Elon Musk is becoming a one-man rogue state – it’s time we reined him in

Elon #Musk is, more or less, a #RogueState. His intentions are self-serving and #nefarious, and his nation-state level resources allow him to flout the law with impunity.

To put it into context, if dollars were metres, Musk’s money would be enough to take him to Mars and back, while a mere millionaire could only make a round trip from Paris to Amsterdam.

He has:

• Bankrolled #elections
• Stoked #riots
• Ignored laws

e mustn’t make the mistake of playing nice with the world’s richest bully

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/20/elon-musk-is-becoming-a-one-man-rogue-state-its-time-we-reined-him-in

#corruption #authoritarian #Orwellian #tyrants #HybridWar #wealthy

Trump team wants to scrap car-crash reporting rule that Tesla opposes

The Trump transition team wants the incoming administration to drop a car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Elon #Musk’s #Tesla according to a document seen by Reuters, a move that could cripple the government’s ability to investigate and regulate the safety of vehicles with #automated-#driving systems.

Musk, the world's richest person, spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars helping #Trump get elected president in November. Removing the crash-disclosure provision would particularly benefit Tesla, which has reported most of the crashes – more than 1,500 – to federal safety regulators under the program.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/trump-transition-recommends-scrapping-car-crash-reporting-requirement-opposed-by-2024-12-13/

#bribes #corruption #dictator #authoritarian #cars #automation #safety #crashes

Russian colonialism is not reformable says historian Botakoz Kassymbekova

Most #Russians seem unwilling to give up the privileges the government gives them at the expense of the country's #ethnic #minorities

"Russian dissidents want to retain the #empire, which means they want to maintain the status quo,” Kassymbekova alleges. “This status quo will never bring democracy, simply because an empire is an #authoritarian system," she adds.

Some believe #Russia is among the last empires still standing, being a vast and highly centralized state that rules over a variety of different peoples. Russian “national republics,” regions that were created to give a form of autonomy to national minorities living in them, are, in fact, governed from Moscow, with governors directly appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin

https://kyivindependent.com/russian-colonialism-is-not-reformable-says-historian-botakoz-kassymbekova/

#Imperialism

'Russian colonialism is not reformable,' says historian Botakoz Kassymbekova

Most Russians seem unwilling to give up the privileges the government gives them at the expense of the country's ethnic minorities, says Botakoz Kassymbekova, a historian focusing on Eastern Europe at the University of Zurich. "Russian...

#Far-right activists from Germany spent US election day at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

As Donald #Trump gathered his supporters, family and friends at Mar-a-Lago on US election day last month to wait for the results to trickle in, a small group of far-right #Germans went largely unnoticed.

Among them was the:
- Purported semi-professional, one-time porn actor
- Self-confessed former cocaine user
- Convicted thief and hard-right candidate for the German parliament Phillipp-Anders Rau

Together with a compact delegation of young political activists and influencers, Rau posed for the cameras with the American president-elect at his invitation, chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!” in English and German.

Members of the Alternative für Deutschland ( #AfD ) party had already been making inroads with the Trump camp

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/07/far-right-activists-from-germany-spent-us-election-day-at-trumps-mar-a-lago

#Nazis #fascism #fascist #authoritarian

A 4-year cruise or a €1 house in Italy: Inside the schemes helping Americans skip #Trump’s presidency

Following the recent US election result, Google searches for ‘how to move to Europe’ increased by more than 1,000 per cent in some countries.

Searches by #Americans for moving to Canada and Australia soared by 1,270 and 820 per cent respectively in the 24 hours after the first polls closed, according to Google data.

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2024/11/20/a-4-year-cruise-or-a-1-house-in-italy-inside-the-schemes-helping-americans-skip-trumps-pre

#tyrants #authoritarian #dictators #escape #election

Move to Italy or live on a cruise: How to escape the US post-election

Searches by Americans for moving abroad soared in the 24 hours after the first polls closed, according to Google data.

Trump advisers propose bypassing FBI background checks for appointees

Donald #Trump could skip #FBI background checks to grant immediate security clearance to numerous appointees who might otherwise fail to pass traditional #vetting hurdles, according to a memorandum prepared by his closest advisers.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/28/trump-fbi-security-clearance-check

#Election2024 #corruption #dictator #tyrant #authoritarian #Orwellian

#Election2024 #OnePlanet #humanity #America #fascism #racism #dictator #authoritarian #dystopian #Orwell

Revenge Served Hot - by Mary L Trump

New York Times published an article last week called, “How Trump Could Punish His Enemies.”

I think it’s worth pausing for a minute to acknowledge how extraordinary, how outside the realm of politics-as-usual and the morally acceptable that is; how unconscionable it is that we have descended so far that we even have to have this conversation.

https://www.marytrump.org/p/revenge-served-hot

#trump #dictatorship #fascism #authoritarian #FarRight #dystopia #dystopian #MadMax

Revenge Served Hot

Donald’s plans for vengeance

Stop jailing climate truth tellers!

This sentence is a gut-punch for us all. #Peaceful climate activists will spend the next four to five years in jail.

Why? For leading a video call about a #protest against the last government’s failure to act on climate change and its plans to “max out” on #oil and #gas.

This is the tragic result of repressive #Tory laws which treat peaceful climate protesters as violent offenders.
- Activists can now be #jailed for up to ten years!
- Meanwhile, big #polluters destroy our planet with impunity.

https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/uk_climate_activists_loc/

#authoritarian #oppression #cruel #ToryScum #ClimateChange #ClimateEmergency

Peaceful climate activists - YEARS in prison?

They’re putting behind bars the people who fight for climate justice. We can’t let it happen.

Donald Trump’s Plot Against America - Democracy Docket

Donald Trump is plotting to overthrow American #democracy. It is not a secret, and he is not subtle. The only question is whether enough people will care enough to stop it.

Trump is not hiding his intentions for a second term. Echoing #Hitler’s rise to power, he has called his political enemies “vermin” and promised his supporters that, if elected, he would be their “retribution.”

Trump’s enablers have outlined a plan for him to replace tens of thousands of career civil servants with #MAGA loyalists and to take personal control of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute his political rivals. He is almost certain to use an old law — the Insurrection Act — to convert the military into his personal domestic police force.

https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/donald-trumps-plot-against-america/

#corruption #violence #trump #authoritarian #dictatorship #lawless

Donald Trump’s Plot Against America

From Marc | Donald Trump is plotting to overthrow American democracy.

UK's mindless, hostile & aggressive local councils

Stoke-on-Trent couple fined £1,200 after clearing up rubbish

Their road had been blighted with “disgusting” #litter for years.

But after Mr Pinter cleaned up some of the rubbish and left it out in a cardboard box by the full bins, the pair each received £600 fines.

The city council said all fly-tippers would be punished with fixed penalty notices and considered the matter resolved.

Ms Mike, 41, said people would often dump waste around the bins on their street which she claimed would not get collected and would attract animals.

I’m actually afraid to walk past it in the street because I’ve seen a lot of #rats and what looks like stray cats

Mr Pinter, 46, collected the rubbish into the box, which had his name printed on it, on 29 April after seeing the litter blowing around.

He said the bins on the street were full so he had to leave the box next to them in the hope it would be collected.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cldyny34kx4o

#ToryDamage #councils #UK #hostile #HostileEnvironment #trash #rubbish #authoritarian #FlyTipping #CommonSense

Stoke-on-Trent couple fined £1,200 after clearing up rubbish

The pair say they were fined after cleaning up rubbish and leaving it out in a box for collection.

"I escaped an #authoritarian regime. I don’t feel safer in the #UK"

For people seeking asylum and even those already recognised as refugees, Britain does not feel like a safe country anymore

When you constantly experience insecurity, your psyche becomes extremely sensitive to it. You react to the smallest threats. Normal life and trust are impossible in a society that delegitimises you.

For people seeking #asylum and even those already recognised as refugees, #Britain does not feel like a safe country anymore. It isn’t a safe country anymore, not as long as government officials feel comfortable saying that putting us onto a plane to Rwanda is a “dream” and an “obsession”, as former home secretary Suella Braverman did.

It's the same thing all over again: repression, indifference, cruelty. Suffering as a project.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/i-escaped-iran-authoritarian-regime-i-dont-feel-safer-in-the-uk-rwanda-plan-migrants-refugees//?utm_source=Newsletter: oD daily

#HumanRights #ToryFascists #Fascism #humanity #HumanRights #InternationalLaw

I’m a refugee from Iran. I don’t feel safe in the UK

The Rwanda deportation plan is designed to keep asylum seekers living in a state of fear – we must resist it

To the point... From The Lincoln Project

Donald Trump is openly copying Nazi language, advocating for a ";unified Reich"

Link 2 (In case pora* refuses to preview!) - https://x.com/MarkHamill/status/1793353826277425222

"We made this ad pre-2020 election, thinking that we would never have to release it. After Trump’s latest embrace of fascism, we feel it’s important to post,: #Bloodlines

#TrumpVirus #fascism #cult #Reich #GQP #authoritarian #DJT #truth #history #propaganda #dictators

Trump’s plan to disappear millions [of people]

What do you think would happen if one day you looked out your window and saw a box truck pull up and park outside your house, and a bunch of armed men wearing windbreakers got out and knocked on your door and presented you with a piece of paper and then put you in the truck and took you away? Or worse still, they put you and your entire family in the back of the truck and took all of you away?

Do you think any of your neighbors would come out of their houses and ask the men with the truck what’s going on, who are they, and why are they taking you and your family away? Would anyone on your block call the police?

If someone called the police and they bothered to show up – the likelihood of which is another issue entirely, of course – what do you think they would do?

https://www.salon.com/2024/02/20/trumps-plan-to-disappear-millions/

#fascism #Trump #PoliceState #authoritarian #fascists

Trump’s plan to disappear millions

I don’t want to sound paranoid, but…

Tribute to Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny has just died in a Russian prison colony in the Arctic Circle. The fiercest opponent of Putin's regime has been poisoned, imprisoned and has now died.

We can’t remain silent: let's turn this atrocity into a worldwide cry of hope against #tyranny.

Sign this letter now in tribute to Alexei #Navalny.

https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/navalny_tribute_loc/

#HumanRights #dictatorship #authoritarian #murder #Putin #Russia #PutinWarCriminal #PoliticalPrisoners

Honoring Alexei Navalny – add your name

Your courage is beyond words. It is the courage that all dictators fear most, the courage that inspires people to rise up against tyranny.

#Trump says he would urge Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to NATO countries that fail to meet financial obligations

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 10 if reelected, he would endorse #Russia to do "whatever the hell they want" to NATO member countries failing to meet defense spending criteria, in a declaration indicating his disregard for the alliance's collective-defense principle.

https://kyivindependent.com/trump-says-he-would-urge-russia-to-do-whatever-the-hell-they-want-to-nato-countries-that-fail-to-meet-their-financial-obligations/

#egotistical #narcissist #sociopath #TrumpDerangementSyndrome #TDS #dictators #authoritarian #warmonger

Trump says he would urge Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to NATO countries that fail to meet financial obligations

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 10 if reelected, he would endorse Russia to do "whatever the hell they want" to NATO member countries failing to meet defense spending criteria, in a declaration indicating his disregard for the...

Stop the Government from spying on all of our bank accounts

The Government is sneaking in new powers to spy on all of our bank accounts on the premise of dealing with welfare fraud and error.

It will force banks to flag people who meet secret criteria to the government.

Everyone wants fraudulent uses of public money to be dealt with, and the government already has strong powers to check the bank statements of suspects.

But this is a major expansion of government power that takes away our financial privacy like never before and does away with the presumption of innocence - the democratic principle that you shouldn't be spied on unless police suspect you of wrongdoing.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-government-from-spying-on-all-of-our-bank-accounts

#DystopianBritain #privacy #security #authoritarian #fascism #ToryDictatorship #Orwellian #ToryScum

Journalists filming anti-mobilization protest detained in Moscow

Journalists who were filming an anti-mobilization protest outside the Kremlin were detained by the police, independent Russian media outlet Meduza reported on Feb. 3.

Information about the protest was shared by the Telegram channel of "The Way Home," a movement made up of wives and female family members of mobilized Russian soldiers who are unhappy that the men are required to serve until the #invasion of Ukraine ends.

https://kyivindependent.com/journalists-at-russian-anti-mobilization-protest-detained-in-moscow/

#Imperialism #RussiaInvadedUkraine #mobilization #authoritarian #dictatorships #StandWithUkraine

Journalists filming anti-mobilization protest detained in Moscow

Journalists who were filming an anti-mobilization protest outside the Kremlin were detained by the police, independent Russian media outlet Meduza reported on Feb. 3.

The new #technocrats claim to embrace Enlightenment values, but in fact they are leading an antidemocratic, illiberal movement.

To worship at the altar of mega-scale and to convince yourself that you should be the one making world-historic decisions on behalf of a global citizenry that did not elect you and may not share your values or lack thereof, you have to dispense with numerous inconveniences — humility and nuance among them. Many titans of Silicon Valley have made these trade-offs repeatedly. YouTube (owned by Google), Instagram (owned by Meta), and Twitter (which Elon Musk insists on calling X) have been as damaging to individual rights, civil society, and global democracy as Facebook was and is. Considering the way that generative AI is now being developed throughout Silicon Valley, we should brace for that damage to be multiplied many times over in the years ahead.

The behavior of these companies and the people who run them is often hypocritical, greedy, and status-obsessed. But underlying these venalities is something more #dangerous, a clear and coherent #ideology that is seldom called out for what it is: #authoritarian #technocracy. As the most powerful companies in Silicon Valley have matured, this ideology has only grown stronger, more self-righteous, more delusional, and — in the face of rising criticism — more aggrieved.

continue: https://www.sott.net/article/488501

The Rise of Techno-Authoritarianism

Silicon Valley has its own ascendant political ideology. It's past time we call it what it is. This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. If you had to capture Silicon Valley's dominant ideology in a...

Key corruption index sees Ukraine improve, Russia worsen in 2023

After the #EuroMaidan Revolution ousted pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, Ukraine launched extensive but challenging #anti-corruption efforts.

According to the recently published index that includes 180 countries, Ukraine went from the 144th least corrupt country in 2013 to 104th last year. It has also improved its score from 25 points to 36 over this period, with the higher number signifying less corruption.

In comparison, Russia's ranking went from the 127th least corrupt country in 2013 to 141st 10 years later, while its score dropped from 28 to 26. In 2022, Russia ranked 137th with a score of 28.

https://kyivindependent.com/key-corruption-index-sees-ukraine-rise-russia-drop-in-2023/

#Russia #corruption #crimes #dictatorship #authoritarian #corrupt

Key corruption index sees Ukraine improve, Russia worsen in 2023

Transparency International's corruption perception index saw Russia drop to the worst score in years, while Ukraine's score has improved, continuing the decade-old trend.