Break spell before it hexes your marriage

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I have an itch that needs to be scratched every couple of days. I sneak home with a new young woman from my workplace, who is a witch, and spend an hour or more with her, learning some things my wife doesn’t know anything about. It’s not really sexual with this new person yet, but I’m feeling intrigued by her witchy-ness — and more.

I’m fascinated and want to learn whatever she’s willing to teach me as we go along. This is especially cool now my “magic woman” has told me she’s interested by the darkness in me. Whatever that means. Nobody’s ever noticed that before.

I feel my wife really doesn’t need to know I’m into this stuff. It would only hurt her, and it may lead to nothing. But how do you keep a secret from your partner for any length of time when they know your every mood and can almost smell your secrets?

— Feeling Insecure, West End

MARANELLO, Italy (AP) — Mick Schumacher is leaving Ferrari for another of the teams his father raced for.

Mercedes announced on Thursday that Schumacher will be its reserve driver for 2023 behind Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

He had been racing in Formula One with Ferrari-powered Haas.

“I take this as a new start, and I am just excited and grateful to Toto (Wolff, Mercedes team principal) and everybody involved for putting their trust in me,” Schumacher said. “F1 is such a fascinating world, and you never stop learning, so I look forward to absorbing more knowledge and putting in all my efforts for the benefit of the Mercedes team.”

Iran is a state run by a radical government victimizing its citizens and its neighbours. How do we change that? Any regime change that repeats the mistakes of the past is not a solution.

What went wrong in the past which led to the current regime? One answer is the U.K. and American aided coup which led to the ouster in 1953 of a democratically elected government headed at the time by Mohammad Mossadegh and its replacement with an American friendly autocrat, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The Shah imposed his rule through the Iranian National Intelligence and Security Organization — SAVAK, the acronym of its Persian name. SAVAK systematically inflicted torture, arbitrary killings and extra-judicial killings on perceived opponents of the regime. It was only a matter of time before repression of a regime directed to serving foreign interests would be overthrown.

What replaced the regime of the Shah, in 1979, the current regime of the mullahs, is a regime as intolerant and violent as the regime of the Shah and then some. That was not inevitable. But neither was it surprising. The vicious nature of the current regime, following the example set by the Shah, and its hatred for the United States, reacting to the U.S. aided imposition of the Shah, both echoes and reacts to the past. In 1979, the U.S. reaped what it sowed in 1953.

Manitoba has a climate plan. Where is the pathway for protecting nature?

The Manitoba government has released its long awaited Path to Net Zero Plan, outlining ways to tackle emissions and build a more climate resilient future.

But something essential is missing.

In 2023, the Manitoba government committed to developing an action plan to protect 30 per cent of Manitoba’s lands and waters by 2030. The Path to Net Zero Plan recognizes the importance of nature in addressing climate change, calling for measures that restore, conserve, and enhance natural ecosystems. That recognition is welcome.