Two-thirds of Canadian and American renters are in unaffordable housing situations

Even as housing markets cool in some areas, housing affordability in Canada is the worst in over four decades due, in part, to sustained post-pandemic inflation and comparatively higher interest rates.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation — the federal Crown corporation responsible for administering Canada’s National Housing Act — affordability is defined as mortgage or rent payments that do not exceed more than 30 per cent of a household’s gross monthly income.

If a family makes $50,000 per year before taxes, for instance, anything more than $15,000 per year (or $1,250 per month) spent on rent would put them in an unaffordable situation.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis"

Architects’ Fees Totalled Nearly $500K for Rideau Hall ‘Barn’: Federal Records

Barn raising in Lansing, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The federal government’s “first zero-carbon building” in the National Capital Region, which was built at Rideau Hall and cost Canadian taxpayers over $8 million, had nearly half a million dollars spent on architects’ fees, records indicate.

An Inquiry of Ministry document tabled in Parliament on Jan. 29 showed that 86 separate contracts were issued over 10 years for the construction of the solar-powered warehouse, also known as “the barn,” at the national historic site and the official residence and office of the Governor General.

Canada has reached the “Loot the treasury” phase of its descent into a 3rd World shitbox country.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corporate Welfare Class, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Canada's Corrupt Political Class, Canada's Public Service Union Predator Class

Biden’s Telling Retreat

Biden is in charge of tapioca

Joe Biden is in retreat.

Not literally this time, as we witnessed in Afghanistan in 2021, but from his ideologically driven reversal of a host of Trump policies upon taking office in January 2021.

In what might be called the Great Reversal, President Biden rolled back Trump policies as a matter of course and on principle, assuming that anything his predecessor was responsible for must be immoral or ineffectual.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"President Dementia AKA Joe Biden"

Alternative Energy’s Era of Reality Checks

Taxpayers and utility customers naturally expect to pay heavily for wind and solar power. After all, if such projects made economic sense, there would be no need for governments to subsidize and mandate them. But even beyond the costs of inefficient power production, there’s a question of whether alternative-energy cheerleaders yet have a handle on the environmental impact of their projects. It seems that there is still no free lunch and that every method of producing electricity carries costs and benefits.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Energy Matters"

Israel’s Long War for the West

On January 17, 2024, the Council for a Secure America (CSA) released the latest update to its “Israel-Hamas War” report, marking 100 days since the start of the war. The update is the third in a series following CSA’s 50- and 70-day war reports. From the outset of these reports, the real question was how long they would need to be issued.

Historically, wars involving Israel have been relatively short. The “Six Day War” in 1967 derived its name from the length of the war that saw Israel defeat the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria in that time. The Yom Kippur War of 1973, which started with a surprise attack on Israel led by Syria and Egypt, lasted just short of three weeks before an Israeli victory. In between, there have been continual attacks, to which Israel has responded by “cleaning up” the immediate sources of the attacks, which the Israelis dryly called “mowing the lawn.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Oct 7 2023"

Patty Hearst was kidnapped 50 years ago. Was she a victim or terrorist?

The startling news 50 years ago Sunday that Patty Hearst, granddaughter of media magnate William Randolph Hearst, had been kidnapped by a far-left terrorist organization was eclipsed only by the more shocking revelation two months later that she had “renounced” her “class privilege“ and joined the militant group.

Following her Feb. 4, 1974, kidnapping by the tiny, disorganized Symbionese Liberation Army, Hearst began to lose faith in her wealthy family’s ability to meet the SLA’s initial $4 million ransom demand ($25 million today), which continued to escalate. On April 3, she released a tape as “Tania,” the 11th member of the SLA.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"extremists"

A Border Crisis By Design – It is unequivocally the intended result of Biden administration policy.

Three years into the border crisis, most Americans still don’t understand what’s actually happening at the border. This lack of understanding extends to the mainstream press and to most Republicans, who have struggled to communicate effectively on the issue.

The cause of the current crisis is President Joe Biden’s unprecedented refusal to enforce federal immigration law, which requires that all asylum-seekers be detained rather than released into the United States. The solution, therefore, is for Biden to start enforcing federal law as he is constitutionally required to do—or for Congress to deny the president something else he wants until he does.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mass Immigration - Follow the money", USA

Dearborn Michigan is on edge as Wall Street Journal article brands it ‘America’s jihad capital’

Hamas Rally Dearborn Michigan

A Michigan suburb with the largest Muslim population in the US has upped its security in fear of hate attacks after it was branded America’s ‘jihad capital.’

The headline of a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published on Friday read ‘Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital‘ – a title given to the city by the publication because of its residents’ pro-Palestine stances.

The contentious article was written by Steven Stalinsky, who is a commentator on terrorism and has served as executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, based in Washington DC, since 1999.

I don’t know what the upset is about Dearborn is America’s Jihad capital.

Here is the full article – Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", "Oct 7 2023", Islam, Islam and violence, Islamization of the West, USA

Mike Freer and the Islamist assault on democracy

Islamist extremists have attacked, murdered and menaced parliamentarians. Where’s the anger?

It’s only been a few days since Mike Freer, Tory MP for Finchley and Golders Green in London, announced he will resign from parliament at the next election, following more than a decade of death threats from Islamists over his support for Israel. And yet already it feels like old news.

Could Britain’s military defeat a Muslim insurgency? Canada will be in the same spot soon enough and it is doubtful we will have an army strong enough to defeat a Muslim insurgency.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Islamization of the West

Tucker Carlson pictured in Russia amid rumours of interview with Putin

Tucker Carlson appears to have been photographed in Moscow, triggering speculation of an interview with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.

Russian media published a picture that is said to show Carlson attending a performance of Spartacus at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre.

The image – alongside another of him allegedly at Istanbul airport on a layover – reignited rumours that the political commentator and former Fox News host may be the first Western journalist to interview Putin since the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

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

Police aren’t crying wolf this time

I know, I know. The police budget is the 800-pound gorilla of city spending. Police chiefs are always saying they don’t have enough money to do their jobs. Higher spending on police doesn’t necessarily mean a safer city. I know.

All the same, Toronto should listen to its police chief when he says he needs a $20-million boost to his force’s $1.2-billion budget this year.

Toronto is at a delicate point in its history. With housing prices and living costs sky high, the downtown still recovering from the pandemic, transit service hit and miss, tents in the parks and signs of urban disorder all around, the city is experiencing a crisis of confidence.

Toronto cannot afford 100K police salaries.

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