sunbleachedfly

Solar really seems like it's taking on a mind of its own & while it would be nice to get help from the US gov, it doesn't seem to need it.

It could be that I'm overly optimistic but new energy installation will have to grapple with the fact that solar is cheaper, & regardless of loyalty to fossil fuels, businesses will always go with the cheaper option.

A federal judge has ordered Amazon.com to reveal its relationships with academic researchers in a landmark antitrust class-action lawsuit. The world’s largest online retailer is facing claims of violating federal antitrust price-fixing laws, with an estimated 288 million class members affected nationwide, making it the largest class in U.S. history.

In a ruling issued Aug. 8, 2025, U.S. District Judge John H. Chun of the Western District of Washington granted the plaintiffs' motion to compel Amazon to produce information regarding antitrust research performed by economists, scholars and think tanks that were either solicited or funded by the company and are now central to Amazon's legal defense.

VERY CURIOUS TO SEE WHO THEY ARE

This bid comes after the Department of Justice proposed in March that Google be forced to sell Chrome after a judge ruled the tech giant acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search. Google has not agreed to sell Chrome and has vowed to fight the ruling. 

The Perplexity spokesperson believes the court will soon set terms for remedies, perhaps later this month. (Google is also fighting another federal case where the judge ruled it illegally monopolized adtech, and the DOJ is proposing Google be forced to divest two of its adtech products or otherwise break up its ad business.)

When the DOJ first proposed that Google divest Chrome, both OpenAI and Perplexity expressed interest in buying it. Given that Chrome is the dominant browser, with 68% marketshare according to Statcounter, if the court rules Chrome must be sold, no doubt others worldwide would want to bid as well.

Imo this would kill chrome's dominance on the marketplace

From the summary bullet points:

• The solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles (EVs) and wind turbines exported from China in 2024 are set to cut annual CO2 emissions in the rest of the world by 1%, some 220m tonnes (MtCO2).
• Manufacturing these products resulted in an estimated 110MtCO2 within China in 2024, implying that the upfront CO2 emissions are offset in much less than a year of operation.
• Over the expected lifetime of these products, their manufacturing emissions will be offset almost 40-fold, with cumulative CO2 savings reaching 4.0GtCO2.
• When factoring in China’s plans to build overseas manufacturing plants for clean-energy products, as well as to construct overseas clean-power projects, the avoided CO2 increases to 350MtCO2 per year. This is 1.5% of global emissions outside China and almost equal to the annual emissions of Australia.
• The largest emission reductions are associated with direct clean-technology equipment exports – particularly solar panels – followed by manufacturing at Chinese factories overseas, with overseas projects financed by Chinese investors a distant third.
• China’s clean-energy footprint almost spans the entire world, with exports to 191 of the 192 other UN member states, as well as manufacturing and project finance investments in dozens of countries.
• Clean-energy exports from China in 2024 alone, along with its overseas investments from 2023 and 2024, are set to cut emissions in sub-Saharan Africa by around 3% per year once completed and in the Middle East and north Africa (MENA) region by 4.5%.

I haven't been able to find many public opinion polls in Palestine & so I've kept an eye on these for a while. The questions are pretty comprehensive. Imo the highlights:

• 81% want Mahmoud Abbas to resign (this is pretty much unchanged).
• 77% oppose the disarmament of Hamas in order to stop the war (85% oppose in the West Bank, compared to 64% in the Gaza Strip).
• 46% support forming a national unity government, 34% support immediate reconciliation and unification of the West Bank and Gaza, and 16% support the PA to lead a humanitarian effort to Gaza.
• Hamas is still the most popular faction in Palestine, although their popularity has declined (mainly in the West Bank). 57% support Hamas compared to 24% for Fatah, & 23% Fatah.
• Yemen is by far the most supported regional actor, with 74% satisfied with their support.
• Armed struggle still remains the most popular solution to the conflict, with 41% supporting it, compared to 33% for negotiation & 20% supporting peaceful popular resistance.

There's a lot more than just these, I just figured I'd post a few that caught my eye. There are historical comparisons in this poll as well (3 polls were conducted last year).

One thing I find interesting is the difference between opinions in the West Bank vs. the Gaza Strip. There is a noticeable difference in their opinions on most issues, which makes sense considering their conditions are very different.

I'm also curious what other people think.

A few revelations here.

Both documents spell out that Project Nimbus entails a deep collaboration between Google and the Israeli security state through the creation of a Classified Team within Google. This team is made up of Israeli nationals within the company with security clearances, designed to “receive information by [Israel] that cannot be shared with [Google].” Google’s Classified Team “will participate in specialized training with government security agencies,” the first report states, as well as “joint drills and scenarios tailored to specific threats.”

Also this.

Should Project Nimbus fall under legal scrutiny outside of Israel, Google is required to notify the Israeli government as early as possible, and must “Reject, Appeal, and Resist Foreign Government Access Requests.”

Google noted this could put the company at odds with foreign governments should they attempt to investigate Project Nimbus. The contract requires Google to “implement bespoke and strict processes to protect sensitive Government data,” according to a subsequent internal report, also viewed by The Intercept that was drafted after the company won its bid. This obligation would stand even if it means violating the law: “Google must not respond to law enforcement disclosure requests without consultation and in some cases approval from the Israeli authorities, which could cause us to breach international legal orders / law.”

The second report notes another onerous condition of the Nimbus deal: Israel “can extend the contract up to 23 years, with limited ability for Google to walk away.”

EDIT: Formatting

The unnamed source added that US President Donald Trump's “inner circle” is convinced of the “futility” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strategy to free the captives via military pressure, believing that no military option will help save the Israeli captives in Gaza.

Furthermore, US planners are reportedly aware of the “impracticality of forcibly exiling leaders and fighters from the armed wings of Hamas” and other Palestinian resistance factions due to “concerns from potential host countries and the large number of individuals Israel seeks to remove," which number in the thousands.

So let's see, the US is:

• No longer seeking Saudi Arabia normalization w/ Israel
• Ended the military campaign on Yemen w/o Yemen ending their military campaign on Israel
• Capitulating on the issue of disarmament of Hamas

That's quite the list imo

Once you open Pandora's box...