Nice assessment of police mendacity. (Why do they think they can get away with lying to us so systematically? Perhaps because they see that damned near everyone else in our political and media elites does as well....)
Can't agree news media has no bias when 21 out of 22 newspapers endorse the conservative party in every election when they shouldn't be endorsing anyone. They also have, it seems, more opinion writers than actual news reporters and many of them, from CTV's Don Martin to every Postmedia pundit is a conservative.
As far as police, throw on the pile the Vancouver police ignoring warnings a serial killer was preying on women in the downtown eastside.
I've been thinking about how many of the convoy participants are younger people with seemingly nothing better to do, no jobs or no commitment to a job. A couple of hundred years ago, the creation of formal police forces was in part a solution to this problem. Before that they could join the army or be pressed into various other gangs as needed. (My uncle, who lived in Nelson, BC in the 1940s, told me he got pressed twice to fight forest fires - they'd go into a theatre or bar & round up all the eligible men and send them to the bush.)
But the idea of the police was very successful. "We're starting our own gang, and we work for the mayor now." And then the police "solve" the crime problem by a) catching criminals & putting them in jail, and b) becoming an interface between corruption and the state. The police defend a narrow segment of the status quo - basically commerce and the ruling class, ie. those with power. In this view, Doug Ford is the cartoonish mayor of Ontarioville, and the police are his biggest supporters. If you look closely, you can see a bunch of shadowy figures behind him. Are they the mafia? Only the police know for sure, and they ain't saying.
Back to the population of angry young men. They can't all join the police, and we don't have a big military. I always think Why don't they join the army? They love guns & displays of force, so it's a pretty good fit. We discourage the creation of self-appointed militias, so that's not really a solution. What about compulsory public service? Maybe those programs are breeding grounds for right wing sentiment too, but I always thought that's one way to do something useful on behalf of your country, and participate in the melting pot, so to speak. People want to be useful.
The US solution was to some extent, "We'll just round up all the discontents and put them in prison", but that's not much of a solution, and as with the police, it's become another way for the underworld to exert its influence over society. Plus we've created another profit centre for anti-social corporations. All the winning!
Other possibilities - join a religious or commercial organization like Walmart, or Scientology, or the Baptists? They're always looking for minions.
Would not have reached the EA point had Ford declared the Emergency by Feb 5th, instead of waiting until the USA President and Others contacted him and Trudeau to do something. He Enacted it on the 11th. Still too late. He never did the Job he was Voted to do . Protect Ontario voters.
Did you go downtown to talk to any of the people participating in the protest last winter? I am trying to square your assessment of the Truckers with Rupa Subramanya's reporting, not to mention eye witness reports from many of my friends who were on the Hill daily, with nothing but positive things to say. What about the sympathetic reports from Bruce Pardy? Byram Bridle? Julie Ponesse? There were tens of thousands of people participating for weeks, and you focus on a couple of bad actors? What drives your hatred (or disgust or whatever) of people who have been royally screwed by their government (and law enforcement)? You don't strike me as a febrile woke mask-wearing soy latte sort of guy.
Would you have a problem if I was to get together with a few friends, park large vehicles and trailers on your street, block your driveway, set up camp while lighting fires with gasoline, slept in our vehicles, jeered everyone walking by wearing N95 masks, and blasted very loud airhorns 24 hours a day, just for a couple of weeks? You have a problem with that?
No one had legal authority to illegally occupy the capital. Full stop. That's what happened, and they needed to be cleared out. No one was doing their job under normal rules so extraordinary measures came to be, otherwise the merry band of fascist idiots might have succeeded in their weird fantasy coup.
The Emergencies Act shouldn't have been necessary - the situation should have been nipped in the bud well before then. Everyone else in Canada did that - I saw first hand the highway to Queen's Park being shut down due to entitled whiny "trucker" nonsense. Law enforcement corralled the protests and sent them home after they made their conspiracy-laded nonsense extreme minority point.
It became necessary because Ottawa was allowed to be overrun by domestic terrorists, many of whom had no valid point and are authentically dangerous to democratic peace, order, and good government.
That failure should be investigated, and some of those responsible for failure to maintain order have already lost their job and are unemployable (looking at you, Mr. Sloly)
Nice assessment of police mendacity. (Why do they think they can get away with lying to us so systematically? Perhaps because they see that damned near everyone else in our political and media elites does as well....)
Can't agree news media has no bias when 21 out of 22 newspapers endorse the conservative party in every election when they shouldn't be endorsing anyone. They also have, it seems, more opinion writers than actual news reporters and many of them, from CTV's Don Martin to every Postmedia pundit is a conservative.
As far as police, throw on the pile the Vancouver police ignoring warnings a serial killer was preying on women in the downtown eastside.
Rambling ahead...
I've been thinking about how many of the convoy participants are younger people with seemingly nothing better to do, no jobs or no commitment to a job. A couple of hundred years ago, the creation of formal police forces was in part a solution to this problem. Before that they could join the army or be pressed into various other gangs as needed. (My uncle, who lived in Nelson, BC in the 1940s, told me he got pressed twice to fight forest fires - they'd go into a theatre or bar & round up all the eligible men and send them to the bush.)
But the idea of the police was very successful. "We're starting our own gang, and we work for the mayor now." And then the police "solve" the crime problem by a) catching criminals & putting them in jail, and b) becoming an interface between corruption and the state. The police defend a narrow segment of the status quo - basically commerce and the ruling class, ie. those with power. In this view, Doug Ford is the cartoonish mayor of Ontarioville, and the police are his biggest supporters. If you look closely, you can see a bunch of shadowy figures behind him. Are they the mafia? Only the police know for sure, and they ain't saying.
Back to the population of angry young men. They can't all join the police, and we don't have a big military. I always think Why don't they join the army? They love guns & displays of force, so it's a pretty good fit. We discourage the creation of self-appointed militias, so that's not really a solution. What about compulsory public service? Maybe those programs are breeding grounds for right wing sentiment too, but I always thought that's one way to do something useful on behalf of your country, and participate in the melting pot, so to speak. People want to be useful.
The US solution was to some extent, "We'll just round up all the discontents and put them in prison", but that's not much of a solution, and as with the police, it's become another way for the underworld to exert its influence over society. Plus we've created another profit centre for anti-social corporations. All the winning!
Other possibilities - join a religious or commercial organization like Walmart, or Scientology, or the Baptists? They're always looking for minions.
Would not have reached the EA point had Ford declared the Emergency by Feb 5th, instead of waiting until the USA President and Others contacted him and Trudeau to do something. He Enacted it on the 11th. Still too late. He never did the Job he was Voted to do . Protect Ontario voters.
Evan,
Did you go downtown to talk to any of the people participating in the protest last winter? I am trying to square your assessment of the Truckers with Rupa Subramanya's reporting, not to mention eye witness reports from many of my friends who were on the Hill daily, with nothing but positive things to say. What about the sympathetic reports from Bruce Pardy? Byram Bridle? Julie Ponesse? There were tens of thousands of people participating for weeks, and you focus on a couple of bad actors? What drives your hatred (or disgust or whatever) of people who have been royally screwed by their government (and law enforcement)? You don't strike me as a febrile woke mask-wearing soy latte sort of guy.
Best, JF
Would you have a problem if I was to get together with a few friends, park large vehicles and trailers on your street, block your driveway, set up camp while lighting fires with gasoline, slept in our vehicles, jeered everyone walking by wearing N95 masks, and blasted very loud airhorns 24 hours a day, just for a couple of weeks? You have a problem with that?
Rupa is a liar
No one had legal authority to illegally occupy the capital. Full stop. That's what happened, and they needed to be cleared out. No one was doing their job under normal rules so extraordinary measures came to be, otherwise the merry band of fascist idiots might have succeeded in their weird fantasy coup.
The Emergencies Act shouldn't have been necessary - the situation should have been nipped in the bud well before then. Everyone else in Canada did that - I saw first hand the highway to Queen's Park being shut down due to entitled whiny "trucker" nonsense. Law enforcement corralled the protests and sent them home after they made their conspiracy-laded nonsense extreme minority point.
It became necessary because Ottawa was allowed to be overrun by domestic terrorists, many of whom had no valid point and are authentically dangerous to democratic peace, order, and good government.
That failure should be investigated, and some of those responsible for failure to maintain order have already lost their job and are unemployable (looking at you, Mr. Sloly)
500 charges, including for assault and threats. Not a "couple of bad actors." Don't lie.
Signed, a soy latte sort of guy (although I've never had a latte).
Mr Sloly’s answers have my attention.