Me: turns into CBC news for the first time in literally years Rosemary Barton: after the commercial break, we will hear about Stephen Harper's message of unity Me: chokes on Sunsplit, recovers, turns off CBC news until next Winter Olympics

Me on Facebook for years: this is fascism. Read Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, Herbert Marcuse, Liudmila Chukovskaia My Facebook friends today: nobody told me this could happen! Nobody has ever written about this Me:

Oh no, things got rowdy fast. Prob arguing about the Canadian team jackets again

Everybody here is very excited about the Olympics

This kind of propaganda is how the gestapo tricked folks into thinking they were everywhere, when there were one of them for every 10K Germans.

Drivers other than me: I'll just get in this long lineup of cars blocking traffic waiting for a space in the hospital parking lot to open up Me: I'll just slide into this legal street parking space opposite these ninnies blocking traffic This is the third time I've done this, in the same spot 😎

I think I want to learn Polish since the Poles seem to be actually investigating the Russian connection in the Epstein files. If I know Russian (well) and Ukrainian (not bad), how long will it take me? I have a really good dictionary, and I am not afraid of consonants

I dig retirement

I just wrote 3 paragraphs after days of procrastination! New trick: Instead of staring at my blank computer screen slackjawed, I closed my eyes and typed. This is where I am glad that I took that touch-typing class at the YWCA back in the day. Time well spent.

Mainstream political scientists reading the Epstein files: how could this perfect storm have happened? Feminist political scientists: Hold my beer

I took a bookbinding course and now I'm making this for my cousin-in-law

The "perceived" issuing of a warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court for the "perceived" deportation of people "perceived" to be children, which could be a "perceived" war crime

Just received copy-edits of a chapter where "Russia's brutal full-blown invasion of Ukraine in 2022" was edited to "Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022." Russia's unwillingness to act constructively was edited to "perceived" unwillingness. What the actual f**k? Not happening. My words, or I walk.

Read the last paragraph of this story. It's a good one. 🇺🇦

.... and cue the Destroy-o-matic to f**k up my Big-Ass Whiteboard Brainstorming. Luckily he didn't realize the opportunity to wreak havoc until I'd filled up 3 panels and taken a photo

Enough farting around. Time to get serious.

Certainly appears moms with whistles won the Battle of Minneapolis.

After six months of retirement, I am oddly comforted by the fact that I am still receiving reminders to complete mandatory online trainings. When I croak, my tombstone will read "Technically dead, but still receiving reminders to complete online trainings. Her legacy lives on."

Where are the resignations from ICE and CBP??? I guarantee you there are at least *some* who know this is wrong but arectaking the path of least resistance (“following orders”). They need to step down and speak up

Brandishing is a legal term that means to display all or part of a firearm, or otherwise make its presence known to another person to intimidate them, regardless of whether it's directly visible to that person. Given the video, that's not what Alex Pretti was doing when he was shot & killed.

Bye, Mount Sutcliffe. See you again in February

Omg I'm losing Mount Sutcliffe One last photo of my gnomes at the summit

Good morning, @mayormarksutcliffe.bsky.social. I've named this giant ice boulder, which I managed with difficulty to push to the side of my driveway, Mount Sutcliffe. This is Day 14 of Mount Sutcliffe. My street is the Land That Austerity Forgot. No snowbanks cleared all winter.

My cats weigh in

Please don't make me cry by mangling Havel. His essay, "The Power of the Powerless" was about the individual's ability to resist dictatorship by freeing their mind from unthinking, slackjawed obedience. I reference his essay here. carleton.ca/eurus/2022/z...

Please I am BEGGING you all to please READ that essay by Vaclav Havel. All of it, not the AI summary. I'm begging you. I understand Carney's point, but I don't agree that he applied the greengrocer analogy appropriately. I'm not being pedantic. Havel had much to say about international norms

I dig that PM Carney quoted Vaclav Havel, but I think he mis-applied its lessons for the international order. There is a huge difference between performing obedience without giving it much thought (Havel's grocer), and trying to engage constructively with an inconsistent partner on norms.

Today on Facebook some ninny blamed a City Councillor for her slow commute on Smyth near the Ottawa General. Smyth is not in that Councillor's Ward, but whatevs. Did it ever enter your mind that there might actually be more traffic on Smyth because the General is a HOSPITAL and people are sick?

Piano players, please don't mangle Chopin. Perfect, fluid fingerwork and rhythm don't matter if you use your fingers like hammers. Phrasing and expression matter. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Mount Sutcliffe, Sunday (with gnomes, not photoshopped) and today, looks much better with my cats photoshopped in

I'm glad I've read a lot of novels about mining, like Zola's Germinal, because they're helpful in learning how to wield a pickaxe. Although things turned out badly for those characters

Mount Sutcliffe today @mirgray.bsky.social

Come on Ottawa. In an era of climate change, we can't be using 1970s snow removal methods. I'm very fit, but seriously, I'm not a young woman and using a pickaxe is not my skill set. We have an aging population. Let's task some bright young engineers to find a better plow. But no, Lansdowne

The administration needs to be asked directly how many J6ers, and anyone convicted of seditious conspiracy, are now ICE agents with a badge and a gun.

Glacier, I name thee Mount Sutcliffe

My driveway. Gnomes for scale. The glaciers are migrating. Surely we can find better snow clearing methods.

You honor the victims of horrific violence by remembering them, and seeking accountability for crimes. You do not honor them by watching recordings of their suffering. Some people must, to make that accountability possible. But if you're not one of them, don't.

A cup of bad coffee, a noisy cafeteria, and a marked-up political philosophy paperback. Who says retirement makes you feel old? This is like I'm 18 again.

This is my first winter as a retired professor. Usually, in January I would begin teaching a first year course on democracy. Since I retired, I've writing my thoughts on democracy. At well over 200 pages, I might work up a book manuscript. Working title: "F**k you and the horse you rode in on"

Guys, with understanding that everyone is angry right now, I am honestly going to start blocking people who say things like, "Who cares? The law doesn't matter anymore," or "They can do whatever they want, they can't be stopped" etc. I mean, if you really feel that way, you're a part of the problem.

Odd, I don't remember Canadian media dumping on Vaira Vike-Freiburga when she left Canada to serve Latvia as LATVIAN PRESIDENT If you've never heard of Vaira Vike-Freiburga, but you're clutching your pearls about Chrystia Freeland, then I think maybe, you might just be a 🤡

The above is from DOJ's deadly force policy. DHS is not under DOJ and may have a separate policy but I imagine it is substantially similar. I doubt these ICE agents are trained in the legal parameters (FBI agents have them DRILLED in), and they likely do not care www.justice.gov/jm/1-16000-d...

Law enforcement officers CANNOT use deadly force against a fleeing person fleeing unless they have a reasonable belief that the individual poses a danger to others (e.g., they know the person is armed). If in vehicle, the person must be threatening to use deadly force with the vehicle or other means

New-Year's~Resolution-free Loaf

Starting New Years Eve watching Dire Straits, Lou Reed and Patti Smith on the Youtube with my 20-something sons who have just "discovered" this music. Please pass the lemon gin and the Ten-Penny ale in stubby bottles

Happy December 29th to everyone except this jerk who bolted outside in a storm, scared the beejezus out of me, had me make a fool of myself in the neighbourhood again, and sauntered home after sunset casually requesting dinner