As of 10:15 tonight, it is safe to drink the water in Montreal.
We have seen pictures of the utter and total devastation in Oklahoma. It is simply incredible how, in fifteen minutes, everything one owns is obliterated. What we also found unbelievable is that tornado shelters are not mandatory – not in homes, buildings or schools. There are also very few basements there as the soil is too soft to dig deeply. So when a tornado hits, which is does very often in that part of the country, there’s nowhere to go to escape nature’s wrath. Perhaps it’s time for the population to request of their government to start putting in those shelters – no matter what they cost. It’s got to be cheaper than rebuilding an entire community.
We pray that those affected will be able to put their lives back together as soon as physically possible. Hashem should watch over them.
The water business in the last 36 hours has been quite the event, n’est pas? A million and a half people with no clean water is nothing to sneeze at. What we thought was really inefficient was the manner in which the alert was sent out – or not sent out. If one was not listening to the media, well, they just didn’t know what was going on and were happily drinking the water all day.
There must be a way to alert an entire city when there is a serious emergency. How about a special siren which every municipality could have? People would know that when this special siren was sounded, they should immediately listen to the radio or turn on the local televsion station. In third world countries they have tsunami sirens that, when sounded, alert the population that they must go to high ground immediately. Last we looked, we were not yet a third world country. Anthony Weiner is running for mayor of New York. Really, this guy is a glutton for punishment. He had to launch his campaign via a video because a while ago when he even hinted that he might run, there was a veritable media feeding frenzy. Then tonight he admitted that more, shall we say, enlightening pictures may come to the fore. Hello Weiner? What’s the point dude? Do you really think that anyone is going to vote for you? What some people will do for attention.
Stockholm is burning for the fourth night in a row. Violence spread from the north to the south of the city on Wednesday as groups of mainly immigrant youths pushed through Stockholm’s suburbs throwing stones, breaking windows and setting cars on fire. They completely ignored the Prime Minister’s call for calm. What is causing these riots?
After decades of the Swedish method of generous welfare, the government realized it could not sustain the cradle to grave model. So it started to back off their support. Guess who got hurt the most? Immigrants and youth. Guess who’s rioting? Immigrants and youth. Princess Pauline should take note. She’s the one who marched with the students last spring when they wanted free tuition. She has since backtracked a bit, but certainly not enough.
What happened in London yesterday was beyond appalling. It is not enough that the imams are condemning these kinds of acts, which are becoming more and more numerous. If the imams and broader muslim communities all over the world don’t start turning in those young men when they suspect they are going off the deep end and becoming totally ‘radicalized’, they will all be painted with the same brush. Which is what is happening tonight in London. People are randomly attacking mosques and going after muslims.
Rob Ford, Toronto’s illustrious mayor, has still not commented on the allegations that he was seen on a video smoking cocaine. It seems that he’s hoping that by not speaking, people will forget what they saw and heard and that his problems will go away, vanish, poof into the night. Blanche – did you ever hear of anything so silly? People are following him around like flies to you-know-what. Tonight he fired his chief of staff. This guy Ford is beginning to make Montreal’s issue look good – and that takes some doing, if you get the drift. Senator Mike Duffy, who if you recall owes us quite a bit of money – $90,000 at the very least, is also refusing to step aside. “Why would I?” he asked a reporter recently. We read that he was also ‘double dipping’. Not chips into the dip Blanche, rather charging both the government and the senate for spending and trips. In other words, getting paid twice for the same thing. Nice eh?
Good Shabbos,
We’ll talk…
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