Today's news: Its a "Tridemic" now

I guess they're calling it a "tridemic" now -- the triple hammer of Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that is destroying our hospitals. 

This time, its the children:

No children’s Tylenol, no children’s amoxicillin, urgent care waits 8+ hours, walk-in waits 4+ hours, no pediatric hospital beds available whatsoever, family doctor is booking appointments a month out, worst “tridemic” RSV/flu/COVID wave in years… Canada is not okay right now 🫠

— Emily (@Youlookpretty) December 6, 2022

Today, Alberta shut down its children’s respite/palliative care center, sending the sickest and dying children and their families home to fend in their own

This is so the staff can be redeployed to overflowing children’s hospitals

It’s not just medically assisted suicide

— Nael (@GreenSnail_) December 4, 2022

Santa weeps.

— Stephen Tustin (@stustin) December 6, 2022

Vaccines alone are not enough to stop this Tridemic from killing children.

Even if every single eligible Ontario resident were to get a COVID and flu shot today, it would not relieve the pressure on children’s hospitals.

It’s time to #BringBackMasks. pic.twitter.com/wKHkI19yFg

— Kimiko Shibata 🇨🇦 🦄 (@ESL_fairy) December 6, 2022

But we KNOW what to do to help people avoid getting sick - we just have to DO IT!

"We have all the tools to change the trajectory of this horrible situation. The only missing ingredient is courage from our leaders to be transparent about the current situation and mandate the changes that are necessary to prevent more illness and death." @SKGandhiMD #bcpoli 6/6

— Sonia Furstenau (@SoniaFurstenau) December 5, 2022

The enduring tragedy of 2020-21 was the deaths of millions of old people due to Covid in Long Term Care facilities across Canada and throughout the world. 

And this is still happening - read this whole thread:

Did you read that? Terrified. You could not send him & it’s a heart attack and that kills him. You could send him & it not a heart attack but he brings Covid/RSV/flu back with him and it kills him and may be starts a out break at a nursing home that will cost more lives 2/

— Jon O (@Jon4u16) December 5, 2022

In other news, the Georgia run-off is over and Herschel Walker, a man who isn't even qualified to work in a Burger King, almost made it into the US Senate. 

To me, this election demonstrated the Republican party's profound cynicism and disrespect of the electoral process -- that they could put forward such a ridiculous candidate as Herschel Walker as their standard-bearer for election to the Senate, just because Walker was a black football hero. They thought he might be able to siphon enough black voters away from the Reverend Warnock to let Republicans scoop up this seat. Luckily, they were wrong:

It's incredibly depressing just how close the GA runoff was.

— Christopher Bouzy (@cbouzy) December 7, 2022

After the GOP loses tonight, watch Fox News pivot back to Hunter Biden’s laptop faster than Herschel Walker can mumble the words ‘this erection was stolen.’#GArunoff

— Christian Greco (@ChristGrec) December 7, 2022

Stephen Colbert - "Enough with Hunter Biden's laptop. You don't see anyone obsessing over the Former President's son's laptop. And Eric has a good one. It's made by Fisher-Price and can tell you what sound a cow makes."

— Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) December 6, 2022

Checking in on what's happening in Alberta, I see Danielle Smith is getting noticed -- by cartoonists!

Cartoon for @TheHillTimes #DanielleSmith pic.twitter.com/39EkiWcHOs

— de Adder Canada (@deAdderCanada) December 5, 2022

pic.twitter.com/VBX6w47kPy

— Gil McGowan (@gilmcgowan) December 6, 2022

Breakenridge: With Alberta's new premier, we're never sure what's going to be evolving next https://t.co/aWem2aUOlz #UCP #abpoli #ableg

— Calgary Herald (@calgaryherald) December 6, 2022

Speaking of cartoons, I think Twitter is really losing its mind now:

pic.twitter.com/G8a3KxrlIk

— Wally Kibler (@Brewski2020) December 6, 2022

Here's an incredible story - though I must say, in retrospect I cannot count the times over the years when I have heard simlar stories about divorces or break-ups, because threatening the supposedly-fragile male ego by becoming "too successful" was something our mothers and the women's magazines of the 1960s  warned us about:

This essay about a nonfiction writer and her bf breaking up with her because of her work is really just excellent. And the ending is **chef’s kiss**. https://t.co/63hV8bAhPP He gonna learn now!

— roxane gay (@rgay) December 5, 2022

And here's an incredible thread -- a new author had an awful book-signing. Then Henry Winkler. who has a million followers, noticed her tweet and decided to encourage her.  And now more than a thousand people are cheering for her too, including some pretty big authors.

That is the beginning .. then word gets out and they come ! https://t.co/SA4hCI5BYL

— Henry Winkler (@hwinkler4real) December 5, 2022

This was my favorite response:

I did a reading attended by the bookstore employees and two unhomed men, one of whom fell asleep and snored. The other one listened and nodded and smiled through the reading and came up afterward to tell me he really liked the poems but couldn’t afford a book so I gave him one.

— Sarah Freligh (@sfreligh) December 5, 2022

Finally, here's some good news:

'Justice has prevailed for our ancestors': After nearly 100 years, a stolen totem pole will return to a First Nation in British Columbia from the National Museum of Scotland. | @AptnLee https://t.co/5mCgnjpYTa

— APTN News (@APTNNews) December 3, 2022