Roundup: Your Star Wars Day grades are in

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It is now around day seventy-one of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and they have been concertedly targeting train stations and rail infrastructure, ostensibly in retaliation for all of the weapons being sent to Ukraine, and the hope to cut off those supply lines. It has also been noticed that Russia’s missiles have been changing from smarter, guided weapons to “dumb” bombs, likely because of supply challenges, so that also could be giving clues as to the state of Russia’s forces. Here is a recounting of what happened during the bombing of the theatre in Mariupol. Over in the EU, the European Commission president proposed a policy to phase out all Russian oil within six months—but not Russian gas, which is also an issue for much of Europe.

https://twitter.com/olex_scherba/status/1521530176030625792

Closer to home, it was Star Wars Day, and there were mostly terrible entries this year. Some of them were appalling. Granted, none quite as bad as that badly animated Grogu that Erin O’Toole made during his leadership campaign, for which the person who did it needs to have their ass removed, but still. Incidentally, neither Candice Bergen nor Doug Ford participated this year.

(The only reason Horwath merited a one is because this is the episode where the opening crawl begins with “The dead speak!” and well, it’s apropos).

Good reads:

  • The Conservatives have the vapours as they are accuse the prime minister of uttering an obscenity in Question Period (which nobody else seems to have heard).
  • Mélanie Joly says that Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine will return to Kyiv when it’s safe, and that neither she nor the PM are planning a trip there anytime soon.
  • The budget implementation bill comes has bundled in the proposed Parliament of Canada Act changes to the Senate’s leadership and their increased wages.
  • The military’s search-and-rescue capabilities are now facing gaps because new rescue planes are being delayed, and may not be operational until 2025.
  • The director of CSIS is warning that hateful rhetoric associated with extremism is becoming normalised and is seeping into mainstream discourse. Not good, guys!
  • Here is a look at where the government stands on its promises to improve abortion access across the country (which is provincial jurisdiction).
  • Here is a reminder about the Morgentaler decision in Canada which struck down the criminal prohibitions around abortions.
  • Here is how the anti-abortion movement in Canada has been trying to give itself a makeover to make themselves more palatable to the mainstream.
  • YouTube still insists that the broadcast modernisation could still target user videos, in spite of repeated protests from the minister that it won’t.
  • A report shows how the country needs to upgrade our power grids if we’re going to make the transition to electrification without brownouts or other shortages.
  • The Commons access to information, privacy and ethics committee continues their crusade against PHAC using anonymised mobile pattern data.
  • Maclean’s interviews Ahmed Hussen about his role as housing minister.
  • Three disqualified Conservative candidates are considering appeals unless they get detailed explanations for why their applications were rejected.
  • The NDP want contraception to be free under pharmacare (which, I will remind you, requires negotiation with nine other provinces).
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column looks at the weaponisation of unanimous consent motions and why there were so many on Tuesday after QP.
  • Heather Scoffield contrasts the American preoccupation with inflation profiteering versus Canada’s push to keep wages from fuelling the inflation spiral.
  • Paul Wells wanders through the panic about Davos and the World Economic Forum, and its critics both on the left and the right.
  • Colby Cosh looks at the pending demise of Roe v. Wade in the US, and the repercussions in Canada, where we have a workable truce between sides.

Odds and ends:

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