“Criminalizing Dissent” – Page 25

Jamie Salé was Canada’s sweetheart on ice. Now the Olympian is championing something darker

… Salé has questioned, without evidence, the safety of vaccines, tweeted memes that seemed to support military tribunals and appeared to compare Justin Trudeau to Hitler. To be blunt, most Canadians would find Salé’s stance appalling. Most, but not all. The ideas she espouses are consistent with a growing movement, born of cherry-picked data, conspiracy theories and the opinions of scientists rejected by their peers that rose to new heights during three years of pandemic public health measures and isolation.

by Blazingcatfur•February 5, 2023February 5, 2023•0•"China eats weird animals disease", "Criminalizing Dissent"

Jump or be pushed: German conservatives turn on ex-Nazi hunter over race comments

“… Now, after Maassen mused in an interview about “a green-leftist race theory” that casts “whites as inferior” and promotes “immigration by Arabic and African men”, the CDU have lost patience with a man who kept doubling down on culture war tropes, making himself a cult figure on the right fringes.”

by Blazingcatfur•January 31, 2023January 30, 2023•0•"Cancel Culture", "Criminalizing Dissent", WTF?

Anthony Furey: One Year After the Freedom Convoy, Did Government Learn Anything?

It’s quite something to think that a year ago today Ontario was still under a hard lockdown. Premier Doug Ford, who had presided over some of the harshest COVID-19 policies in the free world, only ended the province’s fourth lockdown on Jan. 31, 2022.

These outrageous policies happened despite the fact that in most comparable jurisdictions—including the Democrat-governed American states immediately adjacent to Ontario—had abandoned these restrictions months before.

by Blazingcatfur•January 30, 2023January 29, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent"

1 year after disrupting Alberta’s border with the U.S., protesters return to Coutts — where wounds remain

As vehicles pulled into a meeting spot on the side of the highway south of Lethbridge, Alta., it was clear that this year’s convoy protest gathering would be different. As people gathered to mark its one-year anniversary, they were greeted by two RCMP vehicles at the side of the road.

There was no missing the police vehicles scattered along the highway and the helicopter in the air, or the message: The event would be permitted, a large-scale disruption would not.

One year ago, Alberta RCMP had sent out a fairly innocuous media advisory warning of heavy congestion and slow-moving traffic near the border crossing at Coutts, Alta.

by Blazingcatfur•January 29, 2023January 29, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Conservatives’ détente over Freedom Convoy endures, for now

While some Conservative MPs and MLAs openly supported the Freedom Convoy as it began a year ago this weekend, others were highly critical of the protests

OTTAWA — The past year has seen many Canadians become politically engaged for the first time in their lives because of the Freedom Convoy, as well as conservative politicians hoping to bring this potential new pool of voters into the fold.

I’ll be voting PPC as they are the only federal party against the mass immigration scam.

by Blazingcatfur•January 29, 2023January 29, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent", Conservative Party

Trudeau’s web-police groups lacking objectivity

Examples are everywhere of why it would be supremely dangerous to permit the Trudeau Liberals and their appointees to police content on the Internet.

On Wednesday, the government-funded Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), claimed that journalistic balance is getting in the way of good public policy.

by Blazingcatfur•January 29, 2023January 29, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

23 vehicles towed, dozens of tickets issued as rally marks one-year anniversary of ‘Freedom Convoy’ in Ottawa

Police and Bylaw Services officers maintained an increased presence in the Parliamentary Precinct on Sunday, as dozens of people gathered in downtown Ottawa to mark the one-year anniversary of the arrival of the ‘Freedom Convoy.’

Ottawa police vehicles monitored several intersections entering the downtown core, while Parliamentary Protective Service officers monitored people entering Parliament Hill ahead of a planned rally and dance party. A small group of people gathered on Parliament Hill during a snowstorm Sunday afternoon.

What is the current “bylaw” about flag poles in #Ottawa? Would the same treatment apply if this was Pride, BLM Ukraine, Iran or the Palestinian flag? #FreedomConvoy #CanadaFlag pic.twitter.com/zS8aQ0i58H

— Julie Scott 🇨🇦 (@julie_ppc) January 29, 2023

Ottawa counter protestor @DNArigged ASSAULTS a convoy supporter with her megaphone pic.twitter.com/2nVLTxGOe6

— The Pleb 🇨🇦 Reporter (@truckdriverpleb) January 29, 2023

by Blazingcatfur•January 29, 2023January 29, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent"

A year after the ‘Freedom Convoy,’ Ottawa residents say ‘recovery’ still underway

The fear in people’s eyes, just as they went about their business — going home, coming back from running an errand or from work — that will always stay in my mind,’ said Catherine McKenney, who was Ottawa city councillor in the ward impacted by the protest.

by Blazingcatfur•January 28, 2023January 28, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent", Canada, WTF?

What the convoys left behind

In Ottawa, Wellington Street has always been an odd duck.

It’s the home address of Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Supreme Court of Canada, among other notables on the world’s most earnest celebrity-sightings map. It has some of the touristy pomp you’d expect of an official promenade, but it’s also an ordinary commuter artery. And so it’s possible to see Justin Trudeau climbing out of a tinted-window SUV on his way into his office while being delayed getting to your own, all on the same block.

Not at the moment, though.

by Blazingcatfur•January 26, 2023January 26, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent", Canada

Randy Hillier wants a change of venue for his ‘Freedom Convoy’ trial

Former MPP Randy Hillier, facing nine charges stemming from last year’s “Freedom Convoy” occupation of downtown Ottawa, wants a change of venue for his trial to ensure an untainted jury.

His defence lawyer, David Anber, has filed a motion for a change of venue that will be heard later this year.

by Blazingcatfur•January 26, 2023January 25, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent"

Four More Oath Keepers Members Convicted of Sedition in Second Trial

WASHINGTON — Four additional members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia were found guilty of seditious conspiracy on Monday for their roles in trying to keep Donald J. Trump in office after his 2020 election defeat, nearly two months after the group’s leader — Stewart Rhodes — was convicted of the same offense in a separate trial in November.

A jury in Federal District Court in Washington also found the four defendants guilty of two separate conspiracy charges.

by Blazingcatfur•January 24, 2023January 23, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent", Trump Derangement Syndrome

Thin blue line can’t be worn by Vancouver police on-duty, board agrees

Vancouver police aren’t allowed to wear thin-blue-line patches on their uniforms, the city’s police board reaffirmed Thursday.

Deputy Chief Fiona Wilson said the decision to prohibit officers from sporting the symbol isn’t due to its contentiousness, but the Vancouver Police Department’s long-standing policy against unauthorized adornments.

by Blazingcatfur•January 23, 2023January 22, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent"

BMO CEO was just being a helpful weasel

BMO CEO Addresses Suggestion to Designate Convoy Protesters as ‘Terrorists’ to Freeze Accounts

The CEO of Canadian bank BMO addressed on Jan. 19 the revelation that he had recommended to the finance minister that Freedom Convoy protesters be designated as “terrorists” to facilitate the freezing of their financial accounts last year.

“I would never call the convoy protesters terrorists. What was said is that in order for the banks to be helpful, there are certain protocols,” Darryl White told True North’s Andrew Lawton reporting from Davos, Switzerland.

“Those protocols include sanction where we can in fact, help in that case, otherwise, it’s not our business to interfere in the affairs of anyone’s finances, truckers or otherwise.”

by Blazingcatfur•January 21, 2023January 20, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent", WTF?

Divided, arguing and adrift: What’s left of the ‘Freedom Convoy’ one year later?

Everywhere Justin Long goes, Ottawa’s so-called “Freedom Convoy” goes with him.

It was an event, Long says, that restored his national pride to such a degree that he tattooed a reminder of the protest on the back of his left hand.

“Don’t tread on me” — the slogan of the American Revolution-era flag favoured by anti-government groups — is inked just above his wrist. In the centre is a Canada goose wearing a yellow vest, a nod to the Yellow Vesters, the progenitor protest movement to the “Freedom Convoy,” and holding a jerry can in its beak. And on his knuckles is a four-letter word: “Honk.”

by Blazingcatfur•January 20, 2023January 20, 2023•0•"Criminalizing Dissent"