Sunday, May 15, 2022

Today's News: the tide is turning in Ukraine

Just a short posting tonight, but it appears that the tide in Ukraine is turning: Yesterday Markos described this battle here: Russia's river crossing debacle is beyond belief. I think Russia is starting to get worried. Then today we got this news: Today Markos writes:
 ...Battle of the Izyum Salient - Russian telegram claims five Ukrainian brigades are moving in on Izyum from the north, looking to directly cut off supply lines to the bulk of the Russian forces in the salient... a Ukrainian brigade is around 1,600 troops and 200 armored vehicles. If these reports are correct, we’re talking about 1,000 armored vehicles, and a metric buttload of artillery, raining on Russian positions....if Ukraine is crossing the Donets to attack Izyum’s supply lines, then this seems like a logical place to do so: 

...with Russia already at its limits, Ukraine is taking direct aim at the largest concentration of Russian forces in Ukraine. 
Guys, 20-25% of Russia’s entire Army is in that pocket. 
Something big is happening. 
I mean big, as in war-altering.. Ukraine is going straight for the jugular instead.

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Saturday, May 14, 2022

Saturday stuff: funny, with a side of dogs too

This is priceless shade, too:
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Today's News: We like short shorts


Here's the cover photo of 2010 book about the SlutWalk Movement -- just thought I should help out that Ottawa school trying to "measure" the shorts and skirts of its female students today.
Maybe if they used this photo as their guide, then their female students would know exactly what their school thinks of them.
And maybe the next time the students protest, just set up a bouncy castle to keep the police away too.
This is how it started: Then this happened: Ottawa Police later sent out a pious set of tweets about how a student from another school was sort of arrested for trespassing and its not our fault anyway. 
But Ottawa was not impressed - the people of Ottawa have NOT forgiven or forgotten how badly their police force let them down just four months ago:
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Friday, May 13, 2022

Today's News: But did the rocks actually hit you?

I can't help it. 
I am comparing the sympathetic media reaction today toward Singh, after a few jerks screamed curses at him as he was moving toward his vehicle after a campaign event, with the cynical media reaction last September toward Trudeau, when there was a whole crowd of screaming jerks and one of them actually threw a handful of rocks at Trudeau as he was moving toward his campaign bus. 
So today we're hearing about how upset Singh was because of the screaming. 
But Trudeau was required to justify whether he had "really" been hit by the rocks or not. 
The contrast is absolutely bizarre: Yes, and  remember that "friendly sausage-maker":
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Thursday, May 12, 2022

Today's News: Sad Trombone Sound

I guess expecting Canadian Conservative voters to listen to an actual DEBATE is just too much to ask of the Youngs today, not to mention really B-O-R-I-N-G, man! 
Paul Wells describes how uninformative this debate was:
What is it about the last two years that made the Conservative Party of Canada’s Leadership Election Organizing Committee decide Canadians are yearning for shorter conversations about sillier questions?
Who surveyed the issue landscape that will face Justin Trudeau on Thursday and would face his successor — war in Europe, inflation, labour shortages, stark conflict between climate targets and natural-resource export imperatives, long-cheated and still-difficult Indigenous reconciliation, exiting from COVID — and thought, “Keep the answers short. We want time to hear them out on what’s on their playlists”? 
As a mechanism for allowing Canadians to weight the judgment of six people, one of whom might, after all, be the next prime minister, the evening was a write-off. ...
Alberta Politics' David Climenhaga suggests a reason for why the format was so ridiculous: 
...they might as well have been asked to debate “Apples are nicer than oranges,” or “Spicy food is better.” 
The format of the debate – which was like nothing they’d ever seen before, all the professional commentators kept agreeing – was designed to be entertaining without being revealing. 
That is to say, the time for answers was so short that none of the candidates could get into trouble. 
If they did start to say something that might fire a torpedo below the waterline of HMS Tory – which is listing hard to starboard these days – the real moderator, Tom Clark, was there to step in and shut them up. 
By the time they got to any potentially dangerous topics, or anything resembling real debate, it was in the second hour, when anyone who needed to be paying attention had either fallen asleep like your blogger, or started nervously doom-scrolling through Twitter. 
 Before that we had quick snappers. Like, if you could have dinner with a dead person, who would it be? Seriously, people, I’m not making this up! ... 
Here are some of the tweets about this event. First, the actual Sad Trombone Sound:

Now the commentary: Apparently, yes...
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Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Today's News: Reality bites

First, this:
 
Such good news and a great game. Our son says that four out of five times, the team that wins Game 5 also wins the series! 

On to today's news: 
There seem to be more people all the time who think that if they don't like society they can just create their own - here's an interesting observation:
The difference between the "reality-based community" and the "make your own adventure" community was identified in an October 17, 2004 New York Times article by Ron Suskind titled "Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush". 
Suskind didn't identify his source but it was likely Bush strategist Karl Rove. describing how the Bush - Cheney administration thought they could invade Iraq and "win" just because the US was a Superpower On A Mission From God: 
  The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do. 
It was chilling to read this at the time, and realize that the Bush administration didn't see any limits in what it could do. 
But eventually, reality bites.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Today's News: The stupid, it burns!


Evan Scrimshaw sent out a newsletter tonight talking about Skippy and the Conservative so-called "debate" last week and its worth quoting from: 
 ... It's a busted ideology and a party infected by more than just bad opinions but stupidity at its core. 
To save Canadian conservatism, you first have to be willing to have an honest conversation about its main ill. It’s not the pro-lifers or the social conservatives or the fact that the debate last week was impolite and loud. 
 Conservatism’s real ill in Canada is that it’s so fucking stupid. And until they fix that, they’re done for.
Here's the kind of quality governance that Canada is getting from Conservative MPs these days:
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Monday, May 09, 2022

Today's news: One of those days

Yes, it was Mother's Day. And lots of political tweets that relate: I am SO GLAD Margaret Atwood is speaking out: I also looked for recent editorial cartoons about the re-criminalizing abortion in the US -- the ones I found weren't particularly funny, because its no laughing matter.  But here's a few that I liked: 
(Washington Post)




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Sunday, May 08, 2022

Today's news: Just some weekend stuff

No particular theme today - so let's get going! 

Too late, Candice - that ship has sailed:
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Saturday, May 07, 2022

Today's News: Children of Ukraine

Mother's Day is coming up so here are some photos I have been collecting showing some of the children in Ukraine: Here is a beautiful photo of children playing with bubbles, in central Lviv on April 7:
Mauricio Lima for The New York Times 


This is Hassan, a brave 11-year-old boy who journeyed a thousand kilometres in March by himself to get to his family in Slovakia - his mother had to remain in southeast Ukraine to look after his grandmother who cannot travel, but she sent Hassan to safety.
Finally, this sweet little angel child. I don't know where this photo was taken but I first saw it in early March:

Here's an unusual follow-up: And of course, from the Oval Office:
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Friday, May 06, 2022

Today's News: Skippy will just wave his magic wand!

Lots of comments tonight about the first Conservative debate -- apparently not an "official" debate though I'm not sure why that mattered. 
The big loser was, I think, Patrick Brown -- this would have been his first opportunity to introduce himself to the CPC members and the nation, because outside of Ontario nobody knows who he is. But he was too busy to show up. 
Comparing the only two candidates who mattered, I think Poilievre bested Charest. 
Charest did an good job, I thought, explaining how he could implement policies within the complexities of provincial and federal politics. But his actual experience running a party and a province was criticized as "elitist". 
On the other hand, Poilievre's utter lack of any management or leadership experience didn't seem to concern this audience at all - as Poilievre described it, when he tackles problems and controversies, he will only need to wave his magic wand and everything will be fixed with "simple and direct" processes that he will invent whenever he needs them.
Easy peasy!  
Mr. Charest was met with boos that nearly drowned out his comments when he criticized Mr. Poilievre for supporting the trucker protests, that shuttered downtown Ottawa for most of February and prompted intermittent closings at several border crossings. 
Mr. Poilievre “supported an illegal blockade,” Mr. Charest said. “You cannot make laws and break laws.” 
“The average trucker has more integrity in his pinky finger than you had in your entire scandal-plagued Liberal cabinet,” Mr. Poilievre said in response, referring to Mr. Charest’s time as Quebec Premier. 
The Globe also noted recent fundraising totals of the candidates: 
So far, Mr. Poilievre has attracted the largest crowds and the most cash. Newly released fundraising numbers show that by the end of March, Mr. Poilievre had raised $545,298 from 3,336 donors. Following close behind is Mr. Charest, who raised $490,088 but from just 572 donors. 
At $225,751, Ms. Lewis fell well short in the total cash raised but attracted far more donors than Mr. Charest with 1,456 people contributing to her campaign. 
By the end of March, Mr. Brown raised $115,775 from 73 donors; Mr. Aitchison raised $90,945 from 70 people; and Mr. Baber $53,987 from 475 donors.

 
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Thursday, May 05, 2022

Today's News: Fuddle Duddle



Today turned out to be the perfect day for this old cartoon

 
Trudeau dropped the f-bomb when he apparently got fed up with stupid Conservative conspiracy theories about a Canadian Forces surveillance plane that flew over Ottawa on Feb 10, during the Trucker Insurrection  - just proving how very very mean Trudeau really was to those poor poor truckers, I guess. 
It's all so stupid it makes me tired to even write about it so I can imagine how pissed off Trudeau is to put up with the constant catcalls and meaningless smear tactics from the Conservatives. He snapped. I don't blame him.
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Wednesday, May 04, 2022

Today's News: "Abortion is a fundamental right"

(Photo of Supreme Court protest today, by Jabin Botsford, WashPost)

Today lots of comments and discussions about how the United States is criminalizing abortion again.
I'm not sure which Justice the Washington Post Editorial Board is trying to speak to with this strong editorial, but I think perhaps it was for precisely this reason that the draft decision was leaked, in time to get one of the Justices to reverse course: 
 ....If the justices embrace the sweeping document, they will deal a grievous blow to freedom in the United States — and to the legitimacy of the court itself.
...the draft ruling’s dreadful reasoning and extreme potential consequences are far more concerning than what the leak says about the court’s internal dynamics. 
Written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the document would declare Roe “egregiously wrong,” obliterate its guarantees of reproductive choice and empower lawmakers to abridge at will this long-held right.
...The court’s legitimacy rests on the notion that it follows the law, not the personal or ideological preferences of the justices who happen to serve on it at any given time. 
Americans rely on the court to exercise care and restraint against making sharp turns that might suddenly declare their everyday choices and activities unprotected or illegal. Over the course of nearly half a century, the court not only issued Roe but upheld its bedrock principles against later challenges. Throughout, the original 1973 decision enjoyed broad and unwavering public support. 
What brought the court to its current precipice was not a fundamental shift in American values regarding abortion. It was the shameless legislative maneuvering of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who jammed three Trump-nominated justices onto the court.
...Justice Alito’s draft claims that the court’s ruling would not imply that other constitutional rights, such as same-sex marriage or access to contraception, are in jeopardy. 
But given the brazen abandon with which he would discard abortion rights, his assurances ring hollow. He would inaugurate a terrifying new era in which Americans would lose faith in the court, distrust its members and suspect that what is the law today will not be tomorrow. 
They would justifiably fear that rights will be swept away because a heedless conservative fringe now controls the judiciary. 
I'm not sure Kavanaugh or Barrett or Alito or Thomas are intelligent enough to understand what they are doing but maybe Gorsuch can be convinced.
Here in Canada, Freeland made a strong statement in the House:
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Tuesday, May 03, 2022

Today's News: It's the end of choice in America

A draft SCOTUS decision to overturn Roe V Wade on a 5-4 vote leaked tonight, and of course we saw the usual pearl-clutching toonight about how unseemly it is to leak a draft Supreme Court decisions:
Digby writes: 
The Republicans are having a fit about this Supreme Court draft decision overturning Roe. 
Needless to say, it’s not about the decision itself. It’s about the leak. 
You’d think there would be dancing in the streets but no. They’re freaking out. 
The left is neither surprised nor upset - we all knew this was going to happen as soon as Trump appointed anti-abortion judges to replace Kennedy and Ginsburg. 
I'm only surprised it took 18 months after Barrett was confirmed to get an abortion case to the Supreme Court - I thought it wouldn't take more than a year. 
Of course, Alito also throws in some gratuitous questioning about the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. So I guess that's next: Anyone who wasn't considered a person with rights back in 1776 should be afraid -- And by the way, birth control isn't in the Constitution either. Neither is Social Security. Or disability rights:
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Monday, May 02, 2022

"The conversation must include apology. But it must not stop there"

Tonight I wanted to conclude my coverage of the visit to Saskatchewan by the Archbishop of Canterbury the Reverend Justin Welby, and his apology for the residential schools. Rev. Welby spoke in Prince Albert yesterday, and here are some excerpts from his talk: 
 I am sorry that the Church was not there for you when we should have been your greatest friends. 
And even if we were powerless, and I will come back to that, we should have been willing to suffer alongside you. That is better than nothing. 
 I am sorry that the Church belittled your spirituality, denigrated and undermined your culture, traditions and above all your languages, and abused your rights. 
And I am sorry that an eagerness to share the good news of Jesus Christ we committed an indefensible sin of the arrogant assumption that we ‘brought God to you’ rather than understanding and seeking to listen. 
I’m not sure who has more right to be offended - the God who was already here, or you who knew that God..... 
I hope that what I have said may be the beginning of the beginning of a deeper conversation in words and action. The conversation must include apology but it must not stop there. 
In humility, in deep sadness, I end as I began: by apologising unreservedly and unqualifiedly, and saying again to you that even where I cannot change things, I will do everything I can to stand alongside and continue to learn from you.

Good coverage generally of his visit, but I was most affected by Leanne Sanders' detailed story in APTN News.  She noted:
Welby expressed his remorse for what they went through.
“I am sorry. I am more sorry than I can say. I am ashamed, I am horrified,” Welby said. 
“The grace shown by the survivors is so extraordinary. The graciousness. One came up to me this morning and said I slept well last night. I felt the lifting of the burden. It’s only the first step in a very long journey, but it was a great blessing to me,” Welby said. 
“It was a very gracious step to say that to me.”
This photo shows Rev. Welby speaking with Rev. Helen Northcutt of the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton, a residential school survivor. (photo by Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)
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