Ebsterr retweeted
One of the best parts about Lula's victory in Brazil 🇧🇷 is watching in real time all those Polymarket/Kalshi bros eat shit and lose their money.
Rob is encouraging us to vote ANC because we hosted the Rugby, Cricket & Soccer world cups. We've hosted the Netball World Cup, AFCON, Formula E, A1 GP. Next year we co-host the cricket WC. Mostly under ANC rule.
Spread the word folks, the Finance Ghost endorses the ANC
Buckle up because this piece is a roller coaster. If I ever wanted to give my students a clear example of "but akshually" centrists who believe in nothing, contribute nothing and enjoy writing meaningless drivel, I would have them read this
Loose Canon 💥 Pillay's Nobel peace prize; a respectful critique
timcohen.co.za/loose-canon-p…
Ebsterr retweeted
Not only has the US never televised public executions in its history, but not even the Nazi defendants sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials had their executions televised (it was deemed violative of the human rights that post-WW2 institutions were trying to re-establish).
The most amazing part of this is that Nidal Hasan is paraplegic and close to 60. So this disgusting spectacle will involve rolling him out in a wheelchair, then live-streaming his body as it's pumped full of bullets.
When I and others pointed out last night that public executions are carried out only by the countries we're told are the most primitive and savage (Afghanistan, North Korea), MAGA enthusisasts replied that we were too weak. Pummeling an old guy in a wheelchair with bullets -- as a reality TV show -- seems like an odd and dubious defintion of "strength," let alone an expression of the western values they endlessly claim they and they alone are trying to salvage.
BREAKING: The Pentagon says it will livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. apnews.com/article/fort-hood…
Gayton blows smoke in the direction of social media travel. Along the way he wasted time and probably money travelling internationally on this absolute waste of a matter
In a real country the law society would have disbarred Adriaan for this. Imagine tolerating nazis in post-45 Germany
Ebsterr retweeted
This, by JM Coetzee, in @Equatormag, about an actual genocide in South Africa, is very good. equator.org/articles/dusklan…
Ebsterr retweeted
We are being lectured by a man who has had his columns and books ghostwritten for him for years, whose son is a convicted J6 rioter and who tried to keep apartheid going in 1987 after even the UK and France had recognised it was evil.
As has been made absolutely clear, the time for endless “dialogue” has run its course. No more. America has just so much patience. We want strong, and lasting relations with the South African government. It needs to show it wants the same. So far it has shown it cares for neither. As a result, the consequences, as I’ve attempted time and again to express, are necessarily going to be severe. This visa restriction policy is only the first step in a series of escalatory measures that will show America’s firm resolve in this matter.
Ebsterr retweeted
Lol, with the greatest respect to him as a dedicated and excellent crime fighter, that was a very dumb thing to say. It is important in any healthy and functioning democracy for citizens to ask questions, to critique, and for authorities to be accountable. Why would the public asking questions about policing require civilians to go with SAPS shootings, when the existence of IPID as a watchdog is literally because of this very concern and to help get those answers?
It is only in dictatorships where citizens are discouraged from questioning the actions of the military and the police. Just last week at the Madlanga Commission, we heard disturbing testimony from IPID, with Len John giving evidence that strongly suggests that some — I said SOME — members of the police in KZN are getting paid to execute people on behalf of rival gangs and taxi factions. In light of such allegations, citizens absolutely must ask questions when people (yes, even criminals) are killed by the police.
This does not mean people align themselves with criminals, nor does it mean they sympathise with them or want the police to get killed. Far from that. Rather, the questions are posed to ensure that members of the police are not themselves involved in crime and hiding behind ‘These are criminals’. Because you cannot fight crime with crime. ‘You care about criminals’ is an odd interpretation of that.
To say people must ‘join SAPS when they do operations’ is a lazy dismissal of those who advocate for the rule of law. And there is no amount of frustration with high crime levels that will ever justify silencing those who have questions or concerns. As law enforcement, all you have to do is be transparent. Rather than being cynical and dismissive, telling the public to ‘go and show SAPS how it’s done’, you could just simply show the public that (a) you are doing the right thing, (b) how you are doing the right thing, and most importantly, (c) doing so lawfully. That solves the problem, and these conversations never happen.
But what we absolutely cannot have is a situation where citizens are told to not ask questions, or even offer critique, if they don’t go to Nongoma Hostel with the cops. That stance is not only incompatible with democratic values but it is downright anti-intellectual. It’s like saying if you dare question or criticise the ANC, go and work as a ward councillor.
Ebsterr retweeted
not once, with all his first at the scene reporting, did dasen ever report that the number of suspects MURDERED far exceeded the number of weapons recovered
Ebsterr retweeted
Houses are for living in, not for speculation
Xi Jinping first said this at the Central Economic Work Conference in late 2016.
He then elevated it to a national slogan at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party in October 2017, when he declared that "houses are built to be inhabited, not for speculation.".
Since then it has very much served as the guiding mantra of Beijing's property policy. Worries about property development companies going bust and taking the entire Chinese, or even global, economy with it all proved unfounded. Yes there was pain for investors, lots of it. And both for home owners and property development investors. But the word has once again survived.
This chart below shows, again, why you never bet against Xi Jinping. House prices in China have been falling for over four years straight with only one positive month in that entire period.
Ebsterr retweeted
Were he to win the by-election, I think Binface would be the first Count in the House of Commons since Count Edward Raczyński (Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire 1997-2010)?
However, by convention MPs may not address the House wearing a hat: a constitutional crisis awaits.
Unfortunately South Africans are married to the idea of freestanding homes and something needs to change. Medium density developments close to businesses will solve housing in SA
Bruh Matthew Gruter is outchea these days on instagram calling okes lefties like its 2015 and he's a UCT DASO member commenting on a Fees Must Fall facebook post
Ebsterr retweeted
Basic theory of law enforcement:
Make it easy for people to comply with the law, then punish harshly those who choose not to.
That’s how SARS is so successful.
Home Affairs is the opposite: impossible to comply then weak enforcement.
This quoted post is unavailable.
Ebsterr retweeted
Abahlali BaseMjondolo is clearly another middle class organisation intellectualising the problems of the poor without being on the ground. Unpatriotic.
Abahlali basemjondolo have harsh lived experiences but oppose the anti-immigration protests.
Abahlali baseMjondolo opposes anti-immigration protests because they believe scapegoating migrants divides the oppressed class.
The shack dwellers' movement argues that poor living conditions stem from systemic state failure, inequality, and government corruption rather than the presence of foreign nationals.
A Common Enemy: Abahlali stresses that poverty is caused by colonialism, racial capitalism, and corrupt governance.
They argue that attacking vulnerable foreign nationals distracts from the government’s failure to deliver land, housing, and basic services.
Solidarity Across Borders: Guided by the African philosophy Unyawo alunampumulo ("a foot has no nose"), the movement maintains that a neighbor and comrade deserve dignity wherever they live.
Rejection of Vigilantism: The movement strongly condemns xenophobic violence, defending and integrating migrant communities into their informal settlements. They have actively protested against far-right anti-migrant groups like Operation Dudula.
Current Action & Grassroots Organizing
Countering Disinformation: Abahlali distances itself entirely from xenophobic rhetoric, actively refuting fake digital posters that falsely use their logo to incite anti-immigrant mobilizations.
Protecting Legal Aid: The movement has staged direct demonstrations in solidarity with human rights defenders—such as the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI)—when their offices were targeted by far-right groups.
Defending The Poor: Abahlali continues to campaign against evictions, most notably leading national protests against the proposed amendment to the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE Act).