Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Mid-Week Post

Oh, how times flies...



Not wishing to upset his master, John Kerry further insults Israel:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday said Israel's building of settlements on occupied land was endangering Middle East peace, voicing unusually frank frustration with America's longtime ally.

In a swiftly issued statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Kerry of bias. He said Israel did not need to be lectured to by foreign leaders and looked forward to working with incoming President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to pursue more pro-Israeli policies.

In a 70-minute speech with mere weeks left in his tenure, Kerry said Israel "will never have true peace" with the Arab world if it does not reach an accord based on Israelis and Palestinians living in their own states.


(Sidebar: the Palestinians are actually Jordanian. Carry on.)


John Kerry further be-clowned himself by admonishing Israel for being both Jewish and democratic, something of a rarity in a region ruled by absolutist monarchs or ayatollahs who tend to despise those whose religious leanings are not their own.
 

A sizeable chunk of Israel is somehow not Israel because milquetoasts like Kerry carved it up and handed it to murderous fanatics.




Frustrated by Israel's recent treatment, soon-to-be president Donald Trump lashed out at the Obama administration for its condensed vitriol against the only democratic state in the Middle East:

President-elect Donald Trump accused President Barack Obama on Wednesday of throwing up “inflammatory” roadblocks during the transition of power and his administration of treating Israel with “total disdain,” further straining the veneer of civility between the incoming and outgoing leaders.



Speaking of carving up countries:

Syria would be divided into informal zones of regional power influence and Bashar al-Assad would remain president for at least a few years under an outline deal between Russia, Turkey and Iran, sources say.

Oh, this won't end well. 



I object to this, as well. Apes have been shown to be intelligent creatures that can be taught things. How do you teach a class b!#ch anything

The director of a West Virginia nonprofit agency who called first lady Michelle Obama "an ape in heels" in a Facebook post has been fired and the institution put under outside management, state officials said on Tuesday



Getting screwed in the new year:

Under changes enacted by the previous government, the tax treatment of universal life insurance policies will be less favourable starting Jan. 1. New policy holders will see a decrease in their ability to build up investment gains above death benefit premiums on a tax-free basis.

The new formula for calculating insurance will make policies a little more expensive or reduce death benefits, says Jason Safar, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner specializing in personal taxes.
Business owners, large and small, will gain less from the sale of their operations as assets such as goodwill and trademarks will become fully taxable as investment income. Currently, half of the proceeds can be distributed tax-free as a dividend.

Investors will also no longer be able to rebalance their non-registered mutual fund investments in corporations structured as "switch funds" on a tax-deferred basis. As of the new year, capital gains from such moves will be taxed in the same way as equities.

(Sidebar: and let's not forget carbon taxes.)


**

When the prime minister indicated his preference for the ranked ballot, it was a clear indication of his intention to adopt a voting system that unfairly favours Liberal politicians. A CBC analysis shows that a ranked or “preferential” ballot would help the Liberals win more elections. That kind of advantage should never be obtained through secretive cabinet processes or in the absence of the consent of Canadians. But from the beginning, the Liberal approach to electoral reform has been opaque, inadequate and worthy of mockery.

People actually voted for this.




Yes, this actually happened:

A Canadian man punched a cougar in the face to stop it attacking his dog in a wooded area near a fast food store in Whitecourt, central Alberta, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said on Wednesday.

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