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with everything so democratic and cool

[The Hormuz Letter @HormuzLetter]

BREAKING: Sen. Chris Murphy was briefed on highly classified military planning on Iran to restart the war after the midterms, calling the plans "insane."

"I will just say this: their plan is insane. It will lead to devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law," he said at the Middle East Institute event.

The plan "will be devastating for our security interests," he adds.

[/ @blitheliche]

tom bischof you beauty, one of a kind, the love of my life

[Paweł Wargan @pawelwargan]

This story is not getting enough attention, even though it is a dark portent of the political repression on the horizon all around the NATO bloc.

Five activists who damaged an Elbit Systems site in Ulm, Germany, are facing harsher treatment than the Reichsbürger, a far-right group accused of attempting to overthrow the German state by force. The two trials are being held in the same building.

The Ulm5 are held in a maximum-security prison, marched into the courtroom in handcuffs, and seated behind bulletproof glass two meters tall. On day one, the judge switched off the microphones of the defence’s legal team, and has since repeatedly refused to hear their evidence and expert witnesses, while rejecting a motion for an independent stenographer to keep a record of the proceedings. The only written record of the trial is the judge's.

Meanwhile, the Ulm5 all remain in prolonged detention — with stints in solitary confinement. The prosecution is seeking to argue that the attack was antisemitic in nature, as Elbit Systems is a “Jewish-owned company” and therefore the “baby killers” graffiti drawn by the activists amounts to blood libel.

The case sets a chilling precedent for any actions taken against German militarism, and no doubt forms part of a wider arc of repression that now extends from Britain to Italy. That is why the activists’ call for international solidarity and support is so urgent.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

As the Clausewitzian saying goes, war is the continuation of politics by other means.

Which also means that whichever side in a war achieves its political objectives wins the war, even if it lost more materially.

Hard to think of a bigger political win for Iran than the Saudis coming to Tehran with the Turks and Pakistanis to talk regional security.

All the more because the political objective of the US and Israel was a new regional order dictated by them, which Netanyahu described as an order "based on strength" (https://t.co/TGbFYzVUqE)

It's looking like an order based on strength all right, just not theirs 😏

[Nick Cruse 🥋 @SocialistMMA]

Mao Zedong is the most lied about historical figure of all time and it’s not even close. I’m glad Kylian Mbappe being an ignorant shitlib opened up this global conversation and discourse on him.

The genocidal west will never forgive Mao for liberating his people from them while helping anti colonial struggles all around the world

[merton ♨️ @mertonesque]

"hardcore porn" implies the existence of "post-porn", "ska-porn", and "anarcho-porn", among others

[Logan Adams @LoganPAdams]

Yaxel Lendeborg is averaging 21.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists right now.

He’s also at 1.5 stocks, 59.1% TS, is fourth in the NBA in offensive rebounds per game, while logging a 0.43 3Pr and a 0.52 FTr.

The Warriors are also +10 with him on vs. off.

[/ @blitheliche]

the rot spreads

[Bayern & Germany @iMiaSanMia]

Lamine Yamal's uncle criticized Harry Kane's Ballon d'Or win: "The truth is it’s really sad, I feel really bad. My nephew was amazing, he was the best player in the world, everyone knows it. If you like football, you go to watch Lamine, not Harry Kane. Since Lamine is young, they always say he has time, he’s 19, and that’s why they’re not giving him the award. Harry, with about three days of football left, they’re saying, 'come on, we’ll give him the award' - Lamine will win more than one, but the sadness will pass in three days. In a few days he will be fine" [@ellarguero]

[Heroics @FTHeroics]

Harry Kane ~ 25/26

Ballon d'Or Winner

[/ @blitheliche]

zisbum school of thought cooked and wont live on Inshallah

[zispoms @imzispoms]

Benzema legacy gonna be brutalized, Suarez cooked, Lewandowski cooked. history will be rewritten. ggs man

[S. @SebC__]

When it comes to Harry Kane ; here's how I lived through the magnificent career that lead him to the most deserved Ballon d'Or

In the early 2010s, I was familiar with him as I was watching England's youth teams across competitions (as well as Portugal, France and Netherlands). He wasn't the most highly rated of his generation, Conor Wickham and Saido Berahino definitely took the spotlight in the emerging talent scene.
Harry Kane was from the last generation before the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) implemented in 2012 ; when England was still crashing out in group stages of FIFA / UEFA Tournaments. He ended up captaining England supporting the entire new generation nurtured by Gareth Southgate and the extraordinary English FA developmental program in the 2010s.

I make no hiding from the fact that Pochettino is one of my childhood idols, as he was seeing out a career in France and looked so cool. So when he joined Southampton in 2013-14, that was also an opportunity to see he cut his hair, but also for me to keep an eye on his managerial career at Saints first then Spurs as I was on television every week for two years as a TV analyst. I took a special interest in fellow teenagers Lukaku, Barkley, Kane and Pogba's debuts in Premier League from the other side of the screen.

As a result, I routinely watched 7 Premier League games per week-end, was on TV the Tuesday and because imposter syndrome crept in, I felt compelled to watch the English team in Europa League on Thursdays. Another sacrifice which I never felt as such, because as I was also getting my coaching badges I learned so much from how Pochettino integrated the entire Tottenham academy. I vividly remember watching Harry Kane going in goal vs Asteras Tripolis FC in October 2014 and am pretty sure I tweeted a pixellated screenshot from whatever dodgy stream I was watching on, for my audience, only to probably get two likes and one retweet.

Harry Kane's debuts in the Football League were fairly unspectacular, and I learned a lot about the virtue of resilience and work. He couldn't get off the bench for Leicester City, but history will tell you he was competing with Jamie Vardy. He got off the bench for Norwich against Villas Boas' Chelsea at the Bridge when Mata scored his first goal on his debut, and had a chance from a long ball over the top, and took so long to get a shot off having eaten so much ground that my definitive conclusion was "you're never gonna make it at this level, son". Then I learned about his craft, how he never played as a striker at youth level but as a midfielder, and the benefits he eventually reaped from shooting thousands of footballs after training.

On TV, I was working with a former player turned leading pundit, Jean Luc Arribart who was close to Pochettino from his PSG days. From Pochettino's perspective, it's Harry Kane's goal at Villa Park that kickstarted the Poch's Spurs era, as the entire scope of journalists were keen to entertain the idea that he was merely a downgrade to Harry Redknapp. Tim Sherwood is adamant he veto-ed signing "Tottenham's big number 9" because he knew how good Kane would be. Truth might be somewhere alongst those lines. Amusingly, coming from a marmite character (Sherwood) ; then continued with Pochettino's mentorship : an Argie in the UK? Yes but he was also friends with Ossie Ardiles. What could a former no nonsense centre half tell us about coaching strikers with A2 English (and a translator at Southampton). Word was that Levy asked Poch to speak English - which he could, he just didn't want his words to be twisted.

Pochettino platformed Tottenham to two title races with a team of 23 years average, scorig 80+ goals and conceding 25 goals, pressing all over the pitch in traditional 442. About 20% of England's debuts were players also given a pathway by Pochettino.
Spurs actually finished 3rd in 2016 behind Arsenal. In collective memory, it clouds the 2017 season where Spurs made 86 points - only beaten by Conte's Chelsea making 93 points and 30 wins. Harry Kane scored a lot of goals. He scored 29 goals in 29 games in 2016-17 then 30 goals the season after.
As the Poch chapter closed after Spurs amazingly went over a year without any signing, Mourinho came in and to an extent revived Kane's early career meanderings as a playmaker behind Son to make abundantly clear Kane was the most rounded attacker of his generation. I naturally watched every game

Life goes with high and lows, and I found myself in the non enviable situation of running out my dream job contract at home : since the welfare state was paying my wages, yet I couldn't work just like millions in many industries because oh right let's lock the country down for shits and giggles (a virus they said, or to hijack social unrest, we'll get to the bottom of it one day but we likely won't get reparation for the social ransacking).

I didn't plan to return home, but like many millenials (born between 1981 and 1996), we found out through social media that there's no stigma to it. The industry is just utterly fucked up enough in so many corners that many of our and Kane's generation will end up with a backwards transitional step (unless : your parents bankroll you, or you're part of the problem. Kane - released by Arsenal, wasn't a nepo-baby either and went through rejection to finally find a way).

My dad always loved football, there's nothing more profound than the way your own dad shares what football means to him. For some, it's a social class warfare on a green rectangle, for others it's the feeling of belonging to a fanbase, but maybe also cherishing players "doing things the right way". Every generation is due to get annoyed at the current one, and lang for the one before. The compressed scheduling meant there was a game every evening in 2021. I wish to everyone to embrace the opportunity life might once throw at you unexpectedly, to reconnect with your parents during adulthood, as we now had an opportunity to watch football together but also explore what it meant to work hard when no one expects you to be there anyway, and how it might look down the road.

I never cut ties, I was just busy 24/7 and even now I couldn't comprehend how many projects I led at the same time for about a decade until COVID. On the TV programme, we watched many teams. Lampard's Chelsea, but also Mourinho's Spurs (and also Michael Olise's Reading). As we discussed the excesses and incomprehensible ways the football industry somewhat lives by (for anyone working, but not inside it, nothing makes sense. Nothing in the normal world applies. Why is it addictive to that extent), it appeared that Harry Kane was somewhat navigating through it : scoring goals, getting by, without ruffling feathers in what would represent an extraordinary throwback to an era of football that might never have been but that's not even the point.

My dad is all about Pelé's effort that licked the crossbar vs URSS, Brazil's 1970, witnessing Michel Platini's Nancy drawing 0-0 from the terraces, AS Saint Etienne's European exploits in 1976, Zinédine Zidane, the stadium lights by the window of his appartment as a child. And the scrapbooks from my progress into football.
Also the big great disgrace that is the France-RFA 1986 semi final and Schumacher's assault on Battiston, with no anger but merely contempt as something that wasn't right.
It's a special feeling to succeed at reconnecting generations, and Harry Kane arguably achieved that feat whilst doing what he does best : scoring goals. My dad got bored of the ceremony tonight (by the way, if you have any doubts about Thierry Henry, ask for an autograph or selfie and see if you're still on the fence), and untimely switched off before the announcement. I ended up once again, introducing him to Ballon d'Or winner Harry Kane by doing the announcement myself.

You never know what the future is about, but if you put the effort to think about how you can make the most of every situation in life, you might end up influencing memories for more than a generation.

The other thing I share with Harry Kane is to be nominated somewhere at the London Palladium.
He, however, won the big prize 🥇

[Harry Kane @HKane]

Work hard in silence. Let success be your noise. 🏆

[/ @blitheliche]

@yeezusleft respect the ballon d'oro 😀

[/ @blitheliche]

kane you beauty. ballon doro🥹🥹🥳

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

🏆✨ BREAKING: HARRY KANE WINS THE 2026 BALLON D’OR! 🌕🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[/ @blitheliche]

that's so so bad. devastating

[Shai Performances @SGAperformances]

JDub injured our season is over

[uThato @u_Thato]

This is how you handle a chihuahua btw. Pass around him like a cone. 😂

[Bayern @bayern_news22]

Olise vs Freiburg

[chrollo @iidk35467]

anyone who talks about barcelona like they’re the 12 tribes of israel are either undercover racists or coons. most of the time coons unfortunately

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

Nicolas Jackson has scored 6 goals in the last 6 games for Aston Villa. 💜💙🔥

⚽️ vs. Tottenham
⚽️ vs. Brentford
⚽️⚽️ vs. Fenerbahce
❌ vs. Newcastle
❌ vs. Viking
⚽️⚽️ vs. Man City