egelwan

[egelwan]

European tourist denied entry to US over JD Vance meme on his phone

A visitor from Norway was reportedly denied entry to the United States after border officers found an unflattering meme of Vice President JD Vance on it. Mads Mikkelsen, 21, told his hometown newspaper that be was harassed by officers before being deported. [He] claimed the officers then threatened him with a $5,000 fine or five years in prison if he refused to give the password to his mobile…

[egelwan]

The Proud Boys are the latest MAGA cultists to break up with Tr*mp

‘Donald Tr*mp campaigned on anti-immigration rhetoric and keeping America out of foreign conflicts, but has veered sharply from his isolationist promises during his second term. After a failed attempt to mediate between Israel and Palestine during the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the former reality TV star’s latest international move was even more dramatic: ordering strikes on three Iranian…

[egelwan]

Prayer circle speaks in tongues at White House

(caught on video by hidden camera) ‘”America will come back to God. We will come to God! Nothing will stop this nation!” the pastor feverishly continues with closed eyes. Meanwhile, the rest of the zealots on the White House grounds are speaking in tongues. Welcome to Trump 2.0. (See video, posted by Patriot Takes.)…’ Carla Sinclair via Boing Boing

[egelwan]

Tuesday Telescope: A new champion enters the ring

‘After a decade of construction, a large new reflecting telescope publicly released its first images on Monday, and they are nothing short of spectacular. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s primary mirror is 8.4 meters in diameter, which makes it one of the largest optical telescopes in the world. However, the real secret sauce of the telescope is its camera—the automobile-sized Legacy Survey of…

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Could Israel's bombing trigger a nuclear accident in Iran?

‘Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites are raising fears of a harmful radioactive accident, including from the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – but experts have told New Scientist that the risks are minimal, despite reports of radiological and chemical contamination inside one nuclear enrichment facility.…’ via New Scientist

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Why Isn’t Russia Defending Iran?

‘Backing the most anti-Western Middle Eastern power was convenient until it wasn’t.…’ Hanna Notte via The Atlantic

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Happy Litha!

Why Every Outdoorsperson Should Celebrate the Summer Solstice ‘In ancient times (circa 5,000 years ago, in places ranging from Egypt to Indigenous North America to the English Isles) the summer solstice was an occasion for late-night revelry and debauchery. Dancing around campfires, performing magic, visiting henges, worshipping ancient gods—all that jazz. So, it surprised me to learn that…

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IH8YRST8

‘Studying drivers across the country for signs of license-plate prejudice—or, why everyone loves Vermont drivers and hates Texans.…’ Jess Stoner via The Morning News

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Trump kicks out Pete Hegseth from strategic Israel-Iran decisions

… and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as well. ‘As the Israel-Iran conflict escalates, Donald Trump huddles with his national security advisors to make a plan — but excludes his own head of defense, Pete Hegseth, from the process. “Nobody is talking to Hegseth,” one official said, via The Washington Post. “There is no interface operationally between Hegseth and the White House at…

[egelwan]

Were the No Kings protests the largest single-day demonstration in American history?

‘Depending on who you ask, between 4 and 6 million people showed up – and according to one theory, this could be a turning point…’ Alaina Demopoulos via The Guardian

[egelwan]

The Next Conservative Civil War Is Coming

‘The next flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s battle to reshape the federal judiciary is coming — and it’s dividing the right. Trump recently appeared to declare war on the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal advocacy organization that played an essential role in his election both in 2016 and 2024. After one of his first-term appointees ruled against him in a major challenge to…

[egelwan]

GOP splits and angry MAGA voter rants against Trump

“F*ck it…I’m pissed” ‘As Donald Trump’s utter mayhem gains momentum, so do his disillusioned MAGA voters, who are rapidly peeling away from his base…. …[Many] are now standing behind Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, and Marjorie Taylor Greene — three former Trumpers who are leading the opposition to King Chaos and the escalating wars under his watch. Perhaps MAGA will have their own No Kings Day soon…

[egelwan]

Maybe Trump Really Is That Fucking Stupid And Why That Matters

‘One doomer sentiment I’ve seen floating around my Bluesky feeds in the last couple days is that the current moves by the Trump regime are part of some 4D chess to trick people into protesting against him so he can unleash a violent crackdown that places him as god-emperor for life. And while that is certainly a future possibility there’s a difference between that being some savvy plan pulled off…

[egelwan]

The Shompen face obliteration: they urgently need your support

‘The Shompen are one of the most isolated peoples on Earth. They live on Great Nicobar Island in India, and most of them refuse all contact with outsiders. Numbering between 100 and 400, they are now at risk of being totally wiped out by a “mega-development” plan of the Indian government to transform their small island home into the “Hong Kong of India.” If the project goes ahead, huge swathes of…

[egelwan]

The Tyrant Test

‘It would be absurd to say that American presidents have always been principled defenders of freedom and democracy, but their long-shared, bipartisan definition of tyrant is one who oppresses his own. So it’s striking that these warnings about tyrants in distant lands, who were supposedly the opposite of the kind of legitimate, democratic leaders elected in the United States of America, now apply…

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A Massive Particle Blasted Through Earth and Scientists Think It Might Be The First Detection of Dark Matter

In February 2023, an underwater telescope called KM3NeT, anchored several miles beneath the Mediterranean Sea, recorded the brightest particle track ever seen in the universe. A single flash raced through the instrument’s glass spheres, and computer checks showed that the parent particle must have carried about 220 peta-electronvolts of energy. That figure is so large it dwarfs the beams at the…

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Can MDMA develop missing empathic capability in narcissists?

‘A Seattle psychiatrist is trying to treat narcissism with MDMA. Dr. Alexa Albert has launched the first-ever clinical trial using everyone’s favorite club drug to treat personality disorders. As reported in The Microdose newsletter, she’s betting that MDMA’s empathy-inducing properties might help these self-obsessed specimens actually care about other humans.…’ Ellsworth Toohey via Boing Boing