Freedom of speech is doing extremely poorly in the UK, according to a recent YouGov poll. When Britons were asked what should be the priority, 43% said protecting people from offensive or hateful speech should be the priority, while only 38% said the focus should be on protecting free speech. Generally, men and conservative voters were more concerned about protecting free speech, while women, younger people and Labour voters were more concerned about blocking offensive or hateful speech.
In the conference rooms of downtown Ottawa hotels, an ever-changing cast of characters has stepped up to speak for the convoy of protesters camped out on Parliament’s doorstep.
But a recent statement from convoy organizers confirms that the truckers and others demanding an end to COVID-19 public-health restrictions have three main leaders: Chris Barber, Tamara Lich and Benjamin Dichter.
Go incognito
OTTAWA – Police in Windsor, Ont., were locked in an apparent standoff with protesters clogging a key trade artery between the United States and Canada on Saturday, even as demonstrations against COVID-19 public health measures continued in Ottawa and other cities across the country.
Officers with the Windsor Police Service, the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and others began moving in on protesters near the Ambassador Bridge around mid-morning after a court-ordered deadline for clearing the site passed – and was largely ignored – on Friday evening.
Trucks Are Gone From #AmbassadorBridge but More Protesters Arrive on Foot
A growing group of demonstrators continues to protest near Ambassador Bridge despite a large police presence pushing them back#FreedomConvoy2022 #TruckersConvoy2022 #TruckersForFreedom2022 #greenpass pic.twitter.com/ojUHWR3b7m— ★ GNI ★ GAIA NEWS INTERNATIONAL (@GaiaNewsIntl) February 12, 2022
In a stunning series of tweets, Congressman Nehls outlines a scenario that one would expect to read in a Russian spy novel, and certainly not in the United States of America.
On November 20th, 2021, Capitol Police entered my office without my knowledge and photographed confidential legislative products protected by the Speech and Debate clause enshrined in the Constitution, Article 1 Section 6.
Nehls tweeted:
Two days later, on Monday, November 22, 2021 (Thanksgiving week), three intelligence officers attempted to enter my office while the House was in recess.
Upon discovering a member of my staff, special agents dressed like construction workers began to question him as to the contents of a photograph taken illegally two days earlier.
@CapitolPolice never informed myself or senior-level staff of their investigation, and the reasons are clear.
One of the interesting aspects of the ongoing Freedom Convoy protests in Canada, aside from the underlying complaints of the protesters, is the curious way that the media in both that nation and the United States have chosen to construct a narrative around the protesters. This is something that others like Tucker Carlson have been noticing and pushing back against. One of the most recent examples can be found in this “explainer” from NBC News published on Thursday evening. They have clearly chosen to lump all of the protesters together as some sort of Trumpesque, Canadian “far right-wing” splinter group of extremists.
While the Biden administration’s chaotic and inept withdrawal from Afghanistan was unfolding in August 2021, a suicide bomber murdered 13 American service members, and at least 170 Afghans, at the Abbey Gate outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. It was one of the deadliest attacks on our troops in our 20 years in that nation.
“Know this,” President Joe Biden said after the bombing. “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.” This turned out to be face-saving political theater. Three days later, an airstrike killed 10 Afghans, seven of them children. Not one of the dead, as far as we know, was an “ISIS facilitator,” as the administration alleged.
With the ongoing trucker protests that have rocked Ottawa and several other Canadian cities and jurisdictions, it is reasonable to say that we’ve reached the peak of the politicization of this pandemic.
Something like this was bound to happen.
The support the protest has garnered is clearly a product of frustrations that have reached a tipping point after two years of botched pandemic responses. The two main ingredients of it are manifestly the collapse in trust in institutions and the astonishing lack of self-awareness of our politicians that continues to fuel it.
Canadian ambivalence over Beijing 2022 seems to be playing out in TV viewership for the Games, with CBC posting initial ratings that are down sharply from previous Winter Olympics and even last summer’s Tokyo Games.
Primetime viewership on CBC for the first six days of events in Beijing is down 22 per cent from Tokyo, and off a whopping 48 per cent from the Pyeongchang Winter Games, according to figures provided Friday to The Globe and Mail by CBC.
… One advertising buyer told The Globe the ratings were about 25-per-cent lower than projections the CBC’s sales department had provided to the industry in advance of the Games, raising the possibility the public broadcaster may have to compensate marketers for failing to reach its expected audience.
Go Incognito
“Sandra, I gotta tell you, for me and for many people here, journalists, this is absolutely stunning news,” Harrigan said. “People weren’t sure what was going to happen, when, but it is very different for the Ukrainians.”
… As time goes on it becomes clear that Trudeau really is the worst leader in the democratic world. His principal qualifications for the role were that he had been a primary school teacher and that his father had been prime minister before him.
Other than that, he simply promised to do things differently, to be more empathetic, to emote more, to be more feminine and more understanding. Before lockdown, this manifested itself in international trips during which Justin did more costume changes than the cast of any West End show. But as the Covid era came, Trudeau, like Ardern, seemed to come into his own. He talked about the importance of caring, looking out for each other and other fundamental Canadian values.
Police have intercepted hundreds of vehicles trying to enter Paris as part of a protest against France’s coronavirus regulations.
Authorities have deployed more than 7,000 officers over the next three days in a bid to stop the demonstrators.
Some vehicles managed to arrive at the Arc de Triomphe in the city, and tear gas was fired at demonstrators on the nearby Champs-Élysées.
Similar demonstrations have started to spread around the world.
FRANCE: Police smash the window of a convoy for freedom vehicle on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. pic.twitter.com/iTvVHgsh1V
— Apex World News (@apexworldnews) February 12, 2022
The official response to the truckers protesting COVID restrictions is one of the most disgraceful political episodes in the history of Canada as an autonomous country. The prime minister’s statement that the truckers were probably homophobic, trans-phobic, misogynists and racists was an outrage that was unsupported by evidence.
Cornwall, ON / Massena, NY border crossing this morning pic.twitter.com/DPCc31Nity
— Jason “Fringe Minority” Pichie (@JasonPichie) February 12, 2022
Protesters gathered at Parliament House in the Australian capital, Canberra on Saturday, demanding an end to coronavirus measures. The demonstrators, who arrived by truck, car, and bus over the last week, had camped at a nearby festival ground.
For a second straight weekend, the city’s downtown core is a locked-down maze of blocked streets.
In an effort to avoid what has taken root in the nation’s capital, Toronto Police are not taking any chances.
They will have extra powers this weekend due to the state of emergency declared by Premier Doug Ford.
Meanwhile in Windsor
Even though police have been moving in on protesters in Windsor, pushing them back, the crowd size actually seems to be growing. More protesters are arriving and few are leaving. pic.twitter.com/zC44VwqtUA
— Thomas Daigle (@thomasdaigle) February 12, 2022
In a recent interview with German newspaper Die Welt, the doctor dug in on her refusal to follow the Western bureaucratic directive, saying they tried to censor the truth, and silence her.
