O Canada

[neoplacebo]

Fascinating; my first thought upon encountering these boys is that they are novice chain saw jugglers.

[Vrede too]

Fascinating; my first thought upon encountering these boys is that they are novice chain saw jugglers.

Gotta learn somehow, but I think the motors landed on their heads too many times.

[Vrede too]

Canada statue of John A Macdonald toppled by activists in Montreal

Activists in Montreal have pulled down a statue of Canada's first prime minister Sir John A Macdonald, who was linked to cruel policies that killed many indigenous people in the late 19th Century....

...

Without opining on what tactics Canadian activists choose, that's the coolest toppling I've seen, though the Durham crumple and the statue roll into an English harbor were also excellent. Points to Hurricane Laura's BLM solidarity, too, but we didn't get to watch it happen.

[Vrede too]

Toronto Raptors Fans Betray Their Team

Darn nice of them to do that, eh?


Can Canadians Talk Trash?

Spoiler:

No.

[Vrede too]

Canadian couple fined for breaking curfew after woman found 'walking' her husband on a dog leash

A couple in Canada have been fined £900 each after they were stopped by police with the woman ‘walking’ her husband on a dog lead.

The unnamed wife tried to argue with police that she was not breaking coronavirus rules, as it is permitted to break curfew in order to walk your dog.

“One of them had the other on a leash, and she said she was taking her dog, pointing to her partner, out on a walk, as allowed under the exceptions provided by Quebec’s premier under its curfew law,” said Isabelle Sehrdon, a spokesperson for the local police department.

The couple are from Sherbrooke, Quebec....

If they don't pay the fine she will be jailed and he will be put in a kennel.

[Vrede too]

https://news.yahoo.com/michelle-barack- ... 05066.html

2017 inauguration:



Last laugh:

[Vrede too]

World's longest hockey game played in deep freeze in Alberta


Kate Gallagher places cardboard cutouts of fans during the World's Longest Hockey Game near Edmonton on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021.

... Forty people took turns playing hockey on an outdoor rink 24 hours a day, seven days a week since Feb. 4, all in the name of cancer research.

Temperatures plunged at times between a bone-shaking minus 40 and minus 67 Fahrenheit (minus 40, minus 55 Celsius). Pucks were shattered as players passed them along the boards, skate blades broke in half, pieces of masks fell off as glue let go and goalie pads cracked....

The seventh edition of the game has raised about $1.5 million for cancer research at the University of Alberta. The game hit the 252-hour goal at dawn Monday and will break its own Guinness World Record.

The final score, according to the event's Facebook page, was 2,649 to 2,528 ...

That's raised about $1.5 million before deductions for cold and other injuries.

[Vrede too]

Ugly American:

U.S. Billionaire Stan Kroenke Wins Fight to Kill Public Access to Lakes

American billionaire Stan Kroenke—the real estate and sports mogul who owns more than 2 million acres of ranching land across North America— has just won a decade-long legal battle in Canada to keep the public from two lakes that can only be reached through his property.

Kroenke, who is married to Walmart heiress Anne Walton, owns the largest ranch in Canada—a hulking mass larger than the metro Vancouver area, which fully surrounds two bodies of water: Stoney and Minnie lakes. The lakes, each more than a half-mile long, are both publicly owned in Canada and filled with fish. But the orientation of Kroenke’s property leaves citizens without a route to reach them, forcing would-be hunters and fishers to take a small dirt trail or unpaved wagon road across his land to access the wilderness tended to by their tax dollars.

Kroenke’s ranch, known as the Douglas Lake Cattle Company or Douglas Lake Ranch, used to block access to these routes with locked gates and fences. (Notably, the ranch owns two private lakes on the same property, which visitors must pay an undisclosed day rate to access). So in 2013, the Nicola Valley Fish and Game Club, a local non-profit dedicated to wildlife management in the area, sued the ranch to open the through-ways, arguing the trail had historic significance dating back to its use by an indigenous village, and that Canadian citizens have a right to access public land.

In 2018, a British Columbia Supreme Court judge sided with the recreational group, noting that Canadian tax dollars had been used to rehabilitate the historic trail. But Kroenke appealed, and on Friday, a higher court overturned the 2018 ruling, banning Canadians from “trespassing” on the two paths....

Last week’s decision comes at a high cost for the environmental non-profit. The judges determined the organization was not a “public-interest litigant,” meaning it will have to pay the billionaire’s legal fees for his appeal, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars owed for their own. According to the Vancouver Sun, the non-profit has been supporting its own legal fund with picnics and raffles. “It’ll probably be $25,000 or $30,000 [for Kroenke’s legal expenses],” McGowan said....

Kroenke has made a fortune off land development: Forbes estimates he owns about 30 million square feet of real estate—largely in shopping plazas near his in-laws’ megastores—generating a net worth of more than $8.2 billion. One of his properties is a massive tract of land in north Texas, around Lake Diversion near Wichita Falls. In 2016, Kroenke evicted hundreds of long-term residents of the 35,000 acre-ranch, forcing them to leave their homes with less than fourth months notice. According to the Dallas News, most of the residents were either elderly or lived on fixed incomes. “We’ve got family members that have had leases out here for 50 years,” longtime resident Annette McNeil told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at the time.

Kroenke has also funneled some of his fortune into sports teams, and owns the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, the NFL’s L.A. Rams, the English Premier League’s Arsenal FC, and the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, among others. The NFL technically does not allow for team owners to have professional sports properties in competing cities. But Kroenke found a way around the rules: He arranged to put two of the teams under his son’s name, Josh Kroenke, while keeping them in the family....

Very ugly American. I guess I'm done being a semi-fan of the Rams.

I could be wrong, but all of the US cases I recall preserve right-of-way across private land to access public land.

[O Really]

I could be wrong, but all of the US cases I recall preserve right-of-way across private land to access public land.

I think you're right.
The guy's a total asshole.

[neoplacebo]

I could be wrong, but all of the US cases I recall preserve right-of-way across private land to access public land.

I think you're right.
The guy's a total asshole.

A black hole of an asshole. I hope he drowns, is revived and then drowns and dies on his own puke. Winning!

[Vrede too]

... The guy's a total asshole.

A black hole of an asshole. I hope he drowns, is revived and then drowns and dies on his own puke. Winning!

Vancouver Named ‘Anti-Asian Hate Crime Capital of North America,’ According to Report

With more anti-Asian hate crimes than 10 of the most populous U.S. cities combined in 2020, Vancouver has reportedly become the “Anti-Asian Hate Crime Capital of North America.” ...

What’s going on: Vancouver documented a total of 98 anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020, an eightfold increase from the previous year. This is more than triple the figure reported in New York (28), which recorded the most of any U.S. city in the same period.

* In a more recent study, CSHE noted that Vancouver saw a 717% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes from 2019 to 2020. This is the largest spike in Canada’s four largest cities....

Not so progressive: Bloomberg author Natalie Obiko Pearson, who lives in Vancouver herself, noted that the city may not be “the bastion of progressive multiculturalism it thinks it is,” given the disproportionate data.

* Vancouver has a population of about 700,000. Of this number, 42% are Asian and 25% speak Chinese....

:confusion-scratchheadblue:

[Vrede too]

Canada truck attack: Muslim family victims named

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has identified the four members of a Muslim family killed in a "premeditated" attack on Sunday.

Madiha Salman, 44, her husband Salman Afzaal, 46, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Afzaal and Mr Afzaal's 74-year-old mother were hit by a vehicle while on an evening walk in London, Ontario.

Mr Trudeau condemned the attack as an act of terror.

The couple's nine-year-old son survived and is in hospital with injuries.

The attack was the worst against Canadian Muslims since six people were killed in a Quebec City mosque in 2017.

A 20-year-old Canadian man has been charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Police said the family is believed to have been targeted because of their Muslim faith. Authorities are weighing possible terrorism charges for what is thought to be a hate crime....

Je suis London, Ontario.

[Vrede too]

Je suis London, Ontario.

Thousands march in support of Muslim family killed in truck attack in Canada



... People in London, Ontario marched about 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) from the spot where the family was struck down to a nearby mosque, the site close to where Veltman was arrested by police....

It's some comfort. That's a long distance for a march like this.

[billy.pilgrim]

Happy Birthday Robbie

I'm not sure if it makes me feel old or young to realize that I've been listening to him for 55 years.

https://youtu.be/SWYZ9Z_R62Q

[Vrede too]

Despite its slow start, Canada is now lapping U.S. on COVID vaccination. Is right-wing media to blame?

... With nearly 70 percent of its population now at least partially vaccinated, Canada is well on its way to reaching herd immunity. The U.S. — which has stalled out around 56 percent — is not.

Experts say that the proliferation of right-wing media — including OAN, Newsmax and Fox News, whose U.S. opinion hosts have spent months insisting that COVID-19 vaccines “could be dangerous; that people are justified in refusing them; and that public authorities have overstepped in their attempts to deliver them” — may be one of the biggest reasons why....

Falling behind Canada in vaccinations wasn’t a foregone conclusion. In fact, the U.S. — which locked up most of North America’s early doses — had a huge head start in inoculating its population against COVID-19. By the end of the first week of April, the American vaccination rate (33 percent of the total population) was twice as high as Canada’s (16.5 percent). For months, Canadians watched with envy as their American counterparts were inoculated and started to enjoy some semblance of normalcy.

Then the momentum shifted. Canada’s mass vaccination drive began in earnest and the U.S.'s faltered. Initially, Canada prioritized the first dose and delayed the second; as a result, Canada was soon getting shots in arms at a faster rate than the United States. By May 20, Canada had closed the first-dose gap.

That much, at least, was attributable to pent-up demand and a different dosing schedule. But what happened next hinted at a deeper U.S.-Canada divide. As spring turned to summer, the number of Americans who’ve received at least one dose flatlined. It's ticked up just 4 points (to 56 percent) over the last month.

But the same number soared in Canada. This week it will hit 70 percent.

Meanwhile, Canada has shortened the time between doses to 28 days, and the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated — currently 47 percent to the U.S.'s 48 percent — is rising so rapidly that it is projected to overtake the U.S. in a matter of days. It’s also expected to keep rising well into the summer, as nearly all first-dosers complete their vaccine regimen....

We suck.



Article

[O Really]

Whenever the question starts out "Is right-wing media to blame for..." the answer will almost always be "yes." But also, Canadian provinces did a much better job in limiting inter-province travel, enforcing quarantines, etc. There was some, but much less whining about closures and restrictions than in the US. All helping to make Canadians realize their lives are going to be lots better with vaccinations. We can also blame people who are stupid enough to listen to right-wing media in the first place, too.

[Vrede too]

Whenever the question starts out "Is right-wing media to blame for..." the answer will almost always be "yes." But also, Canadian provinces did a much better job in limiting inter-province travel, enforcing quarantines, etc. There was some, but much less whining about closures and restrictions than in the US. All helping to make Canadians realize their lives are going to be lots better with vaccinations. We can also blame people who are stupid enough to listen to right-wing media in the first place, too.

Big contrast to 136 years ago:

The mandatory vaccinations that triggered a riot in Montreal in 1885

More than 2,000 violent rioters - some armed with stones, others with revolvers - stormed through the streets protesting mandatory vaccinations.

"Kill the vaccinators," they shouted.

The scene was Montreal on the night of Sept. 28, 1885, after the city moved to impose compulsory vaccinations to fight a smallpox epidemic.

The protesters were residents of Montreal's French Canadian neighborhood, where distrust of the English-majority government ran deep....

Though inoculation against smallpox wasn't new, some feared the vaccinations were dangerous. Some didn't understand how contagious the disease was. Some believed rumors that city vaccinators were going into bedrooms and tying down children to be vaccinated.

One anti-vaccination pamphlet read "Stop!! People Driven Like Dumb Animals To The Shambles." Some religious groups called the smallpox shot the biblical "mark of the beast" - the same claim being made by conspiracy theorists about the coronavirus vaccines on the social networks of some Christian groups....

Still, uneasy crowds began to form the afternoon of the 28th. Three French Canadian city council members "uttered the most incendiary threat to burn the city and shoot all who favor vaccination being made compulsory," the Detroit Free Press reported.

The outcome was reported across Canada and the United States under such headlines as, "MONTREAL'S MAD MOB."

At about 7 p.m., "a howling mob" attacked a branch office of the health department and "wrecked the building," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The crowd, growing in size, then marched to city hall. A few policemen were on duty, but "the mob drove them out of their way like sheep."

The attack on city hall had eerie similarities to the Jan. 6 assault by Donald Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol....

A Detroit Free Press reporter was on the scene. "Your reporter at 1 o'clock this morning has just returned from the east end, which is entirely of French-Canadian population. Two thousand people are gathered there in a perfect frenzy of excitement. They declared they will rather die than be vaccinated and will not submit to 'the English dogs.' "

Two protesters were reported killed during the melee, and property damage was extensive. The mayor called in the military the next night and calm was restored to the city.

At a city council meeting, the three French Canadian representatives continued to denounce the vaccinations rather than the rioters. "These are the men who represent the wards where smallpox is most prevalent and take this course to curry favor with their constituents," the New York Times said.

Two weeks later, Dr. Alexander Ross, one of the anti-vaccination city council members who had incited the protesters, was stopped aboard the Chicago Express train from Montreal by a Canadian health inspector, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported. A search revealed "the great advocate of the ignorant antivaccination party had been vaccinated recently."

Our side needs some good riots - Kill the anti-vaxxers!

[O Really]

[GoCubsGo]

Geez, even the quality of their hats is nicer.

[Ulysses]

CAGE?