How is Canada doing in the fight against COVID-19? Not so well if we compare ourselves to other countries.
Last summer, when daily new cases were low and the economy was bouncing back, Canadians gave their governments high marks as managers of the fight against COVID-19. But now they have become more critical as new cases keep rising, lockdowns have been reimposed, and the economy stalls.
The year 2020 is now commonly dubbed the annus horribilis — “the horrible year.” The last 10 months certainly have been awful.
But then so was 1968, when both Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. The Tet Offensive escalated the Vietnam War and tore America apart. Race and anti-war riots rocked our major cities. Protesters fought with police at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. A new influenza virus, H3N2 (the “Hong Kong flu”), killed some 100,000 Americans.
It’s the single question that haunts all Americans as they turn the page on a dreadful year: Why is “Wonder Woman 1984” so bad?
Why did this eagerly anticipated follow-up to the delightful 1917-set “Wonder Woman” — starring the same stunning Gal Gadot and directed by the same Patty Jenkins and released for our homebound viewing on HBO Max as a Christmas Day gift to its subscribers — have to stink up the joint like no comic-book movie has since “Howard the Duck” in 1986?
Did America go crazy in 2020? I suspect observers years hence will think so because of the responses, of both elite officials and ordinary Americans, to the COVID-19 pandemic starting last February and to the shocking video from Minneapolis police officers released over Memorial Day weekend.
The response to COVID was unprecedented and disproportionate to the threat.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress on Friday overrode President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, a first by lawmakers since he took office nearly four years ago, ensuring that the measure becomes law despite Trump’s rejection.
In an extraordinary New Year’s Day session, the Republican-controlled Senate easily turned aside the veto, dismissing Trump’s objections to the $740 billion bill and handing him a stinging rebuke just weeks before he leaves the White House.
Trump lashed out on Twitter, saying the Senate missed an opportunity to eliminate protections for social media platforms that he said give “unlimited power to Big Tech companies. Pathetic!!!″
Trump also slammed lawmakers for rejecting his call to increase COVID-19 relief payments to $2,000: “They want to give people ravaged by the China Virus $600, rather than the $2000 which they so desperately need. Not fair, or smart!″
Americans packed up and moved out of big cities by the millions over the past several months amid the COVID-19 pandemic and are not planning on returning, meaning some smaller communities and suburban areas will look very different for the foreseeable future.
In October and November, according to real estate site Redfin, top destinations included Sacramento, Calif., Las Vegas, Phoenix, Austin, Texas, and Atlanta.
Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home has been vandalized with red paint, a pigs head and a spray painted message about $2,000 checks, according to TMZ.
Police sources told the outlet that cops were called out to reports of vandalism at the House Speaker’s property in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced on Dec. 31 that it is in the process of delisting three Chinese telecom companies with ties to the Chinese military.
The three state-owned companies—China Mobile Ltd., China Telecom Corporation Ltd., and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd.—will see their securities suspended from trading between Jan. 7 and Jan. 11, according to a statement. The delisting proceedings were made in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order (E.O.) 13959.
On Thursday, Abdolrahim Mousavi, commander in chief of the Iranian Army, reiterated sentiments previously made by other officials that there was no one in the US political or military hierarchy of equal worth to Qasem Soleimani, the Quds Force commander slain in a US drone strike in early January 2020.
Actors within the United States may independently “respond” to Gen. Qasem Soleimani’s assassination, Brig. Gen. Esmail Ghaani, the officer who replaced Soleimani as commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, has said.
The year 2020 is not one that beekeepers in Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia are likely to forget in a hurry. Since the spring, experts in both states have been gripped by fears of Vespa mandarinia, a hulking insect whose voracious appetite for honeybees and stealthy spread could pose a threat to the region’s vulnerable ecosystem.
While the eradication of an Asian giant hornet nest in Washington in October was a success, officials to the north in Canada have dealt with a number of setbacks in their own bid to eradicate the hornets.
About 150 protesters blocked traffic in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral early on New Year’s Day — and someone marred the facade of the church with graffiti during the demonstration, according to cops.
Police responded to a disorderly group of protesters at 51st Street and Fifth Avenue around 1:30 a.m., cops said.
OTTAWA – The Trudeau government has awarded a contract to IBM Canada to support the development, design and implementation of a buyback program for recently prohibited firearms.
The contract is worth almost $1.2 million, according to an award notice posted on a federal information portal.
The Liberals outlawed a wide range of firearms in early May, saying the guns were designed for the battlefield, not hunting or sport shooting.
