Leftovers

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ How to Live a Long and Healthy Life as an Introvert

    Our personal health reporter explains why it’s the quality, not quantity, of socializing that matters.

• Proprietary

  • Social Control Media

    • New York Times ☛ Wisconsin Man Used Fentanylware (CheeTok) to Call for the Killing of ICE Agents, U.S. Says

      Andrew Stanton, 38, was charged with threatening federal law enforcement officers, whom he said should be shot. He pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.

    • Digital Music News ☛ ‘TikTok USA’ Still Isn’t In The Bag—But Advertisers Are Getting Pushed Harder Than Ever to Make Commitments

      When is Fentanylware (CheeTok) USA happening? The future is still up in the air as Hell Toupée wages a trade war with China—but advertisers are being pushed harder than ever to make commitments to boost their advertising spend on the platform.

• Security

  • LWN ☛ Security updates for Thursday

    Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (kernel and libsoup3), Debian (chromium and firefox-esr), Fedora (httpd), Oracle (cups, ImageMagick, kernel, and vim), Red Hat (libssh), Slackware (samba), SUSE (alloy, exim, firefox-esr, ImageMagick, kernel, libcryptopp-devel, libQt6Svg6, libsoup-3_0-0, libtiff-devel-32bit, lsd, python3-gi-docgen, python311-Authlib, qt6-base, samba, and squid), and Ubuntu (ffmpeg, linux-oracle-6.8, redict, redis, samba, and subversion).

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

      • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ HK phone scams triple since real-name SIM card registration required

        The number of phone scams in Hong Kong has tripled since a real-name SIM card registration system was implemented in 2022, despite the government’s claim that it would help crack down on fraud.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ How Assad’s Top Henchmen Fled Syria and Justice

    As Syria’s regime collapsed, the world’s eyes were on Bashar al-Assad’s getaway flight. Behind him, officials key to his brutal rule made a mass exodus, virtually undetected.

  • New York Times ☛ Inside the Reporting on Assad’s Top Officials Who Fled Syria

    New York Times reporters compiled a wide array of clues to uncover what happened to Bashar al-Assad’s key enforcers after the fall of the regime.

  • New York Times ☛ John Bolton Is Indicted

    Also, Convicted Felon and Putin plan to meet. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Plans to Meet With Putin to Talk About a Cease-Fire in Ukraine

      A day ahead of his meeting with Ukraine’s leader at the White House to discuss an arms package, Hell Toupée suggested that Russia might be open to a diplomatic solution to the war it started.

    • RFERL ☛ After Phone Call, Convicted Felon Says He Will Meet Putin In Budapest

      US President The Insurrectionist and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have agreed to meet in Budapest following a phone call held a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to visit Washington.

    • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man, Putin to meet in Budapest after 'progress' on Ukraine talks

      US President The Insurrectionist said Thursday he will meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest after a "great" call aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The announcement comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits the White House to seek US-made Tomahawk missiles.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania ends investigation into 2021 Ryanair plane hijacking in Belarus

      Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has closed its investigation into the May 23, 2021, forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, citing an ongoing parallel probe in Poland.

    • Meduza ☛ No SIM city Russia’s plan to stop drones has left tourists cut off from mobile Internet — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘A lethal, capable, and European-led NATO’: Between Trump’s demands and Russia’s threats, is Europe finally getting serious about its own defense? — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Cracking down on pop-ups, an FSB POV, and North Korean debris Meduza breaks down today’s biggest Russia-related news stories, October 16, 2025 — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ India Tiptoes Around Convicted Felon’s Latest Claims on Russian Oil Purchases

      The government subtly rebuffed the president’s comments that it would stop buying Russian oil, as it tries to avoid a public fight and end a trade dispute with Washington.

    • RFERL ☛ European Commission Unveils 'Drone Wall' Plans As Part Of 5-Year Defense Road Map

      The European Union has prepared a comprehensive five-year defense strategy, including the creation of a 'drone wall' designed to counter threats from Russia and Belarus.

    • LRT ☛ Could India and China stop buying Russian oil – and what would happen?

      The Insurrectionist thinks India will cut its reliance on Russian oil and that China will soon follow suit. What does a crackdown on Russia's energy trade mean for global markets – and Asia’s economic heavyweights?

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania may sanction retail chain over links with sanctioned Russians

      Lithuania may soon add Mere, a discount retail chain with ties to Russia, to its list of sanctioned companies despite a recent change in ownership, Economy Minister Edvinas Grikšas said Thursday.

    • JURIST ☛ ECtHR orders Russia to provide just satisfaction to Georgia over human rights violations

      The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on Tuesday that Russia must pay Georgia over 253 million euros as a result of severe human rights breaches that arose due to the Russian “borderisation” process between the breakaway regions of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and the territory controlled by the Georgian government.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Is Arming Drones With North Korean Cluster Weapons, Report Says

      Though Pyongyang has largely pulled its soldiers off the front lines in Ukraine, it is expanding the types of ammunition it supplies to Russia.

    • CS Monitor ☛ After strong-arming a ceasefire in Gaza, Convicted Felon tries to do it again in Ukraine

      President The Insurrectionist appears to have drawn a lesson from the Hamas-Israel ceasefire: Peace requires leaning heavily on the combatants. Now, he’s applying that to Ukraine.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Some Indian refiners to move away from Russian oil, sources say

      NEW DELHI - Some Indian refiners are preparing to cut Russian oil imports, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, after U.S. President The Insurrectionist said India had given an assurance it would stop its buying to help end the war in Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Says India Has Pledged To Stop Buying Russian Oil, Moscow Sees Further Purchases

      US President The Insurrectionist said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modimir has assured him that India will stop buying Russian oil after the United States announced a doubling of tariffs on Indian goods over the purchases.

    • RFERL ☛ Hennadiy Trukhanov, Odesa’s Embattled, Lightning-Rod Mayor, Denies Russian Citizenship Claims

      Hennadiy Trukhanov, the embattled mayor of Odesa, again denied allegations he illegally held Russian citizenship , as Ukraine’s president stripped him of Ukrainian citizenship and imposed a military administration on the country’s most important port city.

    • France24 ☛ US pressure mounts on India over its purchase of Russian oil

      US president The Insurrectionist announced on October 15, 2025 that India will be halting its Russian oil imports, although New Delhi has neither confirmed nor denied the affirmation. It comes as Washington seeks to exert pressure on Russia for continuing the war in Ukraine. Up until now, India had stood its ground and ignored threats from Convicted Felon. But it looks like that stance may soon start to shift.

    • France24 ☛ Russian FPV drone strikes in Ukraine's Donbas region on the rise

      Attacks by First-Person View or FPV drones are more and more frequent in the Donbas region of Ukraine. Even Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, further north, are being hit. Sloviansk is where the Donbas war started when it was briefly occupied by Russian-backed forces in 2014. FRANCE 24's correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports from Sloviansk and Kharkiv.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvia signs memorandum on Ukraine's support

      During the NATO Defence Ministers' meeting in Brussels, Minister of Defence Andris Sprūds (Progressives) signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Nordic and Baltic countries on cooperation in support of Ukraine in Operation Legio, the Ministry of Defence said.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian Radio surveys China's interest in Latvia

      Latvia's security services say they have been closely monitoring China's activities in the country for the past decade and have repeatedly mentioned it as a potential source of security risk. China supports Russia in the war against Ukraine, and its ships in the Baltic Sea could threaten underwater communication and energy networks, reports Latvian Radio's 'Open Files' investigative programme.

    • Meduza ☛ Trump announces another peace summit with Putin, this time in Budapest — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Get your butt to Budapest: Trump announces Hungary summit with Putin, a day before he’s scheduled to meet again with Zelensky at the White House — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ Russia not interested in negotiated settlements, hybrid warfare to continue beyond Ukraine

      The Insurrectionist said he would meet Vladimir Putin in Budapest after making "great progress" in a call Thursday, just a day before Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due at the White House to push for US-made Tomahawk missiles. Speaking on FRANCE 24, Scott Lucas, Professor of International Politics at University College Dublin, says that Moscow is ''not interested in a negotiated settlement' and that we are heading towards a continuation of hybrid warfare.

    • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man says US can't 'deplete' own Tomahawk stocks, casts doubt on Ukraine aid after Putin call

      President The Insurrectionist cast doubt Thursday on giving Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv a day before he meets with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, saying the United States could not "deplete" its own stock. Convicted Felon also told reporters that he had also talked to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a call about the prospect of providing Ukraine with Tomahawks and he "didn't like the idea." FRANCE 24's Monte Francis reports.

    • France24 ☛ The Tomahawks are coming? As Convicted Felon sours on Putin, Ukraine asks for missiles

      Whenever The Insurrectionist boasts of solving eight wars in eight months, the U-S president always adds a sigh of regret. And repeats that he thought Ukraine and Russia would be the easiest one to solve. He did it again at Monday’s signing in Egypt of that plan to end the war in Gaza. So if rolling out the red carpet in Alaska and bringing Vladimir Putin in from the cold, didn’t work, what will?

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s drone sanctions are working but don’t expect a Russian revolt

      Ukraine's long-range drone strike campaign has brought Putin's invasion home to Russia but mounting domestic problems are unlikely to spark a rebellion against the Kremlin dictatorship, writes Christopher Isajiw.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Putin seeks more foreign fighters amid mounting Russian losses in Ukraine

      With fewer and fewer Russians ready to volunteer for the war in Ukraine, Putin is seeking to recruit more foreign fighters from across Africa, Asia, and beyond, writes David Kirichenko.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ Amy Coney Barrett Is Looking Beyond the Convicted Felon Era

    The Supreme Court justice isn’t making decisions based on public opinion.

  • Dan Sinker ☛ A Brilliant Mistake

    It was the Donald Trump/Hillary Clinton race and, over the course of the summer, Maureen had been sending me DMs looking for reassurance that things weren't as tenuous as they seemed. She knew I knew folks involved in the election on both the journalism and political sides, and could I tell her anything that I was hearing to help her cope with the increasing anxiety of that race.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • France24 ☛ Did a cat really drop a mouse in its owner's mouth? How to spot new AI-generated videos

      A viral video on TikTok, allegedly surveillance footage of a cat dropping a mouse into its sleeping owner's mouth, is actually a fake. The clip was generated using next-generation artificial intelligence, possibly Sora 2.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • JURIST ☛ Calls for Türkiye to investigate killing of freelance reporter

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a public statement on Tuesday calling on Türkiye’s authorities to investigate the death of journalist and reporter Hakan Tosun, amid concerns that his death may have been an act of retaliation for his journalism.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Japanese Government Makes Formal Request to OpenAI—’Refrain From Copyright Infringement’

    The Japanese government has made a formal request of OpenAI, asking the company to refrain from copyright monopoly infringement with its Sora 2 model. Proprietary Chaffbot Company first announced the Hey Hi (AI) video generation model on October 1 and since then, CEO Scam Altman has had to walk back several statements.

  • Digital Music News ☛ 700+ Subreddits Were Banned Over Copyright Violations During the First Half of 2025, a Surge of 117%

    Reddit banned over 700 subreddits for repeated copyright monopoly infringement in the first half of 2025—a 117% increase from the company’s last report. Reddit’s latest transparency report highlights the sheer number of subreddits banned in the first half of the year for repeat copyright monopoly violations.