VIDEOS: Peter Mansbridge retires: end of an era at the CBC - Part 2

Note from Ed.: This is the continuation and end of our look at the personalities who have anchored CBC-TV's National News (later rebranded as The National) from the beginning until the retirement of the current host, Peter Mansbridge, whose last newscast will air tonight. If you missed Part 1, click here to read that first.

Following the departure of Lloyd Robertson, the CBC resumed its search for a "real journalist", and in 1978 decided on Knowlton Nash, who had decades of experience in print journalism as well as broadcasting. He spent much of the hippy-dippy 1960s in the USA, covering virtually every major story of that time and that place. He stepped down from reporting in 1969 to join CBC's management in Toronto as Director of News and Current Affairs.

In 1978 he auditioned for the role of anchor, and was subsequently chosen. As a nod to his journalistic background, Mr Nash was given the title "Chief Correspondant" rather than "News Anchor". He continued in the role until his retirement in 1988, and died in March of 2014 at the age of 86.

Now it's time to acknowledge the news anchor who had the longest tenure, until Peter Mansbridge came along. That would be the comparatively little known George McLean, who in 1965 took over Rex Loring's role (see Part 1) as backup and weekend anchor. If the "regular" anchor wasn't there, not to worry, because George would get the job done. Known for his reliability and ability to stay calm in high-stress situations, Mr McLean would become one of the most recognizable faces and voices at CBC News. One reason for his success, some say, was that he looked and sounded a lot like Walter Cronkite! Here's a video of his goodbye newscast.



That telecast aired in 1988. George McLean, little remembered now, was on the job for over 20 years! He died in March of 2016, aged 92.

Now we come to Peter Mansbridge, seen here with Knowlton Nash, whose career with the CBC has spanned half a century. Really. As a callow youth of 19, he was working as a dogsbody at the airport at the end of the earth (Churchill MB) when he was called on to make an announcement over the public address system. The station manager for the local CBC affiliate heard his mellifluous tones and hired him on the spot! The rest, as they say, is history.

Peter Mansbridge debuted as the sole anchor of The National on 1 May 1988. He also served as co-anchor for CBC Prime Time News from November 1992 to the fall of 1995. During his 29 years as anchor, he has covered Canadian news stories including federal elections, party leadership conventions, the Meech Lake Accord negotiations, the Charlottetown Accord and its referendum, the 1995 Quebec referendum, floods in Manitoba in 1997, ice storms in Ontario and Quebec in 1998, the six days in September 2000 that marked the death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau, and the 2003 blackout across much of eastern North America.

He has also anchored coverage of many world events, both in the studio and on the scene. In the studio, he anchored coverage of the Gulf War, the War in Kosovo, the 9/11 attacks and the 2014 Parliament Hill shootings. He was on the air live when the 2003 invasion of Iraq began and anchored coverage of it. On the scene, he anchored coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the funerals of Princess Diana and Pope John Paul II, numerous royal, papal, and US presidential visits to Canada, numerous Olympic Games, and the inauguration of US President Barack Obama. He reported extensively from Normandy both 50 and then 60 years after D-Day and from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands for the 50th and 60th anniversaries.

With the retirement of Lloyd Robertson from CTV National News on 1 September, Mr Mansbridge became the longest-serving active anchor among the big three Canadian networks. Last night the CBC aired a well-deserved tribute to Peter. Here it is.

VIDEOS: Peter Mansbridge retires: end of an era at the CBC - Part 1

So farewell then, Peter Mansbridge. Today will be your last time anchoring The National and telling grateful Canucks "Thanks for watching. Now go to sleep." OK, just kidding about the last part, but Agent 3 assures us that watching Mr Mansbridge read the news is the last thing he does most nights, before turning out the light. So also it has been for millions of Canadians. Now, no more.

Peter Mansbridge first sat in the CBC National News anchor's chair just over 29 years ago. Since then he has become an institution -- a rare thing in the Not-so-great, Not-so-white North -- the Canadian counterpart to the late great Walter Cronkite. In spite of the fact that he spoke for the state broadcaster, Canucks trusted Peter not to lie to them, and he didn't... as far as anyone can tell. People trusted him. The news was what he said it was, no more and no less.

Peter Mansbridge was not the first CBC national news anchor, of course. The CBC's English television service debuted in the fall of 1952. Agent 3 is old enough to remember those early days, and with his help we've put together a photo montage of most of the people who sat at the Big Desk from them until now.

There at the creation (or almost) was Larry Henderson, the only CBC newscaster to sport a dapper pencil moustache, à la Errol Flynn. By all accounts, Mr Henderson was no Errol Flynn, but a serious but pleasant straight shooter, establishing the model for those who would follow. He was the first regular reader of the National News, serving from 1954 to 1959. A devout churchman, he went on to become the editor of the Catholic Register. He died in 2006 at the age of 89.

Special mention must be made here of Rex Loring, a long-time CBC newsie who passed away in April of this year, at the age of 91. (There must have been something in the water at CBC's old Jarvis Street studios in Toronto.)

Known mostly for his work on CBC Radio, Mr Loring filled in for Larry Henderson on weekends and when the latter was off. At one point he even grew a moustache -- no pic could be found -- so he'd be all set to take over when Mr Henderson left, but in vain, as the job went to the moustacheless but more avuncular Earl Cameron. A pic of Mr Cameron proved even harder to find than one of Mr Loring's moustache, but Ed. did manage to locate this very short clip of Earl doing his job.



Earl Cameron succeeded Larry Henderson as the anchor of the CBC National News in 1959. During the 1960s, managers at CBC News moved towards a philosophy of regarding news announcers as journalists rather than performers. As part of this shift, they put pressure on the announcers' union to accept an agreement prohibiting news readers from commercials or accepting outside contracts with ad agencies. In 1965, Mr Cameron gave up reading commercials for such products such as Crest toothpaste and Nash Rambler automobiles, but that didn't save him. He was dropped from the anchor position the following year, but continued as a staff announcer for another decade. He died in 2005 at the age of... wait for it... 89.

There was something of a revolving door (or a revolving chair) at the National News for the next four years, as the CBC kept up its search for a "real journalist" as opposed to an actor or "bingo caller" who just read what was put in front of him. (Rex Loring was the acknowledged master of the "cold read" -- reading convincingly a script which was handed to him while in the middle of a newscast.) Lloyd Robertson had moved to Toronto to host CBC Weekend in the late 1960s, and anchored The National from 1970 to 1976, before jumping to the independent CTV network.

One of the reasons he left the CBC was his frustration at union regulations which confined news anchors to the role of announcer, prohibiting them from writing their own scripts or participating in editorial decisions concerning the news broadcast. Mr Robertson is still alive and, at the age of 83, still appearing occasionally on CTV.

Some of our readers will have fond and funny memories of the SCTV News, a regular shtick on SCTV, the funniest sketch comedy show ever. Eugene Levy's Earl Camembert character on SCTV was named after Earl Cameron, but otherwise bore no resemblance, except maybe for the bow tie that Earl sometimes wore. The name was merely an offhand joke designed to get a laugh from Canadian viewers. The same is true of Camembert's co-anchor, Floyd Robertson, played by Joe Flaherty, who otherwise bore only a small resemblance to Lloyd Robertson.



Note from Ed.: We were originally going to do this tribute to the CBC newscasters as one long(ish) post, but as I did the research, I found so many photos and videos that I've decided to cut the piece into two parts. Scroll up to see Part 2, including a video of the late, unsung George McLean and, yes, more about Peter Mansbridge.

5 decades of liberalism turns Canucks sour on themselves

Ed. here. Canada Day is coming up -- July 1st -- and this year it's the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. That's right, it's Canada's Sesquicentennial, or "Canada 150", as the Trudeau government likes to call it because "sesquicentennial" is hard for non-English speakers to say/spell/understand. All Canucks are supposed to get real excited about this. There's even a flag -- red, of course -- with a maple leaf which just happens to be in the rainbow colours of the LGBTQ2Setc "community". Our friend Poor Len Canayen says that he, for one, won't be flying that flag and won't be celebrating. I'm turning the blog over to him to explain why.

Thank you, Ed. Regular readers know that I am a big fan of hockey, and the Montréal Canadiens in particular. I also love maple syrup and Tim Hortons. So I must be a Canadian, eh!

I was born in Canada. I was here for Canada's Centennial in 1967. (Super-Canuck author Pierre Berton called 1967 Canada's last good year.) I went to Expo 67 and sang "Ca-na-da" with everyone else. I was proud, at that time, to be a Canadian. Now, five decades later... not so proud.

Sorry to say it, but over the course of 50 years of liberal rule (both major parties being liberal, no matter what they call themselves), my country has gone to the dogs. (I'll leave it to you to figure out who the dogs are. Because of M-103, I'm afraid to name them.) 1967's Great White North is still north, for sure, but no longer white and no longer great.

I'm not the only Canadian whose view of his native land has turned sour. A recent poll by EKOS Research reports that the importance of many long-time symbols of Canucks' sense of nationhood is eroding dramatically. While the majority of Canadians are more attached to their country than are the inhabitants of any other Western nation, their feelings are a mix of sweep and sour, with an added flip of the finger at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s characterization of Canada as a "post-national society".

Canadians told EKOS that, when it comes to national identity, the significance of such things as the beaver, the maple leaf, the flag, "O Canada", hockey (!), the Grey Cup, Parliament Hill, Canada Day, Remembrance Day and the RCMP have all declined. And for the first time, they are calling BS on the great liberal shibboleths of official bilingualism, cultural diversity and tolerance. The number of Canadians who think the country is admitting too many non-white immigrants who are not white has passed 40%. Putting it my way, the feeling is that Canada, once a white-country, is being mongrelized. In places like the so-called Greater Toronto Area, people who look like me are in the minority!

And then there's Québec, la Belle Province. The 6,000,000+ French-speaking Canadians who live there "have about as much attachment to [Canada] as they do to their neighbour's cat," says EKOS president Frank Graves. But he adds, "I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem. I think what’s been established is a new healthy détente where Quebecers are able to pursue their own thing and there’s a nice civic nationalism where we agree on things."

There is a bright side to the poll results. Even with Québécois in the mix, Canadians are attached to their country with powerful glue. They value Canada's freedom (although there's some doubt about that lately... M-103!), medicare, national parks, clean environment and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (but... M-103 again). As for the downturn in admiration or even respect for other symbols of "Canadianness", Mr Graves offers four reasons:

- Increased "pluralism". Justin Trudeau may say that diversity makes Canada strong, but that's complete and utter bullshit.
- Confusion left behind by the previous government's effort to reorder some of our symbols -- the increased emphasis on military history, for example, and decreased emphasis on such things as freedom of speech.
- A pessimistic sense among ordinary Canadians that progress is ending, inequality is rising and waving the flag won't help. Which leads to...
- The increasing number of conservative-minded Canadians who are much more economically fearful, averse to immigration and globalization, and mistrustful of the elites and "progressives" who the Trudeau government seems to think are the only Canucks who count.

In summary, the EKOS Research poll reveals a Canada divided: progressives vs conservatives; urban vs rural; English vs French; old-stock Canadians vs immigrants; white vs non-white... and so on. There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Canadians who -- like me -- feel theirs is a nation in distress. For them, the proper way to fly the Maple Leaf Flagon Saturday will be... upside down!

Walt explains cosmetic gynecology

Before we get into this...
Q1. What do they call it when you have your tonsils removed?
A1. A tonsillectomy.
Q2. What do they call it when you have your appendix removed?
A2. An appendectomy.
Q3. What do they call it when a growth is removed from the top of your head?
A3. A haircut!

Now then, seriously...

Question: What do they call it when a woman undergoes cosmetic surgery to alter her labia minora (inner labia) and the labia majora (outer labia), the folds of skin surrounding her vulva?
Answer: A labiaplasty (aka labioplasty or labial reduction).

Rather than show the real thing, we have modestly used a visual metaphor to show the result of a successful labial reduction, which is to change the look of the patient's external genitalia from that on the left to that on the right.

The question Walt cannot answer is why a woman would do this. In the past five to ten years, the greatest growth in the specialty cosmetic field has been labiaplasty. It's become trendy among young white women, especially teens.

The procedure [Isn't that the word the wimmin use for "abortion"? Ed.] has some roots as a medically necessary operation. It is sometimes done to help women who experience pain because of friction caused by unusually large labia. But a significant number of those having it done have no underlying condition. Apparently they wish to alter the appearance of their genitals because they believe they do not fall within a normal range, or... just to look better.

Cosmetic surgeons argue labiaplasty can help women build confidence and resolve problems with sexual dysfunction. Critics say the desire to get labia changed is driven by unattainable standards set by the prolific porn industry [Aha! Ed.] and there is little evidence to support any claims the procedures provide women with any benefit.

Seems to me that some interesting cultural questions underlie this debate. There has been much controversy of late over genital mutilation. See, for example, "MI doctor charged with female genital mutilation; guess which religion?", WWW 17/4/17. Genital mutilation, aka "female circumcision", is a "barbaric cultural practice" (the "progressives" tell us) prevalent in the Muslim parts of Africa. In its extreme forms it can involve clitoridectomy [when they remove the woman's... never mind... Ed.]. But in less severe forms it's the trimming of the labia -- a labiaplasty.

Innocent question: If it's OK for insecure or simply vain white Western women to have labiaplasties, why is it wrong for religious brown/black Muslim women to their genitals "mutilated"? Just askin'....

Latest despatches from the Muslim civil war

Ever wonder what happened to those cool German army helmets from WWII? The ones that inspired the design of present-day American military and police headgear? Well, the originals -- the ones that didn't get holes in them -- are still in use by the Pakistani army, as witness this picture of Pakistani troops watching each others' backs after a shootout with Islamic militants on the outskirts of Peshawar today. Security forces raided a militant hideout in the city before dawn, triggering a shootout in which three Pakistani Taliban were killed.

The raid on the Taliban hideout (of which the government was obviously aware) seems to have been in retaliation for a wave of suicide bombings and shootings which swept the border region next door to Afghanistan yesterday -- the last Friday of Ramadan. Twin blasts in the northwestern town of Parachinar had sent another 55 Muslims to Paradise, with many others in critical condition. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim extremist group, claimed responsibility for the bombings at a crowded market in the Shia-dominated town, linking them to the main theatre of the Muslim civil war in Syria.

Meanwhile, near the office of the provincial police chief in the southwestern city of Quetta, another 14 people were killed Friday in a suicide car bombing. That attack was claimed by ISIS and a breakaway Taliban faction. But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more! In Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, gunmen attacked police officers at a roadside restaurant, killing four of them before fleeing, according to Inspector Mohammed. That brings the total death toll for one to... let's see... 55 + 14 + 4... carry the 1... 73! Quite something for a day of fasting and prayer.

The scene shifts now to Saudi Arabia, where (the Grauniad reports) Saudi security forces have foiled an Islamic terror plot targeting the Grand Mosque in Mecca and pilgrims heading there to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

An Interior Ministry spokesthingy told the meeja that security forces exchanged gunfire with one of the suspects, who blew himself up inside a home. Five security force members and six "other people" were injured, according to the state-owned Al-Arabiya website. Five people were arrested, including a woman suspected of attempting to drive a car.

Inspector Mohammed said the ministry "confirms that this terrorist network, whose terrorist plan was thwarted, violated, in what they would have perpetrated, all sanctities by targeting the security of the Grand Mosque, the holiest place on Earth. They obeyed their evil and corrupt self-serving schemes managed from abroad whose aim is to destabilize the security and stability of this blessed country."

The ministry did not name the group involved in the attack. The ultraconservative Sunni kingdom battled an Al-Qaeda insurgency for years and more recently has faced attacks from a local branch of ISIS.

Further reading: "The great Muslim civil war — and us", by Charles Krauthammer, in the Washington Post, 23/6/17.

Your Islamic terrorists today - latest attacks

Islamic terrorism is now everyday news. Really. Just scroll through the news headlines and I guarantee you, you'll find at least one "incident", somewhere in the world, every day. To be more than a below-the-fold news item, the attack must (a) occur in the USA, the UK or Canada or (b) have a double-digit number of victims.

Earlier this week, in what French Minister of the Interior Gérard Collomb called an "attempted attack" [sic] a car deliberately hit a police van before bursting into flames on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in central Paris. The driver, who was on a security watchlist, died in the incident. Police found a Kalashnikov rifle, handguns and gas bottles in the car. French police have refused to disclose the identity, ethnicity or religion of the attacker (although they know full well who he was), saying only that he was a resident of a Paris suburb. In some Paris suburbs, Muslim immigrants from North Africa make up a majority of the population. Importance to the lamestream media: none (nobody dead or injured other than the attacker).

On June 20th, a suspect was "neutralized" (= shot dead) at the central railway station in Brussels, Belgium, after a failed bombing that Belgian authorities called a terrorist attack. Inspector Hercules Poirot said a small explosion went off in the transportation hub around 2030 local time. Soldiers on patrol at the station shot the man dead as he ran toward them shouting, "Allahu Akbar!" Again, no-one other than the attacker was killed or injured. The Belgian Prosecutor's Office initially declined to identify him or say if he was known to authorities, but other sources said he was Oussama Zariouh, a Moroccan. Importance to the lamestream media: none (no victims + where's Belgium?)



Today, a huge suicide car bomb exploded outside a bank in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, targeting Afghan troops and government employees waiting to collect their salaries ahead of a major Muslim holiday. At least 29 Muslims, mostly civilians, were killed by other Muslims, probably Taliban. Another 60 (and counting) were wounded. Importance to the lamestream media: medium (lots of casualties but no Westerners + no-one cares about Afghanistan)

Now we come to the big news...

Yesterday, around 0945 EDT, in Flint MI, a crazed attacker yelling... wait for it... "Allahu akbar!" attacked a policeman, Lieutenant Jeff Neville, stabbing him in the neck with a foot-long knife. Lt. Neville is in serious condition in hospital, but expected to recover. An FBI spokesthingy identified the perp as Amor Ftouhi, a resident of Montréal, Canada. Mr Ftouhi, who was subdued and taken into custody, crossed into the USA legally at Lake Champlain NY on June 16th. Why he went to Flint is unknown. The FBI guy told the press, "He made a statement something to the effect of, 'You have killed people in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and we are all going to die.'"

At a media scrum in Ottawa yesterday afternoon, Canadian Public Security Minister Ralph Goodale condemned the "heinous and cowardly attack" and said the RCMP are co-operating with the FBI, which is leading the investigation. Minister Wiggum had nothing to say about Mr Ftouhi's citizenship, ethnicity, religion or his status in Canada, but his FB page says he's originally from Tunisia.

Importance to lamestream media: medium (no-one killed but hey, a Merkan was attacked + possible to blame Canada's lax immigration and security "systems")

GA election: Dems, liberals, media lose "Referendum on Trump"

"Losers!" That's the epithet Republicans, conservatives, the alt-media and yours very truly can justifiably hurl at the Democrats, liberals and lamestream media this morning as we gloat over Republican Karen Handel's convincing victory over her Democrat opponent in yesterday's much-watched congressional election in the 6th Congressional District in Georgia.

Ms Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff by a margin of roughly 4%, garnering 52% of the vote to his 48%. That's a clear majority. No recount or court challenge needed. 4%, in a race that CNN, MSNBC and all the rest were saying was "too close to call". Some of the usual suspects went so far as to predict a "stunning upset" in which the well-educated voters of the affluent suburban enclave, a previously safe Republican district, would turn to the Democrat in revulsion at the politics and persona of President Trump. As Nelson Muntz would say, HAHA.

The pundits were also telling us that during the campaign Ms Handel was at pains to distance herself from the President. Again, HAHA. In her victory speech, she said, "A special thanks to the President of the United States of America," as her supporters chanted, "Trump! Trump! Trump!" House Speaker Paul Ryan said "Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race, and Karen would not be defeated." In fact, the Dems spent nearly $30,000,000 on their campaign...and still lost.

Walt congratulates the new Congresswoman (or Congressperson?) on her election. She handeled that real well.

Further reading: Even a writer for the Washington Post admits that Ms Handel's win is a bad omen for the Dems. See "Sorry, Trump haters. The GOP victory in Georgia is huge, and here's why", National Post, 21/6/17.

Tales from Down East: of Acadians and the elusive Americans

Yesterday I promised you some tales from "Down East", which is what Canucks call their four Atlantic provinces: Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. (The term "Maritimes", which you sometimes hear, refers only to the last three.) They say the people Down East are the friendliest, the seafood the finest, and the problems the fewest of any part of the Dominion.

All that and more made Atlantic Canada the preferred destination for the many 1000s of American snowflakes, like Lena Dunham, who threatened (or promised) to leave the Excited States of America in the unlikely (so they thought) event that Donald Trump became President.

Which he did. But did the mortally wounded liberals stage a mass exodus to what Michael Moore thinks is heaven? The ballots were still being counted when Canada's state-owned broadcaster, the CBC, cast doubts on whether it would really happen. (See "Are Americans really going to flee to Canada after Trump win?", 9/11/17.) Would they really ignore Gavin McInnes' warning? Guided by Agent 78, Walt spent last week in Nova Scotia, hunting [read "searching". Ed.] for refugees from the land of the free and the home of the wimpy.

In the first picture you see Walt [Really! Ed.] looking out over the Grand Pré ("Big Meadow"), in the heart of Evangeline country, or Acadia, as she is still proudly known. Evangeline is the heroine of an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (an American!), published in 1847. The poem tells the story of an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.

The Acadians who still live in the Maritimes refer to the shameful events of the mid-18th century as le Grand Dérangement (the Great Deportation). When the French ceded most of New France to the British, the latter were distressed to find the area around the Bay of Fundy already settled by people who were French-speaking but, even worse, Catholics. So they threw them out. Deported them. The Acadians were shipped off, from a point just a couple of miles from where Walt is sitting in the picture, to the Thirteen Colonies, to France (which the Acadians did not regard as "the old country") and to Louisiana, where their descendants became known as... wait for it... Cajuns! But many of them returned to Canada, and are there in the tens of thousands even now, still proudly Acadian after all these years.

The point of that story -- and I do have one -- is that the idea of ridding your country of people who do not share your language and your values did not originate with Donald Trump! The lesson for Mr Trump is that it's nigh well impossible to expel thousands or millions of people and expect them to stay gone. Before the Glorious War of the Secession, many well-meaning Americans, including "Honest Abe", thought shipping coloured people back to Africa was the solution to the problem of slavery. That was the notion that resulted in the creation of Liberia. Didn't work any better than did the Expulsion of the Acadians.

The best you can do, IMHO, is to close your borders and hope that the "others" will one day assimilate, as did the Acadians. Today they are the most perfectly bilingual and bi-cultural Canadians -- all-round great people.

But I digress.... The mission was to find some Americans who had, post-Trump, navigated Canada's complex and stupid immigration system and settled in Nova Scotia. Agent 78 and I travelled from Halifax southwest to Lunenburg then up to Grand Pré, across through Truro and all the way around Cape Breton Island without meeting (or even hearing of) one (1) American who had recently relocated to that beautiful province.

We did, however, encounter several American tourists -- whiteys, every one -- the kind who can't work out the "funny money". What they have figured out, though, is how to apologize for being American. "Don't blame me. I didn't vote for him." That strikes me as both sad and unnecessary. If you're from a nice part of the USA -- Virginia, let's say -- Down East people will probably welcome you more warmly than if you were from, say, Toronto. Even if you wanted to settle!

VIDEO: Michael Matt and Christopher Ferrara visit Fatima

Assiduous readers of WWW will know that Walt is a believer in the Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. Our Lady of Fatima, known also as Our Lady of the Rosary came to warn us of the Great Chastisement which will befall the world unless we repent of our sins and turn back to the Gospel and the True Faith handed down to us through the Church by Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lady of Fatima also requested the Consecration of Russia, by name, to Her Immaculate Heart, by which means that nation will be converted and the world will have a period of peace. This is the essence of the Message of Fatima which Father Nicholas Gruner and other like-minded Catholics worked so hard to make known.

In this video, Michael Matt (editor of The Remnant) and Christopher Ferrara, noted Catholic author and speaker, visit the Fatima shrine and comment on the 100th anniversary of Our Lady's most public and important Apparition. In 2006, Walt had the pleasure and blessing of visiting Fatima along with Father Gruner, Mr Ferrara and our late friend, John Vennari. 11 years later, as Messrs Matt and Ferrara explain, the Consecration of Russia has still not been done, and the crisis in the Church is graver than ever in modern times. Yet the Catholic Faith the love for the Mother of God live on.

UPDATED: Muslims on wrong end of London terrorist attack... this time

When the mojo wire spat out the first reports of another van attack in London, I immediately started composing a headline incorporating the phrase "Allahu akbar!", which is what Islamic terrorists yell as they massacre innocent "infidels". But then came video from the scene which turned out to be... wait for it... the sidewalk in front of the once-notorious Finsbury Park Mosque. The mosque was associated with Islamic extremism for several years after 9/11, but was shut down and reorganized. AP says it has not been associated with radical views for more than a decade.

If you're looking for Muslims, for any reason, a mosque is where you'll find them, especially after evening prayers during Ramadan, as they get set to break the fast. Shortly after midnight (BST), a van plowed into the crowd gathered in front of the mosque, some of whom were trying to assist someone who had been taken ill. That person later died. A number of people who were hit by the van were injured, some seriously, but so far there have been no deaths attributable to the "incident".

Mohammed Kozbar, chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque, says the van crash was a "cowardly attack" and urged Muslims going to mosques to be vigilant. Harun Khan of the Muslim Council of Britain said a "white man in a van intentionally plowed into a group of worshippers who were already tending to someone who had been taken ill." Then he uttered the inevitable appeal to sympathy for followers of the Prophet: "It appears from eyewitness accounts that the perpetrator was motivated by Islamophobia."

British Prime Minister Theresa May was quick to jump on the bandwagon, condemning the "sickening" attack while lauding the bravery of those who detained the driver. "Hatred and evil of this kind will never succeed," she said, raising the question of what kind of hatred would succeed. Perhaps the attacker should have emulated other terrorists and used a bomb, or at least a gun?

Mrs May said police were on the scene within one minute of the crash, and had declared it a terrorist attack within eight minutes. This statement was apparently meant to addressing criticism from some that authorities were slow to respond to the Manchester massacre and the London bridge attack, and, together with the lamestream media, took too long to describe the "incidents" as the terror attacks which they were. See "The word our 'leaders' just won't say", WWW 4/6/17.

Inspector Knacker of the Yard said the van driver was detained by the crowd until police arrived. Sky News reported that the mosque's imam prevented the crowd from beating the attacker. ​He was arrested and, as the Brits say, is helping police with their enquiries. His name, ethnicity and religion have not yet been released, which makes me wonder if he really is "a white man". Suppose he is a fanatic of another Muslim sect, which would mean... just a thought... that the Muslim civil war is now being fought in Europe as well as the Middle East. See "British cops refuse to name London Bridge jihadis", WWW 5/6/17. You can bet that if he really is a white man -- a Polish Catholic, perhaps -- bent on revenge, as the liberal media are already suggesting, he'd be named right sharpish!

UPDATE: Noooooo... not part of the Muslim civil war, as it turns out, but a "revenge attack". London police have arrested 47-year-old Darren Osborne, a father of four who was living in Cardiff, Wales. He is to be charged with attempted murder and the "commission, preparation or instigation" of terrorism.

Anti-immigrant backlash grows across Europe

While I was away [Watch this space for "Tales from Down East". Ed.], Agent 17 sent along the link to "'Enlightenment values': Austria enacts anti-burqa & compulsory integration law", RT News 9/6/17. "Enlightenment values" strikes me as a good phrase. What are those values? They must be the "values" -- a loaded word for the progressive do-good wienies -- which "enlightened" people share and hold dear. "Enlightened" is nowadays equated, quite properly, with the word "civilized". (See the article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.)

Enlightened civilization -- European civilization -- is under threat now as never before from the hordes of unenlightened -- read Muslim -- invaders pouring into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa. Even such famously tolerant peoples as the Swedes and the Austrians are getting tired of it, and fearful of being drowned in the wave of Islamization sweeping across the continent. That's what the article is about.

Like King Canute trying to turn back the tide, the Austrian parliament has passed a law that will fine women who wear Islamic dress covering the whole face, and takes away welfare benefits from immigrants who fail to learn the language. It says, remarkably frankly, that "those who are not prepared to accept Enlightenment values will have to leave our country and society."

According to the law, women will face a fine of €150 ($168 in real money) if they wear Islamic dress, either the niqab or the burqa, in public places. In addition to the fines, all new migrants -- even the "refugees" and asylum-seekers -- coming to Austria will now be forced, if they want to suck on the public tit [receive welfare benefits, surely! Ed.] to take a 12-month "integration course" that includes German language lessons.

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more! The new law also makes it illegal for newcomers to distribute "incendiary materials". Migrants will also be encouraged to volunteer -- do unpaid community work -- to prepare them for life in the workplace, before acquiring permanent work permits. Good luck with that one.

Austria's latest attempt to integrate new immigrants has come in response to the migrant crisis rocking most European countries. At least 90,000 migrants, mostly from Muslim-majority countries outside Europe, have arrived in Austria since 2015. Nothing like the hundreds of thousands who've entered Germany, but still you have to hand it to the Austrians for trying to do something about the problem before it's too late. Oh... wait....

Meanwhile... Virginia Raggi, the Mayor of Rome, has asked the Italian government to stop the flow of immigrants into the Eternal City. Here's why.

This is one of several "camps" -- read "instant slums" -- which have sprung up in Rome. The unenlightened people who live here in squalor are Roma. That's the PC name for "gypsies", the people our mothers warned us would pick our pockets, steal our horses and kidnap our children. They do do those things, except maybe for the horses, of which there's a dearth in Rome, which is why, this past Tuesday, Sra Raggi asked the Italian interior ministry to suspend migrant arrivals to the capital. "I find it impossible, as well as risky," she wrote, "to think up further accommodation structures." See
Rome mayor promises to close Roma camps in the capital , The Local it, 31/5/17.

Mayor Raggi cited as reasons for the request the "strong migratory presence" in the capital and "the continued influx of foreign citizens". According to the most recent figures published by the administration, on 1 January 2016 -- nearly 18 months ago -- there were approximately 364,632 foreigners living in Rome, almost 13% of the total population.

Across Italy as a whole [Ed., please check spelling] around 8.3% of the population is foreign. In Rome, around half of the foreign population were from Europe, with Romanians -- gypsies -- making up 23.2% of the total. Although over half the 170,000 or so Roma in Italy are Italian citizens with regular jobs and houses, attacks on the ousiders are common. According to a 2015 Pew Research Centre survey, anti-Roma sentiment is significantly stronger in Italy than almost any other European country. Not hard to understand, is it?

UK pol says he can't be a "progressive liberal" and a Christian

This rather boyish-looking individual is Timothy "Tim" Farron. [Not "Timmy"?" Ed.] As you might guess from the pin-striped suit and the image of Westminster behind him, he is a British politician. He was, for a short time -- not long enough to get his English teeth fixed -- the leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat Party.

Mr Farron is also a Bible-believing Christian, which is the reason he gives for his recent resignation from his lofty position. (Not so lofty, really, considering that his party finished this month's election with but 12 of the Westminster Parliament's 650 seats.) He says his party's "progressive" platform, which he advocated during the election, is "no longer compatible with his Christian faith."

"To be a political leader, especially of a progressive liberal party in 2017, and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible’s teaching has felt impossible," Mr Farron explained. "we are kidding ourselves if we think we yet live in a tolerant, liberal society."

During the recent election campaign, the Liberal Democrat leader was repeatedly attacked -- sometimes by members of his own party -- for past statements indicating that he believed homosexual acts and abortion to be sinful. This, of course, is the opposite of the pro-queer agenda of the "progressives" and all right-thinking persons of the 21st century. Mr Farron waffled on the question after winning the party leadership in 2015. Asked repeatedly whether his Christian faith meant he believed homosexuality was a sin, he first prevaricated, then eventually said he did not think homosexuality was sinful.

Following the election, Lord Paddick, who is the UK's most senior openly gay police officer, resigned as the Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman over "concerns about the leader's views on various issues that were highlighted" during the election campaign. In his resignation statement, Mr Farron said he had found himself torn "between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader." To make himself perfectly clear, he added, "I seem to be the subject of what I believe and who my faith in is."

Canadian Liberals (and other liberals) will be quick to urge the new leader of Canada's Conservative Party, Andrew Scheer, to follow in Mr Farron's footsteps down the straight and narrow path before his (Mr Scheer's) Roman Catholic faith -- already labelled "social conservatism" -- becomes and embarrassment to him.

Read the whole story here: "Tim Farron resigns as Liberal Democrat leader, saying it felt ‘impossible’ to lead party and be Christian", Catholic Herald, 14/6/17.

Walt has returned: "Tales from Down East" will appear tomorrow

Ed. here. Walt has been enjoying a much-needed break, having accepted an invitation from Agent 78 to have a look around one of Canada's maritime provinces -- beautiful Nova Scotia -- and in particular the remote paradise to which all the snowflakes said they would flee if Donald Trump was elected. That would be very beautiful Cape Breton Island.

In Walt's first attempt at investigative journalism, he tried to find some disaffected Yankee liberals who had relocated to Cape Breton, to see how they liked living in the land that Michael Moore holds up as a kind of Utopia which the USA could become if only a liberal Democrat -- Hellery Clinton, for instance -- were in the White House. Did Walt and Agent 78 (seen here scanning the horizon for snowflakes) find any? Click here for the answer, and other notes from "Down East".

VIDEO: Cardinal Burke offers traditional Pontifical Mass at Chartres

Who said traditional Catholicism is dead?! Last Sunday -- Pentecost Sunday -- 17,000 pilgrims from all over the world converged on the cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres, having completed a 70-mile pilgrimage, for a Pontifical Mass celebrated by Raymond Cardinal Burke. In this video you will see awesome photos and video footage shot by Remnant TV's pilgrim photographer, as Michael Matt chats with Father Gregory Pendergraft about the worldwide youth movement towards Catholic Tradition. Running time 15:14 with the interview taking up the first 10 minutes or so. Cameo appearance by Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, niece of Walt's favourite French political leader.



Further viewing: Click here to see and hear the entire Pontifical Mass, offered by Cardinal Burke... in Latin, of course! Running time 2:49:39 but lovely to hear the the Mass in the form and language which was made official and universal -- not to be changed -- by Pope St. Pius V in the Bull "Quo primum" in 1570.

P.K. Subban and "the politics of the old South"

A soi-disant "journalist" by the name of Joe O'Conner is liberal, progressive, anti-racist, yada yada yada. Naturally he approves of the destruction, in New Orleans and other American cities, of monuments to heroes of the Glorious War of the Secession such as Robert E. Lee. And Nathan Bedford Forrest. Especially Nathan Bedford Forrest, the finest cavalry general on either side of the Civil War and staunch defender of Southern rights during and after the conflict.

There are several statues of General Forrest dotted around the South, especially in his native Tennessee. Some of them are quite handsome, some, errr, not so much. Like this one in Nashville, sculpted by Jack Kershaw, professional lawyer and amateur artist, which sits on 3.5 acres of privately owned land just off the I-65.

Mr O'Connor (who Walt suspects of being a Canuck, thus having none of his white skin in the American racial conflict) would like to see this and all those other "racist" statues torn down. For reasons unknown, the normally sensible National Post decided to give him a platform for his SJW rant. But (they must have said), you need some kind of Canadian hook for the piece. What could be more natural, then, than to put some words in the mouth of Pernell Karl Subban, a Canadian hockey player who toils -- allegedly playing defence -- for the Nashville Predators. Mr Subban is black. As the Showboat himself told ESPN, "I know I'm black. Everybody knows I'm black."

Turned out P.K. didn't have anything to say about the Forrest statue, or at least didn't give a quote to Mr O'Connor for "P.K. Subban faces off against the politics of the Old South still on display in Tennessee", National Post, 9/6/17. So for a tie-in, the "writer" could do no better than this: "'I don’t want to be defined as a black hockey player.' [That's from the ESPN quote.] It is an admirable wish. What makes it especially compelling, in the Nashville context...here is Subban, a Canadian, a child of Caribbean immigrants from a diverse city (Toronto) bedazzling Predators fans and potentially winning a Stanley Cup in an arena that is about a 20-minute drive from one of the most vile Confederate monuments in the great state of Tennessee."

To which a Post reader by the name of Jason Williams comments: "We define him as a black hockey player, because he has similar mannerisms and personality traits of other black athletes. Showboating, image-conscious, self-aggrandizing, etc are negative traits what we as a sporting culture are accustomed to seeing in majority-black leagues like the NFL and NBA. This isn't to say he isn't a good PERSON - but the fundamental truth is that his ACTIONS are stereotypically negative ones, associated with black athletes... Which stands out VERY distinctly in what you might as well call a white league."

Which is what Walt's old friend Poor Len Canayen said way back in February of 2014 in "Is P.K. Subban a 'nigger'?"

Tomorrow night the Nashville Predators will be at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the National Hockey League (G. Bettman, prop.) Stanley Cup finals. The Penguins lead the series 3 games to 2, so if the Predators lose tomorrow night, they're out. If the Predators should win, and can by some miracle manage to win Game 7, Wednesday night in Pittsburgh (if necessary), Walt think it would be fitting to attach Lord Stanley's silverware to one of General Forrest's outstretched arms. I don't think P.K. Subban would mind.

Walt's take on the Comey "revelations"

James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee (seriously, that's what they call it) was kind of a damp squib, wasn't it. I'm so glad I didn't get up at sparrow fart and join the crowd at Shaw's Tavern to watch the proceedings on TV. The only good thing about it was that in some areas it pre-empted The View. Here's my immediate, ultra-simplified reaction to the clips I saw on the news.

According to Mr Comey, President Trump lied. So what? Every president, every politician lies. President Obama lied. And President Clinton lied under oath. When it comes to lying, Mr Clinton retired as the undisputed champeen. There's not a lie he didn't tell. "I never had sex with that woman." Hah! Q. How can you tell when a politician is lying? A. His mouth is open.

According to Mr Comey, President Trump said that he hoped Mr Comey would "let it go", referring to an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his alleged ties to Russia. So what? Presidents hope a lot of things. President Obama probably told somebody he hoped the Democrats would let Hellery Clinton go. Did Mr Comey believe the President was trying to obstruct justice with that comment? Mr Comey said he did not believe he was being ordered to drop the probe, but he did take Trump's comments "as a direction" that was meant to be obeyed.

Speaking of which, how about the "direction" from former Attorney General Loretta Lynch that the investigation into Mrs Bill Clinton's e-mails was to be called a "matter", not an "investigation". And speaking of President's trying to influence (if not obstruct) the course of justice, what do you suppose was said in the lengthy meeting between Ms Lynch and President Bill aboard his airplane in June 2016? Could the phrase "let it go" have been used? Last month, Mr Comey said that purely chance meeting forced the FBI to distance itself from the Justice Department.

Read more about the Lynch-Clinton meeting: "Comey: Lynch's Private Airplane Meeting With Clinton Spurred Email Disclosure", US News & World Report, 3/5/17.

My take on the whole foofaraw: It doesn't matter who's President or which party is in power. If you think the Deep State doesn't exist, or if you believe everything done by America's "justice" department and security "system" is apolitical, I have some land in central Florida I'd like to talk to you about.

Footnote: Some of Mr Comey's testimony raised questions about his own actions. For example, he admitted leaking a memo he wrote describing his conversations with President Trump, via a friend. His excuse was that he needed to get that "out into the public square", that he didn't do it himself "for a variety of reasons," but thought that his leak might prompt the appointment of a special counsel. A pretty surprising statement, given that Mr Comey himself was highly critical of other leaks.

Mark Rozell, dean of George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government, told CBC News that Mr Comey, by admitting to the leak, "doesn't come out looking entirely clean." "Rather than giving the information out himself and bearing direct responsibility for that action, he snuck it through a personal friend, a university professor, knowing that he would leak it to the New York Times."

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, wrote in his blog that he found Comey's admission about the leak "deeply troubling from a professional and ethical standpoint." "If Comey was sure of his right to release the memo, why use a law professor to avoid fingerprints?"

Further reading: Rex Murphy explains why American politics is an embarrassing mess: National Post, 9/6/17. Hint: It's not only Donald Trump's fault!

Scottish independence referendum

Agent 6 writes to say that if Theresa May is returned to power in tomorrow's UK election (see "British election too close to call?", earlier today), her next big challenge will be the demand of the Scottish National Party for another referendum on independence for the land of Robbie Burns.

If, in the referendum, Scotland should vote for independence, what's left of the United Kingdom will be known as the "Former United Kingdom", or FUK.

In a bid to discourage the Scots from voting "Yes" in this referendum, Theresa May will campaign with the slogan "Vote NO, for FUK's sake."
She feels Scottish voters will be able to relate to this.

Muslim civil war continues: great editorial cartoon

A few minutes after we posted "Muslim civil war continues as ISIS strikes Iran", Agent 3 sent along this fine editorial cartoon by Brian Gable, in the Globe and Mail.

Mr Gable was referring to the decision of several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, to sever ties with the tiny (but rich) emirate of Qatar, which they say sponsors terrorism -- Islamic terrorism -- in the form of organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah etc. But the cartoon applies pari passu (as Agent 3 puts it) to today's ISIS terrorist attacks in Iran.

British election too close to call?

I can work up but little interest -- and less excitement -- about the UK general election. Polling day is less than 24 hours off. I won't be voting, don't even know how to bet.

Theresa Maybe (as The Economist dubbed her) called the snap election after only two years in power, hoping to run a bare majority in the House of Commons up to awesome numbers. The thinking (?) behind doing so appears to have been that the UKIP had effectively disbanded itself after the Brexit referendum, and the Labour Party had all but committed suicide by choosing a leader -- Jeremy Corbyn -- from the loony left. [But he's on the right in the picture! LOL Ed.] The Liberal Democrats, the party of the mushy middle, look like being reduced to only a handful of seats, and the Green Party have yet to elect a member of parliament.

As recently as a couple of weeks ago, Mrs May looked to have the winning strategy. The polls had her Conservative Party well ahead, with most of the betting being on the spread. Then came the Manchester massacre. Then, just last weekend, the London Bridge terrorist attacks. As if those things weren't enough to shake one's faith in Mrs May's leadership, she flip-flopped on a pledge to end the cap on social care bills. The Reds [Labour, surely! Ed.] and even some of her own supporters said the financial impact on seniors -- very determined voters, that lot -- amounted to a "dementia tax". As for fighting back against Islamic terrorism, Mrs May is having trouble living down massive cuts to the police budget when she was Home Secretary, and her party's failure to cut immigration to under 100,000 per year, as they had promised.

So here we are, less than 24 hours out, and a projected Tory win by over 20% has dwindled to 6% or less, depending on which poll (if any) you believe. It's possible (but not probable) that Labour may win, making Mr Corbyn Prime Minister. That would really shake things up. Mr Corbyn appeals to the naïve young people who, in America, supported Bunny Sanders. But Mr Corby is way way to the left of Mr Sanders. He is an avowed Marxist, who, under previous leaders, defied the Labour whip 428 times. Among other things, he opposed anti-terrorist legislation (!) and the invasion of Iraq. His inner circle is even more hard-line. His shadow chancellor (= minister of finance) is an admirer not only of Marx but also of Lenin and Trotsky.

For many reasons, British politics has become almost as polarized (and polarizing) as that of the Excited States of America. Realistically, the choice for voters is between the right (Conservatives) and the hard left (Labour). There is no more "moderate centre". That means the real losers of tomorrow's election will be the "progressives" and liberals, and for that, much thanks.

Question from Ed.: Are you going to call this or not?
Answer from Walt: Not. Lifetime pct .988.

Muslim civil war continues as ISIS strikes Iran

From Tehran, the capital of Iran, comes a reminder that Islam is not monolithic. As with the other Religions of the Book -- Christianity and Judaism -- there are a number of divisions and even more subdivisions, each one claiming that they and only they have the True Faith. The main groups Sunni extremists, including ISIS, despise Shia-majority Iran. Iran has also come under attack in the past by Arab insurgents. The two biggest Muslim groups are the Sunnis and the Shias. (Westerners used to call Shias "Shi'ites", but had a tendency to mispronounce the word.) They hate each other.

Wahabism, the sect that dominates Saudi Arabia, is an extreme form of Sunni Islam, which is itself more extreme than the Shia version. Sunni extremists, including ISIS, despise Iran, which is mostly Shia. There's also an ethnic divide, as the Iranians aren't Arabs, but a different ethnic group which we used to call "Persian". Anyway, whether through fear or having other things to do -- blowing up Christians -- ISIS hasn't attacked Iran... until today.

Today, ISIS has claimed responsibility for a deadly pair of attacks on Iran's parliament and... wait for it... the shrine of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The Tehran attacks began mid-morning, local time, when assailants armed with AK-47s stormed Iran's parliament building, where a session was in progress. One of the attackers blew himself up inside. The siege lasted until mid-afternoon. Not counting the jihadis, 12 innocent Muslims were killed and 42 wounded. This is the first ISIS attack on Iran itself. Until now, when not hunting "infidels" in the streets of London, Paris, Berlin etc., ISIS has been fighting Iranian-backed forces in Syria and Iraq.

In addition to being lethal, the attack on the shrine of Khomeini is symbolically stunning. As Iran's first Supreme Leader, Khomeini is a towering figure in the country and was its revolutionary leader in the 1979 ouster of the shah.

And here's a little detail for clueless Western security forces to keep in mind. Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Hossein Zolfaghari told Iran's state TV the "apparently male" attackers wore women's attire. Just yesterday Walt told you about the (perhaps) demented Arab woman who rampaged through a Canadian Tire store in Toronto, attacking innocent bystanders with a golf club (really) and a knife which she had hidden under her Islamic attire. Her face was obscured by a niqab, which she was still wearing when she appeared in court yesterday afternoon.

Dear readers, the Muslim civil war is being fought in the Middle East, but the Islamic extremists' mission to conquer the world (or at least the worthwhile parts of it) and exterminate the "infidels" (meaning US) knows no boundaries. I don't recommend nuking Iran or Syria or Saudi Arabia or Iraq. I think we should let them fight it out until there's just one left and then throw that guy down a deep well. But I do think we should defend ourselves and our Western Christian (?) civilization in our own lands. And the best defence is a good offence!

Question of the day: Where is Santiago Matamoros (St. James, slayer of Moors) now that we need him?

UPDATED: Your Islamic terrorists today

Just a few days ago Walt lamented that "incidents" (not "incidences") of Islamic terrorism are becoming a daily occurrence. For the last couple of days I've been commenting on the London killings, but between Saturday and this morning there have been a couple of other attacks, which I report just to show that you're not safe in any Western city. There could be a Muslim fanatic in your neighbourhood... yes, yours... right now. Watch yourself, eh.

A Toronto woman appeared in court this morning, charged after a suspect masked with an ISIS bandana -- or maybe it was a hijab or niqab -- allegedly swung a golf club at employees of one of Canada's ubiquitous Canadian Tire stores, while screaming "Allahu akbar!" This happened on Saturday afternoon (EDT), at the same time the Islamic terrorist rampage was unfolding on London Bridge.

The woman was restrained by several employees [Using the handyman's secret weapon, duct tape? Ed.] who allegedly found a knife on her. Ms Rehab Dughmosh, 32, is facing seven charges including two counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of possession of a weapon, threaten death or bodily harm, and carrying a concealed weapon. If convicted she will doubtless be sent to a rehab clinic.

UPDATE: The drawing above appeared a few minutes ago on the CTV Toronto website. CTV, which is almost as politically correct as the state-owned CBC, never uses the word "Islamic" or any variant when talking about terror attacks. In their version of this story, the suspect is not named. Instead, they say "A court list posted at College Park courthouse Monday indicates that a suspect with the same name as the woman arrested will appear in court today." Cryptic, eh! But notice that their drawing shows a woman (?) in a hijab -- OK, two women in hijabs -- not an "ISIS bandana". One of the women may be Rehab Dughmosh. Or maybe not.

Also today, around 1630 local time, an assailant -- unidentified so far, for reasons of political correctness -- attacked police with a hammer outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The French Interior Minister (responsible for police, security and keeping an eye on Muslims) says the attacker cried "It's for Syria" as he went after officers patrolling an esplanade in front of the famous landmark. Why he would have yelled in English is unclear.

The attacker was shot and wounded in the incident. One flic was wounded. The Interior Minister said police found kitchen knives, a hammer and other unsophisticated weapons on the wounded assailant. The investigation into the matter is being led by Inspector Jacques Clouseau, who formerly handled a serious case involving a busker and his muenkey.

UPDATED: Faces of London Islamic terrorists

Last Friday Walt showed you the face of a Canadian Islamic terrorist. The next day, three men shouting "This is for Allah!" [in English, for a change. Ed.] killed seven innocent people and wounded 48 others in a terrorist attack in central London, before being shot by police. Were they Arabs? Were they Muslims? Were they... wait for it... Islamic terrorists (the words our "leaders" refuse to use in the same sentence)?

Although there is no M-103 in the UK to stifle free speech and fight against "Islamophobia", the British police refused to identify the killers, giving the excuse that they were still investigating. And this time there was no leak from American sources. The cover-up persisted until this afternoon (BST), when Inspector Knacker admitted what we all knew instinctively. At least two of the three -- one is still unidentified -- were indeed followers of the Prophet and his "religion of peace". Here are their pictures.

British police named Khuram Shazad Butt, 27, on the left, and Rachid Redouane, 30, as two of the men shot dead by police during the Saturday terror rampage. As Walt revealed earlier today, both men lived in the east London neighbourhood of Barking.

Mr Redouane was an Arab, and claimed to be Moroccan or Libyan, whatever. He was not known to police. Mr Butt [Notice how Walt didn't go for the cheap joke. Ed.] was a Muslim of a different colour. He came to Britain from Pakistan with his asylum-seeking parents and was married and the father of two young children. He is believed to be the man seen in a British television documentary on jihadists within the country that aired last year. In the footage, he's seen praying near an ISIS flag, with a close associate of Islamic hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

Inspector Knacker confirmed that "Khuram Shazad Butt was known to the police and MI5. However, there was no intelligence to suggest that this attack was being planned and the investigation had been prioritized accordingly." Doubtless there were other, more dangerous suspects to be watched. Like Salman Abedi, the perpetrator of the Manchester massacre. Oh... he wasn't being watched either....

Earlier, Sky News reported that one of the killers carried an Irish identification card. It wasn't clear if that man was the late Mr Butt, the late Mr Redouane or the still-unnamed third attacker. All three are understood to be immune from prosecution for their terrorist crimes, being beyond the reach of British courts, in paradise where they are being serviced by 72 virgin. Each.

UPDATE ADDED 6/6/17: The third attacker has now been identified as 22-year-old Youssef Zaghba, who the police describe as "Italian-Moroccan", who was not previously known to them. Ethnically, the late Mr Zaghba was an Arab. His religion -- "ideology" would be a better words -- was Islam.

British cops refuse to name London Bridge jihadis

On May 22nd, Walt posed the question, "Who's behind the Ariana Grande concert explosion?" Inspector Knacker of the Yard refused to answer that reasonable question, presumably for reasons of political correctness, since they don't have M-103 in the UK. (Only in Canada you say? Pity!) So Walt answered his own question the next day. See "Answer to yesterday's question: Islamic terrorists!"

Fast forward to this weekend's attacks at London Bridge and London borough market, in which seven people were killed and 48 wounded. The three murderers were shot down by police -- good on 'em! -- and are not included in the body count above. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the terrorist "incident".

Today the question arises once again: Who dunnit? The Metropolitan Police say they know the identity of the three attackers and will release their names "as soon as operationally possible". What does that mean? Walt suggests it means "as soon as we can figure out how to downplay the fact that they were Arab Muslims."

British Prime Minister Theresa May, who actually uttered the I-word on Sunday (see "The word our 'leaders' just won't say", WWW 4/6/17), said victims of what she called "an attack on the free world" (not "Christian world") included a "number of nationalities". AP reports that "security sources" in Dublin have said one of the attackers was carrying an identification card issued in the Republic of Ireland. Walt has pointed out more than once that nationality and/or place of residence have nothing to do with ethnicity and religion. What was want to know is: were these cowardly murderers Muslim fanatics? Answer comes there none.

All Inspector Knacker will say is that the Peelers are working on it. Yesterday and today they have searched a number of addresses in east London, particularly the hamlets of Newham and Barking, where they have arrested a number of Barking madmen. That area of London is known to be home to large numbers of non-Caucasian immigrants, "refugees", asylum-seekers and other invaders. Eleven people are being held after police raids in Barking on Sunday. One of the properties raided is believed to be the home of one of the attackers. No information about any of the Mohammeds/Abdullahs/whatevers has been released.

The word our "leaders" just won't say

"We have to stop being politically correct and get down to the business of protecting our people!"

Who do you think said that, following yesterday's "incident" of Islamic terrorism in London? (Body count as of this morning: 48 wounded, 7 dead plus 3 Muslim "martyrs" shot by British cops.) Give up? OK, I'll tell you. It was Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America. It was not:
- Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a very proper English lady who is trying on her Maggie Thatcher impression -- "Enough is enough!", is what she said -- and failing.
- Angela Merkel, the frumpy hausfrau whose discredited Willkommenskultur policy opened Germany's borders to well over a million Muslim "refugees" and asylum-seekers, who are now sucking on the welfare tit while biting the hand that fees them.
- Emmanuel Macron, the newly-elected President of France, a "man" who never held political office and, because he couldn't marry his mother, instead married his school teacher, a lady (thank goodness!) 25 years his senior.
- Justin Trudeau, the King of the Selfies who poses as Prime Minister of Canada, who never met a Muslim he didn't invite to come to Canada and vote for him. M Trudeau and the state-owned CBC thump the multicult drum incessantly, preaching that Canada's diversity is its strength.

Now that President Trump has (according to the lamestream media) abdicated his position as leader of the Western world, Mrs May, Frau Merkel, and Messrs Macron and Trudeau are the only "leaders" we have left. Lord have mercy on us! Now that we so badly need a real man, where is the Churchill, where is the De Gaulle, who will order his government to take all means necessary -- including not just "containment", but deportation, imprisonment and execution -- to rid us of the scourge of Islamic terrorism.

For that's what this weekend's attacks in London (and Kabul) were. Islamic terrorism. "Allahu akbar!" is heard in the streets of a Western capital once again. Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack, ISIS had sent out a call on instant messaging service Telegram early on Saturday, urging its followers to launch attacks with trucks, knives and guns against "Crusaders" during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The one thing that the four "leaders" named above have in common is that not one of them used the words "Islam", "Islamic" or "Islamist" -- let alone "ISIS" -- in their public shedding of crocodile tears in response to the attacks. Like "cunt" and "piss", "Islam" is a word that the ladies who lead us have decided they just won't say. So the PC police have made it clear that "Islam" is now the I-word, the new N-word, not to be uttered, especially in the same breath as "terrorism" or "terrorists", in any form or any medium. Period.

Further reading (and viewing -- includes video): "Trump Uses London Attack to Criticize Mayor, Promote Ban", Bloomberg Politics, 4/6/17.

Apology to Theresa May: In the video embedded in the Bloomberg article, Mrs May did say "Islamist extremism" once, in the two-minute clip. However, she also said these attacks are not representative of Islam, which we all know is the religion of peace. (OK, she didn't say that last part. I did.)

South African politico in trouble for mentioning benefits of colonialism

Otta Helene Maree (née Zille), known as Helen Zille, is an open-minded, liberal, progressive (etc etc) South African politician. She served as leader of the Democratic Alliance, the country's official opposition party, from 2007 to 2015 and as Mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009. She is a member of the Western Cape parliament and Premier of that province. As you can see, Ms Zille is (surprisingly) white.

Back in the bad old days of apartheid, Ms Zille was a "freedom fighter" -- journalist and anti-apartheid activist. Under cover of a job with the Rand Daily Mail, she worked with the Black Sash and other "pro-democracy" (read "terrorist") groups during the 1980s. Now, according to a report from BuzzSouthAfrica, the former champion of black rule faces suspension from party activities on Saturday following tweets in which she said... wait for it... colonialism had some positive results.

Helen Zille, who is white [You already said that. Ed.], tweeted in March that the colonial legacy was not only negative, citing "our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc."

Imagine the shock and horror! Mmusi Maimane, a person of colour who replaced Ms Zille as party leader, said her comments "damaged the party and undermined reconciliation efforts in South Africa." Race relations remain a sensitive topic in South Africa, which held its first all-race elections after the end of white minority rule in 1994. The country has been ruled by the incompetent kleptocracy of the black-only African National Congress ever since.

In a statement worthy of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Mr Maimane said, "We live in a fragile democracy, which means our public representatives must, at all times, be sensitive to the legitimate anger that people still feel about our past and its legacy." Party leaders have therefore decided that Ms Zille should be "suspended from all party-related activities until such time as her disciplinary hearing is concluded."

In reply, Ms Zille tweeted, "I cannot be bullied into resigning or incriminating myself." She also disputed Mr Maimane's comment that she had declined to give the obligatory white liberal apology, saying she had done so publicly.

Your Islamic terrorists this weekend

Used to be an attack by suicide bombers or other Islamic terrorists (outside of the Middle East) was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Like 9/11. Then it got down to once in a decade. Then once a year, once a month, once a week, and now, apparently, once a day. The wusses that run our Western governments (other than President Trump) and spin the news in our lamestream media (other than Fox News and the Rebel Media) tell us we might as well get used to it, because that's the new reality.

Nothing can be done, they say, because we don't know why this is happening. Hell, we don't even know who these criminals are! They're just "terrorists", not necessarily Islamic extremists, you understand, not necessarily Arabs or North Africans... just "terrorists". And the attacks in which scores of innocent people -- not necessarily Christians, you understand -- perish aren't even attacks, really, let alone massacres. They're just "incidents".

Which brings us to reports which started coming in here just after Ed. posted Mark Steyn's commendable video on the dishonesty of post-terror commemorations. Even as Ariana Grande is warming up for her "Manchester strong" benefit concert, we have news of an incident... oops, make that TWO incidents... or maybe one incident in two phases... playing out in the middle of London, at the eponymous bridge (which is not falling down).

Early this evening, local time, the BBC's "security correspondent" (LOL) tweeted:

Well, that's his opinion. Inspector Knacker of the Yard isn't saying anything, because the crime (or terrorism) scene(s) are still active, and the motive for the attack(s) is "not known". I am not sure whether to use the singular or plural of "scene" and "attack" because there are reports of (a) a van plowing into several pedestrians on London Bridge itself and (b) a man/men attacking bystanders with guns/knives at London borough market, just south of the bridge.

A taxi driver told LBC radio, "A van came from London Bridge itself, went between the traffic light system and rammed it towards the steps. It knocked loads of people down. Then three men got out with long blades, 12 inches long and went randomly along Borough High Street stabbing people at random." A bit of redundancy in that statement but we get the picture.

Oops, wait... ... Make that three scenes/attacks! The Beeb is now reporting that police are responding to an "incident" in Vauxhall, in south London. And the peelers have confirmed that there's been at least one fatality in at least one of the attacks.

Well... While we wait for further news from Old Blighty, we turn to beautiful downtown Kabul, the capital of Armpitistan, where three -- count 'em, 3 -- bombs killed at least 12 mourners and wounded 90 more at a funeral for some of the 90 killed by a massive terrorist bombing earlier this week in the Afghan capital. Photos showed bodies and remains strewn on the ground as smoke filled the air.

The "chief executive" of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah (yes, that's his real name), was one of several politicians who survived the blasts as they gathered for the funeral of a senior Afghan senator. He said three suicide bombers had hidden in the crowds and detonated their vests at the start of prayers. And he called for an investigation into how the attackers were able to get so close to the high-profile funeral.

The office of President Ashraf Ghani said he condemned "the outrageous attack on mourners burying the martyred.... The country is under attack. We must be strong and united." Who is Afghanistan under attack from? Alas, the Prez did not say.

Note from Ed.: We regret that we only have so much space for news of "terror-related incidents". We hope the Islamists -- for that's what they are -- will hold off for a day or two to let us talk about other things.