Sunday, January 28, 2024

Hey, it's time for some funny stuff!



I am always so glad when January is over:
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I had never heard musical rocks before:
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Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Today's News: an imaginary bouncy castle of 20-20 hindsight


Very disappointing to see a Federal Court judge, Justice Richard Mosely, create an imaginary rewrite of history to conclude that Ottawa really hadn't needed to invoke the Emergencies Act against the freedum convoy protests and blockades in February 2022.
Instead, he argues, Trudeau could have constructed an imaginary bouncy castle of police forces magically enforcing provincial laws to save Ottawa's sanity, rescue Canadian trade, and blunt the Convoy fundraising momentum without being mean or upsetting anyone. 
So rude, you know!
Political scientist Emmett MacFarlane describes the ruling as A Dubious Judgement on the Emergencies Act:
In a ruling sure to be appealed, a Federal Court judge has deemed the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act (EA) during the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protests unlawful and found that the measures employed under it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Because the decision primarily concerned the decision to invoke the EA (rather than the constitutionality of any provisions of the EA itself), the Court’s job was to assess the reasonableness of the decision “with deference owed to the decision maker and its specialized expertise” (para. 202). The judge, however, ends up not so much reviewing the reasonableness of the decision in light of the circumstances facing the government so much as undertaking a total reappraisal, with the judge substituting his judgment for that of the government’s, with little to no deference to be found.
...the EA does not require that federal government to spend time on the metaphysical questions posed by multi-versal ponderings of the imagined parallel universe where Doug Ford took governance and public safety seriously, before they decided to address the national emergency at hand with the last resort tool they had available - a tool, mind you, that worked to finally end the occupation. As I wrote at the time: “The POEC demonstrated what was already clear to those of us who followed the convoy protests themselves: the police were either unable or unwilling to act. It doesn’t matter, frankly, what existing laws might or should have been able to deal with: they did not, and therefore could not handle the occupation of the country’s capital.”
... Judge Mosley concludes instead that “There appears to be have been no obstacle to assembling the large number of police officers from a variety of other forces ultimately required to assist the OPS to remove the blockade participants (para. 250).” I suppose we’re expected to believe it was mere coincidence that blockade participants did not end their siege until the EA was invoked, and the few tools enacted under it were implemented...
In summary: Actually, I would argue the Canada-wide emergency in February 2022 that justified the Emergencies Act wasn't the mess on the Ottawa streets, but rather the impact of border blockages on Canadian business. 
The Ottawa honk-honk was mainly a local problem, though it was so badly mishandled by both civic and provincial authorities that it became a national embarrassment. But the primary national problem with the protest was the continuing threat to cross-border trade, to the point that Canadian manufacturing and auto industries would move to the United States unless Canada was willing to take swift and fierce action to guarantee that a random bunch of bearded yahoos would be shut down and would not be able to threaten the cross-border trade economy. 
Yeah, I know - the story now is how the border blockades were already dismantled before the Emergencies Act was introduced. But what we heard at the time was about how more trucks and farm equipment was on the way to border crossings across the country. Only the Emergencies Act gave RCMP the immediate authority to turn the tide, to stop convoys before they reached the borders, and to disrupt their financing. 
Basically, when Alberta Farmer Dad heard that his tractor and combine could actually be confiscated, the phone call went out real quick "Son, you've had your fun but it's time to come home! Now!"
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Sunday, January 21, 2024

Today's News: Prairie Harm Reduction - "It's about keeping people alive"


It has taken years for Canadians to understand the concept of harm reduction - which means everything from sunscreen to seatbelts, not just safe injection sites and naloxone - but Canadians generally "get it" now. 
The federal government's Canadian drugs and substances strategy describes harm reduction as 
 an evidence-based, public health approach that aims to reduce the negative health, social, and economic impacts of substance use related harms, without requiring or promoting abstinence. 
The National Harm Reduction Coalition in New York outlines harm reduction this way: 
Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. Harm Reduction is also a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights of people who use drugs. 
Seems pretty straightforward to me -- but conservative governments just refuse to grasp it. 
They appear to think that shaming and blaming and punishment will get people off drugs, and anyone who can't or won't go cold turkey is just worthless scum who aren't worth worrying about.
Now the Sask Party has done it again. They decided they just had to stop funding pipes and needles for people addicted to drugs because, well, EWEUUUU! DRUGS! 
And Saskatoon's Prairie Harm Reduction is leading the fight against this short-sighted and mean policy change:
Many experts disagree with such restrictions, arguing that adding barriers to sterile needle access can lead to increased rates of blood-borne illness and HIV transmission.
"You know, it's not about funding illicit drug use, it's about keeping people alive. And in this province, we already have the highest rates of HIV transmission in Canada," said Prairie Harm Reduction director Kayla Demong.
"The very little control we're able to keep on this situation, it's just going to explode. And it is directly related to our homeless population, our Indigenous people of this province, and people that aren't welcome anywhere else," Demong said.
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Thursday, January 18, 2024

Well, isn't this just ducky? Now Iran and Pakistan are verging on war


Whoa-jeez, this is getting dangerous:
Meanwhile, Canada's Loyal Opposition is still shit-posting about Trudeau's vacation.
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Friday, January 12, 2024

The cry of the Cu-cu-cu bird!

From across the Prairies we hear the mournful cry of the Cu-cu-cu bird...."Cu-cu-cu-Christ, its cu-cu-cu-cold here!"

Oh well -- we had a great fall here, and a green Christmas, so of course the weather gods are making us pay for it now. 
Tomorrow's daytime temperature here will be 35 below! Needless to say, we won't be going out anywhere.

  This is pretty outstanding:
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Here are some words of wisdom: From Brittlestar -
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and from Gurdeep -
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...When the door had closed on the last of them and the chink of the lanterns had died away, Mole and Rat kicked the fire up, drew their chairs in, brewed themselves a last nightcap of mulled ale, and discussed the events of the long day. At last the Rat, with a tremendous yawn, said, "Mole, old chap, I'm ready to drop. Sleepy is simply not the word. That your own bunk over on that side? Very well, then, I'll take this. What a ripping little house this is! Everything so handy!"
He clambered into his bunk and rolled himself well up in the blankets, and slumber gathered him forthwith, as a swathe of barley is folded into the arms of the reaping machine.
The weary Mole also was glad to turn in without delay, and soon had his head on his pillow, in great joy and contentment. But ere he closed his eyes he let them wander round his old room, mellow in the glow of the firelight that played or rested on familiar and friendly things which had long been unconsciously a part of him, and now smilingly received him back, without rancour. He was now in just the frame of mind that the tactful Rat had quietly worked to bring about in him. He saw clearly how plain and simple—how narrow, even—it all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one's existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to, this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.

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Tuesday, January 09, 2024

Writings about the Israel-Hamas War


First, Paul Wells has an interesting article out tonight about how police are dealing with the pro-Palestinian protests: The police won't make your point Notes on a 20-year revolution in police handling of protests. Spoiler: you probably won't like it. Wells covers a lot of history here, from Selma to anti-globalization to the Freedom Convoy to today's pro-Palestinian sit-ins. He concludes:
...To me it’s highly contradictory to argue the police were too rough on the Freedom Convoy protesters, who had the run of downtown Ottawa for most of a month, and too gentle on the pro-Palestine protesters who’ve rather thuggishly decided to make their point in a Toronto neighbourhood whose only distinguishing feature is that a bunch of Jews live there. But I know people who can navigate that contradiction without difficulty.
What I hope we can all agree is that police forces are not better equipped than the rest of us to make fine distinctions between protest groups based on values, but quite the contrary. Police forces are not precision instruments. They have learned, through long experience over three turbulent decades, that they have a broad choice to make: repress protests through implied or real force and escalation, or help protesters make their point and, at some point, go home. The latter strategy is no fun to watch. The former is often way worse.
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Thursday, January 04, 2024

Bring on the crazy!


I'm seeing some crazy stuff tonight on the social.
Like this: At least Canadians are enjoying this: Here's some more crazy stuff :
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Monday, January 01, 2024

Happy New Year!

 


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Friday, December 29, 2023

Odds and ends - from dancing ladies to dancing daddies, and dogs, of course

So tonight I have been going through various Bookmarks and other saved posts and I'm finding some great stuff to share.
This month I saw two different cartoons based on the Matisse dancing ladies, of all things. The first is about folding a fitted sheet:
And the second is about scientific research, of all things:


Moving on, here's something I do all the time:
Continuing on, check out this whole thread, it's hilarious:
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Saturday, December 23, 2023

Christmas traditions: 12 Days, Festivus, Messiah, and the oddest Christmas Special ever!

Time for an annual "traditions" post -- 

Twelve Days of Christmas:  

Festivus: 
 

The Messiah:
 
 The New York Times writes Handel’s ‘Messiah’ Teaches Us a Surprising Lesson About Tradition:
...Fortunately, Handel’s “Messiah” is so popular that the ideological fashions of critics and performers cannot contain it. The work continues to be gleefully performed very much as it was in the days of Stokowski, even as the Handel and Haydn Society solemnly persists in its commitment to small ensembles, period instruments and other trappings of historical accuracy....
This seemingly inexhaustible variety of interpretations is possible because “Messiah” is sui generis: an unclassifiable hybrid of sacred art and theatrical revelry that cannot be subsumed neatly into any given school of performance, idiom or national tradition. This is why “Messiah” has succeeded in such a wide array of cultural contexts, including the TV special “It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown” (1992), in which Marcie and Peppermint Patty attend a performance that sounds remarkably similar to the Stokowski version, as well as the Japanese animated TV series “Neon Genesis Evangelion” (from 1995 to 1996), in which the Somary recording plays over images of a teenage girl thrusting the spear of Longinus into a monstrous alien being.
“Messiah” is now the common property of the entire human race: a jewel in the crown of the Anglican cultural tradition that has become not only the source of recessional hymns for Catholics but also an indelible symbol of Christmas for millions of non-Christians. In the words of the oratorio’s first chorus, taken from the Book of Isaiah: “All flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
Years ago, I participated in a "sing-along Messiah" that was such great fun. This Opinion piece is right - the Messiah belongs to us all, even the Silent Monks.

Finally, this - 
The Oddest Christmas Special Ever - Bing Crosby and David Bowie:  
The story behind this Christmas Moment is stranger still -- Wipedia reports;
...The special's musical supervisors, Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman, originally intended the duo to record a straightforward rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy". However, Bowie balked at singing "Little Drummer Boy": "I hate this song. Is there something else I could sing?", Fraser recalled Bowie telling him. Scriptwriter Buz Kohan further stated that Bowie felt "Little Drummer Boy" "wasn't a good showcase for his voice". Startled, Fraser, Grossman, and Kohan found a piano in the studio's basement and wrote "Peace on Earth" as a counterpoint to "Little Drummer Boy" in just over an hour. Regarding the experience, Kohan said, "It all happened rather rapidly. I would say within an hour, we had it written and were able to present it to [Bowie] again." Crosby performed "Little Drummer Boy", while Bowie sang "Peace on Earth", which they reportedly performed after less than an hour of rehearsal. Kohan added that "Bing loved the challenge" of the arrangement, stating he "was able to transform himself without losing any of the Crosby-isms."...
Happy Festivus, everyone!
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Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Dogs, bruh - plus cats and owls and the rest of the barnyard


Here's some great dogs - plus cats and owls and the rest of the barnyard.

First, of course, dogs!
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Courage, sister!
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Sunday, December 17, 2023

Israel-Hamas War Update: what happens next?


I know Seymour Hersch has his flaws - a tendency toward grandiosity in his reporting -- but he has good sources and his column last night raises some good questions about the Israel-Hamas War that undoubtedly will dominate international discussions over the next weeks:
Thousands of Hamas fighters are now facing a deadly shootout with the Israeli army as the disastrous war their leaders triggered is in its tenth week. Now out of their tunnels, those men are trying to cope with the increasing winter chill and heavy rains. There is little shelter for them, or for the bedraggled surviving citizens of Gaza, from the elements and from Israeli bullets and bombs.
War is hell, too, for Israeli troops, who are on the hunt, now engaged in house-to-house and rubble-to-rubble searches for Hamas fighters, who will be far more willing to engage in one-on-one shootouts in the south of Gaza than in the earlier days of mass bombing in Gaza City. Future historians will make their judgment on the stunning ratio of dead Palestinians in Gaza to the Israeli combat dead. Israel’s military leaders now assess that the majority of Hamas fighters will be dead, will be captured, or will have deserted by the end of January. But then what? If the religious zealots who now dominate the government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have a day-after plan, it is not known.
At least they're talking tonight about another ceasefire and hostage release:
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Friday, December 15, 2023

Today's News: "being down 10 is a victory these days for the Liberals"


I got a chuckle out of Evan Scrimshaw's lead in his Substack yesterday: Abacus' Conservative Curveball Is There Life In The Liberals?:
It is a notable statement that being down 10 is a victory these days for the Liberals, but Abacus has the Tory lead down 9 poll to poll, so it is actually good news for a government that’s needed it for a while. It’s of course not the same thing as saying that the government is in good shape – a government that’s happy to be at 26% in Nanos and 27% in Abacus because the trendlines are good is not a government that is in a good spot in an absolute sense. Nor does any of this mean that Poilievre giving up more and more of his lead is an evitability.
But it is a decent endorsement of the idea that Poilievre will not be able to be a dogshit political leader and still win easily. Yes, the Liberals are troubled, yes the economy is bad, and yes the Liberals need a rate cut or 5 before the election. But there’s been an air of inevitability about the Tories imminent victory that hasn’t sat right, as if the election had already been won and lost, and all that needed to happen was the results to be relayed to the masses.
What he is talking about is the recent Abacus poll: And today this was happening: Scorch! Pow! Poilievre thought his polls were so good he could get away with anything he wanted. Like dissing Ukraine and calling it a "far-away foreign land".
Think again, PP:
And finally, this:
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Saturday, December 09, 2023

Weekend fun stuff: from The Beatles to more Cats v. Christmas Trees

This is the kind of thread that I used to find occasionally on Twitter and all of the comments were always just so funny. 
Glad to see this type of goofy stuff is on Threads now:
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Still some good stuff on Twitter/X too:
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Wednesday, December 06, 2023

Well, here's more upsetting news


On the day that Canada remembers the Montreal Massacre, I am reading articles about the terrible sexual violence and rape that Hamas inflicted on Israeli men and women on Oct 7 -- I think it is shameful that it has taken two months for this violence to be called out and condemned. The New York Times writes Biden condemns sexual violence in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
President Biden on Tuesday condemned the “unimaginable cruelty” of Hamas attackers who raped and mutilated women in Israel on Oct. 7, and he blamed the group’s refusal to release its remaining female hostages for the breakdown in cease-fire talks.
Speaking at a fund-raising event in Boston, Mr. Biden cited reports that Hamas fighters “used rape to terrorize women and girls” on Oct. 7, as they swept through Israeli towns and a music festival in the southern part of the country, killing more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities.
“Over the past few weeks, survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty,” Mr. Biden told donors at the event at a Westin hotel. “Reports of women raped — repeatedly raped — and their bodies being mutilated while still alive — of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them.”
He added: “It is appalling.”...
...Mr. Biden also echoed comments made on Monday by Matt Miller, a State Department spokesman, who said that Hamas had “reneged” on an agreement to release all the women it was holding hostage, and that the group’s officials “were never able to provide a credible reason why.”
Hamas has said it considers the women to be soldiers. But President Biden said, “These are civilian women, mostly between the ages of 20 and 39,” adding, “Let me be crystal clear. Hamas’ refusal to release the remaining young women is what broke this deal and ended the pause in the fighting.”
On Monday, Mr. Miller said that “a number of people believe” that Hamas did not want to release the female hostages because of the stories they would tell about how they were treated.
For more, see several articles in the New York Times over the last couple of days. 
December 4: What We Know About Sexual Violence During the Oct. 7 Attacks on Israel Israel has accused Hamas of committing abuses against large numbers of women. Hamas denies the allegation By Jeffrey Gettleman, Adam Sella and Anat Schwartz \
December 6: Silence Is Violence — but Not When It Comes to Israeli Rape Victims column by Brett Stephens, which includes the stomach-turning testimonies heard at a UN Special Session conference this week organized by Sheryl Sandberg, Hillary Clinton and Kirsten Gillibrand 
Also see the article from Associated Press in the Globe and Mail New signs emerge of ‘widespread’ sexual crimes by Hamas, as Netanyahu alleges global indifference by Sam Mednick.
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