BERNIE COMES TO BIDEN'S AID
Joe Manchin hammered on ABC’s 'This Week' for ‘intentionally sabotaging’ Biden’s agenda

Bob Brigham
July 17, 2022

Sen. Joe Manchin / Senate Democratic caucus on Flickr.

Democratic Party Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was blasted on the ABC News program "This Week" after announcing he would scuttle President Joe Biden's agenda.

During an interview with host Martha Raddatz, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Maine blasted his Senate colleague

"Senator, I want to turn Congress and the agenda there. Senator Manchin, of course, abruptly pulled the plug this week on the Democrats’ plans to pass," Raddatz began before being interrupted by Sanders.

"No, Martha, he didn't abruptly," Sanders interjected.


"Okay, let -- okay, he abruptly on Friday did that," she argued.

"Martha, let me disagree with you. He didn't abruptly do anything," Sanders said. "No, look, if you check the record, six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin, [Kyrsten] Sinema to a lesser degree, who are intentionally sabotaging the president's agenda, what the American people, what a majority of us in the Democratic Caucus want. Nothing new about this.

"And the problem was that we continue to talk Manchin like he was serious," Sanders continued. "He was not. This is a guy who is a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires."

Sanders went on to blast Manchin for imperiling younger Americans.

"So, when Manchin sabotages climate change, this is the future generations what's going on right now," Sanders said. "In the West, all over the world, we’re looking at significantly increased -- more and more heat waves. You’d have to look at more flooding. This is an existential threat to humanity. And what this election must be about is whether or not we’re going to vote for candidates who will have (ph) to stand up for working people, stand up for the planets and have the courage to take on the billionaire class who dominates our economy and our political life."

"That's what this election is about," he said.

Watch below or at this link.

 

Bernie Sanders Is Mad as Hell at Joe Manchin’s Corruption, And He’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore


Peter Wade

ROLLING STONE
Sun, July 17, 2022

Bernie Sanders - Credit: AP

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday pulled no punches when attacking Sen. Joe Manchin, accusing him of “intentionally sabotaging the president’s agenda” and blocking “what the American people want.”

Manchin this week announced his refusal to support two major provisions in President Biden’s economic package: tax increases on the rich and spending on initiatives to stave off climate change. It likely marked the nail in the coffin for Biden’s and Democrats’ vision of a transformative economic package — a vision that the party has continually revised and pared back in a failed bid to win Manchin’s support.

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Sanders was so mad, he opted not wait for journalist Martha Raddatz to finish her question, balking at the framing.

“Sen. Joe Manchin, of course, abruptly pulled the plug this week on the Democrats’ plans to pass,” Raddatz began.

“No, Martha. Let me respectfully disagree. He didn’t abruptly do anything,” Sanders interjected during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week. “He has sabotaged the president’s agenda. … Six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin — [and] Sinema, to a lesser degree — who are intentionally sabotaging the president’s agenda, what the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want. Nothing new about this.”

Sanders added, “The problem was that we continued to talk to Manchin like he was serious; he was not. This is a guy who’s a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires.”

“You say he wasn’t serious,” Raddatz said in response. “Manchin says his main goal is to do what’s good for West Virginia, and he’s worried about inflation.”

“Really? Really?” the Vermont senator replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Is that right?”

Responding to a Manchin quote about inflation and how it affects his West Virginia constituents, Sanders argued that it’s “the same nonsense Manchin has been talking about for a year” and pointed out that Manchin’s state is one of the poorest in the nation. “You ask the people of West Virginia whether they want to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and eyeglasses. You ask the people of West Virginia whether we should demand that the wealthiest people and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes. Ask the people of West Virginia whether or not all people should have health care as a human right like in every other country on Earth. That’s what they will say.”

He concluded, “In my humble opinion, Manchin represents the very wealthiest people in this country, not working families in West Virginia or America.”

 

This is far from the first time Manchin has torpedoed Biden’s legislative hopes. He opposed an earlier version of Biden’s Build Back Better Act, which included proposals to lower health care costs and expand access, fix immigration, assist families with child care costs, and attempt to address climate change. Manchin’s reluctance to act on climate — despite his recent public claims to the contrary — is fueled by his deeply vested interest in oil and coal. Manchin has fought for years to keep open his state’s dirtiest coal plant while reaping the profits at great expense to his constituents, Jeff Goodell reported for Rolling Stone. “Joe Manchin will absolutely throw humanity under the coal train without blinking an eye,” Maria Gunnoe, director of the Mother Jones Community Foundation and a longtime West Virginia activist, told Goodell. “My friends and I have a joke about his kind: They’d mine their momma’s grave for a buck.”

The Rise of BRICS: The Economic Giant that is Taking on the West

by Ramzy Baroud / July 16th, 2022

The G7 summit in Elmau, Germany, June 26-28, and the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, two days later, were practically useless in terms of providing actual solutions to ongoing global crises – the war in Ukraine, the looming famines, climate change and more. But the two events were important, nonetheless, as they provide a stark example of the impotence of the West, amid the rapidly changing global dynamics.

As was the case since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, the West attempted to display unity, though it has become repeatedly obvious that no such unity exists. While France, Germany and Italy are paying a heavy price for the energy crisis resulting from the war, Britain’s Boris Johnson is adding fuel to the fire in the hope of making his country relevant on the global stage following the humiliation of Brexit. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration is exploiting the war to restore Washington’s credibility and leadership over NATO – especially following the disastrous term of Donald Trump, which nearly broke up the historic alliance.

Even the fact that several African countries are becoming vulnerable to famines  – as a result of the disruption of food supplies originating from the Black Sea and the subsequent rising prices – did not seem to perturb the leaders of some of the richest countries in the world. They still insist on not interfering in the global food market, though the skyrocketing prices have already pushed tens of millions of people below the poverty line.

Though the West had little reserve of credibility to begin with, Western leaders’ current obsession with maintaining thousands of sanctions on Russia, further NATO expansion, dumping yet more ‘lethal weapons’ in Ukraine and sustaining their global hegemony at any cost, have all pushed their credibility standing to a new low.

From the start of the Ukraine war, the West championed the same ‘moral’ dilemma as that raised by George W. Bush at the start of his so-called ‘war on terror’. “You are either with us or with the terrorist,” he declared in October 2009. But the ongoing Russia-NATO conflict cannot be reduced to simple and self-serving cliches. One can, indeed, want an end to the war, and still oppose US-western unilateralism. The reason that American diktats worked in the past, however, is that, unlike the current geopolitical atmosphere, a few dared oppose Washington’s policies.

Times have changed. Russia, China, India, along with many other countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America are navigating all available spaces to counter the suffocating western dominance. These countries have made it clear that they will not take part in isolating Russia in the service of NATO’s expansionist agenda. To the contrary, they have taken many steps to develop alternatives to the west-dominated global economy, and particularly to the US dollar which, for five decades, has served the role of a commodity, not a currency, per se. The latter has been Washington’s most effective weapon, associated with many US-orchestrated crises, sanctions and, as in the case of Iraq and Venezuela, among others, mass hunger.

China and others understand that the current conflict is not about Ukraine vs Russia, but about something far more consequential. If Washington and Europe emerge victorious, and if Moscow is pushed back behind the proverbial ‘iron curtain’, Beijing would have no other options but to make painful concessions to the re-emerging west. This, in turn, would place a cap on China’s global economic growth, and would weaken its case regarding the One China policy.

China is not wrong. Almost immediately following NATO’s limitless military support of Ukraine and the subsequent economic war on Russia, Washington and its allies began threatening China over Taiwan. Many provocative statements, along with military maneuvers and high-level visits by US politicians to Taipei, were meant to underscore US dominance in the Pacific.

Two main reasons drove the West to further invest in the current confrontational approach against China, at a time where, arguably, it would have been more beneficial to exercise a degree of diplomacy and compromise. First, the West’s fear that Beijing could misinterpret its action as weakness and a form of appeasement; and, second, because the West’s historic relationship with China has always been predicated on intimidation, if not outright humiliation. From the Portuguese occupation of Macau in the 16th century, to the British Opium Wars of the mid-19th century, to Trump’s trade war on China, the West has always viewed China as a subject, not a partner.

This is precisely why Beijing did not join the chorus of western condemnations of Russia. Though the actual war in Ukraine is of no direct benefit to China, the geopolitical outcomes of the war could be critical to the future of China as a global power.

While NATO remains insistent on expansion so as to illustrate its durability and unity, it is the alternative world order led by Russia and China that is worthy of serious attention. According to the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Beijing and Moscow are working to further develop the BRICS club of major emerging economies to serve as a counterweight to the G7. The German paper is correct. BRICS’ latest summit on June 23 was designed as a message to the G7 that the West is no longer in the driving seat, and that Russia, China and the Global South are preparing for a long fight against Western dominance.

In his speech at the BRICS summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed the creation of an “international reserve currency based on the basket of currencies of our countries”. The fact that the ruble alone has managed to survive, in fact flourish, under recent Western sanctions, gives hope that BRICS currencies combined can manage to eventually sideline the US dollar as the world dominant currency.

Reportedly, it was Chinese President Xi Jinping who requested that the date of the BRICS summit be changed from July 4 to June 23, so that it would not appear to be a response to the G7 summit in Germany. This further underscores how the BRICS are beginning to see themselves as a direct competitor to the G7. The fact that Argentina and Iran are applying for BRICS membership also illustrates that the economic alliance is morphing into a political, in fact geopolitical, entity.

The global fight ahead is perhaps the most consequential since World War II. While NATO will continue to fight for relevance, Russia, China, and others will invest in various economic, political and even military infrastructures, in the hope of creating a permanent and sustainable counterbalance to Western dominance. The outcome of this conflict is likely to shape the future of humanity.

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Ramzy Baroud isa journalist and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons (Clarity Press). Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs, Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). Read other articles by Ramzy, or visit Ramzy's website.

Cassettes are making a comeback — but in Edmonton, they never went away

Kashmala Fida Mohatarem - Yesterday 

Over the course of the past few years, a number of retro concepts have seen a resurgence — Polaroids, vinyl records, flared denim and curtain bangs.


© Submitted by Mikayla Crook

Mikayla Crook, 20, recently ordered the limited edition cassette box for British singer Harry Styles' new album, Harry's House, right.

Now, it looks like the new kid on the block to make a comeback is music on cassette.

"Tapes are smaller, they have the nostalgic factor that [compact discs] don't have. They have the analog appeal as well," said Kris Burwash, of Listen Records, about why cassettes are still popular in Edmonton.

Listen Records, which refers to itself as Edmonton's eclectic music emporium, is a go-to spot for vinyl records. But Burwash said its cassette collection is also slowly growing.

Cassette sales have increased in Canada by 39 per cent so far this year, according to Luminate Data, which offers data and insights for the entertainment industry.

But for a select group of Edmontonians in the music industry, the medium never really went away.

Edmonton label Mangled Tapes has been around since 2016 and always recorded on cassette tapes.

"It's just cheap," said founder Matt Belton. "There's a big supply sitting around in people's garages… It's the currency of music in the city."

The Edmonton music scene is heavily influenced by classic rock and Indie, of which cassette tapes are a big part, Belton explained.

On a personal level, Belton finds the low quality sound and limits of cassettes are better compared to the myriad of options digital provides.

"I'm forced to be creative when there are constraints," he said.

Cassette comeback

Edmonton student Mikayla Crook, 20, recently ordered the limited edition cassette box for British singer Harry Styles' new album, Harry's House.

"They're kind of a new trend," Crook said, referring to TikTok trends and the latest season of Stranger Things.

The Netflix sci-fi, mystery series, set in the 1980s, shows one of the characters, Max, walking around with a Walkman, listening to Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill. The song topped music chart last month after the season aired.

TikToks with the hashtags "cassette" and/or "tape deck" show teenagers shoving a cassette tape — with the case on — into a tape deck or player, and a laughing parent in the background. Others show TikTokers, holding cassette cases, asking the audience, "How do you open these?"

Mainstream record labels are also putting out cassette tapes for artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles and Lana Del Ray. Stores such as Urban Outfitters, a lifestyle retailer catering to Indie millennials, are now selling cassette tape players.

Crook, who purchased a tape player from Urban Outfitters, knew how to open the cassette cases from movies she had watched.

"I did know how to open it," she said. "Then you have to use the pencil to rewind it."

Brian Fauteux, a University of Alberta assistant professor of popular music and media studies, dates the interest in cassette tapes back to 2014, following the release of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.

The main protagonist, Peter Quill, played by Chris Pratt, opens the film by putting on headphones, pressing play on a Walkman and jamming out to Come and Get Your Love by Redbone. He is shown throughout the film listening to the cassette mixtape, which features other music from the 1960s and 1970s.

"That was a moment when I heard that a lot of younger people, who hadn't really had a close relationship with cassette culture, [were] purchasing [the Guardians of the Galaxy mixtape] on cassette as a fun thing to do," Fauteux said.

He believes the interest in cassette tapes has to do with nostalgia — many once-popular things from the 1980s and 1990s are coming back — and aesthetics. It's also one way for mainstream artists to stand out.

"It's about, "How are we going to get somebody's attention and turn them on to this release?" he said. "That might be something like a surprise album drop — like Drake's latest [album, Honestly, Nevermind] — or it could be having it be released on cassette tape."

The jump in sales for cassettes seen in Canada is on par with the popularity of all things music that Music Canada, a national industry group, has noticed since the COVID-19 pandemic started, said CEO Patrick Rogers.

"People are finding new or old ways to interact with music. For us, that's a really exciting trend to have," Rogers said.

People are buying and consuming music in different ways, but things like cassettes may just be for collecting purposes, he said, suggesting it allows them to "hold and enjoy the music that is near and dear to them."

Crook said her friends have bought cassettes solely to display them in their rooms.

Despite their growing popularity, many believe cassettes won't reach the heights that vinyl did in the mainstream, likely because of their sound quality.

"Too many people are like, 'Oh, they were the worst,'" said Burwash, from Listen Records in Edmonton.

"It's still very niche."

HRW denounces death of Australian teenager in SDF prison for suspected jihadists


The NGO Human Rights Watch has denounced the death of an Australian teenager in a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) prison in northeastern Syria for suspected members of the Islamic State jihadist organization, to which the young man belonged "out of obligation," according to the humanitarian group.

© Provided by News 360Archive - Al Hol camp in Syria. - STRINGER / XINHUA NEWS / CONTACTOPHOTO

Yusuf Zahab's death has been confirmed by the family, according to the NGO, which last heard from the young man when he sent desperate pleas for help during the Islamic State's major siege of Al Sina prison in the city of Hasaka in January 2022.

According to the family, an Australian government official had informed relatives on Saturday that Zahab, who would have turned 18 in April, had died of uncertain causes.

The family confirmed that they learned in January 2021 that Zahab had contracted tuberculosis in an overcrowded, SDF-run prison holding suspected jihadists.

"Tragically, the reporting of teenager Yusuf Zahab's death should come as no surprise to Australia or other governments that have externalized responsibility for their citizens held in appalling conditions in northeastern Syria," lamented Letta Tayler, deputy crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.

According to figures shuffled by HRW, more than 41,000 foreigners from dozens of countries have been held since at least 2019 in "potentially deadly and often inhumane conditions in camps and prisons by authorities in northeastern Syria."

According to HRW most are children under the age of 12, and none have been brought before a court to determine the necessity and legality of their detention.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) confirmed on January 31 that nearly 500 prison employees, fighters, civilians, Islamic State attackers and prisoners were killed in the battle to retake al-Sina.

The armed group has not provided breakdowns on the number of detainees killed, wounded and missing despite queries from UN agencies, as well as Human Rights Watch (HRW), media and aid groups.

Mass made of billions of wet wipes the 'size of two tennis courts' change course of the Thames

Billions of wet wipes, a common household product used for disinfecting surfaces, that have been discarded are ending up in London, England’s river Thames — and are now changing its course.


© Provided by National Post

“There’s an island the size of two tennis courts and I’ve been and stood on it — it’s near Hammersmith Bridge in the Thames and it’s a metre deep or more in places of just wet wipes,” MP Fleur Anderson said in the House of Commons, The Times reported . “It’s actually changed the course of the Thames.”

In the U.K., 11 billion wet wipes are used each year that contain plastic, Anderson wrote in a press release.

’Don’t feed the fatberg’: Huge mass of fat, oil and baby wipes blocks English sewer

How a monster 'fatberg' clogged a London sewer — 'We've never seen a single lump of lard this big'

Wet wipes are often flushed down toilets and clog up sewers. They also contribute to “fatbergs” — giant blocks made up of garbage, fat, oil and grease that meld together after being poured down drains. Wet wipes and other items, like diapers and cotton balls, that shouldn’t be flushed end up entangled in the “fatbergs.”

Wet wipes make up 90 per cent of the material found in “fatbergs,” The London Economic reported .

In 2019, a “fatberg” the size of a bus, weighing 40 tonnes, was cleared from London’s sewers.

“This has an impact on our ecology, on the wildlife and it’s got to be stopped,” said Anderson in a video posted on Twitter, pushing for a ban on wipes that contain plastic.

Only banning the use of wet wipes with plastic might not be enough, said environment minister Rebecca Pow at a House of Commons debate on Thursday.

“Even though other wet wipes might be deemed suitable to flush, they still get stuck in sewers, so we have to be mindful of that,” she said. “If you don’t need to use a wet wipe, don’t — and don’t chuck them down the loo.”

The issue was “revolting,” Pow added, saying sewage overflows were more frequent due to the wipes.

On Thursday, she said she would be proposing some suggestions on how to tackle the issue shortly.

ABOLISH MONARCHY
Damaged Queen Victoria statue is beyond repair, Manitoba government says

WINNIPEG — A statue of Queen Victoria that was toppled and beheaded by protesters last year outside the Manitoba legislature is beyond repair and will not be restored.


© Provided by The Canadian PressDamaged Queen Victoria statue is beyond repair, Manitoba government says

"It's gone through a lengthy assessment process and is not repairable," Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen said in an interview.

Trying to replicate it is also out of the question, Goertzen said, because it would cost at least $500,000.

"I know it will be disappointing to many people — it won't be recast — but that's the decision."

The statue, a prominent monument on the front lawn of the legislature, was tied with ropes and hauled to the ground on Canada Day last year during a demonstration over the deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools. It was covered with red paint. The head of the large statue was removed and found the next day in the nearby Assiniboine River.

While the statue was toppled in an area covered by many security cameras, no one was charged with causing the damage.

A smaller statue of the Queen, on a side lawn next to the lieutenant-governor's house, was also toppled but suffered less damage. That one of Queen Elizabeth II is being repaired and will be put back in place, Goertzen said.


Discussions with Indigenous groups are ongoing about what might replace the Queen Victoria statue, he added.  

TRIPTICH OF LOUIS RIEL, GABRIEL DUMONT 

AND POUNDMAKER

There is no word yet on what is to become of the broken Queen Victoria statue. In online discussion forums, some people have suggested the statue be installed in a museum as-is to commemorate last year's protest.

The decision to not restore or replicate the statue comes amid a public debate over how to mark Canada Day this year, at a time when the country is still coming to grips with the legacy of residential schools. Winnipeg is home to the highest concentration of Indigenous people among major cities in Canada.

Organizers of the city's big annual Canada Day celebrations at the Forks — the downtown junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers — have renamed the event this year "A New Day," cancelled fireworks and promised events that will be reflective as well as celebratory.

That has led to accusations that organizers have cancelled Canada Day, which they deny. Jenny Motkaluk, a candidate for the city's mayoral election in October who finished second in the last race in 2018, blasted the decision and said she would go elsewhere because she loves the country unconditionally.

Other mayoral candidates are supporting the renamed event and have said acknowledging the country's history, including its flaws, is important.

Wab Kinew, Manitoba's Opposition NDP leader, said there are ways to mark the holiday while acknowledging the wrongs.

"I think it could mean things like marking Canada Day, attending a Canada Day celebration, but wearing an orange shirt in honour of the (residential school) survivors," Kinew said.

"I am a patriot, but I'm a patriot who is also the son of a residential school survivor, and my dad shared a bunk with a child who never came home from that residential school."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2022.

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press

Buffy Sainte-Marie wants more than just an apology from the Pope

Greg Hobbs - CBCRADIO


Songwriter, educator and human rights advocate Buffy Sainte-Marie says the Pope's upcoming visit to Canada and expected apology for the church's involvement in the residential school system won't mean a thing if he doesn't call for the dissolution of the Doctrine of Discovery.

"The apology is just the beginning, of course," she said.

The doctrine is an international framework based on a series of decrees from the Pope, called "papal bulls," that were released in the 1400s and 1500s. This framework laid the legal and moral foundation for how Canada and other countries came to be colonized by European settlers.

As Sainte-Marie put it, "The Doctrine of Discovery essentially says it's okay if you're a [Christian] European explorer … to go anywhere in the world and either convert people and enslave, or you've got to kill them."

As noted by the Assembly of First Nations, legal arguments relying on the Doctrine of Discovery continue to affect modern court rulings. As laid out in a 2018 document, the AFN says that doctrine is the root cause of multiple historical and ongoing injustices against Indigenous peoples.

Saint-Marie made the comments during a wide-ranging interview with The National's Adrienne Arsenault. The two discussed recent headlines related to Indigenous people, as well as her long career as an artist and activist.


© Evan Mitsui/CBC

Buffy Sainte-Marie said that when she works to raise awareness about the history and impact of residential schools, 'You're not trying to scold ... you're trying to inform.'

Sainte-Marie is as outspoken and vibrant as ever. At 81 years old, she bounced into the interview in Toronto with the jovial energy of a child, then proceeded to say she was actually pretty tired. Even an Oscar-winning songwriter and an Indigenous icon isn't immune to the airline problems and delays currently plaguing North America, it seems.

"I just spent three days in Denver Airport sleeping on benches and the floor and everything," she said.

"Yeah, everyone's overwhelmed and it was just awful. But I'm good, I'm glad I'm here."


© Evan Mitsui/CBC

Sainte-Marie, left, speaks with the CBC’s Adrienne Arsenault at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto about her career as an artist and activist.

When asked about her optimistic demeanour and ever-present smile even in the face of troubling times, Sainte-Marie sat back to think before responding.

"I'm kind of the same way as I was when I was a little kid. Very young, I learned that sometimes grown-ups are wrong and kids are right," she said.

"For instance, I was told I couldn't be a musician because I couldn't read music. Therefore you can't be a musician, you know? I was told I couldn't be Indigenous because there aren't any more around here — I've kept that with me my whole life.


"And when somebody comes up to me and says something that to me is just kind of not right on, I make it fun to find out how it could be made better. And that does something for me."


© CBC Still Image Library

Sainte-Marie in Saskatchewan during the filming of a 1994 CBC special.

SHE FOUND THE ONLY HILL IN SASKATCHEWAN

To look back at Sainte-Marie's career is to see an artist determined to use her platform to counter cultural stereotypes and talk about the realities of the treatment of Indigenous people

In 1966, at the age of 25, she appeared on CBC Television's TBA and played My Country 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying, a song detailing the atrocities of Canada's residential school programs. Before singing it, she told the host about her outrage at stereotypical portrayals of Indigenous people.

"That's the way I have felt all along. But it's not just me," she told Arsenault, after watching the archive clip. "We've all been feeling that way. But I have a platform, so I've been in a position to shoot my mouth off."

Sainte-Marie's message hasn't always been well received, with interviewers asking things like, "Do you worry people say, 'I wonder if she ever has fun?'" in a 1986 interview on Midday, or simply diminishing her concerns by describing her as an "emotional woman" on As It Happens in 1977.

As Arsenault described those interviews as being awkward, Sainte-Marie nodded and summed up the patronizing attitudes she faced this way: "Oh yes, the Little Indian Girl must be mistaken. She's nice and she's cute. We like her. But she's really mistaken. It can't be true."

Sainte-Marie said it's an attitude she still faces. Yet she considers it an honour to use the platform she's been given to inform others. To stave off the frustration, she said she leans on something she learned before she became a songwriter, while doing her teaching degree.

"You're not trying to scold the student for not knowing. You're trying to inform them."

As part of her advocacy, she has been trying to get the Canadian Museum For Human Rights in Winnipeg to take a closer and more honest look at atrocities committed in North America. She said she would like to see some of the tools used to torture children at Canada's residential schools on display.

"Children were tortured," she said, referring to the use of an electric chair at St. Anne's Indian Residential School in Fort Albany, Ont. "They want my guitar strap and they want handwritten lyrics … happy, showy things. But I want them to put the damn electric chair right there and to actually show people the doggone Doctrine of Discovery."

When asked about the 2021 discovery of potential unmarked graves on the grounds of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, Sainte-Marie said she sees it as progress.

"Here's my attitude. The good news about the bad news is that more people know about it. Of course I was heartbroken like everybody else, and horrified. But it's not as though I didn't know," she said.The recent discoveries are so important because it's proof."


© Evan Mitsui/CBC

Sainte-Marie said she considers it an honour to use her platform as an artist and activist to help inform others.

The life and legacy of Sainte-Marie is the subject of a new five-part CBC podcast entitled Buffy, the first episode of which is being released June 21. Despite the retrospective, Sainte-Marie says she prefers to think about what's next.

She continues to paint and perform. And in recent years she has taken to writing children's books.

"I'm always looking forward," she said.

"I'm like a kid when I'm doing whatever it is that I'm doing. I just don't have anybody giving me any red lights when it comes to art, and so I can go anywhere."

Watch full episodes of The National on CBC Gem, the CBC's streaming service.

Canada Is Banning Dogs From A Bunch Of Countries Due To Rabies & Here's What That Means

The Government of Canada has announced a new ban on the import of dogs from a bunch of countries, set to go into effect in September.


© Provided by Narcity

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the entry of commercial dogs deemed to have a high risk of rabies — from over 100 countries around the world — will be banned.

It means that as of September 28, 2022 — World Rabies Day — Canada will not allow any dogs to come into the country for adoption, fostering, sale, breeding, show, exhibition, research or transfer between people.

In other words, you'll have to grab your pets from somewhere else.

The listed regions that will be affected by the ban include parts of Africa, Asia, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.

Some nations named are Russia, Kenya, Brazil, China, India, Vietnam, Ukraine, South Africa and Egypt, with many more also being singled out.

And the list could grow or shrink, as the CFIA mentions that it is constantly updated and subject to change.

The new regulation was precipitated by a case where, in 2021, a commercial dog was imported into Canada that had the canine variant of the rabies virus.

While there are currently no cases of dog rabies in Canada, this preventative measure has been put in place to stop the virus from coming into the country again.

Right now, the transmission of rabies in Canada often comes from wildlife such as skunks, foxes, raccoons and bats.

Rabies is a virus that is 99% fatal in both humans and dogs once symptoms show but is 100% preventable with proper vaccination.

Globally, the disease kills around 59,000 people a year, and if a person is exposed to the virus, they must undergo extensive medical treatment to survive.

According to the WHO, symptoms in humans include hyperactivity, excitable behaviour and hydrophobia (the fear of water). It can also lead to muscular paralysis and coma in certain cases.

In dogs, the disease can show itself as lethargy, fever and vomiting and can progress into paralysis, ataxia, excessive salivation and aggressive behaviour, per the World Organization for Animal Health.

This article’s cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

Biologist finds behemoth tree in North Vancouver nearly as wide as a Boeing 747 airplane cabin

David P. Ball - CBC- Jul 2,2022

A biologist has found what is possibly one of the widest-ever recorded trees in B.C.


© Submitted by Colin Spratt

A western red cedar growing in a remote part of North Vancouver's Lynn Headwaters Regional Park is estimated to be between 4.8-5.8 metres in diameter, depending on the method used to calculate diameter at breast height (DBH).

Ian Thomas measured a western red cedar in North Vancouver, B.C., to be somewhere between 4.8 to 5.8 metres in diameter.

If Thomas's preliminary measurements are correct, the behemoth he found in Lynn Headwaters Regional Park would barely fit inside the cabin of a Boeing 747.

The tree's diameter at breast height (DBH) still needs to be officially verified and could end up being up to a metre less than his 5.8-metre calculation, he said, depending on how it's measured on a rugged, steep slope.

Regardless of its exact size, there is no doubt the massive tree is very, very old.

"It came at the end of about a 10-hour bushwhack," Thomas told Gloria Macarenko, host of CBC's On The Coast, on Monday. "I spend a lot of my time studying satellite maps and government data sets — and just slogging through these incredible, threatened ancient forests that we're so lucky to have, some of them, here in B.C."

He and his self-described "tree hunter" colleague Colin Spratt nicknamed the "awe-inspiring" tree they found in a grove of "primordial" red cedars the North Shore Giant.

The tree is on Tsleil-Waututh Nation territories. Its director of treaty, lands and resources said western red cedars have been used by his people for everything from dugout canoes, clothing and buildings to ceremonial and medicinal uses.

"Everything from the roots to the branches to the trunks," Gabriel George said in a phone interview. "For our people, they're medicine.... The cedar tree is sacred to us."

Related video: Newly discovered B.C. tree is as big as a plane, see it here (The Weather Network)

Hearing about the find made his "heart happy," and he hoped it reminds others of the importance of B.C.'s few remaining ancient old-growth forests.

"When I saw that picture and I heard that story, it just was so uplifting," he said.

Even though this particular cedar is within an already protected area, Thomas said it's a reminder of how blessed the province is to still have such natural wonders.

"You are encountering one of the largest and oldest living things on this planet," he said. "It's almost like seeing a blue whale or a northern white rhino — this piece of this rich, wild world."

According to University of B.C. forestry professor Robert Guy, large western red cedars host "ecosystems in most of their branches."

"A tree of this size has to be very old," he said. "They can get to 1,000 or 2,000 years old. We have trees on the North Shore that approach 2,000 years of age."

Because red cedars hollow as they age, it's often impossible to count their inner rings like other trees.

According to the University of B.C.'s Big Tree Registry, a tree 5.8 metres in diameter would be the fourth widest on record.

The previous top seven in the registry are all on Vancouver Island, the widest being a six-metre western red cedar in Pacific Rim National Park.

In Lynn Headwaters, the largest diameter recorded for a tree was 5.1 metres, also a red cedar. Any tree over 4.8 metres wide would be in the province's top 13 ranking.

The registry could not be reached for comment on Thomas's preliminary measurements. He said a member of its committee is in the process of verifying the tree's size.

Based on photographs, said Guy, the tree appears unhealthy, a phenomenon he said is increasingly common in B.C.

"Red cedar has been showing more signs of distress in recent years than other ... species in times of drought," he said. "Which is probably climate change-related.

"So I guess another thing about these trees is they remind us they've been through a lot — but they might not get through the next hundred years or so."

Gun control alone not enough to combat US terrorism - analysis

By YONAH JEREMY BOB - Jul 7

The Jerusalem Post

It is still unclear how much ideology, mental illness or both of the above motivated the Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooter. But the shooting did bring home how inadequate the bipartisan gun control law passed in the US on June 24 will be to reel in mass shootings in America.

© (photo credit: CHENEY ORR/REUTERS)

Community members gather at a memorial site near the parade route the day after a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, US July 5, 2022

That law increased oversight and restrictions for 18-to-21-year-olds who have not yet purchased guns; expanded authority to report on and withdraw guns from violent “boyfriends”; and increased the need for awareness of mental health issues that can turn violent.

However, it did not address America’s domestic terror challenge. The additions to gun control fell far short of the red flags and restrictions in most countries, and did not deal with the violence that has exploded in the era of social media.

Domestic terror is rampant in the US

Supporters of US President Donald Trump gather in Washington at Capitol 

(credit: SHANNON STAPLETON/ REUTERS)

The arrests and trials of January 6, 2021, Capitol rioters provide a lens into the issue’s complexity.

Around 2,000 US citizens are said to have broken into the Capitol in Washington. About 900 of them have been arrested and face charges, and over 300 have pleaded guilty to a variety of misdemeanor crimes related to their actions while breaking into the building.

Think tanks that study extremist groups, like the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) at the University of Maryland, found a half-dozen groups deeply involved in the break-in.

These groups included well-known names like the Proud Boys, QAnon and the Oath Keepers, but also lesser-known groups like Super Happy Fun America, the Woodland Wild Dogs and America First Bruins.

According to START’s research, the web of exchanges, influence and counter-influence will not be shut down simply by sending the ringleaders or even a few hundred harder-core activists to jail. Rather, a much larger group connected to those 2,000 activists is engulfed in this social subset that pushes people in a violent direction.

As Louis D. Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth Marcus wrote after the mass shooting in Buffalo on May 14, we are in an age where too many people have been infected with hateful ideologies.

White supremacist scourge

White supremacists are certainly statistically the largest domestic terror problem in the US, but black supremacists and radical Islamists are also threats.

Furthermore, all of the above can heighten the threat to Jews, regardless of how many American Jews have white skin. Antisemitic conspiratorial thinking seems to be a significant piece of various groups’ hate ideology.

Contributing causes were the trauma of the pandemic, increased polarization among top political leaders, and the impact of social media.

But Americans will not be safe until leaders of both political parties, all relevant law enforcement agencies, and experts who can help de-radicalize people unite to confront the issue as a top-line item with which the nation is struggling.

Of course, it would also be easier to avoid mass shootings if ordinary civilians were not entitled to possess semi-automatic weapons, or if permission for these weapons was much harder to get.

In the case of the Highland Park shooter, law enforcement, fellow students and the shooter’s father all failed to report him or otherwise place obstacles in his way.

Social media is not only a part of what has caused the problem but an enormous part of what the solution will need to be.

It is only very recently that social media networks have started to remove extremist posts or report some of the posts to law enforcement.

Without enforcing its core removal and reporting mission, and without law enforcement imposing direct oversight over social media giants, bipartisan patriotism will get gun control nowhere.

Israel and parts of Europe have already altered their relationship with social media. Until the US gets serious, social media will continue to be a swamp for extremists to coordinate, egg each other on, and display violent videos that teach tactics and “inspire” the next mass shooting.