On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

I think we're going to have a Problem despite our attention to the details in recent years:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/bus-route-changes-ottawa-1.7018834

The networking to counter this plan is already underway, partly because we were already talking amongst ourselves and with city council. This is a good thing. We need to keep building on this.

...though things in Centretown and the Parliamentary Precinct seem to have gone quiet enough for the night.

We've had at least one reporter ducking beer-can tosses. (A reporter I actually got to say "hello" to once.)

We've had a helicopter violating federal no-fly zones. (Whose pilot ought to be losing their license and soon, over this.)

We've had Confederate, Trumpist and Nazi flags carried by "protestors" alongside the Gadsden flag in the core.

We've had people jumping up and down on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We've had the statue of Terry Fox on Wellington Street repeatedly desecrated today.

We've had His Trumpness endorsing those bad actors at his latest Nuremberg Stunt tonight.

I've had enough.

I had to pass within breathing distance of several people who looked very much like they were lining up at Blair Station to board the O-Train to join the "fun" downtown, and I was not able to keep my cool about it. Fortunately, we all had other places to be and quickly. (I'm hearing that the Confederation Line was having issues again today, so they might not have gotten there.)

This has not been the best day, despite my staying clear of the epicentre of the mess.

I've lost the Roma Barber Shop on Elgin Street, a place I've gotten haircuts at since moving to Ottawa in 1985. I found that out yesterday when I went over from Perfect Books to reassure the Costanza brothers that I hadn't forgotten them. The shop windows were already papered over.

I'm about to lose the Nutrition Company at Gloucester Centre unless the Husseinis can find a buyer before end of March. Bateson House, the furniture shop at Place d'Orléans Mall, is having their closing sale.

One of my nieces and nephews survived COVID-19, with help from the vaccines. Other friendly acquaintances have died of COVID before any vaccine could be delivered to them. Still others have died of the side effects of the Pandemic combining with other medical issues that they were either already dealing with or unaware that they had to deal with.

I'm not about to give up democracy to the fascists.

Night of contrasts: as white supremacists are trying to frame honest protestors across the USA for looting and vandalism, we also had the Crew Dragon launch today and the 2020 Nebula Awards are being handed out via streaming video. Surreal. Hope, fear and anger all at once in my heart and mind right now.

We've got mystery-money buying astroturf protests by bad people in bad faith:

https://pressprogress.ca/meet-the-strange-and-mysterious-group-organizing-anti-lockdown-protests-across-canada/

Also, a hundred thousand people still stuck at sea. The crews aboard the Mein Schiff 3 are far from alone here:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/30/no-end-in-sight-100000-crew-on-cruise-ships-stranded-at-sea-coronavirus

Pompeo's providing cover - as expected, no matter how little sense it makes - for DT-45's accusations against the government of mainland China...and I do not trust this, no matter how little I also trust the Xi regime in Beijing either:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/may/03/coronavirus-us-latest-updates-donald-trump-anthony-fauci-nancy-pelosi-deaths?page=with:block-5eaed0f28f082b32fdd6c794#block-5eaed0f28f082b32fdd6c794

I worry for the world's refugees. Particularly now, when the pressure to ignore them is stronger than it was.

Refugees don't have a choice. Ever. Even in the time of pandemic.

http://gwynnedyer.com/2020/migrants-a-glimpse-of-the-future/

This convoy coming to Ottawa this week is one of them.

They not only want to make things worse for my lungs - whether they believe it or not doesn't matter to me and my doctor - some of them are looking for excuses to target their preferred minority scapegoat too. With people like Kennedy, Ford, and Dugin singing praises of their like, that makes me more than a little antsy for the safety of a lot of us in Canada.

The idea that DT-45's bullhorn will always overwhelm the truth as told by anyone else is one that offends me. So, for some reason, I find myself putting these two links on the same weblog posting...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nato-brussels-trudeau-trump-1.4746424

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/14/the-death-of-truth-how-we-gave-up-on-facts-and-ended-up-with-trump

Yesterday, there was a bunch of protests against M-103, a motion by Liberal MP Iqra Khalid of Mississauga targeting Islamophobia as a Problem to be studied and solved to whatever degree possible (along with other forms of bigotry) in several cities across Canada.

What brings me continued hope for the future of Canada is that in every case, opposing rallies were organized and fielded in defence of M-103.

Calgary.
Edmonton.
Regina and Saskatoon.
Winnipeg.
Toronto.
Montréal and Ville de Québec.

I haven't heard of the like in Ottawa-Gatineau, and I don't know whether to be hopeful or worried about that. If you know of similar events elsewhere in Canada, I'd be glad of links to the reports.

Again: counter-protests against bigotry? Cause for hope.

Go have a look at this for a history lesson on Canada c. 1968:

https://saskboy.wordpress.com/2012/02/04/lazy-loitering-louts/

Same as it's ever been, hm?