Mark Chadbourn

21 Dec 2024

The theme for this feed is Everything is Connected. The posts cover news and politics from all over the world, things that I think it’s worth paying attention to but which may not always get priority in other media. Even if it happens 5000 miles away it can still roll up on your doorstep.

RFK Jr in Michigan: “There are no Jews in Saudi Arabia. There are no Jews in Tunisia, Libya or Algeria. “That is the real genocide in the Middle East.” Quite spectacular gaslighting.

RFK Jr: “There are no Jews in Syria. There are four Jews in Syria.”

RFK Jr: “There are 500 million Arabs in the world, and yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Nobel Prize. “They don't win the Fields Medal. They don't win the Wolf Prize. “They don't produce literature.”

bbc.co.ukIsrael heads to polls for pivotal election defined by security and democracyMany fear neither of the leading political blocs will win enough seats for a majority - meaning weeks or months of political wrangling may lie ahead.

Israel votes today with polls showing it neck-and-neck between Netanyahu’s Far Right bloc and the mainly Hard Right opposition bloc. All but one of the leading Jewish parties have ruled out working with the Arab blocs.

Turnout in Israel was 16.68% by 10am, the highest level at that time since 1981.

Reform’s chaotic governance of Staffordshire County Council continues. It’s about to get its fourth leader in 16 months.

As in Hungary, the authoritarian regime in Serbia is being dismantled . “For years, we failed to fulfill our duty. We kept silent, turned a blind eye, reported events one-sidedly, and failed to ask the necessary questions. For that, we owe our viewers an apology,” news anchor Goran Eror said.

Morning Bluesky.

Trump’s vision of electoral mortality in Mississippi: "For some reason, presidents don't do well in the midterm, no matter how good they are, even if they're great like us together or whatever."

Trump: “I hear all these people that Trump has raised the cost. We haven't raised the cost.”

Trump: “The father was a handsome guy, tall, beautiful-looking guy, like, right out of Wall Street. He was in a beautiful dark pinstriped suit with a vest and, I mean, he was central casting for a movie.”

Trump’s vision of electoral mortality in Mississippi: "For some reason, presidents don't do well in the midterm, no matter how good they are, even if they're great like us together or whatever."

Trump: “Nice looking guys, these guys. I love those cowboy hats. I love the cowboy. You know Texas. I won Texas 3 times.”

Trump: “Tariffs don’t cause inflation. They cause success, growth, and jobs. That’s what they cause.”

Trump’s vision of electoral mortality in Mississippi: "For some reason, presidents don't do well in the midterm, no matter how good they are, even if they're great like us together or whatever."

Trump: “We won a thing called merit. In other words, you're allowed to be a very strong person, a big strong person to be a soldier. We don't have to use people that aren't equipped to be a soldier, like people that are physically weak, don't know how to fight, don't wanna fight…

…and would be very good at something else. Merit. We won merit. You get into college now based on merit. Nobody can believe that we won this. I thought, wow. You get into the military based on merit.”

Trump’s vision of electoral mortality in Mississippi: "For some reason, presidents don't do well in the midterm, no matter how good they are, even if they're great like us together or whatever."

Trump: “Every single leader in the world considers us to be the strongest, the hottest country anywhere in the world.”

mirror.co.ukFarage and Jenrick face rows of empty seats as big speech falls flatNigel Farage and Robert Jenrick were forced to face rows of empty seats as they set out a limp package of rehashed plans ahead of John Healey's Budget

A slowly-dying Far Right party.

Mark Chadbourn reposted

benzheng.bsky.social

@benzheng.bsky.social

14h

Replying to @chadbourn.bsky.social

16h

Steve Bannon is getting his election denial in early.

Mark Chadbourn reposted

Meidas Charise Lee 💙🌊🌴🥥🫘

@chariselee.bsky.social

22h

The FRENCH don’t play when it comes to a REVOLUTION

washingtonsun.comHow Rough Is It for Republicans? Look at This North Carolina District.The state’s once safe 11th District is slipping. “Based on early voting, it is a likely Democratic district,” a Republican strategist said.

18h

Republicans are worried NC-11 - a Trump+10 district - is already lost. If that’s replicated elsewhere it’s going to be carnage.

abcnews.comTrump failed to stop inflation. Now Republicans may pay the price in the midtermsOne week before midterm elections, President Donald Trump is struggling to deliver on his promise to bring down costs

17h

Trump has made Americans poorer. A Ford F-150 truck costs about $100 to fill, up $30 from a year ago. Mortgage rates have jumped to levels that have depressed home sales. And consumer prices are rising faster than paychecks.

apple.newsNew Details of Rape Allegation Against Trump Revealed in House Democrats’ Epstein Report — TIMEA report released Monday by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on President Donald Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein included new details from a woman who alleged Trump raped her in 1993. Beatri...

18h

New details about another rape allegation against Trump, this time from a former Miss Switzerland.

bbc.co.uk'It's offensively cheap': How solar power is quietly becoming bigger than nuclearAfter defying projections, solar's dramatic growth means it is overtaking nuclear as a global power source. Here are seven reasons for solar's success, and where it might go from here.

21h

Solar is booming.

Mark Chadbourn reposted

Declan McKelvy

@springwatch2000.bsky.social

Replying to @chadbourn.bsky.social

www.wsj.com/world/europe... gift link

wsj.comFrance’s Nuclear Forces Bring In Neighbors to Keep Russia in CheckAs confidence in the U.S. nuclear umbrella wanes, 10 European nations have started working with Paris on deterrence.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei: “Tehran’s hosting of senior military and security officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey is a key development toward establishing regional diplomacy.

“Lasting stability and security in the Middle East can only be achieved by relying on the region’s own countries, and this meeting could pave the way for broader cooperation.”

The shift away from the US continues. Ten countries have now signed on for Macron’s Forward Deterrence initiative, including the UK, Germany and Poland, WSJ reports. Under the plan, France would station nuclear-capable fighter jets across Europe as trust in the US erodes.

meduza.ioRussia is escalating its confrontation with the West in orbit. Its satellites are pursuing spacecraft from companies helping Ukraine — and Starlink has been put on notice. — MeduzaThere has long been talk of “hunter” satellites and an intensifying confrontation in space between Russia and the United States. But this week brought an unprecedented escalation in the new “star…

Italy rejected the offer, which also included strengthening intelligence sharing and early-warning systems to deter Russia.

Mark Chadbourn reposted

Meduza in English

@meduza.io

A Russian satellite made an extraordinarily close approach to a Western commercial spacecraft that provides imagery to Ukraine. A retired Russian colonel portrayed the maneuver as a warning to companies aiding Kyiv, including Starlink. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

bbc.co.ukBrazil election live: Lula defeats Bolsonaro - follow latestLula, 80, overturns the outcome from the first round of voting, but Bolsonaro calls the result "inexplicable" and refuses to concede.

Despite Lula solidly winning the Brazilian Presidential runoff, his Far Right challenger Flávio Bolsonaro is describing the result as “inexplicable” and calling for the election to be annulled. A preview for the US Midterms.

Morning Bluesky.

A good day for democracy. Let’s keep this streak going.

The Trump Administration has advocated for Viktor Orbán to be UN Secretary-General, WSJ reports.

France's Marine Le Pen: “Nobody thinks we are stronger today than yesterday, or that after 10 years of Emmanuel Macron we are walking on a field of rose petals. “Today the words that come to mind are ruin, decline, erasure, riots and even chaos, decay, disappearance.

“But we can say that many of the ingredients of what we call a revolutionary situation are present.”

Mélenchon: “France will always be a restless people because it is a composite people. “During the Great Revolution, half of the French did not speak French.”

“France is not in this state because of its people, but because of its leaders.”