Asia’s population is shrinking faster than any other continent’s.
Asia faces a problem: Its population is aging faster than any other continent’s. A growing percentage of people in Japan, South Korea and China are over 65, and those countries’ economies are suffering because of a lack of available workers. Governments are struggling to find the money to support retirees.
What do you do when you are stuck in a war that you can neither win nor lose? This is the question that Russian President Vladimir Putin faces as his “Special Operations” against Ukraine enters its second year. The answer is: you stage trompe l’œil shows to hide the fact that you are stuck and going nowhere fast.
Last December, Putin and his propaganda machine harped on the theme of victory thanks to General winter which was supposed to clinch victory with its frozen claws. When that didn’t happen they bought a few favorable headlines by sacking their commander in Ukraine and throwing their top military chief, General Valery Gerasimov, into the lion’s den. However, it is now clear that Gerasimov, a bureaucrat in uniform with as many medals as a general in an operetta, is no miracle worker.
The cast of CBS Saturday Morning spread some misinformation about the state of education in Florida when correspondent Cristian Benavides claimed that “classrooms and school libraries look like this” while showing a photo from a substitute teacher that was fired on Wednesday for spreading misinformation.
Former Biden Department of Energy official Sam Brinton claims to have been beaten by their father, who held a gun to their head and forced them into conversion therapy — but their family insist it is all lies.
The non-binary nuclear engineer is best known for allegedly stealing women’s suitcases worth thousands of dollars and their contents from Minneapolis and Nevada airports in brazen caught-on-camera heists.
But Brinton, 35, was first championed — and then heavily questioned — by the trans community over harrowing tales of their childhood.
Less than a quarter of the modern battle tanks the West has promised to Ukraine are likely to arrive in time to counter an anticipated Russian spring offensive.
Kyiv is expecting its supporters to send up to 320 western tanks in total but estimates suggest barely 50 will reach the front lines by the start of April, prompting concerns they will not be enough to have a substantial impact on the fighting.
#Ukraine: A Russian T-90M tank was destroyed by the Ukrainian 14th Mechanized Brigade in #Kharkiv Oblast.
This is the 12th documented example of this modern platform that has been destroyed, damaged or captured in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/wMp1bSNv3P
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 19, 2023
Canadian consumers outraged at food prices may have their voices heard yet.
The CEOs of Canada’s supermarkets may be on the hot seat if asked to testify before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
MASSIVE march through the streets of Ottawa pic.twitter.com/ubLJVL9xEY
— The Pleb 🇨🇦 Reporter (@truckdriverpleb) February 18, 2023
Assuming Mr. Lemieux is a performance artist, the next question is: to what end? If it’s a demonstration of the absurdity of trans ideology, that would permit behavior from a member of the protected “gender-fluid” class that it would never permit from a normal-gender, that’s arguably worthy political speech. If it’s just a power flex to satisfy some kink in front of kids, that’s obviously another, less laudable motivation.
Saturday marked the city’s first day in municipal limbo after former mayor John Tory officially stepped down Friday. “Toronto has been my cause,” Tory said at a final news conference at city hall Friday afternoon. “It breaks my heart to leave. But leaving was the right thing to do, as hard as it might be.”
Tory’s unexpected resignation follows a Star investigation that revealed an extended relationship between the 68-year-old married politician and one of his much-younger staffers.
I am not optimistic.
Late last month, Joe Biden was mocked for posting a photo of himself in an electric vehicle (a GMC Hummer) that costs $110,000 and up. And for touting a $7,500 federal tax credit that doesn’t apply to vehicles that cost over $80,000. In other words, the 46th president was ripped for confirming the stereotype that electric cars are a vanity passion for rich green liberals.
The US has said it believes China may be about to provide lethal aid to help Russia in the war in Ukraine, prompting a direct warning against doing so from the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to China’s top diplomat.
Blinken made the warning to the Chinese state councillor Wang Yi on Saturday evening at a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich security conference during which he also rebuked China over the use of an alleged spy balloon over US soil.
In a blunt meeting he also urged China to stop helping Russia evade the impact of sanctions. China’s trade with Russia is increasing and it has been buying Russian oil, but probably below the US$60 per barrel price cap imposed by the EU and G7 group of states.
Someone wants WW III bad.
That’s effectively the conclusion of the “Report of the Public Inquiry into the 2022 Public Order Emergency” delivered by Justice Paul Rouleau on Friday. The final report, which was required after the invocation of the Emergencies Act, concluded that the government met the legal threshold required to invoke emergency powers during Freedom Convoy protests — and freeze bank accounts of those suspected to be involved.
Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot urged black voters to help her ‘keep the seat’ from falling to white or Hispanic challengers, despite an appalling spike in crime.
As Lightfoot seeks a second term in the upcoming February 28 election, some business leaders concerned about the continuing crime wave say they don’t think she is up to the task.
In rallies on Saturday, Lightfoot told the South and West side residents who don’t support her to not bother voting at all. Chicago’s South Side is a historically-black area.
Lori may lose. Pity as she’s great fun.
I’ll never forget July 18, 1983.
It was my first day on the job at the Communications Security Establishment, Canada’s signals intelligence (SIGINT) agency. I was all of 22 years old, days out of an MA from Western University and ready to start my first full-time job as a translator at the Department of National Defence (at least that is what I had been told). Now I was getting my indoctrination into what I was really being asked to do: Read sensitive intercepted signals and extract intelligence to be forwarded to senior government officials to help keep Canada safe.
"Justin Trudeau knew about this interference and he covered it up because he benefitted from it,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tells reporters in Calgary when asked about a recent news report on alleged Chinese interference in the 2021 Canadian federal election.#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/QLpjk5kErh
— CPAC (@CPAC_TV) February 17, 2023
Blackie wins