Accept fact old mate must move at own speed

About the Winnipeg Free Press Media Literacy and Learning Project

As Manitobans navigate a changing media landscape, we at the Free Press recognize our responsibility has expanded to include sharing our passion and expertise for truth and integrity in journalism with the next generation.

Working with the Winnipeg School Division and Manitoba Department of Education and Early Childhood Learning, we designed a first-of-its-kind collaborative resource that not only strengthens knowledge, but democracy itself.

This project was designed by teachers, for teachers, in close collaboration with the journalists and staff at the Free Press. It delivers sophisticated learning materials and free news content to Manitoba classrooms. Soon, we’ll be piloting software that will allow for searching all of our past online news content by Manitoba curriculum area.

Suffice it to say there’s a lot going on in U.S.-Cuba relations today.

There is the loose talk by U.S. President Donald Trump that he will have “the honour of taking Cuba” and his recent order to deploy the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group just off the coast of Cuba. Then there’s the tightening of the U.S. economic blockade against the island, the imposition of a crippling oil embargo, and a U.S. federal indictment against former Cuban president Raúl Castro on four murder counts.

Recently, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio — the main driver of U.S. Cuba policy — has poured cold water on any possible diplomatic solution between the two countries. And he has made it abundantly clear that the Cubans will not “be able to wait us out or buy time.” Does that leave U.S. military intervention as the only viable alternative?

As U.S.-Cuba talks have essentially stalled, the Pentagon has provided the White House with a list of options for attacking Cuba and the CIA has initiated a new task force that specifically targets Cuba.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My mother is coming to visit and our little kids want her to sleep in their bedroom, where there’s a double bed and a single. My husband thinks this idea is ridiculous and says grandma needs her sleep, but I disagree.

I remember sleeping with my grandma — who’s now with the angels — and she told us grandkids (two girls) some wonderful bedtime stories she made up herself. She even put our names into them, making us the stars of the stories.

The best part was getting into our pyjamas with our grandmother, who showed us the magic cord from the little thing that ran from her near-deaf ear down to the secret battery pocket hidden in the bra of her slip. It made her hear us better in the daytime. We thought, “Wow!”

Not surprisingly my own mother has inherited her mom’s fantastic storytelling talent and who knows what else she has to teach the kids when she’s alone with them? I want them to be close.

Transit troubles and passes

Re: Growing pains? Maybe, but it’s worth it, Think Tank, Sept. 10.

Worth it for who? Our transit system has been undergoing growing pains for the past year, ever since city staff completely messed up the system with their redesign.

The net result of those changes is reduced ridership, leading to a projected deficit of $18 million in revenues this year (not including the capital costs of those changes). Add that to the annual $126-million subsidy to operate Winnipeg Transit and that’s $144 million being paid annually by Winnipeg taxpayers.