Mid-Week Post

The first post of the new year!



The "new normal" ringing in the new year:

Nine people were injured — one seriously — when a man rammed his car into pedestrians in the early hours of Tuesday on Harajuku’s famed Takeshita Street in what the driver told police was a terrorist act, according to the authorities.

Police arrested Kazuhiro Kusakabe, 21, who was driving a rental car with Osaka license plates, on suspicion of attempted murder. A 19-year-old university student remains unconscious after being hit by the minicar shortly after midnight on the well-known shopping street in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, which is normally packed with young shoppers and foreign tourists during daylight hours.

Investigative sources quoted the man as allegedly saying he had perpetrated an act of terrorism “in retaliation for an execution” and “would not make any excuses” for his actions. It was not immediately clear whether he was referring to a specific execution or Japan’s system of capital punishment.

**

A German man has been arrested after repeatedly driving into crowds of people, injuring at least five, in what authorities said Tuesday appeared to have been intentional attacks against foreigners.

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A 51-year-old Canadian man has been arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport after authorities say he claimed he had a bomb.

From a non-Canadian news agency:

(Sidebar: translated from an online service)

All in all, the whole situation has taken more than half an hour. According to the trooper the situation is under control, the accused is overpowered. According to a spokesman for the military police, there is no known force used in the arrest. The departures hall is released again.

The detained suspect is a 51-year-old Canadian. No explosives were found. He is enclosed for further research.

According to bystanders, that would have called the man ' Allahu Akbar ' and he shouted that he had a bomb with him.

(Paws up)

**

Police are treating a stabbing in Manchester as a terror attack, after arresting a 25-year-old man and raiding a house in the north of the city.

On New Year's Eve, three people, including a police officer, were stabbed by a man who was heard shouting “Allah” at Victoria station.

(Sidebar: we may never know his motive.) 

It's an election year!:

A National Post analysis of the federal government’s infrastructure spending shows that while the money has been distributed fairly evenly across the country, government announcements promoting the infrastructure program have overwhelmingly concentrated on the dollars spent in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

Of the 82 press releases issued during the summer about the government’s 12-year, $180 billion infrastructure plan, 76 per cent were related to projects east of Ontario, where there are obvious electoral implications for the governing party.

The Liberals will be playing defence in Atlantic Canada in the 2019 federal election after winning every single seat in the region in 2015 on the way to a majority government few expected. Quebec, as always, is expected to be a battleground next year. So while voters in those provinces may not be getting more than their fair share of infrastructure money, they’re certainly getting the lion’s share of press conferences.

While Quebec accounted for just 16 per cent of the total funding distributed through the Investing in Canada plan by the end of summer, it was home to 43 per cent of the actual in-person infrastructure announcements, often with the minister of infrastructure in attendance. Many of the funding announcements in Quebec were for relatively small projects: for example, local MP Stéphane Lauzon duly turned up for a press conference on July 10 in Saint-Sixte, a town of a few hundred in the Outaouais, to announce the relatively small expenditure of $10,000 for playground equipment.

Yes, about these infrastructure plans that were promised in 2015:

Total new spending was never going to be close to $187 billion. At the beginning, the Liberals simply reannounced $92 billion in infrastructure spending promised by the former Harper government, added $95 billion of their own and – presto! — $187 billion.

The spending since the Liberals took over in 2015 has been so haphazard that even the best fiscal minds in the country cannot say how much of the money spent so far has gone to legitimate infrastructure projects (roads, bridges, telecommunications networks, rail lines and waterways) and how much to Liberal pet projects in swing ridings.

And, finally, the third thing that can be said with some certainty is that all this tax- and deficit-funded spending has had nowhere near the economic impact the Liberals projected during the 2015 federal campaign. The best guess (and because of the shoddy bookkeeping, all anyone can do is guess) is that the program has had no more than one-third of the stimulus effect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed it would have.

The Liberals insisted that if they could just overspend by $10 billion a year for three years, the new infrastructure those deficits would pay for would boost Canada’s GDP by 0.4% a year or nearly $5 billion annually.

 Instead, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) estimates the maximum amount of stimulus generated by all these buckets and buckets of taxpayer cash has been 0.16% or less than $2 billion. The stimulus effect might even by closer to just $1 billion a year.

**

Until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau passed Bill C-76 through Parliament, a Canadian citizen living in another country could not vote if they had lived outside of Canada for more than five years. There were certain exceptions for people posted overseas, but generally, if you were gone for more than five years, you could no longer vote.

Unless, of course, you came back to Canada.

Canadian citizens have always been able to come back to Canada and claim their right to vote in person and by residing here.

The rules were even upheld in a court challenge with the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that the five-year rule upheld the “social contract.”

“Permitting all non-resident citizens to vote would allow them to participate in making laws that affect Canadian residents on a daily basis but have little to no practical consequence for their own daily lives,” Justice George Strathy wrote in the 2015 ruling.

(Sidebar: that is the smell of desperation.)

**

In case you have not heard of the Islamic Party of Ontario, its name was officially reserved under Elections Ontario rules in October 2018, with more steps required before it becomes a formal party.

It operates with a mandate to introduce Islamic rule in Ontario and Canada because, according to the fledgling party, “We understand and believe that Islam is the native DEEN (religion) of Ontario and Canada.”

The one thing one can be absolutely certain of this year is how Canadians will be taxed further into the Stone Age:

“Canadians know what Justin Trudeau is going to do. Now that his carbon tax is here, it’s only going to go up. And if he gets re-elected in 10 months, it will go up even more,” Scheer said during a New Year’s Day news conference in a Giant Tiger store in Regina.

“This time next year I plan on being able to tell Canadians that Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax is a thing of the past.”

**

Over the past 30 years, Conservative and Liberal governments have repeatedly promised to reduce Canada’s GHG emissions to wildly optimistic targets they have never met and will not meet, whatever they say leading up to the Oct. 21 election and whichever party wins it.

The absurd continuing insistence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna that the Liberals are on track to meet Trudeau’s 2015 commitment under the United Nations’ Paris climate accord to reduce Canada’s emissions to 30% below 2005 levels is nonsense. ...

The Trudeau government has quietly abandoned its 2020 target of reducing emissions to 17% below 2005 levels for the simple reason that it’s no longer possible to even pretend that’s attainable.

Even if Canada miraculously achieved its 2030 target, it would be meaningless since the UN has already said all of the national targets in the 2015 Paris climate agreement that Trudeau signed us on to are no longer sufficient to stop catastrophic global warming.

In reality, the debate in the 2019 election between Liberals and Conservatives will not be about Canada reaching its emission targets or averting catastrophic climate change.

It will be about pretending to reach those targets and attacking each other’s plans.

Not that carbon is a pollutant, anyway, but what about those taxes?

**

Saskatchewan argues that the federal government stepping in on what each province wants to do to combat climate change is an “Ottawa knows best” approach that disregards the principles of federalism — both as spelled out in the Constitution and as exist historically in principle.

A co-operative approach would be preferable, but Saskatchewan says the federal approach is the opposite of co-operation because there’s no ability to refuse to participate. “Nothing less will satisfy the principle that provinces are sovereign and autonomous within the realms of their jurisdiction and that neither level of government is subordinate to the other,” it says. ...

The other thing at issue is whether or not the carbon tax is a tax, because, as Saskatchewan lays out, it’s a powerful tool that should be used carefully. “Furthermore, it is well established that the federal government cannot use its taxation power as a guise to regulate matters within provincial jurisdiction,” say Saskatchewan’s lawyers.

The federal government’s lawyers argue that the carbon tax isn’t a tax. It’s, rather, a regulatory meant to change behaviour by compelling people to use less carbon. It says that in order for something to be a tax, its primary purpose must be to raise revenue.

(Sidebar: A tax that is not a tax? Obama tried something similar.)

The feds counter with even if it is a tax, well, they still have the power.

Saskatchewan also objects to the tax only applying in certain provinces, saying this is unconstitutional. The feds disagree: “There is no constitutional requirement that federal laws operate equally throughout Canada.”

Also:

Oil producers are responsible for only 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions related to oil and gas, while emissions from passenger vehicles make up the other 80 per cent, according to the U.S.-based Environmental Protection Agency.

Environmental groups have repeatedly said that while total greenhouse gas emissions are largely shared by all consumers, oil companies should bear a larger portion of costs because they supply the largest portion of fossil fuels.

“Does the consumer also bear some responsibility? Absolutely,” Gage said. “But let’s have that conversation — and it’s not just going to be that it’s only the stuff that you burn directly that you are responsible for.”

It's just an economy:

Canada’s manufacturing sector expanded in December at the slowest pace in nearly two years as production growth faltered and export orders stagnated, data showed on Wednesday. 

The IHS Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ index (PMI), a measure of manufacturing business conditions, fell to a seasonally adjusted 53.6 last month, its lowest since January 2017, from 54.9 in November. 

A reading above 50 shows growth in the sector. 

“December data signaled a loss of momentum for manufacturers at the end of the year, with stagnating export sales and softer energy sector demand the key factors behind an overall slowdown in production growth,” said Christian Buhagiar, president and CEO, Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA).

How could this go wrong?:

A panel of MPs wants the federal government to look at making criminal pardons automatic for some offenders who have served their sentences.

The House of Commons public safety committee also suggests lowering the $631 fee for a pardon and simplifying the often complex process for applicants.

A criminal record can hinder a person’s ability to get a job, find housing, go to school or travel, committee members say in a report tabled without fanfare just before the parliamentary holiday break.

Under changes brought in by the former Conservative government, lesser offenders — those with a summary conviction — must wait five years instead of three before they can apply to the Parole Board of Canada for a pardon.

Offenders who have served a sentence for a more serious crime — an indictable offence — must wait 10 years instead of five.

In addition, the application fee quadrupled to $631 from $150 to ensure full cost recovery, and the name for a pardon was changed to the more neutral-sounding term “record suspension.”

Rob Gill joins Chris Bittle and (now unseated) Bob Delaney in a group of sad, cowardly losers who taunt their ideological opponents in a manner not unfamiliar with that seen in dictatorships and mobs:

Police say they have cautioned a St. Catharines, Ont., man after he encouraged people on Twitter to protest outside the home of the parents of provincial lawmaker Sam Oosterhoff.

The tweet, since deleted, included Oosterhoff’s parents’ address and phone number. He said it made him fear for their safety.

But the man behind the tweet, Rob Gill, who made an unsuccessful run for city council this past year, said Monday he has no regrets about the post and said it was police — not him — who overstepped their bounds by coming to his home.

On Dec. 21, Gill tweeted: “This Christmas, let’s protest @samoosterhoff and his bigot, misogynistic and homophobic personality & upbringing.” He then encouraged people to “protest at his parents’ home” or “give them a call.”

Something needs to be clarified: Rob Gill did not confront Sam Oosterhoff and exchange some angry words with him nor did he send out a nasty tweet to Oosterhoff. He posted the address and phone number of his elderly parents and encouraged others to show up at their home. Not only that, the insufferable moron doesn't have the slightest ounce of decency or hindsight to regret his actions but relishes in them and claims victimhood like the sniveling little bully that he is.

It takes a special kind of @$$hole to do this sort of thing and Rob Gill has proven that he is that sort of @$$hole.


(Again, paws up)



The social media accounts of Michael Spavor - an exploiter of North Koreans - are still active:

Michael Spavor was shown as being “active” on Viber, an instant messaging app blocked in China, as recently as early on Wednesday, a screenshot of his online status viewed by Reuters showed. 

Spavor was also shown as being on Facebook and Instagram in late December, after his arrest, according to screenshots shared by a person on his social media network on condition of anonymity. 

Although Spavor’s accounts showed he was logged on, he did not post anything. It was not possible to tell if it was Spavor who logged on or someone else. 

None of his friends have had any direct contact with him, despite the accounts being active, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

This China:

China seeks the “peaceful unification” of Taiwan but will not rule out the threat of military action, President Xi Jinping said Wednesday as he described the annexation of the self-ruling U.S. ally as an enduring ambition and an inevitable outcome of China’s rise.

**

Thousands of demonstrators marched in Hong Kong on Tuesday to demand full democracy, fundamental rights, and even independence from China in the face of what many see as a marked clampdown by the Communist Party on local freedoms.

And this North Korea:

In his speech, broadcast early Tuesday on state-run television, Kim urged the United States to take reciprocal measures in exchange for denuclearization steps the North Korean dictator has claimed his country has taken since last year.

“If the United States does not keep the promise it made in the eyes of the world, and out of miscalculation of our people’s patience, it attempts to unilaterally enforce something upon us and persists in imposing sanctions and pressure against our Republic, we may be compelled to find a new way for defending the sovereignty of the country and the supreme interests of the state,” Kim said.

(Sidebar: but ... but ... Singapore!)



Leftism often equals anti-semitism. I have no idea why Jews embrace leftism:

As reporters Leah McSweeney and Jacob Siegel wrote in a long investigative piece last month in Tablet Magazine, two Women’s March co-chairs, Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez, allegedly “asserted that Jewish people bore a special collective responsibility as exploiters of black and brown people.” Mallory was already under suspicion for her attendance at a February rally with Nation of Islam standard-bearer Louis Farrakhan, whose many publicly stated, crude anti-Semitic conspiracy theories (not to mention homophobia and transphobia) are well-documented. She refuses to disavow Farrakhan or the NOI, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre (especially damning, as the SPLC is tough on conservative groups and soft on progressive ones).

Another of the March leaders, Linda Sarsour, is a controversial figure in her own right as an Islamist sympathizer and a BDS supporter who has accused American Jews of dual loyalties (an old anti-Semitic canard) and called Israelis “white supremacists.” All three — Mallory (black), Perez (Latina) and Sarsour (Palestinian) were accorded visibility and power to de-whiten the March’s original brand and provide an “intersectional” lamination to the movement, without any thought given to the personal biases they might be bringing to the table.

It should be obvious to progressive Jewish women by now that the Women’s March, an allegedly feminist movement, which allegedly supports the rights of all women, just isn’t into Jewish women. To progressive ideologues, Jews are burdened by the original sin of Zionism, whether they are pro-Israel or not.

It has been called a New Year's miracle:

Laboring through sub-freezing temperatures, Russian rescue workers were digging into a sprawling heap of jagged rubble from a collapsed apartment building when one heard the faintest sound.

It was the sound of life.

On Tuesday, to everyone's delight and surprise, they pulled a baby boy out of the rubble alive, nearly 36 hours after the disaster that blew apart his home. His father called it "a New Year's miracle."

The building collapse in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk before dawn Monday has killed at least nine people so far, and officials say 32 people who lived in the building have still not been accounted for.

The collapse followed an explosion that was believed to have been caused by a gas leak.

The boy, an 11-month-old named Ivan Fokin, was in extremely serious condition, officials said, with fractures, a head injury and suffering from hypothermia and frostbite after his ordeal in temperatures around minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit).

He was flown to Moscow late Tuesday in a desperate attempt to save his life. He was in stable condition on arrival in the capital, the head of the national public health institute Vladimir Uiba was quoted as telling state news agency Tass.

Although Ivan's prospects for survival appeared dire, "it's a New Year's miracle," his father Yevgeny was quoted as saying by the RT satellite TV channel.

Australia stands by its decision to revoke the citizenship of an ISIS member:

Australia's government is confident it has grounds to strip an alleged Islamic State recruiter of citizenship, a minister said on Wednesday, as questions arose over whether doing so could be illegal and leave the man stateless.

The case highlights the problems many governments face as they consider what action to take against people who have traveled abroad, often to the Middle East, to join militant groups.

Under Australian law, a person can only be stripped of their citizenship if they are dual citizens, thereby preventing people from being made stateless.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said Melbourne-born Neil Prakash, who is imprisoned in Turkey, was a dual citizen as he also has Fijian citizenship,.

Prakash ceased to be an Australian "by virtue of his actions in fighting for Islamic State from May 2016", and he had been notified of the decision in December, Dutton said.

"The advice to the government based on all the intricate detail and fact of this particular matter is that Mr Prakash is, by operation of law, a citizen of Fiji," Dutton told reporters in Brisbane.

"The other point to make is that Mr Prakash is sitting in a Turkish jail at the moment ... Prakash is not coming anywhere near our part of the world any time soon."

Speaking of Australia:

A man in Perth, Australia, is apologizing to cops and neighbours after a full police response was triggered by his yelling “why don’t you die” at a spider in his home.

A concerned passerby called the police after they heard the screaming, coupled with a toddler’s cries. It took less than 20 minutes for police to arrive on scene and figure out the father is just very afraid of spiders.

According to the police log, the caller didn’t know the family but said they had seen them walking around a few times.

“The toddler inside was screaming,” the caller said.

The log said “police spoke with all parties who advised that husband had only been trying to kill a spider (has serious fear of spiders). Apologized for inconvenience to police. No injuries sighted (except to spider). No further police involvement required.”