Collected Data
"Asked for further comment, the CRTC referred to a letter CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais sent to the national president of ACTRA on Aug. 31 that also stressed the international marketplace."
In announcing the decision, the CRTC acknowledged the concern that the change could result in “fewer opportunities for Canadians,” but added that non-Canadian actors and creators “may increase a project’s attractiveness and visibility in international markets.”
It also said some stakeholders say the change will give producers “creative flexibility” in developing Canadian productions with “international market appeal and the potential for international investment.”
“American writers won’t guarantee better content,” Mr. Heaton said. “And to say that Canadian programs [need] help [in] the international market is confusing when we have so many examples of successful Canadian shows already.”
Heritage Minister says she will not reverse Cancon rules for TV industry
"The future of Canadian culture cannot lie in eliminating the Canadians who create it. Unless the goal is to have our highly experienced talent (and our young up-and-comers) respond in the way some are now saying they will, by leaving Canada."
The changes to the commission’s policies on CIPFs are significant and sweeping. Chief among them is the elimination of the requirement of a licensed-broadcaster trigger for CIPF funding, the reduction of the number of Canadian certification points required to access CIPF funding, the eligibility of co-ventures, and the approval to allow script, content development and promotion/discoverability initiatives to qualify for funding.
The elimination of the requirement of a broadcast licence or development agreement from a licensed broadcaster is restricted only by a criteria that producers “must demonstrate that the production will be available on a platform accessible by Canadians” (thus eliminating the possibility that a property commissioned by and aired exclusively on a U.S.-only service would qualify for CIPF funding).
In its decision, the CRTC wrote that eliminating the requirement will give producers more flexibility to distribute their projects on whichever platform they choose by removing distribution exclusivity. In a familiar refrain under Jean-Pierre Blais’ CRTC, the Commission said it will “allow producers to take more risks” since the projects would not have to fit the traditional TV parameters, as well as giving them more bargaining power and creative control.
CRTC overhauls indie production fund framework
Read the full decision here.
Not everyone is happy.
Greg David;
“This is hugely disappointing,” says WGC Executive Director Maureen Parker. “That the CRTC, a public authority charged with regulating Canadian broadcasting, would effectively denigrate Canadian showrunners and screenwriters and suggest our country’s creators cannot deliver international success is shocking. It’s also verifiably untrue.”
The CRTC decision is not, however, an isolated instance of what the WGC views as an entirely misguided outlook. It’s an increasingly pervasive view that suggests Canadian tax dollars should not be put towards productions created by Canadians. This unfortunate notion — that reducing the presence of Canadian talent is the ticket to more international funding — is taking hold.
CANADIAN CULTURE AT RISK: THE ATTACK ON CANADIAN CREATORS
John Doyle;
Reaction was swift from the self-described “creatives” in the Canadian industry. Outrage, anger, despair and more outrage. Using Facebook and Twitter, some are claiming they will walk away from the industry. Others are saying they’re heading for Los Angeles because employment opportunity in the Canadian business is now considerably diminished. Some of this reaction borders on hysteria. Some of it is anchored in a kind of happy-clappy nationalism beloved of children, not thinking adults.
First, however, the decision is truly appalling. It suits a commercial industry that is already heavily protected, arrogant and uncaring about investing in a medium from which it profits vastly. Second, the CRTC decision comes, suspiciously, without the usual public and industry debate. It looks like a major favour being done for outlets who want to dodge responsibility. Third, it arrives when a Liberal government, one that loudly proclaims its support of Canadian culture, is in power.
CRTC’s Canadian content changes are terrible, but no one cares
Having read his writing, Mr Doyle shouldn’t be so quick with those quotes around creatives.
"What are the things he and Facebook won’t do?"
It is hard to tell whether money or politics come first, but either way they are intertwined. During industrialization, the two key commodities for economic growth were labor and actual commodities. The British Empire became dominant because it mastered mass production and consumption as well as controlling commodities. And it started with The East India Company. The subjugation of the Indian subcontinent was part of industrialization. In the 20th century, petroleum shaped the political narrative; in this new century, “attention” shapes politics. That is why we have to look at this issue of Internet.org from a cultural standpoint.
Nothing Is Free, Not Even Facebook Free Basics
"The time to start worrying about the consequences of our editorial decisions was before we raised a generation of people who get all of their information from television"
If you got all of your information from TV and movies, you'd have some pretty dumb ideas. You'd be convinced blowing stuff up works, because it always does in our movies. You'd have no empathy for the poor, because there are no poor people in American movies or TV shows - they're rarely even shown on the news, because advertisers consider them a bummer.
Politically, you'd have no ability to grasp nuance or complexity, since there is none in our mainstream political discussion. All problems, even the most complicated, are boiled down to a few minutes of TV content at most. That's how issues like the last financial collapse completely flew by Middle America. The truth, with all the intricacies of all those arcane new mortgage-based financial instruments, was much harder to grasp than a story about lazy minorities buying houses they couldn't afford, which is what Middle America still believes.
It's Too Late to Turn Off Trump
"Lots of talk about the environment, understandably, but not a lot of talk about the economy right now"
Wall is the lone dissenting voice among the Canadian delegation. He's also the most powerful voice for the Canadian oil industry. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has representatives in Paris, but it is not a part of the delegation or at the main conference centre.
Wall is hesitant to bring in a carbon tax in his province, worrying about the economic impact it might have. There is a suggestion that introducing new carbon policies in Canada could help the oil industry gain public and political support to build new pipelines, but Wall says there is no guarantee.
"It would be frustrating if you're in the energy industry and think we get it, we have to pay a carbon tax, we need to do more by the environment," said Wall. "Now we can't even move our product, because we can't seem to build national support for a pipeline. So, I think that's a concern."
Brad Wall is dissenting voice in Canada's COP21 delegation
Let’s not forget his comments on refugees.
Mr Wall likes to talk about jobs. Well, guess what Brad, it’s the job of our elected officials to show leadership and help guide people through difficult times. You are not being paid to stand around saying stupid shit. Lead or get out of the way.
"I think our trade negotiators have profoundly failed Canadians and our future innovators."
After poring over the treaty's final text, the businessman who helped build Research In Motion into a $20-billion global player said the deal contains "troubling" rules on intellectual property that threaten to make Canada a "permanent underclass" in the economy of selling ideas.
Jim Balsillie fears TPP could cost Canada billions and become worst-ever policy move
"I am committed to leading an open, honest government that is accountable to Canadians"
Thank you for having faith in me. Thank you for putting your trust in our team.
We will not let you down.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s open letter to Canadians
Actions speak louder than words, Mr Trudeau.
"Leadership isn’t just the ability to attract followers."
Leaders inspire tolerance. Demagogues incite hate.
Leaders empower the powerless; they give them voice and respect. Demagogues scapegoat the powerless; they use scapegoating as a means to fortify their power.
Leaders calm peoples’ irrational fears. Demagogues exploit them.
On Leaders and Demagogues
"More than they wanted anyone else to win, they wanted Harper to lose. They'd even vote Liberal if that's what it took."
So Harper could ladle pork like a Liberal. Better, in fact. Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin reduced the national debt by $90 billion and left a budgetary surplus of $14 billion. Harper's six deficits added $150 billion to the national debt.
Not his fault, you say? Perhaps so, although Harper certainly made the red ink deeper by cutting the GST and adding $14 billion a year to the deficit. Add on all the tax cuts for hockey moms and firefighters and parents and, well, Harper even contrived to double the budget for prisons at a time when crime was falling.
The end result was lower taxes and higher debt. The two are not wholly unrelated.
Even so, a rising debt can still be a smaller slice of the economy if the economy grows.
That's the big picture: Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio is on a slow, downward creep, from 30 per cent to 25 per cent, which is better than our G7 partners. It's a meaningful measure of fiscal health. If Harper wants to be judged by the economy, then it could be a lot worse.
Stephen Harper's legacy: Good, bad and a dose of ugly
"Tonight we'll dispense with the formalities. I'd like to toast the future prime minister of Canada: to Justin Pierre Trudeau."
When Justin Trudeau was just four months old, then-US President Richard Nixon predicted the infant would one day follow in his father's footsteps.
At a gala dinner during a state visit to Ottawa in 1972, Mr Nixon addressed his Canadian counterpart: "Tonight we'll dispense with the formalities. I'd like to toast the future prime minister of Canada: to Justin Pierre Trudeau."
According to CBC, the elder Trudeau responded that should his son ever lead the country, "I hope he has the grace and skill of the president."
Who is Justin Trudeau, Canada's next prime minister?
"The Liberals didn't fear that the electorate was too stupid to wrap their minds around complicated topics."
Justin Trudeau's positive campaign style, his clear love for the country's diversity, the strength of Liberal candidates, and the desire to throw out Stephen Harper's Conservatives were all factors behind what happened.
But perhaps more than anything else, the Liberals' adoption of many evidence-based policies may have proven decisive.
Justin Trudeau's emphasis on evidence-based policies paved the way to Liberal victory
"Harper has asked the party to instruct the caucus to appoint an interim leader."
After nearly 10 years as prime minister, Stephen Harper is on his way out as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Stephen Harper will resign as leader of the Conservatives after party loses election
See ya Stevie.
"When it comes to science, technology and innovation, the “anyone-but-Harper” mantra holds especially true. Canada is unquestionably dumber in many ways than it was 10 years ago, and that’s a real embarrassment."
"Every party has their dipshit that they hide away in the back benches. Unfortunately, this party is almost entirely dipshits."
Honestly. If you’re okay with all this stuff and still insist on voting Conservative. Well. Thanks for nothing.
2011-2015 Harper Government Wrap-up
"They shouldn't be targeting these ads to anybody,"
Stephen Harper is defending a Conservative ad campaign targeted at Chinese and Punjabi-speaking voters in Vancouver and Toronto that claims Justin Trudeau supports the sale of marijuana to children, the expansion of safe injection sites and the establishment of neighbourhood brothels.
Conservative ads aimed at Chinese, Punjabi voters claim Trudeau backs brothels, pot sales to kids
This is just pathetic.
"Politicians, including Harper's Conservatives, love to talk about the supreme importance of accountability."
what has provoked Biguzs's anger, and determination for a reckoning, is that someone under her command apparently had the gall to tell a journalist — and thereby the Canadian public — about the PMO overriding the professionals in her department
Government sensitivity over you hearing about 'sensitive' information
"The question is, Does the system work for the benefit of most people? Does it create upward mobility, equal opportunity? Or is it rigged?"
Although we are only beginning to understand the details — mostly because the Trans-Pacific Partnership was negotiated away from the prying eyes of voters — one of the main criticisms of international trade deals like the TPP is that the main beneficiaries are large corporations, not ordinary citizens.
"Negotiators worked overtime on terms to please multinational corporations — under close consultation with those same corporations. But there was no consultation with labour or civil society groups," says a release from the Trade Justice Network, a group that opposes the deal.
Mickey Mouse protection, the TPP and why America remains unequal
It struck me that, then and now, the only way to keep our rights is to keep fighting for them.
Convinced that the free market will solve our problems, we complacently wait, repeatedly voting for the status quo, not realizing the problem is more complex and that re-creating a truly free-market capitalism for the many, not the few, will require more than a Mickey Mouse effort.
"Over time we've seen that this man cannot be trusted. He had no integrity. He's trying to stifle democracy. There's no end to what he's doing."
He used the word racism in reference to the debate over the wearing of the niqab by Muslim women taking part in the oath of citizenship.
Williams said the issue is not worthy of becoming a national issue, but the Conservatives have latched onto it in order to secure votes.
"He doesn't care if he isolates the issues of women or if he isolates the issue of minorities, and even crosses, possibly, that racism line," Williams stated.
"It doesn't matter to him. It's all about getting elected at the end of the day."
Danny Williams says Stephen Harper's tactics are borderline racist
There is nothing borderline about it.
"“It’s terrific,” Mr. Keate said, reiterating that property values will go up, not down, in a heritage conservation area, a point made in a city consultant’s report."
A luxury neighbourhood of grand old homes and lush greenery is being designated as Vancouver’s first-ever heritage conservation area in an effort to halt a tide of demolitions and assuage fears that the city is being wrecked by a brash new group of home buyers who do not care about its history.
Vancouver designates First Shaughnessy a heritage area
Let me get this straight; a weathly, historically white neighbourhood, with little historical value is being saved, but Chinatown, an area of rich cultural and historical significance for the Country, not just the city, is being torn down down and rebuilt.
That pretty much sums up Vancouver for you.
"CEO Hubert Lacroix says the CBC has healthy ratings, but is crippled by a broken funding model."
"For 80 years, the government has funded the CBC. It has given it a set mandate that the CBC has to comply," she said. "For Mr. Harper to suddenly say the problems are not a result of his funding cuts boggles the mind.
"The CBC is in a funding crisis. It has all these programming responsibilities and it just can't keep doing them with the funding at the level that it's at."
CBC boss disputes Harper comment about broadcaster's low ratings
"Foreign investors would be able to challenge -- and TPP arbitrators could then review -- a decision by a government, a legislature, or a court. The usual principles of Canadian law requiring such disputes to be decided in a Canadian court do not apply."
On the other hand, a foreign company could not itself be sued and ordered to pay Canada under the TPP. The trade and investment treaties are structured one way. They give exceptionally powerful rights to foreign investors without any actionable responsibilities.
This imbalance is a political choice.
Any treaty can be written to put enforceable responsibilities on foreign investors; for example, to avoid corrupt activities or respect workers' rights. But the governments driving the treaties -- in Washington and Brussels but also Ottawa -- have not done so.
Ten ways TPP gives too much power to foreign investors
"A Liberal government would invest $380 million in new money into the country's cultural and creative industries"
During a campaign stop in downtown Montreal, Trudeau told supporters and members of the Quebec arts community that culture and creative industries generate jobs and help to strengthen the economy.
Justin Trudeau promises increased funding for the arts, CBC/Radio-Canada
"There are all sorts of obvious, extreme harms that come from being a nation at permanent war."
But perhaps the worst of all harms is how endless war degrades the culture and populace of the country that perpetrates it. You can’t have a government that has spent decades waging various forms of war against predominantly Muslim countries — bombing seven of them in the last six years alone — and then act surprised when a Muslim 14-year-old triggers vindictive fear and persecution because he makes a clock for school. That’s no more surprising than watching carrots sprout after you plant carrot seeds in fertile ground and then carefully water them. It’s natural and inevitable, not surprising or at all difficult to understand.
Arrest of 14-Year-Old Student for Making a Clock: the Fruits of Sustained Fearmongering and Anti-Muslim Animus
"One thing is clear: public scarcity in times of unprecedented private wealth is a manufactured crisis, designed to extinguish our dreams before they have a chance to be born."
We declare that “austerity” – which has systematically attacked low-carbon sectors like education and healthcare, while starving public transit and forcing reckless energy privatizations – is a fossilized form of thinking that has become a threat to life on earth.
The money we need to pay for this great transformation is available — we just need the right policies to release it. Like an end to fossil fuel subsidies. Financial transaction taxes. Increased resource royalties. Higher income taxes on corporations and wealthy people. A progressive carbon tax. Cuts to military spending. All of these are based on a simple “polluter pays” principle and hold enormous promise.
the leap manifesto
"The greatest threat by far in the west to ideals of free expression is coming not from radical Muslims, but from the very western governments claiming to fight them."
In essence, advocating any ideas or working for any political outcomes regarded by British politicians as “extremist” will not only be a crime, but can be physically banned in advance. Basking in his election victory, Prime Minister David Cameron unleashed this Orwellian decree to explain why new Thought Police powers are needed: “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens ‘as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.'” It’s not enough for British subjects merely to “obey the law”; they must refrain from believing in or expressing ideas which Her Majesty’s Government dislikes.
GREATEST THREAT TO FREE SPEECH COMES NOT FROM TERRORISM, BUT FROM THOSE CLAIMING TO FIGHT IT
"When the prime minister returns from his travels, he may find that the political chickens have come home to roost."
Probably the week's most stinging blow came from Harper's home province of Alberta where, on Tuesday, in a stunning election upset, the provincial NDP won a majority, toppling a 44-year reign by the Conservatives.
Only winning an international hockey game would make Canadians more jubilant than they were on Twitter on Tuesday night. The "Orange Crush", named for the NDP colours, had rolled over tar sands country, hard hit by the tanking price of oil, right in the Harper heartland.
Canada's right-wing agenda is coming undone
"This is about trying to scare people."
In January, Canada's then foreign affairs minister, John Baird, signed a "memorandum of understanding" with Israeli authorities in Jerusalem, pledging to combat BDS.
It described the movement as "the new face of anti-Semitism."
A few days later, at the UN, Canadian Public Security Minister Steven Blaney went much further.
He conflated boycotts of Israel with anti-Semitic hate speech and violence, including the deadly attacks that had just taken place in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket.
Blaney then said the government is taking a "zero tolerance" approach to BDS.
Coming as it did from the minister responsible for federal law enforcement, the speech alarmed groups that have, to varying degrees, supported boycotts, believing them an effective tool to bring about an end to Israel's occupation and colonization of the West Bank, and its tight grip on Gaza.
Some of these groups had noted that the government changed the Criminal Code definition of hate speech last year, adding the criterion of "national origin" to race and religion.
This change could, they feared, effectively lump people who speak against Israel in with those who speak against Jews.
Micheal Vonn, a lawyer for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, says the expanded definition is clearly "a tool to go after critics of Israel."
Ottawa cites hate crime laws when asked about its 'zero tolerance' for Israel boycotters
I have no opinion about BDS but I don’t need to have one to know that protest is not a crime in a free and democratic country. Making boycotts and protests against governments a hate crime is Fascist level shit.
What next? Protesting the Canadian government is ‘Anti-Canadian’ hate speech?
Tories deny plan to use hate crime laws against Israel boycotters
Of course they do. Thank goodness they are so trustworthy. Oh wait…
But the response from the Tories appears to contradict the email comments by a public safety ministry spokeswoman, who cited Canada's hate crime laws when asked specifically by CBC News about the government's "zero tolerance" for Israel boycotters.
EMAIL EXCHANGE BETWEEN CBC AND PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON ON BDS PROSECUTIONS
Also read Glenn Greenwald’s take…
CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS FREE SPEECH IS FOR OFFENDING MUSLIMS — NOT OPPOSING ISRAEL
"What if I disagree with the interpretation of the CSIS agent about what exactly any text I wrote is supposed to mean, how are we going to resolve this conflict?"
Without a clear definition of what “supporting terrorism in general” means, I can’t see how I can be sure to avoid violating this law by accident, whenever I express my views as a Muslim. If I am expected to not violate a law, it should be at least possible for me to understand it. If the law says that the government decides when the law was violated, then for me to make sure I don’t violate the law, I have to either check with the government about every sentence I want to write, or wait for the government to come and arrest me after I write anything, and if they don’t show up, I will know I didn’t violate the law this time!
Terrorism bill C-51 only creates more insecurity
"The term “judicial oversight”, as used by members of the Conservative Party in this debate, is truly a perversion of reality."
Sitting here today through third reading, I heard a great number of propositions from Conservative members of Parliament. I have no doubt that they believe those propositions in their speaking notes to be true, but they are consistently repeating fallacies that I would like to try to explain and deconstruct so that Canadians will understand why these repeated bromides are just not true.
The three fallacies I want to address in the time I have are the following. One notion is that information-sharing, which is part one of the bill, is designed to ensure that our security services, which are the RCMP, CSIS, Canada Border Services Agency, and CSEC, the agencies of policing and intelligence, share information with each other. That was put forward earlier today several times, and that, indeed, is something that must be done, but this bill does not do it.
The second fallacy is that there is judicial oversight in this bill, because judges are involved in one section. I want to deal with that one as well.
The other fallacy is that the terrorism and propaganda sections in the amendments to the Criminal Code in this omnibus bill would actually make it more likely that we could stop youth from being radicalized.
Elizabeth May makes impassioned speech against Bill C-51
The Conservatives are either ignorant or lying. I don’t know which is worse.
"It really does appear the Conservatives have been in power so long that they’ve truly lost touch."
Wow -- this is how Conservative MP Laurie Hawn responded to the now 140+ businesses who have raised concerns in a letter published by the National Post about reckless spying Bill C-51:"[They] should seriously reconsider their business model and their lack of commitment to the values that bind us as Canadians".
Conservative MP Laurie Hawn attacks Canadian Businesses that raised concerns about Bill C-51
"The Harper government's promises to help jobless youth, the disabled, immigrants and illiterate adults fell short last year by almost $100 million."
"The federal government's controversial new anti-terrorism bill has won the approval of the House of Commons."
The Anti-Terrorism Act, also known as Bill C-51, easily passed third reading by a margin of 183 to 96, thanks to the Conservative government's majority and the promised support of the third-party Liberals.
Bill C-51 passes in House of Commons
The 183 members of Parliament who voted for this have no respect for the rights of Canadians.
Read: "The austerity delusion" by Paul Krugman
On the other side of the ledger, the benefits of improved confidence failed to make their promised appearance. Since the global turn to austerity in 2010, every country that introduced significant austerity has seen its economy suffer, with the depth of the suffering closely related to the harshness of the austerity. In late 2012, the IMF’s chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, went so far as to issue what amounted to a mea culpa: although his organisation never bought into the notion that austerity would actually boost economic growth, the IMF now believes that it massively understated the damage that spending cuts inflict on a weak economy.
Meanwhile, all of the economic research that allegedly supported the austerity push has been discredited. Widely touted statistical results were, it turned out, based on highly dubious assumptions and procedures – plus a few outright mistakes – and evaporated under closer scrutiny.
The austerity delusion
"They've been caught using a partisan tagline and they're hiding behind cabinet confidentiality to avoid the political fallout."
The Conservatives have come under repeated criticism for spending tens of millions of dollars annually on government advertising that is often indistinguishable from the partisan branding of the party. The marketing exercise extends to departmental web design (now a uniform Tory blue, with cross-pollinating links to popular Conservative initiatives such as family tax cuts) and even departmental press releases, often heralding local "Harper government" expenditures.
Ottawa's 'Strong Proud Free' slogan can't be explained because it's a secret
"The Conservative bill really isn't a problem-solving bill. It's a pre-election, you know, 'we're trying to tinker with this and give us some money' bill."
The NFA, which had denounced Harper's Bill C-51, the so-called anti-terrorism legislation, as "a sort of creeping police state bill" teamed with a coalition of civil liberties and labour groups against the proposed law. Clare was even to make an appearance at the parliamentary hearings on the bill, alongside the spokesperson for the coalition.
…
It seemed Clare had the Harper government over a barrel. Just four days later, Clare suddenly bailed from his parliament appearance, with no explanation. And just as suddenly, Bill C-42 was back on track. Second reading resumed on Wednesday. It looks like it's a lock for passage before the election.
Who's calling the shots in Canada?
"An exercise in futility"
Some of the strangest debate came in the committee's seventh hour, when government lawyers contended that the legislation wouldn't breach the constitution, despite language in the bill saying that CSIS agents, in tackling a threat, would be allowed to ignore Canadians' rights, if they have a warrant. They argued that, by obtaining a warrant, CSIS' actions inherently could not be unconstitutional.
Yet, minutes later, when the NDP and Green Party introduced amendments to forbid CSIS from breaking Canadians' constitutional rights, the Conservatives balked.
The Harper Government Has Killed Changes to its Anti-Terror Bill; Critics Are Still Alarmed
"Television quotas are an idea that is wholly anachronistic in the age of abundance and in a world of choice"
The national broadcast regulator said Thursday it was cutting the quota for the ratio of Canadian programs that local TV stations must broadcast during the day from 55 per cent to zero. That's a recognition that stations have sometimes been broadcasting the same program episodes many times over the course of a day, or even over years, simply to satisfy the old Cancon rule.
CRTC eases Canadian-content quotas for TV
I’ll wait until smarter people review, but I have a bad feeling about this.
Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-86
"Pollution and climate change caused by excessive burning of fossil fuels are real threats, not the people who warn that we must take these threats seriously."
If, for any reason, someone causes another person harm or damages infrastructure or property, that person should -- and would, under current laws -- face legal consequences. But the vast majority of people calling for rational discussion about fossil fuels and climate change -- even those who engage in civil disobedience -- aren't "violent anti-petroleum extremists." They're people from all walks of life and ages who care about our country, our world, our families and friends and our future.
Let's not sacrifice freedom out of fear
"Get the facts from the medical and scientific community, and if you're not a doctor or scientist yourself, listen to the people who are. It's that simple."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says parents in developed countries have a responsibility to set an example for those in less-educated countries when it comes to using vaccines, and advised people to listen to scientists and doctors.
Stephen Harper tells parents to listen to scientists about vaccines
Too bad Harper can’t take his own advice when it comes to environmental issues. Hypocrite.
"The company that has made a fortune on searches doesn’t want to be searched."
And as a society, we’re allowing Google to lower the bar on acceptable business standards. The company argues that holding them to a standard of decency is somehow a threat to “Internet freedom.” Look, I’ve been sued about lyrics in my music. I’m all for freedom of speech. Selling drugs to kids is NOT freedom of speech. Showing citizens how to skirt doctors to get pharmaceuticals is not a right guaranteed in the Constitution. It isn’t some unfortunate consequence of progress that these videos slip past Google. They know what’s there and they know people are watching – and the ads are being seen.
Searching for answers from Google about Google
"Only the driven few can sustain it long enough to claw their way through the mountains of mediocrity."
Keen unapologetically calls the previous arrangement an "industrial meritocracy." He feels this hierarchical meritocracy is being destroyed and there is nothing to replace it. This will result in a cultural Dark Age where the talented cannot earn a living creating culture. The only avenue left for creators of content that can be copied and distributed digitally (music, digital art, writing) is to find wealthy patrons to support their work.
Is the Web Destroying the Cultural Economy?
"That is a sentiment grounded in deep irrationality, blind nationalism, and primitive tribalism."
I have no idea whether this 13-year-old boy was “a member of al-Qaeda,” whatever that might mean for a boy that young. But neither does the New York Times, which is why it’s incredibly irresponsible for media outlets reflexively to claim that those killed by U.S. drone strikes are terrorists.
That’s especially true since the NYT itself previously reported that the Obama administration has re-defined “militant” to mean “all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants.” In this case, Mohammed did not even qualify for that Orwellian re-definition, yet still got called a terrorist (by both the Obama administration as well as a “member of AQAP,” both of whom are, for different reasons, motivated to make that claim). Whatever else is true, extreme skepticism is required before claiming that the victims of the latest American drone strike are terrorists, but that skepticism is virtually never included.
THE U.S. MEDIA AND THE 13-YEAR-OLD YEMENI BOY BURNED TO DEATH LAST MONTH BY A U.S. DRONE
"When the apparent lone wolf isn’t a Muslim or other minority, he rarely finds the fear-inducing terrorist label pinned on him by the government, the media, or security experts."
At the moment, the response to the lone-wolf hullabaloo, like so much else in recent years, is inching us further down the path toward an American police state. One government response, now being re-emphasized, comes (of course!) with its own acronym: countering violent extremism, or CVE.
If You’re Afraid of ‘Lone Wolf’ Terrorism, You’re Missing the Point
"The announcement, made Wednesday afternoon, seems particularly odd because the bill includes a measure that would let the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) apply for a warrant to ignore the charter."
Asked whether the decision was a tactic so the Conservatives can't use security as a wedge issue against the Liberals in this year's election, Trudeau said that view doesn't do justice to the concerns of Canadians.
Which is true. It doesn’t do justice to the concerns of Canadians, but IT DOES do justice to the Liberal position.
Anti-terrorism bill to be supported by Liberals, Justin Trudeau says
"He now wants to turn our domestic spy agency into something that looks disturbingly like a secret police force."
"So long as a judge agrees, it's all fair game—even if it's illegal."
According to the legislation those warrants authorize the spies to "enter any place or open or obtain access to any thing," to copy or obtain any document, "to install, maintain or remove any thing," and, most importantly, "to do any other thing that is reasonably necessary to take those measures."
The proposed "disruption warrants" are good for up to 120 days, and can be renewed twice. The legislation is explicit that authorities can ignore the laws of Canada and any foreign state while operating under such a warrant.
Canada’s New Anti-Terror Bill Is Everything You Hoped It Wasn’t
This is just shameful.
"[Canadians'] freedom and their security, more often than not, go hand in hand," Harper told a crowd of supporters, continuing that "it was a jihadi terrorist that took away our freedoms," not police officers.
I don’t believe that terrorists can take away our freedoms, we can only give them away.
movies4machines