genuinewitty.com – Page 5 – Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger

Mar 20

Toronto Police Board Member Promotes #BlackLivesMatter Protest Against SIU Decision

By grenouf in Alex Hundert, Black Lives Matter Toronto, Shelley Carroll, Toronto Police Department, Toronto Police service

Paisley Rae, Shelley Carroll, Alicia Pang, and Astrid Idlewild

Former TPS social media consultant Paisley Rae (left) with Shelley Carroll

Last July an officer in the Toronto Police Service shot and killed 44-year-old South Sudanese immigrant Andrew Loku inside of his apartment building. A few days later a group of anti-cop protestors organized a protest under the banner of #BlackLivesMatter Toronto. The protesters gathered and blocked the intersection of Allen Road at Eglinton Avenue interrupting the journies of 100’s of Torontonians driving and using public transit.

BLMT used the blockade as a way to get extra attention for their group, demanding that the officer who shot Loku faced criminal charges. It was long before any of the details were known about the shooting, but facts were less important to the group then public attention. A survey conducted after the protest indicates a higher percentage of Torontonians learned about BLMT that day than about Andrew Loku.

Loku was only 2 meters away from the officer, charging at him with a hammer and yelling out “What you gonna do, come on, shoot me”.On Friday Ontario’s police watchdog Special Investigations Unit determined that the officer didn’t do anything wrong. BLMT has responded as their petulant selves, announcing a protest starting at 6pm in front of City Hall at Nathan Phillips Hall. The protest is being promoted by the usual gang including a violent convicted G20 organizer, an ethically challenged Toronto Star/Canadaland/Newstalk 1010 contributor, and a member of the Toronto Police Board.

Mar 14

ACORN Canada Gets Their Hypocrisy On “Exploiting” Low Wage Professional Protesters

By grenouf in ACORN Canada, Ontario Common Front, Ontario Federation of Labour

Toronto city councillor Mike Layton with Alejandra Ruiz Vargas of ACORN Canada

Anti-poverty group ACORN is one of the most ethically challenged social justice NGOs known to mankind. The group was originally conceived in the US and had close ties to the Democratic Party. They were a growing organization back in the day but this all changed in 2009 when James O’Keefe filmed undercover videos where they offered help as he played the role of a pimp trying to register his “underaged” prostitute to cheat the IRS. ACORN USA shut down the next year.

ACORN Canada claims that they’re an independent organization with no connections to their dirty cousins in the USA. They work closely the Canadian labour movement, including the First Nations abusers at Unifor, the child abuse advocates at OPSEU, the cop baiter allies at CUPW, and the Ontario Federation of Labour’s militant anarchist heavy Ontario Common Front. Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson is a known associate of ACORN USA founder Wade Rathke.

Wait, didn’t they say they were unrelated?

Being an anti-poverty NGO, it should come as no surprise that ACORN has an interest in the minimum wage. ACORN has complained that “Canada’s elected leadership has been disturbingly timid on the wage-raising front”. They’ve been actively working on the labour movement’s campaign to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour and to index it against inflation. Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, like many labour-backed social justice warriors and poverty pimps, ACORN Canada is yet another hypocritical “do as I say, not as I do” organization.

Mar 11

Open Letter To Environment Minister Catherine McKenna About Copyright

By grenouf in Catherine McKenna

Sue me Cathy!

Dear Catherine,

I’m glad you’re enjoying your trip to Washington DC. Canadian taxpayers should be proud to pay for your photo-op with President Obama. I noticed on the photograph you sent out that you copyrighted the picture- are you kidding, or do you actually think it’s ethical to spend Canadian’s money on a jolly down to the US and then tell us the photographs aren’t ours to use as we please?

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve taken the picture and posted it at the top of this story. Yes, I’m breaking your copyright- think of it as an act of civil disobedience. I dare you Cathy, double dog dare you, send me a DMCA copyright notice and tell me to take the picture down. Even better than that, why not stop disrespecting Canadians by telling them what they paid for isn’t theirs.

Sincerely,
Greg

P.S. I notice your copyright notice is only in French. I know you’re new at the job, but don’t you understand that as a government minister you’re required to produce it in both official languages?

Mar 05

GAE Twitter Trial: Apology Hearing Raises Questions Of Injustice & Journalistic Integrity (Feat. Toronto Star)

By grenouf in Gregory Alan Elliott, Stephanie Guthrie, Toronto Star

Greg Elliott: Innocent, but still getting screwed over

On January 22nd, Gregory Alan Elliott was found innocent of criminal harassment after a prolonged two-way disagreement with two politically connected social justice warriors. There were originally three complainants but the third, who had a working relationship with the Toronto Police Service’s social media team, was mysteriously withdrawn from the case just moments before she was scheduled to testify.

Elliott lost his job, his reputation was smeared by a gang of journalists closely related to the complainants, he fell deep into debt, and was forced to to cash-in a lifetime of savings he’d built up in his pension. Sadly, the injustice against Elliott continued long after he was found innocent. The smears continued in the media, including shameful coverage by the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star & NewsTalk 1010, and a shameful and defaming radio broadcast by an anti-bullying advocate. The complainant’s friends continue to gaslight and smear Elliott online to this day.

Unfortunately, despite having been found not guilty, Elliott’s reputation was further damaged by a mistake in the court’s final ruling- mistakenly attributing a homophobic tweet made by a Twitter account created to impersonate him. A hearing was held yesterday for the judge to correct the error. The results opened up new questions about the credibility of Ontario’s justice system- and Canada’s most widely read newspaper.

Mar 01

Environment Minister Plays Useful Idiot In Chinese Soft Power Flash Mob! (Feat. Catherine McKenna)

By grenouf in Catherine McKenna, China, Liberal Party of Canada

Hello ~~Kitty~~ Kongzi on the stairs of Canadian Parliament

Back in 2010 former CSIS leader Richard Fadden warned Canadians that some of our politicians might be under the influence of foreign governments. Fadden explained how CSIS was concerned that cabinet ministers in two provincial governments and elected officials in three BC municipal governments might be at-risk. In particular, he warned about influence by China’s communist government.

Last year the Globe and Mail reported that CSIS had concerns about how Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Michael Chan “had developed too close a relationship with China’s consulate in Toronto.” The Globe explained how Chan had become a conduit to the Chinese community and about Canadian concerns that country has engaged in economic espionage. China denied this accusation, they’d never steal another other country’s ideas and patents- right?

Let me introduce you to Hello Kongzi, a rip-off of the famous Japanese character Hello Kitty- only, HK isn’t a cat, but a cutified image of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. On February 8th, Kongzi made a visit to the steps of Canada’s parliament for a soft power extravaganza in the form of a Chinese New Year flash mob. The event featured Canadian cadets, songs about wheat production & taking from Canada, and Liberal Environment & Climate Change minister Catherine McKenna.

Feb 24

Why I’m Considering Filing A Human Rights Complaint Against Buzzfeed Canada

By grenouf in Buzzfeed, CBC, Scaachi Koul, Stephen Lautens

Is this acceptable behaviour for an employer?

I woke up on Saturday morning to read a shocking article about Buzzfeed Canada’s Senior Writer Scaachi Koul. I wasn’t upset with Buzzfeed’s intention to hire a diversity of writers; variety is a good thing, particularly when it comes to words and ideas. There’s also nothing illegal about running ethically managed affirmative action plan.

If you’ve read most responses in the Canadian media you might have been fooled into thinking that Koul was a victim of a great wrong. BuzzFeed writer’s harassment just the latest example of why Twitter is broken for women, wrote the Globe and Mail; It’s Unacceptable That Scaachi Koul Was Harassed Off Twitter, said the Huffington Post. But as we learned from the Gregory Alan Elliott case, writers for the Globe and Huffington Post aren’t averse to publishing misleading articles for their allies.

Scaachi Koul’s call for submissions wasn’t a simple request for diversity, it was written in a way that left many seeing it as a bigoted and hateful attack. I have no problem if Koul wishes to demonstrate her bigotry, always prefer to know who the bigots are. That said, she crossed the line when she put it into the context of a job ad. Not only is it unlawful to ridicule an identifiable group in an employment situation- but it’s also a slippery slope, one that could hurt people of all identifiable groups.

Feb 19

City Councillor Weasels Out On Toronto’s Homeless & Syrian Refugees (Feat. Shelley Carroll)

By grenouf in Shelley Carroll, Syrian Refugees

On Wednesday afternoon my good friend Undercoverkity headed over to City Hall to ask a difficult question of city councillor Shelley Carroll. Stalked by a former member of Occupy Toronto lovingly known as PottyMouth, Frank joined the media scrum at the end of the day’s session and asked a very fair question:

“Why is it that we’re finding, miraculously, housing for a whole bunch of refugees when we don’t have housing for the people who actually need them?”

Carroll, being the type of weasel who’d hire an unrepentant ex-convict , responded with weasel words (apologies for PottyMouth’s interruption at the end of the video):

“I’m not going to pit one homeless person against another!”

Ward 33’s “brave” city councillor’s response was to attack a citizen of our fair city with the ugly implication that he was “pitting” homeless people against each other. Besides the fact her response was unnecessarily nasty, there was an even bigger problem- Carroll, as she often is, was full of crap.

Feb 18

City Councillor Bills Taxpayers $904 For Partisan Elections Strategy Conference (Feat. Shelley Carroll)

By grenouf in Line 9, Mike Layton, Rabble.ca, Shelley Carroll

Hey, big spender!

When it comes to expense reports, Shelley Carroll is one of city council’s big spenders- the representative of Ward 33 has little respect for Toronto taxpayers, consistently spending more than average. In November 2010, this website covered her outrageous expenses for building a website created by a militant labour allied company who didn’t even deliver it on time.

But what should we expect from a member of the Toronto Police Services Board who hired an unrepentant ex-convict who directed protesters to smash windows during the 2010 G20? Or the city councillor who encouraged the complainants in the Gregory Alan Elliott case to “cyber bully” just a few weeks before they started spreading around rumours and misleading the police to believe he was a paedophile? Or a counsellor who runs away when a citizen asks her a hard question in city hall?

The answer is not much, Carroll serves the labour movement more than she serves the people of her constituency- and she’s not afraid to spend taxpayer’s money to fund her partisan activities. Her recent expense report, besides including a few hundred dollars of mileage charges for her ex-con assistant, gives us more evidence of Carroll’s disregard for the city’s taxpayers. Carroll actually had the nerve to expense $904 for a highly partisan election strategy conference.

Feb 08

#GAE Media Spin Unmasked Pt 3: Hollaback Leader Backs Doxxer (Feat. Julie Lalonde, HeartMob)

By grenouf in Gregory Alan Elliott, HeartMob, Hollaback, Stephanie Guthrie

Purely conjecture, but Elliott also uses a heart for his logo

Hollaback is a feminist organization whose main goal is to raise awareness of “street harassment”. Their tactics are controversial, some might say they’re a form of cyber-bullying- allowing women who claimed they’ve been harassed to shame men (because only men harass) by posting their stories, pictures, and videos on the organization’s website. The group was launched in New York City but has chapters around the world.

Hollaback raised a lot of eyebrows on January 27th when, only a few days after Elliott’s exoneration, they announced the launch of HeartMob- an online “‘army of good” that plans to organize individuals to fight back against online trolling. Media reports used Elliott’s case as an example of the type of situation where HeartMob might be useful.

Julie Lalonde is an Ottawa-based “women’s rights activist” and the founder of Hollaback Ottawa. She’s worked on projects with Stephanie Guthrie and has been one of the complainant’s most visible supporters since the end of the trial. Like the other media coverage described in this series, Lalonde’s interviews with the Huffington Post and Ottawa’s 960 News radio have been high on spin while playing fast and loose with the truth.

Continue reading

Feb 05

#GAE Media Spin Unmasked Pt 2: Desmond Cole Plays Dirty (Feat. Toronto Star, Newstalk 1010)

By grenouf in Desmond Cole, Gregory Alan Elliott, Stephanie Guthrie, Toronto Police Department, Toronto Police service, Toronto Star

Steph Guthrie, Mike Layton, Desmond Cole (2014)

Steph Guthrie, City Councillor Mike Layton, Edward Keenan, & Desmond Cole (2014)

Please click here for Part 1

If it wasn’t for the Toronto Star’s dodgy coverage of social justice warriors it’s likely I wouldn’t be writing this story. I’ve caught some world class lies and misinformation in the Star; they lied about Jane Fonda marching in a climate protest last summer, wrote a horribly misleading story about the government tracking protests in 2014, covered a “heroic” anti-police activist without mentioning his recent crimes, and defied an unrepentant organizer of the G20 violence as a jailhouse activist hero.

In 2012 I wrote a story criticising Star columnist Antonia Zerbisias for diefying another unrepentant G20 convict. I didn’t know her reputation back then, turns out she’s a vicious creep who likes to play dirty. Antonia responded by threatening to include me in a story about Internet stalkers that featured Elliott. A couple weeks later I had an unexpected meeting with Gregory Alan Elliott, he didn’t seem like the monster Zerbisias tried to frame him as. Antonia’s temper tantrum was my primary motivation for investigating Elliott’s case- I really must thank her one day.

Desmond Cole is an anti-police activist, and like Antonia, is a morally bereft character who also likes to play dirty. It was only a week ago when he told two lies on Newstalk 1010. Now, only a few days later, he’s written a sensational story that tells yet another lie- two weeks and three lies!