199 replies to this topic

[Wayne]

Trump pardons Conrad Black.

 

 

http://www.msn.com/e...p5&ocid=DELLDHP

[lanforod]

Surely you’ve m heard of a takedown before? It’s the same thing as taken down. Dust got the right meaning, as in a takedown/taken down is an apprehension/arrest.

 

Maybe I read the article differently, but I didn't read anywhere that the journalist was arrested or apprehended. Only that his place was forcibly searched and his data taken.

[Mike K.]

He doesn’t have to be arrested to be taken down.

Why is this so difficult? Do I need to list the 500 different forms of interaction/outcome where police forcibly engage with a civilian?

[Rob Randall]

If they had killed the journalist, I would have said he'd have been shot and killed, not taken down at gunpoint.

 

Taken down at gunpoint is a common phrase referring to police subduing someone with their guns drawn, and the CBC agrees.

 

"Taken down" in this context implies forcible restraint was used. From everything I've read he was simply handcuffed and was not resisting. When describing situations like this it's best to avoid ambiguous and misleading terms.

[Mike K.]

No it doesn’t.

A police take down only results in force against the person if they resist.

His home was raided. Battering ram. Guns drawn. All that stuff. What happens to the target when police pursue their take down is up to the target. But the intent of the action is to shock and induce compliance/submission without resorting to physical harm.

But when a dozen officers returned to his home on Friday, this time their guns were drawn and they came equipped with a search warrant, a sledgehammer and a battering ram.

In an interview Monday, as concern spread among journalists and civil rights activists about his treatment, Mr. Carmody said his wrists were still sore from being handcuffed for six hours while the police raided his house and seized laptops, phones and hard drives — including all the images and documents he had archived from his 29-year career as a reporter and cameraman.

[Mike K.]

Have you guys never watched an episode of Cops? 48 Hours? To Serve and Protect?

Police don’t use any physical force during takedowns unless it is absolutely required or justified. If the suspect doesn’t resist, but they get physically injured by police, that’s called assault, and it opens up a whole ‘nother can of worms cops want nothing to do with.

[Benezet]

Have you guys never watched an episode of Cops? 48 Hours? To Serve and Protect?...

No, but I did see Serpico...

[lanforod]

Just having this conversation implies that your wording is questionable, Mike. You don't want people wondering what you meant when you're trying to describe the facts.

 

Obviously, you're turning a blind eye to our feedback, and that's your prerogative... but man, can't you take a little constructive criticism? That's all it was.

[Mike K.]

You likened it to the spread of fake news. Anyone would take issue with someone misunderstanding a commonly used term for exactly the situation as described, and alleging its use is deceitful.

I stand by every word I wrote, but it’s all good though, no harm done, and I’m glad we had the conversation.

But the wording is hardly the issue. The issue is a police raid on a journalist who refused to reveal a source. This is no small matter, and one of the most serious North overreaches (in my opinion) observed regarding a journalist.

[Mike K.]

But Unifor is the union that turned nakedly partisan during the 2015 election campaign, fundinglie-filled attack ads against Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and mortifying many journalist members whose credibility depends on their perceived political independence. More recently, Unifor’s executives have collectively styled themselves “Andrew Scheer’s worst nightmare,” eliciting more futile pleas from journalists to shut up.

Well, those were the days. Now the government that benefited from Unifor’s partisan largesse has asked it for help deciding who’s a proper journalist and what’s a proper news outlet, and thus worthy of government largesse! If Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez had explicitly set out to bolster the notion that Canadian media are bought and paid for by the Liberal Party of Canada, he could have done no better.

- https://nationalpost...of-the-chickens

The Trudeau government’s move to subsidize a dying media industry is now underway. Deciding who gets a piece of a $600 million taxpayer funded pie are “independent” panel members, like one from Unifor, a mega-union that declared itself Andrew Scheer’s worst nightmare last fall.

Journalism in Canada is a partisan industry now, dependant on government handouts decided on by the likes of ultra-partisan Unifor and other ultra-partisan gatekeepers.

[Victoria Watcher]

The news release put out Wednesday by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez begins well: "The Government of Canada understands that for a democracy to function properly, it needs to have solid, independent news media."

If only he had stopped there. But instead, the release goes on for another 700 words to outline a plan whose principal effect will be to undermine the independence of the news media.




https://www.cbc.ca/n...ilout-1.5147053

[Victoria Watcher]

[Victoria Watcher]

[Sparky]

The Editor in Chief of the Vancouver Sun, Harold Munro, apologized yesterday to their readers for publishing an op-ed piece written by Mark Hecht on immigration, and had the article removed from their online website. Immigration is a controversial topic, but arguably it is a topic that should not be ignored or censored.

The link to his apology. https://vancouversun...-to-our-readers

The article in question, in my opinion, appeared to be factual and thought provoking. It did not strike me as being hateful but rather informing and enlightening.

Some might suggest that our society as we have known it is at a tipping point where inclusion and diversity may be partly responsible for the breakdown of our social trust. Some might suggest that the rise in lawlessness may be one of the byproducts of of our evolving progressive political ideals.

The one thing that I do feel strongly about is that respectful freedom of speech is vital to a democracy. Everyone should be entitled to their own opinion.....even if some consider that opinion to be wrong.

Here is a link to the article that the editor of a widely read zine has deemed to be worthy of post publishing censorship so you can decide for yourself.

http://archive.is/ul...53.116-1653.163

[rjag]

Agreed, there was a lot of pearl clutching among the journo community. 

 

Lots of claims of alt-right, racist etc.

 

And yet this is a major topic in Eu and has been for years. Heres an article from the Washington Post and Angela Merkel 

https://www.washingt...lism-is-a-sham/

 

"Multiculturalism leads to parallel societies and therefore remains a ‘life lie,’ ” or a sham, she said, before adding that Germany may be reaching its limits in terms of accepting more refugees. "The challenge is immense," she said. "We want and we will reduce the number of refugees noticeably."

 

 

 

https://www.spiegel....e-a-723702.html

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday declared that multiculturalism in Germany was a failure and said it was an illusion to think that Germans and foreign workers could "live happily side by side."

 

 

 

The article in yesterdays Sun should not have been pulled but a counter position should have been produced and put in the next op-ed.

 

Section 2B of the Charter is being tested by the forces of progressivism big time. Free speech and opinion is being muzzled big time

[Victoria Watcher]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday declared that multiculturalism in Germany was a failure and said it was an illusion to think that Germans and foreign workers could "live happily side by side."

 

 

not so sure about that.  i'm sure almost all or us work or worked just fine with someone that is/was an immigrant.  

 

anyway what i do know is that draining 2nd and 3rd world countries of their best and brightest does no favours to those countries.

[Mike K.]

Does one stop being an immigrant?

The uptake of immigrants in Canada has changed over the last decade. No longer does one have to be the best and brightest of one’s country to re-settle in Canada, which had traditionally been the case (ie you invested your way into the country, or had a specific skill set and level of education, or both). Today it is much more of a needs-based assessment (ie facing persecution or serious instability in your homeland).

[rjag]

not so sure about that.  i'm sure almost all or us work or worked just fine with someone that is/was an immigrant.  

 

anyway what i do know is that draining 2nd and 3rd world countries of their best and brightest does no favours to those countries.

 

I'm an immigrant, not saying its wrong and have anything against it. Its the lack of integration into the society the immigrant moves to that is causing problems. Each society whetehr its German or British, American, Philipino, Japanese, Indian or Canadian etc has a unique stamp, and way of life. They slowly meld and change, whats happened in the last 25 years is causing concern

 

Read what Merkel was saying. I dont agree with the Hecht article but I do believe in his freedom to express it

[Victoria Watcher]

Each society whetehr its German or British, American, Philipino, Japanese, Indian or Canadian etc has a unique stamp, and way of life. They slowly meld and change, whats happened in the last 25 years is causing concern

 

i think though that the difficult integration only lasts one generation or less.  ie. kids born here won't feel so much need to group with say other former syrian families.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 September 2019 - 07:26 AM.

[Mike K.]

i think though that the difficult integration only lasts one generation or less. ie. kids born here won't feel so much need to group with say other former syrian families.

A recent Norwegian study has found that the children of migrants are being lured into criminality at a rate above that of their parents. It doesn’t take much for a community to feel oppressed and begin forming its own mini system of opportunities and cohesion, and if you’ve got powerful individuals within those communities tied to crime it’s very easy and alluring for young men to follow in the footsteps of someone with whom they can relate with than to “break out” and go against the role models they look up to or their friend groups.