Monday, May 30, 2022

Funny stuff, with dogs too

 
What a week!  
Here's some funny stuff to start the next one. With dogs too, of course:

Sunday, May 29, 2022

Today's News: Waiting for the other shoe to drop

Waiting for more shoes to drop: The careful phrasing of "shot and killed" may be a tip off. 
Here's the best story I have seen describing the chain of events in the school: The idea that schools need to be "hardened" even more is just so stupid - in Uvalde, it was the police who needed to be "hardened". When the NRA has lost Jon Voight: Here's a photo from the NRA convention in Texas that's getting a lot of comment:

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Today's News: Keep on keeping on

de Adder, Washington Post 

It's not really surprising that the Ukraine Russia War isn't top of everyone newscasts anymore, I guess. 
But it worries me when people complain about "how long" the war has been going on and why it hasn't been wrapped up already. 
Three months, people! Just three months! 
That's not even half of a hockey season. 
And they don't seem to realize the magnitude of this war either.
Our son listens to a World War II week-by-week podcast - multiple fronts, dozens of countries, hundreds of thousands fighting, millions refugeeing. And six years. People were dealing with it for six years, with preparations for it to last longer. 
So yes, there would be nothing unusual about the Ukraine Russia War going on for some time: The rest of the world is regularly getting arms to Ukraine now, and more on the way. 
But there is true horror in this war -- Russian war crimes. 
Its not only that Russian soldiers are guilty of multiple rapes and torture and murders while they have been occupying Ukraine towns and cities, but also that the Russian government itself is trying to destroy Ukraine as a country. Creepy hostage videos are now appearing, where captured Ukrainians record messages that "thank" Russia for "denazification"

Friday, May 27, 2022

Today's News: Things fall apart

The story of the Uvalde school shooting is no longer just about the children lost and lives destroyed but also a story about police ineptitude and cowardice and lies. And the man of the hour is Beto O'Rorke: Shot: Chaser:

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Today's News: This #ProLifeMyAss hashtag is brutal

Twitter is having a moment today. More news following the break:

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

For Uvalde

'

What a tragedy. 

Here are some of the lives lost at the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas today: The reason Canada can ban A15s and the US cannot isn't because of "politicians" or "extremists" or "gun nuts" or the NRA. Its because of Republicans - the whole damn party.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Today's News: Hard to believe, isn't it, but Doug Ford seems to be winning

I still find it hard to believe that a lot of people in Ontario are still intending to vote for Ford and the Conservative party, in spite of his awful performance as premier. 
Then again, I also find it hard to believe that so many people in Saskatchewan can keep voting for the Sask Party. But they do. 
It's like people just don't believe that government could be done better. 
But it can be. Ontario and Quebec experienced a terrible derecho storm on Saturday, causing 10 deaths and millions in damages. Ford did his usual disappearing act on Sunday but Del Duca showed up! Ford did wander through the ruins today but this is what happened: Hey, if you've lost Mercedes Stephenson...
But here's another interesting comment about the PC polling problems:
And I am hoping this will prove to be correct:

Monday, May 23, 2022

Today's News: Ukraine update

Here's a collection of recent items from Ukraine. 
Now that Ukraine is winning this war, we are seeing some odd reactions - almost as though pundits can't wrap their heads around the prospect of Russia losing its Evil Empire status quo. 
Is the West really unable to credit the possibility that Ukraine will win, or are we also seeing a 
"second front"of pro-Russia disinformation, using Putin's Incredible Hulk image 
("Don't make him angry, you won't like him when he's angry!") to provoke a cowardly 
appeasement?  
Here are some of the comments I am reading today: The nuclear danger is still a real concern, and perhaps there is fear that as Russia weakens it will lash out: I still remember Emily Gorcenski's tweet from March 1, where she gave this ranking of her primary fears about what disasters might ensue from the then-week-old Ukraine Russia War :
 - protracted insurgency
 - mistargeted/overflying cruise missile hits NATO country
 - US gets caught with a Joint Special Operations Command team
 - tactical nuke is used but doesn’t rise to retaliation 
 - does 
 That still seems to be a pretty accurate worry list. 

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Dogs, bruh....

Rex Chapman titles many of his dog videos "Dogs, bruh" so I thought I would use it for this post:

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Today's News: Here's some good stuff

Busy day today so its not a long post tonight. 

First of all, here's a great news story: Fred Sasakamoose, a member of the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, was the first First Nations player in the National Hockey League -  Chicago Blackhawks 1953 to 1954. The Fred Sasakamoose “Chief Thunderstick” National Hockey championship is now underway in Saskatoon. 

Moving on to Elon Musk, he continues to demonstrate why he will rue the day he decided to get involved with Twitter (which I believe he did only to help Trump get his account back): This thread is hilarious: What surprised me was the number of people who took this seriously and actually thought Musk had done these things. Perhaps this thread explains why:

Friday, May 20, 2022

Soldiers of Ukraine

I have been struck by the number of outstanding photos I am seeing of the brave soldiers fighting for Ukraine. I have been collecting these now for more than a month, and tonight I thought I would post some of the best:

Here are members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces hold Easter cakes near the trenches, outside Kyiv on April 23.


Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Today's News: Ha ha

 
Sorry, I just can't help myself. 
It's truly a Nelson moment today. Jason Kenny has resigned as Alberta premier and as party leader. Charles Adler tried for years to tell Alberta the truth about Kenny and maybe now they have finally learned: And this may be right, also: And there may be some truth to this:

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Marking #IDAHOBT2022

Almost two decades ago, the International Day Against Homphobia, Transphobia and Biphobia was set May 17 -- it has become a celebration around the world of Two Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community. The only thing I am sorry about, is that our society still needs such a "day" to highlight 2SLGBTQ people and to call out the prejudice against them which we still deal with around the world. Here are some tweets from this year's Day:

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Today's News: Odds and ends

Just a batch of somewhat-random tweets tonight, sorted into some topic areas. 

  Ontario Election:
I didn't watch the debate but I saw a few funny tweets coming out of it: I am hopeful that Del Duca is going to keep on rising in the polls, hopefully this debate will help. 

Ukraine: What a photo:
The Battle of Mariupole is over:

Monday, May 16, 2022

Today's News: We need to remember the ones we have lost

Canada just passed a terrible milestone.
More than 40,000 Canadians have now died of COVID. Globe and Mail health reporter Andre 
Picard writes
More than 90 per cent of pandemic deaths in Canada have been in people older than 60 .... 
There is no doubt that elders, especially those with chronic health conditions, or living in long-term care, are at far greater risk. In recent weeks, we’ve again seen a steady increase in outbreaks, and deaths, in long-term care facilities. 
But let’s please stop with the too-often-uttered ageist nonsense: “They were going to die anyhow.”
Deaths from cancer, heart disease, COPD, diabetes and other things that routinely kill elders have not dropped one iota. 
The tens of thousands of COVID-19 deaths are on top of that – additional years of life lost.
Governments have largely stopped collecting and publishing data. But the hospitalizations and deaths won’t stop just because we avert our gaze. 
 Avert? Yes, that's exactly what we are doing.

Today I saw some incredible statistics about how many extra Saskatchewan deaths we have had 
in the last two years:
Dr. Ogieglo notes that in addition to Covid deaths, people have been dying earlier of other 
conditions. Here are some additional figures: