Entry #2 - January 28th 2014

Police played ‘wheel of torture’ game to punish Philippines criminal suspects

January 24th 2014 

By: Jim Gomez

Thestar.com 

Manila Philippines - During interrogations, Philippine officers played a "wheel of torture" game that they had recently made. They used and played this game to have fun while punishing their suspects. “They do it for fun, it’s like a game for entertainment. We’re trying to correct this mindset based on a human rights approach to policing but obviously it may take a lot of time.”  Loretta Ann Rosales said this while she was interviewed and questioned about the "torture wheel"  Torture has been around in the Philippines in the past. They emerged in a brutal era of dictatorship nearly 3 decades ago. Since then, the human rights policies have taken over. But clearly they haven't completely taken over. A report by the rights commission cited victims as saying they were beaten up, electrocuted or hit by steel bars, baseball bats, a chair or helmet. One victim said a police officer pointed an assault rifle at him, another accused the police of threatening his relatives. In 2010, all 11 officers in a Manila city police station were all fired after a television station showed a video showing police hitting a naked robbery suspect. The video showed the suspect screaming on the floor as a man pulled a string bound around his private parts.

Now if you ask anyone what they think of this "torture wheel" they'll all give you the same answer. People will think this is disgusting, and ridiculous. There's no need to have a torture wheel for interrogations. These Philippine officers, to me, should be fired from their jobs and charged for anything they can be found guilty for. 11 officers were fired before, these officers should be fired as well. It's not right to torture anyone. 

Entry #1 - January 24th 2014

Ford's canned comments weren't worth the wait

January 24th 2014

Rosie DiManno

The Star 

This article is about an Economic Club speech given by Mayor Rob Ford. Ford did not start off on the right foot before this speech even began. He came an hour late due to some elevator malfunctions. He was stuck inside the elevator for around 45 minutes before even getting to the Club. This long wait caused many reporters to leave. Ford does not shy away from pumping his own tires. He like to throw around numbers of accomplishments and boast about how he has done nothing but positive things to the city of Toronto. “Folks, let’s face the facts. Toronto is booming like it’s never boomed before. Today, we’re an economic powerhouse." He says that since becoming mayor in 2011, he has saved Toronto approximately 1 billion dollars. But really he has saved around 750 million. Still a very large, impressive number. The article talks about the promises he has made. like how he says he will be putting a three stop subway into Scarborough. Ford has made promises and kept many. He has fixed sidewalks, sewers, roads, bridges and expressways. while saving money. 

I know that many people don't like Rob Ford, especially after the whole crack cocaine incident. But after reading this article I liked the fact that Ford has saved a lot of money for Toronto and he believes in what he's doing. Although he has indulged in some illegal activity which we all know about. He is still completing tasks while again, saving money. Everyone can agree that we wouldn't want some Mayor to be spending huge amounts of money, when they could be saving it and being put to better use.