Neubauer gegen Merz, Musk, Trump und Weidel: Klimaaktivistin trägt provokantes Kleid zur Berlinale-Eröffnung

Die Eröffnung der Berlinale nutzen einige Promis zum Protest. Klimaaktivistin Luisa Neubauer sorgt mit einem Statement-Kleid gegen den Unions-Kanzlerkandidaten für Aufsehen. Klimaaktivistin Luisa Neubauer hat bei der Eröffnung der Berlinale mit einem provokanten Kleid gegen Unions-Kanzlerkandidat Friedrich Merz ausgeteilt. Auf ihrem Kleid war vorn zu lesen: „Donald & Alice & Elon & Friedrich?“ Auf der Rückseite stand: „Democracy dies in daylight!“ („Die Demokratie stirbt bei Tageslicht!“). Damit stellte Neubauer einen Bezug zwischen dem CDU-Vorsitzenden und US-Präsident Donald Trump, AfD-Kanzlerkandidatin Alice Weidel und Tech-Milliardär Elon Musk her. Die 28-Jährige will damit laut eigenen Angaben auf die derzeitige weltpolitische Lage aufmerksam machen.  „Ich mache mir wie sehr viele andere Menschen gerade in Deutschland große Sorgen um unsere Gesellschaft und unsere Demokratie und um das gesellschaftliche und ökologische Klima. Und ich frage mich, wer all das verteidigt, wenn’s drauf ankommt“, sagte Neubauer der dpa. „Mit vielen anderen zusammen wehre ich mich gegen die forcierte Normalisierung rechtsradikaler Ideen und protestiere gegen die Angriffe auf unsere Demokratie und Lebensgrundlagen – auf der Straße und auf dem Roten Teppich“, teilte Neubauer mit.

via tagesspiegel: Neubauer gegen Merz, Musk, Trump und Weidel: Klimaaktivistin trägt provokantes Kleid zur Berlinale-Eröffnung

https://bsky.app/profile/tagesspiegel.de/post/3li4oncr6ca2b

Trump administration says it has no plans to fulfill $400 million ‘armored Tesla’ contract

The State Department said Thursday it is abandoning plans of purchasing $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles after a public document detailing federal contracts for fiscal year 2025 gained wide attention. That expected purchase of Teslas, which was slated for September of this year, is now on hold, according to the State Department, which now says it has no plans of fulfilling the contract. The potential federal purchase drew scrutiny since Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk is also a top White House official who has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency, a unit focused on shrinking the federal workforce and ferreting out corruption. The document did not specify what Tesla vehicles would be purchased by U.S. officials, but Musk's Cybertruck, with its militaristic design and stainless steel exterior, could have been an option. After reports circulated Wednesday night of the State Department's intent to purchase Tesla vehicles, NPR noticed that the document was edited, at 9:12 p.m., to say the federal contract is for $400 million worth of "armored electric vehicles," but the word "Tesla" was removed. Responding to a segment by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow about the $400 million contract, Musk wrote on X on Wednesday night: "Hey @Maddow, why the lie?" The Tesla contract started in the Biden administration "to explore interest from private companies to produce armored electric vehicles," a State Department spokesperson said on Thursday. Tesla was the only company to express interest in the department's request at the time. Typically the next step would be "an official solicitation" for vehicle manufacturers to compete for the contract. But now, the solicitation is on hold, according to the State Department spokesperson. Musk did not return a request for comment. Musk, who spent more than a quarter-billion dollars to help elect Trump, has used an X account devoted to DOGE to highlight what he views as excessive or unnecessary federal contracts.

via npr: Trump administration says it has no plans to fulfill $400 million 'armored Tesla' contract

Trump’s “Iron Dome” Looks Like Another Payday for Elon Musk – #SelfServiceShop

An American replication of Israel’s defense system doesn’t make sense. But, experts say, it will likely set up SpaceX for big government contracts. When I first reported on President Donald Trump’s promise to “BUILD A GREAT IRON DOME MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD,” an expert summed up the idea as “the insane ramblings of a senile old person.” But, with Trump in office, the “Iron Dome for America” plan is seemingly happening—and the project’s benefits for some of the most powerful people in the world are coming into focus. In late January, Trump announced details for the Dome. A land-based missile-interceptor system—like the one Israel has—would not be possible to build for a country the size of the United States. Instead, military commentators coalesced around another plan: build a cloud of “satellite missile interceptors” similar to former President Ronald Reagan’s ill-fated 1980s “Star Wars” proposal. In turn, the US Missile Defense Agency asked defense companies on January 31 to pitch space-based sensors and interceptors that could detect and defeat “advanced aerial threats” from low-space orbit. That means the proposed Iron Dome would almost certainly require thousands of satellites for putting interceptor weapons in space. The company that currently dominates the market for such equipment? Elon Musk’s SpaceX. “SpaceX is the only company that currently has the capacity to launch that many things,” Dr. Laura Grego of the Union of Concerned Scientists told Mother Jones. “They’re such a critical resource at this point that…if you’re going to launch a lot of things, SpaceX is going to be in the mix.”  There are—according to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who maintains a count of pretty much everything orbiting this planet—just over 11,000 working satellites in orbit. 6998 of them are Starlink satellites. That means 62 percent of all working satellites orbiting this planet belong to a company started byElon Musk, a drastic increase from only 5 years ago. More critically: SpaceX has the necessary launch capacity to send thousands of load-bearing satellites into orbit. They already handle the majority of NASA’s launches, for billions of dollars each year.  “So, yeah, they’d make a ton of money,” Grego said. “And companies building these interceptors would make a ton of money.”

via mother jones: Trump’s “Iron Dome” Looks Like Another Payday for Elon Musk

‘White supremacists in suits and ties’: the rightwing Afrikaner group in #Trump’s ear – #fascistSystem

Donald Trump’s offer of political asylum to South Africa’s white minority, just days after blocking genuine refugees from travelling to the US, followed years of campaigning by an Afrikaner group that has promoted “white genocide” conspiracy theories while also lobbying on behalf of Elon Musk’s business interests. Last week, Trump issued an executive order that misrepresented a new South African law, the Expropriation Act, as a racist move to persecute white Afrikaners by seizing their farms without compensation. The law is intended to address deep inequalities as the result of apartheid and colonial legislation that resulted in the white minority, who make up just 7% of South Africa’s population, still owning more than 70% of agricultural land more than three decades after the end of the apartheid system imposed by the Afrikaner-dominated government. It permits expropriation in exceptional circumstances, such as abandoned land, but generally requires “just and equitable” compensation. That did not stop Trump from falsely claiming: “South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.” The president’s order came after years of lobbying by an Afrikaner rights groups, AfriForum, which caught Trump’s attention during his first term by claiming that white farmers in South Africa were being murdered for political ends and to seize their land. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) civil rights organisation has described AfriForum’s leaders as white supremacists in suits and ties. Musk, who was raised in apartheid South Africa and is now a member of Trump’s inner circle as head of the “department of government efficiency”, has echoed claims portraying Afrikaner farmers as victims of racist murders and suggesting that a genocide against whites is imminent. However, the tech billionaire appears to be leveraging that false narrative to challenge affirmative action laws that conflict with attempts to sell his Starlink satellite network in South Africa.

via guardian ‘White supremacists in suits and ties’: the rightwing Afrikaner group in Trump’s ear

Musk-linked group offered $5m for proof of voter fraud – and came up with nothing

Fair Election Fund has yet to reveal evidence of voter fraud despite deep-pocketed backers – and has now gone silent. In May 2024, a flashy ad went viral on social media warning that “across the country, there are real cases of fraud and abuses of the [election] system that have eroded our trust”. The ad pledged that “whistleblowers” who shared evidence of election fraud “will be rewarded with payment from our $5m fund”. This reward was courtesy of a just-announced group, the Fair Election Fund, which has deep connections to Elon Musk’s political network, according to materials obtained by Documented. The Fair Election Fund pledged that “the bulk of the group’s budget will be devoted to paying whistleblowers” for sharing their stories, and that it would launch “aggressive paid and earned media campaigns” that would “highlight these cases”. It was followed by another ad that ran in swing states during the Olympics and told viewers “you could be eligible for compensation” for sharing evidence of election fraud. Despite the group’s high-profile, deep-pocketed backers and lucrative bounty offers, it never revealed any evidence of voter or election fraud. Instead, the group took a series of unrelated detours into tangential areas like third-party ballot access, and its effort to uncover fraud reaffirmed what numerous studies, court rulings and bipartisan investigations have concluded: voter fraud is extremely rare. The lack of evidence has not stopped Republicans in Congress and state legislatures from continuing to push restrictive voting laws aimed at addressing this phantom threat. Meanwhile, Musk is claiming that “fraud” justifies his efforts to slash government operations, but similarly has not revealed much evidence. The Fair Election Fund has now gone radio silent. Sitemap data shows that the website has not been updated since October, and the X/Twitter account for the group has not posted since November. The group’s spokesperson, former representative Doug Collins, became Trump’s veterans affairs secretary, and is now also leading the office of government ethics. Close ties to world’s richest man The Fair Election Fund is a fictitious name for another 501(c)(4) non-profit, Documented can reveal, and operates within a network run by Musk’s top political advisers. The group received funding from the same dark-money vehicle Musk has used to channel his political spending, and also routed funds to another Musk-backed non-profit. The group is housed within a non-profit now called Interstate Priorities, formerly known as the For Which It Stands Fund. Formed on 3 January 2023, the non-profit raised $8,226,000 from a single donation in 2023. The group is led by Victoria “Tori” Sachs, a Republican operative who was also executive director of And to the Republic, a group also formed in January 2023 that supported Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid, including by funding DeSantis’s private jets and hosting quasi-campaign events. The naming of the two Sachs-led groups – And to the Republic and the For Which It Stands Fund – and the timing of their creation in January 2023 suggests that the group that now houses the Fair Election Fund was originally intended to support DeSantis’s run, which Musk initially supported.

via guardian: Musk-linked group offered $5m for proof of voter fraud – and came up with nothing

‘Transgender’ and ‘queer’ erased from #Stonewall Uprising national monument website – #fascistSystem

The National Park Service has removed references to transgender and queer people on its web page for the Stonewall National Monument, which marks the site of the New York City inn where LGBTQ rioters – including now-legendary transgender activists – galvanized a movement for LGBTQ rights. On the NPS web page, the term “LGBTQ+” was also shortened to “LGB,” according to an archived version of the page. “This feels especially personal … when you’re coming into the birthplace of the LGBTQ rights movement – where Pride began – and erasing the history of the LGBTQ rights movement by erasing trans folks,” said Stacy Lentz, co-owner of the Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall Inn at the heart of New York City’s Greenwich Village is prized as an origin of the contemporary LGBTQ rights movement and is internationally revered as a symbol of gay, lesbian and transgender resistance. The gay bar was the site of a 1969 police raid that sparked a fierce backlash from its patrons and led to days of protests and skirmishes between LGBTQ rioters and police. The National Parks Service’s action is the latest move in the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to expunge references to trans and nonbinary people across federal agencies. Since President Donald Trump issued a directive last month that the federal government only recognize two genders: male and female, agencies including the State Department and CDC have truncated the “LGBTQ+” acronym to simply “LGB,” erased references to trans, queer and intersex people, and removed web pages and data sets relating to the groups. New York City Councilperson Erik Bottcher accused Trump of “trying to erase the very existence of trans people.” “He’s trying to cleave our community apart and divide us,” said Bottcher, whose district includes Greenwich Village and the Stonewall Inn. “He’s not going to succeed. Lesbians and gays are not going abandon our transgender siblings. We are one community.”

via cnn: ‘Transgender’ and ‘queer’ erased from Stonewall Uprising national monument website

siehe auch: U.S. Park Service Strikes Transgender References From Stonewall Website The “T” was removed in references to L.G.B.T.Q.+ on the official site for the Greenwich Village monument, which marks a milestone in the fight for gay rights. Later, the Q+ also disappeared. (...) Dr. Carla Smith, the chief executive of the L.G.B.T. Community Center, said in a statement that the website changes were “factually inaccurate” and “an affront to our entire community,” and she urged the Park Service to “immediately restore accurate and inclusive language.” The Stonewall Inn, a tavern on Christopher Street, has been considered a cradle of gay rights activism since a police raid there in 1969 touched off three days of protests that helped galvanize a long-marginalized population into a force for political and social change. The 7.7-acre national monument — which includes the bar, Christopher Park across the street, and several other nearby streets and sidewalks — was established under President Barack Obama in 2016. On Wednesday, according to a version of the Park Service website saved by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, the introductory text on the monument’s main page said: “Before the 1960s, almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) person was illegal.”

Christopher Park (1).JPG
By Elisa.rolle - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Federal judge pauses President Trump’s order restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s recent executive order aimed at restricting gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19. The judge’s ruling came after a lawsuit was filed earlier this month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children who allege their health care has already been compromised by the president’s order. A national group for family of LGBTQ+ people and a doctors organization are also plaintiffs in the court challenge, one of many lawsuits opposing a slew of executive orders Trump has issued as he seeks to reverse the policies of former President Joe Biden. Judge Brendan Hurson, who was nominated by Biden, granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order following a hearing in federal court in Baltimore. The ruling, in effect for 14 days, essentially puts Trump’s directive on hold while the case proceeds. The restraining order could also be extended. Trump’s executive order “seems to deny that this population even exists, or deserves to exist,” Hurson said. Shortly after taking office, Trump signed an executive order directing federally run insurance programs to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care. That includes Medicaid, which covers such services in some states, and TRICARE for military families. Trump’s order also called on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice. The lawsuit includes several accounts from families of appointments being canceled as medical institutions react to the new directive. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue Trump’s executive order is “unlawful and unconstitutional” because it seeks to withhold federal funds previously authorized by Congress and because it violates anti-discrimination laws while infringing on the rights of parents.

via ap: Federal judge pauses President Trump’s order restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth

a pride flag drawn on the ground
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