Your middle-of-the-week spot of cuteness ...
Before one starts:
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.”
**
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.
**
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?:
To wit:
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:
**
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:
**
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.
What can go wrong?:
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.
