Credit to the US for making the point the conference was trying to make about US foreign interference in European democracies for them, and bringing more attention to the conference and its themes than they could have possibly hoped for. www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

EU, Canada and Lithuania pull out of disinformation conference after US pressure

The Trump administration was bothered by panels that referred to the U.S. as a disinformation threat.

politico.com

As AI shifts work from people to machines, it will force a rethink of who gets taxed, on what, and where. Nowhere is that question more urgent than in Europe, which funds the world's most comprehensive welfare states primarily through taxes on work.

EU will need to tax AI ‘workers’ to keep funding human pensions

As AI shifts work from people to machines, it will force a rethink of who gets taxed, on what, and where. Nowhere is that question more urgent than in Europe, which funds the world's most comprehensive welfare states primarily through taxes on work.

euobserver.com

We have a new paper with evidence that fiscal consolidation leads to sizable and persistent declines in public investment in advanced economies; reductions in government consumption are smaller. Real spending on health, education, social protection, environmental protection falls to varying degrees.

Serious fiscal state capacity is when it’s shock and awe among offshore wealth holders. (“They” are the Communist Party.)

Under Sarkozy, Hollande, and Macron, France became a tax haven, multiplying fiscal schemes for large firms and wealthy households. Public budgets now lack billions. Now financial markets put more pressure. Meanwhile, high school students protest because they don't have enough teachers - or desks.

Today is Bandcamp Friday! For 24 hours, we waive our revenue share, so even more of every purchase goes to the artists and labels behind the music. Go forth. The music is waiting: https://bit.ly/4hW8Snx

Diskursmonitor.de Gerade erst entdeckt. Sehr cool!

Diskursmonitor | Online-Portal zur Strategischen Kommunikation

Der Diskursmonitor eine gemeinschaftlich erarbeitete Online-Plattform zur Aufklärung und Dokumentation von strategischer Kommunikation. Sie finden hier fachlich fundierte Informationen zu der Frage, wie mit Sprache, Bildern und Medien politische Interessen verfolgt werden: das Glossar erläutert und illustriert wichtige Begriffe aus Praxis und Forschung; das Review und das Barometer geben Einblicke in die aktuelle Diskursgroßwetterlage in verschiedenen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen; die Werkstatt bietet Handreichungen für die Praxis. Der Diskursmonitor ist noch im Aufbau. Wir freuen uns über Fragen, Hinweise und Interesse an Mitarbeit oder Kooperation.

diskursmonitor.de

Mirja Nicolas@privilegienschreck.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Diskursmonitor auch unironisch so eine geile Webseite

What do authoritarians do when they are about to lose an election? I survey the big picture before the midterms - and investigate the struggle between authoritarian escalation and democratic resilience since the Trumpists took power. My new piece, for @blaetter.bsky.social:

Autoritäre Eskalation oder demokratische Erneuerung: Die USA vor den Midterms

Die bevorstehenden Zwischenwahlen in den USA am 3. November sind ein wichtiger Stresstest für die US-Demokratie. Vieles hängt davon ab, inwieweit die Amerikaner für ihre Republik und deren Regeln eins...

blaetter.de

5 countries, and none of them governed by a far-right party

"Intl humanitarian law must apply consistently to all people, all places.. if not it just becomes a menu you can choose from when, for some political reasons, you want to criticise someone" Norways foreign minister at yesterdays Hague Group meeting on defending intl law

Ob geplant oder nicht: hier wird eine Lagerkonfrontation vorbereitet, die das Parteiensystem der Bundesrepublik endgültig sprengen dürfte.

📰 "KI-Unternehmen wie #OpenAI, #Anthropic, #Google und #Meta sollen in der EU deutlich mehr Rechte erhalten, wenn es um die Verarbeitung von Daten geht: noyb verweist dabei auf ein durchgesickertes Dokument der irischen Ratspräsidentschaft." 🇮🇪 👉 Hier weiterlesen: orf.at/stories/3442...

Datenschützer: EU plant Freibrief für KI-Firmen

orf.at

The Ezra Klein Show: We Can't Lose Control of A.I. Webseite der Episode: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/o... #ai

Ein sehr guter und wichtiger Punkt, der erneut zeigt, wie Normalisierung und Radikalisierung von Rechtsaußen Hand in Hand gehen. Ein Tabubruch vor ein paar Jahren wird heute zur bewussten Provokation, die ohne Folgen bleibt.

Alexander Pollak@alexanderpollak.bsky.social · 3w ago

Vor 3 Jahren las der damalige burgenländische FPÖ-Obmann Tschürtz die Namen von Volksschulkindern vor, um Stimmungsmache zu betreiben. Kurz darauf musste er sich entschuldigen. Auch die Bundes-FPÖ stellte sich gegen ihn und maßregelte ihn für den Missbrauch der Kindernamen.

People struggling financially have voted predominantly for the AfD in recent elections. Not in Berlin. The Left put socializing corporate landlords on the ballot, and won the election and this group.

“If the Follow the Rules Act were better known, then perhaps more public servants might be willing to resist improper orders—and more military and civilian leaders might think twice before giving them,” writes University Professor Emeritus Sean O'Keefe and co-author Joshua Gotbaum (@brookings.edu ).

When told to break the law, must feds just follow orders? | Brookings

Federal law protects public servants who refuse illegal orders, but most don't know their rights exist or how to use them.

brookings.edu

I promise you there would be no AI alignment problem if the CEOs of AI companies faced jail time if their AI killed anyone.

Ireland is to the US what Hungary was for too long to Russia. We need to be much stricter in Treaty-level interventions to shut down the beachheads of fascism.

Johnny Ryan@johnnyryan.bsky.social · 3w ago

This is insanity. Irish Presidency's draft text of amendments to the GDPR allows training & operation of any AI without safeguards & tough legal basis (under "legitimate interest" a company claims what it is doing is OK. Up to you to find out and challenge in court). This is a free pass for US Tech.

have I mentioned lately that oligarch-owned media consolidation is bad

Universal Is Getting Cold Feet on Releasing the Elon Musk Documentary (Exclusive)

The Comcast-owned studio is not yet committing to rolling out Alex Gibney's movie that it paid millions to acquire for non-North American release before the political winds shifted.

hollywoodreporter.com

Heinz Kapelle (*17. September 1913) war Anführer einer kommunistischen Jugendgruppe, die gegen die Nazis agierte. Sie verteilten Flugblätter und riefen zum Widerstand gegen das verbrecherische Treiben der Nazis auf. Die Gestapo verhaftete ihn am 16. Oktober 1939 beim Verteilen von Flugblättern.

Just in time for the latest oil price spike, we published our article urging the ECB not to hike rates to fight a supply shock. Europe needs a new inflation governance for shockflation. We need disaster preparedness for essentials instead of increasing investment costs.

The signs that Meloni wants an election before too long & that she has given up on becoming the only PM to lead the same postwar govt for a whole term are now piling up. Soon enough Italy may have new electoral law. Good excuse to call it a day: "We must now give people the opportunity bla de bla"

Professor Daniele Albertazzi@dralbertazziuk.bsky.social · 3w ago

The Financial Times' @amykazmin.bsky.social on Meloni's plan to change the electoral law before the next election. With comments by observers of Italian politics, including myself. Gift link here (20 views): giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Wie könnte ein starkes EU-Budget durch neue Einnahmequellen (z.B. Besteuerung von Krypto, digitalen Dienstleistungen und ultra-höhen Vermögen) finanziert werden? Wir haben zentrale Erkenntnisse aus unserer Studie zusammengefasst, wie sich Druck auf steigende nationale Beiträge reduzieren ließe.

Dov'é il #sovranismo quando ne hai bisogno?

Verfassungsblog@verfassungsblog.de · 4w ago

The US designated an Italian entity offering encrypted email and hosting as a terrorist organisation. MARCO PERUGINI explains how the measures take effect without any European involvement or control. verfassungsblog.de/the-us-desig...

For decades economic theory told governments their job was to fix market failures. If that is all you do, all you need is bandages. So we stopped investing in the state capacity to deliver the goals we set. Spoke to Capitalisn't podcast about my new book, The Common Good Economy.

Can Capitalism Serve the Common Good? - ft. Mariana Mazzucato | Capitalisn't

The drugs in your medicine cabinet were probably discovered on your dime, in a university lab, with NIH money. You don't hold the patent. You don't set the price. Same story with the touchscreen, the…

youtube.com

To every reporter who stands there as Trump shouts down one of your (almost always female) colleagues with insults and bullying behavior without standing up for them -- you know the rest of us can see and hear you, right?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4w ago

Q: On the checks, we have $40t in debt. If your economic policies are working, why do you need an incentive for people to turn out to vote? T: I'm doing it as a reward for having to put up w/Biden Q: You also offered tariff refunds-- TRUMP: Not you Q: And that didn't happen T: You're the worst

A serious democratic society simply cannot allow this. That's £72 million from just two men. (Both, until lately, based overseas). The average UK earner (full-time) would have to work for over 1,800 years to raise that much. It's a nuclear strike on any pretence at the equality of political power

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 4w ago

Harborne has given Reform £36 million to match Delo's £36 million. The Telegraph describes it as a "show of force" from Reform's donors. The two men's £72 million is greater than all of the spending by all political parties on the 2024 GE www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

This is an excellent point by Musa. For all performative anxiety, most Gen X and (older) Millenials grew up in time of “anti-fascist hegemony” with marginal far-right challengers. Particularly straight, white men were not threatened in their comfort — by either far right or so-called “woke”.

Musa Okwonga@okwonga.bsky.social · 4w ago

Most of these politicians have grown up without natural predators and it shows. If they had then their self-protective instincts would be far stronger.