American here that follows European football very casually. From what I know, they are one of the highest paying teams in European football and have been dominant the past few years and retained many of their top players (Haaland, De Bruyne, Rodri, Foden, Silva, etc). European football has much less parity than most American sports, as the top clubs always win. In the last 7 years, they have won the premier league 6 times and got 2nd once.

I just don't understand how such a historically dominant team with such a talented roster can go through such an incredible falloff (losing to teams like Bournemouth, Sporting, and Brighton.) What's wrong with the team?

https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/704444

TW: Sexual harassment, potential grooming

Hello! A couple months ago, I heard bits and bobs about Luca Kaneshiro doing some dodgy things and sexually harassing someone by the name of Raziel. I've also heard there was an attempted cover-up of the allegations, and several instances of people saying that Raziel was the one who groomed Luca (This is definitely not very reliable but a friend who's really into Luxiem echoed the same sentiment as well?)

It's a little convoluted and I have no idea what is going on (or what HAS gone on). Could anyone fill me in on whatever's happened?

Context: https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/s/NAQTfQphGv

There must’ve been a tweet or something I missed because last I knew Musk was simply appointed the head of the Department of Government Efficiency.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/12/fact-sheet-president-biden-announces-clemency-for-nearly-1500-americans/

He’s pardoned more people than any previous president, including some highly controversial figures like a judge involved in the private prison bribery scandal, a child predator who plead guilty to trafficking over 47,000 photos and videos of children being sxually assaulted, including video of a man rping an infant baby girl, and a doctor who diluted chemo in cancer patients . What is going on?

Been seeing this float around social media, based on the sneakers one of the cops are wearing during the Luigi Mangione perp walk.

https://imgur.com/a/eaNtpf5

my bf rants and raves about raw milk and cheese and whatever health nut bullshit his favorite influencer shills... i know it's not good but don't have the energy to research in detail why it's wrong and again fight him to change his mind

looking for a fast explanation, how he could've gotten duped, and how to dig himself out this horrid hole

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/pasteurization

What’s the deal with Jane Moon/DJMannik (Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/janemoon.bsky.social/)

So basically, Jane Moon/DJMannik had some recent write ups regarding her being one of the original creators for the DA SHAR3 Z0N3 Twitter account prior to it being hijacked by Drew (of Toothpaste for Dinner/Married to the Sea fame.) She came out to provide details of what happened, basically providing that Drew didn’t contribute much of anything to the site, but used a shady contract to take ownership of Da Share Zone for purposes of merchandising etc.

Anyway, that’s all backstory. Shortly after that, people who followed Jane on Twitter or Bluesky found themselves consistently followed by dozens of throwaway accounts, all of which seem to link back to the same vague and unproven accusations of Jane being a sex pest and harassing young trans women via DMs, with some accusations going so far as to accuse her of spiking people’s drinks, committing date-rape, and being arrested by the police for public indecency for masturbating on someone’s lawn.

Jane herself made a post on Bluesky saying she’d address the accusations and even call out the person making the sock puppet accounts, but any sort of addressing appears to have vanished, and any attempts to inquire with her about what’s really going on are met with a swift block on whatever platform the inquiry is made on.

Can someone please just tell me what the hell is going on? I’m tired of being bombarded by these accounts - now that I’m blocked I imagine that will cease, but I’d still like to know the truth of the matter.

So, over the past year or so I know Mr Beast's reputation has been ripped to shreds, but what things is he accused of specifically? Which of these allegations have been confirmed? I know about Ava Thompson and Lunchly, but I am out of the loop with all the other allegations.

MrBeast - YouTube

https://x.com/TyInc/status/1869145206215622918

For the past 2 days on X i've seen post after post about Cookie, a new Beanie Baby which, albeit I will admit, is adorable. But it seems like the obsession and adoration for it was very sudden and i've seen a few posts in reply to the obsession alluding to some sort of meme or post that triggered its popularity. But I can't seem to find the origin of it in the midst of all the posts.

Anyone know why this Beanie Baby is all of a sudden taking the world by storm and why everyone wants one so bad? What popularized it?

Elon posted this on his Twitter/X account:

Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!

Link to Tweet: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1869446782574645386

Im seeing this in some posts on Twitter. And mostly its by Trump or republicans or some unknown accounts. So is it just social media marketing kind of stuff which you only see on social media and there's nothing substantial in real life or this is getting serious kind of thing?

https://x.com/EricTrump/status/1869358771199431043

I know she works for barstool. Seems like she was dating Zach Bryan and it kinda fell apart. Now her best friend/podcast cohost is ditching her: https://www.eonline.com/news/1411215/grace-omalley-leaving-barstool-amid-brianna-chickenfry-lapaglia-friendship-breakup

She’s having a rough go at it…

I've been seeing this upswing in angry posts about Harriet Tubman and Civ 7, and I'm curious why people are so angry and why so many people are acting like she's a myth or complete fake, even though she's a very well documented historical figure with photos and testimony?

• One post claiming her story is fake and an attempt to propagandize abolition
• Another poster claiming she didn't exist and comparing it to Helen Keller(supposedly a hoax to them as well)
• This commenter claiming the same as the above poster.
• This tweet collected a series of images of people spouting Harriet Tubman Denalism

Can someone explain to be what's going on? How are people going from complaining about Harriet Tubman being a civilization character to outright denying her existence? What leads to such beliefs and how does someone go from being an "Anti-SJW" gamer to spouting something like this?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDr_LC9IFUY/?igsh=ZTFuaTNjM2thbmVo

All I can understand from using Google translate is that it's because of a "religious celebration". Btw I'm not fluent in Arabic.

What’s happening in Canada with Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet?

What’s happening in Canada right now? Apparently a minister resigned and now people are asking for an election. I am a politics noob and have no idea what’s going on. Can anyone explains?

Thanks in advance!

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7412013

Many comments in this thread seem to focus on how Microsoft wanting to expand the Xbox brand beyond just their console, and having less exclusives is somehow "disastrous."

www.reddit.com/r/xbox/comments/1hg9yww/exclusive_xbox_console_games_will_be_the/

But why do people care? Shouldn't it be enough that if you have an Xbox, great, you get to play the games you want on it? Like does it really matter if people are playing new Microsoft games on a PS5 and PC as well?

I ask this as a gamer of over 40 years. I get the old days of "My console is better than yours" when you're a kid because your parents would only get you either a Super Nintendo or a Sega Genesis. But with so many multi-platform games these days, aren't we kind of past that this point?

I've seen Mario heads pasted onto memes using it, and the Simpson's subreddits are going crazy with it. I can't find any context or anyone mentioning it in the comments.

https://imgur.com/a/N9HNkAH

In the last week the frontpage has been full of these /aliens and /UFOs posts and I fail to see (or read anything convincing) how they are more remarkable than previous ufo or alien reports/hoaxes. AFAIK these reports of ''balls of light'', ''orbs'', ''drones with strange lights'' are only happening in US (as always), I have not seen or heard any such reports in Europe yet. It seems logical to me that if there was such a thing as aliens visiting our planets (or ''scouting'' it with those objects), they would do it all across the world and not just the US. Thus, it not being seen outside of US seems very clear to me that it is not alien life?

r/UFOs

- https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1hc1l58/pentagon_no_evidence_its_any_foreign_entity_its/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1hel9h3/close_up_of_drone_from_airplane/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1hg0875/what_did_i_just_capture/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1hdlo7p/clearest_drone_footage_ive_seen/

r/aliens

- https://www.reddit.com/r/aliens/comments/1hg5gxb/it_begins/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/aliens/comments/1hecpnu/nj_state_senator_suggests_the_federal_gov_is/

- https://www.reddit.com/r/aliens/comments/1hdwtd1/are_we_in_disclosure_abc_news_aired_30_seconds_of/

Its not that I am a sceptic towards non-earth lifeforms existing, Im pretty convinced there must be something out there in this huge universe (fingers crossed they are nice and helpfull and we will see them in our lifetime).

Foot note to me it seems more like a distraction(?) (maybe from the whole CEO shooting thing??) but then again Im not American, I don't know how big that actually is in the US outside of reddit

In the alleged shooter’s manifesto, she writes that RadFemHitler was f——-g vindicated, among other things. The Twitter/X profile associated with RadFemHitler has been deleted, or deactivated.

https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/madison-suspect-natalie-samantha-rupnows-alleged-manifesto-surfaces-what-it-says-article-116384463/amp

The only things I can find are deleted Twitter threads, and some links to hour long podcasts

Who is this person, and what do they believe?

It seems like there's been a hard turn against Trudeau in Canada. Example of what I mean (Jagmeet Singh saying he should resign):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkyC0iyKj-w

Is this just politics as usual in Canada or did some specific thing happened that scandalized Trudeau? Everything I'm looking up sounds really vague.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaPost/s/aLZ17LfUtL

I’m in the US and there wasn’t even a fraction of this much rage against UPS when they strike or threaten to strike. Seems like the workers want a raise to keep up with inflation.

I never played this game so i dont understand the guy walking in fire scene and also why do users keep posting it?

Examples:

https://www.reddit.com/r/discordVideos/comments/1hf1i6h/title/

https://www.reddit.com/r/discordVideos/comments/1h7dyts/invisible/

https://www.reddit.com/r/discordVideos/comments/1h1946o/perry_the_chad/

https://www.reddit.com/r/discordVideos/comments/1h88f2x/invisible/

meta post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/discordVideos/comments/1h3t15c/what/

I just read that their chancellor lost the confidence vote "following the collapse of his coalition government" but I have no idea what happened or what lead up to that.

Link for reference: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/16/europe/germany-scholz-election-government-collapse-intl?

Reposting with context per rule 2 Reposting again with a slightly different title. Am I in compliance yet?

https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/s/5zBNj11qWx

This is the latest instance I've seen these terms brought up, and I still don't get what they mean. Who is forcing whom to do what? It seems like they entered usage recently. Any explanation would be appreciated.

There's currently a massive trend all over tiktok and Instagram about "Dubai chocolate" and it seems to be ridiculously over-priced for some pistachio-filled chocolate.

So what exactly is so special about it? And why is everyone going crazy about it? And, lastly, what makes it "Dubai"?

I just came across this post and the comment section is full of people who want to kill this guy - wtf happened?

https://www.reddit.com/r/clevercomebacks/comments/1hefp1d/that_would_be_nice/

I'm not really involved in any alien or UFO subs or theories, but for the past week they regularly popup on the front page and other social media pages go insane too. What's going on with those drones and why do people think they must be UFOs and that the government sent out decoy UFOs to cover it up? Wouldn't it make more sense to just assume in the light of effectiveness of drones in wars that the government is testing drone capabilities for warfare, or that a couple bored conspiracy guys installed massive lights on drones and getting people to believe it's an alien attack because it's generating content for profit now?

What exactly makes people "loose their minds" for some drones (quoting people on those subs, see screenshot)?

Example: https://imgur.com/a/8P9Jm83

This might sound stupid but I just realized today that nowadays my entertainment is very niche and I just don't know who a lot of famous people are anymore. I was watching the Hollywood Christmas Parade rerun and I only recognized a few people for example. I'm not living entirely under a rock. I keep up with current events as much as I can. But I also don't watch many movies or shows anymore, though I know about many of them through second hand info.

I think I'm mostly out of the loop with Disney and a lot of musicians. I don't do much Netflix either. Maybe I'm just getting old. =/

Is there some sort of guide or... cliff notes or something?

Thanks 🙏

Edit: So in accordance with rule 2 here is a link to the celebrity list on the Hollywood parade.

https://thehollywoodchristmasparade.org/category/2024-celebrities/

(I recognized like 3.5 of them.)

I am NOT here to defend big companies. In fact, I think it's amazing that indie games have hit the spotlight more in recent years. I love to see it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/r9fac9/its_time_to_realise_that_the_terms_triple_a_and/

But recently, I've seen lots of posts, comments, videos, and discussion about how video games from big companies are flopping and how gamers are starting to turn on said companies. I've seen more hate for Ubisoft, EA, and others game studios than ever before. To be honest, I mostly stay in my own bubble of Nintendo/Minecraft and I don't really know much about the larger landscape of the main gaming world. So if someone could enlighten me on how things are out there, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I DO know that in recent years, I've seen some big games focus way too heavily on making sure their graphics are 4K rather than making sure the game is playable. I also know that one of these companies talked about gamers 'getting used to not owning their games' (implying subscriptions like streaming services). And some corporations have targeted people for "pirating" (preserving lost games) and modifying.

I think it's good to criticize their ways and they definitely deserve scrutiny for certain actions. But why is this all hitting now? I feel like they've been doing some of these things for years. Why is this hate only NOW mainstream? Has anything else happened in recent times? Has it generally gotten much worse?

[Edit]: I just realized I said 'Triple' and then actually put three A's instead of 'Triple A' or 'AAA'. My bad.

I've see a few articles discussing this figure pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about the Biden family in regards to Ukraine, per https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/12/fbi-informant-hunter-joe-biden-alexander-smirnov/76950956007/

But I've not seen it talked about on network television. There's just only articles. Is this big news? Meaningless? I had never heard of this person till this week, so what are the consequences from this plea deal?