Image is of Jeff Daniels in The Newsroom, giving a speech (parodied below) about how - gasp - America sucks. But in a patriotic way.
And you - general megathread poster - yeah - just in case you accidentally wander into the news megathread one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest megathread in the world.
We're seventh in citations, twenty-seventh in accurate predictions, twenty-second in effortposts, forty-ninth in non-mainstream article posting, 178th in guessing when wars will start, third in powerusers, number four in dialectics, and number four in megathread exports. We lead Hexbear in only three categories: pointless infighting, number of adults who believe Putin is based, and copium manufacturing, where we produce more than the next twenty-six lemmy megathreads combined, twenty-five of whom are full of delusional liberals. None of this is the fault of any Hexbear user, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest megathread in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about! Jokes about whether they got a Zionist's semen in time?!
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Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA 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.
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.
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.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
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.
Messi misses Presidential Medal ceremony with Biden
Lionel Messi was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, by President Joe Biden on Saturday but did not attend the ceremony at the White House. The Argentine World Cup winner and eight times Ballon d'Or winner, now plays in the United States for Major League Soccer's Inter Miami.
Messi is the first Argentine to receive the honor and the first male soccer player. But while other recipients of the award, including U2 singer and activist Bono, former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, attended the ceremony at the White House, Messi was absent.
Messi's representatives said in a statement distributed by Inter Miami that Messi had a prior commitment. "The White House informed FIFA, who informed the club at the end of December that Leo was going to be awarded with this recognition," the statement read.
"Leo, through the club, sent a letter to the White House saying that he is deeply honored and that it is a profound privilege to receive this recognition but that due to scheduling conflicts and prior commitments he was going to be unable to attend. "He appreciated the gesture and noted that he hopes to have the opportunity to meet in the near future," the statement added.
Some news from occupied Palestine.
Palestinian al-Qassam Brigades forces conducted IED strikes on five Zionist tanks in and near northern Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp. The resistance also fired a SAM at a Zionist Apache helicopter east of the al-Bureij refugee camp (in central Gaza): https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/04/740270/Qassam-Brigades-targets,-destroys-5-Israeli-battle-tanks-in-northern-Gaza
US imperialist leader Joe Biden wants to provide the fascist and genocidal Tel Aviv regime with another $8 billion of US weapons: https://tass.com/world/1896219
Zionist genocidal attacks on Gaza have now killed over 45,700 civilians (note, this is the more conservative count, coming from Gaza’s Health Ministry), 59 of which were massacred over the past 24 hours: https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/04/740294/Israel-massacre-Palestinians-children-Gaza-City-Khan-Yunis-
The Yemeni Armed Forces conducted a ballistic missile strike on a target near Jaffa (which is near Tel Aviv): https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/01/05/740323/Yemen-attacks-Israel-missile
Theory: Assad jokingly said “Assad must go” and accidentally activated the curse.
Venezuela's Attorney General's Office has offered a $100k reward for info leading to the arrest of US-backed former presidential candidate Edmundo González. Of course, his whereabouts are known to everyone as he prances around Europe lobbying for regime change.
Me waiting outside the Casa Rosada with a giant comical net to capture Edmundo and claim my $100k.
On the eve of the inauguration, the Venezuelan opposition shows weakness on the streets with empty rallies in Caracas. Opponents had hoped for a change of government before January 10 and are betting on US support to overthrow Maduro.
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The dispute over the outcome of the elections is still an issue raised by the opposition, but the leaders coordinating this process seem to have abandoned ship. The former deputy, Maria Corina Machado, even made the call, but didn't show up. Machado has not appeared in public and the Venezuelan government even claimed that she was in Colombia. The former Unity Platform candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, is in Spain and didn't take part in the event either.
The White House diplomacy, however, faces an internal dilemma with Venezuela. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is pressure from oil businessmen for Donald Trump's administration to take a more flexible line on sanctions against Caracas. One of them, according to the daily, is Harry Sargeant III, one of the main financiers of the Republican Party. According to the WSJ, he is trying to influence the Trump administration to free up the purchase of Venezuelan oil and negotiate with Maduro to support the control of illegal migration.
President Nicolás Maduro criticized Edmundo's statement on Monday (2). According to him, the former ambassador was not “capable of going on a march in Madrid”, where he lives. “How far are they going to take his show? It will be consigned to the dustbin of history,” he said.
María Corina Machado herself, who took part in marches after the elections, has left street mobilization aside. On the one hand, she claims to be being persecuted by the government and prevented from taking part in these demonstrations, but on the other she frustrates opponents who had hoped she would be present in some way. She even posted on social media asking her supporters to attend, but they didn't show up.
Opponents also called for the release of those arrested in the violent demonstrations on July 29. With balloons and candles, the demonstrators carried posters with the names of some of the people who had allegedly been arrested. Most of the demonstrators, however, did not know any of the people featured on the posters.
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People are tired of this Juan Guaido shit, even those who dislike Maduro are fucking tired of this shit. The opposition does literally nothing useful besides be racist, lie, and cry for Israel and USA to bomb their country. No wonder literally no Venezuelan General has defected to their side, even though the Military is known for being reactionary.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has resigned after successively failing to build a coalition government without the far right. For four months Nehammer had been trying to stitch together a government between the Conservatives (his party) and the Social Democrats.
No party wanted to form a government with the extremists of the “Freedom Party”, trying to form a government of the center. But it didn't work. The liberals left the negotiations and the Chancellor announced the official end of negotiations with the Social Democrats, his resignation from office and the leadership of his party.
The Austrian President has two options: Either he will ask the far-right leader Herbert Kickl (who once called himself the “people's chancellor”, just like Hitler did); Or he will dissolve parliament and call new elections in the country.
Herbert Kickl, leader of Austria's right-wing extremists, and his party with Nazi roots. About the FPÖ, Austria's far-right party with the most seats:
Founded in 1944 by Nazi leaders linked to the Hitler government, such as the former Austrian-Nazi Minister of Agriculture, Anton Reinthaller, the first leader of the FPÖ party. The current party leader, Herbert Kickl, has been calling himself “The People's Chancellor”, Volkskanzler, throughout his campaign and has now stepped up the propaganda even further;.
Brazil is sending an ambassador to Caracas for Maduro's inauguration in Venezuela. The hope is to put an end to the crisis that has lasted since the elections.
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The Brazilian government is to send its ambassador to Caracas, Glivânia Maria de Oliveira, for the inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (United Socialist Party of Venezuela). On January 10, the Venezuelan will take the oath of office in the National Assembly for his third term, which runs from 2025 to 2031.
The government's view is that this would help to further reduce tension between the two countries, which has been escalating since Nicolás Maduro's election. The diplomatic crisis was slightly eased after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party) said he respected Venezuelan institutions. According to Maduro, the speech was a “wise” reflection by the Workers' Party president and he added: “Point in favor of Lula”.
According to the report, Brazilian diplomacy is still waiting for a formal invitation from the Venezuelan government. The lack of such an invitation with a week to go before the inauguration, however, does not worry diplomats. Each president's inauguration around the world is carried out differently and invitations are generally made at short notice and tend to vary according to the political conditions of each government.
Brasilia's expectation is that two other partners in the region will also be represented by their ambassadors in Caracas. Colombia is represented in Venezuelan territory by Milton Rengifo Hernández, while Mexico has Ambassador Leopoldo de Gyvés de la Cruz in the Venezuelan capital.
The latest demonstrations by opponents of Maduro have had little support. The movement, however, is similar to the election period. On that occasion, María Corina and Edmundo toured several cities in the country without managing to organize massive mobilizations. Nevertheless, the day after the election was marked by violent demonstrations across the country.
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I think Lula da Silva still can't travel by airplane anyway due to his recent surgeries.
Biden plans to send $8bn arms shipment to Israel
The move comes just over a fortnight before President Joe Biden leaves office. Washington has rejected calls to suspend military backing for Israel because of the number of civilians killed during the war in Gaza.
In August, the US approved the sale of $20bn in fighter jets and other military equipment to Israel.
The latest planned shipment contains air-to-air missiles, Hellfire missiles, artillery shells and bombs, the US official said
Washington Post cartoonist resigns over paper’s refusal to publish cartoon critical of Jeff Bezos Pulitzer prize winner Ann Telnaes drew a cartoon of the paper’s owner kneeling before Donald Trump Ramon Antonio Vargas Sat 4 Jan 2025 10.23 EST The Washington Post’s Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from her position at the newspaper after its refusal to publish a satirical cartoon depicting the outlet’s owner Jeff Bezos – along with other media and technology barons – kneeling before Donald Trump as he gears up for his second US presidency. “I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations – and some differences – about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” Telnaes wrote on Friday in an online post on the Substack platform detailing her decision to quit. “Until now.” In a statement reported by the New York Times, the Post’s opinions editor, David Shipley, defended the newspaper’s decision against publishing Telnaes’s cartoon, saying he disagreed with her “interpretation of events” and that “the only bias was against repetition”. “Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,” said Shipley, whose statement added that he had spoken with Telnaes and asked her to reconsider leaving. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column – this one a satire – for publication.” Telnaes’s Substack post from Friday contained a rough draft of her cartoon. Beside Bezos, who founded Amazon before buying the Post, the cartoon portrayed caricatures of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong and Walt Disney Co mascot Mickey Mouse. “The cartoon … criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with … Trump,” Telnaes said. “While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon. “To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. That’s a gamechanger … and dangerous for a free press.” Telnaes announced her resignation less than three months after the Post and Bezos faced withering backlash over the outlet’s decision to prevent its editorial team from publishing an endorsement of Kamala Harris in the presidential election of 5 November. Soon-Shiong had also similarly refused to allow the LA Times’ editorial board to publish an endorsement of Harris. Readers met both outlets with more than 200,000 subscription cancellations combined, the overwhelming majority of those affecting the Post’s larger readership, according to reports. And commentators accused the two newspapers of demonstrating what has been classified as “anticipatory obedience” to Trump after he had repeatedly accused the media of being enemies of the state and promised retribution against many in the industry if he defeated Harris. Trump then scored a decisive victory against Harris to wrest back the Oval Office, which he had lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. After his victory, Zuckerberg dined with Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort. His company Meta also donated $1m to a fund for Trump’s second inauguration. Observers interpreted those to be conciliatory gestures after Trump during his first presidency had criticized Zuckerberg and his Facebook platform of being “anti-Trump”.
From the guardian: https://archive.is/mtc85
U.S. authorities have found notes from Matthew Livelsberger, the U.S. Army soldier who committed suicide and detonated a Tesla 'Cybertruck' near the Trump International Hotel
Having been deployed to Afghanistan twice, he expressed in his writings a need to 'cleanse' his mind of lost comrades and the 'burden of lives he took.' He characterized his actions as a 'wake-up call' to a society that only pays attention to violence, warning that the U.S. was 'terminally ill and headed toward collapse.'
currency markets are so silly, markets in general but forex markets are supposed to be most markety market with highest liquidity, yet central bank interventions are needed to prevent it from going too wild. trump says he will implement broad tariffs and that is enough for Dollar to rise against everything else, nothing has happened yet!
really shows the world needs more controls on capital flows.
Anyone know what interview this is from? or have a longer clip? https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineRussiaReport/comments/1htefeu/ru_pov_because_this_war_the_first_aim_for_the_us/
Javier Milei received Edmundo González Urrutia and they greeted the Venezuelan community from the balcony of the Casa Rosada.
The President met with the former Venezuelan candidate who claims victory over Nicolás Maduro; Argentina recognized him as elected president, with a protocol accordingly; Milei told him that he will not be “an accomplice of silence in the face of the abuses” of the Chavista regime; the meeting took place while Nahuel Gallo, a gendarme, is still detained by the Chavista regime.
Juan Guaido 2.0 Arc continues
Seriously what’s going on between Brazil and China?
On Dec 23rd, 2024, Brazilian authorities halted the construction of BYD factory after Chinese construction workers were found living in “slavery-like” conditions. This would have been the first BYD factory outside Asia and a significant expansion into Latin America. On Dec 27th, Brazil had stopped issuing temporary work visa to BYD, with the factory merely three months away from completing its construction.
Very conveniently, on the same day, China launched an investigation into its beef import, citing that oversupply has caused a squeeze on its domestic price.
Any trade measures to try to reduce beef imports would hit China's largest suppliers, Brazil, Argentina and Australia.
China's total beef imports reached $14.2 billion in 2023, surging from $8.2 billion in 2019, customs data show. Brazil accounted for 42% of the total trade value, followed by Argentina at 15% and Australia at 12%.
This is clearly pointed towards Brazil. Is this China sending a warning shot to Brazil that they better not interfere with the BYD incident? Will Brazil fold to China’s pressure? Seriously, what’s going on? I hope they don’t start fighting or something.
