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 😥

Carmakers will be allowed to make a limited number of petrol and diesel-fuelled cars after deadline

Paywall? https://archive.is/xuuiW

Data colonialism on the African continent has moved from abstraction into formal state policy through binding agreements signed without public consent, parliamentary scrutiny, or meaningful legal protection for citizens. Nigeria’s memorandum of understanding with France on tax administration data, alongside healthcare data-sharing agreements signed by Kenya and Rwanda with United States agencies, reflects a pattern of external control over sovereign information systems. These arrangements represent a transfer of strategic national assets rather than technical cooperation. Historical experience across former colonies shows that control over taxation, health records, and population data has always preceded deeper forms of domination, even when formal sovereignty remained intact.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6131721

There is more than a little irony in the fact that Ukrainians are bleeding and dying for Western democracy and the European Union at a time when so many are losing faith in both. But they are – and they have shown that they can win.

Opinion piece by Chrystia Freeland, former deputy prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, and minister of finance of Canada.

Archived link

...

Yes, we’ve said that we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. And yet we have consistently failed to give Ukraine the support it needs to win.

...

It is time to change that half-hearted paradigm. We need to recognize that Ukraine can win and that a Ukrainian victory is in the interests of the geopolitical West ... And then we need to devise a plan for a Ukrainian victory.

Our defeatism started with the 2014 invasion of Crimea, when the West told Ukrainians to stand down and tacitly accepted Russian control of the peninsula. On the eve of the 2022 full-scale invasion, we prepared to support a long Ukrainian guerilla war against Russian occupation and were cautious about giving the Ukrainian government weapons that we assumed would only fall into Russian hands.

...

Even after the Ukrainian people showed that they had the will and the strength not to be conquered, we have been collectively hesitant about giving them the tools that they need to win. Worse, we have even cautioned them against using their own weapons to maximum effect.

...

It is time to stop equivocating. It is time to stop settling for stalemate and planning for Finlandization. Ukraine can defeat Russia, and NATO allies and our Asian partners will be stronger if it does. So, it is past time to plan for success.

...

It starts with Ukraine’s capacity for victory. Since the war began, Ukraine has consistently outperformed Western expectations. Kyiv did not fall. Ukraine, with no navy of its own, has destroyed much of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and broken through its maritime blockade. Ukraine has deprived Russia of control of the sky. And Ukraine has held Russia to an effective stalemate on the ground: in fact, Ukraine today controls more of its own territory than it did immediately after Russia’s full-scale incursion.

...

In practice, this means that the future of war is being invented on Ukraine’s frontline and by technologists working in its remarkably vibrant cities. Ukraine has turned itself into the world’s leading inventor, producer, and user of drones, and is constantly developing new ones and new techniques. Recognizing that the path to victory must include missile strikes that bring the war home to the Russian people – for example, by destroying oil refineries – and that hit Russia’s military arsenal and defense industries, Ukraine is developing and building its own missiles.

Ukraine can do so because this is a people’s war. Civilian donations are an important source of support for the military, and self-organized brigades, which compete to attract soldiers and financial support, are responsible for their own procurement and often manufacture their own weapons.

...

The West has consistently failed to see Ukraine’s strength because we are still largely in thrall to a sort of Cold War Orientalism. Our intellectual guides to the war are overwhelmingly scholars of Russia and the Kremlin, not of Ukraine ... Even more than 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is hard for us to fully internalize the reality on the ground: that what we thought was the second-strongest army in the world is now the second-strongest army in Ukraine.

...

The one exception to this blinkered vision comes from countries that were part of the Soviet Union or the Warsaw Pact. They understand Russian power – and Russian weakness – deeply and intimately, having learned their lessons the hard way, from the inside and on the periphery. They understand that Ukraine can win, and that Ukraine’s victory is in our interest. We should be listening to them with greater attention and greater humility.

...

The real question is not whether Ukraine has the capacity to win, but whether that is what we want. We should. Ukraine’s victory is unequivocally in Europe’s interest. A victorious Ukraine would be Europe’s shield and its arsenal. Ukraine’s innovative defense industries and military doctrines are key to rearming Europe. A strong Ukraine guarding Europe’s eastern flank is the best guarantee that Europe will never need to use the weapons it is now building in a war of self-defense.

...

For another, Ukraine’s success is the best way to constrain China. A bipartisan consensus in the United States holds that China is the country’s main geopolitical rival. The surest way to check Chinese territorial expansionism is through the demonstration effect of Russia’s failure in Ukraine. The surest provocation for Chinese expansionism is for Russia’s invasion to succeed.

...

If we do want Ukraine to win – and we should – a plan for Ukrainian success starts with weapons. Ukraine has held out for so long because of its own military innovation and arms from the West. To end the war, it needs missiles to take the war to Russia; drones, robots, and AI to keep fighting at sea, on land, and in the air; and missile defense to protect Ukraine’s cities and energy grid from Russian attack.

Ukraine has never asked for foreign boots on the ground – unlike Russia, which has brought in the helot soldiers of its North Korean ally. But we could help Ukraine end the war by supplying the weapons it needs now to push Russia back: US Tomahawks or German Taurus missiles, and the intelligence support to target them.

...

Using Russian assets to back Ukraine [financially] would enforce a powerful and important principle: the aggressor pays. That approach makes sense to Western tax-payers, and embracing it would help to deter future would-be invaders.

...

Ukrainians are fighting for a future as a sovereign, secure democracy, with a path to joining the European Union, and the prosperity that EU accession promises ... This future is what Ukrainians voted for in their 1991 referendum on independence. It is why they overturned a rigged election with the Orange Revolution in 2004. It is why they came out and protested again on the Maidan in 2014, when their path to Europe was blocked. And it is why they are resisting Putin today.

...

Ukrainians also recognize that the fight against corruption at home is as essential to that future as the fight on the frontline against Russia. That is why they went back to the streets this summer to insist on independent and transparent anti-corruption investigators. They were right to do so.

...

Ukrainians know their own history. That is why they know that this war can end only when they have the borders, army, and alliances they need to deter further Russian aggression and give their children a path to the prosperity they have watched their neighbors in Poland and the Baltic states build.

There is more than a little irony in the fact that Ukrainians are bleeding and dying for Western democracy and the EU at a time when so many are losing faith in both. But they are. And they have shown that they can win. Helping them do so will make us stronger, too.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/6131721

There is more than a little irony in the fact that Ukrainians are bleeding and dying for Western democracy and the European Union at a time when so many are losing faith in both. But they are – and they have shown that they can win.

Opinion piece by Chrystia Freeland, former deputy prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, and minister of finance of Canada.

Archived link

...

Yes, we’ve said that we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. And yet we have consistently failed to give Ukraine the support it needs to win.

...

It is time to change that half-hearted paradigm. We need to recognize that Ukraine can win and that a Ukrainian victory is in the interests of the geopolitical West ... And then we need to devise a plan for a Ukrainian victory.

Our defeatism started with the 2014 invasion of Crimea, when the West told Ukrainians to stand down and tacitly accepted Russian control of the peninsula. On the eve of the 2022 full-scale invasion, we prepared to support a long Ukrainian guerilla war against Russian occupation and were cautious about giving the Ukrainian government weapons that we assumed would only fall into Russian hands.

...

Even after the Ukrainian people showed that they had the will and the strength not to be conquered, we have been collectively hesitant about giving them the tools that they need to win. Worse, we have even cautioned them against using their own weapons to maximum effect.

...

It is time to stop equivocating. It is time to stop settling for stalemate and planning for Finlandization. Ukraine can defeat Russia, and NATO allies and our Asian partners will be stronger if it does. So, it is past time to plan for success.

...

It starts with Ukraine’s capacity for victory. Since the war began, Ukraine has consistently outperformed Western expectations. Kyiv did not fall. Ukraine, with no navy of its own, has destroyed much of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and broken through its maritime blockade. Ukraine has deprived Russia of control of the sky. And Ukraine has held Russia to an effective stalemate on the ground: in fact, Ukraine today controls more of its own territory than it did immediately after Russia’s full-scale incursion.

...

In practice, this means that the future of war is being invented on Ukraine’s frontline and by technologists working in its remarkably vibrant cities. Ukraine has turned itself into the world’s leading inventor, producer, and user of drones, and is constantly developing new ones and new techniques. Recognizing that the path to victory must include missile strikes that bring the war home to the Russian people – for example, by destroying oil refineries – and that hit Russia’s military arsenal and defense industries, Ukraine is developing and building its own missiles.

Ukraine can do so because this is a people’s war. Civilian donations are an important source of support for the military, and self-organized brigades, which compete to attract soldiers and financial support, are responsible for their own procurement and often manufacture their own weapons.

...

The West has consistently failed to see Ukraine’s strength because we are still largely in thrall to a sort of Cold War Orientalism. Our intellectual guides to the war are overwhelmingly scholars of Russia and the Kremlin, not of Ukraine ... Even more than 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is hard for us to fully internalize the reality on the ground: that what we thought was the second-strongest army in the world is now the second-strongest army in Ukraine.

...

The one exception to this blinkered vision comes from countries that were part of the Soviet Union or the Warsaw Pact. They understand Russian power – and Russian weakness – deeply and intimately, having learned their lessons the hard way, from the inside and on the periphery. They understand that Ukraine can win, and that Ukraine’s victory is in our interest. We should be listening to them with greater attention and greater humility.

...

The real question is not whether Ukraine has the capacity to win, but whether that is what we want. We should. Ukraine’s victory is unequivocally in Europe’s interest. A victorious Ukraine would be Europe’s shield and its arsenal. Ukraine’s innovative defense industries and military doctrines are key to rearming Europe. A strong Ukraine guarding Europe’s eastern flank is the best guarantee that Europe will never need to use the weapons it is now building in a war of self-defense.

...

For another, Ukraine’s success is the best way to constrain China. A bipartisan consensus in the United States holds that China is the country’s main geopolitical rival. The surest way to check Chinese territorial expansionism is through the demonstration effect of Russia’s failure in Ukraine. The surest provocation for Chinese expansionism is for Russia’s invasion to succeed.

...

If we do want Ukraine to win – and we should – a plan for Ukrainian success starts with weapons. Ukraine has held out for so long because of its own military innovation and arms from the West. To end the war, it needs missiles to take the war to Russia; drones, robots, and AI to keep fighting at sea, on land, and in the air; and missile defense to protect Ukraine’s cities and energy grid from Russian attack.

Ukraine has never asked for foreign boots on the ground – unlike Russia, which has brought in the helot soldiers of its North Korean ally. But we could help Ukraine end the war by supplying the weapons it needs now to push Russia back: US Tomahawks or German Taurus missiles, and the intelligence support to target them.

...

Using Russian assets to back Ukraine [financially] would enforce a powerful and important principle: the aggressor pays. That approach makes sense to Western tax-payers, and embracing it would help to deter future would-be invaders.

...

Ukrainians are fighting for a future as a sovereign, secure democracy, with a path to joining the European Union, and the prosperity that EU accession promises ... This future is what Ukrainians voted for in their 1991 referendum on independence. It is why they overturned a rigged election with the Orange Revolution in 2004. It is why they came out and protested again on the Maidan in 2014, when their path to Europe was blocked. And it is why they are resisting Putin today.

...

Ukrainians also recognize that the fight against corruption at home is as essential to that future as the fight on the frontline against Russia. That is why they went back to the streets this summer to insist on independent and transparent anti-corruption investigators. They were right to do so.

...

Ukrainians know their own history. That is why they know that this war can end only when they have the borders, army, and alliances they need to deter further Russian aggression and give their children a path to the prosperity they have watched their neighbors in Poland and the Baltic states build.

There is more than a little irony in the fact that Ukrainians are bleeding and dying for Western democracy and the EU at a time when so many are losing faith in both. But they are. And they have shown that they can win. Helping them do so will make us stronger, too.

Archive: https://archive.ph/k8LHw

Data colonialism on the African continent has moved from abstraction into formal state policy through binding agreements signed without public consent, parliamentary scrutiny, or meaningful legal protection for citizens. Nigeria’s memorandum of understanding with France on tax administration data, alongside healthcare data-sharing agreements signed by Kenya and Rwanda with United States agencies, reflects a pattern of external control over sovereign information systems. These arrangements represent a transfer of strategic national assets rather than technical cooperation. Historical experience across former colonies shows that control over taxation, health records, and population data has always preceded deeper forms of domination, even when formal sovereignty remained intact.

Minister insists 'modest' bill is not an assault on privacy-preserving tech

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/56917655

It's hilarious China is warning against foreign meddling when they are waist deep meddling in Myanmar's internal affairs. Unless they don't consider themselves "foreign" in Myanmar, because, in their eyes Myanmar is a province of China? hmmm.

Ulefone has already made a name for itself in the rugged smartphone business. Now, it's got a sub-brand that's focused on more niche innovations for people who want more differentiated devices – and its first flagship product is quite something.

The AI-powered ‘Ask this Book’ is a spoiler-free reading assistant.

Chinese satellite came within 200m of Starlink-6079, travelling at ~17,400mph.