It's the little things...

...that make life worth living...

A litmus test for Premier-elect Ford

Here's a chance for Doug Ford to show that he can rise above "same old, sleazy backroom" party politics...

"Leaked emails show Caroline Mulroney’s former boss shared concerns over the PC party criticizing a controversial casino deal, while Wynne’s war room strategist rode the revolving door between government and lobbying for the same deal."

Mr Ford should remember, courage is courage, wherever you may find it...

To call this a minor triviality of Canadian life is to ignore one of the country’s highest-profile policy debates of the past half-decade. In 2012, centrist Liberal politician Martha Hall Findlay provoked the conversation by running for her party’s leadership on what was a mostly one-issue campaign to abolish dairy tariffs.

Come for the bike trails...

...stay for the neurosurgery...

Toronto Police have charged Hassan Hassan, 36, of Toronto and six teenage boys after an alleged robbery and beating that left a cyclist in a coma. Police are still searching for 18-year-old Nakhari Henry-Robinson and 19-year-old Tajon James.

A 19-year-old man was biking on May 25 when he was surrounded by 15 people, some of whom assaulted him while others cheered them on. Police say the cyclist suffered a “significant” head injury and spent several days in a coma.

Just another story you won't see on the CBC.

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RELATED: Some diversity tales are so public...

...even the CBC can't ignore them...

Two of the men at the centre of a wild police chase in downtown Toronto last month are up-and-coming rapper siblings with a large and loyal following of fans. Sharrieff Muhammad, 22, and his brother Kareemallah Muhammad, 18, were arrested along with two other men following the police pursuit in broad daylight on May 28. It's alleged that at one point someone fired into a group of pedestrians on Parliament Street near Dundas. No one was injured.

In March, Kareemallah Muhammad was charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement in relation to an alleged incident involving a 17 year-old fan. In 2017, he was also charged with drug trafficking. On May 28, the Muhammad brothers were arrested along with Shakiem Anderson, 21, of Mississauga and Harlem Baldwin, 20, of Toronto.

They're facing 97 charges in total including criminal negligence and reckless discharge of a firearm.

That's some Religion of Peace.

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LAST WORD: Ride the Rocket... I dare you

Actually... I double dare you.

Canada's 'Random' Immigration Lottery...

...uses Microsoft Excel, which isn't actually random...

“We stand by this randomized selection process as a sufficient means of equal opportunity for all who look to express an interest in sponsoring their parents and grandparents,” said a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

So, what happened to the meritocracy?

We might as well let them play "rock, paper, scissors" to get in the door.

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RELATED: By the numbers...

The top twenty nations on the Fragile State Index (meaning least stable), in order, are as follows: South Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Guinea, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Burundi, Pakistan, Eritrea, and Niger.

The unbelievable, jaw-dropping hypocrisy...

...of a shrivelled-up, has-been political courtesan...

Kathleen Wynne, who stepped down as Liberal leader after the party’s dramatic downfall, said she hopes premier-designate Doug Ford will change the rules to grant the designation, which currently requires eight seats in the legislature. “I think it’s important,” she said. “I hope that Mr. Ford will agree.”

"It’s unlikely the NDP would support loosening the rules around party status considering they were denied a similar reprieve under the Liberals in 2003," said Jonathan Malloy, a political science professor at Carleton University.

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RELATED: My Canada includes every whining, snivelling...

"There is a retreat in the movement," said Rioux, 69, on Saturday afternoon. "We've suffered a series of defeats, and it's hard to attract people when you don't win."

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Obviously, the New Democratic Party is all about...
"the children"...

"I feel like he shouldn’t be allowed to handle knives, or sharp objects of any kind for that matter."
#todaysNDP #NDP #LiberalismIsAMentalDisease

nb. - Andrea's poor little boy is 25 years old.

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RELATED: It's past time for "Ford Tough"...

In a clear sign that the incoming PC government in Ontario will stand up for Canadian principles, Premier-Designate Doug Ford says that the anti-Semitic Al Quds Day will not be allowed.

"In the past, Al Quds Day has featured calls for genocide against Israel, horrendous anti-Semitic statements, and direct calls for violence. It’s a radical extremist event that has no place in a civilized nation."

Straight talk from the guy who didn't give Omar Khadr 10 million taxpayer dollars.

Yet another unfortunate incident...

...at the Jane-Finch Fish & Game Club...

Toronto police say a man is in life-threatening condition after a shooting in Toronto’s Jane-Driftwood neighbourhood early Sunday morning. There is currently no information on suspects.

Meanwhile, in other Hogtown homicide news...

A cyclist, 19-year-old Aaron Rankine-Wright was killed in Little Portugal on Saturday evening near Dundas and Dufferin streets at around 5:30 p.m..

Police say the cyclist was hit by a vehicle and subsequently stabbed to death by an unknown group of suspects.

They'll do it with you...

...they'll do it to you...

We know Anthony was shooting his show in France this week -- he'd been there for at least 4 days.

However, Asia, 42, was back in Rome, strolling around with 28 year old French reporter Hugo Clément. There were photos of them holding hands and hugging, but the Italian photographer who shot the pics pulled them off the market on the heels of Anthony's death.

And there was this...

Argento’s recent Instagram story, posted around three hours before Bourdain’s death was first reported, was a photo of herself wearing a ripped t-shirt that read: “FUCK EVERYONE.”

“You know who you are,” she captioned the post.

Argento’s Instagram story has since been deleted.

Everyone is characterising Bourdain's suicide as a complete mystery. Could it be as simple as a broken heart?

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RELATED: By the numbers...

Whenever a notable person commits suicide, calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline spike, said Director John Draper.

Darwin would have called this "thinning the herd."

"We don' need no steenkin' signs"

You're at the helm of the wheeled equivalent of a battleship... who needs English...

Const. Zafar Kazmi asked Saini [in Hindi] if he was aware he’d entered a construction zone and traffic had stopped. “No, no,” he replied. “There was no signs at all.”

Or... to be a bit more precise... none that unilingual septuagenarian big-rig driver Mohinder Singh Saini could actually read.

"... slammed his tractor trailer full-speed into dozens of vehicles that had stopped for lane closures in a heavily-marked construction zone, between Brock St. and Salem Rd."

PS, Mo... you snatch up four innocent lives, I'm not sure "totally oblivious" is your best defence strategy.

Another story you won't see...

...on Canada's "national broadcaster"...

As the editorial rightly asked all those 18 years ago, "shouldn’t the son of a former prime minister be aware of the rights and wrongs that go along with public socializing?"

“Didn’t he learn through his vast experiences in public life, that groping a strange young woman isn’t in the handbook of proper etiquette regardless of who she is, what her business is, or where they are.”

Or how about this other hopey-dopey hero of the social justice movement?

"When it comes to the Iran nuclear deal, the Obama administration increasingly appears to have been a bottomless pit of deception."

Then, we learned that the Obama administration had secretly sent a plane to Tehran loaded with $400 million in Swiss francs, euros and other currencies on the same day Iran released four American hostages, which was followed by two more secret flights carrying another $1.3 billion in cash.

Ontarians finally realised that...

...they can't afford all that "free stuff" the Liberals and Dippers keep foisting on us. Meanwhile, over at the Toronto "Red Star"... Ford Derangement Syndrome is spreading like wildfire...

It also sets the new premier on a potential collision course with the voters of Ontario, who appear more divided than ever. Despite Ford’s incessant claims to speak for the “people,” the people are polarized, and the electorate is not one.

The majority of people who voted against his vision of disruption, destruction and dysfunction in a province that is a bulwark of progressive government."

You mean the people who just elected a majority Conservative government... right?

Just heard Andrea Horwath talk about how she's gonna hold Doug Ford's feet to the fire. Just another lie that shows how professional politicians disrespect the people. What part of "majority government" does Horwath not get?

One CBC reporter's "civilian"...

...is another man's "cop killer"...

The Special Investigations Unit has been called in to probe a police-involved shooting in Toronto's east end that left one person dead.

Hmmm... let's get a second opinion about this poor dead "civilian"...

Police exchanged fire with the man, hitting him several times, while an officer was hit once in the chest. The officer survived the shooting because he was wearing a bullet proof vest, Toronto police chief Mark Saunders said.

Your CBC... you can almost smell the journalism.

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Behold the endless circle of urban renewal...

"There's actually only one porch in Detroit at any given time."

I'm so old, I can remember when...

...bodies weren't hittin' the ground every couple of days...

Toronto police say a man has died after a shooting northwest of Islington Avenue and Lake Shore Boulevard West late Tuesday.

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UPDATE: Murdered man identified...

"Police said 45-year-old Rodney Rizun of no fixed address has been identified as the victim of the fatal shooting."

I'm not even gonna bother about the dead guy in Oshawa, or the four wounded teens at the Pickering Ribfest or the dead woman by the hiking trail in Whitby.

But, wait... there's more...

Police are searching for 31-year-old Toronto resident Andy Metatawabin who stabbed a 62-year-old man in the emergency department at an East York hospital on Tuesday at around 2 p.m.

I blame the National Cutlery Association.

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RELATED: Welcome to Brampton...

...where "going out clubbing" has an entirely different meaning...

Peel police charged 24-year-old Harminder Bassi, of Brampton, with first degree murder on Wednesday. Three other men — 22-year-old Karanvir Singh Bassi, 23-year-old Guryodh Singh Khattra, and 20-year-old Gurraj Bassi — were charged with first degree murder in March.

In other "calls 'em as I sees 'em" news...

“In 1962 she became pregnant by her husband’s brother Lyle Dehmlow and moved to California. She abandoned her children, Gina and Jay who were raised by her parents in Clements, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Schunk,” the obituary reads.

“She passed away on May 31, 2018, in Springfield and will now face judgment. She will not be missed by Gina and Jay, and they understand that this world is a better place without her.”

Diversity is our streng...

...sweet baby jebus...

There is still no sign of a missing 25-year-old man who police say was abducted outside a Rexdale restaurant on Friday night. According to investigators, 25-year-old Jammar Allison was forced into a black Dodge Caravan outside a restaurant in the area of Humberwood and Rexdale boulevards at around 10 p.m. on Friday and has not been heard from since.

Meanwhile, in other confirmed murdery news...

Carbone identified the deceased as Rhoderie Estrada, 41. Yostin Murillo, 22, of no fixed address, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Murillo will appear in court on June 4.

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MEANWHILE BACK IN MERRY OLD LONDONISTAN:

A suspected knifeman being hunted by police after his estranged wife and their one-year-old baby were stabbed was facing deportation for domestic violence, a friend has said.

Detectives are searching for 25-year-old Rehan Khan following the attack at a house on the Oriel housing estate in Feltham, south-west London last night.

And Winston Churchill wept...

Under Labour’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, London has been in the grips of a crime wave with knife and gun crime surging by 30 and 16 per cent respectively. More than 60 people have been killed in the nation’s capital this year.

Make Italy Great Again?

ROME (AP) — Italy’s new populist leaders commemorated the founding of the Italian republic by attending a pomp-filled military parade Saturday — and then promised to get to work creating jobs and expelling migrants.

“The free ride is over,” League leader Matteo Salvini, Italy’s new interior minister, warned migrants at a rally in northern Italy. “It’s time to pack your bags.”

Well, that's awfully big of her...

"Wynne acknowledges election is lost, urges voters to ensure NDP or PC minority. The Liberal leader has, until today, been defiant in the face of daunting poll numbers that suggest the Grits could lose official party status after the vote."

I'm judging Andrea Horwath...

...by the company she keeps...

“When I was out of the country my Facebook page was hacked,” NDP candidate Tasleem Riaz insisted. “Honestly, honestly, I’m the person who’s spreading love and peace in the community,” she said dramatically. She said when people heard about the meme, they told her she didn’t “deserve this” because she’s done so much for the community.

When I first approached Riaz for comment Thursday, she was shuffled out the door by NDP handlers. She then subsequently claimed to other media “she was very busy” — too busy to comment as she sat schmoozing with assorted NDP staffers.

PC candidate Gila Martow first brought the meme to the media’s attention a week ago, countered that “openly Nazi messages” are not pushed on social media by mistake — a message that was “liked” by at least seven of Riaz’s friends at the time.

Note that Tasleem isn't addressing allegations that she called Canadian soldiers "war criminals." Is that a real vote-magnet in her riding?

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RELATED: Two Words... Bob... Rae...

The NDP hand-picked a slate of activists and social justice candidates specifically because they support the party’s hard-left activist agenda. They, in fact, represent the divisive, dysfunctional, progressive culture the NDP embraces.

These are the candidates Horwath wants!

We hope voters will keep that in mind on June 7.

Make no mistake, Cheech...

...those TrueDope chickens WILL be coming home to roost...or, more likely, "rest in pieces"...

Some 22.3 percent of fatally injured motorists who were tested for drugs tested positive for marijuana in 2016, a figure that researchers say has "increased substantially" in recent years as states have legalized the drug for recreational or medicinal use, according to a new report.

This ain't your hippie parents ditchweed.

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RELATED: ♫ "Mama told me not to go" ♫

"Margaret Trudeau, who suffers from bipolar disorder, spoke openly with reporters about her experience with depression and the effect of her long-term marijuana use.

"Marijuana can trigger sychosis," said Trudeau. "Every time I was hospitalized it was preceded by heavy use of marijuana."