VIDEO: Les Canadiens sont là!

Oh ye of little faith! Shame on all those who thought that just because the Toronto Maple Leafs finished first in the Canadian (aka Northern) Division, and the Montréal Canadiens just barely made it into the playoffs, the latter would be on the golf links before the end of May. You were wrong!

The Leafs, as is their wont, blew a lead of 3 games to 1, allowing the never-say-die Habs to win overtime victories in Games 5 and 6, and close the series out with a 3-1 win tonight. It was actually 3-0 until the second-last minute when Carey Price was robbed of the shutout he deserved. For the moment, at least, we have the video highlights.

Poor Len Canayen gives Carey Price not just the first star, but all three stars of tonight's game. But it can truly be said that the win -- indeed all of the Habs' wins -- was a total team effort. 

Goals by Brendan Gallagher (the heart and soul of la Sainte Flannelle), Corey Perry (the old pro) and an empty netter by Tyler Toffoli, who led the team in scoring this year. In Games 5 and 6, it was the kids -- Nick Suzuki, Kasperi Kotkaniemi and rookie phenom Cole Caufield -- who made the difference. 

The defence registered only one point in those games -- an assist by Jeff Petry in Game 6 -- concentrating instead on shutting down Leafs superstar (?) Auston Matthews, and his sidekick Mitch Marner. That was exactly what the doctor ordered, so full credit to the D-men and to everybody else. There were no weak links.

Alors, félicitations, les boys! On to Winnipeg!

Things you see on the Internet: "Trust, but verify!"

Agent 6 has interrupted his travels to send us these spectacular pictures of Brazilian people tempting fate by hanging from a famous rock. These images have not been photo-shopped. They are real pictures.

Incredibly brave people. Right? But the truth is... wait for it... the rock is only a few feet above the ground. All that is required is the proper perspective!

Now you know that fake news looks like! And why you shouldn't believe everything you see in pictures. Remember this anytime you watch news on TV or read it on the Internet. Sometimes, the truth is a lot different than what it appears. It all depends on perspective. Remember too, Walt always presents the truth... as we see it!

Canadiens v Leafs: advice for bettors

Ed. here. Walt and Poor Len are still hors de combat, preparing for tonight's crucial seventh game in the NHL quarter-final between Toronto's team -- the Maple Leafs -- and Canada's team -- the Montréal Canadiens. Poor Len has been taking notes, and promises to analyze the result tomorrow.

Poor Len regrets that he has no prediction or recommendation for those inclined to put down a sawbuck or two on the result. Walt's feeling is that if you bette on les Glorieux and can find a Leaf fan who'll give you a puck and a half, you should be in good shape. Lifetime pct .979.

Speaking of betting...

Canadian company won't embrace "wokeness", will stick to business

Cazart! At a time when big businesses in America and Europe are "taking a knee" to kiss BLM/gay ass, the largest publicly-traded company in Canada warned employees that their job is to sell products, not solve social problems. Tobias Lutke, CEO of e-commerce giant Shopify, laid down the law to employees demanding "woke" corporate virtue signalling, reminding them that anyone who was focused on other things when they were supposed to be working should not expect to keep their job. Believe it or not! 

Like many other corporations, Shopify is being pressed by some of its left-leaning employees to take an activist stand on causes such as "equity", "diversity", "inclusion", yada yada yada. Mr Lutke made it clear that doing so is not part of his company's strategy. 

"Shopify is also not the government," he wrote in an e-mail. "We cannot solve every societal problem here. We are part of an ecosystem, of economies, of culture, and of actual countries. We also can't take care of all your needs. We will try our best to take care of the ones that ensure you can support our mission."

That last part addressed complaints by six former employees over how the company has handled racial and social justice issues this past year. "Shopify, like any other for-profit company, is not a family," Mr Lutke wrote, noting that "family thinking" makes it more difficult to dismiss workers who perform poorly. In other words, his company bases its personnel decisions on merit, not who you are or what disadvantaged group you represent.

He added that his company may see opportunities to nudge certain social causes forward, but does so "because this directly helps our business and our merchants and not because of some moralistic overreach."

Mr Lutke's letter to employees comes after Jason Fried, CEO of  American web software company Basecamp, announced that staff will no longer be permitted to engage in "societal and political discussions." He said in a blog post that Basecamp was not a "social impact company," adding, "Every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant."

The logic of gun control

Note from Ed.: Walt and Poor Len are huddled in a sports bar in Canuckistan. When we hear something from either of them, we'll let you know.

World Day of Prayer for the Catholic Church in China

Regular readers of WWW will know that Walt has been banging the gong since Day 1 about the Vatican's great sellout of the true Catholic Church in China. See "Zen and the maintenance of the Faith - the REAL Catholic Church in China", WWW 15/7/09. 

The true Catholics in China comprise in the so-called "underground church", whose clergy and people are loyal to Rome, in spite of being thrown under the bus by Benedict XVI and Francis at the instigation of a succession of leftist Secretaries of State, most recently Pietro Cardinal Parolin, aka "Peter of Rome" (q.v.).

The persecution of Catholics in China began in 1949, when the Communists took control of the country, excepting Taiwan. They immediately set up the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, a schismatic "church" which kept the outward appearance of Catholicism, but whose bishops and priests owe their allegiance to the Communist Party. Those who would not join have been harassed, persecuted, arrested, jailed and even martyred -- the Catholic martyrs of our days, up to and including today. See "China -- not a good place to be a democrat or a Catholic", WWW 15/6/14.

Until 2018 one could say that the underground church was holding its own, in spite of continual persecution, just like the early Church in the Roman Empire. But in that year, the Vatican Secretary of State's efforts "to proceed on the path of a respectful and constructive dialogue with government authorities, in order to overcome past misunderstandings" between the Holy See and Communist China resulted in the betrayal of the many 1000s of Chinese Catholics who had been imprisoned, tortured and even martyred for their Faith.

In September of 2018 the Vatican announced the signing of an agreement with the People's Republic of China giving the Communist government "a role in the appointment of new bishops." In practice that means the Commies tell Rome who the new bishops are, and Rome says, that's fine, we don't want to cause any trouble. See "Vatican bends the knee to Chinese commies in secret accord", WWW 23/9/18.

The secret deal was supposed to be reviewed in two years, to see if things were working out. Need I tell you the outcome? The deal was renewed indefinitely in spite of the fierce protests of Cardinal Zen, Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, and others. See "Cardinal Zen decries/Vatican defends sell-out of Chinese Catholics", WWW 3/3/20. 

So there we are. Rome has capitulated and the CPCA is now the "official" Catholic Church of China. But that doesn't mean we can't pray for the Catholic Church in China, meaning all those who hold onto the "Faith of our fathers, living still, in spite of dungeon, fire and sword."

Indeed, the universal Church celebrates today, the 24th of May as the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, that China "may become a force for good and a protector of the rights of the most vulnerable."

The commemorative feast marks the Chinese celebration of Our Lady of Sheshan, the patroness of China. It is also, even more importantly, celebrated as the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. So let us pray: 

With faith in your intercession, we pray for the Church, particularly the Church in China, for our family and friends, for the poor and abandoned, and all the dying. Grant, O Mary, Help of Christians, the graces of which we stand in need. Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us! 

Note from Ed.: Many thanks to Agent 9 for reminding us of the significance of this date, and for his blessing.

Footnote and further reading: In a story that tells you all you need to know about the secret accord between Rome and the Chinese Communists, AsiaNews.it reports that Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu of Xinxiang and 10 priests of his diocese were arrested late last week, and are being held for “political sessions” with Communist Party officials. They are accused of "criminal activity": conducting religious activities without government approval, and refusing to enlist in the CPCA. 

Bishop Zhang is recognized by the Holy See but not by the Communist government. Under the terms of the secret agreement between the Vatican and Beijing, the Holy See recognized several bishops who had been appointed by the government. But Beijing did not reciprocate by recognizing bishops of the underground Church. 

Biden-Harris in office: the first four months

Sleepy Joe Biden, the man who the lickspittle media claim is the fairly elected President of the US of A, has been in office for four months. "In office" doesn't necessarily mean "in charge". Whoever's pulling Mr Biteme's strings has done a lot to "reset" America. If you're a Democrat, socialist or anywhere on the left end of the spectrum, you would say things are going well. We on the other side of the aisle beg to differ. Herewith a quick look at the Biden-Harris record, so far. 

Unnecessary stimulus The Democrats pushed through legislation for a relief package of close to $2,000,000,000,000 ($2 trillion). That newly minted money stimulated the economy, provided additional aid to the millions of unemployed workers and bailed out some cities and states that were damaged financially by Covid, and the damage done by the Antifa/BLM rioters and looters.

Was that stimulus needed? When President Trump was forced out of office, the American economy was in the middle of a V-shaped recovery from the deep but short-lived recession of the spring of 2020. In Q3 of 2020, GDP grew at an annualized rate of 33%. The growth rate was 4% in Q4, and 6.4% in the Q1 of 2021, when Mr Biteme assumed office.

The relief package will prove to be inflationary. The deficit for fiscal 2021 is projected to rise to at least $3.5 trillion, increasing the public debt (meaning money that you, your children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren etc will have to reply) to more than $30 trillion. When the feds remove that much capital from the market, there will eventually be a capital shortage, i.e. not be enough capital available to business for expansion. That will lead to more inflation.

Since January, the rate of inflation has risen to 6%. You may have noticed that last time you gassed up. Another consequence will be "stagflation" -- the slowing or stopping of growth -- which the US of A has not experienced in four decades!

The Biden-Harris tax plan will only make things worse. Democrats always want to "tax the rich", which to them means not the elites who can employ elaborate tax avoidance schemes, but folks like you and me who work hard and hope there will be a few pennies left after Uncle Sam takes his increasingly large cut. The Democrats want to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, which will cause savvy businesses to move to more friendly jurisdictions, including Canada.

They also want to raise the capital gains tax rate from 23.8% to more than 40%. But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more. They propose to raise the top tax bracket from 37% to 39.6%. All of these Robin-Hoodian tax grabs will reduce capital formation making the capital shortage worse.

Vaccination

When he was sworn in, Sleepy Joe promised to get the anti-Covid vaccines approved during the Trump administration into the arms of at least 100 million Americans within his first 100 days. Thanks to the success of Operation Warp Speed, initiated by President Trump and spear-headed by Vice-President Pence, that goal was met and exceeded.

On the other hand [in the other arm? Ed.], thanks to the flip-flop messaging of Dr Fauci and the administration, antivax resistance has increased to the point where slowpoke [geddit? Ed.] Canada has more people per 1000 who have received at least one dose of vaccine. That's why the World's Longest Undefended Border (TM) remains closed in spite of pressure by Sen. Chuckie "Cheese" Schumer and others to let Americans resume shopping in Canada again.

Illegal immigration

At the instigation of the SJWs who control him, Mr Biteme reversed President Trump's immigration policies, allowing hundreds of thousands of immigrants to escape alleged persecution in their home countries. He professes his belief that America is a country founded on and still rife with "systemic racism". How admitting hordes of aliens who don't speak English and don't share the majority culture will help this is a question for which Sleepy Joe has no answer.

The Trump administration built (or at least started) a wall along America's southern border, and instituted policies to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants from south of the border and the shithole countries of Africa and the Middle East. The Biden administration stopped building the wall (in spite of court orders to finish the job) and reversed the President Trump's policies. The result is a massive illegal immigration problem, which Vice-President Harris refuses to acknowledge or even investigate by, say, visiting the infested counties along the southern border.

Climate change and the environment

Mr Biden makes the requisite obeisance to the importance of reversing climate change [like King Canute? Ed.] and protecting the environment. That's why he stopped any drilling for fossil fuels on publicly owned land, and, as one of his first acts, cancelled the Keystone pipeline expansion approved by President Trump. Then, all of a sudden, there's no gas, or limited quantities of expensive gas, in large areas of the southeastern states.

They say (of course) that's all the fault of foreign hackers who caused the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, which has now been fixed. But that incident underscores America's need for energy security, which is not going to come from wind/solar power. The US need to maintain good relations with a friendly source or petroleum products like, say, Canada.

That brings us back to the Keystone pipeline, and another pipeline -- Enbridge Line 5 -- which runs from western Canada through upper Michigan into eastern Canada. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (Democrat) has ordered Line 5 closed down because, after nearly 70 years in operation, it might suddenly spring a leak into the Straits of Mackinac. Canada has asked President Biteme to intervene with a bit of common sense. Sleepy Joe's response? "Justin Trudeau? Who's that?"

Foreign policy

President Trump's foreign policy was "peace through strength". President Biteme thinks he knows better. He prefers the "turn the other cheek" policies of the Prez. It was President Trump's sanctions which crippled Iran, leaving them with little money to finance Islamic terrorism. Creepy Joe has chosen not to enforce the sanctions, so, right after the fake election of 2020, Iran began selling oil again.

President Trump had negotiated five peace agreements in the Middle East. Now, just four months into the Biden presidency, Hamas and Hezbollah have resumed their terrorist activites in the Holy Land, to the point of a nearly full-scale war. A White House spokesthingy said on Tuesday that Israel has a legitimate right to defend itself from Hamas rocket attacks but applied pressure on Israel over the treatment of Palestinians, saying Jerusalem "must be a place of co-existence."

Apparently the goal is to "rebalance" US policy, after President Trump sided with Israeli on all fronts. Another "success" trumpeted by the controlled media is President Biteme's promise to get American military forces out of Afghanistan by 9/11. Such "turn the other cheek" responses to the aggressions of our enemies can only embolden others, such as Russia, China and North Korea. Is the world a safer, more peaceful place now that the Democrats have taken on the task of promoting peaceful co-existence? Hardly. 

In summary... 

To his supporters and the liberal elites, Mr Biden is doing a great job. It may be that his administration has improved the perception of social justice and equity. But the price Americans are paying for massive illegal immigration, high inflation, higher taxes and a less safe world, is far too high.

Those of us not wearing rose-coloured glasses see problems (read: incipient disaster) in every area. Things can only get worse. Lifetime pct .979. 

Adapted from an op-ed piece by Michael Busler in BizPac Review, 21/5/21.

Please excuse Walt's absence...

Ed. here. The NHL Canadian Division playoff series between the Montréal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs gets under way in Toronto in about an hour. Walt and our National Sports Editor, Poor Len Canayen, are holed up somewhere -- neither Toronto or Montréal -- to watch the proceedings on TVA, so they won't have to listen to the insufferably woke Ron MacLean on CBC. 

They are therefore incommunicado. Besides that, I can't reach them on the phone. So, to fill this space, I present an amusing anecdote from Court Jesters, a book of funny and (mostly) true stories about Canadian lawyers and judges, by Peter V. MacDonald QC, a barrister and solicitor from Hanover ON, not 1000 miles away from Fort Mudge. Here's one of the tales he collected.

Mr Justice James Mitchell, of the Supreme Court of Alberta, delivered a line that's considered to be a western classic in a bestiality case involving a man and a pig.

Three neighbours testified against the accused farmer, but since all three denied reporting the incident and there were no other witnesses, defence counsel submitted that their evidence was not trustworthy.

"My Lord," the lawyer said, "if they were the only persons who allegedly saw anything, and they deny reporting anything to the authorities, who did report this alleged incident? How did the authorities even know about it?"

"Maybe," Mr Justice Cairns suggested, "the pig squealed."

Biden reveals Afghanistan exit strategy

Readers with longer memories than those of the lickspittle media may recall that when President Trump announced his plan to bring American forces home from Afghanistan by May 2021, the fiercest critics of his plan were two presidential wannabes: Sleepy Joe Biden and Hellery Clinton. Both of them were strong supporters of the US invasion of that country following 9/11, for which followers of the Prophet Mohammed were blamed.

You would have thought that once the Taliban was (supposedly) defeated, its leader killed, and democracy restored, there would have been no need for the US of A to continue to occupy that shithole, wasting 1000s of American lives and billions of US dollars on... may we be frank... a mission which was none of America's business in the first place. That argument was put forward by such voices of reason as Dr Ron Paul and (ahem) yr obdt servant. To no avail. 

Osama Bin Laden was killed ten years and a fortnight ago, not in Afghanistan but in Abbotabad, in neighbouring Pakistan. The Prez was the Commander-in-Chief at the time, Sleepy Joe was the 2IC and Mrs Bill Clinton was Secretary of State. We can all remember the photo of Hellery and the Prez and assorted hangers-on watching the report on the Clinton News Network.

Some folks thought the end of the adventure nigh. So it was, but not for American troops, only Canadians who wrapped up their combat role in 2011, and withdrew the last of their "training personnel" in 2014.

You might think that when the Canucks -- not known for suicidal tendencies -- pulled out, the Americans would see the handwriting on the wall and start packing. But noooooo... In 2014 the Prez still had another two years in office, and the well-known brave warrior John Kerry was Secretary of State. They saw fit to stay the course, lest the flickering candle of democracy be snuffed out again. It wasn't until President Trump got elected (in the last free and fair presidential election) that talk of a "drawdown" even began.

On the campaign trail in 2020, Sleepy Joe opposed President Trump's plans for withdrawal, saying that to bring our brave boys (and girls and in-betweens) home in May was to risk letting the Taliban retake control, yada yada yada. 

But everything would be different four months later, see? So President Biteme's plan, announced a few days ago, is to complete the withdrawal by September 11th. Geddit? The 20th anniversary of 9/11? Geddit now? 

You would expect that Hellery Clinton, having by now gotten over the humiliation of not being chosen by the Democrats for the task of defenestrating Trump, would be supportive of the alleged President's new plan, and all his other plans. You would be wrong. 

Apparently the Taliban, not content with finally forcing the Americans to leave Afghanistan, have taken to attacking other Afghans,just as they did before the US invasion. Mrs Clinton told her network, "This is what we call a wicked problem. There are consequences both foreseen and unintended of staying and of leaving."

Asked about Sleepy Joe's decision, Mrs Clinton said, "Our government has to focus on two huge consequences", notably the resumption of activities by extremist groups and a subsequent outpouring of refugees from Afghanistan. She said the potential collapse of the Afghan government and a possible takeover by the Taliban could result in a new Muslim civil war. (OK, she didn't include the word "Muslim", but we know who's fighting who, right?)

 Mrs Bill also said it was important to protect the "many thousands of Afghans" who had worked with the US and NATO during the "conflict". She advocates the creation of a large visa programme to provide for any refugees who get out of the shithole alive, provided they are allowed to settle no closer than 1000 miles to Chappaqua NY.

So, campers, circle the date on your calendars. 9/11/21.  (Non-American readers please substitute 11/9/21.) It's the first real date President Biteme has given for the achievement of any of his many plans. Let's see if the withdrawal from Afghanistan really happens... Hellery Clinton notwithstanding.

Apology to the Taliban

Ed. here. In common with the rest of the Western media, we may in recent months have given the impression that we regarded the Taliban as "a spent force", following their defeat by the glorious armed forces of the United States of America and its allies, and the cancellation, some years back, of their leader, Osama bin Laden.

Our readers may have been led to believe that the Taliban were no longer a credible threat to the stability of the Middle East, and that only small pockets of resistance in rural Afghanistan remained to be mopped up.

We now realize, however, that the Taliban are the greatest danger to world peace in human history (apart from al-Qaeda and ISIS, that is) and are capable of putting hundreds of thousands of trained fighters into the field, making our troops extremely vulnerable to attack, humiliation and death.

We therefore heartily endorse President Biteme's decision to bring our boys and girls home as soon as possible, leaving the defence of democracy, diversity and inclusion to the Afghan National Army who, even now, are revving up their Cessnas for an air strike.

We trust our position is now clear, and would like to apologize unreservedly to the Taliban for any confusion that Walt's previous posts may have caused.

Q. How can you prove you're not a racist? A. You can't!

Except for Dilbert, I don't read comic strips any more. For one thing, I don't read the print editions of any newspaper. (Indeed, at least one newspaper which I read occasionally doesn't even have a print edition any more.) Besides, my all-time favourite strips are either dead (Pogo) or dying (Doonesbury). So it is that until today I never heard of Mallard Fillmore, a comic strip syndicated by King Features, written and illustrated by Bruce Tinsley until 2019 and Loren Fishman since 2020. 

The artwork owes a lot to Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury. The editorial viewpoint? All I know is that the title character is "a seasoned conservative reporter for fictional television station WFDR-TV in Washington DC, which hired him in order to fill its quota for 'Amphibious Americans'." I like this example of the creators' viewpoint.

You can't win with those guys, can you. That we --  you know who I mean -- are all racists, whether we admit it or not, is a key part of critical race theory, the latest political orthodoxy with which we are now taxed. Deny it, and you will quickly find yourself beyond the pale, even if you don't work for The Mouse.

Blazing Cat Fur used this strip today in their link to a good article on CRT, by the anonymous write of a blog called Neo. If, unlike my goodself, you have to live in a community inhabited by the likes of the blonde lady, you should read entitled "Dealing with Critical Race Theory and Critical Race Training". And good luck to you.

FOOTNOTE added 14/5/21: Speaking of Dilbert, this strip appeared today.

Scott Adams has been taking the mickey out of political correctness and other shibboleths for decades. Dilbert is the one strip I subscribe to.

VIDEO: Victor Davis Hanson and Rex Murphy talk about how the MSM are destroying the idea of America

Last month we reposted a podcast in which Victor Davis Hanson talked about "the causes of Civil War v. 2.0". Dr. Hanson, an award-winning and nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services, is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.

Today we're sharing an interview he gave to our old friend Rex Murphy, who's been a victim of the cancel culture in the Canadian media, with the exception of the National Post. They talk about the once-objective mass media have become mere propaganda organs for the liberal elites. This is the theme of Dr Hanson's next book, The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America, to be published this coming October.

 

Dr Hanson and Mr Murphy agree that a day of reckoning is coming, but it will only happen (in Walt's opinion) if thoughtful citizens keep calling out the lickspittle media for their anti-Western campaign of deceptions and outright lies. Dear readers, rise up! Please keep sharing links to videos like this and sites like WWW, where you will find the truth that the MSM will not... dare not tell you.

VIDEO: Hard to believe the Catholic Church has come to this

Dr Taylor Marshall posted this short video yesterday. I don't know whether to laugh, cry, vomit... or all three.

   

This appears to have come from somewhere in Germany. Such a beautiful church building. Such irreverence and sacrilege. Such a shame and I mean that in the most literal sense. But that's the new, cool Catholic Church -- spawned by Vatican II, and approved by Jorge Bergoglio, the man who calls himself Pope Francis. 

Elsewhere in Germany: Priests in over 100 "Catholic" churches, with the blessing and encouragement of their bishops, this week offered "blessings" to "homosexual unions" -- they stopped short of calling them "marriages" -- in defiance of a recent pronouncement of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which said Catholic clergy cannot bless same-sex unions because God "cannot bless sin."

The "blessings" are the latest escalation in tensions between "progressive" and traditional Catholics that have sparked alarm that part of the Church might be heading into schism. Where all this modernist nonsense will end, only God knows... and I mean that literally, too.

What's wrong with this picture?

Here you see one of Walt's agents in conversation with a statue of Sir John Eh Macdonald (aka Sir John A. Macdonald), the first prime minister of Canada. The statue was erected in 1967 in beautiful downtown Charlottetown PEI, as a Centennial project.

What's wrong with it? It's actually a pretty good statue, in a genre that was popular until recently, showing historical or other figures standing or sitting in poses such that people can have their pictures taken with them. Any objections? Well yes... 

Sir John, very much a product of his times and Scottish origins, was a hard drinker ("Single malt, but make it a double!"), anti-French, and anti-Catholic. He was also determined to civilize the natives, by means such as sending their kids to residential schools where they could be turned into quasi-whites.

Today, Sir John is called a white supremacist by, among others, the Epekwitk Assembly of Councils, a joint forum that includes the councils of both Abegweit First Nation and Lennox Island First Nation. (For our American readers, "First Nations" is the current politically correct term for the people who used to be called "Indians".) 

In keeping with the current fad for iconoclasm, the Assembly petitioned the Charlottetown city council to "amend" the art installation and "tell the true story of this individual and begin to address the trauma that its presence is continuing to perpetuate." 

The councillors, with the exception of Clr Mike Duffy [That Mike Duffy? The erstwhile Senator? Ed.] voted to leave the statue where it is, albeit with some modifications. The assembly made five suggestions to the city, viz:

Add another figure, such as an Indigenous child or elder. 

Fill in or seal off the empty space on the bench so it can't be used for photo opportunities like this picture.

Install signage so viewers understand "the devastating role that Sir John A. Macdonald played in the Indigenous history of Canada." 

If the artist engaged is not Indigenous, a Mi'kmaw artist should be hired as a consultant.

Complete the work as soon as reasonably possible.

In voting against the resolution, Councillor Duffy referenced a survey last summer that indicated the majority of respondents wanted the statue to remain as is. The other councillors predictably said what the majority of the people want doesn't matter. Such are the times.

Canuck Conservative leader pledges to end political correctness

Erin O'Tool, leader of the Allegedly Conservative Party of Canada

VIDEO: Michael Matt: The Great Reset is failing, and other good news

Just when you thought the world was going to hell in the proverbial bucket, Michael Matt, editor of The Remnant newspaper, weighs in with a compedium of good news. "With mask mandates collapsing all over the country, and Blue state governors losing in court, there's an opportunity to push back against the COVID Stupid."

Mr Matt explains how even France is slowly loosening restrictions, while little Ireland brings up the rear. In fact, post-Catholic Ireland is almost as tyrannical as post-Catholic Canada -- two countries run by little men as maniacal as Joe Stalin but now with the technology to make the Orwell happen.

By the way, he says, "Justin Trudeau est un petit homme extrêmement ennuyeux." Walt knows, personally, scores of Canucks who agree that Mr Socks is a "little snivelling brown-noser" and are much more than annoyed.

The really good news -- "Covid's massive silver lining" -- is that modernist, liberal, progressive Christianity -- especially in the Catholic Church -- has been exposed for the sham that it is, and "is now on life support", while traditionalists are gaining strength and numbers all over the world. 

Mr Matt closes with a truly amazing sign of hope out of Poland, where the Sign the Cross transforms one of the children of darkness into a child of light... all caught on video. Check it out.

   

The Cross of Christ will save the world. 

The Cross of Christ will save you. 

The Cross of Christ will save me. 

The Cross of Christ is the Answer.

100 years ago...

Scraped from the cover of the British satirical magazine Private Eye, No. 1284, 18-31/3/11. 

Prince Andrew is still a prince, still the brother of Charles, the Prince of Wales, and uncle of Harry, the Prince of Woke.

We welcome our first guest columnist

 Ed. here. Walt is indisposed, so has, for the first time in the nearly 12-year history of WWW, invited a guest columnist to contribute a post. Our guest is David Frump, a self-described conservative and contributor to The Atlantic & Pacific magazine, which no longer has much use for his anti-Trump articles.

Thank you, Ed. Being asked to write a column in Walt Whiteman's World would be a daunting enough prospect at the best of times. But when one has to be not just a guest columnist, but the first, one is reduced to total speechlessness.

Staring at my face in the mirror this morning, I asked myself: what do you believe? Do you really have any opinions? Are you essentially conservative or, as some would have it, merely a cuckservative? Who are you?

Is this 1000 words yet? [No, it isn't. Keep going. Ed.]

Such profound questions have no easy answers. Yet answer must be found, if I am to fill up the remainder of the space allotted to me. And filled it must be, or there will be a good deal of white space on this web page. 

Was it not Anton Chekhov, that great prophet of our age, who foesaw a world in which men were grey shadows, who said "the act of writing is in essence a destructive act, turning what began as nothing into what ends as nothing."?

From Chekhov it is only a short stop to Czechoslovakia, which P.J. O'Rourke, in his epic All The Trouble in the World, held up as an example of the ecological disaster which comes in the wake of laissez-faire environmental policies of the sort espoused by Donald Trump, whose re-election last November virtually guarantees the further rape and pillage of America's grasslands, forests, lakes, rivers, wetlands and... [That's close enough to 1000. Your cheque is in the mail. Ed.]

VIDEO: Wally award for commercial of the year

Time now to present the coveted Wally Award for Excellence in Advertising. This was originally intended as an annual award, but has become a sometime thing, presented only when Walt's humerus is truly tickled. That's happened maybe six times in the 12-year history of WWW. The latest winner is... may I have the envelope please... Zulu Alpha Kilo, for "Don't get milked", developed for insurance comparison website Rates.ca (styled RATESDOTCA).

   

Udderly absurd, eh? Canadian marketing website TheMessage sez half the battle in advertising is getting noticed, and "it seems a safe assumption that 'Don't get milked' will garner more than a few 'WTF did I just watch?' reactions." 

Zulu Alpha Kilo founder and CEO Zak Mroueh told The Message, "We knew we had to do something that would breakthrough and get the attention we were looking for. We landed on a very clear, but extremely memorable way of getting Canadians to think about their car insurance and realize that they might be overpaying."

Walt noticed that they managed to make the characters a black man (gainfully employed) interacting with a white woman, so they've got the wokeness nailed down too. Well done on all counts.

Amazing! Tucker Carlson dissects CIA's latest ultra-woke VIDEO

Tucker Carlson takes aim at a new video from the Central Intelligence Agency trumpeting how woke they are. The spokesthingy for the CIA is a woman of colour (of course) who checks all the other boxes: disabled (emotionally), cisgender (whatever that means), a baby mama, a feminist, and (of course again) "intersectional". Mr Carlson calls her "the Kim Philby of wokeness".

   

What does this mean? What, nowadays, is the real mission of the CIA? Who are the enemies from whom these ultra-woke spooks are supposed to be protecting us? Look in the mirror, you evil male white supremacist! Their enemy is YOU!

VIDEO: French finally starting to take the threat of Islamism seriously

For some weeks now, the country from which WWW draws the largest part of its readereship has been... wait for it... not the USA... not even Canada, but... here it comes... France! This is passing strange considering that we rarely post more than a sentence or two in the language of Molière. Could it be that the French are more attuned to (or care more about) Walt's warnings about the collapse of Christian civilization under the onslaught of Islamization being tolerated, or even perpetrated by our political and spiritual leaders?

Evidence that more and more Frenchmen and women are starting to say "Il a raison!" comes in the form of a Harris Interactive poll taken this week following publication of an open letter signed by a group of retired generals of the French Army, calling on Président Emmanuel Macron to defend patriotism.

The signatories condemned the "délitement" (disintegration) striking the country, and said they were "disposés à soutenir les politiques qui prendront en considération la sauvegarde de la nation" (willing to support policies that will take into consideration the safeguard of the nation). Now there's something you're not going to hear from generals of the AABC countries. Maybe the French generals are braver than ours, after all.

The letter provoked much soiling of shorts and related tut-tutting from the M Macron's government. Prime Minister Jean Castex condemned the letter and those who signed it "with the greatest firmness." But according to the poll, large numbers of French people agreed with the generals.

   

64% of those polled had heard about the letter, and 38% said they understood exactly what the generals were saying. 58% of the 1613 respondents said they supported the publication of the letter, and nearly half felt the army should intervene to guarantee law and order, even without being asked by the government so to do!

93% of those who identified as Républicains and 94% of supporters of Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN) thought that the laws of France no longer apply in certain places. 84% of polledthose asked agreed with the statement that violence was increasing day by day, (especially in the suburbs of Paris). 73% consider that France is disintegrating. 

According to the generals, France is sliding toward a civil war due to creeping Islamism and the government's failure to control mass migration and creeping Islamism in the country. Two days after publication of the letter, Mme Le Pen invited the signatories to "joindre à notre action pour prendre part à la bataille qui s'ouvre" (join our movement to take part in the battle which is opening).

Not everyone agrees with her. About a third of those polled agreed with her, with disapproval of her position running as high as 86% of the self-declared eco-wienies. But by supporting the military, Mme Le Pen has caused her star to rise even higher. With the next presidential election less than a year off, she has the declared support of 89% of RN sympathisers, and 40% of Républicains.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that a court in Nanterre (in the western suburbs of Paris, where white Christians are almost an endangered species) has acquitted Mme Le Pen and Gilbert Collard, an RN colleague, of breaking hate speech laws by posting on Twitter three images of ISIS atrocities. The court found that while the pictures were violent they fell into the category of political protest, thus protected by the right to freedom of speech.

Mme Le Pen had called the trial "poltically motivated", and defended her "freedom to inform" with the images, "shocking as they are." The court found that the images had been posted by elected officials who had not tried to trivialise violence or "present violence in a favourable light."

Her lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut called the victory important because "freedom of expression has been recognised as complete for a top-ranking politician." That's in France, of course. Might be worth a try on this side of the Atlantic!

Thought for the day

Chuck Jones' Rules for the Roadrunner and Coyote

Those who [like me! Ed.] have known Walt for donkeys' know of my undying love for Warner Brothers cartoons, but only the good ones which were produced for showing in cinemas. The later ones, from about 1960 onwards, produced for TV with the execrable Hanna-Barbera-style "limited animation", bite the big one. 

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the later Roadrunner cartoons, where the motion of the characters' legs and feet is just a circular blur. The BWBDOAT (Best Warner Bros. Director of All Time), Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones would never have allowed such cheap visual tricks. He had very strict rules -- he actually called them "rules", not just a style guide -- for the depiction of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, and the latter's fanatical pursuit of the former.

Here, courtesty of Agent 6, are Mr Jones' original rules for the Roadrunner & Coyote.

Th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks!

UPDATED: Poor Len Canayen: Latest Habs news (good and bad)

Note from Ed.: I don't think we've ever given this space to our National Sports Editor, Poor Len Canayen, two days in a row, but he has something to say about last night's Habs game... and there's nothing on Walt's alleged mind... so....

Tank youse, Hed., for that enthusiastic introduction.  After I wrote yesterday's column (but before the game vs Winnipeg began), two things happened. 

First, I realized that the teams amazing new rookie is Cole Caufield, not "Caulfield", so a lui, mes excuses. Although he didn't score a goal, he was terrific in  yesterday's game -- a real ball of fire, like hot coals. [Geddit? Ed.] He's going to score real soon... maybe tonight vs Ottawa!

That's good news. The bad news is that the Canadiens announced, just before last night's game, that captain Shea Weber would be out with an "upper body injury". That makes six (6) of the regular starting  lineup hors de combat for one reason or another. 

That meant that both Jon Merrill and Erik Gustaffson, recently acquired to shore up the Habs' defence, had to play as the third pair, and, frankly, they didn't look worth whatever it is they're being paid. Fingers were being point at them (as well as rookie blueliner Alexandre Romanov) after les Glorieux fell behind 2-0 and then 3-1 to the Jets just past midway through the game.

Now back to the good news. Les boyz fought back to beat the Jets 5-3 for an absolutely hyuge victory. Nick Suzuki, who's been on the fans' fecal roster lately, scored twice, while Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Armia and Tyler Toffoli added singles. Toffoli's empty-netter was his 26th this year in 49 games. Could he pot 30 before the end of the season? Can't remember last time a Canadien scored that many.

Goalie Jake Allen wasn't brilliant, especially on the third Jets goal, but played well enough, given the  lacunae of the alleged defencemen (see above) in front of him. The win improved the Canadiens' record to 22-18-9, one game closer to clinching the fourth and final playoff spot in the North (read: Canadian) Division. 

The Habs moved to within four points of the third-place Jets (27-20-3) with one game in hand. If they can get ahead of the Jets and finish third, they would face Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the playoffs, and would have a better chance of advancing to the second round which would be (in all likelihood) against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Go Habs go!

UPDATE added by Ed. 2/5/21. We are pleased to report that Cole Caufield scored the game-winner in overtime as les Glorieux came from behind a two-goal deficit to beat Ottawa 3-2. Jeff Petry and Nick Suzuki scored the other two goals and had very strong games. All this without the aforementioned six regulars. Congrats, les boyz!