Opinion
Success Of Canada’s Women Does Not Mean Men Failed
As usual, the Olympics delivered transcendent national moments for Canada.
It happens every Games. In 2010 the host city of Vancouver itself was the moment that provided a binding agent. In 1996 it was Donovan Bailey crushing the Americans on the track. In 1976 it was a lone high-jump silver medal by Greg Joy. This time in Tokyo it was Christine Sinclair & Co. (the women’s soccer team), a sprinter from Markham and a race walker from B.C. who remind Canadians of who they are, why they are, and how much reinforcement of a single nationality matters.
Except it rarely happens. Canada needs to win. Not all the time. Just enough to make the plucky challenger role thing work. Beating the U.S. in women’s soccer might be the ultimate underdog role that tells the 36 million chez nous that for all its horrific weather and language stress the Great White North is a good place to live.
Unfortunately the five percent who think they run modern Canada don’t count blessings they way they used to. A prime minister in a hurry to call an election during a pandemic— that he’s abetted— sees the roll of honour quite differently.
It’s now a diversity dance. In place of promoting unity while wearing the maple leaf the PM promotes separating Canadians by their Woke characteristics. Pitting segments of society to achieve peak tribal identity is his MO. In this Orwellian construct he’s fully backed by host broadcaster CBC, the rest of the bought media and labour leaders like Jerry Dias.
The laboured attempts to paint the Olympics as a political coming-out party was a hallmark of the CBC News Olympic features about Canada’s winners. When the Corp allowed its sports announcers like Steve Armitage, Mark Lee or Doug Dirks to call it straight you might be persuaded that it was your grandfather’s Olympics still.
Don’t be fooled. The PM who worships his brand of diversity (but practices otherwise) sees the Olympics as a blue-check exercise in drawing new lines between people who struggle at the best of times to find some unifying concept. (Just ask the CFL which adopted his “diversity” mantra but then was stiffed at its time of crisis by a government with loftier public goals to achieve alongside WE. )
According to Justin Trudeau Reality (taught by Gerry Butts) the final medal standings at the Tokyo Games should read something like this:
CDN. women athletes/ teams 19
Biopoc single athletes. 5
Muslim medal winners 1
LGBTQ (all nations) 182
Trans CDN athletes 1
Privileged white walkers 1
Gold medals for our Chinese friends 38
The loudest progressive braying will likely be about the preponderance of medals won by Canada’s (traditional) women athletes. Of the gold, silver and bronzes handed out to athletes (for them to put on themselves) women and teams of women garnered 19 medals.
It was a great show. From the first medal (Caileigh Filmer, Hillary Janssens for rowing) to the final gold (Kelsey Mitchell in cycling sprint) women did dominate the standings for Canadians. And beat the smug Americans in soccer. This led the usual suspects to gloat about how men couldn’t keep up/ were lacking moral fibre etc. Where would the nation be without the fruits of progressive feminism?
A few caveats here. In about half the nations in the world women are not allowed to compete at all or are severely hampered by religious doctrines or cannot get funding for the rigorous training needed to make an Olympic final. In short the talent pool that Canadian women swim in is clearly smaller by a large factor than that in which the male athletes compete.
So when you’re watching an Olympic final in rowing or cycling or wrestling the odds that a Canadian woman gets on the podium increase exponentially over what can be expected for a man. A good example is Kelsey Mitchell gold in pursuit. From RBC’s camps identifying her athletic talent to winning the gold was a stunning two years. It’s remarkable, but it’s also virtually impossible in a men’s competition.
It might also help the chances of Canadian men if so many elite athletes didn’t choose hockey as a sport. By the time many realize they won’t make the NHL it’s almost too late to get into a sport as late as Mithchell did.
Another factor aiding Canadian women continues to be the Title IX regulations governing American collegiate sport. U.S. schools have to offer an equal number of sports scholarships to women as to men. Often they cannot find enough elite athletes in some sports to fill out their quotas. (See the Felicity Huffman/ Lori Loughlin scandal )
And so Canadian women have flooded into the NCAA to receive elite training and competition. From swimming (Maggie MacNeil, Michigan) to basketball (Kia Nurse, Connecticut) to soccer (Christine Sinclair) many of Canada’s Olympians are honed outside the country thanks to evening the scholarships. Which solves the age-old dilemma of how to get Canadian sponsors to pony up for future Olympians.
The great question now as Trudeau tries to lock-in his concept of diversity is will the Canadian public finally accept the sporting version of his propaganda? Outside the plum events such as Olympics and world championships, the public has been reluctant to give up its traditional NHL and other team sports to root for women?
And how will it accept the new reality of trans athletes and gender fluidity? People tuning in for a sports event don’t react well when they find they’ve signed up for a BLM, CRT or Liberal Party lecture.
For now, enjoy. And don’t let any politician steal the glory of Canada’s Olympians.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author of Cap In Hand is also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Personal Account with Tony Comper is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Daily Caller
Australia Plans To Ban Social Media For Kids Under 16
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Thursday that he was proposing legislation banning social media for children under the age of 16.
Under the legislation, social media platforms will be required to prevent access to minors under 16 without exceptions for parental consent, Albanese announced at a press conference Thursday. The prime minister cited social media’s harm to children as the reasoning behind the proposal.
“Social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling time on it,” Albanese said at the press conference. “This is world-leading legislation. We want to make sure that it is got right.”
“It’s something that is of enormous concern, and we know the social harm that can be caused and we know the consequences here,” Albanese continued.
Albanese clarified that the burden of protecting minors from social media will fall to the platforms, not parents, and that users will not be penalized for breaking this law. The nation will reconsider the legal definition of age-appropriate content so that minors will still have access to educational resources online.
The proposal is set to be reviewed by the cabinet on Friday and will go into effect 12 months after its passage, Albanese said.
“We know that social media offers many benefits to Australians … but we also know that it brings many harms,” Michelle Rowland, Australia’s Communications Minister, said at the conference. “I want to say to parents, just as the Prime Minister did, when it comes to protecting children from the harms caused by content or addictive behaviors as a result of social media, we are on your side. The fact is that social media has a social responsibility, but the platforms are falling short.”
Several U.S. states already enforce restrictions on social media for minors but allow for exceptions for parental consent, such as California and Florida. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for policymakers to crack down on social media in May 2023, warning of a “profound risk of harm” for minors.
Daily Caller
Trump Commits To ‘Largest Deportation Program’ With ‘No Price Tag’
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
President-elect Donald Trump dismissed concerns Thursday about the costs associated with his proposed mass deportation plan.
During a phone interview with NBC News, Trump stated that “there’s no price tag” to his promised deportation plan. He said that he’d initiate an unprecedented immigration crackdown from his first day in office, aiming to deport those in the U.S. illegally, particularly individuals with criminal records.
“It’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not — really, we have no choice. When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag,” Trump said, according to NBC News.
TRUMP: “We are going to have the largest deportation effort in the history of our country, we are bringing everybody back to where they came from. We have no choice.” pic.twitter.com/vsd11XVQAh
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 11, 2024
Trump says he’ll depend heavily on local law enforcement to deport people, although coordination with federal agencies will be essential, the outlet reported. During the same interview, Trump also expressed a welcoming stance toward legal immigration and discussed the need for a robust and secure border. He maintained that the country should remain open to newcomers who respect its laws.
“We obviously have to make the border strong and powerful and, and we have to — at the same time, we want people to come into our country,” Trump said. “And you know, I’m not somebody that says, ‘No, you can’t come in.’ We want people to come in,” Trump said, according to NBC News.
Despite efforts by Democrats to sway Latino voters, his support among Latino men has surged, according to a CNN exit poll. Trump led Vice President Kamala Harris by 12 points among Latino men, however Harris won over Latino women by 22 points.
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