America is widely understood to be a key instigator behind conflict in Ukraine that has pitted brother against brother

Smeared, stigmatized, and lied about in Western media propaganda, the mostly Russian-speaking people of the Donbass region were being slaughtered by the thousands in a brutal war of "ethnic cleansing" launched against them by the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv, which the U.S. installed after the CIA overthrew Ukraine's legally elected president in a 2014 coup.

Although the Donbass people had been pleading for Russian military aid to defend them against the increasingly murderous military assaults by the Ukraine government forces, which killed more than 14,000 of their people, Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to intervene. Instead, he tried to broker a peace agreement between the warring parties.

But the U.S. and Britain secretly colluded to sabotage peace negotiations, persuading president Zelenksy to ignore the Minsk 2 peace agreement that the Ukraine government had previously signed, and which had been countersigned by Russia, France and Germany.

Realizing that the U.S. and its NATO allies would never permit peace negotiations to succeed, Putin finally sent troops into Ukraine on February 24. Russian troops went in to support and reinforce the outnumbered and outgunned Donbass Special Forces who had been defending their land against attacks by the Kyiv government for nearly eight years.

A staggering number of Nigerians love Bitcoin, but hate government cryptocurrency (CBDCs).

In April, leading cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin noted that 35% of the adult population in Nigeria - roughly 34 million adults aged 18-60, own bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. But when it came to the country's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the eNaira, it was a massive failure.

According to Bloomberg, only 1 in 200 Nigerians use the eNaira - despite government implemented discounts and other incentives, implemented as desperate measures to increase adoption.

Now, the government is looking to boost digital payments by limiting ATM withdrawals to just 20,000 naira, or roughly US$45 per day, Bloomberg reports, citing a circular sent to lenders on Tuesday. The previous withdrawal limit was 150,000 naira (US$350).

Weekly cash withdrawals from banks are now limited (without fee) to 100,000 naira (US$225) for individuals, and 500,000 naira (US$1,125) for corporations. Any amount above this will incur a fee of 5% and 10% respectively.

On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced that attorney Jim Baker had been "exited" from the company following recent revelations that he may have played a role in facilitating censorship on the platform.

Baker had been hired by Twitter as deputy general counsel following a stint at the FBI that ended with him essentially being forced out of the job.

An alleged far-right plot led by a German aristocrat to overthrow the state that sought the backing of the Russian government has been thwarted in Germany, after a series of dawn raids across the country.

Twenty-five people including a 71-year-old prince, a retired military commander, and an acting judge and former MP for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) were planning a violent overthrow of the state, including an armed attack on the parliament, inspired by the storming of the US Capitol, according to prosecutors.


The group was apparently driven in ideology by the deep-state conspiracy theories of QAnon and the Reichsbürger ("empire citizens") movement, which denies the right of modern Germany to exist.


It was planning to renegotiate the country's post-second world war settlement, insisting the "Deutsche Reich" still had legitimacy despite having ended with the Nazis' defeat in 1945.

Labour threw open Britain's borders to mass immigration to help socially engineer a "truly multicultural" country, a former Government adviser has revealed.

The huge increases in migrants over the last decade were partly due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity", according to Andrew Neather, a former adviser to Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett.

He said Labour's relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to "open up the UK to mass migration" but that ministers were nervous and reluctant to discuss such a move publicly for fear it would alienate its "core working class vote".

As a result, the public argument for immigration concentrated instead on the economic benefits and need for more migrants.

Critics said the revelations showed a "conspiracy" within Government to impose mass immigration for "cynical" political reasons.

Rachel Chandler, a professional photographer and modeling agent, was reportedly involved in the casting process for Balenciaga. Chandler is being scrutinized online for her alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The speculation comes amid the scandal surrounding Balenciaga's recent controversial ad. The luxury fashion house landed in hot water for its gift collection campaign that featured children posing with plush bear purses wearing outfits based on themes of b*ndage.

The company also faced backlash over its Spring 2023 campaign ad that consisted of a photo featuring printouts of a 2008 Supreme Court ruling on child p*rnography.

Amid the ongoing controversy, British influencer Oli London has claimed that the brand deliberately designed the campaign and is "deeply involved in child abuse and exploitation." London has been quite vocal in condemning Balenciaga's campaign.

COVID-19 vaccine surveillance and pharmacovigilance data
In my past professional life - probably a decade ago, I had a client named Dr. Charlton Brown. Dr. Brown, at the time, was CEO and co-innovator at Immune Targeting Systems Ltd (UK). I always enjoyed working with Charlton, as we share a certain curiosity for science/knowledge and a dry wit. It turns out that Charlton has been part of the medical freedom resistance and has been working to get the word out about the risks of mRNA vaccines. Up until his email to me earlier this week, I had no idea.

This isn't the first time that people from my "former" professional life have emailed me to let me know that they are supportive of what I have been doing. In fact, I had a former colleague from my time at the Salk Institute in the 1980s write to me to express their support for me this week. These emails always lift my spirits as sometimes this seems like a very lonely fight, although the people writing in the comments section of this Substack also let me know that Jill and I are not alone - and this community often saves me from my own dark musings about the state of the world.

I have no idea how many scientists and physicians are quietly, sometimes secretly, questioning the public health policies in this country and globally. But I do know that dissidents of the new normal are slowly finding their voice and are speaking out.

In a greatly anticipated Friday night drop of what has was expected to be a cache of information involving the censoring of Hunter Biden's notebook story days ahead of the 2020 presidential election, moments ago Elon Musk - who worked in collaboration with the notoriously independent gonzo journalist Matt Taibbi of "Vampire Squid" fame - has published the "Twitter Files."

Shortly before their release, Matt Taibbi sent the following email to his substack subscribers:

Dear TK Readers:

Very shortly, I'm going to begin posting a long thread of information on Twitter, at my account, @mtaibbi. This material is likely to get a lot of attention. I will absolutely understand if subscribers are angry that it is not appearing here on Substack first. I'd be angry, too.

The last 96 hours have been among the most chaotic of my life, involving multiple trips back and forth across the country, with a debate in Canada in between. There's a long story I hope to be able to tell soon, but can't, not quite yet anyway. What I can say is that in exchange for the opportunity to cover a unique and explosive story, I had to agree to certain conditions.

Those of you who've been here for years know how seriously I take my obligation to this site's subscribers. On this one occasion, I'm going to have to simply ask you to trust me. As it happens, there may be a few more big surprises coming, and those will be here on Substack. And there will be room here to to discuss this, too, in time. In any case, thanks for your support and your patience, and please hold me to a promise to make all this up to you, and then some.

Moments later Elon confirmed that he did, in fact, work with Taibbi:

"Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin). In more than two and a half years of conversations with key Russian players, from knuckle-draggers in the dark recesses of the Kremlin to Putin's sharpest liberal critics, I have yet to find anyone who views Ukraine in NATO as anything other than a direct challenge to Russian interests."
— William Burns, US ambassador to Moscow writing to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 2008

"There's nothing inevitable about the "multipolar world". Its emergence depends entirely on a war that is just beginning and whose outcome is still unknown."
— From the text

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center: "About half of Americans... say they are either extremely (24%) or very (26%) concerned about the possibility of U.S. and NATO support for Ukraine leading to a U.S. war with Russia." ("Americans' Concerns About War in Ukraine: Wider Conflict, Possible U.S.-Russia Clash", Pew Research Center)

This is a smaller percentage than one might expect given the risk that an unexpected escalation that could trigger a nuclear war. Even so, this is what the data tell us and the data don't lie.

It was a snowy start to meteorological winter across the mountains of California Thursday as a winter storm tracked across the state, and AccuWeather forecasters say that more snow is on the way.

The storm arrived in Northern California late Wednesday and continued throughout Thursday, delivering much-needed rain to the lower elevations. San Francisco International Airport measured 0.71 of an inch of rain on Thursday, nearly half of the 1.58 inches of rain that fell in all of November.

A yardstick was needed to measure the snow in the higher elevations with snow causing travel-related headaches for drivers across the region.

Interstate 80 at Donner Pass and Highway 50 at Echo Summit were closed periodically throughout the storm due to vehicles stuck on the snowpacked roads, but the roads have since been reopened to traffic.