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Japan to sign military pact with UK as allies eye China 'threat', will facilitate easier 'entry of troops' and war games
Japan and the UK are set to signal a significant defence pact in December that can allow the nations to boost co-operation with the US within the Indo-Pacific and increase deterrence in opposition to the rising menace from China. Comment: Meanwhile Germany's Scholz said the world needs China and will benefit from cooperating with it, and the rising multipolar world powers. It seems that there's some serious fracturing amongst the old - increasingly irrelevant - world order. The nations will signal a Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), in response to two individuals conversant in the talks. It will observe an identical deal Japan signed with Australia in January and is one other signal of Tokyo forging deeper defence ties with allies and companions to organize for the potential of a struggle with China over Taiwan. The pact will make joint workouts and logistics co-operation between the nations simpler. It can even set a authorized framework to simplify cumbersome bureaucratic purple...
https://www.sott.net/article/473972-Japan-to-sign-military-pact-with-UK-as-allies-eye-China-threat-will-facilitate-easier-entry-of-troops-and-war-games

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SOTT FOCUS: Wot's in the shots?
Graphene oxide? Nanobots? What is in the Pfizer vaccines? Recently, Dr David Nixon, a Brisbane GP, decided to find out, putting droplets of vaccine and the blood of vaccinated patients under a dark-field microscope. That's a more radical decision than it might sound. According to Sasha Latypova, a scientist with 25 years of experience in clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies, the contract between Pfizer and the US government prohibits independent researchers from studying the vaccines. They claim it would 'divert' these precious resources away from their intended use fulfilling an 'urgent' need. Is that true in Australia? Who knows? All the Commonwealth Department of Health has said about its contract with Pfizer is that it is commercial-in-confidence.
https://www.sott.net/article/473973-Wots-in-the-shots

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Which companies are quitting Twitter: The list
Since Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter last week, at least six major companies have stopped advertising on the platform over concerns about how the billionaire will affect content moderation policies on the app. During the rocky process of acquiring the platform, marked by U-turns, controversies, and lawsuits, Musk pledged to make Twitter a champion of free speech. This promise led many right-wingers to see Musk's takeover as a victory for conservatives over political correctness, though the Tesla CEO is yet to implement any changes to the way the platform moderates content. But where right-wingers saw potential, many companies appear to have spotted a risk of damage to their business, especially after a sudden surge of slurs and hateful comments were reported on the platform immediately following Musk's takeover.
https://www.sott.net/article/473974-Which-companies-are-quitting-Twitter-The-list

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BEST OF THE WEB: Lockdowns: The Great Gaslighting - A Damning Retrospective
The lockdowns of 2020 were very real. And few opposed them. More than two years since the lockdowns of 2020, the political mainstream, particularly on the left, is just beginning to realize that the response to Covid was an unprecedented catastrophe. But that realization hasn't taken the form of a mea culpa. Far from it. On the contrary, in order to see that reality is starting to dawn on the mainstream left, one must read between the lines of how their narrative on the response to Covid has evolved over the past two years. The narrative now goes something like this: Lockdowns never really happened, because governments never actually locked people in their homes; but if there were lockdowns, then they saved millions of lives and would have saved even more if only they'd been stricter; but if there were any collateral damage, then that damage was an inevitable consequence of the fear from the virus independent of the lockdowns; and even when things were shut down, the rules weren't...
https://www.sott.net/article/473975-Lockdowns-The-Great-Gaslighting-A-Damning-Retrospective

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UK mainstream media blames excess cardiac deaths on NHS failure, ignores obvious link with vaccines
After a brief period when post-Covid after-effects were identified as the main culprit for the large rise in excess non-Covid deaths in 2022, that theory now seems to have fallen out of favour. Is that because it dawned on them that if the virus is to blame, then by the same logic vaccine after-effects become implicated as well? Neither vaccine nor virus has made it into the latest explanations for the rise in heart and stroke deaths. The British Heart Foundation has released analysis laying the blame squarely on the reduced access to healthcare during the pandemic and the consequent backlogs and delays in the system. Here's BBC News:
https://www.sott.net/article/473976-UK-mainstream-media-blames-excess-cardiac-deaths-on-NHS-failure-ignores-obvious-link-with-vaccines

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Here we go: Outage in PA voter database as election day nears
The Pennsylvania Department of State issued a memo on Friday telling election officials in all counties that a "widespread outage" is impacting Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) services. This means that the voter databases, as maintained by the state, is essentially non-functioning as election day approaches. SURE is the state-wide system to maintain accurate voting records that county election officials can rely on when managing and facilitating polling places in their counties. The memo, ontained by The Post Millennial, has the subject "Enterprise Outage Impacting SURE Services" and reads "Commonwealth Enterprise is experiencing a widespread outage which is impacting various services of SURE. This outage is currently impacting report, correspondence, and poll book generation."
https://www.sott.net/article/473977-Here-we-go-Outage-in-PA-voter-database-as-election-day-nears

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Another study finds social scientists are no better at forecasting than laymen
Whether we should defer to 'experts' was a major theme of the pandemic. Back in July, I wrote about a study that looked at 'expert' predictions and found them wanting. The authors asked both social scientists and laymen to predict the size and direction of social change in the U.S. over a 6-month period. Overall, the former group did no better than the latter - they were slightly more accurate in some domains, and slightly less accurate in others. A new study (which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed) carried out a similar exercise, and reached roughly the same conclusion.
https://www.sott.net/article/473978-Another-study-finds-social-scientists-are-no-better-at-forecasting-than-laymen

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Meteor fireball over California and 2 other states on November 5
We received 103 reports about a fireball seen over CA, NV and OR on Saturday, November 5th 2022 around 02:27 UT. For this event, we received 5 videos.
https://www.sott.net/article/473979-Meteor-fireball-over-California-and-2-other-states-on-November-5

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News blackout: Shot fired at family home of N. Carolina US House candidate
A recent shooting at the Hickory, North Carolina, residence of GOP congressional candidate Pat Harrigan's parents and young children caused no injuries but has placed "tremendous stress" on the family in the final weeks of his campaign, Harrigan's mother said. A recent shooting at the Hickory, North Carolina, residence of GOP congressional candidate Pat Harrigan's parents and young children caused no injuries but placed "tremendous stress" on the family in the final weeks of his campaign, Harrigan's mother said Thursday. Harrigan, a firearms manufacturer and U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, is running against Democratic state Sen. Jeff Jackson for an open U.S. House seat in North Carolina's new 14th District based in western Charlotte. The left-leaning district emerged from a lengthy redistricting battle during which North Carolina redrew its congressional map to account for the additional seat it was awarded following the 2020 census.
https://www.sott.net/article/473980-News-blackout-Shot-fired-at-family-home-of-N-Carolina-US-House-candidate

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9 shot outside bar in Philadelphia
Nine people were shot after multiple gunmen opened fire outside a bar in Philadelphia Saturday night. The shooting occurred in the Kensington neighborhood at approximately 10:45 pm near East Allegheny and Kensington avenues. According to police, a black car that had been seen in the area parked in the middle of the block then multiple gunmen exited the vehicle and fired about 40 shots into a crowd of people on the sidewalk.
https://www.sott.net/article/473981-9-shot-outside-bar-in-Philadelphia

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BEST OF THE WEB: Meteor fireball over California and 2 other states on November 5, possibly landing on home causing fire
We received 103 reports about a fireball seen over CA, NV and OR on Saturday, November 5th 2022 around 02:27 UT. For this event, we received 5 videos.
https://www.sott.net/article/473979-Meteor-fireball-over-California-and-2-other-states-on-November-5-possibly-landing-on-home-causing-fire

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90s' child pop star Aaron Carter 'found dead in his bathtub', last Tweet was to Kanye
Aaron Carter lived a life in the spotlight that was occasionally colorful, but more often filled with drama and tragedy. Carter, 34, the brother of famed pop icon and Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter was 'found dead in his bathtub' at his home in Lancaster, California Saturday. He was born in Tampa Bay, Fla., in 1989. Along with brother Nick, he had a twin sister, Angel, and two other sisters, BJ and Leslie.
https://www.sott.net/article/473982-90s-child-pop-star-Aaron-Carter-found-dead-in-his-bathtub-last-Tweet-was-to-Kanye

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What is Canadian Bill C-11? A breakdown for Elon Musk
Bill C-11, the Trudeau government's latest effort to curb free speech on the internet, appears to be on new Twitter owner Elon Musk's radar for the first time, after right-wing activist group Canada Proud asked the Space X founder if he would help in the fight against Liberal censorship. "First I've heard" was Musk's response to a question from Canada Proud on whether he'd join the fight. For many Canadians, just the fact that Musk is acknowledging the legislation in the slight manner that he did is reason to celebrate.
https://www.sott.net/article/473983-What-is-Canadian-Bill-C-11-A-breakdown-for-Elon-Musk

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Wild winds knock out power to 300K in western Washington state
Driving back to his North Everett home from Lynnwood on Friday night, Dan Laurence was reminded of a hurricane he experienced years before in Bermuda. All the lights were out, leaves were swirling, and branches were flying through the air. When he and his wife got inside, it felt like the entire house was vibrating. On the bluff below, cedar trees were dancing around like "bed knobs and broomsticks," he said. "It was really pretty wild." Peering into the darkness, they realized the wind had uprooted an 80-year-old elm tree in their neighbor's front yard. "This huge root ball was sticking up and you could see that it was just gone," he said. "It was the healthiest and biggest elm in the neighborhood." Similar scenes played out across Western Washington as fierce winds from the season's first major storm ripped through the region, cutting power to more than 300,000 customers from the Olympic Peninsula to the Cascade foothills.
https://www.sott.net/article/473984-Wild-winds-knock-out-power-to-300K-in-western-Washington-state

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Strong winds knock down trees all over Chicago area, leaving thousands without power
Thousands of Chicago-area residents were without power on Saturday as a strong storm barreled through. The wind gusts were up to 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service. ComEd said that as of about 4 p.m., there were 1,354 outages affecting 28,535 customers. There were trees down in many places, including Chicago, Elgin, and Griffith, Indiana.
https://www.sott.net/article/473985-Strong-winds-knock-down-trees-all-over-Chicago-area-leaving-thousands-without-power

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Netanyahu election victory will likely mean massive escalation in Palestine-Israel conflict
Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is now poised to form the next Israeli government, after defeating his main opponents Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid in Tel Aviv's fifth election in only three years. However, the longest serving Israeli Prime Minister has come out at the expense of putting himself at the mercy of fanatical ultra-nationalists that may have a devastating effect on Israel itself. The former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, came out of Israel's latest round of elections with a comfortable majority over his centre-right wing adversaries, with the aid of fellow far-right alliances as part of the Netanyahu bloc. The election saw one of the highest voter turnouts, amongst the Jewish Israeli population, in years, with the election turnout reportedly surpassing the 70% point. Amongst the Palestinian citizens of Israel, voter turnout was reportedly lower than expected and resulted in only two Palestinian lists surpassing the required threshold to make it into the Knesset...
https://www.sott.net/article/473986-Netanyahu-election-victory-will-likely-mean-massive-escalation-in-Palestine-Israel-conflict

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The manufactured energy crisis and the oil nationalization two-step
Blood rack, barbed wire Politicians' funeral pyre Innocents raped with napalm fire Twenty-first century schizoid man King Crimson, "21st Century Schizoid Man" You've all heard me rant about the "Straussian Two-Step," which is nothing more than a retread of the Hegelian Dialectic. Here's the formal definition: An interpretive method, originally used to relate specific entities or events to the absolute idea, in which some assertible proposition (thesis ) is necessarily opposed by an equally assertible and apparently contradictory proposition (antithesis ), the mutual contradiction being reconciled on a higher level of truth by a third proposition (synthesis ). In modern politics it's used to create a false reality by asserting something that is partially true (at best) or a truth that you yourself as a person in power created. In today's case it's a manufactured energy crisis across the West.
https://www.sott.net/article/473987-The-manufactured-energy-crisis-and-the-oil-nationalization-two-step

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Pronouns in your resume? Shred that thing.
Ah yes, pronouns in your resume - the dead giveaway you're a snowflake that screams "I AM SPESHUL". It's also a great way to introduce yourself as the person who will end up being an albatross around the neck of a company because it shows you're exactly the kind of person who neither values money, tact or diplomacy. It also shows you're exactly the kind of potential employee who overshares their politics to the point where you'd pick fights with any person who so much as disagrees with you in the slightest, be they fellow employees, managers and over the most trivial nonsense. And you know who has to clean that mess up? Human Resources.
https://www.sott.net/article/473988-Pronouns-in-your-resume-Shred-that-thing

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Georgia won't be blue in 2022: No 'ZuckBucks' is why
Georgia received more funding from the Center for Tech and Civic Life than any other state in 2020, but now such private funding is banned. Election analysts who are attempting to predict the results of Georgia's 2022 midterm elections by scrutinizing polls and analyzing historical trends are missing the elephant that is no longer in the room. The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) will not be participating in the 2022 Georgia midterms. Georgia SB 202, signed into law on March 5, 2021, prohibits Georgia election officials from accepting private election funding, which was the basis of CTCL's notorious $330 million grant program under the guise of the Covid-19 "emergency" known as "Zuckbucks." CTCL spent $45 million building up an industrial-scale voter turnout machine for Democrats run through the election offices of counties in the greater Atlanta metro area and a handful of other deep blue Georgia counties during 2020.
https://www.sott.net/article/473989-Georgia-wont-be-blue-in-2022-No-ZuckBucks-is-why

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Transgender pedophile sex offender took refuge at UK women's shelter for over two months
Katie Dolatowski, a 22-year-old biological male who identifies as transgender who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 2018 at a UK supermarket, stayed at Leeds Women's Aid, a domestic violence refuge for women and children, in the United Kingdom for 71 days. According to the Sun, a mother of three said "It's horrific. As a victim of sexual abuse myself, the whole thing is triggering. I came here with my kids because I thought it was a safe place and to find out there was a pedophile living a few doors away for months is just horrendous."
https://www.sott.net/article/473990-Transgender-pedophile-sex-offender-took-refuge-at-UK-womens-shelter-for-over-two-months

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Official claims Kiev preparing plan to evacuate 3 million people
Authorities in Ukraine's capital city, Kiev, are reportedly working on a contingency plan that anticipates the evacuation of approximately three million of its remaining residents, should power supply become completely cut off, a local official has told The New York Times. The article published on Saturday quoted Roman Tkachuk, the director of security for the Kiev municipal government, as having warned that the city "may lose our entire electricity system," if Russia continues striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure. According to the report, Kiev authorities expect that, if worse comes to worst, they would have at least 12 hours' notice before the grid collapses completely. Tkachuk explained that if there are signs of imminent failure, "we will start informing people and requesting them to leave."
https://www.sott.net/article/473991-Official-claims-Kiev-preparing-plan-to-evacuate-3-million-people