AMERICA COULD HAVE HAD STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS BUT INSTEAD THEY HAVE INSURRECTIONIST FORGIVENESS

We thank the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union for their important sanctions decisions targeting Russian entities and individuals involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children. The United Kingdom has now imposed restrictions on 85 individuals and legal entities. They are the ones involved in the deportation of Ukrainian children, the imposition of Russian ideology on them, their russification and militarization, as well as Russian propaganda operations. Canada is imposing sanctions on another 23 individuals and five organizations. They are responsible for the illegal deportation and forced transfer of our children, including their ideological indoctrination and militarization. The European Union’s sanctions package includes 16 individuals and 7 organizations involved in the systematic illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation, followed by forced adoption and re-education. These are the ones who “rewire” the identity of Ukrainian children, help make them hate their homeland, and one day take up arms to fight against Ukraine. I am grateful for this principled position and for the fact that sanctions pressure is not stopping. Our partners have taken into account many of our proposals, including provisions from Ukraine’s sanctions package introduced several weeks ago. We must continue working together to bring all Ukrainian children home and to ensure that everyone behind these crimes is held accountable.

Avi Lewis: "This whole thing about the carbon tax ... it was never the thing that was making life so expensive."

I haven't done one of these nit pick threads in a long time, and this certainly deserves it. Robert Benzie, "Ontario Buys Used $28.9M Private Jet for Doug Ford: Sources," Toronto Star, April 17, 2026

UPDATED 🚨 🌑 Mar 22: “Open Hormuz in 48 hrs!” 🌓 Mar 26: “Open Hormuz in 5 days!” 🌔 Mar 27: “Open Hormuz in 10 days!” 🌕 Apr 4: “Open Hormuz in 48 hrs!” 🌒 Apr 5: “Open Hormuz by Tuesday!” 🌖 Apr 7: “Open fuckin’ strait by Tue!” 🌓 April 7: “Open Hormuz by Wednesday”

The Post called the White House. But the name attached to the number read “Epstein Island.” A Google Maps error labeled the White House as “Epstein Island” on some Android phones. Google reversed the edit and the White House said it was an external issue. wapo.st/3NR5I9s

LMAO 🤣. This hour has 22 minutes strikes again ...

Three weeks into the war with Iran, a number of observations as someone who spent years war-gaming this scenario. 1. The U.S. and Israel may have produced regime transition in the worst possible way. Ali Khamenei was 86 and had survived multiple bouts of prostate cancer. His death in the coming years would likely have triggered a real internal reckoning in Iran, potentially opening the door to somewhat more pragmatic leadership, especially after the protests and crackdown last month. Instead, the regime made its most consequential decision under existential external threat giving the hardliners a clear upperhand. Now we appear to have a successor who is 30 years younger, deeply tied to the IRGC, and radicalized by the war itself – including the killing of family members. Disastrous. 2. About seven years ago at CNAS, I helped convene a group of security, energy, and economic experts to walk through scenarios for a U.S.--Iran war and the implications for global oil prices. What we’re seeing now was considered one of the least likely but worst outcomes. The modeling assumed the Strait of Hormuz could close for 4–10 weeks, with 1–3 years required to restore oil production once you factored in infrastructure damage. Prices could spike from around $65 to $175–$200 per barrel, before eventually settling in the $80–$100 range a year later in a new normal. 3. One surprising development: Iran is still moving oil through the Strait of Hormuz while disrupting everyone else. In most war games I participated in, we assumed Iran couldn’t close the Strait and still use it themselves. That would have made the move extremely self-defeating. But Iran appears capable of harassing global shipping while still pushing some of its own exports through. That changes the calculus. 4. The U.S. now finds itself in the naval and air equivalent of the dynamic we faced in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s a recipe for a quagmire where we win every battle and lose the war. We have overwhelming military dominance and are exacting a tremendous cost. But Iran doesn’t need to win battles. They just need occasional successes. A small boat hitting a tanker. A drone slipping through defenses in the Gulf. A strike on a hotel or oil facility. Each incident creates insecurity and drives costs up while remind everyone that the regime is surviving and fighting. 5. The deeper problem is that U.S. objectives were set far too high. Once “regime change” becomes the implicit or explicit goal, the bar for American success becomes enormous. Iran’s bar is simple: survive and keep causing disruption. 6. The options for ending this war now are all bad. You can try to secure the entire Gulf and Middle East indefinitely – extremely expensive and maybe impossible. You can invade Iran and replace the regime, but nobody is seriously going to do that. Costs are astronomical. You can try to destabilize the regime by supporting separatist groups. It probably won’t work and if it does you’ll most likely spark a civil war producing years of bloody chaos the U.S. will get blamed for. None of these are good outcomes. 7. The other escalatory options being discussed are taking the nuclear material out of Esfahan or taking Kargh Island. Esfahan is not really workable. Huge risk. You’d have been on the ground for a LONG time to safely dig in and get the nuclear material out in the middle of the country giving Iran time to reinforce from all over and over run the American position. 8. Kharg Island can be appealing to Trump. He’d love to take Iran’s ability to export oil off the map and try to coerce them to end the war. It’s much easier because it’s not in the middle of IRan. But it’s still a potentially costly ground operation. And again. Again, the Iranian government only has to survive to win and they can probably do that even without Kargh. 9. The least bad option is the classic diplomatic off-ramp. The U.S. declares that Iran’s military capabilities have been significantly degraded, which is how the Pentagon always saw the purpose of the war. Iran declares victory for surviving and demonstrating it can still threaten regional actors. It would feel unsatisfying. But this is the inevitable outcome anyway. Better to stop now than after five or ten more years of escalating costs. Remember in Afghanistan we turned down a deal very early in the war with the Taliban that looked amazing 20 years later. Don’t need to repeat that kind of mistake. 10. The U.S. and Israel are not perfectly aligned here. Trump just needs a limited win and would see long-term instability as a negative whereas for Netanyahu a weak unstable Iran that bogs the U.S. down in the MIddle East is a fine outcome. If President Trump decided he wanted Israel to stop, he likely has the leverage to push it in that direction just as he pressured Netanyahu to take a deal last fall on Gaza. 11. When this is over, the Gulf states will have to rethink their entire security strategy. They are stuck in the absolute worst place. They didn’t start this war and didn’t want it and now they are taking with some of the worst consequences. Neither doubling down with the U.S. and Israel nor placating the Iranians seems overwhelmingly appealing. 12. One clear geopolitical winner so far: Russia. Oil prices are rising. Sanctions are coming off. Western attention and military resources are shifting away from Ukraine. From Moscow’s perspective, this war is a win win win. 13. At some point China may have a role to play here. It is the world’s largest oil importer, and much of that supply comes from the Middle East. Yes they are still getting oil from Iran. But they also buy from the rest of the Middle East, and a prolonged disruption in the Gulf hits Beijing hard. That gives China a real incentive to help push toward an end to the conflict.

Meteor shakes up the Metro Vancouver area, from the Fraser Valley through to North Vancouver. @bobmackin @BCNewsAddict

US declared war on Iran...

4 years ago Russia launched the full scale war into Ukraine. The results are: - Russia failed to topple the Ukrainian government - Russia failed to defeat the Ukrainian army - Russia failed to defeat the will of the Ukrainian people - Russia failed to take Kyiv - Russia failed to isolate Ukraine - Russia failed to take a single regional capital - Russia controls less than 20% of Ukraine compared to 27% in March 2022 - 1.2 million Russians have been killed or permanently wounded - Russian energy infrastructure leading to the West has been practically entirely eliminated, whether by sanctions or physically - Russian economy is purely a war economy producing nothing of worth for the future - Russian resource are getting taken from China for the lowest price imaginable The list can go on, but the results are clear: Despite investing everything they got into this senseless war, Russians have failed, big times. But in order to bring the war to an end, more has to be done. Ukraine's victory is the only path to sustainable peace. Aggression must not be awarded. The past has proven this over and over again. It is in our hands to end it and Putin, altogether.

RT @davetroy: We have a real problem brewing with the “Board of Peace” and it needs much more attention. 1) There is no legal entity for “…

Wow. New FEC reports show billionaire Matt Moroun gave Trump’s super PAC $1 million last month. A few weeks later, Moroun met with Trump officials, and the next day, the president came out publicly against a rival bridge project that would cut into Moroun’s profits.

Ukraine’s people were honored at the Munich Security Conference with a top peace award.

*Trump approval rating drops to 29%* *Approval stops being measured* Don’t think I need to call the Scooby gang to solve this mystery

A statement like this is highly unusual and should be heeded. All 3 Alberta Courts are VERY concerned about the erosion the rule of law & the subsequent risks to democracy. Anyone who claims that the threats are overblown needs to sit down & let serious people deal.

RT @sentdefender: Another angle of today’s shooting by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis, Minnesota…

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot and killed an unarmed 37-year-old man today in Minneapolis, Minnesota, following a struggle as several agents attempted to confront and arrest the at-the-time armed-unidentified man who had been filming them. During the struggle, one of the five agents involved can be seen removing a firearm from the waistband of the victim before several others shoot him, killing him. In response to the shooting, protests are beginning to escalate and spread across Minneapolis.

NEW: After X opened up its algorithm, users discovered that those criticizing Israel were massively censored and had their reach reduced by 90%. The entire algorithm is now based on whether or not the user criticizes Israel.

The letter that Donald Trump sent to Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway is insane! This is why you don't elect a narcissist to be your president. Is this what you voted for, Trump's supporters?