Society's ChildS


Propaganda

Elon Musk skewers WaPo for doing 'no research' as he easily debunks their newest hit piece

Kyle Becker
Trending Politics
Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:00 UTC
BezMusk
© Getty Images/unsolash/Chloe KrammelJeff Bezoz • Elon Musk
Elon Musk is firing back at a Washington Post hit piece that claims that he had "reinvented Twitter" to benefit "Himself."

The Washington Post's story accused Musk of manipulating Twitter for his own benefit at the cost of user experience:
That approach was illustrated dramatically this week when the site Platformer reported Twitter had made major algorithmic changes — on Musk's orders — that resulted in users seeing the billionaire's tweets first. Musk had been worried that his engagement was declining: His tweet throwing support behind the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl had not performed as well as President Biden's, for example. The fix that Twitter rolled out pushed Musk's tweets to the top of many users' feeds, something widely noted by users. [...]

Musk is a prolific Twitter user who has a penchant for tweeting his mind and sometimes landing himself in trouble in the process. Appearing in court last month over an infamous 2018 tweet declaring he had "Funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 a share, Musk said he sees the site as an effective way to communicate with the public, both to disseminate company information and "memes."
Musk blasted the story as obviously "false." Where else? On Twitter.
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Dollars

Riots erupt in Nigerian cities as bank policy leads to scarcity of cash


The Guardian
Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:10 UTC
bank line
© Temilade Adelaja/ReutersBank lacking Nigeria's new naira notes are seeing huge queues of frustrated customers
Rioters have attacked bank ATMs and blocked roads in three Nigerian cities as anger spilled on the streets over a scarcity of cash, just days before the country's general election.

Nigeria has been struggling with a shortage in physical cash since the central bank began to swap old bills of the local naira currency for new ones, leading to a shortfall in banknotes.

Banks have limited access to cash for withdrawals because of a scarcity of the new notes, and some businesses refuse to accept old naira, causing huge queues, angering customers and disrupting businesses.

The unrest in the south-western city of Ibadan, and Benin City and Delta State in southern Nigeria, came days before Nigeria holds elections on 25 February to decide on a successor to the president, Muhammadu Buhari, who will step down after two terms.

Police in Delta State said "unguided youths/miscreants in the name of protests" set two banks and two vehicles on fire.

"We have arrested nine suspects so far. Some persons will still call this protest," state police spokesperson Bright Edafe wrote on Twitter.
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Dollars

Global food giant issues grim warning


RT
Sun, 19 Feb 2023 19:09 UTC
grocery store, food, eggs
© Getty Images / Noel Hendrickson
The world's biggest food corporation, Nestle, has said prices for staple items would continue to grow during 2023, after more than a year of price increases that have forced the ordinary consumer into an ongoing struggle to buy groceries.

The giant increased prices by 8.2% last year, but says this was not enough to offset a rise in its own costs that had substantially dented profits.

According to Nestle CEO Mark Schneider, Nestle's price increases, which are expected to vary by market and category, will be "very targeted" and will only be implemented where "input cost inflation justifies it."

"We are still in a situation where we're repairing our gross margin and, like all the consumers around the world, we've been hit by inflation and now we're trying to repair the damage that has been done," Schneider said.
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Passport

Portugal ends golden visa era in attempt to fight real estate price speculation and rising housing costs


RT
Sun, 19 Feb 2023 18:15 UTC
Portuguese home
© Getty Images / Monique Sieben / EyeEm
Portugal's authorities have announced a bulky package of economic measures that includes the termination of one of the most sought-after 'golden visa' schemes in Europe, which provides non-EU nationals with Portuguese residence in exchange for buying real estate or for other investments.

Lisbon's decision to halt issuing new golden visas in return for such investments, which had given those who could pay residency status and access to the EU's borderless travel zone, was announced on Thursday by the country's Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

The step is aimed at "fighting against price speculation in real estate," the premier said, adding that the crisis was now affecting all families, not just the most vulnerable.

The 'golden visa' program had attracted €6.8 billion ($7.3 billion) in investment since its launch in 2012, with the bulk of the money reportedly going into real estate. To get Portuguese residency one had to invest over €280,000 (over $300,000) in real estate or at least €250,000 (some $268,000) in the arts. Once a person obtained residence, they were then required to spend only seven days a year in the country to maintain their right to free movement across the whole bloc.

The just-announced package of measures also includes a ban on new licenses for Airbnbs and some other short-term holiday rentals, except in remote locations.
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Alarm Clock

"Caught red-handed": Blue Cross Blue Shield backtracks on racist grant program, opens up to white people

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 18 Feb 2023 18:09 UTC
web page food equity grant program blue cross
© Screenshot/The Epoch TimesThe webpage for Advancing Healthy Food Equity, a grant program run by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, in 2023.
Earlier this week, the leader of a medical watchdog organization called out Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of North Carolina over a racist grant program which only applied to organizations run by non-whites.

"If ever there was a bad idea, the notion that we should start to separate our country along racial lines is amongst the worst," said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a former associate dean for curriculum at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The $300,000 grant program, called "Advancing Healthy Food Equity" (AHFE), disqualified any organization with a white CEO from participating, while the community directly served by the program must also not be white.
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Stock Up

Brand withdrawal backfired: Half of Russians no longer need Western brands - survey


RT
Sun, 19 Feb 2023 17:36 UTC
storefront
© Getty Images / Jon Hicks
Nearly half of Russians have successfully found domestic substitutes for foreign products made unavailable due to sanctions, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday, citing a poll by the NielsenIQ research company.

According to the findings, over the past year, 47% of Russians "have completely switched to locally produced brands or began to buy products of local production more often." About a third of respondents did not change their preferences and continued to buy the same brands they used to before 2022, and 17% switched to new brands, but also of foreign production.

Respondents offered several reasons for turning to local brands. Over half of them said they did it to support domestic producers, while 20% pointed to an inability to find foreign analogues at a reasonable price. Another 10% stated that they could not find foreign goods that match the quality and characteristics they value, but see them in Russian products.

After the start of Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, many major Western brands announced their withdrawal from the Russian market and the suspension of investment and imports. According to economists from Switzerland's University of St. Gallen, more than 1,400 companies have decided to quit Russia over the past year, including electronics manufacturers, retailers, automakers, clothing and food brands, hotels, banks, and restaurant chains. Yet, despite concerns that the trend would damage the Russian economy, it spurred development in domestic industries.

Comment: Rather than hurting the Russian economy the removal of Western competition has been a boon for its domestic industries. The unintended consequences of stupid decisions strikes again!

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Bad Guys

Progressive group roiled by accusations diversity leader lied about her ethnic background

Alice Speri
The Intercept
Sun, 19 Feb 2023 17:36 UTC
Raquel Evita Saraswati leftist lied ethnicity
© The Intercept/YouTubeRaquel Evita Saraswati on Fox News, on May, 17, 2014.
The controversy at the American Friends Service Committee puts a spotlight on the "diversity and equity" industry's shortcomings

Members of the American Friends Service Committee, a prominent Quaker organization known for its progressive values and social justice advocacy in the U.S. and abroad, have raised an alarm about a woman holding a leadership position within the organization who they say has misrepresented her ethnic background for years and who they fear may be working on behalf of groups seeking to undermine their organization.

Raquel Evita Saraswati, a Muslim activist who for years has encouraged people to believe that she is a woman of color, including Latina as well as of South Asian and Arab descent, is the AFSC's chief equity, inclusion, and culture officer, a senior position that gives her access to the files of dozens of the organization's staff and volunteers. But Saraswati, who was born Rachel Elizabeth Seidel, is not a person of color, according to her mother, Carol Perone.

"I call her Rachel," Perone told The Intercept, when reached by telephone. "I don't know why she's doing what she's doing."

Comment: DEI is one of the best grifts going:

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Syringe

German press discusses Pfizer vaccine trial fraud. Will a "Covid reckoning" follow?

Igor Chudov
Igor's Newsletter
Sun, 19 Feb 2023 17:07 UTC
pfizer vaccine trial fraud headline germany
© Welt
"Pfizer fraud" now openly discussed in mainstream national press

I am pleasantly surprised to see the mainstream German publication Die Welt openly asserting that clinical trials of the "Pfizer COVID vaccine" were rife with fraud. (paywall-free German language link, PDF with English translation) What a change!

Again, click here for the English version saved as a PDF file.

The article explains that Pfizer unblinded and removed numerous patients who suffered adverse events from the Covid vaccine trial. It also gives examples of Pfizer subjects whose deaths were covered up. One of the victims described by Die Welt is Pfizer subject C4591001 1162 11621327, whose story I unearthed in July of 2022.
WELT has documents according to which patient no. 11621327 was found dead in his apartment three days after the 2nd dose, apparently a stroke. Patient #11521497 died 20 days after vaccination, diagnosis of cardiac arrest. "According to the current state of science, these two cases would be assigned to the vaccination," says the Berlin pharmaceutical specialist Susanne Wagner, "especially since the US health authority CDC is currently investigating strokes in vaccinated people and it is known
As you remember, Pfizer's investigators falsely ruled these deaths unrelated.

Comment:

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Water

Ohio Sen. Rulli: 'I'm begging you not to drink the water' in East Palestine; 'It is not safe'

Alana Mastrangelo
Breitbart
Sat, 18 Feb 2023 15:59 UTC
Ohio Sen. Michael Rulli (R-Salem)
© Sen. Michael Rulli’s OfficeOhio Sen. Michael Rulli (R-Salem)
Ohio Sen. Michael Rulli (R-Salem) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on SiriusXM's Breitbart News Saturday that anyone living within ten miles of East Palestine should not drink or bathe in the water. "It is not safe," Rulli affirmed.

"Anyone within ten miles, I am begging you not to drink the water. I am begging you not to bathe in the water. It is not safe," Rulli told Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle on Saturday.

"Now that we've had this disaster, and fortunately for us, no one got killed on the initial explosion, but we got to worry about cancer in the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years," Rulli continued.
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Biohazard

Cincinnati to close Ohio River intake to prevent any contamination from train derailment


WLWT
Sat, 18 Feb 2023 15:43 UTC
Ohio River Cincinnati
© Maddy SchmidtThe Ohio River running through Cincinnati, Indiana
Water works officials said out of an abundance of caution, they will be shutting off the Ohio River intake ahead of the anticipated arrival of the last detectable chemical concentration in the river.

According to GCWW, the latest modeling indicates that any chemicals remaining in the Ohio River will likely pass through the Cincinnati area early on Sunday, Feb. 19.

While the water intake is shut off, GCWW will temporarily switch to water reserves, officials said.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said they are continuing to monitor the Ohio River, saying Friday that sampling has shown the chemical plume has completely dissipated and they are no longer getting any reading of contaminants.

DeWine said water test results show municipal water in East Palestine is safe to drink following a train derailment and chemical spill.

Comment:

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