FYI: I'm Taking a Break Until '14

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, y'all. I hope to be back at it, raising hell and making mirth, early next year.

If, As Is Argued, the NSA MUST Be Allowed to Continue Gathering Mega-Data Because It Results in the Thwarting of Terrorism, Why Is It Listening In On Bibi's Phone Calls?

Don't tell me, let me guess: they think Netanyahu is a threat to world peace.

Why Do These Aboriginal Courses for OISE Educators Sound Like Something You'd See on Oprah TV?

Maybe because they're more about victimhood and therapy than they are about education? Here's the Oprahesque OISE list that caught my eye:

Graduate courses at OISE include:Indigenous Healing in Counselling and Psychoeducation
Foundations of Aboriginal Education in Canada
Implications for Education: Aboriginal World Views
Aboriginal Community Learning
Integrating Traditional Healing Practices into Counselling and Psychotherapy
Centering Indigenous-Settler Solidarity in Theory and Research
Race, Indigenous Citizenship and Self-Determination: Decolonizing Perspectives

Damaged victims, victims, victims, victims, eee-ville colonizers, victims: I think I'd assign OWN TV's hyper-empathetic life-fixer Iyanla to field those.

Just in Time for Xmas: ObamaCare Brings a River of Woe

It's comin' on Christmas,
There's panic in the air,
They're changin' some big rules
For ObamaCare.
You'll wish you had a river
You could skate away on.
But that won't save it.
It's structurally flawed.
It stems from a huge ego
And the notion that he's God.
You'll wish you had a river
You could skate away on.
You'll wish you had that doctor you know;
You would've stuck with the status quo.
Oh, you'll wish you had a river
You could skate away on...

Obama's Newest Factotum John Podesta and the Ceremonial Drinking of the Kool Aid

Obama-besotted Democrats are the real cultists, John.

How Do You Say "Hasta La Vista" In Swedish?

Bruce Bawer foresees Sweden's march into oblivion.

Update: Bawer mentions Stockholm's "dialogue police," a term that puts me in mind of some "diversity" policing closer to home.

Too Scary to Read at Bedtime

Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon’s Party of God (REVIEW)

The So-Called Arab Spring's Biggest Losers

Chicks and/or Christians, take your pick.

Lawrence Was Big on Arabia But Was Arabia Big on Lawrence?

Fifty years after the recently deceased Peter O'Toole (all six foot two of him) played the British adventurer (who stood a stumpy five foot four) in the David Lean film, Fouad Ajami does an excellent job of tackling that question:

Ever since the legend of Lawrence took hold—the authors never tire of the man—there has been debunkers aplenty. He was a fantasist, some argued, his Seven Pillars a work of embellished fiction. His Arabic was poor, others claimed, he could not pass himself off as an Arab. He was too short, room was made for him in active service only when Turkey joined the Central Powers and he was sent to Egypt and attached to a military intelligence section. There were Arabs, in particular, who ridiculed his appearance in traditional Arab attire in the streets of Beirut and Cairo, and in the chancelleries of London and Paris. 

No one could say with certainty if he loved or loathed the Arabs. It is easy to say that he was drawn to their “nobility,” which in this context meant the backward classes and tribes. Doubtless, Arabia held real attractions for him. He was of illegitimate birth, and Arabia made it possible for him to become “El-Orens,” the man of legend and fame...

If, like me, you are still captivated by the Lawrence story after all these years, I think you'll find Ajemi's brief essay to be most enlightening.

Promo for Canadian "Human Rights" Mausoleum Sides With "Rights"-Deprived Mohawk Warriors

This is emblematic of everything that's wrong with the concept of a "human rights" mausoleum--i.e. that it suffers from an underdogma complex and sides reflexively with the perceived victim in any conflict (even when that "victim" is hateful and lawless). (H/t: LRC)

Dear Obama-Besotted Millennials: You've Been Had--Big Time

Obama has played you for onesie-wearing saps. Time to man up and fight back.

Update: Michelle Obama helps sell Obamacare--which is true only if you put the "help" in scare quotes.

That's What Comes of Living in a Country Where the Leader is Idolized and the Press is Essentially a Government Mouthpiece

Putin says he "envies" Obama because he can get away with stuff.

Update: Obama says he envies that House of Cards villain.

Maybe They Can Replace Them With Tiny Dioramas of Jihadis Screaming "Allahu Akbar" as the They Blow Something Up

Nativity scenes have been removed from Gitmo dining halls after complaints that they "improperly promote Christianity".

The Economist Asks: Why Do Germans Shun Twitter?

I suspect it's because German words are so freakin' long that it's hard to say much given Twitter's length constraints.

"Government Officials Have Not Said How They Intend to Combine the Christian Heritage of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia With the Religious Demands of a Mosque"

Might that be, perhaps, because they have no intention of "combining" with the Christian Heritage and aim to obliterate it?

Just a hunch, mind you.

Barbara Walters Experiences Messiah-Buyer's Remorse

In the wake of the ObamaCare debacle, all that messiah stuff seems especially dotty, doesn't it, Babs?

CJN's "Edgy" New Editor Slams Netanyahu's "Stubborn" Refusal to Attend the Phony-Baloney Mandela Event

The Canadian Jewish News has a new editor. He's Yoni Goldstein, and he promises to make the rag "edgier."

What the heck does that mean?

Well, going strictly by the editorial wherein Goldstein lashes out at Netanyahu for being a no-show at Mandela's memorial, "edgier" appears to mean lefty-er. Writes the "edgy" editor:

In his stubbornness, Netanyahu displayed a crucial character flaw: an inability to read the geopolitical winds and act accordingly. The central theme of the memorial in Johannesburg was reconciliation, as it was for the vast majority of Mandela’s political career and all of his post-presidential years. Last Tuesday was a manifestation – a very rare one – of global goodwill, or at least as close as we ever get to it, and Netanyahu failed to take advantage by joining in. That has quite likely cost him points on the world stage.  

No one was asking the Israeli prime minister to deliver a eulogy. All he had to do was show up and smile – that would have been appropriate enough. And who knows? Maybe Netanyahu would have learned a thing or two while he was in Johannesburg – such as that great leaders have the power to make us all believe in each other’s inherent goodness, even if the effect only lasts for the briefest of moments.

Maybe Bibi stayed home because, whatever else Mandela may have done, he made kissy-face with some of the Jews' biggest enemies. And, really, since the Mandela event, replete at it was with silly selfies, a bogus signer and dictators galore, turned out to be something of a joke, Bibi's decision to stay home is looking rather astute right now (whereas this "edgy" editorial...not so much).

Something's Not Kosher About This "Human Rights" Tribunal Ruling in Favour of Three Muslim Restaurant Workers

You would think from this media release that the trio were recently-hired lowly dishwashers or something. In fact, as the Toronto Star reveals, they were longtime employees, two of whom were chefs:

The three employees had worked with Le Papillon for years — Malik since 1995 when he started as a dishwasher — starting when the restaurant was at its Church St. location. Everything was fine but it all changed after a partnership split up and the Bigues opened Le Papillon on the Park in late 2009. Malik was appointed the head chef.  

Soon after the new restaurant opened, the relationship between the three men and the owners became increasingly acrimonious, the tribunal heard.  

There were several run-ins concerning the tasting of dishes made with pork, which Muslims are forbidden to eat.  

Malik told the tribunal that Danielle Bigue called him into her office in July 2010 and asked him, for the second time, to try some pork schnitzel because it was offered on the menu. Malik told her that he couldn’t as it was against his religious beliefs. After she raised her voice and insisted, Malik testified he ate some pork because “he was scared of losing his job.” 

He testified that after he ate the pork, he went to the office washroom and vomited. He then washed his face, left the office and went to the changing room and cried. Malik said he could not sleep that night and even months later, he still felt guilty about eating pork.  

The Bigues told the tribunal they never asked Malik to taste pork schnitzel and that he did not have access to the office washroom.  

There was an incident involving Mohammed Islam, a cook at the restaurant, and pork, too. Islam told the hearing that Danielle Bigue asked him to taste tourtière, which included pork, because it did not have enough flavour. He refused because he was fasting for Ramadan and also because he does not eat pork. He testified that Bigue said “you’re crazy people” and left the kitchen.  

In her testimony, Bigue denied she asked him to taste the tourtière or ever used offensive language...

My question: how can you be a chef in a French restaurant if you can't eat pork? Never mind eating it, if pork is off your menu, so to speak, how can you even prepare it for others to eat?

Something about all this does not add up, if you ask me.

Update: Here's the decision.

Khamenei's Menacing "Tweets"

An article in Algemeiner draws our attention to a "tweet" by the Grandiose Ayatollah wherein he applauds a noted Jew-hater and Holocaust denier (two traits Khamenei can definitely get behind). But I think this official "tweet," a semi-veiled reference to Iran's ongoing nuke-building program, is even more replete with meaning--and menace.

Attractive Indian Diplomat Complains of Numerous "Cavity Searches" While Under Arrest in NYC

Her alleged crime involved fibbing on a visa application for a potential employee. It's a pretty safe bet that if the diplomat looked like, say, this instead of like this, she wouldn't have had to undergo nearly as many--or any--such intimate probes.

You Know The Argument (the One Pushed by John Kerry and Much of the Left) That If Israel Doesn't Make a "Peace" Deal With Abbas It'll Cease to Be a Democracy?

Here's why it's a giant load of codswallop.

TLF's Lefty Dissers Far Nastier Than His Right-Wing Non-Fans

I'm never surprised when people on the right describe narcissistic NYT pundit Thomas L. Friedman as a hack. It's especially sweet, however, when those on the left acknowledge his hackdom, as SALON does here (and, being on the left, the critic is far meaner than most of Tom's right wing dissers):

A Visit to Friedman World
I was at a conference in Brussels last week and having trouble with my column. Thomas Friedman hadn’t changed as a writer or a human being for many years, and I’d written about him 100 times before. I took a walk down to Cinquantenaire Park to get some fresh air and clear my head. As I left the park, I stopped in a small cafe to order a coffee. 

I happened to notice a young Palestinian man working behind the counter. When I ordered my coffee, he realized that I was American. “Ah, like Thomas Friedman,” he said. “Friedman, the great New York Times columnist who understands the needs of and challenges facing people like me, working-class Palestinians living in the European Union, because of how often he travels the world and how many brief but illuminating conversations he has with service industry employees. We are all grateful to be material for his columns and books,” he said, standing in for all people like him, by which I mean most foreign brown people. 

As I wrote down what he said to use it in my column, it struck me that the world is changing. The world used to be flat. Now, everyone I talk to, everywhere I go, tells me something is bending the world into a new shape. This 4G, 401(k) world is getting rounded. That scares a lot of people. But it doesn’t scare Thomas Friedman. Because while some old media dinosaurs are going extinct thanks to the asteroid of globalization and the giant dust plume of hyperconnectivity, Friedman is a cockroach. A cockroach made of stone. A cockroach made of stone that lives in The Cloud...

Wow, I'm no TLF fan, but I would never call him a cockroach.

A Zion-loathing hyena; a clueless Obama toady; a self-important blowhard--for sure. But a cockroach? Ouch!

The Singer Formerly Known as Cat Stevens to Be Inducted Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Something tells me Yusuf Islam, the singer's current, Islamist incarnation, will be giving the infidel ceremony the widest possible berth.

As Cat he used to sing this one, which was not about the ummah:

 

Update: I must say that for a Hamas-loving dude (although he claims he's not a fan), he's certainly aged quite well. Much better than another of his fellow inductees, Peter Gabriel.

UN Security Council Convenes Special Session to Investigate Zionist Snowfall Conspiracy

A story that sounds like something from The Onion but which in fact springs from the deranged mind of an Islamist Zion-loather.

Here, I wrote him a song:

Oh, the weather outside is frightful
And the Jooos have made it white-full.
And since they all hate us so
Made it snow, made it snow, made it snow.

Oh, they have supernatural powers
And their storm went on for hours.
They balked at our prophet Mo.
Made it snow, make it snow, made it snow...

Make Way for the Grown Ups

They don't take selfies; they lack Obama's "charisma" (thank heavens); and, oh yeah, they're definitely not on/of the left. Go figure, eh?

Today's Essay Question: Like the Non-Holy, Non-Roman, Non-Imperial Holy Roman Empire, the Free Syrian Army Was Neither Free Nor Syrian Nor an Army. Discuss

Daniel Greenfield's essay gets an "A."

#1: Apologizing

Ten things Canada does better than anywhere else

Our Next Dog?

We're seriously thinking about getting one of these:

New York's Elites Mugged by the Reality of O-Care

They thought they'd be immune to its crappiness. Serves 'em right that they're wrong.

Guess they won't be singing along to this one:

Unfriendly Local Khomeinist Zafar B. Applauds Turkey's Apparent Move Into the Ayatollah's Camp

Well, he would, wouldn't he? Personally, I think it's insane to trust that scheming opportunist Artie Erdogan.

It's Anchors Aweigh as Gaza's Ark "Humanitarians" Get Set to Sail

Guess these watery Zion-loathers haven't heard the news: the Jooos have gotten there first.



That she blows!

"Scholars" for Zionhass

These brainiacs need to get a life. As well, they need to remove their scholarly noggins from their rectums.

Today in Nothing To Do With Islam

The Boston Globe de-Islamizes the jihadi antics of the brothers Tsarnaev; Denial is a river that flows through Witchita.

My Favorite Peter O'Toole Role

Hands down, it's Alan Swann in My Favorite Year. When I first saw the movie (in 1982, the year it came out), O'Toole seemed so old and dissipated. (He was 50 years old at the time.) Looking at it today, though, he doesn't seem that old.

Funny, that.

Is There NO Communist Terrorist Thug Leader Obama Won't Shake Hands With?

Let's just say that no matter how despicable you are, if you extend your hand or request a photo op, he's apt to oblige you.

"This Easily Ranks as the Worst Canadian Public Policy of 2013"

Is it any wonder? It's the work of the most corrupt government in Canadian history.

"I Think We Need to Price Carbon, There's No Question About It..."

A preview of coming distractions should Kid Trudeau become our prime minister.

Jack and the Beanstock, Crime and Punishment and Uncle Tom's Cabin

Just a few of the works that have the distinction of being banned in Gitmo.

Update: At Gitmo, only one book gets the be-gloved infidel treatment.  

Looking at Mandela Sans the Rose-Colored Specs

Wow, I didn't think it was possible, but Andrew McCarthy shows how it's done:

[Mandela] is deservedly lauded for not following the path of Zimbabwe’s monstrous Marxist dictator, Robert Mugabe. Nevertheless, the thunderous ovation Mugabe received upon arriving at the Soweto stadium for Mandela’s memorial service spoke volumes about “democratic” South Africa, and where it is headed.

Ridunkulous FBI Rules on Display in Witchita: Don't Call That Jihadi a Jihadi, 'Kay?

Even though that "lone wolf" in Witchita expressed a desire to wage jihad on behalf of al Qaeda; even though he read his al-Awlaki chapter and verse and had it down pat; the FBI, hewing to its rules of euphemism and obfuscation, insists on describing him not as a jihadi (a word that's redolent of Islam) but as a "violent extremist" (a secular term).

Crazy, no?

Obama's Funeral Selfie Brings Out the Best in Steyn

This is too funny:

Speaking of enjoying themselves, back in the VIP seats President Obama, Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and British prime minister David Cameron carried on like Harry, Hermione, and Ron snogging in the back row during the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup presentation. As the three leaders demonstrated their hands-on approach, Michelle Obama glowered straight ahead, as stony and merciless as the 15-foot statue of apartheid architect Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd that once stood guard outside the government offices of the Orange Free State. Eventually, weary of the trilateral smooching, the first lady switched seats and inserted herself between Barack and the vivacious Helle. How poignant that, on a day to celebrate the post-racial South Africa, the handsome young black man should have to be forcibly segregated from the cool Aryan blonde. For all the progress, as Obama himself pointed out, “our work is not yet done.”

So true.

Omar Khadr 'Splains Why He Pleaded Guilty

He's an innocent as the driven snow of his "home" and native land, claims the widdle jihadi:

TORONTO, Ontario -- Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr has explained for the first time why he pleaded guilty to five war crimes, saying it was because he had been "left with a hopeless choice." 

In a new court filing obtained by The Canadian Press, Khadr says he knew the Americans could have held him indefinitely even in the highly unlikely case that he was acquitted. 

"I was left with a hopeless choice," Khadr, 27, says in the sworn affidavit. 

"If I wanted the chance to eventually return to my home of Canada, I would have to be found guilty of crimes as determined by the U.S. government, which could then lead to me serving my sentence in Canada." 

The affidavit, filed in Federal Court, comes as part of Khadr's $20-million lawsuit against the federal government for violation of his rights. 

Without the plea agreement he signed in October 2010, Khadr says he would have faced the possibility of life-long detention and "continued abuse and torture" at Guantanamo Bay. 

The entire agreement, he says, was put together by the American government. 

Khadr also makes it clear that -- in contrast to the agreed stipulation of facts in the plea deal -- he has never believed Jews or Americans should be killed or deserve to die and says he never willingly joined an al Qaeda terrorist cell. 

"Any participation in al Qaeda-related activities was at the demand of the adults around me," his affidavit says...

In that case, his cold-blooded murder of army medic Christopher Speer must have made the adults around him inordinately proud.

12 Days of Obamacare

If you like your Christmas carol, you can keep your Christmas carol.

Burn the Jews, Burn the Jews, Burn Them All the Way...

That Christmas song they were singing on Romanian state TV sure wasn't "Jingle Bells":

A state owned TV channel in Romania has sparked outrage after broadcasting songs by a choir who sang anti-Semitic 'Christmas carols' which celebrate the burning of Jews.

TVR3, which is ran by the Romanian government, broadcast the performance by a folk group from Cluj last week.

As part of their set, they sang a carol which glorified the Holocaust and called for Jewish people to be burned on the chimney...

I think it went something like this: "I'm dreaming of a Judenrein Christmas/Just like the one I used to know..."

"Human Rights" for Critters

"Today, we look at the new legal challenges to have animals recognized as "persons""--thereby creating a whole new pool of potential OHRC clients/complainants.

The OIC (a.k.a. the Neo-Caliphate) Protests Israel's "Illegal Occupation" of Jerusalem

They call it Al-Quds, of course:

In a special session today, Tuesday, 10 December 2013, the 40th CFM in Conakry, Guinea discussed developments in Al-Quds especially recent Israel’s violations aiming to consolidate its illegal occupation. The CFM adopted a resolution accepting a 13-point legal and political action plan proposed by OIC to compel Israel to stop its aggressions and illegal measures in Al-Quds. According to the plan, an OIC ministerial committee shall be established to act urgently and to visit influential capitals in the world and relevant international organizations to convey the OIC message that any prejudice to Al-Aqsa mosque is a red line that will neither be allowed nor tolerated by the Islamic Ummah, whatever the consequences.  

The plan further mandates the Islamic Group in New York to seek holding a special session for the UN Security Council to discuss Israel’s violations.  

At the legal level, the action plan did not rule out the possibility of resorting to the International Criminal Court and other international legal platforms to hold Israel responsible for its crimes and violations.

Justin Trudeau Schmoozes and Woos BB Jews

Feh.

Ironically Enough

Affordability under the Affordable Care Act becomes an issue

Sign of the Times

Owners of Mandela 'fake' interpreter firm 'vanish'

Obama's Egregious--and Dangerous--Utopianism on Display Again

You know how Obama and his minions think "young invincibles" will be only too willing to pony up the cash to keep the crappy O-Care model working? In the same Utopian vein, he's counting on Palestinian success in the West Bank to "cure" what ails Gaza. Here's Caroline Glick on the president's overly-rosy prognostications re peace:

But during his remarks at the Saban Forum on Saturday, Obama let the cat out of the bag. Gaza, he admitted, is a separate entity. A peace deal, he explained, “is going to have to happen in stages.” 

As he sees it, a peace deal will involve an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. A post-Israel Judea and Samaria will be so wonderful that the Gazans will decide to join it. 

Obama explained, “If there is a model where young Palestinians in Gaza are looking and seeing that in the West Bank Palestinians are able to live in dignity, with self-determination, and suddenly their economy is booming and trade is taking place because they have created an environment in which Israel is confident about its security and a lot of the old barriers to commerce and educational exchange and all that has begun to break down, that’s something that the young people of Gaza are going to want. And the pressure that will be placed for the residents of Gaza to experience that same future is something that is going to be I think overwhelmingly appealing.”

And the lion will lie down with the lamb and everyone will join hands and sing Kumbaya.
 
And I'm the Queen of Sheba.
 
For those "young invicibles" waging jihad (and that includes West Bank Palestinians) the only thing that's overwhelmingly appealing is the idea of getting rid of that uppity Zionist entity (because its very existence contravenes the heart and soul of Islamic doctrine). Barry the Utopian appears to be committed to making that happen.

Talk About Flogging a Dead Camel

Kerry back to region to pursue faltering Mideast peace talks

Elmo Makes a Comeback

When last we heard from Dr. Mohamed Elmasry, former chief of the Canadian Islamic Congress and notorious sock puppeteer, he was maintaining a very low profile and languishing in obscurity at an unread website. Lo and behold Elmo has suddenly resurfaced--and in very dubious company, indeed. Along with "master manipulator" Sami Al-Arian, Dr. E. has gone to Washington to help make the case for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Who says there are no second acts in Islamist life?

Update: Ooops! Wrong Elmasry.  (Who knew there were two of 'em?) Seems the ex-CIC Elmo is still languishing in obscurity while another Elmo has stepped up to the plate. Sorry for getting my Elmos mixed up.

As the late, great Emily Litella would have said in such situations: never mind.

Seasonal Song Du Jour

Check the halls--the school board's dizzy.
(Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha)
Justin Trudeau--hey, where is he?
(Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha)
Obama's selfie--very silly.
(Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha)
Global warming? Brrr, it's chilly.
(Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha)

Update: Here's another seasonal fave:

God rest ye, Kerry stumblebum,
Your words foment much dread.
Remember the Khomei-ei-nists
Want all Jooos to be dead.
A nuke would help to seal the deal
And pave the road ahead.
Oh, tidings of gloominess and doom,
Gloomy re doom.
Oh, tidings of gloominess and doom.

Value for Money, O-Care Style

Hawaii Signs Up 574 for Obamacare, at $348,000 Apiece

Obama Shakes Hands With Raul Castro at the Mandela Send Off

I was going to remark that at least he didn't bow, but if you look at the photo he kinda, sorta did.

The UK Confronts Islamism

A statement that becomes accurate once you place scare quotes around the word "confront."

The Gaping Disconnect Between the Stated Goal of UN Human Rights and Its Rotten Reality

Today is the UN's "Human Rights" Day. Party on:

Commemorated around the world, today is Human Rights Day. 

The date was chosen to honour the United Nations (UN) — General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on December 10, 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new UN. 

The formal establishment of Human Rights Day occurred at the 317th Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on December 4, 1950.

Now for the unfortunate reality:

This year's day is also significant in its celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

That's the Zion-loathing racket that sees nothing wrong about China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia and other such paragons of thugdom acting as the arbiters of "human rights" in the world. I'd sooner celebrate dysentery and/or scrofula than celebrate its 20th or, indeed, any of its anniversaries.

The Jihadi Daddy Who Butchered Lee Rigby 'Splains His Worldview/M.O.

He's a "revert," a soldier of Allah, and he lives and breathes (and kills for) Islam:

Under cross examination by prosecutor Richard Whittam QC, Mr Adebolajo replied "yes" when he was asked if he had killed Fusilier Rigby, describing it as a "military operation". 

Fusilier Rigby's widow Rebecca left the courtroom in tears as Mr Adebolajo claimed the soldier was still moving after being hit by the car. 

He refused to answer questions about how long he had planned the attack, but said he had not planned to run down Fusilier Rigby, saying "it just so happened that Allah caused him to cross in front of my car." 

He described attacking Fusilier Rigby with a meat cleaver in graphic detail, and said the soldier was already dead by the time Mr Adebowale had joined him in attacking the soldier. 

Earlier the court heard Mr Adebolajo, from Romford, east London, give his name as Mujaahid Abu Hamza and confirm he was married with six children, including a seven-year-old boy and a baby who was four days old on the day of the incident. 

He said he had been brought up as a Christian by his family and his parents had taken him to church every Sunday. 

"The memory that sticks in my mind... is probably every New Year's Eve in the evening around 11 o'clock we would gather around in candlelight and read passages from the Bible," he said. 

He converted to Islam in his first year as a student at Greenwich University. 

He told the court: "My religion is everything. 

"When I came to Islam I realised that... real success is not just what you can acquire, but really is if you make it to paradise, because then you can relax," he added.

More Proof That Justin Trudeau Is Just a Pretty, Empty-Headed Frontman

Without perhaps meaning to, Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc spills the beans when he tells a reporter that the decision re which question(s) to raise in the House of Commons on any given day occurs while Justin is AWOL:

“He doesn’t participate in that [determining which questions to raise in the H of C],” says LeBlanc. 

“Sometimes he will ask us…to give him advice on where we thinks he should start. Like, what subject should he start on.” 

LeBlanc – who is 45 with dark brown hair, a wide smile, and what appear to be chewed fingernails – has known Trudeau since infancy, but the bond began before they were born. 

His father was Lester B. Pearson’s press secretary (LeBlanc was born the day Pearson resigned, with the Ottawa Citizen headline declaring: “Press secretary loses a boss, but gains a son”) before becoming an MP, Senator, and then Governor General. 

Perhaps most metaphorically, LeBlanc used to babysit the Liberal leader whom he now calls boss. 

So what is Trudeau doing while his caucus prepares for the day? 

“He’s probably dropping his kids off at school,” LeBlanc says, insisting neither Stephane Dion nor Michael Ignatieff attended such meetings. 

“I mean, I don’t know what he’s doing at 8 o’clock.”...

Sounds to me like LeBlanc is still babysitting him, and not metaphorically.

Zeke the Zealot the Best (i.e. the Worst) Possible Spokesman for O-Care

Dr. Zeke Emmanuel is ex-Obama factotum Rahm's big bro, and an "architect" of the freaky, unaffordable, Rube Goldberg-like construct that is O-Care. In this clip, Zeke the Zealot tells Chris Wallace that when his fearless leader said "I you like your doctor you can keep your doctor, period," what he really meant was that if you'd like to pay extra to keep your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Maybe.

Phew, so glad that Zeke has cleared up that bit of unfinished business.

Not really.

In fact, Zeke's spin manages to be simultaneously both splenetic and anemic (no mean feat) such that, were I high up in the GOP, I would pay him to keep spinning. The more frequently he's on the tube, the sooner a critical mass of Americans will rise up and get rid of the rinky-dink apparatus (one that's so imbecilic that only a brainiac like Zeke could have come up with it--and thought that it would work).

Update: You can't keep your doctor. You can't keep your health plan. And, bottom line, because of the hefty deductible, you're going to be paying for most of your medical care out of your own pocket. Period. Can't wait to hear Zeke try to sell this:

But the point about insurance is not just what it costs to have it, but what it will cost you when you have to use it. If, as the Times reports, the deductible on some of these plans is $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a couple, then as far as many Americans are concerned, pretty much everything short of a hospital stay or surgery is going to mean that they are going to have to pay all medical costs out of their own pockets. Which means, as far as most of the Americans who are being forced onto the state exchanges are concerned, short of a catastrophic event, ObamaCare is the moral equivalent of having no insurance at all.

In that case, it should really be called NO-Care.

Rouhani's Funeral Quandary

If Iran's "moderate" prez decides to attend the Mandela funeral there's a good chance he could come face to face with the dude an Iranian newspaper calls "the head of the Great Satan government." Sure, that would be capital "A" Awkward for Rouhani (and even worse, according to the paper, a "trap"), but Obama would no doubt be delighted to see him. Heck, he'd likely go out of his way to show the faux-moderate that bridge-building, outreach and mealy-mouthed obsequiousness (at least on Great Satan's part) are the only way to go.


Two men who have never been in the same room at the same time. Is that about to change?

Obama's Teensy-Weensy Ideas

Remember how, to save face, Obama wanted to launch an itsy-bitsy, insignificant, so-small-it-would-amount-to-a-mere-slap-on-the-wrist air strike on Syria? Well, in keeping with his "think small" mantra, he is now telling Israel that Iran must be allowed to enrich a "modest" amount of uranium. Which is kind of funny considering that the man himself is anything but modest (i.e. there's nothing teensy-weensy about his ego).

Update: Everybody sing!

It was an itsy-bitsy, later 'gator
Nuclear power generator
That they swore was for peaceable things.
An itsy-bitsy, later 'gator
Nuclear power generator.
Watch the way that old scorpion stings...

Gaza Wise Guys Parody the Van Damme Volvo Ad

ABC News is most sympathetic to their desperate plight, natch:

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip last week showed that Jean-Claude Van Damme isn't the only one who can do an "epic split," and are using a viral video to highlight Gaza's infrastructure issues.  

A comedy troupe in the packed, poverty-ridden Palestinian territory on Thursday released a spoof of a viral Volvo advertisement that featured Van Damme, a Belgian martial artist and actor, doing a split between two moving trucks. 

 The Gazans put a Palestinian twist on the video, titled "The Epic Split," by replacing a monologue from Van Damme about his "ups and downs" and "body crafted to perfection" with a voiceover in Arabic that decries Gaza's poor infrastructure.  

"The electricity cuts off for 12 hours," 28-year-old Mahmoud Zuiter, a member of Tashwesh Productions, says in the video, which has English subtitles. "The water turns on when the electricity cuts off. I miss taking a shower!"  

In the Volvo ad, which has over 58 million, the camera zooms out to show Van Damme suspended between two trucks, which are driving parallel to each other, slowly move apart as the actor drops into a split.  

In the spoof, Zuiter stands on the hoods of two Kia cars...

Two Kia cars? With all the bazillions that have poured into Hamas-controlled Gaza (none of which, apparently, has gone to infrastructure, a la Obama's "stimulus" package that was supposed to--but never did--address U.S., um, "infrastructure issues"), surely they could afford real Volvos. 

And, oh yeah--IT'S ALL ISRAEL'S FAULT!!!

So Much for South Africa Being Nelson Mandela's "Utopia"

If there's one thing the majority of South Africans in the 18-34 year old demographic can agree on, it's that they can't wait to leave the gawdforsaken joint.

Oh, You Mean Bland, Pompous, Doctrinaire Lefty, Zion-Loathing and Insufferably Smug?

'Canada is the CBC'

Artie Erdogan Demonstrates That He Who Writes (or, Rather, Rewrites/Whitewashes) the History Books Gets to Control the Present and the Future

Turkey's strong horse shows how the above credo is working its toxic magic in Kosovo:

Although [Turkey's] money is welcome in impoverished Kosovo, some charge that Turkey is seeking to improve its image in its former possession from the ground up, starting with whitewashing the history of the Ottoman Empire in school books.

For evidence, they point to recent revisions in textbooks for grades five through 12 that strike a conciliatory note toward the Balkans’ former imperial master.

Where last year’s eighth grade history textbook stated, “at the end of the 19th century, Albanians were still facing the cruel Ottoman rule,” this year, pupils learn that “at the end of the 19th century, Albanians were still under Ottoman rule.” 

One sultan is described in the new 11th grade textbook as “strict and shrewd.” Last year, he was “cruel and shrewd.” Twelfth-graders used to read that the Ottomans, after dissolving the League of Prizren – a movement for Albanian autonomy within the empire – “waged previously unseen terror.” Terror has now been replaced by the much milder “political repression.”

Defenders of the changes say they are line with European standards and are intended to combat the tendency, prevalent in the region, to use textbooks to whip up nationalism and to stoke resentment of historical enemies...

Funny, I thought such "European standards" are intended to obfuscate the historical record for the sake of political correctness and to assuage Western self-loathing (although, clearly, that's the exact opposite of why Artie, Islamic supremacist that he is, has become the standard-bearer of these standards).

FYI, such revisionism isn't restricted to Europe. In fact, it's occurring right here in Toronto. In my son's Grade 10 Jewish history course, for example, he is learning that

The city of Medina had many Jews and some Christians living there. The Jews were not persecuted as long as they did not make rebellions against the majority Muslims and as long as they paid taxes.

Gosh, that seems awfully enlightened, don't you think? Considering how rosy things were, one wonders why anyone would balk at being ruled by Muslims.

Update: Here's the bloody, savage, God's-honest truth:

The Quran is replete with comments about Jews. Many are positive and many are offensive, denigrating, and full of Jew hatred. When one considers the Islamic concept of abrogation (Naskh wa Mansukh), whereby the more recent of Muhammad’s revelations cancel out and replace the older ones, matters become much clearer and the seeming contradictions regarding attitudes towards Jews can be easily explained. It becomes evident that when he was militarily weak Muhammad’s pronouncement about Infidels were kindly and respectful, but as Muhammad became more powerful and confident his animosity and hatred of the Jews became more vitriolic. The genocidal beheading of all the men (some 600-900) of the Jewish tribe of Medina Banu Qurayza by Muhammad and his followers, serves as a model of treatment of infidels for Muslims to this very day. 

The President Whose O-Care Website Is a Technological Nightmare Invites American Young'uns to Make a Short Film Touting the Benefits of--Wait For It--Technology

His White House is an irony-free zone, apparently.

Icon, Shmicon

Once you get past the hysterical hagiography, it becomes evident that Nelson Mandela said a lot of dang-fool things in his life.

Obama's Road to Serfdom Gives Rise to a Gaping Divide

The "haves" and the "have-nots"? That's soooo Das Kapital. The "1%" versus the "99%"? No, that won't do, either. Here, let Mark Steyn unpack the real societal divide of our time:

So what does every initiative of the Obama era have in common? Obamacare, Obamaphones, Social Security disability expansion, 50 million people on food stamps . . . The assumption is that mass, multi-generational dependency is now a permanent feature of life. A coastal elite will devise ever smarter and slicker trinkets, and pretty much everyone else will be a member of either the dependency class or the vast bureaucracy that ministers to them. And, if you’re wondering why every Big Government program assumes you’re a feeble child, that’s because a citizenry without “work and purpose” is ultimately incompatible with liberty. The elites think a smart society will be wealthy enough to relieve the masses from the need to work. In reality, it would be neo-feudal, but with fatter, sicker peasants. It wouldn’t just be “economic inequality,” but a far more profound kind, and seething with resentments.

Something to consider: "progressives" are actually possessives. That is, they want to possess all the power they possibly can (for the greater good of all, purportedly)--and possess you via the geegaws and shiny baubles they dole out. And Obama? Why, he's the biggest possessive to ever occupy the White House. It will take generations to undo the damage he's wrought--if, indeed, it can be undone.

Mandela's Legacy: It's Not What Many Think It Is and Would Like It To Be

Daniel Greenfield pens some harsh truths:

South Africa is just as divided by race as it was when Mandela was in prison. It is broken up into countless tiny factions protected by real and metaphorical violence. There is no trusted institution in the country that unites it. There is no trust by South Africans in each other. 

When a farmer’s family is brutally murdered by his own workers and men rape the children of their neighbors in the hopes of curing themselves of AIDS—there can be no such thing as trust. The story told in so many of the movies where Mandela played by Sidney Poitier or Morgan Freeman teaches blacks and whites to set aside their hatred has not worked out nearly as well in real life. 

In the new apartheid, the black government represses a white minority and abuses its power over the black majority in ways that Western liberals would never tolerate if it were being practiced by men with Dutch last names. Every government crime is covered up by more incitement against the white minority with each generation of activists struggling to outdo the previous generation in its anti-white racism. 

There has been no moment of transcendence that endured. No cure for the things tearing the nation apart. There is no new spirit in South Africa. There is a new apartheid defined not by law, but by hate. Freedom and democracy are equally vaporous under the rule of a political movement obsessed with the vicious pragmatism of power now being exercised by Mandela’s African National Congress successors.

Nelson Mandela may have been a great man who stood for great things (even if, when it came to the likes of Yasser Arafat, his judgment was less than astute). But the South Africa of today, the one that hails him as a father and an icon, is a suppurating mess.

Toronto Grinchiness: Dancing Crossing Guard Ordered to Stop Dancing

Her dancing is dangerous. Supposedly. Not really. Actually, not at all:

The woman adored by west-end children and parents as the “dancing crossing guard” may have had her last waltz. 

Kathleen Byers became a local fixture as she strutted, sashayed and swirled her way across Dufferin St. with her safety vest and stop sign, guiding students at Alexander Muir/Gladstone Ave. public school and Grove Community School to the beat of music from portable speakers. But Wednesday morning, police told her the dancing had to stop.  

“I was essentially told not to bring my music, not to dance, not to dance without music, and when I asked if I could exercise, just light movement, I was told not to do that as well,” Byers said. “So essentially I guess they wanted me to stand there, which isn’t me at all.” 

Byers, 64, has been a crossing guard for 10 years and she’s been dancing for almost four. There have been no accidents involving children on her watch, she said.

Maybe so, but that doesn't make it "safe":

Crossing guards are regulated through the Toronto Police Service’s traffic department. Byers was featured in a video posted on the police YouTube channel in late September, but a supervisor in the traffic department later had concerns that she was not following proper procedures, said spokesman Const. Clint Stibbe.

  

For example, her stop sign is not always visible to drivers when she does her dance moves, and sometimes she dances across the street with children instead of stopping in the middle of the intersection before letting them come out, he said. 

“We have to make sure the directions she’s giving drivers are clear,” Stibbe said. “So essentially we’re asking her to do her job properly and clearly so drivers and pedestrians are clear what’s happening and there’s no confusion or risk to a child. 

“We’ve directed her to focus on her task at hand, which obviously is to get the children across the road safely.” 

Even her dancing on the sidewalk could be a distraction to drivers that could put other pedestrians at risk, he said — something police are paying close attention to as the number of pedestrians killed in traffic collisions has surged this year.

Though, of course, none has occurred on her watch while she's been dancing.

Gee, do you think more crossing guards should take up the practice?

Rest Easy, Webster. We Love You. We'll Miss You

Aren't You Glad That Obama and Other Westerners Helped "Liberate" Libya?

Sticking it--big time--to its infidel "liberators," the Libyans have opted to embrace totalitarian sharia law.

News That Should Inspire You to Rush Out and Get Yourself a Big, Juicy Burger

Gazillionaires Jay-Z and Al "Jazeera" Gore have gone vegan.

Cameron's Draconian "Tebos" Aim to Curtail "Extremists" Who "Misinterpret" Islam

In Cameron's U.K., "real" Islam is entirely benign and freedom's just another word for "shut the eff up." (Here's hoping this doesn't give Canadian anti-"hate" speech control freaks any ideas):

In its initial report to be detailed to Parliament today, the task force will also propose new internet filters to block extremist websites and extended powers for watchdogs to shut down charities suspected of being fronts for extremist groups.

 

‘I want to see an end to hate preaching in Britain,’ the Prime Minister said. 

As well as new civil orders against extremists – dubbed ‘Tebos’, or terror and extremism behaviour orders – the Government is to consider the case for another new type of order to ban groups which ‘seek to undermine democracy or use hate speech, when necessary to protect the public or prevent crime and disorder’. 

Controversially, both types of order are to be based on a new definition of extremism which specifically includes a ‘distorted interpretation of Islam’...

Here's the Cameronites' new definition:

Clearly, the distorted interpretation of Islam (the one which interprets it as being cuddly and non-threatening and rejecting divinely-decreed sharia and supremacism ) is Cameron's. Meanwhile, free speech, the freedom on which a free society depends, is being been snuffed out for the sake of maintaining a fiction about the "real," the "true," Islam. Ironically, that dovetails quite nicely with the Islamist agenda of ending all criticism of Islam (and infidels' free speech/"blasphemy"), an essential plank of totalitarian sharia law.

Update: Andrew C. McCarthy skewers the Cameron interpretation (the italics are McCarthy's):

Putting aside intra-Islamic debates over the tactic of terrorism—which tend to be situational rather than over the propriety of mass-murder attacks in principle—the ideology that fuels violent jihad is not confined to terrorists. It is the mainstream Islam of the Middle East, which teaches the imperative of establishing the reign of Allah’s law, the repressive sharia system. Globally renowned and revered scholars reaffirm this command with numbing regularity and identify the United States as Ummah Enemy Number One. Nevertheless, the United States government is not merely resistant to acknowledging this ideology and its prevalence; it menaces any attempt to edify Americans about it. Instead, top officials instruct their minions to avoid giving offense, to obsess over what we must have done to inspire such contempt. They indulge the fantasies that sharia totalitarianism can coexist with democracy, that the responsibilities of governance will tame radicals, and that “partnering” with movements like the Muslim Brotherhood—which openly profess a desire to conquer the West—is the best way to achieve security. 

It is delusional, and yet we are currently betting our lives on it. Indeed, the fastest route to ostracism from respectable society is to question the consensus or have the audacity to point out that our enemies actually are, well, enemies. They want to destroy us and make little secret about it, at least when speaking among themselves. How did we arrive at such a lunatic place where mortal enemies are perceived as friends? How did we lose our capacity to reason and judge?...

In the short term, the delusion is comforting. In the longer term, it is suicidal.