Obviously not beefy enough these days for the 
I saw the photo of his bruises, maybe too much blubber, barely any actual meat
I didn’t have aliens on the 2024 bingo but sure why not.
https://x.com/dapeaq/status/1856757534931005818?s=46
5 Likes
9 Likes
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (85) reportedly appointed his second son Mojtaba (55) as his successor a few weeks ago (very forcefully allegedly) before allegedly slipping into a coma. There was opposition but threats and leverage were used to push the assembly to agree to the handover.
Latest unconfirmed reports are that Khamenei has died but they are very unconfirmed.
1 Like
Sounds like a potential Trump hand-over in 4 years time.
Oh dear, I have fallen down a Scottish Gritter rabbit hole.
They have a 3d live version of the map.
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/92a86955ebce4fdaa1b8c8798d33697a
5 Likes
Ice breaker? Boring…
1 Like
First it was the great cheese heist…
Now this…
The Americas | Operation Holy Salmon
The mafia’s latest bonanza: salmon heists
Fish farming is big business in Chile. Stealing fish is, too
Stop, thief!Photograph: Reuters
Nov 21st 2024
WEARING HI-VIS jackets and heavy boots, the men in the CCTV footage almost look as though they are meant to be there—until one pulls out a gun. On March 20th at least ten men burst into a cold-storage facility in San Antonio, a port in central Chile, threatened its employees and made off in four lorries filled with salmon worth some 600m pesos ($616,000). Their plot was soon foiled. In April police recovered some of the fish in San Felipe, a nearby commune. And in August they arrested 11 people in connection with the heist. Officials behind the sting—dubbed Operación Santo Salmón (Operation Holy Salmon)—think the gang was planning to sell the goods during Lent, when Catholics forgo meat in favour of fish.
Robberies have become a big problem for Chile’s second-largest export business; salmon farming generated 6trn pesos in revenue and supported some 70,000 jobs in 2023. There were just two robberies in 2018, according to SalmonChile, which represents the country’s fish farmers. That number has since leapt sharply. Between 2019 and 2023 there were 158 salmon robberies, most of which targeted cargoes of fish being delivered by lorry. Many more are thought to go unreported.
The crime wave has battered the industry. SalmonChile puts losses since 2019 at more than 67bn pesos. Firms are spending more on insurance and tracking equipment. Lorry drivers are afraid, as the heists sometimes turn violent; two drivers were abducted during robberies earlier this year. Many firms are avoiding their usual delivery routes in the south. Some drivers have started wearing bulletproof vests. Ricardo García of Salmones Camanchaca, a fish-farming business, reckons that these additional expenses, combined with the losses, are costing the industry around 1% of its gross operating profits each year.
A couple of factors lie behind the recent rise in crime. Making off with a lorry-load of salmon—typically worth around 200m pesos—was always bound to be lucrative. But since domestic demand has risen by almost 20% between 2013 and 2020, gangs can probably net more cash than ever before by selling fish in local markets. At the same time, the government’s crackdown on wood theft may have encouraged the country’s “timber mafias” to target shipments of salmon instead. Salmon heists are most frequent in the Biobío region, which has long been among those worst affected by timber theft.
Chilean lawmakers are starting to act. It isn’t just that crime is hurting business. Markets awash with stolen salmon that has been stored (and sometimes even processed) in dodgy conditions pose a risk to public health. Some members of the Chamber of Deputies, Chile’s lower house of Congress, have proposed a bill—modelled on laws targeting timber smugglers—that would make salmon robbery a specific crime with harsh penalties. Mr García says that closer co-ordination between businesses and the police has already led to fewer crimes this year: just 12 robberies have been recorded so far, down from 24 last year. For now, though, salmon-jacking is still going all too swimmingly for Chile’s fish-farm mafias. ■
1 Like
1 Like
If you’re going to ■■■■ up you might as well go big.
3 Likes
2 Likes
USA advises that it is not involved in the rebel incursion into Aleppo.
No mention of what’s happening to the Kurds.
What is Turkey doing?
1 Like
Reportedly the Greens are being smashed in the Irish elections.
1 Like
I’ve posted a bit about it in the Ukraine Russia thread.
1 Like
And Georgia lurches to potential major upheaval.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has scrapped plans to join the EU contrary to previous voting, introducing laws not out of kilter with Russian edicts suddenly. Accusations of foreign insurgents, Opposition leaders being detained, demonstrators being dispersed with batons and tear gas. … the President though (EU friendly) vows to remain in situ.
Several days of this. Not good.
Russia looking on, not unhappy about this state of affairs developing.
AFAIK, there’s been no mention of the source of the weaponry of HTS and others.