The ComEd branch of the powerful US utility Exelon has just doubled down on EV rebates and financial assistance for new charging stations.

The post Leading US Utility Goes Rogue, Offers New Round Of EV Funding appeared first on CleanTechnica.

If you've never towed a medium or large travel trailer, it might sound like it's an easy task. I mean, you can just hook the trailer onto the back of a capable pickup truck and drive off, right? Sadly, it's never that simple, even for a diesel truck. On top ... [continued]

The post Real-World RV Towing With The Silverado EV appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Relates to collapse because it shows how the global elites only care about protecting and benefitting each other. They normalise crime against women and girls just like they do with thier financial crimes and crimes against the planet.

TL;DR: Keep tabs on your most important belongings with the MagTag Ultra Slim Tracker Card, now just $23.99.

While AirTags are handy, they're not great for tiny spaces. If you're looking for an equally convenient option that's also compatible with Apple Find My App, meet the MagTag Ultra Slim Tracker. — Read the rest

The post Ditch bulky AirTags for this sleek wallet-friendly tracker, now 60% off appeared first on Boing Boing.

Lay-It-Out

Last time I moved I threw out my back repositioning Grandma's china cabinet for the 10th time. My latest (and hopefully last) moving experience was a dream because of the Lay-It-Out furniture templates. These unique life-sized paper furniture templates are the shape of your bed, sofa, tables, chairs, rugs, billiard table. After trimming them to the appropriate size (measurements are in inches and centimeters), we placed them on the floor and — as I was directed to the appropriate location — continued moving them around with no effort. I had the whole house planned out before the moving truck arrived and it cost less than the physical therapy and pain killers I had to use before. They are a breeze to use. Measure, trim, position, then reposition and reposition and reposition again… You could buy a roll of something like cheap brown crate paper of course, but I liked that Lay-it-out was ready to go, sizes already measured, and in pretty colors. You can buy a "Total Home Package" or purchase smaller packages specific to the Living Room, Dining Room, Bedroom, Game room, Accessory Tables or Rugs packages. I purchased the whole house package and used most of the pieces, except the billiard table, which I kept pinned to the wall for two weeks as a piece of pop art. — Rick Sievering

U-Haul Box Exchange

I have mixed feelings about U-Haul and their prices, but one thing they have done that is priceless is create and maintain a surprisingly helpful Box Exchange forum. It's a standard web forum divided into geographical areas so people can request free used boxes or make theirs available for free or cheap. We just saved ourselves $250. After responding to two posts, we had something lined up in no time. We drove into the city (Manhattan) the next day from where we live in Jersey City and picked up a bunch of boxes in various sizes that were practically brand new — all for free. I basically ignored the "buy" forum as the "free" one was successful in under 24 hrs. We first tried Craigslist, but found that most people in our area at the time wanted money for boxes. From our experience, people on the U-Haul forum seemed willing to go a little out of their way to get rid of their boxes. Most of the posts are definitely from individuals, but interestingly, there were a couple of business disposing of boxes (we got ours from an electronics importer in Chinatown). We have not yet completed our big move to Wisconsin, but will be giving away our boxes the same way when we do. — Guil Barros

Carpet Film

Ever wanted to have friends over for a party at your house? Ever wanted to have a LOT of friends over for a party? Worried about spilled drinks staining your carpet? One solution is to cover it before the party with carpet film.

What is it? Picture a roll of Saran Wrap. Now imagine it thicker and more durable. Now imagine one side sticky. Voila! Carpet film.

I don't cover every carpet, just the most highly trafficked areas where people will be drinking and spilling: outside the bathroom where there's usually a line, up the stairs, by the entrance, in the coat room, and in the people-watching areas.

When the party's over, it pulls up easily. Best of all, all of the traffic on the carpet film will have pushed the adhesive side down into the carpet's nooks and crannies. When you pull the film, dirt will come out too. Free carpet cleaning!

Several companies make carpet film. You can get it at Home Depot, Lowes and Amazon for $10-20 per 2'x50′ roll. Wider widths and longer length rolls are also available. Make sure to buy it reverse wound (with the sticky side on the outside of the roll) to make the application process easier. — Joshua Keroes

Smart Move Tape

Two things smoothed out my family's move a few years ago: designating Open First boxes for each room in our new home, so that on the first night after the move we wouldn't be missing any essentials; and this Smart Move Tape.

The clearly marked and color-coded designations (Office, Bedroom, Bedroom #2, Kitchen, Storage, etc.) made unloading go quickly for our movers, and organizing our many cardboard moving boxes much easier for us later on. No doubt we could have accomplished something similar with a handful of colored Sharpies, but it would have taken a lot of consistently careful writing to even approach the same effect — at a time when we were looking to make less work, not more — and the colored tapes really help make sorting a breeze. —Elon Schoenholz

Moving Tips

Since I seem to move house every six months or so, I have ample opportunities to test new strategies. This time around I experimented by putting plastic storage totes through FedEx Ground, and for the items I moved myself I used cardboard boxes with the addition of nonadhesive strapping tape and tubular handles. Much quicker and easier, less effort, no breakages, big success. — Charles Platt

Plastic Totes via FedEx

Wal-Mart sells them for storing items such as bedding and clothes in the home, but their semi-rigid construction makes them ideal for moving fragile possessions such as dishes and stereo components. They are stackable, waterproof, easy to pick up (recessed handle at each end), reusable (can be nested during storage), and will pass unscathed through FedEx ground. Best of all they barely cost more than cardboard boxes! My local FedEx-Kinko's was skeptical about accepting them for fear that the lids would pop off during transport. I allayed their fears by putting 2-inch tape around the perimeter of the lid and folding it under the rim. I had to make little notches in the tape so that it would seal properly either side of plastic strengthening ribs under the rim, but this was still much easier, quicker, and safer than using cardboard. Wal-Mart sells gray Sterilite brand totes (the type I prefer) through its stores, but not online. Models 1830 and 1835 are the ones I have tested through FedEx without any problems. You can pay a little more and get "latch totes" (models 1940 and 1945 with a flip-up latch at each end) but since you'll still need to add tape, I feel the latches are unnecessary. (NOTE: One reader pointed out that plastic totes may buckle if they are stored in a very hot place with heavy objects on top of them. I haven't encountered this problem myself, but I do follow the standard practice of filling each container to minimize empty space inside it)

Strapping Tape

If you still want to use cardboard boxes for items you move yourself, or if you are moving stacks of books secured with cling wrap (as I have suggested previously), consider adding half-inch nonadhesive plastic strapping tape. This is the stuff you sometimes see wrapped around boxes containing big items such as refrigerators being transported as freight. Often it's yellow in color. Shipping departments have a tensioner that they use to pull the tape tight, but you don't need that. You can get 3000 feet of half-inch strapping and a lot of little buckles, with a manual tensioner, for ~$45. You thread the tape through the buckle, pull up on it while bearing down on the box, and you have it as tight as you need it. You trim the tape near the buckle. The advantages are that it greatly strengthens the box while giving you something to grab it by, especially if you augment it with a handle (described below). Also you can link two or three boxes together so that you can carry them easily with one hand, especially up and down stairs. Much more efficient and secure than cradling boxes in your arms, less hazardous (you can see your feet and obstacles in your path), and less risk of back injury, since you don't have to stoop to pick them up. Note that FedEx and UPS don't like string or strapping that can snag their package processing machinery, so strapping is for transporting packages yourself or with assistance from movers.

DIY Box Handles

Make handles from half-inch plastic water pipe sawn into 5″ lengths. My local Lowe's sold me six feet of pipe for around $3 and you can use any wood saw to cut it. You may feel this is a luxury, but if you want to protect your hands from the edges of the plastic tape, handles are nice to have.

Once a week we'll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

PSA: Valentine's Day is officially one week away. If your Valentine is a drinks enthusiast, last-minute gifting can be fairly easy; just head to your local liquor store and look for these bartender-approved, top-shelf picks. But if you want to grab something extra special, now is the time to order it. Here are my best ideas for your partner (or yourself—I wholly endorse picking up a little treat). 

This is an excerpt from the Punch newsletter. Subscribe to get weekly tips like this in your inbox.

Jon Bonné's mini collection of books about French wine right now is comprehensive, an excellent resource and a stunning addition to your shelf. Spirits of Latin America and The Way of the Cocktail, about Japanese drinking traditions, are great, too. 

In the new era of the wine decanter, it's less about fussiness and more about actual functionality. Personally, I think using a decanter, and some dedicated matching glassware, is also an invitation to take a beat and indulge in a ritual. Broc's decanter and glass set is beautiful and strikes a nice balance between dainty and casual. Relatedly: On Eater, Francky Knapp has extolled the virtues of the bedside water carafe. If you relate to the memes about boyfriends filling water bottles, perhaps it's the gift for you.

Matchbox Distilling is a cool, genre-bending line of spirits from Long Island. Its offerings are particularly suited to Valentine's, I think, because they get so specific (bier mash amaro, banana and saffron rum!); you can really tailor the bottle to your recipient (to be loved is to be known, etc. etc.). Also, the names are poetic. This is not simply triple sec; it's No Where Sun Kissed & Stargazed. Sounds romantic to me!

An antique goblet duo that, put together, forms a heart. Very '80s retro wedding coupes. A Cartier vermouth dropper modeled after a watering can (and a cheaper alternative if you don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on, essentially, a toy). A set of vintage lace coasters, perhaps monogrammed with your partner's initial. A cat jigger (because maybe you and your Valentine have a cat?). Cocktail picks that double as a mini bar set (I don't have a Valentine's angle here, this is just really adorable to me).

I'd bookmark these handy recs so you can always find something for the Martini lovers, Negroni devotees and Daiquiri drinkers in your life.

The venerable BBC just reported that 10,000 new EV chargers will be installed in Kent, UK. Kent is a county in southeast England, perhaps most well known as the location of Canterbury Cathedral and the white cliffs of Dover. Charles Dickens had a home there and he took long walks ... [continued]

The post 10,000 New EV Chargers Planned For UK appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Deutschland verfügt inzwischen über einen unter Druck stehenden Abschnitt seines Wasserstoff-Backbones, der physisch fertiggestellt, aber betrieblich leer ist. Es gibt keine angeschlossenen Lieferanten, die Wasserstoff einspeisen, keine vertraglich gebundenen Abnehmer, die Wasserstoff entnehmen, und keinen glaubwürdigen kurzfristigen Pfad, der an einem dieser beiden Punkte etwas ändern würde. Dies ist keine ... [continued]

The post Von Optionalität zu Ergebnissen: Wie Deutschland Wasserstoff neu ausrichten kann, ohne das Gesicht zu verlieren appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Iran has sentenced Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi to another seven years in jail. Mohammadi is reportedly on hunger strike following the conviction. According to the Guardian, Mohammadi's lawyer Mostafa Nili has been in touch with her.

He said:

She has been sentenced to six years in prison for 'gathering and collusion' and one and a half years for propaganda and two-year travel ban.

The paper added:

She had been arrested in December at a memorial ceremony honouring Khosrow Alikordi, a 46-year-old Iranian lawyer and human rights advocate who had been based in Mashhad. Footage from the demonstration showed her shouting, demanding justice for Alikordi and others.

Iran has been rocked by near-revolution since December. Protests which began among small businesses over living costs were reportedly brutally repressed. Figures of dead and wounded are hard to verify due to state-enforced media and internet blackouts. Some estimates put the killed and injured in the tens of thousands.

The blackout also makes claims about the degree of US and Israel involvement difficult to corroborate. Despite this - or as a result - conspiracy and rumour have proliferated.

The new sentence comes as the US and Iran prepare to negotiate over Iran's nuclear programme. US President Donald Trump has deployed a US navy armada to the region.

Iran and the US will meet in Oman. Iran's top security official Ali Larijani visited Muscat ahead of the talks. Anadolu Agency said:

The indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington were halted following the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June last year, during which the US targeted three key Iranian nuclear sites.

Adding:

While Iranian media have not specified the agenda of Larijani's visit, sources said he is expected to discuss the contours of the next round of talks with the Omani mediators.

The Nobel Committee condemned Mohammadi's arrest on 12 December 2025:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately clarify Mohammadi's whereabouts, ensure her safety and integrity, and to release her without conditions. The Committee stands in solidarity with Narges Mohammadi and all those in Iran who work peacefully for human rights, the rule of law, and freedom of expression.

They appeared to suggest there was a link between Mohammadi's arrest and the award of a Nobel to pro-US Venezuelan figure Maria Corina Machado:

Given the close collaboration between the regimes in Iran and Venezuela, the Norwegian Nobel Committee notes that Ms. Mohammadi is arrested just as the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado.

They offered nothing further to verify this specific claim.

Mohammadi had been temporarily released on a medical furlough from jail when she was re-arrested. She had been serving a 13 year sentence for:

charges of collusion against state security and propaganda against Iran's government.

During the recent protests Mohammadi:

kept up her activism with public protests and international media appearances, including even demonstrating at one point in front of Tehran's notorious Evin prison, where she had been held.

Mohammadi has reportedly had multiple heart attacks in jail. Her doctors fear she may also have cancer. This is why she was on medical furlough from her previous sentence. Now she appears to have been returned to prison. And at the precise moment the Iranian government is looking to avert internal crises and head off a threat of regime change.

The implications of this crunch moment for Mohammadi may be dire.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

Matt Goodwin is facing even more scorn, this time for attacking women. In a 2023 blog post unearthed by the Independent, the Reform candidate for Gorton and Denton proposed that people who don't have children should be taxed extra. What's worse, this was specifically meant as a punishment.

On his Substack, Goodwin said:

British family is imploding.

He went on to say that:

The collapse of the family has not only become unavoidable but is having very real and very negative effects on the country around us.

His solution to this was a raft of proposals that would create "a pro-family culture". These would include a national day to celebrate families and getting the king to send a telegram to families when they have a third child. For some fucking reason.

He also wanted "the importance of the family" to be represented in the school curriculum. This was alongside making sure British families were "prioritised" in the building of new houses. He also wanted to remove income tax for women with two or more children, presumably because he sees them as having done their duty.

Most bizarre of all was his proposal on child benefits:

Switching child benefit to incentivise families to have more children.

Which is hilarious when Reform is so opposed to lifting the two-child cap. Though not if you ask the two Reform MPs who accidentally voted for it.

But then came his plan to not only push reproduction but to punish those who don't have children:

 Introducing a 'negative child benefit' tax for those who don't have offspring

More worryingly, is that Reform agrees with him. A Reform spokesperson told the Huffington Post:

This is an idea that was first suggested by the respected demographer Paul Moreland as part of a range of measures that should be debated and discussed across developed nations if we are serious about dealing with our looming demography crisis.

He continued:

The Labour government has got its head in the sand when it comes to thinking about the long-term challenges facing Britain. We need a grown up, mature debate about how we can encourage people to have more children and support British families.

Of course, Goodwin as short-sighted as ever. Many could potentially be pressured into having kids and trapped in abusive relationships. It would mean that women are seen as only baby machines and not free to have their own lives or careers.

Deputy leader of Labour, Lucy Powell, expressed her disgust at this idea in the Independent:

Matthew Goodwin's big idea is so ludicrous, you'd be forgiven for thinking this is something out of The Handmaid's Tale. It would punish millions of women and strip them of their basic dignity to choose.

But that's only the ones that physically can have children.

I can't imagine the pain that this would cause to those who are struggling with fertility. On top of the emotional and physical toll this puts on you will be financial pressures. For those of us who are infertile, it sends one message. You are not good enough and deserve to be punished for failing as a woman.

I had an elective hysterectomy in 2017 after over a decade of pain. I chose my own health over a condition that was making me want to die, for the sake of one day having a baby. Many would call my decision selfish, but I frankly don't give a fuck what people who would rather I were in pain think of me.

As much as I loathe a Handmaid's Tale comparison, this is very apt here. In the novel, working-class women who are infertile are cast out of society. As they have no purpose in a society that values families over all else.

Goodwin's comments are abhorrently cruel and show just how much society hates people who don't have children. But Reform supporting it is a sign of just how much Christian pro-life values are not so quietly creeping into the UK.

By seeing us as just baby machines, we are telling anyone who can't have a baby, or chooses not to, that they do not belong in society. But Reform is also telling voters plainly that they don't actually give a fuck about women. Plainly put Reform will be dangerous for women, and they're already proudly telling us that.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

Bad Bunny just shook the US with his Super Bowl halftime show. And perhaps the most beautiful moment was when fellow Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin sang about US colonialism in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. This was especially poignant because of escalating US terror against Cuba right now.

Puerto Rico is a US territory that has been denied full democratic rights. And Bad Bunny speaks to the island's resistance during many years of financial crisis. His song Lo que le pasó a Hawaii ('What happened to Hawaii') expresses a desire that the US doesn't do to Puerto Rico what it has done to Hawaii.

Ricky Martin, who has previously joined Bad Bunny and others on the island in progressive political mobilisations, sang Lo que le pasó a Hawaii at the 2026 Super Bowl. The song says:

They want to take my river and my beach too
They want my neighborhood and grandma to leave
No, don't let go of the flag nor forget the lelolai
'Cause I don't want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii

RICKY MARTIN IN THE HOUSE

Another day, another media shill doing the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) job of turning the public against PIP claimants for them. Most annoyingly, this time it's a physically disabled person who is throwing people with mental health conditions under the bus. But then it is Julie Burchill.

Burchill is, by her own definition. a 'Rad-fem, Christian Zionist', she's best known for her abhorrent views on immigration and transphobia. So it figures that she's also horribly lateral ableist too. In a column in the i Paper Burchill wrote:

If you're too anxious to work but go on holiday, you shouldn't get PIP.

Siiiigh, same old bullshit. It doesn't need pointing out (again!) that personal independence payments (PIP) isn't an out-of-work benefit. The article actually barely mentions claimants going on holiday; it's a throwaway comment. But that didn't stop the editor from making it the most clickbait possible headline.

Thankfully, Burchill does correct herself on the employment fact in the piece, but she also adds:

Of course, you can work and still receive PIP - as I do - but I do think too many people are getting it when they could be supporting themselves.

Such as, for instance, a columnist who brags about squandering their wealth.

Burchill is of course, talking about people who she, and vast parts of the media, think don't actually deserve PIP from the DWP - people with mental health conditions. This is just the latest in a long line of the government trying to de-legitimise people with mental health conditions, whilst planning to make it harder for those same people to claim PIP.

Burchill rightly points out how hard it is to get PIP, even if you have a very physically obvious disability. In her case, she's a wheelchair user and can't walk. She said it took her six months to be approved for PIP, however she also took the chance to shit on other disabled people:

I can't help thinking that had I claimed the mental equivalent of a "bad back" - anxiety perhaps - I would have been awarded it a lot earlier

Burchill's 'article' is mostly a bizarre rant about how, if she's worked nearly every day since becoming a wheelchair user, what's stopping everyone else? Dunno babe, probably less understanding bosses and less flexibility because they're not rich. Calling herself a 'grafter' not a 'grifter', she says:

I can't think of anything worse for anyone's mental health than not having a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

It's really fucking sad that work is the only reason to get out of bed in the morning for many. My dog is my reason for getting out of bed. For some it's simple joys like a good cup of coffee, their fave tv show to catch up on, or seeing friends. I love my job, but I'm also not some capitalist drone whose only joy is work.

The thing about the old 'work is good for your mental health' argument, though, is that it usually comes from people who are supported in their work. It doesn't take into account just how soul-destroying and detrimental to your mental health an awful job with a horrible boss, can be.

Instead of sympathising with this point, Burchill essentially implies that disabled people should be happy with any old menial job, whether or not it's suited to their needs. Which, of course, fits the DWP's narrative perfectly and helps them push disabled people into work

There's also the point that apparently needs hammering home that PIP has fuck all to do with whether you can work or not. Because, despite stating this, she still spends the majority of the piece conflating anxiety with workshyness. Which, again, is something the government has done consistently.

Hilariously though, Burchill also thinks the government are on disabled people's side here. She calls them 'the chief sponsor of idleness'. It's always those who think they're sticking it to the establishment who are playing right into their hands.

At a time when the media and government are doing everything in their power to turn the public against people with mental health conditions, we don't need one of our own on their side too. Though it's made pretty clear that Burchill is one of those disabled people who thinks she will be spared from the hatred because she works hard and doesn't complain:

During my year in a wheelchair, I've had to deal with all of these, alongside other emotions as varied as fear and fury; if I and other severely physically disabled people can learn to process these feelings, why can't those with anxiety do the same

Let me tell you now, Julie, the hate mob doesn't give a fuck if you're on their side or not. They'll come for us all in the end and won't be happy until all disabled people are left to rot.

Burchill's piece was published alongside two others. The first by Carrie Grant who shares her own experience as a parent carer on how the SEND system failures feed into more people needing PIP. The second is by a former PIP assessor who points out how life-changing PIP can be for all claimants.

This could've and should've been an impactful and important series. However the i Paper couldn't help themselves and had to ensure they included a hefty dose of the scrounger narrative too. There are so many campaigners who also claim PIP that they could've asked to write this.

This was a deliberate choice to de-legitimise mental health claimants. 'Look, even REAL disabled people know they're faking!" The fact that it's a disabled person attacking other disabled people - and doing the DWP's job for them - shows just how insidious the media narrative really is.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

A Saudi official has attacked 'foreign actors' for fueling the war in Sudan. Their comment came after a Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drone killed 24 in Kordofan province. Fighting has displaced millions and killed up to 150,00 people.

The war is now in its third year. And the UK and others have played their part in letting the carnage run on.

The Sudan Doctors Network said RSF targeted:

a vehicle transporting displaced people fleeing South Kordofan State. The vehicle was traveling from the Dubeiker area in North Kordofan when it was attacked near Al-Rahad city.

Two infants died in the attack:

The attack resulted in the deaths of 24 people, including 8 children—two of whom were infants—and several women.

Sudan Doctors Network: 24 Killed, Including 8 Women and Children, in Rapid Support Forces Attack on Vehicle Transporting Them from the Dubeiker Area to Al-Rahad in North Kordofan

The Rapid Support Forces carried out another massacre in North Kordofan State by targeting a vehicle… pic.twitter.com/jDmZxJaZnr

— Sudan Doctors Network - شبكة أطباء السودان (@SDN154) February 7, 2026

The Sudanese foreign ministry said on 8 February:

This attack does not represent an isolated incident, but rather a continuation of a pattern adopted by the militia to obstruct humanitarian work and use deprivation of food as a means of pressure against civilians.

RSF are an Arab supremacist militia given to carrying out massacres of the indigenous population of Sudan. They have also been used by the UAE as mercenaries in Yemen. Despite the UAE's denials, Emirati military support is substantial, traceable, and decisive.

The Saudi foreign ministry also commented, thought it did not name the offenders. They said:

The Kingdom affirms that these acts are unjustifiable under any circumstances and constitute flagrant violations of all humanitarian norms and relevant international agreements.

In a clear swipe at RSF's main backer, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), they added:

foreign interference and the continued actions of certain parties in supplying illicit weapons, mercenaries, and foreign fighters—despite their stated support for a political solution.

They said this foreign influence:

constitutes a primary factor in prolonging the conflict and exacerbating the suffering of the Sudanese people.

This is the latest development in the two oil-rich, Western allied Gulf states' failing relationship.

The UAE and Saudi relations are are uneasy, to say the least. The two are traditionally allies - and recipients of US and other Western support - but their falling out is being felt throughout the Gulf and the Horn of Africa.

As the Times of India has it:

For more than a decade, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi appeared virtually inseparable. They crushed Islamist movements, dictated oil markets, blockaded Qatar and presented themselves as the ultimate power brokers in the Arabian Peninsula. The two kingdoms were often described as strategic siblings, bound by shared vision, capital and a mutual obsession with stability on their terms.

But that alliance has ruptured. Yemen is one point of contention:

Riyadh seeks a unified Yemen under its influence: manageable, stable and friendly to Saudi security interests. Abu Dhabi, however, is pursuing a different vision through its backing of the Southern Transitional Council.

But that disagreement has also played out in Sudan - with deadly consequences.

The Sudan war "amplified the stakes" offering:

both Gulf states an opportunity to project influence in Africa.

For the UAE:

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, controlling gold mines, smuggling routes and borderlands, became a direct conduit to resources. Gold, logistics and influence could be secured without the bureaucracy of formal state structures.

The Canary discussed the role of Sudan's gold mines here. The Saudi regime "backed the Sudanese Armed Forces":

not out of friendship, but fear. Saudi Arabia recognised that paramilitary backed fragmentation could set a dangerous precedent, threatening its own southern flank and regional ambition

Three years in, the war in Sudan has undoubtedly been exacerbated by Gulf interference. But other regional and global powers bear responsibility too.

Israel has backed both RSF and the Sudanese government at different times. Turkey, Egypt, and Russia have a role too. And British-sourced equipment has been seen in RSF hands, presumably a result of UK arms sales to UAE.

On October 2025, Labour foreign office minister Stephen Doughty admitted:

We are aware of reports of a small number of U.K.-made items having been found in Sudan, but there is no evidence in the recent reporting of U.K. weapons or ammunition being used in Sudan.

However he resisted calls for an embargo on UAE and said the UK would use its UN security council role:

to call for an immediate end to this violence [and] ensure that international humanitarian law is respected and upheld.

This mealy-mouthed response is typical. Not least because Campaign against the Arms Trade (CAAT) have reported:

The third largest recipient of arms export licences was the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with £172m of military equipment.

CAAT added:

Of particular concern is the £1,966,582 of exports in the military vehicles and components category, given that UK-made engines have been found in armoured personnel carriers used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in its genocide in Sudan.

The British Labour government is deeply implicated in the killing in Sudan. And it is aligned with both sides in the Saudi/UAE proxy war. The British will likely continue to prevaricate while people die. But as long as UK arms firm CEOs and shareholders get their new yacht or third home, that seems to be fine by Keir Starmer's Labour.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

Albert Bartlett was born in Shanghai in 1923, worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, got his PhD from Harvard, and spent his career as a physics professor at the University of Colorado. But he's best known for one lecture he gave 1,742 times over 36 years — roughly once every 8.5 days — before his death in 2013 at age 90. — Read the rest

The post The bacteria-in-a-bottle thought experiment that explains why we're bad at seeing disaster coming appeared first on Boing Boing.

The State Department is removing all posts from its X accounts made before January 20, 2025 — and that includes posts from Trump's own first term.

The posts will be internally archived but no longer publicly visible. If you want to see them, you'll need to file a Freedom of Information Act request, NPR reports. — Read the rest

The post State Department is deleting all X posts from before Trump's return — even from Trump's first term appeared first on Boing Boing.

A fascinating article in the New York Times details a major cultural shift for readers -- mass market paperbacks are going away. Of course, the Illuminatus! trilogy originally was published as a trio of mass market paperbacks.

I used to buy many mass market paperbacks. I still have my original paperbacks of Illuminatus! But nowadays, when I buy a cheap book, it's an ebook. I have hundreds of books on my Kindle, most of them purchased on sale for a couple of bucks or so. Mass market paperbacks used to be the easiest way to be able to read anywhere. But because I have a smartphone, and a Kindle app on my phone, I have a big library I carry everywhere I go. 

Apple's USB-C Magic Mouse is back on sale for about $11 off its usual retail price of $79. At $68, that's a savings of 14 percent for one of Apple's best accessories from a company that does not often run sales.

The multi-touch mouse was first released in 2009 with a modest refresh released in 2015 and the addition of a USB-C port in 2024. The rechargeable mouse features gesture controls and automatically pairs with your Mac when connected via USB. The Magic Mouse can also be used with an iPad via Bluetooth, or with a Windows PC, though in that case, functionality would be limited.

Famously, Jony Ive's design of the Magic Mouse sees its charge port on the underside of the body, rendering it unusable while charging. In 2024 there were rumors of a more comprehensive redesign coming but nothing has materialized since.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

My biggest complaints with AI tend to be with the human beings who are rushing language learning models into mass adoption without doing their basic due diligence. Like AI toy maker Bondu, the creator of "AI" enabled stuffed animals, which recently left the stored chat logs children have with their polyester-filled automated friends openly available online to anybody with a Gmail account:

"[security researcher Joel Margolis] made a startling discovery: Bondu's web-based portal, intended to allow parents to check on their children's conversations and for Bondu's staff to monitor the products' use and performance, also let anyone with a Gmail account access transcripts of virtually every conversation Bondu's child users have ever had with the toy."

At this point there's just no excuse for this sort of thing. We've been writing for more than a decade about how most "smart," internet-connected toys were being rushed to market without adequate privacy and security safeguards, creating OpSec risks for kids before they've even been adequately potty trained.

Now, as we've done in sectors like health insurance and journalism, we've slathered half-cooked language learning models all over existing dysfunction we refused to address, called it innovation, and then ignored the fact we've introduced entirely new problems.

In this case, the included exposed data included kids' names, birth dates, family member names, and even the detailed summaries and transcripts of every previous chat between the child and their Bondu stuffed animals.

On the plus side, once alerted, the company quickly fixed the issue in a matter of minutes. And when asked by journalists about it, didn't try to lie about the problem (a low bar, but still):

"When WIRED reached out to the company, Bondu CEO Fateen Anam Rafid wrote in a statement that security fixes for the problem "were completed within hours, followed by a broader security review and the implementation of additional preventative measures for all users." He added that Bondu "found no evidence of access beyond the researchers involved."

If hackers are clever they don't leave many footprints, so that last bit might not be worth much.

One recent survey found that 84 percent of Americans want tougher privacy laws. But corruption has ensured that the country still lacks even baseline internet-era privacy protections. The powers that be have decided, repeatedly, to prioritize mass commercialized surveillance over public safety, and it's only a matter of time before those chickens come home to roost in ways we can't even begin to consider.

Morgan McSweeney is the architect of Keir Starmer's Labour and a top-tier dickhead. On 8 February, he finally resigned - namely because he was the man who proposed that the disgraced Peter Mandelson take on the ambassador to the US position.

It seems the Labour party hasn't changed, however, as politicians are coming out to defend him:

Sorry to see this decision by Morgan, it's a very dignified statement and reflects the character of someone I know to be thoughtful and dedicated to Labour and the security and prosperity of the country. https://t.co/DIDBCSvHsM

— Luke Akehurst (@lukeakehurst) February 8, 2026

If you're not too sure of who McSweeney is, let's just call him the cunt-in-chief behind Starmer. The Canary's Skwawkbox captured who he is perfectly:

McSweeney is a horror. Undeclared donations from the Israel lobby, spying on journalists, covert campaigns to destroy media that highlight his boss's crimes, deep connections with genocidal Israel and a coordinated sabotage campaign to prevent Labour winning the 2019 general election. His fingerprints are on all of it.

How the fuck can you defend that? But weirdly, some Labour politicians have decided to die on that hill.

Giant walking baby and Zionist shill Luke Akehurst is one of those who defended him. Weird, that a man who consistently denies a genocide would have other shit opinions…

Akehurst doing his best to ignore his world crumbling around him

One by one, we're going to pluck these disgusting, paracitical, perverted little creeps out of power

And you're on the list Luke, you Zionist loving little polyp

Tick tock

Laura Álvarez has sparked debate online within Your Party following a comment about a candidate not aligning with Jeremy Corbyn's slate. And the row has helped highlight the urgent need for both transparency and respectful debate in the party.

Álvarez, who married Corbyn in 2012, kept a low profile while Corbyn was Labour leader. But she has spoken a lot about Your Party during its founding process, particularly in support of Corbyn's The Many slate in the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) elections.

The Grassroots Left slate aligns with Zarah Sultana's vision for Your Party. And Álvarez suggested that a candidate for this slate was "unknown in the community" of Islington.

This was apparently a reference to Anahita Zardoshti, the "founder and chair of Your Party's Islington proto-branch". Zardoshti came second in the endorsement phase of the CEC election:

Who's unknown, @LauraAlvarezJC? If you're gonna have a dig at Anahita at least have the good grace to name her.

I'd say the number of endorsements largely speaks for itself as for whether she is 'unknown'… https://t.co/fjXGTSTs49 pic.twitter.com/ZuOLvqW9Wk

— Cllr James Giles (@JamesGilesRBK) February 8, 2026

Just a bit rude to claim you don't know a person when you voted for them to be a council candidate with @IslingtonIndep and invited them to your Christmas party.

Here's a pic of me and @Ana_Zardoshti at your Christmas party with Jeremy to help jog your memory https://t.co/0P0UnoEBE7 pic.twitter.com/y9tcuuPRIK

— Nathaniel (@NathanielYPI) February 8, 2026

Councillor James Giles, a Sultana ally, questioned Álvarez's public comment. But Álvarez responded by saying:

I told you to never contact me again

Laura your ad hominem attacks on me, now on Anahita and the rest of the movement need to stop. And on the other items - I think we all know what happened.

The only thing I did on July 3rd was democratically vote on whether we wanted a sole leadership of Jeremy Corbyn or a…

— Cllr James Giles (@JamesGilesRBK) February 8, 2026

What followed was a number of comments asking Giles not to question Álvarez. But in the interests of transparency, it seems perfectly acceptable to scrutinise personal comments suggesting we should doubt candidates' role in their community.

The establishment smear campaign against the left that intensified under Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party left deep scars. It left distrust, anger, and defensiveness. And it left pain.

However, we're at a moment where socialists are building back a meaningful resistance. And with the Green Party successfully tapping into the burning desire for change in the country, a Your Party that shuts down internal criticism or wastes time with factional arguments may not last too long.

There are genuine critiques we could make about everyone. And we don't need to support a specific faction in order to believe that. There needs to be open, respectful debate. Because members agree on most things, and it should be easy to reach comradely agreements on the other areas.

We absolutely should be asking questions about:

• The diversity within the pool of CEC candidates.
• How backroom deals have become too common.
• The questionable organisation of hustings and oversight of the election process.
• How people show up and challenge people they disagree with online, without falling into personal attacks.
• The lack of a level playing field in terms of data control.
• The potential for online misrepresentation of slates' positions.
• What candidates have had to agree to in order to belong to a particular slate.
• How to bridge cultural, age, and class divides to bring people together.
• How to replace the struggle for power and control at the top with community empowerment.

There is a real buzz on the ground about what Your Party could become. People know what they want. And as the statistics show pretty clearly, that isn't factional infighting and public spats. Because there are hundreds of thousands of people who initially expressed interest but have so far stayed away.

The Greens have grown massively under Zack Polanski because there's a clear direction of travel, and there's a willingness to work together with all progressives. If Your Party genuinely wants to grow into a meaningful movement for change, it could learn a lot from the Greens right now.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

Labour and its press allies continue to try to undermine popular Green party candidate Hannah Spencer in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Predictably, the tactics on show are the most hypocritical and tin-eared imaginable.

In an Observer article yesterday, Labour's corporate-lobbyist, NHS privatiser candidate Angeliki Stogia tried laughably to claim that Spencer should stand aside because:

Every Green vote is going to make Reform very happy.

With hypocrisy that should be astonishing but isn't, she also claimed the Greens had shared "misleading" polling showing they are the main hope of defeating Reform UK.

Labour just got caught using a poll based on responses from just 51 people to try to claim it is in a good position. Even Labour fan and war criminal Alistair Campbell dismissed it as "bullshit".

The hypocrisy didn't end there. Stogia also claimed to be angry that Reform is "spread[ing] division" in the constituency. Reform's whole playbook is division, of course, but Stogia's boss Keir Starmer constantly tries to out-Reform Reform. Remember his "island of strangers" speech, compared to racist Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" incitement? Or how about Labour boasting about how many people it has deported?

Stogia's Guardian-assisted nonsense comes shortly after Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell begged and stamped her feet to demand the Greens step aside. But the bookies - not known for throwing their money away - make Spencer odds-on (5/6) favourite to win, with Reform next on 13/8. Labour trail miles behind - 9/1 in a three-horse race is dire.

If Labour was really interested in 'stopping Reform', Starmer would be telling Stogia to stand aside and begging the public to support the Greens.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

Anika Sweetland, the Reform party's supposed climate expert is anything but.

Here she is on shithouse Lee Anderson's GB News' segment discussing if net zero is a scam:

Good morning fellow Reformers, patriots and climate realists! Last night I had the honour of standing up for our country

At this point, everyone knows the wretched Peter Mandelson shared government information with Jeffrey Epstein. Mandelson wasn't the only Epstein associate with access to confidential UK info, however. The former prince Andrew Windsor served as a British trade envoy, and he was also feeding what he knew to the now-dead paedophile:

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor shared confidential information with Jeffrey Epstein from his official role as a trade envoy. He forwarded an official report from his trips to Singapore, Vietnam, China, and Hong Kong to Epstein just five minutes after receiving it. pic.twitter.com/hpMD07ikFd

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) February 8, 2026

The screengrabbed email above is from the latest release of the Epstein Files. In it, you can see that Windsor received reports of visits to Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shenzen.

Did you receive these reports yourself?

Probably not, right; it would be weird if the trade envoy sent their reports to the general British public; it's even stranger to send them to a notorious international paedophile.

As reported by the BBC, Windsor served as trade envoy for ten years (2001-2011). The BBC additionally highlighted that:

Under official guidance, trade envoys have a duty of confidentiality over sensitive, commercial, or political information about their official visits.

In other words, he could (and should) get into trouble for this.

We'd be surprised if he faces any actual consequences, however, given the fact that he's escaped them all of his life. The Royals may have stripped him of his titles, but the entitlement remains. As the BBC report:

Earlier in February, Andrew moved out of his home in Windsor to the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

Buckingham Palace had announced in October that he would be moving from Royal Lodge, at the same time his title of prince was removed.

The former prince left the property on Monday night and is currently living at Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate while his new permanent home undergoes renovations.

We don't know about you, but when we fuck up, our punishment isn't being sent to a managed country estate.

The BBC also asked Andrew Windsor to comment on all this. Surprise, surprise; he refused to do so.

Funny that he's no longer so free and easy with the information he'll share.

For more on the the Epstein Files, please read our article on how the media circus around Epstein is erasing the experiences of victims and survivors.

Featured image via Epstein Files

By Willem Moore

On Sunday 8 February, Americans came together to enjoy their annual 'Superbowl'. And when we say 'came together', we of course mean they found new ways to fight the culture war.

Trump, of course, led the charge:

Trump crashes out over Bad Bunny's halftime show pic.twitter.com/XE2shbQRtm

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 9, 2026

Doesn't this guy have a country to run into the ground?

The performer Trump is talking about is Bad Bunny, who released one of the best albums of 2025.

There's really no need for us to promote his album, because some of the tracks have had well over a billion listens in the past 12 months.

Many right-wingers are asking 'WhY iS a PuErTo RiCaN pErFoRmInG??', and the simple truth is because the Yanks fucking love him and his music.

Here's a video from his performance:

As we reported on 8 February, Keir Starmer's chief-of-staff Morgan McSweeney resigned in disgrace. What is it they say about rats and sinking ships?

Tim Allen - Blairite leaving the Labour right sinking ship. When self-serving careerists like Allen are crying off, you know Starmer is finished. The writing is on the wall.

— Simone (@Slimbo32) February 9, 2026

As Skwawkbox wrote for the Canary:

Keir Starmer's appalling chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, has quit. According to 'mainstream' media, Starmer hopes this will ease the pressure that he has been under from the ongoing Mandelson scandal. If he really thinks this, he's more hopeless than we thought - and that's a tough bar to cross.

We don't think Allan going will help either. At the same time, it's certainly not going to hurt. Like most of his colleagues, Allan is another washed up Blairite with nothing to offer besides spite and failure.

People have highlighted that Allan is just one in a long line of comms directors:

Tim Allan - Keir Starmer's *fourth* director of communications since July 2024 - has quit his role.

He says: : "I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success."

— Ashley Cowburn (@ashcowburn) February 9, 2026

A complete inability to hold on to a communications director hasn't done much for Labour's communications. Regardless of who's in charge, it's never reassuring to see four different people fighting over the steering wheel.

Here's what HG wrote for the Canary in September 2025:

Keir Starmer has appointed Tim Allan as Downing Street's new director of communications. Allan is a former trustee of Sex Matters - an anti-trans group.

According to the Financial Times, Allan has previously worked for Kazakhstan and Qatar, along with Vladimir Putin's government.

He also worked as the deputy director of communications for former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, under Alastair Campbell. Blair even called him 'more right-wing than me'.

A transphobic errand boy to Putin and Blair - this is who Starmer wanted in charge of his comms?

It's no wonder this ship is sinking.

Journalist Kevin Schofield said the following about Allan:

Tim Allan was brought in to No10 in September to replace the highly-effective and widely-respected Steph Driver and James Lyons.

Now gone. https://t.co/hEitd1A0g6

— Kevin Schofield (@KevinASchofield) February 9, 2026

We must have blinked and this period of 'effectiveness' and 'respect' that Starmer's operation enjoyed.

Speaking of Starmer, it was rumoured that he planned to step down today. That no longer seems to be the case - not for the moment at least:

Wait, has he even done a U-turn on his own resignation? pic.twitter.com/rdqaA9hlIj

— Jonathan Pie (@JonathanPieNews) February 9, 2026

We don't know who'll step into the comms role next, but good luck selling this absolute clusterfuck of a government to the British public.

Featured image via Terry Ott (Wikimedia)

By Willem Moore

A Democrat running to pick up one of the party's top target House seats recently worked for two defense contractors looking to help the federal government use artificial intelligence for border surveillance and military projects. 

Cait Conley, a Special Operations combat veteran and former national security adviser under former President Joe Biden, is running in the crowded Democratic primary to challenge incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in New York's 17th Congressional District. Her candidate financial disclosures show that she earned more than $80,000 between January 2024 and July 2025 from two companies, Primer AI and Hidden Level.

Both companies partner with far-right billionaire Peter Thiel's surveillance tech firm Palantir to help government agencies use AI. Both are military contractors; Hidden Level holds an active contract with the Department of War, and Primer's most recent one was paid out last year. Primer has also praised President Donald Trump's AI policy and advertises on its website that it "helps" the Department of Homeland security with data and intelligence work and that "Primer AI platforms support DHS missions," but it does not appear to have an active deal with the department in a federal contracting database. 

"Cait believes AI can be both an opportunity and a risk to the middle class and is determined to shape AI policy so that it grows and strengthens middle-class New Yorkers, rather than being used to further enrich billionaires," said Conley campaign manager Emily Goldson in a statement to The Intercept. "She'll be a leader in Congress, ensuring working Americans are included in the growth created and aren't left behind." 

Running in a swing district north of New York City, Conley has walked a fine line on matters of immigration and the national security apparatus, blasting Trump for deploying the military to U.S. cities and criticizing immigration agents for killing protesters. On her campaign website, she pledges to "stand strong on our national security priorities," including "defending the homeland, fighting crime, and fixing our broken immigration system."

Conley's close ties to companies at the intersection of AI and national security policy aren't a surprise given her military background. But her connections to the firms raise questions about how she might approach those policy sectors in Congress, said Albert Fox Cahn, a civil rights attorney who previously led the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project and is a lifelong resident of New York's 17th District. 

"At a time when we see so many Silicon Valley companies having their technology weaponized against immigrant communities, these sorts of consulting roles raise questions about what exactly she did and what lines were drawn," Cahn told The Intercept. 

It's unclear what exactly Conley did at the companies, according to her candidate disclosure filed with the House Clerk. She started consulting for Primer at some point after January 2024, when she left her previous job as an adviser for the Department of Homeland Security under Biden. In the period ending in July 2025, she earned $12,500 for her consulting work.  

Related Lawmakers Pave the Way to Billions in Handouts for Weapons Makers That the Pentagon Itself Opposed

Touting the candidate's military service, Goldson said that Conley "has worked with a range of private and public sector entities, either through her work at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) or as a consultant, to help keep American families and American infrastructure, like stadiums and other public spaces and our energy grid, safe from terrorist attacks." The campaign did not comment on The Intercept's questions about whether Conely was still employed by either firm.

Between January 2024 and July 2025, Conley earned $68,000 from Hidden Level, which works in radio-frequency sensing and airspace security, including monitoring unauthorized drone activity. Hidden Level's data is used in Palantir's Maven platform, which Trump's Pentagon awarded a $480 million contract in May. When Trump announced his plan to build a "golden dome" missile defense system  — described by one critic as "more of a political marketing scheme than a carefully thought-out defense program" — Hidden Level released a statement applauding his plan and saying it "stands ready to support this mission today." Of a White House directive to cut waste in commercial technology in April, the company said the "policy shift doesn't just validate the model Hidden Level was built on, it demands it."

"I get nervous when people are quick to invoke the language of national security and counter-terrorism. It raises more questions than it answers."

Both companies have received lucrative contracts from the federal government under previous administrations. Primer has won at least $7.2 million in contracts from the Department of Defense since 2021, according to federal spending records. Hidden Level earned just under $3 million in Pentagon contracts to monitor airspace and bolster the federal system that manages drone traffic between 2022 and 2024 under former President Joe Biden.

"We've seen just how brazenly people can manipulate the label 'national security and counterterrorism' and the ways it can mask government efforts aimed at people who never pose a threat to our country. As a civil rights lawyer and activist, I get very nervous when people are quick to invoke the language of national security and counter-terrorism," said Cahn, the civil rights lawyer. "It raises more questions than it answers."

The seat in suburban New York, which includes north Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Dutchess Counties, is a top priority for Democrats. It was one of four New York House seats the party lost to Republicans amid a slew of upsets in the 2022 midterms. The winner of the June Democratic primary will take on Lawler, a Republican who flipped the seat that cycle after a combination of redistricting and Democratic infighting helped him beat former Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. 

Conley is one of six candidates running for the Democratic nomination. Other contenders include local official and tech founder Peter Chatzky, who has funded his own campaign with more than $10 million; Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson; lawyer and former television reporter Mike Sacks; nonprofit executive Effie Phillips-Staley; and Air Force veteran John Cappello. 

Conley has campaigned on her military experience and highlighted the fact that the Russian government banned her from the country because of her work on Biden's National Security Council. She said she hopes voters in the swing district will see her lack of traditional political experience as a positive. "We need people who take public service seriously, who are not politicians, who are actual leaders and problem solvers," Conley told the New York Times in March.

Her campaign originally focused primarily on issues of affordability and improving Hudson Valley infrastructure, including criticizing Trump's economic policies. As the campaign progressed, Conley has become more aggressive in criticizing Trump's intensifying attacks on cities around the country and his nationwide crackdown on immigrants. 

Goldson said that Conley believed in holding ICE accountable, investigating the officials responsible for the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "Congress must pass legislation ensuring ICE operates lawfully like local law enforcement, including banning masks and requiring judicial warrants for arrest, and sending CBP back to the border where it belongs," she added. 

Lawler, meanwhile, has urged immigration agents to "reassess their current tactics," while refraining from criticizing Trump.

Conley has faced criticism throughout the campaign — much of it from Republicans — for not voting in recent midterm elections and registering as a Democrat just before she launched her campaign. Critics attacked her for moving to the district in January from Virginia, though she grew up in the Hudson Valley. 

Her detractors have pointed out that many of her donors come from outside the district, several of them from the defense and tech industries.

Conley has received $10,000 in contributions from Matt and Kimberly Grimm, the former of whom is the co-founder of Anduril Industries. Anduril, which was heavily backed by Thiel, builds autonomous drones, systems to surveil the border, andsurveillance towers powered by AI.

"There's a lot of questions to answer, and I think that this is true for candidates across the country who have worked for these companies in the past or who you know are receiving large donations from their employees," Cahn said. "There's a growing recognition that many of these tech firms are carrying out a mission that is fundamentally at odds with the values that Democrats hold and most Americans hold."

Conley's donors also include a vice president and other employees at the top Washington lobbying firm BGR group, which has represented the Saudi government - until it cut ties with the country in 2018 - and companies like defense giant Raytheon and the energy behemoth Chevron, as well as big pharmaceutical firms. BGR vice president Joel Bailey gave Conley's campaign $500 in July, while BGR principals Syd Terry and Fred Turner each also gave Conley's campaign $250. BGR senior director Hai Peng has given Conley's campaign $5,500 to Conley's campaign since May. None of the BGR donors listed residences in New York. 

In a statement to The Intercept, Peng said he met Conley at Oklahoma's Fort Sill close to two decades ago and made the contribution in his personal capacity. "I genuinely believe she is the kind of leader our country needs right now," Peng said. 

Conley has been endorsed by several political action committees including MD PAC, previously known as Majority Democrats PAC, which has given $90,900, VoteVets, Equality PAC, and Giffords PAC. She's also endorsed by several local officials and political leaders, as well as Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y. 

Cahn said he wasn't sure who, if anyone, he would vote for in the primary. But he sees the race as an example of the opportunity voters have to hold Democrats to a higher standard of accountability than in the past, particularly when it comes to policy issues like technology, surveillance and artificial intelligence. 

"We're at a new moment of accountability within the tech sector more broadly, as we start to recognize that so many tech companies are part of the apparatus that is powering ICE's attacks," Cahn said. "This is especially notable for someone who's running based off of their time in military defense roles."

The post NY Democratic House Candidate Worked for Palantir Partners Pushing AI Border Surveillance appeared first on The Intercept.

It has rained in parts of the country every day of the year so far and downpours are expected to continue this week

In a "miserable and relentlessly wet" start to the year, rain has fallen somewhere in the UK every single day for weeks on end.

With more than 100 flood warnings in force across the country and further downpours forecast this week, scientists say the atmospheric forces behind Britain's endless drizzle are the same ones driving devastating floods across Spain and Portugal.

Former Grand Prix crew chief Peter Bom traveled to Sepang for the first tests of the 2026 MotoGP season, and he sits down with Roadracing World MotoGP Editor Mat Oxley to share his first-hand insights in the latest edition of the Oxley Bom MotoGP Podcast.

Listen to the podcast here:

The post Oxley Bom MotoGP Podcast: What Happens In Sepang … appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

The first PlayStation State of Play livestream of 2026 has been announced. The stream will take place on February 12 at 5PM ET. It will run for over an hour and feature PlayStation Studios titles as well as third-party projects and indie games that are bound for PS5. You can watch it on PlayStation's official YouTube channel (in English, Japanese or with English subtitles) or on Twitch.

As the first State of Play of the year, Sony is going to want to drum up some more hype for its upcoming release slate. Since Bungie's Marathon is due to arrive on March 5, that will surely make an appearance. MLB The Show 26, which is out on March 17, will likely get a look in too. We could also get another peek at Saros, the highly anticipated follow-up to Housemarque's Returnal, which will arrive on March 20. A new trailer for Marvel's Wolverine isn't out of the question, but Sony could wait until a summer showcase to give us another look at that one. 

The last State of Play took place in November, but that one was focused solely on games coming out of Asia and Japan. Before that, Sony also had a showcase during Tokyo Game Show in September, which featured a first look at gameplay from the aforementioned Wolverine, which is due to arrive later in 2026.

A big day in streaming has finally arrived: HBO Max has finally announced it's coming to the United Kingdom and Ireland. The two countries join over 110 territories worldwide that already offer HBO Max. Some HBO shows, like Euphoria, have already been available in these regions through other platforms. HBO Max will bring titles like The Pitt, One Battle After Another and Sinners. It will also air the upcoming Harry Potter series. 

An HBO Max subscription will be available in the UK and Ireland starting on Thursday, March 26. Plans will start at Basic with Ads for £5 per month, offering all titles except movies that first stream on HBO Max after a theatrical release. Then there's Standard with Ads for £6 per month, which includes those releases and 30 downloads. Both can stream on two devices at a time. 

Anyone who wants an ad-free experience can purchase a Standard or Premium plan. The former has all titles available on two devices, up to 30 downloads and, of course, no ads. The Premium plan comes with four devices in 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Atmos — if the system has capabilities. 

Interestingly, the expanded area comes as Netflix prepares to own Warner Bros., including HBO and HBO Max. While there's no indication of whether this had any influence, Netflix has long been available in the UK and Ireland. 

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) says it was one of the many organizations popped when attackers raced to exploit recent Ivanti vulnerabilities as zero-days.…

Microsoft suffered a service disruption over the weekend after a power incident at an Azure datacenter in the West US region affected Windows Update.…