sigh

Summary

Elon Musk sparked outrage in Germany by endorsing the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party on his platform, X, claiming “only the AfD can save Germany.”

The AfD, which polls second ahead of Germany’s February snap election, has been labeled extremist by German intelligence.

Political leaders accused Musk of election interference, while others criticized his remarks as harmful. Musk later doubled down, calling for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s resignation.

Musk’s comments align with his past support for far-right and anti-immigration figures across Europe and beyond.

Summary

Tesla’s European market share is declining sharply, with EU registrations dropping 40.9% in November 2024 compared to last year, and year-to-date registrations down 15.2%.

Including the UK and EFTA, Tesla’s registrations fell 13.7% this year.

The drop stems from reduced government EV incentives and growing dissatisfaction with CEO Elon Musk.

Despite Tesla’s decline, overall EV registrations in Europe have remained stable as competing automakers gain ground. Tesla remains the largest EV producer in Europe but faces growing pressure from rivals capitalizing on its waning dominance.

Summary

The U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan stop-gap funding bill to prevent a government shutdown, defying Donald Trump’s demand to suspend the debt limit.

Passed with broad support in both chambers, the bill maintains current funding levels while adding $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion for farmers.

Trump’s push for debt ceiling suspension, backed by Elon Musk, caused turmoil among Republicans but failed to pass, highlighting cracks in Trump’s control over the party.

Democrats criticized Musk’s influence, while House Speaker Mike Johnson called the outcome a necessary compromise for future GOP priorities.

The suspect in the deadly ramming at a Christmas market in Germany on Friday was an anti-Islam activist who shared pro-Israel content on social media in the wake of the October 7 attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the Journal report, the suspect, a Saudi national who had moved to Germany in 2006, ran a website and social media channels warning against Islam and discussing women’s rights, as well as posting content in support of Israel.

He also showed support for Germany’s far-right anti-immigration AfD party, the report said.

Summary

Trust in the U.S. judicial system has hit a record low, with only 35% of Americans expressing confidence, according to Gallup.

Criticism centers on the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, accused of advancing right-wing agendas, eroding rights like abortion access, and lacking accountability.

This judicial capture, orchestrated by conservative groups like the Federalist Society, ensures Republican dominance in key policies for decades, regardless of future elections.

Thomas Sankara (1949 - 1987)

Wed Dec 21, 1949

Thomas Sankara, born on this day in 1949, was a Burkinabé revolutionary who was President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. A Marxist-Leninist and pan-Africanist, he was viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution and is sometimes referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara".

Sankara came into power when allies instigated a coup on his behalf in 1983. He immediately launched programs for social, ecological, and economic change, as well as renaming the country from the French colonial "Upper Volta" to Burkina Faso ("Land of Incorruptible People"), with its people being called Burkinabé ("upright people").

His administration was known for refusing foreign aid to remain politically independent, nationalizing the country's land and mineral wealth, and promoting literacy, women's rights, and public health. Among the achievements of his administration was vaccinating 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever, and measles.

On October 15th, 1987, Sankara was assassinated by troops led by Blaise Compaoré, who assumed leadership of the state shortly after having him killed. A week before his assassination, Sankara declared: "While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas."

• Date: 1949-12-21
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.thomassankara.net.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Summary

Buruli ulcer, a flesh-eating bacterial infection, is spreading in Melbourne’s suburbs, prompting warnings.

Cases in 2024 remain high, with 344 reported so far, slightly fewer than 362 in 2023.

The disease causes painless lumps or wounds that progress into destructive ulcers, with the elderly most affected.

The bacteria is transmitted via mosquitoes, and possums are known carriers.

Residents are advised to use insect repellents, wear protective clothing, and avoid mosquito-prone areas to minimize risk.

The US on Friday said it will no longer be pursuing $10 million “Rewards for Justice” bounty on the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, Anadolu news agency reported.

“I told him (HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa) we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice, reward offer that has been in effect for some years,” Barbara Leaf, the US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told reporters following her meeting with HTS officials in Damascus.

On her talk with al-Sharaa, Leaf said she had a “good”, “thorough” discussion on a range of regional issues as well as the domestic scene.

Hey everyone,

I've got a bunch of weird stuff happening with my computer (both in Linux Mint and Windows 10) and hoping you could help me figure out if it's a software issue or if it's a hardware issue then which component is borked.

The fact that both systems are having issues is making me think it's a hardware issue? Both OS's are on different drives, not dual booting from the same disk.

Linux issues:

Distro: Mint 20.2

Kernel: 5.4.0-202-generic

CPU: Intel i7-7700k

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070

Memory: 16GB

It started with Firefox crashing randomly and now the display is forced at a weird resolution and it doesn't recognize the second attached screen. It has no option to change resolution in GUI and the xrandr -q output doesn't list any devices and talks about failing to get size of gamma for output default. I'm trying some stack overflow and arch wiki guides about adding manual selections to xrandr but nothing is working. Firefox seems to be stable now but unsure. I tried NVIDIA guides about making sure blacklist file doesn't exist and forcing non-wayland sessions but that didn't work; the NVIDIA X Server Settings GUI also boots completely blank.

xrandr output:

{22:20}-{xxx}-{~}$: xrandr -q --verbose xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default Screen 0: minimum 1024 x 768, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768 default connected primary 1024x768+0+0 (0x528) normal (normal) 0mm x 0mm Identifier: 0x527 Timestamp: 45214 Subpixel: unknown Clones: CRTC: 0 CRTCs: 0 Transform: 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 filter: _MUTTER_PRESENTATION_OUTPUT: 0 non-desktop: 0 supported: 0, 1 1024x768 (0x528) 59.769MHz *current h: width 1024 start 0 end 0 total 1024 skew 0 clock 58.37KHz v: height 768 start 0 end 0 total 768 clock 76.00Hz 1920x1080_60.00 (0x545) 173.000MHz -HSync +VSync h: width 1920 start 2048 end 2248 total 2576 skew 0 clock 67.16KHz v: height 1080 start 1083 end 1088 total 1120 clock 59.96Hz

I do have timeshift backups for a few days ago but seeing as I'm not sure if this may be hardware related I'm not sure whether to go down that path.

Windows 10 issues:

Before today it went BSOD pretty quickly after logging in (safemode works fine) with errors such as 'kmode exception not handled' and 'bad pool caller'. I've since updated the nvidia drivers by booting in safemode and now the screen is black with the bottom menu flickering in and out (with no apps, just the start button) on both screens.

It seems like the issue is to do with the graphics card but, again, I'm not sure if it's something I can fix by typing a magic spell or two, or if I need to buy a new card.

Appreciate any responses, thanks!

Source: Twitter

Summary

A norovirus outbreak in Los Angeles sickened over 80 attendees of the Dec. 3 Los Angeles Times "101 Best Restaurants" event after consuming raw oysters.

The affected oysters, sourced from British Columbia and linked to multiple brands, were recalled on Dec. 13.

The FDA warned against selling or serving oysters harvested from parts of British Columbia in 14 states and D.C.

Norovirus, a common foodborne illness, is linked to contaminated shellfish. Health officials are investigating, while event organizers emphasized adherence to food safety protocols.

Source | Author: Exerou | Character: Flandre Scarlet

Sistema Matrix, verso l’elicottero senza equipaggio. L’analisi di Del Monte

@news

Continuano le sperimentazioni del sistema di autonomia di volo senza equipaggio Matrix per gli elicotteri di US Army e US Marines. La piattaforma scelta per effettuare i test di volo uncrewed è il Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. L’obiettivo dietro al progetto Matrix è quello di ridurre il carico

Comments saying 'post-credits scene' lmao. Kinda true, he is done acting, wants to be an eye doctor.