VIDEO: Why opposing players avoid Canadiens' Alexei Emelin

Poor Len, again! Since Ed. gives me the floor so infrequently, I am reluctant to yield it, particularly when yesterday's post didn't really focus on my favourite team, the Montréal Canadiens.

Last night I Watched the Habs guarantee their participation in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs with a 6-2 thrashing of the hapless Florida Panthers. During the second intermission, one of the RDS commentators noted that Montréal defenceman Alexei Emelin had added to his "bank of enemies". He had delivered one of his thundering hits to the Panthers' Shawn Thornton, who gave him the Salmon Arm Salute on the way back to the bench. The teams meet again in Florida on Monday. I'll make the popcorn.

True it is that M Emelin (one of five Russians on the "Canadiens") has become feared, even hated by players and fans alike of the other 29 NHL teams. It's not that he's a dirty player. It's just that he's merciless. It seems his sole and only aim is to make sure that anyone on the receiving end of one of his bodychecks -- especially his patented hip check -- will get up slowly, and remember the experience a long time. That opposing players stay out of his way makes him a real asset to the Habs' defence.

One picture being worth 1000 words, and one video being worth a million, we present an excellent YouTube video which illustrates the point.



Footnote: RDS jock talkers Stéphane Langdeau and Pierre Houde have been nominated for awards for excellence in sportscasting. Congratulations to both of them and to the entire RDS team.

Poor Len Canayen's Stanley Cup predictions

Ed. here. The National Hockey League regular season ends in a couple of weeks. We haven't heard a whole lot from our National Hockey Analyst, Poor Len Canayen, presumably because "his" team (the Montréal Canadiens) have been atop the Atlantic division most of the year, so we call on him now to explain why Les Glorieux will win the Stanley Cup... or not. Len?

Thank you, Ed. Here is the view from Ste-Thérèse, or Centre Ice, as she is known en anglais. Although the final standings are yet to be finalized, the picture of which teams will make the playoffs is pretty clear. I'll run it down for you, so you'll know which way to bet. First, the four contenders in each division.

Metropolitan Division
A much stronger division than could have been expected at the beginning of the year, thanks to an amazing run by the Columbus Bluejackets, backstopped by Sergei Bobrovsky, who looks to have a lock on the Vezina Trophy.
Washington Capitals finish in first, followed by Columbus, Pittsburgh Penguins and, just to make up the numbers, Tampa Bay Lightning.

Atlantic Division
After the first 11 games of the season, I figured the Montréal Canadiens would run away with the division, the Eastern Conference, and maybe the entire NHL. I didn't think they'd have to struggle to finish first. But they did and they will, provided Carey Price stays healthy and happy under Claude Julien. The Toronto Maple Leafs, with three great rookies, look to be in the playoffs, as do the Ottawa Senators, making possible a three-cornered battle to advance.
Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto and New York Rangers should be the final four, but I'm hedging my bet with a little money on Boston Bruins.

Central Division
The Chicago Blackhawks dominate the division and the Western Conference, with all-star forwards and fine coaching from Joel Quenneville. The Minnesota Wild (stupid name -- what's wrong with "Moose" or some other animal?) deserve to finish second.
Chicago, Minnesota, Nashville Predators, and St. Louis Blues. Only the first two matter.

Pacific Division
Two more Canadian teams look like going to the playoffs. Well, one, anyway -- the Edmonton Oilers. The Anaheim Ducks (formerly Mighty Ducks) and San Jose Sharks are the ones to beat. Bet on the Calgary Flames to squeak into the playoffs, only just.
Anaheim, San Jose, Edmonton, Calgary.

Now for my fearless predictions.

Quarter-finals

In the Metropolitan Division, I see the Caps choking, as usual. You can have a great goaltender (Braden Holtby) but you need more than one guaranteed ace scorer. If you have one, you're got a chance, which lets Columbus out. Winner: Pittsburgh Penguins.
If they do make it into the playoffs, Rangers won't go beyond the first round in the Atlantic Division. "King Henry" Lundqvist is past his best-by date. I'd love to see Montréal and Toronto clash, for the first time in many years. The Maple Laffs have been unable to beat the Habs since, errr, 2014, so that's a no-brainer. If it's Montréal vs Ottawa, you pick 'em. Winner: Montréal Canadiens.

Calling the Central Division is easy. The only question is how many games it will take Chicago to dispose of Minnesota. Winner: Chicago Blackhawks.
When it comes to the Pacific Division, I'm going to forget the analytics, and perhaps common sense too. Calgary will be lucky to be in the playoffs at all, but could be spoilers. My hope is for the Oilers to face off against the Sharks or the Ducks and surprise them, with the series-winning goal to be scored by... wait for it... little David Desharnais! Winner: Edmonton Oilers. [I'll take that bet. Ed.]

Semi-finals

Eastern Conference - I can only avoid statistics, analytics and common sense for so long. The Canadiens have the Greatest Goaltender in the World (TM) in Carey Price, but not one single forward that you can count on to score. The Penguins' goaltending is suspect, but with Sid the Kid and at least two other certified scorers, I don't see how they can lose. Pittsburgh over Montréal in 5 games, or 6, tops. Sorry.
Western Conference - Following the same reasoning, I don't think it matters much who wins the Pacific Division. The Blackhawks have the size and the speed, plus adequate goaltending and a bunch of guys who can find the back of their opponents' nets. Chicago beats Oilers in 5, or (if I was dreaming back there) Sharks in 7.

Stanley Cup Finals

That sets us up for another Chicago-Pittsburgh match-up, which would be a terrific contest between two evenly-matched teams, both of whom have hoisted Lord Stanley's silverware recently. My bet would be Chicago, in 7 close games. Lifetime pct .985.

"Depose the Pope!" conference in Paris this week

L'Université de Paris (the University of Paris), for long known as the Sorbonne, has been around for well over 900 years. It was already 800 years old when Walt studied there (briefly) in the summer of 1863. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated with the cathedral school of Notre Dame de Paris, it was officially chartered in 1200 by King Philip II of France and recognized by Pope Innocent III in 1215.

The university is the historical location where the eminent Doctors of the Church, the Dominican St. Thomas Aquinas and the Franciscan St. Bonaventure, held their great theological debates. In the 1300s, a series of meetings at the University explored the question of what could be done with the possibly heretical Pope John XXII, who denied the doctrine that the souls of the just are admitted to the Beatific Vision after death, a position he retracted only on his deathbed. The Paris scholars decided that John was not to be considered a heretic because the doctrine he had contradicted had not been formally defined by the Church.

Now, over seven centuries later, the question of what can be done with (or to) a heretical pope arises again, because of the refusal of Pope Francis to answer the Dubia -- questions posed in a letter by four cardinals requesting clarification of the meaning of certain statements and propositions included in Pope Francis' exhortation Amoris Laetitia ("The Joy of Love").

The question of how to depose a heretical pope will be considered at the University this coming Thursday and Friday, by a group of eminent canon lawyers, theologians, and scholars. Called "Deposing the Pope: Theological Premises, Canonical Models, Constitutional Challenge", the conference seeks to explore the mechanisms that are built into the Catholic Church for dealing with a pope who openly teaches falsehood and even heresy.

Speaking at the conference will be University of Paris Professor Laurent Fonbaustier, who last year published a 1200-page book on the topic, titled The Deposition of the Heretical Pope. Also featured are Professors Nicolas Warembourg and Cyrille Dounot, two of the 45 Catholic academics who last June submitted an appeal to the Dean of the College of Cardinals in Rome requesting a repudiation of the erroneous propositions they found in Amoris Laetitia. They said Pope Francis' exhortation "contains a number of statements that can be understood in a sense that is contrary to Catholic faith and morals."

In November 2016, Vaticanista Giuseppe Nardi reported that a 1975 theological study by the learned Brazilian layman Arnaldo Vidigal Xavier da Silveira was making the rounds in the Vatican. In The Theological Hypothesis of a Heretical Pope, Senhor da Silveira considered whether it is possible for a pope to be or become a heretic, and if so, what consequences would follow from this. Signor Nardi commented that "three and a half years after the start of his pontificate, Pope Francis is reaching his limits. The impression, given by means of gestures and words, of a latent intention to change the doctrine of the Church must at some point either take on definite form or else it must collapse."

"Francis," he continues, "finds himself cornered by means of the very atmosphere he himself is responsible for creating. It's no longer about a spontaneous utterance on this or that, which remains improvised and non-binding. His pastoral work and his leadership skills, which demand a sense of responsibility and an exemplary character, are reaching their limits. This could cause [Francis' pontificate] to fail."

Last December, Raymond Cardinal Burke gave an interview in which he explained that if a pope were to "formally profess heresy he would cease, by that act, to be the Pope." He explained that there is a process within the Church for dealing with such a situation, adding his hope that "we won't be witnessing that at any time soon."

Also in December, American canon lawyer Dr Edward Peters addressed the question of what could be done if a pope were found to be heretical. The crucial question, he wrote, from a canonist's perspective, is "who would determine whether a given pope has fallen into heresy" since Canon 1404 states that the "First See is judged by no one." However, Dr Peters found in canonical tradition the position that if a general council determined that a pope had committed heresy, by that very fact he will have effectually cut himself off from the true vine, thereby forfeiting his office. "However remote is the possibility of a pope actually falling into heresy and however difficult it might be to determine whether a pope has so fallen, such a catastrophe, Deus vetet [God forbid], would result in the loss of papal office."

Faithful Catholics, please pray to St Michael the Archangel for the success of the conference and for the deliverance of Holy Mother Church from the thrall of all who would destroy Her.

Further reading: "Is the Catholic Church about to disintegrate?", WWW 31/10/17.

More media illiteracy - Toronto Sun

Ed. here with a little gem from the landing page of today's Toronto Sun. "Rouged up"? Who could make up something like that? (Geddit?)

Also seen (but not captured) on the Globe and Mail landing page today, a video caption including the phrase "baited breath"... like the cat that ate some cheese and sat in front of the mousehole with baited breath. (Geddit?) That one is very common.

VIDEO: Soros, Trudeau plot to flood Canada with Muslim "refugees"

On Thursday, in "UK 'terror incident' - Guess the missing word!", Walt called attention to a motion -- M-103 -- by Iqra Khalid, a Muslim activist and Liberal member of Canada's parliament, calling for an "all-government" effort to combat "Islamophobia". "All government" = total government, as in... wait for it... totalitarianism. No more criticism of Islam. No questions about welcoming Islamic extremists into the Great No-longer-white North. No more freedom of speech.

M-103 passed easily, as expected, with all the Gliberals and the socialist NDP members voting for it, and only the Conservatives opposed. Stay tuned for news of further measures to censor the Canuck meeja (although they already do a pretty good job of censoring themselves) and silence the voices of the Canadian people.

Agent 6 has sent us an e-mail raising the very good question of what and who is behind Canuck Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's version of Angela Merkel's discredited and despised "Willkommenkultur". Is this the work, he wonders, of George Soros, the eminence grise behind the New World Order? One person who thinks so is The Rebel's Ezra Levant. Check out this video. Running time 9:35.

Two of the seers of Fatima to be canonized

We are less than two months away from the 100th anniversary of the first of the Marian Apparitions at Fatima, Portugal. On 13 May 1917 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three children -- Jacinto and Francisco Marto and their cousin Lucia (Lucy) dos Santos -- the Seers of Fatima.

Our Lady of Fatima returned on the 13th of every month through October, to bring Her Message of prayer, penance and the necessity of praying and working for the consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart, which will bring to our troubled world a period of peace. She also warned that unless Her requests are heeded, nations will be annihilated and millions of souls lost. For more on the relevance of the Fatima Apparitions to the turmoil we face today, see "The connection between Our Lady of Fatima and Islam", WWW 9/3/17.

Devotees of Our Lady of Fatima have cause to rejoice this weekend. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved a miracle through the intercession of Blessesds Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the three children who witnessed the Apparitions. The decree, released on March 23rd, fulfills the requirements for the canonization of the two Seers. Both died in their youth, shortly after the Fatima Miracles. They were beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

The March 23 decree creates the possibility that Pope Francis could preside at the canonization of Blesseds Francisco and Jacinto Marto in May, when he will visit the Fatima shrine to mark the 100th anniversary of the Apparitions.

The third of the Seers, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and lived until 2005. In 2008, a separate cause of beatification was opened for Sister Lucia. Pope Benedict XVI waived the usual five-year waiting period after a candidate's death for the opening of her cause.

"Allahu akbar!" again? France again... Breaking news...

The mojo wire is starting to hum with reports of a shooting near a metro station in Lille, France. It's already Saturday there so I don't expect much until tomorrow (on this side of the pond). Here's what we've heard so far.

According to La Voix du Nord, at least three people, including a 14-year-old, have been injured after a gunman opened fire outside a Lille metro station. The local news outlet says the teenager was struck in the leg, while another person took a bullet to the neck. A third was taken to hospital.

The shooter is believed to have fled the scene, according to public broadcaster France Bleu Nord. Police discovered a dozen shell casings in the parking lot where the shooting occurred. As is now customary in these "incidents", the gendarmes are saying only that "the motive behind the shooting is not clear." No-one has reported hearing shouts of "Allahu akbar!"... yet...

UK "terror incident" - Guess the missing word!

Here is a selection of headlines from the lamestream media, relating to yesterday's "terror incident" at the estate of the British parliament, in which four people were killed and 20 injured or wounded.

Terror Attack Strikes Heart of London - New York Times
Nation Is Defiant as Police Arrest 8 After Parliament Attack - New York Times
U.K. attacker was British-born man; eight others arrested - Globe and Mail
The new wave of terrorism in Britain - Globe and Mail
London attacker was British-born and had been investigated by authorities, prime minister says - Washington Post
Britons are denouncing Donald Trump Jr.’s attack on London’s mayor - Washington Post - (London't mayor is, errr, a Muslim.)

Police arrest 8 in London terror attack investigation - Fox News
Attack is the latest terror scare for London - Fox News
U.K. attacker was British-born, had been investigated for 'violent extremism' - CBC News
British PM condemns 'sick and depraved terrorist attack' near Parliament - CBC News
British-born attacker 'known to MI5' - BBC
London attack - latest updates from Westminster - BBC

London attacker was British-born, once investigated for extremist links - Global News
Canada’s threat level unchanged after assumed terror attack in London - Global News
‘Oh God, it was horrible’: Witnesses describe panic amid carnage of London terror attack - National Post
Trump Jr. criticizes London mayor’s terrorism comments shortly after deadly attack on British Parliament - National Post
Trump’s son blasted for criticizing London mayor - Toronto Star
London attacker was British-born and had been investigated for extremist links, U.K. prime minister says - Toronto Star

[That's enough headlines. Ed.] Quite right. The point of listing all these is to demonstrate the egregious self-censorship of the lamestream media (including Fox News) in the USA, Canada, and even the UK itself. What the (((controlled))) media don't want to admit in print or in broadcast news, is the fact that the attacker, who has not yet been named publicly, had been investigated by MI5, the UK intelligence service, "in relation to concerns of violent extremism".

Putting it more bluntly than the pussy-footing British PM, they know who he is, and they know he's a Muslim, an Islamic extremist, just as Walt predicted in yesterday's post. But the words "Muslim" and/or "Islamic" appear nowhere, nowhere, in any statements, press releases, or media reports of the "terror incident".

So far today I've seen only one reference to the religion or motivation of the attacker. That was in the Times of London, where the sub-head to the story titled "Seven Arrested in Terror Raids" is "Police swoop in London and Birmingham after Islamist kills three".

You're not being told that the perp is a Muslim for reasons of political correctness. I'll give Fox News credit for running "Hirsi Ali: Islamic Terrorists 'Don't Go to Liberals and Say Thank You' for Being PC". Here's a quote.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali criticized what she considered the "apologetic attitude" some liberals around the world have toward identifying the religious component to Islamic terrorism. Ali, a women rights activist who was raised Muslim in Somalia but later became an apostate, called such a mindset "masochistic and stupid." She said on Tucker Carlson Tonight that radical Islamic terrorists "don't go to liberals and say thank you so much, we'll stop terrorizing you" because of some on the left refuse to identify terrorism's religious component.

That's the problem. If they identify the Islamic terrorist as such, they challenge the liberal orthodoxy that Muslims are really nice people and don't want to kill all non-Muslims and establish their "caliphate" in Europe and America. They don't want to stoke the fires of "Islamophobia", already burning brightly in the USA and western Europe, and now, even in Canada. See "Nearly 50% of Canucks want border-jumpers deported", WWW 20/3/17.

Speaking of which... the Canadian parliament, by unhappy coincidence, is today debating M-103, a non-binding motion by M.P. Iqra Khalid [an Irish-Canadian? Ed.] condemning Islamophobia and "all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination". Though largely symbolic, the motion would direct the Commons heritage committee to study the issue and develop strategies to tackle the alleged problem.

Free speech advocates fear that the "strategies" could include measures such as prohibiting the disclosure of a terrorist's identity, ethnicity, religion or "belief system" -- in other words, censorship of the facts of "incidents" such as the attack on Westminster. Many Conservatives have said they cannot support the motion because it does not define Islamophobia, leading some to fear it could stifle free speech and criticism of Islam. Others have argued that the motion provides special treatment to one religion over others.

It appears to me that the self-censorship of the lamestream media makes any "anti-Islamophobia" laws unnecessary. M-103 has the support of the governing Liberals and the pinko NDP, and is expected to pass easily. After all, "terror incidents" may happen in Paris, Brussels and London, but they would never happen in Ottawa... would they? Oh... wait...

FOOTNOTE: The mojo wire is spitting out reports that the Islamic State is claiming responsibility for the Westminster attack. ISIS said through its Aamaq News Agency that the attacker was a soldier of the Islamic State who "carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition" of countries fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.

British officials did not release the attacker's identity or confirm a link with the Islamic State group, though British Prime Minister Teresa May, in a statement which takes a WWW award for obfuscation, said it would be wrong to describe the attack as "Islamic" extremism. "It is Islamist terrorism," she said. "It is a perversion of a great faith." Anyone who can figure out the distinction between Islamic extremism and Islamist terrorism is invited to do so in the comments window below. Keep it down to 25 words or less, please.

ANOTHER FOOTNOTE: If the Rt. Hon. Teresa May means that Islam is the "religion of peace" the liberals keep apologizing for, perhaps she can explain why Muslims like Khalid Masood -- now identified as the attacker at Westminster -- keep trying to kill non-Muslims. As for me, I just ask, where's Santiago Matamoros (St. James the Moor-slayer -- see featured post), now that we need him more than ever.

"Allahu akbar!" - Islamic terrorist, cop, 2 others killed at Westminster

Walt is watching the news on the Beeb (and every other website in the world) for the latest news on what the PC lamestream meeja are calling a "terrorist incident" at Westminster, site of the UK parliament, this morning. The body count so far is four dead (including the assailant and a boobie -- as British cops are called) and at least twenty injured. Some incident, eh!

A spokesthingy for London's Metropolitan Police said the dead policeman was one of the armed officers who guard parliament. The other victims were innocent bystanders struck on Westminster Bridge by a speeding SUV driven by the attacker. "We are satisfied at this stage that it looks like there was only one attacker," Inspector Knacker said, "but it would be foolish to be overconfident early on."

The Peelers are being tight-lipped about the identity or motive of the attacker. He has been described on some sites as "Asian", which in British English can mean someone from the Far East, or, more likely, south Asia or some such place. The police and meeja are scrupulously avoiding the use of the words "Islamic" or "Muslim". No witnesses have come forward to say they heard shouts of "Allahu akbar!" But if anyone wants to bet that the perpetrator is not, as in Paris last week, another jihadi, Walt will give you 20 to 1 odds.

This just in!!! I understand we have a picture of the perp, Ed.?
[We sure do, Walt! Here it is. Appears to be either a Muslim or an Amish guy with a deep tan. You be the judge!]

Perhaps I should start a pool on the timing of the first admission by the British government that, yes, the attacker was a follower of the Prophet. Or a pool on the site and date of the next "terror incident". Suggestions on the back of a postage stamp, please, to the usual address.

A new (?) Tom Swiftie, from Africa no less

From his daze in Africa, Agent 3 recalls a conversation with a couple of peasant farmers...

"We are not a rich family," said Tom. "We just have little farms. My brother has 3 acres, but I have 5. I am richer than he is, relatively speaking."

UPDATED: Nearly 50% of Canucks want border-jumpers deported

This is a follow-up to Walt's post, two weeks ago, about the hundreds of Muslim invaders crossing into Canada through the unguarded borders near Emerson MB and Lacolle QC. This picture of a woman who claims to be Syrian being watched (but not detained) by a Mountie says it all.

The reason why the Gendarme isn't doing anything is that, thanks to a loophole in an agreement with the USA, the cops can't just force the "refugees" to do a right-about-face and go back to the safe country from which they are "fleeing" (and for which most of them already have visas). Nor can they arrest them, even though entering Canada illegally is a crime, because (get this!) they are not yet officially in Canada! Instead, they must take them to the nearest Canadian Border Services office or agent, where they must be allowed to claim asylum. After that it's off to the welfare office for their free food, free houses, and (of course) free legal aid.

If you were an average Canuck, struggling to keep warm in your toque and lumberjack shirt, how would you feel about this? Anecdotal evidence suggests a great many Canucks are supremely pissed off. Reuters commissioned Ipsos-Reid to conduct a survey to find out if the rumours of resentment are true. According to their poll, released today, nearly half of Canadians want to deport people who are illegally crossing into Canada from the United States. A similar number disapprove of how Prime Minister Justin "Hairboy" Trudeau is handling the influx of Muslim migrants.

4 out of 10 respondents said the border-crossers -- most of whom are from the Middle East and north Africa -- could make Canada less safe, underlining the potential political risk for M Trudeau's Liberal government. Junior Trudeau has come under pressure over the flow of illegal migrants. He is questioned about it every time he appears in parliament, from opponents on the left, who want more asylum-seekers to be allowed in, and critics on the right, who say the migrants pose a potential security risk.

According to the poll, conducted between March 8th and 9th, Canadians are just as concerned about illegal immigration as their American neighbours. 48% of responders said they supported "increasing the deportation of people living in Canada illegally." When asked specifically about the recent border crossings from the USA, the same number said Canada should "send these migrants back to the US." 36% said Canada should "accept these 'migrants'" and let them seek refugee status.

Greg Janzen, the reeve (chief elected official) of Emerson MB, told Reuters, "There are so many people in the world who want to come in and go through the right channels. That’s what’s pissing most people off. These guys are jumping the border."

The ironic thing is that almost all of the illegal migrants interviewed by Reuters in Canada said they had been living legally in the United States and had applied for asylum there, but fled to Canada "for fear of being caught up in President Trump's immigration crackdown." Mr Trump must be laughing long and loud. He can say, rightly, that he didn't deport these poor downtrodden victims of Islamophobia. They left the USA of their own accord! LMAO!

UPDATE 21/3/17: Manitoba had the largest weekend influx of refugees illegally entering the province from the United States so far this year -- a situation that has local officials on edge, with many more expected follow in their footsteps as the weather improves. Video obtained by CTV News shows 29 people walked into the province from neighbouring U.S. states on Saturday and Sunday in a series of groups.

VIDEO: How about if we nuke North Korea?

After the passage of 65 years, there's talk once again of dropping the Big One on the Commies in North Korea. It would be a pre-emptive strike of course and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says we'd better start thinking seriously about it, because, while Kim Jong Un hasn't gone into the deep end yet, he's jumping up and down on the diving board.

But you know... Walt has been around a long time, long enough to remember the Korean War. It occurs to me that we've seen this movie before! And I mean that literally. If you don't remember, check The Atomic Cafe, a 1982 American documentary film produced and directed by Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty and Pierce Rafferty. Last year, this film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, by reason of being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The film covers the beginnings of the era of nuclear warfare, created from a broad range of archival material from the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s including newsreel clips, television news footage, US government-produced films (including military training films), advertisements, and radio and TV programmes. Though the topic of atomic holocaust is a grave matter [No more puns, please. Ed.], The Atomic Cafe approaches it with black humour, much of it derived from the modern viewer's reaction to the old films, such as the "Duck and cover!" film shown in schools, and taken quite seriously at the time.

Ed. has found the complete movie on YouTube. The part about the Korean War and the threat of using the A-bomb on North Korea (and China too, for good measure) starts at 22:51. The famous "Duck and cover!" sequence begins at 1:02:49. About a minute before that some well-fed 4-H girls show you what goes into a survival kit. Whatever happened to 4-H, anyway? You get to see Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson and Nixon too. Watch it now, before YouTube deletes the freebie!

Canadian Sikhs face extradition to India for honour killings

Not all honour killings -- in which young women (usually) are murdered by family members for bringing dishonour on the family -- are committed by Muslims from the Middle East and South Asia. Such despicable acts are all too common in south Asian Hindu and (especially) Sikh communities, not just at home in India, but wherever they may be found.

Thanks to decades of open-door immigration policies, the Great No-Longer-White North is now "home" to hundreds of thousands of Sikhs, who bring the religions and customs of the old country with them and refuse to adopt or even adapt to Canadian ways. One such area is Peel Region, west of Toronto. The other is British Columbia's Lower Mainland, surrounding Vancouver.

Two residents of the latter are Malkit Kaur Sidhu and Surjit Badesha, of Maple Ridge BC. They have fighting since 2012 to avoid extradition to India, where they are wanted for arranging the honour killing of Jaswinder (Jassi) Kaur Sidhu, right, and her husband, Sukhwinder (Mithu) Singh. Surjit Singh Badesha is Jassi's uncle; Malkit Kaur Sidhu is her mother. All of them are (or were) Sikhs.

Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu's body was found in a canal in India in 2000. Her throat had been slit. Her husband was badly beaten and left for dead at the scene. Jassi's crime, for which her mother and uncle are allegedly responsible, was secretly marrying Mithu, a humble rickshaw driver, a man of much lower social status, instead of the older man her family had arranged for her to wed in Canada.

Malkit Kaur Sidhu (Jassi's mother) and Surjit Singh Badesha (her uncle) were arrested in Canada in 2012, on charges of orchestrating the honour killing. Indian courts asked to have the pair extradited to face trial, but a surrender order signed by former Justice Minister Peter MacKay was challenged and ultimately struck down by a British Columbia appeals court last year. See "No Justice In Jassi Sidhu Murder Case: Court Rejects India’s Extradition Order For Victim’s Mother & Uncle", The Aerogram, 10/3/16. The appeal court found the pair could be subject to violence, torture or neglect ["neglect"? Seriously? Ed.] based on India's human rights record.

Mr Badesha's lawyer (((Michael Klein))) told CBC News the pair could be in danger if sent to India, and Canada is obliged to protect them. "Both of these people are elderly and both have health issues and that makes them more vulnerable in an Indian prison system, especially one which has been characterized as quite brutal."

The Attorney-General of Canada begs to differ. In a 46-page submission to the Supreme Court of Canada, the Crown says the BC appeal court erred, calling its decision an "unwarranted interference" with the minister's order to return alleged perpetrators in the "brutal and notorious 'honour' killing of a Canadian citizen." It said the ruling jeopardized Canada's ability to live up to its obligations to extradition treaty partners. "The need to fulfil Canada's obligations in relation to extradition is always a crucial factor," the brief says, "precisely because of the objectives of the extradition regime including the importance of seeing justice done in the jurisdiction in which crimes are committed and the need to prevent Canada from becoming a safe haven for criminals."

A number of SJWs and members of the human rights industry have intervened in the case. (((Juda Strawczynski))), president of Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, said alternatives to extradition are available in cases when a recipient country's human rights record is spotty. In a remarkable twist of logic, he told CBC News Canada cannot forego human rights in the pursuit of justice! "We have to look at what we can fully consider as justice, and here we have to be mindful of Canada's reputation and trying to avoid injustices as much as possible," he said.

Seven men were convicted of the crimes in India, but (Indian courts being what they are) several of those convictions have been overturned on appeal. Now apologists for Ms Sidhu and Mr Badesha say that justice for those who (allegedly) arranged the crimes trumps justice for Jassi and Mithu. Remarkable, isn't it?

Further reading - Latest on the Shafia honour killings: Do you remember Hamed Shafia? He was the young Afghan-Canadian who was found guilty in 2012, along with his father and his father's second wife, of the murder on his father's first wife and his (Hamed's) three sisters. Hamed was tried and sentenced as an adult, as all concerned admitted he was 18 at the time of the honour killings. After the conviction and sentence, Hamed suddenly discovered he was only 17, therefore should have been tried and sentenced as a juvenile. Oopsy!

The Supreme Court of Canada is now considering whether to hear his appeal on those grounds. See "Portrait of a young 'honour killer': How an old family photo could derail Hamed Shafia’s last-ditch appeal", Maclean's, 16/3/17. And click here for the complete play-by-play account of the Shafia case as posted on WWW, 8/12/11 to 4/3/16.

"Allahu akbar!" - Islamic terrorist killed at Paris airport

With five weeks to go before the first round of voting in France's presidential election, the candidacy of Front National leader Marine Le Pen gets a boost from yet another Islamic terrorist attack. Security forces at Paris's Orly airport shot dead a man who had seized a soldier's gun, soon after the same man shot and wounded a police officer during a routine traffic check in Stains, north of the city.

Bruno le Roux, the Minister of the Interior, told the meeja the man was "known to police and intelligence services", but couldn't bring himself to use words like "Muslim" or "Islamic" or "terrorist". Later, though, a police source described the perp as a "radicalized Muslim", but did not identify him by name. Walt predicts that the Islamic terrorist's first and/or last name will be "Mohammed" or "Mahmoud". Lifetime pct .986.

A spokesthingy for the interior ministry told Reuters, "The man succeeded in seizing the weapon of a soldier. He was quickly neutralized by the security forces." ("Neutralized" is French newspeak for "killed".) No-one else was injured.

The airport was evacuated and security forces swept the area for bombs to make sure the dead man was not wearing an explosive belt, but nothing was found. Flights were suspended from both terminals of the airport and some flights were diverted to Charles de Gaulle airport north of the capital. The anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation.

France remains on high alert after attacks by ISIS militants killed scores of people in the last two years. Coordinated bombings and shootings in Paris in November 2015 killed 130 people. A state of emergency is in place until at least the end of July. Marine Le Pen wants to put an end to the Islamization of France. If anyone wants to wager that she will not top the polls in the first round of the presidential election, Walt will take a piece of that. E-mail your bet to the usual address.

VIDEO: Hitler gets furious talking to a call centre

These Hitler parodies have been around forever, it seems. Or at least since November of 2009 when we posted links to seven of them, specially selected by Poor Len Canayen for hockey fans. See "If Hitler was a hockey fan". WWW 26/11/09.

Most of the dozens of clips floating around the internet use the same scene from Downfall (2004), in which Hitler's last secretary tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII. But there are other scenes, and other parodies. Here, for the first time on WWW, is one that we can all identify with, in which Hitler gets frustrated talking to an ISP's call centre. (Spoiler alert: It's not really an Indian call centre, but the routine is always the same no matter where it is. Right?)

WARNING: Several F-bombs and other strong language.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Walt and Poor Len [and Ed.! Ed.]
wish all our Irish readers
[and isn't it that everyone's Irish today,
to be sure, to be sure! Ed.]

Walt nominates Texas woman for Darwin Award

Walt is happy to see that the Official Darwin Awards website is still up and running, although apparently not getting a lot of new stories of late. For the uninitiated, the Darwin Awards are given -- posthumously -- to unfortunately individuals whose stupidity and/or bad luck has resulted in their untimely demise, thus removing them from the gene pool. Here [as seen by Ed. today. Ed.] is an example.

Every girl who aspires to be a model should have in her portfolio a shot posed standing on a railway track. Right? The thing is, someone -- either the model or the photographer -- needs to keep an eye out for oncoming trains.

From Navasota TX (just down the road from Houston) comes the sad story of Fredzania Thompson, a 19-year-old Texas mother-to-be, killed when she was struck by a train last Friday while having photos taken on the tracks in a bid to launch a modelling career.

The last photo of Ms Thompson, shows her standing between two sets of tracks in Navasota when a BNSF Railway train approached. She moved out of the way of the train but was apparently unaware that a Union Pacific train was coming in the opposite direction on the other tracks. Ms Thompson was killed instantly. The photographer was unhurt. [Who directed this? Chuck Jones? Ed.]

Ms Thompson's mother, Hakamie Stevenson, told The Eagle newspaper that her daughter attended Blinn College in Bryan, Texas, but wanted to put her education on hold to begin modelling. Walt won't give in to the temptation to end the story, as Ms Thompson's career ended, with phrases like "on track" or "off the rails". RIP.

More media illiteracy - CTV Toronto

One of Walt's pet peeves is the steadily decreasing standard of literacy in the lamestream media. You would think that those who describe themselves as communications professionals would strive to use proper English in presenting the "news", even if it costs them a bit of money to employ competent editors, sub-editors and proofreaders. You would be wrong.

It may be, though, that lack of money for professional help is the problem at Canada's CTV network. Here's a screen shot of a page that appeared on the Toronto flagship station's website this morning.

Cringeworthy, isn't it? But remember, these folks are smarter than you are. That's why they feel themselves qualified to tell you how to vote, even how to think.

Note from Ed.: I am available for hire, willing to relocate. Require salary just a trifle higher than what I get from Walt. A dollar a day plus expenses should do it. Offers to the usual address.

"The genie is out of the bottle!" - results of the Dutch election

The lamestream media and "forces of progressivism" are positively rapturous over the results of yesterday's parliamentary elections in the Netherlands -- a country in which the outside world took little interest until Geert Wilders, leader of the Free Party (PVV), unveiled his party's anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim platform. The liberals hollered "Islamophobia" long and loud, demonizing Mr Wilders as the "Dutch Trump" and even as the "New Hitler". If he wins, they said (looking nervously over their shoulders), predicting the outbreak of racial and religious war in Europe (as if that hasn't happened already) and the breakup of the European Union.

Well, Mr Wilders and the PVV did not win. With 97% of votes counted, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his VVD party were re-elected, winning 33 out of 150 seats, a loss of eight seats from the previous parliament. Mr Wilders' Freedom party was in second place on 20 seats, a gain of five. The centrist Christian Democrats (CDA) and the liberal D66 party followed with 19 seats each, and the Green Party gained ten for a total of 14 seats.

Prime Minister Rutte exulted that the Dutch people rejected what he called "the wrong kind of populism". "The Netherlands said 'Whoa!'", he declared. Absent from his self-congratulation was any reference to the fact that, for much of the campaign, he appeared to be racing to keep pace with Mr Wilders, and moved his party's position on immigration and the integration of "newcomers" considerably to the right to meet Mr Wilder's challenge.

Nor did Mr Rutte say anything about the fact that the leftish Labour Party (PvdA), the junior party in the previous governing coalition, suffered a historic defeat, winning only nine seats, a loss of 29, in spite of a record turnout of 80.2% of eligible voters, the highest in 30 years, which analysts say may have benefited pro-EU and liberal parties.

Here's the way I look at it. Twenty-eight (count 'em, 28) parties contested the Dutch election. Mr Wilders' Freedom Party finished second -- not bad out of 28. Even if they had won, they wouldn't have been able to form a government, as the other parties -- all of them -- had declared in advance that they wouldn't partner with the "racist, Islamophobic" PVV, no matter what!

For his part, Mr Wilders said, "The genie is out of the bottle!", meaning that he had succeeded in bring the issues of immigration and the Islamization of Europe to the top of the minds of the Dutch people. He has a strong position in the new parliament, warned that Mr Rutte had "not seen the last" of him. "It's not the 30 seats I hoped for," he said, "but we have gained seats. This patriotic spring will happen."

What does the result mean for Europe and the EU? In April, the people of France go to the polls to elect a new president, with Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, expected to win at least the first round of voting. In Germany, the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) may win seats in parliament for the first time ever in the general election to be held in September.

CBC News quotes (((Mabel Berezin))), professor of sociology at Cornell University, as saying that the defeat of Mr Wilders [Funny they call it a Wilders defeat rather than a Rutte victory. Ed.], who has been in parliament for nearly two decades, should not be considered a sign that European populism is waning. "He does not represent a populist wave. Rather, he is part of the political landscape and how his party fares does not tell us much about European populism," she said. "The real bellwether election will be Marine Le Pen's quest for the French presidency. That is where the populist action is and that is what we should be focusing upon."

COMMENT added 18/3/17: from Tony Burman, foreign affairs columnist for the Toronto Star: Result aside, there were aspects of the campaign itself that may surface elsewhere. Rutte, ostensibly a “liberal,” did little to challenge the anti-Muslim rhetoric of Wilders. In fact, Rutte incorporated some of Wilders’ themes into his own campaign. This included a full-page letter in Dutch newspapers that criticized Muslim immigrants for not integrating into Dutch society: “Behave normally, or leave,” the letter warned. This meant that Rutte fought Wilders on his own terms, instead of providing Dutch voters with a positive, high-minded vision of a Netherlands strengthened by its multicultural character.

VIDEO: Pastor asks Pope Francis, "What's wrong with you?"

Walt is not quite ready, when writing about the sayings and doings of Jorge "Francis" Bergoglio, to put the word "Pope" in quote marks, but every week, every day brings me nearer to that point. A couple of weeks ago the Holy Father told a bemused world that no religion is terrorist. The laughter had hardly died away when, a few days ago, the Pope said that in his humble opinion -- Francis is the soul of humility, remember -- sincere atheists and agnostics are better people than wishy-washy Christians. And they can go to "the place of happiness" too. So there.

What, I wonder, is wrong with Pope Francis? Is he suffering from senile dementia? Or is he truly hell-bent (I use that adjective deliberately) on overturning two millennia of Christian theology so as to corrupt the Faith of millions and destroy Holy Mother Church? I hope and pray it's the former, for God will remedy that in His good time.

I am not the only person asking that question. Even non-Catholics are wondering what's wrong with Pope Francis? Here's a very short video of Rev. James David Manning, Pastor of the ATLAH World Missionary Church in Harlem, who points out the total contradiction between what Pope Francis is saying and what true Christians believe.



Dear Catholic readers, please pray for Pope Francis, that he may accept the correction and direction of God, and to Saint Michael the Archangel that he may defend Holy Mother Church and protect all who believe and teach the Faith of our fathers. Amen.

Black, Hispanic school teachers fail NY literacy test

First the facts. In academic year 2013-14, New York State introduced four assessments meant to raise the level of elementary and secondary school teaching in the state. One of them was the Academic Literacy Skills Test (ALST), which evaluates the reading and writing skills of people trying to become teachers. The idea is to weed out aspiring teachers who aren't strong students. Sounds sensible, doesn't it?

Now the problem. A December 2016 study by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that 44% of the teacher preparation programs it surveyed accepted students from the bottom half of their high school classes. The literacy test raised alarms from the beginning because just 46% per cent of Hispanic test takers and 41% of black test takers passed it on the first try, compared with 64% of white candidates. If this comes as a surprise to you, read "Educational achievement: race makes a difference", WWW 12/1/17.

Cue the usual suspects -- "anti-racists", SJWs, "progressive thinkers" and (of course) teachers unions -- who protest that the Academic Literacy Skills Test is redundant and a poor predictor of who will succeed as a teacher. Leslie Soodak is a professor education at Pace University, who served on the task force that examined New York's teacher certification tests. "We want high standards, without a doubt," says Prof Soodak, but "not every given test is going to get us there." Besides, "Having a white workforce really doesn't match our student body anymore."

On cue and on message, Kate Walsh, President of the National Council on Teacher Quality [sic], which claims to be promoting higher standards for teachers, said that blacks and Latinos don't score as well as whites on the literacy test because of factors like poverty and the "legacy of racism". Says Ms Walsh, "There’s not a test in the country that doesn't have disproportionate performance on the part of blacks and Latinos."

Since there's no difference between the intellectual capacity of the races, that means there's something wrong with the tests. Right? [Left? Ed.] As surely as the sun rises in the east, the solution proposed by the liberals is... wait for it... scrap the test! The New York Board of Regents is expected to adopt tomorrow the recommendation of the task force on which Prof Soodak served to eliminate the Academic Literacy Skills Test altogether.

The ALST consists of multiple-choice questions about a series of reading selections plus a written section. A practice test available for $20 on the New York State Education Department website features John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address as one of the reading passages and asks questions like: 'In which excerpt from the passage do Kennedy's word choices most clearly establish a tone of resolve?"

Ian Rosenblum, the executive director of the New York office of the Education Trust, a non-profit that advocates for high achievement for all students, called the literacy test "a 12th grade-level assessment", something a high school senior should be able to pass. But Pace University student Tabitha Colon took the test last year and failed to get a passing score. She likened it to the English portion of the SAT and said it was "pretty difficult". And, she added, she was thrown off by the fact that the test was given online, rather than on paper. "The format on the computer was a bit confusing."

Before you shed too many tears for Ms Colon, consider that she was still able to pass the ALST, thanks to a "safety net" provision that lets students demonstrate proficiency by submitting grades from a class -- grades given by teachers who may not themselves have passed the test. She is now working as a student teacher in Ossining NY -- not in the prison but in a middle school.

Worth viewing: "Latest Research on Race", video lecture by Professor Philippe Rushton, WWW 12/1/17.

True stories from the US-Canada border

The post that got the most hits this week was "100s of Muslim invaders pour through swiss cheese-like Canuck border", WWW 6/3/17. But it's not like all the illegals and undesirables are trekking through the frozen fields and snowy woods south of Manitoba and Québec to avoid going through official border posts where they'd be turned away. Some are trying to smoke their way through Canadian and American border security at regular crossing points.

One of our agents has sent along two stories from the Niagara Falls Review, which I pass along to show you what the authorities are up against, on both sides of the world's longest semi-defended border.

In a Buffalo court last week, an Ontario resident was sentenced to time served and fined $2000 after being convicted of visa fraud. Assistant US attorney Stephanie Lamarque told the court that Liban Mumin Afrah, 42, entered the USA from Canada in 1996 and applied for asylum under the alias Ali Hussein. [What, not "Mohammed"? Ed.] Mr Afrah told border agents he feared he would be harmed if he returned to his native Somalia.

At the time of the fraudulent asylum application, the defendant had already been granted asylum by Canada under his real identity. Mr Afrah was granted an American green card under the false identity and regularly travelled between the US and Canada using both his Canadian passport and the fraudulently obtained green card. He got caught in the summer of 2015 when he attempted to renew his green card.

Also last week, a 25-year-old Jamaican pleaded guilty to re-entering the USA following a conviction for an aggravated felony. Attorney Lamarque said Horace Garfield Tajah attempted to cross the Peace Bridge (which connects Buffalo NY and Fort Dreary ON) on 23 January 2013. He had a valid US passport belonging to another individual and claimed to be an American citizen. Standard database checks revealed that Mr Tajah had been deported to Jamaica in 2012 and banned from the USA for life after he was convicted of multiple charges including conspiracy to commit murder in New York. He will be sentenced in June and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars and a fine of $250,000.

Dear reader, please note the length of time it took these cases to get to trial. Where do you think the defendants were, all these months? Who fed and housed them? Who paid for their lawyers? In the unlikely event they are deported after doing their time, who will pay for them to be sent back to the shitholes they came from? And how long do you think it will take before they're back in Canada and/or the USA?

If, after answering these questions, you can give me an argument as to why President Trump's orders to beef up border security and get rid of the millions of criminals and other undesirables still in the USA should not be followed, please do not write, but check yourself into the nearest mental institution. Thank you.

UPDATED: "Allahu akbar!" again? Attack on German train passengers

Every now and then, followers of the Prophet show that Islam is truly the religion of peace by praying in the streets and, every now and then, attacking non-Muslims. Particularly in Germany, where there is a surfeit of Muslim "migrants" (read: invaders) thanks to the Willkommenskultur imposed on the German people by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

This morning the mojo wire brings us a news report from Düsseldorf, where the central railway station was placed on lockdown Thursday night after a man went on a violent rampage with an axe, injuring seven to nine (accounts vary) innocent people, including two of the hundreds of cops who swarmed the scene. Police said none of the victims are in life-threatening condition but one person is seriously injured.

A witness, Bruno Macedo, tweeted: "Man with axe chased by police in Dusseldorf. Station closed. I am in the train things look bad #police #terror." Another tweet: "Stay away from #Dusseldorf train station crazy man with axe on the loose." An eyewitness told Bild, "We were standing on the track, waiting for the train. The train came, and suddenly someone jumped out with an axe, hit the people. There was blood everywhere. I have experienced a lot, but I have never experienced something like this."

The suspect jumped from a walkway in an effort to escape police but was later found hiding under a railway bridge and captured by armed police. He was identified as "Fatmir H". His surname was not given, possibly to protect his privacy, or to avoid the inference that he is, errr, a Muslim. Herr Inspektor Knäcker would say only that Herr H is from Kosovo (part of the former Yugoslavia) and now lives in the nearby city of Wuppertal.

A police spokesthingy went on to say, "The suspect appears to have had psychological problems.... We are not using the words 'rampage' or 'terror'." Of course they wouldn't use those words. Too close to election time, when German voters will have a chance to show what they think of Frau Merkel's open-door immigration policies.

This is a story in progress. As yet, the German and international lamestream media have not published any reports of the axeman shouting "Allahu akbar!", nor has any Islamic terror group, such as ISIS/ISIL, claimed Herr H as one of their jihadis. But Walt has a ten-spot here that says Herr H will be identified (very quietly) as a Muslim fanatic after the usual thorough German investigation. They haf vays of making him talk! Stay tuned...

UPDATE 11/3/17 from Fox News: Not so much an update, really, as another story about terrorist attacks (actual or threatened) in Germany. This time it's Essen. "German police order large mall to stay closed after attack threat".

The connection between Our Lady of Fatima and Islam

May 13th will the 100th anniversary of the first Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three seers, Blesseds Jacinta and Francisco and Sister Lucia dos Santos*.

Of all the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, those of Our Lady of Fatima are among the most famous. On 13 May 1917, the seers took their sheep to graze near the Portuguese farming town of Fatima when they saw a figure of a woman dressed in white, holding a rosary. After this first appearance, the Blessed Virgin returned on the 13th of every month from May until October, with a message calling the faithful to repentance, reparation and prayer, and a warning of dire consequences should the requests of Heaven not be heeded.

In 1930, Holy Mother Church proclaimed the supernatural character of the Apparitions and a shrine was erected at Fatima. It was visited by Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and millions of lesser personages including Walt and a number of his agents.

Many years ago, Ven. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen devoted one of his famous TV talks to the Fatima Apparitions. (The program includes clips from the 1952 Warner Bros. movie, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima. Click here to see the trailer for the movie.) He pointed out that everything God does, including the Apparitions, is done for a reason. So we may ask ourselves, why Fatima, and whether the Message of Fatima has any relevance for us, nearly a century later.

Readers with some knowledge of Islam will recognize "Fatima" as the name of the youngest daughter of the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam. She is the object of the veneration, love, and respect of all Muslims. During the Islamic occupation of the Iberian peninsula (711-1492 AD), a Muslim chieftain who ruled the region named an obscure village in what is today northern Portugal after his daughter, who in turned was named after Mohammed's daughter.

Why would the Blessed Virgin choose to appear in such a place, "the middle of nowhere"? Why not Lisbon, or Madrid, or Rome? The answer may well be that She chose to appear at Fatima as a sign that Islam will one day be converted. That's what Ven. Bishop Sheen believed, and since the Message of Fatima is about the conversion and salvation of souls, that's what we should believe and pray for. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

* Footnote: The cause for the beatification of Sister Lucia dos Santos is nearing success. The Catholic News Agency reported last month that 15,000 pages of evidence have been collected, over the course of eight years, and will soon be sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints for approval.

VIDEO: Mark Steyn reveals what's really happening in Sweden

Not so long ago President Trump was taken to task by Hellery's "fact-checkers" -- yes, they're still out there, contributing daily columns to such lamestream organs as Politifact -- for referring, in a speech in Florida on February 18th, to what they said were terrorist attacks in Sweden of which they could find no evidence. In fact, Mr Trump did not use the words "terrorist" or "terrorism", nor did he give a date -- not February 17th or any other date -- for the "problems" to which he referred. Here's what President Trump did say:

Look at what's happening last night in Sweden. Sweden, who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible.

Mr Trump explained that "last night" referred to the night on which he saw a TV news report about the "problems", and that "large numbers" refers to large numbers of Muslim migrants. He didn't elaborate on the nature of the "problems". Perhaps he figured that lots of other people saw the TV reports, or were paying enough attention to world news that they would know what he was talking about. In case you were one of those who, like the hacks at Politifact, don't know -- or pretend not to know -- about Sweden's Muslim migrant problem, Mark Steyn explains it (with lurid examples) in this 18-minute video.

The best way to get cannabis into your body

I confess to being not that much interested in medical science. Recent consultations with not one, not two, but three (count 'em -- 3) doctors have resulted in advice to keep taking the aspirin. That's all. Nevertheless, I am not unaware of the current trend... or fad... for the ingestion of marijuana as a means of easing pain. 100 years ago it was morphine. 150 years ago it was opium. Today it's marijuana. So it goes.

The big question now is how to get the active ingredient -- cannabis -- into your body. Health experts are emphasizing the need for doctors and patients to consider the sometimes serious side effects linked to the various ways of consuming the drug.

According to a recent report from Canadian Press, Paul Farnan, an addictions specialist at the University of British Columbia, likened a recommendation to smoke medicinal marijuana to a doctor handing out a prescription to light up an opium pipe. "We know there's something in opium that helps pain," he said, "and we're able to pharmaceutically develop morphine and other analgesics, but we wouldn't say to people, 'You have pain? Why don't you smoke opium?'.... Cannabis is actually a really dangerous thing for your lungs."

Mikhail Kogan, medical director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at George Washington University in Washington DC, goes a bit farther. "We have so many other products now, so many modes of delivery, that smoking in my opinion is very archaic and has very little clinical applicability," he said, adding, "I think that probably the majority of people still smoke because it's the most available method."

But, he explained, it's difficult to absorb enough of the drug through the lungs, and gastric acids interfere when someone eats it. So much for marijuana brownies! Thank goodness there are other means, such as placing a wad of the magic leaves under the tongue, as one would do with qat. [What is this "qat" of which you speak? How do you know this? Ed.]

OK, never mind about the qat. If placing the medicine under your tongue doesn't appeal, Dr. Kogan suggests another method of getting it into ya, to wit: "Rectally is actually a lot more preferred because of the volume of absorption. You can put a lot more and it gets absorbed a lot better, but not everybody is open to this way of administration."

Note from Ed.: We regret that owing to limitations of space, we'll have to save the rest of the good doctor's advice for later.

100s of Muslim invaders pour through swiss cheese-like Canuck border

"Welcome to Canada" signs are being hurriedly torn down at small towns adjacent to the porous US-Canada border as hundreds of bogus refugees trudge through unfenced, snow-covered fields and woods to take advantage of Canuck leader Justin Trudeau's Statue of Liberty moment. Following the announcement of President Trump's travel ban, The Hair Apparent tweeted, "We are now the beacon of hope for desperate refugees." [I love Canadian beacon. Ed.] Much to no-one's surprise, scores of Muslims who have already found refuge in the USA are taking him at his word.

What started as a trickle -- see "Welcome to Canada, Syrian refugees!", WWW 8/2/17 -- looks like turning into a flood as the cruel Canadian winter grudgingly gives way to spring. [No more purple prose, please. Ed.] Post turtles (see yesterday's post) have descended on places like Emerson MB to encourage locals to welcome the unassimilable foreigners while they (the politicians) figure out what to do to stem the flow while preserving Canada's image as a tolerant society.

The Mounties, Canadian Border Services (sic) and immigration officials (headed by Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship -- himself a Somali Muslim refugee) have been "running scenarios" to come up with a strategy to repel the Muslim invaders without being seen to do so. The results of their talk-fest will be put before the Canuck cabinet tomorrow.

Buried in official announcements and pronouncements is the fact that they have been looking at links between distinct groups of border-crossers that give the lie to the SJW propaganda that all these poor "refugees" are being pushed into Canada by the volatile political climate south of the border. Speaking to Canadian Press off the record, two government minions confirmed hat many of the people coming into Québec hold US visas issued at the American embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These visas were obtained to use the US as a transit point to get to Canada and claim asylum, all this being planned long before the November election.

Hundreds of new claims for asylum are being fed into an already clogged system, forcing M Trudeau's Liberals to put more resources into the refugee determination process and the agencies that dole out free houses, free medical and dental care and other benefits to poor "newcomers" who otherwise would have only their gold and jewellery to fall back on.

Chris Friesen, director of settlement services for the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia told Canadian Press, We are the endpoint." While President Trump's executive order may be pushing people into Canada, he said, the Trudeau government's repeated messaging on welcoming diversity and immigration is a pretty strong pull factor.

Not much can be done to stop the border-crossers, said Ward Elcock, who advised the former Conservative government on illegal migration after years running Canada's spy agency. Showing the insight for which Canucks are famous, he suggested that Canada keep talking to the Americans to find the source of the problem. Still, he admitted, no matter how many enter through illegal crossings, some voices will try to make it a political issue. "It is seen as, you didn't control the flow of people into the country," he said.

The view from the front line -- from the men and women of Canadian Border Services -- is not quite as sanguine as those expressed by Messrs Friesen and Elcock. Jean-Pierre, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, which represents border officers, says Canada should create a 300-person team to patrol the areas between official ports of entry, comparing the current situation to "swiss cheese". Yesterday, he told CTV's Question Period that his members say the number of illegal crossings is higher than what officials admit publicly. "The frontline officers are actually the ones giving me the numbers and they're slightly different. They're higher right now...."

"The RCMP doesn't have the resources", he said, "and what we're asking the government at this point in time, we want to make sure that we should be closing that gap. We should have border guards actually patrolling these [areas]." The Canadians who live in places like Emerson MB and Lacolle QC couldn't agree more!

UPDATE 8/3/17: Nineteen asylum seekers — two Tuesday night and 17 on Wednesday morning — were rescued while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a winter storm near Emerson, Man., the town's reeve says. Greg Janzen said one person suffered a broken arm while making the trek through a bitterly cold storm that brought snow and high winds to Manitoba. Wednesday's group included a pregnant woman and children. Click here to read the story on the CBC News website.

Politicians = "post turtles", sez wise old farmer

Time for a Sunday funny, courtesy of Agent 6...

While stitching a cut on the hand of a 75-year-old farmer whose hand was caught in the squeeze-gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to politicians and their role as our leaders. The old farmer said, "Well, as I see it, most politicians are 'post turtles'."

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a "post turtle" was. The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle."

Seeing the puzzled look on the doctor's face, the old farmer went on to explain, "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb idiot put him up there to begin with."

Agent 6 says that's the best definition of a politician he's ever heard!

Is Zimbabwe's Comrade Bob Mugabe dead or just sleeping?

In yesterday's post in which I shared a story from Dr CZ about the desperation of life in today's Zimbabwe, I included a link to an earlier piece in which Graceless Mugabe, Comrade Bob's wife, was described as "widow-to-be". No sooner had Ed. got it up (the post, I mean) but I saw an article on the (Zimbabwe) NewsDay website headed: "Mugabe in fresh health scare".

A follow-up today says that NewsDay editor Wisdom Mudzungairi and reporter Richard Chidza have been arrested on charges of undermining or insulting the President of Zimbabwe, an offence that has been on the books since people started making fun of the name of the wretched country's first president -- Canaan Banana. Seriously. That was his name. He was only a figurehead president for the first couple of years of independence. As Prime Minister, Comrade Bob held the real power. Then he decided he didn't need a figurehead and made himself "executive president".

The NewsDay journos were arrested because of what they wrote about the President for Life (or Until Next Week -- whichever comes first) having been spirited out of the country, rushed to his doctors in Singapore for further treatment for prostate cancer or for some medical emergency. Perhaps he choked on a piece of birthday cake.

Whatever the problem is, merely mentioning it is "undermining or insulting the President", in the eyes of Zimbabwe's rulers, hence the arrests of the NewsDay newshounds.  Their lawyer, Obey Shava of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, confirmed that the duo, together with Alpha Media Holding legal assistant Sifikile Thabete, handed themselves at Harare Central Police Station where they were summoned to report to the Law and Order department. The trio have since been released into the custody of their lawyer.

Walt wonders whether, if Comrade Bob dies in Singapore (lifetime pct .992), the charges against The NewsDay Three will be dropped? Perhaps that depends on who succeeds him. Queue his lovely wife Graceless, last heard at his birthday bash in Bulawayo muttering "Let him eat cake..."

Hundreds of Zimbos* fall for joke employment offer

Assiduous readers will know that Walt spent some years, before the turn of the century, knocking around Zimbabwe (the Rhodesia that was), watching a state becoming a failed state, before my very eyes. Almost everyone I knew there has since departed the country, or departed this life entirely So, to keep up with the news from the Dark Continent, I rely on my old chum, Dr CZ, who writes the second part of "Cabinet Files" in the Financial Gazette, every Thursday. It is Dr CZ who calls his compatriots "Zimbos", *meaning "Zimbabweans", nothing more or less.

In last week's column, Dr CZ invited Zimbos interested in assisting him in carrying out a strategic survey that he was planning to undertake to contact him as a matter of urgency. Here is the notice which appeared at the end of the column.

"This is very urgent. Dr CZ is looking for six Zimbos out there who are willing to help him with some strategic research that he will be conducting in the next few days. It is a three-day contract. Over and above being provided with transport, accommodation and meals, the assistants — who should be holders of at least any tertiary qualification — will each be paid an allowance of US$800 per day. The contract days are from the 29 to 31 of this month. Anyone interested should urgently e-mail their name and contact number to the e-mail below. The offer is strictly on a first-come-first-served basis."

The column appeared on February 23rd, and readers will note that the contract on offer was to run "from the 29 to 31 of this month". The joke should have been obvious to anyone who learned "30 days hath September...", but it seems post-colonial Zimbabwean education does not include any reference to that little saying. This week, Dr CZ reports on the aftermath, as follows...

"Although Dr CZ had just asked for those interested to submit their names and contact numbers for the piece of work that was to take place between February 29 and 31, as late as at the time of going to print this March, desperate emails were still trickling into his mail-box… most of them accompanied with bulky CVs and several phone numbers and dozens of the applicants are holders of several post graduate degrees. It was one of Dr CZ’s many asinine pranks that many of his fans took seriously. What was intended to start and end as just harmless mischief has turned out to be a real survey. The results of the survey show what happens when people become hopelessly desperate.

"If the applicants were mere village yokels who could hardly tell their left from right, one would have assumed that none of them knew that the dates on which the survey was supposed to take place do not exist on this side of the rainbow yet, but these are very educated men and women whose basic commonsensical reasoning has since been evaporated by the dire personal situations they find themselves in.

"Most of these people could be fathers and mothers, whom entire clans look upon. Yet they cannot do anything about their situation. This explains why seemingly normal people end up doing things that people in normal situations would not think possible. This perpetuates the abnormality that this country is increasingly getting known to be. This is the sad reality of the situation that this country has deteriorated to… never mind what officialdom says."

Quite right. 37 years after the perfidious British sold out Ian Smith's "white settler regime" to the darker-complected Africans, Zimbabwe has become a basket case... with the bottom now on the verge of falling out of the basket. With every passing day, Zimbabwe gets worse and worse. The Dark Continent gets ever darker.

Further reading: "Mugabe's corpse could win next Zimbabwe election, widow-to-be says", WWW 18/2/17.

Hockey fans! Nashville Predators @ Montréal Canadiens, TONIGHT!

Poor Len Canayen here with a heads-up for hockey fans in general and fans of the Montréal Canadiens and/or Pernell Karl Subban in particular. Tonight, for the first time since The Trade that shook Canada's most exciting city, the Nashville Predators and their "transcendant defenceman" (Subban, according to Dave Stubbs, late of the Gazoo) will confront Les Glorieux at the Bell Centre. Starting time is 1930 EST.

Because the two teams are in different conferences, they meet each other but rarely. When the Canadiens were in Nashville last fall, Subban was out of the lineup due to an unspecified injury. So tonight will be the first time for him to play against his old teammates, including the real defenceman, Shea Weber, who the Habs got in return and who has been playing some of his best hockey ever with the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.

When the Canadiens visited Nashville, Predators fans gave Weber a warm welcome -- not being sarcastic -- including a video tribute showing highlights of his time with the Preds. Montréal boasts the classiest (and most knowledgeable) fans anywhere, so we can expect nothing less than a reciprocal Gloria tonight.

After the praise and bonhomie, the game will begin. The talk at the time of The Trade (and for months before) was that a lot of Subban's teammates disliked him intensely, not least for his habit of tanking up on black coffee and letting fly copious farts in the room and on the ice. There may be one or two (or more) of them who would like to get even with the NHL's blackest player for upstaging them or otherwise exacerbating last year's team's many problems. Should be an entertaining game to watch. I'll make the popcorn.