Comment: Update May 3

The BBC reports:

A hydroelectric dam has collapsed in southern Brazil after days of heavy rains that triggered massive flooding, killing more than 30 people.

Officials say another 60 people are missing in Rio Grande do Sul state.

About 15,000 residents have fled their homes since Saturday. At least 500,000 people are without power and clean water across the state.

The burst dam triggered a two-metre (6.6ft) wave, causing panic and further damage in the already flooded areas.

The dam is located between the municipality of Cotiporã and the city of Bento Gonçalves.

Update May 4

CGTN reports:

The death toll keeps climbing from continuous rains in Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. At least 58 people have been killed, while another 67 remain missing according to the state's civil defense agency. The rains have triggered the worst floods in more than 80 years.

Update May 7

Reuters reports:

Rescuers rushed to evacuate people stranded by devastating floods across the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul on Tuesday, with 90 reported dead and desperate survivors seeking food and basic supplies.

On the outskirts of Eldorado do Sul, 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) from the state capital of Porto Alegre, many people who left their homes were sleeping on the roadside and told Reuters they were going hungry. Entire families were leaving on foot, carrying belongings in backpacks and shopping carts.

"We've been without food for three days and we've only just got this blanket. I'm with people I don't even know, I don't know where my family is," said a young man who gave his name as Ricardo Junior.

The flooding has hampered rescue efforts, with dozens of people still waiting to be evacuated by boat or helicopter from stricken homes. Small boats crisscrossed the flooded town searching for survivors.

The state's Civil Defense agency said the death toll has risen to 90 with another four deaths being investigated, while 131 people are still unaccounted for and 155,000 are homeless.

Heavy rains that began last week have caused rivers to flood, inundating whole towns and destroying roads and bridges.

In Porto Alegre, a city of 1.3 million inhabitants on the Guaiba river, downtown streets were under water.

Porto Alegre residents faced empty supermarket shelves and closed gas stations, with shops rationing sales of mineral water. The city distributed water in trucks to hospitals and shelters.

The floods have also impacted water and electricity services, with more than 1.4 million affected overall, according to Brazil's Civil Defense.

Update May 12

The Anadolu Agency reports:

The death toll from floods caused by heavy rains in Brazil has risen to 137, authorities reported Saturday.

Following heavy rains that have been affecting the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul since last week, the loss of life and property is steadily increasing.

According to a statement from the Civil Defense of the state, the number is 125 people still missing.

The number of injured has risen to 756, and more than 2 million people have been affected.

Additionally, the statement noted that more tha 600,000 people have been displaced.

The statement highlighted that hospitals have reached full capacity, necessitating additional support for patient care.

Update May 17

Xinhua News Agency reports:

As many as 151 people have died to date from south Brazil's worst climate disaster on record and another 104 people remain missing, the Civil Defense agency said Thursday.

Since torrential rains began to lash the country's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, on April 29, floods and mudslides have left some 600,000 people homeless.

Horse in an unstable condition.

In the last 24 hours, the number of fatal victims rose from 149 to 151 as 458 of the state's 497 cities were suffering from severe flooding, including the capital Porto Alegre, where the Guaiba River burst its banks and inundated most of the metropolis.

According to the Civil Defense agency's latest report, over 2.28 million residents have been directly impacted by the disaster in the state, which borders Argentina and Uruguay, and is a center of Brazilian agribusiness, as well as the top rice producer in Latin America.

Comment: Now get this: in December 1859 the Atlantic magazine published a detailed report about the 1859 Carrington Event, and noted, among many other things in its superb report (oh for the days when The Atlantic published good research), that:

The aurora borealis of August 28th was surpassingly brilliant not only in the northern portion of this continent, but also as far south as the equator, — as well as in Cuba, Jamaica, California, and the greater portion of Europe. [...]

In Jamaica the aurora borealis was witnessed for the first time, perhaps, since the discovery of this island by Columbus. So rare is the phenomenon in those latitudes, that it was taken for the glare of a fire, and was associated with the recent riots.

Guess what erupted in New Caledonia three days after auroras were sighted there... serious rioting akin to a 'civil war':

France deploys military to quell independence protests and serious rioting in Pacific territory of New Caledonia

Spaceweather.com also reports that another massive 'Carrington-class' sunspot is poised to hurl a geomagnetic storm Mars' way...

MONSTER SUNSPOT TARGETS MARS: First Earth, now Mars. Carrington-class sunspot AR3664 is now directly facing the Red Planet. NASA's Mars rover Perseverance saw it yesterday through the dusty air of Jezero Crater:

© NASA's Mars rover Perseverance

On May 14th, AR3664 produced an X8.6-class solar flare, the strongest flare of the solar cycle, and hurled a corresponding CME directly toward Mars. NASA models suggest it should hit Mars on May 17th, potentially sparking global auroras.

"We're bracing for impact!" says says Nick Schneider of the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). Schneider works with an ultraviolet camera on NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, which may be able to observe the display. Stay tuned!

Comment: The West has made it quite clear that the Pacific region is integral to its China provocations and containment policy, and France, having recently lost its stranglehold over regions in Africa, is likely reluctant to lose its 'dependencies' elsewhere: US House passes $95 billion 'aid' package for Ukraine, Israel, Indo-pacific, wars after months-long delay

Comment: The Washington-EU establishment has loathed Fico since he was elected. The following reports are from just the past 6 months:

• Slovakia's PM Fico: Ukraine's 'rampant neo-Nazis' were cause of war, Kiev NATO membership is attempt to start WWIII
• Slovakia elects pro-Russia Pellegrini as president, joins outspoken PM Fico
• Ukraine proxy war "didn't work, Russia is NOT on its knees, West prevented TWO chances for peace" - Slovakia's PM Fico
• Slovakia will not implement new EU migration rules - Fico

A statement following the shooting:


Notable comments from Fico regarding the contrived coronavirus crisis and vaccinations:


Analysis of the assassination attempt:

Comment: And from another angle see Tucker discuss Amazon's manipulative and monopolistic business practices:

Comment: The presence of NATO soldiers in Ukraine is like an alien disclosure project. The western audience is being drip-fed to accept what the elite wants to happen.

Austrian Colonel claims NATO soldiers are fighting in Ukraine as mercenaries
Kremlin: NATO has secret agenda for troops in Ukraine
The Terror's Instigators: How NATO Generals Ignite Conflict
Western troops in Ukraine 'an open secret' - Poland
Canada is losing its war against Russia so it has threatened senior army officers with court martial for "Disloyalty"

Previously posted in a comment to Macron 'hopes' France won't go to war with Russia, there was a comment from British MP, Andrew Bridgen, about the relation between the UK and Russia, that the UK is basically at war with Russia.

For context, here is what the Wiki says about him:

Andrew James Bridgen^[2] (born 28 October 1964) is a British politician and businessman who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Leicestershire since 2010. He was a member of the Conservative Party until his expulsion in April 2023, having had the whip suspended in January after criticising the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and claiming that an Israeli cardiologist told him it constitutes "the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust".^[3]

Given this background, Bridgen probably knows even more than what he is saying in the interview, as if that was not quite sufficient, and given the leak from the US general, his back is covered in case of official backlash or public disbelief.

Comment: A rare moment of insight in the otherwise brain-dead corridors of Western power.

Comment: It seems that the lockdowns exacerbated what was clearly a burgeoning issue, and, since then, the shortages have mostly worsened, and will continue to do so because little is being done to remedy it.

It's probably no coincidence that many of the same countries suffering these shortages are also seeing a surge in crime and rapidly crumbling economies - that hasn't, however, stopped them mobilising their governments and their raiding the taxpayer to give tens of billions of euros and dollars to Ukraine and Israel for warmongering and genocide.

It's rather telling that these same organisations were eager and able to mobilise their forces to roll out an experimental covid injection, but they're apparently unable to do the same for proven medications that people need to live. And this at a time when the health of a significant proportion of the population is compromised, and there are threats of food shortages:

• Global cancer phenomenon: UK, Japan, South Africa, among dozens of countries suffering 'mystery' spikes of tumors (2024)
• US suffering another medication shortage: penicillin - amid record number of syphilis cases (2023)
• European paediatrician's outcry over shortage of medicine (2023)
• UK suffering cold & flu medicine shortage, supply chain issues blamed (2023)
• FDA confirms major Adderall shortage, restock will take months (2022)