And the Rest of It

Any agency of the government is either a gong show or an iron fist.

Case in point:

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is supposed to retain only information that is “strictly necessary” to do its job, and the spy agency is now facing questions about whether it collected and hung on to material about groups or people who posed no real threat.

Details of the CSIS practices are emerging in a case mounted by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association in the Federal Court of Canada.

In a February 2014 complaint to the CSIS watchdog, the Security Intelligence Review Committee, the association alleged the spy service overstepped its legal authority by monitoring environmentalists opposed to Enbridge’s now-abandoned Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.

It also accused CSIS of sharing information about the opponents with the National Energy Board and petroleum industry companies, effectively deterring people from voicing their opinions and associating with environmental groups.

Would these be the American-funded people trying to shut down the Canadian oil industry and not - let's say - Khalistani extremists not unlike those who blew up Air India 182 in 1985?

Otto Warmbier's parents have filed a claim for a cargo ship seized from North Korea:

The parents of Otto Warmbier have filed a claim for a seized North Korean cargo ship, seeking to collect on a multimillion-dollar judgment awarded in the American college student’s death.

The Warmbiers filed court papers Wednesday in New York federal court saying they have a right to the assets after North Korea failed to respond to a wrongful death claim that accused it of abducting Warmbier, who had travelled there for a guided tour ahead of a study abroad program in Hong Kong.

The Warmbiers say their son was tortured after being convicted of trying to steal a propaganda poster and imprisoned for months.

Also:

A South Korean man has been under investigation on charges of stealing a device used in military explosives while serving in the Army and collecting or uploading video clips related to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, defense ministry officials said Friday. 

The 23-year-old man, identified only by his surname, Park, allegedly stole at least one spark plug for explosives in October, 2017, when he was receiving training at an Army engineering unit as an explosive specialist, according to the officials.

Investigators also found a video clip on his cellphone on how to make homemade ammunition as well as a mobile app used by IS members and supporters. Also found at his home was a machete that looks similar to broad blade knives that have been used by terrorists, officials said.

The suspect had collected video clips and other materials related to IS and posted them online since 2016 until recently, the officials said, adding that he is suspected of exchanging emails with suspected members of the militant group.

Tribute is paid to a Russian crew for preventing another Chernobyl/Kursk tragedy:

The 14 sailors who died during a fire last week on a nuclear-powered Russian military submarine prevented a “planetary catastrophe,” a top naval officer said at their funeral, according to media reports.

Captain Sergei Pavlov, an aide to the commander of Russia’s navy, praised the heroism of the men, who died as they battled to stop the fire from spreading in the submersible.

“With their lives, they saved the lives of their colleagues, saved the vessel and prevented a planetary catastrophe,” he said at the funeral Sunday attended by the navy chief according to the Fontanka news service.

The only people freaking out about this movie are withered old husks who offer no "vicious falsehoods" to dispute and insist that men pretending to be women can get abortions, too (yes, there is South Park joke in there somewhere and no, I won't tell it):

More than 24 cinemas across the country are due to screen Unplanned for a week starting July 12, after stirring up intense debate during its U.S. release from Christian production studio Pure Flix.

Yes, using the Holocaust for easy points does cheapen the tragedy:

The Holocaust and all its attendant slaughters is not a brand to be picked up lightly to prop up a poll or grab a headline, or to show oneself a leader in the absurdly denominated “Resistance” conducted by Hillary-ite dead-enders and talk-show chatter machines to a democratically elected president. Dislike Trump. Despise him. Campaign against him. But don’t splatter the president or the United States with the libel that he or America are replicating Himmler’s inferno in 2019. The charge is, as the Jerusalem Post states, “a desecration of the Holocaust itself,” and as politics it is beyond despicable.

Ladies and gentlemen, the genius of Mr. João Gilberto: