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GRANDPAS' ELECTION GAME So, what caught my eye were the recent ALREADY public statements by trump that new attacks on Iran are being prepared immediately after the elections... The fact that preparations were underway had been known for some time, but personally, I was surprised that he started making this public right before the elections. Because for a long time, he himself had been bullshitting about how exactly after the elections, they would be seeking an agreement with Iran. And EVEN more importantly - fuel prices were supposed to go down after the elections! It's all bullshit, obviously. Just lying to the voters, BUT... why start talking about continuing the war right before the elections, when the majority of voters don't want either the war or rising prices at gas stations??? I think it's worth remembering the fact that America has the most corrupt president, and his actions are influenced not only by the fake tsar from russia, but also by another old man from Israel. That is netanyahu, with a large Jewish lobbying network in America, private deals with the kushners, witkoffs, and trump himself. In Israel, as we know, elections have already taken place, and netanyahu failed to get his pre-election fireworks out of trump, but it's worth explaining what he was trying to achieve: netanyahu starts bullshitting again about Iran's atomic bomb. On October 21, he once again publicly started talking about how those guys are DEFINITELY DEFINITELY making that bomb AGAIN right now. Then he posted an atomic explosion in Tel Aviv on social media (he probably learned how to post from trump by now). And, of course, he AGAIN tried to tell everyone that the only way to eliminate the threat is to destroy the Iranian regime. Again, I'm not saying Iran is run by a bunch of good guys. No, no. But I simply don't believe the jew who has been telling us for about 35 years that Iran will DEFINITELY DEFINITELY have a bomb next week. And + every now and then he also suspects other neighbors of developing those bombs. Those atomic bombs are really in fashion in the Middle East. Personally, I trust USA intelligence more, which very CLEARLY said even before the war, earlier this year - NO, they are definitely not making a bomb and there is no such THREAT as being portrayed. Israel and USA have recently intensified air military exercises over Syria. A new Iranian attack was being simulated. And at the same time, Israel, taking advantage of the situation, repeatedly sent dozens of fighter jets with an aerial refueling aircraft through Syria, across Iraq, directly toward Iran. So that it would look as if they were flying to attack. And then, right near the border, they turned around. In other words, they were provoking Iran, hoping that Iran would see it as a threat and attack. Moreover - USA has ALREADY delivered new Patriot air defense systems and a replenishment of missiles to Israel. AT THE SAME TIME as supplying Ukraine with barely two missiles per month, even when the Ukrainians have made actual missile purchases. Cash in the pocket has a lot of influence, and the Jews, as I already mentioned, don't spare money when it comes to trump's family. Why is all this being done? BECAUSE netanyahu wanted to provoke an extension of the conflict before the elections and take advantage of it. After all, only he can protect Israel from an existential threat. BUT... a) Iran did not fall for the provocations. b) Even the Israeli army chief publicly clashed with netanyahu because he refused to launch military actions before the elections. c) trump also refused to launch an attack before the elections taking place in America. And that's how it turned out, netanyahu's existential threat stories no longer worked in the Israeli elections, and the elections ended with neither side managing to secure a majority. So now intense negotiations are underway to form coalitions. The bloc controlled by netanyahu, which also includes super extreme radical parties, has 53 seats. And the political opponent Gadi Eisenkot's party - 48 seats. And then there are the Arab parties, which unexpectedly gathered as many as 19 seats. So there are some nuances there, but to put it simply, if the Arabs form a coalition with Gadi, then Israel will have a new prime minister. So WHY does netanyahu now need to renew the war with Iran so badly? @ To maintain and strengthen the coalition with the radicals. Well, because netanyahu somehow needs a political majority, and to achieve that, it just so happened that in recent years he had to unite forces with extreme parties led by radicals of VERY questionable reputation. @ To divert attention from the investigations into the October 7, 2023 hamas attack. BECAUSE recently there have been huge protests in Israel demanding answers as to WHY security failed to work the way it was supposed to. And netanyahu has been dragging out these investigations for a long time. @ The fact that public support is expected in the face of a threat, but this is already such an outdated and overused trick that it simply no longer works even in Israel. So, here's the situation now: 42 days are given to form a coalition. During this time, netanyahu needs to launch new attacks against Iran. This time, WIN, meaning actually overthrow the Iranian regime, thereby strengthening his leadership position and convincing other parties to join his coalition. And THEN netanyahu will remain prime minister. And I suspect THAT is WHY netanyahu is pressuring trump to launch military actions sooner, and that's why trump may also be starting to prepare the public for new fireworks even before the elections. And it's also important to understand that Israel CANNOT start a war alone. BECAUSE they simply don't have the capabilities to do it ON THEIR OWN. It's critically important for netanyahu that USA starts first and netanyahu acts only as a supporting ally, rather than the one escalating the war. Well... because public opinion, coalition, and so on... you understand. So the whole pre-election interesting part now is that trump, I repeat - EVEN BEFORE the elections, starts talking about war, when this is completely unacceptable to American voters. And that automatically reduces the Republicans' chances of securing a majority in Congress. And then there is a possibility that the Democrats will be able to disrupt trump's military actions. And then the already SUPER small chances of defeating the Iranian regime become even smaller. Of course, it's likely that trump will start attacks anyway, because he is simply committed to Israel (don't look for some personal 5D masterplan by trump here, he's not capable of that). And then finally netanyahu may be able to retire, and as a result, the influence of Israel's radical parties will weaken. One way or another, after this whole story of election games, it's worth mentioning that Iran also already has plans for a response, and if necessary, it will not only cut the internet cables in the Strait of Hormuz, but also shoot back pretty hard. AGAIN across the entire region. And then, obviously, the whole story of rising fuel prices will drag on for even longer. And obviously, even more Patriot missiles will be used up, which will then be begrudged to Ukraine. That's all for today about the delusions of old farts trying to change the world. P.S. Hey, follow me for more interesting geopolitics stories.

COMPETENCES OF THE GOOD JOURNALIST 1 "Investigating US and UK television broadcasting, Brian McNair (1998, 119) finds that ‘the style of journalism has gradually come to take precedence over substance’. Competition, intensified by the emergence of cable and satellite television channels in the 1970s and 1980s, has turned the bulletins of traditional news organisations into entertainment, focusing on interesting, rather than important, stories. The rise of infotainment is a clear indication that competition on the media market does not necessarily improve quality. Pseudo-events, i.e. public appearances by politicians such as interviews, press conferences and political performances organised by spin doctors (cf. Boorstin 1961/1992), cost-efficient for media to cover, have become commonplaceon television. When broadcasting pseudo-events, however, journalists allow political actors to set and frame the news agenda and hence divert attention from abuses that they wish to hide from the public eye. One may add to McNair’s observation dating from the 1990s that the rise of social media platforms in the 2000s and 2010s enabled political elites to more efficiently impose their own agendas and frames on the public, as they can now bypass professional journalists and address voters directly and uninterruptedly. As a result, professional journalists may find themselves in a passive and reactive position. To take McNair’s line of thought further, we can suggest that good journalists have the competence of not letting politicians set and frame the news agenda. They should not only report on issues raised by political elites but also break stories based on independent sources. Of course, journalists cannot completely ignore pseudo-events, yet they can cover them critically and put them in context, noting that many pseudo-events have been orchestrated by campaign experts." (Péter Bajomi-Lázár - Dalma Boldog: Journalism Ethics in Eastern Europe. Anthem Press, 2026, pp. 78-79).

Ghosts, Trolls and the Hidden People: An Anthology of Icelandic Folk Legends by Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir (Editor) This unique and enchanting book opens the door to a captivating world of Icelandic folk legends. The six chapters are each based on a different setting: farm, wilderness, darkness, church, ocean and shore. The anthology provides translated tales from the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as introductions by the author which place these often-supernatural happenings in the context of Icelandic society. The legends include tales of hidden people, trolls, ghosts, sea monsters and even polar bears, exploring themes of love, revenge and conflict. The book highlights the tension between Christianity and heathen beliefs, past and present, nature and humanity, and divides within society. Drawing from a wide variety of Icelandic sources, this book makes these colourful, entertaining, lively stories available to non-Icelandic speakers, many for the first time.

𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 — 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟭,𝟭𝟴𝟬-𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 A political influence infrastructure operating across the United States has grown to a scale that now rivals — and by some measures exceeds — entire categories of traditional American journalism. NewsGuard's election tracker, updated on 13 October, says it has identified 1,180 partisan websites masquerading as independent local news organisations, including 21 launched during 2026. The phenomenon is commonly called “pink slime journalism”: publications that adopt the visual language, names and editorial conventions of local newspapers while being financed or operated by political or ideological interests. A site may look like an ordinary community publication, carry stories about local issues and use familiar journalistic formatting, while its political purpose or financial backing is difficult to find or disclosed only in a footer, advertising record or corporate filing. This is not one centrally directed disinformation operation. The 1,180-site figure encompasses competing organisations on different sides of American politics, using related techniques for different political objectives. The ecosystem includes long-established networks such as Metric Media, which has been extensively investigated by Columbia University's Tow Center, as well as newer election-focused projects associated with Republican and Democratic political organisations. One of the clearest 2026 examples is One Nation, a conservative advocacy organisation closely associated with the Senate Leadership Fund, the major outside group working to elect Republican senators. Investigations identified locally branded sites including Alaska Navigator, Maine Policy Updates, Ohio Pulse, Iowa Voice, Peach State Post and New Hampshire Daily. They presented themselves with descriptions such as “independent news” or a state's “premier news source”, while publishing material that consistently promoted Republican candidates or attacked Democratic opponents. In at least one case, the infrastructure went beyond partisan framing. Popular Information found that Alaska Navigator contained an article dated before the website's domain had been registered; the page's source code indicated that a WordPress dummy-content tool called FakerPress had been used. Other sites republished material originating with established news organisations, creating a mixture of genuine journalism and advocacy that can make the surrounding political content appear more credible. The other side of the political spectrum uses similar architecture. The American Independent Foundation and American Independent Media operate or support state-branded publications aimed at competitive electoral markets. Recent examples include The North Carolina Independent and The Maine Independent, with physical newspapers also sent directly to voters. Local journalists examining the publications found conventional newspaper elements — including recipes, crosswords and local-looking design — alongside overwhelmingly Democratic-aligned political coverage. The money demonstrates why the model matters. NewsGuard found that One Nation and the American Independent network spent at least $801,500 on Facebook and Instagram advertising during the first eight months of 2026 to place their articles in users' feeds. The North Carolinian alone was promoted with roughly $34,700–$46,700 in Meta advertising by late August, producing at least 3.6 million views, according to NewsGuard's analysis. Yet calling all of this “fake news” can obscure the more important mechanism. The most effective material does not necessarily have to be false. A political group can select favourable facts, omit countervailing evidence, quote one side disproportionately and present the result using the typography and conventions of independent journalism. The reader encounters something that resembles a newspaper article rather than an advertisement. The partisan origin of the message has effectively been laundered through the appearance of journalism. That problem now extends beyond human readers. In September, NewsGuard tested seven leading AI assistants using questions based on reporting from 12 partisan pseudo-local sites in six battleground states. Across 168 responses, the systems cited one of the tested “pink slime” sources in 48.2 per cent of answers. In 7.7 per cent, a pink-slime site was the only source cited directly in the answer. Only one response explicitly identified a cited source as partisan. Those figures require an important qualification: this was not a random test of all political questions. The prompts deliberately concerned topics that the 12 partisan outlets had already covered, so the 48.2 per cent figure cannot be interpreted as the probability that an arbitrary election query will produce a pink-slime citation. What the experiment demonstrates is something narrower but important: once such material exists and is indexed, major AI retrieval systems can treat it as a legitimate source without consistently communicating its political provenance. The environment in which this is happening makes the technique particularly powerful. Northwestern University's newly released 2026 State of Local News report says the United States now has fewer than 900 daily print newspapers, while 170 newspapers disappeared through closure or merger in the past year alone. As genuine local reporting contracts, political organisations have an opportunity to occupy precisely the information space that traditional newsrooms are abandoning. There is therefore no single mastermind behind Episode 23. Several names can, however, be attached confidently to specific organisations. Brian Timpone is a founder and central figure behind Metric Media. Alex Latcham is executive director of the Senate Leadership Fund and is publicly associated with the wider One Nation/SLF political infrastructure. Joe Conason is identified in tax filings as president of both the American Independent Foundation and American Independent Media. Democratic operative David Brock founded an earlier incarnation of the American Independent organisation, but he should not be described as the current operational controller of the 2026 network without additional evidence. These are organisational links, not evidence that any one of those individuals personally commissioned every article, advertisement or website. The central significance of the pink-slime ecosystem is therefore not a single spectacular lie. It is the industrialisation of source laundering: political persuasion packaged as familiar local journalism, amplified through paid social media and increasingly capable of entering search engines and AI-generated answers. 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗖𝗘𝗦 1. NewsGuard — 2026 Elections False Claims Tracker, updated 13 October 2026. Primary source for the current 1,180-site count, the 21 sites launched in 2026 and the minimum $801,500 Meta advertising figure. NewsGuard https://www.newsguardtech.com/special-reports/2026-elections-misinformation-tracker/ 2. POLITICO Magazine / NewsGuard — “Pink Slime Is Infecting AI Chatbots Ahead of the Midterms”, 25 September 2026. Basis for the AI audit of 12 sites, seven chatbots and 168 responses. NewsGuard https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/09/25/midterms-partisan-ai-chatbots-01092138 3. Popular Information — Judd Legum, “Senate Republicans launch network of fake news sites”, 6 August 2026. Detailed investigation of One Nation's state-branded network, Meta advertising and the Alaska Navigator/FakerPress finding. popular.info https://popular.info/p/senate-republicans-launch-network 4. FactCheck.org — One Nation, 24 September 2026. Independent profile of One Nation, its relationship with Senate Leadership Fund and current leadership. FactCheck.org https://www.factcheck.org/2026/09/one-nation/ 5. Senate Leadership Fund — official About page. Primary-source confirmation of Alex Latcham's position as executive director and SLF's stated electoral mission. Senate Leadership Fund https://senateleadershipfund.org/about/ 6. WUNC — “Amid Senate race, partisan groups mimic news outlets”, 15 September 2026. Reporting on The North Carolina Independent and American Independent Foundation's newspaper-style voter outreach. WUNC News https://www.wunc.org/politics/2026-09-15/nc-senate-race-partisan-groups-mimic-news-outlets-newspapers 7. Portland Press Herald — “Who's behind The Maine Independent?”, 14 October 2026. Current investigation into American Independent's print and digital pseudo-local-news operation. The Portland Press Herald https://www.pressherald.com/2026/10/14/whos-behind-the-maine-independent-newspaper-landing-in-voters-mailboxes/ 8. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer — American Independent Media. IRS-derived records identifying current officers, including President Joe Conason. ProPublica https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/881571567 9. Columbia Journalism Review / Tow Center — “How ‘Pink Slime’ Publishers Are Weaponizing FOIA”, 5 February 2026. Current investigation describing Metric Media's nearly 1,200-site infrastructure and its operational methods. Columbia Journalism Review https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/pink-slime-networks-are-weaponizing-foia.php 10. Columbia Journalism Review — “Pink Slime Never Went Away”. Reporting identifying Brian Timpone as founder of Metric Media and documenting the network's continuing political role. Columbia Journalism Review https://www.cjr.org/analysis/pink-slime-journalism-never-went-away.php 11. Northwestern University, Medill Local News Initiative — State of Local News 2026, 13 October 2026. Current data on the contraction of genuine US local journalism, including newspaper closures and the remaining number of daily newspapers. Local News Initiative https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2026/report/ 𝗞𝗘𝗬𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗦 #Disinformed #Disinformation #Propaganda #InfluenceOperations #UnitedStates #USElections #Midterms2026 #PinkSlime #PinkSlimeJournalism #PseudoNews #LocalNews #LocalJournalism #SourceLaundering #Astroturfing #PoliticalAdvertising #DarkMoney #OneNation #SenateLeadershipFund #AmericanIndependent #MetricMedia #BrianTimpone #AlexLatcham #JoeConason #DavidBrock #Meta #Facebook #Instagram #ArtificialIntelligence #AIChatbots #ElectionSecurity #ElectionIntegrity #InformationIntegrity #MediaLiteracy #OSINT #DigitalPropaganda #PoliticalInfluence #LocalNewsCrisis