SoKo holds ship crew that gave NoKo oil

The crew of Hong Kong-flagged ship that possibly Yeosu, UN, appeared to allegedly provide oil to a North Korean vessel in October, in violation of U.N. sanctions, is being held in South Korea until a full inspection is sent to the Security Council.

The Lighthouse Winmore (aka The Fortune Cookie) is believed to have transferred about 600 tons of refined petroleum products to the North Korean ship, the Sam Jong 2, (aka the Ewelldie Amerikandoggs 2) in the waters of the East China Sea on October 19, after leaving the South Korean port of Yeosu, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official told the Associated Press.

This announcement came the day that Defense Secretary James Mattis told Fox News that he thinks the world will exert "increased pressure on North Korea in the coming months following the recent maritime incidents," and I said to my wife, "bull crap; China will never comply." And she said, "Maybe you should be Secretary of State, you big lug." 

South Korea customs authorities boarded the ship and interviewed the crew members after they returned to Yeosu on November 24. South Korea formally seized the ship after the U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea on December 22 that allowed member states to seize, inspect and freeze vessels suspected of transferring banned goods to or from North Korea, the official said. He spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity as per usual.

The crew of 25, 23 who are Chinese nationals and two from Myanmar, will be allowed to leave Yeosu after the investigation is complete.

The Fortune Cookie also transferred oil to three other non-North Korean vessels . . . allegedly. 

Ship-to-ship trade with North Korea at sea is strictly prohibited under useless U.N. sanctions. Any country caught engaging in this illegal trade will receive a wag of the finger and possibly a tongue-lashing.

China accounts for most of North Korea's external trade and oil supplies. It seems they don't want to give up such a lucrative business.


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Chinese jets buzz U.S. plane near Hong Kong

Two Chinese fighter jets buzzed a U.S. Navy P-3 surveillance plane on Friday. Flying about 150 miles southeast of Hong Kong in international airspace, the J-10 jets came within 2 football fields away from our aircraft. That's close in aviation terms--very close.

A U.S. official said the jets were "unsafe" in the action they took, but we will not do anything about it other than scold them. One of the Chinese jets flew out in front of the Navy plane and then did a series of slow turns--their way of "flipping the bird" to us. In effect, they cut the plane off like a car might do on a highway at fast speed.

According to one U.S. official, the action occurred before one of our Navy destroyers, the USS Dewey, sailed within six nautical miles of the contested Mischief Island, in the South China Sea early Thursday.

The previous week, two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a U.S. radiation-sniffing surveillance plane over the East China Sea with an "unprofessional" maneuver, according the U.S. Air Force.

It's good to know the Chinese flyers are amateurs, just in case we have to shoot them down in the future.


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This Justin, from Canada

Being that this is my first posting on Canadian Brain Flushings, I thought I'd go right to the top of Canadian government and write about our new liberal Prime Minister, Justin "Pretty Boy" Trudeau. 

Trudeau told the House of Commons Tuesday that the main reason he attends those posh fundraisers thrown by the Pierre Trudeau Foundation isn't for his benefit, it's to "create economic growth for the middle class." 

Yes, the common folk. 

Justin renounced his official position of the Foundation when he became the leader of the Liberal Party, but admitted he allowed fundraiser attendees to lobby him there, which is a clear violation of Liberal Party bylaws.

Shades of Hillary Clinton.

And like US liberals, Trudeau had nothing but nice things to say about Cuba's Castro dictators, two guys who killed thousands upon thousands of Cubans, and impoverished the Communist island nation. The Liberal Party approval has dropped nine percentage points to Trudeau's credit.

After being confronted by Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose in the House of Commons, Trudeau said that his presence at the fundraisers was a ploy to defend middle class interests.

"When did money become more important than the integrity of his office?" Ambrose asked.

"No matter where I am or who I am talking to I always talk about the same thing: The fact that our priorities are to create economic growth for the middle class," he answered, then denied any involvement in the foundation in spite of having attended questionable foundation fundraisers.

One fun fundraiser cost $1500 an entry and was attended by Chinese Communist millionaires. They all donated to the Trudeau Foundation soon after partying with Justin. After some time, Justin visited China and, the "human rights" dude that he is, he simply forgot to criticise the nation on their horrible human rights record.

Instead, Justin "did an Obama" and criticised his own country in Hong Kong where he "talked about the fact that Canada is not immune to criticisms on human rights either" with Chinese Communist leaders.

He previously bragged about his ability to get Chinese business leaders to deal with Canada. He said, on the same Hong Kong trip where he criticised our human rights record, "We needed to renew and deepen the relationship between the people of Canada and people of China for the long term and I think it's safe to say we have accomplished just that."

Highly suspicious donations were found by the National Post after Trudeau rose to the head of the Liberal Party in 2013:

Donations went from $172,211 in fiscal 2014 to $731,753 in fiscal 2016. From 2008 to 2013, the Trudeau Foundation had no (zero, zip, nada) foreign donations, but it brought in $53,000 in fiscal 2014 and jumped to $535,000 in fiscal 2016.

When these donations were discovered, it was then the Trudeau acknowledged that he has been lobbied at these fundraisers and engaged in unauthorized political discussions with donors.

The bylaws of the Liberal Party are very clear: "Fundraising events are partisan functions where we do not discuss government business." It also states that "any individual who wishes to initiate a policy discussion is immediately directed to instead make an appointment with the relevant office."

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Hong Kong King of Protests

The line for the pay toilet

Hong Kong's Chinatown district is a hotbed of protest and anger over new policies being implemented by the government. Tens of thousands of angry protesters took to downtown Hong Kong square with only two pay toilets to accomodate them.

It didn't take long for the protest to deteriorate into a mud-slinging contest--wait--that wasn't mud.

In any case, there does not appear to be any quick solutions to their complaints other than the fact that "nature's call" coupled with social propriety may eventuate into them going home to take care of pressing matters.

Hari Wu Hu, a Hong Kong resident affectionately known as "The Town Pain in the Ass" said of the protest: "Not to worry. It will all be over in an hour and then they will leave and come back again to protest one more time." 

He made it sound like the effects of Chinese food on hunger.

President Obama is blaming the protest on the previous administration's failure to anticipate such an event.

James Clapper just scratched his head and unfortunately, his last remaining hair fell out.

It seems like the buck always stops elsewhere with Obama.

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