Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan speaks during a conference on foreign affairs in Ottawa on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016. (Sean Kilpatrick/CP) A day before he backtracked from his false claim that he was the architect of Operation Medusa, one of the biggest and most dangerous missions of the war in Afghanistan, Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan inexplicably and stubbornly stood by them in a correspondence with me. What happened over the last five days might be called the anatomy of an apology. The controversy stems from an April 18 speech the Minister delivered at Conflict Prevention and Peacekeeping in a Changing World, a conference in New Delhi, India. On my first deployment to Kandahar in 2006, the Minister said, I was the architect of Operation Medusa where we removed 1,500 Taliban fighters off the battlefield and I was proudly on the main assault. It was an odd comment. Though Sajjan was a veteran of the 2006 operation, he was in no way the key planner. That role is typically credited to retired Major General David Fraser, then the commander of the Multinational Brigade for Regional Command South, and the man who organized and led Operation Medusa. On Monday, April 24, … Continue reading →

Ellen Pompeo as Meredith, Martin Henderson as Riggs. Photo: Mitch Haaseth/ABC Dont Stop Me Now Season 13 Episode 21 Editor's Rating 3 stars Worms, you guys. So many worms. Yes, much more emotional stuff went down in Dont Stop Me Now, but attention must be paid to those worms. You know what? If a gut full of worms puts gross-out aficionado Richard Webber in his happy place, we should allow it. That guy needs to spend a little time in his happy place! The worms arrive at Grey Sloan Memorial via a very unsuspecting and very lovestruck young lady named Mary. She and her boyfriend, Dennis, are in lurve. Like, barf-inducing love. Stephanies eye rolls are all of our eye rolls. Dennis promises to be there through anything. Well, except for that time when April rushes into the room, having just pulled a worm out of the puke Mary spat all over Aprils hair, and they all realize Mary has a big ol belly full of worms. Dennis wont be there through that. He is disgusted. We all are. Bailey, however, thinks that since Richard is in a lovely worm-induced happiness, it would be the perfect time for her to … Continue reading →

A recent headline in the Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA) read Police: Man took 120-mile Uber ride to rob Lenox woman. Break-ins, robberies, and abductions sadly are crimes we see on the increase throughout the region, but most do not evolve out of telephone scams. This time it did. The situation developed over a matter of months from a routine telephone scam. The victim, an elderly woman in Lenox, Massachusetts, received a number of calls from a New York man living outside New York City. In trying to scam $1500, his calls began with a promised payment of $3 million but over time turned into a frightening threat. In late February, the alleged criminal hired an Uber driver to take him to Lenox where he forced his way into her home and had her drive to her Pittsfield, MA, bank for money. Alert bank employees notified police and the man was arrested before he could do further harm. The incident raises a number of questions does this scenario occur frequently? Arent scamming telephone calls one shot efforts? Do con artists have access to my personal information? What can I do if I think someone is trying to scam me? There is … Continue reading →

BALTIMORE -- To heck with the math. According to the math, and the experts who like to use it to crunch numbers and make projections, the Baltimore Orioles weren't supposed to be very good this season. According to the math, they were supposed to win anywhere from not a lot of games to slightly more than not a lot of games. According to the math, they were supposed to be an afterthought in the AL Beast. Instead, they have the best record in the Son of Senior Circuit. Are the O's a mirage? Maybe. After all, we're only at the one-eighth mark (is that even a thing?). Not to mention, their ho-hum run differential (plus-9) suggests they should be barely above .500 (a Pythagorean 11-9 record). Then again, the same thing happened last season too, when Buck Showalter's club parlayed a surprisingly hot start all the way to the postseason. Regardless, you don't jump out to a 14-6 start without the ball bouncing your way more often than not. You don't have a month like this without a little help from Lady Luck. By beating Tampa Bay 5-4 in 11 innings on Wednesday, the first-place Birds improved to 6-1 in … Continue reading →