bring in the lawn ornaments, it is getting windy

With more tumultuous weather happening in 'red' states, hopefully this sways at least a few people who are somewhat less hardened to now understand that anthropomorphic Climate Change is a real thing.

With Donald Trump indicted in the first of three or four cases against him he is to present himself to court on Tuesday this week. This first case is the pay-off Stormy Daniels case; the remaining ones include illegal election influence in Georgia, inciting a riot on that Jan 6 and the hiding or denying about confidential documents held in his Florida home. Media reports that NYC, where his first court case is, is ready for any and all MAGA people that come with violence in mind to support Trump.

I've read a few different articles about Joe Biden's regretful approval of what is known as the Willow project, the opening of land in the Alaskan Arctic circle for oil drilling and production. This Willow announcement came two weeks after the release of the latest IPCC report where Antonio Gutteres said unequivocally that all current fossil fuel business needs to wind down and all plans for new ones need to be canceled.

In more local news the Quebec government released its annual budget and to my disappointment there was only the shoring up of public transit; there was no meaningful announcement of measures to change the funding method, or plans for expansion. With more and more cars becoming electric, especially here in Quebec, the gas surtax that helps fund public transit is diminishing. As a transit user I do wish more was done.

In less local news the Canadian government also released its annual budget. Among new social and cost of living investments (dental care, improved GST rebates, etc.) there is a big push to invest in a very targeted manner into 'green technologies' that are homegrown here in Canada. This I am in support of, but what I felt was missing was any mention of addressing the housing crisis. We are receiving hundreds of thousands of new Canadians every year through immigration, and who can blame these people for choosing Canada? Where will they live? What is upsetting about the housing crisis is that the majority of people are housed and so for them this is not a primary concern. It is the minority of newcomers and the destitute, the marginal people who are suffering the most. Given this majority's relative indifference to the problem, there isn't the political will to do enough about it.

With respect to my job, there are four weeks left to the personal tax season, and so the crazy busy period has a light at the end of the tunnel. As of April 1st I am getting paid 3% more in terms of annual salary, so that is good, though not matching what inflation is doing these days. I also received a bonus based on the company's 2022 performance. I only received 2/3rds of what I'd otherwise have received as I only started with the company in May 2022 and so wasn't there the full year. On March 28 my manager sent a message asking people, in order of seniority, to put in for their summer vacations so as to not have everyone off at the same time. I have already booked a trip to the Saguenay in July and bought day event tickets to the National Bank Open in August; hopefully nothing prevents these two vacations from happening.