European Union Commission opens investigation into anticompetitive conduct by Google in the use of online content for AI purposes
Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct by Google in the use of online content for AI purposes
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Google has breached EU competition rules by using the content of web publishers, as well as content uploaded on thEuropean Commission - European Commission
European Union Commission opens investigation into anticompetitive conduct by Google in the use of online content for AI purposes
Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct by Google in the use of online content for AI purposes
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Google has breached EU competition rules by using the content of web publishers, as well as content uploaded on thEuropean Commission - European Commission
Advent Calendar 10
Advent Calendar
Zen Mischief Photographs
This year for our Advent Calendar we have a selection of my photographs from recent years. They may not be technically the best, or the most recent, but they’re ones which, for various reasons, I rather like.
© Keith C Marshall, 2023
Click the image for a larger view
Hurray! This German State Decides to Save €15 Million Each Year By Kicking Out Microsoft for Open Source
Hurray! This German State Decides to Save €15 Million Each Year By Kicking Out Microsoft for Open Source
Schleswig-Holstein's migration to LibreOffice reaches 80% completion, with a one-time €9 million investment on cards for 2026.Sourav Rudra (It's FOSS)
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Link previews on public groups
Hey everyone, does anyone know how to show link previews in groups? I heard about Instant View and Web Grabber, but can't find them in the public bot directory.
I'm not selfhosting
hi, the bots for link preview are called "www" in the list at deltachat-bot.github.io/public…
also notice that the right place to ask such questions is support.delta.chat/ if you want the developers and more DC users to see your questions
Do you mean InstantView Bot?
It is included in the list of public Delta Chat bots as "www". There are 3 bots with the same name. At least, www2delta@chatmail.woodpeckersnest.space works well.
Here is the list:
deltachat-bot.github.io/public…
Porsche Cars in Russia “Turn Into Bricks” After Massive Satellite Security Outage
Porsche Cars in Russia “Turn Into Bricks” After Massive Satellite Security Outage
Porsche owners in Russia face immobilization issues due to a satellite alarm system failure, with reports indicating widespread problems across major cities.Liubava Petriv (UNITED24 Media)
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Porsche Cars in Russia “Turn Into Bricks” After Massive Satellite Security Outage
Porsche Cars in Russia “Turn Into Bricks” After Massive Satellite Security Outage
Porsche owners in Russia face immobilization issues due to a satellite alarm system failure, with reports indicating widespread problems across major cities.Liubava Petriv (UNITED24 Media)
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Any Other – Silently. Quietly. Going Away (2015)
Adele Nigro è uscita dal gruppo. Ha deciso di lasciare quel folk che geograficamente sta tra la Svezia delle First Aid Kit e le foreste del Nord America, per fare qualcosa di nuovo. E forse di più vero... Leggi e ascolta...
Any Other – Silently. Quietly. Going Away (2015)
Adele Nigro è uscita dal gruppo. Ha deciso di lasciare quel folk che geograficamente sta tra la Svezia delle First Aid Kit e le foreste del Nord America, per fare qualcosa di nuovo. E forse di più vero. Perché, per quanto mi piacessero le Lovecats e il loro EP, non riuscivano a essere niente di più che una bella melodia e un’ottima armonizzazione. Il suo nuovo progetto, la sua nuova band, Any Other, riapre tutte le possibilità... artesuono.blogspot.com/2015/09…
Ascolta il disco: open.spotify.com/intl-it/album…
Home – Identità DigitaleSono su: Mastodon.uno - Pixelfed - Feddit
Home – Identità DigitaleSono su: Mastodon.uno - Pixelfed - Feddit
Any Other – Silently. Quietly. Going Away (2015)
di Gianluca Porta Adele Nigro è uscita dal gruppo. Ha deciso di lasciare quel folk che geograficamente sta tra la Svezia delle First Ai...Silvano Bottaro (Blogger)
Paramount Pictures X Account Hacked to Read ‘Proud Arm of the Fascist Regime’
The official account for Paramount Pictures on X(Twitter) was compromised Tuesday. The description in the account’s bio was changed to read: “Proud arm of the fascist regime.”
Note: the account has been recovered.
Sources:
- ScreenRant;
- Variety.
Paramount X/Twitter Account Hacked to Read 'Proud Arm of the Fascist Regime'
The official account for Paramount Pictures on X was seemingly hacked, to alter the account's bio as "Proud arm of the fascist regime."Todd Spangler (Variety)
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TIL Howling Mad Murdock from the A-Team (1983) is also Lt. Barclay from Star Trek: TNG
Actor: Dwight Schultz
I was watching the 2010 version of the A-Team (great movie imo), and I wanted to know what cameos there were (because I suck at recognizing actors). Lo and behold, to my delight, the cross-over of all cross-overs: Star Trek and A-Team.
~I love it when a plan comes together.~
Edit: This just keeps getting better!!!! 53:58 on Netflix.
Dwight Schultz - Actor, Music Department, Additional Crew
Dwight Schultz. Actor: Star Trek : Premier Contact. Dwight Schultz is an American actor who is known for playing Howling Mad Murdock from The A-Team and Reginald Barclay from Star Trek: The Next Generation.IMDb
Lori Petty
Lori Petty (born 14 October 1963; age 62) is the actress who played Noss in the Star Trek: Voyager fifth season episode "Gravity". Petty's career breakthrough came with her role in Point Break (1992, featuring Jack Kehler and Christopher Pettiet).Contributors to Memory Alpha (Fandom, Inc.)
The (successful) end of the kernel Rust experiment
The topic of the Rust experiment was just discussed at the annual Maintainers Summit. The consensus among the assembled developers is that Rust in the kernel is no longer experimental — it is now a core part of the kernel and is here to stay. So the "experimental" tag will be coming off. Congratulations are in order for all of the Rust for Linux team.
The end of the kernel Rust experiment
The topic of the Rust experiment was just discussed at the annual Maintainers Summit. The cons [...]LWN.net
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The ALIS Codex: Learn. Survive. Connect.
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Why We Make ALIS: The Enemy Within
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" Alis? Who the fuck is Alis?"
Smokie, probably
Eileen Higgins wins Miami mayoral runoff, breaking 30-year Democratic drought
Eileen Higgins wins Miami mayoral runoff, breaking 30-year Democratic drought
Higgins defeated former city manager Emilio Gonzalez with 59% of the vote, pledging to tackle housing affordability, climate resilience, and restore trust at City Hall.Doug Myers (CBS Miami)
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[Pluribus Spoilers] A distressing thought about Koumba and the hive...
The hive exist, or desire to please the survivors. However they want. Koumba has used this more than anyone else to his own advantage to live the life of a decadent, hedonistic and shallow playboy - roleplaying as James Bond and surrounding himself and having sex with women. Now, to me - this is very much - at the minimum - taking advantage of them. The women he's having sexual relations with are not who they were, and it is unlikely - even if the hive came to him and suggested it (as I suspect they did) - that the women before the joining would be remotely interested in doing this. They are not them. Who they were has been lobotomised, malformed and disappeared into the hive - segmented up into billions of bodies.
I've seen some people (not here, but elsewhere) suggest that this behaviour is okay because the hive is consenting. The women he's picking show enthusiastic and active consent. This to me is disgraceful, not just in the context of that - but also what could be the case if Koumba had different, darker interests.
Now the show will not address this (and rightfully so) - but it still seems true to me regardless of that. If Koumba was a pedophile, they would provide him with children he requested - and the children would provide active consent. Just like the women he picks now, they wouldn't be who they were. There is no concept of childhood or child innocence anymore. The hive literally can't say no unless it contradicts their survival or asks them to hurt others.
So to anyone who thinks the hive is a good thing (and some people actually do), or that Koumba is doing no wrong with what he's doing. This should be a point to consider.
In theory they aren't individuals anymore, they are appendages. So there would be no issue with consent the same way you decide consent for your hand or mouth. In a sense your mouth consents because it is part of the you making that decision.
Except... If there were any chance your hand could separate from you and become an individual in the future it'd be immoral to use it for sex now. And Carol is already very confident that it's possible to reverse the Joining. But even if she wasn't it was always a possibility. So having sex with any of them is incredibly wrong, which should be obvious to anybody on a gut level.
Konsole now prompts for passwords and other questions in pop-ups??
I mean, who thought of this as a good idea? I find it rather distracting. I'm trying to SSH into a computer and blam...a massive pop-up blocks me from reading what was before or anything else...just the pop-up in front, blocking text. It has the hidden password text field thing, but this one is to type yes/no to whether accept the server's cert. Y hit enter after typing yes...and blam, another pop-up, this one is for the actual password.
How can I disable these pop-up prompts? I want to be prompted as text, on the konsole main screen, as it always was. I haven't changed anything, because well, this is a brand new install. It started happening on a different computer and found it equally irritating.
Any idea how can I disable this? Thanks so much!
ssh-askpass utility to prompt you for passwords. You can configure it to always prompt over the TTY of the parent process that executed the ssh-askpass command.
Linux Foundation aims to become the Switzerland of AI agents
An attempt to provide vendor-neutral oversight as the agent train barrels on
Linux Foundation aims to become the Switzerland of AI agents
: An attempt to provide vendor-neutral oversight as the agent train barrels onThomas Claburn (The Register)
Rivian is building its own AI assistant
The EV maker will likely share more details on its upcoming AI & Autonomy Day scheduled for December 11.
Rivian is building its own AI assistant | TechCrunch
The EV maker will likely share more details on its upcoming AI & Autonomy Day scheduled for December 11.Kirsten Korosec (TechCrunch)
Wake Up Dead Man digs deep for a darker, more powerful Knives Out
Benoit Blanc shows his range.
Wake Up Dead Man digs deep for a darker, more powerful Knives Out
Wake Up Dead Man, the latest in the Knives Out murder mystery series, starts streaming on Netflix on December 12th.Andrew Webster (The Verge)
Had an issue with an update and had no networl access after reboot. How many kernals can be available in grub?
Still pretty new to Linux, I'm on Ubuntu Studio 24.04 LTS and had some issues with updates through the updater with errors and so I did sudo apt update/upgrade instead. Something went wrong and had errors, and after a reboot I had no internet access, Ethernet or WiFi, and no options to connect to anything. Running sudo lshw -c network showed unclaimed networks.
In case anyone has a similar issue, I fixed it by:
1. Reboot, spam shift to get into grub
2. Advanced options
3. Recovery mode for the lower number kernel
4. Enable networking
5. Fix broken packages
My question is about number 3. There were 4 kernel options, 2 normal with a recovery for each (I can't remember the specifics but one had 37 and the other 36). I selected recovery 36 as it was the older kernel. Is that amount of options (2 for each kernel) normal or can I create more? Like 37, 36, 35, 34, etc.
I was in panic mode since this PC is for work, and thought it might be nice to have more older kernel options if possible. I've also learned my lesson and am currently running Timeshift.
It's been a long time since I used Ubuntu, but at the time I did I recall running into issues keeping too many old kernels. They were stored in a fixed space folder (or maybe partition?) that was like 100MB and sometimes wouldn't clear out automatically, so I remember this. May not be relevant now, but if it is, space in the storage folder is the limiting factor so you would need to change that. If it IS a partition, then you would need to deal with all that is involved with that.
edited to add that my current OS only stores three or four as well. I have never really dived into it.
The Quest for Reasonably Secure Operating Systems
The Quest for Reasonably Secure Operating Systems
I never worried on Windows about security as much as I should have, it just so happens I've been lucky to have never been hit with ransomware. By the time...yazomie > tech
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Another step up is the confidential computing project. Requires hardware that supports it though, which sucks, but takes the virtual hardware concept and adds multi key memory encryption on top.
Remember though security without a threat model is just paranoia, so what level of hoops and investment you need really depends on what your threats actually look like.
I personally love containers and Macsec. It limits most of my concerns. I want to mess with confidential containers next, which is to say lightweight VMs in containers with memory encryption set, but thats all future to me. The irony is that I then I have to figure out attestation better for those machines since from the host they are black boxes.
iOS 26 doesn't offer privacy settings at all for "Home" app
It appears that even if you don't have the app installed, it is in Settings > Apps. But there's no option at all, to customise its privacy settings.
Downloading the app also doesn't let you customise its privacy settings. In fact, the app then disappears altogether from the privacy settings! It doesn't even appear anymore in the "Hidden Apps". Removing it again however, shows the app popping up again in the settings.
What's more, it's deliberately erroneously labelled as "Start Screen" when you don't have downloaded it.
Ridiculous. One more reason to go to a Fairphone or something like it.
However, you can edit it... but very cumbersomely, only by going to Settings > Siri > App Access ... and then suddenly, you see the app!
This seems like it's straight up illegal.
If by “privacy settings” you mean controlling what system permissions the Home app has, you’re out of luck. It’s a semi-default app and may be more deeply embedded into iOS than is apparent.
If you’re trying to control what other apps have access to HomeKit data, you can find that in Privacy & Security.
Man Charged for Wiping Phone Before CBP Could Search It
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[2024-10-27] OpenZFS new deduplication mechanism and why you still may not want to use it
OpenZFS deduplication is good now and you shouldn't use it
OpenZFS 2.3.0 will be released any day now, and it includes the new “Fast Dedup” feature. My team at Klara spent many months in 2023 and 2024 working on it, and we reckon it’s pretty good, a huge step up from the old dedup as well as being a solid ba…despair labs
(ADC) “Smartphone, dopamina e dipendenza: il mio ESPERIMENTO di 7 Giorni”
Caspiterina, De Concimi ha cacciato fuori questo esperimentino pazzo 2 settimane fa e io me l’ero perso… l’ho scoperto solo stasera per caso: 1 settimana senza lo smarfonino (o smarfonone, nel suo caso) per capire se è possibile vivere senza. Non tanto in senso di pratica universale del mondo, perché purtroppo al giorno d’oggi l’avere […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
(ADC) “Smartphone, dopamina e dipendenza: il mio ESPERIMENTO di 7 Giorni”
youtube.com/watch?v=yKM4mMAxtE…Caspiterina, De Concimi ha cacciato fuori questo esperimentino pazzo 2 settimane fa e io me l’ero perso… l’ho scoperto solo stasera per caso: 1 settimana senza lo smarfonino (o smarfonone, nel suo caso) per capire se è possibile vivere senza. Non tanto in senso di pratica universale del mondo, perché purtroppo al giorno d’oggi l’avere ed usare costantemente uno smartphone è qualcosa di praticamente forzato dall’esterno, sia dalla società che per certi versi dagli Stati, e con ogni anno che passa la possibilità di poter rimanere senza in tal misura si fa sempre più sottile, quindi non è questo il punto del video… Il suo discorso è più che altro sull’abitudine, la dipendenza, e queste minchiatine qui. 😳
È un caso spassoso che, come la sua sfida sia stata di 1 settimana, così io stasera — dopo aver trovato appunto per caso questo video, che credo abbia qualche spuntino di riflessione, e quindi mi è venuta la voglia di postare — stia scrivendo qui dopo 1 settimana intera che non tocco il fritto misto… E beh, di un caso si tratta, perché io non ho affatto mandato a fanculo il telefono, ma semplicemente sono evidentemente a corto di olio, quindi è difficile friggere. (In altre parole, l’anedonia mi distrugge, e quindi col piffero che esce qualcosa da scrivere qui, di lungo e sensato… ma, anche oggi pomeriggio ho applicato il mio fix vietato, e dunque stasera ho la voglia di fare le cose, che wow… però non divaghiamo.) 🙏
Lui avrebbe voluto fare proprio una settimana senza Internet, ma non è riuscito a giustificare il prendersi una settimana di ferie (che sarebbe la conseguenza logica di una tale scelta per lui, visto che il suo lavoro non è raccogliere i pomodori), quindi ha ripiegato sul semplicemente mettere via lo smartphone pieghevole fantastico moderno che ha, e ritornare ai tempi antichi del suo vecchio cellulare Nokia, mettendo la SIM in quello e non usando più lo smartphone per niente; se non per i codici della banca (e zio merdone, le banche e le loro app!) e per registrare pezzi di vlog. 👌
Cosa ne può mai venire allora fuori da questa cosa? Boh; per lui, che può fare a meno di avere certe app molto distraenti sul cellulare (incluse alcune che, nonostante ciò, avrebbero un giustificabile scopo lavorativo, come YouTube Studio; quindi non parliamo solo di minchiatine), decidendo quindi di levarle da lì, allocandole solo al PC e a tempi della giornata più controllati, avendo così un potenziamento dell’attenzione e sprecando dunque meno tempo durante tutti i giorni e quindi nella vita… e, per chi guarda, invece, veramente boh; nel senso, dipende. 🍇
Io, in realtà, grandi problemi con il telefonone in questo senso non sento di averne… ma non tanto perché ne ho in realtà di ben più gravi in altri sensi—ehm, volevo dire, non solo perché non è la prima volta che sento queste cose; quanto più per il fatto che innanzitutto il mio uso dello smarfonone è abbastanza diverso dalla media delle persone della mia generazione (che, le statistiche lo dicono, è comunque quella più fissata), e poi perché tante misure riparative o preventive dell’abuso dello smartphone sono per me normalità da tempo… per una semplice questione di miei gusti e tendenze, in realtà, lol. 😊
Alla fine del video, Alessandrone suggerisce alcune cose effettivamente utili, che per me infatti non sono nuove. Piattaforme social che non aggiungono praticamente nulla alla mia vita non le uso (ma in realtà, curiosamente, come ho già detto, se le iniziassi ad usare non riuscirei ad acquisire l’abitudine; mi scoccerei naturalmente e smetterei senza farci caso)… Il telefono certamente non è il mio unico robo di battaglia, e anzi, a casa non ho davvero tanto la voglia di usarlo quando posso fare qualcosa ugualmente o meglio dal PC (come scrivere)… E beh, a me le notifiche danno proprio fastidio dentro (ma questa sarà altrettanto la potenza del mio autismo), quindi le uniche che permetto al telefono di ricevere in qualsiasi momento sono chiamate ed SMS, nient’altro (mentre, sul tablet, praticamente zero). 😈
In realtà, però, devo ammettere che dei problemi di abitudini zombi li ho pure io, a riguardo… e quindi sì, assolutamente evito di tenere collegamenti rapidi a cose che apro di continuo senza motivo, altrimenti è la fine, ma mi trovo a dover ogni tanto cambiare anche la disposizione del drawer delle app o altre cose di questo tipo, perché sennò non basta… Ma, questo non è tanto un problema di dopamina, visto che mi accorgo che per me pure il fottuto Alt+Tab sul PC è compulsivo; proprio nel mentre di scrivere questo post, l’ho premuto non so quante volte… e l’unica finestra che ho portato in foreground è stata la mia cartella Download rimasta aperta da poco fa, non una app con meccanismo da slot machine. (E no, impostare la scala di grigi non mi aiuta con ciò.) 🥴
Boh, complessivamente l’esperimento è gnam, e… io non lo farei, perché ehh… francamente, a me, lo smartphone, quando serve serve. Se voglio annotare qualcosa devo farlo, e idem se voglio cercare sul web delle robe, o se ho da scattare delle foto e persino modificarle al volo, nonché attuare rapidi momenti di sysadmin e programmazione in giro, visto che un tablet sarebbe troppo grosso e dunque non potrei portarlo ovunque… Però, allo stesso tempo, non è assolutamente la fine del mondo se in un certo momento non posso aprire Pinterest o Telegram per guardare (e pigniare…) i miei memini; basta che ho un manga da leggere, o una console per giocare, e riesco tranquillamente a non morire. (…E sì, sto implicando che se non ho la possibilità di scrivere quando voglio è improbabile io possa sopravvivere; ma insomma, se esplodessero gli smartphone domani userei il 3DS, e se esplodesse tutta l’elettronica del pianeta userei la carta.) 👍
#adc #dipendenza #dopamina #esperimento #smartphone
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Glauber Braga é expulso do plenário após ocupação da Mesa Diretora
Glauber Braga é expulso do plenário após ocupação da Mesa Diretora
Congressista foi levado por policiais legislativos para fora do plenário após protesto contra possível cassação.Congresso em Foco
Can DSA Hold Mamdani Accountable? Its Co-Chairs Respond
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Segal Secrets: docs reveal Antisemitism Envoy's big pay day - Michael West
Official Propaganda for Caribbean Military Buildup Includes “Crusader Cross”
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1260…
An official U.S. military social media account on Monday shared a photo collage that included a symbol long affiliated with extremist groups — and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.In a post on X trumpeting the deployment of troops to the Caribbean, U.S. Southern Command, or SOUTHCOM, shared an image that prominently displayed a so-called Jerusalem cross on the helmet of a masked commando.
The Jerusalem cross, also dubbed the “Crusader cross” for its roots in Medieval Christians’ holy wars in the Middle East, is not inherently a symbol of extremism. It has, however, become popular on the right to symbolize the march of Christian civilization, with anti-Muslim roots that made it into something of a logo for the U.S. war on terror.
Tattoos of the cross, a squared-off symbol with a pattern of repeating crosses, have appeared on the bodies of people ranging from mercenaries hired by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to Hegseth himself.
Now, the symbol has reared its head again to advertise President Donald Trump’s military buildup against Venezuela — an overwhelmingly Catholic country — and boat strikes in the Caribbean.
U.S. military forces are deployed to the #SOUTHCOM area of responsibility in support of #OpSouthernSpear, @DeptofWar-directed operations, and @POTUS' priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland. pic.twitter.com/vLvg9fQ5Lx— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) December 8, 2025
“As with all things Trump, it’s a continuation, with some escalation, and then a transformation into spectacle,” said Yale University historian Greg Grandin, whose work focuses on U.S. empire in Latin America.
The social media post came amid rising controversy over a series of strikes on boats allegedly carrying drugs off the coast of Venezuela, dubbed Operation Southern Spear.
[
Read Our Complete Coverage
License to Kill
---------------](theintercept.com/series/licens…)Hegseth is alleged to have ordered a so-called “double-tap” strike, a follow-up attack against a debilitated boat that killed survivors clinging to the wreckage for around 45 minutes. The U.S. has carried out 22 strikes since the campaign began in September, killing a total of 87 people.
The Pentagon’s press office declined to comment on the use of the Jerusalem cross, referring questions to SOUTHCOM. But in a reply to the X post on Monday, Hegseth’s deputy press secretary Joel Valdez signaled his approval with emojis of a salute and the American flag. In a statement to the Intercept, SOUTHCOM spokesperson Steven McLoud denied that the post implied any religious or far-right message.
“The graphic you’re referring to was an illustration of service members in a ready posture during Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR,” McLoud told The Intercept. “There is no other communication intent for this image.”
The original image of the masked service member appears to have come from an album published online by the Pentagon that depicts a training exercise by Marines aboard the USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean Sea in October. The photo depicting the cross, however, was removed from the album after commentators on social media pointed out its origins.
Amanda Saunders, a spokesperson for the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, the Pentagon-run photo agency, said she was unable to comment directly but forwarded the request to the Marine unit involved in the exercise.
“Content on DVIDS is published and archived directly by the registered units,” she said, “so we don’t have control over what is posted or removed, nor are we able to comment on those decisions.”
Hegseth and the Cross
The Jerusalem cross’s popularity on the right has surged in part thanks to featuring in various media, including the 2005 Ridley Scott film “Kingdom of Heaven” and video games, according to Matthew Gabriele, a professor of medieval studies at Virginia Tech and a scholar of Crusader iconography.“It supports the rhetoric of ‘defense of homeland.’”“It supports the rhetoric of ‘defense of homeland,’” Gabriele told The Intercept, “because the crusaders, in the right’s understanding, were waging a defensive war against enemies trying to invade Christian lands.”
The symbol’s position of prominence in official military communications is just the latest example of a trollish extremism by the Trump administration’s press teams, which have made a point of reveling in the cruelty wrought on its perceived enemies at home and abroad, or “owning the libs.”
[
Related
Team Leader at Gaza Aid Distribution Sites Belongs to Anti-“Jihad” Motorcycle Club, Has Crusader Tattoos](theintercept.com/2025/08/06/ga…)
Monday’s post may also be intended as Hegseth putting his thumb in the eye of the Pentagon’s old guard. Hegseth’s embrace of the symbol — in the form of a gawdy chest tattoo — once stymied, however temporarily, his ambitions in the military.Folling the January 6 insurrection, according to Hegseth and reporting by the Washington Post, Hegseth was ordered to stand down rather than deploy with his National Guard unit ahead of the 2021 inauguration of Joe Biden. The decision to treat Hegseth as a possible “insider threat” came after a someone flagged a photo of a shirtless Hegseth to military brass, according to the Washington Post.
“I joined the Army in 2001 because I wanted to serve my country. Extremists attacked us on 9/11, and we went to war,” Hegseth wrote “The War on Warriors,” his 2024 memoir. “Twenty years later, I was deemed an ‘extremist’ by that very same Army.”
Hegseth was hardly chastened by the episode and has since gotten more tattoos with more overt anti-Muslim resonance, including the Arabic word word for “infidel,” which appeared on his bicep sometime in the past several years. It’s accompanied by another bicep tattoo of the Latin words “Deus vult,” or “God wills it,” yet another slogan associated with the Crusades and repurposed by extremist groups.
The use of the image to advertise aggressive posturing in a majority-Christian region like Latin America may seem odd at first glance. In the context of renewed U.S. focus on Latin America, however, it’s a potent symbol of the move of military action from the Middle East to the Western Hemisphere.
“They’re globalizing the Monroe Doctrine.”The post comes on the heels of the release of the Trump’s National Security Strategy, a 33-page document outlining the administration’s foreign-policy priorities that explicitly compared Trump’s stance to the Monroe Doctrine, the turn-of-the-century policy of U.S. dominance in Latin America in opposition to colonialism by other foreign powers. Grandin, the Yale historian, described the document as a “vision of global dominance” based on a model of great-powers competition that can lead to immense instability.
“They’re globalizing the Monroe Doctrine,” Grandin said. “I’m no fan of the hypocrisy and arrogance of the old liberal international order, but there’s something to be said for starting from a first principle of shared interests, which does keep great conflict at bay to some degree.”
The post Official Propaganda for Caribbean Military Buildup Includes “Crusader Cross” appeared first on The Intercept.
From The Intercept via This RSS Feed.
Pete Hegseth’s Arabic tattoo stirs controversy: ‘clear symbol of Islamophobia’
Critics say US defense secretary’s tattoo of the word kafir, meaning ‘infidel’ or ‘non-believer’ could offend MuslimsMarina Dunbar (The Guardian)
Tesla Optimus falls in Miami demo, hand movements sparks remote operation debate
Tesla Optimus's fall in Miami demo sparks remote operation debate
While falls are not unusual in robotics development, a specific hand motion has raised questions about the current level of autonomy in Tesla’s system.Jijo Malayil (Interesting Engineering)
‘I Was Paid’: Bongino’s Confession About His January 6 Claims | The deputy director of the FBI admitted to lying during his days as a pundit.
‘I Was Paid’: Bongino’s Confession About His January 6 Claims
The deputy director of the FBI admitted to lying during his days as a pundit.David A. Graham (The Atlantic)
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Buffalox
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •We can no longer allow ourselves to depend on American IT infrastructure.
naeap
in reply to Buffalox • • •It can't be, that our public money lands as profits in non European companies.
That should be a given, imho
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Buffalox
in reply to naeap • • •I 100% agree, but some would consider that a matter of ideology.
The other point about dependency on USA when they are acting with hostility is more pragmatic.
99% of people don't understand all the reason why open source is better for public services, except if we can say it's cheaper. That's the one point they understand, and the one point Microsoft has been attacking most with their propaganda against open source.
sibachian
in reply to Buffalox • • •Strider
in reply to Buffalox • • •palordrolap
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •like this
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massive_bereavement
in reply to palordrolap • • •varnia
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •Dr. Unabart
in reply to varnia • • •Seriously. While I support the change to foss solutions, this is going to go over like a fart in church for the people that were just forced off fax machines and into email a year ago. And there’s a zero percent chance that Germany will use any of those savings for a support infrastructure. The German way is to figure it out, and endure the suffering while you do with the bare minimum of support from people that barely know the shit themselves.
I have a friend who is principal at a high school here in DE and the stories she’s been telling me about the new push to get tablets into the hands of kids is straight fkn Monty Python level absurdity… from the staff!
Germany painted themselves into a corner with their refusal to modernize their tech infrastructure. The “it’s not broken, so don’t fix it” mentality has left them 20 years behind all their neighbors. But, hey, traditions over everything… amirite?
LittleBorat3
in reply to Dr. Unabart • • •JensSpahnpasta
in reply to Dr. Unabart • • •You might want to read this article. Yes, it's in german. Yes, it's behind a paywall. But your analysis is totally wrong here
heise.de/select/ct/2025/5/2502…
Der offene Norden
Christian Wölbert, Keywan Tonekaboni (Heise)Appoxo
in reply to JensSpahnpasta • • •And yet it feels and the experience is so true you wouldnt know...
Sincerely, an IT supporter in Germany.
Serinus
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •slevinkelevra
in reply to Serinus • • •JensSpahnpasta
in reply to slevinkelevra • • •Serinus
in reply to slevinkelevra • • •I mean, optionally they could set up a tiny dev shop with that amount and submit the PRs they want to submit. And at worst, they could maintain their own fork.
It'd be a public service in more ways than one.
kubofhromoslav
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •Inspiration for many more governments!
I have already contacted my, Slovakian government. I should ping them again 😅
De Lancre
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •Amount of copium is insane in comments. Like, people straight up using fate, like it's a fockin religion, instead of using their head.
Other countries also tried and failed. It's never brings any profit, instead government usually end up losing shit ton of money. Reason is simple: adoption requires contribution. You need to hire new IT specialist, that knows linux and not windows. You need to do requalification of already existing specialist. You need to adapt software. You need to teach every single focking person how to work with new alternative software. And you need to suffer downtime, cause people still new to linux and it's software.
Adoption is very hard and those miserable savings on windows licensing is nothing compared to cost of migration. I'm not even saying "hypothetically", here documented list.
Blind coping will get you nowhere.
Wikimedia list article
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)sfxrlz
in reply to De Lancre • • •Migrations are almost never easy.
De Lancre
in reply to sfxrlz • • •You missing the point of my comment, not me.
Look, people in comments here think that it will be profitable. That it will save shit ton of money out of thin air. That what I call copium.
I did not said "it's bad" to adopt linux, quite the opposite. What I said is that commenters here operate on a fate, not on a logic and that surprises me.
Upd. Like, you would expect from people on lemmy out of all places, especially in "technology" to be knowledgeable in terms of how IT and business works, but instead it's like I reading comments of children's.
sfxrlz
in reply to De Lancre • • •I interpret it as „If they would spend that money on the transitions and advancing the open source projects they consider switching to, that would help the process“.
But maybe that’s just a misunderstanding.
De Lancre
in reply to sfxrlz • • •What do you meant :c
It's right there, literally in the first sentence:
sfxrlz
in reply to De Lancre • • •Well I was of course talking about the comment you quoted.
How is that „using fate instead of using their head“?
Germany already has funds in place specifically for open source projects so that’s not so far off the charts (even though the amount would be lower) so what’s your point ?
Edit:
And to be more specific the point of somehow being profitable is also not coming through to me on this, since when is open source software profitable except when used by for profit companies ?
I can understand the hype, I also know it will be pain for people involved and M$ will do everything to reverse the change possibly leading to even more headaches for said admins etc. as has happened in the past but you can’t finish what you don’t start so I think it’s still good news.
FauxLiving
in reply to sfxrlz • • •Exactly.
This isn’t a decision being made to cut costs, it’s a strategic move because the EU just assessed how badly they’d be screwed if Trump throws a tantrum and forces American tech companies to disrupt services to their governments.
In addition, the EU has strong data privacy laws and US tech companies are resisting compliance (Elon was recently fined 150million, for example).
This has led to several hearings with tech executives who said that they could not guarantee that the data would stay in the EU and they could not guarantee that the data would not be provided to any other country.
Digital privacy laws don’t mean anything if they don’t apply to the major tech companies and they’ve said that they won’t comply.
LittleBorat3
in reply to De Lancre • • •De Lancre
in reply to LittleBorat3 • • •I worked for "business automation" company, mainly as tech support of SAAS solution that target accountants\clerks that works with government documents.
I feel sorry for support guys\system administrators and everyone else involved.
LittleBorat3
in reply to De Lancre • • •CeeBee_Eh
in reply to De Lancre • • •De Lancre
in reply to CeeBee_Eh • • •CeeBee_Eh
in reply to De Lancre • • •No no, I know what you're implying, I was implying that the link doesn't prove what you think it does. I'm assuming you fixated on the Munich project, and that is a convoluted story and the Wikipedia entry on that is not up to date. The latest on the Munich project is that they cancelled the switch back to Windows.
Edit: And I can only assume that you were referring to the Munich story because you threw up the link with zero quotations or direct references. If you have a specific interpretation of that Wikipedia article, then you need cite things. What exactly is the "cost of migration"? Is it one million dollars or 50 million? Did it take a weekend to do, or did it bog down entire departments for months at a time? Is that 50 million dollars over budget? How are the immediate costs vs long term savings measured? Because the savings are measured in decades, not single year or several year licensing costs.
I'm not going to do your job for you. You might think that a months or even years long transition progress is unacceptable, but someone like myself who works in IT would see that is within expectations. If you have a point to make, then MAKE IT.
Peruvian_Skies
in reply to De Lancre • • •This is such a shortsighted take. After the initial hurdle of migration, you're free of licenses forever. It won't take long for the savings to match the initial costs, and after that it's more money in the bank until the Sun explodes.
Not to mention the tiny insignificant issue of a foreign private company having backdoors into your government's IT infrastructure. A foreign private company headquartered in Trumpistan of all places.
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The Octonaut
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •I swear to god if this is Schleiswig Holstein again I'm giving it back to Denmark
Edit: of course it is. Ok it's Sønderjylland again now. Prusssians out.
stoy
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •like this
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myfunnyaccountname
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •oldest_meme_420
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •modus
in reply to oldest_meme_420 • • •like this
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Appoxo
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •zebidiah
in reply to ByteOnBikes • • •didn't another german state already try this and fail pretty spectacularly?? cost them WAY more money and then they ended up rolling back to m$??
given that, this is fantastic news! it's good to see people learn from past failed implementations, hopefully learn from their mistakes, and try again instead of just blaming it on bad software
vodka
in reply to zebidiah • • •SaharaMaleikuhm
in reply to vodka • • •goatinspace
in reply to zebidiah • • •ShaunKL
in reply to zebidiah • • •I’ve been trying to find a source but from what I remember the transition was in maybe Munich and it was going fine.
Microsoft opened a new sales or operation center there and got cozy with the government there as quickly as possible to turn them back into a customer.
EDIT: Here is the LiMux endeavor.
Linux distribution
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)