A federal judge in California, in a damning 90-page decision, rules the government cannot revoke the F-1 visas of international student journalists because it doesn't like their reporting and such retaliation violates their First and Fifth Amendment rights. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.454120/gov.uscourts.cand.454120.108.0.pdf

To eveyone on Mastodon:

The real lesson of the US attack on autistici/inventi is that WE ARE NEXT. Mastodon servers mostly do not run things like PRISM, are often based outside the US, and compete directly with the Tech Bros and their ad and tracker supported shit for an audience.

Also lots of anti-Trump activism here.

If we don't fight for autistici/inventi today, we will have to fight for Mastodon tomorrow. Domino effects are real with Fascists as we saw at the start of WWII.

Queer people can have a portal gun, as a treat

Prosecutors are seeking to establish a “terrorism connection” in the case of seven Palestine Action activists who allegedly spray-painted Donald Trump’s golf course in Scotland.

The seven have been charged with malicious damage over the 8 March 2025 protest, which came weeks after Trump proposed a US-led takeover of the Gaza strip, the Guardian reported.

Activists broke into the US president’s Turnberry golf course and spray-painted the message “Gaza is not 4 sale” on the lawn. They also sprayed weed killer and daubed the clubhouse in red paint.

“The prosecution will seek to establish a ‘terror connection’, to enable terror sentences to be imposed on the defendants even though the prosecution has chosen not to charge them with any terror offences,” said campaign group Defend Our Juries (DOJ).

Trump had two phone calls with then prime minister Keir Starmer after the protest, DOJ added.

The president referred to the protesters as “terrorists” in a post on Truth Social at the time of the incident – but a report by the Scottish terrorism board published in May 2025 concluded that the protest “has not been close to meeting the statutory definition of terrorism”.

Some have questioned whether Trump influenced the decision to later designate Palestine Action as a terrorist group in the UK in July 2025.

On Wednesday, Trump’s own administration designated Palestine Action a terror group and announced it would sanction any members based in the US.

A spokesperson for DOJ said: “It’s now all too clear why the White House has designated Palestine Action as a global terror organisation, alongside Al Qaeda. It’s because members of Palestine Action upset the president in March 2025 by making a mess of his golf course.”

Labour MP John McDonnell said: “The government has serious questions to answer about the allegations that Donald Trump politically interfered in this matter.”

“It would be utterly shameful if the British government launched an unprecedented attack on free speech in our country – resulting in more than 3,500 people being arrested under terrorism laws for peacefully holding seven-word signs – because Donald Trump threw a tantrum over some red paint on his golf course,” he added.

Autumn Taylor Ward, Dylan Chiaramello, Ricky Southall, Kieran Robson, Rebecca Sian Davies, Uzma Bashir and John Moxley will have their first hearing at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday 31 August.

@drwho lol yeah

at 44 years of age I am just now realizing that my favorite food is fat

@clintruin People WANT to believe there's something called "international law" and country-to-country relations don't work this way. But they're fucking delusional. This is how almost EVERY LINE on a map in North America was created.

@lety women turn on other women way too easily

#Spotted on Market Day in Aotearoa New Zealand:

A man (80s?), the spitting image of Tom Waits in a disheveled tweed coat and a homburg is enjoying an espresso at an outdoor cafe table. Looking up and breaking into a tender smile on seeing a woman (80s?) approaching. Standing, he pulls out her chair.

A tiny human (2?) in an orange woolly jumper, with an adorably shy smile, is running up to every single person he meets before whispering, "Happy birfday!" Grinning and running off to the next person! Look at him go!

A dad (20s?) waiting for his lunch at a Filipino food truck is hugging a tiny new human (days?) to his chest, singing a soft song, smooching a small fuzzy black head of hair. The world is happening around him, but he's in the zone.

A small human (3?) in a bucket hat covered in crocodiles, wearing a tie dye T-shirt is singing a happy song while doing a boogie woogie in front of a cheese stall. Cheese is happening and it deserves some dancing!

A small human is MOST upset. Tears flowing, lower lip wobbling.
Dad says: "What's the problem Bud? What's wrong?"
Small Upset Human says with watery woe: "You weren't watching me when I did my trick!"
Dad giving him a hug and asking for a repeat performance.

Any typos spotted in this post are punctuation guarding copy editors. If typos spotted, they'll be fiercely waving em-dashes at anyone who approaches their Oxford commas.

@randahl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kkOHtniTts&feature=youtu.be

@clintruin I mean people are being super tedious about it but here's how this works:

the empire says "we own that" and you laugh. Then the empire sends ships to the place they say they own, and you're like "wait, you can't just send your navy here" but the empire says "we told you we owned it" and if NOBODY fights back? That's that. The empire owns it.

Videos capture humpback whales stopping to snack as they migrate along Australia’s coast

https://theconversation.com/videos-capture-humpback-whales-stopping-to-snack-as-they-migrate-along-australias-coast-290521

#nature #wildlife #whales

@macacator

The first part: I totally agree. (Of interest: there's a company making a-la-carte electric vehicles where you basically choose all the elements you want -- including, as far as I can tell, the dashboard electronics)

The second part is more of a problem. It's comparing disparate things:

• mining for consumption (you mine a ton of stuff, then set it on fire to go some number of miles) vs. capacity (you mine a ton of stuff, and that lets you store enough energy to go some number of miles -- over and over again)
• a very large amount of material mined per year, on an ongoing basis, for as long as we're still using the technology (internal combustion engines) vs. a much smaller amount of material, mined just while we're making batteries in that particular way (and there are several new battery technologies under development which don't use any conflict minerals)

I can't quickly find a single chart which shows them both together (though I did see one recently), but these two charts combined give a pretty good idea of the scale:

• crude oil vs. top 10 metals (lithium is not in the top 10 metals)
• all the metals we mined, which does show lithium (2nd-to-last row)

I apologize if I'm coming across like a know-it-all, but I've been fighting this disinformation since the Dubya era -- it's one of those zombie memes that keeps popping back up no matter how many times or how thoroughly it is debunked.

@mcnado

#BloomScrolling #JoePyeWeed #wildflowers #bitterweed