NEW YORK — Former Trudeau-era deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was in New York Friday at an event where she was presented with a “Heroes of Democracy” award alongside former U.S national security adviser John Bolton.
The awards were presented by the Renew Democracy Initiative.
Hero of Grifting is more like it.
h/t Hermes
(Incognito)
Donald Trump said he was “highly unlikely” to extend the ceasefire in Iran and threatened to resume bombing if a deal was not reached by Wednesday night.
On Tuesday, the US president said he would not be “rushed into making a bad deal” as JD Vance prepared to travel to Islamabad to lead a second round of peace talks.
But uncertainty hung over the prospect of direct negotiations after Iran refused to say whether it would attend the talks as the clock on the two-week ceasefire deadline ticked on.
Defence Minister David McGuinty said Monday he agreed with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s message that Canada’s relationship with the U.S. has changed, but stressed that defence ties between the two countries remained strong.
The minister added the federal government’s strategy in responding to that changing relationship was evident in recruitment numbers for the Canadian Armed Forces, which McGuinty announced have hit a 30-year high.
I suspect he is dreaming in technicolor.
Reporting on the Nord Stream gas pipeline attack has picked up again over recent weeks, long after it first hit the headlines in September 2022—especially following revelations about Kyiv’s involvement in the blast.
According to Bojan Pancevski, an investigative journalist for The Wall Street Journal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky knew in advance about—and, indeed, authorised—the operation, from “early on,” and only told military officials not to go ahead due to resistance from the U.S., which was also in the know. Pancevski this week explained that “the command went ahead with the operation anyway.”
Currently, there is growing support for independence from Canada in two provinces, Alberta and Quebec. In Alberta, for the first time in history, an independence referendum will be held in October. In Quebec, the Parti Québécois, a sovereigntist party, is leading in the polls.
Two provinces at each end of the country — East and West — have significant numbers of citizens wanting out of Canada. Yet, Alberta and Quebec are very different in almost every way — language, culture, history, and economy.
(Incognito)
In New York social circles, he was known as the “Jewish James Bond”: a refugee from Nazi Germany whose gratitude to his American hosts was such that he volunteered to join the US army and became the CIA’s first station chief in Berlin as a mere twentysomething, filing early warnings about Soviet activity that have been credited with ringing in the cold war.
Like 007, Peter Sichel also appreciated a fine tipple, and after leaving the US foreign intelligence service it was he who briefly turned a sweet German white, Blue Nun, into one of the best-selling wines in the world.
A film released in UK cinemas a year after his death aged 102, however, shows Sichel as something more akin to a Jewish Jason Bourne: a former agent who grew increasingly disillusioned with CIA meddling and turned a trenchant critic from beyond his grave of US foreign policy – especially in Iran.
I remember Blue Nun alright.
The consequences stemming from the overthrow of the Mossadegh government are certainly worthy of debate but there is no comparison to be made with today’s Iran given its status as a terror state and the broad anti-regime resistance of the Iranian people.
There is no English equivalent for the French political concept l’usure du pouvoir. English has tried with “voter fatigue,” “the wear and tear of office,” and “time for a change.” But none of these captures what the French phrase actually describes. It’s best defined as the gradual corruption of a leader’s judgment through prolonged exercise of power.
It is less a matter of erosion or exhaustion, than the moment when a leader stops asking why they sought power and starts taking it for granted. It’s a time when arrogance hardens and reality disappears from the room. It’s when the person wielding authority becomes convinced that the authority itself is justified by the simple fact of holding it. Gradually, decisions that would have been unthinkable at the start become possible, even if unacceptable.
Seriously? @fancypants_s https://t.co/1L0wBUsfEH
— Patti Jo (@TheSupeHero) April 20, 2026
h/t Patti Jo
Stephanie Fritsch is in charge of elections in Wiconisco Township, Pennsylvania.
He complains that he might have to travel to Thailand to chop off his d*ck because it’s too expensive in America
This elected official oversees elections… pic.twitter.com/0O5ZG9kZMi
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 20, 2026
Louisiana authorities have identified eight children – aged three to 11 – who were killed on Sunday during what police described as a “violent domestic incident” in Shreveport that marked the deadliest US mass shooting in more than two years.
The Caddo parish coroner’s office identified the children as Jayla Elkins, three; Shayla Elkins, five; Kayla Pugh, six; Layla Pugh, six; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, five.
The gunman, identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, fatally shot the children – including seven of his own – at two separate Shreveport houses. Police shot him to death after chasing him after he stole a car, according to investigators.
The artist is reflecting on a trip to the mountains, creating a dialogue with the viewer, inviting them to marvel at the landscape.
After brushing my teeth with activated charcoal later, I will regurgitate upon the wall, thinking of my trip to Minneapolis last year. pic.twitter.com/61qN3eIjiR
— Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) April 20, 2026
On Sunday’s The Weekend: Primetime, MS NOW welcomed former Canadian Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland—an MSNBC regular in her days as a journalist for the Financial Times and Reuters —to lament what she portrayed as a breakdown in U.S.-NATO trust under President Trump.
Before getting there, Freeland set the tone with a gush of flattery—thanking host Catherine Rampell for the “great show” and praising her writing. Not subtle.
Mixed signals from Iran and the US cloud the reality in the Strait of Hormuz.
Is the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on or off? Is the parallel U.S. blockade of Iranian ports off or on? And why do we care about the @#$!& Strait anyway?
Ok, let’s get a few things straight, which is going to take a while because both the U.S. and Iran have been spreading the fog of war to the best of our (and their) ability.
Several Toronto-area business people aligned in various ways with the Chinese government were among guests who paid close to $2,000 to attend a Liberal party fundraiser with Prime Minister Mark Carney last month.
The attendees included individuals and groups that have won praise from Chinese diplomats and agencies, echoed Beijing’s talking points on contentious issues and worked with Chinese Communist Party (CPP) organizations.
US President Donald J. Trump’s negotiations and ceasefire deals with Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah are not seen by these actors as steps toward peace.
Rather, they are viewed by Tehran, Gaza and Beirut as infidels trying to tell Muslims what to do. For them, such a situation is unimaginable, unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to stand.
The number of people who enrolled in the Canadian military — both full-time and part-time — surged in the last fiscal year but despite the milestone the size of the Armed Forces has yet to reach targets set almost a decade ago.
Defence Minister David McGuinty announced Monday that 7,310 applicants were accepted into the regular force last year, surpassing the benchmark set by the Department of National Defence. It is apparently the highest number of people coming in off the street in more than three decades.
Lipstick on a pig?
🚨 BOMBSHELL: James Bezan confirms the CAF is recruiting immigrants who can’t speak English or French. They wash out of basic training — then get housed in pop-up tent cities like a full-blown refugee camp.
Our Military is turning into a housing project. pic.twitter.com/5Cwv2UXX63
— Wiretap Media (@WiretapMediaCa) April 20, 2026
