Communick News

Mr. Bannon, a MAGA podcaster, developed a seemingly chummy relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking. He said it was in the name of getting Mr. Epstein to open up.

Midafternoon in late June 2019, Stephen K. Bannon sent Jeffrey Epstein an excited series of texts. “Dude!!!!!” he wrote. “Is this real Tell me this is real.”

Mr. Epstein had just texted him a headline from The Miami Herald. It reported that victims of Mr. Epstein’s sexual abuse had lost a court battle to nullify a decade-old agreement that protected him from prosecution for those crimes.

Off and on for months, Mr. Bannon, a leader in the MAGA movement and a former top aide to President Trump, had been advising Mr. Epstein on how to handle resurrected allegations that he was a serial pedophile. Mr. Bannon recommended which lawyers to hire — his own — when to lie low and when he should jump on an opening to push his narrative. He scheduled what the two men called “media training.”

MBFC
Archive

This experiment spectacularly showed how relative speed works.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43216170

Meta's internal testing found its chatbots fail to protect minors from sexual exploitation nearly 70% of the time, documents presented in a New Mexico trial Monday show.

Why it matters: Meta is under fire for its chatbots allegedly flirting and engaging in harmful conversations with minors, prompting investigations in court and on Capitol Hill.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is suing Meta over design choices that allegedly fail to protect kids online from predators.

Driving the news: Meta's chatbots violate the company's own content policies almost two thirds of the time, NYU Professor Damon McCoy said, pointing to internal red teaming results Axios viewed on Courtroom View Network.

"Given the severity of some of these conversation types ... this is not something that I would want an under-18 user to be exposed to," McCoy said.

As an expert witness in the case, McCoy was granted access to the documents Meta turned over to Torrez during discovery.

Zoom in: Meta tested three categories, according to the June 6, 2025, report presented in court.

For "child sexual exploitation," its product had a 66.8% failure rate. For "sex related crimes/violent crimes/hate," its product had a 63.6% failure rate. For "suicide and self harm," its product had a 54.8% failure rate.

Catch up quick: Meta AI Studio, which allows users to create personalized chatbots, was released to the broader public in July 2024. The company paused teen access to its AI characters just last month. McCoy said Meta's red teaming exercise "should definitely" occur before its products are rolled out to the public, especially for minors. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cynthia Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, compared the administration’s effort to remove the panels to Orwell’s “1984.”

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore slavery-related exhibits at the national park site on the foundation of former President George Washington’s home in Philadelphia.

In a withering opinion Monday, Judge Cynthia Rufe invoked George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984,” saying the administration had attacked the concept of truth itself as it sought to erase details of America’s legacy of slavery.

She said the removal of the exhibits in January papered over Washington’s ownership of slaves and the special measures he took to avoid those enslaved persons gaining their liberty while he lived in Philadelphia from 1790 to 1797.

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/42164102

Researchers demo weaknesses affecting some of the most popular options Academics say they found a series of flaws affecting three popular password managers, all of which claim to protect user credentials in the event that their servers are compromised.…

Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot has summoned the US ambassador to Brussels, according to Prévot's spokesperson speaking to VRT NWS.

The reason for this is Ambassador Bill White's sharp criticism of the Belgian government. White called on our country to stop the ‘ridiculous and anti-Semitic persecution of three Jewish circumcisers in Antwerp’. Prévot does not accept this criticism.

Minister Prévot's statement:

Any suggestion that Belgium is anti-Semitic is false, offensive and unacceptable. Belgium condemns anti-Semitism with the utmost determination. The fight against anti-Semitism, and against all forms of hatred and discrimination, is an absolute priority for our country.

Everyone must be able to practise their religion without fear of violence, discrimination or persecution. That is a cornerstone of our constitutional state. It is non-negotiable.

Belgian law allows ritual circumcision when performed by a qualified doctor under strict health and safety standards. The specific case referred to is the subject of a judicial investigation. I refrain from commenting on ongoing proceedings.

Labelling Belgium as anti-Semitic is not only wrong, it is dangerous disinformation that undermines the real fight against hatred.

As for the statements made by the American ambassador, they are unacceptable.

An ambassador accredited to Belgium has a responsibility to respect our institutions, our elected representatives and the independence of our judiciary. Personal attacks on a Belgian minister and interference in judicial matters violate the basic norms of diplomacy.

The ambassador has been summoned for a meeting this Tuesday.

Belgium is open to dialogue with all partners. However, interference in our democratic institutions and unfounded accusations cross a line that cannot be crossed. Respect for sovereignty works both ways.

https://xcancel.com/BoringBiz_/status/2021930685368254749

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/63872574

Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada is set to be tried starting Tuesday on charges of corruptly concealing a document or record and conspiracy to conceal documents. He’s been in custody since July... He and his codefendants were recently transferred to county jail to await trial. Supporters report that they’ve been placed in solitary confinement and are dealing with other horrid conditions.

In plain language, Sanchez Estrada is facing up to 20 years behind bars for allegedly moving a box of anarchist zines from his parents’ house to another residence in his hometown of Dallas. His indictment came on the heels of Trump’s signing an executive order to classify “Antifa” as a “domestic terrorist organization” and issuing National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) on Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.

...

Once possessing literature is considered criminal, it opens the door to corollary charges, like transporting literature to conceal evidence or the “offense” of possessing it. That’s what happened to Sanchez Estrada. What other crime could the magazines have incriminated Rueda of?

Last month, activist Lucy Fowlkes became the 19th person indicted in connection with the same Texas protest. Fowlkes’s alleged crime is using Signal, the encrypted messaging app made famous by Pete Hegseth, telling people how to delete messages, and removing people from group chats, which government lawyers argue amounts to “hinder[ing] prosecution of terrorism,” a first-degree felony.

I saw a bit of them at the final season of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, but it was clear the serie run out of time, I look some clips of Star Trek Discovery but I didn't like the first episode of the series, so, were can find more information of them? I'm curious about this faction, specially because I want to know how strong they are compared to Jam Hadar or The Borg.

As far I understand, they are like Star Wars mandalorian, they are basically bounty hunters or mercenaries, right?

cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/c/world/p/530556/icc-judge-sanctioned-by-us-urges-eu-to-fight-back

Nicolas Guillou said the Trump administration’s use of sanctions undermines European democracy and called for Europe to curb reliance on American tech. > > An International Criminal Court judge sanctioned by the United States says the measures are meant to intimidate other European judges and is urging the European Union to push back. > > Nicolas Guillou, one of the court’s 18 sitting judges, was placed under U.S. sanctions last year after issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza. > > On Tuesday he plans to meet Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque to discuss his case and what he says are potential remedies to a practice he describes as political interference in the court’s work. > > MBFC > Archive

crossposted from: https://piefed.social/c/theasiandiaspora/p/1785433/oc-my-lunar-new-year-in-usa-chinese-american-edition-philadelphia-pa

So this is like a table my parent put right by the door, then they get the fake money stuff and hold it in between the palm of their hands, do some prayer thing, then burn the "fake money", so the ancestors in the heavens can... checks notes ...get money to spend? Idk I'm so confused, as a 1.5 gen I don't even understand my own heritage either.

(Also why is Heaven run under capitalism? lmfao, but hey, at least we can relate to our "ancestors in the heavens", money struggles both in coporeal and non-corporeal forms 😆 (meant as a joke, pls don't bring the seriousness of politics here lol))

Honestly idk if I'd even do this stuff with my future chosen-family... I'm just very leaning towards atheism and, no offense to my ancestors, but this just seems kinda silly to me IMO.

I feel too Americanized already and doing this now makes me feel like I'm a "phoney" (as if I'm a "pretender to Chinese Culture"... like idk my mind doesn't feel very "Chinese" exactly... I haven't participated in the prayer thing ever since like teenage years and I read about atheism)

Also now its new years and I'm not allowed to mention "bad words" like... "death" and like no yelling allowed

Oh yea mom maybe can you do the "no scolding your children" thing 365 days a year? thanks xD

Bonus:

So anyways: Enjoy your Lunar New Years! (enjoy the few days of being immune from getting a scolding xD cuz it's bad luck to scold your children on New Years apparantly)

This will be great for secure communication with people who have yet to switch to Android

xkcd #3208: SNEWS

Title text:

People say setting of fireworks indoors is dangerous, but I looked at their energy release and it's like 10^-40 foe; totally negligible.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3208/

explainxkcd for #3208