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Articles by Robert Black
Opinion: Why temporary foreign workers play a vital role in supporting Canadian agriculture and food security
Open this photo in gallery: Temporary foreign workers from Guatemala weed an eggplant field at Ferme Chez Mario in Sainte-Madeleine, Que., on July 4.Graham Hughes/The Globe and Mail Please log in to bookmark this story.Log InCreate Free Account Robert Black is a Canadian senator representing Ontario with ties to and interests in agriculture. Keith Currie is the president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA).
Jim Swire is a force of nature
[What follows is excerpted from a report published yesterday evening on the website of The Sun:] Retired GP Jim Swire is a force of nature – a man with balls of steel. His search for justice after his daughter was murdered in the Lockerbie bombing has been so intense that at times he has put his own life in danger.
MacAskill reiterates belief Megrahi involved at "low level"
[What follows is excerpted from a long article about former Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill published on the website of Holyrood magazine on 15 January:] MacAskill was perceived by some as a solid pair of hands in justice, to others as far too close to its institutions, but he came to global prominence in 2009 when he made the decision to release the so-called ‘Lockerbie bomber’, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, from prison on compassionate grounds so he could return to Libya to die...
Death announced of Abdul Ati al-Obeidi
I am deeply saddened to learn of the death at the age of 83 of Abdul Ati al-Obeidi, who held many offices in Libya during the Gaddafi era, including Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.
Honolulu Civil Beat Inc. v. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Honolulu Civil Beat Inc. v. Federal Bureau of Investigation Plaintiff: Honolulu Civil Beat Inc.
Affirmative Action and the Modalities
So yesterday the Supreme Court heard a case that everyone assumes will be the end of affirmative action in America, at least within the reach of federal constitutional law. I made a few comments on Twitter about how this case is going to reveal (not that it still needs much revealing) how insincere the commitment of the right-wing Justices to "originalism" is.
New TV series on Lockerbie bombing
[What follows is the text of a report published today on the website of the Dumfries and Galloway Standard:] A new five-part TV mini series based on bereaved father Dr Jim Swire’s search for justice over the Lockerbie bombing is being created.
Outrage over her Lockerbie comment puts Libya's foreign minister on the spot
[This is the headline over an article by Dr Mustafa Fetouri published today on the website of Middle East Monitor (MEMO). It reads in part:] Libya's much-hailed first female Foreign Minister, Najla Mangoush, has been suspended by the country's Presidential Council.
"Not a court of justice but a court of politics"
[What follows is excerpted from a very long article published today on the website of The Herald. The full article can (and should) be read here.] [Dr Jim] Swire says his short-term memory is not so good, but on the details of the evidence around Lockerbie, on the events that devastated his life, he is as sharp as a tack. He believes he knows the story behind the bombing of Pan-Am 103 and that the wrong man was convicted, the wrong country blamed.
Architect of Lockerbie trial attacks guilty verdict
[This is the headline over a report by Jenny Booth that was published in The Sunday Telegraph on this date in 2001. It reads as follows:] The Scots law professor who masterminded the Lockerbie trial in the Netherlands has launched a scathing attack on the judges for finding the defendant guilty on "very, very weak" evidence.
Application for leave to appeal to Supreme Court lodged
On 29 January 2021 the lawyers for the Megrahi family lodged with the High Court of Justiciary an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. They have until 8 February to lodge written submissions supporting these grounds. The Crown and the Advocate General for Scotland (representing the UK Government) then have until 22 February to lodge their responses in writing. The High Court may consider the matter based on written arguments, or it may call for a hearing.
Private Eye on the Masud charges
[What follows is the text of an article that appears in the latest edition of Private Eye:] Late charges The parting shot by US attorney-general William Barr just before Christmas that another Libyan, Abu Agila Masud, was to be charged over the Lockerbie bombing will have delighted Scotland's prosecutors. The Crown Office is nervously awaiting the outcome of a posthumous appeal against the copviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the 1988 atrocity, which killed 270 people.
Here Is Where the Law Runs Out
Trump’s allies are not making good-faith arguments within America’s legal system. Rather, this is a challenge to the legal system. 11:40 AM ET Writer and legal scholar Today, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate will meet in a special joint session for the final official stage of the 2020 presidential election: the counting of the electoral votes. In any remotely normal election, this moment would pass with little notice, a mere formality.
Embellishing intelligence reporting to fit a preconceived outcome
[What follows is excerpted from an article by John Holt published today in The Blogs section of the website of The Times of Israel:] As a former CIA operations officer, I am breaking 20 years of silence about one of the most heinous plane bombings on record, Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988.
Claim of Libyan responsibility “may well be codswallop”
[What follows is the text of a report published in The Herald on this date in 1995:] Pressure was growing on the Lord Advocate last night to step into the row over the planned release from prison of a key suspect in the Lockerbie bombing who is to be freed under a secret deal between the Iranian and German governments.
A slow-motion version of pass the parcel
[What follows is excerpted from an item posted on this blog on this date in 2011:] We must have Lockerbie inquiry, no matter the cost [This is the headline over aneditorialin today's edition of The Herald. It reads as follows:] As Pamela Dix, whose brother died in the Lockerbie bombing, says: "It is unfinished business." Now one more step has been taken towards unravelling the uncertainty that has hung over this case ever since that awful December night 23 years ago.
The enduring scandal of al-Megrahi’s conviction
[Don't call this a conspiracy theory is the heading over a letter published in The Times today. It reads as follows:] Sir, Magnus Linklater (“Why I cannot believe Lockerbie conspiracies”, Scottish edition, Dec 21) has cast as conspiracy theorists those of us who believe that Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi was wrongly convicted. Yet in making his case he is guilty of a common failing of conspiracy theorists — misrepresenting certain facts and sidestepping others.
The Lockerbie Case
[What follows is the texr of a statement by Aamer Anwar Lockerbie appeal lawyer for the family of the late Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Dr Jim Swire and the Rev'd John Mosey:] On Thursday information was released through The Wall Street Journal that the US Attorney General William Barr was due to unseal indictments against two other possible suspects for the Lockerbie Bombing.
Lockerbie files show Scots police doubted key witness
[This is the headline over a report in today's edition of The Times. It reads in part:] Scottish detectives distanced themselves from a key Lockerbie witness, it has emerged, casting further doubt on the conviction of the only person ever found guilty over the attack. Abdul Majid Giaka, a Libyan agent turned CIA informant, gave evidence that Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi collected a brown Samsonite suitcase from a Maltese airport the day before the 1988 bombing.
“Is this an American attempt to influence the judges?"
[What follows is excerpted from an article by Tom Peterkin in today's edition of The Press and Journal:] The FBI agent who led the original Lockerbie investigation has revealed the atrocity’s latest suspect was on his “radar” 30 years ago but there was a struggle to prove the case against him. Richard Marquise said it was strongly suspected Abu Agila Mohammad Masud was the “technician” responsible for the bomb that killed 270 people in the worst terrorist outrage committed on UK territory.
Majid Giaka's CIA handler speaks out "after a lifetime of silence"
[What follows is excerpted from a report by Paul Martin headlined Former CIA agent reveals he was excluded from Lockerbie bombing inquiry published today on The Telegraph website:] A former CIA agent has claimed he was excluded from the original Lockerbie bombing trial and that investigators should turn their attention to the "true culprit" – Iran.
Thirty-two years of struggle for truth and justice
[What follows is the text of a press release issued today by Aamer Anwar & Co:] It has been a long journey in the pursuit for truth and justice. When Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie nearly 32 years ago, killing 270 people from 21 countries, it remains the worst terrorist atrocity ever committed in the UK. Since then the case of Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi the only man ever convicted of the crime has been described as the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history.
SCOTUS Doesn’t Trust Congress—and That’s a Problem for American Government
The Supreme Court’s attitude toward congressional investigations also stands in contrast to its deference toward other sorts of government investigations.
The Court Got the Trump Subpoena Cases Exactly Backward Original
Why is the Supreme Court giving more deference to a state grand jury than the Congress of the United States? 6:30 AM ET The Atlantic On the last day of its 2019 term, the Supreme Court decided two cases about the degree to which President Donald Trump’s personal financial records are subject to subpoena by two different investigating bodies. In Trump v.
Racism Is Terrible. Blackness Is Not.
Wesley Lowery: Why Minneapolis was the breaking point One of the classic texts in African American studies is Zora Neale Hurston’s 1928 essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” Her playful yet profound articulation resonates for me now. She wrote, “I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.
Megrahi case referred back to High Court for further appeal
[What follows is the text of the press release issued this afternoon by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission:] The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (the Commission) has today again referred the case of the late Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi to the High Court of Justiciary for determination.
Could the Equal Rights Amendment become a reality?
Editor's Note: On January 15, 2020, the Virginia legislature passed a resolution to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The move sets off an extended debate about the prospects of the ERA joining the Constitution as the 28th Amendment. This story from November 7, 2017 previewed the legal discussion to follow such a move in Virginia. On Tuesday, Americans across the country went to the polls, and one election had particular significance for the future of the Constitution.
Even Impeachment Has to Follow the Rules
The process may be political, but it also must confirm to certain legal norms. 6:00 AM ET Senior Fellow for Constitutional Content at the National Constitution Center Win McNamee / Getty Amid the grandstanding in the House of Representatives, one key point can sometimes get lost: While impeachment is certainly a political process, it is not a purely political one.
Republican association to host Gun Owners of America director
Fellow residents of Lamar County, your gun rights are under attack. Association of Lamar County Republicans, along with the NRA on the national level and the Texas State Rifle Association locally fighting progressives in limiting your God-given, natural rights of defense of life and liberty, welcomes Gun Owners of America as one of the newest paladins in the battle.
COMMENTARY: Association of Lamar County Republicans invites public to come out for next #InciteUnity
Politics for many decades adhered primarily to a difference in methodical approaches of government. Its focus was on issues related to medical, welfare, Social Security, veterans, military and foreign affairs. Leadership concentration was accurate as it understood the balance of power in government, the Constitution and the importance of respecting its citizens of whom they represented. Today, however, the government focuses on matters that extend beyond that of historical precedence.
There are good reasons to believe that the conviction of Megrahi was a shameful miscarriage of justice
[What follows is excerpted from an article by Kim Sengupta published today on the website of the Belfast Telegraph (and a week ago behind a paywall on the website of The Independent):] Abdelbaset al-Megrahi lay in his bed attached to a drip, on red sheets stained by dark splashes of blood he had coughed up. An oxygen mask covered his skeletal face; his body twitched as he drifted in and out of consciousness.
OPINION: GOP will fight to restore God in American politics
To a leftist leaning individual, the conservative battle cry to restore our country’s belief in God is an attack on free-minded individuals, infringement on rights and unconstitutional as the effort seeks to elevate one belief over all the rest. Realization of the need to restore God in America isn’t a new idea but one that has been around since the 1940s when attacks against the church first began, attacks that began in the U.S. court system as the left fought to remove God in our schools.
LETTER: Watch out for false Republicans
They come to you in elephant’s clothing, but inwardly they are scared donkeys.This letter is primarily in response to Democrat Bill Strathern and his Democrat friends sending out mailers in support of Chuck Superville for County Judge. I ask you not be fooled by these fake Republicans who are only posing as Republicans today because they can’t accomplish their goals by standing behind their own Democrat platform in conservative Lamar County.
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists.
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights .The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights .The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists.
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists.
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
AP WAS THERE: Matthew Shepard dies after being beaten
On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Colorado nearly a week after being beaten and lashed to a fence before being found by bicyclists. Shepard's death turned the college student into a powerful symbol of the quest for acceptance and equal rights . The Associated Press is republishing a version of its report of Shepard's death to mark the 20th anniversary .
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