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Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

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The Saker

Indymedia ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.

offsite link Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!

This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".

According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.

People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.

offsite link AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.

offsite link Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza

Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support

With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza

offsite link China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty

A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link The Democratic Party at Prayer Mon Oct 27, 2025 20:00 | Dr Roger Watson
The Church of England may not still be the Conservative Party at prayer, but the US Catholic Church, with its pro-migrant messages, certainly seems to be the religious wing of the Democratic Party, says Prof Roger Watson.
The post The Democratic Party at Prayer appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Ban on Controlled Burning of Moorland is Making Wildfires Worse Mon Oct 27, 2025 18:06 | Ian Coghill
The Government's ban on controlled burning of moorland is making wildfires worse, says Ian Coghill. After a decade of record fires it claims the areas are 'in transition' to a magical state where they'll never burn again.
The post The Ban on Controlled Burning of Moorland is Making Wildfires Worse appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Billions Wasted on Migrant Hotels: Bombshell Report Reveals ?Incompetent? Home Office Lets Private F... Mon Oct 27, 2025 15:36 | Will Jones
The?Home Office?has "squandered" billions of pounds on asylum hotels, a damning report by MPs has found, blasting the department's "incompetence" that has allowed private firms to make "excessive profits" from the crisis.
The post Billions Wasted on Migrant Hotels: Bombshell Report Reveals “Incompetent” Home Office Lets Private Firms Make “Excessive Profits” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Are Young Britons Moving Right? Mon Oct 27, 2025 13:00 | Noah Carl
Recent polls show that most young Britons still support Left-wing parties. However, the young have shifted Rightward since the last election, so the situation for the Right isn?t quite as dire as it was back then. ?
The post Are Young Britons Moving Right? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Milei Wins Landslide in Argentina, Confounding Doubters of State-Shrinking Agenda Mon Oct 27, 2025 11:11 | Will Jones
Argentine President Javier Milei?s party has won a landslide in midterm elections, with voters confounding doubters by backing his cost-slashing, state-shrinking agenda and?deregulation of the economy.
The post Milei Wins Landslide in Argentina, Confounding Doubters of State-Shrinking Agenda appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Diamonds to Dust in Disgust

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report author Thursday November 22, 2012 16:14author by Sean Clinton - Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign Report this post to the editors

Blood diamonds fund Israeli war crimes

On Saturday 24th November at 14:30 pm on Grafton Street, Dublin, Anne Clinton, a human rights activist from Limerick, will use a hammer to pulverise the diamond jewellery she got from her husband years ago in a public display of her outrage at jewellers for bankrolling Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
jewellers_small__funding_warcrimes.jpg

The action takes place just days before members of the Kimberley Process (KP) diamond regulatory system meet in plenary session in Washington to review the definition of a “conflict diamond” which presently excludes cut and polished blood diamonds.

Anne says: “Having learned that diamonds are a major source of funding for the Israeli military which is again mercilessly slaughtering and terrorizing innocent men, women and children in Gaza I can no longer tolerate wearing diamonds. When I look at any diamonds they now remind me of the horrific images of mutilated children in Gaza. What I once thought were symbols of love now have zero emotional appeal - they repulse me. Diamonds are worthless, human life is priceless. I want every woman, every mother, and every sister to think of the children in Gaza, murdered, maimed and terrorized by Israel, funded by over $1 billion per year of revenue from the Israeli diamond industry.”

In 2010, Israeli economist Shir Hever stated: "Overall the Israeli diamond industry contributes about $1 billion annually to the Israeli military and security industries … every time somebody buys a diamond that was exported from Israel some of that money ends up in the Israeli military so the financial connection is quite clear".

Diamonds are Israel’s most important export commodity, accounting for 30% of manufacturing exports, worth $22 billion in 2011. Even though diamonds from Israel fund the Israeli military which stands accused of war crimes by the Human Rights Council, the jewellery industry allows these diamonds to contaminate the diamond market masquerading as conflict-free diamonds.

Despite numerous calls for jewellers to end the trade all diamonds that fund human rights violations the KP insists the regulations should only apply to rough diamonds thus allowing cut and polished blood diamonds to evade scrutiny. If, as seems likely, the KP plenary refuses to broaden the definition of a “conflict diamond” and continues to allow cut and polished blood diamonds to contaminate the market, consumers can have no confidence in the ethical provenance of any diamonds.

Related Link: https://www.facebook.com/Israelblooddiamonds
author by Sean Clintonpublication date Thu Nov 22, 2012 16:18author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Earlier Today: KP – Conflict diamond definition change unlikely soon http://www.israelidiamond.co.il/english/News.aspx?boneI...12117

October 2012 - Israel’s greatest fear – its diamonds trade exposed http://www.opednews.com/articles/Israel-s-greatest-fear....html

May 2012 - Israel's blood diamonds: Why the free pass from regulators and civil society? http://rabble.ca/news/2012/05/israels-blood-diamonds-wh...ciety

May 2012 - Jewellers Profit While Palestinians Bear The Cost http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/7412

November 2011 - Civil society petition to Kimberley Process calling for ban on all diamonds that fund human rights violations https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8654956/Boycott-Israeli-Blood-...1.pdf

November 2011 - Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, Brussels Communiqué calling of the inclusion of the cutting and polishing industry in the Kimberley Process http://www.pacweb.org/Documents/Press_releases/2011/KP_...l.pdf

November 2010 - Israeli economist Shir Hever evidence to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (at 34 min.) http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.com/en/1087/video...ssion

March 2010 - Israel’s Blood Diamonds http://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-blood-dia.../8754

Steinmetz Diamond Company, Steinmetz Foundation funded Israeli soldiers during Cast Lead https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8654956/Steinmetz%20Foundation.jpg

author by Sean Clintonpublication date Fri Nov 23, 2012 17:58author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This event will be streamed live at 14:30 via this link http://www.livestream.com/scalltest

author by Justin Morahanpublication date Fri Nov 30, 2012 01:32author address author phone Report this post to the editors

. . . and all associated with your brilliant video.

Anne, your great-hearted, generous smashing of your life collection of diamonds is a magnificent symbolic action deeply appreciated by all who live in hope for a better world.

You have struck an important blow for Palestinian rights, several such blows in fact, as you smashed those diamonds.

You have pointed to an important sourcing of the Israeli war crimes that continue at will and with US support against the people of Gaza and Palestine. You have given a voice to the voiceless, you have in part avenged the murdered children and civilians of Gaza.

Your words and actions rhyme splendidly.

Well done. Congratulations. This calls for some kind of serious celebration.

 
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