Chris Murphy says Trump strategically visited Gulf states ‘willing to pay him off’ as backlash rises against luxury offer

Donald Trump’s acceptance of a $400m Boeing jet from Qatar is the “definition of corruption”, a leading Democrat said on Sunday, as several senior Republicans joined in a bipartisan fusillade of criticism and concern over the luxury gift.

Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut, condemned the “flying grift” on NBC’s Meet the Press as he assailed the president’s trip to several Gulf states this week that included a stop in Qatar.

“Why did he choose these three countries for his first major foreign trip? It’s not because these are our most important allies or the most important countries in the world,” he said of Trump’s visit to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/22448345

Tldr; If only things where better, things would be better...

Marathon was announced a some years ago as an extraction shooter with very interesting graphics. As a teen, who didn't even know about the franchise, the art style hooked me greatly.

Fast forward last month, Marathon comes out in a public alpha. And it looks ... Meh. In comparison to what gaming had to offer at the same time it felt dry.

To add fucking pepper spray to injury they used stolen art from some girl named antireal (relevant thumbnail artist). What gives?

Arc Raider is another extraction shooter that did a public test recently and the players loved it. From what I've seen, people are really excited to play this for real.

I'm so sad. To think we could have both games thriving. Competing on the same landscape to offer the best experience. Or even collaborating as leaders of the extract shooter genre.

I don't see how they can get back on their feet to be honest. This looks as dead as concord to me (that was sad too)

At least embark seems to know their craft so I'm still exited for them.

/endrant

Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump unveiled new details Tuesday on his plan for a "Golden Dome" missile shield system to protect the country against attacks, saying it should be operational in about three years.

The president announced $25 billion in initial funding for the plan, which he said could eventually cost a total of some $175 billion.

"In the campaign I promised the American people I would build a cutting-edge missile defense shield," Trump said at the White House. "Today I am pleased to announce we have officially selected architecture for this state-of-the-art system."

"Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they are launched from space," Trump said. "This is very important for the success and even survival of our country."

He said US Space Force General Michael Guetlein will lead the effort, and that Canada has expressed interest in being part of it as "they want to have protection also."

While Trump put the total price at $175 billion, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of space-based interceptors to defeat a limited number of intercontinental ballistic missiles at between $161 billion and $542 billion over 20 years.

Golden Dome has more expansive goals, with Trump saying it "will deploy next-generation technologies across the land, sea and space, including space-based sensors and interceptors."

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, speaking alongside Trump, said the system is aimed at protecting "the homeland from cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, drones, whether they're conventional or nuclear."

The plan's Golden Dome name stems from Israel's Iron Dome air defense system that has intercepted thousands of short-range rockets and other projectiles since it went into operation in 2011.

The United States faces various missile threats from adversaries, but they differ significantly from the short-range weapons that Israel's Iron Dome is designed to counter.

The 2022 Missile Defense Review pointed to growing threats from Russia and China.

Beijing is closing the gap with Washington when it comes to ballistic and hypersonic missile technology, while Moscow is modernizing its intercontinental-range missile systems and developing advanced precision strike missiles, the document said.

It also said that the threat of drones -- which have played a key role in the Ukraine war -- is likely to grow, and warned of the danger of ballistic missiles from North Korea and Iran, as well as rocket and missile threats from non-state actors.

Russia and China earlier this month slammed the Golden Dome concept as "deeply destabilizing," saying it risked turning space into a "battlefield."

It "explicitly provides for a significant strengthening of the arsenal for conducting combat operations in space," said a statement published by the Kremlin after talks between the two sides.

The United States has gained valuable real-world experience in defending against missiles and drones in recent years.

In Ukraine, US systems have been used to counter advanced Russian missiles, while American planes and warships helped defend Israel against Iranian attacks last year and have repeatedly shot down missiles and drones launched at ships by Yemen's Tehran-backed Huthi rebels.

Original question by: @tetris11@lemmy.ml

I have been really into Half-Life 1 and just recently finished the first 2 expansions.

Opposing force was awesome. I loved all the new weapons. The expanded lore into the kinds of research that Black Mesa was doing was nice. And the HECU squad mates were so much more helpful than the scientists and Barneys.

Blue Shift on the other hand was much shorter and didn’t have any new weapons but it did have a bigger focus on the lore of black mesa and had references to Half-Life, Opposing Force, and even Decay. Dr. Rosenberg did a lot of exposition to explain the lore further as well. Overall it was a good experience with very little downtime compared to Half-Life.

I’ve even started playing Decay now with my 8 year old and we are having a lot of fun with that. Its mission structure compared to the unbroken chapter structure of the rest of the games is quite the difference but it works with the co-op gameplay. We are only about 4 missions in but I look forward to experiencing more of it. Dr Rosenberg is back too so I love that it’s another perspective of the events that happened in the other expansions and base game.

I just wanted share my thoughts and maybe here more of the community thoughts as I just love Half-Life despite never really experiencing it until last year

As countries like the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom appear to be backpedaling on climate pledges, China is showing some massive results on its quest to reverse carbon emissions.

The latest analysis of China's annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions found that they slid by 1.6 percent nationwide compared to the same quarter last year. Year-to-date emissions were down one percent compared to the same date in 2024.

Analysis by Carbon Brief, a UK-based climate publication, attributed the decline in CO2 output to green energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear infrastructure, cutting the need for coal-powered energy. It notes that the drop in CO2 output came despite a nationwide surge in energy demand.

Hopefully, so the "We have to solder RAM bEcAUsE ItS FAsTeR" excuse goes away lol

Who besides everyone with half a brain could have seen this coming?

Ry Shissler, a 40-year old cartographer who swims the backstroke, was planning to compete internationally for the first time during the WorldPride celebrations that start this month in Washington, D.C.

But the trans athlete and their team, Toronto’s Purple Fins, made the difficult decision to skip the games and the Pride events in the U.S. entirely, worried about their treatment at the border and beyond.

A self-described "gender free" swim club, the Purple Fins is one of several aquatics teams with bi, non-binary or transgender athletes whose members told Reuters they are not comfortable visiting the United States right now.

“Are my rights gonna be respected? Can my teams’ rights be respected? Are we going to be assaulted and have the authorities defend us, instead of the attacker? Those are all questions we couldn't definitively say yes to,” said Shissler, who identifies as a "trans person of unspecified gender."

https://www.oglaf.com/muse/

who wants pasta in their computer?

SOme background history: 26 years old today, when I was younger I use to watch some Yuri/lesbian content and I use to sometimes imagine as if I were the opposite gender.

Today: I found that I might be nonbinary but never made a post about it anywhere on the internet before due to worried of facing judgement. lemmy.blahaj.zone I think has proven itself to be a safe community to post about this. Today I am opening up about talking about it. idk what the response would be. Today i'm now identifying as she/her, and experimenting with nonbinary identity.

~~Oshinoko?!~~

Alright, which of you chumbuds...oh, never mind, carry on. As you were.

Source: Come support this new Vtuber!