Olé olé olé olé !!!! Les Glorieux sont victorieux !!!!

I'm sharing the text here of a homily that Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny offered for the "beloved people of Cuba." Here, he insists that "humanitarian aid should arrive in sufficient quantities and without hindrance and must never be exploited for political or geopolitical ends."

Merlin app says that today our yard has red-winged blackbirds, warbling vireos, American goldfinches, purple finches and grey catbirds. Song sparrows, common grackles, American robins and mallard ducks are usually around too.

The amount of whining from Dying with Dignity and other MAID enthusiasts, who have dominated MAID discourse in Canada for the last decade and been given pretty much everything they want, when a parliamentary committee hears from some opposing voices....

On a Canadian holiday, the US has announced that it is "pausing" the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, established in 1940 - again, the US backtracks on longstanding cooperation with an ally while moving the goalposts on what is "credible progress" on defence commitments.

Noticing that the Baptist church in Brockville ON has Sunday morning and evening worship services with sign language interpretation. Very few congregations in our denomination have ASL (or LSQ) interpreters.

Elon Musk is extremely concerned that there are Black people in movies, so all of social media has to debate whether or not it is racist for Black actors to appear on the screen.

Having turned its back on Ukraine, the US is preparing to abandon Taiwan. Orwell would have been even more prescient if he had predicted Oceania caving in to Eurasia and Eastasia simultaneously.

Love hearing O Canada being played at the end of Canada vs. Italy at the IIHF Men's World Championship in Switzerland.

Straws were invented as an accessibility aid for disabled people. Abled people liked them, appropriated them for their use, and attached all kinds of weirdness to them.

We got up, admired some Riviera scenery as racing was on from Monaco, then Canadian wheelchair rugby and the FA Cup Final. I guess this leisurely pace needs to end now.

I was not surprised to come across ableist/eugenicist Christopher Rufo in this article, opposing paying family to care for disabled people at home. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

The collateral damage from Quebec's Bill 9, the secularism law, has begun - the annual Portuguese procession in Plateau-Mont-Royal has been denied a permit as it could include public prayer. The Portuguese community is doing it on Sunday anyway, and the police aren't planning to stop it.

MAGA is making grandiose claims about the world-historical US state visit to China, but the visit of the President of Tajikistan was on page 1 of Wednesday's China Daily - Trump's arrival was on page 3, while the visit was the 13th item in that night's Xinwen Liambo news broadcast.

Canadian Prime Minister visits China, arrives at some trade measures: "The Chinese Communist Party is now on the northern border." US President visits China, breaks longstanding US commitment not to consult Chinese on Taiwan's defence: 5D chess, Art of the Deal, strong leaders getting along.

The US President who tells the world constantly that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon left the Iranian regime (or a more hardline version of it) in power with all of its nuclear material, yet claims "a total military victory." Anyone pointing this out is a "traitor."

I am not sold on this at all - football should be played on a muddy pitch, in a cold rain, in northern England, with no "half time show" except tipsy supporters singing. However, Mrs is excited about Chris Martin performing.

There are as many as 2 million Americans who use American Sign Language as their primary language, and 5 million more who can use ASL or other sign languages.

A blessed Ascension Day to all!

There is a piece in Axios that begins "Fewer Americans want to become pastors... As the pastor role becomes lower-paid, higher-risk and less trusted, the U.S. isn't just losing clergy — it's losing a key layer of local leadership, especially in rural and Black communities." Also applies to Canada.

So, I am always keen on assistive technology that benefits disabled people, and Meta glasses may indeed be a game changer. But I wonder if the "violate the privacy of everyone else" features can be removed, and if doing so would make Meta drop the product.

Show of hands from everyone who did not believe the assurances that "this ballroom won't cost American taxpayers a dime."

There's a "the French Canadians of New France were *so* much nicer than England to the natives" comment on X, and I'm reflecting that my ancestor came in a French regiment sent specifically "pour détruire ces barbares." He was killed by Oneida warriors 25 years later.

I have it on good authority - of the US President, MAGA and their Canadian fifth column, after Prime Minister Carney visited China - that trading with China is tantamount to putting the Chinese Communist Party in charge of your country.

I made banh mi which was praised by the resident food critic, carefully placed leftover fillings in a glass container, got to the fridge and dropped it. Disabled chef low point.

Absolutely unimpressed that one of the school boards cited in the Auditor General of Ontario's report as among the three worst in the province for disabled students (to the extent that disabled children were sent home as their needs couldn't be met) is our own Upper Canada District School Board.

Rev. Murray McBride has died. A farm boy from the Ottawa Valley, he was a graduate of Yale Divinity School, ordained in The United Church of Canada and serving congregations in Ottawa and the Valley, elected to the House of Commons, and chair of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency among other posts.

The Toronto Star has a piece on the huge surge in demand at our United Church of Canada archives, as Americans search for baptism and marriage records to claim Canadian citizenship.

It takes a lot of gall for Trump, as he did in a Truth Social post, to accuse a previous President of "jettisoning all other allies." He is the chief jettisoner-of-allies - in fact, the most prolific jettisoner among American Chief Executives.

Motherly Love Blake Angeconeb ~ Anishinaabe c. 2023

CFL training camps start tomorrow!

Elon Musk is promoting "Nazis are socialists," which surfaces at least once a year despite it being the most asinine political debate ever. Yes, I know they were "National Socialists." East Germany would also call itself the "German Democratic Republic."

I want to thank the United States for furnishing a fresh illustration of Acts 17:29 for tomorrow's sermon: "Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals."

Evangelical pastor, after blessing a 7 metre tall gold Trump statue, says, "Let me be clear. This is not a golden calf." I thought Americans watched The Ten Commandments every year and would recognize a golden calf when they saw one. Admittedly, the scene is near the end of a long movie.

Very pleased to join our American friends in the North Country Association of the United Church of Christ's New York State Conference as they convene their spring meeting. I began our partnership when I was Presbytery chair in 2012, and now our two denominations are in Full Communion.

At the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus. The accessible door with the push button opener has a sign, "Help us save energy. Please use the main door." I just hauled my disabled self a long distance from the nearest disabled parking, so I'm hitting that button.

Our neighbourhood is reeling from the murder of three people, a short distance from my house, and the arrest of a teenager for the crime. Just terrible.

I am up late watching Oklahoma City Thunder play the Lakers, because I'm a fan of OKC's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who grew up in Hamilton, Ontario.

www.disabilitydebrief.org/debrief/find... #Disability

Should have held this back until Ascension Day, May 14.

Holy liftin'. Atlético Ottawa crushed Toronto FC 3-1.

Parables of eugenics, more like. All of these guys are eugenicists.

Praying for Louise Arbour, the next Governor General of Canada.

Always interesting to look at the weather map. Today it shows that we are in a rain system that stretches from Kansas across the continent to New Brunswick's Saint John River Valley.

I don’t know if y’all understand what a big deal this is. The fashion world is DEEPLY committed to the erasure of disability and hiding disabled people away and a belief that we should never be seen. To see MULTIPLE disabled people on the red carpet feels like a pivotal moment.

I can hardly wait until the US government uses the customs law to track my movements on the sovereign territory of another country, because I criticized the Dear Leader and his lickspittles.

Darth Blake Angeconeb ~ Anishinaabe 2023

It's unfortunate that the Raptors couldn't get past the Cavaliers. But a brilliant hockey win for Montreal!! Allez allez allez allez!! Go Habs go!

At church this morning we marked Battle of the Atlantic Sunday and remembered those who served, including my father in law on the corvette HMCS Peterborough, and the Canadian sailors, merchant mariners and aircrew who died.

Congratulations to Canadian wheelchair curling champions Team Quebec, silver medal winners Northern Ontario, and bronze medallists Saskatchewan.