Gold from ancient Troy, Poliochni and Ur all had same origin

New laser method enables study of famous jewelry - trade links in Early Bronze Age stretched as far as Indus valley. The gold in objects from Troy, Poliochni - a settlement on the island of Lemnos which lies roughly 60 kilometers away from Troy - and Ur in Mesopotamia have the same geographic origin and were traded over great distances. This discovery has been made by an international team of researchers which using an innovative mobile laser method has for the first time been able to analyze samples of the famous Early Bronze Age jewelry from Troy and Poliochni. The results have been published in Journal of Archaeological Science. The study was initiated by Ernst Pernicka, scientific director of the Curt-Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry (CEZA) at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim and director of the University of Tübingen's Troy project, and Barbara Horejs, director of the Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI) at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Their...

Robocops come to San Francisco: Cops in crime-ridden city will be able to use killer robots as crime rate soars

Police in San Francisco can now use potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots to incapacitate suspects in emergency situations. The robots have previously been used to carry explosives to blow up suspects - as was done in Dallas in 2016. This comes after Mayor London Breed's U-turn almost a year ago when she backtracked on her 'defund the police' strategy in favor of 'more aggressive policing' to replace what she called 'bulls**t progressive policies'. She had previously sliced $120million from the budget of its police department in light of Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 in favor of diverting money to local initiatives and charities.

Bronze Age shipwreck reveals complex trade network and other surprises

More than 3,000 years before the Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic Ocean, another famous ship wrecked in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern shores of Uluburun — in present-day Turkey — carrying tons of rare metal. Since its discovery in 1982, scientists have been studying the contents of the Uluburun shipwreck to gain a better understanding of the people and political organizations that dominated the time period known as the Late Now, a team of scientists, including Michael Frachetti, professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, have uncovered a surprising finding: small communities of highland pastoralists living in present-day Uzbekistan in Central Asia produced and supplied roughly one-third of the tin found aboard the ship — tin that was en route to markets around the Mediterranean to be made into coveted bronze metal. The research, published on November 30 in Science Advances, was made possible by advances in geochemical analyses...

Cardiologist Dr. Malhotra's warning has reached Icelandic handball players who worry about mandatory vaccination

The manager of the Icelandic Handball Association openly criticises vaccination demands and ridicules the vaccine rollout The Icelandic Handball Association is now investigating the rationale behind a new directive from the International Handball Federation requiring all players to receive yet another Covid-19 vaccine booster to be allowed to take part in the World Championship in Sweden and Poland next January. "We were really surprised that these requirements were imposed on us now, when we received notifications from the International Handball Federation (IHF), regarding mandatory vaccination of players", Mr. Róbert Geir Gíslason, general manager of the Icelandic Handball Association told Icelandic online newspaper Fréttin on November 29th.

Fauci admits in deposition that China convinced him to push lockdowns

Health chief unable to cite scientific evidence for flipping position on masks During seven hours of questioning in a landmark lawsuit alleging the federal government colluded with social media companies to censor speech, Dr. Anthony Fauci confirmed the communist Chinese government convinced him to press for the crippling COVID-19 lockdowns, according to attorneys and plaintiffs who were at the deposition Wednesday. Fauci, who is retiring as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases after 38 years, also was unable to cite any study backing his sudden change of position on the effectiveness of masks in curbing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In their dreams: NATO reaffirms pledge to expand into Ukraine and Georgia, despite conflict

The head of the US-led military bloc could still offer no timeline for when Kiev might attain membership NATO has reiterated its 2008 pledge to admit Ukraine and Georgia - both neighbors to Russia, insisting that the organisation will continue to expand its presence in the former Soviet Union. Moscow has repeatedly warned that it regards the encroachment of the miltary bloc towards its borders as a major security threat. Following meetings in the Romanian capital of Bucharest on Tuesday, NATO foreign ministers issued a statement reaffirming the 14-year-old attempt to someday grant membership to Kiev and Tbilisi

US-EU alliance heading for 'ugly divorce' - ex-Russian president

The "marriage" between the US and EU will likely end in divorce, following the obvious "economic cheating" by the American "alpha-male," former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said. The remarks were made on Monday amid media reports that EU nations are becoming increasingly angry over what they see as American opportunism amid the Ukraine crisis. Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council, wrote on his Telegram channel: "The US has no intention to share his income. On the contrary, he steals the last savings of his aging partner and pockets the money without any qualms." Washington increasingly makes the business conditions at home attractive to European companies and encourages other nations to buy its products, he noted. Meanwhile, the market for European goods is shrinking, in part because of its decision to decouple from Russia, he added.

Stoltenberg says NATO will back Ukraine 'for as long as it takes'

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has pledged the alliance's support for Ukraine "for as long as it takes" and has reiterated that the door to membership in the world's largest security organization remains open to all, including Kyiv. Speaking in Bucharest on November 29 as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the other NATO foreign ministers gathered in Romania, Stoltenberg called on partners to step up aid for Ukraine, whose energy infrastructure has been devastated by a barrage of Russian attacks at the onset of the winter season. "Our message from Bucharest is that NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will not back down," Stoltenberg told a conference in the Romanian capital ahead of the ministerial meeting. He added that the only way to get the right terms for negotiations with Moscow to begin would be for Ukraine to advance on the battlefield. "To create the conditions for a lasting peace, which ensures that Ukraine prevails as an independent...

EU chief's assessment of Ukrainian casualties deleted

A claim about the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed during the conflict with Russia has been removed from a speech by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the executive's official website. "More than 100,000 Ukrainian military officers have been killed so far," she declared during an address earlier on Wednesday, adding that around 20,000 civilians had also died in nine months of fighting. The source of this information was not provided. However, her reference to Kiev's death toll soon disappeared from the text of the speech on the European Commission's website. It was also cut from a video of the address on the website and on von der Leyen's account on Twitter. The editing was noticed by some media outlets and social media users, who compared the two versions of the statement online. The move was then officially confirmed by the European Commission.

Australia steps up calls for US to drop WikiLeaks charges

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he recently told U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to bring WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange's prosecution to a close. Albanese's comments Wednesday to Parliament appear to be an escalation of Australia's diplomatic pressure on the United States to drop spying charges against the 51-year-old who is resisting extradition from Britain. "I have raised this personally with representatives of the United States government. My position is clear and has been made clear to the U.S. administration: That it is time that this matter be brought to a close." Albanese told Parliament: "This is an Australian citizen. I don't have sympathy for Mr. Assange's actions on a whole range of matters, but ... you have to reach a point whereby what is the point of ... continuing this legal action which could be caught up now for many years into the future?" Albanese did not say whether he discussed Assange directly with Biden...

Google gave FBI location data for thousands of cell phones near Jan. 6 riots, court records show

Filings in the case against suspect David Rhine show Google identified 5,723 devices as being in or near the building, Wired reported. Google in May 2021 provided names, details, and maps for 1,535 devices to the FBI. The warrants for user data are sealed, but an effort by Rhine's attorney to throw out location data showed the extent of the information sharing. Google's sharing of cellphone information is the tech giant's largest-ever disclosure of geolocation data to law enforcement agencies. Some legal experts warn the move is a dangerous precedent for civil liberties. American University law professor Andrew Ferguson told Wired: "The January 6 cases are going to be used to build a doctrine that will essentially enable police to find almost anyone with a cellphone or a smart device in ways that we, as a society, haven't quite grasped yet." He added that the move could expose journalists and political dissenters to government surveillance.

Biden's Secret Service rental vehicles burst into flames after he left Nantucket vacation

President Joe Biden's rented Secret Service vehicles burst into flames in a parking lot Monday, just one day after he left his Nantucket vacation. Biden spent Thanksgiving on the ritzy Massachusetts island with his family last week. The Secret Service rented five vehicles from Hertz to carry the president and his family, and all five of them caught fire in the parking lot, according to footage first obtained by the Nantucket Current. Footage shows firefighters spraying down the smoldering remains of one vehicle's engine block. The five vehicles included a Chevy Suburban, Ford Explorer, Infiniti QX80, Ford Expedition and a Jeep Gladiator. The vehicles were parked at the Nantucket airport and the blaze reportedly spread to just 40 feet away from the facility's jet fuel tanks. It is currently unknown what caused the fire. Fox News reached out to the White House for information, but they did not immediately respond.

Thousands poised to rush southern US border - media

Thousands of migrants are camped out on the south side of the US-Mexican border expecting the repeal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Title 42, which allowed for the speedy removal of illegal immigrants on public health grounds, according to local media. The would-be immigrants reportedly plan to seek asylum en masse as soon as the order expires. Border camps in locations like Juarez, Puerto Palomas, and Tijuana are bursting with migrants waiting for their chance to seek asylum in the US following the expiration of a Trump-era policy. It allowed immigration officials to turn away migrants at ports of entry or expel them back to their country of origin in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Some 14,000 migrants are waiting in Juarez alone, according to inewsource, with a number shelters running at double capacity. Title 42 was struck down earlier this month by US District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, and the Biden administration did not contest the...

Climate models can never work, says computer modeller

If you cannot make a model to predict the outcome of the next draw from a lottery ball machine, you are unable to make a model to predict the future of the climate, suggests former computer modeller Greg Chapman, in a recent essay in Quadrant. Chapman holds a PhD in physics and notes that the climate system is chaotic, which means "any model will be a poor predictor of the future". A lottery ball machine, he observes, "is a comparatively much simpler and smaller interacting system". Most climate models run hot, a polite term for endless failed predictions of runaway global warming. If this was a "real scientific process'" argues Chapman, the hottest two thirds of the models would be rejected by the International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). If that happened, he continues, there would be outrage amongst the climate scientists community, especially from the rejected teams, "due to their subsequent loss of funding". More importantly, he added, "the so-called 97% consensus would...

China reiterates support for Palestinian people on International Day of Solidarity, also observed by UN

Chinese President Xi Jinping's congratulatory message to the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People observed by the United Nations (UN) demonstrates China's firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights, and reflects China's responsibility as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said at a press briefing on Wednesday. Xi sent the congratulatory message to a UN meeting commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 29, 2022. According to Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, it was the 10th consecutive year that President Xi sent a congratulatory message to the meeting.

General relativity may need tweaking on the grand scale of the Universe

Conflict between theory and observational evidence suggests a missing ingredient in our understanding of the early Universe. Einstein's theory of general relativity, formulated in 1916, treats gravity as a deformation of spacetime as a result of different particles and fields. Together with the Standard Model describing electromagnetic, weak and strong forces, it constitutes the basis of our modern understanding of particle physics. Despite the remarkable success of this theory in explaining gravitational effects on the scales of planets, stars, and galaxies, general relativity still has its limitations. It has been known for around a century that it doesn't explain quantum effects, which in the case of gravity are expected to become important at the scale approximately 20 orders of magnitude smaller than the size of an atom. This means that to describe the physics of gravity at such extremely small distances, one cannot use general relativity. However, recent astronomical...

Ancient skull uncovered in China could be million-year-old Homo erectus

Fieldwork is under way to excavate a rare, well-preserved specimen in central China. Researchers are heralding the discovery of an ancient human skull in central China as an important find. As excavation of the remarkably intact fossil continues, archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists anticipate that the skull could give a fuller picture of the diverse family tree of archaic humans living throughout Eurasia in prehistoric times. The skull was discovered on 18 May at an excavation site 20 kilometres west of Yunyang — formerly known as Yunxian — in central China's Hubei province. It lies 35 metres from where two skulls — dubbed the Yunxian Man skulls — were unearthed in 1989 and 19901, and probably belongs to the same species of ancient people, say researchers.

Huge new cracks appear in the empire's edifice

The very foundations of the "rules-based global order" seem to be collapsing. As westerners we know that our strength lies in our unity cemented by our shared values. But these days it appears that all that strength is proving increasingly hollow. Spats and mudslinging among European powers has become a daily diversion, but last week we saw cracks appearing at the very foundation of the empire's architecture. On Saturday, 19 November the secretive Trilateral Commission held a meeting in Tokyo. For the first time in the organization's 50 years, the press - three reporters from Nikkei Asia - were allowed to witness the proceedings of the Commission's Asia Pacific Group on condition that they don't identify delegates by name in reporting their statements. Even so, what they reported was remarkable, showing that cracks are appearing in the very foundation of the empire, a.k.a. the "rules-based global order." Rahm Emanuel, the US Ambassador to Japan delivered his remarks in a speech...

17,000 years ago one of Europe's most ancient domestic dogs lived in the Basque Country

The dog is the first species domesticated by humans, although the geographical and temporal origin of wolf domestication remains a matter of debate. Comment: Some research suggests that dogs may have been domesticated more than once and in different locations. In an excavation led by Jesus Altuna in the Erralla cave (Zestoa, Gipuzkoa) in 1985 an almost complete humerus was recovered from a canid, a family of carnivores that includes wolves, dogs, foxes and coyotes, among others. At that time it was difficult to identify which species of canid it belonged to. Now the Human Evolutionary Biology team at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), led by Professor Conchi de la Rúa, has carried out an in-depth study of the bone remains. A morphological, radiometric and genetic analysis has enabled the species to be identified genetically as Canis lupus familiaris (domestic dog).

The Global South births a new game-changing payment system

Challenging the western monetary system, the Eurasia Economic Union is leading the Global South toward a new common payment system to bypass the US Dollar. The Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) is speeding up its design of a common payment system, which has been closely discussed for nearly a year with the Chinese under the stewardship of Sergei Glazyev, the EAEU's minister in charge of Integration and Macro-economy. Through its regulatory body, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the EAEU has just extended a very serious proposal to the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) which, crucially, are already on the way to turning into BRICS+: a sort of G20 of the Global South. The system will include a single payment card - in direct competition with Visa and Mastercard - merging the already existing Russian MIR, China's UnionPay, India's RuPay, Brazil's Elo, and others. That will represent a direct challenge to the western-designed (and enforced) monetary...

'Latest crypto mystery death': Russian tycoon killed in helicopter crash in Monaco, third such incident in recent weeks

A Russian tycoon has become the latest cryptocurrency businessman to die in mysterious circumstances after his helicopter crashed in good weather near Monaco. Entrepreneur Vyacheslav Taran, 53, died after the helicopter plunged near the resort town of Villefranche-sur-Mer after taking off from Lausanne in Switzerland. Taran is the third cryptocurrency entrepreneur to die unexpectedly in the past few weeks. Tiantian Kullander, 30, died 'in his sleep' last week, while fellow crypto millionaire Nikolai Mushegian, 29, drowned on a Puerto Rico beach after tweeting that he feared the CIA and Mossad were going to murder him.

Russia finalizes 'LGBTQ propaganda' ban

The Federation Council, Russia's upper chamber of parliament, supported a bill that imposed a complete ban on LGBTQ, pedophilia, and sex-change 'propaganda' in the country on Wednesday. The legislation on the "protection of traditional values" was backed unanimously by all 153 senators present at the session of the chamber, with no abstentions or opposition. Last week, the legislation passed through the State Duma, Russia's lower chamber of parliament, receiving unanimous support there as well. The bill, which is now set to become law after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on it, outlaws the respective 'propaganda' in books, movies, media, and advertising. The new rules, however, do not apply to video games, as lawmakers agreed this field would require separate legislation. Roskomnadzor, Russia's media watchdog, will be tasked with monitoring media content for illegal propaganda and blocking offensive material available on the internet.

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin dies at age 96

Former President Jiang Zemin, who led China out of isolation after the army crushed the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989 and supported economic reforms that led to a decade of explosive growth, died Wednesday. He was 96. Jiang died of leukemia and multiple organ failure in Shanghai, where he was a former mayor and Communist Party secretary, state TV and the official Xinhua News Agency reported. A surprise choice to lead a divided Communist Party after the 1989 turmoil, Jiang saw China through history-making changes including a revival of market-oriented reforms, the return of Hong Kong from British rule in 1997 and Beijing's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001. Even as China opened to the outside, Jiang's government stamped out dissent. It jailed human rights, labor and pro-democracy activists and banned the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which the ruling party saw as a threat to its monopoly on power.

US steps up pressure on European allies to harden China stance

The US is pushing its European allies to take a harder stance towards Beijing as it tries to leverage its position on Ukraine to gain more support from Nato countries for its efforts to counter China in the Indo-Pacific. According to people briefed on conversations between the US and its Nato allies, Washington has in recent weeks lobbied members of the transatlantic alliance to toughen up their language on China and to start working on concrete action to restrain Beijing. US president Joe Biden identified countering China as his main foreign policy goal at the start of his administration, but his efforts have been complicated by the focus on Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. But with Russian president Vladimir Putin's invasion in its 10th month, Washington was making a concerted effort to push China back up Nato's agenda, the people said.

Balenciaga's creative director Demna sees industry award REVOKED amid backlash over child exploitation ad campaign

High fashion brand Balenciaga continues to suffer from the fallout of their pro-pedophilia ad campaign as the Business of Fashion has just revoked an award for famed creative designer Demna Gvasalia, 41. Demna is the one who took over in 2015 and boosted the brand to be a darling of celebrities and models. Business of Fashion said they tried to engage with Balenciaga over the scandal, but the brand declined that invitation. The ad campaign for Spring 2023 showed images of children clutching teddy bears in bondage gear, and one image was accompanied by a background of documents, which were from a Supreme Court ruling on child pornorgraphy. One of the books in the background of another ad was also disturbing as it was a celebration of the work of a Belgian artist "whose work depicts toddler castration," The Daily Mail reports.

New Elf On The Shelf will be scanning your social media account to see if you misgendered anyone

A spokesman for Santa's Workshop today announced the organization's latest advance in their ongoing efforts to determine who's naughty and who's nice: an Elf on the Shelf with the ability to hack into and review social media accounts for examples of misgendering and other hate speech. Gilford McTwinklebottom, Director of Research and Development for Naughtiness Surveillance, told gathered reporters, "Our new Elf represents the cutting edge of naughty detection technology. Our scientists were able to combine normal elf DNA with a strain of highly volatile DNA that we were able to obtain from Taylor Lorenz. We then combined that with the same technology that shows you a bunch of Metamucil ads on your Instagram feed whenever you say you have to go to the bathroom. The result is the perfect Elf on the Shelf, and something that is not at all creepy to have in your house watching you all the time." Developers say the new E.O.T.S. will spend days observing normal naughty behavior, like...

NYPD launches dedicated squad to combat subway pickpocket spike

Pickpocketing is now so rampant on the subways that the NYPD Transit Bureau has formed a special team of detectives and officers dedicated solely to nailing perpetrators, officials said Tuesday. "As the ridership and trains have become more crowded, we have seen an increase in grand larceny this year — 51% so far," Transit Chief Jason Wilcox told MTA board members at a bus and transit committee meeting. "One quarter of these grand larcenies are fueled by the increase in pickpocket crime," Wilcox said. He said the new squad is made up of "hand-picked, skilled" cops.

Explosion at Ukraine embassy in Madrid

One employee at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid was injured on Wednesday after a letter he was handling exploded, Reuters reports, citing Spanish police. The staff member has reportedly suffered only light injuries and has attended hospital. The blast occurred at 1:17 pm local time and was reported to Spanish authorities by the embassy itself, according to Europe Press. Local law enforcement have now cordoned off the area around the building as canine units are working on the scene. Anti-terrorist protocols have also been activated throughout the city, the outlet reports. A Spanish government official has told local media that an investigation into the incident has been opened by the National Police and that the embassy worker, who is believed to be a Ukrainian national, has only suffered a minor injury to the finger of his right hand.

BEST OF THE WEB: Southern states are hit by TWENTY-THREE tornadoes overnight as more are expected

Tornadoes and huge thunderstorms barreled across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama late Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, sending millions hunkering down for cover overnight as Southern states were hit by 23 tornadoes. The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that tornadoes hit the ground in Mississippi on Tuesday evening and Alabama was in the path of the storms during the overnight hours, leaving severe damage and at least two dead in Montgomery. Several homes have been destroyed, thousands of people have been left without power, and a Mississippi church is now missing its steeple as forceful winds, torrential storms, and tornadoes tore threw.

Endgame Ukraine; Putin's Battleplan

"Ukraine's unquestioned strategic center of gravity is its western corridors to the Polish border where the vast majority of its war support enters the country. Their operational center of gravity is their resupply lines emanating eastwards from Kyiv to Ukraine's various frontline positions. Without those two corridors, it would be nearly impossible for Kyiv to sustain wartime operations for more than a few weeks. Putin, therefore, may calculate the best use of those 218,000 additional troops will be to launch a three-pronged axis to cut both of those supply routes." Lt. Colonel Daniel L. Davis, Senior Fellow for Defense Priorities and Contributing Editor at 1945 "I want to emphasize again that all tasks of the special military operation... will be unconditionally fulfilled." Russian President Vladimir Putin Another day of large-scale missile attacks on Ukraine's hobbled energy infrastructure has plunged much of the country into darkness. The relentless attacks — which continued...

More than 30,000 people without power on British Columbia's South Coast as snow batters the region

More than 30,000 people on B.C.'s South Coast were without power while a bridge connecting parts of Metro Vancouver was closed Tuesday night as snow continued to hit the region. B.C. Hydro issued a notice advising residents on Hornby Island and Denman Island to prepare to be without power until Wednesday morning, as ferry cancellations means crews cannot get over to make repairs. "We plan to have crews take the first available ferry in the morning," B.C. Hydro says on its website. In an interview with CBC, spokesperson Mora Scott said most of the outages seem to be due to snow weighing down trees, and ultimately, taking out power lines.

One Nation Under Blackmail: Interview With Whitney Webb

Whitney Webb of UnlimitedHangout.com joins James once again, this time to discuss her new, epic, 900-page, two-volume tour de force, One Nation Under Blackmail. In this conversation, Webb and Corbett dive into the sordid tale of Epstein and his compatriots and begin to unravel the incredibly complex web of the intelligence/organized crime/blackmail syndicate.

1 dead, 1 hurt in dog attacks in West Memphis, Arkansas

A man was killed and a woman badly injured by a pack of dogs in two separate attacks in West Memphis, Arkansas. READ: https://wreg.com/news/local/dog-pack-...

Russia moves closer to total ban of 'LGBTQ propaganda'

The State Duma has adopted a bill on the "protection of traditional values" at a second reading. Russia's State Duma has taken another step towards a complete ban of 'LGBTQ propaganda' in the country. The relevant legislation was approved by the lower house of parliament following a second reading on Wednesday. It introduces significant penalties for the distribution of materials promoting non-traditional relations, pedophilia, and gender reassignment. The bill "on the protection of traditional values" is widely seen as a follow-up to a 2013 law, which prohibited the spread of LGBTQ materials among those under 18. If enacted, the law would ban this kind of 'propaganda' among "both minors and adults," according to a statement issued by the Duma. It would apply to "the media, the internet, literature and cinema."

"Self-pitying and self-obsessed" transgender pedophile jailed for grooming and impregnating 14 year old girl

A pedophile adopted a transgender identity and was consequently able to befriend, groom, sexually assault and impregnate a 14-year-old girl in England. According to the Daily Mail, the victim's family trusted David Orton, a male with a tattooed face, to be alone with their daughter because of the sex offender's transgender identity. Orton has now begun a nine-and-a-half-year prison sentence after being found guilty of two counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child aged 13 to 15.

New arrest warrant issued for Madeleine McCann prime suspect 'Christian B'

An urgent new arrest warrant has been issued for the prime suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann over a series of rapes and horrific child sex abuse. A German court issued the warrant for a 45-year-old male tied to a string of sex crimes in Portugal on Monday, the Telegraph reported. Although the man is not formally identified, he is believed to be Christian Brückner, a convicted drug dealer and sex offender who was formally linked to the McCann case in April.

Oath Keepers founder guilty of sedition in US Capitol attack plot

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and another leader of the right-wing group, were found guilty on Tuesday of seditious conspiracy for the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump supporters, an important win for the Justice Department. The verdicts against Rhodes and four co-defendants, after three days of deliberations by the 12-member jury, came in the highest-profile trial so far to emerge from the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, a failed bid to overturn then-President Trump's 2020 election defeat. Rhodes, a Yale Law School-educated former Army paratrooper and disbarred attorney, was accused by prosecutors during an eight-week trial of plotting to use force to try to block Congress from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden's election victory over Republican Trump. Rhodes was convicted on three counts and acquitted on two.

Standing up to Canadian federal overreach: Alberta Sovereignty act could see municipalities, local police getting provincial directives

On Tuesday, the first day of the fall sitting at the Alberta legislature, the United Conservative government introduced its proposed Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act. The province says that if passed, the act could be used "to stand up to federal government overreach and interference in areas of provincial jurisdiction, including... private property, natural resources, agriculture, firearms, regulation of the economy and delivery of health, education and other social programs." Opposition NDP MLAs voted against first reading of Bill 1 and released a statement saying the legislation would create "investment uncertainty, jeopardize federal funding agreements and risk Alberta's economic future."

We must never forget the horrors of lockdown

My grandfather was a decorated WWI veteran. He was lucky and got back home minus a hand. My dad participated in the Battle of Britain, North African and Italian campaigns. He got home apparently unscathed. However, both had one thing in common: they would not speak of what they had done and seen. What they had been through was too terrible to describe, and people were not interested; it was all in the past. That is one of the reasons why we have wars: few people have any idea what it's like.

US Senate votes 61-36 to codify rights to same-sex, interracial marriages

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to confirm the nationwide legality of same-sex and interracial marriage Tuesday — with 12 Republicans joining all Democrats in assent. The 61-36 vote followed House passage of the bill in July with almost a quarter of lower-chamber Republicans voting in support. The bill must now go back to the House for final approval, which is likely to come next week. President Biden intends to sign the law, which was pitched by a bipartisan group of legislators after the Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion policy to the states, some of which all but banned the procedure.

NYC to involuntarily commit more mentally unstable people after subway attacks

Following a string of horrifying subway attacks, Mayor Eric Adams dramatically expanded the city's ability to involuntarily commit New Yorkers with chronic and untreated mental illness. City workers can now immediately hospitalize people who refuse treatment, even if they don't pose a clear and present danger to themselves or others. Hizzoner's Tuesday announcement at City Hall is the latest effort launched by city and state officials in recent months to coax and cajole New Yorkers living on city streets and in subways — many of whom are suffering from apparent psychosis — into the city's shelter and mental health safety net systems.

Meteoric rise in teenage girls seeking "gender transition" surgery FINALLY acknowledged by The Guardian newspaper

After years of ignoring the meteoric rise in teenage girls identifying as transgender and seeking life-altering medical interventions such as testosterone and bilateral mastectomies, The Guardian has finally decided to tackle the issue. In a Nov 24 article titled "'An explosion: what is behind the rise in girls questioning their gender identity", the left-wing news outlet at last acknowledged the huge rise in the number of adolescent girls being referred to gender clinics and the uncertainty surrounding the medical pathway many of them embark upon.

Kanye West says US government froze his bank accounts

The controversial rapper claims the IRS blocked his access to his money following allegations that he owes $50 million in taxes. Rapper Kanye 'Ye' West has claimed that the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) froze his bank accounts, blocking access to $75 million because of alleged tax liabilities. He suggested that he's being persecuted for expressing incendiary opinions about Jewish people. "I'm talking about literally finding out that they were trying to put me in prison," West said on Monday night's Timcast IRL podcast, recounting his telephone conversation with a financial adviser earlier in the day. "They put a $75 million hold on four of my accounts. And then they said, 'You owe a lot of taxes.' It took me like six hours to find out what 'a lot' was. They said, 'Well, around $50 million.'"

China 'warned away' US warship after it entered South China Sea without permission from surrounding nations

China's military has said that its forces have "followed and warned away" the American guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville after it approached the Nansha [also called the Spratly] Islands in the South China Sea early on Tuesday. The arrival without prior Chinese authorization of the US warship near the islands, which Beijing considers to be part of its territory, was a "serious violation of China's sovereignty and security," the country's military spokesman Tian Junli declared.

NATO to boost presence in Baltics and Black Sea to 'send a clear message to Russia'

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said the alliance is set to expand its presence across Eastern Europe, from the Black Sea to the Baltics, hoping to send a "clear message" to Russia as fighting rages on in Ukraine. Speaking in Romania on Monday ahead of a two-day NATO summit, Stoltenberg told reporters that Europe is facing the "greatest security crisis in a generation," stressing the need to bolster areas of "strategic importance" in retaliation for Moscow's ongoing offensive. Comment: Indeed Europe is facing a number of serious crises - including food and energy shortages, as well as citizen unrest. "In response to Russia's aggression, NATO is reinforcing its presence from the Baltic to the Black Sea. We have set up new battlegroups, including the one led by France here in Romania," he said. "Fighter jets from Canada also help to keep your skies safe and US Patriot missiles boost your defenses. This sends a clear message that NATO is here. We will do what is necessary...

UAE opens new military air base in Yemen disguised as civilian airport

The UAE has opened a new military air base under the guise of civilian air port in Yemen. The Al-Makha airport in Yemen's Taiz governorate will reportedly serve as an Emirati logistics hub for military operations across the region, the Cradle Magazine reported. The new airport will replace the Emirati military base in Eritrea, which the UAE dismantled last year amid growing tensions with the US. The African base was used by the Emirati armed forces to launch air and sea operations against the Houthis in Yemen. According to information shared on Twitter and published by the Cradle, in September and October, a number of the UAE's C-130 Hercules military cargo planes landed at Al-Makha airport, indicating its role as a logistical supply center. The 3 km-long airport is designed to receive military cargo planes with a loading capacity of up to 130 t.

'Gender-fluid' US nuclear official charged with felony theft, placed on leave

A non-binary senior US nuclear official has been charged with stealing a suitcase at an airport. Sam Brinton, 35, became the most prominent gender-fluid person in the US government in June, overseeing the disposal of nuclear waste. The appointment of the MIT graduate, who uses the pronouns "they" and "them", was hailed at the time by diversity campaigners.

US 'gender-fluid' nuclear official charged with felony theft, placed on leave

A non-binary senior US nuclear official has been charged with stealing a suitcase at an airport. Sam Brinton, 35, became the most prominent gender-fluid person in the US government in June, overseeing the disposal of nuclear waste. The appointment of the MIT graduate, who uses the pronouns "they" and "them", was hailed at the time by diversity campaigners.

Eleven years after overthrowing Gaddafi, UK finally gets its hands on Libya's oil

Last month Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) agreed for BP to start drilling for and producing natural gas in a major project off the coast of the north African country. The UK corporation, on whose board sits former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers, controls exploration areas in Libya equivalent to nearly three times the size of Wales. British officials have long sought to profit from oil in Libya, which contains 48 billion barrels of reserves - the largest oil resources in Africa, accounting for 3% of the world total. BP is one of the few foreign oil and gas companies with exploration and production licences in Libya. Its assets there were nationalised by Muammar Gaddafi soon after he seized power in a 1969 coup that challenged the entire British position in the country and region.

Germany has no alternatives to Russian gas - MP

Germany still has no way of completely replacing Russian natural gas, even after reaching a supply agreement with Qatar, the chairman of the Bundestag committee on energy, Klaus Ernst, warned on Tuesday. A long-term energy agreement was announced earlier in the day, under which the Gulf state will ship up to two million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year to Germany, starting from 2026. The deal will reportedly last at least 15 years. "The federal government celebrates its LNG deal with Qatar and boasts big numbers. The fact is, these two million tons of LNG correspond to three percent of German gas consumption. There are still no real alternatives to Russian gas!" the politician from The Left party wrote on Twitter.

BEST OF THE WEB: 'Is Washington Our Ally or Not?': EU Officials Accuse US of Profiteering Off Ukraine Crisis

The allegations come as temperatures across Europe continue to drop, and amid the bombshell revelation by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week that the UK's European allies recognized the economic fallout which would accompany a long Russia-Ukraine conflict, and sought its speedy resolution in the spring. European Union officials and diplomats have accused Washington of profiteering off the Ukraine crisis via energy and weapons sales, and warned that the mood is shifting against the US among its allies on the other side of the Atlantic. "The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the US because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons," one senior European official told a German-owned media group on condition.

New York Times decides lockdowns are actually draconian and economically destructive when China does them

Three years ago, Zero Covid was the aspiration of public health bureaucrats and politicians across the West. Charlatan techbros like Tomas Pueyo appeared on national television to demand nationwide house arrest; leaders like Angela Merkel surrounded themselves with virus-eradicationist modellers and imposed unprecedented months-long closures upon their countries. When protests inevitably broke out, they were violently suppressed; the protesters were slandered as conspiracy theorists and fascists. The New York Times played a leading role in this long and excruciating charade. In April 2020, they reported that "an informal coalition of influential conservative leaders and groups, some with close connections to the [Trump] White House" was responsible for "quietly working to nurture protests and apply ... pressure to overturn state and local orders intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus." In March 2021, they ran an obnoxious opinion piece about What Happened When Germany's...

Idaho mass murder probe still has more questions than answers

Idaho police investigating the Nov. 13 stabbing deaths of four sleeping University of Idaho students are under fire for "grave contradictions," suggesting the killer was sloppy but failing to produce a suspect. Now, there are emerging fears the killer or killers might have fled the country and could get away with mass murder. The Moscow Police Department in Idaho told the parents of one victim that "a mess of evidence" was left behind in the "sloppy" slaying of four students while they were sleeping. "If the killer was apparently so sloppy, why haven't cops found him?" a source told RadarOnline, expressing frustration in the slow investigation that is feared to be getting further away from being anyone to justice.

UK kicks China out of nuclear plant project, costing taxpayers £700 million

The UK government is removing China General Nuclear (CGN) from the Sizewell C project in what will be the first direct state funding of a new nuclear power plant in the country in over three decades, according to a statement from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). "The UK government's investment in Sizewell C will support the project's continued development ... The investment also allows for China General Nuclear's exit from the project," the department said on Tuesday.

Two minerals never before been seen on Earth discovered inside 17-ton meteorite

The minerals were found inside a slice of the El Ali meteorite, which was found in Somalia in 2020. Two minerals that have never been seen before on Earth have been discovered inside a massive meteorite in Somalia. They could hold important clues to how asteroids form. The two brand new minerals were found inside a single 2.5 ounce (70 gram) slice taken from the 16.5 ton (15 metric tons) El Ali meteorite, which was found in 2020. Scientists named the minerals elaliite after the meteor and elkinstantonite after Lindy Elkins-Tanton , the managing director of the Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative and principal investigator of NASA's upcoming Psyche mission, which will send a probe to investigate the mineral-rich Psyche asteroid for evidence of how our solar system's planets formed.

Mental health issues plague youth in England

Mental health issues are increasing among children and teenagers in England, a new NHS Digital report shows. It demonstrated a particularly sharp increase in probable mental disorders in 2022 among 17- to 19-year-olds. Published on Tuesday, the report found that one in four are now experiencing issues, including emotional or behavioral problems, compared to the one-in-six rate recorded in 2021. The survey sampled some 2,866 children and young people who are now aged between seven and 24. Among those aged seven to 10, prevalence of a potential mental disorder was nearly twice as high in boys - 19.7% against 10.5% in girls. Among the older 17- to 24-year-old age group, the prevalence was much higher in young women - 31.2% compared to only 13.3% in men. Teenagers of the both genders showed similar results, with the figure hovering around 20%.

Australia to withdraw tens of thousands of Covid-19 fines

The authorities in Australia's largest state, New South Wales (NSW), have said that they will withdraw or refund tens of thousands of fines issued for violations of restrictions during the pandemic. The move follows a defeat that the NSW government suffered in a court battle against free advocacy group Redfern Legal Centre on Tuesday. The group launched a test case in July on behalf of three plaintiffs, arguing their fines of between AUS$1,000 ($673) to AUS$3,000 ($2,020) were invalid because the penalty notices didn't describe the offense sufficiently. "It's not a big ask, if you're going to fine someone for an offense, to set out what the offense is in the notice," Katherine Richardson, the lawyer for the plaintiffs argued at the New South Wales Supreme Court, as cited by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Debunking "Professor Dave's" hit piece against intelligent design proponent Stephen Meyer

In a previous series at Evolution News (Bechly 2022a, 2022b, 2022c), I answered the diatribe by YouTuber "Professor Dave" directed against our Discovery Institute colleague, geologist Dr. Casey Luskin. The popular YouTuber, whose real name is Dave Farina, is neither a professor nor a PhD but just a failed ex-teacher who unsuccessfully tried twice to get a master's degree in chemistry. These are simply facts about him. But his more than two million subscribers and others, who may come across his misleading content, deserve some fact-checking. Therefore, I exposed the non-professor's propaganda and incompetence. In a second episode (Farina 2022) aimed at intelligent design proponents, Mr. Farina did it again, focusing on philosopher of science Dr. Stephen Meyer and in particular Meyer's New York Times bestseller Darwin's Doubt (Meyer 2013a). This YouTube video runs to about an hour and a quarter, so I will be answering him once again in a series, minute by minute. I have added...

BEST OF THE WEB: Putin now regards Minsk agreements as 'mistake', suggests Ukraine war could last for years

Most likely, the fighting will continue into 2023, and quite probably beyond, until either Moscow or Kiev is exhausted, or one side claims a decisive victory Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented, during a meeting with soldiers' mothers, that he now regards the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 as a mistake. This concession was stark in the context of the possibility of peace negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine. It is worth remembering that in 2014, Putin acted on a mandate from the Russian parliament to use military force "in Ukraine," not just in Crimea. In fact, Moscow did save the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk from being overrun by Kiev's army, and defeated Ukraine's forces, but rather than clearing the whole region of Donbass, Russia stopped, and agreed to a cease-fire brokered in Minsk by Germany and France.

BEST OF THE WEB: 'New Normal': Three runners suffer heart attacks, 25 others need medical attention following Spanish half-marathon

Three participants suffered heart attacks and 125 others required medical assistance following the Behobia-San Sebastián half-marathon last week. According to America's Frontline News, 33 runners reportedly required hospitalization. The Behobia to San Sebastian half-marathon, a 15-mile historic running race held in the Spanish Basque Country, is held each year in November. The Behobia-San Sebastián race has a very rigorous route with two high points, Gaintxurizketa (4 miles) and Miracruz (10 miles) In this year's edition, the event was attended by 30,000 runners and running enthusiasts.

Musk gains allies in "war on Apple" over free speech, scraps Twitter's Covid misinformation policy

Elon Musk has abandoned Twitter's COVID-19 misinformation policy after vowing to make the site a free speech champion. The Telegraph has the story. "Effective November 23rd 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the COVID-19 misleading information policy," a notice on its website reads. A page on Twitter's website titled "COVID-19 misleading information policy" now redirects users to Twitter's user help homepage. That page previously said: "Content that is demonstrably false or misleading and may lead to significant risk of harm (such as increased exposure to the virus, or adverse effects on public health systems) may not be shared on Twitter." Other, more generalised policies on posting deliberately false or misleading information on Twitter are still listed on the company's website and appear to be being enforced.

Dmitry Trenin: A confession from Putin suggests that the Ukraine conflict could last for years

Most likely, the fighting will continue into 2023, and quite probably beyond, until either Moscow or Kiev is exhausted, or one side claims a decisive victory Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented, during a meeting with soldiers' mothers, that he now regards the Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 as a mistake. This concession was stark in the context of the possibility of peace negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine. It is worth remembering that in 2014, Putin acted on a mandate from the Russian parliament to use military force "in Ukraine," not just in Crimea. In fact, Moscow did save the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk from being overrun by Kiev's army, and defeated Ukraine's forces, but rather than clearing the whole region of Donbass, Russia stopped, and agreed to a cease-fire brokered in Minsk by Germany and France.

The Four Fuckeries

"We want to save the planet, and the life upon it, but we're not willing to pay the price and bear the consequences. So we make up a narrative that feels good and run with it." — Raul Ilargi Meier I doubt there is another era in the history of Western Civ when the forces in-motion acting on society were so mystifying to those acted upon. And isn't it especially galling that this is so in an age after rational scientific practice had decoded so many of nature's secrets? Did that project somehow fail in the end? Has the Enlightenment been defeated? How have we become trapped like frogs being boiled haplessly in our own pond-water? I have reduced these forces to four obvious streams of the sheerest seemingly evil fuckery, which is to say nefariously managed events meant to harm us. They are surely all related in some way. Let's try to de-mystify them to understand what we're up against. First: Covid-19. How is it that we don't know for sure how this organism came into the world, or...

EU moves to equate sanctions evasion with terrorism

The EU has taken the first step toward making sanctions violations a bloc-wide crime on the same level as terrorism, human trafficking, and organized crime. On Monday, the European Council unanimously voted to add "violation of restrictive measures" to its list of "EU crimes" that carry universal penalties across all member states. The move is meant to seal off any loopholes in member states' individual interpretations of the anti-Russian sanctions packages adopted since the start of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine in February. Czech Minister of Justice Pavel Blazek praised the European Council's decision as "an essential tool to ensure any attempts to circumvent [the EU's sanctions against Russia] will be stopped." To ensure uniform obedience to EU sanctions across all member states, the European Commission must next propose minimum rules defining criminal offenses and penalties relating to the violation of restrictive measures, according to a European Council press...

New York Times leads media call for Biden to drop Assange charges

Prosecuting the WikiLeaks founder sets a "dangerous precedent," according to a group of prominent Western newspapers Five major news outlets, including the New York Times, have called on the Biden administration to drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Obtaining and publishing "sensitive information," they wrote, "is a core part of the daily work of journalists." The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El Pais all published details from diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks in 2010. These documents revealed that the US spied on its allies, undercounted civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, and waged a secret war in Yemen. Assange has been detained in the UK since 2019, and is currently held in a maximum-security prison awaiting extradition to the US, where he is facing charges of espionage related to the publication of these cables, as well as a trove of documents alleging US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. The outlets wrote on...

CBDC: How Covid Became the Path to Global Financial Surveillance

"Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world." — Henry Kissinger It's seemed evident for a while that the current fiat monetary system is, at best, unstable. At worst, it's a Ponzi scheme whose time has expired. If that's the case, I suspect the central bankers and 0.1% know this and might be prepared to usher in the new system before the old one collapses on itself - even as they loot it on the way down with the most significant wealth transfer in human history. To anyone who pays attention to these trends, it seems evident that Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be that new system. Every indication is that CBDC's arrival is imminent. Yesterday, several global banks announced a partnership with the NY Federal Reserve to pilot digital dollars. Given the ubiquity of credit/debit cards, payment apps, and other online payment systems, digital money has been bound to happen for...

Defiance at the G20: 'World Order Z' and the birth of a Wider Political 'Movement'

The western 'Iran containment mechanism' (known as the JCPOA) paradoxically was 'holed on the rocks' of US Senate dysfunctionality and obstruction. Recall the origin of the G20? The G7 had winnowed down to represent a very narrow slice of the financialised élite economy -- whilst the global 'things' economy had grown to outsize the monetarised western one. Obama wanted to pull in more of these 'other' economies under the US' skirt and into its 'regulatory parameters', and so the G7 became the G20. At bottom, it was, and is, all about actuating a US-led economic 'coalition of the willing', versus a non-compliant (and sanctioned) rest of the world: i.e. about bringing a large slice of the world to conceding the 'Washington Consensus' tutelage. But, this spectacularly did not happen at Bali. Well, not only did the G7 fail to get the wider G20 to condemn Russia over Ukraine, or to insert a wedge between China and Russia, but rather, the Manichean offensive targeting Russia produced...

Pentagon mulls sending Ukraine GLSDB bombs that can reach 150km behind Russian lines

Boeing has offered the Pentagon to organize the supply to Ukraine of high-precision bombs, the so-called small-caliber bombs launched from the ground GLSDB (Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb), Reuters reported, citing sources in the military industry. According to the agency, the Pentagon received an offer from Boeing, the developer of GLSDB, and is currently considering the possibility of supplying these munitions to Ukraine. The company itself is ready for mass production of this munition, which allows striking at a significant range of 150 km without the use of aviation.

Ukrainian terror plot in Zaporozhye foiled - Moscow

Ukrainian authorities had planned to detonate a bomb at a market in the city of Melitopol in Russia's Zaporozhye Region, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement on Monday. It added that the suspects have been detained and confessed to the plot. According to the FSB, three Ukrainian nationals, including two with prior criminal convictions in Ukraine, were apprehended while driving to the site in order to plant an explosive. They were transported to Moscow and charged with terrorism and illegal weapons possession. The FSB released a video of two men with their faces blurred, who said they had been recruited by Ukrainian special services. One man claimed that Ukrainian officials promised to "get him off the hook" for having committed a robbery if he would agree to travel to Melitopol and carry out "an explosion in a public place" there. The detainee added that he was given the location of a weapons cache, from which he recovered two handguns, a grenade and...

Meteor fireball reported over Belgium, France, Germany and UK on November 24

Belgian news site Nieuwsblad reports that a reader of their site noticed a short but remarkable light spectacle on Thursday morning above the Belgian village of Beerzel in Antwerp province. He captured the meteor fireball with his dashcam. The short clip can be viewed here.

Dramatic recovery in global sea ice levels confounds the Net Zero catastrophists

It's a mystery. Why has Arctic sea ice cover roared back so quickly over the last few years? Nobody knows - not one scientist on the planet can tell you, writes Willis Eschenbach in a short essay on the climate site Watts Up With That? It might be noted, of course, that there was no shortage of explanations when there was a cyclical downturn, mostly to do with humans having something to do with it. Ice melting at the Poles is still one of the crucial supports for the entire command-and-control Net Zero political agenda.

Is the American pendulum swinging back to reason? Maybe, but it will be a long fight

It should be considered an embarrassment for the states and districts involved, but the 2022 midterm elections are still being counted as I write this. In some cases, ballot drop boxes, mail-in ballots and "malfunctioning" voting machines have created a suspicious fog of uncertainty, and the uncertainty always seems to work in the favor of the political left. Needless to say, some kind of change needs to happen - The majority of Americans are aware that ongoing trends of national deconstruction cannot be allowed to continue. Even the people that refrain from voting are watching the elections, just to see if the momentum of the country has shifted even a little. And, many people who tend to refrain are on the independent/libertarian side of things. Times change and circumstances evolve, even if some people are too bitter or jaded to see it. The old guard Neocons trained in the Chicago school by Leo Strauss along with the acolytes of Irving Kristol are losing favor among conservative...

Israel, US holds aerial drill simulating attack on Iran nuclear sites

The Israeli Air Force has unveiled that this week it will conduct its largest joint aerial drills in years with the US Air Force, which involves a highly provocative mock mission to take out Iranian nuclear sites. The Jerusalem Post details based on military statements, "The drill will take place from Tuesday until Thursday over the Mediterranean Sea and Israel. It will include long-range flights such as those that Israeli pilots might need to make in order to reach the Islamic Republic." Aerial refuelers from both sides will also assist, in addition to fighter jets - given the militaries will simulate operations that would theoretically reach all the way across the Middle East into the Islamic Republic. The US and Israel have meanwhile lately pledged closer military and intelligence cooperation, with Washington vowing to assist the Jewish state with missile defense if it ever came under attack.

US paralyzed by Islamic Republic of Iran's strategic swing

Iran's parliament has just approved the accession of the Islamic Republic to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), previously enshrined at the Samarkand summit last September, marking the culmination of a process that lasted no less than 15 years. Iran has already applied to become a member of the expanding BRICS+, which before 2025 will be inevitably configured as the alternative Global South G20 that really matters. Iran is already part of the Quad that really matters - alongside BRICS members Russia, China and India. Iran is deepening its strategic partnership with both China and Russia and increasing bilateral cooperation with India. Iran is a key Chinese partner in the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It is set to clinch a free trade agreement with the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and is a key node of the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), alongside Russia and India. All of the above configures the lightning-fast emergence of...

Wind turbines trigger 'thundersnow' during Buffalo snowstorm

A recent lake effect snowfall in western New York offered researchers a rare opportunity to gather data about how wind turbines trigger "thundersnow"—or lightning within a snowstorm. "Lightning damage is an increasing concern for wind power providers," reported the Washington Post, in the wake of the late-November storm that brought a record amount of snow to the east ends of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. "Like any tall structure, a wind turbine can serve as a strike point for a downward-propagating lightning flash." But "as turbines grow taller, they appear more likely to trigger upward-propagating flashes that extend from the turbine into a storm, rather than vice versa."

Humpback whale carcass washes ashore in Cape Town, South Africa

City of Cape Town (CoCT) officials are trying to remove the carcass of a 15-metre male humpback whale that washed ashore at Strand Beach on Saturday morning. According to the City, reports of the carcass were received at around 05:00. The City's coastal manager, Gregg Oelofse, told News24 that the whale had been dead for five days. "Our technical team is on site, and we're waiting for the bulldozer to arrive and remove the carcass, which will then be taken to a landfill site," he added.

Pfizer lied, and people died: Pfizer's CEO rapped by regulator for making 'misleading' statements about children's vaccines

Pfizer's CEO has been rapped by the UK's pharmaceutical watchdog for making "misleading" statements about children's vaccines, The Telegraph can disclose. Dr Albert Bourla used an interview with the BBC last December to claim that "there is no doubt in my mind that the benefits, completely, are in favour of" vaccinating youngsters aged five to 11 against Covid-19. Comment: No doubt there are financial benefits. He argued that "Covid in schools is thriving" adding: "This is disturbing, significantly, the educational system, and there are kids that will have severe symptoms."

Large waterspout formation during thunderstorm in Destin, Florida

A thunderstorm woke up the residents of Destin, Florida, early morning. The city went dark as the clouds turned grey. A large waterspout was formed while lightning struck.

Monkeypox to be renamed Mpox 'because of racism'

Monkeypox is to be rebranded as 'mpox' after global health experts said the name had racist connotations and could lead to stigmatisation. The Telegraph has the story. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the term monkeypox would be phased out over the coming year. It follows a forum in the summer in which two families of monkeypox - the Congo Basin and West African clades - were renamed as Clade I and Clade II.

Operation Desert Light: Europol take down massive cocaine 'super cartel'

A drug "super cartel" that controlled about a third of Europe's cocaine supply has been dismantled, police have announced. Dubbed Operation Desert Light, 49 people were arrested across six European countries, the EU's police agency, Europol, said. They included a British national, who is suspected of heading the operation.

Elon Musk declares war on Apple

"Chief Twit" and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has declared war on Apple for its attempted censorship of Twitter. In a series of Tweets on Monday, Musk disclosed that the tech giant "mostly stopped advertising on Twitter," adding, "Do they hate free speech in America?" Although Musk's remarks first appeared to be without context, many in the comments highlighted to others efforts by activists — notably driven by establishment media publications like the Associated Press, New York Times, and others — to get Apple and Google to pull Twitter from their mobile app stores.

Kanye West (Ye) storms off Timcast IRL show after Tim Pool pushes back on antisemitic remarks

Tim Pool invited infamous entertainer, fashion designer Kanye West onto his Timcast IRL on Monday night, only to have the celeb, along with his entourage, to storm out of the studio, and leave the premises when questioned about his antisemitism. While Pool attempted to engage West in a discussion about his recent, controversial dinner with former President Donald Trump, West insisted on airing his grievances against the Jewish people, who he kept referring to as "they," and claiming that he was a vessel of God, and that his children would be okay because his ex-wife is rich. When Pool pressed back, saying "they have been extremely unfair to you," Kanye asked "who is 'they' though?" Pool said plainly that he meant the corporate press, but for West, "they" was a specific reference to the Jewish people, who he blames for his own downfall.

Elon Musk says he's about to publish files of Twitter's free speech suppression, UPDATE: Report released on suppression due to 'Covid misinformation'

Twitter owner Elon Musk announced Monday on his platform that he was about to publish the "Twitter Files" involving the company's previous history of censoring free speech. Musk tweeted, "The Twitter Files on free speech suppression soon to be published on Twitter itself. The public deserves to know what really happened ..."

Mauna Loa eruption: Hawaii residents told to prepare for evacuation amid gas and ash warnings

People living on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii's Big Island have been told to prepare for a worst-case scenario as it continues to erupt and belch volcanic ash into the air. Waves of orange, glowing lava are flowing from the world's largest active volcano in its first eruption in 38 years and officials told residents to be ready to evacuate if lava flows start heading toward populated areas. While the eruption of Mauna Loa isn't immediately endangering towns, the US Geological Survey has warned the roughly 200,000 people on the Big Island that an eruption "can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly". Governor David Ige said: "Lava flows are not threatening any downslope communities at this time and all indications are that the eruption will remain in the northeast rift zone.

SOTT FOCUS: NewsReal: USA De-industrializing Europe? EU Insiders Issue Stark Warning

Excess deaths - the numbers of people who die on a weekly basis above the 5-year-average - are up way higher today than they were in 2020, yet the media is not sounding the alarm. Instead it's being calmly reported that the massive jump in energy prices in Europe this year will translate into the additional, preventable deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. This week on NewsReal, Joe and Niall discuss the first semi-official warnings from European leaders that they've been duped into destroying European food and energy supplies in order to transplant much of Europe's industrial base to the USA, warning that "the Continent [is] turning into an industrial wasteland." And it's all being done under everyone's nose under the guise of 'saving the poor Ukrainian people' and 'saving the planet'... Running Time: 01:56:52 Download: MP3 — 80.3 MB

Just another coincidence? Photos from scrapped Balenciaga campaign feature book by artist whose works include castrated toddlers

More photographs from an axed Balenciaga campaign are being questioned today over the prominence of a book which celebrates a Belgian artist whose work includes depictions of castrated toddlers. Two photos from the brand's now canceled Spring '23 ad campaign feature French actress Isabelle Huppert posing in a Manhattan office with a stack of books behind her. Among the books is one that celebrates the Belgian painter Michael Borremans. Borremans' work is varied but frequently features children. His 2017/2018 series, Fire from the Sun, shows a group of toddlers, some of them with blood staining their skin, in sinister composition.

Worshippers left 'in tears' as Cambridge dean claims Jesus may have been TRANSGENDER

Church worshippers cried 'heresy' at the Dean of Trinity College as they left a sermon claiming Jesus may have been transgender 'in tears'. But the view of a transgender Jesus is 'legitimate', according to Dr Michael Banner, the Dean who stepped in to defend the claim made at a Sermon last Sunday that Christ had a 'trans body'. Dr Michael Banner, the Dean of Trinity College, was backing up junior research fellow Joshua Heath, who displayed Renaissance and Medieval paintings of the crucifixion depicting a side wound that he likened to a vagina in front of the congregation.

Over half of Germans oppose boosting military aid for Ukraine - WaPo poll

Respondents believe Berlin should adhere to anti-militarism and has given enough aid to Kiev. Soaring energy prices driven by sanctions on Russian oil and gas are not even the primary factor behind German reluctance to help Ukraine in the ongoing conflict, according to a recent poll conducted by the Washington Post. Instead, the outlet found that a general aversion to military intervention - which took hold after the country's defeat in World War II is behind the mood. While the vast majority - 91% - of German respondents expressed sympathy for Ukraine, more than half (54%) said their country was doing either enough (37%) or too much (17%) in terms of military and humanitarian aid, according to the poll. The news outlet queried Germans on four specific policies, hoping to gauge public support for "increasing sanctions on Russia and Putin, even if these sanctions might lead to a further increase in food and gas prices," sending more missiles and other military aid, welcoming more...

Mummies with golden tongues discovered in ancient Egyptian necropolis

Archaeologists have discovered several ancient mummies in Egypt sporting gold chips where their tongues should be. The auspicious discovery was made at the Quweisna (sometimes spelled Quesna) necropolis in the central Nile Delta. Discovered in 1989, the site is thought to have been occupied during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, which stretched from about 300 BCE to 640 CE. The golden-tongued mummies were unearthed in a newly discovered extension of the archaeological compound, where numerous other bodies were interred across three different time periods in ancient Egypt. Some of the unearthed skeletons have their bones glazed in gold, while others have simply been buried near gold-shaped scarabs and lotus flowers.

Inside the proton, the 'most complicated thing' you could imagine

The positively charged particle at the heart of the atom is an object of unspeakable complexity, one that changes its appearance depending on how it is probed. We've attempted to connect the proton's many faces to form the most complete picture yet. More than a century after Ernest Rutherford discovered the positively charged particle at the heart of every atom, physicists are still struggling to fully understand the proton. High school physics teachers describe them as featureless balls with one unit each of positive electric charge — the perfect foils for the negatively charged electrons that buzz around them. College students learn that the ball is actually a bundle of three elementary particles called quarks. But decades of research have revealed a deeper truth, one that's too bizarre to fully capture with words or images.

Kiev's mayor warns of potential evacuation as rolling blackouts expected to go on into spring

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko has warned there may be a partial evacuation of the Ukrainian capital, as the authorities expect more blackouts well into next year. Over the past several weeks, Russian missile strikes have significantly battered the country's power grid. In an interview with media outlet RBK-Ukraine published on Monday, Klitschko said that following the latest Russian missile strikes on Wednesday, the Kiev authorities managed to restore water supplies and ensure that all residential buildings were being heated by Saturday morning. The power for most homes was also largely restored within a few days, the official said. However, despite the authorities' efforts to prevent a massive, city-wide power outage, the city is "preparing for various scenarios."

Three runners suffer heart attacks, 25 others need medical attention following Spanish half-marathon

Three participants suffered heart attacks and 125 others required medical assistance following the Behobia-San Sebastián half-marathon last week. According to America's Frontline News, 33 runners reportedly required hospitalization. The Behobia to San Sebastian half-marathon, a 15-mile historic running race held in the Spanish Basque Country, is held each year in November. The Behobia-San Sebastián race has a very rigorous route with two high points, Gaintxurizketa (4 miles) and Miracruz (10 miles) In this year's edition, the event was attended by 30,000 runners and running enthusiasts.

Biden admin scrambling to track $20B in Ukraine aid as House Republicans warn of audits

Biden's admin reportedly inspected just 10% of weapons going to Ukraine between February and November President Biden's administration is scrambling to track the nearly $20 billion in military aid it has sent to Ukraine as Republicans warn of impending audits when they take control of the House in January. Likely future House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said his party will not be giving Ukraine a "blank check" to fend off Russia's invasion. A potential audit would determine how much, if any, of the U.S. aid is ending up in the wrong hands. The Biden administration's previous tracking efforts have inspected only a fraction of the aid provided to the country. The Republican push to ramp up oversight enjoys some bipartisan support in Congress. Some staunch Ukraine allies fear the party will cut off aid to the country entirely, however.

Retired French Ambassador Gérard Araud skewers the 'rules-based international order'

The U.S. and its allies claim to uphold something called the 'rules-based international order'. But is this really true? No - according to Gérard Araud, former French ambassador to the U.S., who gave an unusually frank account of Western foreign policy in a recent debate: I've always been extremely sceptical of this idea of "rules-based order" ... I was the permanent representative to the United Nations. And actually, when you look at the hierarchy of the United Nations, everyone there is ours ... when you look at the undersecretary generals, all of them are either American, French, British and so on ... this order is reflecting the balance of power in 1945 ... the Security Council, 95% of the time, has a Western-oriented majority.

BEST OF THE WEB: Netherlands to shut down 3,000 farms to comply with EU rules despite UN warning of looming global food shortages

The Dutch government plans to buy and close down up to 3,000 farms near environmentally sensitive areas to comply with EU nature preservation rules. The Netherlands is attempting to cut down its nitrogen pollution and will push ahead with compulsory purchases if not enough farms take up the offer voluntarily. Comment: 'Voluntarily', and the public will not only be funding these tyrannical moves but they'll also have to suffer the consequences. And, once this goes ahead, more farms will likely be targeted. Farmers will be offered a deal "well over" the worth of the farm, according to the government plan that is targeting the closure of 2,000 to 3,000 farms or other major polluting businesses. Comment: Amidst burgeoning food shortages across the planet, those farms will be worth much more than the government is offering.

Mother of NYC heiress paid 'deprogrammer' big bucks after daughter 'brainwashed' by college's woke agenda

Annabella Rockwell blames Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts for 'indoctrination' New York City pharmaceutical heiress Annabella Rockwell is claiming that her mother paid a $300-a-day "deprogrammer" after believing her daughter had been "brainwashed" by attending an all-female elite liberal college that left the young woman "totally indoctrinated" and estranged from the parents who raised her. "I left school very anxious, very nervous, very depressed and sad," Rockwell, now 29, recently told the New York Post. "I saw everything through the lens of oppression and bias and victimhood. I came to the school as someone who saw everyone equally. I left looking for injustice wherever I could and automatically assuming that all White men were sexist. My thoughts were no longer my own."

Biden and Burns double act to split Putin and Xi

U.S. President Joe Biden apparently sought to lower tensions with China this week when he promised Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Washington was "not seeking a new Cold War" with Beijing. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia. It was their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office in January 2021. While Biden was all smiles for a handshake photo-op, Xi looked noticeably reserved, like a guy who was bracing himself as one about to hear loads of bullshit. After more than three hours of private discussions, the Americans and Western media subsequently tried to spin that both sides had agreed on condemning Russia's alleged threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. This was the Americans taking license. Xi did not specify Russia, according to the White House readout of the meeting. Both leaders condemned nuclear war and said it should never be fought, a rebuke which applies as much to the United States as anyone else. The Western media,...

Bye-bye, Kiev, hello Cote d'Azur: As Westerners send aid, here's how Ukraine's corrupt elites are profiting from the conflict

Officials and oligarchs have diverted much of the financial support sent to Kiev. Since the beginning of Russia's military offensive in Ukraine, the US, EU, and their allies have provided Kiev with $126 billion worth of aid, a number almost equal to the country's entire GDP. Moreover, millions of Ukrainians have found refuge in the EU, where they were given housing, food, work permits, and emotional support. The scope is huge, even by Western standards. Considering that the bloc has been funding Kiev while coping with an economic and energy crisis of its own, the assistance is perhaps especially notable. Kiev bases its endless funding requests on the collapse of its economy, due to the war, and its need to "resist Russian aggression." But is the aid reaching its intended destination? The Monaco Battalion While Ukraine has undergone a general mobilisation affecting all men under the age of 60, many former and current high-ranking officials, politicians, businessmen, and oligarchs...

US-Turkiye brinkmanship won't reach a point of no return

The series of airstrikes against Kurdish militants in northern Syria by Turkish jets in the past week come amid heightened concerns over Ankara's threat to launch a ground operation. Such actions are not without precedent, yet have thus far achieved little in terms of eradicating the security challenges posed by US-backed Kurdish fighters. Turkiye is today addressing an existential challenge to its national security and sovereignty, stemming from the United States' quasi-alliance with Kurdish groups in Syria over the past decade - with whom Ankara has been battling for far longer. However, this issue is playing out within a much broader regional backdrop today. Russia now has a permanent presence in Syria and is itself locked in an existential struggle with the US in Ukraine and the Black Sea. Iran-US tensions are also acute and President Joe Biden has openly called for the overthrow of the Iranian government.

Most NATO members have run out of weapons for Ukraine - NYT

Arms transfers to Ukraine have left Western weapon stockpiles strained, making it increasingly difficult for NATO militaries to honor politicians' pledges to supply Kiev, the New York Times reported on Saturday. "Smaller countries have exhausted their potential," and according to one NATO official, at least 20 of the bloc's 30 members are "pretty tapped out," the newspaper wrote. Only "larger allies," including France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, have enough stockpiles to continue or potentially increase their weapon shipments to Ukraine. Since the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine in late February, the US and its Western allies have been providing Kiev with billions of dollars in security assistance, to the tune of nearly $40 billion, now comparable to the entire annual defense budget of France. Moscow has repeatedly warned that the weapon shipments will only prolong the conflict and increase the risk of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO. As Ukraine...

Kiev was planning to 'retake' Crimea in 2023 - former commander

Ukraine's armed forces were reportedly preparing for an assault on Crimea, to "retake" the peninsula which voted to reunite with Russia in 2014. A former Ukrainian commander told the Economist that the operation was planned for 2023, but declined to give more details. Former air assault commander, Mikhail Zabrodsky told the outlet that if the army announced its intentions on social media or television, it would "never achieve anything." He did admit, however, that an operation designed to retake the peninsula would not be a "senseless frontal assault" and would be done using a combination of land troops, sea landings, and air attacks, including the use of drones. "We will surprise people — and many times — again," he said. However, Zabrodsky, who claims to remain close to the military planning process in Kiev, stressed that there are still many battles to win before the army could consider a timeframe for such an attack.

What is causing the blood clots from 'Died Suddenly'?

The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is remarkably effective at disrupting many critical physiologic processes both in the short term and in the long term. I have always been drawn to understanding pharmaceutical injuries, and for years I've participated in support groups for a variety of different toxic pharmaceuticals (e.g. Lupron or Ciprofloxacin and other fluoroquinolones). In addition to being able to witness the human costs of these drugs firsthand (and the gaslighting those forgotten patients experience), this exploration has given me a great deal of perspective on the shared and differing toxicities these drugs share along with what methods can help the myriad of seemingly unrelated symptoms that emerge. Once the COVID-19 vaccine rollout started, my focus understandably shifted toward them. Although many of the pathologies I saw resembled what I had seen with other toxic drugs (and to some degree responded to the same therapies), there was also a lot I had not seen before, which...

Diphtheria outbreak reported in hotels used to hold UK's illegal immigrants

Migrants with diphtheria and Covid are to be confined to their hotel rooms to prevent outbreaks to the general population, according to new emergency health guidance. This comes the day after an Iraqi migrant who died in the controversial Manston immigration centre was confirmed to have been infected with diphtheria, a highly contagious infectious disease. Meanwhile, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been facing criticism following reports that dozens of asylum seekers believed to be infected with diphtheria were shifted to hotels around the UK from Manston. The health guidance has been issued to hotels acting as accommodation for asylum seekers after around 50 cases of diphtheria were detected among them, The Times reported.

The Emperor Elonicus

Everyone is going to hate this column. Musk worshipers are going to hate it because I'm going to blaspheme against Elon Musk. Musk demonizers are going to hate it because I am not going to blaspheme against him enough. Everyone else is going to hate it because they're sick to the gills of hearing about Musk, and Musk's destruction of Twitter, or his salvation of Twitter, and censorship, and "hate speech," and all that stuff. I'll get to the blasphemy part in a minute, but first, let's quickly review what's happened, and where things now stand, or appear to stand. On October 27, 2022, so almost exactly a month ago, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, US government military contractor and all-around global-capitalist oligarch with a net worth approaching $200 billion, completed his acquisition of Twitter, the notorious "hell-site" where Donald Trump, the Russian-backed literal Resurrection of Hitler, Jordan Peterson, the "lobster hierarchy" guy, Alex...

Spoilt Climate Cult

Guest Post by Harrison Koehli of Political Ponerology Substack. The psychology of antisocial attention-seeking You've seen them in the news. Young, often crusty-looking climate activists defacing priceless works of art, gluing their hands to museum walls, and screeching. Their stated motivation isn't important. But the reason they give is "because oil." The first such stunt to catch my attention was this one, back in October: Climate activists target art: Van Gogh's masterpiece 'Sunflowers' defaced Thankfully the people who run museums are not stupid or careless, and glass coverings protect the paintings. Only the frame was slightly damaged in this case, and the two miscreants — members of the UK activist group "Just Stop Oil" — were arrested. This wasn't JSO's first such stunt. In June, a pair of them glued their hands to another van Gogh. In July, to a John Constable and a copy of Leonardo's Last Supper. After the Sunflowers, they did the same to Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl...

Ace forecaster Bastardi: 'Something we used to see in 1970s', Warns of 'spectacular cold'

Risk of a "spectacular cold outbreak "...have countries let their guard down? In his most recent Weatherbell Saturday Summary, veteran meteorologist Joe Bastardi looks ahead at the winter weather over the coming weeks across the globe. What definitely distinguishes Joe from forecasters I follow here in Germany is that he doesn't rely solely on the so-called ensemble models to make his longer term forecasts, but goes way back into the archives and searches for similar patterns that took place even decades ago (analogues) in order to better discern which way the weather is likely to turn in the weeks ahead. German forecasters like here , here and here like to put out videos once or even twice daily to report on what the many model ensembles are showing, which is something no one really needs a meteorological license to do. Too often you hear these weather pundits suddenly change their 7+ day forecast, in lockstep with whatever the latest ensemble run crunches out. Yet, most of us...

BEST OF THE WEB: Deadly landslide triggered by heavy rainfall tears through Italian island of Ischia - 6 inches of rain in just 6 hours - At least 8 dead (UPDATE)

A number of people are feared to have been killed after a mudslide triggered by heavy rains swept away homes on the island of Ischia, near Naples. The torrent of mud and debris dislodged trees, engulfed buildings and dragged cars into the sea as it reached the coast early on Saturday. The body of a woman was reported to have been found under the mud, and several other people are still missing. Dozens of homes are cut off, with bad weather hampering rescuers.

At least 15 dead in landslide in Cameroon capital Yaounde

At least 15 people died Sunday in a landslide on a hillside where a crowd was attending a funeral in a popular neighborhood of Yaounde, the Cameroonian capital, the governor of the region told AFP. "We are now at 15 dead," Naseri Paul Bea, the governor of the Centre region, told AFP on Monday morning, some time after a dozen firefighters began digging with shovels on an imposing pile of red earth at the foot of the hill in the working-class Damas neighbourhood in the east of Yaoundé, according to an AFP correspondent on the spot. Around them, a hundred residents and onlookers were kept at a distance by police.

Libya: Flood hits Tripoli after heavy rainfall

The Libyan capital Tripoli was hit by heavy rains on Sunday morning, leading to flooding of main roads and disruption of schools. The Tripoli Security Directorate announced that it was taking over the towing of cars that broke down due to the heavy rains that flooded the streets. The Traffic Affairs Office of the Tripoli Security Directorate called for the need to take precautions. Libya's National Meteorological Centre said northern Libya would experience heavy rain and thunderstorms. There have been no reports of human casualties.

Heavy snow hits northern parts of China as cold wave sweeps in

Heavy snow hit northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in recent days as a cold wave gripped large parts of the country. Snow fell heavily over several days in northern Xinjiang, including Altay Prefecture, Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture and Tacheng Prefecture. The snow, caused by a cold front, led to roadblocks and traffic jams, prompting local departments to initiate emergency responses. Over the past few days, as snow continued to hit Tacheng, more than 80 snow removal vehicles were put into operation.

Disruptions due to flooding ongoing across Trinidad

Disruptions due to flooding ongoing across Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago, as of early Nov. 28. Further adverse weather forecast. Event Disruptions due to flooding are ongoing across parts of Trinidad as of early Nov. 28. Heavy rainfall since Nov. 17 has resulted in flooding, landslides, and fallen trees across the country. The Trinidad and Tobago Meteorological Service has issued a orange (middle level on a three-tier scale) adverse weather alert across the country; periods of heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast.

Fauci changes tune: 'Completely open mind' about lab leak, gives school closure warning

Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on "Meet The Press" and "Face The Nation," Sunday, speaking almost exclusively about COVID-19. During his interview with Chuck Todd on "Meet The Press," Fauci was asked what can be done to figure out whether the COVID-19 virus was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Fauci claimed that the only thing that can be done to discover COVID-19's origin is to fully investigate the physical lab and engage in open and transparent communication with the researchers in China. Todd then asked Fauci's personal beliefs on the lab leak theory, to which he responded that he has "a completely open mind about that, despite people saying that I don't." He went on to note that there is a "preponderance" of evidence that the disease evolved naturally.

Yet another death due to dog attack in South Africa - 4th in 2 weeks

There's been another fatal dog attack this time in the Eastern Cape where a woman is the latest victim. Police said the 37-year-old woman was on her way to work when she was attacked in Port Alfred on Sunday and sustained serious injuries to her face and upper body. It's understood two men who witnessed the attack reported the incident to a security official who rushed to the scene. The woman, who was lying on the side of the road died before receiving medical attention.

Lightning strike kills 16 cattle in Zimbabwe

A lightning bolt struck and killed 16 herd of cattle belonging to three families in Mbembesi 1, in Lupane East Constituency. The lightning incident occurred last week on Thursday. Kusile Rural District Councillor for Ward 23 Fibion Ngwenya said of the 16 beasts, 13 belonged to one family while two other families lost two and one respectively. Ngwenya said:

UK 'quietly' imports $919 million worth of Russian oil since March - The Times

In June-July 2022, the ports of the United Kingdom received Russian oil worth $94 million. But according to the publication, officially, this import is not classed as coming from Russia - it came to the country through the use of loopholes in regulations that allow the origin of the oil to be obscured. About $27 million of Russian oil has been delivered to the UK port of Immingham in Lincolnshire since March. However, the oil was registered as imports from Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Climate alarmists have set their sights on a new target — your dog

Even man's best friend is not safe from the climate alarmism. Not if you believe a recent CNN column opining that dogs, cats and other domestic pets are causing irreparable harm to the climate. President Harry Truman famously said that if you want a friend in Washington, you should get a dog. The eco-left feels differently. My fellow Gen Xers will remember vividly that there were two existential threats growing up that could annihilate mankind: nuclear war and acid rain. Future decades expanded the circle of bogeymen to include ozone layer degradation, bioweapons, African killer bees, SARS, financial market collapse and finally COVID, to accompany the ongoing dire threat that human activities are hurtling the globe to losing large swaths of its population from climate catastrophes.

New study claims to show Vitamin D doesn't help against Covid. Here's what they did wrong

Seven meta-analyses and systematic reviews (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) and three later clinical trials (1,2,3) argued that low vitamin D status increased susceptibility to COVID-19 and the risk of greater disease severity and mortality. Furthermore, there are five meta-analyses and systematic reviews of vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of acute respiratory infection (ARI) and COVID-19, as well as a later clinical trial, all showing that supplementation can protect against COVID-19 infection, disease severity and death. The evidence could not be much more conclusive than this. Consequently, it was surprising to learn about Joliffe et al.'s recent randomised controlled trial of vitamin D to prevent ARIs and COVID-19, which concluded that: "Among people aged 16 years and older with suboptimal vitamin D status, implementation of a population level test-and-treat approach to vitamin D supplementation was not associated with a reduction in risk of all cause acute respiratory tract...

Gaslighting: Trudeau DENIES calling the unvaccinated 'misogynists,' 'racists,' while under oath

On the final day of the Emergencies Act inquiry, Justin Trudeau claimed, under oath, that he did not call the unvaccinated any bad names. The Prime Minister was questioned on Friday by Eva Chipiuk, one of the lawyers representing the Freedom Convoy organizers, about statements he had made regarding the unvaccinated and the ways that he has described them. "A number of people have testified in this inquiry referencing your widely published comments calling the unvaccinated racist and misogynist," Trudeau is informed, "and we have heard testimony in this inquiry about how some of your officials wanted to label protesters as terrorists."

Twitter bans Antifa collective Crimethinc, notorious for radicalizing militants toward violence

Violent far-left group CrimethInc, which calls for arson attacks and political violence, was suspended from Twitter on Friday after the social media giant's owner Elon Musk started suspending accounts that call for violence. The Post Millennial editor-at-large Andy Ngo tweeted, "Violent extremist #Antifa collective @crimethinc has been suspended at the moment. The international group operates like ISIS: makes propaganda & training material to radicalize militants toward violence. Though the main account was suspended, they operate a dozen other accounts."

Russia rebukes Canada over 'alien' gender beliefs

Embassy tells Ottawa that a family is "a man, a woman, and children." The Russian embassy in Canada has blasted the country's government over its opposition to a new law criminalizing the spread of LGBTQ "propaganda" in Russia. Canadians should keep their "alien" beliefs to themselves, the diplomatic mission stressed on Saturday, reminding them that there are only two genders. The measure bans "propaganda" normalizing non-traditional relations, pedophilia, and gender reassignment, and passed the upper house of Russia's State Duma on Thursday. Widely seen as a follow-up to a 2013 law prohibiting the spread of LGBTQ materials among minors, it extends this ban to "both minors and adults."

Fauci grilled under oath in social media censorship lawsuit

Dr. Anthony Fauci today faced questions from Attorneys General Eric Schmitt (Missouri) and Jeff Landry (Louisiana) in their lawsuit against the federal government for allegedly colluding with Big Tech platforms to censor content critical of COVID-19 vaccines and countermeasures. Fauci sat for a deposition one day after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily halted the depositions of three other Biden administration officials.

Anti-lockdown protests break out in China (VIDEOS)

Footage shows demonstrators in Shanghai, Wuhan, and other cities demanding an end to harsh zero-Covid policies. Protests broke out in China this weekend, with demonstrators in Shanghai, Wuhan, Beijing and other locations demanding an end to the government's stringent Covid restrictions. Videos shared on social media purportedly show some protesters calling for the downfall of the Chinese Communist Party. Crowds in Shanghai voiced their anger for the second day in a row on Sunday, chanting anti-government slogans as ranks of masked police looked on. According to one Twitter account tracking the protests, the crowd shouted "Communist Party step down, Xi Jinping step down!"

US 'military biological activities' a threat to the world - Russia

Russia is concerned about large scale American biological research programs, both at home and abroad, especially given Washington has admitted their "dual-use nature." That's according to the commander of Russia's Nuclear Biological and Chemical Defense Troops, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was speaking during a briefing on Saturday. He demanded broader international oversight of such programs. "The military biological activities of the Pentagon in various regions of the world" are among the sources of risk threatening the whole international community, Kirillov warned.

Nurses across UK to strike for first time ever over low pay and unsafe staffing levels, more departments set to follow

Nurses across the UK will go on strike for the first time over two days in the fortnight before Christmas after ministers rejected their pleas for formal talks over NHS pay. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said its members would stage national strikes - the first in its 106-year history - on 15 and 20 December. Senior sources said the industrial action was expected to last for 12 hours on both days - most likely between 8am and 8pm. The unprecedented national industrial action will seriously disrupt care and is likely to be the first in a series of strikes over the winter and into the spring by other NHS staff, including junior doctors and ambulance workers.

UK 'quietly' imports $95 million worth of Russian oil in July, via Germany - The Times

In June-July 2022, the ports of the United Kingdom received Russian oil worth $94 million. But according to the publication, officially, this import is not classed as coming from Russia - it came to the country through the use of loopholes in regulations that allow the origin of the oil to be obscured. About $27 million of Russian oil has been delivered to the UK port of Immingham in Lincolnshire since March. However, the oil was registered as imports from Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Vegetable shortage threatens UK as supermarkets refuse to pay local farmers increased costs of production

Salad staples including cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes could soon be in short supply as farmers warn they are being paid too little to grow them. A combination of soaring energy costs and a lack of people to pick crops continues to affect Britain's vegetable industry, with many retailers having to import from abroad. Comment: They don't have to import from abroad, as a farmer recently highlighted over the egg 'shortage', there's currently sufficient produce, big business just refuses to pay for it when it can import it and make more profit. Tomatoes in particular have been badly affected due to the rising cost of using heated greenhouses. And the 'cucumber capital of Britain', Lea Valley - which stretches from Hertfordshire and Essex to north London and produced around 75 per cent of Britain's cucumbers and peppers in 2020 - could see production at half its 2020 level by next year.

Revealed: President Biden ordered Trudeau to dismantle Canadian Freedom Convoy

Brian Deese, Biden's top economic advisor, told Freeland that if the blockades were not dismantled at the border, the United States would reportedly lose $2.9 billion in trade. President Biden ordered Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to dismantle the Canadian Freedom Convoy over fears that the nationwide protests against vaccine mandates would start impacting trade in the United States, documents show. Biden's request was made moments before Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, which the Prime Minister defended the controversial decision while testifying in Ottawa Superior Court on Friday.

Macron denies being main target of campaign financing probe

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday denied being the main target of a judicial investigation into the government's use of management consultants and their role in recent election campaigns. The French financial crime prosecutor's office revealed late Thursday that it had opened a probe which was thought to be focused on Macron and his 2017 and 2022 presidential campaigns. Referring to himself, the 44-year-old head of state told reporters during a trip to the town of Dijon: "I'm not scared of anything. I believe that your servant is not at the heart of the investigation. It's normal that the justice system does its work. It does it freely and will shine a light on this issue." The prosecutor's statement did not name Macron or his election campaign, but said investigators were looking into allegations of favouritism and hidden campaign financing in relation to management consultancies. The probe began after complaints following the publication of a Senate report in March which...

Merkel explains why she wasn't surprised by Russia's offensive in Ukraine

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she was not surprised when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out in late February. The retired leader was speaking to Der Spiegel in a lengthy interview published on Thursday. "It did not come as a surprise," Merkel told the outlet. By then, "the Minsk Agreements were eroded," the former chancellor stated, referring to the 2014 ceasefire deal brokered by Germany and France, which were designed to give the eastern regions special status within Ukraine. She also said her efforts to establish another dialogue platform for Russia and the EU in 2021 had come to nothing. "I wanted, together with [French President] Emmanuel Macron, to create an independent European discussion format with Putin through the European Council," Merkel said, explaining that she faced opposition from other members of the EU's top body.

Ukrainian city names street after Nazi collaborator

The city council of Vinnitsa in Ukraine announced on Friday it was renaming one of its streets after WWII Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. The local authorities described their drive to rid the city of all toponyms linked to Russia as a "process of decolonization." The street previously bore the name of Leo Tolstoy, the 19th-century Russian author of world renown. Vinnitsa authorities said they paid "special attention" to memorializing those they described as "heroes of the national liberation struggle." Bandera, who led a nationalist movement responsible for many atrocities against Russians, Jews and Poles in WWII, is regarded as a national hero by the current Ukrainian authorities. Another street was named after Ivan Treiko, one of the "generals" and the "military intelligence chief" of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a paramilitary group that also collaborated with the Nazis. Warsaw in particular has blamed the UPA for the genocide of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia....

Greta Thunberg joins climate lawsuit against Sweden

Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined hundreds of other youth activists in Stockholm on Friday to file a lawsuit against the Swedish government over its alleged inaction on climate change. Thunberg said on Twitter: "Today on Black Friday is the perfect day to sue the state over its insufficient climate policies. So that's what we did. See you in court!" The 19-year-old was one of more than 600 young people who signed on to the lawsuit, which was organized and filed by the Swedish youth-led organization Aurora. The group marched to Stockholm District Court on Friday to file the suit.

US Black Friday online sales stagnate despite heavy discounts amidst soaring inflation

U.S. shoppers spent a record $9.12 billion online on Black Friday, a report showed Saturday, as consumers weathered the squeeze from high inflation and grabbed steep discounts on everything from smartphones to toys. Comment: This may be revealing, because other news reports have stated that, prior to Black Friday, sales were down and stockrooms were full of inventory that needed shifting. So people may have been taking advantage of these steep discounts whereas the stores themselves are losing out on sorely needed profit. The following chart from NPR shows how sales for this time of year might be 'record breaking', but in fact they're stagnating. It's telling that the reporting gives a much more positive, 'record breaking sales', spin:

Your Chinese Apple

I want to make it clear from the start that I have no quarrel with Apple products. I am not an Apple fan, but millions of people love Apple products, mostly with good reason, and Apple has become a fad. However, there is a very dirty underbelly to all this, one that the Western and especially US media desperately hide, with a censorship that is total. Apple today is in the news due to severe labor unrest at its main assembly plant in Zhengzhou, China, with the Western media providing about 98% misinformation. This is the last part of the legacy of Steve Jobs who created a kind of sociopathic monster behind the scenes that is not at all in keeping with the cute, pretty and friendly image Apple try to convey as a company. Apple do not manufacture or assemble any of their products, all this being subcontracted to others with Apple simply collecting the profits. CPUs and specific parts are made in China, Taiwan, other nations, then all delivered to Apple's main assembly plant in...

Operation Claw-Sword: Erdogan's big new game in Syria

Wily Sultan is caught between his electorate, which favors a Syria invasion, and his extremely nuanced relations with Russia. There's another Special Military Operation on the market. No, it's not Russia "denazifying" and "demilitarizing" Ukraine - and, therefore, it's no wonder that this other operation is not ruffling feathers across the collective West. Operation Claw-Sword was launched by Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as revenge - highly emotional and concerted - for Kurdish terrorist attacks against Turkish citizens. Some of the missiles that Ankara launched in this aerial campaign carried the names of Turkish victims. The official Ankara spin is that the Turkish Armed Forces fully achieved their "air operation objectives" in the north of Syria and in Iraqi Kurdistan, and made those responsible for the terror attack against civilians in Istanbul's Istiklal pedestrian street pay in "multitudes." And this is supposed to be just the first stage. For the third time in...

Mali kicks out French influence operations, Macron blames Russian 'disinformation'

Mali declared a ban this week on the activities of non-governmental organizations within the country that receive funding from France. The move came in the wake of France's decision to withdraw development aid to the country as its final troops pull out of the Sahel region, marking the end of the eight-year Operation Barkhane. What started as a counterterrorism operation in Mali had until recently begun to take the shape of a showcase for French President Emmanuel Macron's vision of an integrated European defense. Now that dream seems to be falling apart due to an overstayed welcome and less than stellar performance. Whose fault is that? Russia's, according to Macron.

Saudi Arabian plane damaged by hail on approach to Jeddah airport

A Saudi Arabian Airlines Airbus A330 sustained damage to its nose cone and cockpit windshield after being hit by a hail strike on approach to Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia. The Airbus A330-300 with registration HZ-AQ25 was approaching Jeddah as flight SV-452 from Khartoum in Sudan. Following heavy rainfall and violent hailstorms over Jeddah, Flight SV452 entered a hold at a high altitude prior to landing to wait for the weather to improve.

BEST OF THE WEB: Deadly landslide triggered by heavy rainfall tears through Italian island of Ischia - 6 inches of rain in just 6 hours

A number of people are feared to have been killed after a mudslide triggered by heavy rains swept away homes on the island of Ischia, near Naples. The torrent of mud and debris dislodged trees, engulfed buildings and dragged cars into the sea as it reached the coast early on Saturday. The body of a woman was reported to have been found under the mud, and several other people are still missing. Dozens of homes are cut off, with bad weather hampering rescuers.

'Outsider' backed coup is reason for conflict in Ukraine, Putin tells mothers of Russian troops

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine would never have happened if there hadn't been a coup in Kiev in 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on Friday. He was referring to the violent overthrow of the elected president Victor Yanukovich. Speaking to mothers of Russian soldiers, Putin stressed that the Maidan resulted in direct foreign control over Ukrainian institutions, which Russia has no choice but to oppose. At the turn of the century, Russians were told everything would be great if they accepted outside control, and started "playing on someone else's field," Putin said. It was those outsiders seeking to control Russia that have created the current situation, "including in the zone of the special military operation," he added.

Videos of Ukrainian soldiers executing Russian POWs appear authentic, Kiev needs to investigate war crime - UN

Videos showing Russian soldiers apparently executed by Ukrainian forces appear genuine, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stated on Friday. He called on Kiev to fully investigate what Moscow has described as an outright execution. The footage, consisting of two clips stitched into one video, surfaced on social media last week. It shows a dozen unarmed Russian servicemen surrendering to Ukrainian troops and lying down on the ground, a separate man apparently opening fire on the Ukrainians, and the first dozen soldiers lying dead in pools of blood.

A light in the darkness

The really stunning thing about Elon Musk's campaign to clean up the back-stage rats' nest at Twitter is that he's the lone authority figure in the land who dared to act against the degenerate political Left's impudent and remorseless cancellation of everything that held together America's consensual reality. Think of it: all the college presidents and deans, all the corporate CEOs, all the judges, all the governors, mayors, and agency heads, all the news editors and network producers who did nothing and said nothing about the wholesale demolition of truths, values, and principles carried out by Woke-Jacobin maniacs under their watch. And what's more appalling: they all pretended not to notice each other's craven inaction and silence. And now, Mr. Musk strikes a blow almost every day, and with amazing insouciance, as if his effort to re-ignite free speech is the most self-evidently natural thing anyone in-charge might seek to do. And let's face it: whatever Twitter started out as,...

Russia's former southern capital renounces its past: How Ukraine is destroying its heritage

Ukraine is turning into a significantly more homogeneous and far less culturally diverse country In recent years, Ukraine has become the battleground for a 'war of monuments' waged among various political forces. In 2014, the process reached a peak during the mass demolition of statues of Vladimir Lenin and other Soviet politicians. These events fundamentally changed the symbolism and policy of the country's historical memory, paving the way to a reality in which any public speech must now be accompanied by the words 'Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!' This was the slogan of Stepan Bandera's World War Two nationalist movement, which collaborated with Adolf Hitler's Nazis and took part in the Holocaust. Although Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's team initially tried to 'reset' the historical memory policy, radical nationalism got the upper hand in this symbolic battle. Following the start of Russia's military operation, this year, the so-called 'decommunization' policy...

FTX partnership with Ukraine is latest chapter in shady Western aid saga

The Ukrainian government mysteriously disappeared online records of its fundraising arrangement with the FTX crypto scam just days before the scandal erupted. The initiative claims to have raised $60 million for Ukraine, but where did the money go? The demise of FTX, the fifth-biggest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume in 2022, and the second-largest by holdings, has sent a wave of chaos through global financial markets. As the turbulence grows, the government of Ukraine is conducting an ongoing cleanup and whitewashing operation to rid any and all references to a high-level cryptocurrency fundraising arrangement it struck with FTX from the web. Eerily, it seems to have commenced just days before the scandal erupted. Online records unearthed by The Grayzone claim tens of millions were raised by FTX for the Ukrainian government, and put to a variety of belligerent uses. But with the company now exposed as a Potemkin village lacking underlying assets, and major question marks...

Putin expresses regret over Donbass

The Donbass republics should probably have rejoined Russia sooner, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the mothers of troops involved in the military operation in Ukraine on Friday. In such a case, fewer lives might have been lost, the president stressed. "There might not have been so many casualties among civilians, there would not be so many children killed." He maintained, however, that back in 2014, Russia did not have a full understanding of the situation in Donbass nor of the true sentiments of the locals. "[We] believed that we might still be able to reach an agreement and ... reunify Donetsk and Lugansk with Ukraine within ... the Minsk Agreements. Russia was genuinely working towards that." Commenting on the matter further, the president blamed the 2014 coup in Kiev for the subsequent crisis in Donbass and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. "If not for the coup d'état in Ukraine in 2014, none [of this] would have happened."

The Colorado gay club shooting is being used to shut down debate on child sexualization

Almost as repugnant as the deadly attacks that are occurring with alarming frequency in the United States is the speed with which certain individuals rush to politicize them. The Club Q massacre in Colorado Springs, which left five dead and 18 injured, was certainly no exception. The Democrats' reaction kicked off with predictable calls for gun control. In this particular tragedy, however, the killer, 22-year-old Andersen Lee Aldrich, should never have been allowed to buy a gun in the first place. Moreover, he should have been high on the FBI's 'person of interest' radar. A year-and-a-half before Aldrich went on his deadly shooting spree, this troubled young man (who, according to court documents, has now started to identify as non-binary and use the pronouns them/they) threatened his family with a homemade bomb, forcing neighbors to evacuate while police talked him into surrendering. Yet, despite this, the district attorney of Colorado, Michael J. Allen, not only refused to press...

Meta employees were reportedly fired for selling account information to hackers

Meta reportedly fired more than a dozen security guards and other workers in the last year after internal investigations revealed they had been selling users' information and login details to hackers. Some of those who received disciplinary actions were contractors who acquired information from users that were locked out or had trouble with their accounts. The company utilizes a mechanism called "Oops" (Online Operations) to help users access or reset their accounts for Instagram or Facebook. The Wall Street Journal first reported that an internal probe found that some security guards were illegally accessing the accounts and providing the information to hackers for alleged bribes. Oops is generally used as a last resort if users can't reach someone from Meta by email or phone and are supposed to be used for employees, their family, and friends. But as the number of employees rose, so did the number of requests that were filed. According to the WSJ, in 2017, Oops responded to about...

"Disturbed and alarmed": 66 doctors, clinicians and scientists call for stop to Covid vaccination of pregnant women over serious safety concerns

There follows an open letter from 66 doctors, scientists and clinical practitioners to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA) regarding safety concerns about COVID-19 vaccinations in pregnancy. Where is the evidence, they ask. Obstetricians and gynaecologists in the U.K. have put their faith in and adjusted their practice according to guidance from their Royal College (RCOG). However, recent advice from the RCOG has been in complete contradiction to everything that it itself and academic institutions have been teaching about evidence-based medicine. This advice is that: COVID-19 vaccines are not only safe but strongly recommended for pregnant women. Such advice is not grounded in robust data based on ethically conducted research - and anyone who is medically and academically trained should take serious issue with this.

3.5 billion-year-old rock structures are one of the oldest signs of life on Earth

Fossils called stromatolites from Western Australia were created by microbes 3.48 billion years ago. Layered rocks in Western Australia are some of Earth's earliest known life, according to a new study. The fossils in question are stromatolites, layered rocks that are formed by the excretions of photosynthetic microbes. The oldest stromatolites that scientists agree were made by living organisms date back 3.43 billion years, but there are older specimens, too. In the Dresser Formation of Western Australia, stromatolites dating back 3.48 billion years have been found. However, billions of years have wiped away traces of organic matter in these older stromatolites, raising questions about whether they were really formed by microbes or whether they might have been made by other geological processes. "We were able to find certain specific microstructures within particular layers of these rocks that are strongly indicative of biological processes," said Keyron Hickman-Lewis, a...

SOTT FOCUS: MindMatters: Gurdjieff, Death, and Help for the Dead with Joseph Azize

According to the vast "afterlife" literature, those who have passed on sometimes send signs, or even communicate through dreams or visions. But what if the support that many living claim to experience from their loved ones isn't unidirectional? Can one, in fact, help those who have passed to come to greater peace and understanding at their soul's new station in 'life'? For those of us familiar with the ideas, exercises and philosophy of G.I. Gurdjieff, it may come as some surprise, and perhaps delight, to learn that Gurdjieff sought to address such a question - how to give "help for the deceased" - particularly for those who were once close to us. This week on MindMatters we are once again joined by inimitable Gurdjieffian scholar and Maronite Priest Joseph Azize whose paper "Gurdjieff's Help for the Deceased" delves into this subject. Join us as Joseph shares his research, insights and personal experience with some very little known exercises of Gurdjieff's - and explains not only...

Study investigates a rare type Icn supernova

An international team of astronomers has conducted optical and near-infrared observations of a rare Type Icn supernova known as SN 2022ann. The results of the study, published November 9 on the preprint server arXiv, shed more light on the nature of this supernova and its unique properties. Supernovae (SNe) are powerful and luminous stellar explosions. They are important for the scientific community as they offer essential clues into the evolution of stars and galaxies. In general, SNe are divided into two groups based on their atomic spectra: Type I and Type II. Type I SNe lack hydrogen in their spectra, while those of Type II showcase spectral lines of hydrogen. Type Icn SNe are an extreme subtype of interacting stripped-envelope supernovae (SESN). They have strong, narrow oxygen and carbon lines but weak or absent hydrogen and helium lines, presenting additional complications to the stripping mechanism. They have narrow emission features indicative of circumstellar interaction....

Swiss football captain rejects World Cup virtue signaling, says team is not in Qatar to 'hand out lessons to anyone'

Swiss football captain Granit Xhaka has rejected the deluge of virtue signaling taking place at the World Cup, asserting his team isn't in Qatar to "hand out lessons to anyone." Since it began, the tournament has been beset by controversy over teams attempting to express their support for the LGBT movement in a country that still imprisons homosexuals. FIFA has banned players from wearing 'OneLove' armbands, something the German team protested this week by placing their hands over their mouths during a pre-game photo.

Poll: Only 28% of Americans are worried about COVID anymore

78% believe the pandemic to be "over." A Gallup poll has found that fewer than a third of Americans remain worried about COVID. "Twenty-eight percent of Americans say they are 'very' or 'somewhat worried' they will get COVID — the lowest percentage Gallup has recorded since the summer of 2021," the pollster notes.

Sam Harris rage quits Twitter days after claiming Hunter Biden laptop story was right 'by accident'

Musk announces that all internal Twitter communications about censoring the laptop story from 2020 will be made public. Lefty 'philosopher' Sam Harris has deleted his Twitter account, just days after he claimed that the New York Post report on the infamous Hunter Biden laptop was correct "by accident," a comment that renewed scrutiny of Harris' previous comments that he supported censorship of the story. Harris complained on the Bill Maher podcast that he was being harassed by 'right wing lunatics' on Twitter in regards to his previous comments that he would still have supported censoring the story even if Hunter Biden had "the corpses of dead children in his basement," as a way of preventing a second Trump term.

Antifa crybabies stage plans to burn down Tesla outlets following Twitter bans

'As revenge for [Elon Musk] suspending violent extremist accounts on Twitter, [Antifa] in Portland are organizing arson attacks on [Tesla] locations tonight,' reported Ngo, who provided screenshots of the calls to action. Following his takeover of Twitter, "Chief Twit" Elon Musk has quickly begun to address many of the platform's problems. Musk, who intends for Twitter to be a platform for legal free speech, has moved to crack down on terrorists and violent far-left extremists who have for many years been a fixture on Twitter and used it to organize riots. Now Tesla, which Musk owns, has become the target of violent retaliation by far-left militants angered by the suspension of their accounts.

In huge Black Friday sale, store to sell everything for price it was before Biden became President

RALEIGH, NC — A local retailer is making waves after announcing its most dramatic Black Friday sale ever, in which every item in the store is marked down to whatever the price was before Biden became President.

Fauci bids farewell with a predictable final plea: Get vaccinated

In last White House briefing, Fauci said he wants to be remembered for never leaving "anything on the field." Anthony Fauci, the president's chief Covid-19 adviser, offered Americans one final warning as he prepares to leave government, ending a tumultuous turn in the national spotlight that earned him enduring affection from some and unrelenting hostility from others. "Please, for your own safety, for that of your family, get your updated Covid-19 shot as soon as you're eligible to protect yourself, your family and your community," Fauci said.

BMJ article calls for governments to ban dissent and "neutralise" COVID misinformation

As a director of the U.K. Medical Freedom Alliance, the U.K.'s most recognised and respected organisation advocating every individual's right to informed consent, bodily autonomy and medical choice, I was shocked and appalled to read the article "Understanding and neutralising COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation", published in the BMJ on November 22nd 2022. The article contains insinuations and unsubstantiated and unreferenced allegations concerning the UKMFA (and other organisations including HART, UsForThem and Children's Health Defense) and which appeared to seek to undermine the contribution of our organisations to a critical debate of national importance. My shock at the tone and text of the article, and its inclusion in a highly respected medical journal like the BMJ, has been echoed by notable scientists and doctors around the world including Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who posted this strongly worded tweet calling out the "authoritarian nonsense" proposed by the authors of...

Stray dogs maul 2-year-old to death in Himachal Pradesh, India

In Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, a horrifying incident involving a dog attack came to light. Several stray dogs killed a two-year-old girl by mauling her to death. On Thursday, the dead girl went missing. The girl's dead body was discovered in the morning in area, close to the hut. As per the media reports, the victim's family is a resident of Bhagat Nagar in Punjab's Hoshiarpur and that the body of the child, who had been missing since Thursday night, was discovered close to a thatched hut. The girl's parents work in municipal council Hamirpur's sanitation department. The girl was reportedly seen playing behind the hut. In the meantime, a herd of dogs arrived and pulled the girl toward the bushes.

AP fired a reporter after a dangerous blunder, internal Slack messages reveal a chaotic process

A 10-minute miscommunication on Slack between journalists at the Associated Press resulted in an erroneous report last week that appeared momentarily to bring tensions between NATO and Russia to their highest point since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Last Tuesday, AP posted a news alert saying that a "senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing two people," and noting that leaders in Poland were "holding an emergency meeting due to a 'crisis situation.'" The report, which would have represented a Russian missile striking a member of NATO, immediately sparked fear of a dramatic escalation of tensions between the US and Russia.

How Vaccines Drive Covid Variants

Variants have been one of the hallmarks of this pandemic, with ever more infectious forms of the virus apparently mutating themselves into existence at regular intervals. However. it is easy to forget that prior to 2021 variants were a rarity and the only sign of our variant ridden future was the emergence of the scarily named Kent variant (later renamed Alpha) late in 2020. The UKHSA Vaccine Surveillance Report started mentioning variants in May of 2021, but only in passing. However, as 2021 wore on new variants started appearing more frequently, and in recent reports there are 10 times more references to 'variants' compared to their debut. (To be fair, there used to be an entirely different vaccine report devoted to 'variants of concern', the Technical Briefings.) But 'variants' weren't simply a natural process of viral evolution - not when there were people to blame. By summer 2022 there had been multiple articles published explaining that it was the unvaccinated that created...

China's 'iPhone city' placed under 'Covid' lockdown after violent clashes

Six million people were on Friday under Covid lockdown in a Chinese city home to the world's largest iPhone factory, after clashes between police and workers furious over pay. Authorities have ordered residents of eight districts in Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan, not to leave the area for the next five days, building barriers around "high-risk" apartment buildings and setting up checkpoints to restrict travel. There have been only a handful of coronavirus cases in the city. The orders follow protests by hundreds of employees over conditions and pay at Foxconn's vast iPhone factory on the outskirts of the city, with fresh images of rallies emerging Friday.

China sets record for daily Covid-19 cases

China on Wednesday registered its highest number of daily coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic almost three years ago, official data has shown. There were 31,444 new cases of the disease in the country on November 23, of which 3,927 were symptomatic and 27,517 asymptomatic, the National Health Bureau announced on Thursday. The figures surpassed the previous 24-hour infection record, set on April 13, which amounted to 29,317 cases. Beijing has been pursuing a strict zero-Covid policy since the first outbreak of the disease in the city of Wuhan in late 2019, with strict lockdowns and widespread testing, meaning the current number of infections is still low compared to many other countries.

Epstein victims sue JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank for profiting from late pedophile's activities

Civil lawsuits filed in a New York court accuse JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank of turning a blind eye to the sexual predation of their former client, Jeffrey Epstein, several media outlets reported on Thursday. Both managed his accounts after his 2008 conviction and allegedly ignored "red flags" in financial transactions. Two unnamed victims of the late disgraced financier, who filed separate lawsuits, are seeking class-action cases against the financial institutions, according to the reports. Both claimants are being represented by David Boies, a lawyer who represented Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in a case against one of Epstein's associates, Britain's Prince Andrew. The claims against JPMorgan are based to a degree on revelations about Epstein's relationship with its former executive, Jes Staley. The British financial authorities launched a probe their affairs in 2020, with Staley consequently resigning as the CEO of Barclays last year.

Putin meets mothers of Russian troops

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a personal meeting on Friday with the mothers of Russian soldiers. He said that the country's leadership, and he personally, regards their sons as heroes. Putin revealed that he proposed the meeting with the mothers of soldiers because he wanted to hear their opinions, their firsthand experiences and information they have received from the frontlines. "A lot of information comes to me from various sources, but your assessments, your opinions, ideas and suggestions - that's a completely different matter," Putin said, adding that he will try to make sure that everything discussed during the meeting is taken into account and used in real life "to the maximum." "We will do all we can so that you do not feel abandoned and will do everything that depends on us so that you feel a shoulder beside you," the president stated.

48,500-year-old virus revived from Siberian permafrost

As the world warms up, vast tranches of permafrost are melting, releasing material that's been trapped in its icy grip for years. This includes a slew of microbes that have lain dormant for hundreds of millennia in some cases. To study the emerging microbes, scientists have now revived a number of these "zombie viruses" from Siberian permafrost, including one thought to be nearly 50,000 years old - a record age for a frozen virus returning to a state capable of infecting other organisms. Comment: Whilst true, viruses have also been found to be raining down on our planet from space: Viruses from space & evolution: Dr. Wickramasinghe explains it all in new video The team behind the work, led by microbiologist Jean-Marie Alempic from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, says these reanimating viruses are potentially a significant threat to public health, and further study needs to be done to assess the danger that these infectious agents could pose as they awake...

Cryovolcanic eruption on comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann reported

The British Astronomical Association (BAA) is reporting a new outburst of cryovolcanic comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann. On Nov. 22nd, amateur astronomer Patrick Wiggins watched 29P increase in brightness by more than 4 magnitudes--a sign that a major eruption was in progress. On Nov. 23rd, André Debackère used the Faulkes Telescope North in Hawaii to photograph the expanding shell of debris: The Pac-Man shape of the ejecta shows that this is not a uniform global eruption. Instead, it is coming from one or more discrete sources on the comet's surface. This fits a leading model of the comet developed by Dr. Richard Miles of the British Astronomical Association. Miles believes that 29P is festooned with ice volcanoes. There is no lava. The "magma" is a cold mixture of liquid hydrocarbons (e.g., CH4, C2H4, C2H6 and C3H8) akin to those found in lakes and streams on Saturn's moon Titan. The cryomagma is suffused with dissolved gases N2 and CO, much like carbonation in a soda bottle. These...

The red line: Biden and Xi's secret Ukraine talks revealed

Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China has played a decisive - though publicly low-profile - role in strategic decision-making in both Washington and Moscow. As I report for the first time in my new book Overreach, it was a back-channel intervention approved by Beijing that caused the US to scupper a deal for the Poles to provide Soviet-made MiG-29 jets to the Ukrainian Air Force back in March. And since September a flurry of personal diplomacy by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi with NATO and the US has led to a rare moment of public agreement over Russia, when Xi Jinping said that the world 'needs to prevent a nuclear crisis on the Eurasian continent' in a meeting with Joe Biden at the G20 summit in Bali. Throughout the war, China's true position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been hard to pin down - not least because Beijing has been telling both sides what they want to hear. In March, Wang implicitly appeared to be blaming the US for 'stoking tensions'...

Zelensky's Crimea threat proves Ukraine isn't seeking peace - Kremlin

Recent comments by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on "returning" the Russian region of Crimea show that Kiev has no desire to seek a peaceful settlement to the ongoing conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Peskov claimed that Western media outlets have sugarcoated Zelensky's words. On Thursday, speaking to the Financial Times, Zelensky claimed: "If someone is ready to offer us a way regarding the de-occupation of Crimea by non-military means, I will only be in favor. If any potential peace deal with Russia does not involve 'de-occupation' of the peninsula, it would not even be worth talking about." Peskov described Zelensky's statement as "nothing more than a discussion on the dispossession territory of the Russian Federation. There is no other way to interpret it, this is out of the question. The Ukrainian side is unprepared, unwilling and unable to be ready to resolve the problem by non-military means."

Elon Musk promises 'all internal discussions' over censorship of NY Post's Hunter Biden story will be made transparent

A poll released in March indicated that 16 percent of voters who were unaware of the laptop scandal would have not voted for Biden had they known about it at the time. On Wednesday, Elon Musk promised that he would make public the behind-the-scenes conversations at Twitter in 2020 regarding the social media giant's decision to censor the New York Post's bombshell report on the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, material that has been verified by establishment media in recent weeks.

Putin issues AI appeal

Russia needs to significantly expand its use of artificial intelligence over the coming decade, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. While the country is already "a step ahead of some" when it comes to AI, more needs to be done in this field, Putin told attendees at the Artificial Intelligence Journey (AIJ) conference in Moscow. The task for the coming ten years is "to ensure the mass introduction of artificial intelligence. It should cover all sectors of the economy and the social sphere, as well as the government system," the president said. According to Putin, the country needs to achieve "genuine technological, digital, and to a large extent cultural, educational, value-based sovereignty."

Meta claims US military link to pro-US online propaganda on Facebook

Facebook parent company Meta claims individuals associated with the US military were behind accounts spreading pro-US propaganda abroad. Meta had taken down these accounts in August, saying they exhibited "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" after the profiles were flagged by independent researchers. These profiles had been posting content promoting the US and opposing countries like Russia, China and Iran, according to a report published in August by the analytics firm Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO). The network's activity was found across Meta's platforms, including 39 Facebook accounts, 16 Pages, two Groups and 26 Instagram accounts. About 22,000 accounts followed one or more of these pages and about 400 accounts on Facebook joined at least one of these Groups. Around 12,000 accounts followed one or more of the 26 flagged Instagram accounts, Meta noted. In the latest report, the social media giant noted that the network behind these accounts originated in...

SFPD authorized to kill suspects using robots in draft policy

A policy proposal heading for Board of Supervisors approval next week would explicitly authorize San Francisco police to kill suspects using robots. The new policy, which defines how the SFPD is allowed to use its military-style weapons, was put together by the police department. Over the past several weeks, it has been scrutinized by supervisors Aaron Peskin, Rafael Mandelman and Connie Chan, who together comprise the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee. The draft policy faces criticism from advocates for its language on robot force, as well as for excluding hundreds of assault rifles from its inventory of military-style weapons and for not including personnel costs in the price of its weapons. Peskin, chair of the committee, initially attempted to limit the SFPD's authority over the department's robots by inserting the sentence, "Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person." The following week, the police struck out his suggestion with a thick red line.

Church accuses Ukraine of trying to 'intimidate' Orthodox faithful

The Moscow Patriarchate has condemned a raid on the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the largest Orthodox Christian monastery in Ukraine, carried out on Tuesday by the country's domestic security agency, the SBU. The raid represents yet another attempt to "intimidate" the Orthodox faithful, the Church's spokesman, Vladimir Legoyda, has said in a Telegram post, urging all "caring people" to do everything possible to stop the "persecution": "Like many other cases of persecution of believers in Ukraine since 2014, this act of intimidation will almost certainly go unnoticed by those who call themselves the international human rights community." The SBU raided the monastery, claiming it was targeted to prevent the "subversive activities of Russian special services." The monastery needed to be checked for "teams of saboteurs, foreign citizens, weapons, etc." the service claimed, adding that the goal was to "prevent the use of the Lavra as a cell of 'Russian world.'"

The tragic story of a 14-year-old vaccine myocarditis victim — one of umpteen males misinformed by health authorities

Vaccine myocarditis is not trivial, mild, or "rare." In young men, it's a far greater risk than Covid hospitalization and death. On May 12th of last year, school teacher Emily Jo took her 14-year-old son Aiden to get his first Pfizer vaccine dose. The public health authorities and her son's pediatrician unanimously recommended vaccination, prompting her decision. She knew that mRNA shots caused some number of adverse events, like all vaccines, but was re-assured by the CDC and White House's public recommendation. "The talk amongst the mainstream medical community was that vaccine myocarditis was mild and that this was very rare," she told me. At that time, despite alarming heart inflammation reports from Israel, the CDC publicly claimed to have found no signal of myocarditis after "intentionally" investigating over 200 million administered doses. Moreover, Emily Jo was never warned of the myocarditis risk or informed about the risk-benefit profile. "When I took Aiden to get his...

New Fauci emails reveal lab leak cover-up happening in real time

There has been renewed interest in the origins of Covid and the lab leak theory this week following the release of further emails between senior U.S. Government health official Dr. Anthony Fauci and others as they conspired in early February 2020 to counter the theory and suppress it. The first thing to note is that the emails confirm that those involved - Fauci, Jeremy Farrar of the Wellcome Trust and CEPI, U.K. Chief Scientist Patrick Vallance, Kristian Andersen from Scripps, Germany's Christian Drosten and more - were not aware prior to late January that the virus was likely to be of lab origin. The question appears to be raised with Fauci by Kristian Andersen via Jeremy Farrar on January 31st 2020. Fauci responds that a group of evolutionary biologists should get together "as soon as possible" to examine the data carefully and that "if everyone agrees with this concern, they should report it to the appropriate authorities". Notably, Fauci does not seem to know who that is, but...

Biden admin blames Putin and climate change for soaring Thanksgiving dinner cost

While spending time with family and friends at Thanksgiving remains important for many Americans, the cost of that indulgence has never been higher, up a stunning 20% from last year to $64.05 for the classic feast. The cost for the classic meal was the most affordable in the South - $58.42, followed by the Northeast - $64.02, Midwest - $64.26 and West - $71.37. "General inflation slashing the purchasing power of consumers is a significant factor contributing to the increase in average cost of this year's Thanksgiving dinner," said AFBF Chief Economist Roger Cryan. "Farmers are working hard to meet growing demands for food - both here in the U.S. and globally - while facing rising prices for fuel, fertilizer and other inputs," said Cryan. Over the past two years, the grocery bill for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner has risen by 36.6%. All these changes are illustrated in the following chart from PoliticalCalculations blog:

Mayor of Ukraine's second-largest city fined for speaking Russian

The Kharkov city head has been accused of violating the law by addressing his fellow residents in a "non-state" language. Kiev has slapped the mayor of Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkov, with a fine for using what the authorities called a "non-state" language in an official TV address. Mayor Igor Terekhov is known for addressing his fellow residents in Russian. Terekhov will have to pay a fine of 3,400 hryvnas ($92) for violating Ukrainian law, Taras Kremin, the Ukrainian government's commissioner for the protection of the state language, said in a statement on Thursday.

Research sheds new light on foodways in the first cities

The world's first urban state societies developed in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, some 5500 years ago. No other artefact type is more symbolic of this development than the so-called Beveled Rim Bowl (BRB), the first mass produced ceramic bowl. BRB function and what food(s) these bowls contained has been the subject of debate for over a century. A paper published today (18 November 2022) in The Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports shows that BRBs contained a variety of foods, but especially meat-based meals, most likely bone marrow flavoured stews or broths. Chemical compounds and stable isotope signatures of animal fats were discovered in BRBs from the Late Chalcolithic site of Shakhi Kora located in the Upper Diyala/Sirwan River Valley of north-eastern Iraq.* An international team led by Professor Claudia Glatz of the University of Glasgow has been carrying out excavations at Shakhi Kora since 2019 as part of the Sirwan Regional Project.* BRBs are mass-produced,...

Kanye West reveals Trump's reaction to his VP offer

The ex-president yelled at him and predicted that his 2024 White House bid would fail, the rapper claims. Musician and fashion designer Kanye 'Ye' West has said that Donald Trump was astonished at being offered the role of vice president on his 2024 presidential ticket and angrily rejected the proposal. Last week, West confirmed that he'll try running for the White House in two years' time, showing off newly designed apparel bearing a 'YE24' logo.

Balenciaga is sexualising children

The label has apologised for photographing young girls in BDSM outfits. Sometimes the hardest thing about discerning what is real or fake on the internet is that the truth can be so absurd and unbelievable. For example, if you came across this advertisement on Twitter, featuring a young child holding a teddy bear in bondage gear, you would be forgiven for assuming you were being trolled. Yet this is a real campaign by Balenciaga, the high-end fashion line with over 11 million followers on Instagram. The more you look, the worse it gets. This picture features a young girl holding a toy wearing fishnets, restraints and a padlock, with bruised purple and blue eyes (Balenciaga have been called out before for glamourising domestic violence, after they painted black eyes and a bloody nose on a model). This picture focuses on a girl lying down on a sofa surrounded by empty wine glasses, while this photo includes tape with the letters BAAL: a pagan God who demanded child sacrifice. This...

BEST OF THE WEB: At least 310 killed on Indonesia's main island of Java after shallow magnitude 5.6 earthquake (UPDATES)

At least 46 people have died and hundreds left injured after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake shook Indonesia's main island of Java on Monday. The head of the country's disaster agency BNPB said up to 700 have been injured from the earthquake. Earlier, a government official, Herman Suherman, said at least 300 were injured from the earthquake and said this figure was from just one hospital. He pointed out that there were four hospitals in the area, in comments that indicate the casualties and those injured from the earthquake could rise. The national disaster agency had earlier reported 14 deaths.

BEST OF THE WEB: Saudi Arabia: Devastating Jeddah storm sweeps away cars, cuts road to Mecca - 7 inches of rain in just 6 hours - 3 TIMES ANNUAL mean (UPDATE)

Heavy rains in Saudi Arabia's coastal city of Jeddah on Thursday delayed flights, forced school closures and shut the road to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, state media reported. Jeddah, a city of roughly four million people located close to the Red Sea, is often referred to as the "gateway to Mecca", where millions perform the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages each year. Images posted to social media on Thursday showed cars being swept along streets through raging torrents of water.

Mongolia warns of extreme cold in coming week

Large parts of Mongolia are expected to see extreme cold from the coming Monday and through the entire week, with expected overnight temperatures of 39 to 47 degrees Celsius below zero, the country's weather agency said Friday. The weather agency said that heavy snow and snow storms are hitting the country's eastern and western parts, urging the public, especially nomadic herders and drivers, to take extra precautions against possible disasters. Mongolia's climate is strongly continental, with long and frigid winters. A temperature of minus 25 degrees Celsius is standard during winter. Unstable weather events are also common in the country throughout the year.

Why Do Americans Hate Putin?

Why do Americans hate Putin? Tucker Carlson thinks he knows. Here's what he said: "... Democrats in Washington have told you it's your patriotic duty to hate Vladimir Putin. It's not a suggestion. It's a mandate. Anything less than hatred for Putin is treason. Many Americans have obeyed this directive. They now dutifully hate Vladimir Putin. Maybe you're one of them. Hating Putin has become the central purpose of America's foreign policy. It's the main thing that we talk about. Entire cable channels are now devoted to it. Very soon, that hatred of Vladimir Putin could bring the United States into a conflict in Eastern Europe. Before that happens, it might be worth asking yourself: What is this really about? Why do I hate Putin so much? Has Putin ever called me a racist? Has he threatened to get me fired for disagreeing with him? Has he shipped every middle-class job in my town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked my business and kept me indoors for two...

Lightning strike kills 2 in Harare, Zimbabwe

Two people died after being struck by lightning in Harare on Tuesday - a rare occurrence in an urban area, police said. Leonard Matipano, 33, was planting a maize crop in a field in an open space near Ridgeview, Belvedere, when he met his death. National police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said two brothers, Phillip Chiundudzi ,43, and Prosper Chiundudzi, 27, were struck by lightning while hiding from rain under a shed at Habakkuk Church at Retreat Park in Waterfalls. Philip succumbed to his injuries upon admission at a local hospital while Prosper was admitted at the same hospital in a serious condition.

'This is unprecedented': Enron liquidator overseeing FTX bankruptcy speechless; 'I have never seen anything like this'

A few days ago we asked how much longer do we have to wait for the "first-day affidavit" in the FTX bankruptcy, traditionally the most detailed and comprehensive summary of how any given company collapsed into Chapter 11 (and in FTX's case, Chapter 7 soon, as this will soon become a full-blown liquidation)... ... and this morning we finally got our answer when it hit the docket (22-11068, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware), almost a full week after FTX filed on Nov 11... and boy is it a doozy.

Why isn't FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried in handcuffs yet?

To be honest, it's kind of hard to try and entertain the innuendo and rumors that Democrats and the media are working to do damage control on behalf of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, because the idea is just so reprehensible. But they sure do keep giving us ammunition to make that suggestion, don't they? Comment: No one else is having difficulty entertaining this possibility. Bankman-Fried - the second biggest donor to Democrats behind George Soros - has all but admitted that he squandered billions of dollars of other people's money carelessly, writing "I fucked up" on Twitter in a mea culpa about two weeks ago, days after a run on his exchange exposed it to be a shell of what many perceived it to be.

The Covid/crypto connection: The grim saga of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried

A series of revealing texts and tweets by Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced CEO of FTX, the once high-flying but now belly-up crypto exchange, had the following to say about his image as a do-gooder: it is a "dumb game we woke westerners play where we say all the right shibboleths and so everyone likes us." Very interesting. He had the whole game going: a vegan worried about climate change, supports every manner of justice (racial, social, environmental) except that which is coming for him, and shells out millions to worthy charities associated with the left. He also bought plenty of access and protection in D.C., enough to make his shady company the toast of the town. As part of the mix, there is this thing called pandemic planning. We should know what that is by now: it means you can't be in charge of your life because there are bad viruses out there. As bizarre as it seems, and for reasons that are still not entirely clear, favoring lockdowns, masks, and vaccine passports became...