>Africa is waking up to the power of gold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa_Musa
Alas, poor Qaddafi! I knew him, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_voyage_of_the_predecessor_of_Mansa_Musa
We belong to a house which hands on the kingship by inheritance. The king who was my predecessor did not believe that it was impossible to discover the furthest limit of the Atlantic Ocean and wished vehemently to do so. So he equipped 200 ships filled with men and the same number equipped with gold, water, and provisions enough to last them for years, and said to the man deputed to lead them: "Do not return until you reach the end of it or your provisions and water give out." They departed and a long time passed before anyone came back. Then one ship returned and we asked the captain what news they brought. He said: "Yes, O Sultan, we traveled for a long time until there appeared in the open sea [as it were] a river with a powerful current. Mine was the last of those ships. The [other] ships went on ahead but when they reached that place they did not return and no more was seen of them and we do not know what became of them. As for me, I went about at once and did not enter that river." But the sultan disbelieved him. Then that sultan got ready 2,000 ships, 1,000 for himself and the men whom he took with him and 1,000 for water and provisions. He left me to deputize for him and embarked on the Atlantic Ocean with his men. That was the last we saw of him and all those who were with him, and so I became king in my own right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River
https://web.archive.org/web/20240727012601/https://www.wired.com/story/thomas-crooks-conspiracy-donald-trump-cia-mk-ultra/
The Thomas Crooks Conspiracy Theories Aren’t Going Anywhere
The FBI says Donald Trump’s would-be assassin acted alone; the CIA denies any association with him. But experts say the complex reasons for belief in conspiracies will likely keep people believing.
While there’s no consensus among popular conspiracists on how many shooters there were and whether law enforcement agencies on the scene passively allowed or actively abetted the crime, they do seem to broadly agree it was an inside job carried out at the behest of the deep state. (The FBI says its ongoing investigation has turned up no reason to think Crooks had accomplices.) Who the specific culprits are supposed to be remains unclear. The Heritage Foundation, the think tank currently best known for its role in coordinating Project 2025, used cell phone location data to intimate the FBI was involved, while everyone from QAnon influencers to Ackman has invoked fictional CIA assassin Jason Bourne when not pointing the finger at the actual, real-life CIA. (“These claims are utterly false, absurd, and damaging,” a CIA spokesperson tells WIRED. “The CIA had no relationship whatsoever with Thomas Crooks.”)
(“Regarding MKULTRA, the CIA’s program was shut down more than 40 years ago,” the CIA spokesperson says, “and declassified information about the program is publicly available on CIA.gov.”)
“These claims are utterly false, absurd, and damaging,” a CIA spokesperson tells WIRED. “The CIA had no relationship whatsoever with Thomas Crooks.”
>We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service members whenever they arrived. That never happened.
https://apnews.com/article/sports-paris-bd9f553c59c6fcb491887c0a033accc9
Paris taps French stage director Jolly for Olympic opening
Paris Olympic organizers appointed prize-winning French theater director Thomas Jolly on Wednesday to direct the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2024 Games and the Paralympics.
As artistic director, the 40-year-old Jolly will be tasked with bringing to life Paris’ ambitious plan to hold the July 26, 2024, opening ceremony in the French capital’s city center, along the Seine River, taking it out of the traditional Olympic Stadium setting for the first time.
Paris organizing committee head Tony Estanguet said Jolly “knows how to break norms and take them to the next level” and that he’ll “be able to imagine unprecedented artistic concepts” for the shows.
Estanguet also said the Place de la Concorde, the large central Paris square where King Louis XVI and others were executed during the French Revolution, is being considered as a venue for the Paralympic opening ceremony, which Jolly will also direct.
The closing ceremonies will be held at the Stade de France, the stadium that hosted the World Cup soccer final in 1998.
Paris organizers hope to have 600,000 spectators — most of them watching for free — lining the banks of the Seine for the Olympic opening, as the 10,500 athletes are paraded on barges along the river.
“By opening the Games to as many people as possible, Paris 2024 displays values which I fully recognise,” Jolly said in a statement from organizers. “The theatre I advocate is also resolutely open because I am convinced that in our time, we need to project ourselves together towards common ideals.”
Jolly won a Moliere prize, France’s highest theater award, for directing in 2015.
https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-presidential-election-maduro-machado-edmundo-results-acee6c8cd3a8fc88086c2dd71963b759
Maduro locked in standoff with opponents as each side claims victory in presidential elections
Several foreign governments, including the U.S., held off recognizing the results as election officials delayed releasing detailed vote tallies after proclaiming Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, to 44% for retired diplomat Edmundo González.
“Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” González said.
>Przemyslaw Babiarz, would not be allowed to comment on air anymore during this summer’s Games.
>Lennon’s song asks to imagine no heaven or hell, no countries, and no possessions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hof%27s_Love_Ranch#Death_of_owner
they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes