Sorry, but.....

....we give a sh-t about the Ukraine because????  Call me stupid, call me heartless, but I am in-the-dark about why the world is so upset over Russia's invasion of a couple of states that used to be part of the Ukraine and the former's continuing threat to take the whole country over?

Are there that many votes to be had in Canada that we have to rent our garments and gnash our teeth in despair?  Putin considers the Ukraine the jewel in Russia's crown, I know, so I gather he is determined to get it back -- like he did with a couple of other countries previously part of the Soviet Union.  Putin will not be satisfied until he re-unites the entire Union to Cold War status.  And since he's squirreled away billions in secret accounts, a few sanctions here and there are of no concern to him.  

Are we afraid he will move into Europe, then North America?  We must be because he just might try, if all anyone is going to do is rail about it.  At any rate, that's my ignorant assessment of the whole mess.  Come to think of it, if Canada can't even disperse a bunch of trucks without invoking an emergency act, Russia must think it'd be pretty easy to take us over.  But, as John Maynard Keynes famously said, "In the long run, we are all dead."  

p.s.  If a reader can fill me in, please feel free.

p.p.s.  John Ivison just penned a column which tells me.  It's because Russia supplies 2/3s of the oil and natural gas for all of Europe; the West -- which includes the likes of Britain, France, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, etc. -- doesn't want the entire continent to freeze in the dark -- it's not because we give a toss about the people of Ukraine.  Got it.

Three people

I'm putting the whole COVID/Ottawa mess on three people:  Theresa Tam, Justin Trudeau and Peter Sloly -- in that order.  Tam comes first because she's the one who claimed from one day to the next that we were all gonna' die unless we immediately went into hiding in our homes and under our beds for two years.

Next is Trudeau because he listened to everything Tam spouted and relied on her "science".  As for Ottawa, the whole pile can be dumped on Sloly, who didn't see the obvious coming and when it crashed into him, didn't do a thing about it.

If you really look at how this was all "handled" from day one, it does come down to those three inept ninnies, behind which every federal and provincial minister of "health" lined up.  Oh, and you can throw in Brenda Lucki and Doug Ford for the Ottawa siege -- two incompetents who also did nothing.  And as for Jim Watson, he hid behind law "enforcement" and threw up his hands, claiming he couldn't tell them what to do -- that is until he finally fired Sloly.

So, you can wait for all the inquiries you want, but it comes down to three people -- each of whom should have their asses fired.  In the meantime, watch whack-a-mole erupt and burst forth in cities and towns across the country.  What fun!

Ludicrous

Many years ago, my mother got a ticket for parking in a "passenger loading zone", while dropping my grandmother off for an appointment before parking her car.  Always one to protest any questionable ticket -- be it speeding or parking -- my mother contested said ticket and claimed, quite correctly, that she was indeed dropping off and picking up a passenger.  The judge agreed.  

All this to say that if a little, old lady can enthusiastically be handed a ticket for dropping off and picking up another little, old lady in a designated zone, the truckers illegally blocking off huge swaths of lanes in Ottawa can certainly be hauled away after three weeks of nonsense and insanity.  Instead, they are being issued polite letters about what "might" happen if they don't move.  

How insane!

And in another insanity binge, the acting police chief just announced to the crippled eunuchs comprising the Ottawa  Police Board that the force would be "immediately" removing trucks and safely returning Ottawa to normalcy.  The insanity of his claim is that A/chief Bell avowed this on the heels of the head of the provincial tow truckers' association claiming that his industry and its trucks would not be called into the middle of the mess.  (Well, that actually makes sense to me because hey, tow trucks are trucks, so guess who the drivers side with?)

But that leaves one wondering how they plan on removing the trucks!!??  Does no one have his/her head screwed on right??!!  

As to the befuddled and stumped police board -- now shorn of such luminaries as Diane Deans and Carol Ann Meehan to ride to the rescue -- what's its next move?  This "woke" bunch,  previously led by a "Karen", is now reaping what they sowed in hiring Sloly in the first place.  This is what affirmative action can give you:  Boxes ticked, but results empty.

All I can say is, good luck!           

How can it expire?

I'm referring to a smoke detector.  Apparently, that's the reason for the many fatal fires on native reserves.  Really?  In 2012, 20,000 of these devices were shipped to reserves, which resulted in the death toll plummeting to zero.  "But it rose again starting in 2019 because the program was discontinued," said Len Garis, director of research for the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council.  

Does Garis mean that the natives didn't replace the batteries?  That's all I can conclude because smoke detectors don't expire; the batteries do.  So, now not only do we have to supply the detectors, but we also have to send up replacement batteries.  That's insane.  Garis also blames the absence of national codes and standards on reserves.  And who's going to set the standards?  Not the federal government because you can be sure native leaders would never accept that.  And would the 400-odd reserves agree on one code?  Would they agree on national training standards?  Those were another two of my rhetorical questions.  

And what's happened to the $33.8 million Indigenous Services sent to on-reserve fire services in the past five years?  My guess is as good as yours, but I'd ask the chiefs what they did with it.  Maybe Monias Fiddler, Sandy Lake's executive director where the latest fire killed three young children, might have an answer, but he claims the problem is a lack of funding.  Really?  I'd say $33.8 million is not a lack of money.  

Natives need to get off reserves, but they won't because that's how the money -- of which there never seems to be enough -- flows.  

    

An inspiration

That's how my 30-years-younger doctor described me the other day when I went to see her.  "I have one other patient your age who inspires me," she said to a shocked moi.  "I hope I will be in your shape when I am your age."

Wow!  I was kind'a speechless.  Doctors don't usually look up to, or compliment, patients, so my chest swelled!  "I have patients much younger than you who are suffering with muscle wasting because they don't do exercise of any kind.  Your swimming is what's keeping you so fit.  Don't stop!" she added.

Heck, and just when I was thinking of cutting back.  No chance of that now.  I used to be a daily aerobic walker and covered four km's every weekday morning before work and seven on the weekends.  Thinking I was improving myself in every way, I was actually developing bursitis in my hips from all the pounding.  So, about 20 years ago, I switched to swimming.  Thank God for that!  My crepe skin is in full view on the pool deck, but apparently it hides the power beneath it!  

______________________________

Yesterday, we had lunch with B's first cousin, her husband and one of their sons.  Only the second time we had met this cousin -- the family is scattered all over England and Australia -- we thoroughly enjoyed meeting A, B's second cousin, who works in Fort McMurray.  I was fascinated, as he told me about the vehicles he drives -- like house-sized Caterpillar 797B scoops, which load 100 tons of sand in one load, have 3,400 horsepower engines and 12-foot tires.  Whoa!  Apparently, you have to climb three ladders to get to the cab.  This prompted my first middle-aged question, "What do you do if you have to pee?"  He told me, which made me wonder how the women, who have to pull down pants and squat, manage it?  "Yeah, they have it worse because they have to scramble down to a port-a-potty," -- which seems highly unfair.  He agreed.

All in all, it was a lovely visit!      

  

   

Parking tickets

That's how the Ottawa police are handling the sedition, anarchy, insurrection and siege now enveloping and encasing the city.  Unbelievable!  Where are the tow trucks?  Why are they allowing people to urinate and defecate all over private property?  Why haven't the paddy wagons been called in?  Where's the RCMP?  Where's Doug Ford and the OPP?  Oh ya, in Ford's case, he daren't get tough on the truckers because they are part of Ford Nation -- his base.  Votes would be lost, so let's just let anarchy reign. 

The constitution is based on peace, order and good government -- none of which are in evidence amid this insurrection.  How can this be allowed?  And there's Trudeau, calling them a small fringe and using his fallback expression of, "Canadians believe...."  The guy represents about one third of Canadians, not all Canadians -- most of whom can't stand him.

He's actually in hiding because it must be well-known to his security team that his life is in danger.  And where's our babushka deputy pm?  Where's the minister of public safety?  Where's the minister of transport?  We're sending troops to Ukraine, while our own country is in chaos.  We need the army out in force in all the places blockades have been set up.  They need to come down and we need the War Measures Act declared to get this mess sorted.

The other thought that occurs to me is what are Russia and China plotting as they watch Canada unable to curb a trucking protest?  Are they thinking that they could very easily come over the Arctic and invade?  If we can't get a bunch of trucks under control, we would be completely unable to resist a take over for our oil and gas.  They need it and Trudeau and gang refuse to let it flow.  Soooooo dumb.  Some will find this far-fetched, but it's a reality.  

I am disgusted, but not surprised, at how Trudeau and his cronies have been (not)handling this.  Those Canadians who will even admit to having voted for him should be heartily ashamed of themselves.    

 

There's only one way out

The army.  Trudeau, in his infinite ignorance, stated right up front that he will not call in the army to take Ottawa back from the lawless siege in which it is now entrapped.  

That was dumb.  How else is he going to restore law and order, with Sloly now throwing up his hands and admitting he can't do it.  He has even resorted to the excuse that his officers are "over-worked and exhausted".  So what?!  They have to do their jobs and Sloly must be removed as chief by the police board immediately.  But, of course, that won't happen because the board is so "woke" it will NEVER remove a Black from his/her high-profile post.

So, the impasse continues with Trudeau refusing to negotiate (way too late for that anyway), the truckers saying they won't leave until their ludicrous demands and manifesto are agreed to (that'll never happen either) and the police going back into hiding.  

Time for the army.  Anita Anand, are you listening?

What in Gawd's name....

...is Peter Sloly's excuse for abandoning his post and allowing Ottawa to be overrun and occupied by hooligans in this madness called a "truckers' convoy"?!?!  Just heard him on TV talking about "everything we're doing" to make the city safe.  Really??!!  

Not according to all the people whose lives have been upended by mob rule.  Hey, Peter, you're supposed to keep the peace and safeguard Ottawans -- not stand around chatting with them in an attempt to negotiate a settlement.  You don't "negotiate" with terrorists, buddy.  You bring them to heel using all the laws at your disposal.  That's your job!  Apparently, there was no plan in place -- in spite of the fact that everyone knew they were marauding across the country hell-bent on destruction and mayhem.  His performance was a master class in how not to handle a protest.

Researching Chief Sloly I learned that he is from Kingston, Jamaica, and grew up in Scarborough.  He also has a BA in Sociology from McMaster, which makes him lean towards time-wasting skills like negotiation and chatting.  Here's a quote:

"Until policing stops being focused and driven on that reactive enforcement model, it will continue to be exponentially costly."  With 1,480 officers on strength -- and another 150 being added as I type -- it's already "exponentially costly".

So, that's his problem, he has been trying to get away from enforcement and into....what?  Talking.  I bet that appealed to the "woke" commissioners during his interview.  I bet the fact that he was Black also helped tip the affirmative-action scales.  Who's on the Ottawa Police Board that hired him?  Two ethnics, a couple of NDP-types, three "feminists" and a guy whose family I knew in Ottawa (Rockcliffe) when I was growing up.  So, that tells you the mindset of this "woke" board.

For Chief Sloly, the rigs and chickens have come home to a very uncomfortable roost.  In fact, they are actually building an illegal, permanent structure in Confederation Park and plan to settle in for the long haul until Trudeau lifts every vaccine mandate.  And what's the chief doing about it?  Crickets.

Too bad these genii don't seem to realize that health is a provincial matter about which Trudeau -- lucky boy -- can do nothing.  A big "whew" must be emanating from his (non)sick bed in whatever remote cottage in which he happens to be holed up at the moment.

And where's the "Go Fund Me" $10.1 million?  Who has that stashed away?  Who's it destined for?  One raider said he had spent "7 K on gas so far".  Did the Go Funders cover that?  Exactly.         

And, as usual, where is the RCMP?  Where is the OPP?  Where is the QPP?  All not doing their high-paying jobs.

___________________________

The other thing that's on my mind is the spectacle of both Melanie Joly and Anita Anand traipsing over to the Ukraine to try and do something about Russia's threats.  I bet that had Putin shaking in his boots.  Were the two women in some kind of hissy fit competition?  Why did one go right after the other?  As usual, Canada looks like the ineffectual international it is -- an embarrassment on the world stage.