SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]
newsMy weekly preamble is in spoiler tags below.
::: spoiler preamble The two big international events of the last week have been the UN summit in New York, where Pezeshkian among many others gave various speeches, and the visit by Xi Jinping and various Chinese figures to the US. While it's important to never fully discount the wider diplomatic angle of the conflicts raging around the world, by this point it should be clear to most people that the fundamental disagreements are too acute to be solved or even ameliorated with words, and there are no countries in the "international community" to "convince" to come over to your side through expert oratory and rhetoric. There is now only the language of explosives, blockades, and sanctions. Pezeshkian in particular gave a reasonably good speech, but I still believe that personally flying to the country that has committed so many crimes against his own country and its allies was not the correct move, and should have been left to Araghchi. And the difference between the US's and China's material interests are separated by too wide a canyon to be bridged by words promising cooperation and partnership.
Over in Yemen, the Saudis have intensified airstrikes on Ansarallah, which continues to make slow but steady territorial gains, particularly around Taizz, and have also repelled Saudi assaults from the north. These Saudi airstrikes have hit some military infrastructure, but also a lot of civilian infrastructure, including explicitly humanitarian buildings like those supplying food. To me, this doesn't seem strategically or tactically effective, especially with so much of your own oil infrastructure in ballistic missile range, but I suppose there's not many options left for the Saudi regime. Meanwhile, the situation in Hormuz flared up on the weekend, with a record(?) number of missiles fired at ships trying to traverse the Omani route. In related news, there's been a recent tick up in sailor and marine casualties admitted by the US, indicating either that Iran scored a significant hit on a US naval vessel during its anti-ship ballistic missile strikes (and those ships have now retreated much further away, which is a data point in favour of that hypothesis, but otherwise we have no visual evidence), or that US military personnel are taking a major role in attempting to move oil through Iran's blockade by manning at least some of the tankers.
Claims that oil transits out of the Middle East have returned almost to normalcy can be trivially contradicted by third grade mathematics and the evidence of our senses: namely, increasing worldwide shortages and growing considerations for rationing diesel and other such oil products. Indeed, the potential for shortages has now risen to the extent that Trump briefly suggested an diesel export ban. However, I'll admit that the situation in Hormuz has become much harder to follow for everybody involved than it was in March and April. Nowadays, some vessels are moving through Iran's prearranged passage, there is undeniably quite a bit of oil getting out through ports that don't need to go through Hormuz like Fujairah, and meanwhile, there are theories and rumors of widely varying degrees of dubiousness of temporary arrangements of Iran not firing on vessels traversing the Omani route in exchange for such-and-such hypothetical benefits, perhaps even including Iranian oil getting mixed into some of the vessels. And on top of all of that, you have to take into account China's curious moves in the oil markets, which have substantially influenced supplies and prices since March.
In that environment, it's hard not to have at least an iota of sympathy for the tanker trackers of the world who are trying to get some concrete information while everybody makes unsupported claims. The aforementioned intensified Iranian strikes on the Omani route are a data point in favour of ships getting through when they shouldn't - otherwise, they'd have nothing to be striking, unless they're just providing enrichment and employment to any divers trying to disarm naval mines - and so we'll just have to see whether Iran will allow the current situation of a slightly leaky Hormuz to continue for reasons unknown to us, or now truly drop the hammer on illegal strait transits to put pressure on the US. The other big new item lately around Iran has been some of their airlines being sanctioned, which several countries in the region seem to be obeying, while others around the world, like China, aren't intimidated. This been of particular significance in regards to Iraq, where there have been major protests about reopening flights between Iran and Iraq, and we'll have to see where that goes next.
Perhaps little of major significance will occur in the war until the midterms are over. Nothing I've seen so far indicates to me that Democrats will put up a serious opposition to Trump's war efforts except in very particular and isolated cases, and so from a purely non-domestic, geopolitical perspective, I expect the midterm results to change nothing. Political "gridlock" and "lame duck periods" exist as illusory excuses for the general population to prevent positive things from occurring domestically; they are not hurdles that exist in reality when the American bourgeoisie all agree on a course of action, such as attempting (now in vain) to stop Iran, Russia, and China. Slightly more interesting will be the results of the Zionist elections, but only slightly. On the one hand, it would be satisfying to see the current party lose power, but on the other, it has been their sheer incompetence that has, over just a few years, led the occupation into the greatest crisis of their short history. Nothing about their domestic or foreign policy seems likely to change, as they have dug themselves too deep into the hole now. Also coming up is the Brazilian elections, where Lula is once again facing off against another Bolsonaro. I wish him the best, but I worry that the margin of victory for a non-comprador party outside the West now needs to be pretty damn high to overcome foreign voter suppression efforts and accusations of election fraud by pro-US organizations, and the current margins in the polls are not terribly encouraging by that measure. :::
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::: spoiler The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on the Zionists' 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.
Mirrors of Telegram channels that have been erased by Zionist censorship.
:::
::: spoiler Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
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.
:::
US revokes visas from Latin American officials and families over accusations of corruption - SCMP
The 27 officials come from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, all nations with right-leaning leaders friendly with Trump
::: spoiler Article
The Trump administration is revoking the visas of 27 Latin American officials, former officials and their families, including Bolivia’s attorney general, over accusations of corruption.
The officials and their families come from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru - all nations with right-leaning leaders friendly with US President Donald Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Colombia, Ecuador and Peru this month, pledging US support for their efforts to combat drug and human trafficking.
Those leaders have complained that many of those targeted by the visa revocations were hindering their efforts to fight crime.
The State Department announced the revocations on Monday, saying they were being done “to fulfil the commitments to defend democratic governance across our hemisphere against corruption and narco-trafficking”.
“Undermining a democratically-elected government is a threat to security and rule of law in the Americas and will not be tolerated,” it said in a statement.
The Trump administration is billing the revocations as part of its broader efforts to clamp down on corruption, particularly related to the narcotics trade and illegal migration, by members of the US-led “Shield of the Americas” bloc in the western hemisphere that Trump created this year.
The State Department has been denying permission to travel to the United States as a way to crack down on immigration or as a pressure tool against some governments, ranging from bans on South African officials accused of discrimination against white people to refusing to issue visas to the Palestinian delegation to attend an annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations.
The 27 targeted include Bolivian Attorney General Roger Mariaca and more than 20 other Bolivian prosecutors and judges, 12 of whom were named as current visa holders and nine who will be denied visas should they apply. Two Colombians, a business mogul and a lawmaker, along with two Ecuadorians and one Peruvian judge are also affected.
Mariaca, who was elected to a six-year term in 2024, is accused of abusing his public position by soliciting and accepting bribes to ease drug trafficking. He is also accused of helping violent criminals evade justice, according to the documents.
“His actions endanger President Trump’s efforts to combat narcoterrorism while undermining the very democratic institutions Bolivia, as a Shield participant, is working to strengthen,” the statement said.
Mariaca did not immediately respond to a request for comment. :::
Occupied Korea participated in the renditioning of two DPRK soldiers captured by Ukraine - RT
Read for yourself but I assume they were tortured in Ukraine now have been illegally sent from Ukraine to a third state (rendition) for additional torture for being loyal DPRK people. Probably at the same place other defectors who cross the line go to be indoctrinated and abused into compliance as well as tortured for information on the DPRK military no doubt. This feels like something that should be illegal under international law but the puppet regime in Seoul insists that there is only one Korea and they're responsible for all citizens of it and therefore have this right.
Something to remember: these guys were only deployed on internationally recognized Russian soil to repel a Ukrainian invasion and incursion. An incursion that the Russians say involved kidnapping and SAing civilians among other war crimes so one can only imagine the torture these guys have gone through. It's heartbreaking.
Basically occupied Korea is angry Zelensky let this fact slip in one of his bragging speeches as they wanted the whole thing kept secret.
Human Rights or war crime laws don't apply to enemies of the empire, never forget that
::: spoiler Article
Havana, September 28 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today congratulated the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) on their 66th anniversary, an organization that must maintain, he added, the founding purpose of “defending the Homeland from the neighborhood.”
According to the head of state, it is in the CDRs where "the transformations most connected with the demands of the people become a reality."
“The CDRs continue to be a link connecting national politics with daily life. It’s not about inventing structures, but about articulating and making use of what already exists,” Díaz-Canel wrote on the social network X.
He insisted in the same message that the organization must mobilize, organize and follow up on its historical tasks, including surveillance, which "is not abandoned, it is expanded to save energy, protect vulnerable people, prevent crime, drugs and corruption."
The president added that the youth guarantee the continuity of the work of the CDRs.
“Without the involvement of young people in its activities, the CDR will lose its generational foundation. It is essential to guarantee the future of the organization and its connection with the people,” he argued.
Finally, he urged everyone to celebrate the organization's 66th anniversary with concrete, measurable, and follow-up tasks, while reiterating that Cuba needs a useful, coordinated, youthful, vigilant, and transformative CDR.
The CDRs were founded on September 28, 1960 by the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, with the objective of organizing collective vigilance in the neighborhoods and defending the Revolution against counter-revolutionary actions and threats.
Over the years, the organization expanded its functions to include community work, blood donations, public health campaigns, food production, and social support. :::
China underlines firm support for Cuba on 66th anniversary of relations - Prensa Latina
::: spoiler Article
Beijing, September 28 (Prensa Latina) China today reaffirmed its firm support for Cuba regardless of changes in the international context, in keeping with the 66th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.
In response to a question from Prensa Latina, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun stated that the country will explore a path of socialist development that is in accordance with its national conditions and in firm support of safeguarding the national sovereignty of Cuba.
Since Cuba and China established diplomatic relations 66 years ago, the friendship between the two countries has been passed down from generation to generation, the spokesman noted.
Guo explained that in recent years, under the strategic leadership of the two Heads of State, the building of a community with a shared future has continued to advance, and stressed that China opposes foreign interference in the Caribbean nation.
With a present that demonstrates broad multi-sectoral cooperation and mutual support on issues of national interest to both nations, Cuba and China reach the 66th anniversary of diplomatic relations this September 28.
In front of more than a million Cubans, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, urged on September 2, 1960, to break relations with the government of Taiwan in order to establish diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China of Mao Zedong.
On September 28 of that year, Cuba became the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to establish these ties with the new China, paving the way for relations between the Asian giant and the rest of the nations in the region. :::
Google Maps has updated its images of gaza. Everything is ruined and deserted aside from the very busy camps. Governments can see this is going on from orbit and they do nothing.
it's devastating to scroll around and hit the icons for different landmarks, stores etc because the links all show photos from before 2023.
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela will commemorate Chávez on October 7th - Prensa Latina
::: spoiler Article
Caracas, September 28 (Prensa Latina) The Secretary General of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, announced today that on October 7 the political organization will take to the streets to commemorate the electoral victory of Commander Hugo Chávez in 2012.
At the Monday press conference, the party leader declared that they are preparing for this new march on the 14th anniversary of Chávez's "great triumph" in those elections, when they filled the seven main avenues of downtown Caracas.
“We will go out into the streets to commemorate that date,” he emphasized.
He announced that on October 1st they will commemorate the anniversary of the assassination of young Robert Serra and "we will be with the young people remembering the great youth leader, the extraordinary comrade," he added.
Cabello referred to the presence of the acting president Delcy Rodríguez at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, where she gave "a speech for all of Venezuela and the world."
The PSUV leader recalled that on that day "Chavismo came out to take to the streets" in a self-organized demonstration and as we always say: "let those who have eyes see," referring to the hundreds of thousands of followers who accompanied the mobilization in Caracas and other states of the country.
He emphasized that Chavismo marched alone, as they know how, "in peace, tranquility, with joy and without bitterness of any kind."
The party leader commented on the Party's permanent presence in La Guaira to assist the people after the earthquakes of June 24, and assured that they will remain deployed to support the National Popular Consultation on October 18.
He noted that more than 37,000 projects were submitted for those elections and that they would involve 48,000 Community Councils, "a record of popular participation," he pointed out.
Asked about the restrictions that still persist on web portals, Cabello indicated that they continued opening, but there are people who do not pay and the providers cut off their signal and then blame the State.
The Vice President for Policy, Citizen Security and Peace recalled the so-called Fourth Estate of the Fourth Republic, made up of media outlets, which manipulated and made people believe that freedom of expression "belonged to the media, when it belongs to human beings, to everyone," he stated.
They corrupted the concept of freedom of expression for blackmail, and those who are entangled are they because "we have uncovered traps, lies, fights, thanks to that freedom of expression, and we raise both hands to defend it," he remarked, alluding to the recent decisions approved at the dialogue table.
At that time, in talks with the now-defunct National Assembly of 2015, the Government decided to lift restrictions on news portals, websites and electronic media. :::
The Brazilian National Conference of Bishops (CNBB) releases a statement denying involvement with rumors about Our Lady of Aparecida. The organization affirms that it did not produce, authorize, or participate in the creation or dissemination of false information, repudiates this type of content "regardless of its origin," and states that it is not part of "any political-partisan structure."
Flávio Bolsonaro thanks the CNBB (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops) for its statement, saying it "confirms" that the information claiming he or his family were trying to remove Our Lady of Aparecida's title as Patron Saint of Brazil is fake news.
In summary: the CNBB (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops) issued a statement calling Flávio Bolsonaro a liar, and he thanked them.
Is Trump seriously picking the dumbest possible guys to support and leaving all to Rubio to deal with?
The Saudi-led PLC in Yemen announces a general mobilization to stop Ansarallah
- Middle East Spectator
President Trump is willing to make concessions to Iran, including sanctions relief and unfreezing assets, in exchange for progress on the nuclear file – Axios
- Middle East Spectator
Round and round we go
THE OTHER SIDE: Presidential candidate says he “will say an evangelical prayer before reading the oath of office when he assumes the presidency, entrusting Brazil into the hands of Jesus”. For Bishop Roberto Francisco Ferreira Paz, the statement needs to be explained because it infringes on religious freedom
::: spoiler Article
Bishop Roberto Francisco Ferreira Paz, of the Diocese of Campos, told this column that presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) urgently needs to clarify the scope of his decision to “declare that Brazil belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.” He made the statement in a video posted in August to justify his absence from the TV Bandeirantes debate, saying that he would prefer not to debate with those who “do not believe in God.”
“The candidate said this will be his first act in office. It’s a dangerous decision because it affects all other religions,” says the bishop, who serves on the Pastoral Care for Health and the Commission for the Laity of the CNBB (National Conference of Bishops of Brazil).
“What could this mean for religious freedom and for non-Christian religious groups?” he asks. “Will there be privileges for Christians? These are questions that remain unanswered. Freedom of religion and belief is one of the principles of the Brazilian Constitution and concerns all religions. If one person’s religion is not respected, no one else’s will be either.”
Flávio Bolsonaro stated, through his press office, that “he will say a prayer before reading the oath of office when he assumes the Presidency of the Republic, placing Brazil in the hands of Jesus.”
The bishop asserts that similar actions have already been taken by leaders in other countries, citing Augusto Pinochet’s Chile as an example. In the 1970s, the dictator favored evangelical groups to neutralize the Catholic Church, which strongly opposed the persecution, torture, and killings carried out by his government.
Dom Roberto also cites the influence “of a dominionist doctrine that originated in radical Pentecostal religious fundamentalism in the U.S., which preaches the hegemony of evangelical Christianity and seeks to dominate politics.”
Flávio Bolsonaro found himself on a collision course with the CNBB when he claimed that “insiders” within the organization helped spread fake news—namely, that if elected, he would strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as patron saint of Brazil. On Monday (the 28th), he addressed the organization: “I thank the CNBB for confirming that this is major fake news,” referring to the conference’s statement denying that it had spread the rumor.
Bishop Roberto states that it is necessary to “stick to what the candidate said. And he said he will issue a decree that could have serious consequences.”
In the bishop’s view, Flávio, in the case of the promised decree on Jesus Christ, did not merely express a desire but rather announced a political and governmental intention, and for that reason he must be held accountable and required to provide clarification.
“It is not appropriate for a presidential candidate to say that. If he is a Christian [Flávio is an evangelical], he can make a statement of faith. But he cannot announce an act that undermines the secular nature of the Brazilian state.”
“He cannot turn his beliefs into public policy by adopting state confessionalism in Brazil,” the religious leader continues. “The state has no faith. The state must guarantee the practice of faith for all; it must guarantee religious freedom for all. If elected, he will govern for everyone, regardless of their religion.”
Bishop Roberto further states that, because he leads a secular state, a president cannot use religious criteria in his governmental decisions. “He cannot, for example, choose someone for a position simply because they are a devout evangelical,” he says, indirectly referring to former President Jair Bolsonaro’s statement justifying the selection of André Mendonça for the STF (Supreme Federal Court). :::
Evangelicals are shocked by the scene of Flávio Bolsonaro and Tarcísio de Freitas holding an image of Our Lady of Aparecida in an attempt to mitigate the scandal they were involved in. The reason: for evangelicals, it is a VERY SERIOUS SIN to "glorify" an image of another religion.
A truck with a speaker caught fire during a campaign rally for Flávio Bolsonaro and Tarcísio de Freitas in the Brás neighborhood, in downtown São Paulo.
Brazilian Electoral Polls (These were made before the whole Catholic Drama, but just in time for when Lula banned online gambling which was something a lot of evangelicals and catholics wanted).
In the spontaneous poll, Lula reaches 41% of the total votes and Flávio Bolsonaro 35%, a difference of 6 points. In valid votes, the difference is 7 points: 47.7% to 40.7%. Renan Santos (Far-Right) advances to 4%, while Cury (Right-Wing) and Caiado (Right-Wing) each fall by 1 point.
::: spoiler Numbers for Those who Care
President | Brazil 1st ROUND — SPONTANEOUS | TOTAL VOTES
- Lula (Workers' Party - Left-Wing): 41% (+1%)
- Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party - Far-Right): 35% (+1%)
- Renan Santos (Missão - Incel Far-Right): 4% (+1%)
- Augusto Cury (Avante - Corruption): 3% (-1%)
- Ronaldo Caiado (Social Democrat Party - Right-Wing Conservative): 2% (-1%)
- Others: 1% (-1%)
- Romeu Zema (Novo - Ancap Guy): 0% (-1%)
- None/blank/null: 5% (-1%)
- NS/NR: 9% (+1%)
VALID VOTES
- Lula (Workers' Party - Left-Wing): 47.7% (+1.7%)
- Flávio Bolsonaro (Liberal Party - Far-Right): 40.7% (+1.6%)
- Renan Santos (Missão - Incel Far-Right): 4.7% (+1.3%)
- Augusto Cury (Avante - Corruption): 3.5%
- Ronaldo Caiado (Social Democrat Party - Right-Wing Conservative): 2.3%
- Others: 1.2%
- Romeu Zema (Novo - Ancap Guy): 0%
:::
TECHNICAL DATA SHEET Institute: BTG/NEXUS Fieldwork: September 25-27, 2026
Source: BTG/NEXUS
Lula needs 2.3% + one vote to win in the first round
The options in a vibrant democracy: Center-left, fascist, far-right, right-wing, right-wing
Most of the bigger left-wing parties (Trabalhism/Vargasism, socialists, radical socialists, brazilian communist party, greens) are in coalition with Lula. All liberal parties decided to support Caiado as president (his own VP in the ticket said he's going to vote for Lula in the second round). The only left-wing parties that are not supporting him are very small trots who support Ukraine, or that are transphobic, the only nice one is UP (Popular Unit) but their candidate is not invited because she is a black woman (though their plan of goverment is really bad from what I heard, as in poorly planned), she said she will support Lula in the second round.
Flávio asked Zema (a friend of his who has 0,9% in the state he's the governor) to run as a support candidate for him on debates, then Lula didn't go to any debate and Zema was just left as the weird guy who can't win on his own state. Renan Santos is a proremoved and incel, he's friends with Curtis Yarvin which I believe is some neonazi whos pro-slavery. Caiado is a rich landowner who was in favor of the military coup, and had his entire presidental campaign destroyed in 1989 by Trabalhistas when they said he's irrelevant. Cury is just a scammer. The rest are irrelevant.
It's really sad how bad things have become in Latam, in the 2000s and early 2010s the greens, trabalhistas and radical socialists would always be on third or fourth places in elections (with exception in 1994 and 1998 when all of the left made a coalition with Lula).
Bolivians are protesting against hunger & neoliberalism again. Another general strike could be coming against the US-backed govt of Rodrigo Paz. There is 100% inflation on basic goods right now. Free market reforms have been a disaster. Evo Morales has announced that mass mobilsations will begin in 2 weeks if the govt doesnt reverse privatization & austerity measures. This was at the national congress of his party this weekend.
My goat
chat, my new government is about to experience its second general strike in my first year while I'm attempting to destroy 20 years of socialist construction - should I be worried?
nope thats a good thing , it wins you IMF loan.
Just do more neoliberalism and also simp for Israel more that'll fix it.
thanks! I decided to cut diesel subsidies and shift the savings into my police force and personal bank account
Thank you for the updates, I'm ride or die for my man Evo
I still think Evo will somehow become president again, this man survived way worse stuff and look at how other way less popular people did make a come back like Lula da Silva (who was in jail).
Inshallah
There are rumors that allies of Flávio Bolsonaro want him to travel to New York between the first and second rounds of the elections for a meeting with "The Market," but that he's reluctant to leave the country in the middle of the electoral process and be seen as weak and a coward.
Brazilian Election Polls Catholics and Evangelicals;
Among Catholics, Lula advances 4 points to 50%, while Flávio remains at 37%. Among Evangelicals, Flávio falls 4 points, from 58% to 54%, while Lula rises 2 points, from 28% to 30%. The graph shows distinct movements in the two groups, with the greatest change concentrated in the evangelical and Catholic electorate.
::: spoiler Numbers for those who care
Brazil | Presiden 2nd ROUND | RELIGION CATHOLICS
- Lula (PT): 50% (+4)
- Flávio Bolsonaro (PL): 37% (=)
- Blank/null/will not vote: 10% (-4)
- Undecided: 3% (=)
EVANGELICALS
- Flávio Bolsonaro (PL): 54% (-4)
- Lula (PT): 30% (+2)
- Blank/null/will not vote: 13% (+2) U
- Undecided: 3% (=) :::
This poll was made before then ban of gambling, and the Catholic Crisis with Flavio
it's monday, my dudes, the markets are fresh and ready:
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet mediators in New York today, according to Iran’s ISNA news agency. The report comes after Araghchi said Iran is open to “real diplomacy” but ready to confront any new US attacks even if it means an “apocalyptic war”.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/9/28/iran-war-live-tehran-warns-its-fully-prepared-for-war-amid-hormuz-tensions
Stay tuned for Friday's cancelation / violation.
"Next time! On Strait of Hormu-Z!"
Mamdani’s Business Advisory Council: Billionaires advise the “Democratic Socialist” mayor
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialists of America’s most prominent elected official, has assembled a 15-person Business Advisory Council to guide City Hall’s economic policy. Launched August 27, 2026, the body will meet quarterly with the mayor and his deputy mayor for economic justice, Julie Su, to advise on economic development, industry growth, infrastructure and regulation.
The council is a who’s who of Wall Street, real estate, the medical-industrial complex and other business sectors. It includes four billionaires—of the city’s 150 billionaires—and numerous multimillionaires. It includes the billionaire son of a former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
let's hear the latest rounds of excuses about how "he's just a mayor". DSA-heads, come on down for your weekly humiliation sessions
I was called quite a few names and insulted in this mega just for pointing out that you can't expect much from just one guy, 99 times out of 100 the forces of capital will make him into an opportunist and he was already doing opportunism.
It tends to be much worse in the non-news comm threads, where the social chauvnists and electoralists run amok with usernames like "basedMarx69" and "XX transLenin XX" completely going against their namesakes writings and views
I mean that's basically DSA in a nutshell lol
Anti-revisionist Red Star Maoist Caucus: We should… wait for it… vote for succs
Maybe he is gathering them all in one room to explode them to death
He brings them into the board room. As they all sit down and the doors shut, the lights go out except for a shadowy figure. He walks into the light, bright orange jumpsuit.
Mamdani - meet my chief negotator, fresh from Rikers. I assume you need no introduction. Now let's fix New York.
The room in question:
This reminds me of the recent video about Lenin's What Is To Be Done. Very much the "economist" faction of demsoc doing basic practicality while making basically no effort to educate the masses against the predations of capital.
"I'll keep patching the holes but I won't try and teach the crew it's the captain's fault that they keep hitting icebergs"
So let me get this straight. Mamdani is touted as being "anti-zionist/ pro-palestine" yet ever since he gained power, he has: publicly backtracked his promise to arrest Netanyahu, put a Zionist in charge of the NYPD, publicly discouraged protesting against Netanyahu, and now is creating a 'Business Advisory Council' which is basically a group exclusively made up of Billionaires and Zionists who will always have the Mayor's ear and can easily influence local policies.
Is this really the best the American left can do?
publicly discouraged protesting against Netanyahu
And backed that up by sending the cops to arrest people that did.
But at least he took a picture planting an olive tree with a Palestinian refugee family along with a caption with a vague message for peace so hooray?
And if anyone wants to talk about "what can he really do if he's just a mayor" just remember that early on when the spotlight was on protests over the sale of stolen land in local synagogues he decided to center things on "freedom of religion" and "anti semitism" instead of laser focusing on the sale of illegal land and using his popularity and political will to actually do something about it.
Is this really the best the American left can do?
Yep because if you demand anything else you get called a purity testing ultra doomer idealist
"this time an American elected official will be anti-Zionist in their actions and not just use vague anti-bibi rhetoric to gain support from anti-Zionists"
Technically Mamdani is a centrist: he only appears leftist, compared to most of the other politicians in the USA who are reactionaries , fascists, independent sociopaths and other scum.
Mamdani is a garden variety ordinary politician who is so rare, it stands out like a neon sign at night
His wife was/is an is supporter, he is as much of a terrorist as
Edit:
This isn't even the best the American liberals can do
Technically he kept a Zionist in charge of NYPD but that's largely a distinction without a difference.
publicly backtracked his promise to arrest Netanyahu
Did he actually promise this? If so that was a dumb thing to promise there is no way on god’s green earth Mamdani would actually be able to arrest Netanyahu, it doesn’t work that way. The definition of performative. But I don’t recall him ever actually promising this.
put a Zionist in charge of the NYPD
Tisch was already the Commissioner when he took office. Replacing her for being a Zionist would burn up a huge amount of political capital on day one and maybe he gets none of the rest of his agenda passed. If this was a position that materially impacted Israel or Palestine then yes, it might be worth it. The reality is that the NY mayor or NY police commissioner are both roles that have virtually nothing to do with liberating Palestine. I’m disappointed that afaik he has not stopped the NYPDs relationship with Israel (I think there is an NYPD office in Tel Aviv) because I think that’s low hanging fruit and what we should be pushing him on, but for some reason everyone focuses on Tisch.
publicly discouraged protesting against Netanyahu
This is bad and deserves criticism, 100%.
and now is creating a 'Business Advisory Council'
Key word there is “advisory”. So what? Seriously it’s just a bullshit advisory council. I love this site but you all really will just jump down the throats for anything a demsoc does outside of calling for open revolution or something.
He's creating this "advisory board" from scratch. Nobody made him do that. Unless he's doing this to round them up for a gulag this argument is not helping you. This isn't something he "had" to do, legally or politically. He thinks it's good politics and saavy. I think it's dangerous and idiotic and highly suspect.
Key word there is “advisory”. So what? Seriously it’s just a bullshit advisory council. I love this site but you all really will just jump down the throats for anything a demsoc does outside of calling for open revolution or something.
Wouldn't be the first time a politician that uses vaguely leftist language gave billionaires a seat on the table on what's "just" an advisory board and ended up giving concessions to them.
Did he actually promise this? If so that was a dumb thing to promise there is no way on god’s green earth Mamdani would actually be able to arrest Netanyahu, it doesn’t work that way. The definition of performative.
He doubled down many times
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/09/brief-history-zohran-mamdani-and-benjamin-netanyahus-relationship/416167/
you see, political capital isn't real (it's favors owed to people, he is 30 year old, his network of favors can't possibly be that big, and his popularity is the capital which can be used to unseat/make very difficult re-election campaigns of ziodems, which he folded immediately to hakeem fucking jeffries), here is an alternative for you:
mamdani starts posting names and salaries of top paid cops in new york city (at least i assume he can, i've seen people posting la top cops salaries in 300k range, i don't think those would be very popular with new yorkers), while whining about deficit, tells ziolady can't control them, appoint his commisioner whose mandate is to cut down overtime pay by 80% and police budget by 20%, refuse to build high rise jails due to some bullshit regulation, anyone who goes against this he can primary in first year on the council. to say nothing of idf leases, or synagogues performing business auctions for west bank.
but he settled for deblasio 2, so one wonders what was the point. how cuomo would have been different, in your own words?
if only we had a word for socialists who abandoned internationalism…
National chauvinist?
or socialists who abandoned socialism lol
He would have to have previously been a socialist for that to work lol.
Us westerners are very lassez faire with the definition of "socialist". I suppose it's a convenient byproduct of the generational propaganda appertus that was constructed around everything even loosely associated with the USSR.
It includes the billionaire son of a former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Wow, he's really got Israel over the barrel!
he will post so much snow shoveling and pothole filling, you wouldn't even believe, after getting coached in #growthmindset and #resultsbasedpolicies
(tbh that part is not especially weird, he is a democrat executive. his role, at best, is in slow walking policies he doesn't like, and doing stuff he likes with tons of aurafarm. but as he is not slow walking police funding or aurafarming divestment in entity, one can conclude where dsa cadre politician interest lie)*
*(after all, mate was paling around with soros junior and spanish prime minister, while cuban foreign minister was in peoples forum begging to not be invaded.)
ps if archive websites not acting up (which becomes an issue tbh), try to archive wsws, they are on some weird shit around sexpests
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c65y7nl29k0et?post=asset%3A0290a4b0-a91d-4191-8b66-a4a6f90639a8#post
The supposed RAF Fairford "attackers" are UK citizens and have been released on bail.
They obviously would not have been released if they really had vans packed with explosives, and were attempting to blow up a military installation.
Maybe Palestine Action people with barrels full of paint or something?
the funniest twitter theory is them riding around to steal diesel from farmers and getting into global news by doing some low level crook shit
Yeah that actually sounds very plausible.
If they were Palestine Action I doubt they’d be released on bail.
My thought is that they were trying to do some illegal dumping and didn't think through where they were dumping
Diesel thieves cause an international incident
CNN article on the same topic https://archive.is/tNa4o
US President Donald Trump called the arrests “fantastic,” saying the US and the UK had the men under investigation for “a long time.”
“Working with Britain, it was an amazing job,” Trump told reporters in Chicago. “They were looking to do big damage to our fort and working with the British worked out great.”
Yeah, no way they would be out on bail if that was true.
Maybe Palestine Action people with barrels full of paint or something?
Plaid Cymru partisans with barrels of sheep's wool, coal, and excess consonants
or Mossad false flag op
President Donald Trump will announce plans for a new $15 billion mega-steel plant in Iowa during an event at the Oval Office later today, according to a White House official.^[source: Newsweek]
::: spoiler spoiler
President Donald Trump will announce plans for a new $15 billion mega-steel plant in Iowa during an event at the Oval Office later today, according to a White House official.
Speaking to Newsweek the official said the plant will be the biggest in American history and will be capable of producing high-grade steel suitable for military use from 2030. The formal announcement is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. ET on Monday. The subject of the announcement was first reported by The Wall Street Journal early Monday.
Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, told Newsweek: “President Trump is delivering on his promise to rebuild American industry, reshore manufacturing, and create new jobs. Today’s announcement underscores the President’s historic efforts to revitalize the U.S. steel industry—supporting local communities, strengthening supply chains, and protecting our national security.
“After decades of decline, this President is restoring America’s industrial competitiveness and securing trillions of dollars in new investment.”
The new steel plant is to be built by Mesabi Metallics, which recently announced plans to invest $2.5 billion building a new iron ore mine in Minnesota, the first in the U.S. for 50 years, that will have a capacity of 7.5 million tons per year.
Unlike most U.S. steel plants, which are smaller electric arc furnaces, the new site will be the first mega-steel plant, meaning it can produce more than 10 tons per year, America has built since the 1960s.
According to the White House the new steel plant will create 1,750 new permanent jobs in Iowa along with 5,000-6,000 construction jobs during phase one of the building phase. The iron ore mine will create an additional 350 jobs for Minnesota.
Trump will be joined for his announcement by a number of business figures and administration officials, including Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Mesabi Metallics Chairman Rewant Ruia and Jarrod Agen, executive director of the National Energy Domination Council, a body created by the president to support energy infrastructure.
After phase one of construction the site should produce 7.5 million tons of steel per year using American raw materials, with no reliance on foreign imports, the White House said. Iron ore will come from Mesabi Metallics' new mine in Minnesota, which is scheduled to come online within weeks.
The project's first phase is projected to create $95 billion in net economic impact during its construction and its first ten years in operation.
:::
I know we're post-literacy and all but... It's a steel megaplant. Mega is modifying plant. It's not a plant for megasteel, although that sounds rad and we should look into it.
megasteel sounds like the band a bully in a 90s sitcom would play in
Also, calling it now, they will spend $100 bill on this project if they spend a dime, and it will never produce a single ingot of steel, mega or otherwise
Megasteel is what they make armoured vehicles out of in a dieselpunk alternate universe
Can anything stop the Novakaiser's megasteel battleship? I would watch this serial
maybe Xi told him about the proof-of-concept steel plant that generates energy from waste heat in China, and now he's got a great idea for a new multi-grift project
the new mega-steel plant in Iowa will derive thermal energy from the waste heat of a new super-intelligence factory that will be built with federal funding at the same site
E: this might be Trump doing the Atlas Shrugged meme, making super-intellegent steel for the lolbitarian memelords
Funny to finally have something that seems like a reasonable thing to do. Waiting to find out how they plan to execute this in a way that benefits oligarchs and screws over the workers and environment.
It'll never be built and the companies getting the money will use it to do stock buybacks instead
Yeah, it's set for completion by 2030.
The US can't plan that far in the future lol
gonna guess it's gonna be a "public private enterprise" with subsidies and tax breaks that gets stuck in the planning/building phase for 20 years and never gets finished but costs 40 billion dollars
Nuclear energy in the EU entered the chat
European Greens: Let's kill all nuclear energy and put up a million regulations and hoops to stall it, while also pushing for war against our major natural gas supplier. Sure hope we don't have to revert to coal :)
The co-opting of the greens is one of the largest pieces of evidence that there's no possibility for democracy in Capitalism
Watch it be conditional on some shit like opening up industrial zoning to federal oversight, and said oversight being used to ram data centres down local communities throats with no appeal to municipal or state regulators.
i mean, if anything in the near past is to go by, the lack of state investment combined with the dutch disease of owning the world's currency means that nothing will actually happen
Gas update (using AA US national average)
Regular Current - 4.47
Regular Highest Recorded (6/15/22) - 5.02
Diesel Current - 6.45
Diesel Highest Recorded (9/22/26) - 6.52
https://gasprices.aaa.com/
It’s still going down by a few pennies!! I’m sure this will continue and be fine.
updated 10 minutes ago by the owner truck stop near I80/I55 interstate exchange which is a major intersection in Illinios for truck cargo from memphis to chicago area and east west from KC to Indianapolis
Ouchie
Can someone please explain it simply for me. Why are gas and diesel prices going down right now?
Seems like it's stalling on reg around 4.5. Kind of surprised there is any restraint at this point. Not as much cause of Material Conditions but because the US is what it is.
My favorite genre of financial news:
China’s Tax Grab Squeezes Rich Elite Harder Than Ever - Bloomberg
Hefty bills, vague calculations and squads targeting individual billionaires are rattling the country’s wealthy.
https://archive.ph/UIztl
death squads:
tax squads:
Western newspapers trying to make China look bad: (literally the picture they show on the article)
It's like they're communist agitators I swear
good because China doesn't embrace this badass commie imagery anymore, bad because the White Empire always makes it orientalist and racist
Chinese bougies rn
But at what cost?
Kinky
I'm not sure this is news? Is there a specific event you're referring to here and can you link to it? Thanks!
Not posting this as news, just making a jab at Ben Shapiro's imagination
Fair. Wrong mega for it though unfortunately
Ah, sorry, I don't understand lemmy enough and I see megas all the time and assumed they were all open to random messages (checking the other messages, I see people are posting news as well)
No worries. This is the news one but there is a general mega that is for any posts really
5.5%
stonks also go up, if iran hardens its heart, i don't see how it ends any other way than implosion, flood of dollars into the world system, and mass inflation. which might be neutral for stock market as evaluated in dollar value, not so much for the real goods.
But... number go up!?
It is. Like fuck the US and I welcome any sign of imperial decline, but the treasury yield is literally pure profit for the ultra wealthy who are the ones actually lending this money.
yeah, the only positive transmission vehicle into real economy is mortgage and means of production financing, which usa decided to do for some reason (data centers), patent-based porkies don't give two shits otherwise
there will be so much dollars in the world system, your heads will spin
*japan 30 year is at 4.1%, usa will outprint them easily
Death to America and its external zionist tumor. Liberation and socialism for all people.
First!
