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Sat, 09 Dec 2023
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Somalia receives free wheat from Moscow


RT
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 14:06 UTC
russian cargo ship
© sonna.so
Somalia has taken delivery of 25,000 tons of humanitarian wheat from Russia, according to the East African nation's news agency, SONNA. A cargo ship carrying the aid arrived in the country's port of Mogadishu on Thursday.

Russia's ambassador to Somalia, Mikhail Golovanov, who arrived in Mogadishu on Saturday ahead of the delivery, handed over the free grain to Somalia's minister of maritime transport and ports, Abdullahi Ahmed Jama.

Moscow has committed to assisting Somalia in dealing with a hunger crisis caused by prolonged droughts and recent floods that affected most of the country's governorates, displacing around 250,000 people. The UN food program said last month that an estimated 4.1 million people in the country will face acute hunger by the end of the year.

Last month, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev announced that two shipments of free grain had left for Burkina Faso and Somalia as part of a pledge made by President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa summit in July.
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Chart Bar

Growing number of Ukrainians want peace talks - poll


RT
Mon, 04 Dec 2023 11:07 UTC
Ukraine tank
© Getty Images / Ozge Elif Kizil; Anadolu
Ukrainians are almost evenly split on how to proceed in the conflict with Russia, local media reported on Sunday, citing a survey conducted in November by the Rating group.

According to the results of the poll, 44% of respondents said it was important to look for compromise in negotiations with Russia and that other countries should be brought into the process.

At the same time, 48% of those polled were opposed to any negotiations with Moscow, and insisted on continuing hostilities until Kiev retakes full control of the territories it has lost.

The results indicated a marked downturn in the number of Ukrainians who support prolonging the fighting with Moscow. In similar polls conducted in July and February, negotiations were backed by just 35% of respondents, while 60% were in favor of prolonging the conflict.
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Dollars

The federal government paid media outlets to promote the Covid vaccine

Rav Arora
The Daily Sceptic
Sat, 02 Dec 2023 11:10 UTC
capitolscreen
© Unknown
After releasing my three-part series earlier this year showing how multiple media outlets refused to platform dissent on the Covid vaccine, I was asked on multiple podcasts why this was the case. Ideological groupthink, fear of exacerbating institutional distrust and financial motives were on my list of potential explanations, but I did not have concrete evidence.

As I highlighted in my first piece, the responses I got from editors claiming their publication's "pro-vaccine" allegiance was quite jarring. More than anything else, a publication should be "pro-truth" - whether that means highlighting the astounding benefits of a therapeutic or exposing its serious side effects. The idea that a whole media corporation would take a firm stance on a novel, experimental product is antithetical to the core purpose of journalism.

As it turns out, mainstream media's nearly monolithic coverage of mRNA vaccines and other Covid measures can be at least partially explained by a clear financial interest. Recently, independent journalist Breanna Morello - who left Fox News because of draconian vaccine mandates in New York City - alerted me to a FOIA request filed by the conservative media company Blaze, which found a number of major media outlets were paid to promote the Covid vaccine. Such venues included the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NBC, CNN, Fox News and several others. Blaze's report received little coverage - even in conservative media (perhaps because some of those outlets were also paid by HHS) ideologically predisposed to criticise government-fuelled narratives on the pandemic.
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Dollar

Feds spent more than $600K hiring influencers in 2021

Rachel Aiello
CTVNews
Thu, 31 Mar 2022 07:15 UTC
Point arrow

Canada Influence Consultants point the way!
In 2021 the Canadian government turned to social media influencers to promote federal initiatives on multiple occasions, from the COVID-19 vaccine rollout to Winterlude 'staycations,' spending more than $600,000 in the process, according to a CTV News analysis.

Seeking out influencers — social media users, often with large followings, who often use their platforms to make money by promoting products or events — to amplify government messages is a relatively new strategy being deployed by administrations across the world, and Canada is no exception.

According to a CTV News analysis of documents recently tabled in the House of Commons, more than a dozen federal departments and agencies employed influencers to help get their messages out in the last year.

Elizabeth Dubois, a University of Ottawa professor whose work focuses on the intersections of communications, technology, and politics, said:
"Influencers or creators online do a really good job of building a tight-knit community, a niche community, who have a shared interest, shared experiences. And we know that people are most convinced to change their minds on something or change their behaviors when they connect with the message. And so influencers and creators are really great at tailoring messages to particular audiences. A big pro of making use of these kinds of influencers to get government messages out is you can reach specific communities."
The figures, presented in response to an inquiry from the Conservatives, show that of the federal entities who disclosed their related spending between Jan. 1, 2021 and Jan. 31, 2022, Health Canada was the top spending department when it came to contracting influencers.

Comment: It's 'persuasion by identification' soft-sell advertising and a teensy part of your hotel bill...a growing industry at your expense.

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Dollars

Bidenomics in Action

James Kunstler
kunstler.com
Mon, 04 Dec 2023 16:54 UTC
"We are at an inflection point, a threshold, where weak, brittle, effete personality structures are a threat to human civilization." — JD Haltigan
US Economy
© dzen.ru
If you're troubled at all about the state of our country, and even your own small role in it, you might be asking yourself whether the people running things have any idea what they're doing. Some of these doings happen in the metaphysical realm of finance, for instance America's national debt ($34-trillion and going up like mad), and the death of the US dollar, along with the bonds that underwrite it. Or the game of hide-the-salami with the repo and reverse repo markets played between the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury to give the broken banking system the appearance of stability when it is actually in deepening ruin.

Did you understand any of that? Probably not, but not because you're dumb. It's because all that action is meant to be incomprehensible even to people who went to grad school. The news media only amplify the mystification. The net effect is that increasingly nothing in the life of our nation is real. Every action taken is a swindle of one kind or another, a cavalcade of switcheroos aimed at zeroing out the consensus about reality.

What trickles down from all this cosmic activity is the dwindling possibility of a fruitful life for most Americans. You cannot make a living. You can't fix all the machines in your life or get new ones. You can't get married because there's no way you can fulfill your end of the contract. You search in vain for something purposeful to do. You are eventually faced with the choice: surrender to depression and hopelessness, or revolt against a ruling blob that is only good at one thing: depriving you of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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Display

Cyberattacks in multiple US states disrupts factories, Israel's gov't adopts new 'wartime digital powers'

Juliana Kim
NPR
Sat, 02 Dec 2023 13:51 UTC
cyberattack israel palestine

This photo provided by the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa shows the screen of a Unitronics device that was hacked in Aliquippa, Pa., on Nov. 25.
An Iran-linked hacking group is "actively targeting and compromising" multiple U.S. facilities for using an Israeli-made computer system, U.S. cybersecurity officials say.


Comment: Not only are hackers difficult to identify, the US itself admitted that it is able to cover its own cyber tracks with the footprints of other actors, therefore any claims that these groups are 'Iran-linked' is questionable.


The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said on Friday that the hackers, known as "CyberAv3ngers," have been infiltrating video screens with the message "You have been hacked, down with Israel. Every equipment 'made in Israel' is CyberAv3ngers legal target."


Comment: Which means that the Israeli companies, and by default, Mossad, have the backdoors to these systems.


The cyberattacks have spanned multiple states, CISA said. While the equipment in question, "Unitronics Vision Series programmable logic controllers," is predominately used in water and wastewater systems, companies in energy, food and beverage manufacturing, and health care are also under threat.

Comment: A few years ago WEF-linked groups warned of a coming 'global cyber-pandemic', and, since then there have been regular hacks on government and corporate systems - notably, few of them were alleged to be linked to China/Russia/Iran - and it seems more reasonable to suppose that, whilst some of them may emanate from groups backed by, or in alignment with the multi polar world, it seems that the majority of these attacks most likely to benefit the West and its allies: See also: Turkey's intelligence organization foils Mossad attempt to kidnap Palestinian Iron Dome hacker

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NPC

Disney admits 'misalignment with public and consumer tastes' has 'adversely impacted' the company, SEC filing reveals

Patricia Tolson
The Epoch Times
Tue, 28 Nov 2023 08:42 UTC
Disney protest
© Jill McLaughlin/The Epoch Times
Protesters rally in opposition to The Walt Disney Company's stance against a recently passed Florida law outside of the company's headquarters in Burbank, Calif., on April 6, 2022.
After years of unsuccessfully trying to force its woke agenda upon its customers, the world's largest family entertainment company is finally admitting there may be some truth to the saying coined by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: "Go Woke. Go Broke."

According to its latest filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Walt Disney Company acknowledged that it faces "risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel, and consumer products," and that "revenues and profitability are adversely impacted" when their "entertainment offerings and products" don't "achieve sufficient consumer acceptance."

Conversely, it describes itself as "a diversified worldwide entertainment company" with "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" objectives that include "building teams that reflect the life experiences of our audiences, while employing and supporting a diverse array of voices in our creative and production teams."

According to the filing, the company's revenues for fiscal 2023 were $88.9 billion. While this was a seven percent increase over fiscal year 2022, The Hollywood Reporter noted that Disney was forced to cut spending on television and movie content from $29.8 billion to $27.2, and Business Insider reported in May that Disney entered its third round of layoffs, releasing around 7,000 employees, and scrapping plans to build $900 million corporate campus in Florida.
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Bad Guys

1 tourist dead after Paris knife attack, assailant was known by authorities for terrorist plans & radical Islam views


Le Monde
Sun, 03 Dec 2023 10:12 UTC
Eiffel
© Global Look Press / Alexis Sciard
FILE PHOTO: Known to authorities for his radical Islamism and psychiatric problems, this Frenchman had already been arrested and sentenced for a planned attack in the Paris area.
Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, a young Frenchman from the Paris region, was arrested on Saturday following the stabbing death of a German tourist in Paris and the attack on two other people with a hammer. He was a known person to authorities for his radical Islamism and psychiatric disorders.

What he is accused of

A German man was killed and two other people injured in a knife and hammer attack near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Saturday evening. The assailant, Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, was arrested shortly after the incident and taken into custody. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) has taken charge of the investigation for murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise and for criminal terrorist conspiracy.

Comment: In the instances where the attacker was known by authorities, it's reasonable to suspect that, at the very least, they had foreknowledge that an attack like this would happen. In a number of instances, there's strong evidence showing that the establishment facilitated the terrorist attack.

Geopolitical analysts also foresaw that, what with the West's wholehearted support for Israel's escalation of its genocide against Palestians, the deep state would foster situations that would lead to increased terror attacks: Obviously some attacks will simply be the consequence of weaponised mass migration: For other examples of terrorism where the attacker was known to authorities, see:

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Toys

Buhbye! Walmart stops advertising on X, adding to growing list of companies

Breck Dumas
Fox News
Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:31 UTC
musk New York Times DealBook Summit fuck yourself

Musk invited advertisers to leave if they don't like the way he runs the X platform
Retail giant follows Apple, Disney and IBM in halting ads on X

Walmart no longer advertises on X, adding to the list of companies that have halted ads on the social media platform owned by Elon Musk.

A spokesperson for the retail giant on Friday confirmed to FOX Business in a statement, "We aren't advertising on X as we've found other platforms to better reach our customers."

The news was first reported by Reuters.

A person familiar with the situation told FOX Business that Walmart's decision to stop advertising on X was not made overnight, but was rather a gradual progression away from the platform over quite some time.

Comment: If it's a good product desired by customers, it will succeed. If not it will fail. He said he will do his best, but is prepared for both outcomes. Musk has put his faith in the market like a true capitalist. Not too far off reality: Child grooming content on X drops by 83% after Disney pulls ads

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Snowflake Cold

Private jets headed to Cop28 global warming conference "literally frozen on runway"

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 02 Dec 2023 21:14 UTC
germany jets frozen runway global warming conference
© screenshothq/tiktok
While world leaders spoke at a 'global warming' conference in Dubai, located in the heart of the Arabian Desert, discussing the usual: banning gas stoves, cow farts, and petrol-powered vehicles, a powerful snowstorm grounded all flights at Munich Airport in Germany.

"Private jets in Munich on the way to Dubai global warming conference are literally frozen on the runway, which has turned into a glacier," said Ryan Maue, a meteorologist and former NOAA chief scientist.

Comment: Every now and then Mother Nature hands us a giggle.

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