SOTT
SIGNS
OF THE
TIMES
OF THE
TIMES
Welcome to Sott.net
The World for People who Think
Society's ChildS
Despite Glamis Castle's magnificence and its owners' position in the first rank of aristocratic wealth and privilege, behind the fabulous facade lie some murkier stories
Perhaps cursed is too strong a word. But down the decades the Bowes-Lyons have been dogged by scandal and intrigue.
We learnt yesterday that the 19th and 6th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, to give him his full title, is facing prison for sexually assaulting a guest at Glamis Castle, his ancestral home in Scotland which has been the family seat since the 14th century.
His great-great aunt, the Queen Mother, spent her childhood in the castle. Princess Margaret was born there and photographs of the royals adorn the walls.
The Trump-inspired "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement must either rehabilitate or purge the QAnon cultists in its ranks because they're discrediting and potentially even dangerous, to say nothing of the fact that their very association with MAGA provides the "deep state" with the seemingly "plausible pretext" to push forward with its dystopian efforts to criminalize the movement as a so-called "domestic terrorist" organization and potentially even intensify its censorship of alternative and social media.
"The Master Plan"
The whole world is talking about QAnon, the mysterious network of supposedly high-placed pro-Trump supporters that's allegedly been leaking secret information about the outgoing leader's "deep state" enemies for the past few years, after some of the Capitol Hill invaders pledged their loyalty to it before and during the events of that fateful day last week. There's little doubt that many of them were influenced by QAnon's narrative that Trump has hatched a "master plan" of epic proportions to take down traitorous elements in America's permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies ("deep state") as well as their academia, media, political, and religious (specifically Roman Catholic) allies that most mere mortals are unable to comprehend since it involves the playing of so-called "5D chess". Having deluded themselves into mistakenly thinking that the President would support their storming of America's seat of government, they raided the building after police suspiciously removed barricades and even opened the doors for them to do so.
The whole world is talking about QAnon, the mysterious network of supposedly high-placed pro-Trump supporters that's allegedly been leaking secret information about the outgoing leader's "deep state" enemies for the past few years, after some of the Capitol Hill invaders pledged their loyalty to it before and during the events of that fateful day last week. There's little doubt that many of them were influenced by QAnon's narrative that Trump has hatched a "master plan" of epic proportions to take down traitorous elements in America's permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies ("deep state") as well as their academia, media, political, and religious (specifically Roman Catholic) allies that most mere mortals are unable to comprehend since it involves the playing of so-called "5D chess". Having deluded themselves into mistakenly thinking that the President would support their storming of America's seat of government, they raided the building after police suspiciously removed barricades and even opened the doors for them to do so.
© Sputnik / Vladimir Trefilov
The law enforcement operation against DarkMarket involved security agencies from Germany, Australia, Denmark, Moldova, Ukraine and the UK, as well as the US, with Europol coordinating their actions and providing operational analysis.
In Germany, officers arrested a 34-year-old Australian man suspected of being the operator of the illegal marketplace. He was taken into custody near the country's border with Denmark at the weekend. Further investigation led to the discovery of more than 20 servers in Moldova and Ukraine which had hosted DarkMarket, resulting in their seizure.
The data stored on the seized servers is expected to give the cybercrime units even more leads on moderators, sellers and buyers on the marketplace.
© ReutersA general view shows the damage at the site of the blast in Beirut’s port area, Lebanon August 5, 2020.
The Aug. 4 explosion killed 200 people, injured thousands and caused wide destruction in Beirut.
NNA said the Interpol-issued Red Notices were for the owner and captain of the Rhosus, the ship that carried the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate to Lebanon in 2013, as well as a Portuguese nitrate trader who visited the port's warehouse in Beirut in 2014 where the material was stored.
© Yuya Shino / Reuters
"We are announcing that Airbnb will cancel reservations in the Washington, D.C. metro area during the Inauguration week," the statement read. "Additionally, we will prevent any new reservations in the Washington, D.C. area from being booked during that time by blocking such reservations."
Comment: Well, if no one's gonna be in town, what's with all the National Guard troops posted in Congress? Obviously someone's afraid of something.
© Getty Images via AFP / Frederick M. BrownScreenwriter Russell T Davies
Screenwriter Russell T Davies says gay men must be cast in gay roles because "you wouldn't black someone up." It's not only a bad comparison but following his rule would rob us of great performances and harm gay actors the most.
Let's get something clear. Russell T Davies is an excellent screenwriter.
His blunt and brilliant drama about the Manchester gay scene Queer As Folk was a rare example of a TV show actually being 'ground-breaking' and not just having the phrase slapped on its poster. A Very English Scandal, about the Jeremy Thorpe affair in the Seventies, nailed the bizarre British relationship with class and sexuality. Years And Years was a dystopian tale to rival Orwell and made Emma Thompson the first actor to have a fascist despot and a magical nanny on her IMDb page.
Comment: So, in essence Russell T Davies would seem to be saying "You can identify as whatever you want, but you can't PRETEND to be gay."
Wait, what? The essence of acting IS pretending.
© Pixabay/PrettysleepyBurning books from the inside-out
News outlet USA Today has managed to personify the term 'Orwellian' in its profoundly condescending writeup scolding readers for "using the term 'Orwellian' wrong." Published on Monday, the piece goes to great lengths to shame those insecure about their vocabulary by suggesting the term "Orwellian" can only be used correctly by liberals.
"Chances are, you've seen George Orwell's name thrown around a lot in the past week on social media, either by conservatives invoking his name with sincerity or by liberals poking fun at conservatives for its misuse..."The article starts, smirkingly laying the groundwork for canceling out all usage of the term by those on the Right.
But the examples it holds up to mock - presidential scion Donald Trump Jr.'s complaint about the disappearance of his father's Twitter account and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley's blaming the "woke mob" for the cancellation of his book contract - are not as wide of the mark as the thought police at USA Today would have us believe.
Andrew Torba
President Trump's new account: https://gab.com/realdonaldtrump
Comment: A new avenue for free speech under a crushing and coordinated attempt to squelch it at all costs. Let's see what other paths towards countering the Dem's information warfare may be found...
© REUTERS / Ints Kalnins; Christophe Gateau / picture alliance via Getty ImagesFILE PHOTOS.
Vladimir Linderman is a veteran opposition figure and journalist in Latvia. In the past he was accused of various crimes - which he considers attempts to pressure him into stopping political activism - from plotting an assassination of the Latvian president to forging paperwork when trying to register a political party. None of them ultimately stuck in court. Linderman too failed to get the supposed target of his plot, then-President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, to pay compensation in a slander case, which he filed after she allegedly called him an extremist and a threat to Latvian society.
The experience of being in the crosshairs of Latvian law meant that when police came to search his home last month, even his cat was not bothered much, Linderman joked when interviewed by RT.
Comment: Considering Russia's increasing influence in the economic arena, one wonders how long these states will be able to keep this up without shooting themselves in the foot:
- Is Russia really in decline? Western pundits still insist country on brink despite repeated predictions of apocalypse falling flat
- Let there be gas: Putin & Merkel gave Trump the finger
- German investments in Russia back on track despite lockdowns & Western sanctions
Comment: It's hardly surprising that Beller would speak like this candidly - this is the way that a number of liberals think.
Apparently Beller has been fired from PBS. From RT: