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Two years after Ratimir Poopin' personally invaded The Ukraine, Germany legalizes marihuana in a desperate attempt to shore up stoner support for democracy.

Hard to convey how big this is - sure, smoking weed has become as normalized here as anywhere else in the west, then again the repercussions for doing it are at least theoretically quite insane, like for example you automatically lose your drivers license for 6 months if you're caught DUI with any amount of cannabis in your piss.

The legalization itself is very German: it's 180+ pages of legalese, you have to register with a "smoking club" where you grow and share your weed among club members, 500 members per club max, no public or pharmacy dispensaries, no smoking within 500 yards of any school, playground or kindergarten, buying on the black market is still technically illegal and so is stashing more than 40 grams per adult... you know, rules-based stuff.

But at least it's mostly legal now, cops can't take it away any more and you won't get into legal trouble. Oh, I mean as soon as the lower house passes the bill, but they kinda have to apparently. I think this is the first time that I'm actually kinda happy about my government.

But it will get old real fast I bet.

99 red luftalerts another balloon spotted I repeat another balloon has been spotted this is not a drill

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/military-tracking-balloon-western-us-military/

The U.S. is tracking a small, high-altitude balloon that is drifting across the country but poses no threat to national security, U.S. officials and the military said Friday.

CBS News first reported that the military was tracking the balloon as it traversed the Western U.S. earlier in the day. NORAD, the military command responsible for air defense over the U.S. and Canada, later confirmed it had detected the object and said it was floating between 43,000 and 45,000 feet. Its presence prompted enough concern that the command sent aircraft to investigate.

"The balloon was intercepted by NORAD fighters over Utah, who determined it was not maneuverable and did not present a threat to national security. NORAD will continue to track and monitor the balloon," NORAD said in a statement. "The FAA also determined the balloon posed no hazard to flight safety."

I'm worried about our man .

Blinken is in Brazil.

Latin America, Heir to Arab Heritage

The cultural heritage bequeathed to us by the Arabs remains in our language, in our cuisine, in our way of life. Both Latin America and the world are heirs to their wisdom.

The Arab presence in Latin America dates back to the arrival of the Spanish around 1492, initiating a long process of constant cultural exchange between the New World and the Middle East.

The encounter between the two cultures - as historians have called it - was in fact a multicultural encounter. The colonizers' ships were manned by hundreds of men from dissimilar cultures from the old continent, including the Arab culture.

Let us remember that the Arabs occupied the Iberian Peninsula, which they called Al-Andaluz. In this region, the Emirate of Granada, the last Arab stronghold in the peninsula, was the most important. Finally, with the advance of the Reconquest, initiated by the Christians in the northern mountains of the peninsula, the Emirate of Granada fell and the Arabs were expelled.

But it was impossible to expel more than eight hundred years of traditions, customs and cultural heritage. The descendants of the Arabs who remained in this region had to adapt to the new reality, change their surnames, adapt their religious customs, etc. However, this cultural heritage could never be erased, as it endured for centuries.

The first Arab descendants arrived in America on those three famous ships used by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to the New World in 1492: La Niña, La Pinta and Santa María were the names of the ships. They were looking for a route that would take them to the Indies, since the Arabs blocked the passage through the European continent. Of these ships, two returned to Europe. The Santa Maria ran aground near the coasts of the Dominican Republic.

Without being aware of it, many Latin Americans carry surnames of Muslim heritage. In today's Spanish there are thousands of words that come directly from Arabic. Pronounced every day: azúcar, albañil, alforjas, azucenas, alelí, the Spanish denomination of ojala, is a derivation of the Islamic cult of Ala. Similarly, in architecture there are forms that come from the millenary Moorish tradition.

Latin America had different waves of Arab migration from the Middle East, being from the late 19th century, when a large community of Arab origin disembarked. The first was between 1870 and 1900, the second between 1900 and 1914 and, finally, the third wave occurred as a consequence of the occupation of Palestine in 1948 and from 1974 with the civil war in Lebanon.

Among the countries that stand out the most are Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. They settled in many countries in the Latin American region, mainly in Venezuela, Chile and Argentina. It is estimated that more than 20 million found a new way of life. Today they are grouped into communities, associations and, despite living in a totally different environment, they maintain their main traditions.

Undoubtedly, it is a mistake to think that we are far removed from the Arabs. The cultural heritage they have bequeathed to us remains in our language, in our cuisine, in our way of life. This debunks the myth that Arabs are barbarians and have always been an inferior culture or that they are extremists for practicing Islam. None of this is true. Both Latin America and the world are heirs to their wisdom.

Not really news report, but is interesting to see the connection between Latin America and the Middle East

Why the fuck is the US talking about an hostage deal at the UN. Didn't Israel and hamas walked out on the talks?

A Crowd Defends Assange Before the Court Deciding His Future

"If he is extradited, the chilling effect will be enormous," RSF journalist Rebecca Vincent said.

On Tuesday, hundreds of people from different nationalities demanded the freedom of Julian Assange outside the doors of the High Court in London, where two judges must decide whether he can appeal his case in the United Kingdom or be extradited to the United States.

From early in the day, participants in the demonstration began to gather at the courthouse doors, where the first of the two scheduled hearings for the case began today.

“This trial is an attack on truth and the citizens' right to know. Julian is a political prisoner, and his life is in danger,” Assange's wife, Stella, said in a speech alongside Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the British Labour Party.

Miguel Urban, a member of Anticapitalistas in the European Parliament, said that the atmosphere in the courtroom is "tense," during a break taken by the MEP during the session.

"There can be no other outcome than the acquittal of Julian Assange because this will be the acquittal of freedom of information and the press," he said.

"Reporters Without Borders is engaged because of Julian Assange's contribution to journalism... he exposed war crimes and human rights violations...If he is extradited, the chilling effect will be enormous," said journalist Rebecca Vincent.

Among the 'Free Julian Assange' posters stood out the Guy Fawkes masks and the orange color of the prisoner jumpsuits worn by some of the attendees.

"They are using Assange as an example to silence the press," said Richard, a retired finance worker who attended the doors of the London court on Tuesday.

Assange has been in pretrial detention at the high-security Belmarsh prison in London since he was arrested at the request of the United States following his expulsion on April 11, 2019, from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The relevance of the trial, crucial in deciding whether Assange will be extradited to the United States, brought people from various nationalities. For instance, Christiane Fantauzzo traveled from Marseille a day earlier to be present at the protest.

"It's the last chance to free him and to ensure freedom of the press and democracy," the French computer engineer said.

On Tuesday, Julian Assange began presenting his last legal recourse in the United Kingdom against his extradition to the U.S., where authorities want to prosecute him for espionage due to the revelations published in 2010 and 2011 through WikiLeaks, which exposed classified information revealing U.S. human rights violations in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If the court does not authorize him to appeal the extradition order issued on June 6, 2023, by Magistrate Jonathan Swift, the mechanism for Assange's extradition to the U.S. would be activated, in which case his lawyers have already announced that they will request urgent precautionary measures from the European Court of Human Rights to prevent it.

pov the feds infiltrate your anti imperialist united front

At one point I got to watch another video of John Mearsheimer talking about how China's present and Japan's past exist in parallel. His argument being that Imperial Japan was not acting irrationally when it declared war on the US. The japanese leadership was under no illusion that it would be an easy war, or that they had any but the slimmest chances of winning. They only perceived it as the only way out of the economic catastrophe that the US embargo imposed on them. The argument then continues as Mearsheimer claims that China must be somehow both assured and contained in such a way as to not cause another war in east asia.

Yet I feel that he's got it completely backwards. It is the US that perceives hegemony as the only means by which it's continues prosperity is ensured. And it is the US that has to be contained and assured in such a way as to prevent a larger war, as well as to put an end to the regional wars that it constantly triggers on a whim. It is the United States who has to realize that growing prosperity in places like China and american withdrawal from hegemony status does not actually impede american development in any way.

SEE IT: President Biden unusually strong today, shows off some vigor. WATCH

https://twitter.com/simonateba/status/1760024743296589861

Me, wet and cold in a life raft shivering as my ship, the HMS Treaty McTreatface, sinks to the bottom of the Red Sea: "Fuck around and find out, fuck around and find out, fuck around and...."

The “mockery” is literally just… “you ‘like’ Russian stuff!” It’s not even debunking anything lol. It’s the equivalent of a kid making fun of someone for loving his mom

Apparently we sent some useless junk to the moon.

Anything important happen while I've been outside this weekend? Did china collapse yet?

ANOTHER NAZI BITES THE DUST!

So in a CNN story about some german football/soccer team, I found out in another one of those the most peculiar fashions that German fascism is still closer to the surface than many of the krauts are willing to admit.

Anyways, at least the nazi Abwehr agent had the decency to pursue justice against fascism in his own way. Better late than never lmao

Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann reveals father was a German spy and that he later took his own life

Only good soldier just went up in flames it seems

so uh, wtf is going on with this? https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/us-attorney-announces-nuclear-materials-trafficking-charges-against-japanese-yakuza

i'm currently inebriated and reading is hard

It's kind of amazing to me how buggy Imdb is. Pages load blank. Or they never finish loading. Or are they 404. How is Amazon this incompetent at running a website?

Who the fuck is Brianna Wu and why do people care about what she had to say?

I keep on see people retweeting her dumb takes

Western military excellence news: The royal Danish navy, once floridly besung as the Dane's way to glory and power, continues to impress by inflicting damage on two frigates. The frigates were their own.

This morning a storm damaged the moorings of the frigate Esbern Snare that is docked at the Frederikshavn naval base. The wind then blew her into the neighbouring frigate Absalon, causing damage to both ships. Military authorities claim not to have assessed the extent of the damage yet or to have an idea of how the ship could become unmoored.

Bolsonaro Remains Silent When Testifying About 2023 Coup Plan

This far-right politician and his collaborators must answer for violent acts that aimed to perpetuate him in the Presidency of Brazil.

On Thursday, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and 22 of his former collaborators went to the Federal Police to testify about the coup plans drawn up to prevent the inauguration of Lula da Silva as president on January 1, 2023.

The investigation focuses on the riot on January 8, 2023, when, a week after Lula took office, thousands of far-right activists violently stormed the Brasilia headquarters of all three branches of government.

Over the last year, the Federal Police found serious indications of conspiracies, one of which is a draft presidential decree prepared before January 1, 2023.

In this document, which the far-right President was expected to sign, actions aimed at keeping Bolsonaro in power through a "state of siege" and the intervention of the Supreme Court and the Electoral Tribunal are outlined.

"Jair Bolsonaro and generals Augusto Heleno and Braga Netto arrived at the Federal Police headquarters to give simultaneous testimonies about the attempted coup d'état. Due to a strategy of the Federal Police, all those investigated must give their testimonies at the same time to avoid collusion of versions."

This evidence led to a major police operation on February 8, 2024, when the homes of about 20 individuals were searched and four close collaborators of Bolsonaro were arrested.

Brazilian Justice revoked Bolsonaro's passport and banned him from leaving the country as measures to ensure that he attends the judicial proceedings against him.

This Thursday, the Federal Police also received statements from four former ministers, three of whom are retired generals: Walter Braga Netto, Paulo Sergio Nogueira, and Augusto Heleno.

Also present to give a statement were Admiral Almir Garnier, other high-ranking military officers, and former congressman Valdemar Costa Neto, who is the president of Bolsonaro's Liberal Party.

"Bolsonaro testifies today before the Federal Police for having led the coup plot. We know well that January 8 was the result of a system of disinformation and a financial and political investment. The former president's fingerprints are all over the dream coup, including the draft decree. No amnesty."

"The former president's lawyers tried unsuccessfully to postpone the statement... The police strategy to collect the testimonies is for them to be simultaneous so as to prevent those investigated from speculating with the versions," reported Nacho Lemus, teleSUR correspondent in Brazil.

Before going to the Federal Police, Bolsonaro denied all suspicions against him and indicated that he would remain silent during his testimony because he is "a victim of judicial persecution."

Next Sunday, this far-right politician and his followers will hold a meeting in Sao Paulo to reject this alleged "persecution."

Settler-on-settler violence:

https://twitter.com/AryJeay/status/1761486787598311559

https://twitter.com/AryJeay/status/1761507039153365483

Trump made a statement on the Alabama IVF ban.