In her New Year’s speech, Chancellor Angela Merkel affirmed that her government will win the fight against terrorism with compassion and denied that her open-door mass migration policy, which directly brought terrorists to Germany, was wrong.
Asserting that “[the] state is doing everything to ensure its citizens’ security in freedom,” the chancellor said that in the midst of mourning for the dead and injured in these “difficult days,” Germans should seek “consolation” in each other.Saturday, December 31, 2016
OIL PRICE PREDICTION FOR 2017
Oil prices will gradually rise towards US$60 per barrel by the end of 2017, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday, with further upside capped by a strong dollar, a likely recovery in U.S. oil output and possible non-compliance by OPEC with agreed cuts.
Brent crude futures will average US$56.90 a barrel in 2017, according to 29 analysts and economists polled by Reuters. The current forecast is marginally lower than the US$57.01 forecast in the previous survey.
Brent crude futures will average US$56.90 a barrel in 2017, according to 29 analysts and economists polled by Reuters. The current forecast is marginally lower than the US$57.01 forecast in the previous survey.
LOW-SPEED-CHASE IN EDMONTON
Edmonton police foiled an attempted ATM theft early Friday, after a suspect allegedly used a stolen front-end loader to rip through a wall and then led police on a “low-speed chase” while attempting a getaway with the ATM in the bucket.
2016 POPULAR STORIES FOR DRIVERS
It was a high-traffic year for Driving, and these were the topics that revved your engine
JUST WHAT WE NEED: MORE SPECIAL SNOWFLAKES
NEW YORK – For some college-bound students distressed by the election of Donald Trump, Canada is calling.
Colleges from Quebec to British Columbia say applications and website traffic from the United States have been surging since Trump’s victory Nov. 8. Although many Canadian schools had also ramped up recruiting in the U.S. recently, some say dismay over the presidential election has fuelled a spike in interest beyond their expectations.
Colleges from Quebec to British Columbia say applications and website traffic from the United States have been surging since Trump’s victory Nov. 8. Although many Canadian schools had also ramped up recruiting in the U.S. recently, some say dismay over the presidential election has fuelled a spike in interest beyond their expectations.
THE PETULANT OBAMA
President Barack Obama’s final weeks in office seem dedicated to setting foreign and domestic policy on fire to make life as difficult as possible on his successor, Donald Trump. Here are some of the biggest mousetraps Obama scattered across the White House floor on his way out:
VANCOUVER REAL ESTATE MARKET ABOUT TO BLOW
A man who made millions as a short seller on Wall Street by betting against the odds has turned his sights from the U.S. economy to Vancouver real estate.
Former trader Marc Cohodes spent decades betting against housing "bubbles" before they burst. Now he has his eye, and his money, on the local housing market, and he has a warning to homeowners and first-time buyers.
"It's going to blow to complete and utter smithereens," Cohodes predicts.
Former trader Marc Cohodes spent decades betting against housing "bubbles" before they burst. Now he has his eye, and his money, on the local housing market, and he has a warning to homeowners and first-time buyers.
"It's going to blow to complete and utter smithereens," Cohodes predicts.
SKEPTIC CLIMATE SCIENTISTS COMING IN FROM THE COLD
In the world of climate science, the skeptics are coming in from the cold.
Researchers who see global warming as something less than a planet-ending calamity believe the incoming Trump administration may allow their views to be developed and heard. This didn’t happen under the Obama administration, which denied that a debate even existed. Now, some scientists say, a more inclusive approach – and the billions of federal dollars that might support it – could be in the offing.
Researchers who see global warming as something less than a planet-ending calamity believe the incoming Trump administration may allow their views to be developed and heard. This didn’t happen under the Obama administration, which denied that a debate even existed. Now, some scientists say, a more inclusive approach – and the billions of federal dollars that might support it – could be in the offing.
Friday, December 30, 2016
NOVA SCOTIA'S MYSTERIOUS FISH KILL
PLYMPTON, N.S. — Western Nova Scotia’s mysterious fish kill has spread to new species, with scores of dead starfish, clams, lobsters and mussels now washing ashore alongside thousands of herring.
Wentzell said the DFO could find no connection between the fish kill and the Cape Sharp Tidal turbine that began producing power in November in the Minas Passage, about 150 kilometres away.
Wentzell said the DFO could find no connection between the fish kill and the Cape Sharp Tidal turbine that began producing power in November in the Minas Passage, about 150 kilometres away.
HOW OBAMA FOOLED THE JEWS
“(President Obama) called me into the Oval Office before the election and he said to me, ‘Alan, I want your support. And I have to tell you, I will always have Israel’s back.’ I didn’t realize that what he meant was that he’d have (Israel’s) back to stab them in the back.”
So spoke this week a livid Alan Dershowitz, the famed Harvard professor, legal scholar and criminal lawyer whose judgment American Jews have long trusted and respected. Dershowitz now realizes that Obama had repeatedly duped him, and that through his endorsements of Obama, Dershowitz in turn duped many American Jews, helping to secure Obama’s election and re-election.
So spoke this week a livid Alan Dershowitz, the famed Harvard professor, legal scholar and criminal lawyer whose judgment American Jews have long trusted and respected. Dershowitz now realizes that Obama had repeatedly duped him, and that through his endorsements of Obama, Dershowitz in turn duped many American Jews, helping to secure Obama’s election and re-election.
OBAMA'S ANTI-RUSSIA DEATH THROES
MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin castigated the United States on Friday for imposing sanctions and expelling Russian diplomats amid allegations of Russian meddling in the American presidential election, but said no U.S. diplomats will be ousted in reprisal for President Barack Obama's moves in the wake of hacking attacks.
REBUILDING FORT MCMURRAY
The post-fire construction boom in Fort McMurray is expected to surpass height of oilsands frenzy.
ENDING CASH-FOR-ACCESS FUNDRAISERS
Trudeau’s fundraising scheme perpetuates the justified perception that there is a club — the people who give money, organize fundraisers, have special access.
And you are not part of it.
If participants aren’t buying special treatment, there’s no reason not to end the practice.
And you are not part of it.
If participants aren’t buying special treatment, there’s no reason not to end the practice.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
OBAMA'S LAND GRAB OF 553 MILLION ACRES
President Barack Obama decreed two more national monuments from his vacation home in Hawaii on Wednesday, taking 1.65 million more acres of Western land for management by the federal government.
Utah Republican leaders in Congress were furious after Obama decided to designate the controversial Bear Ears monument.
Utah Republican leaders in Congress were furious after Obama decided to designate the controversial Bear Ears monument.
NETANYAHU RESPONDS TO KERRY
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "shame" that Secretary of State John Kerry misses the "simple truth" that the right of Israel to exist as a state and the persistent onslaught of Palestinian terrorism are the core issues in any peace process, not West Bank settlements.
Delivering remarks in Jerusalem after Kerry's speech in Washington, Netanyahu said Kerry's criticism of the Jewish state was "deeply disappointing to millions of Israelis."
OBAMA SANCTIONING RUSSIA, BOOTING OUT GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
Coinciding with a new joint analysis from the intelligence community concluding that that Kremlin was behind election-season hacking, President Obama ordered a series of punitive measures against Russia including the expansion of sanctions against several entities and individuals.
Thirty-five Russian government officials in Washington and San Francisco have also been told to pack up their bags and leave the country within 72 hours. The "persona non grata" declaration, the White House said, was in response to harassment of U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia that "has increased significantly and gone far beyond international diplomatic norms of behavior."
Thirty-five Russian government officials in Washington and San Francisco have also been told to pack up their bags and leave the country within 72 hours. The "persona non grata" declaration, the White House said, was in response to harassment of U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia that "has increased significantly and gone far beyond international diplomatic norms of behavior."
SOROS P!SSING & MOANING
The irony of an ultra-rich elitist who has bankrolled the overthrow of innumerable governments insisting he cares about “democracy” and the will of the people is particularly rich.
The whole tone of the piece is clearly fraught with concern that the populist movement sweeping the west poses a direct threat to the plutocratic new world order that Soros has spent his entire life helping to build.
STUPID 911 CALLS
CHATHAM-KENT, Ont. — A police force in southwestern Ontario has released a list of the silliest 911 calls it received in 2016, including one where a resident called the emergency line asking for the phone number to the local KFC.
NOTLEY'S GRAND PLAN IN 2017
It’s a grand plan Notley and her team are implementing while simultaneously repelling accusations that it’s a fundamentally flawed ideological experiment make Alberta’s faltering economy even worse.
COUGAR PUNCHER
Whitecourt, Alta. — William Gibb didn’t know what was thrashing around in the dark, clawing at his dog, but he was going to save his pet.
CLEANING UP ALBERTA'S ABANDONED OIL & GAS WELLS
The number of oil and gas wells abandoned by industry has expanded dramatically as depressed commodity prices forced operators into bankruptcy.
Alberta’s inventory of wells without an owner financially capable of cleaning them up roughly doubled this year to 1,400, a clear indicator of the turmoil that rattled Alberta during the recession.
The surge means taxpayers will be on the hook to pay landowners annual rents to compensate them for use of their properties until the sites are returned to a natural state.
And property owners are seeking compensation in record numbers.
Alberta’s inventory of wells without an owner financially capable of cleaning them up roughly doubled this year to 1,400, a clear indicator of the turmoil that rattled Alberta during the recession.
The surge means taxpayers will be on the hook to pay landowners annual rents to compensate them for use of their properties until the sites are returned to a natural state.
And property owners are seeking compensation in record numbers.
MNR BOSS PROUD OF HIS 2016 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
It was a tumultuous autumn for Jim Carr.
Canada’s pipeline point man was a key player in decisions by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to approve a major liquefied natural gas project in September and a pair of crude-oil proposals from Kinder Morgan Inc. and Enbridge Inc. last month, preceded by a string of regulatory and environmental concessions to quell opposition.
Canada’s pipeline point man was a key player in decisions by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to approve a major liquefied natural gas project in September and a pair of crude-oil proposals from Kinder Morgan Inc. and Enbridge Inc. last month, preceded by a string of regulatory and environmental concessions to quell opposition.
DESPITE WARNINGS, LIBERALS ACCEPTED DIRTY DONATIONS
The Liberal Party of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was tipped off in 2013 that a wealthy party benefactor was wanted by China for corruption, long before the news became public, in an email that has been leaked to the South China Morning Post by a former party executive.
The former executive said they were assured at the time that the anonymous email and its startling claims about Vancouver developer Michael Ching Mo Yeung had been “dealt with”. But the party kept quiet and continued to accept donations and support from Ching and a pro-Trudeau political organisation, Tru-Youths United Association, set up in his office
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
KERRY ATTACKS ISRAELI GOV'T, DEFENDS UN
Lame-duck Secretary of State John Kerry blasted the Israeli government at the State Department on Wednesday, and attempted to defend the Obama administration’s decision to let an anti-Israel resolution pass at the UN Security Council last week.
Kerry delivered his remarks in the midst of a diplomatic fight with Israel, in which President Barack Obama stands accused of working with Palestinians secretly to undermine Israeli security, overturning decades of American foreign policy precedent in the process.
Kerry delivered his remarks in the midst of a diplomatic fight with Israel, in which President Barack Obama stands accused of working with Palestinians secretly to undermine Israeli security, overturning decades of American foreign policy precedent in the process.
REFUGEES CREATE NEW JUNGLE
Self-declared refugees continue to create chaos in France:
Hundreds of refugees have returned to live in secret camps in the Calais region in the hope of travelling to the UK, The Independent can reveal, just weeks after the demolition of the 'Jungle' shantytown.
What you have to realize is that Shahajhan and his friends have been told they are not welcome in Britain, where they want to travel to. The Brits have had enough; they can't cope with this flood of aspiring newcomers.
However, the "refugees" refuse to take no for an answer, which is why they are leaving CAOs and traveling back to Calais. From there it's relatively easy to enter Britain illegally.
ONTARIO FUDGING COST OF CAP & TRADE
It would be hard to imagine a less transparent form of carbon pricing than the one Premier Kathleen Wynne is about to inflict on Ontarians, starting Sunday, Jan. 1.
The Wynne Liberals are imposing a cap and trade scheme that, by the estimate of the provincial auditor general, will increase government revenues, paid for by the public, by $2 billion annually.
And yet no one has any idea of what the total impact on Ontarians will be.
The Wynne Liberals are imposing a cap and trade scheme that, by the estimate of the provincial auditor general, will increase government revenues, paid for by the public, by $2 billion annually.
And yet no one has any idea of what the total impact on Ontarians will be.
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
OBAMA'S EGO AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S FUTURE
Hillary Clinton’s back must be sore this morning from the stiletto wound delivered by Barack Obama in the course of an interview with former senior adviser David Axelrod. As has been well publicized, he claimed that had he been allowed to run for a third term, he would have won the election against Donald Trump. Obama:
'You know, I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I – if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.'
'You know, I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I – if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.'
GERMANY IGNORED 2 WARNINGS ABOUT BERLIN KILLER
A Moroccan security official says that his country's intelligence service warned Germany twice about the risk posed by Anis Amri, the radical Muslim who slaughtered 12 people at a Christmas market in Berlin earlier this month.
The official, who spoke to Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, says that the Germans received two written warnings, one on September 19 and the other on October 1, about Amri's radical Islamic beliefs.
HIS MOTHER SHOULD KICK HIS ASS
In a message recorded December 19 at St. James's Palace, Britain's Prince Charles admonished his subjects to consider the millions of people around the world suffering from religious persecution. He also said that at a time of year when people normally think of Jesus, they should spend time remembering Muhammad.
UN'S OBSESSION WITH ATTACKING ISRAEL
On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” columnist Charles Krauthammer argued the UN spends its time “trying to attack the only Jewish state on the planet,” and “undermining the United States and democracy” and the UN headquarters should be turned into condos by President-Elect Donald Trump.
CHICAGO MURDER COUNT AT 768 FOR 2016
For those paying attention, the carnage–and the possibility for more carnage–in Chicago has been evident for quite some time. After all, Chicago is a gun control experiment gone wrong; a city which enacted a total handgun ban in 1982, thereby guaranteeing that the only people who had handguns were the criminals. Law-abiding citizens were reduced to using baseball bats, sticks, pitchforks, etc., for self-defense. And the results were easy to predict–the Tribune reported the decade following the implementation of Chicago’s ban saw “murders [jump] by 41 percent, compared with an 18 percent rise in the entire United States.”
CHINESE SATELLITE TO MONITOR CO2. COUGH.
A newly launched Chinese satellite claims to monitor CO2 – but does it? Given that China’s government doesn’t seem all that concerned about their rapidly rising CO2 emissions, and China is currently burning four billion tons of coal per year compared to the U.S. use of one billion, one wonders why they’d bother to monitor it. Seems like a perfect ruse, especially since China has recently begun what appears to be a cold war style build up of military programs, including building islands at sea solely for military purposes.
IMAGINE - A LIAR AT THE EPA
The EPA’s highest-paid employee and a leading expert on climate change was sentenced to 32 months in federal prison Wednesday for lying to his bosses and saying he was a CIA spy working in Pakistan so he could avoid doing his real job.
Monday, December 26, 2016
PUT UP OR SHUT UP, NOTLEY
Because, make no mistake, the long, hard road to the next provincial election is about to begin here in Alberta.
After more than 18 months in power, the days of blaming the last lot for current problems are finally over and the “gee-shucks, what can we do about low worldwide energy prices” blather has also run its course.
Nope, the New Democrats have no one else to blame if 2017 turns into a mirror image of what the province lived through during this dreadful year we’re thankfully about to see in the rear view mirror. All the posturing, cajoling and lecturing the government engages upon won’t amount to a hill of beans in Wild Rose Country if the jobs don’t return.
After more than 18 months in power, the days of blaming the last lot for current problems are finally over and the “gee-shucks, what can we do about low worldwide energy prices” blather has also run its course.
Nope, the New Democrats have no one else to blame if 2017 turns into a mirror image of what the province lived through during this dreadful year we’re thankfully about to see in the rear view mirror. All the posturing, cajoling and lecturing the government engages upon won’t amount to a hill of beans in Wild Rose Country if the jobs don’t return.
NOVA SCOTIA'S BLUENOSE SCANDAL
Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance submitted bills to the government for $5 million, which the province considered excessive or at least questionable.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
OBAMA: TREACHEROUS ABSTAINER-IN-CHIEF
To President Obama's legacy of foreign policy debacles, we can now add his landmark betrayal of Israel, carried out Dec. 23rd at the United Nations. By declining to wield the U.S. veto at the Security Council, by choosing instead to abstain -- by Vanishing-from-Behind -- Obama allowed the passage, by a vote of 14 in favor, 1 abstaining, of Resolution 2334. In the guise of condemning Israeli settlements, this resolution is configured to delegitimize and imperil Israel itself, America's longtime ally and the only democracy in the Middle East.
NO AMERICAN $ FOR UN
Senator Ted Cruz thinks that the U.S. should refuse to send any money to the UN until that organization reverses the anti-Israel resolution on settlements passed on Friday.
"No US $ for UN until reversed," he added. That comment suggests that Cruz has made his mind up since Friday, when he said he looked forward to working with Sen. Lindsey Graham and President-elect Trump "to significantly reduce or even eliminate U.S. funding of the United Nations, and also to seriously reconsider financial support for the nations that supported this resolution."
JESUS IN CARIBOO FUR
Mary and Joseph are in parkas. The Baby Jesus is swaddled head to toe in caribou furs. And the trio are observing the First Noel in an igloo while the Star of Bethlehem illuminates the Arctic sky overhead.
They’re also alone. Given the 8,000 km hike from Roman Judea to the Canadian Arctic archipelago, the Magi and the shepherds do not appear to have made it.
The Inuit nativity is featured in a window of St. George’s Anglican Church, the largest house of worship in the 1,500-person community of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. It’s one of several windows in the church, all of them handcrafted by the Bachmanns, which inject a unique Inuit flavour into scenes from the Bible.
EPITAPH TO POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
My commiserations to those who found 2016 to be a horrible year. Horrible things certainly happened. But 2016 has also been heartening, a turning point — the first year in many that holds hope of a stop to more horribles, and their precursors.
2016 wrote the epitaph to political correctness, the most insidious of the evils facing society and also among the most toxic. To silence challengers to today’s orthodoxy, self-styled “social justice warriors” on the left have been quick to label dissenters as racists, sexists, homophobes or Islamophobes, unaware that in previous generations the dissenters from the orthodoxies — those who fought for emancipation of the slaves, women’s suffrage, gay and other civil rights — succeeded precisely because upholders of the orthodoxies were unable to silence dissent.
THE USELESS UN
Is Canada’s UN Security Council bid still worth it?
Liberals have made membership on the Security Council a prominent part of their international agenda, even in a time of mistrust in multilateral institutions.
DECEMBER 25TH
Merry Christmas to all of you.
Boney M: Mary's Boy Child
Have a favourite Christmas song? Leave us a link in your comment.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
CONCEPT OF SOLIDARITY LOST ON NEW BRUNSWICK
New Brunswick's decision Thursday to strike a separate health funding deal with the Trudeau government has weakened the premiers' bargaining position and hardened Ottawa's resolve to rebuff attempts to extract billions more from federal coffers.
Premier Brian Gallant's move to accept a bilateral deal for New Brunswick splintered the united front provincial and territorial governments had adopted Monday when they walked away from a federal offer to increase health transfer payments by 3.5 per cent annually and fork out another $11.5 billion over 10 years in targeted funding, primarily for home care and mental health.
It's only taxpayers' money, after all, being spent on nothing important......
WAIT UNTIL CAP-AND-TRADE IS IMPLEMENTED
Canada's economy unexpectedly shrank in October, weighed down by the worst manufacturing output in nearly three years, Statistics Canada said Friday.
FIRED FOR INVESTIGATING FINANCIAL CORRUPTION
The former head of a troubled Crown corporation says he was fired after he began investigating alleged financial corruption in the organization.
But the Liberal government won't explain the specifics of why it decided to formally terminate Donald Salkeld's appointment at the Manitoba-based Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation effective Dec. 21 — the same day his term was already scheduled to expire.
ALL HAIL JOHN KERRY
WASHINGTON -- The State Department said today that Secretary of State John Kerry "absolutely" made the world a safer place, with press secretary John Kirby arguing that his work on climate change enhanced national security.
"Our foreign policy priorities, our foreign policy achievements have helped make the American people safer," Kirby told reporters at the daily briefing after being asked to assess Kerry's term. "Look at the Iran deal for instance. We now have a deal in place and it is being implemented by all sides, that will preclude Iran from ever, ever achieving nuclear weapons capability. And there's an inspection regime in place that's the most rigorous ever enacted."
EU HEAD IDIOT GIVING ADVICE
The best way to fight terror is with “openness”, European Union (EU) head Jean-Claude Juncker has said, stressing that Europe must continue to receive migrants in the wake of the deadly truck attack in Berlin.
Speaking to Funke Mediengruppe on Saturday, the president of the European Commission warned that the “rhetoric of exclusion” strengthens terrorists, and called for more EU involvement in nations’ internal security.
THE BLOODY ROAD TO A COLLECTIVIST PARADISE ON EARTH
December 24, 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the formal end of the Soviet Union as a political entity on the map of the world. A quarter of a century ago, the curtain was lowered on the 75-year experiment in “building socialism” in the country where it all began following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, led by Vladimir Lenin in November 1917.
Some historians have estimated that as many as 200 million people worldwide may have died as part of the 20th century dream of creating a collectivist “paradise on earth.” The attempt to establish a comprehensive socialist system in many parts of the world over the last 100 years has been one of the cruelest and most brutal episodes in human history. Making a new “better world” was taken to mean the extermination, liquidation, and mass murder of all those who the socialist revolutionary leaders declared to be “class enemies,” including the families and even the children of “enemies of the people.”
OBAMA'S BACKHANDER TO ISRAEL
President Barack Obama set the tone for his future attitude toward Israel during his infamous June 4, 2009, speech at Cairo University, where he claimed the Palestinians suffer “daily humiliations — large and small — that come with occupation,” and referred to Palestinian terrorism as “resistance through violence and killing.”
On Friday, as Israelis marked the Sabbath here in the Jewish state, Obama stuck it to Israel, perhaps one final time, when the U.S. abstained from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a halt to Israeli construction in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, thereby allowing the measure to pass.
Friday, December 23, 2016
DRUG IMPAIRED DRIVING INCREASING
In the war against impaired driving and its sometimes deadly consequences, there is good news and bad news as we go through the holiday season.
Fatalities from alcohol-related impaired driving have been declining — the good news.
However, "there's been a rapid rise in drugs present for fatalities," says MADD Canada CEO Andy Murie. "Drug-impaired fatalities now exceed alcohol fatalities by 25 per cent."
JUDICIAL ACTIVISM OF SOME SUPREME COURT JUSTICES
The Supreme Court of Canada is crossing the line by intruding on Parliament’s policy-making role. This critique is not being leveled by right-wing political scientists, eager politicians or dissatisfied litigants — but rather by judges on the Court itself.
Our annual review of the Court’s top-10 decisions highlights five judges who harshly criticized their colleagues for inappropriately interfering with Parliament’s job. It’s a serious critique that goes to the heart of the relative responsibilities of the Court versus Parliament and points to a growing philosophical rift.
NOTLEY KICKING ALBERTANS WHILE THEY'RE DOWN
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley recently claimed that this was a good year for her government. For Albertans, however, it was another very difficult year. Aside from the approval of two crucial pipeline projects, Albertans haven’t had much to celebrate.
The economy is no longer in free fall, but with the unemployment rate at nine per cent and projected to remain above eight per cent for the duration of 2017, the reality is that many Albertans are still hurting.
NAVARRO NEW HEAD OF WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL TRADE COUNCIL
Breitbart News highlighted that despite Peter Navarro holding a Harvard Ph.D. and being a tenured Professor of Economics at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine, he is not only America’s leading “trade hawk” on China, but he also wrote ‘The Coming China Wars’ last year to argue that China is a military threat to the United States.
Death by China, published in late 2011, provided a step-by-step indictment of how China had systematically flooded U.S. markets with illegally subsidized products; wiped-out over 50,000 American factories; caused 25 million Americans to be unable to find a decent job; and left the U.S. than $3 trillion dollars in debt to the world’s largest totalitarian nation.
BERLIN ATTACK SUSPECT SHOT DEAD
Italian interior minister confirms suspect killed: Last night at 3am in Milan during the usual routine control activities, a state police squad stopped someone who appeared to be a suspect. At the moment when he was stopped, the man without hesitating took out a pistol from his rucksack and shot the police officer that asked him for identification.The other officer immediately responded. The person that attacked our patrol was killed. After a number of enquiries it has been determined without a shadow of a doubt that he is Anis Amri, the presumed suspect of a terrorist attack in Berlin.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
CAP & TRADE HIKES YOUR GAS BILL
The Ontario Energy board says customers across the province will see increases in their natural gas bills as the Liberal government’s cap-and-trade plan comes into effect next month.
WYNNE DESPERATE TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE
Ontario plans to increase its charge for water-taking permits for bottled water companies in the new year, but Premier Kathleen Wynne says she wants a bigger discussion on the future of the entire industry.
Let's have that bigger discussion about your disastrous Green Energy Program burying this province, Premier Wynne.
CLEAN THE SNOW & ICE OFF YOUR VEHICLE
Who is accountable when ice from another vehicle hits your car on the highway?
THE EVER INCREASING COST OF CASH FOR ACCESS
Members of the Chinese community have been asked for payments of as much as $5,000 to attend private cash-for-access functions with the Prime Minister, amounts that exceed federal contribution limits.
One businesswoman, who splits her time between China and Canada, told The Globe she was invited to a May fundraiser by Chinese Business Chamber of Canada chair Benson Wong – an event billed as an intimate evening at Mr. Wong’s home with Justin Trudeau – at a cost of $4,500.
TRUDEAU BURYING CANADA
Justin Trudeau says Canada’s carbon taxes will draw global investment from energy companies, giving them greater certainty about costs at a time when it’s less clear what the U.S. will do under President-elect Donald Trump.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
LIBERAL ENERGY POLICY KILLING ONTARIO MANUFACTURING
As he tours a group of reporters around his Leland Industries Scarborough plant where they build nuts and bolts for export to the United States and Europe, he explains he’s losing a battle with the province. His hydro bills have soared over the past year and with Ontario’s new cap-and-trade system coming into effect next month, electricity and natural gas costs will likely spike by another 20%.
That’s why Nelson — and other manufacturers in the province — are choosing to expand their businesses in the U.S. instead of at home.
WYNNE DOES NOT ADVISE ON ETHICAL QUESTIONS
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says political financing rules need to be reformed across the country — and the federal level should be no exception.
“I think Canadians expect that there will be a different degree of transparency and clarity about fundraising,” Wynne said during a year-end interview.
Kathleen Wynne - pretending that reforming the rules was her idea, due to her superior code of ethics.
MY SYMPATHY TO THE SWEDES
Hours after her appointment to the post of coordinator against violent extremism on Tuesday, Anna Carlstedt was asked why Sweden is the country which has the most jihadists per capita travelling to the Middle East to fight with extremist groups.
DENYING JIHADISM
Gaffney said the most surprising thing about the latest round of terror attacks is that “we continue to see people in positions of authority – whether it’s Angela Merkel, or whether it’s police authorities, or whether it’s folks assessing the situation on this side of the pond – who scratch their heads and try to figure out what could have motivated someone to do these sorts of heinous attacks, or sort of balk at the idea that it’s actually jihadism, and refrain from calling it that.”
AUSTRIA HAS LOST THE PLOT
Austrian police will hand out 6,000 pocket rape alarms on New Year’s Eve to help fight mass sex attacks such as those perpetrated by migrants in neighbouring Germany a year ago.
During the 2015/16 New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne, Germany, hundreds of sexual assaults (including groping and at least five rapes) were reported.
THE WAGES OF MERKELISM
Just as the West had been warned might happen this Christmas season, a likely Muslim terrorist has driven a huge lorry (LKW, in German parlance) into a crowd of holiday shoppers at one of the most important places in Berlin, killing at least twelve. While it's still unclear exactly who was driving the truck -- police apparently have been questioning the wrong suspect -- no one will be surprised if this murderer turns out to be one of Angela Merkel's imported Islamic soldiers, who slipped into the heart of central Europe under false pretenses, and now have opened up a new front in Islam's war on Judeo-Christian civilization.
OBAMA'S TERM: WHEN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP DIED
Has there ever been a victory lap like President Barack Obama’s? Day after day the affable, soon-to-be-former leader of the free world makes his rounds — sombre and a little sad, reassuringly calm. Progressives and classical liberals everywhere, not least in Canada, wipe away a single tear as we contemplate the end of this grand moment in American history, inaugurated with a Nobel virtually before the man set foot in the Oval Office.
But Obama had his own historical moment, three years ago, when he drew a “red line” beyond which Assad could not cross, then watched him cross, then sidled away backwards, hoping no one would notice his retreat.
HOW KIND, CALLING IT A LACK OF EXPERIENCE
The House of Commons is no place to discuss party matters such as the Liberals’ so-called cash-for-access fundraisers, Government House Leader Bardish Chagger told The Huffington Post Canada in a year-end interview.
Conservative House leader Candice Bergen said Chagger’s comments reflect her lack of experience.
“The House of Commons and question period is definitely where these questions need to be answered,” Bergen said. “And what is shameful is their repetitive talking-point answers where they are not answering about the guidelines, they are only answering about Elections Canada laws.”
CANADA REVENUE AGENCY SNOOPS
Canada Revenue Agency workers continue to snoop on the confidential tax files of businesses, acquaintances and others, despite at least $10.5 million spent so far to try to stop them.
On Feb. 18, for example, the agency reported that a "CRA employee made unauthorized access to the accounts of 90 acquaintances and family members, 1 business and his/her own account."
In another breach reported on Feb. 22, an employee improperly accessed the accounts of 227 businesses and individuals.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
FORCED TO SHAVE HER HEAD
After her story made international headlines, it came out last week that a hijab-wearing Muslim who said she was harassed and threatened on a New York subway by drunk Donald Trump supporters actually made the whole story up.
But Yasmin Seweid doesn’t seem to be a cynical hoaxer; she apparently made up the story to avoid the wrath of her strict Muslim father over her being out late and having a non-Muslim boyfriend.
MERKEL'S CURSED HYPOCRISY
The anti-mass immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has hit out at German Chancellor Angela Merkel after Monday’s Christmas market attack, saying the victims are “her dead”.
HEALTH CARE TALKS ARE JUST THEATRICS
Monday’s theatrics in Ottawa about the supposed breakdown of talks between the Trudeau government and the provinces over the future federal funding of health care were strictly for show.
No real “deadline” was passed since the “deadline” of Monday to reach a new federal-provincial health-care funding accord was an artificial one created by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, in the person of Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
Monday, December 19, 2016
DELUSIONS OF OMNIPOTENCE
Outgoing Obama EPA Chief Gina McCarthy thinks President-elect Donald Trump will not be able to change EPA policy towards CO2, because it will be too difficult to undo her policy initiatives.
To replace Ms McCarthy, Mr Trump has nominated Scott Pruitt, a politician who has repeatedly excoriated the EPA and made it his mission to try to scupper her signature achievements.
DENYING HEALTH CARE TO CANADIANS
Listen to the Roy Green show, as he is joined by Canadians who were unable to obtain the cancer treatment they wanted and believed was to their ultimate health benefit here and so left Canada to obtain those treatments in Germany and Mexico. And how are they doing? What is their message? You’ll hear that, along with the German surgeon who conducted pancreatic cancer nanoknife surgery for Canadian patients. Click here for the link to the website, then click on " Hour 3 all segments Hector MacMil..." on the right hand side of the page.
STAND-OFF AT THE HEALTH CARE CORRAL
Ottawa and the provinces have failed to reach a deal on health-care funding, despite a $11.5-billion pledge by the federal government to boost targeted spending on home care and mental health
LIKE A CAT COVERING HIS SH!T
O’Leary, a potential Conservative leadership candidate, said, “Canadians are known as peacekeepers above all — there’s nothing proud about being a warrior. War is a desperate outcome as a human being. Peacekeeping is extremely noble.”
Arlene Dickinson is calling out her TV show colleague, Kevin O’Leary, for comments he made about the military while speaking on an Ottawa radio station. But O’Leary said he was talking about the horrors of war and the context of it being brutal and “clearly” not criticizing Canadian troops.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
HOW THE GLOBAL WARMING FRAUD WILL COLLAPSE
Francis Merton predicts how the global warming thesis, still unable to account for a twenty year “pause” in its predicted temperature rise, will crumble, thanks to Donald Trump becoming president.
I predict a high likelihood of substantial collapse of the global warming movement, both domestically and internationally, over the course of the next couple of years.
Start with the EPA.
ONE MORE SCHADENFREUDE VIDEO COLLECTION
So, with the stipulation that I am not full of sweetness & light yet, I beg readers’ indulgence for the following delicious compilation by the Trump Fan Network of Rachel Maddow’s snark about Trump, mixed in with a little reality for the smartest person on MSNBC
OBAMA'S CUNNING PLAN: DO NOTHING
In a fiery press conference on Friday, shortly before departing for his last Hawaiian vacation, president Obama accused the press of being responsible for Hillary Clinton's loss, slammed "domestic propagandists" who he said were responsible for the risk of "fake news" and assisting foreign counter-US propaganda, but more importantly Obama vowed to “send a clear message to Russia” in retaliation for its election hacking - of which the CIA still has to demonstrate evidence - as both a punishment and a deterrent. However, a problem has emerged as the outgoing president plans how to "punish or deter" Russia - according to the NYT, some of the options were rejected as ineffective, others as too risky.
TRUMP RESPONDS TO THE CLASSLESS MICHELLE O
Michelle Obama appeared on Oprah yesterday and continued to ignore the unspoken, but widely acknowledged and obeyed, tradition of not bashing incoming administrations. When asked whether Obama was successful at bringing "hope" to America, rather answer the question, the first lady decided to attack Trump by saying that "now we're feeling what not having hope feels like."
Is this Michelle's idea of "going high" when other "go low?" Notice she didn't bother to offer any supporting evidence of how exactly Obama brought "hope" to Americans....could that be because there isn't any?
Of course, never one to back down when attacked, Trump told a group of supporters at a rally in Mobile, Alabama that he assumed Michelle was "talking about the past, not the future."
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HOW GENEROUS OF HER
Premier Christy Clark says she wants to return some of the government’s multi-billion-dollar surpluses back to B.C. voters in the form of tax cuts before the May election.
Clark said in a year-end interview with Postmedia News that her approach — to “lower taxes” — would give voters a sharp contrast with NDP leader John Horgan, who wants to spend the forecasted $2.2 billion surplus in this year’s budget on new government programs and services.
GOV'T WAS WARNED ABOUT DISASTROUS WEB PROJECT
A former senior Conservative advisor says he and others tried to warn the government about a web project that’s now at risk of turning into a billion-dollar boondoggle.
As early as 2011, bureaucrats at the powerful Privy Council Office worked to persuade the prime minister’s office that merging the 1,500 different government websites under the single Canada.ca portal was a good idea.
ALBERTA SETTLES 2 MORE POWER DISPUTES
The Alberta government will avoid prolonged legal battles with two energy companies after settling disputes over cancelled power contracts, but there are few details surrounding the deals and the impacts on consumers.
The two companies, with Enmax and Capital Power Corp., had walked away from power purchase arrangements to buy electricity from producers after the NDP government announced increases to the carbon levy on large industrial emitters.
A GOOD NEWS STORY
Chris Flett has spent the last few weeks working on rebuilding his home in Fort McMurray after losing it to the wildfire in May. Little did he know a windfall was just around the corner.
PICK A SIDE PATRICK BROWN
Brian Lilley: I don’t know what Patrick Brown stands for.
Kathleen Wynne needs to go, but what good would it do to replace Wynne with a man in a blue suit and skinny tie that continues Wynne’s politics and policies?
ECONOMIC FREEDOM OF NORTH AMERICA 2016
Economic Freedom of North America 2016 is the twelfth edition of the Fraser Institute’s annual report. This year it measures the extent to which the policies of individual provinces and states were, in 2014, supportive of economic freedom, the ability of individuals to act in the economic sphere free of undue restrictions. There are two indices: one that examines provincial/state and municipal/local governments only and another that includes federal governments as well.
In Canada, the most economically free province was, in 2014, Alberta with 8.0, followed by British Columbia with 6.4 and Ontario at 6.2. The least free by far was Quebec at 3.9, followed by Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, tied at 5.2.
In the United States, the most economically free state was New Hamp-shire at 8.3, followed at 8.1 by Florida. South Dakota and Texas are tied for third at 8.0.
ANALYSIS OF ONTARIO'S LABOUR MARKET
Ontario has experienced more than its share of economic pain in recent years. Between 2003 and 2014, real economic growth per person in Ontario has averaged just 0.3% annually. That’s less than one third of the rate of real per-person economic growth in the rest of the country, which averaged 1.1% annually. The economic pain in Ontario, however, has not been spread evenly: there has been significant regional variation in economic performance within the province.
WARNING! MOOSE LICKINGS
It sounds like a sitcom storyline aimed to poke fun of Canadians, but Alberta Parks has issued a sincere warning about moose licking vehicles in Kananaskis.
The warning, issued Monday, explains moose have been spotted in the Chester Lake and Burstall Pass trailhead parking lots trying to lick salt from the sides of vehicles.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
SYNTHETIC MARIJUANA
Time will only tell if it becomes the cheap competitor for Canada's plan to legalize weed.
THE OLD "SAFE NAVIGATION OF PASSING SHIPS" EXCUSE
China's Defense Ministry confirmed on Saturday it plans to return an underwater U.S. drone seized this week by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea, but complained the United States was "hyping up" the incident. The drone was collecting data about the salinity, temperature and clarity of the water about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay, off the Philippines, and was seized just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve it, U.S. officials said.
AMERICA'S CRIMINAL ILLEGALS
Illegal immigrants with criminal records, the deportation priority of President-elect Trump, total at least 820,000, with most having felony and serious misdemeanor convictions, according to a new report.
PM MONEY GRUBBER
The trouble with Mr. Trudeau’s elite fundraisers isn’t so much that he has them. Everybody has them, in one form or another, although Kathleen Wynne has had to shut them down because they got too egregious and her polling numbers are in the tank. Access is always on offer to those with connections and/or money. The trouble was pretending that, unlike every other party leader who ever lived, he is above party politics and money grubbing.
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT HEALTH CARE FUNDING
Quebec’s health minister says the Trudeau government is holding the provinces hostage by offering a surprise last-minute “take-it-or-leave-it” health-care deal that offers less cash than the Liberals pledged during last year’s election campaign.
“We are being taken hostage by Bill Morneau. There has been no proper negotiations, and that will impact services that we provinces will have to provide.”
“We are being taken hostage by Bill Morneau. There has been no proper negotiations, and that will impact services that we provinces will have to provide.”
Friday, December 16, 2016
FAILURE OF LAND USE PLANNING IN ONTARIO
For the past 150 years, the province of Ontario has been the primary driver of Canada’s collective wealth. However, since the early 1990’s, with the passing of five Acts in quick succession, an unacknowledged shift began. Through these and subsequent Acts, Ontario’s resource and land-use ministries have placed increasing importance on “sustainability,” an ill-defined term with, as this paper will show, few metrics. As the policies introduced by the Acts took hold, accompanying legislation, meant to further improve environmental conditions (Appendix VII), was passed. Once the attendant regulations and rule-making were in place, the province began to experience a steady economic decline, first in its rural regions, and now, it can be argued, in its cities.
CMHC ISSUES RED WARNING FOR CANADIAN HOUSING MARKET
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has issued a “red warning” for the entire housing market in Canada.” Red warnings for overvaluation were issued for the Vancouver, Toronto, Hamilton, and Québec housing markets (census metropolitan areas). CMHC also noted that higher prices are spreading to markets nearby Vancouver, such as Victoria and Abbotsford (the Fraser Valley), Kelowna, and to markets adjacent to Toronto. “Moderate” warnings were also issued for Montréal, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina.
HOLD THE DOOR, STAMPEDE COMING
Liberal cabinet minister David Orazietti has announced that he is stepping down. Several of Premier Kathleen Wynne's cabinet ministers stepped down this summer when house prorogued.
Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur left politics altogether, while Seniors Minister Mario Sergio, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Ted McMeekin and cabinet chair Jim Bradley resigned from cabinet.
CUDDLY POLEY BEARS
Good Grief! Enough already with the Polar Bears!
The folks at the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science**, whose motto, proudly displayed on their website, is “Science for the Benefit of Humanity”, have managed to embarrass themselves with a little ad that appeared in my news feed from the New York Times Science section
WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?
Trump’s transition team asked for the names of people who have worked on climate change and the professional society memberships of lab workers.
– The U.S. Energy Department said on Tuesday it will not comply with a request from President-elect Donald Trump’s Energy Department transition team for the names of people who have worked on climate change and the professional society memberships of lab workers.
YOU CAN THANK YOUR HUSBAND AND THE DEMOCRATS
With fewer than 40 days remaining as first lady, Michelle Obama is continuing to reflect on the legacy she and President Obama will leave after having occupied the White House for the last eight years. In a new interview with Oprah Winfrey, the first lady addressed the election outcome and suggested that the U.S. is entering a time of hopelessness.
AMERICA WANTS ITS DRONE BACK
On Thursday, a Chinese ship took an American underwater drone in international waters. The Pentagon made an official declaration about the theft and demanded the drone's immediate return on Friday.
According to the Pentagon, a Chinese ship launched a small boat, which seized the UUV and took it to their ship. "Bowditch made contact with the PRC Navy ship via bridge-to-bridge radio to request the return of the UUV," Cook explained. "The radio contact was acknowledged by the PRC Navy ship, but the request was ignored."
PHOENIX PAY MESS EXECUTIVES RECEIVE BONUSES
Some of the executives who were directly involved with the federal government's troubled payroll system will be getting bonuses, or what's known as performance pay.
Since Ottawa launched Phoenix, more than 80,000 public servants have been underpaid, overpaid, or not paid at all.
Union officials believe the number of public servants who have experienced pay problems is much larger, as the 80,000 case backlog only includes employees who came forward with an issue before July 1.
STICKING WITH THE RUSSIAN HACKER THEME
Julian Assange said the Russian government was not his source for the hacked emails they released from both the Democratic National Committee and the chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign John Podesta
But the Democrats are sticking with the " blame the Russians" narrative:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told CNN that "it's clear to me that this is a very serious situation" and President Obama should issue a public report on the "major covert influence campaign" by Moscow at the "soonest time possible."
She emphasized that committee members can't elaborate much in public on what they heard in briefings, but said her beliefs on Russia's guilt are "a product of those briefings."
Thursday, December 15, 2016
JUST IMAGINE THE PROBING TOUGH QUESTIONS
Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson has decided to question Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally to determine whether he breached the Conflict of Interest Act when he attended Liberal Party cash-for-access fundraisers with corporate executives wanting favours from the federal government.
Ms. Dawson, who has for weeks ruled out taking action, will also quiz Liberal MP Bill Blair – who is in charge of legalizing recreational marijuana – about a fundraiser he headlined that was attended by a lobby group pushing for laws that would allow small businesses to sell pot legally to recreational users.
Once Ms. Dawson has completed the interviews, she will decide whether a full-scale investigation is required into Liberal Party fundraisers.
BOMBARDIER WANTS $1BILLION FOR FINANCIAL FLEXIBILITY
Bombardier says it's still looking for federal financial assistance despite forecasting strong earnings growth in 2017 and enough cash to achieve to its turnaround plan.
Chief executive Alain Bellemare told investors Thursday that the request made a year ago for US$1 billion in funding would add financial flexibility to manage unexpected risks or to develop its next aircraft program.
WHACKING EAGLES GETS THE OBAMA OKAY
The Obama administration on Wednesday finalized a rule that lets wind-energy companies operate high-speed turbines for up to 30 years — even if means killing or injuring thousands of federally protected bald and golden eagles.
$2 TRILLION AND COUNTING
Canadian household debt has cracked the two-trillion-dollar ceiling.
The appetite for bank borrowing remained unabated in the third quarter, setting fresh records for total credit and mortgage borrowing, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday. The widely-followed ratio of household debt to after-tax income rose to another record high of almost 167 percent.
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
BRITAIN'S DISASTROUS GREEN ENERGY
On Monday, the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) released a study showing that between 2008, when the U.K. Parliament approved a new green energy law, and 2020, the cost of “green” regulations will add nearly $1,000 a year to ordinary Britons’ home heating costs.
During that 12-year period, government efforts to “decarbonize” the British economy will cost consumers and businesses more than $210 billion. That’s more than $3,200 for every person in Britain.
It’s time for Canada to cut its losses and stop the “green” energy madness. Call it “clean” energy, “green” energy or “alternate” energy. Whatever you call it, two things about it are certain: It has never succeeded anywhere on a grand scale and it costs a fortune either in higher taxes, lost jobs or skyrocketing energy bills.
PM TRUDEAU'S PATHETIC DEFENCE
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came up with a new line of defence to justify Liberal Party cash-for-access fundraisers that are held in the homes of wealthy Canadians, telling Parliament he goes to these events to talk up his plan to tax the rich and help the struggling middle class.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
OTTAWA'S INCREASING DEMAND FOR NEIGHBOURING AMBULANCES
In 2008, the province removed a regulation that let municipalities present each other with bills for paramedic services they’d rendered each year, spelling out a formula for how the costs were to be worked out and the terms under which the bills had to be paid. When the regulation was in force, we made long-term deals to settle up at the end of each year, but those expired at the end of 2015. Now, Renfrew or Leeds-Grenville or Prescott-Russell can send Ottawa a demand for money but Ottawa can ignore it.
The neighbour counties say Ottawa’s demand for their ambulances has increased since we stopped paying for them at the end of last year. Surprise.
The neighbour counties say Ottawa’s demand for their ambulances has increased since we stopped paying for them at the end of last year. Surprise.
COUNTING WYNNE'S LIES
“Electricity prices are the prime example that I have been wrestling with lately,” she said. Improving the system in recent years has made it more environmentally friendly and reliable
Ontario is creating more jobs than other provinces and attracting new businesses but the economic recovery “is still uneven” including in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton, says Premier Kathleen Wynne.
OPTIMISM IN THE CANADIAN OILPATCH
A dramatic jump in oil prices linked to the promise of lower global production is fuelling hope that the Canadian oil sector may soon recover from a two-year economic slump.
Observers say they are optimistic that Saudi Arabia, the top exporter in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is committed to cut exports to reduce a global oil glut that has depressed prices and contributed to thousands of layoffs in Western Canada.
PREMIERS' APPROVAL RATINGS
Beleaguered by the fallout of her government’s sale of Hydro One and under pressure from the Ontario auditor general for not spending the proceeds of that sale in the most effective way possible – Premier Kathleen Wynne’s job performance approval among Ontarians has dropped to 16 per cent.
This represents an all-time low based on same-source data tracked by the Angus Reid Institute since her February 2013 swearing-in as premier, and a four-point drop since September, largely driven by a deeply unpopular decision to sell the provincial utility.
GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY
The federal government's bid to merge 1,500 departmental and agency websites into a single site, Canada.ca, is a year behind schedule and almost 10 times over budget. And experts warn it is on track to be another failed government IT project, like the Phoenix pay system.
Monday, December 12, 2016
TIME TO REIN IN PRIVATE CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONS
Together, private and public charitable foundations are apparently sitting on trillions of dollars of assets.
These organizations have grown to massive size -- and are poorly, if at all, regulated. Instead of meeting the charitable needs of citizens that government funds were inadequate to provide for, foundations are regularly being misused to fund organizations and outfits antithetical to our best interests, disenfranchising us and working at cross purposes to the desires and beliefs of most Americans.
MEANINGLESS AGREEMENTS OF LIBERAL CARBON POLICY
The prime minister resorted to a mushy porridge of twee to describe the framework to cover for its severe defectiveness, pronouncing that he and the premiers had done “what Canadians expected of us, and of themselves, to do all we can to make our world better for our children and grandchildren.” Trudeau was determined to come up with something he could call a plan to avoid becoming the fourth prime minister to commit to emission targets without actually having a way to meet them. Perhaps he considers it progress that, instead of no plan, he now has a weak plan complete with exit clauses and lacking the full support of the provinces it relies on
CORRIVEAU TO APPEAL SPONSORSHIP FRAUD CONVICTION
Convicted ex-Liberal organizer Jacques Corriveau is appealing his fraud conviction related to the federal sponsorship scandal.
In a motion filed at the Quebec Court of Appeal earlier this month, Corriveau's lawyers argue the trial judge erred by not granting a stay of proceedings before the trial began this fall.
Last month, a jury found Corriveau guilty of three charges: fraud against the government, forgery and laundering proceeds of crime.
CHRISTMAS TREE LAWSUIT
The American Civil Liberties Union is taking aim at one small Indiana town’s Christmas tree.
The ACLU of Indianapolis is suing the town of Knightstown over a Christmas tree because it includes a lighted cross at the top of the tree
The ACLU of Indianapolis is suing the town of Knightstown over a Christmas tree because it includes a lighted cross at the top of the tree
Sunday, December 11, 2016
HAPPY SOCIALIST CHRISTMAS
'Toys for Socialist Tots' appears to be the latest scheme dreamed up by Venezuela's President Maduro to keep the people from the verge of outright revolution. As Bloomberg reports, Venezuela price regulators on Friday seized almost 4 million toys from warehouses around greater Caracas and said they’d distribute them to low income children ahead of the Christmas holiday.
PAYING TO BE BRAINWASHED
Leaked footage has emerged of Charles Jaco when he was the CNN anchor made internationally famous for heroically covering the 1990 Persian Gulf War.
The first part of this video shows the stage set he was on while he clowns around with fellow CNN staff. The Saudi Arabian “hotel” in the background is adorned by fake palm trees and a blue wall in a studio. This clip was leaked by CNN staff.
The first part of this video shows the stage set he was on while he clowns around with fellow CNN staff. The Saudi Arabian “hotel” in the background is adorned by fake palm trees and a blue wall in a studio. This clip was leaked by CNN staff.
MAPPING REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT IN USA
The Obama administration admitted nearly 85,000 refugees into the United States in fiscal year 2016, the highest number since 1999. Moreover, as we noted back in September, Obama's administration has laid the groundwork to increase that number even further in fiscal year 2017 to 110,000.
Of course, not every state is doing their "fair share" to house the massive influx of immigrants with Pew Research Center recently pointing out that the top ten states are taking in 54% of refugees.
Of course, not every state is doing their "fair share" to house the massive influx of immigrants with Pew Research Center recently pointing out that the top ten states are taking in 54% of refugees.
AL GORE BULLSH!T: PART TWO
The man who has become extraordinarily wealthy traversing the globe in fossil fuel-burning jet aircraft while preaching the dangers of fossil fuels is back.
Al Gore will be the belle of the Climate Church Ball at the Sundance Film Festival next month.
Al Gore will be the belle of the Climate Church Ball at the Sundance Film Festival next month.
IT IS TIME TO DESTROY THE IPCC
Dr. Tim Ball: The Trump administration is well aware of the political use and scientific abuse of climate for a political agenda. I learned how aware while attending the Heritage Foundation Climate Conference on Thursday December 8 in Washington D.C. The majority of the public sense there is something wrong as reflected in their lack of concern measured in all polls. They will be very angry when the extent of the deception is explained to them, as will happen as the new administration lays out the foundation for their policies. The question is what happens going forward.
RETURN OF THE POOOLAAAR VOOOORTEX
Global temperatures are plummeting at a record rate – but if there’s one thing even more likely than a white Christmas, it’s that the greenies will try to blame it on man-made climate change. To you or me, this might be an indication that climate is going through a perfectly natural cooling phase. But you can bet your bottom dollar that the alarmists will use the latest polar vortex activity to try to prop up their narrative that it is dangerous, unprecedented, and man-made.
STEM CELL RESEARCH COMPANY IN TORONTO
Drug maker Bayer AG and biotech venture-capital firm Versant Ventures are investing $225-million to create a Toronto-based stem-cell research company, a move with the potential to establish Canada as a global centre for the commercialization of regenerative-medicine therapies.
TOLERANCE IN LIBERAL ONTARIO
Poor Sam Oosterhoff. Here he is just 19, a home-schooled farm kid from Ontario wine country, newly landed in The Big Smoke and keen to make his mark as the province’s youngest-ever MPP. But his political career is already doomed. He’s the only one in the Legislature who doesn’t appear to see it.
Reason: Oosterhoff is an orthodox Christian and a social conservative, in an era when being such is tantamount to thought crime, punishable by revulsion, penalty to be administered by flash mob on social media. This is the new face of tolerance in liberal Ontario.
Reason: Oosterhoff is an orthodox Christian and a social conservative, in an era when being such is tantamount to thought crime, punishable by revulsion, penalty to be administered by flash mob on social media. This is the new face of tolerance in liberal Ontario.
CAR CRASHES & CHRISTMAS TREES IN MONTREAL
Congratulations, Montrealers!
We’ve had two stunning media coups the last week like nothing I recall in years — twin stories that have put Montreal’s name on the world’s lips.
We’ve had two stunning media coups the last week like nothing I recall in years — twin stories that have put Montreal’s name on the world’s lips.
DISAGREEING WITH TRUDEAU'S CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared victory Friday in his campaign to craft a national "framework" agreement on climate change — even though Saskatchewan and Manitoba refused to sign on to the deal and British Columbia claimed a major carve-out.
Even as Trudeau was asserting the provinces and territories "are all in this together," it was painfully apparent that major divisions remain.
And Wall and Trudeau openly squabbled during the closing news conference as the two continued a debate that appeared to have started behind closed doors.
At one point Trudeau rolled his eyes and shook his head in apparent exasperation at what the Saskatchewan premier was saying
Even as Trudeau was asserting the provinces and territories "are all in this together," it was painfully apparent that major divisions remain.
And Wall and Trudeau openly squabbled during the closing news conference as the two continued a debate that appeared to have started behind closed doors.
At one point Trudeau rolled his eyes and shook his head in apparent exasperation at what the Saskatchewan premier was saying
LIBERALS HIDING ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CARBON TAX
Wall has said he will not sign any agreement that imposes a carbon tax on Saskatchewan, in part because he says the federal government hasn’t done enough to study how many jobs could be lost or how it will affect prices for consumers. “If we want to build or replace a culvert in a ditch, if there are two frogs and a fish affected we have to do an environmental impact assessment,” he said.
“Well, here we are making this huge change in how we do business in Canada … and there’s been no economic impact assessment from the feds.”
“Well, here we are making this huge change in how we do business in Canada … and there’s been no economic impact assessment from the feds.”
Saturday, December 10, 2016
REFUSAL TO LEARN THE LESSON OF BREXIT
The parallels between the U.K.’s shocking approval of the Brexit referendum in June and the U.S.’s even more shocking election of Donald Trump as president Tuesday night are overwhelming. While elite circles gorged themselves on globalism, free trade, Wall Street casino gambling, and endless wars (wars that enriched the perpetrators and sent the poorest and most marginalized to bear all their burdens), they completely ignored the victims of their gluttony.
EUROZONE WILL END IN TEARS
The EU and the euro project have been an economic disaster for all participants, including Germany, which will eventually be forced to write off the hard-earned savings she has lent to other Eurozone members. We know, with absolute certainty, that the euro will self-destruct and the Eurozone will disintegrate.
NEW PRIESTS EXPECTED TO PREACH GLOBAL WARMING
The Catholic Church is intimately concerned about climate change. The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences is the world’s oldest, longest running scientific mission. That body, which advises the pope on matters of science, has concluded that global climate change is real and is caused, at least in significant part, by human activity.
TRUMP: TARIFF OR TAX IF CO WANTS TO LEAVE USA
Friday at a rally for Louisiana Senate candidate Republican John Kennedy in Baton Rouge, President-elect Donald Trump restated his proposal to impose a “substantial tariff or tax,” on the imports of companies that move production out of the United States.
CLINTON SPENT $1.2 BILLION ON ELECTION
Hillary Clinton could have bought a decent-sized chunk of New York real estate with the $1.2 billion that she raised and spent for her losing election, according to a new report by the New York Post.
In contrast, Donald Trump raised and spent $600 million in his narrow and shocking victory. That budget includes $66 million of his own cash.
In contrast, Donald Trump raised and spent $600 million in his narrow and shocking victory. That budget includes $66 million of his own cash.
HILLARY LOST. BLAME THE RUSSIANS
U.S. intelligence officials accused Russia of being behind the hacking as part of an effort to interfere with the presidential campaign.
Friday, December 9, 2016
THE OMNISCIENT BIDEN
Global efforts to turn back climate change irreversible, Biden tells premiers.
Just like the science is settled, eh Joe?
CLARK & WALL OPPOSING PARTS OF CLIMATE PLAN
The first ministers meeting on climate change hit a roadblock Friday afternoon as B.C. and Saskatchewan signalled serious concerns with the proposed national plan.
Relations between the Prime Minister's Office and B.C. Premier Christy Clark have become increasingly tense in the past 48 hours, sources said. Clark will not agree to a deal unless she can get assurances that all jurisdictions will have to reduce emissions equally.
WHEN DAUGHTERS STEP UP
LAMBERTON, Minn. – Miranda and Kaycee Altermatt were just 20 and 22 when their grandfather asked them a question that would alter the course of their lives.
Days earlier their father had been killed in a boating accident, leaving a 1,300-acre family farm in crisis.
“Do you want to farm?” Mark Altermatt asked his granddaughters.
“We’re going to help,” they answered.
“That ain't what I'm asking you,” Mark pressed. “I know you'll help us take the crop out, but I want to know if you want to farm.”
This fall, Kaycee and Miranda completed their fifth harvest, further proving to their neighbors and relatives the sisters are in farming for the long haul.
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