It’s a good week, although I just obviously got banned by @OneRedFox@beehaw.org, the mod in the Socialism community. Seems that different views are not welcome. I don’t complain (it’s your server, your rules), just wanted to let you know that. I was on Beehaw quite a while and didn’t expect something like that.

Happy new year to everyone.

Yeah, under the current system, insurers apoear to have almost no choice other than leaving the market, or raising the premiums to unaffordable levels as risks are becoming too high.

Could a ‘Federal Homeowners Insurance Co’ be (part of) a solution? The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Co) supplies insurance to bank deposits of up to USD 250k. Would a similar concept work here, too?

Everyone fighting a war is a belligerent in it

And this war has just one aggressor. No aggressor, no war.

Putin started this war, the aggressor is Russia, they could easily end the war by just leaving Ukraine.

@zante@slrpnk.net

No profit in peace, champ

This seems indeed be the main theme of Putin and ‘war economist’ Andrei Belousov, who has pushed for aggressive state spending to boost arms production even before he was appointed Russia’s ‘defense minister.’

Russia’s military spending might officially reach ~7 percent of GDP in 2024, many economist say it may even be higher.

In 2025, Russia plans to spend 40 oercent of its state budget for the military, up from 30 percent in 2024.

Mississippi River towns pilot new insurance model to help with disaster response

[…]

While conventional indemnity insurance requires insured owners to prove specific losses by amassing evidence and presenting pre-storm documentation, parametric insurance pays out quickly after agreed-upon “triggers” – such as wind speeds or river heights – reach a certain level.

For the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI) pilot, [insurance company] Munich Re has suggested using watershed data from the U.S. Geological Survey to determine the best gauges along the river to measure flood depth. Once the river flooding reaches a certain depth, the payout would be triggered.

[…]

Today, December 29, the Putin-sponsored government of Georgia will attempt to install the illegitimate president, which the people did not elect. Live blog

There’s a brief documentary on the Shadow Fleet Fueling Russia’s War (24 min)

Invidious link Original YT link

An armada of aging oil tankers is helping to keep Russian oil flowing. Hundreds of vessels are part of a “shadow fleet” that’s allowed the Kremlin to dodge Western sanctions over its war on Ukraine. Bloomberg set out to uncover the traders, intermediaries and investors that make up this network, and how they’re getting rich in the process.

Addition:

Finnish PM calls for tougher measures against Russia’s shadow fleet

Finland’s PM Petteri Orpo (NCP) has called for firmer measures to combat the risks associated with the so-called shadow fleet of Russia, [saying he] had discussions about the issue with his counterparts from Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the European Commission.

[Finnish] President Alexander Stubb, meanwhile, has been in contact with Nato.

International airlines cancel flights to Russia after the passenger plane was shot down, according to media reports.

• Azerbaijan Airlines suspends flights to 7 Russian cities for security reasons
• Kazakhstan’s Qazaq Air suspends flights to Yekaterinburg
• Israeli airline El Al cancels all flights from Tel_Aviv to Moscow

Addition:

Rasim Musabayov, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament’s international relations committee, in an interview with Turan news agency:

“The plane was shot down on the territory of Russia, in the skies of Grozny. It is impossible to deny this. Those who did it must be held criminally responsible and compensation must be paid. If this does not happen, then, of course, relations will move to another level.”

Meanwhile, Putin says that relations between Russia and China have reached “an unprecedented level” as a result of the high level of mutual trust between both countries, as per Chinese state media.

the “never again” only applies to European countries. At least, that’s what we are now witnessing.

I’m not so sure. That can happen again in Europe at any time imo as it happens in the Near and Middle East now, as well as in Xinjiang and Tibet, in Russia, Sudan, and many other places. Human rights and democratic values are under pressure everywhere, and this year saw a rise of autocracies and extremists globally. I hope 2025 will be different.

@InevitableList

I thought you might be familiar with Australia’s threats to ban tiktok whilst ignoring the crimes other tech companies commit and making no effort to protect Australians from them.

Are you sure you read the thelucky8’s comment?

@InevitableList

Your answer has nothing to do with my question.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

@InevitableList

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

@InevitableList

As AP reports on the same issue:

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

[Edit typo.]

As AP reports on the same issue:

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok.

Isn’t it somewhat strange that Tiktok, whose parent company is forced to closely surveill and censor each politically undesired content in its home country, while it is at the same time not only unable to suppress but reportedly even promotes obviously harmful content on its platforms outside China?

[Edit typo.]

From the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation::

War criminals are the new elite of Russia: Temirlan Abutalimov – (archived)

Temirlan Abutalimov is a Russian soldier from Dagestan and a participant in Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.

He serves in the 70th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 58th Army from Dagestan. Before the full-scale invasion, he worked as an investigator in the local police. Following Putin’s announcement of mobilization in September 2022, Abutalimov decided to go to the front.

In 2023, during the battles for Robotyne, he rose to the position of assault company commander. Ukrainian intelligence has identified him as one of the perpetrators who ordered the execution of four captured Ukrainian soldiers. It is also suspected that Abutalimov was involved in other similar crimes. For his actions in the Robotyne area, Abutalimov was awarded the Order of Courage and later received the Hero of Russia Star.

Now, this war criminal is being positioned as part of so-called “Russian new elite”. He became a finalist in the Kremlin’s “Time of Heroes” program, completed an internship, and is preparing for a career as an official.

Another one:

Tell your Senators to oppose Trump’s dangerous pick of Kash Patel for FBI Director

Trump has announced he’s selected Kash Patel to lead the FBI.

A reminder - directors of the FBI serve for 10 years and the mission of the bureau is to protect and defend the United States against terrorist and foreign intelligence threats and to uphold and enforce the criminal laws of the United States.

But instead Patel is one of Trump’s most loyal enforcers and a conspiracy theorist — a 2020 election denier whose main focus is to purge the so-called “Deep State.” He recently publicly pledged to investigate and prosecute Trump’s enemies in the media and government.

Patel is a hyper-MAGA, vengeance-minded Trump loyalist to the point that even some Trump advisers recognize as an extreme liability — even if those aides and confidants aren’t willing to do much to get in Patel’s way, mostly due to Trump’s protection of the man.

@frogman

This paper is banned even from Wikipedia as a reliable source. They’re (in)famous for their unreliability and sensationalism, and even things like copyright infringement and plagiarism (you’ll find ample evidence for this across the web).