Here's a story that illustrates what happens to a disarmed population. That it is in the Toronto (Red) Star and is about an NDP MP makes it all the sweeter.
New Democrat MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan traveled to Sri Lanka and got followed around by "men on motorbikes" the whole time she was there. Then things got interesting.
In other words, eventually the message traveled high enough up the government food chain to get to somebody with enough brain to know not to piss the Canadians off by arresting their MP. Imagine if Ms. Sitsabaiesan didn't have all that pull in Ottawa. She'd have vanished right there and still be down a hole someplace. Or maybe buried in a hole. Hard to say.
Rathika Sitsabaiesan: Nearly arrested by "officials" in Sri Lanka. |
New Democrat MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan traveled to Sri Lanka and got followed around by "men on motorbikes" the whole time she was there. Then things got interesting.
Sitsabaiesan went to Sri Lanka on Dec. 28, 27 years after her family immigrated to Canada. The NDP MP for Scarborough-Rouge River — the first federal parliamentarian of Tamil descent and a vocal critic of the Sri Lankan government — said it was a personal trip, not a political one, to see family and the few places she remembered from her early childhood.The men on the motorbikes, however, seemed to suspect otherwise.On New Year's Eve, Sitsabaiesan said she visited an orphanage she was considering supporting. While she toured one of its three buildings, the employee giving the tour received a phone call that a group of people had arrived at the main entrance with a warrant for Sitsabaiesan's arrest....The next day, she said, government officials caught up with her while at a factory owned by a friend's family member.
She immediately called the Canadian High Commission, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and the party's foreign affairs critic, Paul Dewar. ...After consulting with four law enforcement agencies — local police, the criminal and terrorism intelligence divisions, and immigration authorities — Sitsabaiesan said the high commission found there was no warrant. ...The factory trip was not planned ... but three men identifying themselves as immigration officers found her there."They wanted a space where it was private and nobody else was allowed in. They were standing in the doorway, and it was me and these three men," said Sitsabaiesan. "They had a list of exactly what I've been doing, and they go, 'You did this, you did that, you met with this person, you did this, who is this person, why, give me names, give me contacts, give me this and that.' " She said she was intimidated by the line of questioning, but after the experience the day before, was also conscious of her privileges as a Canadian and as a Member of parliament."Eventually, the controller general of immigration was on the phone saying, 'You know, we're trying to protect you and we're looking out for your best interests by following you,' " Sitsabaiesan said.
In other words, eventually the message traveled high enough up the government food chain to get to somebody with enough brain to know not to piss the Canadians off by arresting their MP. Imagine if Ms. Sitsabaiesan didn't have all that pull in Ottawa. She'd have vanished right there and still be down a hole someplace. Or maybe buried in a hole. Hard to say.
My question to the Hon. Ms. Sitsabaiesan, the NDP as a whole AND the Toronto Star is, would this type of bullshit harassment and unlawful arrest by local petty officials have occurred had she and her escorts been armed? With, you know, guns?
Its a measure of how full of shit the NDP are that they know this type of thing goes on, yet they continue to advance policies which encourage it. One might almost think this was a goal, not a problem to be solved.
The Phantom
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