I recently wanted to watch something a film and went to one of the first two sites listed on the Reddit's r/Piracy mega thread under it's online streaming section. I normally use an older laptop that I don't care about and have no sensitive info on but wanted to stream to a projector and only my personal laptop had an hdmi port.
I downloaded firefox exclusively to use for piracy streaming but initially forgot to add ublock origin or another AV extension to the browser. When clicking anywhere on the site, a new tab would open that I'd need to close before I could actually engage with the website content (search, play, etc), which had been my experience in the past using online streaming sites. Once, one of the popup tabs opened and immediately started a file download without my permission. I didn't open it and deleted it immediately but have recently been noticing some performance issues on my device Mostly that web pages and their content are slower to load than before and my computer has gotten overwhelmed and frozen a few times - not extremely substantially but en
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I recently wanted to watch something a film and went to one of the first two sites listed on the Reddit's r/Piracy mega thread under it's online streaming section. I normally use an older laptop that I don't care about and have no sensitive info on but wanted to stream to a projector and only my personal laptop had an hdmi port.
I downloaded firefox exclusively to use for piracy streaming but initially forgot to add ublock origin or another AV extension to the browser. When clicking anywhere on the site, a new tab would open that I'd need to close before I could actually engage with the website content (search, play, etc), which had been my experience in the past using online streaming sites. Once, one of the popup tabs opened and immediately started a file download without my permission. I didn't open it and deleted it immediately but have recently been noticing some performance issues on my device Mostly that web pages and their content are slower to load than before and my computer has gotten overwhelmed and frozen a few times - not extremely substantially but enough that I've noticed a difference.
For context: I have a ThinkPad with windows 10 installed and an Intel i5 CPU. My default browser has been Opera for a few months now.
I just checked and the compressed zip file is in my recycling bin (not fully off my computer) and I'm not sure if/how it can affect my device without me ever opening or running its contents. I don't have an antivirus background process on my device aside from the default Microsoft Defender Antivirus that comes with Windows 10.
Is there possibly somewhere I could upload the file to check for malware/scan the file to know what it does (titled "XVlDEOSs_Elena_Frost_IMG_223606" - searching for that title didn't match anything on google)? Is there any chance the file is benign and the performance issues I'm noticing are unrelated to this situation?
TLDR: How concerned should I be about the possibility of a virus on my device from a popup window automatically downloading a zip file I never opened?
Would reinstalling my OS be the main/only possible resolution to a potential virus/worm/malware? I'd really like to avoid that if possible but many of the articles/info I can find about it have inconsistent info about risk and steps to take for resolution. I don't know much about what kinds of risks I might've exposed my computer to. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
There are/were vulnerabilities that are zero click, but in this case I imagine they are just banking on people clicking it in this case. If you're not familiar xvideos is a porn site.
I think you are probably fine as you were running windows defender. It might be a good idea to do a manual full scan and perhaps refresh your browser.
Thank you for that link! It was really helpful for my piece of mind to upload it and see the specific types of threats found in the file scripts! I'm currently parsing through some of the threats/phrases to make sure I would've needed to unzip the file for it to cause any harm but I really appreciate your help!
I am familiar with the concept of xvideos and assume it was titled that to be perhaps enticing (? 😅) for someone to unzip it? Regardless thank you for the kind explanation!
FWIW with virus total, you don't even need to upload the file, just provide the hash to see if is known to virus total. The name may be auto generated which wouldn't help much in searching, but the hash is based on the file contents.
Arbitrary code execution is tricky to pull off without an existing exploit (or a zero day exploit).
It's smart that you didn't open the file, but I suspect it's probably nothing because it would have required you opening the file for any virus contained within to execute.
Still, worth just running your standard Windows Defender virus scan on it and on your computer in general, if nothing else.
That's good to know! I wasn't totally sure what kind of attack I would be at risk for and trying to describe the problem to a search engine in a few phrases was giving me scary results 😅 Thanks!
There's at least some difference between "have been" and "this is currently likely to happen", since if it's known then it would have been fixed. I've gotten viruses before from just visiting websites but it was decades ago and there's no way the same method would work now.
obviously old exploits “have been” patched, but the class of exploits still exists and a NEW exploit, which is unknowable to us, COULD be exploiting via a no-interaction file download. NEW methods are frequently invented so to say he’s safe is incorrect. 999/1,000 they’re just trying to get you to run some file. and for fun, check out Malvertising
It's very unlikely you are infected by anything unless you were using some crazy settings or addons, or unless you were hit by some extreme 0-day exploit that hasn't become widespread yet. Firefox does not and normally cannot execute files it downloads automatically nor are videos a likely risk for remote code execution now that we have technologies like data execution prevention built into processors, if you're attacked by malware it will rely on some other vector or trickery to get you to execute the file. I would expect that your performance issues are unrelated, but you should also check Firefox's addons and extensions as well as your task manager startup tab to make sure nothing has obviously been installed without your knowledge.
One thing that sticks out at me is the fact that you only mention the file's "title" and if you haven't already you should make sure Windows Explorer is set up to ALWAYS show full file extensions, that's like a basic safety measure that really should be on by default but isn't, and it's really mandatory if you're messing around on the darker p
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It's very unlikely you are infected by anything unless you were using some crazy settings or addons, or unless you were hit by some extreme 0-day exploit that hasn't become widespread yet. Firefox does not and normally cannot execute files it downloads automatically nor are videos a likely risk for remote code execution now that we have technologies like data execution prevention built into processors, if you're attacked by malware it will rely on some other vector or trickery to get you to execute the file. I would expect that your performance issues are unrelated, but you should also check Firefox's addons and extensions as well as your task manager startup tab to make sure nothing has obviously been installed without your knowledge.
One thing that sticks out at me is the fact that you only mention the file's "title" and if you haven't already you should make sure Windows Explorer is set up to ALWAYS show full file extensions, that's like a basic safety measure that really should be on by default but isn't, and it's really mandatory if you're messing around on the darker parts of the web. You have to know what kind of file extension it is because that affects what Windows is going to do with it, and when it's supposed to be one thing and Windows is going to do something different with it that's a huge red flag that it's malware trying to trick you into running it.
You can upload the file to virustotal if you want to scan it but it doesn't sound likely that it even ran unless you did something bad by accident.
Thanks for the thorough reply! The download was a zipped folder with other files inside, my bad for not clarifying! I'm not sure how windows handles zip files compared to other file types but I'll definitely look into that. Nothing obvious has been installed or added to Firefox as far as I can tell and I definitely checked out my task manager when my device performance started acting up. I appreciate your insight!
I'm not really sure, it was either 1shows or 456movie but I'm not sure how to find the method used to stream? I tried to inspect the page and was blocked from doing so haha
I'd just delete the file and move on. Get ublock origin for the next time you need to torrent stuff. Its unlikely anyone is burning exploits on random piracy sites. 0 click exploits are like gold.
not entirely true. if the file downloaded, windows does a bunch of “helpful” things with files… these are almost certainly benign (eg rendering thumbnails, getting metadata about certain file types) but almost anything is potentially exploitable (eg overflow in thumbnail generation code could lead to code execution just from browsing a website and then opening your downloads folder in explorer)
drive-by attacks don’t just effect the browser
with that said, it’d be a huge deal if this was the reality of the situation… it’s highly unlikely, but zero days exist, and the possibility is always real
i say this because this has been exploited in the past with exactly the same scenario: preview generation
You should use Firefox with ublock origin in the future or Brave over Opera. And also set downloads to something like ask location before downloading so it doesn't auto download stuff without your permission.
And with you being on Windows 10 I'm guessing your think pad is pretty old. I'd move onto Linux with it being much lightrr and running better.
Opera isn’t bad on its own. There’s nothing wrong with using it, as long as you take proper steps to stay protected. And Brave is largely an astroturfed crypto scam, run by one of the scummiest techbros alive.
You should wipe the whole thing. Ideally, don't install windows again, go with a Linux distro. But wipe it even if you reinstall windows, just to be sure you're safe.
Are you using 7-zip by any chance? There were some recent exploits in older versions that could enable an attacker to install malware when just hoping an archive with it.
Windows 10 is still getting security updates if you enrolled for extended security updates, which I believe my Windows machine prompted me to do (though it's possible I only saw it when I went into update settings to manually update, rather than a desktop notification).
There's also a new activation method in MAS (Microsoft Activation Scripts) that enables the commercial ESU with 3 more years of updates. The regular consumer ESU just gets you 1 more year of security updates.
Also, uBlock Origin isn’t an AV program. It blocks ads, which may be malicious… But malicious ads are only one potential vector for malware, and being blocked won’t necessarily stop drive-by attacks. Because of the way browser ad blockers work, the ad still has to load in the background before it can be blocked, so you’re still being served the potentially malicious ads. It probably would’ve helped in this scenario (where OP actually clicked a malicious ad) but there’s no telling what other BS they picked up just by browsing.
You dont know how to judge if something bad has happened. You dont know what to do if something bad had happened. You dont know how to recover from something bad that may have happened.
You do know that something has happened because the computer is exhibiting different behavior now.
You cant know what happened and it’s not worth the time for you to develop the skills and tools to understand or even be able to use systems like virustotal et.al. which might provide some insight.
Stop using that computer. Turn it off.
If you don’t know where your data is saved, figure it out. If you determine that you want to save data off that computer, pull the drive and order a usb to sata or m2 adapter, whatever the drive is. Plug the drive into the adapter and attach it to a different computer, copy only what you need.
Do you have a way to reinstall windows? If not, go to massgrave.dev and figure it out then reinstall windows.
Do you have some system for backing up your computers?
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Youre working at this from the wrong angle.
You dont know how to judge if something bad has happened. You dont know what to do if something bad had happened. You dont know how to recover from something bad that may have happened.
You do know that something has happened because the computer is exhibiting different behavior now.
You cant know what happened and it’s not worth the time for you to develop the skills and tools to understand or even be able to use systems like virustotal et.al. which might provide some insight.
Stop using that computer. Turn it off.
If you don’t know where your data is saved, figure it out. If you determine that you want to save data off that computer, pull the drive and order a usb to sata or m2 adapter, whatever the drive is. Plug the drive into the adapter and attach it to a different computer, copy only what you need.
Do you have a way to reinstall windows? If not, go to massgrave.dev and figure it out then reinstall windows.
Do you have some system for backing up your computers? Go ahead and test it out now. If you don’t have a system, decide on one. It could be as simple as an external drive you plug in once a week and as elaborate as you like.
Now you have recovered from whatever happened and you have a system and toolkit for dealing with it if it happens again.
What's the relationship between sunspots and geomagnetic storms that can affect the earth? Is this just panic bait or is there actually something potential here?
Yes it's bait but also there is real science behind it. Sun spots are magnetic knots that are wound up magnetic lines. If the lines snap they could pull huge amounts of charged particles and launch them at earth.
The risk is that if big enough it could strip back the our magnetic field reducing our production from radiation and all the electrical charged particles. This could mean electrical systems are disrupted, destroyed, or even catch fire. In the worst case the amount of radiation could kill millions.
I get the vibe "lefty memes" is a misnomer, and an actual liberal like me won't be accepted here even though I'm the definition of "left wing" so I've never tried posting anything in here yet - but everywhere else this was posted so far has hated it, so I'm trying here now.
I like this meme because I noticed parallels in how Republicans and Democrats refuse to coordinate to defend my rights and protect me and my loved ones from senseless danger from extremists.
I'm not quite ready to give up on finding a community where people like this meme. I know it's actually one of the most well-crafted ones yet, no matter what some people say. It was originally posted by @fediverse_fremont@lemmy.world here
Alt text for people who can't read: (Mirrored "Is this a pigeon" meme format, repurposed to represent the lack of US uniparty politics, not blindly misused without understanding it as some commenters will say)
A Republicans on one side and a Democrat on the other, gesturing toward the butterfly between them labeled "compromise" with caption of them saying "What is this thing?"
I can't think of a way to repurpose the ratchet effect with a more fitting outcome, but if you could, I believe you would get a similar outcome. I think it's just basically Democrats hating being called out for violating my rights because they don't support compromise, on the other hand, they prefer blaming republicans for blocking me from the ratchet effect.
Not about the meme's format, but the message itself, sadly.
Okay Heraclitus but there doesn’t seem to be much of a point to anything you’re saying. Maybe if you cited some specific policies people would know what the hell you’re on about.
I just can't think of a template that would be better for this. Maybe I should just try a template that's more directly fitting, even if it doesn't seem "better" to me, in case I'm just reading the situation wrong
Still looking for the right community for this meme
I get the vibe "lefty memes" is a misnomer, and an actual progressive like me won't be accepted here, so I've never tried posting anything in here yet - but everywhere else I've posted this so far has hated it, so I'm trying here now.
I made this meme because I noticed parallels in how Republicans and Democrats coordinate to block access to guns and vaccines, violating my rights and putting me and my loved ones in senseless danger.
I'm not quite ready to give up on finding a community where people like this meme. I know it's actually one of my most well-crafted ones yet, no matter what some people say.
Image text (Morpheus meme format, repurposed to represent US uniparty politics, not blindly misused without understanding it as some commenters keep saying)
Red pill:
Let people who pretend to know nothing about vaccines decide who can get what vaccines
Blue pill:
Let people who pretend to know nothing about guns decide who can get what guns
Sorry but I am completely 1000% confused about what you're trying to say and the sincerity/sarcasm of this post. I'm autistic and my social battery is drained today, so I'm really not able to read through the irony if it's there.
For what it's worth: I'm not sure that I really want the Democrats and Republicans to learn to "compromise" because, as history has shown, they'll compromise with each other to ratfuck anarchists, leftists, and the working class all day every day. And since both parties are liberal parties, and liberals basically exist to provide a palatable pressure valve for the capitalist class to stifle radical movements...I'm not interested in compromising with them either. Like I don't want to compromise with liberals, I want liberals to stop being liberals.
Still looking for the right community for this meme
I get the vibe "lefty memes" is a misnomer, and an actual progressive like me won't be accepted here, so I've never tried posting anything in here yet - but everywhere else I've posted this so far has hated it, so I'm trying here now.
I made this meme because I noticed parallels in how Republicans and Democrats coordinate to block access to guns and vaccines, violating my rights and putting me and my loved ones in senseless danger.
I'm not quite ready to give up on finding a community where people like this meme. I know it's actually one of my most well-crafted ones yet, no matter what some people say.
Image text (Morpheus meme format, repurposed to represent US uniparty politics, not blindly misused without understanding it as some commenters keep saying)
Red pill:
Let people who pretend to know nothing about vaccines decide who can get what vaccines
Blue pill:
Let people who pretend to know nothing about guns decide who can get what guns
Yeah, well, if you don't want me to devour the entire buffet, stop making your food so damn tasty and also fix that weird thing where Chinese food disappears from your belly half hour later and you're hungry again... Then I might eat a respectable amount of your delicious food.
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
For holiday gift I was thinking of making USB/microSDs full of TV/movies. The intended recipients are not tech savvy types. They would be using windows computers, normal TVs etc.
What kind of file formats/encodings would be good to package the files in? What is safe and universally usable? And which ones are to be avoided? I'd like to guarentee they'll play without any fooling around with drivers or software.
And I want them to be as small as possible so that I can fit more stuff.
.mp4 with H264: the most universal, and can be compressed to smaller sizes than you might think. Compatibility and compression will still vary depending if you use AAC or opus audio
.webm with VP9 and opus audio: better compression, not as universal. More open-standards based, maybe best balance of compression and compatibility
.mp4 or webm with AV1 and opus audio: probably best compression, also probably less compatibility than VP9, maybe depends what devices they use - good on new computers / phones / Android based TVs, more iffy on a wider or older range of devives. MP4 maybe friendlier than webm on newish Apple devices
The safest format I can think off would probably be mp4, with h264 for video streams and mp3 for audio streams. Unless you go for ancient technology basically anything should be able to open those files.
You could always package them with everything they need to watch, like VLC (which should be able to read most formats anyway). Not clear if they are all on Windows, but perhaps you could include the portable VLC version that doesn't require an install and make an obvious-named VLC playlist file for them to open.
The only file format that pretty much 100% guarantees support on most media hardware is h.264 in MP4 containers. With some encoder tuning you can make them decently small without loss of fidelity; people will notice bad encoding more than they will a slight loss in pixels. I would focus on making a really high quality 720p copy of the shows ans batch encoding them with handbrake (or finding good encoded copies on the usual places)
It's shocking how little resolution plays into quality. I've re-encoded some videos down to 480 and played them on a 65" TV and they look fine.
I can also make videos look terrible by just trying to save space by reducing the quality level of the conversion while retaining high resolution (1080).
Really depends on the content. Real life, recorded for TV, where there's not a ton of in focus detail? Yea it doesn't matter much. Documentary, videogame, or other content where they try to keep everything in focus? It can make a huge difference.
Though I tend to watch things on a high quality computer monitor, not a tv across the room, so details stand out a lot more in the first place.
mkv and mp4 are the container not the codec. It's a bit more complicated than just the file extension. You likely have more luck with mkv because of just more consistency as mkv is used more often when the file is meant to be played locally and not streamed.
So, you're right. But just looking at the container isn't going to ensure compatibility. The codec is significantly more impactful on whether playback is supported. That's the part that's literally taking the compressed video data and decoding it into viewable pixels/frames you see on your screen.
I've never downloaded an mkv that wasn't just standard h264 or h265. So it's still a good bet. But h265 is less universal and much more CPU intensive for playback (because it has significantly better compression).
as others have mentioned mp4 with h264 is almost certainly the most compatible. that being said, I transcode everything to hevc if I can't get it natively, and never have issues. my server literally cannot transcode. it does not have a GPU, and hevc plays natively on every target device I need. even works in browsers these days.
most people will still say h264 is best. but if you're limited on storage space or want to optimize streaming bitrate hevc works wayyy better than it did even just 1 or 2 years ago.
I meant that devices purchased within the past 8 years or so have hevc decoding now. so even your grandmother who's known for holding on to old tech most likely has something that will work with it.
just in the past year or two I've found that those devices have become common enough for incompatibility to be extremely rare. and the software support is far better within that timeline too. firefox had issues with it as of a few years ago, but it's become pretty seamless on most browsers and devices.
HEVC is a bad idea, as hardware support is still missing on some devices and certain common software such as Windows Media Player cannot play it without a microtransaction. These are easy fixes for anyone with the desire to solve them, but it sounds like that is not who OP is gifting to. I literally had someone ask me last week what to do with a video file WMP could not play and it mildly blew my brain.
I’ve found x265 is pretty universally supported in 2025. I’ve switched all of my downloads for Plex over to 265 and none of my users have reported issues. My users are not particularly tech savvy and have a ton of diversity in their devices from cheap ass smart TVs, to consoles, to various mobile devices and computers.
I think it’s fairly safe to start getting everything in 265 and the space savings is significant. Very easy to get 4K HDR rips that look great for only 5-7 GB. HD rips can easily be 1-2 GB.
Include VLC if you need a player, but again I’ve found nearly everything plays 265 these days. It’s not nearly the compatibility issue it was years ago.
MP4 container, 265 video (w/ HDR10 layer if appropriate), Dolby digital audio (w/ Atmos track if appropriate) is what I usually look for these days for a balance of compatibility and quality.
I’ve found x265 is pretty universally supported in 2025
Keep in mind, that most folks may still have their 30-40" TVs from the early 2010s... They can do H.265 but will seriously struggle with a higher bitrate
The default Windows player does not support h265 without an additional charge. Cheap devices such as my parents' Hisense from 4 years ago also stutter badly on playback of h265, even though they aren't high bitrate (1.5GB for 1.5hr movie, hardly a large video). These are additional barriers that can be avoided by using h264.
I don’t disagree with anything you said; but my point still stands. It’s nearly universally supported these days, even on cheap ass TVs.
For windows users I either point them to Plex so they can hop on my server, MPC-HC (from Klite codec pack), or VLC. In OPs case I’d just include VLC along with the video files.
My Plex users use a multitude of shitty TVs and old consoles, and they report no issues back to me. It’s not the same compatibility situation as it was years ago.
I'm mostly echoing what's already been said, but I have a preset in Handbrake for this, which works fine on most TVs I've tried from the last 10 years (possibly 15 by now) and therefore should have no problem running on any computer. I often (for work reasons) prepare video footage for looped playback on TVs and projectors at numerous places - so "TVs I've tried" is a larger number than it might initially sound like.
It's roughly along these lines (as I appear to have emailed someone about before):
"H264 mp4. 1920x1080. 25 or 30fps, or similar (appropriate to source material). Constant bitrate <=12mbps. 8mbps is generally universally compatible, though you should be able to get away with 10-12mbps on newer TVs with newer USB sticks.
AAC audio 192kbps, though lower is fine.
Use same samplerate as source (i.e. 44khz 48khz etc)
If you've got settings for encoding profile, Main and Level 4.0 should work.
If individual files are small enough (<4GB), format the USB stick as FAT32. Otherwise NTFS. EXT2 will work on a lot of TVs, but you'll have t
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I'm mostly echoing what's already been said, but I have a preset in Handbrake for this, which works fine on most TVs I've tried from the last 10 years (possibly 15 by now) and therefore should have no problem running on any computer. I often (for work reasons) prepare video footage for looped playback on TVs and projectors at numerous places - so "TVs I've tried" is a larger number than it might initially sound like.
It's roughly along these lines (as I appear to have emailed someone about before):
"H264 mp4. 1920x1080. 25 or 30fps, or similar (appropriate to source material). Constant bitrate <=12mbps. 8mbps is generally universally compatible, though you should be able to get away with 10-12mbps on newer TVs with newer USB sticks.
AAC audio 192kbps, though lower is fine.
Use same samplerate as source (i.e. 44khz 48khz etc)
If you've got settings for encoding profile, Main and Level 4.0 should work.
If individual files are small enough (<4GB), format the USB stick as FAT32. Otherwise NTFS. EXT2 will work on a lot of TVs, but you'll have trouble with some computers. Exfat may work on newest tellys, but won't on anything more than a few years old, so safe option is not to use it."
NTFS was around in the 1990s, exFAT is from the 2010s - and I think was also caught up in some sort of copyright/proprietary shit for another 10 years. There are brand new 2025 TVs which still won't read exFAT.
.mpreg uses a sophisticated algorithm to identify repeated sections of the compressed file and retain only one of each part with a list of pointers to where they go. The single repeated sections are stored inside the end of the file and during the decompression process they’re inflated and passed out of the end of the file (or removed from the file by cutting into the bitstream at their stored location where they’re inflating).
It’s a new technology that has made traditional file creation kind of obsolete. In about a decade there will probably only be mpreg.
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Gaza gang leader and Israeli collaborator Yasser Abu Shabab has been killed, reports say
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, even though it gives Israel a free hand to kill as it pleases, it holds out vague hope for a Palestinian state, at least in words. Their whole programme is to destroy any prospect of a Palestinian homeland.
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, e
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, even though it gives Israel a free hand to kill as it pleases, it holds out vague hope for a Palestinian state, at least in words. Their whole programme is to destroy any prospect of a Palestinian homeland.
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, even though it gives Israel a free hand to kill as it pleases, it holds out vague hope for a Palestinian state, at least in words. Their whole programme is to destroy any prospect of a Palestinian homeland.
On 17 November, the United Nations Security Council voted in favour of a resolution which will progress Donald Trump’s ‘peace’ plan for Gaza. But what has so fa
Israel rampages towards catastrophe on the West Bank
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, even though it gives Israel a free hand to kill as it pleases, it holds out vague hope for a Palestinian state, at least in words. Their whole programme is to destroy any prospect of a Palestinian homeland.
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, e
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, even though it gives Israel a free hand to kill as it pleases, it holds out vague hope for a Palestinian state, at least in words. Their whole programme is to destroy any prospect of a Palestinia
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, even though it gives Israel a free hand to kill as it pleases, it holds out vague hope for a Palestinian state, at least in words. Their whole programme is to destroy any prospect of a Palestinian homeland.
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, even though it gives Israel a free hand to kill as it pleases, it holds out vague hope for a Palestinian state, at least in words. Their whole programme is to destroy any prospect of a Palestinian homeland.
Trump’s peace plan in Gaza is unacceptable to the Jewish supremacists in Israel’s ruling coalition. Even though it submits Gaza to an American-led occupation, e
I mean, that is a very valid fear but I'm not sure why Europe's leaders don't take over the US share of enabling Ukraine's defense if that's how they feel.
Also, rich that in the same breath that you ridicule American defense spending, you cry that Europe is too poor to come to its own defense. Some real mental gymnastics there.
Everybody with even a minimally functioning brain knew that Ukraine was an expendable pawn for the west. The real story is that the US will throw Europeans under the bus as well.
They are a Dutch publication, not Russian, and have a long-standing, openly critical stance toward Russia. The question of whether they are "good guys" is irrelevant. If you believe their reporting is unreliable, provide specific sources that contradict their facts. Attacking their character is not a valid rebuttal.
Public opposition to artificial intelligence data centers—and the push by corporations and officials to move forward with their construction anyway—were vividly illustrated in a viral video this week of a woman who was arrested after speaking out against a proposed data center in her community in Wisconsin.
Christine Le Jeune, a member of Great Lakes Neighbors United in Port Washington, spoke at a Common Council meeting in the town on Tuesday evening. The meeting was not focused on the recently approved $15 million "Lighthouse" data center set to be built a mile from downtown Port Washington—part of a project developed by Vantage Data Centers for OpenAI and Oracle—but the first 30 minutes were taken up by members of the public who spoke out against the project.
Public opposition to artificial intelligence data centers—and the push by corporations and officials to move forward with their construction anyway—were vividly illustrated in a viral video this week of a woman who was arrested after speaking out against a proposed data center in her community in Wisconsin.
Christine Le Jeune, a member of Great Lakes Neighbors United in Port Washington, spoke at a Common Council meeting in the town on Tuesday evening. The meeting was not focused on the recently approved $15 million "Lighthouse" data center set to be built a mile from downtown Port Washington—part of a project developed by Vantage Data Centers for OpenAI and Oracle—but the first 30 minutes were taken up by members of the public who spoke out against the project.
As CNBCreported last month, more than 1,000 people signed a petition calling on Port Washington officials to obtain voter approval before entering into the deal, but the Common Council and a review board went ahead with creating a Tax Incremental District for the project without public input. The data center still requires other approvals to officially move forward.
"We will not continue to be silenced and ignored while our beautiful and pristine city is taken away from us and handed over to a corporation intent on extracting as many resources as they can regardless of the impact on the people who live here," said Le Jeune. "Most leaders would have tabled the issue after receiving public input and providing sufficient notice. But you did nothing, and you laughed about it."
Le Jeune spoke for her allotted three minutes and went slightly over the time limit. She then chanted, "Recall, recall, recall!" at members of the Common Council as other community members applauded.
Police Chief Kevin Hingiss then approached Le Jeune while she was sitting in her seat, listening to the next speaker, and asked her to leave.
She refused, and another officer approached her before a chaotic scene broke out.
Last night, the Port Washington Police Department used excessive force to arrest a woman for speaking up against the Vantage data center.
We are thankful that this local advocate is safe, and we condemn the Port Washington PD’s actions in the strongest possible terms. SHAME! pic.twitter.com/35dhEKvojL — Our Wisconsin Revolution (@OurWisconsinRev) December 3, 2025
City officials had told attendees not to speak out of order during the meeting, and Le Jeune acknowledged that she and others had spoken out of turn at times.
But she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she had been surprised by the police officers' demand that she leave, and by the eventual violence of the incident, with officers physically removing her from her seat and dragging her and two other people across the floor.
The two other residents had approached Le Jeune to protest the officers' actions.
"I never expected something like that to happen in a meeting. It was very strange," she told the Journal Sentinel. "Suddenly this police chief showed up in front of me, and all I was thinking was: 'Wait, what is going on? Why is he interrupting her speech? ... It felt like [police] were kind of primed tonight to pounce."
State Sen. Chris Larson (D-7) said that "police should not be allowed to violently detain a person who is nonviolently exercising their free speech. This used to be something all Americans agreed on."
William Walter, executive director of Our Wisconsin Revolution, filmed the arrest and toldABC News affiliate WISN, "I've never seen a response like that in my life."
"What I did see was a lot of members of the Port Washington community who are really frustrated that they're being ignored and they're being dismissed by their elected officials," he said.
AI data centers, he added, "will impact you. They'll impact your friends, your family, your neighbors, your parents, your children. These are the kinds of things that are going to be dictating the future of Wisconsin, not just for the next couple of years but for the next decade, the next 50 years."
After Le Jeune's arrest, another resident, Dawn Stacey, denounced the Common Council members for allowing the aggressive arrest.
"We have so many people who have these concerns about this data center," said Stacey. “Are we being heard by the Common Council? No we’re not. Instead of being heard we have people being dragged out of the room.”
“For democracy to thrive, we need to have respect between public servants and the people who they serve," she added.
Vantage has distributed flyers in Port Washington, which has a population of 17,000, promising residents 330 full-time jobs after construction. But as CNBC reported, "Data centers don’t tend to create a lot of long-lasting jobs."
Another project in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin hired 3,000 construction workers and foresees 500 employees, while McKinsey said a data center it is planning would need 1,500 people for construction but only around 50 for "steady-state operations."
Residents in Port Washington have also raised concerns about the data center's impact on the environment, including through its water use, the potential for exploding utility prices for residents, and the overall purpose of advancing AI.
As Common Dreamsreported Thursday, the development of data centers has caused a rapid surge in consumers' electricity bills, with costs rising more than 250% in just five years. Vantage has claimed its center will run on 70% renewable energy, but more than half of the electricity used to power data center campuses so far has come from fossil fuels, raising concerns that the expansion of the facilities will worsen the climate emergency.
A recent Morning Consult poll found that a rapidly growing number of Americans support a ban on AI data centers in their surrounding areas—41% said they would support a ban in the survey taken in late November, compared to 37% in October.
“Tech giants are cutting backroom deals with utilities and government officials to build massive data centers at breakneck speed, while passing the costs onto working families," said the author of a new Public Citizen report.
Public opposition to artificial intelligence data centers—and the push by corporations and officials to move forward with their construction anyway—were vividly illustrated in a viral video this week of a woman who was arrested after speaking out against a proposed data center in her community in Wisconsin.
Christine Le Jeune, a member of Great Lakes Neighbors United in Port Washington, spoke at a Common Council meeting in the town on Tuesday evening. The meeting was not focused on the recently approved $15 million "Lighthouse" data center set to be built a mile from downtown Port Washington—part of a project developed by Vantage Data Centers for OpenAI and Oracle—but the first 30 minutes were taken up by members of the public who spoke out against the project.
Public opposition to artificial intelligence data centers—and the push by corporations and officials to move forward with their construction anyway—were vividly illustrated in a viral video this week of a woman who was arrested after speaking out against a proposed data center in her community in Wisconsin.
Christine Le Jeune, a member of Great Lakes Neighbors United in Port Washington, spoke at a Common Council meeting in the town on Tuesday evening. The meeting was not focused on the recently approved $15 million "Lighthouse" data center set to be built a mile from downtown Port Washington—part of a project developed by Vantage Data Centers for OpenAI and Oracle—but the first 30 minutes were taken up by members of the public who spoke out against the project.
As CNBCreported last month, more than 1,000 people signed a petition calling on Port Washington officials to obtain voter approval before entering into the deal, but the Common Council and a review board went ahead with creating a Tax Incremental District for the project without public input. The data center still requires other approvals to officially move forward.
"We will not continue to be silenced and ignored while our beautiful and pristine city is taken away from us and handed over to a corporation intent on extracting as many resources as they can regardless of the impact on the people who live here," said Le Jeune. "Most leaders would have tabled the issue after receiving public input and providing sufficient notice. But you did nothing, and you laughed about it."
Le Jeune spoke for her allotted three minutes and went slightly over the time limit. She then chanted, "Recall, recall, recall!" at members of the Common Council as other community members applauded.
Police Chief Kevin Hingiss then approached Le Jeune while she was sitting in her seat, listening to the next speaker, and asked her to leave.
She refused, and another officer approached her before a chaotic scene broke out.
Last night, the Port Washington Police Department used excessive force to arrest a woman for speaking up against the Vantage data center.
We are thankful that this local advocate is safe, and we condemn the Port Washington PD’s actions in the strongest possible terms. SHAME! pic.twitter.com/35dhEKvojL — Our Wisconsin Revolution (@OurWisconsinRev) December 3, 2025
City officials had told attendees not to speak out of order during the meeting, and Le Jeune acknowledged that she and others had spoken out of turn at times.
But she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she had been surprised by the police officers' demand that she leave, and by the eventual violence of the incident, with officers physically removing her from her seat and dragging her and two other people across the floor.
The two other residents had approached Le Jeune to protest the officers' actions.
"I never expected something like that to happen in a meeting. It was very strange," she told the Journal Sentinel. "Suddenly this police chief showed up in front of me, and all I was thinking was: 'Wait, what is going on? Why is he interrupting her speech? ... It felt like [police] were kind of primed tonight to pounce."
State Sen. Chris Larson (D-7) said that "police should not be allowed to violently detain a person who is nonviolently exercising their free speech. This used to be something all Americans agreed on."
William Walter, executive director of Our Wisconsin Revolution, filmed the arrest and toldABC News affiliate WISN, "I've never seen a response like that in my life."
"What I did see was a lot of members of the Port Washington community who are really frustrated that they're being ignored and they're being dismissed by their elected officials," he said.
AI data centers, he added, "will impact you. They'll impact your friends, your family, your neighbors, your parents, your children. These are the kinds of things that are going to be dictating the future of Wisconsin, not just for the next couple of years but for the next decade, the next 50 years."
After Le Jeune's arrest, another resident, Dawn Stacey, denounced the Common Council members for allowing the aggressive arrest.
"We have so many people who have these concerns about this data center," said Stacey. “Are we being heard by the Common Council? No we’re not. Instead of being heard we have people being dragged out of the room.”
“For democracy to thrive, we need to have respect between public servants and the people who they serve," she added.
Vantage has distributed flyers in Port Washington, which has a population of 17,000, promising residents 330 full-time jobs after construction. But as CNBC reported, "Data centers don’t tend to create a lot of long-lasting jobs."
Another project in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin hired 3,000 construction workers and foresees 500 employees, while McKinsey said a data center it is planning would need 1,500 people for construction but only around 50 for "steady-state operations."
Residents in Port Washington have also raised concerns about the data center's impact on the environment, including through its water use, the potential for exploding utility prices for residents, and the overall purpose of advancing AI.
As Common Dreamsreported Thursday, the development of data centers has caused a rapid surge in consumers' electricity bills, with costs rising more than 250% in just five years. Vantage has claimed its center will run on 70% renewable energy, but more than half of the electricity used to power data center campuses so far has come from fossil fuels, raising concerns that the expansion of the facilities will worsen the climate emergency.
A recent Morning Consult poll found that a rapidly growing number of Americans support a ban on AI data centers in their surrounding areas—41% said they would support a ban in the survey taken in late November, compared to 37% in October.
As AI Data Centers Disrupt US Cities, Wisconsin Woman Violently Arrested After Speaking Out
Public opposition to artificial intelligence data centers—and the push by corporations and officials to move forward with their construction anyway—were vividly illustrated in a viral video this week of a woman who was arrested after speaking out against a proposed data center in her community in Wisconsin.
Christine Le Jeune, a member of Great Lakes Neighbors United in Port Washington, spoke at a Common Council meeting in the town on Tuesday evening. The meeting was not focused on the recently approved $15 million "Lighthouse" data center set to be built a mile from downtown Port Washington—part of a project developed by Vantage Data Centers for OpenAI and Oracle—but the first 30 minutes were taken up by members of the public who spoke out against the project.
As CNBCreported last month, more than 1,000 people signed a petition calling on Port Washington officials to obtain voter approval before entering into the deal, but the Common Council and a review board went ahead with creating a Tax Incremental District for the project without public input. The data center still requires other approvals to officially move forward.
"We will not continue to be silenced and ignored while our beautiful and pristine city is taken away from us and handed over to a corporation intent on extracting as many resources as they can regardless of the impact on the people who live here," said Le Jeune. "Most leaders would have tabled the issue after receiving public input and providing sufficient notice. But you did nothing, and you laughed about it."
Le Jeune spoke for her allotted three minutes and went slightly over the time limit. She then chanted, "Recall, recall, recall!" at members of the Common Council as other community members applauded.
Police Chief Kevin Hingiss then approached Le Jeune while she was sitting in her seat, listening to the next speaker, and asked her to leave.
She refused, and another officer approached her before a chaotic scene broke out.
Last night, the Port Washington Police Department used excessive force to arrest a woman for speaking up against the Vantage data center.
We are thankful that this local advocate is safe, and we condemn the Port Washington PD’s actions in the strongest possible terms. SHAME! pic.twitter.com/35dhEKvojL — Our Wisconsin Revolution (@OurWisconsinRev) December 3, 2025
City officials had told attendees not to speak out of order during the meeting, and Le Jeune acknowledged that she and others had spoken out of turn at times.
But she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she had been surprised by the police officers' demand that she leave, and by the eventual violence of the incident, with officers physically removing her from her seat and dragging her and two other people across the floor.
The two other residents had approached Le Jeune to protest the officers' actions.
"I never expected something like that to happen in a meeting. It was very strange," she told the Journal Sentinel. "Suddenly this police chief showed up in front of me, and all I was thinking was: 'Wait, what is going on? Why is he interrupting her speech? ... It felt like [police] were kind of primed tonight to pounce."
State Sen. Chris Larson (D-7) said that "police should not be allowed to violently detain a person who is nonviolently exercising their free speech. This used to be something all Americans agreed on."
William Walter, executive director of Our Wisconsin Revolution, filmed the arrest and toldABC News affiliate WISN, "I've never seen a response like that in my life."
"What I did see was a lot of members of the Port Washington community who are really frustrated that they're being ignored and they're being dismissed by their elected officials," he said.
AI data centers, he added, "will impact you. They'll impact your friends, your family, your neighbors, your parents, your children. These are the kinds of things that are going to be dictating the future of Wisconsin, not just for the next couple of years but for the next decade, the next 50 years."
After Le Jeune's arrest, another resident, Dawn Stacey, denounced the Common Council members for allowing the aggressive arrest.
"We have so many people who have these concerns about this data center," said Stacey. “Are we being heard by the Common Council? No we’re not. Instead of being heard we have people being dragged out of the room.”
“For democracy to thrive, we need to have respect between public servants and the people who they serve," she added.
Vantage has distributed flyers in Port Washington, which has a population of 17,000, promising residents 330 full-time jobs after construction. But as CNBC reported, "Data centers don’t tend to create a lot of long-lasting jobs."
Another project in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin hired 3,000 construction workers and foresees 500 employees, while McKinsey said a data center it is planning would need 1,500 people for construction but only around 50 for "steady-state operations."
Residents in Port Washington have also raised concerns about the data center's impact on the environment, including through its water use, the potential for exploding utility prices for residents, and the overall purpose of advancing AI.
As Common Dreamsreported Thursday, the development of data centers has caused a rapid surge in consumers' electricity bills, with costs rising more than 250% in just five years. Vantage has claimed its center will run on 70% renewable energy, but more than half of the electricity used to power data center campuses so far has come from fossil fuels, raising concerns that the expansion of the facilities will worsen the climate emergency.
A recent Morning Consult poll found that a rapidly growing number of Americans support a ban on AI data centers in their surrounding areas—41% said they would support a ban in the survey taken in late November, compared to 37% in October.
“Tech giants are cutting backroom deals with utilities and government officials to build massive data centers at breakneck speed, while passing the costs onto working families," said the author of a new Public Citizen report.
Just to be safe.
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Yasser Abu Shabab had become an infamous figure in Gaza over the past two years for his role in collaborating with the Israeli army, looting aid convoys destined for starving Palestinians, and sowing social strife amid the genocide.
Cyborganism
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