Thank you Senator Sanders for championing this historic progress and for taking real action in Congress.
Because of your leadership, Senate Democrats are finally catching up to the American people’s demands to stop sending weapons for Israel’s genocide, apartheid, & aggression.
Israel killed an average of at least 47 girls and women per day in Gaza.
A new analysis published by the United Nations shows that more than 38,000 girls and women were killed in between October 2023 and December 2025.
Latest death toll released by the Lebanese ministry of health includes the grim milestone that 100 medics/first responders have now been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks since March 2. I wrote about attacks on healthcare a few weeks ago, when it was 42 www.irishtimes.com/world/middle...
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Just War Doctrine All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war. However, "as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed." (CCC, no. no.2308) The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time: 1 The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; 3 There must be serious prospects of success; 2 All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; 4 The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the weighs very heavily in evaluating "just war" doctrine. The evaluation of this condition. these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good. (CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, NO. 2309) The Church and human reason both assert the permanent validity of the moral law during armed conflict. "The mere fact that war has regrettably broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between the warring parties." (CCC, no. 2312) PRAY FOR PEACE.
Bishops doubling down
So many careerists, cowards, and quislings. Structures matter, but at some point so does character.
Meanwhile in the #WestBank
...more Israeli crimes against children for the western political and media establishment to ignore.
My story on the 57 forest service research stations that are going to be closed is up now
📢📢PRESS RELEASE: The Texas Tech Chapter of the AAUP condemns a new Texas Tech University System directive canceling academic programs related to gender identity and sexual orientation. 👇
aaup-texas.org/blog/f/texas...
But if you look closely, there is a lot of biological activity: Erica australis resprouting, Narcissus_coronatus, Pterospartum tridentatum (resprouts & seedlings).
Llamas de Cabrera, Aug 2025 fire, León, Spain
🧪🌍🔥🌳🪴🌱🍁🌴 #botany wildfire #PlantBiology
Absolutely remarkable statement from Pope Leo today.
One for the history books
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Massive increase in the censorship regime at TTU: www.texastribune.org/2026/04/10/t...
People really just need to grapple with the fact that the vast majority of "two-staters" are, literally, lying.
guess that ambulance kill shot was just the beginning of what i’ve heard described as “the worst day of bombing israel has committed against lebanon since 2006,” but you should follow lebanese people for more accurate information.
to wit, here’s one way to help: bit.ly/lebanon-solidarity
There is no ceasefire in Lebanon. Israel has been bombing Lebanon non-stop since last night. If anything Israel is expanding its war on Lebanon.
You are being lied to
Like a good graduate mentor.
Israeli soldiers are detonating entire villages in South Lebanon while taking selfies. Ancient mosques, churches, cemeteries, schools, hospitals - all being obliterated by the genocidal regime
www.instagram.com/reel/DWrg5xi...
The story of the Klamath River dam removal continues to grip me. The imagery of the water flowing freely at last, unbound and vital. The young people newly discovering the river as it was for their ancestors. The generations of struggle that it took to redeem the river and reclaim the land.
Amidst everything else, the Trump regime has quietly killed off the U.S. Forest Service 🌲
“One hundred and ninety-three million acres of your national forests… just handed, on a silver platter, to the people who’ve spent their entire careers trying to destroy it.”
www.hatchmag.com/articles/tru...
!! Wow, NPR article highlighting botanist @naomibot.bsky.social !!
“JNS sought comment from him on Wednesday after the university removed him as director of the Middle East Center at its Jackson School of International Studies for sending an email newsletter framing Israel as the aggressor in the Iran war.”
Who do they think started the war?
Biden administration, as terrible as it was on many fronts, still beating Obama administration ghouls on their subsequent endeavors.
The professor reportedly wrote in a March 18 newsletter, which he sent via the center’s listserv, that “Israeli actions tell us that they seek the destruction of the state, not just its ruling class.” The email, titled “More notes on the Iran war,” reportedly added that it “was always BS” that the Islamic Republic was pursuing nuclear weapons.
The U. of Washington stripped its Director of Middle East Studies of his position for writing an email that said “Israeli actions tell us that they seek the destruction of the state, not just its ruling class” and that Iran had not been pursuing nuclear weapons.
In other words, for stating facts.
The Sargent Fire quickly erupted this afternoon in an area along the FL-GA line that was added to exceptional drought today. It’s burning intensely at the edge of state lands, Osceola NF lands and Okefenokee. Certainly one to watch.
If you think all this stuff is helpful in contextualizing the present catastrophe, help us out with a donation! Every donation of $10 or more before May 7 unlocks more money for MERIP during Delco Gives!
www.delcogives.org/organization...
And our Lebanon Primer is a fantastic overview of the long history of resistance to Israeli violence threaded through the country’s modern history.
www.merip.org/a-primer-on-...
You should only accept utf8
I appreciated this article by Michael Taggart, on the temptation to use some of these coding tools and the pitfalls, from the POV of an experienced software engineer.
This is why it's important to fight these issues collectively rather than at the individual level.
taggart-tech.com/reckoning/
I talked with my programming students about this today. This is so unbelievably bad.
Ten years ago I had the honour of attending the centenary commemorations of Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising, and of sharing why its lessons are vital for our time.
OpEd and Video: www.irishtimes.com/life-and-sty...
