#71: THE CAT IN THE HAT 🐱🎩

🎭️ CULTURE - RCMP investigating after teen girl chased by stranger dressed as Cat in the Hat in West Kelowna, BC

🇨🇦🇺🇸 POLITICS - Unsanctioned Trump ‘memorial’ sign posted outside public washroom in Victoria, BC

🚓 CRIME - Guelph man wielding baseball bat and golf club accused of chasing woman around parking lot

Good morning.

Exactly 10 years after the creepy clown sightings that sparked international panic, we’ve got another creepy dress-up trend.

It all started when high schoolers across the US started making grainy AI-generated videos of the Cat in the Hat frequenting real locations (such as the neighbourhoods of their classmates) and posting them online.

Now the RCMP are investigating after a teenager was chased by someone wearing a Cat in the Hat costume in West Kelowna, BC.

More on that below, but first I’d like to zoom out and make a bold prediction: 

This sort of thing is going to start happening a lot more than it already does.

I believe that 1) as video surveillance becomes more invasive & widespread and 2) as the generation of yutes who were educated either from behind a mask or a computer screen start entering society, many of them will prefer to shroud their identities behind something far more literal than the smokescreen of irony that their Gen-Z predecessors used in order to say things without actually saying them during the PC-crazed 2010s/early 2020s.

Rather than saying things without actually saying them, the new generation will do things without actually doing them – much like a Jekyll-Hyde thing. 

They will live ordinary lives by day and dress up as the Cat in the Hat by night to terrorize strangers.

Mark my words!

Enjoy today’s stories.

-Peter

⌛️ Today’s read is 1.5 minutes long.

West Kelowna RCMP are investigating after a teen girl was chased down by a stranger in a Cat in the Hat costume.

The girl reached her home safely after the Aug. 24 pursuit, but the identity of the person in the costume is still unknown.

“Regardless of whether the individual intended the behaviour as a joke, following a young person and causing them to fear for their safety is extremely concerning,” said Cpl. Devon Gerrits. “People should understand that behaviour intended as a prank can have serious consequences when it causes another person to reasonably fear for their safety.”

West Kelowna RCMP is asking anyone with doorbell, security, or dashcam footage from the 2000-block of Shamrock Drive on Aug. 24 around 9 p.m. to get in touch with them.

Thus far, they have only managed to obtain one picture (taken by video surveillance camera) of the disguised suspect:

A rogue sign was installed above the entrance to a public washroom in Victoria, BC, last weekend “renaming” the facilities after US President Donald Trump. 

The sign, which was posted on the washrooms near the Galloping Goose Trail, reads “Donald J. Trump Memorial.” 

In a statement, the City of Victoria said the sign was taken down within hours of being reported last Sunday. 

A city spokesperson also said there are no security cameras in the vicinity that could have captured video of whoever put it up. 

As the Canada-US trade war rages on, Vancouver Islanders have been fond of making poop jokes at Trump’s expense.

This summer, Vancouver Island artist Wendy Chartrand sold a Trump portrait painted with horse manure for nearly $2,000.

Chartrand titled her piece “The Don of Dung.” 

“It’s just good to laugh at stuff sometimes,” she said. “You can’t do anything about it… so you might as well laugh.”

_{Source: CTV News}

A Guelph man faces multiple charges after allegedly threatening women in a parking lot with a baseball bat and a golf club.

Around 3 PM on Monday, a woman called police and said a man she knew had become violent after she refused to give him cigarettes.

The woman said he smashed the window of her car with a baseball bat, then approached another woman (whom he also knew) and threatened her while banging the bat against the ground.

He then dropped the bat and picked up a golf club, which he raised above his head while chasing the woman around the parking lot, according to police.

The 66-year-old Guelph man was arrested a short time later.

He is charged with assault with a weapon, mischief under $5,000, four counts of breaching probation orders, and two counts of breaching bail conditions.