Free Republic

The headline in Sunday’s Ottawa Citizen was strange: “‘The ordeal’ is not over for Hassan Diab after French court sentences him to life in prison.” Clearly, the Citizen’s sympathy is with Diab, despite the fact that he must have been convicted of something extremely serious to warrant being given life in prison. And the Citizen is not alone.Hassan Diab is a darling of the Leftist political and media establishment, despite the fact that the crime he was convicted of committing was the bombing of the Rue Copernic synagogue in Paris during Shabbat services on Oct. 3, 1980. Four people were...

A Canadian university is under fire after it removed the weight scale at its campus gym last week. Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, says the decision is “in keeping with current fitness and social trends,” according to a sign posted where the scale used to stand, according to the campus newspaper, The Charlatan. Bruce Marshall, manager of health and wellness at the gym, said focusing only on weight can have a negative impact. […] But some students disagree with removing the scale. Marko Miljusevic, a second-year computer science student, said in a Facebook message that students “can’t handle the number...

Until last year, Hassan Diab was leading the quiet life of a Canadian sociology professor. Prof. Diab was teaching at both Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, was said to be a popular colleague and teacher. After leaving the violence of his native Lebanon and earning his doctorate in the United States, Prof. Diab, 54, received his Canadian citizenship and appeared to settle into Ottawa. There, friends said he was a secular man with an interest in sociology and Middle East studies, and was not without a warm side. "He has a great rapport with students," said Carleton professor...