Canadian Cops Unleash The Nickelback

The police in the small Canadian town of Kensington, Prince Edward Island have come up with a new way to make life even more unpleasant for anyone they arrest for drunk driving.  During your trip in the back seat of the police cruiser, if you are arrested on this specific charge, you will be subjected to music by Nickelback.  This might be called "cruel and unusual punishment", except for the fact that Canada, being separate from the United States, does not have the Eighth Amendment.  (It's possible that they have something analogous, but I'm not familiar with their constitution.)  On the other hand, any true fans of Nickelback who get to ride in a Kensington, PEI police car might find their experience temporarily enjoyable.  But in any event, if you've been enjoying Labatt Blue, Molson or Moosehead, take a good break or let someone else drive before you go running around the Maritime Provinces.

Read more at The Verge, CBC News, Quartz, Refinery29 and CNN.

Things I Don't Believe #2

This post will be devoted to a single topic, because of how much I had to write in order to explain what it is that I don't believe, and why I don't believe it.  The topic is the purported death of a certain musical celebrity, of which reports have been greatly exaggerated, as Mark Twain would say.

I do not believe that Paul McCartney was killed in a car accident in 1966, and replaced with a look-alike.

According to this conspiracy theory, the man currently known as Paul McCartney isn't really Paul McCartney.  This is because the original Paul McCartney, who played in a group called the Quarrymen, which later evolved into the Beatles, died in a car accident in late 1966.  The Beatles found a replacement in William Shears Campbell, a Scottish man who (depending on which version of the story you run across) had either won or come in second in a Paul McCartney look-alike contest.  Starting in 1967, the band started passing off Campbell as McCartney, perhaps with the help of some cosmetic surgery.  They also started to incorporate, into their songs and album cover artwork, clues to Paul's alleged death and replacement.  One early example of this would be the lyrics "the one and only Billy Shears" in the title song of their 1967 album Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, allegedly giving a clue to Campbell's identity.  If this theory is true, it would mean that a man named Bill Campbell, after assuming McCartney's identity, married Linda Eastman and later Heather Mills, founded the band Wings, had a long solo career, was knighted, and is still around today.  Meanwhile, the "true" Paul McCartney has been pushing up daisies for fifty years (although no believer in all this, as far as I can tell, has ever tried to point out the location of his grave).

The ACC Football Coach Of The Year Is....

....drum roll, please....

....Justin Fuente of Virginia Tech.

In just his first year as head coach of Virginia Tech's football team, Justin Fuente has been named Coach of the Year by the Atlantic Coast Conference.  The Hokies have finished the regular 12-game season at 9-3, the best since 2011, in the process winning the Coastal Division.  They will face Atlantic Division winner Clemson in the ACC Championship Game this coming Saturday.  Fuente had previous been the head coach at Memphis.

Read more at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, WDBJ, TechSideline and Hokiesports.

Man Attacks With Car And Knife On OSU Campus

This morning on the campus Ohio State University, a man ran into pedestrians with his car, and then got out and started stabbing people with a butcher knife, before being shot dead by a policeman.  Nine people were injured.  The attack was originally, but wrongly, reported as a shooting, but the only gunshots came from the cop.  The attacker was identified as Abdul Artan, an 18-year-old student of OSU, who was born in Somalia and who had also lived in Pakistan.

Read more at The Columbus Dispatch, NBC News, Cincinnati(dot)com, Reuters and AOL.

Some information on the suspect may be found at Inquistr (who say that Artan was 19) and Heavy.

UPDATE:  This is not the first attack on a college campus by a Muslim using a car as an assault weapon.  Another one happened ten years ago.

Fidel Castro 1926-2016

Fidel Castro, the communist dictator who ruled Cuba from 1959 to 2008, has died at age 90.  Due to his failing health, he had handed over much of his power to his brother Raúl in 2006 and then formally resigned the Cuban presidency two years later.  For much of his time in power, he and his country were in a state of conflict with the United States, with episodes ranging from the Cuban Missile Crisis, which also involved the Soviet Union, to the custody battle over Elián Gonzáles, a young boy who had survived a risky boat voyage to Florida.

Reactions to Castro's death range from tribute to celebration.  I'll provide just one example.  In his article at HotAir, Jazz Shaw points what he thinks "might be the ultimate irony".

In the end, Castro died on Black Friday, arguably the biggest celebration of capitalism on the entire calendar.

Read more at The New York Times, BBC News, Al Jazeera, ABC News and the Miami Herald.

Links For Black Friday

Besides the start of Christmas shopping, here's what else is going on:

In Chicago, Black Friday is for protesting.

The president-elect might be able to learn something from this guy.

One city in Italy keeps getting flooded - by tourists.

Another Italian city has an even worse problem.

I wish these leaders would show the same concern for the people who haven't left their countries.

It looks like this guy will get his day in court.

In their presidential primary, one French candidate says non to multiculturalism.

It looks like President Obama could be returning to the community organizing business.

Missing Friday prayers can cause Muslims to miss quite a bit of time.

Dutch police foil a plot to attack synagogue.

Over 70 pilgrims are killed by a truck bomb in Iraq.  (via here)

In Sweden, migrants burn down art work.

A Canadian imam wants one entire country to be burned down.

The self-destruction of Europe.

Here's an example of what happens when previously deported illegal aliens return.

A Chicago neighborhood puts up the largest lit Santa Claus in the United States.

A Canadian company shoots videos of the earth from space.

And to finish, Florence Henderson, known for her role as Carol Brady of The Brady Bunch, passes away at age 82.

Obama's Last Turkey Pardon

Today, President Obama performed his eighth and final turkey pardon, which could be called a double feature.  The two turkeys, Tater and Tot, were raised and named in Iowa, and each weigh about 40 pounds.  Normally I don't take note of this annual event, but this year, the two birds will be sent to my alma mater, whose Hokiebird mascot has been described as a highly evolved turkey.  They will live out their days at Virginia Tech's "Gobbler's Nest".

The ceremony under which presidents pardon turkeys at Thanksgiving goes back, at least formally, to the first President Bush, but has some antecedents going back to President Lincoln, who spared his son's turkey from being eaten at Christmas.

Read more at NBC News, ABC News, CNN and WTOP.

Two Interesting Articles

Earlier today, I read two articles that I thought were worth passing on.  The first comes via HotAir from Politico, and asserts that the true creators of Trump were the left.  A brief quote:

The general attitude of the left was: Disagree with us? You’re probably racist, xenophobic, sexist, bigoted or all of the above. Indeed, for many liberal Americans, these prejudices have come to be seen as inseparable from identity of the Republican Party itself.  [emphasis in original]

Read the first article.

Things I Don't Believe #1

There are many popular notions out there, some of them called "conspiracy theories", that many people have come to believe, but which I have decided not to believe.  I was hoping to write an essay on these, and make it into a single post, but I seem to have come up with so many things to write about, and so much to write about some of them, that it would be better to spread these things out.  Let me start with some things related to the man who will soon leave our country's highest office.

I do not believe:

That Barack Obama is a Muslim.

As I pointed out in one of my "Random Musings" posts, our soon-to-be-former president drinks beer, eats pork, and has kept at least one dog as a pet, all three of which are not normally permitted under Islam.  This would mean either that he is not Muslim, or that he has somehow carried out a very elaborate deception on behalf of Islam.  Applying Occam's Razor, I would be more likely to believe the former.  While Obama has called himself a Christian, his particular brand thereof appears to be the Black Liberation Theology preached by Pastor Jeremiah Wright.  It is obvious that Obama has a great respect for Islam, perhaps because he sees it as an oppressed culture or a victim of colonialism, but this is distinct from being an adherent of that religion.

Just A Few Things

Just a few things that I've run across, or which have been brought to my attention:

Plans appear already to be in the works for Donald Trump to have dinner with Queen Elizabeth II.

The French "far right" are doing well in the polls.

Another thing I don't remember from the 2012 election is how a fashion designer refused to make dresses for Michelle Obama.

A DOJ attorney who accused current AG-designate Jeff Sessions of racial remarks has had his own legal problems.

To our friends on the left, please practice what you preach.

And in an item brought to my attention by my Canadian friend Kel of Red Fox Blogger, when in Parliament, discussing how your peers regard your province, please do not refer to the breaking of wind.