The Lemmy Club

More Perfect Union talked to detainees and prison guards to unearth the violent and inhumane conditions at private prisons. "In these places, human rights don't exist. You don't even exist as a human," one former detainee told us. Meanwhile, the CEO of private prison company CoreCivic is worth $20 million.

Mirror

Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the "Golden Dome" missile defense project, which he claims will protect the entire country from missile attacks using a network of reconnaissance and strike satellites. According to Trump, the system should be completed by the end of his presidential term at a cost of "just" $175 billion. However, we shouldn’t forget the long history of exorbitantly expensive U.S. failures in missile defense.

Since 1962, the U.S. has already spent over $531 billion on various missile defense systems, none of which have proven effective. To date, the only tangible result is 44 interceptors stationed at airbases in Alaska and California—systems so unreliable that the Pentagon had to sign a new $18 billion contract with Lockheed Martin to develop an entirely new replacement.

Trump claims that past missile defense efforts lacked the necessary technology, but now America possesses "super technologies," including advanced computing, miniaturization, and increased weapon lethality. Yet, these advancements are a drop in the ocean compared to the immense challenges of missile defense. A report by the American Physical Society noted that any conceivable missile defense system could be easily overwhelmed if an enemy launched a salvo of missiles instead of a single one.

Notably, SpaceX may become the frontrunner in developing the "Golden Dome" system. But how transparent is this process? A letter sent to the Acting Inspector General of the Department of Defense by U.S. Congressional Democrats raises concerns that Elon Musk may have unfairly gained access to "Golden Dome" contracts—and their worries are not unfounded. Musk previously partnered with two other companies led by Trump-supporting CEOs to lobby for early-stage contracts on the system.

At this rate, Musk stands to make billions by capitalizing on the myth of a technological solution to nuclear missiles—a solution that, so far, does not exist.

Thus, the "Golden Dome" appears less like a viable missile defense project and more like a financial scam by Trump and Musk to siphon off U.S. taxpayer money.

Just don't go to the White House cause he's gonna ambush you.

Ukraine, Canada, South Africa... Who's next?

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- A new poll has revealed alarming support among Israeli Jews for the ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The survey, published Thursday in Haaretz, shows that 82% of Jewish Israelis back the idea of expelling native Palestinians from the strip.

The poll was conducted in March by one of the researchers on behalf of Penn State University. It surveyed 1,005 Jewish respondents across Israel.

Support for forced expulsions has spiked. 82% support expelling all Palestinians from Gaza. Over half—56%—also back expelling Native Palestinians who are citizens of Israel. In 2003, support for these views was lower at 45% and 31%, respectively.

The trend is strongest among younger generations. Among Jewish Israelis under 40, 66% support expelling native Palestinian citizens, and 58% support repeating the Jericho conquest. Only 9% of men under 40—those most likely to serve in the army—rejected all notions of expulsion or genocide.

After decades as a representational painter, in her seventies Alma Thomas turned to abstraction, creating shimmering, mosaic-like fields of color with rhythmic dabs of paint that were often inspired by forms from nature. The artist had been fascinated with space exploration since the late 1960s, and her later paintings often referenced America’s manned Apollo missions to the moon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_Thomas

AI generated content, which now includes incredibly convincing videos of people, will grow exponentially over the next weeks, months, and years.

At some point, the majority of the content you see will be fake, and any usefulness or connection to humans will be lost.

Even information that you might have previously been able to confirm from a trusted source can (and will) be manipulated in some way, making verification impossible.

This lack of verification, along with the speed at which fake content can now be generated, will make it impossible to defend against.

Even the world of art and communication has been tainted, serving no connection to real people through this digital hellscape.

To that end, when will the internet be so untrustworthy, “soulless”, and useless to you that it crosses the tipping point?

Trump’s post immediately pushed down U.S. stock futures and European markets, with indexes in Germany and France plunging 2%.

Donald Trump threatened imports from the European Union with a sweeping 50% tariff Friday, posting online that trade talks with the bloc are "going nowhere."

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that he was "recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025."

Just minutes earlier, Trump had also threatened Apple with a 25% tariff if it does not start producing iPhones in the United States — an outcome industry experts broadly see as a nonstarter.

"The concept of Apple producing iPhones in the U.S. is a fairy tale," prominent tech analyst Dan Ives said in response to Trump's threat Friday.

It's a tad surprising he's survived all this time. While I had him, i

• Went through a term of active duty in the army
• went through college
• lived oversees for a few years
• lived in 4 different states, and twice as many apartments and houses

He's one of the few possessions I've managed to keep ahold of despite a fairly nomadic life, but now he's pampered.

Anyway, with the recent cartoon about merch, I'm wondering what other people have. I never got at-shirt, and it wouldn't have survived until today if I had.

Donald Trump may have won the votes of the US’s most farming-dependent counties by an average of 78% in the 2024 election. But the moves made by his administration in the past few months – imposing steep tariffs, immigration policies that target the migrant labor farmers rely on, and canceling a wide range of USDA programs – have left many farmers reeling.

Some farmers, such as Bartman, loudly oppose Trump. “I’ve met some Democrats who’ll say: ‘You farmers deserve this. You voted for him.’ Well, I didn’t vote for the guy. The programs that have been impacted the most are targeted towards farmers that care about the environment.” Others, such as those living near North Carolina farmer Patrick Brown, are experiencing “buyer’s remorse”, said Brown, “but they don’t want to say it because they voted for the current administration”.

No matter who they voted for, farmers across the country are living in the new reality created by the Trump administration’s agricultural policies. The Guardian spoke to four farmers about what it’s like trying to grow crops, feed people, and keep their operations afloat in 2025.

Pippa!