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Larry Muffin At Home

~ Remembering that life is a comedy and the world is a small town.

Larry Muffin At Home

Monthly Archives: February 2022

About this Freedom debate in Canada

25 Friday Feb 2022

Posted by larrymuffin in Uncategorized

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The Ottawa truck convoy has revealed the ugly side of freedom

BEVERLEY MCLACHLIN CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL PUBLISHED 7 HOURS AGO

Beverley McLachlin is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and served as Chief Justice from 2000 to 2017.

During the truck convoy protests, we have watched banners demanding “freedom” waving over big rigs parked in front of Parliament. But what does this vaunted “freedom” mean?

The answer is, everything and nothing.

Everything: the right not to wear masks in public places; the right not to be vaccinated; the right to hold Ottawa’s downtown residents and businesses hostage; the right to malign public officials and call for the Prime Minister’s death; the right to shout epithets at people of colour.

And nothing. Because freedom is an empty word unless you ask further questions: “Freedom from what?” “Freedom to do what?” And beyond that, “Where do my freedoms end and the freedoms of others begin?

Freedom is not absolute. We live in a social matrix, where one person’s exercise of freedom may conflict with another person’s exercise of freedom. Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states this plainly. The Charter gives Canadians a bundle of rights and freedoms. But it prefaces them with this caution – these rights and freedoms, precious as they are, are not absolute. Governments, it proclaims, can limit freedoms, provided the limits are “reasonable” and can be “justified in a free and democratic society.”

The bottom line is that you can’t use your freedoms in a way that unreasonably conflicts with or affects the freedoms of other people. The freedoms guaranteed by the Charter stop where they harm others. With freedom comes responsibility.

Who sets the limits on our freedoms?

In the first instance, it is our governments – our duly elected representatives in Parliament, and the executive branch that has the responsibility to maintain “peace, order and good government,” to quote the Constitution, for the good of all. Our governments must draw the difficult lines that mark the limits of freedom in a particular situation. When you must wear a mask. Whether you can cross a border without a vaccine certificate. How many people can attend a party and who gets to go to school.

But governments are not free agents. They are accountable. Accountable to the people, who can vote them out at the next election if they get the line-drawing wrong, and accountable through the courts. Citizens have the right to challenge the limits governments set on our freedoms in court. In the midst of a crisis like the pandemic, the immediate challenges may be difficult. But in due course what governments have done can be examined by the courts to see if the limits governments imposed on people’s rights and freedoms were reasonable and justified. The mechanisms of accountability may not be immediate, and that may frustrate people fed up with what they view as an illegitimate here and now impingement on their freedom. But the mechanisms of accountability work in the long run. They are rooted in our Constitution and our common commitment to the rule of law. They provide an orderly and effective process to restore the balance if governments go too far. The alternative is anarchy.

Throughout the never-ending pandemic, we have watched our governments, provincial and federal, struggle to draw the lines on freedom in the right place – to echo the words of the Charter, to set limits that are “reasonable” and can be “justified in a free and democratic society.”

Inevitably, some people will disagree with where a particular government has drawn a particular limit, how long that limit should be maintained and how it should be enforced. If we care about our democracy and common future together, we will submit to those limits in the short run and use elections and courts to hold governments responsible in the longer run.

The danger is that people who disagree with particular limits on the exercise of rights that governments have drawn may become impatient and decide to take matters into their own hands, threatening the welfare of people around them and, more broadly, the constitutional framework that allows us to continue to live together.

The heady notion of freedom, defined as the unconstrained right to do what you want free of government limits, serves as a cloak for actions that harm women, men and children who are simply going about their business and trying to do the right thing. Freedom without limits slides imperceptibly into freedom to say and do what you want about people who don’t look like you or talk like you. Sadly, the Ottawa truckers’ convoy has revealed this ugly side of freedom.

Scholar Elisabeth Anker in her book Ugly Freedoms examines the historic use of freedom in America to justify discrimination, domination and avoidance of the law and regulation essential to a peaceful and prosperous society. The same, we now know, can happen in Canada.

As we move forward from the pandemic into the future, we need to understand the true nature of freedom under our Constitution.

Freedom is not absolute but subject to reasonable limits.

Freedom, misconstrued as license to do and say whatever one wants, is dangerous.

True freedom – freedom subject to reasonable limits that allow us to live together – is essential to a peaceful and prosperous future for us all. Let’s not allow the freedoms we cherish to become ugly freedoms.

Future travel

24 Thursday Feb 2022

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Tags

history, Spain, Travel

We have been discussing going to Spain in September or early October. We want to go back to Granada which was so extraordinary on our first visit. Then the Escorial near Madrid and Toledo/Valencia.

We can do all this by train and with our knowledge of Spanish it should make it all the more pleasant. Hopefully by the Fall of 2022 we will have a more relaxed travel regime.

We have hotels we loved in Spain in previous travel and restaurants and tapas bars we would like to revisit. Well we do have time to plan it all.

Winter Storms

20 Sunday Feb 2022

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Birthday, Canada, Dacshunds, Nora, Ottawa, Politics, Protesters

It seems that the Winter Storms in the Atlantic provinces are getting worse each year. This year so far we had 4 storms over 4 weekends. It is the same pattern, a mix of snow and freezing rain and very high winds in the 70 to 80Km range. This past Thursday night we had very high winds around 100Km and then rain, so much so that severe flooding all over the Island was wide spread, roads cut off, etc..

The rain and wind was so fierce that the windows on the West side of the house were leaking and the wind was pounding our 180 year old house. We did not loose electricity, we stayed in obviously. We could not take the dogs out for a walk, they would have flown away. The snow melted quickly and now we have a lot of green everywhere. Funny to see how in two days big snow banks disappeared. The weather also went from -29C to +9C. The next day it was sunny again but cold. The temperature has been fluctuating wildly from one part of the day to the next.

Today is Nora’s Birthday and next week it will be Nicky, both are 13 years old now. Incredible how time flies by so quickly. They are in good health generally and Nora is as feisty and talkative as always. Nicky has cataracts but he is getting eye medication twice a day and is doing well. With COVID we really spent a lot more time with them and developed quite the routine and I often think that they organized the routine for us to follow, one thing is for sure we cannot depart from it, they give us dirty looks. For her birthday Nora and Nicky got prime rib roast beef, just a few pieces, they also got home made liver treats, they enjoyed it all.

Eleonora di Capena (Nora)

It is true that there is inflation all around but what continues to surprise me is the crazy sale and discount in grocery stores, often prices are slashed 50 to 70% for a week on various items. I know that they are still making a profit, so it is telling. There is no shortage, all this talk of shortages in grocery stores was nothing but pure nonsense, a lot of it spread by the Conservative party who truly hate PM Trudeau.

As for the situation in Ottawa today, well the occupation is over, the trucks are gone, many left on their own but the police made sure to get all their details, name, licence and insurance. They are free to leave but prosecution will follow at some time. Some where towed away. I watch live on CBC and CTV the coverage of the police action to clear the streets, the Media had unfettered access, many journalists commented on that fact, they could go where ever they wanted, film and record. The police presence was massive, including a detachment from the Sureté du Québec in their green riot uniform with steel helmets. Others came from all regions of Ontario and the RCMP also had a big tactical presence. The police were very polite, you heard them ask people to leave and move out, it was a little unreal but it was all very professional. Contrary to what FOX News, Reuters and the New York Times were reporting no one was injured or killed, no guns. The police did not use their guns or shoot at people, the New York Times had to retract that story. The cavalry unit separated the crowd to allow the police to form an inside line, one woman fell but was not injured otherwise. The protesters had lots of diesel and gas jerry cans, some had propane canisters and threw them at the police, they also threw firecrackers which could easily have ignited the fuel. The police responded with pepper spray and smoke bombs.

There is a hard core or protesters, some want to die for the cause and they are delusional. Some parents with small children and one lady with a small baby charged at the police line on Sussex Drive. That was unbelievable that anyone would do that to a child. The police managed to bypass her quickly without injuring anyone. The leaders have been arrested or fled, news tonight is that they are on their way to Quebec City, am not sure that this is a true story. During the police action, protesters, some of them in the USA flooded the 911 line of the Ottawa police with obscene messages. Some one called a bomb threat at two major hospitals in the hope of disrupting the police action. The media followed all this and reported as being malicious action on the part of protesters.

Tonight, Saturday, the streets of Ottawa are deserted, Parliament is still sitting until midnight to finish the debate on the motion of the Emergencies Act. The vote in the House could be Monday and probably in the Senate the next day. The Conservative Party with interim leader Candice Bergen are doing all they can to vote down the E.A. but it looks like the motion will pass with the help of the NDP for reasons not clear to me, possibly because their leader Jagmeet Singh is of Punjabi origin and saw the hatred and racism of the protesters. Many people living in Ottawa from residents to business owners said out loud that they were very afraid of the protesters. Harassment on the street and acts of vandalism against ordinary people and property is one hallmark. We had during the day, Friday 3 Conservative members of Parliament come out from the West Block to cheer the protesters and tell them to keep fighting to get rid of the Government. One Conservative Senator Michael MacDonald from Cape Breton berated on the street the Citizens of Ottawa and the Government, cheering the protesters as good people.

I don’t think this is the end of these protests, the extreme right, the white supremacists are spear heading a movement similar to the Trump Nation in the USA. However despite the lies and their rhetoric and their appeal to the Armed Forces and the Police to come and join them, they are very unlikely to prevail. Some protesters like Dwayne Lich the husband of top organizer Amanda Lich, quoted the First Amendment of the US Constitution in Court during a bail hearing. The Judge asked him what he was talking about, reminding him that we are in Canada and have very different Laws and Constitution. Dwayne was taken aback and then asked the Judge if the Government of Canada was legitimate, the Judge and the Crown prosecutors were in disbelief. Some protesters asked the police to read them their Miranda Rights, there is no such thing in Canadian Law. Truly sad to see so much confusion from people who watch too much Fox News. Dwayne Lich is from Saskatchewan and Amanda from Medicine Hat, Alberta. Both had jobs in the oil patch in Alberta.

Majority of Canadians are disgusted with what they saw in Ottawa and the 3 week occupation of the Capital. The people of the downtown core are proceeding with their Lawsuit against the organizers of the protest, money donated has been frozen in accounts. But what is also apparent now, some so called influencers on YouTube are very well financed. One guy who does videos of Downtown Ottawa got a donation of $40,000 last night (Saturday) from one donor and thank him publicly on his site.

This is what happens when you have a population who does not pay attention, watches to much foreign television and is illiterate in Civics. I feel anxious for the future, something has to give.

What is going on

17 Thursday Feb 2022

Posted by larrymuffin in Uncategorized

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Tags

Canada, grifters, Ottawa, Protest, violence

In the last three weeks I have been dismayed by the rabid anti-Trudeau reporting from many media outlet like The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, The Economist, The Guardian UK, Sky News, Hindustani Times India, etc.. It is very disturbing to see the headlines, Trudeau flees the country, Trudeau has lost control, Trudeau is a dictator, Trudeau is a blackface artists, No one supports Trudeau.

I am like many people cannot understand how American and British news outlets can give such a distorted view of what is going on in Canada at the moment. Canada is the #1 trading partner of the USA and ally. It only shows that American Media has a very uninformed view of Canada. FOX News sent a special team to Ottawa.

To set the record straight, here are some facts; Canada has one of the highest rate of vaccination in the World 90%. So far 50% of Canadians have 3 doses of vaccines.

The economy in general in Canada is doing very well and we have shortages of workers in many fields. Yes there is inflation but only 3 sectors fuel inflation, housing, gas, food prices due to disruption of supply chains. If you are not buying a house or if you do not drive your car, then only food prices affect you. So in general Statistic Canada who is responsible to calculate national inflation says it is 2.5% the other rate of 5% is only if you apply it to specific sector.

Freedoms, this protest is about freedom apparently, Canadians are among the most free people in the world, the reason why this occupation of your National Capital for the last 3 weeks is allowed to go on is because we are free people. If Canada is a communist state or Trudeau a dictator, this protest would never happen.

We have freedom of expression, but we do not have the freedom to impose our views on others nor of occupying streets and neighbourhoods or terrorizing its residents. People in Ottawa are tired and fed up with this occupation and the idling trucks and diesel fumes which have given downtown Ottawa a air pollution level comparable to Mexico City at the moment. Residents of Ottawa complain of constant headaches and the noise of the truck sirens non stop. Kids wonder if it safe to go to school with these bums roaming the city streets. People have been assaulted for wearing a mask, homeless people beaten, the soup kitchen were I volunteered and serves hundreds of meal daily was attacked by protesters and food stolen. So much for Freedom, in this case I spell it Free Dumb.

We are told that this is about freedom to chose to get a vaccine for truckers or not. Fact 90% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated. You cannot enter the USA without a vaccine certificate. Many of the people protesting are NOT truckers, it is a rag tag group of Christian evangelists, extreme right, white supremacists, who reject any government and who came specifically to Ottawa with the declared intention of overthrowing the freely elected government of Canada and abolishing Parliament.

The truck protest at our borders in one case, the Windsor Detroit Ambassador bridge cost over $1 billion in lost trade with the USA and shut down car manufacturing plants on both side of the border. No one has the freedom to impact other citizens in their job, welfare or economic security.

This protest was never about public health, but a much more nefarious agenda aimed at anyone or any ideas the protesters do not like. It also did not help to have 16 US Republican Senators, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Elon Musk, attack Canada and our Prime Minister and to show open support to these grifters.

Today this poll amongst many other polls (see below) published show that the Prime Minister and the Government have the support of a majority of Canadians. PM Trudeau can continue governing because despite it all, he still enjoys the confidence of the House of Commons and no other party wants to trigger an election now. Finally the protest by those awful people took place because the police did not act and miscalculated the danger or the intentions of the truckers. In Canada the Prime Minister nor the Provincial Premiers can tell the police what to do or how to act. The powers are completely separated. The Emergencies Act of 1988 will now give the Police some extraordinary powers for 30 days, Banks will freeze assets of criminals who help this protest and stop money going to them. Important to note that both the Parliament and the Senate must approve the implementation of this Emergency Act, again the Prime Minister cannot do it alone. Some protesters brought young children to the protest sites, The Children’s Aide Society is there to take care of the kids in case their parents go to jail. It is also important to note that parents at these protests have used their young children to form a chain to stop any police action. The Humane society will look after their dogs and cats if anyone is arrested.

NEW: Maru Public Opinion poll: 66% support Trudeau invoking Emergencies Act 82% say 3-week Ottawa protest gone on too long 67% say clear them out 71% say Canada’s handling of it an international embarrassment 54% blame politicians 56% say Provincial premiers caved by lifting restrictions, example Ontario Doug Ford, Alberta Jason Kenney, Manitoba Scott Moe.

Today Thursday the leadership of this occupation in Ottawa have fled the City apparently for New Brunswick to set up another protest, Pat King and Tamara Lich are probably going to be arrested. She indicated as much in a teary farewell message to the poor suckers left in Ottawa now estimated to be around 250. The people of Ottawa living in the area being occupied are suing for $308 million the truck protest organizers. They also organized this past weekend their own counter protest about 1000 people showed up and manage to detain several trucks and occupants and only allowed them to leave once they took down their offensive banners and gave up any fuel jerry cans they were transporting. This was a wake up call for protesters, people do not love them.

Pat King, vagrant, no fixed address. Claims to support the Army and Trump.

Tamara Lich, little is known about her. She claims to be 47 yrs old, has been involved in various extreme causes. A big Trump supporter. A point to remember the protester and their leadership are completely delusional. Along the border with the USA the other blockades have been dismantled, powerful weapons and ammunition has been recovered by the RCMP and several people are now facing charges of weapons possession and attempted murder against the police.

Monuments that fascinate

16 Wednesday Feb 2022

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documents, Italy, Rome, tomb, Vatican

Living in Rome means that you will everyday see some type of work on very ancient buildings or monuments from the Republican period before 50 BC to Imperial Roman period up to 400 AD. Archeology is a huge business in Rome and employs scholars from around the world. Romans are very attentive to their past and guard it carefully. The reason why the construction of Line C of the metro of Rome is 20 years behind schedule is because of historical discovery and extensive archeological work. While living in Rome we were fortunate to visit sites that reopened after being closed for 50 years for extensive research and study work. The private house of Augustus on the Palatine and next door the house of his wife Livia is one example, I would call them austere and simple, not Hollywood palaces. The Domus Aurea of Nero reopened just last year, it was and had been closed for decades while we lived in Rome. Also we were able to visit exhibits of rare artifacts very rarely seen in public. One such exhibit was on the Secret Library and Archives of the Vatican. The secret is that there are no secrets, what we did see though was fascinating, the Vatican keeps every piece of paper, every document on any topic. All carefully catalogue and preserved, correspondence between the Holy See and Princes or Kings. Books of all kinds, official decrees, even pornography from ancient times. Why keep it all? Well because then you can use it to support your point of view and show what was said or done. There is or was an element of vanity in all this, to show how the Holy See communicated with the powerful of this world. Who could then deny that the Pope was not important or did not have authority to influence the course of history. What mere mortals think would be sinful or forbidden is kept, why? Well maybe to show that human nature does not change, there is a certain moral story about it all. Some of the Official documents when you read them shed a different perspective on history. Letters often have a personal and intimate tone, despite the fact that they are official documents.

Then comes the monuments and various buildings of Rome, starting with the huts of Romulus, the ruins of the Temple of the Sybil or that of the Furies in Trastevere which was a cursed site, how about the Gate of Hell with its staircase in the Forum next to the Arch of Septimus Severus.

One such ancient monument is the Mausoleum of Augustus, the first Emperor. He was know as Octavian and was the nephew and adopted son of Julius Cesar. He was proclaimed Imperator and August by the Senate of Rome. His legacy to the Western World is important on many different levels. His ruined Mausoleum in Rome survives to this day and has undergone studies and renovations since 1933. Since 2000 even more in depth study of the structure has been undertaken and the amount of information on this monument is impressive.

Photo from the 1970’s before the latest round of study were undertaken. On the far left of the photo we can see the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) dedicated to Augustus, his life’s work and his family. The Ara Pacis is very well preserved and wonderful to visit.
This is what the Mausoleum of Augustus looked like in antiquity. Several members of his family had their ashes interred here. The round tomb concept recalls the ancient Etruscans whose mausoleum can be seen just outside of Rome.

Flag Day

14 Monday Feb 2022

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astronomy, Canada, Flag, Galileo, Rome, science, Trinita dei Monti, universe

Tuesday 15 February is the 57th Anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of the Canadian Flag in Parliament in Ottawa by HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Here is a painting of 1671 of a famous spot in Rome. On the left is the French Church of the Minimes, a religious Catholic order devoted to the study of science. Their church is Trinita Dei Monti which today stands at the top of the famous staircase known as the Spanish Steps. In the painting you have a group of trees, the Obelisk of Sallust is also missing, the staircase will come later around 1723. Next to the church is the monastery of the Minimes Fiars which is not open to visitors unless you can make some arrangement to visit privately. Galileo was on good terms with the Minimes Friars and during his trial they offered to keep safe his paperwork and observation notes on the planets and the theory which says that the Earth circles the Sun, if he was found guilty would be destroyed. There is the most fantastic gallery in this monastery where on the walls a Universal clock has been painted, to this day this gallery is kept in darkness except for a little square opening in one window which when it is open to allow the rays of the Sun to hit the wall will show you the exact time in the known Cities of the world in 1600. I saw this phenomenon at work during a private visit, it was fascinating. The rays marked the time and moved like the hands of a clock.

In 1610, Galileo published his Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger), describing the surprising observations that he had made with the new telescope, among them, the Galilean Moons of Jupiter. With these observations and additional observations that followed, such as the phases of Venus, he promoted the heliocentric theory of Nicolas Copernicus published in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium in 1543. Galileo’s discoveries were met with opposition within the Catholic Church, and in 1616 the Inquisition declared heliocentrism to be “formally heretical.” Galileo went on to propose a theory of tides in 1616, and of comets in 1619; he argued that the tides were evidence for the motion of the Earth.

The Inquisition Tribunal was composed of Spanish priests and Cardinals and they were a political force to contend with, even the Pope was afraid of them because they had the support of the Spanish King Philip IV. The Pope at the time was Urban VIII who was well educated and very interested in the work of Galileo, he encouraged him to write his book on celestial matter and observations. However though Galileo’s writing went against Official Church Doctrine saying that the Earth was the centre of the Universe, no one thought it would lead to such a controversy given how popular such new theories were. However they were written during major wars of religion in Europe between Protestants and Catholics, which did not help matters.

The garden next to the monastery was created in the first century AD and was a pleasure garden which belonged to a rich Roman who was told to commit suicide in order for Messalina the wife of Emperor Claudius to get it for herself so she could entertain her many young lovers. This garden today separates the monastery from the French Academy in Rome where Galileo was imprisoned during his trial. The large building with a tower in the background is the Quirinal Palace, which at the time was a summer palace for the Pope, it became a Royal Palace for the Italian Kings in 1870 and since 1946 is the residence of the Italian President. Everything else you see in this painting is as it was then, nothing really changes in Rome, everything is kept, repaired and re-purposed. We often walked in this area, the view of the city is impressive.

Island news

12 Saturday Feb 2022

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Tags

books, Canada, convoy, grifters, Nunavut

The National Census was out this week and the news was surprising for PEI. The population has grown quite a bit, when we arrived in 2016 the population was estimated then at 150K today the Island population is 165,000. Charlottetown has also grown quite a bit from 36,000 to 40,500 today. Greater Charlottetown if you include Stratford and Cornwall in all is 80,000 people, the greater part of the Island population.

Given the scarcity of housing in general at any price, I wonder how we manage to grow. The rest of the population on the Island is also growing. The provincial government would love to have 200K population. However I wonder how sustainable this can be given the size of this Island and fresh water reserve, constant erosion due to climate change. On average we have lost 30 feet of shoreline in 10 years, the storm have become more fierce.

Winter has gone into a thaw with milder weather which is usual at this time of the year. We had a protest of sorts here today by the anti-vaxers on the Island, no big trucks, more like pick-up trucks and cars. The crowd was not big a few hundred and I only was about a dozen vehicles. Most of the crowd look disheveled and in need of a good bath, men with big beards trying to look tough. The Convoy of the entitled selfish whiners. Community spread exist now in PEI, thanks to these idiots, including 14 dead in 3 months. The Premier Dennis King has announced a calendar to lift all the restrictions by 7 April. As for the rest of Canada, we still have problems in Ottawa and at the major border point of Windsor/Detroit a cost of 400 Million dollars a day. Hopefully this will get resolved this weekend. Fox news is doing quite a number on Canada right now. Also 60% of all the funds given to the protest comes from the USA.

I was listening to Mainstreet which is the afternoon radio show in the Maritimes, in PEI it is hosted by Matt Rainnie, he was interviewing Tomson Highway on his award winning book Permanent Astonishment. Tomson Highway is Cree from what we call in Canada, Nunavut an immense territory 808,000 sq. miles with a population of 39,000 people. Nunavut means our land. I did visit its capital Iqaluit in 1984 in March. You have to fly to Nunavut there are no roads from Southern Canada, so it is very isolated. The majority of the population is Inuit, the Cree people live in the southern part near the border with Manitoba.

Tomson Highway OC is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, and children’s author. He is best known for his plays The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award. His book Permanent Astonishment won in 2021 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. It is according to him the first book of his memoirs, he plans to write 5 in total. He speaks Cree, English, French and Italian. I only read one page of this book and I was hooked, it is beautiful writing, the way books use to be written 50+ years ago.

Platinum Jubilee

06 Sunday Feb 2022

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70 yrs, Canada, covid, Platinum Jubilee, Quebec Carnival, Queen Elizabeth

Today Sunday 6 February 2022 is the 70th Anniversary of the accession to the Throne of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. She was woken on the morning by her husband Prince Philip who had been informed by a Aide of the death during the night of HM King George VI, her father. The Official Trip in Africa and Australia was cancelled and the return to London was arranged. In the meantime Palace Protocol had sent a plane with mourning clothes for the new Queen and since they had to stop on the way in Malta, this is where the Aides where waiting. This way upon arrival in London stepping off the plane the Queen would be in full mourning black dress. She was 25 years old and this photo shows HM at arrival in London. HM did say that Accesssion Day was never a happy day for her, she loved and was close to her father the King and had looked up to him as an advisor for her future role. I cannot imagine that today would be despite this milestone, a happy day now that Prince Philip is also gone. Though the announcement last night that it was her sincere wish that Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall would assume the title of Queen Consort when in due time Prince Charles becomes King. This is the pragmatic side of Queen Elizabeth to ensure smooth passage from one era to another.

6 February 1952, London

Yesterday we went to the Club and had a great time, we usually drive the 4 blocks but last night with the drifting snow and the streets no cleaned, we decided to walk it. Some member who live across the river in Keppoch, had to drive but they said it was easy, little to no cars on the road. There was a nice fire in the Lounge and we had drinks and someone ordered pizza. Good conversation, we avoided talking about the circus in Ottawa which is in its 9 day. It is all too depressing, it does expose some weakness in our system. The Prime Minister cannot order the army in and he cannot order the police to act. Neither can the Mayor or the Premier of Ontario. It is all up to the police to take action, in this case mistakes were made at the beginning, no one believed that the protest would turn into a hostage situation and an occupation of the Capital. Now the Chief of Police, Sloly admits that the Ottawa Police Force is completely under resourced and unprepared for such action. So in order to resolve this situation the Premier of Ontario Doug Ford (Conservative) would have to call the Prime Minister and demand officially the intervention of the RCMP and of the Army, but Doug will not do it, he hates Trudeau and is happy to look the other way. The Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson who is a decent fellow, is retiring and he has no power to act. In the meantime the resident of the neighbourhood around Parliament Hill launched a class action Lawsuit against the 3 leaders of this demonstration. GoFundMe has now refused to release any money, however the protest organizers have launched a new funding initiative through a Christian Fund raising company associated to Trump.

The demands of this protest group cannot and will not be met, that is pretty clear. One demand is that the Governor General dismiss the Prime Minister and Parliament, something our GG cannot do under the Constitution, she has no such powers. The other demand is that the GG rule Canada with the 3 leader of the protest. Hello what kind of lunacy is this? Another demand is that the Police and the Army join the protest? Really, how? The protester claim that if the police do not join them, they are betraying their Oath of Office to the Constitution, the big problem here is that the Oath of Office is to HM the Queen and the Royal Family, not the Constitution, for the last time Canada is a KINGDOM not a Republic. I know I took that Oath of Office. As for the Health Mandates and Vaccination this is strictly a Provincial Matter, the Federal Government has No jurisdiction in any of this, go see your Premier in your Province.

In the Meantime from the 4th to the 13 February, it is time for the Quebec Carnaval. The largest and oldest winter carnival in the world is a must-see event that attracts thousands of visitors each year. For this 68th edition, the Québec Winter Carnival brings back its festive hub in the heart of the city. Bonhomme will also liven up all corners of the city with his finest snow and ice sculptures. The Ice Palace and the parade and all the other events, it is truly wonderful, if a bit cold.

 

Bonhomme Carnaval.

Political change

02 Wednesday Feb 2022

Posted by larrymuffin in Uncategorized

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Canada, media, O'Toole, Ottawa, truckers, Trudeau, Trump

We are in day 5 of the occupy Ottawa by so called truck drivers, some facts are coming out now, the demonstration which started last Friday at its height had about 8,000 people participating on Parliament Hill, fairly low number if compared to a Canada Day celebration which run around 100,000 + person.

The number of trucks the police estimate that it was around 2000 trucks. Not the ten of thousands bandied about by protesters. The shadow organization raised about $10 million dollars, now the police has revealed that most of the money is coming from the USA, from American activists who support Trump and right wing activists. This is a very troubling thing, one of the main demand of the organizer is the overthrow of the Canadian Government, the abolition of Parliament and installing a dictatorship. The hatred of Donald Trump for Canada and his minions is well known, he has demonstrated this many times during his presidency. The siege in Ottawa continues but the Chief of Police is now considering bringing in the army to clear the streets. I say, It’s about time!

Many news organizations like SKY News Australia, WION India, The Washington Post, The London Times, Post Media in Canada, The National Post, The Sun, have taken a very strong anti-Trudeau stand. Many reported that Trudeau had fled the Capital as the protesters had arrived. This was #FAKE NEWS, Parliament reopened after the Holiday Season on Monday as scheduled, the Prime Minister was present and continues to govern.

What has happened today Wednesday is the ouster of the Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole after only 23 months at the helm, a majority of Members of his Caucus 73 voted to boot him out while 45 wanted him to stay. This is ironic, O’Toole had openly supported the trucker protest and his party for the last 7 years had an open campaign of hate against PM Trudeau. It all backfired on them. No having any plans on Climate change, constantly being negative about every topic, blaming Trudeau for just about everything under the sun, attacking his family and his elderly mother Margaret. Being in favour of assault weapons for all like we see in the USA, against Abortion rights, against LGBTQ rights, supporting conversion therapy and all manner of extreme right wing causes and finally is constant flip-flop on policy positions and out the door he goes. The CPC is a divided party, the 73 members who voted against O’Toole are the right wing similar to the Trump fringe in the USA. The party will have its 4th party leadership contest and its 6th leader in 7 year. It may very well split up and we shall see a return to the old Conservative party and the other wing will be the Reformers from Western Canada.

This photo courtesy of the CBC shows 3 ladies who live on Cooper street in Ottawa, in our old neighbourhood stopping a truck from travelling down their street. Good for them! We need to stop this madness.

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Richard's Left Bank

Books, whimsey & political satire (views of news from those that snooze)

Willy Or Won't He

So Many Years of Experience But Still Making Mistakes!

Storie & Archeostorie

Notiziario di storia, arte e archeologia (©2010-)

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2020-23

ROME - THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2010-20.

ROME – THE IMPERIAL FORA: SCHOLARLY RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES.

Philippe Lagassé

In Defence of Westminster

Moving with Mitchell

Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live near Málaga. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a España. Ahora vivimos cerca de Málaga.

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Stories, Excerpts, Backroads

Roijoyeux

... Soyons... Joyeux !!!

Spo-Reflections

To live is to battle with trolls in the vaults of heart and brain. To write; this is to sit in judgment over one's Self. Henrik Ibsen

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Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Berlin

My Secret Journey

The road I have traveled to get to where I am today.

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The adventures of a Press Gallery journalist

The Historic England Blog

Larry Muffin At Home

Remembering that life is a comedy and the world is a small town.

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Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown

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Stories in words and pictures

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Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”/Let us go and make our visit.

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Procrastination is the sincerest form of optimism

theINFP

I aim to bring delight to others by sharing my creative endeavours

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A mix of corporate and private life experiences

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