Entry #14 - April 24, 2014

American Airlines Terrorist Threat

By CBC News

A 14 year old Dutch female has been arrested for an idiotic tweet she sent to the American Airlines on twitter. The tweet read “Hello my name’s Ibrahim and I’m from Afghanistan. I’m part of Al Qaida and on June 1^st I’m gonna do something really big bye.” Immediately after the girl posted this tweet, the American Airlines replied with a tweet of their own reading “Sarah, we take these threats very seriously. Your IP address and details will be forwarded to security and the FBI.” In response, Sarah began to plead and apologize to the airline claiming it was simply a joke, etc. But to no avail, and she has recently been arrested due to a simple idiotic tweet. It just goes to show that terrorism is never a subject to joke with, and that you should never put inappropriate things o the internet thus they come back to bite you, and in this case, quite severely.

I think that what Sarah did was idiotic, incredibly ill-advised, and just shows the education level some of the children around my age have. Never in a million years would I think doing that would be a good idea, or even have any type of humor to it whatsoever. It is not a subject to ever joke about and she completely crossed the line, and sending it to the American Airlines put it way over the top, more than it already was. I believe Sarah deserves whatever punishment comes her way, but if I were to dole out the punishment, I believe she should receive a fine of upwards of $10,000 and made to work upwards of 300 community service hours to learn from her massive mistake. 

Entry #13 - April 24, 2014

The NSA is Collecting our images without our

knowledge

By Dana Ford

The National Security Agency is reportedly capturing millions of pictures each day, of people just like you and I, for the purpose of advancing their facial recognition software. They now have software allowing them to exploit the flood of images in emails, texts, social media, video conferences such as Skype, and basically any other software in which images are sent and received. The NSA is intercepting millions of images per day, but only about 55,000 of these images are able to be entered into the facial recognition software, which leaves millions unable to be entered in, leaving mass untapped potential. The facial recognition software is a computer system that can automatically identify a person by simply scanning an image or video of the individual. There is still much work to be done on the software as it has difficulty matching low-resolution images and side/angle photographs of people. It is currently unclear exactly how many images the NSA has acquired, but it is extremely certain the number is shockingly high.

I think that this is quite scary that they are intercepting our personal and private images and video calls without us having any clue that it is happening. They could be watching me right now I and I wouldn’t even know, and this is quite a frightening thought. I do understand why they are doing it though as these images will help enhance the software and help to solve major security breaches and be a great help in all the crimes around the world, I just wish they could acquire these images in a less creepy manor.

Entry #12 - April 24, 2014

First Nations Leaders Rejected Again

By Kathryn Blaze Carlson and Gloria Galloway

First Nations leaders move to reject Conservatives on their on-reserve education bill. The First Nations are opening talks with the government on the issue, voicing their vision challenging the powers of the currently leaderless First Nations Assembly, and confront Ottawa. In a rare meeting involving the AFN Confederacy of Nations and the First Nations leaders, they passed a resolution which rejects the First Nations control of First Nations Education act, and now calls for a Confederacy committee to enter the discussion.

I don't believe this is fair or just in any way. First of all, it's called the First Nations Education act for a reason, and to deny them control of their own act is completely unfair. Second of all, who are we as a people to tell another group of completely able human beings how they are allowed to educate their race. Third of all, us as a race basically destroyed theirs in multiple ways including stealing their land, raping their women, and attempting to assimilate their culture into ours almost destroying them as a race. For once I think we should just lay off the First Nation's and allow them to live their lives the way they choose and stop interfering and restricting them, they are people too and deserve to be treated with the same amount of respect and dignity, and should be allowed to choose how to educate their own children.

Entry #11 - April 24, 2014

Parliaments New Regulations

By Tonda MacCharles

Ottawa is now unable to act by itself to be able to reform the Senate or limit terms/appoint elected senators. To do so they must first have the consent of seven provinces, encompassing half the country's population, this has been set in place by the Supreme Court of Canada last Friday. To abolish the Senate completely their must be unanimous consent with all federal Parliament and all provinces, including the countries top court. This marks a monumental defeat for our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, as the high court dismissed almost every single argument he and his lawyers had brought forward, and these new regulations have been set in place.

I feel that these regulations are too extreme and that it shouldn't take the approval of seven provinces to simply limit terms of Senators, or reform the Senate. I believe that if at least three provinces outside of Ontario feel that the term should be limited, or a reformation is necessary, that that is enough. Going through seven whole provinces there is generally going to be one to disagree, and to not be able to make the change that is needed due to one of seven provinces I find a bit silly. Three outside of Ontario should be enough, four in total. As for the abolishing of the Senate regulation I do believe these are fair and the correct regulations for such a powerful act. Abolishing the Senate is an extreme act and it is only fair that it must be approved by everyone it affects, which it is by including every province, all federal Parliament, and the countries top court. In conclusion, my thoughts on the limiting terms/reformation/appointing elected senators is the regulations are too strict, but the regulations for abolishing the senate are fair and just.