2 special forces members under investigation for allegedly taking part in convoy protest

Two members of the military’s elite special forces unit are under investigation for their alleged involvement in the convoy protest in Ottawa, according to a statement from the Department of National Defence.

Maj.-Gen Steve Boivin, commander of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, said the first case came to the attention of senior leaders on Feb. 1, and the other on Feb. 10.

Both members were already in the process of being released from the Canadian Armed Forces and were supporting the protest “in some form or another,” he said.

Share

Authoritarian Science and the Case of Hydroxychloroquine

The approach to medical information increasingly taken by authorities and the media is damaging to public health and scientific inquiry.

Imperial County, California, a poor, largely Hispanic agricultural region in the southeastern corner of the state, has been hit hard by Covid-19. By the end of January, according to the New York Times’s Covid-19 database, Imperial County had suffered 845 Covid deaths, or 4.7 per thousand inhabitants—a rate almost 80 percent higher than the U.S. average. The case fatality rate in Imperial County is 1.44 percent, the second-highest in California—and was significantly higher, 2.10 percent, at the end of October 2021 before the Omicron wave.

Share

Putin’s Game between Friend and Foe

In his lightning trip to Beijing on February 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a “Strategic Partnership” treaty with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The event coincided with the 20th anniversary of another “Strategic Partnership” deal that he had signed in 2002, with then US President George W Bush.

So, did the Beijing signature represent a reversal of course in Russian foreign policy that, since Russia’s admission into the G7 club (later G8), had been focused on forging closer ties with the United States?

Share

John Ivison: Do we need a new party for the politically ‘homeless’?

Is there room in the Canadian political marketplace for a new centrist party that rejects the tribalism being embraced by the Liberals and Conservatives? I’m increasingly of the mind that there is.

Maybe it’s just the effect of February in Canada but the dismal events of recent weeks have led me to the conclusion that our major parties are beyond renewal.

The nature of politics in the age of the algorithm is that you have to be polarizing to attract attention. Both the progressive left and populist right have stoked tribal emotions and the tribes are feeding off an unhealthy silage of fear and hatred.

The CPC can hardly be described as “right” let alone “far right.”

Share

WARMINGTON: OPP defends pre-crime information leaflet handed to Facebook user

The OPP says the aim of an officer going to the door of a farm in Peterborough County was merely to try to keep things “safe and lawful.”

Responding to a Saturday column on a woman named Nadine Ellis-Maffei being surprised to see a cop knock on her door with advice on how to act at the Freedom Convoy, the OPP said it was merely doing its policing duties.

Share

The Surveillance and Political Spying Operations Highlighted by John Durham are the Tip of the Iceberg

Against the latest court filings by John Durham, highlighting the tip of the political surveillance iceberg, I have been asked to re-post the deep dive into the totality of the scale of the iceberg.  I will add some of the latest information into the outline to show how it all connects.

Barack Obama and Eric Holder did not create a weaponized DOJ and FBI; instead, what they did was take the preexisting system and retool it, so the weapons only targeted one side of the political continuum.

Together they recalibrated the domestic surveillance capabilities, the internal spying systems, so that only their political opposition would be targeted. This point is where many people understandably get confused.

h/t Mauser

Share

Ambassador Bridge border crossing remains closed as police arrest several protesters

Police made several arrests as they cleared out protesters and vehicles blockading the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., but the bridge was not yet open to traffic on Sunday.

Dozens of trucks, cars, pickups and vans have blocked traffic in both directions at Canada’s busiest border crossing to the U.S. for several days. By Sunday morning, the trucks and remaining protesters were greeted by a heavy police presence, with more than 50 vehicles, including cruisers, buses and an armoured car.


Ottawa mayor made a ‘backchannel’ deal to remove convoy from ‘residential’ areas

Ottawa’s mayor says he’s reached a “backchannel” deal with convoy organizers to limit the three-week occupation’s to the area immediately surrounding Parliament Hill.

But Ottawa police’s plans to bring an ultimate end to the demonstrations – which showed few signs of slowing Sunday – have once again been called into question, after reports they’ve provided no detailed plan to federal law enforcement partners.

In a stunning Sunday statement, Mayor Jim Watson’s office says he successfully negotiated with convoy organizers to leave all “residential” areas in the city by Monday.

Share

Joe Rogan Rips Into Justin Trudeau For ‘Demonizing’ The Unvaccinated

vc

Popular podcast host Joe Rogan slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for “demonizing” the unvaccinated, referring to recent comments the prime minister made that described those who have not had the COVID-19 shot as “very often misogynistic and racist” people who “don’t believe in science [or] progress.”

“The way Trudeau talks about people who are unvaccinated … he said they were misogynists and racists,” Rogan said to “The Joe Rogan Experience” guest Dave Smith.

Share

Clinton campaign paid tech workers to dig up Trump-Russia connections: Report

Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign paid an internet company to “infiltrate” servers at Trump Tower and the White House in order to link Donald Trump to Russia, a bombshell new legal filing alleges.

The Friday filing from a Department of Justice prosecutor tasked with investigating the origins of the FBI’s Russian probe served to throw cold water on Democrats’ longstanding allegations of collusion.

Share

Guardianistas ponder … Freedom convoys: legitimate Covid protest or vehicle for darker beliefs?

The blockade of Ottawa has sparked copycat action around the globe, and such disparate demonstrations of grievance may prove hard to shut down

It only took six dozen trucks, and a few hundred protesters to bring Canada’s capital to a standstill and close a critical border crossing with the US, throttling the car industry that straddles the line between both countries and relies on a constant flow of trade.

On Saturday, Canadian authorities finally began taking action to clear the Ambassador Bridge into the US, the busiest land crossing in North America, which had been blockaded by just over a dozen trucks and smaller vehicles, and a crowd a few hundred strong.

The bridge has been closed for the best part of a week now, and meanwhile downtown Ottawa has been under a form of siege for more than a fortnight, blockaded by crowds gathered under the banner of opposition to Covid regulations.

Share

Cannibal Cartel

A viral video showing a man eating a human heart in Mexico is shedding light on the disturbing practices recruits must undergo at cartel “terror schools.”

A member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel—his stomach straining against a black sleeveless vest—is crouching over the body of a mutilated foot soldier from a rival crime group. The fallen man’s hands are bound and his chest looks like it has been torn open.

Shocking cellphone footage—captured in broad daylight—shows the hitman tearing large bites from the dead man’s heart. The cameraman continues to film as the hitman mocks the fallen sicario by pretending to offer him a taste of his no-longer-beating heart. In the background of the twisted scene, another body is partly visible, as is the shadow of someone hacking away at it.

Share

FUREY: Canadians were pushed too far — then they pushed back

A lot of people around the world are asking how it is that pleasant little Canada, of all places, has suddenly turned into a firebrand of a nation, spurring controversial blockades and convoy protests that are now being copied in other countries.

The answer is simply that frustrations are boiling over after two incredibly tense years. This is especially so in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, which have been some of the most locked-down regions in the world.

Share

Who is leading BLM and where are their millions going? No one can say

Kelly Dolan, Karen E. Knudsen, Jonathan Reckford. These are the respective CEOs of the Ronald McDonald House Charities, the American Cancer Society, and Habitat for Humanity. Their jobs are to offer leadership and guidance and to be responsible, along with their board members, for the direction and financial transparency of their organizations.

Black Lives Matter is another major nonprofit in this country. But who is running it, and how are their donations being spent? The answers are hard to find.

Share

Trudeau wants the ‘foreign money’ funding illegal protests in Canada to stop

‘Canada has absolutely ZERO jurisdiction over how we manage our funds here at GiveSendGo’

More than half of the funding for the Canadian trucker convoy protesters on some online platforms is coming from the United States, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday.

Trudeau said he spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden about the American and “global” influences on the protests against COVID-19 mandates, which have blocked streets in downtown Ottawa and border crossings to the U.S.

Share

Russia Feels The Wrath of Justin! Canadian military trainers pulled out of Ukraine

Canadian military trainers were pulled out of Ukraine this weekend ahead of anticipated Russian military action, which allied intelligence agencies suggest could come this week.

CBC News has learned that the contingent of roughly 260 soldiers has arrived in Poland, but it’s unclear whether that will be their final destination.

The decision to suspend Operation Unifier, the largest allied training mission in the embattled eastern European country, came after both the United States and the United Kingdom ordered their own military trainers out of Ukraine.

Poor Ukraine.

Share