THE DEBATE

 source: Le Monde

EDITORIAL

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Trump-Biden face-to-face: a worrysome debate for American democracy

Editorial. From the rough clash between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Tuesday evening, we will especially remember the threat that the president persists in letting hang over the validity of the November 3 ballot. A danger for democracy.

Editorial Le Monde. Five weeks before the American presidential election, the first televised debate between Republican President Donald Trump and former Democratic Vice-President Joe Biden confirmed, on Tuesday, September 29, all the concerns that have appeared for four years with respect to democracy in the States-United.

The most striking moments of this chaotic and brutal confrontation between the two septuagenarian candidates will not have been the exasperated exclamations of Joe Biden towards a president who kept interrupting him and whom he called a "clown". ”, nor the personal attacks of the latter on business done abroad by one of his opponent's sons. What we will remember above all from this debate is the warning proferred at the end by Donald Trump for the November 3 ballot: “This is not going to end well. "

Once again, Mr. Trump has cast doubt on the validity of the presidential election and postal votes, many expected due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Again, he refused to pledge not to claim victory and to call on his supporters for calm if the outcome was not clearly established after the vote; Joe Biden, in contrast,  pledged to respect the verdict, whatever that may be.

The presidential ambiguity over the conduct of the election is just as disturbing as his refusal to expressly condemn the violence of white supremacists, when urged to do so by the journalist leading the debate - not without difficulty. Mr. Trump limited himself to asking a far-right group, the Proud Boys, to “stand back” , while urging them to “stand by” .

Flippancy

Such a denial of good citizenship on the part of a President of the United States leaves one speechless. On the formal aspect, the aggressiveness and indiscipline of Donald Trump during this verbal boxing  match of 90 minutes will not have surprised those who have been following him since his first electoral campaign: he led the debate as he tweets, with invective , self-aggrandizement and gratuitous accusations, without the slightest scruple. Democrats pretend to take offense, but the president's electoral base appreciates his combativeness. It is to this electorate that he addressed himself, in order to re-mobilize them, in the face of polls which give him as loser at this stage. Joe Biden expected this and had set himself a strategy of remaining calm, without being taken down by the breaking waves: he stuck to it.

In essence, on the other hand, the casualness of the president on the electoral process, alongside the attacks he carried out against public services and the freedoms he took with the institutions during his first term, should give food for thought. Four years of Trumpism have largely contributed to weakening one of the greatest democracies in the world. It's a lesson for all others.

Also eagerly awaited abroad, this Trump-Biden face-to-face was like the year 2020, trying for the whole world but particularly difficult politically in the United States: it began with a disastrous impeachment trial of the president and continued with urban violence reflecting, in the midst of a pandemic, a growing polarization of society. Two more debates are scheduled between now and November 3. In view of the sad spectacle offered by the first, several American commentators wondered about the advisability of stopping there. We are in fact entitled to wonder what either reason or democracy can gain from more.

                                                 *     *     *

LeDev

 Le Devoir is such a serious newssource:

                                                 *     *     *

The Telegraph, UK

Alarme au vaccin

Audacious

Just downloaded the Audacity music mixer. A GREAT utility.

Below, an original mix from YouTube. Below that; what a few

commands form Audacity can do.

DEAL

 

source: Le Devoir

Realistic

Italian fashion house Versace took the plunge Friday and showed

'realistic' models in a Milan fashion show. 

Jill Kortleve, center, is 5'9'' and weighs 158 pounds. She

weas a size EU40, the size most worn by French women.

Her mother is Indian. and her father Dutch.

The Advisor

 Parliament is going in a very classical direction on this

Throne Specch, and I don 't like it one bit. Makes me nervous as anything.

These are not normal times, but a very special and danger-filled context.

I was surprised the government put together a very "my Way" type

of proposal. I am horrified that the opposition are threatening to vote against it

and push us into an election. There are other things to worry about. 

Heck, the two major opposition leaders are themselves incapacitated and can't leave

the house, let alone gear up for an election. Programs that keep

money going to various groups that need to be reviewed. Et j'en passe...

Julie Payette should have doene some groundwork, here; made sure

everyone was on the same wavelength. She may have to intervene still. 

Is there no one in her entourage that can advise her on this!?

                                       *     *     *

What it's like out West, from Radio-Canada:

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1736295/economie-fort-mcmurray-alberta-petrole-coronavirus-covid

So Far...

 It's exciting and a bit frightening, like going on a date.

Am currently downloading Microsoft .net so I can learn

to use Razor. It is a server-side tool which allows one to

run C# code from an HTML script, essentially putting Microsoft

products on par with javascript for ease-of-use to developers.

I already have an idea for a little app. It is called So Far Today,

and allows me to track on the run the amounts of carbs, proteins,

fats, added sugars and fiber, in 50 calorie units. 

(My breakfast bagel was carbs...4). 

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/learn/dotnet/hello-world-tutorial/create

                                                                                                                          ...

Plum Moment

 First day of Fall, made a plum cobbler. HAPPY FALL 2020 TO ALL!

Used a classic recipe, to which I added 2 eggs (and reduced the milk).

As I undertand it, cobblers were a 1940s dessert and eggs were not always

available...

One then pours the fruit on top, and bakes for 45 minutes.

Tasted great! So great I wanted to have more for breakfast, this morning. Didn't,

but the struggle was real.👼

My Nominee

 Always had a liking for American Gothic. My nominee

suggestion for the SC,  the REAL lady in the picture!!

Stable

 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/the-tragedy-of-the-west-coast-wildfires

That's a very pretty speech, and it's totally wrong-headed.

There is no going back. The planet is not heating, it is cooling

inexorably and will continue doing so for millions of years;

slowing down and cooling as the sun burns up.Compounded 

by the Melnakovich cycle currently wrenching us away.

Which is why heating it up with increased population and burning

our reserves of fossil fuels is such a temptation for us.

Looking over the climate change arguments, where an individual

breathing out carbon dioxide is neutral because a plant will use it to 

make food is biased. Too politically correct to be useful. If cutting down 

a forest is depricing us of a gas sink, adding billions of people makes it 

worst. Has to.

Sorry, but I live in Canada and need to heat where I live in the winter!!

We need to start looking at stable societies for the long haul.

                                          *     *     *

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/15/magazine/climate-crisis-migration-america.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=The%20New%20York%20Times%20Magazine

Who is Navalny

source: Libération, CheckNews

authors: Manuel Alaver and Xavier Condamine September 18, 2020 

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Why is Alexei Navalny presented as the main opponent to Vladimir Putin?

Alexei Navalny being removed by Russian police during a demonstration against Vladimir Putin, May 5, 2018. AP photo 

The political activist, recovering in Germany after being the victim of poisoning, represents an opposition outside the Russian political system.

Question asked by Jupilune on 09/15/2020

Hello,

You ask us about the media coverage of Alexey Navalny, a Russian political activist opposed to President Vladimir Putin. Recently hospitalized in Russia and then in Germany after feeling unwell during a commercial flight to Siberia on August 20, the political activist was placed in an artificial coma from which he recovered two weeks later. Analyzes carried out by laboratories in Germany, Sweden and France concluded that the opponent had been poisoned with Novichok, a military chemical agent developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s, which Russian authorities deny.

Your question refers to his status as the " main opponent " to the Kremlin as attributed to him by several Western media, including the New York Times , France Info and  Liberation . In Le Monde , he is described in particular as " leader of the Russian opposition " and in Le Figaro " as the number one opponent to Vladimir Poutine ".

Opponent outside the system

To understand what qualifies Navalny as a figure of the opposition, it is necessary to contextualize the Russian political and democratic situation. " Russia is a picture-window democracy ," says Anna Colin Lebedev, lecturer in Political Science, specialist in post-Soviet societies at the University of Paris-Nanterre.

Indeed, there are two oppositions in Russia. The first is an opposition within the system, authorized and institutionalized, represented by parties such as the Russian Communist Party or the nationalist party LPDR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia), which have no real influence. " These political parties have institutional representation, they are part of an opposition which '' does not disturb ' the powers in place, " explains the specialist.

The second, unlike these facade opposition parties, is outside the system, and does not have access to political bodies such as the Duma (lower house of the Russian Parliament). This is  Alexeï Navalny's realm.

Indeed, the 44-year-old activist cannot be considered an opponent to the Russian president  at elections. "He was never authorized to compete in the presidential election against Vladimir Poutine" , points out Anna Colin Lebedev. Since 2017, Alexeï Navalny has been kept out of the political equation by the Russian Central Election Commission, which declared him ineligible until 2028, following several court convictions for embezzlement and illegal demonstrations. The only exception in his career was the Moscow municipal election, where he ran in 2013. Defeated by the outgoing mayor, Navalny ended up in second position.

"At the polls, we cannot say that he is the main opponent"

" It is the Western media which invented this expression, because in the ballot box, one cannot say that he is the main opponent ", specifies Veronika Dorman, journalist at Liberation , specialist in Russia and who claims the use of this formulation to designate the lawyer by profession.

As a candidate outside the system, he is absent from the Russian television media, controlled by the power brokers, explain the specialists. " Navalny only has access to a small private cable channel ", mentions Cécile Vaissié, professor of Russian studies at the University of Rennes-II.

On the power side, " Vladimir Poutine has never mentioned Navalny's name in public, " said Julien Nocetti, researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) and specialist in Russia. “ In general, for Putin, everything that comes from civil society is not too important, it is often outside his field of interest, ” says Anna Colin Lebedev. A way of making the opposition invisible.

“Most recognizable” figure

The description of Navalny as the main opponent is quite recent. The reputation of this lawyer, who first became known thanks to his punching actions against corruption, has thus taken on a new dimension in recent years. For Anna Colin Lebedev, it is in particular thanks to his calls for “ intelligent voting ” that he was able to make himself known to Russian voters and reverse his lack of notoriety. This strategy consists of supporting the candidate best placed against the presidential party in local and regional elections in order to remove the candidate from power. Launched last year, it saw the opposition  win almost half of the seatsin local elections in Moscow in September 2019. Last week, Navalny's allies even achieved symbolic victories in a regional election in Siberia, Tomsk and Novosibirsk, the country's third largest city, where for the first time they had been able to present candidates, according to Le Monde .

Today, " he is the most recognizable figure of the opposition ", says Anna Colin Lebedev. Above all, "he has been the most determined for almost ten years to denounce the abuses of the Putin system and his entourage ", specifies Julien Nocetti.

Moreover, Navalny is one of the last opponents still active in Russia. "The opposition has been meager since the assassination of Boris Nemtsov and the exile of Kasparov" , explains Julien Nocetti. Nemtsov, a former Putin minister who was in opposition, was shot dead in 2015 in Moscow. As for Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion; he went into exile in June 2013 in the United States after making a political commitment against Vladimir Putin.

Awareness deficit within Russia

However, we must be " careful not to overestimate the levers of his political influence ", tempers Julien Nocetti. In Russia, Alexeï Navalny still suffers from a lack of notoriety. " One in two Russians does not know him, " said Anna Colin Lebedev, citing a survey by the Levada public opinion research center , an independent body. According to this document, barely 10% of those polled were ready to vote for him in the 2018 presidential election.

The media coverage surrounding his poisoning, unanimously denounced by the G7 foreign ministers , gives him another stature. " It makes o fhim the opponent that we wanted to destroy without success, it is a kind of consecration ", analyzes Veronika Dorman.

Regards,

Manuel Alaver , Xavier Condamine

Some Weather

Weather-wise, the US is currently experiencing pretty much

anything and everything: air quality and fire conditions in the West,

a hurricane and flooding in the South, storms off the Atlantic Coast, 

frost in the North.

For the Richelieu Valley, things should warm up over the week. Lots

of sun coming as we inch back to normalcy...

Kingdom of Amber

 One of the archetectural wonders of the world is

the Jal Mahal (Water Palace), built in the middle of a lake

in Jaipur India (Kingdom of Amber). Much is made

of renovating this wonder but the real question in my mind

is how it was ever built to begin with.

The Spanish-language entry in Wikipedia seems to say this was done

in the 16th century. There was a prolonged drought that dried up the 

lake, and it was decided to construct a damn. The Palace must have been 

erected first, provisions being made for the eventual flooding of the lower levels.

Anxious

The group Painted Faces  - active form 1967 to 1969 - was disbanded when

the drummer got drafted. They are remembered today for 'Anxious Color'

but I quite like this song:

A Question of Proof

Tomorrow's problem for me: why is the Corona-19 not compatible with

a true zoonotic virus?

https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/2020/09/17/que-sait-on-de-la-virologue-li-meng-yan-qui-affirme-que-le-covid-19-vient-d-un-laboratoire-de-wuhan_1799734

Broadcasting

 source: Le Devoir, cited in MSN

author: Guillaume Bourgault-Côté 

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Culture: a billion less because of the web giants

A billion dollars less in the Canadian cultural ecosystem by 2023: this is, according to an evaluation by the Department of Canadian Heritage, the impact that the Internet giants would have if there were no  legislative changes in Canada. But Minister Steven Guilbeault was emphatic  in an editorial interview with Le Devoir  : Ottawa will force these companies to hand over a large part of the money they monopolize.

"The projections of the Department of Heritage are more than a billion dollars less for Canadian and Quebec productions by 2023," Guilbeault revealed Thursday morning. We want to reverse this trend and go after the money where it is. The bill [on broadcasting, which will be tabled this fall] aims to ensure that there is a contribution from these giants to rebalance things a little. "

The billion dollar estimate - this is the first time that Ottawa has quantified the effect of web giants - encompasses different things. “More and more people are disconnecting from cable companies, who pay royalties [used to finance local production],” noted the minister. [There is also] the shrinking advertising base for traditional Canadian broadcasters, which increasingly goes to the web giants. All in all means that for the next few years, there would be a billion dollars less available for creators, our artisans in Quebec and Canada. "

According to Steven Guilbeault, the bill he will table in the coming weeks will help reverse this trend. “What we want: rather than having a deficit of one billion within three years, the objective is to have a few hundred million more per year that are invested [by American platforms]. It's difficult to give an exact figure, but we are in the order of hundreds of millions more that will be invested year after year, and this money will come from the giants of the Web. It will not come from Canadian broadcasters who are already making their effort. "

Empowerment

Two other bills are on the program for the next few months, said the minister: one on “neighboring rights” - to force Google and Facebook to pay the media for the use of their content - and another on “all the issue of hate speech online, child pornography ”- a liberal pledge from the last campaign.

Overall, Steven Guilbeault promises to "make these digital companies accountable" which are currently evolving without any regulatory constraints in Canada.

The broadcasting bill will impose “expenditure and investment obligations” on Spotify, Netflix, Disney and other big players towards whom the habits of cultural consumption converge. They will also be subject to "requirements on French and discoverability", a concept which is somewhat the equivalent of showcasing.

“We know that these companies generate a lot of income and profits in Canada, but it's not clear how,” added Steven Guilbeault. We want to give the CRTC [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission] the necessary tools to obtain this information, which they cannot do at present. I'm not interested in algorithms, how Netflix programs its stuff. The companies are resistant to that and it does not interest us…. But, on the other hand, I want us to be able to know how many members Netflix has in Canada, generates how much income, and the same for others. "

Companies will therefore be subject to certain transparency obligations. “You need to have this information to be able to understand whether their contribution to the content is adequate, if the level of effort is there,” says Mr. Guilbeault.

Yale Report

Ottawa received last January the report of the expert committee it had appointed to study the future of communications in Canada. Large and ambitious, the Yale report proposed 97 recommendations that outlined the contours of a revolution in the sector.

Thursday, Steven Guilbeault indicated that the bill he will introduce will respect the spirit of the report - without however embracing each proposal. In addition to integrating the web giants into the regulatory fold, the new law will also modernize the entire broadcasting license system granted by the CRTC.

The Yale report proposed adopting a hybrid model - traditional broadcasters would still need licenses, but digital broadcasters would have to participate in a “registration regime” with obligations attached. "The mixed system has inspired us a lot for the reform of the law", confided Mr. Guilbeault adding that it would not be "not necessarily in these terms". “The system in place has served us well for decades,” he said. But it needs to be modernized and added to it for the web giants. "

The CRTC will be endowed with extensive powers, said the minister, while assuring that this body will "not be interested in the content". “The Council currently has very few tools in its box ... Its only tool [in the face of those who do not respect the rules] is a nuclear bomb: remove a license. We want to give it tools ”allowing in particular the imposition fines on recalcitrant.

Among the recommendations of the Yale report that may not be followed, there is  one to merge Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund. “We won't be able to tackle everything,” said Mr. Guilbeault. We have circumscribed it to be able to pass the bill through Parliament ”, where the Liberals are in the minority.

Likewise, the proposal that Radio-Canada “gradually abandon  advertising for all its broadcast media over the next five years, starting with news content” - this in exchange for increased and stable funding - will likely remain untouched. “The model of saying: we're going to make it completely dependent of government funds has advantages, but also risks,” argues Steven Guilbeault. If the CBC only depends on the government, and the government does not support it, we would compromise its long-term viability. "

Media

Regarding media aid, Steven Guilbeault assured that the sums promised in the 2019 budget will soon be released. “It's coming,” he said.

Companies that qualify will be able to benefit from a tax credit on their payroll. However, the qualification process is still underway - Le Devoir, for example, has not received confirmation that it meets the criteria determining who is an eligible media, said its director, Brian Myles, during the editorial interview.

Announced long before the COVID-19 pandemic increased the pressure on press companies already shaken by a crisis, the federal aid plan also includes a component on philanthropy. But the current rules essentially don't allow anyone to qualify.

Mandated by Ottawa, the Independent Group of Experts on Journalism and Print Media noted in a report published in the summer of 2019 that “current legislation excludes organizations like Les Amis du Devoir, which have long supported journalism and which could play an important role in the future funding of journalism ”.

"If we have set up a program that does not work, it is certain that we have to correct things," said Mr. Guilbeault.

True North

Is this a new genre; climate pornography ?!

Half the US moving toCanada ??

https://projects.propublica.org/climate-migration/?utm_source=digg

                                                        *     *     *

Yup, it's a US election:

source: The Guardian UK

Cost of Food

California's forest fighters could cost Canada; we

normally buy for 3 billion$ on food from there every winter,

which might well be more expensive sourced differently...

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/matins-sans-frontieres/segments/entrevue/198349/impact-feux-foret-californie-epicerie-canada

Really?

Trying to make sense of it all:

Climate science may be 'ut of line'.

 https://www.wired.com/story/the-trump-team-has-a-plan-to-not-fight-climate-change/

The barn is burning. those forests have already been harmed:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/california-fires-record-burn-fire-apocalypse?bfsource=relatedmanual

                                         *     *     *

In point of fact, a natural forest is an ecological war zone!

Debating the Environment

 source: Radio-Canada

author: Sophie-Helene Lebeuf

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Those fires in the American West, a presidential battlefield

A firefighter works to put out the Bobcat fire in Arcadia, California.

In the past week alone, the fires have claimed at least 16 people in California.

Branded "chief arsonist" by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who hammered home the climate emergency, President Donald Trump visited California on Monday, where he linked the deadly fires ravaging the West Coast of the US to poor forest management.

The dozens of blazes that continue to burn in Washington, Oregon and California have come to the forefront of the presidential campaign, highlighting another major difference between the two candidates. , this time on an environmental issue.

During a briefing with California officials in Sacramento, including Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, the Republican president brushed aside arguments put forward by Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot, which cited the significant effects of climate change.

'It will start to cool down. You will see.'

- Donald Trump

'I would like science to agree with you' , replied his interlocutor. 'I don't think science knows, in fact ', retorted the Republican president, who did not wear a mask, unlike the vast majority of participants.

In his exchange with Governor Newsom, he had been less adamant.

President Trump, who does not wear a mask, watches Governor Gavin Newsom as he meets with officials in California who do.

President Trump attended the briefing at McClellan Park, the hub of firefighting operations in California.

Not without first thanking the president for federal help and underlining the importance of the working relationship between the state and the central government, the Democratic governor also addressed the issue.

'We have heat domes unlike any we have seen in our history' , argued Gavin Newsom. 'We are humbly of the opinion that science has spoken and the observed evidence that climate change is real and that it is exacerbating; it is evident'.

'So I think there is at least one commonality when it comes to vegetation and forest management. But please respect - and I know you do - the difference of opinion here on this fundamental question on the issue of climate change ', Mr Newsom said.

'Absolutely' , replied Mr. Trump, who has in the past called climate change a Chinese hoax .

According to scientific consensus, climate change acts as an accelerator of forest fires by increasing extreme temperatures and drought. Federal government scientists concluded two years ago that greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion could triple the frequency of severe fires in western states, reported the New York Times .

The fires, which have burned more than two million hectares, have killed at least 35 people since the start of the summer, including 27 during the week, in addition to forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

In Oregon, more than 400,000 hectares are already gone up in smoke: it is the double of what usually burns there each year, underlined Sunday the governor Kate Brown, spesaking to CBS.

The fire season does not end in theory until November.

Trump insists on forest management

Asked by journalists as soon as he got off the plane on the role played by global warming on these fires, President Trump insisted on forest management, as he did, among others, during a partisan rally in Nevada , Saturday.

 'Forest nations like Austria and Finland do not have problems like this', he argued.

'When the trees fall down after a short period of time, about 18 months, they get really dry, they get like a matchstick, you know, there's no more water going through and they get very, very ... they simply explode, they can explode' , he said in explanation, adding that the dead leaves on the ground acted as fuel.

'They need to do something about it' , argued Donald Trump, who has repeatedly blamed the catastrophic fires in California, Oregon and Washington on the governors of the past few days. these states, all democrats.

Last month, during a partisan rally in Pennsylvania, he threatened to withhold federal aid from California if it did not pick up its [dead] leaves and torn trees .

During the meeting with the president, Gov. Newson noted in passing that only 3% of California's territory was under state responsibility, while federal forest lands made up 57% of state territory.

The Trump administration and that of Gavin Newsom have often crossed swords, especially on the fight against climate change. In September 2019, for example, President Trump announced that he was removing his state's right to set its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and, a few weeks later, launched a lawsuit to  invalidate an agreement on a carbon exchange between California and the Government of Quebec.

Biden denounces the inaction of his rival

Referring to the fires in the west of the country, but also the floods in the Midwest and the hurricanes along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, Joe Biden for his part attacked the record of his opponent, blaming him for his inaction in the fight against climate change.

During his tenure, Donald Trump canceled several policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

'Donald Trump's climate denial may not have caused these record fires, floods and hurricanes, but if he gets a second term, these hellish events will continue to become more frequent, more devastating and deadlier' , Joe Biden emphasized .

'If we give a climate arsonist four more years in the White House, how could anyone be surprised that America is set on fire even more? If you give a climate denier four more years in the White House, why would anyone be surprised if more of America is underwater?

- Joe Biden

He also highlighted the consequences of climate change on suburban Americans, repeating for his benefit an attack by Donald Trump against him, who accuses him of wanting to destroy the way of life in the suburbs, or even the suburbs themselves.

'If we have four more years of climate denial from Trump, how many suburbs will be burned in fires? , he asked. How many suburban neighborhoods will have been flooded? How many suburbs will have been swept away by devastating storms'?

'We must act as one nation to meet this existential challenge ', he said, arguing among other things for the creation of jobs in renewable energies. 'Or we can take Donald Trump's path: ignore the facts, deny the reality, which amounts to complete surrender'.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1733742/incendies-californie-trump-visite-biden

Tech & other News

 Bit of tech news for today. Tik Tok is not going to Microsoft,

but rather will join California-based Oracle corporation. Yeah, the folks

which gave us java programming and all that fun. 🧨

                                         *     *     *

Canada is in the news The Guardian UK today, and it's not a piece

on Margaret Atwood or Leonard Cohen (unfortunately, deceased). It is

Toronto's strip clubs that are attracting attention.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/14/toronto-strip-clubs-second-covid-19-outbreak

Mac n' Cheese

Finally, macaroni and cheese easy peesy! Time to switch to fall food😺

 

Inversion

 Been following th problem ofair quality that has been plaguing

Vancouver as fire smoke drifts North. One westher report explained

that a temperature inversion was at play. Here is how that works, from an old

CBC report.

Insightful

I am currently researching the work of Georges Vigarollo, a historian 

of body representations in European culture. Ended up viewing the below

piece on obesity which is very interesting: an obese person's metabolism

is skewed in all kinds of way which make loosing weight challenging.

Not sure if I am the best person to translate this, but it is insightful to my

underdtandig of things.

https://wikimonde.com/article/Ob%C3%A9sit%C3%A9

                              *     *     *

Taking a historical run at things does add a layer of comprehension,

though. Vigarello points out that, obesity today is worldwide and the affair

of popular classes. It is also seen as the inability to nourish onwself properly

in a context of abundance.

We  know that those who drink moderately are less susceptible to vascular 

illness than the totally abstinent. Let's take an example: the current upper-caste 

denizen of the US White House, said to be abstinent. With a

known diet ranging from expensive steaks to the McDonalds Filet o'Fish. Were 

this person to be a moderate drinker, he might not be having dessert at the steak 

house, or that milk shake at Mickey D's. And would have a somewhat thinner waistline.

Because, eating steak and drinking alcohol developed together. And that milkshake

is such camp fun within American culture, it is his job to appreciate it.

                                            *     *     *

Air Quality

 

From Environment Canada's weather site

https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/qc-28_metric_e.html

                                                         *     *     *

https://blissair.com/what-is-pm-2-5.htm

https://www.iqair.com/ca/usa/california/san-francisco

Those Fires

San Francisco turns orange:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1303775642303913984


                                   *     *     *

The Economist tells us that Financial Services are opening up in
China:

Transporters

Pratt and Whitney, Montreal, is complaining loud and clear
that it is being blocked by Ottawa in exporting merchandise
to China. Fears of Industrial espionage!? it's for your own
good!/?

It is a question of turbo-engine regional transporters; who knows?

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2020/09/09/contrat-de-3g-bloque-pour-risques-despionnage

BrexitAgain

source: AFP in Le Devoir

author: Pauline Froissart - Agence France-Presse in London

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

BREXIT: London taunts the EU and risks 'serious consequences'

Photo: Aris Oikonomou Agence France-Presse “Any attempt by the UK to undermine the deal would have serious consequences,” European Parliament President David Sassoli warned.

The United Kingdom admitted on Tuesday wanting to go back on certain commitments made in view of leaving the European Union, in violation of international law, exposing itself to “serious consequences” from Brussels.

This surge of tension complicates the resumption on Tuesday of already arduous negotiations between London and Brussels on their post-Brexit relationship.

The British desire to revise certain parts of the agreement governing their exit from the EU at the end of last January, revealed on Monday by the Financial Times, surprised Europeans. Reassembled, they reminded London of its obligations and warned of a blow to "confidence", which would affect the negotiations in progress.

“Any attempt by the UK to undermine the deal would have serious consequences,” European Parliament President David Sassoli warned.

Asked by MPs about the revisions the government intends to introduce on Wednesday, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis previously acknowledged that "this violates international law in a very specific and limited way."

The government intends to modify to "clarify" the protocol providing for customs arrangements for Northern Ireland.

This text aims to guarantee the absence of a physical border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, and to avoid the resurgence of tensions in this region, bloodied by three decades of "Troubles" until ' the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998'.

This review aims to ensure that "people and businesses in Northern Ireland have unfettered access to the entire UK market," said Brandon Lewis.

This turnaround annoyed even some on British soil, including the former Prime Minister Theresa May, who had resigned after having stumbled on the question of Northern Ireland in the negotiations on the Brexit.

In front of MPs, she asked Mr. Lewis how the government could reassure its future international partners that it would keep its commitments.

According to the Financial Times, the UK government's director of legal services, Jonathan Jones, has resigned over the review.

" Going forward "

The UK formally left the EU on January 31, nearly four years after a landmark referendum marking the end of 46 years of a rocky marriage. But it remains governed by European regulations until the end of December, a transitional period during which the two parties attempt to conclude a free trade agreement.

In this tense climate, an eighth session of negotiations opened Tuesday until Thursday. Before their start, British negotiator David Frost called on the EU to "be more realistic about the status of independent country" of the United Kingdom.

"We can no longer afford to go over the same things" after "six months of dialogue" he said in a statement.

The negotiations come up against in particular fishing and the conditions of fair competition. Time is running out, Brussels wanting an agreement by the end of October to allow ratification on time.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for his part, warned that in the absence of a compromise between now and the European summit on October 15, he would be satisfied with a “no deal” despite the risks of economic damage in a period of historic crisis caused by the pandemic of new coronavirus .

He even estimated Monday that this would represent "a good outcome" allowing the United Kingdom to "prosper" because it would have "the freedom to conclude trade agreements with all countries of the world".

On Channel 5, Labor opposition leader Keir Starmer urged him to "get a deal" to "move forward" and focus on tackling the pandemic instead.

The business community is also showing more concern and the pound is trending lower for the second day in a row on Tuesday.

Breaking its commitments at the risk of peace in Northern Ireland could also harm the United Kingdom's negotiations with other countries, mainly the United States with which London wants to reach an ambitious trade agreement by the end of the year.

Tiredness

War, maybe

President Trump has recently said that the US
begin wars because military contractors profit from it.
As CNN pointed out this morning; 'This is starting to look
like an election...' As many used to remark in the Vietnam
War days: Democrats start wars and Republicans end them".
What is really at stake in this election is control of the Senate.

Wonder if anyone will bring up War in space. Not sure this is
not a re-tooling for war on the Moon!?

Nah!!👩‍🦳

Montreal Day

Went to Montreal on Saturday, and I'm still up to tell
the tale.  Seems I got away with, without catching the dreaded
C-19. I have been quite reticent, refusing to go at all since the
outbreak. I wasn't sure what to expect.

Getting off the bus having reached the city was eerie, a true Science-
Fiction moment. The arrival complex is next to central station and usually
 a madhouse of human traffic, even on the week-ends. NOT A SOUL. Our
handful of bus travellers disembarked and we were ALONE in that huge space,
with roaring escalators. I had never seen it like that, except maybe very late
at night.

I was happy to make it outside and finally take off that mask. I had found
myself gagging a few times on the bus up, not used to wearing a mask for an
extended period. One needs to adjust one's breathing to relax mode, and picture
oneself snuggled to the pillow in bed. it was windy and brisk out there, and I
could breathe.

Did some light shopping. Lyse tried on sweathers and coats while I napped
on my feet holding her things.  Found a lovely nylon backpack, in a fall brown.
It was 400$ and I demured. I made a pest of myself and insisted we go to a perfume
emporium; I wanted to test what the Gucci perfumes were like, because they
are well loved on YouTube. Ended up with Floral on the right wrist and Guilty
on the left. Both are quite close but Guilty took it as the afernoon wore on.
(Looked for it in St-Jean drugstores the next day, and nowhere to be found).
Maybe I can order it for my birthday, in December.

I think I actually outwalked Lyse (she was wearing her new heeled booties, and I was in
summer runners). We stopped in at Starbucks and drank our Pumpkin Spice Lattees.
It says 'that first sip feeling' on the cup; and they were right. Bliss. Thinking about what
kind of latte I could make myself today, alone on Labour Day.

In 2015, Starbucks added pumkin to that product. Because the copycat recipes
all used it. This is a semantic shift as well, if not recognized. A pumpkin spice
latte was initially a latte flavoured with the spices one normally uses on pumkin
desserts: it was a PUMPKIN SPICE lattee. The current product is a PUMPKIN lattee.
Just saying. I've got brewed coffee, whole milk, cream, spices and maple syrup.
I think I'll stick with black.

A rock ban went buy, playing  in a glass truck...

We wandered to the UQAM district, and the few folks there all seemed to
be older folks, sitting in the sun. The restaurant/bar where Lyse once worked
is temporarily closed. She shuffled us into the metro for a split-second link-up
with a bus back home.

We'll be back, Montreal!

Electoral

Is the Electoral College voting system for the US Presidency
ever unfair to certain voters. Many have argued against it, wanting
a straight one person one vote popular voting procedure instead of
the convoluted system in place now. It is an interesting question, to
my mind countered by the question of whether there is a true regional
interest being expressed by the current vote.

The US was formed as a confederation (with ultimate sovereignty with
the States) but like with many other countries has become more of a
federation over time, with the central government speaking for it. On issues
of foreign policy alone, the US speaks as one and often has world leadership.
Yet interestingly, the various States do not all have the same taxation
systems with some taxing income for their expenses and others not. So day to
day life will be different. (1/3 of income for States tends to come from federal
transfers).

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the Presidency, and California has 55.
Each State is allocated votes per the number of Congressman (1 for 71,000
people, these days) plus 2 for the two senators from each State. So
yes, on bare bone numbers, a voter from a small state is heavier. But there
is more to the question.

Eating 1/3 of 1/5 of a pizookie is the same as 1/5 of 1/3 of that same cookie.
The Senators make the difference.

The 2016 election played out in certain States because the  vote given
by polls was very close. Indeed, the popular vote went to the looser. This
election is playing out from different poll numbers. It is more about getting
the vote out... or not.

I remember not voting when I first moved to Ottawa for work, because I didn't
feel I was really connected to the community. That wasn't a lack of civic responsibility
but a true abstention, to my mind.

The one caveat I would bring to the current election might be the infantilized
level of the debate. But then the more informed voters might be  voting more
through their financial contributions to the efforts of the parties in play.

And here we are, in Canada. One party will put priority of currency, debt load
and sustainability; the other on what Canadians might be entitled to. Regardless
of what the current posturing might be about.

source: Wikipedia

A pizookie:

China re-centers

Économie de double circulation. 

This would appear to be the new buzzword in China, as it focuses

on upping the standard of living within China, while continuing to

export more luxurious goods to the outside worl,

 https://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/la-chine-se-recentre-sur-son-marche-interieur-20200904

Strange Times

Just read through a couple of articles in the Economist.
They are worried that we have entered a new era of economic
policy with no safeguards: governments have stepped in to create money
and keep economies going. And that means that markets are no longer
operating to determine what is worth keeping and what should fail.

conomist.com/leaders/2020/07/23/governments-must-beware-the-lure-of-free-money?utm_campaign=the-economist-this-week&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_content=body-text-link&utm_term=2020-07-23

They have also documented the rise of shadow banks, which make
the investments that banks no longer touch, now that they are being
more prudent following the crash of 2008.

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/07/25/banks-lose-out-to-capital-markets-when-it-comes-to-credit-provision

Fine, I like a good story.

Meanwhile, the cultural liveliness of cities is biting the dust.

The pandemic and confinement policies are the worst kind of market discipline

ever for live culture: wholesale chaos, a hurricane with no tomorrow. People working

in this sector are creatives, not particularly profit sharks.  And there are no Nancy

Pelosi_s ready to spring for a night at the Club with a couple of bands. That too

is a reality. Stange times, indeed.

                                             *     *     *

James

Daniel Craig is back, as James B. November:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/bond-is-back-with-car-chases-glamour-and-blofeld-dkddkljrm

Henry VIII

I've been really happy with my meal schedule: breakfast at
10 am; main meal at 4 pm; light bedtime meal at 8 pm. Then I
hilariously found out who else had followed this diet: Henry VIII
of England. Yes, he was tall for his time at 6 feet, and fit as a young
man. But at middle age, he ballooned to 400 lbs. Drank 10 pints of beer
a day, and one bottle of sweetened wine. That'll do it.

The idea here is that water was unsafe to drink at the time, so people survived
on alcoholic drinks. This has to be a romantisized notion. If all pregnant
women had drunk, all children would have suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome.

One site mentionned that Henry didn't fancy fruit much except for strawberries,
but his women did. And his court had a juicer. That's better.

He composed a song. Actually, rather nice.

Mad, I tell you!

WHAT is one supposed to make of all this!?


https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/2020/09/02/qui-est-robert-francis-kennedy-jr-star-mondiale-du-mouvement-anti-vaccin_1798286

https://fort-russ.com/2020/04/breaking-kennedy-exposes-dr-faucis-role-in-creating-highly-infectious-mutant-strain-of-coronavirus/

School re-opening

The White House has found a new advisor on the coronavirus, Dr Scott Atlas
from Stanford University.He is of the view that schools at al levels should re-open...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/08/12/who-is-dr-scott-atlas-trumps-new-covid-health-adviser-seen-as-counter-to-fauci-and-birx/#7a07d50320a4