Tootfinder

Mexico moves to combat pollution following Guardian investigations https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/01/mexico-moves-to-combat-pollution-following-guardian-investigations

Rebuilding public trust in AI requires meaningful citizen engagement, transparent governance, and robust legislation. Technology itself is not the problem. The issue is that few people trust institutions to deploy it wisely and for their benefit. This makes the first step to answer the following question: What’s it in for me?

Breaking the doom loop: How to rebuild trust in AI
Rebuilding public trust in AI requires meaningful citizen engagement, transparent governance, and robust legislation. By involving communities and prioritising effective oversight, institutions can break the ...

U.S. immigration officials do not plan to detain #Kilmar #Abrego #Garcia again -- as long as a judge’s order banning it stands, according to a Tuesday court filing.
❌Immigration and Customs Enforcement did make clear they would detai…

ICE doesn't plan to detain Abrego Garcia again as long as judge's order banning it stands
Immigration officials do not plan to detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia again as long as a judge’s order banning it stands That's according to a Tuesday court filing from the U.S. government. The Salvadoran citizen’s case has become a lightning rod for both sides of the immigration debate as he fights to remain in the U.S. after a mistaken deportation to his home country, where he was imprisoned. The government court filing comes after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis earlier this month questioned …

European gas price now up 48% since Friday!
And Dutch gas storages at a very low level (10% filled).
But: no incentive at all for commercial companies to start filling up again: prices throughout the year are higher than those for next winter. If we want the storages filled, governments need to act.

Our world is run by monsters. Like, literal monsters.
I've seen plenty of films and books where the "monster" might harm or destroy only a handful of humans before being vanquished, and yet, our governments have killed how many?
The people in charge have done damage to our world we cannot reverse.
The real monsters live among us, not in stories or fantasy.
How do we end these monsters?

"That's it. That's why every government in the world allowed US Big Tech companies to declare open season on their people's private data and ready cash.
The alternative was tariffs. Well, I don't know if you've heard, but we've got tariffs now!
I mean, if someone threatens to burn your house down unless you follow their orders, and then they burn your house down anyway, you don't have to keep following their orders. So…Happy Liberation Day?" - @…
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/01/39c3/#the-new-coalition

Court filings: Mark Zuckerberg approved allowing minors to access AI chatbot companions that safety staffers warned were capable of sexual interactions (Jeff Horwitz/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/m

Argentina declares emergency over Patagonia wildfires https://phys.org/news/2026-01-argentina-declares-emergency-patagonia-wildfires.html
Argentina fires ravage pristine Patagonia forests, fueling criticism of Milei’s austerity

Argentina declares emergency over Patagonia wildfires
Argentina's government on Thursday declared an emergency in Patagonia, where wildfires have ripped through vast tracts of forest since the start of the Southern Hemisphere summer.

Calling it “divisive” to document the honest brutality of American slavery and lynching is an attempt to erase the uncomfortable truth of racial terror.
Government efforts to remove such important history from both curricula and public institutions are efforts of deliberate whitewashing, propaganda to protect a mythology of American innocence.
Sanitizing the past protects power, not feelings.
(Clint Smith is always required reading.

The Power of Private Museums
Montgomery shows what’s possible when museums aren’t subject to capricious executive orders.

The government of California is implementing a law that requires operating system providers to implement some form of age verification into their account setup procedures.
Assembly Bill No. 1043 was approved by California governor Gavin Newsom in October of last year, and becomes active on January 1, 2027 (via The Lunduke Journal).
The bill states, among other factors, that "An operating system provider shall do all of the following:"
"(1) Provide an accessib…

A new California law says all operating systems, including Linux, need to have some form of age verification at account setup
It's basic, and by the looks of it, near unenforceable.