Week of January Tenth

What caught my attention the Week of January tenth?

Appeasement

Did you notice that this week,  the US and NATO are taking the lead in Ukraine negotiations with Russia? If my memory of history serves me correctly, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain  left Czechoslovakia on the sidelines  while negotiating the Munich Agreement of 1938. As a result, the treaty ceded the Czech Sudetenland to Germany in exchange for  “peace for our time”.  World War II started September 1, 1939. 

I can only hope that they remember the lessons of history. However, I think not! The US has already said that it will not take any military action should Russia invade the Ukraine. Russia is already declaring victory. Greedy, brutal dictators cannot be appeased. It is always more, more, more. 

 The Bad Behaviour of Two US Supreme Court Justices 

Neil Gorsuch for not wearing a mask. He sits on the bench with 83-year old Steven Breyer and diabetic Sonia Sotomayor. I will have more on her later. First, the Gorsuch refusal to wear a mask out of his respect for his colleagues displayed political and judicial bias, behaviour unbecoming of a justice. Second, it makes him a terrible human being. Clearly, not a nice man.

Sonia Sotomayor massively exaggerated the Covid-19 toll on children. I am all for vaccine mandates but selling them with lies is counter-productive. 

Montréal’s Jewish General Hospital – The Innovator

The “Jewish” , one of Canada’s best hospitals,  has a well deserved reputation for excellence. The Montreal Gazette reports that it has set up a “virtual ward” to provide at home hospital care for COVID patients. It sends carefully selected patients home with oxygen and special wearables that monitor oxygen saturation in the blood and other vital indicators. These wearables send these indicators to a central control room every five minutes. The hospital follows the home patients from this command centre. If a patient’s vital signs indicate a necessary return to hospital, the centre dispatches the ambulance service to bring the patient back to the Jewish. 

Kudos to this institution for being innovative and maintaining high standards of excellence. Also to the the dedicated and generous community that supports it. 

Climate Change and Personal Responsibility

I hesitated referring to this linked article on The Alernative web site. Sometimes the hyperbolic language gets in the way of the important message. However, one  excerpt in particular underlines the main theme:

We should not be able to blame livestock production for the biodiversity crisis while eating a Big Mac or blame tobacco manufacturers while taking another drag on our cigarette. In the same way, it is ethically disingenuous to shift blame for the climate crisis to those 90 carbon intensive corporations while we continue to patronize them as we always have to support our historically extravagant lifestyles.

Zhiwa Woodbury 

The underlying message: Consumer behaviour drives green house gas emissions. Eat more beef, more methane! Drive a gas guzzler – more CO2! Change your wardrobe every year – contaminate more water! It is hypocritical to bitch about air pollution with four fossil-fuelled cars in the driveway. 

In a related story that I have been following: 

At Florence’s Pitti Uomo, Men’s clothing manufacturers have a focus on sustainability. The success of their efforts relies on consumer behaviour. 

Trawden, Lancashire, England

OK! OK! Maybe I should have had this in last week’s review! The Telegraph published this article on January 8:

The Village that Broke Free. It tells the heart-warming story of  Trawden, an old fabric-mill town fighting off decay. The last mills closed in the mid ’70’s. Then, its ten retailers closed one by one. In 2014 the borough council announced its intention to close the community centre. The library roof leaked. Finally, the village publican put his establishment up for sale.  

The village residents took over. They acquired and renovated the community centre and library; and, developed a community shop. Then in 2021, with the assistance of the Plunkett Foundation , the community raised £450,000 to acquire the village pub. 

The Week off January Tenth

Quote of the Week:

“Well I see you have made your choice.” 

An ER doctor to a 39-year old man suffering severe COVID wearing the anti-vax t-shirt emblazoned “Live Free or Die”. The man died two hours later. 

Lets celebrate: 

Vaccines, Montréal’s Jewish General Hospital, sustainable fashion, the Plunkett Foundation campaigning to save village pubs, and the village of Trawden. 

Big raspberries to:

Milan Djokovic and his entire family, US Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor, Boris Johnson, the un-vaccinated,  uncontrolled consumerism. 

Sign off for the week of January tenth.