Justin Trudeau's deep thoughts...

Doug Ford taking over Rob's ballot spot throws a monkey wrench at the Tory and Chow strategies

The message from Toronto mayoral candidate John Tory was that he would be Rob Ford without the personal scandals.

Rob Ford's brother, Etobicoke Ward 2 Councilor Doug Ford, is Rob Ford without the personal scandals, right down to their shared DNA. Doug is neither a drinker or a partier and is every bit the fiscal conservative that Rob Ford is.

Tory, relying on Ford voters fed up with the mayor's antics to form the bulk of his support,  now is faced with voters having a new alternative as Doug replaced Rob as a mayoral candidate yesterday. With Rob Ford's unshakable support likely to stay in place for Doug, Tory will have to fight hard to keep his voter base from hemorrhaging to the Ford camp.

Olivia Chow faces the same problem with Doug Ford's entry into the mayoral race. Chow, who is childless, based her election platform on the inane mantra,  "Rob Ford is not a good role model for my grandchildren."

But Rob Ford isn't running for mayor anymore. Now the inarticulate, inept Olivia Chow will have to run on her merits, and being the widow of Jack Layton, as her steady decline in the polls suggest, isn't going to be nearly enough to make her a serious contender.

Chow may try to hammer away at Doug Ford for having stood by his brother Rob during his travails. Should she do that, it would likely backfire in a big way. All Chow attacking the elder Ford brother would accomplish would be to highlight that Doug is a loyal and devoted friend while Chow is not.

Less than a month ago, when Chow's top strategist Warren Kinsella sent out a foolhardy twitter "tweet" implying that John Tory was a racist, Chow immediately distanced herself from him in the most dishonest way possible. It was widely understood that Kinsella was running Chow's "war room"  rapid response team, yet Chow implausibly claimed that he was just "one of thousands" of her volunteers. (I won't go into the implausibility of Chow having "thousands" of volunteers for now.)

I'm not always a fan of Mr. Kinsella nor his tactics, but one thing that can be said in his favor is that while he is working for a candidate, he is fiercely passionate and gives it his all. Chow could have said that Kinsella was being over-enthusiastic, point out that he had already apologized for the tweet, and left it at that. But instead she insulted the intelligence of Toronto's voters by being obviously dishonest about Kinsella's role on her team, and threw a dedicated supporter of hers to the wolves.

Contrast that with Doug Ford, who stood by a campaign volunteer who stupidly assaulted a halfwit who decided to trespass at the Ford campaign office the other week. While the action of the volunteer was idiotic, the episode reminded people that Doug Ford is loyal to his supporters and Chow is not.

Beyond that, Chow's claim to restoring integrity to the mayor's office is belied by her continuing to lie about having lived in a federally-subsidized co-op apartment.

Election day in Toronto is six-and-a-half weeks away, on October 27. The only thing that's certain between now and then is that municipal politics in Toronto will have some interesting moments to come.

PM not an ‘entry-level job': NDP joins Conservatives in attacking Justin Trudeau’s credentials

EDMONTON — NDP Leader Tom Mulcair launched a spirited offensive Thursday against Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, echoing the governing Conservatives’ mockery of the inexperience of the man who leads opinion polls a year away from a federal election.

Mr. Mulcair, who has started framing the next election as a choice based on experience, riffed off of the “getting ready to lead” slogan used in the most recent Liberal ad.

“With just a year to go to the election, Canadians are being asked to sign another blank cheque to the Liberals. They won’t tell us what they’ll do, but they think it’s reassuring to tell us that their guy is getting ready,” Mr. Mulcair said...

Tarek Fatah: Prime Minister Harper of Canada was right – Islamism is a threat

“Islam is not a religion of peace. It’s not necessarily a religion of war, either, but it would be a lie to deny that its history and literature are seeped in armed jihad, assassinations and bloodshed that simply cannot be swept under a carpet.”

 

More HERE

Bernie Farber comes across as an idiot and a hypocrite

Former Canadian Jewish Congress boss and current attention-seeker Bernie Farber likes to characterize online writers who criticize his vacuous uttering as "bully bloggers."

Today, he tried to evoke an analogy between ailing Toronto mayor Rob Ford and neo-Nazis.

Irrelevance can breed a certain type of desperation in some people, but Farber's column in the city's chief advertising outlet for prostitution, NOW Magazine, is a particular low.

Bill Maher on Charlie Rose

Slow-down in blogging and weird Toronto International Film Festival audiences

Faithful readers of this blog will have noticed that there have been fewer posts as of late.

I am very grateful to all of my readers and want to let you know what's going on.

As many of you may know, I'm running for Public School Trustee in Toronto's Ward 10, so that's been placing additional demands on my time, and I had a pretty busy non-blogging life before that.

This week is also that of the Toronto International Film Festival and some of my industry friends have been in town and we've been catching up.

Film festivals in general are very strange, pretentious events and the Toronto festival, while not as bad as some, is no exception. And TIFF audiences are very weird.

A lot of people don't necessarily realize is that the vast majority of movies in film festival are absolute crap.

Movies go into festivals to try to create a buzz and sometimes get distribution and exposure.

If a movie is good, has wide distribution and appeal to more than niche audiences with low expectations, odds are it will already have a distribution deal and doesn't need festival exposure to get good press.

Sure there are exceptions, and some outstandingly so, but the odds are, when you see that movie that no one's ever heard of, there's good reason why no one has ever heard of it.

Toronto, the navel-gazing"World Class City," has the unfortunate, insecure habit of comparing itself to, and labeling itself whatever "North" when it is trying to seem important (e.g. "Hollywood North".. I mean really..does the New York film industry call itself "Hollywood East"? University of Toronto calling itself "Harvard North"...does Yale University call itself "Oxford West"?)

And TIFF audiences seem so thrilled to get a taste of Hollywood and sit in a now world-famous festival, that they will give a standing ovation to practically any piece of garbage that flickers on the screen in front of them.

And then there are the documentary audiences.

Documentaries are a regular feature of film festivals because that is more often than not the only time some of them will ever be seen.

But movies calling themselves documentaries these days frequently aren't really that, but polemics on film, that rather than document, cherry-pick information to try to reenforce a particular political point of view.

So, naturally the tend to only attract audiences already predisposed towards believing the argument they make, or in other words, they are just preaching to the converted.

Having been invited to some documentary premiers over the years, that 'preaching to the converted' term seems particularly apt for the weird TIFF documentary audiences. That's because, sitting among them, it felt to me like being in a secular tabernacle for fundamentalist nuts. One woman in her 60's sitting next to me kept saying a shocked "wow!' about every 12 seconds at a movie pontificating about an issue that is in the news every day. Other audience members were talking to the screen, as if they thought a digital projection of recorded images needed the endorsement of live people.

It's nights like that that make Netflix such an appealing alternative.

Anyway, that's what's been going on with me lately. I'll try to post from time-to-time still, but at least you know why there's been the slowdown.

There will be a very interesting endorsement of my TDSB Trustee campaign coming up in the next week or two, so stay posted. There's a great group who have already come on board!

Godwin's Law vs Klagsbrun's Law

Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Hitler or Nazism."

Klagsbrun's Law: "Anyone who claims to have won an argument by invoking Godwin's Law is probably an idiot."

Too much math education is based on pet theories

...In response to a petition signed by over 17,000 parents, the Alberta government included times table memorization in its curriculum this September. Manitoba added the same requirement one year ago but went a step further to include standard methods like long division and declared JUMP Math, developed by a Canadian charity, a recommended resource. The forward-thinking Winnipeg School Division, which is the largest division in Manitoba, will be adopting JUMP Math in many classrooms this fall. Last spring, Ontario Minister of Education Liz Sandals announced that children in Ontario should be required to memorize times tables, but the Ontario government has not taken formal action to ensure this...

Obama may be to western democracy what Gorbachev was to communism

The Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens believes America will survive and thrive beyond the incompetence of the Obama administration. I'm inclined to agree, but two more years of the current leadership in the White House is deeply worrying.

Read Stephens' article on Obama's meltdown HERE

TDSB Counsel rejects TDSB Education Director Quan's politicized witch hunt of Trustee Sam Sotiropolous

Whether or not one agrees with TDSB Trustee Sam Sotiropoluos' opinion about transexuals, he is an elected official with a responsibility to represent his constituents and be forthright about his views. That is particularly true with a municipal election coming up in a matter of weeks. If his constituents feel he is wrong, they will soon have an opportunity to replace him, or alternatively endorse him if they agree.

Toronto District School Board Education Director Donna Quan, under whose influence the curriculum has become increasingly politicized, to (in my opinion) the detriment of every student in Toronto's public school system, seems to feel that her ideology should trump the right to free speech guaranteed in Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Thank God we live in a country where she doesn't yet have her way. But with the conditioning that the TDSB's students are receiving, we should be very concerned about the future.

More at Socialist Studies

We Canadians may be all cute and furry, but don't mess with our territorial waters...

...The beaver approached Skerry, who said it seemed intent on attacking him.

“He was swimming much too close to me, and seemed to be zeroing in for a bite,” he said. “So I pushed him away with my flippers.”

The beaver obliged, and took up Mr. McNaughton as his victim. It pushed past Skerry, launched itself at McNaughton and sunk its teeth into him, ultimately gouging a 2-inch cavity into McNaughton’s thigh.

Initially unaware of the attack, and believing the beaver had only charged him, McNaughton realized the extent of the damage when blood began to surface.

“I looked into the water and saw all the blood,” Skerry said...

William Shatner on blogging

This was filmed just recently; last week recently at the Fan Expo in Toronto. I've seen Shatner in real life. He's 83 years old. He's frickin' 83 years old! What you see in the video is how he really looks. He's got to be the best looking, most vibrant 83 year old in the history of the planet. I mean this planet. Earth.

Michael Coren talks about terrorism and its enablers

Bee deaths must fuel focus on ecosystem

It’s as simple as the life-cycle lessons taught in elementary schools: The plants grow flowers; the bees, the butterflies and other creatures pollinate the plants.

Fruit is produced, feeding other creatures, and the cycle goes on.

Take the bees out of the mix, and it doesn’t take a scientist to figure out there’s a problem.

Out of the hive and into a courtroom comes an environmental crisis that dares to shake the fragile ecosystem and, some say, ultimately jeopardize the food supply.

This week, Canadian beekeepers launched a $450-million class-action lawsuit against seed/insecticide companies Bayer and Syngenta. With London law firm Siskinds LLP leading the charge, the apiarists allege that neonicotinoids, a family of pesticides applied as a coating on corn and soybean seeds and now banned by the European Union, is killing bees at an alarming rate...

'Eminent' prof of Gender and Sexuality studies pleads guilty to sex with underage boys overseas

...Walter Lee Williams, 65, admitted engaging in illegal sexual contact with minors in foreign places, entering the plea during a brief appearance before U.S. District Judge Phillip S. Gutierrez.

As part of a plea, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend that the onetime eminent professor of gender and sexuality studies serve no more than five years in a federal prison. He also would be subject to 10 years supervision upon release and must pay $25,000 in restitution to his seven victims. Williams will be sentenced Dec. 15...

The media rats are abandoning Olivia Chow's sinking ship

You know Olivia Chow has serious problems when even The Toronto Star, which practically dragooned her into entering Toronto's mayoral race in the first place, has now all but abandoned her campaign.

From The Star's Royson James today:

Olivia Chow is in trouble. The candidate for mayor is not connecting with voters. Her campaign appears disjointed and out of ideas that inspire. The entire enterprise is out of steam, crumbling just when it must soar...

...A reasonable calculation concludes it will take a miracle to salvage an unimaginative, lacklustre seven-month campaign seven weeks from voting day.

As Toronto turns its attention to the contest for mayor, post-Labour Day as anticipated, desperation has replaced smug confidence among the supporters of the candidate who led the polls for some six months.

More than one poll now positions Chow in third place among decided voters...

And this from The Globe and Mail's Marcus Gee:

...the problem with Ms. Chow’s campaign goes beyond policy and even politics. Her personal performance on the public stage has been lacklustre.

Jewish Museum murder suspect was ISIS captor and torturer in Syria

A freed French hostage has claimed that one of the Islamists who held him captive in Syria was the suspect in the Jewish Museum shooting in Brussels.

Nicolas Henin told Le Point magazine that Mehdi Nemmouche regularly tortured captives in Syria in 2013.

Four people were shot dead in the attack at the museum in May this year.

Mr Nemmouche was arrested in France shortly afterwards and extradited to Belgium for questioning. He faces a hearing on his detention next week...

Actor Bill Murray's in Mayor Rob Ford's corner

..."I haven't met him personally, but he's running again, he's running right now, but he's in the lead, right?" Murray said.

Upon learning that the incumbent mayor is actually in second place according to latest polls, he said, "Well, he's still got a shot at it. You know, sometimes, St. Paul was a tough guy for a long time and he turned out OK. I hope the best for Rob Ford."

The 63-year-old star, cool as a cucumber, also encouraged people to celebrate his special day in a more chilled way.

"I think they should just take it easy on themselves a little bit," he said. "I think they should just realize we're just flawed from tippy-toe, so rather instead of reacting, just watch a little bit and look at ourselves without any kind of judgement."

U.S teen arrested for writing story about shooting pet dinosaur

Alex Stone's school year is off to a rough start. The South Carolina teen was arrested on his second day of school on Aug. 16 after writing in an assignment about shooting his neighbour's pet dinosaur with a gun he bought to "take care of business."

The 16-year-old was charged with disorderly conduct and suspended for several days in the wake of a confrontation with school authorities.

Stone told a local television news station in Summerville that students had been instructed to write a few sentences about themselves as though it were a Facebook status update. Stone said he wrote a fictional story about killing his neighbour's pet dinosaur and that he doesn't think he did anything wrong.

His teacher obviously did, because the school's authorities were notified and police were called. Stone's school bag and locker were searched and police say the student was "irate" when school officials were asking him about the assignment. He was placed in handcuffs and was later charged because of his behaviour, not because of what he wrote, according to police. 

Stone's lawyer calls the arrest "absurd," in a statement on his website, and said he looks forward to defending his client in court. "This is a perfect example of 'political correctness' that has exceeded the boundaries of common sense," David Aylor said.