Montreal passed the mark of 100,000 Covid cases on Friday.
Updates from February, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A Montreal man who brought an African child here and sexually abused her for three years may be locked up indefinitely. I didn’t even know that was possible in law.
Kevin
Technically, he’s eligible for a parole review in 7 years. He’s got dangerous offender status.
It’s like all life imprisonments have a parole eligibility, but there is no guarantee a convict will get parole after 25 years or more.Meezly
To have had to review all the horrifying things Sylvain Villemaire had done to that child. He should be named as the despicable human being that he is. And he was a high school social for 27 years. Who else could he have abused and exploited?
I know I give the police a hard time with racial profiling but they did a good job at arresting this man and finding the girl. I wonder if social services will try to locate any family she may have in Africa. May she find a loving home with people who can give her the care she deserves and needs.
H. John
Kate, here’s a useful explanation of the designation that the Crown has asked be applied. The judge will take this into consideration when he decides on the sentence.
Kate
Thank you very much, H. John.
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Kate
Videotron services have been flaky all afternoon but they’re claiming to be gradually resuming.
Bert
The problem seemed related more to DNS issues than anything. a DNS is what translates names (e.g mtlcityweblog.com) to the IP address, which is then used for the communication. If you already used an alternate DNS to those defaulted by VT you were OK. A quick reconfigure got a few friends back on-line.
Kate
I had Google DNS numbers as alternates in my settings, but even so there were a few glitches throughout the day, including trying to get to Videotron’s own site.
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Kate
There are items about how to celebrate Valentine’s Day and Lunar New Year here during the pandemic. Eater has a rundown of food delivery services, some of which don’t take the big bite that the big ones do, out of resto revenues.
maxmillions97@gmail.com
I see what you did there.
MarcG
These services have a lot to learn about making web stuff easy for people to use. I just tried Radish and I entered my address but I have to click a hundred times to try and add an item to the cart before I find out they don’t deliver to me.
Kate
I know. I understand Skip The Dishes is not so great, but I have to admit they pass my credit card and bring me food, seamlessly.
vasi
Yeah, I gave up on an order with ChkPlz after it announced at the billing step that the restaurant was actually closed. Are any of these actually usable? Would love to get away from UberEats &co
walkerp
I haven’t had a single issue with ChzPlz but we have only used a very limited number of restaurants (two I think).
Joey
My latest order Chk Plz order was actually delivered by DoorDash. The link to track the delivery (sent via Chk Plz to me by email and text) was a DoorDash link and the driver ID’d himself at the restaurant as a DoorDash driver – so they didn’t turn over the food until he called me and we sorted it out.
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Kate
The Museum of Fine Arts has cancelled the planned exhibit around L’origine du monde, citing pandemic closures in museums in France. I wonder whether anyone objected to the explicit nature of the painting (shown in the article, NSFW in case anyone is at work any more).
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Kate
The government is promising to check all Covid tests in Montreal for the new variants.
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Kate
Montreal-area CEGEPs will be offering retraining to help people get back into the workforce. It’s not entirely new news, having first been mentioned in November. The articles are lacking in any information about the specialties being taught.
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Kate
It will be sunny but relentlessly cold this weekend.
Notes on driving problems.
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Kate
Religious believers seem to find it reasonable to want exceptions to pandemic measures. Now a Rosemont group is petitioning for an exception to the limit of 10 people per gathering so they can “save Easter”. I don’t know how you get across to such people that you can’t negotiate with a pandemic. The virus does not care who you are or what you believe.
Easter this year is on April 4.
Meezly
Religiosity and rationality does not coexist very well together.
azrhey
Matthiew 6:6 : ( 6:2 to 6:8 really, as it talks about doing charity in secret so you do it for the goodness not the rewards )
6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.….
I am not religious these days, but I was raised a good catholic,and I always found HILARIOUS when we would read “go to your room to pray” in a church full of people….
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So for the Christian flavour of religious people.. Matthiew 6:6 damn it!Daisy
It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pray with other people who are also there to pray. It means you shouldn’t parade your religiosity in front of other people in order to impress them, by praying in the streets.
These days showing signs of religiosity in public is not likely to impress others, so some of us believers are more apt to hide our signs of religiosity. Other person: “What are you doing this weekend?” Me:”Not much.” (making no mention of attending synod, going on a retreat, etc.) It’s like I’m scared people will find out and think, possibly like Meezly above, that I am a irrational person (and other similar ideas).
Meezly
I was trying to make a distinction with the use of “religiosity” for certain people who believe that making exceptions in their “need” to gather together should be considered acceptable and exceptional, like general rules shouldn’t apply to them. Rationality often doesn’t seem to enter into these arguments.
Of course religious and spiritual people can also be rational; there are many believers and spiritually-minded people who are scientists, academics, etc etc.
Daisy
Did you read the article? They want the same rules as in stores, e.g. varying according to the size of the premises. Is that irrational?
Meezly
To be honest, I stopped reading when I got to this quote:
«Les intervenants pastoraux sont en quelque sorte en première ligne pour répondre aux besoins spirituels des croyants»If I asked a frontline healthcare worker if this was a rational comparison, what do you think their answer will be?
jeather
At a supermarket, I avoid the other shoppers and don’t talk. This is not how people are interacting in a religious space.
Tim S.
Meezly, I would say that quote makes a lot of sense. I worry sometimes that in a non-religious society, many of the services traditionally offered by a local religious figure no longer exist, and we’ll come to miss them – at funerals, for example. In this situation -and during life in general – many people might appreciate some pastoral support. This kind of care doesn’t necessarily require gathering in person in large numbers, but I wouldn’t dismiss it as a concept.
Meezly
Let’s get this straight. Assuming we have all read the article, yes?
First, why are people responding as if I’m advocating for an outright ban on pastoral support? I am not. The quote makes sense in the context of gatherings with a maximum of 10 people. No one is being denied pastoral support.
The quote does not make sense in the context of the petition, which is to increase the maximum limit for Easter. Is it not possible to find solace in pastoral support with less than 10 people? Am I missing something as a non-believer? Are believers not able to use technology like zoom, like everyone else is doing during the second wave of the pandemic?
The quote also does not make sense in the current reality which I assume we’ve been keeping abreast of as much as we can, especially being aided by this useful site, which we all have access to. Examples of our current reality:
Quebec has already surpassed 10,000 deaths (as Kate asked, have we really become numb to this fact??)
In this context, does it not seem a little astounding for church leaders to be petitioning the gov’t to make a special case for Easter?
There is a more highly infectious new Covid variant (if not more) circulating in communities. This new variant (or variants) is not going to disappear in time for Easter!
As jeather has helpfully pointed out, you go into a supermarket, you do what you need to do and then you GTFO. Not at all like a place of worship.
Also, we ALL need to feed ourselves with food. Only a small percentage of the population needs religious nourishment, but if you were to ask a frontline healthcare worker if we could make a special exception for believers so they can gather in larger numbers for Easter, do you think they would be sympathetic to that concept?
Meezly
One more question…
If Easter has been around for as long as Christ has risen, then why does it need saving?
Uatu
The local church held a Easter Mass using FB last year. Don’t see why these people can’t as well
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Kate
Police chief Sylvain Caron decries what he calls the normalization of firearms (banalisation) in some parts of town, where young men may feel they’re vulnerable if they’re not packing heat. Patrick Lagacé doesn’t think the general public is disturbed enough by the recent shooting incidents: Le reste du Québec se fiche de Montréal et Montréal se fiche de l’est de Montréal.
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Kate
A man was arrested Thursday evening after a stabbing that has proven fatal followed by a standoff with police. Homicide #6 of this year.
Kevin 16:26 on 2021-02-13 Permalink
And we’re back up over 1,000 daily cases less than a week after stores reopened
Kate 18:31 on 2021-02-13 Permalink
Kevin, as you commented last week: I suspect that Legault et al have not even begun to comprehend the long term effects of their actions. I don’t think they are capable of thinking anything other than “it will all work out and everything will go back to the way it was”.
Faiz imam 21:17 on 2021-02-13 Permalink
Please don’t look at covid numbers on a day by day basis. It’s best to compare a day to the same day the week before, or else look at the 7 day average.
In both those cases, it’s lower than it was.
Not to mention, there is very little evidence that much covid transmission occurs via customers doing retail sales.
Kevin 21:27 on 2021-02-13 Permalink
Faiz
I was using that date as a marker. It is also when more employees went back to work in communal locations, and a general easing of affairs.
This is when the province should *lock down tighter* not ease off.