Why ‘Pivoting’ Isn’t an Option for Smith and Poilievre

Winning a party leadership race and winning a general election are two very different things. Policies that appeal to the party faithful may appear unsellable to a large segment of the population.

Newly minted conservative leaders Pierre Poilievre and Danielle Smith must now figure out the balancing act between staying true to their leadership campaign promises and presenting a winning political product to the electorate. There can be no doubt that self-styled political experts were whispering into the ears of both new leaders and counselling them to pivot from their leadership stances the moment they won their respective races.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada

The Emergencies Act inquiry will judge whether its use was strictly necessary. Public opinion will judge the rest

Whatever else the public inquiry into the Trudeau government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to end the chaos in downtown Ottawa earlier this year may or may not determine, it has already triumphantly vindicated one thing: the Emergencies Act itself.

The inquiry, formally known as the Public Order Emergency Commission, was not struck at the government’s discretion, but was explicitly mandated by the act, as was the joint parliamentary committee that is already holding hearings. The government will not be able to avail itself of the “if you knew what we knew” defence, beloved of tyrants everywhere: After the commission has finished its work, we will know what they knew.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Criminalizing Dissent", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Death toll in ‘terrorist’ shooting at Russian military base near Ukraine border rises to 22, reports claim: Two gunmen ‘from Tajikistan’ opened fire ‘in row over religion’

The death toll following a shooting at a Russian military base on the Ukraine border has risen to 22 after two gunmen from Tajikstan opened fire at fellow recruits reportedly in a row over religion.

Initial reports announced that 11 soldiers had been killed and a further 15 injured on a training ground in the Belgorod region on the Ukrainian border, the Russian Defense Ministry revealed yesterday.

But it has now been suggested that double this number were shot dead, with independent news outlet SOTA suggesting that 22 soldiers have died and 16 were wounded.

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

Ghislaine Maxwell says she feels bad for ‘dear friend’ Prince Andrew

Ghislaine Maxwell has spoken from a US prison cell about how she feels “so bad” for her “dear friend” Prince Andrew.

In her first lengthy interview since her conviction on sex-trafficking charges last year, Maxwell said she still cared about the Duke of York, who has been stripped of royal duties over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaking to the Israeli-American documentary filmmaker Daphne Barak, Maxwell said: “I feel so bad for him. I follow what is happening to him.’’

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

Federal Freeze on Importing Firearms ‘Does Nothing’ to Slow Gun Crime: Toronto Police Association President

On the heels of the fatal shooting of two police officers in Innisfil, Ont., the president of the Toronto Police Association (TPA) says firearms trafficking and violence are increasing and Ottawa’s efforts to curb gun violence are missing the mark.

“The proliferation of firearms up here in Canada from the U.S.—it is out of control in my opinion,” Jon Reid told The Epoch Times.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inGun Control, Gun Rights

26 arrested as angry motorists drag Just Stop Oil protesters from road

An MP questioned what the reaction would be if a “couple of black boys” had thrown soup on a Van Gogh, as environmental activists continued with a 15th day of protests on Saturday.

James Cleverly said “let’s stop giving these attention seeking adult-toddlers the coverage they clearly crave” after members of Just Stop Oil were dragged off a busy road by angry members of the public on Saturday.

The Foreign Secretary tweeted: “I’m just wondering what the reaction would be if a couple of black boys from Lewisham had thrown soup on a Van Gogh or poured milk all over the floor in Harrods.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inBatshit Crazy Eco-Luddites

Canadian armoured vehicles land in Port-au-Prince, here’s a look at Haiti’s latest security crisis

Foreign military aid requested by Haiti’s beleaguered government has arrived in the Caribbean country— including armoured vehicles from Canada, a source with knowledge of the operation confirmed to CBC News — as a security crisis intensifies.

Armed gangs have been blockading Haiti’s main port since last month following a move by Ariel Henry, Haiti’s unelected prime minister, to cut fuel subsidies.

Kidnappings and other crimes are rife; hospitals and banks are often closed as they are unable to access fuel and basic supplies.

As gang violence consumes Haiti, donor nations — Canada included — seem reluctant to get involved

Haiti has been lurching from crisis to crisis for a long time. But at no point in the recent past — perhaps not since the immediate aftermath of the 2010 earthquake — has the country’s plight seemed so hopeless to so many of its people as it does today.

Caribbean leaders, traditionally opposed to outside interventions, are facing an influx of Haitian boat people fleeing what Bahamian PM Philip Davis calls “a failed state.”

The Dominican Republic has deployed its army to the border with Haiti to prevent spillover from what its president Luis Abinader calls a “low-intensity civil war.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Haiti, WTF?

California: Suspected serial killer arrested while ‘out hunting for new victims’

Wesley Brownlee

Police in California say they have caught a suspected serial killer responsible for a handful of murders that have haunted the Stockton and Oakland areas.

Authorities say they apprehended the suspect, identified as Wesley Brownlee, 43, just as he was about to claim another life.

Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said on Saturday, ‘Early this morning he was on a mission to kill, he was out hunting.’

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

GOLDSTEIN: Mayor opposes street checks, despite rising gun violence after they were scrapped

When John Tory was elected mayor in 2014 there were 177 shootings in Toronto, 76 people were wounded by gunfire and 27 people were fatally shot.

Last year, there were 409 shootings (a 131% increase), 163 people wounded by gunfire (a 114% increase) and 46 people fatally shot (a 70% increase).

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

Ukraine: Survey of 25 largest nations shows strong support within alliance for tougher sanctions and aid, but more pro-Russia views elsewhere

Nearly eight months into Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, citizens in core western alliance countries show little appetite for the kind of concessions to Russia that might form part of an eventual agreement to end the fighting, according to a major survey.

The YouGov-Cambridge globalism project, which gauged public opinion in 25 of the world’s largest countries, also found strong support for maintaining, and often toughening and expanding, military and economic measures against Moscow.

But while the survey found respondents in most western nations in an uncompromising mood, multiple countries around the world – including some in the west – were markedly more ambivalent, or even sympathetic, towards Russia.

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

One democracy hating totalitarian calls another democracy hating totalitarian a democracy hating totalitarian

Ottawa slams Google-backed survey criticizing Canada’s online news bill as an attempt to ‘avoid accountability’

OTTAWA—A national survey commissioned by Google painting Ottawa’s online news bill as flawed and a potential vehicle for misinformation has been slammed by the federal government as an attempt to “avoid accountability.”

Abacus Data on Friday published a report on Canadians’ views about Bill C-18, a piece of legislation that would compel online platforms like Google and Facebook to share some of the revenues they generate from posting news content on their sites with the outlets that produce the stories. The bill, known as the Online News Act, is now being studied by the House of Commons heritage committee.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Google, Google is Evil

‘Leave the kids alone!’ Outrage when Colorado school recruits drag queen for crossing guard duty

The hyper-sexualization of America’s youth has shown no signs of slowing down even as determined parents have continued to challenge the content that children have been exposed to by activists.

While progressives have often downplayed or denied such stories, no such plausible deniability could be had at a Colorado elementary school that hosted a “celebrity drag queen” alongside a U.S. senator.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"They really do want your children", Big Tranny, USA, WTF?

Russia-Ukraine updates: US to send further $725 million in weapons

Washington has announced that it will send more arms and munitions to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion.

The package worth a total of $725 million (€745 million) will include HIMARS mobile rocket launch systems — the long-range artillery weapons that played a key role in the Ukrainian counteroffensive in September.

It will also include more munitions, armored vehicles and medical supplies, the White House said. The aim of the package is to restock Ukrainian supplies rather than provide any new types of weapons.

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

European Public Prosecutor’s Office announces it is investigating Covid 19 vaccines

… The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) said it has an “ongoing investigation into the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines in the European Union.”

“This exceptional confirmation comes after the extremely high public interest. No further details will be made public at this stage,” the office said in a statement. (snip)

“We cannot share more than we did in our statement. If there are any developments we can share, we will do so proactively (as we did today),…

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