Blazingcatfur – Page 140

Traders placed over $1bn in perfectly timed bets on the Iran war. What is going on?

Sixteen bets made $100,000 accurately predicting the timing of the US airstrikes against Iran on 27 February. Later, a single user would make over $550,000 after betting that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would topple, just moments before his assassination by Israeli forces. On 7 April, right before Donald Trump announced a temporary ceasefire with Iran, traders bet $950m that oil prices would come down. They did.

These bets and other well-timed wagers accurately predicted the precise timing of major developments in the US-Israel war with Iran, creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers and experts over potential insider trading.

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•WTF?

Iran rejects US peace talks, Iranian media reports

Iran has reportedly rejected participation in a second round of peace talks with the US in Pakistan, citing “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a breach of the ceasefire”, according to the official IRNA news agency.

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•"US Israel Iran War"

Carney calls Canada’s U.S. ties ‘weaknesses’ that must be corrected

Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada’s ties to the U.S. have become “weaknesses” that must be corrected, as workers in Canada’s auto, steel and lumber industries remain under threat due to U.S. President Donald Trump tariffs.

“The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” Carney said in a video posted to YouTube on Sunday morning.

“Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become weaknesses — weaknesses that we must correct.”

(more…)

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•"Canada - USA Tariff Wars", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

AI ‘that could escape the lab’ sparks fear in the City

The accidental leak of news about an all-powerful hacking bot will have done little to calm the fears of AI doom-mongers.

Days before the official announcement of Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, reporters from Fortune magazine uncovered an online datastore of unprotected files belonging to the tech company, including a draft blog revealing the existence of the new AI.

Since the botched reveal earlier this month – blamed on “human error” – industry leaders and government experts have been sounding the alarm over the powerful bot.

(more…)

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•"AI - Artificial Intelligence"

Canada’s Conservatives ask Carney: Where’s that US trade deal?

TORONTO — Canada’s Conservatives are ratcheting up attacks on Prime Minister Mark Carney for moving too slowly to secure a trade deal with President Donald Trump, opening a new political fight in a dispute with consequences on both sides of the border.

This is becoming a wedge issue in Ottawa because the closer the deadline for a review of the North American trade agreement gets, the easier it is for Conservatives to argue Carney is failing to shield Canada from a U.S. trade offensive he has repeatedly promised to stop.

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•"Canada - USA Tariff Wars", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

8 Shreveport children dead after what began as a domestic dispute, police say

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) – Authorities say eight children were killed in a domestic disturbance in Shreveport on W 79th Street.

The shooting happened around 6 a.m. Sunday (April 19) in Shreveport, according to Police Chief Wayne Smith. The victims ranging in age from one to about 14-years-old.

(more…)

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•"Mass Shooting", USA

Pals invited to fire sale: Carney’s pitch to unlock trillions in global investment

CBC News has learned Prime Minister Mark Carney has invited 100 of the world’s biggest investors to a summit in Toronto this September. The conference aims to pitch organizations that control trillions of dollars in capital on investing in Canada.

The organizations include private investment firms such as Blackrock and some of the world’s biggest sovereign wealth funds, including Singapore’s GIC. Invitations were sent out this week, and none of the invited parties responded to CBC News before publication.

(more…)

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Iran’s Hard-Liners Flex Their Muscle With a U-Turn Over Hormuz

Iran’s quick reversal of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz has laid bare a rift between the country’s political leaders and the military hard-liners who have deepened their hold on the government since the war began.

A day after the country’s foreign minister announced that the strait was open, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired on at least two commercial ships in the Gulf for the first time during the cease-fire—and broadcast warnings to mariners that the waterway remained closed, causing ships that were attempting the transit to turn back. Ships would be targeted if they moved, it said.

The public display of division points to the difficulty ahead as President Trump tries to nail down concessions that would allow him to end the war with a clear win.

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•"US Israel Iran War"

Doug Ford Now AirFord None! Decides to sell jet after PR disaster purchase

Doug Ford to sell private government jet days after purchase was revealed

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is selling his private government jet just days after the purchase was revealed publicly.

The pre-owned 2016 Challenger 650, made by Quebec company Bombardier Inc., cost $28.9-million. The purchase was finalized last week.

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•Canada's Corrupt Political Class

Greta Thunberg’s freedom flotilla rocked by sexual misconduct allegations

They’re going to need a bigger boat!

Greta Thunberg’s freedom flotilla, which set sail from Barcelona Sunday for another anti-Israel voyage to Gaza, has been rocked by scandal after one of its woke leaders was accused of “sexual misconduct” with at least three volunteers.

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by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 18, 2026•0•WTF?

Nigel Biggar: Eurocentricity is justified

Three years ago, the acting vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, Anthony Freeling, made a confession, widely reported in the British press. He confessed that he was baffled by “decolonization.” The word, he said, “has been misused to such an extent that I don’t think, if I’m honest, I can give an accurate definition.”

I sympathize — as, I strongly suspect, do millions of others. That’s because “decolonization” can mean a variety of different things, some of which make good sense, but others, very bad sense indeed. And the bad ones have smuggled themselves into schools and university departments under cover of the good.

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 18, 2026•0•"Civilizationists"

Trump threatens to destroy every bridge, power plant in Iran if Tehran doesn’t take deal: ‘NO MORE MR. NICE GUY’

After telling Fox News that talks with Iran will resume on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump says on Truth Social, “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran.”

“NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” he writes.

(more…)

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•"US Israel Iran War"

Here’s the ‘experiment’ NDP Leader Avi Lewis is trying to run in Canadian politics

While standing outside the House of Commons, Avi Lewis recalled that it has been five decades since his grandfather — former federal NDP leader David Lewis — stood inside the chamber to advocate for the Canadian left.

After David, there was Avi’s father, Stephen Lewis, a former leader of the Ontario NDP, Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and a longtime journalist and environment activist. He passed away last month at 88, shortly after his son was elected federal NDP leader.

Now, it’s Avi Lewis’s turn to take on the mantle. And going the federal route is a very intentional choice.

My head hurts at the thought Canada is so fecked Lewis may strike a nerve.

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 18, 2026•0•NDP, WTF?

Pope says ‘tyrants’ speech was not aimed at Trump

Pope Leo says he was not seeking to debate Donald Trump when he criticised “tyrants” for spending billions on wars in a speech earlier this week.

The pontiff said the remarks, delivered days after a high-profile spat with the US president, had been written a fortnight earlier – “well before the president ever commented on myself”.

“And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate, again, the president, which is not in my interest at all,” he told reporters aboard a flight to Angola on Saturday.

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 19, 2026•0•Catholic Church, President Trump

Murder charges will be dropped against Kenneth Law; he will plead guilty to aiding suicide instead, lawyer says

An Ontario man accused of selling a toxic substance online to vulnerable people who used it to end their lives will no longer face murder charges and will instead plead guilty to 14 counts of aiding suicide, his lawyer says.

Kenneth Law, 60, has been publicly accused of running websites that shipped more than a thousand packages of deadly substances and other materials used for self-harm to more than 40 countries. Many of Law’s customers were young people who allegedly used the substance to end their lives; the Star has spoken to parents in Canada, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

I bet we find out this guy is the diversity added to Ontario’s MAID review board?

by Blazingcatfur•April 19, 2026April 18, 2026•0•"Justice", WTF?