Friday Post

The last time Canada was a remotely workable country with a sane leader was October 19, 2015.

Now, the man who steered Canada through economic depression but would sell our oil to China is leaving politics for good:

Harper, 57, announced his resignation Friday as MP for Calgary Heritage, officially ending a political career that spanned more than two decades, including nearly 10 years as prime minster and almost 18 years in the House of Commons.

His dad never gave him the prime minister's office.


Also:

Curiously, we have no pictures of deputy ministers ordering their third bottle of Ch. Mouton-Rothschild, or sampling the caviar before heading off to the next seminar on how climate change will affect the world’s hungry. But I suppose that’s not the message the Liberals wanted to send. Indeed, all this was done in the service of the Trudeauean mantra that “Canada is back” (where Canada had been has, curiously, never been disclosed). And, of course, if Canada was back, McKenna, and her selfie-obsessed prime minister had to be sure the world knew it. Hence her decision to hire a photographer for the express purpose of recording the virtuous at prayer and to ensure that all the world could see that this government is committed to saving the planet.

Just as PM Trulander promised - Ottawa ran a near-billion dollar deficit:

The federal government ran a $995-million deficit over the first quarter of the fiscal year, an outcome Ottawa says is roughly in line with projections in the March budget.

The nearly $1-billion deficit over the first three months of the fiscal year that began April 1 stands in contrast to a $5-billion surplus over the same three-month period the previous year.

Finance Canada’s monthly Fiscal Monitor, released Friday, stated that Ottawa ran a $1.1-billion deficit in June of 2016. The federal government ran a $1.1-billion surplus in June of 2015.

This is debt. Trudeau promised debt. His voters gladly voted for debt.

I wish that they could own it all.




Peace-keeping is the reason why nearly a million Rwandans are dead:

The Liberal government has edged Canada closer to a return to peacekeeping, but stopped short of what might be the most important — and toughest — question: Where?

Four federal cabinet ministers used an air force base in Quebec as a backdrop Friday to announce that Canada will allot up to 600 troops for United Nations peacekeeping operations. They also revealed plans to spend $450 million over the next three years on peace and stability projects.

Speaking to reporters a few hours later in nearby Saguenay, Que., where his caucus held a two-day retreat in advance of the fall parliamentary session, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touted the announcement as a sign of Canada's re-engagement with the UN.

"The commitment we made today," he said, "is us demonstrating to the world that we're very much interested and supportive of the work that the United Nations does to stabilize, to create security, to create opportunity in difficult places right around the world."

Yet noticeably absent was any indication of which countries or UN missions the government is considering for Canada. Trudeau said the government will discuss this with the UN and other nations.

(Sidebar: might I suggest Sudan?)

Sleazebags murder nuns who served a poor community:

The two nuns who were killed in Mississippi were by all accounts some of the most friendly, helpful people in town, cooking and caring for anyone in their poor community — making the slayings all the more puzzling.

Their car was found abandoned a mile away from their home, and there were signs of a break-in, but police haven't released any leads or suspects in the investigation.

The women, both 68 and nurse practitioners, were found dead Thursday morning when they didn't report to work at the nearby clinic where they provided flu shots, insulin and other medical care for children and adults who couldn't afford it.

They were identified as Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill.

#NunsLivesMatter


Also:

She became the face of Italy's earthquake: Sister Marjana Lleshi, blood staining her veil as she texted her family and friends in her native Albania that she was alive.

In an interview Thursday at the mother house of her religious order, the 35-year-old nun recounted how she thought she would die when her convent walls collapsed. She texted her friends asking that they pray for her soul, only to be rescued by a man she has called her "angel."

Now safe, Lleshi says she wants nothing more than to go to next week's Rome canonization of Mother Teresa, the ethnic Albanian nun "who gave hope to those who didn't have any."

(Sidebar: I'm sure Blessed Mother Teresa pulled some heavenly strings for her.)

Also in good news in Italy:

It took 17 hours and several firefighters to rescue her, but 10-year-old Giulia was pulled from the rubble alive today after an earthquake struck central Italy Wednesday. 

**

A dog is rescued - literally.



The death toll in Italy has risen to two hundred and eighty-one.




Way to defend your values, France:

France's top administrative court on Friday overturned a ban on burkinis in a Mediterranean beach resort, effectively meaning that towns can no longer issue bans on the swimsuits that have divided the country and brought world attention to its fraught relationship with Muslims.

Women have had acid thrown at them because their "diverse and rich communities" didn't like how they dressed:

It is a question all Iranians are asking: who is stalking the streets of Isfahan, throwing acid into women's faces?

The attacks - there have been at least four in the busy city in central Iran in recent weeks - appear aimed at terrorizing women who dare to test the boundaries of the Islamic dress code.

When everyone is quite done kow-towing to the perennial enraged victims and lone wolves, perhaps it might give a thought to the mind-numbing situation in which post-modern French society now finds itself. France, like rest of Western civilisation, has abandoned all reason and decorum ages ago and then supports misogynistic body coverings because a vocal group of whiners and cultural jihadists moo the loudest.

Trayvon Martin's fake dad is as racially inclusive as David Duke is:

Obama could have acted more directly while in office to help blacks, West added, citing persistently high childhood poverty among African-Americans. “The (economic) recovery has not filtered over into black and working poor communities,” he said.

Cornel West points out what Trump did a while ago and excoriated for it.

But, you know, hope and change and all that.




And now, an Australian mailman writes a dog a letter just because the two get along so famously:

An Australian mailman and an adorable golden retriever named Pippa are showing the world mail carriers and dogs can be friends, after all. The Huffington Post reports that mailman Martin Studer has made a point of befriending all of the dogs along his route, but has struck up a particularly close friendship with Pippa over a common interest: mail.

Pippa, according to Studer, enjoys picking up the mail for her owners each morning—and Studer looks forward to handing it over to her. Studer averted a crisis one recent morning when, finding Pippa’s owners hadn’t received any mail, he decided to write Pippa a letter himself.