Thursday Post

One more thing...


Doctors of the Germanwings pilot accused of killing himself and one hundred and fifty-three others did not the pilot's health matters to his employer:

Fearing he was going blind, the co-pilot who slammed a Germanwings jet into the Alps took sick days at work, upped his dosage of an antidepressant, and reached out to doctors, but they didn't tell his employer they thought he was unfit to fly because of German privacy laws, a French prosecutor said Thursday.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin presented new details of his criminal investigation into the case after meeting in Paris with many grieving relatives of the 150 people who died on the Germanwings flight co-piloted by Andreas Lubitz.

The March 24 crash, blamed on Lubitz, has put a spotlight on possible mental health issues involving flight crews.

Robin announced he was handing over his initial inquiry to three investigating magistrates who will try to determine who — if anyone — can be brought to trial in an involuntary manslaughter case in which the main culprit died in the crash.

The news came as families have just started to receive the remains of their loved ones for burials in the coming days and weeks.

The investigation so far "has enabled us to confirm without a shadow of a doubt ... Mr. Andreas Lubitz deliberately destroyed the plane and deliberately killed 150 people, including himself," Robin told reporters.

Investigators say Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and flew the plane into a French mountainside after having researched suicide methods and cockpit door rules and practiced an unusual descent.

In a new development, Robin said information from Lubitz's tablet PC showed he had also investigated vision problems, and "feared going blind," which would have ended the 27-year-old's aviation career.

Lubitz, who had a history of depression, had seven medical appointments in the month before the crash, including three with a psychiatrist, and had taken eight sick days off work, Robin said. Some of the doctors felt Lubitz was psychologically unstable, and some felt he was unfit to fly, but "unfortunately that information was not reported because of medical secrecy requirements," the prosecutor said.

Unelected judges have decided what can be considered marijuana:

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled unanimously that medical marijuana can be legally consumed in products such as cookies, brownies and teas, a decision that "outraged" the federal government but elated the baker at the centre of the case.

Federal regulations had previously stipulated that authorized users of physician-prescribed cannabis could only consume dried marijuana.

But the high court said in a 7-0 decision on Thursday that limiting medical consumption to dried pot infringes on liberty protections under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Alright. Let Aaron Driver be charged with conspiracy to take part in terrorist activities as well as rape and murder:

The head of the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties says 23-year-old ISIS supporter Aaron Driver should be charged or released from jail immediately.

Driver has been in custody for a week and RCMP are seeking a peace bond as they fear he will participate in terrorism, but so far no charges have been laid. 

But that's what concerns civil rights advocates.

"It should shock every Canadian citizen that this is possible or that is being done," Corey Shefman told CBC News.  ...

"I cannot comment on what he might or might not do, or what he has or hasn't done. But I do know he hasn't been charged with a crime and yet he finds himself behind bars without his freedom and no reason he has officially been presented with," Shefman said. 

He wanted to join ISIS. If Mr. Shefman is adamant that Mr. Driver be charged, start there.



Good:

An Ottawa taxi driver will no longer be allowed to work for his company and his taxi licence has been suspended after he refused to move for an ambulance and went on an expletive-laden rant, all captured in a video posted to YouTube.

The Fur has the video up (NSFW, as they say).



Sm'algyax is a dialect of the Tsimshin language. As of 2006, there were only 640 Tsimshian speakers in Canada. There are more Korean speakers in British Columbia than there are native Tsimshin speakers.

And yet, as of next school year, students in Prince Rupert will be required to learn Tsimshin:

Starting in September, all Prince Rupert, B.C., students enrolled in Kindergarten through Grade 4 will be required to learn Sm'algyax, the language of the Tsimshian First Nation.

The language program has been available at two of the district's schools for the past decade, but it will now expand to every primary classroom in the city.

And one thought the francophone oligarchy was problematic.



Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Christopher Lee: