Begemot

@605tokenpodcast @bruce_barrett That's in Ep 2.

@bruce_barrett I honestly thought they were gonna get caught taking a shit on the side of the road. These people are not compatible with civilized society. Send them all back to their shitholes

You have to tell them. "Dirty, horrible stinking c***s"... This is our f**king country, you might be used to it where you come from." The level of disrespect they have for their host countries is mind boggling. This is how it’s done. 👍

@elrehnna @bruce_barrett Nice troll there, lady.

@bruce_barrett Idk these guys don't seem like the real problem. Paper decomposes and they aren't raping people. Bit of a tough guy temper tantrum here

In the 2008-09 GFC, about 30 million Americans lost their homes. The guy on the left ignored Soros, Krugman, and Stiglitz's more progressive advice and followed Larry Summers's recommendation to just save the bankers and let the mortgage holders drown. That's more or less how.

@isaacrrr7 I don't know, it was completely open about six weeks ago. What happened?

El Estrecho de Ormuz es un estrecho internacional. Según la Convención de la ONU sobre el Derecho del Mar, todos los buques tienen libertad de navegación. Ningún Estado puede suspender ese derecho. ¿Por qué nadie condena a Irán por violar el ‘derecho internacional’?

@shanaka86 The KMT were fearsome authoritarian arch-Chinese nationalists during their rule 1945 to 1992 (The White Terror), so making common cause with the authoritarian nationalists across the strait won't likely be all that difficult. NM that an independent Taiwan is doing just fine.

JUST IN: While every camera in the world is pointed at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad today, Xi Jinping shook hands with KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The first high-level KMT-CCP leadership meeting in nearly a decade. Xi told her: “Compatriots on both sides of the strait are all Chinese, one family.” He added: “Taiwan independence is the chief culprit undermining peace.” Cheng called her six-day trip a “journey for peace” and invoked the 1992 Consensus. This did not happen by accident. It happened today. The Iran war pulled American military assets out of the Pacific. Carriers, Marines, THAAD, Patriots, all redeployed to the Middle East since February 28. Brookings explicitly identified this as “strategic space” for Beijing. China then used its leverage over Iran (1.5 million barrels per day, Tehran’s largest customer) to nudge Tehran toward the ceasefire. Trump confirmed: “I heard yes” when asked if China persuaded Iran. The ceasefire was the entrance fee for the May 14-15 Beijing summit. Today’s KMT meeting is the pre-summit positioning play. The sequence is architectural. China vetoed the UN Hormuz resolution on April 7 (preserving Iran’s leverage and its own intermediary status). China nudged Iran toward the bilateral ceasefire the same day (building goodwill with Trump). China scheduled the Xi-Cheng meeting for April 10 (the day Islamabad talks begin, when US attention is maximally diverted). And the May summit sits five weeks away, where Taiwan language will be tested in a room where China arrives with three diplomatic receipts: we helped you get the ceasefire, we kept the KMT dialogue alive, and we are the only power that can deliver Iran. Meanwhile, the KMT-controlled legislature has stalled Taiwan’s $40 billion special defense budget for asymmetric capabilities. The same party whose chairwoman is shaking Xi’s hand today is the party blocking the weapons purchases Washington needs Taiwan to make to sustain the First Island Chain deterrence strategy that underpins US containment of China. Bloomberg reported that Beijing will “use the sitdown to argue that Taiwanese people are in favor of closer ties, sending a key signal to the US.” The New York Times said Xi is using the meeting “to cast Beijing as a peacemaker and squeeze the island’s president.” Taiwan produces over 90 percent of the world’s most advanced semiconductors. TSMC commands 72 percent of the global foundry market. A full conflict over Taiwan would erase $10.6 trillion in global GDP in year one. This is not a sideshow. This is the main event wearing a mask. Trump is a transactional president. He has already shown willingness to use allies as leverage (NATO “freeloaders,” Greenland, Panama Canal). China is betting that a president who just watched his NATO allies refuse to join the Iran war, who needs rare-earth supply chains for AI and defense, who wants a trade deal before midterms, will be receptive to a framing in which Taiwan is “handled” through dialogue rather than deterrence. The Islamabad talks are about Iran. The Beijing handshake is about everything else. And the country that brokered the ceasefire, blocked the UN vote, moved its tankers freely through a closed strait, and met the opposition leader of America’s most strategically vital partner all did it in the same week. The real negotiation is not at the Serena Hotel. It is already underway at the Great Hall of the People. open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…

@QianjunBefanis @shanaka86 The KMT killed a lot more than Communists during the White Terror.

KMT always is this policy, they never changed policy, check the history, even if Jiang killed a lot of communists and communists killed a lot of KMT, one thing they are in common: they identify as Chinese. KMT are the biggest patriots, main force against invaders for China during WW2. They didn’t change bc of Hormuz. 🤔

@Its_ereko It's good that people are going out to make their point, but if the LDP doesn't know that getting involved in this war is political death, they aren't paying attention.

🇯🇵 CNN finally noticed. "Anti-Iran war demonstrations across Japan. Rare nationwide protests." The world is waking up. Japan is not just protesting constitutional revision. They are saying no to being dragged into another US war. 47 prefectures. 100,000 people. And now global media is starting to blink. The silence is breaking. The resistance is spreading. Japan is not a pawn. Japan is a warning.

@Richard96500946 @KalBonner @Aku_700 Unfortunate things have happened to tourists on Lombok, which is closer but culturally a world away. Women abusing locals would be particularly frowned upon.

@robuzo @KalBonner @Aku_700 They should do it with the Ambonese. 🤣

Entitled Black tourists get a reality check in Bali! Two Black women from New York and London attacked nail salon staff over a bill dispute. No white guilt, no DEI excuses—Indonesian cops arrested them at the airport and paraded them in orange jumpsuits. Actions have consequences!

So I can't read a bunch of books I have on my now very old kindle. Yes, I could buy a new kindle but.... I can still read all the paper books I bought without doing anything.....

@timand2037 youtu.be/NkpfGvGQ6F8?si…

The Russian national anthem, translated into English. Thank you Nikol Shikan.

@sacredrain Despite 30 years living/working in Asia I haven't heard this sort of thing. I suspect that the 'obsession with Asian women' concept emerged when Asian females and every other vague description of a human became a porn category. Everyone is dehumanized in a porn-obsessed culture.

Japanese women speak out against creepy white men and their obsession with Japanese women. “It’s always white men who talk dirty.” “They think we are easy.” “American men don’t see us as real people with dignity.”

@TimothyS Using the definite article before mentioning any particular group, even an arbitrary one like 'white', 'black' or 'Asian' is racist. Saying things like 'The black man lives for Saturday night' or 'the white man's lust for [race of choice here] women', for example.

It really is a sickness. I've seen it for myself for over 50 years: the white men's obsessive lust for Asian women.

@KalBonner @Aku_700 Don't assume that women working in a nail salon on Bali are Balinese. Many service workers on Bali are Javanese, some of the nicest, most polite people one can meet. Actual Balinese are very proud and likely would have reacted differently to such coarseness and disrespect.

@Aku_700 How could you get violent with the Balinese? They are the nicest, most polite people...They also have severe prison sentences, tailor made for shitheads. This is a good thing.

@Palestinedaily1 .

No words. If you see this video, put a dot to break the alghorithm.

@mtaibbi Really pleased I dropped my longtime subscription six weeks ago.

Livestream, "Today's News," 6 PM ET x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Oil had its 2nd largest drop in 35 years. Just a few days after Binance listed its oil futures - with 100X leverage. Yeah, that Binance - the money-laundering crypto founder who was pardoned by Trump. Then 6 million barrels of Brent and West Texas Intermediate were sold 6:49 a.m. Monday before Trump's 'ceasefire' post at 7:05 a.m. Also, a 6K ES trade worth $2B notional. The greedy bastards also went long DAX, EURO STOXX, NDX, RTY & NG futures trades - per Bloomberg. TRUMP IS PLAYING U.S. and stealing in plain site. While congress lets him.

@icebalm @ClownWorld The food in Aomori is amazing. Tohoku in general is really friendly, and I doubt the izakaya means any offense, as you suggest.

@robuzo @ClownWorld This is a tiny izakaya in Aomori called Kamakura. They have quite extensive rules inside, like you pour your own drinks, and you have to write your order on a sticky note. I'm pretty sure they just don't want the headaches of having to cater to people who can't read or write JP.

In Japan, some restaurants serve Japanese customers only. It's their local policy and clearly posted at the entrance. If you went to Japan and saw this, would you be offended? Personally I wouldn't. It's their country, their rules.

A Trump insider opened a $51,000,000 oil short position — hours before Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran. This guy is now 16 for 16. $170 million in profit. A perfect streak. This is not a talented trader. "We placed the bet." "The ceasefire dropped." "We cashed out." Sixteen times in a row. That is not skill. That is not instinct. That is not research. That is someone who knows what is coming before it comes. Think about what that actually means. A private individual is placing a $51 million bet that oil prices are about to collapse — hours before a sitting president announces a ceasefire that collapses oil prices. Not once. Sixteen times. Zero losses. There are only two explanations and both should terrify you. Either someone inside the White House — or with direct access to it — is leaking ceasefire negotiations to traders before diplomats, before the press, before the American people hear a single word. That is insider trading. That is corruption. That is a federal crime. Or the timing of the announcement itself is being shaped around the trade. Which is worse. This is not a genius investor who reads the news faster than you do. The news hadn't happened yet. He wasn't reading the news. He was getting a phone call. While Americans were watching the ceasefire announcement and feeling relieved — somebody already knew. Somebody had already bet $51 million on it. And somebody was already counting their winnings. You are not watching a free market. You are watching a White House with a side hustle. Via~ Really American

Tucker Carlson responds to Netanyahu’s terror attack on Beirut that destroyed Trump’s ceasefire.