(Credit: CBC News)
But as damaging as the story is in Jasper, the good people there are not alone.
There are fires in dozens, if not hundreds of places. It’s hard to stay on top of this story but to do that the best way is to pick the news service of your choice most of which have special operations going to keep you informed.
In the meantime, this piece by Liane Faulder in the National Observer is about how the Jasper story can be so personal:
Jasper's fire has turned personal history into ash🔒
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It's Olympics time again and for the next two weeks many Canadians will be sitting on their couches suddenly interested in sports they haven’t watched for four years.
After last night’s stunning Opening Ceremony along the Seine in Paris, it’s going to be quite the spectacle. But already the first scandal of the Games and damned if it doesn’t have to be Canada in the middle of it all.
If the stories are all true, it’s especially pathetic after so many Canadian athletes, coaches and trainers have spent so much of their lives trying to make us all proud. The stain of Seoul in 1988 may never wear off, and you can be sure this latest episode won’t help.
The Globe’s Cathal Kelly wrote this piece in the early hours of Friday morning and as he so often does in his reportage, he catches the meaning of the story:
Canada beats New Zealand, making its spying scandal more pointless🔒
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There’s always concern at the Olympics over security, and that was on display yesterday at the start of the Games
This year, partly because of the Middle East situation, there’s heightened anxiety over the safety of athletes. And that of course brings back memories now 52 years old. Munich 1972.
Anika Arora Seth of the Washington Post reminds us what happened then and how it looms over Paris this weekend:
1972 Munich Olympics, marred by killing of Israeli athletes, loom over Paris Games
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Politics now, first here at home.
In Ottawa and elsewhere in the country this week, a common question has been “Will Trudeau do a Biden?” Well, the PM wasn’t around to answer the question because he was out on the West Coast holidaying with his family. And who can begrudge him that?
But the question still exists and what better time to convene the Good Talk panel for a mid-summer special. So that’s what we did with Chantal Hebert and Bruce Anderson and the YouTube version is available right now at nationalnewswatch.com
Just in case we left you in that pod with the impression the Liberals have fallen silent this summer, not so.
The Montreal Gazette seems to have found a website where the Liberals are taking shots at the Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre in particular. Check it out:
Federal Liberals launch website lambasting Poilievre's record as a Conservative MP
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So, with all the Canadian talk that’s been around about Trudeau and Poilievre, some have been wondering: whither the NDP?
The federal NDP to be specific. And the distinction is important because there seems to be a real difference in the fortunes of the Jagmeet Singh-led NDP and many of the party’s provincial counterparts. David Baxter of the CBC took a look at that angle:
The federal NDP are stuck in neutral while its provincial parties find momentum
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You must admit, our world has changed a lot in the last five weeks.
Just five weeks since the Presidential Debate in the US , a night when Joe Biden’s precipitous fall from the Oval office began. Then, an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the RNC convention, the nomination, a potentially disastrous one, of J.D. Vance as Trump’s #2, Biden’s decision to step down, and the explosive start for Kamala Harris.
What’s next? Who knows for sure, but in our electrified 24-7 news cycle, something is bound to happen. Somewhere in the next week or two Harris will pick her number two, someone to go up against Trump’s mini-me.
Already there’s a long short-list. Not that I have a vote on this decision, but I will offer one anyway. I like all the Governors being mentioned but I really like this non-Governor and so does Phil Boas of the Arizona Republic:
Kamala Harris doesn't scare Republicans, but Mark Kelly absolutely should
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If you listen to my podcast, The Bridge, then you already know what a fan I am of Ken McGoogan, the Canadian author who has told us more about the exploration of Canada’s Arctic than anyone else I can think of.
He’s an expert on the many who risked and the many who lost their lives looking for the fabled Northwest Passage. He’s got a new book coming out, but it has nothing to do with the Arctic. Instead, it’s a must-read if you believe the stakes in this year’s US election are all about the future of democracy.
Ken flipped me a copy before publication and its really good, I highly recommend it. It’s called “Shadows of Tyranny: Defending Democracy in an Age of Dictatorship”
There’s an excerpt in the current issue of The Walrus:
Why Canada Should Worry about Trump’s Second Coming
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You’ve probably heard these stories over the years. In fact, they go back decades.
How Russian bombers edge close, very close, to where Canadian and US airspace extends over the Arctic. How Canadian and American fighters scrambled to intercept the Russians (and before them the Soviets), warning them to back off if they stray too close. It happened again this week.
I’ve talked to some of the fighter pilots over the years and while they’ve always understood the seriousness of the situation, they seemed to treat it like a good exercise to see how long it would take to scramble out of their bunks, get up in the air, and intercept. Some even talked about how, when wingtip to wingtip with their adversaries, there would be smiles and waves.
Well, maybe not so much anymore. Murray Brewster does a deeper dive into what some intelligence officials are quite worried, about what the Russians may be up to:
Pentagon warns of potential Russian action in the Arctic — including jamming GPS satellites
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A few years ago, I did a documentary for the CBC called “The Future of War”.
In fact, you can still find it buried deep somewhere almost unfindable in their streaming platform called Gem. But that’s another story.
What we were trying to do in our documentary was define what would happen if there was a World War Three. One thing most of our experts agreed on was that if it happened it would likely involve China, and the catalyst would be Taiwan.
Which brings me to this. Television in Taiwan has a new hit on its hands. It’s a drama all about China invading their island. Asia’s Straights Times tells us all about it:
Taiwan TV series depicting China invasion sparks anxious debate
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Final story today is about something I know you love to do.
I have no doubt because you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t love doing what I know you love doing. Guess it yet? That’s right, reading. You love curling up with a good book, a magazine, a paper even. And of course, The Buzz. But you may be part of a group that is getting smaller, not growing. Helen Coffey has this in The Independent:
