All that people in Quebec ever do is pay taxes. Supposedly, they get some sort of welfare joys in return. These welfare goodies have been diminishing in recent years but there still was a service that Quebec was very proud of: accessible daycare system. For $7 a day, you could place a child in a state daycare center. Many children never got a spot because there were queues but still, the system existed and it was egalitarian.

Now, however, this bastion of public good has fallen to the approaching hordes of the “community of the aggrieved.” Successful, hard-working taxpayers of Quebec will be deprived of accessible daycare. The only people who will have it are, paradoxically, those who pay next to no taxes.

The government of Quebec seems bent on following the European example and creating tensions between the locals and Quebec ‘ s sizeable Muslim community.

Do you remember the Year of the Protester? The #Occupy, the Spanish Indignados, the Russian pro-democracy protests, the Canadian student protests?

All of these protesters failed to achieve anything whatsoever. They played at activism, tweeted, Facebooked, postured, and receded into oblivion without having achieved anything.

Out of all of them, the only successful protest was the one in Ukraine. It’s a slow, painful process, but Ukrainians are actually managing to transform their society. The reason why Ukrainians are successful where the American,  Canadian, Spanish, British, etc protesters failed is that Ukrainians decided not to present the universe with vague supplications to “end greed”. Instead of begging a benign paternal authority to make everything good,  they are starting to realize that the only authority over their lives is themselves. And that’s an enormous breakthrough.

There are people who are seriously discussing how great it would be if the compulsory military service were brought back in the US.

This is what happens to those who don’t read Clarissa ‘s Blog and are clueless about the collapse of the nation-state.

The preoccupation with online safety has reached creepy dimensions. Hotmail has blocked my mailbox because it noticed that I was trying to access it from a Canadian IP. I had to conduct a series of bizarre transactions to prove who I am but it still isn’t working.

Yesterday my sister called Hydro Quebec to pay her bill. The company refused to accept the payment because my sister didn’t manage to prove who she was. Because obviously there are crowds of evildoers running around trying to pay somebody else’s bills. 

In the meantime, actual safety is of little concern to anybody. There is so much snow that two-way streets have become one-way. But the drivers are still charging in both directions, and nobody seems very interested in regulating the traffic or cleaning the snow. This is Montréal, so it isn’t like snow in winter is a total surprise.

The privilege wars have spilled over into the highly ideological area of brunch.

People have way too much time on their hands. I feel very underprivileged now that I have realized that society denied me the opportunity to see the privilege behind not seeing the privilege of the overprivileged. Or something.

The scientifically 100% accurate horoscope is finally here!

There are people who comment on the blog but there are also many people who read and never comment. Often, readers turn into fans of specific commenters. It’s like we are all characters in a reality show people are watching. I constantly get questions and compliments directed at the commenters.

So, commenters, please know: you are liked and discussed over dinner around the world. 

It’s not only horribly cold but also extremely icy in Montréal, so my plan to walk around has been thwarted.

I visited the Las Americas bookstore, which is the best Spanish-language bookstore in North America. The store has been going to the dogs, and the first thing I saw there today was a huge selection of crappy books translated into English. The most proudly showcased book was called something like “How to become as successful as Starbucks.” Well, learning English would be the first step, obviously.

I was getting very disappointed when I spotted a big bookcase with books that were on sale for $2-4. So I dragged out a big sack of books.

I’m besieged by bad luck on this trip. The streets are an ice-rink, the place I went for lunch was out of the items I wanted to order, and Toys-R-Us ran out of Shopkins that I wanted to buy for Klubnikis. Shopkins are huge with 5 – year-olds these days.

On the positive side, I got to spend time with a dear friend from grad school who works in Toronto but lives in Montréal.

And now I’m on the way to get reunited with my suitcase.

I’m hearing that a fresh round of privilege wars is raging on. People are going on and on, whining with abandon, “No, I’m totally more pathetic than you!” They are snatching the losership tiara from each other’s sweaty fingers, taking mortal offense to any suggestion that they are not the most pitiful, pathetic, forlorn rejects on the planet.

Freaks.

“It’s so weird,” I told my sister. “Whenever I go outside at night to turn off the Christmas lights,  I feel terrified. I have images of criminals hiding in the bushes, waiting for me. When I lived at the old place, I felt nothing of the kind, even though the area was kind of shady and I even had police officers question me a couple of times about bank robberies in my street.”

“Oh, but this is obvious, ” my sister said. “The area where you live now is a very family-oriented space. And you perceive anything that has to do with family as inherently dangerous.”

My sister is a genius.