Friday NIght Special

Friday always makes one happy.

Lots to talk about ...




A suspect has been identified in the bombing of a kindergarten in China:

Police have identified a suspect in an explosion at the front gate of a kindergarten in eastern China that killed eight and struck as relatives gathered to pick up their children at the end of the day, local authorities said Friday.

Police were investigating the explosion as a criminal act and said they had "targeted" a suspect, according to a statement issued by authorities in the city of Xuzhou and the official Xinhua News Agency. It was unclear if the suspect was apprehended and no potential motive was provided. A witness cited by state media said a gas cylinder at a roadside food stall had caused the blast.

Two people died at the scene and six died after being taken to a hospital following the explosion at 4:50 p.m. Thursday at the Chuangxin Kindergarten in Fengxian.

Initial reports said 59 were injured, but Xinhua and other media reported Friday that 65 were injured including eight who remained in critical condition.

The blast occurred before school had let out for the day and no students or teachers from the kindergarten were injured, according to a statement from local authorities.

However, videos purportedly from the scene showed children — possibly relatives of the kindergartners or passers-by — among the casualties.

The father of Otto Warmbier blames Obama for silencing him and his wife:

The father of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American citizen who was imprisoned in North Korea for over 17 months, said during a press conference Thursday that the Obama administration advised him and his wife to stay quiet about the situation facing their son so that they wouldn't "offend" the North Koreans.  ...

During his opening remarks, Warmbier explained that when his son was first detained by North Korea in the end of 2015, he and his wife, Cindy, were advised by the "past administration to take a low profile while they worked to obtain his release."

"We did so without resolve. Earlier this year, Cindy and I decided that the time for strategic patience was over. We made a few media appearances and travelled to Washington to meet with Ambassador Joe Yun at the State Department," Warmbier said. "It is my understanding that Ambassador Yun and his team, at the direction of the president [Donald Trump], progressively pursued resolution of the situation. They have our thanks for bringing Otto home." ...

Warbier was explicitly asked during the press conference whether he believed the Obama administration did enough to help them secure the release of their son.

"Well, the results speak for themselves," Warmbier responded.

Warmbier was also asked if he ever had a face-to-face meeting with President Barack Obama.

"Never, never, absolutely not. No," Warmbier answered.

Obama is a piece of sh--.

Further:

The editors of the Washington Post write that “the harm done to an innocent student is the result of North Korea’s odious practice of seizing Americans to use as political pawns.” It’s beyond serious question that Mr. Warmbier was held as a hostage, and by extension, this suggests that the charges against three other Americans in North Korean custody are also fabricated and their punishments arbitrary. 

The Post calls Mr. Warmbier’s treatment “outrageous behavior even by the standards of one of the world’s most vicious and isolated regimes,” says that “it should not go unpunished,” and calls for more sanctions, including secondary sanctions. I obviously agree with the latter statements, but not the former (we’ll turn to it later). 

As to the punishment, one appropriate option would be to return North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, despite the fact that Mr. Warmbier’s torture does not meet the legal definition (it was done by a state, not by clandestine agents or subnational groups). There are plenty of other reasons, including the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, that would make a re-designation of North Korea well-grounded in evidence and law. 

And yes, Congress should enact a travel ban. Depending on how it’s drafted, an added feature of a travel ban could be to wreck Moon Jae-In’s addlebrained, sanctions-busting plans to reopen Kumgang or share the Olympics with North Korea. And yes, the Warmbier family’s lawsuit against the reckless and unethical Young Pioneer Tours, which continues to say that travel to North Korea is safe, and which has boasted that the arrests of tourists are good for business, should be an extinction-level event. 

I disagree with the Post, however, when it says that Mr. Warmbier’s treatment was “outrageous behavior” by North Korean standards. On the contrary, by North Korean standards it was entirely ordinary. The reason why tourism to North Korea is immoral is the very fact for North Koreans, brutality is an everyday fear, whether they’re market traders being extorted and beaten by corrupt MSS officers, women refugees who are beaten after being repatriated by China, women in “Kangan” Province who are raped by soldiers with impunity, or the child prisoners in places like Camp 16, where death rates may be as high as 20 percent each year. 

Is Mr. Warmbier’s fate more inhumane than the slow, agonizing death of my friend Jinhae Jo’s baby brother, who starved to death in her arms so that Kim Il-Sung could have a new mausoleum and his son could have nuclear weapons? According to the U.N. Commission of Inquiry, that slow, agonizing process repeated itself perhaps two million times for North Koreans, out of our sight. For every person who starved to death from Pyongyang’s priorities, countless others were traumatized by the loss of them.

What Mr. Warmbier experienced is not even the worst treatment North Korea has meted out to foreigners in recent years. Contrast it to the kidnapping and slow starvation of U.S. resident Kim Dong-shik from China to North Korea, where he died far from his wife and children. Or Megumi Yokota, kidnapped from the shores of her home country and held in North Korea until she finally gave in to despair and committed suicide. Or the brave dissidents and human rights activists like Patrick Kim, stabbed by North Korean agents with poisoned needles.

(Kamsahamnida) 

People are furious as the death toll in the London high-rise fire rises to thirty dead:

The death toll in the London fire disaster rose to 30 on Friday as relatives and friends expanded frantic searches for missing loved ones amid warnings that the full extent of the tragedy still remains to be tallied.

“Sadly I do believe that those numbers will increase,” London Police Cmdr. Stuart Cundy told reporters. He said that 24 people were being treated in hospitals, including 12 in critical care.

Anger swelled, meanwhile, as survivors and others pressed for answers on whether inadequate safety systems or substandard construction material could have contributed to the blaze.

Yes, about that:

London’s Grenfell Tower was made worse by government “green energy requirements” that allowed fire to rapidly engulf the building Wednesday, leaving at least 17 people dead and scores more wounded or missing.

While it’s unknown what sparked the fire, experts say that the cladding, or exterior insulation, created a chimney effect through which the fire rapidly spread upwards. The cladding was added to Grenfell’s exterior in 2015 as part of a $12.8 million retrofit.

“I have never seen a fire that has engulfed an entire building like this in a career of more than 30 years,” Matt Wrack, who heads the Fire Brigades Union, told The Telegraph.

“It could be that this is the quest for sustainability trumping other concerns,” echoed Dr. Jim Glockling of the Fire Protection Association.

(Merci)

Cuba is a Third-World communist dictatorship whose existing tyrant owns yachts:

Pressing "pause" on a historic detente, President Donald Trump thrust the U.S. and Cuba back on a path toward open hostility Friday with a blistering denunciation of the island's communist government. He clamped down on some commerce and travel but left intact many new avenues President Barack Obama had opened.

Even as Trump predicted a quick end to President Raul Castro's regime, he challenged Cuba to negotiate better agreements for Americans, Cubans and those whose identities lie somewhere in between. Diplomatic relations, restored only two years ago, will remain intact. But, in a shift from Obama's approach, Trump said trade and other penalties would stay in place until a long list of prerequisites was met.

"America has rejected the Cuban people's oppressors," Trump said in Miami's Little Havana, the cradle of Cuban-American resistance to Castro's government. "Officially, today, they are rejected."

Canada's stupid Charter and even more stupid politicians and electorate are the reason why this country is on the road to being a Third-World dictatorship.

Several cases in point:

The Supreme Court of Canada affirmed its tough stance on criminal trial delays in a unanimous ruling on Friday that dismissed drug trafficking charges in a case that took five years for a trial to be scheduled.



In a landmark decision last July, known as the Jordan ruling, the court set out timeliness to ensure the right of an accused to a timely trial. Lower court cases must be completed within 18 months of an arrest, while Superior Court cases, which include serious crimes like murder, cannot exceed 30 months.

That decision has led to hundreds of cases being thrown out by prosecutors and prompted concerns that the rights of victims were not being adequately considered.

And why is that?

Justice Julianne Parfett ruled that “the thread that runs through the present case is the culture of complacency that the Supreme Court condemned.” She said the 48 months from the charge to the trial’s anticipated completion, minus eight months of delay caused by the defence, was past the 30-month ceiling set by the Supreme Court for trials in superior court, and therefore had to be stayed.

The Crown argues that it was not complacent, but acting under the rules in place at the time. The Supreme Court made allowances for the “transitional period” involving cases already in the system. 

The court said it is not fair to change the rules for cases already well under way before July. But the “transitional” rules for cases under way before R v. Jordan have been the subject of wildly varying decisions across the country.

A key principle in R v. Jordan is that the Charter right to a trial within a reasonable time applies no matter how serious an alleged offence. But, prosecutors say, Justice Parfett minimized the concern about the seriousness of the charge under the existing rules, by observing merely that the victim’s family would be deprived of seeing justice done, rather than considering society’s interest, and the reputation of the justice system.

F--- unelected judges.

** 

In similar cases, a foreign criminal like Rafia would face deportation. In this instance, however, because he’s a Syrian refugee and because Canada doesn’t deport people to unsafe countries, we’re stuck with this foreign criminal.

That’s why it’s so important that Canada properly screen and vet refugees before they get to Canada. Kellie Leitch’s Canadian values test would have gone a long way.

Also outrageous is the fact that after having lived in Canada for almost a year and a half, it appears that Mohamed Rafia still doesn’t speak enough English to be able to say: “I didn’t know this was a crime.”

For 15 months, Canadian taxpayers have paid for Rafia to receive free English classes, on top of gold-plated healthcare and welfare benefits, so he can try to fit into Canadian society.

**

 A Liberal bill that would make it easier for people to become Canadian citizens has passed the Senate, after over a year of back-and-forth in Parliament.

Bill C-6 was designed to repeal many of the previous Conservative government’s changes to how people become citizens – and how they can lose that status.

Among other things, the legislation repeals a provision that strips dual citizens of their Canadian status if convicted of terrorism, treason or espionage.

**

The Sask. government is speaking out against a recent decision by Ottawa to only provide certain funding to provinces that join a national climate plan.

**

A company trying to capitalize on the province's proposed minimum wage hike by urging restaurants to replace employees with less expensive automated machines has sparked debate among industry watchers.

(Sidebar: I'll bet it has.)





 Mi'kmaq chief finds a doctor's note distasteful:

A Miramichi, N.B., doctor was asked to apologize Thursday for displaying a note in his office asking "native patients" not to request tranquillizers or pain medications.

The note, hand-printed in capital letters, was affixed to the reception desk at Dr. Allister Carter's office. 

"Attn: Native patients please don't ask for tranquillizers or pain medications," the note said.

Chief George Ginnish of the Natoaganeg First Nation said he wants an apology. 

"It's quite disturbing in this day and age to see that type of a racial characterization," he said.

Yes, about that:

Mi’kmaw leaders in Esgenoopetitj, New Brunswick are tackling a drug problem many in the community are calling a crisis.

Gavin McInnes is the reason why we can have nice things:

As Gavin McInnes strode toward the entrance of Washington’s National Press Club in January, a black-balaclaved “anti-fascist” protester lunged toward him. “Get the f— out of here,” the picketer shouted.

The tuxedoed McInnes reacted swiftly. Spinning around, he grabbed the demonstrator’s mask and took a couple of long-range swings at the man. 

(Sidebar: YESSSS! FINISH HIM!)


People need people like Gavin McInnes, a brash, over-the-top member of the post-punk generation. It's people like him who say, unabashedly, what we are really all thinking.


Also:

Kathleen Wynne is a radical leftist who wants to tear down the things that made Ontario, Canada and the West great, University of Toronto psychologist Jordan Peterson told a crowd assembled by Tory MPP Randy Hillier in Carleton Place on Thursday night.

“If she had a shred of integrity, she’d resign,” Peterson said to applause, from a riser in a corner of a second-floor ballroom at the town arena.

**

Liberals are feverish at rhetoric-policing the right. Look what The New York Times offered this week with its disgusting (and later, after a backlash, amended) editorial linking Sarah Palin to “direct incitement” in the shooting of Gabby Giffords by the deranged Jared Lee Loughner six years ago. Liberals, in this case, should clean their own barn.

(Sidebar: dang right.)

Most of all, they should cease using the excesses of Trump’s manner as a shield for their own incapacity to act as adults when they lose an election, and lost it mainly because they ran their campaign so poorly, and chose a candidate who had everything except a reason for her candidacy. See Shattered.

That would require liberals to be self-reflective, honest and rational.

Not going to happen.





When North Korea collapses, is Canada poised to take its place?

CCA agreed to remove “quality” and the passage from 1 Corinthians, which states: “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

“The specific reference and the word quality were not a big issue,” Margel said. “Out of respect of the relationship we’ve had with them, we can say ‘okay, this isn’t the key point here.'”

But Skori followed up, saying that “any scripture that could be considered offensive to particular individuals should not be read or studied in school.” She clarified in a separate email, “For example: any teachings that denigrate or vilify someone’s sexual orientation.”

“That’s a completely different directive, and it was shocking. Absolutely shocking,” Margel said.

BRSD spokesperson Diane Hutchinson said the board felt compelled to make the request after protections for gender and sexual minorities were added to the Alberta Human Rights Act in late 2015.

“In our province there is a heightened awareness and a heightened sensitivity” around LGBTQ issues, she said, downplaying concerns of censorship.

Rubbish.

She is going after low-hanging fruit to appeal to a sub-culture.

Let's see how the roof-flingers feel about this sort of thing.





 And now,  Hello Kitty Wonder Woman. Because: