-
59 votes
-
A right-wing sheriffs group that challenges federal law is gaining acceptance across many regions of the US
58 votes -
Michigan charges sixteen in false elector scheme to overturn former US President Donald Trump’s 2020 loss
58 votes -
Six Mississippi 'goon squad' deputies plead guilty to torturing Black men
57 votes -
Boris Johnson stands down as a member of UK parliament with immediate effect
57 votes -
Jury finds Jennifer Crumbley, the Michigan school shooter’s mother, guilty of manslaughter
56 votes -
Twitter's dying. Time to drop the news paywalls.
56 votes -
The truth is paywalled but the lies are free
56 votes -
Hundreds dead in Gaza hospital bombing, local authorities say
55 votes -
EU to stop changing the clocks in 2019
55 votes -
I’ve been at NPR for twenty-five years. Here’s how we lost America’s trust.
54 votes -
United States Justice Department report finds ‘cascading failures’ and ‘no urgency’ during Uvalde, Texas, shooting
54 votes -
Donald Trump finds no new lawyers in time for Mar-a-Lago documents arraignment: he is expected to be represented by existing lawyers Todd Blanche and Chris Kise
54 votes -
Testimony of Michael D. Cohen — Committee on Oversight and Reform — US House of Representatives
54 votes -
260 year old Crooked House pub catches fire and is demolished days after purchase by developer
53 votes -
At least thirty protesters arrested during pro-Palestinian protest at UT Austin
52 votes -
Mitch McConnell will step down as the US Senate Republican leader in November
52 votes -
National Geographic reportedly lays off its last US staff writers
52 votes -
Traffic cop sues city over ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ cards for NYPD friends and family
52 votes -
Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election (145MB PDF)
52 votes -
Israel-Hamas War Megathread, October 27 to November 5
This is a place to post links to news and analysis of the conflict when you’d prefer not to post them top-level.
51 votes -
Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - June 22
This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...
This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.
If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.
51 votes -
YouTube blocks access to CBC's The Fifth Estate story on killing of B.C. Sikh activist at India's demand
50 votes -
Ukrainian forces withdraw from Avdiivka; megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - February 17
There hasn't been a megathread for a while so I wanted to post the latest news as well as a couple other pieces of news from the past week along with a couple articles providing additional...
There hasn't been a megathread for a while so I wanted to post the latest news as well as a couple other pieces of news from the past week along with a couple articles providing additional context.
The latest piece of news is Ukrainian forces withdraw from Avdiivka to avoid encirclement, army chief says. This is very concerning and I hope encourages people to continue urging their politicians to find ways of supporting Ukraine in a larger capacity than they have in recent months.
The other day there was also this article titled Rate of Russian military production worries Europe's war planners. If you don't have time to listen to Perun's hour-long PowerPoint from 4 months ago on the same subject (Russian Defence Production 2023 - Can Russia keep up with equipment attrition in Ukraine?), then The Guardian article is a decent primer.
It also links to a Foreign Affairs article published in January of 2024 going into more detail about Russia's economic expenditures and its uneven footing: Putin’s Unsustainable Spending Spree: How the War in Ukraine Will Overheat the Russian Economy (Archive.is link). This is a particularly interesting article as it details the expenses as a percent of GDP that have recently made the rounds in the news this week, as well as how military spending as spurred growth in some industries, while others also tangentially related are lagging behind despite the government's stimulus. Additionally, Russia is spending the equivalent of billions of dollars on annexed regions of Ukraine. It then details the consequences of this substantially increased spending and increased wages that may be dislocating the civilian economy in favor of maintaining enough supplies for a further extended attritional war.
The Guardian article say that:
New analysis by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) estimates that Russia has lost 3,000 armoured fighting vehicles in the last year and close to 8,800 since the war began.
Unable to produce anywhere near that number of vehicles, Russia has mainly refurbished ageing hardware ...
Russian factories claimed to have delivered 1,500 main battle tanks this year, of which 1,180 to 1,280 had been reactivated from storage, according to IISS. Those numbers, along with reactivated armoured personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, meant Russia would “be able to sustain its assault on Ukraine at current attrition rates for another two to three years, and maybe even longer”, the group said.For reference, the landing ship that was recently destroyed by Ukrainian Unmanned Surface Vessels (Magura V5 sea drones), Caesar Kunikov, could carry 10 main battle tanks and 340 troops or 12 armored personnel carriers and 340 troops. Though it's not clear what role that ship was playing, as trains play a significant role in deploying men and materiel to the frontlines.
Finally, an article I'd meant to post several months ago to just sort of talk about in general terms: What would happen if Russia invaded Finland? I went to a giant war game in London to find out. Has anyone ever participated in war gaming, have a background or took a class on game theory, or enjoyed the history of tabletop gaming that dates back to this war-time activity? Just interested in what people have to say.
50 votes -
Mass shooting, fifteen dead, at university in Prague, Czech Republic
50 votes -
Russia destroys Kherson-region dam
50 votes -
Queen Elizabeth II dies
50 votes -
Putin declares "special military operation" in Ukraine
50 votes -
Bernie Sanders drops out of American presidential race
50 votes -
Jair Bolsonaro, far-right populist, elected President of Brazil
50 votes -
US President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union address
49 votes -
Proud Boy convicted of helping spearhead US Capitol attack ties Jan. 6 sentence record with eighteen years
49 votes -
Nancy Pelosi plans formal impeachment inquiry of US President Donald Trump
49 votes -
US President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort found guilty on eight counts
49 votes -
More than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested across US campuses
48 votes -
Sixty-six good news stories you didn't hear about in 2023
48 votes -
Far-right leader Geert Wilders wins Dutch election
48 votes -
Supreme Court, under pressure, issues non-binding ethics code for justices, without mechanisms for enforcement
48 votes -
Russia's FSB announces a felony investigation into Wagner Group's incitement to 'armed rebellion'
48 votes -
In Georgia Runoff Elections, (D) Warnock wins vs (R) Loeffler, (D) Ossof very likely wins vs (R) Purdue
Text post because the big news companies are cowards playing it safe and not calling Ossof yet, though it's basically over Warnock makes history with Senate win as Dems near majority (AP News) My...
Text post because the big news companies are
cowardsplaying it safe and not calling Ossof yet, though it's basically overWarnock makes history with Senate win as Dems near majority (AP News)
My takes below:
What does this mean?
This gives Democrats a thin majority in the senate. Does it mean they have free reign? No, the party is not that unified. In particular, as you probably have heard his name many many times now, Manchin, the "conservative Democrat" from WV is likely to be the kingmaker in votes. So it's not like just anything can get passed, and Manchin will not eliminate the filibuster easily.
So is it pointless?
ABSOLUTELY NOT
It's a huge victory nonetheless for Democrats. Remember, with control of the Senate, Chuck Schumer will be Senate Majority Leader, who controls what legislation the senate votes on. Even bipartisan bills were consistently torpedoed by McConnell who would refuse to even have a vote on it. Now, there is politics that can be done - deals, compromise, whatever. If you can't vote on something, nothing can be done. Things that are overall popular like increased stimulus are also going to pass.
Additionally, perhaps an even bigger deal, Biden can get his nominations through for cabinet and judges. There's an insane amount of unfilled heads of state departments right now, and the rest are filled with people absolutely unfit for the job. Having a real human being be the head of the EPA, or Department of Education, or the Department of Energy, and so forth is a big deal.
It also means that Justice Breyer can safely retire and have another "liberal" Justice take his place.
It's not sweeping control over the government, but it's a immensely superior political situation to McConnell stone walling anything he doesn't want, and Biden having to haggle with McConnell over how incompetent his cabinet needs to be.
48 votes -
The Chinese government is engaging in a widespread, systematic campaign of forced birth control and sterilization on Uighurs and other minorities
48 votes -
Billionaire industrialist David Koch has died
48 votes -
'A red line crossed': Nationwide protests declared for Thursday at 5PM after Jeff Sessions fired
48 votes -
Explosive devices found in mail sent to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
48 votes -
Ecuador will imminently withdraw asylum for Julian Assange and hand him over to the UK
48 votes -
Civilians make up 61% of Gaza deaths from airstrikes, Israeli study finds
47 votes -
Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris as his Vice President
47 votes -
Elizabeth Warren is ending her US presidential campaign
47 votes -
I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration
47 votes -
Supreme Court rules Donald Trump can remain on Colorado ballot (gifted link)
46 votes