UPDATED: Hallowe'en greeting to President Brandon

UPDATE ADDED 1/11/21: Worth reading: "The Revolutionary Power of 'Let's Go, Brandon!'", by John Nolte, Breitbart News, 1/11/21. Lede: "For very good reason, the media and Democrats feel threatened and terrified by the 'Let’s go, Brandon!' chant, which is why we must never stop saying it."

B. Kliban: 2 hard-to-find collections just listed on Webstore

Bernard "Hap" Kliban (1 January 1935 – 12 August 1990) was an American cartoonist who contributed to Playboy magazine from 1962 until his death. An excellent draftsman, he had a bizarre sense of humour which shone through his drawings, which were signed simply "B. Kliban".

Playboy’s cartoon editor, visiting his studio, reviewed his drawings, mostly cats. She thought they should be compiled into a book, introduced him to an agent, who found a publisher, resulting in the 1975 book Cat. This led to several other books of cartoons ending with Advanced Cartooning in 1993. Since Cat, his cartoons have adorned many products including stickers, calendars, mugs, and t-shirts. 

The books that followed Cat consisted mostly of extremely bizarre cartoons, some of which first appeared in Playboy, that find their humour in their utter strangeness and unlikeliness. They often contained dysmorphic drawings of nude figures in extremely unlikely environments. 

Another frequent subject of satire was the type of wordless, step-by-step visual instruction manuals typically found with such things as office furniture. "B. Kliban" also had a recurring series of drawings called "Sheer Poetry", in which the page would be split into six panels, containing images of objects whose names, when spoken in the order presented, would form a rhyming, nonsensical verse.

One of Walt's supporters has just listed two of these books on Webstore.com.

Never eat anything bigger than your head... and other drawings by B. Kliban. Published by Workman Publishing Co.,1976. Unpaginated, probably around 150 pp, paperback.

Whack your porcupine and other drawings by B. Kliban. Includes "The Turk", section of uncaptioned drawings of... well... Published by Workman Publishing Co.,1977. Unpaginated, probably around 160 pp, paperback.

Click on the links for notes as to condition, etc. Auction starting price just $2.99. Shipping charge is a bit on the high side, but you can amortize it by buying both books at once, shipped in one packet. Tell `em Walt sent ya!

Latest, wokest Presbyterian "hymn-prayer" re climate change

The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its relatively progressive stance on doctrine and ordains women and LGBT community as elders and ministers. 

I repost that entry from Wikipedia just in case you thought Presbyterians were hopelessly old-fashioned and stodgy. In fact they're just as woke as the Methodists and Unitarians, and nearly as woke as the Franciscans -- followers of Pope Bergoglio -- of the church once known as Catholic. Here's the proof. 

NEW HYMN FOR OUR PLANET IN CRISIS & GLOBAL MEETING 

This hymn-prayer was written to support efforts to counter climate change, including at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. #COP26

You couldn't make this stuff up! Michael O'Fallon of Sovereign Nations -- a Christian nationalist organisation that aims to "prepare warriors for the battleground of ideas" -- tweets: 

For those of you that can't sight-read sheet music, this is set to the tune of "Immortal Invisible, God Only Wise".

When worshipping, please keep Klaus Schwab, Boris Johnson, Joe Biden, Al Gore, in mind. You can also enter into Hyperdulia with Greta Thunberg. 

Footnote: I concluded my previous post today with the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. Is it just a coincidence that so many people fighting the good fight for Christian civilzation are named "Michael"? Michael Matt, Michael Fallon... and many more. Think about it!

VIDEO: "Is the Pope Catholic?" - Michael Matt on the Pope's meetings with Pelosi & Biden: "His pontificate is a chastisement from God!"

Our old friend Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper, has recovered from the Wuhan flu [Thank you, Lord.] and has rushed out this special edition of The Remnant Underground to denounce the recent actions and pronouncements of Pope Francis, "the chaplain of the New World Order".

Mr Matt has some pretty scathing comments on the ramifications of Francis' making population control guru (((Jeffrey Sachs))) a permanent member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Aside from being militantly pro-contraception, Mr Sachs is also co-author of the UN Sustainable Development Goals which promote abortion worldwide. So, here’s the question: How pro-life can Francis be when he has no problem partnering with pro-abort population controllers? 

Of course there's more. Last week, Pope Bergoglio called on Big Tech to crack down on our freedom of speech. The week before that, as reported here on WWW yesterday, he rolled out the red carpet for Nancy Pelosi. So, how can one be a sincere Catholic and also a defender of a man who aids and abets the most notorious apostate pro-aborts in the world today? 

In this video, Mr Matt argues that Francis has turned the Church over to radical globalists hellbent on building a New World Order out of the ashes of Christendom. In his e-mail to Walt today, he says "I pray I'm wrong. Please watch this video and decide for yourself."

Even if you're not Catholic, you should be very, very worried by the events of this week, particularly the meeting between Francis and Joe, on which we posted an update yesterday afternoon. Besides being the two most powerful "Catholics" (quote marks used intentionally) in the world. President Brandon and the man who calls himself "Pope" are two of the top three leaders of the One World movement. The missing third man was their boss, (((George Soros))). 

We were not told what Mr Soros' acolytes discussed, but can safely assume that it wasn't how to promote freedom, Western civilization and Christian values. Let us pray again, today and every day, the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel.

VIDEO FOLLOW-UP: What President Brandon said to the Pope!

Earlier today, in "Francis and Joe meeting today... cameras not allowed!", Walt commented on the Vatican's unusual prohibition of the recording of the meeting between Pope Bergoglio and President Brandon. Why would they do that? Here's why, a bit of video filmed when they met yesterday.

   

The remark happened after they exchanged gifts. For reasons known only to himself, the Clinton News Network reports (click for longer video clip) that Sleepy Joe spoke to Francis at some length about Satchel Paige, the trailblazing black baseball pitcher, and made a joke about their ages. "How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were? You’re 65. I’m 60." 

Mr Brandon may have meant his remarks as some sort of joke, or maybe he genuinely forgot who he was talking to, but his behaviour is not that of a serious person, let alone one of "the two most powerful Catholics in the world." One can only speculate on what was said after the cameras were turned off. How much worse could it have been?

We'll never know, because we have only the President's side of the conversation. Following the not-so-historic meeting -- only the second between a pope and a Catholic president -- Sleepy Joe said that Pope Francis told him he should keep receiving Communion, in spite of the argument of traditional Catholics that the Sacrament should be denied to any politician who supports abortion.

President Brandon said the topic of abortion didn't come up, but that Francis told him he "was happy he was a good Catholic and he should keep receiving communion." Asked about this, the Vatican's spokesthingy would say only that discussions between the Pope and the President were "private matters". Period.

VIDEO: Walt congratulates Private Eye on its 60th anniversary

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Ian Hislop and all the clever writers and artists who've been putting out the British satirical magazine Private Eye for 60 years this month. 

Walt started reading the Eye in 1963, while recovering from surgery in London's Paddington General Hospital. The hospital closed in 1986, I can truthfully say that there'll always be a part of me in England.

Private Eye carries on, and is occasionally mentioned or quoted here as a prime example of the healthy skepticism which is the the only belief system appropriate to the state of the world today. In this video -- the first of seven, and counting -- editor Ian Hislop talks about the history of the Eye and some of the news stories and personalities they savaged during the hippy-dippy 60s.

   

A nice selection of early Eyes, mostly from the 60s, and including a pdf facsimile of Issue No. 1, is available from our friends ar Canuckjims Magazines. When you order, tell `em Walt sent ya!

Everybody knows that!

I had a dream last night. Not the MLK type of dream of a better world, but a dream of a dystopia -- a state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic -- not in the distant future but in the near future... if not tomorrow, then the day after.

But first, a thought about what everybody knows. "Common knowledge" is not confined to members of the human race(s). Creatures of the lesser orders have it too. For example, how do squirrels know when it's time to start gathering their nuts for the winter? How do elephants know where to go when they're about to die? They just know! But we humans don't call that "knowledge". We call it "instinct".

Whatever you call it -- instinct or knowledge or "race memory" -- it's hardwired into all God's critters, including us. How do primitive peoples know not to eat certain kinds of mushrooms? [Some more civilized types seem to have forgotten such things. Ed.]  Why are we suspicious of gypsies? What makes us rotate our tires, because it's the smart thing to do?

OK, that last one was a bit frivolous, but the fact is there are certain things which everyone (or nearly everyone) believes to be true, even when there's no scientific proof. This kind of "common knowledge" even has status in Anglo-American common law, where judges are allowed to admit certain facts without proof, because "everybody knows that."

Now, in the 21st century, humans are trying to collect and systematize common knowledge, and inculcate it in machines... computers... so that one day these machines will be just as smart as we are. 

Or smarter. Able to think for themselves. This is the concept we call "artificial intelligence". My problem with AI is a well-founded skepticism about who's programming the computers with what they consider "common knowledge". What's included? And what's being left out?

Take Wikipedia, for example. Ed. uses it a lot to "fact-check" me when I tell him "Everybody knows that!" Its content is supposedly user-generated, and allegedly user-edited. But there are people -- the California-based [Aha! Ed.] Wikipedia Foundation -- who ultimately decide what is a "fact" and what isn't. 

Check the articles related to American politics and the 2020 election and see if you can find any reference to allegations that the election was rigged and the presidency stolen from Donald Trump in the dead of night. Such allegations may be presented, but in such a fashion that an uninformed reader would think "Everybody knows these allegations are false."

There are certain things which are presented in Wikipedia and the lamestream media as "common knowledge" and therefore unassailable. Before the fall of Communism we used to see this all the time in "news" reports in Pravda (to name just one), which inevitably began "As is well known..." Then came the Lie of the Day.

Which brings me to my dream. In spite of the constant repetition of the liberal orthodoxy, there are some of us who believe other versions of well-known narratives -- "alternate facts", if you will -- and have opinions other than those deemed politically correct by the folks at Wikipedia or the controlled media.

In my dream, I was being pursued by agents of the state -- or should I say the One World -- who wanted me to contribute to the "common knowledge" my particular knowledge of certain events and people. Why? Not so that everyone would know, but so my "errors" could be corrected! 

My pursuers were certain as death and taxes that their version of the "truth" was correct. You could hear it in the way they talked. They spoke the language of political correctness, of "wokeness". (See "Babylon Bee's Guide to Wokeness", WWW 28/10/21.) One of my favourite examples is "racialized communities". I guess you can't say "coloured people" any more, but what in hell does "racialized communities" really mean? It means "non-white and therefore entitled to preferential treatment (and money!) for not being white."

If you think I'm kidding about that, check out President Brandon's American Rescue Plan, part of his $10.4 billion "stimulus package". According to WaPo (the US version of Pravda), about half of that taxpayer money has been earmarked for "disadvantaged farmers", of whom about a quarter are... wait for it... black. 

Only in America, you say? Not so. Check out Canada's Black Entrepreneur Startup Program, funded by the Royal Bank of Canada and the Canuckistan government's Business Development Corporation. All you need to get your nose in this trough is an idea for a business -- hair salon, recording studio, cannabis store -- but you have to be not just "racialized" but Black with a capital B. 

But programs like those are OK, y'see, because everybody knows black folks have been kept down by white colonialists ever since 1619. That's the only reason why the incidence of poverty, crime, single-parent families, welfare dependency etc is higher in black communities than in other "racialized communities", let alone the communities of "white privilege". Everybody knows that!

I went around the Horn there, but to get back to my dream, the purpose of my pursuers was not so much to find out what I knew and what I was thinking as to convince me that what I knew was wrong and that I should "get woke" and embrace the liberal orthodoxy, like everybody else. 

I woke up just before they started pulling out my fingernails, and am glad to say it was only a dream... so far. Consider the words attributed by playwright Robert Bolt to Saint Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons.

Norfolk: Damn it, Thomas, look at those names.... You know those men! Can't you do what I did, and come with us, for fellowship?

More: And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?

Everybody doesn't know everything. Just because almost "everybody knows" something doesn't make it so. Skepticism is a weapon! It deflects spin, propagnda, PR, BS, press agents, publicity seekers, hearsay, unnamed sources and anyone with a hidden agenda. Skepticism is a quality shared by truth-seekers, free thinkers, and realists... not everybody.

Francis and Joe meeting today... cameras not allowed!

Earlier this month, Jorge Bergoglio, the man who calls himself Pope Francis, dismayed faithful Catholics by welcoming to the Vatican Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives and a strident pro-abort who has the gall to call herself Catholic. But what the hey, Francis calls himself Catholic too. Walt imagines their conversation went something like this. 

Ms Pelosi's tête-à-tête with the Unholy Father received full celebrity coverage from the lamestream media, including video and still photos. If you look in the background of this picture you can see the man with the camera, recording everything for posterior. And here's the fond farewell scene.

It was only later that Francis found out he couldn't make Ms Pelosi a cardinal, because of the gender assigned to her at birth by some white male doctor. So he did the next best thing. This week he appointed economist (((Jeffrey Sachs))) to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, an organization founded in 1994 by Pope John Paul II "to promote the study and progress of the social sciences."

As part of Pope Bergoglio's Drawing All Faiths Together (DAFT) mission, he has invited Mr Sachs to visit the Vatican on numerous occasions in recent years. He was a featured speaker in at least six Vatican conferences in 2019-2020, lecturing on topics from education to ethics, such as the ethics of "population control" and "women's rights", such as the right to kill their babies. 

Now, having heard such arguments from the horses' mouths, Francis will get it from the other end of the horse. He is meeting, even as I write, with US President Brandon. But guess what? There was no live media coverage of this historic meeting between two of the top three leaders of the One World movement. [The other is George Soros. You should have known that. Ed.]

The live broadcast of  Sleepy Joe's visit was trimmed to cover just the arrival of the president’s motorcade in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the revised plan reflected the "normal procedure" established during the coronavirus pandemic for all visiting heads of state or government -- a procedure that curiously was not followed during Ms Pelosi's visit.

That protocol also has meant an 18-month ban on any independent media being in the room for the beginning and end of the audience, as would normally be the case for a visiting head of state. Cancelled was the live coverage of Mr Brandon actually greeting Francis in the palace Throne Room, as well as the live footage of the two men sitting down to begin their private talks in Francis' library. The cameras stopped running at that point so we will never know if Joe was able to get up from his chair without assistance.

No explanation was provided for the sudden cancellation of scheduled media coverage. Ordinarily, filming is allowed while the Pontiff greets a foreign leader, and the two pose together in the apostolic library before their private talk. Vatican officials told reporters that some footage of the encounter will be provided to media outlets, in edited form, after the meeting. When good memes are made, Walt will make them!

VIDEO: Babylon Bee's Guide to Wokeness

Ed. here. Regular readers know that we have lots of time for the Babylon Bee. Of late they've dropped references to "Christian satire", perhaps because lots of non-Christians, and even Democrats, find their "fake news you can trust" funnier (and more on point) than anything you might read in The Onion or hear on SNL.

What many people don't realize is that, although the creators of BB are very clever, they don't really have to work very hard at writing posts which make fun of the prevailing liberal orthodoxy. One has only to copy verbatim the utterances of Nancy Pelosi, Dr Death, Fauxcahontas, AOC... and the list goes on... to get readers ROFL.

The folks at the Bee have a new book coming out on November 2nd: The Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness. They gave us a little preview on Monday, in this video, "The Babylon Bee Guide To Being Woke". Enjoy.

   

Want more? Breitbart News has just posted an exclusive excerpt from The Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness. Their lead: This illustrated guide from the popular satire website's Editor-in-Chief Kyle Mann and Managing Editor Joel Berry promises to show readers "how to take your wokeness to the next level by canceling friends, breaking windows, and burning it all to the ground."

The book's on Amazon (if you really must) at $17.99, or $12.99 for the Kindle edition, whatever that may be. But if you wait until November 2nd, you may be able to buy direct through the BB online store, which is worth checking out anyway. Tell `em Walt sent ya!

VIDEO: The Simpsons: Let's go Brandon!

 

Note from Ed.: Any resumblance between any of the characters in this clip and Walt Whiteman is purely coincidental. They are, after all, fictional characters, unlike Walt, who is... errr....

French politics: Is Marine Le Pen going to get "out-niggered"?

In my usual coherent fashion, I will begin this update on prospects for the French presidential election, coming next May, with a story about the 45th governor of the great state of Alabama, George Corley Wallace, Jr. 

Mr Wallace served as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives and later as judge in the Third Judicial Circuit Court, hence  his nickname "the Little Judge". He was known as a moderate on racial issues, and was associated with the progressive, liberal faction of Alabama politics.

During his first campaign for the governorship in 1958, Mr Wallace spoke out against the Ku Klux Klan, and although he endorsed segregation his centrist views won him the support of the NAACP. In contrast, his opponent John Patterson accepted the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan and made racial issues a major part of his campaign.

Mr Patterson won the race for governor by a large margin. After this defeat, the Little Judge determined that in order to be elected governor he would have to change his position on racial issues, and told one of his campaign officials, "I was out-niggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be out-niggered again." And he wasn't!

What (I hear you ask) does this have to do with French politics? Just this. Until recently, Walt's favourite Frenchperson, Marine Le Pen, leader of the conservative/populist Rassemblement National (National Rally), looked a good bet to defeat the incumbent President Macron, if not in the first round, then in the second, which includes only the two candidates who got the most votes in the earlier round. See "Referendum on immigration? What a novel idea!", WWW 10/10/21. 

But suddenly another contender has emeerged, from even deeper in right field. Behold Éric Zemmour, described by the controlled media as "a Donald Trump-like TV pundit". M Zemmour has not officially announced his candidacy, but has been organizing Trump-style rallies, and is expected to throw his chapeau into the ring very soon.

Éric Zemmour is considered even more right-wing than Mme Le Pen, who has noticebly softened some of the RN rhetoric, in an attempt to appeal to more moderate voters. M Zemmour, on the other hand, does not shy from calling a spade a spade. 

According to the Financial Times, he has been convicted twice of "racial or religious provocation", and has just published a book on the sujbect of national identity, La France n'a pas dit son dernier mot, which has sold 100,000 copies in the first week.

According to respected journalist Yves Mamou, M Zemmour represents the France of yesteryear: the France of Napoleon, Notre Dame de Paris and General Charles de Gaulle, a France that does not want to become an Islamic Republic. He often says "the danger for France is to become a second Lebanon," by which he means a country fragmented between sectarian communities that hate and fear one another.

M Zemmour (still quoting M Mamou) is the man who broke through the glass ceiling to insert into the media discussion topics such as "immigration" and "jihad" -- which no one had ever dared to talk about publicly. He is a man who embodies the fear of seeing traditional France -- the one of church steeples and the "baguette" -- disappear under the blows of jihad and political correctness.

The meteoric rise of Zemmour has had a second effect: he has broken a degrading electoral trap in which the French people are stuck: dividing the right to prevent them from returning to power. From the middle of the eighties until now, the media and the left, together, manufactured an industrial-strength shame-machine to stigmatize as "racist" and "Nazi" anyone who dared to raise his voice on issues of immigration.

M Mamou concludes: The Zemmour fight is just beginning. One thing, however, is certain: Zemmour is restoring an authentic democratic debate about topics -- security, immigration, Islam -- that really matter to the French. 

He's right about that, but I'm not so sure about his assertion that M Zemmour has broken the electoral trap, the splitting of the conservative/rightist vote. According to Politico's Poll  of Polls, President Macron is currently polling around 24%, with Mme Le Pen at 16% and M Zemmour at 15%. That sure looks like a split to me!

If only one candidate presented a real alternative to M Macron and his centre-left, one-world policies, he could be defeated. If that candidate were to be M Zemmour, there is the added problem that he's on his own. Without a primary system such as obtains in the US of A, he cannot take the leadership of the RN away from Mme Le Pen. He would be a "party of one".

If M Zemmour runs as an independent, all he can do is "out-nigger" Mme Le Pen, to the detriment of both of them and another seven years in opposition for those who represent the France of de Gaulle. Tant pis pour eux. Tant pis pour la France!

Poor Len Canayen salutes the Habs' "expendables"

National Sports Editor, Poor Len Canayen, needs to make amends for Friday's post.

Truly. In "Montréal Canadiens: it's OK to panic now" (WWW 22/10/21) I shat all over the Habs' General Manager Marc Bergevin for hiring a bunch of what I called "expendables" to fill the size 13 shoes of Phillip Danault, Corey Perry and Shea Weber. I thought "expendables" was less pejorative than "stiffs", but I think it was clear that I wasn't impressed with the performance of the motley crew that M Bergevin assembled, hoping that Dominique Ducharme could somehow make them a team.

I owe the "expendables", and (perhaps) M Bergevin, an apology, and this is it. Last night in Montréal, this season's edition of les Glorieux made a 180-degree turn from their losing trajectory, trouncing the visiting Detroit Red Wings 6-1. Newcomers Mike Hoffman and Christian Dvorak scored, and Matthieu Perreault, un gars de chez nous, had a hat trick! And he was 71% at the faceoff dot too!

Sami Niku, playing in the bleu-blanc-et-rouge for the first time, was a bit soft on defence (IMHO) but had two assists. The other goal was potted by Ben Chiarot, who is earning his place alongside Jeff Petry on the top defence pair. Well done, les boys! 

I must also give a big pat on the back to goalie Jake Allen, not that I criticized him in the previous post. What I said then was that he wasn't getting any support from the guys in front of him. Allen was solid last night. The goal he allowed, early on, was a fine shot from Wings' Dylan Larkin. After that, Allen was steady between the pipes, making a number of good saves and two that were spectacular. Let's hope he can keep on playing like that until Carey Price returns to share the duties.

All in all, it was a fine performance, albeit against one of the weaker teams in the NHL. The Canadiens head west today for a week in lalaland. It is too early to start planning a parade down the Main next spring, but missing the playoffs is no longer a foregone conclusion. Well done, les boyz!

Everything liberals tell you is a lie

 

Thanks to our good friends at Blazing Cat Fur for posting this. You should check out BCF every day... after you've visited Walt, of course!

Montréal Canadiens: it's OK to panic now

The Montréal Canadiens have now played the first five games of the 2021-22 NHL season. Here is our National Sports Editor with his take on how the Habs are doing. Ed.

Tank youse, Hed! Dere is no joy on top de contree today. Last year's Stanley Cup finalists are doing much worse than feared, having lost their first five games. They are now dead last not only in the Atlantic Division, but in the NHL overall. How could this happen?!

When I wrote a fortnight (Allo! Agent 17) ago about the Habs' prospects for this season, I said they would need to score 4 goals per game, since the weakened defence -- missing Carey Price, Shea Weber and (for now) Joel Edmundson -- was bound to allow at least 3.

The Canadiens scored 4 goals, but that's over the first 5 games of the season, for a GFA of 0.80. You don't win hockey games with a statistic like that, and indeed, the team's record, as of this morning, is 0-5-0, or .000, 0 points, zip, nil, nada.

What's the problem? Let's start with goaltending. It was thought, not unreasonably, that les Glorieux would be all set in that department, with experienced and competent (or better) pros Carey Price and Jake Allen in front of the cage. Who knew that Carey Price would enter a rehab programme, leaving Allen as the starter, with... errr... no backup. 

Cayden Primeau, the heir apparaent, showed during the pre-season that he's not ready for prime time, so on October 2nd, Habs General Manager Marc Bergevin  claimed Samuel Montembeault off waivers. Montembeault's NHL experience consisted of 25 appearances with the Florida Panthers, a record of 9-8-3 with a 3.20 GAA and save percentage of .892. He allowed 5 goals in his first game with the Habs.

It wasn't entirely Montembault's fault that they lost that game 5-1. The defence left him virtually unprotected. [Are you going to use the cliché about suing them for non-support? Ed.] At the end of the playoffs this summer, the Habs had four reliable D-men: Shea Weber, Jeff Petry, Joel Edmundson and Ben Chiarot. 

Weber is out for the season, maybe for good. Edmundson is at home dealing with family problems. That leaves Petry and Chiarot, who don't play together, Brett Kulak and Alex Romanov, and new hires David Savard and Chris Wideman. 

Wideman is useful on the power play, but just mediocre in his assigned role. Savard is not even that. That's why I advised M Bergevin, two weeks ago, to get his derrière over to Moscow and bring Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin back with him. It was his mistake not to keep them when he had the chance.

Finally we come to the major problem, a pitiful offence. M Bergevin's greatest mistake, this summer, was not giving new contracts to Phillip Danault and Corey Perry. They are both sorely missed, as is Tomas Tatar (kind of). Jonathon Drouin is back, and has scored half of the Habs' four goals. Brendan Gallagher is still the heart of the team. Youngsters Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield are trying, but not producing. 

Marc Bergevin, searching for a top centre and other replacements, hired some new guys over the summer, whose names aren't worth mentioning here. They were expendable on their previous teams, for a reason. There isn't one of them who has contributed much. Last year's top scorer, Tyler Toffoli, got his first goal last night, but is -7. And that's it. That's the offence. Terrible.

Head coach Dominique Ducharme can juggle his lines and defence pairings until the cows come home, trying to find five guys who can play as one unit, but so far it hasn't worked. But it's not his fault. The coach can only work with the players given to him by the general manager. That would be Marc Bergevin. If the Canadiens are short on talent and skill this year [Whaddya mean "if"? Ed.] it's his fault. That's all ye know and all ye need to know.

Portrait of an Assassin

"Assassination" and "assassin" are words you don't hear or read much any more. The word "assassin" is often believed to derive from the word hashshashin (Arabic: حشّاشين), and shares its etymological roots with "hashish", because the original Assassins were believed to do their assassinating when under the influence of that drug.

The Assassins were group of Nizari Ismailis -- Muslims -- who worked against various political targets. Founded by Hassan-i Sabbah, the Assassins were active in the fortress of Alamut in Persia from the 8th to the 14th centuries A.D., and later expanded into a de facto state -- like a caliphate -- by acquiring or building many scattered strongholds. According to Wikipedia, the Assassins killed members of the Abbasid, Seljuk, Fatimid, and Christian Crusader elite for "political and religious reasons."

"Political and religious reasons", eh. Hmm. A week ago, Sir David Amess, a devout Catholic Member of the British Parliament was murdered while holding a meet-and-greet for his constituents. Was he killed for political and religious reasons? 

For almost a week, British authorities, motivated no doubt by political correctness and the need to avoid stoking the fires of Islamophobia, identified Sir David's killer as just "a man". When a truth-teller averred that the "man" was actually a Somali "refugee", the party line changed to "a British national of Somali descent." Still no name, and no mention of the killer's religion or motivation.

Yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service finally identified the "man" as Ali Harbi Ali, a 25-year-old "British man with Somali heritage." According to AlJazeera, Mr Ali is the son of Harbi Ali Kullane, a former media adviser to a former prime minister of Somalia. How Mr Ali became "British" is a mystery. So is his religion. 

The spokesthingy for the CPS did say, though, that "We will submit to the court that this murder has a terrorist connection, namely that it had both religious and ideological motivations. He has also been charged with the preparation of terrorist acts."

"Religious and ideological motivations", eh. Such as? When Mr Ali made his first court appearance yesterday, the Crown Prosecutor told the court that Mr Ali considered himself affiliated with the Islamic State, and had settled on a plan to kill a lawmaker "years ago".

The police, however, were a little more circumspect. Inspector Knacker of the Yard told the meeja, "I understand the huge level of public interest in this case, but now a charge has been brought, it is vitally important that everyone exercises restraint when commenting on it publicly, to ensure future court proceedings are not prejudiced in any way."

Yes. We mustn't let Islamophobia cause us to jump to any conclusions, or to call Mr Ali any names, like "assassin".

Canada's fake "Conservatives" admit liberal policies cost them votes which went to Max Bernier's People's Party of Canada

When will conservatives ever learn that you can't win elections by trying to beat liberals at their own game, when millions of voters want real conservatives to run the country?

I didn't use capital letters there because the lesson is one that needs to be learned by politicians in all countries, not just Canada's "Conservatives", who, under the "leadership" of Erin O'Tool, managed to lose the September election that was theirs for the taking. How did they do it? By trying to be almost as liberal as the Liberals, led by Tofino Trudeau.

When it came to policies on the economy, carbon taxes, immigration and other things Canucks care about, there was essentially no difference between the Liberal platform -- "Vote for more of the same!" -- and that of the "Conservatives" -- "Vote for more of the same, only with a blue tie instead of red!"

Canadian voters, millions of `em, wanted a real choice, and so -- as predicted here (lifetime pct .991) -- conservative voters jumped to Max Bernier's People's Party of Canada.

Throughout the campaign, the Conservatives pooh-poohed my (and others') suggestion that O'Tool's pivot to the left would drive people to the PPC. Perhaps they were lulled into a false sense of security by the controlled media's deplatforming of "Mad Max". But they were wrong! As Nelson Muntz would say, HA-ha!

Even on the night of the election, as one Tory candidate after another lost to a Gliberal by a few hundred votes, Conservative "strategists" remained unconvinced of the "threat from the right". After all, the PPC didn't win any seats, not even M Bernier's own.

It didn't take long though, for the vote tallies to reveal that, indeed, the Conservatives could have won, but for the impact of the much increased support for the People's Party. As reported here not two days later, an analysis by former Conservative MP Inky Mark showed that no fewer than 22 seats were won by the Libs (or the even more pinkish NDP) by less than the number of votes cast for the PPC!

Now, a month after the Conservatives snatched defeat from the jaws of victory [Did you make that up? Ed.], the former MP leading the review into the party's election performance says it will examine how the Tories lost votes to the People's Party. How about that....

The Globe and Mail reports that James Cumming, an Alberta representative who lost his seat to the Liberals’ Randy Boissonnault, says he will begin reaching out to candidates and campaign teams this week. Mr O'Tool asked Mr Cumming to review the party's campaign after it was defeated by the Liberals and won two fewer seats than it did in the 2019 federal vote. 

In addition to probing his party's campaign strategy, its ground game and the data it used, etc, Mr Cumming says he will be looking at the role the PPC played in their failure to defeat Mr Socks. "Anywhere that we've had bleed of vote," said Mr Cumming, "I think that that's important that we study and understand what the factors were, so the PPC would represent some of that."

What's to study? Millions of Canadian voters, from coast to coast to coast (as the saying does) wanted a real conservatives, not "red Tories", to represent them in Parliament and halt the disintegration of the Great No-longer-white North. That's not so hard to understand... unless you're the leader of the "Conservative" Party.

Further reading: "How Erin O’Toole Has Walked The CPC Into A Trap" by Spencer Fernando, 5/10/21.

Separated at birth? Or one and the same person?

Agent 3, who has been wrapped in a wet sheet for almost a month, has a theory about where Pete Buttigag has been for the last two months. Is it not America's let's-pretend Secretary of Transportation looking skyward in the left-hand picture, taken not long ago in Merrye Olde Englande? If not, then who?

Some may think the person on the left is British actor Rowan Atkinson, aka Mister Bean. But if that's the case, why has no new Mr Bean movie been released since Peat began his run for the presidensity of the US of A, nearly two years ago?

Another possibility is that Bean and Hasbeen are Siamese twins ["conjoined twins", please! Ed.] who were successfully separated at birth. Who knows? You be the judge!

UPDATED: "Allahu akbar!" in England - When will we learn?

It seems like just yesterday [It was just yesterday! Ed.] that I warned our readers that no-one is safe from Islamic terrorism. It doesn't matter what country you live in, or your station in life, high or low. Muslim extremists are waging jihad -- holy war -- on us "infidels", and if you present a target of opportunity, they'll kill you!

In yesterday's post, "'Allahu akbar!' in Norway - a lesson our 'leaders' haven't learned", I was referring to an "incident" in Norway in which a "homegrown terrorist" killed five and wounded two, using a bow and arrow. The victims were apparently random "infidels", who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Today comes news of a targeted attack on a "leader", a British politican.

Sir David Amess, a Member of Parliament, succumbed to his injuries after being stabbed several times during a meeting with his constituents at a church in eastern England.  A 25-year-old suspect has been arrested. That much we know from the controlled media. The official announcement from Essex police revealed even less. Here is the full text of their tweet: 

"A man has been arrested on suspicion murder after a man was stabbed in #LeighonSea. 

"We were called to Eastwood Road North shortly after 12.05pm. 

"Sadly, a man later died. A man was arrested at the scene.

"We are not looking for anyone else." 

That's it. Just "a man" murdered by another "a man". The lack of any information about the man's identity -- let alone his nationality, ethnicity, immigration status in the UK... or religion -- aroused suspicion. You can bet that if the perp had been a white, Christian, native-born Brit, he would have been identified as such immediately. Phrases like "white supremacist" and "right-wing extremist" would have been bandied about. 

The news broke around breakfast time (in our corner of the forest). It's now time for lunch, but so far there's "radio silence" when it comes to any information that might stoke the fires of Islamophobia. Except for one report, which I have seen attributed to the Daily Telegraph, but have been unable to access. It is said that the so-far unidentified man is a "British national of Somali heritage", which would make him a follower of the Prophet.

If that turns out to be true -- we'll update this post if, as and when -- it just proves once again the danger of allowing into our countries foreigners whose values do not mesh with hours, and who refuse to assimilate, preferring to change our countries to mesh with their religion and its barbaric practices. 

UPDATE added at 1625: From the Times of London: "A 25-year-old suspect, who is a British citizen, made no attempt to flee and was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder. Police believe him to be Muslim and of Somali descent. He is being questioned by counterterrorism officers and the security services are examining possible links to Islamist extremists."

Suspicions confirmed! It doesn't matter whether or not they are connected to ISIS or Al-Qaeda. Even one "lone wolf", inspired by the injunction to kill infidels wherever they may be found, can do a lot of damage. When will our "leaders" -- those responsible for allowing such people to invade our countries -- learn this?!

Whither Trump? Whither the GOP? Cloudy, the vision is

Breitbart News reports that, in a hypothetical 2024 GOP primary matchup, President Trump trounces all his potential Republican challengers, according to Politico/Morning Consult survey released this week.

The survey asked respondents who they would support in the 2024 Republican presidential primary if it were held today. As in previous hypothetical GOP primary polls, Mr Trump wins handily, the choice of  47% of respondents. No other candidate came close, as both former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) tied at 12%. 

If, like Walt, you're a fan of The Donald, that's the good news. The not-so-good news is that the same the survey asked all respondents of all parties what role they believe Mr Trump should play in the Republican Party. 47% said he should no longer play any role! 31% said he should play a "major" role, and 12% said he should play a "minor" role. 

Half of all the voters surveyed -- that includes both Democrats and Republicans, remember -- said he should not run for president in 2024, while a quarter said he "definitely" should and ten percent say he "probably" should. 

One might be tempted to discount the opinions of the Democrats, but keep in mind that they vote too. And many of the Dems responding to the survey may well be thoroughly disenchanted with Sleepy Joe, yet unwilling to bring back "Number 45". So the results of the poll are not all that positive.

What, I wonder, will President Trump do? He hasn't announced his intentions for 2024, but speculation has continued to mount. Speaking to Sean Hannity over the summer, Mr Trump hinted that he already made a decision. And as one rally follows another, one might think -- and his enemies might fear! -- that he's going to go for it.

But we can't be sure. Consider the weird signal that he sent this week by threatening a Republican boycott of the next two elections (the 2022 mid-terms and the 2024 presidential election) unless the "Presidential Election Fraud of 2020" is resolved. 

The former president made the threat in a two-sentence statement posted on his website: "If we don't solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in '22 or '24." 

Seriously? Does Mr Trump not realize that the consequences of boycotting the elections would be to hand America over to the Democrats, undisputably and forever? Does he think the elections would not be held if Republicans said they won't vote? Seriously?

Perhaps The Donald didn't read "How an election was stolen", WWW 4/11/20. I was talking about the totally fraudulent presidential election in Zimbabwe in 2008. That post , I told how that country's ruling ZANU-PF party stopped the vote count when it appeared that the president, Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, might lose. When the results were announced several days later, lo and behold, Uncle Bob had the most votes, but not quite 50%, so a run-off election was necessary.

At that point, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition candidate, announced that his party would boycott the run-off election. Why? Because he feared that his supporters would be the targets of government-sponsored violence. This was not an unreasoning fear. Several members of his party were abducted, tortured and even murdered in the run-up to the first election.

The result of the opposition boycott was exactly what you would expect. The run-off went ahead, with President Mugabe as the only actively participating candidate, although Mr Tsvangirai's name remained on the ballot. Comrade Bob won the second round by an overwhelming margin -- 85.3% to 9.3% -- and was sworn in for another term on 29 June 2008. He remained President until November of 2017, when, at the age of 93, he was ousted by his own party in a bloodless coup.

That, dear reader, is what Mr Trump should expect if Republicans boycott the 2022 and 2024 elections. If you're a Republican (or anyone else who thinks America can't afford even two more years of Dumbocrat misgovernment) and in a position to draw Mr Trump's attention to this lesson from history, I suggest you do so immediately! And tell him Walt sent ya....

"Allahu akbar!" in Norway - a lesson our "leaders" haven't learned

Norway has very strict gun control laws. Even the cops don't carry guns [as used to be the case in Britain. Ed.] Until yesterday, that is. The police directorate has now ordered officers nationwide to carry firearms, following a series of terrorist attacks in which five peopole were killed and two wounded by a man armed with a bow and arrow. 

That's an arrow in the inset picture. "The man used a bow and arrow...for some of the attacks," the local police chief told the meeja, adding that they were investigating whether other weapons had also been used.

Reuters quotes the top cop as saying, "The man has been apprehended.... From the information we now have, this person carried out these actions alone." What Reuters doesn't say (but Al Jazeera does!) is that the deadly archer is Espen Andersen Brathen, a Dane who converted to Islam, and was flagged as having being "radicalized". 

Yesterday's attacks took place over "a large area" of Kongsberg, a municipality of about 28,000 people in southeastern Norway.  "The reports coming from Kongsberg tonight are horrifying," Prime Minister Erna Solberg told a news conference. "I understand that many people are afraid, but it's important to emphasise that the police are now in control," she said. 

The statement from the police directorate said, "This is an extra precaution. The police have no indication so far that there is a change in the national threat level."

CAUTION: This is a cautionary tale. You may think you live in a peaceful country, like Norway... or Canada or New Zealand... where you are safe from random attacks by Islamic terrorists. Your government may tell you so. "The threat level is low. Police are in control. No need to be afraid." They lie!

Dear reader, no matter where you live, your country has its share of Islamic extremists. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands. Some, like this "Danish Mohammed", might be called "homegrown". Others -- most of them -- are imported from the Muslim shitholes of the Middle East. 

They have been allowed into your country by "leaders" like Germany's Angela Merkel. Other "leaders", like Canada's Just In Trudeau and America's Senile Joe Biden, are actually encouraging them to come and make themselves at home, not in cities like New York and Toronto, but in smaller cities and towns... just like yours.  

When you venture out today, to go to work or shop or go to a ball game, take a look around you. When did that mosque ["Islamic community centre", shurely. Ed.] get there? What's going on inside? Is someone preaching jihad to susceptible "homegrown" converts? What about that person covered head to toe in a burqa? Is it a woman or a man? What is he/she carrying under there? An AR-15? A bow and arrow?

Good questions, all of them, but you're not allowed to talk openly about such things. Mustn't encourage Islamophobia, you know! Besides -- this is what they tell us -- the overwhelming majority of Muslims in our communities are "moderate Muslims", peaceloving people who wish only to live in peace with us ...and of course benefit from our generous welfare system. 

Really -- this is what they tell us -- we should welcome the 1000s of Afghans who are being settled amongst us right now. It's the Christian thing to do, eh. Hmmm, somehow that doesn't sound quite right.

VIDEO: To our Canadian readers: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Walt and Poor Len [and Ed.! Ed.]

wish all our Canadian readers and friends

a very happy Thanksgiving.

   

This beautiful hymn was sung by the choir and people of St. Elias Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church (Eparchy of Toronto) during yesterday's divine liturgy. Visitors are always welcome.

Referendum on immigration? What a novel idea!

How would you vote, dear reader, if you were allowed by your country's political elites to vote in a referendum on how many immigrants (if any) your country should "welcome"? Would you vote for Biden-style open borders? Or would you say "None is too many!"? 

But you won't get to express your opinion at the ballot box, will you? Not in the AABC countries -- America, Australia, Britain and Canada -- whose leaders pay lip service to "the will of the people", but don't want to know about it, when it conflicts with their plans for the New World Order.

If you live in France, however, you may be able to have your say next year.  Marine Le Pen, leader of the Rassemblement National (National Rally), has promised that if she is elected president in 2022, she will call a referendum proposing drastic limits on immigration.

The question will be, "Do you approve of the Citizenship Identity and Immigration bill that will present a comprehensive immigration control plan?"

Mme Le Pen told the meeja that the referendum would propose a complete draft bill that would drastically regulate immigration. Her plan would impose strict criteria for entering French territory and for acquiring French nationality. As well, French citizens would have priority access to social housing, jobs and social security benefits. "Refugees" and asylum-seekers would go to the back of the line. Imagine that!

In addition, her plan would facilitate more deportations, and require applications for asylum to be made overseas. The last point is something that has been discussed previously by the Danish government in recent months, with the Danish parliament voting for a proposal in June that could see asylum claims processed in asylum reception centres abroad.

Mme Le Pen also vowed to halt family reunification migration also known as "chain migration", which often accounts for a large number of migrants accepted every year in various countries such as Sweden where they outnumber new asylum claims. Her plan also includes the end of birthright citizenship, by which a child born of foreign parents is automatically granted citizenship for being born within the country where the mother happens to be at the time of birth.

In 2017, Mme Le Pen made it to the second round of the presidential election, but was defeated by the  "centrist" Emmanuel Macron. Little Emmanuel has not yet said whether he will stand for re-election, but opinion polls show him and Mme Le Pen as the likely two candidates to make it through to the second round, with M Macaroon seen as the eventual winner. Of course pollsters, being part of the controlled media, have been known to fudge the numbers to paint the liberal candidate as a shoo-in over the "extremist".

It must be said, though, that the situation has become complicated this month by a possible presidential run of right-wing talk-show star Eric Zemmour, who could split the far-right vote and allow a centre-right challenger to face M Macron. While he has yet to formally declare his candidacy, the conservative writer and pundit has seen a surge in popularity, according to a report from Reuters. 

A Harris Interactive poll released this week puts him ahead of Mme Le Pen in the first round of next spring's presidential election, with as high as 18% in one scenario, two points ahead of Mme Le Pen but still nine points behind the incumbent Macron. A projected second-round run-off between would put M Zemmour at 45%, to M Macron's 55%. 

But (here's the good news), a second-round vote between Mme Le Pen and M Macron, would be closer. 53% of respondents said they would vote for M Macron in that case, with 47% preferring Mme Le Pen. In today's politics in a country like France, a 6% lead is nothing. One must also allow for the phenomenon observed in the USA, where many voters were reluctant to tell pollsters their intention to vote for the "extremist".

In her presser, Mme Le Pen said that her proposals were "firm but realistic, therefore politically and legally viable and therefore enforceable." She noted that other presidential candidates and potential candidates had adopted firmer stances on immigration as well. 

"I'm not worried," she said. "I am convinced the French people will place us against Emmanuel Macron because we defend very different models of society. He stands for unregulated globalisation, I defend the nation, which remains the best structure to defend our identity, security, freedom and prosperity."

By the numbers: "In 2021, 134,000 foreigners entered the EU clandestinely, 68% more than in 2020. In the central Mediterranean, which particularly affects Italy, we see an 87% increase in landings since the beginning of the year. Arrivals from Libya and Tunisia have doubled. We have recorded 48,000 entries." Source: Fabrice Leggeri, Executive Director of Frontex, the European Union border agency. Reported by Breitbart News, 10/10/21.

Poor Len Canayen: Memo (with VIDEOS) to Marc Bergevin

From: Poor Len Canayen, National Sports Editor 

To: Marc Bergevin, General Manager, Montréal Canadiens 

c.c.: Pat Hickey, Montreal Gazette

Sujet: La défense!

Mon cher Marc! Comme j'ai dit hier, le grand défi pour les Glorieux -- c'est à dire pour toi! -- est de renforcer une défense affaiblie par l'absence de Shea Weber et, pour le moment, Joel Edmundon. Faut trouver au moins deux défenseurs du premier plan ASAP! Mais où chercher? 

The answer, my dear Marc, is in Russia, where there are two -- count `em, 2! -- defencemen who are competent (or more), experienced, and have already played for Canada's team! Both are available (as far as I know) and would be happy to return to Montréal. I refer to Andrei Markov and Alexei Emelin.

Andrei Markov played for a number of Russian teams, but was with the Habs (or their AHL farm team) for the entirety of his long (2000-2017) and illustrious NHL career. He was widely regarded as the team's most complete defenceman of the era. He was solid on the blue line, but also a great quarterback on the power play, one who could be counted on to put the puck in the net. Here's a highlight reel.

IMHO, Canadiens' management never gave the all-star defenceman the respect (or the money) he deserved. They made a big fuss over their diversity hire, who proved to be a flash in the pan, but when Markov asked for a two-year contract extension, you, my dear Marc, offered only one, to prove you're the boss, I guess. Big mistake!

I suggest you swallow your pride, and let him come back for a year. Yes, he's 42, but other grey-beards, (Zdeno Chara, Alex Ovechkin) are still playing well. In the absence of Shea Weber, Andrei Markov would look good as half of your top defence pair. 

Alexei Emelin was the other Russian who left the Canadiens at the end of the 2016-17 season. I can't blame you, Marc, for this one, except for leaving him unprotected in the expansion draft. Las Vegas picked him up and immediately traded him to Nashville, where he played for just one season before going home in a huff.

While he was with the Habs (2011-2017), Emelin played solid defence, and I use that word advisedly, as this video shows.

Emelin wasn't the smartest player, and he contributed next to nothing offensively, but opposing players who dared to enter the Habs' half of the rink did so cautiously, with their heads up, when No. 74 was on the ice. Don Cherry, who loathed Emelin, said you had to be aware of who you were up against, when he was out there, or you'd pay the price. 

In 2020-2021, Alexei Emelin played for Avangard Omsk of the KHL. In 59 regular season and 12 playoff games he scored 7 goals (!) and 17 assists, total 24 points, while taking a mere 77 minutes in penalties. Looks to me like he's in his prime, at age 35. And you need a guy who can strike fear into the hearts of the opposition. Bring him back!

À la prochaine,

Poor Len Canayen

"Allahu akbar!" in... Afghanistan?! What'd I tell you...

The Associated Press mojo wire today spat out a story from Afghanistan which attracted only a little notice from the controlled media. In "Taliban-controlled Afghanistan" (the new politically correct way of referring to the shithole that 1000s of Westerners died trying to civilize), an ISIS suicide bomber struck at a mosque packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers in the northern city of Kunduz. 

Friday is a prime day of Muslim-on-Muslim attacks, because followers of the Prophet can be found kneeling in prayer, heads down and asses up. You can't miss! Today's bombing sent at least 46 people to Paradise, and wounded dozens more.

In its claim of responsibility, broadcast on the ISIS-linked Aamaq news agency, the region’s ISIS affiliate identified the bomber as a Uygher Muslim, saying the attack targeted both Shiites and the mainly Sunni Taliban for their purported willingness to expel Uyghers to meet demands from China. The blast was just the latest in a series of ISIS bombings and shootings that have targeted Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers, as well as religious institutions and minority Shiites since American and other NATO troops fled in disarray at the end of August.

May I now say for the last time [Really? Ed.] that Western nations had no business intervening in what was and still is an ongoing Muslim civil war. Likewise, we have no responsibility to send millions of dollars in food and other aid to avoid the imminent "humanitarian disaster" which the liberals are now saying is somehow all our fault. The Islamists' "Religion of Peace" is the cause of their misery. That's all ye know and all ye need to know.

VIDEO: Montréal Canadiens: The Price is not right

Ed. here. In Walt's absence (he will return this weekend), we asked Poor Len Canayen to write about the Montréal Canadiens' prospects for the coming hockey season. He has just sent us what looks like the biggest story of the week or even month, at least for fans of la Sainte Flannelle. Over to you, Len.

   

Tank youse, Hed! The lead story on the CBC national news, both on radio and TV, last night was the shocking news that the Canadiens all-star goalie, Carey Price, has entered the National Hockey League's player assistance program. 

He will be away from the team for a minimum of 30 days, that being the duration of the program, but Habs GM Marc Bergevin said his absence "could be longer", as he will still have to deal with issues arising from this summer's surgery, and also get himself into game shape.

The player assistance program is available to players suffering from issues such as substance abuse and mental health. Carey Price has never been the subject of the slightest rumour about problems with alcohol or drugs, but has appeared, from time to time to be distracted or somehow not fully engaged with the game, so may well have emotional problems, which wouldn't be surprising considering the constant stress of carrying a frankly mediocre team on is back.

Price's wife, Angela, hinted at emotional problems, when she posted a personal message on Instagram to express the importance of putting mental health first. "No matter what is on the line, we hope we can communicate the importance of putting your mental health first not just by saying it, but by showing up and doing the work to get better," she wrote yesterday. "Carey's showing up for himself and our family and making the absolute best decision possible for us." 

The problem is certainly more than just recovery from off-season knee surgery and what head coach Dominique Ducharme had described as a non-COVID-related illness that kept him away from training camp Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. MM Ducharme and Bergevin met with the media at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard shortly after the announcement was made. Here's some of what they had to say.

  

"Today," the GM said, "I’m not thinking about Carey Price, the goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, but Carey Price the human being." All of us at WWW share those sentiments, and wish Carey a speedy recovery. Maybe it's a bit flippant to say, "Don't worry! Be happy!", but that's how we feel. We're with you, Carey, all the way!

But still... we can't help but think of the old line "The price is right." Canadians of a certain age may recall it as the strapline of ads for a chain of supermarkets. Americans will remember it as the name of a dumb TV game show. But in the case of the Canadiens, if the Price (Carey) is not right, their prospects for hockey success look rather dim, and that's how it appears this morning.

Last night the Habs played their sixth and (mercifully) last pre-season game, losing 5-4 to the Ottawa Senators in a shootout. Their pre-season record was 2-3-1 -- .416 in baseball terms -- at which rate fans can expect a pretty sad season, with no chance of their making the 2022 playoffs.

The Canadiens lost two key players during the summer. Captain Shea Weber, who played hurt for a good part of last season, is out for all the coming season while doctors and therapists try to rebuild his worn-out body. He will be sorely missed. The team's best centre, Phillip Danault, couldn't agree with Bergevin on a new contract, so went to Lalaland, leaving a big gap in both the offence and the penalty kill.

When you lose key players, you hope that you will see some new talent -- players acquired in the off-season, or promoted from the AHL farm team, or rookies coming up from junior -- who can be slotted into the vacant positions. Just wind `em up and watch `em play. Over the last month I saw lots new faces and numbers, but not a lot of talent. 

To make matters worse, the club's infirmary is SRO, with several established players unable to answer the bell for opening night next week. Here"s how things look as Canadians head into the Thanksgiving Day weekend.

Goal: Carey Price and Jake Allen were spozed to be Goalies 1A and 1B. Now there's just Allen, with the putative backup, Cayden Primeau, appearing "not quite ready for prime time". Samuel Montembeault has been picked up from Florida on waivers, but on paper looks like a stop-gap at best.

Defence: At the close of this year's Stanley Cup finals, the Habs had four (4) reliable blue-liners: Weber, Ben Chiarot, Jeff Petry and Joel Edmundson. Edmundson is on the sick list, which leaves Petry and Chiarot. How long can Petry -- horse that he is -- continue to play 25+ minutes per game? What do do about last year's great rookie hope, Alexandre Romanov, who has yet to live up to expectations? Who's down in Laval that might be able to help? No names spring to mind.

Forwards: Les Glorieux really need at least one top-line centre, preferably a big one. Fan favourite Nick Suzuki is getting better at the faceoff dot, but still struggles on defence. Jonathon Drouin, returning after missing the last half of last season in a situation (possibly) similar to that of Carey Price, hasn't yet appeared to be "back to normal". Besides, he's not a great centre, plays better on the wing. Jake Evans is game enough but a bit fragile. He suffered a concussion in last year's playoffs, and got the stuff knocked out of him last night. Newcomer Christian Dvorak looks OK, but will need to find some chemistry with his new teammates.

The good news is that the problem up front appears to just at centre. The Habs' top goal-scorers are all back, looking healthy and ready to play. Josh Anderson impressed with three goals in the pre-season. Brendan Gallagher looks set to the new captain on the ice, even if he doesn't get to wear Weber's "C". Nick Suzuki still has the scoring touch, and Cole Caufield, still technically a rookie, is a rocket ready to explode. Tyler Toffoli could hit 30 goals this year, and old pros Arturi Lehkonen and Joel Armia are in form.  

That's seven guys (or maybe eight, if Drouin conquers his nerves) who can put the puck in the net. The question is, can they average 4 goals or more per game, because that's what it's going to take to offset a defence which is probably going to allow 3... or more. The Canadiens will open the regular season next Wednesday night in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. As Walt would say... stay tuned! 

New blog interviews PPC leader Max Bernier

Ed. here. Walt is on his way to a corner of the forest where there is [gasp!] no Internet. We don't want to leave you with nothing to read while you wait for Walt to return, so today we present this link to an interview with Maxime Bernier, the indefatigable leader of the People's Party of Canada, which appeared yesterday in The Counter Signal. 

Their lede: Having risen from obscurity to overshadow the Green Party, the PPC has shown itself to be the first genuinely Right-wing alternative that might go somewhere. Now the question on many people's minds is "What's next for the PPC?" and how will they keep up the momentum they built during their campaign.... The Counter Signal sat down with PPC Leader Maxime Bernier to find out.

The Counter Signal is a new blog, at least new to us. It looks like it originates in western Canada, where the real conservatives roam. Good luck to the bloggers, and thanks to our friends at Blazing Cat Fur for sharing the link.

Where's Walto... this time?

Taliban sponsors Olympic hockey team

In an effort to improve its image following the rather bloody ouster of the American invaders from Afghanistan, the Taliban have decided to sponsor an ice hockey team to play in the 2022 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Beijing.

"We think it's a good fit," said Hassan ben Sober, the Minister of Sport and Mayhem. "We want to do something to show our appreciation for Chinese support during our struggle against the Western crusaders, and it's well known that hockey is a sport in which trying to behead your opponents is not just tolerated but encouraged."

Since the new Taliban government has not been recognized by any Western government [Not even Canada? Ed.], the team will not be able to play under the name of Afghanistan, so will be nominally under the sponsorship of neighbouring Pakistan, and will be called the "Pakistan Raiders".

It's not entirely a fiction. Owing to a dearth of ice in Afghanistan, the team will hold its training camp in the Khyber Pass, well known for an abundance of snow and ice at this time of year.

"Obviously we've had to do everything in a hurry," said Mr ben Sober, "since the games are going to be held in February. We don't have time to build a team from scratch, so we're borrowing things from other countries which developed hockey programmes. Our sweaters, for instance, are in the colours of the Jamaican national team, which was so successful at bobsledding some years ago."

The Raiders are also importing players from friendly hockey-playing countries, such as Canada. There is a problem, though, with using players, like the one pictured, who are not old enough to grow a decent Islamic beard. "We hope that false beards and black greasepaint will do the trick," said Mr ben Sober, "to convince our opponents that we have real men playing for us... and also keep those fuzzy-cheeked boys from being too appealing to our own people."