All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

German bloggers release classified intelligence report on far-right AfD

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Although parts of the intelligence report had already circulated through German media, the full AfD report reveals an exhaustive analysis of the party’s rhetoric as well as members’ links to extremist groups.

Prominent Democrats Form Pro-Israel Group to Counter Skepticism on the Left – The New York Times – “The need is for balance to achieve peace, not one-sidedness.”

J Street donated just under $5 million to candidates in the 2018 election and Jeremy Ben-Ami, the group’s president, said they would at least match that in 2020. “The idea that the Democratic Party should just support the Netanyahu government, right or wrong, is out of line with where American Jews are at and where Jewish Democrats are at,” Mr. Ben-Ami said.

Inoreader – Facebook Moves to Block Ad Transparency Tools — Including Ours

A number of organizations, including ProPublica, have developed tools to let the public see exactly how Facebook users are being targeted by advertisers. Now, Facebook has quietly made changes to its site that stop those efforts. ProPublica, Mozilla and Who Targets Me have all noticed their tools stopped working this month after Facebook inserted code in its website that blocks them. “This is very concerning,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who has co-sponsored the Honest Ads Act, which would require transparency on Facebook ads. “Investigative groups like ProPublica need access to this information in order to track and report on the opaque and frequently deceptive world of online advertising.”

Source: Inoreader – Facebook Moves to Block Ad Transparency Tools — Including Ours

Liberia’s eco-vigilantes score arresting success in struggle to end illegal fishing

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For years, Liberia fought a losing battle against the foreign vessels plundering its coastline. Then a bold new approach sent fines – and arrests – soaring

Petty officer George Kromah, of the Liberian coastguard, slings his AK47 across his back before disappearing over the side of the Sam Simon, joining his colleagues in the rib below. The boat roars off, quickly followed by a second, speeding through the choppy Atlantic swell in pursuit of a suspected illegal fishing vessel that has crossed into Liberia’s territorial waters from Sierra Leone.

Kromah and his fellow officers are on the frontline of the little nation’s ill-matched crackdown on fisheries crime – which Interpol has linked with the trafficking of drugs and people, as well as fraud and tax evasion.

Continue reading…

Genes linked to antibiotic-resistant superbugs found in Arctic | Society | The Guardian – Holy Crap!

Antibiotic resistance threatens a global “apocalypse”, England’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, has warned, and last week the health secretary, Matt Hancock, called it a bigger threat than climate change or warfare. Common operations could become life-threatening and rapidly spreading and evolving diseases could overcome our last medical defences, reversing nearly a century of remarkable progress in human health.

Source: Genes linked to antibiotic-resistant superbugs found in Arctic | Society | The Guardian