Israel doesn't bluff

Also speaking at the Tel Aviv conference, former intelligence and justice minister MK Tzachi Hanegbi said time was running out.

“It’s now or never,” said Hanegbi, but “the option of never does not exist.”

If you build it... they will come...

...and come... and come...

An examination by The New York Times shows that it became a runaway train, driven by racial politics, pressure from influential members of Congress and law firms that stand to gain more than $130 million in fees.

In the past five years, it has grown to encompass a second group of African-Americans as well as Hispanic, female and Native American farmers. In all, more than 90,000 people have filed claims. The total cost could top $4.4 billion.

The Obama gravy train pulls into the station.

Barack O'Blamma tools up

No, not for hotspots like Benghazi... but those nasty ol' teabaggers are in for an ass whoopin'...

Comparing that with the small-arms purchases procured by the U.S. Army, he said the DHS is churning through between 1,300 and 1,600 rounds per officer, while the U.S. Army goes through roughly 350 rounds per soldier.

He noted that is "roughly 1,000 rounds more per person."

Here in Canada, CSIS operatives aren't even armed.

Good thing the President's such a peacenik, huh? I guess I'd be a little less apprehensive if Obama's affirmative action Big Sis wasn't so desperately out of her intellectual depths...

Though she admitted that Canada doesn't export anything like the same level of drugs, or illegal immigrants, "to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it's been across the Canadian border."

When asked if she was talking about 9-11 terrorists she replied "not just those but others as well."

This resulted in something of a diplomatic squabble since it is well known, in Canada at least, that every single terrorist involved in 9-11 entered North America through the U.S.

Hope, change and... keep your head down, Charlie.

First, you acknowledge there's a war...

...second, you decide whether you want to win it...

"Across the board, state agencies flatly refused to provide information about the taxpayer-funded lifestyle for the 26-year-old man and his brother and accused accomplice Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19."

Of course, let's not hurt anybody's feelings here.

RELATED: I guess Mummy Tsarnaeva...

...didn't get the "hurtful words" memo...

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (CBS/AP) — The mother of the two Boston bombing suspects told reporters that “America took my kids away from me” and wished she had never left Russia.

“Why did I even go there?” Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said, crying, after CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata asked if she regretted the move.

The mother told reporters at that same press conference that she would be “happy” to give up her U.S. citizenship, and that she was “thinking about it.”

Right up until the moment she signs that million dollar book deal, I'm guessing.

**********

RELATED: Why have laws...

...if you're just gonna ignore them?

-- TORONTO -- A Toronto man accused of conspiring to bomb a Via train was arrested in 2004 on a deportation order issued in 1998 but released, QMI Agency has learned.

Raed Jaser was taken into custody Aug. 23, 2004, and was working illegally and using numerous aliases, an Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) detention hearing was told two days later.

The IRB documents don't make it clear why Jaser was released.

Who was the Immigration Minister in 2004?

"From my hot, oily hands..."

Just waiting for the usual rabid chef-istic pushback from the diabolical National Roasting Association...

"Williams-Sonoma, the specialty retailer of home furnishings and gourmet cookware with over 250 stores in the United States, has pulled pressure cookers from their shelves following the Boston Marathon bombing."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:Pots... the gateway WMD.

The "M" word

No, seriously... I get it. Even in a country like Canada, you come out on the side of law & order... there could be life-threatening repercussions...Moderate? Not me, my friend. Well... not in public, anyway.

**********

RELATED: With friends like social services...

...who needs Al-Qaeda...

"Marathon bombings mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev was living on taxpayer-funded state welfare benefits even as he was delving deep into the world of radical anti-American Islamism, the Herald has learned."

Live and don't learn... that's us.

Dear Justin...

...you wanna impress me, do something about this...

"The average family earned $74,113 and paid $31,615 in taxes, including income, sales and property taxes; employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan contributions; and what the institute calls 'hidden' taxes like import duties and gas taxes."

"The tax bill has ballooned 1,787% since 1961, the report says.

How exactly, could that have happened? Here's a clue...

"In 1968, when Trudeau went from rich, socialist professor who had never held a real job in his life to prime minister, Canada’s national debt was a modest $11.3 billion; the federal deficit was zero."

"When Trudeau left office in 1984, the debt had mushroomed to $128 billion; the deficit to $25 billion annually."

And, it seems... the apple doesn't drop all that far from the tree...

"The highest-spending MP with the smallest riding by area in Canada was Liberal Justin Trudeau. He represents the Montreal riding of Papineau, just 9 square kilometres with 70,115 electors. He spent $445,566.97 — or $6.35 per voter, or $49,507 per square kilometre."

Oh Canada.

COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

Ah, yes... the return of Polardiscoball...

have you seen the gut on your bitch? Oh you have one too
Posted by Polardiscoball to halls of macadamia at 1:28 pm, April 19, 2013

"You’re with us secretary fornicators, or the child pornographers"
Posted by Polardiscoball to halls of macadamia at 3:49 AM, February 15, 2012

Literally he's a Zombie, Dick Cheney is an anti-christ Zombie he's got no heartbeat, think of that, is that not in the scriptures? A man who walks with no heartbeat and feels no remorse for the millions of deaths.

Those mother fuckers took us to war for money, isn't it amazing?
Posted by Polardiscoball to halls of macadamia at 2:51 PM, December 18, 2011

But don't you worry... now that there's a Trudeau on the scene, everything's gonna be peachy.

Toronto "Red Star" gets taken for a ride

Words of wisdom from the Toronto "Red Star" resident pistol guru...

“They really are only accurate to maybe about 200 yards. After that there’s really no accuracy in ’em,” he said.

Dear Jayme & David... did you think to run that 200 yard comment past an actual shooter?

Here's a couple of thoughts.

Go find a 200 meter rifle range (pistol training typically takes place at 10 to 25 meters) and try hitting a man sized target with a handgun. Better still, try asking a Toronto cop what their pistol qualification consists of. Rest assured, the maximum distance will be a small percentage of your mythical 200 yards (which is, btw, the length of two football fields).

Come back and file your follow-up story... 'cos right now, you look like a couple of morons.

Does the Star's Food writer actually go out to restaurants & eat a meal, or does he/she just look at pictures of the food and ask bus boys for comments?

P.S. - Pretty much any deer rifle on the market will penetrate a police issue kevlar vest. Does that make Canadian Tire a "Merchant of Death."

**********

RELATED: Still too many journos...

I bet they didn't have "demolition permits" either.

**********

LAST WORD: Sure, guns kill people...

...just like pencils write poetry & forks cause morbid obesity...

"School officials say the dress code does ban such shirts because they can disrupt the educational process."

So much for free speech.

Protocols of the Elders of 73 Leikin Drive

Nothing like a little multicultural outreach, huh?I am a little confused, though.

Typically, the politicians and the mainstream media turn cartwheels to disavow any connection between terrorism and Canada's vibrant ethnic communities(TM).

"The 2:30 p.m. background briefing, attended by several prominent Muslim community leaders, was to be followed by a news conference near Toronto’s Pearson airport. In recent years, police have made a point of briefing community leaders BEFORE announcing terror arrests."

Why on earth are "prominent Muslim community leaders" called in ahead of anyone else to these little dog & pony shows?

UPDATE: Bomber's identified

RCMP say two suspects arrested in an alleged terror attack against a Via Rail passenger train had “direction and guidance” from al-Qaida elements in Iran.

The suspects — identified as Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, — were arrested this morning in Montreal and Toronto.

They are not Canadian citizens.

Or even anything close to it, I venture.

Has "Sainted Son of Pierre" commented on the "root causes" inherent to this terrorist plot?

"Chiheb Esseghaier is a 'Graduate researcher at Université de Sherbrooke'."

Oh Canada.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Would someone please ask Justin about Via 'route' causes???"

This guy was working on his doctorate, but I guess he got a better offer.

Let the media beatification begin

Hmmm... how will the MSM handle this one?
I can't wait to see whether the CBC manages to get hold of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's baby pictures... I mean, the Journo-Canadian community did such a bang-up job with Omar.
Witness the latest...

"A dedicated wrestler who would return to his high school to mentor younger team members. A class clown who helped a teacher spell and then pronounce his unusual name. A happy if quiet student with plenty of friends."

Why exactly, is all the emphasis placed on the bombers as opposed to the victims? How about a brutally honest photo montage of the almost two hundred traumatic amputations... or a focus on the people Dzhokhar and his brother murdered?

I know, I know... never gonna happen in Justin's Canada.

**********

RELATED: To their credit, the CBC...

...actually stops short of blaming Dick Cheney for the slaughter...

Maret Tsarnaeva, who lives in Toronto, the aunt of the two suspects in the Boston bombings says she doesn't believe they were involved in the crime and says the FBI has no evidence other than pictures of the two young men walking on the street near the finish line.

Another in-depth, conclusive investigation by your national broadcaster.

Apparently, it didn't have to happen

One would think, for the families & friends of the Boston dead & maimed, that nothing could make this tragedy any worse than it is.

Well, you'd be wrong.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old killed in a wild shootout with police, was a legal U.S. resident who nevertheless could have been removed from the country after a 2009 domestic violence conviction, according to a Judicial Watch source. That means the Obama administration missed an opportunity to deport Tsarnaev but evidently didn’t feel he represented a big enough threat.

Just something to consider, the next time you're anywhere near a voting booth.

Justin Trudeau dodges a bomb, er... bullet

Try imagine how awkward things could've been if the Shiny Pony had to stand up and defend the "root causes" behind a couple of grotty, old white dudes from the Michigan Militia... Said Trudeau Two,

"And our approach has to be, where do those tensions come from?"

Tensions?!! Tensions?!!

So, Justin, these guys were just blowin' off a little steam? Good thing they weren't really pissed at us, huh?

**********

RELATED: Those poor, underprivileged...

...wait a minute...

The suspects’ father Anzor Tsarnaev spoke with The Associated Press by telephone from the Russian city of Makhachkala on Friday. “My son is a true angel,” Tsarnaev told the AP.

“Dzhokhar is a second-year medical student in the U.S. He is such an intelligent boy."

Dear Mr Tsarnaev... maybe he could have been an angel, but it appears as though he threw it all away to play for the other team...

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev applied to the University of Massachusetts’s Boston campus in 2011 and was accepted, but then immediately withdrew, according to spokesman DeWayne Lehman. “He was not a student.”

I guess he felt he had a higher calling.

**********

LAST WORD: Mass murder? What mass murder?

The father said he spoke to his sons by phone earlier this week. "We talked about the bombing. I was worried about then," Anzor Tsarnaev said. He said his sons reassured him, saying, "Everything is good, Daddy. Everything is very good."

The elder Tsarnaev insisted that his sons were innocent, but said he would appeal to his son to "surrender peacefully."

"Give up. Give up. You have a bright future ahead of you. Come home to Russia," the dad said.

Did I miss it? Is there an apology in there somewhere?

Nope. In fact, just the opposite...

The father warned, however, "If they killed him, then all hell would break loose. "If they kill my second child, I will know that it is an inside job, a hit job. The police are to blame," the father told ABC News.

His sons have perpetrated one of the most horrific acts of terrorism in recent memory... and he's threatening to kick it up a notch if the U.S. doesn't send his baby home unharmed.

Who are these freaks?

From the folks who brought you...

..."just walkin' down the street, mindin' my own business and suddenly woke up naked in a seedy Chinatown 'massage' parlour"...
Pat Martin, Pat Martin... that sounds so familiar.

Hope, Change and...

...I wonder if the folks at Salon are keeping some sharpened pencils handy...

"In the photos being distributed by law-enforcement officials among themselves, one of the men is carrying a blue duffel bag. The other is wearing a black backpack in the first photo, taken at 10:53 a.m., but it is not visible in the second, taken at 12:30 p.m."

Not that our "professional journalist" friends have been all that reliable... the narrative seems to change hourly...

"The man sought as a possible suspect is a white male, wearing white baseball cap on backwards, a gray hoodie and a black jacket, according to CBS News."

The Whitehouse may want to start assembling Warren Commission II to deal with the inevitable fallout.

**********

UPDATE: More media missteps?

"Federal law enforcement sources told ABC News they are no longer seeking information about Barhoun or the other man in the photo published in the Post."

Amazing.

The Wonderful World of True D'oh

Suddenly, by way of contrast, Stephane Dion is looking like a rabid, snarling badger...

"There is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded. Completely at war with innocents. At war with a society. And our approach has to be, where do those tensions come from?"

Or, Justin, you naive dilettante... we could send in a SWAT team.

**********

FROM THE NATPO COMMENTS:

"Amongst the 'root causes' cited by Osama Bin Laden for his jihad against the West were the defeat and expulsion of the (Muslim) Moors by Spain in 1492."

Let the healing begin.

**********

RELATED: Opposition parties gang up...

...on Conservatives over outsourcing Canadian jobs to foreign jobseekers... forget just one little thing...

"The tables were turned on Trudeau when Heritage Minister James Moore accused (note - 'accused'? How about 'revealed'?) the Montreal MP of writing the Canadian embassy in Beijing to overturn previously denied work permits for Chinese chefs."

"Moore says opposition howling is hypocrisy because MPs from both parties have requested foreign workers to fill jobs in their ridings."

"'Why is he (Trudeau) writing letters to bring in Chinese workers in the food industry in Montreal rather than helping us create jobs for Canadians in Montreal?' Moore asked."

Lest you imagine their socialist comrades in the House of Commons are any less hypocritical... the Prime Minister addressed NDP leader Thomas Mulcair's manufactured outrage thusly...

"The temporary foreign workers program is being reviewed in case it is being abused, he said, yet there are cases where absolute labour shortages exist. As proof, he offered up letters from eight NDP MPs asking for approval for more temporary foreign workers in their ridings."

Oh, yeah... one last note... the permits Trudeau sought were never granted.

Beantown Bomber in Bracelets?

[Updated at 1:46 p.m.]
**********

ASK A PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST:

[Updated at 2:48 p.m.]

There have been no arrests in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, according to Boston police and the Justice Department.

[Updated at 2:33 p.m.]

There is conflicting information as to whether someone has been arrested in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings.

**********

UPPERDATER: Conflicing??? I'll say it is.

That secretive, controlling George W...

...wait a minute...

Under President George W. Bush, the Department of Homeland Security had $20 million allocated for preventing the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by terrorists working inside the United States. The current White House has cut that funding down to $11 million.

That assessment comes from Robert Liscouski, a former Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 that killed three Americans and injured at least 173 others.

Of course, that's not what the Whitehouse tells the citizenry.

On February 26 the Obama White House issued a lengthy National Policy for Countering Improvised Explosive Devices. Obama wrote in an introduction to that document that 'we have no greater responsibility than providing for the safety and security for [sic] our citizens, allies, and partners ... The use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) threatens these interests by killing, injuring, and intimidating citizens and political leaders around the world.'

'We must not become complacent,' he wrote.

Unbelievable.

A hundred million here...

...a hundred million there... pretty soon you're talkin' serious pesos...The liberal Party of Ontario does it again...

Auditor general Jim McCarter, in a special report released Monday, said the biggest hit was the $149.6 million that taxpayers had to reimburse a U.S. hedge fund which loaned money to the builder at an interest rate of 14%.

McCarter's auditors concluded that the total cost of relocating the plant to the Sarnia area will be $351 million which will be offset by $76 million in savings, in part, by sparing taxpayers the tab for electricity that would not have been needed anyway.

No biggie, if you have an inflated government salary and a goldplated civil service pension, I suppose... and there's more coming...

Tory and NDP MPPs are now demanding the government update the $40-million cost publicly announced for the cancellation in 2010 of a much larger gas plant planned for Oakville.

I don't know what makes me angrier, the constant ineptitude, or the lying about it after the fact.

Well, don't blame me, I didn't vote for them.

Dance of Death

Just another curious little artifact of "cultural relativism"...**********

RELATED: Dear Mr Baird...

...we give them 300 million dollars AND they dance on our graves?

“Our $300-million over five years in support of security and humanitarian aid is important,” Mr. Baird’s press secretary, Rick Roth, said in an e-mail after the meeting.

Maybe the word "humanitarian" has a different meaning over there?

Regardless... the Pals must see us as the biggest dopes in the rainbow-hued world.

**********

UPDATE: It took 20 hours...

...but President O'Pologetic finally said the "T word"...

"President Obama reversed himself on Tuesday and declared the Boston Marathon bombings to be 'an act of terrorism'.”

See... how hard was that?

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Obama said the war on terrorism is over ..."
Posted by: grok on April 15, 2013 4:02 PM

"Did he happen to say who won?"
Posted by: JDN on April 15, 2013 5:48 PM

**********

UPDATE: The good ship Lolly-POTUS...

6:14 pm - In a briefing just now, President Obama referred to the “senseless loss” in Boston due to “explosions”, but did not characterize them as terrorist.

Yup... maybe they were poorly maintained hotdog carts... wait a minute...

"Police investigators had contacted the local gas and electric company and determined that the explosions were not related to gas or electrical service."

"The authorities also found a device at St. James and Trinity Streets that did not explode, the person said, and two other devices were found, including one in Newton, outside of Boston."

Dear Mr President... if it's a bomb(s)... it doesn't matter who set it off... it's terrorism.

**********

CORRECTION: Only two bombs have been found

Apparently, they were pressure cookers filled with nails & ball bearings, gruesome anti-personnel explosives used frequently in the Middle East.

**********

UPDATE2: Dead & maimed children

"One of the two victims of today’s horrific Marathon double-bombing is an 8-year-old, the Herald has learned."

To make this incident even more horrific, this boy's mother is brain damaged and his 6 year-old sister has been maimed.

Two words... Prince... Charles...

So, it seems the Liberal Party of Canada is officially endorsing eugenics. In that case, shouldn't Deborah Coyne's daughter get the nod for possible future finance minister?

"He will be forced to give up what some have called his “no-policy policy” and explain to Canadians what he stands for and what he would do if elected prime minister in 2015."

Oh, c'mon... who needs policy if you've got the "royal jelly."

**********

RELATED: If he doesn't get in as PM...

...he can make a fortune selling sperm to gullible lefty groupies...

"Another video talks up Harper’s economic record while poking fun at Trudeau’s past jobs as a camp counsellor, rafting instructor and drama teacher, adding, 'and now he thinks he can run Canada’s economy.'"

All a successful Liberal needs is... a famous daddy.

**********

COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

JUSTIN! JUSTIN! JUSTIN! JUSTIN!

Wanna stop a Liberal fanboy/fangirl dead in their tracks? Ask them to tell you the one thing they admire most about the Shiny Pony.

Kids will be kids... right?

A Toronto teenager facing trial on first-degree murder charges wrote a letter ordering a hit on three witnesses, along with instructions on how the killings should be carried out, prosecutors are alleging.

The letter states that the three witnesses, all young women, should be shot and killed during a staged robbery, or poisoned. Another option was for one of the witnesses to be sent to Jamaica. The judge agreed to a publication ban on the identities of the witnesses.

Kill the YCJA. Do it now.

As Canadian as...

...improvised explosive devices...

A fourth name has emerged in the tangled web of young Canadians sought for possible extremist connections in the aftermath of a deadly terrorist attack in Algeria this year.

Independent sources in Canadian security and government tell The Canadian Press that Mujahid Enderi, who goes by the anglicized name “Ryan,” a Libyan-Canadian from southwestern Ontario, is under investigation and being sought by police.

Oh Canada.

**********

RELATED: Those darned Canadians

From the Comments:

"Forget Ken and Alan. Mexican Barbie would have more fun with GI Joe. He probably has night vision goggles and can help her get past the border patrols."

From the Comments:

Witness the decline of a once great nation...

"Yes, I'm Jack Daniels and this is my friend Captain Morgan, we'd like to vote."

Oh Canada.

Famous for being famous...

...just like Paris Hilton...
Quite frankly, if there is indeed a "defining moment" here... it's actually about the fragile state of "professional" journalism in Canada.

Good deeds performed daily

Compassionate, intellectual left... yet again... dishes out the milk of human kindness...

"Police stood by and watched as more and more people arrived with their drink and banners mocking her death. Shouts of 'Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! dead, dead, dead!' rang around gleefully."

"The revellers downed alcohol and brandished placards reading 'The bitch is dead' and 'Rejoice Thatcher is dead.' Many revellers appeared younger than the 23 years which have passed since Thatcher left office."

"There were even two guys playing double bass and acoustic guitar in the crowd for a singalong. At the start of the evening, the whole thing resembled a middle-class music festival more than a raucous demo."

Funny how these sorts of folk are always available, day or night, to celebrate their self-imagined victimhood.

**********

SPEAK SHINY PONY, SPEAK:
Demonstrating his awareness of international affairs...
Wake up and smell the DNA.

In other "Buy the World a Coke" news

Premier Kathleen Wynne's Ontario upgrades from that antiquated "English Common" to "Sharia Law"...

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD:

Speaking of drugs...

..the victimless crime...

"According to the Vancouver Police, the brazen killings were both organized by the same man; Rabih Alkhalil, a 25-year-old drug kingpin now wanted in all three of Canada’s largest cities."

"While it is quite rare for a man in his early 20s to head a major drug smuggling ring, Alkhalil comes from a well-established criminal lineage."

"In 2001, Alkhalil’s brother Khalil was shot to death outside his apartment block when he was only 19." "Two years later, another brother, Mahmoud, was killed during a gunfight at a Vancouver nightclub that left three people dead, including a 32-year-old innocent bystander."

Soon after their arrival, another brother, Nabil was sentenced to 2.5 years for an assault conviction. Almost immediately upon his 2005 release, he led officers on a reckless high-speed chase in his Cadillac Deville while attempting to smuggle a duffel bag of cocaine from Toronto.

"Two other Alkhalil brothers, Terry and Hisham, are believed to still be living in Canada."

"He was born in Saudi Arabia but his family settled in Surrey, B.C. in 1990 as refugees."

Oh Canada.

Ask a Professional Journalist

"Will New York Times environmental reporter Justin Gillis offer an addendum to his alarmist March 8 report, "Global Temperatures Highest in 4,000 Years," in the face of new information that discredits the underlying data?"

And then there's Canada's national broadcaster.

When you really want to get that...

...full-service shooting experience...

Toronto police are investigating after a man was dropped off at hospital after being shot multiple times Wednesday night.

Police believe he was shot near Wickson Trail Park, in the Neilson Road and Sheppard Avenue East area.

Not to be confused with the shooting of a 15 year old in Lawrence Heights that same evening.

Fun with numbers

How many 9th graders have been murdered in your neighbourhood in the last couple months?

"The boy is the fourth 15-year-old to be shot in Toronto this year. Jarvis Montaque, Tyson Bailey and St. Aubyn Rodney did not survive."

The wild, wild west of Toronto. Yee-haw.

Don't blame me...

...I didn't vote for them...

The number of public-sector workers earning more than $100,000 has grown, the provincial government's latest "sunshine list" reveals.

The list, released annually, now includes the names of 88,412 people, an increase of 11 per cent over the number of individuals included on the list last year. Since 2009, its ranks have grown by 39 per cent.

And that's why we called him McSlippery.

**********

RELATED: The beat goes on

Remember how the former premier couldn’t do enough to satisfy the education sector? McGuinty was more than happy to buy peace by delivering a cumulative 24% worth of teacher pay increases over nine years.

Now Wynne, a former education minister no less, has agreed that capitulation is the better part of valour.

Taxpayers will of course be footing the bill, estimated to be around $63 million. This is on top of compensation to fund more days off, extended sick leave and maternity leave for both teachers and support staff represented by OSSTF.

It's only money... right?

I'm sorry, this is Canada...

...the government says you're not allowed to defend yourself.

Never a Community Organiser around...

...when you really, really need one...

•• SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) •• Holders of the biggest portion of Stockton's debt insured $165 million in bonds the city issued in 2007 to keep up with payments to the California Public Employees Retirement System as property taxes plummeted during the recession.

So far, Stockton has kept up with pension payments while reneging on other debts, maintaining it needs a strong pension plan to retain its pared-down workforce.

Stockton has tried to restructure some debt by slashing employment, renegotiating labor contracts, and cutting health benefits for workers. Library and recreation funding have been halved, and the scaled-down Police Department only responds to emergencies in progress. The city crime rate is among the highest in the nation.

**********

RELATED: Remember Dalton's big crackdown...

...on the teachers union? Looks like happy days are here again.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Education said the costs of "THE SHIFT" were offset by "greater savings than anticipated" in the 2012-13 school year.

"The cost is net neutral," he said.

He would not discuss the exact cost of the shift.

So Dalton bails before Ontario realises the extent of their debt woes... and his successor starts undoing even that.

Hey, it's only money... right?

**********

LAST WORD: In other bankruptcy news...

Canada’s largest provincial labour federation is facing a pension fund deficit, and accounting and solvency experts suggest the Ontario Federation of Labour may need to lay off workers or even trim employees’ benefits if the situation doesn’t improve.

Financial conditions in fiscal 2012 (ended June 30) “indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt about the Federation’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

The OFL has run deficits for the past two years, and liabilities, led by pension obligations, far outstrip assets on the balance sheet.

Oh my.

Yet again... the words "missing millions" and...

...Liberal Party meet at a curious intersection.

**********

RELATED: Lives of the 1 percenters

Neither President Obama nor first lady Michelle appear to give a damn about perception. They won the White House and, by God, they’re going to enjoy their time there, no matter the cost. And who cares what you think, anyway?

How else to explain the nonstop vacations the pair keep taking during what Mr. Obama calls the “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression”? In 2013, the First Family has already enjoyed three vacations — that’s one a month.

But, but, but... isn't he dreamy?

In other "broad strata" news

Hang on a second... I thought the devil was in the details.

"The incident began with an altercation between two groups of people."

I'm confused. Is the mainstream media actually reporting that some demographics are more prone to deadly violence, er... "altercations" than others?

“Our information to date, so far, is that there were no innocent people or innocent bystanders that were shot or targeted,” said Toronto Police Detective Rob North.

Hmm, "no innocents", huh? One killed and another lying maimed in hospital... and only guilty yet strangely unidentifiable groups of people involved?

But, but, but... guilty groups. That's racist, right?

Well, not necessarily. It's all gonna hinge on what mysterious "groups" were involved here. Kiwanas, Girl Scouts, Mechanical Engineers, perhaps Rabbinical students? Well, whoever it is... the reporting here is saying they deserved what they got.

Of course, the lunatic left will argue that this sort of thing doesn't affect ordinary people who mind their own business. It's not like this happened at a busy shopping cent... wait a minute.

**********

UPDATE: Murder victim id'd

Not the Kiwanas after all...

Police say Michael Nguyen was killed Saturday night, an hour before Yorkdale shopping centre was set to close. He was shot outside of the Sears store by at least two assailants who used “several” guns in the attack.

Sure doesn't sound like any group I'd care to belong to.

**********

ASK A PROFESSIONAL JOURNALIST:

Let's not forget that the primary function of a criminal defence lawyer is not to get to the truth, but to get his client cleared of all charges...

At the time, Windsor lawyer Frank Miller argued that Nguyen was an exemplary inmate and had turned his life around. “This didn’t have to happen…. This was a kid who really could see another life — a life beyond the street.”

“He was pro-social,” Miller recalled on Monday. “He wanted to change his life. Didn’t want to continue to be involved in the criminal justice system.”

Ah, yes... he was on the verge of turning his life around... also known as "burying the lede"...

Nguyen was known to be a “co-leader” of the Asian Assassinz — a Toronto street gang.

A leader of the Assassinz gets, well... you get the picture.

It still doesn't stop the MSM from trying to deify this thug.

**********

UPDATE2: In other Hogtown homicide news

The twin killings are the 16th and 17th homicides in Toronto so far this year.

**********

LAST WORD: As Canadian as...

...a public beheading.