BREAKING NEWS ~ Continuously Updated

[Ravenlocke]

Gauteng, South Africa,

https://x.com/ewnreporter/status/1892866021918122073

https://x.com/zwirendo/status/1892204039317725322

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1367792011726708736

https://x.com/RT_com/status/1882647634709733813

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
🚢 A cargo ship carrying 3,000 tons of corn is sinking in the Sea of Azov. The vessel, "Pavel Grabovsky," was en route from Rostov to Turkey’s Samsun. It began sinking on February 16 near the Azov port. The crew did not send a distress signal, only requesting permission to enter port.

https://x.com/NOELreports/status/1892511253417058777

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

Cross-posting this:

FBI caught deleting files/evidence; possible reason for Epstein release hitting brick wall:

Pressure is ramping up on AG Bondi for not (yet) releasing the Epstein files. As for the reason why...there's been a lot of chatter on X:

https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1894213201283186714

https://x.com/RepLuna/status/1894199491709796554

[meat suit]

https://vigilantnews.com/post/watch-...rowd-in-china/
Watch: AI Robot ‘Attacks’ Crowd in China

https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1894276139784573275

AI ROBOT ATTACKS CROWD AT CHINESE FESTIVAL

A humanoid robot suddenly stopped, advanced toward attendees, and attempted to strike people before security intervened.

Officials suspect a software glitch caused the erratic behavior, dismissing any intentional harm.

This comes after an AI-controlled drone reportedly targeted its human operator, raising fresh concerns about AI safety.

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1892932907443929587

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1891517900785139743

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1891420055683866787

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1889335326021169190

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1890748410795356645

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1890753619130982617

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1891543734384263416

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1892864055594934667

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/GMWatch/status/1891893235141775787

https://www.allaboutfeed.net/market/...s-on-gmo-feed/

Slovakia feed industry considers self-restrictions on GMO feed

Failing to urge the government to restrict GMO (genetically modified organisms) production in the country, Slovakian environmentalists and activists devise an idea to introduce voluntary registration of feed on the market.

At the end of 2024, the Slovakian Association of Feed Producers, Storekeepers and Trading Companies developed an initiative under which feed crops grown without the use of GMO technologies would receive relevant certification and labelling.

The project’s goal was to ensure that the Slovak Republic does not produce and introduce GMO-containing agricultural and food products, Marek Lukáčik, association secretary, told local news outlet poľnoinfo.sk.

Initiative encouraged by Poland’s decision on GMO

The initiative was largely encouraged by Poland’s government decision to postpone the ban on GMO feed in the country by 2030.

Unlike Slovakia, Poland has enforced a ban on GMO cultivation, though the Slovak feed producers’ association insists that GMO crops are not grown in their country either.

Potential GMO ban subject to debate

A potential ban on GMO cultivation has been a subject of fierce debate in Slovakia in recent years. In 2023, the Slovak Agricultural Ministry officially declined to impose the ban, though the petition to prohibit GMOs from growing in Slovakia collected over 18,000 signatures.

Better traceability

The new initiative bodes well with the call for better traceability along the supply chain. The Slovak Agricultural and Food Chamber (SPPK) came up with a statement on January 31 that it would join the European initiative End of Fake Food, which aims to ensure the authenticity and quality of food products in the European market.

As SPPK explained, a growing number of Slovak citizens support the view that it is necessary to disclose the true origin of food on their labels.

Compared with Poland, Slovakia has a much better chance of becoming self-sufficient in feed production, local feed producers believe.

We can grow our own corn, we have enough of it, the problem is soybean meal and soybean oil,”

Marek Lukáčik, association secretary, Slovakian Association of Feed Producers, Storekeepers and Trading Companies

Cost matters

In 2025, the union plans to hold the first negotiations with the Slovak Agricultural Ministry about funding their initiative.

“We are looking for a way for the Ministry to support certification, so growers could have it for free,” he said, explaining that in such case, the project would have better chances to succeed. Lukáčik also revealed that the authorities backed the idea, but the budget lacked the necessary money to make it real.

Investing in a GMO-free supply chain would not only bolster the popularity of Slovak food in the European market but also potentially increase its market share and profitability, members of the organisation assume.

“It would be an important investment from the perspective of Slovakia and its food, it should be a matter of national priority,” concludes Lukáčik.

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/pagerafrica/status/1817321960042610854

[Kryztian]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
https://x.com/pagerafrica/status/1817321960042610854

Ewwww. That is creepy and terrifying.

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by grapevine (here)
Amazon Removes Your Right to Download Kindle Books on February 26th 2025

Looks like I've just purchased my last Kindle e-book, earlier today, the 25th of Feb 2025 where I live.

Clif High just announced his first book, "Brotherhood of the Afflicted", on his substack.

I purchased it in Amazon's DRM-enoded e-book format for a few dollars.

As I selected how I wanted to obtain the book, Amazon presented this pop-up to me:

=== ===

=== ===

I won't be reading much of Clif's book - it's a novel with blood, death, old men, old dogs, violence, ufo's, gore and lust, somewhere on the Pacific coastline of the U.S.

But it does mark the end of an era for me ... the last of over 100 such Amazon e-books.

[John Hilton]

It's a novel with blood, death, old men, old dogs, violence, ufo's, gore and lust, somewhere on the Pacific coastline of the U.S.

Oh, I read very little fiction and I have a list of about 800 boooks that are waiting to be read on my iPad-mini.

[Mark (Star Mariner)]

I feel for those having problems with their Kindle-whatsa-majig, I really do, it sucks, but I'm glad I never went in for that. In my book [pun intended] you can't beat paper and ink.

Books are humanity's most important and powerful invention. I own hundreds, and every one is a treasure chest, with real treasure inside. But I've felt, with e-books, the treasure they contain is virtual; it's not the same somehow. I want to hold the book in my hands. I want to feel the pages, smell the ink.

Someone once said, books are a love-letter from the author to you. They are. What's more, they're sacred objects, and should be treated as such -- with reverence.

[Sue (Ayt)]

Posted by Mark (Star Mariner) (here)
I feel for those having problems with their Kindle-whatsa-majig, I really do, it sucks, but I'm glad I never went in for that. In my book [pun intended] you can't beat paper and ink.

Books are humanity's most important and powerful invention. I own hundreds, and every one is a treasure chest, with real treasure inside. But I've felt, with e-books, the treasure they contain is virtual; it's not the same somehow. I want to hold the book in my hands. I want to feel the pages, smell the ink.

Someone once said, books are a love-letter from the author to you. They are. What's more, they're sacred objects, and should be treated as such -- with reverence.

Me too, Mark! I need the paper - for sitting out on my porch, reading and re-reading a notable line or chapter, and drifting off with thoughts inspired by the words...
I also have little respect for keeping my paperbacks in mint condition. Mine turn out to be dog-eared, with coffee spills, and marked up with underscoring and jotted thoughts.
But they are loved.
(no one would purchase my used books, I fear. haha)

PS - I generally buy them used in the first place, and sometimes I am delighted to find old, jotted thoughts scrawled by previous readers of the book.

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
Why was I questioned by the Feds?

As I approached the customs line at Dulles International Airport early on the morning of February 24, a man called out to me, “Mr. Blumenthal?” He identified himself as an officer with Customs and Border Protection, and led me into a cavernous secondary screening room, where he treated me to a strange and disconcerting questioning session. I had just returned from a leisurely trip to Nicaragua with my family during which I participated in no political activities. But the agent’s line of questioning suggested federal authorities had little interest in my visit to Nicaragua, a country that happens to be controlled by a socialist-oriented government on Washington’s hit list.

As my family and I followed the agent down a long hallway, he turned to me and said, “I caught your latest appearance on Judge Napolito [sic].” He was referring to Andrew Napolitano, a former Fox News host and jurist who hosts a daily livestream featuring former military and intelligence officials as well as journalists like me who dissent from official national security narratives. Nearly all of my appearances on Napolitano’s program, Judging Freedom, have focused on Israel’s blood-soaked wars in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond throughout the past 16 months. When I asked the agent how he liked my interview with the Judge, he shrugged and declined to volunteer an opinion. Was he simply trying to warm me up for our own question and answer session, or darkly signaling to me that Big Brother was watching? “This is just a friendly exchange,” he insisted as we entered the cavernous secondary screening room. “You’re not a target or anything.”

Standing across from me at a metal desk, the agent asked me to fill out a questionnaire with my personal info and details of my trip. As soon as I completed the form, he flipped it over and displayed a hand-written list containing several names. “Do you know any of these people?” he asked.

Two of those listed were Anglo names: Nicole Smith and Susan Benjamin. The other three were extremely common Muslims names. Because the agent would not allow me to photograph the list, I was only able to commit one to memory: Muhammad Khan. I could not recall any people I knew with those names. And the only Nicole Smith I could think of was the late model who died under strange circumstances at age 39. I therefore told the agent the names were unfamiliar to me.

To be sure, I would not have assisted the officer even if I had a personal connection with one of the names on the list. I’ve learned from activists and journalists who’ve experienced similar probing that federal agents often deploy inane or disingenuous questions to get their subject talking, then attempt to manipulate or entrap them so they can implicate them in a crime. In fact, the US Supreme Court has ruled that police are allowed to lie to elicit confessions from suspects. If government agents want to subject American citizens like me to extended questioning, they must follow constitutional procedures and allow us to have a lawyer present.

After spending several minutes inside a small office, the agent returned to inform us we were free to go. As we exited the screening room and headed toward the baggage claim area, an airport worker from West Africa pulled up to me on a ride-on floor scrubber, shook my hand and asked for a selfie. Like the federal agent, he was apparently aware of my journalistic output, but viewed it in a much more favorable light.

While waiting for our luggage, my wife, Anya Parampil, had a disturbing realization. She had been googling the names on the list the officer presented to me and discovered that Susan Benjamin was the birth name of our friend, Medea Benjamin, cofounder of Code Pink and one of the most widely recognized antiwar activists on the planet.

The following day, I informed Medea about my encounter at Dulles and asked if she had experienced anything similar. She told me there was a period when she was harassed by federal authorities each time she traveled out of the country. The FBI once dispatched an officer to meet her at an airport upon her return from a foreign trip, and called her on several occasions in an unsuccessful attempt to solicit a “meeting.” She said the harassment stopped after she filed a series of complaints, but my experience has led her to believe it will begin again.

While I was allowed to return to my country after a fairly brief question-and-answer session with a polite federal officer, the interaction felt like an act of political harassment, and seemed to signal an escalation against journalists and activists who’ve expressed antiwar, anti-Zionist views. I can only speculate on what the Feds’ ultimate objective was, however, I know of several antiwar activists who have had FBI agents appear at their doors over the past several months asking questions about Iran and individuals with Muslim or Arab names. Just down the road from Dulles, the FBI raided the home of a Palestinian American family whose daughter is a Palestine solidarity activist at George Mason University.

Within the broader realm of Five Eyes, in European vassal states without the same free speech protections Americans enjoy, journalists like Ali Abunimah, Asa Winstanley, and Richard Medhurst have been subjected to police raids, imprisonment, and even criminal prosecution for the opinions they’ve expressed on Israel-Palestine. My colleague at The Grayzone, Kit Klarenberg, was detained by British counter-terror cops and grilled for hours about his journalism on London’s machinations in Ukraine and beyond. Another one of our contributors, Jeremy Loffredo, spent several days in an Israeli prison and was ordered to self-deport after authorities falsely accused him of “assisting an enemy during wartime” for his journalism inside the country’s occupied frontiers. In Canada, activist Yves Engler was just released from five days in jail after a fanatical Zionist activist, Dahlia Kurtz, accused him of “hate speech” for branding her a “fascist.” Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travels freely from Berlin to Washington DC despite an ICC warrant for his arrest for authorizing ghastly war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip.

My experience at Dulles International Airport paled in comparison to what a growing number of journalists and activists have endured in NATO states under Zionist management. Nonetheless, it is important to document encounters like these, and to prepare for future interactions that might not be as “friendly.”

https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1894503333764730886