1

Donald Trump’s antics over the past week have put paid to the refrain, often heard in Europe, that the president should be taken “seriously but not literally”. It turns out that Trump literally wants Greenland. He doubled down on his aggressive rhetoric in a raging 45-minute call with the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, a few days ago, threatening crippling tariffs unless she agreed to sell the autonomous territory to the US. In response to Denmark’s sharp increase in military spending for the Arctic, including ships and drones, he derided Copenhagen’s “dog-sled” defences for Greenland, the world’s largest non-continental island, which pale in comparison with the strength of the US military base there.

The threat to take over the territory of a European country by force is something that Europeans now know all too well. Russia has repeatedly threatened east European countries, making good on those threats by invading Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine since 2014. Yet many Europeans are gobsmacked that such a threat is now coming from its greatest ally.

That said, the reaction has been muted. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council president, António Costa, have said nothing, while the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, while speaking out initially, have joined in the collective silence. What’s going on?

1

A jury watched video Wednesday of a police investigator telling the man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery that he wasn’t being arrested soon after he, along with his father and a neighbor, chased and killed the Black man after spotting him running in their neighborhood.

“You’re going home today,” Glynn County police investigator Roderic Nohilly told Travis McMichael roughly two hours after the shooting on Feb. 23, 2020.

Nohilly testified Wednesday as the first prosecution witness in the criminal misconduct trial of former District Attorney Jackie Johnson, coastal Glynn County’s top prosecutor when Arbery was killed nearly five years ago.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

I remember when toonies were first issued and got the nickname. America thought it was hilarious and typically Canuck. 🤣🤣

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

He's smart as hell, and knows and respects the boundaries between politics and the BoC.

Don't forget he ran the Bank of England under Boris Johnson, and although he didn't personally agree with Brexit he managed to drag the UK through it relatively unscathed (he left in 2020).

1

No, this isn’t Silicon Valley in the age of Maga. It’s the tech industry of the 1990s, when observers first raised concerns about the rightwing bend of Silicon Valley and the potential for “technofascism”. Despite the industry’s (often undeserved) reputation for liberalism, its reactionary foundations were baked in almost from the beginning. As Silicon Valley enters a second Trump administration, the gendered roots of its original reactionary movement offer insight into today’s rightward turn.

At the height of the dotcom mania in the 1990s, many critics warned of a creeping reactionary fervor. “Forget digital utopia,” wrote the longtime technology journalist Michael Malone, “we could be headed for techno-fascism.” Elsewhere, the writer Paulina Borsook called the valley’s worship of male power “a little reminiscent of the early celebrants of Eurofascism from the 1930s”.

41

“For us Canadians, it’s a double whammy,” Cedrone said, pointing to a loonie that trades for roughly 69 American cents, on top of rising maintenance costs.

“In Canadian dollars, last week I paid $18 for 18 eggs,” Cedrone said.

“We love this place. But it came to a point now — we are in our 70s — and it’s cheaper for me to come here two months and rent.”

Canadians made up nearly one-quarter of foreign sellers in Florida between April 2023 and March 2024 versus 11 per cent in the same period a year earlier, according to a National Realtors Association report.

22

The 4,265-kilometre trail stretches from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington state. The vast majority of the trail is in the U.S., but a small 13-kilometre extension stretches into Canada within E.C. Manning Park, southeast of Hope in southern B.C.

Previously, hikers were able to apply in advance for a permit that would allow them to hike across the border on the trail, but the CBSA said Monday that the rules have changed.

"Hikers from the U.S. without a permit who wish to complete the Canadian portion of the trail will from now on be required to first enter Canada via a designated port of entry," the CBSA said in a release, noting that the change brings it into alignment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which does not allow travellers to enter the U.S. from Canada on the trail.

10

Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House that she spoke with the president on Monday night and he indicated that Feb. 1 was "still on the books" for the introduction of damaging duties against Canada and Mexico.

Ottawa has prepared multiple options for retaliatory tariffs, depending on what Trump ultimately does. Trump initially promised 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs in response to what he called the failure of both countries to curb the illegal flow of people and drugs across the border.

Canadian officials have been cycling through Washington in recent weeks to promote Canada's $1.3-billion border security plan and make the case that tariffs would hurt both economies.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago

He has always been my pick, even before he entered the leadership race.

1

Weinstein, 72, wants the extra charge thrown out, arguing through lawyers that Manhattan prosecutors only brought it to bolster their case with a third accuser after New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women.

Judge Curtis Farber is expected to rule on that and other matters, including the trial date — a task that’s been complicated by an increasingly crowded court calendar.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, is representing conservative strategist Steve Bannon in a border wall fraud trial that’s set to start March 4 before a different Manhattan judge. Meanwhile, Farber has a murder trial in March.

1

Elizabeth Rose Struhs died on Jan. 7, 2022 at her family’s home in Toowoomba in Queensland state after six days without her prescribed insulin shots for type-1 diabetes.

Her father, Jason Richard Struhs, 53, and the leader of the family’s religious group called “The Saints,” Brendan Luke Stevens, 63, had been charged with the more serious crime of murder, but Queensland Supreme Court Justice Martin Burns found both guilty of her manslaughter.

Burns also found another 12 members of the congregation, including the victim’s mother, Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49, and the victim’s bother Zachary Alan Struhs, 22, guilty of manslaughter. No one charged escaped conviction.

1

Prosecutors have asked a judge to give the Democrat 15 years behind bars for crimes that include acting as an agent of the Egyptian government.

Menendez’s lawyers say he deserves less than two years in prison, citing his decades of public service and a life largely well-lived after the son of Cuban immigrants rose from poverty to become “the epitome of the American Dream.”

Two New Jersey businessmen convicted of paying bribes to the senator, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, also face sentencing Wednesday. Judge Sidney H. Stein will sentence them first before dealing with Menendez in the afternoon. A third businessman pleaded guilty and testified against Menendez at a trial last year.

1

The order capped the most chaotic day for the U.S. government since Trump returned to office, with uncertainty over a crucial financial lifeline causing panic and confusion among states, schools and organizations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington.

U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan blocked the funding freeze only minutes before it was scheduled to take effect. The administrative stay, prompted by a lawsuit brought by nonprofit groups that receive federal money, lasts until Monday afternoon. Another court hearing is scheduled that morning to consider the issue.

The White House did not immediately comment on the order, which leaves unresolved a potential constitutional clash over control of taxpayer money. Democrats who have struggled to gain a foothold during Trump’s second term unleashed on the Republican president, describing his actions as capricious and illegal.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 day ago

So if he is now forced to stay silent then that allows the Liberals to lie to the people, lie to the public, and Poilievre can't explain why what they are saying is false.

Nobody is forcing PP to stay silent. He doesn't want to get security clearance because then he wouldn't be able to lie about shit he's been privy to.

If you can't speak to facts, sit down.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago

Politicians didn't have anything to do with this public inquiry.

Marie-Josée Hogue, who ran the inquiry, is a judge.

19

A Nova Scotia woman who was in an abusive relationship says the deaths of six women in the province in the last three months have left her with feelings of grief, anger and hopelessness.

The woman came forward to CBC News to share her own story of intimate partner violence — and her experience with the justice system that she felt let her down.

23

In her final report, released Tuesday, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue wrote that although she has seen a few cases where a foreign state has attempted to curry favour with parliamentarians, "the phenomenon remains marginal and largely ineffective."

"While the states' attempts are troubling and there is some concerning conduct by parliamentarians, there is no cause for widespread alarm," she wrote.

She added that there is no evidence to suggest that parliamentarians owe their successful elections to foreign entities and she is "not aware of any federal legislation, regulations or policies that have been enacted or repealed on account of foreign interference."

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 days ago

What a scuzzy cunt he is.

I always wonder when exactly ON is ever going to get sick and tired of that asshole.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 24 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

***This comment was based on the previous headline -- Trudeau plans on stacking Senate before retiring: source

What a stupid headline. Insinuating that Trudeau is the only PM doing this is beyond the pale ... because every former PM has done the same.

This is setting aside the fact that the Senate, being appointed rather than elected, has almost always set aside partisan politics in order to act as a check on the current parliament.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The stupidity shown by governmental oversight in this battle is beyond compare. Instead of restricting cheap over-the-counter disposable vapes, they approved them -- then restricted more expensive rebuildable tank and drip atomizers that required mod units to operate.

I truly have to wonder how many of those with oversight on the original vape issue had stock options in vaping companies that sell disposable units ... because it seems they ignored common sense for utter ignorance and possible selfishness.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 38 points 4 days ago

Yeah, you did undermine Canada.

Maybe it's time to head south of the 49th and kneel at the orange feet.

[-] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 67 points 5 days ago

Whoever is whispering dumb shit in Trump's ear needs to go away.

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HellsBelle

joined 3 months ago