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Germany could withdraw citizenship due to 'antisemitism' – DW
  • The IHRA working definition cites 11 examples of antisemitism, most of which relate to Israel. According to its clarification: it is antisemitic to deny the Jewish people the right to self-determination, for example by describing Israel as a "racist endeavor" –– one example that can be interpreted quite broadly.

    Yeah, this is bad. The ethno-nationalist apartheid state is a racist endeavor.

    The widespread popularity in Germany of the far-right AfD, parts of which are under state surveillance as suspected "extremist", is a major concern for Lapidot. "At a time when policies and political visions advocated by fascists and Nazis in the 1930s are being revived, portraying antisemitism as imported by Arabs, Palestinians, and Muslims [...]​ is cynical and extremely disturbing."

    The union of trolling and fascism in language is Orwellian.

  • Marine Le Pen found guilty in EU funding embezzlement case
  • I've already seen cryptofascist party leaders elsewhere cry out about "authoritarian and anti-democratic elimination of opponents" over this. So much projection and doublespeak.

    Prosecutors last year said Le Pen's punishment should be not just a €300,000 (£250,000) fine and prison term, but also ineligibility from running for public office for five years.

    Crucially, he said the ineligibility should kick in straightaway, and not be suspended pending appeal.

    The judge has not yet said what the sentence will be.

    Judges could also decide not to impose automatic ineligibility with her conviction, which would leave her free to stand in 2027 during an appeals process.

    The court could also give her a shorter term of automatic ineligibility - say one year - making it possible for her to run.

    During the trial last year, Le Pen denied she had committed "the slightest irregularity".

    There's a long tradition of corrupt/grifter types who race into office with the law on their tail. This should be another sign that immunity needs to be removed from higher offices. I'm beyond sick of seeing literal villains run and even win elections. Every such villain is using the now mainstream PR strategy of claiming to be the oppressed victim persecuted by the ["deep"] state, the scrappy underdog. I get that it's popular to be "anti-system", but none of them truly are that.

  • An AI-based drone that speeds up the detection and monitoring of wildfires is presented in Germany
  • I agree that the drones and their sensors can be used for good things too. That was the initial point: dual use.

  • An AI-based drone that speeds up the detection and monitoring of wildfires is presented in Germany
  • There are already applications (you can buy such drones) for spotting thieves and also for spotting migrants. It's mostly used for night-time monitoring.

  • An AI-based drone that speeds up the detection and monitoring of wildfires is presented in Germany
  • almost always with drones and monitoring.

    The drone will deliver infrared images, among other things, and works in combination with a fire detection system that the company developed earlier and that’s already being used in several countries. The fire detection system, called Silvanet, is designed to detect wildfires at the smoldering stage using solar-powered gas sensors connected via a wireless network.

    It's a good idea. But you can be sure that there already drones being used with infra-red tech to detect "tress-passing" humans.

  • EU set to limit Apple and Meta fines to avoid ire of Donald Trump
  • We need to start shaming businesses and people who have "social media" on those platforms, like with X-Twitter.

  • Jon Stewart on free speech and social media
  • On a related note:

  • Russia has committed the crime against humanity of enforced disappearance, say investigators | HRC58 (UN Human Rights Council)

    >On 19 March 2025, Erik Møse, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, updated the Human Rights Council on the findings of the Commission's latest report, which found that Russian authorities have committed enforced disappearances of civilians in the areas of Ukraine that they control and these are crimes against humanity.

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    'Everything is finished': Ukrainian troops relive retreat from Kursk
  • The soldier predicted Ukraine's entire foothold in Kursk would be lost but that "from a military point of view, the Kursk direction has exhausted itself. There is no point in keeping it any more".

  • Europe fights anti-democratic infections spread by US and Russia.
  • The protests across Southeastern Europe remain in the spotlight as they try to change the deficit regimes into something better. In Romania, when Georgescu's candidacy was once again rejected, his supporters began to break through the fences set up by the police, throwing various objects such as bottles and stones, as reported by David Leonard Bularca and Rebecca Popescu of the Romanian news platform Hotnews.

    Watching live footage of the protest, I saw some of the police limping after being hit by stones. Similarly violent scenes unfolded in Greece, where the second anniversary of the Tempi train disaster sparked what the Greek newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton described as the largest rally in the country's history. Meanwhile in Serbia, students continue to protest, even resorting to camping out between the Serbian parliament and the presidency, according to Danas.

    I don't like the comparisons here between protesters. The ones we had in Romania, the Georgescu fans, were older and brought in via buses, organized mostly by the AUR party and likely joined by some soccer fan groups. These were anti-democratic protests, more in the spirit of the US 1/6 ones, but much smaller and less violent. The Georgescu fans were very upset that their "online collective" size wasn't matched by the presence in real space.

  • Romania election commission excludes second far-right presidential candidate
  • There is a law, but it's poorly worded, so it regularly fails (needs fixes). The constitutional court is not a criminal court.

  • 20 Years of Propaganda Knowledge in 15 Mins

    An intro to Russian propaganda with some words of wisdom at the end.

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    Belgrade, Serbia: sonic wave attack during protest (March 15th, 2025)

    Belgrade authorities have used sound weapons on the crowd of protesters. The video description has some educational links.

    There are lots of videos around.

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    Romania election commission excludes second far-right presidential candidate
  • Like the other far right ones, she wants to take a big dump on the constitution and then set it on fire. That's incompatible with holding the presidential office and others (including military) where the oath requires to protect the constitution.

    https://www.constitutiaromaniei.ro/art-82-validarea-mandatului-si-depunerea-juramantului/

    (1) Rezultatul alegerilor pentru funcţia de Preşedinte al României este validat de Curtea Constituţională.

    The Constitutional Court validates (or invalidates) the election result.

    (2) Candidatul a cărui alegere a fost validată depune în faţa Camerei Deputaţilor şi a Senatului, în şedinţă comună, următorul jurământ: “Jur să-mi dăruiesc toată puterea şi priceperea pentru propăşirea spirituală şi materială a poporului român, să respect Constituţia şi legile ţării, să apăr democraţia, drepturile şi libertăţile fundamentale ale cetăţenilor, suveranitatea, independenţa, unitatea şi integritatea teritorială a României. Aşa să-mi ajute Dumnezeu!”.

    among others, the president swears to respect the Constitution

  • Romania election commission excludes second far-right presidential candidate
  • She was excluded last year too, nothing really changed. She's as bad as Georgescu, from a somehow different angle, along with being openly antisemitic. I guess Europeans saw her in the EU Parliament.

  • Expose on AnarchistFederation.Net
  • needs a list of mastodon accounts too

  • The Realities of Living a Low(er) Energy Lifestyle with Peter Strack

    https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/166-peter-strack

    > States averaging ten thousand watts per year - with other Western countries close behind - our excessive energy consumption is built into both our physical and cultural infrastructure. How much energy do we truly need to lead fulfilling lives, and what changes would be necessary in our neighborhoods and cities to achieve that? In today’s discussion, Nate is joined by Peter Strack, a French researcher and author, to explore the concept of 2000-Watt Societies—innovative models that aim to balance reduced energy consumption with the well-being of the people who live there. Peter explains the historical context of energy consumption and origins of lower-energy communities, as well as the necessary changes in infrastructure, social dynamics, and personal habits to reduce energy consumption while sustaining a lifestyle that is fulfilling and caring for residents. How can building relationships based on trust and reciprocity within our communities enhance resilience and help reduce energy consumption? What models already exist for communal infrastructure and sharing the labor needed for maintenance and care work? Finally, how could the 2000-Watt Society offer a more comfortable, connected way of living for more people – perhaps even more than high-energy Western lifestyles – while staying within our environmental and resource constraints?

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    Trump threatens 200% retaliatory tariffs on European wines, alcohols
    www.theguardian.com ‘Slap in the face’: AOC condemns Schumer over plan to vote for Republican funding bill – as it happened

    Minority leader’s intention to vote for Republican funding bill to avert shutdown attacked by progressive Democrats

    ‘Slap in the face’: AOC condemns Schumer over plan to vote for Republican funding bill – as it happened

    > Donald Trump is starting off his morning by doing something he’s done quite often, which is threaten tariffs on major US trading partners. > > The latest salvo is aimed at the European Union and their alcoholic beverage industry, particularly France and its world-renowned vineyards. Trump says he’ll put tariffs on what the bloc exports to the United States, after the EU yesterday imposed their own levies on American whiskey in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel. > > The escalatory tit-for-tat is why these things are referred to as trade wars. Here’s what Trump wrote, on Truth Social: > >> The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.

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    The Ensh*tification of America? Make It Make Sense Podcast

    >Donald Trump has spent the week dizzyingly going back and forth on everything from tariffs to Russia to supporting veterans to Elon Musk. It's been a week of 180-degree-turned-360-degree turns causing confusion and chaos. Grant breaks down the biggest flip-flops, what they mean, and what to know next >Grant also talks to Cory Doctorow, the inventor of the word "Enshitification," journalist, author, and activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (link below) to talk all about what enshitification is and how it applies to the US government now.

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    www.newsguardrealitycheck.com A well-funded Moscow-based global ‘news’ network has infected Western artificial intelligence tools worldwide with Russian propaganda

    An audit found that the 10 leading generative AI tools advanced Moscow’s disinformation goals by repeating false claims from the pro-Kremlin Pravda network 33 percent of the time

    A well-funded Moscow-based global ‘news’ network has infected Western artificial intelligence tools worldwide with Russian propaganda
    0
    voxeurop.eu More than one in ten Europeans cannot afford to heat their homes

    Some 47 million people in Europe were unable to heat their homes sufficiently last winter. This figure has risen dramatically since 2021.

    More than one in ten Europeans cannot afford to heat their homes

    A longer article about energy costs, especially heating, and climate adaptation efforts, and how right-wing parties are profiting from fake populism about cheap fossil energy needs.

    A relevant snippet:

    >In times of extremely high living costs, carbon pricing not softened by support measures is of enormous social and political significance: those who can afford to renovate or install renewable energy sources will be less impacted, whereas those who are poor or renting will have to spend much more of their income on heating costs and will furthermore be unable to free themselves of the dependency on CO2. Across Europe, a dispute over carbon pricing has erupted.

    >“We are currently seeing attempts by the conservative and right-wing factions in the European Parliament as well as by member states and the business community to undo climate efforts,” says Green Party MEP Michael Bloss. “It would make sense to start working now on establishing programmes for the potential revenues so money can be paid out directly from 1 January 2026. Otherwise, there is a risk of the ETS2 becoming a social trap from 2027.”

    ...

    >According to Sibylle Braungardt from the Öko-Institut in Freiburg, there are large subsidy programmes in Germany for energy-efficient renovations and replacements of heating systems by more sustainable alternatives. However, it is mostly high-income households taking advantage of these programmes. “It’s problematic if homeowners can renovate and install heat pumps to pay their way out of carbon pricing but renters cannot.”

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    Greenpeace on Trial: Lawsuit over Standing Rock Protests Could Shutter Group & Chill Free Speech - Democracy Now!

    >A closely watched civil trial that began in North Dakota last week could bankrupt Greenpeace and chill environmental activism as the climate crisis continues to deepen. The multimillion-dollar lawsuit by Energy Transfer, the oil corporation behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, claims Greenpeace organized the mass protests and encampment at Standing Rock between 2016 and 2017 aimed at stopping construction of the project. Although the uprising at Standing Rock was led by Indigenous water defenders, Energy Transfer is instead going after Greenpeace for $300 million in damages — an amount that could effectively shutter the group’s U.S. operations. “This case is not just an obvious and blatant erasure of Indigenous leadership, of Indigenous resistance,” says Deepa Padmanabha, a senior legal adviser for Greenpeace USA. “It is an attack on the broader movement and all of our First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful protest.”

    DemocracyNow original video is here (yes, they host their own videos too): https://www.democracynow.org/2025/3/4/greenpeace - you can find a transcript on this page.

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    www.currentaffairs.org The Horrifying Fascist Manifesto Endorsed By J.D. Vance

    A disturbing book plans a ruthless total war against the “unhuman” left.

    The Horrifying Fascist Manifesto Endorsed By J.D. Vance

    >The book Unhumans, by Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec, is a fascist manifesto. It argues that the “Great Men of History” should take their cues from homicidal dictators like Augusto Pinochet and Francisco Franco, reject reason and democracy, and ruthlessly annihilate the gangs of communist “unhumans” who are currently threatening to destroy the United States. It explicitly advocates “eye for an eye” justice, promising a new McCarthyism complete with blacklists, along with the immediate banning of all teachers’ unions. It is perhaps the most paranoid, hateful, and terrifying book I have ever picked up. (I say this as someone who has read Mein Kampf.) And it comes with a warm and supportive blurb from Ohio senator J.D. Vance, who is currently the Republican party’s vice presidential nominee.

    7
    www.theguardian.com Trump’s ‘bald power grab’ could set US on path to dictatorship, critics fear

    Little-noticed order that gives US president powers far beyond mere oversight denounced as ‘breathtaking’

    Trump’s ‘bald power grab’ could set US on path to dictatorship, critics fear

    >Trump’s executive order stripped agencies of their independence by making them directly accountable to a part of the presidency: the office of management and budget (OMB). The OMB is led by Russell Vought, founder of the rightwing Center for Renewing America (CRA) thinktank and one of the primary authors of the Project 2025 plan for an authoritarian takeover of government.

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    We Are Scrolling Out of Time

    >What is happening with your time? From the increased screen time and slop, to addiction and antisocial behavior - the world seems to be on fire, yet we seem to be disengages, isolated and lonely.

    >This video is about death of the community, screen addiction, AI generated slop media, it is about the theft of your wage and time by the ultrarich and the failure of the state to take control of the social decay, climate change, and economic threats - and so much more.

    0
    Călin Georgescu does a nazi salute after leaving the General Prosecutor's office (Romania)

    edit: seems that gif images don't work, so here's the gif:

    !

    edit2: another angle from a different TV camera: https://i.imgur.com/Jezrgss.gif (I'm not embedding it because it's larger and one animation is enough)

    For context:

    Recent https://piefed.social/post/499497

    Source video on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Romania/comments/1iyrln3/c%C4%83lin_georgescu_face_salutul_nazist_la_ie%C8%99irea_de/ from a Romanian TV (I wouldn't call it "news", it's like OAN for Trump now)

    Broader issue of election meddling:

    https://www.sgdsn.gouv.fr/publications/manipulation-dalgorithmes-et-instrumentalisation-dinfluenceurs-enseignements-de

    https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2025/02/07/algorithmic-invasions-how-information-warfare-threatens-nato-s-eastern-flank/

    Here's the short gif: https://i.imgur.com/OR56MVe.gif

    Not sure if this should be NSFW.

    17
    The Perfect Pedestrian (1927)

    "The Perfect Pedestrian ; or, Making the World Safe for Motocracy."

    Cartoon in Punch Magazine, Feb 2, 1927.

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    Content Moderation: 2/23/25: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

    This is the official episode on YouTube, it may not work in some locations. The relevant segment starts at around 9:00.

    I'm posting it here because the Trump regime is making a big point of protecting "Big Tech" interests in Europe. And the moderation challenge presented by Oliver shows why "Big Tech", at least social media, needs to be severely limited, if not kicked out entirely.

    It's a conflict and the moderation issue is a key aspect of it because, without moderation, these platforms become superspreaders for scams, misinformation, and divisive & delusional conservative "narratives" (as they call them). It is cyberwarfare and also social engineering, and the Trump regime is demanding maximum deregulation.

    From the video description:

    >John Oliver discusses Facebook’s controversial new plans for content moderation and DOGE’s continued firing of government workers, including some of America’s best dorks: Park rangers.

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    www.theguardian.com Can Moldova – population 2.4m – show the world how to stand up to Putin?

    The tiny former Soviet republic’s determination not to be cowed by the Kremlin could provide a template for the west on how to hold back the tide of subversion and corruption

    Can Moldova – population 2.4m – show the world how to stand up to Putin?
    1
    "Arctic Climate Collapse! This time it's REALLY flipped!!" - Just have a Think

    >The Arctic region has been a massive store of carbon for thousands of years. Now it's warming between 3 and 7 times faster than the global average and that carbon is escaping into our atmosphere. The latest research suggests that more than a third of it is now a net emitter! And in case you're wondering...that's NOT good!

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    "Istanbul buried in snow, Turkey on alert!"

    !

    See timecode 3:54

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    dumnezero dumnezero @piefed.social
    Posts 42
    Comments 114