• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

The WTF News Files

Does that now mean permission need not be gotten for marching in parades other than LGBT parades? Equality don't you know?
 
Only in Canada, eh?

Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act.

OPINION

Sniper shot is no cause to celebrate: Editorial

Justin Trudeau was wrong to suggest the killing of a Daesh fighter is cause for pride
The Toronto Star
Fri., June 30, 2017

A Canadian soldier now holds the world record for longest fatal shot by a sniper, after killing a Daesh fighter in Iraq from a distance of over 3.5 kilometres.

Justin Trudeau, discussing the record last week, said it was “something to be celebrated for the excellence of the Canadian Forces in their training, in the performance of their duties.”

The prime minister is commendable in his desire to mark Canadian achievement, and the marksman in question seems to have done his job well. But to celebrate our military’s killing power, no matter how many records it breaks, shows a crude and simplistic view of Canada’s role overseas - and of the value of human life.

The issue isn't the shot itself, which by all accounts was justified, but how we choose to talk about it.

However heinous we may find members of Daesh and their sympathizers, they are human beings. They have homes and families and histories. No matter their crimes, their lives are valuable in the sense that all lives are valuable, and deserving of at least some degree of respect.

We revile terrorists largely because they seem to have so little regard for human life. They measure their success by the amount of carnage they cause, and appear to find genuine joy in killing people. That, supposedly, is what sets us apart from them.

Canadians have a long tradition of measuring our military success, and even our national worth, by the number of notches on our gun barrels.

Billy Bishop became a Canadian hero, worthy of a namesake airport, by shooting down several dozen German pilots in the First World War.

The Devil’s Brigade of Canadian and U.S. commandos gained fame in the Second World War for slitting the throats of German soldiers, and leaving behind literal calling cards to claim their kills.

From a modern vantage point, though, taking such glee in the lethal exploits of our soldiers is cringe-inducing, if not downright ghoulish.

Our understanding of war and violence should have progressed by now, beyond the point where we talk about conflict only in terms of the number of “bad guys” we kill or how well we kill them.

Too much time has already been spent lauding this sniper’s deadly shot, and Trudeau’s apparent satisfaction with the killing seems incongruous for a leader who pledged to return Canada to its peacekeeping roots.

Canadians should, in the 21st Century, be able to take pride in our military for reasons other than its ability to end human lives. A peacekeeping mission in Africa, for instance, would be genuine cause to celebrate, but the government has continued to drag its feet on fulfilling that promise.

In Iraq, Canadian soldiers are tasked with “advising and assisting” in the fight against Daesh, and it seems naïve to think they can do that without falling into firefights with Daesh themselves. Trudeau only invited Canadians to celebrate the sniper shot after NDP leader Tom Mulcair suggested the sniper had violated Canada’s rules of engagement in Iraq. Military officials have since said the shot saved Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers’ lives, breaking up a mass of Daesh fighters as they prepared to attack.

But there is a stark difference between being forced into a fight, and glorifying the act of shooting someone dead.

Canada has just extended its commitment in Iraq for two more years. There will almost certainly be more cases in which it’s deemed necessary for a Canadian to shoot a member of Daesh. There will be more deaths.

But as we approach Canada Day weekend, when millions will reflect on what it means to be Canadian, we have to ask ourselves: Do we want to be the kind of people who celebrate that?


More on LINK.


WTF does this person actually think the world is like outside of free democratic countries like ours?

Reality is not their forte.
 
... to celebrate our military’s killing power, no matter how many records it breaks, shows a crude and simplistic view of Canada’s role overseas - and of the value of human life ...
... unlike the Toronto Star's crude and simplistic view of the role of military forces - and the value of deadly force when needed ...  ::)
 
I think this applies equally true if on the receiving end of a Canadian sniper. That reporter got it all wrong. I know should be in the meme thread but seem appropriate here too. Posted halfways tongue in cheek

Tom
 

Attachments

  • canada-just-bombed-isis-when-canada-is-bombing-you-you-2036808.png
    canada-just-bombed-isis-when-canada-is-bombing-you-you-2036808.png
    97.1 KB · Views: 240
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40421811

Coins thrown into plane engine by elderly passenger for 'luck'

28 June 2017

A superstitious elderly passenger delayed a flight in Shanghai after throwing coins at the engine for good luck, a Chinese airline has confirmed.

The 80-year-old woman threw her change at the China Southern Airlines flight as she crossed the tarmac to board.

She told police she launched the coins as she "prayed for safety" on Tuesday.

Of the nine coins launched, only one hit its intended target - but this was enough to force the evacuation of 150 passengers for several hours.

Police were called to Shanghai Pudong International Airport after a passenger noticed the woman's bizarre behaviour, apparently aimed at ensuring a safe flight, and alerted authorities.

The woman, who was travelling with her husband, daughter and son-in-law, was then taken away for questioning by officers, local media report. She will not face charges.

"In order to make sure the flight is safe, China Southern maintenance has conducted a full examination of the plane's engine," China Southern Airlines said in a statement on the microblogging site Weibo.

Police later shared their findings, which had a total value of about 1.7 yuan (£0.20 / $0.25).

"After an investigation the involved passenger, surnamed Qiu, said she threw the coins to pray for safety. According to Qiu's neighbour, Qiu believes in Buddhism," the police said.

The flight was eventually given the all-clear and took off at 17:52 local time (09:52 GMT), more than five hours late.

News of the incident caused a fair amount of turbulence on the social media site Weibo, with one user commenting: "Grandma, this is not a wish fountain with turtles."

China Southern Airlines later urged passengers to comply with civil aviation laws and regulations and avoid behaviour that could prove detrimental to the safety of passengers travelling on its flights.
 
Uncensored photo at link:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/man-snaps-photo-of-iceberg-off-n-l-with-distinctly-masculine-feature-1.3506691

Man snaps photo of iceberg off N.L. with distinctly masculine feature

Alison Auld , The Canadian Press
Published Monday, July 17, 2017 3:51PM EDT 
Last Updated Monday, July 17, 2017 4:51PM EDT 

GRIQUET, N.L. - Jamie Ellison's botanical tour of northern Newfoundland provided a whole different kind of nature lesson when he looked out to a local bay and saw an iceberg with a distinctly masculine flourish.

The Nova Scotia-based horticulture instructor and 10 tour companions stood slack-jawed on the shoreline in Griquet as they took in the impressive ice formation and its clear phallic protuberance.

He says their quiet awe quickly turned to giggles, while prompting some "rude comments" as they came up with a name for the soaring structure.

"So someone threw out 'penis-berg,"' he said with a laugh from Hubbards, N.S., on Monday. "We all had a good chuckle and were laughing and just thinking, 'Oh my gosh, this is very phallic.' We actually didn't expect to see quite what we saw!"

Ellison, who also runs Green Optics photography, says he and his mates were heading to coffee when they spotted the iceberg in a little bay in the area and decided to stop to get a closer look. He said it was one of many icebergs that would show up on a daily basis along that coastline, where he and the group of largely American botanists were studying Newfoundland's alpine flora.

When he first saw it, he says he thought it looked like the bow of a ship.

So he grabbed his powerful 600-millimetre lens and snapped a picture only to find that he had captured a much racier image - a long, tubular piece of ice reaching skyward over a larger mass of ice.

"We were passing by and I thought, 'Jeez, I gotta get a shot of that - it's just too good to be true,' and I didn't realize, you know, quite how phallic it was," said Ellison, who teaches at the Nova Scotia Community College in Kentville. "But there was no guessing with the naked eye. Trust me."

He says the unique iceberg that he estimated was several stories high was gone later in the day, likely pushed by strong winds, to make the rounds further down the coast or out at sea.

Ellison, who has seen many icebergs before this, joked that "Mother Nature expresses herself in an interesting manner sometimes."
 
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/451013/banana-peel-frightens-ole-miss-fraternity-retreat-canceled-mississippi?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NR%20Daily%20Monday%20through%20Friday%202017-09-01&utm_term=NR5PM%20Actives

Frat Retreat Ends Early after Students ‘Frightened’ by a Banana Peel

Ole Miss students are still reeling from the devastating and traumatic experience.

By Katherine Timpf - August 31, 2017

A weekend fraternity retreat at the University of Mississippi ended early on Saturday because a student threw his banana peel away in a tree - and some students who saw it got “frightened” that the peel was a racist attack.

According to an article in the Daily Mississippian, three black students told National Pan-Hellenic Council leaders that they had seen a banana peel on a tree and that they were very upset about it. The leaders then shared their concerns with the rest of the camp, and one of the attendees, Ryan Swanson, admitted that he had placed the peel on the tree - explaining that he had actually not done so because he hates people of color and wants to intimidate them, but because he just couldn’t find a garbage can to put it in. But it didn’t end there: In fact, it prompted an entire day of “camp-wide conversation” about the racist “symbolism, intended or not” of the banana, a conversation that made some students feel so upset that they didn’t feel “safe” enough to stay, which ultimately led to the rest of the retreat being canceled altogether.
Swanson apologized in a statement to the school paper:

I want to sincerely apologize for the events that took place this past weekend. Although unintentional, there is no excuse for the pain that was caused to members of our community.

I want to thank my friends in the NPHC for their candid and constructive conversations that we have continued to have. I have much to learn and look forward to doing such and encourage all members of our university community to do the same. We must all keep in mind how our actions affect those around us differently.

Now, it’s not exactly clear why Swanson took the time to put the peel on a tree instead of just throwing it on the ground like a normal, lazy litterbug. What is clear, however, is that his decision wound up causing some pretty serious emotional devastation, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he never wanted even to be seen in a room with that fruit again.

The fallout, after all, was so serious that Alexa Lee Arndt, the university’s director of fraternity and sorority life, felt the need to send a letter to all of the chapter presidents, council officers, and chapter advisers:

To be clear, many members of our community were hurt, frightened, and upset by what occurred at IMPACT. . . . Because of the underlying reality many students of color endure on a daily basis, the conversation manifested into a larger conversation about race relations today at the University of Mississippi.

One of these “hurt, frightened” students was Makala McNeil, president of the historically black Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. According to the Daily Mississippian, McNeil said she saw the peel and felt like it “was a slap in the face,” adding that it had made her think about a recent incident at American University. In May, bananas hanging from nooses were discovered on trees on the morning that a student from Alpha Kappa Alpha was set to become the school’s first female black president.

That AU incident, of course, was incredibly racist, awful, and disturbing. It was an intentional, bigoted act, and certainly worthy of a campus conversation. This banana, however, was not hanging from a noose. It wasn’t even hanging from a branch, it was sort of just stuck to a stump on the trunk. Still, McNeil said that the way in which some of her fellow students had discussed the peel was upsetting enough in itself.

“I just don’t feel as though it was being facilitated in a constructive way,” McNeil told the DM.

“At that point, we didn’t feel welcome; we didn’t feel safe,” McNeil continued. “If we didn’t feel wanted or safe at the camp, our best option was to leave.”

There are no reports of what exactly was said during the banana-peel-gate discussions that made some students so upset, but the school’s administration is reportedly working on a plan to help the students who are still coping.

“Right now, we’re just talking to people on campus who have some experience working across diversity to help the students process what happened,” Katrina Caldwell, vice chancellor for diversity and community engagement, told the DM.

Hopefully, Caldwell will be able to get the students through this and help prevent similar catastrophes from happening in the future. Seeing as the Daily Mississippian is reporting that bananas were actually provided as a breakfast option to the people at the retreat, perhaps she could start by requiring a bias-impact analysis of all foods being considered for future events. No student, after all, should have to endure such a traumatic experience ever again.
 
Please tell me the national review is like the onion or duffleblog...
 
Lumber said:
Please tell me the national review is like the onion or duffleblog...
Generally-conservative news/public affairs magazine - been right of centre for some time, which isn't surprising considering this guy started 'er up.  Not as harsh as some conservative outlets, in fact -- a recent piece, for example:  "The Idiot Boys of Antifa and the Alt-Right"
 
Lumber said:
Please tell me the national review is like the onion or duffleblog...

Having found the same article in several centre reporting agencies, it is likely true.
 
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/845614/China-military-masturbation-fitness-test-peoples-liberation-army-xi-jinping?utm_source=traffic.outbrain&utm_medium=traffic.outbrain&utm_term=traffic.outbrain&utm_content=traffic.outbrain&utm_campaign=traffic.outbrain

Chinese military clamp down hard on masturbating recruits as more than half turned away

CHINA discharged eight per cent of failed recruits under accusations of “excessive masturbation”, a shocking release from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has claimed.

By Vincent Wood

PUBLISHED: 02:21, Fri, Aug 25, 2017 | UPDATED: 11:19, Fri, Aug 25, 2017

In a report disseminated by the PLA, the vast military confirmed 20 per cent of the new recruits from an undisclosed city who failed the fitness exam did so because they were overweight, while a further 8 per cent were released for having an enlarged testicular vein.

The report claimed this may have been “related to sitting too long on computer games, excessive masturbation and too little physical activity”.
The nation attempts to keep a firm grip on the fitness of their recruits following massive expansions to their forces in recent years which have made them the third largest military in the world.

The PLA were later forced to release a statement confirming their troops were all combat ready.

A spokesman said: "China's recruitment process has strict rules and procedures.

"The quality of our recruits is guaranteed, and the headwaters of our military will flow long and strong."

"Recruitment is the foundation of national defence, and high-quality recruits are crucial to the military's combat capability.”

Earlier this month North Korea’s continual threatens to the US - and President Trump’s relentless pressuring on China - forced President Xi Jinping to respond with firepower.

Massive expansions to their forces in recent years have made them the world's third largest military

Missiles were launched in a blaze of smoke and fire across the Yellow Sea on Monday as the PLA’s navy tested its gargantuan ordnance.

The ferocious fleet was sent out to test fire from one of its 35 Destroyers - the Taizhou.

Impressive images of the drill emerged online just weeks after the PLA showed off its ground units.

Thousands upon thousands of commandos were pictured marching across the desert through Zhurihe military training base in Inner Mongolia.

Days later President Xi told troops they should be poised for attack.

He said: "No one should expect us to swallow the bitter fruit that is harmful to our sovereignty, security or development interests

"We will never allow any people, organisation or political party to split any part of Chinese territory out of the country at any time, in any form.

"The Chinese people love peace. We will never seek aggression or expansion, but we have the confidence to defeat all invasions.”
 
Loachman said:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/845614/China-military-masturbation-fitness-test-peoples-liberation-army-xi-jinping?utm_source=traffic.outbrain&utm_medium=traffic.outbrain&utm_term=traffic.outbrain&utm_content=traffic.outbrain&utm_campaign=traffic.outbrain

Chinese military clamp down hard on masturbating recruits as more than half turned away

CHINA discharged eight per cent of failed recruits under accusations of “excessive masturbation”, a shocking release from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has claimed. ...
If you can read Chinese, here's the original article from  CHN's military info-machine - as well as a Google Translation here ;D
 
How ... entrepreneurial ...
Chinese sex doll sharing service suspended after police order ‘vulgar’ displays to be removed
Tech firm issues apology after high-profile launch of service that allowed users to choose from five ‘girlfriends’
South China Morning Post, 18 Sept 2017


A sex doll sharing service that triggered heated discussions in China has been suspended just four days after it was launched.

“We are sorry to announce that Touch will suspend the operation of its ‘girlfriend sharing’ service,” Xiamen HaiBao Information Technology Co, the developer of Touch, a Chinese sex-products retailer, said in a statement on Monday.

The company launched the service in Beijing on Thursday. It would have allowed users to rent sex dolls, including Hong Kong, Russian, Chinese and Korean dolls as well as an Amazon-like “Wonder Woman” with sword and shield.

All five types of sex dolls were on display during the launch event.

The life-size silicone dolls, which usually cost over 10,000 yuan* (US$1,500) each, were promoted as available for short-term companionship with a daily rental fee of 298 yuan** after users paid a deposit of 8,000 yuan***, local media reports said ...
* - ~CDN$ 1860
** - ~CDN$ 55
*** - ~CDN$ 1490
 

Attachments

  • RentalDolls-PhotoCreditAFP.jpg
    RentalDolls-PhotoCreditAFP.jpg
    82.3 KB · Views: 455
Rifleman62 said:
Can you get a STD from a doll? [lol:
What is imagined being "shared" cannot be unimagined ... <shudder>
 
Rifleman62 said:
Can you get a STD from a doll? [lol:

As long as you two are in a committed, faithful and monogamous relationship to one another and use precautions risk is reduced LOL

Tom  :)
 
Perhaps the business also planned to rent condoms.
 
If you were able to smuggle one of these on to a ship on extended deployment one could make considerable money quietly renting it out.....
 
Back
Top