Bulletins and News Discussion from April 21st to April 27th, 2025 - JD Vance vs Pope Francis, No Items, Final Destination

to stock market
*also bitcoin started growing (modestly, at 90k for now) and swiss yields gone negative. I don't want to be hopeful, but it might be closing to joever for dollar (value)
** although dxy (dollar index thingy) stable :(
- I can't find this supposed JPMorgan release, only this tweet comes up
- Yeah, sure, I can hold your bag for a minute
  
  watching the end of margin call like
- Isnt this because China is ditching all their investments in amerikan P.E. firms?
  
  pe aren't in public market usually (although they are trying to make etf i think), hence private equity.

ain't that some shit linky to thread
- is this the guy who annihilated his parents
  
  yes

Some smol news regarding the passing of His Holiness.
The newly minted president of Iceland, Halla Tómasdóttir, expressed her condolences on Facebook, as people do these days.
But instead of using the Icelandic style of his name, Frans páfi, she used his English name, Pope Francis, which made language scholars and conservationists furrow their brows and scold the president when the press asked them for their opinions.
The office of the President has declared that the president simply wished to tag His Holiness in the post but in her haste, forgot to put the @ sign. Which might work as an explanation except that His Holiness does not have an official Facebook page.
- Halla Tómasdóttir is an American agent planted to sell Iceland to the US so they can have extra leverage to buy Greenland out, spread the word
  
  you joke but she was educated in some second rate American university, and she has the characteristics of a Large Adult Daughter
  
  oh and btw, Tómasdóttir is a patronym, she is referred to as Halla or Halla Tómasdóttir in all cases

Did JD drop the Pope?

Former Nestle CEO appointed Chairman of the World Economic Forum
Former Nestle CEO, Vice Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe; was, during an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Trustees, appointed WEF Chairman ad interim. This comes after the 87 year old Klaus Schwab resigned from the position.
In 2017, the businessman infamously stated that, and I quote:
Humans have no right to access free water.
Nestle has been embroiled in numerous controversies in recent years; namely, their usage of child slavery.
- does his eye actually look like that or is this a
  style edit?
- What James Bond villain-lookalike motherfucker. Especially with that left eye of his + his ghoulish take on water.
- New water order coming right up
- What the fuck is going on in his left eye?
- Jumpscare of the day
- That's an alien in a skin suit
- Cartoon villain
  
  I'm just putting it out there
- Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (born 13 November 1944) is an Austrian
  Yeah we know

Maybe its a bit western-centric, but a local random good person I follow on xitter pointed out that the late pope was the most influential leftist of the last decade. Flawed, like any human, but yeah, that hit.
- I think Pope Francis's actions were more intended to influence "The Left" to becoming Catholics, rather than to make Catholics go to "The Left". He's a Catholic first and foremost, his sympathies to socialists are secondary. There were many sensationalized articles over the past years which claimed that the Pope said Jesus would have been communist or that Christians should act like communists, but my interpretation of what he said is that he meant "good communists are christians". He wanted Communists to have sympathies for Christians.
  The goal of the Pope is to grow Catholicism. He said that LGBT are welcome in Catholicism, not because he's progressive, but because it grows Catholicism to be accepting of more people.
  Even the things he said about Gaza were rather milquetoast. The following is Pope Francis Easter statement on Gaza.
  "I express my closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. The growing climate of anti-Semitism throughout the world is worrisome. Yet at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation. I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace!"
  Firstly he says that he has closeness to both Israeli and Palestinian people, placing emphasis equally, doing both sides. Then he says that he's worried about anti-semitism, but doesn't mention islamophobia, potentially a dog whistle. Then he describes the genocide in Gaza with passive language. He calls it a "conflict" rather than a genocide. He says that "conflict" causes the death and destruction and not Zionism. He doesn't say who is causing the death and destruction, which is Israel. He calls for a ceasefire but in the next breath says "release the hostages" as if Hamas hasn't already promised to release the hostages on the condition of a permanent ceasefire.
  If any person said the same quote as the Pope on Easter, they would be called a Liberal Zionist, which the Pope may have been.
  I can understand wanting to bend the truth. If you tell Catholics a white-lie to say that the Pope was more radical than he actually was to influence Catholics into being against Zionism, I can see utility in this. I don't see Pope Francis as an actual radical figure, but more of an opportunist who uses left populism for the intention of growing Catholicism.
  
  GOOD post
- anybody who thinks the ceo of the pedophilia corporation is in any way a leftist is thoroughly delusional
- If you say "most influential western leftist" then maybe we can talk. But that is only because that is hardly a crowded field to begin with.
- The fuck? Xi and the CPC, Diaz-Canel and the PCC, even Traore and the AES (maybe? idk enough to say whether they're just hammering on Sankara nostalgia but they seem cool) have all done more than a compradore archbishop who said some cool antiwar stuff at the end of his life. If 'leftist' includes the leader of one of the most reactionary institutions on the planet it's even more meaningless than I thought.
  
  I understood it and was going with influential as inspirational and motivational to the largest and most diverse group of people, not the most radical. Maybe chinese and neighbors alone beat the numbers for Xi, which whom I don't think vibes much populism or direct impact. It's not "some cool antiwar stuff", which is kind of the official line of the church, it's the words about capitalism, inequality, climate change, billionaires, financial sector, calling Gaza every single day, and the limited but huge shifts about communism, feminism, and LGB (missed something there, I know), all while at the top of the reactionary central of the west for centuries.
  Actual existing communism is great, but, I don't know, doesn't feel it moved the techtonic plates as much.
- Bar is in hell.
- I mean, if we're basing "most influential" purely by number of people under their governance, Xi Jinping takes the cake here. And Xi is actually a socialist, the Pope is just a theocrat who said some cool things.
- Edit: I also think AMLO and Sheinbaum have him beat, but I bet Il Papa does land in the top ten in this imaginary ranking.

I'm not crying, you're crying

(original was in Portuguese, translated to English), not a lib
- tbh he would go to hell so no one welcoming him there other than random ass catholics
- How many children have died? Was it 10k or higher?
  
  its the number of deaths *0.5 roughly
  
  Most gazans are minors and Lancet estimates of the famines/killings we saw put total deaths at close to 200k. That was in Oct ~~2023~~ EDIT: 2024, thanks for the correction truthcarp.
- OK that really does hit hard

For anyone who is interested in left wing/historical materialist inroads to discuss Christianity, i have been reading a physical copy of Parables as Subversive Speech : Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed William R Herzog that i found in a used bookstore.
I cannot recommend it enough, it goes into various aspects of ancient Palestinian history from the worth of a talent to the treatment of day laborers by landowners' hired help, to the proportion of people within various classes in the time period discussed.
https://archive.org/details/parablesassubver0000herz
context- I am an ex Catholic turned transsexual communist, and while I may not follow the tenets of the Church anymore and have resentment for the harm it did to me and countless others, I recognize that it has provided comfort and can be a difficult framework to negotiate with. I'm sharing this less as "see, the Church is cool after all!!" and more "if you have the patience to actually sit down and talk to people, this may be a useful reference."
- maybe link it in christianity comm as well, so it wont get lost in thread

I am kinda sad to hear Pope Francis passed away, even though it was coming eventually. And I say this despite being somewhat atheist myself. In Argentina, Francis is know to some as "The Pope of the Atheists" because he was well liked among important groups of people for his militancy, not only at the head of the Catholic Church, but also during his days in the Argentinian Church. I have grown a great deal of respect for the man, of course I had a lot of disagreements with him but I don't think he was your regular super conservative Pope, far from it. It's kinda good to see he was deeply moved by the Genocide in Gaza, and he was personally invested in denouncing it until the very end of his life. That I can respect, despite our "spiritual" and political differences.
He really got under the skin of milei as well, he absolutely despised the Pope. Years ago he even called him, publicly, a "fucking Communist SOB" that is a "representative of the Devil in the Holy See". A while back he was shown a fragment of a interview an argentinian journalist did to the Pope, where he said that we should all be aware of "men without history that pretend to become saviors", he specifically mentioned that "this was the case with Adolf [Hitler]" and milei took great offense lmao and became very angry because he thought the Pope was talking about him. He is, indeed, a dangerous man without history, someone who has a messiah complex.
Francis also mantained some relationships with local Communist leaders and Socialists, especially those linked with the Church and/or doing charity work among the needy. His persona ideology however could be something along the lines of Social Justice. Truth is, he wasn't a rabid anti-Communist like pretty much all the other Popes, quite refreshing.
- hope the next pope also makes milei and the US catholics mad
- What do you mean by a man without history?
  
  He meant it in the way that people like Hitler were "complete unknowns" to the public, "outsiders" as they are called these days. Individuals whose personal history cannot be traced yet they present themselves as the ultimate saviors, people don't know who they really are, they are fooled and make a leap of faith for them. He lowkey attack milei, this absolutely unknown guy who claims he has all the answers and the key to progress and salvation, yet now that he holds power he uses it to literally kill people. He compared these men "without history" to Christ, whom he said we can know his history and how he died in the Cross. It was both a religious and political statement.

who could have expected
- https://hexbear.net/post/4653451
  also lemmygrad comrade do be linking relevant article, although the title is slightly overpromising

What is the point of Kentucky as a state, it's capital is Frankfort with an 'o'
- The site evidently received its name after an incident in 1780, when pioneer Stephen Frank was killed in a skirmish with Native Americans; the crossing was named "Frank's Ford" in his memory.
  fuck that settler asshole
  
  Ironic that frank comes from the franks, which means “free men”
- There are towns with that name in at least 6 US states, they're all spelled that way for whatever reason
  
  I like my Frankforts AMERICAN MADE, none of that kraut shit, wtf is a Furt supposed to be

gold at $3459 per ounce
- FUCK I should’ve listened to bill cipher
- i have made literally dozens of dollars that are becoming worthless
- maybe jdpon don will bring back gold standard lmao

At the stonk market straight up bouncing it.
And by it heh I mean ::: spoiler spoiler my dead cat
:::

Palestinian resistance forces released more recent combat footage of RPG strikes on Zionist armored vehicles in northern Gaza:
https://s5.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/video_2025-04-20_19-14-37.mp4

US airstrikes continue on Yemen for the 38th day and night in a row, with between 20-25 airstrikes reported in Hodeidah Governorate during the daytime. During the night, multiple rounds of airstrikes with multiple airstrikes each were reported in the Ma'rib and Sana'a Governorates, along with Kamaran Island
Al Masirah TV twitter
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The Yemeni Armed Forces released another statement yesterday, about launching drones at Israel and targeting the two sets of US Navy warships:
The use of a Sammad-1 drone is interesting, the Yaffa drone is a variant of the Sammad-3, an upgrade to the Sammad-1 with a vastly longer range. So I don't know why they'd use a Sammad-1, which only has a 500km range and is usually used for surveillance, and not one way attack.
Two of these cruise missiles launched at US warships likely crashed within Yemen itself, one in Al Mahwit Governorate, videos and phots of the debris suggest a failed Quds series cruise missile launch. Another missile crashed in the capital city Sana'a, and media was banned from the crash site in the hours after the initial media frenzy (so no photos or videos of missile parts for identification purposes), which is why the reporting of "a US airstrike targeting a market in Sana'a yesterday" has died down on resistance channels, there's a high possibility this was an Ansarallah missile that misfired. Two potential failed cruise missile launches (with one confirmed) on one night is a bit odd.
Footage of the failed Quds missile launch/crash
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The US Navy is continuing to suppress Yemeni radars and SAM sites, along with a potential new tactic to take out Yemeni anti air loitering munitions like Missile-358 (which have likely taken out many MQ-9 Reaper drones). An EA-18G Growler launching off of the USS Harry Truman is equipped with a heavy/"beast mode" (yes, that's what the Marines and Navy actually call a fully laden aircraft) SEAD/DEAD loadout, with 4 AGM-88E anti radiation missiles (two on each wing's outboard stations, visible in the first picture), 2 AIM-120 AMRAAM air to air missiles (visible in the second picture, near the centreline of the aircraft inboard of the drop tanks), and three 1817 litre/480 gallon fuel drop tanks (one on the centreline, and one on each wing). I'm guessing that that the AIM-120s will be used to shoot directly at the airborne loitering munitions themselves from a safe distance. So the plan to counter these air to air loitering munitions like Missile-358, is just to shoot them out of the sky with radar guided air to air missiles from EA-18Gs.
- I tell myself I bear witness, but the real answer is that it's obviously my programming.
  
  I've been doing these write ups for 38 days now, yeah...
  The Yemeni front is very insightful to watch because it's almost a precursor to other fronts, before the now dead ceasefire in Gaza, the Yemenis started winding down operations first. There are also a number of technological firsts in warfare. First anti ship ballistic missile ever used in war was by Ansarallah. Their anti air loitering munitions, and ground based infrared search and track systems, pose a serious challenge to UCAVs like the MQ-9 and are extremely difficult to suppress under current SEAD doctrine. The solution now is just to try shoot them out of the sky.

With Catholicism suffering from the death of the Pope and undergoing the whole succession ritual now, let's talk about a different religious group that will undergo the exact same process probably very soon. Shia Islam works remarkably similar to Catholicism, where the position of Grand Marja occupies a similar standing to the Pope within the faith. To summarise the position of the Grand Marja to anyone that haven't heard about it, Shia Islam has a lot of small Popes that reach that status after at least 30-40 years of studying theology, the Grand Marja is the biggest Pope out of the them all. A Shia Muslim can follow the rulings of any of the small Popes, but there's an implicit understanding that everyone respects the big Pope and his word is in the end the most important. The Grand Marja right now is a very old and sick Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who coincidentally is the first ever Shia Grand Marja to meet the Catholic Pope, after a historic meeting in Najaf, Iraq a few years ago.
The discussion within Catholic circles right now is about the conservatism of the next Pope, where Catholics discuss if the next Pope should be woke or not. The discussion around the next Grand Marja is a bit more multifaceted than that even within normie circles that aren't really into theology. I like Catholicism even as a Muslim dude, but the truth is that Catholicism in Europe is basically dead as a relevant political force, while Shia Islam is alive and still very energetic as a political and societal force. The first point of discussion is "how political should the next Grand Marja be?". Sistani is remarkable as the first modern Grand Marja with an active website and everything, but at the same time he's also remarkably media shy and there's still not even a recording of him actually talking. He's also very apolitical, he stood silent during the American invasion of Iraq, he offers no political commentary when it comes to the internal politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his only outwardly political position was taken during the ISIS campaign across Iraq in 2014, when he declared lawful jihad against ISIS and asked young Shias to join the fight against ISIS, which later led to the creation of the Iran-aligned Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq.
Now we come to the more woke second discussion point, "should the next Grand Marja be Arab or Persian?". This is basically the eternal Shia idpol dilemma. Sistani is Iranian from the city of Sistan, but has basically lived his entire life in Iraq. The last important Marja before him, Ayatollah Abulqasim Al Khoei was also Iranian, and we have to go back to the 60s to Muhsin Al Hakim, to find a Grand Marja that is considered Arab. Al Hakim is coincidentally the most political Grand Marja in modern history, with his rulings against Arabism and Communism still being debated today and his sons Abdulaziz Al Hakim and Muhammed Baqir Al Hakim were instrumental in the founding of the current Iraqi state after the American invasion. Maybe the Marja shouldn't be Arab if the result is such comprador sons, but that's just my commentary.
We move on to the next discussion point, "should the next Grand Marja be sympathetic to the Sadrists or not?". A short summary of the Sadrist movement coming now. Big family in Iraq and Lebanon, Musa Al Sadr in Lebanon is the spiritual father of all Shia Lebanese, Muhammed Baqir Al Sadr in Iraq basically creates Shia Islamism in Iraq, he also founds the Dawa Party (biggest Shia Islamic political movement in Iraq during the 80s and later), Muhammed Baqir gets executed by Saddam in the early 80s, Dawa Party moves to Iran, regular Shia proletariat in Iraq starts following his cousin Muhammed Sadiq, Muhammed Sadiq gains popularity as a pretty good preacher who says the anti-Saddam stuff without really saying it, he gets assassinated in the late 90s, the preaching stops after his death but his following moves to his surviving son Muqtada Al Sadr, these Muqtada followers later form the backbone of Iraqi resistance to the Americans, at the same time Sadrists slowly start resembling a cult around the image of the Muhammed Sadiq and Muqtada, big clash between the Iraqi government and Sadrists first in 2008, then it turns bloody again in 2022, but doesn't escalate. There were already some rumblings that Sistani's influential son was trying to move certain pieces in order to create an anti-Sadrist camp in 2022, with him reportedly saying that the Sadrists would be considered soon outside the realm of Shiaism. So question remains, does the next Grand Marja exclude Sadrists from the bigger Shia umbrella, or maybe tries to steer them away from the cult and back into normal religion?
I have two or three more points to bring up but my attention span is failing me, so I'll bring them soon in a different comment inshallah 🙏. No proofreading of course, please notify me if something is completely incomprehensible. If you've made this far, congrats!
- I was halfway through reading this when my brain went “I’ll bet LargePenis wrote this” and I had to stop and scroll up. Great work as usual!
- Great effort post! Shia falls a bit under the radar in western circles and is usually reduced to iranian proxy at best and special forces of evul muslim caliphate at worst.
  Though I wonder if the centralization of sacral power is as intense as in latin christianity or if its closer to orthodox christendom, which much more autocephalous.
- the system regarding the marjas seems to have more similarities with the orthodox patriarchs and the economical patriarch as the primus inter pares, than with the roman church imho.
- Is this just for Twelvers? Or do the other branches of Shia Islam also follow the Grand Marja?
  Ty for the post!
  
  Ibadi isnt shia, thats just an paradox thing. Isma'ili and Nizari dont and alevism, I dont know about!
- Very informative post, than you comrade! Whatever comes next for the Pope or Grand Marja I can only hope will be the less detrimental position for the people.

there has been some noises about this for a week (from this account on twitter, majority of tweets are in arabic tho) , moroccans are protesting shipping to pisrael of weapons linky to dropsite twitter thread (morocco normalized with entity on first trumpo iteration and got western sahara in reward)
they find some dignity, because christ it's bleak in the region

once again, japanese bond traders - pathetic effort, haven't breached 5%

forex markets do be wilding though
new conspiracy theory, what if bessent is deep soros mole, and soros plans to do another heist of the century, this time on the dollar?

Montana has a measles outbreak with its first cases in 35 years

BREAKING: The Education Department will begin collection on student loans that are in default next month, including garnishing wages for up to 5.3 million borrowers.
Damn. Another curse of the Biden bankruptcy bill, without it student loans would also be discharged in bankruptcy.
- But Biden was the lessser evvvvvviiiilllll and most heckin progressive president ever!
- Lol I'm so fucked I have no idea how I'm going to make payments and if they garnish my wage I will fuckin go postal.
  Pushed to take huge loans to get a useless fucking degree and now I'm incredibly fucked lol
- Can they garnish wages if you don't have a wage?
  
  they can garnish your ass
  
  If you don't have income the IRS knows about then I'm pretty sure no. Though I'm not sure if they can do things like try and take a car whose title is listed in your name or get a lien against that or a house or other big things you own. They might be able to garnish things like state benefits though, like money for the disabled, they can definitely garnish social security including disability. They can garnish things like unemployment I THINK and they can sue you and try and get a list of your assets and seize them to sell them off to try and pay for part of it.
- i'm wondering once again, why americans don't skip town to other countries
  (i'm not specifically talking poorer people, but just in general). just let them have fun defauting your non-existent accounts, i don't think it's criminal matter to be extradited over. i haven't heard of such cases at least, even taking cash credit and disappearing is such legal headache i don't think people pursue it over small sums. maybe inheritance is fucked tho, if statute of limitations doesn't apply
  . maybe we have someone more lawyer brained?
  
  Countries don't just let random people in unless they can demonstrate that their stay is going to be a good business proposition. If you're not independently wealthy or possessing skills in high demand then you're going to find a hard time finding somewhere nice that will let you in.
  And then there's all the expenses with moving to another country as well as the fact that most people don't want to leave their friends and family.
  
  You'd probably have to have a savings of at least 50k. Then what book a vacation on Expedia and just stay longer - with no income? Sounds only feasible for pretty wealthy people to me.
  
  With credit cards you can just not pay them. They’re unsecured so there is no asset that a lender can take from you. My SIL did this with 10k of debt. Never declared bankruptcy either. Just defaults. Debt collectors call periodically but if you don’t answer or give them anything then they can’t actually come after you. Really weird debt system we’ve got here
  
  i dont think faking your death and starting a new life is very straightforward these days

I am hearing that on his deathbed Pope Francis received the light of Islam and unhesitatingly recited the Shahāda. Even now he looks down on the Ummah from the gardens of Jannah. Truly there is no god but God, and Mohammed is his prophet!
- Many people are saying it!
- Looking into it

Justkilled Dapope Vance

What happened to the "Trump is going to declare martial law on 4/20" stuff? I know that was a deadline for some report based on an early executive order:
Sec. 6. Reporting Requirement. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the President, through the Homeland Security Advisor, a report outlining all actions taken to fulfill the requirements and objectives of this proclamation; and
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.
- https://www.newsweek.com/hegseth-noem-decide-insurrection-act-guidance-trump-report-2061659
  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are not planning to recommend that President Donald Trump invoke the Insurrection Act to address conditions at the southern border, multiple U.S. officials told CNN.
  While the deadline is Sunday, officials told CNN the memo will likely be sent to the White House next week. The expected recommendation points out that migrant crossings have significantly decreased — under 300 per day, compared to well over 1,000 in previous years — and that current authorities are sufficient for managing the situation.
  Despite internal White House frustrations over the slow pace of nationwide interior arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), CNN says that officials are warning that invoking the Insurrection Act could overwhelm detention capacity.
  When reached for comment via email, a Pentagon spokesperson told Newsweek, "At the President's direction, the DoD and DHS are developing a joint report assessing the conditions at the U.S. southern border and recommending actions to achieve full operational control of the border. We have nothing additional to provide at this time."
  really surprising the two ghouls aren't recommending it.
  
  Maybe they're keeping that genie in the bottle until they need to do something to get the hogs excited later on?
  
  yeah i thought they were just going to go for it while they had an opening
  
  Thanks!
- maybe he forgot?
  
  he spil his jice

Shout out to this person who unironically thinks that JD Vance assassinated the pope.
- I think that's tongue in cheek? It reads kind of like a joke, at least to me. They literally mention the pope appearing before the public after the Vance audience, so I don't think they're taking this idea too seriously, especially since they keep calling Vance a "trained marine" and stuff like that, seems more like they're taking the piss.
  
  I thought that at first too, but the rest of the articles on that site are all so serious and lib-brained that I came back around to thinking it's genuine.
  
  While you’re almost certainly right about that, it’s also a near-certainty that there are a few people who genuinely believe that Vance killed the Pope.

Some people expect the next pope to follow in Francis' steps since he appointed so many electors. I hope they're right, but I just read some counter-arguments in this piece which I think are worth sharing.
It is difficult to predict the outcome of the forthcoming conclave. However, there are strong reasons to believe that Francis’s successor will be a more conservative pope. First, his pontificate has been highly transformative, both institutionally and in its public messaging, making it unlikely that the cardinals will choose another candidate equally inclined toward reform. The Church tends to resist radical and sustained change.
Perhaps more importantly, although the Sistine Chapel has thick walls, the Vatican is invariably influenced by global political trends. With Trump in the White House, and with the far right on the rise worldwide, electing another pope as progressive as Francis would be swimming against the tide – and the Vatican has a long history of adapting to changing realities rather than confronting them. That is why the next fumata blanca will likely announce a more conservative figure than Jorge Bergoglio. Indeed, the mood of the moment suggests that he may well be a stark antithesis to the ‘leftist’ pope.
So the arguments are that, since Francis was a transformative pope, it's not likely that they'll elect another pope that's transformative in the same manner since that would entail too much transformation for the church too quickly.
And that, in 2013 electing a progressive pope seemed apt for the time, but in 2025 with the far-right on the rise, it would be against the current trend, so it's likely they'll ride the wave and elect a conservative or even, god help up, a far right pope.
Hope whoever wrote this is wrong, whatever one may think about the catholic church, it was politically useful for me to be able to say "well the pope agrees with me, you brain dead warmonger" whenever I argued with liberals who wanted to keep the ukraine war going.
Also something I found interesting in the piece.
As Gerard O’Connell recounts in his book on the 2013 conclave, The Election of Pope Francis, the then-Archbishop of Buenos Aires gained popularity among prelates for his strong stance on financial transparency – a sensitive issue following the Vatileaks revelations.
So the electors in 2013 warmed up to Frances not so much because of his leftish credentials but moreso for his anti-corruption stance. This checks with the idea I've heard that since he only had 1 lung, they probably didn't expect him to live that long and to change anything.
- There is like a not-insignificant faction of very conservative catholics in france, the United States and most importantly africa, which is the local in which the constituents of the church is most strongly increasing in numbers. Especially to combat the evangelicals who have been spreading like wildfire trying to erase „paganism“ in africa.
- and with the far right on the rise worldwide
  This is some “only the Global North really matters” type of thinking (I mean the author of the article, not you OP). Sure, fascism is on the rise in the US and Western Europe (and maybe some adjacent areas like Argentina or Poland)… but this isn’t necessarily true in the rest of the world. And I think the Catholic Church is pivoting to the Global South anyway. It’s sound logic that they may not want a further reformer, but I don’t buy the argument I quoted.
  
  You are correct in seeing that Europe is becoming less important to the Catholic church (massive amounts of people in ireland, germany, spain, italy are leaving the church due to abuse scandals)
  Liberation theory however is mostly restricted to Latin America (and even there it isn’t universally). A lot of cardinals from catholic africa are very conservative.
  
  Absolutely true. Oh the US is fascist? What else is new? Mexico and Brazil have leftist presidents, there's a ton of populist pressure in South Korea, China has a huge growing Church and they are as communist as ever. If the next Pope is a moderate on Gaza, will the billion Catholics that already heard Francis call the Zionists terrorists forget? Or are we going to be extremely alienated?
- Pretty much my thinking. The Vatican isn't going to paint a target on themselves, the chic thing of corporations (and Vatican is just one big child abusing, criminal corporation in a sense) trying to pretend to be woke and progressive has been tossed aside. Some parts of Europe are still clinging to a veneer of it but the far right is rising rapidly even in France and I think that within 5-8 years at most you have much more reactionary governments in power across Europe and the Vatican won't want a pope that's out of step on that.
  The fact also is the idea that Francis vetted these people and made sure they were ideologically committed to his way of thinking seems a bit spurious, it is so like the rad-lib to want to have variety, to accept reactionary people to the right of your position because they're with you on one particular thing or they seem on a personal level to be likeable and not horribly corrupt and a true believer at least. So I would not be surprised if even without the shifting global trends that happened.
  Francis was notably picked in 2013, that was in Obama's second term, world-wide there was this propaganda feeling that America had made a decidedly progressive permanent turn by electing a black man not once but twice and so they wanted to follow on with that. Now with Trump, with the rise of "trad" among the incel-o-sphere and man-o-sphere among young guys, with the alignment of the big corporations with Trump with the big tech bourgeoisie literally lining up behind him it would make sense to put in someone more appropriate for that setting.
  Probably a pope that's more outspoken on calling trans people evil because that's a popular thing now unfortunately. And maybe even one who is willing to be openly anti-China and help lead the religious proles on a crusade against the Asiatic communist power. Because let's be honest, with all the secret society shit, the ties between the Vatican and European aristocracy and bourgeoisie it's hard to believe there aren't powerful people not at all affiliated with the church weighing in on the choice and what they NEED to see in who the next pick is with the electors before they go into seclusion.
  
  The fact also is the idea that Francis vetted these people and made sure they were ideologically committed to his way of thinking seems a bit spurious, it is so like the rad-lib to want to have variety
  As far as radlib analogies go, it is more like the post-2016 cope that our progressive liberal lord and savior, Barack Obama, was doing a trust fall into the arms of America's institutions and that there was no long-term danger in handing the keys over to Trump.
- Anyway I just saw this image. And here's a video of Tagle, speaking in 2008.
  
  Black or Filipino pope would be absolutely wild so I don't see that happening
  
  zuppi sounds like a nice name, im all in
- I think if Parolin or Turkson are selected then this author would be vindicated. I still think Tagle, Zuppi, or Pizzaballa are more likely than any of the moderates, though.
  
  Plz god let it be pope pizzaballer

And we don't care about the old popes, talking about the old style too.

Where do the sentences on top of the front page come from?
- Every now and then admins take funny comments and add them. A huge number were added around the time we first federated and all the instances that had never talked with communists were first exposed to Hexbear.
- Various sources added by the mods
- We use Grok to scrape each user's comments and come up with new posts made in their voice.
  
  Grok's woke

Word is that Pope Francis has ruthlessly purged reactionary cardinals, paving the way for less shitty cardinals to elect another less shitty pope. Is this liberation theologist cope or should we trust the plan?
- It's not so much that Francis ruthlessly purged reactionary cardinals (which he absolutely did), but more importantly he created various new seats for cardinals from the Global South appointed by him. This will be the first conclave in historical memory where less than 50% of the electors are from Europe.
  Following the 2024 consistory, 110 of the cardinal electors had been appointed by Francis, 24 by Pope Benedict XVI, and 6 by Pope John Paul II. Each of Francis' consistories has increased the number of cardinal electors from at or less than the set limit of 120[b] to a number higher than 120, as high as 140 in 2024, surpassing the record 135 set by Pope John Paul II in 2001 and 2003. Since 2 June 2023, two-thirds of the cardinal electors have been cardinals created by Francis. The December 2024 consistory increased that to about 79%, and 80% of the electors who may participate in the 2025 papal conclave were created by Francis.
  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinals_created_by_Francis
- This is supposedly true. I read it somewhere last year long before his most recent health problems

I had to spend the weekend in Trumpland. His supporters already have their excuses locked and loaded. No matter how bad the economy gets - 20% unemployment, 1929 stock market crash, whatever - the US economy was already fundamentally broken because of democrats and their “loony lefty” socialistic policies over the last few decades. However bad it gets, the suffering was “necessary” because our entire economy was built on a shaky foundation - not because of capitalism, of course. But because we didn’t do ENOUGH raw, uncut capitalism.
- I have no idea what conservatives the world over act like this. It's like that here in Aus too. We had 9 years of the conservative coalition government running this country into the ground, and then 3 years of labor slowly reversing that trend, and all our conservatives conveniently forget that their own party put us in this state and just blame labor for it.
- Me trying to argue with conservatives every time. They're too stupid and cruel to even know when they're proven wrong.
- tbh usa was due to stock market crash, and if opinion of one poster isn't enough
  , warren buffet spent whole 2024 cashing out into treasuries.
  unfortunately, no one outside of porky circles will consider it.
  
  what is even more pog/troubling, until dow p/e crashes past 20 to something like 10 (which is like 28k or some shit), it's still doesn't make sense to buy in warren buffet case.

I know we don't agree with the pope on everything, but NOBODY deserves one of their last moments to be with JD Vance.
- If I had to meet JD Vance and not send him to hell myself I'd die immediatly after too.
- types def do deserve to be with
  before getting

Trump and Powell can agree on one thing: destroying the American economic empire by any means necessary

Rumours of Secretary of Defence Hegseth being replaced are false, according to the White House:
- Today: Fake News!
  Tomorrow: We are saddened to announce the departure of the SoD...
- Hegseth is doing public humiliation rituals to prove is loyalty to emperor trump 💯💯💯

US Treasuries are rising steadily again.
10Y: 4.4
30Y: 4.9
IIRC, this implies mortgage rates above 7%.
- give 5% japanese hdge fund comrades
- So stocks and bonds are supposed to move inversely to one another because bonds are viewed as a "safe haven" when stocks are dropping. Theoretically the cash that's being taken out of the market now should be parked in bonds to earn interest while people wait for the market to recover. Demand for bonds causes the interest rate to drop. Instead, it's going up, implying that people are simultaneously selling stocks and bonds, which is viewed as a bad sign for the United States; it's getting interpreted as a loss in confidence in US financial system. There are, however, several wrinkles.
  A bunch of hedge funds had to liquidate their bonds to cover unexpected losses in stocks.
  Inflation is still higher than what the Fed wants it to be and is probably going to rise as a result of tariffs. The bond interest rate has to cover inflation, otherwise no one would bother buying them.
  The much-watched treasuries auctions earlier this month had robust demand and plenty of foreign buyers, suggesting that other governments and foreign investors are still confident parking their money with the treasury
  If the rate continues to go up even as the stock market continues to drop, it will eventually become a problem. But, for now, it's just something to keep an eye on. It is bad news for Trump because he's been trying to get the Fed to lower interest rates so we can go back to the wild days of free money that caused the post-COVID bull market, but the people who (seem to) understand the financial system don't appear to be surprised this is what's going on. Trump's current situation is like Wile E. Coyote running of a cliff. For reasons that appear to apply to Trump and no one else, he's been able to defy gravity and keep running in empty air, but it appears he's on the verge of looking down and seeing that there's nothing under him. Who knows, though, nothing seems to go according to expectation these days.
  
  This is bad money!
  Everyone was saying how the trade war is ACTUALLY a "brilliant plan" to get treasuries to below ~3.0 yields. Instead, yields are going up.
  
  Bank mortgage rates use long term treasury rates as the base. They add their markup on top of that.
  Really shows all the problems with private sector banking.
  
  bad dollar becoming bad and icky
  
  Higher treasury yields = capitalists can't attract investors who would actually be better off buying treasuries

The Islamic Resistance Movement in Lebanon, Hezbollah:
'Hezbollah extends its sincere condolences to the Vatican, the followers of the Catholic Church around the world, and all Christians, especially our Christian brothers in Lebanon and the Papal Mission, on the passing of the Pope of the Catholic Church, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis.
Pope Francis believed in peace, called for the rejection of wars, and worked with deep faith to instill the values of love and tolerance, and he worked hard to build bridges between religions, civilizations, and peoples in order to establish dialogue, understanding, and justice.
Through his inspiring stances, Pope Francis embodied the spirit of interfaith dialogue. His prominent meetings with Islamic authorities in Najaf (Iraq) and Al-Azhar (Egypt) were milestones that ignited the flame of love and the message of human fraternity.
His frank positions calling for an end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza until the last moments of his life, his condemnation of the massacres of our people in Palestine, his demand for the provision of humanitarian aid, his official recognition of the State of Palestine, and his support for the Palestinian cause, in addition to his constant support for Lebanon at all stages and his condemnation of the Israeli aggression against us, embody the sincerity of his call and his commitment to human values that reject injustice anywhere.
The Lebanese, regardless of their religious sects and ethnic backgrounds, are called upon to recall the words of Pope Francis, who described Lebanon as the following: 'A message of great meaning that expresses a model of coexistence and national unity'.
And we call upon everyone to draw from his spirit the wisdom and strength to face challenges, and to counter attempts to sow discord and division in our beloved country, Lebanon.

Pope Francis survived pneumonia, report reveals likely cause of death. It wasn't pneumonia that Pope Francis battled for months that might be the cause of his death. Italian news agency ANSA reported, quoting sources, that the likely cause of his demise was a stroke, and not respiratory illness. An official confirmation will only come from the Vatican.
I would also have a stroke if I had to talk with JD Vance

https://bsky.app/profile/coldwarsteve.bsky.social/post/3lncv7i2ql222
- He saw that bad tie and keeled over.
- Unironically feeling kinda sad at the thought of anyone having to spend their last moments with JD Vance
  
  Pope Francis spent his last moments praying and cajoling a lost soul. For a Jesus freak, that's real Golgotha hours.

Hamas has released a statement mourning Pope Francis
'The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) extends its deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to the Catholic Church worldwide and to all Christians on the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis, Pope of the Vatican, who passed away after a distinguished career in the service of human and religious values.
The late Pope Francis was a noted advocate of interfaith dialogue, calling for understanding and peace among peoples, and rejecting hatred and racism. On more than one occasion, he expressed his rejection of aggression and wars in the world, and was one of the prominent religious voices to condemn the war crimes and genocide being perpetrated against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
While we, in the Hamas movement, value his moral and humanitarian stances, we emphasize the importance of continuing the joint efforts between the bearers of divine messages and people of living consciences to confront injustice and colonialism, and to support the causes of justice, freedom, and the rights of oppressed peoples.'
- I'm not sure it'll ever be possible to characterize the Catholic Church as anti-colonialist. Ugh.
  But it makes sense to acknowledge what this one pope at least said about this one genocide. Probably good...diplomacy.
  
  The only place in the world where the Catholic Church can even said to be anti-colonial is the 6 counties occupied by the UK.
  
  Ugh.
  :downbear:
  Edit: honestly, I may've confused the Pope for the church. I'm not gonna defend the Catholic church.
  I just don't like your dismissive attitude to him.

So nice of the pope to die on a Monday so that the megathread topic writes itself
- RiP first garfiest pope

Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, in an official statement:
'I offer my condolences on the passing of Pope Francis to all Catholics worldwide and his followers.
Pope Francis dedicated his life to promoting Christ's teachings of peace, justice, freedom, and interfaith dialogue.
The highlights of his life and leadership were his humanitarian positions against anti-human behaviors in the world, especially his explicit positions and condemnation of the Israeli regime's genocide in Gaza, and the demand to end the killing of innocent Palestinian women and children.'

CNBC: Trump ramps up attacks on Powell, demands ‘loser’ Fed chair lower rates ‘NOW’

President Donald Trump on Monday ratcheted up his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, calling him a "major loser" and warning that the U.S. economy could slow down unless interest rates are lowered immediately.
″'Preemptive Cuts' in Interest Rates are being called for by many," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump claimed that there is currently "virtually No Inflation" in the U.S., and that costs for energy and "most other 'things'" are on the decline.
- Critical support for JDPON Don
- Powell, the Don just called you a "major loser". Are you just gonna take that?
- costs for energy
  Yea i wonder why the oil prices went down so hard

JD VANCE FUCKING KILLED THE POPE

would anyone be willing to explain this whole thing that happened with European handbags recently? it seems like something went viral showing how overpriced they are or something?
- (Partially) In response to the new US tariffs, a bunch of Chinese factory TikToks started posting detailed videos about ~~the labor theory of value~~ how overpriced big name handbags and other luxury goods are. These videos succinctly explained the cost and quality of the materials involved, the techniques and skill required to make these luxury goods, and end asking the question "is the branding really worth thousands of dollars when the handiwork is identical?" They then offer links to the products and the factory's store.
  TL;DR: Chinese TikTok's did "How It's Made" but included the bill of materials
  
  They then offer links to the products [at] the factory's store.
  This is the most important bit - ways that western consumers can buy directly from their factories and sidestep the middlemen.
  One such company is Lululemon - BC's flagship designer fashion company, owned by the most insufferable right-wing reactionary dickhead propagandist in the entire province Chip Wilson, who also happens to own the most expensive mansion in all of British Columbia (not an American company of course so no tariffs, but still hits on your labour theory of value comment of course)
  Here's his charming sign he put up in front of his mansion during the last election:
  He's also a major backer of right-wing media/propaganda to the tune of millions of dollars.
  
  "How It's Made" but included the bill of materials
  That actually sounds interesting, do you have a link to one?
  I want that for every "How It's Made".
  
  thanks
- It's just dumb USians realizing that luxury goods are made in a factory like everything else except they're paying a premium for the fucking logo.

Russia: Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assured that his country is ready to mediate in the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States if both countries consider it convenient.
Telesur English

first
also apparently the pope died right after meeting jd vance. what a world.
here's a link to a source to make this an officially acceptable top comment: https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-francis-dead-01ca7d73c3c48d25fd1504ba076e2e2a
- He just died? Wow. I didn’t know that. I just - you’re telling me now for the first time.
  He led an amazing life. What else can you say? He was an amazing man. Whether you agree or not, he was an amazing man who led an amazing life. I’m actually saddened to hear that. I am saddened to hear that.
  
  🎶Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band 🎶
  
  ... blue jean baby ... ... LA lady ... ... seamstress for the band ...
  
  thanks, i couldn't remember quite how it goes
  
  lol nice imitation of the style
  is what I would say if I hadnt just looked it up and found it's a quote

Iran continues to build its Eastern Wall on the border with Afghanistan, aiming to keep out illegal migrants, drug traffickers and weapons smugglers
The wall will be equipped with advanced monitoring technology, and is planned to be hundreds of kilometers long, with many sections already completed.
Telegram

What's the odds that someone on couch fuckers security detail fed the pope some poison.

Pope Francis passed away on April 21, 2025, at 88, the Vatican confirmed. He died at 7:35 a.m. local time at his residence in Casa Santa Marta, following complications from a bilateral pneumonia with polymicrobial infection.
Rest in peace, Pope Francis

Vaxxed? 🤔 (/s)