๐๐ข๐จ๐ก ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฎ๐ท ✡︎ on X - "So apparently the reason Macron was slapped in the face by his wife, was because he was being overly friendly and flirty with Iranian actress and leftist Golshifteh Farahani. According to French media he allegedly sent her a message saying "I find you very pretty", which caused Brigitte to explode in anger. I strongly dislike everyone involved in this story and wish them all the worst. They deserve each other. I hope the story is true and that they all feel embarrassed. What a circus."
Jason Robertson on X - "Republicans: "wE cAN't rEdIstrIcT inDiAnIa"
Democrats: "We need to add two states, nuke the filibuster, abolish the Electoral College, Expand the Supreme Court, Open the Borders, Make everyone a citizen...."
How much more do people need to see to realize whats on the table for the left?"
The Boys' main actors aren't happy about season five's story - "Karl Urban, who plays Billy Butcher, liked an Instagram Reel questioning pointless deaths in season five... Laz Alonso who plays Soldier Boy, liked and reshared another Reel highlighting the lack of Mother’s Milk – and in his place, too much Soldier Boy... Now, even the famously apolitical and impartial Antony Starr has liked and commented posts criticising the series."
Muslim doctor suspended after 'infidels' outburst in hospital - "A consultant unleashed a 'tirade of abuse' at two men in a hospital prayer room because they belonged to a different branch of Islam, a disciplinary tribunal has heard. Dr Nuri Attagour, a Sunni Muslim, subjected two Shia Muslims to a barrage of 'derogatory names' during a five to 10 minute outburst which occurred during the call to prayer near the end of Ramadan. Dr Attagour, a locum consultant physician, has now been handed a three-month suspension following the incident at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary Hospital in Wigan, Greater Manchester, after a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel ruled him guilty of serious misconduct. The tribunal determined that Dr Attagour launched a 'tirade of abuse' at two men, identified as Dr A and Mr B, inside the prayer room at lunchtime on April 19, 2023 and at Mr B the day after. The consultant, the panel concluded, branded the pair 'infidels', 'filthy' and 'disbelievers'. He also informed them that the direction in which they prayed was incorrect, that they were 'the biggest threat to Islam', and labelled them 'Kafir' which translates to infidels in Arabic. On April 20 Dr Attagour told Mr B he did not wish to be with Shia Muslims 'in this life or the afterlife', that 'he would be burning in the hellfire' and described Shia Muslims as 'low, evil, disgusting and liars'... The panel determined that Dr Attagour held a 'prejudice' towards Shia Muslims 'based on his own beliefs as a Sunni Muslim and his experience in his formative years in Libya'. They further noted he was 'not being wholly truthful in his account and may have been embarrassed about how he had behaved'."
Clearly due to the stress he faces as a minority. So it's due to Islamophobia!
What do Toronto residents pay a traffic czar for? | Toronto Sun - " Toronto spent Mother’s Day weekend proving, once again, that our municipal leaders have mastered the art of making movement impossible. On the same weekend that our city hosted its biggest slate of major events so far this year, both the Don Valley Parkway and an important stretch of the TTC’s Line 2 subway were shut down. Drivers were squeezed onto already congested streets. Transit riders were forced onto shuttle buses and experienced delayed commutes. And hundreds of thousands of people trying to enjoy the city were left wondering the same thing: what exactly do we pay a traffic czar for? This was not some unpredictable emergency. All anyone needed to do was look at the calendar, and it seems like no one did. It was also a foreseeable stress test for when the world descends on our city next month for the FIFA World Cup. Over the weekend, we had two Blue Jays home games at Rogers Centre, drawing around 90,000 fans combined. There was the Toronto FC match against Inter Miami, featuring Lionel Messi — arguably the most famous athlete on the planet — which drew a record crowd of about 45,000 at BMO Field. Then there were two sold-out Karan Aujla concerts at Scotiabank Arena, each drawing arena-sized crowds downtown on consecutive nights. Add in the Sporting Life Marathon, which brought tens of thousands of runners, volunteers and spectators onto city streets Sunday morning, and the scale of the challenge becomes obvious. In total, Toronto likely saw more than 200,000 to 250,000 people attending major events across the weekend — and that is a conservative estimate. Yet the city simultaneously reduced two of the most important transportation arteries into downtown. How does that happen? The problem is not that maintenance work exists. Nobody expects highways or transit systems to magically repair themselves. The issue is coordination — or the glaring lack of it... weekends like the one we just had make me wonder if it would have been better to not just have one, at least we’d have saved the quarter a million that we pay the czar. Because if the city cannot avoid shutting down the DVP and a major portion of a key subway line during a weekend featuring Messi, two Blue Jays games, major concerts, and a marathon, then when and where exactly is this coordination happening? Nor is this just an inconvenience issue, it’s also an economic one. Toronto wants to position itself as a world-class city capable of hosting FIFA World Cup matches, attracting major entertainment events, and convincing people to spend money downtown. But world-class cities understand that transportation infrastructure is part of the event experience. If getting into the core feels like punishment, people eventually stop coming... Closing one major transportation corridor may be necessary. Closing several at once during one of the busiest weekends of the year feels careless. At a minimum, residents deserve transparency. Who approved these overlapping closures? What alternatives were considered? Was there any meaningful coordination between the city, Metrolinx, TTC, and event organizers? Most importantly: what metrics are being used to evaluate whether Toronto’s traffic strategy is actually working? Because if this past weekend represents success, Toronto is in deeper trouble than anyone wants to admit."
His rent in San Francisco was $5,000. Now he's a homeowner in Singapore — and he's ready to give up his US passport. | Business Insider Africa - "Between his rent, steep taxes, and safety concerns, the city did not feel worth the cost. In January 2020, Burns took a lateral transfer to relocate to Singapore with his company. "I don't want to go back to the United States," Burns said. Singapore is often ranked among the world's most expensive cities not an obvious choice for someone looking to cut costs. But for Burns, it made financial sense. In San Francisco, Burns' two-bedroom apartment costs $5,728 a month, inclusive of a $300 reserved parking fee. Buying property there didn't feel within reach. Burns spent several years renting in Singapore, both before and after marrying his wife in 2023. In 2025, the couple bought a four-room public housing apartment on the city fringe for 1.01 million Singapore dollars, or about $790,000... In 2025, Burns earned about 6% less than he did in San Francisco in 2019, but his overall tax burden is significantly lower. In California, his taxes were around $41,200 in 2019. In Singapore, his latest tax bill was about SG$13,300. Lower tax rates have allowed him to keep more of his income, though, as a US citizen, he still has to file US taxes. Americans living abroad can exclude roughly $120,000 to $130,000 of foreign-earned income, which helps reduce what they owe, but doesn't eliminate it entirely. The US is one of the few countries that taxes its citizens abroad... Burns said his quality of life has improved significantly for what he spends. More importantly, he's finally able to put money aside... He also misses Mexican food and pizza from back in the US, adding that while they're available in Singapore, they're not quite the same."
Singapore is great if you're coming from an even pricier place and you can get a transfer to maintain your salary and marry a Singaporean to get cheaper housing
Sacred temple bursts into flames after tourist wrongly used incense and candles - "The fire broke out at Wenchang Pavilion on Fenghuang Mountain in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, China... Authorities assured that the pavilion, built in October 2009, contained no cultural relics."
Man lost $4.9m to impersonation scam claiming PM Wong sought 'funding assistance' for Hormuz - "victims were convinced to sign a "non-disclosure agreement" (NDA) — before meeting virtually with senior government officials, including the president or ministers. A man, who had prior interactions with government officials, has now become the latest victim of this scam variant. He lost at least $4.9 million after believing that Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had sought his help, through Secretary to the Cabinet Wong Hong Kuan, to provide "urgent funding assistance" relating to the situation at the Strait of Hormuz.. Notwithstanding the likeness of the communication, the email address used was clearly not an official email address. Instead, the email was sent from a Proton Mail account with the domain "proton.me" and the username "WongHongKuan.secretarycabinet"... He was then invited to a Zoom video conference that appeared to involve PM Wong, as well as other local and overseas government officials — who were actually fabricated using deepfake artificial intelligence technology. The victim was contacted via WhatsApp after the meeting and later transferred at least $4.9 million through a series of transactions to a corporate bank account supplied by the scammers. He only realised that he had been scammed after contacting the Secretary to the Cabinet on Thursday."
The Effects of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches - "Schools across the U.S. have sharply restricted student use of phones during the school day. We evaluate one type of restriction—lockable phone pouches—using nationwide data combining large-scale surveys, GPS pings, standardized test scores, and school administrative records, along with sales records from the largest pouch provider. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that pouch adoption substantially reduces phone use as measured by GPS pings and teacher reports. In the first year after adoption, disciplinary incidents increase and student subjective well-being falls, consistent with short-term disruption. However, effects on well-being become positive in later years and disciplinary effects fade. For academic achievement, average effects on test scores are consistently close to zero. High schools see modest positive effects, particularly in math, while middle schools see small negative effects. We find little evidence of effects on school attendance, self-reported classroom attention, or perceived online bullying."
'They said bring account holder': Odisha man takes dead sister's skeleton to bank to withdraw money - "In a bizarre incident, a man in Odisha made headlines for bringing his dead sister's skeleton to the bank. The 50-year-old reportedly brought the skeleton as part of his bid to withdraw the money deposited in his sister's name at the bank. Patna Police Station Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) Kiran Prasad Sahu said that the bank failed to explain the proper process for withdrawing the money to Jeetu. (Unsplash/Representational) Patna Police Station Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) Kiran Prasad Sahu said that the bank failed to explain the proper process for withdrawing the money to Jeetu. (Unsplash/Representational) The incident took place at the Maliposi branch of Odisha Grameen Bank located at Patana block of Keonjhar district, news agency PTI reported. The man, identified as Jeetu Munda, told police officials that he resorted to this move after the bank managers told him to bring the account holder with him. The tribal man was seeking to withdraw ₹20,000 from the bank account of his elder sister, Kalra Munda, who died on January 26. "I have run several times to the bank, and the people there told me to bring the account holder to withdraw money deposited in her name. Though I told them that she had died, they did not listen to me and insisted on bringing her to the bank. Therefore, out of frustration, I dug the grave and brought out her skeleton as proof of her death," Munda told reporters."
Quebec shop wants exemption from French-language rule - "A Quebec, francophone-owned hobby store chain has decided to take on the province’s French-language watchdog, arguing its rare games might be forced off the shelves if something is not done. Imaginaire is a large chain that specializes in all kinds of hobbies from Pokemon cards to collectible Matchbox cars to board games, its biggest seller. Its largest competitor is the internet. “The hardest part for a retailer these days is competing with the major American online retailers,” said manager Paul Labelle. “When we don’t have something, the first thing somebody is going to do is look online for it.” Imaginaire and other hobby stores in Quebec have to deal with language laws, which state that each product needs bilingual labelling or a French-only equivalent version. If they do not, they lose sales to customers who simply buy them online. “This is an example of a game that we would love to be able to offer in French,” said Labelle. “Unfortunately, the manufacturer doesn’t distribute in French. It hasn’t been translated and localized.” For example, Imaginaire has a French and English version of Scrabble. However, if they sell out of the French version, the store would technically be breaking the law if it only had the English version on its shelves. Owner Benoit Boyon finds the rule so restrictive that he launched an online campaign to change the law. “I want to protect French,” he says (in French). “But not at the cost of the hobbies.” Doyon and his son have gathered 14,000 signatures on petitions, mostly in Quebec. There is precedent for their campaign. Books, music and video games are exempt from French content requirements."
Quebec hobby shop wants exemption from French-language rule hurting business : r/canada - "I'm waiting for the day we hear Quebec wants programming code to be in French."
"I work for the provincial gov currently. All code has to be in french, no exception. This is also valid for the contractors."
China tweaks Marco Rubio's name to bypass travel ban for Trump-Xi meeting - "China has altered the transliteration of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s name, a bureaucratic workaround that allowed him to enter the country for a high-stakes meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, according to reports. Rubio was sanctioned as a U.S. senator by the Chinese government in 2020 for criticizing Beijing’s treatment of the minority Uyghur population in the Xinjiang region and other alleged human rights abuses. The restrictions included a ban on Rubio entering the country."
Anna Bower on X - "An absolutely excruciating moment at the Georgia Supreme Court this week. Justice Peterson pressed state attorney Deborah Leslie over her citations to cases that apparently don’t exist."
Hans Mahncke on X - "So this woman, who supposedly has a law degree, used ChatGPT to make things up and then lied about it, yet no one is touching her law license. Kevin Clinesmith didn’t use ChatGPT, he just made things up and lied about it, and they handed his law license right back to him. Ed Martin and Jeff Clark did their jobs, without using ChatGPT and without making anything up, and they are the ones being targeted for disbarment."
SNEAKO on X - "Prophet Mohammed’s rules of war
• Do not mutilate dead bodies
• Do not kill women or children
• Do not cut down trees
• No treachery, or breaking pledges
• No mutilation of the dead
• No torture or excessive cruelty
This is why “Sharia Law is incompatible with the west.”"
Brother Rachid ุงูุฃุฎ ุฑุดูุฏ on X - "Muhammad himself didn’t follow those “rules,” he broke them: He mutilated people. Read the story of the Uraniyeen: limbs cut off, eyes gouged, left to die (Sahih al-Bukhari 5686, 5685; also Sahih Muslim 1671). He approved killing women and children, even justified it during night raids (Sahih al-Bukhari 3012; Sahih Muslim 1745). He cut and burned the trees of Banu Nadir - explicitly permitted in the Qur’an (Qur’an 59:5). He said it clearly: “war is deceit” — (Sahih al-Bukhari 3027; Sahih Muslim 1739). His companions brought him severed heads like Abu Jahl’s (Sirat Rasul Allah / Ibn Hisham) He ordered torture in Khaybar to extract hidden wealth (Kinana ibn al-Rabi‘) (Sirat Rasul Allah / Ibn Hisham). And you’re lecturing about “rules of war”? You don’t even know your own sources."
Loyalists of the Galactic Empire: Somehow returned | Facebook - "People talk about Gastons ego. But no one ever talks about how Belle spends the first three mins of her screen time singing about how the entire village, everyone in it and their way of life is beneath her."
Sierra Leone’s first lady defends having council flat in London - "Sierra Leone’s first lady has defended having a London council flat despite living in a presidential palace. Fatima Jabbe-Bio, a former actress and model, insisted she had “not committed any crime” by continuing to rent the two-bedroom flat in Southwark... more than 18,000 people are on the borough’s waiting list for housing, with waits of more than five years to be offered a home. Mrs Jabbe-Bio has defended her situation. “My children are all British citizens,” she told the BBC. “I’m paying for my council house myself. I have not committed any crime.” By continuing to rent the property, Mrs Jabbe-Bio would appear to be in breach of Southwark council’s regulations, which require tenants to occupy a council property as their “only or principal home”... In Southwark, neighbours said she still visited her flat sporadically and letters addressed to the couple have been seen outside the front door... Southwark council’s conditions of tenancy document says that tenants must occupy a council property as their “only or principal home”. They must not be absent from their property for more than 42 continuous days without giving written notice to the council first, it adds, and annual checks are carried out to confirm it is their sole or principal home."
No way out for clueless burglar after break-in - "Burglars usually plan their escape route before carrying out a break-in. But Jack Higgins appeared to miss one crucial detail after becoming trapped inside a block of student flats when he failed to spot a door release button just inches away. The burglar was caught on CCTV frantically kicking and pulling at a locked door as he tried to flee the student accommodation in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. The 34-year-old had forced his way into the building in the early hours of Dec 13 2025, stealing food and drinks before the security door thwarted his attempted getaway. Footage later showed him trying to escape while overlooking the clearly marked “push to release” button beside him. He eventually noticed the switch and managed to free himself, before returning to the reception area where he tried to steal a TV from the wall. Higgins then tried to disguise himself with a scarf, but his face had already been captured by cameras. When the thief was arrested three days later he spat in the face of a police officer and claimed to have an infectious disease. Detectives found he and another man were caught on camera carrying a large arcade machine from the same location during a separate break-in on Dec 5 2025. He was also found to have committed three other burglaries at student accommodation – two of them at the same address... His accomplice in stealing the arcade machine, 27-year-old Iona Christos, was jailed for four years in January."
This why a bunch of people wearing fur coats lined up downtown on a hot day - "A few dozen people, dressed in fur coats to match Drake in his new music video, waited hours in line to win a free mattress during a hot Tuesday in Toronto. Sleep Country Canada said it would give out 25 mattresses after the Toronto rapper unexpectedly shouted the company out in the Slap The City music video last week. In the video, Drake — who was dancing on an ice rink alongside a figure skater — wore a fur coat with multiple Canadian company logos on it, including Canadian Tire, Molson Canadian, RBC and Sleep Country Canada. Drake dropped several new music videos as part of the release of three new albums, which included the long-awaited Iceman. Wanting to join in on the buzz around the rapper's new music, the mattress company gifted Casper snow queen mattresses — valued at $3,000 — to anyone who showed up to its 8 King St. E. location wearing a fur coat like Drake (faux fur was encouraged)... Anyone who did not claim one of the 25 free mattresses on Tuesday was given discounts on other items, while supplies lasted"
How a Rafael Viรฑoly Skyscraper Melted a Jaguar in London - "We now have two buildings that fry stuff: the Museum Tower in Dallas, which reflects too much light into the Nasher Sculpture Garden next door, and the Walkie Talkie Building, officially called 20 Fenchurch, which does Dallas one better by melting parts of cars in London. And while Walt Disney Concert Hall never fried Los Angeles, some of its curves did blind neighbors before the owner dulled the sheen. Who knew architects could be that good at lighting things up?... According to the always excellent critic Hugh Pearman, the Walkie Talkie’s killing-ants-with-a-magnifying-glass problem stems from a combination of trying to maximize floor plates at the higher levels, while spending as little as possible on the less desirable middle floors, and a decision not to use sun louvers on a faรงade that faces directly south. If this is true, these decisions are again not only crimes against good taste, but also against the environment."
Meme - Stakeholder Consultant @echetus: "In 1562 a French gentleman was arrested for attending meetings of Protestants, but was acquitted after admitting he'd only gone in the hope of participating in the orgies Catholic propaganda claimed Protestants got up to."
"only witches deny the devil's existence, this hardly helped. Some radicals also questioned conventional sexual mores, even beyond nudity or permitting women to teach. One Thuringian sect, the Bloodfriends, supposedly taught total sexual freedom for the saved. Their secret outdoor meetings were said to end with the command "be fruitful and multiply," whereupon they paired off. Such deliciously appalling tales were widely told. One French gentleman, arrested in 1562 for attending a secret Protestant meeting, shamefacedly explained that he had gone along because he had hoped, vainly, that the rumors of orgies were true. The judges dismissed his case, our witness tells us, "trying not to laugh." Not everyone thought it was funny. A sectarian orgy is not too different from a witches' sabbat."
Thread by @selentelechia on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "Sleeping beauty was pre- the cultural dominance of psychoanalytical memes which you can tell bc they didn't address the trauma of her being raised in the woods
it gets increasingly blatant as time goes on
Princess Renaissance, you can see everyone is talking through the constraints their parents put on them ("I'm sixteen, I'm not a child anymore") but characterization of all parties is still broadly sympathetic
Tangled is the "raised by narcissists" movie (and imo the last good one) where they start dipping into ripping off stereotypical ideas of trauma behavior
by encanto they're just straight up ripping off IFS like it's not even sort of subtle"
The curse of the delectable Honeycrisp apple - "Bite into a Honeycrisp apple and you understand why consumers are willing to pay so much for a piece of fruit: the crunch. That’s no accident. In the pre-Honeycrisp era, apples had just two textures: “soft and mealy (that nobody liked), and then we had the good apples, the hard, crisp and dense,” said David Bedford, one of the original breeders of the Honeycrisp. Unlike the vast majority of modern commercial produce, the Honeycrisp apple wasn’t bred to grow, store or ship well. It was bred for taste: crisp, with balanced sweetness and acidity. Though it succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, along the way it became a nightmare for some producers, forcing small Northeastern growers to compete with their massive, climatically advantaged counterparts on the West Coast."
From 2018
Meme - "The meaning of each weapon of the Ninja Turtles
*Leonardo - Katana* Most destructive weapon for the calmest
*Raphael - Sai* Defensive weapon for the most aggressive
*Donatello - Bo* Simplest weapon for the most creative
*Michelangelo - Nunchaku* Most complicated weapon for the most absent-minded"
Rep. Keith Self on X - "Imagine a woman fleeing an attacker—and her car won’t start because it thinks she’s impaired. Imagine a farmer injured on the job—his truck won’t start because it thinks he’s drunk. These are the unintended consequences of the Kill Switch mandate. Kill the Kill Switch."
Meme - Minty Comedic Arts: "I was today years old I discovered we have a Brothel here in Melbourne called 'Gotham City' on the account there was just a shoot out there... Wow talk about The Dark Knight RISES. why did someone shoot up the place?? I guess the WANTED TO GET NUTS...at a place thats all about servicing your nuts!"
9 News Melbourne: "#BREAKING: An overnight drive- by shooting at a brothel now have police searching for those responsible, who are now on the run. #9News
SOUTH MELBOURNE DRIVE-BY SHOOTING. BREAKING. OFFENDERS ON RUN AFTER FIRING AROUND 2AM"
