OTD in 1924, Adolf Hitler was released from prison, having served just 9 months of a 5-year sentence for leading a Nazi attempt to seize power by force. The @NYTimes reported that Hitler was “a much sadder and wiser man” and “no longer to be feared.” pic.twitter.com/vTj0vEXTLn
— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) December 20, 2020
Nobody needs UNDRIP, except maybe lawyers
On Dec. 3, the Trudeau government introduced Bill C-15 into Parliament to bring the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into Canadian law. It sounds like a great idea: why not have Canada join 147 other countries in adopting the UN’s minimum standards for recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples. But it’s not a great idea. For Canada, UNDRIP is a step backwards. Its introduction into Canadian law is likely to cause costly legal confusion in return for no real benefit to Indigenous peoples or anyone else except maybe lawyers.
Ireland, Italy, Belgium and Netherlands ban flights from UK over highly infectious mutant strain of Covid
A number of European countries have banned, or are planning to ban, travel from the UK to prevent the spread of a more infectious coronavirus variant.
The Netherlands and Belgium have halted flights, with Italy to follow suit. Trains to Belgium are also suspended.
Ireland is expected to restrict flights and ferries from midnight (23:00 GMT) on Sunday. France and Germany are among others considering similar action.
The new variant has spread quickly in London and south-east England.
To Europe with Love: “Diplomats” or Terrorists from Iran’s Mullahs?
While the European Union appears excited that Joe Biden will be the next US President and then they can immediately rejoin the nuclear deal and lift sanctions against the mullahs, Tehran continues its terrorism on the European soil.
As the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, is urging the US to rejoin the JCPOA, one of Iran’s active diplomats in Belgium is currently on trial, accused of orchestrating a terrorist operation in Europe in 2018. French officials foiled a planned bomb attack in Paris against a large “Free Iran” convention attended by tens of thousands of people, including many high-level speakers such as former US House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Canada’s former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Foreign Minister John Baird.
‘Trump is crazy’ says Batshit Crazy Hezbollah
‘Trump is crazy’: Hezbollah sees threat in US president’s final days
For the past four years, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has fought a war in Syria, supported Iraqi forces and stage-managed the politics of its homeland, all the while trying to avoid facing off with Israel. Yet its exhausted leaders fear the last gasps of Donald Trump’s presidency could deliver threats that eclipse everything else.
In the organisation’s heartland, Hezbollah members are watching the clock – and the skies. Israeli jets have been streaking overhead for more than a month, and over the past few weeks the frequency of flights has sharply increased, as has security in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the nerve centre of the region’s most powerful militant group.
Pinkerton: The Covid Class War — the Liberated vs. the Locked Down
One rule for thee, and one rule for me. That sort of hypocrisy has been baked into human power relations, since, well, forever. As the Greek historian Thucydides wrote 2,500 years ago, “The strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must.”
Today, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are seeing power-hypocrisy once again, as politicians and plutocrats live one way, while telling everyone else to live another way.
What the New York Times hasn’t admitted: Goodwin
The best stories in The New York Times often involve the Gray Lady’s self-flagellation over a doozy of a mistake, and Saturday was one of those days. The paper was crowded with confessions, explanations and apologies over a disgraced podcast called “Caliphate” that went off the rails and into the weeds of fiction.
Over 12 episodes in 2018, the program promoted the false boasts of a Pakistani man living in Canada who claimed he murdered and beheaded people as a member of Islamic State in Syria. The man, Shehroze Chaudhry, who went by the name Abu Huzayfah, also told tales about terrorist leaders using maps to plan attacks on Western targets and aiming for another 9/11. “They wanted to outdo Al Qaeda,” Chaudhry warned.
‘I cried for days’: The businesses that shut for good in 2020
There are few – if any – who have been unaffected by the pandemic. Lives have been taken and jobs lost.
People have been effectively trapped in their homes for weeks on end, weddings have been cancelled or curtailed, church services forced online and holidays at home and abroad abandoned, sometimes at an enormous cost. Far too many people have even been denied the chance to properly mourn their loved ones.
And then there are the businesses that have been forced to shut up shop as a direct result of the crisis. Many of the businesses that are now closed for good would have started the year full of hope for a bright future.
Canada Should Pull Out of Beijing’s Infrastructure Bank
Due to a paralyzing lack of fecundity in Canadian foreign policy thinking, there seems to be among certain policymakers and commentators a tendency to make multilateralism into something like a religion. No matter the merits of an institution, if it is “multilateral” it is virtuous, and Canada must be uncritically involved in it.
Never happen. Canada’s China Class loves its 30 pieces of silver.
Ontario reports 2,316 new Kung Flu Kases
More than 2,300 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Ontario today as the province set a new record for the number of tests completed in a 24-hour period.
The province logged 2,316 new cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus today, down from the 2,357 confirmed cases on Saturday and the record 2,432 new infections reported on Dec. 17.
WARMINGTON: No masking lockdown’s role in increased mental health, addiction issues
The mandated muzzle on our faces is a symbol of more than mask-rule compliance.
It’s a reminder to keep one’s mouth closed!
Vaccines? You can’t ask questions about that. Why are the COVID-19 numbers rising despite the hardcore lockdown measures? Don’t dare ask.
Charlie Hebdo: four Pakistanis charged over Paris knife attack
French authorities have charged and detained four Pakistanis suspected of links to a meat cleaver attack by a compatriot outside the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo weekly that wounded two people, the national counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office has said.
The four male suspects, aged 17 to 21, were in contact with the attacker, a source familiar with the case said on Friday.
They are suspected of being aware of the attacker’s plot and inciting him to carry it out, according to another judicial source close to the investigation.
After arresting man who allegedly failed to distance at skating rink, police say enforcing COVID rules puts them in ‘untenable position’
Calgary police are being put in awkward positions in enforcing some COVID-19 restrictions among an often frustrated public, a senior officer said Friday.
Supt. Ryan Ayliffe said the arrest of a man at an outdoor skating rink Thursday after he allegedly failed to comply with a public health order’s physical distancing provision is only one example of officers facing unfamiliar dilemmas as the pandemic grinds on into its 10th month.
MORE… One in 50 Albertans have now tested positive for COVID-19; protesters clash with police at rally
Saskatoon police monitoring “freedom rally” protest after previous events resulted in fines for violating public health orders
It’s not yet clear what, if any, fines will result from a “freedom rally” in downtown Saskatoon Saturday afternoon.
More than 100 people gathered at Kiwanis Memorial Park to protest mask wearing and other restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
FUREY: ER doctor breaks down why more lockdowns aren’t the answer
As jurisdictions across the country ponder tighter restrictions, an ER doctor in the Greater Toronto Area is stepping forward to call for a more balanced approach.
“The main message I want to get across is I want people to adhere to public health measures and try to do their part, but locking people up is not the answer,” says Dr. Gil Nimni, who works as an emergency physician in York Region, in an interview with the Sun.