Mid-Week Post

The firestorm in Fort McMurray has gotten worse:

The "catastrophic" wildfire that has destroyed 1,600 homes and buildings in Fort McMurray, Alta., has now consumed more than 10,000 hectares, and is expected to rage out of control through the rest of the day.

At an update Wednesday afternoon, Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs Danielle Larivee announced a province-wide state of emergency has been declared, a move that puts the battle against the fire and the subsequent recovery efforts in the hands of the government.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley cut the wildfire budget by $15 million.

Carry on.




After the auditor-general's report that immigrants have scammed their way into citizenship, Minister of Immigration John McCallum has promised to use even more resources to shove in more migrants:

Talks with the military to provide assistance in bringing thousands more Syrian refugees to Canada are under way as the Liberal government appears to be spooling up efforts to make good on a promise to private sponsorship groups.

I suppose one should never under-estimate the moral depravity of others:

The Calgary police elder abuse unit is investigating after some rental-home tenants fled in the middle of the night, leaving a brain-damaged senior alone in the house without any food or water.

And now one knows why they are passing Soylent Green laws.




I think this fantastic idea should be run by the imams first:

Student Mika Schellenberg attended the school board meeting in Steinbach, Man., to ask trustees to update the division's diversity policies to better include LGBT people.

Come on. Take on a real challenge. Stop being a coward. It's easy to get a pat on the back by a bunch of schnooks. Of course schools will morph into some bizarre child-minding centre for anyone who claims to be bullied. Why not take on bullying where it really matters?


Because Mark Steyn:

Yet ultimately you can be either a gay-wedding society or a semi-Islamized society. By choosing both, the west will tear itself apart - and in the end it's the Islamic imperialists who have the less shaky relationship with "the very existence of external reality". What Marx called the internal contradictions of capitalism have nothing on those of "diversity".

Perhaps one should sit back and watch this particular train wreck. When tribes based on one's own trouser feelings are more important than basic academia, why not watch the barbarians remove the gates and get down to burning what is left of Western civilisation?


Also:

A North Carolina law limiting protections to LGBT people violates federal civil rights laws and can't be enforced, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday, putting the state on notice that it is in danger of being sued and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.

The law, which also requires transgender people to use public bathrooms that conform to the sex on their birth certificate, has been broadly condemned by gay-rights groups, businesses and entertainers, some of whom have relocated offices or cancelled shows in the state. Several other states have proposed similar laws limiting LGBT protections in recent months.

What the law actually says:

Single-Sex Multiple Occupancy Bathroom and Changing Facilities. – Local boards of education shall require every multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility that is designated for student use to be designated for and used only by students based on their biological sex.

 (c) Accommodations  Permitted. – Nothing  in  this section  shall  prohibit  local  boards  of education  from  providing  accommodations  such  as  single occupancy bathroom  or changing facilities or controlled use of faculty facilities upon a request due to special circumstances, but in no event shall that accommodation result in the local boards of education allowing a student to use a multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility designated under subsection (b) of this section for a sex other than the student’s biological sex.

Basically, there is no compulsion for a school to accommodate someone's unscientific fantasy.

I'm sure the majority will not be affected by this.




The Americans have voted for a showman:

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ended his presidential campaign Tuesday, eliminating the biggest impediment to Donald Trump's march to the Republican nomination.

Good luck with that, Yanks.




I'm sure he does:

Sipping filtered city water to show it's again drinkable, President Barack Obama promised Wednesday to ride herd on leaders at all levels of government until every drop of water flowing into homes in Flint, Michigan, is safe to use.

A state of emergency was declared in January of this year.

Now Obama has the back of Flint proles residents.




Remember - it's all about the environment:

The Obama administration is revising a federal rule that allows wind-energy companies to operate high-speed turbines for up to 30 years, even if means killing or injuring thousands of federally protected bald and golden eagles.

Under the plan announced Wednesday, wind companies and other power providers could kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles a year without penalty — nearly four times the current limit. Golden eagles could only be killed if companies take steps to minimize the losses, for instance, by retrofitting power poles to reduce the risk of electrocution.

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said the proposal will "provide a path forward" for maintaining eagle populations while also spurring development of a pollution-free energy source that's intended to ease global warming, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's energy plan.

What ships can't do, singers might:

China's military has dispatched ships and planes — even constructed new islands to assert its maritime claims. Now it's deploying a new set of tools to uphold Chinese sovereignty: Magicians, singers and actors.

Famed singer of patriotic anthems Song Zuying headlined a tour of China's man-made islands in the South China Sea's Spratly islands this week, underscoring Beijing's confidence in asserting its increasingly dominant position in the disputed region.

The performance, entitled "The People's Navy Advances," included songs, skits and magic tricks, part of a long tradition of the People's Liberation Army art troops putting on shows to entertain, promote ideological conformity and stir public pride in the military and ruling Communist Party.

Among the songs performed: "Ode to the South Sea Defenders," whose lyrics speak of "a troop of stout men with guns in their hands who battle the wind and fight the waves to guard the nation's door."

Look for the ruling in the next few weeks.




Albania detains sixteen Syrians who entered the country illegally:

Albanian police say they have detained 16 Syrians who had entered the country illegally.

A police statement Wednesday said the group that included nine children had come from the Idomeni shelter in Greece, taken a taxi and then walked 16 kilometres (9.9 miles) before entering Albania.

They were discovered by border police in the district of Devoll, near the Greek border.

Police said the group had aimed to cross into Serbia in order to reach Germany.

That's terrible. Christians and Yazidis were murdered and are still being murdered. How did that escape the UN's notice?

The U.N. humanitarian chief has told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured in indiscriminate attacks over the past 10 days in "the carnage in Aleppo."

Australians head to the polls on July 2nd:

Australia's election campaign will officially start soon with climate change policy and union corruption in the national building industry shaping into key battlegrounds for the July 2 poll.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Wednesday that he was likely to visit Governor-General Peter Cosgrove this weekend to lock down the date and officially start the election campaign.

And now, are you unsure what to celebrate in May? Worry no more:

MAY 22: NEIGHBOR DAY

This Rhode Island holiday just so happens to fall on the anniversary of the premiere of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1967.