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Silverseren @kbin.social
Posts 218
Comments 953
Controversial law to surgically castrate child sex offenders in Louisiana could soon be reality
  • I have a couple of concerns with this.

    The first being if some states are going to try to use this against any kids charged with being child sex offenders, like several states have done with teenagers who have sex with each other (or have nude pictures of each other).

    An additional concern is obviously conservatives trying to use this against trans people and drag queens, whom they are already trying to define as sex offenders just for existing in public.

    Another concern or just question is...is this meant to be a deterrent? And is it even effective in that? For a lot of child sex offenders, a major component of the pleasure derived is from having power over the child in question. Removing their genitals wouldn't necessarily change that? It's possible it may even have them turn more to violence toward children as their outlet.

    I'm just wondering on the effectiveness of this method. Is there any evidence at all or is this being done on an emotional whim?

  • A nurse honored for compassion is fired after referring to Gaza ‘genocide’ in speech

    Labor and delivery nurse Hesen Jabr, who is Palestinian American, was being honored by NYU Langone Health for her compassion in caring for mothers who had lost babies when she drew a link between her work and the suffering of mothers in Gaza.

    “It pains me to see the women from my country going through unimaginable losses themselves during the current genocide in Gaza,” Jabr said, according to a video of the May 7 speech that she posted on social media. “This award is deeply personal to me for those reasons.”

    Jabr wrote on Instagram that she arrived at work on May 22 for her first shift back after receiving the award when she was summoned to a meeting with the hospital’s president and vice president of nursing “to discuss how I ‘put others at risk’ and ‘ruined the ceremony’ and ‘offended people’ because a small part of my speech was a tribute towards the grieving mothers in my country.”

    She wrote that after working most of her shift she was “dragged once again to an office” where she was read her termination letter and then escorted out of the building.

    10

    How Israeli Security Nixed Haaretz's Report Into Alleged Mossad Extortion of International Court Prosecutor

    The investigation this week by Britain's The Guardian newspaper revealed an alleged extortion operation led by then-Mossad head Yossi Cohen against then-International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. About two years ago, Haaretz was about to reveal the affair, but an Israeli security official blocked publication. Now the affair has been exposed at a difficult time for Israel.

    3

    How Israeli Security Nixed Haaretz's Report Into Alleged Mossad Extortion of International Court Prosecutor

    The investigation this week by Britain's The Guardian newspaper revealed an alleged extortion operation led by then-Mossad head Yossi Cohen against then-International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. About two years ago, Haaretz was about to reveal the affair, but an Israeli security official blocked publication. Now the affair has been exposed at a difficult time for Israel.

    2

    White House signals Rafah strike doesn’t cross ‘red line’

    The White House on Tuesday indicated an Israeli strike that killed dozens of Palestinians in Rafah did not cross a “red line” that would lead to a change in U.S. policy.

    Multiple administration officials in press briefings on Tuesday described the images out of Rafah as “heart-breaking,” “tragic,” and “horrific.” But there was no sign of an impending policy change as a result because it was an airstrike and not a major ground operation.

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    ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • Other methods have been used in the meantime, for decades. But they are only so effective. Vitamins, other foods, and other methods have been in process. But they each have their own limitations, both on supply to remote areas and getting local peoples to take up those methods.

    The latter is the biggest issue, especially with trying to introduce alternative foods like carrots. If they aren't a part of the local cuisine, many of the individuals, who are often subsistence farmers who have limited land and only grow explicitly what they need to survive, aren't interested.

    Hence why golden rice was developed, because rice is a main part of the local diet in these areas and so it is much easier to get them to adopt growing a different cultivar of something they already eat than it is to convince them to grow a completely different food.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • Greenpeace actively fearmongers with any and every conspiracy claim they can come up with on the subject. If you look at the reasoning they used in the OP article above and given to the Philippines, you'll see that they never use any detailed claims, but always vague ones. They reference "safety concerns" without specification and without any consideration of the dozens of papers published on golden rice in the past two decades.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • What does intellectual property have to do with stealing crops from your neighbor? In fact, the guy in question was purposefully working for the organic food companies in order to try and have such a lawsuit happen.

    The funny thing being that he completely lost the case.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • Do you have any idea of the history of litigation around cross pollination from GMO crops?

    I do. In that it was made up by the organic companies to fearmonger about GM crops. The only lawsuits that happened were against people who were purposefully harvesting the GM crops of their neighbors to plant only those. Cross-contamination doesn't result in a subsequent harvest of 99+% GM crops.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • They've actually been doing this sort of thing for a while now. They decided rather than pro-environmentalism, they'd rather just be anti-science in general. It's the same with them protesting any use of nuclear anywhere for any reason.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • To show what exactly? It's actually really hard to get desired new traits to retain themselves in cross-breeding experiments and even in regular generational breeding. That's the whole issue with F1 hybrid plants having great hybrid traits, but you can't replant them or they completely lose those traits.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • Rice already has the beta-carotene genetic pathway. It's just missing the final enzyme gene to cause production of the precursor product.

    Furthermore, people have already tried to introduce alternative crops. But people who live there aren't interested. If a crop like carrots isn't a part of their cuisine, they have little to no interest in altering the foods they eat. Especially if they're already subsistence farmers with limited crop growing areas.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • Oh hey. I didn't realize anyone was still pushing that long since debunked canard.

    The guy in question was a lying hack, who purposefully set up his fields next to a farmer who grew the GM crop and then purposefully harvested the crops that were along the connecting edge of the field so he could replant them without having to have bought them. When he was called out on that, he lied and blamed cross-contamination, but there was no way for his subsequent harvest to be 99+% the GM crop from cross-contamination unless he had collected and planted them on purpose.

    So, yeah, he was sued. Including by his neighboring farmer for theft.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • It's actually interesting looking at what traits seem scary, but are actually massively negative in the wild. Like, there were a bunch of people freaking out about that modified salmon that grows three times faster (and requires 3 times the amount of food to compensate).

    If that ever escaped into the wild, it would die. Period. The only way it stays alive is by being fed directly and by not having to use its energy to swim a lot. There is no advantage in the wild for growing 3 times faster. Heck, because of that, it likely wouldn't even match up with the spawning season properly.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • What big corps? Golden rice is developed by scientists working for universities and distributing it via NGOs for free.

    And they've produced dozens of studies over the past 24 years showcasing its effectiveness and safety.

  • ‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice
  • They have been working on and testing this golden rice since 2000, with tons of studies done on its biochemistry, including from people eating it. In fact, several countries have already been using the rice for years What else are the scientists supposed to do to appear Greenpeace's purposefully vague demands?

  • www.theguardian.com US and UK to back Israel over ICJ ruling after blurring their Rafah red lines

    Having initially vowed to oppose any offensive, Washington and London are showing signs of having backed down

    US and UK to back Israel over ICJ ruling after blurring their Rafah red lines

    The US and the UK will reject the international court of justice order directing Israel to end its offensive on Rafah after slowly blurring their red lines that once stated that they could not support a military offensive in Rafah.

    The line was first adapted by saying they could not support a major ground offensive without a credible plan to protect civilians, but since then the definition of what constitutes a major offensive has become more flexible.

    4
    www.theguardian.com Graduate workers in California to strike over treatment of Gaza protesters

    Widespread disruption expected after workers vote to hold series of strikes, starting Monday with UC Santa Cruz

    Graduate workers in California to strike over treatment of Gaza protesters

    Graduate workers in California to strike over treatment of Gaza protesters. Widespread disruption expected after workers vote to hold series of strikes, starting Monday with UC Santa Cruz. California’s huge university system is facing widespread disruption after workers voted to hold a series of strikes in protest of its treatment of Gaza protesters. The University of California (UC) has more than 280,000 students and 227,000 faculty and staff on campuses across the state.

    Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW), which represents 48,000 graduate workers throughout the system, voted to authorize a strike on Wednesday. On Friday, the union called on graduate workers at UC Santa Cruz to walk off the job on Monday. About 2,000 graduate workers are represented by the union at UC Santa Cruz.

    The vote was called in response to charges of unfair labor practices filed against universities over their response to Gaza protests where union members were attacked by counter-protesters and police.

    2

    New York City said 'no injuries' at Columbia arrests; students' medical records say otherwise

    After the arrests of pro-Palestine student protesters occupying a Columbia University building last month, New York Mayor Eric Adams and senior police officials repeatedly said there were "no injuries," no "violent clashes" and minimal force used.

    But at least nine of the 46 protesters arrested inside the barricaded Hamilton Hall on April 30 sustained injuries beyond minor scrapes and bruises, according to medical records, photographs shared by protesters, and interviews. The documented injuries included a fractured eye socket, concussions, an ankle sprain, cuts, and injured wrists and hands from tight plastic flexicuffs.

    7

    Business titans privately urged NYC mayor to use police on Columbia protesters, chats show

    A group of billionaires and business titans working to shape U.S. public opinion of the war in Gaza privately pressed New York City’s mayor last month to send police to disperse pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, according to communications obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the group.

    Business executives including Kind snack company founder Daniel Lubetzky, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, billionaire Len Blavatnik and real estate investor Joseph Sitt held a Zoom video call on April 26 with Mayor Eric Adams (D), about a week after the mayor first sent New York police to Columbia’s campus, a log of chat messages shows. During the call, some attendees discussed making political donations to Adams, as well as how the chat group’s members could pressure Columbia’s president and trustees to permit the mayor to send police to the campus to handle protesters, according to chat messages summarizing the conversation.

    One member of the WhatsApp chat group told The Post he donated $2,100, the maximum legal limit, to Adams that month. Some members also offered to pay for private investigators to assist New York police in handling the protests, the chat log shows — an offer a member of the group reported in the chat that Adams accepted. The New York Police Department is not using and has not used private investigators to help manage protests, a spokeswoman for City Hall said.

    8

    Thousands of Israelis joined a far-right Independence Day march on Tuesday in the south, led by Jewish activists advocating for resettling Gaza and forcing Palestinians to leave the enclave.

    Two activists participating in the march crossed the border into Gaza and were arrested by Israeli forces near the Erez crossing.

    The march was supported by lawmakers speaking at the event, including two cabinet members: Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of Otzma Yehudit.

    15

    Thousands of Israelis joined a far-right Independence Day march on Tuesday in the south, led by Jewish activists advocating for resettling Gaza and forcing Palestinians to leave the enclave.

    Two activists participating in the march crossed the border into Gaza and were arrested by Israeli forces near the Erez crossing.

    The march was supported by lawmakers speaking at the event, including two cabinet members: Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of Otzma Yehudit.

    12

    Thousands of Israelis joined a far-right Independence Day march on Tuesday in the south, led by Jewish activists advocating for resettling Gaza and forcing Palestinians to leave the enclave.

    Two activists participating in the march crossed the border into Gaza and were arrested by Israeli forces near the Erez crossing.

    The march was supported by lawmakers speaking at the event, including two cabinet members: Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of Otzma Yehudit.

    4
    theintercept.com American Medical Missions Trapped in Gaza, Facing Death by Dehydration as Population Clings to Life

    Upward of 20 American doctors are trapped in Gaza, some at the European Hospital, due to Israel’s post-invasion closure of the Rafah border crossing.

    American Medical Missions Trapped in Gaza, Facing Death by Dehydration as Population Clings to Life

    Upward of 20 American doctors are trapped in Gaza as a result of Israel’s post-invasion closure of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, according to sources with knowledge of the plight of two ill-fated medical missions.

    Israel has blocked fuel, food, and water from entering Rafah for over a week, leading to severe dehydration among the general population, as well as among the doctors on mission.

    Relatives of the doctors were told by the State Department that rescue efforts were underway, including through coordination with the United Nations and the Israel Defense Forces. Yet on Monday, the Israeli military fired on a United Nations vehicle that was traveling to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, near Rafah, killing a U.N. employee and injuring another.

    A family member of one of the doctors stranded at the European Hospital said that he suspected the vehicle was part of the rescue mission, but was uncertain. “We are aware that a car that is similarly supposed to be their rescue passage was shot at and UN employees were killed and injured and we fear for their ability to have a safe passage and exit,” said the relative. “We are aware that there is active shelling around the hospital and that staff has been told to stay away from windows.”

    1
    theintercept.com American Medical Missions Trapped in Gaza, Facing Death by Dehydration as Population Clings to Life

    Upward of 20 American doctors are trapped in Gaza, some at the European Hospital, due to Israel’s post-invasion closure of the Rafah border crossing.

    American Medical Missions Trapped in Gaza, Facing Death by Dehydration as Population Clings to Life

    Upward of 20 American doctors are trapped in Gaza as a result of Israel’s post-invasion closure of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, according to sources with knowledge of the plight of two ill-fated medical missions.

    Israel has blocked fuel, food, and water from entering Rafah for over a week, leading to severe dehydration among the general population, as well as among the doctors on mission.

    Relatives of the doctors were told by the State Department that rescue efforts were underway, including through coordination with the United Nations and the Israel Defense Forces. Yet on Monday, the Israeli military fired on a United Nations vehicle that was traveling to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, near Rafah, killing a U.N. employee and injuring another.

    A family member of one of the doctors stranded at the European Hospital said that he suspected the vehicle was part of the rescue mission, but was uncertain. “We are aware that a car that is similarly supposed to be their rescue passage was shot at and UN employees were killed and injured and we fear for their ability to have a safe passage and exit,” said the relative. “We are aware that there is active shelling around the hospital and that staff has been told to stay away from windows.”

    3

    A boy stands on a Tul Karm street watching as Israeli troops move toward the city's refugee camp. Soldiers fire shots from hundreds of meters away and one of their bullets slams into the boy's chest. Qais Nasrallah was 14 at his death

    10

    A boy stands on a Tul Karm street watching as Israeli troops move toward the city's refugee camp. Soldiers fire shots from hundreds of meters away and one of their bullets slams into the boy's chest. Qais Nasrallah was 14 at his death

    0

    Name and shame: Pro-Israel website ramps up attacks on pro-Palestinian student protesters

    Canary Mission is one of the oldest and most prominent of several digital advocacy groups that have intensified campaigns to expose Israel's critics since the war broke out, often leading to harassment such as Sayed experienced. The people behind the site have kept their identities, location and funding sources hidden.

    Reuters reviewed online attacks and abusive messages directed at scores of people targeted by Canary Mission since Oct. 7.

    The site has accused over 250 U.S. students and academics of supporting terrorism or spreading antisemitism and hatred of Israel since the start of the latest Gaza conflict, according to the Reuters review of its posts. Some are leading members of Palestinian rights groups or were arrested for offenses such as blocking traffic and punching a Jewish student. Others, like Sayed, said they had just stepped into campus activism and were not charged with any crimes.

    8

    Name and shame: Pro-Israel website ramps up attacks on pro-Palestinian student protesters

    Canary Mission is one of the oldest and most prominent of several digital advocacy groups that have intensified campaigns to expose Israel's critics since the war broke out, often leading to harassment such as Sayed experienced. The people behind the site have kept their identities, location and funding sources hidden.

    Reuters reviewed online attacks and abusive messages directed at scores of people targeted by Canary Mission since Oct. 7.

    The site has accused over 250 U.S. students and academics of supporting terrorism or spreading antisemitism and hatred of Israel since the start of the latest Gaza conflict, according to the Reuters review of its posts. Some are leading members of Palestinian rights groups or were arrested for offenses such as blocking traffic and punching a Jewish student. Others, like Sayed, said they had just stepped into campus activism and were not charged with any crimes.

    1
    www.columbiaspectator.com Motorist charged with assault for striking CUAD protester with car at picket outside trustee’s home

    Reuven Kahane, a 57-year-old man, drove a car into a crowd of protesters on Tuesday morning at a picket organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest in front of Barnard trustee Francine LeFrak’s home, a New York Police Department spokesperson told Spectator.

    Motorist charged with assault for striking CUAD protester with car at picket outside trustee’s home

    Reuven Kahane, a 57-year-old man, drove a car into a crowd of protesters on Tuesday morning at a picket organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest in front of Barnard trustee Francine LeFrak’s home, a New York Police Department spokesperson told Spectator.

    Police arrested three individuals at the demonstration, including Kahane and the 55-year-old female protester he struck, who sustained a leg injury and was hospitalized. She and a 63-year-old male protester with CUAD were arrested for banging on the hood of the driver’s car when it drove into the crowd, the spokesperson said.

    2

    Trinity to work towards total divestment from Israel in unprecedented win for BDS

    trinitynews.ie Breaking: Trinity to work towards total divestment from Israel in unprecedented win for BDS – Trinity News

    Trinity has agreed to work towards total divestment from Israeli institutions in an unprecedented victory for Trinity Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). Trinity encampment protestors, who have camped in Fellows’ Square for five nights, have unanimously agreed to accept College’s terms on cutti...

    Breaking: Trinity to work towards total divestment from Israel in unprecedented win for BDS – Trinity News

    Trinity has agreed to work towards total divestment from Israeli institutions in an unprecedented victory for Trinity Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

    Trinity encampment protestors, who have camped in Fellows’ Square for five nights, have unanimously agreed to accept College’s terms on cutting ties.

    Following a meeting at 1pm today, Trinity College Dublin Students Union (TCDSU) President László Molnárfi, president-elect Jenny Maguire, BDS Chair Isobel Duffy and Postgraduate Workers’ Organisation (PWO) Chair Conor Reddy announced to the camp that College has agreed to work towards their demands.

    3

    Trinity to work towards total divestment from Israel in unprecedented win for BDS

    trinitynews.ie Breaking: Trinity to work towards total divestment from Israel in unprecedented win for BDS – Trinity News

    Trinity has agreed to work towards total divestment from Israeli institutions in an unprecedented victory for Trinity Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). Trinity encampment protestors, who have camped in Fellows’ Square for five nights, have unanimously agreed to accept College’s terms on cutti...

    Breaking: Trinity to work towards total divestment from Israel in unprecedented win for BDS – Trinity News

    Trinity has agreed to work towards total divestment from Israeli institutions in an unprecedented victory for Trinity Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).

    Trinity encampment protestors, who have camped in Fellows’ Square for five nights, have unanimously agreed to accept College’s terms on cutting ties.

    Following a meeting at 1pm today, Trinity College Dublin Students Union (TCDSU) President László Molnárfi, president-elect Jenny Maguire, BDS Chair Isobel Duffy and Postgraduate Workers’ Organisation (PWO) Chair Conor Reddy announced to the camp that College has agreed to work towards their demands.

    1