Author: Blazingcatfur

Lilacs in the spring

That’s Father Jim  in the pic above. – (Thanks for the pic Theo)

A long but good day despite being a little misty at times.

The weather was excellent and we all enjoyed the beautiful sunshine that blessed Kathy’s service.

The rain held until we all went our separate ways, some to an impromptu lunch, others home and all of us missing Kathy but joyfully animated in remembrance of my beloved.

Father Jim officiated and Rick delivered the eulogy I posted earlier today. It has been deservedly well received.

Others like Richard and Ezra and the funniest vet you’ll ever meet Dr. Kyla spoke of their admiration and affection for Kath.

Yes K’s marker really does say “Get Off My Lawn” – (Thanks for the pic Margaret)

It was a nice turnout and I enjoyed meeting Kathy’s friends and fans.

I have been sustained by the love you have expressed for Kathy. I do not think she ever imagined the positive impact she had on so many.

But she knows now and smiles upon us.

And I never forget that I am luckiest of all.

Had a seeming necessity not dictated I would have rescheduled for a weekend as I know many more would have loved to attend.

My other regret is that covid forced a delay past Lilac season.

They were Kathy’s favourite sign of spring and the summer to come.

Next year you will have your Lilacs Kathy. I promise.

More pics from Kathy’s friends on her FB page.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inKathy Shaidle

A eulogy for Kathy

 

Kathy Shaidle was the most honest person I’ve ever known. If she was around to be honest with us today I’m sure she’d say that she really didn’t want to see us here, almost as much as she’d say that she’d really rather not be here, herself.

Kathy was never afraid of candor or controversy or hurt feelings. She was tough and, at a time when the word is thrown around far too often, truly brave. Kathy set a standard for public behaviour and personal loyalty that we, the people she left behind, are forced to live up to in her absence.

Like many of us, I first met Kathy online, but I was lucky enough to transfer that friendship to the real world, where I came to rely on Kathy for her unerring ability to cut through clouds of error and confusion, starting with her own. Kathy had no patience for Pontius Pilate’s “What is truth?” She knew the truth was out there, and that even when it was hard to find, there was no excuse to settle for flattering lies.

Kathy made enemies, but what she talked about less was how she made friends, often at a distance of hundreds or even thousands of miles. That was her superpower – with little more than her words she let you know who you were dealing with, and her honesty and heedless candor became a magnet that pulled us into her orbit.

(more…)

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inKathy Shaidle

Leaders debate

NatPo – Lacklustre second leaders debate short on emotion, heavy on talking points

Just like during the first debate last week, Trudeau was repeatedly grilled by opposition leaders about his decision to call a ‘selfish’ election

Global – Federal leaders trade barbs on COVID-19, Indigenous rights in French election debate

Indigenous reconciliation, climate change and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic sparked fiery but mostly peaceful exchanges among the federal party leaders in the Canadian election‘s French language debate.

The Star – Leaders clash over character and credibility in French-language election debate

OTTAWA—Political promises were on the menu, but hot takes on character and credibility were the dishes served up at the French-language debate staged in Gatineau Wednesday night.

Toronto Sun – Leaders gather in Gatineau, drill Trudeau about ill-timed election

As five federal party leaders squared off in the second French-language debate of the election campaign, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau again found himself attacked for calling an election at the beginning of a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections.

CBC – This election is tight — and last night’s debate likely did little to change that

There were some sharp elbows on display but nothing that suggests a pivot point in the campaign

BBC – Party leaders spar in first national debate Yea it’s the second of 3 the Beeb got it wrong

Canadian federal party leaders clashed over vaccines, climate policy and the economy in the first national TV debate of this general election campaign.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Another Damn Election"

Reports: China Eyes Takeover of US Air Base in Afghanistan

The Chinese military is reportedly eyeing a move into Bagram Air Base, only weeks after the Biden administration ordered a withdrawal from what was the United States’ largest military installation in Afghanistan.

Multiple sources confirmed to U.S. News that the Chinese military is assessing the feasibility of sending soldiers and other officials to the abandoned military base, which the Biden administration shuttered in July before a full withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAfghanistan

My University Sacrificed Ideas for Ideology. So Today I Quit.

The more I spoke out against the illiberalism that has swallowed Portland State University, the more retaliation I faced.

Dear Provost Susan Jeffords,

​​I’m writing to you today to resign as assistant professor of philosophy at Portland State University.

Over the last decade, it has been my privilege to teach at the university. My specialties are critical thinking, ethics and the Socratic method, and I teach classes like Science and Pseudoscience and The Philosophy of Education. But in addition to exploring classic philosophers and traditional texts, I’ve invited a wide range of guest lecturers to address my classes, from Flat-Earthers to Christian apologists to global climate skeptics to Occupy Wall Street advocates. I’m proud of my work.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Peak Woke"

The Horror! Denmark tells some migrants to work for benefits

Muslims march for Sharia in Denmark

Some migrants in Denmark will now be required to work 37 hours a week in order to receive welfare benefits.

It will be a requirement for those who have been on benefits for three to four years, and who have not reached a certain level of proficiency in Danish.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the rules were directly aimed at women from “non-Western backgrounds” living on benefits.

Denmark has repeatedly tightened its immigration policies in recent years.

It now has some of the toughest rules in Europe, and has set a target of zero asylum applications.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCamp Of The Saints, Denmark

How 9/11 created the surveillance state

We were promised an era of heroism — so where did it all go wrong?

When the dotcom bubble burst in March of 2000, it was a minor ripple in a sea of American optimism. The headline on a 1999 Pew poll captured the pre-millennium spirit: “Optimism Reigns, Technology Plays Key Role.” The crash was only a temporary setback, the price for getting too far out ahead of the wave of unstoppable progress.

Meanwhile, the members of an al Qaeda cell were plotting.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Surveillance Society", 9/11

The Wi Spa scandal is worse than we thought

The liberal media’s branding of this incident as a ‘hoax’ was disgraceful.

What kind of person would cast aspersions on a woman of colour in order to defend a man who had allegedly exposed his genitals to women? Surely you would need to trawl the darker, weirder regions of the internet to find such an individual, to discover people so bereft of morality that they are willing to question the reputation of a black woman in order to shield an alleged flasher from critique? Actually, no. You only need to look to the Guardian, that self-styled conscience of decent liberals, that bastion of woke rectitude. For it was there, in the pages of this chattering-class bible, that in a clash between a woman of colour who had been flashed at and the man who allegedly flashed at her, it was the former who was demonised and the latter who was treated with sympathy.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inBig Tranny

Terence Corcoran: From vaccine passports to personal carbon passports: Get ready for CLIMATE-21 fossil fuel virus lockdowns

Somewhere deep in the cranium of the climate intelligentsia a seed was planted to produce the florid idea that the global COVID-19 virus could serve as inspiration for humankind to once and for all tackle the looming climate crisis. Mark Carney, the global master of modern corporatism’s climate crusade, dedicates a whole chapter of his book Value(s) to the COVID/climate nexus. “If we come together to meet the biggest challenges in medical biology, so too can we come together to meet the challenges of climate physics and the forces driving inequality.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inGreen-Scam

The Conservatives target the swing voters sick of Trudeau — but wary of change

When Erin O’Toole released the Conservative Party’s list of election promises last month, at least one experienced political strategist was stumped.

“I saw nothing that would help them win the election,” David Herle, the well-known Liberal adviser, told Politico. “No big tax cut. No serious affordability initiative.”

O’Toole’s people would no doubt quibble with such a broad dismissal. The 83-page document is full of bullet points, and nearly every section is presented as a “detailed plan” to address one concern or another.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Another Damn Election"

Anti-logging protest becomes Canada’s biggest ever act of civil disobedience

A string of protests against old-growth logging in western Canada have become the biggest act of civil disobedience in the country’s history, with the arrest of least 866 people since April.

The bitter fight over the future of Vancouver Island’s diminishing ancient forests – in which activists used guerrilla methods of resistance such as locking their bodies to the logging road and police responded by beating, dragging and pepper-spraying demonstrators – has surpassed the previous record of arrests set in the 1990s at the anti-logging protests dubbed the “War in the Woods”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inBatshit Crazy Eco-Luddites

LAPD officers told to collect social media data on every civilian they stop

The Los Angeles police department (LAPD) has directed its officers to collect the social media information of every civilian they interview, including individuals who are not arrested or accused of a crime, according to records shared with the Guardian.

Copies of the “field interview cards” that police complete when they question civilians reveal that LAPD officers are instructed to record a civilian’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media accounts, alongside basic biographical information. An internal memo further shows that the police chief, Michel Moore, told employees that it was critical to collect the data for use in “investigations, arrests, and prosecutions”, and warned that supervisors would review cards to ensure they were complete.

And… Facebook pays contractors to read your ‘encrypted’ WhatsApp messages, shares info with prosecutors – reports

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Surveillance Society"

Rex Murphy: It’s a hollow election without national purpose

This election is hollow. It is without centre. It is without national purpose. It is idle, contrived, opportunistic, premature and cynical. It is just a Liberal game.

Everyone knows it is. The public, the press, the politicians, and if a pandemic could be said to have a personality, the pandemic knows it, too.

I think it has united people to hate Trudeau, so there’s that.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Another Damn Election"