Thomas Lifson and other observes have noticed the strange kid-glove treatment that accused crypto-fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried has been getting since his arrest in the Bahamas after reportedly misappropriating and losing billions in customer funds.
It was natural to note the huge campaign funding Bankman-Fried delivered, particularly to Democrats, at least $40 million, making him their second-largest donor.
But now another shoe seems to be dropping …
A new law in the province of Alberta radically circumscribes federal authority, advancing the agenda of the province’s far-right secessionist movement.
OTTAWA — In the heavily conservative western prairie province of Alberta, Canada, many residents, especially those on the far right, chafed at the Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the Liberal federal government in Ottawa, the country’s capital.
The widespread resentment helped fuel the enormous truck blockade this year that disrupted trade with the United States and paralyzed Ottawa for a month.
Now, oil-rich Alberta has ratcheted up the long-running schism between western and eastern Canada by approving a bill allowing the province to ignore any federal laws and regulations it opposes, a move some critics described as an unconstitutional threat to the basic fabric of the country’s government.
Italy’s biggest farmers’ association is waging a battle against the “scandalous” use of mafia terms to sell a variety of food and drink products around the world, from Cosa Nostra whiskey to Chilli Mafia tomato sauce.
Coldiretti undertook an extensive investigation and also discovered that almost 300 restaurants beyond Italy have mafia-themed names, including El Padrino in Spain, Don Corleone in Finland, Burger Mafia in Germany, Falafel Mafia in the US and Nasi Goreng Mafia in Indonesia.
Alessandro Apolito, a branch manager at Coldiretti, said the most shocking discovery was a machine gun-shaped bottle of whisky produced in Scotland and called Cosa Nostra Shot.
“Innocent beautiful family-friendly entertainment” pic.twitter.com/dMDefPp60C
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 25, 2022
Merry Christmas Everyone! Welcome to the Christmas Day edition of Reader Faves! Thank you all for participating, you make it great fun every year.
Enjoy!
Whitney Houston – Do you hear what I hear from Kiki982
Christmas Must Be Tonight | The Band from headhunter9
Hallelujah Chorus, from Messiah | The Tabernacle Choir from Norman_In_New_York
Mary did you know? from Sweetpea
Snoopy’s Christmas vs. The Red Baron – The Royal Guardsmen from kkruger71
Andy Williams – It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year from kiki982
And also … Kenny Rogers – Christmas Everyday
And… Johnny Mathis – It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Plus … White Christmas
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht (Silent Night, holy Night) by MoonSun from Malcolm Y
Martina McBride – O holy night from bargogx1
The Shepherd – Frederick Forsyth – read by Alan Maitland from CBC Radio from Mr_bigstuff
We have reached the second Christmas of the war, and we are keeping it with what heart we may. No confidence in the rightness of our cause is lacking, nor has doubt emerged about the ultimate issue of the struggle. What penetrates men’s souls today is not concern for their personal fate, or even for their country’s, but a sense, borne in on them with sombre force as this festival comes round, of the tragedy of the conflict in which millions of human beings are still locked on the day when the message of peace and good will to all mankind should be sounding from every pulpit and rung out by the bells of every steeple.
This is an article to show your haughty, “know-it-all” brother-in-law who thinks our government is somehow squeaky clean.
The “Twitter Files” have now officially had more sequels than Planet of the Apes and can be difficult to absorb. Thus, I don’t think they’re getting the attention they deserve.
STONEA, England — It is the immovable object that keeps meeting up with a resistible force: a bridge in eastern England that trucks, campers and vans smash into with startling regularity.
Located in Stonea, about 30 miles from Cambridge, the bridge was struck 33 times in one recent 12-month span by drivers misjudging its height. That makes it the most bashed rail bridge in Britain, according to official statistics, and many local residents say those numbers actually understate the frequency of the crashes.
Russian military lore is full of references to the cold months ahead in that part of Europe as “General Winter”. So, it is no surprise that President Vladimir Putin, disappointed in the performance of his generals, is looking at “General Winter” to help him snatch victory from the jaws of defeat as it had helped Kutuzov against Napoleon.
Putin’s reading of history, however, is slanted in favor of his illusions. In the Napoleonic war, “General Winter” was on the side of the defender, not the aggressor. With “General Winter” unlikely to work for Putin, he may have to look at another grand old man, this time a diplomat, to help him out of the hole he has dug for Russia.
Five teenagers were charged with second-degree murder in connection to the Christmas weekend fatal shooting at Minnesota’s Mall of America.
SWAT officials arrested two 18-year-old men and three 17-year-old boys at a home in nearby St. Louis Park at 8:40 a.m. Saturday, about 12 hours after a 19-year-old man was shot dead during a brawl inside the shopping complex, Bloomington Chief of Police Booker Hodges said at a press conference.
The Ardennes Forest is located in Belgium and Luxembourg and extends into France and Germany. It’s a sparsely populated region of rolling hills and thickly wooded forests, known for picturesque valleys and charming cities, whose shops and cafes and bike paths have slowly grown around ancient citadels and castles and 13th century churches.
In December of 1944, it was an area of intense fighting, as the Allies fought back against a German offensive – the Ardennes Offensive – that would come to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. The German plan of desperation in the face of Western advances was to split the Allies where they were purportedly weak. As said by Adolf Hitler himself: “A blow here [at the Ardennes] would strike the seam between the British and Americans and lead to political as well as military disharmony between the Allies.”
Via CG via Hotair.
Most Americans do not believe that Christian faiths should have to compromise their traditional beliefs to better adhere to leftist woke ideology, a recent Summit Ministries/McLaughlin and Associates survey found.
Among those who offered an opinion, a solid majority, 68 percent, said traditional Christian faiths should not be forced to “compromise their traditions and beliefs to align with liberal ideology around topics like marriage, transgenderism, and critical race theory.”
President Vladimir Putin blasted the West for trying to “tear apart” Russia and said his offensive in Ukraine aimed to “unite the Russian people”.
Meanwhile in Kyiv, a day after deadly shelling in southern Ukraine, residents held Christmas services on Sunday, defying Russian spiritual leaders who celebrate it on January 7.
Putin has used the concept of “historical Russia” to argue that Ukrainians and Russians are one people — undermining Kyiv’s sovereignty and justifying his 10-month offensive in Ukraine.
He said Russia’s “geopolitical opponents (were) aiming to tear apart Russia, the historical Russia,” Putin said in excerpts from an interview to be aired later on Sunday.
A Harvard visiting professor and modern slavery activist exposed the “appalling” cobalt mining industry in the Congo on a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” that went viral. The video has already racked up over one million views and counting.
Siddharth Kara, author of “Cobalt Red: How The Blood of The Congo Powers Our Lives,” told podcast host Joe Rogan that there’s no such thing as “clean cobalt.”
“That’s all marketing,” Kara said.
Crosby likely did not know who Bowie was, while the Thin White Duke hated Little Drummer Boy, and nearly walked out. And yet magic was made
In 1977, few would have put Bing Crosby and David Bowie in the same room. Crosby, 74, was an old-school entertainer, a man famous for dreaming of a white Christmas. Bowie, meanwhile, had spent so long living on a diet of milk and cocaine that he couldn’t remember making Station to Station the year before. And yet, somehow, this odd couple wound up recording one of the best-loved – and most unlikely – Christmas songs ever made.
