cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/31601327

Sounds of explosions heard in Iran’s capital, Tehran

• Israeli military says it launched a wave of strikes against Iranian military and nuclear sites in a major escalation against Tehran.

FBI agents handcuffed Alejandro Theodoro Orellana for allegedly “distributing face shields to suspected rioters” on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted.

Source: https://bsky.app/profile/mattielubchansky.com/post/3lrbzpwic5s2m

Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran.

The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.

Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want — though official there have repeatedly warned it could. The U.S. has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of U.S. troops in the wider Middle East.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/46591018

New legislation in Florida introduces a financial model that would enable local governments around the country to invest virtually limitless sums in the Israeli war effort, despite the mounting financial risk of doing so.

The project’s GitHub repository shows an impressive slate of features, but also notes that things are changing as this is alpha software. The CAD kernel is a common one brought in via WebAssembly, so there shouldn’t be many simple bugs involving geometry.

We’ve seen a number of browser-based tools that do some kind of CAD. CADmium is a recent entry into the list. Or, stick with OpenSCAD. We sometimes go low-tech for schematics.

Revolution in Warship-building Industry in New Era and Vigorous Advance and Development in Modernization of Naval Forces

Ceremony of Launching Destroyer of KPA Navy Takes Place with Splendor

Pyongyang, June 13 (KCNA) -- The firm faith and steadfast revolutionary will of the Workers' Party of Korea to firmly defend the long-term development of the prosperity and flourish of our great state with its strong, matchless and absolute strength are ushering in a shining heyday of the naval forces of the DPRK along with the steady birth of the powerful Juche-based military hardware.

Another multi-mission destroyer, which will firmly guarantee the maritime sovereignty and national interests of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, has greeted the historic moment of recording the sacred name of defender in the history, demonstrating the invariable will of our Party to build a powerful army aspiring after only advance without tolerating frustration and stagnation under any unfavourable conditions.

A continuous possession of a new-type destroyer, which has been achieved by the stubborn efforts and unyielding fighting spirit in the sacred journey for the strengthening and development of the Juche-oriented naval forces, serves as a great demonstration of indomitable mental power of the workers in the field of the warship-building industry and the reserved strength of our national power and, at the same time, a matchless step forward in realizing the marine strategy of the Party Central Committee to reliably defend the security of the country and the world peace.

A ceremony of launching the destroyer of the Navy of the Korean People's Army took place at the Rajin Shipyard on June 12.

Present at the ceremony were senior Party, government and military officials, workers, scientists, technicians and officials in the field of the warship-building industry, officers and men of the KPA Navy, the commanding officers and seamen of the destroyer, teaching staff and students of Kim Jong Suk Naval University, commanding officers of the services and corps-level units of the KPA and leading officials of ministries and national agencies.

The venue of the ceremony, which shows the far-reaching ideal and valiant spirit of Juche Korea towards an advanced maritime power, was full of absolute trust in Comrade Kim Jong Un, who is steadfastly accelerating the historic rejuvenation of the revolution in the warship-building industry in the new era, and great pride and self-respect in the ever-growing inexhaustible strength of our state.

The guard of honor of the KPA Navy solemnly lined up, waiting for the moment of glory.

When the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un arrived at the venue of the ceremony where the latest multi-mission destroyer was moored majestically, all the participants broke into enthusiastic cheers with the greatest glory and respect, looking up to the peerless patriot and ever-victorious brilliant commander who is overcoming the untrodden path for the country's prosperity and safety of all generations to come and rough road for hewing out it with his great strenuous efforts and iron will to usher in a great heyday of building a maritime power where the desire of the nation's history spanning 5 000 years is being met relievedly.

There was a ceremony of greeting Kim Jong Un.

Kim Jong Un reviewed the colours of honour of the KPA Navy and its guard of honour.

He was courteously greeted by major commanding officers of the Navy with boundless reverence for him.

There was a march-past of the guard of honour of the KPA Navy.

Kim Jong Un took the platform followed by senior officials of the Party and government, the commander of the KPA Navy and other commanding officers of the navy, commanding officers of the services and corps-level units of the KPA, chief secretaries of the provincial committees of the WPK, officials in the field of munitions industry, and officials and merited persons in the field of warship-building.

The national anthem of the DPRK was solemnly played.

Jo Chun Ryong, secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, delivered a commemorative address.

Expressing his profound emotion about the fact that the new-type destroyer No. 2, which will take the place on the forefront of the DPRK's sea defence capability thanks to the high revolutionary enthusiasm and strenuous efforts of the workers in the field of the warship-building industry, is to launch in the blue waters of the East Sea at last and the result could be given to the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee, the speaker said that this serves as a proud and auspicious event which makes it possible to feel that the era which the ideal and goal of the DPRK and its growing national power reach the ocean, is really coming closer as the dignified entity of the warship.

Referring to the fact that as for the leading restraining force for sea defence, the new-type multi-mission destroyer is equipped with comprehensive combat capability which was developed in our own way and improved in its might to make a retaliatory strike for annihilation against the hostile forces who are going to challenge the sovereignty of our state and encroach upon its right to peace and prosperity, though they are in the coastal waters, the ocean and the land while freely moving in and out the East Sea and the Pacific as a yard, he affirmed that today's launching ceremony will demonstrate that the new era of the maritime power aspired by our Party, state and people is an undeniable reality.

Referring to the reality that a remarkable event of building two large multi-mission destroyers was made in less than one year and a half by the energetic leadership of Kim Jong Un who is leading the all-round, rapid and victorious advance of the revolution in national defence industry in the new era in the van, he stressed that the honor of being guided by the outstanding and seasoned leadership of the Party Central Committee, which is bringing about the innovative results of the revolutionary industry one after another and ushering in a heyday of bolstering up the self-defensive capabilities, is the inexhaustible strength of creation and miracles fully performing in the whole defence industry front, not just the warship-building industry.

The DPRK's warship-building industry will achieve more remarkable successes as it is led by the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un and has the precious experience and lessons gained in the unyielding struggle, the speaker said, expressing his determination to give fuller play to the transparent spirit of faithfully supporting the idea and leadership of the great Party Central Committee and to develop greater strength of creation and thus make all efforts to the sacred struggle for proudly demonstrating the DPRK, our dignified and powerful country, before the world.

No Kwang Chol, minister of National Defence of the DPRK, announced an order of the Central Military Commission of the WPK on the grading regulations and naming of the destroyer which signed by Kim Jong Un and conveyed a certificate of the warship grading and naming to the commander of the East Sea Fleet of the KPA Navy at the ceremony.

According to the order of the Central Military Commission of the WPK, the newly-built destroyer was graded as the Choe Hyon class and named Kang Kon.

Kim Jong Un conferred the ensign of destroyer Kang Kon on the commanding officers of the East Sea Fleet of the KPA Navy.

Jo Chun Ryong, secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, cut the rope in token of the ceremony of launching the destroyer.

For a moment, a veil over the warship name was removed with the warship whistle and fireworks were set off and balloons flew up and decorated the sky beautifully.

Kim Jong Un mounted the destroyer.

The warship, which greeted the moment of honour of undergoing the first inspection by the Supreme Commander, was filled with militant enthusiasm.

After receiving the salute of the captain, Kim Jong Un gave them warm encouragement, going round the stem and quarter deck of the warship.

The memorial relief image of anti-Japanese revolutionary fighter Kang Kon, the first chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army, was unveiled on the destroyer.

Praying that the youthfulness devoted to the cause of building a state and founding an army and the strong and brave stamina and valuable spirit which Kang Kon, a prominent militarist representing the heroic spirit of the KPA and genuine communist revolutionary, demonstrated on the road of the southward advance, would be a propelling power pushing the warship and permanent nutrition of a-match-for-a-hundred combat spirit to encourage the seamen in the new era to record only victorious furrow and inspire the eternal prosperity of the navy of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un placed a flower before the relief image of him, army-building meritorious retainer, and paid high tribute to him.

He met and encouraged the scientists, technicians and workers in the field of warship-building industry who contributed to the construction of the destroyer and its restoration of the original state.

Shaking the hands of each meritorious person, Kim Jong Un expressed his heartfelt thanks to the patriotic loyalty and labor feats of them who made a contribution to perfectly implementing the order of the Central Military Commission of the Party by displaying their excellent professional qualifications and ability with one mind in building warships of the new generation and restoring it.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un made a commemorative address.

He said that the grand launching ceremony of destroyer No. 2 shows that the new era of building a fleet, which has raised the anchor of sacred pioneering, is making steady progress and our huge warship-building plans aimed at building the world-level naval forces are being pushed forward with most correctly and quickly. And he expressed his deep thanks to the heroic workers in the field of the warship-building industry, including those of Chongjin and Rajin shipyards, and scientists, technicians and officials of relevant sector who brought about a very important event showing a change made by the extremely rapid development of our warship-building industry.

There was an absurd cause which impaired the dignity and prestige of the country in a moment due to the absolute irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism, but no obstacle could delay the important course of bolstering up the naval combat power, he said, adding that this is another proof of the power of our mode of revolution and development as nourishment essential for the progress and leap of the warship-building industry.

He said that we can bring about a radical turn in the warship-building industry as we have a strong will and have secured our own reliable forces and great technical power to guarantee it in practice, and he clarified the defence strategy and practical measures of our Party for the rapid strengthening of the naval forces, including the building of two destroyers, which are like Choe Hyon class or bigger than it, and the deployment of them in operational waters every year from next year according to the constant view of our navy that it must have the counterattacking strength and capability to prevent aggression.

Our cause of ushering in the golden era of the Navy has entered the full-scale stage, he said, expressing expectation and conviction that the workers in the field of shipbuilding industry would build many large modern warships, which are suitable for the great image of the military power planned and decided by the Party, with their boundless loyalty, patriotism, ability which can not be ignored and unyielding executive ability, and thus continue to write a new history of the leap forward in the shipbuilding industry.

When he finished his speech, the harbor resounded with the stormy cheers of "hurrah!" which were full of great excitement and joy of all the participants, convinced of the bright future of Juche Korea dynamically advancing toward an advanced maritime power in the new century.

He highly praised the heroic feats of Jo Kum Hyok, head of the Sheet Metal Processing Workteam No. 1 of the Modernization Workshop under the Chongjin Shipyard who died at the worksite during the building of the destroyer, and met his wife and son to console them.

Kim Jong Un awarded the main commanding officers of the destroyer commemorative copper coins and had a photo taken with the commanding officers and sailors of the destroyer in front of the destroyer Kang Kon, which will be recorded in the army-building history.

He expressed his great trust that all the sailors of the destroyer would reliably carry forward the great spirit and indomitable bravery of the army-founding generation who honorably defended the sovereignty of our Republic, and thus glorify with brilliant feats the immortal exploits performed by the Navy before the country and its glorious furrow of defence.

All the commanding officers and sailors of the destroyer with the highest honor of being the first to be inspected and blessed by the head of state, expressed gratitude to Kim Jong Un, and pledged to fully demonstrate the heroic fighting spirit of the DPRK Navy and firmly defend the territorial waters of the country along the sea route of victory indicated by the Party Central Committee.

He also met the workers, scientists, technicians, skilled workers and officials in the shipbuilding field, including those of Chongjin and Rajin shipyards, who contributed to the building of the warships. And he had left a picture of love and trust, expressing expectation that they would launch invincible warships one after another in the sea of the country with more vigorous redoubled efforts and dynamic struggle so as to continue to dynamically write a great history of steadily increasing the great power of the Korean People's Army.

A performance was given to celebrate the launching of the destroyer.

The launching ceremony is a full demonstration of the prompt decision and will of the WPK to firmly defend the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests by rapidly developing the DPRK Navy as a powerful service performing a part of the state nuclear deterrent. It is also an occasion of great importance that injects great vitality in the patriotic struggle of the DPRK people advancing dynamically toward the future of prosperity with high aims and ideal.

The fame of the heroic people's navy increasing daily with the glorious era of Kim Jong Un will shine as a symbol of the bravery and victory of indomitable socialist Korea, and the fighting power reaching the vast ocean will demonstrate to the whole world its dignity and might as the treasured sword of defending justice and peace. -0-
www.kcna.kp (2025.06.13.)

http://kcna.kp/en/article/q/02d9ab5a588675d5d26a2254e9ea9f73.kcmsf (54 photos)

https://archive.is/5t7R3

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-attends-launch-restored-destroyer-kcna-says-2025-06-12/

Gaslight Obstruct Project

Is “Let’s build” turning into “Let’s build whatever the Prime Minister wants – and to hell with checks and balances”?

While the jury is still out, those concerned with Mark Carney’s Bill C-5, “An Act to Enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act”, have raised some serious red flags.

As authors of the blog “Pledge for Canada” explain:

“Under the Building Canada Act (BCA), a Cabinet minister may on their own issue an order to write a national project into a schedule of the BCA – making it part of the law – and then go on to issue a document to authorize the project to go ahead subject to either no conditions or any conditions the minister sees fit.

This authorization can be given whether or not permitting the project would run afoul of any one or more of 13 statutes (and 7 sets of regulations under some of these statutes) already in existence and listed in an annex to the BCA – statutes such as the [Environmental] Impact Assessment Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Fisheries Act, and the Indian Act.”

Toronto Star columnist Althia Raj didn’t mince words:

— Toronto Star headline: “Mark Carney can’t be allowed to ram through his plan to build big”

“The Building Canada Act, is the type of legislation that Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper might have been too timid to bring forward, fearing a public backlash. It hands over sweeping decision-making powers to one cabinet minister in untransparent ways, gives cabinet the ability to delete environmental laws from consideration, and creates a dangerous precedent that should be looked at with a fine-tooth comb…”

Bill C-5 raises the question of whether Canadians want the Cabinet to be able to disregard laws – passed by a Parliament of democratically elected MPs – that they find inconvenient.

On this point, Andrew Coyne’s new book, “The Crisis in Canadian Democracy”, makes it clear who actually decides important matters: The Prime Minister.

In a democracy where power is already concentrated with the Prime Minister more than in almost any other OECD country, Bill C-5 may be part of a troubling pattern across the country suggesting that concentration of power is getting even worse.

In Ontario, under Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford, we have Bill 5, the “Unleashing Our Economy Act”.

Bill 5 empowers Ford’s Cabinet to designate any area of Ontario a “special economic zone”. Once so designated, the government can choose to disregard provincial laws passed by the legislature.

In BC, under BC NDP Premier David Eby, we have Bill 15, the “Infrastructure Projects Act. According to Ecojustice, Bill 15 gives the government the power, without approval of the legislature, to designate projects which will be exempt from environmental rules and to force local governments to issue permits.

In the words of Tsartlip Chief Don Tom, this act gives Eby’s Cabinet “the authority to override permitting and environmental assessments for projects they deem a priority. There are no clear limits. No binding safeguards. No commitment to co-governance with rights holders.”

Federally and provincially, we have a democratic system that has given almost unbridled power to one person (Prime Minister or Premier) to determine:

What’s in the “national interest” What’s a “provincially significant” project What’s a so-called “special economic zone” And then bypass the legislature to push projects forward.

As Stephen Harper aptly noted in 1997, our winner-take-all political system produces governments which can resemble a “benign dictatorship”.

And first-past-the-post is a big part of the problem.

By handing us false majority governments, first-past-the-post has enabled laws and conventions to be changed over time at the behest of whatever leader is in power. These changes have concentrated almost all the levers of power at the top.

In other words, when the electoral system gives one party or one person too much power, no surprise – they give themselves more.

Those rules and precedents carry on to the next Prime Minister or Premier, who is only too happy to ignore whatever their party might have said in their platform about walking some of that back.

When a government has a false “majority” as is the case with Ontario, BC and other provincial governments, there is often little anyone can do to prevent legislation that concentrates even more power with the leader.

Thus the voting system has the short-term effect of allowing governments elected with 40% of the vote to ram through whatever they want, and the long-term effect of making it even easier for their successors to do so in future.

The good news is: despite the last federal election pushing us closer to a two-party system, Canadians still elected a minority government.

Therein lies a crucial opportunity for those who favour a more inclusive democracy.

During the election campaign, Mark Carney told the media that he was personally open to electoral reform, adding:

“There may be a point where we’ve advanced on other immediate pressing priorities, particularly the crisis, that those more structural issues in our democracy can be addressed.”

Mark Carney also made it clear he would approach electoral reform very differently than Justin Trudeau, whose “my way or the highway” approach shut down the conversation.

Proportional representation, leading to coalition governments, could provide checks and balances to the PMO, ensuring more parties have a voice in crafting legislation.

With proportional representation, more Canadians will have a say about what’s in the national and provincial interest.

Let’s seize the opportunity of this minority government to build the strongest economy in the G7 – and strongest democracy, too.

The post First-past-the-post concentrates power at the top appeared first on Fair Vote Canada.

Fucking paywalls. Fucking NYT. Anyway - full text..

Explosions rocked Tehran early Friday morning, and Israel’s defense minister said his country’s warplanes had carried out an attack on Iran, raising fears of an all-out war between two of the most powerful militaries in the Middle East.

Neither the scale of the attack nor the damage it caused was immediately clear. The strike was expected to prompt swift retaliation from Iran, likely involving a large barrage of ballistic missiles comparable to that Iran fired during similar escalations last year.

The defense minister, Israel Katz, described the attack as a “pre-emptive strike” and declared a special emergency across Israel, saying a counterattack “is expected in the immediate time frame.” Sirens rang out in Jerusalem and other cities.

Residents of Tehran, the Iranian capital, reported hearing huge explosions, and an Iranian senior official said fighter jets had taken off to intercept the Israeli warplanes.

Mohammad Jamali was standing on a roof in Tehran near Chitgar lake when he saw what appeared to be two jets moving fast and attacking nearby military bases. “What I can see is two massive flames and smoke coming from two military bases in eastern Tehran,” he said.

The attack came as the United States was leading efforts to negotiate an agreement with Tehran that would limit Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons and a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, censured Iran for not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations.

The Israeli strike followed months of disagreement between President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel over how to handle Iran. Mr. Netanyahu has long proposed using military force to derail Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

On Thursday, Mr. Trump said again that he did not want Israel to launch an attack, predicting that doing so would scuttle the chance of a diplomatic solution. “I think it would blow it,” he said. Then he added a nod to the other side of the equation, saying that an attack “might help it, actually, but it could also blow it.”

Several months ago, Mr. Trump waved off an Israeli plan to strike at Iran, insisting that he wanted a chance to negotiate a deal with Tehran. Two weeks ago, Mr. Trump said that he had warned Mr. Netanyahu against launching a strike while the United States was negotiating with Iran.

Those talks faltered in recent weeks, however, and it was unclear how much effort Mr. Trump had made to prevent this latest attack.

The strike did not come as a surprise.

The Israeli government damaged the Iranian air defense system during its attacks on Iran last year and had planned for months to take advantage of Tehran’s weakness to mount further attacks. Anticipating a regional escalation, the United States withdrew diplomats from Iraq on Wednesday and authorized the voluntary departure of families of U.S. soldiers posted elsewhere in the Middle East. A British government agency also warned on Wednesday of an escalation that could pose greater risks to ships in the Persian Gulf.

The attack was among the most brazen moves in a decades-long struggle between Israel and Iran that, until last year, was usually conducted through covert and undeclared operations. For years, Iran has funded regional militias that oppose Israel’s existence and has carried out clandestine attacks on Israeli infrastructure and interests. Israel, which is believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed nation, sees Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat and has long carried out its own covert attacks on Iran’s nuclear program, scientists and other infrastructure.

The shadow war spilled out into the open after the Iran-backed armed group that has long ruled Gaza, Hamas, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, leading to both the war in Gaza and a broader regional confrontation pitting Israel against Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, armed groups in Iraq and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Israel’s strike on an Iranian-controlled compound in Syria in April 2024 prompted Tehran to fire a huge barrage of missiles at Israel. Iran launched a similar assault last fall after Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, as he visited Iran last summer, and then killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah.