Saturday, February 26, 2022

Today's News: Lighting up the world for Ukraine

The world is supporting Ukraine, a development that apparently Putin did not expect. Even, apparently now, China. Trudeau and Johnson are getting Europe and the world on board with tougher sanctions: And if there's one person who should know the pitfalls of a nation starting a war of choice, its David Frum: Even Republicans are starting to parrot "Its really all Biden's fault somehow" as they desperately try to make everyone forget their knee-jerk pro-Putin reactions yesterday. And here's a timely reminder: Sean Penn is in Ukraine right now shooting a documentary about the war because of course he is: To his credit, Louis CK refused to cancel his show tonight in Kyiv -- though it also led to this tweet: Russian athletes are being put on the spot and, with some risk to their families in Russia, are speaking up: I hope its not just wishful thinking, but the war doesn't seem to be going Putin's way: The courage of the Ukrainians is legendary now: Canada proudly proclaims one of the largest Ukrainian diaspora in the world - the paintings of Manitoba artist William Kurelek tell their story here:
Posted by at 2 comments:

Friday, February 25, 2022

Today's News: Ukraine fights back

Though most of my attention is on the Ukraine now, there is still actual Canadian news for yesterday and today-- Trudeau has revoked the Emergencies Act, for one thing -- and the insurrectionists who fucked around are finding out more of what Canadian justice has in store for them. I don't think the people of Ottawa will ever forget this attempted insurrection - I would love to see a book about it, and maybe this artist's work could illustrate it: And never forget the Battle of Billings Bridge: Turning to the war in the Ukraine, I thought this post today was inspirational and beautiful: And this is just so tragic: There are some reports tonight that the Ukraine army, though outnumbered and outgunned, continues to fight for their country with courage and determination, and even may be winning some battles: And once again, Republicans are on the wrong side of history: And one more bit of interesting info:
Posted by at 2 comments:

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Today's News: War in Ukraine

78 years of peace in Europe was ended today by Russia and Belarus attacking the Ukraine. Its worth noting that Ukraine and Belarus are both huge countries. Someone said it would take 50 divisions to invade a country the size of Ukraine, and Putin only has 15.
So Russia won't be pulling a blizkreig invasion over the whole country, probably more like pummelling airports and ports and infrastructure, and hoping Ukraine will just collapse militarily and economically, and sue for peace, letting the Russians march in without opposition, ending up with half the country occupied by Russia and the other half another version of Vichy France. 
Its difficult to see now what the rest of the world will do to stop this, and whether Europe and the world can get pulled into fighting too:
In America, the Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for how they are following Trump's lead and supporting Putin, and many are calling them out: In Canada, considering all the pro-Putin Fox News blathering going on, I have been wondering which way our own CPC would go with this - particularly given how steadfast Trudeau has been in supporting Ukraine and how the CPC is always knee-jerk negative to everything Trudeau does. 
But tonight our old frenemy Harper issued a statement that was, I think, a clear message to the CPC to stop with the politics and get with the program: And finally -- Trump is just such a clueless twit: One thing we can count on is that Putin will put everything he can into turning the House and the Senate in 2022, and re-electing Trump to the presidency in 2024. 
It was a dreadful night to search for anything amusing to finish off this post, but this provoked a rueful chuckle:
Posted by at 1 comment:

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

And in other news: America is furious at the Republican apologists

There used to be a quaint custom, particularly in the United States, that politics stopped at the border's edge - in other words, foreign policy was considered a national issue, and political games shouldn't be played when US interests abroad were at stake. 
The Trump Republicans have decided to ignore this convention now. Trump blathered on about how wonderful Putin was, and his Republican sycophants happily followed him.
Thousands of Americans are absolutely furious -- more than I have ever seen before.  On twitter, the tweets calling Republicans traitors are getting thousands of likes plus hundreds of retweets and comments. Here's one referencing that weird July 4 2018 Moscow trip taken by those Republican congressmen and senators. I have never understood why that stunt didn't get much more public coverage and criticism then or since. People are comparing the Republican reaction to the Ukraine with their support of the Canadian insurrection:
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Today's News: It passed

Done! The Emergencies Act passed the Commons and now the Senators get to posture and preen for a bit before they pass it too. We are thinking its over, but the problem is the insurrectionists aren't actually finished yet, they'll be glad to move back into Ottawa or the border crossings as soon as they can. They are going to be a policing problem for Canada for months -- until, I expect, a permanent bill gets passed that allows the feds to confiscate vehicles used illegally in protests and that also does something about the money angle too -- and THAT, my friends, is going to be where many in Canada will find it difficult to draw a line because of the fear - or even likliehood - that a future government could abuse powers like this to shut down legitimate protests.
We're already seeing this kind of stuff happening in the States - laws preventing people from taking water to people waiting in line to vote, for example. We're already seeing hypocrisy here - those who have no problem with dividing people into "good" protestors and "bad" protestors. So there may be some darker and more difficult days to come. 
But Canada will come through, I believe.
And today was a good day.
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, February 21, 2022

Today's News: Cleaning up

A few recent statistics: Some comments: I thought this hit the mark: And some funny stuff, too: And because there's some other awful stuff about to happen in Europe, this is useful info too:
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Today's News: Ending with a whimper

The least surprising news of the day: Just as Jan 6 was a Come-To-Jesus moment for some of the American media, so the Ottawa Occupation may become that for the Canadian media. The "both sides" stance is breaking down - a little bit, anyway. CBC's Chris Walker got hammered for this one: This Ivison clanger landed with a thump heard across twitter: And Brian Lilley is, of course, blaming the Liberal government - but also, the insurrectionists! So ... And no wonder, because here's a sensible discussion about those "divisive" accusations against Trudeau from the CPC that too many people in the media keep parroting: The thousands of Canadians who took part in this insurrection, and who are still cheering and honking and trying to blockade borders for no reason I can fathom, are going to have a rude awakening: And isn't this the truth: Funny of the day: I thought this was priceless:
Posted by at 1 comment:

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Today's News: Finding Out

Canada was glued to the news channels today, watching as Ottawa police took their city back. Somewhere somebody is already drafting up 3,000-word think pieces about What It All Means and Where We Go From Here and all that. But for tonight, enjoy these: This particular thread was delightful to scroll through: Some other takes: Fox News was apparently going into hysterics about some insurrectionist knocked over by police on horses and it was, of course, another total lie. Here's a concerning story: And finally, this also:
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, February 18, 2022

Today's News: Waiting for the end

Today Canada started to feel like maybe the end is in sight for the Ottawa Insurrection, or FluTruxKlan, or whatever it will end up being called. 
Ottawa police plus reinforcements FINALLY implemented a plan - they have set up a Red Zone in downtown Ottawa around the Parliament Buildings and they are trying to prevent new protestors from entering. Also, I think the fuel supply is getting cut off now. The organizers are getting arrested. And according to some twitter reports, the tow trucks are on the way. 
I really hope it isn't going to be a water cannon moment - I am still terrified for the children there, what are their parents thinking? -- but it looks like we are at the beginning of the end.
We shouldn't expect it to be quick. It took weeks to get into this mess, so I imagine it will take until the end of February or longer to get everyone out and figure out how to stop new convoys from forming. But I think Canada will be willing to wait now that we see some progress being made toward cleaning up the streets and implementing serious and well-deserved financial penalties too.
The Conservatives may still be trying to trying to promote their Insurrectionist Street Cred but I think fewer Canadians will be buying it: This is exactly why the Trudeau government announced its implementation of immediate financial disaster for any insurrectionist who continued to protest: And as the police and the accountants get a grip on the insurrection, Canadians are able to start laughing at these yahoos who thought they could intimidate Trudeau and the Liberal government: And the people of Ottawa are absolutely outstanding! Here's another Canadian Heritage Moment:
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Today's News: The Hollow Men

This is the way the world ends 
This is the way the world ends 
This is the way the world ends 
Not with a bang but a whimper.

The insurrectionists are The Hollow Men tonight as their convoy occupation falls apart.
Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch. But I expect there will be some very sad and deluded people abandoned in Ottawa to clean up the mess: The Conservatives were seizing on the Emergencies Act declaration for their usual Question Period freakout - when Trudeau told them the truth, they erupted. I remember the War Measures Act too - I was in university at the time, and I was accused by some of my friends of being naive to trust the Liberal government with that much power. 
But I did - basically, we all did.  
They proved themselves worthy of that trust. After Trudeau got the Charter passed, the Mulroney government got rid of the War Measures Act and passed the Emergencies Act instead and nobody gave it a second thought. 
Until now. 
So yes, once again I trust the Liberal government to be responsible with the powers it is now going to be using against the insurrection.
Which, by the way, is even worse than we realized it was.
Meanwhile, though we may all be done with Covid, it isn't actually done with us, is it?
  Finally, some of the funny stuff today: And another Canadian Heritage Moment suggestion: And Ottawa had a city council meeting today. It went about as well as you would expect, after Council found out its Police Board had fired Chief Sloly and apparently then hired a new chief without any competition: Keeping count so far, the insurrectionists have managed to get rid of 
-Conservative leader Erin O'Toole 
-Ottawa Police Chief Sloly 
-Ottawa police board chair Diane Deans plus three or four other board members.
Trudeau and Freeland and the rest of the federal Cabinet are still here.
Posted by at 2 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)