Your middle-of-the-week common sense ...
Because "transparency":
The Pandora Papers, the latest leak of offshore financial records, don’t seem to have a particular focus on Canada — at least based on what has been revealed so far.
But they nonetheless shed light on a global network of illicit financial flows of which “Canada is a hub,” says James Cohen, executive director of the Canadian chapter of Transparency International.
The nearly 12 million documents from 14 offshore services providers offer more detail on how the wealthy can shelter their money from the prying eyes of tax authorities and law enforcement.
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The Department of Public Works yesterday would not disclose terms of a sole-sourced contract to a Québec supplier for “last resort” mask sterilizing machines. The devices retail at up to $125,000 apiece through U.S. distributors: “Definitely a last resort.”
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MPs will ask the new Parliament to revive Covid investigations, Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole said yesterday. The September 20 election campaign interrupted committee reviews of millions of pages of internal documents on pandemic mismanagement and the firing of Chinese scientists at a federal lab: ‘It will have to be re-examined.’
You had a chance to do that during the election, Erin.
There were literally hundreds of things O'Toole could have used against Justin and his party of perverts and kleptocrats but opted not to.
The Tories are not a party worth supporting anymore than the Liberals or NDP are and no amount of pandering to identity politics of any sort will change one's mind.
The election and events leading up to it are the reasons why people sought out another political option or just stopped caring, giving Justin a chance to fake his way through moral posturing and yet another fake apology:
Conservative MPs yesterday deferred any leadership review of Erin O’Toole. The Opposition Leader accepted personal blame for the loss of nearly 492,000 votes and two seats in the minority 44th Parliament: “Changing the leader every two years after every election is not the way.”
Also:
The lesson in both cases is that leadership demands authenticity. A real leader practises what he preaches, and asks others to do as he does, not as he says. A real leader doesn’t change his spots to get support; he uses the power of persuasion to bring the support to him. Fail to do either and eventually you will end up falling on your sword.
You expect too much from the sludge pool that is Canadian politicians.
In an interview with The West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson Sunday, National Chief RoseAnne Archibald of the Assembly of First Nations said that the government’s “words and actions have to be aligned.”
“When the prime minister talks about reconciliation, please, you know, don’t go on a holiday on the very first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Participate in an event on the day, not the day before. That would be more in alignment with his real commitment to reconciliation.”
And why would he take you seriously?
Honestly, Big Aboriginal and Justin apologists everywhere: f--- you.
You stupidly voted for an unserious, useless, worthless, shallow sociopath whose global crush, China, is the model for the polices he wants to enact. Every single groping incident, blackface-wearing, racial or ethnic insult and national fustercluck was always explained away and every hollow apology was unbelievable and as hollow as his head.
Even the moral posturing, which he preens at every opportunity, that buys your votes and pacifies his bloated civil service at the taxpayers' expense means nothing to him.
So whine about your new Kwanzaa and your ill-defined causes and moan until he bribes you with printed money. He doesn't care about you and no one else does, either.
You both lose.
It's just an economy:
With prices rising along with inflation in Canada, some 40 per cent of shoppers are focusing on sales and deals more than before when buying their groceries.
A new report from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab found 86 per cent of Canadians surveyed believe food prices are higher than they were six months ago. As a result, two in five people said they have changed their behaviour at the market over the past year in order to save money.
(Sidebar: you didn't do that before? As a Canadian, I know that you believe money appears out of nowhere but come on!)
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Last September’s spot price for natural gas was $1.92 USD/MMBtu.
— Dan McTeague (@GasPriceWizard) September 28, 2021
This month, even before winter, the avg is $5.00 MMBtu with prices surging this am to $6.24
Except for Global Radio Toronto & Calgary, it would seem most media are oblivious to the pain this is going to cause 🙄
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As politicians talk recovery and employers tentatively roll out back-to-office plans, Toronto’s downtown streets seem at times almost as ghostly empty as they were at the height of the pandemic.
And new data may point to a reason why: recovery in the city’s once bustling downtown core is lagging behind not just the GTA, but Canada overall.
Across the country, downtowns have struggled more in comparison to the other regions of Canada’s major cities, but the gap is widest in Toronto, said Marcy Burchfield, vice-president of the Economic Blueprint Institute, an initiative by the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
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Robson said there’s a lot of “churn” in the labour force these days, as people are weighing whether the jobs they once held are worth returning to during a pandemic.
She talked about whether employers may end up hiking wages, the labour shortage and the Canada Recovery Benefit, which is set to expire in a few weeks. As always the interview is edited for clarity and brevity.
(Sidebar: and where would they be employed in Canada?)
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The economic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic are squeezing businesses struggling to find workers as ongoing labour shortages continue to stall certain sectors.
Businesses both big and small say they are struggling to find staff and employers have been offering more incentives to attract workers such as higher wages, bonuses, and flexible hours.
However, for those industries trying to recoup losses after months of lockdown, Jasmin Guenette of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says perks may not be an option.
"Only 40 per cent of small businesses are making normal sales at the moment. So increasing wage is not something that is possible for many businesses," Guenette previously told CTV News.
Jonathan Wilkinson's wife owns stock in a gas company:
According to Wilkinson, both Canada and Germany agreed to help corral the money in advance of the 2021 United Nations climate conference, also known as COP26, after funding for the program had slowed.
"We have been spending a lot of time over the last couple of months doing that, and certainly the last couple of days were meeting with a lot of countries to twist their arms about being more ambitious with respect to climate finance," said Wilkinson, who at the time had spent several days in Milan for the conference's final set-up in agenda.
"I would say that I am cautiously optimistic that we are going to be able to deliver on that when we get to COP. But of course, there's still a bit more work for us to do over the coming days."
Were this a movie, it might be an interesting plot twist.
Wuhan and U.S. scientists were planning to create entirely new coronaviruses that did not exist in nature by combining the genetic code of other viruses, proposals show.
Documents leaked last month of a grant application submitted to the U.S. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), reveal that the international team of scientists was planning to mix genetic data of closely related strains, and grow new viruses.
I'm sure these shots mandates will be strongly enforced against the hesitant yet Liberal-friendly public sector:
Federal employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the month to continue working, the government formally announced Wednesday.
Public servants must show they’re fully vaccinated by Oct. 29 or face unpaid administrative leave, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Border Service Agency will be among the sectors impacted.
You don't have the intestinal fortitude to do that, Justin, and everyone - especially federal employees - know it.
They're not doctors, nurses or paramedics.
If they miss one pay cheque, the country will grind to a halt.
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Dr. Rochagné Kilian recently resigned as an emergency room and family practice physician due to her concerns that the Ontario health system and Grey Bruce Health Services (GBHS) crossed ethical lines throughout the pandemic.
In a virtual meeting that included GBHS CEO Gary Sims and other staff members, Dr. Kilian asked Sims a series of questions about what she believes is unethical behaviour on behalf of the Ontario health system at all levels. Sims appeared to be unprepared for difficult questions pertaining to the ongoing rollout of vaccination mandates and vaccine segregation restrictions the Ontario heath system is championing.
Kilian estimated that 80 percent of the patients she saw in the ER during the past month who had inexplicable symptoms were “double vaxxed.”
Also - it's called limiting your movements:
Starting October 30, everyone age 12 and older will need to provide proof of full vaccination to travel departing from Canadian airports, on VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer trains. In addition, marine passengers on non-essential passenger vessels (including cruise ships on voyages of 24 hours or more) will be required to be fully vaccinated.
But no tracking for these guys.
Canada cracks down on terrorism:
Police in Windsor, Ont., say they will lay no charges in connection with the discovery of potentially explosive devices near the U.S.-Canada border that led to the temporary shutdown of the Ambassador Bridge.
Police say Canada Boarder Services Agency officers found two grenades submerged in an unknown white powder during a vehicle inspection at the Ambassador Bridge on Monday morning.
The driver of the vehicle was detained, the surrounding area was evacuated and traffic on the bridge was suspended for several hours.
Windsor police say further investigation showed the grenades were inert and no direct threats were made to persons or places in connection with the devices.
It also said that the driver, a man from the United States, didn’t have any intent to cause harm or use the grenades for “nefarious purpose” and will not face charges.
That will show him!
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A Canadian ISIS member caught in Syria and flown to the United States to stand trial should have been prosecuted in Canada, a lawyer representing his family said Monday.
“If there is evidence against Canadians who are being arbitrarily detained in northeast Syria, they should be brought home and prosecuted,” Lawrence Greenspon told Global News.
Why?
So they can get away with murder as the Air India bombers did or be awarded $10.5 million as Omar Khadr was?
Wow.
Do you think they could do that to protect the Arctic?:
For the first time since 1954, a Royal Canadian Navy ship has completed the journey through the Northwest Passage.
"It was the longest time a Canadian navy ship has operated in the Arctic in consecutive days in more than 50 years," said Cmdr. Corey Gleason, commanding officer of HMCS Harry DeWolf.
The ship began its voyage in Iqaluit on Aug. 7 and is sailing to its final destination in Vancouver, where it's expected to arrive on Friday.
Although navy ships navigate the Arctic, Gleason said they normally spend only a short time there each year — typically between the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September — because they aren't designed for ice.
However, HMCS Harry DeWolf is a new Canadian navy ship designed specifically for Arctic waters.
"It's an Arctic and offshore patrol vessel.... It's every bit capable of operating in very thick ice ... it's designed to operate anywhere in the world," Gleason said.
Incompetence? Malice?
The more remarkable testimony was not about what the president knew, or remembers, but about how widespread and chronic were the failures of the enormous American intelligence apparatus. The information-gathering resources of the American state are fearsome — the FBI, CIA, NSA and the various military agencies have tens of thousands of agents. Indeed, so vast is the surveillance apparatus of the American state that there is a senior officer, the Director of National Intelligence, to co-ordinate the alphabet soup of agencies. That was a post-9/11 initiative, given the failures of intelligence co-ordination 20 years ago.
We don't have to trade with China:
As for China’s ambitions, all roads lead back to Xi, the unlikely leader of the Chinese Communist Party. His plans are effectively a grand restoration project, returning his country to what many Chinese consider their natural position atop the global pecking order.
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As the Chinese regime celebrated 71 years of one-party rule on Oct. 1, overseas dissidents drew attention to Beijing’s ongoing suppression of freedoms and human rights.
Meanwhile, authorities across the country, including Hong Kong, put police on the streets to stamp out petitioners and protestors, as is usual practice ahead of important events.
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Taiwan has reported the largest ever incursion by the Chinese air force into its air defense zone, with 38 aircraft flying in two waves on Friday as Beijing marked the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
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To clarify this a bit, the Taiwanese Foreign Minister isn’t calling on Australia to commit to providing direct military force to battle China, though it does seem to be subtly implied. Australia has the same sort of relationship with Taiwan that the United States has had for many decades. They don’t “officially” recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, but they do commit to helping Taiwan with the ability to defend itself in the event of a military attack by the Chinese. That sort of support can take many forms, ranging from intelligence sharing to funding for their defense capabilities.
(Sidebar: if Australia can get around beating its own citizens.)
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A French senate delegation will visit Taiwan next week despite repeated objections from Beijing, including warnings by the Chinese ambassador to France that the trip would “needlessly disrupt” relations between their countries.
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Xi will be pulling on every lever to stabilise the situation, but what he really needs is for his people to go forth and multiply — and fill all those empty homes.
Can he persuade them to do so? Other countries, including Japan, have tried to reverse declining birth rates — offering parents tax breaks, benefits and other forms of support. But, at best, these pro-natal inducements have had limited success.
Of course, Japan is a democracy. China is not. Where he sees fit, Xi Jinping has no trouble interfering in the private lives of his citizens. His party once compelled Chinese families to have fewer children, so might it now compel them to have more? In place of forced sterilisation, could we see the state pursue a policy of forced fertilisation?
It's called the rape of North Korean women:
Around 30,000 North Koreans have resettled in South Korea, the vast majority of them women. Assessing how many of them were victims of human trafficking is difficult as is estimating the number of North Korean women who remain trafficked in China or languish in prisons back in North Korea after forced repatriation. Kim estimates 60 percent of North Korean women in South Korea were abused in China. She said, “Naturally, women only share their stories with friends they are very close with and trust. This is because women defectors feel shameful about their experiences. It is extremely difficult for me when I share what I have been through. I was sold for 19,000 Chinese yuan (about USD 2,800). Moreover, I have to confess the fact that I abandoned my child, whether it was against my will or not.”
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If Canadians think China’s hostage diplomacy with the two Michaels was bad, they need to understand that the communist regime could hold all of Canada hostage if our country’s federal government allows Huawei Technologies to provide any part of our 5G wireless network.
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“We took (them) all forcibly overnight,” he said. “If there were hundreds of people in one county in this area, then you had to arrest these hundreds of people.”…
“Kick them, beat them (until they’re) bruised and swollen,” Jiang said, recalling how he and his colleagues used to interrogate detainees in police detention centers. “Until they kneel on the floor crying.”…
“Everyone uses different methods. Some even use a wrecking bar, or iron chains with locks,” Jiang said. “Police would step on the suspect’s face and tell him to confess.”
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That's rather big of you, Mr. Alexander:
That parrots the line propagated by the Chinese Communist regime that Meng’s arrest was politically motivated, he said.
In Alexander’s view, Canada, acting on an extradition request from the U.S., acted strictly in accordance with the rule of law — which is what the Canadian government has always maintained.
However, he said Woo does not deserve the torrent of abuse he received on social media after Alexander last week tweeted his disapproval of the senator posting a link to the Star column.
More here.
Well, one might focus on Jesus this Christmas:
The operator of one of the busiest ports in the world has suggested that global supply chain bottlenecks will last for around two years.
Speaking to Bloomberg News, Dubai’s DP World Chairman and Chief Executive Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said he expects bottlenecks to continue until 2023, and warned that the issues will result in higher costs for shipping goods.
“The global supply chain was in crisis in the beginning of the pandemic,” Sulayem told the media outlet. “Freight rates will continue to increase.
Pro-abortionists are mentally ill blowhards with death fixations.
But don't take my word for it:
Demonstrators filled the streets surrounding the court, shouting “My body, my choice” and cheering loudly to the beat of drums.
(Sidebar: but not if you would rather take take a jab.)
Before heading out on the march, they rallied in a square near the White House, waving signs that said “Mind your own uterus,” “I love someone who had an abortion” and “Abortion is a personal choice, not a legal debate,” among other messages. Some wore T-shirts reading simply “1973,” a reference to the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortion legal for generations of American women.
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On the website of this event, it lists items that should and should not be brought. Among the latter, it says: "Coat-hanger imagery: We do not want to accidentally reinforce the right wing talking points that self-managed abortions are dangerous, scary, and harmful."
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President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead global health development at the U.S. Agency for International Development formerly suggested that brutal partial birth abortion techniques should not be vilified over other abortion procedures, saying, “Grossness is not a good objection.”
Alright.
What medical purpose is served by jabbing someone in the back of the neck with a pair of scissors?
Strange yet somewhat familiar worlds:
A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025.
The BepiColombo mission made the first of six flybys of Mercury at 11:34 p.m. GMT (7:34 p.m. EST) Friday, using the planet’s gravity to slow the spacecraft down.
After swooping past Mercury at altitudes of under 200 kilometers (125 miles), the spacecraft took a low resolution black-and-white photo with one of its monitoring cameras before zipping off again.
The European Space Agency said the captured image shows the Northern Hemisphere and Mercury’s characteristic pock-marked features, among them the 166-kilometer-wide (103-mile-wide) Lermontov crater.
I'm not an animal expert but one would think that an animal not native to that area and with distinctive markings would be easy to spot:
Five zebras that escaped almost a month ago from a Maryland farm remain on the lam.
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