I find it quite believable, seeing how the Venezuelan govt simply issues orders to all ISPs to block the IP ranges of sites that make them uncomfortable; a famous victim is DolarToday.com, a site that tracks the black market currency exchange rate and now publishes unflattering news and opinion. I'd include a few traceroutes but I'm posting from my phone. Even pastebin.com was blocked for more than a year (haven't checked recently) because a list of URLs with leaked emails wad posted there.

After several years planning and deploying, they have fiber-to-the-shore, courtesy of their sugar daddies in Venezuela. It's public access that's lacking, and perhaps the showstopper here isn't lack of computers but scaling up their national firewall.

Done.

the new Paramount logo.

"Breaking news: An oil glut won't make fossil fuel consumption go down - it might even increase."

His links (Amazon or otherwise) don't seem to have referral IDs. Just saying, criticize him over the right things (like verbosity and being wrong).

I hovered over a few links (including some at Amazon) and there's no referrer ID. Since he doesn't send you to his personal blog either (remember Ronald Piquepaille?), it's not even clickbait.

I agree that most of his content is too fluffy, and I usually stop reading way before the middle.

Since you like truisms, here's another: conventional wisdom is not at all.

Depends. If you're so overweight that you risk joint damage or increased wear, or a heart attack from overexertion, a pill to give you a leg-up is a godsend.
  Plus, not everybody will lose weight just eating "less" and working out; I know because I'm insulin resistant with a bum thyroid to boot; diet and exercise are only part of the solution.

Lots of cases are self-reinforced - insulin resistance improves when one loses weight, and sometimes one's too fat to exercise effectively and/or safely. So, it's not a given that you'll depend on the wonder pill for the rest of your life.

No, but if you listen closely you can hear the electrons going "Wheeeee!".

All three want the info as end users, although for different reasons. ISIL would love to reenact the USS Cole bombing, China is in desperate need of new tech for their catch up efforts (though I doubt mechanical drawings will provide that), and for Russia it's just common sense strategically.

There's still a possibility that Awwad expressed his intent, even if through a pseudonym. I wouldn't presume that the feds make random cold calls to see who bites - the targets would gossip about it before long.

Last few words in my comment:

In other words, Omar al-Kebab may have no interest in bombing the new boat, but ISIS sure might, and China would love to do a bit of the old catch-up, and the Russians definitely see the strategic value. So Omar will pay nicely, hoping to make a profit.

And contacting any of those countries in his position would trigger a lot of alarms. But contacting a third party who's not an arch-enemy might, but would be VERY interested in selling this info to bigger people might not, or so this idiot may have thought.