cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/46541747

US lawmakers push to grant American soldiers serving in the Israeli army the same legal protections as US troops, in a move without precedent for any other foreign army. The bill would place some 20,000 dual citizens fighting for Israel on a legal par with Americans serving the US.

Details of the Israel first carve out was reported in Military.com. The legislation passing through Congress would, for the first time in American history, treat service in a foreign army as legally equivalent to service in the US armed forces — but only where that foreign army is Israeli occupation army.

Under H.R. 8445, an American returning from a tour with the IDF could demand their old job back from a US employer, halt a foreclosure on a US home, and benefit from interest-rate caps on US debt on the basis of foreign military service.

got a new monitor! :3

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/vid/p/1068620/we-investigated-epsteins-emails-and-his-billionaire-network-epstein-secretly-invested-mi

From Peter Thiel to Reid Hoffman to Leon Black, the Epstein class is still here, it's bipartisan, and it's extremely powerful.

A praying mantis preserved in amber for millions of years not a sculpture, but a real prehistoric insect trapped in tree resin and fossilized into a natural time capsule.

An entire moment from ancient Earth… frozen before humans even existed.

Check out : https://www.natureknows.org/2024/02/30-million-year-old-praying-mantis-is.html

From Jen Marie

Happy Tongue Out Tuesday!

This mama and baby great-horned owl gave the cutest pose as they paused during their feeding.

She's slowly coming around....

Ukraine has summoned the Israeli ambassador for what it calls a “lack of appropriate response” in accepting shipments of grain from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on social media platform X on Monday evening that a shipment of Ukrainian grain had arrived in Haifa, the second such vessel “that delivered stolen goods” to Israel.

The Israeli ambassador was asked to appear at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday morning so that Kyiv could “present our protest note and request appropriate action”, the minister added.

In response, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar chided Sybiha for “turning to the media and social networks” and said “allegations are not evidence”.

From Blackland Prairie Raptor Center

We got a wink from this Burrowing Owl as it was laying down on our exam table.

From Justin Rogers

Sunroof safari! This barred owl literally had a birdseye view peering down at me in my truck shooting through the open sunroof!

f/5.0, 1/200", ISO 250 // Sony a7R V + Sony 400 f/2.8

alternative video upload: https://streamable.com/e/h55dmd

Hello everyfur <3!

For those of you unaware, Lemmy.World has a significant problem with a pro-Zionist, pro-Israel admin team. As one of the largest instances, they have a lot of weight to throw around, and they are acting extremely unprofessionally and counter to the ideals of the Fediverse by defederating with AN/db0 - which are broadly very well behaved and active instances.

More details are available in the OP. You can check this summary by Stamets, or sort the comments by Top, and check the top comments for the receipts of this recent issue.

As a pretty active, long standing member of this instance, I am calling for and advocating for Pawb.Social to join this action in standing against power-hungry instance admins acting according to their personal whims and vendettas, by agreeing to join in by pledging to defederate with Lemmy.world if the admin team refuses to back down from this behavior.

I would like to suggest that this is put to some kind of vote/referendum of Pawb users to decide how to approach this issue.

Thank you for reading! :3

Original post follows, cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/67858553

🏴‍☠️ Hoist the Black Flag: Pledge to Boycott Lemmy World!

... if Lemmy World dares to defederate from any ship in the Fediverse Anarchist Flotilla - https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/, https://anarchist.nexus/, and https://quokk.au/.

Mateys, we can’t let a mega‑instance captain bully the rest of the fleet just because their ship’s bigger. If Lemmy World tries to throw the FAF overboard, we’re calling for a show of solidarity: a fediverse blockade of Lemmy World in response, until the landlubbers see reason (i.e., there is an acceptable change in their leadership and/or this policy).

This is about mutual aid, not mutiny - standing together so no single admin gets to rule the seas unchallenged. A united armada of smaller instances can absolutely blunt Lemmy World’s outsized influence (and, let’s be honest, their ego).

☠️ A word to the captains: before hoisting colours or locking in a course, we ask ye to let your crew have their say. Run a poll, open the deck for discussion, and listen to the voices aboard your vessel. These seas belong to all of us, and decisions that shape our fediverse should be made together, not from the captain’s quarters alone.

If other captains be keen to chart this course with us, drop anchor and make the pledge public in the comments. The more hands on deck, the harder it is to sink any one of us. Let us know if you are holding a vote!

dbzer0 and AN members can vote on this pledge in !div0_governance@lemmy.dbzer0.com, and quokk.au will be holding their own vote.

🏴‍☠️ Solidarity forever, and fair winds to the Flotilla!