On a Monday

Aaaahhh, glorious spring.....



This week in the House of Commons, the Liberals will attempt to push a budget onto a population they it do not understand  and pass a censorship law.

Be aware.



But ... but ... the Narrative!

Nearly half of Canadians want to deport people who are illegally crossing into Canada from the United States, and a similar number disapprove of how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is handling the influx, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday.

A significant minority, four out of 10 respondents, said the border crossers could make Canada "less safe," underlining the potential political risk for Trudeau's Liberal government.

If this poll is to be believed, it begs the questions: is the rest of the population hiding under a rock?



But would Kim Jong-Un be so bold if China was no longer in a position to back it?

North Korea said Monday it is not frightened by U.S. threats of possible pre-emptive military action to halt its nuclear and missile buildup.

A spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry slammed U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent talk of tougher sanctions, more pressure, and possible military action, and said the North would not be deterred in its nuclear program.

“The nuclear force of (North Korea) is the treasured sword of justice and the most reliable war deterrence to defend the socialist motherland and the life of its people,” the official Korean Central News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

**

Chang said Tillerson “spoke to the Chinese pretty harshly in private, but in public, though, he adopted China’s formulations of mutual cooperation, win-win this, and also respecting China’s core interests.”

“I think that was a mistake,” he said. “Nonetheless, we will see what the result is because, clearly, the United States and China right now have some irreconcilable interests. The Chinese want to support the North Koreans. They do that because every time the North Koreans do something provocative, we run to China, we ask for their cooperation, they get bargaining chips, and they distract us from things that are important – such as cyberattacks on American companies and the American government, of course; South China Sea; South Korea; you name it.”

The US, like South Korea, have to put an end to this insufferable stalemate and punish China for its support of North Korea, not beg it to turn that Third World dictatorship around.

Would the North Koreans fight to the death for the Kim dynasty, brow-beaten or not?

I'm guessing not. It's brainwashed and starving population would be hard-pressed to fight for the only fat man in the country.



Canada cannot be responsible for the legal systems in other countries but it should be responsible for its own:

Canada could undermine the global justice system by failing to extradite a pair accused of orchestrating the honour killing of a 25-year-old B.C. woman, a government lawyer argued today before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Janet Henchey, a lawyer for the Attorney General of Canada, made the case to extradite two B.C. residents to India to face trial for their role in the murder of Jaswinder (Jassi) Sidhu in 2000.

India has requested the extradition of Malkit Sidhu and Surjit Badesha, the mother and uncle of Jassi. Her body was dumped after her throat was slashed, and her young husband, Sukhwinder (Mithu) Sidhu was badly beaten and left for dead.

The pair has argued they could face neglect or mistreatment in India's prison system, but Henchey argued any potential risks are general in nature, not "personalized" to the pair. Henchey noted that all countries have problems such as overcrowding in prisons, including Canada.

She said the case before the high court has broad implications for Canada's role in administering international justice.

"It undermines the entire concept of extradition and sending people to the country where they have allegedly committed a crime if we refuse to surrender based on imperfections in our treaty partners, even sometimes large imperfections,  without a more specific connection to the person sought's situation," she said.

"If we do that, we fail to recognize the importance of extradition to the international community as a mechanism for avoiding impunity."

 
Hey, does anyone remember when someone was worried that people would be euthanised for their organs and that was dismissed as paranoid nonsense?

Doctors have already harvested organs from dozens of Canadians who underwent medically assisted death, a practice supporters say expands the pool of desperately needed organs, but ethicists worry could make it harder for euthanasia patients to voice a last-minute change of heart.

 
There was nothing good about residential schools, claims shame-ridden Anglican bishop:

In response to Senator Lynn Beyak’s assertion that Canadians ignore the “abundance of good” that happened in residential schools, one of the system’s primary operators issued a statement Monday saying “there was nothing good.”

“There was nothing good about children going missing and no report being filed. There was nothing good about burying children in unmarked graves far from their ancestral homes,” reads a statement co-signed by the Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada.

 
Yes, about that:

That phenomenon was on display again this week, following the publication of last Saturday’s story, “4,000 Children died in residential schools; Truth commission.” As that story detailed, “commission officials expect that number to rise as researchers access much more complete files from Library and Archives Canada and elsewhere.”

Letter writers commenting on that story this week complained that the article lacked important historical context.

“Nice work, National Post, as you continue to dump on the charitable work accomplished by generations of selfless missionaries, physicians, nurses and teachers of the Canadian North,” wrote C. Lutz, of Haliburton, Ont. “[This story] heavily spins out a ‘physical and sexual abuse’ [narrative] as if 150,000 Indian and Inuit children had gained nothing good from taxpayer-provided white education. At least some of them learned enough English and French to, fluently, play the system and bite the hand that had fed them.”

“By today’s standards, 4,000 deaths out of a total of 150,000 students is shocking,” wrote Russel Williams of Georgeville, Que. “But given the period covered, 1870 to 1996, it may compare quite favourably with Canada at large, or Canadian aboriginal communities specifically, for the same period. One must bear in mind that much of this period predates immunization for smallpox, whooping cough, and diphtheria. It also predates penicillin for treatment of TB. Given the above, perhaps the statistic is not as alarming as it first might seem.”

“It was undoubtedly a terrible thing to be taken from your family, but in the early days, the reserves were impoverished and 90% of First Nations people were infected with tuberculosis,” added Michelle Stirling. “It is hard to say if the students got tuberculosis at the residential schools. And until the 1950s, tuberculosis was the leading cause of death of all Canadians.

“I am aware that some people will feel that I am defending the known cases of abuse and cruelty — I do not defend these,” Ms. Stirling continued. “My own father was the victim of the same [abuse] at the hands of his own white Anglo-Saxon teachers at his British boarding school. He used to have his left hand beaten black and blue and tied behind his back because he was left-handed.”

We also heard from a non-native who attended the St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in southern Alberta (the Blood/Kainai Reserve) for six years.

“When so many Canadians rely on publications like the National Post to stay informed on important issues, it is disappointing to see an article like that,” wrote Mark DeWolf of Halifax. “How does this figure compare to the number of First Nations children who died outside of the schools? Over 126 years and out of 150,000 students, the figure is perhaps not so surprising, given the deplorable health conditions on some reserves and high rates of communicable illness. More could and should have been done to ensure the health of these students, but let’s have responsible journalism, not emotional pandering to readers.”

“The last of the Truth and Reconciliation Canada (TRC) national events comes up at the end of March in Edmonton, and I hope to be there,” Mr. DeWolf added. “It will be interesting to see if the media just parrot what native leaders, TRC employees and other aboriginal activists repeatedly say, or if the occasion gives rise to some serious discussion of the schools, the harm they did and the more positive aspects as well.”

On Wednesday, we ran a letter that began as follows: “There are many native Canadians who appreciate the benefits of the schools where they received an education that enabled them to cope with life outside the reserves. How about recounting some of their testimonials?”

A few more notes came in after that, each echoing that same point. Here is one example.

“How refreshing to see the letter from Michael Barnes,” wrote Jeannie L’Esperance. “When traveling by plane in the North, I have had people tell me how grateful they were for the training they received in a residential school, which helped them find employment.”

I would never use the g-d- ugly mug of a snowboard instructor to promote Canada when I could easily use its natural beauty to speak for it:

Global Affairs has instructed diplomatic missions in the United States to stop using life-size cardboard cut-outs of the prime minister to promote Canada.

The order follows the revelation last week that prime ministerial replicas turned up at an event last June organized by the Canadian consulate in Atlanta and earlier this month at a Canadian music festival in Austin, Tex.

The Canadian embassy in Washington also rush-ordered a cut-out of its own for use at Canada Day celebrations last year, at a cost of $147.79, including $72.80 for next-day delivery.

Canada: come for the natural beauty. Stay for the pie.

Northern Ireland faces a "green" crisis:

Northern Ireland’s government launched a program in 2012 to promote greater use of renewable sources to generate energy. Arlene Foster, the enterprise minister at the time, introduced the plan, which subsidized the use of alternative fuels by businesses and non-household users. It offered payments for 20 years for the installation of systems using solar energy, heat pumps or biomass boilers burning wood pellets.

When interest suddenly surged in 2015 an inquiry was called, concluding that the government had inadvertently established subsidies were worth more than the cost of the fuel itself; rather than encouraging conservation as intended, the scheme provided an incentive to burn as much fuel as possible. Media reported that a farmer heating an empty shed could make about $2 million over the 20-year period. A Ferrari dealer was criticized for using the subsidy program, which became known as “cash for ash,” to heat his showroom. Since there was no cap on subsidies, the auditor-general reported, “the more heat that is generated, the more is paid.”

Foster is now First Minister and admits the whole scheme was badly botched. “We can all agree … that there were shocking errors and failures in the RHI scheme and a catalogue of mistakes,” she told the Northern Ireland Assembly. Not only did it pay people to waste energy, it was badly policed and poorly enforced, she said. The program has been shut down, at an estimated cost of $1 billion.

Also:

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will never admit it, the 2015 Paris climate treaty Canada signed with great fanfare died last week.

It died because of the release of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2018 budget plan.

While Trump has to get it through the U.S. Congress, which means parts of it are unlikely to survive, his clear intention to gut U.S. climate change policy by dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency spells the death knell for the Paris treaty.

Trump is proposing deeper cuts to the EPA than any other government agency, reducing its $8.2 billion budget by 31%, laying off 19% of its 15,000 staff and cutting 50 programs.

That includes funding for Barack Obama’s signature climate change initiative, his Climate Action Plan, to reduce America’s use of coal-fired electricity.

If one is stupid enough to jump into a crocodile-infested river, one should be left in said river:

An Australian teen who was attacked by a crocodile after jumping into a crocodile-infested river on a dare was recovering from serious wounds to his arm, officials said Monday, as authorities recovered the body of another man who also may have been attacked by a crocodile in nearby waters.

Lee de Paauw, an 18-year-old from Queensland state, was at a hostel in the northern Queensland town of Innisfail around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday when he started bragging that he could swim in the river, a known habitat for aggressive saltwater crocodiles, said Sophie Paterson, a British backpacker who was at the hostel.

She and several others egged him on, though none of them thought he’d actually get in the water, Paterson said.

But get in the water he did. Seconds later, a crocodile latched onto him.

Homework is like any other skill - use it or lose it. If students do not memorise or apply the knowledge acquired at school, it will become useless to them.

That being said, plying on endless hours of pointless busywork is a great way to turn students off from academics altogether. It would be better to give students assignments that have them practise skills in a way that is mnemonic and not onerous.

Sunday Post

On this, the last day of winter....


Jason Kenney is new leader of the Alberta PC Party:

Jason Kenney is the new leader of Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives.

Kenney, 48, captured 1,113 of 1,476 votes cast in the party’s first delegated convention since 1985. ...

Kenney will now begin the next phase of his unite-the-right campaign by seeking a deal with the Wildrose party to join forces under a new conservative banner.

I'm not keen on merging.

Canadian voters who do not like Liberals masquerading as Tories need candidates they can trust.

That won't happen if parties merge.




Well, that seems to settle it:

Paris airport attacker shouted: 'I'm here to die for Allah - there will be deaths'

Also - a timeline of terrorist attacks in France.

Also in Lutheran murder rampages:

Father Tomy Kalathoor Mathew in Fawkner was just about to start his Sunday service at 11am when a man entered the church and confronted him in the foyer.

An argument broke out between the pair, then the man, aged in his 60s, pulled a kitchen knife from his pants and struck the priest to the neck with it before fleeing, investigators have been told.

As ISIS creeps into the Sinai region, Catholics in Egypt are hiding Orthodox Christians:

A spokesman for Egypt’s Catholic Church has praised local Muslims for helping embattled Christians after a series of Islamic State attacks in Sinai. 

Fr Rafic Greiche, spokesman for the Coptic Catholic Church, said Christians must differentiate between ordinary Muslims and extremists. 

“Ordinary Muslims are kind and try to help however they can – they’re often first on the scene, rescuing the injured and taking them to hospitals,” he told Catholic News Service March 3, as Christians continued to flee Egypt’s North Sinai region.

Fr Greiche said the attacks had affected only Coptic Orthodox Christians, but added that Catholic churches and schools in Ismailia had offered shelter to Orthodox families with help from Caritas.

Also:

Edward Clancy, director of outreach of Aid to the Church in Need USA, told the Register that ISIS will have achieved its goal of genocide if those groups do not go back to their homes. So far, the surveys from displaced Iraqi Christians show that 50% want to return to their homes on the Nineveh Plain; before the Iraqi army began its rollback of ISIS in northern Iraq, only 10% wanted to go back. 

But Clancy said that there will have to be “an intensive effort to help Christians rebuild.”

Clancy said Iraq needs its own Marshall Plan — the post-World War II economic rebuilding plan for Europe devised in part to prevent communism from taking hold in the population — and Syria will need it, as well, because the infrastructure is in chaos.

He said, “If all is said and done, and the Christians don’t go back, then ISIS won.”

If one can help, please do:

At around age one, she was abandoned outside a police station in Tianzhu County, China, without any clues as to her identity.

Now, 10 years later and living with an adoptive family in Edmonton, she not only has a name, Hosanna Crowell, but she’s also known to millions in her native country — all because of a moving letter circulating online that was penned by her adoptive mother and addressed to her biological parents, whose names and whereabouts are not known. ...

Even though she has thrived in her new environment, her transfusions every few weeks — she’s now had 194 — can be hard on her kidneys and spleen. Because she’s getting bigger, each transfusion requires blood from two donors. The fear of complications is never far off, Cathy says.

A few years ago, the family decided to explore the possibility of a bone-marrow transplant, which would almost certainly extend her life. But it would require tracking down her biological family.

Oh, every rocket is 'historically significant':

Kim Jong Un has presided over a rocket engine test “of historic significance,” North Korean state media said Sunday, a test that coincided with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to neighbouring China.

The young North Korean leader declared “that the whole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries,” the report said, declaring Saturday as the “March 18 revolution” because of the “great leaping forward” in North Korea’s rocket industry.

His name is Jordan Peterson and he doesn't suffer fools:  

Driven from McMaster University campus in Hamilton by an angry mob just the day before, Jordan Peterson was welcomed at Western University, like a rock star.

The controversial University of Toronto professor saw his hour-long speech interrupted only by bursts of applause from the more than 700 that packed the natural sciences building. His speech ended with a standing ovation, and after, he was mobbed outside for selfies from the adoring crowd, mostly young men, more than a few sporting hats declaring Make America Great Again.

Remembering the historic Saint Patrick and what he can still teach the West:

He uses the language of St. Paul when he rails against these “ravenous wolves,” accusing them of “handing over the members of Christ’s body, as it were, into a brothel.” Less dramatically, Patrick also references the opposition that he encountered from the non-Christian families of newly baptized converts, and especially the resentment of the fathers of women who chose to become “virgins of Christ.”

In one place, he marvels at the fortitude of these converts: “These women suffer persecution and false accusations from their parents, and yet their number grows!”

**

Dr. Carroll, who is well-known for his historical observation that “One man can make a difference,” could certainly point to Saint Patrick to defend his claim. Indeed, with the efforts of Saint Patrick, the Emerald Isle experienced a springtime of Christianity. Patrick’s humility, coupled with his trust in God’s love, proved a powerful combination to evangelization.

It is said on Vulcan: one man can summon the future.

Saint Patrick's fervour did just that.



 
And now, some good stories about man's best friend:

A floundering pup was rescued by police and fire fighters from the icy waters of Grenadier Pond on Saturday.

Toronto Police spokesman Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook said reports came in around 12:30 p.m. that a dog owner was on the ice trying to rescue a dog when the owner fell through the ice.

“He was fortunately close enough to the shore that he was able to get himself out of the water,” she said.

Nearby officers responded to the scene. One police officer, Const. Mathew Abramovitz of 11 Division, grabbed a buoyant backseat pillow and a pole before heading out onto the ice.

“When someone requires assistance, there are these poles that are in the park,” Douglas-Cook explained.

The officer made his way to the dog with the seat cushion and the pole.

“He did also fall through the ice but he was able to stay afloat on the seat of the police car,” Douglas-Cook said.

The dog apparently looked “just about to give up” and "desperately grabbed the pole," she added.

The officer then pulled the dog onto the seat, as fire fighters and the marine unit responded to the scene.

Everyone was pulled out of the water within 20 minutes. The officer and a fire fighter who also fell through the ice were taken to hospital to be checked out for hypothermia.

Douglas-Cook said the officer was fine and released quickly.

**

A very good dog drops the puck at a hockey game.


(sigh)

Saturday Special

A would-be terrorist is shot after stealing a soldier's gun:

Security forces shot dead a man who tried to seize a soldier's gun at Paris Orly airport on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of the busy airport and putting security back in the spotlight in the middle of France's presidential election campaign.

The man, identified as a 39-year-old radicalised Muslim who was already on the radar of police and intelligence services, had earlier shot and wounded a police officer with an air gun after a routine traffic stop north of Paris, officials said.

Get used to it, France.




China runs interference for North Korea:

China urged the United States to remain “coolheaded” over North Korea and not to turn its back on dialogue, as visiting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed a “sense of urgency” to curb dangerous levels of tension on the Korea peninsula.

As usual, China will implore everyone to back off while North Korea continues growing its arsenal.

It's time to put sanctions on China.


And:

Six North Korean defectors were arrested in China's Hebei Province last weekend and are at risk of being sent back to the repressive state. They were arrested with two other people who were helping them. Last month, another two South Koreans who help North Korean defectors were arrested in China. 

There are fears that Chinese authorities could come down harder on people fleeing North Korea amid a spat with South Korea over the stationing of a U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery here.

This decision.


Also:

The Japanese government held its first-ever drill Friday to protect citizens in case a ballistic missile is launched toward Japan.

More than 100 residents and schoolchildren of the coastal city of Oga in northern Japan participated in the drill. Loudspeakers warned them of a possible missile threat and urged them to seek shelter indoors because missile parts might fall.

The drill assumed a scenario of a hypothetical country firing a missile that falls into Japanese territorial waters off the coast of Akita prefecture. It came amid increasing missile threats from North Korea.

Earlier this month, North Korea fired four missiles, of which three landed in the 200-nautical mile offshore area where Tokyo has sovereign rights to explore and exploit resources.

And this:

The low birthrate is now starting to shrink high-school classes across the nation and in some cases shutting down some subjects completely.

Education Ministry data last week show that the number of new students entering high school this year dwindled by around 60,000 or 11 percent. A total of 525,300 students finished middle school last year and are entering senior high school this year, compared to 591,845 last year. And next year, only 460,000 are expected, down another 12.2 percent. 

"We've been reducing classes since 2004 and will have to sharply lower them again this year," a ministry spokesman said. 

The drop has prompted major changes. The same thing happened in middle schools in 2014 and elementary schools in 2008. 

The student-teacher ratio fell to 27.4 last year. The number of teachers allocated to middle schools has dropped since 2014, when it peaked at 113,349, reaching 109,525 last year. Now it is the turn of high school teachers to be weeded out.

The Europeans have depended on the US for so long that when anyone suggests that it should reimburse the US for costs, it is an earth-shattering event:

President Donald Trump said Saturday that Germany owes "vast sums of money" to NATO and the U.S. "must be paid more" for providing defence , reiterating his stance that European allies need to meet their end of the bargain if they are to continue benefiting from the military alliance.

No wonder they want a wall:

It seems that an army of Canadian citizens — despite coming from a place of relative affluence and opportunity – live illicitly in the U.S. One research institute estimates the total at 100,000, while a recent American government report said nearly that many Canadians outstayed their legal welcome — and failed to leave – in one year alone.

Iran does not wish to abide by the deal Obama helped broker.

Case in point:

Iran has challenged the need for it to ship sensitive material abroad if its stock exceeds a limit set by its nuclear deal with major powers.

The challenge raises the prospect of a confrontation with the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump because diplomats say Iran is only months away from reaching that cap.

The 2015 deal restricts Iran's atomic activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against Tehran.

One restriction is on its stock of heavy water, a moderator used in a type of reactor that can produce plutonium, like an unfinished one at Arak that had its core removed under the accord.

Iran has already exceeded the 130-tonne limit on its heavy water stock twice. The latest standoff with Washington over the issue was only defused in December when Iran shipped the excess amount to Oman, where the heavy water is being stored until a buyer can be found.

In a letter to the U.N. nuclear watchdog circulated to member states on Thursday and posted on the agency's website, however, Iran argued that the deal does not require it to ship excess heavy water out of the country.

"Nothing in the (agreement) requires Iran to ship out the excess heavy water which is made available to the international market but has not yet found an actual buyer to which the heavy water needs to be delivered," Iran said.

The deal says all excess heavy water "will be made available for export to the international market based on international prices and delivered to the international buyer".

Israel intercepts Syrian missile:

Syria launched anti-aircraft missiles Friday at Israeli jets returning home from a bombing run over central Syria, marking a serious escalation between the two Middle East foes.

In a rare communique, in which Israel took responsibility for the usually clandestine airstrikes, the Israeli Air Force confirmed that its warplanes had struck several targets in neighboring Syria.

The guy who used to run this country has something to say:

“The reason Canada has not experienced these divisions is really rather simple: in Canada, at least until recently, we had middle class and working class income growth over the past couple of decades,” he said. “Should that change, I predict our politics here will change along the same lines.”

Before the election, Justin Trudeau could not identify who was middle-class or what made them so.


Also - Trudeau called prioritising Yazidis as refugees into Canada "disgusting":

Yazda, an international organization that advocates for the Yazidis, estimates that at least 35 mass grave sites of Yazidis have been identified. Those who escaped killing or enslavement eventually reached ramshackle refugee camps in Turkey and Greece.

Canadian border guards are detaining more voters blocks Mexican migrants than before:

Canada's border authorities detained more Mexicans in the first 67 days of 2017 than they did annually in any of the three previous years, according to statistics obtained by Reuters.

The spike comes immediately after Canada's federal government lifted its visa requirement for Mexican citizens in December.

Many Mexicans looking north have shifted their focus from the United States to Canada as President Donald Trump vows to crack down on America's undocumented immigrants, about half of whom are Mexican. On Friday, Reuters reported, immigration judges were reassigned to 12 U.S. cities to speed up deportation.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said it detained 444 Mexican nationals between Jan. 1 and March 8, compared with 410 for all of 2016, 351 for 2015, and 399 for 2014.

The CBSA can detain foreign nationals if it is believed they pose a danger to the public, if their identity is unclear or if they are deemed unlikely to appear for removal or for a proceeding.

The number of Mexicans turned back at the airport has risen, too - to 313 in January, more than any January since 2012 and more than the annual totals for 2012, 2013 and 2014.

With the visa requirement lifted, all that Mexicans need to come to Canada is an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), obtainable online in a matter of minutes. But they cannot work without a work permit, and the eTA does not guarantee entry.

Canada issued 72,450 travel authorizations to Mexican citizens between Dec. 1, 2016, and March 10, 2017 - a significant increase compared with a similar period when visas were required.

Canada's Immigration and Refugee Minister Ahmed Hussen has said his department is monitoring the situation.  

(Sidebar: like fun it is.)





This is why one rule of law is better:
 

People living in First Nations communities now have the same emergency protections against domestic violence as other Nova Scotians.

The provincial Justice Department said Wednesday that a First Nations family seeking immediate protection against an abusive spouse, for example, can now apply for an emergency protection order.

The short-term, temporary orders can be put in place immediately and last for up to 30 days. They are issued by justices of the peace and family and provincial court judges under the province's Domestic Violence Intervention Act.

That law, however, does not extend to First Nations communities.

Under the changes announced Wednesday, emergency protection orders can now be issued under federal or First Nations laws.

One might suggest that referring to that chubby political dilettante known as Beyonce would either repel anyone with an excess of brain cells or draw those with a deficiency to one:

But back from these lofty heights, lest we faint, to our theme. Ashton, a proud leftist, was innocently underlining her “leftness” and burnishing those feminist credentials already alluded to, by citing Beyoncé. Beyoncé is herself a declared feminist (fleshpants and booty division) who lodged the ode Bootylicious into the common stock of human memory with lines only a Cheese poet could envy: “I don’t think you ready for this jelly.”

Ashton’s tribute, however, captured the hair-trigger ire of a monitor from the BLM Vancouver diocese, who instantly let fire one of those bolts from Twitter’s angry cloud that are so frequent these days, flailing Ashton for “appropriating Black culture,” requesting an immediate “Delete” and scorching her for a callous affront to the ineffable ideals of “intersectional feminism.”

Also in "the West has dumbed down" news:

Common Core is usually considered a national K-12 education initiative, but it is more than that. Federal and state regulations loop all the key parts of American education into Common Core, so it affects all levels of our education.

Unfortunately, Common Core undermines students’ intellectual growth (as I argue in my book The Education Invasion) and leaves many graduates unprepared for true college-level work, as opposed to career training.

**

The New York State Board of Regents, which supervises public education, has decided it will no longer be necessary for would-be teachers to pass an Academic Literacy Skills Test. The reason? The test was producing racially disparate results: Only 41 percent of black candidates and 46 percent of Hispanic candidates had passed the exam on their first attempt, compared to 64 percent of white candidates.

**

The ads likely wouldn’t have been approved under old government advertising rules, said auditor general Bonnie Lysyk, who has said changes the Liberals enacted in 2015 reduced her office to a rubber stamp.

“Under the previous legislation it would likely not have passed because it does convey a positive impression of the current government and it’s more like a pat-on-the-back type of advertisement,” she said.

And now, puppies versus couches - the struggle is real:

Saint Patrick's Week: Lá Fhéile Pádraig

 

Merry Saint Patrick's Day!


Also a feast day: Saint Gertrude of Nivelles.


Blue is actually the true colour of Saint Patrick's Day and many more facts that you may not have known.


Slainte.

Saint Patrick's Week: The Greenening

 

On this Saint Patrick's Day Eve... 



The Netherlands had a chance to staunch the tide of ignorance and destruction.

Had: 

While mainstream parties may be relieved that Wilders made only modest gains in Wednesday's vote, few of them have cause for celebration.

Wilders finished second, but he gained five seats in the 150-member Dutch parliament; Rutte lost eight seats to 33, while his pro-Europe junior coalition partner Labour suffered the worst defeat in its history, falling from 38 to 9 seats.

Experts said there were several reasons why more voters didn't flock to Wilders, but chief among them is that unlike with the Brexit vote or the U.S. election, which were essentially binary choices, Dutch voters had a wide array of ways to voice discontent.

Boukje Cuelenaere, head of survey Research at Centerdata, said voters' concerns were not confined to support or opposition to migrants or the EU. "In terms of topics, for the people we asked there were a lot of different issues involved," she said.

While voters who oppose immigration could chose from among Wilders' PVV, Rutte's VVD or the CDA, a new right wing party also won two seats.

Voters angry over inaction on climate change voted for Green Left, while the pro-European D-66 gained as the primary critic of Wilders' anti-Islam rhetoric.

The hard-left Socialist Party, the Party for the Animals, and Denk, a party for the country's ethnic minorities were all also able to soak up protest votes.

"One votes for the environment, another over immigration, a third over animal rights or the elderly – we have parties for each. Soon there will be one party for each seat in parliament,” joked De Hond.

 


A letter bomb injures a female IMF worker:

A female employee of the International Monetary Fund suffered injuries to her face and arms on Thursday when a letter bomb mailed from Greece and addressed to the world lender's European representative blew up as she opened it, officials said.

The talks will be bilateral if the US walks out:

Canada is committed to keeping the North American Free Trade Agreement as a trilateral accord, Canada's trade minister said on Thursday, in a sign of support for Mexico as it prepares for tough negotiations with the new U.S. administration. 

None of what he says surprises me:

A judge has quashed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit by Ontario’s former ombudsman against the legislature and his former office.

Andre Marin was not reappointed in 2015 after serving two five-year terms and alleged in a lawsuit that he was fired without cause and without notice — he said a two-year notice period would have been “reasonable.”

He alleged that Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals “orchestrated” his removal from public office because he was so critical of them.

The legislature asked the Ontario Superior Court to dismiss the suit against it due to lack of jurisdiction, and the ombudsman’s office asked the court to strike Marin’s statement of claim because there was “no reasonable cause of action.”

He should not only resign but leave the country:

Embattled Sen. Don Meredith begged forgiveness for his “moral failing” over his sexual relationship with a teenager but said Thursday he was not ready to resign.

Canadians do not understand where money comes from or how it works. The government gets money from taxpayers. These taxpayers are sometimes parishioners at churches. Churches get money from these parishioners because there are no money orchards at the Vatican.

How the hell will churches pay bills? 

Ontario’s soaring electricity prices are emptying the charitable coffers of churches in the southwestern part of the province that are being tapped by parishioners unable to pay their power bills.

 



No, bacon-eating, whiskey-swilling indentured servants were nothing like stabby inbred thugs who make their women wear shrouds and smash artefacts but thanks for playing:

While there are limits to the comparisons that can be drawn between the religious clashes during Confederation and today’s race and religious animosities, such comparisons cannot be neglected. It might even be said that the Irish Catholics in Canada of the 1860s were the Muslims of their time.

And now, a walk through wisteria:

(source)

Saint Patrick's Week: Mid-Week Post

Lousy Snowmageddon...




I've said this before:

It’s time for a tax revolt in Canada – and not just the phony tax revolt promised (and long since forgotten) by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2015 federal election campaign.

The problem with taxes in Canada is not that they are too high on the middle class and not high enough on the “rich.”

That was Trudeau’s phony tax revolt. The rich, he charged, were skipping out on their obligations to society by avoiding the level of taxes imposed on those of us who can’t afford tricky lawyers and accountants to exploit loopholes.

Trudeau promised his revolt would make those lazy, greedy fat cats pay their “fair share,” so he could give tax relief to hard-working, overburdened middle-income Canadians. It was dishonest. It ignored the reality of Canada’s progressive tax system.

The top 1% of income earners in Canada (there are about 260,000) earn a minimum of $190,000 a year and an average of $361,000. Together, they earn about 11% of all the income in the country. And their income comes mostly from practicing their professions, running businesses (their own or corporations) or working in the senior public service. It is not mostly from inheritance or investment dividends.

And, importantly, the One Percenters pay more than 23% of all federal and provincial income tax.

The top 10% – those who earn over $80,000 – earn 35% of all income, and pay 55% of income taxes.

By comparison, the bottom 50% of Canadian income earners (those earning under $35,000) earn nearly a third of all income, yet pay just 4% of all income tax.

So if the rich are already paying their fair share, how come we middle-classers aren’t getting ahead?

Trudeau couldn't define what or who was middle-class prior to the election. After the election, he continued trotting it out as a tired, oft-repeated campaign promise as a distraction from the fact that he was running the country into the ground (like rehashing the dead Mike Duffy affair instead of answering for his pandering to Aga Khan). It is the middle and working-classes who will end up bearing the brunt of the insane carbon taxes, inflation and the ever-growing debt Trudeau is amassing.

If those classes were smart, they would let Trudeau know with whom he is messing.





But ... but ... the Narrative!

It has come to my attention that despite my best efforts to divert you from my disastrous economic record by playing the “Islamophobia” card, too many of you still aren’t getting the message.

Why, just the other day I read the results of a Forum Research poll that said 44% of you believe that we should not allow asylum seekers who enter Canada illegally to seek asylum in Canada.

That compares to only 36% of you who believe we should allow asylum seekers who enter Canada illegally to seek asylum in Canada, and 20% of you who are undecided.

**

Hyper-sensitive to criticism that the Trudeau government is doing nothing to secure Canada’s borders, Goodale told CTV’s Question Period Sunday: “I guess what the Conservatives are saying is maybe we should line up the RCMP at the border, they should all link arms and shoo people away, or maybe [use] fire hoses or whatever, to keep people from crossing at the border.”

Fire hoses?

First, no one is saying that. Second, the concerns aren’t confined to Conservatives.

Jean-Pierre Fortin, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, told Postmedia Network’s Anthony Furey last week on National Post Radio: “Right now the world is watching us. People are saying, ‘We didn’t know it was that easy to come across the border’ ... I can tell you that my members are calling me on a daily basis and it’s a crisis. The government and senior management are saying this is business as usual – it is not.”

But Goodale’s response is standard operating procedure for the Liberals when they are criticized on just about anything, which is to demonize their critics as Islamophobic, bigoted, racist, heartless, etc.

The reason thousands of asylum seekers are entering Canada illegally at unmanned border crossings in Quebec and Manitoba is due to a quirk in Canadian law.

If they show up at manned border crossings, they’re turned back under our Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S.

But if they cross at unmanned sites, they can launch their refugee claim in Canada and remain here while it slowly goes through the system.

This is protected by the 1985 Supreme Court of Canada Singh decision, which said if an asylum seeker gets a foot inside Canada, the Charter applies to his or her refugee claim.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t help the situation when, virtue signalling during the controversy over U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration bans, he tweeted Canadians will welcome refugees, regardless of their religious faith.

Except most of these people aren’t refugees.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Friday during meetings with Trudeau’s government in Ottawa, that most were in the U.S. legally and, “many ... have only been in the United States a few days, before they made the trek north ...”

Fortin said of the Quebec crossings: “People are leaving from different countries and flying into New York City and they’re taking a bus”.

The bus lets them off near the Canada-U.S. boundary, at which point they take a cab up to the unmanned border and walk across.

So they’re not exactly the wretched of the Earth.

Instead of addressing this problem and others, Goodale, Trudeau and the Liberals attack the people pointing them out.

They condemn opposition to their “Islamophobia” motion (M-103) as bigotry, despite the fact a recent Forum Poll found 71% of Canadians surveyed disagree with its wording, compared to 14% who support it.

Ditto Tory leadership contender Kellie Leitch’s call for screening potential immigrants, refugees and visitors for anti-Canadian values, which a Forum poll last year showed two-thirds of Canadians support.

What’s next? Will Trudeau, Goodale and Co. start calling Canadians who disagree with them “a basket of deplorables?”

Short answer: yes.

When facts are not on one's side and no one is guilted into anything, it's time to pull out the big baby guns.





The demands of the workplace and the nature of learning will necessitate how people are educated and trained. To demand that students sit for seven hours in front of a unionised teacher who may or many not have an agenda (if not drive and ability to teach) is unrealistic and unfair to students for whom school is either a baby-minding centre or a puppy-mill:

In several other provinces, if parents send their child to an independent school, the provincial government helps defray the costs by contributing about 50% of the operating cost of educating a student in the government-run school system.

This puts independent alternatives within the financial reach of more families.

This lowering of financial barriers is likely one reason that one in eight students in British Columbia attends an independent school compared to one in 20 in Ontario, where independent school parents receive no support and must pay full cost for their child’s schooling — as well as the full tax bill they pay to support government-run schools.

It’s impossible to say definitively whether social justice education is good or bad.

It likely depends on specific teacher approaches and the needs of specific children.

But for families who do not feel well served by this approach in the classroom, or the government-run system generally, Ontario could do much more to make other options financially viable.

It's time to stop letting the corrupt, incompetent government take one's money and hand it out as an allowance. Parents should control their money and educate their children as they see fit.





In case one still thinks that China is just a frustrated parent to its North Korean enfant terrible:

Someone, presumably the U.S. Navy, recovered the pieces of a Kwangmyongsong missile North Korea launched in February 2016 and found that it contained “ball bearings and engraved Cyrillic characters … identical to those from the 2012 Unha-3, and a “camera [and] EMI filter” from a “Chinese manufacturer, Beijing East Exhibition High-Tech Technology Co. Ltd.” (Paras. 57-58.) That “someone” also discovered the Pyongyang had imported pressure transmitters from the U.K. and Ireland, via the manufacturer’s distributor in China, via middlemen in China. (Para. 59.) This suggests several layers of violations — China’s failure to expel North Korean representatives of sanctioned entities, to enforce export controls, or to inspect cargo going to North Korea.

(Kamsahamnida)

The now-ousted President Guen-Hye Park has made yet another dog's breakfast.

No, really:

It was hard to imagine that ousted President Park Geun-hye could get any more unpopular in South Korea — until she moved out of the presidential palace and left her nine dogs behind.

Just days after being removed from office by the constitutional court over a massive corruption scandal, an animal rights group accused Park of animal abandonment for not bringing the dogs with her.

Park’s neighbours had given her a pair of Jindo dogs, a Korean breed of hunting dogs, when she left for the presidential Blue House in 2013. The dogs recently gave birth to seven puppies, which are now considered too young to be separated from their mother, Kim Dong-jo, a Blue House spokesman, said Wednesday.

Kim said the dogs would continue to stay at the presidential palace until they’re ready to be sent to new owners. Park told staff members to take good care of the dogs before vacating the Blue House on Sunday, he said.

Kim Ae Ra, who heads the Korea Alliance for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the group filed a complaint Monday with South Korea’s Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission over Park’s dogs. The commission then asked the National Police Agency to look into the matter. Officials from the police agency couldn’t immediately confirm how the case would be treated.

It appears unlikely that Park not taking the dogs with her would qualify as abandonment under South Korea’s animal protection law, which defines lost or abandoned animals as those “wandering without an owner in public places” or “left deserted in paper boxes or other containers.”
 

Oh, let it go.  If your government turns leftist, Kim Jong-Un will turn those pups into fur coats.





No one has yet offered an alternative to Trump's ban other than to leave the doors wide open:

A federal judge in Hawaii has frozen President Trump’s new executive order temporarily barring the issuance of new visas to citizens of six-Muslim majority countries and suspending the admission of new refugees.

U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson froze the order nationwide.

Whatever federal monies going to states with these "sanctuary" cities or sympathetic judges should cease.




And now, quokkas because quokkas: