Source: War and Peas 🧿 (@warandpeas@mastodon.social)

The journalists were near the village of Sinjil north of Ramallah to cover the one-year anniversary of the killing of Saif Musallet, a Palestinian-American who was beaten to death by Jewish settlers, last July.

Within minutes of arriving at the location where Musallet was killed, Israeli settlers descended on the area. As the CNN team and other journalists tried to leave, a group of four settlers blocked the road with their car and tried to keep the vehicles from moving forward.

The four settlers were wielding wooden and metal rods and stones. One settler brandished a knife and tried to puncture the tires of CNN’s vehicle.

The settlers then began to jump on the vehicle behind CNN’s — carrying another group of journalists — and smashed the windshield of that vehicle. Another group of settlers tried to block a separate exit route before chasing the journalists towards the town of Sinjil.

Possibly my favourite photo from Gotland 😁

@outdoor@fedigroups.social @nature@fedigroups.social @photography@fedigroups.social @hiking@fedigroups.social @photography@lemmy.world @Nature@lemmy.world @hiking@lemmy.world

#SilentSunday #OC #NaturePhotography #Nature #LandscapePhotography #Photography #Photo
#Hiking #InMy #Summer #Wonderland

US President Donald Trump on Sunday twice told journalists to stop asking him about the status of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran once again closed after the president declared an end to the ceasefire deal between the two countries.

The first instance came during an interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker, who pointed to conflicting statements from the Iranian government and US Central Command about the status of the strait, which is an essential shipping lane for global petroleum supplies.

Trump replied that "it's open, and I don't want to talk about it because I want to honor the life" of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who died on Saturday from what his office described as "a brief and sudden illness."

"So I don't want to talk about it," Trump continued. "I told you that before the call."

WELKER: Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is closed. CENTCOM says it's open. Which is it?

TRUMP: It's open, and I don't want to talk about because I want to honor the life of Lindsey Graham, so I don't want to talk about it. I told you that before the call. pic.twitter.com/3ed7dN1bhK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2026

Shortly after, during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Trump was again asked whether the strait was still open.

"It's open as far as we're concerned," Trump told Tapper. "Don't talk about it. Talk about the reason you asked me to speak."

"Okay," Tapper replied. "We appreciate your time, sir."

TAPPER: Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed. Is that true?

TRUMP: It's open as far as we're concerned. Don't talk about it. Talk about the reason you asked me to speak. pic.twitter.com/TwssTycQdF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2026

Iran shut down shipping traffic in the strait after Trump launched an illegal war against the country in late February. The strait's closure resulted in spiking oil and gasoline prices, which coincided with further erosion in Trump's approval ratings.

Although traffic through the strait initially picked up in the wake of a June memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran, it has since slumped as the ceasefire between the two nations has fallen apart.

Ana Marie Cox, contributing editor at The New Republic, bashed both Welker and Tapper for heeding the president's requests and not pushing him to answer questions about the war he unlawfully started.

"Frankly astonished that supposed news sources agreed to terms to interview Trump and appeared to be deferential to them," Cox wrote in a social media post, "enough that they were apologetic in brining up other topics."

Cox's sentiment was echoed by Kai Ryssdal, host of NPR's Marketplace, who remarked that "the guy being interviewed doesn’t get to pick the questions."

Journalist Helen Kennedy challenged Trump's assertion that asking about the status of the Iran war was irrelevant when talking about Lindsey Graham.

"Making war with Iran was Lindsey Graham's favorite thing," Kennedy observed. "It's not like it's unrelated."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10085225

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has reported a surge in leftwing extremism, in response to the resurgent far right and Israel’s actions in the Middle East.

Violent crimes motivated by leftwing ideological beliefs include attempted murder, assaults, sabotage and arson attacks and rose 60 per cent in 2025, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said on Tuesday.

“Leftwing extremism is on the rise again in Germany and poses a threat to public safety and order,” said interior minister Alexander Dobrindt at a news conference presenting the intelligence agency’s annual report.

He added that the phenomenon was largely a reaction to the already widespread problem of rightwing extremism in Germany, warning of a radicalising dynamic developing between the two.

“For both groups — leftwing extremists and rightwing extremists alike — we can see here that the potential for violence is rising significantly,” Dobrindt said.

...

An electricity substation in Berlin was destroyed by the leftwing terrorist Vulkangruppe in January, leaving some 100,000 residents without power in freezing conditions for several days. Authorities were surprised by the attack and have struggled to trace the origins of the group or its membership.

Leftwing terrorism plays a dark role in postwar German history: during the 1970s and 1980s the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, conducted a campaign of robberies and bombings. They assassinated US soldiers, German diplomats and the CEO of Deutsche Bank as well as many ordinary West German citizens.

...

The BfV is now tracking multiple extremist leftwing organisations, many of which profess violence as a political tool and are mostly underground.

“We’re dealing here with highly secretive structures . . . which, at times, also operate very professionally,” said BfV president Sinan Selen.

German intelligence and law enforcement services were working hard to penetrate the organisations, he said. “Various security agencies are very active in this area, and we’ll see what the coming months bring in this respect.”

...

Under Selen, the agency has also sought to have the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — which now polls as the country’s largest political party — classified as a rightwing extremist organisation.

The determination was struck down by a German court in February but is still under review.

“My personal assessment is that the AfD is an extremist party,” Dobrindt said on Tuesday. His agency’s goal was to continue to scrutinise the party and its membership, he said.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10085225

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has reported a surge in leftwing extremism, in response to the resurgent far right and Israel’s actions in the Middle East.

Violent crimes motivated by leftwing ideological beliefs include attempted murder, assaults, sabotage and arson attacks and rose 60 per cent in 2025, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) said on Tuesday.

“Leftwing extremism is on the rise again in Germany and poses a threat to public safety and order,” said interior minister Alexander Dobrindt at a news conference presenting the intelligence agency’s annual report.

He added that the phenomenon was largely a reaction to the already widespread problem of rightwing extremism in Germany, warning of a radicalising dynamic developing between the two.

“For both groups — leftwing extremists and rightwing extremists alike — we can see here that the potential for violence is rising significantly,” Dobrindt said.

...

An electricity substation in Berlin was destroyed by the leftwing terrorist Vulkangruppe in January, leaving some 100,000 residents without power in freezing conditions for several days. Authorities were surprised by the attack and have struggled to trace the origins of the group or its membership.

Leftwing terrorism plays a dark role in postwar German history: during the 1970s and 1980s the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, conducted a campaign of robberies and bombings. They assassinated US soldiers, German diplomats and the CEO of Deutsche Bank as well as many ordinary West German citizens.

...

The BfV is now tracking multiple extremist leftwing organisations, many of which profess violence as a political tool and are mostly underground.

“We’re dealing here with highly secretive structures . . . which, at times, also operate very professionally,” said BfV president Sinan Selen.

German intelligence and law enforcement services were working hard to penetrate the organisations, he said. “Various security agencies are very active in this area, and we’ll see what the coming months bring in this respect.”

...

Under Selen, the agency has also sought to have the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — which now polls as the country’s largest political party — classified as a rightwing extremist organisation.

The determination was struck down by a German court in February but is still under review.

“My personal assessment is that the AfD is an extremist party,” Dobrindt said on Tuesday. His agency’s goal was to continue to scrutinise the party and its membership, he said.

...

Archived

LINK https://xcancel.com/LibertyLockPod/status/2076212055875477747#m

Leading up to the 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, which made marriage equality a federal right, sociologist Mark Regnerus published controversial research titled the “New Family Structures Study”. Regnerus, who is forthcoming about the fact that his Catholic faith shapes his practice as a social scientist, published the study in 2012 in the journal Social Science Research.

The study purported that children raised by a parent in a same-gender relationship are at greater risk of negative psychosocial outcomes in adulthood compared to children raised by straight parents. The study was funded primarily by The Witherspoon Institute and The Bradley Foundation, both far-right interest groups that actively lobby against LGBTQ+ rights, and was viewed by many political commentators as a blatant effort by both groups to influence the Supreme Court’s decision in several high-profile cases, including Obergefell v. Hodges.

Regnerus denied the allegations, although a leaked correspondence challenged his defense and insinuated that the study was designed to produce specific results to challenge the idea that children raised by same-gender parents experience similar psychosocial outcomes to those raised by straight parents.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1257777/2-websites-run-by-the-u-s-army-were-defaced-by-hackers-with-messages-referring-to-trump

I've recently moved apartments and the architecture is such that lots of flies get trapped in a loop near my back sliding door. It's sometimes dozens or more just spinning in a circle.

I was fortunate to get a unit with ample growing space and was hoping there's some kind of flower or plant that flies will avoid before getting trapped in the doom spiral.

I can catch one of them in a safe bug net and take a picture if needed.

Thanks in advance

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Leading up to the 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, which made marriage equality a federal right, sociologist Mark Regnerus published controversial research titled the “New Family Structures Study”. Regnerus, who is forthcoming about the fact that his Catholic faith shapes his practice as a social scientist, published the study in 2012 in the journal Social Science Research.

The study purported that children raised by a parent in a same-gender relationship are at greater risk of negative psychosocial outcomes in adulthood compared to children raised by straight parents. The study was funded primarily by The Witherspoon Institute and The Bradley Foundation, both far-right interest groups that actively lobby against LGBTQ+ rights, and was viewed by many political commentators as a blatant effort by both groups to influence the Supreme Court’s decision in several high-profile cases, including Obergefell v. Hodges.

While the study eventually fell out of social commentary in the United States, today’s “Greater Than” movement, a coalition of prominent anti-LGBTQ+ lobbyists and political figures, has utilized it as one of its primary motivations to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.

In 2025, the Witherspoon Institute, which funded Regnerus’s study, released an op-ed, conveniently in its own publication, claiming there is “new vindication” for the study because AI has supposedly allowed for a more accurate interpretation of his data. Meanwhile, the writer conveniently avoids the elephant in the room: The allegation that Regenerus manipulated his data to suit his own theological worldview.

Not seeing how marriage equality giving tax benefits to marriage, inheritance law, or preference is buying a home inherently links to child upbringing.

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/49354520

Donald Trump’s Homeland Security regime has been at the center of two critical stories in the past two weeks. In the first, federal agents shot and killed a man and quickly got to work justifying the use of force under the flimsiest of pretenses. In the other, it made house calls to people who said mean things to them online.

Since taking office last year, the Trump administration has been telling us that fighting the good fight of white supremacy will make you look cool and noble. The DHS under former Secretary Kristi Noem spent $220 million to help her cosplay as a cowboy and call up ICE recruits as if we’re fighting a new World War, this time against our friends and neighbors. It’s all very embarassing.

The propaganda is cringeworthy. But the immigration crackdown it services has been, undoubtedly, cruel and deadly. In Texas just this Tuesday, an ICE officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father of three who lived in the US for 35 years building houses and caring for his family. The agency immediately released a statement justifying lethal force on someone it alleges tried to “weaponize his vehicle.” Videos showing parts of the confrontation already suggest it’s probably another bullshit story like the ones we’ve seen from Minnesota. The feds later admitted they were looking for an entirely different person. Salgado Araujo nonetheless ended up dead.

ICE has proven it can’t handle public confrontation. That’s bad. But it also can’t even handle emails and Instagram posts. It’s demanding a total lack of accountability not only from the law, but from society itself.

Over the past year, DHS has invented its own novel version of “doxxing” — once the domain of angry gamers on the internet — wherein the public now dares to unmask and name federal agents who have been responsible for horrors like the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. The government doesn’t want us to talk about the agent accused of shooting her to death (whose name, by the way, is Jonathan Ross). Before being shot to death, Good told agents, “I’m not mad at you.” They killed her anyway, then called her a “fucking bitch.”

The government is very upset that people are criticizing it for shooting innocent mothers to death in the street. DHS stalked and intimidated a man who protested against state-sponsored killing, issuing him a “WARNING NOTICE” as flimsy as the nonjudicial “warrants” it uses now to bust into people’s homes. It’s like if Jay and Silent Bob showed up at your house because of an online comment you wrote, except with guns and the force of the federal government. It’s both deadly serious and deeply unserious. What are they afraid of? Well, we already know. Accountability in any form.

Minnesota officials had to sue the federal government for access to evidence that would aid in investigating ICE shootings because the feds won’t cooperate. It would be a weird thing for the feds managed by an allegedly pro-cop party to do, except when you consider it’s not really a pro-cop party, what with the January 6th insurrection. The current White House webpage about January 6th calls it “a date which will live in infamy” while moping about cop-killers being unfairly treated and saying Democrats did the real insurrection. Yeah, they’re lying. But also, seriously: weak crybaby stuff.

This of course all ladders up to Trump, whose project for more than a decade has been to accumulate power while eliminating the concept of shame and accountability. The man cannot tolerate a single slight without going off the rails, nor can his subordinates. This posture has trickled down to his army of fellow losers who mirror him in several ways: (1) denying any wrongdoing, (2) blaming others, and (3) intimidating anyone who crosses them. In some really bad cases, (4) obstructing justice. Then there’s also (5), looking really lame while doing it.

...

ICE is a menace to democracy and its murderous conduct should be soberly considered. But we should also recognize that these people are weak and sad and ought to be made fun of. Even for their stupid outfits, which look ripped from a “how to be tacticool” buying guide. And Americans are ridiculing these people. What better way to protest an army of clowns than by showing up as Portland did with a human frog at the front? Cops arrested that frog. Trillions of dollars later, we’ve learned nothing about counter-insurgency, because now there’s a frog legion.

These ICE agents are so small that they wear masks in public like a bunch of cowardly Patriot Front wannabes, who probably got a similar amount of training. You’d think the average DMV worker would have been masked up for years based on the abuse they get, but then again, the average government employee is far braver than these fools.

ICE is now the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the federal government. If you know anything about the actual waste, fraud, and abuse of federal funding for defense, you’ll know this is not something that guarantees quality or competence. This is just Donald Trump’s new private domestic army. I’d call them Stormtroopers except for the fact I’m pretty sure some of them are getting their uniforms and body armor from Temu.

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1257777/2-websites-run-by-the-u-s-army-were-defaced-by-hackers-with-messages-referring-to-trump