Saturday Night Special

A man who ploughed through four people and stabbed a police officer has been found fit to stand trial:

The man accused of stabbing an Edmonton police officer and running down pedestrians last fall has been found fit to stand trial.

But a second assessment focusing on his mental state at the time of the attack has not yet been completed.

Abdulahi Sharif, 30, was linked by telephone in a conference call to Friday's proceedings in a provincial court in Edmonton.

He faces five counts of attempted murder and several other charges related to the attack that began Sept. 30  outside the Commonwealth Stadium during an Edmonton Eskimos game.

 

He is not mentally ill. He can use this as a defense at his trial:

"And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing... but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah] and worship is for Allah alone. But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimun(the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)" 

See? Just following orders.




Is Michelle Jean planning on retiring back to Haiti?

Former governor general Michaelle Jean was among those Canadians who sharply criticized U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday for reportedly using vulgar language to describe Haiti and countries in Africa.

Jean, who was born in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and is currently secretary general of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, called Trump's reported remarks "insulting."

"It was so disturbing this morning to hear President Trump's comments reported all over the news calling my poor native land and African countries 'shithole' nations," Jean said in a statement to The Canadian Press. "It is such an insult before humanity."

A Haitian child living in a "paradise".

Also: 

“The African Union Commission is frankly alarmed at statements by the president of the United States when referring to migrants of African countries and others in such contemptuous terms,” said Ebba Kalondo, the spokeswoman for the African Union. “Considering the historical reality of how many Africans arrived in the U.S. during the Atlantic slave trade, this flies in the face of all accepted behavior and practice.”

Yes, about that:

“The savage chiefs of the western coasts of Africa, who for ages have been accustomed to selling their captives into bondage and pocketing the ready cash for them, will not more readily accept our moral and economical ideas than the slave traders of Maryland and Virginia….We are, therefore, less inclined to go to Africa to work against the slave trade than to stay here to work against it.”
—Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, patriot and former resident of a sh--hole wherein he was cruelly treated.

**

Since then, I have painfully watched videos of my African brothers and sisters being treated like cattle, each with a price tag on his or her forehead. But these are the sons and daughters of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cotê d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Nigeria. They are human beings -- and they deserve to be treated with humanity.

Trudeau's Canada has as much clout and willingness to enforce sanctions against North Korea, even angering China to do so, as Meryl Streep has in testifying against Harvey Weinstein:

The Canadian government, led by leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, launched a campaign late last year to take the lead in diplomacy with North Korea. The result has been talks with Tillerson regarding what eventually came to be the Vancouver meeting. Trudeau has argued for expanding the pool of nations involved in efforts to denuclearize North Korea, and suggested the idea of inviting one of North Korea’s most loyal allies, the fellow rogue state of Cuba, to talks, as well.

Cuba is not invited to the Vancouver talks, but the list of nations that are have surprised many. 

The United Nations Command Sending States list includes Colombia, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Ethiopia, but not China or Russia. It is not clear whether every country on that list is invited to the talks.

The list has received criticism not just from opposing nations like China, but the Japanese foreign ministry. An unnamed ministry official told Bloomberg this week that “Japan had been given no details on who would attend, what would be discussed or how the event would be organized,” and noted that the nations on the list are not the ones “most affected” by the crisis.

(Sidebar: this Japan.)

Canada’s National Post suggests that China’s exclusion was the Trump administration’s doing. In December, Canadian officials told the Post that they “hope [China] will attend” and said “yes” when asked if China had been invited to the talks.

China’s Canadian embassy, quoting Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, told the newspaper, “China will not attend such a meeting” because it “reflects Cold War thinking.”

 
Some people can pretend to be serious leaders and others actually are, Justin.




Justin is no stranger to arrogance and douchebaggery:

In the interview on Les francs-tireurs, Trudeau said that “Canada isn’t doing well right now because it’s Albertans who control our community and socio-democratic agenda.”

He also said Canada would be better served if there were more Quebecers than Albertans in charge.

**

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages has received 14 complaints related to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's choice of English or French when answering questions at recent town hall meetings.

**

Tensions were high in the House of Commons Wednesday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed through a group of MPs, leading to a shouting match with NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and accusations that the prime minister elbowed an NDP MP in the chest.

**

"Stephen Harper took all questions every day during the Senate scandal," Mulcair said, to loud applause from the opposition benches.

"The prime minister wants to change the fundamental rules of Parliament in order to help himself. And why all of this? Well, because he says he values question period and accountability. That's why he wants to scrap it. If that's true, why doesn't he stand and ask Canadians to listen to answers to some of our questions for once instead of his usual platitudes or non-answers?"

When Government House Leader Bardish Chagger rose to answer, Trudeau quietly heckled Mulcair, who last year lost a party confidence vote but is remaining NDP leader until the fall.

"It's amazing the NDP rejected him," says a voice that sounds like Trudeau (about 47 seconds into the video above).

 
This is why this comes as no surprise:

Listen, I think I've demonstrated time and time again that defending rights and freedoms is at the core of who I am, and, quite frankly, is at the core of what Canada is. In this country, we defend each other's rights, even when they're unpopular, as we've seen a couple of times. At the same time, we need to know that there is a difference between freedom of expression and acting on those expressions and beliefs. A great example that I was wondering whether you'd bring up is the current kerfuffle around the Canada Summer Jobs program, and expecting that any organization that gets funding to bring young people through the Summer Jobs program – which hundreds of thousands of young people go through – will respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Now, that doesn't mean that religious groups and faith groups can't apply for that. On the contrary, so many of the great community organizations that we have working incredibly hard are faith-based across this country and it's an important and wonderful part of our society. It does, however, mean – and this is where we get to the crux of the matter – that an organization that has the explicit purpose of restricting women's rights by removing rights to abortion, the right for women to control their own bodies, is not in line with where we are as a government, and quite frankly where we are as a society.

Would this be the "post-national" Canada that has no core identity, Justin? That Canada?

Is this the Canada that is fine with slicing off little girls' private parts because you don't see that as "barbaric", Justin?


Anyway, back to proving that you are wrong:

Seven in ten (70%) believe that `even as party leader, Justin Trudeau has no right to exclude potential candidates from running for the Liberal Party based on whether or not they are pro-choice.' 

Conversely, just three in ten (30%) believe that `as party leader, Justin Trudeau has the right to decide if he only wants pro-choice candidates to run for the Liberals in the next election.'

**

Half of Canadians (50%) say feel that if someone commits a crime causing harm of death of a pregnant woman, the crime should carry a higher level of severity compared to a crime against a woman who is not pregnant, while 44% say the punishment should carry the same level of severity. Two percent say the punishment should be less severe, while four percent are unsure. …

Seven in ten Canadians either support (47%) or somewhat support (22%) creating a law that would make it a separate crime to cause harm or the death of an unborn child while attacking a pregnant woman. Nine percent of Canadians somewhat oppose creating such a law, while 12% oppose this. Ten percent are unsure.

**

 

And if the federal government is so certain of the soundness of their pro-choice position, why are they so worried about other perspectives being raised?  One of the more bizarre aspects of the new policy is that the federal government justifies it by claiming they don’t want young people to be exposed to “positions that are contrary to the values enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and associated case law.”

When the government claims it wants to protect us from “exposure” to certain policies, we should all be a little worried.

Well, it looks like no one really agrees with your half-baked ideas, Justin.

How embarrassing for you.

Go and cut another cheque to Omar Khadr. That should help.

Oh, wait ... :

Near the end, one young protester heckled the PM about the government’s $10.5 million payout to Guantanamo Bay poster boy Omar Khadr, but that was to be expected.

Oh, dear ...