Author: christo@neuntesymphonie.online
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Who is in the Epstein files? (BBC)
Summarise 3 February 2026 The list of some of the world’s most rich and powerful people with ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has lengthened, after the US government released millions of new files from its investigation into the disgraced financier. There is no suggestion that appearing in the documents implies any wrongdoing.…
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Operating systems
Your computer must have an Operating System (OS) to work. It is software that enables us to use everything on a computer – software, the Internet, printing – everything. So when the OS is updated it is usually a good idea to install it as it will have new abilities and improved security. With Apple,…
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TikTok under US ownership
How storms, Alex Pretti and Trump led TikTok to disaster Nearly two weeks ago, TikTok stepped on to US shores as a naturalized citizen. Ever since, the video app has been fighting for its life. It endured a major outage that stifled users’ ability to upload videos, which fueled a fierce user backlash over perceived…
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Collapse of the World Cup?
The World CupI is scheduled to take place in Canada, Mexico and the United States this summer. However, Germany, a leading football power, has indicated that they are discussing a BOYCOTT of the event. This is huge – even discussing a boycott. Imagine a Word Cup without Germany, France, Italy, Spain and England. The boycott…
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Nobel Peace Prize
The 2025 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize given out by Norway was the Venezuela Opposition Leader María Corina Machado. Bravo. In a visit to the White House this week, Machado give the medal and diploma to Trump. Why? To gather support for herself to become President of Venezuela in new elections. Why do people…
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Cognitive Decline from the New Republic
December 24, 2025 GERONTOCRACY Cognitive Decline? These Were Trump’s 11 Most Senile Moments This Year When Donald Trump wasn’t busy falling asleep in front of the cameras, he spent his first year in office struggling to form coherent thoughts. For the last year, the nation has witnessed President Trump’s rapid physical and mental decline. The…
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Wake up!
The Nazis had a phrase they used to influence the people in elections with was “Deutschland Erwarche” which means “Germany Awake”. It is to be hoped that the American people awaken from “Make America Great Again” as the country becomes a pariah nation. One has to compare 1930’s Germany with present day America.
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My moves towards China
I have moved away from Amazon to AliExpress as I cannot stomach Jeff Bezos being an ally of Trump’s. Whenever possible I shall order from AliExpress rather than Amazon. I have replaced my Kindle with a Kobo book reader. I have a problem with Apple as it has bent its knee to Trump but moving…
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Eight days into 2026
Already in 2026 Trump has been hallucinating that he is Emperor of the World instead of just being a leader of a failing state. He has had the President of Venezuela and his wife kidnapped and brought to the United States for trial. Tump’s aim is to grab the oil and has little to do…
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The US today – not unlike Germany in the 1930’s
https://www.thereset.news/p/breaking-heres-the-60-minutes-segment
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Trump is evil – an AntiChrist
Donald Trump — Controversial Statements & Actions (2025) Chronological, by topic – printable reference 📅 January 20, 2025 Topic: Presidential Tone & Division Event: Inaugural Address (Second Term) Key issue: Highly partisan language rather than unifying rhetoric. Reported content: Transcript: Official White House transcript (Inaugural Address, Jan 20, 2025) 📅 September 23, 2025 Topic: International…
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Trump, completely classless
The murder of Rob Reiner and his wife is an appaling event. Normally, when a public figure dies, it is usual for POTUS to indicate condolences. Not this POTUS. When Senator McCain died and now when the Reiners died, he simply boils down everything to whether they are Pro-Trump or Anti-Trump. He is a child.…
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BC/AD: BCE/CE
The BC / AD system was devised by a Christian monk named Dionysius Exiguus. Who he was What he did What about BC? A small historical footnote 1. Religious reference 📌 This makes BCE/CE more neutral for academic, international, or inter-faith use.
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Gun laws – Australia, UK and US
Topic 🇦🇺 Australia 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 🇺🇸 United States Legal basis Privilege Privilege Constitutional right (2nd Amendment) Self-defence ❌ Not allowed ❌ Not allowed ✅ Allowed (primary reason) Public carry ❌ Illegal ❌ Illegal ✅ Legal in many states Gun registration ✅ Mandatory ✅ Mandatory ❌ Varies / often no Police inspections ✅ Possible ✅…
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Year-end 2025
As we reach the end of the year, we can look back at the state of the world. It is not a pretty sight. It is to be hoped that in the mid term elections in November 2026 that the Senate and the House return Democrat majorities so that Articles of Impeachment against the President,…
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Kaliningrad
Despite the U.S.position of favouring Russia over Ukraine in the war talks I would like to see Ukraine attack the Russian exclave at Kaliningrad which is one of Russia’s warm water ports. This would be devastating for Putin.
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The Philippines Spent Big on Flood Control, but the Water Keeps Rising – from the NYTimes
Many Filipinos say floods are worse than ever — and now, the government has admitted that vast sums were embezzled from a program meant to fight the problem. Dec. 2, 2025 Wading through flooded streets on Saturday in Calumpit, a city in the northern Philippines. Cynthia Colindres remembers her low-lying village flooding every two or…
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Apple or not
For the past couple of months I have examined the tech that is available online and I have come to conclusions. I had been an Apple user for many years and have used a Mac, an iPhone, an IPad, an Apple Watch, HomePod Minis, Apple TV etc. I was interested in trying out an Android…
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Come together….
This is the season where we Christians celebrate thew feast days of All Saints on November 1st and All Souls on November 2nd. All Saints venerate all those who are with God whether they have been canonised officially by the Church or whether they simply lived a good life and are with God. All Souls…
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Any difference?
After the First World War, Germany was subject to the Versaiiles Treaty which subjected Germany to enormous reparations as loser to the war. In this atmosphere, it was easy for a demagogue to rise up and explain that all Germany’s problems were caused by the Jews. Since January 20, 2025 in the United States, a…
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Tech companies losing respect
Trump has hnad the East Wing of the White House knocked down to make room for a huge Ballroom. It is being financed by:A combination of major U.S. corporations, high-profile billionaires, and tech innovators are providing financial support for the project: Media and other companies: Comcast (NBCUniversal’s parent), Nvidia, and Booz Allen Hamilton also appear…
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Andrew Windsor
I have started to read the book written with Virginia Roberts Guiffre entitled https://amzn.to/3J1jowh This book is an important book as it deals deals with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell as well as the man formerly known as the Duke of York and it is to be hoped will soon not be known as Prince…
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The amazing Shohei Ohtani – Baseball player extraordinaire
Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese baseball player playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In Baseball you have specialised players who are hitters and others that are pitchers. Amazingly, Ohtani excels at both skills which is unique. In Game 4 against the Milwaukee Brewers he struck out 10 players in 6 innings, which means his pitching…
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How do these Catholics square their beliefs with their politics?
Vice President VanceSecreatry of State RubioSecretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, HealthSecretary Linda McMahon – EducationSecretary Sean Duffy – TransportationChief Justice John Roberts – ConservativeJustice Clarence Thomas – ConservativeJustice Samuel Alito – ConservativeJustice Amy Coney Barrett – ConservativeJustice Brett Kavanagh – ConservativeJustice Sonia Sotomayer – Liberal (not a Trump supporter) By virtue of their political bent…
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A disgraceful President
Trump pardoned all the people convicted of the January 6 attack on Congress. So it will not be a surprise that now he has commuted the sentence of George Santos, a former Republican Congressman who was found guilty if several offences. Trump said that he was a Republican so not all bad. Reminiscent of the…
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History being made
https://thecatholicherald.com/article/king-charles-to-be-made-a-royal-confrater-by-pope-leo-after-monarch-and-pontiff-pray-together-in-historic-first-since-1534
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Browser recommendation
I have used many browsers over time and have found that none really stand out for me. However recently I discovered Perplexity’s Comet browser and it is superb. I suggest you give it a tryout and if you like it as much as I do it will become your default browser. It uses Perplexity’s AI…
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Women’s Tennis
I have been a fan of tennis for many years and I enjoy Women’s Tennis in particular. Recently at a tournament in China, rising star Alexandra Eala of the Philippines was playing a match against the Swiss Victoria Golubic and Eala had won three games in a row and was on her way to winning…
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Beyond the pale
Donald Trump and his “friends” are totally beyond the pale.Who are these “friends”?J.D. Vance, Vice PresidentMike Johnson, Speaker of the House of RepresentativesRepublican members of the House of RepresentativesSenator Lindsay Graham, South CarolinaSenator Mitch McConnell, KentuckyRepublican Senators Justice Clarence ThomasChief Justice John RobertsU.S. Supreme JusticesFox NewsRobert F. Kennedy, Jr, Secretary of Health and Human Services…
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Stefanie Maria Graf, (GOAT)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1387324972570750 I love tennis and first enjoyed watching Bille Jean King (née Moffit) at Wimbledon. Then in 1988 I was watching the Ladies Final at Wimbledon between Navratilova and Graf. Navraitilova was leading 7-5, 2-0 and it looked like curtains for Graf. Graf then went on to win 12 of the next 13 games to…
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Don’t ignore Chinese tech
ASs you will see from my recent reading on my Links page, I have been reading a great deal about the Chinese Tech giants recently and I have to say that I have been greatly inspired by Huawei, Xiaomi and Tencent. They are releasing amazing products which are noy that easy to come by unless…
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As China advances, Trump stifles the Tech industry – from The Guardian
US tech giants made a bargain last year: tens of millions of dollars to Trump’s presidential campaign in exchange for access to the president and policies that promoted their industry’s growth. If you count in Elon Musk, the number rises to hundreds of millions. However, Trump’s imposition of a new fee on a visa heavily…
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Ownership models of Chinese Mobile Manufacturers v. Non-Chinese Manufacturers
Company Ownership Type Key Owners Publicly Listed? Key Characteristic Huawei Employee-Owned Employee ESOP (via Trade Union), Ren Zhengfei (<1%) No Unique, private ESOP model. Subject to much scrutiny. Xiaomi Public Shareholders Lei Jun (with super-voting rights), Institutional Investors Yes (HKEX) Conventional public company structure with founder control. OPPO Private Founders, Management, Duan Yongping (BBK) No Private,…
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Decision made
I have become fascinated by two Chinese companies – Huawei and Xiaomi – who are producing wonderful tech at great prices. Huawei has a triple fold phone which is out of reach for me financially but they have other fine phones. Since the U.S. blocked Huawei and Google’s Android was banned for them, they wrote…
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Good riddance, Trump!
Trump has left the U.K. after a very swift and laid back State Visit. Why the U.K. Government invited him for a second State Visit, unique to anyone to have a second, was an absolute disgrace and showed how craven the British Government is in sucking up to America. At the State dinner, speeches were…
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The U.K. Constitution
The U.K. constitution is uncodified, meaning it isn’t contained in a single, formal document. Instead, it’s a collection of statutes, conventions, judicial decisions, and treaties that establish the principles and rules by which the United Kingdom is governed. When it comes to royalty there is an Act of Parliament that discriminates against Catholics. The Act of Parliament that prevents…
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Well done Apple!
Apple is not allowing the U.K.’s Daily Mail app in its News+ service. This is good news as the Daily Mail is the most poison news source in the U.K.
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Nihilism
David Brooks of the New York Times recently said that there was a problem with some of America’s youth in that they are stuck in a state of nihilism, having no beliefs if anything positive. This may not be just a problem in the U.S. but elsewhere. I would like them to follow St. Carlo…
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Large Language Models (AI)
Which AI chatbot do you use? I started with ChatGPT and I have used it most of the time until I read Karen Hao’s book Empire of AI (see my Links page) and now I’m not sure if Sam Altman can be trusted so I looked at other LLMs. Specifically, they went to third world…
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Browsers
Which browser(s) do you use? Up until recently, I used Safari mostly but then I found it would not always work properly so I looked around. I tried Arc for a while which is different but I did not stick with it. Then I found Brave which blocks ads and did so on YouTube viewing.…
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Assassination in America again
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/opinion/charlie-kirk-mourning-political-violence.html Charlie Kirk was a young Trump supporter so I was not a fan. However, he was assassinated yesterday, the day before the anniversary of 9/11. The left leaning New York Times published the above editorial. The United States cannot be shocked at this because of previous assassinations: John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin…
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New Apple announcements 9/9/25
AirPods Pro 3 – includes Live translation £219 Apple Watch Series 11 £369 Apple Watch SE 3 £219 Apple Watch Ultra 3 £749 iPhone 17 £799 iPhone Air £999 – very thin iPhone Pro £1099 -unibody iPhone Pro Max £1199 – unibody
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Wither the U.S. political system
Something is radically wrong in American politics. Trump, of course, McConnell and the Republican Party in Congress and potentially the worst of all the lack of any opposition by the Democrats.
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St. Carlo Acutis
On te 7th September, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV canonised Carlo Acutis who had died at age 15 from leukemia having reminded us how important the Holy Eucharist is to our daily lives. His life has moved me very much. I shall pray to him. You can message his mother on Instagram @antoniasalzanoacutis God bless!
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U.S. Tech leaders suck up to Trump
https://www.businessinsider.com/whos-who-tech-leaders-attended-dinner-white-house-altman-pichai-2025-9?op=1&cmdf=ai+meeting+TRump
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Progress on the building in the Philippines
My fiancée and I are building an apartment on top of the family house and the building of the walls has been progressing well. Once the walls are completed a roof will be built.