86-47, but in MN gneiss

@wndlb on @Bluesky; @wndlbl on Threads; "neurologically divergent from the Albion's Seed populations, not just in IQ but also in personality traits."

[86-47, but in MN gneiss @WndlB]

@isna_farsi @JustTheNews right?

[Tasnim News Agency @Tasnimnews_EN]

Iran Warns US, Israel of Consequences for Ceasefire Violations

Iran’s FM declared that any ceasefire between Iran and the US must be total and unambiguous, covering all fronts, including Lebanon, warning that the US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any breach.

[86-47, but in MN gneiss @WndlB]

@FrankLuntz @Farah_Pandith Hell of I know what is true over there, but this is up: https://t.co/MUhiC1VHql

[86-47, but in MN gneiss @WndlB]

@Pontifex Never thought I'd say it, but:
Go, Pope!!

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

I follow with concern the war in #Ukraine, which is experiencing a sharp intensification in these days. I wish to express my closeness to all those suffering due to recent attacks carried out even against civilians. War does not solve problems but worsens them. It does not create security but multiplies suffering and hatred. Where missiles and drones fall, hopes also fall; homes and places of prayer are destroyed, and innocent lives are broken. I entrust all peoples wounded by war to the protection of the Virgin Mary, Queen of #Peace.

[James Martin, SJ @JamesMartinSJ]

Pope Leo XIV: "Among these ideologies, I consider particularly insidious the one that suggests that every person must earn or justify his or her own worth, to the point of attributing greater value to those who are more efficient or effective. From this perspective, persons end up being reduced to a means of achieving results, a resource to be used and exploited, and are no longer recognized as a proper end in themselves who should never be instrumentalized. The value of persons, however, does not depend on what they achieve or produce. There are rights that apply to everyone simply by virtue of being human, and no human power can legitimately deny or arbitrarily limit them." #MagnificaHumanitas

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Let us learn to be rich in a different way: more attentive to relationships, more intent on valuing the common good, more attached to the local area, more grateful in welcoming and integrating those who come to live with us.

[Diane Montagna @dianemontagna]

JUST IN: Vatican announces that Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical — titled Magnifica Humanitas, on the safeguarding of the human person in the age of AI — will be presented at 11:30am on Monday, May 25, in the Vaticanʼs Synod Hall, in the presence of the Holy Father.

Speakers at the presentation will include:

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith;

Cardinal Michael Czerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development;

Professor Anna Rowlands, Political Theology, including Catholic Social Teaching, and theological ethics of human migration, Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University, United Kingdom;

Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic (USA) and head of interpretability research for artificial intelligence;

Dr. Leocadie Lushombo, Political Theology and Catholic Social Thought, Jesuit School of Theology / Santa Clara University, California.

Concluding remarks will be delivered by thel Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

The presentation will also include an address by Pope Leo XIV.

Magnifica Humanitas was signed and dated on May 15, the 135th anniversary of the promulgation of Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum.

[zerohedge @zerohedge]

Gulf officials from countries Trump mentioned said they were not aware of the imminent plan to attack Iran: WSJ

[chiky handler @chiky_handlr]

Reporter: The DOJ has this new fund — $1.7 billion. Why should taxpayers pay for the January 6ers?

Trump: Because in my world, loyalty outranks law. They broke the rules for me, so you pay the bill for them. That’s the transaction.

[Barry Rosen @brosen1501]

As a former American hostage in Iran from 1979-81 — and as someone who has spent decades observing Iranian history, politics, and culture — I fear we are approaching another catastrophic U.S.-Iran war.

The danger is no longer theoretical. It may be imminent. Both Washington and Tehran are continuing down a military path while clinging to hardline, maximalist demands. The U.S. insists Iran dismantle its nuclear and missile capabilities while threatening renewed strikes. Iran refuses to surrender what it sees as sovereign defenses and continues to use the Strait of Hormuz as strategic leverage over the global economy.

Neither side appears willing to step back first. This is the terrifying reality: there is currently no clear off-ramp. Military escalation has created its own momentum. The Trump administration entered this confrontation without a coherent long-term strategy, apparently assuming pressure and force alone would produce capitulation. Instead, Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz has grown, oil markets are destabilized, and the risk of miscalculation increases by the day.

Some scholars describe moments like this as a modern “Thucydides Trap” — when fear, pride, miscalculation, and rising confrontation make conflict seem almost unavoidable even when war could devastate both sides. Whether or not that term fully applies here, history shows how nations can slide into wars neither truly knows how to end.

I lived through one U.S.-Iran disaster. I do not want to see another. Diplomacy is not weakness or appeasement. It is now the only realistic path away from a wider regional war that could spiral beyond anyone’s control.

[86-47, but in MN gneiss @WndlB]

@Acyn Aw why not, @DAGToddBlanche?
Afraid of my legal skillz?

[Peter Baker @peterbakernyt]

When Trump pulled out of the international nuclear agreement with Tehran in 2018, Iran lacked even a single bomb's worth of uranium. Since then, it accumulated 22,000 pounds of enriched uranium. @BlackiLi @WilliamJBroad https://t.co/r8pPDoXqgh

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

Today’s Supreme Court decision effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities - so long as they do it under the guise of “partisanship” rather than explicit “racial bias.” And it serves as just one more example of how a majority of the current Court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach.

The good news is that such setbacks can be overcome. But that will only happen if citizens across the country who cherish our democratic ideals continue to mobilize and vote in record numbers - not just in the upcoming midterms or in high profile races, but in every election and every level.

[خبرگزاری ایسنا @isna_farsi]

سفیر ایران در پاکستان: شما نمی‌توانید به نقض قوانین بین‌المللی ادامه دهید، محاصره خود را تشدید کنید، ایران را بیشتر تهدید کنید، بر خواسته‌های غیرمنطقی خود اصرار ورزید، با لفاظی‌های بی‌مورد از دیگران پیشی بگیرید و وانمود کنید که در حال دنبال کردن «دیپلماسی» هستید. ۲/۲

[Alberto Miguel Fernandez @AlbertoMiguelF5]

The Russians must be livid on how Iran's actions in striking its neighbors will turn out to be a bonanza for the Ukrainian arms industry, allowing them to tap into the super-lucrative Gulf Arab market. Great job, IRGC!

[Velina Tchakarova @vtchakarova]

Trump on the US attack on Iranian-flagged cargo ship. At the same time, Iranian state-linked media says that Iranian forces thwarted the US attempt to attack Iranian commercial ship. Schrödinger’s reality continue in Hormuz and Iran.

[Velina Tchakarova @vtchakarova]

What comes next? Spain joining BRICS+?

[Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNews]

And there it is....

Update in Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against his own I.R.S., in which he seeks taxpayer-funded damages for the prior release of his tax records

Trump legal filing says he's in "discussions" with his own I.R.S. to "avoid protracted litigation"

[Aaron David Miller @aarondmiller2]

Between Trump and Netanyahu they eroded the most important adhesive in the US-Israeli relationship: bipartisanship. And both set out to undermine and ignore anyone in the Jewish community who didn’t hold right-wing views.