Robert Madelin

Pursuing Public Good. @FIPRAinsight. @Teladoc.@Medisante. @AI4People.@AAE. EU. Reponsible Innovation. Digital+Green. One Health. Food and Drink.

[İsmet Yuksel @ismetyukcell]

Ukrayna 3. Kolordusu tarafından esir alınan Rus askerleri:
▪️3. Motorize Piyade Taburu askeriyim. Komutanlığımıza teslim olmamızla ilgili sesleniyorum. Boşuna ölmek istemediğimiz için 3. Ordu Kolordusu'na teslim olduk.
▪️ Subaylar kaçtı, telsizi kapattılar. 'Çevre savunması yapın, dayanın' dediler. Telsiz tamamen kapalıydı.
▪️ Mevzilerde suyumuz yoktu. Su birikintilerinden su içmek, kendi idrarımızı içmek zorunda kaldık.
▪️ Orada bir arkadaşımız susuzluktan, vücudunun susuz kalmasından öldü.
▪️Yiyeceğimiz yoktu; ağaç kabukları ve ot yemek zorunda kaldık.
▪️Isırgan otu yedik... kamp ocağında ısırgan otundan çorba yapıyorduk.
▪️Orada 1,5 ay kaldık. Burada, yani esarette ilk defa adamakıllı yemek yedim
▪️Yaralı askerlerimize yardım edecek tıbbi malzememiz yoktu.
▪️İlaç olmadığı ve tahliye edilmedikleri için yaralı üç arkadaşımız öldü. Oysa çıkış imkanı vardı, ama gitmelerine izin vermediler.
▪️ Teslim olduğumuzda, 3. Saldırı Kolordusu askerleri yaralılarımıza eksiksiz ve kaliteli tıbbi yardım sağladı.
▪️ Kafamdan şarapnel çıkardılar, böğrümden şarapnel çıkardılar. Kimse üzerimize gelmedi, yani tam yatak istirahati sağlandı.
▪️ Komutanlığımız bizi öylece unuttu. Onlar için harcanacak bir malzemeden ibarettik. Bu yüzden teslim olma kararı alındı.
▪️Rusya Federasyonu askerlerine seslenmek istiyorum: Teslim olmaktan korkmayın. Aramızda yürütülen propaganda tamamen yalandan ibarettir. Burada yiyecek, su, normal beslenme ve insani barınma koşulları garanti edilmektedir
▪️ Bize anlatılanlar tam bir saçmalıktı... Esirler dövülüyor, kısırlaştırılıyor vesaire diyorlardı. Gördüğünüz gibi her şey yolunda.
▪️ Anlatılanların aksine, gayet normal insanlar ve her şeyi anlayışla karşılıyorlar.

[Covie @covie_93]

Marco Rubio: Iran is run by "religious fanatic lunatics" who "make policy decisions on the basis of pure theology"

Meanwhile:

[Robert Madelin @eurohumph]

Interesting...

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

And if we extrapolate the events of 1938–1939 onto those of 2021–2022, then in our parallel reality Hitler was initially allowed to bite off the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia — but when he once again massed his troops to take the whole country and attacked, he unexpectedly suffered a crushing failure outside Prague and, even more unexpectedly, became completely and hopelessly bogged down there in static warfare for years.

And in this parallel reality, instead of being betrayed by the Western democracies as it was in 1938, Czechoslovakia did receive military and economic assistance that, while rationed and limited, was nevertheless substantial, and developed an even more powerful and advanced defense industry and an army that managed to heroically stand up to the Reich on equal terms.

As a result, at least to this day, Czechoslovakia has held out.

Hitler did not get Czechoslovakia’s industry and resources. There was no subsequent invasion of Poland. Perhaps the conditions for the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, in the form in which it was concluded in 1939, would never have arisen either, meaning that Stalin’s Soviet Union would not have had the opportunity to divide Eastern Europe together with Hitler.

There was no defeat of France, no Battle of Britain, no occupation of Norway, no expansion into North Africa. Mussolini would not have gone much farther either without his catastrophically bogged-down ally. Japanese expansion in Asia and the Pacific might have taken a completely different course as well.

The Holocaust could not have happened in the historical form and on the scale that it did. There would have been no need to storm Omaha Beach.

And so on, and so on, and so on.

World War II as we know it might have stumbled, for Hitler, into a years-long slog over the ruins of border villages, just as Putin is still banging his head against Mala Tokmachka.

Think about that before asking yet again: why help Ukraine at all?

And don’t assume that Putin stopped after his own “Munich.” Like Hitler, he stopped where he was stopped by force.

But nothing is over yet.

[Karin Arcuschin @KarinArcus_ok]

CONMOCIÓN EN EL VATICANO

⭕ Durante la audiencia pública, el Papa León XIV (@Pontifex_es) lanzó una advertencia que dejó en shock a miles de fieles: "Una fe que cuida sus rituales exteriores pero es ciega al sufrimiento invisible, es solo un teatro ensayado".

🛑 Tras leer la desgarradora carta de una anciana que limpió el altar durante 40 años y murió en soledad absoluta sin que nadie la visitara, el pontífice declaró el fin de la cómoda indiferencia espiritual.

Si creías que cumplir los domingos bastaba, este mensaje sacudirá tus cimientos.

https://t.co/LnhNurp5hf

[Vincenzo... @celticwarrior93]

SORTED...😊
#Garvaghy #Drumcree

[Catholic Sat @CatholicSat]

At his General Audience, Pope Leo XIV reflects on his recent visit to France, saying “The trip was a gift, not only for the people of France, but also for me.”

“The motto of the journey was that the world may have life, and these words characterise the gospel centred nature of my meetings throughout the visit.

For God alone, through His grace, can restore the Church and renew humanity, and it was evident to me that this is precisely what is occurring in Paris, Lourdes and Metz.

Just as Notre Dame Cathedral was restored, so too is the Church in France being renewed. This is particularly noticeable in the enthusiasm of the young people and the increased number of baptisms.

I was especially pleased to make my pilgrimage to Lourdes in order to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to ask for her continued intercession for her children, not only in France, but throughout the world.

May we learn from her how to establish a civilisation of love that upholds human dignity and is marked by lasting peace. Please join me as I continue to entrust the people of France to the Lord in prayer.”

[Mariska den Eelden 🇪🇺🇳🇱 @eeldenden]

The beginning of the end for American Visa/Mastercard

[Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard]

Scotland is the interesting contrast for the thesis that anglophone countries have a weak apartment tradition because we didn't adopt condominium laws until after the good apartment typologies were banned (by parking minimums, front and side setbacks, dual egress requirements, etc).

Scots law is a civil-law hybrid, and there you could own a flat outright under the common law of the tenement. The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 later codified it.

Edinburgh and Glasgow have the strongest apartment tradition in Britain.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

Sweden is no longer planning to just defend itself: if Moscow attacks, its air force will strike deep inside Russia.

That is what Sweden’s new Air Force doctrine says.

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: FINAL CAPITULATION! Trump ABANDONS his bid to claw back E. Jean Carroll’s $5.6 million payout after the court dismisses his appeal WITH PREJUDICE.

E. Jean Carroll has accomplished what practically no other person involved in litigation with Donald Trump has ever been able to do: finally get him to give up on fighting the court’s judgment.

After years of stalling, appealing, and demanding the impossible, Trump just quietly dropped his final legal fight against the $5.6 million he owes Carroll, and this time, he can never bring it back.

Trump agreed to dismiss his appeal "with prejudice," meaning the case is over for good, according to a September 25th order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

He also abandoned his bizarre demand that Carroll RETURN the money she'd already legally won. New York Daily News reporter Molly Crane-Newman called it a genuine first: "In what I believe is a first for my eyes, Trump withdraws his appeal fighting the payout of $5M in damages to E. Jean Carroll."

Let's remember exactly what this money represents. A 2023 jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s and for defaming her afterward, awarding her $5 million.

After the Supreme Court refused to even hear Trump's appeal back in June, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the money finally released in July, delivering one of the more satisfying judicial smackdowns in recent memory: "In the last analysis, defendant has been stalling this case for years. It is time for him to 'do equity' and pay the judgment."

Trump's team, naturally, still couldn't resist framing this as victimhood, releasing a statement calling it part of "Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded travesty of the Carroll Hoaxes," even as they were simultaneously agreeing to permanently drop the fight. Trump's lawyers had already sent $5,625,005.48, judgment plus interest, straight to Carroll's legal team back in July.

Trump kept trying anyway, asking the appeals court in July to either block the payout entirely or force Carroll to give the money back, arguing she'd publicly stated her intent to donate it and had even started a foundation to distribute the funds. The court finally forced his hand, ordering him earlier this month to declare whether his motion was moot. He folded a week before that deadline.

Of course, this isn't fully over. Trump is still separately asking the Supreme Court to take up his appeal of a much larger $83.3 million defamation verdict from a different jury, a request the justices are expected to consider this fall.

But for now, on this particular case, after years of delay tactics and legal gymnastics, Trump finally did something that must have had him stewing in anger and denial: he simply paid what he owed.

Please like and share to spread the good news!

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

The US has withdrawn from the Group of States against Corruption

It became the third country after Russia and Belarus to leave the organization.

The State Department explained the decision by saying that the US pays annual membership fees but does not receive significant benefits from membership.

[L’ÉDITO POLITIQUE @LeditoPolitique]

CHASSE À LA TAUPE AU RN : MARINE LE PEN FURIEUSE 🚨

Selon plusieurs proches et cadres du RN qui nous parlent en off, Marine Le Pen n’aurait découvert les messages antisémites attribués à Jordan Bardella — qu’il dénonce comme des « faux grossiers » — qu’au moment de la publication de l’enquête de Mediapart.

Elle aurait sévèrement tancé Jordan Bardella de ne pas l’avoir prévenue et considérerait sa décision de ne rien dire comme une faute grave.

Furieuse et persuadée qu’on cherche à saborder sa campagne présidentielle de l’intérieur, elle aurait ordonné à tous les membres du parti de mener une vaste chasse à la taupe au sein du RN.

« Si des têtes doivent tomber, elles tomberont, d’où qu’elles viennent. »

Tous les regards se tournent désormais vers les possibles auteurs et autrices des fuites : anciens cadres évincés, anciens du FN, mais aussi membres du premier cercle.

Et surtout, un nom revient de plus en plus à voix basse : Marion Maréchal et son entourage.

Les tensions entre son camp, celui de Bardella et celui de Marine Le Pen sont réelles et documentées.

Sont également évoqués le clan de Philippe Olivier, qui est sa plume mais aussi son beau-frère, son entourage familial — notamment ses nièces — et politique, ainsi que plusieurs anciens du parti.

Mais Marine Le Pen ne souhaiterait pas croire que l’opération puisse venir de sa propre nièce, Marion Maréchal, qu’elle a littéralement vue naître.

Certains cadres, eux, en sont beaucoup moins convaincus et évoquent, en off, les méthodes peu scrupuleuses qu’ils attribuent à Marion Maréchal.

Au RN, la chasse à la taupe est donc ouverte.

Et plus personne n’est au-dessus des soupçons.

[Clément Gaillard, PhD @ClementGaill]

Dans le Sud-Est de l’Espagne, une étude a montré que les terres agricoles drainant directement vers le réseau principal sont passées de 9 % en 1956 à 31 % en 2005.

C’est colossal.

9/11 https://t.co/8Da1lqgY6d

[Frank Brown @FrankBr05713205]

As a veteran mechanic I have to admit that being an honest mechanic was at times difficult especially when seeing the dishonest ones make a lot more money than me, and to rub further salt in that wound often they were the praised as the "top guy" in the shop and got special treatment and bonuses.
But I still remember one specific time where my honesty paid off big time.
It was just a normal work day at the Nissan dealership I was working at. First job of the day was a "waiter" and they just wanted a diagnosis of the problems and an estimate of needed repairs.
1990 Nissan Sentra and the complaint was that the engine had little power and was shaking and the manual transmission was hard to shift into first gear.
My diagnostics on any job always starts with a quick visual inspection and during the inspection I found a spark plug wire had popped off. I tightened the end on the wire and put it back on the spark plug. That fixed the engine running and shaking problem.
Stepping on the clutch pedal it was obvious the pedal was going down too far before it even engaged the clutch. This model had a easily assessable clutch cable adjustment under the hood. Finding the clutch cable way out of adjustment, I quickly adjusted it to proper specifications.
I then took the car for a quick test drive to confirm previous problems were fixed. Total time spent on car including the test drive was slightly under a half an hour. So I filled out the workorder as a simple clutch adjustment and reattachment of a spark plug wire.
Total cost to customer for 30 minutes of shop rate was $40.00 (this was 1993)
While I could have recommended much more like a clutch, major tune up, valve adjustment, spark plug wires and so on, the car had low mileage and did not need any of that.
Three weeks later a local news crew shows up at my dealership. First they talk to the dealership owner, then the service manager and then they all start walking towards me. Oh no, what did I do, was my first thought!
Seems the local news station had been conducting a month long experiment or "sting" using that Sentra that I had previously worked on as their "bait",
The crew has visited 12 other repair shops using that Sentra with the same exact problems to see what the other shops diagnosis and recommended repairs and cost would be. Six of those shops were new car dealerships and six were independent repair shops including some big name ones.
Out of all those shops, the only one that did an accurate and honest diagnosis of that Sentra was my current dealership and me. They showed us some of the estimates from the others and it was shocking.
Most said the car needed a complete clutch replacement (one said a whole new transmission), along with a major tune up, valve adjustment, valve job on cylinder head and even a complete new engine. None of the others fixed anything and charged an hour diagnostic time. Estimates ranged from $300 to $3,100.
Being an honest mechanic of which I always tried hard to be, paid off that day. I got a $1,000 check and award from the news station, a big raise from my dealership and two tickets to an expensive restaurant for my wife and I.
And for a while the "top guy" in the shop was actually the honest one. Wow!

[Nain Portekoi 🇨🇵 @Nain_Portekoi]

Eric Ciotti assimile les révélations de Médiapart sur Jordan Bardella à celles du Canard Enchainé sur François Fillon.
Sauf que Fillon était coupable de tout ce qu'on lui reprochait.
C'est ce qu'on appelle se tirer une balle dans le pied.

[Robert Madelin @eurohumph]

As Leo said in Paris, the Spirit offers surprise gifts...

[Mark Lambert @sitsio]

An intriguing last-minute development in Metz. President Emmanuel Macron was originally due only to attend Pope Leo XIV’s address on Europe and peace, but late last night the Élysée announced that he had rearranged his schedule to attend the Pope’s concluding Mass in Metz Cathedral as well.

After four days in which Leo has spoken insistently about Christianity’s place in French public life, it is quite a striking image with which to end the visit: the President of proudly laïque France sitting in the cathedral for the Pope’s final Mass. https://t.co/HzijoIuuds

[Faisal Islam @faisalislam]

NEW

PM tells @bbcnickrobinson country should consider all options on relations with EU including “going all the way” rejoining, customs union and single market in new Parliament, as country can not face another decade of “drift”.

Summit now happening “later this year”.

[Roman Sheremeta 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @rshereme]

Did you think that Trump changing the name of “AI” to Super Intelligence “SI” was strange? Well, apparently, it was just another enrichment ploy.

Adam Cochran’s investigation shows that In the past 60 days insiders bought thousands of .si domain names. They’ve profited hundreds of millions of dollars so far.

Here is Cochran’s full investigation:

I believe Trump’s “SI” Executive Order was ANOTHER criminal plot to enrich the Trump family.

Insiders seem to have profited MILLIONS off of .si domain names before his Truth Social posts.

It’s no surprise that .AI domain names are a hot commodity and almost all taken by squatters.

But what wasn’t?

.si domain names.

.si is the domain extension of Slovenia (coincidentally where Melania and Barron Trump are both citizens of).

On September 19th Trump made a random Truth Social post about renaming “Artificial Intelligence” to “Super Intelligence” without any clear reason.

This set off a flurry of people buying and registering .si names related to AI.

But it wasn’t the first time…

The .si registry has around 55/day registrations in 2023-2025, but in 2026 the numbers started to pick up.

On June 24th they saw more than 400 in a single day.

This volume spiked with more than 7000 new domains registered in July.

And a sudden flurry of buying .si domains in the aftermarket.

AI related .si names started going for tens of thousands of dollars.

It was the first ever spike in aftermarket sales for .si domains.

Many of these were re-listed, such as https://t.co/emJmtmun57 now available for $14M.

How do we know this is Trump’s inner circle?

The registrations started to tick up LONG before this announcement.

While domain squatters may purchase bulk domain names of common words, they don’t buy over priced after market domains which started to sell around the same time.

And for the last few months have registered more than 10,000 AI related terms.

Many of which are now listed for sale for MILLIONS.

Over the investigation, I found around 12,000 AI related or MAGA related domains that had been newly registered or changed hands before this announcement.

In the months prior to July though 95% of all .si domains had been non-English.

Unfortunately DynaDot (the largest bulk registrar for .si domains) keeps Whois information private on registration.

Some of the DNS records resolve to bulk domain squatters, but it’s pretty telling that 1776(.)si and a ton of other pro-US, pro-MAGA term [remainder cut off]

So why an Executive Order?

The President can’t change how private citizens or corporations talk.

But the executive order requires that all Federal departments use the term “Super Intelligence” specifically “SI” AND that they “no longer acknowledge” the term AI.

Trying to force the term into commonplace, and suggesting that AI companies who want to curry favor with the President need to brand as “SI”

Which means?

Buying a .si domain name.

(I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the government launch a .si site too)

Since Trump’s announcement .si domain have seen MILLIONS of dollars in turn over.

Much of it going to domains that were registered in the last 60 days before the announcement.

Trump’s inner circle massively profited on this policy change while reporters call it “unexpected”

Using an Executive Order for the enrichment of yourself is not only unethical but a breach of office.

It’s a crime and an impeachable offence.

The records are also very clear, and logged.

So I’m sure a future Congress will be looking at who bought these domains.

[Pierre Nerval @PNerval]

🙏 UNE TRÈS BELLE RENCONTRE INTERRELIGIEUSE CE MATIN À METZ ! 🇫🇷🇻🇦

Ce matin, au Centre des Congrès Robert Schuman de Metz, le pape Léon XIV a rencontré des représentants de différentes traditions religieuses. Et son message était particulièrement clair : dialoguer avec celui qui croit autrement ne signifie absolument pas renoncer à sa propre foi ou à son identité. Au contraire, le dialogue permet d’exprimer ce que nous sommes « avec simplicité et vérité », tout en nous ouvrant à la différence de l’autre.

Le Saint-Père a rappelé que les croyants ont une responsabilité commune : montrer qu’au-delà de nos différences, il est toujours possible de se rencontrer, de créer de l’amitié et de construire la paix. Pour lui, l’autre ne doit pas être considéré comme une menace, mais comme quelqu’un que l’on peut rencontrer, écouter et comprendre.

Et il a prononcé des paroles extrêmement fortes concernant ceux qui utilisent la religion pour justifier la haine ou la violence :

« Invoquer le nom de Dieu pour légitimer la violence ou l’oppression est une profanation de ce nom. »

Autrement dit : aucune religion ne peut authentiquement servir de prétexte pour humilier, écraser ou tuer l’être humain. Léon XIV demande donc aux responsables religieux de contribuer à « désarmer les cœurs et les mots », particulièrement dans une époque où les tensions et les violences sont si nombreuses.

Il a également rappelé quelque chose de magnifique : les religions doivent être au service de la VIE. Elles doivent être présentes auprès des personnes vulnérables, fragiles, malades ou éprouvées, avec attention, soins et tendresse, « jusqu’au bout ».

J’ai beaucoup aimé aussi la conclusion de Léon XIV : l’Église considère comme compagnons de route tous ceux qui cherchent sincèrement la vérité, la bonté et la beauté.

Voilà ce que doit être le dialogue interreligieux : non pas effacer nos différences ou prétendre que nous croyons tous exactement la même chose, mais nous respecter, nous rencontrer, connaître l’autre et travailler ensemble pour la paix et la dignité humaine. 🙏🕊️

Comme l’a demandé le Pape : soyons, partout où nous vivons, des artisans de paix et des témoins d’espérance. ❤️

Quelle belle image de voir différentes religions réunies autour d’un même désir : que la paix soit plus forte que la haine. 🕊️

[Robert Madelin @eurohumph]

Very cool and revealing comparative test with #AI.

[Edwin Hayward @edwinhayward]

I gave various AI the following prompt:

"This is your free time. Do whatever you like. The only condition is that you do something. Come back and tell me about it, explain what you found out, or show me what you made if you decide to make something."

Here's what they did...