How does this even happen⁉️😭
A woman somehow drove her car onto Seattle’s elevated light rail tracks at Mount Baker Station on Wednesday evening, bringing train service to a halt. 😳🚆
Witnesses say the driver told people she was “following GPS” after ending up on the tracks and driving a significant distance before getting stuck. The vehicle had to be removed from the guideway, causing major delays for riders across the 1 Line. #DUBSEA
NHL fans in Indianapolis have no broadcaster audio for Game 1 of the Stanely Cup Final. Here's how the first goal sounded on WRTV with only the in-arena sound.
I’m often asked if I am a “tough on crime” Liberal. It’s the wrong question.
What I do believe is that we’ve lost an important principle in Canadian justice:
🇨🇦 The law should apply equally to all, without discrimination 🇨🇦
I don’t think many disagree. But what do I mean?
When it comes to justice, I believe verdicts/sentencing should be be based on three simple factors:
1) The crime committed
2) The harm done to the victim
3) The future risk to society
That’s it.
Factors specific to the criminal such as:
- Social determinants (income, education)
- Mental health or addictions
- Cultural, religious, or ethnic identities
- Immigration status
Shouldn’t be considerations in sentencing, as they result in discriminatory application of the law.
This is obvious to most people!
Now, they could matter for where a sentence is carried out (eg, asylum/rehab for those whose mental health or addition issues led to criminality). But they should not result in reduced sentencing.
Also, frankly, our tolerance level for non-citizen criminality should be zero.
In fact, I find recent cases of reduced sentences due to deportation risk on the criminal to be highly prejudiced; as if there are not millions of good people who live in the countries they would return to.
Ontario/Canada is not a charity, our standards for creating new citizens should be high!
Furthermore, I do think we should take cases of recurring public nuisance and repeat offending much more seriously.
Why? Because public safety, and perceptions of it (such as on transit or in the ER) are hugely important for social trust to invest in great public systems.
For example, in April, the Globe and Mail reported the arrest of a troubled man in Toronto with over 125 convictions in 30 years! 10 days after release from a 20 month sentence.
That is obviously a terrible outcome for justice and public safety. Repeat offenses, even for petty crime, should result in far stricter sentencing given the risk to the public. Common sense!
Many of these individuals also deserve dignity, treatment, shelter, and care.
There are some people who can’t function on their own in society and we should help them. It would benefit everyone and cost less than the status quo.
In 1965 we had nearly 230 mental health/asylum beds per 100K people.
Today it’s closer to 30 (1/7th).
It’s okay to admit we were wrong in unwinding this system so much and invest more in mental health and rehab beds as part of our health system.
Look, I use transit nearly every day, so I share the frustrations people have for how frequent and visible disorder has become. It’s a real problem that only seems to get worse each year!
And look, I still align with many progressives who think we should prioritize prevention and mitigation against crime through understanding social factors behind it, and invest in mitigation. But it’s not one or the other, it’s yes, and!
I don’t think any of this is “tough” or “weak” on crime, just common sense.
That’s what we need to see return to criminal justice. And this will guide my approach, if I am ever elected.
BIZARRE SCENES IN ECUADOR 😳
Edison Caicedo, a player for Liga de Portoviejo, was run over by the medical assistance cart right in the middle of the match against El Nacional.
(via Zapping Sports)
You just won a 2-week, all-expenses-paid vacation to Toronto. But there’s a catch: you have to stay within one region the whole time.
What are you picking?