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Spain becomes the first, and so far only, major NATO power to say "no" to the White House's demand for a 5% budget commitment for defense. With Trump suggesting the US will drop out of NATO, it is an easy decision.

submitted 7 hours ago • 1 comment

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An international team of astronomers reports the detection of a peculiar merger of two similar ring galaxies that morphologically resemble an owl's face. The discovery of this galaxy merger, dubbed the "Cosmic Owl," is presented in a research paper published June 11. phys.org/news/2025-06...

submitted 8 hours ago • 0 comments

How is Trump different from George W Bush? Trump is surrounded by imbeciles.

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Another clue about the whereabouts of the missing matter in the Universe has just emerged from amid the largest local cosmic structure. X-ray observations have revealed a massive filament of hot gas in the enormous, 8,000-galaxy strong Shapley Supercluster. www.aanda.org/articles/aa/...

submitted 9 hours ago • 0 comments

Developments in the self-healing metal discovered in New Mexico at the Sandia Ntl Lab. "The premise that fatigue cracks can autonomously heal in metals through local interaction with microstructural features challenges the most fundamental theories on how engineers design and evaluate fatigue life."

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Not surprising given oral argument, but a disappointing demonstration of how the federal judiciary is paving the way to military dictatorship.

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Joseph Roulin and famile, Arles, 1888—an exploration of the last years of Vincent Van Gogh. Great summary of the MFA Exhibition in Boston.

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Trump decrees that the National Park Service commemorations of the Japanese internment camps constitute "negative information" and therefore must be totally repressed. Anyway, he thinks that concentration camps are a great idea and he's planning to build camps sufficient to hold 12 million people.

submitted 10 hours ago • 2 comments

The Argentine government uncovers another large-scale espionage and influence operation run by the Russian intelligence services. derechadiario.com.ar/us/argentina...

submitted 10 hours ago • 1 comment

Trump appears to have not an inkling of what "stealth" technology is or how it works.

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Americans don't like and don't trust Netanyahu... and American Jews are among those who distrust him the most.

submitted 10 hours ago • 2 comments

Another good demonstration of the brazen lawlessness of the Trump regime is his refusal to implement the TikTok Law, which the MAGA GOP pushed through. He appears to be using to extort commercial benefits for himself and his inner entourage.

submitted 10 hours ago • 5 comments

Exactly correct.

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I've decided that Mamdani would not be in my top three picks for Mayor of NYC, but for a takedown that promises to skewer him as unserious, this piece is ludicrously unserious. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

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Stengel is right. And in connection with a war, this is extremely dangerous. view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/175...

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Are assault weapons bans effective to reduce the number of deaths lined to the use of assault weapons? Yes.

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Is Donald J Trump a dangerous felon? Has he committed further felonies since becoming president? Americans have no problem answering these questions with "yes," and "yes."

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The wisdom of Pontifex maximus

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The US assessment is both more cautious and more likely to be correct than Netanyahu's made-to-order determination from Israeli intelligence. From Julian Barnes' new piece at NYT:

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Jeffrey Lewis argues that Netanyahu's attacks on Iran are not driven by fear of Iranian nukes so much as by his desire to topple the regime of the ayatollahs and replace it with something more to his liking. That's right. And his conduct towards Syria provides clear proof.

submitted 10 hours ago • 1 comment

Catherine Rampell: If GOP stands behind their regressive budget bill, they should defend it on the merits. Instead they're touting legislation that doesn't exist: fantasy bill that somehow doesn't widen deficits, slash Medicaid, or give its biggest benefits to the rich.

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Trump's ICE raids mean Washington farmers cannot harvest this year's cherry crop, and that many will now go out of business. www.spokesman.com/stories/2025...

submitted 12 hours ago • 53 comments

Trump is angry at Macron over his stopover in Greenland to assure natives of French military support in the event they are invaded by Trump's military. Note that this is something that US media largely decided didn't even merit being reported to their US audience.

submitted 12 hours ago • 1 comment

The Congressional GOP has put out this morally depraved message, which exudes purest fascism and seeks to turn a war in which tens of thousands are likely to die into just another episode of the Predator film series. This is what we get in lieu of a reasoned justification of use of war powers.

submitted 12 hours ago • 5 comments

This passage of Eliot Cohen's article about Israel's objectives in bombing Iran, with extensive on-the-ground operations, simply cannot be reconciled with public statements made by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz over the last 10 days.

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Eliot A Cohen provides a very intelligent, well-informed, and essentially Neocon take on the Israel-Iran situation. His view of the transformative aspect is particularly astute. I don't agree with much of his analysis, however. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

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This is correct. It shows the influence of the Israel lobby, which does not actually reflect the viewpoint of American Jews.

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Pam Bondi is essentially directing immigration judges to deny asylum petitions.

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The flow of nonsensical verbiage from this dude is unending. He's the leading bloviator on American television.

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In fairness, the deception operation run by Trump is nothing compared to Rupert Murdoch's deception operation, which runs 24/7.

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Trump again makes clear that he opposed the commemoration of Juneteenth, while endorsing the glorification of the slavocracy and bemoaning the end of slavery.

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Kristi Noem promulgates a formal policy of non-compliance with laws requiring that ICE facilities be open for inspection by members of Congress and their staff. Every day, DHS looks more like a criminal syndicate and less like a law-enforcement organ.

submitted 12 hours ago • 1 comment

Nothing could be clearer but that this is a bribery payment made in plain sight. nypost.com/2025/06/19/m...

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The Opus Dei court wants to diminish the role of Congress in managing war powers and vest dictatorial power in the president. And they're getting their way, further eroding democracy.

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Master of Saint Francis, Saints Bartholomew and Simon (Perugia, 1266) The earliest Italian painting in the Lehman Collection, this panel formed part of one of the greatest Italian altarpieces of the third quarter of the thirteenth century.

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Badi' al-Zaman ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari, "The Elephant Clock", Folio from a Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Baghdad, 1315)

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The law on this is clear enough: Israel's bombing of Iran is casus belli, which is not privileged because Israel feels threatened by Iran's nuclear program. Other nations would have even less basis to strike. But an exception would exist if the UN Security Council were to authorize military action

submitted 13 hours ago • 0 comments

17 sick and 3 dead from a food borne illness. Meanwhile we’ve cut funding, staffing, and protections at FDA, USDA, and CDC, particularly including health and safety inspections relating to food preparation. Chicken fettuccine Alfredo meals sold at Kroger and Walmart recalled.

submitted 13 hours ago • 1 comment

Remember: Trump makes clear that he strongly opposes de-escalation, and says he believes the time is past for negotiations.

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Because deep down inside, he's an insatiable warmonger.

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Most Britons believe they were hoodwinked by Nigel Farage

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Two words that describe the Opus Dei court on trans issues: wanton cruelty.

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Fox with a breaking news story: Trump "hasn't ruled out" dropping a nuke or two on Iran... because, why not?

submitted 14 hours ago • 3 comments

Whenever I hear people talking about an acute housing shortage, I always think immediately of Vienna. Three generations of rule by the Social Democrats did one meaningful thing for the city on the Danube: they left it with an enormous supply of beautiful, gracious and spacious residential dwellings.

submitted 14 hours ago • 1 comment

They don't understand the psychopathology of Opus Dei. That's the short of it.

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It’s rare to see reporting on Columbia that’s completely and scrupulously accurate. This is.

submitted 15 hours ago • 2 comments