Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

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A schism could be in the offing.

With the Jaguars reportedly planning to sign quarterback outfielder tight end Tim Tebow, theres a chance not everyone in the locker room will roll out the red carpet for a guy whose job opportunity seems to be more about hype and revenue than Xs and Os.

Via Jeff Darlington of EPN, not everybody in the Jaguars building is thrilled with the looming arrival of coach Urban Meyers former Florida protg.

Thats a point Simms made on PFT Live. How will the other players react to a player who is more sideshow than serious football player? Then, how will Meyer who has always been the unquestioned emperor of his football team react to that?

Earlier this year, Meyer made a controversial coaching hire. He quickly parted ways with Chris Doyle after facing strong pressure and scrutiny. Although its unlikely that Meyer will suffer a similar external reaction to signing Tebow, Tebow could end up being a tough sell internally.

How Meyer sells it, whether other players buy it, and what Meyer does about it will remain to be seen. At some point, Tebow will have to show that he belongs. If he cant, but if he then isnt abruptly cut, Meyer could have a credibility issue in his locker room.

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Tim Tebows arrival could be an issue within the Jaguars building - NBC Sports

THE harrowing of Hartlepool was a long time in the making for the Labour Party but, lost in their acquiescent complacency under Sir Keir Starmer, they never saw it coming.

Its taken 57 years but finally the voters registered their absolute despair at Labours ineffective and aloof stewardship. And how. The winning Tory candidate in Thursday nights by-election gained twice as many votes as the sitting Labour MP.

To portray Hartlepool as belonging to Labours heartlands doesnt really tell the story: this town is at the heart of the heartlands. It takes some amount of neglect and entitlement to lose it to the Tories by such a margin.

If the swing from red to blue were to be repeated in the 2024 UK election, another 38 Labour seats, once considered to be their natural terrain, would also fall to the Tories. The Labour Party, north and south of the border, can now be considered destitute: last orders have been called and they have no home to call their own.

When I visited this town in 2016 after it had voted 70-30 in favour of Brexit scores of Labour voters told me the same story: they had waited in vain for more than two decades for someone, anyone, to heed their cries for help.

READ MORE: What will SNP win mean for working class?

In 2012 Hartlepool was listed in the top 2% of Englands most deprived areas in a survey that measured income, health, education and crime. They were resentful at being labelled racist by the elites in their own party for daring to back Brexit.

If Labour strategists had cared enough to listen theyd know why. After tens of thousands of jobs disappeared in fishing and car manufacturing, there was no industrial strategy to help this area recover. The same story was unfolding up and down the Humber Estuary: a wholesale surrender to Europe on fishing rights was followed by an influx of cheap foreign labour undercutting local wage agreements. These stemmed from EU pay regulations which encouraged exploitation of eastern European workers. To oppose this doesnt make you racist.

Jeremy Corbyn understood why, though, and this underpinned his long-held disdain for the EU corporate club. On Friday morning, as the full extent of Labours Hartlepool capitulation became apparent, several of Sir Keirs company men were wheeled out to hang it on his predecessor.

Anas Sarwar

What chance did we have, they whined, citing Labours collapse in 2019, but this was a lame excuse. In these local elections Boris Johnson has surfed the waves of euphoria flowing from the successful vaccination roll-out and the end of lockdown. In 2019, working-class communities, swept up by Brexit and resentful of the Labours elites EU obsession began to rebel. Hartlepool confirmed that Labours Red Wall is now rubble.

In Scotland, the collapse of UK Labour is a watershed moment for the partys leader, Anas Sarwar. In England, the process of surrendering Labour fortresses to the Tories was begun by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. As they were mesmerised by neo-liberalism and corporatism they came to regard communities like Hartlepool and Bolsover as their politically-incorrect uncle Harry: we cant disown them but do we really have to talk to them.

Toryism of the most insidious stamp is now embedded in every corner of England and Labour have made gifts of their former territories. The Labour elites who betrayed Corbyn no longer speak the same language as the working-class communities they once purported to represent. Its a language the Tories have now learned.

READ MORE: The return of Project Fear

England is now entirely under the control of an Etonian kleptocracy who have commandeered patriotism, royalty and gunboats to hoodwink working-class communities that they share their values. These poor people, owing to Labours neglect of them, will learn the harsh truth when the decade of austerity begins and they find themselves once more on the receiving end.

Never has England seemed so distant in its culture, instincts and values. That a dissolute and feckless aristocrat, distrusted by his own party, and for whom 160k-a-year and free accommodation is not enough can triumph in Hartlepool tells its own story.

Mr Sarwar now has a choice to make which will define his leadership. Does he continue to pledge allegiance to a polity now under the eternal dominion of this class? If he chooses to maintain his glib sufferance of such a state then he will make Labour an utter irrelevance in Scotland. If he chooses to lend his weight to a second independence referendum he brings his party back into the game with a chance of forming the first government of an independent Scotland.

English Labours failure to heed the messages coming from their former strongholds mirrors the experience of the party in Scotland. They had a sense of entitlement that their fortresses in Glasgow, Dundee, Inverclyde and North Lanarkshire would always come through. As their grandees were seduced by the leather and lace of the Westminster bordello they simply abandoned these communities. Rather than stay and fight for them Jack McConnell, George Foulkes, George Robertson and Alistair Darling chose ermine robes and the Palace of Westminsters comforting teat.

Mr Sarwar doesnt need me to tell him that many of his partys former supporters voted for the SNP on Thursday against all the instincts and traditions of their families. Nicola Sturgeon has expertly deployed a hard Brexit and the gangsterism of Downing Street to keep them. Her promises of seeking a second referendum are now like confetti and last about as long. Scotlands First Minister merely has to represent something different from the corrupt regime that Mr Sarwars ill-judged Unionism reinforces; she doesnt actually have to make different happen.

If Mr Sarwar maintains his unflinching support for a state destined to be controlled by the hard right for a generation then Labour is finished up here too. In this hell betray those working-class communities who have been locked out of the Holyrood vanity project and its platinum-card lounges since the beginning of devolution.

He talks about a Covid recovery parliament, but Hartlepool means that this concept is already out-dated. Whats required now is recovery from a generation of Toryism. In Scotland that can only begin with a referendum on independence.

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.

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Kevin McKenna: English Tory triumph means that independence is our last hope - HeraldScotland

When #DivorceGate(s) trended globally for a few brief hours last week, the world forgot all about Covid. The biggest newsbreak did not involve the latest virus variant, it was about a billion-dollar divorce involving a couple everyone knows Bill and Melinda Gates like they are our famous neighbours or something. Thats the thing about celebrity hookups, breakups, marriages, babies and divorce everybody behaves like its their own family ka mamla. Bill and Melinda ki shaadi is off but theres always Sima Aunty, Indian Matchmaking ishtyle. Sima Aunty, give Bill the magic formula tell him he has to adjust and compromise.

The Microsoft founder (billed the worlds fourth richest man) may have stepped down from the Board last year, but theres still $145 billion lying around in small change which will be carved up between him and Melinda. Not exactly chana-sing-dana. But heres the thing its their wealth thats being discussed far more than the heartbreak of a 27-year-old marriage going phut. Every auntyji has a theory. Its the familiar paisa ya pyaar story. Chachas and chachis are looking for the other woman angle and ummmm there are a few significant Chinese whispers doing the rounds. No matter how lofty and above it all, people pretend to be, sniffing, Please, its their personal matter. None of our business, the same ears prick up when a new salacious Gates ki Kahani starts circulating on social media. Big business in India is getting jittery: Yaar, that Jeff Bezos set the trend by divorcing. If the worlds richest men cant make their wives happy hamara kya chance hai? Then we have the meme factory. You must have seen the one from Mian Asad Saleem featuring the haggard but still super dishy Pakistanis Prime Minister Imran Khan which said, The alimony settlement is bigger than Pakistans budget. Our last hope is the PM seducing Melinda Gates. This is destiny manifest. Do your thing my king. Bring home the bag. We cannot repay the IMF.

No fault: Most memes target Melinda, some showing her lying in a tub covered in dollar bills

It goes without saying that most memes target Melinda, some showing her lying in a tub, covered in dollar bills, and working the phones to set up dates. Bill is treated with a little more reverence but hes getting it in the neck, too. One meme has him swiping right on Tinder, while another features images from Bill Gates Insta account on his 25th wedding anniversary where he wishes Melinda and writes, I cant wait to spend 25 more years laughing together. Arrey! Phir kya hua? Maybe he was working from home someone joked.

Agreed, this is less about divorce and more about the staggering wealth involved. When Amazon-wala Jeff Bezos divorced Mackenzie Scott (2019), she became the worlds fourth richest woman after getting a whopping $38 billion settlement, and then promptly gave a whole chunk of it away.Eventually, celebrity divorces boil down to the moolah who gets how much? Was there a pre-nup? What happens to the children? Do the kids get inheritance after the parents split up? What about the homes? Bill and Melinda live in a 66,000 sq ft mansion and are supposedly the largest landowners in America. As co-chairs and trustees of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (the third trustee is 90-year-old Warren Buffet), there is a lot at stake besides dividing up the family silver.

While these two figure out what to do with their zillions, gossip mills across seven seas are in overdrive. Salacious details are awaited as readers pore over Melindas 2019 book, titled The Moment of Lift, in search of clues. Was she hinting at trouble in paradise when she wrote, He (a man, not necessarily Bill) has to learn how to be an equal. Was that her way of letting the world know the Gates were about to shut on her happiness? When did the Gates of Heaven become the Gates of Hell? And why was Bill smiling in pictures after the politically-perfect divorce announcement? Are the Worlds Richest Men about to launch a Billionaires Divorce Club? Who will they enlist next? Take a look at this super elite list of divorced big daddies Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Larry Ellison, Sergey Brin and Amancio Ortega.

The divorced ladies are getting dissed khaali peeli. Usual noises she must have driven him nuts. Nobody ever says, He was nuts to start with! Remember, it is invariably assumed that its the wives who got dumped for which woman in her right mind would walk away from billions? Why ever not if their marriage is falling apart? Jaaney do, Bill and Melinda must know what they are doing and why. Their lives, their paisa. As the saying goes, everybody loves a good warand a bad divorce!

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

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Divorces happen but lets end the break-up blame game - The Times of India Blog

Missouri Democrat Rep. Cori Bush repeated the progressive waterboarding of language and culture on Thursday when she referred to women as birthing people during a hearing about the health of black children, which a Democrat Oversight Committee calls a crisis. The term birthing people came so naturally to Bush that she didnt understand what the fuss was all about.

Shes not the only one doing it. The thought leaders of the Left and policymakers at the highest level of government are erasing women and girls.

The CDC now refers in its literature to Peoplewho are pregnant and People who are breastfeeding, rather than women or females.

For inexplicable reasons, the agency that is tasked with interpreting science into policy now writes over womens very chromosomes by reporting, Pregnant peoplewith COVID-19 are at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

Where did this accepted of gender denial science come from? Feminist lawyers.

The gestation of a child, the morning sickness, the physical demands of advanced pregnancy, the labor of giving birth, and postpartum up-and-down experiences, and nursing a baby have made being a woman inconvenient in the field of employment law. Attorneys and feminists are positing that it is time to de-gender pregnancy, to reduce the frequency of workplace discrimination.

If everyone is a people, then pregnancy is something that might happen to any of them, the attorneys would have us believe.

We arrive at the culture wars of Mothers Day, 2021 and find motherhood itself is being cancelled by legal scholars trying to protect women for their own good. You are a menstruating person, not a woman. You are a birthing person, not a mother. There is nothing unique about your anatomy.

These are the same great thinkers who have led the fight to cancel fathers and make fatherhood dispensable in the lives of children, a trend that began with Lyndon Johnsons Great Society in the 1960s. We see how thats working out.

These are the same great thinkers who cancelled Mr. Potato Head this year, because Mister is a classification too far. Banishing Barbie is already underway with the de-gendering of the iconic doll.

In 1865, poet William Ross Wallace wrote a poem that describes motherhood in terms that seem so politically incorrect today that the poem may be someday subjected to a trigger warning.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradles third stanza is powerful:

Woman, how divine your mission,Here upon our natal sod;Keep oh, keep the young heart openAlways to the breath of God!All true trophies of the agesAre from mother-love impearled,For the hand that rocks the cradleIs the hand that rules the world.

The rush to de-gender pregnancy is robbing women of what is a transformational and fleeting season in their lives, the creation and nurturing of life itself.

In January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosis Democratic majority erased the words father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister and other terms that were not considered sufficiently gender-inclusive from the House rules. Those terms have been replaced with parent, child, sibling, parents sibling. Thats right: Theres no more sister and brother or aunt and uncle. No more mom or dad.

To all mothers, happy Mothers Day from Must Read America. You are so very special and treasured. You are the hand that rocks the cradle, with unique abilities that shall not be denied. Its time to start fighting back and reclaim your rightful place as mothers. Dont let the Left take away what is amazing, important, and God-given.

Suzanne Downing writes for Must Read Alaska, Must Read America, and NewsMax.

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Happy 'Birthing People' Day? - Must Read Alaska

Dominic West has revealed his mother-in-law warned him not to mess up the forthcoming BBC period drama, The Pursuit of Love.

The actor, who plays the patriarchal Uncle Matthew in the adaption of the 1945 novel by Nancy Mitford, said she had very sternly told him how much she loved the source material.

Set in Europe between the First and Second World Wars, the story follows the romantic adventures of Linda Radlett, played by Lily James, the second-oldest daughter of an upper-class family.

West, who is married to landscape designer Catherine FitzGerald, plays Radletts father. West and FitzGerald recently released a handwritten note insisting that their marriage is strong, after intimate photos of West and his new co-star James were published in the press.

West described his character in The Pursuit of Love as so outrageous and so politically incorrect.

He added: His attitude to life is so not what most people think today in regards to political opinions; how to raise children, the role of women in society they are all so backwards.

I couldnt really resist him as hes so fun to play. Even in the 1930s he had unconventional views but hes a softie behind it all. My mother in law very sternly told me how much she loved the books and told me not to mess it up.

West, best known for roles in Les Miserables and The Wire, described Uncle Matthew as this legendary figure based on Mitfords own father.

He was an old school countryman, he said.

Uncle Matthew hunts his children and is quite a frightening patriarchal figure. Pretty much every scene Im in Im shouting at someone but because he fought in the First World War he particularly hates the Germans.

Theres an entrenching tool hung on the wall which reminds him of how he killed 10 Germans in a row.

He regards everything foreign as unspeakable and cannot imagine why anyone would want to travel or leave England. He would not fare well in a world of gender equality and regards everyone with contempt. But there is a warm heart to him which is why hes interesting.

Emily Mortimer has written and directed the three-part series, which also stars Emily Beecham as Radletts best friend and cousin Fanny Logan.

West and Dolly Wells feature as Lindas parents, while Fleabag star Andrew Scott appears as Lord Merlin, the Radletts wealthy and eccentric neighbour.

The Pursuit of Love starts on BBC One on 9 May.

Additional reporting by PA

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Dominic West says his mother-in-law warned him not to mess up The Pursuit of Love - The Independent

During a visit to Calgary in late 2019, Baltej Dhillon couldnt resist paying a visit to Shoulder to Shoulder Militaria & Collectibles after his son-in-law told him what hed spotted inside.

Behind a glass display case were a bunch of pins that had been produced three decades earlier, when Dhillon was caught up in a fierce national debate over whether the RCMP should allow Sikh officers like him to wear turbans on duty.

One pin showed an image of a turban-wearing Mountie with a cross through it and the label: Keep the RCMP Canadian.

Another pin showed a turban-wearing Mountie riding a camel. It was labelled: Canadas New Musical Ride.

Stunned to see these symbols of hate still in circulation, Dhillon snatched up about $50 worth of the pins. When he went to pay for them, he says, he could sense a tinge of embarrassment from the stores merchant.

I am grateful to live in a country where expression is part of our freedom, he told the Star.

Propagating hate, however, is not.

This month marks the 30th anniversary of when Dhillon graduated from the RCMP training academy and made history as the first Mountie to be permitted to wear a turban while on the job. Through a 2021 lens, some will find it jarring to think that such a simple thing could be a source of controversy, but the uniform policy change sparked heated discussion over the meaning of Canadian identity, as well as petitions and court challenges seeking to preserve traditional elements of the Mounties garb, such as the Stetson hat.

While Dhillon, of Surrey, B.C., says theres no question attitudes have evolved over the past three decades, there remains much that has not. The Star discovered as much, recently, when it spoke to some of the people who fought against his right to wear the turban while in uniform three decades ago.

For his part, Dhillon said the continued circulation of the pins, the relatively recent debate over whether people should be allowed to wear face coverings during citizenship ceremonies and Quebecs ban on government workers wearing religious symbols all show theres still a lot of work to be done in finding kindness and compassion in how we interact with each other.

We need to continue to be vigilant because that hatred is just in the shadows.

In 1988, Dhillon was in his early 20s and figuring out what he wanted to do with his life.

His part-time work as an RCMP jail guard led him to apply to become a Mountie. He passed the initial application process but didnt proceed further because he wasnt willing to conform with the RCMPs uniform policy, which required him to remove his turban, something hed been wearing since he was 12.

Im not able to do that and cannot do that because of my commitment to my way of life and my articles of faith, he says he told his recruiter.

Having been born and raised in Malaysia, where it was commonplace to see Sikh officers in law enforcement and armed forces, Dhillon says he had no inkling of the great national debate about to unfold.

In spring 1989, then-RCMP commissioner Norm Inkster recommended to the federal government a change in dress regulations to allow Mounties to wear turbans as part of their uniforms.

It sparked an outcry.

Three Calgary sisters from an RCMP family Kay Mansbridge, Dot Miles and Gen Kantelberg launched a petition calling for the preservation of the distinctive heritage and tradition of the RCMP.

I dont think we can give up our heritage just to pacify one religious group, Mansbridge told the Calgary Herald at the time, adding that chaos would result when other minority groups demanded the right to wear their cultural garb.

The sisters insisted their petition which gathered more than 200,000 signatures was not fuelled by racism.

I have friends who are East Indian, Mansbridge told the Ottawa Citizen. I even looked after their children.

Meanwhile, some business owners saw potential to make money out of the controversy.

Herman Bittner of Langdon, Alta., produced a calendar containing a portrait of himself wearing a red serge, a turban and dark makeup on his face. He is identified as Sgt. Kamell Dung alongside the caption: Is this Canadian, or does this make you Sikh?

Im doing a job the politicians should be doing theyre supposed to be representing the views of the majority, he told The Canadian Press.

Two Calgary business owners Bill Hipson and Peter Kouda reportedly started mass producing pins that also mocked turban-wearing Mounties.

One of Koudas pins ended up in the collection of the Galt Museum & Archives in Lethbridge. According to the museums website, it depicts a Caucasian man surrounded by three visible minorities with the caption: Who is the minority in Canada?

As the controversy grew and respectful debate turned hateful, Dhillon said he could no longer remain the quiet candidate.

I quickly realized there was a lot of ignorance and a lot of misinformation around the Sikh faith, the Sikh way of life, and there werent many spokespersons within the community that were able to speak to the issue from my perspective. So I took it upon myself to make myself available at that time.

The debate found its way into the halls of Parliament in Ottawa.

The RCMP cannot be frozen in time, NDP MP Jim Karpoff told the House of Commons at the time. Canada is an evolving multi-ethnic community and the RCMP should fully represent this.

As part of the same debate, Louise Feltham, a Progressive Conservative MP from Alberta, asked: If you make an exception for one group of people, where do you stop?

Todays uniform depicts neutrality, impartiality, tradition, history and heritage.

But in March 1990, the government under Brian Mulroney announced it was moving forward with the dress code changes and an application form was created for Sikh officers wishing to be exempted from the standard headdress.

Dhillon graduated from the RCMP training academy in May 1991 and began working at the RCMP detachment in Quesnel, B.C.

Community reception at the time was mixed. When he walked into some bars to do sobriety checks, he was greeted as a hero. In others, he was greeted with boos.

I would take it in stride, he said. I would take a bow, wave at them and make my way out. What more can you do?

Dhillon says his staff sergeant greeted him icily on his first day on the job but when he retired a couple of years later, He looks at me and says, Youre like a son to me.

Meanwhile, a group of retired Mounties from Lethbridge John Grant, Kenneth Riley and Howard Davis along with Kay Mansbridge, filed a lawsuit seeking an order prohibiting the RCMP from allowing the wearing of religious symbols and a declaration that the commissioners actions were unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs, according to court records, asserted that when a religious symbol is allowed to be part of the RCMP uniform, the appearance of impartiality is undermined.

Outside the courtroom, the plaintiffs used far looser language.

When they come over here why do they have to change it and make it the same way it is in their homeland? Grant, one of the plaintiffs told Southam News. Anybody that looks at it any differently in my opinion should get the hell out of Canada because theyre not good Canadians.

The defendants argued the change in uniform policy was designed to remove a barrier to the employment of Sikhs in the RCMP and to reflect the multicultural nature of Canada.

In 1994, the Federal Court dismissed the lawsuit, concluding there was no evidence anyone had been deprived of their liberty or security by RCMP members wearing turbans, or had experienced a reasonable apprehension of bias.

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The decision was upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal. The plaintiffs took the case to Canadas highest court, which declined to hear it.

Laura Morlock, a lecturer at Ryerson University, spoke extensively with Dhillon for her PhD dissertation on religious diversity and dress at the University of Waterloo.

Its interesting that when Dhillon started his RCMP career, he was accused of threatening Canadian identity, Morlock said. Now, when you do a Google image search of Canadian multiculturalism, Dhillon is among the results.

Dhillon went from being an icon of threat to Canadian identity to becoming an icon of Canadian identity.

After taking part in high-profile investigations such as the Air India bombing and the serial killings of Robert Pickton and developing expertise as a polygraph examiner and interviewer, Dhillon retired from the force in 2019 and took on a new role as a staff sergeant with B.C.s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, overseeing a program that aims to reduce gun violence.

Prior to his departure, the RCMP relaxed some of its uniform and dress policies, allowing members to wear their hair in a bun, ponytail or braid, to grow out their beards and to display tattoos. They also removed the requirement that members have to seek exemptions to wear faith-based headdresses, including turbans and hijabs, a move welcomed by Dhillon.

When you give someone an exemption, in essence what youre saying is youre not exactly the same as everybody else, he said.

Another thing he has been heartened by is the number of people who come up to him during his public-speaking engagements who say they were once opposed to the uniform accommodation but have since changed their minds.

Thats the hope that theres opportunity for people to grow, he said.

Dhillon says he believes there are now a few dozen RCMP members who wear turbans across the country.

Many of the people who led the campaign opposing the RCMPs uniform change have since passed away. The Star did, however, reach some of their surviving family members.

Mansbridges son, John, said the sentiments of 30 years ago dont necessarily match with some of the thoughts of today.

Some of the points that were being made back then may still be relevant, but theyre drowned out by louder voices. I dont think any of us want to be part of that, quite frankly.

The courts spoke, he added, and I think thats probably the end of the issue for all of us.

Rileys daughter, Diana, said she still feels proud of her father for taking a stand for something he believed in.

The only thing I myself remember and still to this day feel very proud of is that Dad believed in something and he believed in it strong enough to take the government to court, she said.

Her father and the others werent opposed to having a diverse force, she said.

Inclusivity wasnt the problem. It was flashing the superior garb.

Hipson, one of the makers of the offensive pins, said he had no regrets about his actions, calling it a fun time and an exercise in free speech.

That was a big highlight for me. I was doing quite well with the pins. When this controversy came, it just opened up another one. I kind of enjoyed it.

Hipson chuckled as he recalled some of his pin designs.

Most people were laughing at it. I guess some people took it serious.

Asked if his position on Mounties wearing turbans had changed in 30 years, he said it hadnt.

I still dont think they should get preferential treatment.

Reid Moseley, owner of the Calgary collectibles store that Dhillon visited, said he was proud of his collection of politically incorrect pins.

My business is a collectors paradise, so I have been told by many of my customers. It represents the true history of our country, through the exhibit and sale of physical reminders of where our country came from.

It is sad that such ignorance persists, Dhillon said when informed of the comments.

To veil the hateful pins with the thought that they somehow represent the true history of our country is irresponsible, he said.

They were symbols of hate in 1990 and they remain that today.

And to suggest that the debate over the right to wear turbans in the RCMP was a fun time is demeaning.

Such sentiment, he said, belongs to someone who hasnt grasped what it means to be Canadian.

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Thirty years ago, he became the first Mountie to wear a turban. Here's why he still worries about hate 'in the shadows' - WellandTribune.ca

(Image: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui)

The novel coronavirus has unsettled everything. Our lives. Our definitions. Our routines. Grief feels like fear, and our every day existence has turned into a provisional feeling of emptiness. What seemed like a faraway monster yesterday is lurking around the bend, trespassing into our circle of loved ones and snatching them cruelly. The constant murmur of death has turned our hours into an observance, an expectation of pessimism and loss. Grief is a stubborn squatter, it is refusing to vacate our life and world.

The map of sorrow and grief, however, is not the same for everyone. As the cacophony hits a crescendo, people are digging into their personal tipsand tricks to walk through life. Some mustering courage that they never knew existed, others crying rivers and invoking the gods. Some switching off the television, others buttressing themselves with compassion. A few finding safety in numbness, others escaping from their known and lived worlds to quieter/sequestered dwellings.

We are all walking the dark corridoras best as we can.

Aruna Pandey seeks solace in knowledge; reading as much as she can about the virus. Herlife has never been so scattered. Daughter in Goa, son in Germany, she parked in Gurugram with a relative, and her husband battling Covid complications in Shimla. But Aruna, retired associate professor (University of Rajasthan), is not counting the miles between her loved ones. She is not focusing on emotion, either.

I cannot afford to be emotional or fearful right now, all my moments are spent knowing more so that I can make informed decision about my husbands treatment and care, says Pandey.

Knowledge is not her only solace, though. She is reconnecting with relatives and friends. Despair has prompted me to think of the larger collective of humanity and goodness. Theres solace in collective existence, says Pandey.She adds that if she could, she would have erased miles between her and her immediate family.

WhilePandey is staying busy Web crawling, Prakriti Prasad, author and parenting coach, is harnessing the power of chanting and spirituality. Her day begins with gratitude meditation followed by breath and healing meditation. By evening, her home in Ghaziabad reverberates with "Hare Krishna Mahamantra" that she chants along with her husband and two teenaged children. When her sister-in-law lay gasping for breath in Patna, Prasad tapped into her problem-solving skills to arrange for oxygen and to provide succour to her aged father.

In difficult situations, I block sentimentality. Shedding tears and lying crumpled in a corner solves nothing. I take charge and stare problem in the eye, says Prasad who has also avowed not to take the virus name. She says she does not utter the words corona or Covid because the more you talk of it, the more energy you are sending its way. She has turned the virus nameless; that namelessness is her optimism tool.

Decades ofhelping special needs children has steeled Ganga Singh. The Jaipur-based philanthropist has seen and dealt with the grief and distress of others. For her, grief does not fall within mine and yours parentheses. She embraces every grief as her own. Recently, when gloom knocked on her door, she tapped into her inner strengths. As her daughter and five-year old grandson battled Covid-related complications,Singh went on a chanting-meditation-exercise overdrive - spending 3.5 hours every day fortifying her mind and body.

You need mental as well as physical strength to deal with distress, saysSingh who believes her rigorous Vipassana training holds her in good stead. Even while her own blood lay ill,Singh reached out to people - specially the elderly who live alone - in need and provided food and essentials. In grief, we should hold hands. That is how we will all survive this raging pandemic, adds Ganga.

Also read: Mapping loss, nurturing grief

Forget television. Forget newspaper. Am a radio freak. I keep a radio in every corner of my house. Theres one even in the bathroom. I do not listen to news. I have no specific choice of radio programme. I listen to any music - Hindi, Bengali, English, heavy metal. Anything. The radio is my happiness/sanity companion. I like the sound; it cuts the noise of grim realities and harsh truths of the pandemic, says Gargi Gupta, a Kolkata-based corporate communications professional.

I have not shut the outside world. I provide help to anyone who reaches out to me. That empathy and compassion is my to-go elixir, adds Gupta who has now redefined her lifes priorities. Her sister Uttara Ghosh, ex-banker, finds comfort in the kitchen. Straddling her 31st floor home in Dubai and her ancestral house in Kolkata, Ghoshs distress-busters are the woks and spices. And the crows that come to her balcony every day for food. Amidst misery and woe, kitchen and mantras are my only physicians, sayGhosh who is currently stuck in Kolkata with her son.

While others are seeking solace in spirituality, knowledge and empathy, photographer Himanshu Pandya is stoic. That has always been his mien - a surrender to the will of God. He serenely accepts the realities, however monstrous. I might sound politically incorrect but whatever happens, happens for good. I have no tools to handle distress, I have no devices to fathom or disentangle grief. If grief is the current monarch, so be it. I do my bit to help, to care but I do not worry about anything. Not even death, saysPandya who recently moved to New Jersey. What do I do about grief that I can do nothing about? he asks rhetorically.

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'I cannot afford to be emotional or fearful right now': people across India share how they're coping with... - Moneycontrol.com

- By D N Singh

Battle weary Bharatiya Janata Party must be wondering which should be the destination in the Eastern part to pitch on next. The obvious choice is West Bengals neighbor, Odisha, where Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal is firm on its citadel for over three decades.

It is a different matter that, the BJP has failed in the last three general elections to shake the BJD out but, there has been a noticeable improvement in its vote percentage and number of seats in the state assembly.

Regardless of the recent bonhomie between the Modi-led dispensation and the BJD, it would be politically incorrect to expect that the BJP would not resort to harder options to capture power or create a situation where it can wrest power.

Maybe it is still a long way to go to the polls in Odisha but there are certain factors on which the BJP may prefer to workout on in advance.

The most compelling one among them is that the BJD has a reason to worry about the anti-incumbency factor, a common reason any poll analyst would not ignore. And, so should the party in power in Odisha.

In the local television discussions, the BJP spokespersons go a notch higher in their attacks on the BJD reducing it to a non-performing government from several aspects and few allegations are on crime control and unaccountability and, indulging in hijacking Central schemes and copy-paste on BJD worksheets.

But the leader-in-chief in Odisha views that, it is the development as the end card that matters and such campaigns hamper development at the ground.

However, the chief minister in Odisha usually remains unfazed by such tirades and his way of rebuttal is a composed one and he keeps highlighting without bothering about what others say.

While, in contrast, in West Bengal, the BJP, in spite of losing to TMC, still continues with the provocative teasing to upset Mamata Banerjee, who easily gets provoked and takes matters to the streets.

But that is not the case with Naveen Patnaik. He simply ignores the diatribes and goes his way. Nor BJPs religious firepower is going to pay any dividend in Odisha. But the BJD cannot afford to be complacent in any way as nobody knows what is there in the minds of people.

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What Is Next In BJP Agenda? If Odisha Then That Will Be Really Quizzical | Bhubaneswar NYOOOZ - NYOOOZ

One thing you forget about in a yearlong pause from a lifetime of frequent moviegoing is how the big screen can overwhelm you in a way a TV or computer cannot.

There's a reason "Mortal Kombat" actually makes sense on a smaller screen it is, after all, inspired by a video game. But in a theater where it's loud and huge, it seems to come at you in waves of flying fists, spurting blood and severed body parts. Which is, of course, the question anybody who might want to see "Mortal Kombat" is asking: How's the kombat? The answer is: mortal. And nonstop.

The movie is nothing but fight scenes, and that's probably how fans want it. At the climax, there's so much hand-to-hand combat going on or, in one case, hand-to-prosthetic-because-his-hand-was-lopped-off that director Simon McQuoid has to cut between five simultaneous battles.

The movie earns its R rating with those fights, which are grisly. But they're staged clearly and intelligently, like the big dance numbers in a musical. (Speaking of music, the film closes with a track whose only lyric is the game's iconic "Finish him!")

"Mortal Kombat" was made to service fans, rather than to attract new ones. The mythology is overly complicated and the characters are given the kind of entrances granted to characters whom audiences are expected to already know. Most are "champions" who come to a gladiator training camp where they face off in order to learn their hidden superpowers. They are the same sort of powers you get if you're an X-man: invisibility, an eye laser beam, super-strength, etc.

In between pummeling and beheading one another, there's a bit of back story connecting champion Cole Young (Lewis Tan) to his similarly superpowered ancestors. Characters occasionally pause to bark out dialogue that could become a line of greeting cards for the toxically masculine: "Pain is the ultimate catalyst," "Prove to yourself you can do it or you'll regret it for the rest of your life" and that sort of thing.

It's ridiculous but the movie has a sense of humor about it, with most of the best lines given to an Aussie lunkhead named Kano (Josh Lawson). He gets to have the most fun, tossing off so many mean pop culture references ("Put a shirt on, Magic Mike!" he yells at a ripped competitor) and insensitive insults that you know his politically incorrect character is not going to last long in this extremely diverse movie.

He won't be around for any possible "Mortal Kombat" sequels but it's clear the moviemakers are hoping for some. The movie ends with another of those insider-y references that flew right over this non-gamer's head but, when I looked it up later, I discovered it's a nod to a character fans will probably be psyched to see in the next movie.

Chris Hewitt 612-673-4367

out of four stars

Rating: R for very bloody violence and strong language.

Theater: Wide release and on HBO Max.

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There's nonstop combat in 'Mortal Kombat,' much of it mortal - Minneapolis Star Tribune

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By Megan Bianco

Nostalgia and outdated pop culture are a heck of a combination, and usually one that doesnt end too well. Warner Bros. reboot of Joe Pytkas cult comedy Space Jam (1996) looks to be testing this formula as far as it can go, based on the new trailer for Malcolm D. Lees Space Jam: A New Legacy.

But before we could joke about the sequel being an obvious, easy cash grab, some highly distracting and possibly obtuse hypocrisy in the trailer was quickly acknowledged on social media.

Unlike the first film, which featured all the classic Looney Tunes characters, plus some new cartoon faces alongside basketball superstar Michael Jordan, this new flick is tossing everything at the wall and including nearly all of the properties the studio currently owns next to LeBron James.

This would be only amusingly obvious if it werent for some more controversial character cameos also spotted in the new trailer. The Droogs from Stanley Kubricks A Clockwork Orange (1971), the War Boys of George Millers Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and the White Walkers of HBOs Game of Thrones (2011-19).

The first two are from R-rated movies and the third from a TV-MA cable series, and all feature graphic violent content. Why are these characters making appearances in a family-friendly fantasy-comedy?

These additions are not only peculiar, but almost hilariously bewildering after Warner and Lee went out of their way to claim the new movie would be more progressive by portraying Lola Bunny as less sexy and more girl power-heavy, plus snubbing Pepe Le Pews presence.

Pepes absence is not surprising, since the characters schtick is very dated. Watching some of the old Pepe cartoon shorts contemporarily on YouTube, it is a little awkward to see the skunk so physically up in the cats personal space while shes not interested in him at all, even if the gag is toward his delusion.

For generally politically incorrect content in their classic cartoons, Warner Bros. usually begins the shorts with a special disclaimer as a warning and reminder that the studios current views arent relevant to a half-century ago.

This is generally a tactic I prefer over a studio such as Disney that has a habit of hiding its controversial material as if it doesnt exist.

But if thats the route Warner Bros. is choosing to go with Pepe Le Pew this time around, at least be genuine with it and dont make it completely obvious that its only performative when you feature R-rated famous movie/TV characters inappropriately in a PG-rated comedy.

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At the Movies: Hypocrisy in the New 'Space Jam' Movie? - San Clemente Times