Mid-Week Post

A merry Rosh Hashana to all y'all.

Eleven shopping days until Chuseok ...




Don't forget that this Friday is Save the North Korean Refugees Day:

What sort of place could be so horrible that a family of five would choose to die together rather than be sent there? The answer, of course, is this place, or this one, or this one, or this. Here is the story of a family that made that choice.

A North Korean family of five, including a former senior official of the Workers Party, committed suicide last week after they were caught by Chinese police and faced deportation to the North. They were heading to South Korea. …

Now, imagine the cruelty of governments that inflict this on people for no greater crime than aspiring to eat, to survive, to live a life that is better than slavery. Imagine the cruelty of a government — of China’s government — which sends them back to a fate this family judged to be far worse than the death it chose instead.

(Sidebar: this China.)

Then, come out Friday and protest against it, on Save North Korean refugees day.

Even in China, where the government has increased its repatriations of refugees to North Korea, and even pays bounties for their arrests — repatriations that a U.N. Commission of Inquiry has described as complicity with crimes against humanity — there are signs that public anger at North Korea’s belligerence is growing.

In South Korea, there are also growing doubts about the government’s commitment to the protection of North Korean refugees. The president himself is a former member of a hard-left lawyers’ group that is trying to violate refugees’ right to confidentiality.

(Sidebar: this candlelight vigil-holding douchebag.)

 


In light of this, Trump's bluster at the UN doesn't seem so bombastic.

"From the Soviet Union to Cuba to Venezuela, wherever true socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish and devastation and failure. Those who preach the tenets of these discredited ideologies only contribute to the continued suffering of the people who live under these cruel systems."

기도 합니다.

(Kamsahamnida)




Rescuers work to save children trapped under rubble in Mexico:

The wiggling fingers of a young girl trapped in the rubble of her collapsed school in Mexico City raised hopes among hundreds of rescuers working furiously Wednesday to try to free her — a drama that played out at dozens of buildings toppled by the powerful earthquake that killed at least 223 people.

But it was the ongoing rescue at the Enrique Rebsamen school, where 25 people including 21 children perished, that was seen as emblematic of Mexicans' rush to save survivors before time runs out.

Helmeted workers spotted the girl buried in the debris early Wednesday and shouted to her to move her hand if she could hear. She did, and a rescue dog was sent inside to confirm she was alive.

Hours later the crews were still labouring to free her, as images of the rescue effort were broadcast on TV screens nationwide. Workers in neon vests and helmets used ropes, pry-bars and other tools, frequently calling on the anxious parents and others gathered around to be silent while they listened for any other voices from beneath the school.

At one point, the workers lowered a sensitive microphone inside the rubble to scan for any noise or movement. A rescuer said they thought they had located someone, but it wasn't clear who.

"It would appear they are continuing to find children," said Carlos Licona, a burly sledge-hammer wielding volunteer who came to help in any way he could. Asked if that made him optimistic, he said, "I hope so."

It was part of similar efforts at the scenes of dozens of collapsed buildings, where firefighters, police, soldiers and civilians wore themselves out hammering, shovelling , pushing and pulling debris aside to try to reach the living and the dead.

Remember - Liberals don't have to pay their "fair share" the way "big fish" like waitresses and gas station attendants do:

The Liberal government is set to offer a measure to Canadians affected by its proposed tax changes that would make the controversial reforms more palatable, CBC News has learned.

"We are not just going to take, take, take," a senior government official, speaking on background, told CBC News. "We're going to give something as well."

The offering — the proverbial spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down — would be part of the final proposals presented after the consultation period ends Oct. 2.

The official would not speculate on what the government will offer as that sweetener.

Palatable?

These people could feritilise a field with their manure.


How palatable could this be?

On Tuesday, the finance department annual report presented adjusted figures and our expenses ran in less than predicted and revenues were slightly higher, giving us a deficit of only $17.8 billion. I say “only” because it was projected this spring to be $23 billion.

But the problem is the government wasn't elected on running a $23 billion deficit. They explicitly campaigned on a ceiling of $10 billion a year. Maximum.

“Amazing news everyone!” Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre tweeted. “The deficit is only 80% bigger than the Liberal platform projected! Things aren’t so bad after all!”

It's stunning to think that people actually voted for this.


(Merci beaucoup)




An advocate for wounded veterans loses a job because he was critical of how the Trudeau government has treated vets:

A veterans’ advocate courted for a job by the Canadian Forces had his offer of employment rescinded because he wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to complain that injured military personnel, including a soldier who died, weren’t being treated properly.

The Canadian Forces had offered the job in June to retired Master Warrant Officer Barry Westholm, acknowledging that his advocacy for injured soldiers was just what was needed to turn around the Joint Personnel Support Unit.

Westholm had been a JPSU sergeant major before quitting in 2013 to protest the poor state of affairs in the unit that is supposed to take care of injured troops.

Westholm replied to Lt.-Col. Chris Robidoux, JPSU deputy commander, that he was interested in becoming involved in the plan to set a new direction for the unit. But Westholm stipulated he would work for free since he felt an obligation to help the injured.

However the job offer was rescinded two months later because Westholm sent emails to Trudeau, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance outlining how the current system failed military personnel, including Pte. Leah Greene.

Surely vets didn't think that Hair-Boy cared about them?




Lawyers for two Liberals in a bribery case want the charges dropped:

Lawyers representing two Ontario Liberals charged with Election Act bribery offences will argue next month that the Crown hasn’t proven its case and the matter should be thrown out.

Oh, I'll bet they do.




The Liberals are conducting a witch-hunt at the urging of a pants-wetting fascist and all the minister who oversaw a failed inquiry can moan on about is Lynn Beyak?

If the Conservatives are committed to First Nations reconciliation, they need to show the door to a senator who's urging Indigenous Peoples to "trade your status card" and practice their culture on their own dime, says a prominent Liberal cabinet minister.

Carolyn Bennett, the government's Crown-Indigenous relations minister, made the comments about Conservative Sen. Lynn Beyak during the daily question period Tuesday in response to a question from a Liberal back bench.

"The senator's ongoing, offensive comments regarding Indigenous people are ill-informed, hurtful, and simply wrong," Bennett said.

"These disturbing views expressed by a sitting parliamentarian undermine progress toward reconciliation."

Beyak no longer has a role in the Conservative caucus, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said earlier this week, but he stopped short of forcing her out, urging her to do so herself if she doesn't endorse his policy of positivity and inclusiveness.

He said he didn't agree with her comments and that she didn't speak for the party or the caucus.

(Sidebar: thanks for having her back, Andy.)

What a silly b!#ch.


Bennett's intolerance is loony as Hillary Clinton's scapegoat # 320:

Clinton said Tuesday night that Putin interfered in the presidential election in part because of her work as secretary of state, which brought the two into conflict on various occasions. That, she said, evolved into a grudge on his part.

She said the fact she’s a woman “does seem to get him agitated.” And she mocked Putin for “manspreading” at one meeting. That’s an aggressive posture where a man sits with legs splayed.

Putin, my dear woman, does not get agitated. That is why he is a president and you are not.




But she is Climate Barbie!

A veteran Conservative MP has apologized for referring to the federal environment minister as "climate Barbie," a sexist insult apparently lifted from Rebel Media.

Gerry Ritz, the former agriculture minister who announced last month that he is leaving federal politics after two dedades, made the remark on Twitter Tuesday. Ritz was responding to a tweet quoting a U.S. professor saying no major industrialized country is on pace to meet Paris climate targets.

"Has anyone told our climate Barbie!" Ritz offered.

Has anyone explained it to Climate Barbie?




Equivalence is all very well and good for people who haven't read books but no literate person can honestly believe and defend something as incongruous as the idea that canon law, kosher dietary habits and killing Jews because an unrevised text tells them to do so are similar and should be uniformly enforced in a secular society:

Just as Roman Catholic canon law and Jewish Halacha are here, for those who choose to observe it.

"It's all around you," said Imam Mohamad Jebara, chief iman and resident scholar at the Cordova Spiritual Education Center in Ottawa.

"Every time a Muslim goes to pray, whenever I cook and take food to my neighbours, that's me exercising what Shariah teaches me," he said.

Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton said the impact of these practices are usually confined to their communities.

"The fact is there are all kinds of religious laws currently being practised in Canada that have no effect on folks who are not part of those religious traditions," said Bolton of Or Haneshamah, Ottawa's Reconstructionist Community.

Bolton told CBC News she's convinced objections over M-103 and the connection to Shariah law that people are making is bigotry, plain and simple.

If one has to play the bigotry card, one simply cannot defend the piece of fascism that is Motion 103 but needs strawman arguments and ad hominem attacks to deflect and ultimately silence.

Pulling down statues and eliminating references to the past will not erase it but only make it easier to forget it:

On Monday, the Town of Amherst voted in favour of a motion from Coun. Jason Blanch to have staff produce a report "looking at the movement to rename towns, streets and monuments that celebrate past war heroes whom, seen through today's ethical lens are not people who behaved in ways that we respect today."

"Being as this issue has been in the news, I just simply put forward a request that staff would bring council up to speed at a further meeting about what has happened with this movement of renaming things," Blanch said in an interview with CBC Radio's Mainstreet before the council meeting.

Amherst is named after Lord Jeffrey Amherst, a British general who served during the Seven Years' War in New France and modern-day Nova Scotia. But some historians say Amherst wanted to murder Indigenous people by giving them blankets infected with smallpox.

(Sidebar: yes, about that ...)

Although he's lived most of his life in Amherst, Blanch said he didn't know about the general's past until other areas named after Amherst began making headlines.

"[Edward] Cornwallis has gotten a lot of play in the media. I know that Amherst Street in Montreal will be renamed," said Blanch.

Cornwallis, a governor of Nova Scotia, was a British military officer who founded Halifax in 1749. The same year, he issued the so-called scalping proclamation, offering a cash bounty to anyone who killed a Mi'kmaq person.

In 2011, the Halifax Regional School Board voted to rename Cornwallis Junior High School. The Cornwallis Street Baptist Church is in the process of looking for a new name.

A debate has been ongoing for years about whether a statue of Cornwallis in downtown Halifax should be removed.

"We have a choice to hide from that history or to begin the conversation and if we begin the conversation then everybody in Amherst will know the story," said Blanch.

Year Zero, my dears.

Surely someone has the intestinal fortitude to reject this nonsense.

Oh, one must be joking:

A school in Callander, ON., is reportedly looking to ban the popular sideways handspring on school property. In a recent draft handbook of playground rules for the 2017-2018 school year, officials at M.T. Davidson public school have apparently included cartwheels among its list of prohibited activities.

And according to school Principal Todd Gribbon, there were no reported injuries that caused the ban.

Today in regrettable animal deaths: 

A woman says her four-year-old therapy dog has been shot and killed by a hunter who mistook the animal for a wolf near Whistler, B.C.

He now chews on decorative cushions in Dog Heaven.

 
**

The albino groundhog at the centre of Canada's most high-profile weather forecasting tradition has died.

Wiarton Willie, a famous contributor to Groundhog Day festivities, died on Friday, according to the Town of South Bruce Peninsula.

He was 13, more than three times the average age of his peers in the wild.

Rest in peace, you miniature meteorologist. 

And now, get this American lagomorph on your reading list:

If you happen to be a struggling writer or toiling away at some MFA, you may want to turn away from the following news: U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence’s pet rabbit officially has a book deal.

The handsome little guy, who goes by the name of Marlon Bundo, has his own, rather popular Instagram account. 

So, naturally, why not a book, you might ask. It will be titled Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice President, and is set for release on March 19. The tall tale will follow the life of the “BOTUS” (Bunny of the United States) as he hangs with best buddy and “Grampa” Mike Pence.

The book will be written by Pence’s 23-year-old daughter Charlotte, who also runs the Instagram account, and will include watercolour illustrations by second lady and artist Karen Pence, keeping the family sufficiently busy.

A portion of the proceeds will go to anti-human trafficking organization A21, and art therapy programs (a special focus of the second lady’s, as it happens).

In the book’s statement, the family refers to Marlon as “a national celebrity!” 

How perfectly adorable, but more importantly, what a time to be alive.