Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Mid-Week Post


The last mid-week post of the year...

(sigh)

One would hope that the aspirations for a prosperous and peaceful 2015 may convince one that however socially and mentally devolved the human race is, there is still hope and not in Luke Skywalker form (do enjoy all three Star Wars movies this holiday).

For Russia and China, one hopes for a change in leadership. The tyranny under which the Chinese labour and the Russians die has gone on long enough.

Won't count on it, though.

One hopes that North Koreans break away from their porcine leader, a man as portly as he is mad. This means a radical shift in the fortunes on the Korean Peninsula. Whether a humanitarian crisis or a military one breaks out initially, this global agony can no longer continue.

I want ISIS dead. All of them. I don't even care who does it and how- the Americans, the Iranians, the Vulcans, whoever. These child-raping, church-destroying murderers have no place on this Earth.

Step it up, super-powers.

I hope the post-modern West wakes the hell up and realises that being suicidal idiots is no way to coast through life. Islamism really is a death cult, race cards have no place in the deck and celebrities just don't matter a damn. Stop focusing on these jackholes and what they think is important. There is no reason why any Kardashian is more important than a guy who studies the Higgs-Boson particles.

One hopes that Canada stays on track. We matter now. Don't let Justin Trudeau screw that up.

Americans, you still have time to send Obama to prison. You probably won't but one urges you to re-think this error. He's an @$$hole. Do something for you and can this bugger.

The vanity of people taking selfies. I want it to end. If you see someone taking these self-photos, particularly in inappropriate places or situations, bean them in the head with something, maybe a sack of rotten potatoes or something.

One also wishes for a renewed interest in English grammar and spelling. "Their house is over there but as for the residents, they're not home." Learn the g-d- difference. Also, if you are using capital letters for objects and not proper nouns, you should just stop talking and writing. Your is a possessive adjective. You're is an abbreviated form of you are. Don't get me started on it's and its.

Resolutions are more effective not during times of plenty or desperation but during times of self-reflection and new direction. You won't lose that twenty pounds of Christmas weight in the next week, is my point.

A merry Auld Lang Syne to all y'all.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Tuesday Post

Slowly waving good-bye to the old year...


Only a few days after it went missing, Air Asia flight QZ8501 has been found with no survivors:

Indonesian rescuers searching for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people pulled bodies and wreckage from the sea off the coast of Borneo on Tuesday, prompting relatives of those on board watching TV footage to break down in tears.

Alexei Navalny, a staunch adversary of Vladimir Putin, and his brother have been sentenced to prison:

President Vladimir Putin's chief political foe was convicted along with his brother on Tuesday in a fraud case widely seen as a vendetta by the Kremlin, triggering one of Russia's boldest anti-government demonstrations in years.

Police allowed a few thousand protesters to gather just outside Red Square for about two hours — a show of relative restraint for Russian authorities, who have little tolerance for dissent — before moving in to break up the unsanctioned rally by pushing the demonstrators toward subway entrances.

(Sidebar: note the word "allowed".)

Who can replace Putin? Is there a big enough push to oust him?

Maybe the new year will see.



Getty Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton. New evidence emerging in the Sony Pictures cyberattack suggests that the hackers may have been far closer to home than North Korea. 

News broke Sunday that a security firm working with the FBI has come up with a list of six people who may have been closely involved with the hack. One of the individuals investigated by the firm also happens to be a disgruntled former Sony employee.

Speaking of North Korea:

Malaysia has defended the use of North Korean labourers in its mining industry, saying they are particularly good workers because of their dedication, strength and bravery.

I'm sure North Korean slaves migrant workers are.

(Kamsahamnida)


Where are the First World problem people when you need them?

So, if I understand this correctly, if one does not see eye-to-eye on the labels people apply to themselves, that is a form of genocide, not like the Cambodian killing fields or anything?

Way to trivialise murder, jackhole.

**

The al-Khansa brigade, the female religious police in Raqqa, the insurgency's de facto capital in Syria, is said to use the bear trap-like device to punish women who defy their strict laws.

Opposition media group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently claim that in one case it was used on a 24-year-old woman who was arrested while breastfeeding her baby in the city centre.
 
Where are those silly white chicks- you know, the ones who are clearly the only mothers to have ever existed in human history which is why they let it all hang out while feeding their snowflakes from the teat- on this? Is there a nurse-in planned?

(Paws up)


And now, some cute animals because cute animals.
 

Friday, December 26, 2014

Super Happy Fun Apres-Christmas Day Post

Sleeping Christmas Kitty cute cat fireplace christmas christmas hat ...
Too... much... food...
Now that you have five pounds of chocolate to eat...


A university in northwestern China has forbidden Christmas for its students:

A university in northwestern China has banned Christmas, calling it a "kitsch" foreign celebration unbefitting of the country's own traditions and making its students watch propaganda films instead, media said on Thursday.

The state-run Beijing News said that the Modern College of Northwest University, located in Xian, had strung up banners around the campus reading "Strive to be outstanding sons and daughters of China, oppose kitsch Western holidays" and "Resist the expansion of Western culture".

A student told the newspaper that they would be punished if they did not attend a mandatory three-hour screening of propaganda films, which other students said included one about Confucius, with teachers standing guard to stop people leaving.

"There's nothing we can do about it, we can't escape," the student was quoted as saying.

An official microblog belonging to one of the university's Communist Party's committees posted comments calling for students not to "fawn on foreigners" and pay more attention to China's holidays, like Spring Festival.

"In recent years, more and more Chinese have started to attach importance to Western festivals," it wrote.

"In their eyes, the West is more developed than China, and they think that their holidays are more elegant than ours, even that Western festivals are very fashionable and China's traditional festivals are old fashioned."

Christmas is not a traditional festival in officially atheist China but is growing in popularity, especially in more metropolitan areas where young people go out to celebrate, give gifts and decorate their homes.


Yes, if there is anything that will bring red unity, it's banning fun in lieu of stupid propaganda films that will be largely forgotten after the first round of Christmas drinks in someone's dorm room.

You fail, communism!


Speaking of communism and films....

Of course it does:

Russia on Thursday offered sympathy to North Korea amid the Sony hacking scandal, saying the movie that sparked the dispute was so scandalous that Pyongyang's anger was "quite understandable."
Pariah dictators have to stick together.

Russia backed and still backs North Korea. It has, however, very little regard for non-Russians as history shows:

A North Korean who tried to bring a drunk Soviet lieutenant to justice said, “I cannot forgive the Soviet soldier who raped my wife. Many such perpetrators went unpunished. Though another lieutenant colonel urged the Soviet military police to punish the perpetrators to maintain military discipline several times, his words went unheeded, the report said.
The 25th Primorsky Krai unit commander of the Soviet Far East Army arrived at Pyongyang Airport on Aug. 26, 1945, and described the Soviet army as liberators. “Remember fellow Koreans! Your happiness is up to you. You have achieved freedom and independence. Everything is up to you now,” he said. The report, however, quoted the commander as threatening to “hang half of the Koreans” if they rise up against the Soviet army in protest of their abuses.
The commander held a party with his subordinates for 22 hours in a row in downtown Haeju on Nov. 16, 1945. A fire broke out and burned houses, but he said the fire was an act of arson committed by dissidents and received 300,000 yen as compensation.
The report quoted another Soviet colonel as saying privately, “The Korean people were enslaved for the past 35 years. It’s okay for them be enslaved a little longer.
- See more at: http://freekorea.us/2010/03/10/newly-released-soviet-report-details-atrocities-in-north-korea/#sthash.XhxlhEyv.dpuf


A North Korean who tried to bring a drunk Soviet lieutenant to justice said, “I cannot forgive the Soviet soldier who raped my wife. Many such perpetrators went unpunished. Though another lieutenant colonel urged the Soviet military police to punish the perpetrators to maintain military discipline several times, his words went unheeded, the report said.

The 25th Primorsky Krai unit commander of the Soviet Far East Army arrived at Pyongyang Airport on Aug. 26, 1945, and described the Soviet army as liberators. “Remember fellow Koreans! Your happiness is up to you. You have achieved freedom and independence. Everything is up to you now,” he said. The report, however, quoted the commander as threatening to hang half of the Koreans” if they rise up against the Soviet army in protest of their abuses.

The commander held a party with his subordinates for 22 hours in a row in downtown Haeju on Nov. 16, 1945. A fire broke out and burned houses, but he said the fire was an act of arson committed by dissidents and received 300,000 yen as compensation.

The report quoted another Soviet colonel as saying privately, “The Korean people were enslaved for the past 35 years. It’s okay for them be enslaved a little longer.
 

Just like China:



China also favors the remote-control censorship of American speech. The editors of The Global Times, for example, believe they have standing to define the acceptable limits of free speech here:

    “No matter how U.S. society looks at North Korea and Kim Jong-un, Kim is still the leader of the country. The vicious mocking of Kim is only a result of senseless cultural arrogance,” the Chinese state-run paper said in an editorial.

    “The biggest motive for Sony Pictures may be the box office, by putting out a sensational story. However, if the movie really was shown on a large scale, it would further upset the already troubled U.S.-North Korea ties,” it said. [Yonhap]

The editors of The Global Times can go fuck themselves. They’re the first ones to whine about “interference” in China’s “internal affairs” when civilized nations protest that China’s tyrants gun down students, jail dissidents, persecute Tibetans, or send North Korean kids to death camps. It takes some chutzpah for a gang of toadies for stultifying, culture-strangling despots to lecture a free society with a legitimate government about what kinds of speech it should allow.

The blinkered thinking of states with self-important tyrants is a thing to behold.

Also:

If we turn the debate around, and look at some evidence that the North Koreans might NOT be behind the Sony hack, the picture looks significantly clearer.

1. First of all, there is the fact that the attackers only brought up the anti-North Korean bias of “The Interview” after the media did—the film was never mentioned by the hackers right at the start of their campaign. In fact, it was only after a few people started speculating in the media that this and the communication from North Korea “might be linked” that suddenly it did get linked. My view is that the attackers saw this as an opportunity for “lulz”, and a way to misdirect everyone. (And wouldn’t you know it? The hackers are now saying it’s okay for Sony to release the movie, after all.) If everyone believes it’s a nation state, then the criminal investigation will likely die. It’s the perfect smokescreen.

2. The hackers dumped the data. Would a state with a keen understanding of the power of propaganda be so willing to just throw away such a trove of information? The mass dump suggests that whoever did this, their primary motivation was to embarrass Sony Pictures. They wanted to humiliate the company, pure and simple.

There goes that story.


The plight of Christians in the seed-ground of Christianity:

This year, there would be no big holiday parties at Our Lady of Salvation, a local landmark topped by a towering cross that's visible for miles. Christians are leaving Iraq, the population down from more than 1 million a decade ago to about 350,000, many of them displaced.

In the north, Islamic State fighters have forced thousands to flee. In Baghdad, where the security situation is still so tenuous that priests worried that celebrations could provoke an attack. Last Christmas, three bombings targeted Christians, including a Roman Catholic church, and killed 38 people.

Shortly before the 6 p.m. Christmas Eve service, the children and their families filed out of the school past concrete barriers topped with barbed wire and into the packed church for several hours of singing and prayer, the highlight of their day, hoping the strangers they met meant them no harm.
"The guards and blocks can't do anything if something is about to happen," the Rev. Nabil Yako said.
**

Millions of Christians around the world began Christmas celebrations Wednesday, with worshippers in the Middle East marking the occasion after a violence-plagued year that brought suffering to many. ...

Even in the Palestinian territories, Christmas will be a deliberately low-key affair after a July-August war with Israel which left nearly 2,200 Gazans dead and the tiny enclave in ruins in the third such conflict in six years. ...

In Baghdad, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako said about 150,000 Christians had been displaced by an offensive spearheaded by the Islamic State group, which has targeted Christians and other minorities, with dozens leaving Iraq each day.

Iraq's displaced Christians "still live in a tragic situation and there are no quick solutions for them," Sako told AFP, saying that particularly this Christmas, they needed reassurances that they "are not left alone and not forgotten".

In Syria, Christians in the war-torn city of Homs were enjoying their first Christmas in three years in the Hamidiyeh neighbourhood, with a brightly coloured tree and a manger made from rubble set up in the middle of the ruins.

"Our joy is indescribable," said Taghrid Naanaa while picking out tree decorations at a shop in the district, which the Syrian army recaptured from rebel fighters this year.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in a Christmas message to the Pope published on his official website, called for cooperation to "spread peace, security and well-being in the world".

(sigh)

This happens every year:

In October, Jeffrey Tayler wrote in Salon that the Qur’an “backs up jihad, suicide attacks (“martyrdom”), beheadings, even taking captive women as sex slaves.” This was singular for Salon, which usually whitewashes the truth about Islam and jihad and excoriates those who expose it as “racists” and “bigots,” but now it is clear why Tayler was able to get away with it: he is supremely hostile to Christianity. Here, he gives a characteristic Salon Christmas greeting: Jesus likely never existed, but Muhammad’s existence is well established.

So, even the Talmud, Tacitus and Josephus were lying?

It fries some people that a Jewish carpenter existed, hence the ridiculous denial that He did.

Get over it, people.



(Kamsahamnida to all and to all a good night.)

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Mid-Week Post

On this Christmas Eve...


The Ontario government has decided to repay the $10,000 it took from taxpayers to erase hard drives and will take away again in the new year:

The Ontario Liberal Party has decided to reimburse taxpayers the $10,000 Peter Faist was allegedly paid to wipe government computers.

"To ensure no tax dollars are expended for work performed in the office of the former premier in relation to the matters currently under investigation by Ontario Provincial Police, the Ontario Liberal Party executive council voted (Monday) to cover the cost of a January 2013 invoice from Mr. Faist to the Liberal Caucus Service Bureau," Zita Astravas, a spokesman for Premier Kathleen Wynne, said in a statement Tuesday.

"The payment of these funds is in no way intended as a prejudgment or comment upon the findings of the ongoing police investigation - it is to ensure no tax dollars were expended for the work performed."

(Sidebar: oh, like Scrooge, it isn't!)


ISIS claimed it has shot down a Jordanian jet:

Islamic State militants captured a Jordanian pilot after his warplane crashed in Syria while carrying out airstrikes Wednesday, making him the first foreign military member to fall into the extremists' hands since an international coalition launched its bombing campaign against the group months ago.

Images of the pilot being pulled out of a lake and hustled away by masked jihadis underscored the risks for the U.S. and its Arab and European allies in the air campaign.

The capture — and the potential hostage situation — presented a nightmare scenario for Jordan, which vowed to continue its fight against the group that has overrun large parts of Syria and Iraq and beheaded foreign captives.


Iraqi Christians gather for Christmas Mass:

Baghdad’s embattled Christian community worshipped defiantly Wednesday night at Christmas Eve mass.

The pews filled at Baghdad’s Sacred Heart church, as people remembered the darkest year in memory.

Blast walls shielded the church and seven policeman flanked the outside of the house of worship, in an indication of the government's fear of an attack on the religious groups by jihadists who consider them non-believers. ...

(Sidebar: that is not due to Islamism just as attacks in France have nothing to do with Islamism.)

The worshippers paid tribute to the thousands of Christians displaced this summer in northern Iraq when Islamic State seized the city of Mosul in June and in August pushed on toward Iraqi Kurdistan, over-running Christian towns on the Nineveh plain.

“The recent conditions have left us with a bit of sadness for our brethren, be they Christian or non-Christian, those who were displaced and harmed," Father Thair Abdul Masih told Reuters.
"Christianity is the religion of peace and we pray for these people to return to their homes. We pray for all evil to vanish,” he said.

Some had personal stories of those displaced this summer in northern Iraq, who have scattered to Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey and Lebanon.

“They live in misery… yet we still exchange blessings and congratulations of Christmas and the New Year," said Fadi Rafaat, 27, an assistant to the priest. "We celebrate the happiness of Christmas, but deep inside we carry the sadness of Iraq."

Rioting in time for the holidays:

A white policeman shot dead a black man brandishing a gun at a suburban St. Louis gasoline station overnight, police said on Wednesday, igniting violence reminiscent of riots over the police killing of an unarmed black teenager in nearby Ferguson.
 
Black officials in Missouri were at pains to distinguish the death of a suspect they said had a gun from cases where unarmed black men were killed by police officers, incidents that led to protests across the United States and bitter debate about how American police forces treat non-white citizens.

Why would there be pains? What is the life expectancy of anyone who pulls a gun on a cop after the commission of a robbery?


And now, some Christmas joy:


Even though tensions are high between North Korea and the United States, it looks like that’s not stopping Santa from delivering Christmas cheer to the girls and boys of North Korea. At least according to the competing internet “Santa trackers” who dutifully map out St. Nick’s progress each Christmas Eve ...



"Silent Night" in the original German:


Merry Christmas to all.


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Bumped Up for Christmas


It's always good to remind one's self and others the true meaning of this blessed holiday and why it fries the more panty-waist of one's brethren.


For example, these "squeaky wheels".


An answer to the militant atheist's crusade against the season:




The myths calling Christmas a myth:

Christians have also been accused of bastardising Saturnalia, another Roman holiday. This argument is flawed as well for several reasons. When the Romans celebrated Saturnalia, it was celebrated from December 17 through December 23. It was not one day. In fact, given the Roman calendar as being as it was, it would be hard to place a Christian holiday on any day in December with out being accused of appropriation. It would be hard to place Christmas on any day of the year with out facing similar accusations. Remember that the Romans had many holidays. Over 120 days of their year had a holiday on it. You could barely go more than 5 days with out celebrating something.

Why saying 'Merry Christmas' is important:

Back to the original dilemma: why say "Merry Christmas" as opposed to "Happy Holidays"? There is a problem in denying an event or holiday the specificity and uniqueness that it possesses. By lumping Christmas in with other holidays, you make Christmas generic, not special or with a purpose. "Holiday" could mean anything. Would it be amiss to say "Happy Holidays" for St. Valentine's Day? It is a holiday of sorts.

As it goes without saying, holidays aren't the same in every respect. Is Setsubun the same as Christmas? Is Hanukkah the same as Christmas? Obviously not. By not mentioning Christmas, you (to put it dramatically) rob it of its identity. Christmas has various rituals and memes all with significance. If Christmas was not omitted but diluted to something barely recognisable, that which made it special would fail to resonate with its observers. Any celebrations would be menial task for those accustomed to the holiday in its original form and a confusing, even belittling experience for those unused to such a holiday. Do we assume that by celebrating Christmas that those of other cultures cannot follow along? Do we trust them to be active in the celebrations if they so want? What must be going through a Hindu or Buddhist's mind when they are invited to a "winter holiday" party minus the Christmas tree and carols they've been apprised of in some fuzzy photograph in a magazine somewhere? Making assumptions on someone else's behalf is- well- offensive. Isn't it better to simply live or celebrate something than to hide it?

For A Tuesday

On the eve of Christmas Eve...


Luka Magnotta has been found guilty of first-degree murder:

Luka Rocco Magnotta stood impassively and kept his eyes trained downward as juror No. 9 rose and, in a loud, clear voice, uttered the word "guilty" five times Tuesday, including one for first-degree murder in the killing and dismemberment of Jun Lin.

After eight days of deliberations, it was a quick and sudden end to a saga that began in 2012 following a horrific, heinous crime captured in part on video and published on the Internet.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer sentenced Magnotta to life imprisonment on the murder charge, with no chance of applying for parole for 25 years.

On the four others charges, the native of Scarborough, Ont., was given the maximum terms allowed under the Criminal Code, ranging from two to 10 years. The sentences are concurrent.

(Sidebar: these sentences are a joke. Why not serve consecutive time and never get out?)

This ends the freak show.

One hopes....


Wasn't that the Soviet Union?

Russia and four other ex-Soviet nations on Tuesday completed the creation of a new economic alliance intended to bolster their integration, but the ambitious grouping immediately showed signs of fracture as the leader of Belarus sharply criticized Moscow.

The Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, comes to existence on Jan. 1. In addition to free trade, it's to co-ordinate the members' financial systems and regulate their industrial and agricultural policies along with labour markets and transportation networks.

Russia had tried to encourage Ukraine to join, but its former pro-Moscow president was ousted in February following months of protests. Russia then annexed Ukraine's Black Sea Crimean Peninsula, and a pro-Russia mutiny has engulfed eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the new union will have a combined economic output of $4.5 trillion and bring together 170 million people.

(Sidebar: by 'encourage', Putin meant threaten.)

Did anyone forget that it was a failed and bloody experiment?

Related: Ukraine moves toward joining NATO:

 The Ukraine parliament’s vote Tuesday to nullify the country’s non-aligned status is largely a symbolic gesture and does not mean Ukraine will seek NATO membership any time soon.

Or, rather, it will join as soon as it can. It cannot afford not to. That move will not only make Russia nervous but volatile.


Good:

A sales representative at a Canadian Tire in Sudbuy says he's upset because he's been encouraged by his managers to say happy holidays, instead of Merry Christmas.

But Johnathan Scott doesn't agree with his managers.

“It is sad to see that something as little as ‘Merry Christmas’ has sparked such an uproar through society,” he told CBC News.

“You know, everyone is scared to say Merry Christmas for offending one.”

Scott's store manager told CBC News that she has apologized to him and his family.

Michelle Novak said she was trying to be sensitive to people of all faiths, but noted Canadian Tire does not have a seasonal greeting policy.

That’s been confirmed by Canadian Tire’s associate vice president of corporate affairs, Jane Shaw, who made the following statement:

“Canadian Tire is Canada's Christmas store — and any of our employees wishing someone a Merry Christmas is certainly welcome and in keeping with the season's sentiment.  We have spoken to our store's dealer to determine the facts and can tell you with certainty that any suggestion that an employee was sent home or had their hours reduced for saying, 'Merry Christmas' is simply not true at all.”

Outside Canadian Tire, some customers told CBC News they prefer ‘Merry Christmas’ to ‘Happy Holidays.’

"Actually, I prefer Merry Christmas,” one shopper said.

Two others concurred that “Merry Christmas" was preferable.

This childish nonsense of censoring the mention of a holiday (ie- CHRISTMAS) we're all going to celebrate anyway just needs to stop. It's beyond absurd.



According to The Wrap, Sony will also release the film on video on demand systems.

Sony gave the green light to the theaters after pulling the movie from theaters last Wednesday; that decision came in the wake of North America’s five biggest chains announcing that they would not screen the movie due to threats made by anonymous hackers who promised a “9/11-style” attack on theaters that showed the film.


And now, the origins of Christmas words:

In Old English, a gift was specifically a wedding dowry, but by the early Middle Ages, its meaning had broadened to mean simply something given freely from one person to another. It ultimately derives from some ancient Germanic word root meaning something like “give” or “bestow”—which is also the origin of the not-so-festive German word gift, meaning “poison.”

Monday, December 22, 2014

Monday Post

Only a few more drinking shopping baking days until Christmas...


Surely no one takes North Korea seriously save anyone on or near the Korean Peninsula, not even the Golf Player-in-Chief who looks for any distraction from his disastrous presidency:

North Korea has reacted angrily to Obama's comments blaming it for the hacking of Sony, warning of strikes against the White House, Pentagon and "the whole U.S. mainland, that cesspool of terrorism."

Such rhetoric is routine from North Korea's propaganda machine during times of high tension with Washington. But the long statement from the powerful National Defence Commission late Sunday also underscored Pyongyang's sensitivity about a movie, which has a plot focused on the assassination of its leader Kim Jong Un.

And this is if one believes North Korea is truly capable of doing what has been done.

What does Kim Fatty want this time? Unlike his equally evil father, Kim Adul is more vain and less pragmatic. Why get fried over a film when one can strengthen ties with one's Chinese benefactor?

And I sincerely doubt the Golf Player-in-Chief cares one way or another about this entire mess. It's time for him to hit the links.

Related: hey- remember when everyone was so upset about water-boarding?

A United Nations panel has accused North Korea of crimes against humanity, including systematic extermination , "murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence ... and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation."

The report is based on a  year of public hearings  with about 80 witnesses as well as confidential interviews with another 240 victims, including people who'd spent time in North Korean prison camps and experts.

Kim Kwang-il, a 48-year-old man who spent two years in a prison in North Korea, defected to South Korea in February 2009 and subsequently had professional artists draw sketches based on his recollections of torture and  the conditions of prisoner life. Some of these were included in the report.


Screw you, Kaiser Bill:

Saturday evening was a somber occasion in New York, after the assassination of two police officers by a gunman who warned beforehand that he was avenging the deaths of two African-American men at the hands of law enforcement. However, sentiment turned bitter towards the city’s mayor, when NYPD officers turned their backs on Bill de Blasio upon his arrival at a press conference.


Not everything is chai and roses in sanction-crushed Russia:

According to Home Office statistics, the number of Russians granted fast-track visas — given to those who will invest at least £2 million ($3.1 million) in the UK — jumped by 69% in 2014 compared with the previous year, The Sunday Times first reported.

Between January and September, 162 visas were given to Russian multimillionaires, an increase of 66 visas from the same period in 2013.

The Times notes a dramatic uptick in visa applications after March, when the first round of western sanctions were placed on Russia over its military action in Ukraine. The ruble's slide and falling oil prices are also to blame for the flight out of Russia.



In a speech to the Cuban parliament, during which he honored the return of three Cuban spies who were part of a prisoner swap with the United States, Castro thanked President Obama for his decision to reestablish diplomatic relations.

But he reiterated the principles of the communist revolution and suggested that change would not come quickly to Cuba.

(Sidebar: or at all.)



The feds deny Canadian commandos are engaged in ground operations against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq.

A source close to the operations had told QMI Agency that members of the elite JTF2 (Joint Task Force 2) unit, armed with high-powered rifles, are involved in operations aimed at killing Islamist fighters far from the front lines.

The Canadians are officially in Iraq to accompany and train Kurdish and Iraqi snipers.

On Monday, the defence department said the troops are staying within that mandate and denied Canadians are "directly engaged in sniper activity against Islamic State."

 
Fixing baking mistakes: how to save Christmas when you forgot about watching the oven:

With quick baking times, cookies can end up burning if they’re in the oven even a few minutes too long. Keep in mind that cookies harden once they cool, so watch carefully and check on them when they’re nearing the end of bake time. Make sure they’re baking in the middle of the oven. If you end up with slightly burned cookie bottoms, turn them into sandwich cookies! Spread the burned bottoms with frosting, ice cream or whipped cream, and smoosh another cookie on top. A moist sandwich filling will soften the bottoms and hide the burnt taste. If they’re super-burnt, they’re going to be harder to rescue. Cut off the burnt part, chop the remainder into bits and see below for ideas on using broken cake or cookies.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Friday Freakout


Freaking out festively...


Wondering what to serve for Christmas supper? Why not refer to this menu from 1660?

May was an English chef who trained in France and cooked for nobility throughout his life. In a section titled “A bill of fare for Christmas Day and how to set the meat in order,” May suggests 39 dishes split over two courses, plus oysters, oranges, lemons, and jellies for dessert. The menu is surprising not only because of its size, but because it contains so many proteins—there are 11 different types of birds alone—and not much else.

Or you can make these peppermint confections because why not? It's Christmas and it's comforting and delicious.


Or this gingerbread Borg cube. Royal icing is not futile.


Friday Post

Just before the week-end...


$10,000 was paid to delete e-mails relating to cancelled gas plants. It gets better, and by better I mean worse:

As the Liberals battled to contain the fallout from the gas-plant scandal, the top adviser to then-premier Dalton McGuinty sent a detailed memo to senior aides on how to delete e-mails and ensure they could not be retrieved.
Later, the government billed taxpayers $10,000 to pay the husband of a top party official to wipe computer hard drives in Mr. McGuinty’s office.

I'll reiterate:

Later, the government billed taxpayers $10,000 to pay the husband of a top party official to wipe computer hard drives in Mr. McGuinty’s office.

This is the government that Ontario Liberal voters wanted. It was no secret before the election that not only did Ontario Liberal cancel gas plants at great cost but also had any evidence deleted. Now that it has been established that taxpayer money was used for this fraud, it makes the crime and its shocking lack of consequences all the more galling.


To make things clear, nothing changes for the Cuban people:

The U.S. bailout of the Castro regime could not come at a better time. Venezuelan oil becomes cheaper by the day and the future of the Maduro regime less certain. With a more organized pro-democracy opposition in Cuba, the Castros also need more resources to continue their record setting number of political arrests. Opening up to U.S. business and travel is also more secure than ever for the Castro regime after having mastered the art of profit and repression without threatening their grip on power.

Since it remains illegal in Cuba for foreigners to do business with anyone other than its state-owned monopolies, we should not expect Americans to be doing business with everyday Cubans anytime soon. Unfortunately that is one in a long list of concessions President Obama forgot to discuss with dictator Raul Castro.


This plot thickens even more than any Hollywood contrivance:

A previous report by Bloomberg said Sony execs altered the gory finale of The Interview, toning down the extent to which Kim Jong Un's head is exploded and set aflame. But the movie faced more problems than just Supreme Leader's immolation scene—Sony executives and distribution partners around the world were worried that the movie was too offensive, "desperately unfunny," and worst of all, starred James Franco.

Emails sent from UK Sony Pictures exec Peter Taylor to president of Sony Pictures Releasing International Steven O'Dell are particularly harsh, describing the comedy as a "misfire," "unfunny and repetitive," with "a level of realistic violence that would be shocking in a horror movie." Taylor holds one of the film's co-stars in particularly low regard: "James Franco proves once again that irritation is his strong suit which is a shame because the character could have been appealing and funny out of his hands."

At this point in the story (whatever it is at this stage), one points out freedom of speech, standing up to bullies, the unlikelihood that North Korea has a vast network of suicide-bombers, telling Obama to cram it (just do that anyway), it was alright to make movies about killing Bush, why not Kim Jong-Un? and so forth.

I say sit back and watch this comedy unfold. This farce could not have been written better.

(Paws up)


Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Mid-Week Post


Look under the tree...


Danielle Smith, the leader of the Wild Rose party, now quits it and crosses over to the Conservative Party:

Premier Jim Prentice and Danielle Smith announced the unification of Alberta's conservatives as nine members of the Wildrose caucus were welcomed into the Progressive Conservative caucus Wednesday afternoon.

The PCs stated the party will continue to welcome Wildrose MLAs, of which there are five remaining.

"Throughout my public and political life, I have always believed conservatives should be united in bringing our common principles and combined energy to public service. Today, we once again represent the full diversity of voices and regions from across Alberta ─ north, south, urban and rural," the premier said around 4 p.m.
The MLAs who crossed the floor are: Danielle Smith (Highwood), Rob Anderson (Airdrie), Gary Bikman (Cardston-Taber-Warner), Rod Fox (Lacombe-Ponoka), Jason Hale (Strathmore-Brooks), Bruce McAllister (Chestermere-Rocky View), Blake Pedersen (Medicine Hat), Bruce Rowe (Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills) and Jeff Wilson (Calgary-Shaw).

Smith resigned as Wildrose leader Wednesday morning and the caucuses agreed to unite under a set of aligned values and principles.

"When I became Wildrose leader more than five years ago, I did so with one singular objective in mind: to return to government the conservative values and principles that I had spent my life defending. Under Premier Prentice's strong leadership, I believe we can work together to lead Alberta with a renewed focus on the values and principles that we share," Smith said.

The whole point, one imagines, of starting a new party was to give disaffected voters another alternative. Smith's defection has let those voters down.


The ruble is at an all-time low:

The ruble was volatile in morning trading Wednesday despite the Russian Finance Ministry saying the beleaguered currency was “extremely undervalued” as it announced plans to start selling its excess foreign-exchange holdings. 

The currency USDRUB, -3.27%  dropped as much as 5% against the dollar shortly after the market opened, before it recovered to trade more than 5% stronger. In late morning, the ruble was trading around 68.50 a dollar, compared with 67.50 at the end of Tuesday. Oil prices CLF5, +0.11%  were slightly weaker.

The Finance Ministry said it “considers the ruble to be extremely undervalued and has started selling foreign currency from its balances on the market.”

It should also be noted that Putin has acquired quite a bit of gold.


Obama, while in his last two years in office, has warmed (not unpredictably) to the communist Cuban government:

In a move to wipe away one of the Cold War’s last vestiges, President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced that the United States and Cuba will start talks on restoring full diplomatic relations for the first time in the half-century since the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

Americans voted in this communist twice. Can you believe it?


South Korea needs to get off its @$$, form an alliance with Japan to battle its over-reaching overlord, China (which backs North Korea, I might add) and not let the US (led by a communist) dictate what's what to it:

South Korea will not conduct maintenance of its new fleet of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighters in Japan, a South Korean official said on Thursday, despite a new deal by the Pentagon to service the stealth jets in Asia.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday it chose both Japan and Australia to carry out heavy airframe maintenance for the jets in Asia, given the high cost of transporting jets across vast distances in the region.

Back-stabbing Hollywood is now apprehensive over releasing the movie, "The Interview", over fears of terrorism from the North Korean state:

The controversial comedy The Interview is scheduled for released on Christmas Day, but the threat of attacks on movie theatres that air the film have prompted several chains to scuttle their plans.
Including here in Canada.

Five major America theatre chains have already announced they will not play Sony’s The Interview. And Canada’s Cineplex Entertainment chain now says it will “postpone” showing the video until the perceived danger is gone.

"After careful consideration of this unprecedented and complex situation, Cineplex Entertainment … will postpone presentation of the Sony Pictures movie, The Interview,” reads a statement attributed to company vice-president Pat Marshall.

"Cineplex takes seriously its commitment to the freedom of artistic expression, but we want to reassure our guests and staff that their safety and security is our number one priority. We look forward to a time when this situation is resolved and those responsible are apprehended."

What. Ever.