Did Band Aid make a difference?

Is this the year that ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ – the charity song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to provide relief for the victims of famine in Ethiopia – finally died? The song has been condemned for its broad-brushstrokes lyrics about Africa, and it feels increasingly like the work of a naïve and distant past. But the truth is that it has always been better music than critics would like us to think. The question that matters most though is the hard one: did Band Aid improve the world?

Urging the public to ‘feed the world’, Band Aid created the modern association between fame and philanthropy and sparked a global movement culminating in the Live Aid concert the following summer. In combination, the song and the concert raised over £100 million in today’s money for the famine, and placed Africa on the Western agenda. Geldof’s lyrics call for thought for the ‘world outside your window’, but they were inspired by the world as it appeared on the TV. Geldof watched BBC coverage of the famine on a Friday night in November, as his fame in the Boomtown Rats dwindled.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Peak Virtue Signalling"

How Long Before Tim Walz Is Indicted?

The big question on everyone’s mind right now must be, “When will Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) face indictment for the fraud that didn’t merely take place on his watch, but was allegedly allowed to continue unchecked?” It’s a fair question to ask, given the circumstances. The political ground beneath Walz is looking increasingly shaky. Between mounting scrutiny and unresolved allegations, things are not breaking in his favor.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

2026: A Year of Clarifications?

In some of the ancient civilizations, each year was designated with a label rather than a number. For example, there was a Year of the Locust, a Year of the Flood, or a Year of Golden Harvest.

Following that tradition, what label do you think would suit 2025?

One suggestion is: the Year of Impressions. That label could be justified with reference to a dozen abortive attempts at peace-making across the globe, shaky compromises on tariffs and trade, and inertia disguised as hyperactivity. In the year ending, leaders have spent more time flying from one place to another, making speeches, giving TV interviews, cutting ribbons and pressing flesh than coming to grips with core issues here and now.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Zeitgeist"

Advocates push for advance MAID requests two years post Parliament recommendation

OTTAWA — Sandra Demontigny knew something wasn’t right when she couldn’t remember buying herself a new pair of boots. They were a splurge — a little out of character for the mother of three — and she had been excited about bringing them home.

“I saw them near the door and I asked my kids, ‘Who bought these boots? I’ve never seen them,’” she said.

“The kids were saying, ‘No, (they’re) yours. You bought them and you really like them.”

Sliding her feet inside, she realized she couldn’t remember buying them. “I started crying,” she said.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMAiD Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

U.S. Implements Broad Facial Recognition Mandate for Noncitizens at All Points of Entry

A sweeping new policy requiring the collection of facial recognition data from all noncitizens entering and leaving the United States went into effect on Saturday.

The policy takes effect as U.S. airports handle a massive influx of holiday travelers. The Transportation Security Administration estimates more than 44 million travelers will pass through airports between December 19 and January 4.

The Department of Homeland Security says the measure is designed to curb visa fraud, identify criminals, detect overstays, and prevent illegal reentries.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Surveillance Society", USA

Killing Zionists is OK, said released activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah

A British-Egyptian man released from prison in Egypt made violent and offensive remarks in social media posts.

On Friday Sir Keir Starmer expressed his “delight” that Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a pro-democracy activist and former political prisoner, had been reunited with his family in the UK after Egypt lifted a travel ban on his movements.

On Saturday, however, a large number of historic messages, which appear to have been published on an X/Twitter account belonging to Fattah from over a decade ago, were being shared widely online. They appeared to show him endorsing the killing of “zionists” and “police.”

Meanwhile in Oz

h/t Mauser

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

Scrap £100m slavery reparations, MPs urge new Archbishop of Canterbury

The incoming Archbishop of Canterbury has been urged to scrap plans to spend £100m over the Church of England’s historical links to slavery.

In a letter seen by the Sunday Times, a group of Conservative MPs and peers has urged Dame Sarah Mullally to stop the Church from spending the money.

They claim the funds can only legally be spent on churches and the payment of clergy wages.

In a statement, the Church Commissioners said that arrangements for the fund were being “developed transparently – in line with charity law”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inSlavery and Reparations

Trump Explains How Charlie Kirk’s Murder Changed His Life

EXCLUSIVE — In the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, then-candidate Donald Trump was doing nonstop rallies, many of them outdoors despite an assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left him bloodied after a bullet struck his ear.

The rallies felt more like festivals than political events, with crowds gathering hours early amid music and pageantry. Local heroes, union leaders, elected officials and retired military officers cycled through as warmup speakers, firing up the audience between tracks like Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” and Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” Trump’s walkout anthem.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inPresident Trump

Liberal climate policies damaged our economy

While Prime Minister Mark Carney acknowledged in a year-end interview with CBC that former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s climate change plan was a $200-billion flop, the roots of that failure predate Trudeau.

They go back to then-prime minister Jean Chretien signing onto the United Nations Kyoto accord in 1998, committing Canada to economy-killing climate targets which – as top Chretien aide Eddie Goldenberg later acknowledged – the Liberals knew they couldn’t achieve.

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

Ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried set to be released from prison EARLY – two years after she brought down the disgraced FTX founder

Caroline Ellison, the former girlfriend of crypto swindler Sam Bankman-Fried, is set to be released from prison just over a year into her sentence.

The 31-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2024 for wire fraud and money laundering, after admitting to helping Bankman-Fried’s FTX platform steal billions from clients.

According to Federal Bureau of Prisons records seen by the Daily Mail, Ellison is now set to be released from custody on January 21, 2026, nine months before the end of her original sentence.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Digital Currency", Crime

Mark Carney will be in the hot seat as he tries to fend off Trump

We are about to embark on 2026. Should we look ahead with optimism, pessimism or trepidation? Essentially, it is unknown as the crazy man in the White House continues his rampage, destroying what were warm relations between Canada and the United States and turning them to ice.

Most Canadians know how to deal with ice so we should have the upper hand. But first let’s look back at what Donald Trump has done to change the temperature. Past actions foretell the future, so they say, and in Trump’s case it’s a good bet that his actions will only get worse.

At some point even the Elbow People will have to acknowledge that rule by the Liberal Party clique, including Carney’s tenure has been a disaster for Canada.

In Canada the LPC is the Great Satan and Trump but a junior one.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canada - USA Tariff Wars"