THROWBACK THURSDAY

Meet the "new" Government House Leader: Dominic Leblanc

"after making a huge stink about proroguing Parliament they don't even have the guts to show up!
Now that's leadership, eh?"
**Note** Also included on the list is the guy in the big chair now . Must of been off on a speaking engagement.

SELF-DECLARED VICTIMS OF RAMPANT GENDER-BASED INJUSTICE

The year feminism lost the plot: And became self-indulgent, intolerant and irrelevant - just when the world needs it most.  In universities and college campuses in Britain and the U.S., there are young women who genuinely believe they exist in a pre-feminist climate of institutionalised sexism.

FRANCE OPENS ARCHIVE OF VICHY REGIME

It has been more than 70 years since the end of the war, but emotions have been running high in France since the government announced it would open the archives of the so-called Vichy regime that collaborated with Nazi Germany. The files had been scheduled for release in five years at the earliest. But officials announced on Sunday that the archives would be open to the public beginning Monday.

CHANGES COMING TO ONTARIO

NP: In Ontario, 2016 will bring a host of changes to electricity rates, road safety rules and other areas of government oversight. The Post’s Ashley Csanady rounds up 11 key changes you need to know before you ring in the new year.

WHY CARBON CASH GRABS FAIL

Any political leader -- such as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley -- who imposes a carbon pricing scheme on Canadians that is not 100% revenue neutral, is not interested in reducing man-made global warming.
She, or he, is interested in a cash grab from the public, which isn’t surprising since both the Ontario and Alberta governments are deeply in the red.

MORE SHOCKS COMING IN ONTARIO HYDRO BILLS

Ontario residents can brace for another hike in electricity bills on Jan. 1.

The increase comes on the heels of a jump just two months ago, and hydro bills will rise again after the Liberals introduce a cap-and-trade plan in the spring.

Under the Liberal government, electricity prices in Ontario soared from a flat 4.7 cents a kilowatt hour in 2004, to the Nov. 1, 2015 rate of 17.5 cents a kwh at peak times, increases that total almost 375 per cent.

 

 

WHAT MUSLIMS REALLY BELIEVE

Implicit in each of these criticisms is the premise that newcomers from all faith traditions are more-or-less equally able, and equally willing, to assimilate into Western society, embrace Western values, and abide by Western laws; in other words, that it ultimately makes no difference what religion is practiced by those who immigrate to America. But quite frankly, no informed individual could possibly believe such a thing, particularly in light of the fact that in recent years researchers have accumulated a great deal of data regarding the attitudes, beliefs, and allegiances of Muslims around the world.

PENTAGON'S TOP 6 MILITARY MISSTEPS OF 2015

Sometimes, calling the five-sided Pentagon the “puzzle palace” makes perfect sense. Though the name purports to describe the maze of hallways that traverses the Department of Defense, on occasion the tag explains the state of military decision-making.
The Defense Department has its own year in review, which is all happy-face.
Here's my retrospective — six examples from the last twelve months that make one wonder if those providing for the common defense are using common sense.

RADICAL REFORMS NEEDED IN UKRAINE

When it comes to Ukrainian corruption, the numbers speak for themselves. Over $12 billion per year disappears from the Ukrainian budget, according to an adviser to Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau. And in its most recent review of global graft, anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked Ukraine 142 out of 174 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index — below countries such as Uganda, Nicaragua and Nigeria. Ordinary Ukrainians also endure paying petty bribes in all areas of life. From vehicle registration, to getting their children into kindergarten, to obtaining needed medicine, everything connected to government has a price.

PAIN ACROSS THE ENERGY SUPPLY CHAIN

Oil prices headed for a second year of steep losses in their last trading hours of 2015 as record OPEC supply created an unprecedented global glut that may take another year to clear.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded 10 cents lower at $36.50 a barrel at 1221 GMT (7:21 a.m. ET) on Thursday and Brent was 4 cents lower at $36.42 a barrel.
Brent prices are set for a third year of declines after ending 2013 slightly lower and falling sharply over the past two years.

SAUDI ARABIA FEELING OIL CRASH PAIN

Contrary to the belief at the beginning of the price war in late November, 2014, that Saudi Arabia could outlast all other producers because of its ability to produce oil at the lowest cost, the International Monetary Fund warned Riyadh in October it would run out of money within five years if it did not tighten its belt.  Too bad the world’s top oil exporter isn’t saving itself by doing the obvious: Stop dumping oil in a saturated market, admit that chasing market share at the expense of revenue isn’t working — and blame previous management.

OBAMA, THE HOLLOW MAN

NP:  Alas, we cannot afford to consider Obama a joke, even of the most cynical kind. As the world becomes ever more unstable, the gap between his substance-free rhetoric and the reality on the ground widens with every crisis. He provokes unease and embarrassment in former supporters and deepening gloom in those of us who never considered him the man of our historical hour.

CONFISCATION CAN COMMENCE

Beginning January 1, police in California may confiscate firearms from gun owners thought to be a danger to themselves or others without giving the owner any notice.

This is the result of the implementation of “gun violence restraining orders” (GVROs), which go into effect New Year’s Day.

 

 

A NEW BACK DOOR LONG GUN REGISTRY

One of the federal Liberals' campaign promises in the recent election was to reintroduce a long-gun registry.

Of course they didn't call it a registry. Rather, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed making gun sellers file records of every sale - purchaser's name and personal information, model of gun, serial number and so on.

That's a registry by another name, a registry via the backdoor. But it's still a registry.

 

 

 

 

 

THE PROBLEM WITH SETTING DEADLINES

Ezra Levant: Best of 2015: Climate change hysteria and failed predictions

JOB PROSPECTS WITH ISIS

Over the past few days, ISIS supporters have been circulating job openings in the Islamic State ranging from bomb maker to chef and fitness trainer.

MARITIME REPO MEN

National Post:  In Greece, Max Hardberger posed as an interested buyer, in Haiti as a port official, in Trinidad, a shipper. He has plied guards with booze and distracted them with prostitutes; spooked port police officers with witch doctors and duped night watchmen into leaving their posts. His goal: to get on board a vessel he is trying to retrieve and race toward the 12-mile line where the high seas begin and local jurisdiction ends.

Hardberger is among a handful of maritime “repo men” who handle the toughest of grab-and-dash jobs in foreign harbors, usually on behalf of banks, insurers or ship owners. A last-resort solution to a common predicament, he is called when a vessel has been stolen, its operators have defaulted on their mortgage or a ship has been fraudulently detained by local officials.

 

 

 

 

ONTARIO'S FISCAL TRAIN WRECK

The numbers tell the story. Ontario is the largest sub-national debtor in the entire world, just one alarming distinction. Its debt is more than twice that of California, a state with three times the population and one that has its own severe fiscal problems. Its debt is $294 billion, or over $21,000 per capita. Net debt to GDP is up 48 per cent in the past 10 years to almost 40 per cent, second only to Quebec. Last year’s interest obligations totalled $11.4 billion, about the same as the cost of community and social services. I doubt many Ontarians realize how much they are paying just in interest on the provincial debt. It averages $840 per person every year and rising. Not surprisingly, Standard and Poor’s downgraded Ontario’s bond credit from AA- to A+, citing a very high debt burden and very weak budgetary performance.

AIDING THOSE WHO VOW TO DESTROY YOU

House Resolution 569 condemns “violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States.” The Resolution has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

That’s right: “violence, bigotry and hateful rhetoric.” The implications of those five words will fly by most people who read them, and the mainstream media, of course, will do nothing to elucidate them. But what H. Res. 569 does is conflate violence -- attacks on innocent civilians, which have no justification under any circumstances – with “bigotry” and “hateful rhetoric,” which are identified on the basis of subjective judgments. This Resolution is using the specter of violence against Muslims to try to quash legitimate research into the motives and goals of those who have vowed to destroy us, which will have the effect of allowing the jihad to advance unimpeded and unopposed.

 

 

LATEST REPORT: ECONOMIC FREEDOM OF NORTH AMERICA

Economic Freedom of North America 2015 is the 11th edition of our annual report, in which we measure the extent to which policies of individual provinces and states are supportive of economic freedom—the ability of individuals to act in the economic sphere free of undue restrictions. For researchers, this report has become the most widely used of the North American indexes. That literature includes more than 130 articles; it has tended to find a positive relationship between economic freedom and a variety of measures such as economic growth, income levels, and entrepreneurial activity.

IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE...

CRA is of the view that the intention of the SSP is merely a tax scheme to artificially maximize charitable donation tax receipts for private school tuition fees by improperly characterizing tuition payments as grants."

EDMONTON IMAM PRAISES TRUDEAU

Shaban Sherif Mady dedicated his Friday sermon on December 18, 2015 to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he sees as the greatest ally of the Muslims. Trudeau was likened to “the Najashi”, the Christian King of Abyssinia in the 7th century AD, who is honoured in the Islamic history for the support and protection he provided to the Muslim emigrants who fled pagan Mecca and his persistent refusal to expel them while fending off the pressure and lure offered by Muhammad’s Meccan rival leadership. Later, according to the Islamic tradition, the Najashi King accepted Muhammad’s invitation to embrace Islam and became a Muslim.
 Read more of his sermon.

THE MYSTERY OF THE RUSSIAN "SPY"

In the video, a man in an orange jump suit kneels beside a lake in Syria and confesses in Russian to spying on Islamic State militants. Another Russian speaker, this one in camouflage fatigues, then uses a hunting knife to hack off the kneeling man's head.
When Islamic State posted this footage online on Dec. 2, it brought the distant Syria conflict home to ordinary Russians. Here, in high-definition video, appeared to be one young Russian killing another for reasons few people could understand.It also opened up another mystery.

 

THOSE COMPASSIONATE ISLAMIC STATE THEOLOGIANS

- Islamic State theologians have issued an extremely detailed ruling on when "owners" of women enslaved by the extremist group can have sex with them, in an apparent bid to curb what they called violations in the treatment of captured females.

BURYING ALBERTA

History will mark 2015 as the year the province's NDP government demolished the Alberta Advantage. Years of little public debt, relatively low taxes and business-friendly economic policies went down the drain.

THE STENCH OF CAIR

CAIR is just about the exact opposite of what anyone who wants to enlist sincere Muslim-Americans in a pushback against Islamist extremism and terrorism is looking for. The last thing we need right now is CAIR’s toxic mixture of terrorism-apologias, attempts to discredit counter-terrorist activity, mindless political correctness, and fishy international politics

OBAMA PLAYING THE RACE CARD

No other president has so consciously tried to divide the country by race since Woodrow Wilson. In order to achieve an electoral 93% black majority, and historic turnouts among minority voters, Obama unleashed a campaign of thinly disguised racial divisiveness. Mutatis mutandis, imagine had John McCain or Mitt Romney advised supporters to “get in their face” or to bring a gun to a knife fight, told white supporters to “punish our enemies,” waded into a powder-keg criminal trial to announce the white defendant looked the like the son he might have had, or had a trusted confidant—in Attorney General Eric Holder fashion—refer to whites as “my people” or slur the country as a “nation of cowards” for not talking about racial tensions.

CZECH PRESIDENT ON REFUGEES TO EUROPE

Czech President Milos Zeman has called the current wave of refugees to Europe "an organised invasion", adding young men from Syria and Iraq should instead "take up arms" against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) group. "I am profoundly convinced that we are facing an organised invasion and not a spontaneous movement of refugees," said Zeman in his Christmas message to the Czech Republic released on Saturday.

He went on to say that compassion was "possible" for refugees who are old or sick and for children, but not for young men who in his view should be back home fighting against jihadists.

 

 

NYT FINALLY FINDS PERFECT STORY

A once great newspaper's descent into special-interest, sex-obsessed self-parody is now complete. Even if the Gray Lady did have to travel all the way to ladyboy Indonesia to find the subject closest to its Leftist heart just before Christmas. The headline says it all:

     Transgender Muslims Find a Home for Prayer in Indonesia

No, really.

 

 

IDEAL GIFT FOR PATRIOTIC RUSSIAN OFFICIALS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Some of Vladimir Putin's saltiest one liners have been turned into a book by his supporters who have sent a batch to the Kremlin touting it as the ideal holiday gift for patriotic Russian officials.

The tome, entitled "The Words that are changing the World," is the latest expression of admiration from fans who cast the president as the savior of modern Russia and will join an array of Putin-themed merchandise from perfume to vodka.

 

WYNNE'S SELF-DELUSIONS

Asked about the Liberals’ scandals, she contends the government’s progress on building infrastructure, fighting climate change and setting up a pension plan simply outweigh everything that has gone wrong.

“If I felt that while I was dealing with all of those things that come at us that I wasn’t doing the other work … then I would say to you I’m failing, I’m not doing my job. But because the weight of the things that we are doing is greater than the challenges that come at us, there are always going to be critiques. So I’m satisfied,” she says.

 

 

'TIS THE SEASON FOR GIVING....

The Quebec government is considering a bill that could see members of the legislature get a substantial increase in their base salary and make them the country's best-paid provincial politicians.

Under the plan, the base salary would climb to $140,000 from $90,000, although the hike would kick in at the earliest in 2018 and only if the bill passes unanimously in the national assembly.

 

 

AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT..

Animals have a knack for making news. Their stories can be cute or disturbing, but always interesting. Here are this year's Canadian animal newsmakers.

THROWING BAMBI TO THE WOLVES IN BC

After several controversial years of killing their excess deer, a quartet of interior B.C. communities are set to debut a new system of merely deporting their unwanted ungulates.

To be rolled out later this winter, the $100,000 program would live-trap 80 deer from the Kootenay-region towns of Kimberley, Invermere, Cranbrook and Elkford, and then truck them to far-flung wilderness areas.

 

 

ONTARIO MAKING THE NEWS IN LATIN AMERICA

NORFOLK COUNTY — Tobacco county has gotten a dirty reputation in Latin America as the provider of contraband tobacco.

“Just last month I was interviewed by a journalist with La Reforma. They came up from Mexico City to my little constituency office,” Haldimand-Norfolk MPP and agricultural critic Toby Barrett told the Ontario Legislature on Nov. 27.  “A film crew came up from Mexico. This spring, I was interviewed by a camera crew from Guatemala, and another crew came from Costa Rica doing a documentary on illegal tobacco.

“Why would they come up here? All the contraband tobacco that has arrived on their shores is grown in Ontario, manufactured in Ontario and shipped down in containers. Ontario’s tobacco industry — the illegal side of it — has become completely out of control.

 

 

WYNNE'S PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING

But federal and provincial finance ministers have since met and most of them decided that with the Canadian economy taking a battering due to the collapse in oil prices, now’s not the time to impose higher payroll taxes on workers and employers to enhance the CPP.

Which means Ontario is back to square one — imposing a 1.9% payroll tax on millions of workers (and their employers) who don’t have what Wynne considers adequate pension plans, in order to create her ORPP.    Terrific. Back in the real world, the idea of Wynne’s incompetent, spendthrift, debt-ridden government lecturing Ontarians about not saving enough for retirement — and that she has a plan to fix everything — is absurd.

 

 

ONTARIO DOCTORS FIGHT BACK AGAINST WYNNE

Alam is also one of the creators of the Concerned Ontario Doctors Facebook page and www.carenotcuts.ca website, launched in the fall to counteract the spin from the Kathleen Wynne government and Health Minister Eric Hoskins that doctors are greedy and need to be better controlled.  The FB page now has 11,000 members.  Doctors are upset with the unilateral cuts to their fees of 7% — fees which include their overhead, the cost of their staff and supplies, despite Hoskins’ attempts to portray that decrease as strictly impacting on their take-home pay.

 

 

 

UK BORDER UNDER SEIGE

Around 300 potential terrorists, criminals and illegal immigrants try to enter Britain each day, with 99,500 alerts issued by the National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC) last year.

Lord Carlile of Berriew, a terror analyst, said the increased number of alerts was due to an ever greater threat from jihadists: “Given what has happened in the past year and the fragility of the European border system, the authorities would be acting irresponsibly if there were not more alerts.

“The border agencies are doing the best they can in a situation in which the threat level is severe and they do act on an intelligence-led basis. That means they sometimes get it wrong, but I would rather they get it wrong on a small percentage of cases than there was a bomb in Oxford Street.”

 

 

GOVERNMENT CREATED CLIMATE CHANGE DISASTER

Dr. Tim Ball: 

At the Paris Climate Conference of the Parties (COP21) we witnessed the biggest display of failed leadership in history from 195 countries. They established incorrect and misdirected policy based on failed and falsified science. It is a classic circular argument on a global scale. They invented the false problem of anthropogenic global warming/climate change and now they want to resolve the problem, but with a more disastrous solution.

Most countries were puppets that aspired to lead the deception but lacked the power so they contributed by serving as lackeys. Either way, all were purchased with promises of money. The majority receives money from successful countries, but all of them have an excuse for another tax. As George Bernard Shaw said,

“A government with the policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul.”

 

 

THE VALUE OF PETROLEUM FUELS

The cost of gasoline can be seen on the sign at any gas station, but what is its value?  Using gasoline or diesel saves us time and manual labor. It also saves air, water and waste pollution. Let us not forget that the automobile was lauded as a great environmental improvement after the “Great Horse Manure Crisis” of 1894. Nothing like having horse manure up to your knees to help you appreciate gasoline!

TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENT OF CLIMATE REFUGEES

I’ve written before about the crazy claims of “climate refugees”, there’s a list of posts in the notes below. When I set out to write about bogus climate claims, I find myself in what I call a “target-rich environment”. Crazy ideas on the subject are not hard to find. One of the better sources is National Geographic magazine, which can be depended on to mess up just about any climate story.

Their latest is is about Lennox Island in Canada, and is headlined: 

             This Canadian Island Is Losing Ground But Not Losing Hope                                              A tiny island off the Atlantic coast is shrinking as the climate warms and the seas rise. But its indigenous people aren’t waiting for global help: They’re taking action now.

 

 

YOUR VALUES ARE NOT THEIR VALUES

Amel Shimoun Nona is the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul. When the Islamic State captured northern Iraq, it drove 30,000 Christians from the Nineveh plain where they had lived since not long after the time of Christ. In August 2014, Nona predicted that the same thing would happen to Christians in the West: “Our sufferings today,” he said, “are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future.” And now, as the few remaining Christians in the Middle East prepare to celebrate Christmas and hope that Muslims won’t murder them for doing so, that future is now.

FOR THE CANADIAN PEOPLE TO DECIDE

Rex Murphy  It must be charming to look in the mirror, or an iPhone on a stick, and see Canada staring back, but at best it’s an optical delusion; at worst a self-indulgent hubris. Canada is not the Liberal party, and electing a Liberal government with 39 per cent of the vote should not be identified, and certainly not by the Liberals themselves, as a rescue of the Canadian soul. The Liberal party is, just like the Conservative party and the New Democratic Party, a partisan vehicle. It is not Canada.

So the idea of unilaterally making a decision to change our voting system without a full debate and a referendum is just simply wrong. It is not a government’s choice to make. It is the people’s choice.

 

 

BUDDY, CAN YOU SPARE $300 BILLION?

The Christmas season is a time to celebrate with family and loved ones, and to help the less fortunate and those in need.

But before you open your wallet and donate to the United Way or the local food bank, Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne is asking that you consider giving your money to the Ontario Liberal government as well.

For a mere $21,000 for every man, woman and child in the province, Ontario could be debt free.

 

 

 

 

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS BRING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

An E. coli epidemic in Seattle and Kansas City and 19 other states? TB in New York and Manassas, Virginia? Leprosy in New Hampshire? Dengue Fever in Laredo? What’s going on here?

If you think data about illegal alien crime is hidden from public, just try to find information on the contagious diseases brought across our borders by illegal aliens from nearly 100 countries. If we survey the anecdotal and sporadic official data of the past fifteen years, there is no doubt we are being invaded daily by dangerous diseases.

 

 

POLITICALLY CORRECT DUMMIES IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS

While it is sad enough to see Christian practices outlawed or forced underground in Muslim countries, it is a travesty to see American schools voluntarily doing it. But most disturbing is that educators and political correctness advocates fail to grasp the hypocrisy of eradicating Christian values in our schools while promoting those of Islam.

COMPILING EVIDENCE ABOUT DISNEYLAND MAHMOOD

However, it was reported yesterday how a Facebook account, set up at the London address of the family, in the name of Hamza Hussain, has listed job titles such as “supervisor at Taliban and leader at al-Qaeda”.

Furthermore, on Wednesday it was revealed that Mr. Mahmood’s brother, also traveling, had been denied entry into Israel and detained eight years ago on a “lads” trip to Middle East with a “group of older gentlemen.”

American security agencies have also confirmed the brothers “hit positive for terror checks”.

 

 

JEWISH-CATHOLIC INTERACTION

“In Pope John Paul II you saw someone who really cared about the relationship to the Jewish people… we knew this man was a completely different breed,” Cooper said. “John Paul II was the grand slam; he hit the home run.” Catholics and Jews, the rabbi said, should continue to build on the “basic ideals that underpin our faith.”

This is an interesting article that explores the background of Pope John Paul II and his influence on today's Catholic Church.  Grab a coffee.

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIENDS

Some  music:

Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord - Boney M


Boney M Feliz Navidad


Send us a link of your favourite Christmas tunes in a comment.

THE FIRST NOEL

As we celebrate the birth of our sunny ways leader.

WIND TURBINES PITTING FARMER AGAINST FARMER

The Ontario government is expected this month to announce new wind turbine projects that could add 100 large wind turbines to the rural landscape where there are already more than 2,000 operating wind turbines.
Eleven Western Ontario municipalities could be home to the new projects even though eight of those municipalities voted against them. The province has said, however, that it will give priority to municipalities that want the turbines.

OIL CRASH'S HEAVY TOLL ON ALBERTA

Crime is rising, home prices are falling and food banks are overwhelmed in Calgary as job losses spread. And the worst isn’t yet over in the heart of Canada’s oil patch.
Some of the city’s largest employers are poised to cut more jobs in 2016 as they reduce spending for a second straight year, adding to an estimated 40,000 oil and natural gas positions lost across the nation since the crude price rout began 18 months ago.

GRIM CHRISTMAS LORE THROUGH THE AGES

The dark side of Christmas lore: A serial killer turned slave, a child-eating cat and a troll named Gryla.

REPORT FROM THE POLAR BEAR REGIONS

More scientific evidence that polar bears are doing just fine – a 30 42% increase in population with some of them “as fat as pigs.”

TERRORIST TRAVEL TO AMERICA'S LAND BORDER

The travelers were not Mexicans at all, of course. They were Afghan nationals posing as Mexicans, who most likely were being smuggled to the United States border through Mexico. What was especially curious about the case, though, was that the Mexican passports they had presented in Kuwait were authentic, bar-coded identity documents.
The ensuing international investigation soon found that the Afghanis had obtained these real passports from a source so obscure that almost anyone would have missed its broader significance: the passports came from Mexico’s consulate office in Mumbai. The travelers had paid $10,000 for each passport to a corrupt Mexican consulate official in the huge city.

A PASSIONATE AND ARTICULATE SPOKESMAN FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

For decades, Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr. put his life and his energies into protecting and serving the people of Milwaukee County. Though always a man of strong opinions, it was when the White House cheered a war on police and pushed through pro-crime policies, freeing drug dealers while locking up police officers that he emerged as a national figure of unquestionable moral authority.

WILL DEMOCRATS EVER CONFRONT THE TRUTH?

Fifteen questions you won't hear in a Democratic debate.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Meet the "new" Treasury Board President: Scott Brisson
A poster boy for being a Red Tory.

WHY DID THE WASHINGTON CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

Because he didn't want to see the new missles.

ONTARIO IN DANGER OF SHEDDING "HAVE-NOT" STATUS

When Ontario had its equalization payments cut two years ago, the finance minister of Canada’s largest province, Charles Sousa, called it “an attack.”
Ontario will get $60 million less in 2016-17 than it did this year, “But that’s okay,” said Sousa Monday. “We want to support all provinces to be at their best.”
More worrisome still for Sousa is the prospect that Ontario will become a “have” province in the 2017-18 fiscal year and no longer qualify for equalization payments, which will deliver $2.3 billion to the province this year.

LIBERALS AGAINST FIRST NATIONS FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY ACT

The federal Liberal government showed more solidarity with Canada’s First Nations on Friday as it lifted sanctions against indigenous communities that have not complied with a Conservative spending-transparency law.
The decision was quickly condemned by the Opposition Tories and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), which warned that the move would leave First Nations people in the dark about how their elected leaders spend public money.

MANITOBA ON THE CUTTING EDGE

Wonderful news, Manitobans...your previously puny judicial bench has been corrected and "strengthened"...  The provincial health insurance plan is reflecting the changing times as well.

SHARIA POLICE PATROL GERMAN STREETS

As Germany kills itself, sharia police have filled the void.  Muslim theocrats, walking through the city of Wuppertal at night, wearing jackets saying "Sharia police," bully people into following sharia law.  No drinking, no music, no breaking Mohammed’s laws, just like they do in Iran and Saudi Arabia.  And it's all approved by the courts.

CHINA'S NEW ANTI-TERRORISM LAW

Technology companies have nothing to fear from China's new anti-terrorism law which aims to prevent and probe terror activities and does not affect their copyright, China's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, rebuffing U.S. criticism as unwarranted. 
The funniest line of the article: Hong said China paid great attention to the relationship between fighting terrorism and protecting human rights and would ensure people's legal rights are protected.

LAC MEGANTIC VICTIMS' FUNDS BEGIN PAYMENTS

   A C$460 million ($330.46 million) settlement fund for victims of the 2013 Lac-Megantic crude-by-rail disaster will begin disbursements this week without the participation of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, the monitor involved in the payments said on Tuesday.
  Forty-seven people were killed and the downtown core of the town was destroyed following the derailment of a Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd train carrying Bakken crude oil in July 2013.

 

OBAMA BOOTLICKER HAGEL SQUEALS

A glimpse inside the Obama inner circle's culture of deceit and delusion.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SAYING "MERRY CHRISTMAS"

That's why "Merry Christmas" so bothers the anti-religious left. It is perhaps the single most blatant reminder of just how religious America is -- and it must therefore be removed from public discourse. Here's a safe prediction: The ACLU and other secular activists on the left will eventually move to have Christmas removed as a national holiday.

THE USELESS UN

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution, on December 18^th, which purports to set out a framework and timetable for ending the nearly five year war in Syria and establishing an “inclusive and Syrian-led political process.”    The elephant in the room - the fate of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad – was sidestepped, completely. 

LISTEN UP YOU SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS

In an op-ed at the Washington Post, Muslims Asra Q. Nomani and Hala Arafa are denouncing the left’s attempts to show “solidarity” with Muslims by inviting schoolgirls and women to don the hijab. Instead, they say Americans are getting “duped” by the Muslim sexist agenda and would rather see Americans stand against the ideology of Islamism that represses women and demands Muslim women cover themselves.

ONE MILLION ON THE MOVE

More than one million migrants have crossed into Europe this year, the International Organisation for Migration has confirmed.

UN LIVING IN NEVERLAND

The UN believes they can sense climate danger decades in advance, a power that requires forgetting that every prior prediction they made turned out to be wrong. They imagine that today’s global climate models (GCM), simulations that utterly failed to forecast the current 18-year “pause” in global warming, provide lawmakers with the “unequivocal” knowledge they need to enact trillion-dollar policies to limit planetary temperature rise to two degrees Celsius.
To back up such extraordinary claims, they tell us that there is an “overwhelming consensus” of scientists who agree with their position. This statement requires that they imagine thousands of well-qualified skeptic scientists out of existence, or imagining that they constitute a tiny minority that isn’t worth their time.

ENLIGHTENED MUSLIM MONARCHY

The Sultan of Brunei has declared that anyone found illegally celebrating Christmas could face a five year jail sentence, according to reports.

The conservative Muslim country on the island of Borneo stated the punishment would apply to anyone found sending festive greetings – or wearing Santa hats.

 

GOT YOUR AMMO READY?

It's not to late for last minute Christmas shoppers to pick up some bear spray for those they love.

DUFFY'S SHARE OF VICTIMHOOD

Things are always convoluted with Duffy and perhaps with many who toil on Parliament Hill, where plots abound and paranoia is in the air.
All that is incontrovertible is that in the result, Duffy did not a lick of public business that weekend, but spent a couple of pleasant days with his adult kids, who live in British Columbia, for which Canadians generously picked up the whopping tab.

PERMIAN BASIN: UNPROFITABLE AT $30/ BARREL

To make matters worse, Pioneer and EOG have made outrageous claims about Permian basin reserves in their 3rd quarter 2015 earnings reports that no sensible person should believe. Statements like these simply add to the mistaken idea that tight oil plays get a pass on the laws of physics and economics and that somehow the U.S. is going to beat Saudi Arabia as the low-cost “swing producer” of the world. I wish that were true but trust me–based on data, that’s not going to happen.

ONTARIO'S OVERCROWDED & UNDERSTAFFED JAILS

A union representing Ontario's correctional workers is threatening job action, a move a criminology and corrections expert says could put prisoners' rights "in peril" and leave managers at risk.

A strike could see prisoners locked in their cells without access to communal spaces, classes or potentially doctor's appointments.....

 

 

 

 

KEYBOARD WARRIORS TO CRUSH ISIS

To defeat ISIS, we need to rebuild the military to what it was before Obama’s two terms.
 Obama has sought to turn an army of real warriors into sensitive social justice warriors. But keyboard warriors battling microaggressions can’t stand up to beheaders and their macroaggressions.
We can either rebuild a military whose warriors can fight ISIS in real life or we can let Obama and Hillary go on dismantling the military while unveiling new plans by keyboard warriors to tweet at terrorists.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE. MOVE ALONG

Nezar Hamze is a leader in the Hamas-related Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). He is also a Deputy Sheriff in the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), in Broward County, Florida. This background has given him the opportunity to exploit his position in law enforcement to assist his Islamist friends in their desire for weapons training. This month, he did so at a Tampa Bay, Florida mosque that partners with designated terrorist organizations.

PROPERLY LABELED: TERRORIST ATTACK

The Obama administration’s proclamation of this murder spree as a case of “workplace violence” rendered victims ineligible for medals and other benefits related to combat.  More than five years later, and only under pressure from legislators, the Army declared that the Ford Hood attack was not workplace violence but international terrorism. In April, the victims finally received their honors at a Fort Hood ceremony the President of the United States did not attend. Kimberly Munley, the civilian policewoman who stopped the attack by shooting Nidal Hasan, received a Defense of Freedom Medal.

NO LIMIT ON BAD TASTE & PUBLIC WASTE

This isn’t the first time mixing a climate theme with inane nonsense has successfully secured public grant money. But seriously – is there no limit to bad taste and public waste? Couldn’t Sydney’s Lord Mayor find any better use for that $10,000? Maybe something slightly less climate related, like helping homeless people, or perhaps funding a few drug rehab beds, to help address Sydney’s out of control substance abuse problems?

NOT QUALIFIED TO JUDGE SCIENTIFIC DISPUTES

 Dr. Tim Ball:  The lawsuits are effectively Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPP) or a legal form of ad hominem attack. The question is, if I am so wrong about the science, as they claim, then why the lawsuits? The answer is because they cannot say I am not qualified, although they tried, and my ability to explain the complexities of climate science in a way the public understands threatens them. The same problems confront any discussion in a formal hearing about climate science. Politicians are no better equipped or qualified to determine a science confrontation than the Courts. Scientists who participated in the December 8, 2015, Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, Senate Hearings were exposed to such a dilemma.

FINALLY!

The U.S. lives up to NAFTA and backs away on COOL.

CALIFORNIA TARGETING RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSUMERS

California continues to talk the talk on “green” energy – but as the true cost of their green adventure hits home, the Californian government appears to be slowly ratcheting up the costs, and slashing the benefits, for ordinary consumers who join Governor Jerry Brown’s environmental crusade.

CALLING BS ON CANADA'S CARBON TARGETS

The targets Harper set in power -- which environmentalists insist the Trudeau government has to improve upon -- were as unrealistic as the targets Harper inherited from Chretien.
The only way for the Liberals to achieve the Harper targets without wrecking our economy, would be to buy billions of dollars of carbon credits on the fraud-ridden international carbon markets. Is that what they have in mind?

FIRST OF TRUDEAU'S PATRONAGE APPOINTMENTS

As soon as Justin Trudeau’s government took office, letters went out to 33 individuals who had been appointed to various government boards, agencies, Crown Corporations and so on by Stephen Harper asking them all to politely fall on their swords because of their Conservative connections and/or because of the fact that they were appointed by a Conservative government.
Well, here’s the very first Trudeau patronage appointment: The guy who was the finance minister for former Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, Dwight Duncan, gets to be the interim chair of the Crown Corporation that is the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

ONTARIO LIBERALS: ARROGANT, INCOMPETENT & DISGUSTING

That thud you just heard was the sound of politics in this province hitting rock bottom.
Another day. Another round of criminal charges against senior Liberal operatives.  This calculating, scheming government is all about plotting how to gain political advantage. Its all-consuming goal is gaining and holding onto power at all cost.

WHEN MIGRANTS ATTACK

With the weather turning nastier, the "refugees" who have been camping out near the Channel Tunnel in Calais in a squalid bivouac known as "The Jungle" have decided to make a rush for Britain:
Some 800 to 1,000 migrants tried on Thursday to break into the Channel Tunnel near the French port city of Calais in a desperate bid to reach Britain, local officials said, triggering chaotic scenes that saw traffic disrupted and security forces firing tear gas to disperse the crowds.

CREATING A SECURE AMERICA

German chancellor Angela Merkel made an important statement at her party's convention last week, especially notable since it came from her.  "Multiculturalism leads to parallel societies and therefore remains a ‘life lie,’” or a sham, she said, before adding that Germany may be reaching its limits in terms of accepting more refugees.
Let's listen to Angela and outdo her.  Stop what the German chancellor calls "multikulti" in its tracks and not be taken in by the faux-human face of fascism.  Before opening our doors, we must build a vetting process so secure our citizens will feel confident in the knowledge that the values and people of our country will be preserved.

CANADA'S CENTRAL BANK KEEPS INTEREST RATES LOW

 Canada's annual inflation rate rose less than expected last month and wholesale trade data was surprisingly weak in October, suggesting the economy was struggling to gain momentum not long after emerging from recession.

MUSLIMS KILLING MUSLIMS

Because ISIS is killing other Muslims, so the argument goes, obviously, its violence cannot be based on Islam, which bans Muslims from killing fellow Muslims in its name. But the Islamic State does not view its victims as Muslims.  Indeed, mainstream Sunni Islam—the world’s dominant strand of Islam which ISIS adheres to—views all non-Sunnis as false Muslims; at best, they are heretics who need to submit to the “true Islam.”
This is largely how Sunnis view Shias, and vice versa—hence their perennial war.

OF CAMELS, GOATS, POISON & EXTREMISTS

Mark Steyn remarks on various events around the world.

OBAMACARE CO-OPS WELSHING ON THE BET

 Not long ago, I pointed out that the health insurance that was available from the exchanges, for individuals, was excessively expensive and had poor coverage.  Since then, about half of the Obamacare co-ops -- nonprofit insurance companies created with startup funds from the government to provide insurance on the exchanges -- have failed and either have gone out of business, or are in the process of doing so. What's killing these co-ops? Oh, there's some fraud, and there's some Democratic Party cronies who made some big money, but what's really killing the co-ops is something much more unrelenting than fraud, much more insidious than cronyism.

What's killing the co-ops? Arithmetic.

YOUR WICKED DESIRE FOR CHEAP ELECTRICITY

Faith leaders are preaching on sin, repentance, and redemption -- but with a new twist. Their congregations’ wickedness doesn’t spring from envy, sloth, or lust, but from an insatiable desire for cheap electricity.   That’s right -- you’re guilty of the sin of climate change. Facing mixed results in the political arena, environmentalists are using religion to try to wean an unsuspecting public from its addiction to the root of all evil -- fossil fuels. Unfortunately for believers, this means well-meaning Christians, Jews, and even some Muslims may be manipulated to support policies which may impoverish millions in the name of the environment.

A GUN-CONTROL CHRISTMAS PRESENT

President Obama met with gun control proponent, nanny-statist, and former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday to discuss Obama's imminent executive actions to restrict the Second Amendment.  The conclave was "part of the administration's continuing push to address gun violence in America," the White House said in a statement.

DEFYING THE INSPECTOR GENERAL ACT

Attorney General Loretta Lynch has no intention of reversing the Justice Department’s defiance of the Inspector General Act. She made that clear during a House Judiciary oversight hearing last month. Indeed, her own Office of Legal Counsel has issued a badly flawed opinion that insists DOJ and FBI officials can, at their discretion, withhold information from the Justice Department’s inspector general -- the individual tasked by Congress with investigating those very same officials.
This is an all too “transparent” continuation of the administration’s habit of trying to hide what the government is doing from Congress, the public, the media, and those who are supposed to be policing the executive branch.

LOSING TRACK OF 9500 FOREIGNERS

At a House Oversight Committee hearing yesterday, a State Department official admitted the government does not know the whereabouts of thousands of foreigners who had their visas revoked over terror concerns.
“You don’t have a clue do you?” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Michele Thoren Bond, assistant secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

KEEPING CHINA AT BAY

Japan is fortifying its far-flung island chain in the East China Sea under an evolving strategy that aims to turn the tables on China's navy and keep it from ever dominating the Western Pacific Ocean, Japanese military and government sources said.
The United States, believing its Asian allies - and Japan in particular - must help contain growing Chinese military power, has pushed Japan to abandon its decades-old bare-bones home island defense in favor of exerting its military power in Asia

WHY SYRIA CAN NOT BE FIXED

If we all converted to Islam tomorrow, we would have even more terrorist attacks. Syrians are massacring each other over differences in theology because Islam has a long history of settling theological disputes with violence. ISIS is a symptom of the problems inherent to Islam.
Obama speaks of defeating ISIS by fixing the root causes of the conflict. But the root cause of the conflict isn’t poverty, unemployment or Global Warming. It’s Islam. Unless Obama has more luck bringing Shiites and Sunnis together than Osama did, he can’t fix Syria. All he can do is find more ways to make it worse.

DECADES OF WILLFUL BLINDNESS OF THE WEST

The Saudi role in fostering Islamic terrorism is no secret. Before it came under some criticism after the al Qaeda’s 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Saudi Kingdom used to openly brag about its large donations to build, maintain and supply mosques, Islamic centers and madrassas, stocking them with Wahhabi Imams and ulemas (religious teachers) and covering expenses such as salaries, pensions, and “terrorcare” that included hospitals and other public services.
 Germany, the United States and the rest of the West have been turning a blind eye to Saudi funding of thousands of mosques, madrassas and Islamic centers that have propagated radical Islamic ideology for decades and are unlikely to face reality anytime soon.

CANADA REVENUE AGENCY UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

The Conservatives are calling for an investigation into claims that Canada Revenue Agency employees teamed up with an advocacy group for a report that alleges mismanagement and political interference in tax investigations that cost billions in uncollected revenue.  The report, by Canadians for Tax Fairness, was based on 28 interviews with former and current auditors and other tax specialists. They alleged the agency is mismanaged, undermined by major budget cuts, and that it targets ordinary taxpayers over the “big-time tax cheats” hiding money offshore.

EXPOSING THE ROT IN ONTARIO LIBERALS

Two former Ontario Liberal staffers have been criminally charged in connection with the gas plant deleted e-mails scandal.

David Livingston, 63, and Laura Miller, 36, each face one count of breach of ‎trust, one count of mischief in relation to data and one count of misuse of a computer system to commit mischief, the Ontario Provincial Police announced Thursday.

 

 

HOMELAND TERROR'S WEAK POINT

Analysis of public files from the 19 court prosecutions reveal that SIA (Special Interest Aliens)smuggling is such a complex endeavor that only certain men and women of unique talents can establish and successfully run the networks. These men and women tend to be larger than life, colorful entrepreneurs of remarkable ingenuity. However, their unique combination of necessary attributes also presents potential weaknesses that American law enforcement will need to one day exploit, most likely after SIAs manage to strike the homeland as they did in Paris.

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Meet the "new" Minister of Science: Kirsty Duncan

A portfolio where you wouldn't think people make sh*t up.

TURBINE TEARDOWN PLANS

Remember these words:  Landowners and municipalities won’t be left staring up at rusty, 300-ft. towers if wind developers are nowhere in sight when contracts run out, even if a company goes belly up, Jordan said in an email. “The developer is still responsible whether they are bankrupt, left the company, etc. But it’s fair to say that if a developer were unable to uphold its decommissioning requirements, (the Ontario government) would pursue our options of recourse, including legal means, to hold them responsible.”

STARVATION, NOT NEONICS, MOST COMMON BEE KILLER

Bee colony overwintering losses dropped to 38 % in Ontario last year, down from the highest-ever recorded losses in 2013-2014, according to the OMAFRA apiary program.
Beekeepers themselves did not finger pesticides, including the soon-to-be heavily-restricted neonicotinoid-treated seeds, as the most common bee killer.

THE SMART AND REASONABLE PM TRUDEAU

During the campaign, opponents accused Trudeau of being weak on terrorism and said he would be pushed around by hardline leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and powerful allies like U.S. President Barack Obama.  "It's a mistake to equate understanding soft power with weakness. ... I don't see being smart and reasonable in how we engage with others as a sign of weakness," he said.

GETTING THE READ ON THE CHINESE ECONOMY

Economists have questioned China's economic statistics for years and turned to measures such as concrete, steel or electricity production to get a handle on an economy that has grown almost 10 percent a year for 30 years.
Now such gauges are less useful as China shifts to a harder-to-measure services economy from an export-driven manufacturing giant.  

INCREASE IN OVERSUPPLY OF OIL

Oil steadied on Thursday, close to an 11-year low, pressured by a relentless build in oversupply, and as the dollar strengthened after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. Brent crude for February delivery, the front-month contract from Thursday, rose 4 cents to $37.43 a barrel by 1259 GMT. The global benchmark lost 3.3 percent in the previous session.
A dip below $36.20 will be the lowest since July 2004. Analysts said such a move in the run up to year-end would be likely.

SAUDI ARABIA'S CONFUSING COALITION AGAINST TERRORISM

Western nations welcomed Saudi Arabia's new Islamic coalition against terrorism, but confusion over its role, even among its own members, may undermine its ambitions of tackling militancy and deflecting international criticism of Riyadh.

ONLY IN ONTARIO

The province is giving raises worth $58 million — an average of $6,905 each — to 8,400 civil service managers chilling in a salary freeze because some now earn less than their staff, the Toronto Star has learned.   An internal government memo sent Tuesday highlighted the conundrum, leading to an ironic situation where 1,300 managers have requested demotions to boost their paycheques since the freeze began in 2011.

DUFFY THE VICTIM

Duffy’s erstwhile Conservative colleague Senator Vern White dismissed the insult Duffy lobbed his way when Duffy, who is facing 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery, called White “a thug” while on the stand Tuesday.

TRUMP'S POPULARITY; PEOPLE WANT HONESTY

Pat Condell on mainstream lies about Islamic immigration and terrorism; 'We want the truth."

IAEA REPORT ABSOLVES IRAN

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbied hard against the Iran deal, used the word "deplores" to describe their reaction to the IAEA vote.
"The IAEA is closing this file even after discovering further suspicious evidence and experiencing additional Iranian obstinacy. The IAEA could have recommended delaying Implementation Day until Iran demonstrated substantial compliance with its obligation to explain its past illicit nuclear activities," AIPAC noted. "...Iran has ignored some IAEA official inquiries, and has provided incomplete or deceptive responses to many others. Moreover, the IAEA has gained only limited access to suspect locations and personnel."

STATE SPONSORED HACKS

Twitter has issued a warning to their users of a breach of security by state-sponsored actors, the first of its kind by a social media site.

 

FEDERAL RESERVE LIKELY TO RAISE INTEREST RATES

No sooner will the Federal Reserve raise U.S. interest rates than it must make more decisions on how to drain markets awash in cash and, further down the road, how to shrink its swollen balance sheet.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected on Wednesday to hike its key federal funds rate by a modest 0.25 percent. It would be the first tightening in more than nine years and a big step on the tricky path of returning monetary policy to a more normal footing after aggressive bond-buying and near-zero borrowing costs.  It will be far more difficult than in the past.

THE LIBERALS: RUSHING TO THE AID OF MULTI-MILLIONAIRES

Another $2.5 million taken from those with no political influence and given to those who have it.
h/t Donnie Osmond

DALTON'S DELUSIONS

Former Premier of Ontario McGuinty: “There’s no free lunch.” I hated it went my dad used to say that. It meant I was going to have to pay up. He wanted me to understand there is almost always some kind of cost that has to be paid if you want to receive benefits. My father’s words came back to me as I listened to the recent reports about the costs of Ontario’s electricity system. These reports have sparked a healthy debate. But the best debates are the best informed. To help shed more light, I have some insights that can help inform the debate around the costs of our electricity.

THE DULLNESS & DUPLICITY OF DALTON

Dalton McGuinty's new memoir offers a special bonus for readers: "Ten lessons in leadership."Hubris aside, the former premier forgot the 11th commandment: Thou shalt not write a book that is boring, bereft of introspection and devoid of confessions.Tales of heroic resolve, humility and virtue don't make for a compelling memoir. Nobody wants to read a book about how perfect you are, as one of his former ministers mused.

MUSLIM NATIONS COMBAT TERRORISM

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia A coalition of Muslim nations will form a joint operations room in Riyadh to combat terrorism in Islamic countries, in the first coordinated Muslim military effort to combat extremism. The military coalition includes 34 nations and is backed by 10 others, Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is also the kingdom's defence minister, said in a televised news conference Tuesday. The coalition includes Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Morocco, Bangladesh and Turkey, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

WHO MADE THE LIST IN ALBERTA?

Canadian Taxpayers' Federation presents the 2015 Naughty and Nice List of Alberta Taxpayers choices which includes government ministers, MLAs and taxpayer-funded organizations that either naughtily misused tax dollars or nicely put taxpayers first. h/t therebel.media

AMERICAN MUSLIMS AGAINST RADICAL ISLAM

If Mullick is right when he says that American “Muslims also uphold the rule of law, and respect the separation of mosque and state and they are in fact the greatest bulwark against Islamic extremism,” ferreting out the Islamists in their ranks should not be too difficult.  Mullick uses Minneapolis as an example, where he writes that cooperation with the FBI by the Muslim community has so far successfully worked to avoid attacks by Somali Americans who are inspired by  al-Shabaab, another Islamist radical group.

We must encourage more Muslims like Mullick to make public their opposition to radical Islam and sharia law, and not to engage in practices that will work to dissuade them from speaking up.

THE DIRT BEHIND DEMOLISHING DETROIT

Duggan was elected in November 2013 with "blight remediation" a key plank in a platform he built around a financial turnaround, economic development and reduced crime rates.The special inspector general for the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program -- from which Detroit gets its federal blight-relief dollars -- is investigating the city's demolition program. The federally backed program has been tainted by allegations that Mayor Mike Duggan favored demolition contractors who donated to his campaign and by a steep rise in costs.  

THE WONDERS OF SHARIA LAW

They are, instead, among the very serious proceedings documented in a forthcoming book which claims to offer an unprecedented insight into the secret world of Britain’s so-called Sharia courts.  Written by Machteld Zee, a Dutch academic, the controversial, 200-page Choosing Sharia carries a detailed description of events that Zee claims took place over three days in 2013, when she was allowed to observe goings-on in two of Britain’s busiest Sharia courts, or councils.

MACLEOD ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

Known as a bit of pit bull in the Ontario legislature, MacLeod has been a thorn in the Liberals' side for years with her sometimes over-the-top partisanship criticizing their every move. But things have changed since new leader Patrick Brown assumed the leadership of the party.  Seems the mouth that once roared is much quieter these days.  Just recently, MacLeod learned she was being stripped of her key duties as the party's critic for eastern Ontario.

THE TEPID PATRICK BROWN

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has a shocking plan.
“My goal is just be reasonable,” Brown told the Toronto Sun in a session-ender interview.
I'm underwhelmed.

MISLEADING THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

On the day of the deadly San Bernardino, Calif. massacre, President Obama ignored FBI-procured evidence that the attack was an Islamic terrorist operation and ordered federal officials to mislead the public about the true nature of the assault.
Although the FBI knew immediately on Dec. 2 that the mass-casualty event was a Muslim terrorist attack, Obama and FBI Director James Comey reportedly clashed over why Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, opened fire around 11 a.m. local time on Farook's municipal government workmates, leaving 14 dead and 21 wounded.

PARIS AGREEMENT ALL ABOUT OBAMA

President Obama claimed that the climate change agreement was “a tribute to American leadership” shown by his own administration since he took office. As was the case with the fundamentally flawed nuclear Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action it entered into with Iran, however, the Obama administration’s zealous pursuit of a nice-sounding climate change agreement has led the United States into a sucker’s deal.

IRAN BREACHES THE NUCLEAR DEAL

Not long after signing the nuclear deal, the ruling clerics of the Islamist state of Iran have clearly breached the agreement and several of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions. What is the Obama administration's response? He is turning a blind eye to this vital issue. The administration is ignoring these blatant violations and continuing with its efforts to lift sanctions on the Ayatollah’s regime.

TURKISH PATIENCE RUNNING THIN

Turkey's foreign minister said Ankara's patience with Russia "has a limit" after Moscow's "exaggerated" reaction to a weekend naval incident between the two countries, an Italian newspaper reported on Monday.

 

UPSET FOR FRANCE'S LE PEN

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front did not win any region in French elections on Sunday, in a setback to her hopes of being a serious presidential contender in 2017. 

Former President Sarkozy called the strong FN showing a "warning sent to all politicians, ourselves included, in the first round".

"We now have to take the time for in-depth debates about what worries the French, who expect strong and precise answers," he said, citing Europe, unemployment, security and national identity issues.



 

GOT YOUR CABIN READY?

The economic forecast is not good for Canada.

NATURAL BORN LIBERALS...

All the right stuff...

LIBERALS REFUSING TO COMMIT TO A REFERENDUM

The issue of whether the new federal government requires explicit approval of the electorate via a referendum to change the method by which parliamentarians and our federal government is elected is gaining a surprising amount of attention.  

Perhaps more surprising is the overwhelming consensus emerging demanding that the federal government specifically ask Canadians for approval. Over the last two weeks commentaries and editorials have appeared in the National Post, Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star, and a myriad of regional dailies across the country all calling for a national referendum to approve any change in our electoral system.

Thus far both the prime minister as well as his Minister for Democratic Reform, Maryam Monsef, have refused to commit to a referendum, relying on their election to justify a mandate for electoral change.

ONTARIO LIBERALS NOW GIVING COOKING LESSONS

The Ontario Liberal government issued a press release that presumes to “educate” adults about food safety and best practices to avoid poisoning your dinner guests over the holiday season.  Only a government that is responsible for making Ontario the world’s most indebted sub-sovereign borrower could think this was a good use of taxpayer money.

CANADA WINS AGAIN!

Didn't Trudeau say Canada was back?  Canada has just won another "Fossil Award" at the Paris climate talks.  Prime Minister Trudeau said we backed out of the discussion  about compensating poor countries vulnerable to natural events caused by climate change, because it will end up costing our kids and grandkids. 

CLOWN OF PARADES CLAPTRAP

For the most part, big business wanted one thing from the climate accord in Paris on Saturday: a price on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. While on the surface their hopes were dashed, looking deeper may give them cause for hope.  The binding part of the deal, for the nearly 200 nations that agreed to it, allows countries to use "internationally transferred mitigation outcomes," which could allow nations on a voluntary basis to offset their own CO2 emissions by buying credits from other nations.  

EUROPEAN UNION GRASPING AT MORE POWER

Failure to strengthen the external borders, senior officials argue, will see more states reimpose frontier controls inside the bloc, wrecking its cherished free movement area, and foster the rise of anti-EU nationalists like France's National Front.  The European Commission wants to be able to deploy personnel from a new European Border and Coastguard Agency without, as currently required, the consent of the state concerned.

AH YES, THE OLD "WARNING SHOTS"

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday one of its warships, the destroyer Smetlivy, had been forced to fire warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea to avoid a collision and that it had summoned the Turkish military attache over the incident.  The incident, which occurred on Sunday morning, is likely to heighten tensions between the two nations who are seriously at odds over Syria and the Turkish shooting down of a Russian military jet last month.