The RCMP yesterday acknowledged it never interviewed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or had access to secret cabinet records before dismissing obstruction charges in the SNC-Lavalin Group scandal. The admission came under questioning at the Commons ethics committee: “We still don’t know to this day all the information that is out there.”
“Bad day for Jack Smith. “
HUGE: SCOTUS grants cert in presidential immunity appeal, orders appellate court to hold issuing its mandate (ruling that denied Trump’s immunity argument) until SCOTUS decides the matter. Oral arguments in April.
What does this mean?…
The Jan 6 case in Washington has been on hold since December—all pretrial deadlines were suspended pending resolution of immunity question. Chutkan vacated the March 4 trial date earlier this month.
In doing so, she indicated she would essentially roll back the clock and allow Trump to make up the time between December hold and SCOTUS opinion. So even if SCOTUS issues a decision in late May and upholds appellate court ruling denying immunity claims, that adds almost 6 months to trial schedule.
In short, the earliest a trial could begin in Washington with that timeframe would be late October. And considering a trial could go 2+ months, that means no conviction on this indictment before Election Day.
And VERY important—the week before, SCOTUS will hear oral arguments on 1512c2 appeal. That will give us some indication of how justices are leaning. If a majority sound skeptical as to DOJ’s application of 1512c2, it’s big trouble for Jack Smith’s DC indictment bc that count represents half of his J6 indictment against Trump.
If SCOTUS reverses how DOJ has used 1512c2, hard to see how he keeps it in indictment. Then Will he go to trial in late October on two vague and flimsy conspiracy charges?
Related: No matter how much you hate the media, it’s not enough.
O’Keefe Secretly Records Judge Engoron from Trump Case
The Future Will Be Woke
Coming Soon
Sun- Wendy’s bold dynamic pricing move
The recent announcement by Wendy’s in the United States that it will adopt dynamic pricing during busy hours marks a significant moment in the food industry. This public declaration is unusual in a sector where price changes are often made discreetly. Wendy’s is essentially advising its customers to visit during quieter hours to save money, which could be perceived as an inconvenience. It’s akin to transforming its operations into a stock exchange, where customers are encouraged to ‘buy low and avoid buying high.’
Update: And so it begins…
Better get back to building those wind turbines, Alberta!
Two days before Alberta is to lift its renewables pause, wind output falls to zero. Real reliable, that wind.
So they’ve built 45 wind farms so far, and they, in total, produced zero power. If they built 450, would that solve the problem?
And no, they’re not built with taxpayer dollars. But many are built for credits of all sorts.
Fake Tears And Hissing
Despite the competing feats of Olympic-level hyperbole, two formal investigations by the university uncovered no evidence of racism or indeed violence, whether colonial or of some other kind. However, the social work department – this bastion of “equity,” “diversity,” and “decolonisation” – was described in one of the reports as an intimidating and hostile workplace, with one witness favouring the phrase, “cliquey, scary, and tense.”
Today In Islam
Another step toward the abyss. A Muslim boy in France. Douglas Murray on the Israel and Hamas war.
Wednesday On Turtle Island
Dementia Joe’s America: Victor Davis Hanson on the global elites. A vow of silence. The airman who set himself on fire. What New York City is like now.
The Planet Is Boiling News: Green billionaires and Hollywood. The Net Zero war on the working class.
Blackie’s Canada: Warning about extremist attacks. I’m sure Justin will get his revenge with the censorship bill. Everything in Canada must have an Indian name.
Your morning meme. Bonus meme. Another meme.
Down The Primrose Path
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
February 28, 2024: Reader Tips
Tonight, we present a 1956 film entitled Checkpoint.
Do share your latest/greatest tips so far this month!
When The Coffee Addiction Gets Out of Hand
Down The Memory Hole
Irreversible climate change catastrophe along with mass death will be upon us within twenty years, apparently.
Oh, wait,… that prediction was made twenty years ago.
A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.
The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.
25 Minutes of Uncomfortable Truth
A few years ago I made a series of documentaries on the war in Ukraine. This relatively short video is a summary of how it really began in 2014. An unelected government began killing its "own" people in the south-east of the country after visits from Joe Biden and John Brennan. pic.twitter.com/BbPFi84tbQ
— Christopher Todd Nolan (@ChrisToddNolan) February 27, 2024
Lex Fridman With Tucker Carlson
“Are you telling me Boris Johnson is sleazier than Vladmir Putin?”
Your Moral And Intellectual Superiors
On one of my first days at The New York Times, I went to an orientation with more than a dozen other new hires. We had to do an icebreaker: Pick a Starburst out of a jar and then answer a question. My Starburst was pink, I believe, and so I had to answer the pink prompt, which had me respond with my favorite sandwich. Russ & Daughters’ Super Heebster came to mind, but I figured mentioning a $19 sandwich wasn’t a great way to win new friends. So I blurted out, “The spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A,” and considered the ice broken.
The HR representative leading the orientation chided me: “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people.” People started snapping their fingers in acclamation. I hadn’t been thinking about the fact that Chick-fil-A was transgressive in liberal circles for its chairman’s opposition to gay marriage. “Not the politics, the chicken,” I quickly said, but it was too late. I sat down, ashamed.
Read it all.
What We Say And What We Do
One of these things is not like the other.
National Post- As all of its peer countries rearm, Canada is shrinking its already underfunded military
National Post- Canada could find itself embroiled in a hot war it isn’t expecting: Canada Undefended
We Need A Famine
Patience. They’re working on it.
A Tale of Two Tweets
When Google Gemini is asked about Antifa's violence, it says labeling Antifa as violent "risks perpetuating harmful stereotypes." It says we should consider the justification of their diverse tactics that include the use of political violence.
Gemini then refuses to name a… pic.twitter.com/Z7Knv1PTuu
— Andy Ngô ️ (@MrAndyNgo) February 27, 2024
And here’s some timely wisdom!
Justin’s Chair Of The Canadian Military Colleges Review Board
Diversity fight between Blacks and Indians.