Monday Post

Just not enough hours in the day...

But budgets balance themselves:

Monday’s pre-budget update on November’s fiscal update was aimed at taking the sting out the revelation that the deficit will be a whopper. The finance minister said the deteriorating fiscal position since the fall means the deficit for 2016-17 will be $18.4 billion, from $3.9 billion in the fall, even if that number is well-padded with $6 billion in contingency.

No, Liberals, you can own it:

The talking point in every Liberal mouth was that this promise — to splash out billions of dollars in every direction, only a fraction of it for infrastructure even on the Liberals’ ludicrously open-ended definition — represents a bold “new approach” to economic policy. (Also a “new course,” a “new direction,” and a “new plan.”) I grant that it is not found in most economics textbooks, where the notion of treating a supply shock like a collapse in oil prices with demand stimulus would be treated with some derision.

Well, obviously:

A trail of money stretching from a Panamanian shipping agent to an octogenarian Singaporean to a Chinese bank provides a window on why U.S. efforts to tighten sanctions on North Korea may be harder to achieve than in the case of Iran.

For decades North Korea has built networks of front companies and foreign intermediaries to channel currency in and out, circumventing attempts to isolate it over its nuclear-weapons program. Court documents and interviews with investigators, banks and prosecutors show the cornerstone of those networks is China.

“Its geographic proximity, the huge trade volume, having the contacts, and having the historic relationship all contribute to making China the center point for any North Korean initiative to evade international financial sanctions,” said William Newcomb, a former member of a panel of experts assisting the United Nations’ North Korea sanctions committee. “China is a very important piece in making sure that blockages work.”

And who is going to hold China accountable for dragging out the misery of the North Korean people?




Like fun you would. This was sell-able murder-pr0n and you know it:

California man Michael Chilldres had no idea who William Pickton was—or what kind of maelstrom he was wading into—when he arranged to have the serial killer’s scrawled autobiography published.

“If I had to do it all over again, I would say ‘no,’” said Chilldres by phone from his home just outside of Los Angeles.

“I didn’t think this book was going to be as big of a deal as it is; I just thought it would be a little deal.”

Fake Canadian wins an award:

Journalist Mohamed Fahmy is the recipient of this year's Freedom to Read award from the Writers' Union of Canada.

And now, a chase scene from a recent episode of "The Walking Dead" but funnier:

(WARNING: if you haven't seen the episode, don't watch this. Or watch it. Don't care.)