Hi All!
Last night my cat woke me every hour on the hour. Xavier is a temptations addict and I made the mistake of opening a new package near midnight. He is relentless and there are no rehabs for afflicted cats. I’m not kidding. Forget Jerry’s kids!
Help a poor cat out! – Donations can be made via the PayPal Kitty on the sidebar or by interac transfer to blazingcatfur@gmail.com.
Note: This post is a sticky new posts will appear below.
In February, 2025, I met with a delegation of Canadian ministers visiting Washington, D.C. Their aim was to convince the Trump Administration, at the outset of its second term, of the virtues of collaboration and coöperation, even though President Trump had already signalled his intent to target a large number of Canadian exports for new tariffs. François-Philippe Champagne, then Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, stressed to me how difficult it would be to untangle the American and Canadian economies—enmeshed, as they are, in supply chains that run back and forth across the border and which were built on deeply held assumptions of mutual benefit. “If you want to achieve that vision of the ‘golden age’ of America,” Champagne said, quoting a tagline that Trump often deployed at the time, but which he rarely uses today, “If you want to make life more affordable for Americans, if you want to be more innovative, more competitive, Canada is not a problem. Canada is part of the solution.”
We are not a Euro-state and so forbidden from membership.
Even if considered a separation referendum for all of Canadian provinces should be mandatory.
The Trump administration said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Milo Yiannopoulos, the prominent right-wing agitator and early supporter of President Trump, at the New Orleans airport on Friday.
Public ICE detention records confirmed that Mr. Yiannopoulos was in custody, but did not say where he was being held. The Homeland Security Department said that Mr. Yiannopoulos had overstayed his visa and was issued a final deportation order in July. That order means Mr. Yiannopoulos faces possible removal from the country.
He was entertaining until revealed as unsustainably perverse.
h/t Patti Jo
So close, and yet so far. Only last week, Canada and the US were finally on the cusp of reaching a long awaited trade deal. Already Trump had announced the joyous news on Truth Social, already Canadian prime minister Mark Carney had celebrated securing the “best terms” for Canada and called for provinces to lift the ban on US alcohol.
Then, somehow, defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory. Late last Friday, Carney told Canadian negotiators to walk away, saying Washington was offering “a bad deal.” Trump promptly reimposed the 50 percent tariffs on goods imported from Canada that had been put on hold pending the signing of the deal. On Tuesday, August 25, Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation, in what some are calling “the dumbest trade war in history.”
Carney has cynically stoked fear of America
The attack targeting a military patrol in the Benzú area of Ceuta last night was a pre-planned ambush rather than a spontaneous clash, according to preliminary findings from the National Police. Now, military sources are speaking of soldiers who are unable to use physical force, have no weapons, and are vulnerable to such attacks in the future.
The Spanish patriots in Ceuta are not joking anymore. See with your own eyes. https://t.co/sn1HvD2edI pic.twitter.com/O1IOHeJd9S
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) August 28, 2026
I have been in the home building industry for more than thirty years, and I have lost count of how many times I have been told the walls between our provinces are coming down. Last time, I almost let myself believe it. In the spring of 2025, Mark Carney put a date on it, and a date is something I can work with. Free trade by Canada Day. That was July 1, 2025.
(Incognito)
ill Gates, the guy who tried to destroy the world over the Wuhan sniffles, says it’s time to panic about AI. Should we?
The billionaire Microsoft founder is very concerned about AI. He is concerned about our jobs, our families, our ability to think and reason about the issue, and of course, how AI impacts his precious climate change narrative. What he is not concerned about, apparently, is his own track record as a nanny state catastrophist.
Late Wednesday the federal government announced that it was removing seafood from Canada’s list of retaliatory tariffs. The finance ministry justified the move stating, “Based on feedback, we have made select adjustments to protect against broader economic harms, including removing seafood and fish products from our list of counter tariffs.”
The invocation of economic harm here is a tell, because it should be obvious to everyone, our politicians included, that tariffs on foreign products are a tax paid for by domestic consumers.
Grabbing your daughther, while holding your beer and catching the ball.
All in once. Just peak. https://t.co/abhBlQyVcM
— Dario Castellanos (@Dariocas04) August 28, 2026
Back in college, faced with peers who admitted they were communists, I simply laughed and then went about my day. It was among my bigger mistakes.
Those clowns went on to take over our K-12 schools and universities, our medical and law schools, the Smithsonian, the media, and other important institutions.
LOL! 😆🛳️🧊@fancypants_s https://t.co/m1dhIiJgQg
— Auntie Polly (@auntie_polly) August 28, 2026
h/t MP and Auntie Polly
How and why CBC News will adjust its 9/11 language guidance
CBC News finds itself once again in a swirl of confusion about how our journalists use the words “terrorist” and “terrorism,” this time about the al-Qaeda attacks on New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.
The confusion stems from the leak of an excerpt from our internal language guide that was published and amplified by a number of outlets without full context or explanation. It has caused significant concern, anger and hurt for many people who believe CBC News seeks to minimize or obscure the horror of that day and who was behind it.
Insulting garbage, a non apology, just verbal diarrhea.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently posted on X, “[S]aying that AI will cure cancer is more a cliché than it is inspiring, and most people think it is deceptive.” He conceded that “we haven’t yet delivered on our big promises to benefit the world.” He’s right.
While the invention of useful AI tools has dramatically elevated scientists’ confidence that they’ll eventually find cures, the task is daunting. The number of plausible new biological molecules is greater than the quantity of water molecules in the world’s oceans. As large and powerful as current gigawatt-scale AI data centers are, the challenge of speeding up discovery is so monumental that it invokes the classic movie line, “You’re going to need a bigger boat.”
In two Canadian provinces, two different conversations are unfolding about the prospect of leaving the country for good, and it seems two different age cohorts are making the push.
In Quebec, some of those at the forefront are people who weren’t even born when la belle province last had its say in a separation referendum, in 1995.
Amid deepening tensions between Turkey and Israel over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempts to extend his influence over Syria, Israel’s decision to strike a Syrian air base on the outskirts of Idlib is designed to send a clear signal to the Turkish leader to rein in his ambitions.
Since the overthrow of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Syria has increasingly become the focus of the deepening hostility between Israel and Turkey.
Toronto police have released extended security video showing a suspect dousing five vehicles with what appears to be an accelerant before setting two on fire outside a Scarborough MP’s home Thursday morning.
The incident happened shortly before 1:30 a.m. near Bellamy Road North and Lawrence Avenue East, at the Scarborough residence of Liberal MP Salma Zahid.
#WATCH: Toronto Police Release Video In Search For Arson Suspect After Cars Were Set On Fire At Liberal MP Salma Zahid’s📍Scarborough Home. https://t.co/HWC3sZfEQN pic.twitter.com/x29hJ8iNMx
— 401_da_sarpanch (@401_da_sarpanch) August 28, 2026
