Of Outrageous Outrage

The inanities that get Canadians outraged never cease to amaze me, the latest being a tossed beer. The air was full of HANG EM FROM THE YARDARMS. While the act was a silly one it was dwarfed in silliness by the overreaction to it.

Yesterday it was all Trump said what? While his comments and actions are indeed outrageous we as Canadians have no control over the outcome but here are a few examples of things we not only should be outraged about and actually have some control over.


Canadian government has turned "consultation" on warrantless mass surveillance into a sales-job
 In keeping with past attempts to introduce an unfettered digital identification power, the consultation documents have failed to make the case that such indiscriminate powers are needed. The documents repeat long enduring claims that current access mechanisms are ‘inconsistent and slow’, but fail to acknowledge the fact that such claims have been repeatedly discredited in the past. Moreover, the government has failed to explain to the public that law enforcement have long relied on existing production powers to access subscriber identification information in accessing all but a few narrow investigative contexts.

 Man sentenced to a mere 5 years for repeated rape of 11 year old girl

The court documents said Butt lured the victim into his home, showed her pornographic videos, and performed anal and vaginal intercourse without full penetration because his “erect penis was too large for (the victim’s) 11-year-old body.”

“When Mr. Butt tried to force his penis (the victim) would tell him that it was hurting. He did not stop, but instead told her to ‘try’,” Goodridge said in the decision, adding that Butt used threats and physical force to ensure cooperation, including threatening to burn down her family’s house and pulling her hair.

“The force applied during attempted intercourse caused physical injury to (the victim’s) vaginal and anal areas. The symptoms from the physical injuries were such that (the victim) was not able to walk properly for a couple days, was unable to take a bath, and was unable to sit down and wash.”

 Canada detains hundreds of children for immigration violations

 Most children are held in medium-security immigration holding centres. But a small number have wound up in correctional facilities or police stations across the country.
The report also flagged what Muscati called “a whole other, really horrible scenario”, referring to findings on the use of solitary confinement for two, unaccompanied 16-year-old boys. One of them – a Syrian boy who had attempted to claim refugee status after entering Canada from the US – was left in isolation for three weeks. Loath to put the young males in the women’s section and worried that they may be at risk in the men’s section, authorities chose to place them in solitary confinement.

 Injured farm worker struggles to survive after support cut off
 A few months into the job, he was thrown off the back of a work truck, smashing his head, back, neck and arm. The WSIB accepted Brown’s claim and awarded him a one-time payment of around $20,000 given the severity of his injuries. But it has now cut him off ongoing loss-of-earning benefits, which injured workers are entitled to if their disabilities prevent them from returning to their pre-accident wages. After almost a decade of legal to and fro, the board maintains Brown has recovered enough to get a full-time customer service job in Ontario.

 Federal Minimum Wage Hike Won't Help Low-Income Canadians, PM Says
 "It is a blunt instrument that tends to benefit youth still living at home with their parents as opposed to low-income families,'' reads the document, marked "Secret'' and obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
The conclusion is at odds with other research that suggests increases in the minimum wage have few employment effects.

 Ottawa will continue revoking citizenship of immigrants accused of misrepresentation
 Immigration Minister John McCallum has in the past criticized the lack of an equitable appeal process, a policy put in place by the Conservative government.
He had also publicly supported the Senate's past efforts to modify the law.
Paterson said that McCallum "acknowledged that taking away a Canadian's citizenship is unfair and has committed to change it — but until the law changes, we don't understand why they insist on continuing to do the very thing they say is unfair."

Toronto man cleared of charges he already served time for
 And then last month, following the conclusion of that second trial, a different judge ruled that he largely accepted Ohenhen’s evidence, that the police officers’ testimony at the retrial was “troubling,” and that Ohenhen’s rights to not be arbitrarily detained and unreasonably searched, as well as his right to a lawyer, were “totally and shockingly ignored by the police.”

I could go on forever but you get the idea.