Lemdro.id

The president later added, "And just, you know, because I don't want to have a terrible story about this. I did it for him first and for the vote second. But it was a close second, actually. But I did it for the vote second."

Electron apps are ruining the Windows 11 experience, and even the JavaScript creator has warned against ‘rushed web UX over native,’ but it doesn’t look like that will change Microsoft’s plans. In a post on X and other places, Microsoft reaffirmed its commitment to AI in Windows 11 and encouraged Electron developers to consider using AI in their apps.

This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Mar. 15, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.

The government has largely won its first case bringing material-support-for-terrorism charges against protesters alleged to belong to “antifa,” which President Donald Trump designated as a domestic terror group in 2025 despite the fact that no such organized group exists and the president has no legal authority to designate organizations as domestic terror groups.

A federal jury in Fort Worth, Texas agreed on Friday to convict eight people of domestic terrorism because they wore all black to a protest outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas on July 4, 2025, at which one of the protesters shot and wounded a police officer. Legal experts say the verdict could bolster attempts by the administration to stifle dissent.

“A case like this helps the government kind of see how far they can go in criminalizing constitutionally protected protests and also helps them kind of intimidate, increase the fear, hoping that folks in other cities then will think twice over protesting,” Suzanne Adely, interim president of the National Lawyers Guild, told The Associated Press.

The administration promised it would be the first such case of many.

“The US lost today with this verdict.”

“Antifa is a domestic terrorist organization that has been allowed to flourish in Democrat-led cities—not under President Trump,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Friday. “Today’s verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America’s streets.”

The trial revolved around a nighttime protest at which participants planned to set off fireworks in solidarity with the around 1,000 migrants detained inside the Prarieland ICE facility. Some participants brought guns, which is legal in Texas, as The Intercept reported.

Sam Levine explained in The Guardian what happened next:

Shortly after arriving at the facility, two or three of the protesters broke away from the larger group and began spray painting cars in the parking lot, a guard shack, slashed the tires on a government van, and broke a security camera. Two ICE detention guards came out and told the protesters to stop. A police officer arrived on the scene shortly after and drew his weapon at one of the people allegedly doing vandalism. One of the protesters was standing in the woods with an AR-15 and hit him in the shoulder. The officer would survive.

At first, the federal government charged those arrested after the event with “attempted murder of a police officer,” according to NOTUS.

However, that changed after Trump’s designation of antifa as a terror group in September and the release of National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), which directs federal law enforcement to target left-leaning groups and activities. The next month, the government’s case expanded to include terrorism charges.

“This wouldn’t be a terrorism case if it weren’t for that memo,” one defense lawyer told NOTUS on background.

The prosecution argued that the fact that the protesters wore black clothes to the protest was enough to convict them of material support for terrorism.

“Providing your body as camouflage for others to do the enumerated acts is providing support,” Assistant US Attorney Shawn Smith said during closing arguments, as The Intercept reported on Thursday. “It’s impossible to tell who is doing what. That’s the point.”

The defense, meanwhile, warned the jury about the free speech implications of the charge.

“The government is asking you to put protesters in prison as terrorists. You are the only people who can stop that,” Blake Burns, an attorney for defendant Elizabeth Soto, said, according to The Guardian.

“When the villain is a made-up boogeyman then the target becomes ‘anyone who disagrees with Trump’—and this is the result.”

Ultimately, the jury decided to convict eight defendants of material support for terrorism as well as riot, conspiracy to use and carry an explosive, and use and carry of an explosive. However, they dismissed attempts by the state to argue that the protest constituted a pre-planned ambush and charge four people who had not shot at the police officer with attempted murder and discharging a firearm during a crime. Only Benjamin Song, the alleged shooter, was charged with one count of attempted murder and three counts of discharging a firearm.

The jury also convicted a ninth defendant, Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada, of conspiracy to conceal documents. Sanchez Estrada, who was not at the protest, had simply moved a box of zines out of his wife’s home after she was arrested for the protest, according to The Intercept.

“The US lost today with this verdict,” Sanchez Estrada’s attorney, Christopher Weinbel, said, as AP reported.

Support the Prarieland Defendants said in a statement, “Everything about this trial from beginning to end has proven what we have said all along: This is a sham trial, built on political persecution and ideological attacks coming from the top.”

However, the group commended the solidarity that had sprung up among the defendants and their allies and vowed to continue to support them.

**“**We have a long journey ahead of us to continue fighting these charges along with the state level charges,” they said. “What happens here sets the tone for what’s to come. We are here and we won’t give up.”

Outside observers warned about the implication for the right to protest under Trump.

“Remember all the people who dismissed the alarm over NSPM-7 because ‘ANTIFA isn’t even a real organization’? We told you that didn’t matter. When the villain is a made-up boogeyman then the target becomes ‘anyone who disagrees with Trump’—and this is the result,” said Cory Archibald, the co-founder of Track AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee].

Content creator Austin MacNamara said: “The Prairieland trial was given almost zero media coverage because of the blatant lies by DHS [Department of Homeland Security] and Police. This verdict now sets a precedent for criminalization of dissent across the board. Noise demos, Black-Bloc, pamphlets/zines/red cards, all of this can be used to imprison you.”

Academic Nathan Goodman wrote that convicting people of terrorism based on clothing was a “serious threat to the First Amendment.”

The verdict gives new poignancy to what defendant Meagan Morris told NOTUS ahead of the jury’s decision: “If we win, I think it shows that Trump’s mandate is not working, that the people understand that you can’t criminalize, you know, First and Second Amendment-protected activities. And I think if we lose, then… a lot of the country is OK with what’s going on. And it will be a much darker time, it’ll just signify a much increased crackdown on political opposition and free speech.”

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Israeli restrictions threaten to halt the services of the World Central Kitchen organization, which provides one million meals daily to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis.

The World Kitchen, which began operating in Gaza during the Israeli war of attrition, stated that the number of trucks entering Gaza is only a fraction of what is needed. It indicated that it requires 20 trucks daily to maintain its current number of meals. The World Kitchen added that it is continuing its food operations, but cannot continue indefinitely without a regular and sustained flow of supplies. 

The World Kitchen provides approximately one million free meals daily to Palestinians amidst a severe humanitarian crisis and acute food shortages, according to previous statements. During the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, Israel deliberately killed a number of kitchen staff members.

Gaza’s government confirmed that Israeli restrictions have reduced the number of trucks allowed to bring in food supplies from 25 per day to only 5, “severely weakening the kitchen’s operational capacity and threatening the continuity of its food services, which benefit thousands of citizens daily.”

The statement continued, “It has been confirmed that the kitchen is under pressure to purchase raw materials from within Israel, after previously receiving supplies via shipments from Egypt. This changes the nature of the humanitarian aid, increases its cost, and creates additional obstacles to the continuation of relief work according to previous mechanisms.” 

The government of Gaza further stated that the Gaza Strip faces indicators of a worsening humanitarian crisis if the restrictions on the flow of aid continue. The office stressed that the responsibility for preventing this crisis lies with the occupying power, which is restricting humanitarian supplies in clear violation of international humanitarian law and its obligations towards the civilian population.

Hunger grows as hopes of reunions diminish

The 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza are entirely dependent on aid after the genocide left them impoverished.

Salem Barabakh, 40, from Khan Younis, sits at the entrance of his tent with six children beside him. They sometimes shout, sometimes play, and he tries to talk to them. He says, “There are no homes left for us to live in—tents, poverty, hunger, and exhaustion. After the war ended, nothing changed. We’re still hungry and searching for food aid. We wait for any kitchen to distribute meals, including the World Kitchen.”

“Now a new war has started with Iran, and the whole world is ablaze. Now the crossings are closed, and life in Gaza is tied to Israel’s security, with no regard for two million citizens, most of them children. I feel oppressed and saddened by this dire situation. We have children who are hungry and want food, and I’m unemployed and in need of food aid. Now the World Kitchen has stopped providing services. Who will feed us now? I don’t know. What have we gained from these endless wars?”

From the very first day of the Israeli-American war on Iran, the Israeli army announced the closure of the Rafah crossing after it had been open for nearly a month. 

Those stranded in Egypt had grown accustomed to returning to their families, and although the number allowed back was very small, it offered them a glimmer of hope. After its re-closure, a sense of despair has gripped the families of those who were prevented from returning to Gaza as a result of this war.

Hani Suleiman, 38, from Khan Younis, has been waiting for his mother and sister to return to Gaza since the repatriation of stranded Palestinians began. He says, “Since January 2024, my mother and sister have been in Egypt for medical treatment and have endured difficult circumstances alone there. We supported each other, hoping for a peaceful return so we could be reunited. I miss my mother terribly. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter who doesn’t know her grandmother.”

“We had hoped the crossing would reopen and they could return, and that happened a month ago when the stranded Palestinians began returning to Gaza. I was waiting for the moment I could embrace my mother, but then the new war started and the crossing closed again. I feel immense despair, and my mother has been crying since it closed again.”

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US President Donald Trump late Sunday floated “treason” charges against media outlets that he accused of reporting false information about the Iran war as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continued to mount. In a tirade posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that media outlets he accused of circulating “fake news” should “be brought up on Charges for…

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Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth's statement last week that "no quarter" will be given to "our enemies" in Iran—a declaration, in military parlance, that surrendering combatants will be executed rather than taken prisoner—constituted a clear violation of international law and a war crime.

The International Committee of the Red Cross explains that "the prohibition on declaring that no quarter will be given is a longstanding rule of customary international law already recognized in the Lieber Code, the Brussels Declaration, and the Oxford Manual and codified in the Hague Regulations." The Hague Convention of 1907, to which the US is a party, says it is "especially forbidden" to "declare that no quarter will be given."

During a press conference on Friday, Hegseth said that US forces attacking Iran "will keep pushing, keep advancing; no quarter, no mercy for our enemies."

Hegseth's statement sparked alarm among legal experts and members of Congress, particularly in the context of the Pentagon chief's ongoing efforts to loosen legal oversight of American forces and roll back rules aimed at protecting civilians.

"'No quarter' isn’t some wannabe tough guy line—it means something," said Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a retired US Navy officer. "An order to give no quarter would mean to take no prisoners and kill them instead. That would violate the law of armed conflict. It would be an illegal order. It would also put American service members at greater risk. Pete Hegseth should know better than to throw around terms like this."

Oona Hathaway, a legal scholar and former special counsel to the Pentagon's general counsel, wrote in response to Hegseth's remarks that "declaring that no quarter will be given unequivocally violates international humanitarian law."

"Indeed, ordering that no quarter will be given, threatening an adversary therewith, or conducting hostilities on this basis is prohibited and constitutes a war crime," Hathaway added.

Daniel Maurer, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and judge advocate—a profession that Hegseth has treated with contempt—wrote a "hypothetical legal memorandum" advising the Pentagon chief to "publicly retract" his "no quarter" statement, warning that it "may expose you to criminal liability under 18 USC 2441(c)(2), and expose any subordinate servicemembers who carry it out to prosecution under the Uniform Code of Military Justice as well as 18 USC 2441(c)(2)."

Maurer continued:

Given that “no quarter” is a clear violation of the Hague Convention IV and, as a consequence, U.S. federal law, we recommend the following immediate actions:

a. Publicly retract the comments and disavow any intention to induce, inspire, counsel, encourage, incite, order, threaten, tolerate, or give “no quarter” to Iranian combatants.

b. Communicate through the chain-of-command conducting Operation Epic Fury that “no quarter” is a war crime that will be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or 18 USC § 2441.

Hegseth's declaration of "no quarter" conflicts with US President Donald Trump's statement late last month announcing the illegal war on Iran, which is now in its third week with no end in sight.

Urging Iranian soldiers to lay down their arms, Trump pledged, "We'll give you immunity."

Ryan Goodman, founding co-editor-in-chief of the digital law and policy journal Just Security, told Axios that Hegseth is "putting the American military on a track to lawlessness in which we will lose more and more allies." Goodman noted that in the wake of the Second World War, the US prosecuted senior German military officials for refusing quarter to enemy soldiers.

"The best thing Secretary Hegseth can do for the country and for the US military is to say he misspoke and to retract the statement," said Goodman, who previously worked in the Defense Department's office of general counsel. "The Pentagon's law of war manual states unequivocally that such statements are war crimes."

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The Trouble Puffs- In Through The Cat Door out now!!

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has condemned Israeli attacks on oil depots in Tehran as “ecocide.”

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A Democratic candidate for a key House race in Maine oversaw a political action committee that donated thousands of dollars to Republican candidates across the country, Federal Election Commission records show.

Jordan Wood, who is running for the Democratic nomination in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, is the former executive director of democracyFirst PAC, a group that — despite its left-of-center orientation — donated to at least one Republican PAC, in addition to giving thousands of dollars to at least six GOP campaigns for House and Senate seats during the 2024 election cycle, according to the records.

In total, the group donated $75,000 to various House and Senate races, including Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah; Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.; and Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., with contributions ranging from $1,000 to $3,000.

Wood’s PAC also gave $5,000 to Republican Governance Group/Tuesday Group PAC, a group of moderate Republicans that has gradually moved to the right as it aligned with the policy priorities of the Trump administration.

“This is pretty troubling.”

“I don’t necessarily condemn anyone for contributing to left or right candidates as long as they’re actively protecting our civil rights, but this is pretty troubling,” said Maine state Rep. Amy Roeder, a Democrat.

While some of the candidates democracyFirst donated to were running for safe seats in deep-red districts, others, such as Valadao, an incumbent, were considered to be more competitive. Valadao, first elected to the House in 2012, lost his seat to Democrat TJ Cox in 2016 before regaining it four years later.

Though some of the GOP lawmakers supported by democracyFirst have at times voted for President Donald Trump’s agenda items, most are considered moderate Republicans. Valadao, for instance, was one of just 10 House representatives to vote to impeach President Trump.

But at least six GOP lawmakers who received money from democracyFirst, including Valadao, voted along party lines to support Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a sprawling funding bill that realized a wide array of long-standing conservative aims, including cuts to Medicaid, tax cuts for billionaires, and a $75 billion infusion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At the state level, democracyFirst pitched in to help several campaigns for state legislature seats and county commissioner positions in Pennsylvania, including that of County Commissioner Mike Pries, of Dauphin County, who went on in 2025 to vote to reject a resolution that would have restricted local cooperation with ICE.

“democracyFIRST was built to do one thing: defeat Trump-aligned candidates who were trying to seize control of America’s election infrastructure,” Wood said in a statement. “Every Republican candidate democracyFIRST ever supported held an office with direct authority over election administration or certification, and every single one of them was in a primary against an election denier who supported Trump’s false claims of a rigged election. We were trying to take their power away. It was a carefully designed firewall to safeguard future elections.”

Wood is one of several candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in the race to replace Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine. Golden was already facing a primary challenge from State Auditor Matt Dunlap.

Golden, a centrist who has caught heat from progressives for voting against party lines in several key instances, announced in November that he would not seek reelection. In the wake of the announcement, Wood was months into a campaign to unseat the longtime Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins, but swiftly pivoted to throw his hat in the ring for Golden’s seat.

In addition to the democracyFirst spending, Wood has been scrutinized for his ties to Mothership Strategies, a liberal-leaning fundraising outfit run by his husband, Jake Lipsett. The firm has gained a controversial reputation in Democratic circles for aggressive tactics, inflammatory and alarming rhetoric, and accusations of self-dealing and other unethical billing practices.

Wood has been scrutinized for his ties to Mothership Strategies, a fundraising outfit run by his husband.

Wood has said he and his husband keep their professional lives separate, but FEC records show that in the months after Wood stepped down from democracyFirst to run against Collins, the new candidate’s old PAC began funneling money to Mothership to the eventual tune of more than half a million dollars.

Dunlap, meanwhile, has earned a chilly reception from national Democratic leadership over his decision to primary Golden, whose district elected Trump in the 2024 election by 9 percentage points, and faced criticism from the right for his role in auditing the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. Trump and his allies have said the agency exercised lax oversight in the disbursement of federal money to other state health care programs. The other main contender, Joe Baldacci, a state senator and the brother of former two-term Maine Gov. John Baldacci, joined the race in January. (Dunlap and Baldacci’s campaigns declined to comment.)

Whoever wins the Democratic primary will likely face up in the general against former Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a proto-MAGA populist. LePage, who occupied the governor’s mansion from 2011 until 2019, is known for his long record of foot-in-mouth gaffes and racially charged statements.

Baldacci and Dunlap are longtime residents of Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. Wood, on the other hand, only announced after pivoting to the House race that he would to move with his family to the city of Lewiston in order to qualify. LePage has spent his years of political exile in the sunny wilderness of Florida.

“I am friends with both Sen. Baldacci and State Auditor Dunlap and have known them to be people of integrity and people who really give a damn,” said Roeder, the statehouse representative. “Jordan Wood was not a CD2 resident until very recently, and I personally look sideways at someone who moves into a district in order to run in that district. And I count Paul LePage as well.”

LePage, who announced his candidacy for the House seat in May, is making his second attempt at a political comeback after badly losing his 2024 bid to retake his old job as governor from incumbent Democrat Janet Mills.

The post Dem in Maine House Primary Funneled PAC Money to Republicans appeared first on The Intercept.

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