Cannabis tourism stunted by too much regulation

It’s time for cannabis tourism to be taken seriously in Calgary and Alberta — in fact, in all of Canada.

But let’s focus on Calgary.

Coun. Kourtney Penner is introducing a notice of motion to allow for the sale of cannabis at festivals and events to streamline rules and bring them in line with those for alcohol. Selling cannabis at festivals and events is allowed in Alberta, but not in Calgary, because of how the original bylaw was written in 2018. The current bylaw says cannabis sales have to be tied to a provincial licence, which has to be done at a brick-and-mortar location.

Canadian governments make poor drug dealers.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMarijuana

This is how Ukraine’s war ends. But Trump’s plan for what comes next is even more radical

Negotiations aimed at freezing the conflict could finally put an end to the fighting – and lay the foundation for a new world order

It is the ending no one in Ukraine wanted, and few believe can last. Kyiv will surrender 20 per cent of its land to Russia as it is partitioned along an 800-mile, heavily militarised border.

The peace will be secured by Vladimir Putin’s word as a gentleman, and a multinational force with no American involvement. Neither America nor Nato at large will be obliged to defend Ukraine should Russia attack again.

The obvious risks of such a settlement are one thing. But what has shocked European governments is that Donald Trump and Putin appear to have hammered it out without talking to anyone else. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky only met vice-president JD Vance as an afterthought, on Friday. But it was clear the real action had taken place between the two presidents – Trump and Putin – elsewhere. “Bastards” one British defence official said of the Americans on hearing of the purported plan.

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

Poilievre repudiates Trump’s 51st state threats, pitches new policies at ‘Canada First’ rally

Surrounded by hundreds of supporters wearing red and white, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre firmly repudiated U.S. President Donald Trump’s 51st state threats and said Canada “will bear any burden” to protect its sovereignty during a rally in Ottawa.

“Sometimes it does take a threat to remind us what we have, what we could lose and what we could become. The unjustified threats of tariffs and 51st statehood of Donald Trump have united our people to defend the country we love,” Poilievre said.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inConservative Party

World’s ‘first openly gay imam’ shot dead in South Africa

Muhsin Hendricks – Gay Imam assassinated South Africa

Muhsin Hendricks, a pioneering figure dubbed the world’s first openly gay imam, has been shot dead in South Africa.

The 57-year-old cleric ran a mosque in Cape Town intended as a safe haven for gay and other marginalised Muslims. He was killed on Saturday morning after the car in which he was travelling near the southern city of Gqeberha was ambushed.

“Two unknown suspects with covered faces got out of the vehicle and started firing multiple shots at the vehicle,” police said in a statement.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and homosexuality, Islam and violence

Canadian Citizen Xiao Guang Pan Charged for Taking Drone Pictures of US Space Force Base

A Canadian citizen has been charged by U.S. authorities for allegedly using a drone to take photos of a military base in Florida.

Xiao Guang Pan, 71, faces three counts of using an unmanned aircraft to photograph vital defence installations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, according to a Feb. 13 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. On three separate days in January 2025, Pan allegedly also took aerial pictures of space launch complexes, a submarine wharf, and munitions bunkers.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"China - Communist Slave State", Canada, Espionage, USA

‘I Am Overwhelmed and Grateful’: Accused Health Insurance CEO-Killer Luigi Mangione Issues First Statement Since Arrest on New Fundraising Website

The 26-year-old suspect accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a midtown Manhattan street last year, Luigi Mangione, has released his first public statement since his arrest.

“I am overwhelmed by – and grateful for – everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support. Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded MDC from across the country, and around the globe.” Mr. Mangione wrote, referring to the squalid Metropolitan Detention Center at Brooklyn, where he is currently incarcerated. “While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to write. I look forward to hearing more in the future.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inBatshit Crazy Homicidal Progressives, USA

Dogs in body armour and humans on edge: How an ‘unprecedented’ wave of coyote attacks has terrified a Toronto neighbourhood

As seen here coyotes play an important role in the city’s eco-system.

It has come to this in Toronto’s downtown condoland: residents walking their pets have been advised by the city to dress their dogs in body armour. When going to the park, people are asked to carry noisemakers and green garbage bags, which they can snap and wave while shouting and running toward any coyotes they see. A local parent told a public meeting Thursday night that June Callwood Park has become “completely unusable” and that parents are “terrified” to even walk their toddlers home from the school bus.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Toronto - Canada's version of a Democrat run city"

Zelenskyy calls for ‘armed forces of Europe’ as EU leaders bristle at new US policies on Ukraine

JD Vance Waves Goodbye to Europe

MUNICH (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that the time has come for the creation of an “armed forces of Europe,” because the U.S. may no longer be counted on to support the continent.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hit back at Americans for meddling in his country’s election after U.S. Vice President JD Vance scolded European leaders over their approach to democracy and met with the leader of a German far-right party.

Forceful speeches from Zelenskyy and Scholz on Day 2 of the Munich Security Conference underlined the impact of a blizzard of decisions by U.S. President Donald Trump that show a rapidly growing chasm in trans-Atlantic ties.

We are living in interesting times.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

GOLDSTEIN: Liberals’ $200B climate plan needs a forensic audit

Now that the leading contenders in the Liberal leadership race – Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland – have promised, vaguely, to cancel Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax, what do they plan to do about the $200-billion-plus, taxpayer-funded sinkhole the Liberals have created since 2015, ostensibly to fight climate change?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Is Trump right when he says the US faces unfair trade?

… America’s average tariff was lower than Mexico’s (6.8%) and Canada’s (3.8%), though trade agreements between the US and these countries mean that American exports to them are not subject to tariffs. The same is true for South Korea, with which the US has a free trade agreement

But, broadly speaking, it is legitimate for Trump to point out that some countries have a higher average tariff on imports than America’s.

And those tariffs push up the cost of many American exports to those countries, which might be said to disadvantage US exporters relative to exporters in those countries selling into the US.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

Conrad Black: Put Canada on a (trade) war footing

The controversy over American tariffs has quickly escalated from a corrective action supposedly prompted by complaints about the porosity of both the southern and northern borders of the United States, to a comprehensive attempt to reset America’s commercial relations with the world, to restore the strength of American manufacturing and to discontinue trade and foreign aid practices from the Cold War, which were effectively bribes to persuade a variety of foreign governments to remain in the western, rather than the Soviet, sphere of influence. Following the Second World War, there was a great wave of decolonization, most of it — such as in the old British Raj, which included present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan — voluntarily, but some of it — such as Algeria, Indochina and up to a point, Kenya and Cyprus — violently and painfully. As the Cold War developed, the foreign aid practices of the U.S. and other western countries (including Canada) had a humanitarian component topped up by the political understanding that recipient countries would remain passably co-operative with the West.

We don’t like it but it was inevitable.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA

A New Spy Unit Is Leading Russia’s Shadow War Against the West

Russia’s spy services have a shadowy new unit taking aim at the West with covert attacks across Europe and elsewhere, Western intelligence officials say.

Known as the Department of Special Tasks, it is based in the Russian military-intelligence headquarters, a sprawling glass-and-steel complex on the outskirts of Moscow known as the aquarium. Its operations, which haven’t been previously reported, have included attempted killings, sabotage and a plot to put incendiary devices on planes.

The department’s creation reflects Moscow’s wartime footing against the West, the officials said. It was set up in 2023 in response to Western support for Ukraine and includes veterans of some of Russia’s most daring clandestine operations in recent years, according to two European intelligence chiefs and other U.S., European and Russian security officials.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia