VIDEO: Remembrance Day 2023 - Please, no more!

Some call it by its old name: Armistice Day. Others call it Remembrance Day. Still others know it only as November 11th. No matter what you call it, November 11th is, or should be more than just a date. It's a day to remember those who gave their lives for our countries in a number of wars.

The exact number of wars is debatable. Depends which country you're talking about, and who's counting. But they were all "good wars"... "just wars"... right? They all needed to be fought, right? To preserve freedom and democracy and equality and all those other Good Things. Right? Maybe it's all debatable.

The "Armistice" in Armistice Day refers to the truce proclaimed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 -- the armistice that ended the Great War, the war that would end all wars. But, as "The Ballad of Willie McBride" (aka "The Green Fields of France") says, it all happened again... And again... And again.

During the Battle of Fredericksburg, that greatest of all American generals, surveying the carnage, said to General James Longstreet, "It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it."

But it seems we have grown too fond of it. Perhaps it's because advances in technology have reduced the body counts. On "our side", at least. Or maybe it's the advances in medicine and hygiene which means that, nowadays, more soldiers and sailors and airmen die of wounds than of disease and starvation.

Whatever it is, we seem to scarcely finish one war before starting another. Sometimes we don't even wait for the first war to end, so we can fight two or three or four wars all at the same time. All for freedom, democracy, equality, human rights, and generally to make the world a better place. For "our side", at least.

Not all of the thousands upon thousands who died fighting our "good wars" did so for the sake of freedom and all that. Some of them did, sure, but some of them died because they obeyed orders and went unflinchingly to the death to which they were sent. It is those men and women -- the ones who didn't want to be there and shouldn't have been there in the first place -- whom Walt and Poor Len [and Ed.] remember today.

This year, with pressure mounting from liberals, progressives and fellow travellers to send human "resources" -- makes them sound like pieces of meat -- to the Mid-East to make perpetual enemies lay down their arms, we pray that there be no more... no more American and Canadian men and women to die bloody in the deseert sands... for nothing.

VIDEO: Drunk driver plays diversity, victim cards, gets arrested anyway

Bodycam footage seen recently on X illustrates the social justice/police brutality/yada yada bullshit that cops (especially white male cops) have to put up with in Woke America.

If you didn't catch all of it, here's a list of excuses this... errr... lady?... Karen?... libtard?... wokester came up with in just three minutes.

* I have bad social anxiety

* I don't wanna step out of the car because there's a lot of stuff going around

* I'm an indigenous person

* I'm non-binary

* Don't call me "ma'am"

* I have mental health problems [I believe that one. Ed.]

* You're trying to intimidate me

* I have PTSD

* This is triggering

* I have generational trauma

* I don't like being around white people and cops

* You're scaring me

* You're hurting me!!!

To think that in Biden's woke America, people like this are allowed to not only drive cars (even when drunk), but to vote!

Sitting on the fence in the Hamas-Israeli war

If President 0 has spoken out on the latest Mid-East war, I haven't heard him. But this is the sort of mugwumpism I'd expect him to utter. Does it matter? Not if you believe that President Brandon formulates his own thoughts and policies. But if you think Barack Hussein just might be pulling Brandon's strings, it matters. The Democrats can't affored to alienate anybody, one short year before Judgment Day.

Getting back to the war between the Jews and the Muslims, which the Jews seem to be winning handily -- hence the pro-Muslim calls for an immediate ceasefire -- Mrs Walt asked me a good question as we watched video of the latest carnage: When Hamas decided to attack Israel, which has one of the strongest militaries in the Mid-East, if not the world, what did they think would happen?!

The Feast of the Archangels

Today, the 8th day of November is the Feast Day of Saint Michael the Archangel, Commander of the Heavenly Host, and of the Archangels Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salaphiel, Jegudiel, and Barachiel, together with the Angels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Authorities, Powers, Six-winged Seraphim, Many-eyed Cherubim and the other Bodiless Powers. 

 • Archangels (I Thessalonians 4:16) are messengers of great and wondrous tidings. They reveal prophecies and the mysteries of the Faith. They enlighten people to know and understand the will of God, they spread faith in God among the people, illuminating their minds with the light of the Holy Gospel. 

 • Angels (I Peter 3:22) are in the lowest rank of the heavenly hierarchy, and closest to people. They reveal the lesser mysteries of God and His intentions, guiding people to virtuous and holy life. They support those who remain steadfast, and they raise up the fallen. They never abandon us and they are always prepared to help us, if we desire it. 

All the Ranks of the Heavenly Powers are called angels, although each has its own name and position by virtue of their service. The Lord reveals His will to the highest ranks of the angels, and they in turn inform the others. 

Over all the Nine Ranks, the Lord appointed the Holy Archangel Michael (his name means "who is like unto God"), the faithful servitor of God, as Chief Commander.

From the Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Archangels, let us pray: 

We magnify you, O archangels and angels, and all the hosts, cherubim and seraphim, which glorify the Lord.

Supreme Commanders of the heavenly hosts, we who are unworthy beseech you, by your prayers encompass us beneath the wings of your immaterial glory, and faithfully preserve us who fall down and cry to you, "Deliver us from all harm, for you are the Leaders of the Powers on high!"

And less us conclude with the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel: 

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls.

The next time you feel dumb...

"The Bolt Adventure" - a true tale from the world of EVs

For those who are considering getting an EV (electric vehicle), we presents a report from one of Walt's assiduous readers north of the World's longest undefended border, who recounts his experiences driving a 2023 Chevrolet Bolt from (about) Toronto to Ottawa. Warning: The details may be disturbing to anyone on the green bandwagon. 

Notes from Ed.: We've deleted the name of the dealers and other information as to specific locations. For our US readers, "K" = kilometer. 100 km = about 62 miles. 

Picked up the 2023 Chevy Bolt EV from [a Toronto dealer], Tuesday afternoon October 31, 2023, at 3:15pm. Odometer showing 4 K’s, the indicated range was 413 K’s. Here's what the dashboard looks like. 

The picture on the right shows the actual size of the humungous battery that powers this little car.

Google indicates the distance to our destination in downtown Ottawa, as being 464K’s. On the road at 6:00am, November 1. Invited my buddy Bruce to accompany me. He has a curiosity about electric vehicles, and I thought he might be an asset if the vehicle needed to be pushed!

On Hwy 401 eastbound by 6:30am. Kept the speed at 100 K’s to conserve power. The Bolt is the only EV I've driven with a "power consumption gauge", measured in kilowatts. (And this is the third Bolt EV!)  

At 120 K’s consumption is around/over 24 kilowatts; at 100 K’s power drops down to 14 kilowatts; but at 60 K’s power is only 8 kilowatts. Anyway, the speed was kept at 100K’s on cruise control. 

The cabin area was kept at a comfortable 23 degrees C [73.4 F]. Was a strange sensation having everyone pass us, including trucks. The Bolt was very comfortable to drive, holds the road very well, and is extremely quiet! 

Had a ten-minute stop from 7:50am to 8:00am,at the first On-Route eastbound at Port Hope for washrooms, and grabbed a couple of Starbucks. (The line was too long at Tim’s!)  Arrived Trenton On-Route by 9:00am. Vehicle’s remaining range has dropped to 130K’s, from the initial range of 413 K’s even though we have travelled only 212 K’s. 

Connected to “IVY-0184 Charger,” the only one of four chargers that was working. Went through the hookup procedure using the IVY app on my phone. Unfortunately, the sole remaining IVY-0184 charger was also not working very well as it shut off after only eight minutes. Went through the hookup process again. This time it turned off, after only three minutes. 

Called the 800 number on the IVY machine to ask why? The young man answered promptly, but had no explanation. Blamed it possibly on the vehicle. Made one more connection which lasted seven minutes, and finally a fourth connection which lasted two minutes. The charge did give an additional 50K’s, for $7.22, bringing the vehicle’s range up to 187 K’s. 

In desperation phoned [a GM dealer] in Kingston to ask about charging a Bolt. They said no problem, bring it in and get it charged. Arrived there at 11:24am with 58 K’s remaining, having logged 318 K’s. Was expecting to charge for free at [the dealer], and could have, except the free charger was only a trickle charger…..would have taken hours. 

The fast charger turned out to be a “Flo Charger, AAL-00545.” This required another App to be installed on my phone. After downloading the App, phoned the 800 number on the FLO charger to find out what to do. A young lady with a soft voice, and a pretty French-Canadian accent walked me through the process! The gist of it was: “must transfer $25.00 from my Mastercard to the FLO account which was just created with the App.” These folks don’t take any chances regarding their payment. 

After this process, charging started at 12:25pm. The App on the phone controls everything. A button to start charging, and a big red bar to stop charging, located at the base of the program on the phone. Out of fear of accidentally turning the charger off, let the phone remain on the dash of the Bolt while we went for lunch at Tim Horton’s. Of course, this is the time everyone starts calling, wondering where I am. Since I didn’t answer, their assumption “missing in action!” 

Returned from lunch, charger still charging. However, it automatically shuts off within a few minutes when the charge reached 80% of capacity. This brought the vehicle’s range up to 289 K’s This charge cost $15.93, leaving a credit balance in my FLO account of $9.07, which will likely remain until another FLO charger is used. 

Google calculates the distance to our destination in Ottawa as being 201K’s. Back on Hwy 401 eastbound by 1:45pm; again, speed limited to 100 K’s. Change to Hwy 416 north. Around MP-57 started having remaining range reservations. Consequently, reduce the speed to 80k’s. Range immediately starts decreasing at a noticeably slower rate. Probably some formula where power consumption increases with the square of the speed. 

Arrive [at the dealership in Ottawa] at 3:55pm, having travelled 512 K’s, with 63 K’s remaining. By 4:30pm, started our return trip in a tired dog, a 2004 Toyota Yaris with 104,787 K’s. The Yaris had obvious battle scars; still, a calming tranquillity came over us being back in comfortable familiarity. Cruise control worked, the power mirrors worked, and the heater produced lots of heat. Range anxiety disappeared! 

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! ... And this is Walt's comment.

The hidden numbers and true cost of mass immigration

Agent 3 tells me that if you ask Johnny Canuck, the average Canajan, hanging out at Tim's, how many immigrants Canuckistan should accept next year, he'll tell you, "None is too many!"

The Honourable Marc Miller, the Liberal Minister of Immigration and Refugees and Citizenship and Refugees (etc etc, but did we mention Refugees), got up on his hind feet in Ottawa this week to tell Johnny Canuck that he's wrong! And/or that Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface doesn't care what his subjects think.

Instead, Mr Miller revealed that the misgovernment's "new" immigration targets for the next three years were... wait for it... pretty much the same as last year's historic high level. Canadians are expected to "welcome" 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024, 500,000 in 2025 and another 500,000 in 2026.

So, in the next three years, Canada will (officially) welcome another 1,5 MILLION "permanent residents". But that's only half the story! A report by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce shows that equally large or even greater numbers of aliens are getting into the Great No-longer-white North through the back door.

In 2022, the permanent resident figure was 435,000, but the CIBC claims the actual number of "newcomers" was more than 955,000. Statistics Canaada goes even farther, pegging the number at more than one million. No final total for 2022 has been provided by the Liberal government. 

To understand Trudeau's full plans for immigration -- aka the Great Replacement -- look at the numbers of "temporary residents" -- those who were provided visas for education (e.g. at the Singh School of Trucking) and work (as drivers of killer 18-wheelers). Temporary visa holders accounted for 58% (!) of the 2022 intake of newcomers (58 per cent) in 2022. 

That's based on the government's numbers, which may be off by as many as a million. Yet the Liberals plan to increase the pace of temporary immigration in the coming years. More than 900,000 international students are expected in 2024. 

But wait, as Vince Offer used to say, there's more. To add to the "front door" permanent residents and the "back door" temporary residents”, there are all those self-styled refugees and migrants who make it to Canadian soil to seek asylum. 

In 2022, the feds stated that nearly 40,000 people crossed through the notoriously open border at Roxham Road. However, reports from NGOs and the Québec government claimed that nearly 93,000 asylum-seekers had their bags carried for them by the Mounties. As well, there were 145,000 real refugees from Ukraine, and another 20,000 from Afghanistan.

Welcoming all these migrants -- the bad along with the good -- costs a shed-load of money. Supporting them puts increased pressure placed on social services, housing, and health care, all to be paid out of Canuck taxpayers' deep pockets.

In the federal budget for this year alone, there was a $1 BILLION ($700,000,000 in real money) for short-term accommodation and temporary health-care coverage for asylum-seekers and refugees -- $530 million for accommodations (in luxury hotels and the like) and $469 million for health benefits, some of which, like free dental care, are not available to Johnny Canuck. 

The Honourable Mr Miller says Canada needs more immigrants to fill labour gaps, that we cannot build the homes we need without them. That would be fine if all the newcomers were working, but many working-age immigrants arrive with dependent children and spouses (who do not work) and are often joined later by retired (and often sickly) parents, grandparents, and family members. (It's called chain migration.) So, for every worker Canada gains it also gains at least one dependent.

Here are some more interesting numbers, which presented without (much) comment.

* According to the Canadian census, prior to 2015, 28% of immigrants came from the UK and Europe. That number is 2% today.

* Nearly 98% per cent of immigrants now come from India, China, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, and African countries, well known for their civilization and democracy.

* In recent years there has been a record spike in the numbers of immigrants who have left Canada (onward migration) because of high cost of living, housing issues, underemployment (because of Canada's systemic racism, of course), and the cold.

* Concomitantly [How long have you waited to use that word? Ed.], US border authorities have seen an alarming 47% increase in north-to-south illegal border crossings. One Republican presidential wannabe has called for a wall to be built on the World's Longest Undefended Border to keep them out!

As Canadians have known for years, but the Liberals refuse to admit (M-106 in force!) some immigrants bring their own toxic beliefs with them. Need proof? Watch the daily anti-Semitic demonstrations in almost every North American city. Given the never-ending flood of migrants from the Middle East and Africa, and lack of enforcement of deportation orders (HA-ha!), not just Jews but all citizens are left in a compromised and vulnerable position. 

Remember this billboard from a not-so-long-ago election? It was deplored by the CBC and all other Forces for Good in Canuckistan. Max Bernier and the People's Party of Canada are still in search of their first seat in the House of Commons. However...

This week, Environics Research released survey results that showed 44% of Canadians feel that "overall, there's too much immigration to Canada."

Last month, an Ipsos poll showed 73%believe the government's "immigration targets should be reduced until the housing shortage eases," and 68% said there should be a cap on international students while the housing crisis is addressed. 

Keith Neuman, the author of the Environics report, observed, "The main thing we're seeing is that people are more concerned about the capacity of the country to absorb a lot of newcomers when things aren't working as well as they were before." 

No kidding?! You mean Johnny Canuck finally got it? Too bad for him, eh, because he's stuck with Junior and his gang of sycophantic elitists for the foreseeable future... or until the Liberal Party takes Junior out for a long walk in the snow... just like his dad.