Sunday Post

After a jury in Saskatchewan found farmer, Gerald Stanley, not guilty of shooting Colten Boushie when one of the passengers he was driving attempted to steal a vehicle and run Stanley and member of his family down,  "spontaneous" protests and sentiments erupt from the perpetually aggrieved and vote-seeking:

Federal ministers say the country must do better for Indigenous peoples in the Canadian justice system after a Saskatchewan jury found Gerald Stanley not guilty of killing Colten Boushie.

Justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Indigenous services minister Jane Philpott both posted on Twitter they want more to be done.

Justin Trudeau echoed those statements, offering his condolences to Boushie's family. 

"I'm not going to comment on the process that led to this point today, but I am going to say we have come to this point as a country far too many times," he told reporters Saturday morning. 

"I know Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians alike know that we have to do better."

What do you mean "do better"?

Had Gerald Stanley been an aboriginal farmer attempting to protect himself from white thugs who tried to kill him, would he still be reviled? Is he to be reviled because he did protect himself? Or is he reviled because he protected himself against aboriginal thugs when he should have been content to just be a victim of crime?

Shove your feet back into your mouth, "People-kind" Boy. The country has had enough of your patronising and idiocy for one lifetime.

**

Winnipeg Centre member of Parliament Robert-Falcon Ouellette, who is originally from Red Pheasant First Nation — the same First Nation in Saskatchewan Boushie came from — called Boushie's death an "abject failure of our society to make sure that this didn't happen."

Gerald Stanley, 56, was charged after the 22-year-old Boushie was shot and killed during a 2016 altercation on Stanley's property near Biggar, Sask. Stanley's defence argued the gun went off accidentally.

On Friday, a jury acquitted him of the second-degree murder charge, sparking protests and calls for justice reform across the country.

"When you look at the sweep of events leading up to this, there were complaints from farmers that no one was solving the crimes against property that was being stolen and destroyed in Saskatchewan," Ouellette said.

"Where the state is no longer able to respond to problems in society … where the police aren't able to respond to all of the complaints by citizens in a timely manner, citizens start thinking to themselves well, if they can't do it, I have to protect my own property," he said.

"I think we placed everyone in an impossible situation by the failures of the system.… It really is a terrible thing, and it's something that I don't believe needed to happen."

Two things, Mr. Ouellette: either people have the right to protect themselves, others and their property using appropriate force without fear of the government punishing them (or questioning the legal process that finds them innocent) or they don't.

Secondly, there is no need for "diverse" juries or inquiries or massive public displays of knee-jerk reaction. The rule of law prevailed. Perhaps Boushie and his companions should not have been drinking and attempting to rob a farmer. THAT fault lies with families that refuse to properly raise their children and instead rely on shaming people for handouts. Big Aboriginal can accept the blame for that massive ongoing debacle.

Because being called "Sock Boy" can get very tiring:

As Canadian political parties prepare for the 2019 federal election, the source said Trudeau suggested Ottawa could intervene if Facebook doesn’t adequately address the issues. 

The source described the conversation as “constructive.” 

Trudeau’s comments came during a meeting with Sandberg at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Vietnam last November. According to the source, Trudeau was particularly concerned about Facebook identifying the origin of partisan “news” posts or advertisements.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor Facebook would discuss the specifics of that meeting.

“We stand with the lawmakers around the world, including in Canada, in their efforts to protect the democractic process,” Kevin Chan, Facebook’s policy chief in Canada, wrote in a statement to the Star. 

(Sidebar: you, sir, are a lying sack of sh--.)

Also: 

The climate for hate speech regulation in Canada appears to be shifting.

Traditional free speech advocates are reconsidering the status quo they helped create, in which hate speech is only a Criminal Code charge that requires political approval, and so is rarely prosecuted. There is even talk of resurrecting the defunct and much maligned ban on internet hate speech, Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Another casualty of Trudeau's jet-setting:

At least one police officer has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after a crash involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's motorcade Friday night outside of Los Angeles.

The California Highway Patrol officer was taken to hospital with what the force described as non-life threatening, but serious injuries — a category that could include a large abrasion with bleeding, or broken bones.

They're just jobs for little people. If they mattered, Justin would pretend to care about them: 

Canada shed a net 88,000 jobs during the month, a sharp stop to a recent stellar performance that saw 2017 produce the biggest increase in jobs since 2002. The drop reflected a record loss of 137,000 part-time jobs, and a 49,000 gain in full-time work.

The employment drop coincided with an increase in the minimum wage in Canada’s largest province — Ontario. That fueled an acceleration of the national wage rate to an annualized pace of 3.3 per cent that was the fastest since 2015.

It's like history is repeating itself:

An Iranian-Canadian university professor detained in Tehran has died in custody, activists and a family member said Sunday, marking the latest suspicious death of a detainee in Iran after a crackdown on dissent following nationwide protests.

Oh, dear. This must be embarrassing:

Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has ordered the country’s military to cancel a $234 million deal to buy Canadian-built combat helicopters.

Duterte said Friday that equipment bought by the military needs to be free of any restrictions since it could be used in fighting insurgents.

Duterte said in the future the Philippine military will not buy its equipment from either Canada or the U.S. 

“So from here on now, I am directing the armed forces of the Philippines since most of the guns, bullets and whatever, weapons of war … invariably could be used against the rebels and the terrorists,” he told journalists in Davao City on Friday. “Do not buy any more from Canada. Or from the United States, because there is always a condition attached.”

He added, “I am sure Canada is a bright boy. But the terrorists, ISIS, are contaminating the locals. And if I cannot use the gunships, the helicopters, then I might as well surrender this government to them.

“I do not question your logic. Your logic is your logic. My logic is mine. It’s based on the reality on the ground.”

The same terrorists who do things like this:

A 22-year-old man armed with a machete attacked a priest and several churchgoers after he stormed a Catholic church in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta.

And it's not like Canada was in the dark about what Duterte wanted to do:

The Philippine government never hid its intention to use Canadian-built helicopters in combat, even going as far as displaying the first batch of those choppers armed with machine guns during an official ceremony in 2015 attended by Canada’s ambassador to that southeast Asian country.

Another horse enters the race:

A fourth person has declared her intention to run for the leadership of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party.

But Tanya Granic Allen acknowledged Thursday that she first needs at least 100 party members to sign her nomination papers and donors to help her raise the $100,000 entry fee to enter the race.

Granic Allen is president of Parents as First Educators, which lobbies against the sex-education curriculum in Ontario and is in favour of more parental control of education.

"We have to make sure that the protest of parents across this province isn’t falling upon deaf ears," Granic Allen said in a statement posted on the group's website.

Now over to the winter Olympics, the most deceptive game in town!




No, NBC, Korea isn't the "other Japan":

NBC apologized on Saturday after a comment Ramo made as Japan was introduced at the Opening Ceremony. Ramo introduced Japan as “a country which occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945.”

“But every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural and technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation,” he added.

Japan’s 35-year colonial occupation of Korea was a controversial time that was marked by harsh rule and human rights abuse. It ended with Korea splitting into two countries at the end of World War II, a schism that remains to this day.

“During Japanese rule (1910-1945), many Koreans suffered enormously, often from rape, forced labor, torture and death,” the Korea Times wrote. “The issue of the comfort women, the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery, is one of the many atrocities that occurred during that period. Few Koreans would agree with what Ramo said of Japan.”

It wasn’t long after Ramo’s remark that it became apparent he has touched a raw nerve. NBC’s social feeds quickly filled with Koreans demanding an apology.

Or one could argue that this "transformation" occurred after the Korean War.

But that sort of historical analysis is beyond the popular press. 

While some people are drooling over Kim Jong-Un's lieutenant in his army of darkness, some South Koreans aren't at all happy with the Kim dynasty:

Just hours ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony on Friday, South Korean protesters scuffled with police as they burned North Korea flags and images of dictator Kim Jong-un.

Despite the popular narrative of a “diplomatic” Olympics where South Korea and North Korea are putting aside differences to present a united face to the millions watching, protesters believe the warming between the two countries may advance Kim’s nuclear ambitions. Many South Koreans have been outraged that the two countries will field a joint women’s hockey team and their leaders will engage in diplomatic gestures while North Korea routinely threatens violence.

This narrative: 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in accepted North Korea’s invitation Saturday to visit Pyongyang, on condition that the circumstances that would allow for such a visit are established. 

**

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has dismissed a call from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to quickly resume South Korea's joint military drills with the United States, calling it a violation of his country's sovereignty, an official from Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Saturday.

 


Which hurts this narrative:

During a pre-Olympics Opening ceremonies reception in Pyeongchang later that day, Pence “did not come across” the North Korean delegation, according to a spokesman for the Vice President. The North Koreans were present at the reception at the same time as Pence.

Vice President Pence and second lady Karen Pence sat in South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s box for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. They sat in the same row as President Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The three had held a meeting ahead of the ceremony. Both Kim Yong Nam and Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, also sat in Moon’s box. A White House official indicated that it was fair to cast the lack of interaction between Pence and the North Koreans in Moon’s box as mutual.

White House officials clarified for the press that it was known ahead of time that the North Koreans would also be seated in Moon’s box, and Pence knowingly chose to sit in Moon’s box instead of in the U.S. delegation box.

Some people don't care for "diversity":

By and large, PyeongChang has gone out of its way to welcome the world for the 2018 Winter Olympics. But not everyone in the South Korean host city is feeling the Olympic spirit.

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has announced that it will no longer go forward with plans to set up a mobile multi-faith prayer room for spectators in Gangneung, where all of the Games’ indoor events are taking place, following “strong opposition” from anti-Muslim protestors, according to Al Jazeera’s Haeyoon Kim and Faras Ghani.

“We sat down with them for talks, but in the end, we had to cancel the plans,” Gangneung city government tourism division chief Kang Suk-ho told Al Jazeera. ...

Much of the hostility has flowed from the PyeongChang Olympics Gangwon Citizens’ Islam Countermeasure Association, a relatively new group that pushed a petition against the prayer room via Google. The petition — which stoked fear about radical Islam in the South Korean province of Gangwon — has collected more than 56,000 digital signatures.

“The government has already spent too much of the taxpayers’ money on the Games, and we shouldn’t spend more building a prayer room,” Seo Ji-hyun, the director of operations at the Islam Countermeasure Association, told Al Jazeera. He also suggested that Muslims should refrain from prayer at the Olympic Games as they supposedly would while flying or driving.

Because no one wants to hold Russia to account for anything:

How can this be, that men convicted or suspected of doping are still in leadership positions, that banned athletes are still competing in international events if not the actual Olympics?

Didn't I say something like this would happen? :

The unified Korean women’s hockey team lost 8-0 against Switzerland on Saturday’s preliminary round match, but there was an unmistakable good feeling among the South Korean audience. The combined athletes created a symbol of good will between the two Koreas that have been divided for over 70 years.