Politics

The murder of two firefighters in Coeur d’Alene Idaho on Sunday 29 June appears to be linked to a significant anniversary of an incident that occurred exactly 24 years earlier involving property that once belonged to a violent neo-Nazi white supremacist hate group called Aryan Nations. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/aryan-nations-behind-coeur-d-alene-idaho-shooting-theories-emerge-amid-ongoing-manhunt-101751250931648.html The back-story here is that Aryan Nations was formerly based in a 20 acre security compound of buildings near Hayden Lake Idaho which is just a few miles from Canfield Mountain in Coeur d’Alene where the most recent shootings took plac…

Three weeks ago (back around May 24) a highly conservative American think-tank called MEF (Middle East Forum) published a report predicting that an attack by Israel on Iranian nuclear sites would take place within “a matter of days not weeks” https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/days-not-weeks-israels-imminent-attack-on-iranian-nuclear-sites This assessment was based on a convergence of factors including - reports from the Pentagon’s DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) that Iran could produce sufficient weapons grade uranium for a nuclear device within a week, and for another 15 within a month after that - a deadlock in the fifth round of US-Iran nuclear talks in Rome - …

I am currently writing a formal statement to the UN, I will be including my email in the rare scenario they do see it, here is it so far. being who still believes that even in war, there must be limits. There must be boundaries that protect the innocent, the wounded, the children, and the caretakers who risk everything to keep them alive. That is why I am urging the world to enforce a six to eight kilometer nonconflict zone around all hospitals in Gaza. This is not a symbolic gesture. This is a rational, calculated, and absolutely necessary step to prevent more death and irreversible trauma. Let us start with standard artillery. The M795 155 millimeter high explosive pro…

Not sure if this is the right place but BBC NewsBBC threatens AI firm with legal action over unauthorised...It is first time that the BBC has taken such action regarding alleged scraping of its content for AI.

So US senator can’t ask questions? So they are going to arrest US senator for asking questions? US senator forcibly removed and arrested for asking questions.

It appears Trump has called in the army and marines because of the protests. How is this legal, I thought the US constitution forbids the use of the military in event of protest or riot? They can call in the national guard but they cannot call in the military. Also why the major news doing a terrible job covering the protests going on?

Israel is currently afraid of starting a full-scale war with Iran, because Iran is bigger and has more resources. However, I believe that Israel could easily win this war if it turned it into a nonzero sum game and set its goal to interest the Iranian people and turn them into an ally. To do this, Israel needs to announce in social media that it is starting an offensive with only one goal - performing a referendum in Iran with the following questions: 1) Unblocking Youtube; 2) Freeing political prisoners; 3) Abolishing censorship and repressive laws; 4) Transferring power from the Ayatollah to the President; 5) Amnesty for all Iranian military personnel who went over to I…

Apparantly green suppliers such as wind and solar are regularly being paid large sums to not produce electricity in the UK. BBC NewsThe huge sums energy firms get to not provide powerCould the government's radical plan to change the way the UK distributes electricity really bring down bills - or just lead to a postcode lottery? The tile of this thread says it all.

Putin made it clear to Trump that an attack on Iran is off-limits : it will drag both Russia and China into the war, so, WW3. Iran is, for both of Russia and China, one of their top strategic economic and military ally, an ally that is already PLANNED to be the link of Russia and China to the Indian Ocean.

I don't want to cause excessive argumentation, I simply want to know everyone's opinion. Who is more scientifically learning, the Left or Right?

The new big bill being passed has a hidden part deeeeeeep in the pages that fully removes States from being able to legislate AI in any way for 10 years! It also would move AI under a single government umbrella and gives it different zoning abilities so it could be placed in housing as well as commercial real estate (maybe it's the foot in thw door for 15 minute cities?) The bill is insane and Musk would be in the perfect position to gain a ton from it. Plus weikely enter a bad financial time this fall that is going to be very bad for main street, and likely the rich will get richer including Musk and that is double bad optics especially while inflation is getting insane…

Given Trump's history I think it's a nailed on certainty that his cabinet will be different by the midterms. My bet would be Musk, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they fall out before the inauguration. Who are the other runner's?

2025_05_20 spread expectation for free speech0001.pdf The pdf is not easy to read because it has to be downloaded first. The gist of the file is that social media can be used to spread to people around the world to have a universal expectation for free speech which includes speech critical of government. It gives example of categories of how to agitate for more speech in a country where people are fined or jailed for it. It makes the obvious observation that such techniques will not make big waves in countries where free speech is supported widely already and where government does not enforce double standards in regards to speech. More examples are welcome.

I am very confused regarding a certain situation. RFK Jr. supports that children should be healthy, he also has a very strong anti vaccine stance. HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE

Over last 60 years, various scientific programs have been run for searching for the extraterrestrial life and extraterrestrial civilizations, such as SETI, and large sums of money have been allocated for this. For example, the scientists are now planning to send a satellite to Europa to search for microbes under the ice layer there; recently, dimethyl sulfide was found on the planet K2-18b and this caused a big stir. I have a question: are the ufologists allocated any state money? There is a hypothesis that ships of extraterrestrial civilizations fly above us, this hypothesis can be tested by scientific methods and either confirmed or refuted. Do states allocate money fo…

I went to his blog to try to find something about QFT that I don’t understand and found this alarming entry: https://profmattstrassler.com/2025/04/17/blog-on-indefinite-pause/ The original message seems to have been deleted and all that remains are the replies, which suggest Strassler has been got at by Trump’s gauleiters. Does anyone know what’s going on here? Has he lost his position?

As a child back in the 1960s I used to watch popular American films shown as Sunday matinee programmes on the BBC service. One of them was a 1962 John Frankenheimer film called Birdman of Alcatraz starring Burt Lancaster. The film was adapted from a novel by Thomas E. Gaddis that was based on the real-life story of Robert Stroud - a double murderer who became an expert ornithologist and authority on avian diseases while serving time at Leavenworth. In 1942 Stroud who was regarded as one of the most dangerous convicts in the US prison system was transferred to the penitentiary on Alcatraz Island where he remained until 1959 - (spoiler alert - he was no longer allowed to …

His Holiness..

Is it really naive of me to believe that in long term tariffs will force people to be minimalistic and only buy things that they need? Also wouldn't tariffs reduce shipping / transport related emissions since manufacturing will take place closer to the markets? I am just wondering what are other aspects that could be worse in terms of climate change.

What is DEI, and why is it dividing America? Diversity, equity and inclusion programs have come under attack in American boardrooms, state legislatures and college campuses – and now broadly across the federal government. President Donald Trump hours after swearing in this week began making good on promises to wage a war against such policies, inking an executive order banning efforts such as “environmental justice programs,” “equity initiatives” and DEI considerations in federal hiring. https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/22/us/dei-diversity-equity-inclusion-explained

According to reports in The Hill and elsewhere President-elect Trump said on Sunday evening on social media that owning Greenland “is an absolute necessity” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5053319-trump-greenland-purchase/ Trump also gave a speech to a conservative group demanding the return of the Panama Canal to US control (some 50 years after the canal zone was ceded to Panama) citing “ridiculous shipping fees” as the reason. Trump originally proposed trading Puerto Rico for Greenland back in 2019 during his first term in office - much to the bemusement of Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen who called the idea “absurd” telling reporters…

Also, to further flog the dead horse on the GOP's commitment to merit: Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to a journalist https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/ https://apnews.com/article/war-plans-trump-hegseth-atlantic-230718a984911dd8663d59edbcb86f2a Apparently putting a white guy in charge does not make things automatically better.

Australia went to the polls today to elect their next federal government. The polls have closed, and counting of votes is still in progress. However, the current trend suggests that the Australian Labor Party (the major left-wing party) will retain government. Thank you, Donald Trump. About six months ago, the polls suggested that the people were not happy with the current government due to the cost-of-living crisis and were looking to change government. But it seems to me that what is happening now in the US is causing people to shy away from right-wing parties. This may be the one beneficial thing Trump has done for the world... to be the example of what not to vote for…

Stable democracies? Very interesting... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_for_Germany On 23 February 2025, the AfD won 20.8% of the vote in the German federal election, second to the CDU/CSU. In April 2025, the AfD finishes as the leading party in the first time in opinion polling.[163] In May 2025 the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the party as a "proven right-wing extremist organisation".[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Le_Pen On 31 March 2025, Le Pen, eight other MEPs, and 12 assistants were convicted of embezzlement for misappropriating over €4 million European Parliament funds to fund National Front …

Hot on the heels of Trump’s latest punitive tariff war against China, comes news that Price Johnson the COO of Cephalofair Games (‘Gloomhaven’, ‘Frosthaven’, ‘Jaws of the Lion’) a small board game design company based in Lafayette Indiana has appeared on CNN, and said that his company is almost completely paralysed by the new tariffs imposed on China. https://cephalofair.com/blogs/blog/planning-our-initiatives-tariffs-part-2 So why are US board game publishers in particular being so badly hit ? The answer is that most modern board games are printed in China, usually either by LongPack Games, a printing company based in Shanghai, or by the Jin Hui Printiing company in She…