technocrit

As momentum builds under the banner of “No Kings!” liberals and other activists in the U.S. should consider the real question of how we got here and how we can move forward and away from Trump’s authoritarianism altogether. The question isn’t about monarchy versus presidency, but about the myth of representation itself.

The alleged officers detaining hundreds if not thousands of people each day in California and across the country are often masked. They sometimes refuse to answer questions, including which agency they represent. They threaten force — and even use it to make arrests of bystanders — when they are challenged.

In the first video I watched, a man in an unmarked car detains another man sitting on a bus bench in Pasadena. The man presumed to be a federal agent has on a vest that simply says “Police” and a cheap black ski mask that covers every bit of his face — the kind that looks like it was purchased on Amazon and that we have previously most associated with criminals such as robbers and rapists. A few of his colleagues are in the background, some also seemingly masked.

If these men approached me or one of my kids dressed like that, I would run. I would fight. I would certainly not take his word that he was “police” and had the right to force me into his car.

In the second video, another presumed federal agent jumps out of his unmarked vehicle and draws his weapon on a civilian attempting to take a photo of the license plate.

Yes — he points his gun at a civilian who is not threatening him or committing a crime. Folks, maybe you consider it a bad idea to try to photograph what may or may not be a legitimate police operation, but it is not illegal. This alleged officer appears to have simply not liked what was happening, and threatened to shoot the person upsetting him. The man taking the photo ran away, but what would have happened had he not?

These actions by alleged authorities are examples of impunity, and it is what happens when accountability is lost.

Warning: Video may cause hearing damage, brain shrinkage.

A spokesperson for Iran's health ministry said Israeli attacks on the country have killed more than 400 Iranians.

Hossein Kermanpour, head of public relations at Iran's health ministry, said most of the recorded deaths have been civilians.

He added that the Israeli strikes have killed at least 54 women and children, and wounded 3,056 others.

"Among the injured, 2,220 have been treated and discharged from the Ministry of Health hospitals, while 232 received outpatient care at the scene of the attacks," said Kermanpour.

"During this period, our dedicated medical teams across the country have performed 457 surgeries on the wounded."

Israel’s war on Iran was one that many have expected, and yet with nuclear talks between the United States and Iran ongoing, few saw it coming. Propaganda from the Netanyahu government and credulous reporting in the Western media have played a major part in how we got here.

In a major ruling late Thursday night, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit unanimously held that President Donald Trump acted within his authority in federalizing and deploying California National Guard troops to Los Angeles, overriding the objections of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.

As of this writing, some 4,700 US military personnel—including 4,000 members of the California National Guard—have been federalized by the Trump administration in response to protests against ongoing immigration raids across Southern California. Hundreds of troops are now deployed throughout Los Angeles, as masked and unaccountable immigration Gestapo agents continue to brutally assault, detain and disappear residents, workers and even US citizens on a daily basis.

The most significant fact that emerged from the testimony was the acknowledgment by Bolsonaro and the other defendants that the former president conspired with the armed forces command to prevent the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers Party (PT), who was democratically elected in 2022.

Despite having been the one to shoot and kill Ah Loo and wound Arturo, the yet unidentified No Kings “peacekeeper” was detained and released without charges after being questioned by police.

In this News Brief, we are joined by Ashley Bohrer and Ben Teller of Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago to discuss media indifference to the US and Israel-imposed starvation of Palestinians, how sectarianism is central to the ADL's strategy, and why six JVP activists have decided to hunger strike to draw more attention to the Israeli and US-made famine in Gaza.

A growing body of research attempts to put a number on energy use and AI—even as the companies behind the most popular models keep their carbon emissions a secret.

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