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Miscellaneous (News/Activism)

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  • Graham: Trump ‘had all the authority he needs under the Constitution’ for Iran strikes

    06/22/2025 8:43:01 AM PDT · by RandFan · 47 replies
    The Hill ^ | 06/22/25 11:14 AM ET | by Sarah Fortinsky
    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in a Sunday morning interview pushed back on claims that President Trump acted outside his Constitutional authority by ordering strikes on Iran. “No, he was within his Article II authority,” Graham said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” when asked if Trump violated the U.S. Constitution by “acting unilaterally.” “Congress can declare war or cut off funding,” Graham continued. “We can’t be the commander in chief. You can’t have 535 commander in chiefs.” “If you don’t like what the president does, in terms of war, you can cut off the funding. But declaring...
  • Nigel Farage and Reform UK take 9 point lead in opinion poll - A record high

    06/21/2025 2:19:25 PM PDT · by RandFan · 14 replies
    X ^ | June 21 | Election Map
    Westminster Voting Intention: RFM: 34% (+19) LAB: 25% (-10) CON: 15% (-9) LDM: 11% (-2) GRN: 9% (+2) Via @Ipsos_in_the_UK, 30 May - 4 Jun. Changes w/ Election 2024.
  • Trump to decide on US action in Israel-Iran conflict within TWO WEEKS ...

    06/20/2025 2:18:31 PM PDT · by RandFan · 18 replies
    BBC ^ | June 20 | BBC
    US President Donald Trump will decide whether or not the US gets directly involved in the Iran-Israel conflict within the next two weeks, the White House has said. In a White House press briefing, Press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a message directly from Trump: "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks." The press secretary has so far repeatedly declined to discuss "hypotheticals", including on whether Iranian officials could...
  • Assisted dying bill: How both sides of debate reacted to historic vote

    06/20/2025 2:11:08 PM PDT · by RandFan · 7 replies
    Sky News ^ | June 20 | Sky News
    More than 300 MPs this afternoon backed a bill that gives people in England and Wales who have less than six months to live the right to apply for an assisted death. Each request will be evaluated by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. Today's historic vote means the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will now go to the House of Lords for further scrutiny before becoming law. Following the landmark vote, individuals for and against it have shared their feelings on the result.
  • Texas Legislature Appropriates $13 Million for Spay and Neuter Pilot Program to Protect Public Health

    06/20/2025 11:54:47 AM PDT · by yelostar · 27 replies
    Texas Humane Legislation Network ^ | June 5, 2025 | Texas Humane Legislation Network
    AUSTIN, TX – In a historic win for animal welfare and public health, the Texas Legislature has appropriated $13 million over the next two years to launch a statewide pilot program aimed at reducing the population of unvaccinated, unsterilized dogs and cats. The program, to be administered by the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), is designed to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as rabies, toxoplasmosis, and leptospirosis. The funding awaits final approval by Governor Greg Abbott.“This is a crucial step forward in protecting both animals and people in Texas,” said Shelby Bobosky, Executive Director of the Texas...
  • Trump’s megabill hits more trouble as Senate conservatives demand changes

    06/20/2025 8:21:05 AM PDT · by RandFan · 22 replies
    The Hill ^ | 06/20/25 6:00 AM ET | by Alexander Bolton
    The Senate version of legislation to enact President Trump’s agenda is hitting new turbulence as conservatives led by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are demanding deeper spending cuts to address the nation’s $2.2 trillion annual deficit. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has focused this week on addressing the concerns of Senate GOP colleagues such as Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), who raised alarms about cuts to federal Medicaid spending. But Thune has to worry about his right flank as Johnson and his allies are threatening to hold up the bill...
  • MPs narrowly back legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by 23 votes

    06/20/2025 6:46:45 AM PDT · by RandFan · 11 replies
    BBC ^ | June 20 | BBC
    Summary MPs vote to back a bill legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by 23 votes The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill will now progress to the House of Lords, where it will face further scrutiny After several hours of emotional debate, MPs were allowed to vote in accordance with their personal beliefs, rather than alongside party lines The bill would allow terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to get medical assistance to end their own lives
  • US joining Israeli strikes would cause HELL, Iranian minister tells BBC

    06/20/2025 12:42:29 AM PDT · by RandFan · 73 replies
    BBC ^ | June 20 | BBC
    The US joining Israeli strikes would cause "hell for the whole region", Iran's deputy foreign minister has told the BBC. Saeed Khatibzadeh said this is "not America's war" and if US President Donald Trump does get involved, he will always be remembered as "a president who entered a war he doesn't belong in". He said US involvement would turn the conflict into a "quagmire", continue aggression and delay an end to the "brutal atrocities". His comments came after the Soroka hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack. Iranian state media reported that the strike targeted a...
  • FReeper Canteen ~ Just Hangin' Cafe ~ 20 June 2025

    06/19/2025 5:59:14 PM PDT · by beachn4fun · 65 replies
    June 19, 2025 | FR Canteen Military Support Group
    FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FReeper Canteen Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it. It's casual FRiday here at the Canteen. Pull up a seat and relax. We serve coffee, tea, conversation and music. Our AWESOME military, our AWESOME allies, and their families are welcomed and honored here. No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe. Grab a cup or a glass, and start a conversation. You...
  • Lou Christie, Pop Idol Who Hit No. 1 in 1960s With ‘Lightnin’ Strikes,’ Dies at 82

    06/19/2025 4:19:12 PM PDT · by ChicagoConservative27 · 42 replies
    Variety ^ | 06/18/2025 | Chris Willman
    Lou Christie, the pop singer who indeed had lightning strike in a big way with his “Lightnin’ Strikes” smash in the 1960s, died Wednesday at 82, his family announced on social media. No date or cause of death was given. Christie had three top 10 singles in the U.S. across a period of six years in the ’60s, the biggest being “Lightnin’ Strikes,” which was released in 1965 and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1966. Written by Christie with Twyla Herbert, the MGM-label single was famous for a soaring hook with a nearly Frankie Valli-level...
  • Pentagon cancels multibillion dollar household goods moving contract

    06/19/2025 9:11:47 AM PDT · by 11th_VA · 9 replies
    https://federalnewsnetwork.com ^ | June 18, 2025 | Jared Serbu
    The Defense Department has cancelled its multibillion dollar Global Household Goods contract (GHC), bringing an abrupt end to a years-long effort that was intended to overhaul the management structure of the system that’s used to move service members’ belongings from one duty station to another, but whose implementation ultimately caused many more problems than it solved. In a statement Wednesday night, the Pentagon said it terminated its up-to-$17.9 billion contract with HomeSafe Alliance for cause. Sean Parnell, DoD’s chief spokesman, said the decision was due to HomeSafe’s “demonstrated inability to fulfill their obligations and deliver high quality moves to service...
  • President’s proposed public land sale includes beloved Lake Tahoe sites

    06/19/2025 8:57:53 AM PDT · by cuz1961 · 38 replies
    South Tahoe NOW ^ | 6z\18/2025 | Paula Peterson
    ...250 million acres of public lands could be eligible for sale ... ...Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada was part of a panel discussion with the Sierra Club ... ...Selling off of private lands in the West would harm endangered species.... ...Out of the loop would be sovereign Tribal Nations with the bill. It fails to give sovereign Tribal Nations ...
  • Supercell Thunderstorms Pummel Wildlife, Bust Windows With Baseball-Sized Hail

    06/19/2025 8:09:12 AM PDT · by Ahithophel · 42 replies
    Cowboy State Daily ^ | June 17, 2025 | Andrew Rossi
    A surge of supercell thunderstorms over the last week has pummeled Wyoming, Montana and Colorado with golf ball- to baseball-sized hail that’s obliterated windshields, tore pieces off of homes and killed wildlife. Haden Wichman was branding calves near Kolin, Montana, on Saturday evening when he saw dark storm clouds on the horizon. “We went up the road to watch it, because we knew the big white cloud was going to come down the creek bottom,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “It was like a flash flood of golf ball-sized hail and 2 inches of rain that came with it.” After...
  • Bill to limit the number of cows on New York dairy farms panned

    06/18/2025 10:43:00 AM PDT · by grundle · 41 replies
    WAMC Northeast Public Radio ^ | June 10, 2025 | Pat Bradley
    Upstate legislators and agricultural advocates are decrying a proposal in the New York State Legislature that would limit the size of dairy herds to 700 cows. The proposal would prohibit the Department of Environmental Conservation from “issuing or authorizing any permits” to farms with 700 or more dairy cows. The bill states that farms of that size amount to factory farms that “have numerous detrimental impacts to the environment, resulting in billions of pounds of manure each year, creating runoff that pollutes local waterways....” The bill also states that the larger dairy farms “also release significant amounts of methane, a...
  • Tucker clashes with Sen. Ted Cruz: 'You don't know anything about Iran'

    06/18/2025 9:23:36 AM PDT · by RandFan · 132 replies
    NBC ^ | June 18 | By Megan Lebowitz
    WASHINGTON — Right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson clashed with Sen. Ted Cruz in an interview and posted a clip Tuesday night in which the senator was unable to answer questions about Iran. "How many people live in Iran, by the way?" Carlson asked the Texas Republican. "I don't know the population," Cruz responded. "At all?" Carlson asked, prompting Cruz to reiterate that he did not know. "You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple?" Asked again how he did not know Iran's population, the senator responded, "I don't sit around memorizing population tables." (The CIA estimated...
  • Largest Trans Survey Ever: Top Reason Trans People Stop Transitioning Is Transphobia

    06/18/2025 6:39:04 AM PDT · by fwdude · 50 replies
    Erin in the Morning ^ | Jun 11, 2025 | S. Baum
    A report on the largest survey ever of trans Americans’ health was released on Wednesday, June 11, and its findings reaffirmed what many academics, health care providers and trans people already know: gender-affirming care saves and improves lives, but transphobia often dissuades people from pursuing or continuing it when they need it most. Over 84,000 trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people aged 18 and up responded to the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey, spearheaded by Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE). Of respondents who had transitioned, 9% had gone back to living as their sex assigned at birth at some point in...
  • What to know about Iran's mysterious leader, Ali Khamenei

    06/18/2025 1:12:07 AM PDT · by RandFan · 5 replies
    BBC [Live Page] ^ | June 18 | BBC [Live Page]
    You may have seen news this week that Israel had planned to assassinate the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before the US reportedly intervened. Donald Trump also warned on social media he knows "exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding." But who is Khamenei? And why would Israel target him? Ali Khamenei is Iran's head of state, and has been for more than three decades. His title puts him above the president, Masoud Pezeshkian, as the country's most powerful religious and political leader. Apart from sweeping powers in governing the country, Khamenei also leads the hardline religious...
  • Trump threatens Iran’s leader, demands ‘UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER’

    06/17/2025 11:20:00 AM PDT · by RandFan · 171 replies
    CNBC ^ | June 17 | CNBC
    President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that he is an “easy target” and “our patience is wearing thin,” before demanding Tehran surrender in its conflict against Israel. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” he wrote after declaring “total control” over Iran’s airspace. “But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.” Trump in a subsequent...
  • Looking for some advice… Are there any medical malpractice lawyers here?

    06/17/2025 10:30:53 AM PDT · by AzNASCARfan · 18 replies
    AzNascarfan
    We are looking into filing a lawsuit against the hospital that my wife was just in for a month. Let me give you her story and see if anybody has some advice for us. On Friday May 9th at 9am, I took my wife to the ER because she was having abdominal pain that we suspected was a bad appendix. By 11:30am it was confirmed that indeed her appendix was inflamed and needed to come out. My wife said well happy Mother’s Day to me and the PA responded, don’t worry this is no big deal, 3 little incisions, and...
  • Starmer’s Grooming gang inquiry not enough, say victims

    06/17/2025 5:07:58 AM PDT · by RandFan · 7 replies
    Telegraph ^ | June 17 | Telegraph
    Sir Keir Starmer’s grooming gang inquiry does not go far enough, victims and campaigners said on Tuesday. Four people affected by the rape gangs scandal joined Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, as she held a press conference in central London. It comes after Sir Keir bowed to pressure to commission a national inquiry into the historic sexual exploitation of thousands of girls, predominantly by men of Pakistani origin. The Prime Minister’s commitment followed a report by Baroness Casey which found that police and council leaders covered up the scale of Asian grooming gangs because they feared being called racist. Marlon...