Quote:

“I think we’ve got to stop using just the term bullying to describe some of these things. Bullying to me has a kind of connotation … of kids misbehaving. What we are dealing with in some of these circumstances is simply criminal activity. It is youth criminal activity, it is violent criminal activity, it is sexual criminal activity and it is often internet criminal activity.”

Harper, here, gets it. It is disgusting that Chris Selley, Parker Donham, Dan Gardner and their ilk have seemingly dismissed Rehtaeh’s case as one of just “bullying” – when, in fact, it’s a case of rape.  Their implied indifference to her fate – and their preoccupation with defending a provincial “justice” system that utterly failed her and her family – sickens.

The response of the Dexter regime, the RCMP, the school board, the school, and the Crown, has also been sickening. Their response, until late Tuesday, had been a collective shrug. They should all be fired; ultimately, I suspect they all will be over this case.

I wrote what I did because, in the Steubenville outrage, social media played a key role in forcing the authorities to bring those young rapists to justice. If the authorities in Nova Scotia don’t care what happened to the victim of a gang rape, as in Steubenville, then we need to use people power to change their minds.

Online activism is effective because it harnesses the power of the people, and helps to address injustice. What happened to Rehteah was a terrible injustice. And it’s incumbent on all of us – every single one of us – to raise our voices in protest, and work to bring wrongdoers to justice. If Anonymous (like Crimestoppers and the like) can help achieve that, so be it.

Mewling about ‘vigilantism’ is what the powerful frequently do when they are caught making a decision that is unjust. To them, I continue to say: too bad. People wouldn’t be upset if the Nova Scotia legal authorities had made the right decisions from the start.

It’s the Internet age. People aren’t content to just let things lie anymore. If a terrible wrong is done – and a terrible wrong has been done to Rehtaeh Parsons and her family – the people will use the Internet to speak up.

That isn’t vigilantism – that’s democracy.

UPDATE:  Now read this.  Oh, and look: the authorities made arrests.

UPDATED AGAIN:  Anonymous issues another report, here. If you thought they sound more sensible and restrained than their puny band of detractors, you’d be right.

Comments (49)

To wit:

“McCallion also testified Thursday — repeating her testimony at the Mississauga Judicial Inquiry in 2010 — that she did not know at the time of the vote that her son was a principal of the World Class Developments or that WCD could have qualified for the lower fees being grandfathered in by Fennell’s motion. McCallion said it was “very dark” in the restaurant where, in January 2007, she signed as witness to a document naming her son as a shareholder in WCD.”

What a load of crap. Even Rob Ford didn’t spin tales like that, at his own conflict of interest hearing – which, ironically, involved far less money and had far less damning facts.

Time to join the new Century, Mississauga. Get rid of her.

Comments (2)

I don’t like robocalls, and I like the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for robocalls even less. This is wrong.

Comments (4)

TORONTO – God has cancelled Spring, God has announced.

“You people piss me off,” said He. “No Spring this year. Now, smarten up.”

Various weather-prognosticating groundhogs could not be reached for comment, as they are in witness-protection programs.

– 30 –

Comments (4)

Wow.

Comments (7)

Here. Read it.

Comments (2)

Son One, age fourteen, has the political bug. He was a proud Pupatello delegate in January, and wants to come with me to the convention in Ottawa on Sunday, where the new leader will be announced.
Dad – who will be doing pro-Liberal media, and is old and forgetful – forgot to get him a ticket. It is now sold out.

Can any Liberal (campaign or otherwise) use the help of a strapping 14-year-old who wants to be Prime Minister one day? He’ll work for convention access. Also, he is smarter than his father.

Help!

Comments (10)

Here’s a real poll, from a real polling agency, unlike the detritus the Star regularly publishes.

What’s it mean?  It means Justin Trudeau is for real, in the words of my friend at Ipsos, Darrell Bricker.

Comments (29)

Sent along by a few readers.  It’s impossible to determine if it’s authentic, of course, which isn’t surprising – they’re anonymous, after all.

 

UPDATE: Chronicle-Herald story here. We look forward to Messr. Gardner and Selley’s stirring denunciation of the mob-like vigilantism of, say, Crimestoppers.  (Oh, and to Selley: it isn’t just a case of bullying, you fatuous imbecile.  It’s a case of rape.)

Comments (10)

There’s more, here.  It’s hard, but you should read all of it.

“To the Justice Minister of Nova Scotia

Rehtaeh Parsons thought the worst outcome for her case would be no charges against the men who raped her but we all know better. The worst thing that could happen would be charges. That they would be found guilty, and that Rehtaeh would sit on a court bench and listen in utter disbelief as they were given parole, or a suspended sentence, or community service. All for completely destroying her life while they laughed.

Why is it they didn’t just think they would get away with it; they knew they would get away with it. They took photos of it. They posted it on their Facebook walls. They emailed it to God knows who. They shared it with the world as if it was a funny animation.

How is it possible for someone to leave a digital trail like that yet the RCMP don’t have evidence of a crime? What were they looking for if photos and bragging weren’t enough?

Why was this treated like a minor incident of bullying rather than a rape? Isn’t the production and distribution of child porn a crime in this country? Numerous people were emailed that photo. The police have that information (or at least they told us they did). When someone claims they were raped is it normal to wait months before talking to the accused?

You have the opportunity here to do something good and lets face it; the court system in Nova Scotia was just going to rape her all over again with indifference to her suffering and the damage this did to her.

My daughter wasn’t bullied to death, she was disappointed to death. Disappointed in people she thought she could trust, her school, and the police.

She was my daughter, but she was your daughter too.

For the love of God do something.

***I’ve been contacted from media outlets from all over the world and as a past member of the media I understand why you all want to speak with me. You have all been very courteous, professional, and respectful. Please know, however, this is the only statement I am able to make. I’m too devastated.***

I feel like I’m dead inside.”

 

UPDATE: And her mother has spoken out, as well, here.  She wants the legal system to reopen the case, but she doesn’t want the perpetrators physically harmed.  We should listen to her.

Comments (15)