Some Grade 5 students have some advice for Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Stop being mean to Justin Trudeau.
Seven students from an Ottawa-area Catholic school have written to
Harper asking that he pull Conservative attack ads, which began running
within hours of Trudeau claiming the Liberal leadership last month.
It's time to tell the children that Justin Trudeau is like that "cool" student counsellor who is zero-help in choosing a class that will secure them a pension-earning future. Will these Grade Five kids thank him when Fatimacomes back from summer holiday "different" or be cool with his preference for the "better" Quebec kids? I'm sure they will. Maybe someone should tell the children that Justin Trudeau should man the hell up because when you're an adult you can't wear a pink t-shirt and cry that people are mean.
Nigerian warplanes struck militant camps in the northeast on Friday
in a major push against an Islamist insurgency, drawing a sharp warning
from the United States to respect human rights and not harm civilians.
Troops used jets and helicopters to bombard targets in
their biggest offensive since the Boko Haram group launched a revolt
almost four years ago to establish a breakaway Islamic state and one
military source said at least 30 militants had been killed.
But three days after President Goodluck Jonathan
declared a state of emergency in the northeast, U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry issued a strongly worded statement saying: "We are ... deeply
concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are
committing gross human rights violations, which, in turn, only escalate
the violence and fuel extremism."
The United States is the biggest foreign investor in
Africa's most populous nation, notably in its energy sector, and buys a
third of Nigeria's oil. Washington "condemns Boko Haram's campaign of
terror in the strongest terms", Kerry said, but urged Nigeria's armed
forces to show restraint and discipline.
But where on earth did Nimoy get the idea to put his alien hands in such
a formation? "That came from my Jewish background," Nimoy said in 2000.
It's a gesture used in the Priestly Blessing during Jewish services.
Priests give the hand gesture — similar to the Vulcan salute but with
two hands — to bless their congregation. Priests form their hands in the
shape of the letter Shin (or Sin) from the Hebrew alphabet. It's a name
for God. "I saw it done as a kid, was entranced by it, and so I brought
it into 'Star Trek,'" Nimoy explained.
In an unexpected upset that defied virtually every poll, pundit and
oracle in British Columbia, the B.C. Liberals have secured a fourth
consecutive majority in one of the most stunning electoral victories in
provincial history.
For Americans, whose air defenses are closely tied to those of Japan and
South Korea, the logic of cooperation between its two principal allies
in Northeast Asia
has long seemed clear. All three countries face a common threat from a
North Korean regime armed with weapons that can reach the South and also
US bases in Japan. US forces in Japan are the backbone of any response
to war on the Korean Peninsula. Trilateral cooperation could also help balance the growing and assertive military presence of China in the region.
Japan and South Korea must unite against China and its belligerent lap dog.
According to the AP,
the Justice Department acquired records for more than 20 different
phone lines associated with the news agency — including reporters' cell,
office, and home lines — that could affect more than 100 staffers.
Calling the move a "massive and unprecedented intrusion," AP
President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt demanded that the DOJ
explain why it had gone after the records. He also insisted that the
government return the phone records and destroy all other copies of
them.
(Sidebar: do note that Eric Holder is embroiled in this.)
After more than 15 years of failures by scientists around the world
and one outright fraud, biologists have finally created human stem cells
by the same technique that produced Dolly the cloned sheep in 1996:
They transplanted genetic material from an adult cell into an egg whose
own DNA had been removed.
The result is a harvest of human embryonic stem cells,
the seemingly magic cells capable of morphing into any of the 200-plus
kinds that make up a person.
The feat, reported on Wednesday in the journal Cell,
could re-ignite the field of stem-cell medicine, which has been hobbled
by technical challenges as well as ethical issues.
The Philadelphia
abortion doctor convicted of first-degree murder has waived his right
to appeal the verdict in exchange for prosecutors agreeing to drop the
death penalty, the district attorney announced Tuesday.
On Monday, a jury found Kermit Gosnell
guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies and also
involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of a woman seeking an
abortion. At his west Philadelphia clinic, prosecutors say, he performed
illegal, late-term abortions under unsanitary conditions.
Dr. Gosnell “agreed to waive all of his appellate rights in exchange
for life in prison without the possibility of parole instead of the
death penalty,” Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams said in a
statement Tuesday. Gosnell was formally sentenced for the deaths of two
babies, and on Wednesday morning he appeared in court to be sentenced
for the third baby’s death as well as remaining charges, including more
than 200 counts of violating Pennsylvania’s abortion law.
Gosnell did not make remarks in court when the agreement was struck
Tuesday, other than to assure Judge Jeffrey Minehart that he made the
deal fairly and was “very satisfied” with his legal representation.
"Like any deal, there's a give-and-take on each side," said Jack McMahon, Gosnell’s defense attorney.
"A big factor for Dr. Gosnell was his family. They've been
conspicuously absent, and that's been intentional because of the media
focus and whatnot. He has some younger children in high school ... and
bringing them all forward for a penalty phase is something that troubled
him,” Mr. McMahon told NBC10 in Philadelphia.
Williams, a resident of Windsor, Ontario, saw a mother duck and two
ducklings walking down the street, when suddenly the pair fall into the
storm drain, landing in the water about a metre below.
“She started to walk away and we heard noise coming out of the sewer,” Williams told CBC.
He contacted the City of Windsor on his smartphone, a BlackBerry Z10,
and while he waited for the maintenance crew to arrive, searched for an
app that might help.
“I thought maybe there was an app for duck calls. Thankfully, they
have an app for everything and it worked out,” Williams said. “I held it
up to the sewer and the two ducks just came out.”
A Philadelphia abortion doctor was found guilty Monday of
first-degree murder and could face execution in the deaths of three
babies who authorities say were delivered alive and then killed with
scissors at his grimy clinic, in a case that became a flashpoint in the
nation’s debate over abortion.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, was cleared in the death of a fourth baby,
who prosecutors say let out a soft whimper before he snipped its neck.
Gosnell was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the drug-overdose death of a patient who had undergone an abortion.
Gosnell appeared hopeful before the verdict and calm afterward; jurors and lawyers on both sides were more emotional.
The jury will return Tuesday to hear evidence on whether Gosnell should get the death penalty.
It's something but it barely goes far enough in tackling an industry that is truly morally repugnant, almost as repugnant as the reporters whose coverage ran from non-existent to feeble to those who still support Gosnell and his disgusting practice.
A Palestinian terrorist who fought the Canadian government’s attempts to
expel him for 26 years was finally deported to Lebanon on the weekend
aboard a flight chartered by the Canada Border Services Agency.
ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that
show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first
written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress
and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack.
White House emails reviewed by ABC News suggest the edits were made
with extensive input from the State Department. The edits included
requests from the State Department that references to the Al
Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia be deleted as well references to
CIA warnings about terrorist threats in Benghazi in the months preceding
the attack.
That would appear to directly contradict what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said about the talking points in November.
“Those talking points originated from the intelligence community.
They reflect the IC’s best assessments of what they thought had
happened,” Carney told reporters at the White House press briefing on
November 28, 2012. “The White House and the State Department have made
clear that the single adjustment that was made to those talking points
by either of those two institutions were changing the word ‘consulate’
to ‘diplomatic facility’ because ‘consulate’ was inaccurate.”
The Internal Revenue Service apologized Friday for subjecting Tea Party
groups to additional scrutiny during the 2012 election, but denied any
political motive.
How many things can the Teflon Don-in-Chief finagle his way out of before the press and even his followers (sans the Kool-Aid drinkers) ask for him to be removed from office and placed in a prison cell?
Waleed Hammad dressed conservatively for his secret mission into the
world of sexual harassment and abuse on the streets of Cairo, donning a
long tan skirt and sleeved shirt, and at times covering his head like
many Egyptian women.
The 24-year-old actor walked the sidewalks, hidden cameras in tow,
for an investigative television report, hoping the broadcast would
enlighten national debate about how to combat deep-rooted day-to-day
sexual harassment and abuse in this patriarchal society. ...
As he strolled, Hammad, who wore light makeup to conceal hints of
facial hair and accentuate his eyes, was hissed at and verbally abused.
In one instance — when he was wearing a head veil — he was taken for a
prostitute and offered up to $580 for one night.
“I can go wherever I want, do whatever I want very simply, very
easily, very casually,” Hammad said. “For a woman, it boils down to her
having to focus on how she breathes while she is walking. It is not just
the walk. It is not just the clothes. It is not what she says or how
she looks.”
As a woman walking down the street, “you have to be in a constant state of alertness.”
What Hammad experienced is something Egyptian women endure every day.
While not new to Egypt’s conservative society, sexual harassment has
grown increasingly violent and visible in the nation, which has an
embattled police force and an absence of legislation to address it.
Egyptian law defines and criminalizes assault, but not sexual
harassment.
One wouldn't know it from the state-funded mouthpiece, CBC, save this article cementing my belief that journalists are hacks, partisan ones, at that:
Anti-abortion movement rebrands, adopts human rights focus
The pro-life movement has always been human rights oriented. The protection of human life in its most vulnerable stages is particularly related to the goal of human rights protection and furtherance. It has been arguing that human life should be respected from conception until natural death and that pragmatic solutions are required to avoid the deliberate ending of it. Pro-lifers have joined picket lines, marched, handed out pamphlets, counselled women, raised funds and life necessities for them and a lot more, much to the deliberate ignorance of the pro-abortion movement which includes a very compliant and partisan media.
The theme of this year's March for Life, which merited scant mention from the CBC, is gendercide, the deliberate elimination of female unborn babies through sex-selection abortions. A common practice among certain ethnic groups, gendercide presents a peculiar dilemma for pro-abortionists and their enablers. On the one hand, they have to admit that culture matters and that the chauvinistic preference of boys over girls not only contradicts liberal Western values but will present various socio-political and demographic problems in the long run. On the other hand, opposition, however minor, to this particular kind of abortion will force pro-abortionists to admit that what they are in favour of is destroying a human life endangered because of outmoded cultural beliefs. It's a vicious circle, unenviable for the rigid thinking of a cultish movement.
CBC's article dutifully frames the narrative of this issue in an intellectually and morally dishonest fashion. Nothing unusual for a news agency that can't decide if Prime Minister Harper is pro-life or pro-abortion in the face of MPs whose mere mention of abortion sets the jittery into panic mode.
Politicians, activists and others who want to see limits on abortion
are using new arguments to make their case, adopting language usually
used by human rights advocates.
Terms like "gendercide" — aborting female fetuses in the hope of
having male children instead — and "pre-born rights," as well as stories
of women who say they were coerced into ending their pregnancies, are
framing the argument against abortion as a human rights issue.
Again, since when was the pro-life movement never about human rights? The inalienable right to life from which all other rights exist seems to escape logical notice just as the practice of sex-selection abortion has. One would think that a practice that can demographically and politically change the country might be of more interest than what political studies scholars believe the direction the pro-life movement is taking. The "re-branding" bent is not just dishonest but is distracting. Sex-selection abortion is just one aspect of an ongoing debate, not a completely new issue altogether.
One might ask what focus the CBC should adopt if it wishes to remain relevant.
Languages spoken by billions of people across Europe and Asia are descended from an ancient tongue uttered in southern Europe at the end of the last ice age, according to research.
The
claim, by scientists in Britain, points to a common origin for
vocabularies as varied as English and Urdu, Japanese and Itelmen, a language spoken along the north-eastern edge of Russia.
The
ancestral language, spoken at least 15,000 years ago, gave rise to
seven more that formed an ancient Eurasiatic "superfamily", the
researchers say. These in turn split into languages now spoken all over
Eurasia, from Portugal to Siberia.
"Everybody
in Eurasia can trace their linguistic ancestry back to a group, or
groups, of people living around 15,000 years ago, probably in southern
Europe, as the ice sheets were retreating," said Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at Reading University.
During his testimony, Hicks told the Oversight Committee he was in
constant contact with D.C. during the attack. He was on the phone with
Clinton at 2 AM, one hour before the Libyan prime minister told Hicks
Ambassador J. Chrisopher Stevens passed away, relating to her every
detail about the attack.
Hicks also testified that Stevens never once said the attack was the
result of a demonstration against the YouTube video then-Secretary
Clinton cited.
The words of a dead man come back to haunt Hillary Clinton.
12:05 pmEric Nordstrom offers his opening statement.
He directly challenges then SecState Hillary Clinton’s “What
difference, at this point, does it make?” by noting that the truth
matters to him, his colleagues, and to the American people. Nordstrom’s
opening statement was brief but emotional as he took Clinton on without
naming her.
12:10 pm Hicks says he texted Amb. Stevens about the
riot in Cairo. Shortly after that, he got word from Stevens that their
own consulate in Benghazi was under attack. “Greg, we’re under attack,”
Hicks testified that Stevens said to him.
Hicks: The mission was quickly breached by about 20 armed hostile
individuals. He says everyone on the ground in Benghazi that night
believed that it was a terrorist attack from the beginning. There was no
protest or demonstration. He earlier said that Stevens wasn’t even
aware of the situation in Cairo until he, Hicks, told him about it.
As many as 60 hostiles attacked the consulate. Hicks lauds officers’
“heroism” for repeatedly trying to get into the burning consulate during
the attack, noting that it was a petroleum-based fire.
Hicks: Stevens went missing, then he and his officers in Tripoli were
notified that Stevens had been taken to a hospital controlled by Ansar
al-Sharia (al Qaeda’s Libya brand, and the group behind the attack on
the consulate). The attack then had the potential of becoming a hostage
situation.
(Meanwhile in Cairo, al Qaeda had stormed the US embassy to pressure
the US government into releasing the 1993 WTC attack mastermind, Sheikh
Omar Abdul Rahman, and other al Qaeda operatives held in Western
prisons.)
Hicks says the terrorists’ mortar attacks were “terribly precise.” He
feared that his team were being lured into an ambush at checkpoints,
raising again the question of why the State Department failed to secure
the Benghazi compound.
Hicks and military commander in Libya “wanted to go and bring our people home” from Benghazi. They were ordered not to go. ... 12:51 pm Cummings stands down, Rep. Trey Gowdy
(R-SC) steps up. Gowdy asks Hicks whether Stevens or anyone else had
ever believed that there had been a protest or that the YouTube movie
had anything to do with the attack. Answer: No.
“I was stunned. My jaw dropped. And I was embarrassed.”
Hicks, on his reaction to Amb. Susan Rice’s five national television
appearances in which she blamed a movie. Hicks says Rice never called
him for his input before her appearances on TV.
“Why in the world would Susan Rice go on five talk shows?” and blame a
movie, Gowdy asks Hicks. Hicks cannot answer for Rice. Hicks says it
took the FBI 18 days to get to the scene of the attack. ... 1:03 pm Rep. Jason Chaffetz is up, he asks Hicks
about the second rescue team. Hicks says that team were “furious” that
were told to stand down, commanding general said that “This is the first
time in my career that a diplomat has more balls than someone in the
military.”
Chaffetz then moves to question Thompson, the counterrorism officer on the FEST (Foreign Emergency Support Team).
State Dept. claims FEST can respond to attacks with aircraft in four
hours. Chaffetz asks why FEST was not deployed – Thompson says he was
told the Benghazi situation was “too unsafe” for the FEST. Morning after
attack, he was told not to attend a meeting that should normally have
involved him. ... 1:19 pm Rep. James Langford (R-OK) asks Hicks and
Nordstrom whether security was adequate at Benghazi. Answer from
Nordstrom: No. They did not meet the minimum standards. Nordstrom
testifies that only the Secretary of State can grant waivers for
facilities that do not meet the minimum standards. That’s BIG. ... 1:30 pm Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) notes that Hicks was
commended by SecState Clinton after the Benghazi attack. Obama also
called Hicks directly to commend him for his actions on the night of the
attack. But those commendations changed after Rice’s statements blaming
the movie, and on a call with Beth Jones, Hicks questioned Rice’s
statements. “The sense that I got twas that I needed to stop that line
of questioning.” Jones was Acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern
Affairs. State told Hicks not to be personally interviewed by Rep.
Chaffetz, who was investigating the attack. Hicks says that has never
happened to him before in his 22-year State career.
Hicks details how State shut lawyer out of briefing due to lack of
clearance. Consistent with Victoria Toensing’s statements that State has
limited her ability to represent the whistleblowers. Hicks says Clinton
chief of staff Cheryl Mills personally called him demanding a report. A
call from someone so senior is “Not generally considered good news.”
Hicks' testimony reveals a pattern of deliberate deception and intimidation on the government's part. His testimony contradicts not only the events of the that night but what Stevens knew of them and certainly what Hillary Clinton and Obama knew and decided to obscure and conceal.
A growing number of newcomers to Canada are enrolling
their children in French immersion schools in Manitoba, contributing to
an enrolment spike at the bilingual schools.
In many cases, the children of immigrant families are learning
English and French as their second and third languages at the French
immersion schools.
The real reason why anyone learns French in Canada is to secure a comfortable profession later on. There are more Russian speakers worldwide and there is a growing population in Canada whose primary spoken language at home is either Punjabi or Mandarin. Indeed, in Winnipeg it is Tagalog. Yet French is still proffered as the language of opportunity. This is why the francophone oligarchy should not only be questioned but stopped. English, whether one likes it or not, is the language of commerce. There should be no reason why French-speakers deliberately hinder native-born and new Canadians in their everyday lives.
There's no question sexually explicit posters
intended to caution adults in gay bars and bath houses about safe sex
don't belong on the bulletin board of a junior high school classroom.
But the amount of puffed up indignation and partisan political bashing over the incident at a Toronto school seems over the top.
A teacher at Delta Alternative School in Toronto's Little Italy
district has been suspended for posting the materials in classrooms used
by Grade 7 and 8 students, the National Post reported.
The material, a poster and brochures, was part of an awareness
campaign by the AIDS Committee of Toronto. The poster had an
eye-grabbing phrase "If you like to f—" and included tips on how gay and
bisexual men can practise safe sex, the Post said. The material included a picture of a man's partly exposed rear and advice on how to "use your head when giving it."
Principal Marc Mullan sent a letter home to parents of the school's
63 students on Tuesday saying he was made aware of the poster last
Friday and that "the material was taken down immediately," according to
the Post.
A spokesman for the Toronto District School Board said the teacher has been suspended pending a review by the board.
"This is clearly inappropriate," said Ryan Bird. "It crosses a line."
Ontario Education Minister Liz Sandals has weighed in, endorsing the teacher's removal from the classroom.
“The materials that are being used are totally inappropriate and are
in no way connected to the Ontario health and phys ed curriculum,”
Sandals said, according to the Toronto Star.
The incident was “of great concern not just to me but obviously of great concern to parents," the minister added.
That's fine, except for one thing. This material was up on the
classroom bulletin board since last October. Seven months. And no one
said anything?
QMI Agency
reported the school board's investigation includes the role of
Principal Mullan and his administrators. Mullan insists he knew nothing
about the material. School principals appear to be less sharp-eyed than
when I went to school.
This incident says so much about the detachment of parents from their children's schools and what is being taught in them and educators from the larger culture than any imagined prudery. The school was caught and offered a meek defense of itself after realising deflection and denial were not effective. What I would like to see is those responsible owning the messes they've made. They are grooming children for irresponsible behaviour. Let those who fed the monster deal with the voyeurs, addicts and the scarred they encouraged and enabled.
According to the source, when the attack on the Consulate occurred, a
specific chain of command to gain verbal permission to move
special-forces in must have occurred. SOCAFRICA commander Lieutenant
Col. Gibson would have contacted a desk officer at the time, asking for
that permission.
That desk officer would have called Marine Corps Col. George Bristol, then in command of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara. From there, Bristol would have made contact with Rear Admiral Brian Losey, then Commander of Special Operations Command Africa. Losey would have contacted four-star General Carter Ham, commander of U.S. AFRICOM at the time.
“Ham answers directly to the President of the United States,” said
the source. It wasn’t a low-level bureaucrat making the call, the source
adamantly added.
That call may have been made early in the engagement. Both Secretary
of Defense Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin
Dempsey testified in January that they had no further communication with
President Barack Obama after an initial briefing in the early hours of
the Benghazi crisis, which continued through the night.
As in the United States, the anti-abortion movement
continues to challenge a woman's right to chose to terminate her
pregnancy, arguing a fetus has as much right to life as a newborn baby.
The movement has its champions in the federal Conservative caucus,
even if Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stressed he doesn't want the
politically explosive debate reopened. While a segment of his support
base might back the right-to-life position, Harper sees only potential
lost votes in the electoral centre.
But he hasn't been able to rein in advocates such as Alberta MP Mark
Warawa and Ontario's Stephen Woodworth, who've defied their
micro-managing prime minister and tried to bring the issue back into the
House of Commons.
Their strategy has not been a frontal attack on abortion's de facto
legality. Rather, they've tried to snooker opponents by tying their
positions to more broadly supported concepts such as opposition to
sex-selective abortion and a motherhood affirmation of the worth of
human beings.
Warawa's proposed motion to condemn sex-selective abortion hasn't
made it to a vote, despite two attempts, though he reportedly plans to
pursue it in the future, according to CBC News.
The latest gambit comes from Woodworth, who wants the Commons to vote
on his motion: “That the Parliament of Canada declare that the equal
worth and dignity of everyone must be recognized by Canadian law based
on their inherent nature as a human being.”
Like Warawa's motion, Woodworth's contains a trap for pro-choice supporters. But they're not taking the bait. The Kitchener Centre MP approached the National Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada
to support his motion. When it refused, Woodworth pounced, accusing the
organization of devaluing some members of the human race.
“If you begin by saying that 'I'm sorry, some people are just not
human beings and therefore they can be written out of the equation,'
it's a really bad move,” Woodworth told CBC News, after he was rebuffed. “It creates a dark and dangerous future.”
Woodworth argued that the terms "human being," "dignity" and
"equality," could be defined later through public and parliamentary
discussion after the motion had passed.
Hyperbole and complete inability to grasp the basic facts of human biology and reproduction aside, Stephen Harper is not trying to re-open the abortion debate because he knows it is politically poisonous and the fact that Warewa and Woodworth are tireless in their efforts to get anyone, even the rancid pro-abortion movement, to see the logical disparity between abortion, gendercide and Gosnell's pet projects says more about their character than that which is lacking in Mertl's. The discussion can't even be had but that has not stopped Mertl or any other mouth-breather from making pronouncements that defy known legal and scientific facts.
The UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child says the idea of baby
boxes is outdated and simply a form of abandonment, which strips the
baby of its right to know the name of its biological parents. It claims
such projects have not been proven to reduce infanticide or reduce
abandonment.
Really- who sees such a slot and thinks of just abandoning a baby? Is it better to leave the child in a dumpster?
