“Bread and Circuses”

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on Vancouver’s mayor to release updated cost estimates for hosting the FIFA World Cup games.

Vancouver and Toronto are the two Canadian venues chosen to host matches for the 2026 football tournament, among 16 host cities across the three countries in North America.

Paris sets an unbeatable scene for an event the magnitude of the Olympic Games. The picture-perfect backdrop is already there, and Paris 2024’s promotional videos include horses cantering past the fountains of an empty Versailles, breakdancing on the Place de la Concorde, which is uncharacteristically devoid of litter, and cyclists whizzing around the Arc de Triomphe, where cars usually sit in a fume-filled traffic jams. Behind this idyllic portrayal, however, problem after problem rears its ugly head.

In high places, there is a subject that people dare not talk about, but which is on everyone’s mind: what if the whole thing ends in a gigantic fiasco?

The countdown is ticking down inexorably to the launch of the Olympic Games in Paris, but France’s capital city has never seemed in such a poor position to host this international event. Controversy after controversy is undermining Mayor Anne Hidalgo to the point where international tourists, athletes, and officials are worried about whether the city will even be able to provide the right conditions for the Games.

Since November, panic has begun to set in about the viability of holding the Olympic Games in Paris. Anne Hidalgo, who stubbornly wanted to host them—and has put all her energy into the project—is now herself casting doubt on the event. At an organisational meeting at the end of November, the mayor put on a grand theatrical performance to explain that the transport system would never be ready in time, taking everyone to task for her negative attitude. 

Toronto is two years away from hosting one of the biggest sports tournaments in the world — with an expected significant tourism boost, questions loom about how much it will cost taxpayers and what the city will actually bring in.

FIFA announced Sunday that Toronto was selected to host a total of six World Cup 2026 matches.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said she was “thrilled” to hear that the city’s been chosen for six games.

“With open arms, Toronto will welcome the world to experience the rich diversity and dynamism of our multicultural city,” Chow said on Sunday.

I fully expect a financial bloodbath from the secret deal that was negotiated by the Tory regime, his floozie of the day and his cronies at MLSE.

Last September, the rapper Killer Mike was DJing hip-hop classics like Snoop Dogg’s Ain’t No Fun at a music festival afterparty in Louisville, Kentucky. “The inspiration for the night’s set is freedom of speech, so say what the fuck you want!” he told a crowd of hundreds. Killer Mike, half of the duo Run the Jewels, is known for speaking out against police brutality and racial injustice, as well as campaigning for Bernie Sanders.

But this night’s set was co-sponsored by Stand Together Music, an organization backed by the libertarian billionaire Charles Koch, who made his fortune in fossil fuels. Other sponsors of the party included the free-speech group Fire (which has received millions of dollars in contributions from the Charles G Koch charitable foundation), as well as the music outlet Spin, an official partner of Stand Together Music.

I have zero respect for a billionaire who advocates for open borders.

Suella Braverman has accused Rishi Sunak of “betrayal” over a promise to stop small boat crossings in an incendiary letter after being sacked as home secretary.

In a broadside aimed at the Prime Minister, she accused him of having “manifestly and repeatedly failed to deliver” on key policies, and said his “distinctive style of Government means you are incapable of doing so”.

She said Mr Sunak had not lived up to his promise to do “whatever it takes” to stop small boat crossings by failing to override human rights concerns about the Rwanda plan.

H/T Mauser

The province of Alberta has withdrawn its support for a bid centred around Calgary/Edmonton to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, weeks after the Australia state of Victoria pulled out of hosting the 2026 Games.

Alberta’s tourism minister, Joseph Schow, said that cost was behind the decision.

“It’s not a good deal for Alberta,” he said, according to the Calgary Herald. “When it comes down to it, it has to be a good deal for Alberta taxpayers and this just wasn’t that.”

Good for Alberta, all the “Games” are gamed to line the pockets of the ruling class.

Pity Toronto had no one looking out for its citizens when it signed on to that shady World Cup Deal.

The International Olympic Committee will reap profits from the 2024 Paris games—but how will Paris fare?

Despite my best intentions, I find myself caught up in the whirlwind of the Olympic Games set to be held in Paris next year. I am a local elected official of the nearby town of Boulogne, which shares three large stadiums with the French capital that will be used throughout the games. The town is also halfway between the Eiffel Tower and the Château de Versailles, along the route for the Olympic marathons. There will be four races in total next year: for men, women, para-Olympians, and the public. One of the three stadiums, originally a rugby ground, has been hired out for the monthlong games by the German delegation, which is hoping to celebrate all its victories there. The German team is made up of 5,000 people, and athletes are accompanied by trainers, massage therapists, doctors, PR agents, fan clubs, family, and all the other hangers-on who now keep the wheels of Sport, Inc., well oiled. The Chinese delegation has just as many people and even asked the Boulogne mayor’s office to hire the entire town. This included all the hotels, restaurants, and public spaces, and would have made it easy to accommodate, assemble, and of course monitor the athletes and their staff. We refused, despite the red envelopes we may have otherwise received.

Scam of scams.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino pleaded with New Zealand fans on Wednesday “to do the right thing” amid slowing Women’s World Cup ticket sales in the country.

Ticket sales for the global showpiece, which is being co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia from July 20 to August 20, surpassed a million tickets a month ago. But uptake has been slow in New Zealand, with tickets still available for sale on the eve of the tournament kicking off, unlike in Australia.

h/t Mauser

Oh… Canada is fecked up woke

Spectators at next year’s Paris Olympics will have to make do with soft drinks while VIPs quaff wine, champagne and beer after organisers decided not to seek an exemption to a law prohibiting the sale of alcohol in stadiums.

Under la loi Evin, legislation in place since 1991, the sale of alcohol to the general public inside stadiums in France is banned.