A Tome of Some Sort

Albeit a small one ...




But ... but ... he can be rehabilitated, right? :

Conservative MPs are calling for action against a Canadian-born, self-described terror recruit reportedly living in Toronto, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says he can't comment on the case for security reasons.

A Canadian who calls himself Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi appeared on a recent New York Times podcast, describing how he executed people while working with Islamic State militants in Syria.

The matter arose in question period in the Commons, with Conservative MP Candice Bergen citing media reports that say the man is in Toronto.

She wants the government to take action, but Goodale says he won't discuss operational details in public.

The problem isn't actual. It's semantic. Goodale won't discuss the details. He was, no doubt, really hoping something like this would never pop up. 

To wit:

On Monday, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel accused PM Justin Trudeau of hiding the number of fighters who have returned, asking for an exact count. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale stood up to offer the response: “in the order of 60.”

That was the number that hit the headlines and got Canadians talking. But it’s far from accurate. The first clue comes from reading Goodale’s full remark: “As the director of CSIS indicated before a parliamentary committee some months ago, the number of returns known to the Government of Canada is in the order of 60, and they are under very careful investigation.”

Some months ago? Try more than a year and a half ago. Goodale appears to be referring to CSIS director Michel Coulombe’s March, 2016, testimony before the standing Senate committee on national security and defence. It was there that Coulombe offered the 60 count.

Ralph caught lying about the number of returned ISIS murderers and rapists. If he cracks down on the aforementioned executioner of innocents, he would have to admit to his government's incompetence and immorality in this affair. If he does nothing, he sends out a message (no doubt received for many other reasons) that Canada will tolerate killers in its borders.


Also:

As reported by Joe Warmington in the Toronto Sun, “The federal government has warned Canadian police services “violent” gangs known for cutting off the heads of victims are attempting to sneak across U.S.-Canada border points to avoid President Donald Trump’s changing immigration policy, The Toronto Sun has learned. The classified “Alert” from Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) warns “violence linked to the MS-13 is often described as brutal, from senseless beatings to dismemberment.”

Justin blames Canadians for their beer, popcorn and gas and how they must have wanted all of those things to be heavily taxed because they voted for it:

When he was in Vancouver recently, Justin Trudeau was asked if his carbon tax would push gas prices higher. With prices already at $1.60 a litre and higher, this is a real worry.

Trudeau’s answer was a definitive yes without ever saying yes.

“The incentives that come from better behaviour, better choices, making choices to be cleaner and greener is exactly what we want. When you put a price on what you don’t want, which is pollution, you encourage people to make better choices,” Trudeau said.

In fairness, he only said 90% of “better behaviour” before changing course but he clearly said it, as clearly as he said “umm” and “ahh” throughout his statement. ...

Trudeau may think that you need to be forced to make “better choices” that you need to change your ways and engage in “better behaviour” but his only way to do this is to force up the price, something that will hurt you but not him. The PM doesn’t pay for his own gas, not for his own car and not for the fleet of security vehicles that follow him around.

And even if Trudeau were paying for his own gas, it likely wouldn’t bother him. The Trudeau family hasn’t had to work in any serious way since his grandfather made the family fortune in the oil and gas business, running a chain of gas stations in Montreal.

But ... but ... we were doing so well! :

Canada lost 1,100 jobs in April, a far cry from what economists were predicting.

While Stats Canada says wages increased by 3.6% (inflation is also increasing), the employment trend so far in 2018 is concerning.

As noted by the Financial Post, “Since the start of the year, Canada’s labour force has shrunk by 25,500 and employment is down by 41,400."

The unemployment rate remains at a low 5.8%, but many have pointed out that it’s a misleading stat, since it doesn’t include those who have given up looking for work.

Trump is not yet through toying with Canada:

Senior American, Canadian and Mexican officials on Friday ended a week of talks without a deal to modernize NAFTA, agreeing instead to resume negotiations soon, ahead of a deadline next week issued by U.S House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan. ...

Financial markets are nervous about the damage a U.S. withdrawal could inflict on the highly integrated North American economy. Canada’s central bank governor and other policymakers complain that uncertainty over the pact is hitting business investment.

Justin, when not in a coddling mood with Iran, is being smug to a former prime minister who distrusted the mad theocracy for very good reason:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland, both say the current government continues to support the agreement, which puts limits on Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for some sanctions relief.

Shut your caviar-hole, Justin, and stop reiterating indefensible talking points someone else fed you. Obama's disastrous agreement hasn't done a damn thing but empower Iran.

Not that you could find Iran on a map or anything.


Also:

Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper is writing a book, several sources have told the National Post.

The book will focus on populism and the future of the conservative movement, according to multiple people with knowledge of the project. It is expected to grapple with the question of how to handle right-wing populism and take it seriously.

Sources suggested the book was already in the hands of a publisher and would be published this year. 

But a spokeswoman for Harper, Anna Tomala, said she could not confirm that, saying: “there are discussions with a number of publishers about a variety of topics that are presently being explored with Mr. Harper.”

And in this corner ... :

Ford repeatedly attacked NDP Leader Andrea Horwath during the leaders’ second televised debate, at one point even predicting a repeat of the deficit-ridden New Democratic government of the early 1990s.

He also chastised Horwath for running Hart as a candidate, citing him as evidence of a party beholden to “downtown Toronto” leftists who are out of touch with the province’s heartland.

“She has a candidate named Ramsey Hart. He’s an extremist, an environmentalist,” said Ford at the event in Parry Sound. “He spent his whole career, his whole career, trying to close down mines. Who does that? Who targets people working at the mines?”

The Koreans are an industrious people and will re-build their country once Kim Jong-Un's bullet-ridden body is fed to sharks:

The United States promised Friday that it would work to rebuild North Korea's sanctions-crippled economy if Kim Jong Un's regime agrees to surrender its nuclear arsenal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's vow came as senior US officials expressed growing optimism ahead of the landmark June 12 summit between Kim and President Donald Trump.

Pompeo, who held talks Pyongyang's young leader over the weekend, even said "we have a pretty good understanding between our two countries about what the shared objectives are."

(Sidebar: do your objectives include regime change, Mr. Pompeo?)



This sounds like propping up a regime and keeping slave labour.

Oh, dear ...


Also - unless those South Korean have American citizenship, their freedom will not sweeten any deals:

North Korea said it will "consider releasing" six South Koreans who remain detained there, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday. The promise came in response to a request from Seoul.

President Moon Jae-in asked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "to quickly release six South Koreans held in North Korea" when they met on the demilitarized zone on April 27, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yoon Young-chan said in a statement.

Cheong Wa Dae initially did not say how the North responded, but now it says Kim told Moon "he will consider freeing them. We're currently waiting for a response from Pyongyang."

The heavily collapsed test site at Punggye-ri is still guarded by three hundred troops:

North Korea left about 300 troops behind at its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong Province to guard the facility when it pulled out a military unit, the Asahi Shimbun reported Tuesday.

Most of the 1,200 troops of the regiment were relocated early last month, a source told the daily, but 300 were left behind. Their task is "to prevent residual radioactive and other materials from being lost," the source said.

The regime promised to halt nuclear and missile tests and close down the nuclear test site last week.

The daily speculated that the North wants to try to keep a lid on the site as the Punggye-ri nuclear test site could be a barometer to gauge the level of its nuclear development.

A dire warning for the South Korean economy:

The government's economic policies are based on the firm belief that old-fashioned leftist policies are good and big businesses are evil. This justifies its generous use of taxpayer' money to finance its policies. According to the Bank of Korea, state spending outpaced private spending by a whopping 31 percent in the first quarter to reach a 35-year record. Reliance on tax spending is addictive. Korea may end up walking down the doomed paths of socialist Latin American and southern European governments.

Also a dire warning and some good advice, this:

Moon has stressed the need to separate past history from diplomacy, and he should let his trip serve as the first step in acting on his words. Seoul-Tokyo relations have to be strengthened to ensure progress in North Korean denuclearization. First, South Korea and Japan must cooperate to ensure that the U.S.-North Korea summit does not end up merely removing the nuclear threat against the U.S. mainland. It would be catastrophic if North Korea was left to possess mid-range ballistic missiles capable of striking South Korea and Japan. If the North Korean nuclear impasse is resolved successfully, trade with the North will resume, which would increase the role played by Japan.

It is time for Japan and South Korea to face its actual enemy - China - together. If they cannot get over the mistakes of the past, none of it will matter when China swallows them both.

And now, tae kwon do time at the Vatican:

A joint taekwondo performance will be held at the Vatican next month, World Taekwondo, an international body governing the sport, said on Tuesday.

Participants from the two Koreas will give a demonstration in front of Pope Francis during the annual World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series in Rome from June 1 to June 3.