Historic church, artwork 'completely destroyed' in blaze: fire chief

No reports of injuries at fire inside Toronto church housing Group of Seven artworks (It’s called the Trudeau and Macron Effect)

CBC News · Posted: Jun 09, 2024 9:14 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 hours ago

A historic church in Toronto's west end has been "completely destroyed," along with the artifacts it housed, says the city's fire chief, as firefighters remained on scene overnight Sunday to monitor the situation. Toronto Fire said crews received report of a fire inside St. Anne's Anglican Church, on Gladstone Avenue near Dundas Street West, just before 8 a.m.Firefighters stayed at the scene overnight at the church for fire watch, to assess hot spots and check what's left under the rubble.

Toronto Fire said the Ontario Fire Marshal and Toronto police are expected to be back at the church Monday to investigate."The fire has not been deemed criminal in nature yet," it said. Deputy Fire Chief Jim Jessop said the building is "completely destroyed" as are all the artifacts inside."This is a devastating loss for the community," Jessop told reporters at the scene.

Toronto police have set up an online portal where the public can submit any photos or videos that may help assist investigators. It can be found here. Gladstone Avenue is closed between College and Dundas streets as crews work to bring the blaze under control. Police are advising motorists and pedestrians to use alternate routes. Rev. Don Beyers, a parish priest at the church, says the congregation is "greatly devastated," to learn about the fire damage.

"I'm crushed, I feel for my people. You can't imagine what this is like for a church community to come on Sunday morning to find that everything you worked so hard for and done so much for [is] gone in the matter of an hour," Beyers said outside the building Sunday. "Despite this terrible tragedy and loss, we as a church will continue on," he said.

Residents devastated, artwork destroyed

The church, built in 1907-1908 in the city's Little Portugal neighbourhood, houses early paintings by three Group of Seven artists that were installed in the church in the 1920s. The murals decorated the chancel and the dome, which was destroyed by the blaze.Beyers said the "invaluable" works were lost to the flames."The artwork was priceless. It was murals, beautiful murals," he said. "They were stunning. "This was the only church that featured artwork by members of the Group of Seven. And I'm sorry to say that's been lost, from what I can see."

The church was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1996. In 1980, the City of Toronto also designated the church under the Ontario Heritage Act. The St. Anne's website said the church in 1923 commissioned founding Group of Seven member J.E.H. MacDonald to oversee designs depicting the life of Christ on the building's interior. MacDonald then signed on nine other artists, including Franklin Carmichael and Frederick Varley.

Toronto Fire Services spokesperson Deepak Chagger confirmed the loss, saying there's no indication that anything was saved at this point. Coun. Alejandra Bravo, who represents the ward where the building sits, said residents are expressing "tremendous" grief over the destruction of a space that offered critical community support."This is much more than just a building. This is a place that has provided support, a home, love, brought people from the community together," she said.

'Real mystery' how fire started: priest

Jessop said the fire was deep-seated when crews first arrived at the scene Sunday morning. As flames began to shoot through the roof, firefighters pulled out due to the risk it would collapse. Crews extinguished the main body of the fire by mid-morning, Jessop said. "Nobody was here, the church was locked, secure, all the lights were off," Beyers said, adding that he is often the first person there in the mornings. "It's a real mystery to us how this even happened."

Police said they received reports of windows breaking and heavy smoke coming from the building. Water towers and crews were set up for exterior firefighting operations, they said earlier Sunday morning. A four-alarm fire has largely destroyed the historic St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood. The flames also destroyed valuable paintings inside, including the only known religious artwork made by the Group of Seven.

Adjoining homes were evacuated as a safety precaution and have been protected from the blaze, Jessop said.There are no reports of occupants inside the church or injuries.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-fire-church-dufferin-dundas-street-west-1.7229569

10 Jun, 2024 13:26

Russia ready to strike NATO airfields hosting Ukrainian jets – MP

The head of Kiev’s air force, Sergey Golubtsov, previously stated that some F-16s donated to his country will be based abroad

F-16 fighter jets and any airfields they are based at will be legitimate targets for the Russian military if they participate in combat missions against Moscow’s forces, the chairman of the Russian State Duma Defense Committee, Andrey Kartapolov, has warned.

The comments come as Kiev prepares to receive the first delivery of US-made fighter jets from its Western backers, after Ukrainian pilots were trained to fly them.

In a statement to RIA Novosti published on Monday,Kartapolov clarified that if the F-16s “are not used for their intended purpose” or are simply held in storage at foreign airbaseswith the intent to transfer them to Ukraine, where they will be equipped, maintained, and flown from Ukrainian airfields, then Russia would have no claims against its “former partners” and would not target them.

However, if the jets take off from foreign bases and carry out sorties and strikes against Russian forces, both the fighter planes and the airfields they are stationed at will be “legitimate targets,” according to Kartapolov.

“As for [our ability] to shoot [them] down, we can shoot down anyone, anywhere,”the MP insisted.

Kartapolov’s statement comes after the chief of aviation of Ukraine’s Air Force Command, Sergey Golubtsov, stated in an interview with Radio Liberty on Sunday that some of the F-16 fighter jets donated to Kiev by the West would be stationed at foreign airbases.

He explained that only a portion of the jets would be stationed directly on Ukrainian territory, corresponding to the number of pilots trained to operate the aircraft. The other jets would be kept in reserve at “safe airbases” abroad so that they are not targeted by the Russian military.

Golubtsov stated that so far four countries have agreed to transfer F-16s to Ukraine, namely Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands. While he did not specify exactly how many aircraft would be donated, he claimed it was between 30 and 40 planes, with potentially more to come in the future.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also warned that Moscow would perceive the deliveries of F-16 fighters to Ukraine as a nuclear threat, given that the jets have long been used as part of the US-led bloc’s joint nuclear missions.

At the same time, the minister stressed that the US-designed jets would not change the situation on the battlefield, and would be shot down and destroyed like any other foreign weapons supplied to Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/russia/599085-russia-strike-nato-airfields-f16/

10 Jun, 2024 13:28

Slava EUkraini: Zelensky drives the EU anti-establishment to massive gains

The right wing’s gains in the European elections are a logical pushback against leaders that care more for Kiev than their own citizens1/2Rachel Marsden

Hey, are we sure that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky isn’t a Kremlin stooge?Because he just managed to accomplish exactly what European elites are constantly accusing the Kremlin of trying to do – getting the so-called far-right elected in a bloc-wide surge in the European parliament. Although it was really just a vote for anti-establishment populists. (Zelensky helped Macron loose, like he's lost multiple times)

Arguably, nowhere were the results of Zelensky’s efforts more obvious than in France, where Macron’s establishment party took the biggest electoral beating, against Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party, whose candidate list was headed up for the EU vote by Jordan Bardella. The 28-year-old grew up in the Parisian suburb of Saint Denis, which now stands as a shining example of how establishment policies can transform a real life place into something out of a ‘Grand Theft Auto’ video game. Thanks to Zelensky, no one in charge cares though, because Saint Denis isn’t in Ukraine.

It didn’t take French President Emmanuel Macron walking around the Élysée Palace in a Zelensky-style hoodie to telegraph his priorities, though he did it anyway for anyone who may not be well-versed in jackhammer-grade subtlety. And now for the ‘pièce de résistance’ – or final death-blow, depending on how you look at it. On the last day in the French parliament before the European parliamentary elections, Macron invited Zelensky to monopolize the floor of the National Assembly. So forget any debate about all the damage that Macron’s policies have done to France. Zelensky was there to speak, totally unopposed, about his own needs and those of Ukraine, which isn’t actually in the EU, even though Europeans are paying for it like it is.

Hear that, French voters? The ‘President Emeritus’ of Ukraine says Macron is awesome.He can’t be bothered to renew his own now-expired democratic legitimacy through an election of his own, and fresh off from hanging out with the Western elites on the Normandy landing beaches, celebrating the nonexistent Ukrainian regiment that we’re probably now supposed to believe stormed the beaches alongside its Western allies (the one that wasn’t working with the Nazis, like the one that Zelensky cheered in the Canadian parliament last year), and telling you all how great you should feel about what Macron is doing – “for Ukraine.” Excuse us, sir, but this is a Wendy’s! Or rather an election that has nothing to do with you. But Macron and his establishment cronies insisted on letting Zelensky’s foreign interests walk right in and place their order, hijacking the final stretch of the election campaign.

In contrast, Macron’s office had said that “the conditions weren’t reunited” for Russia to be involved – not even in anything to do with French parliament, mind you, but just in D-Day commemorations that same week. If the Soviet Union and the Red Army had said the same during World War II – that the conditions weren’t ‘reunited’ for their involvement on the side of the allies – then Macron, as president of France, would probably be issuing his official statements in German right now.

Zelensky’s 11th-hour appearance was another establishment-sponsored smokescreen to mask reality for the French people with pure ideology. It was one final insult to votersbefore they had the opportunity to make themselves heard. Just the last of many insults that are now far too numerous to count. But frankly, voters didn’t even need this particular last straw.

https://www.rt.com/news/599077-european-elections-zelensky-kiev/

>>20998946

2/2

Where to even start? Perhaps with the most obvious price that French and European voters are paying – the one that impacts every single day of their lives. The cost of everything has skyrocketed with no end in sight, all because Brussels decided that the special interests of European and American elites in Ukraine superseded those of the average person’s ability to make ends meet. So out went cheap Russian gas in favor of pricier American fuel, and in came cheap and duty-free Ukrainian farm products that effectively decimated the revenues of European farmers already struggling with EU climate change diktats and spy satellites to ensure their paperwork compliance.

“For Ukraine,” a bloc-wide censorship regime was also implemented. Not only for Russian media platforms offering information and analysis typically marginalized by the ideological handmaidens of the mainstream establishment French press, where freedom of expression has objectively declined recently, according to a recent NGO report – but demands were also made of online platforms, such as Rumble, that refused to censor content from those same Russian outlets. The new Berlin Wall was being built around Europe online.

Then, as Zelensky demanded that his guys on the battlefield be allowed to use their Western weapons to hit Russia, Macron went over to Germany and held up a little sheet of paper with a map on it, as if that would convince both German and French voters to let Zelensky off the leash at the risk of dragging Western citizens into an escalating conflict as he sees fit. Like backup singers, Western leaders started singing a tune of mobilization, which has gone over about as well as one might expect.

Von der Leyen proposes ‘vaccines’ for minds and a ‘shield’ for democracy

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Zelensky’s demands, and Macron’s catering to them, has even freaked out some of the French establishment. Take Macron’s idea of sending French ‘trainers’ into Ukraine, which makes it sound like they’d just be going over there to teach the guys shoved into vans on the streets of Kiev how to fight Russians by perfecting their air squats and kettlebell swings.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s former adviser, Henri Guaino, knows exactly what sending ‘instructors’ means. He pointed out in a TV discussion that the Vietnam War started with a handful of American ‘instructors’. Yeah, and that turned out so well for Washington that it’s now virtually synonymous with failure.

The gist of Guaino’s comment is that it’s fine for the president to authorize troops on specific missions like a hostage rescue or something, but if this ruse is going to drag France into a war, which it risks doing, then there really should be a national debate and a vote on it. Well, the French people just voted. And before heading to the polls, 38% of them said that sending Macron a message with their vote was their top priority, according to an Ipsos poll, even though Macron wasn’t even running for anything himself. Mission accomplie!

Macron didn’t waste time after the electoral rout in announcing a double-or-nothing bet, calling a national election for the end of June to see if voters really meant it. Maybe he can invite Zelensky back again for that campaign, too. Not that he even needs to when the French, and Europeans in general, are apparently acutely aware of the role of Ukrainian influence, and the complicity of establishment elites, in destroying their countries and their lives.

https://www.rt.com/news/599077-european-elections-zelensky-kiev/

10 Jun, 2024 11:43

Scholz and Macron belong to ‘ash heap of history’ – Medvedev

The German and French leaders should retire after suffering damaging EU election defeats, the former Russian president has argued

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron should abandon politics after their respective parties suffered damaging setbacks in the European Parliament elections, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes.

Scholz’s center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) is projected to finish third in the key ballot, behind the center-right Christian Democrats and the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Macron’s Besoin d’Europe coalition is expected to win less than half of the votes received by the right-wing National Rally party associated with Marine Le Pen, prompting the French president to call a snap parliamentary election after preliminary results emerged on Sunday.

In a social media post on Monday, Medvedev claimed the outcome proves that Scholz and Macron are “respected by no one.” The former Russian leader linked thepoor performance at the ballot box with the “idiotic economic and migration policy”pursued by the two leaders andtheir support for Ukraine “at the cost of [their] own citizens.”

“Time to retire. To the ash heap of history!” said Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, earlier called onScholz and Macron to resign and to “stop victimizing the citizens of their states.”

Officials in Moscow have accused leaders of EU nations of betraying the interests of their populations in favor of US geopolitical goals. Responding to the Ukraine crisis in 2022, the bloc vowed to support Kiev militarily for “as long as it takes,” and imposed an array of economic sanctions against Russia. Most notably, Brussels has pushed EU countries to stop buying Russian natural gas.

Large consumers such as Germany have struggled to substitute cheap Russian pipeline fuel with other sources, including renewables and expensive liquified natural gas. American LNG producers have since taken over a large share of the European market. A hike in energy prices has forced many energy-intensive businesses to either move out of the EU or shut down entirely.

https://www.rt.com/russia/599076-medvedev-scholz-macron-retire/

(Both Macron and Scholz also covered and lied for the US and UK manipulating Zelensky to not sign the Peace plan; they held off Putin, saying Zelensky are still working on Peace plan, butthey can’t finish without Russia withdrawal troops from around Kiev, that is when Zelensky canned the peace talks and went to war.Don't forget Scholz ok'd the Nord Stream pipelines being blown up, he was standing next to Bidan the day he said "it will go away")

10 Jun, 2024 10:23

Ukraine is a ‘gold mine’ – US senator (Evil & Greedy War Monger Lindsey Graham)

Allowing a Russian victory in the conflict would deprive America of access to vast mineral resources, Lindsey Graham says

Washington “cannot afford” to allow Russia to achieve victory in the Ukraine conflict as thiswould mean losing direct access to vast mineral assets, US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has said. (He’s ok with killing 500,000+ Ukrainians so the US and EU can make money on minerals, was this what the war was all about?)

In an interview with ‘Face the Nation’ on CBS on Sunday, Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being a “megalomaniac” who is attempting to “re-create the Russian Empire by force of arms,” starting with Ukraine. He further claimed that if Moscow wins the current conflict, it will then take over Ukraine’s wealth and share it with China. Graham described that prospect as “ridiculous,” suggesting it would be better if this “gold mine” were available to the US instead. (Russia has no need for the minerals, this is an insane lie.)

“They’re sitting on 10 to $12 trillion of critical minerals in Ukraine. They could be the richest country in all of Europe… If we help Ukraine now, they can become the best business partner we ever dreamed of, that $10 to $12 trillion of critical mineral assets could be used by Ukraine and the West, not given to Putin and China,” Graham stated.

This is a very big deal how Ukraine ends. Let’s help them win a war we can’t afford to lose… They’re sitting on agold mine. To give Putin $10 or $12 trillion for critical minerals that he will share with China is ridiculous.

Graham, a longtime Russia hawk and one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine in the US Senate, also called on the West to speed up the seizure of $300 billion in frozen Russian sovereign assets. He reiterated his demands for Russia to be designated “a state sponsor of terrorism” under US law, a suggestion which earlier this year landed the senator on Moscow’s list of extremists and terrorists.

One day prior to Graham’s remarks, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban argued that the West wants Kiev to win the conflict with Russia so that it can control Ukraine’s wealth. In an interview with Hir TV, Orban accused the US and its allies of seeing Ukraine as a potentially huge source of revenue which they will be able to control, provided Russia is defeated. He also said the conflict is a major boost for Western “arms suppliers, creditors, and speculators,” arguing that this is the reason it has dragged on for so long.

Moscow has repeatedly stated throughout the conflict that its goals are to protect the largely Russian-speaking population of Donbass against persecution by Kiev, and to ensure Russia’s own securityin light of NATO expansion toward its borders.Moscow has never spoken of any intention to take over Ukraine’s resources, but has repeatedly stressed that the former Ukrainian regions which have chosen to join Russia, including Crimea, must remain under its control.

https://www.rt.com/news/599068-ukraine-gold-mine-us/

(This should make every American and European Citizen mad as hell, it was never about saving Ukraine, it was always about GREED)

https://www.rt.com/news/599068-ukraine-gold-mine-us/

>>20999454

10 Jun, 2024 10:23

Ukraine is a ‘gold mine’ – US senator (Evil & Greedy War Monger Lindsey Graham)

Allowing a Russian victory in the conflict would deprive America of access to vast mineral resources, Lindsey Graham says

Washington “cannot afford” to allow Russia to achieve victory in the Ukraine conflict as thiswould mean losing direct access to vast mineral assets, US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has said.

(He’s ok with killing 500,000+ Ukrainiansso the US and EU can make money on minerals, was this what the war was all about?)

In an interview with ‘Face the Nation’ on CBS on Sunday, Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being a “megalomaniac” who is attempting to “re-create the Russian Empire by force of arms,” starting with Ukraine.

He further claimed that if Moscow wins the current conflict, it will then take over Ukraine’s wealth and share it with China. Graham described that prospect as “ridiculous,” suggesting it would be better if this “gold mine” were available to the US instead. (Russia has no need for the minerals, this is an insane lie.)

“They’re sitting on 10 to $12 trillion of critical minerals in Ukraine.

They could be the richest country in all of Europe… If we help Ukraine now, they can become thebest business partner we ever dreamed of, that $10 to $12 trillion of critical mineral assetscould be used by Ukraine and the West, not given to Putin and China,” Graham stated.

This is a very big deal how Ukraine ends.Let’s help them win a war we can’t afford to lose…

They’re sitting on agold mine. To give Putin $10 or $12 trillion for critical minerals that he will share with China is ridiculous.

Graham, a longtime Russia hawk and one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine in the US Senate, also called on the West to speed up the seizure of $300 billion in frozen Russian sovereign assets.

He reiterated his demands for Russia to be designated “a state sponsor of terrorism” under US law, a suggestion which earlier this year landed the senator on Moscow’s list of extremists and terrorists.

One day prior to Graham’s remarks, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban argued that theWest wants Kiev to win the conflict with Russia so that it can control Ukraine’s wealth. (This makes no sense, Kiev only controls the wealth, those few regions they've fought over cannot have the only minerals)

In an interview with Hir TV, Orban accused the US and its allies of seeingUkraine as a potentially huge source of revenuewhich they will be able to control, provided Russia is defeated.

He also said theconflict is a major boost for Western “arms suppliers, creditors, and speculators,” arguing that this is the reason it has dragged on for so long.

Moscow has repeatedly stated throughout the conflict that its goals are to protect the largely Russian-speaking populationof Donbass against persecution by Kiev, and to ensure Russia’s own security in light of NATO expansion toward its borders.

Moscow has never spoken of any intention to take over Ukraine’s resources, but has repeatedly stressed that the former Ukrainian regions which have chosen to join Russia, including Crimea, must remain under its control.

https://www.rt.com/news/599068-ukraine-gold-mine-us/

(Graham needs to be voted out of Senate ASAP, they fucking lied about this war forever)