Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Chipping Away

For some reason, no one thought to question why handing absolute power to a snowboard instructor with something to prove was a bad idea.

And here we are:

A band of Freedom Convoy protesters is in Federal Court demanding cabinet disclose documents justifying Emergencies Act police powers. The crackdown including the freezing of trucking companies’ bank accounts was politically motivated, lawyers wrote the Court: “There is no national emergency.”

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A telecom executive yesterday told the Commons ethics committee individual cellphone users’ personal data was never given to federal agents. The Public Health Agency compiled data on millions of cellphone users in the name of monitoring compliance with lockdown orders: “Telus did not share any personal information with the government, not one iota.”

 

I don't believe a single thing you say.

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Also incredible:

Concerned with paying the piper Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his generous media bailouts by sticking to the supreme dictator’s talking points, they played their parts very well.

They doxxed and harassed donors to the Freedom Convoy contained on lists hacked from GiveSendGo. They remained obsessive in their portrayal of the protesters as white supremacists, anti-semites and racists engaged in an “occupation.”

Damn the truth, they said.

You could almost hear them sniffing with disdain on social media at the working-class backgrounds of these dirty people invading their elitist little Ottawa enclave.

They openly cheered when the organizers were arrested. Some of the more sanctimonious among them listed the arrests like an Olympic medal count ...

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I staged a personal boycott of the Beijing Olympics, resolving not to watch any coverage, in solidarity with the Uyghurs interned in prison camps and Catholic leaders imprisoned in Hong Kong. It turned out that was not hard to do, as CBC was the Canadian broadcaster, and almost nobody under 60 ever watches it.

Generally, there is nothing newsworthy about the CBC: how it covers the news is as predictable as its vanishing ratings. Yet a faithful reader sent along a CBC News story, which he thought bears comment. It does.

“Two key organizers of the so-called Freedom Convoy, Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, have been arrested in Ottawa,” reported the CBC on Thursday. “The two have been described as key leaders of the occupation in Ottawa.”

According to the author, the Freedom Convoy is “so-called,” but there is nothing “so-called” about the “occupation.” I don’t demur from calling it an occupation, but the “so-called” business really ought to cut both ways in news reporting.

Why does it matter? Because as the CBC and many other formerly venerable news outlets decried the trucker occupation, they failed to recognize their own role in it. Amongst the multifarious grievances that the truckers brought to Ottawa, they complained that their voices were never heard, their stories never told by the “so-called” mainstream media. They appeared only as objects of disparagement.

 

Would you like to know why people distrust the media, why they think the country is broken and are tired of seeing Justin's ugly, smug jowls?

Get a clue.

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Canadian parents are hesitant about vaccinating kindergarteners against COVID-19 and resent being made to “feel guilty” by federal regulators, according to in-house research by the Privy Council Office (PCO) obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter on Friday. 

“Participants had a number of questions regarding vaccines,” said the research, called Continuous Qualitative Data Collection Of Canadians’ Views. “Most commonly focused on side effects and potential long-term implications of their use.”

Health Canada approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children five- to-11 years old in November. About 28% of Canadian children in this age range have been fully vaccinated to date.


 

These guys will find themselves under some hooves:

A group of Canadian clergy sent an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this week rebuking him for invoking the Emergencies Act to quell the Freedom Convoy and for other actions they described as "tyrannical."

"We are writing to you as representative pastors of Christian congregations from across the nation and as law-abiding citizens who respect the God-defined role of civil government and uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the highest law of our land, which recognizes the supremacy of God over all human legislation," read the letter, which was signed by 29 clergymen and remains open for other Canadians to sign.

 

 

Yes, but that's science and not "science", the salon scientism that has become a trendy byword for people who want to sound clever but still can't explain the thing they "believe":

A group of leading scientists, doctors, and policy professionals says it is time to end all COVID-19 restrictions across Canada, including vaccine mandates and passports.


Until the next super-duper coronavirus comes along.



Good luck with that, Jason:

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said he will be filing a court challenge against the Liberal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act, saying it is unnecessary, disproportionate, and an intrusion into provincial jurisdiction.


 

Alright.

When do these mass and random arrests stop?

Should his family be targeted? What about his neighbours?

Someone has written about him. Should they be brought in for questioning, too?:

While Dr. Alan Drummond was tending to patients in the emergency room of the Perth and Smiths District Hospital over the weekend, his MPP sent out a tweet encouraging protesters to flood Ottawa police phone lines.

"This is like a new level," said Drummond, who's had public social media disagreements with Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP Randy Hillier since the COVID-19 pandemic started two years ago.

"Maybe this will be the beginning of the end of this, if they actually formally arrest him — as I think they should."

 

Be more vindictive and publicly, too, Dr. Drummond. You wear it well.

 


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