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Winnipeg Free Press
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Little pictures, big ears, and bad examples
Opinion What are we teaching our kids? One of the pillars of a thriving democratic society is exemplified through the civil conduct of our elected political leaders. The ethos of honesty, humility, and empathy are becoming increasingly relinquished in lieu of posturing public vitriol and moral indifference. In this era whereby dehumanizing language has become so routinely normalized, I ask my fellow citizens: What moral lessons are we teaching our youth? If we readily embrace the hostile spirit embodied by our elected officials, how can we reasonably expect any different conduct among our young people? Alex Brandon / The Associated Press U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on April 17, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has been exceptionally successful in desensitizing the discourse of name-calling and divisive politics. A recent example was demonstrated through the President's Easter Holiday message, posted to Truth Social, extending his well-wishes to the 'Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country.' Such ignominious rhetoric has also been strategically targeted to discredit his political rivals and critics. Monikers such as 'Crooked Hillary,' 'Pocahontas,' and 'Ron Desanctimonious' are but a few examples of such juvenile mannerisms. Name-calling practices have lamentably begun to manifest in Canadian political contexts, as evidenced in recent 'Sneaky Carney' and 'Sellout Singh' titles. We would not tolerate such bullying behaviour in our public schools, and yet why are we so willing to tolerate this among our elected officials? Degrading asylum seekers and newcomers has, likewise, been purposefully utilized to sow fear among political bases. The U.S. president has recurrently asserted baseless claims that immigrants are eating pets, terrorizing neighbourhoods, and has equated such humans with 'vermin' and 'lesser than animals.' Denigrating our fellow humankind is overt and purposeful, coinciding a grander collective effort to advance the agendas of these aspiring demagogues. A further precarious development in American politics has been deporting U.S. residents to El Salvador prisons without judicial process. In essence, the president is conditioning young people to disregard others' humanity and to embrace dogmatism, as exemplified through his concerted efforts to assert guilty verdicts without the presence of judicial review or evidence. Public school teachers are bestowed with an enormous responsibility to cultivate critical-thinking capacities, a sense of democratic citizenship, and facilitate historical learning among our youth to better understand our present reality. However, many of these areas in cognitive and attitudinal development have become so contentious and politically laden. Teaching the history of the Jan. 6 insurrection, as an example, is so peculiarly ambiguous. Was this event a criminal conspiracy to invoke insurrection or was it the manifestation of American 'patriotism'? Even though U.S. courts resoundingly rejected the president's desperate 'election fraud' assertions, his political base remains adamant in trusting his word over fact or judicial process. We, as a global society, have become desensitized to the president's pathological lying, a worrisome precedent that suggests integrity and honesty are no longer relevant qualities among our political leaders. We have navigated approximately a decade with the concept of 'alternative facts' and the politicization of 'truth.' The president is conditioning our young people to disregard the insights of academics and scientists, while embracing the perspectives of conspiracy theorists and neophytes. Evidently, our youth is being increasingly subject to a culture that embraces dogma and negates critical thinking capacities. Policies pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have been further problematized by the president and his MAGA acolytes. Such attitudes have been curiously equated with being 'woke,' spoken against with disdain, and have been disregarded for meritocratic mindsets whereby the strong and hardworking earned their social and/or economic status. And yet, if we are truly committed to an equitable and inclusive democratic society that celebrates our diversity, why is there such vehement opposition to such policies and practices? During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. In public schools, would we not expect equitable learning environments for our children so that all youth are included, may grow, pursue dreams, and otherwise fulfil their human potential? Do we not value the rich diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, histories, and cultural practices of our fellow neighbours? In sum, the ethical character of our elected officials is increasingly disconcerting and a sinister example for our youth to emulate. Hateful conduct would be deemed reprehensible, not tolerated by youth in our public schools, and would be hastily reprimanded. And yet, many world leaders are acting in such derogatory fashion. Cognizant of these despondent political developments, I ask my fellow citizens: what example are we setting for our youth? Jordan Laidlaw is a public school teacher, union activist, and Ph.D. candidate in Educational Administration.
South China Morning Post
27-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong retail rents have further to fall amid consumer spending dip
Activity in Hong Kong's retail leasing market is strong despite lukewarm retail sales, as companies take advantage of rents that are relatively low – and set to fall further, according to some experts – to move into larger premises or better locations. Advertisement 'The retail market has shown a mixed picture, where we see some business owners from [food and beverage] and clothing shops worrying about their sales during the Easter Holiday, yet leasing activity in the core retail districts remains very active,' said Jeannette Chan, senior director of retail at JLL Hong Kong. Leasing momentum was particularly strong in mass-market segments, but 'retail rents continued to dip as landlords in general offered discounts to attract and retain tenants amid sales headwinds', Chan added. Total retail sales during January and February fell 7.8 per cent year on year, steeper than the 6.6 per cent drop in the fourth quarter, according to JLL's latest report published on Thursday. A sales decline hit most major retail categories, it said. 'Jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts plunged by 15.8 per cent, compared to 10.4 per cent last quarter,' JLL said. During the Easter long weekend, retail sales suffered as Hongkongers left the city in droves, with 1.3 million departures by residents and only 234,090 visitor arrivals recorded on April 17 and 18, according to official data. Advertisement Departures by locals rose 31.4 per cent from pre-pandemic figures in 2018 and 8.4 per cent over the Easter holiday last year. The arrival numbers were 20.4 per cent lower than in 2018 and 15.2 per cent higher than last year.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
Homeless man arrested in downtown L.A. chainsaw tree mystery
A man has been arrested in connection with dozens of city-owned trees in Los Angeles that were cut down with a chainsaw over the Easter Holiday weekend. The suspect, Samuel Groft, 45, was arrested for felony vandalism. KTLA's Mary Beth McDade reports on April 23, 2025. Details:
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Homeless man arrested in downtown Los Angeles' chainsaw tree massacre
A man has been arrested in connection with dozens of city-owned trees in Los Angeles that were cut down with a chainsaw over the Easter Holiday weekend. While law enforcement officials had no leads on April 20, some Angelenos were busy posting photos to Reddit and Instagram of all the felled trees downtown. In photos, trees were seen in pieces at locations including 1st Street and Wilshire Boulevard, Olympic Boulevard and Hope Street, Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street, Broadway and Cesar Chavez Avenue, Grand Avenue in front of the Wells Fargo Center and Grand Avenue and 5th Street. By late afternoon Easter Sunday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass had chimed in, saying in a statement that 'someone would do this is truly beyond comprehension.' Cindy Aguilar, a building manager at 8th Street and Union Avenue, said she saw the news over the weekend but never thought anyone would target trees in the Westlake area until she began scouring through her building's surveillance cameras Monday morning. That's when she found images of the suspect hard at work. 'It was very sad to see trees just come down like,' she told KTLA's Mary Beth McDade. 'They're damaged and they can't just grow again. We might have to replace them and they're a lot of money.' $4M in stolen cargo recovered from South American theft crew in L.A. Aguilar reached out to a nearby business owner who confirmed he saw what appeared to be the same person taking trees down with a chainsaw. By Tuesday evening, police had released a community alert with a picture of the chainsaw-wielding suspect. Rampart officers told KTLA that they recognized the man as homeless and were aware of some of his regular hangouts. While police didn't say exactly where, the suspect was located at one of those hangouts and taken into custody, the chainsaw still on him, according to police. City Public Works crews have already started the work of removing the timber and cleaning up. Trees that belong to the city are expected to be replaced. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Yahoo
Dozens of trees hacked down by vandals in downtown Los Angeles
Dozens of trees in downtown Los Angeles were hacked down over the weekend, according to multiple media reports and posts to social media. It's unclear exactly what time the destruction occurred, with officials at the Los Angeles Police Department telling KTLA that, at least for now, they had no information about the incident and calls made to the city's Urban Forestry Division by the Los Angeles Times went unanswered over the Easter Holiday weekend. In a post to Reddit, one user noted that several trees between 1st Street and Wilshire Boulevard had been cut down. On Instagram, another user posted video that captured felled trees at Olympic Boulevard and Hope Street, Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street, Broadway and Cesar Chavez Avenue, Grand Avenue in front of the Wells Fargo Center and Grand Avenue and 5th Street. It appears from photographs and video that the trees were cut using a chainsaw, with some of them cut at the bottom and others taken down several feet above the ground. In other instances, a clean cut wasn't made, leaving some of the trees connected by threads of bark. At least some of the trees were of a drought resistant variety known as Indian laurel fig, The Times reported. Why a vandal or several vandals would want to deface and damage city property in this particular manner is unknown and so far, no surveillance footage has emerged of the perpetrators or perpetrator. There are reports that city crews have been out assessing the damage to the downtown trees. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
