The Bulldog

Yonge subway down as substation hit by flood

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Commuters were massively inconvenienced Monday morning as the Yonge subway was shut down between Bloor and Union stations. An electrical substation forced the shut down when it was hit by a flood. The service has resumed about 9 a.m.  Toronto Star  TTC Official Tweets Photo via Twitter by Carl Hanske, 680 News. 

Oscars host spices up night with strip to gotchies

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Neil Patrick Harris thrilled (or otherwise) the world with appearance reminiscent of The Birdman by coming out in his “Y-Fronts” as they are called in the UK. Here in Canada the appropriate slang might be gotchies or tighty whities, as they were definitely not boxer shorts. MailOnline 

Red Carpet tattlers on Theory of Everything Hot

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One theory has it that it’s a lot of fun to swan about Hollywood and walk the Red Carpet on behalf of CTV. Enjoy gang. Send mail. Tweet, lol. Everyone else be prepared to stay up late for this event, keeping in mind that at 1 a.m. on deserted Bayview Ave., it is only 10 p.m. in Hollywood. National Post  Oscar 2015 Twitter All other leads  Birdman and Boyhood

Boston begs silly people to stop being loons

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Mayor of Bean Town has no chance of stopping wacky stunt known as  the Boston Blizzard Challenge

Terrorist “casting call” for shopping mall killers

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An outlandish video of a man with his face fully wrapped in a scarf appears to be a “casting call” for radicalized persons in Canada to stage some sort of shopping mall atrocity like the one committed in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013. In the video the man asks: “What if such an attack was to occur in the Mall of America in Minnesota, or the West Edmonton Mall in Canada?” The video is purportedly issued by the al-Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab. The RCMP have said they have no sense that such an elaborate attack is possible much less planned. As we know, such cries for ISIL-type killing parties have generated a handful of usually lone individuals. They are dangerous but usually not very well organized. The video seems to be an advertisement or casting call to such misfits as much as anything else. However it underlines the concern about the means by which people are radicalized, or perhaps more precisely co-opted into such bloodthirsty behavior. Terrorism specialists have recently tried to focus on the best way to detect such radicalization before it goes too far.

Rinks open, rinks closed — don’t get confused

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Some outdoor skating rinks across Toronto are closing this week, but a bunch of other rinks are remaining open.  Don’t get confused. The 29 rinks that are still available right through March Break are open with the assistance of two corporate donors Green for Life and MLSE. But there are 23 other rinks which are going to close for lack of municipal funds to maintain them. Rinks staying open. Rinks closing 

“Mother” Angela Merkel meets Il Papa Francesco

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German Chancellor Angela (Mother) Merkel met Pope Francis on Saturday in Rome and of course they got along just fine. Merkel and Francis are hard-headed leaders who have a common interest in the future of Europe. Incidentally she is known in Germany as “Mutti” or mother and in the Pope’s native Argentina he is Papa Francesco.  Merkel visited Rome for a few hours specifically to meet the pontiff and spoke with him privately in his library for 45 minutes, unusually long for a private papal audience.

Bill O’Reilly faces questions about “war combat”

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Bill O’Reilly is said to be scheduled to appear on Howard Kurtz’s media program Media Buzz tomorrow morning on Fox News to try to put to rest allegations that he inflated stories about his reporting career. The complaints centre on O’Reilly’s use of the terms “war zone” and his repeated assertions that he had “seen combat” in places like the Falklands War in 1982.  His colleagues from that period recall that O’Reilly, and most other reporters, were forced to cover the war from their hotels in Buenos Aires. Many of O’Reilly’s references to the period are phrased as “in Argentina, in the  Falklands.” Kurtz’s program is seen at 11 a.m. Sunday on Fox. Associated Press  Bill O’Reilly Twitter comments Erik Wemple blog

Saddened Mayor Tory visits memorial for Elijah

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A very sad looking Mayor Tory has visited the memorial for Elijah Marsh on Neptune Drive in North York. The little boy froze on the street Thursday morning after letting himself out of the apartment building where his grandmother lived. Mr. Tory placed flowers on the memorial. He has also asked Toronto Housing Corporation to examine security and related procedures around their properties. In Elijah’s case, the lad was able to let himself out of the unlocked door to his grandmother’s apartment and then open external doors that would normally permit that from the inside. 

Icy road warning in South Bayview Saturday

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Police are warning area motorists to watch out for very icy conditions. The ongoing snow and delayed sanding are responsible. In particular the Bayview extension is said to be slippery. Tweets from Toronto Police Operations say there is dangerous ice on Broadview Ave. at the top of Pottery Rd. and on Bayivew at Rosedale Valley Rd.  The eastbound Leaside Bridge is closed because of a collision at Overlea and there is a  water main break at Thorncliffe Park Drive and Overlea Blvd. Toronto Police Operations on Twitter

British girls “groomed” by ISIL as jihadi brides

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Families of the ‘Syria-bound’ teen girls from London are begging them to come home The three got out of the country through Gatwick airport on Tuesday and are now believed to be in Turkey, waiting a chance to sneak into Syria. BBC Video The U-K government is also calling on the girls to call home or contact the Turkish Police. Scotland Yard is under pressure to explain how unescorted minors would be allowed through airport security. The MP for the district where the girls went to school at the Bethel Green Academy says she is deeply worried about them and fears they have been groomed in a type of child-exploitation into becoming so-called jihadi brides. The three teens are 15 and 16. The MP, Rushanara Ali, said it appears the girls were persuaded to leave Britain by someone who was talking to them on the Internet. MailOnline  Teen girls leave Britain to become jihadi brides 

Cody kids in the cold over unexplained alarm

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There seems to have been a bit of slack in deciding what to do with a bunch of shivering kids outside Maurice Cody School Thursday. The alarm went off and that requires evacuation of the building. Some 600 children and about 60 staff members were outside for an estimated 20 minutes before the fire department concluded there was no basis for the alarm. It’s unclear whether it was a malfunction or a mischievous false alarm. Principal Andrew Howard sent home a letter today (Friday, February 20., 2015) in which he praised senior kids for sharing coats with those who had none. And that’s the thing. Senior or junior, 20 minutes is too long to be outside in minus 20 weather without a coat. Ryan Bird of the school board said that staff apparently wanted to move the pupils to a another school but the fire department said it wouldn’t be long. Not the right call. How long is long. It’s not the fire department’s business to decide how a kid’s day is spent. It appears few people are complaining but there is a lesson. Fire commanders (or whomever) have got to be more aware of the weather in such situations. These conditions don’t happen often but it appears the fire department needs it own extreme cold weather warning. Metro