C225: Dead as a Doornail

Yesterday, private member's bill C225, or the Exploiting Grief to Attack Abortion Rights bill, got its first hour of debate in Parliament.

I live-tweeted it, sort of.

After sponsor Cathay Wagantall blathered on about how carefully her bill was written to ensure it had zero zip nada effect on abortion -- choking up theatrically in the process -- Bill (The Liar) Blair, former top cop in Toronto and now MP and parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Justice, spoke.

Bill Blair using "fetus." Oh lord, I loathe Blair, but he might be speaking against #c225. #conflicted

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) May 2, 2016

Blair pointed out that judges have, and have used, discretion in applying Canada's sensible notion of "aggravating factors" in sentencing people who assault or kill pregnant people. In other words, this bill is not necessary.

Blair: focus on domestic violence. (I'm hating this. Why couldn't some other Lib be saying this stuff.) #c225

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) May 2, 2016

After Blair, Murray Rankin (NDP), David Graham (LPC), and Sheila Malcolmson (NDP) stated their opposition to the bill. All pointed to the need for more focus on domestic violence.

Fetus freaks and CPC MPs, Michael Cooper and Garnett Genuis (corrected name; thanks to Joyce in the comments) spoke in favour, mainly whingeing about "justice," which we know means "vengeance" in these people's mouths.

So, with the Liberals and NDP opposed, there is no chance C225 will pass.

Good.

On Twitter, I tried to engage supporters (who were using the hashtag #MollyMatters) to answer my question: How exactly does adding a charge for harming or killing a fetus "protect" anyone?

More blathering about justice, but the nearest I got to a coherent answer was "deterrence."

Problem with that is deterrence doesn't work to prevent crime.

Underlying #C225 is the nonsensical notion that person contemplating violence says to self: "Whoa, extra charge for pregnancy! Better not!"

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) May 2, 2016

There will be more debate and a vote, but C225 is dead as a doornail.



Previous posts on C225:

Exploiting Grief to Attack Abortion Rights

Vengeance--and More--Drives "Unborn Victims" Law

It's Baaaack

Nope, This "Preborn Victims" Law Won't Pass Either.

Classy Cops vs Toronto's Lying Thugs

Big surprise! The Flop and Flail doesn't think Chief Bill Blair should resign over the gigantic cock-up -- with associated lies, coverup, and bullshit -- that was the G20 in Toronto.

Back in February and March, Madison, Wisconsin, was the site of huge, angry protests. Here's a statement from the police department on February 19 (bold mine).

On behalf of all the law enforcement agencies that helped keep the peace on the Capitol Square Saturday, a very sincere thank you to all of those who showed up to exercise their First Amendment rights. You conducted yourselves with great decorum and civility, and if the eyes of the nation were upon Wisconsin, then you have shown how democracy can flourish even amongst those who passionately disagree. As of 5:00 p.m., no major incidents had been reported. There have been no arrests. However, discourse and discussion was - at times - loud and heated. That was to be expected. As previously indicated, the goal of law enforcement has been to provide a safe environment for democracy to take place. That goal has been realized for yet another day.

As I said at the time:

If that statement were a brick, I'd throw it through Toronto Chief Bill Blair's window.

What a classy, professional police service the people of Madison have.

Why do Torontonians have to put up with a bunch of liars and thugs?

Blair must resign.


Image source

Honesty is Always the best policy.

This is the face of the communications & PR company that the Ottawa Police has hired to polish their bad apples in order to craft a communications *game plan* and to correct its image.

Face Value's slogan is: Trust. Worthy.

The events caught on CCTV at the cop shop are merely the tip of the iceberg. There has been considerable public exposure of officers and special constables who engage in unprofessional conduct, brutality and illicit practices. It will take more than a communications *game plan* to halt the rising tide of citizens' disgust with those who defend the actions and behaviours of thugs and bullies.

Nonetheless, Derek Johnston has invested time and effort to marketing his company to clients such as the Ottawa Police. From here, we learn that he presents himself as a specialist

"in addressing the issues of how police organizations manage their reputations as part of their risk management strategies and how they communication risk [sic] to stakeholders and the public."

Okay doke. Perhaps Johnston is proposing to exploit social media in support of his client. If so, he might counsel in particular Chief Vern White to heed advice proffered by Marta Kagan.

Listen.

Messages are not conversations.

It's a dialogue not a monologue.

Relinquish control.

Don't F**k with people.

In a world of social media, honesty is the only policy.

What was that last point again? Honesty is the only policy. Good luck with that, Johnston. Hope that Chief White does not choose to emulate Toronto Chief of Police Bill Blair.

Update: More about that contract with Face Value Communications - Ottawa police services board chair Eli El-Chantiry said: “We want to be transparent, accountable and we want the public to expect no less from us.”

Caught in the Act

Yesterday, André Marin released the much-anticipated report on the G20 fiasco in Toronto, cleverly titled 'Caught in the Act'. (PDF at the link.)

I caught the last bit of the press conference and heard Marin say that events of that weekend constituted the 'most massive compromise of civil liberties in Canadian history' and instantly he became my new hero.

Finally, finally, after all the Facebooking, YouTubing, blogging, and protesting, Somebody is paying attention and coming to the same conclusion that hundreds of thousands of nobodies knew all along: Toronto was a police state that weekend.




I haven't read the whole 127 pages yet, but what I have read is clear, blunt, and unequivocal. What's also great is the use of social media by the Ombuds and the appendix listing a bunch of YouTubes of events.

Today, on the front page of the Star, Rosie DiManno, who is usually in a tie with Pitsy Blatchford for top cop-groupie, calls the chief out. Make it right, she says.

Well, looky here. The chief speaks from some shindig on the Wet Coast.

One criticism lobbed at Blair in recent weeks is that the investigations into police misconduct appear to be lagging so far behind that of black clad vandals. In those cases, police appealed to the public for help, releasing a swarm of pictures. In a more recent development, police announced suspects will be extradited from the U.S.

“I understand that may be the perception,” said Blair, adding that he has asked the public for any evidence, photographic or otherwise.

He went on to say that his own officers have and will be investigated with the same techniques and the same rigor as anyone else. And that every police officer is required to report misconduct.

Yeah, well, as they say, I'll believe it when I see it.

After all, the jackass who said 'I think the police were too nice. I would have had a zero tolerance approach' has a shiny new thing. Around his florid neck.

Will cops be charged?

If an internal investigation is held as Toronto Police Chief Blair has stated, will the thugs and goons in police uniform found guilty of civil rights abuse be held accountable for their actions? Or will it be a witch hunt to provide Bully Billy Boy with the information he needs to retaliate against the cops who 'broke rank' by expressing compassion toward prisoners?

In accounts written by individuals who suffered the "abridgement" of their civil and human rights by riot cops, they mention those who were visibly disturbed by the unwarranted violent behaviour of their comrades in arms.

From here:

An older female guard with short dark hair and glasses is offering me a cup of watered down Tang and instructing my binds be cut. I’m given a second cup of juice and new, looser cuffs. They ask if I’m ok, I’m so confused about why I’m outside the cell and ask “What’s going on?” They ask if I’m alright, and I say “I guess so” then they open the cage and put me back. [...] “What happened?” I ask with a now splitting headache. “You passed out man!” they tell me. [...] My head kills, they ask for medical attention for me, I second the motion and we’re told “Not right now”. [...] The female officer who helped me aids in bringing some watery orange Tang to all the cells. We line up, quietly and broken, for our drink. I find out from Kate that this same female officer broke down and cried with the women at their cell. She was sobbing and apologizing, “This is wrong, you shouldn’t be here. This is all so wrong.”

And this:

Not all officers behaved like thugs. Taylor reports several broke down emotionally in the chaos. [...] The men sardined in Taylor’s cell got the attention of Toronto Special Police Constable White and asked him about the deplorable conditions. “I’m just a pea in a pod. I can’t help,” White said.

Chrystal Ocean at Challenging the Commonplace draws our attention to recent legal and court-directed settlements in support of demonstrators and by-standers illegally arrested by police in 2000 and 2004 in Washington D.C.

Welcome to Bill Blair and Stevie Harper's New©™ Canada.

"Spectacular claims have emerged ..."

And none more spectacular than the sob story Toronto Police Chief Bill 'Five Metres of BS' Blair gave Christie Blatchford in an Exclusive interview. The sound you hear as you read the piece is that of Blatchie's panties sliding to the floor.

In a MASSIVE attempt to cover his derrière, Blair agonizes over a now-emerging propaganda "revelation" that generic Blak Blok anarkists derailed the arrival of a Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan at the coroner's office.

The final chapter of the repatriation for Sergeant Jimmy MacNeil last Friday had to be cut short outside the coroner’s office in Toronto when Black Bloc anarchists tried to break through police lines to attack.

The revelation came during an hour-long interview Wednesday with Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, during which he also confessed he is worried about how the events of last weekend may have affected the “public trust” the force must have with its citizens.

At the time the cortège carrying Sgt. MacNeil’s body was arriving at the coroner’s office on Grosvenor Street, just two short blocks north of College Street, a group of about 30 demonstrators dressed in black moved out of a crowd of 2,000 who had massed in front of police headquarters on College.

“The Black Bloc was here and they charged up the thing [laneway], as a matter of fact the repatriation was kind of interrupted,” Chief Blair said. “My public order guys ran through the lines that we had to close off the alley that they were trying to get up [to Grosvenor] with.”

Further on in the Globe & Mail piece, 'I luvs me a MAN in uniform' Blatchford claims this "revelation" was only "mentioned" in the context of an answer about the "temporary regulation designating the area of the G20 Summit as a place where the Public Works Protection Act would apply".

What-evah, Christie. Perhaps you are dazzled by Chief Blair's charms, but those of us - who are not swooning to our knees in his presence - suspect his strategically timed interview with you is all part and parcel of a furious attempt of revisionism and retroactive justification.

Bonus: Go read Alison at Creekside - G20 : Cops avenge themselves on satirist