Jeers: to a problem that’s getting never so close to a solution. Friday, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary put out their regular overnight list of arrests and misdemeanours, and all four of the highlighted arrests involved people driving while suspended or without proper insurance or registration on their vehicles. Their ages? Well, two were 19 (good start to your driving career, guys), one was 47 and the last one was a 71-year-old female driver. There must be cases now where RNC officers just say, “Wasn’t that Frank? Driving? Again?”, turn on the flashing lights, and call for the tow truck. Someday, there will have to be some sort of legislative change that actually keeps suspended drivers from tootling around in unregistered and uninsured vehicles.
Cheers: to an interesting reckoning. A British Columbia court has allowed a businessman with ties to that province to sue Twitter for defamation over tweets alleging he was connected to baseless American conspiracy theories involving pedophilia and Bill and Hillary Clinton. A statement from businessman Frank Guista welcomed the decision: “I hope this lawsuit will help raise public awareness of the real harm to society if social media platforms are not held responsible for the content posted and published on their sites. … I believe that words do matter, and recent events have demonstrated that hate speech can incite violence with deadly consequences.” Twitter argued that case should be held in the United States, where U.S. First Amendment rights would have made it harder — if not impossible — to sue successfully. The judge in the case ruled that the case could proceed in B.C. because Guista had broad-ranging B.C. business interests, and the alleged defamation was seen by thousands of B.C.-based Twitter users. It could have interesting implications for social media companies who argue they bear no responsibility for the comments they are integral in spreading far and wide. Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas and lawsuits.
Jeers: to nebulosity. So, as pre-election announcements swarmed last week, points for the strangest promise came, once again, from the long-running announcement mill known as the new acute care hospital in Corner Brook. The facility had room for a new PET scanner, and one had been promised by former premier Dwight Ball when he was in opposition. But that move seemed unlikely, because PET equipment is available in other parts of the province. Now, the Liberal government has announced it will put $2 million in trust for the equipment with the Western Regional Hospital Foundation, but … “Given the changing and innovative nature of health care in this province, the funding will be released for the purchase and installation of a PET scanner upon recommendation of the cancer care providers who would deliver the care.” Now, if that’s not the strangest sort of commitment…
