Monday Post

Lots going on ...



I'm sure Aung San Suu Kyi will get right on that:

Aung San Suu Kyi must publicly condemn the atrocities being committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, or else her rhetoric and global reputation as a champion of human rights will mean nothing, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"It is with profound surprise, disappointment and dismay that your fellow Canadians have witnessed your continuing silence in the face of the brutal oppression of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim people," Trudeau wrote Monday in a letter to Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar.

The powerful military in Myanmar is accused of burning down the homes of Rohingya Muslims, forcing more than 400,000 members of the persecuted minority to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, according to the latest UN figures.

Suu Kyi, an honorary Canadian citizen and a long-celebrated Nobel Peace Prize winner, has come in for withering international criticism for failing to stop — or even speak out against — the violence.

(Sidebar: yes, about that ...)

I'm sure no one will be more stunned than he that no one cares what he thinks.


Also:

Bangladeshi authorities are taking steps to restrict the movement of Muslim Rohingya refugees living in crowded border camps after fleeing violence in Myanmar, whose military chief maintains that the chaos was the work of extremists seeking a stronghold in the country.

Bangladesh has been overwhelmed with more than 400,000 Rohingya who fled their homes in the last three weeks amid a crisis the U.N. describes as ethnic cleansing. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who lambasted Myanmar for "atrocities" during a visit to border camps last week, left Dhaka to address the annual U.N. gathering in New York.

Refugee camps were already beyond capacity and new arrivals were staying in schools or huddling in makeshift settlements with no toilets along roadsides and in open fields. On Sunday, police were checking vehicles to prevent Rohingya from spreading to nearby towns in an attempt to control the situation.

Perhaps a more practical solution would be to make sure that students have all of their meals provided at home instead of using resources from others:

The city's health board is poised to add 300 private schools — including pricey institutions like Upper Canada College and Branksome Hall — to the list of schools eligible for a program that provides free breakfasts to underprivileged students.

If the kids aren't getting a good breakfast (and why aren't they?), chances are that they are not getting lunch or supper, either.


Related - soon, no parent will be able to feed his or her child because of the tax hikes well-compensated Big Labour supports:

A coalition composed mainly of labour groups has come out in support of the Liberals’ proposed changes for how private corporations are taxed, giving some solace to a government that has been besieged with criticism over the plan.

The newly-launched Canadian Coalition for Tax Fairness issued a statement on Monday saying the current tax rules “exacerbate inequality (and) undermine the integrity of our tax system.”

(Sidebar: "newly launched", you say.)



I'm sure this will be pushed through without any scrutiny, as well:

The Liberal government is heading into the second half of its mandate with a number of big legislative priorities they are eager to move through Parliament.

And they are ready to curtail debate if they think the opposition parties are dragging their feet — especially since the will of the increasingly independent Senate is becoming harder to predict.

"We know that there's going to be vigorous debate and there is going to be partisanship and politics on many ideas," said Cameron Ahmad, a spokesman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "It's how our system works, but at the same time I don't think it's necessary for every single issue to be framed around partisanship."

This spring, the Liberal government backed down on part of its plan to alter the ins and outs of parliamentary procedure, abandoning some of the more controversial reforms that the Conservatives and New Democrats had been battling for weeks.

Still, House leader Bardish Chagger warned at the time this would come with a cost, telling her political rivals that since they could not agree on other ways to speed things along, the Liberals would be ready to impose time allocation — a heavy-handed tactic that limits debate.

This is the most transparent dictatorship government in the country's history.




The Liberals removed the ability of aboriginal people to hold their chiefs accountable:

The Caldwell First Nation, where a forensic audit uncovered gross financial irregularities around a 2016 powwow, allegedly has been dubiously run for years.

“I am not even remotely shocked about the results of the audit,” says one member of the small Leamington, Ont.-based First Nation. “I think if members knew what went on … they would be sick to their stomachs for weeks.”

In other news ...



The new normal in Europe:

British police arrested a second man over the bombing of a London commuter train on Friday that injured 30 people and the security services lowered the threat level for an attack from its highest setting.  

**

Four American college students were attacked with acid Sunday at a train station in France, but French authorities so far do not think extremist views motivated the 41-year-old woman who was arrested as the alleged assailant, the local prosecutor's office and the students' school said.

Oh, really?




Trump should simply withdraw from the UN:

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the United Nations for bloated bureaucracy and mismanagement on his first visit on Monday to U.N. headquarters, calling for “truly bold reforms” so it could be a greater force for world peace. 

Ahead of his maiden speech to the annual U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, Trump hosted a short event to boost support for changes to the United Nations. 

“In recent years the United Nations has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement, while the United Nations on a regular budget has increased by 140 percent and its staff has more than doubled since 2000,” Trump said. 

“The United Nations must hold every level of management accountable, protect whistleblowers and focus on results rather than on process,” Trump said. 

“I am confident that if we work together and champion truly bold reforms the United Nations will emerge as a stronger, more effective, more just and greater force for peace and harmony in the world,” Trump said in his first remarks at the U.N. in New York since his inauguration as president in January.

Oh, rubbish.


This is the same UN that lets Chinese-backed North Korea get away with belligerence and posturing:

North Korea is seeking military “equilibrium” with the United States as a way to stop American leaders from talking about military options for dealing with Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un said after supervising the launch of another missile over Japan.

And North Korea would continue to run “full speed and straight” toward achieving this goal, Kim told his top missile unit, according to the latest statement from his state news agency.

There is a reason why Korean companies (those amoral avaricious parties) are leaving China and it's not for the tax breaks.


The UN would certainly shudder if it knew a major donor was leaving.




And now, a monument that beardy-weirdy left would certainly desecrate:

While Civil War memorials may not be the most popular things lately, the world’s newest monument to the American Civil War has just opened in Canada.

The granite obelisk is Canada’s only monument to the 1860s conflict, and honours more than 40,000 Civil War soldiers who hailed from what would become modern-day Canada.