The Toronto Star has just published an editorial entitled The West wants out. They try to make the argument that most Westerners are adamantly against the energy policies of the federal Tories. If they’re correct, then the Liberals and/or NDP will win an abundance of new seats in next year’s election.
The question is: Is their analysis correct or absurdly off base?
The Ketchup Man’s Buffoonery Goes Splat
John Kerry aka Husband of Ms. Heinz aka Mr. Easter Island Statue aka the American Secretary of State is either a naive fool of extreme proportions or playing games while people die. How else would you explain this:
When The Times of Israel’s Avi Issacharoff first reported the content of John Kerry’s ceasefire proposal on Friday afternoon, I wondered if something had gotten lost in translation. It seemed inconceivable that the American secretary of state would have drafted an initiative that, as a priority, did not require the dismantling of Hamas’s rocket arsenal and network of tunnels dug under the Israeli border. Yet the reported text did not address these issues at all, nor call for the demilitarization of Gaza.
“The most stunning allegation in the lawsuit…”
… is that an estimated 50 percent of all trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange is derived from illegal wash trades. (h/t Bernie)
Now Is The Time At SDA When We Juxtapose!
Interesting facts were revealed in this article about media mergers:
- 1983: 50 companies controlled 90% of the media consumed by Americans
- 2012: 6 companies controlled 90% of the media consumed by Americans
While better than the government controlling any of it, one can’t help from realizing that the cultural and political views of Americans are somewhat shaped by a tiny group of people.
An Exceptionally Long Strike on Canada’s Left Coast
Most residents of Metro Vancouver have generally been aware that the workers at the Richmond IKEA store have been on strike for well over a year now. The union is ecstatic over a recent decision by the B.C. Labour Relations Board.
In the bigger picture, one wonders why any of these union members would ever want to work for IKEA in the future, given that they frequently and vehemently remind us what a horrific company it is. Given IKEA’s tremendous success, most consumers don’t view the company this way, but it clearly appears to be the impression of the locked out workers. Why would any of them agree to working for such a “terrible” company in the future?
It’s Probably Nothing
The West has had some peace since the last great war, almost 70 years of it now. And we have had with that peace an astounding march of technological and material progress. Both tend to make people forgetful of worse times. It renders them careless of the foundations upon which peace is first secured and then maintained, and nourishes the delusion they are exempt from the horrors and perils that have been a constant in human affairs.
h/t maz2
Free Ethical Oil!
An interview with Ezra Levant;
AO: What is the book’s overarching message?
EL: I’ll never know as much about the oil and gas industry as an actual petroleum engineer, but I have ways of looking at things that people who are right in the thick of it might lack. I remind people this is not just about Republicans versus Democrats, Liberals versus Conservatives. It’s not a British Columbia or New Brunswick problem. The fracking story is a global thing. And the real beneficiaries of any anti-fracking policy are not some local activists, but Vladimir Putin, and Qatar and Iran.
End Of America
Ben Carson – What Could Happen If Another Liberal President Is Elected
Reader Tips
In 2008, prior to Paul McCartney’s scheduled performance in Israel, Sheikh Omar Bakri – the “Tottenham Ayatollah” – warned: “If he values his life Mr McCartney must not come to Israel. He will not be safe there. The sacrifice operatives will be waiting for him.”
McCartney (yeah, I know, he’s a vegan, and he smokes the dooby-doo) went ahead and played anyway, for the state of Israel’s 60th anniversary.
Here’s one of the more memorable songs from his days with Wings: The title track from the 1975 album Venus and Mars.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
Photoblogging from Vancouver
Two of Canada’s smaller citizens hard at work this afternoon, near Granville Island:
What’s the Opposite of Diversity?
A common talking point amongst Leftists is “diversity”. Diversity, diversity, diversity – they constantly remind us all that every lifestyle and viewpoint in society must be accepted. Though when a group of Rob Ford supporters got together in a Toronto park yesterday, suddenly all cries for diversity fell silent as a horde of Leftists deliberately tried to disrupt the event. Here’s the Facebook page they used to silence the freedoms of others.
In this video of the event, notice how the LGBT activists appear to target Black Canadians. Perhaps the MSM should ask this group why they believe minorities in Canada shouldn’t have the same rights to Freedom of Assembly as others.
Wynning!
In her endless thirst to confiscate more money from taxpayers, Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne is planning on a tax increase for air travelers in her province:
The fuel tax, currently at 2.7 cents per litre, will jump to 6.7 cents by 2017, under Ontario’s budget proposal — an “unbelievably punitive” hike according to Ben Smith, Air Canada’s chief commercial officer. Smith isn’t wrong. Airlines, which continue as barely profitable in 2014, operate on the tightest of margins. The hike is expected to cost Air Canada alone more than $50-million next year. To put this figure into context, the airline generated just $50-million in net profit in 2012.
Sadly, Leftists like Wynne, have never understood the Law of Unintended Consequences:
So news of Ontario’s fuel tax hike is sure to set hearts aflutter at U.S. border airports. The tax increase is expected to direct an additional 300,000 to 400,000 Canadian passengers to U.S. airports, according to Canada’s National Airlines Council. This will do serious damage to Canada’s airports, critical generators of job growth, and thus the Canadian economy overall.
h/t Peter J.
What Is Social Justice?
Bin Laden Is Dead And Ambassador Stevens Is Dead
The United States shut down its embassy in Libya on Saturday and evacuated its diplomats to neighboring Tunisia under U.S. military escort amid a significant deterioration in security in Tripoli as fighting intensified between rival militias, the State Department said.
Related! Hamas and North Korea in secret arms deal
Riding Mass Transit Is Like Inviting 20 Random Hitchhikers Into Your Car
Could have been worse: Woman plucks and eats raw bird on Montreal Metro
Could have been some guy’s eyeballs.
h/t Edward
Reader Tips
Tonight’s installment in our pro-Israel artists week features Elton John, a regular visitor to Israel, who in 2010 said to his fans at a concert in Tel Aviv:
“Shalom! We’re so happy to be back here! Ain’t nothing gonna stop us from coming, baby!”
That’s the ticket. From the 1973 double-album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, here’s John and lyricist Bernie Taupin’s paean to working-class escapism: Roy Rogers.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
Obama’s Most Cynical Move Yet?
From Drudge today:
Obama Readying ‘Very Significant’ Executive Action On Immigration…
Unilateral grant of ‘work authorization’…
Gutierrez: Amnesty for 5 million…
Sessions: Will ‘end immigration enforcement’…
Plea to America: Melt Congressional Phones, Kill Executive Amnesty…
Prediction: Such a unilateral move by the Executive Office would likely be overturned by the Supreme Court in 2015 but if the Republicans were to speak out against it, they’ll suffer the price at the polls on November 4th.
Honey, I Finished The Internet
No, really.
h/t Mike
Sunwing Flight Escorted Back to Toronto By U.S. Fighter Jets
Ali Shahi, 25, faces charges of mischief, uttering threats and endangering safety of aircraft. His bail hearing is set for Saturday.
— Chris Doucette (@SunDoucette) July 25, 2014
Piers Morgan, Where Art Thou?
Yesterday in Darby, Pennsylvania, Dr. Lee Silverman used a handgun to protect himself and others from a psychiatric patient who went on a shooting spree. Deemed as a hero by some, the doctor may be at risk of losing his job:
According to the Mercy Health System’s Code of Conduct, “Employees are prohibited from bringing firearms or explosives of any kind into the workplace.” If, indeed, an armed doctor shot the killer, he faces the loss of his job and his license to practice medicine.
h/t Black Mamba