Author: Blazingcatfur

The Jews of my generation thought they would be exempt from history. They were wrong

I was born in Riga, Latvia, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. The forest behind the apartment complex where I lived with my parents was called Bikernieki forest. From a very young age, perhaps as early as 4, I knew that Nazis had shot Jews in that forest.

In a different part of Riga, my grandparents lived in a house also inhabited by a Latvian couple of their generation. During the Nazi occupation, the husband had served in the auxiliary police and killed Jews. When my grandparents and this man passed one another coming and going, they exchanged greetings.

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

Joe Roberts: Why it feels safer to move my family to Israel than to stay in Canada

In the comforting safety of my own home, I sat down with my wife for our morning coffee recently. As our children played happily across the room, the atmosphere between us was sombre; the weight of the events of the past few weeks was palpable. Our conversation, though whispered, seemed to resound through the centuries, echoing the fears and uncertainties of countless Jewish families before us.

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

Not a joke: the UN hands Iran a human rights job

What does Iran have to teach the world about human rights? The United Nations appears to think we have plenty to learn from a pariah state which backs Hamas, arrests and beats women for failing to wear a hijab, executes protesters and hangs gay people. In Geneva, the Social Forum of the UN Human Rights Council — essentially a human rights jamboree — opens today; its chair is Ali Bahreini, Iran’s UN ambassador, who will oversee a conference discussing the contribution of science, technology and innovation to the promotion of human rights. Iran, which has used facial recognition technology to identify dissidents, is likely to have some expertise here.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

Should Famous Native Americans All Take Lie Detector Tests?

The Fifth Estate’s exposé of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s real identity as an Italian- and English-American from suburban Massachusetts rather than an indigenous person abducted from a Saskatchewan reservation rates awards in the same way Buffy Sainte-Marie did not.

That is to say, people who lie about their background to curry favor with panels, committees, and judges, who in turn lie about honoring talent when they really award politics or race or gender identity, do not deserve their accolades, and the people who expose frauds rate praise but never receive it.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Cultural Appropriation"

Grievance Training Academia’s narrative about “land appropriation” and “cultural genocide” is not only dubious factually—it also offers a justification for revenge against certain groups.

Academia’s narrative about “land appropriation” and “cultural genocide” is not only dubious factually—it also offers a justification for revenge against certain groups.

The newest chapter in grievance politics is being written in American schools. This emerging narrative of “land appropriation” and “cultural genocide” is one-sided, divisive, and contrary both to history and to widely accepted ethical and constitutional principles of individual accountability and due process.

On our campus, the University of Chicago Civic Knowledge Project (UCCKP), together with the American Indian Center, has proposed a land acknowledgment to “demonstrate[] a commitment to beginning the process of dismantling the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and genocide.” UCCKP recognizes that this and other “social justice” processes “will probably take nothing less than the democratic socialist transformation of the U.S.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Peak Woke"

NY family wants 2 women charged who ripped down Israeli hostage posters while saying ‘F–k Israel’

A New York family who confronted two potty-mouthed young women tearing down Israeli child hostage posters while screaming “F–k Israel” told The Post Thursday they’ve filed a police report and want the duo to face charges over the hateful encounter.

Marilyn Adler said she came face to face with the poster-rippers — who were featured on The Post’s Nov. 2 front page amid a slew of similar incidents — at Broadway and 79th Street on the Upper West Side while she was out with her two adult daughters Tuesday afternoon.

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

Azerbaijan’s Heroes: Soldiers Who Behead Armenians

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on October 13 that in the coming weeks, Azerbaijan could invade Armenia. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has threatened Armenia with war multiple times.

Meanwhile, pro-Erdogan media outlets in Turkey are also playing their war drums against Armenians. The headline news in the pro-Erdogan newspaper Türkiye on October 3 refers to Armenians in Armenia’s Syunik (Zangezur) province as “snakes”, “gangs” and “terrorists”. One headline reads: “The new nest of the snake is Zangezur”. It claims that the Armenians displaced from Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) are receiving military training in “terror camps in Zangezur”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inArmenians

‘Freedom Convoy’ trial: Judge expected to deliver ruling on police evidence

The judge in the criminal trial of two “Freedom Convoy” organizers is expected to deliver a ruling Friday about the admissibility of internal police documents as evidence.

Crown prosecutors and the Ottawa Police Service have argued the heavily redacted documents, which include emails and information about a software update for officers’ cellphones, are irrelevant or protected by solicitor-client privilege.

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

Most Canadians worried about the Israel-Hamas war spreading, increasing hate incidents at home: Nanos survey

Hamas Support Rally Toronto

A large majority of Canadians say they are worried about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas spreading to other countries in the Middle East and beyond, a new survey from Nanos Research shows.

Most of the people surveyed are largely concerned about a potential increase in hate crimes here.

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

Mega-Jolt: The Costs and Logistics of Plugging in EVs Are About to Become Supercharged

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm gave Americans an unintended glimpse of the future during her road trip this summer touting the wonders of electric vehicles. Far from spotlighting the promise of EVs, her public relations misadventure in Georgia involved one of her staff in a gasoline-powered vehicle blocking off a coveted charger in advance of her arrival, leading to frayed tempers and a local EV owner calling the cops. It was an illustration of the challenges drivers could face as governments push the public to embrace plug-in vehicles.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"EV's - Electric Vehicles"

Playing defence on the carbon tax has put Trudeau’s Liberals on the defensive

Jonathan Wilkinson, the minister of natural resources and energy, is not one to raise his voice. But as the Conservatives needled the government over its new carbon tax carve-out on Tuesday, Wilkinson started to get a bit shouty.

“Mr. Speaker, in the House, one thing is clear. The Conservative Party has no belief in the reality of climate change and no plan to fight it,” Wilkinson said.

“This government is focused on ensuring that we are addressing affordability challenges in a thoughtful way, while concurrently addressing the climate issue. It is a shame in the House, it is a shame in the country that we have a political party that denies the reality of climate change and is willing to give up the future of our children.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny"