Martin Ruskov @mapto@qoto.org

Israeli calls to occupy or annex southern Lebanon revive a long-standing playbook that hasn’t worked in the past, and that risks more instability ahead.
https://theconversation.com/israeli-threats-to-occupy-or-annex-south-lebanon-dust-off-a-decades-old-playbook-279704

It matters how a president speaks.

Because their words don’t just persuade — they set the boundaries of what feels possible, acceptable… even inevitable.

That’s how the unthinkable starts to sound normal, according to a scholar of presidential rhetoric.

https://theconversation.com/presidential-words-can-turn-the-unthinkable-into-the-thinkable-for-better-or-for-worse-280126

https://theconversation.com/presidential-words-can-turn-the-unthinkable-into-the-thinkable-for-better-or-for-worse-280126

The @resistanceschool.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy Resistance Salon Series is back! On 4/15, we will be hosting a virtual, underground conversation with @mollycrabapple.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy and her new book, "Here Where We Live is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund." karenattiah.substack.com/p/register-n...

Register Now: Molly Crabapple ...

With the return of Israeli forces, the Lebanese parliament scrapped elections scheduled for May. The move is a recurring theme in the country’s fractured politics, explains a professor of migration.
https://theconversation.com/lebanons-political-elites-are-using-displacement-and-humanitarian-crisis-to-delay-elections-again-263677

Watching Fedi and the world react to the US president go absolutely unhinged in public, threatening war crimes as his cognitive grip disintegrates before our eyes, watching the horror and the outrage…there is something I want to tell you from Minneapolis.

And I’m not sure how, and I’m not sure if I can, but I want to try. People are always thanking us and calling us heroes and asking us for some kind of…something, anything we can offer in the face of the authoritarian march, and well, here it is, here is something, if I can figure out how to say it.

🧵

Update. Here's the key passage from the new #Trump budget proposing a "Government-Wide Prohibition on Publishing and Subscription Fees." See p. 17.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/budget_fy2027.pdf

"The Budget ends the diversion of research dollars to high priced publishers across the Government. The Budget prohibits the use of Federal funds for expensive subscriptions to academic journals and prohibitively high publishing costs unless required by Federal statute or approved in advance by a Federal agency. Research funded by taxpayers should be publicly accessible; yet many publications charge the Government to both publish and to access the same research study. There are numerous low-cost outlets to make federally-funded research publicly available."

h/t Jim O'Donnell

#APCs #DoubleDipping #OpenAccess #Publishing #ScholComm #Subscriptions

Peter Thiel—who played a key role in JD Vance's conversion to Catholicism—just cannot stop talking about the Antichrist. He just took his Antichrist circus to Rome, where an advisor to the Pope exposed the true meaning of Thiel’s bizarre religious delusions. www.thenerdreich.com/peter-thiels...

Vatican Rebukes Peter Thiel's ...

This was an interesting breakdown of Claude Code’s leak, and I’m still loling at the “sentiment analysis“ code. If you want Claude to know you’re mad, you better say “wtf,“ “shit,“ “fuck,” “horrible,“ “awful,“ or “terrible.” Don‘t try to get fancy with “atrocious“ or “balls.”

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:776hcssquwcv2ihpptzvttxj/post/3minvxsgpb22r

AI can speak non-English languages fluently, but it still thinks in a Western worldview.

For instance, it will prioritize individual autonomy, direct communication and personal boundaries, even in cultures where harmony, community and relational awareness matter more.

More from a scholar of Indonesian society:

https://theconversation.com/ais-fluency-in-other-languages-hides-a-western-worldview-that-can-mislead-users-a-scholar-of-indonesian-society-explains-276865

HRANA – As the military conflict between the United States–Israel and Iran, which began on February 28, 2026, continues, the implementation of death sentences in Iran has entered a new and deeply alarming phase, one marked by an exclusive focus on prisoners facing political and security-related charges and a noticeable acceleration in executions. During this […]