Tootfinder

Czechia's security council to decide future of Ukraine ammunition initiative on Jan. 7: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/22/czechias-security-council-to-decide.html

Bloody hell imagine having to put that as your address.
And the council are still only debating whether or not they want to rename the road!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg90qk13xdo

Iran’s paramilitary
Revolutionary Guard,
a force which was key in putting down recent nationwide protests in a crackdown that left thousands dead, is
“more ready than ever,
finger on the trigger,”
its commander said Saturday,
-- as U.S. warships headed toward the Middle East.
Nournews, a news outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that
the commander, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, warned the United St…

Iran's Revolutionary Guard commander warns the US, says his force has its 'finger on the trigger'
The commander of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a force which was key in putting down recent nationwide protests in a crackdown that left thousands dead, says the force is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger.”

Live: Trump pushes to expand 'Board of Peace', challenging UN Security Council - France 24
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260122-trump-pushes-to-expand-board-of-peace-challenging-un-security-council

while you are at Dublin mayors, maybe you could ask car drivers to turn on their lights as required by law in Ireland :-) ?!?! During my super brief time in Dublin in 2024 I saw a lot of cars with their lights off during a dark rainy afternoon.
https://mastodon.ie/@irishcycle/115583918846…

Floods have devalued Australian homes by $42bn. Experts say that’s the cost of ‘a changing climate’ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/22/floods-have-devalued-australian-homes-by-…

L'affaire Pelicot Š l'anglaise
Tory councillor drugs and rapes his wife over 13 years
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jan/23/philip-young-former-tory-councillor-pleads-guilty-drugging-raping-wife

Former Tory councillor admits drugging and raping wife over 14-year period
Philip Young, who served on Swindon borough council, pleads guilty to offences against ex-spouse Joanne Young

Sigh.... Somedays I'm reminded just how far we still have to go to reduce bigotry amongst those we elect
https://www.bordermail.com.au/story/9115872/federation-council-moves-to-drop-indigenous-flags-from-chambers/<…

The Riverina council that just voted to take down Indigenous flags
Mayor's push for 'unified culture' creates heat among councillors.

The real problem here is that I was born to be on the Watcher's Council or a Man of Letters or in the Talamasca or on the tenure track at Miskatonic in a world where I make more money fixing your damn computer and also those societies don't actually exist
.......but, and hear me out on this....could they?

"We have a funding system for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that is entirely based on the spending priorities of the UK government in England. The Welsh government has less borrowing powers than a local council, and it often publishes its final budget nine months into the financial year, because the Treasury has decided to change funding in England. This doesn’t work. And it can’t work"

The Philippines just secured its first fixed-bottom offshore wind auctions—a major leap for clean energy in Asia.
The GEA-5 program targets 3.3 gigawatts of capacity, focusing on proven technology that can move to construction faster. This strategic approach positions the country as one of Asia's fastest-advancing offshore wind markets.

First Fixed-Bottom Offshore Wind Project Auctions In The Philippines Secured - CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. At the 2025 APAC Wind Energy Summit of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) last September, the Philippines made its strongest commitment yet to building a commercial offshore wind industry (OSW). This month, a breakthrough Green Energy Auction Program Round ... [continued]

In Major Breakthrough, U.N. Security Council Adopts U.S. Peace Plan for Gaza (Farnaz Fassihi/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/world/middleeast/un-security-council-gaza-peace-plan.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/251117/p157#a251117p157

The Santa Barbara City Council passed a temporary rent freeze
in a 4-3 vote on Tuesday,
putting a halt on rent increases for up to a year
while the City Council works toward drafting a more permanent rent stabilization ordinance
to be considered later in 2026. 
The rent increase moratorium will be officially adopted next week
and would be effective 30 days later.
The council failed to get the fifth vote needed to qualify for an urgency ordinance,

Santa Barbara City Council Passes Temporary Rent Freeze
Council will adopt a moratorium on rent increases while the city drafts a permanent rent cap.

Hours after ICE toured a Kansas City warehouse, council blocks federal detention center permits | KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR
https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2026-01-15/hours-after-ice-toured-kansas-city-warehouse-council-blocks-federal-detention-center-permits

Sources: Google has formed a new executive council to allocate computing capacity given a critical shortage; members include Thomas Kurian and Demis Hassabis (Erin Woo/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/inside-balancing-act-googles-co…

Inside the Balancing Act Over Google’s Compute Crunch
Earlier this year, Google convened a group of its top executives to address what some staffers see as an existential problem: the company doesn’t have enough computer chips for everyone who wants them. A shortage of computing capacity was creating internal tensions, as leaders of Google’s varied ...

Out of one side of his mouth, potus threatens to invade half a dozen countries, and out of the other side he quite literally invites some of those same leaders to join a Board of Peace.
What a lying monster he is.
https://apnews.com/article/hamas-israe

Trump's Board of Peace and who's invited explained
The Board of Peace led by U.S. President Donald Trump was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. Since then, the Trump administration’s ambitions have ballooned into a more sprawling concept, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting the board will soon broker global conflicts, like a pseudo-U.N. Security Council. More details are expected when Trump participates in an announcement about the Board of Peace on Thursda…

Underhållande samtal mellan Mark Leonard, Adam Tooze och Carl Johan von Seth. https://www.dn.se/ekonomi/experten-trump-ar-en-attaaring-som-skriver-ett-argt-brev-till-jultomten/

Adam Tooze: Trump är en åttaåring som skriver brev till tomten
DN:s Carl Johan von Seth träffade Mark Leonard, chef för European Council on Foreign Relations, och Adam Tooze, chef för European Institute på Columbia University.

#Texas

She Wanted to Speak on Anti-Muslim Bigotry. She Was Labeled a Terrorist Leader.
Shaimaa Zayan, who works for the Austin chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, urged the Texas State Board of Education to reconsider its curriculum changes.

Anybody know anyone on #Vancouver City Council? Because they’re talking about seeking alternatives to Xitter: https://bsky.app/profile/jmcelroy.bsky.social/post/3m7qmxxutss24

When I took my post as secretary general of the Council of Europe just over a year ago,
I did not think that I would ever have to write about the possibility of the United States taking military action against a member state.
Yet here we are.
Donald Trump has vowed to make Greenland
— a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, which is a member of the Council of Europe and a founding member of NATO
— part of the United States, and that he will do so “the easy way” o…

Opinion | I’m the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. This Is Something I Thought I’d Never Have to Write.
International law is either universal or meaningless. Greenland will show which one we choose.

@… Since members of the Global Council are not eligible, might I suggest listing those members on this page? https://kit.pyladies.com/en/latest/glob…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
The Style Council:
🎵 Shout to the Top
#TheStyleCouncil
https://laurieshawofficial.bandcamp.com/track/shout-to-the-top-style-council-cover
https://open.spotify.com/track/2lYfbCENL9ltqzTSX1xrPe

But can these neighbours afford the high prices small shops must pay for small-batch wholesale and rent? Will banks finance small enterprise or treat them like restaurants?
I'm all for a walkable ward, but mine is already conspicuously littered with boarded up small shops and gentrified boutiques.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-council-votes-oppose-ford-government-bill-60-9.6976288

Trump administration makes major changes to a report it commissioned on FEMA reforms, AP sources say (Gabriela Aoun Angueira/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/fema-review-council-kristi-noem-trump-disasters-22274e65fad13b9e3005e302bcce9cbb
http://www.memeorandum.com/251119/p166#a251119p166

A look at Hamlet, a startup that uses AI to process local government meeting videos and which plans to provide the tool to local journalists for free (Dominic-Madori Davis/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/05/new-st…

New streaming channel launches to give viewers a peek into city council meetings | TechCrunch
Hamlet TV is a way to help keep citizens informed of what's happening inside local governments.

Some people watch TV, play games, go for a walk... to kill time. Others watch 30 year-old presentations to Brampton City Council of the Ontario city's new website while wandering around the archived website itself.
"We've been innovative and we've kept our consumer in mind. That's a small map. So click on that and you get a large version." (at 5:39)​
It's nice to see the speaker using Netscape.

Charlottesville, VA is the latest city with smarter elected leaders than San Francisco (where we continue to double down on partnering with ICE-collaborating Flock Security).
https://www.29news.com/2025/12/17/charlottesville…

Charlottesville ends Flock camera pilot program over privacy concerns
The decision comes after months of concern from city council about data privacy.

TRUMP'S "PEACE COUNCIL" – invites BOTH UKRAINE AND RUSSIA?! Europe EXPOSES Kremlin's spy networks: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/20/trumps-ampquotpeace-councilampquot-invites-both.html

"ICE has been using “brake-checks” as pretense for detaining observers. Another observer car pulls up and my city council member steps out. He strides up to the Wagoneer, blowing his whistle. (Absolutely everyone is confronting ICE—I’ve encountered my old boss from the local cafe scuffling with agents, too.) Someone on the street starts filming and the bicyclist we know in the chat as “small fry” shouts at the agents to get out of Minneapolis."

ICE vs. Everyone | Erin West
What we’re doing now is this: The trainings have evolved into street medic workshops on protecting yourself from chemical weapons and lessons on digital security; there’s a meet-up to sew reinforced umbrellas as shields from mace and a collection spot for barricade materials. And this is what it’s like: Sometimes you’re chasing ICE off your street, maybe you’re buying groceries for a family, but a lot of the time you’re on your phone.

New York Fashion Week Makes Landmark Decision To Ban Fur On The Runway #AnimalRights

New York Fashion Week Makes Landmark Decision To Ban Fur On The Runway
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, which owns and organizes New York Fashion Week, has decided to ban fur on the runway in 2026

Many lawyers and career officials at the White House National Security Council, Pentagon and Justice Department ...
who had raised concerns about using lethal force against "narcotraffickers" ...
either left government or were reassigned or removed.
https://skywriter.b…

U.N. Security Council Adopts Trump’s Peace Plan for Gaza - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/world/middleeast/un-security-council-gaza-peace-plan.html

How did the Council approve the #Mercosur agreement, exactly?
«EU capitals now have until 5 p.m. on Friday to lodge any objections and formalize the vote. This so-called written procedure»
https://www.

Please apply pressure to electeds, urging them to aggressively pursue state charges against ICE officers, in defiance of the FBI if necessary.
Many of them already want this. State AG is already taking steps to do this. Apply the pressure anyway; the pressure helps.
If you live in Minnesota:
#Minnesota #Minneapolis #MSP

I was surprised to learn that famously neutral #Switzerland 🇨🇭 has been a member of the Council of Europe 🇪🇺 (which is *not* the same as either of the European Council 🇪🇺 and the Council of the European Union 🇪🇺) since 1963. For reference, Switzerland joined the #UnitedNations in 2002.

"The idea of the council system is intimately intergrown with Socialism and is unthinkable without it; dictatorship, however, has nothing whatever in common with Socialism, and at best can only lead to the most barren of state capitalism."
-- Rudolf Rocker
#Socialism #Anarchism

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/kensington-chelsea-westminster-council-cyber-attack-b2872495.html
Multiple London councils hit by ‘cyber attack’ and initiate ‘emergency plans’

Multiple London councils hit by ‘cyber attack’ and initiate ‘emergency plans’
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea said it is ‘too early’ to determine whether any data has been compromised

This is Europe’s secret weapon against Trump: it could burst his AI bubble | Johnny Ryan | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/17/europe-donald-trump-ai-bubble-us-economy-eu

from my link log —
IPv6 in the UK 6 years after World IPv6 day.
https://www.ipv6.org.uk/2018/06/06/6th-anniversary-of-world-ipv6-launch/
saved 2018-12-07

Is there any legal justification for the US attack on Venezuela?
International law experts expect Washington to claim self-defence and face little serious pushback [from the UN]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan

Tell Portland City Government: Revoke the ICE Permit!
This campaign was created to protect immigrants in Portland, OR by Revoking the ICE Permit for the building located at 4310 S Macadam Ave, Portland, OR 97239. Join us in sending emails to Portland City Council, the Mayor and the Permitting and Development Department demanding they revoke the permit. Please feel free to use the template provided and/or add a personal message as well.

AURORA, The Colorado city spotlighted by Trump & MAGA as being overrun by Venezuelan gangs, booted the republican council members who echoed the claims, bigly, and elected 2 progressives in their place, tipping the longstanding conservative majority.
Gifted article. #progressivepolitics

Trump said gangs invaded this city. Voters booted the officials who agreed.
Liberals who won in Aurora, Colorado, say voters were focused on affordability, trash and other local issues.

Love to know who lives in the houses whose view was improved by the poisoning, and what relationship they have with the council.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-06/council-criticised-for-removing-illegal-trees-from-dunes/106174826…

Council criticised for removing 'illegally planted' trees from sensitive sand dunes
A Queensland council is being criticised for uprooting unauthorised saplings from sand dunes amid a long-running vegetation battle.

UN security council passes US-drafted resolution authorising an international stabilisation force in Gaza
The UN security council has voted to pass the US-drafted resolution regarding the mandate for an International Stabilisation Force in Gaza, one of the key points in Trump’s Gaza plan

US approving Nvidia H200 exports to China is based on the idea that Huawei is a viable competitor, but data shows the gap between Nvidia and Huawei is widening (Chris McGuire/Council on Foreign Relations)
https://www.cfr.org/article/chinas-ai-chip…

China’s AI Chip Deficit: Why Huawei Can’t Catch Nvidia and U.S. Export Controls Should Remain
Executive SummaryOn December 8, the Trump administration announced plans to loosen U.S. export controls on artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China by approving the sale of Nvidia H200 chips—the m…

UN Security Council approves Trump’s Gaza”peace plan”, green-lighting U.S.-Israeli control of Gaza’s future – Mondoweiss
https://mondoweiss.net/2025/11/un-security-council-approves-trumps-gazapeace-plan-green-lighting-u-s-israeli-control-of-gazas-future/

RE: https://mastodon.social/@DaddyJew/115555465981732323
Oh hey it's NY City Council addressing Eric Adams.

Quahogs are VERY long-lived clams. This wise one was born 100 before Shakespeare. Cherish them. If you eat them, venerate their little clam bodies, first.
From "New Scientist", Tom Gauld comic.
#AncientWisdom equals #GoodEating

Lukashenko agrees to join Trump’s Peace Council: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/21/lukashenko-agrees-to-join-trumps.html

Pulp giant RGE admits possible deforestation breach in Bornean wildlife habitat https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/pulp-giant-rge-admits-possible-deforestation-breach-in-bornean-wildlife-habitat/

Pulp giant RGE admits possible deforestation breach in Bornean wildlife habitat
JAKARTA — One of the world’s biggest pulp and paper companies has acknowledged to Mongabay a potential breach of its no-deforestation commitment in its supply chain, raising questions about the company’s attempt to regain sustainability certification under the Forest Stewardship Council. A new report by U.S.-based campaign group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) alleges that Singapore-based […]

Mamdani 'outraged' after New York City Council employee detained by ICE (Meredith Deliso/ABC News)
https://abcnews.go.com/US/mamdani-outraged-after-new-york-city-council-employee/story?id=129149275
http://www.memeorandum.com/260113/p79#a260113p79

Stephen Miller, who has overseen Trump’s hard-line agenda on drugs and immigration, and other top advisers never lost sight of their goal of crushing the cartels.
And in pursuing this goal they were aided in part by a personnel restructuring that removed potential obstacles.

Many of the lawyers and other career officials at the White House National Security Council, Pentagon and Justice Department
who had over the preceding months raised concerns about using lethal force a…

White House blew past legal concerns in deadly strikes on drug boats
The Trump administration sidestepped skeptical lawyers across national security agencies as it pursued a military campaign against alleged narcotraffickers, officials say.

Neighborhood Retail
Another diluted policy that will only apply certain wards, because somehow if you're not in Old toronto or East York, this is considered suburbs and nothing good can be done in the suburb.
Have they been to Yonge and Sheppard? Don Mills & Sheppard?
Is that the suburb? So stupid
https://

Call for papers | Catholic Record Society 68th Annual Conference | 1-2 July 2026 | London & online
https://ift.tt/VsI7n5b
Mining the Logs: Sources on Blue Humor URL …
via Input 4 RELCFP …

Sure, you can use tons of #MCP to create a "council of experts" or you can use #ai

Heute vor 60 Jahren: Am 17. Januar 1966 kollidieren über #Palomares eine mit 4 Wasserstoffbomben bestückte B-52 und ein Tankflugzeug in der Luft. Die mit #Plutonium gefüllten Zünder von zwei der Bomben explodierten und setzten mehrere Kilo hoch radioaktives Plutonium-239 frei.

“Arguing that ‘no country should be above international law,’ Mayor Brandon Johnson urged the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday to hold President Donald Trump’s administration accountable for what he called a ‘worsening human rights crisis in the United States.’”

Johnson urges UN panel to hold President Trump accountable for what he calls 'human rights abuses'
In a virtual appearance before a United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Switzerland, Mayor Brandon Johnson invited UN experts to come to Chicago to witness firsthand the “abuses” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during raids that have wreaked havoc in neighborhoods across the…

“Multiple UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and student groups organized collective actions speaking out against the compact, including a SUNRISE UNC protest shortly before the Faculty Council meeting and a petition from the Coalition for Carolina that has amassed over 1,750 signatures.”
Organize
https://www.wunc.org/education/2025-11-10/unc-chapel-hill-chancellor-will-not-sign-trump-higher-ed-compact

Atlantic Council: China-led cross-border digital currency platform mBridge, still a prototype, has processed 4,000 cross-border transactions totaling $55.5B (Marc Jones/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chi…

Is the UK still on the UN Security Council? Does the UN Security Council still exist?

You know there's something suss when a local council takes time to indulge in this sort of culture war. Just what are they trying to distracted ratepayers attention from?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-04/aboriginal-torres-…

NSW council votes to stop flying Indigenous flags and enforce permissions for Welcome to Country
A mayor in southern NSW says removing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags from council meeting chambers will "promote civic neutrality".

Ballot Box Scotland 2025 in review: council by-elections
"remember the most important aspect of STV – that the nice simple language used for FPTP of “gain/loss/hold” isn’t as applicable here. Whoever vacated one of three or four seats is not always the same as the overall winner at the last election. It’s entirely possible for the vacating party, the party that had a first preference lead, and the party that would have won a single seat election ... to all be different"

2025 in Review: Council By-Elections
A bad year for Labour in by-elections bodes ill for May, no matter how much they may spin one fluke and one narrow Parliamentary by-election win.

Putin calls European leaders 'little pigs' and says Russia will achieve Ukraine goals by diplomacy or force - Europe live (Jakub Krupa/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/dec/17/ukraine-russia-war-eu-european-council-frozen-assets-zelenskyy-europe-live-news
http://www.memeorandum.com/251217/p57#a251217p57

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/08/europe-leaders-no-longer-deny-relationship-with-us-changed

Live: UN Security Council to meet for 'a briefing on the situation in Iran' - France 24
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260115-live-un-security-council-to-meet-for-a-briefing-on-the-situation-in-iran

Kremlin: Putin invited to Trump’s Gaza peace council: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/19/kremlin-putin-invited-to-trumps.html

#eduroam has been named one of the 13 Dutch brilliant breakthroughs by the Dutch Research Council (NWO)
Created in 2002 by Klaas Wierenga, eduroam started as a simple idea: make Wi-Fi secure, easy & free for students and researchers, wherever they go.
Today, eduroam connects people at almost 40,000 locations in 106 countries. In 2024 alone, it recorded over 8.4 billion authenticatio…

My loose process for evaluating an ACR (VPAT®):
https://adrianroselli.com/2026/01/how-i-evaluate-an-acr-vpat.html
You may have your own thoughts / ideas. Add them to the comments.
I was also torn between the meat grinder and a Plinko metaphor.

How I Evaluate an ACR (VPAT®)
ACRs are Accessibility Conformance Reports, which are the output of a VPAT, or Voluntary Product Accessibility Template maintained by ITIC, or the Information Technology Industry Council (which is why VPAT often has a ® symbol hanging off it). An organization may fill out the template to indicate how or if…

Ukraine risks losing key partner or its dignity, warns Zelenskyy,
as Trump sets Thanksgiving deadline to accept deal
US president says ‘Thursday is an appropriate time’ in radio interview as Ukrainian leader weighs up US proposal
Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president António Costa have insisted on Friday that Ukraine must have a central role in deciding its future
and said European leaders would hold discussions on the US-drafted proposal on Saturday.

Never forgot how completely fucking cartoonish the entire Adams administration was.
And that our current NY City Council just stood by and watched the whole thing without doing much more than sternly-worded letters.
And Governor Hochul, when given the opportunity, decided *not* to remove Adams from office.

Putin calls European leaders
‘little pigs’
and says Russia will achieve its
Ukraine goals by diplomacy or force
The Russian leader says the aims of its ‘special military operation’ will be met ‘unconditionally
https://www…

(For those not in the know: Minneapolis is heavily, heavily Democratic, but there are really two Democratic Parties here, split loosely speaking between leftists and centrists; city council and mayoral elections are always bitter fights between these groups)

Intel appoints Robin Colwell, deputy assistant to President Trump and deputy director of the National Economic Council, as its head of government affairs (Stephen Nellis/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/intel-appoints-trump-…

Federal immigration agents detained an employee of the New York City council on Monday,
sparking outrage from the city’s leaders and renewed rebukes against the Trump administration’s immigration actions.
“This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values,”
Mayor Zohran Mamdanisaid in a statement on X.
“I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”
The employee was taken in during a “routine immigration appointm…

Call for papers | Catholic Record Society 68th Annual Conference | 1-2 July 2026 | London & online https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20133843/call-papers-catholic-record-society-68th-annual-conference-1-2-…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #AfternoonShow
The Style Council:
🎵 Wanted (or Waiter, There’s Some Soup in My Flies)
#TheStyleCouncil

Much lower energy fast chips:
"Scientists from the University of Warwick and the National Research Council of Canada have reported the highest "hole mobility" ever measured in a material that works within today's silicon-based semiconductor manufacturing...
This achievement also represents a significant accomplishment for Warwick's Semiconductors Research Group and highlights the UK's growing influence in advanced semiconductor materials research."…

A 1950s material just set a modern record for lightning-fast chips
Researchers engineered a strained germanium layer on silicon that allows charge to move faster than in any silicon-compatible material to date. This record mobility could lead to chips that run cooler, faster, and with dramatically lower energy consumption. The discovery also enhances the prospects for silicon-based quantum devices.

U.N. Security Council approves Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza (Karen DeYoung/Washington Post)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/17/un-vote-gaza-trump-plan/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251117/p145#a251117p145

Progressives may flip Aurora council as voters reject Danielle Jurinsky and other incumbents (Kyle Harris/Denverite)
https://denverite.com/2025/11/05/aurora-city-council-elections-progressive-flip/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251105/p177#a251105p177

The surname "Adams" should be completely disqualifying in NYC politics from now on. #NYCCouncil
https://www.amny.com/news/speaker-adams-no-vote-daylig…

Running out of daylight: Advocates fume over Speaker Adams not holding vote on universal ‘daylighting’ street safety bill before year’s end
Outgoing City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams will not bring a measure to implement universal "daylighting," which would eliminate parking near intersections

Let's begin by quoting, in full, a letter that the president of the United States of America sent yesterday to the prime minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr StŸre.
The text was forwarded by the White House National Security Council to ambassadors in Washington, and was clearly intended to be widely shared.
Here it is:
"Dear Jonas:
Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to …

Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw
Will Republicans in Congress ever step in?

One guess is that they got some region-based data on where the brown and Black people are, and are just going off that.
Another guess is that are targeting specific city council members. This I doubt — unless they’re getting that from local police depts, which I could totally believe.
My own theory is that they really, really, really don’t want white people to see what they’re doing, except through the eyes of the right-wing camera crews that follow them around.
Whatever it is, it’s pretty striking.
2/2

Bessent resets financial watchdog with deregulatory mandate (Aiden Reiter/Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/11/treasury-bessent-financial-stability-oversight-council-letter-00686574
http://www.memeorandum.com/251211/p61#a251211p61

The only remaining criminal case against Donald Trump has been revived
after the head of Georgia’s prosecutor’s council appointed himself to replace Fani Willis,
the Fulton county district attorney, who was removed from the election interference case in September.
Pete Skandalakis,
a Republican and the executive director of the prosecuting attorneys’ council of Georgia,
the state body that provides legal training and is often charged to mitigate prosecutorial co…

"Aggressor, not peacemaker" – harsh reaction from the EU in the UN Security Council #shorts: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/11/quotaggressor-not-peacemakerquo…

Immigrant justice lawyers representing 13 plaintiffs sued to overturn the first Trump administration's asylum ban in "Noem vs. Al Otro Lado"
The lawsuit was filed in July 2017 by Al Otro Lado, along with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, the American Immigration Council, and other organizations located near the border.
“Customs and Border Protection officers would confront people literally standing at the line and obstruct them from coming in,” said Melissa…

US Is Legally Obligated to Provide Asylum. SCOTUS May Help Trump End It Anyway.
The federal government is appealing a case from Trump’s first term to reinstate an asylum ban at the southern border.

Amsterdam Passes New Motion Building on Its Endorsement of the Plant Based Treaty https://vegconomist.com/politics-law/amsterdam-passes-new-motion-building-endorsement-plant-based-treaty/

Amsterdam Passes New Motion Building on Its Endorsement of the Plant Based Treaty - vegconomist - the vegan business magazine
In January of last year, Amsterdam became the first EU capital city to endorse calls for a global Plant Based Treaty. Now, Amsterdam City Council has passed a

Russia’s Oreshnik missile strike near EU border seen as signal to the West, spurring UN Security Council push and EU calls for air defenses and tougher sanctions: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/11/russias-oreshnik-missile-strike-near.html

JD Vance did nothing
as Trump cuts cost his Ohio home town millions.
Despite Vance being Middletown’s most famous son
and Ohio broadly safe ground for Republican politicians for at least a decade,
⭐️nearly four in 10 of voters in the city of 50,000 people chose not to back Vance and Trump in last year’s presidential election.
Two progressives are running for seats on Middletown’s non-partisan,
yet Republican-leaning,
council in next month’s election…

At the U.N., Even Allies Condemn U.S. Action in Venezuela (Farnaz Fassihi/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/world/americas/un-security-council.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260106/p2#a260106p2

"Her joins a City Council comprising seven women, making St. Paul a rare large city that’s entirely women-led."
Rep. Kaohly Her Wins Stunning Upset in St. Paul Mayoral Race, Making History | Portside
https://portside.org/2025-11-30/rep-kaohly-her-wins-stunning-upset-st-paul-mayoral-race-making-history

"They have to turn back to God and we are;
We're gonna ask all Americans to pray for an end to political violence, to pray for our president, to pray for a Christian agenda in Washington. It's long overdue.  We need it. And we think it's an important step."
"We need God's help if we're gonna get through what we're going through now,
-- the push toward actually acceptance of communism by a growing number of Americans."

Family Research Council And The House Freedom Caucus Organizing A 'Congress Prays For America' Call
The Family Research Council and the House Freedom Caucus are holding a "Congress Prays For America" call to "pray for a Christian agenda in Washington."

Cyprus's president meets Zelensky in Kyiv as Nicosia prepares to chair EU Council: https://benborges.xyz/2025/12/04/cypruss-president-meets-zelensky-in.html

Venezuela’s mission to the U.N. has requested an emergency Security Council meeting
and has asked the Council to condemn the U.S. military strikes against the country.
Venezuela’s ambassador, Samuel Reinaldo Moncada Acosta, said in a letter to the Council’s president:
“The United States of America always uses lies to fabricate wars.
It is an international tyranny imposed with the propaganda of death:
the recent past confirms this.”
Russia and China, allie…

Venezuela Live Updates: Trump Says U.S. Will ‘Run' Country After Capture of Maduro
President Trump offered few details about how the United States would oversee Venezuela and for how long, but said its oil industry would “make a lot of money” under U.S. leadership. President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were being taken to New York to stand trial on drug and weapons charges.

In 2019, Russia signaled that it was willing to allow the United States to act as it pleased in Venezuela,
in exchange for Washington giving the Kremlin a free hand in Ukraine,
according to Congressional testimony from Fiona Hill,
who ran Russian and European affairs on the National Security Council during the first Trump administration.
The Russians “were signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and…

Russia Once Offered U.S. Control of Venezuela for Free Rein in Ukraine
The exchange offer was recounted at the time in congressional testimony by Fiona Hill, who ran Russian and European affairs on the National Security Council during the first Trump administration.

The New Orleans City Council Dec. 3 launched an online portal
for residents to report civil and human rights abuses by ICE and CBP paramilitary units occupying the city during the Trump regime’s anti-migrant occupation.
The launch of the portal, came as CBP forces began disappearing residents in the city, Kenner and other suburban areas of the Greater New Orleans area and parts of the River Parishes

New Orleans launches portal to report human rights abuses by Trump paramilitary units
The New Orleans City Council Dec. 3 launched an online portal for residents to report civil and human rights abuses by ICE and CBP paramilitary units occupying the city during

Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it,
despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost,
and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise,
Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
will be cut.