Hot Takes – Feb 19, 2021
My take on some of today's hottest headlines.
1. Justin Trudeau is criminalizing family fun. In his crack down on the evils of law-abiding gun sports, Justin Trudeau’s new fight-everything-but-crime Gun Bill will prohibit toy guns that shoot small, painless plastic beads. Families often play games with these Airsoft® guns while dressed as soldiers and – God knows – anyone dressed as a soldier is evil. Especially Canada’s real soldiers who remain underfunded and strapped for recruits while the Liberal government has banned the appearance of anything resembling an actual gun in military recruiting ads. But, fair citizen, fret not. If just one person can be dissuaded from pursuing a life of service to country by simply banning an entire industry of sport and fun, then it’s all worthwhile.
2. Meanwhile, Trudeau is working hard to increase gun violence. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is working feverishly on an historic reduction in punishment for real criminals, using real guns to shoot and kill real people in real crimes. Dressing like one of our heroic soldiers while carrying a toy that shoots soft plastic beads as part of a fun family Airsoft® game is criminal in Trudeau’s Canada. While, actually gunning down a 12-year old boy out for a walk with his mom, leaving only a blood stained sidewalk to mark the tragic and painful end of his innocent young life, is a “symptom of systemic racism” that warrants hugs and affirmations. Shut down the space program, folks, we’ve found evidence of inhuman existence right here in Ottawa.
3. Do some GTA mayors just hate people? What else could be driving them to extend the inhuman torture and suffering their citizens are experiencing under cruel and unnecessary lockdowns? John Tory murmurs his mantra that people would rather be locked down forever than suffer repeated openings and closings. That’s kind of like arguing, prisoners are better off if we just leave them in solitary confinement forever rather than give them a few weeks or months off between torture sessions.
None of the people recommending or making decisions on lockdowns and pandemic counter measures have ever had to live with the consequences of those decisions. Millions of Canadians have been forced out of work – not by circumstance or disaster – but by premeditated policy decisions of public servants who continue to work, continue to draw salary, continue to enjoy exorbitant benefits and pensions no citizen can hope for, and who – if research is right – are actually saving money during the lockdowns they’ve imposed on others.
How much more do John Tory, Bonnie Crombie and their Medical Officers of Hunch need to add to their savings accounts, before they’ll lift their bloody boots off the throats of the masses who pay their salaries?
4. Ottawa won’t say a bad word about China…I’m not sure if China’s horrific and inhuman oppression of its Muslim Uighur people rises to the definition of Genocide – but it’s no less a genocide than Canada’s treatment of its own indigenous peoples. Justin Trudeau was thrilled to label Canada’s attempt to “beat the Indian out of” indigenous children at residential schools as genocide. What China is currently doing in Xinjiang is demonstrably worse. Beyond doubt, it is a crime against humanity and Trudeau needs to step up and say so.
5. But Facebook is EVIL! China is the nation Trudeau admires most (after Canada) but Facebook – OMG. Don’t get him started on Facebook. Given the choice to pull news from its ubiquitous service in Australia or fork over heaping stacks of cash to legacy news media companies unable to compete with the galactic giant, Facebook chose to pull the plug on news. Australians are not happy. Given that Trudeau’s own minister of destroying the internet has promised to mimic the Australian model, the alarm bells are ringing in Ottawa. Facebook is evil. Facebook must be stopped. But, Facebook must continue … until after the election at least. How else will Liberals bombard Canadians with anti-O’Toole advertising?
6. Into a dismal season, a little brightness and hope shone. NASA’s Perseverance rover landed successfully on Mars yesterday and it was a joy to watch the live feed from mission control as researchers who’ve dedicated the last decade of their lives to this project held their breath. It was a timely, and much-needed, reminder of what humans can do when we work together, share knowledge and ideas and focus on a challenge much bigger than ourselves. While many of us are actively being beaten down by our own inept governments who can’t figure any other way to meet the challenge of an infinitesimal virus, it was a breath of fresh air to escape for just a few minutes. To return to a world that made sense. Where humanity was better. Where science worked. And where people worked science.
7. Ted Cruz: Definitely Not the hope of a new generation of Republicans. Go easy on poor Ted Cruz. I mean, put yourself in his shoes. Which working-class father – anywhere – would not have dropped everything and turned his back on his responsibility to lead during a once-in-a-lifetime crisis (or two) to book his entire family on a no-notice, full-fare flight to a luxury foreign beach destination when the ranch got frosty? I mean, how is this different from any of the millions of other Texas families still facing freezing temperatures, no power, no food and no water in the middle of a pandemic that has left them with no hope? Seriously, folks. Be real.
8. Canada isn’t alone in failing its seniors. Ontario has done a poor job of caring for our senior citizens. Has done for decades, through every government of every political stripe. So has the rest of Canada. And, much of the world. Here’s the thing. Brace yourself: People die. If you’ve been to a long-term care home – ever – you’ll have noticed there’s an admission office and an intake process. But, there is no discharge office. The outtake process inevitably involves a hearse. We go to these homes to die.
Hopefully, we have enough money to afford a nicer home – and hopefully, we are able to live a relaxed, enjoyable life for our final few months or years there. If we’re lucky, we have a loving family that remains part of our life in those last chapters. But, there is no recovery from old age. Not yet.
We’re measuring the wrong stick when it comes to criticizing long-term care facilities. We should never squander life. Nor, should we tolerate anyone making it less enjoyable – something our governments and LTC management companies did by banning loved ones from visiting seniors during the pandemic. They were trying to extend the lives of their patients. That’s the wrong goal. Avoiding death is not the objective of long-term care. Maximizing quality of life remaining is the objective. Until we focus on the right goal, there is no hope we’ll ever achieve it.
9. I have nothing but good things to say about this fashion trend. Why should any beautiful woman (and they are all beautiful) ever be forced to wear superfluous clothing? It’s 2021 people!