Leftovers

• Pete Brown ☛ Maybe it’s okay that our places on the web are always only temporary.

  It sucks that the options are to host and support everything myself or to put my stuff on some platform or product owned by some company that only cares about making ever-increasing profit. There are plenty of smaller platforms and services that could fit the bill, but it’s never clear how sustainable any of those business models really all. Maybe they’re fine for now, but it seems like they are mostly the work of one or maybe two people, and those people will likely either get tired of it, not be able to do it anymore, or head down some problematic road.

• Bitdefender ☛ DOJ charges 12 more in $263 million [cryptocurrency] fraud takedown where money was hidden in squishmallow stuffed animals

  Having bombarded the victim with fake Google security alerts warning of unauthorised login attempts, Lam and Serrano are said to have made contact with the man via phone, impersonating Google support staff. According to investigators, they tricked the victim into sharing multi-factor authentication codes, enabling them to access his accounts and steal a fortune in cryptocurrency.

  Following the theft, Lam and Serrano are alleged to have laundered the stolen funds in a variety of ways, and used their riches to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

• Fernando Borretti ☛ Inboxes are Underrated

  Because archiving requires an explicit action, there’s no possibility of forgetting to handle a conversation.

  This is the utility of inbox zero: it has no false negatives! If the inbox is empty, I know that all of my correspondence has been handled. If the inbox is non-empty, I know there is work to do.

• Ruben Schade ☛ A List Apart’s tips for writing the Living Web

  I’ve never bought this. The correct way to write a blog, if you’ll forgive the tautology, is to write a blog. This may come down to how I define a blog, but as long as you have entries I can subscribe to, everything else is up to you. That’s the whole point of self-publishing, and what leads to the diversity that makes the Web healthy and wonderful.

  Anyway, enough of an intro, let’s get to an example.

• Lionel Dricot ☛ Reducing the digital clutter of chats

  Do not get me wrong: chats are useful! When you need an immediate interaction or a quick on-the-go message, chats are the best.

  I needed to keep being able to chat while keeping the digital clutter to a minimal and preserving my own sanity. That’s how I came up with the following rules.

• Science

  • Omicron Limited ☛ Binary star system with millisecond pulsar and a helium star companion discovered

    That common envelope, the team notes, explains why the two stars are so close together, approximately 50 times closer than Mercury is to the sun. That closeness means they have short orbital paths, resulting in them circling one another every 3.6 hours.

  • Daniel Lemire ☛ Models and science

    Richard Feynman captured this principle succinctly: “It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong.” Models, no matter how elegant, are mere human constructs, subordinate to the unyielding truth of reality. Science demands humility—the rejection of hubris, whether in the form of a towering edifice or a cherished theory, and an embrace of relentless questioning, empirical rigor, and the courage to discard flawed ideas when evidence dictates.

  • Chris K W ☛ That fractal that's been up on my wall for 12 years

    I spent a lot of time doodling in middle school in lieu of whatever it is middle schoolers are supposed to be doing. Somewhere between the Cool S’s and Penrose triangles I stumbled upon a neat way to fill up graph paper by repeatedly combining and copying squares. I suspected there was more to the doodle but wasn’t quite sure how to analyze it. Deciding to delegate to a future version of me that knows more math, I put it up on the wall behind my desk where it has followed me from high school to college to the present day.

  • [Old] Niklas Oberhuber ☛ How FM Radio Works

    Before we venture into sending audio over the air, let’s start with a simpler example. We’ll send a simple sine wave using FM.

    To frequency modulate (FM) a signal, start with the carrier signal - a sine wave with a constant frequency, called the carrier frequency. Then, as the name implies, FM encodes information about the amplitude of the signal we sent by **modulating **(shifting) the **frequency **of the carrier signal.

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] How lichens are bringing stone to life and reconnecting us with the natural world

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Do we see colour the same way? What scientists can learn from artists

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Batteries that absorb carbon emissions move a step closer to reality – new study

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Did humans evolve to prefer religion? Research shows many atheists intuitively favour faith

• Career/Education

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong university welcomes Harvard students as US halts foreign enrolment at oldest American university

    A university in Hong Kong has said it would welcome international students from Harvard and provide them with a shortcut to study in its programmes after the US government moved to halt foreign enrolment at the oldest American university.

  • Truthdig ☛ District Court Blocks Trump’s Department of Education Shutdown - Truthdig

    Joun added: “A department without enough employees to perform statutorily mandated functions is not a department at all. This court cannot be asked to cover its eyes while the Department’s employees are continuously fired and units are transferred out until the Department becomes a shell of itself.”

  • University of Michigan ☛ UMich introductory computer science courses face possible shift with CS open letter

    In an interview with The Daily, Mark Guzdial, EECS professor and director of the Program in Computing for the Arts and Sciences, said difficult computer science courses in high school may deter broader general interest in computer science.

    “A lot of (students) have actually had some high school computer science, and they were scared by it,” Guzdial said. “They found that they didn’t think they could succeed at programming because they found the classes too hard. So I think that there’s a danger. It’s a danger if the high school computer science classes are only about becoming a professional software developer; then there’s a danger that we’re just trying to create more computer science majors, as opposed to increasing computational literacy for everybody.”

  • Axios ☛ Code.org, AirBnb, Salesforce, Microsoft, LinkedIn lead AI education push

    "I think of it as a K-12 experience for students, where they're learning scaffolded knowledge about computer science throughout," said Cameron Wilson, president of Code.org, which led the effort.

  • Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Seth Werkheiser

    This is the 91st edition of People and Blogs, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Seth Werkheiser and his blog, sethw.xyz

• Hardware

  • Lee Peterson ☛ Paper vs digital productivity

    The only danger for me relying on paper is out of sight out of mind. With my apps and widgets whenever I look at or use my phone it’s there. I also cannot have reminders popping up in front of me so relies on the commitment to check it often.

  • Chris Aldrich ☛ What are the “Rules of Typewriter Club”?

    I’ll kick things off with a frequent admonishment: [...]

  • Dr Drang ☛ The heat of the moment - All this

    Let me be clear (as clear as the Cube). I didn’t put my hand on the grille—it was at least 3–4 inches above it. But that was enough. And from that day forward, every time I passed that Cube, I put my hand above it and caused a crash.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Truthdig ☛ 2025-05-15 [Older] As Egg Prices Soar, Amazon and Top Investors Cash In

  • New York Times ☛ The FDA May Restrict Covid Vaccines. Who Will Be Able to Get Them?

    Though much remains uncertain, experts predicted many people will face new barriers to vaccination.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Indonesia on alert as Covid-19 surges across Asia

    Thailand, S'pore and Hong Kong recorded in the past few weeks massive upticks in Covid-19 transmissions.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ The FDA plans to limit access to covid vaccines. Here’s why that’s not all bad.

    This week, two new leaders at the US Food and Drug Administration announced plans to limit access to covid vaccines, arguing that there is not much evidence to support the value of annual shots in healthy people.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Forever Chemicals' Found in Popular US Beers, Above EPA Limits

    At least one PFAS was found in almost every can they tested. Most contained some level of PFOS. Three beers tested in this study – two from the upper Cape Fear River Basin in North Carolina, and one from Michigan – exceeded the EPA's maximum limit for PFOA concentration, and one beer from the lower Cape Fear River Basin exceeded PFOS limits.

  • Arduino ☛ This DIY bruxism detector prevents jaw clenching during sleep

    This device has three core functions: detecting clenching, notifying the user of detected clenching, and logging clenching data. The idea is that by becoming aware of clenching instances, the user can train themselves to stop while they’re awake. That will then translate to less clenching when they’re asleep. Even if that training doesn’t work, the device can wake the user when it detects clenching. And thanks to the data logging, users can identify patterns and triggers. For instance, the device might help a user learn that coffee increases their bruxism.

  • R J Faas ☛ Have your important documents ready for whoever will take care of you – sooner or later someone will need them

    All of this is to say: please don’t put someone you love through this. Have a power of attorney and other important documents. Have them before they’re needed. Have them in a place where your partner/spouse/child/sibling/whoever will care for you can easily find them. You may not be able to do this once someone is in a hospital or care facility.

  • Lee Peterson ☛ Knowing when it’s time to take a break from anything

    As you’ll know if you read regularly I’m going through a tough time right now and one thing I have figured out is when enough is enough. When you’re overwhelmed your base limit of tolerance is way above what it would normally be. Imagine your stress or tolerance is a line moving left to right. As more stuff gets added and more overwhelm creeps in the line goes up. There is another line above this, one that for me at least is one that makes you either shut down or lose patience. You’ll know when you hit it, it’s different for everyone. It’s the ceiling of what you can take before stress and overwhelm really kicks in.

  • Eric Walker ☛ A quick nap | Eric Walker

    So it probably isn’t for everyone but for me it did the trick and honestly got me though that semester and I skated by passing the exam thankfully and hopefully never going to have to take it again.

• Proprietary

  • The Gray Zone ☛ How Microsoft became a hub for Israeli intelligence

  • The Register UK ☛ Microsoft dumps AI into Notepad as 'Copilot all the things' mania takes hold in Redmond [Ed: It is about faking usage levels, which is fast declining, causing datacentres to shut down and investors to panic]

    Microsoft has continued to shovel AI into its built-in Windows inbox apps, and now it's rolling out a Notepad update that will use Copilot to write text for you.

    The updates come in the same week that Redmond released a snappy, lightweight command line editor that is the antithesis of what the venerable Notepad has become.

    Notepad's Write feature requires users to sign in with their Microsoft account, select where they want the new content to go (or make a selection for reference), and then choose Write from the Copilot menu to prompt the AI to generate text, which you can review and insert into Notepad if it fits your needs.

  • YLE ☛ S-Bank fined €7.7m for allowing customers to access others' accounts, illegally transfer funds

    As of September that year, police had detected more than 50 fraudulent payments and an estimated 150 data breaches. At the time, S-Bank promised to compensate customers for their immediate financial losses.

    Customers' logins were used by fraudsters to access accounts with the social insurance institution Kela and the state's umbrella login for public services and registrations, Suomi.fi.

  • Wired ☛ How the Signal Knockoff App TeleMessage Got Hacked in 20 Minutes

    The company behind the Signal clone used by at least one Trump administration official was breached earlier this month. The [cracker] says they got in thanks to a basic misconfiguration.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • New York Times ☛ The Man Who ‘A.G.I.-Pilled’ Google

      Demis Hassabis, the chief executive of Surveillance Giant Google DeepMind, says that “we’re quite close” to human-level artificial intelligence. After that, all bets are off.

    • Futurism ☛ Google's New Video-Generating AI May Be the End of Reality as We Know It

      Google DeepMind describes the new model, Veo 3, as capable of delivering "best in class quality, excelling in physics, realism and prompt adherence" — and as videos posted to social media indicate, that marketing doesn't fall too far short.

      The caliber of the video is indeed impressive. But the real quantum leap is that the system can produce audio that goes with the clip, ranging from sound effects to music to human speech and singing.

    • Futurism ☛ Readers Annoyed When Fantasy Novel Accidentally Leaves AI Prompt in Published Version, Showing Request to Copy Another Writer's Style

      But as eagle-eyed fans of the genre were irritated to discover, the author left glaringly obvious evidence of not only using an AI chatbot to write portions of the book — but also of a naked attempt to copy the style of a real fellow writer.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Why blue books are enjoying a resurgence in an AI world

      Bonnie Morris requires her history students at the University of California, Berkeley, to buy 25-cent blue books for her midterm exams.

      She wants to be able to see them write in person, often an anomaly on campuses, where typed assignments and assists from artificial intelligence are routine.

      The squat booklets, once a regular part of the college experience for Gen Xers and baby boomers, have become less used over time. But the years since the pandemic have seen renewed interest among some educators for scribbled answers between powder blue covers. The approach challenges students, thwarts cheating, and shows where skills need improving.

    • Cory Dransfeldt ☛ A clarified stance on blocking AI crawlers

      Anyways. Block some crawlers, I'd encourage it. Pick which ones, pick all of them, evaluate it against what you're trying to accomplish, but I'd encourage you to consider putting up your own small speed bumps as we're forcibly pushed ever faster towards the torment nexus.

    • 404 Media ☛ Authors Are Accidentally Leaving AI Prompts In their Novels

      This is not the first time an author has left behind evidence of AI-generation in a book, it’s not even the first one this year.

    • Kyle Kingsbury ☛ The Future of Customer Support is Lies, I Guess

      Update, 2025-05-22: TrueNAS was kind enough to reach out and let me know that their support process does not normally incorporate LLMs. They’re talking about what happened internally, and intend to prevent it from happening again through improved documentation and reviewing the support process as a whole. I’m happy to hear it!

      [...]

      The phrase “may be reaching its end-of-life phase” was immediately worrying: how does a TrueNAS support agent not know whether their own products are EOL? But what really shocked me was the blatant lie in the third paragraph: they told me that the new OS was based on Linux, then immediately turned around and said that the new system was based on FreeBSD. FreeBSD jails were TrueNAS’s old approach to virtualization; the new Community Edition uses Docker containers. I could not believe that a human being had actually skimmed this response, let alone written it. I was, I think, talking to a Large Language Model (LLM) wearing the face of a person.

  • Social Control Media

    • International Business Times ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] TikTok Launches Bedtime Pop-Ups to Curb Teen Doomscrolling as UK Cracks Down on Online Harm [Ed: So they admit the problem is real; the 'solution' is a mock one]

    • International Business Times ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Quick Facts On 'Invisible Phone' That Stunned TikTok With 50 Million Views: Nokia's Latest Gadget Or A Methaphone? [Ed: They measure importance of things based on what the Chinese government deems important]

    • Make Tech Easier ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Here’s How to Turn Your Photos Into Video with TikTok’s Newest Trick [Ed: Complete nonense. If you want video, then you make video. Stupid gimmicks.]

    • PC World ☛ Digg founder pitches Mozilla to save Pocket

      Pocket’s imminent demise has been bemoaned across the industry. Now, one entrepreneur has expressed interest in keeping it alive. Kevin Rose—who founded Digg.com, became a venture capitalist, and is now trying to bring Digg back—has petitioned Mozilla to let Digg take over Pocket.

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • The Register UK ☛ Ransomware scum leaked Nova Scotia Power customers' info

      In a Friday update, Nova Scotia Power confirmed that the attack involved ransomware, and said it did not pay a ransom to the extortionists. "This decision reflects our careful assessment of applicable sanctions laws and alignment with law enforcement guidance," according to the notice posted on the utility's website.

    • The Record ☛ DOJ charges man allegedly behind Qakbot malware

      The alleged leader of the cybercriminal gang behind the Qakbot malware, which was used by many high-profile ransomware gangs, has been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department.

      Russian national Rustam Gallyamov, 48, allegedly created the software in 2008, which until its disruption was believed to have infected more than 700,000 computers.

    • The Record ☛ Ransomware hackers charged, infrastructure dismantled in international law enforcement operation

      In addition to targeting the infrastructure of DanaBot, law enforcement agencies said they “neutralized” new versions of Bumblebee, Lactrodectus, Qakbot, Hijackloader, Trickbot and Warmcookie.

      “These variants are commonly offered as a service to other cybercriminals and are used to pave the way for large-scale ransomware attacks,” Europol said. “In addition, international arrest warrants were issued against 20 key actors believed to be providing or operating initial access services to ransomware operators.”

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ Can Germany withstand massive cyberattacks?

      The damage caused was rectified quickly, much to Carola Heilemann-Jeschke's relief. She is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in charge of IT security in Bremen. Cyberattacks like the one in February are the "new reality," she said in a podcast for the public-service media outlet Behörden Spiegel. "We are going to have to get used to the fact that we are dealing with these attacks on a daily basis."

    • Security Week ☛ Russian Qakbot Gang Leader Indicted in US

      Victims of the attacks included healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, marketing, music, real estate, technology, and telecommunications organizations in the US.

      Gallyamov and his co-conspirators allegedly sold access to Qakbot-infected machines to other cybercriminals, who deployed ransomware families such as Black Basta, Cactus, Conti, Doppelpaymer, Egregor, Name Locker, Prolock, and REvil.

    • Wired ☛ Feds Charge 16 Russians Allegedly Tied to Botnets Used in Ransomware, Cyberattacks, and Spying

      The US Department of Justice today announced criminal charges today against 16 individuals law enforcement authorities have linked to a malware operation known as DanaBot, which according to a complaint infected at least 300,000 machines around the world. The DOJ’s announcement of the charges describes the group as “Russia-based,” and names two of the suspects, Aleksandr Stepanov and Artem Aleksandrovich Kalinkin, as living in Novosibirsk, Russia. Five other suspects are named in the indictment, while another nine are identified only by their pseudonyms. In addition to those charges, the Justice Department says the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS)—a criminal investigation arm of the Department of Defense—carried out seizures of DanaBot infrastructure around the world, including in the US.

    • Tripwire ☛ 3AM Ransomware Attackers Pose as IT Support to Compromise Networks

      Attackers affiliated with the 3AM ransomware group have combined a variety of different techniques to trick targeted employees into helping them break into networks.

      It works like this.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Ruben Schade ☛ Australian telco fined for identity checks

      What I said in my post about email also applies to mobile numbers. We’ve bootstrapped so much of our online identities to these things, that such outcomes are inevitable.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Techdirt ☛ Kids Don’t Have IDs And Age-Estimation Tech Is Frequently Very Wrong

      The second issue is that some proposals allow for age-estimation technology, which uses biometric means (e.g., face scans) to estimate user age. Unfortunately, these methods are plagued with inaccuracies, often failing particularly badly where it matters most: along the margins of age and age categories. Authors of an ongoing National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) study evaluating existing age-estimation algorithms go so far as to say, “[W]e do not have any evidence (yet) that an age-verification classifier can outperform a regression-like estimator on the same task.” (Regression-like estimators estimate user age broadly, whereas classifiers attempt to pinpoint an exact age—a key distinction between the two.)

    • Privacy International ☛ Are AI Assistants built for us or to exploit us? and other questions for the AI industry

      The AI industry is rushing to build AI Assistants that integrate into our lives. These firms need to answer questions about how they will protect our data, including from them.

    • NYOB ☛ Meta AI: German Court did not grant interim injunction. Final decision will be taken in main procedure. German DPAs issued urgency procedure.

      Today, a German Region Court in Cologne had to decide on an interim injunction against Meta. The German Consumer Rights Organisation "Verbraucherzentrale NRW" has brought the case, arguing that Meta violates the GDPR when sucking up decades of user data without consent to train its AI.

    • Cyble Inc ☛ Cloudflare Fixes CVE-2025-4366 In Pingora OSS Framework

      Cloudflare has alerted users of a security vulnerability—tracked as CVE-2025-4366—in the widely used Pingora OSS framework. This vulnerability, a request smuggling flaw, was discovered by a security researcher while testing exploits against Cloudflare’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) free tier, which utilizes Pingora to serve cached assets.

    • R J Faas ☛ Apple’s hospital announcement is just an out of touch and elitist grab for attention

      Apple is hyping itself here but it isn’t the star. This all Epic, which already powers the majority of US hospitals and health systems. That Apple is doing this while staying silent as the US healthcare system is under attack is really disturbing.

      Nothing is stored on device in healthcare these days (HIPAA) so it’s nice if you have an iMac or iPad but it’s not fundamentally different from a PC or any other device.

    • [Old] Nick Heer ☛ An Age Range API Is Coming to iOS Later This Year – Pixel Envy

      Apple today announced a series of child safety enhancements in the form of a PDF document which, so far as I can tell, is not listed anywhere on its website. The company is developing a habit of sending PDF links directly to media outlets to circulate. Among the forthcoming features is an API to confirm a user’s age range.

    • 9to5Mac ☛ Tim Cook calls Texas governor over App Store age verification bill

      Per the report, Tim Cook personally called Texas Governor Greg Abbott last week asking him to either amend or veto the bill that, if it becomes law, will require Apple and Google to collect age data for every user who wants to download an app.

      According to the bill, if that user is a minor, the App Store (alongside Google’s Play Store) would be on the hook for notifying a parent, and getting approval before a download goes through. In essence, this could mean sweeping changes not just to how the App Store works, but also for every developer building on top of it.

    • YLE ☛ Communications agency warns of smart TV risks

      "Especially Android TVs from lesser-known manufacturers can have serious data security issues. There may be malware or flaws in update support," Roni Kokkola, a data security expert at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom's Cyber Security Centre, says in a Friday press release.

    • Kansas Reflector ☛ Kansas denies USDA request for personal data of residents receiving food assistance

      “Please be advised that we do not consent to your providing the USDA the requested information at this time,” Whiteside Hicks told FIS. “As you know, our obligation to maintain these records in confidence is paramount and may only be disclosed to the USDA for specific program-related reasons. At this time, we are unsure as to the reason for the USDA’s request. As such, we are unable to consent to your turning the information over.”

    • Common Dreams ☛ ACLU and ACLU of Louisiana Sound Alarm on New Orleans Police Department’s Secret Use of Real-Time Facial Recognition

      According to The Washington Post, since 2023 the city has relied on face recognition-enabled surveillance cameras through the “Project NOLA” private camera network. These cameras scan every face that passes by and send real-time alerts directly to officers’ phones when they detect a purported match to someone on a secretive, privately maintained watchlist.

    • European Commission ☛ Data altruism – Rulebook for organisations collecting personal data in the general interest

      This initiative will draw up a rulebook to provide additional information on the obligations set out in the Data Governance Act for organisations registered as ‘data altruism organisations recognised in the Union’. Such organisations aim to support data sharing in the general interest. It will include among other aspects: information requirements, technical and security requirements, communication roadmaps, and recommendations on interoperability standards.

  • Confidentiality

    • Ars Technica ☛ “Microsoft has simply given us no other option,” Signal says as it blocks Windows Recall

      Signal Messenger is warning the users of its Windows Desktop version that the privacy of their messages is under threat by Recall, the AI tool rolling out in Windows 11 that will screenshot, index, and store almost everything a user does every three seconds.

      Effective immediately, Signal for Windows will by default block the ability of Windows to screenshot the app. Signal users who want to disable the block—for instance to preserve a conversation for their records or make use of accessibility features for sight-impaired users—will have to change settings inside their desktop version to enable screenshots.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-22 [Older] Israeli embassies boost security after Washington shooting

  • NYPost ☛ North Korean leader Kim Jong Un furious over failed destroyer launch, vows to arrest those responsible

    North Korea says it will take about 10 days to repair the damage, but outside observers question that timeframe because damage to the ship appeared much worse than what North Korea claims.

  • FAIR ☛ ‘I’m Not Seeing the Horror Reflected in Corporate Media’: CounterSpin interview with Mara Kronenfeld on Israel's aid blockade

  • FAIR ☛ An ‘Objective’ Press Won’t Alert You to Threats to Democracy

    A FAIR post (5/22/25) on New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger’s selective defense of press freedom (New York Times, 5/13/25) referred to him as someone who “clings to the false god of journalistic neutrality at all costs.” Natasha Lennard’s piece in the Intercept (5/20/25) on media coverage of the Trump administration’s arrest of Rep. LaMonica McIver (D–N.J.) illustrates what we mean by this.

  • Defense One ☛ Space Force losing 14% of its civilian workers - Defense One

    Initiatives such as early retirement and voluntary-resignation programs have had an “outsized impact” on the youngest service, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said Tuesday during a Senate Armed Service committee hearing.

    Civilians comprise about 5,600, or more than one-third, of the service’s 17,000 people.

  • Futurism ☛ The Trump Administration Is Gutting the Space Force

    According to chief of space operations general Chance Saltzman, 14 percent, or roughly 780 civilians, are affected. That's considerably higher than the ten percent that officials had warned would be cut earlier this month.

    It's a troubling development that could directly undermine the Pentagon's mission to secure the United States' interests in space.

  • Mike Brock ☛ On the Republican Party's Constitutional Coup

    The timing reveals the intent with surgical precision. Even as we speak, federal judges across the country are weighing contempt proceedings against Trump administration officials who are flagrantly violating court orders. Judge James Boasberg has threatened contempt over flights illegally deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador. Judge Paula Xinis is considering contempt charges over the administration's refusal to facilitate the release of a wrongly deported American resident from a Salvadoran prison. In Boston, a federal judge has raised the possibility of contempt against officials who violated an order blocking deportations to countries other than deportees' nations of origin.

    The Republican response? Retroactively strip these judges of any power to enforce their orders.

  • Garry Kasparov ☛ How to Stop the Putinization of America

    The last thing you ever want to hear a Russian dissident say about your country's democracy is, “I told you so.”

    Well, I told you so.

    I get no satisfaction out of saying this. It's not a “gotcha.” Everybody in this room shares RDI’s goal of defending freedom and fighting authoritarianism here in America and around the world. But it would be irresponsible of me if I didn't tell you that what is happening now in this country gives me a sense of—pardon my French—déjà vu.

  • US News And World Report ☛ Sweden Lowers Terrorist Threat Assessment Back to Level Before 2023 Koran Burnings

    SAPO said that after a period during which Sweden was singled out as a specific target in militant propaganda, it was now increasingly being treated as a part of the West more generally.

    "Sweden has gone from being a priority target to a legitimate target for violent Islamism globally," SAPO head Charlotte von Essen told a news conference. "The threat of attacks from violent extremism, in the traditional sense, is not as high as before."

  • The Local SE ☛ Swedish security police lowers terror threat level from four to three

    "Propaganda against Sweden has subsided and Sweden is not specifically mentioned as a target," Fredrik Hallström, head of operations at the Swedish Security Service, told a press conference.

    "We do not see the same intense flow of attack threats directed at Sweden," he added.

  • [Repeat] The Strategist ☛ Regulating X isn’t censorship. It’s self-defence

    Vance, who has previously acknowledged crafting statements for media impact rather than accuracy, mischaracterised the letter. Breton hadn’t called for Musk’s arrest, as Vance claimed on the podcast, nor had he objected to Trump appearing on the platform.

    But Breton’s missive was, nonetheless, both provocative and profoundly unhelpful. It invoked X’s obligations under the European Union’s landmark new content law, the Digital Services Act (DSA), in the context of a planned livestream between Musk and Donald Trump—an episode that risked being read as an effort to tilt the scales of the US election.

  • International Policy Digest ☛ How Christian White Nationalists Captured the U.S. Military

    We are now in our twenty-second year of this battle. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been active for about twenty years, but my wife and I spent the first twenty-two months fighting this issue as individuals before we formalized the foundation more than two decades ago. This is a textbook example of an agency captured by Christian nationalism—the ideological jet fuel that ignites, sustains, and gives life to this bias.

    Christian nationalism seeks to replace democracy with a brutal form of far-right Christian theocracy—one in which even teenagers who speak out could be executed. The penalties for defying their doctrine are absolute. It is pulled directly from the pages of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Insight Hungary ☛ 26 MEPs call on European Commission to cut off funds to Hungary

      A group of 26 MEPs urged the European Commission to suspend all EU funding for Hungary due to the democratic backsliding under far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, 444 reports.

      In a letter addressed to Commissioners Piotr Serafin and Michael McGrath, MEPs from five political groups expressed concerns that Hungary is continuing to violate EU laws and values. They argue that, rather than addressing previous concerns, Orbán’s government has further regressed since the EU first withheld €18 billion in funds in 2022 over corruption and rule-of-law concerns.

    • CPJ ☛ 2025-05-22 [Older] Russian authorities raid Bars TV station, editor’s home over defamation case, seize equipment

    • CNN ☛ 2025-05-22 [Older] Russian authorities detain suspect over St. Petersburg cafe blast

    • HRW ☛ 2025-05-22 [Older] Ukraine: Escalating Russian Attacks on Civilians

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-22 [Older] No New Direct Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Are Scheduled, Kremlin Says

    • The Record ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Western intelligence agencies unite to expose Russian hacking campaign against logistics and tech firms

    • CISA ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Russian GRU Cyber Actors Targeting Western Logistics Entities and Tech Companies

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Finland Completes First 35 Km of Fence on Russian Border

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Kremlin Says Russia Will Defend Its Ships in the Baltic Sea With All Means Available

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Kremlin Suggests 'Golden Dome' Could Lead to Resumption of Russia-U.S. Arms Control Contacts

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Poland Intervenes as Russian 'Shadow Fleet' Ship Spotted Near Power Cable

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Russia Denies Stalling Peace Talks, Says No Decision Yet on Venue

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] UK and Allies Warn of Russian Cyber Activity Targeting Support to Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Ukrainian Military Says It Hit Russian Semiconductor Device Plant

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Vatican Silent on Russia-Ukraine Talks, Leaving Prospects Uncertain

    • Scheerpost ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini’s Far-Fetched Attempt To Divide Russia and China Is Clearly Failing

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] EU adopts new Russia sanctions amid Ukraine ceasefire push

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Factbox-What's in the EU's New Russia Sanctions

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Poland to Try Suspect in Alleged Russian Plot to Assassinate Zelenskiy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Russia Extends Pre-Trial Detention of Billionaire Moshkovich Till Aug 25, Lawyer Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Russia Opens Criminal Case Against Journalist Critical of Ukraine War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Russia's Lavrov Says Radical Groups Engaged in 'Ethnic Cleansing' in Syria

    • CBC ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Moscow ready to work toward 'peaceful settlement' with Ukraine, Putin says after Cheeto Mussolini call

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] China and Russia plan to build nuclear power station on moon

    • HRW ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Discriminatory Testing Blocks Migrant Children’s Right to Education in Russia

    • The Local DK ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Denmark in 'frank' talks with China over backing Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Israeli-Born, Russia-Raised Indy 500 Pole Winner Robert Shwartzman Calls for Peace Around the World

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Poland Seizes Tyres for Boeing Aircraft Headed for Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Finland to Use Proceeds From Frozen Russian Assets to Supply Ammunition to Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Russia Bans Amnesty International Limited as 'Undesirable' Organisation

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Russian Attacks Kill Elderly Man and Woman in Kherson, Ukraine Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Russian Ballet Maestro Yuri Grigorovich Dies Aged 98

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Russian Court Fines Apple for Violating 'LGBT Propaganda' Law

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Russia Outlaws Amnesty International in Latest Crackdown on Dissent and Activists

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini Hopes for Ceasefire Progress in Russia-Ukraine War in Monday Calls With Putin and Zelenskyy

    • CBC ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Zelenskyy calls for pressure on Russia during 1st face-to-face meeting with Carney

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] One Killed in Kyiv Region as Russia Steps up Attacks After Peace Talks, Ukraine Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Estonian PM Vows to Keep up Checks on Russia's 'Shadow Fleet'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Estonia Says Russia Detained a Tanker in Baltic Sea

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Zelenskyy Meets US, EU Leaders in Rome Ahead of Cheeto Mussolini-Putin Call

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Russia Plans to Launch Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, Kyiv Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Russia Says It Downed 25 Ukrainian Drones Over Two of Its Border Regions, One Woman Reported Killed

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Starmer Discusses Russian War Against Ukraine With US, Italy, France and Germany

    • CBC ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini says he plans to call Putin, push for ending 'bloodbath' in Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Ukraine criticizes Russia's 'sham' delegation to Istanbul

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Vatican Could Be a Venue for Russia-Ukraine Talks, Rubio Says, After Pope Renews an Offer to Help

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Analysis-Istanbul Peace Talks Laid Bare Chasm Between Ukraine and Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini to Speak to Russian, Ukrainian Leaders on Monday After Talks in Turkey

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Russia Demanded Ukraine Cede More Territory at Turkey Talks, Ukrainian Source Says

    • NL Times ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Dutch PM Schoof calls for more pressure on Russia to force Ukraine peace talks results

    • CBC ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Ukraine, Russia delegations meet, agree to exchange hundreds of POWs

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Europeans and Zelenskiy Agree Russian Stance Is 'Unacceptable', Starmer Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] New Head of Russian Land Forces Distinguished Himself in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Russia Says Ukraine Talks Yielded a Prisoner Swap Deal and an Agreement to Keep Talking

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Russia, Ukraine Agreed to Exchange 1,000 POWs From Each Side, Ukrainian Defence Minister Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-22 [Older] German Finance Minister Optimistic That G7 Can Agree Joint Communique on Ukraine Support

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Aide to Ukraine's ex-President Yanukovych shot dead in Spain

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Merz sees no signs that war in Ukraine will end soon

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] An Adviser to an Ex-Ukrainian President Is Killed Near an American School in Spain, Officials Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Analysis-Cheeto Mussolini-Putin Call on War in Ukraine Is Another Blow to Kyiv and Its Allies

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Hungary Says It Has Identified Two More Ukrainian Spies

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Ukraine: Cheeto Mussolini says ceasefire talks to start 'immediately'

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Ukraine updates: European leaders phone Cheeto Mussolini before Putin call

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Ukraine updates: Cheeto Mussolini holds phone call with Putin

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] The Latest: Cheeto Mussolini Speaks With Putin on the Phone in Hopes of Making Ceasefire Progress

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Explainer-What to Know About the Cheeto Mussolini-Putin Call on Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Pope Leo XIV and JD Vance Meet Ahead of US-Led Diplomatic Flurry to Reach Ceasefire in Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini to Speak to Putin on End to War in Ukraine as Europeans Demand Ceasefire

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Newly inaugurated Pope Leo talks Ukraine with Zelenskyy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Pope Leo to Meet Ukraine's Zelenskiy on Sunday, Vatican Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-18 [Older] Zelenskiy Meets U.S. Vice President Vance, Says Source in Ukrainian Delegation

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] In Albania, European leaders seek US solidarity for Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Ukraine updates: Cheeto Mussolini to call Putin, Zelenskyy next week

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Canada PM Carney Reaffirms Support for Ukraine in First Meeting With Zelenskiy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-17 [Older] Germany, Italy Say Europe's Leaders 'Far From' Talks on Troop Deployment in Ukraine

    • TruthOut ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] 3 Years Into War, Ukrainian Leftists Fight for Labor Rights Under Martial Law

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Ukraine: Zelenskyy-Putin talks should be 'next step' — Kyiv

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Says She Resigned Because of Cheeto Mussolini's Foreign Policy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Nationalist Polish Presidential Contender Talks Tough on Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] 'Non-Starter' Ukraine Talks Renew Call for US Sanctions Bill

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-05-16 [Older] Under Fire on Front Line, Ukrainian Soldiers Doubt Talks Will Bring Peace

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Futurism ☛ Nvidia Is Facing Nasty Allegations

    Another site, Videocardz.com, went on to report that the German website GamerStar Tech disclosed such an arrangement with Nvidia, detailing that the chip company allowed them to publish a preview of the 5060 but still "dictated" all the settings the reviewer used.

    We reached out to Nvidia to ask about these allegations, but a representative declined to comment.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Three dead in Australia after torrential rain ravages rural towns

    Officials warned that more downpours were expected over the next 24 hours.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Environmentalists' suit challenges Trump order to allow commercial fishing in Pacific monument

    The lawsuit noted that commercial longline fishing, an industrial method involving baited hooks from lines 60 miles or longer, will snag turtles, marine mammals or seabirds that are attracted to the bait or swim through the curtain of hooks.

  • The Local DK ☛ Fears for crops in Denmark as dry weather hits northern Europe

    Countries including Denmark, France, Belgium, Britain and Germany have all seen much lower levels of rainfall than usual in some areas this spring, leaving the soil parched and dusty.

    The unusually dry weather has already delayed the life cycle of crops that would normally have sprouted by now.

  • New Eastern Europe ☛ Russian war on the environment: the Danube delta, Romania and Ukraine

    The environmental impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can be seen in many areas. This is clear with regards to the country’s coastline, where damage is now being countered by dedicated efforts at conservation and rewilding.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong gov’t demands MTRC report on 5-hour service disruption to Legislative Council

      Hong Kong authorities have demanded that railway operator the MTR Corporation (MTRC) appear before the legislature on Monday to report on the five-hour service disruption during Thursday’s rush hour.

    • Futurism ☛ Man Alarmed to Find Ten Thousand Ton Cargo Ship Crashed Into the Garden Next to His House

      Johan Helberg is a retired museum director living out his days on the idyllic shores of Trondheim Fjord in Central Norway.

      That relaxation was interrupted early Thursday morning, when he awoke to discover the bow of a 9,990-ton cargo ship had rammed through his backyard garden.

    • Pivot to AI ☛ AI power and water use is through the roof, and 80–90% is per query

      But the bottom line is: each individual query you make to ChatGPT really does pump out more carbon.

      Another claim is that AI data centres don’t use lots of water. Which they very much do: [...]

    • Bloomberg ☛ How AI Demand Is Draining Local Water Supplies

      Each time you ask an AI chatbot to summarize a lengthy legal document or conjure up a cartoon squirrel wearing glasses, it sends a request to a data center and strains an increasingly scarce resource: water.

      The data centers that power artificial intelligence consume immense amounts of water to cool hot servers and, indirectly, from the electricity needed to run these facilities.

    • Heliomass ☛ Station Stories: Woolwich

      And so although I doubt anyone reading this is unfamiliar with the Elizabeth Line, we’ll do a quick recap before taking a look at Woolwich Station.

    • Framework Computer BV ☛ Framework | Framework Desktop Deep Dive: Power Supply

      We’re close to the finish line on Framework Desktop development. We’re now at the end of the DVT2 phase where we complete validation and finalize firmware and drivers. With that, we’re continuing our deep dive series, this time digging into the semi-custom 400W Power Supply we integrated into the product. This may sound mundane, but it’s one of the more complex parts of the product. To align to our product philosophy, we used a standard FlexATX form factor. That means both that you can bring your own compatible power supply or re-use the one we designed in the future with any other ATX-compatible system. If you’re bringing your own, make sure to pick one that can handle at least 32.5A on the 12V rail. Although the “peak” power demand of the AMD Ryzen AI Max processor is 140W, it can actually pull hundreds of watts in millisecond-level bursts. Because there is no battery in the Framework Desktop to absorb this, we sized up the Power Supply to handle it and maximize performance.

    • Wired ☛ Kentucky’s Bitcoin Boom Has Gone Bust

      “They'd constructed on someone else's land, or they would be paying a host company to provide the physical plant,” alleges Anna Whites, a lawyer who represented a roster of crypto mining clients. “So they'd pay the down payment or they would convince the landowner to pay the down payment, and then they would mine the first three months and then they'd go into the next billing set cycle, go almost to the end of it and then disappear.”

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Revelator ☛ Rangers in the Red

    • The Conversation ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] For long-tailed tits, it really does take a village

• Finance

  • France24 ☛ Hollywood on the brink: The end of an era for the movie capital of the world?

    Hollywood, a name synonymous with cinema, is seeing its stars fade. Much more than a mythical place, it’s a global industry that generates revenue in the billions making it one of the biggest contributors to California’s economy. Battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, strikes, and devastating wildfires, the film industry is struggling to catch its breath. The box office is plummeting, and studios are relocating for lower production costs — be it in the United States or abroad. Is Hollywood at the dawn of a revival or at the end of its reign? Valérie Defert and Pierrick Leurent explore the challenges facing the movie capital of the world.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ How to Understand Convicted Felon’s Latest Deportation Tactics

    This week saw a dramatic court showdown and a mysterious flight to Djibouti.

  • New York Times ☛ Inside Convicted Felon’s Crypto Dinner, and Kennedy’s Plan to ‘Make America Healthy Again’

    Plus, the end of the penny.

  • New Yorker ☛ How Experts Became the Enemy

    “R.F.K. Jr. got so much gas in his tank by doubting the authorities that now he is the authority,” the historian Daniel Immerwahr says. “And he's really ill-suited for that.”

  • Futurism ☛ Elon Musk Responds to News of How He Was Humiliated by Another Man

    Responding Wednesday to a tweet dissing the magazine, Musk wrote, under his newly re-adopted display name "Kekius Maximus" and accompanying AI-generated profile pic of himself as a Roman centurion: "They are the past, the legacy media fading into obscurity."

    Illustrating how definitely not-mad he was, Musk just kept posting through it.

  • Nicolas Magand ☛ On the Jony Ive and Sam Altman announcement

    This new merger between Jony Ive’s “io” and OpenAI intrigues me. Whatever the first product to emerge from this is, it already has my attention. We’ll have to wait for now, which is somewhat frustrating and leaves a void in the imagination.

  • Michael Tsai ☛ Tim Cook Opposes App Store Age Verification Bill

    I don’t really understand what’s going on here. iOS already added APIs for this, which seem like a good solution and much more private than handling this at the app level. Is the issue that the APIs somehow don’t satisfy Texas’s requirements? Or does Cook want to avoid any regulation at the marketplace level on principle?

  • Louie Mantia ☛ The Dystopian Dream Team

    Well, it’s finally here, the dystopian dream team. Jony Ive and Scam Altman hitched their carts together to create god knows what. While some people are “excited” or “intrigued,” I am frankly “disgusted.” In an intro video with special thanks to the Coppola family and Café Zoetrope for the location, and Harry Gregson-Williams for letting them borrow The Martian score, the two gush about the city of San Francisco, a city not devoid of problems that people like these two men helped create.

  • Jarrod Blundy ☛ ‘Sam and Jony skepticism’

    I’m glad that Jason Snell blogged about his skepticism toward the OpenAI and io partnership because his feelings almost exactly mirror my own. Personally, I don’t trust Scam Altman any further than I could throw him. But I do trust Jony Ive — so his high regard for Altman has to count for something.

  • Seth Godin ☛ 1,000 fans (which sort?) | Seth's Blog

    Not all customers are fans. And not all fans are the sort of customers you can thrive with.

  • US News And World Report ☛ Future Queen of Belgium Caught up in Harvard Foreign Student Ban

    Elisabeth is studying Public Policy at Harvard, a two-year master's degree program that according to the university's website broadens students' perspectives and sharpens their skills for "successful career in public service".

    The princess is heir to the Belgian throne, as the eldest of four children born to King Philippe and Queen Mathilde. Before attending Harvard, she earned a degree in history and politics from the UK's Oxford University.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man showed Ramaphosa a photo from DRC as proof of ‘White genocide’

      US President The Insurrectionist showed a screenshot of a video taken in the Democratic Republic of Congo to bolster his claims of a White "genocide" taking place in South Africa during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday.

    • RFA ☛ Antidote to misinformation: Key stories from Asia Fact Check Lab

      In recent years, the unchecked spread of online misinformation – fueled by geopolitical tensions, algorithm-driven echo chambers, and state-sponsored propaganda – has posed growing risks to public trust and global stability. Against this backdrop, fact-checking journalism has become more vital than ever.

      At the forefront of this effort has been Asia Fact Check Lab, committed to uncovering and challenging falsehoods across the region and beyond.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • BIA Net ☛ How many people have been arrested in the Istanbul Municipality operations?

    Throughout 2025, a series of operations targeting the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) unfolded, drawing significant public attention. In four separate waves, numerous municipal employees, senior officials, and private sector representatives were detained. Prominent figures – including İBB Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu – were detained, imprisoned, and in some cases placed under house arrest as part of these operations.

  • Techdirt ☛ ICE Raids South Dakota Businesses Three Days After DHS Head Kristi Noem’s Visit Was Greeted With Protests

    Former South Dakota governor and current DHS boss Kristi Noem returned to South Dakota to get her ego stroked a bit by Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota. While Noem was picking up a fake degree and presumably passing on the virtues of bootlicking and fascism to graduates, more than 200 protesters were gathered outside, expressing their displeasure with Noem and the Trump Administration generally.

  • Techdirt ☛ FTC Opens Up Bullshit Investigation Into Media Matters For Highlighting Ads Next To Nazi Content On ExTwitter

    The timing here is incredible. The very same day that the FTC’s “public inquiry” into “big tech censorship” closes, that very same FTC opens an investigation not into “big tech,” but rather Media Matters. Yes, the very same Media Matters that Elon Musk has been trying to silence through the censorial abuse of the court systems in multiple countries because the non-profit dared to… write an article showing ads from big companies appearing next to neo-Nazi content on ExTwitter.

  • Privacy International ☛ Free to Protest (Türkiye Edition)

    The Free to Protest Guide (Türkiye) has been created by adapting Privacy International's (PI) Free to Protest Guide UK according to the laws and policies of Türkiye, in collaboration with PI and local activists in Türkiye.

    The Guide has been published in English and Türkçe.

  • RFA ☛ Vietnam to block messaging app Telegram over ‘anti-state’ contents

    The Telecommunications Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the order on Wednesday. Telecommunications service providers were instructed to take measures to block the app and report to the ministry by June 2, Vietnam News Agency said.

    If nothing changes, Telegram will become the first encrypted messaging app to be banned in Vietnam. Reuters reported that the app was still available inside Vietnam on Friday.

  • CPJ ☛ CPJ, human rights organizations urge Jordanian authorities to reverse decision to block websites

    The organizations affirm that protecting press freedom and media pluralism is not incompatible with the rule of law; but is a prerequisite for it.

  • The Nation ☛ Trump Is Holding International Students at Harvard Hostage

    Noem’s statements are, of course, lies. The current crop of international students at Harvard is drawn from 147 different countries, and none of those countries is called “Hamas.” Over 20 percent of them are from China, and 11 percent are from that well-known antisemitic hotspot… Canada; 80 students are from Israel, one is the crown princess of Belgium. How can every one of these individuals be “pro-Hamas” or create a “hostile learning environment” for everyone else? Collective punishment would be wrong (and a violation of due process) even if the administration weren’t lying.

  • Semafor Inc ☛ Judge blocks Trump administration’s move to bar Harvard from enrolling international students

    The judge issued a temporary restraining order against the policy, which Harvard argued violated the First Amendment, and was in “in clear retaliation” for the school’s resistance against the government’s push to exert more control over it: Harvard recently rebuffed a request for information on its foreign students’ campus activities.

  • El País ☛ Trump vs. Harvard: Six keys to the attack on America’s academic symbol

    The latest measure affects around 6,800 students, 27% of the total at the country’s most prestigious institution, which the Republican administration wants to bend to its will

  • Axios ☛ Harvard sues Trump over international student ban

    Why it matters: Harvard is becoming the litmus test of how far the Trump administration will go to try taking down colleges and universities it considers to have liberal biases.

    "The revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government's illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body," Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement.

  • Axios ☛ Harvard ban is warning to other universities, Noem says

    Zoom out: The administration's recent demands of Harvard and other elite institutions depict the government's playbook to influence and reorient the priorities of universities through federal funds.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Harvard sues Trump government over foreign student enrolment

    Harvard University has sued the Trump administration after the US Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday that it was revoking the Ivy League university's ability to enroll international students.

    Harvard called the revocation a "blatant violation" of the US Constitution and other federal laws in a complaint filed in the Boston federal court and said it had an "immediate and devastating effect" on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Harvard sues the Trump administration over ban on enrolling foreign students

    In a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Boston, Harvard said the government’s action violates the First Amendment and will have an “immediate and devastating effect for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.”

    “With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” Harvard said in its suit.

  • International Business Times ☛ Harvard's International Students Left in Crisis After Trump's Ban - What Will Happen Now?

    Harvard announced that it is taking legal action against several federal agencies. However, on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued the university a 72-hour deadline to provide documentation of on-campus protests and disciplinary records. 'This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,' Noem said in a statement.

    In a response, Harvard officials said, 'This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission.'

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Judge blocks Trump ban on Harvard foreign student enrollment

    "With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard's student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission," Harvard said in its lawsuit.

    "It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government's demands to control Harvard's governance, curriculum, and the 'ideology' of its faculty and students," the university added.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ HKUST welcomes Harvard students as US halts foreign enrolment

    The invitation comes after US President Donald Trump’s administration revoked Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Programme certification, which allows foreign students to enter and study in the US, for the 2025-26 academic year.

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Judge Temporarily Halts Trump Block on Foreign Students at Harvard

    There will be an injunction hearing on May 29, a court filing showed.

    [...]

    "It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government's demands to control Harvard's governance, curriculum, and the 'ideology' of its faculty and students," said the lawsuit filed in Massachusetts federal court.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • University of Michigan ☛ Wait, wait...don’t tell me NPR is over

    A Backseat Baby is the term affectionately used to refer to NPR listeners that were introduced to the station through their parents while sitting in the backseat of the car.

    On March 26, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. called Katherine Maher, the Chief Executive Officer of NPR, to a hearing in front of the Department of Government Efficiency subcommittee to ask about the station’s content. Greene claimed that NPR has become a radical, left-wing echo chamber for an audience of primarily white, elites who criticize rural Americans. She used the supposed leftist indoctrination of Americans to strike at NPR and emphasized the notion that our tax dollars are being misused by funding media organizations that contradict the agenda of President Donald Trump.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Russia declares DW journalist a 'foreign agent'

    Several DW journalists are already on Russia's "foreign agent" list.

  • ANF News ☛ Değer: I will continue to make peace journalism with renewed commitment

    Öznur Değer stated that her joy was bittersweet, as many of her friends remain behind bars. She said: “From now on, I will continue to practice the peace journalism I have been committed to for the past five years, with even greater responsibility. I will continue to pursue peace journalism for the seriously ill prisoners who remain incarcerated, and for all those engaged in the struggle for peace. As we have said for years, the free press has never remained silent. It has not been silent since the 1990s. It has cried out, written, filmed, and continued to carry out its duties and responsibilities. I will uphold the responsibilities of the legacy entrusted to me by those who came before. The free press cannot be silenced.”

  • CPJ ☛ Tax audits target Hong Kong journalists, news outlets as press freedom concerns intensify

    “Hong Kong is taking a page out of the playbook of authoritarian regimes elsewhere that are using similar intimidation tactics,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Targeting journalists with tax audits without sufficient evidence not only rings alarm bells for press freedom but also raises concerns more broadly about Hong Kong as a safe and reliable location to do business.”

  • CPJ ☛ Russian authorities raid Bars TV station, editor’s home over defamation case, seize equipment

    “This latest raid and criminal case against Russian broadcaster Bars and its editor-in-chief, Sergey Kustov, is a blatant act of intimidation and censorship,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Russian authorities must stop using defamation laws and other criminal charges to silence journalists who report on matters of public interest and should immediately return all confiscated materials and stop harassing Kustov.”

  • CPJ ☛ Mexican journalist José Carlos González shot dead in Acapulco

    “José Carlos González’s brutal killing the latest in a string of deadly attacks on the press in Mexico – yet another reminder that President Claudia Sheinbaum’s promise that press freedom would be respected in the country continues to be an empty one,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative. “If Mexican authorities finally want to show their commitment to press freedom, they must bring González’s attackers to justice, lest the impunity that fuels these killings continues unabated.”

  • Wired ☛ Freedom of the Press Foundation Threatens Legal Action if Paramount Settles With Trump Over '60 Minutes' Interview

    Although Paramount previously called the lawsuit “an affront to the First Amendment” in legal filings to dismiss this March, it has reportedly sought to settle; the company has a potentially lucrative merger pending with Hollywood studio Skydance that would require the Trump administration’s signoff.

    Last week, Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Ron Wyden sent a letter to Redstone seeking information about any potential settlement, raising concerns that it would amount to bribery. “If Paramount officials make these concessions in a quid pro quo arrangement to influence President Trump or other Administration officials,” they wrote, “they may be breaking the law.”

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • The Conversation ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Why do protestors use disruptive, confrontational tactics? New research shows they’re not just a last resort

  • Advance Local Media LLC ☛ Tribes sue for full accounting of money used to fund Native American boarding schools

    The lawsuit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and encompasses its allegations under two counts while seeking certification as a class action lawsuit.

    It relies on two volumes of the boarding schools investigative report released in 2022 and 2024, where the United States Government admits it used money taken from Native Nations to fund the Indian Charter School Program.

    Despite knowing that the amount soared into the billions, “the fact is plain: No true accounting has ever taken place,” the lawsuit said.

  • Truthdig ☛ The End of Erdoğan? An interview with dissident Ece Temelkuran

    In 2019, when Ece Temelkuran published “How to Lose a Country: The Seven Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship,” she was called a Cassandra. Six years on, the veteran Turkish dissident is more likely to be seen as a prophet. Nowhere is this truer than in her native country, where on March 19, the authoritarian president Tayyip Erdoğan arrested his political rival, the charismatic mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, on false charges of terrorism. That proved to be the breaking point in a nation already overflowing with resentment and frustration. For more than a month, the streets of Turkish cities have seen massive weekly protests challenging the president and his routine breaches of democratic norms.

    I recently spoke with Temelkuran over Zoom in Germany, where she lives in exile and continues to advocate for democracy and human rights. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

  • YLE ☛ APN Podcast: What Finland's scrapping of the union-fee tax deduction means for you

    "We will lose collective bargaining agreements and we will lose organised labour markets in Finland because there will be fewer workers who are union members and fewer employers who are members in employers associations," Heidi Lehikoinen of the service sector union PAM tells the show, adding that the move will "create more chaos" for the Finnish economy.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ South Africa tables Starlink-friendly policy shift

    Government is proposing a workaround to black ownership requirements that will pave the way for Starlink and other satellite services to operate in the country.

    It is proposing an equity equivalent regulatory change as a way around black ownership rules designed to redress the inequities of apartheid. The change would let Elon Musk’s satellite service enter the country by instead investing in alternatives including infrastructure or in small and medium-sized black-owned businesses in the country, the document shows.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • IP Kat ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] First UPC decision to tackle infringement and validity of second medical claims (Sanofi v Amgen, UPC_CFI_505/2024) [Ed: UPC is illegal. This case has been put in an unconstitutional kangaroo court which represents EU and EPO corruption, or a corporate takeover (states as zombies)]

• Trademarks

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Generic Hair (and Let Us In)!

    Rebecca Curtin – a law professor and parent who purchases princess dolls – filed a TTAB opposition against United Trademark Holdings’ application to register the mark “RAPUNZEL” for dolls and toy figures (Class 28). Curtin alleged the mark should not be registered because “RAPUNZEL” is a generic name, is merely descriptive, and fails to function as a trademark for doll products. UTH moved to dismiss the opposition, arguing that Curtin lacked standing (i.e., lacked “entitlement to a statutory cause of action”) under the Lanham Act’s opposition provision, 15 U.S.C. § 1063. Initially, the TTAB allowed Curtin’s case to proceed – relying on the Federal Circuit’s older, more permissive standing test from Ritchie v. Simpson, 170 F.3d 1092 (Fed. Cir. 1999), which had held that “any person who believes that she would be damaged” by a registration may oppose if she shows a real interest and a reasonable belief of harm. But by the final decision, the TTAB reversed course. Citing the Supreme Court’s intervening decision in Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc., 572 U.S. 118 (2014), and the Federal Circuit’s own decision in Corcamore, LLC v.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Shira Perlmutter Sues Over 'Unlawful' Copyright Office Firing

    Regardless of how Perlmutter’s legal challenge unfolds, it’s safe to say that the broader battle for Copyright Office control involves more than a few moving parts.

    In its latest weekly report, DMN Pro broke down the multifaceted situation, which is still replete with unknowns when it comes to policy and, in turn, the optimal approach to lobbying.

    Besides the legal questions (and lawsuit) surrounding the shakeup, it remains to be seen whether the aforementioned DOJ officials will stick around in their new posts or soon make way for non-acting replacements.

  • Digital Music News ☛ The US Copyright Office Plunges Into Total and Complete Chaos

    What started as a tech bro ambush has shifted into an all-out war for control over the US Copyright Office — and the critical policy direction that comes with it. It’s not entirely clear why former US Copyright chief Shira Perlmutter was abruptly fired, though widespread conjecture pointed to the handiwork of tech bro operators like Elon Musk and David Sacks — not to mention the very powerful cadre of pro-AI, Trump-allied tech titans.

  • Court House News ☛ Top copyright official firing

    The U.S. Copyright Office director fired by the Trump administration says in a lawsuit her termination was unconstitutional as only the Librarian of Congress — also removed by Trump — has the authority to fire her. She was fired just one day after the office issued a report establishing that the use of copyrighted works for AI training may not be fair use.

  • Court House News ☛ Top copyright official sues Trump over firing

    The copyright office is also responsible for conducting studies and advising Congress on copyright issues, including regarding the growing generative artificial intelligence industry.

    On May 9, the office issued a report finding that some uses of copyrighted works in generative AI training could run afoul of fair use laws. Perlmutter says she received an email terminating her as Register of Copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright office the next day.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ EU Piracy Watchlist Adds IPFS, FitGirl and Njalla

    This week the Commission released its latest version of the Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List. The report provides a detailed overview of the piracy landscape including statistics from many studies that were previously published. In addition, it highlights what are seen as the most serious threats today.