Lemdro.id

cross-posted from: https://pawb.social/post/42469014

Late Tuesday afternoon, with the subtlety of a wrecking ball and the morality of a foreclosure notice, the Trump administration announced the most devastating attack on the U.S. Forest Service in the agency’s 121-year history. Not a budget cut. Not a policy shift. Not a “reorganization.” An execution.

They’re ripping the headquarters out of Washington and shipping it to Salt Lake City, Utah — the beating heart of the anti-public-lands movement in America. They’re shuttering every single one of the ten regional offices that have governed this agency since Gifford Pinchot built the system over a century ago — and with them, the career professionals who spent entire lifetimes earning the expertise and the authority to push back when politicians came calling with bad ideas and worse motives. They’re destroying more than fifty research facilities across thirty-one states, labs that house decades of irreplaceable long-term science, the kind you literally cannot restart once it’s gone. And they’re replacing all of it — the offices, the scientists, the institutional knowledge, the professional independence — with fifteen political appointees called “state directors,” embedded in state capitals alongside the very governors, legislators, and industry lobbyists who have spent their careers demanding that the Forest Service log more, protect less, and get out of the way.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/62273725

Late Tuesday afternoon, with the subtlety of a wrecking ball and the morality of a foreclosure notice, the Trump administration announced the most devastating attack on the U.S. Forest Service in the agency’s 121-year history. Not a budget cut. Not a policy shift. Not a “reorganization.” An execution.

They’re ripping the headquarters out of Washington and shipping it to Salt Lake City, Utah — the beating heart of the anti-public-lands movement in America. They’re shuttering every single one of the ten regional offices that have governed this agency since Gifford Pinchot built the system over a century ago — and with them, the career professionals who spent entire lifetimes earning the expertise and the authority to push back when politicians came calling with bad ideas and worse motives. They’re destroying more than fifty research facilities across thirty-one states, labs that house decades of irreplaceable long-term science, the kind you literally cannot restart once it’s gone. And they’re replacing all of it — the offices, the scientists, the institutional knowledge, the professional independence — with fifteen political appointees called “state directors,” embedded in state capitals alongside the very governors, legislators, and industry lobbyists who have spent their careers demanding that the Forest Service log more, protect less, and get out of the way.

This facility was temporarily closed when environmentalists sued and won, but reopened after they lost upon appeal.

Loving this color pallet. I was surprised how well that turquoise goes with the red. I'm now trying to decide how much weathering I want to do. They're shiny but these are working girls.

The Trump administration aims to deploy counterterrorism tools against far-left groups, even as it has offered little evidence they present a dire threat.

I note that the US has completely suppressed the pipeline for recruiting left-wing vandals, let alone terrorists.

Steven Spielberg grew fascinated with “Interstellar” in the year he was attached to the project before dropping out and Christopher Nolan taking over as director.

In a conversation with Empire Magazine, Spielberg looked back on his brief year working on “Interstellar” with fondness. He remembered his fascination with the topic and being warned by screenwriter Jonathan Nolan that his brother would snap up the project if he dropped out.

“I was involved with ‘Interstellar’ for a year … and I became fascinated with it,” Spielberg said. “I spent a lot of time at the [Jet Propulsion Laboratory] in Pasadena, California, talking to the scientists there and the aerospace engineers.”

He added: “I actually hired Chris Nolan’s brother [Jonathan] to write the first and second draft for me, but it didn’t stick. Jonah actually said, ‘If there comes a point where you decide not to make this movie, I can tell you who’s gonna grab it. He’s already bugging me about it. And that’s my brother Chris.’

“He was absolutely right,” Spielberg admitted. “The second I decided not to make it, Chris jumped on board, probably the next day. ‘Interstellar’ was a much better movie in Chris Nolan’s hands than it would have been in mine.”

The director swap on the beloved 2014 sci-fi epic was touched on earlier this year by Nolan himself. In a conversation with Timothée Chalamet to celebrate the anniversary of the film, Nolan recalled his excitement for what his brother wrote and how he wanted to incorporate some time travel elements he’d been working on when he came aboard.

“Right after we collaborated on ‘Dark Knight,’ my brother [Jonathan Nolan] got the job and went to work with Steven [Spielberg]. He worked on it for a lot of years,” Nolan said. “It had incredible ideas and moved through all these different iterations, but until Steven was ready to make it, whatever it is, it never quite got that momentum. Steven went off to do another film, so it became available. I had a lot of conversations with Jonathan over the years and what he was doing and what his ambitions was. I was excited by it.”

He continued: “I was incredibly struck by his first act. I had been working on a time travel idea … things looking at time. I had half-baked projects that I hadn’t committed to. When it became available, it was a case of me saying to Jonathan, ‘How would you feel if I took this and tried to combine it with some of my ideas and change a bit with what it was?’ He was fine with it. He could tell the spirit of what I was trying to do was to get to what he was initially excited about it.”

“Interstellar” landed in theaters back in November 2014. It pulled in $681 million worldwide and netted five Oscar nominations. Although the film was more mixed in reviews than Nolan’s previous Batman trilogy, it has endured the test of time and become one of the most beloved sci-fi epics of the century.

The following statement issued by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council in response to the MAGA president’s two-week “ceasefire” was published by Press TV on April 7.   “Good news to the dear nation of Iran! Nearly all the objectives of the war have been achieved. * “The noble people of . . .

Continue reading Iran declares ‘historic victory’ over the U.S., says enemy forced to accept its proposal at Workers.org

From Workers World via This RSS Feed.

A historic synagogue in Tehran, originally built in 1958, was destroyed on the Jewish holiday of Passover by Israeli airstrikes on April 7th.

The Rafi-Nia Synagogue, located in central Tehran, was one of the longstanding institutions serving Iran’s Jewish community. Constructed in 1958, it stood as both a place of worship and a symbol of the deep historical roots of Judaism in Iran, which stretch back more than two millennia.

“We are Iranian Jews and we are always ready to sacrifice our lives for our homeland,” Bihdad Mikhail, managing director of the Tehran Jewish Association, told MintPress News as he held back his tears while carrying Jewish books that were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes.

The Mikhail told MintPress that the Jewish community in Iran is vehemently anti-Zionist and have vowed their loyalty to their Iranian homeland against Israeli attacks.

The Mikhail told MintPress that the Jewish community in Iran is vehemently anti-Zionist and have vowed their loyalty to their Iranian homeland against Israeli attacks.

Raw video footage and interviews with the synagogue director however show that the building was completely leveled, with religious materials, including Torah scrolls, buried beneath the rubble. Israel denies deliberately targeting the historic synagogue, with Israeli officials describing the damage as “collateral”.

Raw video footage and interviews with the synagogue director however show that the building was completely leveled, with religious materials, including Torah scrolls, buried beneath the rubble. Israel denies deliberately targeting the historic synagogue, with Israeli officials describing the damage as “collateral”.

The strike has been condemned not only by Iranian officials but also by members of Iran’s Jewish community who told MintPress that “Israel is an ominous Zionist regime”.

Representatives of the community have emphasized that the synagogue was a purely religious space, with no military function, underscoring the broader implications of the attack.

The destruction of the Rafi-Nia Synagogue highlights the often-overlooked reality of Iran’s Jewish population. Contrary to common perceptions, Iran is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Middle East outside of Israel, with more than 10,000 Jews and approximately 100 active synagogues across the country. These communities have maintained religious life and cultural traditions for generations.

Judaism is one of the main recognized religions by the Iranian government providing religious protection to this community.

For many, the attack raises troubling questions about the widening scope of the conflict.

Religious and cultural sites have historically been protected under international law, yet recent weeks have seen increasing reports of damage to UNESCO heritage sites across Iran, either directly or through nearby strikes.

The timing of the strike has also intensified outrage. Reports indicate that the attack occurred during a period of religious observance, amplifying concerns that places of worship are no longer being treated as protected spaces in the expanding war.

Beyond the immediate destruction, the loss of the synagogue represents a deeper cultural blow. Sites like the Rafi-Nia Synagogue are not only places of worship but also repositories of history, identity, and communal memory. Their destruction erases physical links to longstanding minority communities that have coexisted within Iran for centuries.

While Israel claims to be a “Jewish State”, this latest attack against an Iranian synagogue shows Israel’s actions are rooted in destruction, genocide and an attempt to sow chaos.

Source: MintPress News https://www.mintpressnews.com/iranian-jewish-association-describe-israel-as-ominous-zionist-regime-after-israeli-strikes-destroy-historic-synagogue-on-passover/290836/

https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/143356518

For decades, draft-eligible men ages 18 to 25 have been required to register with the Selective Service System. Most states offer a registration option on driver’s license applications.