Brown University: Two Dead - and a Language That Fails!
Two students are shot dead at Brown University, nine others are injured. The campus remains locked down for hours, students hide in laboratories, turn off the lights, wait while police search buildings. Only the next day is a suspect arrested, the motive remains unclear. Into this situation falls the response from the White House. “Things can happen. So to the nine injured: Get well soon.” The dead are not mentioned, responsibility is not named, but the university is described as a great institution. The attack is treated linguistically like an incident, not a tragedy. Of course, in the United States these mass shootings are increasingly played down, because they do not fit the image, and especially not when other countries are being criticized. While flowers lie in the snow on campus, political language feels strikingly distant from what has happened.
Bondi Beach: Father and Son Identified as Perpetrators
Investigators in New South Wales have identified the perpetrators of the attack at Bondi Beach as a father and his adult son. The attack took place on the first evening of Hanukkah at one of Sydney’s busiest beaches. The death toll rose to 15, dozens more people were injured and taken to hospitals. The father, Sajid Akram, 50, was fatally shot by police at the scene, his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram was seriously injured and taken to a hospital in critical condition. Police initially did not disclose names or motives. The attack struck a Jewish celebration in a public place and triggered shock far beyond Australia. Authorities classified the act as a terrorist attack on Sunday evening. International reactions followed immediately.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said that authorities had previously known little about either perpetrator, and that there were currently no indications of prior criminal offenses. The father, however, had held a firearms license for around ten years, with six firearms registered in his name. Six weapons were secured at the scene and during the investigation, and ballistic and forensic examinations are now to determine which were used in the attack. Investigators also found two simple but functional homemade explosive devices. Police have been cautious in commenting on possible ideological backgrounds, networks, or specific motives. Time is needed to fully clarify the circumstances. What is certain is that the attack was targeted and struck the Jewish community. A particularly tragic case is that of Alex Kleytman. A Holocaust survivor from Ukraine, he had attended the event together with his children and grandchildren. He died while shielding his wife Larisa with his body from the bullets of the attacker. He leaves behind his wife, two children, and eleven grandchildren.
See also our article: “Hanukkah Under Fire – The Bondi Beach Attack and the Failure of the Warnings” – at the following link: https://kaizen-blog.org/en/chanukka-unter-beschuss-der-anschlag-von-bondi-beach-und-das-versagen-der-warnungen/
Months Inside the System - Hackers Penetrate Russia’s Draft Registry Development
For months, attackers had access to the systems of Mikord, one of the central developers of Russia’s new digital military draft registry. Source code, technical documentation, and internal communications reportedly fell into outside hands, according to the human rights project Idite Lesom. The material was passed to the investigative outlet Important Stories and verified there. Mikord’s director confirmed the attack but played down its significance. The Defense Ministry immediately rejected the allegations and spoke of complete security. Notably, no one claimed that the registry itself had been directly accessed, but rather the developer. This distinction is not clearly named in the official statement. The incident comes at a time when the system is not yet fully stable. For a state that relies on comprehensive control, this is a sensitive moment.
The new draft registry is intended to capture all draft-age men and bundle passport data, employment, health, tax records, and travel. Draft notices are considered delivered after seven days, even without access to the state online portal. Those who do not respond face travel bans, driving bans, and economic restrictions. In several regions, only electronic draft notices are now being issued. At the same time, the system is not yet fully activated, automatic penalties do not yet apply. The hack of Mikord hits precisely this transition phase. Indications suggest that central components were temporarily offline. Whether this is connected to the attack remains unclear. What is clear is that the digital backbone of future conscription was vulnerable. And that alone is enough to raise doubts about the claimed complete control.
80 Stunden – Die amerikanische Rechnung and 80 Hours - The American Bill and 37 Hours - Germany’s Fragile Security
Eighty hours per week. This number does not stand for ambition, but for a system that leaves no room to breathe. In the United States, full-time work is no longer enough for many to stay afloat. Anyone earning minimum wage must, in effect, juggle two jobs just to remain above the official poverty line. Illness becomes a risk, repairs a threat, every rent increase a possible fall. Work does not mean stability, but constant strain. The myth of upward mobility through hard work collapses where even endless hours barely provide security. This number says more about America than any political slogan. It does not say people are doing too little. It shows the system demands too much. Only one person seems unbothered by this: Trump, who is now regularly reported to fall asleep at work.
37 Stunden sollen in Deutschland reichen, um Armut zu vermeiden. Auf dem Papier klingt das fast beruhigend. In der Realität entscheidet oft die Wohnadresse. Wer einen alten Mietvertrag hat, hält sich über Wasser. Wer neu sucht, verliert schnell den Boden. Mieten fressen Einkommen, nicht umgekehrt. Der Sozialstaat puffert Abstürze ab, aber er repariert keine strukturellen Schieflagen. Alleinerziehende, Befristete und Teilzeitkräfte spüren das zuerst. Arbeit schützt noch, aber sie trägt nicht mehr selbstverständlich. Deutschland ist nicht Amerika. Aber dort, wo Wohnen zum Luxus wird, rücken die Zahlen näher zusammen. Und genau dort verlieren Statistiken ihre tröstende Wirkung.
Note: The graphic provides a model-based illustration of how many weekly working hours at the minimum wage would be required for a single person to live above the poverty line. The figures are comparative, and we nonetheless found the information worth noting.
Moscow Sentences ICC Judges in Absentia
A court in Moscow has handed down prison sentences against leading representatives of the International Criminal Court. Those affected include the court’s president, several vice presidents, judges, and Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. The sentences were issued in absentia and range from three and a half to fifteen years in prison. The charges include alleged prosecution of innocent persons, unlawful imprisonment, and preparation of an attack on internationally protected persons. Should the convicted individuals ever travel to Russia, they would face arrest. The proceedings are clearly directed against the court that issued the arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. Juridically, the ruling is internationally meaningless, but politically it is a signal.
The background to the Russian sentences is the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in March 2023. At that time, the court ordered the arrest of Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. The justification was suspicion of the war crime of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children from occupied territories. Russia views this action as an attack on its leadership. The Moscow court now stated that prosecuting Putin had endangered his security and exacerbated international tensions. Putin himself and Lvova-Belova did not appear in court. The episode shows how far Russia has removed itself from international justice and from reality.
After Weeks in ICE Detention - Bruna Ferreira Speaks Publicly for the First Time
Bruna Caroline Ferreira, the mother of the nephew of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, has spoken publicly for the first time after weeks in deportation detention. The 33-year-old was arrested in November in Revere, Massachusetts. What followed were weeks in the custody of immigration authorities, during which she says she was moved across several states without clear information. Only on the order, based on investigations that disproved all allegations, of an immigration judge was she released from a detention center in southern Louisiana.
“I think what I would say to Karoline is: Just because you went to a Catholic school does not make you a good Catholic.”
Ferreira has lived in the United States since childhood. She arrived from Brazil in 1998 at the age of six, was protected for years under the DACA program, and says she was in the process of applying for permanent residency at the time of her arrest. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest, citing an expired visa from 1999. At the same time, the agency claimed Ferreira had a prior arrest for battery and had never lived with her son. Ferreira and her lawyer strongly dispute both claims. She describes herself as a law-abiding citizen with no criminal record and points to documented shared life with her child. In the CNN interview, Ferreira directed sharp words at Karoline Leavitt, who is her son’s godmother. Leavitt has not contacted her so far. Ferreira said one does not automatically become a good Catholic by attending a Catholic school. Leavitt is now a mother herself and should ask how she would feel if her child were separated from her in this way. The criticism targeted not only the personal silence, but also the political role of the press secretary in a government that publicly justifies such arrests.
Ferreira described detention as humiliating and psychologically devastating, especially with regard to her son. He had followed the coverage and now had to live with the accusation that his mother was a criminal. She spoke of fear, uncertainty, and a feeling of total powerlessness, particularly in moments when she did not know whether she was about to be deported. In southern Louisiana, she was told openly that hardly anyone ever gets out. Particularly distressing were encounters with other detained women, many of them mothers of several children, some pregnant. While she herself had legal representation, others had none. Mothers not knowing for months where their children were, she called cruel.
To this day, it remains unclear why central claims by the government are publicly maintained, even though investigations we conducted were able to clearly refute them. She speaks, rightly, of misrepresentations and openly asks why false claims are made about her when they can be verified in the digital age. Her goal, she says, is not attention, but answers. The case shows how quickly personal relationships, political power, and state harshness collide - and who ultimately pays the price. See also our article: “The Mother of Karoline Leavitt’s Nephew in ICE Detention” - at the link: https://kaizen-blog.org/en/die-mutter-von-karoline-leavitts-neffen-in-ice-haft/
“Our Children” - Budapest Rises
Under the call “We defend our children,” tens of thousands of people gathered in Budapest on Saturday evening. The trigger was new revelations about sexual abuse in the state child welfare system and systematic inaction by authorities. An internal report documenting serious crimes is said to have been withheld by the Orbán government. For many, this was the point where silence was no longer possible. Families, young people, and older citizens stood side by side. This was not about party politics, but about trust that had been destroyed. Protesters accused the government of protecting perpetrators and abandoning victims. The anger was directed not only at failures, but at a system that prioritizes control over responsibility. Budapest became a place of open accusation that evening. And the unspoken question hung in the air: How many warnings does it take.
Péter Magyar Calls for Orbán’s Resignation
The protest was led by Péter Magyar, the most visible challenger to Viktor Orbán. He spoke of a moral failure of the state and of a government that does not act even when children are affected. The crowd loudly demanded the prime minister’s resignation. “Enough is enough” was one of the most common chants. The demonstration showed how deep the loss of trust has become. Not only opposition supporters, but also former government backers took part. The accusation is clear: cover-up instead of clarification, power preservation instead of protection of the most vulnerable. Hungary is experiencing a moment in which corruption and irresponsibility no longer feel abstract, but have concrete faces. Whether this evening will have political consequences remains open. What is certain is that many people have lost their fear.
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