Technicians working on a firewall upgrade made at least ten mistakes, contributing to two deaths, according to a report on a September incident that saw Australian telco Optus unable to route calls to emergency services.

Background

I have been quite fascinated by Europe's continental suicide in the face of the failure of Project Ukraine and the fracturing of the "transatlantic understanding".

I think Europe still has time to choose strategic autonomy:

• Rapprochement with Russia to restore their energy competitiveness.
• Rapprochement with China to restore their global trade and industrial competitiveness.
• Seek out global markets to blunt the Trump tariffs.
• Pressure Ukraine to hasten their inevitable capitulation before they loose EVEN MORE LAND AND SOLDIERS.

Of course as we all know, the Western media has the complete opposite narrative, a jumble something like "Russia has lost 10 bajillion soldiers and they don't actually have military equipment at all and also advancing on the battlefield counts as losing if it wasn't as fast as we ourselves predicted it would be."

Content for the tribunal:

Mod actions: removed comments, banned from community

Responsible mod: Unknown to me

Link to First Comment (now removed)

First comment with better formatting:

1. This war started in 2008 at the Bucharest NATO summit, when the US announced its intention to expand NATO into Ukraine and Georgia. EVEN EUROPEAN LEADERS like Merkel and Sarkozy noted AT THE TIME that the Russians would view NATO expansion into these countries as tantamount to a declaration of war. Over the next 14 years the West did a "color revolution", the Banderites did an ethnic cleansing campaign in the Donbass, and the West sabotaged and undermined THREE DIFFERENT PEACE AGREEMENTS before the Russians' famous patience finally expired in 2022.
2. Ukraine doesn't need money to win the war, it needs TRAINED INFANTRY and to a lesser extent weapons. MOREOVER, anyone who thinks this money will last Ukraine even a whole year is delusional. The annual BASELINE burn rate of the Ukraine regime is 150B+ annually, and tax receipts are essentially nonexistent.
3. They must be REALLY DESPERATE to risk the CREDIBILITY OF THE ENTIRE EUROPEAN FINANCIAL SYSTEM on this foolish gambit. They are breaking the very "Laws of Capital" that the West itself wrote. The Europeans seem determined to beat the Americans in a race to economic decline and collapse.

Tell me again about the "moral case" for stealing sovereign assets to prop up a stunningly corrupt regime in terminal collapse?

Looking forward to the tortured logic justifying my ban.

My Commentary

I know enough to know that they really don't like contrary narratives about Russia/Ukraine in any of the Euro-comms so I wrote my comments very carefully.

Can you, the esteemed commenters of YPTB, spot the misinformation or rage bait? Perhaps I am just blind to it in my own content. If present, did I "ragebait first" or did the other commenter?

Reminder that "Russia says this, therefore it is misinformation" is not a cogent argument or evidence.

Hello Plex / Home Assistant community!

I used to post regularly with Plex related projects to Reddit but since leaving I figured I'd try sharing my latest project here instead

My latest project, in an effort to decouple my smarthome setup from Alexa, is to recreate the functionality provided by the Plex Alexa skill so I can play things to my various Plex clients with voice commands in Home Assistant (plus I assume like all things I enjoy Plex will eventually EOL this anyway)

I mostly made this for my own personal usage initially but decided to make it into a blueprint and share

https://github.com/mdhiggins/PlexVoiceAssistant

I have a few other Plex/*arr related projects if you check out my Github

Hope others find value in this as well but its working nicely in my home setup

Developer @psyc@lemmy.world

title

Carmakers have known for decades that battery recycling was poisoning people abroad. Nigeria’s crackdown is an effort to catalog the damage.

Experts decry ‘neocolonialist’ Guinea-Bissau study after Trump administration changed advice for US babies

The Trump administration has indicated that it will fund a $1.6m study on hepatitis B vaccination of newborns in the west African country of Guinea-Bissau, where nearly one in five adults live with the virus – a move that researchers call “highly unethical” and “extremely risky”.

The news follows an official change in recommendations on hepatitis B vaccines at birth from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which called the shots an “individual” decision, despite decades of safe and effective vaccination and no evidence of harm. It is part of sweeping changes to childhood immunizations by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, which have global repercussions – including cutting funding for programs that bring vaccines to countries around the world.

“He has a fixed, immutable belief that vaccines cause harm,” said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “He will do everything he can to try and prove that.”

He accused the government of trying to take the “easy route” of “reaching into Poles’ pockets”.

This is pure populism. The government isn't doing this because they are evil and want to ruin the life of the ordinary Polish family. hey are doing this because alcohol and sugary drinks have devastating consequences on the healthcare system:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2023-06-09-alcohol-consumption-increases-risks-over-60-diseases

https://continentalhospitals.com/blog/can-soft-drinks-increase-your-risk-of-type-2-diabetes/

When Polish people get sick for diseases that could have been easily avoided, they will need medical appointments, surgeries, medications.

Who is going to pay for that ? Not Coca-Cola. Not Pepsi.

After the controversial news shared earlier this week by Mozilla’s new CEO that Firefox will evolve into “a modern AI browser,” the company now revealed it is working on an AI kill switch for the open-source web browser.

On Tuesday, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo was named the new CEO of Mozilla Corporation, the company behind the beloved Firefox web browser used by almost all GNU/Linux distributions as the default browser.

In his message as new CEO, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo stated that Firefox will grow from a browser into a broader ecosystem of trusted software while remaining the company’s anchor, and that Firefox will evolve into a modern AI browser and support a portfolio of new and trusted software additions.

What was not made clear is that Firefox will also ship with an AI kill switch that will let users completely disable all the AI features that are included in Firefox. Mozilla shared this important update earlier today to make it clear to everyone that Firefox will still be a trusted web browser.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40523135

Trade war with Canada has contributed to a significant decline in U.S. liquor sales

Jim Beam, one of the largest makers of American whiskey globally, is shutting down bourbon production at one of its Kentucky distilleries for a year.

The move comes amid Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, which has contributed to a significant decline in U.S. liquor sales after the country ushered in a boycott of American booze, and as more young adults are cutting back on drinking.

Jim Beam, owned by Suntory Global Spirits, is one of Kentucky’s biggest bourbon producers.

The Bluegrass state’s $9 billion whiskey bourbon industry has been struggling to manage its abundant supply of liquor against the drop in demand.

Several of Waymo's autonomous vehicles were seen stuck in the middle of San Francisco streets following a significant power outage that took out the city's traffic lights. Waymo responded to the power outage by suspending its ride-hailing services in the city, but images and videos on social media showed the self-driving taxis stopped at intersections with hazard lights on.

"We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage," Suzanne Philion, a spokesperson for Waymo, told Engadget in an email. "Our teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon."

Humphrey Bogart

Just curious...

Are there people here who have an ergonomic keyboard (e.g. at work), but also use a laptop often that does usually not have an ergonomic keyboard?

Does it work? Does it feed good? Or will it be harder for me to hit the keys when switching the device between work and private time?

Official indicates vessel is subject to sanctions after Trump’s ‘blockade’ on sanctioned tankers in and out of Venezuela

US Coast Guard officials said on Sunday that they are tracking an oil tanker in international waters close to Venezuela, according to Reuters, marking the second such action over the weekend – and the third within the past week.

One official indicated that the tanker is subject to sanctions. The officials, who requested anonymity, did not disclose the precise location of the pursuit.

Donald Trump had recently declared a “blockade” targeting all sanctioned oil tankers traveling into or out of Venezuela.

The US president’s campaign to increase pressure on authoritarian Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has involved a strengthened American military presence in the region, along with more than two dozen military strikes against vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near the South American country. Those attacks have resulted in at least 100 deaths.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/51996289

The U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday it has signed agreements with 24 organizations, including tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia to advance the Genesis Mission.

The mission is a national program aimed at using artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific research and strengthen U.S. energy and security capabilities.

The department said the program is designed to boost scientific productivity and reduce reliance on foreign technology.

Participants include major cloud and chip providers such as AWS, Oracle, IBM, Intel, AMD, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, alongside AI specialists OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI.

Nvidia will provide accelerated computing platforms and AI models for scientific simulations, while Microsoft and Google will contribute cloud infrastructure and AI tools to support large-scale research.

Oracle is expected to assist in building high-performance computing systems, and Palantir will offer data integration and analytics capabilities. Startups Cerebras and Groq will supply advanced AI chips optimized for scientific workloads. OpenAI signed a memorandum of understanding under its "OpenAI for Science" initiative, deploying frontier AI models in national lab research environments and providing its tools and workflows to DOE scientists.

Anthropic will supply its Claude models and offer a dedicated engineering team to DOE to develop AI agents, model context protocols, or MCPs, and specialized Claude "skills" for national labs. The partnerships will focus on AI models for applications ranging from nuclear energy and quantum computing to robotics and supply chain optimization.

The Genesis Mission builds on earlier collaborations between the DOE and the booming industry to deploy high-performance computing systems at Argonne and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

The department said it expects the effort to significantly accelerate scientific discovery, as it plans to expand partnerships with academia and non-profits.

At least 13 people in Gaza, including two-week-old and one-month-old babies, have died from winter weather and a lack of adequate shelter and aid – blocked by Israel.

Opinion piece by Sir William Browder, founder and head of the [Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign](Sir William Browder is the author of Red Notice and Freezing Order, and head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign)

...

The EU agreed to extend a €90 billion (£79 billion) interest-free loan to Ukraine, intended to safeguard the country’s defences and basic functioning for the next two years.

It was a vital lifeline but it came with a grave failure: the outright rejection of a far bolder and more just plan to confiscate Russia’s frozen central bank assets and put them to work for Ukraine.

...

The assets in question amount to roughly €210 billion in Russian central bank reserves, immobilised inside the EU just weeks after Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They represent a vast war chest belonging to a regime committing mass murder, war crimes and territorial theft in plain sight. Yet they remain untouched, sitting inert in the West’s financial institutions while Ukrainian cities are reduced to rubble.

...

The urgency of this moment cannot be overstated. The Brussels summit took place against a backdrop of mounting danger for both Ukraine and Europe. Since returning to office in January, President Trump has followed through on his campaign promise to slash American support for Ukraine. In February 2025, after a shameful attack on President Zelensky in the Oval Office, Trump ordered a full pause on all US military assistance. Up to that point, the United States had provided roughly 40 per cent of Ukraine’s military support. Its sudden withdrawal pushed Kyiv to the edge of disaster.

...

Putin is already testing the boundaries of Western resolve. Russia’s drones have violated Polish airspace. Its fighter jets have breached Estonian skies. In the Baltic Sea, undersea cables have been cut in acts of suspected sabotage. These are calculated provocations, designed to probe Nato’s defences and measure our willingness to respond.

...

Instead of making Russia pay for the destruction it has caused, we are asking citizens across Europe to underwrite Ukraine’s survival through public debt. It is a stopgap, not a solution, and it signals weakness where strength is required.

...

There was, at least, one modest breakthrough. Days before the summit, the EU invoked an emergency legal mechanism to freeze Russia’s €210 billion in assets indefinitely, rather than renewing the sanctions every six months. Until now, a single member state could veto each renewal.

...

What is most dispiriting is why confiscation was rejected. A small group of countries, led by leaders openly sympathetic to Moscow, blocked the plan. Hungary and Slovakia played their expected roles. More shocking was the opposition from the Czech Republic, a country with its own painful history of Russian domination. Belgium, which holds most of the assets through its Euroclear depository, ultimately refused to move forward after its prime minister [Bart De Wever] reportedly was personally threatened by the Kremlin.

This capitulation is shameful. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czechs are all net beneficiaries of EU funds. Yet they have forced the rest of Europe’s 450 million citizens to shoulder the cost of supporting Ukraine, while Putin’s money remains untouched. Taxpayers in Germany, France, the Netherlands and elsewhere will now foot the bill. The Kremlin, meanwhile, is openly mocking Europe’s timidity.

...

History teaches us that financial pressure can succeed where diplomacy fails. Russia may not count its dead but it surely count its money. Seizing those frozen reserves would strike at the heart of Putin’s system and hasten an end to the war.

...

This debate is not over. The assets remain frozen. The war continues. The moral case for confiscation grows stronger every day. Europe’s leaders must return to this issue. Countries that obstruct justice should face consequences, including reductions in EU funding to offset the cost of the loan. Belgium’s prime minister should be shamed for yielding to intimidation. And the UK, which is not constrained by EU infighting, should set an example. Instead of copying the EU and standing down, which it announced on Friday, the UK should confiscate the billions in Russian assets frozen in London and transfer them to Ukraine.

After two decades confronting the Kremlin, I have learnt one lesson above all others: evil advances when good people hesitate. Putin invaded Ukraine expecting a divided and fearful West. We must prove him wrong. Confiscating his frozen billions is not theft. It is restitution. It is justice. And it is long overdue.

Archive link

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/40626783

The Jewish-Arab movement is celebrating its 10th anniversary after a period of rapid expansion. But as it grows, so do questions about its political stances, its electoral ambitions, and the limits of binational organizing.

from +972’s Sunday Recap
#972Magazine [published in #Israel]
Dec 21, 2025

Also:

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• Is Israel’s genocide economy on the brink?
• From cash brokers to crypto, Gazans struggle to stay financially afloat
• PODCAST: Who’s afraid of Palestinian Christianity?