From killings to rape, the heinous crimes that could get you less jail time than a Freedom Convoy organizer

Last week, Crown prosecutors announced they were seeking jail sentences of up to eight years for Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, two organizers of the Freedom Convoy protest.

Both were convicted of mischief, but the Crown is seeking a minimum sentence of seven years in jail for Lich, and eight for Barber, who was also found guilty of counselling others to disobey a court order.

The Crown has argued that the disruptiveness of the Freedom Convoy blockades warrants the harsh sentence, but in a statement this week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said courts are throwing the book at Barber and Lich while simultaneously giving free reign to “rampant violent offenders” and “antisemitic rioters.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Criminalizing Dissent"

Armed hero, Marine veteran Derrick Perry praised for confronting Michigan Walmart mass stabbing suspect in dramatic showdown

Dramatic video shows a heroic Walmart shopper armed with a gun confronting a knife-wielding maniac moments after he allegedly stabbed 11 people inside the Michigan store on Saturday night.

In wild cellphone footage shared on X, the brave man, identified by family members as Marine veteran Derrick Perry, is seen yelling at the suspected attacker to drop the weapon in the parking lot of the superstore in Traverse City, about 255 miles northwest of Detroit.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mass Casualty Event"

Andrew Richter: Keeping supply management is economic suicide

We are approaching the end game of the current round of negotiations between Canada and the U.S. on a new comprehensive trade deal.

The outcome of the talks is still very much uncertain. While it appeared early on as if progress was being made, President Donald Trump has made no secret of the fact that several major obstacles remain. Favourite targets of his have been our banking rules and regulations and our protectionist digital and cultural sectors (in addition to non-trade irritants like our border policies).

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Does this look like a real woman? AI Vogue model raises concerns about beauty standards

There’s a new supermodel in town. She’s striking, stylish… and not real.

In August’s print edition of Vogue, a Guess advert features a flawless blonde model showing off a striped maxi dress and a floral playsuit from the brand’s summer collection.

In small print in one corner, the ad reveals that she was created using AI.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"AI - Artificial Intelligence"

If a 15% tariff is the ‘new normal,’ would that be a ‘bitter pill’ for Canada?

Fifteen per cent seems to be the new magic number being bandied about for a U.S. tariff rate after Japan and the Americans announced a trade deal, with the European Union now signed up too and South Korea apparently headed in the same direction.

… If 15 per cent is the “new normal” as Stretch wondered, what does that mean for Canada?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Trump says he’s going to give Putin 10 to 12 days to end war in Ukraine — reducing 50-day deadline

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday he’s looking to reduce the 50-day deadline he gave Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine to just “10 to 12 days” from now.

“I’m going to make a new deadline of about 10 to 12 days from today,” Trump told reporters in Scotland after meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Trump said he was “generous” to first give 50 days on July 14 before he would levy secondary sanctions on Moscow, but “we just don’t see any progress being made.”

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

What does no politics in the classroom mean? TDSB worried ̷P̷o̷g̷r̷o̷m̷s̷ programs may have to be Cancelled!

What does no politics in the classroom mean? Ford government’s directive has created fear and confusion, say parents and teachers

A temporary ban on students sharing their family’s culture in class. A parent-organized Pride event moved outside school hours. Teachers afraid to answer students’ questions around the Israel-Hamas war.

Over the past academic year, Toronto parents and teachers say activities and discussions that would typically be normal to have in the classroom have suddenly become a source of fear and confusion — and they pin the blame on an edict dropped by the Ontario government last September.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Oct 7 2023", TDSB Scandals, TDSB Toronto District School Board

E.U. Cuts Aid to Ukraine Over Corruption Concerns

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s anticorruption policies have already provoked Ukraine’s first antigovernment protests since the Russian invasion in 2022. Now, it seems, they may cost the country a portion of its foreign aid from the European Union, in a clear rebuke from the bloc, once a staunch ally.

The European Union said on Friday that it would withhold 1.5 billion euros, or $1.7 billion, from an overall fund of 4.5 billion euros whose disbursement is dependent on achieving good governance standards and that can’t be used for military purchases. The decision is not final, however, and the funding can be restored if Ukraine meets certain benchmarks.

… The E.U.’s decision capped a tumultuous week for Mr. Zelensky, who first pushed a measure through Parliament that stripped the independence of two anticorruption agencies, raising protests from foreign leaders as well as the Ukrainian people.

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

Cory Morgan: Telling the Truth on Pipelines Key to Building Political Support

In supporting the concept of a pipeline corridor across Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney shifted from his predecessor’s approach to oil and gas exports. Carney so far has shown signs of recognizing that if Canada could expand oil and gas exports into overseas markets, the nation wouldn’t be as vulnerable to tariffs and other trade clashes with the United States.

In 2023, 97 percent of Canada’s crude oil exports went to the United States, as did nearly 100 percent of the natural gas exports. Meanwhile, Canada purchased nearly $20 billion worth of foreign crude oil, most of which came from the United States.

Maybe not so much Carney enthusiasm …

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Trump says he does not endorse Netanyahu’s claim there is no starvation in Gaza

Donald Trump has said he believes there is a famine in Gaza and he has told Israel that “maybe they have to do it in a different way”.

Speaking outside his hotel in Turnberry, South Ayrshire, on Monday, the US president said people in Gaza needed “to get food and safety right now” and that he wanted to get ceasefire talks restarted.

Asked if he agreed with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who said earlier on Monday that there was no starvation in Gaza, Trump replied: “I don’t know. Based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry. We’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food and other nations are now stepping up.”

Note: Viral images of starving Gaza boy don’t tell the whole story because he suffers from genetic disorders, critics say

A people who celebrate rape, murder and the so-called “martyrdom” of their son’s and daughters are capable of anything if it advances their agenda.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Oct 7 2023"

MORGAN: Danielle Smith could save Canada from supply management

Canada’s Soviet-style supply management system on dairy, poultry and eggs has been screwing citizens for decades with higher food prices, obliterated family farms and disrupted international trade deals. The dairy cartels are deeply entrenched in Canada and have effectively cowed every federal political party (so to speak,) including the Conservatives. No major federal leader will dare question supply management for fear of upsetting Quebec which benefits from the program. The standoff on this terrible policy robs Canadians of billions.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

Fans of heavy metal could face jail in Russia as Putin bans ‘satanists’

Russian fans of heavy metal and goth music could face prison after the Kremlin’s top court outlawed the “international satanism movement” as an extremist and terrorist group — even though no such organisation exists.

The Russian Supreme Court’s ruling came after appeals from the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, MPs and other officials. It means that anyone who is alleged to be a member of the non-existent movement could face up to eight years in prison. Critics said the ruling would increase the climate of fear that has gripped Russia since President Putin ordered tanks into Ukraine in 2022.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inPutin, Russia, WTF?

‘They were just hell-bent’: Mayor battling Ottawa over ‘really left’ housing mandate

In a very civil tone, the mayor of Windsor, Ont., is asking the fresh faces in the Mark Carney-led Liberal government to butt out of city planning. Mayor Drew Dilkens especially wants to see an end to Trudeau-era affordable housing mandates from Ottawa that don’t serve his community.

“They were just hell-bent on putting forward this really left-principled version of what housing should be,” Drew says of the conditions imposed on cities under the $4-billion housing accelerator fund launched in 2023 by then federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis"

‘Racist, far-Right’ protesters: a Sikh, a Chinese man and a veteran with mixed-race kids

Of the thousands of bankers in Canary Wharf, only one crossed the footbridge to the newly designated migrant hotel opposite the district’s glass towers, curious to witness the commotion.

Metal fencing surrounded the entrance of the Britannia Hotel, guarded by a wall of police and a private security guard in a surgical mask. Territorial support vans crawled past. It was hard to escape the feeling that a great crime had been committed.

Police Escorted “Anti-Racist” protesters. Civil war soon? No crystal ball but to my view the French riot better than the English or Germans.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Immigration from incompatible cultures", "Societally Destructive Immigration Policy", Camp Of The Saints, UK