Day: May 10, 2023

Josep Borrell Says He Can End the War in the Ukraine with This One Weird Trick

Ms. Cat1 Comment

*Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Ms. Cat’s Chronicles.

Is he supposed to say this?

Pretty sure you’re not ever supposed to say this.

I thought everyone was kinda sorta supposed to imply that it’s the Ukraine doing the “winning,” and also that if the Ukraine stopped fighting, Putin would kill everyone in the country out of pure, unadulterated mean-spiritedness.

Josep Borrell Says He Can End the War in the Ukraine with This One Weird Trick

Oddly, this site was one of the first sources when I searched Josep Borrell’s quote. 🤷🏼‍♀️

George Santos’ New “Mission”: Freeing an Accused Fraudster Who Tried to Overturn the 2020 Election

Ms. Cat

Guo Wengui and the fabulist congressman are both facing federal fraud charges.

Game recognizes game. And the far right scene in New York City is kind of a small world. So it’s weird, but not particularly surprising, that just days before being indicted on federal fraud charges, fabulist Congressman George Santos appeared on a livestream produced by devotees of Guo Wengui—an exiled Chinese mogul who allegedly orchestrated of a massive international fraud and is also a prodigious purveyor of misinformation.

George Santos’ New “Mission”: Freeing an Accused Fraudster Who Tried to Overturn the 2020 Election

[2022] Switzerland has a stunningly high rate of gun ownership — here’s why it doesn’t have mass shootings

Ms. Cat

Switzerland has a stunningly high rate of gun ownership — here’s why it doesn’t have mass shootings

Switzerland hasn’t taken part in any international armed conflict since 1815, but some Swiss soldiers help with peacekeeping missions around the world.

…

Swiss authorities decide on a local level whether to give people gun permits. They also keep a log of everyone who owns a gun in their region, known as a canton, though hunting rifles and some semiautomatic long arms are exempt from the permit requirement.

But cantonal police don’t take their duty dolling out gun licenses lightly. They might consult a psychiatrist or talk with authorities in other cantons where a prospective gun buyer has lived before to vet the person.

…

Gun owners who want to carry their weapon for “defensive purposes” also have to prove they can properly load, unload, and shoot their weapon and must pass a test to get a license.

Switzerland is also one of the richest, healthiest, and, by some measures, happiest countries in the world.

…

The Swiss have been consistently near the top of this list. In 2017, when Switzerland was ranked fourth overall among nations, the report authors noted that the country tends to do well on “all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance.”

Meanwhile, according to the report, happiness has taken a dive over the past decade in the US.

The report authors cite “declining social support and increased corruption,” as well as addiction and depression for the fall.

Related:

Switzerland

US developed AI tool to battle Russian disinformation Blinken

Ms. Cat1 Comment

The Ukraine Content Aggregator is used to catch fake news and share data on it with foreign partners, the secretary of state says

US developed AI tool to battle Russian disinformation Blinken

H/T: Emil Cosman

Related:

Secretary Antony J. Blinken at Freedom House 2023 Annual Awards Ceremony

The third thing I wanted to highlight. While we’re working to promote access to the internet for all, we’re also working to address threats to human rights that come with an open internet, including online harassment, abuse, disinformation.

Now, online abuse doesn’t, of course, target only human rights defenders. Instead, the internet and digital technologies are often used to amplify attacks on vulnerable groups – women, the LGBTQI community, marginalized ethnic or religious groups – and undermine our broader fight for human rights. So this year, we launched what is now at least a 12-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse. We’re encouraging private sector to become engaged with us as well.

We’re also working to address the massive challenge of online misinformation and disinformation – again, something familiar to everyone in this room. To cite one example, of course, Russia continues to push a steady, relentless stream of disinformation about its war of aggression against Ukraine, to lie about and cover up horrific abuses it’s committed, to try to justify committing others.

In response, the State Department has developed an AI-enabled online Ukraine Content Aggregator to collect verifiable Russian disinformation and then to share that with partners around the world. We’re promoting independent media and digital literacy. We’re working with partners in academia to reliably detect fake text generated by Russian chatbots.