The Helpless Plight of Tafficked Migrants

"Exploiting vulnerable individuals for profit is shameful, as is political grandstanding around tragedy, and my administration will continue to do everything possible to stop human smugglers and traffickers from taking advantage of people who are seeking to enter the United States between ports of entry."

U.S. President Joe Biden

 

"They had just parked it [the truck] on the side of the road."

"Apparently [the truck] had mechanical problems and [the driver and his co-smugglers] left it there."

"The sheriff thinks it came across from Laredo."

Bexar Country Judge Nelson Wolff

The abandoned truck was discovered after a nearby worker heard cries for help   Getty Images

 

Difficult to fathom even with the tension involved in engaging in an illegal act, that anyone knowing there are scores of people, including children, in the back of the truck they're diving panicking -- their first impulse to put as much distance between themselves and the impaired truck with its helpless passengers -- in a belated effort to divorce themselves from what comes next. Discovery of course, coming next, apprehension by policing authorities for being involved in a human smuggling racket. 

 

And in that moment of 'escape', failing to consider the impact on the doomed people locked inside the trailer. They could just as easily and humanely unlocked the trailer doors to release the people within from the heat trap that eventually took their lives. They had already entered the United States, which was their goal. The people could have dispersed, making their way to an eventual destination. They would certainly have received help from others along the way. Instead, they were consigned to death.

It was a city worker that raised the alert after hearing a cry for help from the truck that had been left on a remote back road outside San Antonio, Texas. He opened the doors to the trailer and made that grisly discovery. When police arrived, efforts at restoring life to some of the people who had succumbed to heat prostration, suffocating in the airless trailer, sent some people to hospital. While forty-six people were discovered to be beyond help at the scene, another four after being hospitalized died there. 

Mourners visit the isolated Texas road where the abandoned truck was found with dozens of dead people inside  Getty Images

 

There were 39 men and 11 women among the dead who were left in the back of an abandoned tractor-trailer where there was no way forward for the trapped people looking for opportunity and a new life, to disengage from their situation. Two Guatemalen boys, ages 13 and 14 were among the dead. Those who died "Were likely trying to find a better life. This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy", observed San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

The countries of origin of the migrants have not yet been fully identified, nor how long the unfortunate migrants had been abandoned to certain death. What is known is that twenty-two came from Mexico, seven from Guatemala, and two from Honduras, another two from El Salvador, according to Roberto Velasco Alvarez, head of Mexico's Foreign Relations Department, North America department.

The driver of the truck, identified as Homero Zamo, evidently made an attempt to pose as a victim, hiding in nearby bushes, before he was arrested. To the present, the total death toll is now 53 with several more of the migrants trapped in the truck having died in hospital. Minors are among the people who remain in hospital. In addition to the detention in police custody of the driver, another two Mexican men have been detained as accomplices.

 

So Far Yet So Near

"Surprisingly the crater is actually two craters, an eastern one [18-metre diameter] superimposed on a western one [16-metre diameter]."

"The double crater was unexpected and may indicate that the body had large masses at each end."

"Typically a spent rocket has mass concentrated at the motor end, the rest of the rocket stage mainly consists of an empty fuel tank."

"Since the origin of the rocket body remains uncertain, the double nature of the crater may indicate its identity."

NASA

China's 2014 orbiter rocket / DW

We gaze on the moon and admire its luminosity in the dark space of night when we're facing away from our life-giving source, the sun. The lunar surface hosts hundreds of pieces of debris. We never think of that; to do so is beyond our ken to begin with, and that lack of awareness retains the romance of the moon that lights our night sky. The moon hosts lunar landers and the waste of astronauts left in zip-lock bags, reminiscent of dog owners carefully picking up the waste, tying the plastic bag and leaving it to (?) decompose in the woods.

 

A number of craters were impressed on the surface of the moon, some of them 40 yards in width, from the Apollo mission. Anywhere humankind lingers there is waste and neglect. In the remote Himalaya, Mount Everest is littered with human waste from high-level expeditions. Having done so to the Earth, our home planet, we now look elsewhere in the universe as potential migrants seeking a new home. And in our search we litter space and on occasion the objects that occupy space.

 

A new mystery has reared its presence of late where NASA scientists feel baffled at the presence of a mysterious spacecraft which had crashed into the moon and created two large craters. No possible source has yet claimed the rocket, though its presence has been known since 2015. It was known to have travelled at 3.3 miles per second when it crashed onto the lunar surface on the fourth of March. Images by NASA's lunar reconnaissance orbiter show an impact unlike any before seen.

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At first it was suspected by amateur astronomers that SpaceX could be responsible. That was changed when it was speculated that a 2014 Chinese lunar mission (Chang'e 5-1) could be the source. Beijing, however, in denial, stated that its booster had "safely entered the Earth's atmosphere and was completely incinerated". 

 

An approximate orbit had been computed by Bill Gray, an astronomer whose software tracks space objects, and who feels otherwise. He is aware that China does not reveal the routes of its orbiting space objects, only their launches. "I'm 99.9 percent sure it's the China 5-T1", he confided, prepared to discard his previous conviction it was a SpaceX booster.

 

The new double crater was spotted by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)

 

 

 

Community Grief in South Africa

"We are so heartbroken, guys. We lost one of our family members, a child wo was doing Grade 12 [final year] this year. We can't accept it."

"By the look of the child she has no visible injuries."

Yandiswa Ngqoza, aunt of one deceased youth

"I'm so devastated. We are so angry."

"People were complaining about the tavern. No one was happy about it. The community wanted the tavern to be shut."

Maxhabiso Sibotoboto, 50, grandfather

"It is either something they ingested, which will point to poisoning, whether it's food or drinks, or it is something they inhaled."

"We are ruling out a [panic] stampede completely." 

Unathi Binqose, spokesperson, Eastern Cape provincial community safety department

Crowds gathered Sunday as police investigated inside the Enyobeni Tavern near East London in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. (Reuters)

"On Sunday morning at about 4am police from the Scenery Park Police Station received a report of the lifeless bodies of the teenagers at a local tavern in the area. Upon arrival police found seventeen bodies inside the building."

"It was later established two more died at a local clinic, one died en route to hospital and another died in hospital. Nine of the deceased are female while twelve of the deceased are male. "

"Police have since registered an inquest into the death of the teenagers."

Police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana

Investigation by police when the bodies of 21 teenagers were discovered in a tavern in East London, South Africa showed clearly there were no marks of violence on the dead. What led to their deaths appeared baffling to authorities who at first thought that something might have panicked the young people leading them to die of asphyxiation resulting from a stampede. Attention then speculated that the deaths might have been caused by ingesting something poisonous.

As yet no evidence of the reason for the sudden deaths have been revealed but a forensic team is working on the mystery. No comfort, however, to the grieving relatives of the young people, most of whom were celebrating the end of the school year in a tavern that was known to serve underage teens. One of the victims of whatever it was that took those lives was only13 years of age. The consensus at this point is that something they all ate, drank or smoked had been lethal.

Binge-drinking is evidently a common youth-culture problem in the area. Occasionally resulting in medical emergencies and/or injuries. So there have been previous reports of such incidents. All of which paled in comparison to the discovery of 21 young people dead in an inexplicable manner. People living at Scenery Park located on the periphery of East London had urged authorities to close the Enyobeni Tavern because of its reputation of serving to underage kids. It took this disaster of 21 dead to have its license revoked.

There are photographs that were circulated on social media showing the lifeless bodies of young people scattered across the floor of the tavern. Some were photographed motionless, lying across tables and couches. Outside a morgue holding the bodies, a news conference featuring Police Minister Bheko Cele paused as tears swept his countenance Sunday. The audience joined him in their mutual grief for the deaths of so many young people. In an interview preparatory to the publication of a toxicology report, Unathi Binqose speaking for the provincial community safety department revealed that hookah pipe wre visible in CCTV scene footage. 

"We call on parents and legal guardians not to abdicate their responsibility to their children or minor children entrusted in their care. As a parent myself, I am pained by this tragedy and cannot imagine losing a child in this manner. We grieve with parents and families at this hour and ask for your patience in getting to the facts around this tragic event."

"We are saddened by the loss of young lives, future leaders of our country, future breadwinners for their families, and for all the investments made by their families in them that now have evaporated in an instant."

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane

A body being removed on Sunday from a bar in East London, South Africa. Associated Press

Islam Quite Simply Incompatible with Gay Rights

"Around 2015 we were worried about this person. We have followed him, to a degree."

"In more recent times, he was not one of the people we were the most worried about."

Roger Berg, acting head of PST (Norwegian Domestic Security agency)

 

"We are sorry that once again we have to say that a Pride event must be cancelled."

"It is wrong, as the police claim, that this was meant to be a small event. We understand that people are now frustrated and still want to gather."

Oslo Pride

 

"I know how many of you felt when it turned out that the perpetrator belonged to the Islamic community. Many of you [Norway's Muslim community] experienced fear and unrest " 

"You should know this: We stand together, we are one community and we are responsible for the community together."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere

People bring flowers and rainbow flags to pay tribute to the victims as they take part in a spontaneous Pride parade, following a shooting at the London Pub, a popular gay bar and nightclub, after the official event was cancelled, in Oslo, Norway, June 25, 2022. Haakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB/via REUTERS

Another shock in Norway. The country's right-wing (Anders Brevik) has already made it abundantly clear how much they fear and detest the entry to the Nordic country of people from the Middle East, people practising a different religion linked to a different history, culture and set of laws, not secular like that of most Western democracy, but theocratic, linked to and a mainstay of Islam which regulates every aspect of the Muslim faithful's lives.

Norway insists that it is open to immigration and migration from the Middle East, prepared to welcome and absorb people radically differently socialized than indigenous Norwegians. And the country's political elite make it a point of pride that their welcome is unconditional. Native Norwegians are not so sure. There has been a lashback of anti-Muslim sentiment, with a hefty third of Norwegians uncomfortable to say the least with the presence of Muslims among them.

The 42-year-old suspect in the attack that took place during an LGBTQ festival in Oslo, was no recent immigrant. He was brought by his family to Norway while still an infant, so he has lived in Norway all his life. He is considered to be a radicalized Islamist, and was recognized as such from 2015 onward by Norwegian police authorities, but not considered to be a high-value threat. As with most of these terrorist actions, he has been described as mentally ill.

 

2 dead, 21 wounded in Norway LGBT nightclub shooting  (photo credit: REUTERS)

 

Married, children, he has lived on the dole for years. Iranian by birth, he was arrested after a shooting in the nightlife district of the country's capital early on Saturday, held on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and terrorism. It was actually people on the scene who followed him after the shooting and took him into initial custody until the arrival of police. Two people were killed and another 21 were injured in what has been named an "Islamist terror act".

Clearly, he was 'radicalized' while a long-time citizen of the country. Clerics established in mosques throughout the non-Islamic world are known to be involved in introducing impressionable young Muslims to the concept of jihad and violent missions in the glories of martyrdom. Police in Oslo have thus far had no luck in their attempts to question the man identified as Zaniar Matapour.

He has made his own demands, however, that he would make a statement to be recorded and videotaped only if it were to be released to the public "with no time delay so it won't be censored or manipulated", his defence lawyer explained. Clearly, a type of 'manifesto' that he believes will deliver a welcome message that Gay Pride and LGBTQ festivities are sinful and not permitted by Islam. Punishment is their due and he assigned himself to deliver that punishment; death to the unbeliever.

The killer opened fire at three locations; outside and inside the London Pub, a popular gay bar in Oslo. Despite which police investigators feel confident in stating it was yet too soon in their investigation to determine whether the man had specifically targeted the gay community. Police found two weapons at the scene, one a fully automatic gun. Despite which, police recommend that all further LGBTQ events be cancelled for the present, not ruling out further and ongoing threats.

 

 

Regressing To Female Servitude In Male Decision-Making

"We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion."

"Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives."

Justice Samuel Alito, Supreme Court of the United States of America

 

"We will continue to protect patients from any state who [sic] comes to our state for abortion care."

"We will resist intrusions by out-of-state prosecutors, law enforcement or vigilantes trying to investigate patients receiving services in our states."

Oregon Governor Kate Brown

 

"This decision carves our nation in two -- states that trust the personal and professional decisions of women and doctors, and states where craven politicians control and criminalize those choices."

"Connecticut is a safe state, but we will need to be vigilant ... to defend our rights."

Connecticut State Attorney General William Tong

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a long-awaited win for some Americans, and a terrifying loss for others. The country will soon ban or prohibit abortion in 25 states.

This year, long before the U.S. Supreme Court handed down their decision on the constitutionality of abortion, the New Hampshire Legislature considered then rejected a bill that was meant to give potential fathers the right to veto a woman's abortion. "They push the envelope. They're always trying to propose things that in the moment seem outrageous or fringe, but the more they push it over time, it becomes normalized", stated Jessica Arona, senior lawyer for reproductive freedom for the American Civil Liberties Union.

This new turn of events could very wellm and will be, viewed as that proverbial 'foot in the door', whereby law and justice in the United States will now bring around to a state of normalcy an attitude of social acceptance that women may no longer in the Democratic Republic of the United States of America presume to believe that they are entitled to make the final decision over whether to continue a pregnancy, to bring a child into the world. Rather, under a new, societally-accepted 'norm', they will be compelled to.

Back to the patriarchal attitudes of the 19th century, before women began campaigning for rights of decision-making over their bodies, over their futures, over their right to make decisions to impact the trajectory of their fortunes or misfortunes in an aspirational future over which in these new circumstances they have lost the ultimate control they cherished. Women's struggle to make their voices heard, to successfully make the argument that their very human rights as individuals, their future health and well-being should be in their hands, not in the control of an elected body of political representatives.

People of the Western world, the democratic countries that consider themselves enlightened in the belief that women's rights are to be respected, that the rationale for accepting the reasons that such decision making is of primary importance for women is that they are logical, intelligent and responsible beings; that laws respecting and upholding the rights of men are not necessarily those that women require as a reflection of their biological function.

Those who consider themselves part of the more societally-advanced developed world where equality of station and opportunity and rights under the law are observed, have viewed the laws stricturing women's rights in less-developed countries, in countries where male legislators believe they should control all aspects of women's lives, whether through the lens of ideology or religious devotion, as symbolic of backward nations. The most technologically developed, most prosperous, most prominent and dominant nation in the world has now regressed in its recognition of the need for just legislation.

In the United States, where over the past decade the divide between Democrats and Republicans, left and right have become hugely polarized, the battle for women's legal rights must now be taken up again. Since the Supreme Court has ruled that each state has the legal right under the constitution to interpret the legality of abortion, fractures will only deepen across the nation. Most Americans are in agreement that abortion rights are health rights for women. One in ten Americans reject that reality. And that minority now rules.

 

"With sorrow -- for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American  women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection -- we dissent."

"[Abortion opponents now could pursue a nationwide ban] from  the moment of conception and without exceptions for rape or incest."

"Can a State bar women from travelling to another State to obtain an abortion? Can a State prohibit advertising out-of-state abortions or helping women get to out-of-town state providers?"

"Can a State interfere with the mailing of drugs used for medication abortions?"

Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan

Abortion-rights supporters protest against the Supreme Court decision on the steps of a courthouse in New Orleans Friday. Louisiana will have one of the strictest bans on abortion. (Sophia Germer/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate/The Associated Press)

Temporarily Down But Not Out

 

"They have received an order to do so [retreat]."

"Remaining in positions that have been relentlessly shelled for months just doesn't make sense."

"[The city has been] nearly turned to rubble [by continual bombardment]."

"All critical infrastructure has been destroyed. Ninety percent of the city is damaged, 80% [of] houses will have to be demolished."

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidal

"[While the loss of Sievierodonetsk represented a loss of terrain for Ukraine, it was not a] major turning point in the war [nor a] decisive Russian victory."

"Ukrainian troops have succeeded for weeks in drawing substantial quantities of Russian personnel, weapons and equipment into the area and have likely degraded Russian forces’ overall capabilities."

Analysts, Institute for the Study of War

A local man on a street in Sievierodonetsk on June 23, 2022. Alexander Reka/TASS

 Ukrainian forces have received an order to begin a retreat from Sievierodonetsk, administrative centre of the Luhansk region. The plan is to preserve their lives under the heavy Russian bombardment, and to move to a another position that can offer a reprieve while enabling them to continue their offence against the Russian military invasion. Holding out against the enemy from the besieged, destroyed city is not seen at this point to be of any benefit in a situation where Ukrainian fighters are held in a Russian grip strangling their efforts to move out the remnants of civilian presence and the military wounded, while restocking ammunition and supplies.

Most of the industrial city has been reduced to rubble, its one-time population of 100,000 shrunk to 10,000 civilians. Ukrainian troops had initially retreated to the Azot chemical factory on the outskirts of the city where they had a level of protection from the relentless Russian artillery fire, within the huge factory's sprawling underground structure where hundreds of civilians also found refuge. Before that move, they were fighting the Russian invaders in house-to-house battles.

The Russian forces vastly out-number those of the Ukrainians by ten to one, matching the endless arsenals at their disposal in comparison to those being used by the Ukrainians, far less technologically advanced and far less numerous. Gains were made around Sievierodonetsk and the neighbouring city of Lysychansk by Russian forces in their scheme to encircle Ukrainian forces. Those two cities represent the last major areas of Ukrainian resistance in the embattled Luhansk region. Local separatist forces and Russian military hold 95 percent control of the region now.

Roughly half of the Donetsk region is also under Russian and their separatist allies' control. Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, the industrial heartland of Ukraine, representing the entirety of the Donbas region. To enable it to bludgeon Sievierodonetsk in a war of attrition, Russia used its highest troop and weapons numbers in contrast to Ukraine's meagre resources, leading it to beseech its backers and patrons for more effectively dynamic weapons to give it a fighting chance to push back Russian troops and reclaim its territory.

The city's bridges were destroyed, hampering the ability of the Ukrainian military to resupply, reinforce and evacuate the wounded and others from the embattled city. Electricity, water and communications infrastructure was all destroyed by the Russian military in a plan to squeeze the city's defenders past the point where they could remain defensively functional.

The aim in the evacuation orders for Ukrainian troops to withdraw was in prevention of larger losses, while the forces moved on to more fortified positions. The larger strategy is to keep Russian forces pinned down in a small area. Even so, some Ukrainian troops remain in Sieierodonetsk in the face of massive Russian bombardment. Should Russian troops move in to secure the city for its planned takeover of Donetsk, it will be inheriting a hollow victory in the reality of complete destruction.

And while, as Governor Haidal observed, the Russians are advancing toward Lysychansk, with Russian reconnaissance units conducting forays on the edges of the city, they were driven out by its defenders. Ukrainian military analyst Oleg Zhdanov noted some of the Ukrainian troops leaving Sievierodonetsk are marching toward the conflict in Lysychansk.

A Ukrainian soldier fires from a tank during heavy fighting in Sievierodonetsk, Ukraine.  (Oleksandr Ratushniak / Associated Press)

Supplying Ukraine With Military Materiel : Canada

"We get hit with machine gun fire  and mortars, we have to hide them [the cars they use instead of armoured military vehicles] in the woods. It's been surreal, but we're using what we've got"

"I hate to say it -- and don't get me wrong, I'm a proud Canadian -- but a lot of it [military equipment sent by Canada to Ukraine] is just junk. You're down here helping these people and someone says, 'Oh, this is from Canada'. But it's a training tourniquet you can't use in the field. The night vision [goggles] they sent down, half of them worked and half of them didn't."

"I know the equipment is there and I know we can send it. We needed it yesterday. There is going to be a big push down here in the south and if we don't keep the momentum going, it's going to stop dead in its tracks."

"It's small things -- like using Motorola radios that the Russians can pick up. Some guys are still rocking steel plates [instead of body armour]. But we're pushing forward no matter what. There's no choice."

"[I came to Ukraine with] certain skill sets [and] because I believe in life, I don't believe in death."

"The guys I'm with, I started training them in March. We've stuck together the whole time and that's a big thing. I'm proud of these guys. We've been in a lot of contact and a lot of situations where I thought I was a goner But my friends have had my back."

"If we keep doing what we're doing and we get the supplies we need, I think we'll be able to take back everything they took after February 25."

"I know there is policy and procedure and politics involved. But there shouldn't be. Just send it. When it comes down to this kind of war, timing is absolutely everything. You need stuff yesterday." 

James Challice, Canadian Forces veteran, volunteer trainer, fighter w/Ukrainian troops

Members of the Ukrainian National Guard patrol during a reconnaissance mission in a recently retaken village on the outskirts of Kharkiv. (Bernat Armangue/The Associated Press)

Like most other Ukrainian civilians-turned-soldier in Ukraine, Canadian volunteer James Chalice has become accustomed to travelling to the front -- to take his place among other foreign volunteers and Ukrainian men who until February 24 were civilians knowing little-to-nothing of handling weapons, military strategy and fighting -- not in military troop vehicles, but with the use of private cars. In a country unprepared for war, never quite believing its larger, militarized neighbour would ever stoop to invading and engaging it in an existential battle, both rudimentary and more complex military equipment is in short supply.

This former Canadian military veteran who chose to put his life on the line in the greater interest of helping to train civilians to enable them to counter an enemy aggressor on their own soil, has turned from training Ukrainian civilians to become adept at fighting a war they never expected would interrupt their lives, to fighting alongside them, in the embattled Kherson region in the south of the country.

 

Moscow's authorities in occupied Kherson have floated holding a referendum on integrating with Russia

 

Mr. Challice's government in Canada is prepared to announce its intention of sending a few dozen decommissioned Coyote light armoured vehicles to Ukraine. Canada's retired General Rick Hillier, former chief of the defence staff, doesn't think much of Canada's efforts to date in fulfilling its ongoing pledge to do all it can in support of Ukraine's defence. As far as General Hillier is concerned, Canada has been tardy in delivering on its promise. It should long since have delivered 250 LAVs, 50 Leopard tanks and 18 M777 howitzers out of its stock of military equipment.

Ukrainian defence forces in the south are engaged in pushing back the Russians gradually in spite of being outgunned; for each big gun Ukraine fires, Russia sends back five. Ukrainians lack the most basic of equipment such as encrypted phones and body armour, recounted Mr. Challice. In the south, the terrain offers little cover. "It's hard to mobilize a large number of troops because there is only the treeline and fields for cover", he explained. Flush with ample munition,s the Russian military has been indiscriminate in shelling treelines.

Putin's army, points out General Hillier, has learned a lesson from its first months of surprise failure in attempting to take Kyiv and having to retreat in the face of staunch Ukrainian resistance which cost Russia a number of leading commanders. Russia has resorted to keeping its military men at a safe distance, reliant instead on the use of longer range artillery. Its superior electronic war machinery is being used to pull Ukrainian defence forces into a vice which will not allow them to activate reserves or to counterattack. Russia is waiting for the Ukrainian forces to run out of weaponry and ammunition.

 

Ukrainian troops fire ordnances during a training exercise in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. Western countries have vowed to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

General Hillier knows of estimates of a mere one-tenth of committed aid having landed in Ukraine. Some Western equipment is in the field, however; over 150 towed howitzers have been delivered by a number of donor countries, along with 120 rocket launchers. And four badly needed high mobility artillery rocket systems arrived from the U.S. Still, Ukraine hankers for 300 rocket launchers, 500 tanks and 1,000 howitzers to give it a fighting chance for an effective defence against the invaders. 

Recently, an incursion into the fields and drainage ditches of the south on a mission to extract bodies of dead Ukrainians, Mr. Challice saw a teammate die from a bullet to his neck. "It happens everyday now. It's reality. I'll have time to think about it when I come home. If I come home", he said philosophically. His team, he said, has been incentivized to advance for the prize of taking back villages occupied by the Russians where atrocities have taken place and that is everywhere. He was informed by one woman whose husband had been tortured in their backyard, then shot in the back of the head.

Another man who had been isolated in a bomb shelter for six weeks, discovered later that his wife and daughter had been raped, murdered and left in a shallow grave. The horror of atrocities revealed to have taken place in the Russian occupation of Bucha was not, after all, an isolated anomaly. There were massacres everywhere the Russian military occupied a village, a town, a city suburb.

 

"The longer this goes on, the higher the probability of Russia breaking through or of Ukraine collapsing. The West can change that equation by delivering what it has promised."

"Ukraine is in a dire situation and the West will be complicit in any Russian victory."

Rick Hillier, former Chief of Defence Staff, Canada

Geriatric Sex : I'll Have Some of That!

"Satisfaction rates have gone up, they're having sex more often, it's bettr quality, there's more attention paid, they're having different kinds of sex. It's not just the rush between when one kid goes to bed and the other to soccer practice. There's more time and opportunity."

"[Most older adults are not using condoms] because they may have been married and in monogamous relationships] while many of these conditions [STIs] have no symptoms]."

"We really have to teach sexual health to 70-, 80- and 90-year olds."

Laura TamblynWatts, founder, president and CEO, seniors' advocacy organization CanAge

"It might not go further [than kissing or holding hands] but that doesn't mean it isn't intimate and sexual behaviour. It might look more like foreplay -- more turn taking, more breaks, and different positions."

"Those who are open to that see it as normal changes that happen with time, and are the ones who continue to be satisfied and happy with where their sex lives are."

"[They] can still be interested in having sex but issues of privacy, consent, societal stigma -- where we don't want to think or talk about older adults still having sex -- can lead to a culture of don't ask, don't tell."

"Consequences [of that may be] they're not provided with the education or tools to have that safe sex."

"Staff [in retirement homes] should have awareness and manage it in a sensitive way. Sexual behaviour can be seen by some people as problem behaviours to manage, which is not a very sex-positive way to be thinking about it."

"I also think there's some responsibility on the physician, since they're ideally suited to initiate those conversations. If [some retirement home] residents are developing relationships, the physician could be well placed to help navigate privacy and to support safe and healthy sexual relationships."

Natalie Rosen, associate professor, department of psychology and neuroscience, Dalhousie University

 

According to a 2017 poll by the Sex Information & Education Council of Canada, older adults view sex as a key component of their happiness and well-being, and many older people continue to engage in intimate relations well into their 70s and 80s. Seniors, needless to say, while continuing to enjoy sex do face some complications relating to the very fact of aging. Where biological changes, hormonal changes, health challenges, all come into play.

Older men contend with declines in their testosterone levels which invariably lead to difficulties in erection maintenance. For older women it is the drop in estrogen that for many leads to painful sex. Underlying health issues connected with the aging process such as the onset of arthritis and of heart issues also have a role in complicating the ease that younger people are endowed with and older people deprived of, in their pursuit of sex.

Psychologists and those working in the field of geriatrics, cite the benefits accruing with sexual activity that include an increased sense of self-esteem and confidence, a fuller sense of well-being, and a healthier immune system alongside the inestimable benefits of enjoying closer intimacy and emotional connection, leading to reduced anxiety and improved sleep patterns.

Dr. Rosen in particular lingers on the issue of a fairly universal reluctance to address the issue of elder-sex; from younger relatives or children of the elderly, to their physicians, all loathe to discuss the topic and its benefits and the need to practise intimacy safely, much less entertain the thought of the elderly enjoying that kind of intimacy. The discomfort of such discussions or contemplating broaching them with their patients means the medical community is doing their elderly patients a disservice.

For one thing, the possibility of sexually transmitted infections may seem remote, but in certain circumstances the issue though troubling to contemplate, is one that should be addressed properly. According to Health Canada, from the early 2000s forward, STI rates for people 60 and older have significantly increased to a five percent increase in syphilis, an 87 percent rise in gonorrhea, and 142 percent increase in chlamydia.

An added reality is that some elderly are finding as they approach the end years of their lives that they are willing to 'come out', to address the issues they have denied for most of their lives, now that the stigma of being gay has been lifted from the place it was in when they were young in a more conservative era. Some elderly even having been in heterosexual marriage throughout their lives are now identifying as gay.

"Even if they were married their whole life to a person of the opposite sex, that doesn't mean that they don't have different sexual interests or attractions that they're now more comfortable with or want to explore."

"Baby boomers in particular are feeling more comfortable coming out than ever before. My main advice is to be flexible, adapt what you used to do to some of the changes that you're experiencing, [and] communicate with their partner."

"Long-term care homes need to reduce stigma, and not make assumptions that sexual activity isn't happening. Be open and forthright with residents [in a way] that supports them with the education and support they need to be safe."

Natalie Rosen, Dalhousie University

Sleep Well -- Together

"Sleeping with a romantic partner or spouse shows to have great benefits on sleep health including reduced sleep apnea risk, sleep insomnia severity and overall improvement in sleep quality."

Brandon Fuentes, researcher, University of Arizona

"Very few research studies explore this, but our findings suggest that whether we sleep alone or with a partner or family member may impact our sleep health."

"We were very surprised to find out just how important this could be."

"Even though you're sleeping next to someone who may snore and roll around, it did something that was just beneficial."

"What's interesting, it's not just that someone was there because when we asked the question about a child, the answers were very different."

"Is it because the reason the child's in the bed is because things are stressful? Is it because children move around more during the night or are more likely to kick you? Who knows?"

Michael Grandner, director, Sleep and Health Research Program, University of Arizona

Sharing a bed, according to a new research study, promotes longer, more restful sleep, is linked to lower depression anxiety and stress, and results in greater satisfaction with life, overall. Researchers at the University of Arizona surveyed 1,007 adults of working age and made the discovery that people who sleep with a partner tend to fall to sleep more quickly and were less likely to experience insomnia or general fatigue while also bearing less of a risk of sleep apnea.

In the past ten years in Britain, there has been a doubling of the number of couples living together but sleeping separately. One in six couples (representing 15 percent of the total) prefer to sleep singly at night, according to the National Bed Federation. Additionally, close to 90 percent of people choosing to sleep separately actually sought out a separate bedroom.

Last year, a U.K.-wide survey for the Sleep Charity found that the highest proportion of couples sleeping apart is in Northern Ireland, at 21 percent. At the other end, nine percent of couples in the South East made that choice. The longest married couples appeared likelier to decide for separate beds; 22 percent of those over 65 make that choice, while among couples between the ages of 18 and 24, none chose a solitary sleep arrangement.

Needless to say there might be a practical, and convenient reason for that separation of age groups; when the sex drive is strongest at a younger age sleeping alone might not necessarily appeal, whereas in older age groups with a natural fall-off in the sexual drive's urgency and frequency, older people make the choice to sleep singly. 

According to The Sleep Charity it was "quite sensible to sleep apart if your partner causes you disturbed sleep on a regular basis". Poor sleep can result in conflicts, reveals a University of California study, leading experts to believe that preferring nights free of disturbances might improve relationships. Still,  the latest research affirms that people who sleep singly are more likely to be tired, depressed and anxious.

Make of that what  you will...

A new study suggests that adults who share their beds with a partner have less severe insomnia, less fatigue and more sleep time. Photo by Giuseppe Ruzzolini/Wikimedia Commons

Show and Tell With Pride

Restaurants and grocery stores worry about a supply of alternative products as the government announces details of its ban on single-use plastics. in Toronto. June 20, 2022.

Steve Russell | Toronto Star | Getty Images

"By the end of the year, you won’t be able to manufacture or import these harmful plastics. After that, businesses will begin offering the sustainable solutions Canadians want, whether that’s paper straws or reusable bags."

"With these new regulations, we’re taking a historic step forward in reducing plastic pollution, and keeping our communities and the places we love clean."

"We have not closed the door to banning certain other single-use plastics.We're starting with these ones because, based on the data we have, these are the most harmful plastic substances. But it may be the case that we decide in the near future to ban some others."

Steven Guilbeault, minister of environment and climate change, Canada

 

"The government needs to shift into high gear by expanding the ban list and cutting overall plastic production."

"Relying on recycling for the other 95% is a denial of the scope of the crisis."

"It's a drop in the bucket. Until the government gets serious about overall reductions of plastic production, we're not going to see the impact we need to see in the environment or in our waste streams."

Sarah King, head, Greenpeace Canada, oceans and plastics campaign

Restaurants and grocery stores worry about a supply of alternative products as the government announces details of its ban on single-use plastics. in Toronto. June 20, 2022.

Steve Russell | Toronto Star | Getty Images

The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau is a virtue-signalling administration like few others. It is also self-congratulatory to the Nth degree, and madly in love with photo opportunities certain to be splashed over the front pages above the fold of every newspaper in Canada. And if the news is of a type that addresses a universal problem, the chances are it will reverberate further than Canada and make it to the news of the day on global media; all the better for a government obsessed with itself and with the efficacy of its patinated veneer. Shiny, green and of-the-moment.

So, there it is, another campaign promise half-fulfilled. No more plastic straws, single-use shopping bags, plastic cutlery, etc. Makers and users of such indispensable, environment-cluttering garbage have until 2024 to figure out either how to get along without them, or plausible replacements. The industry is staggering under the challenge, and outraged that it has been targeted. Too bad the same cannot yet be said of the same industry that now proliferates transparent plastic clamshells full of fresh fruits and vegetables on grocery shelves and those neat little plastic carry-bags of same.

Can't make everyone happy, can we? Some environmental groups speak of the bans as typically cosmetic, leaving the vast majority of plastic waste in Canada yet to be dealt with. Even the government's own science sources indicate the ban will have a negligible effect on, for example, ocean health, the very goal of the ban. The fact is, the real plastic culprits messing up Canada's shorelines and its portion of the world's oceans, are being ignored; at the very least not adequately addressed.

A 2019 study Environment Canada commissioned to examine the state of the Canadian plastics market estimated just one percent of Canadian plastic waste was lost to "leakage"; the meaning of which is that the waste entered the environment as litter. Of 3,268 kilotonnes of plastic waste generated in 2015, 3,239 kilotonnes was "collected"; mostly in landfills, not recycling. The Deloitte study recommended that the leakage could be reduced ten-fold by efforts "to reduce litter"; no mention of plastic bans as a solution.

The proposed federal plastics ban relied on data providing a scientific backgrounder from the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup in estimating the effect of plastic on waterways of Canada. In their 2018 report, plastic bags actually ranked sixth, and straws ninth, as items most often recovered from cleanups on shorelines. Among the worst offenders, bottle caps and cigarette butts accounting for 42.1 percent alone of all litter recovered. More recent cleanups featured rising rates of discarded surgical masks. None of these items are mentioned in the ban.

Ocean plastic is undeniably a growing global problem, but one driven almost exclusively by abandoned fishing gear, and poor waste management in the developing world. In Canada, a Ghost Gear Program was initiated in 2019, spending about $8.3 million recovering 739 tonnes of abandoned fishing gear from the oceans, representing close to a third of the estimated 2,500 tonnes of plastic litter Deloitte's report estimated find their way into the environment annually. Not among the six items the new ban targets.

A shopper places her goods into her car outside a supermarket. Canadians will need to find alternatives for plastic straws and grocery bags by the end of the year. (Mark Baker/The Canadian Press)

A Good Night's Sleep

"Getting a good night's sleep is important at all stages of life, but particularly as we age."

"Finding ways to improve sleep for older people could be crucial to helping them maintain good mental health and well-being and avoiding cognitive decline, particularlyfor patients with psychiatric disorders and dementia."

Professor Barbara Sahakian, University of Cambridge 

"It is important to note that there will always be individual variation [n sleep needs], with some people needing a little less and some people needing more -- a range of between six and nine hours."

"As long as people are waking up feeling refreshed and able to cope with their day, they are probably getting the right amount."

Dr.Guy Meadows, co-founder, Sleep School

Age group	Recommended amount of sleep
Infants 4 months to 12 months	12 to 16 hours per 24 hours, including naps
1 to 2 years	11 to 14 hours per 24 hours, including naps
3 to 5 years	10 to 13 hours per 24 hours, including naps
6 to 12 years	9 to 12 hours per 24 hours
13 to 18 years	8 to 10 hours per 24 hours
Adults	7 or more hours a night          Mayo Clinic

"Compared to adults with 'normal' sleep duration, those who report short sleep appear more likely to develop obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease."

"[Similarly, long sleepers] tend to have a greater risk of many of the same diseases -- both short and long sleep are somewhat associated with disorders of cognition."

"[When it comes to the benefits of seven hours] genetics influence sleep need. There is a very small number of people who are genetically short sleepers and need less than six hours' sleep per night."

"People with inflammatory disorders or mild infections might need more sleep to help regulate activity in the immune system."

"Your body clock is affected by when the sun comes up, so it's no surprise that people who live further from the equator have a shorter biological nighttime."

"Guidelines also recognize that sometimes a bit less or a bit more than these amounts is best."

Dr. Greg Potter, specialist in sleep and circadian rhythms

New research has come out of the University of Cambridge and Shanghai's Fudan University where the sleep habits of close to 500,000 adults between the ages of 38 and 73 were studied with participants asked about their sleep patterns, their mental health and well-being -- while taking part in a series of cognitive tests. About 40,000 of the study participants also took part in brain-imaging and the gathering of genetic data.

 

The study resulted in researchers concluding that both too much and alternatively insufficient sleep could cause mental health problems, along with "worse cognitive performance". Consistency was found to be important, to be as regular as possible in sustaining the same amount of sleep each night. One reason, the researchers feel, for the "brain fog" lack of sleep causes is the fact that slow-wave deep sleep is disrupted. A situation which may be responsible for blocking the brain from clearing out toxins.

 

The brain's "memory centre", the hippocampus, was also found to be affected by both an excess or a deficit of sleep. Scientists are still uncertain just why sleeping for too long causes an effect similar to not having sufficient sleep. According to Britain's National Health Service, as many as one in three people in the U.K. suffer from insomnia; middle-aged and elderly people the most affected. The recommendation out of the study was a solid seven hours of sleep each night is optimal for good health. 

 

A link between sleeping for too long and dementia in older people has been affirmed by recent studies. A drop in the hormones estrogen and melatonin may cause insomnia in some menopausal women, according to a number of studies."As people age, the body secretes less melatonin, which is normally produced in response to darkness that helps promote sleep by coordinating circadian rhythms", according to the Sleep Foundation.

"There are four stages of sleep that repeat throughout our sleep cycle each night and are vital for our physical and cognitive health."

"Three of those stages fall into a non-REM [non-rapid eye movement] phase, and one in a REM [rapid eye movement] phase."

"[Stage 1 is non-REM sleep] You're in a light sleep state and can be awoken very easily. Heartbeat, eye movements, and breathing slow and your muscles will begin to relax. This stage lasts roughly ten minutes."

"[Stage 2, non-REM sleep, means] You're still in a light sleep state. Your muscles become more relaxed. Bursts of brain wave activity might occur -- this stage lasts between 30 and 60 minutes."

"[Stage 3 means you're in a deep sleep.] Your heart rate and breathing will be at their slowest. This stage is extremely important for your immune health and energy and your muscles will begin to restore. It's usually difficult to be woken during this stage, which lasts between 20 and 40 minutes."

"[Stage 4 is REM sleep]. This usually occurs 90 minutes into your sleep cycle and is vital for memory consolidation. That's when dreaming occurs."

"In your 40s, new concerns about sleep can arise, including sleep apnea, decreased quality of sleep, feeling tired throughout the day, changes in hormones, and less production of melatonin."

"Elderly people tend to have a short sleep duration during the night, but strong inclinations for daytime naps. They primarily experience Stage 1 or Stage 2 light sleep and often lack Stage 3 deep sleep."

Dr.Verena Senn, Head of Sleep Research & Neurobiologist, Emma -- The Sleep Company

A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing

F1 driver Sebastian Vettel -- Getty Images

"I think what happens in Alberta is a crime because you chop down a lot of trees and you basically destroy the place just to extract oil, and the manner of doing it with the tarsands, oilsands mining, is horrible for nature."

"There's so much science around the topic that fossil fuels are going to end, and living in a time that we do now, these things shouldn't be allowed anymore, and they shouldn't happen."

"It's just to think about future generations and the world we leave in their hands ... I think it's only fair to look after it and not destroy it."

Sebastian Vettel, German Formula One driver

 

"A race car driver sponsored by Aston Martin, with financing from Saudi Aramco, complaining about the oilsands."

"Rather than demonizing the oilsands, which is on a path to net-zero, people could look to lowering their own personal carbon footprint."

"Perhaps a pedal-car for Formula 1?"

Sonya Savage, Alberta energy minister

Germany's vital energy dependency on Russian oil and gas has vastly complicated its reaction and that of other Western European nations all hugely in debt to Moscow, paying the Kremlin the rubles for its natural resources that enable it to continue pounding Ukraine into the ground. While castigating Vladimir Putin for his 'special operation', with the Russian military tasked to bring Ukraine to its knees, destroying towns and villages, killing thousands of civilians, sustaining huge military personnel and munitions losses on both sides, a German national finds it prudent to criticize Canadian oil extraction in Alberta.

 

The Formula One driver is struggling with his environmental demons, looking for some entity to blame for his future environmental fears revolving around Climate Change. Like others before him he has found it useful not to question his own country's dependence on fossil fuels that creates an indebtedness of necessity between it and a country whose political-military ideology it abhors and focuses instead on natural resource extraction in a country whose leaders have strangled their own industry, even as that industry is itself committed to cleaner, less polluting extraction methods.

 

Sebastian Vettel's commitment was front row and central when he arrived, as a driver for Aston Martin, on a bicycle at the site of the Montreal Grand Prix with a T-shirt featuring an anti-oilsands slogan. With absurd optics, given that he did not bicycle to Canada from Germany, but picked up his bicycle after flying from Germany to Canada wearing a T-shirt that proclaimed "Stop mining Tar Sands", below which was a picture of a pipeline with the title "Canada's Climate Crime".

In a later interview the Formula One driver wore a green team T-shirt which across from the Aston Martin label on his chest bore the word Aramco, representing the state-owned oil giant owned by Saudi Arabia. Known as Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team, in February motorsport.com reported that Vettel's team had signed a deal with Aramco.

The team owner had explained that the sponsorship would "showcase the sustainability and performance of Aramco's products". The team, in other words, acts as a giant approving billboard featuring its sponsor, an oil producer that ships its product all over the world, including to Canada and the United States. Early in 2022 Sebastian Vettel mused during a BBC interview, Question Time, whether he should be travelling the world to race cars, in view of the global energy crisis prompted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Every time I step in the car, I love it. When I get out of the car, of course I'm thinking as well: 'Is this something we should do, travel the world, wasting resources'?" Arriving at the Miami Grand Prix a week earlier, he wore a shirt that captioned: Miami 2050 - 1st Grand Prix Underwater -- Act Now or Swim Later. His is an ultimate level of hypocrisy; forgiving his own gas-guzzling choices to further his career, while attacking one source of energy supply, effectively approving another.

France's Sebastien Loeb, left, celebrates with Germany's Sebastian Vettel after winning the world final of The Race of Champions on ice, in Pite Havsbad, Sweden, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (Par Backstroem/TT via AP)