When you can't live without bananas

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Monday, February 24, 2025

Links - 24th February 2025 (2)

Meme - "Ancient Egyptians placing health packs, weapons and ammo around their tombs so Lara Croft can use them one day"

Meme - "TIL plants make caffeine to defend themselves against pests. Caffeine is toxic to birds, dogs, cats, and it has a pronounced adverse effect on mollusks, various insects, and spiders."
"Coffee plant: "evolves caffeine* Safe at last
Humans:"
"Why are we like this..."
"the fact that we can't drink sea water even tho its the most common type of water just be its 3% salt yet we can safely consume multiple forms of literal poison and even benefit from doing so just blows my fucking mind"
"Peppers: Now that I have capsaicin, no mammal will eat me! ONLY BIRDS, THE BIRDS WILL SPREAD MY SEEDS.
Humans: oh my god this burns so good
Peppers: wut"
"poppies: at last, i have evolved my sap to the point where anything that eats me will sleep... FOREVER
humans who are about to invent painkillers: hey guess what"
"tobacco: finally i can grow in peace, no more insects munching on my leaves."
humans holding matches: my, my, what do we have here?"
"Mint: Stay off me bugs or I'l poison you!
Humans: Yeah I'm gonna need to put this poison in my dessert and mix it with chocolate."

Meme - "Queen Size Bedroom set"
"Is this still available? Can you deliver to ***"
"Yes, are you still interested?"
"Yes I am. Can you deliver on the weekend?"
"Sorry no"
"Can u deliver at all? Only interested if it can be delivered"
"I said NO. Go to hell"
"U said yes to my first question. See you in hell"
*Couldn't send.*

Meme - "STAGES OF LIFE: TEXTS THAT EXCITE YOU
HIGH SCHOOL: "Crush. Hey, you free to talk?"
COLLEGE: "Friend. Hey, wanna go clubbing tonight?"
ADULT: "Delivery. Your parcel has been delivered."

Meme - Wolverine: "Beast, where were you guys? The mansion was under attack! Dont worry, i killed all the vampires, zombies, werewolves and other creatures myself"
Crying Beast: "Oh Logan my dear boy, there werent any monsters. They were trick or treaters"
*Shocked Logan*

Meme - *Naked muscular man balanced on one arm on bathroom counter with anchor on bathroom wall*
"Consider this a fucking warning. Sorry wrong person"
"...
Who's the right person?! Who the hell is the right person?!"

Meme - Historical Centrist @StevePender: "For those who didn't know that Ghislaine Maxwell ran one of the biggest reddit accounts. Controlling/guiding information flow, blackmail of powerful people, like a powerhouse of subversion."
Air Katakana @airkatakana: "u/maxwellhill was one of the most prolific reddit power users, occupying a top spot on the r/worldnews moderator list, and accumulating 14m+ post karma   until they suddenly stopped their 18 year track record of posting on the same day ghislane maxwell was arrested"

Meme - "Best Job in The World. APPLYING MAKEUP ON REBECCA ROMIJN ON THE SET OF X-MEN, 2000"

Meme - Muslims: "Celebrates 9/11 as Islamic victory!! While simultaneously saying it is an inside job by Jews?"

Is 11-Year-Old a Genius, or Just Bright? Either Way, He's a Troubled Child - The New York Times - "Agustin Eastwood De Mello likes to tell the story of how his son, Adragon, at 7 weeks of age, looked up at him and said hello. Other signs of Adragon's precocity followed, the father says. He could read and write at the age of 2. At 5 he joined Mensa and at 8 he enrolled in a community college near this seaside town, about 80 miles south of San Francisco.  Last June Adragon attracted national attention when, at the age of 11, he graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, becoming the youngest college graduate, according to the 1989 Guinness Book of World Records.  But now concern by the authorites over Adragon's safety has left the boy's future uncertain. It is shrouded in a bitter custody dispute begun by the boy's mother, and possible criminal proceedings against the boy's unemployed father on charges of felony child endangerment... Questions have also been raised about Adragon's academic record. The boy's mother told the police that she and his father did much of his community college homework. And several teachers at Santa Cruz said Adragon performed poorly in class and suggested that Mr. De Mello harassed teachers who balked at giving the boy passing grades"
From 1988

Meme - Shayne Smith: "Gonna ask 4 separate girls on dates to the same place at the same time and then when they arrive and realize what has happened I'm gonna come out and try to talk them into playing Dungeons & Dragons."

Meme - "This is what is now lol? Gatekeep your hobbies, boys."
"Dungeons & Dragons Announces Mythical Meats, a Whimsical Food-Themed Quest"

Meme - "Dungeons & Dragons.
2nd ED *Sean Connery as James Bond*
3rd ED *Pierce Brosnan as James Bond*
3.5 ED *Daniel Craig as James Bond*
4th ED *Austin Powers*
5th ED *Goofy Henchman with rifle*"

Dying Breed Tabletop on X - "The simple fact is that this hobby is open to everyone, but NOT everyone gets it.  THAC0 and High Gygaxian might be too difficult for some. But when we dumb it down, we get Tiefling proms and role-playing shifts at a fantasy Starbucks.  When you cater to the lowest common denominator and largest market share, you get less than average.  While I don't think it was intentional that math, vocabulary, and abstract thought were ever designed as barriers to entry, I don't think that using those standards harmed the hobby. Unlike the removal of those things.  When you remove all barriers to entry, then you should never be surprised when the foundation crumbles.  #GatekeepingIsGood"

LILLEY: City's $48M estimate to remove bike lanes 'inflated' - "Are you buying the city’s claim that removing the bike lanes ordered taken out by the province will cost $48 million? If the amount seems outrageous, that’s because it is nothing but a scare tactic by city staff who are as wedded to the idea of a bike lane on every street as Mayor Olivia Chow herself. Oh, and the staff report includes this claim, that there will be “minimal improvements in travel time once lanes are removed.” Premier Doug Ford has heard enough about bike lanes from residents of this city and others and has had enough. His legislation stops cities from installing bike lanes on major roads if the bike lanes remove any traffic lanes for cars. He’s also promised to remove “sections of the Bloor Street, Yonge Street, and University Avenue bike lanes,” according to a consultation proposal that started last month and concludes next week. It’s time for these lanes to go and for the city to go back to the policy of bike lanes on secondary roads, not major arterial ones. This report with the flashy price tag is meant to scare residents into agreeing to leave the lanes in rather than spend so much money. Councillor Brad Bradford, an avid cyclist but one who opposes the city’s overly zealous bike lane approach, has serious doubts about the cost. “The city’s $48-million cost estimate for removing the bike lanes raises a lot of questions given that it’s nearly double the cost of installation. That must have generously include every paperclip and shovel they could possibly account for,” Bradford said. He’s also doubting the idea of major construction delays by taking the bike lanes out. “The Bloor West lanes in Etobicoke are just paint and flexi-posts, and those could be removed a lot faster and for a lot less cost than staff are claiming. Probably could done overnight, over the course of a weekend,” he said. Former councillor and Deputy Mayor Denzil Minan-Wong also has real doubts about the costs and exaggerated nuisance of removing the nuisance bike lanes. “I think the number is inflated. If it’s going to cost that much money, maybe the province can come in and do it for it,” he said. Minan-Wong pointed to the roughly $270,000 cost of removing the Jarvis bike lane, a project he initiated in 2011. Sure, costs have risen since then but not by that much. City staff is having us on with this sky-is-falling projection. To be blunt, city staff can’t be trusted on this issue. The shoddy report in 2023 on the “pilot project” for the bike lanes on Yonge St. north of Bloor is proof of that. Faced with complaints from local residents about reduced wait times of emergency vehicles, the city’s staff report claimed this was false, just a delay of a few seconds. To arrive at that conclusion, they didn’t look at the landlocked streets between Price and Jackes. They included a wide area from Avenue Rd. in the west to Mount Pleasant in the east. “We feel trapped — and have very legitimate, very grave concerns regarding how dramatically EMS response times have been impacted. Basically this is a tragedy waiting to happen,” local resident James in an email to me this week on the subject. He and his neighbours are worried that another shoddy report from city staff will keep these bike lanes in place. Thankfully, the province isn’t buying it. “As we’ve said many times,1% of people shouldn’t be making decisions for the majority of people who travel on our busiest roads and sit in gridlock every day,” said Dakota Brasier, director of media relations for Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria."
Left wingers hate cars and drivers, so making congestion worse is a feature, not a bug
Given the voodoo numbers, the Toronto city study claiming that bike lanes didn't worsen congestion that the cycling lobby loves to cite seems even more dodgy

Furious locals blast plans by charity to build Islamic burial site - "'Only 0.2% of the local population identifies as Muslim, indicating minimal local demand for such a facility. 'With nearly 9,000 plots proposed, this project aims to serve communities as far away as Plymouth and beyond, offering no direct benefit to residents.' Several letters of support have also been received in favour of the Islamic burial site, with Gardens of Mercy's chairperson Dr Salim Mahadik, explaining there were no burial sites for Muslims in the region of Cornwall and Devon. He said: 'The charity's main objective is to provide a separate burial space for the Muslim community of Devon and Cornwall, which is also the vision of the planning proposal. 'At present, the Muslim community in our region is unable to bury the deceased according to proper religious traditions as there is no Muslim burial ground in Devon and Cornwall.' Among those backing the plans is Dr Muhammad Ismal, whose family had been living in the area for over two decades. He said: 'We need a burial ground in Devon and Cornwall that allows Muslims to be buried according to their religious traditions instead of compelling us to arrange burials for our loved ones in distant UK cities to fulfil their religious needs. 'This is basic human right of a person or group of individuals to have a burial place above and beyond any advantages and disadvantages including logistical and cultural challenges.' Dr M Zeb Khan also contended that the number of Muslims in the UK, who contribute to the country's economy and society 'immensely', continues to grow. 'Making them feel at home will require accommodating their religious rituals including burial,' the doctor added. 'Granting Muslims a space for burial will be a step forward in creating positive feelings in Muslims of being "respected".'... 'Many Muslims struggle to secure burial plots due to the high costs and shortage of land in densely populated regions. 'Burial is a core religious requirement in Islam, and because cremation is not permitted, the need for adequate burial space is especially pressing. 'Additionally, Islamic traditions call for single graves rather than stacking, which further adds to the demand for space. 'Having access to designated land without financial burden allows families to observe their faith's burial practices while easing the economic and logistical challenges of laying loved ones to rest.'"
Apparently it is a human right for the community to support your religion, including an implicit financial subsidy.

Charter-school competition improves public schools, too - "The dismal academic standards of Ontario’s public education system are well documented by standardized test scores, while the pervasiveness of radical politics continues to be demonstrated by events such as a “field trip” by several Toronto schools to an anti-Israel protest in September. At the same time, evidence of the benefits of increasing families’ access to alternatives to the government-run schools continues to mount, with recent studies finding that policies supporting school choice deliver both educational and fiscal benefits. According to a new study from the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), a centre-left think-tank in Washington, in cities with high enrolment in charter and charter-like schools (which are publicly funded but operate with more autonomy than traditional government-run schools) there has been a “true rising tide” of academic achievement, with low-income students beginning to catch up to statewide averages. Equally importantly, widespread availability of alternatives to traditional government-run schools didn’t just help the families accessing those alternatives. More competition in the education sector also forced traditional public schools to improve, so increased school choice benefited children who stayed in those schools, too. This latest study adds to other evidence on the academic benefits of charter schools, including a major national study in 2023 from Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes that concluded “the typical charter school student had reading and math gains that outpaced those of their peers in traditional public schools,” with the learning gains “particularly strong among Blacks and Hispanics and those living in poverty.” Alberta is the only province with charter schools and even there, charter school students account for less than two per cent of the population. But charter schools have seen 29 per cent enrollment growth in the past four years versus just six per cent growth for traditional public schools. There is massive parental demand for charter schools, whose students have a record of outperforming traditional public school students academically. In addition to all this, a study just published by Indiana-based EdChoice found government policies expanding school choice can also deliver fiscal benefits to taxpayers. It examined 48 private educational choice programs (education savings accounts, school vouchers, and tax-credit scholarships) across 25 states plus D.C. In 2022, average public funding per student in these 48 programs was US$6,000, barely one-third of the US$17,000 spent per student in public schools. The gap between the two is not a pure saving to taxpayers: some families would send their children to schools not run by government even in absence of these programs. But EdChoice estimated total cumulative savings to taxpayers of up to $45.6 billion from these programs since their inception... In Alberta, independent private schools receive no more than 70 per cent of the per student funding allocated to public school students to cover operational costs, and receive no public funding at all for building and capital costs. In British Columbia, the average taxpayer cost for an independent private school student is 40 per cent lower than for a public school student. The recent PPI and EdChoice studies confirm earlier research showing both academic and fiscal benefits from school choice. They also reinforce two points often made by economists. The first is that competition is better than monopoly. The government-run system will not serve families well if families do not have the ability to choose something else. The second is that the private sector is far more efficient than the government sector."

'She was the victim, not the criminal': Federal officials blocked North Korea defector from entering Canada - "The defector was effectively prevented from entering this country Friday for a visit to raise awareness about North Korean human-rights abuses, after attending a United Nations forum in Geneva. Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) had failed to grant her the required electronic travel authorization (eTA) she had applied for on Nov. 4, saying she first had to provide police records surrounding her forced repatriation from China to North Korea. Choi, who runs a human-rights organization in the south, explained in a letter that obtaining such records would be impossible given North Korea’s totalitarian system and her “unique circumstances.”"

Jesse Kline: In Afghanistan we won the war, but lost the battle for human rights - "It was never about saving women and girls; it was about rooting out al-Qaida. And in that regard, it was largely successful... The West seems to be quietly resigned to the futility of the whole endeavour. After all, if we couldn’t eliminate the Taliban, install a stable democratic government and train security forces that wouldn’t crumble at the first sign of trouble in 20 years, it was probably never going to happen. Better to leave now than to waste another two decades spilling blood and untold treasure in the graveyard of empires... The war was never really about pulling the country out of the Dark Ages, or ensuring that female Afghans are treated like actual human beings. Those were always side benefits. It would have been wonderful if they worked out — and it’s utterly heartbreaking that all the gains that have been made in terms of women’s rights and all the young girls who now know how empowering and enlightening an education can be were crushed by a gang of medieval psychopaths. Yet when President George W. Bush announced that the U.S. military had begun striking targets in Afghanistan, he made no mention of women’s rights, or of democracy... Nation-building and preserving human rights were used as excuses for America’s continued presence in the country, but they were always just that — excuses. If the world should have learned anything from the experience of the British and the Soviets, it’s that you can’t hold Afghanistan indefinitely. But that doesn’t mean the war wasn’t a success. It’s hard to get a sense of how large and powerful terrorist organizations like al-Qaida truly are, but one thing is certain: the world has not experienced another terror attack even close to the scale of 9/11. Nor is the terrorist threat anywhere near what it once was: deaths caused by global terrorism peaked in 2014 but have dropped 59 per cent since then, according to a 2020 report from the Institute for Economics & Peace. Although al-Qaida still has a small presence in Afghanistan, it no longer poses the threat it once did. Bin Laden is dead and its current leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has disavowed his predecessor’s insistence that a jihad be waged on the “far enemy” (i.e., the West), instead choosing to focus on the “near enemy” (unfriendly Middle Eastern dictatorships). Moreover, support for Islamism has waned, as the Muslim world has witnessed the brutality of organizations like ISIL and the Muslim Brotherhood when they come to power. “Millions of Muslims have now seen political Islam in action — and they don’t like it,” wrote Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post in April. “The oxygen that fed political Islam — disgust with the current regimes and blind faith in the promise of religious leaders — has been severely depleted.” This, however, is hard to quantify, because there have been a lack of polls on support for Islamist organizations in the Muslim world in recent years — which shows how successful we have been at making terrorism a non-issue. The lesson is not that we shouldn’t have gone into Afghanistan, but that the objective should have been kept narrowly focused on destroying the terrorists who posed a direct threat to western interests"

David Atherton on X - "In Afghanistan young boys are sold by their families to more affluent men. In a practice called "bacha bazi" meaning "boy play", they dance for the men & afterwards they are raped."
BowTiedRanger on X - "I know Rangers who were totally unbothered by combat, but have PTSD from accidentally walking into rooms where Afghan men were raping young boys."

Under 16s will be banned from using social media, Australia announces - "More than 140 Australian and international academics with expertise in fields related to technology and child welfare signed an open letter to Mr Albanese last month opposing a social media age limit as “too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.” Jackie Hallan, a director at the youth mental health service ReachOut, opposed the ban. She said 73% of young people across Australiaaccessing mental health support did so through social media. “We’re uncomfortable with the ban. We think young people are likely to circumvent a ban and our concern is that it really drives the behaviour underground and then if things go wrong, young people are less likely to get support from parents and carers because they’re worried about getting in trouble,” Ms Hallan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Child psychologist Philip Tam said a minimum age of 12 or 13 would have been more enforceable."

Meme - Arin Yuni @Arin_Yumi: "A sign outside a restaurant in Kyoto. The English and Chinese text says the restaurant is full The small red text on Japanese at the bottom says "If you can read this, you may come in""
"no vacancy"

Meme - Zoom Afrika @zoomafrika1: "But How did they manage to colonize us?" *Black athletes standing around while white athletes are exhausted on the floor*
Readers added context they thought people might want to know: "Missing context:
The top photo is from the first round of the London Olympic 1500M, the Kenyan athlete - Nixon Chepseba - finished 11th in this race. The girls hugging also won the race."

Meme - "Excerpt from GRRM new blog post"
"It was a splendid trip, and one that did wonders to restore my bruised and battered spirits and relieve some of the stress that I had been under before we left. The first few months of 2024 had been... well, no fun, let us say. January, February, March... things just kept getting worse until we came to April Fool's Day, when it finally dawned on me that I was the fool, and had been for years. But I do not want to talk about that now. (Or maybe ever. We shall see)."
"That is why I have great respect for Jk Rowling (as an Author). She absolutely worked hard on the Harry Potter series and did not allow her newfound fame and money to derail her books. She also always stayed ahead of Movies. imagine if we got Deathly Hollows movies before the book. She focused on the books and her legacy will be far more enduring than Martin."

Why George R. R. Martin Broke the Cardinal Rule of Hollywood - "You might know George R.R. Martin as the mind behind the biggest book and television show in history: Game of Thrones. But what you probably aren’t aware of is that he’s also self-financed four short films based on the tales of a dear friend... [Howard] Waldrop was an American science fiction author who worked primarily in short fiction... Of course, it wouldn’t be a conversation with George R. R. Martin without asking how he’s balancing these projects with the long-awaited sixth and final book, The Winds of Winter, in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. “Unfortunately, I am 13 years late,” he says. “Every time I say that, I’m [like], ‘How could I be 13 years late?’ I don’t know, it happens a day at a time.”  He continues: “But that’s still a priority. A lot of people are already writing obituaries for me. [They’re saying] ‘Oh, he’ll never be finished.’ Maybe they’re right. I don’t know. I’m alive right now! I seem pretty vital!” He adds that he could never retire — he’s “not a golfer.”"

George R. R. Martin tells THR that he doesn't know if he'll ever finish 'The Winds of Winter'. "Unfortunately, I am 13 years late. Every time I say that, I’m [like], ‘How could I be 13 years late?’ : r/HouseOfTheDragon - "His legacy is already tarnished (not saying fairly or unfairly) because of the show. He would have to re-conceptualize the plot points to do differently. He gave HBO the ideas that they put on screen, poorly. The ending of his books series is already known to his entire fanbase and he has 0 motivation to write because they all A. know what is coming and B. hated it."
George R. R. Martin tells THR that he doesn't know if he'll ever finish 'The Winds of Winter'. "Unfortunately, I am 13 years late. Every time I say that, I’m [like], ‘How could I be 13 years late?’ : r/HouseOfTheDragon - "That’s where the irony comes in.  If he just phoned it in and forced a badly written ending though, it would retroactively ruin the rest of the books. Look at Game Of Thrones, the biggest tv show ever, but no one talks about it anymore, and if they do it’s always with a disclaimer “shame it ended so poorly”.  If he never finishes the books, instead the narrative will be about the big “what if”, instead of how he couldn’t stick the landing."

Meme - "imagine having a panic attack hyperventilating and crying and your dad tells you that it "won't effect anything" and that you need to go to class and "act like an adult""
"This is invalidation , which is emotional abuse. Time to go no contact, babe."
"Your feelings are valid. It's as bad as you feel it is. I'm fucking adult and I'm crying."
"props to you for not physically attacking him after that"
To left wingers, everything is "abuse" and "trauma", which is why you need to take their tales about their family with a bucket of salt
Comments (elsewhere): "The thing I noticed with lefties is that any minor disagreement with your family is a reason to immediately sever any contact you have with them. They will do anything to avoid facing their problems."
"We aren't a cult! Also the left, *Cut ties with family immediately, we will validate your issues, one of us! One of us!*"
"Noooo haha you have to reject your family and accept depression look how valid your feelings are"
"These people think they're a threat...."
"The everyone gets a trophy generation, taught by communists activists from prek through college while majoring in underwater basket weaving $400k in debt with blue hair. Oh well, suck it up buttercup."
"These are the shits that want to run things, they had their 4 yrs, and they brought this country to it's knees... It's about time they get their victimhood taken from them, and forced to face reality"

Why Germany is ripe for revolt

How left wing ideology can ruin a country.

Addendum: The cope from greens is that "corporate greed" is the reason why more "green" energy leads to more expensive power, since everyone "knows" that "green" energy is the cheapest

Time for more regulation!

Why Germany is ripe for revolt

As Germany’s federal elections approach this weekend, chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats (SPD) are bracing for their worst results since 1887. The SPD is battling with its equally unpopular coalition partner, the Green Party, for a humiliating third place, behind the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the right-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD).

The coming bloodbath for Scholz’s government speaks to far more than the haplessness of his leadership or the unpopularity of his party. Germany has just endured two years of recession – the longest economic slump in its postwar history. Industry is in freefall, shedding almost a quarter of a million manufacturing jobs since the start of the pandemic. A series of terror attacks by Islamists and asylum seekers has made many Germans wonder if the state can do its basic duty to keep them safe. Talk of German efficiency and punctuality now sounds like a sarcastic joke, as roads and bridges fall into disrepair, trains are routinely late and infrastructure projects are plagued by delays and cost overruns. One in five German children lives in poverty. Germany is not merely in an economic downturn – it faces a profound structural crisis, largely of its elites’ own making.

None of these problems began in earnest in the Scholz era. The chancellor is merely the current frontman for a long-running ‘consensus’ that has now become unsustainable and unsupportable. Tellingly, at the last federal elections in 2021, Scholz campaigned as the continuity candidate following the long reign of CDU chancellor Angela Merkel, under whom he served as vice-president and finance minister in a ‘grand coalition’. He even aped her signature ‘Merkel rhombus’ hand gesture to ram this point home. The accusation that ‘politicians are all the same’ rings far truer in Germany than elsewhere. Every mainstream party is implicated in this crisis.

Foreign admirers of Germany praise the ability of its politicians to form a consensus, rather than squabble or try to score partisan points. This is what makes Germany a ‘grown-up country’, as John Kampfner puts it in his staggeringly poorly aged 2021 book, Why the Germans Do it Better.

A less charitable interpretation of contemporary German politics would be that its leaders are gripped by groupthink. Policies, ideologies, ways of doing things become easily entrenched. The result is that when the ideas of the day are bad, they are shared not only across parties, but also by the broader elites, in business, media and culture. The main challenge to this received wisdom comes from the fringes, and so it can comfortably be ignored. Not even a change of governing party will necessarily lead to a change of course.

Of all of Germany’s bad bets of the past 20 years, the Energiewende (energy transition) stands out for its sheer irrationality. For a heavily industrialised economy like Germany’s, cheap and plentiful energy is a non-negotiable commodity. And yet, this core purpose of energy policy seems to have been forgotten by a political class that has long been in thrall to green ideology and climate alarmism.

It has taken the global energy crisis, prompted by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, to truly kill off Germany’s industrial strength. But the death writ was surely handed down in 2010, when Merkel’s government announced its plan to make the world’s largest investment in wind and solar power, and to speed up the planned closure of Germany’s nuclear plants.

The easily foreseeable snag was that, unlike fossil fuels, which can be tapped on demand, renewable-energy sources are ‘intermittent’ – they cannot produce electricity when the wind doesn’t blow and the Sun doesn’t shine. And so they need a constant supply of back-up sources, usually fossil fuels like coal or gas, or indeed nuclear, to keep the grid running.

Even more baffling was the Atomausstieg, the nuclear phaseout. Despite nuclear power providing plentiful, reliable, cheap and even carbon-neutral electricity, every major political party in Germany is opposed to it, following decades of hysterical disinformation by environmentalists. In 2000, the SDP-Green government announced the nuclear phaseout, with the first plants due to be dismantled in 2007. Then, in 2011, following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, then chancellor Merkel picked up the pace. (It did not seem to matter that the Fukushima meltdown was caused by a tsunami, and that the risk of such a tsunami battering Germany was nil.)

Not even the global energy crisis was enough to spark a rethink. In April 2023, vice-chancellor and economy minister Robert Habeck of the Green Party forced the shutdown of Germany’s last three nuclear plants. He did so even as energy prices were soaring to crippling heights as the government struggled to source alternative energy supplies to Russian gas. Before the Greens came into government in 2021, nuclear still supplied 14 per cent of German power.

The energy-price crisis has taken a wrecking ball to Germany’s once thriving industrial base. VW, the crown jewel of the German car industry, is cutting jobs and shutting factories for the first time in its 87-year history. Chemical giant BASF, which is older than Germany itself, is radically downsizing. The most energy-intensive companies are producing 20 per cent less than they were before the pandemic.

The Energiewende is not the only factor here, of course. But even before the war in Ukraine had sent energy prices into the stratosphere, between 2006 and 2017, German electricity prices rose by 50 per cent, making them the most expensive in Europe at the time.

Prior to the war in Ukraine, German heavy industry relied on cheap Russian gas to remain globally competitive. Deals cut with the Putin regime ensured a plentiful supply at a cost well below the global market price. The flow only stopped in September 2022, following the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. The loss of these supplies was devastating to German industry. Having to buy gas on global markets made it uncompetitive effectively overnight.

Germany’s fatal entanglement with Russia was enabled not just by raw commercial interests. The political class and capitalist elites alike were also gripped by an End of History stupor. They were convinced that major wars were a thing of the past, and that geopolitics need not have any bearing on the economy or business. Trade alone, it was presumed, would guarantee peace and stability.

Germany has also been blindsided by China’s ambitions. It was expected that China would always be keen to produce cheap low-end goods for German consumption, while buying higher-end, value-added products from German factories. But today, China is rivalling Germany’s manufacturing capabilities in what were once its leading specialities – particularly car-making. In the space of just two years, Germany’s trade deficit with China has grown five-fold.

In his new book, Kaput: The End of the German Miracle, Wolfgang Münchau likens Germany’s trade strategy, of tying its fate so tightly to cheap imports from Russia and value-added exports to China, to a kind of economic ‘Russian roulette’.

Münchau identifies several other orthodoxies that are slowly strangling Germany’s potential. One is Germany’s addiction to protectionism. He describes how a system of ‘neo-mercantilism’, in which the state (often indirectly) props up and shields legacy industries from competition, ends up stifling innovation and dynamism in the long-run.

Equally damaging is Germany’s ostentatiously strict commitment to fiscal discipline. The so-called debt brake, introduced in 2009 during the global financial crisis, prevents the federal government from running budget deficits of any more than just 0.35 per cent of GDP. This arbitrary and needlessly tight fiscal rule not only led directly to the collapse of the current government (when a judge ruled that its green spending plans breached the debt rules), it has also hampered public investment, leading to a noticeable degradation of the public realm.

Around 4,000 road bridges are now in ‘urgent’ need of repair. Germany’s trains are more regularly delayed than Britain’s. Plans for nationwide rail upgrades that could reduce delays have themselves been delayed, with the expected completion date pushed back from 2030… to 2070. Time and again, the self-imposed fiscal rules, introduced by the SPD but broadly accepted by all parties, stand in the way of fixing things. Outside of crises like the Covid pandemic, austerity is a near permanent feature of German economic policy.

Both the slowing of innovation in the private sector and lack of public investment in infrastructure have combined to make Germany a technological backwater – especially when it comes to all things digital. Germany has some of the slowest internet speeds in the developed world, and some of the worst mobile-data coverage in Europe. As recently as 2023, a third of businesses were still using fax machines ‘frequently’ or ‘very frequently’. Tellingly, Angela Merkel once fizzed with excitement when talking about the opportunities the internet might one day bring, describing it as Neuland or uncharted territory. She said this in 2013, six years after Apple had released the first iPhone.

Germany’s digital laggardness presents two critical dangers. First, legacy firms are missing out on the efficiency and productivity gains of digitisation. Second, the tech products and start-ups of the future are being made and founded anywhere but Germany. The 21st century is fast leaving Germany behind.

The withering of the German state, and the elites’ reluctance to confront difficult realities, is felt most acutely when it comes to questions of crime, safety and borders. A terror attack in Munich earlier this month, in which a two-year-old girl and her mother were killed, was merely the most recent in a spate of mass-casualty events linked to Islamism and asylum seekers. Before Munich, there were deadly knife attacks in Aschaffenburg, Solingen and Mannheim – all in the past nine months. In Magdeburg in December, a Saudi-born ex-Muslim allegedly ploughed his car into a Christmas market, apparently in protest against Germany’s ‘Islamisation’. A terrifying list of plots linked to Hamas, ISIS or with other Islamist motivations have mercifully been foiled in recent years. At the end of last year, Berlin’s police chief warned gay and Jewish people to hide their identities, as their safety could no longer be guaranteed in migrant-heavy neighbourhoods.

The overwhelming majority of migrants to Germany are not a threat, of course. But the decision by Angela Merkel to open the borders to all comers during the 2015 refugee crisis was thoughtless, and dangerously so. Never mind the difficulty of properly vetting the more than a million arrivals in that year alone. Each year since the Covid pandemic has brought an additional 240,000 to 350,000 new asylum seekers. Besides, those whose claims fail, and even those who commit crimes, are rarely deported. Beyond a slight toughening of rhetoric, particularly from CDU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, the German mainstream seems paralysed to take any meaningful action. A charter flight carrying just seven Afghan and Syrian deportees to Bulgaria earlier this month was presented by the authorities as a great triumph for border security. It’s as if the establishment fears that any attempt to get a grip on migration or the border would give an unwitting boost to the talking points of the hated AfD.

Indeed, the spectre of the ‘far right’ or ‘extreme right’ is routinely invoked by the mainstream, often with the aim of limiting dissent and silencing critical voices. The AfD certainly contains many deeply obnoxious figures, from its leader in Thuringia, who knowingly repeats Nazi-era slogans, to the lead MEP candidate in last year’s EU elections, who claimed that not everyone who wore an SS uniform was automatically a criminal, to the former party chair, who called the Third Reich a mere ‘speck of bird shit in more than 1,000 years of successful German history’. Yet the reason such scandals don’t dent the AfD’s polling is not that Germans have a renewed sympathy for fascism or hard-right nationalism, but because the AfD often stands alone against an iron-clad mainstream consensus. Often the AfD is the only voice questioning establishment shibboleths, from migration to greenism to gender ideology.

Yet rather than listen to voters’ concerns and anxieties, rather than face up to Germany’s decline, the establishment parties have instead tried to eradicate the symptom. Senior SPD figures, including interior minister Nancy Faeser and party co-chair Saskia Esken, have suggested banning the AfD outright. The AfD is also under surveillance by the German secret service, on the grounds that it is a suspected threat to democracy. And no matter how well the AfD does in this weekend’s elections, the other main parties maintain a ‘firewall’ against it, meaning they will not work with it under any circumstances, even to pass votes in parliament. Around a fifth of voters, in other words, know in advance their voices will be ignored.

Until recently, Germany would be hailed as a model of economic dynamism and political stability. Today, it offers a cautionary tale of how a complacent establishment, impervious to public criticism, drunk on fashionable ideology, incapable of adapting to new challenges, can do catastrophic damage to a once successful country. This weekend’s elections will undoubtedly send a clear message: that the German elites’ consensus is no longer fit for purpose. Just don’t be surprised if that message isn’t heeded.

 

Links - 24th February 2025 (1 - Hamas Attack Oct 2023)

Egyptian NHS doctor who 'glorified' Hamas spared deportation - "An Egyptian NHS doctor who mocked Israeli festival-goers for fleeing Hamas gunmen on Oct 7 has won a legal challenge against deportation.  An immigration tribunal judge backed Dr Mennah Elwan in her claim that James Cleverly, the home secretary at the time, was wrong to cancel her leave to remain in the UK after ruling that her presence was “not conducive to the public good”... the judge quashed the expulsion decision on the basis that it was not “reasonable or proportionate” and breached her rights under both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and common law.  He said Mr Cleverly should have had “proper regard” to the “short-lived and one-off nature” of the posts, which were quickly taken down, and her previous “blameless” record during her seven years in the UK... Mr Cleverly said he stood by his decision and urged Ms Cooper to stand firm and expel Dr Elwan.  He told The Telegraph: “I stand by the decision I made. Celebrating murder, championing the vile acts of a terrorist organisation, and victim blaming, all tell me this is a person who does not share our country’s values and does not deserve our hospitality.  “The Home Secretary should stand firm and have this person removed for our country.”"
Allison Pearson on X - "Help me, I’m confused. Judge says Egyptian doctor’s truly vile posts about Hamas massacres were “one offs and short lived”. But I had a criminal investigation by ⁦@EssexPoliceUK⁩ for a mild short lived one-off tweet. Is it because I support Jews?"
It is racist and Islamophobic to deport foreign Muslims who support terrorism

Chris Rose on X - "So Dr Mennah Elwan can escape deportation after glorifying Hamas on X/Twitter since the judge classed her posts as “short-lived and one-off nature” which were quickly taken down. However, Lucy Connolly received a 31-month jail sentence for a stupid post she deleted. Two Tier."

Owen Jones on X - "The BBC have systematically whitewashed Israeli crimes, erased Israeli genocidal intent - and sidelined Palestinian voices. They do an actual documentary about what it’s like to live through Israel’s genocide. They end up pulling it. History will not be kind"
(((Dan Hodges))) on X - "A documentary literally narrated by the son of a Hamas official. That's how much the BBC has "sidelined Palestinian voices"."

Thread by @jonsac on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "In 2007, the BBC faced an internal crisis over a misleading edit of Queen Elizabeth II walking out of a photoshoot. Within hours, they apologised. Senior resignations followed.  Fast forward to 2025: they’ve been caught again. But this time, it’s much worse. The BBC’s new documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was marketed as an unfiltered look at children’s lives in the Strip.  In reality, it was a blatant Hamas propaganda piece—narrated by the son of a Hamas minister. Instead of issuing a swift apology, like they did for the Queen, the BBC dug in.  No resignations. No accountability. Just a limp defense that the film “met editorial guidelines.” Only after relentless scrutiny—from investigative journalists, former BBC execs, and outraged viewers—did they quietly remove the documentary for “further review.”  But the damage was done. Hamas’s narrative had already been broadcast to millions. The BBC’s featured “child paramedic” was supposedly volunteering in a hospital, assisting journalists, and cleaning ambulances—all in a single day.  Absurd? Of course. Grooming and using children for PR is a well-worn Hamas propaganda tactic: manufacturing child “heroes” to deliver scripted anti-Israel monologues."

David Collier on X - "The BBC has known about my investigative skillset on Gaza for well over a year.   @bbcnews  knew I was often able to find links between the people in Gaza who were pretending to be journalists or innocent civilians - and the Hamas or Islamic Jihad terror groups who were pulling their strings.  My work even made the BBC Verify experts look like fools when I caught them using an Iranian state asset as a reliable witness.  The most obvious move would have been for BBC to reach out and use me now and again to help to actually verify the authenticity of the  people that the VERIFY team - or other amateur hacks were using from Gaza.  I mean wouldn't the BBC executives want to know if their journos were being duped and they were lying to the public?   But such a logical move was a step too far for the elitist arrogance of the BBC. So instead of calling on me to help - BBC journos called me names and treated me like the enemy.   All while they continued to use Hamas puppets to spread lies (and antisemitism) throughout the UK.   And this is where that elitist arrogance took the BBC News to.  Shamed, embarrassed, and with its reputation in tatters."

Hillel Neuer on X - "UNRWA CHIEF “SHOCKED”: Lying Lazzarini says he's “shocked” hostages were held in UNRWA premises. Same guy who did nothing when he was sent this list of 100 Hamas terrorists on his UNRWA payroll:"

Visegrád 24 on X - "Hamas announced in Nov. that Daniella was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Today, she came out of Gaza alive. Hamas are liars. That’s worth remembering when talking about things such as whether the Bibas family is alive or when the ”Gaza Health Ministry” announces death figures"

Eyal Yakoby on X - "BREAKING: Australia has announced it will welcome thousands of Palestinians with generous incentives, including free money and healthcare. This week, a Jewish leader faced an assassination attempt, and a Jewish daycare was firebombed. This is the government's response."

Brianna Wu on X - "I’ve seen a lot of shocking things in my life. I remember seeing the guy jump of the Twin Towers on 9/11 and ugly weeping for an hour.  I’ve never seen anything as horrific as Palestinian civilians kidnapping children, murdering their mother and strangling infants to death. Then parading the coffins through the streets in jubilation."
TAVOR Fanboy 🇳🇬🇮🇱🎗📟🎮🎸 on X - "Now you understand why things like Dresden and Hiroshima needed to happen. Our Western norms of "surgical war" are delusional. Based on the fallacy that most people are decent and good and it's just a few bad guys to take out before everyone is freed from "oppression" and takes up knitting.  Some societies are so far gone that only a cataclysmic level of death and destruction will make them turn away from their path."

Drew Pavlou on X - "Hamas murdered this young Jewish woman with muscular dystrophy on October 7 and they did it in the name of killing Jews. And people celebrated it all across the world as a day of “resistance.” This was a moment that really woke me up to left wing extremism"
Graham Linehan 🎗️ on X - "Began to wake up after Charlie Hebdo but Oct 7th made me realise that the left in the West is the enemy within. In its misogyny, homophobia and antisemitism, the modern left has become the old right."

A 🌷 on X - "Hamas is just shooting Palestinians in the head and filming it and uploading the videos and not a single "Free Palestine" person cares."

Iranian anti-Hamas activist arrested by London police - "Niyak Ghorbani was arrested while holding an anti-Hamas placard at a London pro-Palestinian protest on Saturday, police confirmed.   The Iranian 38-year-old activist held a sign reading “Don’t attack the law. Hamas is a terrorist. U.K. added Hamas to the terrorist list “Terrorism Act 2000” in March 2021.” Footage from the incident shows Ghorbani’s sign garnering attention from the surrounding protesters as people began chanting “Free Palestine” and “shame on you” at him while attempting to cover his sign with the Palestinian flag.   The altercations quickly turned physical with protesters attempting to grab at his sign and Ghorbani was filmed being shoved by a protester before trying to leave the heated situation.  Metropolitan Police followed Ghorbani and multiple officers were recorded cornering and arresting him. One officer was also filmed crumpling Ghorbani’s banner to the cheers of the demonstrating crowds.  Ghorbani later told the Jerusalem Post that the police injured his hand and back during the arrest... “Initially, the police claimed my intention was to disrupt the gathering. They threw me to the ground and arrested me. Despite seeing my poster and realizing I hadn't said anything against the laws of England, they detained me… the police told me I was arrested for disrupting the gathering, then after five minutes, they said someone had complained about me for resisting. However, eventually, when my friends presented videos to the police, they realized their grave mistake and released me, warning me of arrest if I return[ed] to a Hamas-supporting gathering.  “However, instead of apologizing, the police issued a statement full of lies and played with my dignity. It's shameful.”  Jonathan Turner, executive director for UK Lawyer for Israel, reviewed footage of the arrest and confirmed to the Post that the police may have broken the law during the arrest and prevented those who assaulted Ghorbani from being identified.   “It appears from the footage that the police brutally arrested the wrong person,” Turner said. “Niyak Ghorbani was entitled to use reasonable force to prevent a person who was attempting to steal his poster, which said ‘Hamas is Terrorist.’   “In arresting Mr Ghorbani, the police appear to have committed criminal offences of assault and false imprisonment. In addition, it appears that a policeman took and screwed up his poster. As well as theft of his property and criminal damage, this was also destruction of evidence that might have had fingerprints identifying the real offender.”... Last month, Metropolitan Police forcibly removed Ghorbani while he was protesting against Hamas in a similar incident, according to an exclusive by the Daily Mail. Leading up to the removal, Ghorbani claimed that protesters threw bottles, sticks, clods of earth and other items at him... London has been the grounds of  weekly pro-Palestinian demonstrations which have been repeatedly condemned by politicians and Jewish community groups.  A November survey by Campaign Against Antisemitism found that 90% of British Jews say that they would avoid traveling to a city center if a major anti-Israel demonstration was taking place there and more than 6 in 10 British Jews have either personally experienced or witnessed an antisemitic incident since October 7, or know somebody who has."

Arbitration Committee bans eight editors in Israel-Palestine debate - "Of the editors banned from the topic area by the Arbitration Committee, often referred to as Wikipedia’s “supreme court,” six are from the pro-Palestinian camp and two from the pro-Israel camp... Last June, Wikipedia faced backlash after it said the ADL is untrustworthy on the topics of Israel and Zionism. The classification of the ADL as an unreliable source cast it into a group with websites focused on conspiracy theories, partisan politics and marketing content.  Now, the ADL is saying that several of the banned editors were active in the discussions that led to the ADL’s downgrading as a source."

Aizenberg on X - "🧵BOMBSHELL FINDING: Hamas inadvertently admits in new data release that far more men died than shown on “identified” list of fatalities, corroborating IDF claim of 20,000 combatants killed. Hamas reports 7x more fathers killed than mothers during war! Sources & analysis:"

Eyal Yakoby on X - "An Israeli student at Columbia who went to see health services, was not seen as the healthcare workers stated they would not treat her because she was Israeli. Columbia University has truly been infiltrated with radicalism and terror ideology at every level."

Netanyahu in Gaza: 'Hamas will no longer control Gaza, we will pursue and defeat them' : r/worldnews - "Either way they gave money to a more extreme organization to undermine a less extreme one. Have we learned nothing from the mujahedeen. God fucking damn it"
"Less extreme? That’s some revisionist history if I have ever seen it.  Check out the PLO from inception through to 2005. Their leader literally has a PhD in holocaust denial. They’re also a principal group behind mass waves of suicides bombings that killed thousands including school children.  Check out Hamas during the same time and their efforts to seem less extreme."

Jewish doctors consider fleeing Canada amid rising antisemitism rates - "Nearly one third of Jewish medical practitioners in Ontario are considering leaving the country in response to rising antisemitism, according to a new survey that found that doctors across Canada are worried about what’s happening to their profession... The survey of over 1,000 Jewish medical professionals across Canada found that while just one per cent of Canadian Jewish doctors experienced severe antisemitism in a community, hospital or academic setting prior to the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, now 29 per cent, 39 per cent and 43 per cent say they have experienced some antisemitism in each of those settings, respectively...  “more than 80 per cent of respondents in Ontario said they’ve faced antisemitism at work”... “One of the hospitals where I work is unionized, and I have seen firsthand how the union has been visibly targeting Jews with hatred,” Lee-Segal said during the press conference. “Union members have been attending protests that condone terrorism, and I’ve witnessed colleagues showing up to these protests with union flags, chanting dangerous slogans. This environment has made me feel unsafe in my own workplace.”"
There're more Muslim votes than Jewish votes, and the left hates the Jews unless they can be used to shit on white people, so they're out of luck

Jewish doctors consider fleeing Canada amid rising rates of antisemitism in their profession : r/canada - "Speaking as an ex Muslim who was granted asylum in Canada things began to feel less safe for me the last few years and it exploded after October 7th.  Because of my name and appearance most Middle Easterners assume I am Muslim. I used to correct them. Now, after one particularly bad incident, I just play along and pretend to be Muslim sometimes.  I have no doubt the most radical extremists on the planet have been emboldened...   I've gotten death threats on my own private social media for a while but it was always just online but in general I noticed people are more aggressive about it offline as well.  The worst was a cab driver who assumed I was Muslim and when I told him I am no longer religious started threatening me to where I had to leave his cab in a dangerous spot.  I get a lot of Muslim cab drivers and now I always just lie and pretend I am Muslim."
Jewish doctors consider fleeing Canada amid rising rates of antisemitism in their profession : r/canada - "I remember growing up in the 90's the biggest religious threat I faced was Jehovah's Witnesses leaving pamphlets in my door.....I'm so thrilled to be experiencing new exotic cultures I truly feel blessed enriched."

Jewish doctors consider fleeing Canada amid rising rates of antisemitism in their profession : r/canada - "The government and police handling of these increasingly aggressive "protests" has been close to nil - even as they morph into intimidation and, sometimes, outright riots. The stated reason for their inaction is that the right to protest is enshrined. Yet, they happily strongarm counter-protesters for the sake of public peace - even when there are few of them and they are acting peacefully.  I can't help but conclude that the authorities are hoping for one of two outcomes - and perhaps both.  First, the general public will become so frustrated by the endless disruptions and terrible behavior that we will cry out for it to be stopped and, with a mandate from the majority, the government will grant themselves powers - via the notwithstanding clause - which allow them to get the job done by overriding Charter rights. Once these rights have been trampled, they will stay trampled. And going forward, the rights of all citizens to protest will be curtailed forever more.  Second, they hope to bait blue-collar and old-stock Canadians into taking a stand against these attacks and insults to Canada. This would give the establishment the optics they seek and allow them to say that the real danger in this country are - in fact - the settled citizens, who are persecuting vulnerable minorities. The majority become the problem that needs to be corrected!  With this they can take action against any citizen, of any background or social situation. All it takes is a couple of poorly worded posts here or on some other site to justify erasure from social media, destruction of livelihoods, and perhaps even jailtime.  These provocative policies - whether action or inaction - aren't incompetence. They're intentionally chosen to reach a particular outcome."

Samidoun says 'death to Canada' an accurate summation of its goals - "After Samidoun was roundly condemned for chanting “death to Canada” at a Vancouver rally celebrating the one-year anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks, the anti-Israel group has doubled down on the slogan, saying it’s an accurate representation of what it intends to do... Samidoun confirmed that the “death to Canada” chant was led by a member of its organization and accurately reflected its goal of destroying the “colonial, capitalist state of Canada.”  “We are not just fighting against the zionist state, we are fighting against imperialism,” read the statement.  It then praised the perpetrators of Al-Aqsa Flood, and promised to echo their example in Canada. “We see it as our duty to escalate the resistance here,” it read.  This kind of rhetoric was in line with earlier Samidoun statements. At the rally itself, the group handed out pamphlets detailing the risks and benefits of “complex coordinated terrorist attacks” in pursuing political aims. In the wake of the rally, the Thawra Vancouver Instagram account posted images of a Vancouver SkyTrain station graffitied with the words “GLORY 2 AL-AQSA FLOOD.”  A caption praised the “brave resistance fighters” who committed the October 7 attacks, and said that in tribute, “autonomous activists in so-called ‘Vancouver’ took to the streets early this morning, graffitiing on skytrain stations, targeting complicit businesses, to remind residents that despite the lies of the Occupation and its Western allies.”... It was a Samidoun rally held in the immediate wake of the massacres, for instance, that featured former B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director Harsha Walia indirectly praising the mass murder of more than 300 attendees at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel.  “How beautiful is the spirit to get free that Palestinians literally learned how to fly on hang gliders,” said Walia in apparent reference to the paragliders that Hamas gunmen used to ambush the music festival.  Charlotte Kates, the wife of Khaled Barakat, has repeatedly praised the October 7 attacks in public speeches held everywhere from Vancouver to Toronto to Madrid.  For all this, Samidoun has retained its official non-profit status, with one of its only government sanctions being a temporary ban against Kates making public appearances in Canada — although she’s been free to travel abroad. That ban expired on Oct. 8."
What will the left wing cope be now?

‘Sinister’ Oxford Union debate on Israel broke law, dons tell Hague - "An Oxford Union debate on Israel in which a speaker described the Oct 7 attacks as “heroism” broke the law, dons have told Lord Hague, the university’s newly elected chancellor.  Baroness Deech, Prof Sir Vernon Bogdanor and the philosopher Prof Peter Hacker are among 300 signatories of an open letter decrying the “inflammatory rhetoric, aggressive behaviour and intimidation” witnessed during the event last Thursday... Mr Sacerdoti described the atmosphere in the chamber as “hideous, sinister, and suffused with tension”, with one female student removed for “screaming obscenities”.  He wrote: “This was not an audience interested in debate or even in hearing arguments. It was a baying mob, openly hostile and emboldened by the president’s refusal to enforce the most basic rules of decorum. They interrupted every pro-Israel speaker with jeers, coughs and outright abuse.”   He also accused Ebrahim Osman Mowafy, the president of the Union, who is an Egyptian Arab, of being “openly biased from the outset”, and “fostering an environment of unchecked hostility”.  When one of the speakers for the motion withdrew, Osman Mowafy forwent his impartial role as chair, and spoke in favour of Israel being an apartheid state.  According to Mr Sacerdoti, Mosab Hassan Yousef, a fellow speaker and the son of a senior Hamas founder who defected to Israel’s side, was met with jeering derision and cries of “traitor” and “prostitute” by some in the audience as he recounted his story.   Mr Sacerdoti added: “Yoseph Haddad, an Israeli Arab who has dedicated his life to dismantling the apartheid lie, faced similar treatment.  “The international law commentator Natasha Hausdorf was hectored to finish her speech far quicker than her proposition counterpart.”  He also says that when Mr Yousef asked the audience to raise their hands if they would have reported prior knowledge of the Oct 7 massacres, “the vast majority of the room remained still”... Yousef Haddad, a pro-Israel activist, was ejected from the chamber after dismissing audience members as “terrorist supporters”, at which point he put on a T-shirt that read “your terrorist is dead” with a crossed-out face of Hassan Nasrallah, the former Hezbollah leader. Mr Haddad later took to X, formerly Twitter, to describe Oxford as being “occupied by antisemitic … and racist Middle East peoples”.  One student in the audience said: “I have never felt so targeted at Oxford. The rhetoric from Peled glorifying violence, and Haddad’s provocative behaviour, made the chamber totally toxic. Outside, the chanting from protesters only added to the intimidation.” Mr Sacerdoti told The Telegraph: “The Union’s president deliberately cultivated an environment of hostility towards me, my colleagues, and anyone prepared to challenge the inflammatory motion he chose.  “Institutions like the Oxford Union must not become playgrounds for sinister cliques pushing divisive and prejudicial agendas.”  In a statement, The Oxford Israel Society, representing Israeli students at Oxford, said: “It was pure unfiltered hatred. We left the debate feeling physically ill and unsafe, ultimately deciding to leave together rather than alone”.  Ben Freeman of the Pinsker Centre, a charity advocating for respectful debates on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said: “This event was a debacle, showing the chaos that ensues when divisive extremists hijack crucial debates in tense campus environments."
More suppression of "pro-Palestinian" speech! But of course those who criticise "pro-Palestinian" "speech" are racist Islamophobies whose hate speech is literally violence, and they need to be jailed

Douglas Murray on X - "If anyone wonders why the ⁦@OxfordUnion⁩ has become a terrorist-supporting hub, look to the vast sums of money they received in recent years from the terrorist regime in Qatar and their terrorists at Al-Jazeera."

Eyal Yakoby on X - "The 5 people who abducted Shani Louk into Gaza have all been eliminated. A reminder that these 5 are included in the "civilian" death toll in Gaza, as used by the NYT and WaPo."

Israel strike near designated safe zone in Al-Mawasi : r/UnitedNations - "The structure targeted look like nothing into the area. What it was?"
"Missile ramp. Or, if you believe the Hamas fanboys in the thread, it’s totally just a random missile ramp-like structure that they built and pointed perfectly at Israel for no reason."

Gaza hospital chief admits to being Hamas commander - "The head of a Gaza hospital has admitted to being a senior Hamas commander — and detailed how the terror group transformed the medical site into an operational hub that once housed a kidnapped Israeli soldier.  Ahmad Kahlot, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya, made his taped confession to the Israeli security service Shin Bet...   Kahlot revealed that about 16 hospital staffers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and clerks, were also members of Hamas’ notorious military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. According to the hospital chief, the medical facility under his care had been turned into an elaborate military hub where up to 100 Hamas terrorists had been holed up for days before moving to a different location. Some of the group’s leaders even had offices with private phone lines inside the hospital, Kahlot said.  “There is a designated space for interrogations, internal security and special security,” he revealed.  Asked by the Shin Bet interrogator why Hamas’ top brass chose the hospital as its bolthole, Kahlot said, “Because from their perspective, the hospital is a safe place. They won’t be harmed inside the hospital.”  Kahlot also revealed that Hamas had once brought a kidnapped Israeli soldier to the hospital and used its own private ambulance service to transport the bodies of hostages tied to its Oct. 7 massacre. He did not name the soldier or say what happened to him later. But the Hamas chief had some choice words for other leaders of his terror organization — blasting them as “cowards.  “They left us out in the open while they have gone into hiding,” he said. “The people are the ones who got screwed.  “They sacrificed us, unfortunately,” the hospital director added in a dejected tone of other bosses.  Israeli forces breached the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Dec. 12. Over the next few days, troops rounded up about 90 suspected Hamas terrorists inside the medical facility and seized piles of weapons, as seen in a viral video."
Terrorism supporters will just ignore this as usual, or pretend this was a fake confession extracted through torture, and that the weapons were planted by the IDF

Why Hamas Brought Hostages to Shifa Hospital - YouTube

Ambulance Driver Exposes Hamas’ Exploitation of Hospitals - YouTube - "We conducted precise, intelligence-based operations inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabaliya following indications that terrorists embedded themselves inside. 🎥WATCH an ambulance driver from the Kamal Adwan Hospital — who was apprehended due to suspicion of terrorist involvement — speak on Hamas’ use of this place to conduct terrorist activity:"

dahlia kurtz ✡︎ דליה קורץ on X - "I'm Aya. I study at UNRWA school. We'll return to Israel and shoot Jews. I hate the Jews. A lot. Oct 7 happened to take our land back. The land cannot be divided. It's ours. I like to watch videos about Hamas. I want to become a martyr so I can rise up to Allah. 📽️TT @UNWatch"
Why don't the Zionists want peace?!

Protesters try to topple Queen Victoria statue near pro-Palestinian encampment in Montreal : r/montreal - ""Peace is the white man's word"
"Fuck kkkanada"
"Intifada now"
"Escalation for palestine"
These among other vile slogans written on the walls of the encampment in letters big enough to see from across the street. Just disgusting."
"Is peace... bad? "

Protesters try to topple Queen Victoria statue near pro-Palestinian encampment in Montreal : r/montreal - "Funny how that statue, since 1869, lived through the 2 referendums on separation, a number of separatist governments and over 150 St-Jean Baptiste/Fete Nationale parades unscathed, but was almost taken down by a bunch of Pro-Palestine protesters...  Showing you with whom decency really resides in this province..."

Sunday, February 02, 2025

Links - 2nd February 2025 (2 - Get Woke, Go Broke: Ubisoft [including Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin's Creed/Yasuke])

EXCLUSIVE: Ubisoft Seemingly Prepping for Bankruptcy Ahead of Assassin's Creed Shadows Release as Past Failures Spell Almost Certain Doom - "we highlighted Ubisoft’s abysmal credit rating, rooted in troubling financial metrics such as a €1.4 billion net debt, plummeting market cap down over 85% in the past four years, and an unsustainable workforce of 18,666 employees costing an estimated €746.6 million annually.  These indicators painted a bleak picture of a company teetering on the edge of financial ruin. Now, on January 9, 2025, Ubisoft announced that it has appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to “extract the best value for stakeholders.   What does this mean?  On paper, it suggests Ubisoft has hired consultants to address the company’s strategic missteps from recent years. However, in practice, this move aligns more closely with preparations to sell off valuable assets such as intellectual properties like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six, streaming rights, or other goods, and possibly edge closer to bankruptcy. This announcement comes on the heels of yet another delay for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, now pushed from February to March. Coupled with declining sales from Star Wars Outlaws and the cancellation of XDefiant, it seems Ubisoft’s financial woes are far worse than initially anticipated."

Assassin's Creed Shadows New Release Date is Anniversary of The Worst Modern Domestic Terrorist Attack in Japanese History, Another Wildly Tone Deaf Ubisoft Move Toward Japanese Culture - "The game, delayed twice already, is now slated to launch on March 20, 2025—a date that marks the 30th anniversary of the Tokyo subway sarin attack, Japan’s deadliest modern terrorist incident. For a game purportedly steeped in Japanese history, this decision has left many questioning Ubisoft’s sincerity and sensitivity. It’s a glaring misstep in a development cycle already riddled with accusations of disrespect and historical inaccuracies."

Ubisoft Value Tanks: Market Cap Dropped 85% From 2021 to 2025

Meme - Perma Banned: "So the claim made by AJ Investments about how the Guillemots and Tencent are deliberately pummeling Ubisoft’s value to the ground through horrible decisions, to facilitate gaining more of its shares… Was very likely not “just a ridiculous conspiracy theory”? I’m shocked…"
"https://aj-invest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Ubisoft-Open-Letter.pdf
2. Management and Governance: The control exercised in September 2022 by Tencent and the Guillemot family has effectively blocked potential acquisitions and partnerships that could have been beneficial for the company and its shareholders. More recently, in 2022, private equity firms such as KKR and Blackstone expressed interest in acquiring Ubisoft, but were unable to proceed due to existing agreements that prevent any single entity from gaining control without Guillemot and Tencent's consent. ( https://www.bloomberg.com/ news/articles/2022-04-22/assassin-s-creed-publisher-ubisoft-said-to-draw-buyout-interest? embedded-checkout=true) This pattern of blocking potential acquisitions has prevented much-needed restructuring and revitalization that will benefit all the stakeholders of Ubisoft. We believe that Guillemot family and Tencent are discounting potential value of Ubisoft in order to buy more shares at lower valuation and eventually take full control of the company at
Ubisoft Confirms Tencent Buyout Discussions. The studio will continue executing its strategy to meet the needs and expectations of its stakeholders."

Toxic gaming tackled by Ubisoft's unique police alert system - ""We want to be on the right side of history," says Damien Glorieux a senior director of the Newcastle-based Ubisoft Customer Relationship Centre.  It's here, and at four other locations around the world, that staff monitor how players of Ubisoft games are getting on - responding to requests for help and actively getting involved with the communities that have evolved around their titles. They deal with everything from purchasing issues to online toxicity.  Other companies have similar set-ups, but what's unique here is the involvement of local law enforcement... Holliday tells us about a recent case in Norway, saying: "Things were said and behaviours displayed that hit our threshold for intervention. There was a threat to life or serious harm.  "The agreement with Northumbria Police meant that after we flagged it, even though it wasn't a UK citizen - they were able to get Norwegian authorities involved.  "It was a lot quicker, more efficient and safer than trying to do it as a private citizen."... For Northumbria Police, Detective Chief Superintendent Deborah Alderson has been leading the work with Ubisoft on this agreement.  She argues that policing "is about prioritising protecting the vulnerable"... Andy Millmoor is the player experience director at the centre, and says that when it comes to online behaviour, making people feel "safe and secure" is their number one goal.  "Toxicity takes a lot of different shapes," he says."
Thoughtcrime bad!
Clearly enforcing left wing orthodoxy hasn't hurt the studio

Meme - "Star Wars Outlaws' Backlash Proves We Need More Women Protagonists"
"The game failed? Good. make more."

Ubisoft Reportedly Pressures Steam to Get Rid of Concurrent Player Count After 'Star Wars: Outlaws' Disastrous Debut

Meme - "DID YOU STOP HIRING WHITE MALES"
"YES"
"WHAT DID IT COST?"
"EVERYTHING" *plummeting stock price)

Ubisoft CEO Blames Gamers After Poor Sales of Star Wars Outlaws - "Ubisoft recently commented that the sales of its recent Star Wars game were below expectations, which has caused turmoil for the gaming giant. However, instead of taking responsibility for the damages, the CEO seems to have blamed the fandom.   Speaking on an investor call recently Yves Guillemot said that delivering a solid quality isn’t enough for the gamers anymore. He thinks that gamers have extraordinary expectations that are hard to meet now."

'Star Wars Outlaws' Nearly Falls Off Top 40 Most Popular PlayStation Games List Less Than A Month After Release - "To put this in perspective it’s getting beat by Hogwarts Legacy, God of War Ragnarök, and Ghost of Tsushima. All three of those games released over a year ago.   Not only is the game almost out of the Top 40 list, but True Trophies indicates that less than 9,000 people played the game. Similarly PSN Profiles reports that there are only 7,090 Star Wars Outlaws owners.  For comparison, True Trophies noted that Firewalk Studios’ Concord had 1,696 players while PSN Profiles reported 1,662 Concord owners. In the other direction, Black Myth: Wukong has 26,753 owners according to True Trophies and 22,206 according to PSN Profiles.  Finally, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has 12,414 according to True Trophies and 7,558 according to PSN Profiles. Of note, Black Myth: Wukong is 9th on True Trophies most recent Top 40 list while Space Marine 2 is in 12th...   Christopher Dring noted that its “launch sales [were] 55% lower than what Star Wars Jedi: Survivor did.” A week later he shared that its sales were “about half of Assassin’s Creed Mirage... Maybe one of the biggest pieces of evidence that the game is not selling well is that Ubisoft has not touted any sales figures."

LearningTheLaw on X - "The only reason Star Wars Outlaws doesn't drop below a 7 on Metacritic Metascore is because IGN essentially released 400 reviews that count toward the system's score. How is that even legal? lmao 💀"

Meme - Pirat_Nation: "You are now the new CEO of Ubisoft. How do you save the company?"
Nate Hodibrey @DjinnBartimaeus: ">First day as CEO
>Fire anyone with:
1) Pronouns in Bio
2) Brightly colored hair
3) Overt activism on their public Social Media Profiles
4) The entire HR team
Results:
>Costs get cut by 60% by laying off all the useless deadweight & keeping only meritorious devs
>Games get made for GAMERS and not a screeching activist minority
>Customers LIKE the games again instead of actively rejecting them
Congratulations, Ubisoft is highly profitable again."

Meme - Blue-haired bowl cut woman with glasses to table of blue-haired bowl cut women with septum rings, with everyone having the same phone and mug (white mug with heart): "now that the company's diversity goals achieved..."
"UBISOFT CLOSE TO LIQUIDATION AS LAYOFFS ACCELERATE, SHARES PLUMMET"

Ubisoft director blames gamers, says they've been exposed as 'non-decent humans' - "Ubisoft's continuous downward spiral is seemingly only gaining speed, with the latest speed boost coming from the company Monetization Director for Ubisoft, who took to LinkedIn to call gamers critiquing the company and its products "non-decent human[s]"... These company woes have also spawned an internal investigation and review by company board members. All of these bumps in the road have caused Ubisoft's share price to plummet more than 50% in just the last two months, causing the company's board of directors to launch an internal review of the company's performance which will likely result in a reshuffling of staff. Now, in the heat of what could be considered the most tumultuous time for Ubisoft, the company's director for monetization, Stevy Chassard, has taken to LinkedIn to voice his opinion on the public's reaction to Ubisoft and its recent decisions."
Once again, any opposition of the left wing agenda is "hate"

Meme - Grummz @Grummz: "We have no agenda. We want the widest possible audience.  This Ubisoft statement sounds good until you realize Disney said the same thing in response to their movies being accused of a woke agenda.  What happened? Nothing. Disney carried on until they had several more mega flops.  Widest possible audience = code for inclusivity as usual."
"in the light of recent challenges, we acknowledge the need for greater efficiency while delighting players. As a result, beyond the first important short-term actions undertaken, the Executive Committee, under the supervision of the Board of Directors, is launching a review aimed at further improving our execution, notably in this player-centric approach, and accelerating our strategic path towards a higher performing model to the benefit of our stakeholders and shareholders. Finally, let me address some of the polarized comments around Ubisoft lately. I want to reaffirm that we are an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda. We remain committed to creating games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy."

Ubisoft Shares Fall as Star Wars: Outlaws Fails to Meet Expectations - "As of September 3rd, Ubisoft’s stock had dropped by 2.4%, reaching its lowest level since 2015. This decline is attributed to the disappointing performance of Star Wars: Outlaws and the underwhelming reception of another recent release, Xdefiant. The latter, a free-to-play shooter, initially generated buzz but quickly saw a steep drop in player interest and viewership on Twitch.  Analysts were particularly concerned because Star Wars: Outlaws had a significantly higher development budget—at least 30% more—than Assassin’s Creed Mirage, a title released by Ubisoft last year. Despite this, early sales figures and player engagement have not met expectations. J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven even lowered his sales forecast for Outlaws by 2 million units, predicting that it would sell only 5.5 million copies by the end of the fiscal year in March 2025.   Star Wars: Outlaws was not just another game for Ubisoft; it was supposed to be one of the key titles that would help the company recover from four consecutive years of negative cash flow. After delays and cancellations of other projects, Ubisoft was banking on Outlaws and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows, set to release on November 15th, to bring a financial boost."

Meme - Assassin's Creed: "Assassin's Creed Shadows will now release February 14, 2025."
Kangmin Lee: "Just delay it forever. No one wants to play as a black dude killing Asians in feudal Japan. We see that enough in San Francisco."
Ori Girindra: "You know Shits are getting real when you see Korean defending Japanese"

Ubisoft Executive Says 'Assassin's Creed Shadows' Devs "Think It's The Worst Thing They've Ever Seen" - "Ubisoft’s Executive Producer for its Assassin’s Creed franchise Marc-Alexis Côté shared that a number of the developers on Assassin’s Creed Shadows believe the game is “the worst thing they’ve ever seen.” During the Q&A portion of the interview, he also revealed that many of the people working at Ubisoft on the Assassin’s Creed franchise have no experience with the franchise. He said, “One of the things that I’ve noticed since the pandemic is that we have a lot of juniors in our teams. … Probably half the team that’s building Assassin’s Creed is building a game for the first time.”... he shared “that historical experts were brought onto the project much later than usual for a project of this magnitude and that miscommunication between teams and cutting corners when it came to the approval process of assets to meet deadlines” resulted in “many of the historical and cultural concerns” that have been raised by gamers. He also divulged that Ubisoft management had ignored their own developers who had been calling for a delay. He stated, “Seven developers working on the project said that they have been pushing for a delay for some time, and their situation had even been heard at other studios in the company.” YouTuber Endymion also shared information from his source that claimed that Ubisoft is planning to make changes to Yasuke. He said, “One of the things for sure getting removed from Shadows, according to my sources, is indeed the rap, hip-hop music for Yasuke. Apparently Ubisoft brought out a questionnaire and they were unanimously told that the rap music was tonally wrong and completely unneeded. And that it was actually offensive that Ubisoft believed Yasuke needed a hip-hop battle theme in a game that was set well before such music existed and it was only implemented ’cause Yasuke was black.”... They are also going to be removing dialogue from the game that according to my source told me that it would actually enrage players it they heard it,” he added. “I wasn’t given concrete examples of what kind of dialogue but the source assumed it may have been Yasuke saying some sort of sociopolitical pandering nonsense about he was sold by white men or something and that he hates white men and white supremacy must be abolished and such.”"

[ENG] "Yasuke Isn't to blame." arranged from "弥助でもええねん” [Unofficial MV] Assassin’s Creed Shadows - YouTube

The Bogus Story of Yasuke & "wokeness" revisionist history - " We will begin with the fact that Yasuke was a real person, he did exist, he was of African descent and he was put into the service of Oda Nobunaga. This is fact, and is not disputed.  What is disputed are all the revisionist stories of Yasuke as a great warrior, as  having been awarded Samurai status, and earning respect of the Japanese people and other Damiyo that he encountered in the service of the Oda...  THIS IS NOT FACT.  Romantic stories of the famed Black Samurai are nothing more than fables no more real than the futuristic comic book land of Wakanda.  Recent books  by authors such  as Thomas Lockley provide a plethora of speculation portrayed as fact, typically referencing historical documents and then interpreting them in a way to fit the narrative that sells books... the black man named Yasuke was given his own residence and a short, ceremonial katana by Nobunaga. Nobunaga also assigned him the duty of weapon bearer (much to the annoyance of actual samurai)  Here is where the facts morph from what is known, to what is "wished for"...  Nobunaga had a propensity for the unique, and he was particularly interested in all things foreign. Clearly he was fascinated by Yasuke, and this was documented to be to the chagrin of many of his top generals such as Akechi Mitsuhide, who is reported to have been disgusted by the site of Yasuke, and saw him as nothing more than a wild beast.   After the Battle of Tenmokuzan, Nobunaga led his force, including Yasuke, and inspected the former territory of the Takeda clan. So people make the assumption that Yasuke actually fought in this battle, and that he donned Samurai armor and fought valiantly as a samurai hero.
Fact check: A sword bearer stays behind with the general camp, near to the lord, they don't go out on the battlefield, and there is ABSOLUTELY POSITVELY NO RECORD OF YASUKE FIGHTING IN ANY BATTLE!  There is also NO RECORD of Yasuke receiving martial arts training, or use of the Japanese sword, either when in the service of Nobunaga or the years prior.    The truth is that his time with Nobunaga was limited, as they first met in 1581 and Oda Nobunaga was dead a year later. This is hardly enough time for Yasuke to be trained to be the great warrior all the Waukanda dreamers want him to be... some people attempt to equate Yasuke as a non Japanese Samurai in the same way the English sailor William Adams (Pilot) was later viewed.  However Adams was actually presented Samurai status, and  there is no record of Yasuke being bestowed similar Samurai status. The FACTs are that Oda Nobunaga made him a servant for a few months... Another fact that is clear;  Yasuke was kept around as talking piece, an oddity for Nobunaga to show off, much in the same way he enjoyed irking other Daimyo by showing them Azai Nagamasa's gold plated skull... Despite modern romanticized versions of Yasuke, if he was this great Samurai some would have you believe, then it stands to reason that he would have either fought to the death at Honnoji, or at the very least he would have committed Seppuku.  Nope.... didn't happen.  Or if he was an honorable Samurai like the 47 Ronin, at the very least he would have begged to join Hideyoshi in the fight against Mitsuhide and gotten revenge.... don't you think? Nope,  didn't happen  All that is known about the fate of Yaskue , is that he was seen with the Christian Missionaries after Nobunagas death and reportedly fled the country soon after. So while people may attempt to romanticize the story of Yasuke to suit their agenda, the truth is that such blatantly false attempts to rewrite history are pure revisionism and nothing more.  Faking history because it makes you "feel good" does nothing but a disservice to all students of the culture, the Japanese nation and the historical record.  There was no black samurai, no great Yasuke, no hero.... just a man who was a victim of circumstance and the times he lived in"
The "teaching accurate history" people love made up history when it pushes the left wing agenda

Meme - Grummz @Grummz: "Ubisoft is censoring Japanese creators critical of Assassin's Creed, citing "hate speech"."
Hypnotic @RealHypnotic1: "Youtuber and content creator SHOHEI KONDO Gets his assassins creed shadows videos REMOVED for hate speech from YouTube."
Shohei Kondo @shoheikondo: "Thank you for sharing! The video is removed 7 times! Every time the video gets back, it gets removed again and again! I'm contacting YouTube's internal team"

Perma Banned on X - "-be Ubisoft again
-releases another Assassin's Creed Shadow figurine set
-uses a One-Leg Torii as the backdrop for it
-the only known instance of a One-Leg Torii is the Sanno Shrine...which is a remnant/reminder of the Nagasaki incident from...1945
Ubisoft you just...I can't believe it...  Oh yeah Ubisoft, once again so "Respectful of Japanese Culture and History" you are. Using a tragedy reminder, for your merchandise sale. I can FEEL the respect from here.  Passing off historical revisionism from a foreigner as fact, plagiarise reenactment group banners, buying props made by other artists and passing it off as their own, messing up Chinese/Japanese AND time period architecture, culture and EVEN writing.  Now this?  You will have trouble convincing me that Ubisoft doesn't actually HATE Japan at this point."

Domino’s offers Assassin’s Creed Shadows help to “deliver on time” following delay, Assassin’s Creed responds - "On a facebook post on their official page, Dominos Pizza reposted the press report put out by Ubisoft regarding the month-long delay on Assassin's Creed Shadows, adding post-scriptum:      "call us if you need help delivering on time"... All joshing on social media aside, the now further-delayed launch is a pivotal point at Ubisoft's very existence as a game-development company. The once-juggernaut of AAA gaming has undergone significant losses in the past few quarters. With speculations of outright liquidation on the line, it's likely the company will at least go through some corporate restructuring and corner-cutting to make it profit-ready again."

Meme - Loyalists of the Galactic Empire: Somehow returned: "There is truly nothing more colonial-esc than butchering an entire countries history and culture to suit your western political ideology. Then calling them bigots for objecting."
CerberusXt @CerberuXt: "Having to chose between a black guy and a woman is truly the ;9/11 of bigots :'D"
Bizlet @bizlet7: "I can't believe they thought this was a good idea"

Financial Analysts Downgrade Ubisoft Stock Citing 'Star Wars Outlaws' And Predicting It Will "Underperform Expectations" - "“BNP Paribas downgraded the stock to neutral on Wednesday.” The firm’s analyst Nicolas Langlet, who is described by Bloomberg as a “bull of Ubisoft Entertainment SA” downgraded the stock citing a crowded release schedule and increased competition including Grand Theft Auto VI.  According to the report, Langlet “cut his price target on the stock by more than half to €14.50, a new low among analysts tracked by Bloomberg.”   On top of Langlet downgrading the stock, Cantor Fitzgerald also downgraded Ubisoft’s stock...   As for why he believes the company will go bankrupt or be forced into a buyout situation, Valliant Renegade pointed to The Walt Disney Company, which owns Star Wars. He said, “The ‘woke’ is what has murdered this stuff. … It’s very simple. The Walt Disney Company … the same company that destroyed Marvel in Phases 4 and 5, the same company that has destroyed Star Wars since day one is the same company that is now destroying another partner out there.  “The Walt Disney Company has put an enormous amount of downward negative pressure on Hasbro because of the fact that they broke Marvel and they broke Stars Wars. And Hasbro is on the hook for billions of dollars in licensing fees for these toys that they can’t sell like Captain Marvel, like Ms. Marvel, and all this other trash that they had to spend a ton of money to produce. Same with new Star Wars, all the money they lose with Rose Tico dolls, Reva stuff, and all this crap. People don’t want it.   “That’s how woke breaks people,” he declared. Still later, he noted, “This is where the ‘woke’ side comes in. Is that like many other Hollywood studios, television and film, and in this case game development studios have succumbed to the DEI ideology where they are just hiring people to fill a void.  He continued, “Because they can say, ‘Oh, we now have 30% of our game developers and our game writers and all this kind of other stuff are women.’ Sweet! Are they any good?”"

Rumor: Vast Majority Of Developers At Ubisoft Are "Deadweight": "They Don't Know How To Do Anything" - "“So basically the way developers at Ubisoft is classed according to this insider is you have the the superstars. These are the best of the best. And they're incredibly good at what they do and they're often also very well known. Now, he says there's very few of these people left at Ubisoft. Most of them have already left and have found much better positions at companies that is a lot better positioned within the market.”  “Then there's the what he refers to as the good developers, but they don't have brands. They don't tweet,” he relayed. “And he calls himself one of these developers. They make up a small portion of those developers that are still left at Ubisoft. The problem is while they're good they don't have names so they can't get jobs anywhere else.”  “And then the vast majority of developers is what he calls deadweight. They don't know how to do anything no matter what you give them. They're pretty much always doing it wrong. But what they're very good at is social change, pushing social change. So basically if you can't do the job that you were hired for make sure that you become a political activist is what I took from that,” he declared. “He didn't even talk about the DEI stuff with these guys just apparently they make working for Ubisoft very, very, very difficult.”... This rumor comes in the wake of Assassin’s Creed Executive Producer Marc-Alexis Côté revealing during an appearance at the XDS24 conference that half of the people working on Assassin’s Creed Shadows are working on their very first game... “[Assassin’s Creed Shadows] had no business taking as long as it did to be developed, but it's a Molotov cocktail of poor company oversight being poisoned by a competitor wearing the clothing of an ally and a worker base that is purposely being filled to the brim with activist DEI hires.”  “One look at photos of Ubisoft in its prime versus now tells you everything that you kind of need to know. The company is currently overrun by activist developers from the ground level to the very top,” Endymion continued. “I already reported on how Ubisoft has a terrible work atmosphere and a lot of the most important tasks within the company are being handled by outsourced contractors mostly. It's simply because the actual talent is not seasoned enough apparently based on what I'm being told. I got employees telling me that their co-workers have no business being in the industry whatsoever based on the interaction that they've had with these devs.”  “And I've even had two sources tell me they could have most of their teams fired and gone and development wouldn't be changed one bit for the most part,” he added. “The bloat at Ubisoft which is a prevailing problem across the board for many publishers is a self-inflicted wound of their own making.” "

Financial Analysts Downgrade Ubisoft Stock Citing 'Star Wars Outlaws' And Predicting It Will "Underperform Expectations" : r/KotakuInAction - "Saying the issue with SWO is that GTA6 will release a year later is insane cope."

After ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Delay, Ubisoft Acknowledges ‘Outlaws’ Issues, Anti-Woke Pushback - "There was similar pushback to Kay Vess leading Star Wars Outlaws as a woman, and a not-attractive-enough woman at that. No uh, historical accuracy complaints there, as it was pretty straightforward “woke/DEI” talking points there. But it is surprising to see Ubisoft entertain this at all."

Rumor: 'Assassin's Creed Shadows' Had "Only About 7% The Pre-Ordered Numbers Of Valhalla During The Same Time Period" - "This rumor comes in the wake of a previous one from Craig Skistimas aka Stuttering Craig the owner of the Side Scrollers Podcast that claimed Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ physical pre-orders was less than 1 per store.   He shared on X at the end of August, “My insider told me that, as of this morning at their nation wide big box chain, Assassins’ Creed Shadows has less than 800 pre-orders combined for Xbox & PS5 company wide.”  He added, “They have over 900 stores. That is less than 1 preorder per store. YIKES.”...   The game’s pre-orders on the PlayStation store did not look great. The Ultimate Edition of the game, which costs $129.99 was 16th behind New World: Aeternum, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Silent Hill 2, Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Expansion, and Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO back on September 20th. It was in the 14th spot.  The base game was even further down the list in the 21st place behind Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, Throne and Liberty, and Sonic X Shadow Generations. The gold edition sat on the second page in 30th place...   “But in September 2024 Ubisoft had just launched and seen Star Wars Outlaws flop, which was a game that they expected would completely explode into being one of the biggest titles of the year and from the looks of it, it sold just OK. It sold like the least a Star Wars game should sell when there is no public interest in it, right? And part of the problem was that the game was completely bugged at launch. Ubisoft even had to apologize to the fans and promise that they are working on urgent fixes for performance problems on all platforms”"

Financial Analyst Describes Ubisoft's Sales Collapse And Delaying Of 'Assassin's Creed Shadows' As "Total Meltdown" As Stock Price Collapses - "Valliant Renegade reacted to the news that broke yesterday afternoon in the United States that Ubisoft was not only delaying Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but that they were reducing their sales expectations for its second quarter by 30% from €500 million to €350-370 million. On top of that the company also revised their entire year expectation to “around break-even” instead of profitability. He described it as a “total meltdown.”   Valliant Renegade specifically reacted to the stock price crashing nearly 20% since the market opened this morning around €9.  He stated, “A little over four years ago Ubisoft was trading at nearly €90. 9-0 euros. And four years and seven months later here we are nine euros. That means the company has shed 90% of its total market capitalization. And right now as this continues on, this is going to make Ubisoft worth probably less than $1 billion on the open market by the end of trading today.”... Valliant Renegade reacted to the latest statement from AJ Investments, who had previously called for the company to sell its assets and go private and replace CEO Yves Guillemot.  According to a report from Reuters, AJ Investments, which itself holds around a 1% stake in Ubisoft, claims it has “gathered support from 10% of the French videogame publishers shareholders.”...   He also speculated that the reason for delaying Assassin’s Creed Shadows has nothing to do with Ubisoft’s official statements about polishing the game, but has more to do with attempting to ensure the company at least breaks even for its fiscal year."

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