We got to experience the wonders of MetCap and the assorted shell companies they use to hide their ongoing misdeeds but our building never took the opportunity to organize or stand up against them like the people of Parkdale did.

How about a musical interlude?

I loved this tune when it first came out; still love it today. And one guess as to where the video was shot.

Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter. Duh.

But due to racism and slavery and etc. there’s a question that no one is willing to ask: just how much do Black Lives Matter?

Well, thanks to the investigative work of some local newspapers we can finally answer that question!

Gird your loins … the results will startle you.

Before I get into it I want to clarify that in a previous OFTA post I made it seem like individual lives shouldn’t matter, that only group-based averages that flip the numbers on their (correct) head were worth considering. Clearly, that was my confused white supremacy talking. It doesn’t fit in with the Black Lives Matter messaging and could be construed as cold, callous, and dismissive (not to mention racist!), so I’m changing the narrative — individual (Black) lives do matter!

The two sources I used for this include a very recent study by the CBC and a similar, albeit more limited, study by CTV.

Both make sure to highlight the fact that Black and Indigenous people are far more likely to be killed by police (when various mathematical transformations are applied), so we can be fairly certain that the numbers aren’t skewed to support some racist (i.e. white) narrative. The CTV study even quotes Norm Taylor, an expert on Indigenous policing, who describes the numbers as “staggering” and “shocking”, so you know it’s totally balanced and unbiased.

Are your loins sufficiently girded? Here are the numbers…

These numbers are pretty much the same whether the people killed were armed or unarmed but before you go off making ignorant assumptions, it’s important to be reminded that in both tables all lives are given equal weight within the total Canadian population which is, of course, unbelievably racist.

And in case you thought that challenging popular suppressed information was somehow noble or enlightening, here’s an asshole white supremacist with the caucasity to preach about his own non-status-quo “research” (i.e. hate), even going so far as to compare Black People’s experiences to his own (!):

What an ignorant fucking racist piece of shit, huh?

The important take-away from all this is that, obviously, Black Lives Matter anywhere from an estimated 4 to 6 times more than white lives, depending on the numbers used. This explains why when a Black Person is killed by cops it results in mass demonstrations and round-the-clock media coverage, and conversely when a white person is killed, well, who gives a fuck.

In the words of BLM Toronto co-founder Yusra Khogali:

“Plz Allah give me the strength not to cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today. Plz plz plz.”

After posting this irate retort to hateful whites who question the scientifically established primacy of Black People, understandable since clearly her Black opinion matters about 4 to 6 times more than theirs, this brave young woman also hijacked a Pride parade to remind everyone of the (now mathematically derived!) superiority of Black Lives. In a clever twist she was subsequently awarded a Leadership award by the mayor, thus demonstrating just how deep systemic racism runs.

Despite her understandable rage, she’s since somehow managed to tone down her approach to just calling white people “subhuman genetic defects” (do I smell another award?!), but it seems she’s finally getting her positive, inclusive, peaceful message across: Black Lives Matter … considerably more.

/sarcasm mode off

Why does this seem to be so regularly and easily glossed over?

White people are overwhelmingly killed by police throughout North America when compared to all other ethnic groups. The numbers, the individual people killed, are there in all the stark statistics. Then they’re deeply massaged by proportional calculations which I’m sure have their uses and provide useful information, but do these calculations outweigh the importance of individual human lives? Not to me.

And wouldn’t it be nice if this was at least part of the discussion?

My intention with this is not to diminish but to raise. Why is it so awful to suggest that all lives matter? By that I mean, literally, every one. Is it because it “misses the bigger picture“? (note the linked report which further confirms my points regarding “proportional” calculations)

I’ve looked at the bigger picture, as suggested, and my conclusion is that the story being told is not an honest one. It’s a distortion of the bigger picture, one that hides individual human lives behind equations. Or is that preferable?

It makes my blood boil to see anyone being brutalized by the state. I believe that the history of posts on this blog will back up this position in multiple ways. Should I care more, or less, about the victims because of the colour of their skin? Fuck that shit — the evidence doesn’t fit. I don’t think it ever has.

Slavery: involuntary subjection to another or others. Slavery emphasizes the idea of complete ownership and control by a master…

“The federal government and the provincial and territorial governments all have laws that provide rights and freedoms: laws against discrimination in employment and accommodation, consumer protection laws, environmental laws and, in the area of criminal law, laws that give rights to witnesses, victims and persons accused of crimes, to name only a few.

…

Section 1 of the Charter says that governments may limit Charter rights so long as those limits are ones that a free and democratic society would accept as reasonable*. It is also possible for governments to pass laws that take away some rights under the Charter. Under section 33 of the Charter (sometimes called the “notwithstanding clause”), Parliament or a legislature can make a particular law exempt from certain sections of the Charter – the fundamental freedoms (in section 2), the legal rights (in sections 7 to 14) and the equality rights (in section 15).”

http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1355760105725/1355760725223

* – Do you remember the “democratic” vote that took place for this? And exactly how “free” are Canadians when they need to be “granted” rights and freedoms, need to ask government for permission to marry someone, may not ingest anything that government doesn’t allow, do anything to their bodies that’s not government approved, are indebted to the government for their entire lives (and beyond) based on some non-existent “social contract” that they implicitly agreed to the moment that they popped out of the womb, and so on?

Those Australians are on to something…

The corpse of my last post hadn’t even begun to cool when this morning I heard the TTC telling me over the PA that if I “see something” I should “say something”.

In case you don’t recognize this phrase, it’s a verbatim import of the US’ Department of Homeland Security “Turn Everyone Into Snitches” program.

Yup, that is the official video. It may seem a bit ludicrous, but this morning’s commute message was along these lines. If I see any suspicious packages, I should run to the nearest authority type and shit myself.

It’s so widespread that it’s even being introduced to gentle Vancouverites.

That one almost makes you feel good about saying it, doesn’t it?

Except that it has thus far preceded the type of government paranoia that’s playing out in Ferguson, Missouri right now.

I recall getting a face-full of something similar not too long ago:

Oh I know I was pretty critical of the G20 protesters back then, and I still am.

Walking around with signs and screaming at cops / passers-by does nothing. Breaking stuff even less so. Ooh, you broke a window! Take that, corporations!

As I recall, I’d already had some run-ins with G20 cops (and government) about which I wasn’t altogether happy, so I wasn’t exactly rooting for them. But just as much as I’m not a fan of state violence, I’m also not a fan of non-consensual people violence (if people agree to beat each other up, fine by me).

The problem, as I see it, is the forced, one-sided renunciation of violence while guess who gets the monopoly rights…

Besides, I don’t appreciate that sort of jittery message with my morning coffee.

That lowercase Greek letter at the beginning is “Eta” (capital is “Η”), and it might seem like a vacuous headline but some of my recent posts should provide sufficient contrast to mega-corps and government, both of whom view innovation as something to be avoided. Contrast again with something like Toronto’s AeroVelo, a project-based company started by a couple of former University of Toronto propeller-heads.

AeroVelo’s innovation consists of finally turning interesting mechanical concepts into reality. For example, a while back this guy named Leonardo imagined human-powered flying machines.

Humanity got screwed on that idea for a few hundred years or so, no doubt due to government regulations.

Although they didn’t exactly follow the original blueprint, AeroVelo managed to get Leo’s vision aloft:

Before that they did a flappy-style flying craft, also powered by nothing more than gumption (and a guy pedalling):

And now that they’ve conquered the skies, they’ve just passed their goal on KickStarter to build the world’s fastest human-powered bicycle named “Eta”, of course.

To be specific:

Our goal is to build the world’s fastest human-powered vehicle, capable of surpassing the current level-ground speed record of 133.8 km/hr (83.1 mph)! This represents a mind-blowing leap in aerodynamic efficiency and vehicle technology. If your car looked like this, you could drive across Canada on a quarter tank of gas!

I’m not sure if I’d want my car to be this cramped, but I still think it’s neat that true innovation is happening at the individual level, in more ways than one. What’s more, while this all still looks pretty experimental, it seems perfectly reasonable to expect that AeroVelo’s ideas will trickle into the mainstream in a way that will reasonably be accessible to most people. It is, after all, just a very fancy bike.

Publicly-funded government and mega-corp “innovation”,  on the other hand, is not so people-friendly (more anti-people, pro-tyranny, with hints of treason, really).

I don’t watch Bill O’Reilly. At all. Couldn’t even tell you what network he’s on.  And to be honest, lately I’ve kinda been tuning out of the Rob Ford Show anyway, regardless of where it happens to pitch its tent — it’s tiring hearing the unending drone of repetitive, mind-numbing bullshit he’s clearly convinced himself will make his lies true.

O’Reilly’s interview, however, caught my eye because it looks very much like Robbie has been dabbling in a little pixie dust/crystal again:

Councillor James Pasternak summed up my sentiments pretty succinctly this morning — this should be “endgame” for the RoFoDoFo bros. Police chief Bill Blair was very reserved at this morning’s press conference, but even if details were scarce he confirmed and even elaborated on the Ford crack video — the “tape” is real, the cops have it, and there is more than one video connected to all of this:

Although he was in his rights to do so, Robbie flipped out at reporters who were (understandably) crowding him from the moment he stepped out his front door on this soggy, foggy Halloween morning.

This all stems from the highly redacted tome released by Justice Ian Nordheimer that went public today detailing all sorts of sordid scenarios and shady shenanigans, many involving Rob Ford. In fact, it appears that Ford and the video he claimed doesn’t exist were the prime targets of the police investigation.

Have a gander for yourself: http://www.torontocitylife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Ford_Court_Documents.pdf

To continued Ford supporters, the conspiracy against their main man now covers all the major media (news, TV, radio), the police force, scores of lawyers and the judiciary, the majority of Council, and about a million or so people (the “lefty” “elites”) who really aren’t terribly fond of Fordo.

The initial TV commentary that I overheard on CP24’s former Ford apologist Stephen LeDrew’s show as I was dashing out the door this morning involved quite a few doozies (Lisi meeting with Ford and hand-delivering a mysterious white bag directly to the mayor’s SUV, for example), and I think it’s safe to say that it would be extremely irresponsible for both Nordheimer and the cops to have both released, and commented on, this explosive news if there is no follow-up planned.

In the tumult, the claim that Ford operated his Ford Fest without a permit (Karen Stintz – The Agenda, October 21, 2013), kinda got lost. Presumably this was the same Ford Fest that rudely pushed a proper permit-holding event out of a Scarborough Park (the “conflicting” schedule would make sense if one party didn’t actually have a permit), an event at which Ford gave out free beer, which would of course be illegal without a permit regardless of which event it was done at, not to mention making a mockery of both the Municipal Election Act and the Council Code of Conduct, which Fordo openly flaunted just for good measure.

And then there’s all the other stuff Ford did over the past three years in office, not to mention the ongoing litany of broken campaign promises which, with today’s announcement that Ford is supporting yet another tax hike — this time for municipal garbage collection — makes for a staggering record. I would call such things mere failures if Ford didn’t publicly stand in direct opposition to his own promises and blusterous claims.

Yet without so much as a measly fine for all of their infractions, it’s understandable why the Ford brothers might believe that they’re untouchable. As I write this, Robbie’s holding a quick press conference outside of his office to remind everyone that he’s going to continue doing his job because, you know, nothing’s wrong…

I’m sure this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned how the state and its agencies are getting so bold with our basic, fundamental freedoms that to compare them to East Germany’s post-World-War-2 Stasi is in no way an exaggeration.

A constant, around-the-clock surveillance on all citizens, guilty or innocent, is taking place – that much is now well and publicly established fact. Granted, we don’t have the secret police disappearing people off the streets just yet, but both Harper (Bill S-7) and Obama (NDAA) have made sure that that kind of thing will be all nice and legal when they decide to roll it out. Or they just passed these laws for shits and giggles, maybe? Oh, I know, it’s just for the bad guys, right?

Thankfully, there’s a growing backlash in the United States:

And we’re seeing some fightback from the CCLA on the topic too. But government is just one tiny step away from business, and the same scummy lack of morals and ethics pervades both houses of rot and greed.

Just recently, Bell announced it would be sharing your data with third-parties to bring better-tailored advertising to your mobile phone. According to a contract which would otherwise be viewed as being produced in bad faith (but, you know, big money), Bell reserves the right to do whatever they want, whenever they want, as do most banks and other big business we are forced to deal with at a cost and by law — unless I haven’t heard and the Canadian government is using its own solely legal tender (cash) again?

Oh sure, you can opt-out of the ads, but only whenever they feel like getting to it. Oh, and they’re still gonna track you and share the data with whomever they please — just to be clear.

Rogers recently did something similar, albeit in an opt-in fashion. Funny thing is, if Rogers is the good guy, it really makes you wonder what kind of shit is going on behind the scenes at Bell. As you may recall, Rogers spent months fighting tooth and nail against having to tell the truth in their ads because they claimed it infringed on their freedom of speech.

Simultaneously, our governments are pulling the rugs out from under their citizens by clamping down on unbiased scientific information in exchange for government propaganda, which is almost 100% pro-business and pro-big-money, and increasingly just simply telling their subjects that they’re not entitled to any information or say on things like massive, global, secretive agreements and deals like CETA, which will directly affect most of them negatively for a very long time — importing dirt-cheap European labour while Canadians remain unemployed, higher drug costs (government “subsidies” come out of Canadians’ pockets as taxes, don’t forget), and I’m sure a few other surprises and gotchas too — not like anyone’s allowed to actually see the damned things. But we might get cheaper eau du toilette though!

Even the people who Harper claims that the fast-tracked CETA is supposed to help aren’t happy with it. Ain’t the first time he’s pulled this stunt either. But what does King Harper care?

He’s become so accustomed to getting his way that as he was busy throwing his appointed minions under the bus, he and his helper monkeys became enraged when most news stations refused to air his recent caucus speech because he demanded that only cameras be let in — NO ONE MAY ASK QUESTIONS!

But our benevolent government is throwing us lowly serfs one little bone among all this, they’re going to allow us  to look over results of drug safety analyses of Health Canada. Yeah! Now we’re allowed to see the information produced with the money that is seized from us in order to determine if something might kill us or not. Aren’t we lucky?! Of course, the previous reasoning was that they would be giving away business secrets with this information, which obviously trumps God himself.

Is it just me or is this shit starting to get real old?