For a Friday

So much to talk about ...




It's things like this that vindicate Maxime Bernier's comments big-time:

First it was Liberal MP Iqra Khalid being called out by B’nai Brith Canada for honouring a person they feel has pushed anti-Semitism.

Then pictures surfaced of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shaking hands with Amin El-Maoued, making people wonder what in the heck is going on with this government.

That was followed by Conservative Sen. Linda Frum getting involved — and, suddenly, some common sense started to show up in the story.

Just 45 minutes after I posted my column on this very topic Thursday, word came down that the Liberal government would rescind its honour of the controversial figure from Palestine House. Not only that, but there was an apology from Khalid herself.

“I was not aware of some of Amin El-Maoued’s past views, and only he can speak to them, but we all must stand against anti-Semitism and discrimination in all its forms,” Khalid said in a statement.

Yes, about that, Iqra:

After all, Khalid gave him another award in April, 2018, and refused to respond to critics who pointed out his rhetoric at that time.

Additionally, she has praised El Maoued in the past, including saying “Today, on behalf of myself and the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, I want to recognize the great work that brother Amin has done for us and for Mississauga-Erin Mills. Thank you.”

She also called him her “rock”, as well as a “strong ally for myself, for the Palestinian community within Mississauga.”

Quick! Accuse everyone of Islamophobia!

Had M-103 become law, this would be swept under the carpet and Iqra Khalid would carry on being the Israel-hating cow that she is.


So Andrew Scheer could kick Maxime Bernier out of the caucus but that would only help out the Jew-haters.

How would that let you win an election, Andy?


Also - the CBC is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Liberal party and Rosemary Barton is its fat cheerleader:

In the report below, CBC tried hinting – with ZERO evidence – that there was link between the timing of Maxime Bernier’s tweets, and a far-right rally in the US ...

CBC makes the ‘link’ without any proof, engaging in baseless speculation. It’s a clear example of Fake News.

And as you can imagine, Maxime Bernier pushed back against the attempt to demonize him:

“Just saw this report which implies a “timing” between my tweets last Sunday and some violent demonstration in the US. How do you know that I “chose to send (my) messages on the first anniversary of the riots in Charlottesville” @CBCTheNational ? This is despicable. #fakenews“

And then, Rosemary Barton from CBC replied, basically saying that unless Bernier talks to them, they’ll interpret things in the worst possible way:

“How do we you didn’t time to coincide with that anniversary given you won’t give any interviews to anyone about anything you tweet? How about you answer some questions and defend your position in front of people then we can talk about what is fake. Thanks for watching. #realnews“

Even if Maxime Bernier did waste his time speaking with that walking tub of lard, would she not have juxtaposed his comments with the events in Virginia?

Of course she would. She is a dishonest propagandist who hides behind the federally-funded CBC.


And - Bernier's comments were not at all extreme. One would wager that the coffers are lined by the very people who prove his comments correct:

The Liberals say a fundraising campaign based on Bernier’s controversial comments has raised 77 per cent more money than any of their previous issue-based efforts.

Party spokesperson Braeden Caley says online donations have doubled and social media engagement has quadrupled since Monday.

And he says the Bernier controversy has also helped boost the rolls of registered Liberal supporters, with 1,000 new sign-ups this week.

(Sidebar: so they say.)


Division: it has a price.




Toronto Mayor John Tory is in a fight for his political life. THAT is why he would rather duke it out with a Ford powerhouse than admit that hunters and sport-shooters are not the reason why people are getting shot in Toronto:

Rather than meeting to find ways to save a bunch of their jobs, Premier Doug Ford suggests Toronto councillors use the time to try to save lives.

In an open letter Friday from the premier’s office to Mayor John Tory, Ford strongly suggests council move on from the debate about the reduction of city councillors and put its priorities on the deadly issue of guns and gangs.

“I implore you, along with Toronto city council, to address this critical issue at your meeting on Aug. 20 and add funding for guns and gangs to the city council agenda. The people of Toronto, and by extension Ontario, need and deserve to feel safe in the city and our great province,” Ford wrote. ...

Rather than meeting to find ways to save a bunch of their jobs, Premier Doug Ford suggests Toronto councillors use the time to try to save lives.

In an open letter Friday from the premier’s office to Mayor John Tory, Ford strongly suggests council move on from the debate about the reduction of city councillors and put its priorities on the deadly issue of guns and gangs.

“I implore you, along with Toronto city council, to address this critical issue at your meeting on Aug. 20 and add funding for guns and gangs to the city council agenda. The people of Toronto, and by extension Ontario, need and deserve to feel safe in the city and our great province,” Ford wrote.

Of course an "anti-colonial group" vandalised a statue of Sir John A. MacDonald in Montreal. Of course:

A downtown Montreal statue of Sir John A. Macdonald was spray-painted red early Friday, with an anti-colonial group claiming responsibility for the vandalism.

It said it wanted to show its opposition to far-right groups and white supremacy as well as its support of the City of Victoria’s recent decision to remove a statue of the former prime minister.

(Sidebar: because all of the above things go hand-in-hand.)


Also - but ... but ... reconciliation!:

A Federal Court judge wants input by the end of the month into whether he has the power to decide how much the government should pay lawyers who successfully pursued an unprecedented lawsuit against Canada for the loss of Indigenous identity suffered by victims of the ’60s Scoop.

Canada is way, way back:

During a meeting with his cabinet, Trump spoke about how the negotiations are going:

“We’re not negotiating with Canada right now. Their tariffs are too high, their barriers are too strong, so we’re not even talking to them right now. But we’ll see how that works out. It will only work out to our favour.”

For some reason, I am not surprised:

Canada's telecom regulator says the average household spent nearly $223 every month on communications services, including mobile phones, landlines, internet and cable TV in 2016.

But low-income households are spending exponentially more than higher income earners as a percentage of their income, according to the CRTC's latest Communications Monitoring Report.

This is what Trump should be doing more of to halt the Chinese/North Korean threat:

The United States imposed sanctions on a Russian port service agency and Chinese firms for aiding North Korean ships and selling alcohol and tobacco to Pyongyang in breach of U.S. sanctions.

The U.S. Treasury said in a statement on Wednesday that China-based Dalian Sun Moon Star International Logistics Trading Co. Ltd and its Singapore-based affiliate SINSMS Pte. Ltd had netted more than $1 billion a year by exporting alcohol and cigarette products to North Korea.

This North Korea: 

North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un traveled to his country's up-and-coming coastal resort area to offer instruction for what he hopes will be a sign of his country's resilience under extensive international sanctions.

** 

North Korea pressed its demand Friday that the United States agree to declare an end to the 1950-53 Korean War, as South Korea’s leader indicated that the U.S. secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, was preparing for his fourth visit to the North.

No war, no more US troops. Then there will be one big country called Korea under China's thumb.

Also:

Two women accused in the brazen assassination of the North Korean leader's half brother were told Thursday to make their defence after a Malaysian judge found evidence they participated in a "well-planned conspiracy" to kill, extending their murder trial until next year.

Indonesia's Siti Aisyah and Vietnam's Doan Thi Huong are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam's face in an airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017. They face the death penalty if convicted.

High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin found inadequate proof of a political assassination and said he wasn't persuaded by defence arguments that the women thought they were playing a prank for a hidden-camera show. But enough evidence had been presented in the six-month trial to infer the women and four North Korean suspects at large had meticulously engaged in a "well-planned conspiracy" to kill Kim "systemically," he said.

Well beyond its "best by" date:

For thousands of years beneath Egypt’s desert sands a solidified whitish substance sat in a broken jar. Scientists now say it’s “probably the most ancient archaeological solid residue of cheese ever found.”

Archaeologists came across the finding while cleaning the sands around a 19th dynasty tomb at the vast Saqqara necropolis of the ancient city of Memphis. 

The tomb of Ptahmes, the mayor of ancient Memphis, was initially discovered in 1885 but had been swallowed by shifting sands until its rediscovery in 2010.

The whitish solidified mass was found during the excavation work between 2013 and 2014, along with a canvas fabric which may have been used to cover the jar, possibly to preserve its contents, a study published this week in Analytical Chemistry said. The 3,200-year-old cheese was found to be made from a mixture of cow milk and that of a sheep or goat.

Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Aretha Franklin: