Mid-Week Post

Only seven more shopping days until Saint Valentine's Day ...


 
Kim Yo-Jong, Kim Jong-Un younger sister and one branch of the Kim dynasty that hasn't been pruned yet, will attend the winter Olympics in Pyeongchang:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, an increasingly prominent figure in the country's leadership, will be part of the North's delegation to the South Korean Winter Olympics, officials said Wednesday.

Kim Yo Jong, believed to be around 30, will be the first member of North Korea's ruling family to visit South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Analysts say her inclusion in the Olympic delegation shows North Korea's ambition to use the Olympics to break out from diplomatic isolation by improving relations with the South, which it could use as a bridge for approaching the United States.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in's office welcomed North Korea's decision, saying it showed the North's willingness to co-operate in easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. It wasn't immediately clear whether Kim Yo Jong will meet with Moon, a liberal who has expressed a desire to reach out to the North.

Yes, Mr. Moon, about that:

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon has claimed that it is a "coincidence" that North Korea is holding a massive military parade on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. A high-ranking Cheong Wa Dae official also said the dates coincide "by chance." It is true that North Korea changed the date of the founding anniversary of its army from April 25 to Feb. 8 as long ago as 2015, but the parades have always been held in April, and this is the first one that is being held on the new date. 

Some 12,000 troops are to march through Pyongyang, while its new intercontinental ballistic missiles are already waiting in hangars to be pulled through the streets. The acting U.S. ambassador to Seoul quite rightly referred to the parade as a direct challenge to the international community which also goes against the Olympic spirit of peace. ...

(Sidebar:  these troops.)

North Korea knows exactly why it is holding the parade on the eve of the Olympics opening -- it wants to bask in the limelight shining on the Korean Peninsula during the sports extravaganza. There was no "coincidence" involved at any point.

(Sidebar: this limelight.)

Moon is not naive. He is deliberate:

Moon has a long association with Minbyun, the hard-left lawyers’ group that is acting as Pyongyang’s law firm in South Korea by using the courts to wage lawfare against refugees, in violation of their human rights. He was chairman of the campaign of Roh Moo-hyun, the “anti-American” and “a little crazy” president who rode to power on the shoulders of a violent mob that attacked, spat on, and threw firebombs at American soldiers. As Roh’s Chief of Staff, Moon decided to seek Pyongyang’s input before abstaining from a U.N. resolution denouncing severe human rights abuses against its people, and then lied about it.

The most alarming development of all may be Moon’s choice of Im Jeong-seok as his Chief of Staff. Im was jailed for three-and-a-half years for accompanying organizing the illegal 1989 visit to Pyongyang that made Lim Soo-kyung a North Korean propaganda star. (Lim is now a lawmaker in Moon’s party. I previously discussed her drunken 2012 tirade against North Korean defectors and human rights activists. A previous version of this post, since corrected, said that Im had gone to Pyongyang with Lim.)

His overtures to that repellent regime north of the people he was elected to lead are stalls for a Chinese-backed buffer state that is long overdue for a collapse.

Kim Jong-Un is not interested in peace and there is no way that Moon can sell that:

North Korea is building a hovercraft base near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, form where it could launch a surprise invasion of South Korea's Baeknyeong Island within 30 minutes. 

Joseph Bermudez, a former analyst of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, wrote on the Beyond Parallel website Monday that the North is building the base at Yonbong-ri in South Hwanghae Province, 135 km southwest of Pyongyang.

 

Also:

 

Survivors of the USS Pueblo, an American spy ship, and their relatives have filed a lawsuit against North Korea in a U.S. federal court 50 years after it was seized by North Korea in international waters. 

They are seeking US$600 million in damages for the physical and mental pain the sailors suffered in 11 months of captivity. 

 

(Kamsahamnida)

 

 

 Oh, this must be embarrassing:

 

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Obama's administration sought multiple FISA warrants to snoop on members of the Donald Trump campaign — and may have even listened in on conversations involving Trump in Trump Tower. Interestingly, the FISA court denied an FBI request in June 2016 — a remarkable act, as 99.97 percent of FISA requests are eventually granted. The warrant to spy on members of the Trump campaign was approved in October.

Why would an outgoing president need to do that, I wonder?

 

  

 

It's called freedom and it's nothing to be ashamed of:

 

North Carolina is paying a $300,000 legal settlement to a former magistrate who resigned under duress because her religious beliefs prevented her from marrying gay couples.

 

(Sidebar: as though this is one of the last bastions of civil rights while homosexuals are publicly murdered in Islamist countries, but I digress ...) 

This is not about rights or dignity but making everyone complicit under extreme penalties.

Yes, Kathleen, that is a great idea. There is no way to make Ontario go under any more than what it already has:

Ontario is about to introduce a bill allowing it to retaliate against any state that adopts Buy American provisions, then plans to start a national conversation with other provinces about measures to punish new cases of procurement protectionism.

 

 

 

The Ministry of Silence has spoken:

 

Now, as for shoveling dirt under the carpet. Trudeau has already made it perfectly clear, for example, that he and he alone will decide what will be made public and what will be kept confidential.

We saw this when the PM was asked last week whether the results of the investigation into the alleged improprieties surrounding former Disabilities Minister Kent Hehr would be made public.

“It’s not a question about the public, it’s a question about the survivors and those who’ve come forward,” he said. “They need to be respected and feel like they’re safe, and whatever happens, happens in a context that gives power back to those who’ve seen their powers taken away.”

In other words, No.

Just this week, we saw the PMO close the book, without comment, on the forced resignation of Gagne.

So, under the carpet it went, with privacy concerns being cited as the reason no further comment could be made.

 

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

 

 

 

On June 23rd, 1985, Air India 182 was blown out of the sky by a bomb planted by Sikh extremists. This resulted in the deaths of 329 people, 268 of whom were Canadians and 86 of whom were children.  

Only one person, Inderjit Singh Reyat, was convicted of the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

 

 

This:

 

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan calls it "ridiculous" and "offensive" that a magazine in India is accusing Canada of being complicit in a rise in Sikh terrorism.

 

Sajjan and fellow Sikh minister Amarjit Sohi are making it clear they neither sympathize with nor espouse the Sikh nationalist movement, which is bent on creating a separate country called Khalistan within India's Punjab region.

The latest edition of Outlook India features a photo of Trudeau and a headline on the cover that reads, "Khalistan-II: Made in Canada."

Inside, a number of articles describe alleged connections between Canada and the movement, accuse Sikh Canadians of exploiting the country's political system and blame free speech for allowing fundamentalist language to flourish.

 

 

Hhmmm ... why would the Indians say that?

 

 

Oh, yes: 

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts says the city will review the status of the annual Sikh Vaisakhi parade after a controversial float was included in the event Saturday.

More than 100,000 people attended the religious parade and festival in the Vancouver suburb, but Watts said she was disappointed the parade included a float honouring Sikh separatist extremists as martyrs.

The float featured the flag of Khalistan, the independent Sikh state that separatists want to carve out of India's Punjab state.

There were also posters of men who founded what are considered terrorist groups and who played a role in assassinating Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, along with the slogan "They gave their today for our tomorrow." ...

This is not the first year the parade has drawn controversy because of its support for Sikh militants in India.

In 2007 and 2008, controversial floats — one with a photo of alleged Air India bombing mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar — drew criticism.

In 2009, the parade itself was free of controversial floats but organizers did set up a separate tent on the grounds of the festival that included photographs of the founders of the Babbar Khalsa and the International Sikh Youth Federation, groups Canada considers to be terrorist organizations.

**

Newly-minted leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) Jagmeet Singh has already attracted controversy with his refusal to condemn the practice at some Canadian gurdwaras of displaying portraits of a man considered the “mastermind” of the Air India flight 182 terrorist bombing in 1985 that claimed 329 lives.

Big Aboriginal demands excessive amounts of cash because it needs to pump capital into the ever-growing excuse industry.

Case in point:

Eric Meechance, a friend of Boushie, was asked to identify a firearm in a crime scene photo. But the photo that was presented to him also showed Boushie’s dead body. Meechance became emotional and he would not look at the photo.

Doug Cuthand, a Cree columnist for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, later wrote that it was “cultural taboo” to do so.

“If you don’t know Indigenous traditions and customs, you might think they’re being obstructionist or trying to evade looking at the picture,” Murphy said. “And so having an Indigenous person on the jury would help explain the traditions and cultures so the remainder of the jury can understand why they reacted that way.”

Wouldn't it be funny if they crammed the jury with all manner of indigenous persons and Gerald Stanley still got off? I mean - if they focused on facts instead of making excuses and inventing incredulous practices - you know, acted like twenty-first century adults capable of reason - and came up with a verdict that reflected their deliberations, what would Big Aboriginal say then?


Also:

A First Nations’ led $17-billion project to build an oil pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast has put in motion a back-up plan to site its terminal across the border in Alaska to get around an imminent oil tanker ban in British Columbia’s northern coast.

 

See - if the Liberals could sell M-103 and then make it into a law, articles like this just wouldn't appear: 

Addressing the disinterested MPs, I dismissed the term “Islamophobia” as “a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons,” yet acknowledged the existence of anti-Muslim bigotry in some margins of Canadian society.

However, I also reminded the MPs of the unreported, yet ubiquitous mocking of Jews and Christians during daily prayers in hundreds of mosques across Canada. ...

Here are a few Islamic clerics validating their contempt for Jews and Christians by invoking the same Qur’anic verse I presented to the committee:

Osman Haji Madad at the Sahaba Masjid in Edmonton: “Who are those who earned the wrath of Allah? … They are the Jews… Those who were cursed by Allah. Allah was angry at them and turned them into monkeys and pigs.”

Muhammed Alshareef, the Canadian-born founder and president of the Texas-based AlMaghrib Institute: “Who are those that evoked Allah’s anger? That made Allah angry at them? And the Prophet said: “Qoum Al-Yahood” they are the Jews.”

Musleh Khan, Toronto Police Muslim chaplain: “The Prophet (pbuh- peace be upon him) was asked by a companion: ‘who have earned your anger? The Prophet said this refers to the Yahoudi (Jews) and then the companion continued to ask ‘who has gone astray?’ The Prophet responds and says this refers to the Nasara (Christians) …”

So, while the Pakistani-born MP Iqra Khalid who first introduced the motion in parliament has been successful in making the committee ask the government to designate Jan. 29 as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on “Islamophobia,” and other forms of religious discrimination, Islamic clerics across Canada will go unchecked.

(Sidebar: it must be repeated that while president of the Muslim Student Association at York University, Iqra Khalid put out a book of Koranically-approved verses for wife abuse.)




If one is going to make Canadians pay for this ghastly practice then they should have a very look at it:

An anti-abortion group at the centre of the summer jobs grants controversy has been called out by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for using graphic and disturbing images in its messaging.

During a town hall in Winnipeg last month, Trudeau defended his government's policy requiring that employers applying for job grants sign an attestation on reproductive and LGBT rights. He called flyers depicting bloodied, aborted fetuses used by the Calgary-based Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform (CCBR) "hateful."

Shut your ugly, smug face, Mr. Veterans Are " ... asking for more than we are able to give right now". 

What is hateful is the canned hunt that is abortion.

Also - satire but just barely:

In anticipation of Cecile Richards’ resignation as president of Planned Parenthood, the organization has been circulating internally a memo discussing several possible candidates to replace the long-time leader of the abortion provider. This list was leaked Wednesday by an unknown source.

“We all know Queen Cecile is going to leave some huge pink heels to fill,” the document said. “There’s a VERY short list of people in all of human history who have so ruthlessly and efficiently slaughtered millions. But we must find her replacement, and move forward toward our Final Solution. The machine must not slow!”

The memo provides a list of notable people who could possibly fill Richards’ soon-to-be vacant position, along with company notes providing their reasoning for and thoughts about each nominee:

• The Mind Flayer from Stranger Things – This 50-story-tall shadow monster seems to have everything we need in a leader: he can control people’s minds, he feeds on helpless humans, and he controls an army of monsters. Really seems to fit with our company culture. Recommend shortlisting.
• Kim Jong-un – Pros: no qualms with killing the unborn, good at manipulating the media, doesn’t have any hang-ups on oppressing the weak and helpless. Cons: None that we can see.

 

 

 

How many days did it take for the gaffe-prone Justin to come up with the "joke" excuse?

 

Wow.

 

Just pathetic.

 

 

Even if one were willing to indulge Justin's late and poor explanation for that, it still doesn't work. 

 

First of all, he has a long history of saying stupid things and allegedly profound or competent things that make him sound like leader material.

It's like he can't help himself. But with both feet in his mouth, it's amazing he can even eat.

Secondly, one would think that even a substitute drama teacher would know about timing and inflection, things that help make jokes come alive to the audience.

Justin has neither of those abilities.

 

No, Justin, you're just a horse's @$$.