The great vegan diet ‘con’

Despite what the documentaries tell you, a plant-based lifestyle isn’t better for your health and it certainly won’t save the planet

Canola oil, yeast, acidity regulator, methyl­cellulose, corn oil thickener, starch, gelling agent. “Hmm, I don’t like agents in my food,” says Jayne Buxton.
We’re in the refrigerator aisle of a well-known, high-end health-food supermarket in Richmond, London, reading the backs of packets of vegan ­sausages, burgers et al. As far as vegan products go, we’re dining at the Ritz.

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Trudeau says no intelligence briefing happened on Chinese interference in election

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he has never been briefed that any candidates in a Canadian election were influenced by financing from the Chinese government.

A Global News report earlier this month cited unnamed sources who claimed Trudeau was briefed last January that China was trying to interfere in Canadian politics, including by funding at least 11 candidates in the 2019 federal election.

My guess is CSIS likely doesn’t trust Trudeau or the Liberal Party.

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Did Billions in Spending Make a Dent in Homelessness? Canada Doesn’t Know.

An auditor general’s report found that multibillion-dollar federal housing programs were not being tracked to see whether they actually reduced homelessness.

While other Canadian cities are firmly in the throes of winter, Toronto, after months of balmy weather, finally surrendered to its first snowfall on Tuesday, with more on the way. Winters are a habitual stress test on Toronto’s infrastructure, especially public transit, but also on its constellation of social services for the homeless.

Most nights in Toronto, the shelter system is full and has to turn people away.

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No ice rinks, fewer lights: Christmas markets across Europe scaled back as energy costs soar

European Christmas markets and illuminations are scaling back due to the energy crisis and climate breakdown – ditching seasonal ice-rinks for roller-skating and switching on lights for shorter hours.

When the traditional end-of-year markets and Christmas lights launch in France and Germany this week, many cities, such as Paris, will go dark hours earlier than usual.

But local politicians insisted they must still offer some kind of “festive spirit” to lift what they called the glum mood amid the war in Ukraine and the rising cost of living.

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Canada needs to take a harder line on ‘evil authoritarian regimes’ like China: senator

Following claims that Chinese agents interfered in recent Canadian elections and stole industry secrets from Hydro-Québec, Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos is calling on the Canadian government to take a much harder line against China — a country he describes as “an evil authoritarian regime.”

Housakos has introduced a bill, S-237, that would establish a foreign influence registry in Canada — a system that would compel agents working on behalf of a foreign government to either register their interactions with public officials in Canada or face criminal penalties.

Under this proposed law, any foreign-backed agent who fails to declare any interaction with a “public office holder” — like a cabinet minister, an MP, a senator or a senior government official — could be charged with a crime and face hefty fines and up to two years in jail.

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Alec Baldwin texted widower of cinematographer he shot suggesting prop gun had been loaded in act of sabotage, police report reveals

Alec Baldwin sent a series of text messages in the days and weeks following the fatal Rust shooting to the widow of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was killed, suggesting an act of sabotage might have been the cause.

The details are contained in 551 pages of documents released by a New Mexico sheriff’s office on Friday as part of his investigation into the fatal shooting on the set of Western movie Rust.

A state prosecutor is still deciding whether to press criminal charges.

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Armed police guard Iranian TV studios in London after Tehran threats

Armed vehicles have been deployed outside the Iran International television studios in London after two of its journalists were threatened by Tehran, the channel said.

There were about seven vehicles outside the studio in Chiswick Park, west London, after “severe and credible” threats were recently made against two of the UK-based channel’s journalists, one of its spokesmen told AFP.

Police confirmed that its officers “are working in response to potential threats projected from Iran against a number of UK-based individuals.

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Top public servant advised Trudeau to invoke Emergencies Act, felt legal threshold was met, though ‘vulnerable’ to challenge

Canada’s top public servant provided a written recommendation to Justin Trudeau that supported the idea of invoking the Emergencies Act in response to convoy protests across the country, but also cautioned the Prime Minister that such a decision would be vulnerable to a court challenge.

The Feb. 14 recommendation from Privy Council Clerk Janice Charette was among a flurry of memos and around-the-clock meetings she discussed in detail during testimony at the Emergencies Act inquiry on Friday.

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Shooting at Colorado LGBT Club Kills 5, Injures 18, With Suspect Detained

Shooter threatened his own Mother last year. That says Cray Cray Crazy!

Update Suspect Named – Police said a suspect, named as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, is in custody and being treated for injuries. No motive indicated so far.

Heavy.com has some detail indicating the shooter may have a past criminal history and is likely unstable.

Five people are confirmed dead and several others were injured in a shooting at an LGBT club in Colorado.

Colorado Springs police confirmed five people had been killed and another 18 were injured during the shooting at the gay nightclub Club Q on Saturday.

Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) Lt. Pamela Castro briefed gathered media overnight. In a video of the briefing posted on Twitter, she said: “It’s with a heavy heart that I have to tell you that we had a shooting at a local club this evening.

AP is going on like it’s a hate crime but no evidence is supplied.

Lots of blame assigned to “Right Wing Evangelical Trumpers” etc on Twitter with zero evidence to back it up, the very definition of knee jerk dogma triumphing over reason.

From the DM … FBI joins probe into Colorado Springs gay club shooting that left five dead and 18 injured after gunman opened fire following a drag show: Gunman is in custody after being ‘subdued by patrons’

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Rex Murphy: Justin Trudeau makes headlines again — not necessarily good ones

The beginning of autumn is generally nice. The poet John Keats had a phrase for that period — “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.” But as Mr. Fall gets his teeth into it, hits the meteorological gas pedal so to speak, and sends out a clear invitation to Mr. Winter — well, in Canada anyway, it ain’t mellow by a long shot. Short days, long nights, chill winds, early snows — mid to the end of November in most places here is like a movie preview of the harder days of February.

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Tech-savvy Iranian activists reveal Islamic republic’s abuses

When videos posted on Friday appeared to show the ancestral home of the late founder of the Iranian Islamic Republic on fire, state media derided the news as “a lie”. But footage posted by the activist network 1500tasvir told a different story.

The incident occurred on Thursday evening in Khomein, the birth town of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the group said, as strikes and protests over the death of Mahsa Amini shook Iran for a ninth week.

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Trudeau Tries to Play Catch-Up on China’s Interference, but Is Chasing His Own Tail

Canada is in the global spotlight, again. A reporter at the G20 meeting in Bali captured Chinese leader Xi Jinping threatening Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over leaks of an earlier meeting between the two, in which Trudeau reportedly confronted Xi with intelligence leaks to the media about China’s election interference.

Yes, there was a leak about a leak.

Diversity is killing us.

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Portland moving forward with $27 million plan to end homeless camping on sidewalks

“I’ve written a lot of posts about the problem of homelessness in Portland over the years. Just this year there have been multiple reports about people planning to leave the area for good because of crime and homelessness. There have been specific reports about dangerous homeless people and persistent homeless thieves who never seem to get taken off the streets no matter what they do.”

Portland is a “progressive paradise” anything they do will make things worse and this plan is typically insane.

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