Notices by Richard Michael Blaber (rmblaber1956@mastodon.social)

@zappes @GreenRoc @hellomiakoda @KatyElphinstone There are some rules, fairly easily learned - like "i before e except after c", but I know what you mean. We Brits find German syntax confusing - verbs at the ends of sentences, as in Yoda-speak?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/16/california-openai-protester-wynd-kaufman. In what way, precisely, was Wynd Kaufman "endangering the #public #safety" of anyone in #SanFrancisco? She might have been "endangering" the #profits - for a very short time - of the #AI #industry, but that is hardly the same thing, & does not warrant #imprisonment, not even for a week, @DoomsdaysCW. I am in full #solidarity with her, & all other #protesters against AI.

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260701-trump-earned-over-1-bn-from-crypto-ventures-in-2025. Donald #Trump, the most #corrupt & #criminal #President in #US #history, irrespective of any & all #charges of sexual molestation of underage #girls, @DoomsdaysCW. What is #cryptocurrency used for? Answer: criminal transactions on the "dark web", buying/selling illegal #drugs, #weapons, #explosives, #paedophile #pornography, etc. It entails huge #CO2 #emissions & #consumption of #water to keep #servers powered & cool, but Trump doesn't care.

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/breaking-the-heart-of-the-heartland. "The unavoidable reality is that things are really very bad in #rural #America. Moreover, the devastation hitting the heartland is squarely a consequence of Trump’s #actions... The #tariffs raised the prices of #farm #machinery, #chemicals & #fertilizer. The final straw was the loss of #foreign #markets to #rival #agricultural #exporters such as #Brazil."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/12/palestine-action-activists-sentenced-terrorists-damage-elbit-systems-uk-israel. This is completely & absolutely unacceptable, but par-for-the-course in the #UK now, as our supine #courts & our equally supine #Labour #Government do the bidding of #Israel, & never mind its #genocide in #Gaza & wholesale #slaughter of the #Palestinians, or in #Lebanon & #Iran. These #prison #sentences, at a time of absurd prison #overcrowding, are all wholly disproportionate, & should NOT have been linked to #terrorism. These #defendants are NOT #terrorists.

@bmacDonald94 Well, I'm not a humanist - because I don't believe in the human race. We are the most destructive species that has ever walked on this planet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/02/18/fda-moderna-mrna-flu-vaccine-review/.

@aral Even hypocrites can speak the truth, & - in this case - he is, which doesn't excuse his hypocrisy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/leading-uk-far-right-activist-russian-nationalist-event-mark-collett. Birds of a fascist feather flocking together. A meeting of some very nasty people indeed - committed to "white nationalist #Christianity", no less, & the ethnic purging of #Europe.

@fesshole @vfrmedia No, an MBE is below a CBE. To step it up, you'd need to raise it to KBE or DBE, depending on gender. The entire order should be scrapped - there is no "British Empire" now, & it was a very bad thing when it existed!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/03/us-supreme-court-south-sudan. Utterly disgusting. There is NO WAY South Sudan can possibly be described as a "safe country". This is a flagrant violation of the terms of the 1951 Refugee Convention, to which the US is a party.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/26/billionaires-wealth-inequality-trillion-oxfam/; https://oi-files-d8-prod.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2025-06/Brief%20-%20From%20Private%20Profit%20to%20Public%20Power%20EN.pdf. "Over the past decade, the world’s richest 1% have increased their wealth by at least $33.9 trillion, according to... Oxfam International. That amount is 'more than enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over' when calculating at the World Bank’s highest poverty line of $8.30 per day, the group said", @breadandcircuses, @DoomsdaysCW.

https://www.dw.com/en/us-resumes-student-visas-demands-social-media-access/a-72966826. "The [US] announced on Wednesday that it would resume processing of visa applications from foreign students but that all applicants would now be required to make their social media accounts available for review." This is positively Orwellian, a gross intrusion on #privacy, & a clear attack on free expression, @andrewstroehlein. Supporters of the rights of #palestinians need not apply, @palestine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/05/29/heart-attack-medical-bill/. The solution to this kind of nonsense? Have a National Health Service, like the UK does. Oh, but that's "socialised medicine", & you Americans wouldn't want THAT, would you? Oh, no!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/24/challenge-use-of-nefarious-news-sources-says-environmentalist. I agree entirely with Mike Berners-Lee (brother of Tim), & also with him when he says the 29 COPs have got us nowhere, because they "have been totally corrupted & destroyed by the very cynical, very well-funded, very calculating, very sophisticated efforts of the fossil fuel industry to make sure" they didn't, @breadandcircuses, @DoomsdaysCW.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/19/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-take-control-gaza-uk-france-canada-threaten-action. "Britain, France & Canada attacked Israel’s expansion of its war as disproportionate, described conditions in Gaza as 'intolerable' & threatened a 'concrete” response if Israel’s campaign continues." Empty rhetoric from countries that have continued to arm Israel. "Earlier that day... airstrikes killed more than 60 people, & the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Israel’s army would 'wipe out' what remains of Palestinian Gaza."

@cstross Well, I DO care about the environmental cost of AI, even if I agree with you about the rest. The "intelligence" at the root of the problem IS sociopathic - but it isn't artificial, it's only too human!

@zoe It's pointless writing to mine, Gen Kitchen - she's just Starmerite lobby fodder, with no will of her own, incapable of doing anything other than what the whips tell her to. She's a bit like a Dalek: "I ob-ey!" Pathetic!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/03/29/russia-drone-attack-dnipro-ceasefire-trump/. Given the number of Ukrainians who've died during it, it's not exactly a "ceasefire", is it? All it is is an opportunity for Putin to re-arm, & then seize back any territory he's lost, & Trump is quite happy to help him do that - &, in fact, more than happy to help him acquire even more, @EugeneMcParland.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/30/turkeys-young-hope-of-millions-held-in-jail-as-erdogan-cracks-down-on-protests.