Free Republic

An Alberta man says he fought off a cougar that was attacking his dog by punching the big cat in the head. William Gibb says he stopped at a Tim Hortons in Whitecourt, northwest of Edmonton, on Boxing Day. He let his two dogs out for a bathroom break near a wooded area, then heard one of them crying in pain. Gibb says he ran to see what was wrong and found the cougar on top of his husky, Sasha, so he bashed it with his fist. The cougar jumped off and Gibb took the dog to a veterinarian, who...

Immigrants who settle in Quebec City are being offered a new guide to explain local customs, and the authors spare no detail in telling the newcomers how to fit in – for example, refrain from committing incest, wash with soap and use underarm deodorant to "control perspiration and bad odours." The guide from city hall was made public last week and has already been condemned as insulting and paternalistic. ..... Quebec City is one of 13 municipalities across Quebec designated by the province to settle refugees from Syria. While Montreal remains the overwhelming destination of choice for newcomers, more than...

US News This afternoon In an alternate universe, Hillary Clinton is assembling her White House cabinet right now. In this universe, she's maintained a low profile since her election loss, occasionally crossing paths with hikers and shoppers near her home in Chappequa, New York.

The Ottawa Redblacks pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Grey Cup history, defeating the Calgary Stampeders 39-33 in overtime. Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris threw an 18-yard touchdown to Ernest Jackson in overtime. Calgary, who got the ball second, could not equalize, giving Ottawa its first CFL title since 1976, when they were called the Rough Riders. Burris led the charge with 461 yards passing and three touchdowns. He added two more touchdowns on the ground.

Washington (CNN)--President Barack Obama dished out some final Thanksgiving puns Wednesday as he performed the ceremonial White House task of pardoning turkeys. Obama was joined at the Rose Garden ceremony by his two young nephews, Austin and Aaron Robinson, as opposed to his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, whom, he said, "just couldn't take my jokes anymore -- they were fed up." He then spoke about turning from "polls to poultry" in carrying out the tradition. This year, the two lucky birds, named Tater and Tot, came to Washington by way of Iowa. Obama, however, said the tradition wouldn't end...

Female Hillary Clinton supporters have described how they broke down after her crushing election loss. For many women, they felt they'd not only lost the chance of a huge milestone — the election of America's first female president — but the victorious candidate was one who had denigrated women and been accused of multiple instances of sexual assault. Maggie Passmore of St. Paul, Minnesota, had been watching election returns at a party but reverted to watching at home 'when things got scary.' She fell asleep, then awoke to learn that Donald Trump was defeating Hillary Clinton. 'And then I threw...

A Queen’s University student theatre company has cancelled a production of Shakespeare’s Othello set to open this month following an outcry over the decision to cast a white woman in the title role of a black man. “For the safety and mental health of our entire team we unfortunately feel the need to suspend our production of Othello,” the artistic directors wrote on Facebook Wednesday. They subsequently apologized to the Kingston, Ont., university’s black community for what they called an “oppressive” artistic decision. After September auditions, Queen’s Vagabond Theatre made what its directors acknowledged was a risky decision: Lauren Broadhurst,...

Variety magazine has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, marking the first time in more than 100 years that Hollywood’s oldest entertainment industry trade magazine has made a presidential endorsement. Variety announced their endorsement of Clinton on Tuesday and joins a growing list of publications like The Atlantic and the conservative Arizona Republic newspaper that have made unprecedented or otherwise rare endorsements of the Democratic nominee this election season. The magazine acknowledged it was unusual for a trade publication to make such an endorsement, but said this of all years was the one in which the editors-in-chief and Variety’s publisher, Michelle...

Europe is in chaos. Over the last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has allowed over one million Muslim migrants to come to Germany. Many of these refugees are young, uneducated males, with no skills, no understanding of German, and no plans on assimilating. As terrorist attacks and sexual assaults by these Muslim newcomers become more common throughout Europe, many Germans are regretting inviting these people to their country. Now there are multiple reports of German biker clubs roaming the streets of German cities, attacking Muslim immigrants. Two Pakistani men were recently hospitalized after getting attacked by a group of 20...

Four sentences in a letter to Speaker of the House Todd Richardson are about to turn the Missouri political world upside down. “My name is Cora Faith Walker. I will be in the Capitol in January as the Representative of the 74th District. Earlier this week, I reported a sexual assault to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. I named my rapist as Steven Roberts, Jr., who hopes to be in the Capitol in January as the Representative of the 77th District.” On Friday night, Walker, 31, a Ferguson attorney who won the Democratic primary for her seat in August,...

OTTAWA — The National Film Board spent $96,000 on focus groups and workshops for its own staff between November and June, including $75,000 to determine office layouts and workplace strategy — a bill the Canadian Taxpayers Federation calls “ridiculous.” The agency hired consultants at Grisvert Inc. to conduct focus group research on physical office layouts and “organizational transformation” for two new offices in Montreal and Toronto, each project costing $21,000. It also hired Deloitte LLP to consult with NFB employees on a “digital workplace strategy,” costing $33,000. Just under $20,000 more was spent on several workshops held for staff, though...

Michael Coren, former Catholic apologist and journalist, has been stripped of his papal knighthood following his reception into the Anglican Church of Canada in 2013. Coren is known for his popular work of Catholic apologetics, Why Catholics Are Right, and for his schism from the Church over her doctrine on homosexuality. He is married with four children. Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic made Mr Coren a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre in October 1992, for 'services to Catholic media'. According to an interview with the ultra-liberal Catholic journal, The Tablet, "Coren was stripped of his papal knighthood and asked to return the...

OTTAWA — A longtime refugee advocate says stories such as that of Liberal MP Maryam Monsef are not uncommon as families fleeing war and violence reconstruct their past in a new land. Monsef, widely touted as Canada's first Afghan-born cabinet minister, caused a stir in the capital Thursday when she issued a statement saying she only recently learned from her mother that she was in fact born in Iran. The 31-year-old minister of democratic institutions says she and her two sisters never held Iranian citizenship and were always considered Afghan citizens, but she was not born in Herat, Afghanistan, "as...

TORONTO -- An unabashedly atheist minister who does not believe in the Bible should be defrocked for her beliefs, a United Church committee has recommended in a split decision that seems likely to stir further dissent in the church. In its unprecedented report, the reviewing panel said Gretta Vosper would not be ordained were she applying today given her extreme beliefs. "She is not suitable to continue in ordained ministry because she does not believe in God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit," the report by the Toronto Conference interview committee states. "Ms. Vosper does not recognize the primacy...

OTTAWA—Two-thirds of Canadians want prospective immigrants to be screened for “anti-Canadian” values, a new poll reveals, lending support to an idea that is stirring controversy in political circles. Conservative MP Kellie Leitch, a candidate in her party’s leadership contest, has floated the idea of screening newcomers for their attitudes on intolerance toward other religions, cultures and sexual orientations and reluctance to embrace Canadian freedoms. A new Forum Research Inc. poll for the Star shows that Leitch may be tapping into an idea that Canadians favour with 67 per cent saying immigrants should indeed be screened for “anti-Canadian values.” More importantly...

When music class begins this week at Toronto’s Donwood Park elementary school, Mohammad Nouman Dasu will send a family member to collect his three young children. They will go home for an hour rather than sing and play instruments – a mandatory part of the Ontario curriculum he believes violates his Muslim faith. The Scarborough school and the Toronto District School Board originally had offered an accommodation – suggesting students could just clap their hands in place of playing instruments or listen to acapella versions of O Canada – but not a full exemption from the class. After a bitter...

The Ottawa teacher’s aide who sexually exploited a vulnerable high school student for two years was jailed on Tuesday for 14 months in what the judge called a significant breach of trust. Ontario Court Justice Celynne Dorval didn’t buy Katherine Kitts’s defence that it was just an awful lapse in judgment and noted the planning and duration of the sexual exploitation was anything but spontaneous. Kitts, 46, would sometimes furnish her minivan with an air mattress for planned sexual encounters in parking lots and parks near the boy’s home. “Had there been one or two sexual encounters before she ended...

Egypt’s state-run television has suspended eight of its female presenters for being overweight — telling them they can return to the air only after they go on a diet. The move sparked outrage among women’s groups and members of parliament but state television authorities show no sign of backing down. The presenters were given a month to lose weight and told they will not be allowed back on screen until they have an “appropriate appearance,” according to the Youm7 newspaper. The decision was made by Safaa Hegazi, the female chief of Egypt’s ERTU public broadcaster. .... Khadija Khatab, one of...

Police in Quebec have another maple syrup heist on their hands. First, there was the Great Maple Syrup Heist of 2011-2012, in which $18 million worth of the sweet sap went missing. Then, earlier this week, thieves made off with 20,000 litres of Quebec's sweetest export, worth an estimated $150,000, from a storage facility near Montreal's Trudeau airport in Dorval. abuzz Alfredo Monaco, a vice-president at Mexuscan Cargo, said the thieves broke into the warehouse and stole a shipping container loaded with 20 pallets of Kirkland brand one-litre bottles of syrup. The syrup was destined for the Japanese market. The...

Justin Trudeau has become the first sitting prime minister to participate in Vancouver’s annual Pride parade. He and his family waved to cheering crowds as they led the procession along the rainbow-decorated streets of the city’s downtown on Sunday. Trudeau says Pride is about celebrating community, family and the diversity that he says makes Canada strong. The prime minister is no stranger to Vancouver Pride — this is the third year in a row he’s taken part in the event.