Monday Post

A busy week...



Oh, dear:

Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's doctors are "very concerned" about the reappearance and progression of his cancer, his chief of staff said Monday.

Doctors are still hoping Ford, who remains in palliative care, can fight back and undergo further treatment, Dan Jacobs said in a statement released on behalf of the Ford Family.

Jacobs also said Ford has not been transferred to any kind of palliative care unit — contrary to some media reports. Rather, Ford's palliative treatment, which includes sedation, began more than a year ago to alleviate pain and stress brought on by his battle with cancer, Jacobs said.

Ford's condition has not changed since the family issued a statement Thursday that said Ford is continuing to fight cancer at Mount Sinai hospital "with his family beside him."

 

Wow, things have to be really bad when even the real French think your policies suck:

Marine Le Pen may be among France’s most popular politicians — polls suggest she has enough support to make the run-off stage in the country’s next presidential election — but she has yet to secure a meeting with a mainstream political figure in Canada.

That hasn’t stopped her from wading into federal and provincial politics, sending politicians scurrying for cover.

At a news conference in Quebec City on Sunday, Le Pen criticized Canada’s immigration policy, calling it an “error” to admit 25,000 Syrian refugees.

“A multicultural society is a conflicted society,” she said during the news conference.

Le Pen described the current situation in France as warning for Canadians.

“We put out a welcome sign, but what conditions await them? The slums of Calais? This is a policy that makes no sense and is dangerous,” she said referring to a large informal refugee camp near the tunnel underneath the English Channel.

I expect Trudeau to chuff off the same blather about not living in fear and hatred but he is also someone who has never had to rub elbows with the proles and doesn't have to live with enclaves of potential rapists with no marketable skills and plenty of Jew-hatred. Hell, he's a trust-fund kid. What would he know about how the rest of the country lives?

Didn't his handlers ever mention that to him?




The Tories worry that the Office of Religious Freedom will shut down:

The Opposition Conservatives will try today to force an answer from the government on the future of Canada's Office of Religious Freedom, the diplomatic post whose mandate and funding is set to expire this month.

Of course it will.

There should be no need for any such office nor should expense be added to what could amount to be a hollow gesture.

But for a government that wants to the antithesis of Harper's administration, shutting down this office is personal.

Speaking of pieces of crap:

U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro are working on patching up relations between the two nations during an historic visit by the American leader.

Once again, Americans can use Cuba as a Third-World playground the way they did BEFORE the revolution.

With scant regard for [Hubert] Matos' previous exemplary conduct as a freedom fighter, [Fidel] Castro subjected him to a Moscow-style show-trial in Havana and intervened personally against his former ally. Castro stood up in court and brought tremendous pressure to bear on the judges, say: "I'm telling you that you must choose: it's Matos or me!" He also prevented witnesses for the defense from testifying. Matos received a twenty-year sentence, which he served to the last day. Several people close to him were also sent to prison.

 
And nothing has changed.




But... but... Mike Duffy!

One senator stayed overnight in Toronto to have breakfast with a reporter — seven times. Another repeatedly spent an extra day at a ritzy Fredericton hotel just in case constituents wanted to meet, but there's no evidence they did.

A third flew himself and his wife to Ottawa for a staff Christmas party, then to Toronto for more family fun.

None of those expenses should have been charged to taxpayers, a former Supreme Court justice said Monday even as he slashed the total amount owed by 10 senators whose claims were flagged last year by the auditor general.

Ian Binnie chalked the problem up to the senators' own lack of knowledge about the rules governing their spending, and the belief within the Senate that outsiders lack the background necessary to fairly adjudicate their expense claims.

Oh, I am sure. 

Some may be quick to dismiss some people as snobs but I will wager some have never been left alone with a meth addict:

Hundreds of Maple Ridge residents rallied Saturday in opposition to the planned conversion of a vacant hotel into a homeless shelter.

The provincial government is in the process of buying the Quality Inn Hotel along Lougheed Highway near 217 Street for $5.5 million. The facility would then be run by B.C. Housing as what's termed a permanent low barrier shelter — meaning addicts would be able to use drugs on the premises. 

That has area residents concerned about what it will mean for their community. 

"It's going to enable them. It's going to make it easier for them to do what they do and continue doing it," said area resident Sandra Trainer. "It's not a solution."

Other residents say the province should have done a better job consulting with them on the plan. 

"There has been no process for public input. No impact study," said Caroline Madsen. "And, no neighbourhood consultation."

Why are there quotation marks around the word "rescue"?

Are there quotation marks around the word "rescue" in the Entebbe raid?




A word on the paranoia of the left and its limited vocabulary they use to express it: 

As someone who traffics in words, particularly how people toss them like rocks at one another in the culture wars, I’ve noticed that two of the left’s favorite words over the past few years—“problematic” and “unacceptable”—have yielded to the starker and more panicky “horrifying” and “terrifying.”

At least “problematic” and “unacceptable” imply a sense of being in control—well, these are obviously problems, and we clearly refuse to accept them, so let’s snuff them out and they won’t be problems anymore.

But if you find yourself constantly horrified and terrified, this implies you’ve lost control and are making a hasty retreat.

Just read the whole thing.




 The emotions....

A rescue dog now spends his days staring at a blank wall after his would-be adoptees pulled out at the last minute. 

I'm not crying....




Just in time for Easter:

Customers at Newport Mall in New Jersey witnessed a strange fight Sunday evening involving the shopping centre’s Easter bunny and some patrons waiting to get a photo with him.

Not angry but very disapproving.