SDF Chatter

Kristi Noem is out as Homeland Security Secretary, but a luxury 737 she has traveled on remains in government hands. That plane, reportedly dubbed the “Big, Beautiful Jet” by DHS staffers, has been quietly leased to the department by a company linked to William Walters, a former State Department official who donated thousands of dollars to a pro-Noem political action committee. Walters owns a constellation of businesses that—despite a dearth of prior experience working for the government—won lucrative contracts with Noem’s DHS over the past year.

One Walters company is selling half a dozen planes to DHS, in a deal that has raised questions within the department and on Capitol Hill about the cost of the aircraft. Another firm owned by Walters landed a contract worth up to $915 million last year, through a procurement process that one DHS official said was flawed and “created an appearance of favoritism,” according to previously unreported court documents.

The 737 jet gained extensive attention in February when the Wall Street Journal reported that Noem and Lewandowski were traveling together on the plane. DHS is reportedly using money meant for the Trump administration’s self-deportations program to lease the plane and is in the process of buying it outright for $70 million. The taxpayer-funded aircraft, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) noted Wednesday, has “a queen-size bedroom” and a “deluxe” bar. “A big, beautiful jet paid for by the Big, Beautiful Bill,” Raskin remarked.

Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, on Tuesday declined to condemn Republican lawmakers who recently made Islamophobic comments, saying only that he had spoken to them about their “tone”.

Democrats and groups advocating religious tolerance have decried the statements from congressmen Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Randy Fine of Florida, with the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, calling on Johnson to discipline the latter.

But the Republican speaker showed little interest in doing so when he was asked about the issue at a press conference during the House GOP’s retreat in Doral, Florida.

“I’ve spoken to those members and all members, as I always do, about our tone and our message and what we say,” Johnson said.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/52120621

The [Chinese Communist] Party’s feared internal police organ, the CCDI (Central Commission for Discipline Inspection) made its annual work report public. Like its previous reports covering 2023 and 2024, it includes data on the acknowledged number of cases in which the Liuzhi system has been employed, showing a record‑breaking 47,000 cases in 2025.

The new work report shows a staggering 24% increase in 2025 from a year earlier in the number of people placed in Liuzhi , which is essentially a system of extra‑legal black jails used to detain Party members and state functionaries for up to six months, at secret locations and without any legal remedy. The system, like the CCDI itself, exists outside the State and is not a law‑enforcement body. As the tables below show, this year’s work report contains less detailed data compared with previous years, but it does indicate an increase in the number of investigations launched (up 15.4%) and punishments issued (up 10.6%).

[...]

The number of investigations launched and punishments meted out now surpasses 5 million for the period 2018–2025, while the number of Liuzhi cases now far exceeds 200,000 (232,240). Each use of Liuzhi, as prior reporting from several groups[...] has shown, involves a high prevalence of torture inside the system. These detentions are, in effect, arrests and imprisonment at secret locations by an internal political Party organ, not a law‑enforcement entity. Every single use of Liuzhi constitutes arbitrary detention and, in most cases, enforced disappearance, with solitary confinement used as a tool to isolate the target.

[...]

CCDI — The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is tasked with ensuring compliance, political correctness, and loyalty among the Party’s 95 million members. Most of its work is carried out by Discipline Inspection Commissions (CDIs) at the provincial level and below.

Liuzhi — “Retention in custody” is part of an internal CCP system for detention and investigation and is not part of the State’s criminal justice system. While in Liuzhi, which is ordered solely by the CCDI without any external oversight or approval, the detainee must, by regulation, be held in solitary confinement, denied access to legal counsel (as this is not a legal process), and prevented from any form of communication. The target is, by design, held incommunicado. Locations vary—from custom‑built facilities to Party‑run hotels, guesthouses, and offices—and must not be disclosed, meaning the person is, by any definition, disappeared. Detention can last up to six months. There is no external appeal mechanism.

[...]

The deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia constitutes a crime against humanity and a war crime, the UN has said.

A new report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says Russian authorities "at the highest level" have deported "thousands" of children from the occupied areas of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin's "direct involvement" has been "visibile form the outset," it adds.

Ukraine says almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus.

The UN Commission has so far identified 1,205 cases of children who were taken from Ukrainian territories by Moscow in 2022.

Eighty percent of these children have not yet been returned, the report says, and many parents and guardians are to this day unaware of the whereabouts of the minors.

...

Caught sleeping in fresh cloths.

The US military said it attacked and destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels near the strait of Hormuz amid reports that Iran has begun laying explosive devices in the strategically vital waterway.

Citing intelligence sources, CNN on Tuesday reported that Iran has laid a few dozen mines in the strait in recent days and has the capability to sow hundreds more.

About one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said earlier this week it will not allow even “one litre of oil” to leave the region if US-Israeli attacks continue.

The sunsets along this coast are frequently majestic.

Scientists say the health and environmental effects of Israeli strikes on oil depots in and around Tehran could be severe, impacting water and food sources long after the smoke and black rain clears.

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning Tuesday about toxic pollutants in the air after the Saturday strikes on four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer centre sparked pillars of flames and thick, black clouds that later produced black, oily rain.

Residents in the city of 10 million reported having trouble breathing and said they experienced dizziness and burning sensations as the rain, mixed with chemicals from burning oil, fell from the sky.

"The black rain and the acidic ⁠rain coming with it is indeed a danger for the population, respiratory mainly," WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told a ‌media briefing in Geneva.

When the FBI raided Jeffrey Epstein's New York mansion in July 2019, on the day he was arrested for child sex trafficking, agents forced open a large safe to find diamonds, bundles of cash, passports, binders of CDs and hard drives.

But an issue with the warrant meant they could not leave with the items. And when they returned with a new one, the safe had been emptied while they were gone - according to FBI documents.

Richard Kahn, Epstein's accountant and bookkeeper since 2005, had told the mansion's staff to pack two suitcases with the contents of the safe and deliver them to his home, agents wrote.

After the FBI spoke to Kahn's then lawyer, Kahn agreed to hand over the suitcases untouched, but he did not want agents coming to his house and declined to say who had told him to remove the items.

Mehr Infos zum Heft: https://www.kultboy.com/magazin/15658/

It is thought the fox is rearing young on an island in the middle of a nature reserve.

If you're already with Linux, this is not for you. This is for people who're indecisive or been contemplating for long about whether to make that jump.

For me, it's a matter of a few things. I'm on a Windows 10 version that guarantees me until 2032 of support. That means I would effectively skip Windows 11, like I already mostly have and potentially skip Windows 12 if that turns out to be a shitty choice. I'd be coming in right in time for whatever Microslop shits out for Win13.

Should Windows 13 suck, I think that's a consideration. Another consideration is when Valve keeps dropping support for certain Windows versions of Steam. Because I know for a fact they will drop Windows 10 support entirely one day and then Windows 11. I believe it is really stupid that they do this.

By the time my Windows 10 version expires, I'd be getting older, which means I'll probably care less and less about computer-related things. Going to Linux wouldn't be a problem since I'd be doing barebones things like browsing and checking e-mail.

And I'd also hope that by 2032, Linux would have better development like easier access to proprietary drivers and software among other things.