Notices by R. Scott Pert (raymondpert@mastodon.cloud)

#MAGA - Vance Munich Speech: Read Full Transcript

> JD Vance ignited a firestorm. In a fiery and unorthodox speech, Vance declared that “there is nothing more urgent than mass migration” and accused European leaders of suppressing free speech and censorship—including by referencing #Germany’s #FarRight #AfD party, which German intelligence has classified as extremist. The biggest security threat facing Europe was not Russia or China, he said, but the “threat from within” https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/18/vance-speech-munich-full-text-read-transcript-europe/

AP journalists barred from Air Force One over ‘Gulf of Mexico’ naming dispute

> The White House barred a credentialed #AssociatedPress reporter and photographer from boarding the presidential airplane Friday for a weekend trip with #DonaldTrump, saying the news agency’s stance on how to refer to the #GulfofMexico was to blame for the exclusion. It represented a significant escalation by the White House in a four-day dispute with the AP over access to the presidency https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-journalists-barred-from-air-force-one-over-gulf-of-mexico-naming-dispute #MAGA

Donald Trump to halt enforcement of law banning bribery of foreign officials

> #DonaldTrump has ordered the #DOJ to halt the enforcement of a US anti-corruption law that bars Americans from bribing foreign government officials to win business.
“It’s going to mean a lot more business for America,” the president said [..] after signing an executive order on Monday directing [..] the #US attorney-general, to pause enforcement of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act https://archive.fo/2025.02.11-151024/https://www.ft.com/content/f880bfc3-6069-427b-9873-51255d4e0b8c

The AP says Trump blocking its reporter from Oval Office over not using Gulf of America "violates the First Amendment"

> The #AssociatedPress pushed back against the Trump administration on Tuesday after one of its reporters was blocked from an event over the news organization's guidance on its continued use of the "Gulf of Mexico" in its coverage, calling the move a violation of the First Amendment.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/associated-press-gulf-of-america-white-house/ #AP #journalism #DonaldTrump

Court Blocks U.S. From Sending Venezuelan Migrants to Guantánamo

> The men, who are detained in New Mexico, say they “fit the profile” of the type of migrants the Trump administration has started sending to the Navy base in #Cuba. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/us/politics/venezuelan-migrants-lawsuit-guantanamo.html #US #DonaldTrump #immigration #deportation #ICE

'Ignoring the voices of the bereaved': #UK's Grenfell Tower to be demolished after 2017 disaster

> London's #GrenfellTower – scene of Britain's worst residential fire since World War II – is set to be demolished seven years after 72 people died in a blaze there, survivors and families of victims said Thursday.

> Housing Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner "announced her decision about Grenfell Tower [..]" Wednesday https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/2274497.html #GrenfellTower

Panama accuses US of peddling ‘intolerable falsehood’ about canal | Trump administration

> The president of #Panama, José Raúl Mulino, has accused the US of peddling a “quite simply intolerable falsehood” about the Panama canal, as #DonaldTrump’s pledge to “take back” the waterway continued to poison relations between the two countries and cause alarm around Latin America. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/panama-canal-trump-marco-rubio #PanamaCanal #China

How Google turned 'I'm not a robot' into a massive surveillance system

> By 2025, reCAPTCHA is easily defeated by bots. Yet Google continues to offer it because #reCAPTCHA has evolved into a #tracking tool that collects user data and generates billions in revenue for #Google, according to Chuppl. "Re-captcha takes a pixel by pixel fingerprint of your browser, a realtime map of everything you do on the internet."
https://boingboing.net/2025/02/07/recaptcha-819-million-hours-of-wasted-human-time-and-billions-of-dollars-google-profit.html #surveillance

Bird flu variant found in Nevada cows shows signs of adaptation to mammals

> The newer variant of avian influenza that recently infected dairy cattle in #Nevada has a genetic change that’s thought to help the virus copy itself in mammals — including humans — more easily, according to a new technical brief from the #US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/health/bird-flu-variant-nevada-human-case/index.html #H5N1 #BirdFlu

Trump's administration: US flying detained migrants to Guantanamo

> The United States is starting to fly detained migrants to America's notorious #Guantanamo military base in #Cuba as part of President #DonaldTrump's crackdown on illegal #migration, officials said Tuesday. https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/2273861.html #immigration #refugees #asylum

Jan. 6 conspiracy theory promoter named to a top State Department job

> #DarrenBeattie, who's claimed the #FBI was responsible for the 2021 attack on the Capitol, has been named acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/jan-6-conspiracy-theory-promoter-named-top-state-department-job-rcna190497 #Jan6 #StateDepartment #US

“Competent White Men Must Be in Charge”: White Supremacist Darren Beattie Gets State Department Role

> President Trump has named his former speech writer #DarrenBeattie to a senior position at the State Department. Beattie was fired in 2018 after CNN reported he’d spoken at a conference attended by white nationalists. Last October, Beattie wrote, “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.” https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/4/headlines/competent_white_men_must_be_in_charge_white_supremacist_darren_beattie_gets_state_department_role #MAGA #DonaldTrump

How China allegedly contributes to the deadly fentanyl crisis

> President #DonaldTrump has slapped new #tariffs on Chinese goods, partly in response to Beijing's alleged role in a deadly opioid epidemic in the United States.

> Washington has long accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to the deadly #fentanyl trade, which #US authorities estimate caused tens of thousands of deaths a year. #China denies responsibility. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/how-china-allegedly-contributes-deadly-fentanyl-crisis-4911266 #nacotics #OpiumWar

China counters with tariffs on US products. It will also investigate Google

> China has countered President #DonaldTrump’s tariffs on Chinese products with #tariffs of its own on multiple #US imports as well as announcing an antitrust investigation into #Google and other trade measures https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/china-counters-tariffs-us-products-investigate-google-118426858 #trade #economy

#Germany - Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against right-wing extremism and political cooperation with the #AfD in numerous German cities

> around 160,000 people gathered there. The organizers spoke of a quarter of a million. The demonstration moved from the Reichstag [..] an "inexcusable mistake“ that the Union accepted in parliament to win the majority for a tougher migration policy with votes from the #AfD https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/zehntausende-protestieren-in-berlin-und-anderen-staedten-102.html @meganmariehart #DEpoli #CDNpoli #CANpoli

Potential heavy losses: N. Korean troops 'withdrawn' from Kursk front line: Ukraine

> #Ukraine believes #NorthKorea soldiers fighting alongside Russia's army on the Kursk front line have been "withdrawn" after suffering heavy losses, a military spokesman told AFP on Friday.

> #Russia again refused to comment on claims foreign troops were fighting alongside their own soldiers. Instead, it accused Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk of committing atrocities
https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/2272762.html #UkraineWar #DPRK

As a birdflu outbreak escalates across the #US the Trump administration has paused the release of key public health studies, stalling research that could provide insight into how the virus spreads

> The blocked studies were supposed to be published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (#CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a respected journal that has reported on health threats since 1952 https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2025-01-31/bird-flu-studies-delayed-as-white-house-halts-cdc-reports #DonaldTrump #US #MAGA #BirdFlu #H1N1

Al-Sharaa named as Syria’s transitional president

> #Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was named president for a transitional period, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported on Wednesday, citing commander Hassan Abdel Ghani.

> Al-Sharaa was also authorized to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase which will carry out its task until a new constitution is adopted, SANA reported, citing Abdel Ghani. https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2025/01/29/al-sharaa-named-as-syria-s-transitional-president #AhmedalSharaa

#Japan tackles dementia crisis as super-ageing society sees cases soar

> Japan is one of the fastest-ageing societies in the world, with almost a third of its population over 65 years old. As a result, the county is seeing more and more cases of #dementia each year: almost 5 million people are now living with the condition. In response, the government is taking the problem seriously and has formed a special committee in a bid to tackle the crisis.
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/focus/20250128-japan-tackles-dementia-crisis-as-super-ageing-society-sees-cases-soar #ageing #mentalhealth

AI 'bubble' echoes dotcom excesses, Ray Dalio warns

> Investor exuberance over #artificialintelligence (#AI) has fuelled a “#bubble” in United States stocks that resembles the build-up to the dotcom bust at the turn of the millennium, billionaire investor #RayDalio has warned.
https://archive.is/2025.01.29-002909/https://financialpost.com/financial-times/ai-bubble-echoes-dotcom-excess-ray-dalio-warns