Tasha Kheiriddin:Trudeau’s cozy relationship with unions will end up costing us coin

Nice work if you can get it. At a campaign rally in Waterloo on September 15, a local union paid 23 members $100 each to stand behind Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau as he made an announcement about investing $750 million in worker training programs.

Problem was, the party didn’t declare the rent-a-crowd to Elections Canada. The Elections Commissioner has now ruled that the Liberals benefitted from the equivalent of a $2,300 donation, which the party has now paid to the Receiver General.

The Liberals claim they were unaware of the payments. But they certainly courted Big Labour’s support during the campaign. In “an open letter to Canadian public servants”published September 25, 2015, Trudeau pledged to repeal several bills that unions didn’t like...

GOP front runner in Iowa, Ted Cruz sits down with Chris Wallace for an exclusive interview

Shocking statements from York University's Vice President of Student Federation Operations in interview about anti-Israel mural

Give a listen to this interview with Gayle McFadden, York University's Vice President of Operations for the York Federation of Students on CBC Radio's As It Happens:



The interview comes in the wake of the news that philanthropist and businessman Paul Bronfman has withdrawn financial support for York University over its refusal to remove a controversial mural in its student centre which many Jews find deeply offensive. The mural portrays a Palestinian clutching large rocks, with the implication they are to be used against Israelis. Many Israelis have been murdered by Palestinian rock-throwers. Also in the mural is a map of Palestine in which Israel has been eradicated, reflecting the chant so often repeated by anti-Israel activists at York, "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." From the river to the sea refers to the entire territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, which includes both Israel and the Palestinian Territories and by "free" they mean free of Jews.

In defending her position not to remove the mural, McFadden continually deflects to the talking point that criticism of Israel is not of itself antisemitic. It's a strawman argument, since Bronfman himself concedes that point. However obsessive efforts to delegitimize Israel's right to exist, and to uniquely try to deny the Jewish people a right to self-determination, which is a facet of the "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions" campaign the mural represents, are indeed antisemitic

In the interview with host Carol Off, McFadden admits that a number of Jewish students at York have expressed to her that they were upset about the mural in York's Student Centre that they consider antisemtic and an incitement to violence against Israelis. 

Astoundingly, while agreeing that the Student Centre is a place that is supposed to be welcoming to all students, in response to a question in the last minute of the interview, McFadden says that she believes the Centre is welcoming to all students with the mural on the wall.

Considering that McFadden and York's President acknowledged that many students have explicitly told her they find the mural hateful and discriminatory, it is difficult to find an alternate way of explaining McFadden's claim other than that she must be either a bald-faced liar or has some sort of mental defect. 

When Social Justice Wankers jump the shark, then swim back to be eaten by it

Student leaders at the University of Oregon considered removing a famous Martin Luther King Jr. quote from a wall on its student center on the grounds that it was just not inclusive enough — because it talked only about racial discrimination and not discrimination based on stuff like gender identity. 

The quote has been displayed at the Erb Memorial Union (which is currently being renovated) since 1985. It’s probably something that you’ve heard before — “I have a dream that my four little children that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream . . .” — without even thinking that it might be problematic. 

But that’s because you’re just not as smart or culturally aware as these kids...

Richard Dawkins dropped from science event for tweeting video mocking feminists and Islamists

Controversial atheist Richard Dawkins has been dumped as the keynote speaker at an upcoming New York City sceptics conference after he praised a video equating feminism with radical Islamism. 

"We have taken this action in response to Dr Dawkins' approving retweet of a highly offensive video," said a statement by the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS). "We believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom to express unpopular, and even offensive, views. However, unnecessarily divisive, counterproductive, and even hateful speech runs contrary to our mission and the environment we wish to foster at NECSS."

Dawkins retweeted comments from a fan praising a video entitled Feminists Love Islamists. It features an unattractive cartoon feminist with a militant Islamist singing a song together comparing their despotic similarities. "We share essentially the same ideology," the two croon. 

Dawkins' retweet included the video. He added: "Obviously doesn't apply to vast majority of feminists, among whom I consider myself. But the minority are pernicious."...

Iran's Supreme Leader celebrates Holocaust Rememberance Day by denying the Holocaust happened

Aren't we glad Justin "Prince Bonehead" Trudeau wants closer ties with Iran?



Today, January 27, 2016, International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei published on his official website a three-minute video clip titled "Are The Dark Ages Over?" In it, he expresses doubt about whether the Holocaust actually happened, rages about Europe's ban on public questioning of the validity of the Holocaust, and hints at a conspiracy on the part of Western Europe and the U.S. – which champion freedom of speech yet at the same time prevent open discussion of whether the Holocaust happened, and rages about Europe's ban on denying the Holocaust....

Today's reason to embrace the death of Canada's mainstream news media

Macleans Magazine, which once used to be an actual news magazine that ran insightful, in-depth articles, is now just a collection of printed brain farts.

Today, they're shocked that Stephen Harper's government would have the audacity to prioritize Syrian refugees who came from the most vulnerable and persecuted populations in Syria's civil war. As it happens, Harper explicitly publicized that policy...

....Harper, responding to a Globe and Mail story, said that when it comes to admitting refugees, his government ensures the selection of the most vulnerable people while keeping the country safe and secure.

...prior to the October election.

...Before last winter, the previous government had only committed to take in 1,300 Syrian refugees from the millions fleeing the civil war there and spilling into surrounding countries.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper had been under intense pressure — including from inside his own cabinet — to increase that total, but only agreed to accept a further 10,000 provided that religious and ethnic minorities were prioritized.

The policy, unveiled last January, was contentious. The vast majority of the Syrian refugee population is Muslim. The decision to hone in on “religious minorities” prompted allegations the government was biased against Muslims and was also violating United Nations principles governing refugee resettlement.

The refugees the Canadian government accepts for resettlement are chosen by the UN. They do not use ethnicity or religion as a basis for determining whether someone requires resettlement to a third country.

But documents tabled in the House of Commons this week in response to a question from the NDP show how the Conservatives found a workaround...

How they make beef Halal in Gaza

The footage, filmed by local civilians in Gaza and uploaded to YouTube, shows cattle tied to poles, trees and vehicles before being stabbed in the neck and eyes. One animal was kneecapped by shots from an assault rifle. Animals Australia said the footage, filmed during a ritual called the "festival of sacrifice", was some of the worst seen in a series of animal welfare outrages involving Australian cattle. WARNING: CONTAINS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES

Source: The Guardian

U.S. Senate Committee to investigate security concerns arising from Canada's rush to import 25000 Syrian refugees

WASHINGTON -- The Canadian government has fired off a pre-emptive strike before American lawmakers hold a hearing in which the northern neighbour's Syria refugee policy will be on the hot seat.  

It sent a note to members of a powerful U.S. Senate committee that has scheduled a meeting next week titled, "Canada's Fast-Track Refugee Plan: Unanswered Questions and Implications for U.S. National Security."

The U.S. Senate homeland-security hearing is, for the Trudeau government, an unwanted flip-side to the praise it received from progressives and foreign media outlets last month when the prime minister personally greeted refugees at the airport.

This will be far less laudatory, judging from the list of witnesses invited to testify before the committee next Wednesday: most have already publicly challenged Canada's plan to quickly accept 25,000 refugees...

3D Printed Sculptures

Moneyed, unimaginative GOP establishment plays footsie with Trump because they're terrified of Ted Cruz

They may not really like Trump all that much, but the GOP fatcats are scarred shitless at the thought of Ted Cruz shaking up the party at the top:

It took them long enough, but some Republican groups are finally attacking Donald Trump with TV commercials, online ads and mailers in the run-up to the Iowa caucus.

Within the anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party, however, strategists are divided over the most effective message to emphasize. Some Trump foes even see value in propping up the billionaire's popularity temporarily as a weapon to eliminate Ted Cruz, who they consider the more urgent threat...

Suicide Ring Squad

Lord of the Rings trailer done in the style of The Suicide Squad:



Here's the Suicide Squad trailer it's spoofing:

Ted Cruz Reminds Iowans That Donald Trump Called Them ‘Stupid’

This may not help Cruz when it comes around to the New York primary, but that's down the road, while Iowa is very soon:

Senator Ted Cruz is trying to antagonize Iowans against Donald J. Trump, with whom he is locked in an increasingly contentious fight, in this new ad, “New York Values.”

Over ominous orchestral music, the ad opens with Mr. Trump speaking on “Meet the Press” in 1999. In a New Yawk accent that in hindsight seems over-the-top even for him, he tells Tim Russert, “I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life, so my views are little different than if I lived in Iowa.”

A narrator interrupts. “They are different. Like on abortion,” she says, mirroring a headline that overtakes the screen. Asked by Mr. Russert if he would ban a late-term procedure called partial-birth abortion by opponents of abortion rights, Mr. Trump says, “I am pro-choice in every respect.

The narrator interrupts again: “And what does Mr. Trump think about Iowa?” At which point Mr. Trump, arms outstretched on the stump, mouth agape, is shown asking rhetorically, “How stupid are the people of Iowa?”

More at New York Times

Justin Trudeau's refugees complain that free accommodation in a hotel with free food & medical care isn't good enough

Welcome to Canada under Prince Bonehead. It's only going to get worse over the next 4 years:

Some government-sponsored Syrian refugees staying at a budget hotel in Toronto say they feel like they're "trapped in a prison" without hope due to a lack of communication, supplies and assistance. 

Virginia Johnson, one of two volunteers working at the hotel, joined CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Monday to speak to host Matt Galloway. 

Johnson said the refugees have been at the hotel for weeks and have no idea when they will be able to leave. Some of the 85 government-sponsored refugees say they're not getting much help, and would rather go back to their refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. 

"The settlement agencies are overwhelmed," said Johnson. "There's a huge opportunity for individuals to step up and help."

​​Zaneb Adri Abu-Rukti, a Syrian mother, spoke through a translator at the Toronto hotel, and said she did not expect to be there for so long. 

"We were told that when we arrived to the hotel that we would only be staying for three to four days maximum. However, things have been changed and we've been here for 10 to 11 days, and we've been told it could be even longer. The problem is that we have kids and we would rather be outside in a settled house than sitting at a hotel," Abu-Rukti said.

"We feel like our kids are just stuck here. We go into one room, we eat, and then we return to other room and just go to bed. Our kids don't have anywhere to play, nowhere to go out. We feel like we're just trapped in a prison."...

Where Does All That Aid for Palestinians Go?

One often-cited key to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is economic development. To that end, there seems to be broad agreement about the importance of extending development aid to help the Palestinians build the physical and social infrastructure that will enable the emergence of a sustainable, prosperous society. But few have seriously questioned how much money is sent and how it is used.

Such assistance will only promote peace if it is spent to foster tolerance and coexistence. If it is used to strengthen intransigence it does more harm than good—and the more aid that comes in, the worse the outcome. This is exactly what has been transpiring over the past few decades. Large amounts of foreign aid to the Palestinians are spent to support terrorists and deepen hostility.

For years the most senior figures in the Palestinian Authority have supported, condoned and glorified terror. “Every drop of blood that has been spilled in Jerusalem,” PresidentMahmoud Abbas said last September on Palestinian television, “is holy blood as long as it was for Allah.” Countless Palestinian officials and state-run television have repeatedly hailed the murder of Jews.

This support for terrorism doesn’t end with hate speech. The Palestinian regime in Ramallah pays monthly stipends of between $400 and $3,500 to terrorists and their families, the latter of which is more than five times the average monthly salary of a Palestinian worker...

Iranian government claims "diplomatic immunity" in lawsuit holding them accountable for funding terrorism

Prime Minister Justin "Prince Bonehead" Trudeau wants to re-establish diplomatic relations with these assholes. Trudeau has a Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Affairs Minister who supports their terror proxies, and Trudeau's brother has taken money from, and made propaganda for Iran.

TORONTO — The Iranian government sent lawyers to a Toronto courtroom on Monday to fight attempts by victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks to hold the Islamic republic to account for sponsoring the terrorist groups that harmed them.

Faced with the prospect of losing two Ontario properties and bank accounts worth $2.6 million to victims of terrorism, Iran argued it was protected from civil suits by state immunity and that what it owned enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

The unusual case in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is the first test of a Canadian law that allows terror victims to seek damages from state sponsors of terrorism...

Cast and plot of SpongeBob Broadway musical announced

...The SpongeBob Musical follows a day in the fictional underwater town of Bikini Bottom, where the citizens have just learned that a nearby volcano named Mount Humongous will erupt at sundown the next day. Amid the antics and fantasies of the community over the ensuing 24 hours, SpongeBob takes it upon himself to save the day and rescue his city from certain destruction...

Justin Trudeau's Promises

William F. White resources to be withdrawn from York University's film department due to York U's antisemitic mural

There is a huge mural in a public space at York University that implicitly encourages violence against Israelis while denying Israel's right to exist. It depicts what is obviously a Palestinian, clutching a pair of large rocks behind his back, while gazing at Israel and wearing a map of  Palestine in which the Jewish state has been eradicated. A number of Israelis have been murdered by Palestinian rock-throwers.

Paul Bronfman is the Chairman of the company which own William F. White International, Canada's most prominent supplier of professional film equipment and resources (like Canada's Panavision). William F. White currently provides a huge amount of resources to York's film department, but that support will be withdrawn if the terror-encouraging mural is not removed immediately, according to Bronfman.

York University has a significantly-sized Jewish student population, but it is also a notorious hotbed for Islamist extremism, where anti-semitic occurrences are common, and where support for terror groups like Hamas is widespread among its radical, student union-financed groups.

The report below is from The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center:

Paul Bronfman is a busy man. As the Chairman and CEO of Comweb Corp and William F. White International, as well as the Chairman of Pinewood Toronto Studios, Mr. Bronfman is entrenched in the details of providing professional production services and technical expertise to Canada's motion picture, theatrical and live event industries. He is also a voting member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, which presents the Canadian Screen Awards - the most prestigious award show for Canada's top films and TV series.

Torontonians have become accustomed to seeing William F. White production vehicles, servicing local film and television shoots, parked on city streets in every season and at every hour of the day. Bronfman is, in essence, the go-to guy for producers looking to shoot in Canada.

He is also a committed Director of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) who is truly leading by example and standing up for Jewish and pro-Israel students, as well as the wider Jewish community, in openly confronting the ongoing manifestations of anti-Israel activity and veiled antisemitism at York University.

This week, after learning about a controversial poster promoting violence against Israel hanging in the campus student center, Bronfman called university president Mamdouh Shoukri to discuss concerns about the tacit support for hate and anti-Israel terror.

"I thought, I am in a position to put some pressure on the people at York who are allowing hate propaganda to be displayed," Bronfman explained, noting that during the phone conversation, which also included the Dean of Law and the VP Advancement, "I was given a bunch of legal jargon.  Shoukri said the university had gotten a lot of complaints, but all I received were regurgitated political statements - nothing of substance; nothing that showed the university cared in any way about the students harmed by the hate this mural represents."

But Bronfman, hailed by the Toronto Star as one of the industry's most outspoken advocates, provides considerable support  to the university's Cinema & Media Arts department, - support that is about to be withdrawn.

"The upshot is that if that poster is not gone by the end of day today then William F. White is out of York. York is going to lose thousands of dollars of television production equipment used for emerging student filmmakers, access to technical people who do education and student training and student seminars, workshops and open houses at William F. White Center that help them develop the hard skills needed to fill industry infrastructure positions like gaffer or grip: they will no longer be invited. York University will be persona non grata at William F. White international until they take that poster down," Bronfman emphasized.

"This will be a huge loss for students  - it's not just about the equipment but the access to training that Paul is planning to withdraw - there are no other private corporation that offer this scale of mentorship and training to students like William F. White does," explained FSWC President and CEO Avi Benlolo.

"I know how difficult this step must be for Paul - he is very dedicated to helping the next generation of filmmakers and is such a cheerleader for the Canadian film and TV industry but - at the end of the day, I am so proud to see him taking a stand for our community and for all students who feel threatened and intimidated by this hateful poster, and neglected by an administration that has never expressed any sympathy or understanding for their concerns." Bronfman is hopeful this step will resonate with community leaders who are on York's Board of Governors to resign and withdraw funding from York. 

"Shoukri is willing to lose significant educational opportunities for his students to keep this anti-Israel, antisemitic poster, which is tarnishing the university's good name. Why is he willing to do this? It makes me sick and should be offensive to all Canadians," he maintains.

Asked whether he thinks his efforts will make a difference, Bronfman responds, "I think if  they really cared about the issues of hate propaganda and antisemitism they would do the right thing and take the mural down."

Editor's Note: As of the writing of this article the mural has not been taken down

The Steve McQueen of Honey Badgers

...and what Honey Badger post would be complete without this:

Dumbing Down University

Canada was snubbed at ISIS talks – and we deserved it, U of Toronto professor says

U of T News asked political science professor Randall Hansen, director of the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs for his views. 

Why wasn't Canada invited to this meeting?
Because of the withdrawal of our fighters from the war against ISIS. There is and can be no other reason. 

The defence minister says it's no big deal that we weren't invited as there are meetings being held all the time, to which we are invited. Is this true?
No, it isn’t true and he knows it or should. We have been excluded from the central defence meeting on dislodging ISIS from northern Iraq.  No amount of spin can hide that.  

Do you think we were snubbed?
Yes, and the Liberal government thoroughly deserved it. The Liberals played shabby electoral politics with a matter of immense international importance. 

Are critics correct in saying that we weren't invited because of the Liberals' decision to suspend air operations?
Beyond a doubt. Our allies, above all the French, were furious with our decision and we are now paying the price. I just came from Berlin where a senior official openly mocked Canadian soldiers who had to take off their uniforms and put on flannel shirts because it made them look like peacekeepers...

Andrew Coyne: Trudeau digs a hole for himself in Davos

Every now and then with Justin Trudeau the mask slips: when that bottomless reservoir of self-assurance of his, which in his best moments presents itself as graciousness and magnanimity, instead bubbles up as arrogance and hubris. For some reason this seems most often to happen when he’s abroad. Remember that post-election boast to the BBC about having left his critics “in my dust”?

This time, it was in the middle of his speech to the annual conference of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. For the most part the speech was chamber of commerce-stye boosterism, mixed with the usual assortment of buzzwords that festoon most of Trudeau’s speeches: diversity, infrastructure, middle class, etc.

But then there was that line that must have seemed too good to resist. “My predecessor,” he began, “wanted you to know Canada for its resources. I want you to know Canadians for our resourcefulness.”

If ever there were a phrase for which the advice given to countless writers, to “kill your darlings,” might have been devised, this was it. There is always something classless and off-key, for starters, in taking a shot at your defeated opponent overseas — outside the family, as it were.

Moreover, this seemingly offhand bit of wordplay bespeaks a number of other attitudes and assumptions, none of them attractive...

A bittersweet victory for free expression in Canada

The Not Guilty verdict in Gregory Alan Ellott's trial for criminal harassment of two radical feminists on twitter, is a slightly upbeat note concluding a sour fugue.

The verdict by Justice Brent Knazan is less an indication that justice prevails in Canada than that justice has not gone completely batshit crazy. Although in the three years preceding the verdict, you could easily be forgiven for making the opposite assumption.

In a nutshell, Elliott exchanged twitter insults with Stephanie Guthgrie and Heather Reilly, and he used the same hashtags as them. The two women, who seem to have a history of looking for reasons for which they can become offended, complained to police that they felt threatened and harassed by Elliott's tweets. All the parties agree that Elliott never actually threatened any harm to the women and there was no form of sexual harassment in his tweets.

A sane person familiar with the workings of online media would have let it go there. But in one of the most disgraceful acts by Canadian police and prosecutors in this decade, they decided to pursue charges against Elliott. As a result, his career was ruined, and he became massively indebted in legal costs.

Whether or not Gregory Alan Elliott is obnoxious is not an issue. The Internet breeds obnoxiousness, and Elliott's was apparently not vastly greater than his accusers. Not Guilty may keep him out of jail, but the offence against justice was that this case was even considered for trial, let alone having gone through a three-year criminal process.

The most positive aspect of this matter was that Justice Knazan's verdict was a precedent which may discourage prosecutors and police from using the justice system as a tool for political censorship. But complete justice has not yet happened in case of Gregory Alan Elliott's twitter arrest, prosecution and trial. That won't happen until a full investigation of the cozy relationship between the police, some of the most disgraceful members of Toronto's City Council and the accusers, and the resulting abuse of the system is investigated, exposed, and those responsible punished accordingly.

  2016oncj35

Husband of Burkina Faso victim says he hung up on Justin Trudeau

Lots of Canadians are sick of Justin Trudeau's idiotic platitudes about terrorism; this man has real reasons to be:  

The husband of one of the Quebecers killed in the Burkina Faso terrorist attack says he hung up on Justin Trudeau when the prime minister called him earlier this week.

Yves Richard tells Montreal radio station 98.5 FM he was frustrated about what he called Trudeau’s platitudes during their conversation Monday...

Mr. Bean speaks out for free expression

If you're sick and tired of political posturing from celebrity Hollywood airheads, Rowan Atkinson's brilliant speech comes as welcome relief:

The making of The Prisoner

The Prisoner is one of television's great achievements. Above is the rarely seen documentary Six Into One, which tells the story of that program.

he actor Patrick McGoohan had been kicking around ideas for a new television series when writer George Markstein told him about Inverlair Lodge in Scotland. The Lodge had been used by Special Operations Executive during the Second World War as “a detention or internment camp” for those individuals who refused to take part in covert operations “once they became aware of the full details.”

Some were unable to kill when the occasion was reduced to a one-on-one scenario, as opposed the anonymity of a battlefield exchange. With information being released on a Need to Know basis, their training meant that they were in possession of highly classified and secret information relating to pending missions, and could not be allowed to return to public life, where a careless remark could have compromised their secrecy.

As Markstein later explained the residents were:

...largely people who had been compromised. They had reached the point in their career where they knew too much to be let loose, but they hadn’t actually done anything wrong. They weren’t in any way traitors, they hadn’t betrayed anything, but in their own interest it was better if they were kept safely.

Inverlair Lodge was also known as “No. 6 Special Workshop School.” McGoohan was intrigued by the idea and began developing a series idea set in a similar internment camp, The Prisoner...

The Ontario Education Communications Authority did presented the series in the 1970's, with insightful commentary from Warner Troyer, who did this interview with the show's star and co-creator Patrick McGoohan at the conclusion:

He may have played a villain in Spiderman, but in real life, Jamie Foxx is a hero

Met the father of the young man from last night today. This is all that matters. That a man, a son, a brother's life was spared last night. God had his arms wrapped around all of us...No heroes...Just happy fathers.

A photo posted by Jamie Foxx (@iamjamiefoxx) on Jan 19, 2016 at 7:48pm PST

Jamie Foxx, who along with another man pulled a driver out of his crashed truck just seconds 

before it burst into flames, says he doesn't look at what he did as heroic.

"I just look at it like, you know, you just had to do something," said the Oscar winner, who on 

Tuesday met with Brad Kyle, the father of Brett Kyle, who crashed in front of Foxx's Hidden 

Valley home the night before.

Foxx spent about a half hour with the elder Kyle inside his home, according to KCBS, and let 

him review security footage of the wreck. The car reportedly hit a drainage pipe and 

concrete and flipped several times before catching on fire...

Former Harvard President Larry Summers warns of 'Creeping Totalitarianism' on American college campuses

By The Numbers - The Untold Story of Muslim Opinions & Demographics

Bill Nye the Fashionable Liberal Opinions Guy

...After a career in aerospace, where he admirably made things and improved the world by enabling jet travel — well before his pearl-clutching carbon panic phase — Nye was introduced to the world of sketch comedy. Ironically, while his acting is pretty good, it was his science that would become the big joke.

As an actor playing the role of “The Science Guy,” Nye served an important purpose: getting children interested in science. It wasn’t an original idea, of course. Children of previous generations were entranced by science-themed entertainers like Mr. Wizard. At least Nye looked the part, though: he might charitably be considered a character actor for the quintessential pencil-neck geek.

As a science advocate, Nye would follow a now-familiar pattern. He would start out as a fun, harmless communicator — not a true scientist, but at least a good entertainer — and then he would get bored and turn to political grandstanding...

Kelly McParland: Mulcair sets the NDP leadership bar well below the norm

The NDP having had Opposition status was a fluke anyway. Mulcair did better than most of his predecessors.  Mulcair is relatively sane, and compared to the fanatics and lunatics that make up the bulk of the federal NDP caucus, he's the only reason they have a shred of credibility.

Thomas Mulcair wants to stay on as leader of the NDP and says he won’t resign. He says it’s up to NDP members to decide his fate, as they will … sort of … at an automatic leadership review in April.

In striving to hang onto his job he’s presenting his party with a ticklish puzzle: Mulcair suggests that all he needs to keep hanging his coat in the leader’s office is a vote of 50%-plus-one at the review. That might seem awfully low: Cheri DiNovo, who isn’t even an MP but has made it her goal in life to get rid of Mulcair — say’s it’s “absurd.” But what’s the party to do? Official NDP policy holds that Quebec should be allowed to break up Canada on a vote of 50%-plus-one. Are DiNovo and her supporters going to argue the NDP rates a higher standard than the country they seek to govern?...

Indian comedian Kiku Sharda arrested for mocking cult leader, then issues grovelling apology following release

...Now safe and at home, Kiku says, “I’ve always been a non-controversial entertainer. I don’t know how or why this happened. But it’s not as if I’ll stop laughing or stop raising laughs. I am sorry but not scared. This one incident has not soured my relationship with comedy. But it has made me question my own beliefs. I’ve never insulted anyone in my life. No one has the right to hurt anyone’s religious sentiments.”

Kiku pleads innocence about the offended godman’s reach and following and holds the writers (of the special, Jashn-e-Ummeed) and the channel (Zee) responsible. “I had no idea of how important he was to his followers and the work he did. As usual, I was a given a get-up and my lines by the writers. I just went on stage and performed what was given to me. Little did I know that it would snowball into such a controversy.”...

This is the actual guy Sharda was making fun of:

CBC: Not the public’s broadcaster

With the CBC’s TV ratings down 40% to a specialty channel-like 5% share of viewers even before it lost its NHL contract, according to Canadian Media Research, it’s worth asking again what has gone wrong with the Mother Corp and what should be done about it? The answer to the first question is that it no longer represents ordinary Canadians to themselves in a way they like or even recognize. So when its funding comes under scrutiny, it is not surprising that most Canadians collectively yawn while watching any of the myriad other channels available to them on various media platforms.

Someone recently observed that the CBC is not about Canadian programming but programming Canadians to its enlightened view of how the world should work. Look at the litany of in-house CBC stars and ask if any are representative of ordinary Canadians and their values? Carol Off lets As It Happens serve as a platform for endless cries for social justice here and around the world. Recent events revealed the sulphurous Jian Ghomeshi as a sexual wolf dressed in progressive clothing (his photo still graces Q’s Podcast, a thoughtless oversight by the CBC bureaucracy). Peter Mansbridge championed Naomi Klein’s latest rants about the evils of capitalism as the book of the year; try and imagine the host of CTV News taking such a position. Michael Enright on Sunday Morning took a break from advocating tax increases to question why no bankers had been jailed after the financial crisis. The answer is easy — here they did nothing but manage their affairs in a quintessentially prudent Canadian manner...

If I Were King

With wonderful performances from the great Ronald Colman and Basil Rathbone:

Iran uses hostage taking and a weak president to press its advantage

...Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) summed up the attitude of many Americans in his Saturday statement:

Today the four Americans who have been unjustly held in in Iran are finally returning home and we welcome them with open arms. They and their families have been through unspeakable pain and suffering and their freedom brings relief to not only them, but the entire country.

But in our elation over their safe return we must be careful not to forget the dangerous circumstances of their release. President Obama has appeased Iran’s terror-sponsoring ayatollahs, this time with a ‘prisoner’ swap to secure the overdue release of four innocent American hostages in return for which Iran gets seven lawfully convicted terrorists and criminals, fourteen terrorism prosecutions halted, $100 billion in sanctions relief, and an industrial-scale nuclear program—and Iran gets to keep Americans Siamak Namazi and Robert Levinson to extract future concessions.  While we exult in the return of American hostages, one must also wonder how many more Americans will be taken hostage in the future as a result of President Obama’s shameful decision to negotiate with these terrorists...

US economist says that the best way to combat police violence and poor schools is through data, not personal experience

©Patrick Morgan

We are five minutes into our lunch when Roland Fryer asks if he may use my notepad and pen to draw a chart. The youngest African-American to take up a tenured professorship at Harvard University is explaining his new research on racial differences in the use of force by US police. As a teenager, Fryer had guns pulled on him “six or seven” times by cops. “But,” he says, sketching a downward curve from left to right, “there is a disturbing trend of people discussing race in America based only on their own personal experience.” In a voice with a hint of southern drawl, he adds: “I don’t care about my personal experience or anyone else’s — all I want to know is how that experience gets us to data to help us know what is really going on.”

Understanding what is really going on led last year to Fryer, 38, winning the John Bates Clark medal, an annual award for an American economist under 40 and arguably the second most prestigious economics gong after the Nobel Prize. His empirical work has eviscerated stodgy thinking about race, education and inequality. Through his Education Innovation Lab, founded in 2008, Fryer is attempting to reshape how America thinks about public policy, statistic by statistic.

Such is the case with his latest work. At a quiet table in the cavernous Hawksmoor Seven Dials, a branch of the high-end restaurant chain in central London, where the decor is brown and the meat is red, Fryer tells me how he spent two days last year on the beat shadowing cops in Camden, New Jersey. (On his first day on patrol a woman overdosed in front of him and died.) What Fryer wanted to figure out was whether the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner — two African-Americans whose deaths led to widespread protests — were part of an observable pattern of discrimination, as activist groups such as Black Lives Matter have suggested. After his week on patrol, he collected more than 6m pieces of data from forces such as New York City’s on cases of blacks, whites and Latinos being victims of police violence.

The graph he passes between the salt and pepper displays his provisional findings. The horizontal axis is a scale of the severity of the violence, from shoving on the left all the way to shootings on the right. The curve starts high, suggesting strong differences in minor incidents, but descends to zero as the cases become more violent. In other words, once contextual factors were taken into account, blacks were no more likely to be shot by police. All of which raises the question: why the outcry in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, where Brown was shot?

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