One of the many lessons I have learned over the last three years of forced enrollment in the COVIDcrisis University of Hard Knocks is that there actually are people who function to target resistance and whistleblower groups as black operations agents on behalf of the Government and other interested parties. These people typically do not sulk around in trench coats wearing dark glasses and ear pieces. They look just like you and me, appearing to be reasonable people tending to their daily lives.

Yes, professional chaos agents and disruptors do exist. In my ignorant naivety, I once allowed one of them into my own personal space. She had pushed herself into the nascent American truckers protest movement, had infiltrated Childrens Health Defense early on (advocating that people bring guns to CHD-sponsored "medical freedom" rallies), and bragged about recruiting members of the "Proud Boys" group to attend the Lincoln Memorial "Stop the Mandates" rally. Just for the record, although this action enabled various corporate media outlets to cast shade on the rally as a far right wing operation, I did not personally see any at that rally who identified as "Proud Boys", and corporate media did not offer any photographic or other evidence, rather merely their own unsupported assertions that this was the case. This same individual also convinced a prominent physician often cited as a key leader in the COVIDcrisis resistance to hire her to support his social media activities.

Elizabeth Gilbert has withdrawn her novel which is set in 20th century Russia.

The novelist behind 'Eat Pray Love' has pulled a novel scheduled for publication after receiving a torrent of condemnation from Ukrainian internet commenters over its setting in Soviet Russia.

Entitled 'The Snow Forest', Elizabeth Gilbert's latest novel was announced by Bloomsbury last week, with a publication date set for February 2024. Billed as "a riveting story about one family's survival in a remote and beautiful wilderness," the book tells the tale of a family of fictional Russians who move to Siberia to escape Soviet society and the creeping industrialization of the 1930s.

The Russian State Duma has approved on its first reading a bill banning surgical and legal gender reassignment in the latest move by lawmakers to promote so-called "family values." The bill, whose initial reading was approved by Russia's lower house on June 14, must go through two more readings in the State Duma and then be approved by parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, before being signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, who has publicly lambasted the idea of gender reassignment. The bill is the latest among numerous conservative moves by the Kremlin since Russia started its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

On August 14, 2019, the New York Times Magazine dropped something of a historical bombshell on its readers. It was not some new conspiracy theory about the Kennedy assassination or some breathtaking revelation of the secret life of Millard Fillmore. It was much more dramatic. It was called "The 1619 Project," and it consumed an entire special 100-page issue of the magazine. It also aimed at nothing less than a complete overhaul of how we understand American history. It did not, however, meet with entire agreement by American historians: At least two very diverse groups of American historians and political scientists, one headed by myself (and including eleven others) and another by my Princeton colleague Sean Wilentz, wrote letters to Jake Silverstein, the editor of the New York Times Magazine, to question a host of gaffes and misstatements in The 1619 Project. All of these were summarily waved away, and last week, The 1619 Project's lead essay sailed merrily to a Pulitzer Prize for commentary — although if "sailed" is the right metaphor, the ship in question resembles the Bounty more than the Cutty Sark.

The follies of The 1619 Project begin with its title. Most of the time, when we think of how the United States began, we think of 1776 — the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. What The 1619 Project asked us to do was to dial that beginning date back to 1619 — the year the first African slaves were deposited on the shore of what was then the English colony of Virginia. As The 1619 Project's lead writer, journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, insists, this was the real moment of America's beginnings. "No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of slavery that followed," wrote Hannah-Jones. "Out of slavery — and the anti-black racism it required — grew nearly everything that has truly made America exceptional: its economic might, its industrial power, its electoral system, its diet and popular music, the inequities of its public health and education, its astonishing penchant for violence, its income inequality, the example it sets for the world as a land of freedom and equality, its slang, its legal system and the endemic racial fears and hatreds that continue to plague it to this day."

Well, it's 2023 and everything and everyone is gay.

Including the beloved little children's TV show, funded by your tax dollars, aimed at children aged 3 to 5 - Sesame Street.

Check out this unholy crap that these muppets are promoting to young children:

The crews of two Ukrainian BMP-1 infantry combat vehicles have surrendered to Russian troops near the Donbass city of Avdeyevka, TASS reported on Tuesday, citing an unnamed Russian security official.

According to the official, a member of a platoon in Ukraine's 110th separate mechanized bridge had radioed Russian troops, requesting "medical assistance for their wounded soldiers" after commanders had "declined" to evacuate his unit.

The Ukrainian officer reportedly asked for safe passage and said that "the remainder of his units would surrender with all of their weapons, including two BMP-1s."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it hopes to weed out false or misleading animal-welfare claims on meat and poultry packaging with new guidance and testing.

The claims such as "pasture-raised," "humanely raised," and "raised without antibiotics" __ are increasingly popular with consumers and allow producers to charge a premium. Perdue "free range" chicken breasts with no antibiotics sell for $5.78 per pound at Walmart, for example; store brand chicken breasts without those claims sell for $2.79 per pound.

Both meat producers and animal welfare advocates say the USDA isn't adequately substantiating the claims or ensuring they meet consumer expectations. The USDA lets producers define some terms, including "humane," which can lead to widely varying conditions for animals. Other claims like "free range" are clearly defined by the USDA, but some producers are skirting requirements.

Ukrainian troops have made their first significant advance after a week of fighting on the southern front, the German tabloid Bild claimed on Monday, noting also that the reported taking of five small villages had come at the cost of heavy losses in Western-provided armor.

"On the eighth day of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Russian front in the south of the country began to show cracks," Bild reporter Julian Roepcke said in a video update on the battle. "The first sections of the front in Donetsk in the east have been collapsing since yesterday."

Roepcke, who has been at the vanguard pro-Ukraine reporting at the tabloid, cited military sources in Kiev to claim an advance of several kilometers into Russian-controlled territory. However, by Monday evening local time Ukrainian military analysts were reporting heavy fighting at two of the villages supposedly "liberated" earlier in the day.

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT. The man pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault causing serious harm and to three counts of child cruelty, telling gardai he believed his daughter to be possessed by a devil, known in the Arabic community as a 'jinn'.

A father who believed his daughter was possessed by an evil spirit and engaged in "savage" physical abuse which "destroyed" her and left her with a catastrophic brain injury, has failed in a bid to overturn his convictions.

The then nine-year-old girl was regularly punched, beaten with a belt and a stick, choked, bitten and badly burned all over her body at the hands of both her father and mother, whose other children testified against them at trial last year.

The girl is now in a care centre and can no longer walk, talk or sit independently since the brain injury.

Burlington officials are facing calls to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts after an LGBTQ+ Pride celebration at a middle school this month was disrupted by students who tore down rainbow decorations and chanted that their pronouns were "U.S.A."

Parents and residents condemned the "counter-protest" during a Select Board meeting Monday night and urged officials to reinstate the board's diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, subcommittee. A School Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday night, as officials face calls to fill a DEI administration role in the district that has been vacant since fall.


"These displays of intolerance and homophobia are unacceptable and impact the whole community," said Nancy Bonassera, co-chair of the Burlington Equity Coalition, during the meeting.