ariadne

ariadne , 19 days ago to random

"More than half of all structures in the #Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged since war started - analysis - About 55% of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged since the war erupted in October, according to preliminary satellite analysis by the #UN.

The analysis showed more than 137,000 buildings affected, #Unosat, the UN satellite analysis agency, wrote in a post on X.

The estimate is based on a satellite image taken on 3 May, and compared with images taken in May a year earlier, last September, and on 15 October – just over a week after Hamas’s 7 October attack on #Israel." (from the #Guardian live feed, 12:52 CEST 03. June 2024)

#Israel #Palestine #War #Palestinians #Palestinian

ariadne , 23 days ago to random

"Journalist threatened over reporting on spy chief and ICC, Israeli newspaper says - Haaretz says journalist warned of ‘consequences’ if he reported on attempts by head of the Mossad to intimidate ex-prosecutor of ICC"

"Israel’s leading leftwing newspaper, #Haaretz, has said unnamed senior security officials threatened one of its investigative reporters if he reported on attempts by the former head of the #Mossad to intimidate the ex-prosecutor of the international criminal court.

Amid growing concern over Israel’s censorship regime, enforced by the military censor’s office and by gag orders issued by the courts, Haaretz published an article on Wednesday with blacked out words and sentences to demonstrate the scale of redactions.

In an article published on Thursday, investigative reporter Gur Megiddo described how two years ago security officials blocked an attempt by the paper to report efforts by the former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen to threaten the then #ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. Details of the operation to influence Bensouda were revealed this week by the Guardian and Israeli media partners +972 magazine and Local Call."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/30/journalist-threatened-over-reporting-on-spy-chief-and-icc-israeli-newspaper-says

#Israel #Politics #War #WarCrimes #Palestine #WestBank #Gaza

breadandcircuses , 23 days ago to random

The "Enlightenment" of Western culture makes for a nice story, but that's really all it is — a story.

#Science #Economics #History #Capitalism

ariadne , 23 days ago to random

Bravo to moral integrity - "Two more #US officials resign over #Biden administration’s position on #Gaza #war - The officials accuse the administration of not telling the truth about Israel’s obstruction of aid to #Palestinians in Gaza"
...
“I cannot do my job in an environment in which specific people cannot be acknowledged as fully human, or where gender and human rights principles apply to some, but not to others, depending on their race,” wrote Alexander Smith, a senior #USAID "adviser on gender, maternal health, child health, and nutrition."
...
"In another resignation on Tuesday, a state department official from the bureau of population, refugees and migration, Stacy Gilbert, sent an email to colleagues explaining that she was leaving because of an official finding by the department that Israel was not deliberately obstructing the flow of food or other aid into Gaza."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/30/two-more-us-officials-resign-over-biden-administrations-position-on-gaza-war

#Israel #Palestine #US #USPolitics #WarCrimes #Genocide #HumanRights #Military

tortitude , 24 days ago to random

"For many schools—particularly large research universities—to divest from war would be to commit institutional suicide." Then so be it. We should build revolutionary alternatives now. Long live People's Universities!

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/university-war-machine-gaza-protest/

ariadne , 25 days ago (edited 24 days ago) to random

The 'real' #polls in the #US presidential race are pretty meaningless, so why not a #Mastodon #poll?
Here's the question - Will Donald #Trump be elected president of the #UnitedStates in November? (Clearly he should not be elected to any office, or even allowed on the ballot, but that's not the question)

#USPolitics #Politics #Election #Election2024 #Elections #Democracy #Fascism #DonaldTrump

ariadne , 25 days ago to random

117,232 casulaties in #Gaza since #Israel began their attack - "More than 36,096 #Palestinians have been killed and 81,136 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive on #Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday." (Guardian live feed, 12.59 CEST, 28. May 2024) #War #Palestine

tobeB , 26 days ago to random

Over the past year, land and ocean temperatures have soared, far beyond what was anticipated for an El Niño year ... From record-breaking wildfires across continents to catastrophic floods threatening to submerge major cities, extreme climate events have become the new norm, causing massive loss of life and economic damage worldwide. On our current path, civilisation as we know it will disappear. Yet despite mounting evidence and urgent pleas, meaningful action falters.

#climateChange #climateCatastrophe #climateEmergency #climateBreakdown #tippingPoint

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/27/humanity-survival-emissions-resilience-ecosystems-greenhouse-gases

DemocracyMattersALot , 29 days ago (edited 28 days ago) to random

#BoycottBlackstone #StephenSchwarzman #EatBillionaires #GiftLink

Blackstone Chief Stephen Schwarzman Says He Will Back Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/us/politics/blackstone-stephen-schwarzman-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uU0.JvRw.nv_nppM4wsXA&smid=url-share

BylinesEast , 29 days ago to random

2023 marked the hottest summer in the Northern Hemisphere in 2000 years, almost 4°C warmer than the coldest summer in the same period. #ClimateCrisis #GlobalWarming

-- Sarah Collins reports. From Cambridge University -- thanks

https://eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/climate/2023-recorded-as-hottest-in-2000-years/

QasimRashid , 29 days ago to random

As you watch Justice Thomas and Alito explicitly endorse racism and gerrymandering, and even go as far as to slam the Brown v Board ruling—a reminder that this corruption is who SCOTUS has always been.

Here are the receipts: https://qasimrashid.substack.com/p/what-if-the-greatest-obstacle-to

ariadne , 29 days ago to random

Just announced - " #ICJ orders #Israel to halt #Rafah military offensive - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to halt its Rafah military offensive." (Guardian live feed, 15.26 CEST, 24. May 2024) #Gaza #War #Palestine

aral , 29 days ago to random

Biden seems determined to lose this election. Maybe some of you should express your anger at him for doing so. Why is he trying so hard to get Trump elected? Doesn’t he understand how terrible things will be under Trump? That democracy itself is at stake? Is helping Israel commit genocide so important to him that he’ll sacrifice US democracy for it?

#Biden #JoeBiden #genocideJoe #USPol #UnitedStates #USA #Israel #Palestine #settlerColonialism #apartheid #zionism #ethnicCleansing #genocide

ayoub , 30 days ago (edited 26 days ago) to random

So what do you call this level of hatred? This fanatical desire to annihilate an entire civilisation?

Image description: Israeli occupation soldiers set fire to #Gaza’s Al Aqsa University library and took photos of themselves doing it #Israel #Palestine

ariadne , 1 month ago to random

#Ireland, #Norway, and #Spain recognize #Palestine as a state. "Irish prime minister Simon Harris said on Wednesday that he expected other countries to join Ireland, Spain and Norway in recognising a #Palestinian state in the coming weeks.

“Today, Ireland, Norway, and Spain are announcing that we recognise the state of #Palestine,” Harris said at a press conference, reports Reuters.

“Each of us will now undertake whatever national steps are necessary to give effect to that decision,” he said. “I’m confident that further countries will join us in taking this important step in the coming weeks.”

(Guardian live feed, 09:21 CEST, 22, may 2024)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/may/22/israel-gaza-war-hamas-palestinian-state-middle-east-benjamin-netanyahu

#Gaza #Israel #War

ariadne , 1 month ago to random

"Israeli soldiers and police tipping off groups that attack Gaza aid trucks" ...
"Individual members of Israel’s security forces are tipping off far-right activists and settlers to the location of #aid trucks delivering vital supplies to #Gaza, enabling the groups to block and vandalise the convoys, according to multiple sources.

#Settlers intercepting the vital #humanitarian supplies to the strip are receiving information about the location of the aid trucks from members of the Israeli police and military, a spokesperson from the main Israeli activist group behind the blockades told the #Guardian.

The claim of collusion by members of the security forces is supported by messages from internal internet chat groups reviewed by the Guardian as well as accounts from a number of witnesses and human rights activists."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/21/israeli-soldiers-and-police-tipping-off-groups-that-attack-gaza-aid-trucks

#Israel #Palestine #War #UN #HumanRights

ariadne , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

Key Findings of Oil Change International's "Big #Oil Reality Check" - Oil majors fail to align with international agreements to phase out #FossilFuels and to limit global temperature rise to 1.5ºC ... Combined, 8 ('oil majors') companies’ current oil and #gas extraction plans are consistent with more than 2.4°C of global temperature rise, likely leading to global devastation."
...

• Every company is “Grossly Insufficient” or “Insufficient” on a majority of criteria.

• Three companies (Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil) are “Grossly Insufficient” — our lowest rating — on all criteria.

• These 8 companies alone are on track to use 30% of our remaining carbon budget to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C.

• Of the 8 analyzed companies, 6 have explicit goals to increase oil and gas production. Even those without such plans are advancing new #FossilFuel projects and selling polluting assets rather than shutting them down, masking their actions as contributing to an energy transition while perpetuating #climate pollution.

• Integrity: None of the companies we analyzed have set comprehensive targets to ensure their total emissions decline rapidly and consistently, starting now. Every company intends to rely on carbon capture and storage (CCS), offsets, and/or other methods that delay and distract from ending fossil fuels, and prolong the health and community safety impacts of dirty energy.

People-Centered Transitions: All companies fail to meet basic criteria for just transition plans for workers and communities where they operate. All companies fail to meet basic criteria on upholding human rights."

You can download the full report here - https://www.oilchange.org/borc/

#ClimateChange #BigOil #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #GlobalWarming #GlobalHeating #CO2 #CCS #Carbon #Capitalism #Klima #Klimakrise

pvonhellermannn , 1 month ago to random

How can this be. How can the killing and destruction go on and on and on. How can a refugee camp be bombed and there be no outrage or reaction. How can US continue supplying arms when there is a new invasion. And what has happened to ceasefire negotiations after Israel’s latest rejections?

Israel pushes further into parts of north Gaza; new cracks in Netanyahu coalition | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dozens-killed-wounded-israeli-forces-thrust-deeper-gazas-jabalia-rafah-2024-05-18/

pvonhellermannn , 1 month ago to random

Amira Hass, the only Jewish Israeli reporter to have spent 30 years living in the West Bank and Gaza, delivered the 2024 graduation speech at Columbia Journalism School and encourages journalists everywhere "to resist the normalization of evil and injustice." #Gaza

https://youtu.be/DIILcoPSNQs?si=fYfVfCmbkJtgItu_

ariadne , 1 month ago to random

"Eurovision winner Nemo urges Switzerland to recognise third gender - First non-binary person to win song contest calls for home country to allow third-gender entries on official documents"
...
“A non-binary person who officially doesn’t exist in #Switzerland has won #Eurovision 2024 for us all with #BreakTheCode,” a Green party politician, Sibel Arslan, who in 2017 proposed allowing non-binary designations in Switzerland, wrote on social media."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/16/eurovision-winner-nemo-urges-switzerland-to-bring-in-third-gender

#Eurovision2024 #Nemo #Politics #HumanRights #LGBTQRights #LGBTQ #LGBTQI #NonBinary #Enby

ariadne , 1 month ago to random

time for some good news ...
"‘It’s unbelievable the difference a path has made’: how volunteers are building a #cycle network a yard at a time - In the past two years, multiple sections of a hoped-for 76-mile rural #cycling and #walking route spanning #Somerset have sprouted up around the small town of Shepton Mallet, seemingly every few weeks.

These new routes are popular. One 300-metre section of path in the heart of the town, for example, uses one of Historic Railway Estates’ bridges for the first time for a cycle route (an organisation usually more given to infilling its structures).

The path, with its smooth surface and artwork, ducks under a busy road that was previously terrifying for walkers and cyclists to have to cross. Now a large housing area is safely connected to schools, shops, parks and local businesses. Within a year, digital counters detected 104,000 trips – in a town of fewer than 10,000 people."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/16/cycle-network-strawberry-line-somerset-volunteers

#Bicycle #Bicycles #Fahrrad #Fahrradfahren #UK #GreatBritain #England #Britain #Climate #Environment #Environmentalism

pvonhellermannn , 1 month ago to random

#ClimateDiary All those reading and contributing to ClimateDiary will know that questions of #Hope #Optimism #Despair #DesperateDetermination are central to what we are collectively trying to work through here.

This essay by Jag Bhalla, on "The Dark Origins of Optimism and its Current Cheerful Evils", is one of the best pieces I've ever read on this. Maybe the best (also many links). Enjoy.

"As Voltaire knew, optimism is often an elite-serving demon in disguise"

https://sublationmedia.com/the-dark-origins-of-optimism-and-its-current-cheerful-evils/

ariadne , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random French

"Les foules n’ont jamais eu soif de vérité. Devant les évidences qui leur déplaisent, elles se détournent, préférant déifier l’erreur, si l’erreur les séduit. Qui sait les illusionner est aisément leur maître ; qui tente de les désillusionner est toujours leur victime." C'est ce qu'écrit Gustave LeBon dans son livre de 1895, "Psychologie des foules".

Êtes-vous d'accord avec LeBon?

ariadne , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random German

„Nie haben die Massen nach Wahrheit gedürstet. Von den Tatsachen, die ihnen mißfallen, wenden sie sich ab und ziehen es vor, den Irrtum zu vergöttern, wenn er sie zu verführen vermag. Wer sie zu täuschen versteht, wird leicht ihr Herr, wer sie aufzuklären sucht, stets ihr Opfer.“ So schrieb Gustave LeBon in seinem Buch (1895) "Psychologie der Massen".

Hat LeBon recht?

ariadne , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

"The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim." So wrote Gustave LeBon in his 1895 book, "The Crowd - A Study of the Popular Mind". Do you agree with LeBon's bleak assessment?

ariadne , 1 month ago to random

not just a sign of things to come due to the #ClimateCrisis, but here and now - "No #internet, no #phone: #Canada #wildfires expose fragility of rural infrastructure - Remote communities suffer total loss of #communications after fires damage critical fibre optic cables

Shortly before sunset on Friday, residents of Canada’s #Yukon territory discovered their connection to the outside world had vanished. Internet access had gone. Mobile hones showed no signal. Landlines had failed.

Chaos quickly set in. Electronic payments couldn’t be processed. In #Whitehorse, the capital, most ATMs couldn’t function and the few that did were quickly drained of cash from panicked residents. City officials warned that the ability to call police, ambulance or fire services was non-existent."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/15/internet-access-rural-canada-wildfires

#ClimateChange #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCollapse #GlobalWarming #ClimateChange #Drought

ariadne , 1 month ago to random

Some good #climate news! "Herd of 170 #bison could help store #CO2 equivalent of almost 2m cars, researchers say - Free-roaming animals reintroduced in Romania’s Țarcu mountains are stimulating plant growth and securing #carbon stored in the soil while grazing"
...
"The latest research, which has not been peer-reviewed, used a new model developed by scientists at the #Yale School of the #Environment and funded by the Global #Rewilding Alliance. It calculates the additional amount of atmospheric CO2 that #wildlife species help to capture and store in #soils through their interactions within #ecosystems. The European bison herd grazing in an area of nearly 50 sq km of grasslands within the wider Țarcu mountains, was found to potentially capture an additional 2m tonnes of carbon a year. That is nearly 9.8 times more than without the bison – although the report authors noted the 9.8 figure could be up to 55% higher or lower, given the uncertainty around the median estimate. This corresponds to the yearly CO2 emissions of 1.88m average US petrol cars."
...
"The report on Romania’s European bison is “the first of its kind”, said Sylvén, adding that the model provided “a very powerful tool at hand to give directions to wildlife reintroductions”.

Schmitz said the team had looked at nine species in detail, including #tropical #forest #elephants, musk oxen and sea #otters, and had begun to investigate others. He added: “Many of them show similar promise to these bison, often doubling an ecosystem’s capacity to draw down and store #carbon, and sometimes much more. This really is a policy option with massive potential.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/15/bison-romania-tarcu-2m-cars-carbon-dioxide-emissions-aoe

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Romania #Klima #Klimakrise #CarbonDioxide #Emissions

ariadne , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

The pre-eminent philosopher (and recently deceased) Daniel Dennett stated recently that "Large Language Models #LLM are the most dangerous technology ever developed, capable of leading to the collapse of not just #democracy but of #civilization ... This technology can flood the world with manipulative fake people ... Who controls your attention, controls you. We are in danger of losing our free will and being turned into puppets."

Do you agree with Dennett?

(interview here, beginning at 06:11, unfortunately only on YT, not available on #Invidious - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh2dgsaNY3A)

#Technology #LLMs #ChatGPT #Physics #Philosophy #FakeNews #DeepFake #DeepFakes #AI #OpenAI #DanielDennett