the watcher

We were at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair  ( Brandon ) yesterday. I guessed about %5 of the crowd wore masks but my wife thought I was being generous. 

Yes, let's bank the countries future on something that really doesn't exist,  create anything material, or contribute to the welfare of humanity.  There has been alot of articles on the cost of " mining " bitcoin lately. Apparently it uses more energy than the entire country of  Sweden . Being an old fart I had  a  " mining ????? "  moment and had to read up on that.
 

I would sooner invest in healing crystals and co-ownership of the Brooklyn Bridge

Their entire political system is a nonfunctional gong show.Its got nothing to do with trying to govern a country  just  self promotion, power, lining your pockets, and attacking the opposition ( who ever you see as opposition ) with what ever you can make up.  It would be comical if it was a tiny unimportant country that had little real military or financial  importance in the world.

The entire country has shifted right. Remember "red tories" ?
there is no such thing now. People here are saying jason kenney is the normal person in that party. Good god.
The Conservatives are now john birch /Alex Jones right wing crackpots, the NDP now would have been centre right in the past.
The NDP in British Columbia is promoting LNG gas, logging old growth, beating up, pepper spraying protesters, 
and
"RE: Call to action to call BC Timber Sales at 604-702-5700 and call for 60-day extension of consultation for a five-year Pest Management Plan including herbicide spraying in the South Coast forestry covering Squamish to Hope
We find it unbelievable in this day and age of carbon credits, environmental toxin awareness, greenhouse emissions, air quality indexes, and awareness of the historical effects of herbicide spraying both to the ecosystem and humans, that a government is planning a mass forestry herbicide spraying against native plants.."
 
Probably not as bad as what came before them, but hardly what once was left wing.
really, everything is going the wrong way, world wide.
 

The left CAMPAIGNS on the left, but then governs very much towards the centre, and even on the right
I would argue that the Mulroney Conservatives, with their introduction of new taxes, were more to the left than most Liberal governments have been
 

Their entire political system is a nonfunctional gong show.Its got nothing to do with trying to govern a country  just  self promotion, power, lining your pockets, and attacking the opposition ( who ever you see as opposition ) with what ever you can make up.  It would be comical if it was a tiny unimportant country that had little real military or financial  importance in the world.

Committee member : "Please state your full name"
Jared Kushner:   "5th"

What I’m sorry I couldn’t hear over the Will Smith slapping Chris Rock noise. What’s happening?
We are so f’d as a species right now.

Agreed. Although history has always been written by the victors the twisting of facts and events is epidemic now.
Americans have always been the world champions at it. They seem to have exported it around the world now.  No other country to my knowledge  has ever taken other counties war stories and called them theirs. ( The Great escape and U571 )
I always thought the book " Bury my heart at wounded knee " should be required reading in US schools.( It wouldn't hurt Canadians either. ) It might change alot of minds about their romanticized wild west days. 

Agreed. Although history has always been written by the victors the twisting of facts and events is epidemic now.
Americans have always been the world champions at it. They seem to have exported it around the world now.  No other country to my knowledge  has ever taken other counties war stories and called them theirs. ( The Great escape and U571 )
I always thought the book " Bury my heart at wounded knee " should be required reading in US schools.( It wouldn't hurt Canadians either. ) It might change alot of minds about their romanticized wild west days. 

I wonder what the real numbers are now? I know SO many people who have it now and my circle isn't as large as many.Just in the last few weeks I know at least 8 people that tested positive.

Is anyone else thinking " I know those guys ( not those particular ones ) , thank God I grew up eventually. "

I wonder what the real numbers are now? I know SO many people who have it now and my circle isn't as large as many.Just in the last few weeks I know at least 8 people that tested positive.

Again, it doesn't need to evolve all 3 (severity, transmissibility, vaccine resistance). Any one of the 3 could put us in a much worse place and hoping that it evolves less severity is not a great strategy according the the author. Again, if evolution would have stopped with Delta and we never would have got Omicron, we would be in a much better place. And that was from an evolution that was, thankfully, less severe.
The article itself is from Nature which is highly respected and the author is a world leader on virus evolution. I think he's rightly concerned about how we are assuming endemic means Covid is petering out and coming to an end and is tempering that lazy optimism he sees. I think it is natural to really hope everything is good and will only get better. I had more or less that view when we were really rolling out vaccines and it seemed like everything would be normal again. Unfortunately the virus evolved (with less severity no less) and the situation changed for the worse.

"There is a widespread, rosy misconception that viruses evolve over time to become more benign. This is not the case: there is no predestined evolutionary outcome for a virus to become more benign, especially ones, such as SARS-CoV-2, in which most transmission happens before the virus causes severe disease. Consider that Alpha and Delta are more virulent than the strain first found in Wuhan, China. The second wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic was far more deadly than the first.
Much can be done to shift the evolutionary arms race in humanity’s favour. First, we must set aside lazy optimism. Second, we must be realistic about the likely levels of death, disability and sickness. Targets set for reduction should consider that circulating virus risks giving rise to new variants. Third, we must use — globally — the formidable weapons available: effective vaccines, antiviral medications, diagnostic tests and a better understanding of how to stop an airborne virus through mask wearing, distancing, and air ventilation and filtration. Fourth, we must invest in vaccines that protect against a broader range of variants."
COVID-19: endemic doesn’t mean harmless (nature.com)

It ain't over 'til its over. Still wearing my mask when in stores and such. 

100% masked, staff and customer alike at my local Safeway this morning.

It will be interesting if nothing else. I'm not overly familiar with his past but I know bits and pieces. Personally I don't mind if someone has  " dirty laundry ".  As long as they live up to it. As long as they have changed their life. I actually believe that it can make you a better person and leader to have touched the dark side so to speak.  My darkest moments, my mistakes in my life, have done alot  to make me a better human. I don't deny them . I hope I have learned from them.
There have been a few times when I haven't liked Kinews responses during the pandemic  but I've noticed he has shifted or adjusted later to sound pretty damn reasonable. Thats an admirable ability. As a swing voter I am leaning heavily towards him right now.

Maybe an impeachment is in order, nah nothing is going to happen
 

Agreed. Although history has always been written by the victors the twisting of facts and events is epidemic now.
Americans have always been the world champions at it. They seem to have exported it around the world now.  No other country to my knowledge  has ever taken other counties war stories and called them theirs. ( The Great escape and U571 )
I always thought the book " Bury my heart at wounded knee " should be required reading in US schools.( It wouldn't hurt Canadians either. ) It might change alot of minds about their romanticized wild west days. 

You know the world is facked, when there are people spending 700,000.00 British pounds on a single watch.
 
"Russian agents seized millions of dollars worth of Audemars Piguet watches in Moscow in an apparent retaliation for Swiss sanctions banning luxury goods exports, Bloomberg reported, citing Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.
The watches, which can cost more than £700,000 apiece, "

I don't believe any adult should be exempt from viewing images of events occurring today or from the past. In fact witnessing and acknowledging such events should be mandatory public education, adverting of eyes from reality should be met with a jackboot to the ass.
 
 

Thanks,  agree, very interesting. Certainly appears to answer my question, at least in one case.
 
"up to his elbows in blood."
Stalin was pure evil. No better example of the perils of cult of personality/unlimited power/ rule by fear.
 
I have no problem imagining trump or some other right wing american dictator ordering mass executions.
warning... if anyone else watches it, there is footage of executions. Disturbing.