Where to even begin with all this crap
News Recap | Stephen Whitworth | October 21, 2021
Over the last few weeks, Saskatchewan has become Canada’s leader in pandemic catastrophe with ever-increasing hospitalizations, abjectly terrifying ICU numbers and a skyrocketing death toll (eight new deaths as of Oct. 19 with 793 total fatalities). Now, I think we’re mostly adults here who recognize you can’t blame politicians for an “act of god” like a pandemic. That said, W the actual tee-eff??? Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has spent the last two months mismanaging this crisis to bring us to this point and things are right out of control/
Did I say mismanagement? In recent weeks, Premier FrankenMoe and his gang of idiots have:
Delayed reintroducing an indoor mask mandate despite being urged by both government and citizen medical experts;
Insinuated health care staffing shortages are a result of badly timed worker vacations;
Insisted there is no health care staffing crisis;
Stared blankly and stupidly at cameras while spouting nonsensical talking points as the health care system approaches total collapse thanks to catastrophic government inaction (see: no mask mandates until too late);
Stalled on accessing emergency help from the federal government while seeking it from U.S. states, like, what? What???
OMG so much more.
What is wrong with this government? Is it so desperate to not give a hated prime minister any chance to look good it’s willing to let Saskatchewan residents die waiting for health care? Is it so dysfunctionally partisan it delayed a mask mandate out of fear that might remind voters Trudeau’s government did a decent job handling Covid-19? Is it so ideologically committed to a brain-dead idea of “freedom” it’s incapable of comprehending expert advice? Is it scared to do anything unless Daddy Alberta does it first?
Honestly, who cares. If the Sask. Party caucus and membership don’t depose Premier Dumbass by spring, anyone who thinks this province is divided and polarized now better buckle up. Things are going to get hot and it’s not just climate change talking.
All right, that’s out of the way so let’s blaze through some other stuff that happened in the past couple of weeks.
SUNDAY, OCT. 3 Here’s a nugget that took a while to make the news: Ruth Hamilton of Golden, British Columbia was awakened by her barking dog seconds before a meteorite punched through her roof and landed inches from where her head had been. In an Oct. 12 story, CTV Vancouver reported the odds of a meteorite hitting someone’s home are about one in four trillion. A reporter asked Hamilton if she planned to buy a lottery ticket. “I won the lottery. I’m alive,” she replied.
MONDAY, OCT. 4 Another slow-to-surface story: a Fort MacMurray, Alberta family faced an unusual home invasion a few weeks back. Sean Reddy reported the animal, a black bear, got into his family’s house through an open window (it popped the screen out) and went on a room-by-room tour, helping itself to a bowl of cereal on a computer desk. The mellow malingerer (Reddy called it “fat, lazy and tired”) returned outside after the family barricaded halls and selectively closed doors to give it a path out. Authorities warn that bears can be quite dangerous, but newspaper editors stress that the fuzzy lumpsters sure are damned cute when they’re misbehaving. (CBC Edmonton).
FRIDAY, OCT. 15 Conservative British Member of Parliament David Amess was stabbed to death outside of a constituency meeting. Aside from the fact killing elected officials is terrible and undemocratic, Amess’ murder is a reminder that politicians everywhere likely face increased dangers in this period of radical wingnuttery. Case in point: on Oct. 15 Regina police arrested a man for allegedly threatening premier Scott Moe and Saskatchewan chief medical officer Saqib Shahab in an e-mail.
SUNDAY, OCT. 17 Saskatchewan “celebrated” the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty with a spiralling poverty and homelessness crisis that can be directly traced to the Sask. Party government’s recent changes to the way poor people are supported in this province. The new Saskatchewan Income Support system has effectively lowered the amount of money impoverished Saskatchewan residents receive from an amount antipoverty advocates called “already grossly inadequate”. Even landlords have condemned the changes, with the Saskatchewan Landlord’s Association saying nearly a third of tenants on income assistance didn’t pay their rent in September. A tent encampment has even sprung up in Regina, and it appears to have the support of city council.
According to Poverty Free Saskatchewan, as of 2019 more than 136,000 people lived in poverty in this province in 2019, and it should be assumed this number has risen during the pandemic.
MONDAY, OCT. 18 Former U.S. Defense Secretary Colin Powell died from Covid complications today. Powell, a Republican who disavowed the party in his later years, was widely viewed as a rational and sympathetic figure trapped in the warmongering and unhinged post 9-11 Bush Administration. Nevertheless, his February 2003 UN presentation asserting Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (it didn’t) became an important moment in legitimizing the March 19 attack U.S. invasion that left more than 400,000 people dead over a decade and paved the way for the Islamic State. Powell correctly described his speech as a blot on his legacy. Surviving Iraqis would perhaps use stronger language.
In happier news, Edmonton and Calgary elected progressive new mayors on Monday, allaying concerns that former progressive stalwarts Don Iveson and Naheed Nenshi’s work would be undone by conservative troglodytes.