Israel’s expanding ‘Yellow Line’ swallows Gaza districts and uproots families
By Maha Hussaini in Gaza City, occupied Palestine
13 December 2025 09:44 GMT
“From the first day we came back, we heard bombardment, demolitions and gunfire,” Hamed said.“It would start at sunset and continue until dawn.”
At first, they assumed the explosions were far away, believing the Yellow Line was still distant.
But now, Hamed can see the yellow concrete blocks placed by Israeli forces from his window – a sight that wasn’t there just weeks ago.
Across Gaza, the temporary demarcation line has been shifting, creeping ever closer to densely populated areas and fuelling fears of renewed displacement and violence by Israel.
Israel’s expanding ‘Yellow Line’ swallows Gaza districts and uproots families
When Ahmed Hamed returned to his home in Gaza City after the ceasefire, it stood about 1.5 kilometres west of the so-called “Yellow Line” enforced by Israel. Two months on, that distance has shrunk to roughly 200 metres.Maha Hussaini (Middle East Eye)
Pro-Palestine prisoner on hunger strike 'deteriorating past point of no return'
Pro-Palestine prisoner on hunger strike for 39 days 'deteriorating past point of no return'
Pro_palestine activist Amu Gib, who has been on hunger strike for almost 40 days, is deteriorating past the point of no return, their friends say.Gergana Krasteva (Metro)
Are canadians friendly to people from other countries?
I plan on traveling to Canada, but I do have this worry.
To be more specific, I'm not kinda black, my skin's somehow white, but I have black relatives, which means I got wavy hair and some other things.
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Home Assistant and VLANs/Other Networks
So I moved a few months ago, and only just now had time between work and school to set up my smart home again. Which turned out to be a sort-of blessing, since HA did some updates and the one for sensor and binary sensor templates dramatically screwed me as I template a lot. It also gave me the opportunity to upgrade my Yellow's Pi module, and I found (though haven’t installed) an internal z-wave module for it, which I'll do when I'm off for Christmas and New Year.
However, since I am starting fresh, I thought I'd ask around on best practices. So I use the Orbi Pro 6 which has three primary and one guest SSID, and I have it behind a Google router in its DMZ because we have Google Fiber here. Which also turned into an advantage because I wanted to a.) do full IoT isolation and also b.) have someplace to put my singleboard computers and my servers that's safer but still have internet access plus c.) avoid wifi congestion (three VLANs plus the primary router's wifi takes care of that nicely).
On the Orbi: VLAN1 is primary and where I keep my singleboard computers, my servers, two TVs, X-Box, Switches, and my laptop. VLAN2 is for IoT hubs, cameras, Roomba, etc. VLAN3 is strictly lightbulbs, which sounds ridic but when I did a wifi analysis they really really super really take up a lot of wifi bandwidth, I've been slowly replacing with Hue and other zigbee, but it's in progress. I may move the cameras there as well.
What I need to figure out is the best way to connect everything to Home Assistant. What I was doing was attaching Yellow to VLAN1 by ethernet and VLAN2, VLAN3, and the primary SSID by wifi. On the Orbi router is an mDNS gateway page so I set it to connect my VLANs so they can exchange some data.
But now I have some time to design, and also, I can run multiple instances of HA on one of my servers. I had been doing that anyway to test any chances and test and run Add-ons that I wrote myself, just not a permanent one (again, test instance; I murdered it a lot and spun up a new one when things got weird).
So for anyone who deals with multiple SSIDs or VLANs (or just has an opinion): keep Yellow as is or go with the multiple instances and use Remote Home Assistant (which I used with my test instance and it worked very well) to send entities in the VLANs back to Yellow? Anyone?
Elections impossible under Zelensky’s ‘terrorist regime’ – Ukrainian MP
Elections impossible under Zelensky’s ‘terrorist regime’ – Ukrainian MP
Elections in Ukraine are only possible after the “capitulation” of Vladimir Zelensky’s “terrorist regime,” Artyom Dmitruk has saidRT
China to regulate CEO romance micro dramas, warns against content promoting materialism, flaunting of wealth: report
China to regulate CEO romance micro dramas, warns against content promoting materialism, flaunting of wealth: report
Chinese authorities have recently released guidelines to regulate CEO romance micro dramas, emphasizing the need to avoid promoting ideals that glorify marriage with the powerful, wealthy individuals or families.www.globaltimes.cn
China’s subsea centre could power 7,000 DeepSeek conversations a second: report
China’s subsea data centre could power 7,000 DeepSeek conversations a second: report
Computing power in underwater computing cluster off Hainan will be used in AI training, game production and marine research: state media.Holly Chik (South China Morning Post)
The rate they are in increasing energy demand might have the planet boiling within 10 years.
😶
You’ll have to watch carefully the number to look at is total energy consumption.
Feel free to explain why people’s energy bills and my energy demand from data centers slated grow exponentially
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That's just saying that China is one of the most populous countries in the world that also happens to be a global manufacturing hub. China still uses fossil fuels, but I think it's fair to call it an electrostate at this point.
- China’s carbon emissions have been in a structural decline since 2023 theguardian.com/business/2023/…
- Clean energy was top driver of China’s economic growth in 2023 carbonbrief.org/analysis-clean…
- China installed more solar in 2025 than rest of the world combined electrek.co/2025/09/02/h1-2025…
- China’s solar capacity surges; predicted to top 1 TW by 2026 rystadenergy.com/news/china-s-…
- China is also building out nuclear at a breakneck pace economist.com/china/2023/11/30…
- New energy vehicles account for 77.6% of China's public transport system shine.cn/news/nation/240308998…
Finally, it's also worth noting that China has a concrete plan for becoming carbon neutral, which it's already ahead of
H1 2025: China installs more solar than rest of the world combined
Solar surged 64% in H1 2025 with 380 GW added worldwide, led by China’s record pace, keeping 2025 on track for new highs.Michelle Lewis (Electrek)
That any organism will try to maximize its energy usage in any ecosystem like deer will eat all the forest if given the chance. It's the same thing with humans. If someone lowers their fossil fuel consumption in one area, another area will make it go up until we run out. But we've been on a plateau for years and it's starting to decline and we should see global decline by 2030. And the 2030s are going to be the interesting times of the Chinese proverb.
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The fact of the matter is that air is an incredibly inefficient thermal conductor so data centers have to burn a massive amount of extra electricity just to run powerful fans and chillers to force that heat away. That extra energy consumption means an air cooled facility is responsible for generating significantly more total heat for the planet than a liquid cooled one.
When you put servers in the ocean you utilize the natural thermal conductivity of water which is about 24 times higher than air and allows you to strip out the active cooling infrastructure entirely. You end up with a system that puts far less total energy into the environment because you aren't wasting power fighting thermodynamics. Even though the ocean holds that heat longer the volume of water is so vast that the local temperature impact dissipates to nothing within a few meters of the vessel.
I feel like dumping "waste" heat is the same as burning off "waste" gas from pumping oil.
It's not really just a waste byproduct, there just isn't a profitable way to utilize it. That heat could be used, but we just dump it into the ocean or the atmosphere because it's cheaper than building municipal heating or recycling it for industrial uses.
China's first commercial nuclear district heating scheme expands
China's Haiyang nuclear power plant in Shandong province has begun its sixth heating season, covering an area of nearly 13 million square metres - 500,000 square metres more than last year. ;World Nuclear News
I heard about that! Heat from data centers is harder, unfortunately, because the amount of waste heat generated by a nuclear reactor is far higher than the amount generated by a data center. With smaller quantities of heat come greater costs to recuperate it, at least until they link all the waste-heat sources up into a single network that can collect from multiple data centers.
China is moving fast, though. I bet we'll see some kind of project like this before the bubble pops in the US.
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Un semplice analizzatore di chat whatsapp
Per quelli che non vogliono impazzire a leggere chat di gruppo infinte.
Andrebbe un po' affinata, se possibile senza arrivare a usare l'AI per leggerezza.
AAA cercasi affilatori di spade
GitHub - suoko/WhatsAppChatSummarizer
Contribute to suoko/WhatsAppChatSummarizer development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
un sistema per creare un sommario delle chat con millemila messaggi non letti.
Non so se genera anch un albero stimato delle conversazioni, per rimediare alla coglionagine di quelli che non menzionano mai il messaggio cui rispondono
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E magari integrarlo in fluffy chat.
Volevo quasi sentire lo sviluppatore di raccoon se conviene switchare a kmp subito o vedere di migliorarla prima e poi switchare.
Si, questo fa poco, ho provato qualche ai con python ma è veramente un casino capire le chat di gruppo e costruirci dei dati aggregati (esattamente come è difficile per noi umani)
Questo è quel che fa per ora:
Il testo viene suddiviso in righe. Ogni riga che inizia con un pattern riconosciuto come data/ora di WhatsApp (es. 10/12/25, 11:55 - ...) viene trattata come l'inizio di un messaggio. Viene estratta la data e confrontata con un insieme di date relative agli ultimi N giorni (di default, 10). Solo i messaggi appartenenti a queste date target vengono considerati.
Filtro per Parole Chiave: Per ogni messaggio filtrato per data, il testo del messaggio stesso (esclusa la parte del mittente e potenzialmente link/menzioni) viene confrontato con un insieme predefinito di parole chiave (es. "compiti", "riunione", "evento", "compilare", "sondaggio", "importante", "per venerdì", ecc.).
Identificazione Messaggi Significativi: Se una qualsiasi delle parole chiave è presente nel testo del messaggio (in forma minuscola e con corrispondenza parziale), il messaggio viene considerato significativo. Vengono estratti:
La data del messaggio.
Il mittente (numero o nome).
Il testo del messaggio.
Eventuali riferimenti temporali trovati all'interno del testo (es. "venerdì", "alle 15", "prossima settimana") utilizzando espressioni regolari.
Una categoria assegnata automaticamente in base a quale insieme specifico di parole chiave (es. " Incontri / Eventi", " Compiti / Verifiche") è stato trovato nel messaggio.
Formattazione del Riassunto: I messaggi identificati come significativi vengono poi raggruppati:
Prima per data, in ordine cronologico inverso (dal giorno più recente).
Poi all'interno di ogni data, vengono raggruppati per la categoria assegnata.
Infine, all'interno di ogni categoria e data, vengono elencati i singoli messaggi, mostrando mittente, testo e eventuali riferimenti temporali trovati.
Output: Il risultato finale è un testo formattato che rappresenta un riassunto contestuale e organizzato dei messaggi significativi trovati negli ultimi N giorni, evidenziando argomenti come appuntamenti, compiti, richieste, eventi, ecc., raggruppati in modo logico per facilitarne la lettura.In sintesi, non è un vero e proprio "riassunto" AI, ma piuttosto un filtro contestuale basato su parole chiave con una riorganizzazione e formattazione del risultato.
Pull-Effekt: Sachsen bietet Exklusivausbildung für faschistische Jurist*innen
Wer gegen die allgemeinen Menschenrechte ankämpft, sollte im Gerichtssaal nur auf der Anklagebank etwas zu sagen haben – so zumindest die Theorie in Deutschland seit den Nürnberger Prozessen. Anders sieht man das in Sachsen. Hier werden Faschist*innen auch nach höchstrichterlichen Urteilen noch Rosen auf den Weg gestreut.
Doch der Reihe nach: Im Oktober 2022 entschied der Sächsische Verfassungsgerichtshof (SächsVerfGH) in einem umstrittenen Urteil, dass Sachsen dem Dritten Weg-Kader Matthias Bauerfeind, sein Rechtsreferendariat ermöglichen müsse. In Bayern und Thüringen war der langjährige Neonazi mit seinen Klagen – wie in vergleichbaren Fällen aller Bundesländer seit einem Leiturteil von 1975 üblich – gescheitert. Bauerfeind zog im bayerischen Fall sogar vor das zuständige Bundesgericht und verlor – allerdings zu spät, denn da war der Neonazi, dank der eigensinnigen Auslegung des höchsten sächsischen Gerichts, bereits fertig ausgebildeter Volljurist. Tür und Tor stehen neonazistischen Jurist*innen seitdem in Sachsen offen.
Matthias Bauerfeind
Der 1984 geborene Matthias Bauerfeind war von 2005 bis 2012 Funktionär der NPD und ab 2009 Kern einer Kameradschaft im „Freies Netz Süd“. Von 2005 bis 2013 wurde er fünf Mal verurteilt, u.a. wegen Widerstands gegen Vollstreckungsbeamte und Verwendens von Kennzeichen verfassungswidriger Organisationen. Nach dem Verbot des „Freien Netz“ im Jahr 2014, baute er als „stellvertretender Gebietsleiter Süd“ den Dritten Weg in Bayern mit auf. Dokumentiert sind beispielsweise seine Auftritte 2016 in Nürnberg, 2017 in Fulda und 2019 in Kempten. Bemerkenswert, aber wenig überraschend: Zuletzt fiel der auf Strafrecht spezialisierte Bauerfeind damit auf, dass er von mehreren baden-württembergischen AfD-Kreistagsfraktionen das anwaltliche Mandat in Verwaltungssachen erhielt.
Wir wollen euch hier den jüngsten Fall des sächsischen Sonderwegs vorstellen:
Im Mai 2025 wurde der Faschist John Hoewer aufgrund seiner Tätigkeit und Publikationen bei der Jungen Alternativen, dem extrem rechten Verein Ein Prozent, und dem offen faschistischen Jungeuropa Verlag als Rechtsreferendar in Rheinland-Pfalz abgelehnt. In seiner Begründung schrieb das Gericht in Koblenz, dass es in einer „wehrhaften“ Demokratie „(…) dem Staat [nicht] zuzumuten [sei], verfassungsuntreue Bewerber in den Vorbereitungsdienst aufnehmen zu müssen.“
Doch dann bewarb sich Hoewer in Sachsen.
Nachdem das Oberlandesgericht (OLG) Hoewer zwei mal aus Zweifel an seiner Verfassungstreue ablehnte, entschied das Oberverwaltungsgericht (OVG) Bautzen im November 2025, dass Hoewer unverzüglich seine juristische Ausbildung beim Oberlandesgericht (OLG) Dresden aufnehmen dürfe. Das OVG Bautzen sah sich dabei an das kritisierte Sonderurteil des SächsVerfGH gebunden. Es bekräftigte seine Zweifel an der Richtigkeit dieses Urteils sogar nachdrücklich. Trotzdem verzichtete es auf eine Weiterleitung des Falls an das zuständige Bundesgericht (BVerfG), welches 2024 im Fall Bauerfeind doch eindeutig im Widerspruch zum SächsVerfGH entschieden hatte. Eine verpasste Gelegenheit. Und so bleibt das Motto der sächsischen Rechtspraxis vorerst: Nur weil man Faschisten ablehnen kann, heißt das noch lange nicht, dass man sie auch ablehnen muss. Denn in Sachsen reicht es seit 2022 nicht aus, nachweislich einer menschenverachtenden Ideologie anzuhängen. Man muss sich schon strafbar machen im Kampf gegen die freiheitlich demokratische Grundordnung.
John Hoewer
Der neu-rechte Kader John Hoewer, Jahrgang 1987, ist im April 2025 von seinem stellvertretenden Vorstandsposten bei Ein Prozent zurückgetreten. Zwei Monate nachdem er sich erstmals in Sachsen beworben hatte. Dabei ist ihm ein aktives Eintreten gegen die „freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung“, welches dem Bundesverfassungsgericht 2024 als Ablehnungsgrund für ein Rechtsreferendariat genügte, wahrlich nicht schwer nachzuweisen:
Schon im Januar 2017 soll Hoewer in handgreiflichen Auseinandersetzungen mit linken Demonstranten in einem Hörsaal der Universität Magdeburg verwickelt gewesen sein. Im April 2017 dann begleitete er den laut eigener Aussage den „Rechtsradikalen“ Philip Stein zu einer Veranstaltung der italienischen Faschisten von Casa Pound in Rom. Ebenfalls 2017, im Juli, besuchte John Hoewer gemeinsam mit weiteren AfDlern, JNlern und anderen Neonazis das „Deutschland-Seminar“ der extrem rechten Braunschweiger Burschenschaft Thuringia. Im Jahr 2021 nahm John Hoewer nachweislich an Kampfsportrainings mit anderen Neonazis der Jungen Alternative, der AfD und der NPD (heute Die Heimat) in Berlin Weißensee teil. Im Jahr 2022 war Hoewer dann Beisitzer im Verbandsrat der extrem rechten Deutschen Burschenschaft (DB). Ja, Hoewer ist Burschenschaftler, und zwar bei Germania Köln, Raczeks Breslau zu Bonn, und dort fechtet er vor NS-“Kunst“ mit Hakenkreuz. Die Burschenschaft ist übrigens die, die 2011 einen Antrag bei der DB einbrachten, der als „Ariernachweis“ bekannt wurde. Geschenkt, dass Hoewer auch jahrelang zum Jungen Alternative Landesvorstand in Sachsen-Anhalt gehörte und mindestens von Januar 2018 bis März 2025 für den AfD-Fraktionsvize im Bundestag, Sebastian Münzenmaier (Mainzer Burschenschaft Germania Halle), als Mitarbeiter angestellt war.
Diese Gesetzeslage und Rechtssprechung, der sächsische Sonderweg, ist in Deutschland einmalig. Im Raum steht der Verdacht, dass die Entscheidung des Sächsischen Verfassungsgerichtshofes von 2022 dem geltenden Bundesrecht widerspricht. Dass es auch anders geht, zeigt das Nachbarland Thüringen. So wies das Thüringer Verfassungsgericht im November 2025 eine AfD-Klage ab und entschied, dass Personen nicht zum juristischen Vorbereitungsdienst zugelassen werden sollen, wenn sie gegen die freiheitlich-demokratische Grundordnung verstoßen.
Doch Bauerfeind und Hoewer sind nicht die einzigen, denen der sächsische Sonderweg zugutekam. Der Neonazi Brian Engelmann durfte bereits im November 2018 sein Rechtsreferendariat in Chemnitz antreten, obwohl man um sein Weltbild wusste – im selben Monat stand er für seine Beteiligung am Überfall auf den alternativen Leipziger Stadtteil Connewitz mit anderen Neonazis vor Gericht. Und selbst nachdem sein Urteil von einem Jahr und vier Monaten auf Bewährung im Jahr 2020 für rechtskräftig erklärt wurde, entschied das Oberlandesgericht Dresden (OLG), dass Engelmann seine juristische Ausbildung abschließen dürfe. Jetzt ist der Mann mit den Hakenkreuzen auf der rechten Schulter Volljurist und in der Rechtsanwaltskanzlei des Leipziger Szene-Anwalts Arndt Hohnstädter angestellt.
Brian Engelmann
Der 1992 in Freital geborene Brian Engelmann ist mehrfach vorbestrafter Gewalttäter und Kampfsportler. Schon 2012 griff Engelmann in eine Auseinandersetzung in einer Dresdner Diskothek ein. Dabei brach er dem Angreifer mehrere Gesichtsknochen und zerstörte ihm diverse Zähne, als er ihm gegen den Kopf trat. Im selben Jahr zog Engelmann für sein Jura-Studium nach Leipzig und fiel dort bald als Teil des “Bushido Sportcenter Leipzig” (ehemals “Bushido Free Fight Team”) von Marko Zschörner auf. In den folgenden Jahren trat Engelmann immer wieder als MMA-Kämpfer bei einschlägigen Veranstaltungen in Erscheinung. So gab es z.B. 2013 einen Kampf in Köthen gegen Kevin Kraft – ein weiterer Neonazi, dem zusammen er schließlich am 11.01.2016, im Nachgang des Angriffs auf Leipzig-Connewitz, von der Polizei festgesetzt wurde. Gemeinsam mit Mitgliedern der Neonazi-Struktur „HooNaRa“ („Hooligans, Nazis, Rassisten“), wie beispielsweise Martin Krause, arbeitete Engelmann jahrelang beim Leipziger Sicherheitsunternehmen “Black Rainbow Security”. Auch nach Abschluss seines zweiten Staatsexamens trat Engelmann weiterhin bei Neonazi-Milieu-Veranstaltungen, wie 2023 bei „Ostdeutschland kämpft“, auf.
Eine Gesetzesänderung, wie aktuell gefordert, oder eine juristische Entscheidung auf höchster Ebene lassen zwei Jahre nach dem SächsVerfGH-Urteil immer noch auf sich warten. Immerhin scheint nun endlich auch die Sächsische Landesregierung, in Person der Justizministerin Constanze Geiert (CDU), gemerkt zu haben, dass etwas faul ist im Freistaat Sachsen. So will man am Bundesverfassungsgericht mit einer abstrakten Normenkontrolle gegen die diesbezügliche Rechtsauslegung des eigenen, Sächsischen Verfassungsgerichts vorgehen. Bis dahin bleibt genau zu beobachten, wie sich der „Pull-Effekt“ auf faschistische Jurist*innen nach Sachsen weiterentwickelt.
#AfD #BrianEngelmann #EinProzent #JN #JohnHoewer #MatthiasBauerfeind #NPD
Rechte Referendare in Sachsen: Landesregierung zieht gegen Landesrichter vor Gericht
Eine eigenwillige Gesetzesauslegung lockt rechte Referendare nach Sachsen. Das Justizministerium will jetzt gegensteuern und hofft auf das Bundesverfassungsgericht.Steffen Winter (DER SPIEGEL)
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AI kids' toys give explicit and dangerous responses in tests
AI kids' toys give explicit and dangerous responses in tests
AI-powered kids' toys like Miko 3 have hit shelves this holiday season, claiming to rely on sophisticated chatbots to animate interactive robots for children.Kevin Collier (NBC News)
Trump Gives Big Tech Friends an Early Christmas Gift With Order Against State AI Regulations
US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at preventing state-level regulation of the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, a gift to tech corporations that bankrolled his inauguration and are currently funding his White House ballroom project.
Trump's order instructs the US Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a single mandate: sue states that enact AI laws that the administration deems "onerous and excessive." The order also threatens to withhold federal funding from states that implement AI regulations.
Public Citizen, a watchdog group that has tracked increasingly aggressive AI influence-peddling in Congress and the administration, said Trump's order "grants his greedy Big Tech buddies’ Christmas wish."
"This reward to Big Tech is a disgraceful invitation to reckless behavior by the world’s largest corporations and a complete override of the federalist principles that Trump and MAGA claim to venerate," said Robert Weissman, Public Citizen's co-president. "Everyone should understand why this is happening: During and since the last election cycle, Big Tech has spent at least $1.1 billion on campaign contributions and lobby expenditures. Big Tech corporations poured money into Trump’s inaugural committee and to pay for his garish White House ballroom. A major Big Tech and AI investor is serving as Trump’s 'AI czar' and driving administration policy."
"While Trump has ensured the federal government is doing almost nothing to address the harms that AI is already causing, states are moving forward with sensible AI regulation," Weissman added. "These include efforts to address political deepfakes, nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, algorithmic pricing manipulation, consumer protection measures, excessive data center electricity and water demand, and much more. Big Tech is whining about these modest measures, but there is zero evidence that these rules are impeding innovation; in fact, they are directing innovation in more positive directions."
Jenna Sherman, a campaign director focused on tech and gender at Ultraviolet Action, said Trump's order "only has one group of winners: his wealthy donors in the tech sector."
"Every other person loses from this wildly unpopular move. And not just in theory, as stripping away state AI regulations puts many—namely, women and children—at risk of real harm," said Sherman. "These harms of AI—which the Trump and the tech sector are clearly happy to ignore—are already here: non-consensual deepfake porn sexualizing women and girls, children being led to suicidal ideation by AI chatbots, and AI-powered scams and crimes targeting older Americans, especially women, to name but a few."
The US Chamber of Commerce and other corporate lobbying organizations representing tech giants such as Microsoft and Google celebrated the order, predictably characterizing it as a win for "small businesses."
The leaders of California and other states that have proposed and finalized AI regulations were defiant in the face of Trump's threats of legal action and funding cuts."
"President Trump and Davis Sacks aren’t making policy—they’re running a con," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, referring to the scandal-plagued White House AI czar. "Every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it. California is working on behalf of Americans by building the strongest innovation economy in the nation while implementing commonsense safeguards and leading the way forward."
Trump signed the order after the Republican-controlled Congress repeatedly rejected efforts to tuck a ban on state AI regulations into broader legislation.
"After months of failed lobbying and two defeats in Congress, Big Tech has finally received the return on its ample investment in Donald Trump," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement Thursday. "With this executive order, Trump is delivering exactly what his billionaire benefactors demanded—all at the expense of our kids, our communities, our workers, and our planet."
"A broad, bipartisan coalition in Congress has rejected the AI moratorium again and again," he added, "and I intend to keep that streak going. I will use every tool available to challenge this indefensible and irresponsible power grab. We will defeat it again."
Trump Calls for GOP to Ram Through AI Regulation Ban in Must-Pass Military Spending Bill
"If lawmakers are serious about AI governance, they must create strong, enforceable national protections as a regulatory floor—not wipe out state laws so Big Tech can operate without consequence," said one consumer advocate.julia-conley (Common Dreams)
Palestinians in Gaza Are Watched, Tracked, and Targeted by Israeli Surveillance
Award-winning Palestinian reporter Mohammed Mhawish, who left Gaza last year, joins us to discuss his new piece for New York magazine about Israel’s surveillance practices. It describes how Palestinians throughout the genocide in Gaza have been watched, tracked and often killed by Israeli forces who have access to their most intimate details, including phone and text records, social relations…
From Truthout via This RSS Feed.
Palestinians in Gaza Are Watched, Tracked, and Targeted by Israeli Surveillance
Reporter Mohammed Mhawish describes the surveillance, from cameras at checkpoints to drones flying into people’s homes.Amy Goodman (Truthout)
Palestinians in Gaza Are Watched, Tracked, and Targeted by Israeli Surveillance
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1327…
Award-winning Palestinian reporter Mohammed Mhawish, who left Gaza last year, joins us to discuss his new piece for New York magazine about Israel’s surveillance practices. It describes how Palestinians throughout the genocide in Gaza have been watched, tracked and often killed by Israeli forces who have access to their most intimate details, including phone and text records, social relations, drone footage, biometric data and artificial intelligence tools.This all-encompassing surveillance system is “reshaping how people speak, how they’re moving, how they’re even thinking,” says Mhawish. “It manufactured behavior for people, so they shrink their lives to reduce risk, they rehearse what version of themselves feels safest to present, and that creates an enormous psychological burden.”
Mhawish also describes the terror of when his family’s house was bombed, killing two of his cousins and two neighbors in an attack he says was linked to Israeli surveillance of his reporting activities. “I was being watched and tracked,” he says.
From Truthout via This RSS Feed.
Palestinians in Gaza Are Watched, Tracked, and Targeted by Israeli Surveillance
Award-winning Palestinian reporter Mohammed Mhawish, who left Gaza last year, joins us to discuss his new piece for New York magazine about Israel’s surveillance practices. It describes how Palestinians throughout the genocide in Gaza have been watched, tracked and often killed by Israeli forces who have access to their most intimate details, including phone and text records, social relations…From Truthout via This RSS Feed.
Palestinians in Gaza Are Watched, Tracked, and Targeted by Israeli Surveillance
Reporter Mohammed Mhawish describes the surveillance, from cameras at checkpoints to drones flying into people’s homes.Amy Goodman (Truthout)
Palestinians in Gaza Are Watched, Tracked, and Targeted by Israeli Surveillance
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7023519
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1327…
Award-winning Palestinian reporter Mohammed Mhawish, who left Gaza last year, joins us to discuss his new piece for New York magazine about Israel’s surveillance practices. It describes how Palestinians throughout the genocide in Gaza have been watched, tracked and often killed by Israeli forces who have access to their most intimate details, including phone and text records, social relations, drone footage, biometric data and artificial intelligence tools.This all-encompassing surveillance system is “reshaping how people speak, how they’re moving, how they’re even thinking,” says Mhawish. “It manufactured behavior for people, so they shrink their lives to reduce risk, they rehearse what version of themselves feels safest to present, and that creates an enormous psychological burden.”
Mhawish also describes the terror of when his family’s house was bombed, killing two of his cousins and two neighbors in an attack he says was linked to Israeli surveillance of his reporting activities. “I was being watched and tracked,” he says.
From Truthout via This RSS Feed.
Palestinians in Gaza Are Watched, Tracked, and Targeted by Israeli Surveillance
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1327…Award-winning Palestinian reporter Mohammed Mhawish, who left Gaza last year, joins us to discuss his new piece for New York magazine about Israel’s surveillance practices. It describes how Palestinians throughout the genocide in Gaza have been watched, tracked and often killed by Israeli forces who have access to their most intimate details, including phone and text records, social relations, drone footage, biometric data and artificial intelligence tools.This all-encompassing surveillance system is “reshaping how people speak, how they’re moving, how they’re even thinking,” says Mhawish. “It manufactured behavior for people, so they shrink their lives to reduce risk, they rehearse what version of themselves feels safest to present, and that creates an enormous psychological burden.”
Mhawish also describes the terror of when his family’s house was bombed, killing two of his cousins and two neighbors in an attack he says was linked to Israeli surveillance of his reporting activities. “I was being watched and tracked,” he says.
From Truthout via This RSS Feed.
Palestinians in Gaza Are Watched, Tracked, and Targeted by Israeli Surveillance
Reporter Mohammed Mhawish describes the surveillance, from cameras at checkpoints to drones flying into people’s homes.Amy Goodman (Truthout)
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Trump Gives Big Tech Friends an Early Christmas Gift With Order Against State AI Regulations
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7023619
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1318…
US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at preventing state-level regulation of the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, a gift to tech corporations that bankrolled his inauguration and are currently funding his White House ballroom project.
Trump's order instructs the US Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a single mandate: sue states that enact AI laws that the administration deems "onerous and excessive." The order also threatens to withhold federal funding from states that implement AI regulations.
Public Citizen, a watchdog group that has tracked increasingly aggressive AI influence-peddling in Congress and the administration, said Trump's order "grants his greedy Big Tech buddies’ Christmas wish."
"This reward to Big Tech is a disgraceful invitation to reckless behavior by the world’s largest corporations and a complete override of the federalist principles that Trump and MAGA claim to venerate," said Robert Weissman, Public Citizen's co-president. "Everyone should understand why this is happening: During and since the last election cycle, Big Tech has spent at least $1.1 billion on campaign contributions and lobby expenditures. Big Tech corporations poured money into Trump’s inaugural committee and to pay for his garish White House ballroom. A major Big Tech and AI investor is serving as Trump’s 'AI czar' and driving administration policy."
"While Trump has ensured the federal government is doing almost nothing to address the harms that AI is already causing, states are moving forward with sensible AI regulation," Weissman added. "These include efforts to address political deepfakes, nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, algorithmic pricing manipulation, consumer protection measures, excessive data center electricity and water demand, and much more. Big Tech is whining about these modest measures, but there is zero evidence that these rules are impeding innovation; in fact, they are directing innovation in more positive directions."
Jenna Sherman, a campaign director focused on tech and gender at Ultraviolet Action, said Trump's order "only has one group of winners: his wealthy donors in the tech sector."
"Every other person loses from this wildly unpopular move. And not just in theory, as stripping away state AI regulations puts many—namely, women and children—at risk of real harm," said Sherman. "These harms of AI—which the Trump and the tech sector are clearly happy to ignore—are already here: non-consensual deepfake porn sexualizing women and girls, children being led to suicidal ideation by AI chatbots, and AI-powered scams and crimes targeting older Americans, especially women, to name but a few."
The US Chamber of Commerce and other corporate lobbying organizations representing tech giants such as Microsoft and Google celebrated the order, predictably characterizing it as a win for "small businesses."
The leaders of California and other states that have proposed and finalized AI regulations were defiant in the face of Trump's threats of legal action and funding cuts."
"President Trump and Davis Sacks aren’t making policy—they’re running a con," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, referring to the scandal-plagued White House AI czar. "Every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it. California is working on behalf of Americans by building the strongest innovation economy in the nation while implementing commonsense safeguards and leading the way forward."
Trump signed the order after the Republican-controlled Congress repeatedly rejected efforts to tuck a ban on state AI regulations into broader legislation.
"After months of failed lobbying and two defeats in Congress, Big Tech has finally received the return on its ample investment in Donald Trump," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement Thursday. "With this executive order, Trump is delivering exactly what his billionaire benefactors demanded—all at the expense of our kids, our communities, our workers, and our planet."
"A broad, bipartisan coalition in Congress has rejected the AI moratorium again and again," he added, "and I intend to keep that streak going. I will use every tool available to challenge this indefensible and irresponsible power grab. We will defeat it again."
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
Trump Gives Big Tech Friends an Early Christmas Gift With Order Against State AI Regulations
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1318…US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at preventing state-level regulation of the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, a gift to tech corporations that bankrolled his inauguration and are currently funding his White House ballroom project.
Trump's order instructs the US Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a single mandate: sue states that enact AI laws that the administration deems "onerous and excessive." The order also threatens to withhold federal funding from states that implement AI regulations.
Public Citizen, a watchdog group that has tracked increasingly aggressive AI influence-peddling in Congress and the administration, said Trump's order "grants his greedy Big Tech buddies’ Christmas wish."
"This reward to Big Tech is a disgraceful invitation to reckless behavior by the world’s largest corporations and a complete override of the federalist principles that Trump and MAGA claim to venerate," said Robert Weissman, Public Citizen's co-president. "Everyone should understand why this is happening: During and since the last election cycle, Big Tech has spent at least $1.1 billion on campaign contributions and lobby expenditures. Big Tech corporations poured money into Trump’s inaugural committee and to pay for his garish White House ballroom. A major Big Tech and AI investor is serving as Trump’s 'AI czar' and driving administration policy."
"While Trump has ensured the federal government is doing almost nothing to address the harms that AI is already causing, states are moving forward with sensible AI regulation," Weissman added. "These include efforts to address political deepfakes, nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, algorithmic pricing manipulation, consumer protection measures, excessive data center electricity and water demand, and much more. Big Tech is whining about these modest measures, but there is zero evidence that these rules are impeding innovation; in fact, they are directing innovation in more positive directions."
Jenna Sherman, a campaign director focused on tech and gender at Ultraviolet Action, said Trump's order "only has one group of winners: his wealthy donors in the tech sector."
"Every other person loses from this wildly unpopular move. And not just in theory, as stripping away state AI regulations puts many—namely, women and children—at risk of real harm," said Sherman. "These harms of AI—which the Trump and the tech sector are clearly happy to ignore—are already here: non-consensual deepfake porn sexualizing women and girls, children being led to suicidal ideation by AI chatbots, and AI-powered scams and crimes targeting older Americans, especially women, to name but a few."
The US Chamber of Commerce and other corporate lobbying organizations representing tech giants such as Microsoft and Google celebrated the order, predictably characterizing it as a win for "small businesses."
The leaders of California and other states that have proposed and finalized AI regulations were defiant in the face of Trump's threats of legal action and funding cuts."
"President Trump and Davis Sacks aren’t making policy—they’re running a con," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, referring to the scandal-plagued White House AI czar. "Every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it. California is working on behalf of Americans by building the strongest innovation economy in the nation while implementing commonsense safeguards and leading the way forward."
Trump signed the order after the Republican-controlled Congress repeatedly rejected efforts to tuck a ban on state AI regulations into broader legislation.
"After months of failed lobbying and two defeats in Congress, Big Tech has finally received the return on its ample investment in Donald Trump," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement Thursday. "With this executive order, Trump is delivering exactly what his billionaire benefactors demanded—all at the expense of our kids, our communities, our workers, and our planet."
"A broad, bipartisan coalition in Congress has rejected the AI moratorium again and again," he added, "and I intend to keep that streak going. I will use every tool available to challenge this indefensible and irresponsible power grab. We will defeat it again."
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
Trump Calls for GOP to Ram Through AI Regulation Ban in Must-Pass Military Spending Bill
"If lawmakers are serious about AI governance, they must create strong, enforceable national protections as a regulatory floor—not wipe out state laws so Big Tech can operate without consequence," said one consumer advocate.julia-conley (Common Dreams)
Trump Gives Big Tech Friends an Early Christmas Gift With Order Against State AI Regulations
cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/7023619
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1318…
US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at preventing state-level regulation of the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, a gift to tech corporations that bankrolled his inauguration and are currently funding his White House ballroom project.
Trump's order instructs the US Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a single mandate: sue states that enact AI laws that the administration deems "onerous and excessive." The order also threatens to withhold federal funding from states that implement AI regulations.
Public Citizen, a watchdog group that has tracked increasingly aggressive AI influence-peddling in Congress and the administration, said Trump's order "grants his greedy Big Tech buddies’ Christmas wish."
"This reward to Big Tech is a disgraceful invitation to reckless behavior by the world’s largest corporations and a complete override of the federalist principles that Trump and MAGA claim to venerate," said Robert Weissman, Public Citizen's co-president. "Everyone should understand why this is happening: During and since the last election cycle, Big Tech has spent at least $1.1 billion on campaign contributions and lobby expenditures. Big Tech corporations poured money into Trump’s inaugural committee and to pay for his garish White House ballroom. A major Big Tech and AI investor is serving as Trump’s 'AI czar' and driving administration policy."
"While Trump has ensured the federal government is doing almost nothing to address the harms that AI is already causing, states are moving forward with sensible AI regulation," Weissman added. "These include efforts to address political deepfakes, nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, algorithmic pricing manipulation, consumer protection measures, excessive data center electricity and water demand, and much more. Big Tech is whining about these modest measures, but there is zero evidence that these rules are impeding innovation; in fact, they are directing innovation in more positive directions."
Jenna Sherman, a campaign director focused on tech and gender at Ultraviolet Action, said Trump's order "only has one group of winners: his wealthy donors in the tech sector."
"Every other person loses from this wildly unpopular move. And not just in theory, as stripping away state AI regulations puts many—namely, women and children—at risk of real harm," said Sherman. "These harms of AI—which the Trump and the tech sector are clearly happy to ignore—are already here: non-consensual deepfake porn sexualizing women and girls, children being led to suicidal ideation by AI chatbots, and AI-powered scams and crimes targeting older Americans, especially women, to name but a few."
The US Chamber of Commerce and other corporate lobbying organizations representing tech giants such as Microsoft and Google celebrated the order, predictably characterizing it as a win for "small businesses."
The leaders of California and other states that have proposed and finalized AI regulations were defiant in the face of Trump's threats of legal action and funding cuts."
"President Trump and Davis Sacks aren’t making policy—they’re running a con," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, referring to the scandal-plagued White House AI czar. "Every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it. California is working on behalf of Americans by building the strongest innovation economy in the nation while implementing commonsense safeguards and leading the way forward."
Trump signed the order after the Republican-controlled Congress repeatedly rejected efforts to tuck a ban on state AI regulations into broader legislation.
"After months of failed lobbying and two defeats in Congress, Big Tech has finally received the return on its ample investment in Donald Trump," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement Thursday. "With this executive order, Trump is delivering exactly what his billionaire benefactors demanded—all at the expense of our kids, our communities, our workers, and our planet."
"A broad, bipartisan coalition in Congress has rejected the AI moratorium again and again," he added, "and I intend to keep that streak going. I will use every tool available to challenge this indefensible and irresponsible power grab. We will defeat it again."
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
Trump Gives Big Tech Friends an Early Christmas Gift With Order Against State AI Regulations
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1318…US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at preventing state-level regulation of the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, a gift to tech corporations that bankrolled his inauguration and are currently funding his White House ballroom project.
Trump's order instructs the US Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a single mandate: sue states that enact AI laws that the administration deems "onerous and excessive." The order also threatens to withhold federal funding from states that implement AI regulations.
Public Citizen, a watchdog group that has tracked increasingly aggressive AI influence-peddling in Congress and the administration, said Trump's order "grants his greedy Big Tech buddies’ Christmas wish."
"This reward to Big Tech is a disgraceful invitation to reckless behavior by the world’s largest corporations and a complete override of the federalist principles that Trump and MAGA claim to venerate," said Robert Weissman, Public Citizen's co-president. "Everyone should understand why this is happening: During and since the last election cycle, Big Tech has spent at least $1.1 billion on campaign contributions and lobby expenditures. Big Tech corporations poured money into Trump’s inaugural committee and to pay for his garish White House ballroom. A major Big Tech and AI investor is serving as Trump’s 'AI czar' and driving administration policy."
"While Trump has ensured the federal government is doing almost nothing to address the harms that AI is already causing, states are moving forward with sensible AI regulation," Weissman added. "These include efforts to address political deepfakes, nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, algorithmic pricing manipulation, consumer protection measures, excessive data center electricity and water demand, and much more. Big Tech is whining about these modest measures, but there is zero evidence that these rules are impeding innovation; in fact, they are directing innovation in more positive directions."
Jenna Sherman, a campaign director focused on tech and gender at Ultraviolet Action, said Trump's order "only has one group of winners: his wealthy donors in the tech sector."
"Every other person loses from this wildly unpopular move. And not just in theory, as stripping away state AI regulations puts many—namely, women and children—at risk of real harm," said Sherman. "These harms of AI—which the Trump and the tech sector are clearly happy to ignore—are already here: non-consensual deepfake porn sexualizing women and girls, children being led to suicidal ideation by AI chatbots, and AI-powered scams and crimes targeting older Americans, especially women, to name but a few."
The US Chamber of Commerce and other corporate lobbying organizations representing tech giants such as Microsoft and Google celebrated the order, predictably characterizing it as a win for "small businesses."
The leaders of California and other states that have proposed and finalized AI regulations were defiant in the face of Trump's threats of legal action and funding cuts."
"President Trump and Davis Sacks aren’t making policy—they’re running a con," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, referring to the scandal-plagued White House AI czar. "Every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it. California is working on behalf of Americans by building the strongest innovation economy in the nation while implementing commonsense safeguards and leading the way forward."
Trump signed the order after the Republican-controlled Congress repeatedly rejected efforts to tuck a ban on state AI regulations into broader legislation.
"After months of failed lobbying and two defeats in Congress, Big Tech has finally received the return on its ample investment in Donald Trump," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement Thursday. "With this executive order, Trump is delivering exactly what his billionaire benefactors demanded—all at the expense of our kids, our communities, our workers, and our planet."
"A broad, bipartisan coalition in Congress has rejected the AI moratorium again and again," he added, "and I intend to keep that streak going. I will use every tool available to challenge this indefensible and irresponsible power grab. We will defeat it again."
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
Trump Calls for GOP to Ram Through AI Regulation Ban in Must-Pass Military Spending Bill
"If lawmakers are serious about AI governance, they must create strong, enforceable national protections as a regulatory floor—not wipe out state laws so Big Tech can operate without consequence," said one consumer advocate.julia-conley (Common Dreams)
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Three US personnel killed in Islamic State attack on convoy in central Syria
Three US military personnel, including two army soldiers and a civilian interpreter, were killed on Saturday after a suspected Islamic State (IS) attacker targeted a joint American-Syrian convoy in central Syria, the US military said.
US Central Command said three additional US soldiers sustained injuries in the attack, which took place in the town of Palmyra. The command said a lone gunman opened fire while US troops were carrying out what it described as a “key leader engagement”.
IS did not immediately claim responsibility. However, a senior US official said early assessments point to the armed group as the likely perpetrator. The official added that the attack occurred in an area outside Syrian government control.
Online Piracy Can Boost Box Office Revenue, Study Suggests
Online Piracy Can Boost Box Office Revenue, Study Suggests * TorrentFreak
A new academic study counterintuitively concludes that online piracy can boost box office revenue for some films.Ernesto Van der Sar (TF Publishing)
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No need of a study.
More people play it (even if pirated) = more people spread the content = more people are gonna buy it = profit
So piracy = profit
Pure logic
Not going to cinema means saving lots of emotional pain created by the actual cinema experience:
- Ads
- More Ads
- Trailers
- 20 minutes of that shit (despite paying for the movie!), movie finally starts. Now this happens:
- People talking during movies
- People watching phone during movie
- People eating candy (loudly) during movie
On top of this, what are the odds the movie will be good? I think ive been disappointed by almost every movie this year, so thank god i didnt watch them in a cinema.
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Yeah. I used to go to the cinema often as a kid but people were quiet so there was never any problems enjoying the movie.
And it was before mobile phones.
I should point out that the cinema experience used to be better. People have become more selfish.
Also, it heavily depends on the kind of movies you're watching. Trash attracts trash.
Not the first study to support the theory that piracy actually helps sales instead of hurting them.
Another study showed that pirates spend more on media than the average person too.
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This literally happened for me with the movie(s) Wicked. I didn't watch the first part just to have it end half way through the story and be told to wait until next year. Then the second half comes out, and after the opening weekend where a couple downtown theatres had busy double feature special events, Part 1 was playing in theatres literally nowhere in my city. And no way I'm signing my life away for Bezos BS just to watch this. (Does a stream even earn the movie studio anything significant? The theatres get nothing...)
I only bought a ticket to watch Part 2 because I viewed Part 1 by other means. The theatres missed out on an opportunity for me to watch the first one in succession with the second. And if I didn't watch the first, then I wouldn't have watched it at all and the theatres and publishers would have missed out on a sale.
If the copyright industry calls missed sales "stealing", the theatres and publishing licensors steal from themselves by making it difficult to view the full story.
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- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.www.youtube.com
We help revenue, but don't care about it.
They hurt revenue, but don't care about it.
Nobody cares. End of the day, it's just a fucking power thing.
Thing is, you'll talk to people about the shows and movies you liked. You'll recommend them. You'll discuss them online. Maybe just upvote a post talking about them, make it more visible.
And someone who doesn't pirate will see that, and pay to watch it. (And, in turn, also promote it like you did.)
If the product is good enough (and if people are pirating it it probably is), piracy is free publicity.
And if it's not good enough, people won't be pirating it anyway.
So, given that you wouldn't have paid for it anyway, it works out that piracy provides a net benefit for the producers... and for society as a whole, since it incentivises them to make their products good enough to attract pirates, thus raising the average quality of entertainment.
EDIT: also, for the same reason they should be giving their product for free to reaction channels and even paying them (like game companies — Nintendon't excluded — already do with YouTube reviewers), since it's cheaper and more effective than normal advertising.
Yeah, my main motivation in setting up Jellyfin was to have everything in one place.
No more having to check which service has it, only to find that 20 year old movie can only be rented for £6.99.
I'd probably pay the cost of 2 streaming services, in order to have a single service that has literally everything on it, and keeps it on it.
Wait, we have to learn this again?
Did we not do this... 20 years ago, with the music industry?
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Shadow
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •slothrop
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •I only speak for most Canadians, but we're the greatest fucking country in the world, and we love all colours, sizes, types....
ymmv, eh!
Seriously, though, there are assholes everywhere but you're unlikey to encounter them. We're an extremely polite, helpful, accomodating and accepting society, so carry on!
discomatic
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Quilotoa
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •zifk
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •like this
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Em Adespoton
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Remember… “planning on traveling to Canada” is like saying you’re planning on traveling to Europe… it’s a BIG place that spans four time zones and has all sorts of people.
So you’re likely to spot some bigots, but there’s also plenty of welcoming people. Part of it depends on where you go. In general, cities are more multicultural and a little of more rural areas used to be very white, with indigenous reservations in the most unexpected places.
Beside that, Alberta is “Little Texas” and BC isn’t that different from Washington and Oregon states. Manitoba is really friendly, Quebec tends to be welcoming in the cities and culturally insular in many of the rural areas. All the east coast provinces tend to be really friendly. The territories are very sparsely populated, so other people are treated like a gift OR like something the person is trying to avoid — race doesn’t tend to come into it.
... show moreRemember… “planning on traveling to Canada” is like saying you’re planning on traveling to Europe… it’s a BIG place that spans four time zones and has all sorts of people.
So you’re likely to spot some bigots, but there’s also plenty of welcoming people. Part of it depends on where you go. In general, cities are more multicultural and a little of more rural areas used to be very white, with indigenous reservations in the most unexpected places.
Beside that, Alberta is “Little Texas” and BC isn’t that different from Washington and Oregon states. Manitoba is really friendly, Quebec tends to be welcoming in the cities and culturally insular in many of the rural areas. All the east coast provinces tend to be really friendly. The territories are very sparsely populated, so other people are treated like a gift OR like something the person is trying to avoid — race doesn’t tend to come into it.
Meow-Misfit
in reply to Em Adespoton • • •assaultpotato
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Generally, in cities you won't have really any problems. My fiancee is Turkish and we live in the prairies and she's never had anything happen. Folks stumble on her name sometimes but it's not really racism.
If you go rural, you always up your chances of encountering more racism. Rural PEI/NB will be accidentally racist, rural AB/SK will not care if they're racist. Generally this is true unless you're camping/hiking, when you wrap back around to people who are generally just happy to see fellow outdoorsmen.
Much of North American racism isn't from individual people but in systems. My fiancee's experience is that European systems are more likely to be equitable but the people will be racist. In general, if you visit Canadian cities from Vancouver to Montreal, I wouldn't expect you to have any racist encounters.
Reannlegge
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Em Adespoton
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Not really; racism in general isn’t the issue. Canada’s been multicultural from the beginning. Bigger issues are things like cultural sovereignty— indigenous and French mostly. Skin colour really doesn’t come i to it.
Might help to know what you’re comparing it to though.
Also, it might help to watch “Race Across The World Series 3” if you’re from the UK — and a good interview is here: canadianaffair.com/blog/canada…
That show did a pretty good job of capturing the highs and lows of interpersonal relations in Canada.
Canada Advocate Q&A: Trish & Cathie's Race Across The World Adventure
Aimee Levajac (Canadian Affair)Reannlegge
in reply to Em Adespoton • • •Em Adespoton
in reply to Reannlegge • • •like this
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stealth_cookies
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •FaceDeer
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •I doubt appearance will factor significantly in most places. Where in Canada were you planning to travel to?
Also, which country are you from? We're rather cross with America right now so if you're from there then there might be some additional coaching I'd suggest.
quaff
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Lol as a minority that's born here and lived in cities across the countr: Canada definitely has racism still. We are very diverse; especially in the bigger cities of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
I recently travelled to NB and witnessed some racism. Wasn't anything too bad. I've had worse. But you'll find more ignorance than hate. Hate looms it's ugly head depending on where you go and what minority you are. I think for the most part, you'll be okay, you might get weird comments here and there, but most people will be nice as a general rule of thumb.
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Rentlar
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •In Toronto you'll find Canadians that are all sorts of colours names and sizes, and a restaurant somewhere that serves your home country's cuisine. Most people in the city don't care.
The closer to the urban centre you are the less you are likely to be judged for looking foreign, though that chance is very small to begin with. If something racist gets shouted at you in public here, people are going to look down and walk away, look with disgust at the person making that remark, or tell them off.
Outside of the city, bigots are still the vast minority, but there may be more subtle ways you could be looked at differently, well-intentioned but largely due to the unfamiliarity with outside cultures.
Meow-Misfit
in reply to Rentlar • • •iatenine
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •In my experience, foreigners are so ubiquitous there the locals barely notice
Maybe you'll be treated differently if you struggle speaking English (or French if visiting Quebec) but your post implies that's not an issue
Of course, if you're moving instead of visiting the answer a bit more nuanced as the cost of living crisis there is very real
TribblesBestFriend
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •I’ll say depend on where you’ll go
If you go in most major cities you’ll probably be fine
GrindingGears
in reply to TribblesBestFriend • • •RaskolnikovsAxe
in reply to GrindingGears • • •Moose are no joke... and they are a serious threat even when driving. OP, if you plan to drive through remote areas, drive carefully. If you hit a moose with your car it will seriously fuck your shit up and likely walk away from it. I'm being serious.
As for maple syrup, it's worth the risk. Every time.
Edit - Also moose cam be territorial, ornery and unpredictable assholes. DO NOT APPROACH. In fact don't approach or feed any of the wildlife, but I'm sure that's a fairly common sense rule.
nyan
in reply to RaskolnikovsAxe • • •snoons
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Sunshine (she/her)
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •altasshet
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •like this
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Sunshine (she/her)
in reply to altasshet • • •FaceDeer
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •Sunshine (she/her)
in reply to FaceDeer • • •FaceDeer
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •Which is?
Let's hear those specifics, I think you'll find that the population's not as supportive of whatever you're imagining they're supporting. And in particular the large cities, which are NDP strongholds.
This is why you think a tourist wouldn't be safe here? Because we're an oil-producing province?
Better advise OP not to visit Norway either, they must be monsters over there.
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Sunshine (she/her)
in reply to FaceDeer • • •The cops don’t carry guns there and the population is more accepting of other people groups.
FaceDeer
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •Sunshine (she/her)
in reply to FaceDeer • • •FaceDeer
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •Sunshine (she/her)
in reply to FaceDeer • • •FaceDeer
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •FaceDeer likes this.
wholookshere
in reply to FaceDeer • • •buddy I grew up in Alberta. and there's 2 things to sum up the people.
During mask mandates I was in the Carstairs post office, and saw a woman with no mask picking up 2 boxes labeled cristianbooks.com
the second is everyone in Alberta thinks being compared to Texas is a compliment.
these are two light hearted examples, with many more in the memory bank.
there's jerks everyone. My worst bit of transphobia was in Toronto.
But Alberta does seem to have the highest concentration of jerks. at least as far as my experience has gone.
FaceDeer
in reply to wholookshere • • •Carstairs is a rural town with a population of 4900.
Oh, everyone?
I happen to be Albertan and the notion of being compared to Texas fills me with anger. I'd like you to back that up with some kind of poll or statistic, please.
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wholookshere
in reply to FaceDeer • • •if your taking things that literally on the internet, I can't help you.
but what I can say is I didnt know anyone who understood it's an insult was until I moved out of Alberta. So everyone I met while growing up, yeah.
for the record I grew up in Calgary.
FaceDeer
in reply to wholookshere • • •OP is being warned to "stay away" specifically from Alberta because we're apparently not safe to be around, how am I supposed to be taking this? So far the only solid reasons that have been given are:
So yeah, I'm rather offended. I think OP would have a perfectly fine time coming to visit Alberta.
religion in the country
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)wholookshere
in reply to FaceDeer • • •why are you taking it personally that were talking about you specifically?
I know many great Albertians. But they're a slim minority. The people, as a whole, are not as good to interact with if your a person if color. this is coming from friends who are.
we're not saying you specifically are an ass, but that a lot more people are asses in Alberta than most other places in Canada.
I gave you a few light hearted examples.
how about the person who crashed into my friends cart for wearing a mask in a store and said "don't rob me".
how about all the terrible things said about natives out there?
how about the police running moonlight walks?
or the anti abortion ads that used to be on trucks and on the university campus showing graphic photos?
there's more than you there.
GrindingGears
in reply to FaceDeer • • •On the anger about Albertans being painted as lunatics and compared to Texas, I mean come on, you don't need stats or polls to see how that is. Not when the press focuses in, rightfully, on our premier who has both a pick-me complex, and insists on (loudly) representing the most grossest, fringest interests, which are wildly xenophobic, authoritarian, science denying, treasonist and corrupt in it's wildest extremes. Which is baffling when you consider that it's a pretty small number of our overall population that actually is represented by this nonsense. That only have power because of our distorted ways that we vote for representation, and weird ass governments that completely rug pull and stand for mandates they refuse to acknowledge at election time, because their wackadoodle party keeps getting hijacked and controlled by these fringe unelected people.
So don't be confused or have shocked Pikachu face or anything when people outside (or inside) the province paint us with these brushes. It's deserved, because we keep allowing it to happen. We keep allowing these people to
... show moreOn the anger about Albertans being painted as lunatics and compared to Texas, I mean come on, you don't need stats or polls to see how that is. Not when the press focuses in, rightfully, on our premier who has both a pick-me complex, and insists on (loudly) representing the most grossest, fringest interests, which are wildly xenophobic, authoritarian, science denying, treasonist and corrupt in it's wildest extremes. Which is baffling when you consider that it's a pretty small number of our overall population that actually is represented by this nonsense. That only have power because of our distorted ways that we vote for representation, and weird ass governments that completely rug pull and stand for mandates they refuse to acknowledge at election time, because their wackadoodle party keeps getting hijacked and controlled by these fringe unelected people.
So don't be confused or have shocked Pikachu face or anything when people outside (or inside) the province paint us with these brushes. It's deserved, because we keep allowing it to happen. We keep allowing these people to abuse us and control the narrative about who we are.
FaceDeer
in reply to GrindingGears • • •Oh yes, I know why people have picked up a distorted and prejudiced view of Albertans.
Should I go "oh, okay then, carry on believing that and propagating the stereotype?"
It's true that we've got a terrible premier. It is not true that it's "unsafe" for tourists to visit. It's not true that "everyone in Alberta thinks being compared to Texas is a compliment." And so I will call those falsehoods out when they're propagated.
altasshet
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •droopy4096
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •like this
FaceDeer likes this.
Sunshine (she/her)
in reply to droopy4096 • • •GrindingGears
in reply to droopy4096 • • •I would actually say Alberta politics are insane, but disregarding that, people here are still usually friendly enough. Yes racism and bigotry is still (baffling) a universal experience, something you could possibly come into contact with, well, just about anywhere in the world.
Are you going to get a sideways look somewhere? I mean maybe, can't say for sure you won't. But are you going to get run out of town by people bearing pitchforks and torches? Well no. I can almost say for certainty that won't happen anywhere in our country. A Canadian, even the goofy ass hillbilly ones that shout at clouds and vaccines on Facebook, would file that under something pretty god damn weird. And we collectively largely ignore those ones. Behind their backs we point and laugh at them too, so fear not.
Come see our country OP. It's beautiful, and almost universally welcoming and accessible. Don't forget your coat this time of year, it sure is beautiful but it's also cold as shit in certain areas. Personally I think the atmosphere adds to the beauty.
Meow-Misfit
in reply to Sunshine (she/her) • • •droopy4096
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •BCsven
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •AGM
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •RaskolnikovsAxe
in reply to AGM • • •ilost7489
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •I’d say generally yes. Of course, there are still assholes like in any country.
Cities are generally quite multicultural with people from everywhere. Every major Canadian city I’ve visited has seemed to be quite friendly.
I’ve seen people say to avoid Alberta in this thread. Generally, unless you are going to Middle of Nowhere, Alberta where their yearly tourism consists of a single person stopping by to get gas, you’ll be perfectly fine.
Carl
in reply to ilost7489 • • •My friends who live in Alberta get racially profiled all the time, they are natives. Alberta is the most conservative province, still happens outside that province but not as extreme. You will have to learn Québécois(French Canadian) if you move to Quebec.
My parents will say it behind your back, and be very racist/transphobic, if you are not white and straight. But not everyone is like that. It saddens me, but they are in their 60's. But usually no one will be racist to your face, from my experience living in Ontario.
CircaV
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Candid_Andy
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •kahnclusions
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Canada is very welcoming and people are friendly. After living abroad for a decade I can say it pretty confidently. Nowhere is perfect but the level of racism in Canada is very low compared to the things I’ve seen in Europe and Asia.
Not sure how it is where you’re from but don’t get caught thinking because Canada is safe that you can be careless with your stuff, don’t let your guard down with personal belongings. Don’t leave your things unattended in cafes or shops, don’t leave your mobile phone on the table, and especially don’t leave anything in your car if rent a car. Canada is safe but there is still a lot of petty theft... you won’t get mugged but someone might try to swipe your backpack at a cafe when you aren’t looking.
Typotyper
in reply to kahnclusions • • •I'll add that over the past few years the homeless situation has gotten out of hand. For my small town (pop 46k) this is the source of our rise in crime. Garbage, abandoned tent encampments, vandalism, B&E, etc.
We get tourists to the beach near us but very few international tourists.
prodigalsorcerer
in reply to kahnclusions • • •rozodru
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •ILikeBoobies
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Meow-Misfit
in reply to ILikeBoobies • • •ILikeBoobies
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Meow-Misfit
in reply to ILikeBoobies • • •eezeebee
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •the16bitgamer
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •I would say that Canadians are friendly especially from other countries. But it depends, and it's a massive asterisks on It Depends*.
In general Canadians keep to themselves and don't like starting things. So we are either very friendly or at a bare minimum indifferent. Depending on the individual they may say things behind your back. (I've found some people here to be passive aggressive).
However the further away from cities you get, the more people who you'll find that are not so friendly. They won't be actively hostile towards you but you may feel unwelcomed. The company I work with has a multinational workforce that assist older people in rural communities. And while most will not say it to their face (I hope). The racist/sexists/homophobic phrases I've heard come out from their mouths was surprising to me and is disgusting. This is sadly true for both rural Southern Ontario and the Maritime Provence's.
I can't say much about the larger urban areas. From what I've heard, and seen blasted on social media, some people bring their baggage with them when they com
... show moreI would say that Canadians are friendly especially from other countries. But it depends, and it's a massive asterisks on It Depends*.
In general Canadians keep to themselves and don't like starting things. So we are either very friendly or at a bare minimum indifferent. Depending on the individual they may say things behind your back. (I've found some people here to be passive aggressive).
However the further away from cities you get, the more people who you'll find that are not so friendly. They won't be actively hostile towards you but you may feel unwelcomed. The company I work with has a multinational workforce that assist older people in rural communities. And while most will not say it to their face (I hope). The racist/sexists/homophobic phrases I've heard come out from their mouths was surprising to me and is disgusting. This is sadly true for both rural Southern Ontario and the Maritime Provence's.
I can't say much about the larger urban areas. From what I've heard, and seen blasted on social media, some people bring their baggage with them when they come to Canada. But outside of the rare aggressive/dangerous drivers in the cities, I haven't witnessed it myself.
In general be respectful, be kind, and don't go too far off the beaten tourist trail and you'll be fine.
Meow-Misfit
in reply to the16bitgamer • • •SaveTheTuaHawk
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Canada is not a progressive shangri-la that media portrays. Cities are very multicultural, but those groups hate each other. Rural Canada is all white and full of hate. Quebec is fine in Montreal and Quebec city, but the rest of the province hates immigrants.
However, you will not encounter open hate and violence like the USA shithole.
jellygoose
in reply to SaveTheTuaHawk • • •Nice blanket generalization of a whole population.
Also, the most racist anti immigrant shit I see is from Ontarians and Albertans and about Indian-Canadians.
So, in other words; fuck off, asshole.
CanadaPlus
in reply to SaveTheTuaHawk • • •Yeah, I'm here. We have minorities (for some reason - you crossed an ocean, why Buttfuck, AB?) and everyone seems to get along at least in public. Not sure how much worse it is than the city on race issues, honestly, although I'm white and it makes it hard to tell. You'll have a lot more trouble if you're gay, and I try very hard to hide my politics.
Interestingly, Evangelicalism has been hit especially hard with a demographic shift as their missionary converts come back, and their white members leave.
Meow-Misfit
in reply to SaveTheTuaHawk • • •CanadaPlus
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •fancy-straw-simple
in reply to Meow-Misfit • • •Meow-Misfit
in reply to fancy-straw-simple • • •