GUNS AND ROSES

 WELL MAYBE NO ROSES BUT LOTS OF GUNS....

TAKE OUR CITY OF OTTAWA FOR EXAMPLE:

With 2021 ending, our Police Department reports over 80 incidents of shootings in our fair city this year...A New Record. 

Granted, American City Chicago has that many shootings each and every weekend but for us here in Canada our number is sobering for us.   B.T.W., Chicago is not even America's worst example when shootings per capita are taken into account.

The number 80 above came out earlier this month and since then there have been several more. So our record year continues to grow to its bitter end. 

It used to be the weapon of choice was the Knife and before that... one's bare fists... but guns and gangs have progressed more latterly even here in our more friendly and safer environment.  

But that said, and as noted, this trend is increasing and most certainly will continue to get worse.  We are not a Safe as we once were. 

Which brings me to our recent Federal Election where our Esteemed Prime Minister continually mocked the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition - Erin O'Toole for being soft on long gun owners such as Farmers, Hunters and Target Shooters. You knew, I knew and yes Justin knew full well that the real problem for the rising trend in gun crimes was and is gangs illegally smuggling hand-guns in from our neighbour to the South.  

But our Progressive Electorate turned a blind eye and voted the cad back into power. 

The handgun issue though is one area where I do agree with the Progressives in their effort to ban them. I have never owned a handgun nor do I have any wish to do so.  I have owned various rifles from time to time most recently when we owned a hobby farm on the outskirts of this city.  I was glad to dispose of them when we moved back into the city.  Fact is...I do not like guns but as a hobby farmer I understood why farmers have need for them and I can understand why they are in safe hands with both hunters and target shooters too.

But handguns are a much different 'kettle of fish'.  Simply stated, they exist solely to kill people.

So until the United States out right bans them...they are going to be an ongoing problem for our Police too.  But this of course will not happen - even in your younger lifetimes - since the 'Right To Bear Arms' is embedded in America's Constitution ...in fact it is its Second Amendment.  So there is little we can do on this side of the border to effectively stop the flow.  In this it mirrors our War Against Drugs ...also coming to us via the USA, a war which we lost over 50 years ago. 

Ironically, when criticizing O'Toole, Trudeau promised to get tough on guns and gangs post Election.  So how has this worked out? 

In the brief period that our Parliament was allowed to resume, His Government introduced legislation to reduce sentences for serious gun crime including weapons trafficking and importing.  This includes getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences even for those convicted multiple times of gun offences.

Boy that will certainly put a dent in this vicious activity...NOT.

Trudeau takes us all for Fools and so far he has gotten away with it and there is no indication that that will change anytime soon.

As I See It...

'K.D. Galagher'

And Another Infamous Bill...This One Federal...

Bill C-4 an Act to Criminalize Conversion Therapy was passed into law at the close of  the Canadian Parliament this December where both the House of Commons and the Senate unanimously voted in its favour. 

This was the Liberal Government's 3rd attempt (third time lucky) to bring this obnoxious piece of legislation into being. 

At this point, it is helpful to point out that despite what our Governors say, there are two sides to the Conversion Therapy Issue:

The first concerns blocking attempts by the well intentioned to persuade others to be satisfied with their sexual lot in life...i.e.  if they were born male or female they should be okay with that. This is the one that is being criminalized.

The second side of this controversial coin is far more damaging in that it actually changes an Individual's sex.  Our Government does not legislate against this one...in fact it pays and is delighted to see it happen. 

Bill C-4...it reads:

Conversion therapy, is defined as a practice, treatment or service designed to:

        (a) change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual;
        (b) change a person’s gender identity to cisgender;
        (c) change a person’s gender expression so that it conforms to the sex                               assigned to the person at birth;
        (d) repress or reduce non-heterosexual attraction or sexual behaviour;
        (e) repress a person’s non-cisgender gender identity; or
        (f) repress or reduce a person’s gender expression that does not conform to                    the sex assigned at birth.

The problem with this is with respect to the wording "practice, treatment or service ...".  It can mean anything.  In fact, it casts such a wide net that it captures parents, clergy, school guidance officers, medical professionals and other well intentioned people. That said, you and I are apt to think and picture Conversion Therapy as involving the hooking up of some poor bloke to electrodes and having his or her brain rewired. 

Despite the fact that this type of inhumane treatment went out of vogue in the 1950s and was the stuff of rogue CIA agents... if the elimination of this type of this was the only likely outcome of the new Law we too would all be most supportive.

But sadly and recklessly as noted, C-4 goes far and away beyond that.

So that leads me to the unanimous nature of the Bill's passage.  Not one Leader, not one Member of Parliament nor any of our Esteemed and over-paid Senators had the courage to stand up and tell Emperor Justin Trudeau that he has no clothes. The Government has a duty to do what is in the best interests of Canadians and in this sad case it has failed miserably.  So too did the Opposition since it is their job to point out deficiencies in what the Government proposes and here they were all missing in action.

And the blessed Senate - the Body of Sober Second Thought was anything but Sober in their hurried enthusiasm to get the legislation into law. 

If ever there was a draft law that required sober serious second-thought and amendment ...it was this one.

Shame, Shame on Them All. 

I mentioned that the other form of Conversion is the truly dangerous and damaging one and sadly is the one that our Government actually encourages....it involves the change of an individual's sex.. the loping off of parts that will not be coming back despite the many who live to regret what they have done. Studies show that depression and suicide are common effects post operation.

But I am a Libertarian and fervently believe that an Individual is free to do whatever he or she wishes to do to with their own body and long as their actions do not directly injure others.  So if someone wants to cut this and that and replace it with that and this...be my guest.  No law should exist for or against it.

A Big However ...the Individual must be of Adult Age to make such a major decision.

Until Adult Hood - let the Children be Children and if they think they are of a sex different from their birth sex...So Be It.  They have lots of time left to make irreparable change - for good or bad.

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell'

 

THERE IS REWRITING HISTORY AND THEN THERE IS...

 PYSICALLY DESTROYING IT.

A recent front page headline in the National Post contained a picture with the heading 'Demolishing History'.  It was quite sobering for me.

We know how the Progressive Left has worked feverishly to rewrite history so Up becomes Down, In becomes Out and Frontwards becomes Backwards.  And sadly, by and large we the unwashed masses*have let them get away with it. *(their words...not mine and also used phrase...useful idiots).

Well they have now gone one further:

The Post story states in a matter of days, the Peace River Homestead located in the renowned Royal British Columbia Museum will be ripped off the face of this once proud country.  The article reads: "Starting January 2, crews will start taking crowbars to life-size dioramas of a Peace River homestead, a Vancouver Island coal mine and HMS Discovery the flagship of British explorer George Vancouver."  The reason given by the Museum's Pin-Heads is that this sacrilege is being done in the name of "decolonization".  

Ranked as one of our Country's 'most-visited' museums it is now most likely to cease being so and for all the right reasons.

The fall-back position for the Museum is that they are 'doing this for the aboriginals' however B.C.'s First Nations have come out strongly opposed.  They do however acknowledge that Museums such as this one need to be more inclusive and focus on their history too and in fact that is what the Province has been moving toward in recent years.  They want to show how their lives 'intersected' with the lives of non-aboriginal without destroying the early presence of the latter. 

This nonsense must stop.

Several years ago your mother and I went on a trip by car across Canada and when we returned we crossed the Alberta border and headed to Custer's Last Stand in Montana on June 25, 1876.

We were ready to hear of the daring do of Colonel Custer and his brave band of soldiers but were pleasantly surprised to have a young Crow Guide walk us through this most famous battle.   This young woman was very reserved...almost shy but when she began to recall what had occurred that day so many years ago- she became animated. Proud even since it was her people who had defeated the undefeatable  George Armstrong Custer the Yankee Hero of the Civil War.

She told us where Custer was at the end...where the rest of his officers were too but not only that ...she told us where the Indian Braves where ...their names and where those who were killed fell.  White Crosses for the Army dead...Red Crosses for the Indians.  It brought this famous battle to life in a way we never expected and it was all due to her.  

Of note, Custer went headlong into battle even though his Indian Guides told him not to.  There were other cavalry coming shortly to their rescue but Custer wanted all the glory himself.  He paid the ultimate price along with over 260 troopers. 

Crossing over to Canada, Chief Sitting Bull surrendered to North West Mounted Policeman Inspector James Walsh with but a handful of Mounted Police.  That too is an important part of our history that should not be forgotten and it involved natives and non-natives alike.

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell' 

 

THE INFAMOUS QUEBEC BILL C-21

AND SOME MISGUIDED CITY MAYORS:

Brampton's Mayor Patrick Brown has come out to say his town is coughing up $100 k to help opponents of this Law fight it in the Courts.  Other Mayors have similarly come on board.  

Bill C-21, as we all know, bans public workers in Quebec from displaying religious identifiers on their person.

The articles I have read are all critical of these Mayors based on the belief that the actions on the part of the Mayors will only serve to incite a backlash amongst the many Quebecers who are quite okay with it.

That is not my beef however...Canada is a free Country or at least once was so I encourage anyone and everyone to speak up if that be their inclination.  My trouble with their initiative is that we are talking municipal taxpayers' money here so if Mayor Brown and the others want to pledge their own money...be my guest, but this is not the stuff for the ever poorer municipal taxpayer.

Municipalities should focus on pot hole repair, roads, fire, ambulance and policing - not human rights issues that should be the turf of the Feds and to a lesser extent the Provinces.  We have seen the same type of thing happen here in Ottawa where our Council loves to pontificate on matters related to Climate Change and the Paris Accord which should be left to the United Nations. Stick to your knitting guys and gals.  If Patrick Brown wants to get actively involved in these types of things he should run for Premier.  Oh Ya he did ...didn't he and look how that turned out.

I would be remiss if I did not point out the entire silence on the part of Prime Minister Justin and His Merry Band of Warriors...for 2 years now nothing.  And in their muteness they have been silently backed by the Hapless Leaders of the Opposition.  Not one...not even one has dared to criticize what is an Out and Out Breach of the Bill of Rights and in this Case the blatant discrimination on the Grounds of Religion. Either they are there to protect the Rights of All Canadians or None and it looks to me like they have chosen.  

Maybe their lack of involvement has to do with the fact that Quebec has declared itself a Nation with our Federal Government's Blessing and again with the collective agreement of all Federal Parties.

It looks to me that we are well along the road to classes of citizenship which will no doubt further Western Feelings of Neglect. 

As I See It ...

'K.D. Galagher'

YOU AGREE, I AGREE, WE ALL AGREE...

 That there be No More Covid Lock-Downs !!!

Collectively We Have All Had It !!

And here in Ottawa, 90% of us are fully up-to-speed with our Vaccine Doses.   Your Mum and I have even received our Booster Shot as have many others. 

So let's see what our Elected Officials and Their Medical Advisors ('The Experts) are telling us to:

  Why they are asking us ...no demanding that we all take Rapid Tests...early and as often as can be.   

So what do you think that will do?   Why the numbers of positive cases will sky-rocket - they are high now but hospitalizations are very manageable and ICU cases tiny.  But with all these tests - false positives along with legions of non-symptomatic will shake the foundations of the Experts and we will all be subjected to more useless controls than ever before.   

And sadly, this is being done without the 'Experts' having a sweet clue what the Omicron Variant is even capable of doing or more to the point ...not doing.  They do seem to have a point that it is more contagious than the others so far but it also seems most likely that its effects mirror a cold or the flu.  

My take away from this is that regardless of what any of us do - whether of our own volition or following the myriad of commands from the 'Experts' on High...we are all most likely to succumb to the virus though the negative results will be minimal and on the plus side we'll all end up with immunity.  

In other words... we will all be able to get on with Living.

And that is essential given the damage being done to our Economy and to our Mental Health to Society in the 'Experts' failed attempt to check this Pandemic.

So let's get back to celebrating Christmas and the other Holidays and to visiting family and friends.  Florida...here we come. 

In closing though there is one thing that even I believe the 'Experts' had and have right...get your vaccines asap. They unlike lock-downs actually work to staff off serious sickness. 

In that regard, we are truly blessed that Big Pharma... yes Big Pharma and its Scientists came through for us by discovering  a vaccine...actually several vaccines... in short order that work and have saved countless lives. I have a lot of time for those Experts since what they accomplished borders on a miracle while the other 'Experts' at that time were predicting it would take 5 years or even 10 or even never to see this happen.

And speaking of Scientists - it will be they who will save us from Global Warming or whatever the Nomenclature is for the day and not the Woke whose recipe for cure is to devastate world economies. More on that another time.

As I See It...

'K. D. Bell' 

THE UKRAINE'S

 Sad  But  Proud  History. 

A Brief History Beginning with the Russian Revolution in 1917:

A chaotic period of time for Russia of course but also for the Ukraine.  It too emerged from its own Civil War 1917 - 1921.  In 1922 the Ukrainian Bolsheviks defeated the Ukrainian National Government and became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union.

In 1932 and 1933, millions of people, mostly peasants, in the Ukraine starved to death in a devastating famine known as the Holodomor that totaled between 4 and 5 million. That represented some 15% of the country's population at that time and is blamed on the genocidal actions of the Soviet and its leader Joseph Stalin. 

Since the early 1890's there have been 3 large waves of Ukrainian emigration to Canada - this first lasted until the start of WW 1, the second at the time of the Holodomor in the 1930s and the third and last major wave at the conclusion of World War II.  There are today approximately a million and a half ethnic Ukrainians living in Canada which represents the largest number outside of the Ukraine itself and Russia. 

During World War 2 the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought for independence against both Germany and the Soviet Union and in 1945 the Ukraine became one of the founding members of the United Nations even though it was still considered to be part of the Soviet Union.  This ended in 1991 when along with the other Soviet Union nations it regained independence. 

In recent years though, the Ukraine has been in crisis with constant internal protests between pro-European and pro Russian  groups.  This culminated with the invasion by Russia of its Crimea region followed by its annexation by Russia in 2014. As can be expected this unrest has negatively affected the Ukrainian economy.

    As an aside, I can recall attending a 'seniors chat group of 40 or so and the topic of the day was Russia likely to invade Crimea?  I was the only one in the room who said that Russia was going to do just that unless NATO put serious boots on the ground asap.  The others thought I had been smoking rope.  Virtually days later it was a done deal.  Not one of the chatterers had the temerity to tell me that I was right after all.

But as they say that was 2014 and today is now.

Russian Troops numbering 100,000 are massed along the Ukraine border ready at a moments notice to invade this hapless country. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the West that the "nightmare scenario of military confrontation is returning to the European continent."

Not to be outdone, our own Foreign Minister... the newly installed Melanie Joly fired back...telling Russia that any form of military build-up by them was "bad".  You have to agree that you cannot get much tougher than that ...even though she seems to have missed the point that the 'build-up' she seems to be concerned about has already occurred. 

Her US counterpart was a bit tougher ...threatening.. get ready for this ..."sanctions".  I am sure Putin is quaking in his boots. 

So do I think Russia will proceed to invade the Ukraine... as I predicted for the Crimea?  This time though I believe he will not ...at least for now.  He is not that stupid.  But he does seem to be determined to restore the olde Soviet Union of a mere 30 years or so ago.

I qualify my answer as follows: If Europe continues to dither and the United States continues to withdraw from its world police function ...the day may come when Putin thinks he can do just that...it is just not there yet.  And you can add to this mix China's increasing sway throughout the world. 

So what to do? ...again I urge NATO to come immediately to Ukraine's aid.  And to go further, admit it to the Organization itself even though Putin will scream blue murder ..but so what. 

Add to this the need for Europe to get more involved in its own defence. Recent history shows clearly that they can no longer rely upon big brother (ie the United States) to protect them.

At the same time a current NATO member - Turkey needs to be put on notice that if they do not clean up their act it will be expelled from that Union.  Or even better, Suspend that country now until it can show that it deserves a full return to membership.

Do I think these initiatives will happen.  Hard to say, but if they do not we in the Free World are in for more trouble and which will likely begin with another invasion of the Ukraine and of course Taiwan.

As I See It...

'K.D. Galagher' 

THE BBC

 WORLD  NEWS ...

This past Sunday our Priest spoke of his recent trip to Germany and of course Rome Italy where he expressed his surprise to hear news from around the world that he said he never hears here in Canada.

He began by recalling his visit to the Nazis Death Camp at Dachau where some 41,500 poor souls perished.  And it was not even their worst camp.  His visit there coincided with the 75 anniversary of its liberation by American Troops in 1945 and had been in existence since early 1933.  It brought him to tears in the knowledge that humanity could stoop so low. 

He went on to say that we here safely tucked away in North America seldom are confronted with these images and indeed our news is too often divorced of any real substance even though many parts of the world today appears to be heading for self-destruction.

He is right of course.  Your mum and I often complain about the lack of news in our 24 hour news(?) cycle.  It is all about Trudeau and his socks, how terrible the Tories are for not being vaccinated and the constant rehashing of the day's Covid numbers.  For sometime now I have not even bothered to tune in.

It was not always this way.  Indeed, not that long ago Canada had decent news coverage but that was then and this is now - i.e. since the invention of the 24 hour cycle.  There is only so many times you can stomach hearing 'we are all in this together' when covering the Covid outbreak.

The United States is the same... indeed, for all intents and purposes, it has always been in that their news is all domestic, all navel gazing - about the President and the odd Senator or two. We can attest to that since we wintered a number of years in Florida and the last several owned a Condominium there. Never ever did you hear about anything happening outside of their turf.  

So what to do?

Fortunately, I stumbled upon the BBC World News on our Cable TV.  It surprisingly deals with world news that is world shattering in importance...Revolutions here, Riots there, Famine and Pestilence wherever they occur.  It is a treasure chest of up to the minute reporting. So why can't our public broadcaster or Fox News or CNN do likewise?

I will tell you what I think ...they are Lazy, Woke and Cannot be Bothered. 

And we the public are the poorer for it.

As I See It...

'K.D. Bell'