Toronto’s Medical Officer of health has tested positive for COVID-19.
Dr. Eileen de Villa shared the news about her diagnosis in a tweet in which she said she’s “following public health guidelines and resting at home.”
h/t Mauser
Author: Blazingcatfur
Toronto police chief apologizes to Black, Indigenous communities as new data on use of force released
An expansive Toronto police report released Wednesday confirms what many racialized people in the city have long said: Black, Indigenous and other diverse groups are disproportionately affected by use-of-force and strip searches by officers.
Toronto Police Chief James Ramer is discussing the data analysis at a morning news conference.
The never-before-seen statistics released today were drawn from records of 949 use of force incidents and 7,114 strip searches over the course of 2020. The granular analysis, compiled by the force’s Equity, Inclusion and Human Rights Unit alongside outside data experts in concert with a 12-member community panel, examines a wide range of questions.
How can they be overpoliced? “Racialized” people are the majority in Toronto. Perhaps the arrest stats merely reflect that demographic.
‘Justice’ for Ukraine overshadowed by cost of living concerns, polling shows
Europe’s unity over the war in Ukraine is at risk as public attention increasingly shifts from the battlefield to cost of living concerns, polling across 10 European countries suggests, with the divide deepening between voters who want a swift end to the conflict and those who want Russia punished.
The survey in nine EU member states – Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden – plus the UK found support for Ukraine remained high, but that preoccupations have shifted to the conflict’s wider impacts.
“Europeans had surprised Putin – and themselves – by their unity so far, but the big stresses are coming now,” said Mark Leonard, a co-author of a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) on changing attitudes to Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine fights for Sievierodonetsk as Russia’s ‘surrender’ ultimatum passes
Ukraine ignored a Russian ultimatum to surrender the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk on Wednesday as NATO defence ministers gathered in Brussels to discuss sending more heavy weapons to replenish Kyiv’s dwindling stocks.
Russia had told Ukrainian forces holed up in a chemical plant in the shattered city to stop “senseless resistance and lay down arms” from Wednesday morning, pressing its advantage in the battle for control of eastern Ukraine.
#Ukraine: A Russian tank was destroyed by a Ukrainian RK-3 Korsar anti-tank guided missile operator in the vicinity of Izium, #Kharkiv Oblast. pic.twitter.com/hQc1OJ783c
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 14, 2022
Chrystia Freeland to unveil $7-billion plan to fight inflation
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is finally gearing up to address our inflation predicament head-on, and not a moment too soon.
On Thursday on Bay Street, Freeland will deliver what’s being flagged as a “significant” speech on inflation, affordability and the government’s plan to guide the economy through the current turbulence to a smooth landing.
The Star has learned that she’ll have a $7-billion (or so) list in hand that spells out exactly how federal programs are ramping up to help those who are particularly exposed to the harms of inflation.
More people are avoiding the news, and trusting it less, report says
“Large numbers of people see the media as subject to undue political influence…”
June 14 (Reuters) – A growing number of people are selectively avoiding important news stories such as the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis, according to a report released on Tuesday.
While the majority of people surveyed consume news regularly, 38% said they often or sometimes avoid the news – up from 29% in 2017 – the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said in its annual Digital News Report. Around 36% – particularly those under 35 – say that the news lowers their mood.
Trust in news is also declining, and is lowest in the United States. On average, 42% of people said they trust most news most of the time; that figure has fallen in almost half the countries in the report and risen in seven.
Governor General, guests rack up $100K in-flight catering bill during Dubai trip
OTTAWA — Canada’s vice-regal racked up a nearly $100,000 catering bill on board a government aircraft during a recent week-long trip to the Middle East.
An order paper question submitted by Conservative MP Michael Barrett shows Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and her 29 fellow passengers using $93,117.89 in catering services aboard an RCAF CC-150 Polaris during her March 16 to March 24 trip to Expo 2020 in Dubai.
Can anyone explain why this token figurehead needs to meet with anyone abroad? Did they find potential mass graves in Dubai?
Questions around who wanted Emergencies Act prompt Conservative calls for Mendicino to resign
The Conservatives are calling on Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to step down from his cabinet post as questions linger about who wanted the government to deploy emergency powers to end an anti-vaccine mandate protest earlier this year.
A Parliamentary committee is examining the government’s decision to make use of the Emergencies Act, which it did to end an anti-vaccine mandate protest that occupied Ottawa in January and February of this year.
WARMINGTON: Past time to release punished unvaccinated Canadians from COVID jail
Non-vaccine-disclosing Toronto firefighter Andrew Mason is pleased he can now finally get on a plane or train again.
However, what the 13-year veteran firefighter would most like is to get back on a fire truck.
“I’ve always been ready to go back,” he said Tuesday. “I never wanted to stop working.”
Are Gas Prices the New COVID?
When it comes to politics, everything old eventually becomes new again. Beto O’Rourke is the “new JFK,” DeSantis is the “new Trump,” orange is the new black, vanilla is the new chocolate, and so on.
Biden Advisor Says Social Media Companies Need To Silence Anyone Who Criticises Green Energy “Transition”
One of Joe Biden’s senior advisors told a reporter this week that social media companies should be cracking down on and censoring anyone who speeds information critical of the administration’s so called ‘green energy transition’.
National climate advisor Gina McCarthy made the comments in an interview with a reporter for Axios, stating “Now it’s not so much denying the problem. What the [fossil fuel] industry is now doing is seeding doubt about the costs associated with [green energy] and whether they work or not.”
‘No regrets’: A Canadian volunteer wounded in Ukraine is coming home
Maybe it’s luck, or some kind of divine providence. According to the capricious nature of life in a war zone, JT should not be alive.
Yet there he is — a Canadian military volunteer in Ukraine who beat the odds.
The former military combat engineer fought through the bloodied grape fields of Kandahar during Canada’s war in Afghanistan. He first came within a whisker of death in 2006, when he and his fellow soldiers were strafed accidentally by an American A-10 ground attack jet.
The never ending vaccine – COVID-19: Canada to update its ‘fully-vaccinated’ definition
The federal government plans to change its definition of what it means to be fully protected against COVID-19 to reflect advice that a number of health experts have been recommending for months, including Canada’s top doctors.
Currently, federal employees are considered fully vaccinated if they have two doses of one of Health Canada’s approved vaccines.
Twitter bans accounts threatening Libs of TikTok after Elon Musk gets involved
When the Twitter account Libs of TikTok reported threats, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the probable future owner of the social media site, brought more attention to the issue.
Libs of TikTok is an account that reposts short videos from left-wing social media users. Musk tagged Twitter in his response to the account’s Twitter thread, where its creator reported several instances of threatening behavior online.
Antisemitic sculpture can stay on church: German high court
Germany’s high court ruled against a Jewish man’s bid to remove a 700-year old antisemitic sculpture from the side of a church in the eastern city of Wittenberg on Tuesday. The decision from the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ends a long-running dispute over the relief on the side of a church where Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther once preached.
The sculpture depicts the medieval antisemitic trope of a “Judensau” or “Jewish pig,” and shows Jewish people suckling on a sow while a rabbi lifts its tail. It is one of 20 such statues or reliefs that remain in churches and historical buildings across Europe.
The new war on Islamism
The West has been terrorised into silence
Art and Islam often seem like oil and water. Other times, they behave like matches and gasoline.
It is hard to believe that more than 30 years have passed since Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa against Salman Rushdie for The Satanic Verses — longer ago than the fall of the Berlin Wall. I also experienced the combustion created when art meets Islam, back in 2004.