Tuesday, June 07, 2022

Today's News: Lest We Forget

Follow this tweet thread for some sad photos of the brave Canadian boys who lost their lives fighting in D-Day 78 years ago. They were all so young:

Monday, June 06, 2022

Today's News: Just a few odds and ends

Just a random collection of news tonight. 

First, from Uvalde: 
The more the media tries to dig into what happened in Uvalde, the less it makes sense. 
It is beginning to remind me of the confusion around the Portapique massacre, where 22 people died and where, among other questionable judgement calls, RCMP did not even issue an Alert Ready to warn the community during the hours these shootings were happening.  At least Canada responded by banning 1,500 assault-type weapons, and a Commission is now trying to investigate what happened, though it has been difficult
The inexplicable cowardice of Uvalde police cannot be explained: In other news, American politics:

Sunday, June 05, 2022

Today's News: Why does Europe care about Putin's delicate fee-fees?

So this is discouraging news: Security analyist Michael Horowitz says: And Ukraine is winning. But I'm afraid that some in the West don't believe it -- or, perhaps, they are just swallowing Russian propaganda. Or worse, they are promoting it:

Saturday, June 04, 2022

Today's News: 100 days

It has now been 100 days since Russia invaded Ukraine. 
The yellow markings on this map from Australian Strategic Policy Institute researcher Nathan Ruser show how successful Ukraine has been in retaking its territory from the Russian invaders. Ruser notes that more than a thousand Ukrainian settlements have been saved from Russian occupation
And here is a fascinating video:
But some pundits in the West are getting bored -- they seem to want this war to end so they can get back to planning holidays at the lake. 
We're seeing articles now like this one in today's New York Magazine: The War in Ukraine Can Be Over If the U.S. Wants It -- written by a 32-year-old journalist Ross Barkan who has never done anything except write novels and cover New York politics. He describes a three month war as "dragging on" and says Kissinger and Chomsky are merely "facing reality" when they urge the West to give up on Ukraine. 
Here's the reaction to this article from war correspondent Danny Gold, who knows Ukraine: This Atlantic article, though it also talks about a truce, makes a little more sense: Former assistant defense secretary Andrew Exum writes:
 ...the economic costs of the war are starting to seriously concern American and other Western policy makers.
...The twin pressures of an ailing economy and surging populism will be on the minds of Western decision makers as they wrestle with a war that will continue to take a toll on the world’s leading economies. 
For that reason, the conversations between Ukraine and its supporters abroad are likely to grow harder, not easier, as the year progresses. 
Ukraine will come under more pressure, and not just from Henry Kissinger, to concede some territory and allow Russia to save face. Even a hasty termination of the conflict, however, seems unlikely to arrest the world’s slide into greater economic pain.... 
 

Friday, June 03, 2022

Today's News: Ford takes it

Ontario voters sent a message tonight, and the message was: Meh! We're good. The big news in the US today continues to be whether they can get Republicans onside in the national goal of stopping mass shooters. 
Americans may finally have reached their gag limit on guns 
Maybe this time:
Or maybe not: We'll see how the Rays react to DeSantis' blatant thuggery. 

 

Thursday, June 02, 2022

Today's News: Birds!

Another miscellaneous collection of news items tonight from hither and yon. 

First up, birds! 
One of the people I now follow on twitter is Saskatoon's Tim Brown, who is doing a series of "Birds of Saskatchetoon" which is a portmanteau of "Saskatoon" and "Saskatchewan".  He has a blog, too - artgeekbrown
I love his bird artwork and how he also tells the story of how he spotted each one on his journeys somewhere in or near Saskatoon.  Here are some examples for you to enjoy:
And speaking of birds, isn't this sweet?

Wednesday, June 01, 2022

Today's News: From all over

But really, Canadian media are just playing another version of "If it's not Scottish, it's crap". 
The proposed Liberal legislation to prevent more handgun sales obviously isn't going to solve every gun problem in Canada and the rest of North America. Therefore, argue the cynics, it is worthless and just political. 
But the thing to remember is this: 
it took more than a century for North America to create this gun culture problem -- a century marked by wars around the world, plus significant improvements in gun designs and manufacturing capacity due to billions in government armament purchases, plus the deliberate fostering of the "gun rights" legal framework in the US. 
So there will never be a single piece of legislation or even a single legislative plan that will solve North American society's gun problems. But Trudeau's attempts to limit handguns is progress, just as limiting assault rifles is progress, and improving background checks, and improving society response to red flags, etc etc. 
Inch by inch, it can be changed. 
When I was 20, nobody wore a seatbelt to drive. By the time I was 30, everybody wore them all the time. 
When I was 40, everybody smoked indoors everywhere. By the time I was 55, the only place people could smoke was outside. 
So yes, society can change.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Today's News: American Grotesque


Nuts! It was simply grotesque to see Trump mangling his reading of the Uvalde victims' names, as a cowbell rang and they kept messing up the timing. Then there was the dancing. Scorch! Pow!

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

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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: