A Netflix series takes a look at the story of Rob Ford, Toronto’s mayor for a single term ending in 2016.
The brother of current Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Robs’s story is one of scandal, bombast, embarrassment, and cringe. Yet at the same time, his demise is as tragic as tragic gets, and offers an insight into the man inside the man who captured international headlines some ten years ago.
Trainwreck: Mayor of Mayhem. Streaming on Netflix.
Two giants of the American right, although the word “giant” is generous.
Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson, together in Cruz’s office, having a back and forth discussion among friends involving America’s role on the world stage.
A coming together of brothers, like-minded and unified in their allegiance to Donald Trump, where Cruz says “I talked to to the president on Sunday,” and Carlson later says “I talked to him last night.”
Alberta lost around 5,600 people to Covid-19 during the epidemic that swept the world five years ago. That’s close to 12% of the national total, not bad for a province with just about 10% of the national population.
It’s not clear what those numbers would have looked like had many Albertans not picked up their Covid vaccinations while in the heat of the battle, despite being citizens of Canada’s most vaccine-resistant province, although Saskatchewan has emerged as a bit of whack-job as well when it comes to common sense and vaccines. Alberta, after all, is the province that chased away Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief Medical Officer of Health.
Alberta, as you may already know, exists fully a century behind the rest of us when it comes to a lot of the important stuff. As proud as they are of themselves as being the Texas of the North, that distinction only really applies to oil patches, cowboy hats, and an innate ability or inclination to just simply get everything wrong when it comes to their attitude around a lot of the important stuff, like the environment, or the basic stuff surrounding life and death. And sadly, many in that province would rather die than admit they were wrong about something.
Totally in keeping with both herself and the hatchet-job government she leads, Premier Danielle Smith has announced that, henceforth, Covid vaccinations of the future will be available only if you pay for them, and not as a result of the government providing them. The Alberta government estimates that the shots will cost around $110/dose, but Smith and her cronies will escape public discontent since everyone will blame it on the Trudeau Liberals. Or the Carney Liberals. Or any Liberals, really.
Continue reading “A DANGEROUS WOMAN GETS MORE DANGEROUS”
It’s not the way I mapped it out, but we’re going to have to do things a little differently this morning.
I’ve had nothing but trouble transferring video to my computer so that I could work with it and produce a coherent product. Apparently my storage space is non-existent, despite my efforts at troubleshooting for several hours. I did, however, manage to cheat the media gods and get some of my stuff up on YouTube.
And so, it was my first walk, and likely my last, along the Bonnechere River Trail. Not because it’s not worth the time and effort, but more to do with the fact that it’s a gruelling little journey that I can now claim to have completed half of, but no real need to complete the other half.
It would be kind of cool to fly a drone along the length of the river as it corresponds to the trail, but sadly, I have no drone, and equally sadly I’d have no idea how to fly one if I even had one.
Poor Jagmeet Singh. For such a nice guy, he sure takes more than his share of lumps.
On April 28th, Canadians consigned Singh and his New Democrats to the ash heap, reducing the party to a mere shadow of its former self and removing it from official party status in the House of Commons. The resounding electoral blow led Singh to resign as party leader, a rather inglorious fate for the man who is probably most responsible for the extension of prescription drug and dental benefits to the young and starting out and to the old and checking crowds. Both groups looked the other way, though, when it came time to cast a ballot, caught up as they were in the two-party struggle between the Liberals and the Conservatives.
On Saturday, Jagmeet went to a concert in Toronto, a man of the people, with the people, and out with the people on a weekend night. He claims he went to the concert to take in the talent of the opening act, a rapper named SZA, because apparently Jagmeet likes his rappers.
But the problems started when Singh remained for the featured artist, which is what 100 out of 100 people would do after shilling out for the tickets, which wouldn’t have been cheap, since the main event was Los Angeles rapper Kendrick Lamar. And since Lamar is pretty much one of the Hip Hop giants, nobody would ever have cause to criticize Jagmeet about his choice of concerts to attend.
Except Drake.
Continue reading “SINGH GETS CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE”
He was at the very top, a boy, maybe six, perhaps seven years old. His mom, or the person responsible for his safety, was at the bottom, looking up. He seemed unsure of himself.
The boy was at the very top of a play structure, a modern one, by all appearances state of the art. His hesitancy involved coming down a ladder-type feature, with rungs, where a climber could move down or up, depending on which way a child might want to go.
Sometimes the climb up is easier than the climb down because, well, you start low and work yourself high. And you’re not necessarily realizing fully how far up off the ground you might be climbing, what with your eyes being directed upwards, towards the top. But when you’re at the top looking down, you become more fully aware of the drop, and of the reality of elevation, and the further reality of gravity, and what it might do to you if you make some sort of mis-step on the way down, or even before you begin the journey down.
It’s a play structure, though, for heaven’s sake, and so safety was obviously top-of-mind for the people who designed it and manufactured it, not to mention the people who researched it and procured it, in this case on the part of the municipality. And so, as a play structure in a public park, one swarming with kids at times, the assumption is that there is no danger here.
Continue reading “CHILD SAFETY AT PLAY”
I always knew that it was inevitable. But when the Americans told their diplomatic staff in several Middle East countries to pack up and head home on Wednesday, it became imminent.
Israel attacked Iran again, and this time it was for keeps. These two countries have been in a shadow war for decades, and have recently traded blows, right around the time that Israel was putting the boots to all of Iran’s proxy terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
When that it-for-tat business was happening between the two, I took note of the Israeli targets in Iran, and mostly took note of the fact that the Israelis stayed well clear of Iran’s nuclear facilities, something that most international pundits gave Israel credit for, as in credit for showing such remarkable restraint. Those international pundits have a shocking naivety.
Continue reading “ISRAEL STRIKES IRAN HARD”
We keep putting it back up, but they keep knocking it back down.
A similar start to yesterday’s story, not out of any sense of laziness, but simply a recognition that, well, it would be a hell of a way to start this story as well.
Only this time the players are different.
The we are the City of Toronto, and a concerned neighbourhood group. The they are the people, or maybe just person, who seem intent on committing regular acts of vandalism on city-owned properties and assets. And the it in this case is a traffic camera, specifically a speed-camera, better known as photo radar.
Five times the contractor who supplies and maintains the camera has set it up. And five times somebody has come along and cut it down. You could say this whole thing is a going concern.
Continue reading “CHOPPING DOWN A CAMERA”
We keep putting him back up, and they keep knocking him back down.
We are the people of Ontario, as represented by the government of Ontario, and as driven by the premier of Ontario, meaning Doug Ford.
They are the people who protest the things that we do, and show their displeasure through paint attacks, graffiti, and pushing things over, even smashing them when possible.
The him is Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Actually not Sir John in the flesh, because he’s long dead, but a bronze statue of him, this one in a prominent position at Queen’s Park, the location of our provincial government.
Continue reading “TOPPLED STATUES AND HISTORICAL ACCURACY”
NEWSMAGRENFREW 