Monday, January 31, 2022

Just a Reminder

You can't sue the government for negligence:

Politicians may not be privately prosecuted for vaccine mandates, a judge has ruled. The decision came in the case of an Ottawa man who tried to file claims against Ontario Premier Doug Ford under an obscure section of the Criminal Code: “None of this has an air of reality.”

 

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Also Inside the Bunker

Justin isn't the only one stunned that Canadians actually did something for a change:

Legislators plan to return to the House of Commons on Monday as a Parliament Hill protest against government-imposed COVID-19 measures enters its third full day.

Many of the horn-honking demonstrators who brought Ottawa to a near standstill on the weekend showed no signs of budging as parliamentarians, businesses and school administrators were left wondering when the usual rhythm of the frazzled national capital would resume.

Alexandra Maheux, a spokeswoman for government House leader Mark Holland, said the ongoing protest is not interfering with parliamentary business.

(Sidebar: this Mark Holland.)

“We have important work to accomplish for Canadians in Parliament, and we’re looking forward to getting this done and delivering results,” Maheux said late Sunday.

 

... says the exorbitantly-paid civil servant who took nearly two months off holiday while regular Canadians worked their under-paying jobs (if they had them). 


Also - no, you @$$hole, you're not part of any "convoy". You still have a pension no matter how corrupt, incompetent and absent you are from the work of destroying a nation, unlike so many others.

Come back to everyone when you have had to tell your children that the government that once lauded you as "essential" now hates you and has forced you from your arduous job:

Truckers and cabinet members alike are “all in the same convoy,” says Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. The Minister declined to speak with protesters demonstrating on Parliament Hill against his vaccine orders, but told reporters: “We’re all tired.”


It's as bad as MP Girl Name.


 

No, the truckers aren't moving:

The “Freedom Convoy” protests continued overnight and into Sunday Jan. 30 in Ottawa, with trucks and vehicles still parked in the city’s downtown core, and people gathered on Parliament Hill, with some setting off fireworks at night.

Protest organizers say they will stay in Ottawa until their demands for lifting COVID-19 mandates are met.

 

 

Rumpelstiltskin Omar Alghabra feels rather sad:

The Freedom Convoy truck drivers’ protest rally today prompted Transport Minister Omar Alghabra to abruptly cancel a scheduled personal appearance on Parliament Hill. It followed attendance at the rally of one speaker who’d called Alghabra a terrorist: “The hysteria gripping our society is reaching new heights.”

This should cheer him:

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said the federal government stands by its vaccination rule for cross-border truckers and still plans to move forward bringing in regulations to make vaccination mandatory for federally regulated industries, which would include inter-provincial truck drivers.

"So there is ongoing work as of right now. That policy is not in place, but no one should be surprised that there's work happening to get us there," he said Sunday on Rosemary Barton Live.

 

Because that will make everyone like him!

 

 

Justin begs for the NDP's help in tightening his grip on China's North American vassal state:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is counting on the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP to help his minority Liberal government get things done in the face of what he anticipates will be systematic obstructionism by the Conservatives.

In an interview with The Canadian Press ahead of Parliament's return Monday after a six-week break, Trudeau made it clear he doesn't just want the smaller, more ideologically compatible opposition parties to support the passage of Liberal bills.

He wants them to support measures to cut off debate and force votes on bills if the official Opposition Conservatives resort to procedural tricks to stall progress on the legislative agenda, as they frequently did during his first minority mandate.



Some people correctly point out that the bribed press has been mischaracterising this movement and its participants from the beginning:

MPs yesterday accused media of vilifying protesters attending a Freedom Convoy truckers’ rally on Parliament Hill. Reporters at a press briefing described various demonstrators as bigots: “Establishment media have been looking for controversies with some of these truckers.”


It is the Liberals' modus operandi to smear that which they do not like.

That is, until they can legally censor everything.


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What Did You Do This Week-End?

A "fringe minority" that numbered in the thousands converged on the capital and other parts of Canada saying what quite should certainly be thinking now: 

Some background.

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Downtown Ottawa was jammed as a couple hundred vehicles decked out in Canadian flags arrived along Wellington and Queen streets to demonstrate against the federal vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers.

The Alexandra Bridge linking Ottawa and Gatineau was closed to traffic at 6 p.m. Friday until further notice. In a media release, Public Services and Procurement Canada cited “a load restriction” for the closure. The federal department also instituted lane reductions on the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge beginning at 8 p.m.

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Loads of photos here and here.

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The diverse band of truckers and their complaints.

Really.

Try as the bribed press might to portray them otherwise.

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Downtown Edmonton is ringing with the sound of honking horns, as huge crowds converge on the Alberta Legislature grounds in support of an anti-vaccine-mandate demonstration in Ottawa.

A truck convoy, which started from Acheson, Alta., just west of Edmonton, arrived in the city on Saturday at around 12 p.m. MT, to show support for a national convoy protesting the trucker COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Parliament Hill.

The block around the grounds is jammed with vehicles and freight trucks blaring their horns. Some vehicles have flags hanging out their windows or tailgates, others have signs denouncing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The streets, mainly northbound 109th Street and 99th Avenue, are lined with supporters of all ages. There are more supporters listening to speakers in the quad next to the Federal Building.

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Protesters continue to block traffic on Highway 4 near the Coutts border crossing in Southern Alberta on Sunday after cutting off the road Saturday afternoon, according to Alberta RCMP.

Semi-trucks and other vehicles still sit idle on the highway leading south from Lethbridge in support of the national protest convoy against vaccines mandate for truckers that reached Ottawa Saturday.

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Dissent is infections:

Nova Scotia has made it illegal to gather alongside the interprovincial highway in support of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy.

The provincial government announced the directive Friday afternoon, claiming that “allowing people to gather in those areas would put themselves and others at risk.”

Although called a “Highway Blockade Ban” on the government’s press release, and is nominally directed towards “prohibiting protesters from blockading Highway 104 near the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border,” the ban also covers supporters of trucking convoys.

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Truckers in the Netherlands formed a convoy on Sunday to protest their nation’s lockdown measures, following the lead of their fellow road hauliers in Canada.

** 

American truckers protesting against vaccine mandates and government overreach have been joining a record-breaking Canadian convoy of tens of thousands of vehicles headed to Ottawa.

Brian Von D, the administrator at “Convoy to DC 2022” announced that they will “join forces” to ride from California to Washington, adding that “America is next.”

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Austria plans to loosen coronavirus restrictions in February after the country’s national vaccine mandate, the first of its kind in Europe, takes effect on Tuesday.

Starting Feb. 5, restaurants will be allowed to remain open until midnight, as opposed to 10 p.m., Chancellor Karl Nehammer said at a Saturday news conference.

In addition, rules effectively barring unvaccinated people from stores and restaurants will be phased out. Starting Feb. 12, proof of vaccination or recovery will no longer be required to enter shops. A week later, on Feb. 19, entry into restaurants will be allowed for all who can prove vaccination, recovery or a negative coronavirus test.

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Because Rex Murphy:

Trudeau, in perhaps his meanest public statement to date, scorned them. He dismissed and derogated their motives. He gave the dismissal in his best “I’m-a-real-leader,” determined voice. His “I-really-mean-it-this-time” voice.

He described them as “a small fringe minority.” A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian, someone once said. But this “small fringe minority” can’t be Canadians. They have “unacceptable views.”

“Unacceptable views?” Are we in China now?

Trudeau isn’t Plato. He may even be a few steps down from that high intellect. But even if he were, I’d hold off on the prime minister of a democracy ruling on what is or is not acceptable.

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(Sidebar: a genuine opinion unlike someone who was obviously a paid agitator who cleared off after being found out. Oops.)

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Maxime Bernier intends to participate in the demonstration of truckers who, according to him, are victims, like all non-vaccinated people, of discriminatory authoritarian measures that must end.

In a virtual press conference on Friday, the leader of the People's Party of Canada (PPC) launched a full-throated charge against the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau government and the provincial governments, accusing them of violating the rights of Canadians with health measures that are the exception, while European countries and American states are lifting their restrictions.

He said that unvaccinated cross-border truckers are safe and should be able to continue their work unhindered at the border. He also condemned similar measures imposed by U.S. authorities at the border, accusing the prime minister of "colluding" with President Joe Biden.

 

 

But Justin thought he should get away from it all:

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not comment Saturday on the Freedom Convoy 2022 demonstration in Ottawa as thousands of people and hundreds of trucks descended on Parliament Hill in numbers so large police closed the city core to traffic.

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Justin Trudeau is a man who claims to be woken than woke. We all remember him saying it’s ‘peoplekind’ not ‘mankind’, for example.

Yet this is a man who has worn blackface, and who is very comfortable running roughshod over his population’s civil liberties. All in the name of ‘being kind’.

Not content with banning the unvaccinated from public transport and working in federal departments, he’s forcing truckers travelling between the US and Canada to quarantine.

And he called the protesters a small fringe minority. Well, when the convoy arrived in Ottawa he and his family fled and went into hiding. It’s either something much larger than a fringe movement, or he’s the kind of man who legs it from a small group of protesters. If it’s the latter, I’m not sure he’s the kind of person you’d want leading your country.

** 

Satire but barely:

A "freedom convoy" of Canadian truckers is on its way to Ottawa in protest of vaccine mandates. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing back at accusations of tyrannical government overreach by claiming the truckers just hate him because he's black.

"As a proud black man, this is the kind of discrimination I have faced my whole life," said Trudeau in a nationwide address over Zoom. "These truckers are a bunch of racist white men. They're probably not even gay."

"They only hate me because I'm black!"

Trudeau, who is currently quarantining in spite of a negative COVID-19 test, also sent off dozens of angry letters to "whoever hires truckers" because of all the racism. While literally shaking, he wrote, "If you oppose vaccines you are racist, sexist, and think a Snow White remake is a good idea."

His intern passed the letters on to Canadian Mounties who rode to the four corners of Canada to take the message to the people.

Trudeau, who is suspiciously not black looking, was offended when members attempted to spin his statement, suggesting he was merely close to the black community.

"I am not speaking metaphorically," said Trudeau. "Look at my skin. It's as black as night. It's midnight black!"

"If you weren't so naively color blind you'd understand," he added.

 

 

Still in hiding, he bravely told the bribed press that he would never back down as long as the Chinese put money into his dad's foundation and still insulted the multitudes who showed up and calmly stood the ground Justin fled.: 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he “won’t give in” to the so-called “freedom convoy” protest in downtown Ottawa.

 

(Sidebar: "so-called" is Global News' spin on this popular movement. $600 million buys a lot of smear.)

The convoy isn't going anywhere and the world saw you use your own kid as a deflection from your own cowardice.

You're through.


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Thursday, January 27, 2022

The Educational and Moral Failure of the Post-Modern West


 

Do the teachers care to do anything?

What about the parents?:

Nearly a third of North American students think the Holocaust was exaggerated or fabricated, according to a new study, which also found that 40 per cent of students reported learning about the Holocaust through social media. ...

For the study, nearly 3,600 students in Grades 6 through 12 were surveyed both before and after a two-day virtual conference focusing on the Holocaust. Almost 80 per cent of the students were in Canada, while the rest were in U.S. classrooms. Just over six per cent identified as Jewish.

According to the study, nearly 33 per cent of the students felt the Holocaust was fabricated or exaggerated, or they were unsure if it even took place. Social media also wasn’t their only source of information.

“A lot of them talked about Marvel as the place where they had originally learned about the Holocaust,” Lerner said, referring to the superhero media franchise, which includes fictional Second World War hero Captain America. “Or 12 per cent said that they heard about it from a videogame, which is sort of the same story.”

(Sidebar: the human race is done.)

A shocking 42 per cent of the students reported unequivocally witnessing an antisemitic event, including at their own schools. Some students, Lerner noted, also believed something like the Holocaust couldn’t happen again.

 

Oh, is that so? 

Prisoners at Tuol Sleng prison

The aftermath of the Rwandan genocide


 And this is why kids laugh at violence and misfortune and why they would think that starving people who don't do as they are told is a good idea.


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It's Called Cowarditis

Mere hours after calling a popular national movement "a small fringe minority" -

this minority:

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 - Justin has suddenly and mysteriously come down with COVID:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is isolating at home after learning that he was exposed to someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.

And he so wanted to meet the truckers, too!

I guess that flu shot doesn't protect one from truckers ... or anything else:

**

 

Who will take Justin's place?

Will Chrystia, too, become suddenly ill?:

It’s also about media coverage. Endless blather from the usual political panels, each a carbon copy of the other: a mix of partisan spokespeople, lobby and “communications” firm high-flyers, ex-politicos and a sprinkle of long-term journalists. On a story like the convoy, has anyone at Global, CTV or CBC thought to set up a panel of … truckers? Perhaps three or four actually in the convoy. You know, the people who actually know about the convoy.

If not one of those laborious panels, why not, by now, some frequent by-the-side-of-the-road interviews with the participants in the convoy? Instead of talking about the truckers, how about talking to them? It also wouldn’t be such a bad idea to go among the supporters who greet them as they pass through communities and ask why they are in such visible support.

I know one interview I would like to have seen. There’s a much-circulated photograph originally posted on Facebook of six Hutterite women holding signs in support of the convoy in Swift Current, Sask. I don’t think these women are being “stirred on” by “far-right extremists” in support of a “Jan. 6-style insurrection” to occur when the truckers reach Ottawa. I base this judgment purely on their perfectly cheerful faces. They lack the obligatory grimness and dark intensity that marks the would-be Che Guevara set. I really don’t think they are the “plotting” sort. ...

It would be very nice to have the prime minister and the leaders of the other parties in the home of Canadian democracy to offer a response (Jan. 6 theories to the contrary) to what certainly appears to be a grassroots demonstration. It would be nice, too, to have Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole say something definitive as to where he stands on the same. Fudge is a fine candy, but it is not a good policy.

**

Butts then labelled truckers terrorists. Well, they took it like an arrow to the heart, which is exactly what Butts predicted and which naturally had social media light up like Times Square on a New Year’s Eve.

Meanwhile, the eastbound “Freedom Convoy” rolling towards Ottawa in protest of government mandates is now well underway with hundreds coming out to support the truckers’ departure from B.C.’s Lower Mainland early Sunday morning.

The recent mandate is forcing truckers crossing the border into Canada to provide proof of vaccination upon arrival if they want to avoid testing and quarantine requirements.

Prior to this restriction, cross-border truckers were considered an essential service.

 

The truckers are unphased:

“It’s not about the vaccine. It’s about the mandate…. We’re done with mandates.”

While truckers from Ontario will arrive in Ottawa on Friday, the majority will arrive on Saturday, and that’s when the protest will begin in earnest, said Jason LaFlace, an organizer who previously planned events and protests for a group called No More Lockdowns.

“The first day is going to be the 29th. We’re just going to go on a roll. And that will be the starting point, to get ourselves set up. On the 31st, the Monday, that’s the first day of business for Ottawa and for us, us freedom fighters, and Canadians all across the country. And we’re expecting a huge amount,” LaFlace said.

The plan is to essentially gridlock the city, while leaving room for traffic to businesses and emergency vehicles to get through, LaFlace said.

 

Keep in mind that Justin had ZERO problem with thugs shutting down railway lines.


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Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Justin Trudeau Is a Disgusting Piece of Filth

But don't take my word for it:


Where would you be without your dad's name and Chinese money, Justin?

Looking for a real job, I would imagine.


 


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Mid-Week Post

Your mid-week rest-stop ...


For a convoy:

According to Guinness World Records, the longest truck convoy ever recorded was 7.5 km long, in Egypt in 2020.

The Freedom Convoy heading from British Columbia to Ottawa is said to be considerably longer.

“It’s 70 km long,” said Benjamin Dichter, spokesman for the Freedom Convoy 2022. “I have seen footage from an airplane. It’s impressive.”

By Wednesday, truckers hope to have taken their protest through to Manitoba and will make it to southern Ontario on Friday.

Plans call for the convoy to arrive in Ottawa on Saturday for a protest.

If it gets there on time — and if the convoy holds together as it has in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan — it could be 10 times larger than the world record.

“The largest parade of trucks consisted of 480 trucks and is achieved by Tahya Misr Fund (Egypt), in Cairo, Egypt, on 20 November 2020,” Guinness says on its website. “With a length of 7.5 km, Tahya Misr Fund was able to organize a parade of 480 trucks, amid the harsh weather and heavy rain, breaking the Guinness World Records title for the largest parade of trucks, which was achieved 16 years ago in the Netherlands with a parade size of 416 trucks.”

There are estimates the Canadian convoy could comprise 50,000 trucks from the West, East, and even from the United States. It’s difficult to speculate what will transpire in the days ahead.

It looks like Ottawa could be swamped with long-haul trucks on Jan. 29. But with winter weather and potential issues, including possible roadblocks or traffic snarls, time will tell.

Whatever happens, it won’t be for lack of support.

Thousands of Canadians have lined the route, cheered from overpasses and offered to feed drivers in their homes and restaurants.

It’s a grassroots demonstration that has become far bigger than anything organizers had envisioned.

**

 

Because the convoy has proven to be an attractive popular movement, it has its detractors in the chattering and ruling classes:

Gaslighting people about shortages by posting photos of fully stocked shelves in your own neighbourhood is asinine and callous. Apparently it’s inconceivable that other people experience problems which you do not. Those who enjoy mocking other people’s concerns this way should go the extra mile and send photos of their clean tap water to Indigenous communities so they know their problems don’t exist either — the principle is the same.

There is an ugly class dynamic to this phenomenon, too. As reported by The Globe and Mail , experts predicted that food shortages would be concentrated in vulnerable and remote communities. Erasing these communities’ struggles by citing bountiful shelves in Ottawa, or other comfortable metropoles, has a very “let them eat cake” energy.

Evidently many Canadians on Twitter were offended by being told that food shortages don’t exist, and subsequently shared photos of empty shelves in their neighbourhoods. In response, shortage-deniers doubled-down by questioning the veracity of these images, seemingly convinced that this is just some massive conservative disinformation campaign.

Have these people been living under a rock? There have been ample concerns about food shortages for weeks — and these warnings have also come from non-partisan sources, such as the Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab and The Canadian Trucking Alliance . Shortages also aren’t limited to Canada, as the United States has also struggled to keep supermarkets full in the face of Omicron.

 

But shortages aren't caused by the flu; they are caused by the government.

This government: 

The Freedom Convoy 2022 is opposing vaccine mandates on a federal and provincial level, with their planned rally-point in Ottawa designed to create awareness of the ridiculousness of the government’s rules. Because mandates have become so associated with more liberal politicians like Trudeau and the federal Liberal Party they know that the awareness the convoy is creating is an attack fundamentally against their worldview. ...

(Sidebar: divisive is as divisive does. Even the pants-soiler enjoys more popularity than PM Blackface. Let that sink in.)

The Liberal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra has also tried to brush aside the issue that vaccine mandates have caused for Canada’s supply chains. Alghabra makes the rather ridiculous argument that mandates were helping to solve supply chain issues despite forcing many truckers into positions where they could not cross the board due to their principled opposition to being vaccinated against COVID-19.


This Alghabra:

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says he is concerned “about the small number of far-right, vocal opposition that is polluting” the political debate sparked by a vaccine mandate for Canadian truckers. 

 

Look, Rumpelstiltskin Alghabra, if you have evidence that  major person spearheading this movement is a part of a group promoting bigotry (dissent against the government isn't bigotry - sorry to burst your revolting bubble), then let's have it.

Could this troll's actions be any more obvious?


Also - oh, burn, Jag:

GoFundMe records show Singh's brother-in-law, Jodhveer Singh Dhaliwal, donated $13,000 to the group behind the demonstration — dubbed the "freedom convoy" by participants.


And - why isn't MP Girl Name supporting this convoy?:

Garnett Genuis, MP for Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, Alb., said he stands with the truck drivers who are essential to supplying Canada’s grocery stores.

“Preventing people from bringing essential goods into Canada because of their vaccination status when those drivers are sitting alone inside their cabs, and when the Omicron variant is already on both sides of the border, is really the height of absurdity,” he wrote on Twitter on Jan. 22.

The convoy was organized in response to new rules introduced on Jan. 15 that make it mandatory for truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. border to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or face a mandatory two-week quarantine upon re-entry. The U.S. government announced similar requirements beginning Jan. 22 for non-U.S. nationals crossing into the country who are not vaccinated, including Canadian truck drivers.

Former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, MP for Regina-Qu’Appelle, Sask., blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on social media for introducing the vaccine mandate for truck drivers.

“Trudeau is attacking personal liberty and threatening everyone’s ability to get groceries because of his overreach on vaccine mandates,” he wrote on Twitter on Jan. 24. “He is the biggest threat to freedom in Canada.”

Scheer’s comments were supported by his colleagues Pierre Poilievre, MP for Carleton, Ont., and Leslyn Lewis, MP for Haldimand-Norfolk, Ont.

“I’m proud of the Truckers. Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy,” Lewis tweeted on Jan. 25. “The liberal mandates are unscientific, vindictive, mean-spirited, and promote segregation. The people have a moral obligation to oppose unjust laws and mandates.”

 

 

Another group deliberately cast aside by government policy:

Last week, during a press conference about Ontario's reopening plan, Health Minister Christine Elliott said the government made a "difficult decision" earlier this month to pause non-urgent surgeries in order to preserve critical care and human resource capacity at hospitals. The province placed a similar pause on non-urgent surgeries earlier in the pandemic.

"If people do have a life-threatening condition, of course they will still receive the care that they need, but we know that many people are upset and frustrated at having their surgeries pushed off yet again," Elliott said.

"We don't expect the peak of the admissions to ICU to happen until about mid-February ... so as soon as we can see that the numbers are going down both in terms of admissions to hospital and in terms of intensive care admissions, then we'll be able to get back on track with those surgeries and procedures."

 

Bullsh--.

The crumbling healthcare system where patients were kept waiting for months has been aggravated by policies that saw medical workers fired. 

And, no, that won't be remedied.

 

 

Unbelievable: 

Under Quebec’s draconian new vaccine passport scheme, unvaccinated people who visit large stores like Walmart and Costco will have to be accompanied by employees to make sure they don’t buy anything other than food or pharmaceutical products.

Yes, really.

The rule is set to apply in big box stores so as “to make sure they (the unvaxxed) do not go and buy other products or other items that might be in the store,” according to a CBC newsreader.

 

Because that will stop this twenty-four hour flu from spreading.

 

 

You don't say:

Rebates on carbon taxes haven't helped Canadians warm to them, a new survey suggests.

Results published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change say that not only did rebates fail to make much difference to public opinion, Canadians don't understand them very well.

And those convinced they were paying more in carbon taxes than they received remained just as convinced even when they were shown the facts.

 

It's a tax, an especially pointless one.

 

 

Oh, these bodies were casually chucked into rivers and went undiscovered for years, did they?:

Sellars said it’s clear from survivors’ stories that there are still children unaccounted for even after this initial geophysical sweep: “Their bodies were cast into the river, left at the bottom of lakes, tossed like garbage into incinerators.”


Let's try some science.

Cremation of a dead person takes about two to three hours and at temperatures of 1400 and 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. These are special crematoriums built for the purpose of proper treatment of a dead person. 

A modern trash incinerator burns at a thousand degrees Fahrenheit for compacted material weighing no more than one hundred and ten pounds.

So, a multitude of bodies were thrown into an incinerator, not meant for cremation, which burned them all and completely, too, in a matter of hours and no one noticed?

Just like no one noticed corpses floating in lakes and rivers.

How interesting.



Because of course the WTO did:

A World Trade Organization arbitrator has decided that China can impose retaliatory tariffs on imports from the United States totaling up to $645 million a year, capping a decade-long dispute over U.S. duties on some Chinese goods. 



According to Francois Champagne, handing over a lithium mine to a communist dictatorship is a perfectly sensible thing to do:

The federal Industry Minister is defending the government’s decision to allow Canada’s Neo Lithium Corp.

NLC-X +1.09%increase to be acquired by state-owned Chinese mining giant Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. ZIJMF unchno change without a formal national security review, saying the process was rigorous.

“This transaction was absolutely reviewed to make sure there was no security risk,” François-Philippe Champagne said in an interview. “It was even subject to enhanced scrutiny based on the guidelines issued last March.”

That’s when the government updated the Investment Canada Act (ICA) to specify that all acquisitions made by state-owned firms must merit closer attention. The government also in March added that it would scrutinize deals through the lens of whether they threatened Canada’s supply chain of critical minerals.

In October, Zijin Mining announced it was buying Neo Lithium for $960-million. The Toronto-based development company plans to build a high-grade lithium mine in Argentina. Neo Lithium’s 3Q project has enough reserves to produce battery-grade lithium for 50 years.

All foreign takeovers of Canadian companies are subject to a security screening by Ottawa, a process that can involve the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and consultation with allies such as the United States. If the federal government suspects a transaction could be a threat to national security, it undergoes an in-depth review under Section 25.3 of the Investment Canada Act (ICA). That typically takes many months, and can result in a deal being blocked.

No such review transpired with Neo Lithium. In fact, despite the added checklist from the March guidelines, the dislocation of a federal election in the fall that left Parliament suspended until late November, and the worsening COVID-19 pandemic, the government gave the Neo Lithium deal the nod 45 days after it was announced. It was the fastest possible timeline for approval.



Taiwan has not received a request to change an office name:

Taiwan has not received a request to change the name of its de facto embassy in Lithuania, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after Reuters reported that Lithuanian officials were discussing whether to ask Taiwan to modify the name.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, Messrs. Fred Arsenault and Peter Robbins:

World War II veteran Fred Arsenault has passed away at the age of 101.

His death comes nearly two years after the Royal Canadian Legion encouraged Canadians to send birthday cards to Arsenault, who had hoped for 100 cards to mark his 100th birthday in March 2020.

Arsenault received nearly 100,000 cards from people all over the world.

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The original voice of character Charlie Brown in the early animated Peanuts specials, actor Peter Robbins, died last week at the age of 65.

Robbins’ family members confirmed to Fox 5 San Diego that the voice actor died by suicide. No other details about his death were immediately available, and his family issued no further comment except a request for privacy.

From age 9 to 13, Robbins played Charlie Brown in the 1960s classic cartoons A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, among others.



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Tuesday, January 25, 2022

And the Rest of It

Quite a bit to say:

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is an “extremist,” but maintains his relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is “professional.”

 

Oh, Jason, he only wants to destroy you. 

**

 


Like, weapons that work?:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet is weighing whether to ship small weapons like firearms and ammunition to Ukraine at the three-day virtual retreat underway now, sources tell Global News.

According to the sources, who spoke on background as they are not authorized to discuss the proposal publicly, the federal cabinet will be asked to decide on the possible shipment of the small weapons along with the potential for increased military capabilities support for Ukraine from the Canadian Forces.

 

 

I'm sure it's nothing:

Two minors have been arrested in Ontario and Quebec on allegations of terrorism, Global News has learned.

In Toronto, a youth was arrested Jan. 14, on a preventive terrorism peace bond and appeared in court Thursday in a case allegedly related to the so-called Islamic State.

Another youth was arrested on a terrorism peace bond Dec. 8, and was released on conditions following a court appearance in Terrebonne, Que., north of Montreal.

 

 

In some cultures, putting this man in hot magma is culturally acceptable:

A federal jury has convicted an Afghan refugee of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl who was housed at Quantico Marine Corps Base after the evacuation of refugees and others from Afghanistan. 24-year-old Mohammed Tariq was found guilty of abusive sexual contact by a jury during a trial held at the US District Court in Alexandria.

"According to court papers, Tariq tried to explain through interpreters that his conduct was acceptable in his culture. Efforts to have his statements suppressed were rejected by the judge," local news reports.

 

 

Indifference or antipathy?: 

Being placed on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations is important: it helps to ostracize and stigmatize malign groups and makes it illegal for any U.S. entities to do business with them. Most importantly, it allows U.S. intelligence and law enforcement to use certain tools and take certain measures that otherwise might not be legal, such as those offered by the Patriot Act: more surveillance, more efficient interagency communication, and so on.

Discussing Clinton's failure to apply the terrorist designation onto Boko Haram — while simultaneously condemning them for engaging in "an act of terrorism" in regards to Chibok, 2014 — a former senior U.S. official said soon after:

"The one thing she could have done, the one tool she had at her disposal, she didn't use. And nobody can say she wasn't urged to do it. It's gross hypocrisy... The FBI, the CIA, and the Justice Department really wanted Boko Haram designated, they wanted the authorities that would provide to go after them, and they voiced that repeatedly to elected officials."

Apparently such is the official, unwavering, and consistent response, whether under Obama/Clinton or now under Biden: Nigeria is not a "country of particular concern" — even as a genocide continues to be waged against its Christians.

 

Also:

The Gospel having been read, Cardinal Bo approached the pulpit with his characteristically warm smile, He’s unusually tall for a Burmese and strikes a regal but warm bearing. He gave his homily in both Burmese and Karen in honor of those present celebrating the holiday.

(Sidebar: not these Karens.)

In his presentation, Cardinal Bo spoke of the need for light when we are in the darkest parts of our lives.

“Christ is the light of the world and in that, he is the light that shines in the hearts of all Christians.” He referenced the nine-rayed rising sun which is a key element in the Karen flag that was temporarily affixed to my heart.

He spoke of the importance of the sun for our own lives and for all life on earth.

“Without the sun, we wouldn’t have life. Earth would be lifeless but God has given us this light to enlighten our eyes. God has given us his own Son to enlighten our souls as well.”

“At this time of the Karen New Year as one of the major holidays celebrated by the Karen,” he continued.

“In this new year,” Cardinal Bo said, “we must remember the light that ever goes before us and leads us like the pillar of fire that led the Jews out from Egypt.”

“Christ is our light. He is the life-giving sun. He is the light that burns brightly in our hearts so that we can all show the world who it is that leads us and loves us. Never let that light go out. Put it on a lampstand so that all can see it. Our country needs Christ. We can show him to our fellow countrymen with our Christ-inspired love.”

The cardinal’s words come at a crucial period for Burma. The country is under one of the world’s longest shutdowns, which has exasperated the contentious and ill-advised military coup that took place in February.

“Pray for Burma,” said the cardinal. “Pray we will see peace.”

 

 

What she said:

What do you want people to know about Down syndrome, Christi?

I want them to be more supportive; that’s why I’m giving this talk. People who have Down syndrome can change the world. Being smart is not always what makes people happy. Love and being loved is what makes people happy. 

I want people to see me as an exception: I was allowed to live. How many times do you hear people say they are against abortion “except” — and then they give exceptions? I want people to know who I am: a person with Down syndrome who is loving and being loved.


 

And now for something completely different:

Vika had got lost about half a mile from her home as she returned from school in Uglegorsk.

She was located 18 hours later, sitting on a mattress below a balcony outside of a shelter and clinging to a stray dog. She told authorities she was "hugging a fluffy dog for warmth."

Temperatures plunged to -11C during the snow storm.

"The fact that the girl remained alive in such weather really is a miracle," volunteer searcher Anatoly Ivanov, told The Siberian Times.

"We were looking all night, nothing was visible at all, our hands in mittens were so cold, it was difficult to straighten our fingers. By morning, we started to think she would not be found alive. How can you survive such a nightmare outside?"

According to ASTV, the girl was taken to a local hospital but able to return home the same day. She was treated for minor frostbite.

Now there are plans to honor the dog that saved Vika -- if they can find it.

**

When Bishop Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette blessed the Friar Truck on Jan. 7, he prayed, “May the Word of God be always heard from this pulpit, as it unfolds the mystery of Christ before you, and achieves your salvation within the Church,” and “We pray that from this pulpit we may listen to the voice of your Son, so that responding to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we may not be hearers only, but doers of your word.”

With that, “The Bible on Fire Truck,” with its letters also counseling “Dial God,” got its official commission and was raring to make its calls.

 

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