The Maple Leaf Lounge

[Owain Taggart]

@Owain Taggart I believe that Trump is exactly that stupid and that cruel. He's announced what he wants to happen to us. And his supporters on both sides of the border have already been rallying,

Reminds me of that line Anne Coulter once said, and of course I'm paraphrasing as I can't remember it exactly:, "Canada better watch out America doesn't roll over and crush them in their sleep."

I’m French Canadian although my French needs some WD40.

Same here! I'm rusty because I'm no longer surrounded by family that speak French. Join the club.

 

[DEWLine]

Coulter remembered that quote from Trudeau the Elder, whatever that ends up meaning...

 

[Warped9]

Coulter remembered that quote from Trudeau the Elder, whatever that ends up meaning...

Pierre Trudeau in 1969 after meeting with then President Richard Nixon:

“Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”

 

[Owain Taggart]

That sounds very different than the Coulter quote, but I don't doubt that she maybe remembered him saying it, which inspired her.

Either way.... Hey, stop snoring and stealing the blanket!

 

[Warped9]

Coulter might or might not recall the quote. It’s not a hard analogy to think up. Also Trudeau’s quote has been misremembered and simplified over the years. Something like, “Living next to you is like sleeping with an elephant. When it rolls over you can’t help but feel it.”

 

[DEWLine]

Yeah. That.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, and the other thing is it might simply be a coincidence. Trudeau's comment might have been an affectation, but Coulter's comment comes across as more aggressive.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Happy 188th to the city of Toronto!

(hope to FINALLY make it back there next year...)

 

[Warped9]

I used to live in the GTA, in Mississauga. I haven’t been through, or rather over, Toronto on the 401 on the way to Woodstock, Ontario for years. I haven’t been in Toronto for maybe 14 years.

 

[Avro Arrow]

So Lich is now out on bail.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/freedom-convoy-leader-tamara-lich-released-from-custody-1.5807941

 

[Marc]

So Lich is now out on bail.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/freedom-convoy-leader-tamara-lich-released-from-custody-1.5807941

Any takers on how likely she is to breach her bail conditions?

She doesn't strike me as the sort of person who will abide by the condition to stay off social media.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I agree. She comes across as someone who would get into trouble and then try to twist her way out of it.

 

[Warped9]

And I know people who think she is a hero. Very nice people I have liked for years, but it’s not in me to argue with them. I’m sure Lich will disappoint them eventually.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I don't have the energy to argue with a bottomless pit of relentless unreasoning either. I've learned long ago that there are people for which reasoning doesn't exist and trying to change their minds is futile.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Well, it's official. Ontario mask mandates end on March 21, with a few limited exceptions, such as public transit, hospitals, and ong-term care facilities.

I guess we'll see how this goes.

 

[dupersuper]

Well, it's official. Ontario mask mandates end on March 21, with a few limited exceptions, such as public transit, hospitals, and ong-term care facilities.

I guess we'll see how this goes.

New Brunswick ends ours soon as well (the 14th, I believe).

 

[Warped9]

It could be a bit unnerving given we’ve become accustomed to wearing masks and talking precautions.

I take issue with those arguing these were an unnecessary infringement of our freedom. It’s a goddamned pandemic. Was the government supposed to stand back and do nothing? It was a constantly evolving situation, not helped by the collection of internet “experts” who knew shit.

Saying the masks were pointless I completely disagree with. It didn’t stop the spread of the virus, but it did slow the spread. The masks certainly scaled back drastically the spread of regular flu—that in itself I found telling. And given Covid is a respiratory issue the masks helped greatly.

Freedom isn’t absolute. We accept reasonable restrictions to freedom all the time in terms of laws, regulations and accepted societal norms.

 

[shapeshifter]

Some percentage of the population has, to put it bluntly, simply lost their minds.

My brother is one of them. We haven't spoken to each other in so long I don't even know if he survived not getting vaxxed. I thought he'd be quick to gloat with updates about not having died ot getting sick but not a peep.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Freedom isn’t absolute. We accept reasonable restrictions to freedom all the time in terms of laws, regulations and accepted societal norms.

At least some of us do and understand that we all have to make sacrifices. And I can't even imagine if we were all mask-less during all this. Masks gave us hope. Even in 1918 they had to wear masks, and there were signs posted discouraging spitting; "Spitting spreads death", they would say. So, yeah, I agree with everything you said. Precautions need to be made during pandemics, something that we need to be able to adapt and overcome, even if it means sacrificing few liberties.

To lose their minds over simple mask mandates is to not understand the context and urgency of the situation, or to even appreciate the fact that we've been in far worse situations such as wars where liberties were sacrificed. They wouldn't likely even be able to survive during WWII if they are so against sacrificing so few liberties for the greater good. To flat out refuse would likely have branded themselves traitors by the governments.

 

[Warped9]

Here in North America society has had a rather easy ride since WW2. The first half of the century was a lot rougher for society as a whole (Influenza, WW1, Great Depression, WW2) than the second half. Yeah, there was the Cold War and 1960’s era civil movements, but those weren’t really keep you awake situations. Even 9/11 was largely a blip along the way. Shit is always happening, but Covid is something all encompassing that was reaching everyone in some capacity or other for a protracted period.

A lot of people’s behaviour left something to be desired.