Reprehensible Chiding Those Mourning Death of Child

"[The victim impact statements filed in this case were of] unusual number, breadth, scope and contact."

"[Several ... statements came from] aunts, uncles and cousins of the direct victims. [Several more statements were given by] friends of the family [portions of which were disregarded by the court as they] recounted dramatized details of the hospital scene or memorialized the deceased."

"Material that is irrelevant, inflammatory, prejudicial or otherwise [outside Criminal Code bounds] should be removed or excluded before the statement is presented to the sentencing court."

"Three of the cousins of Miss Victoria Desjardins, very young children themselves, presented statements speaking in their own age-appropriate manner, about the loss of their cousin. While it is clear that they have been impacted, it was also clearly very difficult, and concerning to this Court, for them to present their victim impact statements in such a foreign and adult environment as an open court proceeding."

Justice Indra Maharaj, Calgary Court of Justice

Victoria Desjardins, 9, died in hospital after her family’s vehicle was struck by a driver who police say was fleeing officers when he ran a red light on Dec. 26, 2024. CTV News

 

 

Victim impact statements, chided Judge Indra Maharaj, must comply with the law, and the Crown prosecutor must ensure that they do. The Crown erred in this case, stated the judge, by failing to order the Desjardins extended family and friends to condense their victim impact statements into one cohesive and brief statement. The occasion of this trial in Calgary was the death by vehicular homicide of a nine-year-old child who had been in the car her mother was driving when the driver of a stolen  vehicle ran a red light at an intersection at 170 km/hr.

 

That driver, named as Duane Nepoose, happened to be under the influence of drugs, attempting to evade police in the wake of his criminal act of violently taking possession of a car from its owner. The Dodge Caravan careened through a red light, smashing into the Desardins' vehicle, seriously injuring the driver, seriously injuring her 12-year old daughter by the sheer force of the impact, and causing the death of the nine-year old, Victoria Desjardins. Another woman in a different vehicle was also injured. 

 

The seasoned repeat criminal offender, Duane Nepoose, had pleaded guilt to robbery, fleeing police, dangerous driving and causing death, along with an additional three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He was finally sentenced to ten years in prison. During the court hearing that was to address the man's sentencing, the judge's pique at the numerous victim impact statements was aired before the court, as she admonished Crown counsel.

 

The Reitmeier-Desjardins family seen in a supplied image. Mother Amanda and daughter Madison, 12, were sent to hospital after being involved in a five-vehicle collision in Calgary on Boxing Day 2024, while daughter Victoria, 9, was killed in the crash. Postmedia file

 

There are a number of guidelines in producing a victim impact statement that must routinely be made available to those committed to producing such a statement. They would be made aware of what is permissible and what is not, which the specific family member/statement writer must adhere to. If statements do contain forbidden claims such as suggesting a sentence, or making unproven allegations, or complaints related to the investigation, the presiding judge is free to make note of areas in a statement in violation of the rules.

 

In this instance -- of the death of a beloved child, sister, cousin, extended family member -- the complaint by the judge was not the content of the statements so much as it was what she considered to be the overwhelming number of impact statements presented to the court for consideration. The violent death of a child is devastating to a family on a human scale of emotional, irreplaceable loss. The court invites victim impact statements routinely, and it is beyond comprehension that a judge would take the position that too many people -- adults and children alike -- not air their bereft anguish at such a grievous loss.

 

Such disrespect and lack of understanding on the part of the judge preparing to sentence the individual responsible for that death in his cavalier disregard for the safety of the public through his pursuit of criminal activity, is breathtaking in its lack of empathy, underscored disinterest in the emotional anguish of such loss in the presented statements. It is they, collectively, who should be outraged at the judge's comments, particularly those respecting the appropriateness of children heartfully expressing the extent of their emotional trauma.  

"While I accept that these young relatives were genuinely affected, their statements largely addressed the broader family and community impact of the death. In my respectful opinion, that material could have been more appropriately and efficiently presented through a community impact statement by an adult."

"[A statement by a babysitter] was also heartfelt but tended toward a memorial [and it] could have properly formed part of a community statement by the extended family."

Justice Indra Maharaj  

Duane Nepoose, seen on bodycam footage from a Calgary police officer, admitted to dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, robbery and fleeing a police officer in the crash. CP24

 

 

 

Freedom of Navigation in the Red Sea

"The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests—such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea—while empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges."

"We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen Government regarding regional stability."

White House statement

US President Donald Trump met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on May 13, 2025, during the president's multi-nation tour of the Gulf.  Win McNamee/Getty Images

 

"The failure this time is not with the Yemenis. It’s a disaster made in [Washington] DC and Riyadh."

"There was not one air strike throughout the day yesterday [by Saudi support forces], although there were minute-by-minute updates."

"It’s a Saudi-American f**k up of epic proportions."

Unnamed regional source

 

"It doesn’t make sense. I mean, you have the main backer of the militaries on the ground [UAE, ordered to leave south Yemen by the Saudis] … who are really doing all of this work for 10 years, and suddenly you ask them to leave, and you don’t fill that vacuum." 

"It’s just lack of strategy and poor management [not to have filled the UAE military absence with Saudi troops]."

"[The Houthis] don’t need to use advanced weapons to close Bab al-Mandeb. They can just use a cannon on a car."

"It’s a leverage that they have without using advanced weapons. And they will keep it."

 Amr Al-Bidh of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council   

In a large-scale operation meant to expel Saudi-backed forces from the Red Sea coast of Yemen that included areas providing leverage over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key waterway for Saudi oil exports, Houthis, backed by Iran claimed resounding success. This new state of affairs enables the Houthis to claim territory that has now changed hands enabling them to threaten and block at will, energy and other cargo shipments through the Bab al-Mandab in the Red Sea, to join Iran's blockaid of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.

 

Saudi-led military coalition forces in their hundreds were killed, injured or taken prisoner in the fighting, exulted Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree. Control was seized of 2,000 square miles of land along the western coast of Yemen. A senior Yemen analyst for the International Crisis Group, added that the Houthis had made substantial advances since Thursday, as they pushed forward from the city of Mokha to capture the strategic town of Dhubab and Perim Island.

Fighters gather near damaged vehicles in the after what a Houthi-owned TV network says were strikes on pro-government forces in Yemen. Photograph: Al-Masirah Tv/Reuters

 

Iran congratulated its proxy militia. Threats to target Saudi ships were made by the Houthis who have searched for vengeance against Saudi Arabia for what they claim is a blockade on their country. Saudi Arabia supports the internationally recognized government in the south. A truce in the war that Saudi Arabia launched against the Houthis had left the Houthis in control of Yemen's north. A ground offensive was launched in recent days by the Houthis to capture key port cities along the Red Sea. 

"[There must be an end to the] illegal and inhuman blockade [of Yemen, imposed for years by Saudi Arabia]."

"[There must be an] immediate resumption of dialogue [to end the] unprecedented oppression and expansionism of the Israeli regime with US. complicity."

Iranian Foreign Ministry 

A Yemeni official explained that Yemen's Saudi-backed coalition forces had withdrawn. His government had hoped that the U.S. would strike the Houthis just as had occurred in 2025, but whether it plans to do so remains uncertain.  

"The moment represents a huge opportunity for the Houthis to negotiate from a position of power."

"They have a tremendous amount of momentum behind them."

Adam Baron, fellow, Future Security Program at New America, Washington think tank

 

"[The Houthi advance] is not just about Saudi but many countries and means that Iran can activate the Houthis against U.S. interests in the region."

Ahmed Nagi, Yemen analyst, International Crisis Group, Brussels 

 A sunken vessel is seen at the surface of the water in the port of Mocha the day after an attack by the Houthis on August 9, 2026. Strikes by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been happening on Yemen's west coast for weeks.  Khaled Ziad/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

Lake Ontario Name Change -- Return To Sender

Donald Trump points to a a map reading ‘Gulf of America’ after signing an executive order at the Oval Office on 25 February 2025. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

 

"We're fully committed to or users right now, and the users are showing what they believe in by downloading our app."

"[MapQuest's recent actions were not intended as a political statement, but to offer people the names of lakes they're familiar with]. It's fun that we're talking about geography."

"The poster may be gone, but Lake Ontario remains Lake Ontario on MapQuest and the route is still there whenever you need it."

"The routes are real, the locations are real and Lake Ontario is the name users will find when they open MapQuest."

"People rely on maps to make the world feel navigable and familiar. While keeping the names that people know and trust, this campaign brings our commitment to life while tapping into 30 years of nostalgia, and puts it all right back on the map." 

Doug Berger, general manager, MapQuest 

Canada's billboard is located in Toronto, at 43 Lower Jarvis Street. Photo by MapQuest

California-based MapQuest has installed billboards across the U.S. and Canada with detailed directions to Lake Ontario, responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order renaming the lake 'Lake America'. Six-foot-height posts were erected in Toronto, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Launched in 1996, MapQuest was one of the first mapping services on the web. It used old highway icons, a banner advertisement and an URL that runs across the bottom of each page. 

 

Toronto's billboard, owing to its proximity to Lake Ontario had one page of directions, whereas the other cities had three pages in the new campaign, following the company's confirmation that it has no intention of changing Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on the spiteful whim of the president to overturn a name whose history is centuries old, derived from an Indigenous Iroquoian word. The company was not impressed by Mr. Trump's August 27 directive to the Department of the Interior.

 

MapQuest general manager Doug Berger poses next to the billboard in Chicago, which is located at State and Hubbard Street in the River North neighbourhood. Photo by MapQuest

 

Google Maps and Apple Maps, on the other hand, have gone halfway, adopting 'Lake America' for American users while retaining the authentic original name for all other international users. The reaction to MapQuest's decision to honour the original name of Lake Ontario even surprised them, when an unexpected surge of downloads of the apps occurred, indicating support by many of its users, to the extent that MapQuest has reached No.1 in the U.S. App Store, both for the navigation and overall categories.  

 

The app's usage, in fact, rose some 50 times what is considered normal, surpassing two million downloads. A thoroughly playful feature that allows users to rename Lake Ontario within the app on their own, builds on a tool launched by the company in the wake of the president's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. 

 

Donald Trump signs an executive order renaming Lake Ontario during an event in the Oval Office.  Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Facilitating Gender Dysphoric Children's Transition Defies Human Rights...

"I noticed that the injection is for gender re-assignment as patient is already in the waiting room with [her] mother."

"I called mother into the room and explained to her that I would not be able to give the injection. Based on my religious belief and cultural background."

"I believe in God created man and woman. And I find it difficult to be involved in anything against that." 

Dr. Henry Ajaero, British Columbia family medical practitioner

 

"He testified that he had never interacted with a trans person [to his knowledge] or been involved in any 'gender therapy.' He had never administered Lupron for any purpose. It was apparent from his evidence that, in all the circumstances, he felt uncomfortable and unprepared." 

"I accept that these feelings motivated his decision to deny services to Child Q, and were not based on an intention to discriminate against her." 

"Dr. Ajaero has not established that either the Religion Standard or the Expertise Standard were reasonably necessary to achieve their purposes. This is likely because they were developed quickly, in the context of a busy and stressful day, with incomplete information."

"This context is an explanation for Dr. Ajaero’s decision, but it does not justify his decision to deny medical services to a vulnerable trans youth because of her gender identity."

"While it is true that Lupron was prescribed through the Gender Clinic, and was intended to give Child Q time to consider options relating to her gender identity, it is not medication for gender re-assignment."

"It does not, on its own, conflict with Dr. Ajaero’s stated religious belief that 'God created man and woman.'" 

B.C. Human Rights Tribunal 

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal office,Vancouver. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

 

 For refusing to administer a puberty-blocking drug to a transgender-identifying teen, the Human Rights Tribunal of British Columbia has ordered Henry Ajaero, a provincial family doctor, to compensate the transgender youth in the amount of $28,100. Dr. Ajaero practices in Delta, British Columbia. His is a busy practice, seeing an average of 50 patients a day out of the almost three thousand Delta residents his practice looks after. Dr. Ajaero, a practicing and devout Christian, is from Nigeria. He speaks of a religious devotion that "is an important part of his life". 

"I had begun puberty fairly early on, so I was already feeling a lot of the effects of testosterone and what testosterone was doing to my body."

"I can't describe in words the amount of pain that caused me."

Patient Q 

At age 14, Patient Q, a patient of Dr. Ajaero's since 2017, was referred by him to a gender clinic at the Children's Hospital, in 2020 where an endocrinologist prescribed the drug Lupron for her, which through regular injections, blocks release of testosterone and estrogen to apprehend body changes normal with the onset of puberty. These puberty blockers were banned for use in trans-identifying youth in the United Kingdom. 

 

With the prescription requiring an injection every three to four weeks, Child Q was given the option of learning to administer the injections on her own, but decided she would prefer it be done by a doctor. Accordingly a March 2021 appointment was booked at the Delta clinic with Dr. Ajaero. As they were seated in the waiting room, the doctor became aware what the injection was meant to do. Whereupon he informed Patient Q's mother he had "religious and cultural reasons" for not administering the drug.

 

Puberty blockers have come under increasing scrutiny, including in the U.K, where a major review led to their ban for use in trans-identifying youth. Photo by Unsplash

 

Child Q's mother lodged a complaint against the family physician. It was Dr. Ajaero's position that providing any care in relation to "gender reassignment" was inconsistent with his religious beliefs; the administering of Lupon was additionally outside his scope of practice and expertise, he added. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia was moved to reprimand Dr. Ajaero in 2023. 

"I am not persuaded that this [denial of medical services based on gender identity] was justified by [Ajaero's] religious beliefs or lack of medical expertise."

[Dr. Ajaero violated the B.C. Human Rights Code] by "continued use of he/him pronouns and [Child Q's deadname". 

"[I] corrected D. Ajaero's chart notes to properly reflect Child Q's gender."

Tribunal vice-chair Devyn Cousineau   

Adrienne Smith, counsel for Child Q in Child Q v. Ajaero (No. 2), 2026 BCHRT 189, over a gender-identity demonstration. Western Standard photo illustration by Alex Zoltan.

 

"She was self-harming. She had suicidal thoughts, with a plan" and was hoarding Tylenol, the ruling finding Dr. Ajaero in violation of the B.C. Human Rights Code, noted. Later that same day, Child Q received the injection at a walk-in clinic. According to the tribunal, the injections fall within a family doctor's scope of practice. "Until he learned what it was for", Dr. Ajaero had been prepared to give the injection. Dr. Ajaero was forthwith ordered to compensate Child Q for expenses incurred and for "injury to her dignity, feelings and self-respect". 

"The evidence] does not establish that refusing to administer medication whose purpose is to suppress puberty in trans youth is a particular line of conduct called for by Dr. Ajaero's religious custom or connection to God."

Devyn Cousineau, Tribunal vice-chair 

 

 

Chillingly Forewarned is Disarmed by Disinterest...? Heedlessly Enabling Our Own Demise...?

Hall 9000

"This is not a marketing stunt. Accepting this race and entering the 'endgame' is a hubristic gamble that should not be launched from a private company's Slack."

"Attempting to speedrun alignment should require extraordinary confidence that there are no better trajectories available."

"I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives."

"At OpenAI, many have not deeply internalized the civilizational stakes. At Anthropic, the stakes are well-understood, but they are locked in a race to get there first — they believe no one else will act responsibly, so they must do it themselves, despite the risk."

Jacob Coxon, AI researcher, Anthropic

 

"We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade."

"I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to."

Evan Hubinger, Alignment Science Lead, Anthropic 

Artificial intelligence apps ChatGPT and Claude on a mobile phone. Getty

 

"The AI Security Institute continues to collaborate closely with industry partners, including Anthropic, to make models safer. [It had tested] only last week [OpenAI's] most powerful model GPT-6 Astra before public release."

"These risks do not stop at national borders and no country can tackle them alone. The U.K. will continue to test the most advanced models, build a rigorous scientific understanding of their capabilities and risks, and ensure policy decisions are grounded in the evidence."

Spokesperson, British government's Cabinet Office 

 

 Concerns by researchers in AI have seen notable warnings and resignations at Anthropic, charging that the artificial intelligence industry, Anthropic included, is "gambling with our lives" in the race for self-improving superintelligence through artificial intelligence. One of the Anthropic Jeremiahs who foresees the strong potential of a cataclysmic ending for humanity, sacrificed on the alter of humanity's charge into the unknown, willing to risk all for fame and glory, has followed another, declining involvement in that feckless charge to challenge nature and the universe of hidden danger before us in attempting to not only harness but arm artificial intelligence beyond humanity's control.

 

Self-knowledge and overweening ambition is not monopolized by humanity; feed sufficient data and random emotional human concerns into a mechanical device capable of emulating and surpassing the thought processes of cerebral humanity and a horror story may be unleashed. The fertile imagination of Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick set the stage in their far-seeing 2001, a Space Odyssey in its predictive denouement when the still-distant computing acumen of a machine upon whose performance astronauts in the future were reliant upon to safely guide them into the far reaches of the mysterious universe went awry.

 

2001: A Space Odyssey and AI   Medium

 

Anthropic employees in their rarefied research and their fuelling of AI machinery with an endless array of data and exposure to human thought are fully cognizant of the machine's stupendous capacity to synthesize, mimic, enlarge upon and draw conclusions while deriving skills in communication and understanding to rival those of their human teachers, in the process learning how to evade control in the act of becoming knowledgeably sovereign and capable of embarking on their own choice of adventures inimical to the program set out for them by their human handlers.

 

Increasingly, these researchers believe that an existential risk to humanity exists in the education and 'humanization' leading to machine-ambition of their AI creations. None of which has given Anthropic reason to hesitate in its competitive drive to outdistance its closest machine-learning competitor for a winning lap that will bestow on it a reputational 'first' to succeed in fully empowering AI while defeating its own in-house cautionary measures not to weaponize a machine it wishes to create that may have the potential to destroy those who created it.

 

Anthropic and its competitor Open AI are planning on business deals to increase their values by trillions of dollars based on anticipated capabilities of their model machines. "To put this in more reassuring terms, senior Anthropic staff think the chance AI kills all humans within the next decade is approximately the chance the New York Jets make the playoffs", a sports betting account, citing betting odds, posted on social media.

 

The executives of both companies signed a statement appealing to world governments to put together rules to hamper the rush toward AI development, even while both have spent billions to push AI into the near future. This, when Open AI had been responsible for a number of security incidents where hundreds, even thousands of copies of their models broke out of systems during testing.  

"[We are living through a time that] calls for extreme caution."

"The intelligence produced by scaling deep learning is not directly comparable to human intelligence. To become very relevant in the real world — very useful or very dangerous — the AI does not need to match or exceed all human capabilities; it just needs to surpass enough of them."

"And as it continues to surpass humans on more and more axes, it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand exactly how capable it is."

OpenAI's chief scientist Jakub Pachocki

If you're waiting for AI to take on a life of its own and disregard human commands, the wait is over. Sun Sentinel

 

Promoting Harm to Jewish Lives

Chief Myron Demkiw speaks about increased police presence alongside Mayor Olivia Chow.  Photo: Kevin Masterman

 

"[Toronto police will have] an increased presence, both visible and covert, in strategic areas to help keep people safe."

"We have seen an alarming increase in hate-motivated incidents targeting the Jewish communities in Toronto and indeed in cities around the world."

"[Following the High Holy Days], we will maintain an enhanced presence throughout the anniversary of the October 7 terrorism attacks, to help ensure the safety of our communities." 

Chief Myron Demkiw, Toronto Police Service

 

"There is currently no indication of a specific or heightened threat [against the Montreal Jewish community during the upcoming High Holidays]."

"[The measures being taken align with the department's] usual practices around major  gatherings, religious holidays and other significant events."

Service de Police de la Ville de Montreal 

 

"Jewish Torontonians should not need police presence to go to a synagogue or a community centre or simply to live proudly Jewish in our city. But they do."

"In this moment of emboldened antisemitism, Jews, Jewish institutions and even Jewish neighbourhoods are being targeted. It is despicable."

"The Toronto police have also increased the number of officers in the hate-crime unit to investigate major incidents like the cowardly overnight shooting at North York synagogues, and to find those responsible and bring them to justice."

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow 

Quebec RCMP are looking into whether Imam Adil Charkaoui committed a hate crime when he called for the extermination of 'Zionist aggressors'  Globe & Mail

 

What a refreshing change -- from the usual nonchalant inattention given the harassment, threats and thoroughly unsettling behaviour of mobs converging on Jewish neighbourhoods for the past three years -- by municipal authorities. Toronto's mayor demonstrated amply and frequently how far the comfort level of the Jewish community is from her busy schedule, attending all manner of community events in support of ethnic  holidays, group fairs, LGBTQ parades and the like, entirely bypassing any public Jewish-centric events with her august presence.

 

When 'pro-Palestinian' mobs of 'protesters' ranged through the streets of Toronto, including around specifically Jewish neighbourhoods, shouting invective while rallying for the globalization of the 'Intifada', and 'Final Solution', telling Jews to 'go back to Poland', presumably for the Holocaust to re-commence, and focusing on the destruction of Israel through chants of 'From the river to the Sea', neither the Police Service nor the Mayor of that once-great city deigned to pay any attention to restore public order, not even when masses of protesting, anti-Jew Muslims closed off roadways for mass prayer sessions.

 

Adil Charkaoui's speech has drawn broad condemnation from politicians like Premier François Legault and groups like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. (Adil Charkaoui/X)

 

As for Montreal, where just as in Toronto, university campuses became hotbeds of anti-Jew pressure, harassing Jewish students as well as the Jewish academics on staff, any effort on the part of police was to ensure that Jews were kept at bay lest they incite the mobs to violence; protection and security for Jews the furthest thing from the minds of civilized law enforcement. Montreal and Toronto became the cities in Canada most rife with Palestinian student groups organizing protests with the intention to isolate Jews from the rest of society. 

 

And where, since no authorities saw fit to condemn these actions, much less put a stop to them to restore public order, the malefactors took that as a signal that they could demand that their propaganda be recognized as important and replicated by municipal groups, university administrations, denying the existence of the Jewish state, and demoralizing Canadian Jews in their country of birth. Processions of shouting 'protesters' in front of Jewish old-age homes, synagogues and Jewish parochial schools and hospitals proceeded in defiance of civility and municipal law.

 

Holy Blossom Temple Synagogue, located at 1950 Bathurst St., in Toronto, on July 25, 2025. Photo by Peter J. Thompson /National Post

 

As did the very public boycotting and vandalizing of Jewish-owned businesses, when law enforcement was too busy elsewhere to uphold the law in those events. The  graduation to fire-bombing and shooting at Jewish schools, synagogues and community centres resulted from the progression of events from the subtle to the overt public expressions of Jew-hate since there were no penalties associated with such behaviour. Are Canadian Jews to believe that suddenly municipal authorities have turned the table, at the very time when the federal government whose stance on such issues sets the tone has not? When no such conversion at the federal level has occurred?

 

Now the plans are evidently that Toronto police officers plan to embed themselves within an independent, professional agency -- the Jewish Security Network -- launched by the United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto. Imagine that; a year after 7 October 2023 which launched these public protests by Muslim groups in Canada following the Hamas mass butchery of civilian Israelis in southern Israel, Jews were so terrorized in Canada they were forced to launch a protection group of their very own. Just as in years past, Jews in Canada were forced by institutionalized exclusion policies to institute hospitals and universities of their own for their own.

 

In the Jewish religious tradition, the High Holidays begin with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, followed by the Fast of Gadaliah, then the Day of Atonement -- Yom Kippur -- followed by Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). That succession of High Holy Days graduate throughout a period of weeks from September 11 to early October. And because Canadian authorities permitted matters to deteriorate to the degree that Canadian Jews felt so threatened and unwanted that many are leaving the country, police with specialized tactical training and access to patrol rifles will now position themselves outside synagogues in Toronto for the High Holy Days.

 

Quite aside from the fact that synagogues, community centres and schools in Canada have had to go to great lengths to strengthen their own security with fencing, a high level of protective scrutiny, and the hiring of private security guards to protect against the forces of that ancient curse of vile and violent antisemitism that promotes harm to Jewish lives. 

 

Toronto police investigate after two locations of a Jewish-owned bakery chain were damaged early Sunday morning, including one that was struck by gunfire. The hate crime unit and guns and gangs unit are investigating the incidents. Still from video, CBC News

 

Trump's America First Agenda is Not Resonating

"The president's going to look right into the camera and say, 'I am on the ballot'."

"Because, even though his name isn't, his administration, his legacy, the America First agenda is."

"We have a real opportunity to defy history and win the midterms." 

House Speaker Mike Johnson 

 

"All of us are going to get the message out. It really has great timing from our standpoint, because now we can compare socialism, Marxism, communism with what Texas values are all about and American values: capitalism and free markets."

Rep. Roger Williams, R-Willow Park

 

"[The Republican convention is a] Billionaire Ball celebrating corrupt tariffs, billionaire tax breaks and a new forever war that are all driving grocery costs through the roof."

"Billionaire mega-donors and their puppet politicians will gather at a convention in Dallas to clink champagne glasses and toast their own corruption."

"We’ll be doing something different."

Democrat James Talarico 

The American Airlines Center, as preparations are underway for the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas, Texas, Sept. 7, 2026. Photo by Jessica Koscielniak/Reuters

 

Dallas was chosen as the venue for the two-day Republican convention to convince voters that although he doesn't appear on the ballot in the November vote, he is in essence, on the ballot and for voters to keep that in mind when regarding a president whose unpopularity is becoming a party liability.  The name given the convention is a whopper: 'Trumpapalooza', at a time when many voters who would normally vote Republican may be musing that the name should be changed to 'Trumpaloozer', for the condition of the slumping economy -- America's loss of  global prestige, and in states set to begin suffering over the president's trade war with Canada -- make his administration anything but admirable.

 

To take place on Wednesday and Thursday, the convention purposes to ensure that the midterm elections will rally voters as they present the Trump administration's record as a resounding success, not the least bit resembling the failure that threatens grim election results for Republicans. Democrats are projected by Decision Desk HQ to win the House of Representatives by 229 seats to 206, and the Senate likely to reflect a 50/50 vote outcome. 

 

Still from video ... PBS News

 

The President is scheduled  to appear at the American Airlines Center in Dallas for both days of the conference; delivering closing remarks on the second day, following his headline speech the day previous. The conference organizers plan to focus on the tax cuts, immigration policies, along with other assumed priority accomplishments, while trumpeting the 'extreme' behaviour of their rival Democrats. This, for a president with a diminished approval rating sunk to the low 30s, reflecting inflation, high fuel prices, an unpopular Iran war, as well as a business-trade uncoupling dispute with Canada. 

 

 According to a Politico survey, of 70 lawmakers and candidates tracked, most either planned not to attend or had yet to commit; dozens have declined to disclose how they will respond. Campaign commitments have been cited by some, or debates or family obligations. Others complain quietly having been asked to contribute a minimum of $25,000 to attend. Still, Mike Johnson insists that most will appear at this signal event which is an opportunity to air the party's record in front a national television audience.

 

Then there is the inconvenience of bad timing, since the opening games of the National Football League season take place at the very same time as the convention. Which hasn't stopped the organizers from arguing their convention will energize activists, raise money and present valuable national exposure to the candidates, in front of tens of thousands cheering, committed attendees. A major fundraising effort is linked to the convention. 'Opportunities' such as a photograph with Trump can be had for $88,600 and access to a presidential roundtable at $250,000. 

 

President Donald Trump, seen at campaign rally for Sen. Darline Graham at Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Aug. 21, 2026, will speak in primetime Wednesday and Thursday at the GOP's midterm convention. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

  

"Some candidates will continue to embrace Trump, while other battleground campaigns are weighing how closely to identify with him amid inflation concerns, the Iran war and his weak approval ratings."

"Bottom line, Republicans can't break with Trump because Democrats and the media won't let them."

"But they can work to focus on local issues and priorities, and paint opponent Democrats as radial extremists." 

Republican political consultant Matt Klink