Dr. Petric’s table

None of the gathered students had any idea before that night’s meeting. They assumed Dr. Petric had called them to school to review their upcoming landscape assignments. All were final year students in the Prague Institute of Landscape Architecture. All were eager to please their mentor and ultimate arbiter of whether they would graduate. As much as they loved Dr. Petric as a teacher of architectural principles, they also understood he alone could determine whether their futures would be ripe with opportunity to shape their country or whether they would be consigned to planting shrubs and raking leaves as simple garden laborers in Jan Neruda Park. So at 7:00pm sharp, all eleven students were present. The year was 1953. Mass protests had already rocked Prague. Some of the students had taken part. The liberation of Europe had given so many Eastern Europeans a taste of freedom. But Sovietization and the dictator Stalin were suppressing these dangerous ideas with brutal force. So when Dr. Petric unrolled a map of the Czechoslovakian rail system, the students gathered even closer round him to find out what he could possibly have in mind. What they would find out at this gathering around Dr. Petric’s table would change their lives forever.

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US historians sign brief to support Colorado’s removal of Trump from ballot

I’ve excerpted some salient paragraphs from a Guardian review. Read on.

Twenty-five historians of the civil war and Reconstruction filed a US supreme court brief in support of the attempt by Colorado to remove Donald Trump from the ballot under the 14th amendment, which bars insurrectionists from running for office. “For historians,” the group wrote, “contemporary evidence from the decision-makers who sponsored, backed, and voted for the 14th amendment [ratified in 1868] is most probative. Analysis of this evidence demonstrates that decision-makers crafted section three to cover the president and to create an enduring check on insurrection, requiring no additional action from Congress.” The 25 historians – among them James McPherson of Princeton, the pre-eminent civil war scholar – pointed to 1860s congressional debate.“ Senator Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, a Democratic opponent of the 14th amendment, challenged sponsors as to why section three omitted the president. Republican Lot Morrill of Maine … replied, ‘Let me call the senator’s attention to the words “or hold any office civil or military under the United States”.’ Johnson admitted his error; no other senator questioned whether section three covered the president.” The historians concluded: “The court should take cognisance that section three of the 14th amendment covers the present, is forward-looking, and requires no additional acts of Congress for implementation.” In a forthcoming article for the New York Review of Books, seen by the Guardian, Sean Wilentz of Princeton – an eminent historian not part of the supreme court brief “The conservative majority of the supreme court and the historical legacy of the [Chief Justice John] Roberts court have reached a point of no return. The law, no matter the diversions and claptrap of Trump’s lawyers and the pundits, is crystal clear, on incontestable historical as well as originalist grounds … the conservatives face a choice between disqualifying Trump or shredding the foundation of their judicial methodology.” If the court does not “honour the original meaning of the 14th amendment and disqualify Donald Trump”, Wilentz writes, “it will trash the constitutional defense of democracy designed following slavery’s abolition; it will guarantee, at a minimum, political chaos no matter what the voters decide in November; and it will quite possibly pave the way for a man who has vowed that he will, if necessary, rescind the constitution in order to impose a dictatorship of revenge.”

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Trump’s “presidential immunity” argument is dangerous and ludicrous.

HuffPost (url link below) published an excellent essay on Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy and the American constitution. If you think he is a rational choice to be President again, you need to read this essay. Donald Trump poses an existential threat to the United States and to the free world. This is a man every bit as dangerous as Vladimir Putin. Norm Eisen, a White House lawyer during the Obama administration who worked on the House of Representatives’ legal team during the first Trump impeachment, said Trump’s immunity theory would undo the founders’ goal of avoiding an unaccountable monarchy.

“Trump’s argument actually turns the American idea on its head,” Eisen said. “Election to the presidency would become an authorization to go on a non-stop crime spree as long as a president could claim that his actions, however tangentially, were related to his official duties. This can’t be right.” Read the full article in the Huffpost link below. It intelligently lays out how ludicrous and dangerous Trump’s “legal” position is. Should the Supreme Court eventually decide the case in his favour, then all hope for democracy is lost. Dictatorships like Russia and China will over run the world. 2024 is a turning point in world history.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-trump-presidential-immunity_n_65943b0fe4b0f27b6e356793

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SS Keewatin finds permanent home

Should you find yourself in Kingston, Canada you must go see the SS Keewatin. This is the last remaining large steamship from the Titanic era. In fact, the SS Keewatin was commissioned before the Titanic! The Maritime Museum obtained this ship and is renovating it thru winter 2023-24, hoping to open it to the public in Spring 2024. How big is it? 107 meters long. That’s a football field to put it in context. Very impressive and kudos to the Maritime Museum for preserving this magnificent piece of Canadian history from the wrecking ball of cancel culture. Older than the Titanic and it is floating in the St. Lawrence at Kingston.

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Pick strawberries for 10 cents per day….in 1903

As you enjoy your succulent, sweet strawberries, perhaps picked by your own hand at some local berry farm, this news article from a 1903 country newspaper should make you chuckle.

Richard Stickney, at Lot 10, concession 7 of Peel, pioneering the “pick your own” concept, sold a daily pass, allowing the purchaser to pick any quantity, at 10 cents per day per person.

Further highlighting the almost surreal difference between life then and now, is this piece from a 1932 publication. Recall this was still height of depression era where unemployment was at all time highs, food was hard to come by and real estate prices were tumbling.

The grim outlook for farmers was reflected in farm prices. A 200 acre property in eastern Peel, with good buildings, sold at auction for $3,100 and another property, 218 acres with buildings, changed hands for an even $2,000.

Hard to get your head around those prices. Yes, watermelons were 50 cents each, 2 lbs of chocolate could be bought for 60 cents, 100 lbs of sugar for $4.95. But $2,000 for 218 acres with buildings! It’s a brave new world folks. Come back soon, I’ll be posting more regularly once again. Cheers!

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Canada’s new crown belongs on Homer Simpson’s head!

Canada changes its coat of arms. Apparently the original crown (left in pic) has religious symbols that our esteemed woke leaders in Ottawa find offensive. To whom? Anybody out there offended by the St. Andrews crown on the left? It’s the one Queen Elizabeth wore on her coronation. OH. And the current King Charles too. The new crown has a snow flake on top and maple leaves around. The crosses and fleur-de-lis on the original must have been so offensive to so many! And notice how our Liberal government has changed the direction of the arrows on the ermine accent so they now go to the LEFT! And the jewels on the original must have offended all working Canadians, can’t be celebrating anything that smacks of wealth. What’s with the new blue squiggly? Looks like a piece of spaghetti. Must be that one of Trudeau’s graphic arts buddies needed work. This country is not the Canada my parents immigrated to. Hell, I no longer recognize it! These subtle changes to our history keep eroding any sense of place or continuity. The new crown belongs on Homer Simpson’s head.

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Top Canadian museum to be gutted….decolonization!

Put aside a few minutes and read this article. The amount of revisionism and cancel culture in Canada is mind numbing. I used to be so thankful my Mom and Dad had chosen to flee Communism and Nazism for this bastion of freedom and democracy. Not sure they would make that choice today. Celebrate the birth of Jesus while you still have that option. Soon enough we will be repurposing churches into something neutral and less offensive because God only knows how awful it must be for non-white, non-Christian people to have these edifices in their communities. The rather obvious, for me anyway, problem with rewriting history is the fact that eventually you end up with no history at all. Merry Christmas y’all.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/top-canadian-museum-to-be-immediately-gutted-in-the-name-of-decolonization

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Save heritage Sandbanks homes

Save the Heritage Sandbanks Homes Survey (surveymonkey.com)

Save Heritage Sandbanks Homes – Home

At a time when our cultural and historical heritage is under attack, a group of County residents has formed to preserve and restore two 150 year old homes within Sandbanks Provincial Park boundaries. The Ontario government wishes to demolish these structurally sound houses. I applaud the group that understands the importance of repurposing these fabulous buildings and encourage my readers to do the same. Take a minute and complete the survey, pass the link to your friends. It’s time we celebrate our history as a great nation and that starts with preserving the past, in both its ugly truths and its beautiful achievements.

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Archives Canada removes ‘outdated, redundant’ web page about nation’s prime ministers

Canada’s national library, which bills itself as “custodian of our distant past and recent history” has deleted a history of the prime ministers from its website, with archivists having labelled it “outdated and redundant.” A search on the Library and Archives Canada website now yields an error page, and a news release entitled “spring cleaning” explains that the feature, called First Among Equals, has now been removed, along with a handful of other historical records. Blacklock’s Reporter, an Ottawa online news outlet, which, along with the Toronto Star, first reported on the deletion, said there was “much fanfare” in 1994 when the web page was launched. (Tyler Dawson, NP)

And that dear readers, is how the cleansing of history begins. When the “custodian of our distant past and recent history” decides to join the cancel culture vultures and sanitize its website to conform with these performance activists and their wishes to punish the nation for sins committed a century ago, it makes me shake my head in disgust! What a shame. This country had so much going for it and now…. well now I see a country imploding. And once ideas and history itself are sanitized, we begin the descent into that black hole. Just like the ones out there in space, sucking all light and matter into their black vortex. Never to be released. Never to see light again.

Sure, amend the school curriculum to include teaching the horrors and madness of the residential school system, but don’t forget to teach about Canada’s achievements, its successes. Perhaps we need to go through a period of reckoning and reconciliation. My question though is this. How long are we gong to self flagellate? If you keep beating your head against the wall, it’s going to bleed and you will knock yourself into oblivion. Will 2021 be remembered as the year we decided to take a pick axe to Canada? Let us pray not. Yes, it is time for all Canadians to recognize what happened to indigenous cultures here. Is the solution to give the land back to the indigenous? Hardly. To the victor go the spoils. Remember the Plains of Abraham? Nation building is a hard and sometimes brutal business. Still, no matter how you cut it, or frame it, Canada is a great country. Let’s not tear it apart.

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Canada…..lament for a nation

I’m saddened by the loss of history

Our country’s past is being erased

By cancel culture zealots and woke movements

That ignore the foundation of this great nation.

We focus on the trail of blood

Which every nation leaves behind

But here in Canada we find

A sense that achievements must be denied.

A coast to coast railroad that solidified this nation

A leader who forged alliances from disparate groups

To create a united and strong collection

Envy of the world, a gateway to freedom, first choice of all immigrants.

Instead we apologize, endlessly, pathetically

For every past wrong, perceived or real

It does not matter as long as you raise your voice

Loud enough to drown out sensibility and common sense.

LGBTQ, ABCDE

Pick a movement, raise your flag

Tear down the glorious maple leaf

And replace it with any grievance banner.

The new Canada

Inclusive, kind, soft and a laughingstock

The world looks and shakes its collective head

What’s happened to the flag we once proudly displayed?

It flies at half mast forever

Somebody, something somewhere has an issue

We better address it to protect our votes

Stay in political office, that’s all that matters.

Keep throwing money at any interest group

Dip into the public purse that has no bottom

Saddle future generations with crushing debt

Destroy any spirit of hard work and hope.

Throw away Paschendale, Vimy and Sicily

Nobody wants to hear about hard work, honor and sacrifice

They just want to feel kind and touchy feely good

Lament for a nation, Canada is no more.

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