overthere

Damn. That eliminates the secret Liberal plan to use leased Westjet 737s as giant sluggish combat fighters.

Yabbut... what will the EU tell them now, and what tiny portion of that will be the truth, and what larger portion will be intended to wield a club over the UK and Brexit negotiations? Ironically, the Scots need to get permission from the UK Parliament to hold another separation referendum. It is unlikely to be forthcoming, the country just did this very thing recently. If I was London, I'd tell the Scots to shut their pieholes and wait their turn. I am actually a loyal Scot, my mother is from there and I have seen firsthand the passions of the country. But far too many Scots live in a cozy bubble of generational entitlement and transfer payments. They are hooped without a lot of money from London, they would be more hooped without even more money from Brussels. What motivation does Brussels have to take that on? A pie in the face to the UK by taking on another welfare state member is just silly.

And add to that the reality that with a strong dollar Americans want to travel and will spend more....... Every US dollar not spent in the EU will get spent somewhere else. As Canadians, we should be supporting the EU vs US visa war, because guess who sees some benefit from that?

While Blaney is generally a blithering idiot and totally unfit to be PM, he is absolutely right about the first duty of this or any government: the safety and security of the nation must be the very first priority. That takes many forms domestically and abroad, including military strength, strong alliances, independent police, the importance of the independent judiciary, due process and most importantly the rule of law. A very major reason that people come to Canada as immigrants, and a very major reason for our quality of life, is that it is a relatively safe place on this fractious, uncertain and dangerous planet.. We wank on about 'Canadian values' all the time. Well, safety and security is right at the forefront of a short list. We will get ourselves in serious trouble if we forget that.

Before the Scots attempt to leave the UK over Brexit, they might want to get some specifics on their supposed membership in the EU as a new country. It is not at all clear that the EU wants them. They are small, fractious and their economy is traditionally a shambles that is heavily dependent on the UK. Does the EU really want another 5 million dependents? Next country to bail out of EU probably won';t be Scotland- it may well be Ireland. Not Northern Ireland, but Eire. They have a huge economic relationship with the UK right now, and that is very very unlikely to be sustained on Brexit. Brussels will not allow it. Some hard choices ahead!

HBO has a documentary about Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, called Bright Lights. It is worth watching, funny and sad and touching in turn.

Interesting, but sadly it has absolutely nothing to do with what you quoted from me or the situation in Edmonton Public School Board.

Why would I protest ? Our local school board offers the usual , standard and mandatory provincial curriculum in langauge arts, science, math, phys ed, social studies. After that, students are free to pursue whatever else is offered by the shcool- languages, fine arts, hockey or whatever.

I read some idiot writer from Toronto who said he wouldn't trade Matthews for McDavid. Snigger.

and you did not answer the question either. 3 for 3.

The reality is that low budget flicks with unknown casts(like both movies) all open in minimal theaters, distributors are driven by profit. Moonlight got some traction from being an Oscar winner, but the subject is harsh and profoundly sad for the most part. Fact: it is the exception for most people to go to a movie that makes them uncomfortable. Get Out does not make people uncomfortable, it is far more entertaining which is why it is doing so well. Most people don't want to pay $50/couple plus a babysitter to be lectured or instructed, they want a fun night out. I recall going to a mostly empty arthouse theater to watch a quirky, funny movie with an unknown cast. We went and saw it again a couple weeks later to a packed house in the same small arthouse thater. 2 months after that it was on hundreds of screens. Napoleon Dynamite. If Moonlight was more to the taste of the average moviegoer, it too would be doing gangbusters- like Get Out is doing.

Sweden is very well armed for a 'neutral' country.

You could afford a movie and popcorn, and did not note the disparity between yourself and the characters in Moonlight?

Nah. White Canadians are not flocking to the movie because of the racial elements. This is no epic/classic 'Schindlers List' where people lined up to be made uncomfortable about their ethnicity or race. They (the white horde) go because the movie is first and foremost entertaining. Your reviewer on IMDB must have his flicks mixed up, the current movie with lots of racial elements, and a movie that makes Whitey uncomfortable is Moonlight. Guess which one is going to make a lot more money? Hint: not the Oscar winner.

Alberta and Saskatchewan -and Ontario in a slightly different way-are quite different from other provinces, in that the right to a Catholic education at public expense is a constitutional right. Polticians there have two problems: having the gonads to try to change, and having the authority. For what it is worth,the public school board in Edmonton has taken some interesting and exceptional measures to keep public education alive and funded. They have no influence on the Catholic board, but the Public system has many other 'religious schools'- Muslim Jewish, Christian- all running on public funds. Its a big tent, and the net result is that there are very few private schools in Edmonton. The Public Board feels that better to have all those groups- and ,any, many more interest groups inside the system, This is possible because in AB, parents can send their kid to any school in the province they want, if there is room in that school. The schools or rather boards have two things they all must do: employ only certified teachers, and every school must teach the provincial curriuclum. That mandatory ciurrilculum takes up about 60% of every day, after that schools can offer pretty much anything that parents want. The system has hockey academies, fine arts, a whole bunch of language focused schools, ballet, soccer, military , academic achievement, and many others. Or they can offer, as many do, the usual mix of art, phys ed, languages etc that is more traditional. It works well.

Rust and Bone, a short story collection by Craig Davidson(a Canadian). One of these was the basis for the fine movie of the same name, starring Marion Cotillard. The stories are rough and ready, and mostly compelling.

It is not really a horror flick. Suspenseful and funny.....and the premise is woefully short of science, but... not an issue.

I am willing to bet that these scientists have heard of planting trees. But I guess you are not aware of the nature of permafrost. Trees and taproots don't do well in ground that is permanently frozen. Tip: drive through Yukon on the Dempster highway, where you can personally witness the transition form boreal forest to tundra. It is quite abrupt. There aren't any trees on the tundra. And bonus: a wondrous trip too.

No, his intent was to kill her by repeatedly swinging an iron bar at her head, and he would have killed her had she not defended herself somewhat. And he has been charged with attempted murder.

Yes, I have. I thought it was very entertaining and did not get too wound up about the racial elements, slavery, White Liberalism or any other purported analogies. The theater was packed, though admittedly mostly with white people and some may have been Liberals/liberals. I did not read any major significance into any of it. It certainly was not slave porn like 12 Years a Slave. If I had run into a black person after the movie, I would have had no diffculty making eye contact. It was like Shaun of the Dead, but with a diffident black guy instead of a ginger muppet.

Both Sweden and Switzerland- neutral countries that some in Canada think they want to emulate- have military conscription. But unless you are a partisan numbskull in Canada , 'neutral' does not mean unarmed or poorly prepared for war. Sweden spends much more per capita than Canada, Switzerland about the same- though the Swiss numbers do not include the very sizable reserve forces that are present, armed and well trained in Switzerland. Both countries are also arms exporters, to the extent that Sweden and Switzerland are respectively the third and fith largest arms exporters in the world per capita

Delays and issues on pipeline approvals would never happen in Canada.

I was in Paris and London last summer. Both cities were bursting at the seams with tourists- as usual. London was particularly crazy, never seen it like that, and in the middle of a heat wave too. Part of that was due to the low cost of the British pound- many Euros visited the UK as a result, and fewer Brits went abroad. The concerns of your friends are certainly not shared by most people.

I doubt that anything Trudeau says would interrupt the flow of the lineup to lick Trudeaus boots in caucus sessions.

They didn't have the license plate number on film, only the first letter of it. They now apparently have found the car, but not the driver. Whoever did this should be charged with attempted murder, the reason this poor womans head wasn't bashed in was she used her(now broken) arms to fend off the blows.