live from planet five [prod. tainiykick]

You’d be forgiven if you thought we were undergoing a coup d’état this week. We’ve been here before, and we don’t startle easily. A KZN Commissioner and General Mkhwanazi called a press conference. Mkhwanazi was dressed in full military garb and was surrounded by masked military men with really big rifles. I did hold my breath. We’ve been here before. Frightening DeJa’Vu
The media described #NhlanhlaMkhwanazi’s statements as “explosive” and filled with allegations of how the government has been captured by the drug mafia and that our current minister of police, #SenzoMchunu, was the glue that binds the spider’s web.

#MafiaOnTrend – A Week of Media Mayhem

There are a handful of you who think that I haven’t written in two weeks because of a successful cyber-attack on our company website. You’re wrong, it’s far worse than that, I have been absent because my mom is ill. She’s tough, though. I’m not. I didn’t cope as well as she did. It’s a terrifying feeling, knowing your mom is fallible. And even though it feels like #RockBottom, it isn’t, and this too shall pass with God’s grace.

And for those hackers: #FreeFreePalestine, I don’t care about your clandestine!

#RockBottom. That’s a great analogy for some of the horrific stories you’ve endured these past two weeks. Join me as I claw my way back up to the surface with Acumen Media.

When the story broke, I didn’t believe it, no mother would viciously beat her eleven-year-old son to death; there had to be another person involved, it couldn’t be the mother. Bruised and partially clothed, #JaydenLee’s body was discovered on the stairwell … cold, dead. His mom #TiffinyMeek’s story didn’t add up, and the magistrate was on her like a blood hound. We wished for #JudgeErasmus from the #KellySmith trial; we got a female version instead: excellent. She tore into the defence’s version of events and sent that woman with her black bobble-hat straight down into (what we wish was) the gallows. We wish it was a pit deep and dark at the bottom of the earth. That’s where we’d like to see her, #RockBottom.

#RockBottom, Rising Tides and Camo is Key

ধেয়ে আসছে ভয়াবহ রেইন বেল্ট, এবার ডুবতে পারে দেশের নিম্নাঞ্চল | Flood Alert | Weather | ATN Bangla
🌐 𝖢𝖫𝖨𝖢𝖪 𝖧𝖤𝖱𝖤 🟢==►► https://sdu.sk/v9S
🌐 𝖢𝖫𝖨𝖢𝖪 𝖧𝖤𝖱𝖤 🟢==►► https://sdu.sk/v9S

ধেয়ে আসছে ভয়াবহ রেইন বেল্ট, এবার ডুবতে পারে দেশের নিম্নাঞ্চল | Flood Alert | Weather | ATN Bangla

DÁ-ME BASS LINE

This week in 1396 the Ottoman Empire beheaded 3000 defeated crusaders. In 1665 one hundred thousand people died of the plague in London and in 2025 Helen Zille launched her mayoral campaign in Johannesburg. It was never a good week to stick your head out the door. #NeverZille

It started with #JumpingJohn who, if you don’t mind me saying, is unlikely to be able to jump anywhere these days. Sho! Living a ministerial life sure does keep your potbelly happy. Anyway, as a portly person, I get to take pop shots like that, it’s the only reason you would like to be on the heavy side. So, there was John, shiny, blue and like a boxing ring announcer. Louder and largely irrelevant, he crowed in his commander. The 74-year-old strutted briskly to the podium (let’s be fair, she’s topping for her age) and told her loyal servants that she was running for mayor in Johannesburg. #ShrillerZille

I’m Tonya Khoury and if you’re a regular reader of #ScratchTheSurface, you’ll know that I’m not a #GodZille fan. I’ve never been a Zille fan, largely because I find her condescending, racist and above all a genocide-denier. Among her funders is Israel and if you haven’t worked it out: Helen is a Zionist. #NeverZille. She will tell you that there is a genocide of white farmers in South Africa. That same falsehood that turned our world upside down with Trump. Strangely enough, she can get behind that one, and she can even get behind the #SudaneseGenocide, so one would imagine she does know what a real genocide looks like. But the genocide in Palestine where five hundred thousand people have vanished in Gaza alone is one she refuses to admit exists.

#NeverZille and Social Media Matters

We’ve all used it, we’ve all laughed at it, but this week we earned the title: “South Africa is a movie”. What a year this week has been. I wish the news would take a hiatus because I’ve got a lot going on this side of the planet. I’m Tonya Khoury, and this week I’ve witnessed unlikely suicides, files dropped from dizzying heights, a deputy police commissioner who looked like he was going to cry while police helicopters circled him and a tsotsi’s Lamborghini’s carefully loaded into a forfeit and seizure truck. All of this because of one guy. #SAIsAGangsterMovie #MkhwanaziReturns
Roll back the clock to last week when the story broke of #NathiNthetwa’s suicide. He jumped from the twenty-second floor of the Hyatt in Paris. The windows do not open on the twenty-second floor, apparently. His phone was apparently found in a forest far away from the scene and a suspiciously TYPED suicide note appeared on his wife’s messaging app. Apparently. #SAIsAMysteryMovie

#MkhwanaziReturns #SAIsAMovie

For the most part I had the sensation of drowning this week. That crashing wave I felt on top of my head was #Mkhwanazi’s shake up or shake down, whichever way you look at it. We have two sittings to unpack his allegations: the first is the #AdhocCommittee in Parliament; it may sound droll, but my word it was lit. And the second was the #MadlangaCommission, a commission established by the President’s purse, #SenzoThePurseMchunu.
Before I continue, though, I have this to say:
Dear Glynis
Please leave the DA and stand for president. You are a legend. I have watched you year in and out chomping like a Pitbull at the heels of corruption. This week alone I saw you rip into the witnesses at the #AdhocCommittee and thereafter tell us that there is now sufficient proof that the deputies are useless and should be fired immediately. My highlight of the week was your interrogation of Bheki Cele. I know you’re going to hate me for saying this Glynnie, but I like Bheki the Hat, and you yourself admitted you have given him a hard time over the years, but watching the two of you I noted you have a mutual respect for one another. Glynis Breytenbach, you biscuit, you stole the show ma’am. Some of your first words were that we all know the police are corrupt … so why are we here? #BeLikeGlynis.

#BeLikeGlynis and South Africa’s Soft Multi-Coloured Underbelly

rs_Lord_Dooro

Congress Cashes In While You Struggle | Karel Cast 25-147

The new bill reopening the U.S. government is a massive payday for Congress—not for you. Buried deep in the legislation are perks for lawmakers, including a retroactive $500,000 payout for any member whose phone records were seized during the January 6th investigations. Billions more are being funneled into office upgrades, security, and staff expansions.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court keeps siding with Trump’s cruelty—letting people go hungry and putting healthcare back in the hands of rich White men who play God with your life.

Karel also opens up about his own skin cancer removal, using it to spotlight the major advances in cancer treatment and testing—and the question that matters most: Will these medical breakthroughs only help the rich?

And Disney’s Toy Story 5 sends a quiet message: screens are destroying kids. But maybe—just maybe—this is evolution. As technology becomes universal, should kids actually be learning to thrive in a screen-based world?

🎙️ The Karel Cast streams live Monday–Thursday at 10:30 a.m. PST across all major platforms—YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and Spreaker.

❤️ Support independent journalism: patreon.com/reallykarel￼

📺 Watch & Subscribe: youtube.com/reallykarel￼

🐾 Follow Karel & Ember on TikTok and Instagram @reallykarel

#KarelCast, #Congress, #GovernmentShutdown, #PoliticalCorruption, #USPolitics, #BreakingNews, #SupremeCourt, #TrumpNews, #HealthcareCrisis, #CancerAwareness, #WealthInequality, #ToyStory5, #ScreenTime, #MediaAnalysis, #ProgressiveMedia, #IndependentJournalism, #LiberalTalk, #LasVegas, #TalkShow, #KarelAndEmber

https://youtube.com/live/xcjnIB_A4iU

Congress Cashes In While You Struggle | Karel Cast 25-147

DEATH IS NOT ATONEMENT 🐦‍🔥🔥❤️

#ScratchTheSurface on media news with Acumen media

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