Author: nick

[ad_1] The Friday news briefs are sure to get you a little excited… CIA was ‘extraordinarily’ evasive with UFO scientist, new batch of Pentagon files say. Ancient timber monument reveals earliest known solstice alignment in Stonehenge landscape. To find ancient aliens, we should search the Moon for the pulverized remains of Dyson spheres. A monolith designed to record civilization’s downfall is finally taking shape in the remote south of Australia. Related: Transmitting knowledge to the other side of the apocalypse. Can the embodied self explain near-death experiences? The ocean has shielded us from the worst of climate change – now…

[ad_1] In United States v. Hemani, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday held that the federal government could not prosecute Ali Hemani under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3)’s “unlawful user” provision solely because he used marijuana a few times a week while owning a firearm at home. Ilya Somin and Stephen Halbrook wrote about the decision yesterday. In this post, coauthored with Wyoming law professor George Mocsary, I’d like to provide some additional perspective. The Hemani decision is personally important to the many millions of Americans who use marijuana and who also possess firearms, while being careful never to mix the two.…

[ad_1] Image by Maciej Ruminkiewicz. “A few people are getting fabulously, unimaginably wealthy at the same time that entire generations of families worry they will never be able to afford to buy a house, raise children or enjoy a comfortable retirement.” New York Times June 13, 2026 I have written many articles published by Counterpunch on the way wealth is distributed in the United States showing how wealth concentration generally keeps growing and is so wrong and disturbing. Marxists would explain that the accumulation of capital has the tendency to give rise to the centralization and concentration of capital. That…

[ad_1] From Patrick v. Pasco County Fla. Tax Collector, decided Tuesday by Judges Kevin Newsom, Andrew Brasher, and Frank Hull: Plaintiff Lana Patrick is a self-described “Journalist/Activist.” This case arises from Patrick’s attempt to record a video inside the Pasco County Tax Collector’s (“Tax Collector”) office near Dade City, Florida…. “The First Amendment protects the right to gather information about what public officials do on public property, and specifically, a right to record matters of public interest.” Smith v. City of Cumming (11th Cir. 2000). But the right to record is not absolute, because “the Constitution does not require the…

[ad_1] When people plead guilty to crimes, they typically give up the right to appeal any aspect of the outcome, including the sentence they ultimately receive. On Thursday in Hunter v. United States, the Supreme Court imposed limits on such appeal waivers, which are improbably described as “knowing and voluntary” even when the defendant is acting under intense pressure and does not yet know what penalties and release conditions he will face. “An agreement not to appeal a sentence is unenforceable when it would result in a miscarriage of justice,” Justice Elena Kagan writes in the majority opinion, which was…

[ad_1] Trump poses rightwing leaders during the Shield of the Americas summit in Miami, Florida. White House Photo by Daniel Torok. Donald Trump’s second term has precipitated a tsunami of criticism from Democrats over his foreign policy. Yet when it comes to Washington’s efforts to dominate Latin America and the Caribbean, the substantive dispute – if there is any substance remaining, once stripped of partisan bickering – is less about ends than means. Beneath the rhetoric of inter-party conflict lies a broad bipartisan consensus in favor of promoting US hemispheric hegemony and crushing governments that resist it – with Venezuela,…

[ad_1] For many years, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a professor and an advocate. She had written and litigated extensively on many constitutional law issues, including sex discrimination and abortion. When Ginsburg became a circuit court judge, and then a Supreme Court justice, no one would have expected her to abandon all of her views on constitutional law. Of course she insisted during her confirmation hearing that she would approach issues with an open mind. But to no one’s surprise, Ginsburg’s constitutional jurisprudence largely reflected her scholarly agenda. I think much the same can be said of Professors Scalia, Breyer, Kagan,…

[ad_1] Story at-a-glance Just seven days of intensive mind-body training produced measurable changes in brain efficiency, energy production, and cellular repair processes Brain cells formed stronger connections and communication improved, which translates into clearer thinking, better focus, and faster decision-making The body shifted to a faster energy system, supporting sharper mental performance and improved resilience under stress Real benefits came from mentally demanding effort, not relaxation, as staying present through discomfort trained the brain to handle stress more effectively Consistent, structured daily meditation sessions can replicate these changes, helping you build lasting mental resilience and more stable emotional control What…

[ad_1] The United States has gotten used to specific ways of ending wars. Sometimes the U.S. military decisively forces the enemy state to surrender, imposes a new political order, and gets it to stick, as in Germany and Japan in the 1940s or Panama in the 1990s. Other times, rebels wear down U.S. resources and willpower before decisively kicking out U.S. forces, as in Vietnam in 1975 or Afghanistan in 2021. But the Iran war is ending with something quite unfamiliar to Washington: compromise. The United States and Iran were unable to defeat each other in the first round, and,…

[ad_1] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing perhaps the most precarious moment of his political career. He knows it. His allies know it. And his rivals—both within his coalition and across Israel’s political spectrum—are preparing to capitalize on his growing weakness. Former Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon, who also served as deputy prime minister between 2007 and 2009, is among the latest Israeli political figures to join a growing chorus of criticism directed at Netanyahu. “In the final result,” Ramon said in an interview with Radio Galey, cited by the Israeli outlet Srugim, “we did not win.” He then…