Abject Failure!

As a gun owner, it’s infuriating to see that the Nova Scotia shooting is used to justify the Liberals gun confiscation.  It should be pretty clear that it’s being used to hide the RCMP’s complete failures that night, someone who didn’t acquire his guns legally so how is banning legally acquired firearms suppose to stop something like this from happening again?

The first RCMP officer to arrive at the scene, Const. Stuart Beselt, told a commission lawyer that he believed the killer shot himself after RCMP Emergency Response Team officers called his name using loudspeakers.

Beselt, in an interview conducted on July 22, 2021, said he heard “one loud crack” of gunfire as he and other officers were being sent home early on April 19, 2020.

“And I’m like, ‘He just did himself in the woods,’” Beselt told commission lawyer Roger Burrill. “We heard one last loud crack and it was like, ‘Nah, he just knows the gig’s up. He just shot himself’ …. I felt like the situation was over. They’ll find him in the woods somewhere.”

Beselt wasn’t the only Mountie who guessed wrong about the killer’s fate that night.

Const. Aaron Patton, one of three officers who advanced into the neighbourhood within minutes of arriving at the scene at 10:25 p.m., also said he later heard what he believed was one, loud rifle shot as police called out to the killer.

Up to then, there had been no single gunshots, he said in an interview with an RCMP officer on April 23, 2020. “It was always multiple gunshots …. It was never just one, so we were 100 per cent sure that that was him killing himself in the woods,” Patton said.

Source: Cloverdale Reporter

The RCMP officers that failed with their duty that night should be fired at a minimum, their lack of attention and urgency to the situation is what caused a lot of people to lose their lives yet the federal government fear mongers on people who get background checks everyday.  Damn Liberals, all they can ever do is pander with easy answers instead of dealing with the hard truth.

Needs a way out

I think it’s pretty clear that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has not gone to plan for Putin and while it makes me happy to see how well Ukrainians are resisting, it gets me more and more worried that the West has not given him a way out.  So far the fighting hasn’t been the same like in Syria or how Russia dealt with the Chechens in Grozny, where the Russians basically killed everyone and level the place and I’m afraid that there will be an intensification of destruction.  Worse yet if Putin feels his grip on power is at stake, then who knows what he may do…

This was a pretty balanced video and I agree that it seems the Russians wanted an easy victory without destroying everything, now that it’s not going that way it could turn far deadlier.  I hope sane heads prevail and that there’s an end to this conflict soon.

Busy weekend!

Saturday Brandon was feeling a lot better and in the afternoon I went with Darcy to take the Cub scouts (and a few Beavers) out for a hike at the Eldred King Woodlands.  Haha one thing that’s cute about kids are, near the end when they’re super tired they stop asking how much longer and really drag their feet lol…  The kids were lucky as path we took was fairly flat with gentle slopes and hills to walk on. It was about 1C which is great because you can get a good workout in and not sweat too much, that and it wasn’t super wet either.

Steve was not available so I was the only other leader there (though there were a few parents who came along) and I was at the rear hence most of my photos being from behind lol.  Anyway I think we did about 7 or 8 km which isn’t too bad and I know I certainly enjoyed myself. 🙂

Sunday morning Maggie took Brandon to play badminton so I was home alone, did some cleaning and chilled with the cat.  In the afternoon after Brandon’s swimming class we went to Estelle’s house for a family gathering, we didn’t do anything for Family day a couple of weeks back so this worked pretty well.

I just like to take pictures of the kids, they’re so funny and it was great to capture the moments where Georgia & my mom were playing.  Hehe the last two photos are when Lily went to hide and poo, thankfully she won’t remember me disturbing her lol!

Overall a great weekend, makes me feel very lucky. 🙂

Thankful

The war in Ukraine really puts things in perspective, I’ve always considered myself lucky with life but right now even more so.

Yesterday Maggie and I went to Belleville to settle up with the contractor who worked on our cottage and to visit a few local furniture stores.

Took some pictures of furniture we’re interested in and will weigh our options, unfortunately it’s a lousy time to buy with the ongoing supply shortage so we’ll deal with it as well as we can.  My mom was looking after Brandon and it was fun to get out, just her and I.  Belleville looks to be a nice small town, we also drove to Trenton and the surrounding areas and I look forward to getting to know the place better.

Today I took Brandon to the zoo and it was great to just get out and walk around.  It wasn’t too cold however it was quite windy and snowing quite hard at times.

Mila the tiger cub is much larger than last time we saw it, still cute and it’s funny that the large cats act like Slinky.  The polar bears & arctic wolves were up and about, they must be enjoying the cold weather.  We didn’t stick around too long because Brandon was feeling down so we went for a drive and just talked which is nice.  I’m glad he trusts me enough to talk about issues he has.  I won’t elaborate here, he’s just worried about possible change in the future.

For lunch we went for dim sum and it was great, man I could have dim sum everyday!  Did nothing in the afternoon other than a bit of cleaning, the house is a huge mess with boxes and crap everywhere due to the renovations, they’re almost complete but we’re missing a few items here and there still.

President Putin put its nuclear forces on high alert which is great, dangerously escalating an already difficult situation…  I do think the Ukrainian situation is deeper than the immediate conflict (2014’s coup, Westward expansion of NATO, etc) however none of it justifies this type of conflict and I definitely hope cooler heads prevail so we can end the bloodshed.

Inspirational!

There’s nothing like an existential threat to pull people together and the stories coming from Ukraine is amazing.  I wish all the people who are defending their country the best and continued success.  As a Canadian I feel rather helpless, I’ve donated to a few charities helping refugees but there’s not much else I can do really.  The Russians protesting the war at home under Putin’s dictatorship has also been impressive and I think it’s important to separate the Russian people from the decisions its government makes.

Sigh has Vladimir Putin gone mad, he’s now threatening Finland & Sweden about not joining NATO…

Finland and Sweden have brushed off warnings from neighboring Russia that their possible joining of NATO would trigger “serious military-political consequences” from Moscow for the two countries.

Source: ABC News

I think these types of maneuvers have the opposite effect and I am happy that Europe is standing solidly against the bully and am happy to hear that Ukraine’s allies will block Russia from using the SWIFT banking system, that will hurt and there’s got to be more that’s done.

Full scale invasion

Sigh I’m so conflicted because generally I’m non interventionist but Russia & Putin are bullies but if the rest of the world concedes Ukraine, I don’t think this will be the end of it.  Especially since it appears Putin wants to recreate the Russian empire of old, it’s certainly very disturbing.  My heart breaks for the Ukrainian people and their defenses are putting up a valiant fight but Russian forces are simply much more powerful and plentiful.  At a minimum the rest of the world should open our arms to the refugees of this horrible conflict and help them resettle if not permanently at least on a temporary basis.  I would support mass migration from Ukraine to Canada if that helps.

Are sanctions going to be enough?  While it’ll definitely hurt I don’t think so but the West really doesn’t want to get into a shooting war with Russia because who knows where that’ll lead…

As this is happening, it also makes me wonder if China will invade Taiwan as it’d be much harder for the world to focus on two issues so far apart.  Ugh why do politicians act like school yard children on the grand stage…

Whoops

I wonder if Russia’s spy chief will mysteriously die now that he’s given the game away in this video.  Just over a minute in he says he supports the two republics joining the Russian federation and you can see Putin is not pleased lol…  What an utter mess and not something the world needs at the moment.

War

Sigh Russia has sent troops into Ukraine this time overtly into the “separatist” regions of the country as peacekeepers after recognizing the region’s “sovereignty”.  The last thing we need in this world right now is another war and I hope cooler heads will prevail.  The West is not faultless here, it should never have expanded NATO Eastward after the fall of the Soviet Union so I understand Russia’s security concerns but still this is not good and god damn politicians act like children at the world stage, it’s infuriating.

Cottage almost ready

For Family day Monday we went for a drive to Belleville to take a look at the cottage and it looks pretty darn nice.

Since we plan on tearing down the structure in the future we mainly did cosmetic work to make it look nicer and it’s definitely brighter inside now.  Next weekend we’ll go back to and buy some furniture to furnish the place up, maybe install internet in March and some outdoor stuff then try our hand at Airbnb & enjoy it ourselves.  This is going to be great, I can’t wait…

Oh and I like taking pictures of my car so yeah two shots of the IS. 😉