digdeeper

The bloody reprisals against protesters are the culmination of decades in which the regime’s "propensity and ability to use violence" has only increased, analysts say.

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/iran/iran-long-history-violent-suppression-time-may-different-rcna254361

"It also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”

https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-federal-court-reverses-release-of-columbia-gaza-activist-mahmoud-khalil

"That brings me to the fourth thing I want to say tonight, Minnesota: how incredibly proud I am of the way that you’ve risen to meet this unbearable moment."

https://thepostmillennial.com/tim-walz-says-hes-proud-of-minnesota-protestors-just-before-they-riot-loot-ice-vehicles#google_vignette

The new policy applies to pending scientific publications co-authored by employees in the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, which conducts research on crop yields, invasive species, plant genetics and other agricultural issues.

The USDA instructed employees to stop agency researchers from collaborating on or publishing papers with scientists from “countries of concern,” including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.

But the agency is also vetting scientists from nations not considered “countries of concern” before deciding whether USDA researchers can publish papers with them. Employees are including the names of foreign co-authors from nations such as Canada and Germany on lists shared with the department’s Office of Homeland Security, according to records reviewed by ProPublica. That office leads the USDA’s security initiatives and includes a division that works with federal intelligence agencies. The records don’t say what the office plans to do with the lists of names.

The Trevor Project, known for its hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, received $45 million from billionaire and author MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2025, the organization said Monday.

The gift is the largest in the organization's history but also a major boon following years of management turmoil, layoffs and the loss of significant federal funding over the summer.

"I literally could not believe it and it took some time. I actually gasped," said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, when they were notified of Scott's gift.

Scott, whose fortune largely comes from her ex-husband Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave more than $7 billion to nonprofits in 2025, but this gift to The Trevor Project was not included among the donations she disclosed on her website in December. Scott previously gave The Trevor Project $6 million in 2020.

The Department of Education said Friday it will temporarily delay forced collections on federal student loans. The pause applies to collection efforts such as Administrative Wage Garnishment and the Treasury Offset Program.

“The Department determined that involuntary collection efforts such as Administrative Wage Garnishment and the Treasury Offset Program will function more efficiently and fairly after the Trump Administration implements significant improvements to our broken student loan system," said Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent.

Friday’s announcement appears to mark a reversal in policy. The department began sending wage garnishment notices earlier this month, the first step in a process that could have automatically deducted up to 15% of a borrower’s paycheck. About 1,000 notices had been sent to borrowers in default, representing a small fraction of the more than 5 million borrowers who have defaulted on their federal student loans.

cross-posted from: https://quokk.au/c/australia/p/593822/fatberg-the-size-of-four-buses-likely-birthed-poo-balls-that-closed-sydney-beaches-and-it-ca

Secret report suggests fats, oils and grease accumulate in ‘inaccessible dead zone’ at Malabar plant, then dislodge when pumping pressure ‘rapidly increases’

I hope the staff spat in their food

Crossposted from https://beehaw.org/post/24258253

This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Wilson" who once worked as the boss of a welding shop attached to an engineering consultancy.

Wilson set the scene by telling us this story came from the early 1980s, when AutoCAD was replacing drawing boards.

"We had a new structural engineer who those of us in the shop quickly identified as an idiot with a degree," Wilson wrote.

One day, said idiot decided that the computers used to run AutoCAD needed to be cleaned and that the welding shop was the place to do the job.

Rather than confronting its own actions, the government has sought to divert attention from the central issue: the UK’s role in the Gaza genocide. Throughout Israel’s assault on Gaza, the UK has provided sustained political and diplomatic support, supplied vital components for F-35 fighter jets, and conducted R1 surveillance flights over Gaza. Taken together, these actions render the British government not merely complicit, but materially involved in the violence itself.

The British government is complicit in Israel’s systematic unmaking of Palestine, including its illegal occupation, its system of apartheid, and its role in the Gaza genocide, and Palestine Action has directly challenged this complicity. Where public order and civil disobedience laws once failed to suppress this activism, the state escalated to the use of exceptional anti-terror legislation.

The government has since resorted to the Terrorism Act to preemptively criminalise activists and expose them to sentences of up to 14 years’ imprisonment, a level of punishment grossly disproportionate to non-violent direct action. This disproportionality and choice of legislation signal a political motive.

The application of the Terrorism Act 2000 to non-violent direct action strips activists of ordinary legal protections and subjects them to an exceptional penal regime, including extended pre-charge detention, heightened surveillance powers, restrictions on association and expression, and dramatically increased sentencing exposure. Such measures are ordinarily reserved for acts involving mass violence, not protest aimed at preventing harm.

The use of anti-terror law in this context does not merely criminalise conduct; it redefines dissent itself as a security threat, preempting fair adjudication and conditioning the public to accept extraordinary punishment for ordinary political opposition.

Kuwait has withdrawn the citizenship of its ambassador to the United Kingdom, Badr Mohammed Al-Awadhi, in a rare decision that leaves a serving diplomat without the nationality of the state he was accredited to represent.

https://apnews.com/article/ice-immigration-detention-death-texas-2bfb614b2b222803d309f338357d04eb

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/41789506

*Multiple Israeli strikes across Gaza kill up to 15 Palestinians. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan says the killing of commander Mahmoud al-Holi is an attempt to derail the ceasefire amid other violations. Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon kill two. Contentious Palestinian Authority security figure Sami Nasman tapped for Gaza’s transitional technocratic committee, as Israel delays the committee’s chair at Allenby Crossing. Iranian state TV claims extensive property damage during protests. U.S. imposes new Iran sanctions over protest crackdown and evasion. U.S. and Iran trade accusations at UN Security Council meeting. A House bill boosts aid to Israel and blocks funding for UNRWA. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado meets President Donald Trump, offers him her Nobel Peace Prize. U.S. military seizes sixth oil tanker headed to Venezuela. Rodríguez insists Venezuela can maintain broad international ties. The U.S. retains over one-third of Venezuelan oil sale proceeds, as Venezuela proposes domestic hydrocarbons reform. ICE deploys tear gas and flash-bang munitions that send Minneapolis children to the hospital. Medical examiner says the death of ICE detainee may be ruled homicide. ICE agents ate at a Mexican restaurant, then later arrested its workers. ACLU sues Trump administration over Minnesota ICE raids. A federal appeals court clears a path to re-detain Mahmoud Khalil. Honduras begins power transition after disputed election. Carney signals reset with China amid U.S. trade pressure. Rapid Support Forces drone strike kills civilians in South Kordofan. UN rights chief visits Sudan amid deepening humanitarian crisis. M23 again announces withdrawal from Uvira. Yemen appoints new prime minister. Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of arming Amhara rebels. Haitian forces bomb homes linked to gang leader “Barbecue.” *

China expert Michael Lucci told Fox News Digital that Swalwell should re-donate the funds 'to an organization that fights the evils of communism'

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/swalwell-campaign-hot-seat-after-accepting-almost-15k-from-ccp-tied-law-firm-stop-playing-footsie

Spanberger, who led in fundraising throughout the race, won a decisive 15-point victory in November after a campaign focused on the cost of living and the impact of the Trump administration's federal cuts in Virginia. Democrats see her victory as an early test case of the party's emerging message on "affordability," which they are expected to deploy across the country in this year's midterms.

Economic concerns were at the forefront of her victory speech in November. But Spanberger also paid tribute to the Virginia women in politics before her, including Barbara Johns, a Black teenage activist who led a 1951 school walkout to protest school segregation. The walkout led to a legal case that was later folded into the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education that ultimately desegregated American public schools.

"She showed us that no matter your age, you can be part of the change and the progress that you want to see here in Virginia and across the nation," Spanberger said in her speech. "We are a nation founded on ideas, but we are a country where it is up to us, the citizens, who must put those ideas into action."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear an appeal from global agrochemical manufacturer Bayer to block thousands of state lawsuits alleging it failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller could cause cancer.

The justices will consider whether the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of the Roundup weedkiller without a cancer warning should rule out the state court claims.

The Trump administration has weighed in on Bayer’s behalf, reversing the Biden administration’s position and putting it at odds with some supporters of the Make America Healthy Again agenda who oppose giving the company the legal immunity it seeks.

Some studies associate Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, with cancer, although the EPA has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.

"Though a high degree of policy uncertainty remains, continued negative net migration for 2026 is also likely."

https://thepostmillennial.com/us-sees-negative-net-migration-for-first-time-in-50-years-during-2025#google_vignette

They have been identified as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna, and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma.

https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-names-and-backgrounds-released-of-venezuelan-illegal-immigrants-involved-in-minneapolis-shovel-attack-against-ice-officer#google_vignette