USA

How the Super Bowl stole football’s soul

Profit has replaced college pride

For Americans, bigger is always better. We “go big or go home”. Big Pharma makes our medicine and Big Tech builds our phones. We wash down Big Macs with Big Gulps and jam to Biggie Smalls. College football is much the same. “Big four” bowl games once rang in the New Year, and even now our “Big Ten” represent the best university teams in the land. But then, in 1967, big became supersized, when the National Football League (NFL) premiered the Super Bowl between America’s top two professional sides.

To this day, only the 1969 Moon landing has drawn more American eyeballs than the Super Bowl, with the 57th set to be played between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. Now, though, the old college teams want to attract the eyeballs too, together with the billions in advertising revenue they inevitably bring. In practice, that means marketers, and trainers, and wages, and the end of an amateur tradition that’s survived, in one form or another, since the end of the Civil War.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

Trump: I won’t deport Prince Harry – he’s got enough problems with Meghan

Prince Harry can breathe freely in Montecito, because President Donald Trump has ruled out deporting the self-exiled British royal.

Harry’s immigration status is the subject of litigation in Washington DC, with the Heritage Foundation alleging that he may have concealed past illegal drug use that should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa.

But the president told The New York Post Friday that he isn’t interested in throwing Harry out of the country.

H/T Mauser

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Woke Royals", President Trump, USA

Conrad Black: Time to toughen up, Canada

Those of us who confidently stated that in waving about 25 per cent tariffs against Canadian goods, U.S. President Donald Trump was just playing poker and raising the ante, appear to have been vindicated. Those who were preparing for guerrilla war, such as the Toronto Star editorial board and the worrisomely incoherent and oddly malicious Andrew Coyne, have been left to self-sedate in a quiet place and return to normal life when they are ready, without rushing it or being over-ambitious. It was outrageous, as I and others have written, for the U.S. government to treat Mexico and Canada alike. As our capable ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, pointed out on Fox News, when tourism and investment are taken into account, our trade relationship provides huge benefits for both Canada and the United States. And whatever grievances the Americans may think they have over the entry of undesirable people and dangerous drugs into their country across the northern border, we have at least as great a grievance over the flow of illegal firearms and migrants, who have fled across our border in fear of the new president’s threats to deport them. The United States has acknowledged that the flow of fentanyl from Mexico to the U.S. is nearly 500 times greater than the quantity that has come from Canada.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

We’re In for a Rude Awakening on Cybersecurity

America remains ill-prepared for Chinese hackers targeting critical infrastructure.

It’s a crisis that almost no one is talking about. The Chinese Communist Party is now the world’s preeminent practitioner of cyber warfare. Once notoriously loud and clumsy, the CCP’s hackers have become stealthy and sophisticated. They’re intercepting the calls and texts of our leaders and infiltrating servers at our ports, power plants, and water-treatment facilities. Yet hardly anyone seems to care. When Congress held hearings on cybersecurity late last year, only a handful of journalists bothered to cover them.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", Cyber War, USA

Trump’s possible not-so-secret agenda: Canadian water exports and lots of them

Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland, own Gaza, take back ownership of the Panama Canal and turn Canada into the 51st state. The President is a liar and a con artist, but his desire to occupy vast parts of the planet does not seem a bluff or a negotiating tactic.

But why Canada? The United States dominates north-south trade and plays a leading role in many Canadian industries, including oil, mining, autos and retailing. It buys any product or commodity it wants from Canada with ease. Economically, if not politically, Canada is in effect the 51st state, has been forever. But there is one crucial commodity that the United States does not have access to: water.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Trump Halts Funding to Build More Electric Vehicle Chargers Nationwide

The Trump administration has frozen funding for a $5 billion program to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations.

The Federal Highway Administration sent a letter Thursday to state transportation departments, telling them “no new funding obligations may occur” under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program.

The agency said it was suspending approved state implementation plans, which allow states to access NEVI funds automatically allocated through a congressionally created formula. FHA is also pausing approval of new plans; states submit plans annually, describing where and how they plan to build the chargers.

But it seemed like a great plan!

This article is from March 2024 – Biden’s $7.5 billion investment in EV charging has only produced 7 stations in two years

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"EV's - Electric Vehicles", "Net-Zero Tyranny", USA

East Hampton Police Assure Wealthy Residents They Won’t Help ICE Deport Local Service Workers

Police in a wealthy enclave outside of New York City are assuring concerned residents that they will not be assisting federal immigration authorities in deporting local service workers.

Local officials in East Hampton, a town in the eastern part of Long Island, met with worried residents earlier this week to discuss President Donald Trump’s mass deportation program and how it might impact their community.

Police chief Michael Sarlo emphasized that officers are not agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and will only execute criminal warrants signed by a judge.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCamp Of The Saints, USA

Canadians pick Mark Carney over Pierre Poilievre, Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould to negotiate with Donald Trump: Nanos survey

Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney would do the best job at negotiating with U.S. President Donald Trump, over Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, and fellow leadership candidates Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould, according to new polling from Nanos Research conducted for CTV News.

When asked “Which of the following politicians would do the best job at negotiating with U.S. president Donald Trump?”, two out of five, or 40 per cent of respondents, answered Mark Carney.

This is the result of the media propagated wave of TDS patriotism the LPC ordered.

h/t XC

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Weasel NATO members lead by Germany considering war against USA should Trump attempt to seize Greenland

Nato countries discuss sending troops to Greenland after Trump threats

Nato countries have discussed deploying troops to Greenland in response to Donald Trump threatening to use the US military to seize the Danish island.

Germany was among dozens of European allies understood to have held informal talks over “what Nato troops would do” if the US president followed through on his threats, diplomatic sources told The Telegraph.

Questions were even raised over whether Article 5, the Western military alliance’s mutual defence clause, could be invoked in the event of an American invasion of a fellow Nato member state.

H/T XC

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inGermany, Germany: Not Bombed Enough?, Greenland, NATO, President Trump, USA

Canada’s new fentanyl czar will ‘absolutely’ be appointed within 30 days, says public safety minister

OTTAWA — The terms of reference for appointing Canada’s first fentanyl czar will be finalized by the end of the week, Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said Thursday, who also committed the government to “absolutely” filling the role by the time the country reaches the end of its 30-day reprieve period from U.S. tariffs.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Donald Trump is not joking about making Canada the 51st state says PM who turned Canada into a 3rd World Shithole

U.S. President Donald Trump’s statements about annexing Canada are not a joke, and are driven in part by his desire to see the U.S. benefit from Canada’s critical mineral resources, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I suggest that not only does the Trump Administration know how many critical minerals we have but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” the prime minister told a Toronto gathering of Canadian company executives, industry and union leaders behind closed doors.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Trevor Tombe: There are real limits to what Canada can do in standing up to Trump

In recent weeks, Canada has faced an unprecedented level of uncertainty, driven by federal politics, domestic policy debates, and major international trade tensions—especially the disruptive potential of tariffs.

A leading index of economic policy uncertainty, updated to include January 2025, shows Canada hitting a record high—surpassing even the peak uncertainty of the early COVID-19 months.

This won’t stop the Lib-left wrapping themselves in the flag in manipulative display of faux patriotism as all scoundrels do.

They hope we forget the past 10 years of LPC-NDP rule, the most destructive to Canada in our history.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA