Fossils still trying…

Nov. 14, 2022

 Hill Times (Canada) – Kevin Philipupillai
‘Among the worst in the world’: environmental advocates slam outsized oil and gas company influence in Canada’s COP27 delegation – The official Canadian delegation to the 27th UN Climate Conference is made up of approximately 335 people, but one critic says many civil society representatives have had to find their own way to Egypt.

The 300 plus Canadian delegates to the Cop27 includes too many reps from Canada’s fossil fuel industries.  “Environmental advocate Tzeporah Berman told The Hill Times in a WhatsApp exchange from the United Nations climate conference in Egypt, “it is embarrassing that Canada has oil companies on the government delegation at the climate negotiations… Her comments come following reports of a sharp overall increase in fossil fuel industry delegates at the COP27 climate talks…We are here in Africa where climate-caused droughts are killing a person every 36 seconds,” said Berman, who is chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-proliferation Treaty Initiative and director of the international program at Stand.Earth.”  https://www.hilltimes.com/2022/11/10/among-the-worst-in-the-world-environmental-advocates-slam-outsized-oil-and-gas-company-influence-in-canadas-cop27-delegation/393207  Related article: Financial Post – Meghan Potkins   Canada ruffles some feathers at COP27 by including oil and gas representatives in its delegation – ‘The resource industry absolutely has to be there’   https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/ruffing-some-feathers-at-cop27-canada-includes-oil-and-gas-companies-in-its-delegation

Toronto Star – Brian Bethune
Illegitimate trials. PoW hangings. A miniature Nazi state on the Prairie. These are the eye-popping details of Canada’s last mass execution… Canada’s last mass execution saw five men hanged Dec. 18, 1946, in Lethbridge, Alta. Four were German prisoners of war convicted of killing a fellow Second World War PoW in a PoW camp in Medicine Hat.

This is an unknown and equally unsettling piece of Canadian war history that screams lest we forget to all of us.  The story is told in “Nathan Greenfield’s superb work of social history, “Hanged in Medicine Hat”.  The story, told more soberly in retrospect, may well help us to understand that we commemorate the Nov. 11 Armistice precisely to recall what we are capable to doing to one another in anger and stubborn political correctness. https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2022/11/11/illegitimate-trials-pow-hangings-a-miniature-nazi-state-on-the-prairie-these-are-the-eye-popping-details-of-canadas-last-mass-execution.html?rf   Related article: CBC Radio – Michael Enright   There’s a thin line between remembrance and glorification, says Michael Enright –  5 of Enright’s uncles fought in the First World War, but he won’t wear a poppy  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/enright-essay-remebrance-day-1.6644774

 Toronto Star – Jason Miller
Police Tasering teen with autism ‘a very big failure’ of the system, says distraught father – Mississauga family left traumatized by police incident doubt the effectiveness of the programs set up to help police deal with people in crisis.

The article again brings home the reality of the inadequacy of police dealing with people who are suffering mental health issues or afflicted with debilitating conditions.  “Majd Darwich says he’s baffled by how his 19-year-old son Abdullah, who has autism and is non-verbal, could have ended up Tasered, handcuffed and in hospital after Peel police officers were called to respond to an incident last week involving the teen.”  That such an incident happened is disturbing enough; that such incidents happen repeatedly without correction and prevention is even more disturbing.  https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/11/09/police-tasering-teen-with-autism-a-very-big-failure-of-the-system-says-distraught-father.html

The Marshall Project – Jose Armendariz
When People Fear Me Based on My Jail Tats and Scars, They Miss the Real Me  A recent ride to a public clinic gave Jose Armendariz a quick break from jail. But he couldn’t escape the fear and judgement of the other patients.

Armendariz is incarcerated in San Quentin and once a year gets an outside visit to a local medical center.  He reminds us what the re-entry process often threatens for formerly incarcerated people: “Addressing me for the first time since the trip began, one of the deputies directed me to push the mirrored glass door open. But I froze when I heard the chatter of children coming from the inside. There I stood, a 200-pound Chicano man with a shaved head, a big mustache and a body marked by scars and prison tattoos. The thought of coming into contact with people who were not incarcerated or in law enforcement filled me with dread. I didn’t fear physical danger. What I feared was the humiliation of being paraded around like some Hannibal Lecter freak show.”   https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/07/29/when-people-fear-me-based-on-my-jail-tats-and-scars-they-miss-the-real-me   Related article: The Marshall Project (US) – Matt Nadel and Charlie Lee  Prosecutors in These States Can Review Sentences They Deem Extreme. Few Do.  Five states now allow prosecutors to seek shorter sentences in old cases. Louisiana shows why many DAs haven’t.   https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/11/11/prosecutors-in-these-states-can-review-sentences-they-deem-extreme-few-do-it?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share-tools&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=post-top

Patch (East Meadows, N.Y.) – Alex Costello
As Nassau Executive Blasts Bail Reform, Data Shows Few Are Re-Arrested – Data from the NCPD shows that 87 percent of people arrested last quarter were released without bail. But few went on to commit more crimes.

New York state midterm elections on both Democratic and Republican sides pushed the notion that the higher crime rates in New York than elsewhere made bail reform, introduced in 2020 a hot button issue.  The political bluster said that releasing those arrested on bail was creating opportunity for further crime.  The data appears to contradict both the crime rate – it appears to be saying that New York is safer than the average small town – and that releasing 87% of those arrested without bail led only to a 7% re-arrested rate.  Serena Liguori, executive director of New Hour for Women and Children LI:  “Overwhelmingly, people are getting help in the community and not recidivating,…So there’s just not significant data to back up rolling back bail reform.”   https://patch.com/new-york/eastmeadow/few-released-under-bail-reform-rearrested-nassau-police-data-shows

 Tweet from Eric Reinhart:  On crime data  “I’ve never met an incarcerated person who’s said “we need more data on abuse, medical neglect, and death inside this jail/prison to understand the problem.” But the number of academics who believe data is the key issue at play in our four-decade-old carceral reality is striking.”  https://twitter.com/_Eric_Reinhart/status/1591188140622254080?s=03

Tweet from The Appeal: On fear-mongering   “As it turns out, repeatedly yelling “crime” at voters—both literally and figuratively—is not a winning election strategy.”  @jerryiannelli and @nickpwing  explain how both parties miscalculated on crime, and what Democrats should take away from the results.  https://twitter.com/theappeal/status/1591169468843294720?s=03 Related article: The Appeal (US):  Jerry Iannelli, Nick Wing  Voters Didn’t Buy the ‘Crime Panic’ Narrative. Democrats Should Take Note.  https://theappeal.org/2022-midterm-elections-democrat-crime-wave/

Tweet from Dr. Jenny Yip: On adult trauma   “3 Signs You Have Past Parent-Child Relationship Trauma”   (15 minute Youtube video)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1BE-Hw7wXg  (Other adult trauma related videos at this link.)

 

New advocacy group in Canada – Enneagram Prison Project

Freeing People from the Prisons of our own making…

“We are on a mission to understand why we do what we do, using the Enneagram to inspire transformation on both sides of the bars through self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-compassion; we do the work together.”  https://www.enneagramprisonproject.ca/   Canadian contact Hazel de Burgh says:  “We’re in both Canada and the US:  EPP US recently celebrated 10 years of operations, while EPP Canada is in its 2nd year of operation. We’ve already started programming here in Canada – at Pine Grove Women’s Correctional Centre in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.  It’s great to be able to able to help their women heal!.. Happy to discuss and share more information…And if any of your readers would like to know more, I’d be happy to discuss with them too.”  hazel.deburgh@enneagramprisonproject.ca