kimmy

I think it's been established that in Europe, the flood of humanity they're seeing in the name of "the Syrian refugee crisis" is 90% male, and a dubious portion of them are even Syrian. The guys swarming over fences into Europe aren't real refugees, they're young able-bodied mooks taking advantage of the crisis and the generosity of Europeans to undertake economic migration before people wise up to the scam. They're queue jumpers, and their appalling behavior is already ruining things for legitimate refugees, Syrian and otherwise. After Justin's guys are done attempting to "prioritize" women and children, we're going to end up with 22,000 twentysomething Muslim dudes wandering around Toronto and Vancouver asking "hey, where's the babes at?" Basically a large number of economic immigrants who wouldn't make the cut if they were trying to get into the country under honest pretenses. On the bright side, maybe all those Tim Hortons places that were crying after Jason Kenney shut down the Temp Foreign Worker scam will be able to hire cheap-ass foreign laborers again. -k

Well, first off, how surprising that the RCMP would publish a report that paints themselves in a positive light. Their communications with the public during the Dziekanski murder incident and the Braidwood Inquiry proved them to be pathological liars who would stoop to any depth to protect their public image, and it's a complete and utter joke that through all of the deliberate lies that were fed to both the public and the courts during that entire debacle, the only person who was held accountable for anything was Taser enthusiast Kwesi Millington, who got if I recall a $50 fine for loitering or some shit like that. And if I recall their efforts at managing public perception of their more recent sexual harassment scandal wasn't much better. My opinion is that when it comes to addressing their own internal problems, their communications people and their managers are basically the scum of the earth, and that anything they say should be viewed as big big fake fake lies until proven true by some outside source. But leaving that aside, and getting the question you're really asking: do the police really treat cases involving indigenous women differently from cases involving non-indigenous women, or white women? My hunch is no, it's not because they're indigenous. My hunch is that it's not a race issue, it's a class issue. A while back, we here in BC had the Robert Pickton murders. If you recall, Pickton was convicted of 6 murders, had charges stayed in 2 dozen more cases, and allegedly claimed to have killed 49 women. What Pickton's victims had in common was not race-- they came from aboriginal, white, and other racial backgrounds. What they had in common was that they were all sex trade workers. They lived on the outer margins of society, and when they vanished nobody really noticed, and the police had demonstrated the same sort of "no humans involved" attitude they're accused of having in regard to the disappearances. Former BC AG Wally Oppal led a public inquiry into the investigation, and concluded that it was painfully obvious that these disappearances were not treated with any urgency by the police. And Oppal pins that not on race, but on class: these cases were not taken seriously because they affected people on the bottom rung of society. And I expect that's what they'll find when they launch the MMIW inquiry as well: this is a class issue, not a race issue, although those bottom rungs of society are occupied, in this country, in disproportionately large numbers by aboriginal women. But yeah, an inquiry is coming, and the police will receive scrutiny, the same way they received scrutiny over the Robert Pickton investigation. -k

That's not her salary, Einstein. That's her expected lifetime pension payout based on the assumption that she retires in 2019 and lives to be 80 years old. Rona's pension payout based on those assumptions is obviously higher than most MPs, on account of she's younger than most MPs, started younger than most MPs, served in Cabinet for longer than most MPs, and would be collecting pension for a lot of years if she retires in 2019 and lives to be 80. MP salaries are set by Parliament. Cabinet, not by Harper. Cabinet ministers are also set by Parliament, not by Harper. Pension is, you guessed it, set by Parliament, not by Harper. She hasn't even collected that money yet, it's money that would be due to her based on rules established by Parliament. The claim that she has been awarded extra perks or money for being Harper's toady is flat out wrong, and borderline slanderous. I think the fact that Bob Rae and Libby Davies are right at the top of this list should be a clue to you that these expenses are not graft given by Harper for being a good little minion. -k

I suspect that picture will only help his numbers among the demographic that will be most influential in choosing the new Republican leader. -k

In light of him saying "plain crazy" stuff, and fabricating other stuff, I'm not sure to what extent his West Point story should get the benefit of the doubt. -k

The Liberals? Going too far to the right? I think most people are concerned that Trudeau is taking them too far the opposite way... The Conservatives might have cared in a generic touchy-feely sense, but they certainly didn't care in the sense of actually investigating the subject. The question of setting the scope of the inquiry is rather key. What would actually be studied? One topic that would be at the top of the list to be investigated would be whether the police/RCMP have made adequate attempts to investigate these cases. The LAPD have a term "no humans involved", or NHI, for cases where gangsters commit crimes against other gangsters and nobody actually cares. I think there is suspicion about whether Canadian police have a similar view about missing native women. As in, if you're a police officer and some aboriginal woman is reported missing, how likely are you to suspect that she's probably just down on East Hastings Street doing drugs? Do you make a good-faith effort to investigate it even though your experience tells you there's a good chance that whatever has befallen the missing woman is probably self-inflicted? And I think that's the real reason the Conservatives have had no interest in an inquiry into the issue. They know that police performance will be the first thing that comes under scrutiny, and with their too-cozy relationship with the law-enforcement community, they didn't want scrutiny to fall upon their friends. -k

But "school in exchange for service" wouldn't make for quite as dramatic a story, would it. There's probably an equally plausible explanation for why he thinks the great pyramids are actually granaries, in spite of people who've actually been inside them saying that's ridiculous. The great sphinx is probably a giant cistern, too. I wonder if the Bible says anything about that? -k

"for a considerable sum"? What the hell are you alleging here? When the Conservatives first formed the government in 2006, Rona was made Environment Minister. Less than a year later, she was shuffled to a lower-profile portfolio, with some disparaging comment from Harper that "Canadians expected more"... but the truth is that she had been made the face of the Harper government's "don't give a crap" attitude toward the environment ministry, and she was the one left holding the bag for public disapproval of that attitude. Since then, she has worked her way back up, but adopted a much more low-key approach. She's saying the right things right now, but since she's the Opposition against a majority government, there's no reason for her not to be "positive" and "supportive", because there's nothing at stake. For right now, it doesn't matter if the Conservative leader is Rona Ambrose or Pauly Shore, the net result is the same. So she can go out and think about rehabilitating the Conservatives' reputation. I suspect she's astute enough to realize that the perception of the party as confrontational and insensitive and unconcerned about things like the MMIW issue is one of the major political liabilities for them, and she can go about putting a new face on the party by being "positive" and "supportive" of things like this with no political downside. -k

Wow, I bet that was really edifying. I'm sure disappointed that I missed what was surely a milestone moment in Canadian journalism. -k

Personally, I think it's hilarious that Elephant Team cheerleaders have to pretend that this guy and Trump are credible candidates until somebody normal takes over the lead. -k

Having Big Fat Ralph as Public Safety minister might be cause for cautious optimism for those of us who own firearms. I mean, at least it's not Hedy Fry, right? -k

It's been a few months so I guess another thread on "the Ferguson Effect" was due. Last time, the thread was inspired by an article from Heather MacDonald, who works for a right-wing think-tank that promotes a law-and-order agenda that police unions and right-wing talking heads want Americans to believe in. They want to scare people into thinking there's a crime wave. Her piece was rebutted by this article: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/franklin-zimring-national-crime-wave-article-1.2248373 And, to reiterate the point that Black Dog just made, it also makes the observation: And tellingly, that's exactly what Director Comey is arguing: To hear the right-wing talking heads explain it, you'd think "the Ferguson Effect" is about black-people resisting police. But to hear Director Comey's explanation, it sounds like "the Ferguson Effect" is actually about butt-hurt cops not doing their jobs because they're pouting. -k

Drew Brees! 500 yards! 7 TD! 1 INT! Patriots, Bengals, Broncos, Panthers! Still undefeated! Cardinals! What's gotten into the Cardinals!? Ravens, Colts, 49ers! Teams falling out of the top tier! Detroit Lions! Pathetic! Boges! Your thoughts!? -k

Yeah, once the money is theirs, they can do what they wish with it, and I don't object to them spending it to publicize an issue or policy that affects them. (Canada's "Big-3" cell-phone cartel did exactly that a while back when it was rumored that Verizon was looking at opening a Canadian division...) However, the worry of getting caught spending their money in a way that offends a significant number of potential customers serves as a check against that sort of behavior, assuming it's the sort of business that depends on customer goodwill. Example: the billionaire owner of one of the big US pizza chains went on a rant during the 2012 election campaign vowing to punish his employees if Obama won the election. The customer backlash elicited a speedy retraction. Counterexample: the Wall Street douchebags (was it Bank of America?) who attempted to sue the US Treasury because they didn't like the repayment terms of their bailout money. The man-on-the-street was pretty disgusted, but the opinion of the man-on-the-street is of virtually no importance to the bottom line of the Wall Street giants. -k

I guess the availability of functioning used cars depends on where you live? I often see cars with for-sale signs in the window around here, private sales often asking $2000 or less. Conversely when I lived in Ottawa I recall noticing that there were very few "clunkers" around. I had assumed that all the salt on the roads destroyed cars before they reach 10 years of age, but maybe there is some other reason. As for the necessity of a car for getting a job... I partly agree. It depends where you live, and what you do for a living. If you work in a big downtown office tower, your job is probably well-served by public transit. If you work at an industrial park, you probably need a car, or at the very least you need to car-pool with some co-workers. And I think that skyrocketing rents are forcing people without financial resources to find homes farther from their jobs as well. In Edmonton I knew people who lived in Mill Woods because that was where they could afford to live, but had to spend 2-3 hours a day on public transit getting to and from work. I wouldn't be surprised if the same trend holds true in most large cities... the people who need public transit the most can only afford to live in areas that aren't very well served by public transit. -k

Of this season's new network TV programs, the only one that I have been watching is Blindspot. It's about a woman (played by Jaime Alexander, best known as Lady Sif from the Thor movies) who wakes up naked, in a duffel bag, in Times Square, with no memories... and her body is covered in fresh tattoos. Most prominent of the tattoos is one that proclaims "Kurt Weller FBI", who is assigned to her case. It quickly becomes apparent that the tattoos on her body are clues to be decyphered. So far each tattoo has led them to a case involving classified government information, so the question of who would have access to all the information that has been put onto her body becomes quite a concern, particularly for Kurt's boss, who has been involved in some shady dealings that one of Jane Doe's tattoos points at. Jane Doe retains memory of many skills-- she speaks Chinese and is apparently an expert in martial arts and marksmanship-- but she only fleeting glimpses of her life before all of this happened to her. Each episode while they solve the tattoo riddle of the week, they also make a little progress into unwrapping the bigger mystery-- who she is, who did this to her. I like that they have managed to convey a sense of vulnerability for her. Her prior life was erased, her body has been violated, she has no friends, and the only people she knows have all spent hours studying every inch of her naked body. The writers haven't lost sight of what a disturbing, humiliating situation this would be for her. I have been enjoying Blindspot so far... it joins The Blacklist as the only show I'm watching weekly right now. -k

It seems to me that the phrase "social justice warrior" is generally used mockingly to refer to the angry little people on Tumblr, and if that's the case then I don't really have a problem with it. I do kind of have a problem when everybody who wants to talk about social justice issues gets tarred with that label, as if there were no difference between an angry teenager blaming her weight problem on sexism and an academic who's presenting actual research on the subject. -k

If they'd changed the game to appeal to Gamergaters, they'd have given the female characters quintuple-F cups and dressed them in Japanese schoolgirl outfits. Games with female characters that aren't just sex objects have been around for longer than Gamergate, and for longer than Anita Sarkassian has been griping about games, too. -k

The only "news" here is that improved coordination between Canada and US border agencies will allow the government to better know how many people are actually cheating and overstaying their time in the US. -k

Every gamergate FAQ I have ever seen allows the possibility that there may be a few "bad apples" in the movement, then claims that other harrassment is being created by antigamergaters who just want to discredit them, then immediately moves on to positing that gamergate supporters also receives threats, without mentioning the possibility that these were invented by gamergaters to make themselves look like victims. Same with the "bomb threats" against the radio show that was going to discuss gamergate. Is it more likely that these threats came from dainty Tumblrinas who get "triggered" by the mere mention of violence, or the deviants over at 4chan who cheered on the guy who said he was going to go on a shooting spree in Oregon? Gamergate is more full of True Scotsmen than Edinburgh. Gamergate's other favorite shell game. It's most visible spokespeople, like Breitbart's Milos Yiannopoulos, American Enterprise Institute's Christina Hoff Sommers, and porn-star Mercedes Carrera, are all candid about their disinterest in games and their interest in beating down feminists. And yet when asked about that, Gamergaters are all "no! we just want integrity in gaming journalism! It's not about feminists!" -k

-k

It's GamerGate's favorite shell game. They're almost certain that all of the negative stuff attributed to Gamergaters were actually "false flag" operations by SJWs done to discredit Gamergates. And yet they're almost certain that all the supposed threats directed at Gamergaters come from real SJWs. -k

I read it earlier, and it's pretty much a load. It conflates "microaggressions" and "trigger warnings" which are two completely different things. Attacking microaggressions by tearing down trigger warnings scores you zero points. Let me respond to your leading questions with some leading questions of my own: Is Michael Hardner making the residents of this board too soft by trying enforce rules of civility around here? Is trying to encourage people to be more considerate of other people just making people too soft? Would we be a better society if we just abandoned ideas like manners and courtesy, and adopted a "f*** you!" mindset instead? Is it ironic that this notion is being put forth by the guys on this board who whine the most when it comes to the slings and arrows directed at the poor beleaguered white male? Would it be microagressive if I suggested that you and e^pi*i should heed your own advice on that score? Or would that be macroaggressive? Shouldn't you guys stop whining about the poor white male and just "nut up"? In real life, most of the time when I hear the phrase "politically correct", it's being used by some neanderthal who is complaining about being called out for acting like neanderthal. As in: "Hey, that was a dick thing you just said." "Dur! Stop being so politically correct." And I think that the guy who objects to being called out for acting like a dick is the one who's really living in the echo chamber. -k

I'm confused. What's the news item here? Canadian snowbirds that I used to know were always careful to plan the length of their stay in the US so as to not violate rules regarding residency. And that was years ago. These aren't new rules. They're long-standing rules. So what's the news item here? That rules that have existed for a long time might --gasp-- actually get enforced? DARN that terrible Harper! DARN HIM TO HECK!! -k