The border between Canada and the United States has been closed to everything but essential travel, for some time now. This means that Canadians and Americans can't enter each other's nations in the name of entertainment, tourism or recreation: doing what everyone can to stem the spread of COVID-19 is the right way to go if any of us want to get out of this plague alive. On the Canadian side of things, our border service lets Americans into the country, provided they're traveling for an essential purpose (bringing produce into the country, for example), have no COVID-19 symptoms, and, if they are required to stay in Canada as part of their visit, have a plan to quarantine themselves for 14 days before carrying on their merry way.
Recently, I learned that Americans are also allowed to travel on through to their home or business in Alaska, so long as they take the most direct route to the state and, in an effort to keep COVID-19 from spreading, stay the hell away from everyone else at rest stops and eateries. The majority of those headed north to Alaska have been honoring these conditions. Apparently, there are a few that are not. This past week, a few dickheads who didn't feel that the laws designed to keep us all safe apply to them, got caught.
From The CBC:
Alberta RCMP issued seven tickets to Americans who stopped in Banff National Park to see the sights last week despite rules observed by the Canada Border Services Agency...at
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Ottawa resident Paul Koch was "shocked" to find a moose in his backyard swimming pool Friday morning.
CTV News:
"It's still a mystery to me how she got in the backyard," Koch said. "She'd have to jump a minimum of a five to five-and-a-half-foot fence to do it."
The moose spent several hours swimming around in the pool at the home near Hunt Club Road and Uplands Drive, later moving to the shallow end to stand up...
Police later said the moose had "rejoined its buddies" in the forest.
The moose punched a serious hole in the Kochs' pool lining. But despite the repairs they'll have to make, the Kochs say this was a highlight of their 40 years as homeowners.
screengrab via Ottawa Sun/YouTube
Thanks, Meaghan! Read the rest
A 17-year-old boy who killed a woman at an "erotic" spa in Toronto was motivated by "incel ideology", say police. Charges against the teen, anonymous due to his age, were upgraded to terroristic murder as a result.
He was already facing first-degree and attempted murder charges, but the development means police believe the incident was terrorism-related. In a joint statement, the RCMP and Toronto Police Service said their investigation had determined the attack “was inspired by the Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremist (IMVE) movement commonly known as INCEL.”
“As a result, federal and provincial Attorney Generals have consented to commence terrorism proceedings, alleging that the murder was terrorist activity … and the attempted murder was terrorist activity.”
Often lost in discussion of incels is the fact that the "involuntary" part is rarely truthful. Incels have idealized expectations of dating and sexual partners rooted in their catastrophically bizarre ideology, and their raging narcissistic egos cannot accept anything less. Sex, to them, is exclusively a measurement of the self. Read the rest
Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau says the country has signed an agreement with Amazon.com for the distribution of critical emergency medical supplies such as masks, face shields, gowns, ventilators, and test kits in the COVID-19 crisis. Read the rest
Canada is not super cool with plans by impeached U.S. president Donald Trump to send a thousand (maybe fewer) U.S. troops to the U.S.-Canada border. Trump says militarizing the border is good because he's worried things will become so desperate in the U.S. with the pandemic, Americans will flee north to escape the oncoming coronavirus hellscape. Read the rest
Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau is self-isolating at home after his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau began displaying flu-like symptoms, and took a test for coronavirus. Read the rest
On Friday night, someone driving on a Saskatoon, Canada highway was sure having a blast. Watch the CTV News video above.
According to the newscaster, "Saskatoon police have not confirmed whether they are investigating." At least they haven't confirmed that they aren't investigating.
(via Fark)
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Canada's privacy authorities on Friday said they are investigating New York-based Clearview AI over concerns the facial recognition technology may not comply with Canadian privacy law. Read the rest
On Saturday, the government health ministry of Canada reported the first presumed case in Canada of a patient with the so-called Wuhan virus, officially known as Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV. Read the rest
The idea of paid protesters is a favorite of the right, though as always, the thing you accuse your opponents of inevitably turns out to be the thing you're doing yourself (Trump paid actors to cheer his presidential campaign announcement and big industry groups pay actors to protest regulations that undermine their profits).
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From the bail hearings of three men arrested on gun charges, whom police claim were members of the white nationalist group The Base: the men planned on using the gun rally in Virginia to start a civil war by gunning down their fellow pro-gun demonstrators, and they discussed murdering police officers in order to obtain arms and tactical equipment.
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My 2019 book Radicalized has been named one of the five finalists for Canada Reads, the CBC's annual book prize -- Canada's leading national book award, alongside of the Governor General's award!
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Dan Doctoroff and Stephen Diamond could hardly suppress their affection for each other at their January 13 joint luncheon address hosted by the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
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Oh my gosh, this poor gal is never going to live this down. Eve, a contestant on Family Feud Canada**, screwed up her family's chance to play for $10,000 by incorrectly answering the world's easiest sudden-death question: "What's Popeye's favorite food?" Oof! Let's hope she's at least offered an endorsement deal from a certain fast food chain.
Even crazier, watch these unaired outtakes:
**Am I the only one who didn't know there was a Canadian version of Family Feud?
(Twitter) Read the rest
The Canadian Broadcasting Coporation's annual Canada Reads prize is one of Canada's top literary prizes, ranking with the Governor General's prize for prestige and reach; it begins early in January with the announcement of a longlist of 15 recommended books, and then these are whittled down to a shortlist of five books later in the month. Over the months that follow, each of the shortlisted books is championed by a Canadian celebrity in a series of events across the country, with the grand prize winner being announced in late March after a televised debate among the five books' "champions."
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Imperial Oil is Exxon's Canadian subsidiary, with control the majority of Canada's tar sand oil -- the filthiest, most climate-damaging oil in the world. Calgary's Glenbow Museum has a largely unregarded archive of historical internal Imperial Oil documents, which were retrieved by Desmog and the Climate Investigations Center and turned over to The Intercept.
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“Volume decline accelerated in 2019, down 3% through November.”
The new availability of a wide array of legal marijuana products has is beginning to take a bite out of beer consumption in Canada, reports Bloomberg News. Read the rest
