Leftovers

• Gabriel Simmer ☛ Ran out of infrastructure titles

  Hell, where do I even start? My last "full" infrastructure update post was at the end of 2023, and we're now a third of the way through 2025. In that time, I've been doing a lot of tinkering and refining of my personal infrastructure, to the point I've very much lost track of what's changed besides the commits to my infra repository and posts to this very blog.

• CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] Race to login first for Canada's permanent residency pilot 'like the hunger games'

• Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Casanova: Womanizer, con man and poet

• Science

  • Chris ☛ The Surprising Richness of Correlations

    Traditional wisdom around experimentation says that you should only change one thing at a time, and keep everything else as constant as possible. Fisher, arguably one of the greatest experimentalists of all time, claimed the opposite.

  • Fabian Beuke ☛ Calabi–Yau Manifold: Six-Dimensional Ricci-Flat Spaces with Covariantly Constant Structures

    Calabi-Yau manifolds are special multidimensional geometric shapes that play a key role in both advanced mathematics and theoretical physics. In essence, a Calabi–Yau manifold is a space with no intrinsic curvature and a high degree of symmetry, despite its complex shape. Mathematically, these manifolds were first studied in the context of complex differential geometry, and later they gained fame for providing a possible blueprint for the “hidden” extra dimensions in string theory. They are named after mathematicians Eugenio Calabi and Shing-Tung Yau – Calabi proposed their defining properties in the 1950s, and Yau proved a crucial theorem about their existence in the 1970s. Today, Calabi–Yau spaces are known for their unique geometric features, their Ricci-flat nature (meaning they have no overall curvature), and their special holonomy (a kind of symmetry in how they twist), all of which make them essential in efforts to unify gravity with the other fundamental forces of nature.

  • Digital Camera World ☛ Jaw-dropping photo of Milky Way celebrates Hubble Telescope's 35th birthday in style

    Hubble has taken photos of NGC 346 before - a young star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud. But the new image includes new data and is the first to combine Hubble observations made at infrared, optical, and ultraviolet wavelengths into an intricately detailed view of this "vibrant star-forming factory" that lies some 200,000 light-years away.

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-30 [Older] A U.S. brain drain could be Canada's brain gain

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] 'Most unusual' questionnaire sent to Canadian researchers receiving U.S. federal grants

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Space junk damaging satellites: How do we remove it?

• Career/Education

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] N.L. schools ordered to destroy new books containing 'inaccurate information' on Indigenous people

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] 'He certainly is not forgotten': Board wants good to come out of school tragedy

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Why India's top tech universities can't shake off caste bias

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • RFERL ☛ Second Child Dies Of Measles In Texas As Illness Hits 23 US States

  • France24 ☛ Second Texas child dies of measles as almost 650 reported infected

    A measles outbreak has killed a second child in the southwestern United States, authorities said Sunday, with almost 650 people now infected as the highly contagious disease spreads.

  • US News And World Report ☛ Aid Cuts Could Leave More Women Dying in Pregnancy and Birth, UN Says

    Globally, there was a 40% decline in maternal deaths between 2000 and 2023, a report by UN agencies including the World Health Organization (WHO) showed on Monday, largely due to better access to essential health services.

    That could now go into reverse, the WHO said in a statement accompanying the report which did not mention specific cuts but came in the wake of a foreign aid freeze by the U.S. government and the ending of funding through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for many programmes.

  • Kōdō Simone ☛ What If We Made Advertising Illegal?

    But why? It makes perfect sense. The financial incentives to create addictive digital content would instantly disappear, and so would the mechanisms that allow both commercial and political actors to create personalized, reality-distorting bubbles: [...]

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-03-31 [Older] Can US agriculture withstand a trade war with China?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] German policeman held over gourmet food scam in Mafia raid

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] Desperate for eggs, the U.S. looks to Europe. Why haven't they asked Canada to shell out?

  • CBC ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Many patients of gynecologist linked to infection exposure were new Canadians, unaware of complaint process

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] US, Canada long managed Great Lakes together; that era could be ending

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Adolescence and mental health: Are smartphone bans enough?

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] Who's protecting the 'beautiful, happy children' growing up online in influencer videos?

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] Quebec cancer patient's fight to save home shows how costly a diagnosis can be

• Proprietary

  • India Times ☛ US firm sacks 700 employees, 200 laid off on 'ethical grounds'

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Trump's tariffs could make Apple's iPhone more expensive

    Apple makes most of its iPhones in China, though in recent years the Cupertino-based company has made more of its products in India, Vietnam and other nations. In all, the tech giant says it relies on more than 50 countries and regions to put AirPods, iPads and MacBooks in the hands of consumers.

    Now, that global supply chain is under siege.

  • Michał Sapka ☛ Gmail E2E is as terrible as expected

    The way Big G did it, is in the most annoying way. The sender encrypts the message with her own key, an email with link is sent to receiver and if he wants to read it, he needs to open something they call "minimal gmail". Yes, you've got that right. To read an email sent from Gmail, one needs to use Gmail, even he never had any Google account.

    I'm not going into how much this is not E2E, as this has already been proven. But what I annoyed me the most is how Google assumes that only Gmail is worthy to read email from Gmail.

  • Cory Dransfeldt ☛ All of Apple's services are abysmal

    Here you are with an expensive device — a premium device if the cost is the qualifying factor — and an increasing number of services that chip away at your wallet and are never more than mediocre and never reliable. Every new Apple service is an opportunity to grow service revenue. Every new service is an opportunity to gate functionality behind a subscription and every step taken to fight interoperability is an opportunity to keep users tethered.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • Futurism ☛ AI Startup Deletes Entire Website After Researcher Finds Something Disgusting There

      A South Korean website called GenNomis went offline this week after a researcher made a particularly alarming discovery: tens of thousands of AI-generated pornographic images created by its software, Nudify. The photos were found in an unsecured database, and included explicit images bearing the likeness of celebrities, politicians, random women, and children.

    • Thoughtworks Inc ☛ The machines are rising — but developers still hold the keys

      The decision we make as an industry could have significant long-term consequences. Increasing complacency around AI-generated code and a shift to what’s been termed ‘vibe coding’ — a programming ‘style’ in which code is generated through natural language prompts until the results seem to work — will lead to code that’s more error-strewn, more expensive to run and harder to change in the future. And, if the devaluation of software development skills continues, we may even find we lack a workforce with the skills and knowledge to fix things down the line.

      This means software developers are going to become more important than ever to how the world builds and maintains software. Yes, there are many ways their practices will evolve thanks to AI coding assistance, but in a world of proliferating machine-generated code, developer judgment and experience will be vital.

  • Social Control Media

    • Chris O'Donnnell ☛ The Walk-On Roles in your Life

      But now, you are connected with the walk-ons on multiple social networks, and the algorithm tosses them into your view once in a while. Is that a good thing?

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • India Times ☛ Studio Ghibli AI art trend: A privacy nightmare in disguise, experts warn

      While netizens are hooked on the viral trend of transforming personal photos into Studio Ghibli-style art using AI tools, experts warn that the trend conceals a darker reality where casual sharing can lead to unforeseen privacy breaches and data misuse.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Guardian UK ☛ Josephine Baker: the superstar turned spy who fought the Nazis and for civil rights

    By 1939, when she was recruited by Jacques Abtey, an initially sceptical French intelligence agent who would become her handler and on-off lover, Baker was Europe’s highest paid entertainer and one of its best-known female celebrities.

    Abtey taught her the tricks of the spy trade, such as using invisible ink, but it was Baker’s far-reaching fame – which meant everyone, everywhere wanted to meet her – and easy charm (which ensured they also talked freely) that were her real espionage assets.

    From early 1941, Baker, under the aegis of the French secret services, travelled from Marrakech, where she was based, to Lisbon, Madrid, Seville and Barcelona, and round north Africa, giving concerts, attending receptions – and gathering and passing top secret information to allied agents.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Greater Scandal of Signalgate

    The spectacle of incompetence and the attempts to smear a reporter are a misery; even worse is the encroaching threat of autocracy that cannot be concealed or encrypted.

  • Protect Democracy ☛ How We're Responding to the Authoritarian Threat

    Global freedom is threatened not just by rising autocracies, but also by major democracies faltering from within. This graph shows the relative change in quality of democracy in key countries since 2014.

  • NL Times ☛ Leader of anti-islam group burns Quran in Amsterdam protest, sparking counter-protests

    Prior to setting the Quran alight, Wagensveld declared that his right to protest was being restricted, saying he wanted to "wake up the Netherlands" rather than seek connection with others. His provocative demonstration, which took place around 6 p.m., attracted a significant police presence to maintain order.

  • SBS ☛ Unlikely rural Aussie town to host major mosque as Muslim community grows

    Four decades later, Arabic has become the second most spoken language in Young after English, and it's said that out of every 10 locals, one is Muslim.

  • Times Media Limited ☛ Revealed: Russia’s secret war in UK waters

    The discovery by the British military was deemed a potential threat to national security and has never been made public. Several were found after they washed ashore, while others are understood to have been located by the Royal Navy.

    The devices are believed to have been planted by Moscow to try and gather intelligence on Britain’s four Vanguard submarines, which carry nuclear missiles.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Germany: Far-right AfD rises in the polls

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Hungary announces plans to leave ICC as Netanyahu visits

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Icon of postwar art: Joseph Beuys' unclear views on the Nazi regime

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Gaza: Palestinians bear the brunt of Israel's clampdown

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] What's behind Nigeria's increase in jailbreaks?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-04 [Older] UK police charge comic actor Russell Brand with rape

  • CBC ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Ottawa terror propagandist 'Dark Foreigner' found guilty on all counts of terrorism-related charges

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] China holds large-scale military drills around Taiwan

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Eritrea's conflicts also being fought out in Germany

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Greece announces 'drastic' defense overhaul

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] India, Pakistan armies exchange fire after incursion attempt

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Pakistan: Militants make March deadliest month in a decade

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-04 [Older] What's next for South Korea after Yoon's removal?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Europe prepares 'countermeasures' to Cheeto Mussolini tariffs

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Body of fourth US soldier found in Lithuania

    • France24 ☛ Latest updates on Russian missile strike killed 18 in Kryvyi Rih

      Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of firing ballistic missiles to target residential neighbourhoods in the central city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday. The attacks claimed the lives of 18 people and injured dozens more. France24 correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports the latest from Kryvyi Rih.

    • France24 ☛ Russia launches missile attack on Ukraine capitial

      The city of Kyiv was under missile attack early Sunday, the mayor of the city said, leaving at least three people injured and igniting several blazes. The air strike comes two days after a Russian aerial assault killed 18 people in President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown.

    • RFERL ☛ US Expresses ‘Solidarity’ With Kyiv, Macron Urges Pressure On Moscow After Attacks

      The US ambassador to Kyiv joined other world leaders in “solidarity” with Ukraine following multiple Russian attacks on Ukraine, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Washington for what he called a “weak response” to Moscow’s deadly campaign on his country’s cities.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Fires Dozens Of Drones, Missiles At Ukraine, Hits State TV Broadcaster

      Russia hit the Ukrainian capital with a ballistic missile and dropped a powerful "glide" bomb on a city east of Kharkiv, inflicting few casualties but further undermining efforts to cement a cease-fire between Moscow and Kyiv.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Strikes Kyiv as Ukraine Mourns Deadly Attack on Zelensky’s Hometown

      While Russian missile and drone bombardments have been unrelenting over more than three years of war, they have intensified in recent weeks amid U.S.-led peace talks.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • SANS ☛ New SSH Username Report

    One very simple way to find "interesting" things is to look at what is new. To allow you to explore yourself, I added an "SSH/Telnet Username Summary". The report lists all usernames we observed in the last 30 days, and if we saw them at least five times. These numbers may, of course, change. There is also a simple JSON formatted report you may download to play with: https://isc.sans.edu/sshallusernames.json

    So let's take a quick look at "what's new": [...]

• Environment

  • Scientific American ☛ Big Banks Quietly Prepare for Catastrophic Climate Change

    Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and an international banking group have quietly concluded that climate change will likely exceed the Paris Agreement’s 2 degree C goal and are examining how to maintain profits

  • Futurism ☛ This May Be the Most Terrifying Sign of Global Warming Yet

    Insurance giants have blamed high-risk home locations and over-regulation in order to exploit climate tragedies for taxpayer bailouts and deregulation. Climate protestors and consumer watchdogs, meanwhile, have gone after insurance companies for continuing to underwrite fossil fuel giants, even as they cry foul at the unstable market caused by climate change.

    All told, it's a crystal-clear example of the contradiction between business goals and climate action. As billionaires loot local water supplies and tech monopolies dump mountains of e-waste into the ground, it's no wonder financial institutions are taking the hint and turning their backs on climate promises.

  • NL Times ☛ Extinction Rebellion blocks A12 again in The Hague, frustrating drivers

    XR's ongoing demonstrations are driven by opposition to fossil fuel subsidies, which the group claims incentivize companies to continue using fossil fuels. The activists argue that these subsidies contribute to rapid climate change, and they are demanding action to address the issue.

  • YLE ☛ Finland uses up annual share of natural resources

    People in Finland have consumed their share of the Earth's natural resources by Sunday, 6 April, according to WWF, the World Wildlife Fund.

  • European Grandparents for Climate ☛ Earth Overshoot Day 2025 Buttons to use - European Grandparents for Climate

    The expected Country Overshoot Days 2025 have been calculated and published in December 2024. A country’s overshoot day marks the date when Earth Overshoot Day would fall if all of humanity consumed at the same level as the people in that country.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Germany's asparagus season shrinking

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Howard Oakley ☛ All aboard: a century of painting railways 1

      The nineteenth century brought huge changes in technology and society. Some, like telegraphy, telephones and radio, haven’t featured in many paintings, and even the bicycle has largely escaped the canvas. But the advent of railways, and later motor cars, had greater impact on visual art. In this weekend’s two articles, I trace the first century of railways in paintings from the early 1840s.

    • Howard Oakley ☛ All aboard: a century of painting railways 2

      Although Norway was a greater challenge for the railway engineers, Frits Thaulow seized the opportunity to show the results in The Train is Arriving from 1881. The country’s first public steam-hauled railway was developed by the son of George Stephenson, whose Rocket locomotive had inaugurated the first steam railway in the world. Norway’s line opened in 1854, and during the 1870s progressively made its way to Trondheim.

    • Luke Harris ☛ Cheapest fix first

      Anyway, I’m writing about this because it’s frustrating on multiple levels. I’m frustrated with myself for being wrong, and I’m even more frustrated that I was so sure of my own understanding that I prevented both myself and the expert I hired from starting with the cheapest fix first, which ended up costing me a frustrating amount of money that I didn’t need to spend right now. Sure, the filler neck might have been rusting and it’s possible any one of those EVAP system parts in the back were close to having issues after 110k miles, but it wasn’t an issue right now.

    • SBS ☛ Labor to offer discounts for home batteries in solar energy pledge

      On Sunday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will formally announce that, if elected, the government will spend $2.3 billion to roll out the Cheaper Home Batteries Program.

    • The Register UK ☛ US DoE wants devs to fast-track domestic AI datacenters

      Ironically, Trump's new reciprocal tariffs could disrupt efforts to expand AI infrastructure, potentially undermining the administration's objectives. Analysts have reportedly warned that tech giants that have committed to significant AI investments may face challenges as the tariffs target major equipment suppliers from countries such as China, Taiwan, and South Korea. The steep duties, including a 10 percent baseline tariff on all imports, will increase the cost of essential electronics like smartphones, PCs, and datacenter equipment – a category accounting for nearly $486 billion in imports last year.

    • CBC ☛ 2025-03-30 [Older] What's at stake as Canada's industrial carbon pricing rules face political headwinds

    • CBC ☛ 2025-03-30 [Older] More than 400,000 customers without power in Ontario as ice storm moves through province

    • CBC ☛ 2025-03-30 [Older] Freezing rain warnings extended in Ottawa, hundreds without power as storm rolls through

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Stellantis Temporarily Halts Production at 2 Plants in Canada, Mexico as Auto Tariffs Take Effect

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Why is Southeast Asia turning to nuclear power?

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Nuclear waste returns to Germany amid protests

    • CBC ☛ 2025-03-29 [Older] Tesla protests held in Canada as part of 'global day of action' against Elon Musk

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Malaysia: More than 100 hurt in major gas pipeline fire

    • CBC ☛ 2025-03-27 [Older] Fear and uncertainty for Ontario autoworkers after Cheeto Mussolini announces 25% tariff

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-03-29 [Older] No Sign Cheeto Mussolini Will Honor US Auto Tariff Protections Won by Canada, Mexico in 2018

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • CBC ☛ 2025-03-29 [Older] Spike in French bulldog surrenders raises alarm among animal advocates

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Slovakia calls for culling hundreds of bears

• Finance

  • The Verge ☛ DOGE plans now reportedly include an IRS ‘hackathon’

    One of the sources Wired spoke with said that “schematizing” and understanding the IRS data DOGE is after “would take years” and that “these people have no experience, not only in government, but in the IRS or with taxes or anything else.”

  • Unmitigated Risk ☛ Strategic Product End-of-Life Decisions

    By moving beyond simplistic spreadsheet analysis to a multidimensional approach, organizations can make EOL decisions that enhance rather than damage customer relationships, technical architecture, and market position.

    Remember Shaw’s warning about the illusion of communication. Your EOL tables may give the appearance of strategic planning, but without considering all dimensions, they’re merely operational checklists that risk overlooking critical strategic value. The true measure of EOL success isn’t operational execution but customer retention and long-term business impact.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] EU hones in on Central Asia in race for raw materials

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Sahel juntas drive new era in mineral extraction

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] David Eby walks back key portion of proposed B.C. tariff response legislation following backlash

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Canadian Prime Minister Says Canada Will Match US Auto Tariffs

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Wouldn’t It Be Better, Cheaper Just to Rent Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and Panama?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-04 [Older] Vintage fashion hype: Gen Z on a treasure hunt

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] I'm 74, still working and can't afford new teeth. Dental care is my election issue

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-04 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini tariffs: China levies 34% duties on US goods

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] EU and UK fine carmakers millions over recycling cartel

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] EU prepares 'strong plan' to hit back at Cheeto Mussolini tariffs

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] The Latest: Cheeto Mussolini Effect: Fewer Americans Now See Canada as a Close US Ally

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] What can the EU do against Cheeto Mussolini's trade war?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] NATO members seek assurances at summit amid US tariffs

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Tariff troubles overshadow US olive branch at NATO

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini trade tariffs put Asian economies in a bind

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-29 [Older] N.B. mayor says U.S. counterparts shared tariff concerns at D.C. meeting

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-29 [Older] Canada's anti-tariff billboards in the U.S. go viral — but is anyone swayed?

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Mike Brock ☛ The Hollow Cross

    What makes this tragedy so profound is that it represents more than mere hypocrisy. Hypocrisy—the gap between stated values and actual behavior—has existed in religious contexts since the beginning. What the religious right accomplished was something far more destructive: the instrumentalization of faith itself.

    True faith, in its authentic form, cannot be instrumental by definition. It represents commitment to principles and truths that are valued as ends in themselves, not as means to worldly power or material gain. The moment faith becomes primarily a tool to achieve political objectives, accumulate wealth, or secure social status, it ceases to be faith in any meaningful sense.

    This instrumentalization creates a devastating paradox: a movement claiming to defend the sacred actively desacralizes it through the very act of wielding it as a weapon. The religious right didn't just misapply faith—it fundamentally inverted it, transforming what should be an ultimate end into a mere means.

  • Pivot to AI ☛ How Scam Altman got fired from OpenAI in 2023: not being an AI doom crank (and lying a lot)

    Scam Altman was fired from OpenAI in 2023 by the nonprofit board. After considerable internal turmoil and external pressure from his venture capitalist mates and from Microsoft, he was reinstated.

    Keach Hagey from the Wall Street Journal has written a book, “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future,” which is being published in May. The Wall Street Journal has printed an excerpt about Altman being fired.

  • Hisham ☛ Why I no longer say "conservative" when I mean "cautious"

    In recent years, I have observed a phenomenon, which, thanks to my own age, I am pretty certain that has not been the case since forever. All the time, I see people, from the left, from the right, and everything in between, using the word “conservative” with the meaning of “careful, cautious, well-measured”, especially in non-political contexts. And, by extension, “liberal” adopts the opposite meaning of “not careful, lavish, unmeasured”.

    When I pointed this to people, they were quick to disagree, but then I gave them an example: if you’re baking a cake and the recipe says “apply cinnamon liberally on top”, what does that mean? If I told you I was making a soup and say “the recipe didn’t specify how much pepper to put, so I went conservative about it”, what does that mean?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Is Zimbabwe's political crisis likely to escalate?

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] Liberals drop Calgary candidate over failure to disclose 2005 stayed domestic assault charge

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Marine Le Pen verdict leaves supporters and critics uneasy

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Le Pen conviction politically motivated, party chief claims

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Germany could withdraw citizenship due to 'antisemitism'

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] Germany interior minister defends record on migration

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-04 [Older] No end to Serbia's political crisis in sight

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-04 [Older] Sexist chants shouted at female referee prompt investigation

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-30 [Older] Eid celebrations begin at new St. John's mosque that was once a Catholic church

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-01 [Older] April Fool's Day: Why the press is now avoiding pranks

    • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] A fresh wave of fake CBC ads are looking to fool Canadians

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Fact check: Real or fake — can you tell the difference?

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Trump's National Park Service Edits Website About Underground Railroad

    The Washington Post first reported the changes, noting that the government replaced a large portrait of Tubman as well as a quote at the top of the page where Tubman described herself as “the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years.” In place of Tubman’s portrait is a collage of five U.S. Postal Service stamps that depict Black and white abolitionist figures, including Tubman, who were involved in helping to bring escaped enslaved people to the north.

  • ANF News ☛ Female writer severely tortured by Iranian security forces

    According to the Voice of Detainees in Eastern Kurdistan and Iran website, Mehregan Namavar, a 38-year-old activist, writer and literary critic from Dehdasht, was tortured by Iranian security forces.

  • YLE ☛ Indian activist living in Finland arrested in Poland

    Edamaruku is accused of blasphemy in India and has been living in self-imposed exile in Finland since 2012.

    He told STT in 2020 that his life would be in danger if he returned to India. His organisation's statement also references the violence and killings faced by rationalists like Edamaruku.

  • New Yorker ☛ At the Smithsonian, Donald Trump Takes Aim at History

    As is true of autocracies everywhere, this Administration demands a mystical view of an imagined past. In late March, Trump issued an executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Its diagnosis is that there has long been among professors and curators “a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” It continues: [...]

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • The Hindu ☛ Journalist alleges police bias after house ‘set on fire’ in M.P.’s Sidhi; Congress targets BJP govt.

    A local journalist’s house in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district was allegedly set on fire, triggering a sharp attack on the BJP government by the Congress on Sunday (April 6, 2025) over freedom of speech and safety of media persons.

  • MWL ☛ Direct Print Sales now shipping from US, UK, Australia, AND… Canada

    I just discovered that my direct print sales fulfillment printer, BookVault, now prints from Canada. I hit the button to enable that so fast, you’d think it was offering tiger tail delivery. The books will be printed in Winnipeg, and shipped within Canada via their postal system. I have not tested BV’s Canadian printer. I can’t; if I order a book here, they’ll print it in the US.

  • JURIST ☛ Reporters Without Borders urges Dominica to investigate police attacks on journalists

    Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the Caribbean Island of Dominica to investigate the police attacks on a journalist last month during the protests, which erupted in response to the passage of certain legislation. A police officer allegedly verbally abused EmoNews journalist Soana Benjamin and seized her equipment.

    RSF executives have demanded an investigation stating: [...]

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-03 [Older] K-pop show mired in child exploitation controversy

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Netflix series 'Adolescence': Teen masculinity in crisis

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Germany shuts down major child sexual abuse image platform

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Germany: Sinti and Roma children suffer discrimination

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Germany sees rise in sexual violence and youth offenses

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-02 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini's crackdown on diversity and inclusion

  • Kansas Reflector ☛ This Kansas town knows prisons. It doesn't want a for-profit company opening a 'hell hole' for ICE.

    Owned and managed by CoreCivic, formerly the Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private prison firm, the Leavenworth Detention Facility was a nightmare of humanitarian and civil rights abuses where both guards and inmates feared for their lives, according to court documents. Operated under a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, in 2017 the Office of Inspector General issued a 129-page audit that found chronic understaffing and mismanagement.

    Abuses continued even after the audit.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Joe Harris dead: Oldest WWII paratrooper paved way for Black soldiers

    Harris received full military honors and was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery.

    His funeral procession included a World War II Willys Jeep escort and a military aircraft flew over the Harris home in Compton, where he lived for more than 60 years.

  • SusamPal ☛ More Contrast, Please - Susam's Quick Notes

    So you have decided to go with a dark theme for your website. Great choice! I love dark themes too! My journey with computers began with monochrome CRT monitors, where white text was displayed on a dark background. I am still very fond of that colour scheme. Done well, dark themes can be elegant, modern, and easy on the eyes. But there's a common pitfall that I see all too often in modern web design: the overuse of low-contrast colour combinations. It's something worth keeping in mind as you craft your own design. However, one thing that bothers me in modern web design is the overuse of low-contrast colour schemes.

  • The Guardian UK ☛ ‘I was a British tourist trying to leave the US. Then I was detained, shackled and sent to an immigration detention centre’

    The deportation paper Becky signed bans her from the US for the next 10 years. Paul tells me they are going to try to appeal it, but Becky says America isn’t the country she thought it was. Her advice to anyone planning to travel to the US is simply not to go. “First, because of the danger of what could happen to you. And, secondly, do you really want to give your money to this country right now?”

    She has emerged from the experience with new eyes. “I was naive to think that what was going on in the world, or at the border, wouldn’t affect me,” she tells me, her arms folded across her chest. She had believed if she was honest and acted in good faith she would be insulated from harm, but now thinks that might have been naive, too. “If I’d lied, I’d be on holiday in Canada right now.”

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ "Hands Off" Open Thread

    Yesterday, hundreds of thousands — perhaps millions — of people came out to protest Trump’s assault on democracy, including a live protest in Paris and an all day live and Zoom one in Dublin.

  • France24 ☛ Thousands demonstrate against Trump and Musk in 'Hands Off!' rallies across the US

    People streamed onto the expanse of grass surrounding the Washington Monument under gloomy skies and light rain. Organizers told Reuters that more than 20,000 people were expected to attend a rally at the National Mall.

    The protests handed Trump's opponents an opportunity to demonstrate their displeasure en masse in response to Trump's raft of executive orders.

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Unions Need to Mount a Militant Response to Trump’s Assault

    Too many unions have responded to Donald Trump’s historic attacks on federal workers with little more than words. To beat back his anti-union assault, organized labor needs to break with decades of timidity.

  • JURIST ☛ Iran to carry out amputation sentences for robbery convictions amid unfair trial concerns

    The Iranian authorities are set to carry out finger amputation sentences against three prisoners as early as April 11, Amnesty International warned Friday. The rights group stated that amputation sentences, amounting to torture, and the denial of legal representation are violations of international law.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • El País ☛ Why Germans put up with snail-speed internet

    The problem goes a long way back. In 2018, the Greens commissioned a study from the German Parliament which revealed that in Germany, citizens surf mobile networks at speeds slower than those in Albania. However, the government at the time saw no reason to take action, and the Minister of Research, Anja Karliczek, went so far as to say that not all households needed 5G mobile telephone coverage. In February 2023, the government announced the Gigabit Strategy, which had a goal of getting modern fiber optic connections installed throughout the country, and the latest standards for mobile phones “everywhere that people live, work and travel.” A provisional goal was set to get 50% of homes and businesses hooked up to fiber optic by 2025. When it comes to mobile phones, officials are aiming to get uninterrupted data and voice communication throughout the country by 2026.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Copyrights

  • CBC ☛ 2025-03-28 [Older] South Asian music will get its due at Junos this weekend, reflecting rising popularity in Canada