More at the recently published Paul Palango article for Frank Magazine here:
Showing posts with label paul palango. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paul palango. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 September 2021
Friday, 10 September 2021
Paul Palango - Frank Magazine Article - September 10, 2021 - Re-Shared With Permission
FRANK MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
YES, BUT WILL IT BE TRAUMA-INFORMED?
By PAUL PALANGO
In the movies press conferences look exciting and meaningful. Reporters competing with each other shouting out questions. Tense confrontations. Sweat on brows. Pinned down by the unrelenting barrage, someone inevitably cracks and blurts out the truth. Headlines are created and everyone retires afterward to a bar for a celebratory round or six. That’s how it goes in the movies.
In the real world, it never goes that way. There is little or no room for error. Everything is scripted. The questions are predictable, and the answers worked out in advance. No surprises. The illusion of facts. Just enough to sculpt a meaningless headline in one publication or another.
Nowadays, there is something worse than a traditional press conference. We had one the other day in Nova Scotia. The occasion was a “virtual progress update” from the three commissioners at the head of the federal-provincial Mass Casualty Commission.
Virtual was an appropriate way to describe what happened. The Cambridge Dictionary meaning describes the adjective this way: “Almost, but not exactly or in every way.”
I attended from my home office on the South Shore. I phoned in and registered. I was the second reporter to do so, after a fellow from Radio-Canada.
My qualifications as an attendee were unique. Over the past 17 months, I have written far more than anyone else about the subject at hand – the murder of 22 innocent people by denturist Gabriel Wortman over a 13.5-hour period on April 18 and 19, 2020. Alone and in collaboration with others, like Stephen Maher of MacLean’s, Andrew Douglas of Frank Magazine and Jordan Bonaparte of the Nighttime Podcast and a host of citizen investigators, we have broken many important stories about what actually happened, most importantly the epic failure in policing by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Together we have publicly documented and detailed the many lies and deceptions of the police and their enablers in governments and the justice system. I am writing a doorstop of a book for Random House about it all. There’s also a large documentary project to put it all on film. I promise it will not be your typical Canadian yawner which is so mind-bogglingly balanced and politically correct that it is all but impossible to figure out what really happened.
Meanwhile, mainstream reporters covering the Nova Scotia massacres have largely lost the thread. With the occasional exception of the CBC’s Elizabeth McMillan, they’ve all moved on to other glittery sagas, waiting for the MCC, as they call it, to hold hearings and spoon feed them more headlines.
Former Nova Scotia Chief Justice Michael MacDonald, chairman of the Commission, spoke first this day. He touched the usual notes about affected families, beautiful communities and resilient people – the Nova Scotia Strong meme – being an example. He talked about witnesses and evidence gathering and about how the commission was “completely independent.” He said that the commission built its team by selecting the best people for the job, failing to note that many of the investigators, including lead investigator Barbara McLean had worked with federal Solicitor General Bill Blair, the boss of this thing, when he was Toronto Police Chief.
Some would argue that’s far from independent. There appears to be a guiding hand in Ottawa.
MacDonald, speaking in a flat almost lifeless tone of voice, said the commission had a two-year mandate and was going to conduct its own investigation to create “an evidence-based record” and “foundational documents.” He tossed around words like “consultative” and “collaborative.”
“We continue to subpoena documents and interview witnesses to ensure that we are able to get to the bottom of what happened and why,” the former judge said. “We are committed to doing our work transparently and respectfully. We are also approaching our work in a trauma-informed manner. We will do our utmost to make sure that we will not cause more harm to those who have already suffered …. We must balance two competing but important considerations. Honoring the public’s right to understand what happened while protecting the privacy and dignity of those who have already suffered so much.”
Almost from the moment Gabriel Wortman was shot at the Irving Big Stop in Enfield, government officials and the RCMP have been promoting the notion that they were all determined to protect the survivors of the dead from further trauma. That’s become their collective mantra. They seem to have forgotten that the real victims are the 22 dead and that our society demands answers in their name. That’s how the justice system is supposed to work, as difficult as that might be for some of the families to accept.
“I would like to stress that our commission is not a court. Our approach is very different from a civil trial or a criminal prosecution, which are adversarial. We cannot and will not make findings of civil or criminal liability or assign punishment,” he said.
Somebody else could always come along after the fact, pick up the Commission’s evidence and run with it, but who? The RCMP won’t be interested, of that we can be sure.
“However, difficult precedents and uncomfortable truths will be explored,” MacDonald continued, “to get to the bottom of what happened and why.”
Cynics are welcome to believe that when they see it.
Next up was Commissioner Leanne Fitch, the former police chief of Fredericton for seven years, daughter of a long-time Mountie, wife of a Fredericton cop, and a former management adviser for the RCMP.
Yep, independent, that one.
She was followed by Ontario lawyer Dr. Kim Stanton who is an expert on aboriginal affairs and who believes that public inquiries should essentially be social engineering mechanisms. Social engineering? The implementation of seat belts was a good example. Then there were the failures. The federal government promoted margarine over butter and carbohydrates over meat. People got bigger, fatter and had more heart attacks. They don’t like talking about that.
This being a “virtual progress update” the Commissioners didn’t take questions.
That was left up to Emily Hill, the Commission’s Council and MCC lead investigator Barbara McLean.
The first question is from the CBC’s Brett Ruskin. They threw him a headline, stating that the commission had issued almost 50 subpoenas for information.
Ruskin was followed by Michael MacDonald of The Canadian Press (no relation, that we know of, to the retired judge). Alexa MacLean from Global Newspopped the next forgettable question and follow up. Perhaps the highlight was Marie Adsett from CTV Atlantic who got so emotional about the commission having not created a safe place for the victims’ families “so that it doesn’t feel like a court room,” one easily could have mistaken her for a victim.
Finally, my turn, came. When my name was called, I could’ve sworn Emily Hill appeared to roll her eyes. But maybe I’m being overly sensitive.
My journalistic strategy over the past 17 months has been to put names, facts and viable theories on the public record so that they could not be easily ignored by either the Commission or the media. That’s what I did this time.
“Can you assure the people of Nova Scotia and Canada that the RCMP has acted in a transparent fashion and fully co-operated with the commission. For example, has it been given full access to or control of all communication records between RCMP members in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on April 18 and 19, 2020. This includes both analog and encrypted radio channels reserved for supervisors, ERT members and regular members as well cell phone records and any other means of communication between the various parties such as digital texts or paper records for the hours leading up to and including the massacres. If so, will the commission be releasing all of these audio records to the public? If not, why not?”
MacLean and Hill ragged the puck with their answer.
I followed with this one.
“Video tapes published in June by Frank magazine highlighted obvious and serious discrepancies in the official report from the Serious Incident Response Team in the shooting of Gabriel Wortman on April 19th at the Irving Big Stop in Enfield. Will the Commission be calling upon SIRT director Felix Cacchione to explain the methodology he and his team used to conduct their investigation? Further, will the commission be issuing subpoenas to any and all RCMP members or others who were involved in the hunt for and shooting of Gabriel Wortman?”
They didn’t have much to say about that one, either.
The point is this. The Commission has wrapped itself in a flag of convenience – victimhood. The members say they care. They are “trauma informed.” They are “respectful.”
That’s not the issue. It’s merely a smokescreen.
The families were already traumatized. They, most Nova Scotians and other Canadians want answers to the obvious questions and don’t want the inquiry drowning in tears and sentimental dross.
Here are some questions they can “independently” consider or which the mainstream media might screw up its collective courage to ask at the next “virtual” press conference:
1) What was Gabriel Wortman’s relationship with the RCMP? Was he the target of an ongoing investigation or an informant working for the RCMP in Nova Scotia or, importantly, New Brunswick?
2) What was the RCMP really doing that night in Portapique?
3) The RCMP has never disclosed who was in charge that weekend. There had to be someone with a white shirt giving orders. Who was it?
4) Victim Jamie Blair told the RCMP via 911 that Wortman was dressed as a Mountie before she was killed. Why did the RCMP lie about when it first knew Wortman was dressed as a Mountie and driving what appeared to be an RCMP cruiser?
5) Why is there not an independent police investigation into the shooting of Corrie Ellison? The RCMP has admitted that its officers were very near where he died on Orchard Beach Drive at the time he was killed, but they didn’t see Wortman or Ellison’s brother who was walking up the road at that time.
6) Why did the RCMP not call for help from other police forces?
7) Why did the Serious Incident Response Team led by former Judge Felix Cacchione issue reports that play fast and loose with the facts?
8) More importantly, why did Cacchione’s office not investigate the entirety of the RCMP’s performance that weekend? After all, there is a strong argument that the RCMP could be guilty of criminal negligence causing multiple deaths including that of one of their own, Constable Heidi Stevenson. Why was there not a criminal investigation mounted by an outside police force?
9) How much damage has this ongoing charade done to the integrity of the justice system?
Having asked such impolite and uncomfortable questions and shown no respect for the powers that be, I guess, is the reason why Ms. Hill seemed to roll her eyes.
photo from Frank Mag on Twitter of MCC androgenous types
Sunday, 29 August 2021
Wednesday, 18 August 2021
Nova Scotia Rampage - May 30, 2021 - Open Line Call In Show - With Paul Palango on Nighttime Podcast
Email for those who need to reach out to Paul Palango in Nova Scotia ... his email is:
paulpalango@protonmail.com - please contact him if you'd like to share intel with him privately.
Monday, 16 August 2021
Nova Scotia Rampage - Aug 15 2021- Open Lines with Paul Palango on Nighttime Podcast with Jordan Bonapart
Paul Palango still on the story and interested in getting Dustine Rodier's details during the shootings.
Lots of people contacting Paul with tips.. maybe you know something and want to add to this unravelling narrative?
Contact Paul at his email: paulpalango@protonmail.com
Dustine Rodier pictured with hubs Pascal google images [Royal Roads University, 8 yrs ago]
As Paul Palango points out recently on Nighttime Podcast livestream…What’s up with this?
From St. FrancisXavier University you have this prof. chap… Randy Delorey [honourable?] as
Attorney General and Minister of Justice
Provincial Secretary
Minister of Labour Relations
Minister responsible for the Elections Act
Minister responsible for the Human Rights Act
Minister responsible for the Regulations Act
Minister responsible for Part II of the Workers’ Compensation Act
Minister responsible for the Retail Business Designated Day Closing Act
Minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Police Complaints Commissioner
Minister responsible for the Nova Scotia Police Review Board
Minister responsible for the Accessibility Act
Thursday, 12 August 2021
Paul Palango's Latest Article: Frank Magazine : Sources: RCMP, Feds, "Stonewalling" Mass Casualty Commission August 12, 2021
FRANK MAGAZINE AUGUST 12, 2021
SOURCES: RCMP, FEDS ’STONEWALLING’ MASS CASUALTY COMMISSION
BY PAUL PALANGO
The RCMP is stalling the release of as many as 50,000 documents or pieces of evidence pertaining to the Nova Scotia massacres that are being sought by the Mass Casualty Commission, according to various sources close to the Commission.
Although public hearings are slated to begin in October, it appears that the RCMP, backed by federal government lawyers, is deliberately balking at being anywhere close to transparent about the role its members played before, during and after the massacres in which 22 people were killed on April 18 and 19, 2020.
“There is frustration inside the Commission over the obvious stonewalling by the RCMP,” said one source familiar with the internal operations of the MCC, which is technically a creature of both the federal and provincial governments.
“The province is finding that it can’t get answers to anything,” another source said. “The feds are controlling everything.”
These new sources confirm and expand upon what another source, dubbed True Blue, has previously told Frank Magazine about what the RCMP is and has been doing.
All the sources have sought anonymity out of fear of retaliation by the RCMP and/or the federal and provincial governments.
In June, True Blue described to Frank Magazine how there are approximately 60 lawyers and investigators operating on behalf of the RCMP and the federal government. At that time, he said that the Commission’s investigators have had difficulty obtaining key evidence which the RCMP is refusing to disclose.
Up to that point, for example, True Blue said the Commission had virtually no information about killer Gabriel Wortman’s common-law wife, Lisa Banfield, other than her driver’s license and vehicle registration.
“Banfield was apparently the last person to be with him before he began his rampage,” one source put it. “She is the most important witness and the RCMP won’t tell the Commission anything about her.”
It is not known if the Commission has received more information about Banfield since that point.
The 50,000 documents being sought by the Commission fall into a wide range of categories, including old case files and RCMP procedures, but among the most sensitive would be the encrypted conversations between Mounties on April 18th and 19th as well as any information about whether Wortman or someone in his circle of friends and acquaintances was a RCMP informant or agent, as sources have suggested may have been the case.
Early on, the RCMP pushed the story that Wortman’s 13.5 hour killing spree was sparked by a domestic violence incident involving Banfield that was sparked by an innocuous comment during a virtual party. Subsequent evidence has thrown that scenario into doubt. For example, the RCMP’s own court documents state that an FBI agent in Maine could find no evidence of such a party and that, contrary to what the RCMP had first stated, Banfield suffered “minor injuries” at the worst.
Furthermore, 911 tapes from April 18th and video of Wortman being shot and killed on April 19th show that the RCMP lied to the public about when it first discovered that Wortman was dressed as a Mountie and that he was driving what appeared to be an RCMP cruiser.
Normally, one would expect such obvious indiscretions to be investigated and cited by the Serious Incident Response Team headed by former judge Felix Cacchione. However, Cacchione’s two official reports to date not only failed to detect problems with the RCMP narratives, but also found no reason to challenge the force, in spite of apparently incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.
Destruction order not carried out
The RCMP’s encrypted communications records seem to be one thing the force is adamant about not releasing.
True Blue revealed to Frank recently that the force ordered the encrypted tapes to be destroyed last fall under the guise of it being “a normal housekeeping matter.”
The destruction order was not carried out, but only by happenstance, True Blue said.
Copies of the communications were being stored on hard drives at two locations. One was at the fortress-like Bell Aliant building on North Street, just south of Robie Street. Another set of communications was being kept at a similar building in downtown Saint John, NB.
“The RCMP and CSIS have space in those buildings,” True Blue said. “The order was to destroy the hard drives, but an employee botched the job and instead put the hard drives on a shelf.”
Two events happened last fall which appear to relate to the hard drives and their contents.
On October 15, 2020, the RCMP quietly announced a “Moratorium on the destruction of information involving Gabriel Wortman ….”
When the existence of the moratorium was leaked to the podcast Little Grey Cells and then Frank magazine in November, the RCMP described the ongoing destruction as something normal – nothing for the public to worry about.
But, True Blue says, this was anything but true.
“They are particularly worried about what is on the encrypted communications,” the source said.
On November 13, 2020, the city of Saint John was hit by a massive cyber attack that shut down many operations in the downtown core.
“The Mounties and, maybe, CSIS, used that attack as an excuse to seize the hard drives in New Brunswick,” True Blue said. “No one is sure where they are now.”
The determination by the Mounties to resist any form of accountability, be it from governments, the Mass Casualty Commission or the general public has been readily apparent from the outset.
The RCMP held four paltry press briefings shortly after the massacres. It described at various times how it was withholding information to protect a supposedly massive ongoing investigation, the results of which, if it actually existed, have never been disclosed.
The RCMP attempted to insinuate the husbands of Assistant Commissioner Lee Bergerman and Chief Superintendent Janis Gray as gatekeepers between the force and the Commission. After the appointments of the two men, Chief Superintendent John Robin and former Mountie Mike Butcher were first revealed in Frank and later elsewhere, and Bergerman announced her retirement would take effect just before the Commission begins its hearings. The RCMP then announced that the appointments of Robin and Butcher had been rescinded.
We don’t know what is on the encrypted communication logs, but the public has a hint of what might be there after the disclosure of similar information was found eight months ago on the archived records of the Pictou County Public Safety Channel. Those recordings, also from the early morning hours of April 19th, provided much information about RCMP personnel at the original scene and what they were doing there, much of which contradicted what the RCMP has been saying.
The RCMP and the federal and provincial governments want the public to believe everything is moving along as expected as the inquiry approaches, but every indication suggests that Commission investigators are becoming disgruntled about the way things are unfolding.
“The mood there is foul,” said a source close to the commission.
Meanwhile, a provincial election campaign is well underway and not a word about all this has been spoken by any of the leaders.
paulpalango@protonmail.com
Tuesday, 13 July 2021
Paul Palango on Nighttime Podcast on July 11 2021 - Who killed Corrie Ellison / RCMP Dustine Rodier's Role & her husband Pascal EMS
Video show notes:
Paul Palango and I will discuss recent developments in this ever evolving story.
Live calls will be answered during the recording, however advance questions and comments can be submitted by voicememo at nighttimepodcast.com/contact
Links:
the Nova Scotia Rampage Series: https://www.nighttimepodcast.com/nova...
Nova Scotia Remembers Legacy Society: https://novascotiaremembers.ca/
Paul Palango’s Email: paulpalango@ protonmail.com
Provide feedback and comments on the episode:
nighttimepodcast.com/contact
Musical Theme:
Noir Toyko by Monty Datta
Contact:
Website: https://www.nighttimepodcast.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NightTimePod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NightTimePod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimepod
Email: NightTimePodcast@gmail.com
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/nighttimepodcast
Paul Palango has questions about Dustine Rodier, who was subsequently promoted to Ms. Lee Bergerman's assistant... In particular, Dustine Rodier's actions, her role, her whereabouts during this April 2020 shooting event as well as her husband Pascal Rodier, who is also of note:
Pascal @ Nova Scotia's EMS
Contact Paul Palango at his email: paulpalango@protonmail.com if you have any information you want to share with him. More at: http://indiemediaeastcoastcanada.blogspot.com/2021/06/paul-palango-frank-magazine-friday-june.html
today's news... Bergerman's retirement as of October 8th 2021...
Sunday, 4 July 2021
Baking, Palango & more with Nighttime Podcaster Jordan ... My Low Carb, High Fibre, Keto Friendly, 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗲𝘀!
Jordan's been featuring Paul Palango on his channel each week on the unfolding story on the Gabriel Wortman Shootings in Nova Scotia in April 2020... Paul is writing a book and making a documentary about the Wortman shootings event.
Paul will be a guest livestreaming on this channel again tonight so check it out...
"Nighttime Podcast" on youtube.. Halifax Nova Scotia Canada...
Jordan's a Dad with a channel on youtube.
Tonight night at 815p ET/915p AT, Paul Palango and I will discuss recent developments in the ongoing story of the Nova Scotia shooting and arson rampages.
You can set your reminder here:
Nova Scotia Rampage - July 4 2021 - Open Lines With Paul Palango - YouTube
show notes:
Paul Palango and I will take calls from the viewers and discuss the narrative changing developments in this story during a 2 hour call in special. Live calls will be answered during the recording, however advance questions and comments can be submitted by voicememo at nighttimepodcast.com/contact Links: the Nova Scotia Rampage Series: https://www.nighttimepodcast.com/nova... Nova Scotia Remembers Legacy Society: https://novascotiaremembers.ca/ Paul Palango’s Email: paulpalango@ protonmail.com Provide feedback and comments on the episode: nighttimepodcast.com/contact Musical Theme: Noir Toyko by Monty Datta Contact: Website: https://www.nighttimepodcast.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/NightTimePod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NightTimePod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimepod Email: NightTimePodcast@gmail.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/nighttimepodcast
More coverage on Paul Palango's efforts here:
Paul Palango: One Man's Pursuit of the Truth Could be the RCMP's Undoing | Christopher di Armani.com
You may be able to push this information out further to help us all ... or purchase a shirt to do the talking for you. Click on the link below.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)