Friday, February 7, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

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Canada’s population growing at record pace

Published 23 December 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Toronto, Canada.

Canada’s population will increase by 430,000 by 2023, the fastest population growth since 1957. The increase is effectively made up of immigration into the country.

In the latest Statistics Canada census, released on October 1 this year, the country’s population stood at 40.5 million people. Population growth in the first nine months of 2023 has already surpassed the total growth of any other full year, including the record set in 2022, reports state broadcaster CBC.

The increase is effectively a result of immigration, with 313,000 people immigrating to Canada between July and September this year alone. According to Statistics Canada, most of these are people with work and study permits, and a smaller number are refugees.

Experts have previously warned that the surge in population growth could, among other things, lead to higher prices in the housing market, as the country has struggled to accelerate housing construction.

A poll by Leger, Canada’s largest market research and analysis firm, found that the proportion of Canadians who say they want to welcome more immigrants than before fell from 17% in March 2022 to 9% in November 2023. In addition, about three-quarters of respondents felt that the increase in the number of immigrants has put pressure on both the housing market and the health care system.

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Trump sanctions ICC after arrest warrant for Netanyahu

Donald Trump's USA

Published today 14:16
– By Editorial Staff
Trump and Netanyahu during a previous meeting in Washington.

In November, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant – both accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Now Donald Trump is responding with sanctions – but not against the Israeli war criminals, but against the court that allegedly threatens the US and its allies.

I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, find that the International Criminal Court (ICC), as established by the Rome Statute, has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”, the President writes in his decree.

The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant”, it further claims.

Trump is careful to point out that the ICC has no jurisdiction over either the US or Israel because neither country has ratified the Rome Statute, is a member of the ICC or has recognized the court.

Both nations are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war”, the presidential order continues.

“Significant consequences”

It can be noted that Trump’s move comes in the context of Netanyahu’s visit to the US President in Washington, where the two also unveiled the plan to turn Gaza into American territory and permanently displace the entire Palestinian population.

According to Trump, the ICC’s actions against Israel and the US “set a dangerous precedent” and “undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States Government and our allies, including Israel”.

The United States will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members, as their entry into our Nation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States”, he continued.

“Final solution”

According to local authorities, nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli invasion – the majority of them women and children. Many more have been injured or are reported missing and a majority of the territory’s population is now internally displaced.

Trump’s continued close alliance with Israel and the ethnic cleansing of Gaza is also facing harsh criticism, including from American journalist Max Blumenthal, who argues that the American people hardly benefit from funding or participating in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians:

Now, Trump has vowed to carry out the Final Solution on Israel’s behalf, and possibly with US troops. Israelis love his genocidal energy, with 80% telling the Jerusalem Post they favor Trump’s plan, and only 13% declaring it ‘immoral’. Average Americans might be less enthusiastic about embarking on a foreign ethnic cleansing adventure, but as this episode makes undeniably clear, they are not the ones who determine their government’s policy when it comes to the ‘Jewish and democratic’ state“.

Argentina leaves the WHO

Published today 11:47
– By Editorial Staff
President of Argentina, Javier Milei (stock image 2023).

The President of Argentina, Javier Milei, has decided to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). The decision comes shortly after US President Donald Trump announced that the US has also started the process of leaving the organization.

According to Milei, the decision is due to deep disagreements on health issues.

Javier Milei has announced that he has instructed his Foreign Minister, Gerardo Werhin, to begin the process of withdrawal from the WHO and the decision was presented through a decree signed on February 5, 2025, La Nacion reports.

The Argentine president believes that the decision is based on deep disagreements between the country’s own health policy versus WHO guidelines, especially in the context of the coronavirus crisis. Milei, known for his libertarian and market liberal positions, further accuses the organization of being “an instrument of leftist ideology”, and not focusing on core medical issues.

 

The Argentine government has declared that it intends to follow formal procedures for an organized withdrawal. This process, assuming it goes smoothly, is expected to take between six and twelve months.

The decision means that Argentina formally ends its membership of an organization it has been affiliated with since 1948. The Mileis administration believes that the country can address international health challenges through bilateral agreements.

Following in the footsteps of the US

US President Donald Trump has also announced that the US plans to leave the WHO. Trump’s decision is partly based on what he sees as the deep injustice of the US paying too much to the WHO compared to China.

However, this is not the first time Trump has made such a decision. During his previous term, he initiated a similar process, which was later withdrawn by Joe Biden when he took office in 2021.

At the time of writing, neither the WHO nor Milei have made any official comment on the pledge.

Trump may shut down US aid agency

Donald Trump's USA

Published today 7:58
– By Editorial Staff
According to Elon Musk, Trump agrees that the aid agency cannot be saved.

The much-criticized US aid and development agency USAID may soon be shut down, according to Elon Musk, who heads the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

In an official statement, the White House also points out that the agency is deeply dysfunctional, and that US taxpayers’ money has been wasted on LGBTQ propaganda for children in other countries, funding of terrorists in the Middle East, and financial support for an organization that has been engaged in experimental virus research at the infamous Wuhan laboratory.

Trump’s negative attitude towards the agency has been well known for a long time, and he has declared that it is “time for it to die”.

Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), says the President is of the same opinion and “agrees that we should shut it down”.

It became apparent that its not an apple with a worm it in. What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair. We’re shutting it down.

Did you know that USAID, using your tax dollars, funded research on bioweapons, including covid-19, that killed millions of people?” he writes in a post on his own platform X.

“Malicious projects”

The White House seems to share the view that it is time for the agency to “die”. A press release states that for decades the agency has “has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous – and, in many cases, malicious – pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight” and that those responsible have never been held accountable for their actions.

It also lists the following examples of “waste and abuse” and emphasizes that this is only a small part of the agency’s destructive activities:

  • $1.5 million to “promote diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business community”
  • $70,000 for the production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
  • $2.5 million for electric vehicles in Vietnam
  • $47,000 for a “trans opera” in Colombia
  • $32,000 for a “transgender newspaper” in Peru
  • $2 million for gender reassignment and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
  • $6 million dollars to fund tourism in Egypt
  • Hundreds of thousands of dollars to a nonprofit with ties to terrorist-labeled organizations – even after an inspector general launched an investigation
  • Millions to EcoHealth Alliance which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
  • Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al-Qaeda affiliated fighters in Syria
  • Funding to prescribe “personalized” contraceptives in developing countries
  • Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan”, which benefits the Taliban.

The list could literally go on and on – and all this has been going on for decades. Under President Trump, the waste, fraud, and abuse will end immediately”, the White House communique concludes.

The agency has also been accused of funneling money to suspicious lobby groups and foundations, where it is often unclear where the money has actually ended up. It is also alleged to have funded CIA-linked organizations and projects engaged in subversion in other countries to further US geopolitical interests.

Google shuts down its DEI program

Published yesterday 17:46
– By Editorial Staff
Google had a supportive stance towards the violent black power movement BLM.

Google has decided to end its Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) programs in the recruitment process. The decision means that the company will no longer have specific targets for hiring people from “underrepresented groups”. This is according to an internal memo to employees, written by Google’s HR manager Fiona Cicconi, which The Verge has seen.

In the memo, Cicconi explains that the decision is a consequence of Google’s status as a federal contractor and is influenced by “court decisions and presidential orders in the US” relating to the subject. She also mentions that the company is now “carefully evaluating” other DEI initiatives that may involve “risk” or “aren’t as impactful as we’d hoped”.

However, a Google spokesperson, Chloe Cooper, emphasizes to The Verge that the company remains “committed to creating a workplace where all our employees can succeed and have equal opportunities”. She adds that over the past year, the company has been reviewing its programs to ensure they are achieving these goals.

The decision to end DEI targets comes after Google in 2020, during the height of the violent Black Lives Matter movement, publicly pledged to increase the percentage of leaders from “underrepresented groups” by 30 percent – a goal that was achieved by 2022. But now, as dismantling DEI programs has become a priority for the Trump administration, Google is choosing to change course.

Google is not alone in this change. The company is following in the footsteps of other tech giants such as Meta and Amazon, which have also cut back on their “diversity initiatives”. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has also removed a previous line of text in its annual reports, in which the company assured that diversity was “part of everything” it does. This line has been there since 2021.

In the internal memo, Cicconi stresses that the decision is part of an annual policy review and that the company continues to strive for an inclusive workplace, although some programs are now being phased out.