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https://philippinerevolution.nu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/20260510.npa-negros-island-statement.mp3 Indi ang pagka lehitimo sa engkwentro ang dapat naton bangi-an. Ang sentro dapat sang aton mga argumento ara sa panginahanglanon sang independent kag impartial nga imbestigasyon bangud sa mga bayolasyon sa tawhanon nga kinamatarung, rules of engagement kag sa mga paglapas sa laye sa gyera nga ginkomiter sang AFP partikular sa 79th IB (ang punto sini). Masyado kalayo sa konteksto kag wala sang lohika ang pahayag ni Gov. Eugenio “Bong” Lacson nga indi kinahanglan sang imbestigasyon ang ginakabig nga Toboso 19 o Negros 19. Magluwas sini, insensitibo ang ini nga pahayag nga kaangay lang wala ginatagaan balor ang kabuhi kag dignidad sang mga indibidwal nga nagkalamatay sa Barangay Salamanca, Toboso. Kaangay lang sini nga hayagan niya nga ginasuportahan ang nagalungtad nga kultura sang impunidad ukon ang kawad-on sang akawntabilidad kag hustisya sa isla sang Negros nga kaparti sa sistema nga ginapalungtad sa mga nagaharing sahi kag sa ila mersenaryong AFP/PNP/NTF elcac. Syempre, gin-ekspektar naton ini nga pahayag halin sa parehas ni Gov. Bong Lacson nga ara sa kubay sang mga nagaharing pamilya sa Negros nga amo ang nagabenipisyo sang proteksyon halin sang mersenaryong AFP kag PNP labina partikular sa Occidental sa pila na ka dekada. Kabahin ang ini nga pamilya sa nagamonopolyo sa duta kag nagapadalagan sang mga haciendas kon diin ang madata nga pagpanghimulos sa mga mamumugon sa uma, pagpang-agaw sang duta kag iban pa nga porma sang indi makatarungan nga sistema sang pagtrabaho. Gani, mismo si Lacson nga nagapanag-iya sang punongan o palaisdaan sa San Carlos City, grabe nga nagahimulos sa iya obreros nga wala sang benipisyo kag nagatrabaho sang 24 oras sang 7 ka adlaw kada semana. Sa pagkamatuod, wala ginapanginwala sang CPP kag AGC-NPA ang natabo nga enkwentro sa Salamanca Toboso kag indi ini kinahanglan i-contest. Pero indi ika negar nga sa tunga sini nga enkwentro ang indi matabunan nga reyalidad sang desperadong kahimuan sang AFP. Ang punto sini amo ang mga nakomiter sang AFP nga kinahanglan imbestigahan, gane ini mismo ang papel sang CHR. Dugang sini, gina-abiabi namon ang iban nga mga organisasyon kag entitidad nga handa maglunsar sang separado, independente kag imparsyal nga imbestigasyon. Bisan sa tunga sang mga kinakabig nga lehitimo nga engkwentro nga ginahambal ni Lacson, dapat iseguro gihapon ang kaluwasan sang sibilyan o indi armado nga grupo o indibidwal nga ara sa tunga sini. Kilala ang AFP/PNP-NTF elcac sa ila kasaysayan sang mga record sang kalapasan kaangay sang pagpatay ukon extrajudicial killings, abduction, harassment kag iban pa batuk sa mga sibilyan, labina sa mga mangunguma, media personnel, peace and HR advocates, environmental advocates, taga simbahan, youth activist kag iban pa nga nagtib-ong sang kaayuhan sang malapad nga masa. Mas labi nga kinahanglan ini imbestigahan bangud madamo nga insidente na sang masaker ang ila ginhimo nga ginatabunan lang sang tinaga nga “kontra insurhensya” . Ang tanan nga nagahimakas nga pumuluyo kag nagasuporta sang ila pagbato ginabansagan nga mga terorista, kon kis-a komunista kag ginatarget sang opresyon gamit ang armadong makinaryas sang estado kon sa diin nagapungko si Lacson sa tuktok sini. The post Insensitibo kag wala sang lohika ang pahayag ni Gov. Bong Lacson—AGC-NPA appeared first on PRWC | Philippine Revolution Web Central. From PRWC | Philippine Revolution Web Central via This RSS Feed.
This is, apparently, Shanin Blake. This is a picture from 2017. Her parents are not rich. Arguably, there’s a lot to criticize her about, but her leading a carefree lifestyle and finding success in publicizing it doesn’t seem like one.
I’m 30 and majority of my friend group says Sigma, skibidi, rizz on a daily basis. Tiktok memes are getting everyone I can’t even laugh at these kids anymore because my friends are just as cringe but without the excuse of being 13.
Gigachad Lula has withdrawn its Ambassador from the Zionist Entiy of Horror , Madness and Vanity…
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I have seen countless videos on tiktok of people being against this move, and my question is why? why wouldn’t anyone want to be able to extend the life of their expensive devices, why wouldn’t people want easily repairable batteries that take less than 5 minutes to swap out? the only argument ive seen against this is “OOH BUT BUT BUT THE AESTHETICS OF THE PHONE” who cares? function should always be over looks. and if anything it will end the trend of phones being glassy slabs and bring some innovation and new designs to the table. which will be interesting to see.
I guess I owe tiktok an apology
Banning Social Media FOR KIDS. Is just a quick means to spy on what ADULTS are getting up to on the Internet. Right now if you don’t want to ID yourself to go see cat pics/videos on Instagram/TikTok, you can just sign up for an account and go searching for cat pics/videos. With this bill, if you want to go find cat pics/videos on Instagram/TikTok in the state of Florida, you’ll have to submit a government ID to verify that you’re not a kid, and I’d believe for about as long as I can breathe water that the linking of my real identity/government ID with a social media account will have no negative real world outcomes. Cybersecurity is something that almost nobody takes seriously. I used to say that nobody takes it seriously until they’re hurt by their poor cyber hygiene, but these days the insurance policies pay the same either way so companies/people still do the bare minimum and call it a day. I’d much rather pay a VPN provider to be out of that jurisdiction than ever give anyone anything that concretely ties my online persona to my actual identity and it’s just incredible that lawmakers so fundamentally misunderstand how this all works that they don’t know it’s that easy.
Mary Nu, as she was known in Ahipara, in 1977, around the time that Tainui first met her. (Photo supplied) An unveiling is one of the most important hui in the Māori world, writes Tainui Stephens. To bless a headstone for our dead is a big step in our acceptance of their absence. Many Māori homes have a “dead wall”. A place for photographs of beloveds who have passed on. No one living should be seen up there. On our wall, there’s a small, framed picture of a smiling Māori woman holding up a tāniko panel. That’s Mary Williams. She passed away in 2014, at the age of 79. At the end of last year, my sister Māmari and I got an invitation to attend Mary’s unveiling. We were thrilled to go together to pay our respects to a truly important person in our lives. In terms of whakapapa, she’s actually a cousin to us, but we called her “Aunty”. Everyone loved Mary. She was the loving aunty. Not the grumpy aunty or the party aunty. She was the one everyone ran away to, because you felt safe in her arms. In Ahipara, she was also known as Mary (or Mere) Nu. Nu was her husband Paul Manuka’s nickname. In 1977, Mary Nu lived in a pink house at the end of Wainui Church Road. There were few buildings on that dodgy dirt road. My grandfather’s house was at the beginning of it. Next door was the dilapidated Moetonga hall that used to be the hapū marae. Further up was our hapū cemetery and the vestry remains of a church destroyed by a storm in the 1960s. Decades earlier, a busy community had lived at Wainui. Not any more. There were scattered farms and paddocks with a few horses and cows. The surrounding low hills were covered in gorse. The fencing was optimistic. I first met Mary that Christmas. I was new to Ahipara and staying with my grandfather, Bobby Roberts. He’d suggested I walk up to the Ngātotoiti cemetery to check out the headstones. It was a way to see how I fitted in with all the other family names I was discovering. As I walked around the small cemetery, a voice called out. “Hello!” A woman had come out of the pink house and waved at me. I was keen to know the people in the district and walked over to say kia ora. Mary and I talked easily. She was so friendly and whisked me inside to her kitchen table for fried bread and tea. I filled her in on my family connections. She’d already heard about Uncle Bobby’s Pākehā mokopuna turning up. She knew all my family and could explain connections and personalities and stories in truly forensic detail. She spoke fluent Māori, and not in a formal way. It was roots reo. A pure record of the way the old people in her youth spoke. She was a natural language teacher. She’d observed people all her life and understood how the Māori language worked on earth, and upstairs with her Lord. Mary had been a widow for a couple of years. At the end of our first chat, she invited me to the cemetery for a midnight karakia on New Year’s Eve. She said the local tikanga was to be with the dead at that time. I felt honoured to be asked. I was hungry for any Te Rarawa reo and tikanga, and I knew right away that Mary would guide me on that journey. Along with some of her whānau, we stood at her husband’s grave and shared karakia. It was a moment where I expressed my gratitude to Nu and Mary for the connection. Tears all around, stirred by memory. Mary and I became forever friends. “Everyone loved Mary. She was the loving aunty. Not the grumpy aunty or the party aunty. She was the one everyone ran away to, because you felt safe in her arms.” Pictured: Tainui and Māmari with Mary. (Photo supplied) Māmari met Mary when she was just seven years old. My little sis had come up from Christchurch to stay with me and our grandfather for a week, but the experience wasn’t a happy one for her. She was a bit intimidated by Bobby. He wasn’t a guy who talked much, partly because his bad asthma made him wheeze all the time. His physical weakness frustrated him. My sister was also tormented by a small cousin who lived there. A girl who had no problem swiping at Māmari in ways designed to cause maximum pain. Sis couldn’t wait to escape what she saw as hell. One day, she gapped it and ran up the road. She ended up in Mary’s pink house and got one of those big, warm, motherly hugs. Sis has remained in Mary’s embrace ever since. After her husband’s passing, Mary had felt trapped by her solitude, even with her adult and teenage children coming and going. Her lovely pink house was new and was to have been their dream home, before his fatal heart attack at Roma marae. In those years, I got around the country a lot by hitchhiking. No problem to hit the road. And never a problem if you stood somewhere where a driver had time to assess you and could safely stop. I said to Mary: “Haere tahi tāua!” Let’s go together! So we did. We hitchhiked all over the place. We’d visit relations or her “merry widow” mates. Or we’d head off into Kaitāia for housie or functions at the Yugoslav Club hall. Like any small town, there are no degrees of separation and a lot of gossip. Whenever Mary and I caught up, she couldn’t wait to unleash the stories about the doings of the locals, and who might have been born on “the other side of the blanket”. If someone had suffered or got into trouble, she’d say: “Aī, te aroha noki” Aw, we all need love. If someone had redeemed themselves, she’d say: “Mahi tika ana.” They did what was right. Mary was an attractive single woman, and in the opinion of some, she was ripe for rescue by a man. Over the years, many gave it a go, but Mary was the boss of her home and her life. Sometimes, hitchhiking back to Wainui, we’d see a hopeful chap’s car, truck or tractor parked up, waiting for her to come home. Some of the men (single or married) seemed to think they were being romantic by letting Mary cook for them. We’d head off the other way. For a short time, we were the objects of gossip ourselves. I didn’t know about it until after we’d visited a well-known kaumātua for a cup of tea. As we got up to leave, his wife, who was seated on the ground weaving, said quietly to my cousin: “Praise the Lord, Mary.” She never lifted her eyes from her busy fingers. When we got outside, Mary told me that the kuia’s words were code for: “You better not be doing the dirty deed with that boy!” We laughed, and didn’t care. Eventually, no one else did either. Mary and I established a simple pattern in our relationship. We just enjoyed being in each other’s company. I was her sounding board for what was happening in her life. She loved hearing about mine. I got to know her boys, Sid, Peter, and Hector, and the girls, Linda and Gayle. For most of my life, I would travel up that road to Mary’s place. Often with my own family. Kai, comfy couches, and kōrero were what we did. All the time. After the house went to sleep, I loved to sit on the porch and have a quiet ciggie. There were no streetlights or close neighbours. The nights were so very dark. Within that peace, I imagined the history of my whakapapa being lived out on those lands. Mary and Tainui on the set of It’s In The Bag, Kaitāia 2012. (Photo supplied) For my anxious seven-year-old sister, that first encounter with Aunty Mary’s big warm hug was a loving introduction to our iwi. She hung out with Mary’s children. She remembers looking for inanga in the local stream with Linda and Gayle. They laughed at her dorky city ways, but she felt included in the joke. Peter took her for a horse ride on the beach. Before long, they were galloping, and she was holding on tight. She has a vivid memory of sand flying from thundering hooves and feeling that any minute she might die. But she also felt safe, and this was one of the most thrilling things she’d ever done. Māmari found warmth and acceptance at Mary’s home. She felt she belonged there. It was the home base for her expanding connection to our Te Rarawa people. Later, as a teenager, she would return to the pink house. As she became an adult and had her own family, they would all return time and again to be with Aunty Mary and whoever from the family was there. Mary was such a loving person because she had no choice. She’d had a tough life and had known the common violence of an earlier era. She had little money but used it wisely to raise her family. She worked hard and loved her garden. She contributed to the community. Some would take advantage of her generous soul and humble ways, but her strong Christian faith enabled her to face any challenge and brought her peace. Mary truly lived with Jesus in her life. It radiated in her smile. The unveiling was held on a sunny Friday in March, Mary’s birthday. As Māmari and I drove up the familiar old road, it was wonderful to see that much had changed. The Moetonga marae is new, attractive, and well cared for. A community of whānau homes has sprung up. The white Tokotoru Tapu church stands proudly at the entrance to the expanding wāhi tapu. A big family crowd had turned up. The hui was a triumph of fundraising and organisation. It wasn’t just Mary’s headstone — there were five others to be unveiled: all were her children or mokopuna. Cars were everywhere, people were hugging and yarning, and kids were running about. The marquee was up, and kai was being prepared by the workers. At the appointed hour, Mary’s nephew Sonny led a moving karakia in the church. We then moved to the cemetery and went through the process of unveiling each headstone and reading the engraved words aloud. Whānau then shared stories about Mary, Charlotte, Michael, Peter, Hawaiki, and Te Aroha. It had been nearly half a century since I first stood with Mary in that cemetery, and at that spot by her husband. It was nice to speak to them both again. This time, I had no tears. An unveiling is a final physical responsibility to our dead. We then move on with life, with a greater acceptance of their absence. “An unveiling is one of the most important hui in the Māori world. To bless a headstone for our dead is a big step in our acceptance of their absence.” Pictured: Tainui, Māmari and Mary’s daughter Linda at the unveiling. (Photo supplied) Māmari spent time with Mary’s daughter, Linda, and told her how much her mother’s home meant to her. When Mary died, Māmari felt her connection to the land was lost. Linda quickly reassured her: “You can come back to this house. I’m here now. You come here anytime. You go inside now.” Māmari did just that and was amazed to see that much of the inside hadn’t changed at all. The big living room was still the same as always, with its beds, couches and cushions. The same Christian hangings, school photos, and kids’ artwork were on the walls. The same chart of New Zealand seafood was pinned inside the toilet door. The same floorboards creaked. Māmari felt those parts of the house had been preserved out of respect for Mary. A comforting embrace still lives in that home. Mary’s headstone says simply that she was a beloved wife, a loving daughter, a treasured great-granddaughter, cherished by her children and moko, and dearly missed by whānau and friends. The type of person she was is also in the words: “I will go in the strength of the Lord God.” Everyone lives their own unique story. When that story ends, and we depart the place of its telling, all that we leave behind is how others see us. The words on a headstone or a moment captured in a photograph are clues to what your story was about — and who was paying attention. Tainui Stephens, of Te Rarawa, has been fully engaged in the film and television industry since 1984, working with a range of genres and content. He is particularly attracted to compelling Indigenous stories that critique and celebrate the human condition. Tainui lives in Ōtaki with his wife and fellow filmmaker Libby Hakaraia. Together, they and a small whānau team run the Māoriland Film Festival. E-Tangata, 2026 The post A stone for Mary Nu appeared first on E-Tangata. From E-Tangata via This RSS Feed.
With a video published on Thursday, May 7 and a a press release on Friday, May 8, the Grassroots Trade Union (Unione Sindacale di Base, USB) and the Italian Port Workers Collective (Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali, CALP) which organizes dockworkers in the port of Genoa, among others, called for a general strike on May 18 to demand the release of Global Sumud Flotilla co-organizers Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila, and to denounce the complicity of the Italian government in their abduction and in the genocide in Gaza. @leftvoice Dockworkers in Genoa, Italy, threaten to go on strike if Thiago Ávila and Saif Abu Keshek — activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla who continue to be held in Israeli detention — aren’t released in 10 days. During the Flotilla mission last fall, Italian dockworkers led the charge to “Block Everything,” inspiring workers across Europe into using the power of the strike to surround the mission with active solidarity and raising their banners for Palestine. Once again, the Genoese dockworkers are showing the way, fighting for the release of Thiago and Saif, and against the genocide in Gaza, raising the spectre of a nationwide general strike on May 18. #freesaifandthiago #freepalestine ♬ original sound – Left Voice On the night of Wednesday, April 29, into Thursday, April 30, over 600 miles from Gaza, the Israeli army launched a large-scale operation to intercept the flotilla in international waters. After a brutal detention marked by physical and psychological violence, almost all of the activists were disembarked and released in Greece, with the exception of Ávila, a Brazilian national, and Abu Keshek, a Swedish-Spanish-Palestinian national. Both Ávila and Abu Keshek have been held for over a week in an Israeli prison. While the two activists have been on hunger strike since their detention, Italian port workers—who last fall organized several days of general strikes across Italy to protest the boarding of previous flotillas and the genocide in Gaza—have announced that they will call for a general strike if the two activists are not released within the next 10 days. Since the two co-organizers of the flotilla were on a ship flying the Italian flag at the time of their abduction, trade unionists from the USB and CALP intend, in particular, to denounce their government’s complicity in the abduction. Their struggle is part of a broader mobilization against militarization and austerity in Italy. On Thursday, May 7—the same day that the dockworkers published their call—a strike and demonstrations took place in Rome to protest against the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and against the austerity-driven dismantling of public education. At the demonstrations, students, professors, protesters of all stripes voiced strong support for Saif and Thiago. The Meloni government—a key imperialist ally of the U.S. and Israel—has good reason to fear that the call for a strike on May 18 could once again trigger a national general strike. The Genoa dockworkers are yet again showing the way forward to secure the release of Saif and Thiago and to fight against the genocide in Gaza. Let us take their lead by building, from the ground up, an international mobilization of the working class against the genocide in Gaza, against the imperialist war in Iran and Lebanon, and for the defeat of all imperialism! The post Italian Dockworkers Call for a Strike if Detained Activists Are Not Released appeared first on Left Voice. From Left Voice via This RSS Feed.
If this was forwarded to you, sign up for future news here. Dear Friend, As you read this and our other newsletters, and as you learn elsewhere about those working for the abolition of war, please consider nominating an individual or organization for War Abolisher of 2026. —David Swanson, Executive Director, World BEYOND War Online Actions Palestinians are being criminally deprived of food, water, and medicine. Those attempting to come to their aid should be assisted, not attacked. Add Your Name Upcoming Events Visit WBW’s Global Events Calendar to find events and add your own events! There is a need to amplify calls for neutrality as militarization in the region continues and rivalry between the U.S. and China persists. [WEBINAR] PEACE in TAIWAN: A Conversation on the Current Situation of Taiwan and How People Can Contribute to Achieving Peace Register More Upcoming Events: Online Course: War, Peace, and the Arts Book Club: The True Price of War Webinar: Afghans promoting peace and social justice in new lands Resistance Studies Conference #NoWar2026 Conference: Beyond Borders Videos of Recent Events: Stop Using Drone Warfare to Perpetrate Genocides in Palestine and Sudan Women in Conflict Zones Sesión Informativa Para Nuevos Capítulos en América Latina The Future of Irish Neutrality Mapping Militarism We’ve published an annual update of Mapping Militarism, our collection of maps of the globe illustrating trends in war and peace. Each map has a spinnable globe, each nation clickable for more information, or a list view for simple text and data — plus a slider to move back in time to previous years and see what has changed. Explore the Maps News from Around the World Eerie Reminder of Holocaust Past “Quite unexpectedly to my mind, scenes from past movies about German Nazi concentration camps seemed to appear out of nowhere almost in sequence as if building a narrative.” Read Here More About the Global Sumud Flotilla: Talk World Radio: John Reuwer on Being Kidnapped at Sea by Israel Israeli Attack on Flotilla Violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea Freedom Flotilla Defies Israeli Piracy, Launches Four New Vessels Israeli Navy Goes 700 Miles to Attack Unarmed Gaza Flotilla Boats Video from John Reuwer, Kidnapped by Israel in International Waters Israeli Military Attacks Another Aid Flotilla A Note Dictated to a Lawyer for a Prisoner’s Daughter More Articles from Around the Globe: WORLD: WBW Board President Kathy Kelly to Receive Berrigan-McAlister Award Nuclear Weapons Didn’t Save Lives in 1945. They Wouldn’t Today Either AFRICA: On the Deportation of Migrants from the United States to Cameroon Mali: War is Not a Solution LATIN AMERICA: Rally Held in Caracas in Support of Global Sumud Flotilla and Freedom for Palestine Sesión Informativa Para Nuevos Capítulos en América Latina EUROPE: Revolution and Evolution: A Podcast Conversation with Daniel Che Over 185 Organisations Warn EU ASIA: Gaza: Canary in the Coalmine Hormuz and We All Lose 47 Reasons to End War on Iran VIDEO: Message to Iran and Everybody Else Peace Walk for Palestinian Prisoners Held in Osaka, Japan NORTH AMERICA: Canada Selected to Host Global War Bank, But We’re Organizing to Stop it Intern Spotlight: Mark Birnbaum Would You Want Aliens to Meet Neil deGrasse Tyson? New Video: War Is Still A Racket Talk World Radio: John Sayles on Crucible World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers, chapters, and affiliated organizations advocating for the abolition of war. Donate to support our people-powered movement for peace. Privacy policy. World BEYOND War 513 E Main St #1484 | Charlottesville, VA 22902 | USA PO Box 871 | Campbellford PO, ON, K0L 1L0 | Canada CC Unicentro Bógota, Local 2-222 | Postal Code (Apartado Postal): 358646 | Colombia The post WBW News & Action: Eerie Reminder of Holocaust Past appeared first on World BEYOND War. From World BEYOND War via This RSS Feed.
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The annual GLAAD Social Media Safety Index & Platform Scorecard evaluates six major social media platforms: TikTok, X, YouTube, and Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, providing findings and recommendations for social media companies to improve LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression online. The maximum score a platform can receive is 100. https://www.glaad.org/smsi/2026/platform-scorecard/ https://www.glaad.org/smsi/social-media-safety-index-2026/
Recently, the government appeared to make a significant announcement on children’s online safety. Ministers said they are committed to implementing social media “restrictions” for under-16s. But beyond that headline, there is still no clarity about what those restrictions would actually involve. A lack of clarity Rather than committing to a ban, the government says it is continuing to consult and consider its options – leaving parents, teachers and young people none the wiser about how children will be protected in practice. That lack of clarity matters, because the half-measures now being floated – time limits and curfews – fundamentally misunderstand the nature of the risk. Harm on social media is not something that builds gradually over hours of use. For many children, it is delivered immediately. When extreme or distressing content appears within minutes – sometimes seconds – rationing access does not reduce danger. It simply delays it. If ministers are serious about keeping children safe, they must act decisively and raise the age of social media access to 16. ‘Big Tech’s Little Victims’ Earlier this year, the National Education Union ran the Big Tech’s Little Victims Algorithm Experiment, which examined what children experience when they first sign up to social media at the legal age of 13. Researchers created four fictional profiles of British 13-year-olds across TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram, and used them just as a child would. What happened next was alarming. Within minutes – sometimes seconds – the accounts were served content featuring guns, graphic violence, sexualised material, self-harm and misogynistic narratives. On average, for every minute the profiles spent scrolling, they were shown one piece of concerning content. In some cases, the very first video was distressing. A fatal flaw in the government’s approach This evidence exposes the fatal flaw in the government’s approach. When harm is delivered almost instantly, time limits do not reduce risk – they simply ration it. A curfew does nothing if a child is shown extreme content the moment they log on. These algorithmic systems are not broken. They are doing exactly what they were designed to do – maximise engagement at any cost. Even worse, time-based restrictions ignore the social reality of how young people interact online. Teenagers do not experience social media in isolation. Harmful content spreads quickly via peer groups, group chats and re-posted videos. Teachers see the consequences of this every day: rising misogyny in classrooms; increased anxiety, isolation and emotional distress; children arriving at school exhausted from late-night scrolling, distracted by content they cannot unsee. Parents are left to manage the fallout while platforms continue to deny responsibility. What is the government waiting for? The tech sector has had repeated warnings, mounting evidence and ample opportunity to change course. It has failed. Platforms know the ages of their users. In the Algorithm Experiment, dates of birth for children just turning 13 were given when creating the profiles. Yet still dangerous content was pushed endlessly. They know the risks their algorithms create, but they continue to prioritise profit over protection. That failure demands swift government intervention. So what is the government waiting for? Raising the age of social media access to 16 would be a clear, proportionate step grounded in evidence and public concern. Polling shows strong support among parents and teachers alike. Despite the familiar rhetoric about government overreach, this would not be unprecedented. The government has already taken decisive action to restrict access to pornography for young people, recognising that delaying access is one of the most effective ways to reduce harm across a lifetime. In April, the government has u-turned to support banning smartphones in schools, but this won’t protect children from harmful content they see on social media at home. At 13, children’s minds are still developing. Allowing unregulated, engagement-driven algorithms free access to them is indefensible. Every day of government inaction leaves more children exposed to avoidable harm. Government consultation The government’s consultation on children’s use of social media is open until 26 May, and it is seeking views from parents, young people, educators, health professionals and anyone concerned about children’s wellbeing. People should take part – because what happens next matters. You can submit your views to the consultation online here. But consultations cannot substitute for leadership. Announcing that “restrictions” are coming, without saying what they are or when they will take effect, is not decisive action. And floating half-measures like time limits or curfews may create the impression of progress, while leaving children exposed to harm the moment they log on. Time limits may sound reassuring. Vague promises may grab headlines. But they will not keep children safe. If the government truly wants to protect children online, it must stop hiding behind half-measures – and raise the age of social media access to 16. Featured image via the Canary By Daniel Kebede From Canary via This RSS Feed.
I wrote an article on the topic of food security in China in 2022. The main rationale for that prior essay was that there had been warnings of a global food crisis as the result of the war in Ukraine. Indeed, prices of staple commodities like corn, wheat, and soybeans nearly doubled in price in the first year of the conflict, and millions were pushed into hunger worldwide. In the United States, this was one of the leading causes of rapid grocery inflation in 2022, contributing to an 11.4% increase in grocery prices, per the USDA. China however largely remained unscathed, with changes in grocery prices remaining much lower than those in the United States over the same period of time. A food crisis came, and although it hit the Global South much harder than the imperial core, hit the imperial core it did. However, China was noticeably insulated from this previous food crisis. Over time, some attention was drawn to Chinese food policy. Economists like Isabella Weber highlighted that Chinese strategic food reserves helped to ensure that grocery prices didn’t skyrocket for China, like they did elsewhere else in the world, amid one of the worst food crises to hit the international community in decades. Amusingly enough, even normal Westerners who left the popular app Tiktok during the temporary ban in January 2025 saw firsthand on the Chinese app Rednote (小红书) how much more affordable groceries were in China for the average person. A new global food crisis Today, the world is facing another global food and energy crisis, caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran and the disruption of supply chains in the Persian Gulf. Given this new crisis, revisiting the topic of China’s food security seems prudent, to assess its strengths and see what could be learned from these methods. If reporting is to be believed, this present conflict in West Asia could push as many as 45 million people into hunger, in addition to making the hundreds of millions already in hunger face even more dire circumstances, as a direct result of the US’s imperial war of aggression against Iran. Food prices in countries that are much more insulated will also increase, likely as much as, if not even more than, they did in 2022. In China, however, the government has state control over the commanding heights of the economy. In practice, this means that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) place strategically important industries under government control, and operate them as businesses that serve socially beneficial purposes, as opposed to existing for quarterly profit maximization on behalf of shareholders. China’s strategic food reserves In my prior article, I examined the role of cooperatives in alleviation of poverty and food security. In this present essay, I will expand upon the role of the Chinese state in safeguarding food security, as well as the interplay between the state and cooperatives. The largest and most directly relevant SOEs in China that oversee this strategy are China Grain Reserves Group (中储粮集团), also known by the name Sinograin; and the China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation (中国粮油食品集团), known simply as COFCO*.* Sinograin is the main company that handles reserves of grains, oils, meats, sugars, and other agricultural commodities. COFCO oversees processing, warehousing, planting, transportation, and shipping of foodstuffs. Sinograin can be thought of as the SOE that handles the actual reserved quantities of foodstuffs, while COFCO processes, transports, warehouses, and distributes foodstuffs to various retailers at controlled prices. In late 2022, these entities formed a joint venture called the China Enterprise United Grain Reserve Company (中企联合粮食储备有限公司), combining their efforts into a streamlined strategic grocery network, covering everything from sourcing and planting. Through this system, the process of reserving foodstuffs and then processing and wholesaling them is managed efficiently. A grain storage facility operated by Sinograin, in Chengdu in 2025 (Photo credit: Xinhua) This isn’t to say that there isn’t a private sector in China; indeed, cooperative farms also exist, and there are plenty of private, for-profit, non-cooperative business enterprises working in foodstuffs. However, a state sector serves as a check on these entities. If people believe that the private sector is overcharging them for essentials, they have a state-run option to source foodstuffs from. Moreover, if there are shortages or supply chain problems, the government can open up reserves to auction, and allow various wholesalers and distributors to have grains at a price guaranteed to ensure farmers are adequately compensated, but not so high as to ensure that ordinary consumers are price gouged. In terms of the interplay between the state sector and cooperative sector, the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC) stands as a means by which the state organizes and supports cooperatives. This can look like technical support for cooperatives, research, development of local cooperative business models, or study of new agronomic innovations for cooperatives, among many other responsibilities. The cooperative sector is itself not state-owned definitionally, but the government does guide and develop the creation of cooperative industries as part of socialist construction. In turn, the Chinese state uses this infrastructure to enable other goals of socialist construction, including strategic partnerships between entities like COFCO and the ACFSMC. State-run entities like COFCO and Sinograin can sell directly to cooperatives and have cooperatives be the front-end of the distribution chain to consumers whenever prices need to be stabilized. This enables lower costs to be guaranteed to the people. A grain storage facility operated by Sinograin, in Changsha in 2025 (Photo credit: China Daily) In terms of scale, there is not another strategic food reserve at any point in human history that comes close to how large China’s reserve is. In terms of grain alone, in 2024 the strategic reserve was at 700 million metric tons of grain as of 2024. This is enough to feed the domestic population for a year. With reserves at that scale, China can guarantee that, when crises unfold, its population will not go hungry. Grain reserves are one element of the way that Chinese socialism has been able to anticipate and prepare for the current crisis the world is in. China’s fertilizer reserves China also has a large fertilizer reserve. In fact, the second-biggest exporter of fertilizer in the world is China, and its largest producers are the SOEs Sinochem and the China National Agricultural Means of Production Group Corporation. Sinochem also maintains supply chains for other components in the production chain of fertilizers, and can draw on reserves from other state sectors like the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) or the strategic reserve of sulphur to ensure that fertilizer production is ramped up, in the case of crises like the one we face today. As a result, China is in a position where it can release fertilizer reserves to extend the shelf life of its grain reserves and attempt to bolster domestic production, such that its grain reserves can last even longer. These policies require an immense amount of planning, which market logic would simply not find tolerable. Indeed, in October 2025, The Economist lamented that China was betting on non-market forces in managing its reserves, buying up grains, fuel, chemical components, and minerals when times were good. The Economist wrote: Since many analysts expect a barrel of crude to be $10-20 cheaper next year, China may be wasting billions of yuan a month. Its refiners are also securing copper at an enormous loss: the “treatment” fee they usually charge miners to process ores has turned deeply negative—a feat enabled, traders suspect, by cheap state loans. Brazil has been selling soyabeans to China at a hefty premium. Retrospectively, this logic is laughable. Today, the prices of basic necessities are skyrocketing. To have bought them at a “hefty premium” in 2025 will look like a bargain compared to the sky-high prices in 2026. For a long time, the stockpiling policies of China were described as either incompetent mismanagement by the state or as a nefarious policy to prepare to wage aggressive war. Not once did Western pundits consider that these policies were strategic choices by China to prepare for crises that could be caused by a myriad of causes, such as climate change, or the militarism of the United States. Rational socialist planning was never seen for what it actually is: a state-directed plan to anticipate needs and shape the economy in a direction that actually benefits the population, as opposed to allowing market forces to enrich a small handful of wealthy elites. China’s five-year plans and strategic planning Indeed, we can look at the most recent five-year plans to see how this is playing out in terms of China’s food security policy. A priority of the 14th five-year plan (from 2021 to 2025) was to develop into a leader in agricultural modernization. Even the neoliberal publication The Economist has acknowledged that China has become the leading country in agricultural sciences, with output into leading scientific journals being spearheaded by research in Chinese agricultural science. China uses drone technology more than any other country, deploying more than 300,000 agricultural drones — more than half the the world’s total — to enable efficient transportation, fertilization, and seeding of crops. China plans to lead on adaptable crop biotechnologies and novel protein sources. China integrates AI systems like Deepseek into pest-identification programs, to reduce the use of chemical pesticides. In terms of physical infrastructure, during its 14th five-year plan, China invested $757 billion USD in water conservation efforts, such as agricultural irrigation and hydroelectric power, among others. These same priorities are reflected in the 15th five-year plan, which seeks to further integrate agricultural biosciences and artificial intelligence into existing agricultural networks. These state directives are not only rational, they’re humane. China has secured resources necessary for the flourishing of 1.4 billion people. As millions in the world will experience hunger and further impoverishment, China has taken adequate steps to ensure that its domestic population will not bear the weight of damage from choices undertaken by others. Indeed, as other countries in East and Southeast Asia face the prospect of shortages, China has taken steps to ensure that it can export critical materials for industrial production. China is beginning to allow export of jet fuel, as the airlines of several neighboring Asian countries experience severe shortages. As shortages of fuel impact critical chemical industrial processes in countries like Japan, China steps in to fill gaps in these supply chains, to prevent critical industrial sectors from collapsing. Because of sound environmental initiatives, China is in a prime position to export clean energy alternatives to countries suffering from the current energy crisis, as it is the largest producer of solar power, batteries, and electric vehicles. Not only has China’s long-term strategic stockpiling secured the well-being of it’s own population; it is also securing the well-being of other countries facing this crisis as well. As the world plunges deeper into a generation-defining crisis, happening at the tail-end of yet another generation-defining crisis, we can see that alternative systems are capable of actually addressing these problems effectively and rationally. State planning and the socialist mode of production, in the form of state-owned enterprises and cooperatives under the guidance of a communist party, are capable of addressing fundamental needs. As the crises of the modern era are increasingly showing us, a better world is possible. China is providing an example of how. The post How China prepared for the new global food crisis, caused by the US war on Iran appeared first on Geopolitical Economy Report. From Geopolitical Economy Report via This RSS Feed.
I looked it up in the App store out of curiosity and holy crap that app almost as bad as TikTok for privacy. Though I suppose people jumping ship from TikTok aren’t too concerned about data privacy or else they wouldn’t have been using TikTok in the first place.
These workers are training AI to take their own jobs. There’s a hidden workforce powering the rise of ChatGPT, and nearly 1 in 5 of them have fallen into homelessness. We investigated America’s AI sweatshops, and found a new gig economy run by Big Tech. Reporter: Karen Hao Producer: Sam Black Supervising Producer: Sam Quigley Editor: Nora Tennessen Videographers: Peter Braswell, Natalie Chao, Justin Feltman, Devon Lyons, LaDawn Manuel, Adam McCoy Video Production Manager: Isabel Atalaya Video Production Coordinator: Jodi Clemens Video Production Fellow: Astrid Dong More Perfect Union is an Emmy-winning, nonprofit newsroom whose mission is to build power for working people. Here’s what that means: We report on the real struggles and challenges of the working class from a working-class perspective. We attempt to connect those problems to potential solutions. We report on the abuses and wrongdoing of corporate power. And we seek to hold accountable the ultra-rich who have too much power over America’s political and economic systems. To support our independent journalism, subscribe, donate, and follow our other pages through the links below: Help fund our reporting: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mpu-splash Substack: https://substack.perfectunion.us/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moreperfectunion Twitter: https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/moreperfectunion.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorePerfectUS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perfectunion/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@perfectunion Website: https://www.perfectunion.us/ From More Perfect Union via This RSS Feed.
Except it went dark before the law had a chance to be enforced, and was back up before trump was ever in office and able to use executive orders. So points 3 and 4 have nothing to do with the actual law and are decisions completely from within tiktok
The United States has become a self-parody, where political theater masquerades as diplomacy. JD Vance’s Munich performance wasn’t just cringe—it crystallized Europe’s realization that America’s once-stable facade is crumbling. When even allies label you an adversary, it’s not a policy failure—it’s a cultural decay. The GOP’s fetish for performative nationalism has turned statecraft into a TikTok rant, broadcast to a world that’s stopped laughing. Now Europe scrambles to disentangle itself from this dumpster fire, proving democracy isn’t broken—it’s been outsourced to clowns. The Atlantic alliance? More like a hostage situation, where the captors forgot they need the hostages more than vice versa.