“The question is whether any civilization can wage relentlesss war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized.”

- Rachel Carson in Silent Spring

If, to help people in #Gaza, you would rather contribute financially to community support at scale than to individuals, but are also worried about ‘the usual suspects’ among large NGOs either collaborating with the occupation or being prevented from doing their work, where do you go?

One great ‘middle ground’ option is the Gaza Soup Kitchen, that has transformed well beyond the soup kitchens in its name, and whose operation is built on well-organised community support on the ground and experienced professionals helping remotely from outside.

As an example of how thoughtful an operation it is, consider this snippet from the latest update:
«Last week we purchased 4,500 kilos of apples to include in food parcels for registered families. Shortly after our purchase, the market price increased by nearly 30 percent. Gaza’s markets are extremely sensitive right now — supplies remain limited, and when large humanitarian programs buy in bulk, the impact can be felt quickly. We saw something similar six weeks ago when we purchased thousands of cartons of eggs and again when we prepared large meal kits in December. Because of this, we try to move carefully and responsibly so that our purchases do not unintentionally make food harder for others in the community to afford. Your support allows us the flexibility to make these thoughtful decisions rather than rushing distributions when prices spike.»

https://www.gofundme.com/f/Hot-meals-in-gaza-daily

Looking up at the rather beautiful polychromatic brick facade of the former White and Son Clay Pipe Factory on Bain Street in Glasgow. Designed by M. Forsyth, it was built in the 1870s.

#glasgow #architecture #architecturephotography #industrialarchitecture #victorianarchitecture

The lies, non-compliance, delays in compliance - all show the endless bad faith of the Trump regime, from its highest officers to rather low-level ones. It will take decades of reconstruction to return executive branch agencies to abiding by law. https://www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/09/26-federal-plaza-jail-conditions-ice-judge-kaplan-ruling/

Not loving that local authorities are discovering hidden biolabs across the western United States and the CDC is like “we’ll call you back on that later, right now we’re way too busy trying to stop the woke mind virus”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/las-vegas-bio-lab-reedley-california-pathogens/

#USPol

The walled gardens of the big tech-platforms will be their demise. So much innovation is lost because of the need for control.

Really, the U.S. platforms are not forward looking. The have hit reverse a long time ago, going full speed towards history.

In the previous century I could pick up a phone and call anyone. Try that with the big platforms. NoT wiTHout a DeAl!

Open protocols are the way ahead.

#activitypub @pluralistic

After dismantling USAID, which contributed significantly to independent public broadcasting in Ukraine, Newsmax — a right-wing populist, pro-Trump outlet — is launching an assault on Ukrainian hearts and minds, with the aim of normalizing pro-russian MAGA narratives in the Ukrainian public sphere.

https://dev.ua/en/news/newsmax-v-ukraini-1770634823

This part is especially important (emphasis added):

“If we have to destroy the stock market to save democracy, we need to accept that and, more importantly, •••the richest and the most powerful people in the world and in this country need to understand that that is a real possibility.••• There is no economic stability without democratic stability. If you take away our democratic stability, we will take away the economic stability.”

2/

In Minneapolis, a harrowing scene unfolded as federal agents abducted a woman monitoring ICE operations, leaving her voice screaming for help before she vanished—one of several such disappearances during a crackdown called “Operation Metro Surge.” Local community observers, known as commuters, have been tracking what they see as civil rights violations amid what is now the largest immigration enforcement effort in U.S. history. Despite the new head of the operation, Tom Homan, announcing a reduction in personnel and promising a more “targeted” approach, fears persist that abuses and unlawful arrests will continue, marking a tense chapter in Minnesota’s ongoing immigration crackdown. Learn more: https://theintercept.com/2026/02/09/ice-minneapolis-legal-observers-abduction/ #Immigration #CivilRights #Minnesota #ICE #HumanRights #OperationMetroSurge

As internet remains weak in north Gaza, hundreds of people come to Spark workspace to connect to online jobs and classes—to be able to feed their families, build futures, and survive on their land.

Help this youth-led humanitarian project empower the community. 0/770 for the week - best way to help is to hit "weekly": https://chuffed.org/project/spark-space-gaza

@mutualaid @palestine
#MutualAid #MutualAidRequest #Gaza #Palestine #Tech #Education #Academia

RE: https://mastodon.nu/@hehemrin/116042737422876955

What it looks like when the rule of law and press freedom is lost, in just 6 short years

#HongKong #China

Palantir hosts party for MoD to celebrate £240m defence contract

The American technology company signed a three-year deal to ‘boost military AI and innovation'

Yesterday, Begum asked in the HofC if the contract had been put out to tender as she could see no information about this.

Jones, the Business Sec, said all normal procurement rules had been followed

Let's see

"Interaction with police" holy hell www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Trump has so thoroughly brought Big Journalism to heel that NBC makes a transparently hollow denial that it covered up the Olympic audience's booing of JD Vance. The denial is a pathetic but telling lie. It tells us a lot about the network's disintegrating integrity.

https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/09/nbc-hid-the-boos-for-jd-vance-wheres-trumps-unfair-editing-lawsuit/

The McDonald's drive thru corporate drug discount dispensary.
"#TrumpRx claims to offer the lowest prices. But many drugs have cheaper generics.
STAT analyzed every drug on TrumpRx. For some, consumers could save by shopping elsewhere."
#NoKings !
https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/trumprx-discount-drug-website-undercut-by-cheaper-generics/

RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116040136897752985

'The thousand-plus children that Epstein lured to his island rape-camp were often "distressed assets" in their own right: Julie K Brown's groundbreaking reporting on Epstein for the Miami Herald described how he sought out children whose parents were poor, or neglectful, or both, on the grounds that those children would be "on their way to collapse," too.

The Epstein class's commitment to destroying "The Economy" makes sense when you understand that trashing civilization is "much easier than finding the next bargain." They want to buy the dip, so they're creating the dip.'

“Lying in feces, throw up, urine… like animals in a cage at the zoo.” A whistleblower recounts the horrific ICE detention center conditions in Baltimore — a similar story everywhere.

Iran sentences Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi to six years in prison

> An Iranian court sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi to a six-year prison term, her lawyer told AFP on Sunday.

> "She has been sentenced to six years in prison for gathering and collusion to commit crimes," lawyer Mostafa Nili said, adding that she had also received a two-year ban on leaving the country.

> Mohammadi was also handed a one-and-a-half-year prison sentence for propaganda activities and is to be exiled for two years to the city of Khosf in the eastern province of South Khorasan, the lawyer stated.

> Under Iranian law, jail sentences run concurrently.

https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20260208-iran-sentences-nobel-peace-prize-laureate-narges-mohammadi-to-six-years-in-prison #Iran #NargesMohammadi #NobelPeacePrize

Cops intervene to discourage benches, footpaths, cycle lanes etc as all these encourage people interacting with one another. The more the police is involved, the less community we get, the worse the loneliness crisis becomes. www.instagram.com/reel/DSSFepR...

phinharper on Instagram: "Not ...

Okay, I uploaded the entirety of "The Oddfather" to my website, copyright be damned, because THE WORLD NEEDS TO SEE IT: josie.zone/the-oddfather

The Oddfather — Josephine Ries...