And the Rest of It

Oh, dear:

A suspected arson attack on an animation production company in Kyoto left at least 33 people dead and another dozens injured Thursday.

The death toll is the highest for an arson incident since 1989, when the previous Heisei Era (1989-2019) started, according to police.

Police said some people witnessed a man screaming “Die!” as he set the fire at a studio of Kyoto Animation Co.

Police also found knives at the scene. The suspect, 41, who was also injured, was taken to a local hospital.

About 70 people were believed to have been working when the fire broke out at around 10:35 a.m. The bodies of eleven victims were found on the second floor of the structure, and four on the stairs.

There was no immediate information on a possible motive.

This and the murder of residents at a home for the disabled is one of the most shocking crimes in a country where recorded crime has dropped in the first half of this year.




Why is Justin silent on China concentration camps?

Because ... :

The future prime minister’s odd answer: “You know, there’s a level of admiration I actually have for China ….”

That's why. 


Also:

Some are moving factories out of China. Others are strategically redesigning products. Some are seeking loopholes in trade law or even mislabeling where their goods originate — all with the goal of evading President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on goods from China.

But most of the companies that stand to be hurt by Trump’s tariffs are hunkering down and waiting — waiting because they don’t know when, whether or how his yearlong trade war with China will end or which other countries the president might target next.


Consider Xcel Brands, a New York-based company that owns such brands as Halston, Isaac Mizrahi and C. Wonder. Two years ago, it made all its clothing in China. Now it’s on the move — diversifying production to Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Canada and considering Mexico and Central America as well. By next year, it expects to have left China completely.

“You have to keep moving things around,” said CEO Robert D’Loren.

There are plenty of places to exploit slave labour.




So goes the Philippines, so goes Cambodia:

The Canadian government has asked officials in Cambodia for more information about 11 containers of Canadian garbage the southeast Asian country’s environment ministry says ended up there illegally.

Cambodia does not allow imports of any kind of waste, including plastics for recycling.

Yet 83 shipping containers of plastic garbage were discovered in the main Cambodian port of Sihanoukville, with what Cambodian media reports say were fake import documents labelling the containers as recyclables.

The discovery comes less than two weeks after 69 containers of Canadian plastic garbage was returned to Vancouver after having been illegally shipped to the Philippines almost six years ago.

It's hard to be an international environmental leader when one is outsourcing one's garbage to Asian countries.



The Koran mandates, rather arbitrarily, that women cover themselves to shield men from taking personal responsibility for their actions.

For some reason, this is not brought up when arguing against Bill 21:

A judge today rejected an attempt by religious and civil liberties groups to have Quebec’s secularism law suspended.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Michel Yergeau says Bill 21 will continue to apply until a court rules on the merits of a court challenge against it. The law prohibits some public sector workers, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols at work.

Lawyers representing a national Muslim organization, a civil liberties group and a university student who wears an Islamic head scarf had asked for a judicial stay on the central parts of Bill 21.

(Sidebar: because they're special.)

They argued the law is causing serious, immediate harm to religious minorities across the province, but Yergeau says the applicants failed to demonstrate the law is causing harm that would warrant a stay for the duration of the court challenge.

Also - we can't move heaven and earth for everyone:

Since 2007, the Canadian Elections Act has required that every general election take place on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year following the previous poll. Unless the prime minister feels like rolling the dice a little early, in which case a general election can be held before that. So really, the third Monday in October of every fourth year is less a fixed election date than a sort of fixed government expiry date — a designated time at which voters must, if they haven’t done so already, open up the fridge and take a sniff of the milk to make sure it hasn’t gone off.

This year, that expiry date falls on the Jewish high holiday of Shemini Atzeret. ...

People who can’t make it to the polls on Oct. 21 have other options for voting. There are special ballots (the method by which folks who can’t make it out to the local school gym for less holy reasons, such as being in prison, regularly register their votes) and advance polls. According to Elections Canada’s lawyer Ewa Krajewska, Chief Electoral Officer Stephane Perrault is not willing to switch the election date, but he’s taking reasonable steps to make sure Orthodox Jewish voters aren’t disadvantaged, including ensuring extra staff members for advanced voting in areas with sizeable Jewish populations and getting information to the Jewish community about alternative ways to vote.

The point is not that Oct. 21, 2019 is a perfect day to hold an election. It’s that Oct. 21, 2019 is a neutral, randomly pre-selected day that is workable for holding an election. (I mean random in the sense that no one cherry picked the date for political advantage or to disenfranchise a person or group.) That’s the best we’re ever going to do. And the more we mess with it, the less neutral the process will become.

Japan launches a new Aegis destroyer:

The newest Aegis-equipped destroyer of the Maritime Self-Defense Force was launched Wednesday at a shipyard in Yokohama.

The ship, built by Japan Marine United Corp., was named the Haguro at the launching ceremony, and is slated to go into service around March 2021.

Once the Haguro goes into service, the country will have eight Aegis destroyers capable of defending against ballistic missiles. Among the eight is the destroyer Maya, the same type as the Haguro, which will be put into commission in March next year.

The Haguro, an 8,200-ton vessel measuring 170 meters in length and 21 meters at its widest point, is equipped with the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system capable of ascertaining the positions of missiles and airplanes and sharing them with U.S. forces and other allies.