“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
Since that quote was first published in 2017 by G. Michael Hopf in Those Who Remain, it has become one of the most oft-quoted phrases in the conservative universe. (I’ve quoted it a number of times.) That’s because it perfectly captures the current state of Western civilization.
The death of the university, first announced many decades ago, has been a slow process. But its death throes quickened this year, as external threats met institutions bereft of purpose.
Perhaps most significantly, the financial crisis in England’s higher-education sector is coming to a head. This is due, in the main, to inflation, tax changes and frozen student fees. But warped spending priorities and bloated bureaucracies have also contributed to the problems facing almost three-quarters of England’s universities. Additionally, the decision 10 years ago to lift the cap on student recruitment has benefitted more esteemed and popular institutions, while leaving many others struggling to recruit fee-paying students. The facts are stark. Forty per cent of higher-education institutions apparently only have enough money to cover a few months’ costs.
Canadians are becoming so disillusioned with their liberal country some said they would happily swim to the US if they could gain legal entry.
The fed-up Canadians complained their country has become ‘stagnant’ under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau was recently trolled by president-elect Donald Trump who referred to him as the ‘Governor’ of Canada and joked the country could become a 51st state.
The foreign busybodies in the State Department, Foreign Office and the French foreign ministry, who are already now pressing for the reconstruction of a unitary Syrian state, should reflect on the country’s history. Syria was never meant to function as a unitary state. Nor under Sunni Arab majority rule, as it is likely to now.
The distinct national identities of its Alawite, Arab Christian-Orthodox, Druze, Kurdish, Armenian, Ismaili and Arab Shia populations were all recognised under Ottoman rule. And when France obtained the territory in 1919, it strove to accommodate plural identities by creating two separate states: an Alawite one in north-west Syria and a Druze one in the south-east.
Non-profit Transition Québec in Gatineau has opened a shipping container village that was built to manage a 268% increase in homelessness since 2018.
Meanwhile, many migrants who recently came to Canada have been housed in hotels with catering and security.
Canadian business mogul Kevin O’Leary says he wants to meet with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, the president-elect’s so-called “winter White House,” to discuss the idea of “an economic union” with the United States.
NEW: Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary, a Canadian, says he likes the idea of combining the US and Canadian economies, says he is heading to Mar-a-Lago to start the talks.
O'Leary said half of Canadians are interested in Trump's proposal.
"[Canadians] want to hear more… what this… pic.twitter.com/ss2sjIADBC
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 26, 2024
OXFORD, Georgia — LGBTQ activists William Dale Zulock and Zachary Jacoby Zulock were sentenced last week to 100 years in prison each, followed by life on probation, for “routinely” raping their young, adopted, special-needs sons, producing “homemade” child pornography of the abuse, and inviting nearby pedophiles in the Atlanta area to “double penetrate” their two children, ages 9 and 10 at the time of rescue.
“I tell people never say you’ve seen it all. Because in this line of work, you will yet again be reminded of the depths of depravity and men’s ability and willingness to engage in unspeakable cruelty to other humans,” said Judge Jeffrey L. Foster, who handed down their punishments at Thursday’s sentencing hearing.
Toronto has seen a stark spike in youth crime rates in 2024 — with almost every metric for serious gun violence up significantly.
From a 15-year-old who was gunned down outside a west-end plaza just shy of his first week in Grade 11, to a 14-year-old boy facing first-degree murder charges for opening fire on a community gathering at an Etobicoke school, killing two — scenes of young people being both victims and perpetrators of violent crime are playing out on city streets all too often.
In all, 13 people under 18 have been charged with homicide so far this year, up from just three in 2023, according to police. Over the same period, the number of young people charged with firearms offences has shot up more than 50 per cent.
The usual “root causes”. Not enough money, not enough jobs for yutes.
What a huge accomplishment. Is there an award or perhaps a certificate we can bestow upon her?
Her outstanding flex really should be recognized. pic.twitter.com/M69THFYjbV
— Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) December 27, 2024
A former chief adviser and close friend to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he doesn’t think Trudeau will stay on to lead the Liberals in the next election.
Gerald Butts writes in a Substack newsletter today that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s recent resignation from cabinet dealt Trudeau a staggering blow that loosened his already tenuous grip on the party.
Butt’s Substack – The Ballad of Justin and Chrystia
What can you say about the events of last Monday here in the Nation’s Capital? The spectacle of Chrystia Freeland taking Justin Trudeau out with the calculated precision of a Ukrainian drone strike had pundits and politicos reaching for their Shakespeare. Fitting, since both principals are now more likely to die (politically), and the scene set the stage for a perilous final act of the Liberal Party’s second Trudeau era.
Ms. Freeland is basking in the afterglow of an admittedly courageous act of politics. Her team feels it has done its party and country a favour by ringing a loud buzzer alarm into the ear of a Prime Minister who was sleepwalking toward electoral oblivion. They believe she will be thanked for it with his job.
LOL! @fancypants_s https://t.co/aoQvA4GcHU
— Auntie Polly (@auntie_polly) December 27, 2024
h/t Auntie Polly
Cancel any inauguration parties and plans you have because this woman insists there won’t be any inauguration.
Trump is NOT getting into the White House. Biden and Harris clearly have a plan to prevent this from happening. pic.twitter.com/fnguSin3Sb
— Dr. Jebra Faushay (@JebraFaushay) December 26, 2024
On Dec. 26, 1991, the upper house of the Soviet legislature officially voted to end the empire that was the Soviet Union. The day before, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s last ruler, announced his resignation, and Russian leader Boris Yeltsin had the Russian tricolour raised over the Kremlin. Geopolitically, the event’s historical significance rivaled Napoleon’s abdication on June 22, 1815, after the Battle of Waterloo, and the end of the Nazi-led German empire on May 8, 1945. All three events marked the end of a hegemonic challenge to the global balance of power. For the subjects of the Soviet Union, December 26, 1991, meant the end of an evil empire that rose from the ashes of the First World War.
The assassination of Brian Thompson does not call for a “conversation” about health care—it calls for a reckoning with Americans’ moral breakdown.
On the morning of December 4, 2024, in midtown Manhattan, a masked male snuck up behind the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, a health insurance company, and pumped three bullets into the executive’s back and leg. Brian Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two, was pronounced dead a few minutes later.
Celebrations of the murder broke out on social media almost as soon as the killing was reported. The unknown assailant had provided a public service by taking out a leader in a predatory and heartless industry, the killer’s fans asserted. The jubilation grew in fervor as each newly released surveillance video confirmed the original impression that the killer, still at large, was young and handsome.
OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has a plan to get the “carbon tax election” he has been calling for sooner rather than later.
The Conservatives are going to reconvene the public accounts committee on Jan. 7 and use it to ship a motion of non-confidence to the House of Commons when the holiday break ends on Jan. 27.
Solar and wind power production falls drastically during unfavorable weather conditions. It happens, in fact, every year. This condition, however, now has far-reaching economic and environmental repercussions, revealing the flaws in an energy policy based on intermittent renewable energies. Why does Germany, while having one of the highest carbon footprints, now consume the most expensive electricity in Europe? How did the country lose its energy autonomy?
