For a Tuesday

 
First post of the new year!


 
France rang in the new year in style:

France saw a jump in arrests on New Year’s Eve as well as an increase in the number of cars torched by vandals, a ritual among revelers in the country’s high-rise suburbs.

The number of vehicles set alight on the night of Dec. 31 climbed from 935 a year ago to 1,031, while arrests rose from 456 to 510, the interior ministry said on Monday.

Violence also marred celebrations in the Paris suburb of Champigny-sur-Marne, where two police officers were attacked by a large group of people at a party.

 
Trump's vociferous support of new uprisings in Iran contrasts with his predecessor's support of the mad theocrats that run it:

President Obama said Tuesday that it would be counterproductive for the United States “to be seen as meddling” in the disputed Iranian presidential election, dismissing criticism from several leading Republicans that he has failed to speak out forcefully enough on behalf of the Iranian opposition.

**

A new report shows that in its efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Tehran, the administration went so far as to stop the DEA from cracking down on Hezbollah drug-running.

But, hey - Trump is the real problem here, right?

Also - it should be noted that Trudeau's brother worked for the Iranian propaganda wing:

“The government of Canada should support the people of Iran’s aspirations to join the free world and Canada will definitely benefit from being in good terms with the democratic forces that create the future of Iran,” Avideh Motmaen, a Toronto-area political and human rights activist, wrote to the Sun. 

“Innocent lives are at stake here. It is beyond party politics.”

Yet so far, Trudeau, who typically offers up a tweet or pair of socks for almost anything, hasn’t taken any position. There’s been little from the Liberals.

Oh, this must be embarrassing:

Joshua Boyle, rescued along with his family in October after five years in captivity in Afghanistan, is now in an Ottawa jail on charges of sexual assault, forcible confinement and administering a noxious drug.

This Joshua Boyle:

Canadians have the right to know whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is suddenly playing Crazy 8s with a euchre deck.

It’s a legitimate question.

After all, what prime minister in his right mind would meet in his parliamentary office with a man who was once married to Zaynab Khadr, the infamous, jihad-endorsing sister of Guantanamo Bay poster boy and terrorist, Omar Khadr, now a rich former al-Qaeda bombmaker thanks to $10-plus million in taxpayers’ money for Canada not riding to his rescue soon enough?

That, alone, is a good enough reason for any PM to steer clear. ...

Yet, there was Trudeau, sitting with the Canadian convert to Islam who was captured and held hostage by a Taliban-linked group while traipsing through Afghanistan with his pregnant wife.

Not only that, the prime minister was holding on his lap the youngest child of Joshua Boyle and his American-born wife, Caitlan Coleman, so they could post the picture on their Twitter feed.

The only thing missing was Trudeau in a Santa outfit.

In a CTV story, Boyle said he had “been in Parliament many times, in various ways,” and that he had met Trudeau previously.

Does this not raise red flags?

Boyle tweeted the previous meeting with Trudeau was in 2006 “over common interests, haha,” but gave no information on the “many times” and the “various ways” he had been on Parliament Hill, nor about what those “common interests” were.

People actually voted for this:

The Department of Finance in a confidential Access To Information memo says energy consumers in provinces without a legislated carbon tax will pay at least $600 million in higher fuel costs this year. Federal legislation mandating the tax nationwide is due this spring: “The impact on consumers and businesses will depend.”

One of the coldest winters on record will be a tremendous coffer-lining boon to these corrupt b@$#@rds.


Also:

New projections released by Ottawa on Friday suggest Canada is well short of meeting its Paris commitments, even as the government continues to roll out ambitious climate policies expected to substantially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the next 15 years.

Oh, but they meant well!
 

(Merci)



Anyone else would be in prison by now:

Huma Abedin forwarded sensitive State Department emails, including passwords to government systems, to her personal Yahoo email account before every single Yahoo account was hacked ...

Pakistan is furious that the Americans won't keep giving them aid despite their lies and support for terrorism:

Pakistan civilian and military chiefs on Tuesday rejected “incomprehensible” U.S. comments after President Donald Trump tweeted angrily about Pakistani “lies and deceit”, with Islamabad summoning the U.S. ambassador. 

David Hale was summoned by the Pakistani foreign office late on Monday to explain Trump’s tweet, media said. The ministry could not be reached for comment but the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad confirmed on Tuesday that a meeting had taken place. 

Trump said the United States had been rewarded with “nothing but lies and deceit” for “foolishly” giving Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid in the last 15 years. 

“They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” he tweeted on Monday. 

His words drew praise from Pakistan’s old foe, India, and neighboring Afghanistan, but long-time ally China defended Pakistan. 

(Sidebar: this is exactly why India should be the head of a new pan-Asian alliance against China.)  

Moon Jae-In needs the winter Olympics in Pyeongchang to work. If he thinks that the lunatic in Pyongyang will co-operate he is dreaming:

South Korea Tuesday proposed holding high-level talks with Pyongyang on Jan. 9, after the North’s leader Kim Jong Un called for a breakthrough in relations and said Pyongyang might attend the Winter Olympics.

Kim used his annual New Year’s address to underscore Pyongyang’s claim that it has developed a weapons deterrent and warn that he had a “nuclear button” on hand.

But his call for “urgent” talks to ensure the success of the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month — and improve overall inter-Korean relations — represented a tactical shift for a regime that has previously shunned dialogue offers from Seoul.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in quickly welcomed the move, and said he will coordinate with the international community as he pursues peace talks.

Suck-up.

Get used to propping up that decaying state then. See how that works out for the Olympics.


Also:

The Chinese government has also made no effort to investigate a savage assault by Chinese security guards on two Korean reporters in Beijing during Moon's visit, let alone apologized for the thuggery.

When he was in Beijing, Moon abjectly referred to China as a "high mountain peak" while describing Korea as a "small country." But kowtowing to bullies never wins their respect. China has no track record of conducting relations with other countries based on equality and reciprocity. It thinks it deserves obeisance from its regional neighbors and aspires to global dominance. 

Yet China is the only country in the world that uses something as pathetic as package tours as a weapon, and one of just a handful of banana republics that tell their people where they can and cannot go shopping. Korea's tourism industry must wean itself off its dependency on cheap Chinese package tours and thwart these silly attacks.

I'm sure some brain-trust has this under control:

Canadian involvement makes sense, Jimbo said, because “I think that North Korean ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) will certainly fly over Canada.” But with the multilateral meeting, “probably the Japanese government does not want to kind of dilute the processes by inviting too many countries.”

Especially not Canada.




Russia unleashes its newest weapon in its arsenal: