Black Friday - Top chef’s 2,500 pies ‘a write off’ after van theft

Everyone in life has a purpose, even if it's to serve as a bad example

Albert Einstein warned in 1949 that the time would come when the very rich so controlled the means of communication that it would be almost impossible for ordinary people to make informed decisions; and so democracy would be broken 

We live in the time Einstein warned about.

Trump like Stalin named Person of the Year Twice by Time magazine

How the U.S. State Department spends millions of dollars to coordinate Western media and direct investigative journalism against its geopolitical rivals eugyppius 

Investors got big tax breaks to turn luxury Bay Area apartments into affordable housing. In many cases, rents are higher than before San Jose Mercury News

Top chef’s 2,500 pies ‘a write off’ after van theftBBC

Bitcoin tops $100,000 after Trump picks crypto-friendly SEC chair Al Jazeera

UK uncovers vast crypto laundering scheme for gangsters and Russian spies FT

 

The glamorous Russian socialite and influencer who led double life as crypto laundering kingpin before multi-billion-pound network was brought down following arrest of courier on the M1 with £250K in cash Daily Mail

 

Revealed: the Operators Behind Four Major Neo-Nazi X Accounts Texas Observer

The Facebook Apostate The Intercept. The deck: “She Joined Facebook to Fight Terror. Now She’s Convinced We Need to Fight Facebook.”

 

Americans agree politics is broken − here are 5 ideas for fixing key problems The Conversation

U.S. officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid unprecedented cyberattack NBC

 

Shame on Google for Their Description of Google Messages’s Encryption Support Daring Fireball

A UK-led operation has uncovered a multibillion-dollar money laundering scheme run out of London, Moscow and Dubai that enabled Russian spies and European drug traffickers to evade sanctions using cryptocurrency.

The UK’s National Crime Agency said on Wednesday that its “Operation Destabilise” investigation centred on two companies — Smart and TGR — that acted as a financial hub for cash-rich global criminals and sanctioned individuals relying on cryptocurrency outside the banking system. 

The NCA said the network had been used by clients including the Kinahan cartel, Irish cocaine traffickers linked to numerous contract killings, as well as funding ransomware groups, and “Russian espionage operations” from late 2022 to summer 2023.

UK uncovers vast crypto laundering scheme for gangsters and Russian spies