3 Jan, 2024 16:10

Russia and Ukraine conduct major New Year's prisoner exchange

The United Arab Emirates mediated the release of almost 250 Russian servicemen

The Russian Defense Ministry has announced that on Wednesday 248 of its service members have been released from Ukrainian captivity. Kiev has claimed that 230 of its personnel have been exchanged with Moscow.

The swap of captured personnel was the result of a “complex negotiation process” facilitated by the “humanitarian mediation” of the United Arab Emirates, the Russian military said.

The freed captives are being provided with medical and psychological assistance, and will be transported home by Russia's Aerospace Forces, for treatment and rehabilitation in military medical facilities.

Shortly after the Russian announcement, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky posted on his Telegram channel that “more than 200” Ukrainian servicemen have been released in exchange, later claiming the exact number was 230.

Neither side mentioned the other’s prisoners in their statements.

Tuesday’s exchange was reportedly the largest of the entire conflict so far. The last public PoW swap was in early August 2023, and involved 22 soldiers from each side.

In an early December interview with AP, Zelensky said that small, local swaps continued to take place, claiming that Kiev had managed to retrieve about 100 personnel in this fashion.

https://www.rt.com/russia/590081-welcome-back/

3 Jan, 2024 18:18

Serbia reveals final election results

The ruling Progressives now have an absolute majority in parliament

The central election commission of Serbia announced the final and official results of the December 2023 parliamentary election on Wednesday, after a re-vote in eight precincts across the country.President Aleksandar Vucic’s Progressive party (SNS) will have a majority in the legislature.

Vucic called the snap election to “ensure a greater degree of democracy” after months of street protests by pro-Western activists, who used the May school shooting in Belgrade as a rallying cry for regime change.

Of the 3,820,746 citizens that voted, 1,783,701 or 46.7% cast their ballots for the ruling party. This gives them 130 seats in the 250-member Narodna Skupstina.

The main opposition coalition, calling itself ‘Serbia Against Violence’, received 902,450 votes, or 23.66% and 65 parliamentary seats. They alleged the election had been “rigged” by Vucic, claiming he had brought in 40,000 Serbs from Bosnia to vote in Belgrade. One of their candidates admitted the ‘video evidence’ for this was entirely staged by his activists, however.

‘Serbia Against Violence’ activists tried to break into the Belgrade city hall last weekend, but were dispersed by police. They complained about police brutality and appealed to the EU that the election should be declared illegitimate.

Serbia is not a member of the EU and has resisted pressure from Brussels to recognize the breakaway province of Kosovo and sanction Russia. That did not appear to factor very much into the electoral results.

Parties most vocally opposed to sanctioning Russia and recognizing Kosovo – Dveri and Zavetnici – lost all 20 seats in the parliament after winning only 2.76% of the votes. Meanwhile, the pro-Russian populist ‘Glas iz Naroda’ (People’s Voice) movement, which started as a YouTube channel, ended up getting 178,830 or 4.69% of the vote, for 13 parliamentary seats.

Overt champions of the EU and recognition of Kosovo fared even worse: former Democratic Party leader andex-president Boris Tadic won just 1.18% of the vote, while a coalition calling itself ‘Serbia in the West’ received just 0.14%.

The Socialist Party, led by the current Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, will have only 18 seats after receiving 6.55% or 249.916 votes. The monarchist-conservative NADA (NAtional Democratic Alternative) coalition will have 14 seats after winning 191,431 votes or 5.02%.

The ten remaining seats will go to ethnic minority parties, to which the 3% vote threshold does not apply.

The turnout in December was only 10,000 people more than in the April 2022 parliamentary election, despite a massive get-out-the-vote campaign by ProGlas, an initiative funded by Western embassies and NGOs.

(Vucic is the Serbian Victor Orban)

https://www.rt.com/news/590083-serbia-final-election-result/

God Bless this Kid!

3 Jan, 2024 19:52

US teen becomes first human to 'beat' Tetris

Only AI computers had previously been capable of defeating the iconic 34-year-old video game

13-year-old Willis Gibson from Oklahomais believed to have become the first human being to have beaten the classic Nintendo video game Tetris, more than three decades after it was first released.

Gibson, who goes by the moniker ‘Blue Scuti’ online, posted a video of his record-breaking achievement online after taking just 38 minutes to reach level 157, before it crashed into its so-called “kill screen” – the de-facto conclusion to the game. His score read ‘999999.’

“Please crash,” Gibson says in the video as he completes another line of falling blocks, just before the game finally freezes.“Oh my God!” he exclaims. “Yes! I’m going to pass out. I can’t feel my hands.”

It was only considered possible to advance to level 29 until just a few years ago. Previously, only specially-designed artificial intelligence bots had been capable of forcing the game to its kill screen.

Tetris features a range of falling blocks that a player must arrange into horizontal lines at increasingly white-knuckle speeds. The iconic game had confounded players since its release 34 years ago on Nintendo systems after it was created by Soviet engineer Alexei Pajitnov in 1984.

It is considered to be one of the most beloved and enduring video games in history and remains popular to this day, with a new generation of players participating on consoles and on mobile phones.

“It’s never been done by a human before,”said Vince Clemente, president of the Classic Tetris World Championship, according to the New York Times on Wednesday. “It’s basically something that everyone thought was impossible until a couple of years ago.”

Gibson, who maintains his Tetris skills without about 20 hours of practice a week, has become one of the United States’ top competitive players since he started playing just two years ago.

“When I started playing the game I never expected to ever crash the game, or beat it,” he wrote on his YouTube channel. Gibson also claims to have broken the overall scoring record, as well as three other Tetris world records.

He dedicated his achievement to his late father Adam, who passed away last month.

https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/590093-gaming-tetris-world-record/

Community Notes Save the Day!

AP and the Media lose all objectivity when it comes to a black plagiarist, the reasons below.

I’m pretty sure why the press is backing a plagiarist is because they plagiarize all the time, and they need to keep their “everything is racist” trope alive, that way they won’t lose a source of dividing the country and people. These people are SICK! Plus they need more Right Wing Conspiracies going.

https://x.com/AP/status/1742455903264129474?s=20

>>20177450

that will get community noted and lots and lots of responses! kek

They Now Want to Remove Trump's Star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame

by: Cassie Cole 01/02/2024

(Where’s the Meme that Trump is Getting Stronger?)

Donald Trump Star by is licensed under YouTube

The animosity liberals harbor towards Trump appears boundless. From attempts to keep him off the ballot to pursuing any conceivable legal charge, it seems the left is resolute in erasing Trump from the political landscape. The latest manifestation of this fervor unfolds in California, where activists in the Democrat-run state seek to expunge Trump's star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Their contention is that Trump's star should be stricken from the iconic walkway due to his alleged role in an "attempted coup" against the U.S. However, it's crucial to note that this accusation lacks substantiation. The effort to remove Trump's star underscores the deep-seated animosity prevalent in liberal circles, extending beyond political arenas to Hollywood's iconic landmarks.

From Western Journal:

Hollywood Hills resident Andrew Rudick has become a leading voice in the efforts to remove former President Donald Trump’s star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Over the past three years, Rudick has submitted public records requests, collected legal documents, and spoken at City Council meetings in an attempt to make his case, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Rudick says Trump’s star, awarded in 2007 for his work on “The Apprentice,” conveys the city’s endorsement of the former president who “attempted a coup against the United States” on January 6, 2021.

Since 2016, Trump’s star has been repeatedly vandalized and destroyed, including with a pickaxe, requiring over $20,000 in repairs. Each time, it was replaced or restored, according to Axios.

This request really isn't all that surprising considering that these are the same people who aim to tear down any monument that makes them feel "offended."

https://washingtonengager.com/2024/01/california-remove-trumps-star

Do they realize they are only making him more well known and will never be forgotten?