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Partial travel bans are like having a pissing section in a swimming pool.

I wrote a couple of articles to a local newspaper two months ago. One got published. One was going to get published but never did. Instead, the journalist I was in touch with switched jobs. Not sure if the article below had anything to do with this. Hopefully not. =========================================================================== CROWN LAND We all have our interpretations of land definitions - private land, crown land, city land, public land and they all conjure up images in our minds. The vision that comes up in my mind, when crown land is mention, is that of forests , mountains and streams teaming with wildlife and fish; undisturbed by any human activity. The secondary image is that of the golden crown on the head of Queen Elizabeth II; not that it really matters whose head the crown is on. We supposedly have unimpeded access to crown land and can use it for recreation; this is where the remaining wildlife is trying to survive. Wildlife are other forms of life very similar to us by having typically two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, four limbs and a tail, something that we lost along the evolutionary curve. They have blood, warm as ours and of the same color; they have the same emotions and can express themselves well within their environment. We can understand them too, if we chose to, but that wasn't to the benefit of the crown so the Queen turned a blind eye on them and called them property. The poor souls did not speak the Queen's language and could not defend themselves in court, so there went all their rights. Hardly a surprise, considering slavery was originally abolished in 1833 but can be argued, still exists today and that racism and discrimination are alive and well around the world (no matter what some might tell us). Land occupied by wildlife became up for grabs. Humans rushed into it with excavators, chopped it to pieces, pushed wildlife away and killed (or humanely euthanized) the rest. With the land cleared they could start building their homes and businesses, thus obliterating the habitat forever and making it useless for any life sustaining functions. There were no trees to absorb and hold up moisture or to produce oxygen and biological material that sustains the cycle of life. However those humans taking residence had their own biological needs , demanding food to be provided to them from the remaining healthy ecosystems that still functioned properly. Demands of course grew. Under the right system which treats people as a commodity, the human population exploded and the disposition of crown land continued in full force. They called it "development", "growing the economy" or "creating jobs". Some of us noticed animals were being wiped out and getting close to extinction, but we would still not recognize and rectify the problem. Foundations were created; non-for profit organizations were started and funds were raised to save species - tigers, lions, salmon, whales, bears, elephants; well of course every species could go on the list for the very basic reasons that they were dispossessed of land, their food was stolen or their waters and air were polluted with toxins. In addition, their environment was filled up with objects posing new threats - ropes, fishing lines, plastic bags and bottles, glass, lead, fast moving vessels, vehicles, trains and airplanes. Wildlife continued to serve as food for us. Their peace and quiet was forever gone. But we would still not rectify the problem. We camouflaged the mayhem behind the sophisticated terminology of "sustainable practices", "environmentally friendly methods", "green" and the "millions of dollars raised" for this or that cause. The uncomfortable truth is that anything raised originated from the pillage and plunder of the land. The even more uncomfortable truth is that crown land does not belong to the crown or to humans only. It is common land that is there to be shared and the only thing that needs to be managed is our numbers, as nature has so far taken care of managing the numbers of anything else. But keep in mind that the government does not collect property taxes from wildlife; neither income taxes, nor GST or PST or carbon tax, or licenses and registration fees. To the government the wilderness is of zero value unless developed and exploited; and here we are in an economy of constantly growing population chasing our tails on the "forest service" roads, servicing the forests and promoting the new destructive project which will turn a healthy forest into a wasteland. Isn't our world run like a giant Ponzi scheme, where new players are needed to sustain the future gains of a few up the pyramid? Those schemes that inevitably fail bringing everyone involved down with them. Poor wildlife and poor us, at least those of us who can realize where we are headed.

There's a crazy paradox in regards to how we get our food nowadays. The Food source is fine, people are raising livestock, growing crops, milking cows. But because a large percentage of their customer base (restaurants and catering) have been told to stay home, they can't get their food to market like they have been. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/us-coronavirus-outbreak-agriculture-food-supply-waste We see in Belgium that people are being told to eat more fries because growers can't get their food to market. https://globalnews.ca/news/6877112/coronavirus-potatoes-fries-belgians/ On the flip side, we have large swaths of the population out of work and thrust into an area of food insecurity. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/11/food-a11.html Then there's the fact that Food processing facilities have been hit by COVID-19 and many of the workers there are getting sick. I just heard today that McDonalds in Canada will stop selling Canadian Beef because the supply chain has slowed. In the US, Tyson's food i begging workers to show up to work. And now Trump is ordering processing plants to stay open. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/29/business/meat-processing-plant-workers-reaction-executive-order/index.html Make you want to buy organic, doesn't it? How do we get this food to market? How can people be euthanizing animals, flushing milk down the drain and plowing over drops but people are also starving and waiting hours in line for handouts? This video from a few years ago on John Oliver, he mentions how it's more economical for Growers and Grocery stores to throw food away than to donate it. I'm not here to suggest any answers. Other than obviously allowing growers to diversify how they get their food to market. I know these large food companies are very controlling of how growers distribute their food. With Chicken Farming, the large companies own the Chickens and the Feed. The farmers just grow the birds for them. It's a really interesting debate. I live in a very food plentiful area of the world (four or five large grocery stores within walking distance of me), I've not seen many of the shortages as bad as I've heard. But it's a consequence of this disease that's pretty stark.

Yes they are 44 more than the previous year, but we have 36 million citizens in this country, and of those only 223 are murdered by firearms, and over 7 million register fire arms...odds are pretty good that you will not be killed or murdered by a fire arm....infact you have more chance of getting run over by a drunk driver... the stats I posted were people killed by someone under the influence, drunk or high drivers, and most people don't drink before going to work... I get it having any firearm in your home is a choice, but when you look at the stats most, more than 99 % own , operate, and store their firearms as per the law...thats pretty good odds. I agree with you on handguns, I don't own one, never needed one while out hunting, but their are many that shot for sport or competition and it is getting bigger every year. So why to take that away from them, because a few hand guns go missing every year. I can't see it from your prospective, I'm sorry, if the numbers where in the thousands I'd consider it...but right now Knife murder as many people as guns do...I can't follow the logic why one has to be band but not the other...Now if you where saying law enforcement needs more resources to combat illegal guns coming into the country , i'd be right behind you...but banning firearms is not the answer, it just prevents law abiding citizens from using them...bad guys have never had a problem with getting illegal firearms...

"Dutch intensive care doctor Jan Bakker is working in New York through the coronavirus crisis. He is exasperated by the American healthcare system and the inequality it highlights. "What this crisis has made clear is that the US healthcare system is pretty much the worst system we know in the developed world. It is best if you have money and want to get every possible treatment until your last breath. But if you're broke, you're screwed," Bakker said in an interview with Het Parool." https://nltimes.nl/2020/04/28/dutch-icu-doc-exasperated-new-york-youre-broke-youre-screwed

Lol, good point, but Canadians are pretty easy to lead around by the nose. You could probably convince a few million to work as slaves, just tell them that it makes them morally superior to non-slaves.

Yes....after Obama was elected, some conservative U.S. groups posted billboards that ask about Bush, "Do you miss me yet ? " My experience here and with other Canadian media is that those who take the longer view of U.S. presidential history/politics and don't fall for the populist bait are able to have a more balanced view and perspective sans emotional "hate". Trump is certainly and purposely a rude and crude bastard, but his domestic and international policies should be compared to those of his predecessors, where there are always successes and failures. There are history books written that only have a president's last name or popular media initials as their titles (JFK, LBJ, NIxon, etc.), and Trump will have his too.

My favourite George Bush quote came a short while after President Trump was inaguarated. "I'm not looking son bad now." or words to that effect. Like so many politicians, President Bush has really grown in my view. Senator Barry Goldwater is another. Why don't we get to know the good side of people while they are still in office? Yah, I know- media.

Thanks, and please keep Trudeau in Canada where his damage can be limited and accepted with the "natural ruling party". Trudeau has his own baggage and missteps while in office, but he is mostly harmless on the international stage. I agree that Trump would never accept less than being top dog, as what he achieved in the 2016 election is a far more difficult thing to do.

Indeed, but this is true of any American president. Perhaps it is the modern availability of mainstream and social media that amplifies Canadian anxiety and fears about Trump, as this was less so when previous presidents and their decisions were "existential threats" to Canada. I agree that Trump does not follow previous norms, which is partially why he was elected in the first place...to "break things" and dismantle previous norms. This is the exact opposite of Canadian domestic and foreign policy which relies on multilateralism and "post WW2 order". George W. Bush was "hated" by Canada as well, but not to the depth of personal animus expressed about Donald Trump. Trump purposely knows how to bait his political enemies on the American left, and many (but not all) Canadians have flipped out too. In reality, Trump is just another U.S. president that will be replaced just like all the rest before him. Not silly at all...and actually backed up by poll data in Canada during the 2008 U.S. presidential election, wherein 15% of polled Canadians would have given up their vote in Canadian elections to be able to vote for candidate Barack Obama in America. This supports the idea that some Canadians are heavily invested into U.S. politics and election outcomes with concern over having little say in matters "because it affects us" (real or imagined).

Trump is on TV for hours a day, and making tweets all the time. If you want to get all bent out of shape over a spelling mistake and ignore everything else he's doing that's your problem. Trump's record of success speaks for itself. His economy booms. He dummied Russia and Syria and islamic state in his first year as POTUS. He got a good trade deal with important concessions out of China. He did a better job fighting covid than our PM - Trump was smart enough not to blindly follow the wrong advice that came from the WHO. Trump got good judges on the SC. He hasn't started any wars, but he put Iran sharply in their place. He has been killing high-lvl terrorists. Terrorist attacks in the US are way down from Obama's term. The biggest idiot is the person who doesn't realize that everything they see on CNN is a mixture of bullshit and outright lies after the last 3 years of 24/7.

Your Queenship. Sars mutated to be very difficult to catch. In return for that quality, it is actually more deadly if you catch it but much more difficult to catch...this iscwhat happens with viruses. Next most viruses never have a foolproof vaccine. There are vaccines for specific strains of viruses. Their being covid family viruses does not prevent a vaccine for them, just not all strains can be covered by one vaccine, so its not accurate to say all covid viruses can not have a vaccine, sometimes, some no. Next many viruses are invisible and show no early signs or signs all. Medicine knows this and creates tests to early detect before symptoms show. There is one for this virus, there will be now early testing in annual blood tests...it just takes time to implement and perfect. It's also very early to know how long anti bodies remain in the system. As a general rule there is no one rule for how long they stay in anybody. Next viruses mutate meaning with some we later on develop herd immunity we do not yet have seen th ed virus is new. You are making assumptions waybtok early to make. In fact everything you say applies to hundreds of viruses that now exist. A virus is not unique. Nothing unique has come from this virus. It appears deadly and unique because of how its presented to you and what you read. I could list hundreds of viruses more dezdly than Covid 19 that can kill you and are invisible. Start with West Nile, Ebola, Zeka, Henta, Spanish flu, influenza. Regards, Gomer Pyle, USMC, Sheriff A. Taylor's, Deputy Sheriff B. Rubble, Dr.'s Kildare, Casey, Welby, Seuss. I know this chick called Iris She frets over the covid 19 virus But what she really needs to worry about is this Her boyfriend just gave her syphilis Ain't no point worry about Chinese flu Just cuz it seems new We all carry virus gnomes Which causes me to write these friggin poems Stop worrying about disease And freaking out about a sneeze Yah stop bein so glum The cure for it all is any fruit juice with rum

You start a troll topic with the question "Why are Canadians so racist", presenting no evidence, by the way, and then you snivel about other people being judgemental? Why are Canadians "so" racist? Compared to what? "Don't make comparisons!" you cry. Which just reinforces my belief this is nothing but a troll thread so you can insult Canadians. Because you're an outsider and always will be, unwelcome and foreign.

You may have heard there is a major extinction event happening in the world now. Headlines like this can be found, but you must google for it specifically. World Leaders, Media Ignore Biodiversity Report Detailing Mass Extinction Event Now Underway (May 24, 2019) We don't give a crap about species extinction, it means gone forever. No more re-spawns. We don't talk about it because the solution does not appeal to us. It means less wonderful technological conveniences. So carry on raping the environment and playing video games, and bitching about your politics, all we fucking stupid apes.

I agree, the future for Canada should be to protect its still-vast boreal forests and natural places. I dislike the term "resources", as though they are there only for the market. Same as I dislike using the term "Human Resources". It needs to be protected all the more so now, both land and water, because of the huge industrial demand by the tech industry, and Canada doing trade with huge countries, and Canada has no real industry of its own. In Canada, the industry is the Boreal forest. That threatens to consume all this nature, the technological society desires to turn the forest and all the richness that it has, all the life and beauty, into a cell phone.

You should be fair to, Trump, and delete this thread instantaneously. Your OP makes a claim, then refuses to validate that it is true. The non-USA facts say that the disease started in China and the facts say that waaaaay back in 2018, the USA (officials on the ground in Wuhan) cautioned the USA GOVT and the China GOVT about the Chinese lab workers' irresponsible physical handling of processes involving these specific bats and this specific virus. Yes. Facts say we should exactly be blaming China for what went on in its own nation, so please, show us readers why it is not okay to blame China when China is actually responsible for some horrid act. Yes, or else please delete this thread, on behalf of fairness??

So being a competent president doesn't matter, as long as Canada is watching. Interesting priorities.

Dude...American capitalism pre-dates Trump as president by many, many generations. It is profoundly stupid to think that he has such influence in only 3 years.

absolutely true. everyone love a clown.

This is so typiaclly Trudeau that it's just another sad indication of how stupid Canadians are. We're lucky that we live beside the US because anyone else would have taken us over by now.