SponsorBlock, Timestamps, and Generated Summary below:

SponsorBlock Timestamps:

1. 0:00.000 - 1:35.000 Introduction and Global Recklessness
2. 1:35.000 - 3:05.000 The Unhinged State and Constitutional Breakdown
3. 3:05.000 - 5:25.000 The Authoritarian Blueprint and Liberal Complicity
4. 5:25.000 - 8:57.000 Domestic Police State and Official Racism
5. 8:57.000 - 11:52.000 Media Manipulation and Institutional Decay
6. 11:52.000 - 19:28.000 Shifting Alliances and Military Adventurism

Video Description:

The United States has become completely unhinged, says Chris Hedges. There's only one way to stop Trump, by re-empowering the popular movements that were disembowled by him

Follow #MOATS 496 X: @ChrisLynnHedges #Trump #Democrats #Congress

Generated Summary:

Overall Summary: In this interview, Chris Hedges argues that the United States is rapidly descending into an authoritarian state under Donald Trump. He asserts that while liberal institutions like the Democratic Party and the New York Times correctly identify the threat, they are complicit because they refuse to endorse the only viable solution: mass popular mobilization. Hedges contends that these institutions fear a genuine popular movement would displace them along with Trump, preferring to protect their own privilege even as democratic norms collapse. The discussion outlines twelve key indications of this authoritarian shift, weaving them into an analysis of foreign policy recklessness and domestic repression.

Detailed Segment Outline

Segment 1: [00:00 - 01:35] Introduction: Global Recklessness and Impulsive Leadership

• Key Points: Introduction of Chris Hedges. Discussion of Trump's impulsive and unfocused foreign policy, including potential invasions of Venezuela and Nigeria.
• Arguments: Trump and his administration are "buffoonish" and lack the understanding or capacity to manage the global consequences of their actions. The so-called ceasefire in Gaza is a "slow-walk," with violence continuing and aid blocked.

Segment 2: [01:35 - 03:05] The Unhinged State and Constitutional Breakdown

• Key Points: The proposal to resume nuclear weapons testing passes without major outcry, signaling a numbed political climate.
• Arguments: Hedges states the U.S. has become "completely unhinged," with a subservient Congress and an imperial presidency violating constitutional norms.

Segment 3: [03:05 - 05:25] The Authoritarian Blueprint and Liberal Complicity

• Key Points: Reference to a New York Times article listing the "12 indications" of authoritarianism [https://web.archive.org/web/20251104022430/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/31/opinion/trump-autocracy-democracy-report.html]. The failure of the Democratic Party and its "vapid, celebrity-driven campaign."
• Arguments: The core argument is presented: the liberal elite recognizes the problem but refuses to support mass mobilization—the only true remedy—because it would end their own power and status, making them "full partners in our emerging police state."
  • Indication 1: An Obsequious and Complicit Legislature.
  • Indication 2: Consolidation of Executive Power (Imperial Presidency).
  • Indication 3: Neutralization of the Political Opposition.
  • Indication 4: Liberal Elite Complicity for Self-Preservation.

Segment 4: [05:25 - 08:57] Domestic Police State and Official Racism

• Key Points: The militarization of police, the terrorizing of communities (e.g., Chicago raid), and explicitly white supremacist immigration policies.
• Arguments: The tyranny the U.S. imposed abroad is now being imposed on its own population. The state apparatus is being used to enforce a nakedly racist and xenophobic agenda.
  • Indication 5: Militarization of Domestic Policing.
  • Indication 6: Official Embrace of White Supremacist Policies.
  • Indication 7: Purges of State Institutions.
  • Indication 8: Establishment of Concentration Camps.

Segment 5: [08:57 - 11:52] Media Manipulation, Institutional Decay, and a Third Term

• Key Points: Discussion of media consolidation by figures like Musk and Murdoch, Trump's lawsuits against the press, gerrymandering, and Trump's desire for a third term.
• Arguments: The architecture of democracy is being deliberately dismantled. The media is being consolidated to suppress dissent, elections are being structurally manipulated, and the norm of peaceful power transfer is under direct threat.
  • Indication 9: Corporate-State Media Consolidation to Suppress Dissent.
  • Indication 10: Weaponization of the Law Against Critics.
  • Indication 11: Gerrymandering to Permanently Entrench Power.
  • Indication 12: Open Abandonment of Democratic Norms (Third Term).

Segment 6: [11:52 - 19:28] Shifting Alliances and Military Adventurism as Late-Stage Symptoms

• Key Points: The shift of some right-wing figures (Owens, Carlson) against Israel. The analysis of potential invasions of Venezuela and Nigeria as "disastrous forms of military adventurism."
• Arguments: These foreign policy debacles are characteristic of a "late empire" accelerating its own decline. Hedges concludes by comparing Trump to a "crazy banana dictator" like Trujillo or Papa Doc Duvalier, underscoring the complete erosion of democratic leadership.

About channel:

Straight talking, straight forward. @WorkersPartyGB Seven time Parliamentarian

Delivering to you the towering and sterling efforts of Britain’s most outstanding political figure.

Edit:

1. Generated Summary, Segment3, Added NYT Article link: https://web.archive.org/web/20251104022430/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/31/opinion/trump-autocracy-democracy-report.html

Archived at https://archive.is/WQosl

Every Monday morning, Mexico’s top diplomat in Los Angeles, Carlos González Gutiérrez, holds public forums that have become a kind of help desk for Mexican nationals whose lives have been upended by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Archived at https://archive.is/cJ3nN

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5452624

Australia's spy chief has warned anti-immigration rallies are being exploited by neo-Nazi groups and "Russian operatives" to sow discord, as the country faces a trend seen across Western democracies of declining trust and rising disinformation.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's director-general of security, Mike Burgess, said on Tuesday community cohesion is under attack in an unprecedented way.

...

ASIO is investigating pro-Russian social media influencers who are working with an offshore media organisation to condemn Australia's support for Kyiv, while also using "social media to spread vitriolic, polarising commentary on anti-immigration protests and pro-Palestinian marches", he said.

...

Australia in August expelled Iran's ambassador and said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had directed two anti-Semitic attacks in Australia by using intermediaries.

...

Such efforts were achieving "limited traction", he added, pointing to the stabilising impact of Australia's social-welfare safety net, compulsory voting and growing economy.

While social media algorithms are accelerating extremism and raising the risk of violence, it is people who create the content and decide to act on it, Burgess said.

"I worry we risk creating real world 'aggro-rhythms' where grievance, intolerance, polarisation and rhetoric feed on themselves," he said.

...

Australia's spy chief has warned anti-immigration rallies are being exploited by neo-Nazi groups and "Russian operatives" to sow discord, as the country faces a trend seen across Western democracies of declining trust and rising disinformation.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's director-general of security, Mike Burgess, said on Tuesday community cohesion is under attack in an unprecedented way.

...

ASIO is investigating pro-Russian social media influencers who are working with an offshore media organisation to condemn Australia's support for Kyiv, while also using "social media to spread vitriolic, polarising commentary on anti-immigration protests and pro-Palestinian marches", he said.

...

Australia in August expelled Iran's ambassador and said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had directed two anti-Semitic attacks in Australia by using intermediaries.

...

Such efforts were achieving "limited traction", he added, pointing to the stabilising impact of Australia's social-welfare safety net, compulsory voting and growing economy.

While social media algorithms are accelerating extremism and raising the risk of violence, it is people who create the content and decide to act on it, Burgess said.

"I worry we risk creating real world 'aggro-rhythms' where grievance, intolerance, polarisation and rhetoric feed on themselves," he said.

...

Rule of law is obviously sympathetic to Hamas.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/54567406

Recent attacks by govenment and Karen foces on one of Myanmar's most notorious internet scam hubs sparked a recruitment drive, as fleeing workers rushed to enlist at other, nearby fraud factories, experts and insiders told AFP.

Peru announced on Monday that it had cut off diplomatic ties with Mexico over the asylum claim of former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, who is facing charges in her homeland over the alleged 2022 coup attempt by then President Pedro Castillo.

A new report reveals salmonella is widespread in U.S. poultry production, with major brands like such as Costco regularly exceeding federal safety limits.

The USDA lacks authority to enforce salmonella standards or halt sales; inspectors can only note violations.

When the government reclassified E. coli into a more serious category, there were more recalls and fewer cases of illness.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/52380670

EU climate ministers will make a last-ditch attempt to pass a new climate change target on Tuesday, in an effort to avoid going to the U.N. COP30 summit in Brazil empty-handed.

Countries including China, Britain and Australia have already submitted new climate targets ahead of COP30.

The draft compromise ministers will discuss, seen by Reuters, includes a clause demanded by France allowing a weakening of the 2040 goal in future, if it becomes clear EU forests are not absorbing enough CO2 to meet it.

Brussels has also vowed to change other measures to attempt to win buy-in for the climate goal. These include controlling prices in an upcoming carbon market and considering weakening its 2035 combustion engine ban as requested by Germany.

Canada’s clampdown on international students has hit applicants from India particularly hard, government data shows, as what was once a preferred destination loses its allure for Indian students.

Canada lowered the number of international student permits it issues for the second year in a row in early 2025 as part of a broader effort to reduce the number of temporary migrants and address fraud related to student visas.

About 74% of Indian applications for permits to study at Canadian post-secondary institutions in August - the most recent month available – were rejected, compared to about 32% in August 2023, according to immigration department data provided to Reuters.

Nintendo Switch 2 has sold 10.36 million units and Switch has sold 154.01 million units worldwide as of September 30, 2025, Nintendo announced in its latest earnings release.

The 10 best-selling first-party titles are:

Switch 2

1. Mario Kart World – 9.57 million
2. Donkey Kong Bananza – 3.49 million

Switch

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 69.56 million
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 48.62 million
3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 36.93 million
4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 33.34 million
5. Super Mario Odyssey – 29.84 million
6. Pokemon Scarlet / Pokemon Violet – 27.61 million
7. Pokemon Sword / Pokemon Shield – 26.96 million
8. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – 22.15 million
9. Super Mario Party – 21.23 million
10. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 18.53 million

Newly announced additional first-party sales numbers include:

• Super Mario Party Jamboree – 8.64 million

More than 20.62 million Switch 2 games and 1,452.79 million Switch games have been sold worldwide.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/38310899

Software to check PDF-UA compatibility?

My university is pushing for us to ensure that all our documents are accessibility-friendly. I write all my documents in LaTeX and have been taking the steps and measures to ensure that everything I generate is tagged, has alt text, and colour-blind-friendly.

Unfortunately, it seems the only way I can check for PDF-UA compatibility is with Acrobat Pro which the uni does not provide for us. What's more is that I use Linux and Acrobat doesn't work in that OS.

Is there a Linux-friendly libre software that can check if my PDF document is compatible with the machine-checkable requirements of Matterhorn Protocol?

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/5451316

Background

The river Drina is formed by the confluence of the Montenegrin rivers Tara and Piva at the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), in an area popular for rafting and angling.

The Buk Bijela hydropower plant - one of 14 dams planned on the upper Drina and its tributaries - is planned on the Drina within BiH, with its reservoir stretching 11 kilometres upstream to the Montenegrin border.

A larger version of Buk Bijela has been disputed since the 1970s due to its impacts on the protected Tara canyon in Montenegro – both a UNESCO World Heritage site and part of the Durmitor National Park.

The current version is being pushed by Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS), a public utility owned by the Republika Srpska entity. It would still be extremely damaging, especially as the Foča and Paunci hydropower plants are planned further downstream as part of the same complex. A fourth plant, the 44 MW Sutjeska plant, was also planned but has been abandoned.

Legal challenges on environmental permitting

Buk Bijela has repeatedly been challenged by civil society organisations and the Republic of Montenegro, due to Republika Srpska’s attempts to move forward with the project on the basis of an old and inadequate Environmental impact assessment (EIA).

After decisions by UNESCO and the Espoo Convention, and a mediation process led by the Energy Community Secretariat, in 2024 a new EIA process started. However, the screening study shows that Buk Bijela’s impacts will be assessed on their own in the main study, not in combination with the other plants in the Upper Drina complex. And some of the other plants planned in the area will be excluded from the cumulative impact assessment section of the EIA, undermining the whole point.

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity and civil society organisations have questioned whether a new EIA process should be starting at all, as constitutional issues remain unresolved.

Chinese companies interested

Republika Srpska signed a memorandum on construction of the project with China’s AVIC-ENG in July 2017. But it was reported in 2023 that three other Chinese companies – Dongfang, Sinohydro and China Energy Engineering Corporation had submitted offers to build the project, in a closed procedure without a call for tenders. Later in the year, local media reported that the companies were concerned about the project’s constitutional issues and as of early September 2025, no contracts appear to have been signed.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank have both confirmed that they will not finance the project. A 2021 World Bank report found a number of deficiencies in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the project and proposed a complete redesign.

[...]

A new environmental impact assessment procedure started in 2024 but looks set to exclude most of the cumulative impacts of planned dams in the area.

A legal dispute is ongoing on whether the Republika Srpska entity needs to obtain state-level consent to issue concessions for the project, while civil society organizations criticize authorities over a lack of information available to the public on the project’s feasibility.

[...]

Background

The river Drina is formed by the confluence of the Montenegrin rivers Tara and Piva at the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), in an area popular for rafting and angling.

The Buk Bijela hydropower plant - one of 14 dams planned on the upper Drina and its tributaries - is planned on the Drina within BiH, with its reservoir stretching 11 kilometres upstream to the Montenegrin border.

A larger version of Buk Bijela has been disputed since the 1970s due to its impacts on the protected Tara canyon in Montenegro – both a UNESCO World Heritage site and part of the Durmitor National Park.

The current version is being pushed by Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS), a public utility owned by the Republika Srpska entity. It would still be extremely damaging, especially as the Foča and Paunci hydropower plants are planned further downstream as part of the same complex. A fourth plant, the 44 MW Sutjeska plant, was also planned but has been abandoned.

Legal challenges on environmental permitting

Buk Bijela has repeatedly been challenged by civil society organisations and the Republic of Montenegro, due to Republika Srpska’s attempts to move forward with the project on the basis of an old and inadequate Environmental impact assessment (EIA).

After decisions by UNESCO and the Espoo Convention, and a mediation process led by the Energy Community Secretariat, in 2024 a new EIA process started. However, the screening study shows that Buk Bijela’s impacts will be assessed on their own in the main study, not in combination with the other plants in the Upper Drina complex. And some of the other plants planned in the area will be excluded from the cumulative impact assessment section of the EIA, undermining the whole point.

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity and civil society organisations have questioned whether a new EIA process should be starting at all, as constitutional issues remain unresolved.

Chinese companies interested

Republika Srpska signed a memorandum on construction of the project with China’s AVIC-ENG in July 2017. But it was reported in 2023 that three other Chinese companies – Dongfang, Sinohydro and China Energy Engineering Corporation had submitted offers to build the project, in a closed procedure without a call for tenders. Later in the year, local media reported that the companies were concerned about the project’s constitutional issues and as of early September 2025, no contracts appear to have been signed.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank have both confirmed that they will not finance the project. A 2021 World Bank report found a number of deficiencies in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the project and proposed a complete redesign.

[...]

A new environmental impact assessment procedure started in 2024 but looks set to exclude most of the cumulative impacts of planned dams in the area.

A legal dispute is ongoing on whether the Republika Srpska entity needs to obtain state-level consent to issue concessions for the project, while civil society organizations criticize authorities over a lack of information available to the public on the project’s feasibility.

[...]