution is still to take place! All of this, along with other related positions, implies that there has been no real revolution in Venezuela, and therefore no substantial revolutionary trajectory or transformations.

Chávez’s view, of course, was the complete opposite of those sketched above. Right or wrong, the Venezuelan leader believed he was carrying out a real revolution, and he believed that, during the course of it, the leadership was passing power and social control over to the people through a variety of mechanisms.

Chávez repeatedly argued that these steps toward grassroots control of production and other aspects of social life—the popular power that has come to exist in the community councils, the civilian-military alliance, the communes, and the popular militias—all also constitute steps toward what he called irreversibility.

Two PerspectivesWho is right here? Is it the intellectuals who imagine themselves perpetually seated at the Brest-Litovsk negotiating table, deciding whether to fight or retreat, just months after the taking of power? Or is it Hugo Chávez, who thought that the longstanding Bolivarian Revolution could be something real, deep-rooted, and hard to undo?

It is worth observing that Comandante Chávez, with whom those engaged in this debate so systematically disagree, had most of the verdicts of history on his side. That is because history has shown that once working-class people gain participation in decision-making about production, territorial control, and national defense, it always takes an extraordinary effort to roll it back. Although popular participation may not be absolutely irreversible, it does take significant effort to eradicate a revolutionary process that has undergone substantial steps in social transformation.

That is why, in the former Eastern Bloc countries after 1991, educational systems were profoundly changed to promote recolonization, and workers’ rights were systematically destroyed. In the post-Soviet states, the cruelest kind of shock treatment was applied. Fortunately, extreme as this shock therapy was, it was not sufficient to fully terminate Russia’s hard-won and deeply ingrained delinking from the imperialist world economy. That is what has allowed a newly sovereign and anti-imperialist (even if no longer socialist) Russia to emerge under the leadership of Vladimir Putin.

What history has shown, then, is that if you want to break the back of a revolution, you need to destroy its bases in popular power. This requires work and dedication. It usually involves extensive and sustained violence, along with powerful cultural campaigns that wipe out historical memory.

Need it be observed that there is little evidence of this in Venezuela in the past few months? The Bolivarian army remains intact; the PSUV and its leadership are the same as ever; and the 5,000-plus communes and communal circuits are still functioning and receiving more, not less, financial support.

Yes, it is true that Venezuela’s oil industry, and especially its commercial side, has partly passed out of the country’s control. However, it should be remembered that this new situation also represents a de facto easing of the blockade, which was a longstanding aspiration of Maduro’s government, even if no one imagined it would take the form it has.

Locating the Historical MomentIn revolutions, timing is everything. That is something that both Lenin and Fidel Castro agreed on, the latter going so far as to say that “Revolution means understanding the historical moment.”

What historical moment are we in now: one similar to Brest-Litovsk, or is there a better comparison?

In fact, given that we are twenty-five years into the revolutionary process and the bulk of the Bolivarian Revolution’s organizational achievements remain intact, we should not turn so hastily to the Brest-Litovsk Treaty for comparison. Instead, we need to look for different historical references. In this respect, both China and Vietnam’s openings to the world market and foreign investment—each of which took place after an extended period of revolutionary consolidation—are much more relevant examples to consider.

Of course, many foreign intellectuals at the time of these openings insisted that the Chinese and Vietnamese revolutions were being abandoned by their leadership. There was no shortage of claims about restorations or Thermidor-type reversals taking place.

However, today most of those skeptical voices—except for the most entrenched and incapable of self-criticism—would recognize that history has proved them wrong: the steps taken by China in the late 1970s, with its Reform and Opening Up, and by Vietnam in its Renovation process in the next decade, were actually what saved these revolutions in the face of the imperialist neoliberal counterrevolution taking place at the time.

Descendents of Cacique Ähuänumä: The 4F Huo̧ttö̧ja̧ Commune (Part I)

At present, history seems to repeat itself, as a large group of international observers falls into defeatism or myopia with regard to Venezuela. This manifests in how they show surprisingly little interest in the current status of the revolution’s main organizational pillars—most of which appear very stable and thus have much future potential in an emancipatory process that is far from dismantled.

In sum, many in the cosmopolitan intellectual sector seems to think that the Venezuelan state is like a car stalled at an intersection that is called Brest-Litovsk: the car could go left, right, backward, or forward. Like self-appointed traffic police, they eagerly observe the vehicle.

It never occurs to most of these observers that, after twenty-five years of revolutionary construction, the Venezuelan state-vehicle might be politically or socially different from any of the other state-vehicles that exist on the planet. They do not recognize that its inner workings might be distinct, that it may have been rewired in new, relatively irreversible ways, and that changing all that would require concerted and significant counterrevolutionary efforts.

In so doing, these observers repeat the patterns of bourgeois ideologues by seeming to deny that a revolution has ever taken place in the country—and that it therefore has to be reckoned with.

Cosmopolitan InternationalismRecently we have seen the emergence of a new generation of anti-imperialist intellectuals who are organized mostly in online networks and collectives. This should be seen, in most respects, as a welcome development. It is likely a reaction to the socialist currents and magazines that emerged in the global North following the 2008 crisis, one of whose main weak points was their failure to be sufficiently anti-imperialist. It was a weakness that became evident to all as the US-Israeli genocide in Palestine unfolded.

A correction of course was necessary. The downside, however, was that the new anti-imperialist intellectuals, who correctly understand that the main contradiction today is between US imperialism and oppressed nations, have frequently replaced the earlier generation’s blind spot with regard to imperialism with an anti-imperialism that is too cosmopolitan, too little rooted in concrete struggle. To the extent that this limitation has become ingrained, it reflects a failure to overcome their own class position and material conditions—which include easy air travel, privileged passports, and financial independence or flexible work conditions—that facilitate visits and virtual monitoring of developments across a wide range of countries and regions.

The main problem is that, on the spectrum that extends between “free-floating” and “organic” intellectuality, this group tends too much toward the former position. Undoubtedly, a revolutionary internationalism focused on anti-imperialism is an urgent necessity in our time, but it should be driven by people organically engaged with, even embedded in, a concrete revolutionary project or struggle. From that situated engagement (and the praxis, commitment, and self-critical reflection it calls for), an intellectual can then reach out and engage with other projects, theoretical claims, and social imaginaries.

Amilcar Cabral insisted that “rice is cooked inside the pot, not outside,” meaning that revolutions require a profound understanding of local subjective and objective conditions. Without such rootedness, and the understanding that goes with it, facile comparisons, made from the middle-class stratosphere, will replace productive, mutual learning processes. One set of leaders or one form of struggle will be held out as better than another, more combative, more heroic, and so on, without consideration of the material situation and history from which they emerged. For that reason, access to a multiplicity of processes and projects in diverse national conditions needs to be accompanied by an understanding that the times and character of each revolutionary process will be distinct and should be respected.

This is what Chávez himself insisted on, never allowing his internationalism to removed into cosmopolitanism. It can be observed that those actively participating in the defense of Iran, Cuba, or Palestine, and doing so from their respective territories, do not engage in the same invidious and facile comparisons as the cosmopolitan sector is inclined to do. That is because people with a rooted praxis of national or popular emancipation understand that the main project is not to sort out the good from the not-so-good, and then “criticize” the latter. In fact, the central project is to win: to defeat US imperialism.

That in turn requires respect for differences in timeframes, local conditions, and methodologies among various peoples and nations, all of it in the name of building the amplest anti-imperialist movement, which is the only one with a prospect of victory.

(Monthly Review)

From Orinoco Tribune via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8166422

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40191

Before the war, our home garden was more than just a patch of green. It was a refuge I retreated to whenever the world felt too heavy. Bougainvillea climbed the walls, and flowers in every color filled the corners — tended by my mother as if they were her own children. In one corner stood a pomegranate tree we had brought from a nursery in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza — a city long known as the Strip’s food basket, with its fertile agricultural lands.

When the war began, our priorities shifted entirely. There was no longer space for beauty. Survival became the only goal. The flowers withered, and the once-vibrant garden turned into a silent gray space. We uprooted the blossoms and planted onions in their place, trying to ease the burden of hunger and soaring prices. Only the pomegranate tree remained — an enduring reminder of an agricultural city whose lands were bulldozed and whose residents were denied return.

Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun, which once supplied much of Gaza with fruits and vegetables, have been reduced to devastated terrain. By late 2025 and into early 2026, satellite analyses from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Satellite Center show that up to 98 percent of fruit-bearing tree cropland — including olives and pomegranates — has been destroyed, while more than 87 percent of overall cropland and more than 80 percent of greenhouses have been damaged or wiped out. Only a tiny fraction of Gaza’s agricultural land — somewhere between 1.5 percent and 4 percent — remains both accessible and undamaged, mostly in limited southern areas, leaving the north largely off-limits due to restrictions, contamination, and military zones. This was not merely collateral damage. It was a direct assault on food security and livelihoods that continues to unfold even after the fragile ceasefire began in October 2025.

Source

From Truthout via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8166487

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/40164

This article by Elio Henríquez originally appeared in the April 3, 2026 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. The main victim of the current stage of capitalism is the nation-state, which now has no decision-making capacity, stated Captain Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).

He added that “in our opinion, we may be wrong, but the reconstruction of the nation-state is not possible because it no longer has fundamental bases.”

Marcos expressed the above during the second day of activities of the April 2026 Seedbed: The Storm Inside and Outside According to the Zapatista Communities & Peoples, which is being held in San Cristóbal with the participation of 418 people from some thirty countries, including Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the United States, France, England, Iran and Italy, in addition to members of the EZLN.

Captain Marcos of the EZLN in an archive photo. Photo: Cuartoscuro

Speaking this Friday [in discussion entitled], A Peephole into the Storm in the World: Nation-States Under Attack, he said that “the Nation-State is born for capitalism, that is, the bourgeoisie needs a State, a territory, a currency, laws, a geographical delimitation, a coat of arms, a flag. And so nation-states are born.”

In fact, he added, “in Europe, where feudalism was displaced and revolutions began to form the nation-state, that is where capitalism found its breeding ground and began to develop. It developed so much that the nation-state became an obstacle, and capitalism, the system, needed goods to circulate, to be sold quickly, and to generate the greatest profit as quickly as possible.”

He pointed out that “national currencies, the national legal structure, the governance they call it—that is, the form of government and the entire legal system—are obstacles to them. Then, free trade agreements come along, and borders open up for investments and goods but close down for human beings.”

Marcos reiterated that “the nation-state has no decision-making power. Sovereignty is a bad joke. They can’t say that Mexico is sovereign, even if they say so on the Mañanera, if it can’t even decide whether to send oil to Cuba. It can’t be. In a developed nation-state, that decision belongs to the government: to say who to give or sell to, or who not to. It’s no longer possible.”

“The entire offensive under the names of (Donald) Trump and (Benjamin) Netanyahu is related to this. Israel thinks it is defending the nation-state, but that is not true. As long as the people of israel do not understand that Palestine is the home of the Palestinians, that they will always want to return, and that they carry the key to their land with them wherever they go, until they die, are killed, or disappear, this will not stop.”

In reality, he elaborated, “Netanyahu isn’t defending the State of israel, that’s a lie. He’s conquering territory, but the Palestinians aren’t going to surrender. I don’t know how many years it will take; they’re not going to surrender. There’s something deep within the Palestinian people that I can’t explain, and I don’t know if anyone can: Why, with everything against them, do the Palestinian people continue to resist? Why are the Cuban people preparing for an invasion? If they’re supposedly under a dictatorship, why don’t they take to the streets and say: Yes, invade us and liberate us?”

He added: “Why did the U.S. military enter Venezuela to kidnap Nicolás Maduro and Cilia—it was funny how the media didn’t want to say kidnapping and said they went to arrest them—and if they [the opposition] won the elections, why didn’t anyone take to the streets to welcome them? They had to make a one-way trip. It’s not that they had almost no casualties; they didn’t have any because the U.S. military uses mercenaries for that. These mercenaries don’t exist; they’re paid, and if they’re killed, that’s it, but they’re nameless. So, the U.S. military casualties during the kidnapping in Venezuela don’t appear on the lists, and the major left-wing analysts, including those from Cuba, take it for granted that what Trump says about them having no casualties is true. They did. What happened is that they used mercenaries. Just like Putin had to use them in Ukraine. Even a country’s national army can no longer sustain a war as a nation. They have to rely on other resources.”

Subcomandante Moisés

Marcos asserted that in the US and israel’s war against Iran, the big oil companies are the ones who benefit because the price of oil has risen. “That’s what needs to be discussed: who is profiting from these wars?”

He said that “we also need to delve deeper and specify who benefits from Netanyahu’s war against Palestine. Who benefited from the United States’ attack on Venezuela, and who will benefit if they attempt to invade Cuba, which won’t be the same, you know? The Cuban people were born in resistance. They’ve been doing it for over 60 years. It won’t be as easy as they think.”

Subcomandante Moisés, who spoke about A Window to Zapatismo: A Window to Government Counterinsurgency Programs in Territories of Zapatista Indigenous Peoples, expressed that the migration of Indigenous people and peasants to the United States has caused lenders to keep their lands because they cannot pay the loans they took out to emigrate.

“Because of poverty and migration, some people mortgaged their land in exchange for loans. They left, some died, others returned, but they have no way to pay, and the lender keeps the land,” he said.

He added that the fact that “the five, ten, or twenty people who mortgaged or sold their two and a half hectares has led to the emergence of small landowners. Within the ejido, a small or medium-sized landowner has now emerged with 100, 200, or 300 hectares. Before, it was communal land, plots of 20 hectares, and now two, three, or four people own 300 or 400 hectares. The community has been erased. Now it’s just an empty shell.”

• 

  News Briefs

  President Sheinbaum: Unlikely the Right Wing Will Return to Power in Mexico

  April 4, 2026

  The Mexican President indicated that the financial outlook is positive for the country, which demonstrates the viability of its economic model.

• 

  News Briefs

  EZLN: The Nation-state No Longer Has Decision Making Power

  April 4, 2026

  “Sovereignty is a bad joke. They can’t say that Mexico is sovereign, even if they say so on the Mañanera, if it can’t even decide whether to send oil to Cuba.”

• 

  News Briefs

  Social Programs Will Cushion Impact of Global Chaos in 2026: Mexico’s Finance Secretary

  April 3, 2026April 3, 2026

  By 2026, social program spending will reach nearly one trillion pesos, with the goal of sustaining the well-being of the majority of families.

The post EZLN: The Nation-state No Longer Has Decision Making Power appeared first on Mexico Solidarity Media.

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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8137710

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/39721

Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

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During the Trump administration’s time in power, transgender students have lost the ability to fight for their Title IX protections against schools that discriminate against them. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has greenlit the targeting of LGBTQ+ students repeatedly this term. Maryland, though, appears poised to push back with a new bill that is rapidly advancing through the state legislature. HB 649, which has already passed the House of Delegates 100-35, would significantly expand protections for transgender students across the state, giving them a private right of action to sue schools that discriminate against them in "any program or activity"—a phrase borrowed directly from Title IX that would explicitly protect participation in sports, admissions, and access to school facilities and programs statewide. The bill was heard in a Senate committee yesterday.

The bill states that "an educational institution may not exclude an individual from participation in, deny a person the benefits of, or subject an individual to discrimination within, any program or activity of the educational institution on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, or marital status" (emphasis added). The language is significant and expansive: the bill defines "educational institution" to include both public and nonpublic prekindergarten programs, elementary schools, secondary schools, institutions of postsecondary education, institutions of higher education, and any other educational program leading to a certificate, diploma, or degree—covering virtually every school in the state from pre-K through college.

The bill was brought at the request of Maryland's own Commission on Civil Rights. In its testimony, the Commission laid out the urgency in stark terms: the federal Office for Civil Rights, which has historically been the primary enforcement mechanism for students facing discrimination, has been gutted under the Trump administration. OCR complaints from Maryland residents surged to 130 in 2024—but after January 2025, the office effectively stopped processing them. Furthermore, when the administration does take action, it is against transgender students, not in favor of their rights. The ACLU of Maryland, which also testified in favor of the bill, noted that when the current president took office, many OCR complaints were dismissed without investigation. "With the dismantling of USDE and OCR, Maryland must fill the gap to ensure that the civil rights of all Maryland students are protected and upheld," the ACLU wrote.

The bill is notable for two reasons. The first is its use of the phrase "any program or activity" in its protection of transgender students. Maryland's existing nondiscrimination law, the 2022 Inclusive Schools Act, prohibits schools from "discriminating against” students based on gender identity—but does not explicitly guarantee the right to participate in all school programs and activities. The current vague language can leave room for schools to argue that barring a trans student from a sports team or denying access to facilities does not constitute discrimination. Only a handful of states have closed this gap. California's landmark 2013 School Success and Opportunity Act explicitly guarantees transgender students the right to "participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity." Connecticut similarly requires "equal opportunity to participate in school activities, programs, and courses of study" regardless of gender identity. Maryland's HB 649, by adopting the Title IX formula—"exclude from participation in, deny the benefits of, or subject to discrimination within any program or activity"—would place the state among this small group.

Secondarily, the bill creates a private right of action. Under Maryland's current framework, a student alleging discrimination must depend on government agencies acting in their favor. HB 649 changes that. A transgender student experiencing discrimination in bathrooms, sports, dormitories, or any other school program would be able to sue the school directly in state court, without waiting for the state superintendent or the attorney general to act on their behalf. The National Women's Law Center Action Fund, which testified in support of the bill, called this pathway "critical for student survivors of sexual assault and LGBTQI+ students who may face greater hurdles in obtaining justice on federal civil rights claims." Any school that capitulates to Trump administration demands to roll back transgender protections may now face lawsuits directly from the students it harms, should this bill pass.

The bill has the support of Maryland's LGBTQ+ Caucus, which submitted a letter of support calling it a necessary step to close enforcement gaps in civil rights law. "For LGBTQ+ students, actionable nondiscrimination enforcement supports a safer school climate, better academic outcomes, and recognition and respect for gender diversity and sexual orientation as integral parts of students' identities," the caucus wrote. "Ensuring that LGBTQ+ students and educators are protected under state civil rights law helps educational environments become more inclusive, safe, and equitable for all."

The bill passed the House 100-35 on March 23 and has been referred to the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee, where it was heard yesterday. The Senate must act before the legislative session ends on April 13. If passed, the bill is likely to be signed by Gov. Wes Moore, who has signed the Trans Shield Act, the Trans Health Equity Act expanding Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care, and declared Maryland a sanctuary state for transgender people.

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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8137444

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/39745

Topeka Capital Journal

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Samantha Boucher openly defied the state laws of Kansas when, in the presence of the Governor and the police, she walked into the bathroom in an act of civil disobedience.

Boucher is the founder and executive director of Trans Liberty and a transgender woman. The bathroom was in the Kansas statehouse. The morning was March 31st: the Transgender Day of Visibility.

The police showed her the way. Governor Laura Kelly, who Boucher encountered along the way, accepted a gracious thanks from Boucher. Kelly had tried to veto the bathroom ban bill that Boucher was now defying, but she was overridden by a heavily conservative state legislature.

“I think this would be extremely dangerous for a Kansan to do, but ... I’m more than happy to put myself at that risk if it means that somebody else doesn’t have to, because eventually someone would try this,” Boucher told the Topeka Capital-Journal. “I’m really interested to see what the attorney general chooses to do here.”

@topekacapitaljournal

The Topeka Capital-Journal on Instagram: "A transgender activis…

Boucher’s modest protest transpired as the state crackdowns on trans people escalated: banning them from using bathrooms in public buildings that don’t match their sex assigned at birth, instituting a “bounty” to incentivize snitching on trans people who use the “wrong” restroom and institutions that don’t sufficiently sex-check people at the bathroom door, and most notably, revoking transgender people’s driver’s licenses if they don’t match their sex assigned at birth. Those caught with the “wrong” gender on their driver’s license could face criminal charges, making it the most extreme anti-trans ID law in the country.

None of this deterred Boucher. “I commend her for calling attention to state-sanctioned discrimination and for her bravery in challenging those who support such discrimination to put their votes into action,” Rep. Abi Boatman of Kansas’ 86th district in Wichita, told Erin in the Morning.

Boatman is one of a handful of transgender state lawmakers in the country; she is not legally allowed to use the women’s restroom in her own place of work at the Capitol, and she cannot drive to work with an ID that accurately depicts her gender.

Boucher left yesterday a free woman, but Kansas authorities are investigating the matter.

Others are not so lucky. Transgender and cisgender people alike have been caught up in the anti-trans panic—people have been harassed and filmed in the bathroom, accosted by police or security guards, physically assaulted, and arrested after using the restroom, even in states with no such “bathroom ban” on the books.

Some of these instances have been planned protests; others were unsuspecting patrons and private citizens simply using the restroom. That’s because these laws rely on piecemeal enforcement, vigilante bathroom police, self-censorship, and above all, fear.

The political landscape is especially dangerous for Black and brown trans people, who face disproportionate levels of violence and police brutality.

As Boucher approached the restrooms on the second floor, she encountered Governor Laura Kelly, who was attending an unrelated event. Boucher told the Governor what she was about to do.

“In regard to SB 244, I will use the restroom 3 times, triggering a misdemeanor,” Boucher said. “I appreciate your veto.”

Kelly commended her—and apologized. “I am very sorry that you and others have been put in this situation,” Kelly said.

According to the law, Boucher could face criminal charges as well as a $1,000 civil penalty.

Boucher was the first openly trans federal campaign manager, as per her social media. In 2019, she oversaw Democratic candidate Kimberly Graham’s Senate campaign in Iowa ahead of the June primaries. She is the founder and executive director of Trans Liberty, a trans equality PAC.

“What I hope to have accomplished here, and in whatever I become embroiled in as a result, is making sure that the nation doesn’t forget that this is happening here,” Boucher said as per local press reports. “This is unprecedented, and it cannot be allowed to stand.”

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