Wednesday Night #2194

It was, as always, a great pleasure to have Peter Berezin join us last Wednesday, with the added treat of (Columbia Professor) Brett House chiming in!
We are sorry we had not seen the World Economic Forum posts, published last Wednesday, regarding the Future of the Care Economy, a subject in which we all have a vital -and vested- interest.

We will be following the Baltimore Bridge collapse story for many months to come. AP is doing its usual solid, competent reporting with photos and videos Aerial footage shows crane working on wreckage of Baltimore bridge collapse, while the Washington Post gives a regional perspective
However, most important is Heather Cox Richardson’s reminder March 28, 2024 of the awesome power of the US Federal government when all the powers cooperate.

The latest development in the ongoing tragedy of the Israel-Hamas war is the killings of seven World Central Kitchen employees Monday in a series of Israeli airstrikes.
We have been railing against the unique global -and especially U.S.- attention paid to the killing pf the seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers when there have been so many deaths of innocents that have gone recognized only as statistics.
More than 200 humanitarian aid workers have perished since October 7, including nearly two dozen Americans, but we must recognize and be grateful that these have galvanized official Washington in a way that Gaza’s more routine horrors have not. See Long reads below Why the WCK killings won’t soon be forgotten
Words of wisdom from Thomas Friedman: Netanyahu is no longer at the wheel (video)
Thomas Friedman argues that much of the horror that’s played out in Gaza over the past six months goes back to a devil’s bargain that Bibi has maintained with Hamas over the past fifteen years. “Netanyahu always understood that … having a strong Hamas in Gaza is the best way to ensure a weak Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.” … So what can people do who consider themselves both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian? “The most important thing you can do to be pro-Israeli, ” Friedman tells Bremmer, “…is to be for the removal of Bibi Netanyahu by the Israeli people.” And the most pro-Palestinian thing you can do? “Be against Hamas and for the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah….Because if that project succeeds or makes progress, many more things are possible in terms of what can happen between the Israelis and Palestinians.”

Uday Bhaskar‘s lengthy review of Crosswinds: Nehru, Zhou and the Anglo-American Competition over China, by Vijay Gokhale, is in itself an excellent review of the the third China-related volume from an astute domain expert who has served in Beijing in various capacities, including that of ambassador (2016-17) and is now a prolific author. He notes that “At a time when the India-China-USA triangle is becoming more animated over complex and discordant issues, Crosswinds provides valuable insights into east Asian geopolitical events of the 1950s that have considerable relevance for Delhi as it grapples with the current turbulence in major power relations.” Meanwhile, as India is in election mode, there is concern about Modi’s encouragement of rising Hindu nationalism, while also applying less-than-democratic means to curb the opposition.

Happy news from Turkey where  In setback to Erdogan, opposition makes huge gains in local election – Turkey’s main opposition party retained its control over key cities and made huge gains elsewhere in Sunday’s local elections….

Insatiable consumers of U.S. political news, commentary and trends should read Ian Bremmer: Could third-party candidates upend the 2024 US election?
We love Rachel Maddow and just now came across this wonderful rant
Maddow joins colleagues in objecting to McDaniel for legitimizing Trump, attacking democracy
We presume that everyone is following the emergence of the ludicrous Church of Trump – it would be unbelievable in most third world nations!
This is NOT going to happen! House Republicans seek to rename Dulles Airport after Trump – Really?
More seriously, we are watching Speaker Johnson’s Plan for Ukraine Aid
The G.O.P. speaker’s proposed conditions for sending a fresh infusion of military assistance to Kyiv are the strongest sign to date that he plans to defy critics in his own party and push through the aid package.

Congratulations, Alireza Yazdi on the launch of Anyon Labs, the “community-oriented space where we will share latest news, tutorials, and other materials regarding the cool stuff we develop at Anyon.”

Enjoying a family reunion in Barbados with cousins from the UK and US, Andrew Caddell‘s column treats us to fascinating family history before advocating that Canada follow the example of Barbados’ removal of Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. “In September 2020, the Barbados Labour Party government of Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced in its Throne Speech that Barbados would become a republic by November 2021. It was done efficiently and without acrimony, and institutions were easily adapted to the republican reality. The Queen sent her best wishes.”

Ottawa is not at this time contemplating severing ties with King Charles, too busy making nice ahead of the 16 April budget while dealing with the blowback from the rise on Monday in the federal carbon tax and its rebates that went up Monday, after weeks of intensifying political debate and protest. (What’s behind the carbon tax, and does it work?)
Stay tuned as the Liberals deploy their new pre-budget marketing strategy. ‘Trying to steal back voters’: Strategists weigh in on Liberal budget messaging plan
Trudeau tries to win back younger voters with first pre-budget announcements
It’s a bid to target two generations that have largely abandoned the Liberal Party
Driving the news
(iPolitics)In the lead up to the federal budget, the government’s announcement tour shows the Liberals are finally getting back on offence, according to strategists of all political stripes.
Trudeau announces $15B more for apartment construction loans
A National School Food Program to set kids up for success
See What needs to happen next for Canada to have a successful school food program.
And for those watching the Quebec Liberals search for a leader: Tom Mulcair: Best hope to lead the Quebec Liberals? Here’s my vote
The death of party stalwart Benoît Pelletier serves as a reminder there are big shoes to be filled. Keep an eye on Karl Blackburn.

Allison Hanes: Quebec needs to stop defeatist hyperbole on fragility of French
A book published last fall calls for a re-examination of the assumption French is on the wane in Quebec, in hopes of developing a clearer understanding of how the situation is evolving, discerning where the language is most vulnerable and developing constructive solutions.
Le français en déclin? Repenser la francophonie québécoise should be required reading for all Quebecers — regardless of their background — from the premier on down.
The brainchild of respected demographers Jean-Pierre Corbeil, Richard Marcoux and Victor Piché, the volume is a collection of analyses, studies, essays and research by nearly three dozen of the most important thinkers on the subject of language in Quebec.
Event
This Thursday, the Quebec Community Groups Network is joining forces with the Gazette and the Notre Home Foundation to host a conference on the book. I have been tapped to animate a panel with Corbeil and two other contributors to Le français en déclin.
The conference takes place at Centre St. Jax from 5 to 7. p.m. Thursday. The event, which is free, will also be streamed online. Participants must register in advance at tinyurl.com/4jynhk2r.
Jean-Benoît Nadeau, an author and journalist for many publications, including L’actualité, writes about broadening the definition of who qualifies as a francophone in Quebec today and describes five categories. Mario Polèse, a professor emeritus at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique, ponders the prevalence of spoken English in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, the neighbourhood he has called home for more than 40 years.

The deadly dive to the Titanic
Canadian authorities watched an experimental submersible come and go from St. John’s Harbour for three years before it imploded with five passengers onboard as they made their way toward the wreck of the Titanic.
The Titan was not certified to any internationally recognized safety standard and the Titanic was resting in international waters. Consequently, no official agency in Canada had jurisdiction over Titan leaving a Canadian port.

Congratulations, Paule Robitaille!
Concordia welcomes 12 community leaders to new President’s Advisory Group
Informal consultative body will provide diverse perspectives on complex issues facing the university and higher education sector.

Varia
Solar eclipse 2024 in Canada: Everything to know for April 8 — timing, path of totality, safety warnings and more
North Americans are in for a celestial treat on April 8 as a total solar eclipse will plunge a swath of the continent into minutes of darkness for millions of people from the southern reaches of Mexico to the north eastern borders of Canada.
As hordes of people are set to descend on regions lined up in the path of totality, many who for the first time will experience a total solar eclipse are turning to social media seeking answers on how to make the most of this once-in-a-generation event.

‘Adopt a penguin egg’ Easter campaign helps endangered African birds
Since the start of the year, a South African conservation group has been incubating over 200 eggs of the endangered African penguin that were previously rescued from two colonies.
The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) is soliciting donations to meet the cost of incubating them by inviting people to “adopt an egg.”
The African penguin — the only species that breeds on the continent, and which is also found in Namibia — was once South Africa’s most abundant seabird.
No longer. The population has plunged to less than 10,000 breeding pairs in 2024, according to SANCCOB resources manager, Ronnis Daniels, meaning there is only 1% left of the 1 million that were in existence a century earlier.
Want to finish more books? Super readers share their tips.
Good news: If you finished even one book in 2023, you’re already in the 46th percentile of American readers, as The Washington Post’s Andrew Van Dam reported earlier this year.
What about the people at the other end — way at the other end — of the scale?
We talked to a few super-readers, who routinely finish hundreds of books a year, about their habits and goals — and asked them about what tips they have for the rest of us. (These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.)

Long reads
Why the WCK killings won’t soon be forgotten
In terms of cold hard math, seven deaths shouldn’t mean much. More than 30,000 have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its counteroffensive after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which itself claimed around 1,200 lives. More than 200 humanitarian aid workers have perished since, including nearly two dozen Americans.
But the killings of seven World Central Kitchen employees Monday in a series of Israeli airstrikes have managed to galvanize official Washington in a way that Gaza’s more routine horrors have not.
The future of the care economy relies on collaboration and a ‘care mindset’
There are 8 billion of us (and counting), all of whom need looking after for the better part of our lives. Food production, childrearing, community clinics, sanitation, schooling, physiotherapy, telehealth and retirement homes, among many other processes and relationships, make up the vast and complex global care economy.
Russia’s Tragedy, Putin’s Humiliation
Expect wild claims from supporters of the humiliated dictator.
As we untangle the ghastly attack just outside of Moscow, bear in mind three realities about politics in Russia.
First, some terrorist groups have a long-standing hatred of the Russians, and mass-casualty attacks in Russia’s cities are not new. … The most recent massacre is only one of a series of such attacks in Russia over the past 30 years.
Second, reliable information will be scarce for some time. The immediate Russian response in such circumstances is to clamp down on the media while government officials mostly dummy up, …people who may have been asleep at the switch will already be engaging in desperate ass-covering. And third, always remember that Russia and its useful idiots in the West will try to shift blame and obfuscate as much as possible as they try to blow the stench of failure away from Moscow.

Finally to cheer you
‘A Group Of Bunnies Is Called A Fluffle’ And 50 Other Happy Facts That Will Turn Your Entire Day Around
The ever-appropriate name is used to refer to wild rabbits which can also be called a colony – but why would you? Stick with fluffle. So…a Fluffle of rabbits running amok must be…. A Kerfluffle.