What Is Something They Said and Did?

I would say so.

I would say their penchant to sponge off of the taxpayers and live an entirely crafted Barbie existence for cheap adulation has won desperately thin.

And don't plead for the higher road. These plastic creatures had ZERO problem exploiting their own children -

(Sidebar: what kind of @$$hole makes his son's birthday all about him, anyway? Justin does. That's who.)

- and certainly spared no thought for the peasants whose entire lives were upended first by the lockdowns, then by repression and now severe taxation and economic downturn.

Let every ugliness pour out and stain the filthy, rancid Trudeau dynasty until we finally expunge it from Canadian consciousness.

These people deserve no less:

I remember well how #JustinTrudeaudivorce smeared #convoy truckers with terrible lies and the harm that did to their children. But now we are being scolded to lay off of him?

Can we at least freeze his bank account?

To quote my mother: "he should have thought of that before."

— Trish Wood (@WoodReporting) August 3, 2023

** 

But if he stays on as prime minister and he travels with his wife on government airplanes or on taxpayer trips, every question asked of him about what caused this separation is valid. They live in housing paid for by the taxpayers. They have represented Canadians around the world. They are even going on vacation together.

If Canadians are paying for any or all of that, it is their business. It was like that when Trudeau’s father Pierre and mother Margaret separated and it’s like that now.

**

The way the media has circled the wagon's demanding we respect rights abusing Trudeau's privacy leads me to smell a rat. Are they covering up unpleasant facts as they did for Jack Layton when he was a found-in at a whore house? https://t.co/SnmFSLJDz4

— Fancypants Maloney (@fancypants_s) August 3, 2023

**

It was a well-known “secret” that despite the staged and totally insincere videos of he and Sophie kissing, despite his totally grotesque social-media posts, Trudeau’s marriage was a sham.

Equally well-known rumors, above and beyond his philandering, was the “going both ways”.… pic.twitter.com/cbrbimy4YZ

— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) August 2, 2023

(Insert own "but the alphabet community/the Muslims/I could or I could not see this coming" comment here.)

Choose which voters block to alienate, Justin. The rural crowd isn't go to cut it anymore.

What he meant to say was that nothing but nothing will remove him from his dad's former office (at least until his foreign financiers say so, anyway):

Justin Trudeau’s surprise announcement that he and his wife were separating, just a week after a broad cabinet reshuffle, underscores the Canadian prime minister’s focus and intent to lead the Liberal Party into a fourth election victory, despite sagging opinion polls, pollsters and insiders said.

It's always about him.

Do it, Sophie. Write a book! Spill your guts! From hell's heart, stab at Justin. Do it!:

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is exempt from Conflict Of Interest Act disclosures under a separation agreement. Mrs. Trudeau last year registered a new federal corporation to sell communications services: “Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is more than someone’s wife.”

Mid-Week Post

Your middle-of-the-week downpour ...

 

Oh, this has been obvious for a long time:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday he is separating from his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau.

 

Even she can't stand and she had her rea$on$ for marrying him. 

They were the Barbie couple attempting to recreate the veneer of respectability over the sordidness that Justin's parents had.

They still live large while others struggle to fuel their cars and pay for food.

Everything they (especially Justin) do is surface.

It's insulting:

How do you do, fellow citizens?

I am just like you. pic.twitter.com/W49FFaxbc7

— PETRIFIED COVID PARENT (@covid_parent) August 2, 2023

 

The Canadian economy is the Liberals' to destroy:

A proposed tunnel between Newfoundland and Labrador under consideration by the provincial and federal governments is now expected to cost $4.8 billion, double what was last estimated.

It will also take two years longer to build, cost more to operate and draw fewer paying customers.

**

The government can’t declare victory on inflation — as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has been — and call it a day. Base effects are distorting the true pain felt by Canadians, especially the working class and low-income earners. Practically every economist predicts the housing crisis will get worse unless drastic changes are made. Wealth continues to concentrate in unproductive areas rather than contribute to economic growth and shared prosperity.

Canada’s overly concentrated industries and oligopolies also negatively impact wages and working conditions, while giving companies little incentive to innovate. Workers can’t easily transition to jobs in other companies if they’re unhappy, or seek wage or career growth elsewhere.

At the same time, burdensome bureaucracy and high taxes make entrepreneurship unnecessarily difficult and expensive. We must reprioritize competition, job mobility and encouraging small business growth.

The federal government should also consider the impact its turbocharged temporary foreign worker program has on low-income workers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself said in 2014 that the program should be scaled back. Instead, once in office, he increased temporary foreign work permits by a whopping 92 per cent between 2015 and 2017 alone.

The numbers have only continued to surge since then, and been roundly criticized by economists for prioritizing cheap labour while sacrificing good wages, labour rights, worker mobility and investments in innovation. The program, at this scale, is effectively a corporate subsidy with far-reaching negative impacts.

When wages are systemically stagnated, career opportunities limited and gradual improvements in work conditions absent, we inevitably end up with big moments where worker frustration boils over. Frustration, resentment and anger become widespread, replacing pride in one’s job and optimism for growth. This isn’t the basis of a healthy, functioning economy.

The Liberals’ abandonment of the working class and low-wage workers through bad policies on files ranging from competition to immigration, housing and rampant corporate oversubsidization led us to this new era of labour strife. While individual companies must show up at the negotiating table, it’s the federal government that needs to act to bring back normal labour relations to across the country and to prevent further economic damage. 

 

 It's like collecting pennies at this point:

As many as half of all federal office buildings are unnecessary and could be sold at a taxpayers’ saving says the Department of Public Works, largest landowner in Canada. The selloff would take about 25 years, it said: “We are not going back to the way things used to be.”

 

Well, the public sector could always work at home. 

There are plenty of examples of Soviet-style food management in Canada but Jag Singh can't seem to find them:

There is no proof retailers profited from inflation, the Bank of Canada said yesterday. New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh disputed the finding, pointing to contrary data from another federal agency: “We know this is a fact.”

 

When will you repeal the bills, Pierre?:

Fallout from federal internet regulation is like an Orwell novel, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre yesterday told reporters. Facebook began suspending links to Canadian news stories in protest over Parliament’s passage of Bill C-18: “I think it is like 1984.”

 

It was never about a virus:

An Alberta court ruling is a step to remedying the “significant injustice” of pandemic mandates, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms said yesterday. Lawyers successfully argued then-Premier Jason Kenney overstepped his legal authority in imposing restrictions: “Significant injustice has taken place in the past three years under these Draconian public health measures.”

**

Canada’s vaccine advisors are recommending a COVID-19 booster dose of yet another reformulated vaccine this fall. It may prove a tough sell.

Where did these Indian women go?:

Over 1.3 million women in India went missing between 2019 and 2021, according to newly-released data from India’s Union Home Ministry.

The data, compiled by India's National Crime Records Bureau, found that over 1 million adult women and over 250,000 girls under the age of 18 went missing in the three-year span. The highest number of disappearances was in Madhya Pradesh state, where nearly 198,000 women and girls were reported missing in the three years, with West Bengal closely behind with nearly 193,000 cases, NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) data showed. 

The disappearance of women is a nationwide issue in India, as even the capital city of New Dehli saw over 60,000 women and 20,000 young girls go missing in the same time period. Nearly half a million went missing in 2021 alone.

Italy and South Korea see new era of co-operation: 

The top diplomats of South Korea and Italy held consultations to reaffirm their shared commitment for cooperation in the multilateral stage and discuss cooperation in other areas of mutual concern, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

In the meeting held in Rome the previous day, Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Italian counterpart, Antonio Tajani, agreed on the need to closely cooperate within the multilateral frameworks, including in the United Nations and the Group of 20 meetings.

Park said South Korea will continue to cooperate with the Group of Seven countries to tackle pending global issues as Italy is set to host the G7 summit next year.

Park and Tajani agreed to further deepen their bilateral ties as the two countries mark their 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year, the ministry said.

Um, Belt and Road project?

This is a thing:

Chinese President Xi Jinping has reshuffled the leadership of the country’s missile forces in an apparent attempt to install trustworthy officials and disrupt corruption in the force, which would play a key role in any attempt to seize Taiwan.

The move earlier this week saw the Chinese leader effectively purge two of the most senior officials in the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Rocket Force, which oversees the country’s land-based missile and nuclear arsenals. Wang Houbin, the navy’s former deputy commander, takes over as the Rocket Force’s new commander, while Xu Xisheng, who previously served in the air force’s Southern Theater Command, becomes its new political commissar, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday.

The appointment of a new commander for the unit ended weeks of speculation over the fate of Li Yuchao, the ousted commander of the missile force. Li, his deputy, Liu Guangbin, as well as his former No. 2, Zhang Zhenzhong, have been taken away for investigation by the Central Military Commission’s anti-graft body, the South China Morning Post reported last week, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

The CMC, the country’s highest national defense organization, is headed by Xi.

Li, 60, is the third commander of the Rocket Force since it was formally established in late 2015 under Xi’s overall military reforms, and was elected to the ruling Communist Party’s 205-member Central Committee in October.

“The replacement of the commander role in the Rocket Force comes as an indirect confirmation of the investigation launched against Li Yuchao,” said Li Nan, a visiting senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute.

However, the whereabouts of two other senior officials — Liu and Zhang — remain unclear due to the lack of transparency within the Chinese military, he added. Beijing has not yet made any public announcements of such investigations against the officials and China’s Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment by the time of the publication.

 

 

And the Rest of It

Uh-oh:

A powerful typhoon sweeping toward southern Japan on Tuesday triggered the cancellation of hundreds of flights, with officials urging hundreds of thousands of people to seek shelter.

Typhoon Khanun was packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 180 kilometers per hour (112 miles per hour) as it crossed the Pacific Ocean toward Okinawa Prefecture.

The Meteorological Agency said the storm, which it described as "very strong," was about 170 km southeast of the regional capital of Naha at 2:45 p.m.

The center of the typhoon was expected to brush past Okinawa late Tuesday or early Wednesday before crossing to eastern China later in the week.

 

 

Was it the time you invaded Georgia?:

A cruise ship with Russian passengers docked in Batumi, Georgia, was met with jeers from locals who were protesting the Ukraine war and the disputed territories occupied by Russia.

The cruise ship Astoria Grande was met with a large protesting crowd when it docked in the Georgian port of Batumi on Thursday and Monday, according to various media reports, including the local outlet Georgia Today.

On July 27, the ship was forced to leave Batumi earlier than intended after the protests broke out, Radio Free Europe and Meduza reported. The ship's original departure schedule is unclear.

 

 

India's Christians are being defiled by their own countrymen:

Carnage in Manipur showcases the tragedy unfolding around India’s anti-Christian ‘conversion laws’.

Two Christian women from the Kuki tribe, allegedly raped by Hindu extremists, are an example of how reluctant Western and Indian authorities are to call it persecution.

Both women, one middle-aged and the other in her 20s, were marched naked down a street towards a field before authorities claim they were gang-raped by ‘dozens’ of men in early May.

The mob also allegedly murdered the father and brother of the youngest victim, after the men attempted to intervene in the sexual assault.

Sky News, referring to the Hindu mob as ‘the majority community’, explained three more women were made to strip at gunpoint.

Alongside this, men hunting Kuki women allegedly murdered two Kuki girls, both in their 20s.

After seeking refuge under a ‘bed at their car wash shop’, co-workers said they heard the girls ‘screaming and pleading with seven men who’d locked themselves in the room’.

‘The girls were later found dead, their blood and hair splattered all over the room’ as reported by Indian news organisation, the Print.

The May 3 attackers apparently justified their actions as ‘revenge’.

Reacting to a viral photo of Aayushi Chaudhary, a Delhi nursing student murdered by her parents in 2022, Hindu violence spread after social media users falsely claimed the photo was of a murdered Meitei woman, killed by Kuki men.

The Print said police failed to stop the outbreak of violence, even after busting the ‘fake news’ photo within 48 hours of it going viral.

 

 

If one must discuss the wartime bombings of Japan and the current trend towards shameless and tasteless advertising, at least do it in the context of Japan being an Axis power and rather similar to ISIS at the time:

There has been criticism that Oppenheimer features no scenes of the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb blasts on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (where 220,000 died) and has no Japanese actors in the cast. 

 (Sidebar:I'm going to suggest that this is due to the film being about Oppenheimer.)

The timing of the film’s release is also unpropitious: August 6 and 9 are the anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks, with August 15 and September 2 the dates respectively of the announcement and signing of Japan’s surrender. The Oppenheimer trailer does rather portray the atomic bomb project as a thrilling and heroic endeavor, so any release in Japan around these dates would jar horribly with the official sombet mood of reflection and remorse. ...

 In any case, anyone who assumes the feelings and views of the Japanese is usually wrong. There is evidence that the Japanese have a surprisingly accepting view of the atomic bombings and the relationship with America. A 2015 poll by public broadcaster NHK found that 40 percent of the population agreed with the proposition that the US had no choice but to use the bomb; surprisingly, the figure in Hiroshima, 44 percent, is higher than the rest of the country and higher than those who called it “unforgivable.” In a recent survey, 90 percent praised the US-Japan alliance for helping preserve the country’s peace and safety.

Some Japanese have welcomed the film and the chance it might bring to kickstart a serious debate about Japan’s attitude to nuclear weapons. As Gearoid Ready writes in the Washington Post, Japan publicly opposes nuclear technology but relies on it, under the US umbrella, for its own defense. With a conflict between the US and China, perhaps flaring over the issue of Taiwan, an ever more pressing concern here, some sort of grown-up discussion seems overdue.

 

So there's that.

 

 

Interesting:

Two thousand years after cooks ground spices there for a curry paste, the scent of nutmeg still lingers at an archaeological complex in southern Vietnam.

Researchers found cooking tools buried two metres beneath the surface in Oc Eo, including a footed sandstone grinding slab similar to those used to make curry pastes today. On these tools, they identified microscopic plant remains. Evidence of Southeast Asia’s earliest known curry — the oldest found outside of India — according to a study published in the journal Science Advances.

 

 

People Are Awful

But don't take my word for it:

A Niagara man who sexually assaulted his children for years, including a daughter with special needs who he offered to other men for sex in exchange for alcohol, has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars.

The disturbing case shocked residents of Port Colborne in 2018 after Niagara Regional Police announced the arrests of multiple people after a community services worker reported concerns relating to historical sexual and physical abuse of siblings.

The investigation revealed a man had repeatedly sexually assaulted his children, and offered one child for sex in exchange for alcohol.

Judge Robert Reid said in Superior Court of Justice in Welland on Monday the lengthy sentence reflects society’s “abhorrence” of the crimes.

“The damage caused to (the offender’s) children is, unfortunately, incalculable,” he said. “They were robbed of normal childhoods.”

One victim died in 2019, the judge said, and “those who have survived have struggled to learn how to engage in positive interpersonal relationships and their potential for success in that regard is not clear.”

The offender, now 60, was found guilty of 33 charges following a six-month jury trial. The charges included incest, sexual assault, failing to provide the necessaries of life, and bestiality.

 

 

If I were this man's widow, I would tell these ghouls where to go:

Canadian health officials asked an Ontario woman to donate organs of her husband who died after being denied an organ transplant because he did not receive the COVID-19 shots.

He drank the Kool-Aid and his oppressors are STILL after him:

Principal Richard Bilkszto, 60, took his own life July 13 after a period of depression which a lawsuit claims resulted from a race training course he took in 2021.

According to a lawsuit launched by Bilkszto, he had a verbal disagreement with the course’s instructor while offering pushback to the instructor’s claim that Canada is more racist than the United States.  

As Brian Lilley reported last week, transcripts of the training sessions — highlighted in Bilkszto’s lawsuit against the TDSB over his treatment at these seminars — allege Kojo Institute’s founder and CEO Kiki Ojo-Thompson offered up Bilkszto as an example of white supremacy, which his lawsuit argued “implicitly referred to Bilkszto as a racist and a white supremacist.”  ...

Meawnhile, Ojo-Thompson said “the allegations made against me and KOJO Institute within Mr. Bilkszto’s lawsuit against the Toronto District School Board are false, and we are not a party to the lawsuit,” and “while the coverage by right-wing media of this controversy is disappointing and led to our organization and team members receiving threats and vitriol online, we will not be deterred from our work in building a better society for everyone.”  

 

Don't let anything dawn on you, you cow.

 

This horrible b!#ch CHOSE to drink. She is not the victim here:

A Quebec trucking company has been ordered to reinstate a driver who was fired after she drank at least nine beers before she lost control of her truck on a Pennsylvania highway.

The driver’s actions amounted to serious misconduct, but her drinking was the result of a disability — alcoholism — and trucking company Groupe Robert should have made a reasonable accommodation for her, labour arbitrator Huguette April said in her written July 18 decision.

Your Awful Government and You

It never fails to disappoint:

There are simply not enough affordable places for people to live across Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday during an housing announcement in Hamilton, where he promised the federal government would work to scale up supply.

 

Now, about that: 

As of March, 2023, according to the feds, taxpayers have committed $33.69 billion to Trudeau’s national housing strategy, which will top out at over $82 billion in March, 2028.

Trudeau says this has helped almost two million families and individuals get the housing they need.

If he’s going to claim successes in federal housing policy, he has to account for its shortcomings as well.

 

Especially if he is going to flood the country with unvetted and unemployed migrants who are currently sleeping on the streets. 

 

A list of governmental responsibilities here.

**

It doesn't matter if one likes or dislikes Facebook. It matters who the gatekeeper is: 

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is following through with its threat to end the availability of news on its platforms beginning Tuesday, preventing Canadians from sharing news articles on its social media sites.

The change is the company’s response to C-18, the Online News Act, the new federal government law that would force tech giants Meta and Google to negotiate deals with Canadian news publishers to pay for their content.

**

This happened because she gave up Disney+:

Chrystia Freeland’s chauffeur billed for 28 days’ worth of meals and other expenses in driving the finance minister, mainly in Toronto, according to records. Freeland yesterday denied using a chauffeured car but did not explain charges by her driver: “I am disappointed to see you peddling blatant misinformation.”

**

Let's just tax people and see how that goes:

In her March 2023 federal budget, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said she was raising taxes on higher-income Canadians to ensure they “pay their fair share,” but a new study shows the top 20 per cent of income-earning households already pay more in total income taxes than the other 80 per cent do.

“In recent years there have been growing calls to increase taxes on high-income earners based on the belief that they don’t pay enough taxes,” said the Fraser Institute’s Jake Fuss, who co-authored the report Measuring Progressivity in Canada’s Tax System, released Tuesday, along with economist Nathaniel Li.

“There’s typically little discussion about how much tax each income group pays,” Fuss said.

Boosting tax rates on the basis that upper-income earners are not paying a fair share is a policy based on false reasoning, the report concludes.

“The top 20 per cent of income earning families in Canada pay over half of the country’s taxes,” Fuss said.

“That’s obviously a disproportionately large share of the tax burden.”

**

But without French, how will 75.5% of country communicate?:

Cabinet will not meet its targets to increase use of French in Canada despite billions in promotions, says a federal report. “Worrisome demographic trends” see bilingualism rates decline over time, it said: “Immigration is not sufficient to increase the demographic weight of francophones outside Québec.”

**

But ... they're special!:

Indigenous Canadians have no automatic treaty right to disturb fish habitat, says an Ontario judge. The ruling centred on a long-disputed clause of the Fisheries Act: “To find the existence of a treaty right is to bestow upon a particular activity the highest form of recognition and protection available in Canadian law.”

**

Virtue-signalling and surface concern pretty much defines Canada's international role:

Canada provided more than $520-million in development assistance to Niger in the period from 2000 to 2020, followed by an additional $59.3-million in 2021-2022 alone, according to Global Affairs.

The Canadian Armed Forces have been training Niger’s military for the past decade, under a Canadian program called Operation Naberius. As many as 50 Canadian soldiers have been deployed to Niger every year to train the national army in counterterrorism operations. This has included “leadership training” on human rights and the laws of armed conflict, according to a Department of National Defence website.

Canadian military trainers have also focused on helping Niger’s military officers in the annual U.S.-sponsored training exercise known as Flintlock. This year, when The Globe and Mail visited the Flintlock exercise, the Canadians were working closely with some of those officers. One senior Canadian officer said the training included Canadian military values, such as respect for democracy – a value that was seemingly ignored when the coup was launched last week.

Defence Department spokesperson Daniel Le Bouthillier said the Niger training program’s future is unknown. There has been no decision made yet on whether Canada will go ahead with the next planned training session, in the fall of this year.

The continued viability of Operation Naberius “is dependent on the developing security situation and, as with all operational deployments, Government of Canada direction,” Mr. Le Bouthillier added.
While there is no current training program in Niger, a small number of Canadian soldiers – fewer than 10 – are now in the country, planning for future training, Mr. Le Bouthillier said. He said about 210 Canadian Armed Forces members have deployed on Operation Naberius since its inception.

He also said the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command has not provided training to Gen. Tchiani or Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, the head of Niger’s special forces, who is also believed to be a leader of the coup.

Canada’s dilemma in Niger is similar to its earlier quandary in Mali, where the federal government provided $1.6-billion in development aid from 2000 to 2020. It also sent about 250 troops to Mali from 2018 to 2019 to support Canadian helicopters in a United Nations peacekeeping mission, and it has continued to deploy dozens of other Canadian troops and police officers in the UN mission. Despite this support, Mali’s military has launched two coups since 2020, and the UN is now withdrawing its peacekeeping force after Mali’s military junta demanded its departure.

Adam Sandor, a researcher at the University of Bayreuth, in Germany, said it is difficult to determine if any of the military members trying to take power in Niger received training from the Canadian Forces. But he said it is “most likely the case,” since so many soldiers have undergone Western military training across the Sahel.

**

Danielle, cut the grandmother-trampling b@$#@rds off:

The Alberta government is no longer formally pursuing its plan to dump the RCMP in favour of a new provincial police force.

However, Justice Minister Mickey Amery says the idea is not dead and his department will continue to consult with Albertans on where they want to go with policing.

Last fall, Premier Danielle Smith directed then-justice minister Tyler Shandro and Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis to move forward on creating an Alberta force to replace the Mounties in communities that don’t already have their own officers.

But in a new mandate letter delivered today to Avery, along with one to Ellis on Monday, no mention is made of creating a provincial force.

Instead, Smith directs Ellis to work with communities to deliver policing options they believe are best.

Was It Something He Said and Did?

I would say yes:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heaped some of the blame for skyrocketing housing costs on high interest rates and inaction by other levels of government, signaling a more defensive tone on an issue where his main political rival has hit him hard.

**

Less than a week after naming his new cabinet vowing a renewed focus on the concerns of Canadians, the one name Prime Minister Justin Trudeau couldn’t keep out of his mouth on Monday was Pierre Poilievre.

At an event announcing multimillion-dollar joint federal-municipal investment towards building more homes in Hamilton, Ont., Trudeau brought the Conservative leader up multiple times, from panning his housing, health and homelessness policy proposals, to distilling his leadership style down to "cuts and be angry," while vowing the Liberals intend to take a different tack.

"His answer to everything is cuts and be angry, that's not Canada. That's not how we build a stronger future... Canadians roll up their sleeves and get to work, and build and invest in themselves and their communities. That's what we do, we partner with people. We don't pick fights with mayors," said the prime minister ...

 

Now, about that:

“It is unacceptable in a country like Canada that vulnerable refugees be having to sleep in the streets, or vulnerable asylum-claimants have to be sleeping in the streets. But the solution on that requires all of us to step up together.”

He said the “large part of responsibility” on the subject falls to municipalities and provinces.

**

Most Canadians disapprove of Justin Trudeau’s performance as prime minister and feel he is a divisive leader, with almost as many hoping he resigns before the next election, according to a new public opinion survey probing the legacy of Canada’s leader.

**

Trudeau is in fact a bully. Remember him elbowing his way through some MPs when he didn’t get his way? I think he got away with it partly because it seemed so out of character people had trouble processing it. But I’m not sure Trudeau really gets away with his ethical lapses and ruthless responses to criticism, including somehow tossing Jody Wilson-Raybould under the bus.

**

That was when Trudeau launched a strident, angry, ugly fusillade against “anti-vaxxers” in a French-language TV interview that has now caught the attention of English media. In it, he painted “these people,” the anti-vaxxers, as “often” being women-haters, racists and science-deniers, as well.

Wow! A nasty crew those anti-vaxxers. Out of mercy, I presume, the righteous Justin Trudeau didn’t throw in the rest of the story: that most anti-vaxxers have big, unsightly lumps on the back of their heads, use kittens as door stops and (gasp) don’t recycle. Should we “tolerate them?” he asked, rhetorically.

** 

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau lost his temper and called Environment Minister Peter Kent a "piece of sh**" during question period in the House of Commons Wednesday while Kent responded to questions about the Kyoto Accord.  

**

About a dozen churches have been set on fire, some simply damaged, others burned right to the ground. Even more Christian churches — mostly Catholic but not exclusively — have been vandalized over the past several weeks.

Our prime minister says this is “understandable.”

** 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Muslim parents who object to their children being taught about gender identity issues in schools are being fed “misinformation and disinformation” by “the American right-wing” and the “far right.”

**

Town hall audience member Michael asks PMJT an earnest question about the war in Ukraine.

In response, Trudeau accuses him of proliferating "Russian propaganda and disinformation." pic.twitter.com/SGdug2hgzP

— The Amazing Zoltan (@AmazingZoltan) August 1, 2023

**

The Prime Minister's Office says Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, stayed in a $6,000 per night hotel suite while attending the funeral for Queen Elizabeth.

** 

Another 21,000 federal workers hired since last year has brought the total added to the federal public service since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was first elected to 98,268, according to information published online by the Treasury Board of Canada.

The federal public service, now at 357,247 employees, is nearly 40 per cent larger than it was in 2015, when the Liberals took power, when it counted 257,034 employees. 

 

But I digress ... 

More:

"That's where the anger that he is drumming up is dangerous for Canadians, who would much rather work hard and build a strong future than throw up their hands and say, 'Oh, it's all terrible, it's all broken, let's all stay home.' No. That's not who Canadians are," Trudeau continued.

"So I won't be stirring up anger, I will be pointing out where his proposals are irresponsible and unserious. But, I will stay focused on solving the challenges Canadians are facing, rather than exploiting them for political gain, like Pierre Poilievre does."

This lengthy retort was in response to a question about Trudeau's repeated referencing of Poilievre, and whether the prime minister was threatened by his leadership or what he's tapped into. Trudeau said no, his focus is on Canadians who are having a hard time making ends meet.

Though, during the event Trudeau slammed the Conservatives for pulling themselves "entirely out of the housing business for 10 years" as contributing to the current supply crunch; criticized their position on tent encampments; and chalked their opposition to dental care up to hypocrisy and being "completely disconnected." ...

Poilievre, at his own campaign-style stops this summer, has offered his fair share of anti-Trudeau rhetoric, while proposing his own contrasts to how a government led by him would be better for the country.

"After eight years of Justin Trudeau, things are going very badly for the people of Sudbury and all across Northern Ontario. The stories that I have heard in places like Kenora, Timmins and Thunder Bay have both shocked and broken my heart… Something new is happening in Canada: tent cities, tent cities in almost every town, village, and metropolitan centre. Something that was almost unheard of eight years ago before Justin Trudeau, but what do you expect people to do? They can't pay 100 per cent increase in rent," he said at a Sudbury, Ont. "Axe Trudeau's Tax" rally over the weekend.

Justin has said nothing different than what he ALWAYS says to the public: everyone else is to blame, everyone is stupid but him, let's help those who are struggling without ever pointing out that the government is the reason why people cannot fuel their cars, or why they are sleeping on the streets, offer no solutions, and certainly no tax breaks or accountability. 

And he wonders why people hate him:

#BREAKING: Justin Trudeau booed as he's spotted in Hamilton saving the environment from #GlobalBoiling in a 50 car motorcade.

Due to the recent polling numbers, do you think there's a snap election coming --- or will The Liberals look to replace Trudeau?#JustinBooDeau pic.twitter.com/ocqPm935uW

— govt.exe is corrupt (@govt_corrupt) July 31, 2023

On This Day ...

We remember one of the original X-men (the Jesuit ones, not the super-powered ones):

During the period of his life when he should have been settling into a steady career, earning money and honor, and preparing for comfortable retirement, Ignatius was reassessing his entire worldview. Not only did he do an about-face when he converted from soldier of Spain to soldier of Christ, but he then confronted many tribulations of sickness, persecution, doubt and failure. Ignatius gave his life totally to Christ, but this did not mean his vocation was clear.

 

Also: 

St. Martha Wang (1812-61) was a 19th-century Chinese martyr killed by local authorities because of their hatred for the Catholic Faith. Her feast day is July 29.

She was born in Zunji, China. She married and moved to Qingyian, where she and her husband grew vegetables. The couple, unable to conceive children, adopted two nephews. Martha’s husband died, and by the time her nephews had grown up, they had spent her money and left home, so she opened a small inn. She busied herself with mundane tasks, including cleaning and cooking, and was especially known for her steamed buns. It was while operating this inn that she met a Catholic catechist and became interested in the Catholic faith.

She converted to Catholicism in 1852. She gave herself entirely to the service of God and moved to Guiyang, where she could attend Mass daily. While there, she served as a cook in a Catholic hostel for young women. Bishop Hu established a seminary in Yaojiaguan, and she went on to work as a cook and cleaning lady for the seminarians and the seminary staff.

In 1861, the local political authority was hostile to Christianity and ordered the arrest and execution of three seminarians. She visited the three and brought them food, did their laundry, and smuggled communications between them and their bishop.

On July 29, 1861, she walked with the seminarians to their place of execution. She was unafraid of death threats made by the soldiers leading the seminarians, and was arrested herself and beheaded.

She was beatified by Pope St. Pius X in 1909, and canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2000.

 

We Don't Have to Trade With China

And yet ... :

Guido Crosetto, Italy's defense minister, just slammed his country's decision to join China's Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, describing it as "improvised and atrocious."

The country's now mulling a diplomatic exit by the end of 2023.

** 

I wouldn't trust him, Miss Meloni:

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has briefed U.S. President Joe Biden on her plan to curb Italy’s reliance on China and to establish balanced ties with the Asian country, as she mulls a strategy to disentangle from a controversial investment pact.

"If you think that the U.S. demands or imposes the policy on this, you are wrong. The conversation is broad and involves all G7 countries and it is about de-risking from supply chain dependence on China, which is a priority,” the prime minister told reporters after a meeting at the Oval Office with Biden on Thursday. "The U.S. knows we are trustworthy.”

Meloni added that a decision on the Belt and Road initiative pact will be taken by the end of the year. "It is crucial to keep a constructive dialog open with Beijing,” she said.

In an interview published Sunday, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto called the decision to join the Belt and Road initiative "improvised and atrocious" as it did little to boost exports.

"The issue today is: how to walk back (from the initiative) without damaging relations (with Beijing). Because it is true that China is a competitor, but it is also a partner," the defense minister added.

** 

Why isn't this a huge deal?:

Local and federal authorities spent months investigating a warehouse in Fresno County, California, that they suspect was home to an illegal, unlicensed laboratory full of lab mice, medical waste and hazardous materials.

“Certain rooms of the warehouse were found to contain several vessels of liquid and various apparatus,” court documents said. “Fresno County Public Health staff also observed blood, tissue and other bodily fluid samples and serums; and thousands of vials of unlabeled fluids and suspected biological material.”

Hundreds of mice at the warehouse were kept in inhumane conditions, court documents said. The city took possession of the animals in April, euthanizing 773 of them; more than 175 were found dead.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested the substances and detected at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including coronavirus, HIV, hepatitis and herpes, according to a Health and Human Services letter dated June 6.

An investigation found the tenant was Prestige BioTech, a company registered in Nevada and unlicensed for business in California. City officials spoke with Xiuquin Yao, who was identified as the company president, through emails included in the court documents.

Yao told officials that Prestige BioTech moved assets belonging to a defunct company, Universal Meditech Inc., to the Reedley warehouse from Fresno after UMI went under. Prestige Biotech was a creditor to UMI and identified as its successor, according to court documents.

Officials were unable to get any California-based address for either company except for the previous Fresno location from which UMI had been evicted.

“The other addresses provided for identified authorized agents were either empty offices or addresses in China that could not be verified,” court documents said.

 **

Was it something they said and did?:

A new survey of people in 24 countries has found that 67% hold unfavorable views of China, suggesting negative opinions of Beijing continue to stand at or near historic highs.

In the survey released late last week by the Pew Research Center, only about 28% of respondents had a favorable opinion of China despite Beijing’s diplomatic initiatives over the past year, including brokering a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The survey of more than 27,000 adults in North America, South America, Western Europe, the Asia-Pacific and Africa from February to May found that negative views of China have remained high over recent years in almost every high-income country surveyed. Middle-income countries have taken a generally positive view of China, with the exception of India.

 

But Paul Bernardo Could Have Been Rewarded With a Transfer

Make no mistake - the Canadian legal system rewards the worst sorts of offenders.

(Insert own political reason here):

 

Pastor Artur Pawlowski's troubles with the Canadian authorities began long before his sermon to commercial truckers encouraging their peaceful defiance against what he thought were "oppressive" public health mandates for COVID-19.

In 2005, he began serving and ministering to downtown Calgary—Alberta's poor and downtrodden. "In other words, feeding the homeless and praying for them, which is now illegal," he described to The Epoch Times in a telephone interview while under house arrest in Calgary following his court conviction in May for inciting mischief and violating his release conditions.

The police eventually showed up at Mr. Pawlowski's church, telling him he couldn't feed the homeless by law. Neither was he allowed to assemble or preach in public.

Such actions are also illegal and punishable with tickets, fines, and even jail time.

If These Sell Like Non-Exploding Hotcakes, Why Offer Rebates?

I ask legitimately:

 The Department of Transport is reviewing the “need for adjustments” to $5,000 rebates for electric vehicle buyers, says a briefing note. A U.S. program pays nearly twice as much: ‘We will assess the need for adjustments to the program.’

 

 

Presented Without Comment

 A woman who said this about the economy she helped tank ... :

Once upon a time, Chrystia Freeland attempted to relate to Canadians' cost-of-living concerns with a personal anecdote -- and it didn't produce a fairy-tale ending.

"I personally, as a mother and wife, look carefully at my credit card bill once a month, and last Sunday I said to the kids, 'You're older now. You don't watch Disney anymore. Let's cut that Disney Plus subscription,"' Freeland told Global News in an interview that aired on Nov. 6.

 

... is reduced to this:

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland makes frequent use of a government-issue car and chauffeur in Toronto, according to expense accounts. Records contradicted Freeland’s claim Friday that she avoided car travel and attended meetings on foot or by public transit: “I walk, I take the subway.”

 

 

Common Sense Will Not Be Allowed In This Discussion

Nor the evidence of arson:

Activists engaged in systemic exaggeration and the deliberate avoidance of conflicting evidence undercut our ability to understand the issues and thereby prevent informed, responsible action.

Fires occur naturally from lightning and heat. Add inconsistent forest management practices and you end up with a giant tinderbox.

What is missing is a balanced and fair assessment of an obvious truth: a sizable number of forest fires are not related to climate change but, instead, are a result of human activity, such as campfires and ATVs, questionable forest management practices and even arson.

Eco-activists and environmental NGOs want us to believe that there is a climate crisis and that fossil fuels are the cause of virtually all of these fires. Yet recent news stories about the causes of various forest fires suggests that attributing them all to climate change is misleading to say the least.

The activists hope to produce radical and dramatic environmental action, like accelerated carbon taxes — a policy that simply doesn’t fulfill its purpose, especially in a large, northern country like Canada where cold weather and long distances will ensure we continue to be a heavy consumer of energy.

Climate change is happening, although less dramatically than the extreme eco-activists repeatedly say. The assertion, made so blithely and repeatedly, that every forest fire is directly attributable to climate change and that this summer’s fires are a sign of impending doom are simply irresponsible.

As shown in California and Australia, both of which have suffered from intense forest fires in recent years, issues of forest management, over-development of ecologically vulnerable areas and expanded human activity in forested areas play significant roles in the proliferation of fires.

We need to move towards a clear, honest dialogue in our discussion of the recent fires. As a starting point, we need a public conversation about the manipulation of public opinion by interested environmental organizations.

Forest fires are bad enough. Misinformation, deception, exaggeration and wilful ignorance make things much worse, heightens anxiety, prompts inappropriate policy responses and forces the country toward costly and aggressive climate change policies that have a detrimental effect on the economy.

I abhor the false and misleading information that the public has been force-fed. Government officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, have repeatedly used forest fires to justify increased carbon taxes and aggressive climate change interventions.

 

This Must Be Embarrassing

Is she taking her marching orders? 

When asked to sue, does she respond with: "How high?!":

Ah here it is, she been busy helping Senator Woo.https://t.co/namc4aI2JV

— Steve Rae 🇨🇦🛢️⛽ (@SteveRae11) July 30, 2023

 

Oh, there is so much more:

Ottawa resident Zexi Li says that she "may have" told the protesters to "go back to where the f*** you are from" and that she did not witness anything that could be considered "sabotage or espionage" during the protests in Ottawa. pic.twitter.com/cOFPzV5Elb

— True North (@TrueNorthCentre) October 14, 2022

**

 

And the Rest of It

Canada is finished but there is still a chance for the US:

And here’s the irony. In a nation in which state-practiced murder is becoming one of the most common causes of death, the state refused to grant Cardinal’s request.

I understand why. Giving Cardinal terminal relief from his suffering is to acknowledge that a procedure that the state so strongly supports is cruel and inhuman. It’s better that one person suffers horribly than to admit that its “gender-affirming” care is barbaric. (I am not advocating euthanasia. I am just pointing out the cruel logic here.)

All this gender madness will be remembered as one of the darkest times in Western history (assuming we survive to have a history written about us). And what’s happening in Canada is coming soon to America. In fact, depending on where you live, it’s already here.

 

 This US:

On Tuesday, the FBI handed over requested documents on its efforts to target Catholic Americans after another threat from Congress to hold director Christopher Wray in contempt.

As reported by the New York Post, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, had subpoenaed the files in question and threatened to hold Wray in contempt of Congress if the documents were not delivered by the deadline of July 25th.

The documents that are now in the possession of the Judiciary Committee also deal with the FBI’s plans to crack down on the grassroots protest movement led by conservative voters and parents to hold public school boards accountable for far-left propaganda being included in their curriculum, among other grievances. The movement started in 2021 and became a nationwide phenomenon that has seen numerous conservative victories, from the flipping of many school boards to a Republican wave in Virginia in 2021.

More recently, the FBI had outlined plans in a since-retracted memo for infiltrating Catholic churches, as the bureau had come to see “radical-traditionalist Catholics” and pro-life Catholics as possible domestic terrorist threats.

Acting Assistant Director of the FBI Christopher Dunham, in a letter attached to the documents, pleaded with Jordan to not release the files publicly.

“The production of this information to the Committee does not waive any applicable privileges or other protections,” said Dunham in his letter. “We respectfully request that the Committee not disseminate or otherwise disclose these documents without prior consultation with the FBI.”

 

 

What is this? Quebec?:

The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Tuesday announced that 249 out of 2,123 missing or "ghost" babies have been found to have died, be it from sickness or in some cases because their parents killed them. The announcement slipped through almost unnoticed because Koreans were focused on more than 40 deaths caused by the recent torrential rains and flooding.

The fatality rate of the babies, whose birth was recorded in hospitals but whose parents never registered them, stands at 11.7 percent, more than 50 times higher than Korea's normal infant mortality rate of 0.24 percent as of 2021. The fates of the remaining 817 missing babies, which are still under investigation, could push up the fatality rate even higher. But Korean society seems numb to their suffering. 

 

Perhaps this apparent indifference is due to the mentality of viewing babies as the possession of parents. Until the 1970s, babies were often registered one to two years after birth in Korea because 40 to 50 out of every 1,000 babies died from diseases such as typhoid.

 

These attitudes were reflected in laws and policies. The most glaring example is that the penalty for infanticide was much milder than for murder. The law was criticized for being antiquated, but was not revised once since it was enacted in 1953. Only now, amid the latest shocking discoveries, has it been scrapped.

 

The 249 deaths occurred between 2015 and 2022, or at a rate of 31 a year during that time, but the government was completely unaware. It claims that the oversight happened because hospitals are not required to inform the government of childbirths. But hospitals have always kept records due to payment receipts from parents, so the information was readily available for the government to check. 

 

The indifference of civil servants is as much to blame as Korean society's perception of infants as parents’ property whose rights can be disregarded.

 

A society's level of maturity can be gauged by how it treats its weakest members. Major countries require government workers to visit hospitals and verify childbirths and register them because they value infants as human beings just like adults. But Korean society continues to remain unfazed even after the shocking news of 249 unrecorded deaths. We need to change this mentality.

 

 

 And now, some good news - 

The little movie that could:

Angel Studios is launching its unexpected summer hit Sound of Freedom in a bunch of international markets after it made $127M during its first three weeks in U.S. theaters.

Written and directed by Alejandro Monteverde, the pic, which has been widely embraced by conservative and right-wing commentators, will be released in South Africa from August 18 and Australia and New Zealand from August 24. The film will hit cinemas in the following territories from August 31: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Belize, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. The film will receive subsequent releases in the UK and Ireland from September 1 and Spain from October 11.

 

 

You can make it, little guy:

 A first-time Pennsylvania mom who was told her baby “wouldn’t make it” because he was born so small, now says he is “thriving” at home following 181 days in hospital.

Zaylan was born when Krysten Risbon went into labor 16 weeks early.

He had a hole in his heart and needed constant oxygen, but he made it—and Krysten is now studying to become a NICU nurse, inspired by the care they received.

“When I first held him he could fit in my bra,” said the 22-year-old from Altoona. “Now only his foot fits in.”

“He’s a little fighter.”

 

Interesting:

An underwater photo shoot that took place 6.4 metres below the surface of Georgian Bay has been confirmed to be a Guinness World Record.

Hamilton-born photographer Steven Haining, Brantford model Ciara Antoski and a crew of divers staged the record-setting shoot at the rudder of the W.L. Wetmore Shipwreck at the Fathom Five National Marine Park in Tobermory, Ont.

The shoot saw Antoski brave temperatures of 14 degrees for as long as 30 minutes straight, before warming up and diving back into Tobermory’s famed turquoise waters. In total, the crew visited five ship wrecks over four days, in a shoot that took longer than three months to plan.

The final product is the world record for the deepest underwater model photo shoot.