Image is of Venezuela’s Maduro and Colombia’s Petro walking together at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas in 2022, sourced from this article.
Ordinarily, I avoid straying into the American domestic situation, but the government shutdown appears to be continuing into increasingly harmful territory. If the situation is not resolved, soon tens of millions of Americans will lose food assistance, and already millions of federal employees are furloughed or are working without pay. To those not in the know, this situation has essentially stemmed from the Democrats refusing to sign off on the Republicans’ plan to substantially shrink Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, which would eventually result in tens of millions losing healthcare coverage and tens if not hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths.
To be clear, though, the Democrats have not exactly been paragons of healthcare: they not only oppose plans to make affordable healthcare a right (in defiance of wide popular opinion), but also do their part to maximize suffering. Biden’s policies during the pandemic ensured at least one million people died, and millions of children lost public healthcare coverage. We may never know the true toll, as the US decided that simply ceasing to report on a problem means that the problem no longer exists.
In other news, over the last couple weeks, the US has expanded their hostility against Venezuela by also including Colombia in their ire, and particularly the left-leaning leader, Petro. Both countries are now experiencing major economic and covert pressure by the US to try and cause regime change. The US has deployed an aircraft carrier to the waters near Venezuela and is conducting a military training operation with Trinidad and Tobago, which Venezuela has warned may be the prelude to the long-awaited attack.
Additionally, the US is attempting to combat Chinese geopolitical interest in central America and the Caribbean by carrying out digital attacks and launching pressure campaigns against Chinese and pro-Chinese countries and organizations. Given China’s enormous economic weight, if central America were to break all ties with China, it would be a catastrophe for them; such decisions would only be made by outright compradors, and the resulting economic problems would make their reigns unpopular and, hopefully, brief.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the RedAtlas!
The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA 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.
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.
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.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
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.
Testing a new newsmega feature: great effort posts of the week. The comm is at its best when people contribute their own analysis like this
@CarmineCatboy2@hexbear.net with analysis of the social and political dimensions of organized crime in Rio, placing the police operation that killed 100+ people in context.
@MarmiteLover123@hexbear.net on how sanctions against Huawei didn’t stop their technical advancement but did save Apple’s market share
milei’s victory in the midterms will spell absolute DISASTER for the working class. There is a gigantic battle ahead of us and we have little chance of winning it. I’m afraid Argentina’s toughest days are yet to come.
Milei aims to speed up reform drive after election victory
President Javier Milei is preparing to forge ahead with a second wave of reforms, targeting the labour market, taxation system and pensions. But first, he will have to open dialogue with leaders in what he says will be the “most reformist Congress” in history.
Emboldened by his midterm election triumph, President Javier Milei is opening dialogue with political leaders to advance with a second wave of reforms, targeting the labour market, taxation system and, down the line, pensions. Milei’s government reached last week’s legislative elections amid financial turbulence that has calmed after the win. It now faces the challenge of jumpstarting a stagnant economy and consolidating its political project.
Milei’s first step will be to negotiate his first Budget bill in two years in office with lawmakers after two consecutive rejections. Milei postponed it until December, when his position in Congress will be stronger.
Milei’s La Libertad Avanza caucus will expand but still fall short of a majority. Although the final count is pending, the government is expected to hold around 100 of 257 seats in the lower house and 20 of 72 in the Senate, as from December 10. With their centre-right ally, the PRO party of former president Mauricio Macri, Milei and La Libertad Avanza could have a combined 107 seats in the new-look Chamber of Deputies. In the upper house, the caucus would be 26 seats out of 72.
Milei has happily proclaimed that the new Congress, which will sit for the first time on December 10, will be “the most reformist… in Argentina’s history.” The President has called on governors and other political forces to open talks on his “second-generation reforms” in 2026. This time, the abrasive right-winger – who in the past dismissed his opponents as “rats” and “traitors” – is showing signs of being more open to dialogue.
Milei says there is a “sequence” for his reforms and simplifying Argentina’s byzantine tax code is his top priority. The 55-year-old economist has in the past branded taxes as “theft” and labelled those who stash their money into offshore accounts as “heroes” for managing to “escape the claws of the State.”
Milei wants to bring more workers into the formal economy. To achieve that he proposes lowering employer payroll taxes, so that companies put workers on their books and hire new staff.
“We have a plan to eliminate 20 taxes, reduce rates and broaden the tax base so that evasion no longer makes sense,” he told the A24 news channel on the Monday following the election. According to Milei, the new tax scheme will trigger an “expansion of the private sector” that will allow progress towards “labour modernisation.”
Loosen labour laws
Milei always wants to shake up Argentina’s “anachronistic” labour code, which he says “is over 70 years old and not designed for today’s world.”
He argues that the current system is driving informality and wants to make it easier to hire and fire staff. Unemployment in Argentina stands at 7.9 percent, while 40 percent of workers are informally employed.
A bill drafted by a Milei-aligned congresswoman proposes making working hours more flexible – up to 12 hours a day – and allowing a percentage of wages to be paid in non-monetary form, such as with food vouchers or coupons.
They’re calling 12 hours shifts a MODERNISATION. Going back to the 1880s is actually GOING FORWARDS.
Milei also wants to end what he calls the “labour litigation industry” by introducing a fixed severance pay system. The Labour Ministry has proposed negotiating collective wage agreements at company level rather than the current union-led talks, along with performance-based pay.
Leaving collective agreements to be decided between the employer and the employees is suicide for the latter, the power relation is completely on the side of the employer. It’ll never happen save for a few sectors/industries where certain employees are crucial.
Milei says the proposals, which are being pushed by employers, would be a win-win for companies and employees alike.
But Argentina’s famously combative unions have so far categorically rejected them.
Not strictly so. The main Union’s Federation, the CGT, is already in talks with the milei admin to negotiate the reforms… to NEGOTIATE THE REFORMS. That’s hardly a combative spirit. I hope this entire shitshow finally puts an end to the CGT or the CGT’s current leadership, which fucking SUCKS.
Some of the proposals had been included in a massive 2023 mega-decree, but they were ultimately blocked by the courts following challenges from labour groups.
As part of his triptych of new reforms, the President has also floated a shake-up of the country’s underfunded pension system, without giving details and making clear it would come last of the three. Groups of pensioners have become a focal point of resistance to the government, staging weekly protests that are often met with police repression. According to the IARAF think tank (Argentine Institute for Fiscal Analysis), pensions and retirement benefits will account for 46 percent of state spending in 2026. So far, the government has not provided details of its proposal to reform the pension system.
They’re also fucked.
milei has severely moderated his rethoric. He’s no longer treating provincial governors like rats and old men that smell like piss. He just had a meeting with all of them, and the situation greatly changed. He’s going for the labour reforms, he’s getting the political support to do it.
It’s a gamble, either he wins big or the entire situation gets out of control and it explodes in his face. Time will tell, but I have little hopes.
as seemingly typical with euro rightwing weirdos, dutch ones successfully ate shit, after trying to govern in coalition.
now back to regularly scheduled austerity, euro accents and nazi support across the world. (https://www.rte.ie/news/2025/1030/1541236-dutch-election/)
i think only meloni managed to pull off post-fascist vibes while in government.
On Unholy podcast, @Freedland asks Hillary Clinton if she’d vote for Zohran Mamdani?
HC: “You know what? I don’t vote in this city. I’m not involved in it. I have not been at all even asked to be involved in it, and I have not chosen to be involved in it.”
Of course, both Clintons endorsed De Blasio in 2013. And I’m assuming they also endorsed in previous NYC and NY elections. Kind of funny, HRC is the ultimate electoralism person, she argued that it is your duty to always vote for the Dem nominee, but now she is like “voting, what even is that?”. [edit] Bill Clinton endorsed Cuomo in June 2025.
Microsoft seemingly just revealed that OpenAI lost $11.5B last quarter
spoiler
We have an investment in OpenAI Global, LLC (“OpenAI”) and have made total funding commitments of $13 billion, of which $11.6 billion has been funded as of September 30, 2025. The investment is accounted for under the equity method of accounting, with our share of OpenAI’s income or loss recognized in other income (expense), net.
Current year net income and diluted EPS were negatively impacted by net losses from investments in OpenAI, which resulted in a decrease in net income and diluted EPS of $3.1 billion and $0.41, respectively. Prior year net income and diluted EPS were negatively impacted by net losses from investments in OpenAI, which resulted in a decrease in net income and diluted EPS of $523 million and $0.07, respectively.
Finally, there’s another SEC document containing relevant information from Tuesday’s announcement that OpenAI had finalized its transition into a for-profit (optimistic!) company, in which it was revealed that Microsoft is now the owner of a 27 percent stake in the AI upstart.
If Microsoft owns 27 percent of OpenAI, it stands to reason under equity accounting that it bears 27 percent of OpenAI’s losses. Microsoft’s admission that it shaved $3.1 billion off its net income to account for its share of OpenAI losses therefore suggests OpenAI lost about $11.5 billion during the quarter. Microsoft declined to comment beyond confirming that the $3.1 billion loss “this year” referred to Microsoft’s current fiscal year, which started July 1, not the calendar year. So that’s a quarterly loss, not a nine-month loss.
That’s a humongous number for OpenAI given it reportedly generated only $4.3 billion in revenue for the first half of the year, but a sum that won’t hurt Big Daddy Redmond too much given it earned $27.7 billion in net income in the last quarter alone.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/29/microsoft_earnings_q1_26_openai_loss/
Quote of the day:
“…President Xi is a great leader of a great country…” – Donald Trump
Leaked emails reveal Jeffrey Epstein helped build a secret Israeli intelligence backchannel to Russian over the war in Syria.
spoiler
Epstein helped make contacts between top Russian and Israeli officials to explore a negotiated settlement to replace Assad.
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/jeffrey-epstein-ehud-barak-putin-israel-russia-syria-war-depose-assad
‘You got some pants on, officer?’: video from Detroit virtual court hearing goes viral https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/30/detroit-court-hearing-no-pants
In Canadian Indigenous news, here’s one for the nuance heads. I tried to archive link this but archive.is returned a ‘bot’ error message. APTN is the Aboriginal People’s Television Network, an Indigenous owned media outlet (as far as I can tell) so click on it anyway. Some content for this post also came from this story, which is archived.
nuance below. No content warning, just a tedious legal issue that is one more long term consequence of not respecting treaties or more promptly resolving treaty disputes
spoiler
In the mid 2000s, the 21 First Nations governments party to the Robinson Huron Treaty brought a lawsuit against Canada saying that the terms of that treaty were not being honoured.
The First Nations said the fact that the $4-per-person annuity had not increased since 1874 breached the treaty, because resource extraction projects operating on their land had been generating profits that far exceeded what their members received.
The judge on the trial ruled in favour of the First Nations, which resulted in a $10b CAD settlement.
Five per cent of that sum went to the lawyers from Nahwegahbow Corbiere Genoodmagejig/Barristers & Solicitors who argued the case on behalf of the First Nations.
Per their website, this law firm is owned, staffed and operated by Aboriginal people and is located in Anishinabek territory, which is covered by the Robinson Huron treaty.
This equates to about $510m CAD in fees. The legal firm took the case on partial contingency, meaning that they charged reduced rates for some of their staff in exchange for a percentage of any settlement, should the case be successful. Lawyers commonly operate purely/mostly on contingency in personal injury or employment law for example. In this case, the contingency was uncapped, meaning that the firm got 5% of any settlement, not 5% up to some maximum dollar figure. The firm donated half their percentage of the settlement (~$250m CAD) to various Indigenous community projects.
Subsequent to winning this settlement, two of the First Nations part of the original case (Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and Garden River First Nation) brought and successfully won a lawsuit over this amount of fees, and the judge ordered the fees reduced to $23m CAD from $510m CAD. The lower fee represents approximately $350/h of legal effort, as the case took ~65,000 hours.
“When we saw the legal fee of half a billion dollars, it just was so astronomical and know that there were 15 to 17 of the nations within the Robinson Huron Treaty territory that would get less than what that firm was getting,” [Chief Karen Bell] said in an interview with CBC.
In his ruling, [Judge] Myers criticized the lawyers for bringing their personal interests and the 21 First Nations’ interests into conflict by charging the high fee, discouraging the First Nations from getting outside legal advice on their fee, and pressuring them to approve it.
[Legal counsel for the law firm] Gover said the ruling “echoes centuries of paternalistic attitudes toward First Nations” and undermines the right of Indigenous leaders to make their own informed decisions. “The chiefs, elders and other trustees involved in this agreement were experienced negotiators who drove a hard bargain and were well aware of what they were doing over the entire course of this litigation,” he said.
I will finish on a koan: If the legal team claiming very high fees for winning an Indigenous rights case is Indigenous, is it still settler logic to have an opinion?
I’ve used the word Aboriginal in this post as this is the word used by the parties to describe their organizations.
Senate votes to remove Trump’s ability to impose tariffs https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/30/senate-vote-trump-tariffs
Andrew stripped of ‘prince’ title and will move out of Royal Lodge https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cnveqgj957dt good, now fucking prosecute him
Argentina declares Brazilian organized criminals to be terrorists and sends troops to the border with Brazil. Paraguay follows suit and does the same. Rodrigo Paz, Bolivia’s president-elect, also promises to send troops to the border with Brazil, under the pretext of protecting his countries from “terrorism.”
- Telegram
