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Is that a better value than Cracklin' Rose'?

Agreed, but as a nit-picking point, the correct phrase for "a few kinks in his armour" is actually "A few chinks in the armour" but that might have been considered racist. In any case, the GOP is so desperate for visible minority candidates, they grasp at anything even close to that without pause.

You may wish to consider the potential risk in vaccination vs the potential harm if you do not. We get influenza shots every fall, so we do have precedent.

I read some time back that about 90% of the wealthy in the US inherited their money, and I suspect that it would be similar in Canada. Because of the stratified social order in England, that number would be higher there.

Top Russian Official Teases ‘the Next Ukraine’ in New Threat Russia’s top diplomat said the actions of Western nations could soon turn Moldova into the “next Ukraine,” according to TASS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Moldovan President Maia Sandu of being “eager to join NATO.” Sandu, Lavrov said, is “ready to unite with Romania and in fact, to do almost anything.” Romania is a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which was created to provide collective security against Russia. Lavrov’s comments appeared to echo complaints Russian President Vladimir Putin made about Ukraine and NATO when announcing Russia’s invasion into Ukraine last year. Putin cited the expansion of the alliance and Ukraine’s interest in joining NATO as “fundamental threats” against Russia in his speech justifying invasion. “Further expansion of the NATO infrastructure... are unacceptable for us,” Putin said at the time. Lavrov’s comments come as western officials warn that Russia may be gearing up for a new offensive nearly one year into the war in Ukraine. It’s not the first time tensions have flared over whether Russia might be eyeing Moldova as an extension of the conflict in Ukraine. Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Services (SIS) has previously warned that Russia may seek to connect Russian-controlled areas in Ukraine by conducting a new offensive, and then creating a land corridor with the Russian-backed breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova.

I believe it was PT Barnum who said, among other pithy gems, that no one ever went broke underestimating American intellgence.

Being ignored by your heroes- priceless.

Particularly since he won all those Emmys.

FBI Investigating George Santos’ Alleged Theft from Veteran’s Dying Dog FBI agents are investigating Rep. George Santos’ role in the alleged fraud of a disabled Navy veteran’s GoFundMe for his dying service dog. “Two agents contacted former service member Richard Osthoff Wednesday on behalf of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York", he told Politico. Osthoff gave the agents 2016 text messages with Santos, who he says used his plight to raise $3,000 for life-saving surgery for the pit bull mix, Sapphire – then ghosted with the funds, as first reported by Patch. Jaqueline Sweet first broke the news about Santos being accused of defrauding a disabled veteran on January 17, 2023 in Patch. “Disabled Veteran: George Santos Took $3K From Dying Dog’s GoFundMe Two New Jersey veterans say George Santos promised to raise funds for a lifesaving surgery for a service dog — then disappeared.” George Santos is accused of fraud on almost every level possible at this point: internationally, locally, campaign finances… He has more names than any other person in Congress but uses them in a way that in some ways echoes Donald Trump’s use of other names. https://www.politicususa.com/2023/02/01/fbi-investigating-george-santos-alleged-theft-from-veterans-dying-dog.html

Apparently Boris Johnson's Brexit plan is working to perfection. Britain is the only western European country to forecast a contraction in its economy for 2023. Along with the recession, a spike in unemployment and inflation are expected. A bad time to be a Tory in England as well as Manitoba.

When you rule by divine right, laws are irrelevant and do not apply to anyone but the peasants.

If you do not expect Glass Onion to be a nail-biter whodunit and accept it for a romp with borderline outrageous overacting, its fun.

Trump’s Financial Situation Is Even Shakier Than We Knew Trump’s tax returns reveal that he has far less liquidity than he’s presented—and it could explain a lot of his behavior. When Donald Trump left office in early 2021, he was apparently on much thinner financial ice than almost anyone knew. That revelation, which three accounting experts confirmed upon reviewing Trump’s 2020 tax return, may help explain some of the financial and political moves the former president has made in the intervening years. Snowballing legal fees, along with other possible legal settlements and judgments, threaten to consume the cash pile he needs to bankroll his business activity, as well as fund a lavish lifestyle and maintain his image of excess—an emperor atop a golden toilet. How big is that cash pile, exactly? Accountants caution against reading too much into tax returns of high net worth individuals like Trump—especially ones in the real estate business—because those filings can be extraordinarily complex. That said, all three tax experts interviewed for this article concurred that Trump’s stash on hand at the end of 2020 does not appear to be quite as generous as the returns might make it seem. While Trump often boasts of being a billionaire—which, in terms of assets, he is—two of the experts who reviewed his returns for this article said that as his presidency came to its tumultuous end, it appears Trump, depending on interest rates, may have had immediate access to anywhere between $30 million and $100 million, with that amount itself scattered across hundreds of entities. That bottom line was reflected in new documents filed last week by New York Attorney General Letitia James in her $250 million fraud lawsuit against Trump, three of his adult children, and his businesses. Those documents show that Trump—a billionaire on paper—only had control over about $65 million in liquid assets as he prepared to depart the White House. The cash flow discrepancy, according to three accounting experts who reviewed Trump’s 2020 tax returns, is significant, and can be chalked up to one simple fact: The vast majority of Trump’s ordinary income is reported as interest income and derived from pass-through entities. His tax returns are not intended to report if this income was actually distributed to him—they only indicate what income is attributed to him as an owner or investor. That fact is central to James’ lawsuit, which argues that these funds may not actually equate to liquidity—and that when Trump applied for loans, he played up those “restricted funds” as his own money in order to help secure the loans. In reality, the suit says, a significant portion of what Trump called “his” cash was wholly controlled by another entity—the real estate behemoth Vornado—which Trump could not unilaterally access if he, or his businesses, needed to find some funds. “Internal Trump Organization records acknowledge that cash residing in the Vornado Partnership Interests was not Mr. Trump’s to access at his whim,” the new filing reads. The filing goes on to cite those internal records, which admit that “distributions are at the discretion of Vornado” and “at this point we do not have all of the data that goes into Vornado’s decision making, thus we are attributing no distribution for these properties.” Citing Trump Organization financial statements, James points out that of the $92.7 million that Trump held in liquid assets in 2020, $28.25 million of that amount was tied up in “partnership entities Mr. Trump did not control as Mr. Trump’s own liquidity.” In some years, she said, “these restricted funds accounted for almost one-third of all the cash reported by Mr. Trump.” Mark S. Gottlieb, a forensic accountant and tax law expert in Manhattan, told The Daily Beast that if the attorney general’s premise is correct and Trump does not have access to portions of the 2020 income attributed and taxed to him, those amounts are tantamount to “phantom income.”

Trump in Even More Legal Hot Water After Lying to Judge Former President Donald Trump appears to have lied in sworn court records, opening him up to severe sanctions by a New York judge who has already lost his patience and threatened to punish him before. Trump claimed he wasn’t the president of the Trump Organization during his four years at the White House, despite previously testifying that he was an “inactive president.” And he claimed that he didn’t have a financial stake in a partnership with the real estate company Vornado, even though he previously testified that he did. On Tuesday, the New York Attorney General’s Office asked Justice Arthur F. Engoron to intervene quickly to ensure that the former president still faces a trial later this year that could bankrupt his company. New York AG Letitia James sued the Trump family and their real estate empire for at least $250 million last year, the end result of a three-year investigation that documented how the Trumps have routinely faked property values to score better bank loans and cheat taxes. The civil lawsuit threatens to yank the company’s credentials, seize its bank accounts, and choke off its access to any banks in New York City—the global finance capital. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-in-even-more-legal-hot-water-after-lying-to-judge-arthur-engoron?ref=home

For those who would describe themselves as atheists or agnostics, there are some interesting books out there: Forever Ours and Hello From Heaven. There are a lot of others, but these two I would recommend.

Marilyn Manson Accused Of Sexual Assault And Grooming A Minor In New Lawsuit A woman identified as Jane Doe filed a lawsuit Monday alleging Marilyn Manson groomed and repeatedly sexually assaulted her beginning when she was 16 years old. Filed in Nassau County Supreme Court in Long Island, New York, it names Nothing Records and Interscope Records as co-defendants and alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual battery by the musician, whose real name is Brian Warner. A lawyer for Manson denied the allegations, calling them a “fabricated tale.” In the filing, the plaintiff claimed Manson invited her “and one of the other younger girls” onto his tour bus when she was 16 after a 1995 concert in Dallas. He allegedly asked them how old they were before he raped the plaintiff, who was a virgin. The age of consent in Texas is 17. “After he was done, Defendant Warner laughed at her,” the filing states, adding: “Then Defendant Warner demanded Plaintiff to ‘get the **** off of my bus’ and threatened Plaintiff that, if she told anyone, he would kill her and her family.” The plaintiff alleges that one of Manson’s crew members provided her with a 1-800 number and a password so the two could be in contact. She started using drugs and alcohol to cope and continued to rely on them for years to come, according to the lawsuit.

New details on Fani Willis' potential indictment of Donald Trump revealed: report The walls may be closing in on former President Donald Trump as the investigation in Fulton County, Ga., continues to progress. According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ is moving closer toward indicting the former president in connection to his infamous call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R). Per CREW's Brie Sparkman, "the special purpose grand jury has reportedly heard testimony from crucial witnesses, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former national security advisor Michael Flynn, Senator Lindsey Graham, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, and former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows." According to Sparkman, Trump is at the center of a string of alleged crimes that are both election-related and non-election related. Some of the potential charges include solicitation to commit election fraud, making false statements, and potential violations of Georgia’s RICO Act. Sparkman also explained the basis of the investigation and the allegations against Trump. "Trump is alleged to have repeatedly lied about the 2020 election to Georgia officials and to have used that misleading conduct, as well as intimidation and threats, to push them to change the election outcome," Sparkman wrote. "Trump may have committed the crime of false statements and improperly influencing government officials when he repeatedly told Raffensperger that he won the election as well as when he listed numerous inaccuracies and falsehoods about the election." To face charges, Sparkman pointed out that there also has to be a "'pattern' of misconduct as shown by violations of two or more specified crimes, including the false statements or improper influence crimes mentioned above." https://www.alternet.org/new-details-fani-willis-indictment/

Apparently the reason that Henry Cavill is no longer in the new season of The Witcher is that he, being an avid gamer, refused to go along with the new storyline that deviated substantially from the video game scenarios.

Might her initials be S. K.? If so, her story has leaked out already.

Heatly should have been and was held criminally accountable. Still, a singular lapse in good judgement is different from a repeated pattern of criminal behaviour, and it is particularly heinous because it was a muscular, much larger male beating three different vulnerable women. The probability is that Bobby Hull witnessed violence in his family of origin, but ultimately he chose to repeat it. Not all boys who are exposed to such repeat the sins of the father, but sadly, about 2/3 of girls from those same homes wind up in abusive relationships.