Bonum Certa Men Certa

Fishy Things Noticed Ahead of the Passage of a Lot of EPO Budget (Applicants' Money) to Battistelli's Other (and Simultaneous) Employer

PR firms hired from the United States as well

A view from Montmartre



Summary: Observations and odd facts regarding the affairs of the council in St Germain; it certainly looks like Battistelli as deputy mayor and the mayor (Arnaud Péricard) are attempting to hide something

THIS summer at the EPO will see the departure (at least on paper) of Battistelli and arrival of the "mini me", Mr. Campinos. That does not mean that Battistelli can be let off the hook; to allow such a system to remain unaccountable may be recipe for perpetuation of all the same problems under different presidency (same leadership but slightly different faces). This is why we're closely watching what media is possibly paid not to mention/cover. Battistelli's diplomatic immunity expires in about 40 days. He knows it.

"Battistelli's diplomatic immunity expires in about 40 days. He knows it."The EPO has once again hired Shepard Fox Communications. Whether it merely increases the contract around the time of the "inventor award" (as it worked with them last year as well) we don't know; we never managed to see the contract/s (leakers are strongly encouraged as the EPO should not sign such things secretly). Last year we asked, "Is the EPO Pushing Prepared 'Articles' (Ghostwriting)?"

It certainly seems so still.

"Just for information," one reader told us today. "The posting on Tech Rights links to an EPO press release and says: "This press release does not name a PR firm, for a change." But if you look carefully at the press release web page (see also the PDF version) it names the author as Peter Gorman of Shepard Fox Communications and even gives a contact phone number in the US:

Contact Information Peter Gorman Shepard Fox Communications +1 617-669-4329


This is different from the name we saw last year. The PDF version of the document also says (in the metadata) that the author is "Peter Gorman via PRWeb.com". So we know that the EPO is once again contracting people in the US for a European event. How much does that cost and how is this beneficial to Europe? FTI Consulting too is an American company. The EPO paid it a fortune (well over a million euros in just one year) to manipulate European media, with additional budget to mess around with Dutch and German publishers.

"So we know that the EPO is once against contracting people in the US for a European event."The "inventor award" is a symptom of a much broader problem, not just the passage of EPO money to the media but also rewards to frauds and charlatans, as we noted several hours ago. Is Battistelli the latest person to net a 'fat' reward, 'laundered' through "inventor award" contacts? Many EPO insiders certainly feel that way.

"He will be held accountable the sooner or the later," told us one reader. "He has also enemies in is own political party. I even believe this is the reason why the right wing party is split in St Germain. I had heard rumours, but even there people are afraid to talk: there was a "unexplained" casualty in St Germain about 10 years ago."

"Is Battistelli the latest person to net a 'fat' reward, 'laundered' through "inventor award" contacts? Many EPO insiders certainly feel that way."We'll probably get to that too at one stage. It took about 10 years for Battistelli's political patron (who it rumoured to have given Battistelli the job at the EPO) to face the music. Justice can be very slow. Especially when it comes to well-connected people in positions of power (or even immunity).

"I have detected something suspicious," the reader continued. "According to the agenda available in Internet, the next session of the town council is to be held on 21st. June. According to the video recording the next session is planned on 23rd May. Are they trying to hide something?"

We've asked around. "Good question," told us another reader. "The last council meeting was held on 11 April 2018," this reader noted. "At the very end of the video recording -- at around 1:26:20 -- the mayor (Arnaud Péricard) reminds the councillors that the next meeting is scheduled for 23 May and that it will be an "important session".

"However, the online agenda lists the next meeting on 28 June. If they are trying to hide something then all they have to do is to declare the meeting to be a "closed session".

"It took about 10 years for Battistelli's political patron (who it rumoured to have given Battistelli the job at the EPO) to face the music.""The following statement can be found on the council's webpage: Dans certains cas, le Maire peut donner la parole une fois que la séance est close. Les interventions du public et leurs réponses par les élus ne sont pas inscrites dans le compte-rendu du Conseil municipal.

[Translation: In some cases, the Mayor may give the floor once the meeting is closed. Public interventions and their responses by elected officials are not recorded in the minutes of City Council.]

"Maybe if it has been declared a closed session in advance, it doesn't appear on the online agenda. Either this is an accidental slip-up or it's a deliberate attempt to hide something. It definitely seems fishy but it's impossible to know for sure what is going on without inside information."

Stay tuned as we have plenty more coming regarding the "inventor award" and politicians at the council are paying attention (whether or not "big" publishers write about it).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Firefox in Trouble in the US, Down to Lowest Level in 20+ Years
more sites will stop or intentionally neglect Firefox support
Clownflare: More Than 1 in 5 Laptops or Desktops in El Salvador Run GNU/Linux or ChromeOS
Clownflare Radar reckons it's more like 20%+ now
Omarchy is Already Dying
Same as the life cycle of slopfarms
Slop's Achilles Heel: It Increases the Workload, Not Just Costs
Set aside its inability to scale well
Improving techrights.org
Technical debt (like 17 years with WordPress) is something that's better to address early, not later
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 19, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: "Big Boost in Autonomy" and "Answer of E-Mail"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 154 Out of 200: Computer-Generated Legal Filings From Men Who Are Salaried by Mass Plagiarism Companies in Another Continent (America)
This isn't the behaviour of a moral person but of some sort of "crypto bro" or "slop bro"
Fired by IBM for Medical Leave, Rampant Censorship of IBM Critics Explained
We've already caught and showed many cases where thelayoff.com deleted comments that were not even remotely racist
Links 19/08/2026: First Amendment Under Fire by White House of Cards, "Universities Were Forced to Pay Up" for Not Censoring
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: What Friendship Means, Sm0lNet/SmolNet, and New Feeds
Links for the day
No, WSL (Windows With Fake 'Linux') Isn't Growing Faster Than Ubuntu, This Was Disinformation Spread by a Microsoft Propaganda Site, Then Spread by Slopfarms
Be sceptical; Microsoft is truly desperate for anti-Linux spin right now, seeing that Windows is in a freefall
Microsoft's Mass Layoffs Impact the Ability to Run Microsoft
Can Microsoft still run Microsoft?
Microsoft's Active Directory ("AD") and "Entra" Are National Security Threats
Even the US government concluded Microsoft could not be trusted for security; it issued a formal report about it in April 2024
Instant Impact: GNU/Linux Skyrockets to 10% in China Days After Policy Changes
Let's see what the 'aftermath' looks like by year's end
Links 19/08/2026: Timothy James King (AmigaDOS) Dies, GitHub Goes Offline, Finland Wants to Shun Social Control Media
Links for the day
Mass Layoffs at Dropbox, Blame the Debt, Not Slop Hype
The debt of Dropbox Inc., which isn't an imaginary (estimated) thing, is over 4 billion dollars
Microsoft is 'Angel of Death' to Developers (Even Its Own), 'Voluntary' Layoffs Happening Again
From what we are hearing and reading, there are 'voluntary' layoffs again
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Gemini Links 19/08/2026: Shirts, Handwriting, and Fights in Geminispace
Links for the day
Laos Leaving GAFAM Behind, Gradually
Yesterday evening it was measured at 10% for GNU/Linux at one point
They Were Wrong All Along
Two women combined won't deliver a healthy baby in just 4.5 months
A "Tech Journalist" Would Not Cover Vote on LLMs as a Sex Issue
For a moment there you have to pause and wonder, is this a "Tech Journalist" or the Daily Stormer?
20,000 by Year's End
The "New Techrights" will have 20,000 pages by year's end
Last Night GNU/Linux Measured at 9% in Africa
Nighttimes in Africa are times when GNU/Linux usage on desktop/laptop devices typically surges, based on Clownflare [...] It changes in favour of GNU/Linux
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Google Bait and Switch (Getting College People 'Hooked' on 'Cheap' Storage, Then Backups Gone), a "Question of E-mail"
Links for the day
Bluesky is in Trouble
Bluesky is a private company (unlike Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. in Toronto, that one runs a pyramid scheme!), so it's hard to know for sure just how much money it is losing
China Says Goodbye to Microsoft
It is hardly surprising that Windows is shedding off userbase all around the world
Links 18/08/2026: US Abandons South Korea, New Legal Disputes Over Slop Plagiarism in the Music Scene
Links for the day
Linux Losing Interest in Users' Freedom, Pursues DRM Instead
"Linux" is (or was, as GNU/Linux) meant to empower - not artificially restrict - the users
GNU/Linux in Ecuador and Colombia: Growing, Still Below International Average
locals turn away from Windows and try GNU/Linux instead
IBM is Dead or Dying. Now It Asks Workers to 'Resign' Voluntarily.
To save face, to pretend no layoffs are happening (as it might alarm shareholders) [...] We keep hearing more and more stories like that
Links 18/08/2026: Sergey Brin Controlling State Policies, "Dario Amodei's (Anthropic) Wife Is Closely Linked to Jeffrey Epstein"
Links for the day
SBS News Interviews Daniel Pocock
The locals say this PR stunt (by the bigot, Farage) was a waste of money
Clownflare Sees One in 7 Web Requests in Libya Originating From GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has taken a (foot)hold there
Openwashing and Manifestos Composed in Private by Dictators With Deliberately Addictive (and Subsidised, Bundled) 'Tech'
It's long, so make a cuppa first
SLAPP Censorship - Part 153 Out of 200: Decades of Debt, Weaponising Borrowed Money to Try to Put Their Critics in Debt
they've always had a financial report by now
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 17, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Solar Power, Kipple and Impermanence, Catastrophe Ethics
Links for the day