For A Friday

It's time....


The situation so far:

Ukraine International Airlines says it has cancelled flights to and from the regional capital of Crimea due to the closure of the airspace over the peninsula.

The announcement, which did not say who had closed the airspace, came after heavily armed uniformed men took up positions outside a military and a civilian airport in Crimea, a flashpoint in the tense relations between Ukraine and Russia, which has a naval base in Crimea.

 **

Russian troops have moved into Crimea in what Moscow is calling a mission to “protect Black Sea Fleet’s positions” but which the Ukrainian government has denounced as an “armed intervention.” 

**

Ukraine's acting president has warned Russian forces not to leave their naval base in the Crimea region after gunmen seized government buildings in the regional capital.

President Oleksandr Turchynov said: "Any movements of troops, especially with troops outside that territory will be considered military aggression."

(Sidebar: Russia does not respond well to threats because, as it has been shown in the past, it has nothing to fear from anyone.)


Remember when Mitt Romney called Russia a "geopolitical threat" and Sarah Palin predicted that Russia would invade Ukraine but no one wanted to listen to them?

Yeah...

Artist's depiction of Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin bathing in the sunlight of complete rightness.

 A tale of two responses:

Canada warned Russia on Friday not to breach the sovereignty of its Ukraine neighbour, joining other countries in sending a strong message to Moscow.

"As Canadians we emphasize our very strong support — and we emphasize this to all the countries in the region — our very strong support for the territorial integrity and the respect of the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said at an event in Toronto.

"We remain very supportive of the Ukrainian people in their desire for democracy and a better future."

While not specifically naming Russia in his comments, Harper called the reports out of Ukraine "worrying."

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, speaking from Kyiv, went further, singling out Russia directly.

Baird said he was calling on Ukraine's neighbours to respect its sovereignty "and avoid any actions that could prove and appear provocative."

"With this in mind I am concerned that Russian military exercises so close to the Ukrainian border are not helpful at this time when emotions and when tensions are running high."

The comments came as members of Ukraine's new government accused Russia of a "military invasion," saying Russian troops have taken up positions around a coast guard base and two airports in Crimea.

Baird said he welcomed a statement from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Russia would respect Ukraine's territorial sovereignty.

(Sidebar: Lavrov is a lapdog. He will "transmit" no such message to his superiors.)

**

Earlier today, Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia that intervening in Ukraine would be “a very grave mistake.” This afternoon, fellow clown Jay Carney doubled down on the paper tiger diplomacy...

And there you have it.


Some people think we're in dire straits:

The federal government recorded a massive surplus in December, the first since last June and the largest one-month windfall since the recession in what some see as the beginning of the stretch drive to a balanced budget.

Remember- budgets balance themselves.


Speaking of Canada:

When MSNBC’s Richard Lui asked Grayson for his thoughts on who would take the Florida Republican primary for 2016, here’s what Grayson had to say:

“Since Ted Cruz is a Canadian, and our constitution requires that an American win, I’m pretty sure it’s not gonna be Ted Cruz. I think that Ted Cruz is Canada’s revenge against the United States for acid rain.”

Where did the love go for Canada, American left? I mean- it's not like you even like the US, anyway, otherwise you would never have re-elected an empty-suit with questionable sympathies and conflicting birth reports.

This must be embarrassing:

Prosecutors say an FBI agent overheard Boston marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) making a "statement to his detriment" when his sister visited him in prison.

In a court filing Friday, prosecutors said the FBI agent was in the room with Tsarnaev and one of his sisters when Tsarnaev made the remark. Prosecutors did not reveal what the suspect said, but they objected to what they called an attempt by Tsarnaev's lawyers to suppress the statement.

Prosecutors argue that the FBI agent's presence was permitted by special restrictions placed on Tsarnaev in prison.

What did he say?

Also:

Canadian correctional authorities have unfairly classified former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr even though they lowered his risk rating from maximum to medium security, the federal prisons ombudsman complains. 

In a letter obtained by The Canadian Press, the Office of the Correctional Investigator urges prison authorities to take into account evidence that Khadr poses minimal threat and should be classified as such. 

"(Correctional Service of Canada) officials also note that there is no evidence Mr. Khadr has maintained an association with any terrorist organization," the letter to CSC's senior deputy commissioner states.

This is Omar Khadr making bombs. An ombudsman for federal prisons believes he poses a minimal threat.

Theez dayz, kids dun lern how to reeded gud in skewell:

My daughter recently received a Post-it note on her homework that read, “Your [sic] Awesome!” A year or two ago her teacher had written, “No merkers! [sic]” on an assignment. How does one not know how to spell “marker”? Why doesn’t “your” look strange to a teacher when she uses it as a contraction of “you” and “are”? Does she not read? Is she not familiar with what words look like? ...

On Sunday, the New York Post published letters that high-school students had sent in defending blended learning. The program has become a pathetic trick where students are granted an easy pass by playing a video game and watching a show. Their teachers are so illiterate and incompetent, they assume their students are capable of a letter-writing campaign. “[Y]ou can digest in the information at your own paste [sic],” one student suggested. Another claimed, “I passed and and [sic] it helped a lot you’re a reported [sic] your support to get truth information [sic]….” The letters the Post received from these high-school students were rife with errors, and none of the students deserved to be above second grade.

We don't have to trade with these guys:

Chinese police have detained 1,094 people and rescued 382 infants in a nationwide crackdown on four online baby trafficking rings, state media said on Friday, as criminals prey on citizens yearning to escape strict population curbs.

Child trafficking is widespread in China, where population control rules have bolstered a traditional bias for sons, seen as the support of elderly parents and heirs to the family name, and led to the abortion, killing or abandonment of girls.

About 118 boys are born for every 100 girls in the world's most populous country, against a global average of 103 to 107 boys per 100 girls.

The imbalance has created criminal demand for kidnapped or bought baby boys, as well as baby girls destined to be brides attracting rich dowries in sparsely populated regions.

Some North Korean news:

A South Korean Baptist missionary who was arrested more than four months ago for allegedly trying to establish underground Christian churches in North Korea told reporters Thursday he is sorry for his "anti-state" crimes and appealed to North Korean authorities to show him mercy by releasing him from their custody.

He shouldn't apologise for anything.

**

Speaking of an attack on children who were returning from the camp school, the former guard said: "There were three dogs and they killed five children. They killed three of the children right away. The two other children were barely breathing and the guards buried them alive."

He said that the next day instead of putting down the murderous dogs, the guards played with them and fed them special food "as some kind of reward."

**

Is Chaz Bono the evil transgendered face of North Korea?

**

An article on Marie-Antoinette Imelda Marcos Jiang Qing Michelle Obama Ri Sol Ji:

A third source, this one from Hoeryong in North Hamkyung Province, cautioned against reading too much into the popularity of Ri criticism, pointing out that “most people couldn’t care less about Ri Sol Ju or Kim Jong Eun at all anyway. However, when Ri comes up in conversation the first thing that comes to mind is 'street performer' not 'Mother of the State.' I've heard people say that she doesn't look very dignified at official events, and that she seems to only pay attention to luxuries like her clothes, shoes, bags and jewelry, and none to things like her portrait badge."

**

Ed Royce and a possibly effective way of punishing Kim Jong-Un:

Cutting off North Korea's access to hard currency is the best strategy to slow down the communist country's nuclear weapons development, a visiting U.S. Republican lawmaker said Tuesday.

Ed Royce, the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also said the recent United Nations' report accusing the North Korean regime of severe human rights violations will add pressure on Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons program.

"It seems that the strategy that slows down North Korea the most is not allowing them access to the hard currency which they use in order to create their offensive nuclear weapons capabilities," said Royce in an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul.

Royce is now in Seoul along with a delegation from his foreign affairs committee. He met with President Park Geun-hye and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se earlier in the day.

"We have tried various strategies and at this point, one of the problems is that if we give any additional support to the regime of North Korea, for example, we were to give them inducement in the form of currency, they would use that hard currency to further expand their nuclear weapons capabilities," the lawmaker said. 

Royce's remarks represent the harder line of U.S. efforts to remove the North Korean weapons program, compared to those who prefer dialogue in solving the issue.

Over at the Fur: and they say it's hard for women to get ahead in the STEM fields- a Muslim boys school with not hire female science teachers; yeah, I would say when human life begins is very relevant; Syrian Christians flee to Turkey; a brilliant essay on why Christians are the most persecuted group in the Islamic world today; and much, much more!


Mew oui!

Meatball is a hero.

The cat with the delicious-sounding name woke her owner up when a fire broke out in the attic of their home — and saved 10 lives.

Alexandra Marlin lives in a farmhouse that had been converted into apartments in the south of France.

According to the Local, Marlin woke up early on Sunday morning when her cat, Boulette — translation: meatball — began scratching on the floor of the attic. When Marlin yanked open the attic's trap door, she saw fire.

She escaped the house and called firefighters. Thankfully, residents in neighbouring apartments also escaped the blaze.

Once outside, Marlin couldn't find her heroic cat. Fortunately, Boulette had merely run off to avoid the chaotic scene. She returned later that day.

"The bonds of affection that bind us are even stronger than before. I have more respect for her. To think that she certainly saved my life and that of my neighbours, it will count forever in how I think of her," Marlin told French paper Dauphiné Liberé.

Marlin's neighbours offered to buy cat food as a token of their appreciation for their feline hero.

(With thanks to one and all)

Mid-Week Post

The bookmark of the work-week...


Oh, it's probably because of that stupid joke you made:

The NDP and Liberals say they asked to be part of the government's Ukraine delegation, but were refused. 

This is why Liberal voters must be challenged. One can see from the many instances Trudeau has opened his fool mouth that he is unfit to lead Canada. That someone would actually consider voting for him even at this stage just boggles the mind.


I'm sure this is merely a coincidence:

Russia ordered 150,000 troops to test their combat readiness Wednesday in a show of force that prompted a blunt warning from the United States that any military intervention in Ukraine would be a "grave mistake."

Vladimir Putin's announcement of huge new war games came as Ukraine's protest leaders named a millionaire former banker to head a new government after the pro-Russian president went into hiding.

The new government, which is expected to be formally approved by parliament Thursday, will face the hugely complicated task of restoring stability in a country that is not only deeply divided politically but on the verge of financial collapse. Its fugitive president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled the capital last week.

Arizona governor vetoed a bill that would have allowed businesses to refuse homosexual patrons:

Arizona's governor vetoed a bill that would have protected people who asset their religious belief in refusing service to gays, ending a proposal that put America's deep polarization over gay rights on stark display.

What the proposed law actually said:

Here are six important points to understand about the just-passed bill:

1.  If Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signs it, the bill, S.B. 1062, would make some modifications to a 1999 Arizona law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). 

2.  Under current Arizona law, if a business wanted to discriminate against gays, they would not need this bill to be passed to do so. It is not currently illegal for a business to deny service to someone because they are gay. Some cities in Arizona have ordinances against it but there is no state law against it. If business owners in Arizona wanted to deny service to gays, they could do so in most of the state under current law.

3. Even though business owners across most of Arizona (and much of the United States) have the right to deny service to gays, they are not doing so. Opponents of the bill claim it would usher in an era of "Jim Crow for gays," in which gays would be denied service at businesses across the state. If business owners really wanted to do this, though, they could already be doing it. The bill does not make that more or less likely. Business owners do not want to deny service to gays. This is not because they fear government sanction. Rather, it is because: 1) Their religious, ethical or moral beliefs tell them it is wrong to deny service; and/or, 2) the profit motive - turning away customers is no way to run a business.

4. A RFRA law, either state or federal, does not give anyone the license to do anything they want based upon their religious beliefs. Rather, it says what needs to happen for the government to take away someone's religious freedom. RFRA provides citizens with religious freedom protections, but that does not mean that everyone who claims their religious freedom is violated will win a court case using RFRA as their defense.

5. No business has ever successfully used RFRA, either a state RFRA or the federal RFRA, to defend their right to not serve gays. In fact, no business has even been before a court claiming to have that right.

6. Even if a business wanted to claim the right to not serve gays under RFRA, their claim would be even harder to defend under S.B. 1062. So, anyone who is concerned that someone may one day try to use RFRA to discriminate against gays should prefer the bill that was just passed over current law.

One might not want to shine a spotlight on kids who are already targets of some very ignorant @$$holes:

When Kim Kelley-Wagner adopted two little girls from China, now ages 13 and 7, she never imagined that her family would attract much attention. So the barrage of rude and ignorant comments she's received on a daily basis over the years has shocked her. But instead of dismissing her critics, Kelley-Wagner has created a controversial photo series starring her daughters, hoping to show others how words can hurt.

Do the pink t-shirts read: "I can hurricane-kick until bully ribs break"?:

Seven years ago two teenage boys from Nova Scotia wore pink to school to support a younger student who was bullied solely because he wore pink on his first day of school.

The touching act of solidarity eventually spurred a movement across North America and lead to the development of Pink Shirt Day -- a day to wear pink and take a stand against bullying.

Useless gestures, waste of time.


And now, George Washington and his bar tab:

Indeed, we still have available the bar tab from a 1787 farewell party in Philadelphia for George Washington just days before the framers signed off on the Constitution. According to the bill preserved from the evening, the 55 attendees drank 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, eight of whiskey, 22 of porter, eight of hard cider, 12 of beer, and seven bowls of alcoholic punch.

Tuesday Post

Lots to talk about...


Transparency means apparently nothing to the (non) Liberals:

A CBC report from last week, analyzing Conservative expenses noted that a number of Tory senators routinely charged taxpayers to bring spouses with them on trips to Ottawa.

Paul Calendra, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's parliamentary secretary, says that he's a little perplexed as to why the Liberals didn't disclose that information.

"We understood that Canadians wanted more openness with respect to expenses and that is why we [made] sure that spouses were also included in this," he told Yahoo Canada News.

"It's still taxpayer money, whether it's the MP or spouse or..children. It's all in the same vein as...this fakeness we're seeing in the Liberals. Nothing has really changed. They promise a lot and then deliver little. That's been the history of the Liberal Party and it continues with this."

Yahoo Canada News sent an email to Senator James Cowan, asking him to explain why the ex-Liberal senators didn't provide the same level of information as the Tories.

Here's his response:

"The commitment which Mr Trudeau made on behalf of all Liberal MPs and Senators in August was that, on a quarterly basis, we would disclose our travel and hospitality expenses in the same way and with the same level of detail as is required of Ministers.

"That is exactly what has been done."

Gregory Thomas of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation doesn't necessarily buy that explanation.

"The Liberals say they’re matching the disclosure of cabinet ministers, but the key difference is that anyone can obtain the actual documents and receipts [of ministers] that confirm the spending, along with details like $16 glasses of orange juice," he said, explaining that you can't get that information about MPs or senators.

"The Liberals have made a great start with being accountable for their travel expenses. We’d like to see them extend this disclosure to cover all the spending they are responsible for: their office budgets, contracts, hospitality and travel to foreign conferences."

It's window-dressing. If Liberals (or senators formerly known as Liberal senators) can make small concessions while attacking other parties (the Tories, really), they can distract the decidedly gullible electorate that they alone are the honest ones.

It's the usual dance.



He's really stepped in it now:

Justin Trudeau was back on Parliament Hill on Tuesday to face the music for his flippant joke about Ukraine, as the Conservatives and NDP pondered once again how to make the Liberal leader's latest so-called gaffe stick.

Trudeau told the media he waited until Tuesday to apologize for his remarks because he "wanted to make sure that I had the chance to express directly to leaders in the Ukrainian community ... how seriously the Liberal party takes the situation in Ukraine." ...

(Sidebar: rather, after he found out what stupid thing that was to say, he thought he would do some damage control.)

Trudeau apologized earlier in the day to the Ukrainian ambassador to Canada after making a quick visit to the embassy. Vadym Prystaiko, who had called for the apology a day earlier, praised Trudeau for being the first Canadian politician to sign a book of condolences.

The Liberal leader also took to Twitter to say he'd made amends with Paul Grod, head of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

In his interview last Thursday with "Tout le Monde en Parle," Trudeau suggested Russia, peeved about being eliminated from the medal round in Olympic hockey, might vent spleen by getting involved in Ukraine.
"It is even more worrisome now," Trudeau said in the interview, broadcast Sunday night. "Especially since Russia lost in hockey, they will be in a bad mood. We are afraid of a Russian intervention in Ukraine."

"Only because of hockey?" the show's host, Guy A. Lepage, asked Trudeau as other panelists chuckled.

"No," Trudeau replied. "It is an attempt to bring a light view of a situation that is extremely serious and extremely troubling."

In the aftermath of Trudeau's comments, both the Conservatives and NDP pounced in an effort to inflict some damage. Trudeau is consistently ahead in public-opinion polls and wrapped up a successful policy convention in Montreal over the weekend.

In the last year, Trudeau's political foes have taken aim at his remarks on China. At his joke about used-car salesmen. At his comments following the Boston marathon bombings. And now on Ukraine.
And yet Trudeau is still comfortably atop the polls.

Tory insiders say it's just a matter of time before Trudeau's verbal missteps start to hurt him, and the current Conservative strategy is to simply bide their time until he does himself in.

Well, why not? Shoving his foot in his mouth seems to be the only thing he knows how to do.

Why do Liberal voters want to elect someone who has to apologise all the time?


Pro-Russian supporters call those trying to form a new government in Kyiv "bandits":

Dozens of pro-Russian protesters rallied Tuesday in this Crimean Peninsula city, bitterly denouncing politicians in Kyiv who are trying to form a new government, with some even calling for secession from Ukraine. A Russian lawmaker stoked their passions by promising that Moscow will protect them.

"Russia, save us!" they chanted.

The outburst of pro-Russian sentiment in the strategic peninsula on the Black Sea, home to a Russian naval base, came amid fears of economic collapse for Ukraine as the fractious foes of President Viktor Yanukovych failed to reach agreement on forming a new national government and said the task of assigning posts could not be completed before Thursday.

While Ukraine's politicians struggled to reorganize themselves in Kyiv, a Russian flag had replaced the Ukrainian flag in front of the city council building in Sevastopol, 500 miles (800 kilometres) to the south of the capital. An armoured personnel carrier and two trucks full of Russian troops made a rare appearance on the streets, vividly demonstrating Russian power in this port city where the Kremlin's Black Sea Fleet is based.

Some called on Moscow to protect them from the movement that drove Yanukovych from the capital three days ago.

"Bandits have come to power," complained Vyacheslav Tokarev, a 39-year-old construction worker. "I'm ready to take arms to fight the fascists who have seized power in Kyiv."

Russia's fingerprints are all over this. It is no accident that Ukrainians were starved, murdered and squeezed out of their territory. The Russian minority are but a bargaining chip for Putin who seeks to not only control its ice-free port to the Mediterranean but all of Ukraine.



This won't end well:

The dilemma of how to handle the mentally ill who've committed horrific crimes is front and centre again as officials in Manitoba consider granting Vince Li unescorted passes from the psychiatric facility where he's been held for five years.

Li has been confined at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre since mid-2009, a year after being found not criminally responsible for killing 22-year-old Tim McLean a year earlier.

McLean was a passenger on a Greyhound bus headed for Winnipeg, sitting next to Li, who attacked him as the bus rolled towards Portage la Prairie, Man. Li stabbed McLean, and before stunned passengers cut off his head and partially cannibalized the young man.

Li suffered from untreated schizophrenia that caused him to suffer from hallucinations.

But doctors say since his confinement at Selkirk, Li has been making steady progress and on Monday recommended to the Manitoba Review Board that he be given a longer leash.

The real problem, aside from Li's horrific crime, is that if he stops taking his medications, he may repeat what he did five years ago.



Statism in Ontario, part five hundred:

New legislation in Ontario that would require fast-food chains to post calorie counts for each item on their menu boards moved forward today.

Health Minister Deb Matthews advanced the bill in the legislature Monday after completing a period of consultation with health professionals and businesses.

While some big fast-food chains have wall posters or brochures that outline nutritional information, the new law would require them to post calorie counts prominently on menu boards or menus or alongside the food when it is served.

With obesity a growing health problem in North America, Ontario is hoping that having calorie counts prominently displayed will discourage poor choices by consumers.

How stupid is this proposed law? Yes, eating fruits and vegetables and getting in a good walk is better for you than sitting in front of the TV and eating junk food. This is knowledge with which one leaves the fourth grade. If eating fast food or junk food is not a going concern for one or one's family despite a plethora of advice from those in the know, mandatory calorie counts imposed by the more- ahem - tubby of our elected officials is not only futile but onerous and controlling.



Repetition in Nigeria:

Gunmen from Islamist group Boko Haram shot or burned to death 59 pupils in a boarding school in northeast Nigeria overnight, a hospital official and security forces said on Tuesday.

It's a foregone conclusion that marriage preserves more than family and culture but also wealth:

Canadian families in higher income brackets are vastly more likely to be married or in common-law relationships, according to a new study released by a Canadian family advocacy group.

The Institute of Marriage and Family Canada report that Canadians are split into haves and have-nots along marriage lines and suggest that government, corporate and societal assistance be used to elevate the prominence of marriage in Canada.

"Top income earners are very likely to be married, while their low income peers are very likely to be unmarried," notes the report, released on Tuesday.

"This 'marriage gap' is a concern since marriage itself is a powerful wealth creator and poverty protector."
Analysis based on Statistic's Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics has found that most Canadians in the highest income quartile are married or in common-law relationships.

According to the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada, 86 per cent of the highest income quartile are married or have a common-law spouse. Forty-nine per cent of those in the middle-income quartile are in a relationship, while 12 per cent of the lowest-income quartile is in a relationship.

Those numbers remain essentially unchanged from 1998, and they are also relatively constant through age brackets.

Do Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby mean nothing? 

The furor in question came from a press release issued after Canada’s men’s hockey team won gold at the Sochi Olympic on Sunday. Marois said in the statement she was "happy to congratulate the men's hockey team for this gold medal."

She went on to identify four Quebec players - Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Patrice Bergeron, Roberto Luongo and Marint St-Louis, for their performances. "This medal is a joy to their numerous fans," the comment concludes.

When you say things like this:

He has referred to me as a “liar” and a “clown” and attacked the shape of my “weird pointy bushy eyebrows” that are deformed because of surgery that I had as a kid to remove a tumor.

It's no wonder things like this happen:

Piers Morgan and CNN Plan End to His Prime-Time Show

And now, it's time for chickens to be shamed.

For A Monday

Quickly now...


Ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych is wanted for murder:

With Viktor Yanukovych on the run, Ukraine's interim government drew up a warrant Monday for the fugitive president's arrest in the killing of anti-government protesters last week, while Russia issued its strongest condemnation yet of the new leaders in Kyiv, deriding them as "Kalashnikov-toting people in black masks."

Trudeau is a moron:

Justin Trudeau was gang-tackled Monday for an ill-timed joke about the tense situation in Ukraine.

Conservative and New Democrats questioned the Liberal leader's credentials and credibility on the world stage for what they said were flippant and distasteful comments and another example of why he's not ready for prime time.

Jobs Minister Jason Kenney was aghast at Trudeau's insensitivity.

"It shows he has absolutely no depth on foreign policy... I don't think he understands the complexities of these issues. I'd be surprised if he could find Kiev on a map," Kenney told QMI Agency.

The Montreal MP came under blistering scrutiny after equating any Russian intervention in Ukraine on the Olympic host's poor hockey performance at the Sochi Games.

His unpolished foreign policy views were aired in French during an unscripted interview in Quebec on Sunday hours after his party wrapped up a policy convention in Montreal, where delegates passed resolutions to decriminalize medically assisted suicides and a series of debt-financed national programs.

"For me, the President Yanukovych has become illegitimate and it's very disconcerting, particularly since Russia lost in hockey during the Olympics - Russia will be in a bad mood, we are concerned about Russia implicating itself in the Ukraine," he said.

He followed up by saying his remarks were an "attempt to bring a little bit of a lighter tone into a situation that is extremely serious."

It might have worked if: (a) Trudeau had the ability to be intentionally funny and (b) if Russia had no designs for Ukrainian conquest.

Fail, as they say.

 
It's not a right; it's a ploy to coddle freaks:

A referendum to overturn a California law that gives transgender students protections including the right to use the public school restrooms of their choice will not appear on the November ballot after its backers failed to gather enough voter signatures to qualify the measure, the secretary of state said Monday.

The law's opponents were led by a coalition of religious conservative groups who said it violates the privacy of youngsters who may be uncomfortable sharing facilities with classmates of the opposite biological sex.

They needed at least 504,760 signatures to force a public vote on the statute approved by the California Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year. They submitted 619,387, but county election officers found just 487,484 of them to be valid.

Yeah, they're freaks. One must be honest. Who else makes outrageous claims against genetic truths or harasses girls in their own washrooms or exposes himself to children?


Over at the Fur: why is Britain keeping in criminals?; does anyone remember the "slippery slope" pro-lifers warned people about but was promptly dismissed? Well, read these articles on "post-birth abortion", or, infanticide and euthanasia, as they are more readily known; denying "climate change" is simply denying climate change, not a war crime; and much, much more!


And now, Attack of the Killer Chihuahuas.

Friday Post

Let's relax into the week-end....


Despite a truce, there is still violence in Ukraine:

Despite a truce called by Ukraine's protest leaders and the president they aim to oust, street fighting between protesters and police in the center of Kiev continued on Thursday morning, as the number of people reported dead in the conflict rose to 28.

Well, English is the language of commerce:

The Alberta Court of Appeal sided with the provincial government Friday, ruling that its laws do not need to be printed and published in both English and French.

Really? That's not what I heard:

In a speech full of irony and sly asides, retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie said he talked with "other political parties" when he left the Canadian Army, and in the end chose to become a Liberal.

**

Retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie engaged in lively discussions with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office about senior positions with the RCMP and a national museum before becoming an adviser to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, according to emails.

The emails were provided to the Toronto Star by the Liberal party Friday after Leslie suggested recent Conservative attacks against him over $72,000 in relocation expenses were retaliation for his having chosen the Liberals over the Tories.

They were intended to prove the Conservatives were interested in the retired general, and that the Tories had no questions about the retired general’s judgment and character before he decided to enlist with Trudeau and company.

Yet the emails leave many questions unanswered, including how serious the retired general, whom the Liberals are touting as one of their star candidates going into next year’s federal election, was about working with the Conservatives, and vice versa.

"Chose"? Rather, he ran with the party that would have him.


Guess who wins this little contest?

Trudeau said he had "no interest in joining Mulcair and Harper in a competition seeing who can make Canadians angrier."

Who blames the leading party for everything, Obama Trudeau? Who believes the Canadian middle-class is suffering the way the American middle-class is? Who gleefully told a crowd of adoring old broads that the one-party dictatorship of China, which forcibly returns North Korean defectors and is complicit in the sexual exploitation of North Korean women, that he has an "admiration" for it? Who was that?


So this is what China is planning on doing with its surplus men:

China has long trained for an amphibious invasion of Taiwan during military exercises, but has now expanded its training to include a similar attack on the Senkaku Islands and other Japanese holdings in the East China Sea. All branches of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) participated in a massive exercise last year for taking these islands.

According to James Fanell, Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence and Information Operations, U.S. Pacific Fleet:

We witnessed the massive amphibious and cross military region enterprise – Mission Action 2013. [We] concluded that the PLA has been given the new task to be able to conduct a short sharp war to destroy Japanese forces in the East China Sea following with what can only be expected a seizure of the Senkakus or even a southern Ryukyu [islands] – as some of their academics say. 
...
Tensions in the South and East China Seas have deteriorated with the Chinese Coast Guard playing the role of antagonist, harassing China’s neighbors while PLA Navy ships, their protectors, (make) port calls throughout the region promising friendship and cooperation.

This concept of a "short, sharp attack" is quite credible, as the Chinese people widely believe that America has become weak because of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and that, particularly under President Barack Obama, Americans have little will to oppose China. Thus, they could quickly overwhelm Japan's forces, America would do nothing, and Chinese ownership of the Japanese islands would be part of the new status quo.

And now, Olympians who refused their medals.

Mid-Week Post

The silver lining of the work-week....


A Canadian embassy in Ukraine has been shut down after being breached by anti-government protesters:

A handful of anti-government protesters have taken shelter inside the Canadian embassy in Ukraine's capital after riot police barged into a large opposition camp with stun grenades and water cannons.

Fewer than a dozen protesters sought refuge Tuesday in the reception area of the embassy in Kyiv to escape the violent crackdown.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird's office says they are peaceful and have not caused any damage or harm to staff.

It's a lamentable situation Ukraine is in. On one hand, they want the security they think the EU can provide. On the other, Russia looms over them again.

This will not end well.

Related: just as with Iran, the US abandons Ukraine:

As the streets burn in Ukraine, and with police cracking down on opposition protesters, Vice President Joe Biden, who has been handed the unpleasant Ukrainian situation to handle, called up Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich to express “grave concern” over the situation. He also told Yanukovich that the “United States condemns violence by any side, but that the government bears special responsibility to de-escalate the situation.” Jay Carney reiterated that message at the White House, stating, “We continue to condemn street violence and excessive use of force by either side. 

Force will not resolve the crisis.”



Then the White House went further on Wednesday: White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes explained, according to Reuters, that “the United States would like to see Russia support efforts to reduce tensions in Ukraine.”

Of course they did:

According to The New York Times, China rebuffed the idea proposed by the Human Rights Council of potentially bringing Kim Jong-Un to trial at the Hague for crimes against humanity. Calling the harrowing details in the UN's latest report on the matter "unreasonable criticism," a spokesperson for the Chinese government disagreed with the idea of "politicizing human rights issues" and flat-out rejected the entire idea of the International Criminal Court: "We believe that taking human rights issues to the International Criminal Court is not helpful to improving a country’s human rights situation.”

Don't like that spotlight, eh, China? Birds of a feather forcibly repatriate defectors together.


Liberal voters, try this little experiment: pretend you're members of the American middle-class (after all, Justin Trudeau thinks you are). Though hardly cruising through life like some trust-fund babies whose dads were, let's say, prime ministers, you are more than likely to be gainfully employed, pull in more money and your government and banks don't do whacky things like hand out loans to people who can never pay them back.

On with the experiment...

Confuse your incomes and assets. Yes, assets are obtained with incomes you are now earning or have earned but Justin doesn't know that. Also imagine that your household budget doesn't need monitoring or tweaking at all. Imagine you will always have the money you need to pay for important things so you don't need to plan a budget or pay off bills or anything. This will just happen.

Try living this way for a week. Have you saved any money? Are you behind in paying your bills? Are you like the lotus-eating Nancy Pelosi who believes that Obamacare subsidies and unemployment will let one pursue one's artistic passions, rather like Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek but with far fewer holodecks and transporters? Or have you started freaking out and resumed a life of right-headed fiscal responsibility?

We have, so to speak, the luxury of having had two vantage points.  We've seen the damage the Pere has inflicted on Canada and we've seen from down south the damage an unvetted, useless narcissist can do to not just the American economy but the world. We cannot make the same mistake in Canada or North America is screwed.

(Merci beaucoup)


A fine example of why universities should be completely de-funded, why political correctness belongs in the dustbin of history and how not vetting a useless empty-suit creates a dangerous cult-of-personality:

The GIF has made its way around the Internet, because there is something amusing about a usually reserved president storming out of a press conference and nearly knocking a door off its hinges.

There is also apparently something a little racist about it, because it is a black man shown acting aggressively. A complaint was filed against Farnan and, under SSMU's equity policy, he was forced to apologize for perpetuating a microaggression.

For those who have never heard that term, microaggression refers to insensitive comments or actions made against those of a different race, culture or gender. These aren't outright incidents of racism, but the tepid and often accidental moments and comments that just don't sit right. By definition, almost anything could be considered an act of microaggression.

Apparently, posting an image of Obama kicking down a door fit the bill. Had it been Stephen Harper kicking down that door, Farnan might have been in the clear.

It's called a joke and at one time people could tell them and have a laugh. It was a part of the human condition. Now, anything and everything is racist, even poking fun at a vain African dictator who is more adept at hitting the links than he is at governing. Furthermore, a forced apology is never a sincere one. What exactly was accomplished with this, aside from the neurotic hand-wringing of the usual suspects?


It was bound to happen some time:

A proper little flap has developed over Rex Murphy, CBC News's dome-headed commentator and radio call-in host.

Critics are calling out the Newfoundlander, alleging a conflict of interest between his role as a freelance pundit for the public broadcaster and his paid speaking gigs before audiences of energy industry bigwigs.

The CBC is backing Murphy but the Vancouver Observer reports the corporation is looking at new rules requiring freelancers like Murphy to disclose their speaking fees.

That's right- Rex Murphy is a stooge and a double-agent. Whatever one does, don't pay attention to the paid troublemakers in "green" grievance industry.

 And now, cutting boards for the scientific cook.

 

For A Monday

Let the week begin!


Oh, that will show him!

In a letter to Kim Jong-un published by The Guardian, Kirby told him that the full text of the report of the Commission of Inquiry will be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva and that the UN will refer the situation in his country to the International Criminal Court "to render accountable all those, including possibly yourself, who may be responsible for the crimes against humanity referred to in this letter and in the Commission's report."

North Korea refused to cooperate with the Commission, nor allow any investigators to visit the country or provide any information to the inquiry.

North Korea's diplomatic mission in Geneva immediately rejected the Commission's findings, calling them "a product of politicization of human rights on the part of EU and Japan in alliance with the US hostile policy."

This is is one of the most meaningless, futile gestures the UN has ever proposed. No one is going to make North Korea accountable for its crimes against humanity, least of all the UN which allows China and Russia - North Korea's backers - to sit permanently on its security council. Kim Jong-Un is as frightened of this allegedly strongly worded letter as Putin is of the athletes who threatened to shake him down during the Winter Games. It would be a farce if it weren't so tragic.


Speaking of Third World hellholes:

India, the second-largest exporter of over-the-counter and prescription drugs to the United States, is coming under increased scrutiny by American regulators for safety lapses, falsified drug test results and selling fake medicines. ...

“China is the source of some of the largest counterfeit manufacturing operations that we find globally,” said John P. Clark, Pfizer’s chief security officer, who added that Chinese authorities were cooperative.

Using its new revenues, the F.D.A. tried to bolster its staff in China in February 2012. But the Chinese government has so far failed to provide the necessary visas despite an announced agreement in December 2013 during a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said Erica Jefferson, an F.D.A. spokeswoman.

The United States has become so dependent on Chinese imports, however, that the F.D.A. may not be able to do much about the Chinese refusal. The crucial ingredients for nearly all antibiotics, steroids and many other lifesaving drugs are now made exclusively in China.

We don't have to trade with China.


Back to the Korean Peninsula...

South Korea is one of the least kosher countries on the planet:

A Twitter account associated with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday reported that a deadly explosion in Taba killed three “Zionists,” making no mention of the fact that the casualties were in fact South Korean.

One of the dead was the bus’s Egyptian driver, while the rest of the victims were members of a Korean Christian tour group from the east Asian country’s North Chungcheong Province.

In their haste to be the Un-Zionist, these guys fail to distinguish between Israeli and East Asian.

Oops.


What hate crime?

But the false narrative is the primary weapon in the arsenal of the progressive. Maybe it’s their only weapon. In no area is this more pronounced or prevalent than in the realm of “gay rights.” The gay rights movement is built on mischaracterizations, fabrications, and outright lies. They don’t always come up with the lie — this one originated as nothing more than a radio station’s cheap publicity stunt — but they will use it for their benefit. ...

This incident happens only a couple of months after a lesbian waitress in New Jersey took to the internet to complain about an anti-gay note left on a receipt. The note said: “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle.” In the surprise twist ending that was neither surprising nor twisty, it eventually came out that the whole thing was a hoax. The waitress made it up.

There are homosexuals being hanged in Iran and there are bachi boys in Afghanistan. Will anyone say anything about these things? No? It's much easier to make knee-jerk reactions about things that never happened? Okay....


To be clear: Michael Mann is the creator of the faulty "hockey stick" graph that purports to show "global warming". It has since been debunked.

What Mark Steyn actually said:

Not sure I’d have extended that metaphor all the way into the locker-room showers with quite the zeal Mr Simberg does, but he has a point. Michael Mann was the man behind the fraudulent climate-change “hockey-stick” graph, the very ringmaster of the tree-ring circus. And, when the East Anglia emails came out, Penn State felt obliged to “investigate” Professor Mann. Graham Spanier, the Penn State president forced to resign over Sandusky, was the same cove who investigated Mann. And, as with Sandusky and Paterno, the college declined to find one of its star names guilty of any wrongdoing.

If an institution is prepared to cover up systemic statutory rape of minors, what won’t it cover up? Whether or not he’s “the Jerry Sandusky of climate change”, he remains the Michael Mann of climate change, in part because his “investigation” by a deeply corrupt administration was a joke.  

Mark Steyn is fearless, not reckless. That makes hacky op-eds like this deceptive pieces of rubbish. This is not an attack on science nor is it holding to account one who deliberately and perennially makes off-the-cuff, thoughtless statements.  Mann is not a victim of "spurious attacks" as the writer claims but of legitimate scientific criticism from those in the know and from those who have every right to call into question his so-called conclusions and even quote those who do likewise.


(With thanks to all)

Friday Freakout

Can't we all love the way these cats love?

There are good cakes and then there are cakes that clearly fell off the kitchen counter and were put back together by a six-year-old wearing boxing gloves.

From Russia with letters that clearly define your language group: the history of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Some history on valentine cards.

Mid-Week Post

The fondant centre of the work-week...


Thanks a bundle, Flaherty:

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty suggested today he no longer supports bringing in income splitting for couples with children, kicking off a debate over whether the Conservatives are stepping back from a 2011 campaign promise.

Don't promise something you can't or won't deliver.

Related: Waste your own money, Premier Wynne:

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty made a deliberate decision to unfairly shortchange Ontario to the tune of $641 million in the federal budget, Premier Kathleen Wynne charged Wednesday.

"We're seeing a pattern of the federal government getting out of, I would suggest, the business of nation building, and particularly in this case turning its back on Ontario," Wynne said at a news conference with Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa. "We're here today to demonstrate that yesterday’s budget is part of that pattern."

The minority Liberal government claims funding cuts in the last eight years of federal Conservative budgets have cost the province billions of dollars.

What a bunch of bloody liars! Whose fault is it that Ontario has debt higher than California's?

This is the government Liberal voters want. Right there.

Convicted terrorist, murderer and racist Omar Khadr has been transferred to a medium-security prison:

Former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr has been moved to a medium security prison, after being reclassified a lesser danger, his lawyer announced Wednesday.

Ottawa had resisted the 27-year-old's transfer from a Canadian federal penitentiary to a more comfortable provincial correctional facility for petty criminals and young offenders, calling it an attempt to lessen his punishment.

Think of the hero's welcome Megrahi got when he was released from prison. That may one day be Khadr.

Mother Khadr and Zaynab must be SO happy.

Who needs to get off his @$$? Who?

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, best remembered for his impassioned pleas for help after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, was convicted Wednesday of accepting bribes in exchange for helping businessmen secure millions of dollars in city work.

(Sidebar: Impassioned? He was lazy.)


This must be embarrassing:

The Obama administration has repeatedly stated that any military rescue of Americans on the ground in Benghazi during the 9/11 attack in 2012 was an impossibility because it didn’t have the necessary assets in the area that day.

Judicial Watch has released a map the organization obtained through a FOIA request which shows the location of U.S. Navy assets the day of the attack in Benghazi, Libya.

The map (PDF) appears to counter administration claims that there were no military assets in the area that day. Judicial Watch writes that a “multitude of forces” were in the area.

Damn you, global warming!

Lake Superior hasn’t completely frozen over in two decades. 

But an expert on Great Lakes ice says there’s a “very high likelihood” that the three-quadrillion-gallon lake will soon be totally covered with ice thanks to this winter’s record-breaking cold.

The ice cover on the largest freshwater lake in the world hit a 20-year record of 91 percent on Feb. 5, 1994.

Jay Austin, associate professor at the Large Lakes Observatory in Duluth, Minn., told CNSNews.com that he expects that record will be broken this winter when the most northern of the Great Lakes becomes totally shrouded in ice.

The thickness of the ice on Lake Superior “varies tremendously,” from a very thin sheet in some areas near the coast to several feet thick in other spots, Austin says. The  National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that the mean thickness of the lake ice is 26 cm, or a little over 10 inches. 

Austin attributes the large amount of ice on the lake to the “extraordinary cold winter we’ve had,” pointing out that Duluth recently experienced an all-time record of 23 straight days of below-zero temperatures. ...

Austin, who studies the effect of lake ice, predicts that it will have a “very strong influence” on the regional climate this summer, with the “air conditioning [lake] effect” more pronounced than usual.

“Typically, the lake will start warming up in late June, but it will be August before we see that this year,” Austin told CNSNews.com.

As of February 10th, ice covered 80.4 percent of all the Great Lakes, compared to 38.4 percent last winter, according to NOAA. That’s considerably higher than the lake’s long-term average of 51.4 percent under ice.

 
I believe China had similar problems:

Subtropical climate and colossal corruption are not the only problems of the Sochi Games. Olympic objects were built without proper oversight and regulations, mostly by unqualified migrant laborers from Central Asia who were mistreated and often unpaid. The resulting infrastructure is not of the most reliable quality. As the Russian opposition leader gloomily noted, “The best result of these Games will be if everyone stays alive.”

Beyond Sochi, the Putin government continues its repressive policies, with new attacks against independent media and the upcoming verdict in the “Bolotnaya Square case” that is almost certain to result in five-to-six-year prison terms for peaceful opposition activists whose only “crime” was to protest against Putin’s inauguration. The number of recognized political prisoners in Putin’s Russia currently exceeds three dozen people.

 
All of this could have prevented Russia from getting the Olympics (which aren't doing too badly). Nobody cared or cares.


Perhaps the fathers forget how Kenneth Bae is treated or how the faithful are treated just north of them:

Korea’s seemingly unbridgeable left-right divide is spilling into the nation’s second-most-popular religion, pitting conservative Catholics against progressives.

“The church, too, can’t escape from the great political divide engulfing Korea,” said a religion expert, asking his name to be withdrawn. “Lately, the progressive priests have been speaking out, organizing special masses. That must have prompted their opponents to speak up in response.”

By progressive priests, the expert was referring to the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice and the like-minded priests, like those who organized the Monday Mass in Gwangju.

In a series of special services, they called on President Park to step down and her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, to be arrested over the National Intelligence Service’s alleged meddling in the 2012 presidential election campaign.

“We can only conclude that a president who ignores people’s demands for the truth and displays characteristics of a stubborn dictator is acknowledging that she is no longer the president chosen by the people of Korea,” the priests have said in a statement issued in one of the masses.

Conservative Catholics have launched a group to counter the left-leaning priests late last year.

Christened “Catholics’ gathering to protect the Republic of Korea,” the group calls itself a representative of ordinary believers who have grown sick and tired of their activist priests. 

If they knew their stuff, they would know how diametrically opposed communism is to not only the Church but to all Christianity.


Belgium to euthanise children:

More than a decade after legalising euthanasia for adults, Belgium is set this week to extend mercy-killing to terminally-ill children after lengthy public debate over the ethical issues at stake.

Despite strong opposition from the Church and even some pediatricians, a bill allowing euthanasia for minors facing "unbearable physical suffering" goes up for debate in parliament's lower house Wednesday, before being put to a vote the following day.

If adopted as widely expected, the legislation will make Belgium only the second country after the Netherlands to allow incurably sick children to seek to end their lives.

While the Dutch law, the world's first euthanasia bill, enables mercy-killing in special cases for gravely ill patients 12 years or older, Belgium will be the first nation to lift all age restrictions.

 
When World War Three rolls around, Belgium, you're on your own.

Lake Superior hasn’t completely frozen over in two decades. But an expert on Great Lakes ice says there’s a “very high likelihood” that the three-quadrillion-gallon lake will soon be totally covered with ice thanks to this winter’s record-breaking cold.
The ice cover on the largest freshwater lake in the world hit a 20-year record of 91 percent on Feb. 5, 1994.
Jay Austin, associate professor at the Large Lakes Observatory in Duluth, Minn., told CNSNews.com that he expects that record will be broken this winter when the most northern of the Great Lakes becomes totally shrouded in ice.
The thickness of the ice on Lake Superior “varies tremendously,” from a very thin sheet in some areas near the coast to several feet thick in other spots, Austin says. The  National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that the mean thickness of the lake ice is 26 cm, or a little over 10 inches.

Austin attributes the large amount of ice on the lake to the “extraordinary cold winter we’ve had,” pointing out that Duluth recently experienced an all-time record of 23 straight days of below-zero temperatures.
The previous record of 22 days was set in 1936 and tied in 1963, according to the National Weather Service.
Austin, who studies the effect of lake ice, predicts that it will have a “very strong influence” on the regional climate this summer, with the “air conditioning [lake] effect” more pronounced than usual.
“Typically, the lake will start warming up in late June, but it will be August before we see that this year,” Austin told CNSNews.com.
As of February 10th, ice covered 80.4 percent of all the Great Lakes, compared to 38.4 percent last winter, according to NOAA. That’s considerably higher than the lake’s long-term average of 51.4 percent under ice.
- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/ice-expert-predicts-lake-superior-will-completely-freeze-over#sthash.dX6SG42G.dpuf

And now, the Winter Olympics on Hoth.

What a venue!