BeaverFever

“Everything is Broken” is the new conservative mantra as if it all just broke recently instead of being the predicted result of neoliberalism which intentionally brought decades of neglect of public and social infrastructure and of the defacto rule by business elites. It was championed by conservatives but became the national religion and was dutifully carried out by both political parties. The following is about the US but applies to Canada also Longer Commutes, Shorter Lives Oct. 19, 2023, 6:46 a.m. ET A great American investment slump. Longer Commutes, Shorter Lives Oct. 19, 2023, 6:46 a.m. ET A great American investment slump. The lounge on a Pan Am Boeing 707 in 1958. Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images The next time you take a trip within the U.S., I encourage you to try a thought experiment: Imagine how long the same trip might have taken a half-century ago. Chances are, it would have taken less time than it does today. The scheduled flight time between Los Angeles and New York, for example, has become about 30 minutes longer. Aviation technology has not advanced in ways that speed the trip, and the skies have become so crowded that pilots reroute planes to avoid traffic. Nearly every other part of the trip also lasts longer than it would have a few decades ago, thanks to traffic on the roads and airport security. All told, a cross-country trip could take a few more hours today than it would have in the 1970s. Shorter trips also take more time. Auto traffic in almost every metro area has worsened, and the country has done little to improve its rail network. In 1969, Metroliner trains made two-and-a-half-hour, nonstop trips between Washington and New York. Today, there are no nonstop trains on that route, and the fastest trip, on Acela trains, takes about 20 minutes longer than the Metroliner once did. The speed at which people can get from one place to another is one of the most basic measures of a society’s sophistication. It affects economic productivity and human happiness; academic research has found that commuting makes people more unhappythan almost any other daily activity. Yet in one area of U.S. travel after another, progress has largely stopped over the past half-century. This lack of recent progress is not a result of any physical or technological limits, either. In other parts of the world, travel has continued to accelerate. Shanghai’s airport is almost 20 miles from its city center, and the trip on a high-speed train takes less than 10 minutes. La Guardia Airport and Times Square are significantly closer together — yet good luck making the trip in less than 30 minutes. Why is it more difficult to get around the U.S.? Above all, it’s because our society has stopped investing in the future as we once did. For decades, government investment in highways, mass transit, scientific research, education and other future-oriented programs has grown more slowly than it once did — and has often failed to keep pace with economic growth. And the private sector tends to underinvest in these same areas because any individual company has a hard time making a profit from early-stage investments. Share of G.D.P. Spent on Federal Research and Development This shortfall of investment affects far more than travel. It affects economic growth, public health and both racial and gender inequities. The long American investment slump is one of the causes of our modern malaise, with rising income inequality, declining life expectancy, and deep frustration about the economy even when it’s growing. I explain the connection in a new Times Magazine article that goes into much more detail about the investment slump. The article also explains why there are some signs — albeit early ones — that the U.S. is rethinking its recent approach. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/briefing/america-infrastructure-investment.html

I agree the article underscores the great people and ahittty equipment. The elevation of Bagotville is 522’ ASL and nice cold weather to boot yet the Griffon can’t even carry 7 people including the crew without multiple fuel stops. Isn’t it meant to carry 8-10 soldiers PLUS 3 crew? I cannot imagine how they even lifted off the ground in the heat and altitude of Afghanistan, especially with all the added armour plating, body armour and door guns. Must’ve had a range of 10 feet.

Not the highest quality writing amd clearly PR material but a fun read nonetheless: Canadian CH-146 Griffon helicopter crew wins 2022 Cormorant Trophy LEONARDO PRESS RELEASE | OCTOBER 18, 2023 Estimated reading time 8 minutes, 51 seconds. A CH-146 Griffon helicopter crew is the recipient of this year’s Cormorant Trophy. Geoff Goodyear Photo Leonardo has announced the winners of the 2022 Cormorant Trophy which has been awarded to Rescue 439, a CH-146 Griffon helicopter crew that pushed the aircraft to its limits in challenging conditions in an evolving remote rescue scenario in Quebec. On Oct. 12, 2022 at 11 a.m., Rescue 439, a CH-146 Griffon helicopter at 439 Squadron, Canadian Forces Base Bagotville, Quebec, was tasked by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Trenton, Ontario, with conducting a rescue of a small plane crash in a lake in a remote area of Quebec, more than 220 nm (430 km) north of the base and about 170 nm to the west of Labrador City. In the first instance, the crew comprising Capt. Paula Findlater as aircraft commander, flight officer Capt Kevin Desjardins, flight engineer Sgt Eric Gelinas, and medical technician MCpl Maxime Chouinard, were told they were heading to a crash site with two victims. Flying to the scene, the Griffon was just 300 pounds (136 kilograms) below its maximum take-off weight (MTOW). Getting to the scene burned off sufficient fuel to make a return trip with two additional people — the presumed victims — on board. However, on the way to the scene, the rescue crew was informed that there was one victim who had managed to swim to shore, but three search-and-rescue (SAR) technicians had jumped from an overhead C-130 Hercules. This dramatically changed the weight calculations and made it impossible to bring everyone back to base safely on a single return flight. Capt Findlater and her crew made a decision that they would not leave anyone behind given the remote location. With no airport or other infrastructure near the crash site, Sgt Gelinas had to start working on multiple courses of action (COAs) to affect a rescue and recovery. This included finding remote fuel caches owned by forestry companies and fire-fighting services, and a complex calculation of weight and distance knowing that the helicopter would be close to exceeding its maximum take-off capacity. This was further exacerbated by the fact that the helicopter had to take off vertically from a confined, wooded landing area, instead of having a runway to gradually take off and achieve altitude. Arriving on scene, they found the victim and three SAR Techs in a small cabin 500 feet (152 meters) from the landing site. The helicopter was still too heavy to pick up the victim and three SAR Techs to take off vertically. Taking into account they needed to burn off 600 pounds (272l) of fuel and that moving the patient a long distance across sloping, snow-covered ground to the helicopter was fraught with risk, the Griffon crew took off, burned off the fuel in a hover while conducting a hoist rescue of the patient. The crew returned to the ground and with a lighter load, picked up the three SAR Techs and had just enough fuel to take-off vertically and fly 40 nm to the first fuel cache. The remote site required another vertical take-off, so they were only able to take on enough fuel for another 73 nm hop to the next fuel cache. Upon landing, they had to search for the barrels of fuel in the bush, some distance away from the landing strip. They rolled the drums out to the helicopter and then manually pumped the fuel into the helicopter, which is a regular landing strip for fixed-wing aircraft. Therefore, the crew were able to take on more fuel, embark on a gradual take-off and fly the remaining 136 nm to Chicoutimi, where the patient was taken to hospital for treatment and return to base, wrapping up a 10.5-hour mission. Capt Findlater of 439 Squadron said: “It’s really the complexity of the mission here and really pushing the Griffon helicopter to its absolute limits, with weight and given the all the unknowns and how new the crew was. It was really amazing to see. I was very, very proud to be the aircraft commander for sure for the mission.” Dominic Howe, head of campaigns – America and Canada at Leonardo Helicopters, said: “Amidst Canada’s rugged landscapes and strong seas, the bravery of this rescue crew shines bright. Their unwavering dedication and determination in the face of extreme conditions embodies the true spirit of heroism and the raison d’etre behind the Cormorant Trophy. Furthermore, it makes us proud that Leonardo’s helicopters can support the Royal Canadian Search and Rescue crews and provide safety to Canadians.” The recipients of the Cormorant Trophy are: Capt Paula Findlater Flight Officer, Capt Kevin Desjardins Flight Engineer, Sgt. Eric Gelinas Medical Technician, MCpl Maxime Chouinard 439 Squadron was selected out of two nominated helicopter rescue mission by a judging panel comprising representatives of the Canadian Armed Forces, aviation media, and company representatives. The other nominated rescues included: · The crew of Rescue 910 with 442 Squadron at CFB Comox on Labour Day Weekend 2022 were faced with three missions in 24-hours comprising two offshore medevacs and a helicopter crash rescue. The Cormorant Trophy Award celebrates excellence and bravery in missions. In 2002, Leonardo Helicopters (then AgustaWestland), manufacturer of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters, commissioned a trophy to be presented annually to a civilian, government or military Canadian helicopter crew that had performed the most demanding helicopter rescue of the year. Since July 2003, the Canadian Armed Forces has issued a call for nominations to all recognized helicopter operators in Canada for the award now known as the Cormorant Trophy. The following rescue criteria is applied for nominations: • The mission occurred between January 1 and December 31, 2022; • The mission occurred within Canada’s search-and-rescue area of responsibility; • It was conducted by a Canadian civilian, government or military helicopter crew; • It involved a rescue or attempted rescue where lives were saved or the potential for saving lives was high. Last year’s winners of the 2021 Cormorant Trophy, for the first time in the award’s history, went to helicopter rescue crews from both Canada and the U.S. for the heroic F/V Atlantic Destiny Rescue on March 3, 2021. This press release was prepared and distributed by Leonardo. https://skiesmag.com/press-releases/canadian-ch-149-griffon-helicopter-crew-wins-2022-cormorant-trophy/?utm_source=skies-daily-news-todays-news&utm_campaign=skies-daily-news&utm_medium=email&utm_term=todays-news&utm_content=V1

I wont argue with that, the “?”’s are all mine because I don’t even know if the preceding alphabet soup is the accurate and current version. I think it has 2 Qs now and I believe I recently saw it had a P but for the life of me I can’t think of what that could stand for. What I can say is that unlike conservatives it wouldn’t bother me the slightest if a beverage company sent one of them a free sample.

Yes the comparison between Hamas and NDP is so obvious because Hamas is so multicultural and LGBTQIAS2S+???? friendly and inclusive. I bet you Hamas conventions have all kinds of different coloured cards you can hold up to signal your preferred identity so they can ensure equitable access for all identity groups. ? Also if you never belonged to a religion in the first place can you really be an apostate?

IDK about that. The Crimean War and Franco-Prussian War stand out during that period as notable wars, plus there were lots of civil wars, rebellions and wars of secession on the continent and some empires fighting each other in the colonies. Plus Europeans definitely waged lots of wars against subjugated peoples pretty much everywhere outside of Europe during this era. It wasn’t kumbaya time. Perhaps you could say that in the 19th century there was so much internal instability on the continent and so much focus on conquering land outside of Europe that there were fewer significant continental wars between European nation states .

Something tells me Jagmeet Singh is not a godless atheist, I can’t quite put my finger on it….hmmm what could it be? Godless atheists are awesome though, I renew my membership every year.

I have my doubts but I suppose we shall see in the next year or two.

My side of the “fense” (sic) is open about whatever shit we’re into, weird or otherwise. . YOUR side is the one where people have SECRET weird shit. Just ask the secret swingin’ Falwells or lifelong pedophile Dennis Hastert

NDP and CPC have polar opposite ideologies and philosophies about a wide range of social and economic issues.People don’t go from the farthest left party to the farthest right party unless they have a sea change in their outlook on society and their views of government’s role in it. Its one thing to become disenchanted with your party and lose interest but such an extreme switch if parties like changing your support from Palestine to Israel or maybe even like changing your religion. For that reason I’ve always been skeptical of claims of people switching between CPC and NDP in any large numbers, that’s 2 moves on the dial. I think history shows that outside of Quebec a small number of people move between Lib and NDP if they move at all or they just sit out the vote entirely

To use the word “literally” properly, it’s literally NOT what she said. Theres no line its a forum where people who want to address the crowd raise their hand then wait their turn to to speak at one of the microphones they have set up. They did not say one word about any groups going first or last

At least you admit you’re a sexual weirdo thats the first step to getting better. Now please release that poor girl at your next truck stop and seek help.

What if someone’s accessibility need is that can’t raise their hand? They didn’t think about that one did they? VILE ABLEISTS ? As annoying and unnecessarily excessive as a lot of this DEIB stuff is, I didn’t hear anyone say anything about a line much less about anyone having going to the back of one. It’s quite clear to that’s not what they were saying.

Do you think God calls people “sluts” and “losers” and “perverts” whenever they express an opinion he disagrees with the way you do? God doesn’t exist but if he dod you you’re failing every one of his lessons. And again you continually choose words “pervert” and “slut” as your go-to insults on topics that have nothing whatsoever to do with sex. Its so weird, dude. So weird. This random sex-based aggression of yours is getting disturbing. I’m betting that if you don’t already have dead hookers in your basement you sure enjoy fantasizing about it.

Well this seems as good a thread as any to mention the American right-wing nut who stabbed a 6-yr old boy to death in Illinois Prosecutors: Alleged Killer of 6-Year-Old Muslim Boy Listened to Far Right Radio Right-wing figures have spent the last weeks stoking violence against Muslims and Palestinians. The man suspected of fatally stabbing 6-year-old Palestinian American boy Wadea Al-Fayoume and wounding his mother, Hanan Shaheen, on Saturday was a regular listener of conservative talk radio — and hosts’ programming on the Hamas attack on Israelis ultimately led him to carry out the horrific attack, prosecutors have said. Joseph Czuba, 71, made his initial appearance in court in Will County, Illinois, on Monday after he allegedly stabbed Al-Fayoume 26 times; as he appeared in court, mourners held a funeral for the young Muslim boy at a local mosque. Shaheen was not in attendance because she was hospitalized after the attack. According to prosecutors, Czuba’s wife said that he regularly listens to conservative talk radio and that, in days before the attack, became irritated overthe call for a supposed “national day of jihad” on October 13 — a bunk and perhaps purposeful misinterpretation by right-wing figures of a comment made by a former leader of Hamas to Reuters last Wednesday. Czuba had been listening to right-wing radio coverage of the Hamas attack in the days before the attack, his wife told detectives, and wanted Shaheen to move out. He evidently believed that he was personally endangered by Shaheen’s presence and that Shaheen “was going to call Palestinian friends to come and harm” him and his wife, said Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.… … The “global day of jihad” rhetoric, for instance, may have played a role in the young boy’s death. In his Reuters interview, former Hamas leader Khaled Meshal never called for a “global day of jihad,” but the phrase quickly spread across far-right forums and social media networks like X, formerly Twitter. Users referred to Muslim people with racial slurs and told each other to stock up on weapons and ammo. Prominent conservative figures, including Republican members of Congress, amplified the message. Several Fox Newshosts warned about the “day of jihad,” while Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — who hosts a show that is broadcast on right wing radio stations — said that“we have invited some of the most disgusting people on the planet into the West” and that “we shouldn’t be surprised” if something ad were to happen on the “global day of jihad” on the 13th. Ultimately, there was no organized global protest or other action that conservatives had spread fear about. But there was at least one incident of violence carried out against a Palestinian-American family, allegedly motivated by the fear mongering. https://truthout.org/articles/prosecutors-alleged-killer-of-6-year-old-muslim-boy-listened-to-far-right-radio/ Palestinians are legally not allowed to become part of Israeli society, Israel doesn’t want that and never has.

No they’re not poof gone they’re just living abroad and terrorists can easily launch attacks from abroad, 9-11 wasn’t an outlier in that respect. Plis they will still able to carry out terrorist attacks against the Jewish diaspora and Israel’s overseas assets like embassies and airlines. Bust most importantly mass deportation of 2 million Palestinians is a crime against humanity that will only increase sympathy for Hamas within the displaced Palestinian diaspora and the Arab l/Muslim world causing the terrorist threat to grow. Israel had a peace partner with the secular Palestinian Authority/PLO but they instead opted to take a hardline approach and seized the opportunity twist the dagger when Arafat died. They ended up getting Hamas as their “partner” in Gaza as a result. Today none of the leaders in Israel or Palestine want peace. They either want eternal war until Judgment Day as ordained by god, or they want a total one-sided victory with 100% of all Israel/Palestine under their control with the other side obliterated and “driven into the sea”.

Terrorizing civilians didn’t work for Hamas or Al Qaeda or anyone else in history and it won’t work for Israel either.

They are well within their righ to wipe out Hamas but causing a humanitarian crisis among Palestinian civilians will only guarantee Hamas will get stronger After all Hamas terrorizing Israel made Israel stronger amd more aggressive and bolstered international support against Israel, same for AlQaeda’s attack on 9/11. That’s pretty much the way it’s be throughout human history it’s human nature. Why do people somehow always seem to think “this time it will be different”?

You understand that Iran has been supporting Hamas decades right? You understand that Iran the Hamas attack was mostly just a bunch of gunmen, not a multibillion dollar mechanized brigade? Are you honestly trying to argue with that oil-rich Iran wouldn’t have been able to afford this without the humanitarian money being unlocked? Besides the timing doesn’t add up according to Israel and pretty much every expert this attack would have taken months to pla b

As a democracy, Israel should exercise restraint Michael Byers holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia. There is no equivalency between Hamas and Israel. Hamas is a terrorist organization that deliberately targets civilians. The Oct. 7 attacks were designed to cause horrific suffering. War crimes were committed, and Israel has the right to pursue the perpetrators – to capture them if possible, and kill them if not. Israel, in contrast, is a democratic state with an unwritten constitution, a still mostly independent judiciary, peaceful changes of government, and a tradition of spirited debate. Story continues below advertisement Two decades ago, as a visiting professor at Tel Aviv University, I taught a course on the laws of war. The Israeli Defense Forces sent a dozen of their young lawyers to study with me. We had many spirited debates. It was during the Second Intifada. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, had recently been assassinated in Gaza by an Israeli missile. The strike was an attempt to stop a wave of suicide bombings in buses and cafés in Tel Aviv. Mr. Yassin was partly blind and confined to a wheelchair. Could he be part of the kill chain and therefore a legitimate target? Thanks to my students, I learned that where you stand on this question depends on where you sit – in an office in Vancouver, or on a bus in Tel Aviv. Israelis are feeling even more vulnerable today. They are also burning with rage. The nature of the Oct. 7 atrocities and their dissemination on video have ripped open Holocaust scars that were never fully closed. Story continues below advertisement But while the demand for retribution is understandable, it must be resisted. Israel governs itself under the rule of law. A sovereign state, it has also chosen to ratify numerous international treaties, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Unlike the United Nations Charter, which sets out the rules governing the recourse to force, including self-defence, the Geneva Conventions concern international humanitarian law – the rules governing the conduct of armed conflicts. At the moment, it is impossible to say whether Israel’s target selection in Gaza complies with those rules. It is at least conceivable that Israel is only targeting Hamas’s military infrastructure, its leadership and militia members. It is even conceivable that Israeli military lawyers have, in each instance, balanced the military necessity of the strike against the anticipated deaths and injuries to civilians. However, we can say that, when bombs are dropped in densely populated neighbourhoods, the military advantage would have to be enormous to exceed the civilian harm. We can also say that in no circumstance may attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure be justified by similar violations on the other side. Hamas’s use of civilians as human shields is illegal, but two wrongs do not make a right. Finally, there are two rules which Israel is clearly violating. The first is the prohibition on collective punishment, which extends beyond “collective penalties” to include “all measures of intimidation.” Cutting off water, food, fuel, and electricity to more than two million people is collective punishment. The siege of Gaza cannot be justified because Hamas is holding hostages: again, two wrongs do not make a right. The second clearly violated rule is the prohibition on forcible transfers within or from an occupied territory, for instance, from Gaza City to southern Gaza. An alleged violation of this rule is the basis of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year. Israeli lawyers will point out that there is an exception to the rule, namely that transfers may occur “if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.” But even then, the transferring power “shall ensure, to the greatest practicable extent, that proper accommodation is provided to receive the protected persons, that the removals are effected in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and that members of the same family are not separated.” Clearly, those responsibilities are not being fulfilled in southern Gaza today. Democratic countries adopt laws to control their own futures. Crafted in times of peace that allow for reflection and debate, laws are intended to guide our actions during moments of crisis and raw emotion. The same is true among the community of nations. Hamas seeks to drag Israel into a downward spiral of suffering and retribution, but Israel can prove that it is better than that. As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last Thursday: “We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard – even when it’s difficult – and holding ourselves to account when we fall short.” https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-israel-can-avoid-getting-dragged-into-hamass-spiral-of-suffering-and/#:~:text=Michael Byers holds the Canada,organization that deliberately targets civilians.

The Libs should be held accountable for promising Pharmacare in their 2019 election platform and then completely ignoring it afterwards. NDP should have made this a condition of their supply and confidence arrangement from the start instead of insisting on Dental Care, which doesn’t have the same significance to Canadians.

Lmao you have no idea what you’re even talking about, probably couldn’t find Turkey on a map let alone offer any kind of informed opinion on one of its political movements that existed over a century ago. You’re just here because you sense an opportunity to pile on an“libbie” ….let’s not forget you’re the guy who apologizes for and defends Putin

What? I don’t know what you are referring to when you reference “capable of reform” think you even understood my post. Your commentary don’t really seem to relate to what I actually said. Once again reading comprehension is not your strong suit l. Nothing offensive about stating FACTUALLY that some of the people in the Armenian genocide were from the Young Turks movement while also pointing out FACTUALLY that by that time, the YT which was decades old by then had splintered and evolved into many different groups, only one of which had seized power from the others in a coup. Nothing offensive about stating FACTUALLY that in English the term “young Turks” is an expression used to describe a reform-oriented newcomer. Don’t blame me I didn’t invent the term.

“Young Turk” is also a figure of speech loosely referring to radical reformers, particularly if they’re part of a new group or generation Also while it’s not untrue that the Young Turks have an association with the Armenian Genocide it’s not the whole truth either. The original Young Turks was a social and intellectual movement formed in the late 1800s that (briefly) ended the Turkish autocracy in a bloodless coup and instituted a multiparty constitutional democracy and they were a secular multiethnic society that included Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Arabs, Albanians, and others. But as the Ottoman empire’s power and influence continued to decline especially after losing the Balkan War in 1912 they fractured into different factions, one of which was the ultranationalist group led by the “Three Pashas” who seized control of the main political party founded by the Young Turks in a coup in 1913. Thus ending Turkish democracy after only about 5 years. Armenian genocide then begins shortly after Turkey’s loss in WW1, in 1915 So some of the people responsible for the genocide were connected to or had been part of the Young Turk movement, which is not the same as saying people who participated in the young turk movement participated in the genocide

You might be surprised to learn this but humans are different from animals have conscious thoughts and can adjust their behaviour according to their surroundings.