Daily Archives: November 13, 2021

Fox News contributor Joe Concha blasted the liberal media, including MSNBC, for sowing the seeds of racial division in America after some of their pundits and guests claimed racism was the motivation for Republicans win in the Virginia gubernatorial election on Monday's "Fox News Primetime."

Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a neck-and-neck election widely seen as a referendum on President Biden's policies. One of the central issues in the race was education, with some parents pushing back on critical race theory.

Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin speaks at a campaign rally at the Loudon County Fairground on November 01, 2021 in Leesburg, Virginia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

"This is a crap-tastic combination of being blind and tone-deaf on the part of the Joy Reids and Sunny Hostins of the world who only get to be on national television because they play the race card and they further divide the country in the process," Concha said.

CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS JUST ANOTHER TOOL IN THE LEFT'S POWER PLAYBOOK: SHELBY STEELE

Liberal pundits reacted to Democrat losses by saying racist "dog whistles" were at play in the gubernatorial campaign. Concha proceeded to blast the media for claiming parents who want to have a voice in their children's education are racist.

Opponents of the academic doctrine known as Critical Race Theory protest outside of the Loudoun County School Board headquarters, in Ashburn, Virginia, June 22, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

"Wow, what a strategy attack parents who simply want to say and what their kids are taught and not only criticize those taxpaying parents for acting like, you know, parents, but call them white supremacists in the process. Wow. Wisteria Lane is changed because white supremacists voted for Winsome Sears the first Black female to win election statewide in Virginia because Glenn Youngkin captured more than 50% of the Latino vote Latinos support white supremacy? Wow, who knew this?"

Former Republican Delegate Winsome Sears celebrates winning the race for Lt. Governor of Virginia during an election night party in Chantilly Virginia, U.S., November 3, 2021. REUTERS/ Jonathan Ernst (REUTERS/ Jonathan Ernst)

LIBERAL MEDIA IGNORES WINSOME SEARS' HISTORIC VIRGINIA WIN; 'THE FIVE' REACTS

Concha held particular animosity for the rhetoric of MSNBC guest, Elie Mystal, who claimed on "The Cross Connection" that White uneducated voters are not interested in issues such as infrastructure, rather they care about "using their guns on Black people and getting away with it."

"That's what they want. That's what they actually are in it for this," Mystal said.

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Concha said that he's "all for free speech" but a line has been crossed by MSNBC for having Mystal on the network.

"A line here has been eviscerated Saying White people care more about killing people because the powers that be at Comcast, who own NBC and MSNBC, should step in and say, 'Take this person off the air, he's toxic. His rhetoric is well past provocative, it's reckless, it's beneath even our low standards,'" he said. "That's never going to happen because that would take some backbone; and the people that run that network are jellyfish for allowing a clown like that on the air saying something like that."

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Joe Concha: Only reason these liberal pundits have a job is to sow division in America - Fox News

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, on Nov. 10.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

The federal Liberal government is promising to hire more staff to tackle a backlog of requests for assistance and shortage of case managers that is leaving many disabled veterans without the help they need.

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay made the commitment in an interview after The Canadian Press published a series of articles in the lead-up to Remembrance Day that looked at some of the most pressing challenges facing veterans today.

Those challenges included the backlog of disability applications that is leaving thousands of veterans waiting months and sometimes years for treatment and financial support, and which veterans organizations have identified as the communitys top concern.

The series also looked at the overwhelming number of veterans assigned to individual case managers, and how those caseloads are threatening to let some of the most severely injured fall through the cracks.

The toll of veterans injuries on families and caregivers

Were going to hire more, MacAulay said. Our party and government have indicated quite clearly were going to hire more adjudicators and case managers. The biggest priority in Veterans Affairs Canada is to deal with this backlog. And thats what were going to do.

Yet while the minister underscored adding staff, as the Liberals also promised during the recent election, will form a key part of the governments response, he would not say how many people would be hired or when.

Im not going to give you an exact date on anything, MacAulay said. But what Im going to do is make sure that we continue to deal with the backlog and bring that percentage down.

The Canadian Press series also looked at the lack of a promised strategy from the government for veterans homelessness, calls for more assistance to the families of injured veterans, and the fight some are waging for equal treatment from Ottawa.

Veterans Affairs had more than 40,000 unprocessed disability claims from more than 30,000 veterans in its possession at the end of June. Veterans and their advocates have said the long waits for claims to be processed are adding more stress and instability on injured ex-soldiers.

The Liberals have hired about 560 temporary adjudicators over the past two-plus years to bring the backlog under control after years of cuts under the previous Conservative government and a surge in new applications for help more recently.

The parliamentary budget officer in September 2020 reported the government would need to keep most of those temporary staff past their current contract end in March 2022 for another three years to properly deal with the backlog.

Veterans Affairs officials privately warned MacAulay the same thing this past May, according to documents obtained through access to information, noting those temporary staff only really got up and running this past January after months of recruitment and training.

Those officials not only spoke of the importance of retaining those temporary staff, but also for the government to make a decision on such an extension sooner rather than later.

With delays in extending spike staff comes the higher risk of losing these highly skilled and trained employees, reads the report. To date, we have lost 38 employees with 27 being essential decision makers.

MacAulay would not speak to whether the temporary staff would be hired or otherwise extended.

The minister was also vague on the governments plan to address the fact case managers within his department and struggling with large caseloads, though he did say the government remains committed to its 2015 campaign promise of having only 25 veterans to one case manager.

Our goal is to make sure that we bring down that ratio, he said. Yes, 25 to one. Theres only one way you can do this, and it is to have more people to do the job.

Veterans Affairs says the average case manager today has about 33 veterans assigned to them, but the Union of Veterans Affairs Employees says a survey of its members found the majority have more than 35 and some have in excess of 50.

The lack of details from MacAulay did not sit well with the opposition parties, which questioned the governments commitment to veterans given the lack of details around how it plans to address the challenges facing former service members.

Conservative veterans affairs critic Alex Ruff acknowledged the previous Harper government made mistakes in its treatment of former military personnel, and noted some of the positive changes the Liberals have made to the available benefits in recent years.

But he questioned why the Liberals have failed to eliminate the backlog or address the shortage of case managers despite having been in power for the past six years and asked what the governments current plan is for fixing the problem.

If youre going to do this, whats the plan? he said. What are the concrete details of how youre actually going to deliver on this?

In direct response to The Canadian Press series, Bloc Quebecois veterans affairs critic Luc Desilets called on the government to immediately fulfill its promise to reduce the ratio of veterans to case managers to 25 to one, including by hiring more veterans themselves.

Veterans Affairs Canada is failing on a number of fronts and there is a human cost to that, Desilets said in a statement released in French.

The minister must redouble his efforts, and things are urgent. The Bloc Quebecois is asking VAC to deploy the necessary resources to hire more case managers.

NDP veterans affairs critic Rachel Blaney noted parliamentary budget officer Yves Girouxs report in September 2020 actually said the government could have eliminated the backlog within 12 months if it invested more money into hiring and retaining staff.

It was very clear: if you want to get this backlog done, keep these people that youve hired temporarily permanently and then hire these other people to get it done in a year. So I get a little frustrated, Blaney said.

I know it will cost money. But I think the majority of Canadians feel very much that when people serve our country in the way that they have we need to return the favour when they return from their service.

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Liberal government vows to hire more staff to address veterans' backlog, caseloads - The Globe and Mail

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said last week he will make masculinity a signature political issue. Tom Williams/Pool/Getty Images hide caption

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said last week he will make masculinity a signature political issue.

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley was the first lawmaker to publicly vow to challenge the 2020 presidential election results, and memorably raised his fist in solidarity with protesters outside the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Now he has a new focus: defending the men of America.

In a keynote speech at the National Conservatism Conference last month, Hawley accused the political left of seeking to redefine traditional masculinity as toxic, and called for a "revival of strong and healthy manhood in America."

"This is an effort that the left has been at for years now and they have had alarming success," he said. "American men are working less, they are getting married in fewer numbers, they're fathering fewer children, they're suffering more anxiety and depression, they're engaging in more substance abuse."

Hawley said he did not want to paint all men as victims. But he blamed the left for wanting to define "traditional masculine virtues" like courage, independence and assertiveness as "a danger to society."

"Can we be surprised that after years of being told they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem, more and more men are withdrawing into the enclave of idleness, and pornography, and video games?" he said at one point.

In a TV interview with Axios last week, Hawley again accused liberals of telling men that their masculinity is "inherently problematic." And he said he'll make masculinity a signature political issue.

When pressed on whether any of his claims are supported by data, Hawley said millions of men are idle in part because of liberal policies. He pointed to a lack of jobs, fatherlessness and the "social messages we teach our kids in school."

Others disagree like Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a gender studies professor at Calvin University and author of the book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.

"I think there are many challenges that the younger generation is facing right now, women and men," Du Mez said. "But there are a lot of assumptions that Hawley's making that the problems are caused by some sort of destruction of manhood or destruction of masculinity, when we could look at: What are the expectations of masculinity that might be inappropriate, that might be outmoded, that are perhaps exacerbating this crisis?"

There are many ways in which liberals are actually working to strengthen fathers, she added, pointing to things like paid paternity leave and broader family leave policies.

"There can be ways to find common ground here rather than pitting half of America against the other half," she said. "And I think that white men actually have a really critical role to play in that respect."

Du Mez spoke to Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep about what she makes of Hawley's recent comments (NPR has invited him on the program too, Inskeep notes).

So what is exactly is the ideal man, in Hawley's view?

"A man is a father. A man is a husband. A man is somebody who takes responsibility," he told Axios.

In his keynote speech, Hawley said society needs "the kind of men who make republics possible."

Hawley doesn't exactly define masculinity in his remarks, Du Mez said, though she noted a call to action.

"He is calling on conservative men to step up to their roles as providers and protectors protectors of faith, family and nation and to protect what he calls 'our culture,'" she said.

Du Mez notes that Hawley's keynote remarks drew on the notion that God created men and women as distinct and even opposite, with men as more assertive and women as more submissive.

Though his speech focused on masculinity, Hawley did take a moment to acknowledge the role of women and to describe their virtues as "every bit as necessary to the success of our republic." (He also slammed liberal lawmakers and advocates for using the phrase "birthing people" instead of "mother" and "trying to destroy women's sports, as if women and men are somehow interchangeable.")

"Men are protectors, women are designed to be protected," Du Mez said. "This vision of gender difference really runs through conservative Christianity and through American conservatism more generally."

She cautioned that she was not speaking to Hawley's personal beliefs, but noted this line of thinking is a widespread religious belief that would "resonate powerfully" with conservatives, especially conservative evangelicals.

Traditional masculine virtues are in the service of white Christian nationalism, Du Mez argues. She described Hawley's language as "militant" and said militancy does sanction violence, something that would also resonate with much of his base.

She cited survey data that shows the majority of white evangelicals believe the 2020 election was stolen, with 39% of those believing political violence may be necessary to save the country. NPR reported on those findings earlier this year.

Inskeep asked Du Mez why she is using the term "white Christian nationalism," anticipating that Hawley might point out he didn't bring up race himself.

Du Mez answered that it's important to understand how Hawley's words might resonate with this base in particular ways.

"With this calling on men to defend our 'shared culture,' in his words, he really does seem to be tapping into a distinctive notion of who real Americans are," she said. "And those are Americans who share his conservative values, not just around gender but arguably also around what this country is supposed to be, what this country is supposed to look like."

The audio version of this story was edited by Steve Mullis and produced by Barry Gordemer.

The digital version of this story originally appeared on the Morning Edition live blog.

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Sen. Josh Hawley claims without evidence that liberals are attacking masculinity - NPR

In August, a conservative group produced a study showing how widespread the diversity industry was on Americas college campuses.

As The Free Press reported at the time, the Heritage Foundations report indicated that at many of the nations major universities the diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, staff often doubled or tripled the number of faculty within their history departments, for instance.

And those diversity police often come with grandiose titles and accompanying bloated paychecks.

Now, another conservative group has issued a report showing how pervasive the DEI mantra runs through the hiring process.

The American Enterprise Institute culled through job openings at a wide array of institutions from some of Americas most elite schools to local community colleges in the fall of 2020. Its researchers were looking for announced job descriptions for new hires that included requirements for DEI statements.

For example, the job candidate was asked to respond to a question such as: How do you think about diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI], including factors that influence underrepresentation of particular groups in academia, and the experiences of individuals from particular groups within academia?

The research ultimately settled on 999 job vacancies.

Of those, 19 percent featured diversity statements as a condition of hiring, while 68 percent referred to diversity or diverse, although that was usually in relation to the campus climate.

The AEI report noted DEI statements were most commonly found in political science jobs, with journalism, engineering, and history not far behind.

Such statements were least common within business schools.

Regionally, schools in the West were most likely to mandate DEI statements, while such a requirement was least likely in the South.

The study noted the potential effect of such policies with one example.

The researchers pointed to an analysis of a faculty opening in the life sciences department at the University of California-Berkeley, where the scale of the resulting purge would make Stalin blush.

Overall, 893 nominally qualified candidates applied, yet 679 were immediately eliminated solely due to insufficiently woke diversity, equity, and inclusion statements.

In other words, Berkeley used a political litmus test to eliminate over three-quarters of the applicant pool, the report noted.

In their conclusion, the AEI researchers wrote, Nearly one in five professors are now being selected based on not only academic merit but also their commitment to a particular ideological vision. Indeed, this number may be even higher than one in five: We believe our coding schemes are conservative and, if anything, likely underestimate the prevalence of DEI statements.

If the primary purpose of DEI statements is to effect political change in higher education rather than achieve greater diversity or institutional effectiveness, then their track record on the latter may not matter to proponents, the report added.

As of now, we believe we are on firm ground in asserting that the evidence does not yet support the contention that these practices will improve the campus climate or research productivity of higher education.

If policymakers do not intervene, they argued, DEI requirements are likely to grow substantially in the years to come, in part since trends that start at elite institutions are soon adopted by others.

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Liberal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Drive On College Campuses Is Becoming A Routine Part Of Hiring, No Evidence That Intellectual Talent Improves -...

For Kevin Vuong, the embattled Toronto MP facing a military investigation and calls to resign, even everyday constituency work is proving contentious.

It was a lesson a Toronto grocery store owner learned the hard way this week, after she reached out to Vuong's office to deal with a long-standing business matter involving the Canada Revenue Agency.

"I was wary of making the call," said Michelle Genttner. "But who do you call? It's a federal issue for our MP."

What happened next highlights a concern held by many constituents in Vuong's downtown riding of SpadinaFort York.

As a newly elected political outcast ditched by the Liberals shortly before the federal vote, they fear Vuong will be unable to get anything done in Parliament and constituents will not want to approach him for essential matters.

In the final days of the election campaign, the Toronto Star reported Vuong had been charged in 2019 with sexual assault a single count that prosecutors later withdrew.

The Liberals asked Vuong to pause his campaign after it was made public he didn't disclose the charge during the Liberal vetting process. The party then cut ties with him two days before the election.

Vuong has denied any wrongdoing.

This week, when Vuong visited Genttner's zero-waste grocery store, Unboxed Market, she said she hadn't noticed his staffer taking pictures during the meeting photos Vuong then posted to Twitter, with a caption that said visiting the business was "an absolute pleasure."

Angry constituents reacted swiftly.

"Unboxed, do you support Kevin Vuong?" asked one Twitter user. "I actually shop with you and I won't be if you're backing him."

"I would not associate with him if I were you," warned another user.

Genttner was forced to issue a statement, clarifying Vuong's visit was strictly to seek "help in addressing a federal issue."

Vuong has not responded to several requests for comment from CBC News since he was elected. Afterthe grocery store incident, he tweeted:"Our team is working ... so that Unboxed Market can focus on their business."

Following the publication of this story, Vuongadded: "It's unacceptable for peopleupset with me to harass businesses wanting their MP to help them."

The episode illustrates how Vuong has become a "toxic" figure, said Stphanie Chouinard, a political science professor affiliated with the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen's University, both in Kingston, Ont.

She said the incident"should make him seriously reflect on his ability to serve his constituents."

It's only the latest controversy to dog the 32-year-old since the revelation of his dropped sexual assault charge, followed by his election win on Sep. 20. Within days of the vote, Vuong, a naval reservist, was facing a military probe and the elections watchdog was asked to step in, too.

Vuong has remained virtually silent, declining for nearly two months to answer questions from constituents and journalists.

"I feel like I have [an MP] who can't really do much," said Jocelyn MacLeod. She said she voted for Vuong, with the intention of electing a Liberal.

Since the party's split with Vuong came just days before the election, campaign signs dotted around the riding still listed him as the Liberal candidate, as did the paper ballots used by voters on election day.

He later said he would sit as an MP without party affiliation, but Vuong's website and social media profiles don't expressly list him as an Independent.

Vuong, a sub-lieutenant in the naval reserves, remains on leave from his role at HMCS York, a navy spokesperson recently confirmed. Vuong's LinkedIn profile lists him as a naval intelligence officer from 2015 to 2018, then as a public affairs officer from 2018 onward.

The reserve division "is conducting an internal investigation. It is not yet completed," Capt. Mathieu Dufour said in an email to CBC.

Armed Forces members like Vuong are required to disclose a criminal charge to their chain of command. The navy has not said what sanctions Vuong could face if the investigation reveals he failed to follow military protocol.

Prior to the election campaign, Vuong himself requested a "pause of service," Dufour said, which was meant to last until Oct. 4. The navy said the pause in service was not related to any news stories about Vuong.

A number of Vuong's constituents have taken steps to complain. One online petition asking Vuong to resign received more than 5,000 signatures.

Some said the federal elections agency should do more to prevent such confusion in the future.

Nadia Qureshi said she complained to Elections Canada after polling staff mistakenly told her husband on election day, "you can still vote for the Liberal Party and they'll still fill the seat with someone."

Qureshi said she's been disappointed with the way Vuong has conducted himself since winning the seat.

"He's not replying to anybody, not engaging in any way," she told CBC News. "What does this say about the way he's going to serve as an MP for the coming years?"

Others on social media say they've written to Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota to demand a byelection in the riding. A byelection could be called if Vuong resigned or if other MPs voted to expel him from the House.

"Our political procedures do not have the ability to respond to such real and nuanced complications," said Arezoo Najibzadeh, the founder of Platform, a civic leadership organization. "This is a matter of democratic integrity."

Constituent Aris Daghighian filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Canada Elections, alleging Vuong presented himself online as a Liberal even on election day, after the party cut ties with him.

Daghighian wanted the case investigated as a potential violation of the Elections Act, which prohibits publishing "false statements to affect election results" and transmitting "misleading materials."

In an emailed response to Daghighian, the elections watchdog's office said it reviewed the allegation and "several others" it received regarding Vuong. Regardless of the news stories reporting that the Liberals had cut ties with Vuong, the office said he "remained the confirmed LPC candidate" for the riding, according to the email, viewed by CBC.

"We understand that the events in question may give rise to concerns on the part of electors in SpadinaFort York," the email read. However, it said, "the circumstances described do not contravene any provision" of the Elections Act.

The Liberals had tapped Vuong to replace retiring MP Adam Vaughan earlier this year. The son of Vietnamese refugees, he holds a master of laws from the University of Toronto and received a young leaders award from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2017.

An online profile from the University of Toronto in 2016 quotes him as saying: "I aspire to run for public office one day." The same article said Vuong recounted turning to "petty theft" as a teen before his father put him on the right track.

He made an unsuccessful run for Toronto city council in 2018.

In August, Liberal campaign co-chair Navdeep Bains said in a statement he was "pleased" to announce Vuong had been acclaimed as the party's candidate for SpadinaFort York.

At the same time, Vuong was facing a $1.5-million lawsuit filed by a former business associate, who alleged she was cut out of a lucrative pandemic mask-making firm. Vuong denied the accusations, which have not been proven in court.

The Liberals' vetting process also failed to note the sexual assault charge levelled against Vuong in April 2019. It was dropped the following November. Party officials said Vuong never disclosed the charge. It only came to light in September once the complainant approached the Toronto Star with details of the case.

In Vuong's only public comments about the dropped charge, he called the alleged incident "consensual" and said it involved "a casual but intimate relationship." He pledged to address the allegations at a later date, but that statement was later removed from his Twitter page.

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How a grocery store visit highlights voters' fears that Kevin Vuong could be a lame duck MP - CBC.ca

The liberal media fawned over a pro-abortion "Saturday Night Live" skit over the weekend that a conservative comic slammed as "leftwing talking points on air with zero humor attached."

Cecily Strong played Goober the Clown, who "had an abortion at age 23," and joined "Weekend Update" to discuss her situation. Colin Jost set up the bit by welcoming Goober to discuss the "controversial Texas law that essentially bans all abortions after just six weeks."

Cecily Strong played Goober the Clown, who "had an abortion at age 23."

CNNS BRIAN STELTER SCARES AWAY VIEWERS, HALLOWEEN RELIABLE SOURCES CONCLUDES LOWEST-RATED MONTH OF 2021

Strong, dressed as Goober the Clown, began by joking that she wanted to "clown around" before diving into the pro-abortion portion of the program.

"I had an abortion the day before my 23rd birthday," Goober announced. "People keep bringing it up, so Ive got to keep talking about freaking abortion, but its a rough subject so were gonna do fun clown stuff to make it more palatable."

Strongs clown character then made a balloon animal while diving into the topic.

"I wish I didnt have to do this, because my abortion at 23 is my personal clown business, but thats all some people in this country want to discuss all the time, even though clown abortion was legalized in Clown v. Wade in 1973," Strong said. "Did you know one in three clowns will have a clown abortion in her lifetime? You dont because they dont tell you, they dont even know how to talk to other clowns about it."

Strong went on to explain that abortions are extremely common among "clowns," which Jost eventually pointed out was clearly a pseudonym for "women" throughout the bit.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' ADDRESSED 'LET'S GO BRANDON' TREND IN CUT SKETCH

"Heres my truth," Strong said as she sucked helium from a balloon. "I know I wouldnt be a clown on TV here today if it wasnt for the abortion I had the day before my 23rd birthday."

The liberal media was quick to celebrate the routine. CNNs left-wing media correspondent Brian Stelter even led his media newsletter with a roundup of the praise.

"Normally I wouldn't lead a Sunday night newsletter with Saturday Night Live. But this weekend was no normal SNL episode.Review after review, recap after recap, proclaimed that it was punchy and provocative," Stelter wrote, before linking to the "Goober the Clown" video. "I found that it took a second viewing to fully appreciate what Strong was doing."

Cecily Strongs Goober the Clown joined Colin Jost on "Weekend Update" to discuss her abortion in a sketch praised by the liberal media.

Vanity Fair called the Goober the Clown skit the nights "most powerful moment," declaring "anything else the show did last night was gravy."

TheWraps Andi Ortiz published a roundup of activists praising the skit, while The Daily Beast called it "brilliant."

ABORTION ACCESS ADVOCATES REPEATEDLY DECLINE TO SAY AT HOUSE HEARING WHETHER PROCEDURE TAKES A HUMAN LIFE

"Strong used the absurdity of her concept and manic quality of her performance to underscore some sobering facts," Daily Beast entertainment reporter Laura Bradley wrote.

"She used the cover of being dressed like a clown to get extremely real about a womans right to choose," TheWrap reported in a separate article. Countless liberal members of the media took to Twitter to praise the sketch, including The Atlantics Deborah Copaken who asked who wrote it.

"Please give them their preemptive Emmy right now," Copaken wrote.

Podcaster Quinn Cummings added, "This is brilliant," while reporter Caroline Reilly said the sketch "literally brought tears to my eyes."

Attorney Marc Hearron with the Center for Reproductive Rights and attorney Julie Murray with Planned Parenthood, speak to the media following arguments over a challenge to a Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks, in front of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Nov. 1, 2021. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

The president of Panned Parenthood even complimented it.

"Our stories power our fights for justice and freedom even when, no joke, they make us laugh, too," Alexis McGill Johnson wrote.

While the left loved Goober the Clown, political satirist Tim Young wasnt amused.

"Of course the liberal media loves sketches like this. It isnt remotely funny, its literally just reading left-wing talking points on air with zero humor attached," Young told Fox News Digital.

"The humor in this, if anything, is found in the irony that you're a clown if you believe reading talking points about abortion is somehow entertainment to Americans," Young said. "Unlike Dave Chappelle or even Bill Maher, SNL, with a room full of liberal writers, can't seem to piece a joke together when dealing with serious issues. They just want to scream talking points, which will only get their liberal media friends like Brian Stelter to cheer."

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Young then mocked Stelters ratings, as the liberal pundit recently finished October with his smallest monthly audience of 2021.

"It's important to note that Stelter has lost track of what gets viewers on his own show, so you should probably be worried if he thinks your programming is good," Young said. "Maybe NBC should just have Stelter join the cast of SNL at this point."

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Liberal media fawns over SNL skit about Goober the Clown who had an abortion when she was 23 - Fox News

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'We have very ambitious targets and goals from a greenhouse gas perspective, but no concrete plans, in terms of how we're going to use clean electricity to meet those objectives'

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OTTAWA While other major economies are making big bets on nuclear energy to get to a carbon neutral future, Canadas Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says the market will decide which carbon-free technologies replace fossil fuels.

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At the Glasgow climate summit, which ended Friday, major economies agreed on the need to cut global carbon emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. To do that, means more power to charge electric cars, heat homes and even run heavy industries like steel plants.

The U.K. government gave famed engine manufacturer Rolls Royce $350 million this week to help the company build a new generation of small modular nuclear reactors. China also announced plans to build up to 150 new reactors. And France, which was set to reduce its reliance on nuclear power, announced this week it would instead build more plants.

We are going, for the first time in decades, to relaunch the construction of nuclear reactors in our country and continue to develop renewable energies, the countrys president Emmanuel Macron said in a televised address to the nation.

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This was meant to guarantee Frances energy independence, to guarantee our countrys electricity supply and achieve our objectives, in particular carbon neutrality in 2050, he said.

For Canada, Guilbeault said nuclear will have to compete alongside technologies like wind and solar, which are becoming the least expensive types of power available.

Its not up to the government to decide which of these technologies will thrive. Its going to be up to the market, he said to reporters in Glasgow.

The Liberals have helped fund some companies pursuing small modular reactors or SMRs, an industry term for reactors that generate smaller, though still considerable amounts of power.

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The reactors are still in the planning and development stage, but theyre promised to be safer and cheaper than current large reactors and could be built in factories and then delivered onsite. They could also be used in remote communities and they generate significantly less waste than traditional reactors.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the government is supporting early projects, but they will have to prove themselves.

We have supported the development work. And certainly I look forward to seeing what that looks like when they are demonstrated at scale and when we actually have a sense of what the commercial economics of those systems will be.

Conservative MP Dan Albas said the Liberals are missing an opportunity to take a bolder stance and Guilbeault should be a much more ardent backer of the technology.

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Conservatives believe that nuclear energy is essential to lowering GHG emissions in Canada and taking action on climate change. By failing to clarify his position, Minister Guilbeault calls into question the safety and relevancy of nuclear energy and the countless Canadians that it employs.

John Gorman, president and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association, said the Liberal government has done a lot to help the industry, but the country will need a lot more electricity to achieve net zero.

We have very ambitious targets and goals from a greenhouse gas perspective, but we have no concrete plans, in terms of how were going to use clean electricity to meet those objectives, he said.

Gorman says solar, wind are great technologies, improving all the time, but nuclear has to be part of the equation to meet the coming increased demands for electricity.

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He said the expertise and talent is available in Canada, but the government needs to send a sign to get companies building the next generation of plants.

The part thats missing right now is the actual signal from the federal government and from the provinces and their systems operators that we actually are going to have that demand for electricity and signal that we got to start building, he said.

One company that is close to building is Global First Power, a partnership between the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) and Ontario Power Generation (OPG). The company is planning on setting up a small reactor at the Chalk River facility north of Ottawa.

Ken Darlington, a vice-president with USNC, said their reactor is a test of the technology, but its smaller scale, something that could be used in remote communities or in mines.

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The reactor is the first to enter the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commissions formal licensing process and it would be able to generate five megawatts of power, enough to power a small community of about 5,000 people.

Darlington said there are a lot of northern communities especially that rely on large diesel generators and reactors like this could get them off those permanently.

He said Canada has a top regulatory system, but it will need some changes to adapt to the smaller projects that are coming. He said its not about looser regulations, but about ones that dont treat massive power plants the same as the newer, smaller reactors companies are planning.

The nuclear regulations, theyre all predicated around very large-scale projects.

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Darlington said there is a lot of hope in the industry right now, but the government does need to do more.

There has been financial support to nuclear projects in Canada over the last couple of years. But do they need to step up? I would say yes.

In addition to the Chalk River project, Ontario Power Generation has a second modular reactor proposal at the Darlington Nuclear plant just east of Toronto. Its expected to pick one of three companies soon to build a 300-megawatt reactor beside the existing plant.

Four provinces, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, have signed onto an agreement to work together on small modular reactors and its possible the reactor OPG picks will be used in other provinces eventually.

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Gorman said there are a lot of companies working to make the reactors a reality.

Weve got 12 different technologies that are going through the review and licensing process right now. And they range from technologies that produce one megawatt of electricity up to technologies that produce 300 megawatts of electricity.

On Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario, Bruce Powers nuclear plant is the largest in the world producing enough power for 30 per cent of the provinces needs.

It and the provinces other large nuclear stations Pickering and Darlington account for the majority of Ontarios power and have allowed the province to phase out coal generation, the biggest carbon reduction achieved anywhere in North America so far.

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Chris Keefer, President Canadians for Nuclear Energy, said small modular reactors are worth exploring, but Canada should also be building new large plants again, because the country will need the clean power.

He said the Liberals and Guilbeault should have been trumpeting how helpful nuclear has been and the countrys technology.

In my mind, he should have been saying, you know, were very proud of what weve accomplished, he said.

The CANDU reactor that powers Pickering and Darlington has been exported to countries all over the world and Keefer said it is a tremendous economic opportunity for the country as well.

The Pickering Nuclear plant is set to be shut down in 2025 and when it does Ontario will begin burning more natural gas to make up the difference.

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We are a world class decarbonized grid, and were going to be going up to the middle of the pack again, which is just shocking in the middle of this climate crisis, Keefer said.

Britains investment in nuclear also came with regulatory changes that allow the plants to be financed even while under construction, reducing their overall interest costs and reducing the cost of power. He said Canada could take some of the same steps.

They need to include nuclear and be proud of nuclear as a green technology, which will encourage investors to do that and de-risk capital.

Before Gorman worked for the nuclear industry he worked for solar firms. He said more solar and wind projects will be needed, but they havent shifted any country off of fossil fuels on their own.

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When I started in that field, we had 36 per cent non-emitting electricity on the worlds grids. And 20 years later, you know, today after trillions of dollars of investment and those incentives and all of the market reform and the huge rollout of wind and solar, were still at 36 per cent.

Gorman acknowledges the industry has a stigma of being high cost. Pickering, Darlington and Bruce generating stations all dramatically overshot their initial construction budgets when they were first constructed, but he argues SMR technology will bring down costs.

Nuclear is also considered dangerous due to disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima. Japan and Germany both shut down most of their nuclear energy after Fukushima and both countries are now burning more coal.

Gorman said the industry definitely has work to do, but he is confident when Canadians get all the facts they will support its carbon-free power.

The more that people understand the real facts behind nuclear and can get beyond all that stigma and misinformation, the more supportive they are.

He said the world needs more power and needs it quickly.

We dont have 20 years to stay even keeled. We have to clean up the last two thirds of the worlds grids and then we got to double or triple the amount of electricity we have.

With additional reporting by Reuters

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The Herald revealed in May the pop-up inner-city cycleways installed during the pandemic had become so popular they occasionally overtook the busiest bike paths. However, residents in areas such as Moore Park and Glebe have complained about new routes appearing on their streets.

Cr Moore is campaigning to further spread the cycling network, achieve net-zero emissions across the city by 2035, and provide more access to parkland, including at Moore Park Golf Course, an area the Liberals want to maintain as 18-holes.

Ms Jarrett said free parking, to be absorbed by the Citys operating surpluses, would draw visitors into the city on the weekends and after work, to help revive the economy.

Post-COVID business recovery will be a battleground issue among lord mayoral candidates.Credit:Edwina Pickles

Labors lord mayoral candidate Linda Scott said the Liberals plan risked ruining the Citys weekends, flooding our streets with SUVs at the expense of the creation of more walkable spaces and safe cycleways.

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Im committed to growing spaces to walk, cycle and for shared transport, Councillor Scott said.

Lord mayoral candidate and Wiradjuri woman Yvonne Weldon, leading the Unite team, said she was opposed to free parking, but favoured pricing that responded to peak periods. She said investing in cycling infrastructure reduced emissions and improved health.

However, I was troubled by the way in which the City of Sydney snuck in the pop-up cycle paths under the cover of emergency COVID legislation, Ms Weldon said.

While the Liberal candidates plan to increase the number of trees planted annually, facilitate electric vehicle use, and increase charging stations, Ms Jarrett said the council should move in unison with state and federal government policy on climate action.

Despite throwing the Commonwealth a backhander over the time it has taken to change its messaging on climate change, she said she ascribed to Scott Morrisons technology not taxes mantra as it allowed for innovation rather than restraint.

However, Cr Scott said the Liberal Party couldnt be trusted on climate change, saying a Labor mayoralty would commit to net-zero emissions by 2030 and increasing green space to 50 per cent of the city by 2050.

A spokesperson for Cr Moore said the City already had many of the Liberals promised policies and COVID-recovery initiatives in place.

Our extensive free outdoor dining and live entertainment program, business grants and changes to planning controls will all be crucial to helping the city bounce back post-lockdowns, the spokesperson said.

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Thats ideology: City of Sydney Liberal team take on Moore over bike paths - Sydney Morning Herald

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These are words we should be hearing from the current Conservative leader, and the tone in which they should be expressed

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Like so many other countless Canadians, I was extremely gratified to hear some thoughts from former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Mr. Harper, being of the old school of political leaders, sensitive to the need to maintain the dignity of high office, has kept himself very largely out of public discussion since leaving politics. It was till some time ago an understood courtesy that former prime ministers did not, or only rarely, seek to clash with their successors, even from the opposing parties. If you look down to the States you will see that that convention has been fully abandoned, and if you wish an outstanding example go no further than the great light bearer, Barack Obama.

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Mr. Harper recently gave a speech . It was not intended for public release. Nonetheless in these days of the ubiquitous cell phone any verbal transaction involving more than two people will be recorded, and will be public as soon as the words have dropped from the lips of any speaker.

Mr. Harper was discussing the consequences for Confederation of the Liberal governments declaration that it fully intends in pursuit of that great chimera, net zero to put a hard cap on oil and gas emissions, to essentially phase out Albertas and Saskatchewans energy reliant economies. It was so good to hear from a gentleman really in a position to rate those consequences he was prime minister for nine years how seriously misguided and jeopardous to the whole Confederation, those policies are.

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Clarity is a great virtue, and this sentence was really clear: Obviously, the way some things are being handled today where certain parts of the country are singled out in ways that others arent I think is really inexcusable.

That inexcusable is, in context, a very hard word. But it is the needful word, as it is perfectly accurate. Any policy which, in effect, sets up great resentment in one region of the country, puts inequitable pressure on one or two provinces and carries hardly any negative impact comparatively on the others, is dangerous. Very particularly a global warming policy, which will have at best a trivial effect on the problem it presupposes to address as long as China, India, Russia continue their industrial ambitions and yet ignites extreme (and justified) resentment in a whole region of the country, that policy is both inexcusable and dangerous.

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As Mr. Harper made clear, if the region of the country being targeted, being made to bear all the negative weight of that policy is one in which the ruling party has next to no representation, it is even more inexcusable. The Globe reported on the remarks that Harper said he would not be taking measures to shut down an industry in a region that didnt generate political returns for him. For the message of such a course would be: since we have no support out there there is no cost to our party, and so we do not have to consider the feelings or objections to the policy coming from that region.

It is an attitude that inescapably will breed deep resentment and backlash, possibly to the point of that region asking the otherwise unthinkable question: Why do we stay in this arrangement called Confederation? That was the point of Mr. Harpers words. They amount to a grave warning, a warning which up to now obviously has not reached the Prime Ministerial ears, or if it has, has been allowed to drift by carelessly unheeded.

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These are words we should be hearing from the current Conservative leader, and the tone in which they should be expressed. But he and his party have been frightened off by the global warming juggernaut, they even have their own carbon emission plan.

Mr. Harpers words however did receive considerable reinforcement from another Conservative leader who is quite clearly not intimidated: Scott Moe. On this net zero issue Saskatchewan doesnt headline as often as Alberta, but the impact on that province is very great. Premier Moe sees the concerns of Saskatchewan brushed aside. The federal government is not listening. So, as Premier, he has a return strategy: Were really starting to feel the differences between Saskatchewan and where our federal government is heading, is were actually, at this point in time more like a nation within Canada.

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The Liberals are very much IPCC and COP26, very little Alberta and Saskatchewan. And as one province is already a nation within Canada, he borrows the logic that approves of that arrangement.

And surely if the first is not bizarre to certain elitist centrist snobs (Jordan Petersons crisp formulation) then the second cannot be either. So it is very encouraging that Premier Moe does not decline the example of Quebec but quite rightly sees that what is sauce for the francophone goose is sauce for the anglophone gander: Weve been very open on our quest to flex our provincials muscles and to really increase the autonomy that we have in this province of Saskatchewan.

There is so much more to say on this topic, but for now a little reflection on the wisdom of a former prime minister and a present premier will surely do for the early coffee or the late afternoon tea.

The big issues are far from settled. Sign up for the NP Comment newsletter,NP Platformed.

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Rex Murphy: Stephen Harper is right how Liberals are treating the West is inexcusable - National Post