Creating strong permanent magnets without using so-called rare earth elements is an ongoing topic of research. An interesting contestant here are iron nitride magnets (α”-Fe₁₆N₂), which have the potential to create permanents magnets on-par with with neodymium (Nd₂Fe₁₄B) magnets. The challenging aspect with Fe-N magnets is their manufacturing, with recently [Ben Krasnow] giving it a shot over at the [Applied Science] YouTube channel following the method in a 2016 scientific paper by [Yanfeng Jiang] et al. in Advanced Engineering Materials.

This approach uses a ball mill (like [Ben]’s planetary version) with ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) as the nitrogen source along with iron. After many hours of milling a significant part of the material is expected to have taken on the α”-Fe₁₆N₂ phase, after which shock compaction is applied to create a bulk magnet. After the ball mill grinding, [Ben] used a kiln at 200°C for a day to fix the desired phase. Instead of shock compaction, casting in epoxy was used as alternative.

We have covered Fe-N magnets before, along with the promises they hold. As one can see in [Ben]’s video, oxidation is a big problem, with the typical sintering as with other magnet types not possible either. Ultimately this led to the resulting magnet being fairly weak, with a DIY magnetometer used to determine the strength of the created magnet.

Interestingly, there’s a much newer paper by [Tetsuji Saito] et al. from 2024 in Metals that does use sintering, specifically spark plasma sintering with dynamic compression (SPS-DC). SPS-DC can be done at fairly low temperatures (373 – 573 K, or 99.85 – 299.85 °C), producing much stronger magnets than [Ben] accomplished.

Although Fe-N magnets hold a lot of promise, they have lower coercivity. This means that they demagnetize easier, which is another aspect that weighs against them. For now it would seem that we aren’t quite ready to say farewell to Nd-Fe-B magnets.

youtube.com/embed/M6XIgdS1rzs?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/19/iron-n…

Nel noto marketplace underground Exploit.in, il threat actor chestniybro ha messo all’asta un accesso RDP a una non meglio identificata azienda italiana operante nel settore retail di gioielli e orologi.

Secondo il post pubblicato dal venditore, l’azienda presenta un fatturato superiore ai 20 milioni di dollari, impiega oltre 250 dipendenti, e protegge la propria infrastruttura con l’antivirus CrowdStrike Falcon, uno dei più noti strumenti EDR in ambito enterprise.

Inoltre, l’infrastruttura tecnica compromessa sarebbe composta da più di 350 host distribuiti su 5 data center, un dato che lascia intuire una realtà aziendale di dimensioni non trascurabili.

L’accesso offerto è di tipo RDP con privilegi di Domain User, il che lo rende potenzialmente utile a gruppi ransomware per movimenti laterali o escalation di privilegi. Il prezzo di partenza dell’asta è 1.000 dollari, con rilanci da 100 e un “Buy Now” a 1.400 dollari.

Non è la prima volta che aziende italiane finiscono nel mirino dei cyber criminali. In passato abbiamo documentato la vendita di accessi simili a realtà dei settori industriale, logistico e sanitario. Tuttavia, l’interesse verso il mondo del retail di fascia alta evidenzia una diversificazione degli obiettivi da parte dei threat actors, forse attratti dal valore dei dati, dalle potenziali frodi finanziarie o dalla capacità di pagare riscatti.

La presenza di una soluzione EDR avanzata come CrowdStrike Falcon non ha impedito la compromissione, il che potrebbe indicare una cattiva configurazione, l’assenza di segmentazione di rete o l’uso di credenziali valide ottenute tramite phishing, infostealer o insider.

Secondo i dati disponibili, l’account chestniybro è attivo dal 2017, ha pubblicato 13 post ed è identificato con il badge “Autogarant 1”, ovvero una vendita andata a buon fine con garanzia del servizio escrow del forum, elemento che potrebbe incentivare l’acquisto da parte di attori ransomware-as-a-service. Degno di nota anche il fatto che, negli ultimi giorni, lo stesso utente ha messo in vendita ben otto accessi analoghi riferiti ad aziende di diversi Paesi, tra cui Stati Uniti e Australia

Questa ennesima vendita di accessi a infrastrutture italiane evidenzia come il mercato dell’inizial access sia ormai una componente chiave dell’ecosistema cyber criminale. Monitorare queste attività, intervenire rapidamente su eventuali segnali di compromissione e rafforzare le difese proattive rimane essenziale per proteggere il tessuto economico nazionale.

L'articolo Preludio al ransomware: In vendita gli accessi a un’azienda italiana del settore retail di gioielli e orologi proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Negli ultimi due anni ho lavorato principalmente con large language models, occupandomi di training, fine-tuning, prompting e così via, poiché era molto richiesto dal mercato e dagli utenti. Ma credo che gli LLM che lavorano principalmente con il testo siano solo l’inizio della GenAI. A un certo punto, tutti vorranno un’AI fisica, in cui i modelli possano vedere, sentire, percepire e ragionare in modo più concreto e umano.

Quindi iniziamo con la multimodalità. In questo notebook introduco LLaVA, un’architettura in grado di interpretare sia immagini che testo per generare risposte multimodali.

In questo tutorial utilizzeremo componenti più leggeri, adatti a far girare il notebook in un ambiente gratuito come Google Colab.

I componenti che utilizzeremo sono:

1️⃣ CLIP-ViT B/32 come image encoder
2️⃣ TinyLlama-1.1B come language model
3️⃣ Un MLP adapter a 2 layer per collegare i due modelli

Dal paper Visual Instruction Tuning (NeurIPS 2023)

Setup

Prima di inziare a scrivere codice dobbiamo creare il nostro environment.

Installiamo e importiamo le librerie necessarie.

!pip install -U datasets

import json
from pathlib import Path

import requests
import safetensors
import torch
from datasets import load_dataset
from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download
from PIL import Image
from transformers import (
AutoConfig,
AutoTokenizer,
LlamaTokenizer,
LlavaConfig,
LlavaForConditionalGeneration,
LlavaProcessor,
Seq2SeqTrainer,
Seq2SeqTrainingArguments,
)
from transformers.models.clip.modeling_clip import CLIPVisionModel
from transformers.models.clip.image_processing_clip import CLIPImageProcessor

Download dei componenti pre-addestrati

Il nostro modello LLaVA sarà composto da :

• Un encoder pre-addestrato CLIP openai/clip-vit-base-patch32

• Un decoder pre-addestrato Tiny LLaMA TinyLlama/TinyLlama-1.1B-Chat-v1.0
• Due layer MLP tra i due che usiamo per il mapping delle dimensioni

vision_backbone_name = "openai/clip-vit-base-patch32"
text_backbone_name = "TinyLlama/TinyLlama-1.1B-Chat-v1.0"

_ = hf_hub_download(
vision_backbone_name, filename="pytorch_model.bin", local_dir="/content"
)
_ = hf_hub_download(
text_backbone_name, filename="model.safetensors", local_dir="/content"
)

Modello

Instanziamo un nuovo modello LLaVA

vision_config = AutoConfig.from_pretrained(vision_backbone_name).vision_config
text_config = AutoConfig.from_pretrained(text_backbone_name)

llava_config = LlavaConfig(vision_config=vision_config, text_config=text_config)

model = LlavaForConditionalGeneration(llava_config).cuda()

model

E’ ora di fare qualche modifica interna al nostro modello

In precedenza abbiamo detto che è possibile costruire un modello LLaVA partendo da un image encoder pre-addestrato e un LLM pre-addestrato. Facciamolo davvero!

Il modello originale di LLaVA è inizializzato a partire da un CLIP-ViT L/14 e un Vicuna v1.5 7B. Per rendere il tutto più gestibile con le risorse offerte dal piano gratuito di Google Colab, utilizzeremo invece un CLIP-ViT B/16 e un TinyLlama 1.1B.

L’unico componente che addestreremo sarà un MLP adapter a 2 layer che collega i due modelli.

def load_weights(path_to_weights: str):
if path_to_weights.endswith(".safetensors"):
return load_safetensors_weights(path_to_weights)
elif path_to_weights.endswith(".bin"):
return load_bin_weights(path_to_weights)
else:
raise ValueError(f"Unsupported weights file: {path_to_weights}")

def load_bin_weights(path_to_weights: str):
return torch.load(path_to_weights, weights_only=True)

def load_safetensors_weights(path_to_weights: str):
return safetensors.torch.load_file(path_to_weights)

vision_backbone_state_dict = load_weights("/content/pytorch_model.bin")
text_backbone_state_dict = load_weights("/content/model.safetensors")

Iniettiamo i pesi del vision backbone nel modello 💉

incompatible_keys = model.vision_tower.load_state_dict(
vision_backbone_state_dict, strict=False
)

assert len(incompatible_keys.missing_keys) == 0, (
f"Missing keys in state dict: {incompatible_keys.missing_keys}"
)

incompatible_keys.unexpected_keys

Iniettiamo i pesi del text backbone nel modello 💉

incompatible_keys = model.language_model.load_state_dict(
text_backbone_state_dict, strict=True
)

Congeliamo i componenti pre-addestrati ❄️

_ = model.vision_tower.requires_grad_(False)
_ = model.language_model.requires_grad_(False)

def count_parameters(model, trainable_only=False):
return sum(
p.numel()
for p in model.parameters()
if not trainable_only or p.requires_grad
)

print(f"Total parameters: {count_parameters(model)}")
print(f"Trainable parameters: {count_parameters(model, trainable_only=True)}")

Processor

tokenizer = LlamaTokenizer.from_pretrained(
text_backbone_name, additional_special_tokens=["", ""]
)
tokenizer.pad_token_id = 32001

Qui sotto è mostrato il formato che useremo per interagire con il nostro modello LLaVA.

La prima parte è il cosiddetto system prompt, che contiene linee guida generali su come il modello dovrebbe rispondere all’utente.

La seconda parte è un Jinja template (fondamentalmente codice) che determina come viene resa la conversazione a partire da un input strutturato (vedi esempio sotto).

LLAVA_CHAT_TEMPLATE = (
"A chat between a curious user and an artificial intelligence assistant. The assistant gives helpful, detailed, and polite answers to the user's questions. "
"{% for message in messages %}{% if message['role'] == 'user' %}USER: {% else %}ASSISTANT: {% endif %}{% for item in message['content'] %}{% if item['type'] == 'text' %}{{ item['text'] }}{% elif item['type'] == 'image' %}{% endif %}{% endfor %}{% if message['role'] == 'user' %} {% else %}{{eos_token}}{% endif %}{% endfor %}"
)
tokenizer.chat_template = LLAVA_CHAT_TEMPLATE

sample_messages = [
{
"content": [
{
"index": 0,
"text": None,
"type": "image"
},
{
"index": None,
"text": "\nWhat potential activities might be popular at this location?",
"type": "text"
}
],
"role": "user"
},
{
"content": [
{
"index": None,
"text": (
"At this location, with a sandy path leading to the ocean where multiple boats, including "
"sailboats, are moored, popular activities might include boating, sailing, swimming, and "
"beachcombing. Additionally, the sandy path and shoreline provide an ideal setting for leisurely "
"strolls and picnics, while the ocean view offers a serene environment for relaxation and "
"photography. Depending on the specific area and available facilities, other water sports such as "
"kayaking, paddleboarding, and snorkeling could also be prevalent."
),
"type": "text"
}
],
"role": "assistant"
}
]

tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
sample_messages, tokenize=False, add_generation_prompt=False
)

processor = LlavaProcessor(
image_processor=CLIPImageProcessor.from_pretrained(vision_backbone_name),
tokenizer=tokenizer,
patch_size=model.config.vision_config.patch_size,
)
processor.chat_template = LLAVA_CHAT_TEMPLATE

model.resize_token_embeddings(len(tokenizer), pad_to_multiple_of=8)

Dataset

train_dataset = load_dataset(
"HuggingFaceH4/llava-instruct-mix-vsft", split="train", streaming=True
)

Come sono fatti in nostri dati di training?

next(iter(train_dataset))

Come creiamo un batch di esempio?

def get_data_collator(processor, ignore_index):
def collate_examples(examples):
# Extract texts and images from the raw examples
texts =
[] images =
[] for example in examples:
messages = example["messages"]
text = processor.tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
messages, tokenize=False, add_generation_prompt=False
)
texts.append(text)
images.append(example["images"][0])

# Process the inputs (tokenize text and transform images)
batch = processor(texts, images, return_tensors="pt", padding=True)

# Create labels
labels = batch["input_ids"].clone()
if processor.tokenizer.pad_token_id is not None:
labels[labels == processor.tokenizer.pad_token_id] = ignore_index
batch["labels"] = labels

return batch

return collate_examples

# NOTE: this does a bit more than a collate function should...

Training

args = Seq2SeqTrainingArguments(
output_dir="/content/training_output",
per_device_train_batch_size=2,
gradient_accumulation_steps=4,
learning_rate=2e-4,
max_steps=350,
lr_scheduler_type="cosine_with_min_lr",
lr_scheduler_kwargs={"min_lr": 2e-5},
warmup_ratio=0.05,
logging_strategy="steps",
logging_steps=5,
fp16=True,
remove_unused_columns=False, # Important!
optim="adamw_torch",
report_to="none",
save_strategy="no", # let's not save the checkpoint to disk, otherwise it'll take 5 mins
)

trainer = Seq2SeqTrainer(
model=model,
args=args,
data_collator=get_data_collator(
processor, ignore_index=model.config.ignore_index,
),
train_dataset=train_dataset,
)

trainer.train()

Inferenza

È importante notare che, per garantire che l’inferenza funzioni come previsto, bisognerebbe utilizzare modelli più pesanti e addestrare per un periodo di tempo più lungo.

Useremo questa immagine per l’inferenza:

conversation = [
{
"content": [
{
"type": "image"
},
{
"text": "\nWhat is represented in the image?",
"type": "text"
}
],
"role": "user"
}
]

image_url = "https://llava-vl.github.io/static/images/monalisa.jpg"

inputs_for_generation = processor(
images=Image.open(requests.get(image_url, stream=True).raw),
text=processor.apply_chat_template(conversation, add_generation_prompt=True),
return_tensors="pt",
)

inputs_for_generation = inputs_for_generation.to(device=model.device)
output = trainer.model.generate(
**inputs_for_generation, max_new_tokens=200, do_sample=False
)

print(processor.decode(output[0], skip_special_tokens=True))

Miglioramenti possibili

• Utilizza un image encoder più grande (es. CLIP-ViT Large) e un LLM più potente (es. Llama 3.1 8B)
• Allena il modello più a lungo. Serve tempo affinché il modello impari a seguire le istruzioni in presenza di image features
• Segui la procedura di addestramento multi-stadio adottata dal LLaVA originale:
  
  • Stage 1: Pre-training for Feature Alignment → addestra il modello su dati di istruzioni a singola interazione, dove viene chiesto di descrivere brevemente l’immagine. Image encoder e LLM sono congelati ❄️
  • Stage 2: Fine-tuning End-to-End → addestra il modello su dati di istruzioni multi-turno. Solo l’image encoder rimane congelato ❄️

  
  

🔗 Demo funzionante: huggingface.co/spaces/badayvedat/LLaVA

Conclusioni

Penso che questo piccolo progetto sia interessante per capire meglio come funzionano i modelli multimodali come LLaVA. Anche se abbiamo utilizzato modelli più piccoli, l’idea principale rimane la stessa: combinare visione e linguaggio in un unico sistema capace di comprendere le immagini e parlarne.

Ovviamente, i risultati ottenuti in questo toy example non sono particolarmente buoni, c’è molto margine di miglioramento. Ma far funzionare LLaVA in un ambiente con risorse limitate è già di per sé una bella sfida.

L'articolo Implementazione di Modelli Multimodali con LLaVA proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Even if you don’t cast or forge metal yourself, you’re probably aware that you need to get the material very, very hot to make that happen. While some smiths might still stoke coal fires, that’s a minority taste these days; most, like [mikeandmertle] use gas burners to generate the heat. Tired of expensive burners or finicky DIY options [mikeandmertle] built their own Better Burner out of easily-available parts.

Everything you need to make this burner comes from the hardware store: threaded iron pipes of various sizes, hoses and adapters– except for one key piece: a 3D printer nozzle. The nozzle is used here as the all-important gas jet that introduces flammable gas into the burner’s mixing chamber. A demo video below shows it running with a 0.3mm nozzle, which looks like it is putting out some serious heat, but [mikeandmertle] found that could go out if the breather was opened too wide (allowing too much air in the mixture). Eventually he settled on a 0.4mm nozzle, at least for the LPG that is common down under. If one was to try this with propane, their mileage would differ.

That’s the great thing about using printer nozzles, though: with a tapped M6 hole on the cap of the gas pipe serving as intake, one can quickly and easily swap jets without worrying about re-boring. Printer nozzles are machined to reasonable accuracy and you can get a variety pack with all available sizes (including ones so small you’re probably better off using resin) very cheaply.

These sorts of use-what-you-have-on-hand hacks seem to be [mikeandmertle]’s specialty– we’ve seen their PVC thumb nut and their very simple mostly-wooden wood lathe here before.

youtube.com/embed/SpwoR4yHE8U?…

hackaday.com/2025/06/18/gas-bu…

Due gravi vulnerabilità di sicurezza sono state individuate nei dispositivi NetScaler ADC e NetScaler Gateway (precedentemente noti come Citrix ADC e Gateway). Queste falle possono permettere a un attaccante di accedere a dati sensibili e compromettere l’infrastruttura di rete aziendale.

Il Cloud Software Group, sviluppatore di queste soluzioni, ha diffuso un avviso urgente invitando tutti i clienti ad aggiornare immediatamente i dispositivi interessati. Le vulnerabilità, catalogate come CVE-2025-5349 e CVE-2025-5777, hanno ricevuto punteggi CVSS di 8,7 e 9,3, indicando un livello di rischio critico.

Le vulnerabilità sono state scoperte tramite divulgazione responsabile da parte dei ricercatori di sicurezza di Positive Technologies e ITA MOD CERT (CERTDIFESA), che hanno collaborato con Cloud Software Group per proteggere i clienti prima della divulgazione al pubblico.

Cloud Software Group raccomanda vivamente ai clienti interessati di installare immediatamente le versioni aggiornate. L’azienda ha rilasciato versioni patchate, tra cui NetScaler ADC e Gateway 14.1-43.56, la versione 13.1-58.32 e i relativi aggiornamenti conformi allo standard FIPS.

Le falle di sicurezza interessano numerose versioni dei prodotti NetScaler attualmente in uso presso organizzazioni in tutto il mondo. Tra i sistemi vulnerabili figurano le versioni 14.1 (precedente alla 14.1-43.56) di NetScaler ADC e Gateway, la versione 13.1 (precedente alla 13.1-58.32) e diverse versioni conformi allo standard FIPS.

Particolarmente preoccupante è il fatto che le versioni 12.1 e 13.0 di NetScaler, ora designate come End of Life (EOL), rimangano vulnerabili e non siano disponibili patch di sicurezza. Anche le organizzazioni che utilizzano Secure Private Access in distribuzioni on-premise o ibride con istanze NetScaler sono a rischio e devono aggiornare immediatamente i propri sistemi.

Dopo il processo di aggiornamento, gli amministratori devono eseguire comandi specifici per terminare tutte le sessioni ICA e PCoIP attive su tutte le appliance NetScaler in coppie o cluster ad alta disponibilità. Ciò garantisce una protezione completa contro potenziali tentativi di exploit.

Le organizzazioni che utilizzano l’infrastruttura NetScaler dovrebbero dare priorità a questi aggiornamenti, data la natura critica di queste vulnerabilità e il loro potenziale di consentire l’accesso non autorizzato a dati aziendali sensibili e risorse di rete.

L'articolo Allarme NetScaler ADC e Gateway: Due bug gravi mettono a rischio le aziende in tutto il mondo proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

It’s the 87th day that Rümeysa Öztürk is facing deportation by the United States government for writing an op-ed it didn’t like, and journalists covering protests are still facing aggression from law enforcement. Read on to learn how you can help.

Five ways to help journalists covering protests

Like other protests, recent immigration raid protests in Los Angeles and elsewhere have proven to be dangerous places for journalists. Reporters and protestors are especially vulnerable to attacks by the police. In response, we’ve put together five ideas for how anyone who cares about press freedom and doesn’t want to see the authorities abuse the First Amendment can help.

From providing financial support to reporters and news outlets to filming attacks when it’s safe to filing public records requests, there are many things people can do to stand up for journalists and freedom of the press in this moment. With your help, journalists can and will continue to report the truth. Read more here.

And a shoutout to the California journalists and press freedom groups taking the Los Angeles Police Department to court over its abuses.

Remembering Daniel Ellsberg

Monday marked the second anniversary of the passing of legendary whistleblower, anti-war hero, and FPF co-founder Daniel Ellsberg. His courageous decision to leak the Pentagon Papers to the press in 1971 led to the most important Supreme Court case for press freedom in the century.

Read the moving tribute that our executive director, Trevor Timm, wrote for the Guardian after Ellsberg’s passing. You can also check out The Classifieds to see the work that Harper, our Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy, has been doing.

And if you’re considering following in Ellsberg’s footsteps, here’s a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” about how the public can safely share information with the press and use available tools to do so, featuring FPF’s Chief Information Security Officer and Director of Digital Security Harlo Holmes and SecureDrop Staff Engineer Kevin O’Gorman.

Agencies hijack the ‘public interest’ to attack free speech

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr has turned the investigatory power of the agency against the press, while the Department of Justice is pursuing investigations into nonprofits connected to left-leaning causes.

One hook both are using to intrude on First Amendment activity is requirements that broadcast licensees and nonprofits operate in the “public interest” or for the “public benefit,” which the Trump administration interprets to mean kowtowing to its political agenda. To learn more, we spoke to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and nonprofit lawyer Ezra Reese. Read more and watch the conversation here.

Preparing devices for travel through a US border

Our digital security team at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), in collaboration with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, put together a detailed checklist to help journalists prepare for transit through a U.S. port of entry while preserving the confidentiality of their most sensitive information, such as unpublished reporting materials or source contact information. Read it here. FPF and its partners are also conducting two in-person training programs for journalists and freelancers who cover migration and events on the U.S. border with Mexico.

Public records shouldn’t be blocked by copyright

FPF joined an amicus brief led by Americans for Prosperity in a case that raises the increasingly common issue of whether the Copyright Act allows government agencies to withhold public records. In short, it doesn’t. Read the brief here.

Pushing back on secrecy through public records

Join us on June 24 at 1 p.m. ET for an online conversation about using public records to push back on government secrecy, featuring Nate Jones, Freedom of Information Act Director at The Washington Post, Michael Morisy, CEO of MuckRock, investigative journalist and author Miranda Spivack and FPF’s Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy, Lauren Harper. Register here.

What we’re reading

Arrested in Georgia protest, immigrant journalist now in ICE custody (WRDW). There is absolutely no reason to deport a longtime journalist who is authorized to work in the United States. The Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office should not have released Mario Guevara to ICE.

Australian deported from US says he was ‘targeted’ due to writing on pro-Palestine student protests (The Guardian). The administration is using every tool at its disposal to retaliate against journalists and others who expose facts it wants kept secret or hold opinions it doesn’t like.

Trump to again extend TikTok’s reprieve from U.S. ban (The New York Times). Isn’t it weird how all the national security hawks have gone silent about the imminent, serious threat to the U.S. that TikTok supposedly poses? It’s almost like it was BS the whole time.

Mayor Adams says he’s banning Daily News reporter from pressers for ‘calling out’ questions (New York Daily News). What can we say about Eric Adams that a grand jury hasn’t already said? Not much, but here’s something: He’s a thin-skinned bully who apparently can’t handle unexpected questions from the press without throwing a tantrum.

Israeli strike on Iranian state TV fills studio with dust and debris during live broadcast (Associated Press). News outlets, even propagandist ones, are not legitimate military targets. Bombing a studio during a live broadcast will not impede Iran’s nuclear program. It’s not the work of the world’s “most moral army” and is not something the U.S. should support.

In a Sacramento federal courtroom, immigration hearings evoked the Dark Ages (Sacramento Bee). “At a time when there is great public interest in ICE and the Trump Administration’s plan for mass deportations, keeping the public and the press at bay will only stoke mistrust and is in no one’s best interest.”

Court dismisses father’s lawsuit against Burlington newspaper over lack of basketball coverage (VTDigger). The worst part is that this random Vermont basketball dad’s nonsense lawsuit objectively isn’t any more frivolous than legal theories advanced by our president.

freedom.press/issues/how-to-he…

The immigration raid protests that began on June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles and spread to other cities across the U.S. have shown, once again, that protests are one of the most dangerous places for journalists in America.

As of today, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has documented more than 20 press freedom incidents involving journalists covering protests in California, most of them instigated by law enforcement, and is investigating numerous others in California and other states.

Demonstrations have lessened recently, but they’re likely to resume as the Trump administration continues to push unpopular immigration raids in Democratic cities. Journalists — as well as protesters — remain vulnerable.

When the police detain, assault, and attack journalists covering protests, it can prevent them from reporting the news and the public from learning about newsworthy events. That’s why we all must condemn police attacks on the press and take action to stop them in the future.

If you don’t want to see the authorities abuse journalists and the First Amendment during protests, here are five things you can do to help.

1. Support local journalism.

Many of the journalists covering recent protests have been freelancers or reporters for smaller, local outlets. They could undoubtedly use your financial support. In recent years, many local news sources have struggled or even shuttered completely because they simply can’t make enough money to support themselves.

Your monetary support is what keeps the lights on and pays for the journalists who report from protests. Consider buying a subscription to news outlets that are sending journalists to cover protests in your community, or subscribing or donating to freelance journalists.

In Los Angeles, journalists for the small news outlets L.A. Taco and The Southlander have faced press freedom aggressions while covering recent protests, as have freelancers like Joey Scott. Journalists at commercial broadcasters like KTLA, KVEA, and KNBC, and larger outlets like the Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, CNN, and the New York Post have also experienced press freedom incidents.

If you can’t support local outlets monetarily, you can also contribute to them through letters to the editor and op-eds making clear that you value their work and want them to be able to report safely. Even social media posts and reposts help.

2. Support injured journalists and journalists’ legal defense funds.

In addition to providing financial support to news outlets, individual journalists injured by law enforcement could use your help, as could the legal defense services that assist them.

For example, independent photojournalist Nick Stern suffered a severe injury at the recent LA protests. Stern is recovering from emergency surgery after being shot in the leg with a crowd-control munition. His friends started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover his medical bills.

In addition, The Intercept, in partnership with CalMatters and the National Press Photographers Association, has launched a rapid response fund to provide financial help for emergency medical support, among other costs, for journalists covering protests in LA.

Other journalists will need legal help to respond to unjustified arrests. The Intercept’s rapid response fund can be applied to legal expenses, as can the Society of Professional Journalists’ Legal Defense Fund. Both groups accept donations.

Another organization you may want to support is the Los Angeles Press Club, which, with help from another group worthy of your donations, the First Amendment Coalition, is suing local law enforcement for violating journalists’ First Amendment rights.

3. Film or record attacks and arrests of journalists, if it’s safe to do so.

Of course, financial support isn’t the only way you can help. If you witness law enforcement arresting or attacking journalists covering a protest and it is safe for you to do so, you should consider recording the incident.

Creating a record of journalists’ arrests and assaults can help hold police accountable. Publishing videos or photographs deters misconduct by bringing negative attention to police. Recordings, pictures, and witness statements can also be useful in future lawsuits. So, if possible, you should give copies of your recordings and contact information directly to the journalist or their news outlets.

Even if you see others recording, your recording may capture a useful angle that rebuts false narratives. For example, in this video an officer adamantly accuses ABC’s Matt Guttman of having provoked an altercation by “touching” him, but this video shows that it was the officer who pushed Guttman, who, at most, reflexively grabbed the officer’s arm to steady himself after being assaulted.

The public has a First Amendment right to record police in the performance of their official duties in public, including at protests. Of course, the existence of that right doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe to exercise it. Police have been known to attack or arrest people who film them or take their pictures, and other laws may allow police to require non-journalists to disperse or move back. You should assess your personal risk and the laws in your jurisdiction before deciding to take pictures or videos of police arresting or attacking journalists.

4. Submit requests for public records and bodycam footage.

Even if you can’t document police action against journalists at protests while they’re underway, you may be able to unearth valuable documentation after the fact using public records requests.

If your state classifies bodycam footage as a public record, requests for police body-worn camera footage from protests could be particularly useful. (Even if your state does not consider bodycam footage a public record, you may be able to request it under a specific provision in state law governing such footage.) In the past, bodycam footage has shown police targeting journalists at demonstrations or ignoring reporter’s statements that they are press.

You don’t have to be a journalist to submit a records request. Organizations like MuckRock have easy-to-follow tools and guidance for submitting and tracking requests, and examples of requests from others that you can crib from.

5. Call on lawmakers to end qualified immunity.

Finally, one of the reasons that police feel emboldened to violate First Amendment rights of both protesters and journalists is because they know they can get away with it. A legal doctrine known as qualified immunity often protects police and other government officials from civil claims that they’ve violated a person’s constitutional rights. Police have invoked qualified immunity in cases brought by journalists alleging violations of their First Amendment rights, sometimes successfully and sometimes not.

After the police murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, many called for an end to qualified immunity. Unfortunately, that reform effort has largely stalled.

Today, a few states ban or limit the ability of the police to invoke qualified immunity. Congress has introduced, but not passed, a bill to end qualified immunity. If you don’t want police to be able to attack protesters and journalists with impunity, contact your state and federal representatives and tell them to end qualified immunity.

What all five of these ideas have in common is that they call on you to exercise your First Amendment rights to protect journalists who are using theirs. Whether you’re supporting journalists’ work, documenting abuses, or contacting your representatives, your voice matters. With your help, journalists can and will continue to report the truth.

freedom.press/issues/journalis…

Filomena Gallo, Segretaria nazionale dell’Associazione Luca Coscioni partecipa assieme a Marco Perduca, responsabile delle attività internazionali dell’Associazione Luca Coscioni, e all’avvocata Angela Scaglione, attivista dell’Associazione, al dibattito Diritti scomodi: le leggi sul Fine vita e sulla Cannabis in Toscana, organizzato dal Partito Democratico della Toscana in collaborazione con i Giovani Democratici di Firenze.

L’appuntamento è per lunedì 23 giugno 2025, alle ore 18:30 presso il SMS di Rifredi in via Vittorio Emanuele II 303 a Firenze.

Sono previsti anche gli interventi di Iacopo Melio, consigliere regionale della Toscana, Enzo Brogi, responsabile Diritti Toscana PD e Andrea Raglianti, attivista dei Giovani Democratici di Firenze. Modera la giornalista de La Nazione, Sarah Esposito. Sono previsti, inoltre, i saluti iniziali dell’onorevole Marco Furfaro

L'articolo Filomena Gallo, Marco Perduca e Angela Scaglione partecipano al dibattito “Diritti scomodi: le leggi sul Fine vita e sulla Cannabis in Toscana” proviene da Associazione Luca Coscioni.

La Cellula Coscioni di Catania, in collaborazione con l’Unione degli Atei e Agnostici Razionalisti, Rivolta Pagina, il Centro antiviolenza Galatea, Sham Officine e le federazioni locali del Partito Democratico, Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, Rifondazione Comunista e Potere al Popolo! promuovono il lancio della campagna Aborto senza ricovero.

L’appuntamento è per mercoledì 25 giugno 2025 alle ore 18:30 presso il Cinema King, in via Antonio De Curtis 14 a Catania.

Interverranno Walter Venti, ginecologo consultoriale, e Giorgia Landolfo, scrittrice e giornalista. Contestualmente avverrà la proiezione del film Mai raramente a volte sempre di Eliza Hittman. L’ingresso è di 5 euro.

L'articolo Lancio della campagna “Aborto senza ricovero” e proiezione del film “Mai raramente a volte sempre” proviene da Associazione Luca Coscioni.

The European Pirates have appointed Mattias ” Mab” Bjärnemalm as the first Secretary General for the organisation. Mattias Bjärnemalm, a senior member of the first Pirate Party in Sweden, has until recently been working as a Policy Advisor and Pirate Network Officer for the Pirate Delegation in the European Parliament. He was instrumental in negotiating the agreement between the Pirates and the Greens/EFA Group that lays out the details of the collaboration between the two political families. Previously, he worked as Head of Office for two Pirate Members of Parliament. He is the founder of the Young Pirates in Sweden, and was involved in the founding of both the European Pirate Party and the Young Pirates of Europe.

– We are very lucky to have appointed Mab for this role. His organisational skills and his long experience within the movement will be central to building up the office of the European Pirates and defining the role of the Secretary General, says Florian Roussel, Chairperson of the European Pirates.

The position of Secretary General was created this year to develop the office of the European Pirates into a thriving and inclusive volunteer-led organisation, and to respond to the results of the 2024 European elections.

– I am thrilled for this chance to build something new in the pirate movement! We are still a young political movement, with a lot of potential. It will be exciting to see how we best utilise all that potential, together with the board and all our activists. says Mattias Bjärnemalm.

The Secretary General will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the office of the European Pirates. The position is appointed annually, and reports directly to the board.

For more information please contact Mab:
by email: secretary.general@european-pirateparty.eu
phone: +46704385046
The post Mattias Bjärnemalm new Secretary General for the European Pirates first appeared on European Pirate Party.

La povertà aumenta, in Italia, in Europa.
Ovunque.
Togliere la dignità alle persone sembra l'idea di molti Governi.

noblogo.org/transit/povero-fut…

Transit

2025-06-18 12:27:41

Povero futuro.

(169)

Nota: questo sarà un post noioso, ma, a volte, le aride cifre fotografano nitidamente le situazioni, anche quelle molto grandi, anche quelle che dentro hanno milioni di persone. D’altro canto sono certo che chiunque vorrà leggere queste righe sa comprendere benissimo numeri e percentuali. Altrimenti sarebbe un guaio.

Nel corso del 2024, l’Italia ha registrato un aggravamento significativo sia della #povertà assoluta sia di quella relativa, alla luce di dati ufficiali e referti della società civile. Secondo l’ultimo rapporto ISTAT e della “Caritas”, la quota di persone in condizione di povertà assoluta ha raggiunto il 9,7 %, pari a circa 5,6–5,7 milioni di individui, corrispondente a circa 2,2 milioni di famiglie. Lo stesso rapporto segnala come la povertà assoluta, benché stabile tra il 2022 e il 2023, risulti al livello più elevato dell’ultimo decennio, con una progressione costante dal 2014 (dal 6,9 % al 9,7 %) per quanto riguarda le persone.

Sul versante della povertà relativa, si evidenzia un ulteriore peggioramento: nel 2023 le famiglie colpite dal fenomeno superavano i 2,8 milioni (10,6 %) e le persone in difficoltà ammontavano a 8,4 milioni (14,5 %). Parallelamente, l’Eurostat stima che nel 2024 il 23,1 % degli italiani – circa 13,5 milioni – viva in condizioni di rischio di povertà o esclusione sociale, con aumenti particolarmente allarmanti per quanto riguarda i minori e le persone over 60.

A questi numeri drammatici si accompagna la crescita del fenomeno dei “Working poor”: in Italia il 21 % dei lavoratori percepisce un reddito insufficiente per condurre una vita dignitosa, con una situazione che colpisce in modo particolarmente intenso le classi operaie (tra le quali la povertà assoluta ha superato il 16,5 %) e i 35-54enni, oltre il 30 % dei quali non riesce a evitare uno stato di indigenza.

Tale contesto si dispiega in un quadro di politiche pubbliche inadeguate: le misure statali di contrasto alla povertà — dal “reddito di inclusione” alla spesa sociale — risultano insufficienti e, in molti casi, inefficaci. Nonostante il “Reddito di cittadinanza” abbia avuto un impatto importante, ben il 56 % delle persone povere non lo ha percepito, per cause che vanno dai problemi di residenza alla burocrazia. Le politiche di welfare restano lacunose e non affrontano adeguatamente la questione del “lavoro povero”, né investono in una rete di protezione robusta per le famiglie vulnerabili.

Questa fragilità sociale si inserisce in un contesto europeo che appare sempre più orientato verso la militarizzazione. Il “ReArm Europe – Readiness 2030”, lanciato a marzo 2025 dalla Commissione UE, punta a mobilitare fino a 800 miliardi di euro in spese per la difesa, tra aumenti delle spese nazionali, fondi comuni e prestiti SAFE da 150 miliardi, con la possibilità di dirottare risorse dai fondi di coesione e sostenibilità. Secondo le ultime stime, per colmare il gap militare si dovrebbe arrivare a investire fino al 5 % del PIL, una cifra che in Francia, Regno Unito e in molti altri Paesi corrisponde all’intero ammontare delle loro politiche di welfare e di protezione sociale. Analisti economici sottolineano che una simile quantità di risorse sarà sottratta a capitoli cruciali per combattere la povertà, rafforzare l’istruzione, la sanità e l’inclusione sociale, aumentando di conseguenza le disuguaglianze e l’emarginazione delle fasce più deboli.

La convergenza tra crisi del reddito, insufficienza delle politiche sociali e spinta europea verso spese militari aggressive aggrava la condizione dei più deboli. Se non si rivedono le priorità — affiancando politiche attive per il lavoro, la dignità universale del reddito e un welfare veramente inclusivo — il rischio è quello di lasciare milioni di cittadini italiani ed europei in una situazione di esclusione sempre più profonda.

Ma, forse, è proprio questo lo scopo ultimo di tutta questa sequela di mancanze, di tutti i soldi che non andranno ad aiutare le persone, soprattutto quelle povere, emarginate, fastidiose: la loro eliminazione. Se non fisica (almeno lo spero), almeno dalla vita pubblica, dalla società. Relegare coloro che non possono più permettersi la dignità sarebbe un ottimo viatico alla dittatura totale del liberismo, dell’effimero, del domani concesso solo a chi i soldi li ha e non viene disturbato da Governi sempre più distanti da una minima idea di democrazia.Se il futuro deve ancora essere scritto, non può diventare così. Non dovrebbe permetterlo nessuno, mai.

#Blog #Italia #ReArmEurope #UE #Società #Povertà #Society #Poverty #Opinioni #Opinions

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Il blog di Alessandra Corubolo & Daniele Mattioli. On line -in varie forme- dal 2005.

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