Bye Bye B.B.

Another great one passes...

None of America's mid-east allies trust Obama on Iran deal

CAMP DAVID, Md. — President Obama on Thursday offered Saudi Arabiaand smaller states in the Arab world new defenses against potential missile attacks and maritime and cyberthreats from Iran, an effort to allay their fears that a nuclear accord with Tehran will empower their main rival in the Middle East.

But in a daylong meeting here, Mr. Obama stopped short of offering a formal defense pact that would obligate the United States to come to the nations’ aid if they were attacked. Instead, he tried to reassure them that he was committed to their security and willing to help them counter Iran. The Saudis and other Arab nations in the Gulf Cooperation Council say that lifting oil and financial sanctions, as called for in the nuclear deal, will allow Iran to expand its influence from Iraq to Syria to Yemen...

Treating everyone equally "isn't what is fair" - Justin Trudeau is still too stupid to be Prime Minister

Tories demand for a more interesting debate format

The Conservative party’s decision to end traditionally formatted political debate is a welcome one. And it’s strategically brilliant to boot.

Social media has brought many changes to many people. Certainly one of them is that even live performances tend to feel cumbersome and superfluous.

In an era in which everything is sliced, diced and parsed for its highlights within seconds of actually happening, live events now seem like an unnecessary evil. Why endure the whole thing when you can catch a recap of the highlights by waiting a short period of time?

That’s why the federal Conservatives’ strategy of effectively shutting down the tightly controlled, often-stultifying format of the election debates traditionally run by the major networks – CTV, CBC and Shaw Media, which owns Global – is so strategically clever.

For too long now, election debates have been run by a moderator juggling a series of arcane rules that often seemed designed to ensure any real exchanges ended before they got interesting. Monologues were the order of the day, interspersed with bouts of partisan heckling by opponents desperate to score points with viewers.

Now, that game is changing thanks to the Tory’s demand that debates be precisely that. And in doing so, they have also found a way to exploit the format to its greatest advantage and spicing up the drudgery of a lengthy, live event...

How Illiberal Liberals Ruined College

The root of nearly every free-speech infringement on campuses across the country is that someone—almost always a liberal—has been offended or has sniffed out a potential offense in the making. Then, the silencing campaign begins. The offender must be punished, not just for justice’s sake, but also to send the message to anyone else on campus that should he or she stray off the leftist script, they too might find themselves investigated, harassed, ostracized, or even expelled. If the illiberal left can preemptively silence opposing speakers or opposing groups— such as getting a speech or event canceled, or denying campus recognition for a group—even better.

In a 2014 interview with New York magazine, comedian Chris Rock told journalist Frank Rich that he had stopped playing college campuses because of how easily the audiences were offended. Rock said he realized some time around 2006 that “This is not as much fun as it used to be” and noted George Carlin had felt the same way before he died. Rock attributed it to “Kids raised on a culture of ‘We’re not going to keep score in the game because we don’t want anybody to lose.’ Or just ignoring race to a fault. You can’t say ‘the black kid over there.’ No, it’s ‘the guy with the red shoes.’ You can’t even be offensive on your way to being inoffensive.” Sadly, Rock admitted that the climate of hypersensitivity had forced him and other comedians into self-censorship. 

This Orwellian climate of intimidation and fear chills free speech and thought. On college campuses it is particularly insidious... 

University of Virginia Dean Sues Rolling Stone for $7.5 Million, Makes One Hell of a Case

Today Rolling Stone was hit with the first, much-anticipated lawsuit stemming from Sabrina Rubin Erdely’s “Jackie” story: University of Virginia Associate Dean of Students Nicole Eramo has filed a $7.5 million suit against the magazine.

Eramo, who was chosen by Erdely and her editors as a manifestation of UVA’s purported indifference to the plight of rape victims, claims the magazine made categorically false statements that resulted in undeserved shaming and abuse. Rolling Stone acted with “actual malice,” according to the lawsuit, since Erdely had every reason to suspect that her source for the story—Jackie—was lying. Indeed, Erdely has already admitted to feelings of nervousness about the story’s veracity around the time of its publication...

  Era Mo Rollingstone Complaint

#FHRITP: Did Hydro One overreact after reporter's reaction went viral

Salon: The left has Islam all wrong: Bill Maher, Pamela Geller and the reality progressives must face

Whatever her views on other matters are, Pamela Geller is right about one thing: last week’s Islamist assault on the “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest she hosted in Texas proves the jihad against freedom of expression has opened a front in the United States.  “There is,” she said, “a war on free speech and this violent attack is a harbinger of things to come.”  Apparently undaunted, Geller promises to continue with such “freedom of speech” events.  ISIS is now threatening to assassinate her.  She and her cohorts came close to becoming victims, yet some in the media on the right and the center-right have essentially blamed her for the gunmen’s attack, just as far too many, last January, surreptitiously pardoned the Kouachi brothers and, with consummate perfidy to human decency, inculpated the satirical cartoonists they slaughtered, saying “Charlie Hebdo asked for it.”

No...

Canada's government under increased pressure to declare Muslim Brotherhood a terror group

MONTREAL — The federal government is coming under increased pressure to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terror outfit, as more evidence piles up that the group has tentacles in Canada.

Its two main offshoots, Hamas and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, are listed as terrorist organizations in Canada.

The last Canadian organization to be added to the list is the alleged Hamas fundraiser IRFAN-Canada, which has worked closely with the Brotherhood, according to an RCMP warrant.

A source tells QMI that the Brotherhood itself, long considered the ideological godfather of Islamist terrorism, has also been under close watch by security officials.

A QMI investigation found that top Brotherhood leaders have lived in Canada for decades. They have led pro-Sharia organizations and sent money and resources to groups that the RCMP and the Canada Revenue Agency say are owned or controlled by Hamas.

Brotherhood-linked facilities have invited extremist speakers to Canada who defended child suicide bombers, amputation for thieves and stoning for adulterers.

A U.S. terror financing trial heard a secret Brotherhood plan for North America calling for a "grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house."...

Which reminds me, whatever happened to that lawsuit by the National Council of Canadian Muslims against the Prime Minister's office for saying they have "documented ties to a terrorist organization?"

More evidence universities are populated by morons: Classical Mythology Too Triggering for Columbia Students

In Columbia University's student newspaper, four members of the school's student Multicultural Affairs Advisory Board call on professors to be more sensitive when teaching provocative or controversial material... such as the Roman classical poet Ovid.

Ovid is best known for The Metamorphoses, a 15-book narrative poem that covers more than 250 mythological stories. Written entirely in dactylic hexameter, The Metamorphoses inspired future writers from Dante to Chaucer to Shakespeare. Whether or not it's something today's students should spend time on may be up for debate, but I think most people can understand why an instructor teaching it would focus on things like the language and imagery invoked. 

Not these Columbia students, however. See, some of the myths Ovid recounts involve sexual violence. Zeus' daughter Persephone (aka Prosperina), for instance, is kidnapped, raped, and taken as a bride by Hades, king of the underworld. The op-ed writers suggest this ancient Greek and Roman myth is too triggering to be taught in today's classroom: 

During the week spent on Ovid’s "Metamorphoses," the class was instructed to read the myths of Persephone and Daphne, both of which include vivid depictions of rape and sexual assault. As a survivor of sexual assault, the student described being triggered while reading such detailed accounts of rape throughout the work. However, the student said her professor focused on the beauty of the language and the splendor of the imagery when lecturing on the text. As a result, the student completely disengaged from the class discussion as a means of self-preservation. She did not feel safe in the class. When she approached her professor after class, the student said she was essentially dismissed, and her concerns were ignored...

The Oberlin College choir responds to the Christina Sommers controversy

A little background HERE

UKIP’s National Executive Committee voted to reject Nigel Farage’s resignation as party leader

Nigel Farage’s political career has been dramatically resurrected after UKIP’s National Executive Committee (NEC) voted to reject his resignation as party leader.

Farage announced his resignation on Friday morning in the wake of his defeat in South Thanet. He had repeatedly stated that he would resign if he failed to win election to the seat, and said he would “take a break” from politics.

However, UKIP chairman Steve Crowther said the NEC had “unanimously” rejected Farage’s resignation, claiming the election campaign had been a “great success”.

“As promised, Nigel Farage tendered his official resignation as leader of Ukip to the NEC,” Crowther said. “This offer was unanimously rejected by the NEC members, who produced overwhelmingly evidence that the Ukip membership did not want Nigel to go.”

He added: “We have fought a positive campaign with a very good manifesto and despite relentless, negative attacks and an astonishing last minute swing to the Conservatives over fear of the SNP, that in these circumstances, 4 million votes was an extraordinary achievement...

What’s the Point of a Professor?

ATLANTA — IN the coming weeks, two million Americans will earn a bachelor’s degree and either join the work force or head to graduate school. They will be joyous that day, and they will remember fondly the schools they attended. But as this unique chapter of life closes and they reflect on campus events, one primary part of higher education will fall low on the ladder of meaningful contacts: the professors.

That’s what students say. Oh, they’re quite content with their teachers; after all, most students receive sure approval. In 1960, only 15 percent of grades were in the “A” range, but now the rate is 43 percent, making “A” the most common grade by far.

Faculty members’ attitudes are kindly, too. In one national survey, 61 percent of students said that professors frequently treated them “like a colleague/peer,” while only 8 percent heard frequent “negative feedback about their academic work.” More than half leave the graduation ceremony believing that they are “well prepared” in speaking, writing, critical thinking and decision-making....

Hate Laws, Israel Boycotts, CBC Lies, Jew-Haters, and Free Speech

Today Neil Macdonald, a CBC reporter who has often demonstrated particular animus towards Israel and its supporters, wrote a story with the inflammatory and misleading headline," Ottawa threatening hate charges against those who boycott Israel." 

Former Liberal Party strategist and political consultant Warren Kinsella infused some perspective in the discussion of Macdonald's tome by calling it what it is, "anti-Israel horseshit" that gives lots of space to Israel's enemies and none to its supporters.

Kinsella quite accurately noted that the "story simply does not back up the shocker of a headline, that the federal government is “threatening” critics of Israel with criminal charges.  The screed is loaded with phrases and words like “could,” “would be,” “if,” “appears,” and so on.  There is no proof, anywhere, that Ottawa has charged a single person or group. And that raises another factual error: to prosecute a hate crime, you first need the approval of the provincial Attorney General – not “Ottawa.” 

I'm not a fan of the demented fanatics whose existences are devoted to destroying Israel through boycotts, but Hate Crimes prosecution is not the way to deal with them, and as Kinsella pointed out, there's no evidence it will happen in Canada. 

The government is correct. The effort to boycott and eliminate Israel IS the new face of anti-Semitism. The anti-Israel vermin who say that the concept of a Jewish state is "racist" have no apparent problem with any other form of ethno-nationalism in the entire world, particularly not Palestinian nationalism.  There are over two dozen countries in the world with Jus sanguinis (right of blood) laws of citizenship, including Italy, South Korea, Ireland, Hungary, and Greece, but according to the Jew-haters, the only example of such laws being "racist" is that of Israel. Twenty percent of Israel's citizens are Muslim Arabs, who have full rights of enfranchisement, are not subject to segregation in any way, serve in that country's the military, on its Supreme Court, hold senior positions in the diplomatic corps and hold elected positions in the national legislature. The Palestinians have laws imposing the death penalty for selling land to a Jew, have proclaimed no Jews will be allowed to live in a future Palestinian state, and the Palestinian government in Gaza has a founding charter which actually calls for the killing of all Jews.

But according to Canada's anti-Israel activists, it's Israel which practices "apartheid."

Such people aren't only anti-Semites, as Canada's government has said; they're also pathological liars.

But hate speech laws are not the way to oppose them. There's a much better way of dealing with those cretins that doesn't do anything to inhibit genuine free speech in Canada. Expose them for what they are and shun them to the extent that no credible person could justify any relationship with them. Not only is it effective, but it can be fun.

At one of the City of Toronto's Executive Committee Hearings a couple of years ago, I gave a brief talk about my opposition to public funding for Toronto's Gay Pride Parade if it included participation by a bizarre hate group called "Queers Against Israeli Apartheid."  The Gay Pride Parade is different than the week-long Pride Festival, the latter of which involves no formal participation by the motley collection of anti-Israel fanatics. However both the Parade and the Festival are important symbols of support for the Gay community and I'm strongly in favor of them. But I'm not in favor of my tax dollars subsidizing a platform for a gang of anti-Semites to spew their venom. 

At one point in my talk, I referred to the pathetic clique of anti-Israel Jews who, desperate for attention and relevance in their otherwise meaningless lives, allow themselves to be displayed up front, like clowns leading a circus parade, to try to deflect charges of anti-Semitism leveled against them.  I refer to such people as Munchausen Jews, since the only value of their "Jewishness" is their masturbatory need to get attention for themselves as "anti-Israel activists." In fact, some of these so-called "Independent Jewish Voices" aren't even Jews. 

Speaking to the city's Executive Committee, I compared those Jews to kapos, those handful of Jews who helped the Nazis during the Holocaust. In fact, I'm of the opinion they're even worse than kapos, since relatively few people outside of those directly involved knew the extent of Hitler's mechanized infrastructure of mass-murder. But today, fully aware of the possibilities, some of these "Independent Jewish Voices" show up in support of the genocidal Iranian dictatorship at the deranged annual al Quds day rallies calling for Israel's destruction. 

One such person took so much offense at my speech that she walked up to me  after I was finished and while I was speaking to an acquaintance, came up within a couple of feet of me, glaring with hate. She was a wretched-looking woman, about fifty, but with a face lined with bitter crevasses formed from decades of being misery.  An foul woman of no intellectual prowess and no beauty, her "social justice activism" was her sole badge of noteworthiness.  She was enraged that I or anyone could dare to denigrate the one thing that gave her existence meaning.  She seemed to think that her infuriated gaze would make me contrite, or perhaps cause me to melt from its inflamed passion. 

Without interrupting my jovial conversation  I glanced at her, smiled slightly as I would if an interesting insect had crawled by, and then ignored her until she went away. That seemed to really piss her off. 

If you heard someone say that they have "identified a racial contract" that "assumes a collusion of interests between the Canadian and Israeli states, "and that Canadian Jews' support for Prime Minister Stephen Harper is rooted in their ambition, as a community "to maintain its place in the racial order," there's agood chance you'd assume you were listening to some crazy Nazi. It was one of those fanatical anti-Israel "Independent Jewish Voices" who actually said that. 

via twitter

Such people, as repugnant as they are, have a right to say what they want and to boycott what they want without threat of criminal sanction.  

And so do the rest of us.

Despite what these pseudo-intellectual creeps may say, criticizing the speech of someone is not suppressing free speech. If they have the right to boycott Israel, then the rest of us have the right to boycott such deplorable hatemongers, and to advocate to deny public funding and tax-exemptions to them and anyone who employs them.

US President Woodrow Wilson once said, "I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking."

I agree with Wilson (and hope he wasn't talking about me), and like the fact that the most vile people in our society have free speech, because that way we know who they are. Exposing them is much more effective than making martyrs of them by trying to shut them up.

It's critical to remember that if we want to claim to be a free society, we can't take free speech away from even the most terrible of people, for to do so threatens free speech for all of us. 

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Cross posted at THE REBEL

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown about the failings of Ontario's education system

Drawing the prophet Mohammed on Saturday Night Live

Check this out before it's forced off YouTube:



UPDATE: It turns out SNL stole the bit, like completely stole it outright, from Canada's This Hour Has 22 Minutes

Sacramento State U offers a History course that doesn't teach history

Sacramento State University will now allow an anthropology course to fulfill the school’s general education history requirement, a decision that has prompted fierce debate, with history scholars noting it effectively allows students to take a “history” class that doesn’t even mention either World War, among other important topics.

As it stands, the anthropology class will reportedly focus on “the intersection of race, class, gender, ethnicity and sexuality; the political economy of institutions and ideas, such as racism, classism, sexual stereotyping, family, religion, state, color blindness, multiculturalism, etc.; and, discourses of cultural diversity in the U.S.”

Sacramento State history professors had appealed the decision, but their request was denied. “[I]t appears the change is a done deal,” reports Inside Higher Ed. Sacramento State campus officials did not respond to emails and phone calls by The College Fix on Thursday seeking comment. A spokesperson who answered the phone said a comment would be produced by Thursday evening. None was.

Sacramento State history professor Joseph Palermo, who teaches a course that currently fulfills the requirement, wrote a scathing opinion piece in which he attacked the idea that an anthropology class is an acceptable substitute, writing an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee that:

The new introductory “history” course leaves out, among other things, the Progressive Era, World War I, women’s suffrage, the Great Depression, FDR, the New Deal, World War II, McCarthyism, the Cold War, the Korean War, the nuclear arms race, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the JFK assassination, Freedom Summer, the United Farm Workers Union, the Vietnam War, Stonewall, Watergate, Second Wave Feminism, the Iranian hostage crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Gulf War, globalization, the 9/11 attacks, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Swapping an anthropology course for American history will leave our freshmen and sophomores little understanding of how American institutions have changed through time...

This comes as no surprise. Queen's University in Canada offers a History course where facts are deemed secondary to feelings...

Drinking Wine with William Shatner

Even at 84 years old William Shatner is still looking hopefully toward the future—and toward the next great glass of wine. His Web show, Brown Bag Wine Tasting, which enters its second season on Ora TV on May 20, was created out of Shatner’s love of wine and conversation. Past Brown Bag Wine Tasting episodes have included Alton Brown, Misha Collins, Adam Carolla, and some of Shatner’s non-celebrity friends; a butcher, a marijuana dealer, a plastic surgeon, a horse trainer, a clown, a personal trainer, and a cheesemonger. Season 2’s guests will include Matt Walsh from Veep and Wil Wheaton from Star Trek...

Patrick Brown wins Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership

Partick Brown is the new leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.

There have been concerns about Brown's "social conservativism" by some of his critics within the party, and it's something that has been grossly exaggerated by Liberal and NDP supporters.

I've met Brown on a few occasions during the campaign and had extensive conversations with his campaign leadership. Brown is smart, and only an idiot would focus on the social policies about which the fearmongers are screaming.

Brown's priorities will be economic stability and ending some of the nanny-state idiocy that Kathleen Wynne has been imposing on Ontario. Some of that has been Wynne's radical Sex Ed curriculum, the architect of which was convicted pedophile Ben Levin. But that doesn't mean Brown is opposed to Sex Ed. Ontario has had a successful Sex Education program since the mid-90's. There's no evidence that contemporary school kids are stumbling around in sexual confusion.

Gay Rights and abortion will not be touched by Brown. The hysterics who insist he'll be altering that don't seem to understand the role of the Premier in government and legislation. But even if Brown could do something about that, he wouldn't, for the simple reason that he's not insane, and to attack the status quo on those issues would be political suicide.

From discussions I've had with him, it's apparent that Brown also clearly understands the need to engage new constituencies and integrate new ideas in the Ontario Progressive Conservative party. He's not looking to pick a war with unions or anyone or thing other than the devastatingly bad, corrupt economic leadership that Kathleen Wynne and her predecessor Dalton McGuinty inflicted on Ontario.

The good news is that Ontarians can now look forward to an effective Opposition at Queen's Park. That's something Ontario hasn't had in four elections and is long overdue.

Rob Ford friend acquitted of drug charges; Judge implies cop is a liar and police brass were trying to set up Ford

Former Toronto mayor Rob Ford's close friend Sandro Lisi had all drug charges against him thrown out of court, with the judge strongly suggesting that the undercover police officer who testified against him was lying.

The judge also made it plain that top Toronto police brass, with the implication being former chief and current federal Liberal Party candidate Bill Blair, were trying to engineer charges against Rob Ford.

The whole matter is a disgrace and merits a full investigation of possible politically-influenced corruption in the Toronto Police Services.

...Justice Ramez Khawly dismissed all charges against Ford’s friend and former driver Alexander (Sandro) Lisi and his co-accused, Jamshid (Jay) Bahrami.

“It would be naive to suggest Lisi was investigated in a vacuum. The connection to the mayor of Toronto loomed large,” Khawly said in his two-hour-long decision.

Police would not put the resources after “such small fry” the judge said. They were after “big game.”

Khawly said the case really fell apart because he found the key witness — an undercover Toronto police officer — to be unreliable and not credible. He said the officer was under intense pressure from top police brass to build a strong case against “the big enchilada” — Ford — and his friend Lisi...