Your middle-of-the-week realisation that we live in a clown world ...
Don't pretend to embrace frugality after years of wasting money and screwing up everything you touch:
Treasury Board President Anita Anand is tasking federal cabinet ministers with finding $15.4 billion in government spending cuts by a deadline of Oct. 2.
This Anita Anand:
The federal government has destroyed more than 14 million unused and expired doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far this year, with four million more doses set to exceed their shelf life by 2023’s end, amid dwindling vaccine demand. ...
Canada’s auditor general last year criticized the agency for its “unsuccessful” efforts to minimize vaccine wastage that led to $1 billion worth of squandered vaccines.
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For Canadian troops deployed in Latvia, those private purchases have been decidedly more practical than luxurious — given the fact that they're taking part in more live fire training exercises meant to deter Russia from setting foot in the Baltic country.
They've been buying their own modern ballistic helmets equipped with built-in hearing protection that doubles as a headset. They've also personally purchased rain gear and vests and belts to carry water and ammunition. And the number of complaints about the ill-fitting body armour issued to female soldiers has been growing.
These purchases — usually made through online retailers — involve brand-name tactical gear or weapon accessories that make soldiers' existing gear more personal or more comfortable to wear. ...
Canadian troops in Latvia are grappling with more urgent equipment shortages as well. The battlegroup of roughly 1,500 soldiers, including more than 700 Canadians, lacks modern anti-tank weapons, systems to counter drones and a dedicated short-range air defence system to guard against helicopters and attack jets.
Those frustrations have only been compounded by the arrival of more allied troops — among them Danish soldiers who are in some cases arriving with Canadian-purchased gear that makes them better equipped than Canadian soldiers.
I'm sure she will blame someone for her failures on October 3rd.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
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The payment of an extra $463 million to Irving Shipbuilding is to allow the firm to modernize its Halifax-area facilities so the company can build the Canadian Surface Combatants (CSC).Article content
Although the firm will be making a profit on the construction of the new warships, it had requested that the public fund the modernization of its private facilities.That money, however, marks a significant reversal in the government’s official National Shipbuilding Strategy.Irving’s shipyard was selected in 2011 as the winner of a multi-billion dollar program to construct the country’s new fleets of warships. Among the requirements for winning the bid was that the yard had the capability to build the vessels and taxpayers wouldn’t need to contribute funding to outfit facilities for the task.If a yard didn’t have the ability to build the CSC, it wouldn’t get the contract.Federal politicians, as well as defence analysts and think-tanks that receive funding from military companies and government, all boasted about that stipulation as an example of the cost effectiveness of the strategy.The Liberals could have used Irving’s lack of capability to build the CSC as a way out of project that has been described by critics as endless money pit with little accountability or oversight.Article content
Instead, the government’s decision to provide $463 million extra for CSC is a signal the Liberals are fully committed to the program no matter what it costs.
This shouldn't be a problem, right?
I mean - we can just get people to house migrants in garden sheds and stuff, right?:
The Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) released its second-quarter report last week, which saw the construction of both single- and multi-family units remain low but increase slightly in the second quarter — an improvement from the lows recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.Around 67 per cent of the association’s expert industry panellists stated that the slowdown in the real estate market is causing them to build fewer units, compared with 59 per cent reported in the previous two quarters.
Also - yes, I had to read it twice, too:
Are Canadians incapable of constructing dwellings? I’m a journalist by trade, so presumptively as useful in real life as, say, a poet. Or a consultant. But I have built a sleeping cabin and helped on that most iconic of Canadian dwellings, a cottage. I have even mixed cement. And doubtless others in this land surpass me. Including pros.
The minister cannot possibly think absent mass immigration we couldn’t build any homes. Where did our existing stock come from? The real issue is whether the current flood of immigrants contains enough extra homebuilders to provide extra shelter for that flood and then some. Especially as the minister cannot possibly think Canadian immigration policy is structured to bring in hundreds of thousands of framers, joiners, engineers and guys who use “footer” in everyday conversation.
Of course it derives from the more general, insulting notion that Canadians are such shlumps that without new immigrants we won’t work hard or effectively at anything. And not just those of us born in this notorious land of slackers; the millions who have poured in over the past quarter-century, and their offspring, are evidently assimilated to our culture of sloth so rapidly they can no longer be bothered hoisting a two by four instead of a 2-4 or something.
It’s the demographic version of the “bicycle” economic theory popular in Japan, that if they stopped pedalling they’d fall over. Whereas Japan’s real problem, and ours, is a plunging birth rate as we increasingly regard life as a burden or, at best, a brief party followed by MAID when the music stops, not a precious gift to be passed on. And you can’t fix despair with immigration because you really will get assimilation to that anomie unless we find a fix from within.
This also shouldn't be a problem, right?:
Canada’s annual inflation rate rose to 3.3 per cent in July, as economists warn the latest consumer price index report spells bad news for the Bank of Canada.
The healthcare system is top-notch provided that one never bring up its multitude of problems:
The number of empty health-care jobs in Canada has more than doubled and care providers are working more overtime and taking more sick leave since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to Statistics Canada.
A report, released last week, shows how nurses, personal support workers and care aides are now coping after struggling through the brunt of the pandemic to keep patients, and themselves, alive.
An all-time high of 95,800 health-care jobs were vacant in the fourth quarter of 2022, more than twice the 2019 fourth-quarter figure of 40,100. Two-thirds of the vacancies were for nurses and support workers.
Overtime rose from an average of seven hours per week in 2019 to 8.6 extra hours – more than a full day per week – in 2022.
Staff missed nearly an extra week of work in 2022 compared with 2019 due to illness – between five and six days for unionized workers and around about five for non-unionized workers.
The president of the Canadian Nurses Association warned the situation will only get worse if changes aren’t made.
“(Nurses) will leave the health-care system and they will work in other areas,” Sylvain Brousseau said, speaking from Blainville, Que.
“And the impact is the risk for the quality and safety for the patients.”
The government even boasts of its non-service to the sick.
Why even bother? It's not like he has any teeth or that Justin listens to him or anything:
The federal government has remained without a conflict-of-interest and ethics watchdog for more than six months _ a vacancy that the most recent commissioner says is putting investigations on hold and could allow violations to go unnoticed.
Virtue-signalling can be expensive:
Federal officials worried long-promised legislation declaring First Nations policing an essential service was being delayed by Assembly of First Nations hesitations about the bill, newly released internal documents show.
Records obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act also appear to show that one of the sticking points for both the advocacy organization and Ottawa is whether to recognize policing as an area of First Nations jurisdiction — something the government has done when it comes to child-welfare services.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised his government would bring forward a new First Nations policing law in 2020 after years of calls from Indigenous leaders.
The federal government committed to co-develop the law with the Assembly of First Nations, which represents more than 600 communities across Canada.
Last year, calls for legislative change were once again amplified after 11 people were killed and 17 injured in James Smith Cree Nation and the nearby community of Weldon, Sask.
The RCMP was the police service of jurisdiction, with the closest detachment located nearly 50 kilometres away. That prompted the community to call for immediate changes to emergency services in the area, including faster response times.
The anniversary of the tragedy is coming up at the beginning of September, yet the advocacy organization and Ottawa appear to be stalled on what a law around First Nations policing should even look like.
And leaders of existing First Nations police services say their offices are cash-strapped under an inequitable and overly rigid funding program from the 1990s that is cost-shared with provinces.
No country for children:
Quebec court Judge Mélanie Hébert told a Montreal courtroom Tuesday that Dominic Blanchette‘s crimes were aggravated by the fact that he was in a position of authority and trust with his victims, three of whom were 10 when the abuse began.
“The fact that his offences occurred repeatedly, over a total period of a little less than five years and involved five different victims, demonstrates that Mr. Blanchette’s actions were not isolated or the result of a simple lack of judgment in a particular situation,” Hébert said as she read her sentence.
(Sidebar: what judgment would someone need never to do something this sick?)
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Ottawa police charged a 40-year-old female high school teacher with sexual assaulting a minor on Friday and say they fear there could be more student victims.
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In English, we call this grooming:
Changes to New Brunswick’s policy on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools violate the Charter rights of children, the province’s child and youth advocate said Tuesday.
Kelly Lamrock released his findings in a report of nearly 100 pages, concluding that the Education Department did not seriously consider the legal consequences of its changes to Policy 713.
New Brunswick’s government made several revisions in June, one of which requires children under 16 to have parental consent before they can officially change their preferred first names or pronouns at school.
Lamrock said forcing any non-binary and transgender students to use a name they don’t identify with “is a violation of their protected rights under the Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
Parents have an important role to play in their child’s development, but the government’s changes were vague and created confusion, he said. “The parent has a right to teach their values to a child,” Lamrock told reporters after he released his report.
“The parent does not have the right to a state apparatus to force the child to live by their values.”
Parents, Mr. Lamrock thinks that you are merely custodians, someone there to clean up children's messes.
Are you going to prove him wrong?
He bought into a system that eventually killed him.
Lenin had ideas about this:
Richard Bilkszto, 60, was an experienced principal with the TDSB. He worked for the board for 24 years, mostly focusing on adult education.
He retired from his position in 2019 but continued to work as a substitute principal after that.
According to a statement released by his lawyer, a superintendent of the TDSB told Bilkszto he had proven his “excellence in equity, instruction, entrepreneurship, student engagement and breaking new ground for communities where chronic struggles, mental health, and newcomer status often brought more frustration than success.”
The statement also said that after his experience at the training sessions in 2021, Bilkszto “began advocating to bring people together through a more equality-focused, pro-human approach.”
Bilkszto attended three anti-Black racism training sessions in 2021 led by Ojo-Thompson.
According to audio recordings from the sessions, Ojo-Thompson was explaining on April 26, 2021, that Canada was a more racist country than the United States.
“Canada is a bastion of white supremacy and colonialism… The racism we experience is far worse here than there,” she said.
She said Canadians might find it difficult to see this reality given its ties to the monarchy, which, according to her, is “the very heart and soul and origins of the colonial structure.”
Bilkszto then disagreed, saying that based on his personal experience in a predominantly Black high school in Buffalo, N.Y., tax regimes, statistics, and facts and figures, he considered Canada a “far more just society.”
After some back and forth on the issue between the two, Ojo-Thompson said, “You and your whiteness think that you can tell me what’s really going on with black people — like, is that what you’re doing?”
Bilkszto reiterated what he said, without changing his original position, and another attendee told him that the experiences of Black and Indigenous peoples in the TDSB were still not good enough.
At the next session, on May 3, 2021, Ojo-Thompson addressed the incident again, calling it a “teachable moment.”
“One of the ways that white supremacy is upheld, protected, reproduced, upkept, defended is through resistance,” she said. She then laughed, and continued, “I’m so lucky that we got perfect evidence, a wonderful example of resistance that you all got to bear witness to, so we’re going to talk about it, because, I mean, it doesn’t get better than this.”
She proceeded to say that white people should just believe and not question, since they don’t have the same experiences as racialized people.
Nobody seemed to jump in and defend Bilkszto. Instead, another woman (not identified in the recording) agreed with Ojo-Thompson and referred to Bilkszto as “the whiteness.”
That event allegedly triggered a series of workplace bullying incidents.
A Toronto accountant and friend of Bilkszto, Michael Teper, told The Free Press that the event ruined his job and reputation.
“They claimed he was a white supremacist, that he was a racist. They knew nothing about him. They knew nothing about what he stood for or what he believed. All they know about is what they believe,” he said.
When we don't tell well-funded con artists to cram it, we eventually fall under a sword that has been placed especially for us.
The censorship system is working as it should:
Two weeks ago, Meta began blocking news on Facebook and Instagram in response to the Liberal government’s Online News Act, which would force it to share revenues with news outlets (Postmedia, publisher of the National Post, is in favour of the bill). Some observers put the blame on the Liberal government for mishandling the legislation, while others place it squarely on Meta.
But no matter whose fault, the situation means news outlets and readers can’t view or share news on Facebook, a crucial way for Canada’s community and independent news to reach readers. Often started by the journalists themselves, operating in an environment where it was already difficult to survive, those small outlets are now the most vulnerable to Meta’s move.
The US has at its head a corrupt and feeble pretender.
This story began in February when a whistleblower leaked a heavily redacted January report from the FBI’s Richmond office: “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”The document defined “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as those who attend the Latin Mass and who frequently adhere to “anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, and white supremacist ideology.” The agents relied on half-baked “open-source” reporting from liberal outlets to justify more bureau investigation.FBI headquarters quickly said the report didn’t meet its “exacting standards” and had been withdrawn. FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Judiciary Committee in July that the report was “a single product by a single field office.” He added that “as soon as I found out about it, I was aghast and ordered it withdrawn and removed from FBI systems,” and he said he began an internal probe.On July 25 the FBI finally provided the committee with a less-redacted version of that Richmond document. The report says that its information on Catholics was “primarily derived” from an “FBI Richmond contact”; an “FBI Portland liaison contact” who informed on a subject who “gravitated to” traditionalist catholicism; and an “FBI Undercover Employee” who reported on a subject who attended a Catholic church in California.It also says the FBI’s Los Angeles field office “initiated an investigation” into a subject, and that the Richmond office “[c]oordinated with” FBI Portland to prepare the field report. In other words, this was a widespread bureau effort. Why was this suspicion about religion so widespread at the FBI?Also troubling is the FBI’s decision to redact the Portland and Los Angeles roles from the original version of the Richmond document it provided Congress in March. In a letter with the less-redacted version, acting assistant FBI director Christopher Dunham said the redactions had been necessary to protect “information specific to ongoing criminal investigations.”What changed from March until July, other than a threat of contempt from the Judiciary Committee? It’s hard not to conclude that the bureau was trying to hide the breadth of its Catholics-as-radicals investigation.In his letter Wednesday, Mr. Jordan is asking Mr. Wray to amend his July testimony “to fully explain the nature and scope of the FBI’s assessment of traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists.” He intends to interview the special agent in charge of the Richmond field office, and he repeats his request to interview the chief division counsel who approved the Richmond field report.
Vaguely related - Pakistan, where brain cells go to die:
I am gutted by the visuals coming out of Jaranwala,#Faisalabad. Stern action would be taken against those who violate law and target minorities. All law enforcement has been asked to apprehend culprits and bring them to justice. Rest assured that the government of Pakistan stands… https://t.co/GHWUGA1NNq
— Anwaar ul Haq Kakar (@anwaar_kakar) August 16, 2023
We don't have to trade with China:
Also - oh, no! China's mad at us!:
In an apparent snub, the Chinese government has left Canada off a list of countries approved as international travel destinations for tour groups — a decision that threatens to leave Canada's travel industry at a competitive disadvantage as it continues its post-pandemic recovery.
In a media statement, the Chinese foreign ministry announced on Aug. 10 that an additional 78 countries had been added to a list of destinations approved for group tours and package travel. Travel agents from mainland China work from this list when they promote and book foreign travel for Chinese nationals.
In response to an inquiry from CBC News about China's rationale for excluding Canada, the public affairs office at China's embassy in Ottawa wrote that "lately, the Canadian side has repeatedly hyped up the so-called 'Chinese interference' and rampant and discriminatory anti-Asian acts and words are rising significantly in Canada."
"The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the safety and legitimate rights of overseas Chinese citizens and wishes they can travel in a safe and friendly environment," the embassy added.
Well, bye.
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Keep the b@$#@rd. He won't be missed:
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will travel to China on a diplomatic mission later this month, even as politicians in Ottawa continue to negotiate a public inquiry into alleged foreign interference.
Guilbeault will be in Beijing from Aug. 26 to 31 in what will be the first official visit of a Canadian cabinet minister to China since 2018.
A spokesperson for Guilbeault says the world is faced with the "triple crisis" of climate change, pollution and biodiversity, which can only be handled through urgent international co-operation.
Enjoy the pollution in China, Hans.
Once a KGB agent, always a KGB agent:
Vladimir Putin has saved human civilization by invading Ukraine, according to a new propaganda-heavy textbook being taught to Russian schoolchildren.
As the Kremlin struggles to explain to ordinary Russians why they are being asked to make sacrifices for the brutal invasion of its neighbour, Putin’s regime has doubled down on brainwashing students.
Japan was radically changed after its war-time defeat.
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Two years on, with the anniversary of those appalling days now upon us, such commemorations as should be expected will be muted by a peculiar dilemma. The disgrace of those days cannot be apportioned to one side or the other in the fatuous “forever wars” debates that occlude a proper understanding of the American contribution to NATO’s 20-year efforts in Afghanistan, and the parallel exertions of the United Nations’ International Security Assistance Force in the country.That’s because the Biden administration’s cruel abandonment of Afghanistan was the deliberate fulfillment of the most morally squalid policy adopted by Donald Trump’s White House: It was just “somebody else’s civil war.”To make matters more complicated, Trump’s policy was formulated by Biden himself a decade earlier while he was Barack Obama’s vice-president, and the NATO capitals went along with the surrender of Afghanistan to the Taliban’s Pakistan-sponsored barbarism. As a consequence, there’s not much high ground to be occupied by any major party or tendency among the think-tankers and foreign-policy establishments of the world’s liberal democracies. We were all just “war weary.”
Angel Studios has repaid 6,678 individual crowdfunding investors at a 20% profit for their contributions to “Sound of Freedom,” the studio said Thursday.
In a statement, Angel Studios CEO Neal Harmon said: “6,678 Angel Guild members have now received $1.20 for every $1 they invested into the launch budget for ‘Sound of Freedom,’ and we are thrilled to be able to get funds back to them in three months. The Angel Guild is key to our theatrical strategy and paying out as quickly as possible is always our first priority.”
The faith-based studio’s thriller about a rogue government agent tracking child traffickers in Colombia has grossed $173 million at the domestic box office, a colossal success for a project of its provenance. “Sound of Freedom” was completed in 2018 under a distribution deal with a Fox subsidiary, but was shelved after the Disney acquisition, and eventually sold to Angel, producer of “The Chosen.”
A miracle?:
A miracle?
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) August 12, 2023
A Catholic church reportedly remains untouched by the wildfires as a symbol of hope in Hawaii
Around 67 people have died in the wildfires that has almost totally destroyed the Lahaina town in Hawaii’s Maui. While according to local reports coming out, Maria… pic.twitter.com/VxRzN1wX16
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