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London without Ninjas will not be the same..

Rumor is that US Hedge Funds are already asking the federal government to prepare for a bailout. The last time that the US government bailed out hedge funds was when they bailed out basis trades. Basically, hedge funds are getting reliable profits from tiny differences between Treasuries and derivatives, but this is only profitable as long as the government bails you out when you would be taking a loss. Last time a government bailout of this sector happened was 2019/2020. Imagine playing in a casino and when you lose, the government covers that, but you are free to walk away with any winnings.

Pretty good article. Especially the conclusion.

• Ken Klippenstein's "Iran War" by Evan Carroll

Spoiler: we're not at war with Iran, and the empire is doing nothing new... yet anyway

...

I will focus on three articles as a body of work and argue that they create a false sensationalist narrative that can only exist in a vacuum devoid of context.

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What I see in the above three articles is a desire to conflate being at war, undergoing special preparations for war, and the Empire’s routine bellicose statecraft. This gives readers a near existential-threat which widens the window of acceptable non-war responses, and distracts from other material issues.

...

The goal here isn’t to defend Trump. It’s to refocus liberals that I feel would otherwise run around pretending like they’re hippie pacifists, all while defending a genocide in Palestine. If you don’t want a War with Iran, and you want an explicit and principled anti-war peace ticket, you need to look at least as far left as the Green Party. Rest assured, the GOP’s rhetoric is always going to be threats and chest pounding. The Democratic rhetoric is always going to trail the GOP by a single hair.

This USA is in bed with Israel and Saudi Arabia both of which view Iran as an existential threat. If The Empire continues to exist in its current form, war will never be off the table and there will always be well maintained plans for a nuclear strike on Iran. A strike which will result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands with an invasion that will easily kill a million. At least until a Mullah figures out how to refine enough Uranium to secure the regime.

If you think Trump is the worst president ever, you’re wrong. George W. Bush ran circles around Trump. I remember George W. Bush. When we’re seriously considering a war with Iran, they’ll bring back Section 9528 of No Child Left Behind (2002) or some similar Obama-era nonsense with a nicer veneer. Then we will again have military recruiters at our high school lunch tables. I remember those days. Iran won’t be a cake walk. If and when we get serious, we’ll give high school kids invitations to the imperial meat grinder.

Good stuff on the rhetoric, nuclear doctrine, etc. in the elided sections. But this summarizes the essence of the message, I think.

The Constitutional Court has denied Afriforum's appeal and stated that the song "Kill the Boer" does not constitute hate speech. L bozos

Speaking of Bozo, as in the likely upcoming US ambassador, he's probably going to declare the Constitutional Court and everyone of the 200,000 people living within a kilometer of the courthouse as Hamas

Kill the Boer, Kill the Settler. BRRAAAT BRRRRAAAAAT

Death to ameriKKKa

New: Rubio confirmed he revoked the visa of the Tufts student and said he likely has revoked the visas of hundreds more. “We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take way their visas." The total # of revoked visas “might be more than 300 at this point." The student had co-authored an opinion column on Gaza in the student newspaper. Rubio was asked what she did to merit her visa being revoked, but did not offer specifics to her case, only suggesting that his criteria goes beyond writing columns.

https://x.com/John_Hudson/status/1905315517642281226

https://xcancel.com/John_Hudson/status/1905315517642281226

Asked if they have any intelligence to suggest foreign backing for pro-Palestinian college protests, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard tells Congress, "there are some assessments that reflect that and we can talk about that in the closed session."

https://x.com/kenklippenstein/status/1905111743711289707

https://xcancel.com/kenklippenstein/status/1905111743711289707

There is a clear moment here to cast Zionism as a direct threat to "American liberties" (I know a lot of people here won't phrase like that but it is what it is) but I highly doubt any Democrats have the spine to push it.

In the Netherlands (ruled by a fascist coalition government) a bill sponsored by the neolib social democrat leader of the biggest opposition party (GL-PvdA) to help fund Radio Free Europe to make up for the loss of US funds was passed. Even the Socialist Party voted in favor. The only parties who opposed it were the CDA (right-wing Christian democrats), FVD (fascists), and PVV (fascists).

After ex-President Jair Bolsonaro was formally charged with leading an armed criminal organization to plot a military coup by the Supreme Court today, he said, "discussing hypotheses isn't a crime." Not only is he wrong, he's confessed again. I'll explain why here: Bolsonaro's argument that merely discussing a coup is not illegal fails because:

1. Intent matters: If discussions involve planning, recruitment, or incitement, they cross into criminal conspiracy.

2. National security laws do not require the coup to succeed—preparatory acts (like organizing meetings, securing weapons, or drafting plans) are already crimes;

3. Brazilian courts have ruled that even theoretical planning can be punishable if it shows a concrete threat to democracy.

In Tokyo, Brazil's President Lula said there's no use for ex-President Bolsonaro to pretend he's being persecuted. "It's clear that the ex-president tried to stage a coup in Brazil. It is clear that he tried to help plan my assassination. "and the assassinations of the vice president and the former president of the Brazilian Electoral Court. [...] He knows what he did. There's no use begging for amnesty before the trial, that amounts to saying, 'I'm guilty.' He should focus on trying to prove his innocence."

Twitter

Dead Letters: Neoliberalism Kills Mail Delivery In Denmark

Postal services in the Nordic hermit kingdom will cease at the end of this year after 401 years of continuous operations. Postal operator PostNord, a neoliberal "run it like a business" abomination jointly owned by the Danish and Swedish states, has announced that it is no longer profitable to distribute letters and that they will end the service. The iconic red letterboxes will be removed from the streets, postage stamps will no longer be issued and 1.500 mail carriers will be fired.

Imma be honest, courts in developing countries have more teeth than this.

https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1905604580957729119