Tuesday Post

Lots to say...


Who can claim the Child Tax Benefit:

Families with net incomes below $24,183 will get the maximum CCTB - including the full NCBS and the supplement for the third and each additional child - of:

        $290.41 per month ($3,485 per year) for the first child,

        $270.00 per month ($3,240 per year) for the second child, and

        $270.00 per month ($3,244 per year) for all other children in the family, along with any supplement for children under 7 that is applicable.

Families with net incomes between $24,183 and $41,544 will get the maximum basic CTB, the supplement for the third and each additional child, and a partial NCBS, along with any supplement for children under 7 that is applicable. Families with four or more children will also be entitled to a partial NCBS if their income is just above $41,544.

One and two-child families with net incomes between $41,544 and approximately $109,894 will receive partial benefits. Larger families may also be entitled to a partial CCTB if their income is above $109,894.

The annual Children’s Special Allowances amount will increase from $3,485. The monthly amount per child will increase from $290.41 in July 2011.  ….

Families that had net income below $24,183 in 2011 qualify for the maximum base benefit of the CCTB and maximum NCB Supplement.

Families that had net incomes between $24,183 and $41,544 in 2011 qualify for the maximum base benefit of the CCTB and part of the NCB Supplement.

Families that had net incomes above $41,544 in 2011 qualify for a part of the base benefit of the CCTB.

 
Making Justin Trudeau's comment here:

Justin Trudeau is putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to the Conservative government's newly enhanced universal child care benefit.

The Liberal leader maintains it's wrong to give the benefit to wealthy families that don't need help raising their kids. And to underscore that point, he's going to give his own family's windfall to charity.

(Sidebar:  Pro-abortion Justin Trudeau's admiration for the "basic dictatorship" of baby-killing China and his taking money from schools and charities can't be blotted out with that stunt. Nice try, Shiny Pony.)

... stupid.

How can a family with an annual salary of forty thousand dollars be considered high-rollers? How many wealthy families does Justin Trudeau think exist in Canada?

Justin Trudeau doesn't make clear how his tax credit for families will work but one can't expect a trustifarian to go into those sorts of details. That's what Dad's accountants were for.



I would suggest that Elizabeth May was excluded from the August 6th debates because not only is her party's representation miniscule, she is also a crazy drunk:

May has been shut out of TVA’s French-language debate and events being put on by the non-profit Munk Foundation and the Globe and Mail. The Globe said in a statement that it only invited to its debate leaders of parties “that have official status in the House of Commons” — by definition, parties with at least 12 sitting MPs.

Charles Krauthammer's take on the Iran deal:





Oh, Planned Parenthood! Will you ever learn?

A second video allegedly showing a senior Planned Parenthood official negotiating for fetal tissue and fetal parts for profit has been released.

In the video, released by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), Dr. Mary Gatter, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s for-profit Medical Directors’ Council, is seen haggling over prices of fetal parts. 

When Gatter initially asked for $75 per part, the undercover investigators countered with $100 -- which Gatter readily accepted. These negotiations came after Gatter said she didn't want to make an opening offer because "in negotiations, the person who throws out the first figure is at a loss, right?"

"I don't want to lowball," she said moments later. Towards the end of the video, Gatter jokes that she “wants a Lamborghini.”

 The denial of these recorded events has reached the "no, he's a lone wolf jihadi" level of stupidity. If one wants to see Planned Parenthood take a hit, audit Cecile Richards.






Well, this is strange:

A South Korean government spy was found dead Saturday, in what appeared to be a suicide, alongside a note that seemed to comment on the recent revelation that the spy agency had acquired hacking programs capable of intercepting communications on cellphones and computers, the police said.

Also:

The ANSWER Coalition, a well known far-left organization, is inviting Americans to join a “unique opportunity to travel to North Korea.” The group claims that the government-guided trip will show participants that “corporate-owned mainstream media” has “demonized” the country’s dictatorship, and that the United States of America should normalize relations with North Korea as it has done with Cuba.

 
No, visiting the still-communist North Korea will not change things just as visiting the still-communist Cuba won't change things.



Just impeach this useless piece of crap already:

During an interview on the Daily Show, President Obama insisted that the IRS scandal isn’t real. He blames Republicans for not providing enough money to the federal agency to allow it to do its job.

And now, sometimes translations are done poorly yet hilariously:

(source)

Friday Freakout

Even kittens relax with a beer every now and then.

Behold puppies and music:





Damn you, global warming!

Instagram member docholidayescape took this picture in Orange, New South Wales today. Yes, that’s a kangaroo in the snow, something you don’t see very often, even though it’s winter Down Under. Up to 20cm (almost 8 inches) of snow fell in New South Wales, the most snow in half a century. Parts of Queensland were affected, too.

Why does Australia have weird and/or dangerous things?

Researchers from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, were looking for the nursing grounds of larval lobsters using a remote ocean explorer when they happened upon four previously-unknown extinct volcanoes. Like the shark-filled volcano Kavachi, these volcanoes are teeming with life—primarily baby fish. The volcanoes, it seems, have become nursing grounds for larval fish swept out to sea from commercial fisheries along the eastern coast of Australia.

Googly eye-bombs are real things, apparently.

 

Friday Post

Sit by the lake with a tall, cool glass of truth...


A report on the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 will be released in October and will likely list the cause of the crash as being struck by a missile:

At Gilze-Rijen airbase outside Amsterdam, the Dutch Safety Board is in the final stages of reconstructing parts of MH17 from wreckage recovered in Ukraine.

Their report, due in October, will likely identify the type of missile and the launch site, and perhaps who controlled that turf in the ongoing border war between Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels.

A draft copy is already circulating to aviation safety organizations like the International Civil Aviation Organization.

From the article, it seems like the Dutch are reluctant to blame the Russians who became prime suspects after intercepted calls implicated them. And like Korean Airlines flight 007, it is less likely that the Russians will be punished for killing two hundred and ninety-eight people.

Related: footage minutes after the downing of MH 17.

Lifting sanctions from a mad theocratic state that arrests and tortures dissidents, kills Canadian citizens, has not stopped enriching uranium, will not submit to snap inspections and is getting welfare from Obama is a pretty stupid thing to do:

While its allies struck a nuclear deal with Iran, Canada decided to skip the parade. The United States, the European Union, the United Nations will all lift an array of economic sanctions under the agreement, but Canada, at least for now, has no plans to follow suit. ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson, in a statement issued Tuesday, expressed appreciation for the “efforts” of the so-called P5-plus-one group that struck the deal with Iran – the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany. But Canada, Mr. Nicholson said, “will continue to judge Iran by its actions not its words.” Ottawa will examine the deal more before changing any policy, he said.

 

(Sidebar: is there a need to give military aid to Saudi Arabia if this deal with Iran will usher in a new era of peace?)

But I guess anti-Israel wags know what they are talking about.

Related: Bill Clinton made a similar deal with North Korea and look how that turned out:

“This is a good deal for the United States,” said President Clinton. “North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program. South Korea and our other allies will be better protected. The entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons.”

Oops.

Another South Korean is being held captive in North Korea:

An American univerisity student being held in North Korea has said he has been "treated in the most humanitarian way" since entering the country illegally.

Won Moon Joo, a South Korean who holds permanent residency in the United States, was arrested in April when he crossed the Amnok River, also called the Yalu River, from the Chinese border town of Dandong.

On Tuesday, the business studies student at New York University was allowed to speak to reporters in Pyongyang but gave no explanation for entering the country.

"I would like to tell my family I'm healthy, I hope to be home soon and to tell them not to worry too much," he said.

"I've eaten three meals a day, exercised daily, given books to read to pass the time. I've been quite healthy and I've been taken care of very well with good people."

Mr Joo also publicly admitted that he has broken North Korean laws.

"I fully acknowledge that I broke the law by illegally entering the DPRK and I sincerely apologise, but I hope to be treated generously by the DPRK government," he said.

Well, now that he has been forced to apologise, what will South Korea or the US give North Korea to free him?

Also:

The U.N. has requested Beijing for an explanation of its decision to repatriate 29 North Korean defectors last August, and of their current status in North Korea. [….]

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry is particularly concerned about the status of human-trafficking victims and illegal immigrants in China, and the persecution or torture, as well as the long detentions that await returnees in North Korea, South Korean outlet No Cut News reported.

North Korean women also are vulnerable to forced abortions and sexual assault after repatriation, according to the U.N.

The forced abortions on repatriated women have been performed because Chinese men have impregnated the women, according to the Brookings Institution.

In a follow-up to China’s report, the U.N. said it had received information a 1-year-old child was one of the 29 North Koreans repatriated in August 2014.

 

The UN is part of the problem, so there's that.

(Kamsahamnida)

Kathleen Wynne is a big fat liar:

Premier Kathleen Wynne says Prime Minister Stephen Harper is playing politics by refusing to co-operate with Ontario's new pension plan, and warns voters will question his motives in the upcoming election campaign.

I'm sorry. She's not fat.

Her proposed pension plan is just another example of her failure as a leader and a human being to lead the province she was elected to run.

Aboriginal children are taken into care more than other children and no one cares to state the real reasons why:

Canada's premiers are raising concerns about the high number of aboriginal children in care as they urge the federal government to help them address the issue.

A Post For A Thursday

Lots to talk about...


James Holmes was found guilty for a theatre shooting in which twelve people were killed:

A jury convicted Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes on Thursday in the 2012 massacre that killed 12 people and injured 70, and he could now face the death penalty.  Jurors rejected defense argument that Holmes was insane and driven by delusions during the attack, where he entered a packed showing of a Batman film wearing body armor and opened fire.

Arapahoe County District Chief Judge Carlos Samour Jr. revealed the verdict at 4:15 p.m. local time after jurors reviewed the 165 charges against Holmes for about 14 hours over the course of two days. The verdict comes nearly three years to the day after the July 20, 2012 mass shooting.

The same jury panel will now reconvene for a penalty phase to decide if Holmes should be sentenced to death.

"Workplace violence" by a "lone wolf" that has nothing to do with Islamism:

The FBI confirmed 24-year-old Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez was the shooter who opened fire on a military recruiting center and reserve center in Chattanooga on Thursday morning. 

Military might and economic stability go hand-in-hand:

According to Robert Dannenberg, a Goldman Sachs security analyst and CIA veteran, Russia's President Vladimir Putin recognizes the importance of gaining power through international economic agencies. 

"Putin is conservative and nostalgic, but he also understands that it takes more than just rebuilding or modernizing your nuclear arsenal to create a bi-polar world. You need to have economic power," Dannenberg said during a Q&A in a Goldman note.

Russia seems far from realizing these goals. Lowered oil prices and economic sanctions by NATO due to the Ukraine conflict have crippled the Russian economy in the past few years.

The country's bonds have been downgraded to junk status, and its GDP contracted 1.9% in the first quarter of 2015. It does not seem that Russia is ready to flex its economic muscle. 

In spite of the weak economy, Russia is attempting to boost its fortune by allying with more friendly economic powers, particularly China, and burgeoning markets.

According to Dannenberg, Putin's plan is twofold. The first objective is to create closer formal ties with countries that have similar economic interests. 

Last week Russia hosted the BRICS summit, a meeting of economic and political leaders from the growing powers of Brazil, India, China and South Africa. Russia is also a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which has 14 members including China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.

They've even begun to court Greece as an economic partner in Europe.

Obviously based on those membership lists, Russia's main focus is maintaining strong ties with China. Dannenberg highlighted this the most important part of Putin's economic plan. 

This isn't really news. Russia has had good relations with China for a long time. Now that sanctions have been lifted off of Iran, Russia will see more money in its coffers.

Related: scapegoat:

A Ukrainian military pilot, Nadia Savchenko, who has been held in Russia since June 2014, faces a 25-year prison term, according to reports.

Though a deal with Obama's pet project, Iran, has been struck, such a deal seems unlikely for North Korea:

A deal with North Korea isn’t a legacy-maker. It’s a well-established pattern that lame-duck Presidents grasp for “accomplishments” abroad as their power wanes at home. There’s no better president to negotiate with than one who knows he’ll be safely ensconced in his presidential library by the time the deal falls apart. North Korea’s track record tells us it will cheat, and when it does, the next president will come under strong pressure to walk away. I suspect that the administration has been involved in secret talks with North Korea periodically, but there’s usually at least some warning before a deal is announced. I first got wind of Chris Hill closing a deal with the North Koreans in Berlin in late 2006, and the deal was announced the following February. But then, how often do you hear George W. Bush boast about Agreed Framework 2? And even assuming this were possible, how long would it last under a future president? Probably not much longer than the Leap Day Deal itself. That’s a pretty dubious foundation for a legacy.

 

Read the whole thing.



Some South Koreans have clearly learned nothing from the UN, China and Russia's permanent seats on the security council, the failed Kaesong Industrial Complex and what a disaster North Korea is:

Judging by state-run Yonhap’s report, the reporter sees nothing wrong with this splendid idea, either. He (or she) never cites any of the U.N. Security Council resolutions or quotes their text, nor does he seek comment from any legal experts or South Korean government officials about the legality of this. Least of all, no one bothers to ask a South Korean labor activist about the ethics of this, not that you’d easily find one who isn’t under Pyongyang’s substantial influence anyway.

Instead, everyone seems to blithely accept circumventing U.N. sanctions and enslaving North Korean workers as a swell ideas. What’s not clear is whether they simply don’t care, because they assume China and South Korea won’t enforce the sanctions, or whether they think they’ve found a neat little loophole.

Sometimes losing money is all these bozos understand.

(Kamsahamnida)

And now, inside out peppermint patties because deliciousness. Enjoy.

Panty-Waist-in-Chief

Watch as the man who was twice elected to lead the free world snaps at a reporter for asking a legitimate question:



I actually can't imagine any other leader getting away with that. I really can't. I mean- Justin Trudeau is snotty and rude but Obama was just a petulant little sh-- who glowered because a reporter had the audacity to pose a legitimate question. He stammers out a venomous response (he still hasn't learned that part of his job is knowing how to actually speak) and glares at Major Garrett for having him put le roi on the spot like that.

That's King George III Redux for you.


It gets better and by better I mean baffling and irritating:

“We take all shootings very seriously,” Obama said. “Obviously when you have an attack on a U.S. military facility then we have to make sure we have all the information necessary to make an assessment in terms of how this attack took place.”

Here is a montage of all the times Obama has taken shootings and other tragedies seriously:

For years, the Obama administration has maintained that the victims of the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, for which Islamist Maj. Hidal Hasan is charged, simply were in the crosshairs of a situation of “workplace violence.”

The victims – 13 people were killed and nearly another three dozen were injured when, according to witnesses, Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” and started firing at people – have been denied benefits and combat honors because the government insisted there was no link to terror. ...

When asked by the judge, Col. Tara Osborn, to identify those he was “protecting,” Hasan said, “The leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban” and its leader, Mullah Omar.

 

**

On the first day after a sitting US Ambassador was assassinated in a terrorist attack on 9/11, this president skipped his daily intelligence briefing in favor of attending a Las Vegas campaign stop.

**

Four Jews were murdered in a kosher supermarket in Paris last month, after an Islamist terrorist claiming loyalty to Islamic State (ISIS) took the Hyper Cacher store hostage before police raided it and shot him - but according to US President Barack Obama the attack was "random."

In calling the attack random during an interview with Vox on Monday, Obama in fact did not even identify the victims as Jews, instead terming them "a bunch of folks."

**




Obama is a thin-skinned, bumbling, conniving @$$hole. The Americans will forever be ashamed that they even put him on the ballot.