Fatty Liver

Canadians shouldn't feelmorally superior to Americans in regard to maintaining social distancing in the face of a contagion, here is a photo taken in a downtown Toronto park this past weekend. The US does not have exclusive ownership of idiots, we have plenty of our own. Here's a photo of a very special idiot, MayorJohn Tory who attended the same park. Lucky John remembered to wear his mask! https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bylaw-officers-downtown-party-trinity-bellwoods-1.5582399

Just more of the same, Jason Kenney doing his best to turn back the clock on environmental standards by 45 years without consulting the public before doing so. This is what happens when money is valued more than life itself, selling off the natural environment that sustains us a nickel at a time. Alberta to change restrictions on foothills coal mining to ease development The Alberta government is changing its coal policies in a move it says is intended to make it easier to develop open-pit mines in one of the province’s most sensitive areas. “Government is placing a strong focus on creating the necessary conditions for the growth of export coal production,” says a news release dated May 15. The changes, to come into effect June 1, abolish graduated protections that have been in place since 1976 for land in Alberta’s southwestern foothills. The vast area of mountains, streams and meadows is home to threatened species such as grizzly bears and contains the headwaters for much of the fresh water in the southern prairies. https://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/alberta-to-change-restrictions-on-foothills-coal-mining-to-ease-development/wcm/228e2bd9-8120-44c8-98b5-c33500744343/ Alberta Energy Regulator suspends environment monitoring for oilpatch over COVID Recent environmental monitoring exemptions for the oilsands have been broadened to include Alberta’s entire energy industry. The Alberta Energy Regulator says the decisions, posted Wednesday on its website, are in response to public-health concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies no longer have to monitor fumes released by burning, or look for and repair leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Surface waters need no longer be tested, unless they escape into the environment — and that water need no longer be tested in a lab. Soil and groundwater monitoring is gone, “with the exception of any monitoring that is necessary to protect human health and ecological receptors,” the decisions say. In-situ oilsands operations no longer have to conduct any wildlife monitoring, including research programs and population estimates. That includes remotely operated monitoring, although bird deterrents must remain in place. Reclamation and wetland monitoring is also suspended, as are research requirements. Keith Stewart of Greenpeace Canada has said his group isn’t aware of any other jurisdiction in the world that has gone as far as Alberta to roll back environmental protections during the pandemic, including the United States under President Donald Trump. https://calgaryherald.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/alberta-energy-regulator-suspends-environment-monitoring-for-oilpatch-over-covid/wcm/efc8c0d7-cf57-44f0-a532-9124f119c820/

The CFL can't pretend it's business as usual, this season (if it happens) will be in response to a crisis, teams won't have the funds to conduct business as they have in the past, therefore they need to find significant economies. Here's a few ideas to cut costs. Cut down preliminary expenses, CFL pre-season doesn't make any money so it's an obvious target, teams can't afford to bring in 85 players to tryout for 46 positions, that is obvious waste when you consider the cost of flying them in, feeding and housing them. Plus keeping players in quarantine will be more costly than usual and will put that many more players needlessly at risk only to eventually be cut. Cut training camp down to 2 weeks prior to the first game, scrap the 2 exhibition games and decide who's going to be on the team before T.C. even begins. Might suck if your team is caught up in the middle of a rebuild or just hired a new H.C....but hey we've got the Cup! 46 players + 10 reserve should be enough to start up, injury replacements can be brought in as needed during the season, not sure the point of keeping a PR squad in a shortened season, maybe cut that as well.....cuts need to be made.

BC is adjusting plans rapidly, originally the remainder of the school year had been cancelled, just received word from my S.D, that local schools will re-open June 1st . Attendance will not be mandatory, each student has the option of attending 2-3 days per week on specified days, teachers will be working with a 50% class-load 5 days per week. I think this is rather premature and will not allow my kids to take part in this experiment, but I must admit I have not heard any reports of children catching or passing on COVID-19.

Point is if the league is unable to make a profit as a whole and are also unsuccessful at increasing revenue, their options are to cut costs or go directly out of business, that's the way it generally works.

Video of the Snowbirds crash.

MICHIGAN CLOSES DOWN CAPITOL IN FACE OF DEATH THREATS FROM ARMED PROTESTERS AGAINST GOV. WHITMER On Thursday, Michigan closed down its capitol building and canceled its legislative session after online death threats made against Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The threats were made by protesters who planned to attend a "Judgement Day" protest at the capitol. The protesters ostensibly oppose Whitmer's statewide shutdown orders meant to slow the spread of coronavirus. Dozens of posts in private invitation-only Facebook groups called for Whitmer to be hanged, lynched, shot, beaten or beheaded. One suggested crowdfunding sources to hire a hitman to kill her. "We haven't had any bloodshed yet, but the populous [sic] is counting to three, and yesterday was day two," wrote Dave Meisenheimer in a 385,000-member Facebook group called Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine. "Next comes the watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants," he concluded. "When I read some of the words that were published this week, it's not about staying at home, it's not about maybe losing your business ... it's about spreading blood on the front lawn of this building, and I would be lying if I said that sitting in my chair with four men in rifles behind me didn't make me think that I was going to be [dying from gun violence] very soon," McMorrow said in a May 12 speech to the legislature. "Yeah, we're supposed to stand up here and say we're brave and we're not intimidated," she continued, "but guess what: That is damned intimidation and it is not welcome, and my question back is what the hell are we going to do about it? Or do we wait until something happens?" https://www.newsweek.com/michigan-closes-down-capitol-face-death-threats-armed-protesters-against-gov-whitmer-1504241

Meanwhile on the streets of Mexico.....

Sure, why not. In East Texas, armed protesters patrol a tattoo shop that defied the lockdown and reopened Friday: https://nytimes.com/2020/05/13/us/coronavirus-texas-armed-militias-reopening.html…

I think Ambrosie should have dealt with the P.A. before going to the Fed. govt. cap in hand, having a whole load of wishy-washy maybe factors involved in the negotiations makes it much more difficult for the Feds. to approve. No 2020 season means no income which translates to no pay for the players beyond what has already been handed out, if that means every current player gets cut and they start over with new lineups in 2021 so be it, the survival of the CFL is at stake. This is not the time to negotiate with an organization that can't see past the end of their noses, cut the players loose, cut expenses to the bone, then go to the govt. cap in hand with a realistic request that will help preserve the structure of the league.

Last week I lost my Aunt, this week I lost my Mom. There are a lot of deaths occurring in nursing homes nation-wide that are not directly linked to COVID-19, but should be considered collateral damage due to the extra stress that has been placed on these facilities.

I can't believe people would be willing to climb onboard a cruise ship with thousands of other people, but each day brings a new surprise concerning public stupidity.

Question is, how safe is the meat or the packaging coming out of these infected factories......people are made of meat.

Apologies if this has already been posted. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cargill-plant-meat-union-reopen-high-river-1.5554298 Cargill plant south of Calgary is site of largest coronavirus outbreak in North American "There have been 921 cases of the virus at the Cargill plant south of Calgary, which has 2,000 workers. One worker in her 60s died, and her husband was hospitalized with the illness." "A statement from Cargill said all employees who are "healthy and eligible to work" have been asked to report for work for the plant's two shifts." Allowing a plant like this to re-open is a potential disaster in the making. A huge portion of the workforce are TFW's who live together in cramped apartments and are bused or car-pool to work each morning. How confident can they be that they won't lose their jobs if they refuse to return to work and be replaced by a new crop of ignorant TFW's? Sounds like Kenney is setting up a test lab to see if people can catch the virus twice. Thanks Jason.

Billions is back for season 5, apparently they only got through 6 episodes when the pandemic halted production, so it will not be a full season but something is better than nuthin..

Lawn darts were banned in 1989, they basically served the same purpose, fun and competition.......get in line Bucko, it's your turn! 😁

Woe...

Reformacons are upset, ramming a gun bill through deprives them of a long drawn out debate which would give them plenty of media face-time, allow them to rile up their voter base and most importantly beg for more donations.

Do you work as a teacher in the public school system?

Extracting some numbers from this article. The Bombers have generated very little revenue this year. While season-ticket holders have shelled out money for the 2020 season, that money isn’t being counted as revenue coming in. Fans in the stands generate game revenue which makes up to 36 per cent of the Bombers' $33.4 million income. A cancelled season would mean no money from the league’s television deal with TSN, which comes in around $5 million per team. Also gone is any game revenue, which made up 36 per cent of the Bombers’ $33.4 million in income in 2018, corporate sponsorship money (17 per cent) and whatever significant take-home revenue that would have come from hosting other events at IG Field. What little revenue the Bombers have generated this year has come from retail and merchandise sales. The club did see a massive boost after winning the Grey Cup in November, and the hits on the cash register continued through the Christmas holiday season. That would have trickled into the new year but not in any way significant. In 2018, the money spent on marketing, administration and game-day preparation came in at $11.8 million, 38 per cent of all expenses. According to a team source, a cancelled season would result in paying approximately 15 per cent of that total, which, assuming costs would be similar this season, would mean $1.78 million. What remains unclear is just how much it would cost to manage the stadium, which is the responsibility of the WFC. This falls under a category of "stadium occupancy" and it accounted for 18 per cent — or $5.5 million — in 2018. Just because there are no games doesn’t mean the lights and water won’t stay on. One source estimates a possible savings of around $1 million but said it was hard to tell at this point and depended on how often IG Field was being used. The Bombers would also be off the hook for public transportation for games, which would save around $850,000. As for any stadium payment, WFC would be mostly exempt from payment, per their agreement with Triple B, which is based on various taxes earned through ticket sales. Given the information above, the Bombers are on the hook for as much as $6.2 million, minus whatever unknown revenue they’ve generated from retail and merchandise sales. That leaves the team’s biggest expense: football operations, which accounted for $12.2 million (or 40 per cent) of all revenues in 2018. This category includes salaries for executives, coaches and players, as well as all others costs — travel, hotels, food, etc. — of running a football team. In the event of a cancelled season, players would not receive payment, and instead would be eligible for either employment insurance or, if Canadian, possibly assistance from the Canadian Emergency Relief Fund. But that doesn’t mean the Bombers are completely off the hook; teams are responsible for paying off-season bonuses. A source with access to player salaries, which was reviewed by the Free Press, showed that Winnipeg paid out bonuses to 15 players for a combined $808,000. What the Bombers are on the hook for are the salaries of executives, coaches and other team employees. Using a league average for each role, the total in salaries, including for Miller, general manager Kyle Walters, head coach Mike O’Shea and dozens of others, totals around $4.4 million.

The free online resources available for course work now is amazing, if it wasn't for the socialization schools provide I wouldn't be sending my kids back in the fall. I've got two boys in elementary, grades 3 and 6, we have been participating in school organized on-line classes a few times per week for over a month now. They are basically a waste of time from a learning perspective as the curriculum is mostly spoon fed drivel aimed at the idiot occupying the back seat next to the window. Great to have virtual face-time with classmates but other than that there is little value added. As for the transition from high-school to university, no amount of preparation could ever be enough for the cosmic leap in learning skills that requires. You don't really know till you get there that yer not ready, basically sink or swim.....at least that's the way it used to be, not sure about now.

Jeff Hamilton@jeffkhamilton Bombers stand to lose up to $10M if season lost https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/bombers/bombers-stand-to-lose-up-to-10m-if-season-lost-570136892.html … #wfp Bombers stand to lose up to $10M if season lost Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers remain hopeful that three-down football will return sometime this year. That hope is based not just on their desire to defend last year’s Grey Cup... winnipegfreepress.com

I involuntarily flinched when ole Petey opened with "friends".

I'm all in for providing gun lovers total freedom to do as they please within a controlled area, as a compromise to this ongoing argument I propose we allow them the freedom to shoot at each other on the firing range with full immunity from prosecution......just so they can go back for more fun. De facto killing two birds with one stone.