This olive tree in the heart of Puglia’s Piana degli Ulivi Monumentali (the Plain of the Monumental Olive Trees — a landscape that stretches between Ostuni, Fasano, Monopoli and Carovigno) is over 1,600 years old.
#ThickTrunkTuesday #Puglia

NEW: A federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Indiana’s student ID voting ban — a major procedural win for young voters and pro-voting advocates who say the GOP-backed law was designed to suppress student voting. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

🕯️💔A woman sits at the grave of her 8-year-old grandson, Ivan — Also lost her two children and husband in the russian strike.

The Winner is…

Attorneys general hold awkward positions—political yet nominally independent. Pam Bondi has squared that circle by being unashamedly partisan, writes @davidallengreen.bsky.social.

“Over the last 70 years, the #ECHR has repeatedly stepped in when domestic courts were unable to provide the protection we now take for granted and cherish,” says the UK’s outgoing judge at the European Court of Human Rights👇

🔗 www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/ecthr-m... via @lawsocietygazette.bsky.social

Netanyahu thanks Trump for moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, "recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan", standing up to "the lies against Israel" at the UN.. "My friends this is only a partial list" but it's enough to affirm "Donald Trump is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the WH"

And now Ohana says we wouldn't have gotten to this moment if Netanyahu hadn't operated as he had. True, we wouldn't have had two years of this sheer horror, with 67,000 (at least!) Palestinians killed, 20,000 of them children, many hostages killed, and Israel achieving pariah status internationally

In his final interview, the late barrister and human rights professor Conor Gearty told @imaanirfan.bsky.social and @ellenhalliday.bsky.social that UK protest—and our civil liberties—are in danger.

As if they keep writing all these headlines - and our membership numbers and polling just keeps shooting up. 🚀

Now at 110,000. Over 55% increase in just one month!

Lower bills. Fund NHS. Tax the super rich.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

You don’t understand the dexterity of dogs until you’ve seen one remove micro-fragments of a codeine tablet from a mushed up piece of bread.

Double kudos to @jonhenley.bsky.social and the @theguardian.com for:

a) taking the trouble to report on a set of continental European elections where the far-right didn't sweep all before it!

b) calling the far-right the far-right, not 🤮 'the hard-right'!

This is the nation that we are now. This nation is unbelievably sick.

The hope that quashing environmental protection will kickstart UK building is a derided fallacy. Building stops when ppl can’t afford houses:

“…the market remains uncertain…” Taylor Wimpey

“…we saw build costs increase by around 33%… house price inflation (is) flat.” Persimmon

It’s
Not
Newts!

Some thoughts on Zach Polanski turning out to be rather good at this politics lark.

1. By raising issues like wealth tax, and Brexit, he has not so much shifted the Overton Window, as re-opened the awkward loo window that over-looked the garden, but has been rusted shut for the last decade

Musk is funding the legal battle of UK Far Right activist Tommy Robinson - real name Stephen Yaxley Lennon - as he faces charges brought by counterterrorism police.

Carolin Lucas, "The level of disgust and distrust in the population is like nothing I've ever seen before"

"It's really dangerous and scary"

"It's so important there is a voice out there offering hope and solutions and isn't afraid to say what it thinks"

Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says. n.pr/4q87Jwb

US news outlets refuse to sign new Pentagon rules to report only official information www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Greetings from Kyiv,
where the night was calm
and life goes on.

Maybe such posts seem boring,
but their goal is simple –
to show life.

"Contrary to economic orthodoxy, this paradigm redefines politics as the process of coordinating our abundant human and material resources within ecological limits, rather than exploitative competition for scarce funds."

Guns n Inflatable Nylon. ❤️ Portland.

Posting this to remind myself that every bit of good news counts. #RedSquirrel