Author: Blazingcatfur

Freedo’s Budget

A budget for an uncertain world – Geopolitical risks puts economy at risk

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Thursday presented a much more prudent budget than anticipated because of “uncertainty” in then world.

The Liberals cut back on some of their many campaign promises last fall and will not meet NATO’s defence targets in order to provide a declining debt-to-GDP ratio.

The federal deficit is now at $52.8 billion for 2022-2023, slightly less than expected in last fall’s economic update at $58.4 billion. Even though the government benefited from an additional $14.3 billion dollars thanks to inflation and high prices generating revenue in taxes, Freeland chose to stay nimble and not spend all of the extra money in the government’s coffers.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada

Geico drops Linda Sarsour as a diversity speaker after backlash from Jewish groups

Linda Sarsour and Mentors

The Geico insurance company on Thursday canceled a company event with Linda Sarsour, a prominent pro-Palestinian activist who has been widely accused of antisemitism, after backlash from Jewish groups.

“We apologize to our employees, customers, and others for our initial plan to invite Linda Sarsour to speak at our internal event,” Geico said in a statement.

To me this perfectly illustrates the truth of the “diversity” con.

Sarsour is a known crank. I believe she was chosen by design not by accident.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Corporate Social Justice Warriors", "Diversity", WTF?

Europe agrees to ban Russian coal, but continues to buy Russian oil & gas

The European Union nations have agreed to ban Russian coal in the first sanctions on the vital energy industry over the war in Ukraine, but it has underlined the 27 countries’ inability to agree so far on a much more sweeping embargo on oil and natural gas that would hit Russia harder but risk recession at home.

The coal ban should cost Russia 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) a year, the EU’s executive commission said. Energy analysts and coal importers say Europe could replace Russian supply in a few months from other countries, including the U.S.

WW II was won by buying oil & gas from the Axis

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", WTF?

Fighting Back: In D.A. Larry Krasner’s city, citizens are left to protect themselves.

Philadelphia’s progressive district attorney Larry Krasner has let violence and mayhem run unchecked in the City of Brotherly Love. Elected on a platform of de-prosecution and decarceration, Krasner has instituted policies that have contributed to the city’s setting a new annual record for homicides, with 562 killings in 2021, and murders are still on the rise in 2022. Carjackings also have been spiking, with 224 in 2019, 409 in 2020, and 840 in 2021. Meantime, Krasner keeps letting criminals walk and has even expanded his program of non-prosecution to include firearms offenses, in the belief that such prosecutions are unjust and racially discriminatory.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime, Gun Control, Gun Rights

Companies were slow to remove Russian spies’ malware, so FBI did it for them

How the FBI took down “Cyclops Blink,” a Russia state botnet infecting network firewalls.

The FBI remotely accessed and disinfected US-located devices running a powerful new strain of Russian state botnet malware, federal authorities said Wednesday. Those authorities added that the Kremlin was using the malware to wage stealthy hacks of its adversaries.

The infected devices were primarily made up of firewall appliances from WatchGuard and, to a lesser extent, network devices from Asus. Both manufacturers recently issued advisories providing recommendations for hardening or disinfecting devices infected by the botnet, known as Cyclops Blink. It is the latest botnet malware from Russia’s Sandworm, which is among the world’s most elite and destructive state-sponsored hacking outfits.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia", Cyber War

‘When Will Biden See That His Mistakes Are Harming America’s Interests?’

Many Arabs are continuing to express disappointment and frustration with the administration of US President Joe Biden, particularly its perceived appeasement of Iran’s mullahs, failure to classify the Iran-backed Houthi militia as a terrorist organization and turning its back on America’s erstwhile allies and friends in the Arab world.

These views, expressed in articles published in several media outlets, reflect the widespread concern among Arabs, especially those living in the Gulf states. Some of the Arab writers and political analysts behind these articles are close to the governments and leaders of the Arab countries. It is therefore safe to assume that these views also reflect the official positions of these leaders and governments.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"President Dementia AKA Joe Biden"

Hydra: How German police dismantled Russian darknet site

“It gave us all goosebumps” says Sebastian Zwiebel, as he describes the moment his team shut down Hydra, the world’s largest darknet marketplace.

The website was a bastion of cyber-crime, surviving for more than six years selling drugs and illegal goods.

But, after a tip-off, German police seized the site’s servers and confiscated €23m (£16.7m) in Bitcoin.

“We’ve been working on this for months and when it finally happened it felt big – really big,” adds Mr Zwiebel.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia"

‘Some People Are Dusting Off Their Resumes’: Elon Musk Is Stirring ‘Fear’ Among Twitter Employees

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is stirring “fear” among some Twitter employees, according to a new report from Reuters.

Earlier this week, Elon Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder after he purchased a 9.2% stake in the social media firm. He has promised to “make significant improvements to Twitter” and has polled his followers on whether or not Twitter “rigorously adheres” to the principles of free speech.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inTwitter, Twitter is Evil

Muslim terrorists kidnap 83-year-old American nun from bed in Burkina Faso

Sister Suellen Tennyson

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ten gunmen kidnapped an 83-year-old American nun from her bed in the west African nation of Burkina Faso and destroyed almost everything in the house where she lived, but left four other women unhurt, a Louisiana official for the order said Wednesday.

Sister Suellen Tennyson was taken late Monday “from her room in her pajamas — no shoes, no glasses, no phone, no medicine,” Sister Ann Lacour, U.S. congregational leader for the Marianites of Holy Cross in Covington, Louisiana, told The Associated Press. Lacour provided additional details of the kidnapping a day after the AP reported it.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Burkina Faso, Islam, Islam and violence, Islamization of the West, USA

2 killed, 8 wounded in Tel Aviv shooting: Israeli medics

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli medics say at least two people were killed and several wounded in a shooting in central Tel Aviv.

The Thursday night attack occurred in an area with several bars and restaurants packed with people. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear, but it came amid heightened tensions following a series of deadly attacks carried out by Palestinians.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Islamization of the West, Israeli - Islam Conflict

Memo Reveals State Department Assessed in Early 2020 That Lab Leak Was Most Likely Origin of COVID-19

A newly released memo from the U.S. State Department reveals that government officials knew early on that the COVID pandemic likely originated at a lab in Wuhan, China.

That memo, dated April 2020, states that out of five possible origins for COVID, a lab leak was by far the most likely. The memo also suggests that alternative theories had been introduced to prevent a lab leak from being investigated. The memo, which focuses almost entirely on the likelihood of a lab leak, contains a large amount of information that wasn’t known publicly at the time it was written.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China eats weird animals disease"