Europe is now saying the quiet part out loud. A French senator mocked Washington as “the court of Nero.” Portugal, a founding member of NATO, saw its president claim Trump is “objectively… a Soviet or Russian asset.”
theintellectualistofficial.substack.com/p/europes-fe...

”Trump’s obsession with the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t new. … He never wanted peace and defiely didnt want to do the work required to be a Nobel Laureate. He wanted the receipt. The Medal. The Trophy. The Physical manifestation of merit he never earned. It’s who he is and who he’s always been, so it’s fitting. A bully and a fraud who leverages and cons people into handing over their achievements to him as if he’s some kind of f****** virus.”
—Dean Blundell
https://deanblundell.substack.com/p/the-day-trump-took-someone-elses
#trump #machado

Imagine giving away your Nobel peace prize medal hoping for a presidency and getting a Trump-signed gift bag instead No words edition.cnn.com/2026/01/15/a...

Venezuela’s Machado gave Trump...

DPIA conducted by the Privacy Company on CISCO Webex for the Dutch government https://www.privacycompany.eu/blog/dpia-on-the-national-videoconferencing-of-the-dutch-government

English version https://www.cip-overheid.nl/media/ns0pzden/20251016-public-webex-dpia-v10.pdf
Technical Annex https://www.cip-overheid.nl/media/u2fojuyv/redacted-20250607-tech-appendix-cisco-webex-2025-in-english-v10.pdf

We've just published a document that details the EU's disturbing plans to expand cross-border travel surveillance.

Here is an overview:
• Plans are being discussed to extend police data collection to sea, rail and road travel.
• Governments want to use travel data for new purposes, such as immigration control.
• Changes could bypass necessary safeguards laid down by the EU Court of Justice
• A working group to discuss plans has been set up

Read more: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2026/eu-member-states-want-to-expand-police-surveillance-of-travel/

A new, short piece today.

It’s about winter in Scotland, the limits my body is setting right now, returning to photography after months away, and the common ground between my creative practices, where I can see the same voice carrying across both. Lots of photographs in this one too.

https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/from-the-road

#Scotland #Photography #LandscapePhotography #Landscape #Writing #ChronicIllness #Health #UK #Women

Breaking: California has opened an investigation in Grok's creation of sexualized deepfakes of women and children

“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking," Attorney General Bonta says

https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-launches-investigation-xai-grok-over-undressed-sexual-ai

When self-employed software engineer Nick Benson put out the call for dashcams online, he thought he’d get maybe 10 people to donate. More than 500 have shown up on his front porch. Here's how one guy crowdsourced 500+ dashcams for Minneapolis to film ICE https://www.404media.co/how-one-guy-crowdsourced-more-than-500-dashcams-for-minneapolis-to-film-ice/

You may not know that legal firms earn interest on the money they hold while clients complete transactors; last year they made around £350mn from interest (not passed on to their clients).

Someone in Govt. *has* noticed & are proposing a 75% tax on that interest (when the money is in a pooled account) & 50% when it is held in single client accounts.

It would be used (the MoJ claim) to repair the budget of the justice system; but not if the Treasury get their hand on it!

#tax #politics
h/t FT

As a sponsor of this year's State of the Browser conference, I have one online ticket to give away. I'd love to give it to a student or some who otherwise can't afford it.

If your interested, send me DM. :)

https://2026.stateofthebrowser.com/

Bourbon Street, New Orleans

⚠️ Update: #Iran has now been offline for 120 hours.

Despite some phone calls now connecting, there is no secure way to communicate and the general public remain cut off from the outside world.

What footage makes it through shows extensive use of force against civilians 📵

Premier of Greenland Jens-Frederik Nielsen had a direct message to the Trump-regime when visiting Copenhagen today:

"… one thing everyone must understand: Greenland will not be owned by the USA. Greenland will not be governed by the USA. Greenland will not be part of the USA. We choose the Greenland we know today, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark."

#greenland

Full text (in Danish): https://stm.dk/presse/pressemoedearkiv/arkiv/pressemoede-den-13-januar-2026/

New from 404 Media: police have unwittingly unmasked millions of their surveillance targets because of a Flock redaction error. Police didn't redact specific license plates in public record releases. A site is now making that information searchable, 2.3 million plates https://www.404media.co/police-unmask-millions-of-surveillance-targets-because-of-flock-redaction-error/

Fascinating piece on why HS2 is the most expensive per mile railway ever built. Featuring a chart that made me yelp 'Christ alive!'

How the UK ended up building t...

This will be an expert perspective on the complex Iranian situation from Yassamine Mather

https://youtu.be/cRt4-xkHobE?si=qXH_Ofok5D7pfXSq

ICE has spent hundreds of millions on surveillance. Some technologists are building tools to find it, map it, and push back. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/how-hackers-are-fighting-back-against-ice

How Two UK-registered Companies Moved Over a Billion in Stablecoins for the IRGC - https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/how-two-uk-registered-companies-moved-over-a-billion-in-stablecoins-for-the-irgc #iran

@ChrisMayLA6 @davidallengreen I'm on a private mailing list. One of the other members is in the deep south. Describing a trip to an enthnic grocery store, he discussed his choice of concealled carry weapon—he was worried about it being attacked by ICE thugs while he was there.

Said person is middle-aged, ex-US military, has seen combat, is white ... but hates Trump and is married to a black woman.

The USA is no longer a functioning society with a general consensus on the rule of law.

@neil and what USB C cable have you found to be the best?