Friday, March 15, 2024

Metro Toronto Police: huddle and cower, peasants.

I am not making this up. Metro Toronto Police have issued a statement advising homeowners to "leave their car keys by the front door" so that car thieves can take them and go when they break in.


This is because there are car thieves armed with guns, kicking in people's front doors and SHOOTING THEM to get the car keys and steal the car in the driveway.

To repeat, MTO suggests you leave the keys handy so the ARMED CRIMINALS won't kill you in your home. Because they would never stick around for a little rape-and-murder action if you give them the car, right? That could never happen, I'm sure.

It isn't like the federal government has allowed over a million unvetted refugees from violent failed states into Canada over the last year or so, and it isn't like the cops function as catch-and-release fishermen these days. Oh, wait...

In other news, suburban homes in and around Ancaster, sleepy town outside Hamilton, have begun sporting iron fences around the front yard, with gates across their driveways.

Just wondering how long the Normies are going to be able to pretend everything is fine. I'm thinking the third time they get mugged/have their car stolen they'll probably wake up. Once is an accident, twice is happenstance, three times is enemy action, right?

Update: Anybody remember Peter Khill? Supreme Court of Canada put him in jail after he was acquitted by a jury for the crime of shooting an Indian in self-defense.

Uppitydate: Anybody remember Ian Thompson? Charged with two counts of "unsafe storage of a firearm" after running off FOUR armed men who were firebombing his house.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Apple cancels the Apple Car.

The destruction of the electric car fad accelerates! This time, Apple has very quietly cancelled all work on its Apple electric car.
 
It's dead, Tim.

 

The decision to ultimately wind down the project is a bombshell for the company, ending a multibillion-dollar effort that would have vaulted Apple into a whole new industry. The tech giant started working on a car around 2014, setting its sights on a fully autonomous electric vehicle with a limousine-like interior and voice-guided navigation. But the project struggled nearly from the start, with Apple changing the team's leadership and strategy several times. Lynch and Williams took over the undertaking a few years ago -- following the departure of Doug Field, now a senior executive at Ford Motor.

Note that they mentioned Ford, which has stopped shipping the electric F-150, and a couple of weeks ago cancelled a $12 billion expansion into... electric cars. General Motors has also cut back hard on electric car plans recently. Toyota never had any electric plans, they dodged the whole thing and saved themselves a ton of money.

This good news of course makes me suspicious. Nothing good ever happens these days.

Did all these guys look into their crystal balls and see a looming bankruptcy that was previously invisible? Did they all suddenly understand what power engineers, town planners, car guys, car dealerships, rental companies, and literally everybody with two functioning synapses to rub together, has been telling them since Tesla started? Really? All of them? Right now?

What changed between February 2023 and February 2024? Last year it was full power forward on electrics and self-driving cars. Billions were being spent, billions more were being promised. There was going to be an EV in every driveway by 2035, baby. The Canadian government has gone so far as to -mandate- that there will be only EVs sold after 2035 here in Canuckistan. No more gas guzzlers for you, Great White North. Nothing about government rhetoric has changed. They are all-in on transition to EVs. It is a done-deal.

Except that all the big car companies bailed, and now Apple, literally the biggest tech company in the world, has bailed.

It makes me wonder if the US government made a phone call and told them all that the discounts, tax breaks and special deals were off the table. That would explain it better than assuming all those companies suddenly understood that EVs suck. They knew that already. They were going ahead, knowing that nobody wants EVs, nobody likes EVs, and nobody is going to buy EVs.

Why would the US government make that phone call? Hmm?

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

No more roads for Canada.

Environment Canada approved.


 

"Our government has made the decision to stop investing in new road infrastructure," said Guilbeault, who represents the Quebec riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie. "Of course, we will continue to be there for cities, provinces and territories to maintain the existing network, but there will be no more envelopes from the federal government to enlarge the road network.
Article content

"The analysis we have done is that the network is perfectly adequate to respond to the needs we have. And thanks to a mix of investment in active and public transit and in territorial planning and densification, we can very well achieve our goals of economic, social and human development without more enlargement of the road network."

Guilbeault also said money spent on asphalt and concrete for road expansions would be better invested in projects that will help fight climate change and adapt to its impacts, the Gazette reported.

To me, this says a few things. First, Mr. Guilbeault is a gentleman of questionable intellect. Not news, sadly.

Second, the federal government might be having some money problems. Highways are expensive, and saying you're not building any more to save Mother Gaia is a great excuse to save the money. Or so a midwit apparently thinks.

Third, a Federal cabinet minister saying something like that out loud indicates a certain desperation to display his virtue in the face of coming doom.

Finally, this man thinks he and his fellow politicians are in charge of "economic, social and human development" in this country. They see all, they know all, they have set the goals and they shall achieve them. No need for new roads, peasants. Your betters have decided how everything is going to be. You will walk, and you will like it.

There used to be this guy in Germany who talked like that. Had a funny mustache, loved dogs.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Hugo schadenfreude, piping hot.

 
My Hugo mood today.

 
They say revenge is best served cold, but I like my schadenfreude piping hot. It seems that the WorldCon at Chengdu suffered some irregularities in the voting for the Hugo Award in 2023. How shocking. [This is my shocked face.  o_o ]

The only reason I mention it is because this news made it to the greater world outside the tiny fish bowl of Science Fiction fan-wankery. The weenies at Slashdot noticed this one because it was reported in The Guardian.

The actual crime committed here? I don't care. Seriously, I don't. I haven't read a book since 2019, I think. I just don't read anymore. Because they're awful. Horrendously depressing shite with questionable plots and characters dragged from a landfill.

But for people who do care:

Recently released documents showed that several works or authors – some with links to China – had been excluded from the ballot despite receiving enough nominations to be included on their respective shortlists. The excluded nominees include Kuang and Zhao, authors who were born in China but are now based in the west.
 
Concerns have been raised that the authors were targeted for political reasons, connected to the fact that the ruling Chinese Communist party exerts a tight control on all cultural events that take place inside its borders.
 
Dave McCarty, the head of the 2023 Hugo awards jury, wrote on Facebook: "Nobody has ordered me to do anything … There was no communication between the Hugo administration team and the Chinese government in any official manner."

If you look at the documents in question, (which I did, briefly,) it is quite obvious that people with more votes got dropped. There is no question. And there is no explanation forthcoming. Therefore one can only assume the Chinese government told them to drop those winners from the lists, and that WorldCon saluted and dropped them.


The last time I spoke about WorldCon was December 8th, 2021, on the occasion of Jon Del Arroz winning his defamation lawsuit against them. It cost the sons of bitches $100K to call him a racist. Also in that post I mentioned that Chengdu was most likely going to be the location for the 2023 WorldCon, that it would have been basically purchased outright by the Communist Party of China for the price of 800-some-odd supporting memberships, and that the Great SMOFS of WorldCon were going to take the money.

Which they did. And now here we are, after-action report, some guys sold out their hobby for money, some fancy dinners, and maybe a little fun excitement time where maybe pictures got taken they wouldn't want everybody to see. Or maybe not, some of those tools would probably roll over just for a fancy dinner and a little flattery.

Bottom line, Communist China got themselves a nice little propaganda coup here. On the one hand, famous guys like Neil Gaiman got a slap-down. They were all shown that if you don't play nice with the PRC, you don't get to play at all. All of Hollywood is seeing that message today, you better believe it.

You know what she's saying.



And on the other hand, all the little "Middle Managers" and "Cultural Gatekeepers" of the publishing universe were just shown how sweet a deal it is to be friends with the PRC. You get a nice free trip to Chengdu, where they built a whole hotel and a whole event venue brand new, just for you. You get wined and dined by Important People. You get driven around town to see the sights. You maybe get some "company" for your stay if you are an "important" SMOF type, or maybe even just for asking. So many friendly people to pet you and make a fuss.

But the Sad Puppies are the true enemies of life my friends. They're -still- going on about it.

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Warren Kinsella: Credit where credit is due.

Something I never expected to see, and really something that is quite a shocking departure from history, Warren Kinsella the back-room Liberal fixer has just stood tall for the truth.

I must say, I am really quite amazed. Here's what he said.

A few weeks ago, this writer was invited to the Israeli consulate in Toronto to see 42 minutes of raw video footage. It was mostly taken from video recorders dead (and uniformed) Hamas terrorists brought with them on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023.

The uniformed Hamas killers wanted to keep a record of what they did in Israel that morning. They were proud of what they did: on the videos, they said so, over and over.

[snippage of the witnessed atrocities]

With the permission of the victim's families, some journalists and legislators have been allowed to see the video. To bear witness, the Israelis told us.

We bore witness to something else, however. Something that hasn't been written about nearly as much, but it is important.

It was easy to spot the Hamas men. As noted, they wore uniforms and looked like soldiers, even though they acted like animals – worse than animals, actually.

But here's something else we witnessed: people who weren't in uniforms, at all, flooding into Israel to participate in the barbarity of that dark Saturday.

He goes on to mention atrocities committed by civilians from Gaza, caught on video. Not the "official" terrorists, but freelance murderers/rapists/etc. Private enterprise, as it were.

So, good on Mr. Kinsella for finding his backbone and standing up for human decency against the drift of the political wind. Even attending the Israeli consulate shows guts I frankly did not think he had, given his history. How nice, in these dark days, to find this strength in such an unlikely place.

So, we end 2023 on a high note. Kudos and blessings upon Mr. Kinsella, for saying the truth when very few will.

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

I'm so proud.


"In addition to the other calls worldwide demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza strip — the last of which was a statement by Canada, Australia, and New Zealand backing sustainable ceasefire in Gaza — we welcome these developments and consider them in the right direction toward isolating the fascist Israeli government globally and ending the longest ever occupation in our modern time."  -  Dr. Ghazi Hamad, a senior leader of the Palestinian terror group HamAss.

On an unrelated note, does anyone else feel that the Hunger Games movies are starting to feel like a documentary?

Thursday, November 23, 2023

New Rules, Lefties. Because you insisted.

 https://twitter.com/UAlberta/status/1725988052454326510

 

Statement on the University of Alberta Sexual Assault Centre 

The recent improper and unauthorized use of the name of the University of Alberta’s Sexual Assault Centre in endorsing an open letter has raised understandable concerns from members of our community and the public. Effective immediately, the director of the centre is no longer employed by the university. The university has appointed a new interim director of the Sexual Assault Centre.

 

The open letter:

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12763853/sarah-jama-susan-kim-university-alberta-hamas-rape.html

The director of a sexual assault center at a Canadian university is coming under criticism for signing an open letter denying women were raped during Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.

Samantha Pearson, director of the University of Alberta's Sexual Assault Center, was among those to sign in support of the letter written by two local politicians.

Sarah Jama, a member of Ontario's provincial parliament, and Susan Kim, a city councillor in Victoria, British Columbia, authored the letter to all members of Canada's parliament.

We, the undersigned, residing in so-called Canada, urge Canadian political leaders to end their complicity in the ongoing massacres and genocide in Gaza, Occupied Palestine,' they wrote.

The letter - entitled 'Stand with Palestine: Call on Political Leaders to End Their Complicity in Genocide!' - called on the MPs to resign after the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, refused to demand a ceasefire.

And the signatories criticized opposition leader Jagmeet Singh for having 'repeated the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence.' 


You do not despise the media enough.

Media coverage of Israel continues.


You see them do it, and you can't believe they'd really say that, but there it is.