Re: [OT] British MP defends cousin marriages

On 2024-12-16 7:40 PM, The Horny Goat wrote:

On Mon, 16 Dec 2024 11:52:12 -0500, shawn
<nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:
 

I remember seeing a video a couple of years back where the German
authorities settled 600 refugees from Syria in a village of only 200
people. This was NOT appreciated by the villagers....
>
I'd be interested in hearing how that worked out but I don't remember
the name of the village so it would be hard to research.

>
https://theworld.org/stories/2017/07/20/small-german-city-finds-its-not-easy-welcoming-hundreds-or-syrian-refugees
>
https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/after-fleeing-palmyra-syrian-family-trying-find-home-small-town-germany
>
https://www.unhcr.org/us/news/stories/syrian-refugees-breathe-new-life-shrinking-german-village

 I confess I still look at "Syrian refugees" somewhat askance since the
way the Kurdi case was used to influence the 2015 Canadian election.
 The Kurdi family tried to cross from Turkey to Greece in a home built
raft which wasn't up to the challenges of bad weather conditions. The
net result was that the entire family except the father (and including
a VERY cute 4 or 5 year old whose picture was in the paper for two
weeks at the key point of the election) was lost at sea.
 So why was someone seeking refugee status trying to make a dangerous
(and illegal) crossing by sea? Well it turned out that while the
father's sister had previously gotten status in Canada (and was the
primary person talking to Toronto area reporters) her brother the
father of the family who was lost had picked up the application form
for Canadian refugee status BUT HAD NOT FILLED IT IN AND USED IT TO
APPLY FOR REFUGEE STATUS FOR HIS FAMILY - with his only contact with
Canadian officials being to pick up the blank form which had been
neither completed nor submitted.
 The sister in Toronto painted the situation as deliberate mistreatment
by unfeeling Canadian authorities and blamed the Canadian government
(which was trying for re-election in the middle of the campaign) for
being cruel and hard-hearted and that a whole family including her
very cute 4 year old had died as a result.
 No question an emotional story - but completely untrue.
 Bottom line is that while I'm sorry the entire family (less the
father) died, if one is going to apply for refugee status ONE DOES
ACTUALLY HAVE TO APPLY - and to say the government failed in their
duty to this family is pure horsesh** - but it was believed to have
changed 200-300,000 votes in several key Toronto electoral districts
and on that turned the entire election. In Canadian terms it wasn't
quite OJ's slow drive down the interstate - but very close to that
level of publicity.
 So yeah - I'm kind of suspicious when I hear talk of Syrian refugee
claimants - the party I voted for in that election lost largely due to
this family.
 Some of you may remember this case - I'm certain Rhino would.
 My personal view is that the aunt should have been publically tarred
and feathered - literally - but that's against the constitution these
days. I mean jeez louise - the dad DIDN'T APPLY! It's not like some
civil servant failed in their job...

As you anticipated, I certainly heard lots about that family that drowned and it clearly affected the election. But I never heard the part about the father failing to even fill in the application form. The failure of the media to mention that at the time is appalling but not particularly surprising: it helped Trudeau at a time when he was far from a shoo-in and ushered in the past 9 years of misery. There's no doubt most of the media was on Team Trudeau. I still recall the once-respectable Tom Clark interviewing Trudeau and focusing on his nice hair rather than matters of policy. (Is it really surprising that Clark was made Consul-General in New York and set up with a 9 million dollar condo as a reward?)
I keep checking my news feed to see if Trudeau has resigned yet but - no surprise - nothing yet. His insatiable ego makes him incapable of seeing himself as a problem: it's us peons who don't understand his magnificence so he's just going to keep doing what he does until we get it. I can't wait to see the look on his face when the Liberals lose the next election very badly. I'm sure he'll never accept an iota of blame so it'll be interesting to hear the narrative he spins to explain the Liberal loss. I don't see any way he fails to end up looking like exactly what he is: a turd in a punch bowl.
--
Rhino