Ceaseless pursuit of those larger life-changing epiphanies ••• I'm with Kathy Shaidle... skip the story, read the comments.
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RELATED: Ask a "Journo-Canadian"
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RELATED: Ask a "Journo-Canadian"
“If I’m doing something, target me. Punish me. But why are you punishing everyfarmer, hunter & skeet shooter, er... taxi driver? We are not the same, so why are they treating us the same?”
Osama bin Laden steered the global operations of the al-Qaida terror network until his death last year at the hands of the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six. The president and his surrogates have made the terrorist leader’s death a focal point in Obama’s re-election campaign, painting Obama as a decisive leader who took down America’s greatest mortal enemy.Turns out, though... the car-salesman in chief isn't the broad-shouldered, larger than life, get it done hero the mainstream media gushily made him out to be. In fact, it's beginning to look like the CIA and the U.S. military were the actual foot on the gas pedal here....
In ”Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him,“ Richard Miniter writes that Obama canceled the “kill” mission in January 2011, again in February, and a third time in March. Obama’s close adviser Valerie Jarrett persuaded him to hold off each time, according to the book.Yeah, that sounds more like Mr. "Buy the world a coke"... you know... the guy who's gonna level out all the world's inequities...
President Barack Obama is backing a controversial campaign by progressives to regulate schools’ disciplinary actions so that members of major racial and ethnic groups are penalized at equal rates, regardless of individuals’ behavior.Looks like Barack is taking a page out of Dalton McGuinty's "Imagine All the People" playbook...
The board’s decision requires that “the state’s 24 school systems track data to ensure that minority and special education students are not unduly affected by suspensions, expulsions and other disciplinary measures,” said a July 25 Washington Post report.
“Disparities would have to be reduced within a year and eliminated within three years,” according to the Post.
"The Liberal government’s Bill 212 was in response to a complaint launched by the Ontario Human Rights Commission regarding the extent to which 'racialized students' and 'students with disabilities' were unfairly treated through the zero tolerance approach to student discipline."Yet again... the price of political correctness.
"'Beyan Dunoh Clarke points out that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Liberia, whereas he has only killed one Canadian. Therefore, on balance, he should be allowed to stay in Canada,' Justice James O'Reilly said in summarizing one of Clarke's main arguments."
"Alderman Moreno does not allege that Chick-fil-A discriminates in its hiring practices or in its customer service. Nor does he argue that business owners should not be entitled to hold opinions. Did you know that the Muppet Corporation has a position on gay marriage? Well, they do."**********
"But Miss Piggy and the Swedish Chef would be permitted to open a business in the First Ward of Chicago because their opinion on gay marriage happens to coincide with Alderman Moreno's."
"It’s ironic because both Farrakhan and the Koran have said things about homosexuals that make the utterances of Chick-fil-A’s CEO, um, pale by comparison."
-- TORONTO -- Schmidt was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $9,150 for operating an illegal cow-share business.I wonder how many bureaucrats or hospital administrators the McSlippery government has arrested and dragged into court...
Schmidt's conviction came after a lower court had acquitted him of the same charges in January 2010.
In 1994, he was sentenced on similar charges, fined $3,500 and placed on two years probation.
"State-of-the-art handwashing sinks installed in the intensive care unit and some patient rooms in Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital actually became the reservoir of a pesky drug-resistant bug that infected or colonized 66 patients from the fall of 2006 to the spring of 2011."
"After a public shooting that left two dead and 23 injured, the City of Toronto is offering Danzig Street residents free media training."**********
-- TORONTO -- “The search is going to be by the organizers, not the police,” Dr. Dhun Noria, acting chair of the Toronto Police Services Board said, adding organizers are entitled” to take “a precautionary action so that unsavoury people don’t get in.”Just curious... but does anybody remember any "Mick-friendly" security staffers at the Toronto St Patrick's Day parade?
About 600 “Caribbean-friendly” security staffers with reggae and concert event experience are being hired, but their ranks will vary based on crowd size.
“The evidence is showing, basically, that these shootings are at gatherings like this,” said Alvin Curling, a former provincial politician who co-authored a task force on the roots of youth violence. “If one has to single out a group where certain things like this are happening, I don’t think that’s wrong.”
Three teens admitted Tuesday to killing their aspiring rapper buddy by shooting him four times, stabbing him in the neck and dumping his bullet-riddled body into the Humber River. The trio, BA and DG, both now 19, and JA, now 17, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.**********
Neither the murderers nor the deceased can be legally identified as they were all minors at the time.
"Everyone interviewed for this story said they did not see the gunmen."
Chris Baldwin is the Overall National Sporting Rifle 3-position champion three years in a row, National Junior prone champion, and second place grand aggregate. He competed in the 2008 and 2010 Ontario Summer Games and won triple gold medals and Provincial Junior Champion in several events. He was a gold and silver air rifle medallist at the 2011 Canada Winter Games and won first place in 2009 at a Youth Olympic Games match held in Colorado Springs against youth from North and South America. When he isn't training to perfect his aim, he can be found outdoors fishing, hiking, and mountain biking.And what exactly is the lesson that is being passed on to our children? You wanna talk about innocent bystanders?
Sabrina Sergeant began shooting sporting rifle five years ago and won gold and bronze at the 2010 Ontario Summer Games and she enjoys air rifle competition. She and Baldwin are looking forward to competing in this year's events held in St. Catharines on August 17-19, yet they remain confused at having their ambassadorship suddenly withdrawn.
“Sports should be about fairness, the spirit of friendship, and the pursuit of excellence,” explains John Evers. “What are these kids learning from having their special distinction taken away by a bunch of anti-gun organizers? They're being taught that life isn't fair and it's okay to tar everyone with the same brush, however disconnected they might be. The Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto should be deeply ashamed.**********
"This is somebody I've worked with for multiple years of his life, not to tell you he's the perfect kid," she said. "But as far as I'm concerned... he's somebody who was very intelligent, very sophisticated... always laughing, always talking to people."Well, that's obviously got light sentence and early release written all over it.
The controversial stripper visa dates back to 1998 and allowed hundreds of foreign dancers into the country each year. There were 660 dancers admitted in its heyday in 2001. Most were from Eastern Europe. All they had to do was provide a Canadian job offer from a strip club and prove they were qualified to dance.They had to prove they were strippers? No wonder the "natural ruling party" was on board here... they do so love a party.
Only about 100 of these visas have been renewed each year since 2006.Yup... you sure can tell a Conservative from a Liberal...
Support for the program plummeted ever since former Liberal immigration minister Judy Sgro resigned in 2000 after facing accusations that she fast-tracked a stripper who worked on her election campaign. It turned out the dancer was issued a special residency permit in a scandal called “Strippergate.”**********
Recruiters of teenage strippers may soon be scouring Toronto high schools in search of female students who can be groomed into disrobing part-time as exotic dancers to earn college tuition.In what is obviously a well-planned and organised campaign... the association already has a Plan B...
Adult Entertainment Association of Canada director Tim Lambrinos says overcrowded Toronto high schools can become a prime recruiting ground for potential dancers.
“We are already doing some outreach work in some areas,” Lambrinos said. “We will be taking a strippers’ dance pole with us to the schools.”
There are up to 800 foreign strippers in Canada and most vow to go underground and work in the sex trade if they can’t dance legally.High school strippers cum hookers? Is that what Toronto has come to?
TORONTO - Councillor Norm Kelly urged the media Friday not to use the word “Scarborough” when describing Monday’s mass shooting.The world is getting to be too slippery a place for yours truly. Or maybe I'm just getting old.
Kelly sent out a press release to news outlets Friday asking them to call the fatal shooting the “Danzig shooting” rather than the “Scarborough shooting”.
Two people died and 23 others were injured in Monday’s shooting at a block party on Danzig St. in Scarborough.
"Blair said, 'an altercation broke out among some individuals and there was an exchange of gunfire'."Yeah, a little altercation & exchange that put 23 people in the emergency room and two others on the slab at the morgue.
A Toronto man was charged with second-degree murder after an alleged assault turned deadly in Scarborough early Sunday morning.
Toronto Police initially responded to a call for an ongoing assault near McCowan Rd. and Hwy. 401 around 2 a.m.
But once on scene, police discovered the body of a man in his 20s with stab wounds to his chest.
Zishan Malikm 20, of Toronto, is charged with second-degree murder.
"In Toronto, nobody gets kicked out of social housing for bad behaviour – not even for criminal activity, or owning a gun. With 164,000 tenants, Toronto Community Housing is the second-largest housing provider in North America."Obviously though, according to yet another man with his hand in your pocket... it's just not enough...
“I think we need to take a pause and ask ourselves what more we might do,” Premier Dalton McGuinty said during a news conference Thursday.Hey, don't look at me... I didn't vote for him.
Shortly before midnight, one victim suffered a gunshot in the upper part of the body, and another in the lower extremities while in a car near Black Creek Drive and Weston Road, paramedics say. They were found near Jane and Bloor streets and were transported to a local hospital.**********
Earlier in the evening, a man believed to be in his late 20s was shot in a separate shooting in the Jane and Finch area.
At around 9:45 p.m. Friday, police received a call about a man suffering from a gunshot wound to the head on Driftwood Court, near Jane Street and Finch Avenue West. The victim was taken to a hospital in life-threatening condition, and the area has been cordoned off for the investigation.
The Friday shootings were the fifth ones this week.
"Another suggestion I would have, if a youth is caught with an illegal gun, then try him in adult court with adult laws."**********
Police have arrested**********Archibald MacDougall of Forest Hill, er... Nahom Tsegazab, 19... of Toronto.
"Leaders of Toronto’s African-Canadian community criticized all levels of government for what they say is a failure to include them in discussions of gun violence prevention."And what brainstorm would the community be bringing to the table?
"Ms. Parsons said her legal clinic supports Mr. Vaughan’s proposed city-wide ammunition ban. The proposed law would ban the sale of ammunition within city limits."Why, yes... I was in a Scarborough Canadian Tire Store just the other day when one of the Galloway Boys walked up to the sporting goods counter, plunked down his Firearms Acquisition certificate and asked for a thousand rounds of 9mm ammo.
"Welner interviewed Khadr over two days at Guanatamo Bay and determined he remained 'highly dangerous.' He described Khadr as a 'rock star' among his terrorist peers and a 'hero' to his radical family. He called him manipulative, angry and noted it would be tough for him to reintegrate."Apparently, though... even serving only one fifth of his sentence is a travesty of justice for many in the "Journo-Canadian" community...
"He was sentenced to 40 years in jail but, under a plea deal, he only had to serve eight."
"The video recordings were sealed by a U.S. court, meaning they are currently unreleasable, but they include interviews between Mr. Khadr and a New York forensic psychiatrist who has painted a grim portrait of Mr. Khadr as an unrepentant, dangerous, Islamic extremist who has been “marinated in the radical jihadism” during his imprisonment."Hey Torontonians, here's a question you might wanna ask yourself... "Would I let my children ride on the Yonge St subway beside self-confessed terrorist & murderer Omar Khadr?"
"Like Ezra, I wouldn’t want to sit next to Khadr on an Air Canada flight, and I suspect most Canadians wouldn’t either."
Hell no, but lets bring the son of a bitch back anyway!!
"Our reporter wanted to ask McGuinty one question at the barbecue, and that was about the security breach — Did McGuinty still feel confident that Elections Ontario could run the Kitchener-Waterloo byelection with integrity?"
"But the question did not get asked. The Record reporter and photographer were told to leave. The reporter was advised to use more generic comments on the topic that McGuinty had made in Guelph earlier that day."
"I am not suggesting that the desire to own a gun is simply a form of penis anxiety. However, in a society where some men experience status anxiety because of social exclusion – perhaps due to racism or lack of economic opportunity – and where the culture has been significantly shaped by pistolization, then the gun becomes a vehicle for acting out."Hang on a second... you shoot somebody... you're "acting out"?
"If something goes wrong in a drug deal, if somebody steals your merchandise or poaches your customers, there is no formal legal recourse. You cannot call the cops. You cannot take somebody to court."The "capacity to use violence", huh?
"So in order to participate in the illicit drug economy, the capacity to use violence is very important. Violence enforces market share. It ensures that informal contracts are honoured."
"'Profiling' is a taboo word for many, especially human rights zealots who equate 'profiling' with bullying or unfairly picking on a portion of the community. The last cop who identified a crime-prone group got reprimanded and demoted."**********
"A reality is that the groups for whom handguns are a factor of daily life are adept at profiling, and making targets of their enemies."
Toronto police are investigating a shooting death in the city for the third night in a row.**********
A man in his 20s was found dead after police were called to the city’s north end just after 1 a.m. near the intersection of Flemington Road and Varna Drive.
It was the fourth deadly shooting in three nights in the city.
The man slain early Thursday was at the party on Danzig when gunfire erupted killing two people and wounding 23 others, a reliable source says.
“The retaliation has started,” crime victim advocate Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo said with conviction just hours after the city’s 30th homicide of the year.
A 42-year-old man is dead following a shooting near a soccer field in Toronto late Tuesday.**********
Police responded to a call about gunshots in the parking lot of the Jane-Eglinton area field at 9:40 p.m. They found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The victim has been identified as Clayton Wright, of Mississauga. He is Toronto's 29th murder victim of the year.
However much crime in general may have dipped, shootings have not.**********
So far this year, the number of occurrences is up by 33 per cent compared to the same date in 2011; the number of people killed or injured has risen by 42 per cent; and – perhaps most striking – the number of reported instances in which guns were fired without anyone being hit has increased by 67 per cent.
"Heil Harper!"Oh, nonny... having trouble sleeping? How's that work anyway... a little "heiling" is good for the soul?
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 2:13 AM, July 19, 2012
"Meantime, there is one other thing we can do. We can do a better job of keeping vicious young offenders off the streets."It's too late for the two bodies that got dropped on Danzig St., but bear in mind going forward... the child you save might just be your own.
"We can reform the system so that the Youth Criminal Justice Act no longer stands for You Can’t Jail Anyone. That is a far more promising strategy than toughening gun laws (which are already plenty tough) or banning bullets – even if it doesn’t make us feel half as good."
"Shannon Longshaw, a resident of the public housing complex, said she helped organize the party that was to be held in the afternoon and was not meant for adults."Sure thing, Shannon... this was obviously all about face painting, egg tosses and three-legged races... no matter that this little "community event" had been advertised on Twitter for some time previous to, including right up to... the very moment shots rang out...
“'It was for the kids,' she said, fighting back tears."
"Longshaw said other tenants chipped in, supplied food and ran activities for area kids."
"The mayor visited police at the scene of the shooting and said he was bothered when he saw shell casings and discarded objects on the ground."Apparently, though... not everybody got the word to ixnay the lockobay...
The Mayor toured the site with a pair of detectives, a staffer and a uniformed officer. Afterward, he described it as a place of scattered empty cups, alcohol bottles and shell casings."Kid's party, kid's party.... nyah, nyah, nyah... I can't hear you."
-- TORONTO -- Free block parties, or blockos, have been a part of the Toronto party scene for many years, say entertainers from the city’s black community. Calypsonian Dick Lochan, a.k.a. The Juiceman, said flyers are usually handed out to promote the blocko, which is common in some Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Jamaica.Remember, now... this was not a blocko.
“There may be a DJ or bands brought in to entertain the crowd,” he said. “The organizers can either make money through the sale of food, drinks or door charge.”
He said the blocko party takes place outside and continues all night. The organizers make money by selling mostly West Indian arts, foods and booze.
-- SCARBOROUGH -- A barbecue ended in bloodshed as a reckless exchange of gunfire erupted in an east-end neighbourhood late Monday killing two people including a 14-year-old girl and injuring 22 others, including an infant.But heck, look on the bright side... Toronto is, once again, number one...
The mass shooting, the worst in the city’s history, occurred around 10:40 p.m. during a “large” house party and sent a throng of people running for their lives from 193 Danzig St., just south of Lawrence and Morningside Aves.You have a choice here, people. You can call this thing by its proper name... or you can be like mealy-mouth, painfully politically-correct Bill Blair... and label this outrageous travesty an "altercation" or "exchange"... you know, like an "exchange of gifts".
Blair said “an altercation broke out among some individuals and there was an exchange of gunfire.”
Shortly after the deadly shootout at a crowded east-end house party, Rob Ford issued a statement expressing his anger and offering his condolences to the families of the two people killed and 19 others wounded.**********
“I am shocked and disgusted by this senseless act of violence,” the mayor said early Tuesday.
The area where the shootout happened in Scarborough is part of Toronto Community Housing."Community housing," huh? That'd be the place where all the
Danzig Street is home to hundreds of people who live in community housing and were taking part in a street party.
Gene Jones, president and CEO of Toronto Community Housing told reporters he said he doesn't have any magic solution, but finding jobs for disenfranchised youth could go a long way to keeping them out of gangs.That's funny... we find jobs for people these days? So they won't shoot people? On what page of the Capitalist Pig manual did you find that little gem, Gene?
"Toronto politicians were shocked to hear the alleged Eaton Centre shooter had a City of Toronto job working with kids up until two weeks ago."And, not to put too fine a point on it... where exactly do these destitute folks get money for massive block parties... not to mention guns & ammo?
"I wanted to mention that the reason why these sex attacks are continuously happening is because the Canadian laws, which gives too much freedom to women, are the cause of these sex attacks."**********
"The reason why a woman gets raped is because of the way she dress. Women dress so provocatively so much that they receive too much attention for themselves and that attention at times leads to death."
"I am suggesting that Toronto becomes the first City in North America to introduce laws that would make it illegal for women to dress provocatively. If we do this the other cities would follow."
"They want to go out and spend half a million dollars on a case that we’re going to lose. That’s what the solicitor was telling us, up to half a million dollars. You don’t get into a fight that you know you aren’t going to win."Buck up, Toronto... think of all the crime you'll be... wait a minute... here's a golden opportunity.
In total, Mr. Poirier was hit with nine charges on Monday. Charges from the most recent fire on Sackville Street include various arson charges and attempted murder.
A suicide bomber blew himself up among guests at a wedding hall Saturday in northern Afghanistan, killing 23 people including a prominent ex-Uzbek warlord turned lawmaker who was the father of the bride.
“It was a big explosion. There were bloody bodies all around the first floor. The explosion was so strong. There were people even on the third floor who were wounded.”
"Most people that I know don't use OxyContin to get high anymore. They have moved on to heroin because it is easier to use, much cheaper and easily available."You find a way to stop dumbass junkies from killing themselves... they immediately run out and dig up a couple others.
Officials in Afghanistan, where the amateur video was filmed, believe the woman was executed because two Taliban commanders had a dispute over her, according to the governor of the province where the killing took place.As it turns out... there actually was a measure of justice meted out here...
Both apparently had some kind of relationship with the woman, said Parwan province governor Abdul Basir Salangi. "In order to save face," they accused her of adultery, Salangi said.
Then they "faked a court to decide about the fate of this woman and in one hour, they executed the woman," he added.
Both Taliban commanders were subsequently killed by a third Taliban commander, Salangi said.
Participants were asked "How would you feel about touching this?" and rated their level of disgust on a scale of 1 (not disgusting) to 5 (very disgusting) as they viewed each image.
The photo that finished highest in the "gross-out" ratings was of a person's gums infested with live fly larvae, receiving close to a perfect score of 5. A festering wound came in second place, with a rating of 4.6.
"Toronto police say a man in his 20s has serious but non-life-threatening injuries following a shooting on Jane Street, near Driftwood Avenue and Grandravine Drive."**********
A man has been shot dead in the middle of a residential street in Etobicoke early Thursday morning. The unidentified man, who is believed to be in his 20s, was shot several times in the head and upper torso at around 4 a.m. on Meadowbank Road, near Burnhamthorpe Road and Highway 427.**********
Toronto police say so far this year, there have been 16 gun-related deaths, up 7.1 per cent from this time last year.
The number of shooting victims has jumped to 163 from 119 last year.
The man found shot to death in Etobicoke on Thursday morning was a cousin of one of the men killed in last month’s Eaton Centre shooting and was affiliated with the same Regent Park street gang, police sources say.
Abdulle Elmi, 25, was shot multiple times in the torso.
Saeed Fahia, a leader in the city’s Somali community, said he remembered Mr. Elmi fondly, as a “very level-headed” young man who was kind to his mother.
-- QUEBEC -- I don’t mind gay groups keeping a vast database of anonymously-reported homophobic thought-crimes if they feel that’s a productive use of their time. But it is preposterous that this sprawling directory of cobwebbed flamer cracks and swishy-gait titters will be publicly funded by taxpayers under the Québec Government’s “action plan for the fight against homophobia.”Yeah... what could possibly go wrong?
Toronto police Chief Bill Blair says that the city remains a safe place to live, despite an increased number of shootings throughout this year. “There were no murders this weekend, there were a number of shooting occurrences,” he said.Not to put too fine a point on it, Chief... but "no murders this weekend" just seems to fall a little short of where you should be aiming.
As of July 3, police say there have been 131 shooting occurrences since the start of the year."Shooting occurences," huh? That sounds so much nicer than, well... "attempted murder." Puts me in mind of the Obama Whitehouse outlawing the use of the word "terrorist."
Compared to the same time last year, that’s an increase of 29.7 per cent.Apparently, though... it only counts if those bullets kill you.
Blair said police are concerned about the increased number of shootings, but he said there has been “no great spike” in the number of people who were injured or killed in those incidents.Which probably isn't much consolation to the 13 year-old boy who took one in the head during that double homicide at the Eaton Centre the other day.
Two Toronto men are in hospital after a pair of shootings hours apart.
Police say a man was shot in the east end around 11 p.m. Sunday, blocks away from where a Canada Day fireworks display took place earlier that night.
Police say another man was wounded in a separate shooting two hours later (near Keele Street and Finch Avenue West) in the city's northwest.
“It looks like it was a random round of gunfire from somewhere,” said Toronto Police Staff-Sgt. Ken Boyle, noting police don’t know where the shot came from. "Sometimes people just fire bullets into the air. Maybe someone was shooting at someone else and missed, but we’re not aware of that.”So, another urban banger catches a stray round. I'm with Sgt Ken... hardly seems worth mention... wait a minute...
The TWO YEAR OLD, who was with her mom, had been attending a family barbecue and was dangling her legs out of the window of a parked car on Saturday night, near Keele St. and Sheppard Ave.Greasin' toddlers, huh? There's something we don't see a whole lot of out here in cow country. Not to put too fine a point on it... hardly seems sporting.
"Montreal police spokeswoman Anie Lemieux confirmed a discovery was made in the park Sunday morning but she wouldn't say if it was a human head."Bright lights, big cities... they surely have it all.
Gunfire erupted in a northeast eatery early Sunday, leaving one dead and three others injured. At about 2 a.m., cops were called to Basil Ultimate Pho and Fine Vietnamese Cuisine, responding to reports of several shooting victims.Yeah... my money's on a bunch of outta-control skeet shooters.
Insp. Craig Skelton said it is not believed this was a random shooting, but it is unknown if there's a gang connection at this time.
The Supreme Court upheld the entirety of the health care law Thursday on narrow grounds, declaring that the individual mandate was legal under Congress' taxing powers.Or can you?
The White House has repeatedly insisted that the mandate is not a tax.Remember when Premier McSlippery started charging Ontarians for OHIP?