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| A merry 4,000th post to all y'all. |
When Justin declared his undying love for the communist dictatorship of China -
- this dictatorship:
On June 4, 1989, however, Chinese troops and security police stormed through Tiananmen Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowds of protesters. Turmoil ensued, as tens of thousands of the young students tried to escape the rampaging Chinese forces. Other protesters fought back, stoning the attacking troops and overturning and setting fire to military vehicles. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene estimated that at least 300, and perhaps thousands, of the protesters had been killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested.
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China is forcibly harvesting the organs of tens of thousands of political prisoners to operate a rapidly growing medical black market worth $1 billion a year, an international tribunal has found.
For several years, human rights groups have expressed concern many of the estimated 1.5 million people held in prison camps were part of an insidious human farming system.
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Couples who exceed their government-mandated birth limit continue to be punished with crushing fines equal to two to ten times their annual household income, according to the Planned Birth ordinances of Hunan, Liaoning, Hainan, and Henan provinces. Under certain circumstances, these fines can climb even higher. The only exception is Heilongjiang province, where the fine is only pegged to a single year’s income—still a steep fine be anyone’s standards.
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The evidence amassed in the COI report challenges China’s claims that 1) North Koreans entering China illegally are economic migrants who must be deported, and 2) that those forcibly returned are not punished, even though it is a criminal offense to leave North Korea without permission. In an effort to obstruct the commission’s work, China denied it entry to its border areas, and then declared the COI findings to be “divorced from reality,” because it was unable to visit. Nonetheless, the three COI commissioners concluded that China was enabling North Korea to commit crimes against humanity by forcibly returning them to conditions of danger, thereby standing in violation of its obligations under international human rights and refugee law.
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Federal departments and agencies awarded $5.8 million in contracts to China suppliers last year even as Chinese jailers held Canadians in arbitrary detention, records show. It was “business as usual,” said an MP who sought the figures: “It is wrong.”
- everyone thought that Pierre's little cretin was just adorable and laughed it off.
Who's laughing now?:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Tuesday that Canada would be in alignment with its international partners and allies on the issue of COVID-19 vaccine passports.
(Sidebar: that's not what you said the last time.)
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The alarming part is that censorship is desirable in principle. And the unrealistic part is that the government can do it. Which brings me to the Raines Sandwich.
You see, in a Puritan attack on sleazy bars and the lowlifes they supposedly contained, New York State’s 1896 “Raines Law” sharply restricted saloons’ hours and hiked liquor license fees. But hotels with 10 or more rooms could still serve drinks with meals at any time, resulting in the immediate creation of the inedible, reusable “Raines Sandwich,” sometimes merely rancid and sometimes literally rubber. It’s the Law of Unintended Consequences, I emphasize, not Unpredictable ones.
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Former CRTC Commissioner Peter Menzies rightly said “Granting a government agency authority over legal user generated content — particularly when backed up by the government’s musings about taking down websites — doesn’t just infringe on free expression, it constitutes a full-blown assault upon it and, through it, the foundations of democracy.” But there seems little point in repeating the arguments against censorship to Thomas Sowell’s “anointed”. Sufficiently convinced of their own virtue as well as our vice, our political and bureaucratic masters believe they can be trusted with what may be said and thought, and what may not.
**
On Friday, the heritage committee voted to remove a clause from Bill C-10 that would have exempted user-generated videos posted to sites like YouTube from being regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
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The bill, which was introduced late last year, is intended to give the CRTC control over online streaming services like Apple TV, Disney+ and Prime Video, potentially opening the streaming giants to Canadian content regulations — because if there’s one gripe Canadians have with Netflix, it’s that it doesn’t carry “Little Mosque on the Prairie.” Not content with simply going after the “web giants,” the Liberals now want to give the CRTC the power to regulate your cat videos, as well.
A spokesperson for Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault told the Post that the clause was taken out to allow the CRTC to do a better job of controlling music that’s posted to social media platforms, in an apparent capitulation to recording-industry lobbyists.
Others, such as Daniel Bernhard, the executive director of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, a group that advocates for public funding of the CBC and increased regulation, are praising the bill because it would allow the government to take down videos that contain scenes of child sex abuse.
Which all seems a little strange, given that the reproduction of musical works is covered under copyright law and distributing child pornography is already a serious crime. What this is really about is ensuring that the CRTC has a legal mandate to regulate all forms of media — covering everything from traditional television and radio broadcasters, to podcasts and TikTok videos.
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In the absence of the clause that was removed last week — which exempted “programs that are uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service by a user of the service” from being covered under the act — users who upload videos to social media or streaming sites would not be considered broadcasters, but their content would be subject to regulation.
What form that regulation will take is anyone’s guess, as the bill would simply give the CRTC the power to come up with a regulatory regime at a later date. But it would give the federal government the power to control everything from videos of animals, to young people dancing in the street. If they happen to be dancing to a copyrighted song, look out.
(Sidebar: even Justin's little b!#ch is on board with this. The NDP will never be taken seriously nor will Singh but it couldn't hurt to show one's true colours.)
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Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault yesterday defended an abrupt policy change in support of censoring YouTube videos. Cabinet last Friday had MPs on the Commons heritage committee vote to regulate YouTube under the Broadcasting Act despite an earlier pledge to let “user-generated content” alone: “It is all about restricting content that ‘undermines social cohesion,’ but what does that even mean?”
Slow down, Goebbels!
Tyrannical AND stupid:
Health Minister Patricia Hajdu’s department threw away millions of dollars’ worth of pandemic masks, gloves and other crucial supplies prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, officials disclosed yesterday. The Public Health Agency concealed the information for over a year, claiming national security. The MP who requested the disclosure said Agency mismanagement raised questions of criminal liability: “24,000 people died.”
But you simply must wear these masks everywhere!
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Canada's domestic vaccine manufacturing capability has been hollowed out, leaving the country entirely dependent on foreign sources for the doses that promise an eventual return to normal life.
A Canadian company currently conducting human trials for their COVID-19 vaccine is asking the federal government to respond to their request for support in producing the vaccine.
Speaking at a conference in Calgary on Friday, Brad Sorenson, CEO of Providence Therapeutics criticized the federal government for not responding to their proposal, which was sent a week ago.
"The apathetic response of the Government of Canada to a serious proposal that could save lives is unacceptable," Sorenson said, "Review it and reject it if there is no merit, embrace it if it's viable, but do something."
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AstraZeneca PLC’s COVID-19 vaccine is safe and Canadians should have confidence in it, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday, reacting to news that a Quebec woman had died of a rare blood clot after being inoculated.
Did you hear that?
A snowboard instructor just told you that a flu shot is safe even though it killed someone.
Kenney will rue the day he did not turn off the taps.
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A 30 percent tax on excess profits for large companies that saw pandemic gains would raise $7,947,000,000, the Parliamentary Budget Office said yesterday. The figures were sought by New Democrats who advocate what leader Jagmeet Singh called a “pandemic profiteering tax.”
There is no capitalism (but loads of favouritism) in North Korea, Jag.
Also:
Only a handful of documents from the ministries mention protecting long-term care residents in February, even as cases were steadily arriving in Ontario and the devastation from the infections in Italy became apparent.
Taken as a whole, the documents add to the evidence suggesting the provincial government devoted far less attention to readying the long-term care sector for the impact of the coronavirus than hospitals.
Just like the other provinces did?
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After weeks of increased pressure on the province to introduce paid sick leave, the Ontario government has unveiled a program that will allow workers to take three paid sick days through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why? So that more lockdowns can occur?
Are you sure that people didn't just experience things differently?:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vigorously defended his top aide on Tuesday, saying that while his office knew there was a complaint against then-defence chief general Jonathan Vance three years ago, no one knew it was about sexual misconduct.
The comments came in response to fresh questions about what the prime minister and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, knew about the allegation against Vance in March 2018 following testimony last week from one of Trudeau's former advisers.
Responding to a question during one of his regular COVID-19 briefings, Trudeau described his chief of staff as "an extraordinarily strong leader" who has been instrumental in pushing the federal government to become more feminist.
"It's because of Katie that I have sat down with multiple women leaders within the Armed Forces and elsewhere to have conversations about this over the years, to look at what more can and should be done," the prime minister said.
He went on to say that while "my office knew there was a complaint against (now retired) general Vance, nobody knew that it was a 'Me Too' complaint. We did not have information on what was the nature of that complaint of that allegation."
You're a lying, groping sack of sh--, Justin.
Only in Canada, where people are glad to ignore sexual abuse and harassment (if the right SOB does it, anyway) can a useless, woman-hating piece of cow excrement like yourself get ahead.
How many have taken money from Tides, Big Aboriginal?:
“We do not welcome or support unsolicited involvement or interference by others in our Territory, including third-party activism,” read an April 12 letter drafted by the Pacheedaht First Nation, whose traditional territory encompasses the Fairy Creek watershed. The letter was posted to Twitter by Nathan Cullen, B.C.’s Minister of State for Natural Resource Operations
The letter denounced “increasing polarization” over forestry activities in the area, and asserted the Pacheedaht right to determine how the forest is used. “Our constitutional right to make decisions about forestry resources in our Territory … must be respected,” it read.
It’s a phenomenon that is becoming not all that uncommon in British Columbia which – unlike much of Canada – sits largely on untreatied land. As the province’s Indigenous communities acquire greater control of development and natural resources, they are increasingly butting up against environmentalist groups who claim to represent them.
They were "here first", you see.
Whatever. It's just money:
A federal “cost savings” program to electrify transit will see vehicles purchased at double the cost of conventional buses, data show. Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna launched the program March 4 on a promise of savings: “We’re tackling climate change.”
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Labour Minister Filomena Tassi yesterday introduced a rushed bill ordering striking Montréal longshoreman back to work under threat of $100,000-a day fines. Tassi called it “a matter of life and death.”
International news:
China is "preparing for its final military assault" on Taiwan, the island's foreign minister has told Sky News, as he vowed to "defend ourselves to the very end".
Sharyl (to Metzl): “What have you been told, and what have you found about scientists who feel like they can't step forward?”
Metzl: “Many of these people are afraid to step forward. They've called it career suicide, because there are so many contentious issues, because the stakes are so high. Because the Chinese government, in collaboration, or conjunction, or maybe not even association, but with some very high-level and prominent scientists have put forward this story that I think is wrong.”
Two scientists with knowledge of the matter told me the U.S. government conducted genome sequencing almost immediately in the pandemic. Among other things, they say Covid-19 shows clear hallmarks of man’s intervention.
Russia’s foreign minister sternly warned Ukrainian officials Wednesday that Moscow would not accept their push to revise a peace deal for eastern Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comments followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling Tuesday for a modification of the 2015 agreement and inviting other nations to help mediate the stalled talks on a political settlement of the conflict in Ukraine’s east.
Fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists erupted in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, called Donbas, shortly after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. More than 14,000 people have been killed during the seven-year conflict.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Michael Collins:
Michael Collins, the U.S. astronaut who in 1969 experienced an extreme of human solitude by orbiting Earth’s moon by himself as his Apollo 11 crew mates were taking man’s first steps on it, has died. He was 90.
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