Skip Navigation

Bulletins and News Discussion from February 12th to February 18th, 2024 - The Prodigal Failson - COTW: Brazil

Image is of Brazilian chuds storming the National Congress building in opposition to Lula winning the election, on January 8th, 2023, in their remarkably even shittier version of the January 6th events in America.


Bolsonaro, who is in the tragic category of pro-US South American leaders who are so awful and uncharismatic that even they can't get the US to help them overthrow a democratically elected left-ish government, has recently been facing that most elusive of things in this current world order: consequences for his actions. Bolsonaro and his friends have been under investigation by the police, and his passport has now been seized, meaning he is unable to leave the country. Alongside the man himself, the leader of the Liberal Party, Valdemar Costa Neto, has been caught up in searches and investigations. Brazilian Army Colonel Bernardo Correa Neto, a former aide to Bolsonaro, was very recently arrested upon his return to Brazil from the US, as well as another colonel.

From the Hexbear South American correspondent (a position I just made up), @Redcuban1959@hexbear.net:

Lol, they are really fucked. Iirc, this is a municipal election year in Brazil, Bolsonaro can't campaign publicly, he can't promote his candidates. The leader of his party is currently in prison. And even if he is released from prison, they are forbidden to communicate with each other. The high-ranking members of the Liberal Party are pretty much fucked because they can't communicate with each other and getting support from Bolsonaro could be very bad, as left-wing candidates will exploit the fact that Bolsonaro will probably be imprisoned for planning a coup.

The FBI seems to have concluded its investigation into Bolsonaro's money laundering scheme in the US and handed over its findings to the Brazilian Federal Police, I don't think Bolsonaro can even go to the US anymore, or any other country. And it could get even funnier, there is a very small chance of the Liberal Party being banned and all its seats in congress and the senate being transferred to other politicians, many of whom, even if they are conservative, will be much more favorable to Lula's social and economic reforms, as it has been proven that Bolsonaro used the party to finance the coup.


The Country of the Week is Brazil! Feel free to chime in with books, essays, longform articles, even stories and anecdotes or rants. More detail here.

The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week's thread is here.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA daily-ish 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 (and has automated posting when the person running it goes to sleep).
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.

Various sources that are covering the Ukraine conflict are also covering the one in Palestine, like Rybar.

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.
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.


1.1K

You're viewing a single thread.

1.1K comments
  • New York Supreme Court Schedules Criminal Trial Against Trump

    Donald Trump is charged with 34 offenses related to the US$130,000 he paid to porn actress Stormy Daniel.

    On Thursday, Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan announced that former President Donald Trump will stand trial for alleged irregular payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels starting on March 25.

    The trial, which will commence with jury selection, could last around six weeks. Merchan has been in consultations with Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is to preside over the case of alleged election interference against Trump in Washington D.C., to coordinate the scheduling of both trials and avoid potential date conflicts.

    However, the Washington case, initially slated for March, is on hold pending a decision on the appeal filed by Trump's legal team to dismiss the case on the grounds that it constitutes interference in the electoral campaign in which Trump is a clear favorite.

    Dressed in his traditional blue suit and red tie, Trump addressed the press from a balcony before entering the courtroom, stating that Judge Merchan "already knows what he's going to decide" because he is "controlled by the Democrats".

    "What's happening here is a disgrace. Our entire system is corrupt," Trump said, adding that he wanted to be present on Thursday to explain how "corrupt" the case is.

    Trump is charged with 34 offenses related to the US$130,000 he paid to Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign to conceal an affair they had ten years earlier. This payment that was concealed with the collaboration of his lawyer, Michael Cohen.

    On Friday, Trump also faces a complicated legal calendar given that another New York judge is expected to issue his final judgment in a civil case against the Trump Organization, which could result in a ban on operating in the real estate sector in New York state.

    He will then face federal charges in Florida for mishandling classified documents after leaving the presidency, plus another case in Georgia for his attempts to overturn electoral results.

    After announcing his decision on the date, Merchan engaged in a debate with Trump's defense, which sought to delay the start of the trial citing the intense schedule of Republican primaries, while the president scanned the room with a serious expression.

    The lawyers also tried to discredit the main witness in the case, Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, but the prosecution maintained that they will have the opportunity to question Cohen as part of the process, as is customary.

    Judge Merchan noted that he has already heard all these arguments on previous occasions and that the defense had nothing new to add.

    Once the matter was settled, the prosecution's lawyers (the state of New York ) and Trump's lawyers sought to convince the judge to modify some of the questions that will be asked to potential jury members to determine their participation.

    Some of the questions seemed to be aimed at identifying the political affiliation of potential jury members, something Merchan deemed unreasonable, although he clarified that he will address these issues later on.

You've viewed 1117 comments.