Friday Post

Quickly now....


There is no punishment in a civilised society fit for these people:

A 10-year-old boy rescued in urine-soaked pyjamas from a squalid bedroom where he had been confined for up to two years expressed hope, authorities say, that he can now attend school.

After receiving an anonymous tip, authorities discovered the boy in horrific conditions, locked in a bedroom of his aunt and uncle's house in the southwestern Ontario city.

"There was a lot of garbage in the house," London Police Insp. Kevin Heslop said at a news conference Friday.

"There was a lot of packaging from fast food outlets. In the bedroom specifically there was feces, urine, the bed was soaked in urine, as was the child's pyjamas when the child was found and there was food waste throughout the house."

The boy had been locked in the bedroom for at least 18 months, possibly as long as two years, Heslop said. He may have been out "for a brief period of time" in 2013, he said. The boy was typically fed twice a day, fast food that was left for him to eat, Heslop said.

"The master bedroom had an ensuite bathroom so the child had access to a toilet and shower, however the room — in fact the entire house — was in squalid condition," Heslop said.

The boy's aunt and uncle have been charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life and forcible confinement. Their names are not being released to protect the boy's identity.

If I were Abe, I'd buck idle American support for the strength in numbers an equally infuriated pan-Asian alliance would offer:

The United States threw its weight on Saturday behind a push by Japan to take a more active role in regional security and bluntly warned China to halt destabilizing actions in support of territorial claims.

Even an American court finds for Canadian earnestness:

An American court has rejected an attempt to block a major Canada-U.S. bridge project.

The Washington, D.C., District Court has denied a request for an injunction to halt a permit for the proposed Windsor-Detroit bridge.

The request came from the private company that owns the aging Ambassador Bridge, which handles nearly one-third of Canada-U.S. trade.

That private company, owned by Detroit's Moroun family, says two national governments are conspiring against its own rival project to build a private bridge.

As it waits for its own permits, the company requested an injunction to block the U.S. Coast Guard from granting a key permit to the public bridge.

In an opinion released today, the court rejected that request — calling it preliminary, and concluding there's no proof the Coast Guard permit will cause irreparable harm to the Moroun family project.

The case is just one battle in the years-long dispute over a replacement for the Ambassador Bridge, pitting the Canadian government and U.S. allies against the Morouns' Detroit International Bridge Co.

The Canadian government is already funding the vast majority of the proposed New International Trade Crossing, and is waiting for the U.S. to fund a customs plaza on its own side.

What? Liberal corruption? I'm stunned:

Ontario's Tories released documents Thursday that they said show the governing Liberals secretly approved a $317-million bailout of a Toronto building project by a private developer and a charity, a charge the Liberals called false.

The province gave $71 million to buy the land to expand the MaRS innovation research centre in downtown Toronto, and a $234-million loan for a new tower, but the documents show MaRS and the developer couldn't repay the money, said Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

Premier Kathleen Wynne approved a multimillion-dollar bailout without the public's knowledge, added Hudak.

And now, your Friday freakout: should this guy be Doctor Who? and an eighty-nine year old woman fights off a sword-wielding thief with a golf club.