Tootfinder

Trump’s takeover of the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
reached its inevitable apogee on Thursday afternoon
when it was announced that the center’s board of trustees had voted to rename it
the Trump-Kennedy Center.
Even though Mr. Trump had already been calling it that for months in trollish posts online,
he acted shocked that his handpicked board had thought to do this for him.
Trump had called into a meeting of the board, which is no…

Kennedy Center Board Moves to Rename It the Trump-Kennedy Center
The board for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced that it would now be named the Trump-Kennedy Center, although a formal change may have to be approved by Congress.

"The US is the richest country in the world!"
Oh yeah? What does its balance sheet look like?
Obviously it's absurd to ask that question, as any economist will happily explain why national debts shouldn't be treated like real money.
But it's also absurd that it's absurd to ask that question, and there's a thread to pull here: is the US "rich" because many billionaires live here? That doesn't seem to improve the lives of most of the population. Is it because our median income is so much larger than many other countries? That's in large part a product of exchange rates, since costs of living are also higher here, so is the real reason the fact that the dollar has so much purchasing power? Why does it?
Well, at some level of abstraction, exchange rates boil down to: "How much confidence do the ultra-rich place in the stability of the country" which is intimately related to: "How much military/diplomatic power does the country have?"
So... The US is the "richest" country in the world because it uses its military dominance to bully other countries and keep them down, and it also uses the resulting economic dominance to do the same. We can see this happening via US-sponsored coups, International Monetary Fund bullying, and attendant multinational corporate looting of countries with little economic power (rampant in Africa and Central America, for example).

The Dutch government suspends its powers over chipmaker Nexperia, restoring control to its Chinese owner; a Dutch minister says the move is "a show of goodwill" (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-1…

Dutch Hand Back Control of Chinese-Owned Chipmaker Nexperia
The Dutch government suspended its powers over chipmaker Nexperia, restoring control to its Chinese owner and defusing a standoff with Beijing that had begun to hamper automotive production around the world.

Let’s put everything through CloudfFlare, what could possibly go wrong.
Can’t hold our last Gaza Verified interview right now because CloudFlare is down and Jitsi Meet uses it.
#centralisation

Board of Kennedy Center votes to change its name to Trump-Kennedy Center, White House says - CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kennedy-center-board-votes-to-rename-institution-trump-kennedy-center-white-house-says/

For years, China’s government has used what’s known as the
“Great Firewall” to censor the internet inside its country and block access to select foreign websites.
Now, a document leak shows that little-known Chinese company
'Geedge' is exporting these tools to other countries,
including Myanmar, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia.

Massive leak exposes how China’s ‘Great Firewall’ is being exported to other countries
For years, China’s government has used what’s known as the “Great Firewall” to censor the internet inside its country and block access to select foreign websites. Now, a document leak shows that a little-known Chinese company is exporting these tools to other countries, including Myanmar, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia. Ali Rogin speaks with WIRED senior writer Zeyi Yang to learn more.

Microsoft launches Agent 365, a new framework to let businesses deploy and manage AI agents like human employees, with dashboards showing telemetry and alerts (Tom Warren/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/822035/microsoft-agent-365-businesses-contr…

Microsoft Agent 365 lets businesses manage AI agents like they do people
Microsoft is building an agent factory that now has some important controls. Microsoft Agent 365 will let business control AI agents.

Dear USians,
How about you don’t call a Middle Eastern guy “white” and go on to tell him he’s “no better than any other oppressor we encounter” simply for trying to warn his Palestinian friends to not take any unnecessary risks and to be careful on Mastodon?
Also, apparently Divya has blocked me for this, which sucks because it has made it impossible for me to keep boosting her fundraiser, which you should, of course, still follow and support (link below).
I’m not going to …

Vladimir Putin demanded that Ukraine hand over full control of Donetsk Oblast to Russia as a condition for ending the war during a phone call with Donald Trump this week
After this call, in a shift of rhetoric, Trump indicated he would not supply Ukraine with long range cruise missiles

Putin reemphasized full Donetsk control as key to any deal while signaling possible compromises on Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts in Trump call, WP reports
Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that Ukraine hand over full control of Donetsk Oblast to Russia as a condition for ending the war during a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump this week, The Washington Post reported on Oct. 18, citing two senior U.S. officials.