Eulogy for the CIA Factbook: The free standard for world facts is gone

Eulogy for the CIA Factbook: The free standard for world facts is gone

If you attended school any time after the Nixon administration, then you likely beheld at some point the CIA World Factbook, a map and reference manual of Planet Earth and its inhabitants upon which nearly everyone could agree.

Maybe you read parts of it from a floppy disk or a CD-ROM for that social studies project due tomorrow. Or scanned its list of countries for Latvia, because that is the country you are representing next week in Model U.N. Even better, you wandered the earth in your imagination as you held the physical Factbook in your own hands, unfolding its maps and understanding, perhaps for the first time, that the thumbs-up gesture your friends flash each other is considered an obscene insult in parts of the Middle East, Europe and Argentina.

A pity, as a blogger I have relied on it on many occasions.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCIA, USA, WTF?

GOLDSTEIN: Mark Carney’s ‘carbon border adjustment mechanism’ will cost you

GOLDSTEIN: Mark Carney’s ‘carbon border adjustment mechanism’ will cost you

When Prime Minister Mark Carney announced he would reduce the Liberal government’s consumer carbon tax to zero, he also promised to introduce a “carbon border adjustment mechanism.”

He described the CBAM as a new government measure to “promote fair competition and improve environmental outcomes” while “supporting Canadian jobs in … energy-intensive, trade-exposed sectors, such as steel, chemicals, cement, and aluminum.”

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

Trump Is Preventing the Nightmare of Nuclear-Armed Iran

Trump Is Preventing the Nightmare of Nuclear-Armed Iran

Like the fighter who distracts his foe with feints before bringing an uppercut that knocks out his opponent, the world has been exclusively focused on Iran shutting the Straits of Hormuz while ignoring the chilling fact that it is a regime of theocratic extremists who have launched ballistic missiles capable of hitting Europe as well as US bases in the Indian Ocean. Iran’s ruling ayatollahs want to put nuclear warheads on those missiles. That is where the real threat lies — not in a Middle East waterway — but in Iran’s missile silos and nuclear weapons program.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"US Israel Iran War"

Douglas Todd: Surprising jump in Catholic converts in Canada and beyond

Douglas Todd: Surprising jump in Catholic converts in Canada and beyond

Raised in a moderate Muslim family in the Middle East, Kiwi Mottahed was once almost obsessed with watching online “anti-Christian” videos.

The videos, which are widespread, did not invoke hatred of Christians. But they did vociferously argue that Christian theology was wrong and Islam was the only right way to God, said Mottahed, a University of B.C. business student.

Moderate Muslim? No such thing but a good column nonetheless.

(Incognito)

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCatholic Church

‘Humiliating’: Pfizer cancels COVID vaccine trial for lack of interest as global scrutiny mounts

‘Humiliating’: Pfizer cancels COVID vaccine trial for lack of interest as global scrutiny mounts

Five years after their wide deployment, first on a voluntary basis, then under threat of firing for nearly 100 million Americans at the direction of the White House, COVID-19 vaccines for at least low-risk groups may be on the way out amid higher regulatory requirements and indifference to the jabs by the vast majority of Americans.

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

Huge profits drawing organized crime to black market tobacco

Huge profits drawing organized crime to black market tobacco

The Hells Angels and other organized crime groups are increasingly involved in the lucrative black market cigarette business. The revelation comes after two recent seizures of illegal cigarettes and nicotine vapes in Southwestern Ontario.

Police identified 173 organized crime groups – including the mafia, the Hells Angels, the Outlaws and their support clubs – involved in black market tobacco, said Rick Barnum, chief executive of the National Coalition Against Contraband Tobacco.

Boy am I SHOCKED!

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Crime

Did ICE Just Use the DMV as Bait to Lure Illegal Alien Truck Drivers?

Did ICE Just Use the DMV as Bait to Lure Illegal Alien Truck Drivers?

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may have dropped off the radar a little bit after things settled down in Minneapolis, but a flurry of arrests just outside Pittsburgh suggests that ICE is as active as ever and addressing a problem that’s been a long time coming.

ICE arrested a reported 13 people at a driver’s license center in a quiet, rural location 40 miles north of downtown Pittsburgh on April 3.

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

Alberta separatists making alternative plans to force referendum if they lose court challenge

Alberta separatists making alternative plans to force referendum if they lose court challenge

Alberta separatists are making alternative plans to pressure Premier Danielle Smith’s government to call an independence referendum if a judge throws out their current efforts after a multiday hearing next week.

Mitch Sylvestre is organizing an independence petition under Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act. Mr. Sylvestre’s campaign needs 178,000 signatures to force a constitutional referendum. Earlier this week, Mr. Sylvestre declared organizers had reached that goal, one month ahead of deadline.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Western Alienation Separation", "Western Independence", Alberta

Inside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp death cult

Inside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp death cult

How henchmen brainwashed in ‘violent and extremist’ training camps oversee prison rapes and mass executions to maintain Iranian regime’s stranglehold

In countless camps deep in rural Iran, gruff military men bark orders at trembling young cadets.

Boys as young as 13 are put through their paces by uncompromising tutors, who brainwash their pupils into hating all of Iran’s enemies, planting a seed that grows into a fanatical and insular view of the world.

This is the beginning of the journey for the hardened rank and file of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a nursery where teens learn the ropes and become part of a 125,000-strong death cult.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"US Israel Iran War"

Liberals push back on Conservatives’ criticism of high-speed rail grift

Liberals push back on Conservatives’ criticism of high-speed rail grift

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon is pushing back on the Conservatives’ calls to cancel the proposed high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City.

Construction on the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project, overseen by the Crown corporation Alto, is set to begin in 2029 or 2030.

But, speaking to reporters this week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called the project a “boondoggle” and a “waste of money.”

No one should trust the Liberal Party ever on any matter.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Niece, grandniece of slain notorious Iranian Gen. Soleimani arrested by ICE while enjoying lavish lifestyles in LA

Niece, grandniece of slain notorious Iranian Gen. Soleimani arrested by ICE while enjoying lavish lifestyles in LA

The niece of slain Iranian terror mastermind Gen. Qasem Soleimani – who showcased her luxe LA lifestyle on Instagram while bashing the US as the “Great Satan” – and her daughter have been arrested by ICE agents, the State Department announced Saturday.

Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, who allegedly celebrated attacks on US soldiers and military bases, and her daughter Sarinasadat Hosseiny, have had their green cards revoked over their ties to the Iranian regime.

Given Iran is now an ally via Carney’s alignment with China I doubt anything will be done about the estimated 700 or so Khomeini regime members resident in Canada.

Carney likely has them slated for jobs on the Immigration and Refugee Board.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Iran, USA

2 arrested for assault at rally for a Khomeinist Iran outside U.S. Consulate

2 arrested for assault at rally for a Khomeinist Iran outside U.S. Consulate

Two people have been arrested at a rally for Iran downtown on Saturday.

Officers arrested two males for assault and assault with a weapon around 2:30 p.m., according to a post from Toronto police on social media.

The “Rally for Justice” was organized by Hands Off Iran and the Muslim Community of the GTA to “build a strong, united presence against imperialist aggression and war.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Immigration from incompatible cultures", "Islamophobia", Canada, WTF?

The U.S.-Europe Alliance Is Reaching a Breaking Point Over the Iran War

The U.S.-Europe Alliance Is Reaching a Breaking Point Over the Iran War

Trans-Atlantic ties between the U.S. and Europe are deteriorating rapidly, with tensions over the Iran war adding to a growing sense that the world’s most important geopolitical partnership is sliding toward a divorce.

President Trump has expressed “disgust” with European allies for not joining the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, and has mused with aides and journalists about pulling out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the 77-year-old alliance that won the Cold War and, until recently, underpinned the West.

For their part, European leaders have come out staunchly against a war they weren’t consulted on, and which they see as both illegal and ill-advised. After a year in which Trump placed tariffs on European products, scrapped most U.S. support for Ukraine, repeatedly mocked European leaders and threatened to seize the Danish territory of Greenland, they and their voters are in no mood to help out.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"US Israel Iran War", NATO, USA