Cleanup in Aisle Lunatic (h/t romad1)

[chasfh]

I go to this one sweet-treat confectionery here in the city pretty regularly during the summers. Their product is delicious. I talk a lot to the man and the woman who own it, just chit-chatting about this and that, frequently about their business which, honestly, is about the only thing the man is interested in talking about. I'd always suspected the guy is a little Trumpy, based on comments here and there the past few years, but I hadn't thought much about it.

Until yesterday, anyway.

Yesterday, I asked him how's his business going this year, and was he thinking about opening a second location? Yes indeed, he said, he was actually looking down south and out west, because they have to close shop here during the winter months, and they want a 12-month-a-year business, which makes all kinds of sense, of course. One of the places he mentioned was California, specifically San Francisco and Malibu.

I replied, wow, sounds expensive, and he said, yeah, especially with "everything that's going on now", like with all the food processing plants exploding.

Yeah, I hear y ...

... wait, what?

Oh, yeah, he says. Google it. Someone with an agenda is blowing up food processing plants in this country. They want to create an artificial food shortage for whatever their agenda is wink wink.

Oh.

OK.

I backed out of that conversation soon as I could and went home with my sweet treat.

I hadn't heard anything like this before, so once I got home, I DuckDuckGoed this idea. (I don't want Google knowing I search for stuff like that.) Predictably, it was a bunch of websites I'd never heard of: 100PercentFedUp.com. FoodStorageMoms.com. USSAnews.com. StillnessInTheStorm.com. ConsPatriots.com. (That last one is especially rich, and aptly-named.) Garbage sites, one and all.

The only mainstream site I saw even mention it was Reuters, who did a fact-check article on this topic. So I checked that out, and they basically reported that processing plant fires and explosions are already fairly common; that there's no evidence of an increase in processing plant mishaps; that many of the plants are small mom-and-pops which don't affect the food supply hardly at all; and that there's no evidence that any of the mishaps were premeditated or planned.

BUT: there was definitely an increase in social media chatter about food processing plant fires and explosions.

Lately, whenever I hear about any new conspiracy like this one, I have taken to asking myself: How does this conspiracy story help Russia? You know, because we've learned through our own national intelligence services that they are behind so many of these stories.

We know, of course, that Russia wants to promote chaos in America in general. That's a given. But it's not as though they themselves approach it chaotically and throw random shit on whatever wall just to see what sticks. They're pretty good about picking their spots and creating a plausible (or at least plausible-enough) story to deflect from their own malfeasance.

In this case, this one was really easy to figure out.

Both Russia and Ukraine are among the top exporters of wheat, corn, and barley in the world. UKR is top five in all these; RUS is #10 in corn but #1 in wheat. Point is, both countries have contributed a lot to the world's basic food supply in recent years.

But now Russia is in the process of basically destroying Ukraine, which is putting a virtual halt to UKR's grain exports, Plus, since RUS is spending so much time and treasure to destroy UKR, their own exports of grain are dramatically decreasing as well. This is what's creating a shortage in the world food supply, with its increasing prices and diminished access.

But no way is Russia is just going to sit back and take the (rightful) blame for all this. So I think it's very likely that the made-up stories about deliberate destruction of American food processing plants by [Biden/Democrats/socialists/communists/Antifa/BLM/etc.] is their attempt to shift blame for the food shortages from themselves, where it rightly belongs, to their biggest enemies and detractors, which is basically the rest of us.

Does it make sense that [Biden/Democrats/socialists/communists/Antifa/BLM/etc.] would destroy American food processing just to choke off the food supply to the world? Not to you and me, it doesn't. But to the right-wing people of the United States who hate what America has become, hate even more where they imagine it is going, and hate most of all the people in America who are not them, it makes all the sense in the world.

If you remember even one thing from this post, let it be this:

Whenever you hear any new conspiracy story, ask yourself: How does this conspiracy story help Russia? Once you ask this, it probably won't take very long for you to get to your answer.

[Motown Bombers]

Didn't Russia actually destroy a grain exporting facility in Ukraine? Russia is literally going after Ukraine's food suppliers. 

[gehringer_2]

6 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Whenever you hear any new conspiracy story, ask yourself: How does this conspiracy story help Russia? Once you ask this, it probably won't take very long for you to get to your answer.

Under reporting and under research of exactly this kind of thing is a major US ms  media fail.

Edited June 7, 2022 by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

5 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Under reporting and under research of exactly this kind of thing is a major US ms  media fail.

Right—only Reuters ran anything on it. I see nothing on CNN, the alphabet networks, or anywhere else. They're basically ignoring far as I can tell, which really does feed the conspiracy story.

[chasfh]

7 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Didn't Russia actually destroy a grain exporting facility in Ukraine? Russia is literally going after Ukraine's food suppliers. 

There are these:

https://observers.france24.com/en/europe/20220506-russian-attacks-on-farms-and-silos-deliberately-trying-to-destroy-the-ukrainian-economy

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/05/europe/russia-ukraine-grain-theft-cmd-intl/index.html

And there's also this, from just a couple hours ago:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-attack-destroys-warehouses-major-ukrainian-commodity-terminal-governor-2022-06-07/

But I find this one the most interesting:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-russia-ready-facilitate-unfettered-grains-supply-ukraine-2022-05-30/

Basically because Russia is positioning itself in this story to be the hero by saving the world's food economy from the attempt by [Biden/Democrats/socialists/communists/Antifa/BLM/etc.] to destroy it, or whatever.

 

[CMRivdogs]

6 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Right—only Reuters ran anything on it. I see nothing on CNN, the alphabet networks, or anywhere else. They're basically ignoring far as I can tell, which really does feed the conspiracy story.

A quick search showed that Polifact ran a similar story to Reuters. Politifact is a Poynter Institute site in which I don't assume much bias

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/apr/26/facebook-posts/no-food-plant-fires-arent-attempt-create-food-shor/

The article did mention Mr T Carlson, a prime pusher of Russian propaganda.

 

[CMRivdogs]

A deeper search shows that these type of fires have been going on forever. The Faux News machine only reports on them when it suits their anti democratic needs.

[chasfh]

8 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

A deeper search shows that these type of fires have been going on forever. The Faux News machine only reports on them when it suits their anti democratic needs.

Small "d". Nice touch.

[casimir]

40 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I go to this one sweet-treat confectionery here in the city pretty regularly during the summers. Their product is delicious. I talk a lot to the man and the woman who own it, just chit-chatting about this and that, frequently about their business which, honestly, is about the only thing the man is interested in talking about. I'd always suspected the guy is a little Trumpy, based on comments here and there the past few years, but I hadn't thought much about it.

Until yesterday, anyway.

Yesterday, I asked him how's his business going this year, and was he thinking about opening a second location? Yes indeed, he said, he was actually looking down south and out west, because they have to close shop here during the winter months, and they want a 12-month-a-year business, which makes all kinds of sense, of course. One of the places he mentioned was California, specifically San Francisco and Malibu.

I replied, wow, sounds expensive, and he said, yeah, especially with "everything that's going on now", like with all the food processing plants exploding.

Yeah, I hear y ...

... wait, what?

Oh, yeah, he says. Google it. Someone with an agenda is blowing up food processing plants in this country. They want to create an artificial food shortage for whatever their agenda is wink wink.

Oh.

OK.

I backed out of that conversation soon as I could and went home with my sweet treat.

I hadn't heard anything like this before, so once I got home, I DuckDuckGoed this idea. (I don't want Google knowing I search for stuff like that.) Predictably, it was a bunch of websites I'd never heard of: 100PercentFedUp.com. FoodStorageMoms.com. USSAnews.com. StillnessInTheStorm.com. ConsPatriots.com. (That last one is especially rich, and aptly-named.) Garbage sites, one and all.

The only mainstream site I saw even mention it was Reuters, who did a fact-check article on this topic. So I checked that out, and they basically reported that processing plant fires and explosions are already fairly common; that there's no evidence of an increase in processing plant mishaps; that many of the plants are small mom-and-pops which don't affect the food supply hardly at all; and that there's no evidence that any of the mishaps were premeditated or planned.

BUT: there was definitely an increase in social media chatter about food processing plant fires and explosions.

Lately, whenever I hear about any new conspiracy like this one, I have taken to asking myself: How does this conspiracy story help Russia? You know, because we've learned through our own national intelligence services that they are behind so many of these stories.

We know, of course, that Russia wants to promote chaos in America in general. That's a given. But it's not as though they themselves approach it chaotically and throw random shit on whatever wall just to see what sticks. They're pretty good about picking their spots and creating a plausible (or at least plausible-enough) story to deflect from their own malfeasance.

In this case, this one was really easy to figure out.

Both Russia and Ukraine are among the top exporters of wheat, corn, and barley in the world. UKR is top five in all these; RUS is #10 in corn but #1 in wheat. Point is, both countries have contributed a lot to the world's basic food supply in recent years.

But now Russia is in the process of basically destroying Ukraine, which is putting a virtual halt to UKR's grain exports, Plus, since RUS is spending so much time and treasure to destroy UKR, their own exports of grain are dramatically decreasing as well. This is what's creating a shortage in the world food supply, with its increasing prices and diminished access.

But no way is Russia is just going to sit back and take the (rightful) blame for all this. So I think it's very likely that the made-up stories about deliberate destruction of American food processing plants by [Biden/Democrats/socialists/communists/Antifa/BLM/etc.] is their attempt to shift blame for the food shortages from themselves, where it rightly belongs, to their biggest enemies and detractors, which is basically the rest of us.

Does it make sense that [Biden/Democrats/socialists/communists/Antifa/BLM/etc.] would destroy American food processing just to choke off the food supply to the world? Not to you and me, it doesn't. But to the right-wing people of the United States who hate what America has become, hate even more where they imagine it is going, and hate most of all the people in America who are not them, it makes all the sense in the world.

If you remember even one thing from this post, let it be this:

Whenever you hear any new conspiracy story, ask yourself: How does this conspiracy story help Russia? Once you ask this, it probably won't take very long for you to get to your answer.

Uhm..... I work at a food processing plant.  Sitting here taking a quick break from spreadsheets right now.  Hold on, let me look out my window....

 

Yup, still here.  And I have no heard about this happening to sister plants, or vendors, or competitors, but hey, I don't get out much.

 

By the way, we're hiring.  Come on in, fill out a job application.  I give plant tours to those that have passed the screen & interview.  I'll let you see how the good stuff is made.

[1984Echoes]

49 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Didn't Russia actually destroy a grain exporting facility in Ukraine? Russia is literally going after Ukraine's food suppliers. 

Russia is stealing tons of Ukrainian grain. 

And trying to pass it of as their own (and denying that they stole anything... Hah!!!)

[Mr.TaterSalad]

[1984Echoes]

1 minute ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Pure projection.

As always.

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Nothing there?

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, casimir said:

Uhm..... I work at a food processing plant.  Sitting here taking a quick break from spreadsheets right now.  Hold on, let me look out my window....

 

Yup, still here.  And I have no heard about this happening to sister plants, or vendors, or competitors, but hey, I don't get out much.

 

By the way, we're hiring.  Come on in, fill out a job application.  I give plant tours to those that have passed the screen & interview.  I'll let you see how the good stuff is made.

So had you heard that this hot nonsense was being promoted out there on the socials?

[casimir]

4 hours ago, chasfh said:

So had you heard that this hot nonsense was being promoted out there on the socials?

Like I said, I don’t get out much.

[oblong]

Quick glance at Ingraham and she’s wondering where the hearings are for left wing riots.  That’s the play by the right. 

[pfife]

Sep 30, 2021

https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/self-described-member-boogaloo-bois-pleads-guilty-riot

[romad1]

8 hours ago, oblong said:

Quick glance at Ingraham and she’s wondering where the hearings are for left wing riots.  That’s the play by the right. 

I understand that the phrase Black Lives Matter are actually a cabal of socialist crooks.  So there is that…if we could just legislate phrases.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

10 hours ago, oblong said:

Quick glance at Ingraham and she’s wondering where the hearings are for left wing riots.  That’s the play by the right. 

She wears that white hood a little tight around her head sometimes and it clearly cuts off the oxygen.

[pfife]

 

[chasfh]

If Joe McCarthy were in today’s Republican Party, there would be no hearings.

[oblong]

4 minutes ago, chasfh said:

If Joe McCarthy were in today’s Republican Party, there would be no hearings.

McCarthy wouldn't even be a thing.  He's now the mainstream GOP. Ike would have been called a RINO.

In '52 there was a real divide in the party when Ike announced he was a republican and would run.  Taft was the America First candidate, sound familiar?  He was strong in the midwest and south.  Sound familiar?  Ike was the preferred candidate by the establishment liberal NE wing of the party.  Sound familiar?  Overall Taft got more votes in the primary.  Nixon was the concession add on to appease the hard cores.

 

 

[Motown Bombers]

Imagine a point in time when a senator from California is added to the ticket to appease hardcore conservatives. 

[gehringer_2]

43 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

She wears that white hood a little tight around her head sometimes and it clearly cuts off the oxygen.

HaHa. Ingraham is so deep in to white aryan xenophobia/master race thinking that she's way beyond what the average person would even define as simple racial bigotry. The inside of her head would probably make a nazi eugenicist blush.

[gehringer_2]

12 minutes ago, oblong said:

McCarthy wouldn't even be a thing.  He's now the mainstream GOP. Ike would have been called a RINO.

In '52 there was a real divide in the party when Ike announced he was a republican and would run.  Taft was the America First candidate, sound familiar?  He was strong in the midwest and south.  Sound familiar?  Ike was the preferred candidate by the establishment liberal NE wing of the party.  Sound familiar?  Overall Taft got more votes in the primary.  Nixon was the concession add on to appease the hard cores.

 

 

Good stuff. Though TBF, not many states were holding presidential primaries in '52 (If I count right on Wikipedia it was only 13). So getting the most primary votes in '52 might not have meant what it would mean today.