The scandal that could bring down Volodymyr Zelensky

A solid gold toilet and cupboards loaded with bagfuls of €200 bills are among the treasures linked to the prominent Ukrainian businessman Timur Mindich, after an investigation by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (Nabu). Mindich is big in real estate, fertilisers, banking and diamond trading – but he is best known as a long-time co-owner of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Kvartal 95 television production company. Nabu’s 15-month long investigation into what it describes as ‘high level’ corruption at the top of Ukraine’s political elite is likely to have momentous consequences for Zelensky’s political future.

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

SNOBELEN: Canada’s crisis requires bold action, not Carney’s timid budget

You can tell a lot about a government by how it embraces a crisis.

Canadians deserve leadership that seizes crises as opportunities, not policies that play it safe. Yet the Carney Liberals’ first budget demonstrates timidity instead of bold action.

They’re managing the decline in the hope we won’t go berserk on them.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Mexico about to blow …

“Sombrero Skull Flag” or “Mexican Skull Flag,” of the resistance.

Good vid links

NEXT UP OTTAWA.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State

What will the federal government’s Major Projects Office do — and will it succeed?

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this week a second round of projects he’s recommending get fast-tracked by his government’s Major Projects Office (MPO) as part of his promise to reduce Canada’s economic reliance on the United States.

Thursday’s announcement saw multibillion-dollar energy and natural resources proposals brought to the top of the pile, but there are still questions about what a referral to the MPO actually means.

Part of the confusion lies in the government’s choice of language. So far, Carney has referred projects to the MPO that he’s deemed of “national importance” or “national significance.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Couric and Burns Lament Left’s Declining Influence In History Education

Ken Burns Revisionist-Historian

Bad camera angles were not the only thing wrong with former CBS and NBC anchor Katie Couric’s Friday interview with PBS documentarian Ken Burns on her Substack page. After spending much time on Burns’s upcoming series on the American Revolution, the pair moved on to discuss the state of history education in the country more broadly, which Couric described as “going backwards” and Burns labeled as being in “an autocrat’s interest.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

Trump lowers tariffs on beef, coffee, other foods as inflation concerns mount

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order to exempt a wide range of food imports, including beef, tomatoes, coffee and bananas, from sweeping tariffs imposed earlier this year on nearly every country, the White House said.

The order is part of a major push by Trump and his top officials to address Americans’ growing concerns about persistently high grocery prices.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canada - USA Tariff Wars"

Why Do Cats Love Boxes?

If you’ve ever purchased an expensive, bespoke toy for your feline friend, then watched them ignore said purchase in favor of the cardboard container it arrived in, you will know this universal truth: cats love boxes.

Why have cats evolved this fascination with enclosed spaces, one that seems as distinct as their fear of cucumbers or their fondness for biscuit-making? We turned to a pawful of cat experts to find out more.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCats. What Else?

Ottawa’s operating spending — not capital — driving deeper deficits: PBO

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer projects Ottawa will blow past the new fiscal anchors set out in last week’s 2025 federal budget.

Interim budget officer Jason Jacques says in a new analysis of the budget that Ottawa is set to run an average deficit of $64.3 billion over the next five years — double the level set out in the federal government’s last fiscal update in late 2024.

Despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s talk of shifting government spending to capital investment rather than operating costs, Jacques says the deeper deficits are being driven by new day-to-day program spending.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Canada’s Ukraine Aid Undeterred by Latest Corruption Scandal

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada remains committed to supporting Ukraine, and that it has offered accountability support in light of an unfolding $100 million corruption scandal involving the Ukraine’s nuclear agency.

Canada is a “long-time supporter of Ukraine’s reform efforts” and continued reform is “essential for transparency, accountability and good governance,” Anand said, according to The Globe and Mail. She noted that Canada has offered to help Ukraine tighten oversight and accountability in government to prevent such corruption.

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

Conservatives won’t say if MPs will be forced to vote against budget

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his office will not say if his caucus will be whipped by party leadership and urged to vote against Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget next week — a vote that could trigger another election if the minority government falls.

Asked by reporters in Calgary on Friday if he was confident that all his members of Parliament would vote against the budget in the House of Commons on Monday, Poilievre wouldn’t directly answer.

LPC internal polling must be saying Poilievre is vulnerable if an election is forced. 

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canadian Politics"

Trump Escalates Pressure on Venezuela, but Endgame Is Unclear

The Trump administration is rapidly escalating its pressure campaign against Venezuela, with America’s largest aircraft carrier, the Ford, about to take up a position within striking distance of the country, even as President Trump’s aides provide conflicting accounts of what, exactly, they are seeking to achieve.

Mr. Trump held back-to-back days of meetings at the White House over the past two days, reviewing military options, including the use of Special Operations forces and direct action inside Venezuela.

It is still not clear whether Mr. Trump has made a decision about what kind of action to authorize, if any. On Friday, he told reporters on Air Force One that “I sort of made up my mind.” “I can’t tell you what it is,” he said, “but we made a lot of progress with Venezuela in terms of stopping drugs from pouring in.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, Venezuela

LILLEY: Here’s all the reasons Olivia Chow should not run for Toronto mayor again

Mayor Olivia Chow has mused that she may not run again in next year’s election. If so, that would be good news for the city because her policies are not what Toronto needs right now.

Chow was appearing on the Can’t Be Censored Podcast with Travis Dhanraj and Karman Wong when she mused about her political future.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Toronto - Canada's version of a Democrat run city"