Public service workers who are allowed to work from home need a pay cut, not a pay raise

Don't get me wrong - public servants need a raise that at least keeps up with inflation, as does every other worker in the land. But this "work from home" dawdle has to be called out. Certain people had the option of working from home when society was attacked by a deadly virus that was allegedly going to end civilization if we didn't mask up, stay home, and get those safe and effective vaccines. Most people, the "front line workers," never had the option. They just kept going to work. They were heroes for a few months. We so appreciated them we vowed they'd soon have paid sick days, full-time hours, pensions, a living wage, and a partridge in a pear tree. That's all over now. Not the pandemic - that's still chugging along quietly, reaping a daily harvest of the infirm elderly. We've just done away with all the masking and distancing. We're apparently following a different science now. And all those promises to the front line heroes? Long forgotten. Meanwhile, the laptop labourers who got the work-from-home card are feeling their oats. They deserve a raise just like everyone else in the public service. Do they? When you work from home you save on child care, commuting, parking, clothes, and a bunch of peripheral stuff. Child care alone can be a $1500 a month saving. And look at the quality of life. Instead of getting up at 6 to be at work by 9, you set your alarm to 8:45 and you'll be at work on time. You can spend all day in your pjs unless you have to pull on a shirt for a zoom meeting. You can have multiple other windows open on your laptop while allegedly working. The only expense that'll go up is your booze bill, because by 10am... well it's happy hour somewhere. Other than that, I'm with my PSAC brothers and sisters all the way.

Go Leafs Go!

For the first time since 2004 the Leafs have survived round one of playoff action, and for the first time in about as long, I watched the game on Hockey night in Canada. Looks to me like the sports gambling industry has taken over the joint. Don Cherry's side-kick is still running the intermissions, but the betting adverts have been so seamlessly integrated it's hard to tell them from official content. Another thing I don't remember seeing is corporate logos on hockey gear. If a helmet said Bauer on it, it was because Bauer made the helmet. Now it seems any outfit with the cash can advertise their wares on hockey sweaters... the dairy farmers' milk marketing board, for example. As for the product on the ice, I found it dizzying to be bombarded non-stop with ever-changing advertisements flashing on the boards. The game itself almost seems an afterthought. Job one for the owners is to wring every possible penny of revenue out of their teams. Unlimited advertising, legal betting, and extorting taxpayer money for new arenas by threatening to move the team are all income-maximizing strategies. Kinda makes me miss Harold Ballard.

PM Fluffy jets off to New York to impress global action takers and impact makers while public services in Canada grind to a halt

Canada continues its inexorable quest for "shithole country" status. We will not be denied! Justin took a well-deserved break from mis-ruling his country to preen before an adoring global audience at the "Global Citizen NOW" shindig in New York City. Never heard of them, but according to their website they are action takers and impact makers. They are funded by the usual A-list tax-exept billionaire-owned "progressive" foundations. Justin's base. Meanwhile, things are getting downright grotty here in the Great White North. The public service is on strike. They've been offered a contract that is a de facto 5% wage reduction. Fluffy says the government can't afford a fair settlement. But we're up to $8 billions on the Ukraine file. How's that going?

Trump endorses Tucker Carlson White House bid, will run as VP

I was heading up Peninsula way to see my old pal, semi-retired shaman Wilbur Manytroubles, who lives just off reserve on the escarpment north of Wiarton. Wilbur has a God-given gift of divining the future in everything from tea leaves to chicken gizzards. My friend Sue keeps a few hens in the back yard, and I knew she was at work, so I stopped by and stuffed one of her leghorns in a pillow case and off I went. While Mrs. Manytroubles was roasting up the bird, Wilbur was sizing up the innards. This is what he told me: Tucker will seek the GOP nomination; Trump will support him and be his VP; Biden will be decimated in November '24; the Christian Fascists Chris Hedges has been warning us about will take over America... OK. I've heard all this before. I ask Wilbur, hey man, does it say if the secular fascists are gonna slide over to make room for the Christian fascists? Wilbur fondles the chicken parts a long moment and finally tells me the signals are getting kinda weak and he's gonna need another chicken... Damn!

AngloAmerican establishment finally slaps some sense into wayward Rupert Murdoch

Revenge of the Deep State. Here's what it looks like when the Deep Staters yank the chain of one of their own who got too big for his billionaire britches. First, here's a $750 million fine for suggesting our elections aren't on the up and up. And unless you want to find out what real pain feels like, we suggest you dump that Tucker fucker too. He's still giving air time to that communist agitator Glenn Greenwald and a whole lot of other Putin stooges. How else do you explain what's going on? It's the Deep State, the establishment, the aristocracy, the permanent governing class, flexing their muscles. The Murdoch empire is falling into line. Which they've more or less been all along, but Carlson was obviously pushing the envelope, associating the Fox brand with treasonous transgressions like sticking up for Assange or allowing Greenwald on our airwaves. Off with his head!

Why Canada's "inadequate" defence spending won't get it kicked out of NATO

The CBC has a scary story on view about how our NATO allies may soon tire of Canada’s reluctance to ramp up military spending to 2% of GDP. As Donald Trump pointed out a few years ago, neither Canada nor many other NATO members reach the 2% threshold. It’s big news across our media that, according to recent leaks, PM Fluffy has allegedly told allies Canada will never meet its funding obligations. That’s led to much tut-tutting from defence industry funded think tanks like the Council of Defence Associations. Unsurprisingly, they’re gung-ho for more military spending! Why? Well, apparently we’re not standing close enough to our allies in the fight for human rights and democracy playing out in Ukraine. They expect more from us. They do? According to NATO, in 2022, only seven of 30 member states met the 2% target. That’s 3/4ths of the entire club that didn't! Canada is in good company. In fact, the freeloaders make a robust majority! When three-quarters of your club are outcasts, you’ve got a problem! Trump’s problem, shared by CBC and Globe & Mail “journalists” today, is that USA is paying twice as much to secure freedom and democracy as the rest of NATO combined. Given that NATO has been reduced to an arm of US foreign policy, I think the Americans should pay 100% of the costs. The vassal states are doing their part by giving NATO a gloss of multilateralism. Why should they pay cash on top of giving up their sovereignty?

US-NATO solidarity is fraying rapidly

Every time NATO SecGen Jumpy Jens gets near a TV camera, he starts a’twitchin’ and a’twerkin’ as he proclaims; “Putin vant less NATO. Instead, he get more NATO.” True. The formidable military prowess of Finland, population similar to Greater Toronto Area, will undoubtedly shift the balance of power in the global show-down between the alleged democracies and the Bad Guys. Or not. We’re up to four NATO states banning imports of Ukrainian grain. Why? Because all that Ukrainian grain that was going to feed starving Africa mostly ended up in neighbouring states instead, driving down farm-gate prices across Europe. Poland is the most vocal champion of Ukraine in the mainstream media. In reality, they’re cutting off welfare payments to Ukrainian refugees and banning grain imports. There are still those in Poland who recall the “solidarity” of Ukrainian nationalists in the WW2. Their solidarity was with Nazi Germany, not with Poland. Hundreds of thousands of Poles paid the price with their lives. Meanwhile, it becomes increasingly obvious that the glorious Ukrainian victory we’ve been promised for over a year ain’t ever going to happen. The combined industrial capacity of the NATO nations can’t keep Ukraine supplied with heavy weapons or the rockets, missiles, and artillery shells required to effectively counter Russia. You’d think the masterminds behind this war would have done some basic math calculations before they goaded their Ukrainian flunkies into it. The general consensus, including at the NYT and WaPo, is that Ukrainian fire-power is outmatched anywhere from 4:1 to 10:1. That’s why it’s ludicrous to imagine that Russia is suffering more casualties. The side that delivers 50,000 artillery shells per day will inevitably inflict more casualties if their opponents can only manage 5,000. The sad truth is that Ukraine’s “allies” can’t even deliver those 5,000. Until 2028, after some new factories are built. Hang tight, Zelensky! We’ll have everything you need in five years or so! Here on the home front, I see where several dozen worthies from the upper echelon of our military-political-media complex have come out to demand that PM Fluffy get serious about defending democracy. They want tens of billions of new spending on US war toys, and a major ramp-up of bellicose rhetoric against “our adversaries.” It’s the least we can do to “stand with our allies,” otherwise known as following Washington’s instructions. Today a minor Putin critic in Russia got a prison sentence of 25 years for treason. Sure, it’s a trumped-up charge and they’re making an example of him, but here’s my take-away. Minutes after the verdict, the UK, US, and Canadian ambassadors to Russia stood on the courtroom steps, in Russia, denouncing the verdict. If the situation was reversed, how long do you think the ambassadors of Russia, China, and Iran would be allowed to play to TV cameras in Ottawa? I’m beginning to wonder if maybe they’ve got more freedom of speech in Russia than we do here!