A Post For It Is Monday

Check out The Fur. You know you want to.




What's going on today?


Oh, yes. Fraud:

An investigation published by an international coalition of more than 100 media outlets, based on 11.5 million records of offshore holdings, details how politicians, celebrities and other famous people use banks, law firms and offshore shell companies to hide their assets. ...

Companies or trusts can be set up in offshore locations for legitimate uses such as business finance, mergers and acquisitions and estate or tax planning, according to the global money laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force. ...

Shell companies and other entities can be misused by terrorists and others involved in international and financial crimes to conceal sources of funds and ownership. The ICIJ says the files from Mossack Fonseca include information on 214,488 offshore entities linked to 14,153 clients in 200 countries and territories.

**

The Panama Papers, a massive report that claims to document shady business dealings by a who’s who of the global elite, landed in China on a national holiday, presenting the authorities with an interesting, probably vexing, question: How to scrub the web of the juicy-but-as-yet-unconfirmed charges against politically connected Chinese?  ...

One of the people mentioned in the report is Deng Jiagui, the brother-in-law of China’s current president, Xi Jinping. Another is Li Xiaolin, the tycoon daughter of China’s former premier, Li Peng. It lists Hong Kong as a source of key “active intermediaries” in the secretive work. ...

China’s ruling Communist Party does not like to discuss the wealth of its leaders, or their families, especially as it wages an aggressive, if selective, anti-corruption campaign.

 
What seems to be overlooked by some is not the legality of what these powerful tax dodgers have done but their entire attitude and their false characterisation. How many corporations create not paying jobs in First World countries but slave labour jobs? Do all wealthy people offer patronage to museums or do a sizeable and influential chunk of them back politicians and causes that hurt the working and middle-classes that the affluent demand "pay their fair share"? Does one mean to tell me that the Chinese Communist party, Mark Zuckerberg, Cecile Richards and Tom Steyer are being unfairly battered here?




Of course! It is never the fault of the guy in office!

Albertans can blame the previous Tory government for increased transmission costs on their power bills, says the premier.

Rachel Notley pointed the finger at Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative government for overbuilding Alberta’s power grid, but didn’t explain how her NDP government plans to address the problem.

Ontario Liberals step back from plan that would have raised drug costs for their hosts senior citizens:

Ontario’s Liberal government is backtracking on changes announced in its recent budget that would have increased drug costs for most seniors.

The government proposed in the budget to raise the Ontario Drug Benefit low-income threshold for single seniors from $16,018 to $19,300.

It said seniors below the threshold would no longer have to pay any deductible, but seniors above that threshold would have their deductible increased from $100 to $170.

Following an outcry from seniors’ groups and opposition politicians, the premier said her government would reconsider that threshold.

Rob Ford died March 22nd:

Rob Ford’s family vowed on Monday to reimburse city hall for the former Toronto mayor’s funeral and memorial.

In a statement, the family said they would cover the “full costs” of the event — which saw Ford’s casket lie at city hall for a two-day public visitation before a procession to St. James Cathedral for the funeral last Wednesday. 

To this date, there is no record of any reimbursement for the massive $368,326 funeral for Jack Layton (along with the many, many costs the Laytons put on the taxpayers).





This land is my land, your land is my land:

The chief of Fort Resolution says he's not going to stop developing two parcels of land owned by the Roman Catholic diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories — despite orders from the diocese.

That's funny coming from nomadic people who have no proof of ownership of anything. They certainly know what they think is theirs.





Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto and Mao's Great Leap Forward are responsible for millions of deaths:

Backers of the radical "Leap Manifesto" have come up with a two-step plan aimed at getting federal New Democrats to end their flirtation with mainstream moderation and sign on to a more left-wing agenda.

The manifesto calls for dramatic change, urging a swift transition away from fossil fuels, a rejection of new pipelines, and an upending of the capitalist system on which the economy is based.

Leading left-wing thinkers released the creed in September in the middle of the election campaign, jolting NDP Leader Tom Mulcair as he attempted to convince Canadians that his party was a safe, moderate alternative to the Conservatives.

Now, as Mulcair's leadership is up for debate and the party questions its own identity and direction, key New Democrats are pushing the Leap Manifesto principles into the mix.

Maybe the NDP aren't good at hiding what they really think.


Also: pansies will never be happy even if you helped them get back at their dads:

At this point, conservatives aren’t so much on the ropes as out through them, lying dazed in the aisle. Do victorious progressives plan to build something new and splendid now that knocking out the pillars has brought down the roof?

Or have we reached nirvana to find no there there, just bitter punks howling in a wasteland of smouldering old jeans and studded leather?

Why stop there?

The first migrants deported from Greek islands under a disputed EU-Turkey deal were shipped back to Turkey on Monday in a drive to shut down the main route used by more than a million people fleeing war and poverty to reach Europe in the last year.

This SOB was given a hero's funeral in Russia:

The notorious British spy Kim Philby is shown in newly uncovered footage addressing East German spies about his life as a double agent secretly helping the Soviet Union.

And now, are you unsure what to celebrate in April? Well, now you know!

APRIL 22: NATIONAL JELLY BEAN DAY

Unclear why this offbeat holiday doesn't fall closer to Easter, or on Ronald Reagan's birthday, but no matter. When you grab a handful to celebrate this year, just make sure you don't get "BeanBoozled."

What religion do these felines adhere to? Could they be roamin cat-o-lic?