Your middle-of-the-week spot of cuteness ...
If you don’t maintain the institutions and behaviours that create order and stability because those institutions and behaviours are constraining, you don’t simply remove the constraints while maintaining the previous order — you get different and far more painful constraints without the blessings of order.
In the coming world disorder, the key distinction will be between the childish people who think the world must yield to their desires, however vacuous they may be, and those who see the world as it really is and therefore respond in ways that confer success.
In recent years, childishness has been the dominant fashion in Canada. We obsess about marginal issues that make us feel good, while nasty regimes around the world laugh at our moral pretentiousness and undermine the institutions we have so painstakingly created.
Children, as child psychologist Mary O’Kane reminds us, have an innate tendency to engage in magical thinking. They often believe that if they wish hard enough for something to happen, it will. They find it difficult to tell the difference between fantasy and reality and will accept totally improbable explanations for events.
But when Saint Paul calls on us to put away childish things, he is inviting us to see the world as it really is, not as we wish it was. Life is hard. It is an illusion to think it can, or even should, be care-free, easy, effortless and painless, and that unpleasant things can simply be wished away. ...
Take one practical example of the magical thinking that has Canada in its grip: the relationship between climate change and the global food supply. Today, we produce more food than is needed to feed the world’s population. Although many experts predict that humanity’s capacity to feed ourselves will continue to outstrip population growth, this will take effort and cannot be taken for granted.
The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that, in spite of the potential negative consequences of climate change, we can expect crop yields to rise 10 to 30 per cent above 2012 levels by 2050, thanks to technological progress. Crucially, rates of future yield growth depend far more on whether poor nations get access to tractors, irrigation and fertilizer.
But to combat climate change, our federal government intends to reduce the production of fertilizer and obstruct economic growth powered by Canadian energy resources. These things will guarantee less prosperity, ensuring, among other things, that there will be fewer of the tractors and less of the irrigation and fertilizer that poor nations need to feed our growing global population.
These policies are based on a crude and childish conception of how to combat climate change. Humanity’s experience has consistently been that the best way to solve major problems is to maximize growth and use part of the wealth that’s created to invest in discovering the new technologies that could help solve the problem, in this case climate change.
This approach has never yet let us down, and in fact is precisely the reason why, despite staggering population growth, we continue to be able to feed ourselves. A North American farmer who in 1940 could feed his own family and 18 other people can now feed his family and about 160 others thanks to a thousand incremental improvements in technology.
Keep this in mind when one talks about the Liberals and their Canadian supporters.
It's not Sobey's fault, Pierre Poilievre's fault or even the Russians' fault that the Canadian economy has tanked and that Justin wastes money while humiliating the country abroad.
The Liberals are the biggest source of money wastage in Canada. Cut out their pensions and then watch what happens:
Liberal House leader Mark Holland says his party will focus on affordability amid a rising cost of living as the House of Commons resumed Tuesday, and he called on the Conservatives to do the same.
The government introduced legislation that will make good on promises the government made last week to increase the GST rebate for low-income families, provide a dental care benefit and increase housing benefits.
The Liberals never deliver because, like Homer Simpson in the episode where he becomes sanitation commissioner (and after a brutal, mudslinging campaign), they make promises they cannot keep and know that no one will hold them to account.
Life does imitate art sometimes.
Also:
Inflation and interest rates will remain above pre-pandemic rates for about two years, a deputy governor of the Bank of Canada said yesterday. Paul Beaudry told University of Waterloo students it was “too early” to say if interest rate hikes will choke the economy into recession: “You get worried.”
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The Bank of Canada’s historic fight against deflation during the COVID recession, and now the startling inflationary surge that has come in the recovery’s wake, will likely bring to an end the central bank’s untarnished streak of profitability.
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CMHC in Access To Information records for the first time acknowledged intense opposition to its promotion of a home equity tax. Staff in internal emails uncovered by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation concluded it was “not worthwhile” to pursue the idea: “Reaction both in the media and by the public was swift.”
Not only is Global News going under, James Topp is suing it.
Fun times ahead.
How is Justin going to humiliate us this time?:
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was a dedicated, visionary leader who brought Canada and Japan closer together. Later this week, I’ll travel to Japan to attend his funeral – and to reaffirm Canada’s commitment to our partnership with Japan. More details here: https://t.co/OBB0I48POB
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) September 21, 2022
Trudeau declined to answer questions about China’s coronavirus numbers
When China’s death toll was drastically revised in April, many critics were not surprised by the increased recorded deaths. Trudeau seemed indifferent to the changing numbers.
When Trudeau was asked about China concealing the extent of the coronavirus outbreak, he dodged the question and instead quickly changed the subject, saying that he’s only worried about focusing on making sure Canadians receive “protection” and “support.”
Trudeau waited to ban travel from China to Canada following Wuhan outbreak
Trudeau waited to ban travel from China to Canada until airlines began to do it themselves. As the outbreak escalated and countries began to close borders, Trudeau was slow to make any decision. He eventually banned entry to non-Canadian citizens in mid-March.
“We’re going to stay focused on doing the things that actually matter: on empowering Canadians to make the right decisions for their own health, for their families’ health, listening to experts, working to coordinate with health authorities across the country, including in all provinces and territories and ensuring that our response is active and up to date every step of the way.” Trudeau said.
Trudeau mistakenly referred to Japan as 'China' during a visit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ...
I can only imagine how bad he will make Yoon feel.
Also - Saint John Paul II would not have let this go:
The trial comes at an awkward time for the Vatican because its 2018 deal with China is now up for renewal. Will Pope Francis go ahead even as China puts his cardinal on trial on a patently ridiculous charge?Cardinal Zen is being tried alongside Margaret Ng, a prominent former legislator; scholar Hui Po-keung; Cyd Ho, a former legislator; Sze Ching-wee, the 612 Fund secretary; and Denise Ho, a popular singer and gay-rights activist.They too have their champions. But not, alas, in Rome. “The Holy See has learned with concern the news of Cardinal Zen’s arrest and is following the development of the situation with extreme attention” was the Vatican’s only official comment.The Vatican architect of the still-secret deal with Beijing, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, professed his “closeness” to his fellow cardinal—before revealing his true priorities. “The most concrete hope,” he said, “is that initiatives such as this one will not complicate the already complex and not simple path of dialogue.”Just two years ago Cardinal Zen, who grew up in Shanghai, flew to Rome in a desperate attempt to get the Holy Father to reconsider his China deal. But a pope who always seems to have time for private audiences with celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio refused to meet a cardinal with long firsthand experience of Chinese communism. Cardinal Gerhard Muller noted that no senior Vatican official had offered an expression of solidarity or a prayer initiative for Cardinal Zen at last month’s gathering of cardinals in Rome.On a return flight from Kazakhstan Thursday, the pope suggested this is no accident. When a reporter asked about Cardinal Zen, the pope offered not a word of support, noting only that the cardinal “says what he feels” despite knowing there are “limitations.” The pope declined to even say China was undemocratic. All that was missing was a cock crowing in the background.
It was never about a virus:
The smoking gun…
— Paul Mitchell (@PaulMitchell_AB) September 17, 2022
The Trudeau Liberals were dead wrong about their Covid-19 vaccine assumptions and policy. They knew they were wrong (since their own study told them in June). And, they kept moving ahead anyway.
The Trudeau Liberals are despicable. pic.twitter.com/3MI08E0nHc
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not confirm nor deny whether he’s about to lift much of the remaining federal COVID-19 restrictions after several media reports predicted as much in recent days.
“Every step of the way through this pandemic we’ve been guided by evidence, by facts, by the best counsel of experts—international and across Canada—with the overarching priority of keeping Canadians safe, healthy, and making sure we’re caring for the Canadian economy and everyone’s general well-being,” Trudeau told reporters on Sept. 18 while in London for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
“As we look at the situation evolving, we will continue to make decisions that align with that and when we have things to announce, we will announce them.”
The possibility the Liberal government is about to drop restrictions was first reported in a Toronto Star column by Althia Raj on Sept. 16.
Citing anonymous sources, it said the mandate at the border for unvaccinated travellers could soon be removed, along with random testing. It also suggested the mandatory ArriveCan service could be cancelled.
The article said cabinet has yet to make a final decision on the matter.
Justin will never remove these restrictions. Pause them? Perhaps, and only if he is scared (which is often).
This is his leverage. To remove these restrictions permanently would be to empower the Canadian people and force the government to admit its incompetence and cruelty.
Also - we're all going to die!:
A plane carrying medical supplies to deal with the spread of a deadly cholera outbreak in war-torn Syria landed in the capital of Damascus on Monday, the World Health Organization said, and another one will follow.
Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO's regional director, told The Associated Press in an interview during a visit to Damascus that Syrian health authorities are coordinating with the international organization to contain the outbreak.
“It is a threat to Syria, to the region, (to) neighboring countries and to the whole world,” he said.
Whatever one does, do not blame the parents for what happened to their children:
New census data suggests Indigenous children continue to be overrepresented in the child welfare system.
Statistics Canada released data from the 2021 census showing Indigenous children accounted for 53.8 per cent of all children in foster care.
This has gone up slightly from the 2016 census, which found 52.2 per cent of children in care under the age of 14 were Indigenous. At the time, only about eight per cent of kids that age in Canada were Indigenous.
More than three per cent of Indigenous children living in private households in 2021 were in foster care compared to the 0.2 per cent of non-Indigenous children. Nationally, Indigenous children accounted for 7.7 per cent of all children 14 years of age and younger. ...
The pain of having her daughter taken would repeat when her second and third children became permanent wards of the province. She says she used alcohol to cope with a family member’s death at the time. Her children were living with their father when workers apprehended them due to poverty, she says.
Years later, when the woman’s granddaughter went into the system and she became pregnant with her fourth child, she knew she needed to break the cycle. She began working with First Nations advocates and parenting groups to learn more about the culture that was stripped from her.
“I’ve done so much healing. I learned about our grief and loss and about positive coping skills,” said the woman, who is now caring for her granddaughter and four-year-old son. “Learning my culture and traditions really saved me.”
I'm sure they did.
Also:
Winnipeg nursing home residents are being prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs at an increasing rate to treat dementia and control behaviour, rather than what the drugs are meant for — to manage symptoms of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
More than 23 per cent of personal care home residents were prescribed antipsychotic medication without a diagnosis of psychosis in the first three months of 2022, according to data provided by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.
That average is the highest percentage reported by the WRHA in seven years.
Hypocrisy is alright when THEY do it:
Buses have arrived in Edgartown to transport migrants from St. Andrew’s Parish House.
— Samantha J. Gross (@samanthajgross) September 16, 2022
There is one big bus and two shorter buses to transport folks off the island. People with bags are taking selfies and hugging volunteers goodbye pic.twitter.com/wuauiZM4Y3
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John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy who owned five mansions as recently as 2019 and whose family owns a private jet, warned developing African nations against investing in long-term natural gas projects which could expand their citizens’ access to electricity.
Toxic white privilege indeed.
Russian nuclear-powered submarines fired cruise missiles in the Arctic on Friday as part of military drills designed to test Moscow's readiness for a possible conflict in its icy northern waters, the defence ministry said.
The drills, named Umka-2022, took place in the Chukchi Sea, an eastern stretch of the Arctic Ocean that separates Russia from the U.S. state of Alaska.
Russia sees its vast Arctic territory as a vital strategic interest and has been building up its military capabilities in the region for years, raising alarm bells in the West.
Russia's defence ministry said on Friday two nuclear-powered submarines - the Omsk and Novosibirsk - fired anti-ship cruise missiles from the Chukchi Sea, hitting targets at a distance of 400 kilometres (250 miles).
It published a video on social media which it said showed the missiles being launched from vessels situated at points of the Northern Sea Route - a commercial transport channel Russia is promoting as an alternative option for cargo ships travelling between Europe and Asia.
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