Tuesday, February 06, 2018

(Insert Own Title Here)


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Ask Christ to help you become happy.




Doug Ford promises to scrap the carbon tax, among other things:

If Doug Ford becomes premier of Ontario, he plans to axe the carbon tax, tackle sole-sourced deals, reduce spending by at least 2% and send insiders packing.

“I’m going to clean that place out with sanitizers like they’ve never seen before,” Ford, current candidate for Ontario PC Party leader, said Tuesday on the SiriusXM Canada morning show, National Post Radio.

“The people are fed up with all the backroom deals, soul-sourced deals. I always say Queen’s Park is corrupt from the top to the bottom,” Ford said, as he went on to provide the most detail to date on what an Ontario governed by the Ford Nation flag bearer would look like.

Instant votes.




Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne refuses to speak at the Caboto Club over what she believes are chauvinist policies:

Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne has pulled the plug on her Feb. 15 town hall meeting scheduled at the Caboto Club in Windsor over the club’s controversial policy that only allows full-voting membership to men.




Patrick Brown may have inflated the number of memberships to his party:

It was just a few weeks ago that Patrick Brown, then leader of the resurgent Ontario Conservatives, made the announcement: the Tories had recruited an impressive 200,000 paid members.

The number dwarfed that of the governing Liberals, and was more “than we’ve ever had before,” Brown boasted at the time.

With Brown gone, his successor says the figure is actually far less — under 130,000 — and a party insider made a surprising admission about the discrepancy Monday, blaming it on creative exaggeration.
 
Did he really think that no one would find this out?




The unmitigated gall of some people:

Elizabeth May is asking Green party members to help cover the “new and unexpected” cost of a workplace bullying investigation into her own alleged behaviour — an investigation that she called for herself in the face of accusations from former staffers last week. 



Install cameras in every major city and wall off British Columbia.

Then watch what happens:

One way to hurt B.C. consumers without simultaneously shooting Alberta in the foot would be to stop shipping gasoline and diesel through Trans Mountain and use the pipeline exclusively to pump diluted bitumen. This would have the same effect on prices at B.C. gas stations, since it would effectively cut off the province’s supply of Albertan refined products.



It's not enough that the corrupt Liberal government forced an anthem change no one wanted. Now they are attempting to sell it:

The federal government says it has no plans to set aside extra money to inform Canadians about the imminent change to the lyrics of O Canada, which are expected to become official in the coming days.

Oh, like fun it won't.

Are MPs going to pay for this propaganda tour out of their own pockets?




End equalisation payments and eastern Canada will collapse in a week:

And a program this hideously complicated can’t be carrying out sophisticated policy goals since its impenetrable operations don’t reflect anyone’s deliberate design. But we do know that, broadly, it rewards provinces for poor economic performance, which nobody ever intended, and has funnelled roughly half the money it collected to Quebec since it began in 1957, which may have been intended but wasn’t wise.

It certainly didn’t foster warm feelings within Quebec, a surprising number of whose inhabitants tell pollsters Quebeckers pay more into the federal treasury overall than they get out. (Quebec’s politicians mostly know it ain’t so, but are too cunning to blurt it out, let alone say thank you.) Meanwhile Albertans and others who bear the cost are furious, especially as the Quebec government will continue to collect equalization despite being, incongruously, a fiscal star performer these days whereas Alberta, awash in red ink, will not.



Canadians should have thought about this before Justin opened his fool mouth:

Goodale, asked whether he was concerned by a possible increase in border crossings, said “the status issues are not likely to arise in significant volumes during the course of 2018” given the September 2019 cutoff date. 

“So far, the statistics would indicate the impact is relatively minor, but we need to be ready for every eventuality,” he said in a phone interview from Washington. 

Canada has sent multiple members of parliament to speak with diaspora communities in the United States and dissuade people from crossing illegally. 

Yes, about that:

In pointed tweets a day after U.S. President Donald Trump put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the United States and temporarily barred travelers from the seven countries, Trudeau said refugees were welcome in Canada.


 
Oh, people are just noticing that Pierre's substitute drama teacher son may not be up to the task of prime minister?

Really?

First, Trudeau objected to a young woman who used the word “mankind” in a question, waving his hand to interrupt her and mansplaining that “we like to say ‘peoplekind,’ not necessarily mankind.”

Really? Who is this “we?” Has anyone heard Trudeau say “peoplekind” before?

If this is the sort of progressivism he’s trying to insert into the NAFTA text, no wonder President Trump’s thinking of tearing it all up.

During another exchange, Trudeau was asked about his soft-on-terror response to ISIS and his focus on rehabilitation. Incredibly, Trudeau likened returning ISIS fighters to when “Italian families settled in Montreal in the postwar years” and how such influxes of immigrants were discriminated against for their style of dress and religion.

This comparison is beyond offensive to all immigrants and refugees who came to Canada both for opportunity and to escape the mindless, hateful violence inflicted upon them by terrorists.

The third gaffe was the absolute worst. Here’s what Trudeau said when asked about his government’s troubled relationship with many of Canada’s veterans: “Why are we still fighting against certain veterans groups in court? Because they’re asking for more than we’re able to give right now.”

That’s right. We’re able to give Omar Khadr $10.5 million and throw hundreds of millions into feel good green energy projects, but we’re not “able” to give veterans more.

Talk about embarrassing and shameful additions to Trudeau’s growing hit list of gaffes.

**

Trudeau may well be frustrated that his government is getting no respect for all its efforts at improving the quality of life for veterans. But he was elected on a platform that raised expectations to infinity and beyond. Former Conservative minister Erin O’Toole was right when he said Trudeau either “didn’t cost, understand or care” about what he was promising, in order to secure the veterans’ vote.

To Blaszczyk, even the Tories look good right now. “At least we weren’t given false promises,” he said.

(Sidebar: no, Mr. Ivison, Trudeau isn't frustrated. He was his usual callous, unthinking, incompetent self  when he told Mr. Blaszczyk that veterans were asking too much from the government that promised to be better than Harper's Tories.)




Reminder - Trudeau refused to call FGM barbaric and the Liberals moved to have any reference to it removed from immigration booklets:

The federal government will announce funding of $3 million for a project aimed at eradicating female genital mutilation in West Africa.

But no one in Trudeau's government will eradicate the abhorrent practice here.

Virtue-signalling can be a useful deflection device.



Remember - no core values:

The RCMP, working in conjunction with Interpol, are looking for these two men, both of whom are wanted on warrants for participation in terrorist activities.The two men wanted by RCMP were both students at the University of Manitoba. They are wanted on Canada wide warrants for terrorist activities.



Perverts and the creeps who cover for them:

Liberal cabinet minister Bardish Chagger was never told about allegations that a senior staffer had acted inappropriately towards a job applicant because he had already left Ottawa and returned to the private sector, her spokesman said Monday.

"I find these behaviours entirely unacceptable," Chagger, the minister for small business and tourism, said in response to questions about allegations that Vahid Vidah, her former policy adviser, had made sexually suggestive remarks to a young woman applying for a job.

**

The Prime Minister's Office won't release the findings of a third-party investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against a former aide — and says its standard will be to keep taxpayer-funded probes private.



I thought that there was no money for veterans:

Canada is selling 16 combat helicopters to the Philippines — a country where President Rodrigo Duterte is facing widespread condemnation for a war on drugs that has left about 12,000 people dead.

The $234 million deal, brokered by the Canadian Commercial Corporation, involves Bell 412 aircraft which are expected to be built at the U.S. company’s plant in Mirabel, Que.

The sale was denounced by human rights activists who warned that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government was cozying up to some of the more dubious regimes in the world. They pointed to an ongoing deal to sell light-armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, a move the Liberals criticized the Conservative government for arranging but went ahead with when Trudeau came to power.

“The Liberal government had pledged to uphold higher standards after the terrible Saudi arms deal but instead it is selling to the worst and most repressive regime in Asia where the president brags about personally shooting drug users and throwing people out of helicopters,” said Steve Staples, vice president of the Rideau Institute in Ottawa. “How long will it be until the (Philippine) military is using the helicopters during executions?”

Staples pointed out that the deal would not have gone through without the backing of the Canadian government and the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a Crown corporation.



It is on:

TVO host Steve Paikin took to Facebook to fire back at Sarah Thomson, who on Saturday accused him of sexual harassment after an incident in 2010 in which she claims Paikin made inappropriate comments. 

“Okay, now it’s my turn,” Paikin starts his 600-word response.  ...

Addressing Thomson directly in the post, he ends with: “You’ve defamed me Sarah. I have no idea why, but you have. And I simply can’t allow that to stand. The quest to reclaim my reputation, which you’ve tried to destroy, begins now. I look forward to vindication.”



How bad is Jordan Peterson?

He isn't:

Mr. Peterson's new book is neither outrageous nor entirely original. What self-help book is? It arose from his belief that today's floundering young men are begging for guidance in how to find their purpose and grow up. It's organized in chapters that start with rules, such as: "Stand up straight with your shoulders back," and "Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)."

(Sidebar: this sounds like sour grapes, Miss Wente.)


What is remarkably profound about Professor Peterson's antique wisdom is its refreshing utterance after decades of psychobabble, gobbledy-gook, self-pitying, mediocrity and outright idiocy. All of these things are far more harmful than his calm and collected arguments against them.

Sound opinions based on logic are only hate speech if one is too empty-headed to realise that their fanciful beliefs are unworkable bullcrap.




Just terrible:

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near the coastal city of Hualien in Taiwan late on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, causing buildings including a hotel to collapse and forcing the closure of a nearby highway.



Shut the damn thing down:

North Korea secretly tried to obtain the technology for its nuclear weapons program via its embassy in Berlin, according to disclosures from German intelligence.

The embassy repeatedly attempted to buy equipment that could be used for ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, said Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany’s secret service.

“We discovered procurement activities taking place there, which we believe were focused on the missile programme, and also to some extent on the nuclear programme,” he said.


Also:

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Japan on Tuesday on the second stop of his Asia swing that he says will boost pressure on North Korea over its nuclear program during the Winter Olympic games in the South.

Pence said he will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan to show “solidarity,” in the face of the North Korean threat and with U.S. service members who would be among the first to respond to a crisis.

Pence departs for South Korea Thursday, where he will meet with President Moon Jae-in and attend the opening of the games Friday night.

Pence says he wants to help “make sure that North Korea doesn’t use the powerful symbolism and the backdrop of the Winter Olympics to paper over the truth about their regime.”

He has not ruled out the possibility of meeting with North Korean officials at the upcoming Olympics in South Korea.



Wow, these Olympics aren't off to a good start, are they?

About 1,200 people working security at the Pyeongchang Olympics are being kept in their rooms while they're tested for norovirus.

Also - North Korea is always in the mood for free things:

The South Korean government said it would provide food, fuel and electricity for the North Korean art troupe during their stay on a ferry at the South’s Mukho port on the east coast.

The Samjiyon art troupe on board the North Korean ship, Mangyongbong-92, was scheduled to arrive in Mukho around 5 p.m. on Tuesday for performances ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

“We will provide support based on the precedent of the 2002 Busan Asian Games,” an official from the South’s Unification Ministry told reporters Tuesday.


It never ends.




So?

The Iraqis who have come home to Mosul's Old City knew it would be hard living in the rubble left by the battle against Islamic State, but there is one aspect of their surroundings they are finding unbearable seven months on.

"I don't want my children to have to walk past dead bodies in the street every day," said Abdelrazaq Abdullah, back with his wife and three children in the quarter where the militants made their last stand in July against Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition forces.

"We can live without electricity, but we need the government to clear the corpses — they're spreading disease and reminding us of the horrors we've just lived through."

Burn the damn things.




And now, a very sad story:

For two days she lay comatose in the ICU. Half of her face was a mass of blackened scars from where her cheek had lain in the snow. The doctors fretted that she would die.

On the third day, she began to show signs of life. And on the fourth day, she spoke for the first time. “I want to go to mama,” she said in a weak little voice.

“It’s a miracle she is still alive. She is a strong little girl, and her organs have recovered well,” Kortas said. “But she is going to need many, many plastic surgeries to lead a normal life.”

He and the other doctors puzzled over who she was. All of the refugees who had perished had relatives in Lebanon who slowly trickled into the morgues of the Bekaa Valley to claim the bodies.

But no one came to claim the girl — until the fifth day, when her father showed up. Living in Tripoli, he had only discovered the fate of his missing family members when he saw the photos on Facebook.
The woman found huddled in the thorn bush was his wife. The girl in her arms was his four-year-old daughter, Heba. He scoured the morgues until he found them and took them for burial in Tripoli. 

Only later did he learn there was an unclaimed girl in the hospital, his other child.

It was an awkward reunion. He had only seen Sarah once, when she was an infant, because he was living in Lebanon while his family remained in Syria. “She doesn’t know me, and I don’t know her,” he said, cradling her inexpertly as he fed her spoonfuls of egg, soup and salad from a hospital tray.

She ate weakly but hungrily, pointing to the dishes she wanted to taste. Then she repeated the only words she has spoken so far. “I want to go to mama.”


(Paws up)


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