Pope blasts Russian ‘cruelty,’ lauds Ukrainian ‘heroism’

Winnipeg Comiccon to feature Terminator 2 villain, Stargate cast

You gotta ask the question.

In Robert Patrick’s five-decade career, the 67-year-old actor — who’s in town for this weekend’s Winnipeg Comiccon — has played a gambling addict (The Sopranos), a racist (Peacemaker), a terrorist (Die Hard 2), a bereaved father (The X Files) and dozens of other memorable American TV and film parts.

Sometimes weak, though more often, bold and intimidating characters — but, in any case, real men, with emotional ranges well beyond the robot he’s most famous for playing, namely Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s T-1000, a visual paradox of blob and blades whose only mission is to kill a teenage John Connor.

Still, the people want to know: what does Hollywood’s most iconic machine villain make of today’s AI boom?

Pandemic point man didn’t resign, exactly

The rumours of Paul Beauregard's demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

Email inboxes and phone lines were burning-hot Thursday morning with the news that Treasury Board Secretary Beauregard — arguably the most powerful bureaucrat in the Manitoba government and the point man for the province's pandemic response — had resigned his post while the province is still very much in the grips of a public-health crisis.

Beauregard is a controversial figure who been caught up in a scrap with the Opposition NDP over allegations he was improperly involved in the awarding of a contract to Bell MTS, his former employer. The political battle prompted Beauregard to file an unprecedented harassment and bullying complaint against an NDP MLA.

But even with all of Beauregard's baggage and the myriad problems with Manitoba's pandemic response, changing leadership mid-crisis would be a horrible blow to a government already suffering from a deficit in public confidence.

2026 Winnipeg election results: Mayor and council

Complete results for the 2022 election races for Winnipeg mayor and city councillors.

Pope blasts Russian 'cruelty,' lauds Ukrainian 'heroism'

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has blasted the “ferocity and cruelty” of Russian troops in Ukraine while praising the “heroism” and “courage” of Ukrainians to defend their land.

Francis made some of his most pointed comments about the war in a meeting with European editors of Jesuit journals last month, excerpts of which were published Tuesday in Italian dailies La Stampa and Avvenire.

While sharply criticizing Russia’s invasion, Francis also insisted there weren’t “good guys and bad guys” and that Russia was in some ways provoked by NATO’s expansion east.

“Someone might say at this point: ‘But you are in favor of Putin!’ No, I’m not,” Francis said. “It would be simplistic and wrong to say such a thing. I am simply against reducing complexity to the distinction between good and bad, without thinking about roots and interests, which are very complex. While we see the ferocity, the cruelty of the Russian troops, we must not forget the problems to try to solve them.”

Shared Health, heal thyself

Doctors are trained to seek out the causes of illness, not just to treat the symptoms.

That is, perhaps, a style of examination that the government of Premier Wab Kinew should be following with the health-care system as a whole.

Because the symptoms are looking a little dire.

Last week, provincial chief medical officer Dr. José François announced he would be leaving his position in January 2027. That means he will be leaving a position he has only held since April 2024 — less than three years.