Mid-Week Post

What's in the news?


Jian Ghomeshi has been charged with four accounts of assault, has surrendered his passport and can't leave Ontario:

A sombre Jian Ghomeshi stood silently by his lawyer on Wednesday as she told a large crowd of reporters at a Toronto courthouse that the former CBC Radio host would plead not guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault.

The charges — four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking — capped weeks of mounting allegations against the once-popular media personality who could now face up to life in prison if convicted. ...

His bail conditions include living with his mother — who was present in court and acted as his surety — no contact with his alleged victims and an agreement to surrender his passport and remain in Ontario.

And those who knew what Ghomeshi was doing? What happens to that culture of rot?

Related: never let a crisis go to waste:

CBC is promising to tell the story of "what really happened" with Jian Ghomeshi in an upcoming episode of "The Fifth Estate."

The investigative program is set to run an hour-long documentary on the disgraced Q radio host Friday, titled "The Unmaking of Jian Ghomeshi."

"There will be numerous revelations that will cast a new light on what happened," executive producer Jim Williamson said in an e-mail.

Williamson said several employees speak up in the episode for the first time about what they experienced. "The Fifth Estate" pursued the story with support from CBC News senior management, and it will focus on what happened inside the CBC, not the criminal investigation, he said.

In other news, Benjamin Levin, friend to Premier Kathleen Wynne, co-author of a graphic sex education program geared towards children, has plead not guilty to seven charges of producing child pornography:

That's right. A publication ban on trial of Premier Kathleen Wynne's friend and co-designer of a graphic sex education program aimed at children has been set in place.

That must be why (as of this posting) there are no reports of this development from other news agencies.


New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant has removed safeguards restrictions to abortion in his province:

New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant announced Wednesday his government will remove barriers that restrict access to abortion in the province.

Regulation 84-20 in the Medical Services Payment Act requires notes from two doctors stating an abortion is medically necessary.

The Liberals will also remove the requirement that abortions be performed by a specialist.

The reforms will go into effect Jan. 1, Gallant said, and will put abortions in the same category as other insured medical services.

This is what the electorate of New Brunswick voted for: future Gosnells and a moratorium on available energy and the jobs that come with it.


The myth of deradicalising Islamists:

De-radicalization, I told the senators, was just an empty meaningless word. The real challenge was to prevent radicalization and this required confronting the rhetoric of political Islam rather than appeasing those who fanned religiosity and made Muslims believe their first loyalty was to Islam, not their community of fellow Canadians and Canada.

Read the whole thing.


The War on Christmas just gets more pathetic:

A Belmont, Massachusetts, elementary school canceled a second-grade field trip to see The Nutcracker last week because some parents thought children would be offended by the “religious content” of the ballet.

Butler Elementary School’s PTA cancelled the annual trip, a school tradition for many years, after a few parents expressed concerns that the “questionable content” of the ballet may be offensive to some students.

The questionable content? A Christmas tree on the stage.

(Sidebar: bad satire?)


And now, twenty-three facts about Thanksgiving foods (for one's American friends).