it's relatively obvious that the united states orchestrated the recent bombing in moscow. when the united states pulled out of afghanistan, i pondered whether the intent was to use afghanistan as a front to destabilize the russians (and chinese) and that seems to have been the correct analysis in the end. these are operations that the cia wants to keep a distance from, and an afghan terror group is the perfect cover for it. this is unlikely to be the last isis attack on russia, and i'd expect some inside china in the near future.

basically, the united states is trying to draw russia back into afghanistan, which actually indicates somewhat of an intelligence failure because putin isn't the godless communist his predecessors were but actually somewhat of a conservative that actually agrees with the harsh brutality of religious fundamentalism. he doesn't want to pick a fight with the muslims at all. hence putin's attempt to blame it on ukrainians.

the russians need to figure out how to counterattack. they're starting to look like chumps.

i strongly support suicide rights and think this is the right legal decision.

however, the situation is a little bit fishy to me. if the woman is as capable as suggested, she ought to just kill herself, if she really wants to. it's a diagnosis from a distance, but it actually strikes me as a call for help, or perhaps for attention.

maybe this woman is of sound mind, but some other person in the same context might not be and the situation does suggest some deeper level of oversight is required. the doctors should be able to explain their decision to somebody on request.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-maid-father-daughter-court-injunction-judicial-review-decision-1.7154794

this demand for 700 prisoners by hamas indicates that they have no understanding of what they're facing. it truly is delusional.

not only will there not be 700 prisoners released, but all remaining hamas fighters in rafah will either be captured and imprisoned or killed.

there's not going to be a hamas after this.

like, they're calling for a ceasefire. they don't get it. a ceasefire suggests a continuation of the war later on. that is delusional. this is the end; they've lost, the war is over.

israel should be explicit in calling for hamas to surrender.

i can guess hamas' response:

(and, of course, hamas are exactly the kind of fucking creeps that wear their sunglasses at night, too)

egypt should have taken on a greater level of responsibility in dealing with gaza decades ago and if it finds itself overwhelmed or destabilized it should acknowledge that it's the result of decades worth of negligent policy, take ownership of it's mistakes and seek to adjust for the future.

i would welcome the ability to use rent payments on credit reports.

however, i don't see what relevance that policy has to any of the substantive affordable housing supply concerns people are facing across the country.

there needs to be a clear understanding that we don't need more corporate childcare services but rather need to adjust the education system so that it eliminates the after school gap, which shouldn't exist. this is a systemic social problem and throwing money at babysitters is a bandaid solution, not a lasting one.

depending on age and jurisdiction, kids get out of school between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm, whereas most people get off work between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm, creating a gap of potentially up to four hours that needs to be filled in. there's no comprehensible reason this exists at all.

first, kids should be kept in classes until 4:30 pm, minimum, giving them up to a half hour to get home on the bus before 17:00. second, the schools themselves should offer seamless child care services for kids that have parents that work later than 17:00 or that need to call in on special occasions. 

ken dryden had a great plan to address this, and it's extremely disappointing that the liberals have caved to market pressure in adopting a private sector plan instead. i supported the dryden plan, but this $10/day childcare scheme just seems like a foolish non-solution. there's no reason to have separate childcare and education systems, they should be integrated seamlessly, and it should be run by the provinces.

i don't generally have fiscally conservative instincts, but wasting taxpayer money on babysitters strikes me as an exceedingly poor use of public funds that should be starkly criticized. this is an expensive and foolish approach to a problem that is being caused by school days that are simply too short.