“India and Iran on Thursday discussed strengthening energy cooperation and bilateral trade during a meeting on the sidelines of a BRICS energy ministers’ gathering in New Delhi. Iranian oil ministry news outlet Shana first reported the development after a meeting between the oil ministers of both countries. India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, met with Iran’s Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad and discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sector. … Historically, India has been a crucial buyer of Iranian crude oil, but suspended imports in 2019 after Washington reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil exports, Reuters reported. Since then, oil-sector cooperation between the two sides has declined significantly.” (06/25/26)
“The Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated Hawaii’s gun restrictions on private property in a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, ruling it violates the constitutional right to bear arms. Justice Samuel Alito agreed with gun rights advocates that the state can’t block handgun possession on private property by default unless someone receives the owner’s express consent. ‘This regime hobbles what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives. We hold that the law is unconstitutional,’ Alito wrote. It’s the latest gun measure to fall under the conservative [sic] majority’s expanded Second Amendment test, which requires firearm restrictions to be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition [but not, obviously, with the US Constitution].” (06/25/26)
“When Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, marijuana’s placement in Schedule I was explicitly provisional, a placeholder pending review by a presidential commission. The Shafer Commission, chaired by a Republican governor and composed largely of President Richard Nixon’s appointees, concluded in 1972 that marijuana did not meet the criteria for Schedule I and recommended decriminalizing personal possession. Nixon ignored the report and escalated the war on drugs. The provisional classification became permanent by default. Since 1965, an estimated 29 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges, roughly 90 percent of them for possession alone. The most damaging consequence of Schedule I, however, has not been to cannabis users, who have gained access through state legalization, but to the research enterprise.” (06/25/26)
“The NYPD and the FBI executed search warrants at the homes of several former and current high-ranking NYPD officers early Wednesday as part of an ongoing bribery probe …. Former NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey and former NYPD Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard were among those visited by a joint FBI and NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau task force. Investigators also hit the home of NYPD Assistant Chief Jimmy McCarthy, the head of Patrol Borough Manhattan South. The NYPD said Wednesday McCarthy has been stripped of his gun and shield and transferred as the probe continues. Assistant Chief Melissa Eger, the head of Patrol Borough Staten Island, was transferred to Manhattan to replace McCarthy. The bribery allegations could be tied to promotions in the department, a source with knowledge of the case said. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is heading the probe, declined to comment.” (06/25/26)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Joe Mullin
“Buried inside the KIDS Act are provisions that will push online services to verify all users’ ages, require government-directed moderation policies for online speech, and even create new rules about private and encrypted communications. While supporters continue to claim this bill protects minors online, its requirements come at the expense of privacy, free expression, and the ability of people of all ages to use the internet without revealing sensitive data. Supporters of KOSA have said the bill doesn’t require age verification. And technically, the KOSA section of the bill does say that KOSA shouldn’t be read to require age verification. But if you read the rest of the bill, that disclaimer starts to look hollow.” (06/25/26)
“We rely on experts for a lot of our information. By ‘expert,’ I mean someone who is paid for their opinion. Roger Koppl uses this definition in his 2018 book Expert Failure, and I use the same definition in my research, which is based on his book. This definition is useful because it allows us to sidestep the endless (and, frankly, arbitrary) discussion about who counts as an expert. … When we deal directly with an expert (our doctor, our mechanic, our meteorologist), we can get the information firsthand. But in a large organization, there are often several layers of communication between the expert (the one producing the opinion) and the non-expert using the opinion.” (06/25/26)
“The leader of a secretive South Korean church was arrested on suspicion of election influence Wednesday as authorities widened an investigation into allegations that he illegally recruited thousands of followers into the conservative People Power Party. The Shincheonji Church has denied the accusations against Lee Man-hee, 95, a self-proclaimed messenger of Jesus who founded the congregation in the 1980s. The church says it has about 200,000 followers. Since January, a special team of prosecutors and police has been investigating alleged ties between religious groups such as Shincheonji and the Unification Church and politicians. … Lee has been suspected of using the church’s regional branches to pressure more than 50,000 followers to join the People Power Party, or PPP, from 2021 to 2024 in hopes of influencing the party’s presidential and legislative primaries.” (06/25/26)
