If you won't see it, you can't fight it
The impact of propaganda at its best — that is, at its most effective — depends on our not seeing it for what it is, mistaking it for "news" or "entertainment," and/or some other content that appears to have no covert intention. Thus disguised, propaganda works far more efficiently, and often for far longer, than when it comes at us as propaganda — as, say, in TV and radio spots, ad banners on the Web, billboards, videos in taxicabs, or any other medium that bluntly sells a product or a candidate. So bald a pitch — known, among the spooks, as "white propaganda" — tends to provoke resistance, as when a telemarketer calls, or a panhandler approaches. By contrast, winning propaganda — as Edward Bernays explains in his eponymous classic(1928) — neutralizes your suspicion by working its "persuasion" into some comic or suspenseful narrative, or journalistic exposé, or (seeming) "fad" or "craze," so that such "gray propaganda" sneaks past your defenses, lodges in your mind without your knowing it, and stays there until you somehow learn the truth, and — crucially — accept it.

Such truth can hurt, so that accepting it is often difficult — unless, of course, it tells you what you want to think is true. We have no trouble spotting propaganda from "the enemy," whoever that may be: propaganda that we disagree with, and therefore call it "propaganda" as that word is commonly deployed, as a mere synonym for "lies." If, on the other hand, the enemy says something true, and (naturally) we want to think it's false, our dismissing it as "propaganda" in the pejorative sense is itself that very kind of propaganda, meant to have you thinking that true claims are false, and falsehoods true. (Not everyone who does this is aware of what s/he's doing, but speaks out of wishful thinking, tribalistic and defensive.) If, however, the enemy's propaganda comes at us disguised as something else — something thrilling, beautiful or fun — we can absorb it just as easily as we often do with propaganda hidden in domestic news or entertainment. (Dr. Goebbels was especially adept at managing that sort of masquerade, such as the films of Leni Riefenstahl, and other spectacles with no explicit hints of pending war or genocide.)

The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has died at the age of 88, the Vatican has announced.

Francis began his papacy in March 2013 and was the first pontiff from Latin America.

"At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church,″ Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said in a statement on Monday morning.

Pope Francis "taught us to live the values of the Gospel with faithfulness, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalized," Farrell wrote.

"With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite, merciful love of God, One and Tribune,″ the cardinal added.

Pope Francis was last seen in public on Easter Sunday when he attended the Holy Mass at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.

His traditional Easter address was delivered by a member of the clergy due to the pontiff's poor health. Afterwards, the Pope got out of his wheelchair and waved to the cheering crowd from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, saying: "Dear brothers and sisters, happy Easter."

Earlier on Sunday, the head of the Catholic Church held a meeting with US Vice President J.D. Vance.

A senior figure at the BBC's Middle East desk, Raffi Berg, has been exposed as a former employee of a CIA propaganda division and a collaborator with Israel's intelligence agency Mossad, according to a detailed investigation by MintPress News.

Berg, who currently heads the BBC's Middle East coverage, is facing growing internal criticism. At least thirteen BBC journalists have reportedly accused him of holding an overt bias in favour of Israel. Staff allege that Berg's influence is so extensive that his role essentially revolves around "watering down" any reporting that might be overly critical of Israel. One source described him as wielding a "wild" degree of power within the newsroom.

A separate investigation published by Drop Site News in December disclosed that an atmosphere of "extreme fear" prevails at the BBC when it comes to covering stories critical of Israel, with Berg allegedly playing a central role in steering the network's output towards what has been described as "systematic Israeli propaganda".

Connecticut State Police say 'there is no information at this time suggesting any connection to similar remains discoveries'

At least seven human remains found across Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts between March and April warrant "review and investigation," according to Pennsylvania-based criminal defense attorney and former Lawrence County District Attorney Matthew Mangino.

Over the last two months, human remains have been located in New Haven, Norwalk, Groton and Killingly, Connecticut; Foster, Rhode Island; and Framingham and Plymouth, Massachusetts.

It is unclear at this point if the deaths of these seven victims are related in any way, and Connecticut State Police told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that "there is no information at this time suggesting any connection to similar remains discoveries, and there is also no known threat to the public at this time," regarding the deaths in Connecticut.

Beijing has reportedly slashed purchases of American crude by 90% amid the tariff war.

China has been importing record amounts of crude oil from Canada and drastically reducing supplies from the US in light of the trade war with Washington, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Washington and Beijing have implemented a series of reciprocal tariff hikes over the past two months in light of which the latter has slashed purchases of US oil by roughly 90%, according to the outlet. China previously indicated that it would not implement more tariff hikes against US goods but would rather employ alternative ways to retaliate.

Chinese crude imports from a port near Vancouver on Canada's Pacific coast soared to a record 7.3 million barrels in March and may exceed the figure this month, Bloomberg reported, citing data from London-based global oil and gas cargo tracking firm Vortexa Ltd. Chinese imports of US oil, meanwhile, have fallen to 3 million barrels per month from a peak of 29 million last June, it added.

I'm writing this now, because Celia Farber has written an article exploring a toxic connection between citric acid, a very common ingredient in food and nutritional supplements, and Aspergillus Fumigatus, a mold/fungus.

That mold was used in secret US Army experiments on US citizens.

NY Times, December 23, 1976: "In one test in a warehouse at Mechanicsburg, the Army used a fungal substance that it acknowledged could cause disease. The substance was aspergillus fumigatus, which is commonly found in compost piles and damp hay and can cause aspergillosis, an uncommon sporadic disease that can take the form of asthmatic attacks or infection in the external ear."

Deseret News, via NY Times, July 27, 1994: "...an early germ-warfare test. It took place in 1951 near Newport News, Va....The Army released an organism called Aspergillus fumigatus at the Norfolk Naval Supply Center because most workers were black. For some reason, the testers imagined an enemy might target the blacks at military bases."

"'Since Negroes are more susceptible to coccidioides than are whites,' a report said, 'this fungus disease was simulated by using Aspergillus fumigatus.' Aspergillus, further, was known to cause lethal infections."

KNOWN TO CAUSE LETHAL INFECTIONS??!!??

China's exports jumped more than expected in March as businesses frontloaded outbound shipments to avoid prohibitive U.S. tariffs, while imports extended declines as sluggish domestic demand persisted.

Exports jumped 12.4% last month in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, according to data released by customs authority on Monday, significantly outpacing Reuters' poll estimates of a 4.4% growth and marking the biggest jump since October last year.

Imports fell 4.3% in March from a year earlier, compared with economists' expectations of a 2% decline.

In the first two months of the year, China's exports had slowed more than expected, growing just 2.3% year on year, marking the slowest rise since April 2024. Imports clocked a steeper-than-expected decline of 8.4% from a year ago, their sharpest fall since mid-2023.

Two people were killed, and six others were injured, in a shooting at Florida State University (FSU) on Thursday in Tallahassee, authorities said.

The shooting began at around 11:50 a.m. During a press conference later that afternoon, authorities identified the suspected shooter as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, a student at the school.

Ikner was taken to an area hospital after being "neutralized" by authorities. Police also said his mother is a sheriff's deputy with the Leon County Sheriff's Office, and said Ikner used his mother's weapon in the killing.

The suspect's mother, Jessica Ikner, has been an officer for over 18 years and authorities said she has done a "tremendous job" in her position.

Allegations have surfaced about Tesla designing its odometers to read faster - to accrue mileage faster - in order (per the allegations) to get the cars past warranty faster. So that Tesla does not have to pay for warranty covered repairs.

A class-action lawsuit - Hinton v. Tesla - has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The chief plaintiff, Nyree Hinton, claims that rather than registering actual miles driven, Tesla vehicles register odometer readings based on "predictive algorithms" tied to energy consumption. Hinton claims the odometer in his 2020 Model Y read "at least 15 percent fast," according to an MSNB news story about the lawsuit. He claims that his daily drive of about 20 miles often accrued 70 miles of driving on the odometer, resulting in his Model Y accruing more than 50,000 miles sooner than it otherwise would have and being out-of-warranty sooner than it would have, leaving him to foot a $10,000 bill for repairs that would have been covered under warranty.

If the allegations are true, it's pretty bad - for Tesla. The possibility of not just a wholesale recall/buyback scenario looms but also catastrophic reputational damage that may not be fixable. Tesla is already on the outs with its core buyer demographic for political reasons; it may soon be on the outs for more traditional reasons. No one likes being gypped. The word is apt because this probably isn't a case of something inadvertent but rather, deliberate. As in purposeful fraud.

And in more than just one way.

France's Catholic Church will welcome more than 10,384 adult catechumens at Easter this year, marking a 45% increase from 2024 figures, according to data released by the French Bishops' Conference.

The French report reveals the highest numbers ever recorded since the survey began over 20 years ago. Even more striking is the demographic shift — young adults now constitute the largest segment of converts.

"The great challenge that presents itself to us now is to make disciples," wrote Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon in his assessment of the findings.

"We must not simply imagine some procedures for 'after' baptism, but our entire parish communities must become aware of their collective mission."