Sun- Cap on plastic production remains contentious as Ottawa set to host treaty talks
Negotiators from 176 countries will gather in downtown Ottawa this week for the fourth round of talks to create a global treaty to eliminate plastic waste in less than 20 years.
Globe and Mail- Federal officials asked Facebook to take down false allegations about Trudeau
The country’s top civil servant directed bureaucrats to ask Facebook to remove a “false and inflammatory” story about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2019 election campaign, but did not make a similar request of WeChat, which spread false information about Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and MP Kenny Chiu in the 2021 election, the public inquiry into foreign interference heard Friday.
Trust The Evidence- The NHS has lost its way, and patients are paying the price.
In 2023, Cancer waiting times were the worst on record in England. While NHS waiting lists in England rose to a record NHS 7.75m in 2023, the Times reports more than 11 million patients are in need of follow-up hospital care, as they are on “hidden” NHS waiting lists.
The Telegraph now reports that the NHS waiting list could be two million longer than thought, based on ONS survey data that estimates 9.7 million are waiting for an appointment. The number waiting more than a year could be nearly 1.35 million.
Canadian taxpayers.
National Post- On April 1, Canadian MPs will earn world’s second-highest salary for elected officials
MPs will get an $8,500 raise on April 1, increasing the base salary to $203,100, ranking only behind the U.S. in political salaries
h/t LC Bennett for the link from the comments below
Mail & Guardian- No perks for Swedish MPs
Without official cars or private drivers, Swedish ministers and MPs travel in crowded buses and trains, just like the citizens they represent. Without any right to parliamentary immunity, they can be tried in a court of law like any other person. With no private secretaries at the door, their bare-bones parliamentary offices are as small as 8m2.
The technical name for this article’s swift and devastating takedown strategy inside the FBI is “Image Cheapening” which we have known since the 1970s via Davidon et al.
We don’t yet know why it was written. We don’t yet know who commissioned it.
We do know that no independent minded health professional who could contradict the public health institutions and czars has been allowed to ascend to @hubermanlab’s level of popularity, power and influence without “Image Cheapening” coverage.
In fact, since Lindbergh used his popularity to sway public opinion on entry into WWII, no independent minded individual has been amassed state-level influence without such FUD (Fear-Uncertainty-Doubt) campaigns. The theory we have advanced behind this is that the State learned the lesson from Lindbergh’s interference with FDR that all charismatic independent minded individuals (like a John Lennon) cannot be allowed state levels of influence and must be preemptively cheapened and harassed. Here it is applied to medical professionals who could interfere with future Anthony Fauci health czars. […]
I have been warning people about this since the 1980s and did so more actively on Twitter 2011-2017. I think I will keep posting this old thread more often to remind our friends in the USG that this has been anticipated.
This was always coming. And it will always take the apparent form of independent voices in places like Nature, The Lancet, The LA Times, Harvard, the NAS.
Everyone you could turn to when you need to question the state will have been preemptively splattered with feces.
Learn the pattern of Seberging. The ‘tells’ are relentless mockery, private life invasion and FUD against independent minded people of influence through ostensibly non state actors.
I know this was long. Thanks for your time.
Is This Former ATF Agent Running the J6 Pipe Bomb Coverup?
It was [Ashan Benedict] who, with a straight face, attempted to explain away the behavior of the Capitol Police and Secret Service officers at the DNC pipe bomb site as being driven by a desire to not cause panic. There is simply no way that this is true or that Benedict believes it to be true. Prior to serving as Assistant Chief of Capitol Police, Benedict was the Executive Officer of the Metro PD in Washington, D.C., and before that, he served in the ATF as an agent for over 20 years, rising to the rank of Special Agent in Charge of the ATF for Washington, D.C. There is simply no way that someone of that background and pedigree could believe for a second that it is normal or acceptable for Secret Service agents or Capitol Police, upon being informed of a pipe bomb in close proximity, to stand around lackadaisically for minutes and allow schoolchildren to walk in front of the explosives. There is no way that someone with Benedict’s experience could think that such behavior could be explained by the authorities not wanting to cause panic.
The only reasonable conclusion from the DNC surveillance footage is that the authorities knew in advance or right away that the pipe bomb posed no threat—the only question is how they would know that. And the only reasonable conclusion from Benedict’s absurd explanation is that Benedict knows that they knew in advance that the pipe bomb posed no threat and is covering up this fact and the reasons behind it.
Incidentally, the FOIA’d ATF documents Judicial Watch obtained have at least one individual asking repeatedly whether the DNC and RNC pipe bombs were viable devices or not. […]
Benedict would then go on to sit back and nod approvingly as his subordinate (who was on the scene at DNC and partners with the man who discovered the bomb) offers an equally absurd non-answer as to how, after magically discovering the DNC bomb within 15 minutes of the first bomb’s discovery, he and his partner somehow didn’t think to look for a third bomb. The Capitol Police officer in question simply did not have an answer for this other than that he just somehow knew. For Benedict to nod in approval at such an answer is downright bizarre.
It’s long, grab a coffee.
Related Swampery News: Donald Trump’s $454 million bond has been reduced to $175 million thanks to a New York appeals court ruling. The ruling is a massive win for Trump, saving him from potential financial disaster. The new bond will stop Attorney General Letitia James from collecting the judgement during Trump’s appeal (NYT).
Elon Musk reveals Twitter had FBI ‘portal that auto-deleted all comms’ after 2 weeks.
Musk also revealed that “there’s a little-known agency in the state department called the Global Engagement Center, which most people have never heard of, but they might have been the single worst offender because they demanded the suspension of over 250,000 accounts which I think all Twitter largely complied with.”
“The suspension demands were so broad that they accidentally demanded a suspension of a journalist on CNN and an elected Canadian politician.
Just lower taxes across the board.
Fraser Institute- The Cost of Business Subsidies in Canada: Updated Edition
Business subsidies delivered through government spending since 1961 came with significant costs to Canadian taxpayers.
In 2019, provincial business subsidies reached $27.0 billion ($2022). This represents the single largest year of provincial subsidies in Canadian history prior to COVID.
Federal business subsidies increased significantly as a result of COVID-related programs, reaching $88.5 billion in 2020 and $47.0 billion in 2021.
Although federal business subsidies declined in 2022, the new total ($11.2 billion) is nearly double the amount the federal government spent in the final pre-COVID year ($6.5 billion in 2019).
And the Independent is none too happy about it;
Robert Hur, the former Trump-appointed US Attorney who declined to prosecute President Joe Biden after classified materials were found in his Delaware home and a former office in Washington, DC, will appear before the House Judiciary Committee as a private citizen who has surrounded himself with Republican partisans and notorious figures linked to former president Donald Trump as he prepares for his Tuesday appearance before the House Judiciary Committee.
According to multiple sources familiar with Mr Hur’s plans, the special counsel, who is appearing before the Judiciary Committee at the request of the Republican majority led by Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, has arranged his departure from the Department of Justice to be official as of Monday 11 March, one day before he is scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill.
Instead of appearing as a DOJ employee who is bound by the ethical guidelines which govern the behaviour of federal prosecutors, he will appear as a private citizen with no constraints on his testimony.
A Judiciary Committee source said Mr Hur’s departure from government service the day before he testifies is a major red flag for Democrats on the panel.
He’s scheduled to testify at 10 am on CSPAN
It ain’t over til it’s over: Governor DeSantis Signs Legislation to Authorize the Release of Jeffrey Epstein Grand Jury Documents
A follow-up to the Taibbi piece of yesterday. Read it first if you missed it.
BURN NOTICE: The most interesting fact was the CIA’s obvious decision to burn its vast, unimaginably-expensive, militarized, networked, anti-Russia intelligence operation in Ukraine.
Do you think Trump was briefed on the CIA’s massive network of bases and its captive army in Ukraine? Could that have been what Trump was trying to figure out when he called Ukraine’s president, a call the deep-state immediately leaked and impeached him over? Was the great quid-pro-quo-ing of Trump really intended to send a message: keep your hands off Ukraine, or else?
Is that what Chucky Schumer meant when he gleefully warned Rachel Maddow the CIA has six ways from Sunday to get back at you?
Greenwald: You’ll notice that no NYT reporters are being arrested or put on trial for this supposedly sensitive disclosure.
(h/t LindaL)
This is why I subscribe to Matt Taibbi: CIA, Ukraine Exchange Pre-Divorce Propaganda
Over the weekend the New York Times published an epic exposé. “The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin,” by Adam Entous and Mitchell Schwirtz, described a decade of CIA-Ukrainian cooperation, featuring details that would never reach public ears under normal circumstances. The opening is worth quoting at length:
“Nestled in a dense forest, the Ukrainian military base appears abandoned and destroyed… But that is above ground. Not far away, a discreet passageway descends to a subterranean bunker where teams of Ukrainian soldiers track Russian spy satellites and eavesdrop on conversations between Russian commanders…
“The listening post in the Ukrainian forest is part of a C.I.A.-supported network of spy bases constructed in the past eight years that includes 12 secret locations along the Russian border.”
Yowza! Officials have long scolded the public that even minor disclosures of “sources and methods” could “risk lives” and must be prevented at all costs. Yet here comes the Times, helping “current and former officials in Ukraine, the United States and Europe” blab a long list of extraordinary details, down to the number of CIA-supported secret bases along the Russian border. An abridged list of revelations:
• CIA director William Burns made a “secret” visit to Ukraine last Thursday, his tenth since Russia’s invasion;
• On the night of February 14, 2014, in the middle of the Maidan coup, Ukrainian spy chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko called the heads of the CIA and Britain’s MI6 and asked for help in rebuilding his agency “from the ground up”;
• Ukrainian intelligence officials, seeking to prove their value to American counterparts, handed the CIA proof that Russian separatists downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 “within hours of the crash” in July of 2014;
• Then-head of Ukrainian military intelligence Valeriy Kondratiuk handed the CIA “detailed information about the latest Russian nuclear submarine designs” in 2015;
• “Around” 2016, the CIA “began training an elite Ukrainian commando force” called “Unit 2245” which “captured Russian drones and communications gear so that CIA technicians could reverse-engineer them and crack Moscow’s encryption systems”;
• The CIA’s chief of station in Kyiv was nicknamed “Santa Claus”;
• A Ukrainian agent “duped an officer from Russia’s military intelligence service” into providing intelligence that “allowed the C.I.A. to connect Russia’s government to the so-called Fancy Bear hacking group, which had been linked to election interference.”
Former CIA head John Brennan sitting for a month of interviews with Kitty Kelley wouldn’t produce this many juicy reveals. They even recounted the CIA hauling Kondratiuk to a Washington Capitals game to boo Alex Ovechkin, for God’s sake. Are these spy agencies or people pitching a Netflix series?
Sign up for the free trial period if you must to read it.
Blog note: If you cannot refrain from insults and trolling the same people for the thousandth time, refrain from commenting or find another blog. – ED
It’s a deep dive, consider yourself warned: …so let’s look at the story um it’s titled CIA had foreign allies spy on Trump Team triggering Russia collusion Collision hoax sources
The meat of the content begins about 5 minutes in.
There is trouble brewing at Black Rock, the headquarters of CBS, after the firing of Catherine Herridge, an acclaimed investigative reporter. Many of us were shocked after Herridge was included in layoffs this month, but those concerns have increased after CBS officials took the unusual step of seizing her files, computers and records, including information on privileged sources.
The position of CBS has alarmed many, including the union, as an attack on free press principles by one of the nation’s most esteemed press organizations.
I have spoken confidentially with current and former CBS employees who have stated that they could not recall the company ever taking such a step before. One former CBS journalist said that many employees “are confused why [Herridge] was laid off, as one of the correspondents who broke news regularly and did a lot of original reporting.”
That has led to concerns about the source of the pressure. He added that he had never seen a seizure of records from a departing journalist, and that the move had sent a “chilling signal” in the ranks of CBS. […]
The timing of Herridge’s termination immediately raised suspicions in Washington. She was pursuing stories that were unwelcomed by the Biden White House and many Democratic powerhouses, including the Hur report on Joe Biden’s diminished mental capacity, the Biden corruption scandal and the Hunter Biden laptop. She continued to pursue these stories despite reports of pushback from CBS executives, including CBS News President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews.
And now, for the rest of the story: CBS was unquestionably the CIA’s most valuable broadcasting asset.
…and you’ll find the people behind the pipe bomb;
The Republican National Committee’s director of security said that the explanation of the purported January 6 pipe bomb plot, and the response by authorities, “make no sense whatsoever.”
Kenneth Capolino, a former Capitol Police officer who went on to work as the RNC’s director of security, was the man who personally alerted Capitol Police to the bomb near the RNC and managed the emergency response.
Capolino told The Daily Wire, in his first public remarks on the incident, that it looked like a stereotypical IED, or improvised explosive device, that is used by law enforcement in training sessions. “Any of the IED awareness training I’ve been to with law enforcement, that’s like the quintessential training device,” he told The Daily Wire. “That’s exactly what it looks like.”
His firsthand account adds to questions about the purported pipe bombs, which went undetected for a long period of time outside both the RNC and its Democrat counterpart, the Democratic National Committee. The bomb plot is by far the most dramatic part of January 6, but the FBI has made no progress in determining who planted them — and Democrats investigating the plot appear to have gone out of their way to avoid mentioning their existence since.
National Post- Canadian taxes aren’t just high, they’re needlessly complicated to file
Ottawa forces you to send them information they already have, and punish you if you get it wrong.
Trust the “experts”.
…even the Canada Revenue Agency isn’t entirely sure how it all works. An infamous 2017 Auditor General report found that CRA call centres “gave wrong information to callers almost 30 per cent of the time.”
Exclusive J6 surveillance video shows a bomb sniffing canine search an SUV outside DNC HQ at 9:50am on Jan 6. Proceeded to walk right past location of “pipe bombs” a few feet away. No bomb detected.
We are supposed to believe that a trained canine missed what the FBI described as a lethal and legit bomb just a few feet away.
Add this to the long list on unanswered questions raised by @DarrenJBeattie about this unsolved J6 “mystery”
Either Biden Is An ‘Elderly Man With A Poor Memory,’ Or He Needs To Be Charged. Pick One.