A Lot of Disturbing Stuff Going On

A lot of disturbing stuff is going on.

Okay, so the stock market has ruffled some feathers. If you had a lot of your wealth tied up in stocks, you're hurting - financially, that is. If you find it disturbing, I get it. If you had the majority of your wealth tied up in stocks, maybe you're learning a lesson about asset allocation. Maybe.

And at this point, we don't know where all this goes. Even if we believe a Bear Market has already begun, that doesn't tell us how bad it may or may not get. We're kind of in suspension. Could be a jolt; could be an outright disaster. Time will tell.

But there's a lot more disturbing stuff out there beyond the stock market, folks. 

Let's start with what's closest to home: Canada, specifically the situation in Ottawa. Have you seen the videos being posted showing the actions of the police in "breaking up" the truckers and their supporters - basically ordinary Canadians who want to peacefully make the point that they are a free people. Look at the videos, and there are plenty of them. You'll see the Canadian government striking the people striking out for freedom. 

Just look at the police, how they're geared up. Watch them tow trucks, use horses to "control" groups of demonstrators (who don't seem to be doing much but assembling in public). 

But wait. Is it really the Canadian government ordering this? Trudeau suspended Parliament. So who's giving the orders. Trudeau and some select group of - well, what do we call them? Elected officials are off the board now. Can you say the government's ordering this if elected officials have no say? And who do the police think they're obeying? Never mind the fact the "obeying orders" can't be the reason to take such measures, right? Don't we all know this?

Farther from home: Ukraine. Tons of messages being thrown at us about Russian government's plans. Or as the preferred phrasing goes, Putin's plans. Stuff is already happening, but we still don't have a full picture. (Do you ever get a full picture in such situations?) But it's disturbing that the Russian government has put troops en masse on the Ukrainian border, isn't it? 

The whole narrative that somehow Ukrainians are the "little brothers" of Russians is nonsense. Read your history. Even better, marry a Ukrainian-American who knows all about the historical Russian domination (brutal to be sure) of her ancestors - for centuries. And now this.

Do all Russians agree with this? Some must, but how many? When it comes to governments' actions, does it matter who agrees? It doesn't seem to matter in Canada. (It's hard to believe that many Canadians agree with what's going on. Then again, I don't know. Maybe there are a lot of Canadians who back this. Is it possible?)

We were going to top this off with some comments about our own U.S. government and their attempts over the last two years to mandate our lives in ways unimaginable to most of us. But we'll leave the whole Mess that began in early 2020 for now. 

You know what's going on in your neck of the woods. In ours, the new Mayor expedited the firing of "unvaccinated" City employees. And this after the mountains of evidence that demonstrate that the injections: don't prevent getting Covid, don't prevent spreading Covd, maybe lessen the symptoms of getting Covid - if you've been boosted recently. If not, that benefit drops off the map. 

But the Mayor still thinks we should all be injected. He had the chance to take a fresh look at things and so far has blown his chance. 

Meanwhile, he chatters about crime, as the numbers explode. He's going to put social workers on the subway to work with police to urge people to seek help - or some such vague nonsense. That and his plan to address "gun violence."

As for criminals, there's not much about a plan to address actual criminals who've been left to roam virtually untouched by the police and prosecutors who've been instructed to lay off when someone is actually arrested. Shouldn't we be hearing about how that - which was promoted by our former mayor with the logical terrible consequences - will be addressed? And this from an ex-cop.

Disturbing, to say the least. And we've only scratched the surface.

But we do get a holiday weekend (President's Day). So that's something I suppose.

What a world!