I feel kind of bad for Metro CEO Eric Lafleche. Yes, it’s true, he did snag a 6.8% raise in 2022, which would be pretty impressive for rank and file workers, but to the boss-man it only resulted in a measley salary of $5.8 million a year. A tough year for Eric to be sure.
Continue reading “GROCERY EXECS GET RAISES”
Political assassination is not something new in Russia. It’s the kind of place Russia is: corrupt, oppressive, treacherous, and murderously dangerous. It’s all Russians know. God could come out of a cloud and set them free from it all, but Russians wouldn’t know what to do with that freedom. Their only comfort seems to come from being under the thumb of tyranny of some sort: czarist, communist, or Putin’s klepto-totalitarianism.
Would Russian intelligence agency FSB ever be involved in blowing up an internet cafe, killing and wounding Russians in Russia? Is this the kind of ruthless subterfuge the successor of the KGB and NKVD could find itself involved with?
In a word, yes.
Continue reading “BOMB KILLS RUSSIAN MILBLOGGER”
Sometimes it’s said that if you don’t like the way something works, then either do it yourself or come up with a better way.
I’ve been on my soap box talking about the egregious behaviour of the corporations that own and operate our biggest national grocery chains. My biggest point of contention has to do with the massive profits they’ve been ringing up ever since the COVID pandemic rolled into town, and the profits they continue to make during a time of higher inflation. In another time, this would be called profiteering, but others might view this as crafty capitalism at work. Taking advantage of people when they’re hurting is pretty tough, though.
Continue reading “CO-OPS ALLOW SHOPPERS MORE SAY IN GROCERY PRICING AND CONSUMER SAVINGS”
A new study out of Yale University has found that people tend to become angrier the more they spend time on their social media. Facebook and Twitter were pointed out to be among the worst for this kind of thing.
The fact that people are angry is really nothing new. Before, though, people didn’t have the extensive networks available to them to share with others their anger. They had their friends, family, and co-workers maybe, but beyond that, they had no bully-pulpit they could take advantage of to seek out, meet, and interact with anonymous others who were also angry.
They do now, and it makes a huge difference.
Continue reading “ANGER THE CURRENCY AT FACEBOOK AND TWITTER”
It finally happened and, when it did, it happened better than I was even expecting.
Yesterday the federal budget for 2023 was handed down by finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland and in it was money for dental care for Canadians who either struggle to or simply can’t afford it on their own. As part of their supply and confidence agreement, the NDP had been insisting that this notion be made permanent policy. It would, however, help only seniors and children to the age of 18. If you fall outside those two demographics, then you go without dental insurance unless you either buy it yourself or have it as part of a benefits package at work. So there would still have been a significant gap remaining in the population, particularly the economically fragile part of it.
Continue reading “FEDERAL BUDGET ADDRESSES DENTAL CARE GAP”
Whether you agree with Prince Harry or not, whether you find him to be a grand-stander, attention-seeker, traitor to his family or not, nobody could possibly deny he’s had a tough time of things.
I suppose, to some, Harry can be seen as a freeloader of the public purse and a turncoat to the Royal Family. I suppose, to some.
But I don’t see him that way.
Continue reading “HARRY: THE SPARE WHO DARED”
I checked and you can’t, at least I don’t think you can. That is kick a nation out of the NATO alliance. Because I’m seriously considering kicking out Hungary.
Under the current leadership of prime minister Victor Orban, the Eastern European nation once a member of the Warsaw Pact has drawn itself up as a consistent pain in the ass to the alliance as a whole, not to mention the interference it runs on the European Union as well.
Continue reading “HUNGARY PROVING TO BE A SUSPECT ALLY”
A raccoon dog.
I have to confess, I had to Google that one when I first heard the term, and what I found was, well, I found it.
Scientists have been looking long and hard at how the whole COVID-19 thing got started, whether it was intentional, a lab leak from the local virology institute, or something that creeped out of the infamous Chinese wet market in Wuhan. I suppose that’s appropriate, given that over 7 million people died as a result of COVID with millions more made sick, and still millions upon millions more impacted.
One of the theories of interest at the moment concerns an animal called a raccoon dog, which by the way, is neither raccoon nor dog. Apparently they’re included in wet markets in China for their fur. Also apparently, the animal seems to be presenting itself as a vector for the virus.
Continue reading “A RACCOON DOG?”
Exactly how much hate should I pour into a pair of socks?
It sounds liken a stupid question and, on its face, it is. But there are people in this country for whom it’s legitimate, given the tendency of some to take a $100,000 vehicle and cheapen it with a buck-fifty bumper sticker expressing a profane dislike for a prime minister.
Being a prime minister is not something for the faint of heart, nor is it a means to engender popularity among the Canadian masses. For many prime ministers, being disliked by people is just the way it goes, a part of the job I suppose. The dislike, for most, is something that often fades when the politician leaves office and leaves the national conscience.
For most, but not for this one, not for Justin Trudeau.
Continue reading “HATING A PRIME MINISTER”
The International Criminal Court, or ICC, has issued an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin on charges of war crimes. The charges stem from the forced evacuations and kidnappings of Ukrainian children to Russian territory to have them absorbed into Russia and to depopulate occupied Ukrainian territory of Ukrainians.
Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
So what does this mean? Unfortunately, not much.
Russia is not a member of the ICC and doesn’t recognize its authority. For that matter, neither does the United States, so that’s one problem. Another is the fact that the ICC has no means of enforcing the warrant, having no “police” force of its own to make such an arrest, instead relying on member nations to do that part. Fat chance of that.
The only way Putin appears before the ICC is if Russia loses the war in Ukraine badly and he’s overthrown. And even then, if he was even still alive, I don’t see the Russians coughing him up. Not their style. Or rather, if they had style, it wouldn’t be this.
What the Russians are doing with Ukrainian children is naked genocide. They’ve done it before, in exactly the same area and to the same people, most notably in the 1930’s during what’s known as The Holodomor, where millions of Ukrainians were either starved to death, arrested and sent to work gulags in Siberia, or kidnapped and exported as is happening now.
Russia is not a very nice country. It never has been. It’s not in the Russian DNA.
Putin will only face justice for these crimes when he dies, whether through old age or at the hand of others. He has, however, taken his last trip to anywhere in Europe or anywhere else in the free world, as he could be conceivably scooped-up while out of Russia. But he ain’t leaving Russia unless he has to because the risk of a coup in his absence is too high. If he does travel, it’ll be to places like Belorussia, China, Iran, and North Korea, maybe Syria.
Some nice, well-rounded company those Russians keep.
Liars, murderers, war criminals, genocide artists, and thieves.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 