traverse390 asks:

Are we at risk of censorship of LGBTQ+/adult material re: U.S. 2025 federal policies?

The short answer to your question is yes. Of course, there is a risk of increased censorship of LGBQT+ and "adult material" in 2025 and beyond for those of you living in the United States.

The worrying trend of banning books in schools and public libraries across the United States will worsen before it gets better. The Comic Book Journal reported in September that:

"The American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom, which tracks book challenges and bans around the U.S., recorded that 378 different graphic novels were threatened with bans or challenges in 2023, with a total of 1,020 total censorship attempts. In the last three years, the numbers have seen a huge jump – 2023's total censorship attempts are twenty times what they were just three years ago in 2020."

In March last year, The Guardian reported on the recent American Libraries Association report covering all of 2023's known book bans. Amongst other things, the report detailed "Seventeen states [that] saw attempts to ban more than 100 books: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin."

Why is the banning of books so prevalent across American public schools and libraries?

Sadly! The banning of books and the occasional outright burning of them has been a regular occurrence throughout American history. Despite its relatively young age as a country, the USA has been banning books pretty much from the get-go. Think about it this way. The first white Europeans arrived in the country and settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607 and these same "Founders" banned their first book in 1637.

The first book ever to be banned in the United States was New English Canaan by Thomas Morton, who established an early colony in Massachusetts where settlers and native people co-existed fairly harmoniously. Morton espoused a more pragmatic approach to colonization with the land's original inhabitants. This was seen as a threat by the Puritan settlers, and Morton was subsequently twice exiled back to England, where he wrote New English Canaan. He was not a white savior of any kind. He was a fur trader and businessman, and most of the book describes the "opportunities" the New World presented to entrepreneurial readers. Nonetheless, his pragmatic views on peaceful co-existence with native people were seen as a threat to the fabric of the new society the Puritans were attempting to build, and he was punished for it.

It is the fear that certain types of ideas, practices, and beliefs can "undermine" the cultural fabric of America that drives book bans. So! It comes as no surprise that graphic novels that depict "non-traditional" romantic and erotic relationships and/or characters who are non-conformist to the hetero-dominant culture will be targeted by censorious organizations and individuals.

While I wish to focus specifically on the type of material that matters to you in your question, I would like to remind everyone that it isn't just LGBTQ+ material that is being banned. Far from it…

The most recent high-profile case of statewide book banning, including comics and manga, happened last year in Tennessee when the state legislature brought in the HB843 mandate. Books in school libraries must be suitable for the age and maturity levels of the students. Some of the types of content deemed inappropriate for school-age children include any type of nudity, "descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement," excessive violence, and of course, LGBTQ-related subjects.

ANN reported on the mandate at the time that includes the first eight volumes of Assassination Classroom, Jujutsu Kaisen, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, My Hero Academia: Vigilantes (volumes 1 and 3), all of Attack on Titan, and Akira, which really pisses me off. Rumiko Takahashi's Inuyasha is also on the banned books list in Tennessee, which is a perennial favorite of many younger readers. It contains some sexually suggestive moments, and some of the key characters, including the protagonist, possess an element of what one could argue is gender fluidity, but it is incredibly subtle, and I am genuinely surprised it made it onto this list.

The depiction of LGBTQ characters in manga is not uncommon, and so you have every right to worry about whether more works could be banned in the future. Manga like Sailor Moon, Claudine, Hunter X Hunter, and Rose of Versailles vary in their depictions of same-s*x couples and/or openly trans characters. Some depictions are more overt, others are more subtle, coded even. Some are serious and core to the story. Other characters provide light relief. Nonetheless! They exist and they are featured in some of the most popular and important works of the past forty years, which I find surprising because Japan is also a socially conservative country. For these works and for these characters to exist, and be known and popular with readers is remarkable and a testament to the fact that the majority don't have major issues with depictions of "alternative lifestyles" in literature, contrary to what much of the media and some politicians tell us.

ScreenRant reported in November that Richmond County School District in North Carolina recently banned (pending a review) Unico: Awakening Volume 1, the new reimaging of Osama Tezuka's classic manga by Samuel Sattin and illustrator, Gurihiru following a complaint from a "concerned parent." The parent's six-year-old son purchased a copy of the manga at a local Scholastic Book Fair, and she was "shocked to discover depictions of animal cruelty (I hope they never read Tezuka's Buddha Volume 1. That poor bunny!) and gun violence".

The book ban movement in the USA over recent years has most definitely grown, and as The Guardian reports it is "particularly prevalent in Republican-led states, as religious-political activism gains strength," but the canceling, boycotting, and banning of pop culture in your country is something that unfortunately is a "both sides" issue, and it cuts to the bone of your First Amendment rights. The more organized book banners know this, and while many of us may wonder whether your federal law-makers might seek to increase the scope of these bans, it isn't necessary to achieve the ultimate goal of reducing access to what they may consider to be "dangerous" and/or "unsuitable" reading material for children and young adults. The market will ultimately decide what reading material you can have access to, and unfortunately, book banners know this.

The Unico manga is a case in point. School libraries never used to hold graphic novels or manga in them. Public libraries barely did either. Unico is a flagship manga title for Scholastic's Graphix imprint, which is dedicated to publishing creator-owned graphic novels for early, middle-grade, and young adult readers. Graphix launched in 2005 with Jeff Smith's epic series, BONE #1: Out From Boneville. This imprint came about in part because of the huge shift in boy's reading habits starting in the late 90s. This is when I, as a 15-year-old, first discovered "edgier" books like Alan Moore's V for Vendetta and The Killing Joke in my local library.

This recent ban, "pending review," of Unico is noteworthy because Scholastic is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and a major supplier of books to school libraries. They have a better understanding of what is and isn't acceptable when it comes to age-appropriate literature for school-age children than almost any other publisher. Censorship is a slippery slope, and what one parent may find unacceptable for their six-year-old to read is not necessarily the same as another parent who also monitors what content their kids are consuming. I wanted to use Unico as an example of censorship that isn't driven by an organization, and which doesn't seem politically or religiously motivated.

America's moral majority has been at war with comics as a corrupting influence since the early 1950s and what is now commonly referred to as the "Moral Panic," which was a reaction by the press, religious groups, and politicians against what many considered to be the gradual decline in standards of decency and morality in the media and the arts. Especially film-making and comic books. This moral panic also coincided with a rise in reporting around juvenile delinquency. Senate hearings were held, and miles of column inches were printed, resulting in the voluntary implementation of the Comics Code Authority, which was a self-policing and self-censoring program committed to by all of the major comics magazine publishers at the time. Unbelievably, "The Code" continued well into the 2000s with the final holdouts, DC and Bongo Comics, discontinuing their carrying of the unmistakable CCA badge on every comic cover they printed.

What concerns me is that with your country's rightwards political momentum when it comes to issues of identity and culture, alongside its anti-globalization economic policies, increasing downward pressure on manga and comics publishing will impact readers well beyond the USA's borders. If America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. Less than 21% of comics, manga, and graphic novels are currently printed within the USA. If aggressive tariffs are brought in against the majority of America's major international trading partners, including China, where 24% of domestic publishers print their books, the price of the average tankoban is likely to increase considerably. This will mean lower print sales. Combine this with potentially more states banning more manga, and it isn't out of the question that some books may be discontinued and others not printed at all. And sorry, Canadians, Aussies, and Brits, but if fewer books are published in the USA, that means fewer titles for you, too.

I abhor the idea that a book can be dangerous, and I find it ridiculous to believe that a comic or a book can fundamentally change the reader's sexual or gender identity. I've read a lot of books in my lifetime, and none of them caused me to become a straight, cis-hetero male. I am just one, and that identity has, in all likelihood, influenced what types of comics, books, novels, etc. I like to read, as well as what types of movies, series, animation, etc. I like to watch the types of video games I like to play. I feel seen all day long by the culture I inhabit. Erasing what little pop culture is available that recognizes those of us who are not part of "the norm" seems unnecessarily cruel to me.

Based on the strength of some of the aforementioned LGBTQ-friendly manga brands, it could be commercially damaging for some of the biggest names in manga publishing, too. I believe that a change is coming, and it may well impact the print publishing of manga and comics in a significant way. With English-language digital manga and comic sales barely representing 20% of all graphic novel sales currently, perhaps these changes will signal a significant increase in digital manga sales.

References:

Deb Aoki report re: impact of tariffs on manga imports… "In The Comics Journal, Gina Gagliano explains how new tariffs will likely affect comics/manga publishing in 2025 (spoiler: it's not good for readers or publishers)."

"What will potential tariffs mean for comic publishers in 2025? "We'll likely have less customers." - The Comics Journal

"The state of comics and censorship during Banned Books Week" - The Comics Journal, September 2024 [Source: The Comic Book Journal "The state of comics and censorship during Banned Books Week", Gina Gagliana, September 23, 2024

"Books bans in US schools and libraries surged to record highs in 2023 - Though the list is broad, many of the 4,240 books were targeted because they related to issues of LGBTQ+ communities or race " - The Guardian, March 14, 2024

Choice quotes from the forums:

Well, censorship of adult or controversial content is already happening.Whether it's Japan doing this to itself or due to social changes around the world.

This is absolutely drop dead terrifying.

The focus on library bans seems geared toward the all-ages LGBTQ+ side of the question, but don't forget that the same forces are pushing for blanket criminalization of pornography. There are already multiple states that companies releasing adult manga/anime won't ship to.

Mod note: don't conflate libertarianism with LGBT. This is your only warning.

Also, I mentioned that if the book ban goes beyond anime/manga, is that going to escalate to targeting Asian-American/AAPI communities. I asked because a few days ago, I read an article from KQED (a local PBS in San Francisco) about the local Japanese-American communities are going to protect undocumented immigrants and come to the defense of the larger immigrants communities due to their experience of the Japanese internment during WWII. So that is my biggest worries as a anime/manga fan, if Japanese-Americans are building a big resistance toward Trump's treatment to the immigrant communities and the wider AAPI communities, is this going to lead to Trump and MAGA attacking not only the Japanese-American communities, will the MAGA/Trumper dare go after anime/manga and the fandom as an act of retaliation, is that going to lead to more manga ban in the school and public libraries? Is that going to lead to the FCC going after companies like Crunchyroll, Netflix, and other streaming companies that stream and license anime, what about manga publishers like Viz Media, Kodansha USA, etc...

The only thing really saving us from censorship and the other crazy things that these Christo-fascists want to do are the judges and courts blocking the orders and lawsuits being made and present right now which will only increase as time goes on at this pace and will be an astronomical amount.

literally not a single judge will defend queer cartoon kiddie porn sweetie

As a straight person, I feel like the opposite has been in effect on Reddit for a few years now. Unless you're towing water for Left leaning causes, you'll get downkongd or your comment will be deleted by a mod. If platforms would stop censoring opposing viewpoints, that would be great. This applies to both Left (Reddit) and Right (X) dominated platforms.

chud whining about chuds being censored on reddit in unrelated topic award

remembered this after linkrel

KiNeurodivergents chudlebrate: https://old.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1ibdu9j/ubisoft_announces_studio_closure_as_it_lays_off/

Various 4chud threads below:

https://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/701386195/sad-news-uk-ubisoft-studio-shuts-down-lays-off

https://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/701401490/the-modern-audience-will-save-usaaacckkkk

https://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/701385804/ubislop

https://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/701385775/ubisoft-shuts-down-another-studio

https://old.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1icoigf/trump_administration_halts_hiv_drug_distribution/m9sh17q/?context=8

you needs less tricknology n increase dem p values n sheeeei-

dei hires OUT

m-my grant proposal

Five minutes later:

!chuds some of the overpaid gov't titsucker subreddits and hard rn:

/r/fednews /r/professors /r/1102 /r/foreignservice /r/daca /r/patentlaw /r/womenintech /r/usajobs /r/antiwork

Post more in the comments!

Bonus content

https://old.reddit.com/r/ANormalDayInAmerica/comments/1i7ke6f/wife_just_lost_her_job_because_of_an_executive/

https://old.reddit.com/r/sales/comments/1i7j8r0/closed_my_first_100k_deal_and_then_i_didnt/

>$100k deal

>... revoking already approved funding for this refugee focused Non-Profit ... had to lay off 90% of their staff within 24 hours ... backed out of the deal

Lot of money for peaceful refugee activists !nooticers ...

https://old.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1i7ench/fed_up_w_judgement_for_eating_outside/

>I work in a hospital

>workplace full of disease

Like and subscribe for more

Trump heard "Free Palestine" and said "Sold!"

— Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) February 5, 2025

With talk of the Switch successor being revealed this week I thought it'd be worth doing a review of all the major leaks and rumors that have appeared surrounding it. There's a comical amount of stuff to go over for a system that hasn't even been formally announced yet. Originally, I'd meant to do this at the end of last year but waiting might have paid off since it might only be a few days away from being unveiled to the world at long last. In fact, just today some new developments have happened that is even more smoke for a reveal being imminent. I'm not the most plugged into this topic or the technical aspects surrounding it so there may be some mistakes made but whatever. The broad strokes paint a pretty interesting picture.

The T239 Leak

Starting at the very beginning of the proper speculation for a Switch successor is the leak of the T239 chip which was acquired as collateral from Nvidia getting hacked. The T239 is a SoC that looks very much like it is designed to support a dedicated video gaming system and because of their existing partnership with the Switch people conclude that this is likely a new Nintendo console. Digital Foundry made this article covering details about the chip as well as some experimenting to try and approximate the power of the system as well as test it against some big gen eight games. I won't go too into the analysis as it's highly controversial amongst the spergs who argue with each other about Switch 2 leaks. The main takeaways are:

• a custom built SoC made special for Nintendo; no more off the shelf Tegra X1

• Ampere architecture

• 8x ARM A78C CPU (this wasn't in the original leak but was determined some time later)

• 1536 CUDA cores

• 128-bit/LPDDR5 memory interface

• DLSS capable with tensor cores

• ray tracing cores as well

• maximum memory bandwidth of 102GB/s

• a dedicated file decompression block

• reportedly demo'd a build of Breath of the Wild with zero loading times and maybe also at 4K60FPS (the latter point is not as widely corroborated amongst journoids)

Overall, it's already looking like a substantial step-up from the og Switch in terms of performance and capability. As there really wasn't a generational leap between the Wii U and Switch this is an exciting prospect for Nintendo fans. It's also reason for optimism with regard to third party support as the test yielded decent performance for Death Stranding that is about equivalent to the PS4. At this point, however, there are still quite a few big question marks hanging over the system like RAM amount, the internal storage, the clock speeds, the process node it was fabbed on, the screen, the list goes on.

The Shipment Manifest Leaks

For a long while the T239 specs were all that there was to pore over for Switch 2 information. There were paltry nuggets found through datamining firmware and OS updates for the Switch that hinted at some form of compatibility with the successor but still nothing especially interesting. That is until the s and other assorted ResetEra rejects of Famiboards realized that they can look up customs data regarding international shipping through a number of different websites. I guess this is how people dig for info about upcoming smartphone models yet for whatever reason no one had thought to do the same for vidya consoles until now. Anyway, they set to work filtering results for data pertaining to Nintendo, Nvidia, and Nintendo's manufacturing partners in Vietnam and what do you know, they find some pretty interesting stuff. It looks like prototype models for a device with an identifying code that doesn't match any currently known Nintendo product.

Dimensions

These being shipping manifests some pretty comprehensive details about the physical dimensions of the system are discovered quickly.

Size of the Switch successor itself:

• 206mm x 115mm x 14mm (the original Switch is at 173mm x 102mm x 13.9mm)

The Joycons and dock are also a bit larger than their Switch 1 counterparts but I'm having trouble finding the exact measurements for them.

Peripherals

A built-in mic is discovered as well as details about magnets in the manifest that lead people to think that the new Joycons will attach magnetically to the Switch instead of via rails.

A giant fricking fan

Easily the most lolwtf find from the whole system.

Presumably this is going to go in the new dock for the system which raises... interesting possibilities for how hard they intend to push this thing in docked mode.

New Shipment Discoveries

Later on, after the investor's meeting where Nintendo first acknowledged the existence of a successor to the Nintendo Switch in May 2024 they would discover a new shipment with a few more details about the system.

RAM

Two 6 GB LPDDR5X chips are found in the data. This was a significant find for two reasons: it put to rest long held anxieties about 8 GB and hopes for 16 GB and it also puts the Switch 2 ahead of the Xbox Series S by 2 GB. It's also assumed that the Switch 2's OS will also be very lean and lightweight unlike what's used for Xbox. The Xbox Series S is seen as the best hope for the Switch 2 getting substantial third support since many big games will have already had to be scaled down in order to work on the S (and by extension be allowed to release on the Series X). As a result the Series S is what Nintendo fans are hopeful the Switch 2 will be comparable to.

Storage

A 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage chip is found. UFS 3.1 had long been speculated as the likely choice for storage based on what was popular in the smartphone space. It's a pretty fast storage medium and not too far off from what the PS5 and Xbox Series have.

This post is a much denser breakdown of the shipping finds if anyone is interested.

Possible Factory Leaks Begin

The September Leak

It's in September of 2024 that photos allegedly of the Switch 2 in various states start to appear on the Internet.

These photos end up being quite contentious. The perspective of the case sitting on the desk looks off to me and feels like it was a poor shop. For what it's worth people closely examining the motherboard find product codes that match that of one of the prototypes found in the shipping manifests.

The sole revelation from this batch of photos is the extra USB-C port on the top of the system as seen in this CAD render.

Lastly here's the front facing view of the complete system.

The December Leak

Guy on Xitter pops up claiming to have photos of a completed Switch 2 model. I believe that he goes on to torch his own credibility by claiming that he used AI manipulation on the photos to better protect his identity.

(The left photo is allegedly the new dock.)

The January Leak

Another leak from Chinese social media. This time of the Joycons. One aspect in particular makes it (in my opinion) the most fun photo leak by a country mile.

Notice the little square sensor near the middle of the Joycon? Looks a bit like a mouse sensor, doesn't it? My God, it looks like it even has glide pads...

The debate between the mouse sensor camp and IR sensor camp has been on-going. The OG Switch has IR sensors in its Joycons (for the like 12 games that use it lmao) so it's not impossible that is what these are. However, recent findings like mouse support being found in firmware updates for the Switch and shipping data indicating the presence of mouse soles would seem to support the mouse theory. Zany if true.

The Clockspeeds Leak

Finally, just today another big mystery about the specs seems to have at long last been solved. An established dataminer revealed on Famiboards what he believes to be the various clockspeeds that will be used in the Switch 2.

Handheld: CPU 1100.8 MHz, GPU 561 MHz, EMC 2133 MHz
Docked: CPU 998.4 MHz, GPU 1007.25 MHz, EMC 3200 MHz

The user in question will come to Famiboards every once and a while to post about new discoveries made in the Switch's firmware and OS so it's assumed these numbers also came from that. The more interesting theory is that the Switch 2's SDK has leaked somewhere and that it's where he's actually getting this.

Some rough estimations for the TFLOPS of each power profile have been made and come out to 1.72 TFLOPS for portable and 3.09 TFLOPS for docked.

Fun visualization of the power difference.

The difference in CPU speeds has weirded a lot of people out. The Switch 1 keeps the same clockspeed for docked and portable and it's doubly weird that the Switch 2's docked mode has the lower clockspeed. It's lead some people to cast doubt on these being accurate numbers. We'll have to wait and see.

Lingering Questions

The Screen

Despite being listed in the shipment data nothing concrete has been found about the Switch 2's screen. People have made claims that they say is sourced from insider information but all of it has sounded like safe, educated guesses. They'll probably go with LCD screens again because it's cheaper (and so they can make tendies double dip with OLED models later down the line ). A 7.91 inch screen is something specific that has been claimed. This would be a huge increase over the base Switch's 6.2-inch screen and even the OLED model's 7-inch screen. It is assumed by everyone that it will be a 1080p screen, up from the Switch's 720p screen.

The Process Node

The question of what process node the Switch 2's hardware will be made on has probably been the single most hotly debated question about the thing. Heated arguments over whether it will be 4nm (le good) or 8nm (LE BAD) have been raging since the T239 was discovered and it gets very neurodivergent. What the frick do these numbers mean, exactly? I dunno, I guess before 28nm nodes were a thing it was some kind of specific measurement in a circuit board but now it's just branding basically. What matters is that smaller = better and better process nodes allow for smaller form factor and better power efficiency. Both are very important in a handheld. It's been a near constant back and forth of people citing a somewhat reliable but also spotty guy on Xitter who claims it's for sure 8nm, followed by people saying that 8nm is obviously too old for something that finished in 2022 and that Nintendo would NEVER cheap out on hardware. Every time an alleged photo of the motherboard drops people rush to estimate the process node based on analysis of the photo and napkin math which then prompts other people to write essays explaining why trying to estimate the node size that way is fricking r-slurred and completely unreliable. The leaks of the clockspeeds has tempered this somewhat and it looks like 7nm might be what people gravitate towards as general consensus. Either way, we won't know until tech reviewers get their hands on the final product and do teardowns. Not like it matters at this point.

The Games

Not a fricking thing has been leaked about games for the Switch 2. In the wake of basically everything about the hardware being laid bare almost a full year in advance of Nintendo saying anything about the system this is a bit surprising. Just goes to show how airtight Nintendo are and how funny it is that Nvidia keep fricking them over despite that. At best people have made the biggest brain predictions like that a new 3D Mario will come out seven years after the last one released.

Conclusion

That's basically everything worth mentioning. It's a little wild to finally be on the verge of getting something official about this system after all this time feeling like I already know quite a bit about it.

2 weeks - at least 3 months or more from now. DM me your rates.

https://old.reddit.com/r/China/comments/1ifxbys/so_is_there_a_genocide_against_uyghurs_or_not/

https://old.reddit.com/r/LivestreamFail/comments/1iflprq/destiny_has_a_suggestion_for_hasan_while_her/

https://old.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1ifxejs/whats_going_on_with_uyghurs_is_there_a_genocide/

https://old.reddit.com/r/GetNoted/comments/1icx2hs/nothing_new_just_more_chinese_propaganda/

https://old.reddit.com/r/leftist/comments/1ie2wcr/is_the_uyghur_genocide_real/

https://old.reddit.com/r/Northeastindia/comments/1ifrkde/this_chinese_dude_on_red_note_commenting_under_a/

https://old.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/1idbtdg/why_the_us_wants_to_separate_xinjiang_from_china/

I thank God in heaven China is heading towards disaster with their demographic crisis . Nuclear holocaust is preferable to a world dominated by these losers. Also Americans have been rendered into Sinoslaves through Tiktok so there's no hope there. The Chinese will exterminate the American pigsogs. Launch the nukes now!

Trump signs executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports, directing DOJ to enforce - ABC News https://search.app/1BvxLikktjd7TJhr8

but to "protect women's sports," adding that options like co-ed categories would still be available.

If universities don't comply, the White House warned they could not only lose federal funding but also face legal action.

"If schools don't comply, it's not just that they're at risk of DOJ-based actions," Mailman said. "Title IX has a private right of action component behind it, so if schools are violating the law, they're at risk of lawsuits from their female students, that is going to actually be more than just taking away federal funding. These are multi-million dollar lawsuits."

The executive order also directs the secretary of state to push for changes within the International Olympic Committee to maintain single-s*x competition and the Department of Homeland Security to review visa policies to prevent transgender women from identifying as female, which would allow them to compete in women's sports, according to the document detailing the order.

The order will also direct private sporting bodies to attend an in-person White House meeting to hear accounts from female athletes in person, according to the document.

"The Executive Order calls for the convening of private sporting bodies in the White House to hear, in person, the stories of female athletes who suffer life-long injuries, who have been silenced and forced to shower with men, and whose hard work has been cast aside due to the biological advantage of males," the document states.

The order is the most aggressive move yet by Trump to fulfill one of his central campaign promises regarding transgender athletes in women's sports.

Trump signed an executive order last week seeking to restrict gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19.

The order would move to restrict medical institutions that receive federal funding from providing such care -- including puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgeries -- calling on the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to "take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children."

it begins anew!

They lost 250.000 troops, and 900 tanks for this village thats not even important.

— Phillip Hansen (@PhillipHansenS) January 12, 2025

Triple cope

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/01/12/7493165/index

Khohols reached such point that even republicans asking them to throw the 18 year olds.

Mike Waltz, Donald Trump's incoming National Security Adviser, believes that Ukraine should lower the draft age to attract hundreds of thousands of new troops and stabilise the frontline.

Their draft age right now is 26 years old [it is in reality 25 - ed.], not 18. I don't think a lot of people realise that they could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers.

He is coping a bit since most 18 year olds were 15 when it all started so they runaway already and who is left also running away

🇺🇦🇪🇺‼️🚨 Ukranian boys aged 16 - 20 are leaving Ukraine in masses, buses full drive to Europe daily!

There are even organized tours for the boys to leave!

The upcoming lowering of the mobilization age to 18 scared people! pic.twitter.com/ut97L1DfXW

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) January 11, 2025

On top of unreal high desertion

Ukrainian soldier that was busified run away from army base to capture that guy that busified him to bussyfie that guy

A story of "figurative and literal"

Republicans need to stop Russian progress because otherwise there won't be an argument for Russian to stop and Russian now attacking at angles that Ukraine didn't expected

The Ukr. army remains unable to stop the Russian advance on the western riverside of the Oskil in Kharkiv oblast, despite Russians needing to cross the river with every soldier, weapon, ammunition and piece of equipment.
Simply not understandable to me. Thought it was a priority. pic.twitter.com/17eluyoJ76

— Julian Röpcke🇺🇦 (@JulianRoepcke) January 10, 2025

This mb looks like nothing but it gives Russian opportunity to take this all

And neutralise Ukrainian only success in this conflict the "Kharkov counteroffensive 2022"

Not counting Vovchansk that place has around 9k people so barely nothing at such massive territory. It's around 4700km.

If Russian reaches Burluck Ukraine will lose possibility support that area and we will finally understand why Russian attacked Kharkiv.

This bridge also doesn't look impressive but it gives Russian opportunity to strike the choke point Zarizhne from back and directly strike Lyman

That will give them opportunity to easily bomb Sloviansk

Russian are also almost done with Chasiv Yar and they decided to not go after Konstiantynivka but after Mikiolaivka and Sloviansk, because they now don't have to worry that Ukrainian will attack their flanks (Chasiv Yar and then Ivaniske) since if Ukrainian in Konstiantynivka try it Russian will attack that city from Toretsk.

Russian also will enter Dniper oblast soon.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/11/ukraine-russia-kursk-counterattack/

Ukrainian troops launched a counterattack in the region last weekend, attempting to retake some of the territory it first seized last summer and then lost — with the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's office boasting on social media that Russia was "getting what it deserves."

But almost a week into the new operation in Kursk, little progress appears to have been made

There is big difference between "little progress" and not progress and decline. Because the conclusion of that offensive was a decline.

Fights now at outskirts of Sudzha and Ukrainian launching offensive east out of Sudzha with goal of capturing a town 80km from Sudzha that is connected with only one road that goes from Sudzha. Also Zelenskyy was claiming Ukraine controlled like 1500km^2 in Kursk and now official Ukrainian army map says 424km

Ukraine's continued focus on Kursk indicates how important Kyiv believes it is to hold on to the territory, especially as Trump's impending arrival could increase pressure for both sides to come to the negotiating table. Ukrainian officials have also warned that if their troops were to retreat back across the border, the 60,000 troops Kyiv says Russia has deployed would follow them into Ukraine and occupy more land.

It's a war of attrition, Ukraine the side that barely has AD and artillery moves into Russian rural area with no fortifications. So they picked enemy turf to do there defence

Russia, meanwhile, is eager to retake the territory, but has still maintained much of its military might in Ukraine's east, where Russian forces said they captured the Ukrainian town of Kurakhove this week. Ukrainian officials denied those accounts and described the battle as ongoing.

As Trump's inauguration approaches, Moscow, which has the upper hand in manpower and resources, has fewer reasons than Ukraine to see his taking office as an immediate game changer.

"There has been a long-running narrative since the election that both sides are going to try to substantially improve their positions ahead of Jan. 20," Kofman said, describing it as a "fixation" that encourages "short-term thinking" about the war.

I been writing since forever that Trump won't stop it in 24 hours and he just made it official this week by saying he will have a meeting with Putin in 6 or so months.

So did Russian planned to enter Sumy or not now doesn't matter since they ain't going to lose such opportunity so Ukraine GENIUS plan to trade Russian Kursk territory for something would end up giving Ukraine Kursk territory back and some Sumy territory.

"There are signs of a Russian interest to meet with Trump, but that should not be confused with a willingness to negotiate. It's unclear why Moscow would negotiate right now, given the trajectory of the war," he said.

Ukrainian soldiers don't understand why would Russian even accept any negotiation. That's how hard Ukraine is winning.

Oleh said. Ukraine, meanwhile, has taken advantage of communication challenges between Russian and North Korean troops to retake some positions in Kursk, as what Oleh described as confusion between the two groups appears to have slowed Russian efforts to stabilize territory after assaults.

Some news from parallel universe, you won't find those "retaken positions in Kursk" in our universe.

So on top of all other sectors Ukraine also now will need to think what to do with Sumy.

Toretsk was favouriting defenders a lot since look how many industrial areas (triangles) that place had. Only Donetsk city had more. Ukraine losing it faster than Avdiivka shows they have serious problems.

Ukrainian geniuses also didn't build any fortifications in the rare and were stealing like no tomorrow

And it was Kharkiv where some fights were going on all those years since Russian never really kicked Russian out of Kharkiv. Sumy has no fortification and are in such positions that if the retreat Russian will just follow them same roads so no time to mine them.

And Dniper they only now started building something

The geniuses didn't even finished building defence line 1.0

And Russian went in 2024 from 0 defence like to 0,5 > 1.0 > 2.0 > 3.0 > 4.0 and now breaking the unfinished first defence line of Dneper

In 2024 Russian took most of Ukrainian Donbas defence lines and the rest they now can attack from rare or through those defence lines.

They lost 250.000 troops, and 900 tanks for this village thats not even important.

Donbas is also Ukraine most populated region and its main industry

It cost for Ukraine also 4 working man to support one soldier

And when you consider also this

We are past Ukrainian winning arc, we are now at arc of how to persuade Putin to agree for peace and do a goodwill tin

Fun part that now Putin has so many arguments to b-word about. He can point that he steeped out of Kiev and Kharkiv as goodwill tin and that west betrayed him later and when this talks happens Putin will have a huge chunk that Ukrainian "Kharkiv counteroffensive" got. He can point on all Zelenskyy hate speech towards Russia

🇷🇺🇺🇦 “I do not respect either the leader of today's Russia or the Russian people” — Zelensky, President of Ukraine

Well that’s nice. pic.twitter.com/Cr6UqINi9f

— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) January 5, 2025

He can point at Zelenskyy not being elected. At US missiles targeting Russian soil when Biden told no offensive weapons for Ukraine

How Biden warned Putin if Putin uses nukes that Ukraine will receive tanks, jets long range missiles and target black fleet

And attack on Russian soil what was this ?

So goood luck convincing Russian not to finish off Ukrainians who now begging for 2022 March deals

Trump just need some stability to even start the talk since if front constantly moving in one direction you can't start discussing about where to freeze it. But at this point mobilisation won't help it and in worst case for Russian they going to do their own mobilisation

The bill seems aimed at limiting the less tech-savvy from accessing 'piracy' sites, as it says that the blocking order cannot "require service providers to take actions that would prevent users from using virtual private networks (VPNs)."

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1igqnoh/new_bill_to_effectively_kill_anime_other_piracy/

There's probably drama here

Thanks for asking! The original Jake did great at delivering his famous line, “uh…khakis.” However, this expanded role is very demanding and is best filled by a professional actor. ~LM

— State Farm (@StateFarm) January 31, 2025

And all through the thread itself

Your name is Kevin Miles and you sold every ounce of your soul to an insurance company https://t.co/TIQgSWha0C

— Fat Failure (@cheeserburger) January 31, 2025

but it's just so surreal that they responded that I'm content to leave it at this

@Hattie dozens of times an hour, til this week

@Hattie today

Context: jeet threatened to baitop /r/fednews, seethe central

Muh cancer they might fire me m-muh pension park rangers are vital to dark maga

range in heck commie

!metashit !nooticers

I wish we left gastronomy to the neighbors. These b-words suck. Your oatmeal cookies suck. Your TikTok casserole sucks. Hoes need to be led by a real kitchenmaster, a real Chef de Cuisine. A man of the senses, a supertaster. All these whores care about is keeping up 'trad' appearances for the only stomach-wormed r-slur willing to eat their lousy sandwich-and-curly-fry meals. These broads couldn't care less about feeding their families, let alone having children at all. At least the matriarchs of then knew how to forage and be resourceful. All you b-words do is scroll Pinterest for another cupcake fad you can lie about recreating.

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