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US blocks Palestinian officials from attending UNGA as countries prepare to recognize Palestine


The US has revoked visas for Palestinian officials, barring them from attending next month’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, a move that comes as several Western countries prepare to recognize a Palestinian state.

“In accordance with US law, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the  Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly,” the State Department said in a statement on Friday.

It said that the PA Mission to the UN will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters Agreement.

The agency accused PLO and PA of failing to repudiate terrorism, inciting violence, and pursuing “international lawfare campaigns” through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ)

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250829-us-blocks-palestinian-officials-from-attending-unga-as-countries-prepare-to-recognize-palestine/

#USA


US blocks Palestinian officials from attending UNGA as countries prepare to recognize Palestine


The US has revoked visas for Palestinian officials, barring them from attending next month’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, a move that comes as several Western countries prepare to recognize a Palestinian state.

“In accordance with US law, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the  Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly,” the State Department said in a statement on Friday.

It said that the PA Mission to the UN will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters Agreement.

The agency accused PLO and PA of failing to repudiate terrorism, inciting violence, and pursuing “international lawfare campaigns” through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ)

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250829-us-blocks-palestinian-officials-from-attending-unga-as-countries-prepare-to-recognize-palestine/



Ice obtains access to Israeli-made spyware that can hack phones and encrypted apps


US immigration agents will have access to one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking tools after a decision by the Trump administration to move ahead with a contract with Paragon Solutions, a company founded in Israel which makes spyware that can be used to hack into any mobile phone – including encrypted applications.

The Department of Homeland Security first entered into a contract with Paragon, now owned by a US firm, in late 2024, under the Biden administration. But the $2m contract was put on hold pending a compliance review to make sure it adhered to an executive order that restricts the US government’s use of spyware, Wired reported at the time.

That pause has now been lifted, according to public procurement documents, which list US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) as the contracting agency.

reshared this

in reply to geneva_convenience

For the Democrats/liberals who think they're leftist in the room, note that this done by Biden, how it was put on hold for review so that news spread and pacifies the anger, and how it came back stronger when you forgot about it. And now Democrats will shrug and say "Trump is in charge, we're powerles."

Democrats are not your friends, they are not a lesser evil, we need a revolution.

in reply to 3abas

Not defending democrats here, but it says it was halted pending reviews. I would say at least the democrats have some sense of following rules, while under the Trump administration, these were immediately lifted.

Make of it what you will, but it’s pretty clear that following the laws/rules is a thing of the past in the US of A.

in reply to 3abas

Dems didn't invent ice.

Nor Epstein

Nor trump.

Voters need to take some culpability to their own mistakes here and stop blaming it on anyone else but themselves for this shit show they created.

in reply to Lucidlethargy

And for anyone else, anywhere in the world.

Giving governments tools to fight crime that can also invade your privacy is a sure path to governments invading your privacy for any reason they deem righteous. If not the current one, surely the next one.

in reply to Lucidlethargy

Historically, NSO has avoided selling to US-based clients and was banned by the US Commerce Department under President Joe Biden's administration for allegedly supplying spyware to authoritarian governments. However, shifting political dynamics under the Trump administration raised the possibility that spyware could become more prevalent in the United States, exacerbating mobile exploitation

zdnet.com/article/rebooting-yo…

Questa voce è stata modificata (3 giorni fa)
in reply to Lucidlethargy

Blaming it on dems that you voted Republican?

It’s your finger on the trigger with the gun to your own head. That's not biden’s. This is how people with mental illness sociopathy reason their actions. Manipulation and unreasonable rules that never hold themselves accountable to themselves.



Everytime I try to start something with Linux I fail.


I just want something as a proof of concept that this can be for me. I am aware I am the problem.

But everything is wildly difficult for me. I pulled back from docker after realising it was above my skillset, I just want to try home assisstant with a few lights but fair enough it is beyond me.

I opted to install a game, fail. Learn about wine and bottles. Start a bottle and get told I only have 8gb free in directory, I cannot for the life of me see where it is getting that from.

Please god someone tell me there is a step by step for the fucking imbeciles out there on where to start!?

in reply to Squizzy

I have fucked up my computer so many times.

  • Accidentally uninstalled the graphical environment, because i didn't notice my package manager was asking me if i wanted to uninstall 200 packages, along with whatever i actually wanted to uninstall.
  • Tested a fork bomb (it worked!)
  • Installed a dual boot system incorrectly.
  • Installed a dual boot system correctly, but Windows had an update.
  • Tried to switch out a working component with Something Really Cool™
  • I have spent days troubleshooting an issue that turned out to be a simple syntax error.
  • And, while technically not fucking with the computer itself, this deserves a mention; Fucking up the wifi/network SO MANY TIMES.

I have also succeeded with some really cool stuff, but that's the thing about working with computers; you fail completely, until it works perfectly.
This is of course a gross simplification, but it also has a lot of truth to it. There's just not a lot "this is not great, but it will do", it either functions or it fails (until you get it working and start fine tuning it for the rest of you life)

Just laugh at the absurdity of the situation when you realize you were just missing a comma in a JSON file, and don't let it bother you that you didn't notice before you paid to have your second floor covered in aluminium foil trying to fix the issue.

Try creating a VM in GNOME Boxes (if you use GNOME) or Virt-manager, take a snapshot, so you can easily repeat this process, and break it. Just make it stop functioning. Do it in an interesting way, and look up more ways on the internet.

Be curious, have fun and don't feel bad about getting sick of that stupid computer, you can come back later and it won't care that you even left.

in reply to CapillaryUpgrade

Hahahahahahaha, you're a... tech "miracle"! For the 10 years with Linux I've never uninstalled the DE by accident or otherwise, or any of the other problems you mentioned.
I have fucked up my computer only once but I did it on purpose - to see what will happen. I had already created a clonezilla backup of a working system, so I was free to experiment and... I decided to uninstall both kernels (rolling and LTS) and reboot. There was no kernel panic because there was no kernel to begin with. 😆
in reply to Squizzy

Use an operating system like Linux Mint. It's very simple. Steam can solve the Wine problem, this can be done by adding a new game into your Steam library. Remember that all the distros have certain goals in mind.


Why did PinePhone fail?


Six years ago the entire Linux enthusiast space was super excited for the PinePhone, then everything fell apart. What went wrong? Was PINE64's favoritism towards Manjaro the sole issue or were there other problems?
in reply to weirdo_from_space

I remember an entire shipment of phones went to Australia instead of its proper destinations and then it was stuck there too expensive to send again
in reply to Mactan

Holy shit, I didn't even know about that. Damn...
Questa voce è stata modificata (6 giorni fa)


Aaron Swartz Documentary: The Internet's Own Boy


in reply to jsomae

Amazing that mass downloading of scientific databases turned out to be “just fine”, when big money wanted to train AI. What he downloaded was nothing compared to the scrapers running amuck now.


Mastodon says it doesn't 'have the means' to comply with age verification laws | TechCrunch


Mastodon, the decentralized social network, stated it cannot comply with age verification laws like Mississippi's recent legislation because it lacks the technical capability to do so1. While Mastodon's software allows server administrators to specify a minimum age of 16 for sign-ups, the age-check data is not stored, and the nonprofit has no way to verify users' ages1.

The organization emphasizes that individual server owners must decide for themselves whether to implement age verification, noting that Mastodon was founded specifically "to allow different jurisdictions to have social media that is independent of the U.S."1

This stance follows Bluesky's decision to block service in Mississippi over similar age verification requirements1. Mastodon's position highlights the unique challenges decentralized platforms face with regional compliance, as there is "nobody that can decide for the fediverse to block Mississippi," according to Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko1.


  1. TechCrunch - Mastodon says it doesn't 'have the means' to comply with age verification laws ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
in reply to Zerush

Why do you think everyone wants to use age verification. To rectrict us to only corporate media and to stop the little online anonymity and privacy we have left.
Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)
in reply to JamesBoeing737MAX

UNSanctioned opinions tied to your identity will be used as a tool of oppression.

in reply to bubblybubbles

Me looking at bubbles profile: Since when did tanky agit prop bots start posting relatable memes inbetween?
Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)
in reply to bubblybubbles

Quite the tankie, as in Tian En Men tankie, stance we got here.
Edit: not even tankie, as Putler's Russia does not even use any reference to USSR, quite the contrary
Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)



in reply to bubblybubbles

Why did they make the guy getting choked such a racist caricature? Along with person holding the flag
in reply to bubblybubbles

  1. Get an entire country addicted to opium.
  2. Force them to hand over some of their territory specifically to serve as a port for importing opium.
  3. Forcibly impose your culture on a people with nothing to do to you.
  4. Make sure the treaty you strong armed that country to sign is valid for more than a generation so you can complete your cultural assimilation project and create a population of people born and raised under your rule, totally immersed in your propaganda.
  5. When that treaty FINALLY expires, clutch your perls about cOmMuNiSm and demand they remain independent for more than a generation again, creating a population that's not only culturally manipulated but also immersed in this fear of the mainland you manufactured.
  6. Claim to be their protector from the evil PeeRC and use their cultural difference you created to assert hUmAn rIgHtS and that they should become their own country (and totally not a puppet of yours) instead of returning to the country you stole them from.

It's actually fucking genius. I can appreciate the nods to various comic book supervillains.

Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)



Has Netanyahu made slip-up in case against Karim Khan?


Since late last year, the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) has been examining sexual misconduct allegations by one female ICC staff member against Khan, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor - allegations he has strongly denied.

But on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that four more women have made accusations against Khan. Netanyahu's claims have never been mentioned in the public domain before, and Khan has confirmed that he is wholly unaware of them.

Khan’s spokesperson told MEE that Khan "has no knowledge whatsoever of the women referred to by Mr Netanyahu".

The spokesperson said that the prosecutor believes the Israeli leader's comments raise "profound questions" as to whether Israel is "interfering in and attempting to manipulate" the UN investigation, and that Netanyahu "is making significant efforts to discredit both the ICC and Mr Khan personally".



‘What you feel is valid’: Social media is a lifeline for many abused and neglected young people


::: spoiler Comments
- Hacker News.
:::
Questa voce è stata modificata (3 giorni fa)

Technology Channel reshared this.



Brazil Strikes Back: Lula to Impose Retaliatory Measures Against US







In Gaza City, I Have Surrendered to an Unknown Fate


cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35391498

Rasha Abou jalal
Aug 29, 2025
Like so many other Palestinians in Gaza, I have ended up in a tent—the enduring symbol of displacement. I am camped out on the rubble with my husband and five children in western Gaza City. The merciless Israeli military machine is bearing down on us, getting closer every day and there is nothing we can do. But we won’t leave here.

At night, violent explosions from the eastern and northern areas of Gaza City thunder through the darkness, especially in the neighborhoods of Jabaliya, Al-Saftawi, and Abu Iskandar, just a few kilometers away from me, now emptied of residents.

The aim of the Israeli army in these residential areas is not just to invade and occupy them, but to systematically destroy them.

The army deploys robotic vehicles loaded with explosives into the heart of residential blocks and detonates them, causing massive destruction. Then they go to another neighborhood and do the same thing. Killing anyone who remains there. Their goal is to erase Gaza City entirely through this method.




In Gaza City, I Have Surrendered to an Unknown Fate


Rasha Abou jalal
Aug 29, 2025

Like so many other Palestinians in Gaza, I have ended up in a tent—the enduring symbol of displacement. I am camped out on the rubble with my husband and five children in western Gaza City. The merciless Israeli military machine is bearing down on us, getting closer every day and there is nothing we can do. But we won’t leave here.

At night, violent explosions from the eastern and northern areas of Gaza City thunder through the darkness, especially in the neighborhoods of Jabaliya, Al-Saftawi, and Abu Iskandar, just a few kilometers away from me, now emptied of residents.

The aim of the Israeli army in these residential areas is not just to invade and occupy them, but to systematically destroy them.

The army deploys robotic vehicles loaded with explosives into the heart of residential blocks and detonates them, causing massive destruction. Then they go to another neighborhood and do the same thing. Killing anyone who remains there. Their goal is to erase Gaza City entirely through this method.





In Gaza City, I Have Surrendered to an Unknown Fate


Rasha Abou jalal
Aug 29, 2025

Like so many other Palestinians in Gaza, I have ended up in a tent—the enduring symbol of displacement. I am camped out on the rubble with my husband and five children in western Gaza City. The merciless Israeli military machine is bearing down on us, getting closer every day and there is nothing we can do. But we won’t leave here.

At night, violent explosions from the eastern and northern areas of Gaza City thunder through the darkness, especially in the neighborhoods of Jabaliya, Al-Saftawi, and Abu Iskandar, just a few kilometers away from me, now emptied of residents.

The aim of the Israeli army in these residential areas is not just to invade and occupy them, but to systematically destroy them.

The army deploys robotic vehicles loaded with explosives into the heart of residential blocks and detonates them, causing massive destruction. Then they go to another neighborhood and do the same thing. Killing anyone who remains there. Their goal is to erase Gaza City entirely through this method.




Why are so many European countries getting worried about encryption and/or age verification? Why *now*?


I can understand why governments would push for something like this after 9/11, though it of course goes without saying that this is a totally unacceptable violation of someone's basic rights. It also goes without saying that governments always want more control over their citizens, but what exactly are they so worried might happen, right now, in 2025 or the near future?
in reply to Alas Poor Erinaceus

EU is fasttracking the Fourth Reich. Can't have totaliarism without complete communication control.


PI Briefing | No. 32 | Breaking the Blockade [Gaza]


cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35390052

from Progressive International
29.08.2025
On 22 August, the United Nations declared a famine in Gaza. More than half a million Palestinians are facing catastrophic famine conditions amid Israeli genocide, while authorities in Gaza report over 10,000 additional deaths and 45,000 injuries since the collapse of the ceasefire in March — numbers that represent a significant undercount of the true devastation.

In response, a historic coalition is mobilizing in the Mediterranean Sea — to break the blockade that created these unbearable conditions, to deliver critical humanitarian aid to Gaza’s people, and to signal that people from around the globe refuse to be complicit in the genocide.




PI Briefing | No. 32 | Breaking the Blockade [Gaza]


from Progressive International
29.08.2025

On 22 August, the United Nations declared a famine in Gaza. More than half a million Palestinians are facing catastrophic famine conditions amid Israeli genocide, while authorities in Gaza report over 10,000 additional deaths and 45,000 injuries since the collapse of the ceasefire in March — numbers that represent a significant undercount of the true devastation.

In response, a historic coalition is mobilizing in the Mediterranean Sea — to break the blockade that created these unbearable conditions, to deliver critical humanitarian aid to Gaza’s people, and to signal that people from around the globe refuse to be complicit in the genocide.





PI Briefing | No. 32 | Breaking the Blockade [Gaza]


from Progressive International
29.08.2025

On 22 August, the United Nations declared a famine in Gaza. More than half a million Palestinians are facing catastrophic famine conditions amid Israeli genocide, while authorities in Gaza report over 10,000 additional deaths and 45,000 injuries since the collapse of the ceasefire in March — numbers that represent a significant undercount of the true devastation.

In response, a historic coalition is mobilizing in the Mediterranean Sea — to break the blockade that created these unbearable conditions, to deliver critical humanitarian aid to Gaza’s people, and to signal that people from around the globe refuse to be complicit in the genocide.


in reply to bubblybubbles

Who built those hospitals, schools, libraries? Russians or the people of baltic countries?
Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)
in reply to EfreetSK

I think the meme is low quality and needlessly provocative (no offense OP I guess), but the answer is likely complex. Once the republics are under the purview of the USSR, the resources and engineerong may well have come from elsewhere in the country, even if the construction crews were primarily local people.

I don't know enough about Soviet construction to provide an actual answer, though.

in reply to OrangeSlice

The adoption of socialism in the SSRs and SFSRs did bring rapid economic growth and collaborative, planned development. Specifically, social services like healthcare, transportation, and education were a priority. I do generally agree that OP's memes are more provacative than good agitprop should be, I tend to prefer less antagonistic methods of engaging with anticommunists, but the sentiment behind the meme isn't incorrect.
in reply to OrangeSlice

Exactly, I pointed it out because soviets often try to steal all the achievements of the country - same as in this meme, a horde of russians came and built for poor, dumb baltic people all the stuff. In reality, it's much more complex and those constructions were built by local workers, local architects, etc. With russian money I guess but that begs the question - who should get credit for those buildings then?
Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)
in reply to EfreetSK

soviets often try to steal all the achievements of the country


Thing is that the workers in those countries were Soviet as well. Credit goes to the labor regardless of nationality. The softening of national divisions was a great achievement of both the USSR and Yugoslavian socialist governments. It has been disastrous that those institutions weren't able to prevail until the current day (they should have evolved instead of been abolished, but I don't know enough to comment much further).

I don't agree with the depiction of the USSR as an outside force that developed these countries "for them". It was an opportunity to come together under one republic and develop.

I think the meme is attempting to disparage the "ungratefulness" of present day liberals in these FSU countries, but I think it lacks nuance to say the least.

in reply to OrangeSlice

I think the meme is attempting to disparage the "ungratefulness" of present day liberals in these FSU countries


Yes, well this is basically Russian ~~diplomacy~~ propaganda 101 - "I did this and that for you and now you're ungrateful". Similar stuff abusing husband says to abused wife. Basically if russians helped you in any way in history, you're supposed to be their vasal until the end of the universe, there's no expiring date on that. It's abusive and disgusting



Former Biden official justifies the murder of Palestinian children


Former United States secretary and Biden advisor, Jacob Lew, has stumbled into a series of embarrassing admissions in an interview with The New Yorker. Veteran journalist Isaac Chotiner had questions for Lew about the Biden administration’s handling of Israel in the early days of the genocide.

Lew describes how the US government at the time advised on not only Israel’s humanitarian obligations as the occupying power, but on their conduct:

We were engaging not just on humanitarian assistance; we were engaging on the conduct of the war. I’m not saying that everything went the way we would’ve advised, and I’m not saying we didn’t call them in the middle of the night many times saying, What on earth happened just now?


So, which is it? Did the US exert its influence over Israel over its conduct on war, or not When asked what was the content of those late night calls, Lew describes:

The general pattern was that in-the-moment stories were inaccurate, and that the Israeli military and government establishment were not in a position to fully explain yet. We could almost never get answers that explained what happened before the story was fully framed in international media, and then when the facts were fully developed, it turned out that the casualties were much lower, the number of civilians was much lower, and, in many cases, the children were children of Hamas fighters, not children taking cover in places.


Here, Lew appears to not realise what he has just said. Namely, that he considers it acceptable for children to be killed if they are “children of Hamas fighters.” Chotiner immediately pulls him up on it:

  • Sorry, what did you just say?
  • In many cases, the original number of casualties—
    • No, I meant the thing about who the children were.
    • They were often the children of the fighters themselves.


  • And therefore what follows from that?
  • What follows is that whether or not it was a legitimate military target flows from the population that’s there.
  • Hold on, Mr. Secretary. That’s not, in fact, correct, right? Whether it’s a legitimate target has to do with all kinds of things like proportionality. It doesn’t matter if the kids are the kids of—

Lew, remarkably, doubles down:

If you’re the commander of a Hamas unit and you bring your family to a military site, that’s different. I’m not saying everything fits into that, and I’m not saying it’s not a tragedy.

So, according to Biden’s former advisor, it’s not ideal that children are killed. But, it is certainly understandable if they’re the children of Hamas members. Chotiner, again, points out that it doesn’t make a difference who the children are when it comes to international law. However, Lew is adamant that this is the reality of the situation.


in reply to HiddenLayer555

I don't think Canada has much of a choice. Have you seen what it looks like on a map.
in reply to Tenderizer78

We have an ice free sea port to the Pacific, and ones in the Atlantic.
Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)
in reply to HiddenLayer555

America is an extremely natural trading partner, an overwhelming military threat, and right next door to all of Canada's major cities.

They, more than any other country, need to walk a tightrope.

in reply to Tenderizer78

They don't. Not really.

America is nothing economically without its trading partners. And that goes for every country, not just the US.

Accepting what the US does is a stupid idea on any country's part because Trump's tariffs have nothing to do with "normal trading". If anything, they're abnormal.

And they should be treated as such. Laughed off. Ridiculed. And most certantly not appeased. This entire situation isn't unlike the Hitler Sudetenland stuff.

Whatever Mr. President says Mr. President gets. Not really a good foreign policy move. It was percisely the US who set up penalties for countries "restricting trade". Why should other countries not hold the US to the rules?

Both import and export tariffs are barriers to trade. Since Mr President's childish demands are appeased, soon enough, those countries appeasing will start "reciprocal" tariffs on Mr President's percieved enemies. Why? Because it's Mr President's next logical step.

Now, short of all countries that decided on appeasig the US make a sharp U-turn, what's done is done.

But, should they decide on such a course of action, they'd isolate America on the world market, which would dissuade Trump from keeping his mercantilism up.

The alternstive is isolating themselves from others, together with America.



in reply to Grapho

mb comrade, if ur going to be that good at it, u should use the sarcasm tag 😂


Need some opinions on my next Laptop and Linux Distro


Hi, im searching for a new Laptop and i was tempted to buy the framework 13.. BUT..

Usually i would search for a used or refurbished Laptop to give it a second life u know. And after it broke down in like 4-6 years usually, i would buy a new used one again.

So my first question is: Is the framework 13 really worth my money for the repairability and upgradability in comparison?

My prefered Laptops are the Surface like ones 2in1 with a stand and detachable keyboard...

But im okay with it to switch to a normal laptop Formfactor.

I would prefere 16:9 or 16:10 for multimedia but im used to a 3:2 so it would be kinda okay for me to stick with it.

How good can i implement linux on some surface like laptop?

I switched from win10 to linux Mint on my desktop this year. But i think im going to switch to another distro, because i need the ASHA-protocoll as fast as possible. Maybe not that important on my desktop but definetly on my next Laptop.

Someone switched from surface like laptop to FW13?

Im not a coder. More like a gamer with og cheat codes in gtaSA on a cracked Version of the game, which runs in deamon-tools as an ISO, lol.

Main use would be Multimedia and some gaming, if possible.

Another use would be AI.. but as far as i know linux doesnt support the build in NPU of the FW13 yet. Maybe ai tinker in a few years then?

And im something like a crypto bro i would say. So how good are crypto tools implemented in linux? Some cold wallet support for exampel.

Which distro would serve my needs the most?

Is there a better choice for me than FW13 ?

So all in all im hopelessly lost and cant decide shit ^^

My only hope is to ask some Linux OGs to help me out on dis.

plz halp.

Questa voce è stata modificata (1 settimana fa)
in reply to tj0m0

I have the latest Framework 13 and I had a ThinkPad before this. I can recommend either of them. The Framework is one of my favorite computers I’ve had, but it’s not cheap. You will save some money if you ever have to make repairs, but I don’t know how the TCO works out for upgrades. It’s more about empowerment and reducing waste though.

Linux runs fine on both the Framework and the ThinkPad. You can pretty much just take your pick of distros and they should work, although you may want to stick with one of the more up to date distros on Framework because it has new hardware. Fedora, Arch-based, Tumbleweed all work well.



Finnish Air Force plans to remove swastikas from unit flags


[Swedish] count [Eric von Rosen] used the swastika as a personal good luck charm. When he gifted a plane to the nascent air force of Sweden's newly independent neighbour in 1918 he had had a blue swastika painted on it. This Thulin Typ D was the first aircraft of the Finnish air force and subsequent planes all had his blue swastika symbol too, until 1945.

Supporters of a continued use of the symbol point out that there were no Nazis in 1918 so the air force's use of the swastika has nothing to do with Nazism.

However, while Eric von Rosen had no Nazi associations at the time of his 1918 gift, he did subsequently become a leading figure in Sweden's own national socialist movement in the 1930s. He was also a brother-in-law of senior German Nazi Herman Göring, and, according to Prof Teivainen, a personal friend of Hitler.


So the fascists adopted the swastika by way of a Swedish Count-cum-fascist.

Also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Forc…

in reply to davel

When you look at the logo statically it is completely fine, but when the propeller rotates 45 degrees..


Father-in-law of British terror chief working on Palestine Action case is patron of UK Lawyers for Israel


The father-in-law of the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has personal ties to Israel. Jonathan Hall is responsible for assessing whether groups like Palestine Action qualify as terrorist organisations. On Saturday, Hall wrote for the Observer, which defended the decision to proscribe Palestine Action.

This is despite leaked evidence which showed government intelligence revealing it had no grounds to proscribe Palestine Action.

But Craig Murray, independent journalist and former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, recently revealed that Jonathan Hall’s father-in-law is Lord Dyson. He is a patron of UK Lawyers for Israel.



Father-in-law of British terror chief working on Palestine Action case is patron of UK Lawyers for Israel


The father-in-law of the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has personal ties to Israel. Jonathan Hall is responsible for assessing whether groups like Palestine Action qualify as terrorist organisations. On Saturday, Hall wrote for the Observer, which defended the decision to proscribe Palestine Action.

This is despite leaked evidence which showed government intelligence revealing it had no grounds to proscribe Palestine Action.

But Craig Murray, independent journalist and former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, recently revealed that Jonathan Hall’s father-in-law is Lord Dyson. He is a patron of UK Lawyers for Israel.



Spreadsheet to help choose between Proton, Tuta, Infomaniak, etc.


Hi there,

During the last couple of weeks I have created a spreadsheet to (hopefully) help people decide which mail/cloud/messaging/etc. would best suit their needs and wishes. I thought I'd share it here, so maybe more people can use it AND people can give feedback so I can improve upon it!

I wanted to, on the one hand, make it as detailed and exhaustive as possible, but on the other hand easy to use, since many people (including myself) get overwhelmed by all the possiblilities and aspects to take into account. So somewhere between 'spend days and days scrolling websites and forums to pick the best option for you' and 'just use Proton!'. I've always used Google and Microsoft myself, wanted to switch many times, and finally started to really abandon them in the last couple of months (and am really happy about that!). I hope many more people will make the switch to other services that are less damaging to our privacy/data/environment/choice.

The spreadsheet, though I'm not happy abou that, is made in Excel and can be downloaded from my OneDrive: Grading MS, Google etc. alternatives_290825.xlsx . I tried to convert it to .ods, but somehow that messes up some of the formulas...sorry about that.
Most data in the spreadsheet are protected to prevent making accidental mistakes, but the password is just blank, so you can also adjust/add/do whatever with the document.

Regarding the spreadsheet: It speaks for itself, I hope. I graded the various services, based on some research (and, I'm sorry to admint, ChatGPT). For each area (e.g. email, cloud, navigation) you can indicate how important certain aspects (e.g. privacy, ease of use, sustanability) are for you (0-5), and besides that, you can toggle some features (e.g. only show European based, only show open source). Based on that it shows you 'personalized' ratings of the various providers (e.g. Gmail, Proton drive, Bitwarden, Magic Earth), to help you pick one. Also, you can indicate what you already use (on the first sheet), which can influence the rating (since it's easier/more logical to start using Proton Drive if you already use Proton Mail, etc.). I tried to judge Google, Microsoft en Facebook as fair as possible, since they are not all bad ('evil' is another story I guess). As a result, if you mostly value reliability, ease of use, the amount of users it has and the monetary cost, they do quite well. If you consider other aspects, not so much.

That's it! Just a little project I thought of since I started searching for alternatives to Big Tech and got drowned in the amount of options and opinions that are out there. I'm not an expert, cannot code, and barely know my way around spreadsheets.

Anyhow, if this gets some traction, I'm more than happy to keep updating and improving upon this file! And make it more accessible.

Cheers,
Thomas
(from the Netherlands, which could explain some langauge mistakes or weird phrasings)

in reply to karipulakena

We need people to actually verify the safety and validity of these platforms. As far as I think, if we're not able to validate the code as open source, how can we know what these companies are doing with our data?




Trump Tariffs Cause Chaos on Ebay as Every Hobby Becomes Logistical Minefield




Trump Tariffs Cause Chaos on Ebay as Every Hobby Becomes Logistical Minefield


The Trump administration is throwing various hobbies enjoyed by Americans into chaos and is harming small businesses domestically and abroad with its ever-changing tariff structure that is turning the United States into a hermit kingdom. It has made buying and selling things on eBay particularly annoying, and is making it harder and more expensive to, for example, buy vintage film cameras, retro video games, or vintage clothes from Japan, where many of the top eBay sellers are based.

“Trying to figure out what the future of this hobby is going to look like for those of us in the USA (other than insanely expensive),” a post on r/analogcommunity, the most popular film photography subreddit, reads. “All of my lenses and my camera body came from Japan, they would have been prohibitively expensive [now], paying an extra $80 per item. I feel like entry level to this hobby is going to get hit especially hard.” Another meme posted to the community under the title “Shopping on eBay be like this now” reads “The age of the Canon Mint++ is over. The time of the Argus C3 has come,” referring to a common way that Japanese eBay sellers list Japanese-made Canon cameras. The Argus C3 was a budget mass-produced, American-made camera that was not popular in Japan, and so most of the people selling them are in the United States. Some people like them, but it has been nicknamed “the brick” because it “could serve as a deadly weapon in a street fight.” It remains very inexpensive to this day.

The photography hobby is a microcosm of what anyone who wants to buy anything from another country is currently experiencing. The de-minimis exemption, which allowed people to buy things internationally without paying tariffs if the items cost less than $800, made it very easy and less expensive to get into hobbies like film photography, retro video games, and vintage fashion, to name a few. The Trump administration is ending that exemption Friday and it will quickly become a financial and/or logistical mess for anyone who wants to buy or sell anything from another country. Communities and companies focused on electronics, board games, action figures, skincare, flashlights, sex toys, watches, and general ecommerce are also freaking out, stopping service to the United States, or telling U.S. customers to expect higher prices, higher fees, longer shipping times, more paperwork, more headache, and unpredictable delays.

In recent days, national mail carriers in the European Union (including DHL, which is widely used internationally), Australia, India, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and, crucially, Japan, have started restricting many shipments to the United States. Some of the few remaining ways to send shipments internationally to the United States is through UPS and FedEx, which have warned customers that the end of de-minimis means more paperwork, higher shipping prices (both have increased their international processing fees), and also means that either the shipper or the receiver will have to pay tariffs on whatever is being sent, which of course adds both costs and processing time. This is on top of the fact that FedEx and UPS are often more expensive services in the first place.

All of this is a nightmare if you are an eBay buyer or seller, a small business that sells to the United States or that buys things internationally to sell within the United States, or are a mere American resident who has a hobby.
A chart from eBay telling sellers to expect "negative feedback"
Earlier this year, I bought a vintage Super 8 film camera. The vast majority of functioning, good-condition cameras on eBay are shipped from Japan, because that is where a lot of the cameras were manufactured and because there are a huge number of camera businesses there. The camera came in a matter of days, and I did not think at all about customs or how it would be shipped, what the additional costs would be, if it would be held up at customs, where and how I would pay the tariffs, or whether if the duties would be paid by the seller (Delivered Duty Paid or DDP) or by me (Delivered at Place or DAP). These are acronyms you are going to have to get to know and hate, that I have already seen percolating through ecommerce communities.

Lots of camera equipment comes from Japan, but so do lots of vintage electronics and rare video games. Many high-quality vintage and preowned designer clothes are also sold by stores in Japan, because Japan has strong anti-counterfeit laws, and so people who are into vintage fashion will regularly try to source things from Japan because they are less likely to be fake. This is to say nothing of all of the other hobbies and interests where products are made and sold elsewhere, but the problem is incredibly stark with camera equipment, because Canon, Nikon, Ricoh, and many other top camera manufacturers are Japanese.
A chart from eBay telling you to look up the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to calculate what the tariffs may be
Tuesday, I messaged about 25 eBay sellers located in Japan asking how they were going to ship their item to California if I purchased it, if I would be subject to tariffs, and how they are handling it. The answers were all over the place. Lots of the sellers told me to buy the item now because items shipped after Thursday would be subject to tariffs: “If you purchase today, I can send it before customs duties are incurred,” one seller told me. “We recommend purchasing as soon as possible,” another told me. “If you place your order today, we can still make it in time,” a third said.

“Starting August 29th, tariffs will be imposed on all items in the US, so if you purchase this item, you will be responsible for any customs duties,” another said.

Multiple sellers told me that I should expect anything I bought to be held up at customs, and that I should expect to pay tariffs when it arrives: “While the exact details are still being clarified, it seems that in addition to duties, extra fees may bring the total to around 18–20% of the item’s value,” someone selling a vintage handbag told me. “Because of the changes in customs procedures, shipments may experience additional delays during clearance.”

Multiple eBay sellers in Japan told me that they intend to lie about the value of the items on customs forms, which is a time-honored tradition in international shipping but still does not seem like a good solution: “We will put a 50% reduced product price on the address label. Only this one time,” one seller said, before later adding “we do not mark merchandise values below value or mark items as ‘gifts’ - US and international government regulations prohibit such behavior.” Another told me “the problem is the customs duty, but don’t worry. The amount on the shipping label determines the customs duty. I won’t go into details, but I won’t make it sound bad.”

Another camera seller told me they would charge $20 shipping, then followed up an hour later and said “the shipping cost is actually $30 … with the elimination of the de minimis rule, there is a possibility that services may be suspended. Increased workload from customs procedures could even lead to strikes.” Another said that “If U.S. customs clearance goes smoothly, the package usually arrives within about 5–10 days,” but “Due to recent U.S. customs regulations, the clearance process has become stricter and is taking more time than usual(2-3 weeks). Please understand that, under these circumstances, we are unable to predict the delivery date. We are sorry to tell you that all the import duties and taxes are unpredictable. Customs and duties are different from state to state and country to country and we do not keep track as this is a cost the buyer is responsible in paying.”

eBay is telling buyers that the new, simple process for buying internationally is to look up the item on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which is a gigantic list of every possible product and its potential tariff code, “apply some math” to estimate what the tariffs will be, “add shipping provider fees,” which are additional processing fees that shipment services may apply, then wait for a call or email from the shipping processor to go through the duty clearance process and pay them fees. This is instead of the old way, where you simply purchased something, paid a clearly demarcated price, and waited for it to come to your house. eBay has also added a message to item listings that says “Due to US policies, import fees for this item will need to be paid to customs or the shipping carrier on delivery.” eBay is already telling sellers that they can expect “negative feedback” from customers who do not understand this process and might blame it on the seller.

eBay also offers something it calls SpeedPak shipping, which is where an international seller ships their item to an eBay warehouse in their home country, and the item is shipped by eBay aboard a cargo vessel to the United States alongside other purchases. This process takes 8-12 days, eBay says. One Japanese seller who said they use the system told me in practice that shipment takes “about 1 to 2 weeks,” and that they have made the decision to pay tariffs ahead of time for the buyer. Naturally, this leads to increased overhead, however, and surely we will begin to see prices for items sent this way rise.

As you can imagine, people are stressed about all of this. On the eBay subreddit, a Canadian who says they sell their old clothes on eBay wrote “can someone explain the new US DDP [Delivered Duty Paid] rules to me like I’m 5?” Another post says “I sold an item to a buyer in the US, but due to temporary issues with international shipping from my location (Europe), I’m currently unable to send it out.” Another says “How to exclude USA completely from shipping? The tariffs are a complete mess and a joke for small businesses like mine here in Europe.” “I’m a seller who ships over 80% of my products to the US. The post office no longer offers service for US parcels, and I’m completely devastated by this policy change. My income has evaporated in thin air,” another post reads. “As someone that’s been building a sega Saturn and pc engine collection this news broke my heart today.” “I'm in some chat groups with people who bought a ton of things from Japanese marketplaces and this has basically made sure they're out of the game for good,” another says.

There are two ways this can go: One everything becomes much more of a pain in the ass, certain products are not available, the tariff prices and subcharges and processing fees and times end up getting paid transparently by the customer, and everyone becomes mad at this state of affairs. Or two, and unfortunately more likely: The rough edges of this process get smoothed out because big shipping companies and platforms are terrified of upsetting Trump and the burden of dealing with all of this is passed primarily onto overseas sellers who will simply incorporate all of these new fees into the prices of the actual products and will pay the tariff ahead of time, so everything costs more because of the tariffs but the artificial, completely self-inflicted reasons that it costs more to do your hobby become largely invisible and accepted over time. The “normal” state of affairs will be that buying things from small overseas sellers is expensive and slow. But it is worth remembering that none of this is necessary, that it wasn’t always like this, and that an immeasurable number of small businesses and regular people all over the world have been immensely impacted by these tariffs.

All of this means that if you have any hobbies that require buying stuff from another country, your life just got more expensive and more annoying. Back on the AnalogCommunity subreddit, one poster summed it up nicely: “Oh look, voting of [sic] an idiot has real world consequences? Who knew?”

eBay did not respond to a request for comment.


#USA