Monday, October 17, 2022

FreeDumb Convoy Greatest Hits


Now that the Public Order Emergency Commission hearings are getting underway, Canada is being reminded of just how awful the convoy crisis was, not only in Ottawa but also across the rest of the country. 
It was exciting at first, of course -- hundreds of people exorcised their January blahs by lining the highways waving flags and cheering as they watched the big trucks thundering past. There was lots of "freedom!" shouting, and a warm sense of solidarity and joining together for a common cause and other fun stuff.
So the convoy seemed to think a majority of Canadians actually supported them. 
But their Ottawa occupation and border blockades soon deteriorated into a noisy, chaotic, messy, dirty, disrespectful, horn-honking debacle. 
They didn't have the sense or the leadership to just declare victory and leave. We are now seeing a determined effort by Conservatives to minimize and trivialize what actually happened during the convoy crisis. I hope they don't get away with it: So tonight I was checking tweets and also scrolling back through my posts in early February. Hey, remember what actually was happening? And remember the brave people who fought back?

Saturday, October 15, 2022

From the Bookmarks

Here's the Daily Mail live feed on YouTube  
Kwasi Kwarteng served Truss as finance minister for 38 days -- reminiscent of how Tony
Scaramucci served as White House communications director for 10 days in 2017. 
So we now have a new reference for measuring time in politics: Today's "Christ, what an asshole!" is Elon Musk: Today's "fuck around and find out" is the FluTruxKlan:

Friday, October 14, 2022

Today's News: "I'm going to punch him out"

I don't have a lot of stuff to talk about tonight, but I did see some good tweets about the two hearings today - including Nancy Pelosi's "punch him out" line.

Jan 6 Committee hearing: 
Trump knew he lost but he didn't want to admit it.

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Christ, what an asshole!


Back in 2006, blogger Charles Lavoie did a post to assert that all New Yorker cartoons would still be just as funny with the caption "Christ, what an asshole" and everyone was surprised about how well that works. It works with most cartoons and it became a meme. 
So I was reminded of this again today when I saw these posts on Twitter -- they could all just be summed up with the phrase "Christ, what an asshole!" 

 First up -- Putin, of course! Alberta premier Danielle Smith: And Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe: The Saudis: Elon Musk: I know which one my money is on! 

Nova Scotia RCMP are in the news again: This guy thought he could just run a bank out of his house -- what could go wrong? And Toast the Cat:

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Five questions for the Public Order Emergency Commission

Over the past several months, I have been collecting comments and tweets related to the FluTruxKlan, anticipating the upcoming Emergencies Act inquiry and the likely shit-show we will be seeing in the media .
I expect we will see a lot of hysterical tut-tutting about how the Emergencies Act was all just SUCH an OVER-REACTION by the Trudeau Liberals because all our provincial governments - Conservative (Ford, Kenny, Stephanson) and NDP (Horgan) - were doing lots of great stuff pretty soon right away so everything would have been JUST FINE because any day now they would have got a grip and the Convoy would have faded away and ...blah, blah, blah. 
The Commission into the use of the Emergencies Act to end the protests is supposed to start this week and continue through November. (It had been scheduled for September but was delayed for Commissioner Paul Rouleau's surgery).   
The inquiry witness list was dropped this morning.
The Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) website is here and they are looking for comments:
As the months have gone by, we have found out more about what was happening in Canada last January and February, in Ottawa and across the country: When I review the tweets I flagged over the last few months, I have five questions that I hope the Public Commission will answer: 
1. Whose side were the police really on?
2. Whose side are the media really on?
3. Whose side is the public really on?
4. Conservatives, WTF?
5. Are the hearings going to be a clown show?

Today's News: Congratulations to Brandi Morin!

Congratulations to Brandi Morin, in New York City tonight to receive her Edward R. Murrow Award for her article: A "lingering evil": From residential schools to murdered women. In the United States, today used to be known as Columbus Day but is now becoming known as Indigenous People's Day:

Sunday, October 09, 2022

More Great Stuff

Remember Friendly, Jerome and Rusty?
   
Here is an hilarious thread:
Here are some other memories of an earlier time: Hey, Happy Thanksgiving this weekend, everyone:

Friday, October 07, 2022

Today's News: Starting the nuclear conversation

Back in the spring when there was a bunch of chatter about how the US and NATO should save Ukraine by declaring a no-fly zone, Biden categorically refused to consider it, saying that Americans had not elected him to start a nuclear war.
But now that Ukraine is winning the war, I think Putin is going crazy and trying to take everyone else with him. He's been talking about using nuclear weapons to win, which means the world is facing a nuclear war anyway, regardless of what the US or NATO does.
So Biden now must prepare Americans for this possibility -- tonight, he started his conversation with the US public:
Biden's words have been reported around the world -- except for his comment about how much damage Trump did to American foreign policy. But we already knew that, didn't we.
Anyway, here is analysis tonight from  CNN White House reporter Stephen Collinson:
...Biden appeared to be making an argument, which Putin will now be sure to hear about, that the idea that the use of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine could be contained and not lead to a wider conflagration is wrong.
The entire strategic logic between maintaining nuclear weapons for self-defense is that they are too terrible to be used, and any nation that did would be writing their own death warrant.
The President has now sent a clear signal to the Russian leader that crossing the nuclear threshold in any way could cause an escalation that would lead to a disastrous full-on nuclear war.
“I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” Biden said at the fundraiser.
His comments underscore the most important mission of his presidency – shepherding the world through the most dangerous nuclear brinkmanship in 60 years.
People are also figuring out what might happen if nukes were used in Ukraine: And this is a brutal truth, isn't it:

Wednesday, October 05, 2022

From the Bookmarks

Just a random selection of stuff tonight.
First, I just cannot understand why anyone in Florida would still vote Republican. 
Here is what the Hurricane Ian storm surge looked like, and the governor and country officials didn't tell people to evacuate until it was way way too late. 
It was impossible to survive something like this: I appreciate what James Carville is saying here. Florida needs to rebuild and DeSantis just isn't capable of leading such an effort:

Tuesday, October 04, 2022

Today's News: Playing nuclear chicken?

Well, this is terrifying, isn't it? It sounds like Russia is getting set to try to play a game of Nuclear Chicken with Ukraine and the west: Oh, I really hope the Telegraph is wrong and these guys are right: Given how poorly they have done everything else in this war, if Russia does try to play nuclear chicken with the West then it likely won't work out very well for Russia. But as Ukraine wins back more and more of its territory, Putin will be increasingly desperate: Canada's decision to support NATO membership for Ukraine surprised me, because in the past it seemed that NATO had always backed away from provoking Putin too much. 
But maybe now the West is realizing that mollifying Putin is no longer an option so so we might as well take it to him: Fukuyama is making a prediction: This was true yesterday, but may no longer be true now:

Monday, October 03, 2022

Today's News: Winter is Coming

First tonight, what the heck is going on in Britain? 
The  new Truss government seems determined to destroy the British economy in the name of some looney libertarian conservative craziness, while the British people are facing horrific heating bills and mortgage bills this winter. This is the same kind of so-called BS "freedom" that Poilievre talks about - yeah, the freedom to underpay people, to cheat customers, to discriminate, to fire staff without cause, etc. 
I thought these tweets made some good points, too:

Sunday, October 02, 2022

Today's News: The Indomitable Spirit of the Maritimes and Newfoundland

The news has moved on so much in the last week that we haven't been seeing as much recently about the Hurricane Fiona recovery on the east coast. 
But it has been terrible for them this last week, and it continues to be difficult - this recovery will take a long time and the feeling of abandonment is growing. 
Here are some tweets and writings I found tonight, and I am truly in awe with the indomitable spirit shown by these Canadians during such an awful time: Ian writes: 
 As I write this, seven days after the Hurricane, nearly half the Island has no power, many have no water, and reports indicate that no Red Cross money has been distributed. 
The promises from the Federal Government to “match donations to the Red Cross” ring like a bad joke in the ears of those needing services. People were in a position before the Hurricane in which they weren’t sure they could afford rent. The latest rent hike on the Island came just this past week, and in spite of basic utilites having collapsed, people are already receiving notices of climbing rent. 
....The anger in Prince Edward Island right now is very real. While Canada is going on with its life, as it should, PEI feels abandoned.
And why, seven days after the hurricane, has no money from the Red Cross been distributed yet? PEIslanders have an indominable spirit! From musician Tara MacLean's facebook page, here is a beautiful article about what the Dunes meant to PEI:
   
On Sunday, Tara and others are organizing a sing-along in downtown Charlottetown:
Moving on to Nova Scotia: And to Newfoundland: The Cons just can't resist trying to score political points out of people's agony, can they? And this guy calls himself a journalist: But it is true that we will be getting more of these storms because of climate change:

Saturday, October 01, 2022

Today's News: Honouring Truth and Reconciliation Day

A wave of orange shirts filled Saskatoon as people walked from CUMFI to Victoria Park during the Rock Your Roots Walk for Reconciliation on National Truth and Reconciliation day in Saskatoon, Sask. on Sept. 30, 2022. PHOTO BY MICHELLE BERG /Saskatoon StarPhoenix

At the end of the book The Christmas Carol, Dickins wrote a line about about honouring Christmas every day of the year. When I was thinking today about Truth and Reconciliation Day, I think this is what we need to remember and commit to doing: 
I will honour Truth and Reconciliation in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. 

But also, this: From last night's football game -

Friday, September 30, 2022

Today's News: Orange Shirt Day


https://beyond.ubc.ca/orange-shirt-day/

Sept 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also called Orange Shirt Day - for settlers, it is a day for thoughtfulness, remembrance, acknowledgement of wrongdoing, apology, and promise to do better.
Here are some tweets and stories to share. 
At first I thought, is this tweet for real? But yes, it is, and really, its great: Here is the background to the Orange Shirt:
Orange Shirt Day is a legacy of the St. Joseph Mission residential school commemoration event held in Williams Lake in the spring of 2013. 
 It grew out of Phyllis’s account of losing her shiny new orange shirt on her first day of school at the Mission, and it has become an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residential schools happening annually.
I went to the Mission for one school year in 1973/1974. 
I had just turned 6 years old. I lived with my grandmother on the Dog Creek reserve. We never had very much money, but somehow my granny managed to buy me a new outfit to go to the Mission school. 
I remember going to Robinson’s store and picking out a shiny orange shirt. It had string laced up in front, and was so bright and exciting – just like I felt to be going to school! 
When I got to the Mission, they stripped me, and took away my clothes, including the orange shirt! I never wore it again. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t give it back to me, it was mine! 
The color orange has always reminded me of that and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. 
All of us little children were crying and no one cared. 
 I was 13 years old and in grade 8 when my son Jeremy was born. Because my grandmother and mother both attended residential school for 10 years each, I never knew what a parent was supposed to be like.
With the help of my aunt, Agness Jack, I was able to raise my son and have him know me as his mother.
I went to a treatment centre for healing when I was 27 and have been on this healing journey since then.
I finally get it, that the feeling of worthlessness and insignificance, ingrained in me from my first day at the mission, affected the way I lived my life for many years. 
Even now, when I know nothing could be further than the truth, I still sometimes feel that I don’t matter. Even with all the work I’ve done! 
I am honored to be able to tell my story so that others may benefit and understand, and maybe other survivors will feel comfortable enough to share their stories. 
 Today... Phyllis Webstad is Northern Secwpemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation (Canoe Creek Indian Band). She comes from mixed Secwepemc and Irish/French heritage, was born in Dog Creek, and lives in Williams Lake, BC. 
Today, Phyllis is married, has one son, a stepson and five grandchildren. She is the Founder and Ambassador of the Orange Shirt Society, and tours the country telling her story and raising awareness about the impacts of the residential school system.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Great stuff

Today, here's some of the interesting stuff I bookmarked recently:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualized-the-worlds-population-at-8-billion/

This is fascinating - its a visual representation of the world population and the webpage also has much more detail about specific continents.