The Political Thread

[Mitch Buchannon]

Lol of course Clarence Thomas dissented.

Clarence "Uncle" Thomas

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

Clarence "Uncle" Thomas

I wouldn't go that far, I hate Thomas for sure but let's not go down that route.

 

[Chris]

3 dead, multiple wounded in shooting at Mad Butcher grocery store in Arkansas

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said a fast response by first responders might have saved lives during the shooting in Fordyce, a small town about 70 miles south of Little Rock.

www.nbcnews.com

A gunman opened fire at an Arkansas grocery store Friday, killing at least three and wounding several others, authorities said.

The deadly incident unfolded just before 11:40 a.m. CT at the Mad Butcher in Fordyce, a small town about 70 miles south of Little Rock, state police Director Mike Hagar said at a late-afternoon news conference.

Eleven people were wounded, including the three who died, the Arkansas State Police leader said. Two officers were also injured but had non-life-threatening injuries.

Some of the eight surviving civilians were in "extremely critical" condition, Hagar said.

The shooter was critically wounded by police with non-life-threatening injuries and taken into custody, police said.

 

[Death By Looch]

Internet Archive forced to remove 500,000 books after publishers’ court win

Internet Archive fans beg publishers to stop emptying the open library.

arstechnica.com

As a result of book publishers successfully suing the Internet Archive (IA) last year, the free online library that strives to keep growing online access to books recently shrank by about 500,000 titles.

IA reported in a blog post this month that publishers forcing these takedowns abruptly triggered a "devastating loss" for readers who depend on IA to access books that are otherwise impossible or difficult to access.

To restore access, IA is now appealing—hoping to reverse the prior court's decision by convincing the US Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit that IA's controlled digital lending of its physical books should be considered a fair use under copyright law. An April court filing shows that IA intends to argue that the publishers have no evidence that the e-book market has been harmed by the open library's lending, and the purposes of copyright law are better served by allowing IA's lending than by preventing it.

 

[Death By Looch]

Oh look... all these AI businesses are finding more ways to fuck with society.

AI Is Wreaking Havoc on Global Power Systems

New artificial intelligence data centers are coming online so fast that the electricity demand is straining global power grids and threatening clean energy goals.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

Yeah it's almost like running massive computers that require an exponential amount of processing power for little discernable purpose does continually more harm than good.

 

[Chris]

Supreme Court will take up state bans on gender-affirming care for minors

The Supreme Court is stepping into the fight over transgender rights, agreeing to hear appeals from the Biden administration and families seeking to block state bans on gender-affirming care.

apnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday jumped into the fight over transgender rights, agreeing to hear an appeal from the Biden administration seeking to block state bans on gender-affirming care.

The justices’ action comes as Republican-led states have enacted a variety of restrictions on health care for transgender people, school sports participation, bathroom usage and drag shows. The administration and Democratic-led states have extended protections for transgender people, including a new federal regulation that seeks to protect transgender students.

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

I'm sure the Supreme Court will have a reasonable take on this basic human rights issue...

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

Macron warns far-right, hard-left policies could lead to 'civil war'

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday warned that the policies of his far-right and hard-left opponents could lead to "civil war", as France prepared for its most divisive election in decades.He said the far-right "divides and pushes towards civil war", while the hard-left France Unbowed party...

www.yahoo.com

"If I don't win, France will have a civil war."

 

[Deezy]

Yeah those violent immigrants are going to bat for you.

 

[Chris]

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/24/nx-s1-5017953/julian-assange-plea-deal

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has entered into a plea deal with the U.S. government, bringing an end to a years-long international saga over his handling of national security secrets.

Assange is preparing to plead guilty to a single count of conspiring to obtain and disclose information related to the national defense in a U.S. federal court in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific, this week, according to newly filed court papers.

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/25/middleeast/israel-orthodox-military-high-court-intl/index.html

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the government to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, delivering a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that has the potential to unravel his ruling coalition.

The court also ordered the government to withdraw funding from any religious schools, or yeshivas, whose students do not comply with draft notices.

“At this time there is no legal framework that makes it possible to distinguish between yeshiva students and those destined for military service,” the court said. “Accordingly, the state does not have the authority to order a blanket avoidance of their conscription.”

For all intents and purposes, Ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi) Jews have been exempt from national mandatory military service since Israel’s founding. Ultra-Orthodox Jews view religious study as fundamental to the preservation of Judaism, as important to Israel’s defense as the military.

 

[Comrade Khan]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/25/middleeast/israel-orthodox-military-high-court-intl/index.html

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the government to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, delivering a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that has the potential to unravel his ruling coalition.

The court also ordered the government to withdraw funding from any religious schools, or yeshivas, whose students do not comply with draft notices.

“At this time there is no legal framework that makes it possible to distinguish between yeshiva students and those destined for military service,” the court said. “Accordingly, the state does not have the authority to order a blanket avoidance of their conscription.”

For all intents and purposes, Ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi) Jews have been exempt from national mandatory military service since Israel’s founding. Ultra-Orthodox Jews view religious study as fundamental to the preservation of Judaism, as important to Israel’s defense as the military.

seems apt :

 

[Chris]

Middle East Crisis: Half a Million in Gaza Face Starvation, Report Says

A U.N.-backed panel of experts said Israel’s war in Gaza had created a catastrophic lack of food, but stopped short of declaring a famine in the territory.

www.nytimes.com

A U.N.-backed panel of experts said Israel’s war in Gaza had created a catastrophic lack of food, but stopped short of declaring a famine in the territory.

 

[Chris]

UN-backed contingent of foreign police arrives in Haiti as Kenya-led force prepares to face gangs

A couple hundred police officers from Kenya landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, nearly two years after the troubled Caribbean country urgently requested help to quell a surge in gang violence.

apnews.com

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The first U.N.-backed contingent of foreign police arrived in Haiti on Tuesday, nearly two years after the troubled Caribbean country urgently requested help to quell a surge in gang violence.

A couple hundred police officers from Kenya landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, whose main international airport reopened in late May after gang violence forced it to close for nearly three months.