As the World Cup approaches, Sotheby’s is set to auction Pele’s jersey

The Brazilian election

“Flávio Bolsonaro is Trump’s candidate and what Trump wants is to colonize Brazil, take our riches, steal our future and leave us in the dust,” claims the latest video released by President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva’s re-election campaign. The weird thing is about half of Brazil’s voters would be okay with Trump running the country (through Bolsonaro).

Nobody in Brazil thinks that Flávio Bolsonaro is his own man. He is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, the hard right ex-soldier and former president who tried a coup after he lost the 2022 election. It was even clumsier and more half-hearted than Trump’s brief excursion in sedition after he lost the U.S. 2020 election — but Jair Bolsonaro went to jail for his attempt.

In a strange way Trump even recognizes the parallel, showing special sympathy for his imprisoned fellow traveler. He claimed that the senior Bolsonaro was the victim of a “witch-hunt” by the Brazilian Supreme Court and slapped 50 per cent tariffs on the country. And next Sunday (Oct. 4) the junior Bolsonaro faces Lula in another presidential election.

We already know that there will be a second round of voting on Oct. 25, when the other three candidates have dropped out and it’s a straight race between Lula and Junior. We have no idea what that outcome will be, because the two men have been only one or two points apart (i.e. ‘within the margin of error’) in every opinion poll for months.

Khan quits as Tory leader, leaves caucus to sit as independent

Manitoba’s Leader of the Opposition is stepping down.

Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan announced late Monday afternoon he is quitting caucus and will sit in the legislature as an independent MLA, effective Tuesday.

He cited internal party fighting for his decision.

The former Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive lineman survived a caucus confidence vote Friday. He said there were 13 votes for him to remain and six against, with one person absent.

Discrediting independent media is the game plan

United States President Donald Trump’s decision to bar several news organizations from White House briefings is, thanks to a court decision, teetering on the edge of collapse.

Manitoba PC leader Khan survives confidence vote

Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan survived a confidence vote last week.

Caucus communications director Alison Sutherland confirmed the vote was held Friday and that Khan still has “the full confidence” of the PC caucus.

She did not provide further details.

The party under Khan’s leadership is floundering, a recent poll suggests.

Jets defenceman spent whole summer working on getting to the next level

Tyrel Bauer makes no apologies for the pugilistic piece of his path.

The Winnipeg Jets defenceman is ready to drop the gloves and throw down when the situation calls for it and he takes great pride in protecting his teammates.

It’s a big part of the reason Bauer will be among the 23 players submitted by the Jets on the opening-day roster on Monday.

“I’ve fought and clawed, both metaphorically and literally and now I just want to show that I can play as well,” Bauer said during a chat with the Free Press during training camp. “(Toughness) is always something that I have, it’s always something in my back pocket and something that I take a lot of pride in doing, for my teammates, for the city and the people who invest in this hockey club. That will never change.

Is another goalie on Jets’ wish list?

Kevin Cheveldayoff and company are down to the short strokes.

With the opening-day roster due on Monday afternoon, the Winnipeg Jets took steps on the weekend to get down to the final number.

As it stood on Sunday, the Jets were down to 24 healthy players in training camp after centre Danny Zhilkin and defenceman Henry Thrun were placed on waivers.

With a maximum of 23 spots available, the only things left to determine are whether the Jets are interested in claiming a more experienced goalie to serve as the backup to Stuart Skinner and if centre Brayden Yager will break camp with the big club.