Critical Perspectives and Reflections

Our very new family member, Kleio, a rescue dog (ft note, a Jindo from Korea) got loose this evening (a worker had left our gate open. But it was essentially my fault for not telling them all to make sure they closed it on leaving.) Kleio has had a very rough life (though seemingly a pure bread she was probably abandoned on the streets of a Korean city, nabbed by someone who planned to sell her for dog meat, and finally rescued by an agency with headquarters in Toronto, ending up here in Canada). She had been with us only about six or seven weeks, too short a period to bond with my wife and I. I’m sure when she found herself alone, she probably became disorganized and then freaked out and just started running. A neighbour across from us heard me calling for her and offered to help. Wendy (the neighbour) just jumped in her car and started driving around and asking anyone she saw about Kleio. Other neighbours also went looking on foot as did our son-in-law Darryl JG Newbury who biked all...

Let’s be crystal clear on this matter: I support Ukraine, and Ukrainians, in this war 100% and unapologetically. Yes, Ukraine has an Alt right political element of extremism, just as does Canada, the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Poland… The list is endless. So let’s stop treating it like we’re “shocked and appalled”. At the same time, let’s not deny it. Folks, we can call fake, BS etc. all we wish and it may very well be. However, Russia, will exploit this to their own benefit, to deflect attention from their vile war crimes. I think some of you are missing the point here. This war is very much an info ops campaign with both sides vying to influence the hearts, minds, support, be it financially or with arms, what have you. In the event Ukraine fails to address this video, by way of an independent body investigating its validity, Ukraine would be handing Putin ammunition in his campaign of deception and deceit, both domestically and internationally. Cooler heads are r...

Well, the delegations have gone to Rome and have now left. In the various meetings with Pope Francis the Indigenous “delegates”, who travelled to the Vatican, have spoken to the Pope and by all reports he has listened to them. Behind the scenes there have been meetings between Indigenous spokespersons and Vatican officials. Hopefully those Vatican diplomats also listened carefully to what the Indigenous people had to say, what their experiences with colonialism, historical and contemporary, have been and what they desired to come out of the whole process. As Friday ended, some of the Indigenous people present were interviewed. All, of course, suffered due to their own experiences, or those of their parents or grandparents or uncles or aunties, in one of those residential hell holes. Many of these people were heard to state that it was a good apology and was helping them to heal. They said that hearing the Pope actually use the words sorrow and apology reached their hearts in a way tha...