Soviet -Putin style and more

 Putin continues his tradition of sending Kim Jon Un, the NK dictator, various gifts. This week it's lions and bears, and earlier this year it was 24 pure-bred horses, as thanks for artillery shells provided by North Korea.

And Kim loves car, so Putin sent  him an Aurus limousine in February.

Dec 11, 2024

Russian FM Sergey Lavrov made his first visit to the EU since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Lavrov's  assets can be frozen, but he is free to travel across the bloc.

His appeared at a meeting of the OSCE in Malta yesterday.

Dec 14, 2024

 Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former Manchester City soccer player, is the new president of Georgia. Maybe he's too tight with Russia, but hearing Starmer's UK bunch call anybody undemocratic is funny.

Dec 28, 2024

The Azerbaijani plane that may have come under fire from Russian air defense systems as it tried to land in Chechnya was diverted across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where it crashed. 

The head of Russia's civil aviation agency said the situation in Chechnya was "very complicated" because of Ukrainian drone strikes on the region.

Azerbaijan has not accused Russia. 38 people died. Spin cycle in high gear.

Jan 15, 2025

Hanoi-Vietnam and Moscow, who  have had a  diplomatic relationship since 1950, signed an agreement to boost co-operation on nuclear energy.

 Hanoi's goal is to become energy-sufficient.

Gorby style  earlier blog

Two Irelands - more coming

John Connolly, who was jailed for 14 years by a Belfast(NI) court in 2000 after being caught with a Real IRA mortar bomb on his way to blow up a police station on Armistice Day, was welcomed as guest by the Russian embassy in Dublin(R of I).

Oct 5, 2024

 Sinn Féin did not revoke former press officer Michael McMonagle's security pass at Stormont,  nor warn British Heart Foundation in a job reference request that MM was facing child sex charges. Then blamed that omission on possibly harming a pending police investigation, which the cops call bullsh^t.

How was  McDonald unaware of  McMonagle's crimes, then spend more time apologizing to BHF , who hired him, then to the citizens of NI.

Nov 9, 2024

Causeway Safari Park in NI on the north coast was a must-see for families during the Troubles.  And had( Pete the chimp , a chain smoker 

Nov 11, 2024

Paper remains  important: Attics is Belfast, NI are a source for history written in Gaelic.

The first urban Gaeltacht was set up on Shaw's Road in west Belfast in 1969.

Nov 14 2024

Reeves still coming for UK farmers ' money.  Assets above £1m, will be taxed at 20% starting April 2026 - half the general rate of inheritance tax.

Nov 22, 2024

RofI: Independents are gaining in popularity, up to 20% in an Irish Times poll, and many of them are running on anti-immigration tickets.

Dec 3, 2024

RofI: Labor lost 11 of 12 seats in the Dail. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael combine for 86. Will they turn to right- leaning Independent  Ireland(4 seats ) to reach 88  and become the majority?

Dec 16, 2024

Israel will close its embassy in the Republic of Ireland. Decision makers in Dublin  have been pro-Palestine on nearly everything.

Previous blog Two Irelands-more coming

Protest news-free Saturday part 3

 Lured(1947) is an entertaining flick filled with fun banter between Lucille Ball and George Sanders. The segment which features Boris Karloff as a fashion designer trying to re-live or re-create his glory days from the past is interesting.

The main theme about the danger in answering personal want ads remains with us.

Sept 30, 2024

Kim Novak , wearing that green dress  while playing a sales  clerk in Vertigo. Also, liked  the green car

October 6, 2024

I watched Blood on the Moon, a 1948 flick featuring Robert Mitchum and Robert Preston.  No good guys in this tale about cattle rustlers. 

Walter Brennan's character Kris Barden stole some scenes.  

Phyllis Thaxter's character Carol Lufton nabbed my attention in a few scenes.

October 21, 2024

I watched a  documentary,  The Village Detective: a song cycle, about the recovery  and restoration of  a Soviet film  "Derevensky Detektiv", a 1969 Russian film found off the coast off the coast of Iceland. The film was a copy that had fallen or been dumped from a Russian ship. Better versions exist. 

It then went into the acting career of Mikhail Zharov (1899-1981) which started in the days of  Tsar Nicholas II.     

October 27, 2024

I watched  the 1985 movie Colonel Redl, the head of the Austro- Hungarian secret police before Archduke Franz Ferdinand  was assassinated in 1914.  Redl was a double agent living high on Russian funds.

It's a movie  ,not a documentary ,and the implication in the movie is that the Archduke knew Redl was gay when he said he's so sensual. He was pressured into committing suicide. No one wanted a messy trial.

Nov 17, 2024

Speaking of Murder(1957): Annie Girardot caught my eye in this gangster flick. Straight forward crime story in which the bad guys were not sympathetic and did not survive.

Nov 24, 2024

Alain Delon(Commissaire Edouard Coleman ) was dating  Catherine Deneuve (Cathy) who was working  with a gang of thieves in the movie The Cop(1972).  Coleman solved the cases, and let  Cathy walk away. 

Plenty of action. Deion continues to impress me.  Deneuve was so damn beautiful in her youth.

Jan 2, 2025

I watched a A Spy Story  yesterday. The lead actress ,Petra Schmidt-Schaller did, did a great job. Her character  Saskia Starke, a double agent, worked  at a CIA office in West Germany , and frantically worked during  the start of the Wall  coming down, to erase a paper and microfilm trail inside the Stasi files that showed she was a mole for East Germany/Russia.

She wanted out of being a mole. A happy ending in the movie with the usual twists but watching the machinations she went through was interesting.

protest free news2

Beating the drums of escalating war.

 Secretaries for Democrats: McNamara(Defense) for JFK and LBJ. Blinken (State)for Biden. Vietnam/Ukraine- I'm getting that Deja Vu feeling.

And many folks thought  LBJ was safer than Goldwater in 1964!

Sept 26, 2024

What does Zelensky do with the $$$? Ukraine's state railways plan  to increase freight tariffs  by 67%, which will hit struggling farmers and lead to a fall in production and export volumes.

For example, the cost of grain transportation will increase by 50-60 hryvnia per ton and will lead to an increase in farmers' expenses during the war by about two billion.

Oct 15, 2024

Odessa, or "Little Chicago", has a long history of being run by gangsters going back to Yaponchyk((Wee Jap).

Nov 5, 2024

In 1997, in the early days of Clinton's second term Ukraine was third, behind Israel and Egypt, in receiving aid from the USA. A little different than under Bush1. Do you recall his"chicken Kiev" speech warning Ukraine against changing a distant tyrant for a local one?

Remember the movie,The Dirty Dozen. Ukraine releases people from prisons if they enlist to fight against Russia.

Dec 1, 2024

Ukraine needs to deal with desertion,  battlefield  disobedience, etc before talking about NATO membership. Reality bites.

Previous blog. Jimmy Carter

More reboots of Incorrect chatter

 Lightning coach Cooper apologized for saying “might as well put skirts” on goalies, which is borrowed from Jack Lambert's comment on Quarterbacks.

This pompous response to the apology irked me: Brock McGillis, ex- hockey player who came out as gay, tweeted. “We all say or do the wrong thing. Be accountable, apologize and don’t do it again.” F off, Brock

I'm a Red Wings fan but props to the Chicago Blackhawks for keeping their name chosen by its founder Frederic McLaughlin, a WW1 commander in the 86th Infantry Division, known as the "Blackhawk Division."

May 15, 2024

Will the NFL punish Harris Butker for his commencement speech at Benedictine College? He is working against the cultural emasculation of men and criticized Pride Month and Joe Biden.

June 11 2024

Temporary sanity from Judge Sherman in CA. Restraining  order asserts that the CA academic workers walkout  stemmed from non-labor issues and violated the no-strike clause in the union's contract.

June 23, 2024

Rasmussen poll: 58% of American Adults approve of Butker expressing his religious beliefs, 38%  strongly approve

July 11, 2024

"Do not count on us to scam, loot and endanger Spaniards." VOX threatens to end coalitions with centrer right People's Party over an agreement to transfer  400 alleged, underage migrants from the Canary Islands to continental Spain.

Vox claims that many migrants designated as underage are of age.

Sept 7, 2024

Starmer visit Biden  again- make it stop.  Probably to promote jailing "bad" American tweeters

Sept 23, 2024

Duke Machado: “If we’re not careful, we’ll slide into Cuba and Venezuela. Their ultimate goal is to destroy capitalism."

When he was asked if it was responsible to share fears that the Democrats could turn the USA into a communist country.  And his focus toward Latino exiles who had fled repression.

 He said: “It’s not irresponsible at all. I see it as a duty.”

Oct 4, 2024

Starmeir wants to put the Brexit years behind us and have more mature relations with the EU. Perhaps he should try being mature at home.

Nov 30, 2024

I wonder if Starmer raids Chartwell, Winston Churchill's former home, for displaying a re-creation of one of WC's  birthday cakes as part of celebrations to commemorate his birthday(11/30/1874).

Dec 10, 2024

Another scary decision. Charles Onana did not question that genocide took place, or that Tutsis were targeted in Rwanda, but a French court finds him guilty of downplaying Rwandan genocide.

He and his publisher were fined for violating France's laws prohibiting genocide denial and incitement to hatred.

Jan 16 , 2025

 Charlie Hebdo , French satirical magazine, is marking 10 years since the attacks on its Paris office by running a cartoon contest asking for God-mocking submissions. I wonder if Atheism, which behaves in a similar fashion to an organized religion with a " humanist God",will be mocked.

 https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2023/08/reboot-figure-it-out.html

https://vaporvents.blogspot.com/2020/11/reboot-of-anti-redneck-redneck-sports.html

Japan/Taiwan/Asia in 2024

  Japan's semiconductor industry is getting a boost from Taiwanese chip companies' expansion here to support a new TSMC (2330.TW) plant.

 Shifting alliances and priorities in the global chip industry are on the increase with the United States pushing to limit China's progress in cutting-edge semiconductors and strengthen its other partnerships. 

Is Japan going to expand its military, too?

Feb 29, 2024

Sri Lanka may stop visa extensions for Russian an Ukranian tourists trying to escape the war. The Tourism ministry has been receiving complaints about some Russian tourists running illegal businesses in the southern part of the country.

March 2, 2024

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and coast guard have intensified patrols at the border to deter more refugees from the Myanmar civil war.

March 12, 2024

Hey Joe Biden: Since you gave the Taliban control in 2021, Afghan females have lost access to education & employment, and face arbitrary arrests over how they wear their hijabs.

March 18, 2024

Pakistan unleashed airstrikes on hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside Afghanistan. This occurred two days after a suicide bombing targeted a Pakistan army post near the Afghan border.

May 9, 2024

Pakistan's military claims a suicide bomb attack in March in Pakistan's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, that killed five Chinese engineers, was planned in Afghanistan by an Afghan national.

Taliban issues a denial

May 21, 2024

 Iran's Supreme National Security Council has allocated funds for the construction of a concrete wall and a border fence in Central Khorasan. Turkey built a wall along its border with Afghanistan.

Taliban takeover of Afghanistan when the USA left has been  the major trigger for the building of these walls.

May 31, 2024

Rasoulof, an Iranian filmmaker on temporary home arrest, fled to Germany. His cellmates told him about a secret route over the mountains to the border , which he took to freedom.

Rasoulof chose Germany for his exile because "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" was being edited in Hamburg He had lived in Germany once , so his information was on file with the German authorities, and they were able to ID him without his passport, which the Iranian police had seized.

June 13, 2024

Lee Jae-myung, South Korea's main opposition leader, was indicted on bribery charges in an alleged scheme to use Ssangbangwoo, an underwear maker, to transfer funds to North Korea to promote a commercial project.

June 28, 2024

Bye ,bye what remains of Hong Kong's autonomy. School kids in HK criticized for singing the Chinese national anthem too softly.

 Here's the goal: "unifying thoughts" and "gathering strength for building a strong country".

July 3, 2024

Break-dancing sessions for senior citizens is all the rage in Tokyo. 🙄

July 10, 2024

 Beijing courts can issue the death penalty to "Taiwan independence" supporters. This includes trials in- absentia.

China claims the  new guidelines target a small number of die-hard 'Taiwan independence' separatists."

July 15, 2024

 Alice Guo, mayor of Bambon in the Philippines, who has been accused of being a Chinese spy has gone into hiding,  She's ignored Senate subpoenas  about scam centers being used as cover for text scams, human trafficking etc, in her town.

Ri Khu, a senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba, defected with his wife and child to South Korea in November. No further details other than  he flew out of Cuba with his family. That's wild using Cuba  as the starting point of an escape from Communism. 

July 27, 2024

Ok China: MDNAA controls Lashio, Mynamar, about 74 miles from the Chinese border. Perhaps it's time to place a call to the Burma junta , who has lost control of 80% of the country.

Aug 1, 2024

Most of the migrants traveled from Turkey to breakaway north Cyprus and then attempted to cross into Cyprus before being barred by Cypriot authorities and left in a buffer zone. UNHCR expects Cyprus to take them. How about calling Ergodan and sending them back to Turkey.

Aug 5, 2024

Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country yesterday. I bet most of the UK hopes Starmer does the same thing.

Aug 19, 2024

Myanmar authorities released Hiroshi Kasamatsu, a Japanese Aeon manager who was sentenced  to one year in prison for violating rice price controls.

Aug 23, 2024

Hey Joe Biden: The Taliban set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” in 2021 and just banned women’s voices and bare faces in public.

Aug 26, 2024

Japan's scrambled jets against a Chinese Y9 reconnaissance aircraft that breached its airspace this morning over the Danjo Islands to the west of the southern island of Kyushu

Sept 10 2024

Consider yourself lucky: David Missal, a German citizen , graduate of Hong Kong U, and member of a pro-Tibet NGO, was refused entry to Hong Kong

Sept 20, 2024

Has anyone asked Kamala about the Taliban being in control of 39 Afghan embassies globally?

Nov 10, 2024

Communist China welcomed Hlaing, the Mynamar military junta chief, for talks, but it sure feels like the Junta is collapsing and this move will fuel the Burmese rebels.

Nov 19, 2024

XI  warns Biden: Taiwan, “democracy and human rights,” the Chinese communist system, and China’s development “rights” are the four red lines. Second item is hilarious coming from XI.

Dec 6, 2024

 The Taliban terror militia that financed its activities by drug trafficking has stepped up enforcement on its ban of growing opium poppy in Afghanistan. Rural revolt may be brewing.

Dec 17 2024

Burma junta has lost the western border,  which divides Myanmar from Bangladesh, to the Arakan Army. You can bet China is pushing  the Junta into peace talks.

Dec 29, 2024

Indian villages deter wild elephants with lemon trees, mint plants, etc, which  trigger them to re-route.

Jan 6, 2024

In the early 1900s, France ruled Indochina, which included present-day Cambodia.

Indochina ceded Koh Kood island to Thailand(Siam) in the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907, but Indochina went defunct by the mid 1970s.

However, Cambodia claimed its side of the maritime boundaries from the treaty included the southern part of the island. 

Gas and Oil  reserves are on Koh Kood island.

"Eastern" Europe changing times

Metropolitan Ieronymos, bishop of Athens and all Greece, is claiming it remains committed to tradition, while proposing that the children in a same sex family can be baptized when they reach a certain age and express a desire for the sacrament. 

Baptism is traditionally conducted in early childhood, but the church will adapt to changing times.

Compromise🤔 Not sure it sells well.

Jan 28, 2024

Czech Republic's upper house Senate voted against the Istanbul Convention, a treaty with a long title about combatting violence against women. Opponents feel it deviates from "traditional roles" for men and women in society and has not reduced violence in countries that have ratified it. Clauses concerning LBGT rights, particular the wording on gender identity, are hot points for treaty opponents.

Feb 8, 2024

 Finnish Air Force will participate in NATO's air defense mission over Bulgaria, Romania, and the Black Sea. 

Finland's Minister of Defense, Antti Heikkinen, stated that next year, Finland will contribute to NATO's peacetime missions with a Navy ship and eight Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighters.

Feb 10, 2024

Kosovo's President Osmani wants more NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) to deal with Serbia. In September 2023, Serb gunmen stormed a majority Serb village in northern Kosovo and barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery. It never ends. Both countries want to join the EU.

Feb 19, 2024

Margrethe1 derided as "King Breechless"for favoring Denmark too often while ruling(1397-1412) over the tenuous union of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.

March 9, 2024

March, 3,1878) result of Russo-Turkish War: Actual independence from Ottoman rule was given only to the Principality of Bulgaria (present-day northern Bulgaria and the Sofia region)

April 2, 2024

Transnistria is wedged between Moldova and Ukraine and is home to a military base with 1,500 Russian troops. It broke off from Moldova in the 1990s but isn’t recognized by any U.N. member countries and most of its residents wants to be a part of Russia.

April 4, 2024

In the middle of March 2024, contact was established between German and Bulgarian authorities who went on to discover a warehouse in Yambol region of Bulgaria, which contained a military arsenal in a car repair shop.

Pictures of guns and magazines were found on the mobile phone of one of four suspected Hamas'  members arrested in Berlin and Rotterdam in December 2023. Their alleged intention was to transport the arms to Berlin for potential attacks on Jewish institutions across Europe.

April 19, 2024

Croatia: HDZ holds on to power but will have to work with the anti-immigrant Rodina party to form a coalition. HDZ got 60 seats, Rodina 14

 pro-Russian coalition led by populist president Zoran Milanović's "Rivers of Justice," secured 42 seats.

May 11, 2024

 Polish farmers march against 'green poison', EU climate change rules. General sentiment is that these rules raise prices for everything and belong in the trash bin.

May 15, 2024

The EU migration and asylum pact was ratified despite opposition from Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. Czech Republic, Malta, and Austria abstained during the final vote.

Countries who do not accept migrants have to choose one of three options: 

to contribute financially to their upkeep 

deploy border guards to assist with border security 

 establish reception centers.

AUR is using caravans to reach rural areas and provide medical care. Its goal is to win 10 of Romania's 33 seats in the European Parliament and to work with others to change what it views as Ursula von der Leyen's "destructive" policies on migration and green energy.

AUR has clashed with the ethnic Hungarian minority and faced allegations that its members are Holocaust deniers.

May 29, 2024

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen recently said the Danish government could not recognize a Palestinian state because it doesn't have a single functioning authority or control over its own territory. Yesterday, Danish Parliament rejected a proposal to recognize a Palestinian state.

June 22, 2024

Lebanon's government isn't handling the fallout from Nasrallah's (Hezbollah) suggestion of making Cyprus a target. 

How quickly some forget that Cyprus( geographically a part of West Asia) encouraged  its EU partners to offer Lebanon financial assistance. 

June 27, 2024

MK airbase,12 miles from the Black Sea coast in Romania , is stocking up and becoming NATO's biggest airbase in Europe

Sept 1, 2024

Ain't going to happen: Ukraine  urged Mongolia to arrest Putin during his visit there( based on an ICC war crimes warrant .

ICC claims Putin failed to stop the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia since the conflict began.

 Fadi el-Abdallah, a spokesperson for the ICC,  claims ICC court States Parties which includes Mongolia, "have the obligation to cooperate in accordance with the Chapter IX of the Rome Statute", the agreement which set up the court.

Oct, 13, 2024

George Simion, who's running for president on the AUR ticket in November, criticized Austria's stance, calling for the country to shed its "imperial reflexes" in delaying Romania's full accession into the Schengen Zone. 

Oct 16, 2024

Prague will ban night-time pub crawls organized by travel agencies. Is a lack of municipal police officers to keep the peace ,part of the problem?

Nov 20, 2024

In the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad  the roof collapse  at a courthouse has stirred riots.  It's been renovated twice in recent years by Chinese state construction companies.

Collapse killed 15 people and injured two others. 

 Complaints of rampant corruption led to sloppy renovation work at the station

Nov 25, 2024

Calin Georgescu, the TikTok campaign guy, who called Nato's  ballistic missile defense shield at the Deveselu military base in southern Romania "a disgrace, heads to a run -off in Presidential race 

His likely opponent is Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union.

Jan 13, 2025

  Georgescu's win in Romania was annulled due to a social media campaign attributed to Russia. Will social media be blocked before the new elections in May 2025?

Shaking statues

 Tearing down history takes us down dangerous paths. The statue of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish born military engineer who help us during the American Revolution, was vandalized a few years ago. WTF. More to come.

In 2001 the Taliban, claiming they were following Islamic law, tore down a statue of Buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan.

In 2018 a red angel-shaped statue named Phylax by Greek artist Kostis Georgiou was torn down in  southern Athens, Greece. Black-clad protesters viewed it as Satan like.

Portland: Elk statue was damaged during Occupy Portland protests in 2011. The elk and fountain were donated to Portland by a former mayor David P. Thompson, in 1900 to honor elk that once roamed the Willamette Valley.

The statue was again a target in 2020 and the Regional Arts Council decided the piece needed to be removed for public safety reasons.

In 2018, a bronze statue depicting two children honoring the national anthem in Patterson Park in Baltimore, was defaced with red paint. The words “Racistt Anthem” were painted in front of it.

It was paid for by pennies from public school students more than a century ago. 

The plaque on the statue read:

 “To commemorate the centennial of the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner, the pupils of the public schools of Baltimore have erected this memorial upon Hampstead Hill where in September,1814, the citizen soldiers of Maryland stood ready to sacrifice their lives in defense of their homes and their country.”

Feb 1, 2024

A reminder from Orwell in the book 1984: "History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” 

Jonathan Cook" Tearing down statues isn’t vandalism. It’s at the heart of the democratic tradition." I guess he lost his dictionary!

earlier blog statues tumble

Reboot: Figure it out

 Spain's gals' soccer team reaches the World Cup semifinal for the first time after defeating Netherlands 2-1. They made it despite unsuccessful efforts to dislodge Coach Jorge Vilda and the ensuing discord. Maybe lessons learned for all sides? 

Aug 15, 2023

In a seesaw game Spain edges Sweden 3-2 and is going to the WWC final.  Less complaints about Coach Vilda now?

Aug 19, 2023

Spain vs England in final on Aug 20. Coach Valdi tells press we're united and doesn't want to talk about the old mutiny news. He!! of a run for Spain ladies. An old sports adage. Winning cures a lot of ills.

Aug 21, 2023

Spain 1 England 0. Carmona scores the winner for Spain in the WWC.

Charges of attempted rape were dropped against Greenwood(Manchester), but some say his return to the team is not a move forward in terms of proper respect for diversity and inclusion. This new "religion" is a slippery slope.

Aug 24, 2023

 Eamonn Holmes catches flack for dismissing honors for second place Brit gals in WWC. Brit 1966 WC champs: In 1966 it was customary for only the 11 players on the pitch at the final whistle to be awarded medals.

Sept 10, 2023

Spain fires Vilda. The team won the WWC despite 12 of the country's best players quitting in 2022.

Sept 17, 2023

Monste Tomé, named the first female coach of Spain’s women’s team, but the players continue to rebel. Good luck getting another WWC.

Oct 15, 2023

Sanchez's Socialists are talking with Catalan and Basque separatist groups to avoid an election. Huge move and may cause more trouble for Spain. Sanchez is desperate to stay in office.

Nov 8, 2023

In Spain the General Council of the Judiciary, the body that picks top judges, stated that pardoning Catalan politicians, will imperil the rule of law.

This is a response to the Catalan amnesty plan floated by PM Sanchez.

Dec 3, 2023

Isabel Ayuso, an anti-lockdown crusader, crushed Iglesias, whom she called a Communist, to return as a President of the Madrid Region. Stores and bars supported her.

 Of course, most of the press is focused on her possibly working with Vox.

Dec 11, 2023

Olive oil- a luxury item in Spain? Rise in its exports, the problem?

 Italians sell Spanish olive oil under their own brands, so many consumers now believe that the Italians and not the Spanish are the market leaders in the olive business.

Jan 30, 2024

A rally in Madrid against Catalan amnesty bill which was a main condition by Catalan parties for agreeing to support Sanchez's coalition government.

 Spain's lower house of Parliament votes on the bill today and if approved, the law will block legal action against hundreds of Catalan activists who are being investigated or have been charged for their roles in the attempts to declare an independent Catalan state in 2017.

April 25, 2024

Sanchez, Spain PM, will cancel his work duties to focus on his wife Begonia Gomez, who is facing accusations of corruption from a Spanish court. 

She's accused of receiving favors from airline Air Europa and its Spanish holding company Globalia during her time as director of an African research center at Madrid's IE business school.

May 19, 2024

Spain's Transport Minister Oscar Puente suggests that Milei "ingested substances" during last year's Argentine election campaign. 

Milei is expected in Spain in two weeks to participate in an event organized by VOX and claims Sanchez' policies are bringing "death and poverty" to the Spanish people.

May 23, 2024

Spain, Norway, Republic of Ireland are going to recognize  the Palestinian state on May 28.  Clueless Norway PM Store blames Hamas for the terror as if it's not running Palestine.

August 9, 2024

Carles Puigdemont, a Catalan politician wanted on various charges, managed to slip in and out of Spain because police waited until the end of his talk in order to detain him "at the most opportune time so as not to generate public disorder."

Regardless of how you view Puigdemont, this is crazy.

Catalan regional police  arrested two of their own officers for assisting his escape.

Nov 17, 2024

 Farm Minister Zeichner calls himself  "a champion of farmers" while telling UK farmers to be calm about the new tax burdens coming their way. That's a kick in the head.

Previous blog: reboot redneck

Catsup Canada

 Trudy reshuffles cabinet amid soaring interest rates, wildfires, etc, but is more concerned with bashing Bebe. As goofy as his dad Pierre.

Clinics in Calgary, and elsewhere in Canada are offering membership fees and finding ways to skirt around the law. Apparently, folks are requesting ways to get better service.

Canada censors social media. Here's a line from the late Gord Downie's, "Boots or hearts". See when it starts,To fall apart, Man, it really falls apart.

Sept 20, 2023

Trudeau accuses India of involvement in the death of Nijjar, 45, in British Columbia but offers no proof. India says Ninjar was a bad guy, Both sides are goofy, so far.

Sept 26, 2023.

Hey Rota, a quick glance at a history book would've helped. Dear Canada, try vetting. you would've learned that old soldier was in a Ukranian Nazi squad.

Oct 4, 2023

Trudy's word for the day: Denialism. Good luck Canada!

Oct 22, 2023

Canada pledges additional $50 million to help Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. F'N crazy!

Nov 26, 2023

Poilievre's Conservatives vote against carbon tax for Ukraine. CUFTA still made it through the committee stage.but Trudy keeps whining.

Feb 28, 2024

Trudy's Liberal pals in Canada introduced a bill claiming to combat online hate that would force major companies to quickly remove harmful content and boost the penalty for inciting genocide to life in prison. Of course, they use the cover of protecting children from online predators.

Who defines genocide?

April 6, 2024

CRA reversed a rule change just days before the T3 filing deadline, after many taxpayers already had done their (Bare Trust )preparation work.

Bare trust:  a person has legal ownership of a property or asset but doesn't hold beneficial ownership.

May 4, 2024

 Canadian police arrested and charged three Indian men with the murder of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India. This keeps getting uglier.

May 13, 2024

Trudeau Backs Away from Tax Threat on REIT s, breaking a power sharing promise to the NDP to tackle the so called financialization of the housing market.

June 8, 2024

The Bank of Canada trimmed its key policy rates to 4.75% from 5%, and is the first G7 country to do so, in an attempt to ease pressure on highly indebted consumers. 

I'm not feeling a  downward trajectory on inflation.

June 26 2024

Trudy's Liberal Party lost a safe seat in a special election.Conservative  Don Stewart won the race in the Toronto-St Paul's constituency. First time a conservative has won there since 1988.

 Election was called after the previous legislator quit.

Aug 22, 2024

Trudeau on rail freight traffic coming to a standstill over labor dispute.“It is in the best interest of both sides to continue doing the hard work at the table,”. Tiresome cliche from Trudy

(CN) and CPKC railroads both locked out their employees after the deadline passed yesterday without new agreements.

Sept 21, 2024

Trudy's poll numbers are below 30%. Trudeau's Liberal Party lost a crucial parliament seat in a special election in Montreal a few days ago.

The narrow loss in Montreal's federal electoral district of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun is the second defeat in three months for Trudeau's minority Liberal government.Liberal candidate Laura Palestini cfinished behind the Bloc Quebecois candidate, Louis-Philippe Sauvé.

Oct 22, 2024

Some Liberal MPs  in Canada are committing themselves to trying to force Trudeau out of the party leadership. Doubt if it will occur, but it's noteworthy.

Nov 12, 2024

Health care in Canada: ER at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, B.C., was closed for 31 hours this weekend,  the third type of closure this month.

No clear explanations.

Nov 18, 2024

Bad poll numbers' reaction: Trudy wakes up, caps immigration, reduces the number of both permanent and temporary residents.

Dec 4 2024

 Canada is blasting out "ally to the north"ads  in DC airports and across the USA on billboards.

Hawaii Canada