On Wednesday morning, President Trump announced that the United States would temporarily close its border with Canada. He wrote on Twitter: “We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1240271178692005889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canada-us-to-close-border-to-non-essential-travel/">Globe and Mail</a> reported on Tuesday night:
<blockquote>An official said the two countries are in advanced talks but are still working out the details, including what the definition of non-essential travelers will be. Generally speaking, the official defined non-essential travel as tourism and cross-border shoppers. The federal government has stressed that border closures will not affect Canadians and permanent residents returning to the country …
There is more work to be done to finalize the deal, the official said, but they underscored the partial shutdown would still allow for medical supplies, food and other goods to continue to cross the border. Both countries want to keep going with trade and commerce, the official said. That includes things such as auto parts, which the official said would continue to be moved.</blockquote>
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada would close its borders to non-citizens.
<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6682040/coronavirus-trudeau-address-nation/">GlobalNews.ca</a> reported:
<blockquote>Speaking to reporters from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Trudeau said Canada will be closing it’s borders to people who are not Canadian citizens, or permanent residents of Canada. Trudeau said exceptions will be made for air crews, diplomats, immediate family members and U.S. citizens. He said second, airlines will ban anyone who is showing symptoms of the virus from getting on a plane. “That means anyone who has symptoms will not be able enter Canada,” he said.</blockquote>
Trudeau said Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Montreal Trudeau Airport and Calgary International Airport would still receive international flights. He added that domestic flights and flights from the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean will still be in service.
Canada&#8217;s Minister of Health Patty Hajdu stated: &#8220;Now is the time to pull out all the stops to flatten the curve or slow the rate of infection. This will be very hard and it will require much personal sacrifice. It will require all of us helping in many different ways. The measures that we take now will protect people in our communities that are most at risk and ensure that our healthcare system can meet any surge in demand.&#8221;
She continued, &#8220;All of us can take actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Stay at home; wash your hands well and often. Practice social distancing. I know that many people are thinking of running out of food and other essential supplies; please note that we are not running out of food or other supplies. The Retail Council of Canada is working very closely with our government to ensure that our supply chain remains strong. Please don&#8217;t buy more than you need in a two-week period. Remember your neighbors; those people that buy just in time. Buy only what you need; be kind to one another. Even though this is going to be very hard, Canada is strong; Canadians are strong, and we&#8217;ve been through times that are hard before. The things that we do now that require sacrifice and generosity will get us through this time together.&#8221;

Members Of The Coronavirus Task Force Hold Press Briefing

BREAKING: Trump Closing U.S. Border With Canada

Canada

Donald Trump

On Monday morning, the Associated Press reported that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he will close the country’s borders to non-citizens.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will close his country&#39;s border to non-citizens amid <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> pandemic &#8211; <a href="https://twitter.com/AP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AP</a>
&mdash; FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX13News/status/1239608654564921344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6682040/coronavirus-trudeau-address-nation/">GlobalNews.ca</a> reported:
<blockquote>Speaking to reporters from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, Trudeau said Canada will be closing it’s borders to people who are not Canadian citizens, or permanent residents of Canada. Trudeau said exceptions will be made for air crews, diplomats, immediate family members and U.S. citizens. He said second, airlines will ban anyone who is showing symptoms of the virus from getting on a plane. “That means anyone who has symptoms will not be able enter Canada,” he said.</blockquote>
Trudeau said Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Montreal Trudeau Airport and Calgary International Airport will still receive international flights. He added that domestic flights and flights from the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean will still be in service.
Canada&#8217;s Minister of Health Patty Hajdu stated: &#8220;Now is the time to pull out all the stops to flatten the curve or slow the rate of infection. This will be very hard and it will require much personal sacrifice. It will require all of us helping in many different ways. The measures that we take now will protect people in our communities that are most at risk and ensure that our healthcare system can meet any surge in demand.&#8221;
She continued, &#8220;All of us can take actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Stay at home; wash your hands well and often. Practice social distancing. I know that many people are thinking of running out of food and other essential supplies; please note that we are not running out of food or other supplies. The Retail Council of Canada is working very closely with our government to ensure that our supply chain remains strong. Please don&#8217;t buy more than you need in a two-week period. Remember your neighbors; those people that buy just in time. Buy only what you need; be kind to one another. Even though this is going to be very hard, Canada is strong; Canadians are strong, and we&#8217;ve been through times that are hard before. The things that we do now that require sacrifice and generosity will get us through this time together.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-canadian-prime-minister-justin-trudeaus-wife-sophie-has-coronavirus">The Daily Wire</a> reported last Friday that Trudeau&#8217;s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, had been quarantined after testing positive for the coronavirus. Trudeau&#8217;s office <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/americas/sophie-gregoire-trudeau-coronavirus/index.html">said</a> in a statement:
<blockquote>The Prime Minister is in good health with no symptoms. As a precautionary measure and following the advice of doctors, he will be in isolation for a planned period of 14 days. Also on the advice of doctors, he will not be tested at this stage since he has no symptoms. For the same reason, doctors say there is no risk to those who have been in contact with him recently.&#8221;</blockquote>
Sophie Trudeau later delivered a personal statement:
<blockquote>First, I&#8217;d like to say a big thank you to all of you who have reached out to me asking how I&#8217;m doing. Although I&#8217;m experiencing uncomfortable symptoms of the virus, I will be back on my feet soon. Being in a quarantine at home is nothing compared to other Canadian families who might be going through this and for those facing more serious health concerns. We will get through this situation together. Please share the facts and take your health seriously. I send you all my courage and warm thoughts (but only &#8216;get better&#8217; hugs from afar!)&#8221;</blockquote>
&nbsp;

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Holds Press Briefing At UN

BREAKING: Trudeau To Close Canadian Borders To Non-Citizens

Coronavirus

Justin Trudeau

Exiting royals Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have hit another roadblock. Canada will no longer be footing the bill for the couple&#8217;s pricey security fees.
According to a <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8052533/Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markles-security-costs-wont-paid-Canadian-taxpayers.html">Daily Mail</a> report published Thursday, Canada revealed this week that they will no longer be paying for Harry and Meghan&#8217;s security fees once the duo officially drop their royal duties at the end of March.
&#8220;In what will be seen as a humiliation for the couple, the Mounties said they would no longer pay for their security after March 31,&#8221; the British outlet reports.
Canada&#8217;s announcement, in effect, confirmed the country&#8217;s financial assistance for the royals since November.
The Daily Mail suggests that the British people might be the ones on the hook for the fees via taxation, despite the couple renouncing their royal roles. &#8220;This means the cost of round-the-clock protection for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and baby son Archie — which could run to millions of pounds — will fall on UK taxpayers,&#8221; the outlet notes.
The news comes on the heels of Harry and Meghan being banned from using the word &#8220;royal&#8221; in their branding — a directive handed down from Harry&#8217;s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
“Harry and Meghan have spent tens of thousands of pounds on a new Sussex Royal website to complement their hugely popular Instagram feed,” <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8018043/Queen-BANS-Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markle-using-Sussex-Royal-brand-cost-thousands.html">The Daily Mail</a> reported. “They have also sought to register Sussex Royal as a global trademark for a range of items and activities, including clothing, stationery, books and teaching materials.”
The couple, who announced their split from royal life in January, will now have to change their Instagram, website, and charity name, it seems.
This week, the couple updated their <a href="https://sussexroyal.com/spring-2020-transition/">website</a> addressing the &#8220;royal&#8221; ban.
&#8220;While there is not any jurisdiction by the monarchy over the use of the word &#8216;royal&#8217; overseas,&#8221; Harry and Meghan said, &#8220;the Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use any iteration of the word &#8216;royal&#8217; in any territory.&#8221;
Roya Nikkhah, royal correspondent for The Sunday Times, found the statement from the couple &#8220;a bit petulant,&#8221; according to a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prince-harry-meghan-markle-petulant-response-statement-queen-removing-uk-royal-family-labels-sussex/">CBS News</a> report.
&#8220;It was almost a little bit petulant,&#8221; said Nikkhah, noting that the couple was in effect saying: &#8220;We&#8217;re doing this. We don&#8217;t have to do this but we&#8217;re doing this.&#8221;
In January, Harry and Meghan dropped the shocking bombshell on the Queen that they would be leaving behind their royal duties and working to become financially independent. About a week after the announcement, her majesty financially cut off the couple and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/seismic-queen-financially-cuts-off-harry-and-meghan-strips-titles-heres-her-statement">stripped them of their titles</a>.
“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of my family,” the Queen said in a statement, adding that she “support[s] their wish for a more independent life.”
“I want to thank them for all their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and am particularly proud of how Meghan has so quickly become one of the family,” the statement continued.
“It is my whole family’s hope that today’s agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life,&#8221; the Queen closed.

Harry And Meghan Markle

‘HUMILIATION’: Canada Delivers More Bad News To Harry And Meghan

Meghan Markle

Prince Harry

A far-left professor in Canada is on a tear against the wildly popular kids&#8217; cartoon, &#8220;Paw Patrol,&#8221; which he claims is &#8220;capitalist propaganda&#8221; that leads children away from Marxism, teaching them to critique and distrust government and embrace individualism.
King’s University College professor Liam Kennedy has published an entire treatise on the subject of &#8220;Paw Patrol,&#8221; entitled &#8220;Whenever there’s trouble. Just yelp for help’: Crime, Conservation, and Corporatization in Paw Patrol.”
&#8220;Paw Patrol,&#8221; created by a Canadian toy maker is &#8220;a cartoon, a toy brand, and a merchandising juggernaut, as well as a touring live show. Together, it rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars every year and has been forging a cult-like preschool following for years,&#8221; according to Fast Company. The show portrays a band of puppies who provide much-needed emergency services &#8212; police, fire, construction, and other public works &#8212; to a fictional town where the dogs in charge are largely incompetent.
&#8220;In the show, Ryder is the ring-leader of the pups, each of whom has a job to do as part of their team,&#8221; according to Post Millennial. &#8216;There’s Chase, the police dog, Marshall, the fire chief dog who can never quite get control of his hose, Rubble, the builder, Skye, who flies a plane for some reason and is the girl pup, Everest, the extreme outdoor adventuring pup, Rocky, the rescue dog, and Zuma, the pup who drives a boat.&#8221;
That&#8217;s a huge problem, per Kennedy: “Paw Patrol, as a private corporation, is used to help provide basic social services in the Adventure Bay community. That’s problematic in that the Paw Patrol creators are sending this message that we can’t depend on the state to provide these services.”
Kennedy is so anti-&#8220;Paw Patrol&#8221; that he won&#8217;t let her daughter watch the show, out of fear that she might grow up to love law enforcement, question authority, and approve of profit (Kennedy, <a href="https://www.thepostmillennial.com/cbc-asks-if-paw-patrol-is-capitalist-propaganda/">Post Millennal reports</a>, came up with his theory after watching hours of the show alone in his office).
In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Kennedy railed against the evils of &#8220;Paw Patrol&#8217;s&#8221; peppy team of first responder hounds, declaring them the real villains of the show because they don&#8217;t respect their local leaders.
“I’ll start with the depiction of the state. Mayor Humdinger and Mayor Goodway—kind of the representatives of the state or the government—are portrayed negatively,” Kennedy railed. “Mayor Humdinger is portrayed as unethical or corrupt. Mayor Goodway as hysterical, bumbling, incompetent.”
And don&#8217;t get him started on how the Paw Patrol itself encourages individual achievement through its motto, &#8220;no job too big, no pup too small.&#8221;
“To me that’s an individualist message,” Kennedy said. “Pull up your bootstraps, you can do it if you just try hard enough. That kind of message ignores structural barriers in our society and not everyone can do it.”
It&#8217;s a truly awful show, Kennedy complained. “I just think that as time goes on, children might be less likely to critique the capitalist system that causes environmental harm in the first place and reproduces inequality.&#8221;
What nerve.

Paw Patrol

Leftist Prof Claims ‘Paw Patrol’ Kids’ Cartoon Is ‘Capitalist Propaganda’

Capitalism

Communism

A man who was convicted of murdering his partner by beating her with a hammer before fatally stabbing her with two knives in 2004 was given supervised release and given permission to “satiate his sexual needs.”
Then he <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7959179/Wife-murderer-freed-parole-satisfy-sexual-needs-kills-sex-worker.html">stabbed a 22-year-old sex worker</a> to death in a hotel room in January.
Eustachio Gallese, 51, turned himself in on January 22 and confessed to the murder of Marylène Lévesque in a Sainte-Foy district hotel room. He had been banned from visiting an erotic massage parlor where Lévesque worked after he had behaved violently with other women, but Lévesque agreed to meet Gallese at the hotel room.
As <a href="https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/daphne-bramham-allowing-paroled-murderers-to-visit-brothels-isnt-just-stupid-its-illegal-and-deadly?utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=Facebook&amp;fbclid=IwAR1sX7Rz-YaNpqUmGNMonWVJcDn6456ktc3ZvGSegipfos3mDQxAhquj">The Vancouver Sun</a> reported, Gallese was convicted of conjugal violence in 1997, and in 2004, he murdered his 32-year-old partner, Chantal Deschênes, who had two daughters of her own.  In 2006, Gallese was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years, with a judgment in 2007 saying he was at high risk of committing violence against a partner. But that judgment was later reduced to a moderate risk; and later he was allowed to leave the prison if he was supervised.
In March 2019, Gallese was granted supervised release and released to a halfway house. In September, that release was extended for another six months.
<a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/884xd3/sex-worker-killed-after-paroled-murderer-allowed-to-satisfy-sexual-needs">Vice</a> reported that Gallese discussed his sexual needs with case workers.  The written summary stated:
<blockquote>The hearing allowed us to realize you managed, and this with the approval of your case-management team (the people who prepare an offender for a release), relations with women that the board considers inappropriate. This strategy of managing your risk as it was presented and understood during the hearing paradoxically constitutes a worrying and significant risk factor …
Although you are still single and you say you aren’t ready to enter into a serious relationship with a woman, you are able to efficiently evaluate your needs and expectations towards women. During the hearing, your parole officer underlined a strategy that was developed with the goal that would allow you to meet women in order to meet your sexual needs.</blockquote>
The Conservative MP for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, Pierre Paul-Hus, wanted to know how the parole board could have allowed Gallese, &#8220;whom they knew had a problem with women, to obtain sexual services.&#8221; asking, &#8220;Can the minister tell the family why the board gave that permission to a man known to be violent?&#8221;
Quebec Minister of Justice Sonia Lebel has demanded some answers, wanting to know how Gallese got parole in the first place. She later tweeted, &#8220;We are satisfied that the federal Minister of Public Security has announced that an investigation will be held and that Quebeckers will get their questions answered.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Nous sommes satisfaits que le ministre fédéral de la Sécurité publique annonce la tenue d’une enquête et que les Québécoises et Québécois obtiendront des réponses à leurs questions. <a href="https://t.co/qAE7WFeNHn">https://t.co/qAE7WFeNHn</a>
&mdash; Sonia LeBel (@slebel19) <a href="https://twitter.com/slebel19/status/1221898715818008577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair stated, “In its September 2019 decision, the Parole Board explicitly opposed letting the accused visit massage parlours during his release.”
Sandra Wesley, executive director of the sex worker advocacy group Stella, was furious, saying that authorities “knew that this man, who was considered very dangerous to women, was not ready to have sexual relations with women, that he had a history of extreme violence toward women,” according to the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-wants-answers-on-how-moderate-risk-murder-suspect-made-parole">Montreal Gazette.</a>

Inside of a modern prison with open doors

Murderer Paroled, Given Permission To Satisfy His ‘Sexual Needs.’ Then He Murders A 22-Year-Old Woman.

Murder

In its latest annual <a href="http://www.islamophobia.org/reports/228-2018-civil-rights-report-bias-incident-data.html">hate crimes report</a>, the <a href="https://www.adl.org/education/resources/profiles/the-council-on-american-islamic-relations-cair">Council on American-Islamic Relations</a> (CAIR) vilified U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials as the nation’s greatest perpetrators of anti-Muslim discrimination. So, when as many as 60 Iranian and Iranian-American travelers were delayed for hours earlier this month at the U.S.-Canada border, CAIR was quick to accuse the federal agency of living up to its purported reputation. Has the U.S. government decided to make life difficult for Iranians living in America, as CAIR contends? Or are the nonprofit’s actions part of an enduring campaign to subvert U.S. border security?
In response to a January 2 air strike which <a href="https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/opinion/soleimani-iran-tom-cotton.amp.html">killed</a> Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/ntas/alerts/20_0104_ntas_bulletin.pdf">published</a> a bulletin warning that Hezbollah and other Iranian loyalists could carry out homeland-based plots by targeting “critical infrastructure.” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo deployed the national guard to protect public transportation, while <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-01-03/us-cities-on-alert-after-killing-of-iran-leader-qassem-suleiman">government officials</a> in California, Washington, and Massachusetts ordered increased police patrols or warned citizens to remain extra vigilant.
Meanwhile, the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Washington became congested on January 4 after as many as 60 Iranian natives were allegedly selected for additional screening and detained, in some cases, for several hours. The travelers, who were returning from a pop concert in Vancouver, put a <a href="https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article238985213.html">strain</a> on CBP resources as customs agents struggled to keep up with the sudden increase in cross-border traffic. However, CAIR officials explicitly alleged that delays and mistreatment were premised solely on national heritage.
Soon after, CAIR’s Washington chapter issued a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cair-wa-assisting-iranian-americans-detained-at-us-border-300981286.html">press release</a> accusing CBP officials of treating Iranians and Iranian-Americans to prolonged interrogations at the U.S.–Canada border. “A source at CBP reported that the [DHS] has issued a national order to CBP to ‘report’ and detain anyone with Iranian heritage entering the country who is deemed potentially suspicious or ‘adversarial,’ regardless of citizenship status,” CAIR wrote.
CBP <a href="https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/us-border-protection-denies-reports-that-iranian-americans-were-detained-at-washington-canada-border/281-e276b43b-21a1-46d3-8de7-f1e700b0016a">rejected</a> these allegations. &#8220;Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false. Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false,” said CBP spokesperson Michael Friel.
So far, CAIR has failed to produce any evidence supporting its discrimination claims. Instead, the nonprofit denigrated CBP personnel based on the testimony of frustrated tourists who experienced delays while crossing an international border during a period of heightened geopolitical tension.
What can’t be known about the recent cross-border controversy, because it falls beyond the public purview, is whether there was specific intelligence from the Terrorist Screening Center that indicated a need to conduct a more robust screening operation at the Peace Arch crossing. It is telling that <a href="https://www.thenorthernlight.com/stories/order-to-detain-iranian-american-travelers-likely-originated-in-blaine-say-lawyers,9173">no other enhanced security measures</a> were enforced at other U.S. entry points around the same time.
Even public knowledge of the threats posed by Shi’ite Islamism suggests that it was credible national security risks, and not uninformed profiling, that guided CBP’s actions. The agency must contend with Hezbollah’s elite external operations unit, known as the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), whose members have been <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/07/iran-has-terrorists-embedded-inside-the-united-states-and-across-our-border/">trained</a> to &#8220;maintain ostensibly normal lives” until they are activated to serve the Iranian regime&#8217;s interests.
<a href="https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/07/iran-has-terrorists-embedded-inside-the-united-states-and-across-our-border/">FBI reports</a> indicate that Canada serves as a staging area for future homeland attacks. Ali Kourani, a Hezbollah sleeper agent <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/hizballah-operative-sentenced-40-years-prison-covert-terrorist-activities-behalf-hizballah-s">convicted</a> in 2019 of planning attacks in the U.S., <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/06/14/hezbollah-isnt-just-in-beirut-its-in-new-york-too-canada-united-states-jfk-toronto-pearson-airports-ali-kourani-iran/">told </a>FBI agents that IJO is “even more active in Canada than they were in the United States.” Kourani’s Iranian handlers discussed the strategic advantages of cultivating familial ties to Canada, so that “it wouldn’t appear suspicious or odd if he were to make travel to Canada with some regularity or frequency.”
Iran is a country that is regularly <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-state-department-iran-remains-world-s-worst-state-sponsor-of-terrorism-/30248755.html">cited</a> as a state sponsor of terrorism, with a track <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/06/14/hezbollah-isnt-just-in-beirut-its-in-new-york-too-canada-united-states-jfk-toronto-pearson-airports-ali-kourani-iran/">record</a> of penetrating U.S. borders. For instance, between 1995 and 2000, Lebanese immigrant Mohammed Youssef Hammoud oversaw a vast “<a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/mohamad-youssef-hammoud-sentenced-30-years-terrorism-financing-case">criminal enterprise</a>” in Charlotte, North Carolina, which accumulated millions of dollars in capital intended for Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon.
In 2011, Soleimani’s Quds Force was implicated in a clandestine <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/">plot</a> to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and bomb the Saudi embassy in Washington D.C. Then there is Alexei Saab, a New Jersey resident charged in September with a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-indictment-new-jersey-man-terrorist-activities-behalf">nine-count indictment</a> for surveilling targets on behalf of IJO, probing for “soft spots” throughout New York City.
CAIR’s position on screening for terrorists, however, has been to <a href="https://www.cair.com/cair_to_announce_complete_victory_in_constitutional_challenge_to_federal_terror_watchlist">undermine</a> the process wherever possible. Indeed, the organization exerts a great deal of <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cair-asks-federal-court-in-mich-to-prohibit-fbi-border-agents-from-interrogating-muslim-travelers-about-religious-beliefs-and-practices-300858541.html">effort</a> challenging the government’s immigration and border security policies.
In September, CAIR proclaimed “complete victory” in a <a href="https://www.cair.com/cair_to_announce_complete_victory_in_constitutional_challenge_to_federal_terror_watchlist">lawsuit</a> that challenged the constitutionality of the <a href="https://apnews.com/f8abc66af1a64cc7a5f4fba0420cfc54">terrorist watch list</a>, a security protocol that subjects implicated airline passengers and border transients to additional screening. (Fewer than 0.5% of watch list suspects are U.S. citizens or legal residents.) For more than a year, CAIR filed lawsuits and amicus briefs that <a href="https://www.cair.com/fighting_the_unconstitutional_muslim_ban">stalled</a> Trump administration efforts to implement a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-proclamation-enhancing-vetting-capabilities-processes-detecting-attempted-entry-united-states-terrorists-public-safety-threats/">travel ban</a> affecting visitors from select high-risk countries
CAIR has even directed Muslim Americans who are detained by customs officials to <a href="https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wtsp.com/amp/article/news/politics/muslim-rights-groups-urge-passengers-to-refuse-secondary-questioning/67-395025140">obstruct</a> the screening process whenever possible, perhaps explaining the delays experienced at the Peace Arch Border Crossing. “Whether you wait an hour or four hours, remain silent until they let you out,” advised CAIR-Florida executive director Hassan Shibly.
National-level law enforcement efforts must be led by consulting relevant intelligence <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/law-enforcement-guard-iran-retaliation-u-s-after-commander-killed-n1109826">sources</a>. Given the geopolitical context, the enhanced security posture at the U.S.-Canada border can be attributed to due diligence, and not some nefarious desire to pester Iranian-Americans. Yet, CAIR is far too eager to paint American security personnel as aggressors. CBP was merely taking reasonable precautions in the face of escalating hostility from a rogue nation that has spent decades building powerful Islamist infrastructure across North America.
&nbsp;
David Firester is a writer for Islamism in Politics, a project of the <a href="https://www.meforum.org">Middle East Forum</a>. He is the founder and CEO of TRAC Intelligence, LLC, an Adjunct Lecturer at Hunter College, and a former U.S. Army Intelligence Analyst.

Border Wall As House Investigates $400 Million Contract

FIRESTER: CAIR’s Fight To Undermine U.S. Border Security Continues

Border Wall

CAIR

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

Iran

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Muslim Immigration

Muslims

National Security

After polls showed that Canadians were overwhelmingly opposed to paying for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle&#8217;s security should they relocate to the country, over 80,000 citizens have signed a petition demanding that the royals foot the bill themselves.
According to <a href="https://pagesix.com/2020/01/22/80k-canadians-sign-petition-for-prince-harry-meghan-markle-to-pay-for-their-security/">Page Six</a>, the fiscally conservative Canadian Taxpayer Federation (CTF) launched the <a href="https://www.taxpayer.com/media/No-Taxpayers-Money-For-Meghan-and-Harry.html">petition</a> last week by arguing that Harry and Meghan are welcome to seek financial independence apart from the royal family so long as Canadian taxpayers don&#8217;t supplement their security costs.
“Everyone wishes Meghan and Harry all the best in becoming financially independent, but we need to be clear about one thing: Canadian taxpayers shouldn’t have to cover their bills,” said CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick. “The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is launching this petition to make sure Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knows that Canadians are happy to welcome the couple as long as they pay their own way.”
“True financial independence cannot be achieved if Canadian taxpayers are still paying the bills,” continued Wudrick. “Canadians are already on the hook for the unlimited, unaccountable expenses of retired governors general and they should not be responsible for funding the private lifestyle decisions of members of the royal family.”
The 80,000 signatures were delivered to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau&#8217;s office on Tuesday.
According to <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-security-in-canada-for-meghan-harry-could-cost-over-10-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Globe and Mail,</a> experts say Prince Harry and Meghan Markle&#8217;s security detail could cost upwards of $10 million annually. Chris Mathers, formerly of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said security measures have changed drastically over the years and that the royal couple would have little say in how much or how little is required. Their residence alone would require &#8220;fences, explosive-detection dogs, closed-circuit television surveillance, alarms and a security team on the ground&#8221; as well as &#8220;a team to accompany them when they leave their residence.&#8221;
“They want to live their own life as best they can and they decided this is a place that will allow them to do that. You really can’t take that away from them,” Mathers told the outlet. “They need personal body guards all the time. You have to pay those peoples’ salaries. You’ve got to pay for the vehicles they travel in and the aircraft they travel in. You have to pay for the communications equipment they require because it has to be sophisticated so that you can’t listen to it.&#8221;
However, Bruce Hallsor of the Monarchist League of Canada <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/welcome-canadian-taxpayers-federation-has-welcome-basket-for-meghan-and-harry" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told the Vancouver Sun</a> that no expectation exists that the royals “are going to receive any money from the Canadian taxpayer.”
“Regardless of whether they’re a public figure or not, I honestly think the best thing to do is leave that to the RCMP to determine what’s appropriate,” said Hallsor. “I think if they’re not going to be performing public duties they shouldn’t draw any kind of public resources. But if there’s a security threat to any Canadian resident, then police need to assess that and deal with that appropriately.”
According to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/megxit-canadians-overwhelmingly-against-paying-for-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-to-live-there">new poll last week</a> from the Angus Reid Institute, only 5% of Canadian taxpayers are okay with footing the bill for Harry and Meghan’s stay in the country, despite having a generally positive attitude about the migration.

REPORT: Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Are A ‘Public Relations Disaster’

PETITION: 80,000 Canadians Demand Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Pay Their Own Security

Great Britain

United Kingdom

Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle, duke and duchess of Sussex, have already stumbled upon a snag in Canadian living.
The exiting royals issued a cease and desist letter to British media outlets threatening legal action following Meghan and baby Archie being photographed in a public park in Canada, <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2020/01/21/meghan-markle-cease-desist-letter-photos-archie-canada-paparazzi-legal-action/">TMZ</a> reported Tuesday.
In England, Harry and Meghan were protected from being photographed in public outside of official appearances, TMZ noted.
“There are serious safety concerns about how the paparazzi are driving and the risk to life they pose,” the cease and desist letter reads, according to the outlet.
The couple’s legal team claimed in the letter that the photographs of Meghan and her infant son were taken while photographers hid in the bushes. “The letter took special issue with the commentary around the pictures that suggested they had been taken with Meghan’s consent,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/world/canada/meghan-and-archie-photos.html">The New York Times</a> reported.
According to the Times, The Daily Mail and The Sun posted the photos in question.
“Harry and Meghan have taken their privacy very seriously from the start of their relationshp, and even sued a UK tabloid last year for alleged misuse of private information,” TMZ reported. “In England, strict privacy laws protect even the Royals from being photographed in public when they’re not making official appearances.”
According to privacy law specialist David Elder, the couple could potentially bring a lawsuit forward under the under British Columbia’s Privacy Act, the Times reported. However, Elder noted, “the legislation contains many exemptions intended for news media, as does Canada’s constitution, and that Canadian courts have generally ruled that people in public places and public figures have little expectation of privacy.”
The privacy law specialist added that it “is unlikely to be a slam-dunk and, in fact, may be a difficult claim to make out successfully.”
Earlier this month, Harry and Meghan announced their intentions to step away from their royal duties and become financially independent.
“We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen,” the couple announced in a joint statement.
On Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s grandmother, pulled the trigger on the exiting royals, outing the new conditions of the split. For example, “His Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness” titles from Harry and Meghan were stripped and the couple will be financially cut off from royal funds, effective this spring.
“Harry, Meghan, and Archie will always be much loved members of my family,” the Queen said in a statement, noting her support for their “independent” life.
According to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/duke-duchess-sussex-longer-working-members-royal-family/story?id=68372425&amp;cid=social_twitter_abcn">ABC News</a>, “Prince Harry is losing his military titles and patronages including Captain General Royal Marines, Honorary Air Commandant Royal Air Force Honington and Small Ships and Diving, Royal Naval Command: Commodore in Chief. He will also no longer be a Commonwealth Youth Ambassador. Harry and Meghan will keep their roles at the Queen’s Commonwealth Truth – Harry serves as president and Meghan is vice-president.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meghans-sister-rips-her-for-destroying-royals-treatment-of-father-chasing-fame-and-fortune">Meghan’s Sister RIPS Her For Destroying Royals, Treatment Of Father: CHASING ‘FAME AND FORTUNE’</a>

Prince Harry And Meghan Markle

Harry And Meghan Already Find Snag In Canadian Living, Take Legal Action

According to a report, a father who had assisted as a volunteer in coaching his son’s hockey team for three years has been barred from coaching because he refused to take a mandatory gender identity training course.
The Canadian man, identified by <a href="https://quillette.com/2020/01/22/faced-with-gender-propaganda-at-the-hockey-rink-one-coach-says-no/">Quillette</a> as “John Doe” because, as the Quillettewriter surmises, he could accused of transphobia for speaking to the media, completed a series of mandated courses, and says he supports anti-discrimination efforts led by Hockey Eastern Ontario and the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF). Those organizations  supervise minor hockey in Ontario, from players as young as six years old.
Doe’s objections were triggered by a 33-slide module on gender in the required gender diversity course. He told Quillette, “I would be fine taking an awareness course if it [were] factual and based in science. But I felt it was too ideological.” Now, he states, “I can’t coach. I can’t be on the bench. I can’t help on the ice —even just to help on the ice, you need this training.”
As Quillette notes, the case that precipitated new training requirements revolved around Jesse Thompson, a girl who identified as a boy and complained about not having access to the boys’ locker room. Ultimately OHF deferred to an LGBT activist organization called Egale Canada to create new training materials.
Quillette notes, “Egale, a Toronto-based charity founded in 1986, has <a href="https://egale.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Supporting-Your-Gender-Diverse-Child-Resource-2017-Final.pdf">published materials</a> indicating that children understand their gender identity ‘between the ages of three and five.’ And in the gender identity course that Egale produced for the OHF, it ratcheted that age down to ‘between 18-30 months.’”
Several slides from the module on gender argue “the gender binary … was imposed on Native societies … including on the land we now know as Canada.”
Quillette writes:
<blockquote>On another slide, amid a parade of variously configured pink and blue male/female stick-people, the concept of “polygender” is introduced to define “people who identify as multiple genders simultaneously and can be several genders all at once. Or they may alternate between their varying gender identities depending on the day or the week.” Coaches also get a slide on “genderqueer” individuals, who exist in an undefined extra-dimensional gender space that allows them to “reject gender altogether”—though this is not to be confused with “agender” (it gets its own slide), a label that applies to those who are merely “genderless.”</blockquote>
Doe asked for a temporary exemption so he could explain to OHF why he objected; that request was denied. Quillette writes that Hockey Canada’s Senior Vice-President for Insurance and Risk Management wrote back saying the course was required. That prompted Doe to write to Egale Canada and challenged some of the materials for the course, which yielded no different result.
OHF notes in their <a href="https://www.ohf.on.ca/media/4unptnd0/2019_ohf_handbook-web.pdf">handbook</a>, &#8220;In 2018-19, the OHF represented over 190,000 registered players. In addition to that playing membership, the OHF also involves in excess of 50,000 coaches and 7,000 officials. The main objectives of the OHF are: to foster, promote, encourage the sport of amateur hockey; provide opportunities for all players to play the sport; promote the orderly development of all categories, and to coordinate and conduct competitions for Branch, Regional and National Championships.&#8221;
Doe concluded, “The more I looked into it [on the Internet], the more I saw that I wasn’t alone. There’s a lot of people speaking out and who are unhappy with how the activists are controlling the narrative around this.”

Junior ice hockey.

Father Banned From Coaching Son’s Hockey Team For Refusing To Take Gender Identity Course, Report Says

Gender

hockey

If Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to set up shop in America&#8217;s hat, that&#8217;s fine, say Canadians, so long as the people don&#8217;t have to pay for it.
According to a new poll from the Angus Reid Institute, only 5% of Canadian taxpayers are okay with footing the bill for Harry and Meghan&#8217;s stay in the country, despite having a generally positive attitude about the migration.
&#8220;Exactly half of those polled by the non-profit Angus Reid Institute said they did not care either way if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved there for good, with a generous 39% seeming keen,&#8221; reports <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/most-canadians-dont-want-to-pay-for-harry-and-meghan-to-live-there">Fox News</a>. &#8220;But only 5% believed taxpayers should help pay for whatever the family needed — with almost three-quarters (73%) adamant that the Sussexes should pay for everything themselves.&#8221;
Quebec proved to be the least welcoming part of Canada, with a full 17% actually &#8220;upset&#8221; that Harry and Meghan wish to move there. &#8220;Two thirds (66 percent) of the 1,154 polled say the House of Windsor is at least losing its relevance, with only 4 percent finding it more relevant than ever,&#8221; Fox notes. Overall, however, the study found that Prince Harry still remains popular in the country.
Last week, Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their &#8220;stunning&#8221; announcement to balance their time between the United Kingdom and North America as they seek financial independence and to carve out a more &#8220;progressive role&#8221; in the royal family.
“We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honor our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages,” the couple said. “This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.”
Some British citizens have called the move cowardly, arguing that they should renounce their royal titles if they are serious about independence.
“You can’t be one foot in, one foot out,” Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat member of parliament, told the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7868503/Calls-grow-Prince-Harry-Meghan-Markle-royal-titles.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Daily Mail. </a>“You are either a member of the royal family or you are not. [Prince Harry] should give the money back spent on Frogmore Cottage and pay himself for the jets between the UK and America. And pay for his security.”
Writing at the<a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-01-08/prince-harry-meghan-renounce-title"> Los Angeles Times</a>, Kim Janssen bluntly stated, “Renounce your titles, you cowards.&#8221;
Though reports indicate that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-prince-charles-livid-over-megxit-as-he-decides-to-keep-paying-them-or-not">Prince Charles is &#8220;livid&#8221;</a> over the decision, Queen Elizabeth has publicly supported them while conceding that new details must be hammered out.
“Today my family had very constructive discussions on the future of my grandson and his family,” the British monarch <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/queen-elizabeth-gives-new-statement-on-megxit-supportive-but-still-issues-to-be-resolved">said on Monday</a>. “My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.”

The Duke And Duchess Of Sussex Visit Canada House

MEGXIT: Canadians Overwhelmingly Against Paying For Prince Harry And Meghan Markle To Live There

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now blaming U.S. &#8220;escalation&#8221; in the Middle East for the death of 57 Canadians, who were killed when Iranian forces shot down a Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 on board.
Trudeau said the Canadians killed would be &#8220;home with their families&#8221; right now if tensions in the Middle East had not risen because of U.S. actions.
&#8220;I think if there were no tensions, if there was no escalation recently in the region, those Canadians would be right now home with their families,&#8221; Trudeau said in an interview with Global television.
“This is something that happens when you have conflict and war. Innocents bear the brunt of it and it is a reminder why all of us need to work so hard on de-escalation, moving forward to reduce tensions and find a pathway that doesn’t involve further conflict and killing,&#8221; he said.
Trudeau also said the international community has been &#8220;very, very clear about needing to have a non-nuclear Iran,&#8221; but added that it needs to continue &#8220;managing the tensions in the region that are brought about by U.S. actions as well.&#8221;
President Trump this month ordered U.S. forces to take out terrorist and Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani after Iran fired missiles into Baghdad, killing an American. In response, Iran fired more missiles into Iraq, targeting U.S. military bases. In the chaos, Iranian forces shot down the Ukranian plane, which they at first denied but then acknowledged they had &#8220;unintentionally&#8221; downed the plane.
Trudeau&#8217;s comments mirror those of Iran, which blamed the death of those killed by the Iranian surface-to-air missile on &#8220;U.S. adventurism&#8221; that prompted both countries&#8217; militaries to go on high alert.
In the interview, Trudeau said he had spoken with Trump about the incident.
“I have spoken to him and I have talked about the need to de-escalate tensions,” he said. “I’ve talked about the tremendous grief and loss that Canadians are feeling, and the need for clear answers on how this happened and how we’re going to make sure it never happens again.”
Trump has no made no comment on talking with Trudeau.
The two have a rocky relationship. Last month, Trump called the Canadian prime minister &#8220;two-faced&#8221; after Trudeau and other foreign leaders were seen on video ridiculing Trump at a NATO summit near London.
Meanwhile in Iran, President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday called the shooting down of the Ukrainian plane an &#8220;unforgivable error&#8221; and pledged to punish those responsible.
Rouhani added that &#8220;one person cannot be solely responsible for the plane crash&#8221; and said the country is in the midst of a full investigation. After Iranians protested against the government, Rouhani said his government is &#8220;accountable to Iranians and other nations who lost lives.&#8221;
&#8220;For our people it is very important in this incident that whoever was at fault or negligent at any level&#8221; is prosecuted, he said. &#8220;Anyone who should be punished must be punished. Iranian armed forces admitting their mistake is a good first step &#8230; We should assure people that it will not happen again.&#8221;
An Iranian judiciary spokesman, Gholamhossein Esmaili, said there have been arrests. &#8220;Clearly, as President Rouhani has said, Iran made a terrible mistake. It is good they have apologized.&#8221;

President Trump And First Lady Welcome Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau And His Wife Gregoire To The White House

Canadian PM Trudeau Blames U.S. ‘Escalation’ In Middle East For Death Of 57 Canadians

Qassem Soleimani

On Sunday, The New York Times reported on &#8220;extremely troubling&#8221; claims by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials detained &#8220;dozens&#8221; of Iranian-Americans attempting to return to the country through a Washington State-Canadian border crossing. But CBP says that the premise of the &#8220;troubling&#8221; claims about their alleged handling of Iranian-Americans is &#8220;false.&#8221;
According to CAIR, over 60 Iranian-American travelers attempting to return to the United States from Canada over the weekend were detained for several hours for additional questioning, and some allegedly were even turned away by officials, at least initially.
The claim comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran after President Trump ordered a strategic airstrike last week targeting Iran&#8217;s top military leader, General Qassem Soleimani, who headed up the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
&#8220;More than 60 of the travelers, many returning from work trips or vacations, were trying to come home to the United States on Saturday when agents at the Peace Arch Border Crossing in Blaine, Wash., held them for additional questioning about their political views and allegiances, according to advocacy groups and accounts from travelers,&#8221; the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/05/us/politics/iranian-americans-border.html">reported</a> Sunday. &#8220;Most of the travelers were released after the extra scrutiny, according to administration officials, although advocates said some were denied entry into the United States.&#8221;
CAIR Washington Executive Director <a href="https://cairseattle.org/our-team">Masih Fouladi</a> told the Times that some of those detained were held for questioning for as many as 10 hours, while others were initially denied entry and told to come back at another time.
&#8220;Later on Saturday night, when others who had just attended a concert in Canada by an Iranian pop star were trying to cross back into the United States, they were denied entry and told to come back later, Mr. Fouladi said,&#8221; the Times reports.
According to Fouladi, one CBP officer allegedly told a family member when asked why they were being detained, &#8220;This is a bad time to be an Iranian.&#8221;
<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn">
<div class="css-53u6y8">
&#8220;These reports are extremely troubling and potentially constitute illegal detentions of United States citizens,&#8221; said Fouladi.
But CBP says the claims are not accurate, and any cause for delay had more to do with a high number of travelers and low staffing over the holidays than heightened security concerns.
&#8220;Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false,&#8221; CBP said in a tweet posted Sunday afternoon. &#8220;Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false. Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.
&mdash; CBP (@CBP) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBP/status/1213951246463328256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The real issue at the Blaine port, CBP told the Times, was that processing times were &#8220;increased by four hours because of the high number of people entering and staffing shortages from the holiday season.&#8221;
The Times, however, suggests that a recent Department of Homeland Security advisory change in response to the increased threat from Iran may have prompted more thorough scrutiny of those with Iranian heritage. &#8220;While border officers are not permitted to refer someone for what is known as a &#8216;secondary screening&#8217; of questioning based solely on national origin, it is one of multiple factors they are directed to consider, in addition to travel documents, travel history or suspicious behavior when choosing whom to refer for additional scrutiny,&#8221; the Times reports, noting that this sort of additional scrutiny takes place &#8220;daily.&#8221;
Given the current circumstances, a former CBP official told the Times, it is likely that those with Iranian heritage &#8220;would be sent to secondary as a result of the increased tension with that country.&#8221;
On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security updated its National Terrorism Advisory System in response to the increased threat of retaliation by pro-Iran entities for the killing of Iran&#8217;s top military leader. Below is the full text of the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/ntas/alerts/20_0104_ntas_bulletin.pdf">advisory</a>:
<div class="page" title="Page 1">
<div class="section">
<div class="layoutArea">
<div class="column">
<ul>
<li>The United States designated Iran a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” in 1984 and since then, Iran has actively engaged in or directed an array of violent and deadly acts against the United States and its citizens globally. The United States designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a Foreign Terrorist Organization on April 15, 2019 for its direct involvement in terrorist plotting.</li>
<li>On January 2, 2020, the United States carried out a lethal strike in Iraq killing Iranian IRGC-Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani while Soleimani was in Iraq.</li>
<li>Iranian leadership and several affiliated violent extremist organizations publicly stated they intend to retaliate against the United States.</li>
<li>At this time we have no information indicating a specific, credible threat to the Homeland. Iran and its partners, such as Hizballah, have demonstrated the intent and capability to conduct operations in the United States.</li>
<li>Previous homeland-based plots have included, among other things, scouting and planning against infrastructure targets and cyber enabled attacks against a range of U.S.- based targets.</li>
<li>Iran maintains a robust cyber program and can execute cyber attacks against the United States. Iran is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects against critical infrastructure in the United States.</li>
<li>Iran likely views terrorist activities as an option to deter or retaliate against its perceived adversaries. In many instances, Iran has targeted United States interests through its partners such as Hizballah.</li>
<li>Homegrown Violent Extremists could capitalize on the heightened tensions to launch individual attacks.</li>
<li>An attack in the homeland may come with little or no warning.</li>
<li>The Department of Homeland Security is working closely with our federal, state, local, and private sector partners to detect and defend against threats to the Homeland, and will enhance security measures as necessary.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn">
<div class="css-53u6y8">

</div>
</div>

Canada Border Crossings

Report: Iranians Were Blocked By U.S. Border Officials; Officials: That’s Not What Happened

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Breakups are hard on everyone, but every once in a while, a breakup is so bad the courts have to get involved.
In Vancouver, a man and woman broke up, but the man’s nightmare was just beginning. His ex-girlfriend began posting on social media that he had sexually transmitted diseases and was a cheater, which his attorneys have called defamatory. The ex-girlfriend had since been ordered to pay the man $200,000 in damages.
The couple, identified <a href="https://www.narcity.com/news/ca/bc/vancouver/vancouver-breakup-scandal-gets-man-dollar200k-after-ex-tries-to-ruin-his-life-on-social-media">by local outlet</a> Narcity as Brandon Rook and Noelle Halcrow, began dating in August 2015 but broke up later that month. They resumed their relationship in February 2016 and broke up a second time in July of that year. Though the relation lasted a total of seven months, Halcrow, according to the courts, started spreading rumors about Rook online just two months after the breakup. She proceeded to make such posts for the next year. From Narcity:
<blockquote>Her posts included things like “Known cheater, proud of it! STDs and spread them,” “Has STDs spreads them to people,” “No care or compassion For those that struggle with illness. No time for them or understanding,” “Drunk again !!,” according to the citation’s appendix.
Some of the hashtags that were commonly associated with the posts included #drunk, #loser, #stdspreader, #loserlife, #drunkagain, #uncaring, and the list continues.</blockquote>
The outlet reported that Halcrow posted even worse about Rook on several other websites. Halcrow claimed in court that she did not make the posts, but investigators found evidence that linked her computer to the posts and discovered text messages between her and Rook about the posts.
A Vancouver judge ordered Halcrow to pay Rook $175,000 in general damages and an additional $25,000 in aggravated damages. Rook ended up spending $30,000 to pay reputation consultants to undo the damage from Halcrow’s posts. He will receive compensation for that as well.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/defamation-online-200k-vancouver-instagram-1.5414504">reported</a> that British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Elliot Myers found Halcrow’s “malicious” campaign to be “relentless.”
The outlet also reported that Halcrow made more than 85 posts about Rook, which were included in a timeline and appendix in the court ruling. The posts took up 44 pages of space when printed.
&#8220;Ms. Halcrow mounted a campaign against Mr. Rook that was as relentless as it was extensive,&#8221; Myers ruled.
&#8220;The courts have recognized that the internet can be used as an exceedingly effective tool to harm reputations. This is one such case,&#8221; the judge added.
Halcrow did not respond to CBC’s inquiry. Rook said through his lawyer that he wished to move on from the whole ordeal.
The National Post <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/local-news/vancouver-woman-ordered-to-pay-200k-for-defaming-ex-boyfriend-online/wcm/49998c1b-46e3-4e3e-9a1f-1919bbc398c5">reported</a> that Justice Myers rejected Halcrow’s claim that she did not make the posts based on four points:
<ul>
<li>
<blockquote>The posts were made from online accounts created using her IP address,</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>Rooke was able to prove Halcrow had texted him numerous times about taking down the posts and threatening to put them up again,</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>The posts were remarkably similar to texts that she had sent,</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<blockquote>And finally, that there was no one else who would be motivated to make the 92 offensive posts.</blockquote>
</li>
</ul>

Woman using cell phone

Vancouver Man Sues Ex-Girlfriend After She Posts Defamatory Claims About Him Online

defamation

relationships

The Canadian government has conducted a poll to see how “comfortable” Canadians would be aroung LGBTQ people, including questions asking whether Canadians would be “comfortable” having a doctor who was gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
As <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6344287/canadian-government-asked-canadians-comfortable-lgbtq2/">Global News</a> reported, the mid-summer poll was commissioned by the Privy Council Office; Global News explained that the Privy Council Office “is the federal department that supports the work of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and, at the time of the poll, housed the government’s LGBTQ2 Secretariat. That secretariat has since been transferred to the Department of Canadian Heritage and reports to Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger, tapped to be the minister of diversity and inclusion and youth.”
The poll asked:
<blockquote>How comfortable would you be in each of the following situations?
If you had a next-door neighbor who was gay, lesbian, or bisexual
If you had a next-door neighbor who is a transgender person
If you had a manager or supervisor who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual
If you had a manager or supervisor who was a transgender person
If you had a doctor who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual
If you had a doctor who was a transgender person</blockquote>
As far as having an LGBTQ next-door neighbor, the poll found 91.8% of respondents were “comfortable” if neighbor was gay, lesbian or bisexual and 87.6% felt the same way about a transgender next-door neighbor. 90.5% of respondents were “very comfortable” or “somewhat comfortable” with a gay, lesbian or bisexual boss; 88.2% were  “comfortable” with a gay, lesbian or bisexual doctor, while almost 80% were comfortable with a transgender doctor.
Helen Kennedy, executive director of the LGBTQI2S advocacy group Egale Canada, was pleased, asserting, “It’s really good to see the attitude of Canadians changing and being more open and inclusive. We obviously have more work to do. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
PCO spokesperson Stephane Shank stated,  “The separate questions regarding gender identity were deliberate given experiences of discrimination faced by many transgender people in Canada. The Government of Canada is committed to better understanding the challenges faced by LGBTQ2 people — that is why the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth has been given a mandate to consult civil society representatives of LGBTQ2 communities to lay the groundwork for an LGBTQ2 action plan that would guide the work of the federal government on issues important to LGBTQ2 Canadians.”
In mid-December, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a letter to Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti in which Trudeau stated he wanted that ministry “to amend the Criminal Code to ban the practice of conversion therapy and take other steps required with the provinces and territories to end conversion therapy in Canada,” the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/conversion-therapy-ban-trudeau-lgbtq_ca_5df407f6e4b03aed50ee3e9b">Huffington Post</a> reported.
In June 2017, the province of Ontario, Canada, passed a law that would enable the government to remove a child from their parent’s home if the families refused to accept their child&#8217;s chosen &#8220;gender identity&#8221; or &#8220;gender expression,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/ontario-passes-law-government-seize-children-parents-oppose-gender-transition-186332/">Christian Post</a> reported.
The Christian Post added:
<blockquote>The bill replaces the Child and Family Services Act, or Bill 28, which governs child protection, foster care and adoption services. Bill 28 stated that the parent of a child in care retains the right &#8220;to direct the child&#8217;s education and religious upbringing.&#8221; However, the new law amends it thus: &#8220;to direct the child or young person&#8217;s education and upbringing, in accordance with the child&#8217;s or young person&#8217;s creed, community identity and cultural identity.&#8221;</blockquote>

CANADA-TORONTO-PRIDE PARADE

Canadian Government Conducts Poll Asking How ‘Comfortable’ You Are With LGBTQ People

LGBT

On Thursday, speaking at U.N. Watch’s Inaugural New York Gala Dinner, former U.N. Ambasador Nikki Haley blistered the Justin Trudeau-led government of Canada for supporting a U.N. resolution offered by North Korea, Egypt, Nicaragua, Zimbabwe and the Palestinians that denied the legitimacy of the state of Israel, calling Canada’s action a “deal with the devil.”
The resolution explicitly referred to contested lands between the two countries as “Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
As <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada-made-deal-with-the-devil-by-supporting-anti-israel-resolution-former-u-s-ambassador-to-un?fbclid=IwAR1aLQtcvIsNA6c1PEE-fIPgW3a5pOMaUPkxPQDivWH8-q7mvkPmfC99fJM">The National Post</a> reported, Haley lashed out with fiery rhetoric, blasting:
<blockquote>It’s just easier not to rock the boat when the crowd is all going one way. It’s hard to be the only one going the other direction. But standing alone on behalf of American interests and values is not something to be embarrassed by. Standing alone for freedom and human dignity is something to be proud of. In America, we don’t celebrate the mob. We celebrate the person who has the courage and conviction to stand up to the mob. Now we’re seeing an example of this cultural corruption playing out in real time.</blockquote>
Haley pointed out the self-serving cynicism of Canada’s move:
<blockquote>But Canada is now seeking one of the rotating two-year seats on the Security Council. It faces a vote in the General Assembly. Two weeks ago, Canada surprised Israel’s friends by voting for a North Korean resolution that challenges the legitimacy of Israel. This is a resolution that Canadian governments for years have voted against. One observer said Canada is making a “Faustian bargain,” trading its integrity for a seat on the Security Council. I speak from experience when I say the United Nations presents many such opportunities to strike a deal with the devil.</blockquote>
Haley also stated, “If we want to talk about security in the Middle East, we should talk about Iran or Syria or Hezbollah or Hamas or ISIS or the famine in Yemen. There are about ten major problems facing the Middle East, and Israel doesn’t have anything to do with any of them,” as <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Nikki-Haley-Canada-made-a-deal-with-the-devil-610240">The Jerusalem Post</a> reported.
Haley addressed the Trump administration’s decision to leave the U.N. Human Rights council, explaining, “Many encouraged us to remain on the council because the United States, they said, provided the last shred of credibility the Human Rights Council had. And that was precisely why we decided to leave. The United States should not lend any credibility to this cesspool of political hypocrisy and corruption.”
Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Nimrod Barkan, <a href="https://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/how-trudeau-changed-course-on-the-jewish-state">told</a> the Globe and Mail:
<blockquote>We regret the Canadian change and we will express our regret officially to the Canadian representative in Israel, hopefully next week. We think the resolution is not a substantive resolution, but an attempt to delegitimize Israel and is part of the whole package that should be rejected out of hand. It was a surprise … we had no inclination or hint that Canada would change its vote on the regular annual UN resolutions and we trusted Canada, knowing that this is a circus of anti-Israeli resolutions. The UN is not court. It is an exercise in public relations and they have an automatic majority that votes against Israel … so we don’t think Canada should co-operate with this exercise.</blockquote>

Key Speakers At The 2019 SALT Conference

Nikki Haley Blisters Canada For Abandoning Israel At UN: They Struck A ‘Deal With The Devil’

Israel

Nikki Haley

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to mock President Donald Trump on a hot mic Tuesday evening with other world leaders while at a Buckingham Palace reception for the ongoing NATO summit.
The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7753821/Justin-Trudeau-Emmanuel-Macron-Boris-Johnson-caught-appearing-gossip-Trump.html">noted</a> that none of the leaders used Trump&#8217;s name but it was clear that is who they were talking about as Trudeau was standing alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Princess Anne.
The Washington Post also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/04/trump-macron-trudeau-johnson-video-candid-joking-nato/">reported</a> that &#8220;the group appeared to be joking about President Trump’s performance earlier in the day.&#8221;
“Is that why you were late?” Johnson asked Macron.
“He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top,” Trudeau interjected, later adding, &#8220;you just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.&#8221;
Ezra Levant, founder of The Rebel, a Canadian publication, tweeted out a video clip of the interaction and wrote: &#8220;Just like at the G7 meeting last year, Justin Trudeau was meek and obedient to Donald Trump when they were face to face. But the moment Trump left the room Trudeau bad-mouthed him. Here he is doing the same in London, mocking Canada’s greatest NATO ally.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just like at the G7 meeting last year, Justin Trudeau was meek and obedient to Donald Trump when they were face to face. But the moment Trump left the room Trudeau bad-mouthed him. Here he is doing the same in London, mocking Canada’s greatest NATO ally. <a href="https://t.co/hGENrbnHg7">pic.twitter.com/hGENrbnHg7</a>
&mdash; Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) <a href="https://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1202013710153388032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The mockery coming from Trudeau is ironic given the Canadian PM&#8217;s widely mocked past performances on the public stage with other world leaders and recent embarrassing scandals, among them the racist blackface scandal that he somehow managed to survive politically.
Numerous photographs and videos surfaced earlier this year that showed Trudeau wearing blackface which is universally seen as racist and condescending to black people.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A new high quality video of <a href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JustinTrudeau</a> dancing in blackface
Read more: <a href="https://t.co/Ytarj5Heih">https://t.co/Ytarj5Heih</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cdnpoli?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cdnpoli</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/elxn43?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#elxn43</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TrudeauBlackface?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TrudeauBlackface</a> <a href="https://t.co/vyrIiJpHdO">pic.twitter.com/vyrIiJpHdO</a>
&mdash; The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1178027994285260800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trudeau was later humiliated by school children who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-canadian-schoolchildren-destroy-justin-trudeau-over-blackface-photos">confronted him on camera</a> about why he choose to wear racist blackface.
Trudeau was also the subject of public criticism after he was &#8220;ignored&#8221; by other world leaders at the G7 Summit in 2017 and this year at the G20.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Trudeau’s disastrous visit to the NATO summit makes me long for the simpler days when world leaders just ignored him: <a href="https://t.co/rjSVt8eIWd">pic.twitter.com/rjSVt8eIWd</a>
&mdash; Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) <a href="https://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1202165969029881859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This year’s G20 meeting wasn’t much better — alphabetically, Canada was seated between Brazil and China, neither of whose leaders had much time for Trudeau: <a href="https://t.co/5N9Abdh9TQ">pic.twitter.com/5N9Abdh9TQ</a>
&mdash; Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) <a href="https://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1202166968561917952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trudeau was also met with backlash after he praised <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2016/11/rubio-calls-fidel-castro-evil-murderous-dictator-107616">murderous</a> Cuban dictator Fidel Castro after Castro&#8217;s death in 2016, saying that he was a &#8220;remarkable leader&#8221; who &#8220;was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century.&#8221;
Contrast that with Trump&#8217;s celebratory remarks over Castro&#8217;s death: &#8220;Fidel Castro is dead!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Fidel Castro is dead!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/802499192237080576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That remark is nothing compared to the comments Trudeau made about the murderous Chinese communist party, which has millions of people locked up in concentration camps.
In 2013, when asked which country he most admired, Trudeau <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/justin-trudeau-s-foolish-china-remarks-spark-anger-1.2421351">said</a>, &#8220;There&#8217;s a level of admiration I actually have for China. Their basic dictatorship is actually allowing them to turn their economy around on a dime.&#8221;
Even the left-leaning New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/opinion/sunday/trudeau-brownface-canada.html">published</a> an op-ed by a Canadian living in the United States who admitted that Canadians say to each other that Trudeau &#8220;is getting so embarrassing.&#8221;
Trudeau has openly advocated for accepting returning Islamic terrorists into Canada because he believes that they can be rehabilitated into “powerful” voices against radicalism.
“We know that actually someone who has engaged and turned away from that hateful ideology can be an extraordinarily powerful voice for preventing radicalization in future generations and younger people within the community,” Trudeau <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/justin-trudeau-returning-isis-fighters-theyll-be-emily-zanotti">said</a>.
The Post Millennial <a href="https://www.thepostmillennial.com/four-embarrassing-justin-trudeau-plastic-gaffes/">noted</a> other examples of embarrassing behavior from Trudeau, including:
<ul>
<li>Blocking much-needed access to straws for disabled people</li>
<li>Awarding a plastic manufacturer a $35 million grant immediately after saying at the G7 summit that he was going to curb single-use plastics</li>
<li>Spending $300 a month on bottled water, and then when pressed on the issue, stuttering and claiming he drinks &#8220;paper like drink-box water bottles&#8221;</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Watch Trudeau&#39;s stumbling response to reporter who asked him &quot;What do you and your family do to cut back on plastics&quot;
Good hair doesn&#39;t buy you smarts!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cdnpoli?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cdnpoli</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/plasticpollution?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#plasticpollution</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/sunnyways?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#sunnyways</a> <a href="https://t.co/GsmQzFQqbp">pic.twitter.com/GsmQzFQqbp</a>
&mdash; Canadabuster (@Canadabuster) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canadabuster/status/1138083509048881152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
Trudeau has also been mocked and criticized for dressing in garments from other cultures and trying to dance.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Here is a video of Justin Trudeau dancing/attempting to bhangra (h/t <a href="https://twitter.com/jillianfward?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jillianfward</a>.
Merry Christmas!!! <a href="https://t.co/gtAnbY3a5C">pic.twitter.com/gtAnbY3a5C</a>
&mdash; Siraj Datoo (@dats) <a href="https://twitter.com/dats/status/943781929383587840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This video of Trudeau dancing on stage in India is just too much. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Peoplekind?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Peoplekind</a> deserve better. <a href="https://t.co/Wm9T2DU2ul">pic.twitter.com/Wm9T2DU2ul</a>
&mdash; Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/967458460777332738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Inviting an attempted murderer to an official event wasn’t the only misstep in Justin Trudeau’s highly-choreographed India visit. The usually media-savvy Canadian PM’s Bollywood-inspired wardrobe and costume changes raised eyebrows in both countries <a href="https://t.co/s4sHkY9ryG">pic.twitter.com/s4sHkY9ryG</a>
&mdash; TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TRTWorldNow/status/967217634864373761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Holds News Conference

Canada’s Justin Trudeau Mocks Trump At NATO Summit. That’s Ironic Coming From Trudeau.

A gun store owner in Canada attempted to change &#8220;Black Friday&#8221; to &#8220;White Friday&#8221; in response to the Justin Trudeau blackface scandal that nearly derailed his re-election.
Speaking with <a href="https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/pembroke-gun-store-advertises-white-friday-sale-but-owner-insists-he-s-not-racist-1.4701434">CTV Ottawa</a>, Lance Perkins, owner of Perkins Guns and Ammo, said that he dislikes the phrase &#8220;Black Friday&#8221; because of Justin Trudeau.
“I don’t know why people got upset,” Perkins told the outlet, as reported by <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/canada-gun-store-black-friday-white-friday-sale">Fox News</a>. “My ‘White Friday’ sale in regards to selling guns or crossbows or anything in the store, had nothing to do with colour, it’s just a sale … we’re allowed to have sales in Canada.&#8221;
The sign in question read:
<blockquote>GUN DEALS
ALL YOU PEOPLE
COME ON IN
WHITE FRIDAY SALE</blockquote>
Perkins displayed the sign on November 14th, but changed it shortly after people began to denounce it as racist — a charge he fervently rejected.
“This year, I don’t really know why people got offended by the use of the word ‘white.’ I couldn’t use the word ‘black’ because of Trudeau using blackface,” he said. “All you see in the newspaper is Black Fridays … Black Fridays … and you know what, I said we’re not American, let’s go with a different shade, a different color. I picked white because it resembles white snow, it resembles Christmas. Why not go with something brighter than black.”
This past September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became embroiled in controversy when past photos surfaced of him wearing blackface and brownface in the early 2000s. Trudeau <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/don-lemon-praises-justin-trudeaus-blackface-paul-bois">apologized for the photos</a>, saying he did not believe they were racist at the time.
“I shouldn’t have done it. I should have known better, but I didn’t,” he said. “And I’m really sorry.”
Critics of the Perkins sign apparently took serious issue with Perkins&#8217; use of the phrase &#8220;you people,&#8221; which cost sports broadcaster Don Cherry his job when he used the phrase while asking immigrants to wear a poppy to honor Canadian veterans.
“I believe the man is a great Canadian; he did not pick out anybody in regards to race,” said Perkins. “But he wasn’t racist … he just said what was on his mind.”
The phrase &#8220;Black Friday&#8221; and its ultimate meaning has been an evolving one since the 1960s. Fox News provided some history:
<blockquote>&#8220;Black Friday&#8221; is the popular shopping day held the day after American Thanksgiving, during which retailers host big sales as consumers head into the holiday season. The title dates back to Philadelphia in the 1960s, when police officers used the term to &#8220;describe the chaos that ensued&#8221; with car and foot traffic as people shopped for the holidays and descended upon the city ahead of the Army-Navy football game, held the Saturday after Turkey Day, according to History.com.
But the term didn’t sit well with local retailers, who tried, unsuccessfully, to change the term to &#8220;Big Friday&#8221; to try to &#8220;remove any negative connotations.&#8221; Eventually, The New York Times explains, &#8220;retailers managed to spin a new connotation: The day the books went from red ink to black,&#8221; thanks to of all the post-Thanksgiving Day sales.</blockquote>

Canadian Gun Store Owner Changes Black Friday To ‘White Friday,’ Blames Justin Trudeau’s Blackface

Guns

Iconic Canadian broadcaster Don Cherry was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-don-cherry-fired-for-telling-immigrants-to-honor-fallen-vets-responds-to-backlash">fired</a> from his job with Sportsnet this week after using his “Coach’s Corner” segment to encourage immigrants to honor fallen troops. Cherry was apparently upset that a diminishing number of people in the Toronto area wear the traditional poppy pins to commemorate Canada’s Remembrance Day. He (not unreasonably) connected this drop off in traditional observance to the increasing number of immigrants in the area. Here’s how he put it:
<blockquote>“You people love — you, that come here, whatever it is — you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey. At least you could pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that. These guys paid for your way of life, that you enjoy in Canada.”</blockquote>
The worst thing you could possibly say about these comments is that they’re a little bit gruff. But Don Cherry is 85 years old and 85-year-old men have earned the right to be gruff. Other than this lack of diplomacy, there is nothing remotely offensive or bigoted in his point of view on this issue. He isn’t telling immigrants not to come to Canada. He isn’t saying they are inferior to, or less than, himself. He certainly isn&#8217;t saying anything &#8220;<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2019/11/11/don-cherry-fired-racist-anti-immigrant-comment/2566800001/">racist</a>,&#8221; as USA Today matter-of-factly put it. He doesn&#8217;t mention race at all and could just as easily be talking about immigrants from a mostly white country. His only point, it seems to me, is to lament a perceived deficit of patriotism and gratitude.
Of course, we live in a time when the only thing more lacking than patriotism is fortitude, so everyone associated with Cherry immediately threw him under the bus and prostrated themselves before the outrage mob. The president of Sportsnet, Bart Yablsey (a fitting name, somehow), announced Cherry’s firing while publicly scolding him for &#8220;divisive remarks&#8221; that &#8220;do not represent our values.&#8221;
The NHL chimed in with its own bit of finger-wagging, accusing Cherry of saying things &#8220;that are in direct conflict with the values of diversity and inclusion that we embrace as pillars of the sport.&#8221; Hockey used to be a game where rough men got their teeth knocked out. Now the National Hockey League delivers lectures on &#8220;inclusion.&#8221; We are truly living in &#8220;Idiocracy,&#8221; except everyone has lost their spines as well as their brains.
<iframe title="Media and Hollywood Rally Behind Convicted Rapist and Murderer | The Matt Walsh Show Ep. 369" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BlehMV5yg8U?start=1366&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Speaking of spineless, Cherry’s longtime co-host, Ron MacLean, who sat and nodded while Cherry was making these comments, tried desperately to keep his job by knifing his friend in the back. MacLean, doing his best to pretend that he understands why people are upset about this nonsense, called Cherry’s remarks &#8220;hurtful, discriminatory&#8221; and &#8220;flat-out wrong.&#8221; He even thanked the whiney masses for &#8220;calling Don and me on that&#8221; and teaching them a &#8220;great lesson.&#8221; Then his skin turned translucent and he morphed into a literal jellyfish on live TV.
I think there are two points to be made about all of this.
First, Don Cherry was correct. It is indeed important to inculcate patriotism and gratitude in all citizens. As for immigrants, it is their responsibility to assimilate themselves to their new country and show a proper respect for the traditions of their adopted home. Cherry’s point is a good one: If you’re immigrating to a country in order to enjoy its freedoms and luxuries, you should appreciate that many people had to die in order to provide you that opportunity. If there is not enough appreciation for that fact, who should we be scolding — Don Cherry, or the people who made his comments necessary in the first place?
Second, let’s pretend for a moment that Don Cherry’s comments really were &#8220;hurtful&#8221; and &#8220;discriminatory,&#8221; like his aquatic broadcasting partner claims. Could they possibly be more hurtful and discriminatory than a blackface costume? And if they don’t &#8220;represent the values&#8221; of Canadians, then does a man who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/blackface-photo-justin-trudeau-surfaces-trudeau-ryan-saavedra">wore blackface multiple times</a> represent them?
The hypocrisy is so blatant that it probably doesn’t need to be pointed out, but I will anyway. There was so much outrage in Canada over opinions expressed by a television host that the host was fired. Yet the prime minister of the country wore blackface and still won re-election. Of course, we Americans have no room to gloat. Megyn Kelly was fired from her job at NBC just for talking about blackface.
It just goes to show that these faux-racism outrages are political and performative. Calling the outrage mob &#8220;sensitive&#8221; or &#8220;snowflakes&#8221; misses the point and gives them too much credit. They aren’t sensitive — they’re just frauds.

Don Cherry

WALSH: Legendary Canadian Broadcaster Fired For ‘Racist’ Comments. But Blackface-Wearing Trudeau Remains In Office.

Military

Political Correctness

Sports

Transgender activist Jessica Yaniv, a biological male who identifies as a female, filed at least 15 human rights complaints against female estheticians in Canada for refusing to wax his male genitals, as covered this summer by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-woman-suing-female-estheticians-refusing-wax-amanda-prestigiacomo">The Daily Wire</a>.
On Tuesday, the <a href="https://www.jccf.ca/aestheticians-justified-in-refusing-to-handle-male-genitals-against-their-will-bc-human-rights-tribunal/">Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms</a>, which is representing five of the women being targeted by Yaniv, announced that the activist’s cases against their clients have been tossed by the BC Human Rights Tribunal. Moreover, Yaniv will be forced to pay $2,000 each to at least three of the women.
“The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) is pleased to announce that the BC Human Rights Tribunal has ruled in favour of home estheticians’ right to refuse to handle male genitalia against their will,” a press release from JCCF said, as highlighted by <a href="https://www.thepostmillennial.com/breaking-jessica-yaniv-loses-cases-against-women-who-wouldnt-wax-her-balls/">The Post Millennial</a>.
According to the group, the tribunal’s decision said that “human rights legislation does not require a service provider to wax a type of genitals they are not trained for and have not consented to wax.” Moreover, it was noted that Yaniv “engaged in improper conduct” and “filed complaints for improper purposes.” The activist’s testimony, according to the ruling, was “disingenuous and self-serving,” and Yaniv was “evasive and argumentative and contradicted herself.”
Yaniv filed complaints against 15 female and largely immigrant-owned businesses when he was turned away for a genital waxing for a variety of reasons, which included some of the businesses not being specialized in male genital waxing.
The complainant was seeking as much as $15,000 in damages against each esthetician, according to JCCF, and at least one of the women being targeted, a devout Sikh, was forced to close down her small at-home business due to the activist’s complaint.
“The Justice Centre represented Blue Heaven Beauty Lounge and its owner, Sandeep Banipal, who is an adherent to the Sikh religion. Ms. Banipal is not trained to wax male genitals, and as she explained in the response to the complaint against her, it ‘is not something I am comfortable with or trained to do,’” the JCCF press release outlined.
Sukhi Hehar Gill, also represented by JCCF, “was forced to close her business due to the complaint against her,” the release said. &#8220;Ms. Gill, also a practicing adherent of the Sikh faith, provided waxing services only to female clients, attending alone at her clients’ homes. She explained in her response to Yaniv’s complaint against her that it &#8216;is contrary to my faith&#8217; to provide waxing services to a biological male. Yaniv had requested that Gill attend at Yaniv’s personal residence to provide arm and leg waxing services.”
Yaniv, at order by the tribunal, must now pay out $2,000 to Banipal, Gill, and other JCCF client, Marcia Da Silva.
“Self-identification does not erase physiological reality,” said Jay Cameron, JCCF Litigation Manager and counsel for the estheticians. “Our clients do not offer the service requested. No woman should be compelled to touch male genitals against her will, irrespective of how the owner of the genitals identifies.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49717/woman-forced-close-business-after-refusing-wax-amanda-prestigiacomo">Woman Forced To Close Business After Refusing To Wax Male Genitals Of Transgender Person</a>

wax mess

Transgender Activist Loses Cases Against Female Estheticians Who Refused To Wax Male Genitals

Transgender

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau narrowly won re-election in Canada&#8217;s national elections Tuesday, as his Liberal Party held on to around 150 seats in Parliament, but failed to secure himself a Liberal majority.
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50134640">The BBC reports</a> that Liberals are projected to win 157 seats &#8212; 13 short of the majority that Trudeau would have needed to continue governing with a mandate. Canada&#8217;s Conservative Party, which saw a surge in support in recent weeks, is projected to take 121 seats, a gain of around 30 seats. The Conservative Party also won the popular vote, 34% to the Liberal Party&#8217;s 33%.
Canada&#8217;s left-leaning parties, the Liberals and the New Democrats, both suffered losses, and came out of Monday night&#8217;s election with less support than they enjoyed in the last election. According to the BBC, however, the New Democrats leader, Jagmeet Singh, may become &#8220;kingmaker,&#8221; if he decides to ink a deal with Trudeau (or, less likely, Trudeau&#8217;s conservative opposition) to form a coalition government.
The big news of the night, though, was that Bloc Québécois, the province of Quebec&#8217;s separatist party, gained 20 more seats than it earned in 2015, at its previous high.
Trudeau was clearly happy with the result, which he considered, the BBC says, a referendum on his leadership, even though his Liberal Party ultimately suffered. Speaking to a crowd in his native Montreal, Trudeau claimed that Canada &#8220;rejected division and negativity &#8230; and they rejected cuts and austerity and voted in favour of a progressive agenda and strong action on climate change.&#8221;
That Trudeau pulled out a victory is an achievement in itself, however. The past year has been a rough one for Trudeau, first facing allegations that the self-proclaimed feminist had bullied a female minister out of his government after she, an attorney general, refused to pull back on prosecuting an energy company with ties to some of Trudeau&#8217;s close friends. Other female ministers made similar allegations about Trudeau&#8217;s bullying, and an ethics committee sided with the alleged victims.
Late last month, the famously woke Trudeau was broadsided by a set of photos and videos from his past, showing him dressed in racially charged costumes and made up in blackface. Trudeau was revealed to have dressed as Aladdin for an &#8220;Arabian Nights&#8221; themed fundraiser, complete with brown makeup on his face and hands, and as singer Harry Belafonte, to perform Belafonte&#8217;s hit &#8220;Day-O&#8221; in a video.
Trudeau apologized for the incidents but had difficulty explaining how he was still dressing in racially inappropriate costumes in the early 2000s, when he was well into his twenties, and when it was abundantly clear that blackface was considered racist.
Although the incidents didn&#8217;t seem to matter to voters, they did dog Trudeau as his victory was announced. On Twitter, plenty of commentators saw a certain poetic justice in his new &#8220;minority&#8221; government.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Jussie Trudeau is now a real minority — and he doesn’t have to wear blackface! <a href="https://t.co/u7Zkx1J8Jd">https://t.co/u7Zkx1J8Jd</a>
&mdash; Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) <a href="https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/1186482800297295872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
someone explain to Justin that minority here does not mean he has to go shoe polish shopping
&mdash; Shirley Serious (@_therealNobody) <a href="https://twitter.com/_therealNobody/status/1186470753031450624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Trudeau finally gets to be a real minority.
&mdash; Game_Enders (@GameEnders1) <a href="https://twitter.com/GameEnders1/status/1186474387769180160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
President Donald Trump weighed in on Trudeau&#8217;s victory on Twitter, wishing the Prime Minister good luck in his second term: &#8220;Congratulations to <a class="PrettyLink profile customisable h-card" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau" data-mentioned-user-id="14260960" data-scribe="element:mention">@JustinTrudeau</a> on a wonderful and hard fought victory. Canada is well served. I look forward to working with you toward the betterment of both of our countries!&#8221;

Menu