Ron's News

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[The Nuttall and Korody case proves that this has happened in Canada, and a pattern of entrapment is clear in the US. *RON*]
Monia Mazigh, Huffington Post, 3 August 2016

Last week, Justice Catherine Bruce, a judge from British Columbia, made history in Canada and in North America in general. She ruled that John Nutall and Amanda Korody, two Canadian convicted on terrorism charges, were instead entrapped by the RCMP. What was called in the media as the Victoria bomb plot, was rather a pure creation of the 240 RCMP agents who were paid in almost one million dollars in overtime money. Both defence lawyers of Nutall and Korody and Justice Bruce named it: "manufactured crime."

The unusual factor here isn't that entrapment was used, but the decision of the judge to accept it as one.

In fact, in 2014, Human Rights Watch released a report named: "US: Terrorism Prosecution Often an Illusion." The document closely examined 27 federal &…

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[See Arend Lijphart's (2012) Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in 36 Countries, 2nd Edition for clear evidence that proportional voting systems lead to stronger democracies. *RON*]
By Press Progress, 3 August 2016

The Fraser Institute seems to believe more "choice" is the answer to everything – except when it comes to democracy.

According to the right-wing think tank's new report on electoral reform, the economy is better served when "fewer parties" are involved in the democratic process.

This may come as little surprise considering they see no correlation between democracy and happinessand their experts say Hong Kong is "number one in overall freedom" in the world, but it still sounds a little fishy coming from the Fraser Institute considering their own motto suggests "choice" is the cornerstone of "a free and prosperous world":


So what does the Fraser Institute have ag…

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[This greatly increases the odds of CETA getting sunk. This keeps going back and forth. I had not heard about this: "In a frustrating blow to the Commission, the member countries last month wrested the approval process for the trade deal with Canada away from Brussels. The accord will now require approval in Europe’s 38 national and regional parliaments." *RON*]
By Hans Von Der Burchard & Alberto Mucci, Politico, 3 August 2016
One of the EU’s most senior officials has warned that the bloc’s trade policy will be “close to death” if it cannot ratify a landmark agreement with Canada.

The alarm sounded by Jean-Luc Demarty, director-general for trade, is a sign of growing concern in Brussels that the European Commission is losing control over one of its core competencies in the face of surging public opposition to free trade.

In a frustrating blow to the Commission, the member countries last month wrested the approval process for the trad…

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[Nothing but lying weasel-words. "...admitted there are things the F-35A still can't do... which will be addressed in the coming months and years... There are also some technical fixes that need to be made... We are not to full operational capacity... We will evolve and continue to improve it..." See also: U.S. Air Force declares first squadron of F-35 jets combat-ready: "This is nothing but a public relations stunt." And as you'll read, the Conservatives are still drooling over it. *RON*]
By Lee Berthiaume, Canadian Press / Huffington Post, 2 August 2016
OTTAWA — After years of cost overruns, delays, and political headaches, the U.S. air force says the version of the F-35 fighter plane that Canada was planning to buy is ready for combat.

The surprise announcement Tuesday represents a big step forward for the stealth fighter, and comes less than two months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the controversial plane…

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[On the sleight-of-hand accounting (actually, outright lying) of the BC Liberals. *RON*]
By Norman Farrell, In-Sights, 3 August 2016

Today, in the 2016 Financial and Economic Review, the BC Government admits that 2016 net royalties from natural gas production were only $139 million. However, in this 112 page report, there is no effort to disclose the whole story.

Not a single mention of the $1.95 billion unrecorded liability for future royalty reductions revealed in footnotes of the province’s audited financial statements. No indication that production credits have returned $7 billion – 64% of royalties payable – to the gas companies since 2007.

If there were even a hint of honesty within the Finance Ministry, they would have explained the impact and purpose of royalty reductions. Originally, these were to encourage drilling of marginal properties but, under Premier Clark, the program evolved into a scheme of generous subsidies where almost every p…

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[Brussels and ECB are concerned by the charge that Andreas Georgiou overstated the Greek deficit to justify harsh bailout. Georgiou "was recruited from the International Monetary Fund" *RON*]

By Eleftheria Kourtali & Arthur Beesley, Financial Times, 2 August 2016

The former chief of the Greek statistics agency is to face criminal trial for undermining the “national interest” after he allegedly overstated the country’s budget deficit.

Greece’s supreme court ruled that Andreas Georgiou should face charges that carry a prison term of up to 10 years despite concern inside Greece that the radical left government is politicising independent institutions.

The case has also prompted concern among officials at the European Commission and the European Central Bank, who accepted without reservation the accuracy of data produced by Elstat, an agency set up in the wake of Greece’s first international bailout.

“The situation is clear. It is not …