As the world gears up for the most political Olympic Games in a generation, the West has struggled to find a common position on the host nation.
The Games begin in Beijing on February 4, with China under fire over human rights abuse accusations, including the repression of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region and the uncertain situation of tennis star Peng Shuai, who accused a former top Communist Party official of sexual assault.
The public has been so busy waiting for the war in Ukraine to start that it hasn’t noticed how much of it has already happened since it started in 2014, when the near-success of the Ukrainian government counteroffensive against Russian-backed militias forced Moscow to commit conventional forces to save the effort. Although “Ukraine, Russia, the DPR, and the LPR signed an agreement to establish a ceasefire, called the Minsk Protocol, on 5 September 2014,” the brigades had entered the stage.
The UK government is reportedly seeking a gagging order to prevent the BBC airing a news segment that apparently identifies a spy working overseas. A secret High Court hearing is expected to be convened next week to listen to arguments on the “highly sensitive case,” according to The Telegraph.
While the broadcaster insists the story is “overwhelmingly in the public interest,” Attorney General Suella Braverman is expected to claim that airing it would present a “risk to people’s lives” and would impact overseas British intelligence activities, the paper reported on Friday.
Greg Bates was driving between Calgary and Hamilton, a long-haul domestic route that would soon be the only kind of trucking he’s allowed to do.
The man from Olds, Alta., has been driving trucks for 15 years, most recently splitting his time between domestic trips and runs down to U.S. destinations. The U.S. trips can be more lucrative (and American highways often have better bathrooms and restaurants en route, in Bates’ opinion) but they’re now off-limits.
Bates is one of thousands of truckers who haven’t gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, and so won’t be eligible to drive into Canada from the U.S., without going into quarantine.
The Economist pointed to the growing diversity of gun owners in America and noted that it is “bad for gun-control advocates.”
According to The Economist, a study by of Northeastern University shows that of the millions of first time buyers between January 2019 and April 2021, “half were female, a fifth black and a fifth Hispanic.”
As one of the greatest works in Britain’s literary canon, Nineteen Eighty-Four sounds a chilling warning about the dangers of censorship.
Now staff at the University of Northampton have issued a trigger warning for George Orwell’s novel on the grounds that it contains ‘explicit material’ which some students may find ‘offensive and upsetting’.
On Friday, British Columbia’s chief medical officer Dr. Bonnie Henry gave a detailed press conference where she laid out how the province’s response to COVID-19 was transitioning to become “much more like how we manage influenza” and other seasonal viruses.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is an “extremist,” but maintains his relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is “professional.”
German navy chief resigns over Ukraine comments
The head of the German navy has resigned over controversial comments he made over Ukraine.
Kay-Achim Schönbach said the idea that Russia wanted to invade Ukraine was nonsense. He added that all President Vladimir Putin wanted was respect.
A number of countries have supplied weapons to Ukraine, including the US and UK. But Germany has refused Ukraine’s request for ammunition.
Russia has denied claims that it is planning to invade Ukraine.
German navy chief Schönbach resigns over comments on Putin, Crimea
Germany faced a diplomatic incident on Saturday following comments made by Navy chief Kay-Achim Schönbach on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Ukraine crisis. Schönbach stepped down from his position late on Saturday.
Schönbach made the comments during a talk that he gave in a visit to India. Speaking at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, the German vice admiral said Putin “probably” deserved respect.
“What he really wants is respect,” the vice admiral said, speaking in English in remarks that were posted on a video on YouTube.
Ontario reports 56 new COVID-19 deaths; ICU occupancy holds steady
Ontario reported 56 new deaths due to COVID-19 on Sunday, as the burden on the province’s intensive care units held relatively stable over the past 24 hours.
The number of people hospitalized in intensive care due to COVID-19 across the province stayed relatively constant, rising from 600 on Saturday to 604 today.
3,797 people are hospitalized with #COVID19. Please note that not all hospitals report on weekends.
There are 604 people in ICU with COVID-19.
There are 5,833 new cases of COVID-19.
Today’s numbers will be available at 10:30 a.m. at https://t.co/ypmgZbVRvn.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) January 23, 2022
WARMINGTON: Convoy of truckers against vaccine mandates ready to roll on Ottawa
A fundraising effort for a convoy of protesting truckers heading to Ottawa from across Canada has topped $2 million in donations.
With more than 26,000 people donating, and thousands of truckers expected to protest vaccine mandates and cross-border supply chain concerns, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may soon see a groundswell of emotion, anger and concern.
For many months, conservatives have been predicting that the CDC will redefine what it means to be vaccinated. In the distant past — that is, more than two years ago — being vaccinated meant you’d had an injection that left you forever immune to a disease. This became problematic when the COVID vaccines did not leave people immune to the disease. Now there are boosters, so the CDC has announced that you’re not vaccinated unless you’ve also had your booster. Of course, even with that booster, you’re still not immune, as the troubles in Israel reveal.
Soros DAs don’t just spend all of their time refusing to prosecute ordinary criminals. Give them a higher status and they’ll show you how they can undermine America.
Throughout the pandemic, medical and scientific institutions have disseminated dubious advice, flawed studies, and even outright falsehoods.
Throughout the pandemic, public-health officials have omitted uncomfortable truths, made misleading statements, and advanced demonstrably false assertions. In the information era, where what one says is easily accessible and anyone may read primary literature, these falsehoods will be increasingly recognized and severely damage the field’s credibility. No doubt, officials and organizations promulgating them had a range of motivations—including honorable ones, such as wanting to encourage salutary choices. Yet the subsequent loss of institutional trust may result in harm that far outweighs any short-term policy objectives.
Islamists have regrouped and grown stronger
“At one point, our attacker instructed us to get on our knees. I reared up in my chair, stared at him sternly… and mouthed ‘no’.”
It’s easy to read Jeffrey Cohen’s account of being held hostage in a Texan synagogue at the weekend as an uplifting tale of bravery and accomplishment: it tells of a terrifying stand-off with a deranged, gun-wielding attacker, brought to an end after nearly 11 hours when a rabbi threw a chair at the assailant and managed to escape with two other hostages
The bomb that ended Israeli teenager Rina Shnerb’s life in August 2019 also ended Dutch support for the nongovernmental organization that employed her killers. It just took about two years to happen.
Last Wednesday, the Dutch Cabinet upheld its decision to cut funding to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, a Palestinian nonprofit group whose stated goal is to help local farmers. Faced with incontrovertible evidence, the Dutch couldn’t deny that the UAWC simply had too many employees who moonlight for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine or vice versa.
