Mid-Week Post

The double-stuffed middle of the cookie work-week.


What many are seeing as a total statistical fluke, the BC Liberals swept to victory in Tuesday's provincial election:

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.

Personally, I think Adrian Dix did himself in simply by opening his mouth. His proposal to take public money and put it into unsustainable "green" projects....? Just wow.


That's what I think:

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.


A trifecta of ruin (one hopes):

The Associated Press on Monday revealed that the Department of Justice had secretly spied on AP reporters, obtaining two months' worth of telephone records in what was most likely an attempt to crack down on internal leaks.

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.)

President Obama announced the resignation Wednesday evening of Steven Miller, acting commissioner of the embattled Internal Revenue Service, a move the president said was essential to restore the public’s faith following revelations that the agency inappropriately singled out conservative groups for special scrutiny.

(two paws up)

Breitbart News has obtained an exclusive video of Attorney General Eric Holder flatly rejecting the idea of appointing a special counsel to investigate Benghazi.

(Sidebar: whatever for, Eric?)

Related: a top ten list of Obama's insults against Britain.


One is still creating human embryos and human embryonic stem cells don't work:

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.

Convicted baby-murderer Kermit Gosnell escapes the death penalty:

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.

This is the same man who joked about what he did and smirked during the entire trial. I suppose the jury couldn't make a pro-abortion martyr out of him.

Related: Gosnell is not the only one.


And now, an app for little baby ducks:

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.”