Citizens take over police duties during Toronto power outage

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Stephen Pate

Police exhausted from beating and arresting social activists and poor people at G20

Man directing traffic at King and University during rush hour (Torontoist, Adrian Incogmed)

During the afternoon-long power outage in Toronto yesterday the city was thrown into chaos. Traffic lights didn’t work. People ran out of gas because they idled too long and the gas pumps weren’t working. Elevators failed. The subways stopped.

During the traffic congestion, helpful citizens jumped into the fray to direct traffic by hand. Somebody had to do it. The thousands of Toronto police, RCMP, and CSIS officers who filled downtown Toronto only a week before at the G20 were no where to be found.

“While helping out in this way might seem like one of the more civically responsible things you can do during a blackout, Toronto Police actively discourage it, citing safety concerns.” (Torontoist)

It may be hard to get the police back to their normal assignment after a weekend of excitement in Storm Trooper costumers without much control of their actions.

Great Bubble Battle safe for Toronto at Queen and Spadina

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Stephen Pate

Bubblebattle participants judged not likely to require baton over the head by Toronto Police Chief (Miles Storey/Torontoist)

Participants in Newmindspace’s annual Dr. Seuss–inspired Bubble Battle didn’t fear Darth Vader led Storm Troopers on Saturday

Safe activity in the G20 War Zone. Please don’t Tweet this story to the Prime Minister lest he budget $1 billion to stop next year’s party

Torontoist – “After Toronto’s torrid weekend at the hands of the G20, Newmindspace’s annual Dr. Seuss–inspired Bubble Battle stepped up to sooth nerves with a gentler kind of combat this past Saturday.”

“This year’s venue was the erstwhile official G20 protest zone in the northern end of Queen’s Park, right in the shadow of the war memorial of Toronto’s own 48th Highlanders.”

Background music was supplied by Pride‘s nearby but well-fenced-in Dyke Day event.

Canadian Musicians Speak Out on G20 Protests in Toronto

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Byline

Police action was on front doorsteps of Toronto’s arts scene

Feist marched in G20 on Saturday (image: Allthegigs)

Spinner – Parts of downtown Toronto’s vibrant music scene became a violent battle zone last weekend as the G20 Summit was held. In the wake of a small group of so-called anarchists attacking store windows and burning abandoned cop cars, heavily armoured riot police shot tear gas, rubber bullets, physically attacked peaceful protesters and used other forms of psychological warfare. Over 1,000 people were arrested and detained, media included, many just for showing up to exercise their rights as citizens.

Much of the action took place just steps from the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, Steve’s Music Store, and MuchMusic’s Queen Street TV studio. Yonge-Dundas Square, where Iggy Pop and the Stooges performed for NXNE less than a week before, also fell victim to destruction and violence. Present among the peaceful protesters — some in body, others in spirit — were a handful of Canadian musicians.

Julie Penner, a gifted violinist who has played with Canadian bands like Broken Social Scene, Do Make Say Think, Lowest of the Low and the FemBots, marched on Saturday during the peaceful protest alongside Feist and Penner’s boyfriend Jason Tait, drummer for the Weakerthans. Continue reading →

Harper reacts with police violence to public protest

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Stephen Pate

They old can’t kill the young forever, Tienanmen Square

(Last 31 seconds of police charge on Queen St. at Spadina)

It is a shame on Canada that Prime Minister Harper doesn’t want to hear the voices of Canadians. Neither did the Communist leadership in China at Tienanmen Square.

Harper reacted to the G20 protests the same way the Chinese government did with military might. Harper got ready with in $1 billion in police buildup.

The police attacked the crowd on Queen Street West near Spadina. Up until then people had been walking and protesting, carrying their signs. Those would be Charter Rights in Canada.

After singing O’Canada, a few people sat in the middle of the street and the police charged the crowd. (8:30 in the video) Then the violence began. Don’t take our word for it. The video is crystal clear (after the story break)

Continue reading →

G20 Sunday Toronto as a police state

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Byline

At Queen and Spadina, police detain a man who'd yelled something at them as they'd gone by on bikes. (Michael Chrisman/Torontoist)

Torontoist coverage of Sunday with random arrests of non-violent protesters and bystanders

“Sunday—a day that started very quietly and that was mostly peaceful, but one that won’t soon be forgotten for what happened in the evening and night at Queen and Spadina—is collected here, with updates in reverse-chronological order.” Up to 600 people were arrested in Toronto on Sunday during a day of peaceful protests. See G20 Timeline: Sunday Torontoist

G20 Photo coverage Saturday

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Byline

Free Tibet - one of the dozens of protest groups (Nancy Paiva/Torontoist)

The G20 street events overshadowed world leaders secret meetings – here is photo and video coverage by Torontoist

For more pics and commentary on Saturday, click The Torontoist G20 Timeline. For videos and commentary see G20 Live: Saturday

Apples creepy corporate culture OKs Ulysses

Posted on June 16, 2010 by Stephen Pate

Censorship will not go away from puritanical leadership at Apple

Steve Jobs creepy corporate culture of censorship

Battles won long ago for freedom of expression are still challenged regularly at Apple. The New York Times reports Apple will allow James Joyce’s Ulysses to be sold at the Apple App Store.

Isn’t that wonderful. Apple is going to allow one of the classics of modern literature to be read by it’s tens of millions of enslaved customers. Will they also be allowed to read Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Tom Jones, or Grapes of Wrath?

The creepy, corporate culture of Apple Corp. is contrary to freedom of speech and our culture. They are not banning extreme forms of porn that would be offensive to almost everyone. Apple is censoring classic literature, political cartoons and political opinion.
Continue reading →

Neda Agha-Soltan’s sister speaks for her murdered sister

Posted on June 13, 2010 by NJN Network

Nedā Āġā-Soltān (b 1982 – d June 20, 2009) victim of political repression and violence in Iran is remembered by her sister

This is her sister’s eulogy (translation follows the story break)

Continue reading →

HBO documentary refutes official Iranian propaganda

Posted on June 5, 2010 by Stephen Pate

Film about Iranian protest victim Neda Agha-Soltan beats regime’s censors Jamming and power cuts fail to prevent documentary going viral

Video showing death of Neda Agha Soltan in new documentary

The Guardian – How the Neda film went viral Link to this video

Iran is jamming satellite broadcasts in attempts to stop people seeing a new film telling the story of, the young woman who was shot dead during the mass protests that followed last summer’s disputed presidential election.

Viewers in Tehran complained of jamming and power cuts on Wednesday and yesterday when the Voice of America Persian TV network broadcast the documentary For Neda, featuring the first film interviews with the family of the 27-year-old.

The 70-minute film, made by Mentorn Media for HBO and being screened in the US this month, has rapidly gone viral in Iran in the run-up to next Saturday’s anniversary of the disputed elections that triggered the protests. It is available on YouTube so can be seen by anyone with access to the internet. The video follows the story break.
Continue reading →

CBC censoring public discussion of priest complaint

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Stephen Pate

Story on allegations against Father George Smith is closed for commenting

Father George Smith, removed from his duties at a PEI (CBC)

The buzz around Charlottetown is about Father Smith and allegations he was sexually improper with a man two decades ago.

No allegations against P.E.I. priest brought to police writes the Guardian.

Priest allegations reported years ago: bishop on the CBC site is closed to comments.

Considering the notoriety of the story and the anguish this gives many Roman Catholics, the lack of a public forum on the CBC website is wrong. It smacks of censorship.

Manipulation of the public by the media is common. In this case it’s our publicly funded CBC who want to shut down public comment.

Continue reading →

Apple censors Republican Congressional candidate

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Stephen Pate

Exchanging one demagogue for another – Apple’s appeal to freedom in 1984 replaced with censorship in 2010

By Mitch Wagner, ComputerWorld

A Republican Congressional candidate says Apple blocked distribution of his campaign app through the iPhone App Store, one of several politically conservative apps that Apple censored while allowing more liberal equivalents to get published.

Ari David, a conservative running in Santa Monica, Calif., says Apple blocked his app because it was “defamatory” of the incumbent for that seat, powerful Democrat Henry Waxman, according to a May 15 statement on David’s Web site.

The post lists statements that Apple found defamatory, criticizing Waxman’s stand on Cap & Trade legislation, cuts to Medicare spending, opposition to missile funding, and that Waxman “tried to strangle family farms with insane Soviet-style regulation.”

I spoke with David Sunday. He said since posting that statement on his Web site, his staff researched the history of Apple screening political apps in the App Store, and found a liberal bias. Continue reading →