#drag #UK "Protesters gather outside Richmond Theatre during drag storytime event Crowds of protesters gathered outside Richmond Theatre today (19 December) during a drag show, which saw multiple Met Police vans called to the area. From around 8.30am, scores of masked protesters stood outside Richmond Theatre holding a large 'London is anti-fascist' banner in support of the theatre's 10am showing of Drag Tales Storytime - Christmas Special. In response, protesters from Turning Point UK — a right-wing activist group — arrived at the theatre. They opposed the drag show on the basis that it was aimed at families, including children. 'We just object to the show,' said one Turning Point UK protester. According to the Richmond Theatre website, Drag Tales is described as 'a magical Christmas storytime that brings festive tales to life with captivating storytelling, joyful carols, high-energy dancing and puppetry' and is 'perfect for little theatre-goers and their grown-ups'. One local resident who was against the show, Mel, commented: 'It's not a pantomime. It's just drag queen tales for children under the age of five. We have nothing against drag if you do it for [audiences] over 18.' Meanwhile, one of the anti-fascist protesters, who did not give their name, told Nub News: 'We are here today because there is a drag-themed storytime happening at Richmond Theatre, and we thought Turning Point UK, who are an alt-right fascist group, would try to protest and intimidate the people going to the storytime. 'We want to make it really clear that they're not welcome here.' As Met Police officers stood around the theatre and between the two protest groups, anti-fascist protesters danced and sang along to music by artists including the Village People, Chappell Roan and Lady Gaga. When asked what message they were sending to the community, the protester added: 'That London is anti-fascist, that we stand with drag queens, we stand with queer people, and we will not let fascists hijack the narrative around us.'"
Richmond Nub News
Protesters gather outside Richmond Theatre during drag storytime event
On December 19, protesters, including anti-fascists and Turning Point UK, clashed outside Richmond Theatre over a drag show.
#Panto #disability #Canada "A fairy tale that takes down fascism? Don’t mind if we boo! A fascistic cabal living it up in the cushy clouds of Skyworld hopes to drain the depleted Lowlands of its remaining natural resources, forcing young Jax (Cyan Gargol) to climb the beanstalk and resist in Sick + Twisted Theatre’s third annual 'Crip-Mas' panto. In the panto tradition, audiences are invited to boo the villains — Artie Lorraine’s President/Emperor-Elect (P.E.E.), Joanna Hawkins’ Masterminder and Carlyn Graff-Czehryn’s Henchman — and rally for the heroes, including the non-binary, neurodivergent Jax, their mother (Theresa Thomson) and the family’s noble, baritone-voiced steed (Christopher Dunn). For Sick + Twisted, an inclusive theatre company founded by Debbie Patterson, the panto format has become an opportunity to showcase the talents of artists who experience a wide range of both visible and invisible disabilities while also offering riotous humour, bombastic song and dance — Joseph Aragon is musical director and accompanies on grand piano — and scathing critiques of ableist power structures."
Winnipeg Free Press
A fairy tale that takes down fascism? Don’t mind if we boo!
Breaking News, Sports, Manitoba, Canada
#EpsteinFiles "The Department of Justice faces a legally mandated deadline to release all of its Jeffrey Epstein files. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said 'I expect that we’re going to release several hundred thousand documents today,' but added that other files will be released in the coming weeks. 'This is nothing more than a cover up to protect Donald Trump from his ugly past,' top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said of the DOJ’s plan."
CNBC
Epstein files released by DOJ
President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November.
#Bangladesh "Bangladesh government urges calm in wake of youth leader's killing, as election looms • Student leader's killing triggers unrest ahead of elections • Protesters torch media offices, political sites and cultural landmarks • Government declares state of mourning, urges calm amid rising tensions Dec 19 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's interim government urged people on Friday to resist violence as soldiers and police fanned out across Dhaka and other cities following protests over the killing of a popular youth leader, sparking fears of more unrest ahead of national elections in which he had been due to run. The Muslim-majority nation of about 175 million people is due to elect a new parliament in less than two months' time -- a transition many hope will help the country recover from nearly two years of instability and reclaim its position as a South Asian development success story." https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/bangladesh-rocked-by-unrest-over-death-student-leader-2025-12-19/
#ClimateCrisis #capitalism "AJ Jones is a writer and creator of art, expressing herself across different mediums. She embraces her neurodivergence as a unique way to view the world in hopes of creating a better future. She first published this essay on her Substack newsletter, Blue Dot Thoughts. I recently saw an Instagram video highlighting NASA scientist Dr. Kate Marvel, who had been trying to convince her conservative father about climate change. She explained that he finally came around, not because of her data or research, but because capitalism is saying it’s real. 'Every insurance company has climate scientists on staff and insurance companies are all pricing in climate risk. There is no financial incentive for them to do that if it wasn’t real. If it wasn’t real another insurance company could come along, undercut the market and offer insurance at much cheaper rates, but they don’t do that because they know that it’s real." Her father finally conceded, 'Well, if capitalism says it’s real, it’s real.'"
Bleeding Heartland
Markets confirm climate crisis
AJ Jones reflects on rising insurance costs: No matter what you choose to believe about climate change, capitalism is a believer.
#TrumpRegime #military "Trump rebrands Congressionally-approved troop housing subsidy as ‘warrior dividend’ bonus More than $2.9 billion in reconciliation funds was allocated to beef up troop housing allowances. Now it’s being used for $1,776 checks. President Donald Trump’s $1,776 checks for more than a million troops, announced Wednesday, come from Congressionally-allocated reconciliation funds intended to subsidize housing allowances for service members, a senior administration official confirmed. During a prime-time TV address, Trump said he was 'proud to announce' that '1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call ‘warrior dividend,’ before Christmas.' He added that to honor the nation’s founding, 'we are sending every soldier $1,776. Think of that. And the checks are already on the way.' The senior administration official told Defense One in an emailed statement late Wednesday evening that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Pentagon to 'disburse $2.6 billion as a one-time basic allowance for housing supplement' to all eligible service members ranks 0-6 and below. 'Congress appropriated $2.9 billion to the Department of War to supplement the Basic Allowance for Housing entitlement within The One Big Beautiful Bill,' the senior official said. 'Approximately 1.28 million active component military members and 174,000 Reserve component military members will receive this supplement.' Top Congressional leaders have repeatedly pushed Pentagon officials during confirmation hearings to commit to following lawmakers' guidance for the more-than-$150 billion allocated for defense in the 'One, Big, Beautiful Bill' reconciliation legislation. The $2.9 billion meant to subsidize the basic allowance for housing, the monthly payment to cover troops' off-base expenses such as rent, mortgage, and utilities known as BAH, comes as some service members have struggled to make the most of the benefit. A Jan. 27 Rand report examining BAH for Army personnel said the Defense Department should better assess methodology amid rapid changes to the housing market. 'BAH is generally adequate for Army personnel, though not necessarily when the housing market is changing rapidly and dramatically, as it has in recent years,' the report said. 'Furthermore, while our analysis of housing choices and expenditures among military personnel and of their locational amenities points to an overall positive picture with respect to BAH, a substantial, though minority, share of members report dissatisfaction with BAH.' Active-duty, and reserve troops on active-duty orders 31 days or more in duration as of Nov. 30, 2025, are eligible for the benefit if they’re an 0-6 or below, the senior administration official said."
Defense One
Trump rebrands Congressionally-approved troop housing subsidy as ‘warrior dividend’ bonus
More than $2.9 billion in reconciliation funds was allocated to beef up troop housing allowances. Now it’s being used for $1,776 checks.
#AI #DataCenters "Google, Oracle, Amazon, Meta In Hot AI Race. But A Data Center Backlash Is Surging. All politics is local. So is the future of AI development. For growth investors, it's no secret that data centers are the lifeblood of the artificial intelligence revolution. Hyperscalers like Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL)-owned Google, Meta Platforms (META) and Oracle (ORCL) are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in new facilities across the country that promise economic prosperity for both Big Tech and the communities where these data centers will reside. A win-win for everyone, right? There's only one problem: Local opposition to these critical infrastructure projects is mounting, fueled by environmental concerns and a heated dispute over who bears the burden of skyrocketing electricity rates. Politicians across the spectrum are taking up the cause. This populist backlash over energy costs could create a bottleneck for data center growth by accelerating capital burn and exacerbating fears of an AI bubble in the stock market and economy. The ultimate risk is that the tussle could push AI's profound economic impact to more accommodating countries." https://www.investors.com/news/data-centers-boom-backlash-electricity-rates-google-meta-amazon-microsoft/
#malware "Most Parked Domains Now Serving Malicious Content Direct navigation — the act of visiting a website by manually typing a domain name in a web browser — has never been riskier: A new study finds the vast majority of 'parked' domains — mostly expired or dormant domain names, or common misspellings of popular websites — are now configured to redirect visitors to sites that foist scams and malware. When Internet users try to visit expired domain names or accidentally navigate to a lookalike 'typosquatting' domain, they are typically brought to a placeholder page at a domain parking company that tries to monetize the wayward traffic by displaying links to a number of third-party websites that have paid to have their links shown. A decade ago, ending up at one of these parked domains came with a relatively small chance of being redirected to a malicious destination: In 2014, researchers found (PDF) that parked domains redirected users to malicious sites less than five percent of the time — regardless of whether the visitor clicked on any links at the parked page. But in a series of experiments over the past few months, researchers at the security firm Infoblox say they discovered the situation is now reversed, and that malicious content is by far the norm now for parked websites."
Most Parked Domains Now Serving Malicious Content – Krebs on Security
#transrights "Trump Moves to End Access to Gender-Related Care for Minors Proposed new rules would pull all federal financing from hospitals that continue to provide gender treatments for adolescents. The federal government on Thursday acted to put an end to gender-related care for minors across the nation, threatening to pull federal funding from any hospital that offered such treatment. The move reflects the laserlike focus on the issue by President Trump, who in his first days in office called gender treatments for minors 'a stain on our Nation’s history.' The administration’s action is not just a regulatory shift but the latest signal that the federal government does not recognize even the existence of people whose gender identity does not align with their sex at birth. If finalized, the proposed new rules, announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a news conference Thursday morning, would effectively shut down hospitals that failed to comply. Medicare and Medicaid account for nearly 45 percent of spending on hospital care, according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research group. It follows other efforts by the administration to pull back from or eliminate policies that recognize gender identities beyond being born male or female. The new rules come one day after a divided House of Representatives voted to approve legislation that would criminalize gender transition treatments for minors and would subject providers to up to 10 years in federal prison. The House is expected to pass another bill Thursday that would bar Medicaid payments for gender-related treatments for minors. The two bills have little chance of passing in the Senate but showed how far the ultraconservative Republican majority was willing to go to deliver on President Trump’s campaign promise to end such medical treatment. But the proposed rules go much farther: by trying to force hospitals nationwide to stop providing the treatments altogether. The proposed rules for Medicare and Medicaid will be followed by a 60-day public comment period and will most likely be subject to legal challenges before going into effect. If finalized, the rule would be 'a death sentence — hospitals have such razor-thin margins as it is,' said Caroline Farrell, a former lawyer in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services division of the Health and Human Services Department’s office of the general counsel, and now a lawyer with the firm Foley Hoag. The proposed rule 'means just forcing them to stop the care,' she said. Gender-related treatments for minors, which can include puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and, in rarer cases, surgeries, have been a subject of fierce debate worldwide but are endorsed by most medical groups in the United States. The announcement on Thursday also included other actions: Another C.M.S. rule would prevent Medicaid from paying for the treatments for minors. And the Food and Drug Administration announced that it was issuing warning letters to 12 manufacturers of breast binders, tight garments used to flatten and masculinize chest appearance under clothing, for 'illegal marketing' of the products to children as a treatment for gender dysphoria." https://archive.ph/ek2zE
#TrumpRegime #ClimateCrisis "Colorado senators block budget to defend Boulder climate lab Colorado's U.S. senators are blocking a government spending bill, demanding the Trump administration reverse plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research — a major climate lab based in Boulder. Why it matters: The move places a nationally critical climate and weather research lab at the center of an escalating battle between the Trump administration and Colorado. The latest: Colorado U.S. Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet objected to moving forward with the so-called minibus spending package that would have funded 85% to 90% of the federal government through September 2026. • The objection came in response to Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, announcing Tuesday that the National Science Foundation would be 'breaking up' NCAR. • The senators said they would not approve the spending package until language was added to the bill to protect NCAR's funding and future operation. Between the lines: Officials have accused Trump of targeting Colorado for spending cuts in response to the state's voting system and its refusal to intervene on behalf of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted on election tampering charges." https://www.axios.com/local/boulder/2025/12/19/colorado-senators-block-ncar-funding-cuts