Kidnapping Ukrainian children isn’t something new for Russia. They’ve done it before, and it’s a big part of their playbook.

In the 1930’s Russia made a concentrated effort to reduce Ukraine. Collectivized farms had Ukrainians starving to death in the many hundreds of thousands despite being the bread-basket of the Soviet Union. Russian security police arrested and sent hundreds of thousands more to the gulags of Siberia, taking their children, adopting them into Russian families to Russify them.

Yes, it’s genocide. Yes, that’s a war crime. And no, they don’t care. They never did.

The Russians have been attempting to kill off aspects of Ukrainian identity for a couple of centuries. Attacks on Ukrainian culture, language, religion and territory are common place over the decades.

To the Russians, there’s no such thing as a Ukrainian. They’re really just Russians. Problematic ones from time to time, but Slavic brothers and sisters nonetheless.

Is it just me, or does there seem to be a significant increase in violence in the province recently?

Not just any violence, either.  Ugly, brutal, careless violence.  Indiscriminate and without meaning in many cases.

Continue reading “IS VIOLENCE ON THE RISE IN ONTARIO?” →

Not to be an idiot or anything, but I’ve seen strange stuff in the sky. Stuff I couldn’t account for. Three times in particular because of how obvious they were. 

What to make of it?  I guess, judging by my response, nothing. 

With the recent proliferation of balloons or balloon-like things being spotted in the sky, it has me wondering about my “sightings.”  

I watch the sky a lot, always have. Night and day. I was an amateur astronomer of sorts, owning a small telescope and a pair of binoculars I still have. 

So when something happens that intrudes upon what is already known, it’s a little disconcerting. You feel you need to explain what you saw to yourself, but a chunk of your brain doesn’t like it because it doesn’t fit. 

This past couple of weeks make me realize that there’s a lot of stuff flying around up there. Yes, I already knew that, but it’s different when you feel you’ve seen evidence of it. 

Two of my three sightings can be rationally explained if I apply the filter of the last ten days or so. But one event remains a mystery, and it sure wasn’t any weather balloon or any other kind of balloon. In fact, it wasn’t an “it” at all, rather more like a “they.”  

No matter. 

Recent events have had me thinking about these phenomena. It remains as one of those fundamental mysteries about extra-terrestrials and whether or not they exist. 

I have no earthly explanation for what I saw that night less than a year ago from my front porch. But I don’t want to make the leap to aliens, because that would be too weird, and what would they be doing, like, there?

Somehow, finding a human explanation would be comfortable. In the meantime, I guess I’ll just do what I’ve always done, and file it in the back of my mind.

Jimmy Carter is a good man. 

A gentle-hearted soul who somehow became president back in 1976. His soft-spoken Georgia accent was almost calming.

Jimmy and his wife Rosalynn were decent people, are decent people, both making huge contributions to humanitarian causes. 

They still live in the same house in Plains, Georgia that they’ve always lived in. Still walk to church holding hands. 

Jimmy’s 98, Rosalynn is 95. 

It was announced today that Jimmy will be transferred to home hospice after being released from hospital. 

Such gentle people. They’ll be in my thoughts. 

Dear Kyle:

I’m a little salty with you today.

Not because you traded for Ryan O’Reilly, which I think is a really good move.  It’s got more to do with the fact that you gave St. Louis my first-rounder to do it.  That first was supposed to be part of the package I proposed for Patrick Kane.

Kyle, I know most people probably feel that this is it for the Leafs, that this is the move that was needed to get you guys over the top.  But you and I are not most people, and we both know that anything’s possible if you want it badly enough.

Okay, so I’m pissed about the pick, sure.  And I’m grudgingly happy that you’ve been able to acquire the kind of asset that will get you past Tampa if O’Reilly stays healthy.  But Boston after that?  Then Carolina, New Jersey or the Rangers after that, followed by Dallas or Colorado after that.  Hmmm, that’s a mighty bumpy road to travel there, Kyle.

Continue reading “KYLE, IT’S TIME TO BE FRANK” →

So, full disclosure, I’m a Chicago fan, so if this proposal sounds a little far-fetched, I can understand how some might rule it out because of my obvious conflict of interest.  But since I’m a nobody hockey fan in Renfrew, Ontario, not many are going to take note of the conflict nor would they likely care.

We have a trade.

Continue reading “PLANNING FOR A PARADE” →

A .673 winning percentage will normally have the fans raring to go.  Coming on the heels of a 115 point record season last year, the team is currently in fourth position overall in a thirty-two team league.  So, what’s not to like?

Apparently quite a bit.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a story among stories, and it must be brutal to be a fan of the iconic NHL franchise, one of the league’s original six.  Also brutal to be the team’s coach or general manager.

Despite having regular season records that would be the envy of most front offices of most sports franchises, the Leafs tandem of coach Sheldon Keefe and GM Kyle Dubas find themselves on the firing line despite winning 70% of the games their team plays.  That’s because, for all their regular season prowess, the Leafs cannot, as if their very own lives depended upon it, get past the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Continue reading “MAKING A CURSE GO AWAY” →

It would appear that burger outlet Wendy’s has a beef with its rival McDonald’s.  Some industry watchers would say “What else is new?” given the corporate competition, even animosity, that exists between the two burger chains.

But this is different.  This has to do with cars.  Fast cars.  Really fast cars.

Both burger empires have sponsored cars for the upcoming Daytona 500 speed race, and the rivalry extends to the asphalt and into the pits.

McDonald’s plastered the front of #23 Bubba Wallace’s Toyota Camry with the famed and iconic golden arches, making it one of the easiest corporate logos to see with cars zipping by at 200 mph.

Continue reading “WENDY’S TAKES AIM AT McDONALD’S WITH “THE BEEF”” →

A year ago, Russian war aims were clear:  take Kiev, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson, Zaporizhia, and other major population centres, overthrow the government of Ukraine, kill Volodymyr Zelensky, and occupy all of Ukraine east of the Dneiper River.  The parts of the Donbas that they didn’t control, in the oblasts (provinces) of Luhansk and Donetsk, were to be taken at the very minimum of invasion objectives. 

That was then.  This is now.

Continue reading “A RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE IN NAME ONLY” →

Toonies For Tummies is a noteworthy project, it’s intent being to feed school children in Alberta, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada where these kids may not get enough to eat, or properly eat, at home.

Continue reading “TOONIES FOR TUMMIES: METRO COLLECTS DONATIONS, YET CONTRIBUTES TO PROBLEM” →