DL Open Thread: Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Ceasefire Holds?  Depends on who you believe:

The fate of a truce announced by President Trump that went into effect early Tuesday hung in the balance, as the Israeli military said Iran had fired another missile barrage and vowed to retaliate.

The claim from Israel’s military came just hours after the country had joined Iran in agreeing to the truce, spurring cautious hopes for an end to 12 days of unprecedented warfare between the adversaries, and as both sides seemingly claimed victory in the conflict. Iran’s military denied firing missiles after the cease-fire went into effect, according to Iranian state news outlets — adding to the uncertainty.

There was initially silence from the Israeli government, which has in the past often waited in the first, delicate hours to see whether quiet is being answered with quiet before declaring conflicts over. Just after 9 a.m. local time, Israel’s government issued a statement saying it had agreed to a mutual cease-fire, having achieved its goals in its campaign in Iran, “and in full coordination with President Trump.” Iran, similarly, cast the truce as a sign its military had prevailed.

But underscoring the fragility of the situation, more sirens wailed in northern Israel nearly two hours later, warning of missiles launched from Iran. The Israeli military accused Iran of breaking the cease-fire — saying in a statement that it would “respond with force.”

Update: Trump Says He’s ‘Unhappy’ With Both Counties.  Because he wants nothing to stand in the way of his victory lap:

US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday that both Israel and Iran violated a ceasefire he announced hours earlier and he was not happy with either country but especially Israel. Speaking to reporters before leaving for the Nato summit in The Hague, Trump said Israel “unloaded” right after agreeing to the deal.

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said he has ordered the country’s military to respond forcefully to what he said was Iran’s violation of a ceasefire with Israel. The directive followed an announcement by the military that it had detected missile launches from Iran towards Israel 2.5 hours after the start of the ceasefire brokered by US president Donald Trump, which he said came into effect in a post on Truth Social at 06:08 GMT.

Meanwhile, Fascism Continues Apace, Aided By the Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport immigrants to countries where they are notcitizens, temporarily blocking a decisionby a lower-court judge who said migrants must have a “meaningful opportunity” to contest their removal.

The court’s order, which drew a sharp dissent from the three liberal justices, was the latest of several allowing President Donald Trump to move forward with a major change in policy while litigation on the issue continues in lower courts. Each has been made as part of the court’s “emergency docket,” which means they are decided based on truncated court filings, not oral argument, and the justices do not always explain their reasoning.

As part of Trump’s mass deportation efforts, the administration has attempted to send groups of migrants, some convicted of crimes in the United States, to countries other than their own, including to conflict-ridden South Sudan. Four individuals initially filed a lawsuit in Boston on behalf of all migrants potentially subject to third-country removals, saying they are entitled to notice and an opportunity to raise fear-based claims before deportation.

Trump Goes After ‘Killer Trees’:

A decades-old rule protecting tens of millions of acres of pristine national forest land, including 9 million acres in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, would be rescinded under plans announced Monday by the Trump administration.

Speaking at a meeting of Western governors in New Mexico, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the administration would begin the process of rolling back protections for nearly 59 million roadless acres of the National Forest System.

If the rollback survives court challenges, it will open up vast swaths of largely untouched land to logging and roadbuilding. By the Agriculture Department’s estimate, this would include about 30 percent of the land in the National Forest System, encompassing 92 percent of Tongass, one of the last remaining intact temperate rainforests in the world. In a news release, the department, which houses the U.S. Forest Service, criticized the roadless rule as “outdated,” saying it “goes against the mandate of the USDA Forest Service to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands.”

What do you want to talk about?