The Level1 Show April 10 2023: Patreon Edition!

Hey guys, South African here. The blackouts story is quite a lot more crazy than you realize. I could do a giant post about it but I'll try to keep this concise. I swear this is an overview. I'll give you the full story if you want to read more, Daily Maverick is arguably the most legit newspaper we have: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/eskom-intelligence-files-cartels/ Basically: Yes, 'cable theft'/'vandalism' in the form of copper, battery, solar panel, etc. theft is rampant here, but that is not the main issue. One quick thing I will say about this is that cable theft is fueled by desperation.* The main issue is that we have only one power utility that is state operated, and along with being corrupt and incompetent, it is being controlled by 4 cartels to extract wealth to the detriment of the country. They do things like stealing spare parts, placing fake orders (they are the 'seller'), sabotaging power stations (they provide the repairs), stealing diesel by the kiloliter, the list is endless. This has led to the entire country experiencing anywhere from 2-10hrs of blackouts daily for the entire year of 2023 to date, and most of 2022. More alarmingly, 2 of these cartels are apparently run by (as yet unnamed) high ranking government officials. We don't know who exactly, but it's not hard to guess. The Vice President (DD Mabuza) recently stepped down, quietly and without giving a reason. He holds major sway in the province which experiences the highest degree of this type of organized crime (including hit squads, see article for more info on that). The other is very likely the Energy and Natural Resources Minister who, until recently, oversaw national energy policy. A few years ago, we got a well meaning CEO put in charge of the utility (this is not a new problem). Late last year, he stepped up the investigations into theft, sabotage and corruption, and was accused of being a traitor by the aforementioned energy minister, and poisoned with cyanide. Luckily he survived, but he had already decided to step down at that point, as his position had become untenable. He plans to leave the country. The government is making some token gestures to get the problem under control, but the gravy train has many passengers, and to mix metaphors, it's a glass houses situation of the highest order. Nobody wants to start looking too closely at who is getting rich from where, lest they get a bit of the same attention. It's honestly really sad. The ANC, yeah... They always seem to do the opposite of whatever the right move is. Get offered $8 billion by the West to fix our power infrastructure? Let's do joint military exercises with Russia and China on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I could rattle off a dozen more such examples off the top of my head. *High commodity prices, combined with high inflation are a nasty combo. Unfortunately when the US raises interest rates to combat inflation domestically, it has the effect of exporting it to the rest of the world, who use the Dollar as their global reserve currency. But that is a separate post.

Twitter, if not stopped by US gov because trying very hard to be "neutral", will be the most important social media for remaining humanity

Staatlicher Nagetierfunktionär

No link of links?

Wendell, Oshpark is a short turn PCB service based in the US. Only one that I know of.

Smeemer