The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing the Biden administration to confiscate Russian assets held in American banks and transfer them to Ukraine, something the Kremlin has said would be illegal and trigger retaliation.

In response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry and blocked about $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets in the West, most of which are in European not American financial institutions.

The Group of Seven (G7) major democracies is also looking at what it may be able to do around the frozen Russian assets.

Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Saturday that Russia would not be able to retaliate in kind against any U.S. seizure of its reserves.

“The reason is clear – we do not have a significant amount of American state property, including money, rights and other US assets. Therefore, the answer can only be asymmetrical. It is not a fact that it will be any less painful,” Medvedev wrote on his official Telegram channel.

“We are talking about the foreclosure, for example by a court decision, on the property of private individuals located in the jurisdiction of Russia (money, real estate and movable property in kind, property rights).”

“Yes, this is a complex story, since these individuals usually acted as investors in the Russian economy,” Medvedev said. “And we guaranteed them the inviolability of their private property rights. But the unexpected happened – their state declared a hybrid war on us. This must be answered.”

He said the law in Russia would need to be changed to allow such asset seizures in favour of the Russian state.

Russian Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Friday Moscow would defend its legitimate interests in the event that its assets were confiscated, but did not disclose the strategy and tactics.

Source: Reuters

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Shares surged past $70 in early trade, giving the firm a market value of more than $9bn. They ended the day at about $58, still up more than 16%.

The long-awaited moment will inject more than $200m into Trump Media & Technology Group and hands the former president a stake worth more than $4bn.

Analysts say that is far more than the firm’s performance warrants.

Trump Media’s Truth Social, a Twitter-like service, brought in just $3.3m in revenue in the first nine months of last year and lost nearly $50m.

It says 8.9 million accounts have been created since the platform launched to the general public in 2022 as an alternative to mainstream sites such as Facebook, but it is not clear how many are active.

By comparison, the recently-listed Reddit currently has a market value of about $11bn. It boasts more than 70 million users and brought in $800m in revenue last year.

Kristi Marvin, chief executive of SPACInsider, compared Trump Media – which trades under the ticker DJT for Mr Trump’s initials – to a meme stock, in which prices are untethered from the business prospects.

Interest in Trump Media has also been fuelled by individual investors, as opposed to Wall Street firms, many of them apparently Trump supporters.

“Everybody expected to trade a little bit crazy today, which it has,” she said. “The real question is how does it trade a week from now, two weeks from now and nobody really knows.”

The deal to list Trump Media was first announced in 2021.

The move was accomplished via what is known as a SPAC, a merger with a publicly listed shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corp, which was expressly created to buy a company and take it public.

The deal was delayed by government investigations and other hurdles, but regulators cleared it earlier this year and Digital World shareholders voted in favour last week.

Ahead of the listing on the Nasdaq exchange, Trump Media officials called it a “pivotal moment” for the firm – and the wider media landscape.

“As a public company, we will passionately pursue our vision to build a movement to reclaim the Internet from Big Tech censors,” said Trump Media chief executive Devin Nunes, a former congressman.

“We will continue to fulfil our commitment to Americans to serve as a safe harbour for free expression and to stand up to the ever-growing army of speech suppressors.”

The debut comes at a critical moment for Mr Trump, who has been scrambling for cash to pay legal penalties and owns more than half of the firm’s shares.

He is currently barred from selling his holdings for about six months, making it difficult for him to tap the windfall immediately.

The company’s board, which is stocked with allies including one of his sons, could potentially change that rule, but analysts have said they think that would be unlikely to happen immediately.

If Mr Trump were to sell a significant chunk of his shares, it could hurt the share price.

Investors face other risks as well, tied to Mr Trump’s political fortunes and his 2024 presidential campaign.

A loss might be expected to hurt the share price, but a win could have the opposite effect, especially if it generated further demand from buyers hoping to curry favour with Mr Trump, said Michael Ohlrogge, a law professor at New York University.

However, Prof Ohlrogge said the current share price is “far, far elevated above what anyone would consider its fundamental value”.

Source: BBC

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The skies during Women’s History Month have witnessed a series of historic female flights. On March 16, Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri held the “first all-female two-ship T-38 flyover,” an aerial salute that soared above the KC Current stadium, the “first stadium to be built for women,” according to KSHB.

United Airlines also held a special flight on March 7 that epitomized elegance in aviation and inclusivity on the ground. Aboard Flight 1215, which traveled from Newark, NJ, to Sarasota, FL and back, was an all-women crew. At the helm was Captain Gabrielle Harding, a trailblazer recognized by PEOPLE as not only the second Black woman Line Check Pilot in United’s history, but also “the only Black woman captain working for a commercial airline who graduated from a historically Black college or university’s pilot program.”

Spotlighting trailblazers like Captain Harding is pivotal in paving the runway for future aviators, especially when we consider the gender disparities in the field. A 2022 study from the Women in Aviation Advisory Board reveals that women constitute a mere 4.6 percent of professional pilots. More starkly, Black women sit at a scant 0.5 percent.

In light of these underrepresentation statistics, the stories of women who bravely faced the challenges of their time in aviation become increasingly important for us to recognize and learn from.

While everyone knows the story of Amelia Earhart, from her historic flights to her mysterious disappearance, there’s another pioneering female pilot from the past who is finally getting her due. Just like Earhart, Bessie Coleman shattered equally big barriers—and the tragic circumstances surrounding her own untimely death have also sparked theories of wrongdoing, drawing renewed attention to her story.

Who Was Bessie Coleman?

Before the Wright Brothers’ historic ascent at Kitty Hawk captured the world’s imagination, the most legendary figures in aviation lore were a father and son: Daedalus and Icarus.

In the oft-referenced myth from Ancient Greece, Daedelus crafted wings for his son, Icarus. Basking in the thrill of flight and the warmth of the sun, Icarus soared higher and higher, ignoring his father’s warnings, until the sun’s rays melted his manmade wings, causing him to hurtle to his death.

Icarus has often served as a symbol of human hubris. As people throughout history dared to touch the skies—from Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent le Vieux d’Arlandes with their hot air balloons in France in 1783, to Alberto Santos-Dumont in Brazil, and the Wright Brothers in North Carolina—their lofty ambitions were met with skepticism from critics who recalled the boy who tumbled from the heavens for flying too close to the sun.

But for Bessie Coleman, a young girl of Black and Indigenous ancestry growing up in the poor town of Waxahachie, Texas, Icarus wasn’t the only fictional figure who kept her grounded. She also had to contend with Jim Crow, a crude minstrel character whose name was colloquially used to describe oppressive and racist laws in the American South.

Coleman didn’t always dream of being a pilot, but she knew she wanted more than the life offered by the small patch of land where she and her family picked cotton for minuscule wages.

At first, Coleman tried to pursue a college education. As Biography notes, “she embarked on a journey to Oklahoma to attend the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (Langston University), where she completed only one term due to financial constraints.”

Money was a constant challenge for the Coleman family. After her father left to reside on a reservation in Oklahoma—an option Coleman’s mother reportedly declined—her mother became the main provider. Eventually, Bessie’s brothers also departed, seeking opportunities in Chicago with hopes of supporting the family back home. In 1915, with her educational ambitions paused, a 23-year-old Coleman followed suit and ventured to Chicago, eager to carve out her own path.

Coleman took a job in Chicago as a nail technician. In an early sign of her tenacity, she chose a prominent spot by the salon window to attract attention and built a reputation by attending to male customers, persuasively telling them that well-groomed nails would help them court women. What began as a means to make ends meet soon turned into a platform for recognition. In 1916, Coleman’s efforts and charm won her the title of “best manicurist in Black Chicago,” bringing her unexpected prominence in her community.

Coleman’s prowess secured her a place at the White Sox Barber Shop, owned by the trainer of the local baseball team for which it was named. Between the clients who sat in her chair and told stories of the brave aviators of World War I, and the cajoling of her combat-veteran brother, who according to Biography “…ribbed her about the superiority of French women who knew how to fly planes,” Coleman found her calling: to soar amidst the clouds.

How Did Bessie Coleman Learn to Fly?

For a Black American woman in 1921, obtaining a pilot’s license was virtually impossible. No one had done it before, and no flight school in the U.S. was willing to let Coleman be the first.

And so, recalling her brother’s comments about the women of France learning how to fly, Coleman chose to follow her dreams all the way to the Caudron Brothers’ School of Aviation in Le Crotoy. While Coleman taught herself French, she couldn’t always connect verbally with her French-speaking instructors. So she bridged the communication gap by “feeling the movements of steering system that connected the front and back cockpits,” according to Biography.

Through her diligence, on June 15, 1921, Coleman became the first Black woman in the world to earn a pilot’s license, which she received from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. But, as the podcast Invisible Eagles: Bessie Coleman points out, Coleman’s aeronautic achievement was overshadowed in her home country by a far more shocking story.

Only two weeks before Coleman received her pilot’s license, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, sometimes referred to as “Black Wall Street,” suffered a devastating and deadly attack from a white mob, one that left between 100 and 300 people dead, and more than 10,000 homeless. And as HISTORY notes, airplanes—likely owned by the nearby Curtiss-Southwest Airplane Company—aided in the terror. So while Coleman flew high in France, back home, her beloved planes had become a tool of suppression.

How Did Bessie Coleman Become Famous?

When Coleman first returned home, she was greeted with praise from the Black newspapers of the time, but pointedly ignored by the white press. When she struggled to find jobs as a Black female pilot, she returned to Europe once more, this time to learn the art of aerial tricks and stunt piloting.

Coleman saw her performances as both a means to live and a beacon of inspiration, aiming to demonstrate to women and people of color that they, too, could aspire to and attain success in the field of aviation. Her grand aspiration was to establish a flight school that would empower African Americans to chase their own piloting dreams.

In September 1922, Coleman debuted her first aerial stunt show in Garden City, New York, during an era when “barnstorming” captivated the American public. These shows, aptly named for the rural practice where pilots utilized farms as impromptu airstrips, roamed from one locale to another, showcasing thrilling maneuvers like barrel rolls and loop-de-loops to awe-struck audiences across the country.

The shows were instrumental in the evolution of civil aviation, bringing the public into early contact with pilots outside the context of the battlefield. Coleman was acutely aware of the significance of her public persona within the barnstorming scene and crafted an image that exuded flair and respectability. As Biography notes, she was referred to as “Queen Bess” or “Brave Bess” by the media, presenting a striking image adorned in her long coat, leather boots, and Sam Browne officer’s belt. She was known to embellish her credentials in interviews, adding to the mystique of her character.

Coleman also recognized the powerful role that burgeoning cinema played in shaping public perception. She incorporated filmed footage of her flights in her traveling lectures, and even reached out to several studios specializing in “race films” (films produced by and for Black audiences in the early 20th century) to make a film about her life’s story. She first wrote to Norman Studios in Jacksonville, Florida, before she was contacted by the Seminole Film Producing Company.

Coleman accepted a role in Seminole’s upcoming feature film, Shadow and Sunshine, but was disappointed with the content of the script, which began with her character in tattered clothes and poverty. Coleman walked away from the project, in breach of her contract, “over her refusal to play to ‘Uncle Tom’ stereotypes,” according to Biography.

How Did Bessie Coleman Die?

Following a brief hiatus to recover from injuries sustained in a crash, Coleman returned to the skies in 1925. By then, she had included other Black female aviators in her shows, per Biography:

“That August, she was accompanied by the first known Black woman to make a parachute jump. After this same parachutist backed out of another gig, Coleman strapped on the jumper’s harness and did the deed herself.”

Ahead of a scheduled performance in Jacksonville, Coleman acquired an airplane, but it was delivered in a severe state of disrepair. The engine of the Jenny, in particular, was so “poorly maintained” that it elicited concern from other aviators who inspected it. On April 30, 1926, Coleman and her co-pilot William Wills went out for a test flight; Wills took control in the front cockpit while Coleman chose to sit without fastening her seatbelt in the back, intending to scout suitable locations for a parachute jump.

Tragically, during the flight, a mechanical failure resulted in catastrophe:

“According to witnesses, the plane suddenly accelerated and nose-dived, before flipping upside-down at about 500 feet. There was nothing to halt Coleman’s fall from the cockpit, and the 34-year-old trailblazer was instantly killed upon hitting the ground.

Wills also died in the subsequent crash, and investigators soon discovered the loose wrench that had jammed the gears and caused the plane’s uncontrollable behavior.”

“It was a tragic, but not uncommon accident in the heyday of barnstorming, at the time aircraft safety was being addressed by Congress with the Air Commerce Act of 1926 that mandated the regulation of pilots and aircraft,” the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) observes.

Despite the absence of concrete evidence to confirm foul play, the NASM acknowledges that “rumors of sabotage could not be stopped or corroborated.” Given the wrench that caused the fatal crash, some speculate whether its presence was an intentional act meant to thwart Coleman’s flight. Contextualizing these suspicions within the era’s racial and gender challenges, it’s understandable why questions linger about whether malicious intent played a role in the tragedy that ended Coleman’s life and career.

And the specter of sabotage in aviation, particularly targeting women, didn’t end with Coleman’s death.

Take the case of the Women’s Air Derby of 1929. As noted by the National Endowment for the Humanities, female pilots competing in the event were met with an alarming, anonymous warning before the race: “Beware of sabotage.” The race was marred by a series of mysterious mishaps ranging from contaminated fuel to structural failures and even life-threatening carbon monoxide leaks—all of which, prominent men in the press asserted, proved that “women can’t fly.”

Indeed, all the way through World War II, female pilots were subject to deadly acts of sabotage from men who didn’t feel they belonged in the skies. As TIME notes, “Some women reported finding grass in their tanks or acid in their parachutes, or that their tires had been slashed very slightly so that they’d blow out in the air.” In one instance, “Jacqueline Cochran personally discovered sugar in the gas tank of a plane that had crashed, killing her colleague Betty Davis, but feared she and her colleagues would lose their jobs if they reported it as such.”

The question of how that wrench came to be lodged in Bessie Coleman’s aircraft may forever be left unanswered. Aviation safety during the era was notoriously unreliable, but when coupled with the virulent racism and sexism of the time—exemplified by events such as the Ku Klux Klan’s 1926 march in Washington, D.C.—it presents a troubling backdrop against which Coleman’s death might be viewed.

How Do We Remember Bessie Coleman?

Coleman died in Jacksonville, Florida, a city that held another connection to her dreams beyond aviation. It was the home of Norman Studios, to whom she had written years earlier, expressing her desire to share her life’s story on the silver screen. While there is no evidence that a collaboration between Coleman and the studio ever materialized—nor is it certain if she and filmmaker Richard Norman ever personally crossed paths—Coleman’s spirit and achievements undoubtedly left an indelible mark on Norman.

Norman Studios never made The Bessie Coleman Story, per se, but Coleman provided the inspiration for the character of Ruth Sawtelle, the female lead of Norman’s 1926 film, The Flying Ace. Billed as “the greatest airplane thriller ever filmed,” The Flying Ace, which showcases an all-Black cast, features actress Kathryn Boyd’s Ruth in an outfit that strikingly mirrors the distinctive ensemble Coleman wore during her barnstorming days.

The Flying Ace sidesteps the same racial stereotypes of its era that Coleman staunchly opposed in Seminole’s Shadow and Sunshine, opting instead for a respectful detective thriller. Starring J. Laurence Criner, a distinguished actor from the Harlem theatre scene, as the titular World War I pilot, The Flying Ace stands out as the only fully preserved film from Norman Studios. In 2021, the film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, having been deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

While The Flying Ace might be the most enduring tribute to Coleman from her era, more recent efforts have been made to properly honor her legacy. In 1995, Coleman appeared on a U.S. postage stamp. In 2001, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and entered the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2006. And just last year, Coleman was commemorated on an American Women-series U.S. quarter and celebrated with her own Barbie doll in the Inspiring Women series.

Was Bessie Coleman an “American Icarus” who flew too close to the sun? Perhaps a better analogy lies in a different ancient story.

In the Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana, the story of two winged demigods, Sampati and Jatayu, unfolds. The two fly upward one day, toward the sun, in order to test their skills. But the younger brother, Jatayu, gets too close and his wings begin to scorch in the noon heat. Sampati, the older brother, flies ahead, spreading his wings wide to provide shade for his younger sibling and sacrificing his own wings in the process. Sampati crashes into the Vindhya mountains and dies, so that the younger Jatayu can continue to fly.

Bessie Coleman, more than anything, wanted to inspire other pilots from backgrounds traditionally excluded from the skies. Her narrative isn’t about succumbing to prideful excess, but rather, a deliberate act of selflessness for the sake of the future. She was scorched, both by the sun and the spotlight—not so that she could bask in the glow, but so that others might also one day soar.

Source: Popular Mechanics

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“[He] passed peacefully last night… surrounded by his family,” a statement on his social media channels said.

Keith rose to fame in the 1990s with songs such as Should’ve Been a Cowboy which topped the country music chart.

He announced in June 2022 that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, an illness the star said was “debilitating”.

The statement said he “fought his fight with grace and dignity”.

Over a more than 30-year career, hits including Who’s Your Daddy and Made in America were enjoyed by millions. He is survived by his wife, Tricia Lucus, and three children.

Keith said he had been receiving chemotherapy, radiation and surgery for his cancer. He said he was “comfortable with whatever happened” with his illness.

An Oklahoma native, he worked in oil fields and as a semi-professional American Football player before breaking out as a musician in the 1990s.

His debut single Should’ve Been a Cowboy, released in 1993, became a number one hit. The song romanticises the cowboy lifestyle with reference to singing cowboys Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

Later albums included Blue Moon, Pull My Chain and Unleashed.

Keith’s songs frequently made reference to patriotic themes, most controversially with the song Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (The Angry American), released shortly after the 9/11 attacks, which was criticised for what some perceived as chauvinistic lyrics.

The song was criticised by fellow country artists the Dixie Chicks. The feud lasted several months before Keith announced there were “far more important things” to focus on.

Over the years, he played at events for several US presidents, including George W Bush. Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Mr Trump awarded Keith a National Medal of the Arts in 2021.

Source: BBC

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France and the United Kingdom (UK) have jointly made a request in favour of Sri Lanka to the court of the Southern District of New York, for a six-month freeze on any litigation in the Hamilton Reserve Bank case until Sri Lanka’s external debt restructuring is completed, the Financial Times reported.

Accordingly, last week the two countries filed a joint “amicus curiae” to the New York judge hearing the case, arguing in favour of Sri Lanka’s request for a six-month freeze on any litigation.

The co-signatories in their “amicus curiae” want the judge to grant Sri Lanka the six-month stay it has requested, because they worry that the lawsuit by Hamilton Reserve Bank/Benjamin Wey could wreck ongoing restructuring talks.

France and UK have jointly made a request to the court of the Southern District of New York, for a six-month freeze on any litigation in the Hamilton Reserve Bank case until Sri Lanka’s external debt restructuring is completed.

“A judgement in favour of the plaintiff before the completion of the debt restructuring process would risk disrupting the ongoing negotiations by creating an incentive for holdout creditors, thereby jeopardising the comparability of treatment between different categories of creditors,” the filing said.

It also said that the relevant principle is at the core of all sovereign debt restructuring processes, as it is key to securing the consent of all creditors, and that disruption would lead to delays in the negotiations, delaying the cash disbursement by the International Monetary Fund to the debtor country and resulting in significant costs for Sri Lanka and the official creditors’ taxpayers.

France is naturally interested in the Sri Lanka lawsuit as it hosts the so-called Paris Club, where government-to-government debts are restructured. The UK is part of the Paris Club but presumably cosigned the amicus brief because it historically oversaw the London Club, the less formal group for private creditors to negotiate with sovereign borrowers.

Last month, the Financial Times also reported that the United States (US) Government has also intervened in the matter where “the US is actively considering whether to file a Statement of Interest with respect to the pending motion to stay”.

The Hamilton Reserve Bank vs. Government of Sri Lanka case was filed in June 2022 after Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy and defaulted on $ 1 billion of this particular bond issue, of which Hamilton Reserve Bank holds $ 250 million.

Source : The Morning

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Not too long ago, “Halloween”, a contraction of the Christian holiday known as “All Hallows’ Eve,” was a time to honors dead saints. Take a look at the multi-billion-dollar enterprise, celebrated on October 31st every year, which it has evolved into, at least in North America, and you’ll find no sainted creatures – but a plethora of devils and the dead.

Not to mention the Undead (imagine Yoko Ono) which have leaked out of the hundreds upon hundreds of horror movies, many of them truly horrible horrors, since brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the first motion picture camera, projector, and film printer, all in one hand-cranked, wobbly device called the Cinématographe.

Fear sells, so right on the button  appeared Georges Méliès, a French illusionist, actor, and film director, one of the first to film fictional narratives: he made the naïve French scream in terror with the earliest horror films around: The Devil’s Manor, A Terrible Night , Swindling of a lady at the theater; the Brits, seeing how people would fork over good money to be terrified by flickering scratchy black-and-white images on a silent screen, piled in with The Haunted Castle and The Bewitched Inn, all around the Turn of the Century.

Little could they imagine of the coming horrors of aerial bombardment, gas warfare, extermination camps and nuclear weaponry, a hundred million dead  and counting – a true horror, with no fantasy required.

In most other countries that celebrate Halloween, the “Hollywood Effect”, with its costume parties, front yards festooned with tombstones, ghosts and spooky lights, has not overpowered the brains of parents and children.

The filmy curtain separating the world of the living (that means YOU, reader) from the underworld (hey dead people – stop reading this – you don’t need it) apparently thins out around the end of autumn, the harvests brought in and the departed remembered.

Weird customs: in Guatemala they crank up a Barriletes Gigante – a giant kite festival which is alleged to signal the fleeting spirits of those who have flown the coop (Deadsville). The Irish, always suspected of paganism with their leprechauns and peculiar Druid-flavored culture, celebrate Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival observed with bonfires, feasting, divination even today. Whooping it up with the Catholics are Pagans, Wiccans and other practitioners of the Occult, following the harvest and the advent of the “dark half” of the year. Dead kinfolk feeling lonely are welcomed back into their old homes – or their spirits anyway, if they manage to puncture the diaphragm isolating world-from-underworld; Irish families even set a place at the table for dead relatives at mealtime. “Eat, Drink and Be Merry, for Tomorrow You May Die!” “Wait… already dead… hey, give that food to the dog. She’s been looking at it all evening.”

Ditto for Halloween in Italy, where the custom of Ognissanti allows deceased souls to visit their living relatives – and presumably argue with them. “Where did you hide the money from the Fascists during the war? Come on – tell us, Grandma! Who dug out Uncle Pascuale’s gold teeth when they buried him?” [The spirits just snicker and roll their eyes: “You won’t need any gold or money when you come over to this side, you greedy ingrates…”]

The festive Japanese, always ready for a parade, hold Obon, a Buddhist memorial tradition honoring ancestors’ spirits with lanterns, dances, and bonfires. (Imagine a hundred million cellphones all taking snapshots at once.) The ancestors, staring and grimacing, undoubtedly disapprove of such behavior… the Japanese like to disapprove of everything…

The coolest of all is the Día de lot Muertos, or “Day of the Dead” in México and España. Kids run around with skull masks and crunch on candy skeletons. Death is everywhere, laughing, and the Mexicans are laughing along with death, as they clean and oil their shiny guns. A culture of Catholicism, melded with ancient sinister Mayan beliefs, manifest with altars, offerings, and grim costumes.

Americans do not in general care to be reminded of death. They prefer to hide it, with the stiffs prettied up with makeup and dolled up to the tune of seven thousand shekels (average) with a ceremony suspiciously like a wedding but at the “Funeral Home”.

In fact, the corporate/consumerist paradise frankly finds death an inconvenient obstacle to selling more stuff to the sheeple, which is after all their raison d’être. “To live is to consume – to die is to stop being a good consumer”.  Did Descartes say that? Or was it “I think, therefore I consume”?

Instead, the Americans make fun of death, with a billion-dollar industry pumping out Dracula costumes, Frankenstein masks, sugary treats and party favors for the kiddies and their costumed, infantilized parents, and grinning pumpkins.

The death industry is going great guns these days, with mRNA gene therapy, aka “vaccines” killing so many eager consumers that the insurance companies are screaming. How Halloween will accommodate spike proteins and “Died Suddenly” movies remains to be seen, along with the lit candles to annoy ghosts and trick-or-treating, a custom fallen into disuse as Americans have become so unfortunately fearful of one another.

It’s not the dead, or the living dead, you have to look out for – it’s the ones whose political opinions you despise. Halloween with gunfire – de rigueur in America these exciting times.

The post Hollywood Halloween, American-Style appeared first on The Victoria Post.

Matthew Perry, best known for playing Chandler Bing in the hit TV sitcom Friends, has died at 54.

Perry died in an apparent drowning at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, sources including a representative for the actor and law enforcement told NBC News. An official cause of death has yet to be released.

Warner Bros Television Group, which produced all 10 seasons of Friends from 1994 until 2004, paid tribute to “our dear friend” and “an incredibly gifted actor”.

“The impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world, and his legacy will live on in the hearts of so many. This is a heartbreaking day, and we send our love to his family, his loved ones, and all of his devoted fans,” it wrote.

After small roles in Growing Pains, Beverly Hills 90210 and Dream On, Perry scored the role of sarcastic and neurotic Chandler Bing in Friends. The comedy, about six friends living in New York City, quickly became a phenomenon, winning multiple Emmys and scoring record ratings; the 2004 finale reached more than 52 million viewers in the US, making it the most watched TV episode of the 2000s.

“People come up to me every day and say, ‘Hey Chandler!’ I don’t respond to it,” he said in a 2014 interview. “If somebody says, ‘Hi Matthew, I love your work’, that’s one thing. But if somebody goes ‘Yo, Chandler’, I don’t like that. I’m tired of it. I’m not Chandler.”

Born in Massachusetts in 1969 to an American father and a Canadian mother, Perry grew up in Canada as his mother worked as a press aide to Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. In his bestselling 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry recalled acting up after his father abandoned his family to chase his own dreams of becoming an actor – including bullying a young Justin Trudeau. “I decided to end my argument with him when he was put in charge of an entire army,” he wrote.

At 15, Perry moved to Hollywood, with the hope of reconnecting with his father. It was there he began to enjoy acting, and was eventually spotted at a diner, “charming a bunch of young women”, by director William Richert, who left a note asking him to be in his next movie, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, alongside River Phoenix.

Perry was 24 when he started playing Chandler and was relatively unknown, like his co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer; Courteney Cox was known for her role in Family Ties. In a 2019 interview, Friends co-creator David Crane said Chandler was the most difficult character to cast, with actors Craig Bierko, Jon Cryer and Jon Favreau also considered for the role.

“Marta [Kauffman, co-creator] and I were thinking Chandler is just poorly written,” added Crane. “Then Matthew came in and you went, ‘Oh, well, there you go. Done. Done. That’s the guy.’”

Perry was nominated for an Emmy award five times, once for Friends and twice for his role as lawyer Joe Quincy on The West Wing.

During his tenure on Friends, Perry starred in films including Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek, Three to Tango with Neve Campbell and The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis. He also played small roles in Ally McBeal and Scrubs.

In a 2002 interview with the New York Times, he confessed: “I wanted to be famous so badly. You want the attention, you want the bucks, and you want the best seat in the restaurant. I didn’t think what the repercussions would be.”

Perry’s personal life was blighted by addiction, starting in 1997 when he became addicted to pain medication after a jetski accident. He later claimed to not remember three years of his time on Friends and to spending over $9m on his fight to stay sober.

“I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128lbs, I was on Friends getting watched by 30 million people – and that’s why I can’t watch the show, because I was brutally thin,” he said. Perry later admitted he had suffered severe anxiety “every night” while filming the show and said he felt nothing when the show ended.

When Friends ended in 2004, Perry’s next small-screen lead was in Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which was cancelled after one season. In 2009 he starred in hit comedy 17 Again alongside Zac Efron, and later guest-starred on both The Good Wife and The Good Fight.

Perry also led one-season sitcom Go On and a remake of The Odd Couple, which lasted for three seasons. In 2016 he wrote and starred in play The End of Longing, which opened in the West End and later transferred to Broadway.

In 2019, he was put in a two-week coma when his colon exploded due to opiate abuse; he underwent 14 surgeries to repair the damage. “At this point in my life, the words of gratitude pour out of me because I should be dead, and yet somehow I am not,” he wrote in Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

The memoir was a hit with readers and critics, with the Observer’s Barbara Ellen calling it “harrowing and revealing about the juncture where extreme compound addiction collides with mega-celebrity”.

“You have to get famous to know that it’s not the answer. And nobody who is not famous will ever truly believe that,” Perry wrote.

Source: The Guardian

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In March of this year, Canada had promised it would welcome 15,000 migrants from the western hemisphere over the course of the year. On Tuesday, Miller said Canada was creating a “new humanitarian permanent residence pathway” for 11,000 migrants from three countries.

“Starting this fall, Colombian, Haitian and Venezuelan foreign nationals located in Central or South America or the Caribbean who have extended family connections in Canada will be eligible to apply for this new pathway,” Miller said in a statement.

The principal applicant, regardless of age, must be a child, grandchild, spouse, common-law partner, parent, grandparent or sibling of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. New permanent residents under this program will be offered “enhanced pre-arrival services,” which include an employment skills assessment and a referral to a settlement provider organization in their intended community.

“Global displacement of people in search of safety is at an all-time high. The Americas are seeing unprecedented numbers of migrants seeking safe haven and new opportunities, in often dangerous situations such as crossing the Darien Gap. Working closely with the US, we expect to see these measures help curb irregular migration and promote safe migration as an alternative to the often dangerous irregular routes in the Americas,” Miller said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada’s intention to welcome 15,000 migrants from the Americas on March 23, two days before the Safe Third Country Agreement was extended to apply to the entire U.S.-Canada border.

The agreement, which first came into effect in 2004 and recognizes Canada and the U.S. as safe places for migrants to seek protection, recently came under scrutiny.

Under the agreement, migrants must seek asylum in the first of the two countries they land in, making it illegal to cross the border and seek asylum in the other country. In June of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada said the agreement was constitutional and does not violate Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom — the right to life, liberty and security of a person.

Opponents of the treaty asked the top court to declare that the legislation underpinning the pact violates the right to life, liberty and security of the person, saying the U.S. is not actually safe for many asylum seekers.

The Canadian government argued to Supreme Court justices that returnees have access to fair asylum and detention processes south of the border.

The court recognized the risk that refugees face, but said there were safety valves present in the legislation.

Soon after the Supreme Court’s verdict, Gauri Sreenivasan, co–executive director at the Canadian Council for Refugees, called on the federal government to withdraw from the agreement anyway.

“The U.S. is not a safe country for refugees. And our organizations have brought overwhelming evidence that sending people who are seeking safety here back to the U.S. causes serious violation of rights. Rights that are protected both under the Canadian Charter (of Rights and Freedoms) and international law.”

Last year, Canada received 20,891 refugee claims from people who crossed the border outside of an official border crossing, federal data shows.

In the first three months of 2023, before the agreement was extended to apply to the entire border, Canada received 14,192 refugee claims from irregular border crossers.

This year’s expansion of the agreement removed unofficial crossings such as Roxham Road in Quebec as viable options for potential asylum seekers to get to Canada.

Source: Global News

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Brussels, Toronto (4/10 – 60)

The general air of frustration and resentment wafting up from Washington is a reflection of the mood of the nation – in tune with the eternal and accurate appraisal of the federal government as “out of touch” with the mood and concerns of the people.

The electorate expresses its disgust with Congress by giving it an approval rating that any executive in the business world or show biz egomaniac “celebrity” would get them ousted. All through the past  year the answer to “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job?” has hovered around 20% – with a DISapproval rating of 78%, indicating that few Americans do not hold a strong opinion on the matter.

Yet the voters keep voting the bums back in, even when they are clearly senile, incompetent or corrupt – simply because at election time the politicos can deliver “defense” or other “government” contracts, signifying jobs, to their district. A legal version of bribery – the people being bribed with their own money. If it is not a factory in their district building bombs, then it is another federal pork-barrel gush of money – even when it clearly does not contribute to the common good of the nation. How about a submarine base in … Oklahoma?

It is eerie to reflect on the similarities of the US Congress and the Roman Senate during the era of the Empire’s long decline (200AD onwards): the senators rich yet fearful, quarreling and conspiring with little regard for the “majesty of the law”. Candidates owning little more than a home and small business ending up as multi-millionaires a couple of terms after “serving” in Congress. True power residing in the “Administrative State” (aka “Deep State”) – unelected bureaucrats, a counterpart of the Prætorian Guard. The borders of the Empire crumbling, in a cascade of unwinnable wars; an invasion of hungry, resentful, alien barbarians; the coin of the realm debased (US$ 31 trillion and counting in national debt – the government can’t even pay interest on it at the moment). The masses placated with bread and circuses (NASCAR, NFL, internet pornography, drugs and junk food) but bewildered, jobless and aimless. A nation drifting.

The latest sacrificial victim in an intensely unhappy and fearful Congress is California Republican Kevin McCarthy who, if you recall from some months back, really, really, really wanted the job of “Speaker of the House”. Now, for the first time in history, a Speaker has been bounced – mostly by Democrats but with the support of seven so-called “conservative” Republicans. Kevin has failed to fulfill impossible expectations.

The two-party system is clearly not working, and the ouster of McCarthy, after fierce quarreling distracted the lawmakers from making laws to solve problems, is an example of how the “Uniparty” that the US Government has become is turning on its own, like a mad dog biting itself. The glorious campaign for victory in Ukraine (a corrupt money-sinkhole that has historically been one of the world’s big losers) is going badly. Russia, the last standing opposition to the “full-spectrum global dominance” of the Pentagon, is not collapsing. The People’s Republic of China is not being obedient and subservient, in spite of the swarm of military threats displayed against it in the South China Sea. The USA talks tough to China, but imports 80%+ of its antibiotics medications from that “trading partner” (along with most every other manufactured item), so good luck with that plan.

Even Europe is unhappy, strangely enough, with the lifeblood of cheap energy from Russia handily clipped off (nobody is fooled about the ones who destroyed the Nordstream pipeline, with losses in the billions to German and other investors). The third world is finally presented with a credible commercial alternative, in BRICS+, although that tempting offer may eventually degenerate into “frying-pan-into-fire”. 

The last time there was a vote on a motion to dethrone a Speaker was in 1910; it was unsuccessful. Now, by House rule, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has been declared “Speaker pro tempore”, to serve until the election of a new speaker. The House is in recess, licking its wounds.

McCarthy had plenty of vigorous support before the fatal vote. Rep Tom Cole (R-Okla.) led the debate in favor of Mr. McCarthy, saying, “Whether or not we agree on the speaker, he did the right thing. He did the right thing … for this institution. He showed it could function in a time of crisis. And finally, I think he did the right thing for our party.

“He made sure that we can continue to negotiate and achieve [conservative victories] in a divided government, which calls for some degree of ‘give and take’. So I’m very proud of this speaker. I’m very proud to stand behind him.”

A number of Republicans argued passionately in favor of Mr. McCarthy, affirming his character and leadership and asserting that he has greatly improved the transparency in the way the House operates. [Refer to “approval rating” as delineated above.] 

Others urged caution in rushing to remove the speaker, warning it would plunge the House into chaos when it desperately needs to focus of completing the appropriations process.

“Speaker McCarthy has been leading at the top level to make sure that we have the tools to do our jobs in a different way than the House has done it before,” Mr. Scalise added, urging members to stay focused on their mission.

At the conclusion of the debate, the vote was taken by calling the roll. That did the job on the Californian.

Quo Vadis, USA? Look at all those little, insignificant countries of Africa, Asia and Latinoamerica – they fear you no longer. And you don’t have the same bag of candy to bribe them with, so why should they play along with you?

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Police have not named the victim, but speaking at a news conference, Det Sgt Terry Browne of Toronto’s homicide unit said the man had recently moved into the city’s homeless shelter system.

“He does have a very supportive family in the area so I wouldn’t necessarily call him homeless, maybe just recently on some hard luck,” Browne said.

Browne said officers responded to a call in the downtown core around midnight on 18 December after bystanders flagged down paramedics to report a man suffering from “stab wounds”.

Police say the girls are believed to have assaulted and stabbed the victim following an altercation. The man was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries but died a short time later.

Officers arrested the girls nearby after interviewing witnesses, recovering a number of weapons at the scene. None of the suspects can be identified under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Browne said investigators believe those involved in the attack met on social media and came from various parts of the city, but said it was still unclear why they met that evening.

“I wouldn’t describe them as a gang at this point but what [is] alleged to have occurred that evening would be consistent with what we traditionally call a swarming,” said Browne.

Three of the suspects have had previous “contact” with police, said Brown, and the other five had no prior interactions with police.

The suspects appeared in court on Sunday and are due again in court on 29 December.

Source : The Guardian

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