cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/4087

A US-Israeli geoengineering startup has raised $60m as part of its plan to test ‘sun-reflecting technology’. Critics are warning the new tech could have unexpected negative impacts on global weather and drive “geopolitical conflict”. Supporters, meanwhile, have pointed out it might not do that. 🚨Big News in Solar Geoengineering Stardust Solutions, an Israeli-U.S. startup developing […]

By Willem Moore

If you’re unfamiliar with solar ‘geoengineering’, it’s essentially climate change in reverse. Much like how we’ve caused global warming and other changes by releasing carbon, methane, and other gases, scientists believe we can reverse the problem by releasing particles which reflect sunlight back into space.

In a report titled The Risks of Geoengineering, the Center for International Environmental Law summarised:

   Geoengineering technologies, if deployed at scale, could have profound, unpredictable, and potentially irreversible effects on biodiversity, both through their direct impacts and as a result of compounding and exacerbating existing planetary crises caused by pollution, climate change, and unsustainable land use.

As reported by Politico, this latest geoengineering plan is being led by US-Israeli startup Stardust Solutions. Their technology involves custom particles which the company claims are ‘inert’. They also believe these particles will not accumulate in humans or ecosystems, will not harm the ozone layer, and will not create acid rain.

Stardust Solutions’ founders are nuclear physicists who worked for the Israeli government. Although they insist their new project is unaffiliated with the state of Israel, they are headquartered outside Tel Aviv. This could cause problems for them worldwide given the boycott of Israel which began during Israel’s apartheid era and continued throughout the genocide.

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

Willem Moore, Author at Canary

Articles by Willem Moore for Canary

^{Willem Moore (The Canary)}

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/4116

From private prisons to health care scams, the attack on unhoused people is about exploitation, not safety.

From the Trump administration to Democrats in California, responses to the homeless crisis in the U.S. continue to ignore the main drivers of the problem and aim to make the unhoused magically disappear. Like so many of the faux social policies in the U.S., this one increasingly looks designed for big private players to profit off the disappearing.

Let’s first look at the main tenets of the U.S. response at both the state and federal level before examining how such ruthless policy offers opportunities for economic elites to cash in on the added layers of cruelty.

Trump’s July executive order frames the country’s homelessness crisis as the sole product of mental illness and drug addiction and helps make it easier to arrest and involuntarily commit the homeless. This is a continuation of a years-long effort by American elites to redirect attention away from the root causes of homelessness. According to a study from UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative last year (one of the deepest dives into California’s crisis in decades), the number one problem that is fueling the homelessness crisis is the increasing precariousness of the working poor.

From Truthout via This RSS Feed.

The US Is Criminalizing Homelessness and Expanding Incarceration. Who Profits? | Truthout

^{Zack Kligler (Truthout)}

• The Irish Central Bank transfers an Israeli bond issue to the Grand Duchy, which raised 2.41 billion in 2024 and finances the Zionist State Budget.
• Legal experts at Law for Palestine warn that accepting this debt prospectus makes Luxembourg "complicit" in illicit international acts.

Israel relies on the EU's two main financial centers, Ireland and Luxembourg, to finance the war in Gaza and, therefore, the crimes against the Palestinian population that have earned it international condemnation. To do so, it uses so-called diaspora bonds , which Israel has been issuing since 1951 and whose volume increases each time it needs to fund its war campaigns, appealing to Jewish communities around the world for contributions. These are small-value bonds , priced at less than €1,000, but they are very successful: they raised €2.41 billion in 2024, according to the annual report of the Public Debt Unit of the Israeli Ministry of Finance.

To sell these bonds in the European Union, Israel needs a member state to become the country of origin of the issue . Until Brexit , this was the United Kingdom . Since 2021, that role has been played by Ireland . Until Israel asked the Irish Central Bank to transfer the authority to approve the prospectus for its bonds to Luxembourg . On September 1, the Grand Duchy's Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF) authorized this. The numerous protests outside the headquarters of the Central Bank of Ireland for serving as a financial tool for Israel then moved to Luxembourg, both in the streets and in Parliament. Opposition parties accuse the financial supervisor and the government of "supporting, as a financial center," a policy that the country was at the same time "verbally condemning." Luxembourg recognized the State of Palestine on September 22 .

Following the criticism, the CSSF sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting its opinion on Israeli bonds. It also asked the Ministry to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of any changes in the official policy stance toward Israel, as, in such cases, it could review its decision. When the controversy erupted, the financial supervisor argued its independence : "The CSSF assumes no commitment regarding the economic or financial opportunity of the transaction or the quality and solvency of the issuer." The Luxembourg government did the same: it could not intervene in a supervisory body's decision. The CSSF can only reject a bond issue prospectus if it does not meet formal requirements, if the EU has sanctioned the issuer, or if restrictive national measures have been applied to it. "It is limited to determining whether the information contained in the prospectus is complete, consistent, and understandable ," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled in the statement announcing the CSSF's letter.

Not sold in Spain

However, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister, Xavier Bettel, acknowledged that the approval of the bonds could "indirectly" contribute to financing Israel's war in the Gaza Strip. However, a motion by the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) urging the government to classify Israel's actions in Gaza as war crimes and crimes against humanity, so that the CSSF could revoke the approval of the bond prospectus, was rejected in Parliament by 40 votes out of 60.

In response to the uproar, Israel's Finance Ministry simply explained that Ireland's transfer to Luxembourg was a "natural step" since it was already collaborating with the Grand Duchy on its tradable sovereign debt program. "This measure will ensure that Israel maintains continued access to investors around the world," according to a statement published by Reuters. Diaspora bonds issued in euros are sold in Austria, Germany, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Neither in Ireland nor in Spain . In any case, the transfer to the Grand Duchy is only temporary. Ireland has delegated the approval of the prospectus for these bonds to Luxembourg for one year, until September 2026. At that time, unless Israel requests otherwise, the issuance will return to Ireland. If it wishes to issue bonds for a value greater than the current €1,000, it may choose another Member State to place its prospectus.

Ireland recognized the State of Palestine in May 2024 , and did so in coordination with Norway and Spain . The controversy over financial support for Israel forced the Central Bank of Ireland to explain why it had transferred jurisdiction over the prospectus to Luxembourg. According to its governor, Gabriel Makhlouf, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice , which in July 2024 determined that the occupation of the Palestinian territories "is not a law ," and therefore does not "bind" the Central Bank. "There was no reasonable and proportionate argument that justified us rejecting the transfer," he explained before the Finance Committee of the Irish Parliament last Wednesday.

Luxembourg signed the Genocide Convention

The academics who prepared a legal opinion on the acceptance of Israeli bonds in the EU for Law for Palestine , a human rights nonprofit registered in the UK and Sweden and accredited by the UN Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, disagree. Approving the prospectus, knowing that it will allow Israel access to European capital markets to fund its budget, would not only "trigger Luxembourg's international liability" but also make it "complicit" in "international wrongful acts ." They argue that the bond issuance constitutes "prohibited aid or assistance" under international law . Luxembourg is a signatory to the Genocide Convention —it also endorsed the International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion —and therefore has a duty to "employ all reasonable means at its disposal to prevent it." And denying the bond issue would be a "clear, available, and powerful means of economic pressure ," they conclude.

They also emphasize that "no other State interest," not even compliance with domestic legislation or other international commitments, can justify acts that contribute to or assist the commission of serious international crimes.

In their view, Luxembourg will incur a "manifest lack of due diligence" if the activities financed with these bonds include actions that could be considered genocide. Furthermore, the CSSF may have even breached its obligation to protect the companies and individuals who purchase them from "potential future liability as facilitators of Israeli violations of international law ," the legal experts at Law for Palestine conclude.

I think I understand how to post from mastodon but pixelfed just brought in all the text as one huge, run-on title, including hashtags, etc.

Pixelfed mostly cooperates with mastodon and the fediverse but the text, titles, and captioning not working, formatting breaking is pretty signature pixelfed in any of those exchanges.

When the president of the United States decides to demolish the East Wing of the White House to construct a ballroom, all that stucco and molding and wood has to go somewhere. So I tried to find it.

I’d heard that the dirt from the East Wing demolition was being deposited three miles away, on a tree-lined island next to the Jefferson Memorial called East Potomac Park. So yesterday I drove around until I saw trucks and men in construction gear. They were congregating at an entrance to the public East Potomac Golf Links, where rounds of golf carried on as usual, except every few minutes, dump trucks entered the green.

The trucks would cut across the course to a cordoned-off site in the middle, where the grass had been torn away and replaced with piles of dirt. It did not look like much, but several employees at the site confirmed: This was not just any dirt. This was White House dirt.

My Quest to Find the East Wing Rubble

An entire part of the White House can’t just disappear.

^{Nancy Walecki (The Atlantic)}

Bluesky link to video of woman. Make sure to watch the Wheeling, IL video in the comments:

bsky.app/profile/youranoncentr…

A New Yorker dubbed “polka dot dress woman” by the internet has gone viral after footage captured her flipping double birds at a law enforcement Humvee and tussling with agents Tuesday when an ICE sweep triggered protests on Manhattan’s Canal Street.

The raid unfolded late Tuesday when agents began questioning street vendors along the busy stretch of Canal Street. Within minutes, dozens of New Yorkers surrounded the agents, shouting and blocking vehicles as tensions flared.

Video from the scene showed agents shoving protesters to the ground and threatening them with stun guns and pepper spray.

‘Polka Dot Dress Woman’ Goes Viral for Fighting Off ICE Agents in NYC

The woman, dressed in a spotted dress and wearing a leather jacket, can be seen standing in front of the ICE vehicle and later pushing one agent.

^{David Gilmour (Mediaite)}

Miller: “The tragedy is a political party and a movement that has ripped down our statues, our monuments, our holidays, our heroes, our heritage,” Miller continued, ignoring the fact that the Trump administration has itself called for the removal of statues that do not align with its version of history.

“The Republican Party under President Trump celebrates beauty again and beautification again, and just as President Trump has beautified Washington D.C., now he’s repairing, finally, an area of the White House that has been left in disrepair for decades.”

Rattled Miller Puts Up Hysterical Defense of White House Teardown

Trump’s deputy is outraged that anyone would be unimpressed by the president’s changes to the White House.

^{Catherine Bouris (The Daily Beast)}

Two AI-first browsers are redefining how we search, write, and automate online. But which one actually makes your browsing smarter — OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas or Perplexity’s Comet? Let’s find out.

🌐 The Rise of AI Browsers

For decades, browsers were passive windows — tools that showed web pages but didn’t think. That’s changing fast.

With the arrival of ChatGPT Atlas from OpenAI and Comet from Perplexity, we’ve entered the era of AI-first browsing, where your browser understands, writes, and even acts for you.

Both browsers promise to transform everyday browsing into intelligent, context-aware, and task-completing experiences. But their design philosophies couldn’t be more different.

🧠 ChatGPT Atlas: OpenAI’s Smart Companion for the Web

ChatGPT Atlas integrates ChatGPT directly into your browsing experience — not as a chatbot tab, but as a native assistant that follows you across websites, emails, and forms.

Atlas combines in-line writing help, contextual page summaries, and memory continuity, meaning it remembers what you’re doing across tabs.

✨ Key Features

🧾 Sidebar ChatGPT always available

✍️ Inline Writing Assistance in text fields and editors

🧭 Summarization & Contextual Insight for any webpage

🤖 Agent Mode (for Plus/Pro users): perform tasks and multi-step web actions

🔒 Memory & Privacy Controls for stored conversations

Best for: Writers, researchers, and productivity-focused users who already love ChatGPT and want seamless integration.

🚀 Comet: Perplexity’s Action-Driven AI Browser

Comet, from Perplexity, approaches the web differently. Instead of answering questions — it acts.

It’s designed around agentic workflows, where your queries become tasks: “Find hotels in Dubai and book the best one under $150.”

Comet’s focus is on execution, not just information. It builds on Perplexity’s trusted Q&A model but adds AI automation, background assistants, and cross-platform sync.

⚙️ Key Features

💬 Conversational Search with Citations

🧩 Agentic Workflows: execute bookings, send emails, complete online actions

🌍 Cross-Platform Chromium Base (supports Chrome extensions)

🧠 Follow-up Intelligence: suggests next steps automatically

🕶️ Privacy Modes: limits background data collection

💬 “Where Atlas summarizes the web, Comet does things on the web.”

Best for: Power users, researchers, and tech-savvy professionals who want AI to handle actions instead of just summarizing information.

✅ Pros and Cons at a Glance
💡 ChatGPT Atlas – Pros

✅ Seamless ChatGPT integration
✅ High-quality writing and summarization
✅ Safe memory and privacy settings
✅ Excellent for focus and productivity

Cons:
⚠️ Limited OS availability (macOS first)
⚠️ Heavily tied to the OpenAI ecosystem

⚙️ Comet – Pros

✅ True “do” browser – action-based AI
✅ Clean research and citation interface
✅ Works with Chrome extensions
✅ Fast-paced feature updates

Cons:
⚠️ Security risk with automated actions
⚠️ Learning curve for complex workflows

🧭 Final Verdict

Both browsers signal the future of the internet.
We’re shifting from “search and click” to “ask and accomplish.”

ChatGPT Atlas shines in stability, coherence, and writing assistance.

Comet impresses with speed, automation, and task execution.

But as of now — Atlas feels safer and more polished, while Comet feels bolder and more experimental.

If you’re curious, try both. Each offers free tiers — and both are redefining what it means to “browse the web.”

👉 Download Comet
👉 Download ChatGpt Atlas

cross-posted from: ibbit.at/post/91485

Just over nine months after President Donald Trump returned to office and pardoned his supporters who stormed the US Capitol, one of the Republican’s top aides suggested that federal law enforcement may arrest Democrats standing up to the White House’s anti-migrant agenda, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Asked about the administration’s willingness and federal authority to arrest the…

Source

---

From Truthout via this RSS feed

Stephen Miller Threatens to Arrest Illinois Governor JB Pritzker

Miller told Fox News the threat “applies to any state official, any local official” who impedes ICE’s assaults.

^{Jessica Corbett (Truthout)}

Imagine a browser that doesn’t just show you the web — it understands it.
A browser that researches, summarizes, writes, and even completes your tasks for you.
That’s Comet, the brand-new AI browser powered by Perplexity — and it’s changing the way we experience the internet.

💡 A New Kind of Browser Experience
Most browsers were built for searching. You type. You scroll. You click. You repeat.

But Comet is built for doing.
It transforms your browsing into a smart, conversational, action-driven experience. Whether you’re working, studying, shopping, or planning a trip — Comet does more than just open tabs. It gets things done.

💬 “Comet is not just a browser. It’s your AI-powered co-pilot for the web.”

🚀 Here’s Why You’ll Want to Try Comet Today
1️⃣ One Month of Pro Access — Absolutely Free
Right now, Comet is offering 1 month of Comet Pro free for every new user.
That means you get to experience all premium features — faster AI answers, deeper research, agentic actions, and full automation — at zero cost.

No hidden conditions. Just pure AI browsing magic.

2️⃣ Browse with Answers, Not Links
Ever Google something and open 10 tabs before finding the answer?
Comet fixes that. It gives you direct, cited answers instantly — powered by Perplexity AI — and lets you ask follow-up questions like a real conversation.

No more hunting through endless pages. You ask. Comet answers.

💬 “From confusion to clarity — all in one tab.”

3️⃣ Your AI Assistant That Takes Action
Comet isn’t just smart — it’s capable.
It can summarize pages, draft emails, plan itineraries, and even execute actions like bookings and online tasks (with your permission).

So instead of switching apps or copying text between tabs, Comet handles it all in one place.

4️⃣ Super Clean, Fast, and Familiar
Comet is built on Chromium, meaning it supports all your Chrome extensions and works just like Chrome — but smarter, cleaner, and faster.

It’s familiar where you want it to be, and revolutionary where it counts.

5️⃣ Privacy You Can Trust
Comet gives you full control over what’s shared or remembered.
You can switch between Normal Mode and Strict Mode, which limits AI memory and ensures safe private browsing. Your data stays yours.

6️⃣ Research Made Effortless
Students, professionals, and curious minds — you’ll love this.
Comet doesn’t just list websites. It reads, understands, and gives you condensed insights with verified citations.

Whether it’s for a research paper, business report, or travel plan — Comet saves hours of scrolling.

⚡ The Edge You Deserve in 2025
Let’s face it: the world moves fast.
AI isn’t a luxury anymore — it’s a necessity. While other browsers wait for you to act, Comet acts with you.

It’s not just about convenience. It’s about staying ahead — thinking faster, working smarter, and freeing yourself from the clutter of traditional browsing.

💬 “Comet is to Chrome what the smartphone was to the flip phone — a complete leap forward.”

🧭 Why You’ll Love It After Just One Day
✨ Pages summarized instantly
🧠 Real-time AI insights
🕹️ Control your browsing with simple commands
📘 Research without distractions
💬 Chat naturally with your browser
⚡ Super lightweight, privacy-friendly, and free for the first month
🎁 Ready to Try It? Here’s the Bonus.
Download Comet Browser today and unlock your 1-Month Free Pro Plan.
Experience what browsing feels like when your browser thinks for you.

👉 ****Download Comet Now****

cross-posted from: infosec.pub/post/36690409

This story may be characterized as Corporate Power is Protected as defined in The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino is under intensifying scrutiny in Chicago after he was recorded on Thursday throwing what appeared to be a tear gas canister at protesters, leading attorneys to accuse him of violating a temporary restraining order that bans the use of tear gas, pepper spray and other tactics against journalists and protesters unless under imminent threat.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Bovino was struck in the head by a rock thrown by "hostile and violent" protesters, though several witnesses challenged that contention.

On Friday, Bovino was ordered to appear before a federal judge on Tuesday.

Illinois officials issue orders and file lawsuits as protesters clash with immigration agents

Demonstrations have led to federal agents firing pepper balls and tear gas as protestors attempt to block access to the immigrant processing facility near Chicago.

^{Natasha Korecki (NBC News)}

There are many ways to characterize Proposition 50, the single ballot initiative that Californians will be voting on this election season.

You could say it’s about redrawing congressional district lines outside the regular once-a-decade schedule. You could say, more precisely, that it’s about counterbalancing Republican efforts to engineer congressional seats in their favor in Texas and elsewhere with a gerrymander that favors the Democrats. You could, like the measure’s detractors, call it a partisan power grab that risks undermining 15 years of careful work to make California’s congressional elections as fair and competitive as possible.

The way California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and the Democrats are selling it to voters, though, boils down to something much simpler and more visceral: it’s an invitation to raise a middle finger to Donald Trump, a president fewer than 40% of Californians voted for and many loathe – for reasons that extend far beyond his attempts at election manipulation. For that reason alone, the yes campaign believes it is cruising to an easy victory.

“There’s actually a double tease here,” said Garry South, one of California’s most experienced and most outspoken Democratic political consultants who has been cheer-leading the measure. “Trump and Texas, the state Californians love to hate. How can you lose an initiative that’s going to stick it to both?”

Strange times we're living in.

How ‘screw Trump’ messaging may help California’s Proposition 50 prevail

Republican opposition to the effort to give House Democrats more safe seats may be no match for the fact that Californians really don’t like Trump

^{Andrew Gumbel (The Guardian)}

Hey all,

I just saw that Perplexity (the AI search company) released their own browser called Comet.

Here's the main link: perplexity.ai/comet

It looks like they are pushing hard for new users. The invite I saw mentioned that you get 1 month of Perplexity Pro for free just for downloading it and asking one question.

Seems like a decent incentive to try it out.

Has anyone here actually done it? Is the browser itself any good, or is this just a gimmick to get more Pro subscribers? Wondering how it compares to using the regular Perplexity site.

Republican opposition to the effort to give House Democrats more safe seats may be no match for the fact that Californians really don’t like Trump

There are many ways to characterize Proposition 50, the single ballot initiative that Californians will be voting on this election season.

You could say it’s about redrawing congressional district lines outside the regular once-a-decade schedule. You could say, more precisely, that it’s about counterbalancing Republican efforts to engineer congressional seats in their favor in Texas and elsewhere with a gerrymander that favors the Democrats. You could, like the measure’s detractors, call it a partisan power grab that risks undermining 15 years of careful work to make California’s congressional elections as fair and competitive as possible.

The way California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, and the Democrats are selling it to voters, though, boils down to something much simpler and more visceral: it’s an invitation to raise a middle finger to Donald Trump, a president fewer than 40% of Californians voted for and many loathe – for reasons that extend far beyond his attempts at election manipulation. For that reason alone, the yes campaign believes it is cruising to an easy victory.

How ‘screw Trump’ messaging may help California’s Proposition 50 prevail

^{Andrew Gumbel (The Guardian)}

Amazon strategised about keeping the public in the dark over the true extent of its datacentres’ water use, a leaked internal document reveals.

The biggest owner of datacentres in the world, Amazon dwarfs competitors Microsoft and Google and is planning a huge increase in capacity as part of a push into artificial intelligence. The Seattle firm operates hundreds of active facilities, with many more in development despite concerns over how much water is being used to cool their vast arrays of circuitry.

Amazon defends its approach and has taken steps to manage how efficient its water use is, but it has faced criticism over transparency. Microsoft and Google regularly publish figures for their water consumption, but Amazon has never publicly disclosed how much water its server farms consume.

When designing a campaign for water efficiency, the company’s cloud computing division chose to account for only a smaller water usage figure that does not include all the ways its datacentres use water so as to minimise the risk to its reputation, according to a leaked memo seen by SourceMaterial and the Guardian.

Here's something I wasn't even aware of: Amazon is in the agriculture business!

As well as choosing not to disclose water use from electricity generation, Amazon has estimated its larger “indirect” water footprint, the document shows. This extra usage, which falls under a classification known as “scope 3”, includes water for production and construction – in Amazon’s case, mostly irrigation of cotton plantations supplying its fashion brands, and vegetables for its grocery arm, Amazon Fresh.

"Plantations" has nothing but positive connotations.

Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows

Executives at world’s biggest datacenter owner grappled with disclosing information about water used to help power facilities

^{Luke Barratt (The Guardian)}

https://presearch.com/

https://www.techspot.com/news/110002-ai-assistants-misrepresent-news-stories-almost-half-time.html

Hey all,

I just saw that Perplexity (the AI search company) released their own browser called Comet.

From the site, it looks like it's heavily focused on being a "Personal AI Assistant" that can organize tabs, draft emails, and even build websites.

Here's the link: perplexity.ai/comet

I'm curious if anyone has actually tried it. Is this a genuine browser competitor, or is it more of an experiment? Wondering how it compares to using an AI sidebar in a browser like Edge or Arc.

What are your thoughts?

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-china-seek-avoid-trade-war-escalation-salvage-trump-xi-meeting-malaysia-talks-2025-10-25/

The oil giant said requirements that companies calculate new details about greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks violate Exxon’s free speech rights.

It's not like accounting standards aren't a thing in a whole variety of businesses. But that's somehow not a violation of free speech rights.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/climate/exxon-california-lawsuit-free-speech.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wE8.lG03.DiqyykWAm7mD