The F*ckin' Newsletter 6.2.24

Welcome to The F*ckin’ Newsletter. I’m your host Kellerman, and a lot of sh*t happened this week…

WEEKLY RECAP

Boy, this was a divisive week! India, Israel, Gaza, Egypt, Cuba, Georgia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, India, Spain, Catalonia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Mexico City, Yemen, the U.K. and the United States all made the F*ckin’ News. The Israel/Gaza report caused quite a stir in the comments section, as did my report on the Trump “Hush Money” Trial verdict.

MONDAY, MAY 27 (Click here to watch on TikTok)

On Monday I reported on a fire breaking out in India, Hezbollah launching rockets in Israel, Israel firing back, Hamas firing rockets at Israel, Israel striking an encampment of displaced people near Rafah, and some cross-border fire between Israel and Egypt.

NOTES/UPDATES: 

• The police have concluded that the arcade fire in Rajkot, India was an electrical fire, started by a short circuit. The death toll of 27 reported in my video remains the final number.

• There were very few videos to choose from when looking for a background video for this segment. Not only was there surprisingly little coverage, but there have been other fires in India in the past year or two, AND the band Arcade Fire played there not too long ago. This is what the search looked like:

• As with a lot of my reports regarding Israel, there’s a lot to say, and not a lot of time to say it. (Of course, this is one of the many reasons I encourage people to do their own research.) Some of the comments that spoke on the Hezbollah attack from Lebanon were upset that I reported that “this time” they were targeting civilians. Because it is believed that they usually target civilians. But the truth is… the Lebanon/Israel conflict has been very difficult to research. There is not a lot of reporting in general, and of what I can find, there are not a lot of centered reports. Most of them lean heavily one way or the other. (Even the wikipedia page that is updated to this week… ONLY describes the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah members, and not any of the Hezbollah attacks on Israel.) That said, in my time making The F*ckin’ News, I’ve seen (and reported) a number of Hezbollah attacks on Israel, and though they may have targeted civilians in the past, this is the first attack I’ve seen where it was explicitly reported that they had targeted a civilian area. Which is why I made that distinction in the report.

• The next segment was about Hamas firing rockets at Tel Aviv from Rafah and a number of people commented that the rockets were fired from somewhere other than Rafah. But even after seeing those comments and doing more digging… I cannot find any reports saying anything other than the rockets were fired from Rafah. I asked commenters for their sources, but nobody provided one.

• I had a lot of people jump down my throat about using the word “unfortunately” when reporting that an Israeli air strike had hit an encampment on the outskirts of Rafah… and I completely understand how this was misinterpreted. Some people thought I was downplaying the tragedy because the word “unfortunate” isn’t strong enough. Some people seemed to think that by using the word “unfortunately”, I was promoting the narrative that it was a total accident. The reality is… I used the word because what I was about to report… is an unfortunate event. And I hoped that no matter which side of the argument you’re on, we could all agree that an encampment of displaced people being bombed and burned is a bad thing.

• This report was surprisingly controversial. I am obviously aware of how emotional people are over what’s happening in Israel/Gaza, and rightly so. But I was not expecting the “beheaded baby” narrative to penetrate so deeply. Of course I saw the reports of beheaded babies. I saw reports that Israel “set fire to an encampment”. I saw the pictures and the videos. But as I dug deeper, I found that all of it… was the result of a bombing. You may have seen me say this to some of the commenters, but I try to report the basic facts that we should all be able to agree on in order to have a productive conversation. The fact is that babies and children were killed in a bombing near the encampment, which is what I reported. Now, I’m not against people seeing the father holding his headless baby (it has only been a week, and I can no longer find an uncensored image of this, but a heavily censored version can be seen HERE.) Now there are many narratives being pushed here… but just to touch on the one mentioned in that video… a lot of people feel that the news of Israeli babies being beheaded on Oct. 7th (which we now know was untrue) got more media coverage than this “beheading” of babies. But as someone who’s been paying very close attention… I can tell you that this one image of a man holding a headless baby got more media coverage than the babies on Oct. 7.

• Moreover, I was careful not to report the beheaded babies on Oct. 7 because there weren’t enough sources to verify. (And I’m glad I didn’t!) Likewise, I had to remain skeptical of this report. I saw video of the beheaded babies on Oct. 7, so we know that just seeing a video is not enough “evidence” these days. The video has to be verified by a third party. And this video is particularly interesting because… it’s authentic. It is a real man, holding a real baby, that really does not have a head. It is a striking image one cannot help feel emotional about. However, phrasing it as a “beheading” paints a different picture than the reality of the situation. It’s a phrasing that, although it technically could be considered accurate… it is a way of of saying that babies were killed in a blast that seems intended to make you care more deeply. And I’m not saying you should not be moved to care more deeply. I’m saying that this news was used to manipulate people’s emotions. And I only say that because… babies, children, and adults alike have been mutilated by the bombs that killed them. But telling you that '“Israel is mutilating corpses”… is a very different message than “people were killed by bomb blasts”. The specificity of a head or limb being blown off doesn’t change the fact that the person was killed by a bomb. But it does impact how we receive/perceive the information. Which was evident in my comments section on this video. Because this isn’t the first time babies have been killed by Israel’s bomb blasts. It’s been happening for 8 months. I’ve been reporting it. And yet suddenly, I’m being blasted in the comments for not specifically stating that a baby’s head was blown off. This is the power of propaganda. Propaganda is not always based on lies. The best propaganda is based on a truth… and then presented in a way meant to manipulate. (**And I just want to be REAL clear that I am not downplaying the seriousness or truth of this event in any way. I am only pointing how how it was publicized.)

• The end of this report was about how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the event a ‘tragic mistake’ and said there would be an investigation… and I came under fire for reporting this as well. I personally think it’s important to tell both sides of any particular event if possible. Especially when there is so much misinformation flying around. There have been MANY atrocities committed by the IDF over the past 8 months (regardless of whether or not you believe their only goal is to destroy Hamas)… but very VERY few of them have been called a mistake by Benjamin Netanyahu. So, while there are many people who believe everything he says is a lie… it does beg the question… why say that about this particular event… and not any of the others?

• You can see his actual comments in the video clip below… he went on to say that every non-combatant hurt is a tragedy… which I left out of my report for two reasons… 1) Because there wasn’t time to include it. And 2) Because people don’t believe he feels that way and reporting it would almost certainly be seen as favoring Israel or promoting their narrative, and I’m doing my best to present only the impartial, straight-down-the-middle information.

• There were also reports that the reason for the fire in the encampment… was because one of the nearby bomb blasts had hit a weapons depot, causing an explosion with a larger debris range than expected. Of course… I was not able to find enough sources to verify that, so it was not included in my report.

• As for the cross-border Egypt/Israel spat… it seems like it was a misunderstanding (though it is still under investigation). Egypt fired on IDF troops first, and after a short exchange of gunfire, one Egyptian soldier was killed. I don’t know if it’s related, but later in the week Israel took control of the Philadelphi Corridor - which is a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt.

 KELLERMAN’S FAVORITE COMMENTS:

TUESDAY, MAY 28 (Click here to watch on TikTok)

On Tuesday I reported on a US bill that allows Cuban entrepreneurs to access American banks, the passing of the ‘Foreign Influence’ Bill (despite being vetoed by the president) in Georgia. A questionable tank shelling in Rafah. And Taiwanese riots over a new policy reform.

NOTES/UPDATES: 

• This may be the first time I’ve mentioned Cuba’s financial crisis in one of my reports. It’s been an ongoing decline with very few specific events to report on. But as it continues being a problem, I’ll keep my eye on it. My heart goes out to all of the people affected.

• The bill that had been vetoed by Georgia’s president last week was passed through anyway by their Parliament this week. The law would require news media and non-governmental organizations that get more than 20% of their budget from abroad to register as “carrying out the interests of a foreign power” which people believe will restrict media freedom and possibly even decrease Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union. Some are calling it “the Russian law,” as it resembles past measures taken by the Kremlin.

• Later in the week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said travel sanctions will be imposed on Georgian officials who are found to be responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia.

• The closest I can find to the official document is this original draft from April. (Though it has probably been somewhat revised since then.) You can read it HERE if interested.

• The news that Israeli tanks rolled into Rafah came out the same day that a tank shelling was reported as killing more than 20 Palestinians at an encampment. But unlike the many many other similar attacks, the official statement from the IDF was that they were not responsible for this particular shelling. I reported both of these things - both the shelling, its death toll, and the IDF’s official response… and had more than a few people criticize me in the comments for “twisting” this news by including what the IDF said (proving my suspicions about the Netanyahu details I left out of the previous day’s report). Regardless of whether you believe them or not… that is what they said, and so that is what the “official” word is. As with everything, if an investigation reveals something different, I will report it!

• The reform bill in Taiwan was a wild story, the importance of which I didn’t fully realize until it was passed. Citizens seem to think it makes the government more subservient to China… which is not terribly surprising from an outside perspective, since China has been actively running military drills near their borders and have made statements about punishing the separatists in Taiwan.

• The previous week before its passing, a LITERAL brawl broke out on the Parliament floor. There were also pig guts thrown at people and someone literally grabbed the bill and ran out the door in an attempt to prevent it from being signed. I couldn’t find one video that had it all, so here’s a few:

• I can’t find the official bill document - but I found a decent summary HERE.

KELLERMAN’S FAVORITE COMMENTS:

Lol these comments…

It is absolutely incredible that people are watching me all over the world. I will never cease to be amazed. I also find it very interesting that no matter what horrible nightmare I’m reporting… people seem to get excited to see their country/state/city mentioned in The F*ckin’ News!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29 (Click here to watch on TikTok)

On Wednesday, I reported on a volcano eruption in Iceland, Germany and France agreeing that Ukraine has the right to defend itself, Pakistan’s heatwave, a building explosion in Ohio, and YunHe Wang’s arrest in Singapore.

NOTES/UPDATES: 

• This video was flagged on TikTok for promoting dangerous activities… I appealed this, and it was approved, but there is still a disclaimer at the bottom saying that ‘Participating in this activity could result in you or others getting hurt.’ — I still don’t know what in this video could possibly be perceived as encouraging dangerous behavior but oh well.