onthedarkside

The powerful Russian businessman and a close Vladimir Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted to interfering in US elections on the eve of a midterm vote in which Republicans will seek to take control of Congress and state-wide offices across the country. “Gentlemen, we interfered, we are interfering and we will interfere,” Prigozhin, who has previously been accused of influencing the outcome of elections across continents, said in a statement posted by his catering company, Concord. Prigozhin was responding to a request to comment on a recent Bloomberg report saying Russia was interfering in Tuesday’s US midterm elections. (more) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/07/putin-ally-yevgeny-prigozhin-admits-interfering-in-us-elections

Rishi Sunak promised "more details in the coming weeks" as he pledged to "grip this challenge" with his French counterpart A deal between the UK and France to tackle people crossing the Channel in small boats is in its "final stages", Downing Street has said. Rishi Sunak met Emmanuel Macron, the French president, earlier today at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt to discuss the issue, with the prime minister saying he left "with renewed confidence and optimism". ... Pressed on those details later, his official spokesman revealed a deal was close to being done and talks on the specifics were taking place separately, indicating they would involve Home Office officials. (more) https://news.sky.com/story/deal-between-uk-and-france-over-small-boat-crossings-in-final-stages-says-number-10-12741102

Last eight years hottest ever on record, U.N. report warns as COP27 gets under way Earth's warming weather and rising seas are getting worse and doing so faster than before, the World Meteorological Organisation warned as world leaders started gathering in Egypt for international climate negotiations at Cop27. ... In its annual state of the climate report, the United Nations' weather agency said that sea level rise in the past decade was double what it was in the 1990s and since January 2020 has jumped at an even higher rate. The past eight years have been the warmest on record, the WMO said. (more) https://www.independent.ie/news/environment/last-eight-years-hottest-ever-on-record-un-report-warns-as-cop27-gets-under-way-42122823.html

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — Dozens of presidents and prime ministers were speaking Monday at a global summit on climate change after the United Nations chief opened the day’s session with a warning that the world was “on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.” The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, set the tone for the annual United Nations-led international climate talks, which officially began on Sunday as the accumulating threats of war, warming and economic crisis take a toll on every continent, hitting the world’s most vulnerable people the hardest. “We are in the fight of our lives, and we are losing,” Mr. Guterres said in opening remarks at the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. (more) https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/07/climate/cop27-climate-summit

Billionaire Elon Musk urged undecided voters to back Republican candidates ahead of critical midterm elections on Tuesday that will determine control of Congress. “To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” Musk said. “Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge!” Musk added. (more) https://nypost.com/2022/11/07/elon-musk-recommends-votes-for-republican-congress-in-midterms/

The lawsuits coincide with a systemic effort by GOP leaders to persuade voters to cast ballots in person, not absentee Republican officials and candidates in at least three battleground states are pushing to disqualify thousands of mail ballots after urging their own supporters to vote on Election Day, in what critics are calling a concerted attempt at partisan voter suppression. ... Over the past two years, Republicans have waged a sustained campaign against alleged voter fraud. Experts say the litigation — which could significantly affect Tuesday’s vote — represents a parallel strategy of suing to disqualify mail ballots based on technicalities. While the rejections may have some basis in state law, experts say they appear to go against a principle, enshrined in federal law, of not disenfranchising voters for minor errors. (more) https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2022/11/07/gop-sues-reject-mail-ballots/

A series of trolling, flame and questionable source posts have been removed. Keep your posting and comments civil and on-topic, or you'll face a posting suspension.

A trolling post and a flame post have been removed.

Plus, we've stopped talking about it, but COVID continues to kill 2,500 people a week in U.S., and wastewater offers a picture of the virus' spread My guess is the states of Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama won’t be using their new exclusive club membership to the CDC’s Purple Club as a recruiting tool. The CDC added a new color to their flu outbreak chart because simply saying the number was “high” does not adequately describe the outbreak in some of the country. ... A day before Americans choose who leads the legislative branch of our government, nearly nobody running for office or holding office is talking publicly about the fact that 2,500 Americans are dying every week from COVID-19. (more) https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2022/cdc-adds-the-color-purple-for-the-new-highest-level-of-flu-outbreak/

A new study in BMJ suggests that a substantial proportion of monkeypox cases—53%— in the ongoing global outbreak are transmitted 1 to 4 days before symptoms appear. Since this spring, 70,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in hundreds of countries around the world, most with no history of the disease. Sexual activity between men who have sex with men (MSM) has driven the outbreak, and the study authors say these new findings have important implications for infection control. The study is based on the contact tracing and surveillance findings of 2,746 UK residents who tested positive for monkeypox virus between May 6 and Aug 1, 2022. Ninety-five percent were MSM, and the average age was 37.8 years old. (more) https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/11/study-suggests-substantial-symptom-spread-monkeypox Source study: https://www.bmj.com/content/379/bmj-2022-073153

A series of off-topic posts on the extent to which Biden or Trump have lied on various issues has been removed, along with another derogatory name calling post. The topic here is -- Biden suggests voting for Republicans is a threat to democracy Please stay ON TOPIC.

Just a reminder here... this thread is about the attack on Paul Pelosi and misinformation associated with that attack. The ongoing trend in posting here debating Jan. 6 and the 2020 or 2016 presidential elections is heading OFF TOPIC.... Future posting here needs to remain ON TOPIC.

A misinformation post and a conspiracy theory post have been removed.

Worries Grow That TikTok Is New Home for Manipulated Video and Photos Misleading edits, fake news stories and deepfake images of politicians are starting to warp reality on the popular video platform ... In recent weeks, TikTok users have shared a fake screenshot of a nonexistent CNN story claiming that climate change is seasonal. One video was edited to imply that the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, ignored a question from the Fox News reporter Peter Doocy. Another video, from 2021, resurfaced this fall with the audio altered so that Vice President Kamala Harris seemed to say virtually all people hospitalized with Covid-19 were vaccinated. (She had said “unvaccinated.”) (more) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/technology/tiktok-deepfakes-disinformation.html

Confusion and Frustration Reign as Elon Musk Cuts Half of Twitter’s Staff The layoffs hit across many divisions, including the engineering and machine learning units, the teams that manage content moderation, and the sales and advertising departments ... "By early Friday, the scale of the layoffs by Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, was becoming clear: Roughly half of the company’s work force, or about 3,700 jobs, had been eliminated, four people with knowledge of the matter said. The cuts hit across many divisions, including the engineering and machine learning teams, the trust and safety teams that manage content moderation, and the sales and advertising departments. Rarely have layoffs this deep been made by a single individual at a tech company." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/technology/elon-musk-twitter-layoffs.html

Nov 5 (Reuters) - Iran acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that it had supplied Moscow with drones but said they were sent before the war in Ukraine, where Russia has used drones to target power stations and civilian infrastructure. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said a "small number" of drones had been supplied to Russia a few months before Moscow's forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. ... The European Union last month agreed new sanctions on Iran over its drone deliveries to Russia, and Britain imposed sanctions on three Iranian military figures and a defence manufacturer for supplying Russia with drones to attack civilian and infrastructure targets in Ukraine. (more) https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-acknowledges-drone-shipments-russia-before-ukraine-war-2022-11-05/

‘Well-known’ Boogaloo Boys member spoke about his desire to ‘blow up’ the IRS and Facebook, documents say ... "The investigation into McKillips began on New Year’s Eve of 2020 – when he was stopped by police for a traffic violation. “In the rear of the vehicle officers located several hundred rounds of 5.56mm and 9mm ammunition, body armor, (an) AR-15 rifle (component), parachute flares, medical kits … and military-style equipment,” the affidavit states. ... In recordings posted in a Signal chat room, and obtained by authorities in July 2021, McKillips spoke to other Boogaloo movement members about plans to “blow up the IRS,” and talked about “burning down federal buildings and shooting federal agents,” according to the affidavit. (more) https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/02/us/boogaloo-boy-fbi-arrest/index.html

From the New York Times, quoting DePape's most recent employer: "Over the six years he has known Mr. DePape, Mr. Ciccarelli said, he witnessed a transformation from a shy and hardworking, but troubled, man into someone who was increasingly isolated and captive to his darkest thoughts. “If you got him talking about politics, it was all over,” Mr. Ciccarelli recalled in an interview this week. “Because he really believed in the whole MAGA, ‘Pizzagate,’ stolen election — you know, all of it, all the way down the line.” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/us/pelosi-attack-depape-arraignment.html "Last year, David DePape posted links on his Facebook page to multiple videos produced by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell falsely alleging that the 2020 election was stolen. Other posts included transphobic images and linked to websites claiming Covid vaccines were deadly. ... DePape also posted links to YouTube videos with titles like “Democrat FARCE Commission to Investigate January 6th Capitol Riot COLLAPSES in Congress!!!” and “Global Elites Plan To Take Control Of YOUR Money! (Revealed)” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/alleged-paul-pelosi-attacker-posted-multiple-conspiracy-theories/ar-AA13uLaM

A misinformation post and ensuing reply have been removed. See the following New York Times and CNN reports posted below.

A post promoting long-established misinformation has been removed, along with several ensuing replies.

Several off-topic trolling posts have been removed.

Details emerge in Paul Pelosi attack: A break-in, conversation, 911 call, then violence ... Pelosi, who was sleeping in a pajama top and boxer shorts, startled awake to find DePape allegedly standing over him with a hammer in his right hand and several white zip ties in his left hand. ... "Pelosi then sat back down on the bed and asked why DePape wanted to see his wife. “Well, she’s No. 2 in line for the presidency, right?” DePape allegedly said. “We’ve got to take them all out.” (more) https://autos.yahoo.com/autos/news/details-emerge-paul-pelosi-attack-090058873.html The above news report also offers a very detailed description of just what happened once police came to the Pelosi home, and after Pelosi opened the door, the officers found DePape holding the hammer in one hand and holding Pelosi's arm with the other. Pelosi had one of his hands on the top of the hammer held by DePape. And then the attack ensued when police ordered DePape to drop the hammer, and he refused, instead swinging at Pelosi.

A post condoning violence and criminal behavior has been removed, along with ensuing replies.

A trolling, name calling post has been removed. Continue with more of the same, and you'll face a posting suspension.

An off-topic post with a non-news source, opinion article content has been removed.