Official mascot of COP26 ‘Bonnie the Seal’ decried as ‘giant rat’

It was supposed to be a symbol of the international effort to tackle climate change and leave the world in a better state for the next generation.

But on Monday the Government was scrambling to distance itself from the new face of Cop26: a £1,600 taxpayer-funded seal dressed in a blue cheerleading uniform and Glasgow-themed bobble hat.

The mascot, which was signed off by Boris Johnson’s administration, will be patrolling the streets of Glasgow from next week as world leaders descend on the city for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference.

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World has wasted chance to build back better after Covid, UN says

The world has squandered the opportunity to “build back better” from the Covid-19 pandemic, and faces disastrous temperature rises of at least 2.7C if countries fail to strengthen their climate pledges, according to a report from the UN.

Tuesday’s publication warns that countries’ current pledges would reduce carbon by only about 7.5% by 2030, far less than the 45% cut scientists say is needed to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, the aim of the Cop26 summit that opens in Glasgow this Sunday.

Does anyone believe the UN on any matter?

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Why Is America Financing the Chinese War Machine?

Historians who have studied the decline and fall of great modern empires must be queasy these days.

Many have chronicled how a once mighty China lost its sovereignty to colonial powers during the early years of the 20th Century. Their enfeebled empress and a humbled military were swept aside by a European coalition of nations only to find that China was to become the bloody prize of Japanese generals whose forces raped and massacred their way to Beijing.

The West may not remember this “sideshow” of World War II and many Japanese still decline to acknowledge their legacy, but the Chinese remember.

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Energy squeeze will trigger social unrest, Blackstone’s Schwarzman says

Blackstone Inc. co-founder Stephen Schwarzman said the world is facing energy shortages so severe they could cause social unrest.

“We’re going to end up with a real shortage of energy,” he said at a conference in Saudi Arabia. “And when you have a shortage it’s just going to cost more and it’s probably going to cost a lot more. And when that happens you’re going to get very unhappy people around the world, in the emerging markets in particular.”

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13 reasons why O’Toole’s got to go

O’Toole bet the farm on leading the election by claiming he could capture the squishy middle. He failed and should be replaced. Here is my baker’s dozen reasons why…

Most of these reasons have been expressed by myself and or readers on this blog. What I found peculiar is that “mass immigration” is not among them. Until I got to the author’s details –Jocelyn Bamford is a Toronto business executive and President of the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers and Businesses of Canada.

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‘We’re being pressured into sex by some trans women’

Is a lesbian transphobic if she does not want to have sex with trans women?

“I’ve had someone saying they would rather kill me than Hitler,” says 24-year-old Jennie*.

“They said they would strangle me with a belt if they were in a room with me and Hitler. That was so bizarrely violent, just because I won’t have sex with trans women.”

Jennie is a lesbian woman. She says she is only sexually attracted to women who are biologically female and have vaginas. She therefore only has sex and relationships with women who are biologically female.

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There’s no denying Alec Baldwin’s role in on-set shooting tragedy

The death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has also been painted as Alec Baldwin’s tragedy.

Really, it’s not. In fact, Alec Baldwin is likely to be held, at least in part, responsible.

“If you’re capable of memorizing 120 pages of dialogue, you can memorize four lines of gun safety,” special effects and firearms expert Steve Wolf tells The Post.

“If that scene required him to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger, I’m sure he would have taken a look inside the gun. Wouldn’t you?”

As a producer on “Rust,” Baldwin could be held culpable for the cost-cutting, chaos and eventual hire of a young head armorer with just one stint in said job on her résumé — because, according to Deadline, multiple other armorers turned it down over low pay and high stakes, with too many firearms to manage.

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Newly released records show defence intelligence officials downplayed the risk of COVID-19

 

… The minister of national defence, Harjit Sajjan, told the House of Commons on July 22, 2020, under questioning from the Conservatives, that the government had made decisions in response to COVID-19 “based on sound intelligence to make sure Canadians are safe.” In a brief exchange on that day, he repeated the assertion no less than four times, while declining to divulge any specifics about the intelligence reports.

It is now clear, thanks to a long-delayed release of records under the Access to Information Act, that the minister’s confident assertion about the quality of intelligence was incorrect.

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Eyre blames sexual misconduct crisis, pandemic for shrinking military

It could take up to seven years for the Canadian military’s recruitment efforts to recover from the fallout of both the sexual misconduct crisis and the pandemic, says the country’s acting chief of the defence staff.

Speaking Monday at the Kingston Conference on International Security, Gen. Wayne Eyre said he’s increasingly worried about the decline in the size of both the regular and reserve forces. He said he’s particularly alarmed at the number of experienced leaders — officers and noncommissioned officers — who are putting in their release notices and quitting the service.

The matter was discussed as late as last week at a command-level gathering. Eyre said he’s encouraging his senior leaders to stay and asking them to urge others to do the same.

I think something is missing…

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Ontario reports 269 new Covid cases … and Fed union members organize against the jab

Ontario reports 269 new Covid cases … and Fed union members organize against the jab

Ontario reports 269 new COVID-19 cases, 6 more deaths; lowest case count since Aug. 5

Ontario reported fewer than 300 new COVID-19 cases and six more deaths on Tuesday, the lowest daily case count since early August.

Provincial health officials logged 269 new infections today, down from 326 on Monday and from 328 a week ago.


Group of federal employees launches fight against vaccine mandate

Hundreds of federal public servants are organizing in an effort to avoid complying with the government’s new mandatory vaccination rules, despite the government maintaining the mandate is necessary to protect employees from COVID-19.

The group, called Feds for Freedom, says they’re not anti-vaccine but don’t agree with the policy because — in their view — it violates their rights to privacy and bodily autonomy.

“One member’s loss of rights and freedoms is a loss of rights and freedoms for every member across the federal public service,” said founder Stacey Payne, adding the group has more than 4,000 supporters.

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Is the FDA about to approve an experimental COVID vaccine for kids?

On Tuesday, October 26, 2021, the FDA is meeting “to discuss a request to amend Pfizer-BioNTech’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for administration of their COVID-19 mRNA vaccine to children 5 through 11 years of age.”

In anticipation of this meeting (and to illuminate the real reason why Pfizer is seeking the EUA), we offer a rare point of agreement in our polarized world. One that damns both the FDA and Pfizer: healthy children aren’t threatened by COVID-19.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveils new federal cabinet, promoting Guilbeault and shuffling out Garneau

Upperdate: Who’s who in Justin Trudeau’s 2021 cabinet

Update: Anand to defence, Joly to foreign affairs: Trudeau announces major cabinet shakeup

OTTAWA—Justin Trudeau is kicking off his third mandate with two big moves, promoting environmental activist Steven Guilbeault to head up the Liberal government’s ambitious climate action plan, and moving Marc Garneau, the foreign affairs minister out of cabinet, the Star has learned.

A government source confirmed the moves which are to come in a cabinet shuffle to be unveiled later this morning that is expected to promote backbenchers and rookies and shuffle some veterans to start Trudeau’s third mandate focused on climate action, housing, and economic recovery.

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