#Tourism’s #dark side: Are those who love #Greece killing it?

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/9/25/tourisms-dark-side-are-those-who-love-greece-killing-it?traffic_source=rss

> Greece’s population is shrinking, and tourism – its biggest economic success story – is making matters worse.

People upset because I say I am not a fan of democracy because it's three wolves and two sheep voting on what's for supper don't seem to realize that I get to vote every two years to see if I have the right to exist.

A court in #Berlin just sentenced a #climate #activist to 8 months in prison, no probation, because she twice glued herself to the road in order to block car traffic. Yes, that's her crime.

Otherwise everything is fine in #Germany.

https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2023/09/haftstrafe-letzte-generation-klimaaktivisten-gerichtsurteil-berlin.html

#fuckcars #climatestrike

Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers

https://euobserver.com/green-economy/157452?utm_source=euobs&utm_medium=rss

> A small tax on the richest 0.5 percent would increase EU tax revenues by €213.2 billion, says a new report by the Greens.

almost everyone in Europe is breathing toxic air

📌 98% of Europeans breathing highly damaging polluted air linked to 400,000 deaths a year

📌The worst hit country in Europe is North Macedonia.

📌 Eastern Europe is significantly worse than western Europe, apart from Italy 🇮🇹, where more than a third of those living in the Po valley and surrounding areas in the north of the country breath air that is four times the WHO figure for the most dangerous airborne particulates.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/20/revealed-almost-everyone-in-europe-breathing-toxic-air

Let's just be clear about something. When a government says that they want to be 'realistic' about climate action, but still reach 2050 goals ... what they are actually saying is that the problem should be handled by some future government after they are long gone.

@olimould
I was thinking the very same thing today. I stumbled upon an Italian online newspaper talking about her. I was like... what now, lettuce lady?

there was this other loophole, that a movie could feature a cross dressing cis man, if they were to require it to achieve some ulterior goal

and so “some like it hot” has two men escaping the mob

“tootsie” has a man crossdressing to game a system to get a job

ms doubtfire has a clearly abusive man cross dress to stalk his ex wife and see his children against a restraining order

i don’t even know what the fuck is going on with “hot chicks”

and tbese train people to think of trans women as cis men pretending to be women with ulterior, often abusive motives

Researchers have uncovered China's use of generative #AI to create images for its misinformation campaign targeting the Hawaiian fires. This is apparently the first time they're using it which is weird but it's clear they're building up a sock puppet army for bigger misinformation campaigns aimed at the upcoming US elections. Do your part: educate your community on how to check their info. This ain't a game. Generative AI has been weaponised by states.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/09/14/asia-pacific/politics/china-disinformation-hawaii-fires-new-techniques/

a little reminder that “male socialisation” is just a feminism laundered way to say you think trans women are actually men. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it isn’t as transphobic as calling us slurs. anyone who says this isn’t “kinda TERFy” they are a TERF.

“British Petroleum, the second largest non-state owned oil company in the world, with 18,700 gas and service stations worldwide, hired the public relations professionals Ogilvy & Mather to promote the slant that climate change is not the fault of an oil giant, but that of individuals. It’s here that British Petroleum, or BP, first promoted and soon successfully popularized the term ‘carbon footprint’ in the early aughts.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-footprints-to-blame-us-for-their-greed-keep-them-on-the-hook

Via @ajsadauskas

#BP #ClimateChange

This is gold:

"Elizabeth devoted her comfortable life to travelling first-class, shielding her family’s vast wealth from the taxman, managing her family’s pristine, sprawling estates, being feted at lavish state dinners by virtue of luck and primogeniture, caring for her dear dogs and horses, and burnishing the mirage that the British monarchy remains an exemplar of constancy, charity and benevolence."

Britain’s monarchy is dying, and no PR can save it

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/9/14/britains-monarchy-is-dying-and-no-pr-can-save-it?traffic_source=rss

> The world mostly ignored the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s passing, a reminder of how little the royal family means.

This morning I became aware of the present drama. This post is not directed at the topic itself, but around the surrounding conversation, and I'm not naming names.

But in trying to understand the present drama, I was mostly having to sift through posts erasing trans black people and having to read through posts saying things like: transfems are more likely to be fash/nazi because of "male socialization," I read people saying that it's offensive if trans people in the US want to flee oppression/genocide because other refugees have it worse, I read that trans oppression is only a recent thing, as if our entire history isn't riddled with genocide and erasure, I read that the oppression trans people experience isn't that significant and never has been. It kept going.

Literally just a morning full of transphobia, had nothing to do with the actual topic except, maybe, to justify transphobic rhetoric. Why is it when even legitimate concerns are raised, it always comes to this?

[Analysis] Von der Leyen overlooks cost-of-living crisis and job quality

https://euobserver.com/eu-political/157416?utm_source=euobs&utm_medium=rss

> Von der Leyen's speech focused on labour and skills shortages, inflation and improving the business environment. Some trade unions, political groups, and organisations felt that there were missed opportunities to outline a roadmap for a social Europe.

Big tech: Piracy is a crime!
Also big tech: *Downloads the entire internet and sells it*
#piracy #ai #llm

Remember when somebody in Russia was like, "I'm going to run against Putin." And Putin was like, "Nah, how about you go to jail, instead." And now the dude's in jail?

How many steps do you think there are between McCarthy caving to bogus impeachment charges against Biden and that?

This isn't political theater while they are out of power. This is a promise for how the GOP will run the government.

This is how Putin runs his government. This is why Republicans have been supporting him. They like the bit where everybody who opposes him ends up in jail or dead. They want that for the US.

You. Must. Vote. Democrat.

It's really that simple. #BannedBooks

Really tired of "we must adapt to this new reality" takes in response to horrible people doing preventable things.

Fuck that.

Make anti-vaxxers adapt to 20th century medicine. Make selfish people adapt to living in a society. Make billionaires adapt to paying their fair share. Make climate deniers adapt to science. Make conspiracy theorists adapt to reality. Make fascists adapt to getting punched in the face.

The rest of us aren't the ones who need to be "adapting."

Once more: fuck that.

Police water cannons are yet again turned on the scientists. Today an estimated 10,000 peaceful protestors in the Hague, are demonstrating against Dutch government subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, totalling at least 37.5 billion euros a year.