#iran is worse than russia

[freedomisforall]

Just because you're disappointed in your democracy doesn't mean you rush into the arms of dictatorship.

It can get so much worse.

[feminariden]

One of the latest AJ article is kinda funny bc it was worded like if the problem the Gulf States had with Assad was that he was a allied with a Shia non-Arab country and they are Arab Sunnis and not. Anything else Assad did

[swiftsnowmane]

#to be frank this is a lot of the Tumblr thing where all evil is committed by the English the French the American and the Dutch#which. yeah a whole fucking lot alright#but like the performative hatred of these cultures is weird#1) because it veers into weird racism directed at like the lower classes of these countries or their language or food or culture#like how ridiculous dutch sounds or cockney sounds or southern or boston accents or aave is or how french sounds like a dog choking#like this could be about systems of power and colonialism and you're just reinventing 19th century nationalism#we saw this with the performative hatred of Sweden that one week where everyone came out of it measuring Scandinavian skulls#but also because 2) it obscures dynamics of power. The problem is X people instead of being like; an idea in motion or a system#the problem with Iran gets to be CIA intervention and not centralisation of power in the capital by a minority#be that under Mossadegh of Khomeini or under all the Shahs#it assumes all the world needs is a non-interventionist US and then every country would be at peace with its ''Indigenous'' power structure#which is actually what benefits those in power everywhere: monarchies and oligarchies defend themselves by saying they're legitimate#whereas decentralised democracies ? that's a dirty American trick and anybody calling for it is a traitor#it assumes everything was going fine everywhere and only like 5 to 6 nations are responsible for the state of the world today#and of course that's when they're not saying 5 or 6 (nations)#and 3) it's the explanation that lets you do the least about it. Your country is fundamentally evil ? cheer on each catastrophe & downfall#you have no responsibility to care or to be part of change except by being part of its destruction#and if you call for change you're a socdem reformist who really wants to save capitalism and existing power structures (@northwest-by-a-train)

I feel like the root problem of american tankies' shallow ideals is redirected american exceptionalism. Internet and globalization has caused them to realize that that they're not in fact the best country in the world as school etc has told them. But instead of understanding that they have problems just like the rest of us (though tbf, their ability to cause other nations harm is unmatched) they now flipped to saying that the us must be the worst country in the entire world and the source of all evil. They cannot comprehend that non-americans are perfectly capable of doing the most heinous shit and thus assume that behind every war or conflict lies a us conspiracy and influence - because surely non-americans are just so innocent, naive and primitive and unlike americans lack the cunning to advance their political goals without help by the US. The fact that not only the US government but also its enemies can be vile at the same time and that sometimes they can even be on the good side is completely beyond them which is why they are never truly against imperialism, genocide or opression unless it is done by americans or their allies.

[bookskittychad]

if you want to see someone's racism in three seconds ask them about iran

[186-3]

courting antisemitism

so i recently decided to take a look at the latest stonetoss comics (probably because i love suffering). and while i was expecting some content on the israel palestine conflict, what i did not expect was how... standard it seemed. well, most of it at least, but i'll get to that in a second.

for context, if you don't know what stonetoss is, it's a (poorly drawn) webcomic known for having radical alt-right views - meaning it's incredibly racist, homophobic, transphobic, islamophobic, antisemitic. all that fun stuff.

so while i was expecting to see bad stuff, one of the first things i saw on the topic of israel was this:

terrible art aside, this comic is making a point that i usually see in left wing circles: that israel is pinkwashing genocide.

curious if there was more like this, i kept looking, and the comic right before that one was this:

again, this makes points that i usually see in left wing circles. that american healthcare is crazy expensive, that canada tells poor people to commit suicide, and that israel is bombing hospitals.

why does stonetoss, this well known alt-right nutjob, now seem to be bringing up left-wing talking points?

curious, i kept going deeper:

well this is... odd. clearly, stonetoss is trying to say that israel is on another level of bad, even worse than russia, iran, and north korea. i can possibly see someone on the left making the argument that the russian invasion of ukraine isn't as bad as what israel is doing in gaza, or that at least north korea isn't invading any other countries, but... iran??? the country that has a police force designed to enforce religious law, and gets away with murdering women who do not properly cover their hair? the country that props up paramilitary groups in countries all over the middle east, including lebanon, yemen, and yes, palestine?? that's completely ridiculous

but, given how much more israel is in the news nowadays than any of these other countries, i could see why someone would buy this

and now, we're starting to get to the crux of what stonetoss is trying to do. when someone sees this, they might be inclined to agree with it. they might begin to think that israel is the worst country on the planet

and that might not seem so bad at first. but the more you hate israel, especially irrationally, the more you feel allowed to dehumanize those who support it. the more you might be willing to agree with this comic, which came out two days prior to the one above

this comic says that jews, as a whole have no desire to exist with other people. it is blatantly antisemitic

i'm sure you could imagine some young leftist who sees the comics above this one and thinks, "this guy makes some good points". and then, when they get to this one, they might realize that this is antisemitism

or, they may not.

and that would start them down the road to becoming an antisemite.

this is what stonetoss and other alt-right nutjobs are hoping to achieve. to take left wing fury at israel, and direct it at jews.

we saw it with those neo-nazis at the palestine rally, and we're seeing it again here.

and if you've found yourself agreeing with what stonetoss has said so far, i would like you to see the last comic stonetoss put out before october 7th:

this horrifically racist comic is in reference to an environmental activist who was murdered by a black man in early october. this blatantly racist garbage is the kind of stuff stonetoss usually puts out.

but as soon as october 7th happened? these were his next two comics:

stonetoss completely changed the comic's tone as soon as the current crisis started. why?

to get as many people as possible to get on board with hating jews.

and i know many of you might be thinking that "well, everyone knows that stonetoss is racist garbage. nobody is going to fall for this"

except, as we saw with the neo-nazis at the rally for palestine, it's not always that obvious who the antisemites are and who is just rallying for peace. they are often a lot better at disguising it than stonetoss is.

AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE AWARE OF THAT

EVERYONE, no matter HOW much experience you have, can fall victim to propoganda. EVERYONE needs to be aware of what people around them are saying, and able to pick out hateful rhetoric, because even the stuff that is just kind of toeing the line of what's hateful is still putting your foot in the door

be cautious, everyone. and stomp out hate where you see it.

[charlesoberonn]

I see a lot of leftists who are (rightfully) critical of America, but think it means they should support America's geopolitical enemies (Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, Syria, etc) even though those governments are way worse.

"Enemy of my enemy is my friend" is a fallacy. Please have some standards more complicated than "America bad" (and it is bad, don't get me wrong).

[milverton]

I watch Jake Broe's update videos on the war in Ukraine pretty religiously, so I wanted to share what he had to say in his latest video because I at least felt a little better about this whole new trumpocalypse fiasco after hearing some of the points he made.

Here's his tweet that summarises what he says in the video, but I would recommend still watching the whole thing! (I've bolded the main points)

Okay! We all needed a day to reflect on what happened and I have good news and bad news for Ukraine about Trump returning to the US Presidency.

Let's start with the bad news for Ukraine…

Trump could end all US military cooperation

Trump could lift all sanctions on Russia

Trump could return all frozen assets to Russia

Yes, that is all very bad, but there might be good news.

First, Trump is always transactional. It does not matter if Russia was helping Trump or not in the past, Trump does not feel like he owes anyone anything for past favors. If Trump ever gives something up, then he will want something in return at the same time.

Russia will make demands that Trump is happy to accommodate, but only if Russia agrees to something that makes Trump look good. If Russia refuses, then Trump will rapidly escalate against Russia out of spite. American weapons in Ukrainian hands have already killed hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers. Putin might refuse any kind of transactional deal with Trump. Nobody knows what either Trump or Putin will do. Trump could inadvertently destabilize Russia without even meaning to.

Second, Trump does not take over until January 20th, which means we know for a fact that Russia is not going to use a nuclear weapon before Trump returns to office. Russia is not going to start a nuclear war if they think Trump will give them favorable terms. Meaning there is no risk of escalation management the next two months. Take the gloves off!

For the next two months Ukraine should be given permission to hit whatever they want with whatever is given to them anywhere on Russian territory. Additionally, Biden now is forced to rush deliver and allocate the rest of America's available funds allocated by Congress to Ukraine this winter.

If instead Harris was re-elected and MAGA controlled Congress, military aid would have ended anyways and Biden would have tried to stretch these funds out until next summer. Biden can't do that now. So Ukraine is actually going to get a huge boost in military aid right away.

Third, even though I do not think Trump cares at all about Ukraine, he does care about his own image and legacy. He is never running for office ever again, but he loves to be loved by his supporters. He does not want to look weak and if Ukraine refuses to a negotiated capitulation and instead fights on without US help, these are going to be top headlines daily (maybe the fall of Kharkiv or the fall of Odesa) and this will make Trump look weak. He hates that. These would be images that would look worse for America than the US withdrawal of Afghanistan.

Forth, Trump hates Iran. Trump fiercely supports Israel and Iran is currently trying to destroy Israel. If Trump takes any military action against Iran (or looks the other way when Israel does) this could weaken or cripple one of Russia's most important allies. Harris was never going to do anything about Iran. Trump might actually cripple Iran and their Russian allied proxies in the Middle East.

Fifth, Trump loves the idea of cheap oil. He might actually find ways (cutting regulations, building more pipes, granting access to more public lands) that brings the global price of oil down so much that this ends up bankrupting Russia faster. That is not Trump's goal, but he might accidentally do it.

Sixth, Europe might finally militarily wake up once Trump stops answering their phone calls. Europe has the population and the economic power to support Ukraine and defeat the Russians without America's help. This is Europe's moment. They can't use America as an excuse anymore for holding them back.

Lastly… this is crazy, but Trump's economic plan of tariffs and trade wars might actually trigger a massive recession in the United States. When the US goes into recession, this almost always triggers a global recession. We realistically need an economic collapse of Russia to defeat them and Trump might accidentally cause this without even wanting to.

It is all weird to think about. But we just do not know what will happen or what the state of the war will be three months from now. It is a complete mystery to everyone, including the Russians.

Keep supporting Ukraine. Russia will be defeated.

[mariacallous]

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s looming return to office is causing sleepless nights in Europe. Diplomats expect Trump 2.0 will cause more headaches because the world is less stable today than it was in 2017.

Chief among their fears is the growing partnership between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. “Trump is getting one global theater. And everything our adversaries are doing right now seems connected,” a Western security official said, on the condition of anonymity.

It’s unclear if Trump—not shy about his domestic agenda coming first—understands exactly what the prospect of an alliance between four nuclear powers whose leaders hate the United States means.

“These are four countries who are already working together against American interests,” said Brett Bruen, former White House global engagement director. “North Korea is helping Russia invade Ukraine. Iran’s proxies are attacking ships in the Red Sea. China is buying Iranian oil. It all fits and could get worse if Trump becomes more isolationist.”

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s decision to aid Russia by sending troops to Ukraine is the most surprising and ostentatious example of how the axis of autocracies might continue to grow.

The benefits to the Kremlin are obvious: Russia has suffered heavy losses since the start of the war, and North Korea is willing to help plug that gap by sending its own men to near-certain death.

What’s in it for Pyongyang is less clear. “There is significant risk of North Korean soldiers defecting as soon as they arrive in Ukraine—something the South Koreans are preparing for,” said John Everard, the former U.K. ambassador to North Korea. “Defections from his elite special forces would embarrass Kim. It would also be a major embarrassment if his troops turn out to be useless. It could damage his reputation as a man to be truly feared.”

However, Everard also said that Kim needs a backup plan. “North Korea has been almost solely reliant on China for a long time, and China has been signaling its displeasure at Kim’s new relationship with Russia,” Everard said. “Meanwhile, we don’t know what Kim is getting in return for sending troops to Russia. Perhaps he wants help developing new nuclear weapons and missile technology, or perhaps he has been forced to agree to send troops because, now that his stockpiles are exhausted, he can no longer meet Russian demands for munitions.”

NATO officials fear a global escalation of the European conflict. If North Korea continues to support Russia, does South Korea support Ukraine by sending missiles? Might Ukraine strike North Korean targets? And if it did, would North Korea demand China makes good on treaty commitments to protect North Korea? While alliance sources say that is “close to China’s worst nightmare,” it’s being seriously considered.

Anything that eases Russia’s burden in Ukraine gives Russian President Vladimir Putin room for his long-term objective: weakening the West and expanding Russian influence. Europe will continue as his primary target.

“The Kremlin and its proxies have attempted to influence multiple elections in Europe with the specific aim of installing pro-Russian politicians or governments across the continent,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House.

Whether it’s claims that the United States sees Europe as a colony via NATO or that Ukrainian neo-Nazis are offering human sacrifices to pagan gods, there are thousands of examples of Kremlin proxies seeking to coerce Europeans into hating Putin’s enemies. This type of activity often peaks during elections and has helped Kremlin stooges, such as Irakli Kobakhidze in Georgia, win elections or grow in strength across Europe.

Obviously, anti-West and anti-NATO sentiment is a danger in Europe itself, but it also has consequences for Americans. “The United States benefits when Europe’s economy thrives. It benefits from a strong Europe standing up for U.S. interests further afield, especially in Asia. There is no benefit to the United States if Europe becomes a Putin playground,” Giles said.

For Iran, the new axis of autocracies provides answers to some existential questions. Bluntly, Iran needs allies, and its relations with the other three are largely transactional.

“Iran plays different roles for each of these actors: To Russia, it’s a military partner and potential thorn in the side of the United States. To China, Iran is key to energy security and specifically the security of oil shipments from the Gulf,” said Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of Amwaj.media, a website that publishes analysis on the Middle East.

Iran, a country with multiple regional enemies—chiefly Israel—might seek increased military support later. This could be of concern to the United States if the region becomes less stable in the coming years. “The main threat that Iran could potentially pose for the United States is in the region, with American military bases and other facilities potentially at risk in the event of an all-out confrontation,” Ali Shabani said.

All the potential chaos the other three can cause would suit China well, especially if Trump whacks Beijing with steep tariffs once in office.

One European diplomat explained that a common fear among their peers is that Trump doesn’t fully grasp how many moving parts there are nor how they interact with each other. There is legitimate concern, for example, that Trump will cut a deal on Ukraine and pull back from NATO. Doing so would expose European security and leave the continent vulnerable to Russia. Trump also wants to impose tariffs on European exporters.

“You cannot withdraw support for Europe’s security, hit their economies, then expect their companies to stop selling semiconductors to China or consumers to not buy cheaper Chinese goods, which means what happens in Europe now could have consequences for Taiwan, which would have consequences for allies in the Indo-Pacific. It’s all connected,” the diplomat said.

Fears that Trump doesn’t take global affairs seriously are hardly new. But what might be different in his second term is how much, or how little, attention he pays to the rest of the world.

“The first time around, people were worried he would be looking for reasons to hit the red button,” Bruen said. “I think this time, it’s more concerning that he will turn a blind eye to the rest of the world and see the behavior of people like Putin and [Chinese President Xi Jinping] as not being America’s problem.”

Trump might want to focus on a purely domestic agenda, as is his right. But enemies are looking at a potential void right now and seeing an opportunity to reach a shared objective: to take a major bite out of Washington’s global influence and swallow it up themselves.

[indecisiveavocado]

so you're mad about israel and only israel

why?

Because it is committing genocide, actively funded by me or my government, and the people committing genocide are not the people indigenous to the region. also, it should have a potential killable population over 6 million (my very rough upper estimate for the population of palestine). And they should be targeting civilians. Maybe attacking refugee camps.

Ok! Bit restrictive, but reasonable enough.

So I expect you to act precisely the same as you do regarding Israel/Zionism/Jews/etc with the following:

Chinese

Rwandans

Why?

China: Uyghur genocide:

Genocide

Unless you avoid all Chinese products, funded by you. In fact that's even worse because it's possible but difficult to avoid Chinese products, as opposed to paying taxes.

Han Chinese are not indigenous to the region.

There are over 11 million Uyghurs

They target civilians.

Rwanda:

Genocide in the Congo, backed by them. (Genocide Watch lists the Congo at an Emergency level, same as China.)

The main indigenous group in the region are "Nande (North Kivu), Bashi and Barega (South Kivu)". There are minorities of Kinyarwanda, but they are mainly descended from refugees of the Rwandan genocide. And there are communities of pygmies. The main group in Rwanda are the Kinyarwanda.

The US and UK fund this via Rwanda

Horrific atrocities have been committed, like massacres.

A refugee camp was shelled.

That's rather restrictive, though. Maybe you have more decency than that.

Let's try this:

It's committing genocide, there's a potential killable population of over 6 million, and my government is staying silent - which is, practically speaking, encouraging it.

In which case, in addition to Chinese and Rwandans, you should (depending on who your government is silent about) be outraged over the conduct of (all of these are listed by Genocide Watch as emergencies, ie genocides)

Central African Republic

ISIS, Ba'athists, etc in Iraq

Iran

Turkey (Kurds in Syria are being attacked)

Mali

South Sudan

Nigeria (non-government I think)

India

Afghanistan

Russia

Sudan (bonus: non-indigenous against indigenous)

Egypt (bonus: non-indigenous against indigenous)

Ethiopia

and many more!

So why are you silent?

[dezertvideogames]

What the controversy? - Genshin Impact

I don't normally make post like this, maybe I should as a mixed video game addict. I bet you've heard about the understanding outrage about the skin tones of Genshin characters. Maybe you've seen the meme pointing out that the White Pharaoh has darker skin than most of the Genshin cast. I'm here to tell you the problem is even worse.

What happened previously?

Genshin Impact has been heavily criticized by fans from all over the world for the blatant colorism in the game.

Genshin Impact is a free open world game with gacha mechanics. Characters come from a myriad of in-game regions each based off of real life ones including Western Europe, Japan, China, the Middle East, Russia, Central Europe, and the most recent region taking inspiration from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin Nations.

This can be a very interesting approach to this kind of worldbuilding, as Genshin is not unique for this, and often makes it easy for fans to connect to the characters culturally.

Genshin's problems started to show immediately. In fact the first region's set of characters, Modstadt, based off of Central Europe has THE darkest skinned characters in the game. Kaeya and Xinyan, and one of them is a mean obnoxious black girl stereotype.

Like-

As the other regions have been added to the game, the problem has only gotten more apparent. Regions that would naturally have a few more diverse skin swatches among the cast just didn't have them. When Genshin did add darker characters they were often lighter than the average mixed person, or another variation of white skin tones, because lets be honest white people come in many colors too.

Now there isn't anything wrong with a region having diverse skin tones, especially if it's based off a real life region with a very commonly diverse population when it comes to skin tones like the United States, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, or South Africa. These places realistically are very diverse, and the people from then come in many colors.

The problem is in Genshin there are zero characters added with a darker skin tone than Xinyan, and the dark characters they claim to give us are barely darker than average Chinese person. There are very few brown skinned people, and they're all quite pale brown skin tones. Take for instance the Sumeru line-up.

When Sumeru came out fans of Genshin were outrages at the lack of darker skin tones among the middle eastern inspired characters. Since then there has been a demand for darker skin tones, and tons of criticism against Hoyoverse, but their pleas were never answered.

The Latest Region

The latest region added to Genshin Impact is Natlan. It takes inspiration from Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin nations. Players have waited with baited breath to see if Hoyoverse finally adds some darker skinned characters. The answer?

ABSOLUTELY NOT

Natlan came out with one brown skinned character. Meaning in all the regions of Genshin Impact there is a whopping three brown skinned playable characters, and zero black people to play.

This is worse than it seems: Hoyoverse

Genshin Impact isn't Hoyoverse's only game. In fact Hoyoverse's other popular games, including Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero also have zero black playable characters and sparse brown skinned characters.

In fact if you are a Hoyoverse fan in general you got your first two furry characters this year, before any dark black characters.

Like-

We got blue people before black people guys

The Outlook & Excuses

Many players are choosing to quit the game, boycott purchases inside the game, or completely moving on from Hoyoverse entirely. In fact I am one of these players (sorry to my mans Zhongli ]: ). I quit when Sumeru came out because I felt very offended seeing the outlook of colorism in the games as someone who is brown toned.

Some fans of Hoyoverse have tried to defend the company by mentioning how it's an Asian game, and these are simply Asian beauty standards.

So how does Genshin Impact hold up to other anime styled Eastern games? It doesn't... AT ALL.

These pictures all come from other Eastern video game companies, including Fire Emblem, Reverse 1999, Arknights, and Dislyte.

There is no excuse for Hoyoverse.

My Video Game Suggestions

If you're a fan of free gacha games I suggest wholeheartedly Reverse 1999 and Dislyte for their diversity. Arknights is also pretty good.

When it comes to open world games there's hundreds out there, many of which Genshin itself is based off of or has been the inspiration of in the first place; like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Palworld.

For games with anime styles the Persona series, and Fire Emblem are super fun. The Xenoblade series has very similar storytelling to Genshin Impact. There are many other series in development that plan to be similar to Genshin Impact, however most have the same hardcore flaw of zero to sparse dark skinned characters. Keeping an eye on them doesn't hurt though, as the lesson might be learnt before further updates are made.

Anyway, play Reverse 1999 if you want a free mobile game to fill the void Genshin brutally left. May Zhongli rest in peace.

I really like the writing, the animation style, the voice acting can be silly but that's because each character is voiced by native speakers of their background.

There's a tons of lesbians in the game too if that's your thing.

(PS. I judge no one who continues to play Hoyoverse games or holds hope for the future of the franchise)

[darkmaga-returns]

The Vigilant Fox

Nov 25, 2024

10 - Tucker Carlson warns that the Deep State has decided that WW3 is the only way to stop Trump from exposing their crimes.

“Those people, out of options, have decided the only way to stop Trump and... having their crimes revealed is with a world war,” Carlson said.

Carlson explained that Permanent Washington doesn’t care about domestic policy or making the country better. Instead, they only care about foreign policy because “killing people” makes them “feel like God” and “that’s where the money is.”

“I remain deeply concerned that this group, which includes nearly everyone in DC from both parties, wants Trump to take the country to war—either against Russia or, far more likely, Iran,” Carlson warned, emphasizing, “A war with Iran is a world war.”

He explained that Iran is now aligned with some of the world’s largest economies and most powerful militaries. As such, “A war with Iran means a war, in effect or by proxy, with Russia, China, Turkey, and much of the rest of the world. So that’s a world war.”

Meanwhile, despite a mandate from the American people to an end to the war in Ukraine, the current regime is now considering the unthinkable—arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons.

H/T: @TheChiefNerd

(See 9 More Revealing Stories Below)

9 - Whoopi Goldberg unexpectedly SHUTS DOWN co-host’s attempt to fearmonger about Trump before he even takes office.

ANA NAVARRO: “I'm not going to wait and see. I mean, this guy has told us he's a retribution. He's going to be a dictator.”

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: “There's nothing to be done until you know what you're fighting. Pissing in the wind doesn't help—you just get a wet face.”

ANA NAVARRO: “What I'm saying is I have no false expectations that at 78, he's going to, all of a sudden, turn into another human being. I spent weeks telling people that he was apocalyptic. I'm not going to change now.”

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: “You lose credibility in many different ways. If you don't know what you're talking about and you accuse him of something, then they're going to blow it back. That's why I say we need to wait and see.”

8 - Axios CEO melts down over Elon Musk telling 𝕏 users, “You are the media now” — mounts passionate defense of dying legacy media

"My message to Elon Musk is b*llshit. You're not the media!"

The MSNBC panel applauds:

“Social media people lying every day, every hour, every minute about the news, what you do matters. What the New York Times does matters. What the Wall Street Journal does matters."

They are incensed that 𝕏 exposes their lies — one reason their industry is in total collapse.

Credit: https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/1861051982229786713?t=5YrNdN4JT0ZeFU3WVnvvXQ&s=19

7 - Trump Transition Has 59% Approval in CBS News Poll

President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration starts off with mostly good will from the public: a majority of Americans overall are either happy or at least satisfied that he won and are either excited or optimistic about what he'll do as president. 

Trump's handling of his presidential transition gets approval from most Americans overall and brings near-universal approval from his voters, along with a net-positive response about his selections for Cabinet posts, in particular, Sen. Marco Rubio, who is Trump's pick to be secretary of state. 

Overall, Republicans today are more excited about what Trump will do as president now than they were in 2016 when he was first elected.

Read More: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-trump-transition-cabinet-picks-2024-11-24/

6 - Stephen A. Smith admits Democrats got their “ass kicked” this election, and to make matters worse, “they have no bullpen.”

“A blind man could see the Democrats got their ass kicked.”

The problem with the Democrats, Stephen A. says, is that they “greased the skids” on the Democratic process.

While Republicans chose Trump because that’s who they genuinely wanted, Democrats sabotaged Bernie Sanders in 2016 simply because it was Hillary’s “turn.”

Now, the Democrats’ bench is so weak that they seriously entertained running an 82-year-old (Biden) as their top option.

“What are you thinking [with Biden]? And then I looked at the bullpen, and they had no one. They had no one. They had no one that could compete with Donald Trump,” Smith concluded.

While you’re here, don’t forget to subscribe to this page for more daily news roundups.Subscribe

#5 - US officials looking at giving nuclear weapons to Ukraine.

#4 - Australians Stunned by Professor Dalgleish on Sky News: mRNA Vaccines Linked to Unbelievable Damage

Dalgleish minced no words in criticizing the hasty implementation and widespread use of mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

He expressed grave concerns about these vaccines, stating, “These vaccines were not vaccines, particularly the ones that ended up after AstraZeneca with all the clots, and they were shut down. But the messenger RNA vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna have caused unbelievable problems and damage to people, and I don't think we will ever really be able to get over that!”

Click here to read more.

#3 - Rand Paul Warns Denver Mayor Who Threatened Trump on Deportations: You Will Lose, and You Will Be Removed

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) issued a rather stern warning to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D), suggesting that any effort to deny the new administration's mass deportation efforts could result in his removal from office.

Senator Paul concurs with the insurrection label and suggests that the Supreme Court would squash any such effort by Johnston. He further speculates on whether someone like Johnston might face criminal prosecution and predicts he'd likely be removed from office.

Read More: https://redstate.com/rusty-weiss/2024/11/25/rand-paul-warns-denver-mayor-who-threatened-trump-on-deportations-you-will-lose-and-you-will-be-removed-n2182445

#2 - Tucker Carlson makes stunning claim on who is really running the White House.

He told Clayton Morris on Redacted that he used to think Tony Blinken was running the White House. Now, he thinks it has to be Satan himself.

“I really think that you’ve got dark forces in charge.”

Tucker says the only reason the US would approve anti-personnel mines and long-range missiles against Russian forces is to “kill innocents, period.”

“That’s the only effect,” Carlson stressed.

“And they know that. And so they’re doing it anyway because killing is the point. So it’s evil. I think we should say that. I don’t think it’s a matter of defending democracy. The president of Ukraine is not elected. He’s a dictator. He literally passed his term and kept serving,” Carlson continued.

“And that country shut down a Christian denomination — put priests in jail. How many more markers of dictatorship do you need to call it what it is? Which is totalitarian. So everything about it is horrifying.”

#1 - Former Polish Minister Says At Least Half of US Aid Was Laundered by Ukrainians, and Much Was Given to Democrats

Kiev laundered money for the Democrats, taking a cut of what was left over, Piotr Kulpa has claimed President Biden meets with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky at the White House.

Ukraine did not receive as much foreign aid as claimed by the administration of US President Joe Biden, and whatever help it did get was largely embezzled, a former Polish deputy minister has claimed. Up to a half of the funds that reached Kiev was stolen by Ukrainian officials, Piotr Kulpa has alleged.

US aid programs are a mechanism to “write off large sums of money that finance shady systems under the Democratic Party’s control,” he alleged. The incoming Trump administration could review government finances and discover the truth that “Ukraine got very little” compared to the amounts mentioned in public statements, Kulpa claimed.

Read More: https://www.azerbaycan24.com/en/ukrainians-have-stolen-up-to-half-of-us-aid-ex-polish-deputy-minister/

BONUS #1 - Trump to Remove ALL Transgender Personnel from Military on Day One

BONUS #2 - Hillary Clinton exposed in yet another massive hoax.

BONUS #3 - The Greatest Medication You’ve Never Heard of

BONUS #4 - Google AI threatens student with a bone-chilling message.

BONUS #5 - Bill O’Reilly drops a METEOR story, leaving NewsNation panel speechless.

[simply-ivanka]

Biden Leaves His Successor a World of Disorder

His policies have encouraged the advance of U.S. adversaries across the globe.

By The Editorial Board -- Wall Street Journal

President Biden will address the United Nations on Tuesday, in what is likely to be his last big moment on the world stage. A President’s foreign-policy legacy typically outlasts his term, so it’s worth taking a step back and considering the world Mr. Biden will leave his successor.

It is a far more dangerous world than Mr. Biden inherited, and far less congenial for U.S. interests, human freedom and democracy. The latter is tragically ironic since the President has made the global contest between democracy and authoritarians an abiding theme. Authoritarians have advanced on his watch in every part of the world—Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and even the Americas.

***

• Mr. Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was his single most damaging decision, and it has led to cascading trouble. The Taliban control the country and are reimposing feudal Islamist rule. His withdrawal has done more harm to more women than anything in decades, while jihadists have revived their terror sanctuary.

• More damaging is the message his withdrawal sent to adversaries about American will and retreat. The credibility of U.S. deterrence collapsed. Mr. Biden tried to appease Vladimir Putin by blessing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and refusing to arm Ukraine. Mr. Putin concluded he could invade Ukraine at limited cost, especially after Mr. Biden blurted out that a “minor incursion” might not elicit the same Western opposition.

After Kyiv bravely resisted, Mr. Biden sent weapons, but too little and too delayed at every stage of the war. Even now, after 31 months and 100,000 or more dead, Mr. Biden dithers over letting Ukraine use long-range ATACMS against targets inside Russia.

• His record in the Middle East is worse. Rather than build on the Abraham Accords he inherited, he tried to ostracize Saudi Arabia and he banned offensive weapons to fight the Houthis. From the start he courted the mullahs in Iran to renew the 2015 nuclear accord that had enriched Iran before Donald Trump withdrew. He refused to enforce oil sanctions, even as Iran spread mayhem through its proxy militias.

The U.S. was caught flat-footed when Hamas, aided by Iran, invaded Israel and massacred 1,200 innocents. His national-security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had to edit an online version of a Foreign Affairs essay already published boasting that “the region is quieter than it has been for decades.”

Here’s how quiet: Our foremost regional ally is now at war on multiple fronts. Israel’s defensive campaign in Gaza isn’t finished and a new and perhaps bloodier fight is unfolding with Hezbollah. The Houthis have all but shut down Western commercial shipping around the Red Sea, while Mr. Biden makes U.S. naval commanders play whack-a-missile.

Meanwhile, Iran marches undeterred to becoming a nuclear power. The Biden Administration mouths pieties that this is unacceptable, but its every action suggests it believes a nuclear Iran is inevitable and trying to stop it is too risky. When Iran goes nuclear, the security calculus in the world will turn upside down.

• Mr. Biden’s record in the Asia-Pacific is marginally better, at least diplomatically. He has strengthened U.S. alliances against China, especially with Australia, Japan and the Philippines. The Aukus defense deal is important, as is Japan’s move toward closer military integration with the U.S.

Yet diplomacy hasn’t been matched by hard power. The U.S. isn’t building enough submarines to meet its Aukus commitment and U.S. needs. American bases lack adequate air defenses and long-range missiles to defeat a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. State Department foot-stomping hasn’t stopped Chinese harassment of Philippine ships.

• Closer to home, Venezuela’s dictator has predictably stolen another election, exposing the Biden Administration’s deal to ease oil sanctions as naive. Mexico is tilting in an authoritarian direction without U.S. protest. Cuba continues to spread revolution wherever it can. The resulting human suffering reaches America in the flood of migrants that now burden our cities, from Manhattan to Springfield, Ohio.

• Most ominous is the collaboration of these menacing regional powers into a new anti-Western axis. Iran supplies missiles and drones to Moscow, which may be supplying nuclear know-how to Tehran. China is aiding Moscow, which now joins Beijing in naval maneuvers. North Korea also arms Moscow while being protected by China from United Nations sanctions it once voted for.

***

All of this and more adds up to the worst decline in world order, and the largest decline in U.S. influence, since the 1930s. Yet Mr. Biden continues to speak and act as if he’s presided over an era of spreading peace and prosperity. He has proposed a cut in real defense spending each year of his Presidency, which may be his greatest abdication.

Addressing this gathering storm will be difficult and dangerous. The first task will be restoring U.S. deterrence, which will require more hard power and political will. Whoever wins the White House will have to abandon the failed policies of the Biden years, lest we end up careening into a global conflict with catastrophic consequences.

Appeared in the September 23, 2024, print edition as 'How Freedom Faded on Biden’s Watch'

REPOST THIS EVERY TIME

[0solvmanidoo]

Unfortunately many people who voted for trump are going to find out that everything is about to get worse for them.

The working class who all loved trump are about to find out that trump is going to get rid of unions, not raise minimum wages, those tariffs are going to make everything even more expensive, I’m assuming trump is going to let even more investment firms and corporations buy up single family homes, taxes are going to go up, overtime pay will be gone, osha will be gone, workers rights are going to get trashed, regulations will be gone and people will die because of it.

All those working people who think trump will help the economy or help the working class are going to learn the hard way.

I also fully expect us to end up in a war and many of those trump supporting young men will be conscripted into it and die.

I do not expect anything to be better than it is now and I expect Palestinians won’t be the only people to get attacked ruthlessly while trump is in power.

I honestly believe we may get in a war with one of these countries; Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Mexico, or even China.

It will suck and so many lives will be lost because of it.

[dragoneyes618]

There’s a popular slogan in Israel that appears on car stickers, jewelry and suchlike: Ein Li Eretz Acheret, “I have no other country.” The phrase comes from the title of an iconic and extremely moving song written by Ehud Manor, with music composed by Corinne Allal, and originally recorded in 1986 by Gali Atari; we will mention those names again later. Its opening lines and chorus are Ain li eretz acharet, gam im admati bo’eret, “I have no other country, even if my land is burning.”

A neighbor of mine, who was experiencing considerable war anxiety about the land burning, told me that he didn’t relate to it at all. He said, “But I do have another country. I can go back to Teaneck!” And he said that if things got worse, he would seriously consider doing so.

At the beginning of the war, I was wondering the same thing. I do have another country – two, actually. I have UK citizenship and my wife has U.S. citizenship, and our children have both. Maybe we should go back to live somewhere safer? One of the commentators on the previous post was talking about Lakewood as being a safe and excellent place to live with a rich Jewish life.

Now I could continue by talking about how special and beneficial it is to live in Israel, about how it’s both the Promised Land and our historic homeland, about how it’s the only country with Jewish sovereignty. Which would all be true. But there’s a different point that I want to discuss in this post.

Yes, I do have another country that I could go to (though it wouldn’t be at all straightforward, especially for my children). So do lots of people in Ramat Beit Shemesh and the rest of Israel.

But there’s also lots and lots and lots of people who don’t.

There are millions of Jews in Israel who just don’t have anywhere else to go. There are those who simply don’t have the money for it and would find it too difficult to find employment in a country where they don’t even speak the language. There are those who are too old or ill or who have young children that would suffer from a move. There are those who have crucial responsibilities here. There are those who are just too deeply embedded here.

Even more to the point, there are also millions of Jews who literally don’t have any passport other than their Israeli one. What other country will let them in? The Jews who came from Iran and Egypt and Syria and Yemen are certainly not able to go back to those countries! Nor are Russia and many European countries a safe place for Jews. And even countries which are relatively safe and allow some immigration are not going to accept millions of Jews (and if they did, those countries would likely quickly become not very safe for Jews).

In fact, that’s one of the main reasons why Israel came to exist in the first place. As antisemitism grew in Europe, many Jews realized that they needed to get out, but simply had nowhere to go. Twenty years before the Holocaust, at least 100,000 Jews were massacred in pogroms in the Ukraine, which also created 600,000 Jewish international refugees and millions more who were displaced and threatened.

At this point, many people realized that an even greater catastrophe might happen. But the countries to which the largest numbers of Jewish refugees were fleeing all revised their immigration policies to prevent further Jewish immigration. This included not only Poland and Germany (which obviously wouldn’t have been a good long-term solution anyway), but also the United States, Argentina, and British Palestine. In the U.S., Henry Ford’s newspaper published pamphlets about the Jewish problem, claiming that the national debt was Jewish-inspired to enslave Americans and other such hateful slurs to keep Jews out.

Then things got even worse in Europe, with the rise of Hitler. Some people managed to get out. The parents of Ehud Manor, writer of Ain Li Eretz Acheret, fled Belarus and managed to get into Palestine.

Yet still no country was willing to take in millions of Jews. The U.S. convened the Évian conference, bringing together 32 countries to find a home for Jewish refugees. But aside from the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, no country, including the U.S., was willing to accept Jewish refugees in any remotely significant number. Consequently, millions of Jews were killed in Europe.

And even after the horrors of the Holocaust, many Jewish survivors still had nowhere to go! Some of them went back to their home towns in Poland and were killed in a pogrom. Others languished in Displaced Persons camps for years, some of which were actually in concentration camps. My late mother-in-law spent the first years of her life in a DP camp; her parents were lucky enough to have a relative in the U.S. who eventually managed to bring them over, but most Jews did not have such an option.

Many Jews, very understandably, realized that a Jewish homeland was needed. It wasn’t about it necessarily being the safest place for a Jew to live. Everyone always knew that Palestine was in a hostile and dangerous part of the world, and that there would be a challenge with the resident Arabs (though it was generally assumed that some sort of compromise would be worked out; there was no broad plan to drive them out). And on the eve of the War of Independence, it was assessed that there was only a 50-50 chance of survival!

Israel has not yet been, and still is not, the safest place in the world for Jews. But not everyone has the option to live in the safest place in the world – many people just need somewhere that is safer than where they currently live. And in any case, having a homeland is not about attaining the greatest safety – it is about having a home, a place that Jews historically belong, a place that Jews can always come to when they fear persecution or experience discrimination, where we can take responsibility for our own safety, and where we can put being Jewish into action and expression.

While Israel won the War of Independence – at a cost of 1% of its population – this created a crisis for nearly a million Jews in Muslim countries, who were persecuted and had to make immediate use of Israel as a refuge. The parents of Gali Atari, singer of Ain Li Eretz Acheret, fled Yemen for Israel, while composer Corinne Allal’s family fled from Tunisia. But it should be born in mind that even if Israel had not come into existence, the existence of Jews in Muslim lands was difficult and very precarious.

And so we reach the situation that we are in today. Israel is home to over seven million Jews. Most of them do not have another country to go to, even if they wanted to (which they don’t). Ain lahem eretz acheret.

(As Haviv Rettig Gur notes, this is the fundamental mistake made by many Palestinians and their supporters, who believe that they can rid of the Jews with violence just as the Algerians successfully used violence to get the French colonialists to go back to France. They don’t grasp that most Jews just don’t have a country to go back to, and thus violence won’t achieve anything and will even be counter–productive.)

Now, there are some Jews who only look at things in terms of their own personal interests. “Where is a safe place for me to live? What is a spiritually safe environment for my children?” And if, as a result, others are less safe physically and spiritually and have to take on an even larger cost to their families and jobs and religious life, then that’s just too bad.

But others feel a sense of responsibility to the rest of our people. It’s not “me” and “them” – it’s us. The correct formulation is not ain li eretz acharet or ain lahem eretz acharet. It’s ain lanu eretz acheret.

Millions of Jews need Israel. And Israel needs a strong army and a strong economy to finance it and a flourishing national Jewish life. Each and every one of us has a responsibility to help with that.

[lekosis]

I feel like not enough people who are choosing to withhold a vote for Harris because of Palestine understand that that stance is gambling with millions of lives

I'm 100% in agreement that more, much more, pressure needs to be put on the democratic party to do better. The genocide in Palestine is horrific, unconscionable, and *will get much much worse* under Trump

Harris has a strong likelihood of continuing to respond to the pressure we put on her (just like Obama did about gay marriage legalization--recall he was opposed when he was first elected). Meanwhile Trump is actively on the phone with Natenyahu on a regular basis planning how to "finish the job"

Using your vote as a pressure tactic is a huge risk and if the gamble doesn't pay off, we get four more years of

-climate denialism causing increasingly horrific natural disasters that have already killed thousands, if not millions, of people

-Trumpism spreading to more countries as the far right outside of the US is emboldened by him, as is already happening in Canada and Europe

-hostile and clumsy foreign relations, like the nuclear weapons treaty with Iran signed by Obama that Trump immediately dismantled

-an increase in Russia's influence, and probably the cease of support to Ukraine

-worsening conditions in Palestine because Trump frequently and explicitly expresses that he's in support of Israel and would happily help them bomb Gaza himself

-immigrants to the US being detained in horrific conditions, abused by border patrol/ICE, or sent back to countries where their lives are in clear and present danger

And that's just international issues. We in the US are privileged to be much safer than the people of many other countries, but Trump still killed THOUSANDS of Americans through Covid denialism, mobilizing and militarizing police forces against Black Lives Matter and other activist groups, and a massive rise in hate crimes thanks to him chumming it up with klan members on Twitter and TV

Harris can be pushed further left, but Trump has proven he won't be stopped by reason or morality. If you gamble with your vote please just understand the stakes

[old-school-butch]

Opportunities for moderates in the middle east this week

Apparently the Iranian regime says it will shut out any moderates from running for office, (the clerics have the right to veto all candidates). But it's doubtful any replacement will be as brutal in stomping on the Iranian people as Raisi was - he tortured and murdered thousands of dissidents while in power.

Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed al-Masri and Ismail Haniyeh are accused of eight crimes including extermination, murder, rape, torture and the taking of hostages - all war crimes filmed by Hamas fighters as they happily carried out their orders. That case should be easy.

Netanyahu is accused of allowing starvation, and he will squirm at the charges leveled at him and say there's no moral equivalent with Hamas BUT this is the price Israel pays for backing away from their commitment to a 2 state solution. If Palestine can't be a self-governing state, Israel remains the de facto occupying country. While that's a technically legal occupation of territory captured in a defensive war, Israel will remain responsible for its population until the war ends or a separate state is created. It's reprehensible that Hamas, PLO, PA and Iran have NEVER been willing to recognize Israel, but after Israeli PM Rabin was assassinated by a radical Israeli settler for signing the Oslo accords, Netanyahu has walked back Israel's commitment to a 2 state solution. Which creates a legal problem - Israel is the only recognized government in a region where Hamas has de facto control, and since Hamas has no interest in its people's lives, it's up to Israel to safeguard them as best they can even as they fight with Hamas. I think this is one of the many traps Israel has fallen into.

Israel has never conducted a war more than a few weeks long, and never with so many civilians in the way, and that inexperience has contributed to their aid efforts being a chaotic, ineffective disaster. The U.S. is risking a LOT by building the floating dock - Blinken deserves more credit for repeatedly dragging everyone to the negotiating table and trying to defuse the situation as best he can.

Westerners get the 'bad Israel is doing genocide' agitation from the psyop media interference, but don't realize that Israeli radicals are also being whipped up to attack Palestinians in the West Bank and blockade aid into Gaza because 'it's the only way to free the hostages.' As usual, Russia and Iran's ultimate goal is to make the situation worse and fracture democracies, and unfortunately this tactic keeps working.

But in a bright note, the moderate voices are gaining strength despite all the political interference.

Now if only the American protestors would chant for peace (not just a ceasefire), for a two-state solution (not the erasure of Israel), and for mutual state recognition and reconciliation. I might even join you.