This is the same aunt I got into a screaming match with many months ago, the same aunt my grandmother defended while claiming I was influenced by the devil and I was forced to apologize to. She is technically my great aunt (grandma’s sister in law) but I call her aunt because it’s easier.

Anyway when I got home from school I noticed my grandma wasn’t home and was told she was out with the aunt. I immediately felt dread as I knew that meant when my grandma came home the aunt would also be here visiting. She does this all the time and I usually just ignore her (with a cordial hello but that’s it), but I knew with the election results she’d yap away.

Almost immediately after she arrived at my house she was cackling, calling my name and telling me she was going to make me mad: “my friend trump won! Haha! My friend trump one!” Says the Portuguese immigrant in Canada. I just replied in the most deadpan voice “okay???” And left it at that. My grandma laughed and I was screaming in my head.

When we first had our argument and I flew off the handle, she went blabbing to my mother about my behaviour when my mom was visiting her place. She told my mom that we were having a nice discussion and she didn’t know why I got so angry (nice discussion my ass), my mother defended me by telling my aunt to never speak politics with me ever again because I know a lot more about this stuff than she does. I remember immediately after the fight I called my mom crying, so she already knew what went down before.

So why in gods name did this removed come cackling in the kitchen trying to drag me into a fucking argument? Probably because she knows I can’t fight back, I’m not allowed to, because last time I did I was forced to apologize to her after getting a verbal lashing from my grandma (this did not happen on the same day, my grandma picked me up from the bus stop a few days later and tore into me while driving home, it was a horrific experience especially because in her anger she pivoted away from the aunt situation into other grievances she has with me and my dog, it made me feel like a fucking monster). Sometimes I feel like my grandma loves this aunt more than me, and it makes me think “why don't you go live with her than if she’s so damn important to you?”

Anyway that’s my rant. I hate it here.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5514465

This just seems like a step towards privatizing healthcare in Alberta. Also with the pivot to giving a religious based organization the power over people’s healthcare that just means certain types of care will not be provided, from abortions to transgender health. I knew things were going to get worse in this province (don’t get me started on the power bills) but seeing it still strikes fear. Some people are saying this goes against the charter and therefore the feds can get involved, but will they? I don’t think so.

article transcript

The province has taken the operation of a northern Alberta hospital away from Alberta Health Services and turned it over to a private, Catholic healthcare provider.

Premier Danielle Smith reportedly told this to a group of people at a United Conservative Party (UCP) town hall event in Drayton Valley earlier this month.

“We need Alberta Health Services (AHS) to focus on delivering the best care in the 106 faciliities they operate for us. They have been distracted trying to run everything else, so we’re taking away all their excuses,” she said in a video of the event circulating on social media. “I can tell you also that we’re prepared to take away their authority to operate hospitals as well.”

Smith’s comments were first reported by Great West Media.

She goes on to say a transfer of power has already taken place in the northern Alberta hamlet of La Crête — Covenant Health now runs that hospital.

“Covenant Health has never closed down rural hospitals. Why is it that Covenant Health is able to keep operating rooms and hospitals open 24 hours a day but AHS can’t?” Smith said. “And it may well be that we just need different operators in the smaller communities so that we can get back to delivering that level of care.

“We’re very open-minded about that — I want to give AHS every opportunity to succeed but do know that our number one is making sure that you get your healthcare close to home.”

The video shows the premier’s comments being met with applause.

Covenant Health already operates hospitals in Edmonton, Banff, Bonnyville, Camrose, Castor, Killam, and Vegreville as well as several continuing care facilities throughout the province.

In a statement to CityNews, a Covenant Health spokesperson says it is a faith-based provider that runs under agreements which acknowledge their “right to operate according to our own ethics and beliefs.” The healthcare provider is not funded to provide Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), it adds.

This comes days after news a first-of-its-kind private urgent care clinic was being proposed in Airdrie. Alberta gave One Health Associate Medical $85,000 in tax money to come up with a business plan.

‘No evidence’ to support Smith’s claims, advocacy group says

Healthcare advocacy group Friends of Medicare is slamming the premier’s comments, saying there is “no evidence” to support her claims about Covenant Health’s track record versus AHS.’

The groups says the decision to take power away from AHS is about politics, not care.

“Using Alberta Health Services as a scapegoat for our government’s own failings in health care is an age-old strategy here in Alberta, but Danielle Smith has turned it into a political obsession designed to rally her base against our public health care,” Chris Gallaway executive director of Friends of Medicare, said in a statement.

“The fact our Premier is making such a major announcement about our health care system at a party membership meeting in Drayton Valley, instead of to the public, highlights how her agenda in health care is about politics, not meeting the health needs of Albertans.”

Advocates have long been calling for improvements to the province’s healthcare system amid concerns about short staffing and compromised care.

The premier’s office denies those claims.

“Alberta’s government has been clear that we expect to see better results from Alberta Health Services, especially when it comes to providing acute care services in rural and remote communities – where we’ve seen an increasing number of temporary or long-lasting closures of emergency departments,” it said in a statement to CityNews. “We’ve raised these concerns with AHS and have asked them to develop strategies to address them.”

Alberta NDP leader, Naheed Nenshi, said in a post to X, Smith wants a healthcare system ruled by “competition and fear.”

“This is bizarre, and it’s not going to work,” he wrote, in part. “Systems that are based on fear will inevitably collapse and those incentives don’t work in public service delivery.”

Nenshi also highlighted the failures of the UCP’s last attempt at privatizing parts of the healthcare system when it transferred lab services to DynaLIFE in December 2022. That contract was ultimately ended about a year after it first began due to long delays and wait times, which were acknowledged by Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange.

The province says it want to support and empower the “incredible” frontline healthcare workers to continue giving excellent care.

Alberta first announced in November its plans to decentralize AHS almost 14 years.

The plan was to create one provincial healthcare system with specialized areas of focus by dividing AHS into four separate organizations: primary care, acute care, continuing care, and mental health and addictions.

I don’t have the will power to listen to this, if anyone does let me know how it goes.

Before I get started, if you don’t know what the Library display is here is my initial post about it.

So I did say i would ask my professors about this display to see if they knew who put it up, why it was put up, and if they even knew what the red and black flag meant.

The first professor I talked to was my Political Science one. I entered his office to chat and before I could ask him about the display he asked me about my paper, then proceeded to give me lots of advice for it. That was not what I was ready for it whatever. I then asked him if he saw the display in the library, he said no. I asked if he knew what it was about even if he hadn’t seen it, again he said no. He told me to explain it to him and I did, it was the “soldier of freedom” display with a bunch of posters. He seemed to sort of know what I was talking about. I asked him if he knew who put it up, he didn’t know but thinks it may have been the Library itself or thee Ukrainian “club” at school (its more official than a club but I don’t know what to call it without outing my location). Before i showed him the photos of the posters with the OUN flag I gave him a disclaimer that I was asking a very fair question, and while he is allowed to feel however he wants I would appreciate not being projected on. After he was primed I showed him my phone and asked him what the flag was, in the picture I showed him the Ukrainian flag was also there and he pointed it out, I had to say I was asking about the red one specifically. He looked at it for a bit and said he didn’t know. I tried to push him on it a bit more but he seriously didn’t know. He then asked me if I knew what it was and I said no. He told me that because its on a soldier display it might be that specific militia’s insignia. I wasn’t super happy with this but tried to play it cool.

He then asked if I was interested in this and I said yes. He then said he is a part of the Ukrainian “club” and can take me to the office to ask them about it, I shot this down right away. I tried to push again, “you really don’t know?” He said that he is anti-war and doesn't involve himself with military stuff so he’s unaware of what the insignia means, he finds war and stuff like it objectionable. With that I asked if he found the display objectionable, he got a little thrown off by this and said that we have a large Ukrainian diaspora here and this is their way too show support to their soldiers fighting to protect their territory. He then brought up the surge in Russophobia in Canada, during a heritage day event the Russian pavilion was banned from appearing which is horrible (we both agreed on that) was one of the big ones, and than many Russians have to stay quiet nowadays even if they support Ukraine (this probably isn’t what he meant but is the only good Russian the one that supports Ukraine?). He then asked me if I found the display objectionable, I had to lie and say I didn’t really know. It was an odd and very disappointing conversation.

I couldn’t really find an opening to ask Tovarish Tomato’s question but I did when I asked my History professor about it. (I don’t know how to tag people)

During office hours for my History professor I spent the first half discussing the class material (which I wont talk about here to save you guys from that). After that I asked him if he saw the display in the library, he said no. I then explained it to him to give him an idea. After he undertook I skipped the question about who could’ve displayed it as he had no idea it even existed. So I skipped to telling him that four out of the 24 flags had this symbol on it and I wanted to know if he knew what it was. When I showed him the flag he also said he didn’t know, he asked if I knew and I lied saying I didn’t know (I don’t know if he believed me). He then opened his computer and looked it up. He went to the Wikipedia and skimmed it a bit, coming to the conclusion that it is associated with Ukrainian nationalism, with far right connotations, and neo-Nazis. He knows I’m planning on writing my history paper about the genocide in the Donbas and he thought maybe this interrogation was related. He went on to explain that because of the famine many Ukrainians had their nationalism fuelled and sided with the Nazis. I tried to explain away my motivations because I am not about to put a target on my back with the school.

This all happened on Wednesday, today I went back and asked Tovarish Tomato’s question.

When I entered his office I cut right to the case saying that my question had nothing to do with class and it was about the poster display and the symbol used in some of the posters. I said that it was really bothering me and I would appreciate a historian’s perspective because I’m having a hard time. I then asked “do you think it is appropriate and responsible to showcase an artist that utilizes neo-Nazi imagery in his works in the university.” I know that wasn’t Tovarish Tomato’s question word for word but I think we all know I have to rephrase things for my own safety. He then said that he isn’t sure and that he would need to know more about what that OUN flag means to the people who put up the posters. If it means fascism then it’s bad to display, but if the flag means Ukrainian freedom from Russian oppression then it’s fine. He then said that symbols change meaning and this one could very well mean something else so we have to keep that in mind. If it was the swastika or the confederate flag then it would be an actual issue. He then asked if I had a problem with this display, and I really tried to play it off, saying I didn’t care anymore, but I don’t think he believed me one bit because he pushed on it and I just told him that I just have to deal with whatever the university approves of whether I like it or not. He then explained that he was not a historian on Ukraine so he isn’t the best authority on this subject, I then brought up Ivan Katchanovski as a source for information if I wanted to know more. He didn’t know who he was so I told him again and I guess he’s going to look into him more. He then told me about Timothy Snyder, an American historian who apparently knows a lot about Ukraine, he then said I might not like him. I asked if he’s American, he said yes, I then said “yeah I might have issues with him.” As a little dig because American scholars can be the absolute worst. So with us exchanging scholars our chat ended and I went to the Library to study.

And what do you know? The display is still there….

Saw this on Twitter and thought it’d be good to share.

Here is the artist and his bio:

“Originally from Jõhvi, Estonia, the artist now lives and works in Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 he has been involved in creating political posters, highlighting important events of the war. In 2022 alone, he has created over 500 posters on the theme of war and invasion. His works are widely recognized worldwide, and his poster exhibitions have been showcased in the US, Estonia, Lithuania, Japan, and Germany. In 2022, the museum of Ukrainian Poster recognized him as the best poster artist in the country. In 2023, he was included in the list of 100 most influential people in Ukraine during the war, according to the Ukrainian Pravda publication. Nikita has received awards for his volunteer activities.”

These were on display at my school… no shame.

This made me realize just how alone I am here.

So this happened in Portugal 😬

I found out only because I was searching for news about a piranha plant parade I saw on TV. In my search I saw that this shit happened and I’m fucking astounded! What the hell is happening?!

This is the parade I was trying to find info about if you’re curious:

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3432241

Im curious how everyone here feels about the whole convoy thing and emergency act utilization.