We’ve been endlessly lied to about Covid and vaccines for 2 years. We were endlessly lied to about the Freedom Convoy in just the past month. Now all of the same Usual Suspects are to be believed about everything coming out of the Ukraine-Russia confrontation … and to not blindly accept what they’re saying as The Truth™ makes one a traitor?! Call me skeptical.
Down The Primrose Path
At multiple points leading up to the current crisis, there were ways for the United States and Europe to create off-ramps for both Moscow and Kyiv, to shepherd a negotiated settlement so that both sides got a minimum of what they needed, and some of what they wanted.
What might that have looked like? For Moscow, a recognition of its strategic claim on Crimea and the port of Sevastopol as the home of its Black Sea Fleet. For Kyiv, the promise of political independence and greater integration with Europe in exchange for territorial concessions.
The West should have also considered the folly and recklessness of floating the idea of NATO membership for Ukraine, something no serious person ever thought Russia would accept without going to war to prevent it. And yet as far back as 2008, the United States openly discussed the possibility of Ukraine’s membership in NATO, even as Kyiv still claimed sovereignty over Russia’s most important naval base in Sevastopol. Under these conditions, the idea of Ukraine joining NATO was preposterous.
h/t Jim
Things You Won’t See on the CBC
I’ll never forget how, after just a few weeks into the Covid panic two years ago, several people I personally know suddenly became virology experts, espousing all sorts of stuff with absolute certainty. 10 minutes before they knew nothing about the subject. Then miraculously they were world class experts. Funny how that happens.
The same phenomenon is occurring again with the Ukraine-Russia crisis. So many have suddenly become experts and absolutely knows what’s going on. They’re certain about who the angelic good guys are and who are the black-hatted villains. Given that I know nothing about region, the players, or the history, I’ve decided to sit back and learn as much as I can. One person I trust very much is American lawyer Robert Barnes. It would be well worth your time to listen to what he has to say about this conflict. If you don’t like detailed discussions, set the speed to 1.25X or 1.5X.
The Ukraine Mess
Victor Hanson on the crowded road to Kyiv.
Canada’s Mass Cowardice Psychosis
Something very strange has happened to a large number of Canadians. You see it every day in the big cities. You witness it every day in the legqcy media. The heroic truckers tried to open a window of opportunity for all Canadians to realize that they no longer live in a free, liberal, Western democracy. Those with curious, open minds were woken up but it seems clear that many were not.
Perhaps the words of a wise foreigner might help awaken a few more Canadians:
Some Philosophy For A Sunday Morning
The deep connection between between the English language and common sense.
Dear Leader
Big Picture
Grab a coffee.
Alasdair Macleod- How Ukraine Fits Into the Global Jigsaw
The danger for us all is not a boots-on-the-ground war — that’s likely to only involve the pre-emptive attacks on military installations Putin initiated last night — but a financial war for which Russia is fully prepared.
h/t Scott
The Virtuals vs. The Physicals
This is a fascinating article that frames the ongoing conflict in Canada, not so much as a Left/Right divide, but in a somewhat different way:
One problem remained: no amount of narrative control could move the trucks. The Virtuals needed to convince the Physicals to do that, but the towing companies in Ottawa refused to cooperate. In the end, a cornered Trudeau went nuclear and invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act for the first time in its history, seizing powers that allowed him to compel the tow companies into moving the trucks after he bussed police from around the country into Ottawa.
But the most striking new coercive measure Trudeau chose to wield was not the police crackdown. It was a government order for banks, credit card, insurers, companies and other financial infrastructure to stop “providing any financial or related services” to anyone designated as associated with the protests (including donors), effectively freezing them out of the modern economy without due process or means of appeal.
h/t David Murrell
Are Canadian Banks About to be Massively Sued?
Here’s a segment from one of Viva Frei’s recent livestreams. Cutting to the chase, a curious question has arisen: The Emergencies Act never legally came into effect. It was being debated by the Canadian Senate when Dear Leader revoked it. So, before the Act ever came into effect, Canadian banks reportedly took it upon themselves to investigate the bank accounts of private Canadians citizens and then eventually freeze some of them.
Under what legal legislation did employees at these banks do what they did? Given that the forthcoming Emergencies Act invocation, which they believed was coming into effect, but never did, have they not, in fact, committed egregious illegal actions punishable by severe fines and possibly prison sentences? Lawyers specializing in class action lawsuits are undoubtedly rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of near future lawsuits.
Here are some relevant links:
- Canadian Bankers Association: Banks and your privacy
- Global Legal Insights: Banking Laws and Regulations 2021 | Canada
- Mondaq: Bank Secrecy Laws (Canada)
Featured Comment
Trudeau has inadvertently performed a great service, but at a cost to some brave Canadian patriots, who were beaten, had their property seized and some lost their jobs. Their persecution will continue as the evil, leftist Canadians, full of self-righteous anger will continue to harass them.
His great service, to prove beyond a shadow of doubt, that the Left (across the West) are evil, tyrants, dictators at their core. They will suspend rights, if given the chance, seize funds, beat and imprison and declare anyone who disagrees “a terrorist” and “white supremacist/racist/homophobe/….”.
Never let a crisis go to waste, except Comrade Fidel Jr,. (immersed in the liberal-CBC cocoon) overshot the mark, and went nuclear, . . . well, because he could.
While the state media/allied corporate media will repeat their lies, censor the news and endlessly repeat narratives that inflame racial tensions, divide populations and focus on groups to blame and destroy.
Fidel Jr did, what every leftist dreams they could do: seize wealth, beat, imprison and intimidate every person who opposes them. Only concentration camps remain as the last step.
Even better, every big liberal voice of reason (across the Western nations), protector of our rights, were quiet as a church mouse. Dictatorship is fine!
Now, we can rhetorically beat every single Democrat and Liberal as just another Trudeau.
h/t standfast24
South of the Border
Something very interesting is happening in America. One wonders if President Brandon will be so quick to threaten these truckers and their supporters as easily as #BlackFaceHitler did to their Canadian neighbours.
Update: Live views this evening
The Honking Will Continue Until Freedom Improves
Deja Vu All Over Again
Declare them a threat, throw them in jail without bail, seize their livelihood and sell their property, where have we seen this before? One of the great shames of Canada is the way we treated Japanese Canadians during WWII.
P.S. If you’re wondering the political affiliation of the draconian prime ministers mentioned in the article, they were all Liberals.
The Brutal Reality of Trudeau’s Canada
NDP: True To Their Roots…
If you’re wondering how the NDP could support Trudeau’s Emergencies Act, well, the truth is they’ve always supported and defended dictators…
(this excerpt is from ‘Douglas in Saskatchewan: The Story of a Socialist Experiment’ by Robert Tyre. First published in 1962. You can find it in public libraries, for now, at least)
Louis Riel Day
It’s a long weekend Monday up here in Canada. Every province has a slightly different take on why we get a “holiday”. In Manitoba its called Louis Riel Day.
In 1885, Louis Riel was executed for defending the rights of the Metis Nation. On the third Monday of each February, we remember his sacrifices and all that he did for his people.
There’s an eerie reminiscence to it this year.
Conservatives Are Always Wrong…until they’re not
Where was this Andrew Scheer in 2019?
The left always control the narative, painting the Conservatives as conspiracy theorists, or worse.
But the truth is very different. You can go back Winston Churchill sounding the alarm on Germany in 1933.
Or John Diefenbaker being the sole Member of Parliament opposing the internment of Japanese Canadians.
More recently Conservatives warned that Trudeau just isn’t ready.
Conservatives have always been on the wrongside of popular opinion, opposing those wonderful and progressive left wingers in the Liberal Party who just want to do so much good.
You would think they would learn to just go along with the Liberals?
Spoiler Alert: The Conservatives were right. Again.
Canadian Democracy is Hanging by a Thread
All Canadians need to hear what this man on the street has to say:
How come all protesters who grew up in communist dictatorships know precisely what is going on, yet so many Canadians choose to ignore the evil that is occurring right in front of their very eyes.
Related: Longtime NDP MP, Svend Robinson, has a dire warning for NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh. h/t Eagle
The Day Parliament was No Longer the House of Commons
Future Trivial Pursuit question we hope to never see: When did the Canadian House of Commons become the Canuckistan House of Untouchable Elites? Answer: February 17, 2022
BREAKING IN OTTAWA
Construction workers are building a fence around the parliament since 5 am this morning.https://t.co/VfgKKYKzKr#FreedomTruckers @OttawaPolice pic.twitter.com/y1E4Yu0ZnD
— Alexandra Lavoie (@ThevoiceAlexa) February 17, 2022
Related: Viva Frei live in Ottawa + Live from the Shed h/t Canadian Observer
We Leave When We Are Free
Heather Heying has published a comprehensive essay about what is going on in Canada. Please read every word.
Why is it so important that we believe that the Freedom Convoy is characterized by white supremacists and louts, intent on violence and social unrest? Why, similarly, was it so important that we believe that the #BlackLivesMatter protests of 2020 were characterized by peace-loving people who were finally standing up for their rights? When, on the first weekend of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, a statue of Terry Fox had a sign hung around his neck—a sign that read “Mandate Freedom”—the screaming commenced immediately: how dare they denigrate our history, how disrespectful, how outrageous! But when, across North America in 2020, and into 2021, statues ranging from Thomas Jefferson to Queen Victoria were destroyed—including one in Montreal of John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first prime minister, which was toppled and decapitated, after which a carnal act was theatrically enacted on his now detached head—we were assured that the protests were mostly peaceful, and that if you care about statues, you are revealing that you don’t care about people. Not to mention, of course, the fire-setting, the widespread property destruction, the assaults and batterings, and even killings, that occurred during the peaceful protests of the Summer of 2020.
Why, indeed, has the legacy media coverage of both sets of events been exactly the opposite of what is true?
Related: Mark Steyn shares his thoughts.