Halloween Week: the Beginning

Yes.

... or something...


John Tory has been elected mayor.


I think this cartoon is spot-on:

 

Oh, this must be embarrassing:

"Q" radio host Jian Ghomeshi says he has been fired from the CBC because they believed his "sexual behaviour was unbecoming of a prominent host" on the public broadcaster.

And this:

The RCMP said Sunday it is analyzing a video National War Memorial killer Michael Zehaf-Bibeau made of himself just before his deadly attack.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said in a statement released Sunday night that the video is being viewed for possible "evidence and intelligence."

"The RCMP has identified persuasive evidence that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's attack was driven by ideological and political motives," Paulson said. "Zehaf-Bibeau had prepared a video recording of himself just prior to conducting this attack."

Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, of Hamilton, Ontario Wednesday as the Argyll and Sutherland Highlander reservist stood sentry at the memorial.

I guess we can't deny the obvious anymore.


It's come to this:

Canadian police need more resources and not extra powers to deal with the threat posed by extremists after two deadly attacks, say legal and security experts, as the government pledged to deliver tough new anti-terror legislation.

Canada's Conservative government said it will soon introduce a bill to enhance the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) spy agency and is planning other legislation designed to allow police to preempt threats and crack down on hate speech.

 
Or the government can allow people to carry weapons, it can limit or halt immigration from Islamist countries and get tough on Islamist terrorism.


What a rotter:

Justin Bourque told RCMP investigators he wouldn't change a thing about the night in June when he fatally shot three officers and wounded two others in Moncton, N.B.

If he had the power to go back in time, the only thing he would do differently is bring water, Bourque said during his statement to police after being placed under arrest for the killings.

Perhaps social media is partly to blame for this outbreak. Also to blame, stupidity:

Social media is still fuelling the largest outbreak of syphilis in Winnipeg in recent years.

Dr. Joss Reimer, medical officer of health for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, says 60 cases have been reported in Winnipeg so far this year. The majority are diagnosed in men who are having sex with men

"The numbers are the highest we have seen since our current method of keeping record [was adopted]. We have numbers back to 1991 and we don't have any other years close to this year," she said.

"We had outbreaks in 2003 and again in 2007, but this outbreak is quite a bit larger."

And at least 50 per cent of those infected used social media to find a casual, anonymous sex partner. That makes it more difficult for authorities to identify and notify people to get treatment.

South Korea is seeking the death penalty for the captain of a sunken ferry:

South Korean prosecutors on Monday sought the death penalty for the captain of a ferry that capsized in April, leaving 304 people, most of them school children, dead or missing, in a trial of 15 crew who abandoned ship before it sank. 

Lee Joon-seok, 68, charged with homicide, should be sentenced to death for failing to carry out his duty, which in effect amounted to homicide, the prosecution told the court before resting its case in a trial that has taken place amid intense public anger. 

Sentiment turned sharply hostile after evidence surfaced that the mostly teenage passengers waited in their cabins, obediently following orders, as the crew escaped.

The Kurds are still holding Kobani:

Coming back after two weeks away, it’s surprising that the Syrian town of Kobani hasn’t fallen to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria. Pentagon officials were predicting earlier this month that ISIS fighters would overrun the town, near the Turkish border, by mid-October, followed by widespread slaughters among the conquered population.

That hasn’t happened. And while that’s obviously good news in the short term for the city’s 200,000 largely-Kurdish residents, it’s tougher to handicap what it means for the long-term U.S.-led effort to “degrade and destroy” ISIS.

Perhaps I'm not seeing how a decisive victory over ISIS and giving Kurds their own state could be ruinous.


And now, the global undead.