Tuesday, October 06, 2026

The Unspeakable Tragedy at Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia

"British Columbia is filing a lawsuit against OpenAI in California for its failure to notify law enforcement of threats made on its platform prior to the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School."
"This case highlights the urgent need for strong national safeguards for artificial intelligence technologies and online platforms. Our government has consistently advocated for measures to protect people, especially children and youth from online harms."
"I have written to federal ministers [Minister of Justice Sean] Fraser, [Minister of Artificial Intelligence Evan] Solomon and [Minister of Canadian Identity Marc] Miller with clear policy ideas to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to ensure a pathway to human accountability for AI's actions."
British Columbia Attorney General Niki Sharma 
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B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma is calling for changes to the Criminal Code in the wake of reporting on the alleged conversations between the Tumbler Ridge mass shooter and ChatGPT. (Ben Nelms/CBC, Kiichiro Sato/The Associated Press)
 
"In response, Chat GPT explained why such violent content would be flagged -- and then offered tips on how to evade its own safeguards."
"It advised Van Rootselaar to always frame ... content as fictional or hypothetical in order to 'never get flagged again by OpenAI's moderation systems."
"[Over the next eight months, Van Rootselaar] discussed building and using firearms and homemade explosives, fantasized about becoming a notorious mass killer and asked about the timing of previous real-world school shootings."
"To have a chatbot engage in this way was, I think, quite astonishing. It's very troubling, because this is a person who has been already talking, for quite a while, about some very dark and disturbing things." 
Mark Follman, journalist, Mother Jones 
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An RCMP vehicle is parked outside Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in February 2026.
 
Transgender-identity, biological male Jesse Van Rootselaar, 18, set out on February 10 of this year to commit a mass atrocity. Before leaving his home he shot his mother to death, along with his half-brother. That out of the way he made his way to the high school he had attended, to wreak mayhem and havoc there, carrying the lethal weapons that would enable him to pursue his deadly goal. He took the life of a teacher, and five students of the school. And finished his work by shooting himself dead. Those he managed to injure during his psychotic predation will carry the memory of the atrocity for the rest of their lives.
 
The RCMP detachment in the remote Northern British Columbia town at the foothills of the Rockies had had previous interactions with the young man that everyone referred to as 'she' and 'her', respecting his/her gender-choice identity. There were extensive files on Van Rootselaar dating back to the years when he/she was only ten years of age. At a time close to the event that represented one of the largest mass murders to ever have taken place in the country, the Van Rootselaar home's collection of firearms were taken into custody.
 
Van Rootselaar's mother evidently had a fascination for guns, and knew how to use them, ensuring that her son did as well, arranging for him to gain experience at a shooting range. Van Rootselaar's behaviour sparked attention by police to whom he was no stranger. Given the complicating fact that his was an unstable character, who engaged in troubling anti-social behaviour, it is more than a trifle puzzling that the weapons were returned to the Van Rootselaar home by the RCMP. 
 
Van Rootselaar had an initial ChatGPT account that he used extensively to probe for answers to questions about previous mass school killings and advice on how one might proceed to produce one's own. His troubling activity had been flagged by gatekeepers at ChatGPT which led to his account being suspended. He then proceeded to open a replacement account, and his interaction with ChatGPT continued unabated. Again it was flagged and the gatekeepers were all for notifying police, but a supervisor decided to nix it.
 
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Some of the Tumbler Ridge shooting victims. Top row from left: Kylie Smith, Abel Mwansa, Zoey Benoit, Ticaria Lampert. Bottom row from left: Ezekiel Schofield, Emmett Jacobs, Jennifer Jacobs.
 
Van Rootselaar, fascinated with guns and with violence, and with mass shootings, appears to have self-radicalized with the benevolent assistance of ChatGPT which it seems felt obliged to to support that emerging psychopathy toward full-fledged maturity. His mental equilibrium was obviously fragile. Gender dysphoria, mental instability, social hostility, fetish for mass shootings all came together, alongside a resentment of his mother and step-brother and a linkage to the school he had left prematurely in his decision to disrupt his academic exposure.
 
An inquest by the B.C. Coroners Service remains as yet incomplete: "The B.C. Coroners Service has not confirmed the dates for the Tumbler Ridge inquest at this time. Once all related investigations are concluded, we will send out a news release with more details", wrote its media relations staff in response to an inquiry. Clearly this confused individual who harboured feelings of disengagement from society was in need of psychiatric intervention. In B.C. as in other parts of Canada provincial psychiatric services for youth in need are inadequate.
 
The government of British Columbia, the RCMP and the medical community must view the decision to sue OpenAI for the part its artificial intelligence agent played in the unfolding of this horrible tragedy as a convenient shield against probes into their own failings in being badly remiss in the potential prevention of a tragedy of this magnitude. That OpenAI is liable is without question. That the government of British Columbia should be asking its own questions of itself and its agencies is also without question.
 
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Victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting were memorialized in the days after the tragedy. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
 
"This action today is consistent with the province's long-standing commitment to hold powerful corporations accountable when their products or practices cause harm to people and communities."
"From tobacco  and opioid manufacturers to vaping companies, the Government of British Columbia has used the courts to pursue accountability and ensure that people in British Columbia are not left bearing the costs of corporate wrong-doing." 
B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma 
 

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Monday, October 05, 2026

Tell Us, Mark Carney, What Jews Already Know

"Safety is not theoretical; it is reflected in whether a child can wear a kippah to school without fear, openly express their Jewish identify, whether families feel comfortable attending synagogue, and whether community institutions can operate openly and securely."
"Antisemitic incidents continue to occur in schools, workplaces, places of worship, community institutions, public spaces, and online environments. Communities have reported harassment, intimidation, threats, vandalism, discrimination, hate speech, and violence. Many have expressed concern not only about the frequency of these incidents, but also about whether institutions consistently recognize and respond to antisemitism when it occurs." 
National Commitments to Combat Antisemitism report 
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Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about the rise of antisemitism to community leaders and community members at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on June 1, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
 
Canadian Jews have been living an ongoing nightmare for the past three years. Since the carnage of October 7, 2023 when Palestinian terrorists in their thousands flooded across the border from Gaza into Southern Israel -- to rape, loot, slaughter and kidnap children, the elderly, girls and women for barter, leaving 1,200 dead Israelis and the nation to mourn its dead to an onslaught of pure unadulterated psychotic sadism where terrorists with body cams videoed the mutilation, mass rape and murder of Israeli women and girls, the fires set in family-occupied homes to burn residents to death -- Jew-hate has surged in Canada.
 
In the immediate wake of the atrocities, throngs of Jew-hating, keffiyeh-clad, masked 'protesters' marched in the streets, led by Palestinian student groups and foreign interlopers whose goal it was to radicalize the Canadian left to their cause. At university campuses across the country those same student groups set up 'Palestinian' encampments to harass and threaten Jewish faculty and students alike. The Hamas supporters insisted that university administrations relinquish all investments and associations with Israeli academia.
 
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Memorial at Nova Music Festival massacre
 
Canada's Liberal government responded by condemning the unrest, and taking verbal umbrage at the antisemitism roiling Canadian society ... but never without also condemning 'Islamophobia', concerned with the hurt feelings of Canadian Muslims from among whose ranks the perpetrators of Jew-hate-mania erupted...condemnation of antisemitism becoming an add-on of lesser gravity. And nor did the federal government take any action to put a stop to the incessant viral calls to violence against Jews through the marchers' calls to 'globalize the Intifada', and for a 'Final Solution' alongside 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'.
 
Two successive Liberal governments, under Trudeau, then Carney, placed Israel under a spotlight of suspicion, while elevating the status of two Palestinian enclaves in the Middle East -- both of which have in the past 80 years committed violently murderous attacks against Israel and its Jews -- to a declared state status, minus the need to recognize the legitimate sovereignty of Israel, to stop its propaganda war against the Jewish state, to legitimize itself as a fledgling state through the democratic process, to replace its school curricula demonizing Jews and Israel, and to put an end to its infamous lavish payouts to 'martyrs' dedicated to killing Jews in Israel.
 
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Pro-Palestinian protesters set up an encampment at the University of Toronto. A spokesperson for the group says they will not leave until the school meets a list of their demands. Photo: (Paul Smith/CBC)

 
Taking their cue from the federal government, provincial governments and municipalities followed suit, as did their police departments. Where police in Montreal and Toronto in particular dedicated themselves to 'protecting' anti-Israel, pro-Hamas marchers, in their right to 'free speech', while giving short shrift to Canadian Jews who came out to counter those threatening their position as centuries-long position of Jews of Canada, by informing the Jews their presence presented a danger of escalation and they must disperse or be charged. 
"The Government of Canada recognizes that antisemitism can be a matter of national security. Beyond the very real and immediate threat to Jewish individuals and communities, antisemitism is a core component of many violent extremist ideologies. Antisemitism is both an indicator and an accelerator of radicalization and its spread -- as history shows -- and it is not just a threat to public safety but to social cohesion and democratic values."
"The normalization of hate directed at Jewish-Canadians and violence directed at Jewish community institutions, undermines Canadian security and resilience, creating an environment where no vulnerable minority is safe." 
NCCA report 
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 Toronto police are seen outside Shaarei Shomayim on Glencairn Avenue after the building was struck by gunfire in the early morning hours of March 7, 2026. CITYNEWS
 
It is, in point of fact, the Liberal Government of Canada and its Cabinet, its Prime Minister, that have succeeded in normalizing Jew-hate in the country. They did this through their default complicity, by doing nothing to uphold the laws against promulgating hate against an identifiable group that threatens their security. When Jewish businesses are vandalized, synagogues and schools shot at, Jewish neighbourhoods inundated with antisemitic literature, by groups of anti-Israel, Palestinian-celebrating vandals, the government deplores the situation but no remedial action is ever taken.
 
The declarations attributable to the investigations and conclusions reached by government-appointed committees ostensibly meant to reach a consensus leading to recommendations for government remedial action, could be artificial-intelligence-composed for all the authenticity and resolve they contain. Any grade-school Jewish child could compose something similar from the experience gained at an all-too early age in the growing menace of Jew-hate at every level, not excluding public schools and public museums.
 
This Liberal government now led by Mark Carney has been a complete failure on many levels for many reasons, none as abrasively averse to the Jewish-Canadian community's comfort level in equality and security in a grievously altered Canadian culture where the social compact all have relied upon and respected has all so suddenly been corrupted and threatening. It is the Liberal government that opened Canada's borders to refugees, migrants and immigrants from countries in North Africa and the Middle East whose cultures are radically averse to Canada's, whose values and system of justice and equality do not match Canada's.
 
No, Mr. Carney, your statement that "Muslim values are Canadian values" is quite incorrect... 
 
Above all, that which the government, traditional news media and corporate interests stand infused now with the taint of Critical Race Theory, DEI and the essence of 'woke' dedicate themselves to, offering praise for that which has not earned praise, accepting a low standard from those incapable of anything better, but satisfying the expectations of 'progressive' liberalism which has decided that Jews in Canada can look after themselves, because its government has no interest whatever in their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 
 
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The Palestine Youth Movement held a downtown rally from Yonge and Dundas Sts. to the Israeli Consulate on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, before shutting down the intersection to traffic. Photo by Caryma Sa'd /Special to the Toronto Sun
 

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Sunday, October 04, 2026

"No Rules Now" Putin's Latest Assaults on Human Rights

"The capital is in a very dramatic situation."
"It's no longer possible to pretend that we can live now as we lived in peacetime."
"The enemy is tearing Kyiv apart."
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko 
 
"The Russians couldn't occupy us. So now they are doing massive attacks and massive killings."
"They are increasing the number of people they recruit through various methods. It is important that the governments of countries from which Russia recruits people for its army take action against this." 
"New interceptors are being actively tested. Some combat groups are using them, but, of course, some details still need to be refined to achieve enough effectiveness and scale. "
"We are speeding up the developers." 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 
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Flames are seen at Kyiv's Dobrobut Hospital on Monday in the aftermath of a Russian drone strike. (Evgeniy Maloletka/The Associated Press)
 
What is left of the 8,000 North Korea soldiers sent over to fight with Russia against Ukraine, is being fortified with the arrival of another 10,000 North Korean military operatives, as Russia ramps up its recruitment efforts for its ongoing offensive. The plan is to strike civilian infrastructure as the Russian military has always done, but now the focus has turned to Kyiv, which up until a short while ago managed to escape most of the missiles and drones targeting other parts of Ukraine.
 
Residents of Kyiv, while becoming accustomed to energy infrastructure hits, particularly in the winter months -- meant to demoralize them, suffering from unheated interiors and difficulties with food preparation in freezing weather -- were mostly able to go about their business as usual, as soon as energy was restored. During aerial attacks, people flooded into shelters, where the subway system tunnels proved a great asset. More latterly, however, transportation systems have been targeted to fully interrupt illusions of normalcy.
 
More recent aerial strikes have brought a standstill to traffic with a bridge linking Kyiv's east and west put out of commission. A fuming Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again ripped Vladimir Putin for his savage attacks on civilian areas in Ukrainian cities. The grinding conflict reaching into its fifth year with Moscow ordering massive nighttime raids whose effects are the destruction of municipal infrastructure, apartment buildings, government offices have reached a new low in violations of international rules of war. President Zelenskyy revealed Putin having declared "no rules now", gained through intelligence.
 
The ground combat in the east has morphed into a focus on massive aerial attacks, which until latterly Ukraine managed to mostly intercept, with most damage on the ground caused by pieces of shrapnel, from exploded missiles and drones. Russia's production of a new type of drone based on the Iranian Shahed, have been proven all too difficult to intercept. Their speed and deadly impacts allow them to evade interception and strike their targets with efficient violence.
 
In Kyiv the closure of its main bridges and restricted movements follow yet another wave of deadly strikes by fast-moving, jet-powered drones. Main roads are gridlocked while commuters seek out alternative routes or simply abandon their vehicles and attempt to walk to their destinations. Of eight bridges connecting Kyiv east and west over the Dnipro River, because of those damaged, vehicles going in both directions can move neither backward nor forward.  
 
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A man escapes from an administrative building in Kyiv which caught fire after being hit by a Russian jet-powered drone. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)
 
The aerial bombardments of recent months have placed Ukraine's capital city on constant alert, daily life completely disrupted. Approaching aerial threats cause air raid sirens to sound close to constantly throughout the course of a day, allowing an estimated three minutes for residents to seek shelter. Trains and gas stations have suffered repeated strikes. Rail and road networks have been hit, and attacks on energy facilities constantly threaten power and heating outages with the approach of a Ukrainian winter.
 
Some city residents, given the continual raids, have been forced to spend overnight in subway stations. People face air raid obstacles to reaching their work sites during the day, the loss of earnings added to the trauma faced now on a daily basis. "You just spend the whole day feeling completely beaten down", remarked one woman who spent fruitless hours attempting to reach her place of employment. This, as a 24-storey residential building was hit in southeast Kyiv, killing several and injuring many.
 
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Intercepted jet drone, Kyiv.
President Zelenskyy calls for urgent measure to be taken for tougher sanctions to prevent Russia from its manufacture of the jet-powered drones, so difficult for Ukraine to intercept. Just days ago, the Ukraine military was able to use its own FP-7 tactical ballistic missile for the first time in combat. A small hint of future manufacturing success to come, but in the meanwhile, pleading with  Ukraine's western allies for greater military support, in particular for U.S.-manufactured Patriot missile interceptors.
 
Even as Ukraine buckles, but does not collapse under the newer and more powerful Russian attacks, Ukraine's military struck an oil refinery in Volgograd, and another in Samar, in southwest Russia. Disabling their capacity to supply fuel to Russian forces.   
"[Russia's production of jet-powered drones are] critically dependent [on foreign components."
"Every Russian drone can actually be stopped right at the production line. What is needed is the political will of these countries." 
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  
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Ukraine's National Academy of Science building burns in Kyiv after a Russian drone strike. (Dan Bashakov/The Associated Press)
 
 

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Saturday, October 03, 2026

The People of Israel Live - Am Yisrael Chai!

"I grabbed the attacker, put him in a chokehold and pulled him out. I called the Israelis who were with us, jumped back in and pulled the controls."
"I started pulling them back."
"He [wounded captain] was very close to the door and that made it difficult for us to open it. My conclusion is that he managed to open it for us before he collapsed." 
"The plane began to level out, and then [one of the other pilots aboard the plane] told me he was taking control."
Yaniv Hayun, Passenger on FlyDubai Flight 1073 
 
"[It was like] we were having very big turbulence, but there was no turbulence."
"My wife was standing near the cockpit because my daughter was in the bathroom. Suddenly, she heard shouting coming from the cockpit."
"She shouted to a replacement pilot from Fiji who was sitting there: 'Get in quickly, see what's happening'."
"He called for help, and two others and I entered the cockpit and subdued the attacker."
"I'm covered in blood. It was insane."
Almog Italie, Passenger on FlyDubai Flight 1073 
 
"[The aircraft was] pretty much out of control. It was really on the way to crashing, and it was simply he resourcefulness of many people who took control of the co-pilot and neutralized him."
"There was also a doctor who gave first aid, and people who treated both of them. Other than the pilot, there were no injuries, but the bigger fear was really a crash, which is exactly what he [the attacker] was trying to do."
Miryam Shira Ohayon, Passenger on Fly Dubai Flight 1073
 
"Despite being stabbed and seriously injured [Machchhar] fought back, resisted, opened the cockpit door, and enabled passengers and crew to overpower the attacker -- preventing a catastrophic mid-air disaster."
"...He is a true hero."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
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The United Arab Emirates prosecutor general has ordered an investigation into the ‌stabbing aboard FlyDubai Flight FZ1073 from Dubai to Tel Aviv, which was diverted and landed in Saudi Arabia after a struggle in the cockpit.  Still from video
 
According to Israeli dentist Musaev Shota, after hearing shouting he ran toward the cabin, helped to bind the attacker and then proceeded to treat the badly injured captain of the almost-doomed flight from the UAE to Israel. He and the others tied the hands and legs of the suspect as he continued to struggle against confinement, while insisting that they kill him, and thus give him the martyrdom he sought, despite the failure of his suicide mission. 
 
How could a man harbouring such a mission and carrying a fair-sized knife be aboard a plane with 174 passengers, plotting to bring it down and destroy all those lives, including his own? Israeli authorities immediately following the event, spoke of 'radicalization'. The attacker, a man with Omani citizenship, was known to Omani authorities, it is now revealed. His radicalization and toxic beliefs were known, and steps were taken to deny him the opportunity to fly Omani aircraft.
 
When he was hired by the United Arab Emirates' FlyDubai, Oman appears to have made no effort to warn of the man's untrustworthiness. And as he on that flight as the co-pilot, attacked the unsuspecting pilot, the plane dropped 17,000 feet in under two minutes. Some two hours and 20 minutes into its flight as it flew over the desert close to the Saudi-Jordanian order, the Omani co-pilot decided it was time to act on his plot to cause the untimely death of all those aboard Flight 1073. His plan was to kill the pilot and knock out the plane's controls.
 
The two onboard pilots who stepped in to take the controls managed to rescue the situation even as the aircraft "sent distress signals". They managed an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Videos of terrified passengers screaming and crying appeared on social media, with children calling for their mothers and weeping in fear at the panic of the adults aboard. A woman on the flight said she saw a man holding a knife had forced the pilot to the floor, with blood everywhere. Seventeen strikes with a knife, head wounds and an almost-severing of an arm would do that.
 
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Flydubai pilot tells Indian prime minister Modi that he couldn’t ‘let anyone die’ – video
 
The pilot, Smit Machchhar, an experienced aviator from India, had heroically while close to expiring, thought of the lives in his care as the pilot of the plane, and willed himself to make the effort to alert those aboard, likely in the knowledge that other pilots were aboard, in the hope that among those in the aircraft some might be inspired through their own will to survive, to enter the cabin, disable his attacker and enable the plane's plummet to be controlled.
 
And fortune decreed on that day in the sky in that geographic area, disaster was averted. When the plane was safely landed, the Israeli passengers sang "The People of Israel Live", Am Yisrael Chai! 
 
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A FlyDubai flight bound for Tel Aviv plummeted more than 17,000 feet through the air after the co-pilot allegedly stabbed the captain in the plane's cockpit. (Photo credits: The Canadian Press, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images)
 
"[Initial assessments] indicate a foiled error attack intended to crash the aircraft with all passengers on board."
"While a catastrophic tragedy was  averted, this severe incident must be understood and treated as if the attack succeeded."
"It serves as an urgent reminder of the ongoing threats faced by innocent civilians across the globe, who remain deliberate targets simply for being Israeli."
"This was not only an attempt on innocent lives, but a direct attempt by extremist forces to sabotage the vision of peace, stability, and regional normalization fostered by the historic Abraham Accords."
Israeli diplomatic Mission in Canada 

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Friday, October 02, 2026

Putin's Costly 'Special Military Operation'

"[The rise in spending] comes as no surprise."
"It's not just about 'retaliatory strikes'. Simply put, more munitions are needed if the goals of the Special Military Operation are to be achieved."
Evgeny Suvorov, chief economist, CentroCredit Bank, Moscow
 
"[The ministry revealed last week that the budget plan would] ensure the provision of necessary weaponry and military hardware to the armed forces, the payment of allowances to military personnel and support for their families, and the modernization of defence industry enterprises."
Finance Ministry press service
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A Russian MiG-31 fighter jet flies in the international airspace over the Gulf of Finland, September 24, 2026. Swedish Air Force/Finnish Air Force/Handout via REUTERS/
 
"Russia continues its reckless campaign of hostile actions against NATO allies. It is trying to weaken our resolve and stop our support for Ukraine."
"But Russia is failing. It is failing on the battlefield in Ukraine and it is failing to undermine our unity and support for Ukraine."
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte  
On the sidelines of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been teasing and testing NATO member countries, particularly its close East European neighbours in the Baltic region. Estonia has concluded an investigation into an arson attack on August 15 against Milrem Robotics, an Estonian defence manufacturer producing ground drones used by Ukraine. "We can conclude with certainty" stated Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, "that the arson attack ... was an act of sabotage ordered by the special services of the Russian Federation".
 
Milrem Robotics located in the Estonian capital Tallinn, had a fire break out in a building for which it has concluded Moscow's responsibility. "Baseless, absolutely no relation to reality. We cannot and will not take such statements seriously", responded Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in response. Russia has been repeatedly accused of hybrid provocations since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have increased their defence investment as a result. "Moscow is trying to scare Europe into winding down its support for Ukraine. This will not happen", stated Christian Wigand, European Commission spokesman. 
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(DMITRY KOSTYUKOV/Getty Images)
 
War is a costly business on all sides. Vladimir Putin is so engrossed in saving Ukrainians from the grip of their 'neo-Nazi' government that despite Ukraine's courageous and effective counteroffensive to the conflict reaching into its fifth year -- discounting Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and much of the Donbas, and the loss on both sides of tens of thousands of military personnel -- he grinds on with his goal. It is Ukraine's vast territory, its agricultural land and natural resources that Putin slavers over.
 
A scarcity of fighting manpower, the cost attendant on firing countless missiles and drones to defeat Ukraine's resolve to meet the challenge its neighbour poses and exit the war intact, has cost Russia dearly. Nothing deters Putin's territorial ambitions. He is prepared to continue pouring more resources -- both manpower and financial -- into the war he has inflicted on Ukraine. Plans are underway at the Kremlin to boost military spending by over 25 percent, even as Ukraine has succeeded in penetrating deeper into Russian territory.
 
Military spending reflecting Putin's new draft budget now stands at 17.1 trillion rubles (some $288 billion) for the coming year. War spending will sit at roughly 35 percent of the country's 48.8 trillion rubles in total expenditures. Moscow has been forced to spend greater sums just on protecting itself even as it relentlessly continues to attack Ukraine's cities, aiming for its electrical grids as winter approaches to once again demoralize Ukrainian citizens left without heat and cooking facilities during its long cold winter.
 
For its part, Kyiv continues its winning strategy of sending missiles and drones further within Russia, targeting oil refineries, logistics hubs and warehouses. Russia must respond to increase costly air defences, and stepped up its attacks on crucial Black Sea ports for Ukraine, and hitting urban centres which it claims are really military depots. Ukraine's targets of Russian oil facilities have caused pain in a gasoline shortage across the country.
 
Russia's air defences, the advanced systems protecting Moscow included, have been tested by large scale drone attacks, courtesy of Ukraine. The massive military casualties that Russia has suffered have failed to translate to progress on the battlefield. Russians now spend sleepless nights in worrying over a new mobilization, with the new parliament back in session, when an overwhelming 'democratic process' voted Vladimir Putin back in power. 
 
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Russia plans to spend 17.1 trillion rubles ($202.58 billion) on defense in 2027, around 27% more than the 13.5 trillion rubles originally budgeted and the highest figure since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, government documents seen by Reuters showed on Monday.  Reuters
 

 

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Thursday, October 01, 2026

Canada's Liberal Government Transformed Canada In Its Image

"Canada and UNRWA share concerns about the threat of terrorism, including within the context of the United Nations' firm commitment to counter terrorism."
"[UNRWA is] taking all possible measures [to ensure Canadian government charitable/humanitarian funding  would not be used to] provide assistance to or otherwise support, terrorists or terrorist organizations."
"Canada's humanitarian assistance funding is largely flexible and un-earmarked."
Global Affairs Canada
https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nationalpost/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/UNRWA-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=564&h=423&type=webp&sig=PXa7wRYmin5m1Fyt7XT9kQ
Of all the millions Ottawa has earmarked for Palestinians, it’s the outlays for UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – that have received the most scrutiny. Photo by Mohammad Nazal/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
 
When Stephen Harper was the Conservative Prime Minister of Canada, he was coherent and principled and well-informed. So much so that he quite reasonably understood where funding for the Palestinian 'cause' of aiding the 'victims' of Israel's statehood, that left Arab Palestinians' aspiration to have all land they claimed as their own -- Judean ancestral land -- that the United Nations in its wisdom in 1947 split between Jews and Arabs, to be gifted only to the Arab demographic that termed themselves 'Palestinian' despite that designation dating back to the Roman Empire which renamed Judea to spite unruly Jews.
 
The Conservative government took the step of cutting off all Canadian aid to UNRWA, knowing it for what it really is; a United Nations-mandated entity to support the world's only permanent 'refugee' population, one so fully in accord with Palestinian resentment of the presence of the Jewish state that it never stopped plotting to destroy it. UNRWA schools employed Palestinian terrorists to operate them, using the school textbooks characterizing Jews as deadly enemies.
 
The curricula taught Palestinian children to abhor Israel, encouraging children to dream of becoming honoured martyrs in the cause of 'opposing' the Israeli 'occupation', whose purpose it was to defend Jews against lethal violence children were taught to regard as their highest calling, for which they would ascend to Paradise. Palestinian children's school plays had them enacting fatal encounters with Jews. 'Summer camps' set up for Palestinian children taught them the vital elements of guerrilla warfare.
 
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Summer Camps/Palestinian Youth AP
And the United Nations Relief and Works Agency worked right alongside Fatah and Hamas in patterning Palestinian children to desire death in the carrying out of the sacred task of murdering Jews for the crime of being Jews and inhabiting their heritage territory. The honoured calling of terrorism against one's mortal enemy who refused to surrender to Palestinian Arab demands of sole ownership of the territory. 
 
None of this is unknown, but it goes unrecognized as dreadfully inconvenient to acknowledge and act upon in the West, which has chosen the sanctimonious route of paying homage to terror by empathizing with the 'underdog' that engages in the kind of acceptable propaganda portraying themselves as the world's eternal victims, oppressed by the world's most persecuted minority which clings to its sliver of land as a political, moral, military bulwark against the ethnic/religious/cultural detestation of ancient derivation that will not die.
 
The Liberal government of Canada has no intention of opening the cover of a book whose frontal illustration is that of starving children in Gaza and the West Bank; governed by Palestinian leaders who have received billions of charitable funds from the United Nations, Europe, North America and elsewhere to relieve the conditions of enduring poverty, but which end up in private bank accounts, and in financial support for the 'martyrs' who engage in deadly attacks against Jews and Israel. The pages within document a history too complex to digest, and so why bother?
 
Image
Horrifying images show victims of Hamas attack at rave, where Israeli cops acted as human shields and hostages had legs blown off, survivors say trib.al/ctXLbrp
 
When the October 7 Palestinian terrorists sprinted by their thousands from Gaza into southern Israel, the  government of Canada was sending  hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the poor, needy Palestinians, through UNRWA. That same UN agency from among whose staff Hamas operatives were raiding Israeli homes, raping girls and women, setting homes on fire with their residents within, slaughtering the inhabitants of farming communities and young Israelis enjoying social relaxation at  the Nova Music Festival nearby.
 
Eventually, when enough proof was provided of the participation in October 7 of an astonishing number of Hamas operatives who also were employed by UNRWA, the UN body fired many of them while claiming that "the dismissal of the staff is not part of a disciplinary process and does not constitute in any way a validation of the claims made against them".
 
And although Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claimed to have put a stop to the Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund that guaranteed lavish financial support for anyone imprisoned or martyred while committing an act of 'resistance', the U.S.-based Modern War Institute analysis quoted the PA's "Amended Palestinian Prisoners Law No. 19" which identifies a pension account for any Palestinian deemed to have taken part "in the struggle against the occupation". And 'Pay for Slay' carries on.  
"We understand that a recent payment has been made to the families of prisoners, based on a previous scheme."
"We profoundly regret this decision, as this seems to go against prior announcements."
EU Commission November 2025 public statement  
https://ngo-monitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/691f6a8643f8fc053ed42a8d215ac190-0-1086x1536.jpeg

In all a total of $600 million has been transferred by Canada to Gaza. The millions that Ottawa earmarked for Palestinians have seen UNRWA receiving scrutiny. Nonetheless despite clear evidence of complicity between the agency and Hamas as well as with other Palestinian terrorist groups, and UNRWA's responsibility in corrupting young Palestinian minds, Canada continues to fund them. The latest $100 million gesture of trust a mere several weeks past, $20 million of which was for "peace and stabilization initiatives" that includes training and equipping a Palestinian military component.
 
Canada's Prime Minister Carney is so  convinced of the worthiness of Palestinian claims to statehood despite its ongoing refusal to recognize Israeli right of existence and sovereignty, that on behalf of Canada, he 'recognized' Palestinian statehood with the proviso that greater evidence of dedication to democracy be attained and demonstrated. The upshot is that Canada, along with Spain, Ireland, the U.K. and France have 'recognized' Palestinian statehood. The qualifiers have not and will never become reality.
 
As for the 'two-state solution' they espouse as a 'solution' to the 'unrest', it has been rejected time and again by the Palestinians, who finally put it to rest on October 7. 
"Canada is deeply alarmed by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the terrible situation for the civilian population, exacerbated by severely restricted access for humanitarian partners seeking to provide assistance. Canada continues to call for a UN-led humanitarian response with safe and unimpeded access into and within Gaza. The ceasefire is a welcome development and Canada urges the parties to fully adhere to it."
"The ongoing conflict has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. Heightened tensions in the region could pose further security risks."
"The security and economic situation in the West Bank is also of concern. Frequent Israeli military operations throughout the West Bank, as well as rising extremist settler violence against Palestinians, have led to thousands of casualties and resulted in clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians."
"Canada’s approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is guided by its historic and unwavering commitment to a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side in peace and security. Prospects for a two-state solution have been steadily eroding, as a result of the pervasive threat of Hamas’ terrorism, continued Israeli settlement expansion and extremist settler violence in the West Bank, and the Israeli government’s ongoing military operation in Gaza, and failure to alleviate the resulting humanitarian crisis."
Government of Canada 

 

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Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Safer Snorting in Canadian Prisons

"[Paper straws are being] introduced [for] safer snorting, intended for inhaling substances in powdered form or inhaling vapour from heated substances."
"[Paper straws will] reduce harm [by decreasing risk of internal nose cuts that could happen with home-made or plastic straws, and reduce infections from diseases like hepatitis B and C, while] recognizing that overdose and toxicity risks remain." 
"[These items are being introduced] in response to increased inhalation, smoking and snorting substances among federal inmates."
"Harm reduction must adapt to reduce overdose risks, prevent the transmission of infectious diseases and align with current evidence-based practices." 
Correctional Service Canada memo to federal prisons
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William Head Institution is shown through a security fence in Victoria, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Lam
 
Additionally, according to the memo, foil strips will also be distributed "for safer smoking". Drug-testing strips for fentanyl, benzodiazepine and xylazine will also be included. If found on their own, the new harm reduction items should not result in criminal charges. If they're "found alongside illicit substances or unauthorized paraphernalia, standard operational procedures ... must be followed". Confused yet?
 
The memorandum issued by Correctional Service Canada came to public notice when photos of the memo distributed to Corrections staff, were included in a social media post. The communication, according to CSC communications officer Laurence Cote, "was developed ... to provide information to all employees regarding the expansion of harm reduction products". CSC health services include "harm reduction measures" designed to prevent and minimize "harms related to substance use".
 
Since Correctional Service of Canada's National Drugs and Substances Strategy recognizes substance use as a health issue, approved harm reduction supplies are not considered to be contraband. On the other hand, these "safer snorting" items do not counteract the fact that the CSC "maintains robust measures" to address "introduction, trafficking, financing, and distribution of unauthorized substances ... within its institutions, and holds those involved accountable". There, does that make the issue more sensible and the CSC decision-making more sensibly responsible?
 
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 In-prison training for Health Services staff who are responsible for distributing the supplies to inmates will begin in several days' time. Until then -- October 1 -- implementation will await its opportunity two weeks later -- October 13. At which time, according to CSC, the training sessions will have been completed, and staff and inmates jointly anticipate a relaxed and leisurely transition to snorting safely in the comfort of knowing that rescue is nearby and available at all hours should things go sideways.
 
After all, what possibly could go wrong? The government of Canada under the compassionate, progressive Liberal banner knows how to proceed with the ills suffocating society in the 21st century. Drug addiction is a bad, nasty word. Drug dependency is a medical term, that ushers the drug-addicted into a cocoon of government care, becoming a purely health issue. And for the good of their health, those who crave recreational drugs to make them insensible to reality, self-agency, responsibility, and life itself, can rely on this government to help them in their incoherent, chaotic mission to waste their lives.
 
Drug-addicted Canadians, felons, take heart -- the government of Canada and the Correctional Service of Canada -- at your service! Rehabilitation? Fogetaboutit!
 
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Drug snorting. Corrections Canada has confirmed that paper straws will soon be distributed in federal prisons to facilitate safe snorting of drugs. (File photo) Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia
 
"[Harm reduction interventions] are widely recognized as cost-effective because they help prevent the transmission of infectious diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C, reducing the need for significantly more expensive medical treatment and long-term health care costs associated with these conditions."
"Health Services staff will provide education and guidance to support informed and appropriate use of these supplies."
Correctional Service Canada memo 

 

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