With ‘AI slop’ distorting our reality, the world is sleepwalking into disaster | Nesrine Malik
There are two parallel image channels that dominate our daily visual consumption. In one, there are real pictures and footage of the world as it is: politics, sport, news and entertainment. In the other is AI slop, low-quality content with minimal human input. Some of it is banal and pointless – cartoonish images of celebrities, fantasy landscapes, anthropomorphised animals. And some is a sort of pornified display of women just simply … being, like a virtual girlfriend you cannot truly interact with. The range and scale of the content is staggering, and infiltrates everything from social media timelines to messages circulated on WhatsApp. The result is not just a blurring of reality, but a distortion of it.
A new genre of AI slop is rightwing political fantasy. There are entire YouTube videos of made-up scenarios in which Trump officials prevail against liberal forces. The White House account on X jumped on a trend of creating images in Studio Ghibli style and posted an image of a Dominican woman in tears as she is arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). AI political memefare has, in fact, gone global. Chinese AI videos mocking overweight US workers on assembly lines after the tariff announcement raised a question for, and response from, the White House spokesperson last week. The videos, she said, were made by those who “do not see the potential of the American worker”. And to prove how pervasive AI slop is, I had to triple-check that even that response was not itself quickly cobbled-together AI content fabricating another dunk on Trump’s enemies.
With ‘AI slop’ distorting our reality, the world is sleepwalking into disaster
A perverse information ecosystem is being mined by big tech for profit, fooling the unwary and sending algorithms crazy, says Guardian columnist Nesrine MalikNesrine Malik (The Guardian)
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Irish Freemasons apologise for hosting Conor McGregor interview at Dublin hall
The Freemasons of Ireland have apologised for hosting an interview between Conor McGregor and the US commentator Tucker Carlson at the organisation’s premises in central Dublin.
Philip Daley, the grand secretary of the Irish Freemasons, said the organisation regretted renting its hall for the event last week and would donate the fee to charity.
Carlson, a former Fox News pundit, gave the former mixed martial arts champion who has become an outspoken critic of Irish and European immigration and asylum policies a platform to assail immigration and to promote his potential run for Ireland’s presidency in an election later this year.
The 55-minute interview, recorded on 15 April, has been viewed more than 1.4m times on Carlson’s YouTube channel. It was the latest collaboration between rightwing US figures and McGregor, whom Donald Trump hosted at the White House on St Patrick’s Day.
Irish Freemasons apologise for hosting Conor McGregor interview at Dublin hall
Organisation says it regrets renting premises for event with US commentator Tucker Carlson and will give fee to charityRory Carroll (The Guardian)
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Do Masonic lodges have anything else to apologize about? Or just that McConnor McGregor is an ass?
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Every accusation by fascists really is an admission, huh.
The one time there actually was a "masonic shadow government" it was a fascist far right group. Lmao :p
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Wild chimpanzees filmed by scientists bonding over alcoholic fruit
Humans have gathered to feast and enjoy a tipple together for thousands of years, but research suggests chimpanzees may also bond over a boozy treat.
Wild chimpanzees in west Africa have been observed sharing fruit containing alcohol – not in quantities to get roaring drunk but, possibly, enough for a fuzzy beer buzz feeling.
“For humans, we know that drinking alcohol leads to a release of dopamine and endorphins, and resulting feelings of happiness and relaxation,” said Anna Bowland, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at Exeter’s Penryn campus in Cornwall.
“We also know that sharing alcohol, including through traditions such as feasting, helps to form and strengthen social bonds.
Wild chimpanzees filmed by scientists bonding over alcoholic fruit
Footage of apes consuming fermented breadfruit leads researchers to ask if it may shed light on origins of human feastingSteven Morris (The Guardian)
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Humanitarian agencies reject IDF claim Gaza medic killings caused by ‘professional failures’
The UN’s humanitarian agency, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Gaza’s civil defence service have rejected the findings of an Israeli military investigation that concluded the killings of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers in Rafah last month were caused by “professional failures”.
“The video filmed by one of the paramedics proves that the Israeli occupation’s narrative is false and demonstrates that it carried out summary executions,” Mohammed al-Mughair, a civil defence official, told Agence-France Presse on Monday, accusing Israel of seeking to “circumvent” its obligations under international law.
Jonathan Whittall, the UN’s humanitarian chief for Gaza, said the investigation did not go far enough. “A lack of real accountability undermines international law and makes the world a more dangerous place,” he said.
“Without accountability, we risk continuing to watch atrocities unfolding, and the norms designed to protect us all eroding.”
Humanitarian agencies reject IDF claim Gaza medic killings caused by ‘professional failures’
UN, Palestinian Red Crescent and civil defence service condemn lack of accountability after Israeli investigationBethan McKernan (The Guardian)
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Yet Israel won't be held accountable and you won't put sanctions on the United States. All the UN does is talk about human rights violations you never change anything.
There have been multiple genocides sense WWII and you don't seem to have ever really done anything preventive or proactive.
Entirely by design. Why do you think they have a "security council" with 5 permanent members, who are the most powerful nations on earth, who can each veto literally anything completely unilaterally?
They are keeping themselves secure against the UN ever doing anything against their interests, that's the only way the word "security" makes any sense. It is intentionally set up to never get anything done. You would never create such an arrangement if you wanted an organisation to have actual teeth.
Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Threats to Cut Funding
Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Threats to Cut Funding
Harvard’s lawsuit comes after the administration sought to force the university to comply with a list of demands by cutting billions in federal funding the school receives.Stephanie Saul (The New York Times)
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I'm seeing different percentages, but the circuit court judges in DC, about half, or a little less of the federal judges are harvard law school graduates.
also Harvard's law school is one of the most respected law schools in the country. They're not producing ambulance chasers... and they have a 50 billion dollar endowment they don't necessarily need to tap because they have some pretty awesome lawyers already on retainer.
basically, better lawyers, and better funding than the feds... at least as far as this one issue is concerned.
(edit to correct a number.)
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Yes and their endowment isn’t the same as regular colleges and universities. For one thing, they own lots of Boston properties and priceless paintings that probably aren’t really priced correctly. So, reported value it really an underestimate. But they also have nigh unlimited alumni who donate in the millions because it’s pocket change but they would/could donate a lot more if you pissed them off.
Trump and Elon Musk are rich to us but Harvard (and Yale and a few others) have alumni who don’t donate “a lot” to the school each year but they have a money cannon ready and can refill the coffers. Stupid mafia tactics aren’t going to work. They will win and you might die.
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The problem isn't litigation. The problem is that we have a fucking monkey at the wheel of the government that doesn't believe the law applies to them.
I don't care if every court case against this administration is successful: we need to see enforcement of judgements, by force if necessary.
Judges have the authority to deputize people to carry out their orders. I have a feeling that may have to start happening if the Justice Department refuses to do it.
And the first time bullets fly in the resulting conflict, things will get very, very ugly.
Judges have the authority to deputize people to carry out their orders.
And they won't. Anyone who isn't a republican fascist shitstreak is utterly terrified of wielding any power they have.
Like why do institutions ignore what SCOTUS rules, just because POTUS says so?
Nice one Harvard, the champion of morality and fairness. It would have be nice if you also didn’t employ teachers working with the CIA to lab test students and make them terrorist or serial killers.
I use Mastodon and Pixelfed mainly. But I also have an account on Friendica and Loops.video, but I rarely use them. And does Matrix count?
Oh and I forgot about Funkwhale for putting your music collection online.
XMPP is great. Movim.eu is a nice webclient for it that also does macro-blogging.
Akkoma serves me well for the micro-blogging part of the Fediverse.
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Mastodon but not nearly as much as Lemmy.
Bookwyrm but not nearly as much as Mastodon.
I really wanted Bookwyrm to be more useful for me. But it’s really not geared towards what I want in keeping track of books. ymmv
This is the only federated software that I use because it is the only one in a format I enjoy using. I liked reddit for the threaded forum kinda format, so lemmy was an easy transition.
Never liked facebook/twitter/instagram or those formats so no interest in a federated version of them. There could be something out there I would also like, but thst would require trying more things and I gave up after bouncing off a few.
Mastodon, but I've largely dropped it for Bluesky. I'm no purist about full decentralization, and I think it's enough that the latter both has users, and isn't currently awful.
I've used Bookwyrm a bit. I kinda like it. But it had some UX issues imo, and didn't keep me hooked.
Also tried Pixelfed. It's pretty slick, but I just can't see the point. Like Instagram, seeing a feed of just pictures wasn't all that interesting to me... though I probably just haven't followed the right accounts.
Filtered word: nsfw
In addition to Mastodon and Pixelfed, I have a Friendica, Hubzilla, Yacy, and Nextcloud.
Federated Services are services which many instances form a network to provide a greater whole than the sum of their parts, each participant in the Fediverse is an “instance”. A message or other item made available on one instance is visible and available on other instances.
We make these services available to all people who do not abuse it in order to promote the values of Free Speech, and those of the United States Constitution First Amendment. A free republic is not possible without free speech and commercial mainstream media do not provide it. We also get some advertisement benefit from hosting these, it is our hope that people who see how fast and responsible our services are will decide to do hosting or use other paid services here.
There are numerous federated services available, we offer Macrobloging platform Friendica, Hubzilla; Microbloging services Mastodon, Misskey, a federated search engine, Yacy, and a federated cloud service, Nextcloud.
Macrobloging services are message systems that allow long form posts similar in format to Facebook. These allow for works of fiction, poetry, technical papers, news items, short stories, and more. These formats are most useful for discussion of social issues.
Microbloging services allow only short form posts similar in format to Twitter. While you can link to larger articles elsewhere, you have a relatively short character limit and so can not post them directly.
Censorship, is handled much different on the fediverse than on mainstream media like Twitter or Facebook. On the fediverse, each individual instance is responsible for content available on that instance, but does not censor the rest of the network. Thus if you find the rules of one instance too constraining you can move to another.
Federated search engines are analogous to federated message systems in that each instance chooses what portion of the internet it wants to crawl. When you enter a search term, the local instance queries all of the federated instances, collates and sorts the results and presents them to you. As with messages, each instance can have it’s own censorship policies but no one instance can censor the entire network.
Given the wild-west nature of the fediverse, it is probably not suitable for children under 14, and you’re guaranteed to find some material that will offend virtually everyone. With federated search engines, material that is inappropriate will usually be flagged sensitive or nsfw (not safe for work) so as long as you don’t expand material marked as such, you can avoid this sort of material. There are occasionally people who violate these rules, we do our best to remove such individuals none the less some will get through.
We offer the following federated services:
Friendica.Eskimo.Com
Friendica is a decentralized long format macrobloging message network. It is similar in format to facebook however there is no centralized censorship. Also, it is able to federate with all other federated message systems which use ActivityPub protocol and also we have extensions that allow it to speak to several other networks via other protocols.
Hubzilla.Eskimo.Com
Hubzilla is similar in message format to Friendica in that it allows long posts. However, it specializes in it’s ability to provide connectivity to multiple protocols and so we include it in our mix of federated services primarily for the better connectivity it offers. Hubzilla provides a great deal of interoperability between many networks though ActivityPub is still it’s primary protocol. Hubzilla gives you a greater degree of control over privacy than some of the other networks. You can create private channels that are served between hubzilla instances and other compatible instances.
Mastodon.Eskimo.Com
Mastodon is first and foremost an alternative to Twitter. While Twitter has Tweets, Mastodon has Toots. The format is very similar. Mastodon toots have a limit of 500 characters. Similar to the short limit of Twitter. This is why this platform is referred to as a Microbloging format. Mastodon interacts with other ActivityPub instances however when a long form blog post from another instance arrives, you are only shown a short portion with a link to follow to see the full post on the originating site.
NextCloud.Eskimo.Com
If you are a customer of Eskimo North, your login credentials will work without a domain extension to access Nextcloud. If you are not a customer you can apply for a Nextcloud account using your choice of login and password, in this case the login should include your originating network. Some features require an Eskimo North shell account to take full advantage of.
Pixelfed.Eskimo.Com
Pixelfed is a federated pixel gallery. A place where you can share your photos to the widest audience possible, and you can view what others have shared. Instance is new as of April 6th, 2025.
Yacy.Eskimo.Com
Yacy is a federated search engine. There are several thousand instances on the Internet. Each instances crawls whatever portion of the web the administrator requested. It is also possible for the administrator of a site with relatively few resources to request a larger site to do crawls on their behalf. Unfortunately, it does not provide a method for an end user to initiate a crawl, but if you send e-mail to support@eskimo.com and request a crawl, we will initiate a crawl on your behalf.
If you enjoy these services, please consider supporting us by taking advantage of our paid services: https://www.eskimo.com/
Mastodon on my pen name.
Piefed for the hell of it.
Used to use one of the "key" forks, but the instance I was on shut down, and I never went back.
Haven't really bothered with the rest because they don't fit any needs, and tend to be based around things that aren't my personal interests enough to use regularly. Peertube, I'll never put videos up, but I use it when other people link to it.
That's really it. I don't want/need the kind of services friendica is for, nor whatever the name of the Instagram clone is, and loops is totally not my thing.
I don't have anything against them, mind you, I just don't use those kind of platforms
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mbin lets you access all of the lemmy content (the threadiverse) as well as the microblog stuff like mastodon and universeodon.
its also a bit more reddit-like
example: moist.catsweat.com
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I use :
microblog
- mastodon for political content as it allows me to avoid lenghty and tendious discussion with its 500 characters limit. But...i stopped using it for a while due to current news on climate change and fascism. And i'm not fan of its UI
- IceShrimp. I love its colorful UI. For me it one of the best UI on the fediverse. It also have a good balance between lenghty text and short one. It also support markdown. 3000 characters is enough
forumverse
- lemmy, it was good when we migrated from Reddit but over time i prefer PieFed.
- Mbin, i tried it but i dunno why i don't use it as much as Lemmy whereas there were much more functionalities and cool ideas.
- PieFed i'm starting to use it much more than Lemmy. There are plenty great ideas as downvote management, tags, poll, multicommu, support peertube and a.gup.pe. It is better each week.
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Maybe make onboarding easier or the fediverse dies a slow death
But nah, why bother making it easy for users to join when you can just gatekeep everything into low engagement
There it is again. That term "gatekeeping". I see it here so damn often, but nobody ever can back up the claim.
You are saying: people are actively trying to make things difficult to use in order to keep people out? Can you give me an example? Has anyone in the fediverse rejected YOUR proposal to improve anything? Pull requests made and denied?
Ever consider that it is not gatekeeping, but the lack of millions of dollars on advertising and venture capital that makes people think anything else is easy to use? Instagram and Facebook are MUCH harder to join and MUCH harder to curate for anything useful, and keep some sanity on your privacy, but nobody complains about them.
"use" might be a stretch.
I have a mastodon account I check occasionally\
I have a pixelfed account I use rarely\
And a loops account I think I logged into once
Mastodon and Sharkey (Misskey fork), though I use Sharkey much less.
I also have a Matrix account which is a different kind of Federated service (chat and instant messaging) though not Federated in the same way as Lemmy and Mastodon (uses a different federation protocol).
Mastodon is my go-to "shout in the void about my goings-on" platform.
Pixelfed is where I post my original photography and artwork.
Bookwyrm is for my book nerdery, mostly.
Edit: Oh and I have a Matrix account but despite the fact that I mentioned it to literally all of my friends, nobody uses it. I keep it around in case someone actually wants to send me private messages because Mastodon is kinda badly suited for that.
Federal Inspectors Found Antibiotics in Beef 'Raised Without Antibiotics.' They Took No Action | JBS, Cargill and Tyson appear to have misled consumers
The USDA’s Food & Safety Inspection Service found that 20 percent of the samples under this label tested positive for antibiotics, raising questions about how widespread mislabeling is in the U.S. commercial beef supply. These findings were announced last August, but the names of the companies which tested positive for antibiotics were not made publicly available until recently
[...]
“This strongly suggests that the US antibiotic-free beef supply is deeply contaminated and deeply deceptive to American consumers,” Andrew deCoriolis, the executive director of Farm Forward tells Sentient.
[....]
It’s been estimated that 70 percent of medically-important antibiotics sold in the U.S. — those used to treat human infections — are used to produce meat, dairy and other animal-sourced products
[...]
The World Health Organization calls antimicrobial resistance “one of the top global public health and development threats,” responsible for millions of deaths every year. The problem is only going to get worse, according to public health experts. The misuse and overuse of antibiotics — both in humans and farm animals (who often receive the same antibiotics) — leads bacteria to develop more resistant genes that then fail to respond to the medically necessary use of these drugs
Federal Inspectors Found Antibiotics in Beef 'Raised Without Antibiotics.' They Took No Action
JBS, Cargill and Tyson appear to have misled consumers.Grey Moran (Sentient)
Sign of things to come
From now on .... no American product is reliable or has any truth to it. Anything you buy from America is anyone's guess no matter what the marketing says.
For the past few decades, everyone made fun of Chinese products not being truthful or reliable on anything. In the next few decades, the world will be saying the same things about American products.
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I could be wrong, but AFAIK, "no antibiotics" means no prophylactic antibiotic use. It means they don't dose the whole herd when one animal has some sort of bacterial infection, but they will treat that particular animal with antibiotics.
I agree that antibiotics should not be used to try to prevent infection, but I think it is inhumane to withhold antibiotics from animals that actually need them.
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I read more of the article:
There are shortcomings to FSIS’s testing program. The tests performed didn’t distinguish between selective antibiotic use to treat an illness and constant low-dose exposure to antibiotics administered directly into the animals’ feed. While both are prohibited under the labeling program, the excessive, chronic use of antibiotics poses a much more serious risk to public health, contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance.
Seems that the labeling program doesn't actually make the distinction I ~~thought~~ hoped they did.
20% does sound like a lot, but given the nature of the problem they are trying to solve, I'd call it at least a partial win. With 80% testing negative, they clearly aren't adding it to the feed. 20% indicates selective use. I don't know how much lower it could feasibly go.
(I'm not particularly concerned with strict adherence to this specific labeling program. My concern is good animal husbandry, not bureaucracy.)
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Prop 12 Is Under Attack Again, But Some Republicans Aren’t On Board
Prop 12 Is Under Attack Again, But Some Republicans Aren’t On Board
Inside the latest attempt to undo the landmark animal welfare law.Seth Millstein (Sentient)
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I honestly have a more nuanced view. I do think that corporations can be structured and run in a societally responsible and helpful way; it’s just that they aren’t. And it’s because of Milton Friedman:
The sole objective, and only social responsibility, of corporate governance is to maximize shareholder value.
If we can get everyone to agree that that whole ideology is caustic to its very core, then we can get somewhere. Unfortunately, I don’t see the vast majority of existing large and profitable companies doing that.
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And the globe Earth and the moon landing conspiracies! What about that whole pizzaria blood drinking thing too! Piss all the tax payer money down the drain on stupid shit!
DOGE could report it as money saved and then abruptly remove those line items from their website list.
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Everybody knows OSHA is responsible for 9/11.
The collapse was a controlled demolition. A controlled demolition is meant to minimize danger to life and property. Now what organization would murder thousands of people using the safest methods?
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JD Vance was one of the last leaders to meet with Pope Francis
JD Vance was one of the last leaders to meet with Pope Francis
One of Pope Francis’ final encounters before his death was with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who visited the Vatican over the weekend. The meeting took place on Easter Sunday.Chris Megerian (AP News)
One of the last things the Pope ever said was that JD Vance is commiting a grave sin.
So, hope he has fun with that memory as his Christian Nationalist Brain fades out of life.
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thedailybeast.com/pope-snubs-v…
Pope Francis has repeatedly rebuked the president’s mass deportation effort, calling it a “disgrace” and a “grave sin.”
-April 20th 2025
Pope Sends Deputy to Lecture Vance on Compassion at Vatican
Vance had an “an exchange of opinions” with Cardinal Pietro Parolin that touched on migration, the Vatican said.Liam Archacki (The Daily Beast)
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Colorado man arrested 2 days before waging "war" against Elon Musk, Trump appointees
Colorado man arrested 2 days before waging "war" against Elon Musk, Trump appointees
Federal authorities arrested a 58-year-old Colorado Springs man after unravelling the origin of a "Declaration Of War" that threatened harm or death to Elon Musk, owners of his Tesla vehicles, and members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet.Logan Smith (CBS Colorado)
Investigators were alerted to his accounts after finding an unusually high number of log-ins and failed log-ins from an unfamiliar devices, locations, or networks. That information is tracked by Google, per the affidavit. Other unusual activity was traced through Payne's VPN or network provider.
So, Google stopped him, and his VPN provider. I'd like to know who his VPN provider was.
Investigators were alerted to his accounts after finding an unusually high number of log-ins and failed log-ins from an unfamiliar devices, locations, or networks
I really don't get that part. How did they make the connection?
You try to login to your google account with the right credentials from several different locations? Yeah that's suspicious.
1-3 regular locations per account is a bit more normal
I think the article is telling us in reverse order of discovery which makes it VERY confusing to parse:
As in:
Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism Task Force retraced the roots of the digital messages Payne allegedly sent to the media outlets.
Okay, so where did the "digital messages" come from?
According to the affidavit, Payne used a Proton email address,
Okay, they knew the source of the message was Proton email. One subpoena of Proton later, they know the IP address(s) of the email client/app logging into Proton. So now they have a whole bunch of IP addresses of VPN exit nodes. So they reach out to the VPN provider:
Other unusual activity was traced through Payne's VPN
So they ask the VPN provider to provide the origin address of the VPN logins, and come back to a cell phone (network) provider
or network provider.
So they ask the network provider to provide the info on the owner, except its a burner, so the provider doesn't know. Hmm, okay so they know its coming from Burner Phone X, but not who owns Burner Phone X. Mr Google, Mr Microsoft, etc, do you have any activity from these Mobile phone company IP addresses at this time?
That information is tracked by Google
Ah! So Mr Google does. Anything stand out to you with the activity you're seeing?
Investigators were alerted to his accounts after finding an unusually high number of log-ins and failed log-ins from an unfamiliar devices, locations, or networks. That information is tracked by Google, per the affidavit.
Okay, so its more than just than Burner Phone X accessing these Google accounts/sessions. Yes, the same web sessions/cookies were also used by devices belonging to another Google account, that of Payne.
Okay we've arrested Payne, could this just be an account/device hijacking and Payne be innocent? Well we also seized a rando cell phone with incriminating evidence on it. Could this have been planted?
Messages from his burner phone, too, matched the number Payne had listed in his personal contact info while applying for unemployment benefits in February.
So someone texted something at some point to text Burner Phone X. Who was that origin texter sending to Burner Phone X? Payne. So unlikely it was planted and more confirmation it was Payne sending the original threats.
Thanks for the clarification. I read that paragraph several times and couldn’t make sense of it.
As someone who uses Proton, Signal and a VPN (always), it is concerning how easy it seemed to track this guy down. Granted I’m not doing stupid shit like this guy, but authoritarians have a broad definition of “stupid shit”.
Isn’t Proton based in Switzerland and could just tell them to shove the subpoena?
So they ask the VPN provider to provide the origin address of the VPN logins, and come back to a cell phone (network) provider
A non-logging VPN provider should not be able to assist with this step.
Perhaps. I've always wondered if the VPN providers were playing games with semantics. It would be possible to not log, but still see events happening in real-time and report those. In the IT world "logging" is the capturing of events that occurred in the past. "Monitoring" is seeing events that are happening in real-time".
So a request could come in saying "when we see activity from IP X let person Y know what is happening". The VPN provider would technically not be logging, but the activity of the user could still be tracked. Again, I'm not saying this is what happens at any of these VPN companies, I'm simply posing a series of events that could occur while the VPN companies statements would still be factual to their advertising claims yet result in the outcomes that customers specifically want to avoid. This is just a thought exercise. I have no evidence any of this happened.
If you use a VPN for official or login services, access those services from the same VPN endpoint.
If you use it for anonymous stuff, go nuts.
Yeah but I think Tor and...not using big corporate USA internet services to begin with would help.
Would mullvad VPN have given up that information? Which VPN matters too.
I was under the impression most Tor exit nodes are suspected of being run by government entities.
Also, does Tor protect anonymity when browsing the Clear Web, or only while fetching .onions?
My guess is that he was using his phone for tethering to a laptop, and he had a google account associated with his browser. So even though he was going through a VPN, it would show THIS SET OF CREDENTIALS logging in from all the different exit nodes of his VPN provider.
Alternatively, he could have logged into his Google account from the burner phone (not a good idea), or even just created a new Google account, which again, would show logins from a bunch of different exit nodes of his VPN provider.
Messages from his burner phone, too, matched the number Payne had listed in his personal contact info while applying for unemployment benefits in February.
If you put your real name on it or associate that phone number with your name, then doesn't that stop meeting the definition of a burner phone?
EDIT: I re-read the wording of the article, and I don't think he used the burner phones number associated with his name as I posted before. The article says this:
"Messages from his burner phone, too, matched the number Payne had listed in his personal contact info while applying for unemployment benefits in February. "
It sounds like he used is REAL phone/number to apply for unemployment, but then at a later time he used is REAL phone to text a message to his burner phone. So the article is saying the "messages found on his burner phone" contained his REAL phone number. This would mean authorities would have had to have the burner phone in hand. So this wasn't the way he was found, simply a way that it was confirmed it was him.
"No b-because he was a bad guy so we can accuse him of other bad guy stuff too!"
Inb4 police find "a mysterious white power" and never mention it again
I guess you mean white powder
White power is clearly very openly rampant in police institutions worldwide - although, I guess, the white powder isn't far away either...
Storage and indexing is cheap. From a usability perspective indexing makes sense: call centre staff can tell someone why their unemployment application has been denied/delayed etc.
From a security perspective, Google, Proton, and friends want to track failed login IPs so they can assign (internal) reputation scores to incoming requests.
Same for how service providers store that info; there’s a fine line between storing enough and too much. Or too long. And not everything needs to be tied forever to the customer ; sometimes a hash or whatever does wonder for the legitimate purpose. Storing more is often « just in case I can market the data later » which I’m personally not agreeing with.
Google faces lawsuit over Pixel 6 Pro overheating issue: All the details
Google is facing a class action lawsuit over the overheating issue of its Pixel 6 Pro smartphone. The lawsuit alleges that Google was aware of the defect that caused the phone to become too hot to hold but continued to sell the device without warning…TOI Tech Desk (Times Of India)
There's not enough info in here to know how Google was involved if he sent the emails from Proton. Proton absolutely does not cotton to illegal shit, and actionable threats would be up there with LEO compliance.
My guess is he was on a VPN and had logins from a Proton account, validated with a burner phone he kept, and was also logging on to a personal Gmail or using some Google service that identifies him while in the same VPN location. Proton and the VPN give up an IP address that corroborates to what Big G tracks to him.
Edit: even a no-log VPN would likely be compelled to confirm a user at an IP address at a certain time. That's not a a "log" per se...
Idiot should have known to change his VPN location between instances and/or use TOR like a big boy, but mental health issues seem to be there driving force, not rationality.
1) Don't do illegal stuff that makes people paid to find you come looking for you.
2) Nothing done online is anonymous enough that you should do or type anything you wouldn't want to read out loud in a court.
3) Privacy subreddit and privacyguides.org both are good starting places.
Don’t do illegal stuff that makes people paid to find you come looking for you.
The thing is, the definition of "illegal" will continuously shift until it includes things that you consider innocuous.
"First they came for," and all that.
This is the laziest excuse possible for ceeding responsibility to everyone else.
Know the law in the jurisdiction in which you are physically located. Know the reasonable expectations of internet privacy.
If the law and you end up crosswise, and lawyering up isn't a viable option because it won't matter, that means you were fool enough to tempt fate in a place with no rule of law, no civil rights protections, and likely no reasonable expectation of privacy in the first place.
Zero trust means the only person responsible for you is you and anyone else you trust with your life. Whining about it doesn't change anything.
through "killings" of "owners, drivers, and occupants of Tesla Swasticars,"
So if you got one before he went crazy, you’re dead. I don’t think we should be killing the consumer. Teasing relentlessly, sure.
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Killing people for how they vote is killing democracy. Those MAGA lunatics aren't your enemy, they're your fellow citizens who fell victim to radical propaganda. When the Trump regime finishes their coup, they're going to be suffering just like the rest of us.
The way to solve the problem is to win them over, and show that a dictatorship is not good for America. Attacking Tesla and Musk is how you prevent other billionaires from supporting the MAGA hate cult, but it's not how you win over MAGA voters. Taking it to the logical extreme by killing people isn't going to make it work either.
I don't know how to win all the MAGA people back, but I know violence won't do it. If anything, it'll cement their existing views.
"Those MAGA lunatics aren’t your enemy, they’re your fellow citizens who fell victim to radical propaganda."
I live in Canada, they're not "my" citizens. And as for not knowing how to win all the MAGA people back without violence, you simply can't.
Not a single person who split from the MAGA cult did so by being convinced by their fellow citizens. Not one. It is their decision and theirs alone. They would have to be personally impacted by the consequences of Trump's policies in order to see the error of their ways. But even then those are very rare cases.
Let's look at the numbers. 62 million Americans voted for Trump in 2016, followed by 74 million in 2020 and 77 million last year. It only goes to show that the cult is growing in popularity. Again, you can't win over these people with words. They can and most certainly will resort to murder and violence when backed into a corner. Fascism and violence are inseparable. And violent resistance to fascist violence doesn't make you as bad as the fascist. Ask Bomber Harris.
"He is no longer welcome to be alive"
And
"We are Luigi. We Are One."
This guy is innocent of all charges, but whoever wrote that has a way with words.
Trump’s NSC Director for Israel and Iran Previously Worked for Israeli Ministry of Defense
The American official overseeing White House policy toward both Israel and Iran inside the National Security Council formerly worked for the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Drop Site News has learned. Merav Ceren’s appointment as Director for Israel and Iran at the NSC has not previously been reported, but her work with Israel’s MoD is well known among GOP circles.
Ceren’s appointment gives Israel an unusual advantage in internal policy discussions just as the Israeli government has launched a new campaign to pressure the American government to start a war with Iran rather than continue with negotiations toward a nuclear deal.
Ceren includes her time with Israel’s Ministry of Defense in her bio at the pro-Israel think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). It’s rare for a foreign country to be able to pitch American policymakers on a joint war effort and look across the table to see a former member of their own Ministry of Defense working for the Americans. As Trump debates his tariff policy, for instance, there are no high-level officials who previously worked for the Chinese Communist Party present.
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You should click the link and watch it.
Bernie is leaning with one foot in the grave and he is still advocating for Biden.
Every month from becoming the nominee until the election: Harris proposed an immediate cease fire, hostage release, and two state solution.
July:
the-independent.com/tv/news/ka…
August:
cnn.com/2024/08/23/politics/ga…
September:
pbs.org/newshour/politics/watc…
October:
aa.com.tr/en/americas/harris-d…
If you "didn't hear anything about it" then you weren't actually listening.
WATCH: Harris says two-state solution, end of Israel-Hamas war is crucial
Vice President Kamala Harris said she would continue to work on a two-state solution “around the clock.”PBS News
Trump admin goes scorched Earth on senator going to El Salvador to release wrongfully deported immigrant
Summary
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) traveled to El Salvador to seek the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident wrongfully deported in March.
Abrego Garcia, married to a U.S. citizen with three children, was legally allowed to stay under a 2019 court order.
The Trump administration admitted his deportation was an “administrative error” but refused his return. The Supreme Court ruled against the administration 9-0.
In response, the White House launched a smear campaign against Van Hollen, framing Garcia as a gang member despite no charges or convictions.
White House Mocks Chris Van Hollen for El Salvador Trip
The White House is launching a brutal online campaign against Sen. Chris Van Hollen for trying to fight for a deported man from El Salvador.Monica Sager (The Daily Dot)
A court has demanded the Trump admin return this man, and their defense has been that they don't have the power to do it. Now they publicly criticize a Senator for trying to get the man returned.
They really are stupid when it comes to undermining their own case, aren't they?
SCOTUS didn't order his return. The ruling was that this is a foreign policy matter at this point and the executive branch has foreign policy power, not the court. SCOTUS rule that the Trump administration has to facilitate his return. Trump is willing to facilitate his return, but El Salvador said no, and that is the end of discussion for this matter.
Anyway, it would be ridiculously weird for El Salvador to send their own citizen to the US who initiated came to the US illegally.
Do you have some sources for this? There's so much emotional baggage with this its hard to get to the facts.
In my mind saying the only mistake is the destination Is an incredible understatement.
"The only issue with your heart transplant is we had a paperwork mixup and replaced your liver instead."
"I know you came in for just a vehicle safety inspection but our mechanics messed up and replaced your engine, here's the bill."
"We had a mix up at the hospital and the child you've raised for 3 years isn't actually yours. Our bad, but there's nothing we can do to fix it and there's nothing we're going to do to prevent it in the future. Good luck!"
Don't downplay this shit and fall into dehumanizing others because they must have done something to deserve the position they are in. Don't lose sight of empathy. Try pretending it's a loved of yours. If one of mine fucked up and deserve punishment then fine, but there better be a fair trial and they deserve their chance to prove their innocence.
There is a valid and effective deportation order. For deportation purpose, there was no need to prove him guilty at the criminal court. If he was deported to another country, this would be completely in compliance.
You need to provide me exactly what you disagree with. Doesn't make sense for me to provide you sources for every fact in this matter.
They've admitted there was an error, and are not being transparent in the extent of the error nor are they trying to correct the error. I dispute every fact in this matter because the main source I believe you are using are the people at fault for it. They aren't even doing the common curtsey of an "internal investigation" reach around that typical police do after they've fuck us.
It doesn't make sense that you wouldn't throw out a couple random sources to your claims since it's cut and dry in your mind. Show me the valid deportation order. Show me the evidence they used to forgo immigration court (why the fuck would he be in criminal court?) to have an expidited removal to a place a previous court said he could not go.
It's easy to prove us stupid ass sheeple wrong, fucking do it...
storage.courtlistener.com/reca…
This brings up a lot of questions. Are you going to continue to deflect?
You deflected after I brought up a few specific points insinuating I have no direct evidence. I call your bluff with some direct evidence and now we are back to you need specific points.
Please consider the possibility you are being lied to. It takes way more time then us Americans have to look for primary sources and form our own opinions. Guess what though, we once again need to do the impossible and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We need to look at the facts from the primary sources ourselves and draw our own conclusions. Any fuckwit with a microphone can claim they read the documents and spew whatever bullshit they want without reproduction. Shit is changing fast, you cannot deny that. We best be fucking sure we are not heading in a direction that leads to the loss of rights for us in the bottom 99.watever %
Make no mistake. Last time Trump got legitimately "thrown out of his palace" he called upon an army of insurrectionists to storm the capitol.
Now he's back in there, surrounded by yes-men, and his insurrectionist army is pardoned and with boosted confidence that they can spread chaos without consequences. And by being POTUS many of his armed forces supporters have the "following orders" and "his elected authority" excuse to side with him against the remaining government branches and the people - even if their oath is to the constitution.
Whatever enforcement entity SCOTUS can get to impose actual consequences to this administration's wrongdoing on April 23rd, if it comes to it, Trump won't take it lying down. That's a guarantee with these savages.
And here it is as foretold.. The first of no doubt many "1 week extensions" to the deadline.
Marjorie Taylor Greene says 'evil being defeated' after Pope Francis death
Just hours after the death of Pope Francis, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted on X, formerly Twitter, "Today there were major shifts in global leaderships. Evil is being defeated by the hand of God."
Previously, Greene, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, has drawn significant criticism for her remarks about the Catholic Church, particularly for accusing it of being run by "Satan" and supporting policies she views as harmful, such as aiding undocumented immigrants. In a 2022 interview, she claimed that the Church's charitable work in helping migrants amounted to "Satan controlling the church," which sparked backlash from Catholic leaders and organizations.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Says 'Evil is Being Defeated' Hours After Pope Francis Death
Pope Francis was widely considered one of the most progressive popes in modern history.Gabe Whisnant (Newsweek)
My mom no fucking joke said „I hope he was at least right with god!"
She's full blown MAGA "Christian believer in gods plan" and of course hates all non white Americans.
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assembled together all the people who wrote the first texts of the bible
If we include the two people whose contributions were 'rejected' at the council of nicea, then 'assemble' would be right! (they were beheaded by the pagan who was gatekeeping inclusions)
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Remember that Perjury Traitor Greed's middle name is "Classy".
Well, it's "Traitor", but informally people who are batshit insane Qanon twits think she's classy.
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"Catholics aren't Christians" was a common phrase evangelicals used throughout my childhood.
Yeah...
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Tre månader in i försöket med utflyttning av trålgränsen är det tydligt att småskaliga kustnära och regional yrkesfiskare drabbas hårt. Myndigheterna har inte kommit med några åtgärder och det finns inga stöd att söka.
fiske.zaramis.se/2025/04/27/tr…
Trålgränsutflyttningen: inga åtgärder och alla skyller på alla - Svenssons Nyheter - Njord
Trålgränsutflyttningen: inga åtgärder och alla skyller på alla. Tre månader in i försöket med utflyttning av trålgränsen är det tydligt attAnders Svensson (Svenssons Nyheter - Njord)
Court blocks DOGE access to sensitive personal data at Social Security Administration
Court blocks DOGE access to sensitive personal data at Social Security Administration
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction to block DOGE from further access to sensitive personal information at the Social Security Administration.Lorie Konish (CNBC)
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They're openly rejecting court order and legal precedent.
Unless someone starts enforcing these court orders, they're just going to keep doing things.
They're running the Nazi playbook. Word for word, step by step, just updated with newer propaganda.
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Pete Hegseth out as Secretary of Defense before July?
Polymarket | This market will resolve to “Yes” if Pete Hegseth ceases to be the US Secretary of Defense for any period of time between March 25 and June 30, ...Polymarket
Seeking the position of Secretary of Defense.
Qualifications.
- I've watched every Rambo movie.
- I would be the best SecDef, everyone says so.
- Being able to call myself SecDef would be cool.
- No drinking problem.
And just upload that to signal annnnd send.
NPR: Trump Has 'Begun Process' of Replacing Pete Hegseth
Trump White House Has Reportedly ‘Begun Process’ Of Replacing Pete Hegseth
NPR is reporting that despite public backing from Trump and Karoline Leavitt, the White House has begun the process of looking for a new Secretary of Defense.Joe DePaolo (Mediaite)
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Assuming he's out and replaced tomorrow (makes the conversion easier), he'd be in position for 88 days.
That's 8 mooches (or 2 Trusses for our friends using the metric system).
- 1 Mooch = 11 Days
- 1 Truss = 44 days (or 4 Mooches)
- 1 Hesgeth = 2 Trusses = 8 Mooches
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I’m sure it would tickle him to have left after 88 days.
Appreciate the mafs.
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When this baby reaches 88 days, you're gonna see some serious shit.
- Doc Brown
LOL "or two Trusses for our friends using the metric system"
I needed a good laugh, thank you
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I was really hoping they'd keep him, rather than replacing him with the next most sycophantic rich boy in line.
We all know they tolerate rank incompetence and have no care for the lives of americans. Keeping hegseth would be saying that much louder, so now it's someone else's turn to endanger our lives.
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I heard Aaron Rodgers is looking for something to do...
Or maybe take Brett Farve before his stupid ass tries to run for governor of Wisconsin.
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Remember, losing his job should only be the most minor thing he faces out of all of this.
He should face felonies for leaking classified information and for actively creating non-traceable government records. He should be spending time in solitary for this, based on other prosecutions.
Just like his boss.
He only surrounds himself with the best people...
(Good god, his fat ass has all these morons circling like a bunch of satellites)
I can forgive the murder of everyone in an apartment building
I see you are all for killing and murder of people as you dog-whistle that you want to see people killed in their homes. That "everyone" in a multi-family building, mass murder and violence are your dehumanization messages on social machines of lemmy.
I can forgive the murder of everyone in an apartment building
People like you and Pete Hegseth find the power of computers and HDTV Fox News electric media platforms in their hand and technology systems to attack and dehumanize and promote anti-intellectualism with snark and shit-talk to dehumanize those that you disagree with, trying to divide people into groups to classify who is sub-human compared to other groups, instead of promoting that all people are equal and that hate is a common problem no matter the race, nation, time period, geography, religion, eye color, skin color, hair color, height, gender, etc.
“Most people can’t stand up for their convictions, because the majority of people might not be doing it. See, everybody’s not doing it, so it must be wrong. And since everybody is doing it, it must be right. So a sort of numerical interpretation of what’s right. But I’m here to say to you this morning that some things are right and some things are wrong. Eternally so, absolutely so. It’s wrong to hate. It always has been wrong and it always will be wrong. It’s wrong in America, it’s wrong in Germany, it’s wrong in Russia, it’s wrong in China. It was wrong in 2000 B.C., and it’s wrong in 1954 A.D. It always has been wrong, and it always will be wrong.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
::: _______________
"Imagine my shock as a neurodivergent teen when I first realized that using large vocabulary and eloquent speech doesn't make you less likely to be misinterpreted, rather it adds an entirely new layer of misinterpretation I had never even realized existed in the form of people thinking you're being snobbish or condescending when you're just trying to be specific" notthewriteryourelookingfor.tu…
notthewriteryourelookingfor
Imagine my shock as a neurodivergent teen when I first realized that using large vocabulary and eloquent speech doesn't make you less likely to be misinterpreted, rather it adds an entirely new layer...notthewriteryourelookingfor (Tumblr)
TOPIC: Trump Has 'Begun Process' of Replacing Pete HegsethIt’s called humor.
So you are here on USA topics on social machines to sanewash and morality wash Donald Trump using amusement and humor, portray this as all Reality TV "The Apprentice" and not a crisis in USA. I understand fully, that's why Elon Musk purchased Twitter in year 2022, to further support the alternate reality "this isn't real, it's just The Apprentice comedy show" perspective of Americans.
::: _____________
“For in the end, he was trying to tell us what afflicted the people in 'Brave New World' was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking.”
― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, 1985
Trump Warns US Economy Could Slow If Fed’s Powell Doesn’t Cut Interest Rates - Bloomberg
You know what else allows the economy?
Massive, un-targetted tariffs aimed at our allies and randomly putting them in and out, and putting unreasonable tariffs on China without having a plan in place.
Trump Warns US Economy Could Slow If Fed’s Powell Doesn’t Cut Interest Rates
President Donald Trump warned the US economy may slow if the Federal Reserve does not move to immediately reduce interest rates, in his latest broadside against Fed Chair Jerome Powell.Jennifer A Dlouhy (Bloomberg)
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yeah, this is purely preemptive to cast blame on powell as the entire us economy tanks.
as far as I am aware the feds focus is still entirely on trying to control inflation. what trump is demanding from powell would almost certainly lead to stagflation - economic contraction with increased inflation, and that is as bad as it sounds.
I dont think there is any better means to impoverish the general us population faster than trumps apparent "plan". the wealthy, however, will be perfectly fine.
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Well, they will be fine until a desperate population with more guns than people starts starving.
Then all bets are off.
we just have to get past the machine gun turrets and mechs. but, yeah... this feels like its gonna get really bad, really fast, on purpose.
was talking to a "non-political" associate today and he dropped a nugget about how the media is telling him the economy is slowly improving. didnt have time to ask what media he was consuming and I am not sure he would admit to watching fox (but I think he does). I reminded him that he just pulled his house off the market because of no interest. this entire country has become delusional.
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Playing the role of Fauci this time around will be Powell, as donvict does yet another self-own and tries to to blame it on adults with expertise.
Of course he didn't cause Covid, but he could have, if he was not a child suffering from utter derangement, easily handled Covid like almost any normal human being could have in such a situation - shut up and let the experts do the talking, and then reiterate what the experts say and give the experts all the tools and platform they need to help steer things.
But this is diaper donnie we are talking about.
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We're sinking!
We're sinking!
....what are you sinking about?
The damn engine room man!
There are several other articles posted on this topic that don't have credulous, Trump-sucking headlines. Therefore, there's no good reason to upvote this one.
I get that OP isn't trying to push a pro-Trump narrative given his commentary on it, but picking Bloomberg as a source was an unfortunate choice.
Maybe Mr Trump should let the professionals do their job?
Or, hell, just let an adult have the wheel for a bit.
Given Trump's actions over the past three months, this isn't a prediction, but a threat.
"I've got a tariff and I don't know how to use it! Now lower interest rates or the economy gets it!"
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NoWay
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abcdqfr
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ikt
in reply to HellsBelle • • •Facebook is a disaster that is happening in real time and yet
Oh you still use it
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Goodmorningsunshine
in reply to HellsBelle • • •