What Happens When Health Care Becomes a .gov Bureaucracy?

It turns out that a lot of people don't want to work for a .gov bureaucracy. Canada Short Nearly 69,000 Health-Care Workers: Federal Report. There are probably also issues with pay, but that is just a guess on my part.

This is based on a report from the Canadian health care system itself.

Researchers concluded that Canada is short a total of 68,564 health-care professionals, which includes 22,823 doctors and 42,057 nurses. It also noted the country is in need of 1,866 occupational therapists, 2,543 physiotherapists, and 1,614 pharmacists.

There are couple follow-on effects. Shortage of workers leads to excessive overtime. Excessive overtime leads to burnout. Burnout leads to people leaving the profession, which brings us right back to that shortage of workers.

That memo said there was a shortfall of 29,655 registered nurses and 13,560 licensed practical nurses, and noted 40 percent of health-care workers said they felt “burned out” and 50 percent intended to leave the profession.

The other impact is death. More than 74,000 Canadians have died on health-care wait lists since 2018: report. These people aren't waiting for a pizza to be delivered. They are waiting to be treated for serious disease.

At least 15,474 Canadians died in 2023-24 alone before receiving various surgeries or diagnostic scans. The true number is likely double.

Why double? Because there is a lot of missing data. The data only represents health care organizations covering 62% of the population. So maybe not quite "double."

This doesn't include the effects Canada is seeing from Medical Assistance in Dying. It seems they've discovered that killing people is much cheaper than treating them in a lot of cases.

I'm not saying that the US does a better job. But this is the system usually (or often) held up as an example of what should be the US health care system.

FBI Resisting Releasing the Epstein Files

Makes me think that they were protecting a blackmail operation, but I'm cynical by nature when it comes to politicians. And the FBI is certainly political. Bondi Reveals FBI Delivered 'Truckload' of Jeffrey Epstein Files, Meanwhile Top Bureau Official Resigns

Two FBI stories broke Monday, and they very well may be connected. First, the New York Field Office’s top agent, James Dennehy, resigned, claiming that he had been told he’d be fired if he didn’t. Second, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Bureau had dropped off a “truckload” of Jeffrey Epstein files after she’d set a hard deadline for their turnover.

Coincidence?

James Dennehy had told agents in his office to "dig in" after Trump was elected.

For those of you who don't believe that the FBI has always been political, or at least as long as I've been alive, look up COINTELPRO.

Stupify

Ever since Disturbed cover of "The Sound of Silence" crossed one of my playlists, probably on YouTube, it seems I've been listening to more of their music. So let's include one of their breakthrough songs. Today's song was the first single released from their debut album, and it reached #12 on the Billboard mainstream rock chart. All that means is that if you were listening to Rock & Roll radio in 2000, you probably know this song, even if you don't know all of the lyrics.

Speaking of lyrics, you can find them at this link.

This song is "Stupify" by Disturbed from their 2000 debut album, The Sickness.

The Zelenskyy Kerfuffle

The Other McCain has some thoughts on Zelenskyy's meeting at the White House. First: Zelenskyy Self-Destructed, So Why Are Media Acting Like Trump Is to Blame?

The deal was all settled. On Thursday, the basic terms of a mineral-rights treaty had been agreed upon, and Friday’s Oval Office meeting was supposed to be a formality — a handshake, a meet-and-greet with the media. For some reason, however, Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided he should start an argument in front of the cameras. It has been pointed out that the meeting ran for about 50 minutes, and was uneventful until about the last 10 minutes. The fireworks started after Vice President J.D. Vance pointed out the difference between Biden and Trump

Do we think Zelenskyy came up with that idea on his own? I'm shocked that a group of Democrats would try to interfere in foreign policy, with the aim of discrediting Trump. Ain’t I Done Told Y’all? Democrats Pushed Zelenskyy to Sabotage White House Deal

An old saying, often cited by Hillary Clinton: “If you see a turtle on top of a fence post, the one thing you know is, it didn’t crawl up there by itself.” This meeting with Zelenskyy turning into a catastrophe was not a coincidence, you see. The whole thing was a setup by Democrats.

Click thru for details of the meeting with the Dems, some background on the mineral deal that I didn't know - the whole "war effort" in Ukraine makes me ill, so I have been ignoring it of late - and more.

Playing politics with war is not a good idea. Maybe with all the sabre rattling, NATO will at least consider PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE. I'm not holding my breath on that last bit.

More Self-Defense in Illinois

And the State's Attorney for Cook County made this determination in short order. Deadly Glenwood bar shooting ruled self-defense, no charges filed

Glenwood police announced the conclusion of their investigation late Friday afternoon.

After reviewing hours of video surveillance, conducting witness interviews, and executing search warrants, the findings were presented to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

The office later determined that no charges would be filed.

Glenwood, Illinois is a village in Cook County about 22 miles south of the Chicago loop.

I don't know a lot about the new Illinois State's Attorney for Cook County, Eileen O'Neill Burke, since she has only been in office since December, but she seems to be an improvement over the previous holder of that title.

Self-defense is a human right, and it seems to be catching on in Illinois.

Sparky Car Sparking in Korea

One car fire is having a tremendous impact on South Korea. The fire in question took place in August. That has been enough time to give the South Korean government a chance to act.

This may result in EVs being banned for underground garages. Mercedes EQE's Catastrophic Fire In Underground Garage: What We Know

Even though, statistically, electric vehicles are less likely to catch fire than cars with a combustion engine. But when they do go up in flames, they can cause a lot more damage. This Mercedes-Benz EQE started showing white smoke and went ablaze seconds later in an underground parking lot in an apartment complex in the city of Incheon, which is about 20 miles west of Seoul, South Korea.

The car was not being charged when it burst into flames. It had been parked for 3 days.

140 vehicles were damaged or destroyed. 103 of the people who lived in the apartment building had to be evacuated because of toxic smoke from the EV fire. 23 people were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. The fire knocked out electric power for the building in question and part of the entire complex, such that 500 households were without electricity for 5 days.

As a result of this fire, the government of South Korea is proposing some fairly expensive fire supression rules on underground garages that may contain parked EVs. The government [of South Korea] mandates all underground parking lots to install fire extinguishing and warning facilities.

On the 27th, the government announced the "Comprehensive Measures for Underground Parking Lot Electric Vehicle Fire Safety" aimed at preventing accidents by strengthening safety standards for underground parking lots and minimizing damage by responding quickly to electric vehicle fires. In order to secure the effectiveness of the improvement measures, the comprehensive measures consisting of four major promotion strategies and 19 tasks were also collected from expert advice and field personnel in various fields.

That is a translation of an article in Korean, so I'm not sure if you can bypass the expense by banning EVs from parking underground or not. It was floated as on option by MGUY Australia in his video Korea takes DRASTIC action to prevent EV FIRES

California Sheriff Claims New Bill Outlaws Self-Defense

That is how much the Democrats hate law abiding citizens, and love criminals. Sheriff Bianco claims new California bill would make self-defense illegal

Riverside County, California is a geographically large county just east of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It stretches from about 40 miles east of the coast, to the Arizona state line. Chad Bianco is Sheriff of Riverside County.

The description goes on to say that “the bill would additionally clarify circumstances in which homicide is not justifiable, including, among others, when a person uses more force than necessary to defend against a danger.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Sheriff Bianco said the bill would tie the hands of residents while coddling criminals.

Read the whole thing. It isn't long.

Self-defense is a human right, and guess the Democrats are dismayed by the fact that it was catching on in California.

Voter Fraud in Connecticut

Alleged voter fraud, anyway. Democrats charged with election fraud amid party's efforts to obstruct election integrity measures | Just The News

While Democrats have long criticized Republicans who are concerned about election integrity by smearing them with the pejorative label “election deniers,” new allegations regarding election fraud are being made against Democrats. Five Democratic Party members in Bridgeport, Conn., and Philadelphia have been criminally charged with numerous counts of voter fraud on both the state and federal levels regarding mail-in ballots.

We really need to get a handle on fraudulent elections.

There are a lot of details of the allegations. Click thru.

The Modern Diet

We went from eating mostly meat and veggies, and animal fat, and being more healthy than we are today, to eating a lot of corn, vegetable oils, and processed food. And we have the epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

This is a Jordan Petersen clip Why the Modern Diet Is Making You Sick

Somehow the Left Will Blame the Inanimate Object

Because, at least according to the Left, people are not responsible for their actions. TIMELINE: Alabama man tied to 14 murders in 14 months as new charges expand string of shootings

14 murders between July 2023 and September of 2024, including one case of murder for hire, and couple of mass shootings. Allegedly.

A man accused of multiple murders in Jefferson County, including two mass shootings, is facing three more murder charges in a string of deadly shootings that claimed 14 lives in 14 months.

On Tuesday, officials with the Birmingham Police Department announced that they had obtained warrants for mass shooting suspect Damien McDaniel in the murder of Jordan Melton as well as the attempted murder of fellow firefighter Jamal Jones.

A couple of the stories I looked at regarding the arrest were quite short. This one is long, but it has a comprehensive timeline of the shootings.

Given how much fuss is made over mass shootings, I'm a bit shocked (not really) that these weren't national stories.

Is this a sign of the breakdown of civilization, or just a sign that the Left is no longer interested in fighting crime of any kind?

Journalists Thought Media Companies Should Be Socialist Charities

Make money? Have a broad-based appeal to the community? Are you kidding? Billionaire Media Owners Aren't the White Knights Journalists Dreamed Of

This is a left-wing article complaining that billionaires are capitalists. What do you expect from "Professional Journalists?" It was hard to find a couple of paragraphs that didn't swerve into communist theory.

The latest rude awakening comes at The Washington Post, where owner and Amazon.com Inc. chairman Jeff Bezos on Wednesday mandated that the newspaper's opinion pages only publish work that is supportive of "personal liberties and free markets."

Personal liberty? The horror! What's next? Responsibility for one's own actions?

And so they are quitting rather than work for an organization that is actually trying to make money. If they had to face facts, they would admit that newspapers are not making money.

The newspaper's top opinion editor, David Shipley, quit in protest, and journalists in the newsroom -- already in the midst of an exodus to other outlets -- threatened they would do the same if Bezos' meddling found its way to the news side of the operation.

As concerns about billionaire newspaper owners go, Bezos has received fairly stiff competition from Patrick Soon-Shiong, the proprietor of the Los Angeles Times, whose pivot to embrace the Trump administration has similarly alarmed staff, prompted resignations and thrown the future of an already-struggling enterprise beset by rounds of layoffs into further chaos.

Because you can cozy up to the Democratic President, or at least aid in covering up his cognitive decline, and that is Responsible Journalism™, but if you adopt any policy that might appeal to conservatives, or even centrists, that is a "threat to democracy," or something.

Hat tip to Clownfish TV and their video Journalists are RAGE QUITTING! Mainstream Media's Free Ride is OVER! It is a long video, at 23 minutes, but there is a perspective of someone who worked in regular media, before it became to insane.

Poland Says Inclusivity Must Include Christianity

From Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture, a Polish, Catholic legal organization. IKEA Loses in Poland’s Supreme Court: The Policy of Inclusivity Should Not Exclude Christians

Actually what the Polish Supreme Court did was to refuse to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling.

In 2019, IKEA published an article on its company intranet that imposed the ideological demands of the LGBT movement on its employees. In response, Janusz Komenda published a comment criticizing the announcement and included two Bible verses referring to homosexual practices. As a result, store management decided to dismiss him. The consequences extended to those who had “liked” Komenda’s comment.

The regional court ruled in favor of Komenda, requiring IKEA to reinstate him.

Employers must consider that a significant portion of Poles are Christians and have the right to uphold and defend their beliefs.

Hat tip to Vlad Tepes.

I guess it should come as no surprise that Ordo Iuris is described by the Wiki as "ultra-conservative." So the idea of "don't discriminate based on creed" is not a liberal virtue, or maybe I should say "no longer a liberal virtue," since it is baked into every non-discrimination law. Interesting. I guess the rule is be tolerant of the people you agree with, and intolerant of anyone who disagrees.

Gene Hackman (1930-2025)

Gene Hackman passed away recently. His body, the body of his wife, and their dog was found this week. They clearly had been dead for a time, but I they are unable to assign a specific date, more than sometime around the 17th.

This is Film Threat's A TRIBUTE TO GENE HACKMAN (1930-2025)

Zelenskyy Learns a Lesson

Or maybe not. Zelenskyy Gets Pimp-Slapped on Live TV by Trump in White House Meeting : The Other McCain

“Pimp-slapped,” metaphorically speaking, of course. This event has astonished the world. When it happened, my office TV was tuned to Fox News, but I immediately switched over to MSNBC to see how they were reacting and . . . Well, it would be wrong to say it’s driven them crazy, as they’ve been non compos mentis for years, but whatever else the MSNBC crowd was obsessed over before, they’ve suddenly forgot it and will be 24/7 on this story until further notice.

As someone on the internet said: Must see TV.

Saturday Roundup of Link Roundups - 1 March

The Right Way gets things started with Top of the News

THE FAR VIEW- ACCORDING TO HOYT - Born Free
Israel Moves IDF Troops Into Syria - Tousi TV Video - Theo Spark

Animal Magnetism - Animal’s Hump Day News

Yes. Yes, he did.
That’s what happens when you ENFORCE THE FUCKING LAW.

Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 02.26.25 (Afternoon Edition)

Don Surber: USA Is A Refuge For Manufacturing
STUMP: Chicago & Illinois Update

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony - Daily News Stuff 27 February 2025: You're Trying To Kidnap What I Have Rightfully Stolen Edition

AI has yet to find a killer app to match Excel or email, says Microsoft. (The Register)
We know.

EBL - Epstein Client List To Be Released Today 🤔 Update: Nothing Burger?

Townhall: FBI actively interfering with Pam Bondi?
Not good. Why hype it in advance for this?

Small Dead Animals - Wednesday On Turtle Island

Blackie’s Canada: Mark Carney’s values. No friend of Israel. Canadians love our new globalist dictator.
Woke America: A visit to a USAID office. Trading soybeans for computers.

Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog - LinkSwarm for February 28, 2025

Tiffany Henyard, the crooked, free-spending mayor of Dolton, Illinois, got slaughtered in a Democratic primary this week. “[Jason] House won the primary with 3,896 votes (87.91%), compared to Henyard’s 536 votes (12.09%).”

Pixy Misa at Ambient Irony again - Daily News Stuff 26 February 2025: Framewhat Edition

Oh, and there's this little gem: Assassin's Creed Shadows, Ubisoft's latest megaflop... Leaked. (BBC)
Not details of the game. Not video of the game. The entire game.

Glibertarians - Thursday Afternoon Links

AMERICAN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER WALKS INTO USAID OFFICES IN EGYPT: What happens next will not surprise anyone here.

A View from the Beach - Flotsam and Jetsam - Trump Holds First Cabinet Meeting on TV

WUWT Breaking: EPA Reportedly Urges Trump to Repeal Endangerment Finding, Washington Post Claims. The EPA has a solid core of true-believing ideologues, without mass firings and replacement, it will be a difficult agency to rein in.

Again from Wombat-socho - In The Mailbox: 02.27.25 (Afternoon Edition)

CDR Salamander: Iffy Cold War Nuclear Theory Is Only Worse Now
Dana Loesch: Activist Judges – A Look At Judge John Bates

Vlad Tepes - Diminishing rights in Canada, Epstein files sort of released? MAiD, and a very powerful argument concerning Canada and the 51st state: Links 1 for February 27, 2025

1. Twenty minutes on the lack of rights of Canadian citizens and what the police can do to you without a Judge’s signature
2. On the Epstein files:

Glibertarians - Thursday Afternoon Links

AMERICAN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER WALKS INTO USAID OFFICES IN EGYPT: What happens next will not surprise anyone here.

Gates of Vienna - News Feed 2/27/2025

Apple’s Voice-to-Text Caught Transcribing the Word ‘Racist’ as ‘Trump’
Apple’s voice-to-text feature has been demonstrated to first transcribe the word ‘racist’ as ‘Trump’ before quickly correcting itself to the proper text.

Wombat-socho again - In The Mailbox: 02.28.25

Baldilocks: Low Maintenance Girl
CDR Salamander: The PLAN War College vs. Our Naval War College, also, Fullbore Friday

Flopping Aces - The Week in Radical Leftism – More from The Economist!

Can Europe confront Vladimir Putin’s Russia on its own?
The simple answer is “Yes”. Putin doesn’t have the resources to roll Europe, and if he did want to, Europe could make some hard choices as to how they want to live.

Cafe Hayek - Some Links

Mark Lasswell understandably ridicules the officious and counterproductive diktats that restrict the flow of water through Americans’ faucets.

Maggie's Farm - Wednesday morning links

US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all which have been cancelled
This Washington Post Story on DOGE is Just Democratic Fear Mongering

J.J. Sefton at Ace of Spades HQ - The Morning Report — 2/ 26 /25

It’s time for a reality check.
Musk Is ‘Shredding’ Government? Not Even Close

Doug Ross - Larwyn’s Linx: A Nation Endangered

• Who Caused the Counter-Revolution? Victor Davis Hanson
• Too Creepy to Check: Did Comey Run a 'Honeypot' Trap on Trump's 2016 Campaign? Ed Morrissey

Anonymous Conservative - News Briefs – 02/28/2025

Personnel within the FBI have been obstructing investigation into the actions and potential “accomplices” of Thomas Crooks, the would-be Trump assassin in Butler, PA, as experts say the data shows he may have had an accomplice.

I leave you with Wednesday's gifs from Wirecutter, Wednesday Memes … from MaddMedic, and Memes and Things (UPDATED) from The Feral Irishman.

First He Got Shot, Then He Was Charged

Illinois is starting to become a place where armed self-defense is a thing. The would-be bad guys haven't gotten the memo. Intruder facing charges after being shot during Arcola home invasion: State’s Attorney

State’s Attorney Rob Kosic told WCIA that he charged Dalton Kresin with three counts: attempted home invasion, residential burglary and criminal trespassing. The first two charges are Class 1 felonies, with the latter being a Class 4 felony.

The charges allege that on Jan. 17, Kresin tried to break into a home at Pine and Washington Streets in Arcola. Kosic said the person living at the house was present and was armed with a gun. They shot Kresin as he tried to break in.

Arcola, Illinois is about a 30 mile drive south of Champaign (home of the University of Illinois Fighting Illini), or about 125 mile drive west of Indianapolis, Indiana.

As for self-defense catching on in The Land of Lincoln...

The attempted home invasion in Arcola is one of several throughout Central Illinois over the last four months that ended with the would-be intruder being shot. In November, two men were shot and killed within 10 days as they tried to break into homes in Champaign and Decatur. Both shootings were found to be lawful by the Champaign and Macon County State’s Attorneys.

Earlier this month, Alexia Templar of Decatur successfully defended her home and her young children against three armed intruders. She shot one of them and all three suspects are facing charges.

Self-defense is a human right.

Not an Upstanding Member of the Community

From CWB Chicago - For his 66th arrest, he's charged with stealing packages from a building where he's been caught 3 times before - CWB Chicago

A six-time convicted felon has been arrested for at least the 66th time in his adult life, charged with stealing packages from a Lincoln Park apartment building. He’s also on pretrial release for allegedly stealing packages from the same building last fall while he was on parole for stealing packages in Lakeview.

Why do they think that behavior will change when there are no consequences?

Judge Ankur Srivastava detained Shambley for violating the pretrial release conditions in the September case. Shambley will be in jail until at least early March, when he is due in court again.

So, not very long.

Why does anyone want to live in the Blue Cities?

Piano Man

This song came across one of my streaming services recently, and I was a bit surprised. I remember it of course; it was Billy Joel's first major hit, and it was on the radio a lot. It became his signature song. What I was surprised about, when I went looking, is that a lot of younger people have never heard it. Though I really shouldn't be surprised by that.

Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright

This song is "Piano Man" by Billy Joel. It was the title song to his second album, which came out in 1973.

Boris Vasilievich Spassky - 30 January 1937 to 27 February 2025

If you are old enough to remember 1972 you probably remember Boris Spassky. 10th World Chess Champion Boris Spassky, 1937-2025

GM Boris Spassky, the 10th world champion of chess who defeated “Iron” GM Tigran Petrosian in 1969 to reach the chess Olympus and who lost his title to GM Bobby Fischer in the Match of the Century in 1972 in Reykjavik, died on Thursday aged 88. His death was confirmed by the Chess Federation of Russia.

I've been trying to find a short video on that match that would appeal to a non-chess-playing audience, but I can't, and it's late. There are plenty of documentaries on that match in Iceland, if you're interested.

It was a long match, as it streched to 21 games with Fischer finally reaching 12½ points to win against Spassky's 8½ points in the best of 24 games.

There was also a bit of drama, as Fischer objected to the chess set, the lighting, the cameras, and was late for 1 match due to traffic. Fischer forfeited the 2nd game over the cameras.