Author: Blazingcatfur

Putin’s plot to paralyse the EU

His invasion was set in motion last spring

“It’s much worse than everyone thinks.” Alan Riley is drinking tea on the outside patio of the Radisson hotel in central Chișinău, the capital of Moldova. “The recent winter energy crisis was exceptional. And we now realise that it was Russia softening up Europe for the war.”

If Riley, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, is correct, Putin’s tactics have more than paid off. Gas and electricity prices could soon reach £3,000 in the UK, while household energy bills are predicted to reach €3,400 in Germany, €2,800 in France and just below €2,000 in Italy and Spain.

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

Musk’s Free Speech Crusade

Ending Big Tech censorship at Twitter will be trickier than it sounds, but it’s worth the struggle.

For Elon Musk, coming up with $44 billion was the easy part. What comes next, less so.

To the delight of many conservatives, Musk has purchased Twitter and announced that he will make the platform “an arena for free speech.” One can almost picture him storming into Twitter HQ, marching downstairs, and kicking in the rusty door to the content-moderation boiler room. Steam blows and bells ring as, with a mighty tug, he dislodges a giant iron lever from the “Less Speech” setting and wrenches it into the “More Speech” position. After a few more adjustments—a crank down on the “Spam” knob, a flip onward of the “Edit Tweet” switch—he returns to the lobby, instructs the astonished employees to stay out of the basement, and leaves.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inTwitter

The big lie that underpins the new eco-militant movement

 

There are plenty of irritating things about the new eco-militant movement, whether it is the Greta Thunberg faction, Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain, Just Stop Oil, or whatever new group may have sprung up in the meantime.

For a start, there is the aggressive hyper-moralism and absolutism, which often lends itself to bizarre conclusions. (Just the other day, a veteran Extinction Rebellion activist called for a purge of ‘rich Boomers’, in revenge for climate change.) Then, there is the excessive and unwarranted self-confidence. There is the eagerness to disrupt other people’s lives, and to force their own pet obsessions on everyone else. There is the knee-jerk anti-capitalism, which is particularly absurd given the terrible environmental track record of non-capitalist economies. There is the general cultishness of the movement, and the complete inability and/or unwillingness to comprehend competing viewpoints.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inBatshit Crazy Eco-Luddites

How worried should Europe be as Russia starts cutting off gas supplies?

The unavoidable truth looming over Europe’s response to the invasion of Ukraine is that Russian gas heats the continent’s homes and powers its industries.

While European leaders have vowed to wean themselves off Kremlin-controlled supplies, both of gas and oil, the reality is that this is very hard to do in short order. There will be at least one more cold winter to come before major energy-hungry economies that rely heavily on Russia, such as Germany and Italy, can tap other sources.

The Achilles Heel.

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

2021 census data offers snapshot of Canada’s transgender population for first time

TORONTO — Census data released Wednesday offers an unprecedented snapshot of Canada’s transgender population, showing 0.33 per cent of residents identify as a gender that differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

The data collected during last year’s national household survey shows about 100,815 people are transgender or non-binary, including 31,555 who are transgender women, 27,905 who are transgender men and 41,355 who are non-binary.

h/t RM

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, WTF?

Rupa Subramanya: Why is Canada dragging its feet on getting back to normal from COVID?

On May 2, Switzerland and Greece are set to remove all COVID-related travel restrictions. Visitors will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination, proof of recovery or a recent negative test. The Swiss, who are 70 per cent fully vaccinated — a rate much lower than Canada’s approximate 81 per cent — removed virtually all domestic pandemic restrictions a month ago, and friends and family there tell me that life is back to pre-pandemic times. 

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China eats weird animals disease", Canada

Judge rules Barry and Honey Sherman murder case too sensitive to release more case documents

An Ontario court justice has lauded the Star for its ongoing efforts to hold police accountable in the unsolved Barry and Honey Sherman murder case but for now has closed the door to releasing more information from the homicide probe.

Justice Leslie Pringle said she is concerned that releasing additional police witness statements and theories of the case from search warrant documents would impact “the integrity of the ongoing police investigation.” In a ruling on the case, which was back in court Wednesday, Pringle said she is also concerned that to release more information would “prejudice the interests of innocent persons.” Pringle did not identify those individuals.

Previously, Pringle has allowed large swaths of information to be released, which has fuelled an ongoing investigative series in the Star that has revealed numerous problems with how the high-profile murders have been investigated. While refusing to release more, she acknowledged that considerable time has passed since the murders.

HMA

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

The Real Reason Elon Musk Offends the Left

Elon Musk bought Twitter. Conservatives appear cautiously optimistic about the platform’s future, with several prominent commentators noting that their follower counts rose significantly overnight. Still, some are concerned that Musk is not a conservative. They point to his public positions on climate change and support for left-wing organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inTwitter

Turkey Escalating Aggression against Greece: 90 Overflights in One Day

While the world has been distracted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Turkey, a member of the NATO alliance, has been busy harassing another NATO member, its Western neighbor, Greece.

Turkish military aircraft violated Greek airspace 90 times in one day, on April 15, and conducted three overflights of inhabited Greek islands, according to Greek media.

Turkish aircraft have, in fact, been violating Greek airspace almost non-stop since the beginning of the year.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inGreece, Turkey

Global mystery hepatitis outbreak spreads to Asia and Canada

A mysterious liver disease that has infected children in a dozen countries around the world has reached Asia, with a case reported in Japan.

The case in Japan of acute hepatitis – or inflammation of the liver – of unknown origin was flagged by local authorities on 21 April in a child who had tested negative for adenovirus – a possible cause being investigated worldwide – and Covid-19.

The patient had not had a liver transplant, the health ministry said on Monday, without giving further details.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

About Those 42 Terrorists Who Crossed the American Southern Border

AUSTIN, Texas — In 2018, when President Donald Trump said Islamic terrorist suspects were crossing America’s southern border among Central American caravans — just about everyone with a megaphone called him a fear-mongering, anti-immigrant liar.

But the sound of silence is overwhelming now that Democrats are saying the same thing. President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security is just out with two new revelations about the national security border threat posed by jihadist infiltration, putatively fake when Republicans asserted them.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCamp Of The Saints, USA

Moment Alec Baldwin is told Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has died after he shot her

Footage has shown the moment a distraught Alec Baldwin was told cinematographer Halyna Hutchins had died after he accidentally shot her during filming on the set of Rust.

Video shows investigators telling the actor that Hutchins, 42, had succumbed to her injuries, with Baldwin instantly saying ‘no’ as he lurched back into his seat in shock. Baldwin, 64, is seen raising his hand to his mouth as he looks between the two investigators in stunned silence.

He remains in the same position for 24 seconds before he puts his hand on his chest and then covers his face with his hands. Baldwin later asked the investigators if he could call his wife Hilaria.

A missing box of dummy bullets reappeared with live rounds?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inHollywood