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hereby PARDON his son for all crimes. He is a proud American and a patriot. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER - DJT

For our users in Europe, we'd like to remind you that you always have the ability to delete your Google account, which will terminate your contract with us. Please be aware that deleting your Google account will result in deletion of all data and content in that account, like emails, files and photos. You also won't be able to use Google services where you sign in with that account, like Gmail, Drive, Calendar, or Play.

What the hell does this mean? Can only Europeans delete their Google accounts? Or is this an attempt at pseudo-legalese for getting around EU data privacy laws?

House of Commons calls on Keir Starmer to condemn Donald Trump’s ‘interference’ in European politics

The US is engaging in “extreme rightwing tropes” with echoes of the 1930s and threatening “chilling” interference in European democracies, British MPs warned ministers on Thursday.

The House of Commons rounded on Donald Trump’s national security strategy, which stated that Europe was facing “civilisational erasure” and vowed to help the continent “correct its current trajectory and promote patriotic European parties”.

Matt Western, a Labour MP and chair of parliament’s joint committee on the UK government’s national security strategy, said: “The United States consensus that has led the western world since the second world war appears shattered.

Vladimir Putin is stalling efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, and is testing the West with tactics that fall “just below the threshold of war,” the head of Britain’s MI6 spy agency said Monday.

Blaise Metreweli said Putin is “dragging out negotiations” on stopping the conflict, and remains determined to “subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO members.”

“We are now operating in a space between peace and war,” Metreweli said of the wider global threat landscape in her first public speech since becoming chief of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency two months ago.

The total number of people killed in the antisemitic Bondi Beach massacre was still not known when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the opportunity to blame Australia’s mere recognition of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu and his cheerleaders, meanwhile, have once again chosen the despicable path of weaponizing antisemitism to ensure and legitimize Palestinian suffering.

The first New York Times opinion piece to be published in the massacre’s wake came from Israel apologist Bret Stephens, with a column titled “Bondi Beach is What ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Looks Like.” Stephens wrote that the shooting constitutes the “real-world consequences” of “literalists” responding to chants like “globalize the intifada,” “resistance is justified,” and “by any means necessary.”

The point is obvious: to make sure that Palestinians remain eternally in stateless subjugation and to give Israel a free hand to violate their rights — including by committing a genocide like the one unfolding in Gaza today.

It’s all done in the name of fighting antisemitism by conflating the worst kinds of violent anti-Jewish bigotry, like what we saw in Bondi Beach, with any criticisms of Israel and its actions. To so much as say Palestinians ought to have basic human rights, in this view, becomes a deadly attack on Jewish safety.

I've read 'The Home Lab Handbook: Building and Managing Your Own IT Lab from Scratch' which I would recommend to anyone just starting out in selfhosting and homelabing. Relative to that, I found a 'course' online (https://linuxupskillchallenge.org/#table-of-contents) that would also be useful for new arrivals.

Anyone reading any good HomeLab & Selfhosting books lately?

ABC (Anything But Class) leftists and ABI (Anything But Imperialism) leftists be like.

Trans people are statistically strongly affected by homelessness, poverty, unemployment due to discrimination, lack of access to healthcare etc. and most trans people live in the global south. So to ignore class and imperialism in your advocacy for trans rights means to effectively throw the majority of trans people under the bus.

Some relevant sources:

Homelessness and Housing Instability Among LGBTQ Youth https://www.thetrevorproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Trevor-Project-Homelessness-Report.pdf

Discrimination and Barriers to Well-Being: The State of the LGBTQI+ Community in 2022 https://www.americanprogress.org/article/discrimination-and-barriers-to-well-being-the-state-of-the-lgbtqi-community-in-2022

Trans & Poverty Poverty and Economic Insecurity in Trans Communities in the EU https://tgeu.org/files/uploads/2025/09/TGEU-trans-poverty-report-2021-1.pdf

Users accessing the SoundCloud audio streaming platform through a virtual private network (VPN) connection are denied access to the service and see a 403 'forbidden' error.

I'm just wondering like... suppose if my parents weren't my real parents, and were actually my kidnappers, how young would that have to have happened?

I have very vague memories of like going to Hong Kong as a kid... and like... suppose I got kidnapped there, would I even have remembered?

How old do you actually remember the faces of your real parents? Can a set of imposter parents manage to trick you? Like somehow brainwash you to forget the kidnapping ever happened? And that you were always their child?

I read about like kidnapping stories where the kid just grow up normally in their adoptive family and apparantly never remember they got kidnapped? What?

(Just curious, definitely not paranoia... xD)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/47360092

Archived

In China’s heavily indebted cities, “fiscal winter” is manifesting through a peculiar ritual: businessmen crowding government offices in a year-end rush to claim overdue contract payments. In private conversations, some bitterly recounted waiting for hours in line to deliver a short, rehearsed plea for payments – only to be told that the official they sought was unavailable. For the well-connected lot who were granted an audience, the meeting often ended quickly: a shrug, an apology, and a resigned admission from the official that his coffers were empty.

The fiscal strain weighing on China’s local governments has been long in the making. Years of debt-fueled infrastructure expansion, lax oversight of off-balance-sheet borrowing, and heavy spending during pandemic years have left many localities dangerously leveraged. The collapse in land-sale revenue and slumping tax receipts have further battered local finances. Adding to the stress, Beijing has demanded that local governments rein in their liabilities, lately by setting up a new department under the Finance Ministry to oversee debt repayment.

[...]

For officials, delaying payments to government contractors and suppliers is “easy”: few small and medium-sized firms are willing to challenge the state. In an unusual piece of investigative reporting this month, state media noted that many private businessmen dare not file lawsuits or shang fang (“petitioning higher authorities”), fearing the consequences of antagonizing local officials.

[...]

Lacking meaningful recourse, these entrepreneurs have resorted to the most basic form of debt collection: turning up in person, again and again, at the doors of local officials to press for payment. Their survival depends on it: by custom, business owners must settle workers’ wages and supplier bills before the Lunar New Year. In an economy already weighed down by slowing growth and weak demand, securing those payments often determines whether a firm stays afloat or goes under.

[...]

Central policymakers are aware of the payment woes weighing on businesses. In recent years, Beijing has rolled out a steady stream of guidelines and directives requiring officials to settle outstanding bills without further delay. A mandate for local governments to clear arrears was codified in the country’s Private Economy Promotion Law enacted in June. Still, flashy slogans and political campaigns won’t do much to resolve the structural causes of unpaid bills.

[...]

Local governments are tasked with spending obligations that far exceed their fiscal capacity. Beyond reining in liabilities, Beijing expects local governments to support growth and employment, subsidize research and innovation, and shoulder the costs of social-welfare expansion. Dwindling resources and competing priorities force officials to improvise – cut some expenses here, defer a few payments there – to keep up the appearance of solvency.

[...]

Local governments have already been operating under so-called “belt-tightening” austerity, from cutting administrative costs to withholding wages and bonuses for state employees. When that wasn’t enough, officials turned to more harmful tactics like delaying payment and ratcheting up administrative fines. Some went further still: this summer, government auditors found that dozens of localities had misappropriated state funds – originally earmarked for pension and infrastructure investment – to cover debt repayment.

[...]

A festering local debt crisis poses major headwinds as officials undercut private companies, pare back industrial subsidies, and divert welfare funds to meet debt obligations. Delaying a solution will only sap confidence and undermine the future Beijing hopes to build.

I haven’t received any support for 7 days, me and my family. Please, friends, help us 😥