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Image is of Trudeau and Trump together at Mar-a-Lago in November 2024. Source is here.
The Liberals, headed by Trudeau, have not been doing so hot lately. Polls have been rather poor, showing the party far behind the Conservatives, and the Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland (an outspoken apologist for Ukrainian Nazis) resigned recently, with more MPs following her lead. Trump's return to power has shaken the Canadian establishment due to his threats to impose massive tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which will have substantial economic consequences given that Canada sends most of its exports to the US, compounding the economic malaise that has affected most of the world over the last few years.
With all this bad news, there are rumors and reports that Trudeau will soon resign, ending his nine years of rule. His fall would be yet another casualty in the wave of incumbent parties falling across the imperial core, only to be replaced by more conservative parties that have very similar policies but wish to cast all blame and hardship onto minorities.
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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.
This is your problem now, Jack! 
https://news.antiwar.com/2025/01/08/biden-administration-will-not-revoke-hts-terror-designation/
US officials told the Post that the decision about the terrorist designation will now be up to the Trump administration. They said HTS must show that it has really broken from al-Qaeda for the designation to be lifted, though HTS’s history did not stop the US from supporting the HTS takeover of Syria.
Honestly cool, I like dropping the little factoid during discussions about syria
I really get the sense that there's some kind of directive out to downplay natural disasters in the media in the US in recent years. It used to be something like the LA fires or Hurricane Helene destroying parts of NC would get days-long media extravaganzas - it was a good way to boost viewership and grab attention. Now the reporting is present, but kind of pushed off below the fold. I think maybe whoever does the soft censorship when it comes to geopolitics etc.. is suppressing US natural disaster coverage, maybe to prevent people from freaking out over climate change? Maybe to combat the general feeling of malaise and dysfunction settling in?
Am I crazy or do any of you get the same impression?
In Australia after the massive bushfires a few years back, the right wing /mainstream narrative afterwards was that it wasn’t the fault of climate change, but rather of green environmentalists preserving forests too much and thus creating more dangerous fires
Is it that, or is it that these things have become so frequent that people are now inured to them?
Also:
We live in a world where everyone is immersed in their own media bubble. People aren't watching news/linear TV like they used to. Streaming has upended the social cohesion that linear TV once provided. It's yet another means of alienation.
This is propaganda, right? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_International
They were spreading a story about a woman taking off someone’s head covering and it stunk of “reports from North Korea say that Kim is eating everyone’s hair”
Headquarters: London, UK
Hires from:, voa, a radio free offshoot, yeah I saw some clues
It appears Richmond, VA has no tap water after a winter storm caused cascading power failures (grid and back-up) at a water treatment facility, causing the facility to be flooded. Grocery stores are selling out of potable water and other beverages. Real Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic hours.
Twitter: https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/1877175191891013921 / Nitter: https://xcancel.com/DropSiteNews/status/1877175191891013921
In a dire turn of events, reports emerging from America US indicate that the city of Richmond, located in the troubled nation's Virginia province, has been plunged into chaos following a catastrophic failure at a water treatment facility. The incident, triggered by a winter storm, has left residents without access to tap water after both the main power grid and backup systems failed, causing widespread flooding at the facility.
Observers note that this is yet another symptom of America’s crumbling infrastructure, a result of decades of economic mismanagement and neglect. The once-great superpower now finds itself grappling with basic utilities, a stark reminder of its decline.
As desperate citizens flock to grocery stores, shelves are rapidly being stripped of potable water and other essentials, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis. Images of long lines and empty shelves are raising concerns about the American regime's ability to provide for its people.
Despite the mounting crisis, the central government in Washington remains indifferent to the suffering of its civilian population. Instead, it continues to funnel astronomical sums into its bloated military, prioritizing weapons and warfare over the basic needs of its own people.
You gotta call police STATE SECURITY FORCES somewhere in there.
Holywood hills has caught fire now and it’s expanding rapidly and literally as I type this a small spot fire just popped up adjacent to it so… damn
Hasan just has to pick up Will Neff on stream and might have to evac himself should the fire continue to spread.
This looks very not good
A fifth fire has started in Los Angeles in the West Hollywood hills. Already at 10 acres and spreading downhill towards Hollywood Blvd.
https://ktla.com/on-air/live-streaming/
https://www.foxla.com/live (CW: fox news link)
City of Pasadena says water is unsafe to drink
What should I do?
DO NOT DRINK YOUR TAP WATER---USE ONLY BOTTLED WATER. Bottled water should be used for all drinking (including baby formula and juice), brushing teeth, washing dishes, making ice and food preparation until further notice. This also applies to pets and domestic animals.
DO NOT TRY AND TREAT THE WATER YOURSELF. Boiling, freezing, filtering, adding chlorine or other disinfectants, or letting water stand will not make the water safe
edit: LADWP says similar things for Pacific Palisades
Debating with my roommates today on if this applies to our water or not. I wish they were a bit more clear on specifically what parts of the city are contaminated
There is apparently a 6th fire now in Studio City.
What the fuck.
You learn something new everyday. I was reading a China doomerism article on Naked Capitalism today which I have some issues with and won’t be commenting on, but I came across this quote supposedly from Xi Jinping:
To promote common prosperity, we cannot engage in ‘welfarism.’ In the past, high welfare in some populist Latin American countries fostered a group of ‘lazy people’ who got something for nothing. As a result, their national finances were overwhelmed, and these countries fell into the ‘middle income trap’ for a long time. Once welfare benefits go up, they cannot come down. It is unsustainable to engage in ‘welfarism’ that exceeds our capabilities. It will inevitably bring about serious economic and political problems.
At first, I thought this must be some Western propaganda smear and maybe mistranslation. Then I looked it up, turns out it’s real… It was actually published in Qiushi (CPC’s theory website) back in 2022 on an article titled “To correctly identify and grasp the major theoretical and practical issues of our country’s development” based on Xi’s speech to the Central Economic Work Committee in December 2021:
(the exact quote in Chinese)
要完善公共服务政策制度体系。促进共同富裕，不能搞“福利主义”那一套。当年一些拉美国家搞民粹主义，高福利养了一批“懒人”和不劳而获者，结果国家财政不堪重负，落入“中等收入陷阱”，长期不能自拔。福利待遇上去了就下不来了，搞超出能力的“福利主义”是不可持续的，必然会带来严重的经济和政治问题！
—-
This actually explains why China has been so reluctant to just give people money directly to boost consumption. Turns out this neoliberal brainrot is deeper than I thought (I have been defending Xi all this while and now I am getting disappointed) - they really believe that giving people money is bad and you can only create the money after earning the revenues from selling stuff first.
It makes total sense now why China has been struggling to boost domestic consumption since Covid and why the central bank doesn’t simply inject the money.
Because handout is bad! People will turn lazy if they get free money without work! What the fuck, China! How is this different from your typical GOP rhetoric?
Just give people the fucking money and at least half of the problems will be solved.
Welfare always struck me as a "capitalist solution to capitalist problems" that was unnecessary with a proper constitution and jobs guaranteed for all by the state; insofar as that is a warranted appraisal, a criticism of welfare is nothing more than a criticism of the various organs which keep capitalism on prolonged life-support.
That said, as China is market-socialism, it is concerning rhetoric from the leadership unless they are planning to implement a more USSR style economy in the not-so-distant future.
Reminds me of an interview I was watching where Michael Hudson was talking about the issue of CPC members (or maybe he was just talking about wealthy Chinese) sending their kids to western schools and warned that this would mean they would learn western economics and bring those ideas back home
Just last month, there was an outrage on Chinese social media when Yi Gang, the former head of China’s central bank, remarked in an interview during the Beijing-Tokyo Forum that “economically, China should not retaliate against the US economic warfare” and it sparked an outrage so bad that media reports on it have since been removed and we only got fragments of it remained on English outlet like SCMP that doesn’t quite capture the controversy:
“We all understand that, from an economics perspective, [retaliatory actions are] never a good choice,” Yi said at the annual Beijing-Tokyo Forum in Tokyo. “But there’s not much policymakers can do about that” in the face of mounting domestic pressure and rising concerns among international industry players.
…
Against such a backdrop, “as policy advisers, we should speak up for the benefits of free trade”, Yi said, calling it the easiest way to boost the world’s economic growth.
lol
These are the people who have been running the country lol. Our University of Illinois PhD alumnus certainly knows not to bite the hand that once fed him, and I’m sure he’s proud of the fact that he’s learned from the very best.
"They got notifications yesterday that their homes probably burned to the ground...but, the good news is, I'm a great-grandfather as of today."
Genocide Joe, everyone!
Destroyed German tank in Kursk, Russia, surrounded by dead sunflowers. Symbolic.
you know, of all the elements I thought would get LA in the end, I'd have presumed earth and then maybe water before fire.
COVID Year 6: Return of the Mask
I listened to some of Death Panel's "COVID Year Five" podcast episode a few days ago, so this timing is peak.