The World is on Fire‼️🔥🔥🔥

When I say the world is on fire, I'm not speaking metaphorically, unfortunately.

Take for example, the Dixie Fire that has been ravaging Northern California for over a month now.

In case it's unclear, it is the second largest wildfire in US history.

As I'm typing this, it has seared through more than half a million acres and it's only about 30% contained.

More power to the brave crews battling the blaze but I've started seeing reports about the arrest of a suspect who allegedly set off a series of additional fires around the area.

That person is 47-year-old Gary Stephan Maynard, who is a part-time college lecturer in Sonoma State's Criminal Justice Department (ironic). He was also reportedly living out of his car and travelling alone across Northern California.

And if the court documents are 100% accurate, this guy is a next-level scumbag.

According to the documents, he entered the evacuation zone and then began setting fire directly behind the first responders that were fighting the Dixie Fire.

So, in addition to trying to enlarge the Dixie Fire, threatening even more lives and property, it increased the direct danger to the first responders.

Furthermore, the documents stated that Maynard's fires were placed in the perfect position to increase the risk of firefighters trapped between fires.

Unsurprisingly, Maynard has flat-out denied setting any fires following his arrest. Investigators said he became enraged and started kicking the jail cell door.

Still and all, he's currently charged with willfully setting the Ranch Fire in Lassen County.

He could face up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the same count.

Ultimately, I want to reiterate that the world is on fire. Not just California in America 🇺🇸.

A week ago, Kuwait 🇰🇼 experienced a massive fire after the world's largest tire graveyard lit up.

You also have Greece 🇬🇷 dealing with at least 586 wildfires throughout the country—during one of the worst heatwaves in decades.

In a televised address, the Prime Minister went on to tell the nation that 63 organized evacuations had to take place as the fires approached towns and villages.

So far, hundreds of homes have been destroyed and with all of this the government's response has been seen as inadequate by some, leading to protests outside of the Greek Parliament.

Fundamentally, scientists believe that Southern Europe will experience wildfires like this more often as the region has increasingly experienced larger droughts, but it's also not just Greece 🇬🇷.

Algeria 🇩🇿 is also on the list of countries combating large wildfires and it's going very poorly. Thus far the results are negative. Close to 100 people have died in blazes. Half of which are soldiers who were deployed as emergency firefighters.

These fires are centered around the region—about 60 miles east of the capital—that is notoriously tough, remote, and had dry terrain.

Essentially, the locals there are partially concerned that the fires were started by arson and ultimately, the country's Prime Minister stated this on national TV:

Technically (and very unfortunately), this story could just go on and on and on, basically because you have places like Turkey 🇹🇷, Italy 🇮🇹, Spain 🇪🇸, Peru 🇵🇪 and Lebanon 🇱🇧 all battling unusually large blazes.

Conclusively, the last one that we need to address, is the one that has been relentlessly ravaging Russia 🇷🇺 for weeks now.

So, you see, the fires there are mostly confined to regions that we would call Siberia—which is a blessing and a curse.

Elementally, the region is heavily forested and droughts literally lead to massive forest fire season similar to what happens in parts of California.

But, unlike California, Siberia is sparsely populated with a few population centers—meaning that there's only been a few evacuation orders.

And as a matter of fact, most of the fires aren't even fought by firefighters, and are just allowed to burn out as part of the natural life cycle of the region.

On the contrary, scientists are now more than ever, overly concerned about the scope of this year's fires. So, like much of the world, Siberia has become increasingly dry during the fire season, which exacerbates the problem.

And its fires are so big that massive clouds of smoke can cover the region for weeks—which also has its own ecological problems!

Correspondingly, this year's fires are so mountainous that for the first time, the smoke from them has managed to conceal supersized sections of the North Pole!!

That's a major red flag 🚩, because it simply means that the fires are going further and further north—which is invariably a tremendous threat to drastically disturb the northern region's permafrost!

For the sake of clarity, if the permafrost starts melting now, these fires would be able to release astronomical amounts of trapped greenhouse gases like methane—which will worsen global warming in a way that quickly makes the entire situation one that we have less and less control over.

I'd love to know your thoughts in those comments down below because yes, this is an article, but it's also a conversation.

Let's Talk About the Absolute Insanity Out of Haiti 🇭🇹

So, early Wednesday morning, July 7, 2021, the president of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse (53), was assassinated at his residence right on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

The attack also resulted in his wife, Martine, being shot, but she survived and is being treated at a hospital in Miami.

Shortly after this happened, interim Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, had this to say:

But, in recordings obtained from the neighborhood, people can be heard approaching the house and most importantly, this:

Unsurprisingly, both American and Haitian officials have been quick to dismiss the idea that either the DEA or US agencies had anything to do with the attack.

Furthermore, Haitian officials have largely come to the consensus that the operation was concretely carried out by mercenaries.

The Haitian chief of police also announced that four suspects had been killed in a tense gun battle with police and that two others were arrested.

Hopefully, they might get answers about who ordered the hit, because the potential compilation (of suspects) isn't a small one.

The now former president was widely hated in Haiti—and abroad as well—and faced over a year of massive protests.

Amongst other things, he refused to step down as president after his term officially ended. Arguing that since he took office late, he was entitled to another full year.

Consequently, that led to him just ruling by decree as there haven't been any elections for a new legislature.

Adding to the long list of fucked up issues that Haitians have had to endure during his horribly rigid regime, he and his government are thought to have stolen billions of dollars in aid given to Haiti by various governments in the region.

But, even with him being broadly disliked and dreadfully despised, his death has sparked fears that the country may descend into political chaos.

Now, it is important to note that this country was already facing widespread poverty and gang-related violence. Fast-forward to the shit show at hand, multiple people are now claiming to be in charge.

The interim Prime Minister, Claude Joseph, appears to be in the driver's seat already, but someone else has entered the f̶r̶a̶y̶ vehicle and he's clearly not interested in the passenger side.

That's right, we've got two people claiming the same position. Or more correctly speaking, two fellas fighting for control over the creaky old squeaky steering wheel of a very dilapidated car that can barely move.

For the sake of clarity, Joseph was Prime Minister up until the day before the president's death—and he was replaced by a particular Ariel Henry.

Still and all, you have Joseph claiming that under constitutional rules, Henry was only appointed Prime Minister, but never actually took office. He also added this:

Henry, on the other end, specifically stated that:

So, now it is pretty much unclear how this situation is going to play out exactly. In all actuality, I haven't the foggiest idea if either are going to back down from claiming to be in charge. Really don't see that happening anytime soon, you know.

Although (as I'm typing this), it does seem like Joseph has more actual power right now. Plus, he's been super speedy to declare that the country's in a state of siege and that things are being locked down.

And with all the BS, as far as international response, US president, Joe Biden, denounced what he called a 'shocking assassination'.

Also, in pure American fashion, American officials stated that they were ready to help “investigate” the claims if asked by Haitian officials. Pretty typical, don't you think? Don't mind me, though. I just happen to find my mind wandering with wanton rapidity at any given chance.

Nevertheless, there's been some really loud concerns over possible US intervention in Haiti.

In case it's unclear, the United States gives Haiti a ton of aid for humanitarian concerns and to help with development. But, it also has a long history of occupying Haiti for various (seemingly selfish) reasons with extremely controversial results.

That history, comes with an expectation by some, in both Haiti and the US, that America will respond with a shitload of troops if the situation in Haiti devolves into violence.

But, even if that were not to happen, there are also calls for the Biden administration to appoint a special representative to Haiti ASAP, to reexamine how the US sends aid there.

Because, as aforementioned, it is basically beyond possible that billions of dollars sent to help the country have mostly—if not completely—been stolen by corrupt officials (Nigeria has left the chat).

So, there you have it: A calm, simple situation involving billions of dollars, high-octane corruption, an assassinated president and a power vacuum with contested power.

What's the worst that could happen?

Kim Kardashian and the World's Wealthiest

These days, we're seeing lots of female celebrities with very established audiences going to places like OnlyFans, but on the other end, you have Kim Kardashian who (granted), became the big name that she was largely because of THAT sextape with Brandy's little brother, Ray J.

Regardless, you could argue more impressively, she was able to launch a career from that to the point where she's making very current headlines for becoming an official billionaire.

Forbes recently reported that her stake in KKW Beauty is around $500 million.

Not to mention her ownership in Skims being valued at $225 million.

You know, you're more than free to say whatever you want about her, but I truly think it is genuinely impressive that she has had not only the staying power, but the ability to grow and thrive.

I figured I'd share this story because I know so many of you—as a cultishly collective group—have been religiously rooting for her.

According to Forbes, while it is still rare for a person to be a billionaire, she is far from the only one.

Forbes reported on their 35th annual list of the world's wealthiest, that there are now 2,755 billionaires—which is a crazy jump of 660 billionaires in just a year!

They also found that this list—together—is worth $13.1 trillion, an increase of $5.1 trillion from last year's list.

Collectively (and currently), 86% of all billionaires are richer than they were a year ago.

The biggest earner turned out to be none other than Elon Musk, who went from a (seemingly) embarrassing $24.6 billion to his now $151 billion fortune!

That puts Mr. Musk at number 2, right behind Jeff Bezos, who is reportedly worth an astronomical $177 billion—which (I think) is super impressive, because this is how much he's worth after he got divorced!

His ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, is the 22nd richest person in the world, by the way.

Depending on who you are, you might find this interesting, aspirational, infuriating, all of the above? I'm just most inclined to know your thoughts.

Facebook's Drastic Data Leak… Again!

News just broke (out) that the information for over half a billion Facebook users has been leaked online.

As far as what the information includes, it's things like phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, email addresses.

As far as how widespread this thing is, users in 106 countries are reportedly affected—including the United States with 32 million users, the UK with 11 million and India with 6 million.

The leaked data set is reportedly from 2019, but it's still very much a problem despite being a couple of years old now.

Personally, my major concern is that cyber criminals can actually access these information to impersonate other people, or even scam them into handing over their login credentials.

In fact, the leaked data was first discovered back in January when a user in a low-level hacking forum offered to sell the info as part of an automated bot.

Although, what ended up happening, is that someone else leaked the information for free.

So, if you'd like to see if you've been affected by this leak, there are a couple of ways to do so.

For example, there's this web security consultant, Troy Hunt, uploading affected email addresses to haveibeenpwned.com.

Here's a link to the site.

It also sends uploaded affected phone numbers.

And while there are other sites that are offering these kinds of services, they're less well-known. So, for that reason, I'm not going to be linking to those.