Irris Makler

Photo of Tim Cook and Donald Trump

NEWS

Apple CEO Tim Cook is personally donating $1 million to the Trump inaugural committee.

Full Story: https://bit.ly/4fMAIiN

Journalism is not a crime. Bring Cecilia Sala home The journalist was arrested in Iran on December 19th and is now detained in Evin Prison. Tehran has chosen to challenge everything the West universally hol

Iranian authorities detain Italian war correspondent Cecilia Sala and jail her in Evin prison. Journalism is not a crime. Bring her home. www.ilfoglio.it/esteri/2024/...

DAMASCUS

Families gathered in Damascus’ Al-Hijaz today, holding photos of forcibly disappeared loved ones and demanding continued searches, rejecting claims they are all dead. The demonstration called for uncovering the truth and achieving justice for Syria's missing.

#Syria

Today, I obtained my detention file from the Intelligence Branch (Branch 215) dated September 4, 2011, in Damascus. The file is 88 pages long and includes wiretaps of my calls and security reports about my journalistic work.
The jailer photographed me before the series of lengthy interrogations.

The Russians seem quite uneasy for someone who apparently has a deal to keep their bases operational.

Khmeimim won’t be a viable base if the Russians feel required to escort every aircraft with a Ka-52 during takeoff because they are terrified of MANPADS.

Did CNN Fabricate the Story of "Freeing a Prisoner from a Secret Jail"?

verify-sy.com/en/details/1...

Far-Right Militias Seek Role in Trump Deportation Plan The incoming administration said it would not rely on outside groups to carry out its plan to deport millions of immigrants, but militias have a long record of inserting themselves into patrolling the...

Trump is their guy.

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/11/u...

Journalist Mirella Abu Shanab was asked by a member of HTS in Damascus, her religion:

"If we remain silent to such incidents today, we will not be able to speak out tomorrow.. Damascus is for everyone, Syria is for everyone.. we are embarking on a new phase.. its called freedom"

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Russian Armed Forces and SAA are retreating from Kobani which sits on the border with Turkey in AANES territory that was jointly patrolled by the Russians, SAA and YPG.

👏👏👏 Congratulations!!!

Setbacks for Russia, Iran and Hezbollah Turn Into a Catastrophe for Syria’s Assad The loss of Aleppo to Islamist rebels represents a stunning defeat for the Syrian regime, highlighting its dependence on enfeebled allies.

"The conflicts of Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon all come together and overlap in Aleppo.” @yarotrof.bsky.social describes a turning point
www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Events are moving fast in Syria:
-The rebels have reached Hama, a day after taking Aleppo
-Protests & attacks reported around Syria
-Rumors of gunfights in Damascus
-Assad surfaces to call Iraq’s PM. Asking for militia help?
-Russia has fired the top general in Syria
-Iran’s FM due in Damascus Sun

Trump just named Jared's father, Charles Kushner — who he pardoned in 2020 — to be Ambassador to France.

Kushner hatched a scheme involving a prostitute to entrap his brother-in-law and eventually pleaded guilty to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.

Friends from Aleppo casting the HTS advances over the past 48 hours as one of the most surreal moments of the past 15 years.

"They just wandered in."

She also wrote: “I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

Sentimental Moment or Why Did the Baguette Cross the Road? Don't fill up on bread I say absent-mindedly The servings here are huge My son, whose hair may be receding a bit, says Did you really just say that to me? What he doesn't know is that when we're walking together, when we get to the curb I sometimes start to reach for his hand —Robert Hershon

This wrecks me—every single time.

Six former editors urge Scott Trust not to 'gamble' with future of Observer Six former Observer editors have urged the Scott Trust to halt the sale of The Observer to Tortoise Media in a new open letter.

No fewer than six former editors/EiCs of the Observer have written to the Scott Trust urging them to pause the sale of the title to Tortoise Media pressgazette.co.uk/news/observe...

1/ Russian soldiers who use their own or donated vehicles on the front lines now face being executed along with their commanders, according to Russian milbloggers, in a sharp escalation of the Russian army's counter-productive campaign against personally owned vehicles. ⬇️

I already know in advance that a handful of people will complain about me posting a screenshot from The Emperor, but that is outweighed by the fact that I think people need to know about authoritarian threats. Sorry in advance to those who don’t want to know what’s happening.

The website vs app split for Bluesky vs Threads captures the difference in user base and usage patterns beautifully.

Bluesky = knowledge sector workers who have it open all day in a tab next to their emails. “Wait what was I doing again?”

Threads = normies watching recipe videos on the commute.

All breaking news journalists should read this list each morning…

One of the things I still don’t understand is how these tech bros can be pro-technology and anti science.

The Russian-made SSJ-100 that caught fire yesterday landing in Antalya had a troubled history: four aborted takeoffs in 18 months, an engine failure mid-flight, damaged landing gear doors, and faulty engine alerts. Russia’s import substitution is progressing straight into a disaster.

Major media is hanging the laughable notion of a Trump mandate on the fact that he won the popular vote... by any amount. They can’t use his win percentage because it was 49%—less than half—so they point to his 2.4M popular-vote lead. Turns out it was just blue-state voters not bothering to show up.

'Blown away I'm still here': Richard Scolyer still cancer-free 18 months into revolutionary treatment After 18 months and 14 doses of revolutionary experimental treatment, Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer gives an update on his latest brain scan, cautioning that these results "could just be luck...

I followed this from the start. MedSky Science

Fantastic news.

Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer still cancer-free after 18 months of experimental brain cancer treatment

I don’t actually think it’s good that every political faction retreats to its own space - I think there needs to be some areas for intersection and debate. (I personally like Threads for that atm.) But the Great Decentralization is happening and it’s going to be fascinating to watch it evolve.

We should acknowledge that MAGA and Trump’s victory were enabled by internet platforms whose business models reward fear and outrage. Dems had 8 yrs after FB enabled Trump and never had a floor vote in either chamber on a single bill that could possibly have addressed the harms. 🧵1/x

Being perfectly honest, I didn’t love Bluesky when I first joined.

Credit where it is due, the platform developers have done a great job at building out features and capabilities.

I’ve been excited about other platforms that fizzled out, so I’m hesitant to get too excited… but, I dunno, maybe?

While Elon mocks Ukraine, Russia is carrying out one of the biggest missile barrages on Ukrainian cities in recent months. Millions of civilians in shelters, explosions in Kyiv, Dnipro, Rivne, Lviv and Mykolaiv, as critical infrastructure and power stations targeted ahead of the winter.