RCMP resources…

     Aug 31, 2015

 CBC News – Dean Beeby
RCMP database on missing persons is overdue, over budget – Harper government promise of national database for unidentified remains stalled 5 years later

There has been a long standing debate about whether the RCMP are funded sufficiently and have sufficient manpower to be able to combine the latest terrorist and crime fighting duties.  Now, the promised data bank on murdered or missing people, allegedly to help with the Aboriginal women crisis, is five years late and over-budget; it won’t be ready until 2016 and its costs have gone from $1.6 million to $2.4 million.  A second databank project for  DNA is scheduled for operation by 2017 and will cost a projected $8.1 million.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-database-on-missing-persons-is-overdue-over-budget-1.3206198

Toronto Star – Tonda MacCharles
Marshall Rothstein muses on nine years in Canada’s Supreme Court

Retiring Supreme Court Judge Marshall Rothstein from Saskatchewan was the first justice to face a public grilling by the Parliamentary Committee, since abandoned.  His advice from Harper: “Just don’t screw up!”  What follows in the interview is a wide ranging commentary on many of the issues now confronting the court.  http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/08/31/marshall-rothstein-muses-on-nine-years-in-canadas-supreme-court.html  Related article: Toronto Star – Tonda MacCharles   6 rulings that point to Justice Marshall Rothstein’s thinking    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/08/31/6-rulings-that-point-to-justice-marshall-rothsteins-thinking.html

CBC News – Meagan Fitzpatrick
Mass shootings in the U.S.: Guns, glory, broken dreams – A new study sheds light on why mass shootings in the U.S. are ‘an exceptionally American problem’

University of Alabama Professor Adam Lankford has some longitudinal study results to shed some light on the extent and causes of mass shootings in the US.  With 5% of the world’s population the US has 31% of the mass shooting incidents between 1966 and 2012, more than five times the second place Philippines.  The study factored only incidents in which four or more were killed and excluded all street gang killings.  Lankford thinks the prevalent gun culture, disillusionment with the American dream and the idolization of fame contribute to the frequency and severity of these incidents.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mass-shootings-in-the-u-s-guns-glory-broken-dreams-1.3203335

L.A. Times (US) – Jack Dolan
Several San Quentin prison inmates have tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease

San Quintin Prison in California – 3900 inmates and 1800 staff –  is struggling to contain an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease which has already infected six inmates and showing symptoms of infecting another 50.  Thus far, the source of the outbreak is unknown and the prison is in lock down and dependent on outside water for drinking and showering.  “The potentially life-threatening lung infection, a type of pneumonia, is contracted by inhaling mist from water contaminated with the Legionella pneumophila bacteria.”    http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-quentin-20150830-story.html

iPolitics – Michael Harris
The King of Mean: Harper’s reign of fear continues

A federal scientist, Tony Turner, a specialist in bird migration at Enironment Canada, has been suspended from his civil service job for authoring and singing an anti-Harper protest song.  The song is called Harperman and is performed on Youtube.  Harris is of the opinion that the latest attack on Turner, an established folk singer in the Ottawa area, is proof of moral bankruptcy among Conservatives.  Turner’s group is planning a September 17 cross Canada sing-along.   http://ipolitics.ca/2015/08/30/the-king-of-mean-harpers-reign-of-fear-continues/    Related article: CBC News –   Harperman case: Can public servants be political activists? The rules about public expression are not always clear for government employees    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harperman-case-can-public-servants-be-political-activists-1.3207194     Youtube version of Harperman by Tony Turner:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei50lM6ab1c

Globe and Mail – Canadian Press
Canada’s police chiefs want to seize mail to stem the flow of illicit drugs and weapons

Here’s a twist on privacy concerns.  The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police want the right to intercept and open mail.  They want legislation to authorize a judge to give a warrant to seize the mail when the police are suspicious that the mail may contain some sort of contraband: drugs, firearms, explosive, knock-offs.  The chiefs have passed a resolution to ask the government for legislative authority to swoop on such mail.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadas-police-chiefs-want-to-seize-mail-to-stem-the-flow-of-illicit-drugs-and-weapons/article26161819/

Montreal Gazette – Natalie Laflamme
Canadian-born, ‘stateless’ Deepan Budlakoti appeals immigration detention conditions

This case highlights the problem of being declared “stateless.”  Budlakoti was born and raised in Ottawa, acquired an Ontario birth certificate, a social insurance number, a Canadian passport and yet remains stateless.  Persons who are stateless are held in custody under prison like conditions indefinitely, until as in this case some latitude allows circumstances to become more parole or house arrest like.  Attempts to deport him to India in 2011 failed because he is not an Indian citizen.  Deportation was prompted by a conviction and three year sentence for cocaine and weapons.  http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/canadian-born-stateless-deepan-budlakoti-appeals-conditions