True Stuff Dept: Funny business names

Ed. here. Walt has been perched on a window ledge on the third floor of the Sawtooth National Bank building in beautiful downtown Fort Mudge since Thursday afternoon. He threatened to jump if there wasn't a stock market rally on Friday, but didn't do so. Officer Pup of the Fort Mudge PD said we should stop watching, and maybe he'll come down on his own. So....

Here are two entries to our ongoing True Stuff contest, both submitted by Agent 3, who is disqualified from winning any prize, but we're going to run them anyway, in our "funny business" section.

Seen in Port Hope ON

Antique store, seen in Bloomfield ON

Keep those cards and letters emails coming in. 

Stay tuned

Once again, the nanny state delivers us from evil

Here's one for the True Facts Department, as reported this weekend by AP via NPR. NPR is to the Paranoid States of America as the CBC is to Canada, except that they don't get funded directly by a leftist government. But their political stance is just the same as if they'd been paid. They sure do love Emperor Trudeau and all  his works, including this latest bit of statist nonsense.

Canada is poised to become the first country in the world to require that a warning be printed on every cigarette. 

The move builds on Canada's mandate to include graphic photo warnings on tobacco products' packaging, a policy that started an international trend when it was introduced two decades ago. 

"We need to address the concern that these messages may have lost their novelty, and to an extent we worry that they may have lost their impact as well," Minister of Mental Health and Addictions [Seriously. That's her title. Ed.] Carolyn Bennett said at a news conference Friday.

"Adding health warnings on individual tobacco products will help ensure that these essential messages reach people, including the youth who often access cigarettes one at a time in social situations, sidestepping the information printed on a package."

A consultation period for the proposed change is set to begin Saturday, and the government anticipates the changes coming into force in the latter half of 2023. While the exact messaging printed on cigarettes could change, Bennett said the current proposal is: "Poison in every puff." 

Bennett also revealed expanded warnings for cigarette packages that include a longer list of smoking's health effects, including stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and peripheral vascular disease. Canada has required the photo warnings since the turn of the millennium, but the images haven't been updated in a decade. 

Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, said he hopes the warnings printed directly on cigarettes become popular internationally, just like the package warnings did. "This is going to set a world precedent," Cunningham said, adding no other country has implemented such regulations. He's hopeful that the warning will make a real difference. "It's a warning that you simply cannot ignore," Cunningham said. "It's going to reach every smoker, with every puff."

Smoking rates have been steadily falling over the years. The latest data from Statistics Canada, released last month, shows 10% of Canadians reported smoking regularly. The government is seeking to cut that rate in half by 2035. StatCan noted that roughly 11% Canadians 20 and older reported being current smokers, compared to just 4% of people aged 15 to 19.

This is a true story, not something made up by the Babylon Bee. Carolyn Bennett is a medical doctor by training, but apparently doesn't practice her profession very much, having given it up for politics in 1995. Such is her charisma and confidence that she has been shuffled through three (and counting) cabinet posts in Liberal governments, including Minister of State for Public Health, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, and now Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

Walt notes that Ms Bennett's annoouncement was made while Mr Socks was in California, engaging in acts of mutual admiration with Gov. Gavin Newsom. They agreed, inter alia, to work together to stop wildfires, although exactly how they would do so wasn't made clear. If Canucks were wondering where Mr Socks gets his nutbar ideas, now they know.

Woke Toronto moves forward on segregated schools

Toronto, aka the Wormy Apple, aka The City Canadians Love to Hate, aspires to be not just a "world-class" but, under Mayor John Jelly, the Wokest City in the World. Facing stiff competition from London (the other one) and San Francisco, it has had to settle for Wokest City in Canuckistan. But it's trying to improve. 

Today (Agent 3 reports)The Toronto District School Board is unveiling a "Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement". In politically incorrect English (archaic language no longer spoken in Canada), that's a segregated school For Blacks Only.

Unable to justify the cost of building a full-sized standard school building for the few dozen students expected to attend, the TDSB, after a year of delays and "virtual learning" has settled for a wing [left or right? Ed.] in Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute in the dreary but integrated Scarborough district, some distance from North York and Etobicoke, where many schools are already segregated, being located in predominantly black neighbourhoods.

According to CBC News, the centre, which the TDSB says is the first of its kind in Canada, "is part of its plan to dismantle anti-Black racism after years of complaints from staff, students and families. It reached a tipping point last year when the board said in its annual report that it had a 'serious racism problem' and anti-Black racism exceeded all other hate incidents by far....

"The ultimate goal is to educate staff and students on anti-Black racism, help affirm the identity of Black students and give them the tools to advocate for themselves when instances of racism do happen, so 'they know how to engage and be responsive'."

Agent 3 questions the boards claim that the new school is the first of its kind.  A short-lived "Afro-Caribbean alternative high school" operated in the mid-1980s. In 1995, a royal commission Report on Learning recommended "black-focused" schools. Some critics it, errr, "segregation", but others said such a school was needed to tackle the 40% dropout rate amongst Toronto’s black yoofs.

The idea of separate schools for blacks and others was even more divisive by the mid-2000s, but the TDSB, dominated by leftist politicos, voted in 2008 to move ahead with a small "Africentric" school. It opened for students in JK to Grade 5 in September of 2009, with 128 kids from across the so-called Greater Toronto Area enrolled. 

Like the new Centre for Excellence &c, the Africentric school had to share a building, and some spaces, with an integrated public school. The Toronto Red Star reports that the library was divided by an imaginary line, with a poster of Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews on one side, and a picture of Nelson Mandela on the other. The latter has books clearly focused on the black experience, while the former is filled with typical children's books. 

Teachers at the Africentric school, most of whom are black, incorporate black history, experiences and contributions into the curriculum. While curriculum from the alternative school was available online following the closure of schools due to the Wuhan flu, Africentric teaching was discontinued.

Agent 3 could not say whether the Africentric school will reopen in September, or whether the new Centre for Excellence &c is intended as a "new and improved" replacement. The Africentric school had challenges right from the get-go. There was no school bus service. Test scores were shaky and enrolment declined to a few dozen in the last year it was open.

The TDSB, "Canada's largest and most diverse school board", has 582 schools, serving 246,000 students, 11% of whom are Black. Statistics show black students have historically performed below average. They're more likely to be labelled as having "special education" needs, suspended and expelled, and streamed into programmes that don’t lead to university or college. Whether they'll do better, now that they don't have to compete with white and (especially) Asian kids, remains to be seen.

UPDATED: "Coup"? Who said "coup"?

"Coup" is the Democrats' word! So is "insurrection". Attempted coup" and "insurrection" are the Democrats' characterizations of the mostly peaceful protest at the Capitol on January 6th. 

The purpose of the demonstration was to stop or at least delay the confirmation of the result of the fake election. Was it organized? Evidently not! Did President Trump order it? Evidently not. If the Dumbocrats had even a scintilla of hard evidence -- e.g. a surreptitious recording of Mr Trump using the word "coup" or anything like it -- last night would have been the time to produce it. But there was nothing except allegations by never-Trumpers and the lickspittle media that "he was at the centre of it."

Of course President Trump was at the centre of things. He was still president, remember, and was in the White House as the events of 1/6 unfolded. He may have been as surprised as most others when the protest got out of hand. But the most he was accused of last night was not acting quickly or firmly enough to put a stop to the "riot". And that's old news.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), Vice-chair of the January 6th Committee, said in her opening statement they had hard evidence that President Trump had a "sophisticated seven-part plan" to overturn the results of the 2020 election. And she averred that the Committee had obtained evidence that the White House had prior information of planned violence. 

All Ms Cheney could produce, though, was a clip of Steve Bannon saying on his January 5th podcast that "all hell is going to break loose" at the Capitol the next day. Mr Bannon's prediction -- accurate enough, as it turned out -- is not evidence of prior knowledge of violence. 

If Ms Cheney is telling the truth and has the goods, let's see what they've got! It is crucial that there be hard evidence, something more than the characterization of Ms Cheney or another committee member. The entire credibility of this committee comes down to that point.

After Ms Cheney wrapped up her very lengthy opening remarks, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), introduced a video package that he said contained footage "mostly" never seen before. It turned out to be a video of protesters breaching the Capitol, with an overlay of President Trump's voice. 

NewsMax anchor Greg Kelly tweeted: "Now they're just running POLITICAL COMMERCIALS. I mean, putting Trump's voice over this video -- it's FAKE. It's HOLLYWOOD. LUDICROUS!" Even NBC News' Lester Holt had to concede that "a lot of these shots will seem familiar to people."

Rep. Cheney's introduction was mostly a preview of  future hearings. She said that the committee’s investigation is "ongoing" and that the Justice Department has only publicly revealed some of its work, and more may come out, errr, later.

Rep. Thompson, closing the two-hour-long piece of "resistance theater", said that the committee will reconvene next week and "examine the lies that convinced those men and others to storm the Capitol, to try to stop the transfer of power, he said, adding "We’re going to take a close look at the first part of Trump's attack on the rule of law, when he hit the fuse that ultimately resulted in the violence of January 6."

Walt sez, don't stay tuned. There was nothing new to see last night, and there will be nothing new later... or ever. Lifetime pct .990.

CORRECTION and update added 12/6. Agent 17 points out that there was more than one casualty connected with the events of January 6th. However, 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, a veterean of the USAF, was the only one shot and killed by a cop. Rosanne Boyland, 34, of Kennesaw GA, Kevin Greeson, 55, of Athens AL, and Benjamin Phillips, 50 of Ringtown PA, died from other forms of trauma.

Further reading: "History Tells Us That What Happened on Januaryh 6th Was Not an Insurrection", on Dr. Rich Swier's blogsite, 11/6/33.

Disgraceful! West Point to remove portrait of Robert E. Lee

Another wave in the tsunami of leftist iconoclasm sweeping America is about to hit West Point, the military academy of the United States Army (President Joe Brandon, Commander-in-Chief).

For 70 years, a portrait of General Robert E. Lee, the greatest American military leader of all time, has graced the Academy's library. But the twenty-foot portrait, showing General Lee in his Confederate uniform, could soon be coming down.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 established a commission to rename military bases that honour Confederate generals, and otherwise erase from memory all references to the "enemy" in the War of the Secession, in the name of political (if not historical) correctness. 

The commission is expected to recommend that West Point -- now led by the first black Superintendent in its history, Lieutenant-General Darryl Williams -- remove anything that commemorates Robert E. Lee's association with the Confederacy.

The creation of the commission was one of the reasons President Trump, who had given the commencement address at West Point in 2020, vetoed the 2021 NDAA. After his veto was overridden by Congress, his administration named four individuals to the commission, all of whom were immediately removed by Brandon's Defense Secretary Lloyd James Austin, who is black. 

In Ken Burns' Civil War series, a freed slave is quoted as saying "Bottom rail on top now!" And so it is in this case. Retired Admiral Michelle Howard, the Navy’s first female four-star admiral and the first black woman to command a Navy ship, now serves as chair of the iconoclasm committee. 

Other members include retired General Thomas Bostick, the first black graduate of West Point to serve as chief of engineers of the US Army. The downgrading and degrading of General Lee, even though he was opposed to both slavery and secession is nothing less than the revenge of the Democrats and triumph of their diversity hires.

Robert E. Lee was a man of deep integrity, whose ancestors helped found the United States of America. He was born, it was said, in the same room as two signers of the Declaration of Independence -- his uncles Richard Henry Lee and Francis Lightfoot Lee. He graduated first in his class at West Point, and went on to become Superintendent of the Academy. 

Later, Lieutenant-Colonel Lee fought with distinction in the Mexican-American War, and led the unit that went to Harper's Ferry to quash John Brown's little rebellion. Within days of the South's attack on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln offered Colonel Lee -- he had been promoted -- command of all the Union forces. 

General Lee declined, saying that he could not take up arms against his "country", by which he meant the Commonwealth of Virginia. (It was common, in those days, for people to refer to their state in that manner.) "If Virginia stands by the old Union," he wrote to his son Custis, "so will I. But if she secedes...then I will follow my native state with my sword, and if need be, with my life."

Robert E. Lee was a great American patriot. To dishonour him by removing statues, paintings and other monuments to his very existence is disgraceful.

True Facts Dept: The tale of the amphibious pitcher

Agent 34 has submitted this entry to Walt's ongoing True Stuff competition. Ed. suspects that the story is a bit dated, but there is no statute of limitations here, and the story is true! 

Ed.'s research reveals that Patrick Michael Venditte Jr. is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Miami Marlins

Venditte's rare ability to pitch with either arm -- he's ambidextrous -- forced baseball leagues, both major and minor, to create a special rule for ambidextrous pitchers. It is known as "the Pat Venditte Rule". Duh.