Political correctness kills black student on field trip

The Toronto District School Board is the largest in Canada, as well as the looniest. They're just crazy for inclusion, diversity and political correctness. Check out the examples in "Canada's loony left, pro-Muslim 'public' school board", WWW 16/1/18 and "Chinese-Canadians protest hijab hoax", 29/1/18. On Friday we had another head-scratcher from the TDSB, in the form of a memorial ceremony for Jeremiah Perry, a former student at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute (read: high school), one of the hundreds run [into the ground? Ed.] by the TDSB.

C.W. Jefferys is located in a predominantly black area [Thank you for not using the G-word. Ed.] in northwest Toronto. The majority of the school-goers are "students of colour". The school isnot noted for academic achievement, nor even for having good football or basketball teams. It is one of many TDSB schools which have "challenges" and "opportunities", including the "opportunity" to prove to a skeptical public that diversity is Canada's strength, and inclusivity can work to improve the lot of kids like Jeremiah Perry.

As part of their politically correct programme to make sure everyone gets treated the same, the TDSB promotes field trips and holiday adventures, so that black kids who've never been out of the, errr, city, can enjoy the beauties of Canada's countryside, just like the white kids. In July of 2017, staff at C.W. Jefferys organized a week-long canoe trip through Ontario's famous Algonquin Park, about three hours' drive and hundreds of light years in character north of the Wormy Apple.

Kids who wished to go on the trip didn't need money. This was all paid for by the taxpayer, natch. They didn't even need to have any experience canoeing, because they'd be taught the basics by the teachers and guides who would accompany them at all times. But they did need to know how to swim (just in case the lessons didn't take), and swim tests were duly administered at a local pool.

Here's where the political correctness kicks in, with sad consequences for Jeremiah Perry. Jeremiah, you see, didn't know how to swim, and failed the test. So by rights he should have been left behind. But hey, "No child left behind!" Right? Especially if the child is, errr, non-white and might therefore feel discriminated against. So Jeremiah went along with all the others.

As surely as the sun rises in the east, the unintended consequences of too much political correctness befell Jeremiah on 15 July 2017, when he went swimming with his mates, at dusk, sans life-jacket or other PFD. He soon disappeared under the waters of Big Trout Lake. His body was found the next day by Ontario Provincial Police search and rescue divers.

Jeremiah's death spurred investigations by the OPP and TDSB, who pointed the finger of blame at a teacher who was acting as a supervisor on the trip. A charge of criminal negligence causing death was laid this past July -- a year later -- and the accused teacher is now on "home assignment" meaning he gets paid not to come to work.

The TDSB, for its part, implemented a number of new measures to ensure safety on future field trips, including a requirement that parents be notified if their child passes or fails mandatory swim tests. A prominent accounting firm was hired by the province of Ontario to conduct a review of outdoor education policies at Ontario school boards. Its finding have not been made public.

On Friday, the C.W. Jefferys gym was renamed to honour Jeremiah Perry. Not because he was a great athlete. Not because he was a great all-round student. But (although this wasn't said) because he was the first black student in Ontario to die because of political correctness. That's all ye know and all ye need to know.

HS principal reported to HR police over "Black List"

Peggy Aitchison, the principal of the Etobicoke (Ontario) School of the Arts, has found out the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished, especially when the do-gooder is an educated white woman (read: Ms Aitchison) and the beneficiaries are less-educated black yoof.

The ESA is a surprisingly elitist high school run by the loony left Toronto District School Board, where students (of all races, faiths, yada yada, of course) can study drama [Perhaps to become future prime ministers? Ed.], meeja, film-making, music and dance -- all the artsy-fartsy stuff that will make them underproductive citizens when (if?) they grow up.

Pictures of the ESA student body reveal that the majority of the kids are white, which may or may not be odd since white folks are a minority in the Greater [sic] Toronto Area. But some of the students are black, or, as the Toronto Red Star styles it, "Black". And some of those kids -- the Black kids -- are, errr, underachieving. Concerned about how to bring these yoofs up to the level of their peers, Peggy Aitchison compiled a list of all "students of colour" at the school, which she passed out to teachers so they could give the underachievers extra help. You can see what's coming, can't you?

George Brown [sic], the parent of an 18-year-old student at ESA, found out about what he calls the "Black list", and filed what he says is a "human rights claim" against both Principal Aitchison and the TDSB. "It took the photos of the black students in the yearbook and places it beside their names," he told CTV News. "It is not being done on the basis of collected data. It is profiled!"

Mr Brown went on to explain that the list also placed students in categories based on mixed race. "You were in a different kind of category, as if you had some kind of white in your background, maybe you aren't, I guess, stupid. But you were put in another list is you were black from Africa or Jamaica." Hmmm.

At a meeting of parents earlier this month, Ms Aitchison admitted to creating the list, and apologized profusely, in the grand old Canadian tradition, saying that she only meant to help measure achievement at the school. "Upon reflection and discussion with others," she said, "I recognized that this was a limited, flawed, and ultimately inappropriate approach to identifying gaps in supports and so, that very same day, I retracted that compilation that was based solely on perception."

Mr Brown told CTV he doesn't accept the apology because her explanation "wasn't enough" for him. He and his son (who Walt assumes was on the Black list) say they want the TDSB to provide human rights training to all staff and to provide assurances that no more lists like the one found at ESA will ever be created. And they want Ms Aitchison should apologize to every student on the list individually.

Ms Aitchison responded by asking to be transferred to another school, and the TDSB said "So let it be written; so let it be done."

So, farewell then, Chief Wahoo

An assiduous reader reminds us that the Toronto District School Board has been justly ridiculed on WWW prior to the Islamophiliac nonsense described in "Canada's loony left, pro-Muslim 'public' school board", WWW 16/1/18. Last fall, in "PC gone mad! Toronto public school board drops 'Chief' from job titles", WWW 11/10/17, Walt quoted at length from Post Media's Christie Blatchford, who took the TDSB to task for its decision to excise the word "Chief" from all its job titles, in the interests of not giving offence to Canada's First Nations (read: indigenous peoples... or... wait for it... Indians).

The TDSB's ultra-liberal, ultra-PC diktat was provoked by the fake-news controversy in the Excited States of America about whether the Cleveland baseball team, known for decades as the "Indians", should change their name to something less "racist". Since that idea was a non-starter, the SJWs were demanding that the team get rid of its mascot, whose smiling face has adorned its caps, uniforms and other paraphernalia since 1947. His name is... or was... Chief Wahoo.

I say "was" because today the Cleveland Indians caved. Team owner Paul Dolan announced that the Chief would be around for the 2018 season, but would then go to the Happy Hunting Ground to join Mr Rebel (Boone County KY High School), Colonel Reb (Ole Miss), and the old Darkie toothpaste guy.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the meeja, "The club ultimately agreed with my position that the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use." Playing Mortimer Snerd to Mr Manfred's Edgar Bergen, Mr Dolan said, "We have consistently maintained that we are cognizant and sensitive to both sides of the discussion. While we recognize many of our fans have a longstanding attachment to Chief Wahoo, I'm ultimately in agreement with Commissioner Manfred's desire to remove the logo from our uniforms in 2019."

So Walt's use of the past tense was premature. Chief Wahoo gets one more year, during which the Indians will continue to wear his image on their sleeves and caps. Merchandise featuring the beloved mascot will continue to be sold in northeast Ohio "to retain the trademark."

What happens in 2019? Will the designers just kind of lighten Chief Wahoo up, changing him to pink and then to white, like they did with the Darkie dark guy who became the Darlie white guy? Or will they paint out the feather, make him darker and change his name to something more in line with the city he represents, like, say, "Prince Leroy"? I can hardly wait to find out.

Oh (as Columbo used to say), there's one more thing. The forces of political correctness hit a double on this one, but the inning isn't over yet. They'll keep batting until they force the Cleveland team to drop the moniker "Indians" as well. And then? There will be other racist team names to expunge from the vocabulary of American sports: the Kansas City Chiefs, the Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Blackhawks, whose mascot is the coolest Indian in all of sports. His name is Tommy Hawk.

Chinese-Canadians protest hijab hoax

For Canadians, today is National Hug-a-Muslim Day. Canuck snowflakes, liberals and SJWs are busy in Québec City and elsewhere in the Great No-longer-white North, kicking off "Islamic Heritage Month" (seriously) by commemorating the first anniversary of an attack on a Québec City mosque that left six dead and several others injured. See "What REALLY happened at Québec City???", WWW 5/2/17 (includes VIDEO with Gavin McInnes).

Unfortunately for the Canadian Islamists (read: the National Council of Canadian Muslims) and Islamophiles, their "day of action" to "memorialize Islamophobia" -- see "Canadian Islamophiles plan National Hug-a-Muslim Day", WWW 18/1/18 -- has had a shadow cast over it by rallies in Montréal and elsewhere at which hundreds of Chinese-Canadians protested last month's "hijab hoax", in which a Muslim girl slandered their community by falsely claiming that an "Asian" (read: Chinese) man cut her hijab as she walked to school. See 'Anti-Muslim hate crime' hoax embarrasses Canuck Liberals", WWW 15/1/18.

In a presser organized by (((Shari Schwartz-Maltz))), media officer of the loony left Toronto District School Board, Khawlah Noman, an 11-year-old sixth-grader, accused "an Asian man" of pulling off her jacket hood and cutting the bottom of her hijab. The girl's emotional pain and suffering -- "I'm just a kid!" -- made headlines around the world, with politicians and public figures furiously signalling their virtue and their support for diversity in general and Muslims in particular. "My heart goes out to Khawlah Noman following this morning's cowardly attack on her in Toronto," tweeted Prime Minister Trudeau II. "Canada is an open and welcoming country, and incidents like this cannot be tolerated."

Miss Noman's claim was later rubbished by Toronto, who announced on January 15th that an extensive investigation had been conducted, as a result of which they had concluded that "it did not happen." Period. No explanation, and no apology at the time, although the girl's family later issued a rather mild apology to "all Canadians". The TDSB and Ms (((Schwartz-Maltz))), the Prime Minister and the lesbian Premier of Ontario merely said they were "relieved it didn't happen."

No-one was ever charged with, say, public mischief or filing a false report, let alone inciting hatred against "Asians" (read: Chinese). Jenny Wong, a Chinese-Canadian living in Montréal, told People's Daily Online, "The nature of this incident is vile. It is definitely a humiliation to Asian community, which has always been picked on. Even an 11-year-old knows that we are easy targets. This is unacceptable,” Jenny Wong, a 25-year-old Chinese Canadian living in Montreal, told People’s Daily Online on January 24th. "My friends and I will join a rally initiated by the local Chinese community in Montreal this Saturday, demanding an apology from the girl, the Canadian government, as well as a voice for the Asian community."

Two protest rallies were held in Toronto and Calgary earlier last week. Jenny Liu, a Chinese student at the University of Toronto, said "The Asian community in Canada doesn't have political muscle and is discriminated against or victimized. Canadian authorities and media outlets did not even carry out a thorough investigation before supporting the liar. Our rally slogan is focused on that lie: 'Hoax Today, Horror Tomorrow.' We feel hurt, and we demand that our voice is heard."

Canadian Islamophiles plan National Hug-a-Muslim Day

The timing of hijab hoax girl's bathetic [There is such a word.* Ed.] little stunt last Friday seems to have been a little off, as it has cast something of a cloud over plans for a "National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia", to be held across Canuckistan on January 29th.

That's right, folks. Canadian Islamists (read: the National Council of Canadian Muslims), aided and abetted by well-meaning politicians and friends like (((Shari Schwartz-Maltz))) in government, the (((controlled media))) and the human rights industry, intended to cap off "Islamic Heritage Month" (read: hug-a-Muslim month) with a day of action in Ottawa and Toronto to "memorialize Islamophobia".

January 29th is the first anniversary of an attack on a Québec City mosque that left six dead and several others injured. This is what the NCCM wants "memorialized", while certain other events, like the October 2014 killings of two Canadian soldiers -- Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent -- by two "radicalized Muslims" or "homegrown jihadis", are forgotten.

In "Canadians don't need a 'National Day' scolding us for being Islamophobic", (National Post, 17/1/18), Barbara Kay writes, "We deplore the horrific Quebec City mosque murders. Nevertheless, an annual day of national atonement sends the wrong message." She points out that Alexandre Bissonnette, the alleged perpetrator, had no known ties to violence-promoting groups, nor was he ever charged with terrorism. His motive remains unclear to this day. But, Ms Kay argues "an official Day of Remembrance focused on Muslim victimhood would receive funding to perpetuate in schools and other institutions the notion that Muslims are systemically targeted for hatred."

And that, dear readers, is the whole point of the hijab hoax girl's publicity stunt and the NCCM proposal. Ms Kay reminds us that the NCCM pushed for the inclusion in the Toronto District School Board [Again with the TDSB! Ed.] guidebook to Islamic Heritage Month of this definition of Islamophobia: "Islamophobia refers to fear, prejudice, hatred or dislike directed against Islam or Muslims, or towards Islamic politics or culture." Once the telling phrase "Islamic politics or culture" came to public attention, attracting forceful criticism that embarrassed the TDSB (Hello again, Shari Schwartz-Maltz!), the definition was narrowed.

Does the NCCM really want to talk about Islamic culture -- the culture that includes honour killings like those of Aqsa Parvez and four female members of the Shafia family? How about we have a memorial day for those victims of Islamic culture?

The highlight of National Be Nice to Muslims Day is supposed to be the tabling in Canada's House of Commons of the Standing Committee on Heritage report on Motion M-103. M-103 isn't a law and never will be. It's only a motion. Here, copied from the web page of Iqra Khalid, MP (and a Muslim, in case you didn't guess), is the text of the motion.

M103 - Systemic racism and religious discrimination
That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) recognize the need to quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear; (b) condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination and take note of House of Commons’ petition e-411 and the issues raised by it; and (c) request that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage undertake a study on how the government could (i) develop a whole-of-government approach to reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination including Islamophobia, in Canada, while ensuring a community-centered focus with a holistic response through evidence-based policy-making, (ii) collect data to contextualize hate crime reports and to conduct needs assessments for impacted communities, and that the Committee should present its findings and recommendations to the House no later than 240 calendar days from the adoption of this motion, provided that in its report, the Committee should make recommendations that the government may use to better reflect the enshrined rights and freedoms in the Constitution Acts, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Buried in all that jargon and verbiage is some pretty dangerous stuff, e.g. "collect data to contextualize hate crime reports". How would such data be collected? Why, through "social media surveillance", of course! Canucks, better watch what you write on FB or in the comments section of news websites -- the few that still allow commenting... sometimes... as long as you don't offend Muslims. And how about "conduct needs assessments for impacted communities"? Don't be surprised if the "impacted community" (read: Muslims) needs money for its mosques and schools where young Canadians can be taught how barbaric cultural practices like female genital mutilation, honour crimes and the killing of infidels are all right and good for followers of the Religion of Peace.

The most objectionable feature, though, of M-103 is its singling out of the Muslim community as the one minority group most in need of protection from "system racism" and "Islamophobia". What about the (((Jews))), asks Barbara Kay. What about indigenous peoples, especially indigenous women who keep being found dead along roadsides and river banks? What about the "black community"? Never mind BLM; don't all lives matter? Errr, no, not according to M-103 -- just the lives of Muslims.

Even though it has not yet been officially approved by Canada's Parliament, M-103 is already being used as the basis for self-censorship remarkable even for the politically correct Canuck lamestream media. Some people have asked by the CBC and other major networks didn't call BS on the hijab hoax even as the girl was speaking at the TDSB-arranged presser. The answer is simple. No-one wanted to be the first to cast doubt on the story told by a young, female member of the oppressed Muslim minority. Even the Toronto police were guarded in describing the false report, saying only that "it didn't happen."

Contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, M-103 is already being used to curtail freedom of speech. The term "Islamophobia", with its multiple and sinister meanings is, in itself, an example of "fake news", and should not be recognized as a "thing"... because it isn't! To state that there is systemic hatred and racial discrimination in Canada, is bogus and to single out one religious group for special treatment is divisive. If there's going to be some sort of "day of action" in the Great No-longer-white North on January 29th, Walt suggests something along the lines of the demonstration pictured here.

Canadians! Stand up for free speech! Write or e-mail your Member of Parliament! (Click here to find out who's supposed to be representing you.) Or e-mail Justin Trudeau Himself. Tell them what you think... while you still can!

Canada's loony left, pro-Muslim "public" school board

There are two publicly-funded education systems in the province of Ontario, Canada. (Well OK, there are four, if you count the French-language counterparts to the two main systems, which are anglophone -- English-speaking.) There are Catholic schools, which are not quite what the name implies, since, being taxpayer-funded, they are required to admit all comers, Catholic or not. And there are "public" schools, which are supposed to be non-religious, but in practice push the new, politically correct religion of secular humanism.

The biggest public school board in Ontario -- in Canada, in fact -- is the Toronto District School Board, which is responsible for Pauline Johnson Junior Public School, in Scarberia, the northeastern ghetto of the Great and Diverse City of Toronto (John Tory, Prop.) That the school is this month celebrating "Tamil Heritage Month" tells you something about the character of the community, and the politics of the TDSB.

Pauline Johnson School is attended by students from literally dozens of different ethnic backgrounds. The majority are not "old stock Canadians", to borrow the appellation of former Prime Minister Steven Harpoon. There is not only a great mixing of races, but a great mixing of religions -- the diversity which Mayor Tory, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Prime Minister Justin "Mr Socks" Trudeau keep telling people makes Canada Strong. (Agent 3 says diversity certainly makes Toronto what it is. Whatever can he mean?) There are a few Christians, some Buddhists, some Hindus, some Sikhs and, inevitably, some Muslims.

One of the Muslim students is Khawlah Noman, who for the rest of her life is likely to be known as the "hijab hoax girl", following the unravelling yesterday of her story about having been attacked by a man who pulled back the hood of her parka, so as to cut (with a scissors!) her hijab -- an Islamophobic, anti-Muslim hate crime if ever there was one! Except there wasn't one. It was all a product of Miss Noman's vivid imagination.

OK, so the kid made the whole thing up. Some kind of plea for help, perhaps. Let it go at that. But the Toronto District School Board did not let it go at that. Today, questions are being asked about why, less than four hours after the initial police report, the TDSB organized a presser -- "press availability" is what they call it nowadays -- to let the tearful 11-year-old face television cameras and throngs of reporters who broadcast her horrific (and unlikely) story to the world?

In the photo we see Miss Noman, her mother, and her 10-year-old brother, who supposedly witnessed the attack. The concerned and caring lady comforting the girl is (((Shari Schwartz-Maltz))), TDSB Manager for Media Relations and Issues Management, who (a source tells WWW) set up the exercise in virtue-signalling. Even if the attack had happened, the appearance would have been unusual, as victims of crime who are minors are traditionally not identified by police or the media, let alone put before cameras to recite a rehearsed narrative and weep on cue.

(((Ms Schwartz-Maltz))) is no stranger to the pages of WWW. She is referred to in "Muslim prayers in Toronto schools: a Muslim viewpoint", WWW 7/7/11, defending a decision of the TDSB to set aside prayer rooms in its schools so the little Muslim kids can say their Friday prayers, while being taught about Islam and the virtues of Islamic society. This was before ISIS, so rumours that ISIS recruiting literature was passed out were likely untrue. It would have been Al-Qaeda, not ISIS.

That the Toronto District School Board is friendly to the so-called Religion of Peace is an undertatement. But hey, that's nothing more than compliance with the policy of the Ontario government (K. Wynne, Prop.) See "Islamization of Ontario schools still part of government agenda", WWW 15/4/12.

But it's not just Muslims that the TDSB likes. They're great believers in affirmative action, human rights (for some humans, at least), social justice and BLM. In a show of politically correctness, surprising even for Ontario, the Board decided, back in 2009, to set up an "Africentric Alternative School" (read: segregated school). It opened in the northwest corner of Toronto "in an attempt to reduce dropout rates and improve an achievement gap among the city's black students. While the school is open to students of all backgrounds, many [note: "many", not "all"] of the teachers are black to serve as role models for students."

The Africentric School was to be a three-year experiment. (((Ms Schwartz-Maltz))) appears again in an article in the Toronto Red Star (from which the above quote was taken) to spin the 2012 report on the results -- three years after the report was published, kinda quietly. The report found that in 2012, only 43% of students who started at the AAS and had not reached graduate age were still enrolled, while 57% had transferred to another school.

The report also identified "differences" between the original idea of the school "and the existing frameworks the school operates within," as well as funding challenges that are a "limiting factor to the school's success." (((Ms Schwartz-Maltz))) called it "a work in progress". Walt has been unable to discover whether any further progress has been made in the 2+ years since, or, indeed, whether the Africentric School is still in existence.

Speaking of affirmative action... a name that has been conveniently forgotten by proponents of the TDSB's liberal agenda is that of Chris Spence, who was the Director of the Toronto District School Board at the time of the Africentric School experiment. Dr Spence, as he then was, should have been a role model extraordinaire for the city's black yoof, being head of the biggest school board in Canada and a credit his race, yada yada yada. Unfortunately, he was obliged to resign, at the end of 2012, over allegations that his Ph.D. thesis was rife with "unattributed passages", plagiarized (copied) from other sources. When last heard from, Mr Spence was fighting for compensation for "constructive dismissal". He has not complained to the Ontario Human Rights Commission about systemic racism.

Speaking of race and black yoof, the latest politically correct folly of the TDSB is the cancellation, last November, of the "School Resource Officer" programme run for it by the Toronto Police Service. The programme placed uniformed police officers in dozens of mainly minority-majority public schools across Toronto. While SRO is SOP in many inner city schools in the USA, it was a first for Canada when introduced in 2008, a year after Grade 9 student Jordan Manners, age 15, was shot and killed at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate, one of Toronto's blackest schools.

Ever since, the SRO programme has drawn sharp criticism from activist groups such as Black Lives Matter Toronto, which made very vocal demands to scrap it as one measure to address "anti-black racism" in the education system. The Board trustees voted 18-3 in favour of cancelling the programme, after a report by staff recommended eliminating the program because "it caused some students to feel uncomfortable and even intimidated." That was in November. Last week the neighbouring Peel District School Board received a report showing that students benefit from the SRO programme in its schools. Go figure.

Every now and then militant secular humanists and anti-Catholic bigots call for the end of public funding for Ontario's Roman Catholic schools. As long as policies like those of the Toronto District School Board -- we haven't even talked about the new pro-LGBT sex ed curriculum yet -- are causing parents by the 1000s to enroll their non-Catholic children in the Catholic system, Catholic schools are in no danger of being defunded. There should be a lesson there for the public school boards, but will they learn it? Two chances: slim and none.

Sick and tired of the ultra-PC Toronto school board? Follow these links!

The Toronto District School Board, responsible for the maladministration of Toronto's "public" schools, is well known as a hotbed of political correctness, secular humanism, and racism (of the anti-white variety). And let's not forget continual promotion of diversity, multiculturalism and the LGBT homosexuals-are-normal agenda.

The TDSB has no idea of how to manage a budget or run an educational system, but that's beside the point. What counts is that they are champions of progress and a tolerant and inclusive community -- except for heterosexual white people.

Some people are sick, sore and tired of the TDSB's constant carping about racism, bullying, homophobia yada yada yada. And some people are prepared to call out the TDSB publicly. One angry white guy is Arnie Lemaire, the real person behind Blazing Cat Fur, a blog highly critical of the TDSB's "theatre of the absurd".

Back in March, M Lemaire wrote that "OISE [the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education] and the TDSB need to be purged, or burnt to the ground whichever is more effective". Can you imagine the reaction of the poor dears at the TDSB? They felt so intimidated/bullied/threatened/all of the above that they called in Toronto's finest to investigate Arnie for threatening arson... or maybe forced enemas! [But wouldn't they enjoy that? Ed.]

"We received a knock at our door a little after 8 a.m.," M Lemaire told the Toronto Sun. "Two detectives...identified themselves and asked if they could come in to discuss a matter. They presented a photocopy of my post about the TDSB teaching children that the Black Panthers were a harmless social justice organization link" and specifically the "OISE and the TDSB need to be purged, or burnt to the ground" stinger.

Arnie told the flatfoots he thought everybody would understand it was meant figuratively and obviously not literally. "It was nothing but a rhetorical flourish. It's the language of blogging."

He also told the Sun, "I have to wonder why a non-threat was reacted to with near hysteria... To my mind this was simply an effort by the TDSB to intimidate me into silence and is plainly an abuse of power. It won't work, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that an organization that holds up psychopaths such as Che Guevara and the Black Panthers as role models for children would resort to such thuggery."

The police, he said, "were immediately satisfied with that explanation and assured me there would be no charges."

Here's a comment on the story from Laura Rosa Cohen, with a good quote from Mark Steyn. To Arnie, Laura and Mark, we say "Keep speaking out." Nolite illegitimi vos carborundum!