SpankyMcFarland

Getting to Vancouver Island is more of a pain than driving about Britain after celebs. After an initial spike, the number of media people who can be spared for this nonsense will fall.

Wearing make-up for a role is a heinous offence now? It’s a silly standard JT helped to create so it’s one he can’t complain about. To answer the question, yes, he is racist. We all are. A great deal of trial and tribulation would be saved if we just admitted we all have tribal tendencies that we struggle to control.

I recognize Israel lives in a dangerous neighbourhood and has the right to defend itself. That does not mean I have to agree with everything Israel does. Again, there is no argument on the PRC, Syria etc etc. That’s why a debate is hard to sustain on those issues here.

Wait a second. China is not part of the Western club. How many of us support the PRC here? Ditto Assad, KSA, Iran. There’s no argument about these regimes. They’re awful. Contrast that with the fulsome declarations of support that Israel regularly receives from the majority of US politicians - chalk and cheese. And claiming it’s all just bigotry is a curious argument to use, one borrowed from the PC left. ‘You disagree with me because you’re racist’ has been a way of trying to shut people up for quite some time. Actually, I believe that everyone is tribal to some extent, so as long as we accept that we are all like this then I’m not too bothered by such accusations. Let he who has not sinned... BTW Canada did not receive criticism from ‘the world’ over this but from a tiny fraction of it. The vast majority of the world sided with Canada here. Haley isn’t so quick to comment on a subject she actually does know something about, Modi’s India. Her praise for the religious fanatics currently running that country says it all.

I never thought they’d win that game even though the result was quite close. They deserve credit for fighting back but would have struggled in the play-offs if they’d won.

At least people in republics who are stupid enough to follow the antics of silly celebs can replace all the objects of their attention whenever they want.

I just don’t get all this British hysteria about every obscure relative of the head of state, and why apparently normal Canadians are getting sucked in as well is utterly beyond me.

The reports from the universities are encouraging: https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iranian-protesters-refuse-to-walk-on-US-Israeli-flags-613944 But how reliable are students as barometers of public opinion in any country? We’ve also seen monotonous ranks of women in chadors mourning Soleimani with little evidence of make-up or sunglasses. In between are ordinary Iranians trying to get by who don’t want any more trouble in their lives. Is another revolution coming?

Take the example of Charlie Wilson, the subject of a light-hearted movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson's_War_(film) He was part of an American effort to provide Stinger missiles to the Afghan mujahideen fighting Soviet soldiers. He had Soviet blood on his hands. Should the Russians have put him and others like him on a kill-list because of that alone?

Say a soldier is sent abroad to assist an insurgency. Is he legitimate drone material afterwards? What about somebody who helped Afghan insurgents kill Soviet soldiers? He would have ‘blood on his hands’. There are many examples around the world like this, some where it would be difficult to discern which side was the government, so a comprehensive list would be a long one.

Involuntary detention of dangerously disturbed patients would still have to exist no matter how many psychiatrists we had in the country. Other countries also struggle to fill these posts - the work is distressing and, despite the many vacancies, the pay remains poor because of our system’s bias towards procedure-related specialties.

Should every country think about a kill-list now? Here is Jim Webb’s take:

I’d like to see Putin following Iran’s lead and finally admitting his country’s role in the downing of MH17.

Somewhat encouraging news. The Iranian govt has to realize that the truth is going to come out with or without its cooperation. Aviation safety is something the whole world has a legitimate interest in and, like the MH370 disaster, answers will be sought until they are found.