Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Tuesday Post

Oh dear....

Rob Ford, a man simultaneously adored by his fans and abhorred by his foes as his scandal-packed term as mayor of Canada's largest city propelled him to international infamy, has died.

Ford, 46, succumbed to cancer Tuesday, 18 months after doctors discovered a softball-sized malignant tumour in his abdomen, his family announced in a statement.

"A dedicated man of the people, Councillor Ford spent his life serving the citizens of Toronto," the statement said.

Now that the CBC has $675 million in funding from the disastrous Liberal budget, it can carry on with how "polarising" the man was well before he is buried.

God forbid that they should mention his effectiveness or generosity.

Burn in hell, CBC.

Rest in peace, Rob Ford.




Only hours after ISIS claimed responsibility for murdering over thirty people in Belgium, the West's most powerful response to this outrage is not targeting homegrown Islamists, not deporting known criminals, not even stamping out poisonous ideology; it's a cartoon:


(Sidebar: soon, this cartoon, like all others before it, will disappear. There's the West's resolve for you.)

For the refreshing honesty, I would like Western leaders to tell their citizens to brace themselves for more attacks and even to get used to them. There is no will to fight the inbred horrors that scourge all parts of the globe. Not any more.




Now, the budget.

PM Trulander promised to run THREE deficits and put anyone earning over $200,000 into a higher tax bracket during the election. Somehow forgetting that deficits are debt, rather like maxing out one's credit cards, and that running deficits is a tremendously stupid idea and that not even half a million of tax-paying Canadian citizens earn over $200,000, people voted for this barmy policy anyway. Now, they get to own the following:

It’s a classic soak the rich scheme,” said Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “When you talk about the one per cent, a lot of these people are living in Toronto and Vancouver. Making $100,000 or $150,000, you’re not starving but you’re not one of these people with a yacht or Rolls Royce and that’s disconcerting: These people are essentially middle class and they are not benefitting from these measures.”


One of those measures is the new Canada Child Benefit, which will provide families with a single, tax-exempt payment every month, replacing the current system of combined National Child Benefit Supplement, Canada Child Tax Benefit and Universal Child Care Benefit. Higher income Canadians, generally families with incomes of $150,000 or more, will receive lower benefits under the new system.

**

Regions where unemployment has increased by two percentage points since the oil price crash will have Employment Insurance benefits extended by an additional five weeks — providing relief to areas including Newfoundland and Labrador, southern Ontario and much of Alberta. From Jan. 1, the waiting period for workers to receive benefits drops to one week, from two.

(Sidebar: the provinces that handed Liberals seats.)

**

The Liberal government revealed Tuesday that it will not be fulfilling its election promise to reduce the small business tax rate, proposing that the rate should remain unchanged at 10.5 per cent for the foreseeable future.

**

The Liberal government is expected to face an uproar from disabled veterans after backing off its promise to reintroduce lifelong pensions for those injured in the line of duty.




The last time the Iranians picked a favourite for a president, they got Reagan:

As Iranians see it, Hilary Clinton is more realistic and has a better understanding of the Middle East. On the other side, some of her viewpoints and the influence of Arabic-Jewish lobbyists are her losing points. So her approach towards foreign policy and especially Iran is colored by uncertainty.

They might get Cruz and then cruise missiles.


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