Image is of the Cuban flag and the Pride flag on the Havana Health Ministry building.

Inspired by a highly upvoted recommendation by @Commiejones@hexbear.net:

We need to kill the Mega Posting Wars meme. It wasn't very funny to start with and now I get the feeling some people are taking it way too seriously. Clogging up the news thread with bullshit just to try to out post the trans mega is just dumb and annoying.

The News Megathread is now under trans martial law:

  1. Loving trans people on this site and elsewhere is strictly mandatory.

  2. Posting about the "comment wars" between the trans and news megathreads is now strongly discouraged inside the news megathread. No shame in it - I also recently made jokes about it - but though they were almost always just jokes, it was unrelated to current events and was beginning to feel more like padding the comment count instead of trying to improve the quality of the thread. If you want to boost comments and engagement here, then post articles and analysis!

The COTW (Chemical of the Week) label is designed to spur discussion and debate about a specific chemical every week in order to help the community gain greater understanding of the domestic situation of often-understudied chemicals. If you've wanted to talk about the chemical or share your experiences, but have never found a relevant place to do so, now is your chance! However, don't worry - this is still a general news megathread where you can post about ongoing events from any country.

The Chemicals of the Week are Estrogen and Testosterone! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants.

Please check out the HexAtlas!

The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA daily-ish reports on Israel's destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.

English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.

English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.

Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Sources:

Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful. Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.

Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:

Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.

  • dumpster_dove [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    When was the last time Joe Biden appeared in public? I feel like a president shouldn't be this absent even if he is planning to cede his position after the election. On CNN, even under the "joe Biden" tag, it's all Kamala vs Trump news.

    I guess the Americans got tired of embarrassing themselves parading the dusty old mummy around and pretending like he hadn't declined to the point where he can't hold on to a coherent thought.

    • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      2 months ago

      I saw a video of Biden shaking hands with Netanyahu recently on CNN or BBC, and Biden looked as if he was on the verge of death. No wonder he's not making many public appearances.

    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
      ·
      2 months ago

      It’s great that he hasn’t appeared in public tbh. Finally the elder abuse is dying down. Let this nearly decaying corpse of a man live out his last few days in peace basking in the Delaware sun.

        • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
          ·
          2 months ago

          He’s barely even Joe Biden anymore. Any public appearance would be purely representative of the people making him do it. This isn’t McCain dying while still actively and knowingly being a ghoul, this is a very ill old man who hasn’t been himself for quite some time. Any pain you wish to be inflicted on Biden anymore would not be any punishment on the Biden you resent, but a generic, suffering old man.

          As much as I hate Joe Biden, there really is no reason to make him suffer more than he already clearly has been.

          • SoyViking [he/him]
            ·
            2 months ago

            You might be right but in a just world the question of Joe Biden's mental ability to be held accountable should be answered by a Palestinian war crimes tribunal.

      • Iwishiwasntthisway
        ·
        2 months ago

        I hope he lives another 20 years and learns every day his first wife, favorite son, and daughter are dead. I hope between every REM cycle he has night terrors like a toddler. I hope he feels the constant humiliation and frustration of a pathological personality rendered impotent and childlike. I hope he lives in the promethean hell he does now for as long as is physically possible.

        • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
          ·
          2 months ago

          Leftists when Biden is clearly senile and being used maliciously by those around him as a puppet: “God this elder abuse is so hard to watch. He’s clearly not even there anymore. He’s just suffering. This shouldn’t happen. People need to just leave him alone and let him pass.”

          The same leftists when Biden is no longer been used like a puppet and is left to die as a person who is hardly aware of their own existence anymore: “Now it is my turn to wish elder abuse upon this clearly senile person”

          Lowkey kind of crazy if you are all being serious. I get trying to be funny about it because Biden has lived an objectively evil life, but damn he doesn’t even know who he is anymore. Wishing immense suffering on a mere avatar of a human who can still experience pain and suffering just as a form of catharsis for yourself is just kind of fucked up in a concerning way.

          Maybe I am just not understanding this in an I am genuinely autistic way so I’d appreciate if you engaged with this comment in good faith and actually told me if you meant what you said.

          • Iwishiwasntthisway
            ·
            2 months ago

            All the core beliefs and ambitions that allowed him to contribute to the death and displacement of millions still exist, just not coherently.

            If a rapist becomes a quadriplegic, are they no longer a rapist because they lack the capacity to repeat the crime?

            • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
              ·
              2 months ago

              You’re toeing a really thin line of ableism tbh when comparing a quadriplegic person to somebody who is mentally incapacitated. Aside from that, a person is not just their body. If a rapist becomes a quadriplegic person they are still mentally intact and can and should be held responsible for the wrong they committed. It wasn’t just the body that committed the crime, but the mind. A quadriplegic person can show remorse, and a quadriplegic person can engage in restorative justice. A quadriplegic person can be made to understand the impact of their wrongdoing.

              If a person loses their mental capacity entirely and no longer knows who they are or what they have done, how can you justify inflicting suffering on a body that is guilty but a mind that is explicitly incapable of showing remorse for the actions you deem punishable? If a criminal entered a coma, could you make yourself physically harm them? What good would that actually do for you? What good would it do for the impacted parties? There is no restorative justice, only maliciousness for the sake of being malicious.

                • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  Dementia isn’t a diagnosis I’m aware of Biden having. Even if it was, you’re talking about psychologically punishing somebody who is mentally incapacitated for the sake of being malicious. You’re punishing somebody who may not even possess the capacity to feel remorse for what they’ve done. You’re not righting any wrong. You’re not fixing any problem.

                  How do you punish somebody with Alzheimer’s who stole a car? Do you give the victim their vehicle back and pay for damages, then enter the person into the correct care? Or do you think that Alzheimer’s patient should be thrown in prison?

                    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
                      ·
                      2 months ago

                      Does it matter if they can’t even participate in the most basic form of restorative justice via expressing remorse? To you, what would be an adequate punishment for this person who doesn’t even know they did anything wrong?

                      Toddlers can and do shoot people on occasion. What punishment do you think there should be? They could certainly become aware of their actions and be sympathetic one day. Or do we see that there is clearly a certain level of cognitive demand necessary to have the social awareness and mental acuity necessary for punishment to not be malicious for the sake of maliciousness?

                      • Iwishiwasntthisway
                        ·
                        2 months ago

                        So 1) I am saying the state the person is in when they committed the offense is the deciding factor here. Biden was of sound mind up until about 10 years ago and the drop has been gradual. Biden has participated in plenty that would make him one of the most lethal people living before this time. He didn't just show up recently. 2) We are also starting to confuse consequences in the legal sense vs. The "karmic' sense, which I think is what you might not really perceive. I don't believe legal punishment should be driven by punitive thinking, but rather restorative goals. But I wish "the universe" returns suffering to people who have caused it, especially intentionally and to this extent to feel suffering themselves. I recognize this has no inherent value, but I like the way it feels.

                        • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
                          ·
                          2 months ago

                          Karmic:

                          I think I see where you are coming from then but let me just be sure. You are wishing suffering on a metaphysical Biden consciousness that would be capable of fully understanding the breadth of his wrongdoings?

                          If that’s the case then oh yeah definitely. I think Joe Biden as a consciousness deserves to not just be chilling on a Delaware beach.

                          Legal:

                          While I agree that somebody’s cognitive state they were in at the time of their wrongdoing should be our understanding of their actions, and that punishment should be dealt with in the same timeframe, the reason I bring up the example of a child committing a crime is to highlight the fact that it becomes irrelevant when we are no longer dealing with somebody who is the same person they were at the time of the crime in question. To punish the person with Alzheimer’s for stealing a car when they didn’t have Alzheimer’s is as productive as punishing a child. You’re simply inflicting punishment for the sake of it. Truly there is nothing to be gained and nothing to be learned.

                          • Iwishiwasntthisway
                            ·
                            2 months ago

                            Yes. In the scenario I imagine in my head, but have no control over, "Biden" as an entity exists. But I don't really think "Biden" will ever really conceptualize his own wrongdoing, and that's even with a sound mind.

                            Like, it's not like he needs to "understand" that in order for the idea to be satisfying.

                            If you've spent enough time around truly terrible people, you know that there are people like that, they are never going to believe what they did was wrong. And usually they just regular shitty, this guy advocated for the death, displacement, incarceration, etc of millions of people.

                            But in place of guilt, there are other negative emotions he can feel: like fear, or embarrassment, and some type of grief.