Saturday Post

Lots to talk about...


It is believed that one of two Japanese hostages taken by ISIS has been killed:

A video was posted online Saturday night showing a still image of journalist Kenji Goto, one of two Japanese hostages held by the Islamic State group, holding a picture of what appeared to be the body of fellow captive Haruna Yukawa, a private security contractor who was believed abducted in Syria in August.

In the photo, Goto is holding a composite of two images. In one of them, Yukawa is kneeling on the ground. The other image appears to show his decapitated body. The photo, if authentic, suggests Yukawa was executed after a 72-hour ransom deadline imposed by the terrorist group expired at 2:50 p.m. Friday Japan time. ...

The video released Saturday night was accompanied by the voice of a man who identified himself as Goto.

“I am Kenji Goto Jogo. You have seen the photo of my cellmate Haruna slaughtered in the land of the Islamic caliphate,” the voice said in accented English in the video.

“You were warned,” the voice said. “You were given a deadline and so my captors acted upon their words.

“Abe, you killed Haruna. You did not take the threat of my captors seriously. And you did not act within that 72 hours.

“Their demand is easier. They are being fair. They no longer want money. So you do not need to worry about funding terrorists. They are just demanding the release of their imprisoned sister, Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi,” the voice said.

If Japan has any external means to recover the remaining hostage or obliterate ISIS, it should avail itself of them. That or re-militarise. Also, deliver to ISIS the corpse of this woman, preferably wrapped in the skin of a hog.


An alleged Canadian terrorist accused of killing five Americans has been extradited:

An alleged Canadian terrorist charged with murdering five Americans in a 2009 bombing in Iraq has been extradited to the U.S., the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office said Friday.

Edmonton native Sayfildin Tahir Sharif is scheduled to appear at the Brooklyn federal courthouse Saturday to face criminal charges that he conspired to kill Americans abroad and provided material support to terrorists, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Sharif -- also known as Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa -- was ordered extradited Oct. 19, 2012, after a Court of Queen's Bench hearing. The federal justice minister approved the extradition in February 2013.

(Sidebar: what took so long?)

A feel-good story.


Leftists' favourite little piggy wants bail:

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr wants bail pending a decision on the appeal of his convictions in the U.S.

A bail hearing is scheduled for March 24 and 25 in Edmonton.

Khadr, 28, is currently serving an eight-year federal prison sentence in Bowden Institution, located north of Calgary, as part of an international transfer agreement with the U.S.

But defence lawyer Nate Whitling said he wants Khadr released during the appeal process.

The Liberal government Ontario voters wanted and got is not ruling out tax increases:

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa was not ruling out tax increases as he headed into pre-budget consultations.

"I would prefer to talk about the budget on budget day," Sousa said. "I recognize the importance of revenue as well as controlling expenses."

Sousa said he will deliver a budget this spring that keeps the government on track to eliminate its deficit by 2017-18, currently pegged at $12.5 billion.

Further violence in Ukraine goes virtually unnoticed:

Pro-Russian rebels announced a major new offensive in Ukraine on Saturday after missiles killed at least 30 people in Mariupol, a strategic city linking rebel territory with Russian-occupied Crimea.

The local mayor’s office said 97 people were also wounded in the attack, which struck a crowded residential district early in the morning and then again shortly after midday.

Obama has not only refused to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but has also refused to attend the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Tuesday. He is sending instead his token Jew Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

To be clear: Obama, who left for a fundraiser in Las Vegas and a golf game after terrorists murdered American nationals, will not meet with a major American ally (one he does not like) "because of the proximity to the Israeli election...".

Obama will also not visit the death camp he can't be sure some uncle of his liberated or something.

The recent death of King Abdullah, to whom he will be paying his respects, must be occupying his thoughts.

He is, instead, sending his treasury secretary.

French President François Hollande, German President Joachim Gauck, Austrian President Heinz Fischer, King Philippe of Belgium, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark will be attending the seventieth anniversary of the Soviet liberation of one of the most infamous death camps (Putin will not attend this year citing his busy schedule and his unjust war in Ukraine).

There one has it.

Related:

When Abe visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, this week, he said, “Today, I have learned how merciless humans can be by singling out a group of people and making that people the object of discrimination and hatred. … We must continue to work toward the realization of a world free of discrimination and war, where human rights are protected.”

Oddly enough, Abe refrained from mentioning Japan’s wartime aggression and colonial rule in the past, or the frequent hate speech against Korean residents in Japan today. If Japan does not open its eyes to the negative aspects of its modern history and turn the lessons it draws from them into meaningful actions, it will not be able to achieve true reconciliation with its neighbors.

First-World problems:

A Colorado bakery is under investigation for religious discrimination after a baker refused to write anti-gay words on a cake.

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A Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a gay couple has been given an ultimatum by a judge; serve gay weddings or face fines.

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These are obscene images. They depict two men thrown from the roof of a building as a crowd watches them fall to their deaths, and they purport to show the Islamic State (or ISIS) carrying out public executions before an audience in Iraq’s Nineveh province.

The two victims’ alleged crimes? They are believed to be gay. In another photo, woman accused of being an adulterer is stoned to death, and two men charged with thievery are bound to crucifixes.

Guess which one got more ire.