news

I wonder how serious those talks with Hamas are

German borrowing costs soar by most since 1997 on ‘historic’ debt deal

https://www.ft.com/content/1886054a-3ff3-4186-bcf9-8dba9b206a56

The capitalists really love military spending. They are soying so hard.

Also, when German yields rise ("safest") , other Euro countries rise even more.

Petro wins, US military deportation flights suspended

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-deportation-flights-paused-cost-c37c577a

Graphic design is my passion

Response to an older comment made on one of my posts: Yes Taiwan has a powerful lobby in poorer countries that tend to be borderline if not outright US vassals. Guatemala is one of them. Think AIPAC but on a much smaller scale. It’s still enough to make Guatemala submit. China does not have much of a foothold here and doesn’t really do much to bribe us, if at all. Taiwan is known to have an aggressive lobby in the Pacific Island countries too.

The so called european so called court of so called human so called rights (ECHR) rejected presidential candidate georgescu's appeal against the annulment of the recent so called romanian so called presidential elections

jdpon chuck joins the crusade against the dollar

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-357-legitimate-maneuver

big brain maneuvering of germans to abolish debt brake before new government

1-trump says stupid shit

2-the stocks go down

3-buy low

4-backpedals

5-the stocks go back up, they sell.

6-profit

It do be like that. Very rational much efficiency

The Estonian Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the phrase "From the River to the Sea" falls under protected speech. - Estonian Human Rights Centre (English page)

Some takeaways according to the article and court ruling include that the average Estonian is ignorant of stuff happening outside the and that umm... it cost nearly €10,000 to come to that conclusion, lmfao even

Meanwhile, completely legal for 30 years protests in South Africa be like:

Trial against ousted president Pedro Castillo begins in Peru

News comm post

A story of success

Massive blackout in Buenos Aires leaves more than half a million without power

More than 600,000 people were left without electricity Wednesday as massive power outage hits Buenos Aires and its southern suburbs – event the Casa Rosada was affected.

A massive blackout affected neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires City (CABA) and the southern suburbs of the capital on Wednesday amid sweltering temperatures. Several power on Wednesday left some 620,000 users without electricity in Greater Buenos Aires – including the Casa Rosada.

Meanwhile temperatures soared above 35 degrees Celsius, with the famous 'sensación térmica' heat index touching 44°C, with a yellow alert issued for "extreme temperatures." Electricity firm Edesur, which serves the southern part of Buenos Aires, stated on X that "a failure occurred in a high-voltage line," affecting multiple substations. The blackout followed another massive one recorded in the early hours of Wednesday.

By mid-afternoon, service had been restored to 70 percent of those affected, while around 200,000 customers remained without power, a spokesperson from the Energy Secretariat told the AFP news agency. At the peak of the outage, some 622,000 users had experienced the cut, said the spokesperson.

The blackout, which even affected the Casa Rosada presidential palace, hit more than a dozen neighbourhoods in the city's centre and south. Disruption was observed at dozens of intersections as traffic lights failed and traffic jams developed. Subte metro services were suspended, with some travellers left in carriages between tunnels.

A large part of the Barracas neighbourhood, in the south of the city, spent hours without electricity amid the sweltering heat. People stepped outside to cool off or sought shade on the street. Some shopkeepers set up petrol-powered generators at the entrances to their businesses. Petrol stations saw queues of people lining up with jerrycans to fill up. Gilda Ávila, an employee at a laundrette in Barracas, lamented that she couldn't use the washing machines.

"I have a ton of clothes to deliver. And in this heat, it's unbearable. Prices keep rising, and nothing gets better," said the 39-year-old woman. In 2024, electricity rates in Buenos Aires rose by 268 percent while inflation reached 117.8 percent, according to a report from the University of Buenos Aires and the scientific institute CONICET – the impact of the removal of large subsidies for public utilities. "This morning, we had to throw away a lot of merchandise," 35-year-old butcher Eduardo Marecos. "We pay nearly a million [pesos a month] for electricity, so going through this is awful."

milei promised we'll be "like Germany" in about 35 years or so, uh... guys.., is he pulling another scam?

Two companies are responsible for energy distribution in Buenos Aires and it's surroundings: Edenor and Edesur, both are born out of the "Shock Therapy" of the early 90s, part of the massive wave of privatizations carried out at the orders of the IMF. Therefore, the entire grid is privatized and there is little to no incentive to invest because money line goes down.

Privatization will be considered a crime against humanity in the future and all who carried out privatizations will be executed by firing squad.

Update on my Russiagate brained dad who called me like 9/11 just happened when Trump yelled at Zelenskyy:

He texted me asking if I know who Jeffery Sachs is. As has been posted here, he's an economist who recently appeared before EU parliament and told the truth about Ukraine.

My dad said he agrees with Sachs' suggestion that the EU stop relying on the US for security and improve economic ties with Russia.

He also apparently just learned from Sachs that no, Russia isn't going to invade Europe for no good reason. Something I've been trying to tell him for a while.

No idea why the sudden change. Maybe he turned off MSNBC for once. Have any succdem independent media guys like Sam Seder or something mentioned Sachs recently? That's probably where he would have heard about him.

Jdpon don stands in solidarity with the oppressed, while aim can’t drop those dipshits

The leaders of Latin America have moved to block the appointment of Paraguay's foreign minister to the OAS General Secretariat. This is because Rúben Ramírez is seen as sympathetic to Trumpism and his presidency could become an ideological arm of Trump here.

The movement gained momentum after Brazil withdrew its support for Paraguay's candidacy and backed Suriname's bid for the OAS General Secretariat. Other countries, such as Chile and Uruguay, have embarked on supporting Suriname. With no votes, Paraguay had to withdraw its candidacy for the General Secretariat, overturning Trump's likely influence in the regional body. The withdrawal of the candidacy was confirmed by Paraguayan President Santiago Peña on X.

• Telegram

As even some liberal news outlets have said, the US still finances and controls the OAS, this is more or less just a symbolic victory, just to show that the leaders can organize diplomatic stuff against Trump.

Sheinbaum talked JDPON Don into delaying tariffs on most Mexican goods until April 2

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/trump-administration-floats-exemptions-tariffs-canadian-mexican-goods-rcna195110

I have it in good authority through my job that the Trump admin has dropped ~150 white collar crime investigations/prosecutions since taking office. There were dropped essentially as a matter of policy and not due to lack of evidence. It seems that we are likely entering a new era of scamming and financial crimes.

Since the megathread is about the greek train scandal and crash i'll maybe make an exaustive post describing how deep the corruption goes but as a note since im seeing again a lot of "omg based" reactions to footage of "protestors" clashing with the police in left twitter and such here is a reminder, especially for the west:

In Greece and in a lot of western countries these "black bloc" violent clashes with the police are very often directly started & instigated or even fully done by some dozens of undercover cops and state paid agent provocateurs to, for one give an excuse to the cops to tear gas and break up the larger crowd of the actual protests and beat innocent people up, to scare everyday people from attending protests in the future ,especially people of older age and families with Kids and of course paint a violent picture of the mass actions later in the media, making it the focal point. Some dumbass anarchists and maybe some other lumpen usualy join the fun and stone and molotov throwing after the cops vs undercover cops etc instigate the party.

So its not "wow based expression of worker and anti-state rage" when you see some dumbass molotov suspiciously always falling short of a cop in some footage from Greece or wherever. In this case it was a gladio like tension stretegy made to ruin a mass protest and strike of a million people in Athens alone, organized and pushed by a lot of communist adjustent unions and worker centers that undermines any possible revolutionary leftist cause. Im not saying its the rule and for example the clashes in the yellow vest protests couple of years ago should be painted with the same brush without analysis. But its something to always have that at the back of your head as a leftists attending protests and observing and analysis mass movements

Derek Chauvin: Ben Shapiro launches effort to pardon Derek Chauvin - CNN

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has publicly called for the president to pardon former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for federal crimes related to George Floyd’s 2020 death – drawing derision from the Minnesota attorney general who helped put Chauvin in prison but amplification from one of Trump’s most powerful advisers.

Shapiro’s proposal could spring to mind several questions, including: “Could a president do that?” (Answer: Yes); and, “What would it matter, since Chauvin also is in prison on state charges?” (Answer: It’s complicated).

Shapiro’s effort to solicit a pardon for Chauvin, a White man convicted of murdering a Black man in a case that sparked massive nationwide protests over the way police treat people of color, comes amid the Trump administration’s efforts to push back on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and what some see as gains made toward racial justice since Floyd’s death.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump touted his administration’s forceful crackdown on DEI programs, and vowed “our country will be woke no longer.” And a congressman recently introduced a bill that would withhold some federal funding in Washington, DC, if the mayor does not remove the district’s Black Lives Matter mural and rename the eponymous plaza located near the White House.

In an interview with CNN Thursday, one of Floyd’s brothers, Terrence, said the call to pardon Chauvin has been hard for his relatives who have slowly begun to heal five years after George’s death. “We were supposed to see progress,” Terrence Floyd said. “So many people promised things, especially if we (are) going to go with the DEI, so many things was promised to us as a people – not just to Black and brown people – as a people. And they’re backpedaling.”

Here’s what Shapiro has called for, how some have reacted, and what experts say could come of it: Shapiro casts Chauvin’s conviction as an injustice

At the end of Tuesday’s episode of his video podcast “The Ben Shapiro Show,” Shapiro called for Trump to pardon Chauvin of his federal conviction, essentially arguing, counter to what a state jury found, that Chauvin wasn’t responsible for Floyd’s death.

The roughly three-minute segment, which Shapiro also posted on X, urges viewers to sign a petition asking Trump to consider a federal pardon. Elon Musk, the billionaire helping lead Trump’s government efficiency initiatives, later reposted Shapiro’s segment, writing it’s “something to think about.”

Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck and back for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020, after officers responded to reports suspecting Floyd used a counterfeit $20 at a Minneapolis corner store. Floyd, 46, was handcuffed and lying face down on a street as he repeatedly pleaded, “I can’t breathe.” He was eventually taken away by an ambulance and declared dead at a hospital, authorities said.

A county medical examiner ruled Floyd’s death a homicide and identified the cause as “cardiopulmonary arrest” that occurred during “law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” – findings he stood by at Chauvin’s trial. Heart disease and fentanyl use were contributing factors but not the direct cause, the medical examiner testified.

In April 2021, a Minnesota jury found Chauvin guilty on state charges of unintentional murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison on those state charges, and the US Supreme Court later rejected his appeal of the state conviction.

In June 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of depriving Floyd of his civil rights, and also depriving a 14-year-old of his civil rights by using excessive force in a separate 2017 case. Chauvin is now serving both terms concurrently.

When Shapiro addressed the case in Tuesday’s podcast, he conceded at the outset that pardoning Chauvin would be “incredibly controversial.” “But I think it’s absolutely necessary,” he said.

Chauvin shouldn’t have been convicted of murder, Shapiro argued, in part asserting some of what Chauvin’s defense attorney had claimed at trial: that Floyd died of factors other than Chauvin’s intervention, including preexisting health conditions.

Shapiro also argued “there was massive overt pressure on the jury to return a guilty verdict regardless of the evidence.” Floyd’s death and Chauvin’s conviction, Shapiro said, “led to vast chaos and it led to the destruction of racial comity in the United States.”

The White House declined to comment Thursday on whether Trump is considering a pardon for Chauvin.

Western press calling those protesting HTS "Assad loyalists".

HTS are killing Alawite civilains.