Vancouver WILL Survive...

The hockey game was just a distraction

Christie Blatchford: As a friend remarked this week about another matter entirely, and he was quoting Figaro from The Barber of Seville, “I quickly laugh at everything for fear of having to cry.”

Rex Murphy: Punish those who tore the heart out of Vancouver

Photos: Rioters destroy downtown Vancouver

Vancouver police chief admits mistakes made in riot

Periodic Marches Not The Answer...

Moms march against violence


By TOM GODFREY, Toronto Sun

Grieving mom Deborah Parks cradled a sign with a photo of her murdered son, Kareme, as she marched through downtown Toronto with mothers demanding measures to stop violence.

...they should be camped out permanently at Queens Park  and the office of their local MP demanding mandatory sentencing, tougher bail conditions, end to concurrent sentences for gun crimes, etc.

Does Our Justice System Have Any CREDIBILITY Left...

Lorne Gunter: The justice system’s elites must respect ordinary citizens

Aaron Lynett / National Post
Anthony Bennett: Convict, alleged thief ... and the Crown's leading witness against shop-owner David Chen.

Crown prosecutors had better come up with some pretty remarkable evidence against David Chen, the Toronto green grocer, when he goes to trial on Wednesday; because if the case is more or less as it appears to be — i.e., small business owner captures habitual thief, then is charged with assault for his efforts — the Crown’s prosecution of Mr. Chen will have done tremendous damage to the credibility of Canada’s justice system.

Mr. Chen performed a citizen’s arrest in May 2009 against Anthony Bennett after Mr. Bennett had stolen a tray of flowers from Mr. Chen’s shop and then returned an hour later. The grocer recognized Mr. Bennett, a well-known petty criminal in the neighbourhood, with a conviction record going back 33 years. Along with two of his employees, Mr. Chen chased Mr. Bennett into an alley outside the store, tackled him, tied him up and held him in the back of a delivery van until police arrived. For this, police charged Mr. Chen with assault, kidnapping and forcible confinement.

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They Were Allowed To Shutdown A Major Canadian Center...

...so don't be surprised if the law of the land is not implemented! 

Tsakumis: Timid Tamils ? Terrorist Tigers ? Who cares ?

Kevin Libin: What Australia can teach us about the Tamil asylum seekers

Lorne Gunter: Intercepting Tamil ships is our only option

Chris Selley’s Full Pundit: What shall we do with the Tamil sailors?

Victoria hospital prepares ‘pandemic’ response to Tamil ship migrants

Throwing Out The Baby With...

U Does The Crime U Does The Time...

...and the next step is to make going to prison a hardship. Gulag type prisons with few privileges might reduce recidivism, would allow us to build our case for sovereignty in the Arctic, etc. 

Nixing the 2-for-1 pre-trial scam

The whimpering continues among the hug-a-thug crowd that the federal government's nixing of two-for-one sentencing credits for pre-trial custody will result in a penitentiary boom.

Congrats Norman. Publicly Recognized Twice In 20 Years...

Fiorito: A brave man’s G20 protest

by Joe Fiorito

Enzo's Rose Coloured Glasses Broken...

G20

No excusing this

I never thought I’d see Mayor David Miller take the low road of political expediency

By Enzo Di Matteo

In a week of cataclysmic events for Toronto the Good – an earthquake, tornado watch and floods – came another unexpected stir, this one from the mayor’s office in the fallout over the G20.

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...can anything be read into selective selection of photo? None were available showing the vandalism and destruction of private property!

To Serve And Protect...

Ultimate Cheap Shot...

I Am Waiting For The Reports Of How Many "Citizens" Were Hospitalized...

...due to the actions of the "police." I won't hold my breathe...

Jonathan Kay on the extraordinary professionalism of Toronto’s G20 police force

Jonathan Kay  June 27, 2010 – 2:23 am

 

Some of my American friends have been emailing me to ask whether “Toronto is burning”? On YouTube and Twitter, they’ve been following the “highlights” of Saturday’s G20 riots — the wrecked cars and the broken storefront windows — and assumed that Toronto had become one giant Watts.
It’s not. This is one of those stories the social media has gotten wrong: a million tweeters all tweeting up the same three burning police cruisers and few dozen wrecked storefronts. The number of protestors wasn’t even that big (even if the media insists on calling the protests “massive.”) The estimate I’ve seen thrown around is about 10,000. To put that figure in perspective, the number of protestors who swarmed Quebec City at the Summit of the Americas in 2001 was approximately 100,000 — tens times as large.
At around 7pm last night, I biked south down Yonge Street, where a lot of the violence took place. I was surprised to see that the main commercial drag was thronged — with shoppers and diners going out on the town. Yes, I saw boarded up windows at Burger King, Starbucks, Money Mart and the “Club Zanzibar” strip club (Marquee: “Forget G8. Try G-strings”). Tim Horton’s and Swiss Chalet had been smashed, too. But the other businesses were mostly open. At the intersection of Dundas and Yonge, a band was playing. Smiling people were posing in front of the scattered vandalized stores and taking pictures. The whole area was in tourist mode.

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Posted in: Canada, Full Comment, Uncategorized  Tags: G20, G8, G20 summit, G8 summit

Enuff G20...for today at least...

G8/G20 Local View

Police already provoked, two activists arrested

The rhetoric heats up as the summit approaches Jun 18, 2010 2:01

How Are They Able To Renew Licences And Plates...

Insurance scofflaws

Tue Jun 15 2010

Lax enforcement is giving thousands of uninsured drivers a free ride at the expense of law-abiding Ontarians who dutifully pay their premiums. Beyond money, public safety suffers when authorities are unable to crack down on an uninsured minority that... (6)

It Was Only A Matter Of Time...

Australia burka robbery sparks ban debate

An Example Of Two Tier Left Wing Justice...

...replace jews with gays, women, natives, etc. and he would be wasting away in one our luxury gulags.

National Post editorial board: A case study in hate

Posted: March 06, 2010, 10:30 AM by NP Editor Filed under: Editorial,Canadian politics

 

For several years now, this newspaper has been arguing against human rights codes that permit bureaucrats to censor controversial speech. The case of notorious anti-Semite Salman Hossain strengthens our case. Mr. Hossain is hateful and unhinged, even by the standard of Muslim extremists. The York University student has written on the Internet, for instance, that Jews are “the scum of the Earth” and that “a genocide should be perpetrated against the Jewish populations of North America and Europe.” As the Post’s Stewart Bell has reported, he embraces a wide variety of conspiracy theories — all of them featuring Jews.

Click here to read more...

The Implication Is Victims Have No Rights

Senator: Jacques Demers Offside on Tory Tough on Crime Agenda?
 

"I believe in rehabilitation. I will not send a boy of 14 or 16 years to be assaulted in prison." H/T BCL

US Version Of Caledonia?

A mockery of the concept of Law And Order and fair and equitable justice for all......

Work site arrests of illegals fall dramatically...

Restraint Of Trade

Sex-trade laws on trial

Canada’s prostitution laws have created a “sinister” dilemma for sex-trade workers by forcing them off the streets while for­bid­ding them from mov­ing indoors, an Ontario court heard yesterday.

Chief Blair Failing to Serve And Protect Citizenry

Judge lays down law on picket lines

Brodie Fenlon

Is this even legal? What right do they have to stop me? Can they really delay me?

These questions have been asked repeatedly by Torontonians stopped by striking municipal workers outside transfer stations, a courthouse, Green P parking lots, city hall and beyond.

No doubt it was on the minds of 350 patients whose medical appointments — for dialysis, cancer and cardiac procedures, to name a few — were scrubbed after workers with CUPE local 416 set up a picket outside AmbuTrans, the private, non-emergency ambulance service under contract to hospitals in Toronto, York and Peel Regions.

A court injunction yesterday against the same local offers some fresh guidance on the matter and suggests the union went way too far when it targeted private waste hauler Wasteco, a third party like AmbuTrans, that has nothing to do with the strike except that it has been busier collecting more trash from its existing customers.

Evidence heard by Justice Mary A. Sanderson included:

• three Wasteco trucks were prevented from exiting a waste transfer site for 14 hours

• a few days later, union members subjected a driver to verbal insults and threatening comments

• At 2 a.m. on June 30, a pickup truck with four large men blocked a Wasteco truck on Wellington Street for an hour. Police were called but made no arrests and laid no charges.

• workers delayed trucks for three hours at the company's Bridgeland Avenue site, then prevented 30 trucks from exiting the firm's transfer site at Orenda Road.

"While union members have the right to engage in informational picketing, they have no right to obstruct access to a third party's premises or otherwise unduly interfere with that third party's business," Justice Sanderson ruled.

The judge's order says the union can delay Wasteco trucks no longer than five minutes and may not "stack" vehicles by queuing them beyond the five-minute limit.

In an unusual move, the judge also ordered the union to pay Wasteco's legal costs, which will be decided later.

The judge made no bones that the picketing had caused the company irreparable harm.

"I do not accept the submission of counsel for the union that Wasteco's claims in this regard are based on bald allegations. The evidence on irreparable loss here goes well beyond 'bald allegation' and extends to criminal and tortious conduct."

The judge's order also suggests residents and businesses can forget about calling Toronto Police if they have a problem with picketers. She wrote: "It is clear that the Toronto Police have instructed their officers to remain neutral and leave the matter of delays in entering and exiting premises caused by picketers to be resolved by agreement, the Labour Relations Board or the Courts."

I spotted CUPE National President Paul Moist this morning outside city hall and asked him about the injunction, the awarding of costs, and the picketing protocol. He had little to say.

"There's no story there. That happens some time and other times it doesn't. That would be in the hands of our legal counsel."

The Human Condition & The Law

Criminally dumb and dumber

Sun's crime reporter shares some of the most oddball incidents from the files of 2008

By IAN ROBERTSON, TORONTO SUN

Welcome to a few strange and ironic tales about cops and suspects in 2008.

But first, how about an example of some kind cops this holiday season?

BAD DRIVERS CAN GIVE YULE TOYS

Some naughty Texas drivers had a chance to avoid tickets by buying toys for kids. Officers who played Santa in Sansom Park, near Fort Worth, by giving a discretionary "ticket for tots" instead of $165 citations, asked drivers they stopped to take a $10 toy to a police station for needy children this Christmas.

MOST HONEST ROBBER

Investigators easily tracked an armed robber in Athens, Ga., last April. The suspect honestly completed an application form at a store while waiting for customers to leave before pulling a knife. His chances of getting the job are poor.

WEARING ONLY A SEATBELT?

A Lothario faced charges in the B.C. capital after drivers reported seeing a naked man and two nude women cruising a highway last February while engaged in sex acts. After running the licence plate, Victoria Police waited for the owner to return home and arrested him plus one companion. The other lass was dropped off earlier.

REVEALING CONFESSIONAL

A couple caught making love in a Cesena, Italy, cathedral confessional box last June made peace with a bishop after admitting they were drunk and unaware of their surroundings. Cautioned for public obscenity and disturbing a religious function, their sin was forgiven before a "mass of reparation."

HONEST, OFFICER, IT'S NOT MINE

Police in Rhode Island found 266 grams of cocaine last July behind the dashboard of an unmarked Ford Taurus police cruiser. The cops had been driving the car since seizing it in 2000. Providence Deputy Police Chief Paul Kennedy said officers search confiscated cars, but sometimes "miss stuff."

CLEAN DRIVING RECORD ICED

A 34-year-old woman accused of being drunk on vodka while erratically driving a Zamboni in Kingsville was charged Oct. 30 with impaired driving. Paging the back-up Zamboni driver!

CARJACKER'S COLD TURKEY

A Raleigh, North Carolina man nabbed in a stolen car was bruised after being battered with a frozen turkey in November. A shopper leaving a grocery store spotted Irene Bailey being beaten and whacked her attacker with the stiff bird. The suspect then hit several cars but was stopped by cops.

MARK HER AS 'FAILED'

The OPP charged a 24-year-old clocked driving 142 km/h on an 80 km/h road near Walkerton in March. Shockingly, she was en route to her driver's test. Instead her learner's permit was yanked for seven days, her vehicle was impounded and she was ordered to court to explain.

"SNOW RAGE" IN QUEBEC

Hard hit by wintry blasts in March, police in Quebec reported people fighting over snow-clearing and parking spaces. Officers answered 12 calls one day to resolve neighbour feuds over snow dumped on adjacent lawns. A man even bashed a plower's window after she shoved snow onto his yard.

IMPAIRED ON A LAWNMOWER ?

A grass-cutter faced a drunk driving charge after riding a lawn mower onto a Richmond Hill sidewalk in July. He was also accused of possessing grass -- the smokeable kind. Just another day on Toronto's Wisteria Lane.

BANK CANDID CAMERAS PAY OFF

Five men -- in court as spectators to show support for seven accused debit-card skimmers -- were not smiling when they, too, were nabbed in the courthouse lobby. Two Durham Region detectives told them of their photos taken by ATM machine candid cameras during their December arrest. The fivesome hadn't banked on the surveillance systems and joined their pals with a list of similar ripoff charges in connection with fake bank cards used to illegally amass at least $200,000 in Toronto, Vaughan and Markham.

SO MUCH EFFORT, NO PAYOFF

A pair of hapless robbers got away with nothing in early March after spending a night chopping through the tarred steel roof of a Scotiabank at St. Clair Ave. E. and O'Connor Dr. Toronto Police Det. Indy Esken said the empty-handed bandits, who had burglary tools and walkie-talkies, were foiled by the "heavily fortified" casing around the bank machine they tried to rip off.

DOG-FACED ROBBER

A cash-strapped pet owner was nabbed by police in Osaka, Japan last March after a robbery spree by a man filmed on surveillance cameras wearing a black-and-white dog mask. Dubbed "The Dogman" by the media, the 28-year-old unemployed owner of two dogs, five cats, five turtles, two snakes and tropical fish was accused of stealing about $5,600 from convenience stores while armed with a knife. The accused man -- whose pets were turned over to a pet shop -- insisted his $1,145 monthly welfare payments did not cover their food bills. But police said some of the stolen money was used to buy another dog, which he said ate his mask.

DRUNK PARKS AT COP SHOP

Police in Wetaskiwin, near Edmonton, charged a man with drunk driving after he parked at the cop shop in February. It was closed, so the motorist kept warm in the lobby before being spotted as officers returned from a call. Impounding the car was not a problem.

FOR WHOM THE TILL TOLLED

A bruised wannabe thief fled empty-handed April 3 after a Bradford store clerk rammed a cash register drawer on his hand, South Simcoe Police said.

WHAT, NO DONUTS?

A campus cop was caught by a surveillance camera helping himself to more than free store coffee offered to police, New York State Police said. Filmed purloining pastries, the sergeant was ticketed in October for 17 petty larcenies as Morrisville State College University debated his future.

COP, HORSE, IN STABLE CONDITION

A Manhattan officer was treated for cuts after being tossed from his horse, which was frightened May 2 by traffic. Aldo, 8, trotted eight blocks to the safety of his stall.

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THESE SHADY CROOKS HAD GOOD TIMING

Thieves chopped a hole through the metal roof of a London, Ont., shopping mall on Jan. 17 and made off with sunglasses and watches worth up to $100,000 from the Sunglass Hut and Watch It! Guess they wear their sunglasses at night ...

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HOW 'BOUT THOSE JAYS -- JAYWALKERS THAT IS

Fed up police in Shanghai, China, announced Aug. 28 they would post jaywalkers' surveillance photos and videos in papers and on TV to shame them into stopping. No word on what police planned for spitters.