We come from the land of the ice and snow

I'm fond of saying that the US is a very liberal country on immigration, and that everyone just thinks they're not because the right wing there makes so much noise about it. (Something similar goes, as far as comparisons to Canada are concerned, for taxes. E.g., until the recent US cuts, the US federal corporate tax rate alone was higher than the Canadian federal corporate tax rate combined with that of any Canadian province. After the US tax cuts there are still many US states in which combined federal and state corporate taxes are higher than some combinations of federal and provincial corporate taxes. E.g., combined federal and state corporate tax in New York is now (according to what I'm seeing on the wikipedia) 27.5%; combined federal and provincial corporate tax in Ontario, for corporations that don't qualify for the much lower small-business provincial rate, is 26.5%.) You can, of course, make a reasonable argument that this is not true, because we accept a lot more immigrants overall than the US does. However, it is in fact the case that Canada can't possibly remove legal protection for children of illegal immigrants, as the US may do, because in Canada there isn't any--and not only isn't there any, it's not a political issue. Of course, that's presumably because there are a lot fewer illegal immigrants, and children of illegal immigrants, in Canada ... a quick glance at the wikipedia suggests there's more than ten times as many in the US as in Canada, relative to the overall population, somewhere over 3.5% to somewhere under 0.3%. So the result is there's little public pressure to expel them in Canada, which makes it look like we're friendlier toward them, when, as a matter of public policy, we are actually less friendly. Also: while Canada takes in a lot more immigrants than the US relative to its population, a much bigger proportion of the immigrants Canada takes in are from Trump-approved countries (in part because Canada accepts a majority of its immigrants based on economic desirability, while a majority of immigrants are accepted to the US by way of family sponsorships): two of the top ten countries Canada took in immigrants from in 2015 were France and the UK, at 8th and 9th, and the US ranked 7th; the UK is the only European country in the top twenty the US accepted immigrants from in 2015, and it ranked 20th, while Canada ranked 19th. Overall, in 2015, 8.2% of immigrants to the US, and 13.3% of immigrants to Canada, came from Europe.

See, this is the kind of thing I need my bible studyin' to keep me from wasting time and energy on.

Currently at Havelock: 4.4. High today: 5.4.

Wouldn't be sporting, chaps

Down the pipe yesterday and today from Bible Gateway: ( Genesis 25-29. )

I don't know if I never knew or had forgotten that each year of the three-year lectionary cycle takes most of its gospel readings from one of the three synoptic gospels, with John making special appearances during special times, and more appearances during Mark years, such as this year is, since Mark is shorter. Which, speaking of which, well, this is another of those things I guess I don't know if I never knew or had forgotten, but either way it came utterly as news to me the other day to learn that, in 1998, a stand-alone edition of the gospel of Mark was published with an introduction by Nick Cave. Funny thing about the first sentence of the introduction being, I've sporadically been reading And the Ass Saw the Angel lately, finding the writing really amazing (once I got over the "ah"s and "mah"s, which had previously repelled me from it--once I got into it I came to appreciate that they are kind of necessary (in a way that reminds me, as I am often reminded, of (I think it was) my grade 5 teacher telling us that we'll never be able to read quickly as long as we hear what we're reading in our heads--this book, if you don't hear it in your head, you pretty much miss it altogether), kind of like Cormac McCarthy crossed with a Nick Cave song (and, oddly, it makes me wonder why more of his songs aren't like this, which is almost too sing-songy for narrative prose), amazed incidentally by the frequency with which he uses words I don't know--it's one of those things that makes me wonder how it is that anyone can know how to use words that they have seen or heard used probably once at most--and then it struck me, I bet he gets em from the KJV.

Anyway, today's lectionary reading from Mark has Jesus, all grown up, baptized, and tempted by Satan already, fifteen verses into the first chapter, saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near"--so, yeah, as Nick Cave says, this one is driven by the end right from the beginning. I saw today that the wikiquotes page for Nick Cave has a bit where he says he's not that interested in Eastern religions because he's a hammer-and-nails kinda guy. As you know, I am not a hammer-and-nails kinda guy, but I do have to concede that Jesus's being-toward-death makes for a more compelling narrative, and makes him a more compelling human character, than his being-from-birth.

Currently at Havelock: -0.1.