Blame it on Russia

For John, BLUF:  It appeas that Russian interference in domestic politics is not going away and is not limited to the United States.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Not that Russia doesn't deserve a lot of criticism, but still, there are limits to the evil responsibilities of President V Putin.

Trudeau accuses Jordan Peterson and Tucker Carlson of being funded by Russia

From True North Wire, by Reporter Clayton DeMaine, 17 October 2024.

Here is the lede plus one:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Canadian author and psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson, as well as American media personality Tucker Carlson, of being funded by Russia without providing any evidence to substantiate his claims.

While testifying at the ongoing foreign interference inquiry on Wednesday, Justin Trudeau accused the two conservative media personalities of being on the Russian payroll.

Prime Minister Trudeau was even asked if there was a connectino between Russia and the Freedom Convoy in 2022, durihng the COVID-19 outbreak.  There appears to be none, but I am sure the Prime Minister would like to be able to point to one, since it was a thorn in his side

I have not been a close follower of Canadian politics since Blogger Ed Morrissey switched from Captain's Cabin as his blog location, but I do think Prime Ministeer Trudeau fis may be in a bit of trouble, politically.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Trudeau in Trouble?

For John, BLUF:  There is political trouble in the always polite neighbor to our north.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Some Liberal MPs are mounting a new effort to oust Justin Trudeau

Here is the sub-headline:

MPs were pulled into meetings across Parliament Hill this week to sign a pledge demanding change at the top

From Canadian Broadcastting Corporation, by David Cochrane, John Paul Tasker, Catherine Cullen, 11 October 2024, 8:00 PM EDT.

Here is the lede plus four:

Pressure is building on the prime minister and his office as a growing number of anxious Liberal MPs are co-ordinating efforts to force Justin Trudeau to step down as Liberal Party leader, multiple sources have told CBC News.

Disgruntled Liberal MPs held a series of meetings to discuss a path forward for the party since the surprising Toronto-St. Paul's byelection loss in June.

Those talks accelerated with Parliament's return and the Montreal byelection loss. They escalated further this week with the prime minister and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, out of the country for a summit in Asia.

Some MPs are being asked to sign their names to what amounts to a pledge to stand together in calling for Trudeau to resign, multiple sources said.

The document isn't a letter to be circulated; sources describe it as a vehicle to secure a commitment from MPs to seek a leadership change, and to bind the MPs to that goal if the prime minister and his supporters push back.

If the Canadians are finally seeing the problem with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, surely American Votrs will be able to see the problems ahead with a Harris/Walz Administration.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Canada Fears Mass Migration from South of the Border

For John, BLUF:  Keep in mind that this is a humor piece.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Canada to build border wall, demand Twitter pay for it

From Sense of Events Blog, by Writer Donald Sensing, 25 April 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this morning that he will work closely with the Canadian parliament to rush building a wall along the country's border with the United States to halt the mass immigration to Canada of American leftists, journalists, and celebrities fleeing after today's sale of Twitter to Elon Musk.

The prime minister, noting that Canada's immigration web site had crashed in 2016 as American liberals panicked, said that action to stop the Americans' looming, illegal border crossings was urgently needed.

"We cannot accept large numbers of American, left-wing sore losers coming to Canada just because the world's wealthiest man bought their favorite 'free speech for me but not for thee' platform," Prime Minister Trudeau told a chapter meeting of retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  "Anyone caught crossing into Canada without authority will be deported."

Yes, a sarcastic piece, but I can see parts of it happening.

Mr Elon Musk buying out Twitter is a real thing and has caused many people to say absolutely stupid things.  For example, people saying they are worried about news reports being suppressed.  Heavens to Betsey, even The Old Gray Lady has acknowledged that the Twitter suppressed Hunter Biden Laptop story was in fact real enough.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fathers and Sons

For John, BLUF:  Or any mix of Fathers, Mothers, Sons and Daughters.  In politics the second generation may be better than the first, or worst, but for those where the first generation went to the top, the second generation seems to fall short.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Rex Murphy:  Justin Trudeau has become a punchline on the world stage — for good reason

Here is the sub-headline:

This is a sad moment — for Canada and its standing within the free world

From The National Post, by Reporter Rex Murphy, 26 March 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

It is a brazen thing to go to other countries like some John the Baptist for the democracies, shortly after having trampled all over the rights of those involved in a largely peaceful democratic protest.

Let me make a plain, direct statement: The trucker protest was not an attempted coup. It was not a rebellion. It was not an assault on Canada’s democracy. It was none of those things.

The actions of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau have been egregious of late.  Both at home and abroad.

Here is a condensed version of the sad, sad story.

The Lesson Learned here, reinforcing the lesson from the Cuomos of New York State, is that the scion of a successful leader is not likely to be a good, successful, leader.

Regards  —  Cliff

A View of Canada

For John, BLUF:  Not all Canadians are happy with the performance of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Reason for the Police Violence in Ottawa is Not What You Think

Here is the sub-headline:

It’s way way worse

From the Blog Welcome to Absurdistan, by Blogger Elizabeth Nickson, 10 February 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

“So we’re dealing with cornered feral humans who are terrified. Arguably the entire thing from the lockdowns till now is their knowing what’s coming (They see polls you don’t see. 39% approval my sore ass. More likely 9%) And they know how much they cheated, and it wasn’t enough so they had to cheat at the last minute. Oh, and all of them are criminals, steeped deep in horrible crap. And they can’t afford for it to come out. In their little pin heads, they have to keep control.” -Sarah A Hoyt

The black clad army of mercenaries and police brutalizing a peaceful protest in Ottawa this weekend has been planned for years. It is overkill for a reason. It is theatre. It is an othering, a willful flagrant statement on the future of the working class everywhere. It instructs them: you will die. If not now, then sometime in the next ten years. Your towns will be gutted, your jobs will evaporate, you will scramble for pennies until you fall over dead and your children will have nothing to look forward to. You are Tutsi, you are Jew, you are Kulak, you are compromador, you are Othered. You are headed for the slagheap of history. Fight back and you will be deemed domestic terrorists and encamped indefinitely.

This week, Canada’s intelligentsia unmasked themselves as fully on side of this demonic enterprise, competing to hate on the truckers. I watch or read very little of it because 95% of newsrooms vote either Liberal or Socialist and I spent two years in my early 20’s dating and arguing with a black Marxist professor, so I know exactly what they think.

And what they “think” is hate:

“So why was I, at the trucker convoy in Toronto, gripped by a deep physical loathing, true abjection?”

She has a reasonable position.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Critique of American Media

For John, BLUF:  The same basic sitution and two very different takes by the same news outfit.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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BLM-Loving NYTimes: Canadian Trucker Vax Protest ‘Scene of Disruption and Desecration’

From News Busters, by Reporter Clay Waters, 10 February 2022, 10:06 AM.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Canadian trucker protest in Ottawa against vaccine mandates and overzealous Covid restrictions is certainly not getting the fawning Black Lives Matter treatment from The New York Times.  Tuesday’s front-page story was crammed with contempt for the protesters, smeared for allegedly committing the same sort of acts that BLM protesters did during the often violent nationwide protests after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in the summer of 2020:  Theft, disruption, and “desecration” of statues.

The headline under a story by Catherine Porter, Ian Austen and Sheera Frenkel upped the sense of danger, throwing in a “far-right” in the front-page headline “Ottawa Protests Become Rallying Cry for Far-Right and Anti-Vaccine Groups.”  The “far-left” is barely if ever noticed by The Times

it speaks for itself.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

About Truckistan

For John, BLUF:  It is only getting worse under Pime Miniister Justin Trudeau.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Meanwhile in Truckistan

Here is the sub-headline:

From The Instapundit, by the Instapudit, Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, 12 Febrary 2022.

Here is the line:

If you can’t understand the difference between trucks peacefully blocking a road and a rioting mob surrounding drivers, you might be a Progressive.”

On the other hand, it might be because you have a short term memory problem.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Confusion on the Left

For John, BLUF:  Not all demonstrations or protests are judged equal by the Progressives.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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“Mostly peaceful” versus “non-violent dangers.”

From The New Neo, by the Blogger Herself, 1 February 2022.

Here is the lede plus five:

Orwell would take note of the Canadian left’s reaction to the trucker convoy:

You’ve heard of mostly peaceful violence and fiery but mostly peaceful protests. Well, that’s how the leftwing propaganda fiction corporations describe violent thuggish gang-warfare assemblages they approve of.

But how do they describe completely, 100% orderly, violence-free protests they disapprove of?

They accuse those of creating “non-violent dangers.”

In other words, some people have been stirred to fearfulness by left-wing propaganda about the trucker convoy, even though that demonstration hasn’t just been mostly peaceful – it’s been totally peaceful so far.

The COVID--19 Pandemic is creating strange bedfellows.  For example, Nation of Change, which I think of as reliably Progressive, today came out against the working class Canadian Truckers, accusing them of being "The ‘Freedom’ convoy:  Canada’s far right revolt".  So much for solidarity.

Have you seen the pictures of Canadian Truckers picking up trash?  Reminds me of the Tea Party.  It only brings to mind the AntiFa and Black Lives Matter demonstrations [riots] of 2020 by way of contrast.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

UPDATE:  Typos corrected.

Regards  —  Cliff

Academia Takes Another Hit, And Doesn't Notice

For John, BLUF:  Wokeness is destroying the institutions of higher learning.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Jordan Peterson resigns from his tenured position at University of Toronto

From The National Post by Mr John Sexton, 20 January 2022, 7:20 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

Yesterday, Jordan Peterson announced he had recently become a professor emeritus a bit sooner than he’d planned.  His explanation for the decision was published by the National Post:

I had envisioned teaching and researching at the U of T, full time, until they had to haul my skeleton out of my office.  I loved my job.  And my students, undergraduates and graduates alike, were positively predisposed toward me.  But that career path was not meant to be…

First, my qualified and supremely trained heterosexual white male graduate students (and I’ve had many others, by the way) face a negligible chance of being offered university research positions, despite stellar scientific dossiers.  This is partly because of Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity mandates (my preferred acronym: DIE).  These have been imposed universally in academia, despite the fact that university hiring committees had already done everything reasonable for all the years of my career, and then some, to ensure that no qualified “minority” candidates were ever overlooked.  My students are also partly unacceptable precisely because they are my students.  I am academic persona non grata, because of my unacceptable philosophical positions.

Professor Jordan B Peterson is the author of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, a valuable read.  He has be cited several times in this blog.

It is embarrasing, and alarming, that China is sending its second tier students to US, and I assume Canadian, institutions of higher learning.  Why?  Because our schools are focused on woke issues, and not excellence in academic pursuits.

We need to admit the sins of the past, and that some in the present have not lived up to our national ideals, both here and in Canada, and then move on, together.  We are not doing that and it is impeding progress on all fronts, to our detriment.  If we wish our future to be dictated to by the CCP, to do it the way the CCP thinks it should be done, all we have to do is keep doing what we are doing.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Squeezing the Border

For John, BLUF:  The COVID-19 Pandemic, like life itself, requires tradeoffs in which it is not all win-win.  Sometimes the Government Bureaucrats choose poorly.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Vaccine Mandate for Cross Border Trucking Now in Effect, Mandate for Domestic Trucking Begins in a Week, Prepare Your Affairs Accordingly

From The Conservative Three House, by Sundance, 16 January 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

The cross border vaccine mandate for truckers in/out of Canada is now in effect.  The U.S. vaccine mandate takes effect on January 22nd.

It will take a few days to see the consequences, but there will be consequences.

Keep in mind, any impact is taking place in a supply chain system that is already tenuous and unstable at best.  A small disruption that may have been minimally significant against a fully operational supply chain, is more likely to be a much bigger disruption in a supply chain that is already under a severe amount of demand side stress.  Somewhere in the range of 16,000 to 38,000 daily loads are likely to be impacted.

When questioned about this, Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic Leblanc says the trucking industry “has had adequate time to prepare for this.”  Keep in mind, the mandate was announced 45 days ago (November 30th).  According to the Canadian government, changing the structural rules for all the logistics and commerce in cross border shipping, 45 days is enough notice.

Yes, plan for shortages.  I am not thinking the bureaucrats have thought this out long term.  Or maybe they didn't talk amongst themselves.

As for the Truckers, "Last Year's Heroes, This Year's Zeros."

The good news is that we have a capitalist system, which gives flexibility to the economy, allowing individual entreprauners to adjust here and there, keeping the economy going.^nbsp; At least let us hope so.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

In Plain Words

For John, BLUF:  NBC Sports Reporter Kelli Stavast put her spin on what the crowd was shouting at Talladega Superspeedway, after Driver Brandon Brown's Saturday, 2 October 2021 victory.  It goes international.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Canada Bans Public Employees from Using 'Let's Go Brandon'

From VodkaPundit, by Columnist Stephen Green, 18 October 2021, 10:28 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

“Let’s Go Brandon” has made its way north of the border, where Canadian officials have banned its use by government workers.

In a notice written late last week, a [REDACTED] official (see photo below) warned that “the use of the wording ‘Let’s Go Brandon” and any variation thereof under any circumstances is banned.”

I assume that means also no Allons Brandon.

I wonder what Sir Ernest Gowers would have thought?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hurting Our Neighbors

For John, BLUF:  Abusing one's neighbors is not good locally, nor is it good on the international stage.  We have been abusing Canada, regarding their oil production, in the name of the environment.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Smacks of hypocrisy':  Alberta slams White House for demanding more OPEC oil after cancelling Keystone XL

Here is the sub-headline:

Biden is taking the heat for higher gasoline prices during the summer driving season

From the Canadian Financial Post, by Reporter Colin McClelland, 12 August 2021 .

Here is the lede plus one:

Wounded after U.S. President Joe Biden cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline that would have shipped Alberta crude to the United States, the province snapped at the White House’s call on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Wednesday to raise production faster than planned.

“The Biden administration pleading with OPEC to increase oil production to rescue the United States from high fuel prices months after cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline smacks of hypocrisy,” Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said in a statement Wednesday.  “Keystone XL would have provided Americans with a stable source of energy from a trusted ally and friend.”

This is the kind of good relations with our neighbors to the north that I desire.

Or maybe it is just that Alberta is one of those "Western" Provences, and thus doesn't really count, sort of like those fly-over states in the US.  This is why Speech Boy♠ is wrong when he calls for abolition of the US Senate, at least in my opinion.  The people in different regions have different needs, values and goals and governments should be structured to show some deference to that fact..

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  "Speech Boy" from his time writing speeches for President Bill Clinton.  Thzt would be Michael A Cohen.  And just like Michael, he dropped notice of a new book to read, MacArthur at War, by Author Walter Borneman.  Great, as thought I am not behind already.

Hounding the Free Speech Rebels

For John, BLUF:  We think of our Canadian neighbors, our Canadian Cousins as unsparingly polite, and they are, except when it comes to free speech.  In the area of free speech they tend totalitarian.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Update: Rebel News Face-off in Montreal

From Rebel News (Canada), by Editor Ezra Levant, 10 April 2021.

Here is the lede plus five:

50 heavily armed police just raided the hotel where our Rebel News reporters were staying in Montreal.

I told them they couldn’t come in without a search warrant.  So instead they manhandled me.  They handcuffed Keean Bexte.  And They just put David Menzies in the back of a police car.

Police have sealed off the AirBnb we were staying in with police tape — they say it’s a “crime scene”.

Of course it’s not.  In fact, when we asked them what the “crime” was, all they could come up with was that our staying in the hotel was an illegal “gathering," contrary to Quebec’s lockdown laws.

That’s obviously not true.  It is a registered, legal hotel rental on Airbnb.  In fact, we had fewer guests than the facility is built for.

This is the same Montreal police who have harassed and assaulted our reporters for weeks.  This is their revenge.  Because we report on their misconduct.

Remember, this is Canada, although it is Quebec.

I remember a video in which some Canadian Government lawyer reminded Editor Ezra Levant that there is no First Amendment in Canada.  Sad.  Very sad.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Nations Uniting Against Suppression of Speech

For John, BLUF:  It is interesting that Canada, without a Free Speech guarantee in its Constitution, is taking the lead on fighting back against suppression of speech under the guise of civil rights. Not just Canada, but Quebec.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Canada joins Britain, France in combatting cancel culture 'coming from the United States'

Here is the sub-headline:

• Top government officials in Britain and France have recently expressed concern with the spread of American sociological philosophies in their university systems.
• The Premier of Quebec is now joining international efforts to bolster the right to free speech.

Stop the Pipeline, etc

For John, BLUF:  Sometime in the past folks laid down markers to show that President Trump was beholden to President Putin.  President Trump missed them, but President Biden is on course.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Earth to Joe Biden:  Canceling Keystone XL Pipeline Is a Gift to China and Russia

From Real Clear Energy, by Writer Daniel Turner, 19 January 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Joe Biden’s plans to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline is a gift to someone.  The radical green groups for sure: they have opposed the oil link since its inception.  The trucking and railroad industry will benefit, too, because once the pipeline is stopped, then the oil will be transported in and around America by something with wheels.  It’s also a gift to our adversaries:  for who will benefit when America and Canada can’t bring their fossil fuels to market? The competition.  Russia and Venezuela will be thrilled to know their market share will increase thanks to the Biden Administration’s fumble.

What’s fascinating about Keystone is how un-fascinating the project actually really is.  Sure, it’s a marvel of engineering and an extraordinary accomplishment of human and mechanical skills.  The 1,200 mile pipeline from Alberta, Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast carrying crude oil to be refined is a great infrastructure project.  A State Department study commissioned during the Obama Administration (when Joe Biden was Veep, a point which requires emphasis) determined the pipeline would create 3,200 temporary construction jobs directly, 42,000 additional jobs indirectly, and generate over $2 billion in wages.  For the people in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska, the states through which the proposed pipeline will transverse, that’s an enormous opportunity.

Of course, it is bad for the environment and the pipeline traverses sacred lands for local Native American tribes.  As to the first, I am not sure that stopping the pipeline will stop the flow of oil.  What will our Canadian neighbors do?  Stop pumping oil because we (or a voal minority) don't like it?  I am doubtful.

However, this has larger implications.

Back in February 24, 2017, in The American Interest, Mr Walter Russell Mead wrote:

If Trump were the Manchurian candidate that people keep wanting to believe that he is, here are some of the things he’d be doing:

• Limiting fracking as much as he possibly could
• Blocking oil and gas pipelines
• Opening negotiations for major nuclear arms reductions
• Cutting U.S. military spending
• Trying to tamp down tensions with Russia’s ally Iran

These outcomes were inevitable, based upon the way the American Voters cast their ballots in November.  They will get a chance to change their minds in 2022.  Reversiung the inevitable consequences may be harder.  But, we are a Democracy, so our course is not always steady.

Exit Question:  Can Canada sue us over cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Hallmark Channel

For John, BLUF:  Yes, Hallmark movies are pretty formulaic.  That actually makes them easier to watch, since you don't have to worry about the story swerving off the road and everybody burning to death in a big crash.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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How Hallmark Took Over Cable Television

Here is the sub-headline:

By “leaning into Christmas”—and claiming to avoid politics—the greeting-card company has come to dominate screens across America.

From The New Yorker, by Ms Sarah Larson, 16 December 2019.

Here is the lede plus five:

A few months ago, in a house near Vancouver, nine actors in festive aprons gathered around a kitchen island to shoot a montage for the Hallmark Channel movie “Christmas in Evergreen:  Tidings of Joy.”  The island was covered in cookie-making ingredients.  The director, Sean McNamara, a veteran of Hallmark movies and Disney kids’ series, sat at monitors nearby. “O.K.!” he called out.  “You’re having fun, you’re making cookies, it’s Christmas, and action!”

The actors rolled dough and picked up cookie cutters. The montage would be dialogue-free, overlaid with music; to set the tone, McNamara cued up “Jingle Bell Rock.”  The cast began to bob.  “Good, but we probably shouldn’t be dancing!” McNamara yelled.  One actor, looking serious, lifted an icing bag.  “Remember, you’re having fun, and there’s funny stuff going on!” McNamara said. The actors burst into smiles and laughter.  “Now the cake!” McNamara said.  Paul Greene, a former J. Crew model and the male lead, presented the group with a white fondant cake topped with pine trees.  They shook powdered sugar on it.  “Cut!” McNamara yelled.  “Brilliant!”

The Hallmark Channel is a cable network owned and operated by the greeting-card company. This year, the channel and a sister network, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, produced a hundred and three original movies; forty are about Christmas.  Since 2011, from late October to January, Hallmark has broadcast Christmas movies nearly twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  (The Hallmark Movie Checklist app, which helps guide viewers to new films, has 1.5 million users.)  During this year’s holiday season, the programming, called Countdown to Christmas, has made Hallmark the No. 1 cable network among women between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-four, and, in some prime-time slots, No. 1 in households and total viewers.  Last year, seventy-two million people watched Countdown to Christmas. Fans talk of turning it on and leaving it on all season; it dominates TV screens in hospitals and nursing homes. “Guys come up to me on the golf course and whisper, ‘I love your Christmas movies!’ ” the actor Cameron Mathison (“The Christmas Club,” “The Christmas Ornament”) told me.  Lifetime, the women’s network long known for movies with titles like “In Bed with a Killer” and “Your Husband Is Mine,” now airs its own Hallmark-esque Christmas movies, in a block called It’s a Wonderful Lifetime.  Netflix, Ion, Freeform, and own have started making them, too.

Hallmark films tend to center on independent women with interesting jobs (novelists, chocolatiers) and appealing romantic prospects (princes, firemen). Programming is seasonal; as the year progresses, characters pair up amid winter wonderlands, Valentine’s Day chocolate-making contests, fireworks celebrations, pumpkin patches, and Christmas parties. The familiarity of the films is essential to their success. Hallmark screenplays have nine acts, each of which hits specific plot points—a meet-cute in Act I, before the first commercial, an “almost kiss” in Act VII.  The shots are lit with a distinctive warmth.  Actors recur.  The settings often recall Saturday Evening Post covers by Norman Rockwell, whose painting “Shuffleton’s Barbershop” inspired a Hallmark movie of the same name, and several productions have been filmed at ersatz pioneer villages.  As Danica McKellar, a Hallmark regular once best known as Winnie Cooper, from “The Wonder Years,” told me, many actors “bring nostalgia with us.”

In Hallmark films, townspeople care for one another, run viable small businesses, and compete in gingerbread bake-offs—America as we might wish it were, and as some believe it once was.  It has thrived in the Trump era.  Last year, it was one of the only networks to gain viewers besides Fox News and MSNBC.  It also depicts a purple America, without guns, maga hats, rage.  Bill Abbott, the C.E.O. of Crown Media, Hallmark’s entertainment company, told me that it’s “your place to go to get away from politics, to get away from everything in your life that is problematic and negative, and to feel like there are people out there who are good human beings that could make you feel happy to be part of the human race.”

Hallmark’s America is also straight, often Christian, and, until recently, mostly white.  Meghan Markle, whose biracial parentage made headlines after her engagement to Prince Harry, starred in two Hallmark movies; in the Fourth of July romance “When Sparks Fly,” from 2014, her character had white parents.  In 2017, the African-American TV and film actor Holly Robinson Peete pitched a wholesome reality show about her family to Hallmark.  “Meet the Peetes” aired for two seasons.  “There were six of us—seven, including my mom—so that was a lot of diversity at once,” she told me.

First I would like to note that Ms Sarah Larson did a great job with this story, reporting in a straight forward manner and avoiding the snark I normally associate with the Magazine (I am a subscriber).

This article, which is long, does a good job of introducing us to the Hallmark Channel.

The Author is mention of the fact that Actress Danica McKellar, also writes Math Textbooks for school students.

Regards  —  Cliff

Be Safe, But Not Rigid

For John, BLUF:  The right to not use the handrail affirmed in Canada.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Canadian woman arrested for not holding escalator handrail awarded $20G in damages

From Fox News, by Miss Nicole Darrah, 1 December 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

A Canadian woman who was arrested for not holding on to an escalator handrail has been awarded $20,000 in damages by the nation's Supreme Court.

Bela Kosoian was riding an escalator at the Montmorency Montreal Metro station in Laval, Quebec, in 2009 when an officer stopped her because she wasn't holding on to a handrail, as she was looking through her purse.  A sign that stated "caution" and "hold handrail" was located near the escalator.

And here is the Supreme Court of Canada:

This case was about civil liability for doing something wrong.  In a free and democratic society, police officers can’t interfere with people’s freedoms except where the law says so.  They have to know the law and act within it.

Earlier we talked about Canada's abhorrence of Free Speech.  Here we see that the Canadians have not totally forgotten about the Rights of Englishmen, and kudos to them for that.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fragile Society

For John, BLUF:  The evolution of our political culture, our culture as a whole, has depended on free speech and free debate.  I guess the bien-pennant think we have arrived at our destination and now is the time to shut up those who dissent.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Canadian Comedian Ordered to Pay $35,000 over a Joke

From PJ Media! By Mr Matt Margolis, 30 November 2019.

Here is the lede:

Canadian comedian Mike Ward has lost his appeal and has been ordered by a Quebec judge to pay $35,000 because of a joke he told about a disabled boy.

It would appear Mr Ward is a jerk.  On the other hand, if it was the US, one would hope the First Amendment protected Mr Ward's right to be a jerk.

Does he owe the boy and his Mother an apology?  Of course he does, but it is not the job of the Government to make sure it happens.  It is our job, as friends and neighbors, and consumers of humor, to nudge Mr Ward.  Not Force him.  Boycott him.  Ignore him.  Pray for him.  Pray with him.

But, alas, Mr Ward lives in Canada, which has no First Amendment, nor a semblance of one.  Is this the result of Canada's attempts to accommodate Quebec?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

You Are What You Read

For John, BLUF:  There are quite a few places in the world, and a few in the US were culture dies not provide a glue to hold the people together, where trust is low and subgroups protect themselves by intimidation and violence.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

Educational Earthquake:  ‘Disappearing’ the Great Writers From Schools

Here is the sub-headline:

Orwell’s warning in ‘1984’ is as relevant today as during the Cold War

From The Epoch Times, by Ms Barbara Kay, 18 November 2019.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Greater Essex County District School Board in the Windsor, Ont., area is supplanting its grade 11 literature curriculum, which up to now has featured great writers of the western canon such as Shakespeare and George Orwell, with a year-long program of Indigenous writers.  The change has already been effected in eight of the district’s 15 schools.

In the Peel district as well, I am informed by a reader, the same transformation is in progress.  It would be naïve to assume that these schools will remain anomalies for long.  The “disappearing” of dead white European male writers, however magnificent their achievements, may well be normalized across Canada before long.

It is hard to overstate the alarming implications of this educational earthquake.  Deliberately withholding Shakespeare from young minds is a form of aesthetic starvation, but depriving them of Orwell is a moral crime.  It is from Orwell’s “Animal Farm” that young minds first grasp the nature of totalitarian evil, whether it arises from the left or the right, and understand the preciousness of their freedoms.

It is Canada, but it could be us.

This is very scary.  We have built a functioning culture on this Western Canon.  If we stop teaching the Canon, will the culture survive?  If not, what replaces it?  Do we become like Malmo?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

#Wexit

For John, BLUF:  Wexit is the exit of some of Canada's Western Provinces from the nation, to form their own nation, free from Ottawa.  This May require a modification of Canada's motto, "A Mari Usque Ad Mare" (From Sea to Sea).  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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#WEXIT: Western Canada separatism explodes on social media

From The Postmillennial (Canada), Mr Dylan Gibbons, 3 weeks ago.

Here is the lede plus three:

Following the reelection of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister with a Liberal minority, #Wexit, or Western exit (a play on Brexit), immediately began trending on Twitter, with separatist accounts gaining thousands of new followers.

One of the most important takeaways from the election is the blue sweep throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan.  Both provinces have expressed growing indignation over the other provinces’ dependence on the oil industry, while simultaneously trying to stifle Alberta’s business prospects and economic growth by opposing pipelines.

In response to Justin Trudeau’s reelection, the Facebook group for VoteWexit.com gained tens of thousands of followers in a matter of hours.  According to CTV News, in just 10 minutes the group surged from 4,000 members to 42,000.  By 8:00 a.m. the next morning, the group had shot up to over 113,000 members.

Additionally, a Change.org petition for “Alberta Separation/Western Alliance” has gained significant traction, receiving over 20.000 signatures of its 25,000 signature goal at the time of this article’s writing.  This occurred in less than 24 hours.

I think this is another sign of the desire on the part of mini-cultures for a certain degree of deference to local sensibilities.  Subsidiarity, So to speak.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff