Astronomers discover most powerful "odd radio circle" twins ever detected
Astronomers discover most powerful "odd radio circle" twins ever detected
"Odd radio circles" are enormous and unexplained phenomena that can only be detected using radio telescopes.Emily Mae Czachor (CBS News)
adhocfungus likes this.
Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela
Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela
The development comes as the U.S. military is drawing up options for President Trump to consider, including possible strikes inside the country.Julian E. Barnes (The New York Times)
Massive Piracy Empire Crumbles: 12 Stream-Ripping Sites Shut Down in Vietnam
Massive Piracy Empire Crumbles: 12 Stream-Ripping Sites Shut Down in Vietnam After 620M Annual Visits - Submersible Music
Vietnam's piracy empire collapses as authorities dismantle 12 stream-ripping sites with over 620 million annual visits. The digital underworld trembles as creators reclaim what's rightfully theirs.Editorial Team (Submersible Music)
like this
Thanks to all the fuckers paying their subscriptions so corporations have more resources to go after free media.
Morons.
Journalists turn in access badges, exit Pentagon rather than agree to new reporting rules
Dozens of reporters turned in access badges and exited the Pentagon on Wednesday rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work, pushing journalists who cover the American military further from the seat of its power. The nation’s leadership called the new rules “common sense” to help regulate a “very disruptive” press.
News outlets were nearly unanimous in rejecting new rules imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would leave journalists vulnerable to expulsion if they sought to report on information — classified or otherwise — that had not been approved by Hegseth for release.
Many of the reporters waited to leave together at a 4 p.m. deadline set by the Defense Department to get out of the building. As the hour approached, boxes of documents lined a Pentagon corridor and reporters carried chairs, a copying machine, books and old photos to the parking lot from suddenly abandoned workspaces. Shortly after 4, about 40 to 50 journalists left together after handing in badges.
like this
Why does Gaza keep falling for the "ceasefire"?
This is going to be the final false ceasefire.
The Israelis have plans to finish off all the returning citizens soon.
I am not pro Israel. I despise the false Jews and the Rothschild's, Rockefeller's, as well as similar groups, and families that fund them.
This is just a warning. They are about to finish those people off soon. Do not fall for the ceasefire it's not real. You are in a war and you must fight the enemy or you all will not survive.
If you don't like my post, delete it, but don't ban me because I'm actually trying to help
like this
don't like this
don't like this
I can't speak for others, but I was not mad. Just disagreeing on some of the particulars. I don't know if you are from the west yourself, but there's a tendency among westerners to assume people elsewhere don't understand their own struggle and that the westerners need to explain it to them. This is in part because westerners are socialized to think they are superior / have some kind of special knowledge or ability about the world, and also ties into the long-running colonial narrative of civil and savage, with the west being the "civil" and elsewhere being the "savage" who needs to be "civilized" by the west.
I think this tendency is more common in people who are newer to "left" ideology and practice. They've still got some lingering western superiority stuff going on embedded in them, but they're also more aware, and it can lead to this "I've got to save the foreigner by telling them what they're missing" kind of thing.
But the reality is they know their own struggle way better than we do. If a Palestinian who has spent their entire life in Gaza tried to weigh in on some issue you were having in your hometown, would you think they know better than you about it? Or would you be like "well, I grew up here, why should I listen to them?" It might make more sense that way if you flip it.
This is not meant as a scolding or lecture. I'm just telling you as plainly as I can what things can be like. Many people are very upset about what is happening to Palestine and for good reason. It's a good thing that you want to help. Just be wary of "I know better than the foreigner" thinking. Do you have personal experience, derived from a mixture of theory and practice, that can be applied to their situation and so you can lend advice in a parallel way? Or are you making an estimation based on limited observation and coming up with something they probably already know? The difference there is important in terms of organizing and solidarity, and what you can bring to the table.
It's easy to make guesses, predictions, and extrapolations. It's a day to day evolving process to go back and forth between theory and practice, and in doing so, refine what you're doing for a particular situation to work toward liberation outcomes. And a lot of the second one is not glamorous or startling, but more of an amalgamation of a lot of clerical stuff. But the second one is more so what successful liberation efforts, long-running socialist projects like China's do, in order to plan and organize and move forward in a cohesive and long-lasting way.
Hope that makes sense.
like this
Pentagon reporters have now turned in their badges – but plan to keep reporting
Pentagon reporters have now turned in their badges – but plan to keep reporting
Reporters who declined to sign new set of Pentagon rules had to clear out of world’s largest military headquartersJeremy Barr (The Guardian)
reshared this
Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti assaulted by Israeli prison guards, son says
The alleged beating followed a prison visit to Marwan Barghouti by the Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir in August. Ben Gvir, a member of an extreme right party who has past convictions from Israeli courts for incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organisation, taunted Barghouti in a video clip published at the time.
According to Arab Barghouti, Ben Gvir also showed the 66-year-old prisoner a picture of an electric chair, and told him he deserved to be executed.
In a statement quoted in Maariv newspaper on Wednesday, Ben Gvir denied the assault allegations, but added that he was “proud that [Barghouti’s] situation has changed radically during my tenure – play time is over, holiday camps are over.
...
Barghouti consistently tops polls as the most popular leader among Palestinians. He has been in prison for more than 20 years after being convicted of planning attacks that led to five civilians being killed, and sentenced to five life sentences plus 40 years. The trial was criticised as deeply flawed by the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
As part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect over the weekend, 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences were released, and most of them deported to Egypt. The Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu vetoed Barghouti’s inclusion on the list of prisoners to be freed as part of the deal.
Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti assaulted by Israeli prison guards, son says
Family fears for 66-year-old’s life after assault while he was being transferred between prisonsJulian Borger (The Guardian)
like this
It's so bizarre... surreal... darkly comic -- I don't know the right phrasing for this -- that Ben G'vir so embodies this Israeli form of double-speak. He will deny and confess in the same sentence.
He is the kind of guy who will say 'Any accusation that I am a torturer is a lie! Also, though, I do believe that torture is appropriate and I'm very committed to acting on that belief.'
So much has happened, many people don't know or remember. But I feel like the Sde Tilman riots were a turning point. Soldiers caught on camera raping a man in detention. And the public outcry including from members of the government was 'They're innocent! And also completely justified in raping that man! We're not criminals! And also we will bring furious violence against anyone who tries to hold us accountable under the law!'
Trump does this too, though even he isn't as skilled at it. 'To call me a fascist is slander! How dare you! But also I don't consider that a bad thing.'
It's very dark.
like this
YSK: Reddit webpage has unblockable trackers, even with Ublock Origin installed
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/37402366
This is the main reason I completely ditched Reddit, if you use the new Reddit interface instead of the old one (old.reddit.com), you'll see a constant request being made to "https://www.reddit.com/svc/shreddit/events" (open your DevTools > Network tab, can't see on Firefox idk why).The problem is, if you add this to your Ublock Origin filters the website won't load properly, that's why uBO team didn't block it already.
You'll notice this request isn't only being made from a interval but also when you do basically any action in the site, like pausing or resuming a video (send timestamps of when did you pause or resumed).
It sends other kind of data like what subjects you're seeing when closed a tab or the related subjects of a post you click, this all can be used to trace a perfect profile of you and things you like.
You can avoid that using the old.reddit but it still has the same kind of tracker, even tho you can block it here without major issues.
By my analysis, old Reddit interface does the same but to a random URL path that always starts with "reddit.com/api/something". Ex.: reddit.com/api/friends
So you can block anything that starts with "www.reddit.com/api" in your custom filters (after all you're using old.reddit.com), then you're mostly free from Reddit trackers (more or less). Side effect is, you won't be able to use the chat in the old interface.
like this
Rain: Mexico’s National Emergency
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/6420742
cross-posted from: ibbit.at/post/80984
This editorial by the La Jornada editorial board was published in the October 13, 2025 edition of La Jornada*, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper.*The atypical rains recorded last week in several areas of the country have left nearly fifty people dead and a still-unquantified population in a situation of extreme vulnerability, with partial or total property losses, and without shelter or food. Initially, the situation was aggravated by more than a hundred road closures on the federal highway network due to landslides, mudslides, fallen trees, and flooded rivers. Although the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) has already resolved the vast majority of them, it is inevitable to assume that the impacts of the rainfall were similar or worse on state roads, rural roads, and urban and rural roads in various localities.
The dozen federal entities and nearly 150 municipalities that have suffered moderate to severe impacts present us with the evidence of a sudden and unforeseeable national emergency, which requires a response commensurate with the circumstances. The federal government has certainly responded promptly. President Claudia Sheinbaum has coordinated emergency assistance for those affected, both remotely and in person in the disaster areas.
It would be unfair to ignore the efforts made in this regard by the security cabinet, which includes the Ministries of the Interior, National Defense, the Mexican Navy, and the aforementioned SICT (National Commission of the Interior), in addition to the Federal Electricity Commission, the National Water Commission, Petróleos Mexicanos, and other agencies. These efforts include providing aid to the affected population, repairing the road network, restoring electricity and drinking water, and assisting in the search for and locating individuals. State and municipal authorities in the affected regions are also participating in this effort.
But the magnitude of the damage also demands the solidarity of the entire country’s society, regardless of political affiliations and hatreds and regionalisms. It is hoped that generosity will be manifested in volunteer brigades organized in the disaster zones themselves, and in assistance to any of the aid collection centers; the most urgent immediate priority is to deliver medical supplies, medicines, food, and cleaning and personal hygiene items to the affected population.
The spirit of solidarity that characterizes our country has come to light in every tragic circumstance, both abroad and at home, and today, in the face of the tragedy that has befallen hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens, it is time for it to be expressed once again.
Lluvias: emergencia nacional
Las lluvias atípicas registradas la semana pasada en varias zonas del territorio nacional han dejado un saldo de cerca de medio centenar de personas fallecidas y una población aún no cuantificada en situación de extrema vulnerabilidad, con pérdidas p…La Jornada
adhocfungus likes this.
Updates on development kit, large-format cell, roadmap – Flow Battery Research Collective
Updates on development kit, large-format cell, roadmap – Flow Battery Research Collective
Development kit stable with Zn-I chemistry and certified by OSHWA, presentations and articles on FBRC, large-format cell R&D, all-iron electrolyte explorationFlow Battery Research Collective
Ukraine: Top humanitarian strongly condemns Russian attack on UN aid convoy | UN News
Ukraine: Top humanitarian strongly condemns Russian attack on UN aid convoy
Russian drones hit a “clearly marked” UN convoy on Tuesday which was bringing desperately needed aid to a war-torn frontline town in southern Ukraine.UN News
like this
Cosa succede quando non riesco a scrivere?
Molte delle sere in cui non muoio, mi trovo in una condizione molto precisa, che però a pensarci non mi sono mai presa il tempo di raccontare per bene: ***devo scrivere***...
Nelson Wong: Trade War & Chinese Economic Statecraft
The lowdown on Nelson Wong’s interview is basically that the US-China trade war is a symptom of a deep-seated clash of worldviews. The US is freaking out because it’s scared China will replace it as the global hegemon, but Wong calls this fear a mental illness rooted in Western thinking that if I rise, you must fall. Meanwhile, China keeps saying, we just want to live our lives, we don't seek hegemony, and we don't need your drama. The problem is that the US is fixated on relative gains being stuck in a zero-sum game mindset instead seeking mutual benefits from trade, so it’s been all threats and bullying instead of sitting down at the table.
China has been been preparing for this fight for over a decade now. They’ve been quietly building up their economic resilience and insulating themselves from the US. Exports to the US used to be 15% of China’s total, now it’s down to 8%. So even if the US tries to yank the plug, it’s not going to break China. And then there’s the rare earth thing where China controls 80-90% of the processed stuff that goes into everything from chips to weapons. The US would need at least a decade to catch up in the most optimistic scenario. China’s been perfecting the processing tech since the 1950s, you can't replicate that overnight. So while the US is trying to rescue”its economy by dragging manufacturing home and basically trying to reverse globalization, China’s using its massive market and rare earth leverage to negotiate from strength.
Europe is in a tight spot here, though. Wong’s advice is not to become a pawn in America's trade war. Europe and China don’t have major geopolitical beefs, so why burn a good trade relationship for the US’s midlife crisis? Plus, if you hitch your wagon to the US, you’re just going to get stuck in their economic drama.
But the big takeaway is that China isn’t trying to be the next US. Wong argues it’s a fundamentally different civilization with its own culture, history, and philosophy that are built on harmony through coexistence rather than domination. As he puts it, Confucian principles mean gentleman seeks to get along, even if they don’t agree, and China’s got zero interest in forcing others to be like them. The whole universalism line of thinking of forcing everyone to be like you is just a misguided delusion.
Looking ahead, the world’s shifting. BRICS and other Global South alliances are rising because the unipolar US-dominated order is crumbling. China’s not just about being just the world’s factory anymore. It’s pivoting to science and tech leadership while pursuing knowledge-based growth. And because it’s been on the receiving end of hegemony itself, it doesn’t want to be the boss. That’s why its neighbors and partners like Russia are more comfortable with its rise. The future is a multipolar world where coexistence beats domination. Eventually, both sides will have to realize this fight’s a lose-lose and circle back to talks. Because neither the US nor China can afford to burn it all down.
- 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
MTG fumes that Republicans are ‘doing nothing’ to tackle high food prices as shutdown rumbles on
The far-right congresswoman has increasingly broken ranks with the MAGA movement, leading even Donald Trump to wonder ‘What's going on with Marjorie?’
Marjorie Taylor Greene has hit out at her fellow Republicans for "doing nothing" about rising food and healthcare costs in her latest breach with the Trump administration.
In an interview with the conservative broadcaster Real America's Voice on Tuesday, the Georgia congresswoman warned that letting Joe Biden's Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of the year would "crush" Americans' finances.
Those subsidies are now at the heart of a government shutdown that's lasted 15 days and counting. Senate Democrats are demanding the subsidies be extended as a condition of reopening the government while Republicans are refusing to budge.
MTG fumes that Republicans are ‘doing nothing’ to tackle high food prices as shutdown rumbles on
The far-right congresswoman has increasingly broken ranks with the MAGA movement, leading even President Donald Trump to wonder ‘What's going on with Marjorie?’Io Dodds (The Independent)
like this
Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela
The new authority would allow the C.I.A. to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela and conduct a range of operations in the Caribbean.
The agency would be able to take covert action against Mr. Maduro or his government either unilaterally or in conjunction with a larger military operation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/politics/trump-covert-cia-action-venezuela.html
like this
Saw my bf from high school, wearing his glasses for the first time in years. He was in the field (Army) in Honduras, wearing contacts, big no no at the time. Alarm went off and they bailed behind sandbags. A round hit and sprayed his eyeball down with sand.
"Thought Bush (Sr.) said we're not in Honduras."
"We're not."
pokemonica godurianza ancora prima dell’uscita del domani! (impressioni a caldo Leggende Pokémon: Z-A al day -1)
Oggi pomeriggio, davvero a casissimo, perché l’idea mi è salita veramente in un lampo senza preciso motivo, ho deciso di sfruttare i miei privilegi da navigatrice consumata dei sette mari digitali, come in realtà non facevo da un po’… Quindi, sono uscita dalle mie pareti per installare e provare il nuovo giochino Leggende Pokémon: Z-A, […]
Thousands of customers imperiled after nation-state ransacks F5’s network
Thousands of customers imperiled after nation-state ransacks F5’s network
Risks to BIG-IP users include supply-chain attacks, credential loss, and vulnerability exploits.Dan Goodin (Ars Technica)
like this
reshared this
It’s gonna be a bad time when a nation state presses a button to cripple our digital infrastructure.
It seems hopeless at this point. It’s all just hyper complicated and profitable security theater.
Testing two completely different ways of bike commuting - shifter
I would like to read what is the approach of people in this community
I take an hybrid approach: I bring a change, but I keep a pace that make me sweat lightly, so I don't need to take a shower at work. For the same reason I put my stuff in a pannier on the bike rack
Testing two completely different ways of bike commuting
Over the years, the way I've approached bike commuting has evolved so much that I now think there are two totally different approaches. This video offers advice on both of them so you can find the ...Canadian Civil
reshared this
Zohran Mamdani states he will have Nazis in his administration
Zohran Mamdani Meets the Jews of Park Slope
‘I’m going to have people in my administration who are Zionists,’ the front-runner for New York City mayor says, as he puts a softer spin on his anti-Israel past.Olivia Reingold (The Free Press)
adhocfungus likes this.
Zohran Mamdani states he will have Nazis in his administration
Zohran Mamdani Meets the Jews of Park Slope
‘I’m going to have people in my administration who are Zionists,’ the front-runner for New York City mayor says, as he puts a softer spin on his anti-Israel past.Olivia Reingold (The Free Press)
Supreme Court signals willingness to pare back Voting Rights Act
The court's conservative majority questioned whether some efforts to increase the voting power of Black people and other minority populations might be unconstitutional.
Archive article: archive.ph/otSN0
https://www.axios.com/2025/10/15/voting-rights-act-supreme-court-louisiana
copymyjalopy likes this.
Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors
cross-posted from: lemdro.id/post/30346791
Many of the 90 bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities under the ceasefire deal showed signs of torture and execution, including blindfolds, cuffed hands and bullet wounds in the head, according to doctors’ accounts.“Almost all of them had been blindfolded, and had been bound up and they had gunshots between the eyes. Almost all of them had been executed,” said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, the head of Nasser hospital’s paediatric department.
Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors
Almost all had been blindfolded and had gunshot wounds between the eyes, says medic at Nasser hospital in GazaJulian Borger (The Guardian)
like this
https://x.com/ireallyhateyou/status/1977385908971209205
not even jews are safe from Israeli brutality
https://x.com/FormerlyIr/status/1977894616964698598
ohchr.org/en/press-releases/20…
theguardian.com/world/2024/mar…
More about Israeli terrorism in general
youtube.com/@btselem/videos (An israeli human right org)
Palestinians ‘beaten and sexually assaulted’ at Israeli detention centres, UN report claims
Internal analysis by UNRWA, based on interviews with released Palestinians, describes dog attacks and the prolonged use of stress positionsJulian Borger (The Guardian)
Any privacy respecting android web browsers that support webauthn?
Hamas says that IOF’s indiscriminate destruction of Gaza is behind delay in locating captives’ bodies
“As a result of the genocidal war committed by Israel, many hostages were killed with their Palestinian resistance guards, and communications were lost with some of the units responsible for the bodies,” the source told MEE.“The Israeli public should hold Netanyahu, his cabinet, and the Israeli army responsible for the killing of these hostages and the loss of their bodies under the rubble, as more than 10,000 civilian Palestinians [are believed to be under the rubble].”
The source added [that] Hamas’s Qassam Brigades “frequently warned” that the Israeli army’s actions would lead to the deaths of captives, but “Israel did not scale back its attacks”.
“The Qassam units in charge of guarding Israelis, alive and dead, were targeted. The main difficulty [in finding the bodies] is losing contact with the guards, because the Israelis killed them.”
The source said that Hamas was committed to fulfilling its obligation under the agreement to return the remains of all of the captives, and said it was working hard to do so.
He noted that the wording of the agreement required Hamas to return the bodies “as soon as possible” and said Hamas was willing to cooperate with international entities, as agreed in the deal.
“Nothing was hidden,” he said. “[Hamas has] fulfilled its commitment with handing over the living hostages, despite all the bad faith from Israel by changing the list of the Palestinian prisoners to be released, not allowing the top names in the list to be released, and changing the list at the last minute."
“Despite that it (Hamas) fulfilled its commitments and released all alive hostages on time, as well as four dead hostages.”
The source added that Israel’s destruction of Gaza has “really changed the geography of the area”, making it “extremely difficult” to identify locations.
He condemned Israel’s decision to keep the Rafah crossing closed as a “serious infringement of the agreement” that would further hinder rescue and aid efforts.
“We call on the mediators to intervene immediately to resolve this matter,” he said.
Exclusive: Hamas says Israel’s ‘indiscriminate’ destruction of Gaza behind delay in locating captives' bodies
A senior Hamas source has told Middle East Eye that Israel bears responsibility for delays in locating and returning the bodies of captives still missing in Gaza.David Hearst (Middle East Eye)
like this
The telegram link is censored in France because our universal value is freedom of expression, but Hamas is saying that it gave every body at its disposition, so it respected the initial agreement :
As well as the final one :
https://x.com/caitoz/status/1978210555061301697
edition.cnn.com/2025/10/08/mid…
https://x.com/AJABreaking/status/1978678807445078181
like this
Malkhodr likes this.
Server migration has been completed
Hi all,
First off, I want to apologize for all the server instability. We long ago outgrew our instance size, but I was unable to afford a larger node on our provider, Vultr. We were maxing out every part of the server whenever any even slightly significant number of users were on the fediverse.
I've finally found the time to migrate us to a new provider, which allows us to step up to a much more powerful configuration. That migration has now been completed. I actually intended to post about the downtime on this community this morning before beginning, but when I went to do so, the server was already down and struggling to come back up. So I went ahead with the migration.
Server before 4cpu/16GB/400GB NVMe
Server after 8cpu/64GB/1Tb NVMe
Please update this thread if you are seeing any issues around any part of the site. This means duplicate threads, things that aren't federating, inability to load profiles, etc.
There is still database tuning that needs to occur, so you should expect some downtime here and there, but otherwise the instance should be much more stable from now on.
During this process I also improved several other aspects of operating the server, so any 'actual' downtime should be accompanied by proper maintenance pages (that hopefully don't get wiped by ansible anymore), so that will also be a good indicator of legitimate maintenance.
Once again, I really apologize for all of the downtime. It's very frustrating to use a server that operates like this, I understand.
snowe
programming.dev (@programming_dev@mastodon.social)
The server is back up and seems to be functioning properly. We have migrated to a new VPS provider and are running on a much larger VDS now. The site should be more stable, run faster, and be more responsive.programming.dev (Mastodon)
After Hyundai ICE Raid, Even South Korea’s Capitalists Question US Relations
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/6403457
Zip ties. Helicopters. Crowded cells. Guns trained on bewildered workers. Foul water. Forced vaccinations. An unconscious detainee left on the floor by negligent guards. A pregnant woman in handcuffs. A detainee being called “Rocket Man” (Donald Trump’s nickname for Kim Jong Un) by sneering federal agents. A menstruating woman forced to attend to her period with only toilet paper.These are the details of 316 South Korean nationals’ experiences in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention that have flooded the country’s media in the weeks after the September 4 raid on a Hyundai-LG electric vehicle battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia. A wave of fury is now pouring forth from across South Korean society — and the political consequences are only just beginning.
There is far more at stake than a single factory in Georgia, which by itself represented 8,500 jobs and $4.3 billion in investment, and is just one of 23 plants being built across the U.S. by Korean conglomerates. Since the raid, the U.S. and South Korea have announced that Korean workers will be able to use B-1 visas and ESTA visa waivers to continue working in the U.S. A new bill in Congress, the Partner with Korea Act, also seeks to extend 15,000 professional E-4 visas to South Koreans for the first time.
But U.S. flexibility on immigration is not all that matters. Seoul and Washington have yet to finalize their trade deal instigated by Trump’s threat to impose a 25 percent blanket tariff on South Korean goods. At the current stage of negotiations, South Korea has agreed to accept a 15 percent tariff on its exports and provide tremendous investments and other financial agreements: $350 billion in state-backed short-term investment, $150 billion in private sector contracts with U.S. corporations, and a guarantee to purchase $100 billion in U.S. liquid natural gas. Despite so much on the table, a written agreement has yet to be produced, and negotiations are proving tense as the Trump administration presses for Seoul to provide the lion’s share of its $350 billion commitment in cash. While some of the shock over the ICE raid has died down, Washington’s conduct over the course of months of negotiations has also raised deeper questions in South Korea about the real nature of the alliance — and whether this is a relationship that can last.
The Art of the Steal
The anger unleashed by ICE’s abuse of Korean workers has been building for some time. Trump’s tariff threats, announced in March, hit South Korea at a difficult time, when the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol was unresolved, and the country was reeling from years of flagging economic performance.
The issue was not only a matter of timing. The Biden administration’s CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act also used similar (though less onerous) tariff threats to force South Korean conglomerates to transfer production and make large investments in the U.S. — which is how the Hyundai-LG plant made its way to Georgia in the first place. Having already complied with the previous administration, South Korea nevertheless now finds itself facing an even graver economic threat that could lead to recession: not just a 25 percent tariff on all exports (since reduced to 15 percent), but sector-based tariffs impacting most of South Korea’s key industries as well.
While much of the anger on either side of the Pacific has focused on the current administration in Washington, Trump’s tariffs are just the latest in a string of U.S. policies that have sought to deny South Korea its economic sovereignty, open its markets to foreign takeover, and degrade the rights and dignity of its working people.
like this
I hate how Apples + Googles Prinz services are fucking my Printer, yet CUPS does it right.
I have a brother laser Printer which I use via IPP from my network. It can hold a bunch of pages in RAM and Print them once the other (it can Print 3 in a row) are finished.
Now what does any propriatery printing service do?
They feed ONE PAGE AT A TIME, so my printer starts printing, then it starts cooling off, but then it has to HEAT UP AGAIN FOR FUCKS SAKE, and that every time.
Also if I just print via CUPS from my Linux machine, its like 5 times faster.
And I just don't understand how my 15€ thin client from over 20 years ago can do more and better than my 1200€ iPad.
Just a reminder why I keep using Linux.
like this
I would suggest responding to what they wrote, rather than what they didn't write or what you imagine they may have written, but that's just me.
Another good option is to not respond at all.
Inventing a strawman then arguing with it is pointless
They feed one at a time.
See this is what I hate about all these propreitery bs. They don't put the option to select alternative because "user too dumb."
Will American Carnage Spread to Venezuela?
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/6420802
cross-posted from: ibbit.at/post/80541
Illustration by Nathaniel St. Clair
Every autocrat needs an enemy who threatens the country—preferably from both sides of the border. Such an enemy can serve as the reason to suspend the rule of law and boost executive power.
For Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it’s been the Kurds. For India’s Narendra Modi, it’s been the Muslims. For Russia’s Vladimir Putin, it was first the Chechens, then Alexei Navalny and his followers, and now the Ukrainians.
Donald Trump has built his political career—and, frankly, his entire personality—on the identification of enemies. His presidential run back in 2016 required belittling his rivals in those early Republican primaries (quite literally in the case of Marco Rubio). Later, he widened his scope to include everyone who attempted to thwart his ambitions, like the FBI’s James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. These days, everything that goes wrong in the United States he blames on former president Joe Biden (who had the temerity to beat him in the 2020 presidential election) and the “radical left” (which is basically anyone more liberal than Stephen Miller).
But such “enemies” are small fry, given Trump’s desire for ever greater power. To justify his attacks on Democratic-controlled cities, which is really an effort to suppress all resistance to his policies and his consolidation of presidential authority, he needs a more fearsome monster. To find such a bogeyman, he has dug deep into the American psyche and the playbooks of the autocratic leaders he admires.
On the road to finding the right monster and making America “great again”—a hero’s quest if there ever was one—Trump must first depict the United States as a fallen giant. During his first inaugural address, he declared that “this American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” According to Trump’s self-centered timeline, the carnage stopped during the four years of his first presidency and resumed once again when Biden took over. Carnage, for Trump, is really just a codeword for race—the fall in status of white people who have lost jobs, skin privilege, and pride of place in the history books. “Carnage” is what Black and Brown people have perpetrated by asserting themselves and taking political power, most often in cities.
It’s no surprise, then, that Trump has characterized American cities as “dangerous” and, in the case of Chicago, a “war zone.” In his recent address to a stony-faced group of U.S. military leaders, he said that cities are “very unsafe places and we’re going to straighten them out one by one.” He proposed that the military use American cities as a “training ground” to root out the “enemy within.”
Trump often refers to this “enemy within” as “violent radical left terrorism,” as in the White House’s recent statement on the deployment of the National Guard to Portland. But that doesn’t quite cover, for Trump, the clear and present dangers of drugs and gangs, which are central to justifying his tariff and immigration policies. For that, the president needs to pump up the carnage.
And that’s where Venezuela comes in.
A State of War
The United States is an economically powerful country with relatively low levels of crime. It does not resemble a tropical kleptocracy (not yet). Yet, Trump has gone to great lengths to make it seem that Americans face the same kind of violence that plagued the Philippines during the tenure of Rodrigo Duterte and El Salvador under the current reign of Nayib Bukele. Both autocrats undermined the rule of law to fight drug lords and organized crime. Duterte engaged in myriad extrajudicial killings that have now landed him in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity. Bukele has imprisoned more than one percent of the population, many of them innocent of any crimes, and has effectively declared himself president for life.
For Trump, who thinks of himself as a white savior (el salvador blanco), the key to Salvadorizing America is to depict a country rapidly going to the dogs, which necessitates sending U.S. troops into American cities and ICE agents into every corner of society. Despite Trump’s claims, the U.S. crime rate was close to a 50-year low in 2022, halfway through the Biden administration. In 2024, the rates for murder,removed, aggravated assault, and robbery all fell, according to the FBI.
Then Trump discovered Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that he could use to demonize immigrants, blame for U.S. drug abuse, and tie to criminal activity in cities. The gang has served as the perfect pretext to remove the Temporary Protected Status of Venezuelans as well as round them up and deport them.
And now the administration is playing up the threat of groups like Tren de Aragua to attack boats near Venezuela’s coast and declare a war against drug cartels. Some voices within the administration are even pushing for a U.S. operation to dislodge Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Has the United States replaced democracy promotion with a new, Trumpian form of carnage that it is exporting to the rest of the world, beginning with Venezuela?
The Purported Threat
Tren de Aragua began in a Venezuela prison about a decade ago. It quickly spread to other parts of Venezuela before branching out to the rest of Latin American and eventually to the United States. It has allegedly carried out hits, kidnapped people, and engaged in extensive drug trafficking. It has been linked to an assault on two New York policemen.
It sounds like a formidable organization, and Trump has done much to build up its reputation by branding it “terrorist” and putting it at the same level as the Islamic State.
In fact, Tren de Aragua is a decentralized organization that doesn’t pose a national security threat to any country much less the United States. Its links to the Venezuelan government are tenuous. Few if any of the roughly 250 Venezuelans deported earlier this year to a prison in El Salvador had any connections to the gang. Most were arrested on the basis of “gang” tattoos when Tren de Aragua doesn’t use tattoos as identifying markers.
The Trump administration’s order terminating Temporary Protected Status for approximately 300,000 Venezuelans living in the United States makes multiple mentions of Tren de Aragua. This week the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s move. The vast majority of Venezuelans left the country to escape gangs, economic chaos and corruption, or the government’s campaign to destroy the political opposition (which has included 19 cases of incommunicado detention). And now Trump is sending them back to lives of great uncertainty.
According to one poll, nearly half of Venezuelan supporters of Donald Trump, who were key in delivering Miami-Dade county to him in the last election, are having buyer’s remorse.
It’s one thing to break U.S. laws in going after immigrants. Now the Trump administration is breaking international laws and engaging in extrajudicial murder in its imagined pursuit of Tren de Aragua overseas.
On September 2, U.S. Special Operations forces attacked a boat near the Venezuelan coast that the administration alleges was a drug-running operation. It claimed to have killed 11 Tren de Aragua gang members. But it hasn’t provided any proof…of anything. The administration has released videos of the attacks without identifying the people it killed, offering any evidence that there were any drugs on board, or demonstrating that the boats had any links to Tren de Aragua.
Meanwhile, despite a war of words with Colombian leader Gustavo Petro over the latter’s pushback against Trump’s aggressive moves in the region, the United States recently teamed up with Colombia (and the UK) to arrest the alleged head of Tren de Aragua’s armed wing in the Colombian city of Valledupar. This police work received considerably less attention in the press—and from the U.S. government itself—than Trump’s clearly illegal attacks on Venezuelan boats.
Regime Change?
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an autocrat in his own right, has predictably denounced U.S. actions and called up reserves to prepare to defend the country against a potential attack. Less predictably, after the sinking of that first boat, he sent a letter to the Trump administration arguing that he wasn’t involved in narco-trafficking and offering to meet with the administration’s envoy Richard Grenell. The administration ignored the letter and continued its attacks, though Grenell maintained contacts with Venezuela in order to swing a deal to avoid war and facilitate U.S. access to Venezuelan oil. This week, Trump instructed Grenellto stop this diplomatic outreach.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has been building up the U.S. military presence in the region. It sent advanced F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico. It beefed up its naval flotilla with eight warships, some Navy P-8 surveillance planes, and an attack submarine. There are nearly 7,000 U.S. troops now deployed to the region.
This is considerably more firepower than a drug interdiction operation requires. But it’s not enough for a full-scale invasion of Venezuela.
This in-between approach may well reflect the conflict within the Trump administration between gung-ho regime-changers like Rubio and anti-interventionists like Grenell. The regime-changers, which include Stephen Miller and the head of the CIA John Ratcliffe, count on the support of Venezuelan opposition leaders like María Corina Machado, who had failed to pry Maduro from office in what was clearly a rigged presidential election last year. With many opposition figures now in jail or in exile, she views the U.S. military as a Hail Mary pass.
Other Venezuelans are much more cautious. “You kill Maduro,” one businessman there confided, “you turn Venezuela into Haiti.” After all, the weak opposition would have a hard time holding the country together amid a scramble for power and oil.
Longtime international affairs expert Leon Hadar points out that such carnage would not just be a problem for Venezuela. “Venezuela has already produced over seven million refugees and migrants,” he writes. “A state collapse scenario could easily double that number. Colombia, Brazil and other neighbors are already overwhelmed. Where do Trump and his advisors think these people will go?”
Given that Trump doesn’t make plans and instead improvises like a bombastic actor, his administration has probably not yet decided how to pursue regime change in Venezuela. The president likes to pit rival factions within his administration to see what the internal carnage will produce. As The Guardian’s Simon Tisdall concludes, “Today, full-scale military intervention in Venezuela remains unlikely. More probable is an intensified pressure campaign of destabilisation, sanctions, maritime strikes, and air and commando raids.”
The reality of Venezuela—the government, the gangs, the immigrants—poses no threat to the United States. The country sends a small percent of drugs here—most fentanyl comes from Mexico, most cocaine from Colombia—while the vast majority of Venezuelans in the United States are law-abiding citizens. Maduro’s military couldn’t do much against U.S. forces, and so far Venezuela has not struck back against what has been a clear violation of its sovereignty.
Trump’s war on drugs and full-court press on deportations, on the other hand, depend on this idea of Venezuela as a full-blown threat. Venezuela presents Trump with carte blanche to deploy the U.S. military in America’s backyard and in America’s own cities.
Really, it’s no surprise that Trump wants such a white card. He’s been playing such trump cards all his life.
The post Will American Carnage Spread to Venezuela? appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
From CounterPunch.org via this RSS feed
Trump’s bullying of Latin America isn’t part of any plan – he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing
The president’s threats to attack Venezuela are regressive, dangerous and almost certain to backfire, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon TisdallSimon Tisdall (The Guardian)
like this
It looks like Venezuela is copying Iran's playbook from the first Trump administration; don't give Trump a casus belli and rely on the US military forcing Trump to give the documented order to attack.
Hopefully it works out for Venezuela.
Exclusive: Hamas says Israel’s ‘indiscriminate’ destruction of Gaza behind delay in locating captives' bodies
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/37589866
A senior Hamas source has told Middle East Eye that Israel bears responsibility for delays in locating and returning the bodies of captives still missing in Gaza.The source was speaking after Israeli officials said on Tuesday that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would remain closed through Wednesday and accused Hamas of holding onto the bodies of captives it had pledged to return as part of the US-brokered peace deal that halted the two-year war.
But the Hamas source told MEE that its negotiators clearly stated during talks that the presence of Israeli forces and the genocidal, indiscriminate Israeli attacks that caused widespread destruction would complicate the task of locating the bodies of killed captives, requiring greater time and effort.
like this
Imagine you're a wizard. You're running away from another wizard who wants to kill you. You reach an art school. You notice that you won't be able to get away in there, but then you notice a nato flag on the other wizard's social media profile. You shout the magic spell: "Northkorea!" The other wizard stops. What happened?
::: spoiler spoiler
The spell turns liberals into hitler instantly, and hitler can't get into art school
:::
Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors
Many of the 90 bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities under the ceasefire deal showed signs of torture and execution, including blindfolds, cuffed hands and bullet wounds in the head, according to doctors’ accounts.
“Almost all of them had been blindfolded, and had been bound up and they had gunshots between the eyes. Almost all of them had been executed,” said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, the head of Nasser hospital’s paediatric department.
Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors
Almost all had been blindfolded and had gunshot wounds between the eyes, says medic at Nasser hospital in GazaJulian Borger (The Guardian)
like this
I think their audience heavily started turning against them, so they had no choice but to jump ship. They are crying to walk a very fine line between spreading genocide propaganda and having their readers believe that they are a trustworthy newspaper by letting Palestinians speak occasionally.
Noticeably they are taking like two or three days to report old stuff though.
But do not doubt for a second that when it is time to spread new genocide propaganda, the Guardian will join the fray without qualms. They already showed their hand when they spread false propaganda about "having seen footage of rape on October 7." Which turned out to be a complete lie a year after the fact.
Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors
Many of the 90 bodies of Palestinians returned to Gaza by Israeli authorities under the ceasefire deal showed signs of torture and execution, including blindfolds, cuffed hands and bullet wounds in the head, according to doctors’ accounts.
“Almost all of them had been blindfolded, and had been bound up and they had gunshots between the eyes. Almost all of them had been executed,” said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, the head of Nasser hospital’s paediatric department.
Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors
Almost all had been blindfolded and had gunshot wounds between the eyes, says medic at Nasser hospital in GazaJulian Borger (The Guardian)
like this
This is literally ripped from me asking Gemini "how can a medical examiner tell if a person was blindfolded when they died" so I expect down votes since I'm being forthright about that and not just pawning it off as my own.
Tl;Dr: markings, particularly bruising, fiber or other material remnants, blood vessels in the eyes rupturing from the blindfold.
Here's what the ai said:
A medical examiner (forensic pathologist) can determine if a person was blindfolded at the time of death by looking for several types of evidence, primarily through a thorough external examination of the body and the scene investigation.
Key indicators that might be present include:
* Imprints or Markings on the Skin:
* Bruising (Contusions): The force or pressure of a tight blindfold, especially if the person struggled, can leave distinct bruises on the skin around the eyes, across the bridge of the nose, and/or around the head.
* Abrasions (Scrapes): Friction from the material moving against the skin, particularly near bony prominences like the orbital ridges or bridge of the nose, can cause scrapes.
* Ligature Marks: A fold, crease, or indentation in the skin, often in the pattern of the blindfold material (e.g., a line for a strip of cloth, a crosshatch pattern for gauze), can be visible. These are similar to those seen from restraints or ligatures.
* Trace Evidence:
* Fibers or Residue: The material used for the blindfold (e.g., fabric fibers, tape residue) might be transferred to the skin, hair, or eyelashes of the deceased. These small pieces of evidence are collected and analyzed by forensic scientists.
* Hemorrhages (Bleeding):
* Petechiae: Small, pinpoint hemorrhages (broken blood vessels) in the conjunctiva (the lining of the eyelids and eye) or the skin of the eyelids can be caused by the pressure of a tight restraint around the head or neck area, which can obstruct venous return.
* Scene Investigation:
* The Blindfold Itself: The most direct evidence is the discovery of the blindfold still on the body or nearby. The medical examiner or crime scene investigators will document its position and material.
* Associated Evidence: The location of the body, other restraints, and signs of a struggle can corroborate the use of a blindfold as part of a struggle, kidnapping, or execution.
The findings from the external examination and the scene are crucial because they represent ante-mortem (occurring before death) or peri-mortem (occurring around the time of death) events. If the markings show signs of vital reaction (like bruising/bleeding), it confirms the person was blindfolded while still alive or in the process of dying.
Yes they're just opening up the body bag and it's got blindfolds and zip ties still on it.
Footage filmed by a freelance journalist working for the BBC at Nasser's mortuary appeared to show the body of a blindfolded man.
Gaza experts work to identify bodies of 90 Palestinians returned by Israel
Under the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel has agreed to hand over the bodies of 15 Palestinians in return for every dead Israeli hostage.David Gritten (BBC News)
Exclusive: Hamas says Israel’s ‘indiscriminate’ destruction of Gaza behind delay in locating captives' bodies
A senior Hamas source has told Middle East Eye that Israel bears responsibility for delays in locating and returning the bodies of captives still missing in Gaza.
The source was speaking after Israeli officials said on Tuesday that the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would remain closed through Wednesday and accused Hamas of holding onto the bodies of captives it had pledged to return as part of the US-brokered peace deal that halted the two-year war.
But the Hamas source told MEE that its negotiators clearly stated during talks that the presence of Israeli forces and the genocidal, indiscriminate Israeli attacks that caused widespread destruction would complicate the task of locating the bodies of killed captives, requiring greater time and effort.
reshared this
Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’
Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’
Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warnsGraham Readfearn (The Guardian)
Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti suffers rib fractures after assault in Israeli prisons
Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti sustained rib fractures after being beaten in Israeli prisons, the Prisoners’ Media Office said Wednesday, Anadolu reports.
The Hamas-run office said on Telegram that Barghouti was beaten by Israeli prison guards while being transferred from Ramon Prison in southern Israel to Megiddo Prison in the north in mid-September.
The imprisoned leader lost consciousness and suffered a fracture in four ribs, it added.
Barghouti, 66, a senior leader of President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group, is one of the most prominent and popular figures in Palestinian politics.
glimmer_twin [he/him]
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •like this
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ likes this.
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
in reply to glimmer_twin [he/him] • • •Lussy [any, hy/hym]
in reply to glimmer_twin [he/him] • • •UltraGiGaGigantic
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •flango
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •like this
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ likes this.
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
in reply to flango • • •Korkki
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •principalkohoutek [none/use name]
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •mistermodal
in reply to principalkohoutek [none/use name] • • •