Mid-Week Post

Your middle-of-the-week act of resistance ...

Oh, this doesn't look good:

People waving American flags expressing support for President Donald Trump have broken through barriers and overwhelmed Capitol police, crowding inside the Capitol building, where both chambers were deliberating over objections to the electoral votes from the presidential election.

The deliberations have been put on hold and lawmakers have been evacuated. Shots have been reported inside the building, Epoch Times reporter Charlotte Cuthbertson wrote on Twitter. The building was put on lockdown.

Multiple videos from the site showed protesters getting into scuffles with police officers guarding the barrier outside. A mass of people at the tip of a crowd of perhaps 200,000 Trump supporters marching on the Capitol then pushed their way through the barriers and police. Reinforcements were seen rushing in, reportedly shooting teargas into the crowd. The crowd broke into the building and more people gathered at the steps outside.

Videos from inside the building show people traversing the corridors. Tear gas was later seen inside the building.

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser announced 6 p.m. curfew through 6 a.m. Thursday.

The National Guard has been called to the Capitol, Politico reported.

Trump called on his supporters to remain peaceful and to stand by the Capitol Police.

(Sidebar: despite what CTV might lie about.)

What does one expect after four years of concentrated efforts to malign and remove a populist leader, social upheaval on the part of mental midgets who would starve to death if they were not coddled and obvious cases of electoral fraud?

Canadians are more than happy to roll on their fat bellies and become China's North American vassal state but some Americans feel differently.

Also - I am a Canadian and I don't even care what we think, certainly not the vile racists and perverts who sold this once-great Dominion to China.

This country runs on corruption, nepotism, pettiness and inefficiency.

But don't take my word for it:

Conservative Shadow Minister for Finance Pierre Poilievre and Conservative Shadow Minister for National Revenue Philip Lawrence released a statement on Wednesday regarding the Trudeau Liberals' mid-pandemic tax hikes on Canadians.

"Justin Trudeau has raised taxes on Canadians as a New Year present. As of January 1, payroll taxes have increased, making life more costly for Canadians."

"It’s shameful that the Liberals think it’s a good idea to raise taxes on Canadians during a pandemic. If Justin Trudeau wants to support workers, he needs to lower taxes, not raise them.

"These tax increases will have a large impact on Canadians who are hurting during this pandemic. Workers will see hundreds of dollars off their paychecks due to these taxes. This means that Canadians will have less money to pay their bills.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday said he was disappointed in politicians who ignore bans on non-essential travel, but stopped short of censuring his own health minister. Patricia Hajdu repeatedly jetted home for weekends in Thunder Bay after advising the public to limit their travel to buying groceries: “We are all in this together.”

(Sidebar: if you think that's bad, check out the chief public health officer. Yes, she is a quack. Why do you ask?)

**

The Department of Natural Resources yesterday said it will take homeowners’ applications by July 1 under a multi-billion dollar national refit program. A similar program was cancelled in 2012 over costs: “The program will last for a period of six years.”

**

Eight in ten applications for Canada 150 grants were rejected after cabinet changed the rules, says a newly-released audit. Criteria for funding were so confusing even the Minister of Tourism couldn’t recite them: “We only get to do it one time.”

**

Less than half of one percent of new federal employees hired last year were medically released veterans despite a 2015 law mandating priority hiring of ex-army, navy and air force members. The Public Service Commission noted the low compliance rate came amid a ten-year hiring boom: ‘They served our country.’

Because that worked so well the last time:

Quebec Premier Francois Legault is imposing a provincewide 8 p.m. curfew beginning Saturday as a way to halt surging COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.

The province will become the first in the country to impose such a drastic measure to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The "kinder, gentler" dictator of North Korea still is the fattest one there:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has opened a rare ruling party congress — only the second since the strongman came to power — with an admission that the economic strategy he unveiled at the previous meeting had not panned out, state media reported Wednesday.

“The five-year economic development strategy period wrapped up last year, but the results in most areas fell extremely short of our goals,” the ruling party’s Rodong Sinmun daily quoted Kim as saying in his opening speech a day earlier.

Kim also said he would reveal “the key line of struggle and strategic and tactical policies” for “the cause of national reunification, promoting external relations and strengthening the work of the Party” during the congress, state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

Kim’s admission of economic failures comes as the country faces a three-pronged challenge in the form of crushing U.N. sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, recovery from damage wrought by natural disasters last year and the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced the country to close its borders.

He also again touted self-reliance in his opening speech, as he seeks to present an image of his country weathering challenges that observers say represent the biggest threat to his regime since he took power.

He has a Trudeauan sociopathy, doesn't he?

The last time anyone trusted China, it got a virus:

Australia is moving to boost ties with small island nations off its eastern coastline, pushing back against China’s growing influence in the Pacific Ocean as the virus outbreak hinders travel.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government has promised to supply its neighbors with COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 as part of a 500 million Australian dollars ($388.7 million) package aimed at achieving “full immunization coverage” in the region. It also recently signed a “landmark” deal with Fiji, one of the region’s most populous nations, to allow military deployments and exercises in each other’s jurisdiction.

“China has largely been missing in action in regards to providing COVID-related support in the region,” said Jonathan Pryke, who heads research on the region for Sydney-based think tank the Lowy Institute. “Australia has built up an amount of goodwill by not forgetting about the Pacific in a time of crisis.”

Over the past decade, China’s growing influence in the 14-nation Pacific Islands — whose cumulative population of just 13 million is sprawled over thousands of islands and atolls in a region stretching across 15% of the world’s surface — has triggered alarm bells in the U.S. and Australia. Diplomats and intelligence officials fear Beijing’s ultimate goal may be to establish a naval base that would upend their military strategies.

The battle for influence in the region comes after China hit Australia with a series of damaging trade reprisals following Morrison’s decision to seek an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. Australia’s largest trading partner has put curbs on everything from wine to lobsters, prompting Canberra to file a challenge against barley tariffs at the World Trade Organization.

Still, Australia has made inroads in the Pacific after island nations quickly blocked incoming flights and cruise ships to keep the virus away from vulnerable communities in the aid-dependent region. China also ordered workers developing projects tied to its Belt and Road initiative to return home, and reduced diplomatic staff in the 10 Pacific nations that recognize Beijing instead of Taiwan.