Police in Ottawa have begun issuing warnings and fines to Freedom Convoy protesters, and a number of people have been arrested. Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, banks have started freezing the accounts of people who support the truckers, and the government has disabled access to wallets for Bitcoin and other cryptocurencies. Meanwhile, truckers and protesters continue to “hold the line” in downtown Ottawa, and say that the prime minister’s repression will not make them leave.
In other news, Austria has done a 180-degree turn on COVID restrictions, and decided to repeal all of them.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, JW, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Canada’s Inflation Surpasses 5% — the First Time in 30 Years
Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that Canada’s annual pace of inflation has surpassed 5% — the highest since 1991. Canada’s inflation rate rose 5.1% on a year-over-year basis and up from a 4.8% gain in December 2021.
According to the agency, in the month of January, “prices rose in all major components on a year-over-year basis, with shelter prices (+6.2%) contributing the most to the all-items increase.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
After New York Times Takeover, Wordle Starts Censoring Words
The New York Times recently bought Wordle, a viral web-based word game. Since then, it has already started censoring words on the platform.
Wordle is a web-based word game, where a player has six chances to guess the five-letter word of the day. With each guess, the game tells you if you got any of the letters correct.
It was created and operated by Josh Wardle. It began gaining traction in 2021 and became so successful that the NYT noticed. When he sold it, Wordle said the game would still “be free to play” on the NYT website.
For now, not much has changed about the game, except for the removal of certain “offensive” words.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
American Truckers Plan Convoy to DC in Protest of COVID-19 Mandates
Taking a cue from truckers bordering America’s north, a political action committee will partner with truck convoys to protest what it deems as overreaching government COVID-19 restrictions and mandates.
The Great American Patriot Project on Wednesday asked volunteers to contribute, join or support a convoy of truckers slated to travel to Washington D.C. next month.
Routes for the convoys will start in Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio and Fresno, California and will end on March 6 in Washington. They will be met by a congressional welcome committee to discuss policy changes, organizers said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Arizona House Approves Measure That Would Amend Constitution to Ban Critical Race Theory
PHOENIX (AP) — Republicans in the Arizona House approved a measure Thursday that would ask voters to amend the state constitution to ban the teaching of so-called “critical race theory” in schools and bar any preferential treatment based on race.
A ban on teaching critical race theory has become a major political talking point for Republicans nationwide. It is not taught in Arizona’s schools, but that did not stop lawmakers from enacting a ban last year. The state Supreme Court struck that law down because it was unconstitutionally included in the budget.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Bionic Eyes Suddenly Stop Working When Tech Companies Turn Off Service
It’s one thing for a tech company to “brick” your “convenience” proprietary device, leaving it without support and updates, and sometimes literally just remotely switch it off.
But imagine if that device was medical, such as enabling “bionic eyes/vision,” retinal and brain implants, and was supposed to do nothing less than help blind people improve their vision.
For years, free and open source advocates have been warning that even pacemakers are controlled by proprietary systems that leave patients at the mercy of the manufacturer, and forced to put their lives in the hands of their obscure, impossible to audit code as guarantee they are protected from things like malicious hacking.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Reasonable minds can differ, I guess, but if I had 100 large lying around earmarked for bailing out criminal suspects, I’d probably start with the nonviolent offenders.
Not the would-be assassins charged with attempted murder.
Ed wrote yesterday about the curious case of Quintez Brown, who allegedly walked into the campaign headquarters of Louisville mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg on Monday morning while Greenberg was meeting with aides, pulled a pistol, and fired. (Brown had been known to locals in the past as, uh, a gun-control advocate.) No one was wounded, miraculously, although Greenberg claims that Brown aimed right at him and that one bullet grazed the back of his sweater.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Glenn Youngkin Eliminates Mask Mandates in Virginia Schools
On Wednesday, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed Virginia Senate Bill 739 into law, which creates the option for parents to opt-out from local school mask mandates on behalf of their children and prohibits schools from enforcing masking.
“Today we are reestablishing and restoring power back to parents,” Youngkin told a crowd at Wednesday’s signing. “But we are also reestablishing our expectations that we will get back to normal. This is the path, this is the path. So thank you all for coming, and now we’re gonna do a little work.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Levi’s Brand President Jennifer Sey is Ousted Over Comments Against COVID Restrictions
On Monday, former American gymnast Jennifer Sey revealed that Levi’s had fired her for speaking out online against Covid restrictions in schools. She revealed her termination in a letter on the Common Sense channel on Substack run by Bari Weiss.
Sey represented the USA as a gymnast in the 1986 Goodwill Games in Russia. Soon after, she got a job at Levi’s, where she has worked for more than two decades. She was fired earlier this year because of being vocal against Covid restrictions in schools.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New York City Mayor Eric Adams blasted the media by claiming his press coverage is skewed because of a lack of racial diversity.
Adams held a press conference in Albany on Tuesday, a day after meeting with New York state officials to discuss several issues he wants to prioritize for his leadership agenda. Multiple reports stated Adams didn’t make much headway in the meeting — an assessment which he seemed to partially confirm as he voiced his frustration with the resistance he has encountered for his criminal justice ideas.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Recalled SF School Board Member: ‘I’m Proud to be on the Right Side of History’
Tuesday, voters in San Francisco chose to recall all three of the school board members whose fate was put before them. The reasons for that decision seem pretty clear. During the worst disruption to schooling in recent history, the board members busied themselves with renaming schools, covering murals, ending competitive admissions at a top high school and generally making race the focus of their activities. They did this while a) schools remained closed and b) leading the district toward an economic collapse that required state intervention to correct.
Tuesday, voters in San Francisco chose to recall all three of the school board members whose fate was put before them. The reasons for that decision seem pretty clear. During the worst disruption to schooling in recent history, the board members busied themselves with renaming schools, covering murals, ending competitive admissions at a top high school and generally making race the focus of their activities. They did this while a) schools remained closed and b) leading the district toward an economic collapse that required state intervention to correct.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Senators Ask YouTube CEO to Remove 3D Printed Gun Videos
Five Senators from the Democratic Party signed a letter to YouTube, asking the platform to crack down on “ghost gun” videos. The senators urged the platform to more strictly enforce its policy against showing how to make firearms.
Ghost guns are guns made using 3D printers. Due to the lack of serial numbers, law enforcement agencies have a hard time tracing the owner when the gun is used in a crime.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Now Requires New Charter Schools to Ensure They Won’t Teach Critical Race Theory
The Texas Education Agency confirmed this week it now requires new charter schools to submit a “statement of assurance” that the school will follow so-called “critical race theory” laws before opening its doors to the public.
Last year, Texas lawmakers passed two laws designed to limit how teachers could discuss issues of race in the classroom. The state’s current law, Senate Bill 3, replaced an earlier measure, House Bill 3979. Both have been labeled by conservatives as anti-critical race theory laws although the term is not included in either law.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Virginia Judge Strikes Down Loudoun County School Mask Mandate Effective Immediately
LEESBURG, Virginia — A Loudoun County, Virginia, judge struck down the mask mandate imposed by the Loudoun County School Board (LCSB) Wednesday evening, immediately allowing students to attend class without masks.
In a lawsuit that saw the administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) join forces with parents against the school district, Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge James P. Fisher decided to grant an emergency injunction in the mandate after weighing arguments from parent plaintiffs’ counsel, Attorney General Jason Miyares’s (R) office, and LCSB.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: North Carolina Dad Slams School Board Over Critical Race Theory and Gender Indoctrination
On Monday, a North Carolina dad spoke at a local school board meeting urging parents to “take the wheel back” in their children education, and commended the school board for passing a resolution last summer that banned critical race theory teachings in the district.
Brian Echevarria is running for District 73 in the North Carolina House of Representatives, and one of the main tenets of his campaign is to stop critical race theory indoctrination in schools and the reinstitution of parental rights as regards the “upbringing and education of their children.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
George Washington University (GWU) students held a bipartisan protest Tuesday, urging the Washington D.C. institution to divest its endowment from companies that are complicit in China’s human rights abuses.
The demonstration, which involved both of the university’s College Republicans and College Democrats chapters, comes one week after university President Mark S. Wrighton rescinded his criticism of on-campus artwork that critiqued China’s abuses against its Uyghur population.
“We’ve all banded together,” activist and GWU alum Juan Carlos Mora told Campus Reform during the protest.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Every quarter, YouTube removes hundreds of thousands of videos for violating its “hate” and “harassment” rules. And in a recent appearance on the independent Hamburg-based broadcaster TIDETVhamburg, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki acknowledged that there’s ambiguity around how people define “hate and harassment” but provided little clarity to the creators who have had their videos removed under these rules.
Wojcicki made the comments when explaining how YouTube uses its four R’s policy framework (Remove, Raise, Reduce, and Reward) to balance “tensions between freedom of speech” and “the need for us to…be responsible as a platform in terms of how we distribute information.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube to Censor “New Misinformation” Preemptively
YouTube, the world’s dominant video sharing platform, has already removed over one million videos for violating its strict and controversial “misinformation” rules. But in a new announcement, the tech giant has revealed that it’s going to be getting even stricter and suppressing “new misinformation” preemptively before it has the chance to gain traction.
YouTube’s Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan described how the video-sharing platform will start “catching new misinformation before it goes viral” in a blog post. The process will involve continuously training YouTube’s machine learning systems with “an even more targeted mix of classifiers, keywords in additional languages, and information from regional analysts” to identify “narratives” that YouTube’s main classifier doesn’t catch.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has reiterated the platform’s commitment to boosting what she described as “authoritative” sources and “experts” over the independent creators that helped build the video-sharing site into what it is today.
Wojcicki made the comments on TIDETVhamburg, an independent broadcaster that’s based in Hamburg, when discussing YouTube’s “four R’s” policy framework which is used to “Raise,” “Remove,” “Reduce,” and “Reward” videos and creators on the platform.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube CEO Wants Governments to Pass Laws to “Have More Control Over Online Speech”
Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube, has acknowledged that the platform’s policy of censoring legal content that it deems to be “harmful” is controversial and urged governments to step in and pass stronger speech laws.
Wojcicki made the comments in an interview with the Hamburg-based independent broadcaster TIDETVhamburg where she was asked about how the platform navigates the “minefield” or complying with national laws while also keeping advertisers happy and users interested.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
YouTube CEO Praises Investments That Allowed Swift Rollout of COVID Censorship Rules
During an interview on the Hamburg-based independent broadcaster TIDETVhamburg, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki lauded her platform’s swift rollout of COVID censorship policies and described the pandemic as a “huge opportunity to deliver authoritative information.”
“For us, when the pandemic hit, it was after many, many years that we had been working on all our responsibility work,” Wojcicki said. “We had been investing across policy, technology, enforcement, all areas, and I’m very thankful for that investment over many, many years because that enabled us to take action very, very quickly when the pandemic hit.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Tuesday evening, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, as well as the truck full of 10,000 pillows he vowed to bring to Canadian truckers currently protesting in Ottawa, were intercepted at the Canadian border and denied entry.
A senior government source told the National Post that Lindell and an accompanying videographer were stopped at the Port Huron-Sarnia border crossing Tuesday evening enroute to Ottawa.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Freedom Convoy Organizer Tamara Lich Arrested in Ottawa
Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich has been arrested by Ottawa police as Trudeau’s crackdown on freedom protesters continues.
As Lich was being arrested, she told her fellow protesters to “hold the line.”
Just one day earlier, Lich appeared resigned to the outcome in a tearful video that was shared to social media.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Orders Firms to Freeze Assets of Anyone Who “Indirectly” Engages in Freedom Convoy Protests
On Monday, the Canadian government announced drastic plans to freeze the bank accounts of protesters associated with the Freedom Convoy — a movement that’s standing against vaccine mandates. However, the government document containing these plans, which was published by the Canadian government late Tuesday night, reveals that the financial restrictions will extend far beyond bank accounts and can be used to target anyone who’s deemed to have “indirectly” engaged in the protests.
The new government order applies to a wide range of entities including banks, fundraising platforms, insurance companies, investment firms, loan companies, securities dealers, credit unions, and fraternal benefit societies.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canadian Premiers and American Governors Demand End to Trucker Vaccine Mandates
Two Canadian provincial leaders and 16 American state governors signed a letter on Wednesday calling on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and American President Joe Biden to end Wuhan coronavirus vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers.
The letter — signed by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Idaho Governor Brad Little, Alaska Governor Kay Ivey and others — calls on the Canadian federal government and the U.S. federal government to end the vaccine mandates.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Police to Send Names of Trucker Protesters to Financial Institutions
Canadian banks will receive the names of people involved in “Freedom Convoy” protests that have descended on the nation’s capital, a first step in a promised financial crackdown on demonstrators being instituted by the far-left government of Justin Trudeau.
Bloomberg reports the Canadian Bankers Association confirmed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has alerted banks to a list of names and made it available.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Canada Sanctions 34 Crypto Wallets Tied to ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protests
Canadian authorities have ordered all regulated financial firms to cease facilitating transactions from 34 crypto wallets tied to funding the trucker-led “Freedom Convoy” protests in Ottawa, and elsewhere across the country.
The Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mountain Police working with FINTRAC to investigate cryptocurrency donations supporting the protests against the country’s vaccine mandate have sanctioned the wallets following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement earlier this week condemning the protests and invoking the Emergencies Act for the first time since the law was passed in 1988.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
CBC Uses Stolen Freedom Convoy Donor List to Contact Donors, Asking Why They Donated
On February 13, crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo, which was being used to fundraise for the Freedom Convoy protests, was hacked. The personal information of more than 90,000 people who donated to the Freedom Convoy 2022 campaign was stolen.
Now, the Canadian government-funded media company CBC is using the stolen data, contacting those whose data was exposed, for a story.
CBC likely got a copy of the data from the leaked files hosting service Distributed Denial of Secrets or downloaded it at the time of the attack. The original link to the hacked data, posted on GiveSendGo.wtf, is no longer available.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Children’s Aid Society Warns Convoy Parents to Make “Alternate Care Arrangements”
The Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa (CASO) has warned parents in the Freedom Convoy to “make the necessary alternate care arrangements should they become unable to care for their children following potential police action.”
According to estimates, over 100 truckers have brought their children along for the demonstrations.
“CASO has a mandate to protect a child when their parent becomes unavailable to exercise their custodial rights over the child and the parent has not made adequate provision for the child’s care and custody,” said the organization in a press release on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Convoy Organizer Arrested in Ottawa as Police Crackdown Begins
Law enforcement in Ottawa has begun to move on Freedom Convoy protest organizers after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on Monday to quash demonstrations throughout the city.
Protestors have been in Ottawa for over three weeks now, demanding an end to all COVID-19 mandates and restrictions.
True North fellow Andrew Lawton posted a video clip of a police cruiser taking away an unidentified protestor who had just been arrested. Supporters can be heard chanting “freedom” as music plays in the background.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Doxed Ontario Staffer Loses Job Over $100 Donation to Freedom Convoy
Marion Isabeau-Ringuette, who until last weekend was director of communications for the office of Solicitor-General Sylvia Jones in Canada’s Ontario province, is one of several government staffers to lose their jobs after hackers exposed the list of Freedom Convoy donors from U.S. crowdfunding website GiveSendGo.
The details of Isabeau-Ringuette’s departure were murky in CTV’s report Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Christian, a trucker in Ottawa participating in the Freedom Convoy demonstration, told Breitbart News on Friday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is sowing seeds of hatred between Canadians and changing the country into a communist state.
“I feel so sorry that we got where we got,” Christian said. “This is not Canada, anymore. This is a communist country. [Trudeau] is dividing people, hating people.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Bans, Locks Out, Freedom Convoy Admin
Raechel Allan-Nicholls, a businesswoman from Kelowna, a city in British Columbia, had her personal Facebook account and the Instagram page of her business suspended. She believes the accounts were suspended because she is an admin for Freedom Convoy 2022 Facebook group.
Allan-Nicholls runs Big Deal Detailing, a vehicle detailing business, through her personal and business accounts on Facebook. She told local news outlet Coast Reporter that she no longer has access to her account.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Financial Intelligence Chief Shuts Down Claims of Extremist Convoy Funding
A chief official at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has denied claims of foreign extremist funding now being peddled by Liberal politicians and legacy media.
During a Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security meeting last Thursday, FINTRAC Deputy Director of Intelligence Barry MacKillop said that there were no signs that what was happening in Ottawa was a form of ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Freedom Convoy Protesters Dismiss Justin Trudeau’s Emergency Powers Move
Some members of Ottawa’s “Freedom Convoy” — which urges Canada’s government to drop pandemic-related vaccine mandates and restrictions — dismissed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to use a federal Emergencies Act against the peaceful protest as a “scare tactic” on Wednesday, the Canadian Press reported.
“Members of the Ottawa blockade that has kept the capital at a standstill for nearly three full weeks are calling the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act a scare tactic,” according to the news agency.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Freedom Convoy Truckers Say Trudeau Invoking Emergencies Act Won’t Make Them Leave
With Trudeau’s Emergencies Act now invoked and the resignation of Ottawa’s police chief, a looming uncertainty reigns over what will happen next with the Freedom Convoy and the protesters in downtown Ottawa.
I went out in the streets to ask around to know how the truckers felt about the news and if their decision to stay or leave had been affected by the announcement. Most of them appear to be willing to stay despite the government’s intention to put an end to all this as soon as possible, with all the possible powers it can muster.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Freedom Convoy: Government Narrative vs. Independent Journalism
The story being told by the government about the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa and the scenes depicted across social media and streaming platforms are quite clearly opposed to one another.
The government paints the event as a dangerous occupation, complete with radical extremists set to attempt to overthrow elected officials. The independent journalists, including Rebel News‘ Alexa Lavoie and Lincoln Jay, however, have depicted a very different story — with bouncy castles, free food, street hockey and more.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Furey: The System Fights Back as Trudeau Faces Legal Challenges
If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thought the legal community was just going to roll over and accept it when he decided to invoke the Emergencies Act without proper justification, he’s now been proven wrong.
The PM faces at least two major legal challenges as well as a potential investigation from the federal privacy commissioner — and there could be more to come.
First, there was the announcement from the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) that they would be commencing an urgent application for judicial review at the Federal Court.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘I’m in it for the Long Haul, They Can Throw Whatever They Want at Me’
Justin Trudeau has officially invoked the Emergencies Act in response to the ongoing trucker convoy in the city of Ottawa. Truckers who are a part of the convoy are now faced with the threat of having their bank accounts frozen and having their drivers/commercial licenses pulled for simply protesting COVID-19 mandates.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Lilley: Trudeau Linking Lantsman to Swastikas is Disgusting
It’s become far too common for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to denounce anyone he disagrees with as a racist, misogynist or even a Nazi but that he did so to a Jewish woman on Wednesday is outrageous. Yet there was Trudeau, responding to a completely reasonable question by linking Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman to people waving Nazi flags.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Major Canadian Banks Experience Online Outage
Five large Canadian banks reportedly went offline on Wednesday, with users complaining of access to online and mobile banking, e-transfers, and debit purchases being inaccessible.
The reported banks are: Bank of Montreal (BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), TD Bank, and Scotiabank.
While news of the reported outages became widespread on social media and tech publications around the world, the only bank to acknowledge technical issues itself was RBC.
“We are currently experiencing technical issues with our online and mobile banking, as well as our phone systems,” RBC wrote on Twitter.
“Our experts are investigating and working to get this fixed as quickly as possible, but we have no ETA to provide at this time.”
[…]
The uptick reported at TD was theorized by one software engineer as being either a massive DDOS (denial of service) attack, or simply an influx of users flooding the system to withdraw money following “reported” outages at other banks. Both would explain online platforms — with potentially varying DNS providers — failing in unison.
If there was an influx of Canadians scrambling to withdraw cash in large quantities Wednesday, some may have done so in the nick of time. The federal government confirmed Thursday it has begun seizing accounts associated with the Freedom Convoy.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Ottawa Café Closes After Freedom Convoy Donor Hack Led to Death Threats
The Stella Luna Gelato Café in Ottawa had to close this week after the staff received threats.
The private information of Tammy Giuliani, the owner of the cafe, was published by the hacker of GiveSendGo, the crowdfunding platform that was running the fundraising campaign for the civil liberties protests in Canada.
Giuliani made a $250 donation to the cause on February 5th and, since the leak, has faced threats and constant phone calls jamming up the line.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ottawa Threatens to Take Away Animals of Freedom Convoy Protestors
The city of Ottawa threatened in a statement Thursday to place the pets of Freedom Convoy protestors into “protective care” or possibly take them away permanently if their owners are arrested.
Ottawa By-Law, which enforces regulations made by the City of Ottawa, published a statement on Twitter Thursday indicating that animals of Freedom Convoy protestors could be taken into “protective care” if protestors are arrested by police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ottawa Police Says Anyone Protesting in Ottawa Now “Breaking the Law”
The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) has ordered people participating in the Freedom Convoy to exit the city or risk being arrested.
The OPS also announced Wednesday that the federal government’s Emergencies Act allows travel to be regulated in a particular area, adding that anyone who comes to Ottawa to protest is now breaking the law.
“Anyone blocking streets, or assisting others in the blocking of streets, are committing a criminal offence and …may be arrested,” said the OPS in a press release.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ottawa Police Handing Out Warnings, Fines for Traffic Violations to Truckers
The Ottawa police have recently started handing out fines to truckers from the Freedom Convoy who are parked around the city. The fines are mostly for traffic violations and blocking intersections — oddly enough, truckers are claiming these fines often range in price depending on who issues them.
I went out to interview some of the truckers who’ve received fines and asked them what exactly was going on. Some of them told me the police had even been attempting to tow trucks with the drivers still inside the cab, which they consider is theft and an intimidation tactic. Most truckers I interviewed insist they will not be leaving, no matter how many fines they receive.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pawlowski Family Reacts to Pastor Artur’s Bail Being Denied
Pastor Artur Pawlowski was denied bail in a decision that left Artur, his family and his legal counsel Sarah Miller shocked.
While we may have to wait a day or two for the written ruling to be released, and at the time you’ll be able to read Judge Erin Olsen’s words for yourself, you surely won’t be surprised to learn that she hardly seemed impartial in her ruling. In fact, she not only denied Artur bail, she also unprovokedly stated that the crown had a very strong case against Artur when the trial commences.
Bail is usually denied when someone poses a threat to society, which might make sense in the case of a gangster or drug dealer, but all Pastor Artur ever did was preach, feed the homeless and open his church.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Extremists Threaten to Throw Bricks at Cafe Owner ID’d in Alleged Freedom Convoy Hack
At least one Canadian businesswoman claimed on Tuesday to have received threats after appearing on a list of alleged donors to Freedom Convoy protestors hacked from the site GiveSendGo and shared with media.
Tammy Giuliani, owner of Stella Luna Gelato Cafe, said she has been forced to close the doors of her Ottawa business due to threats from extremists after her name appeared on the list. The Freedom Convoy is a protest movement calling for an end to all civil rights violations imposed on Canadians allegedly to prevent the spread of Chinese coronavirus.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Saskatchewan Party Wins Surprise Upset in Northern Byelection
In an exciting political byelection race, Saskatchewan Party candidate Jim Lemaigre has won the seat for the Athabasca provincial electoral district, a geographically large district encompassing the north western portion of the province.
This is an extremely historically significant win for the Saskatchewan Party, as no right-of-centre party has ever won in the region.
The seat has been held by Buckley Belanger of the province’s New Democratic Party since 1995, though Belanger was originally elected as a Liberal before joining the NDP in 1998.
Prior to 1995, the region had only Liberal, NDP and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (democratic socialist and social-democrat) representation.
Belanger recently resigned from the provincial legislature to run in the 2021 federal election as a Liberal in the same riding (where he was defeated), which opened the seat up and forced a byelection.
Running for the NDP was La Loche mayor and former NDP MP Georgina Jolibois, who scored approximately 40% to Lemaigre’s 51%. Other contenders in the riding were Clint Arnason (Buffalo Party) and Darwin Roy (independent).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Self-Described “Cyber-Terrorist” Takes Credit for Illegal GiveSendGo Data Breach
Canadian hacker Aubrey Cottle has claimed responsibility for the illegal GiveSendGo data breach on Sunday that exposed the private information of thousands of people who donated to the Freedom Convoy fundraiser.
Cottle — who describes himself as a “cyber-terrorist” — made the statement during a TikTok livestream on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Political Costs of Trudeau Seizing Bank Accounts Under the Emergencies Act
On last night’s episode of The Ezra Levant Show, Ezra discussed the Trudeau Liberals’ plans to seize bank accounts of customers without any due process, under Trudeau’s Emergency Economic Measures Order.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Trudeau is Beginning to Lose’ — Farage Denounces ‘Dire Threats’ Made Against Freedom Convoy
Brexit firebrand Nigel Farage has denounced the ‘dire threats’ made by the Trudeau government against Canada’s Freedom Convoy demonstrators, noting that it appears the Canadian Prime Minister is losing the battle on lockdown rules.
Nigel Farage — the UK political lynchpin behind the Brexit movement — has slammed the Canadian government’s handling of the ongoing Freedom Convoy anti-lockdown protests in the country.
Drawing a comparison between the Canadian truckers — who he says have “behaved incredibly well” — to the sometimes-violent Black Lives Matter movement, Farage said that Trudeau’s far-left administration was getting “very very heavy” on those involved in the demos.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trudeau vs. Canada: House of Commons Sitting Gets Heated!
WATCH BELOW as the Sun takes a look at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Leader of the Opposition Candice Bergen
trading arguments in the House of Commons on the Emergency Act.
What do YOU think?
Tweet and Facebook us!
And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Trudeau Minister Threatens to Seize Accounts of ‘Pro-Trump’ Convoy Donors
The justice minister in Justin Trudeau’s government has said that if you hold the wrong political views, you should be worried about your bank account.
David Lametti, a lawyer and former law professor who is now the government’s lead legal authority, made the comments when questioned about whether people who made donations to the trucker convoy will have accounts seized.
When they invoked the Emergencies Act on Monday, the Trudeau government made clear that they were not just going after the crowdfunding of Freedom Convoy organizers but would also target individual bank accounts.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Vancouver-Area Radio Loses Popular Host Kid Carson After Speaking Truth About Freedom Convoy
In today’s report, I sit down for a candid interview with a longtime favourite in British Columbia, mainstream radio broadcaster Kid Carson.
Vancouver’s Z95.3 radio station has recently parted ways with the popular host, after Carson aired his support for Canada’s Freedom Convoy movement in Ottawa.
“If you think the trucker convoy in Ottawa is a racist movement, you’ve been tricked” was just one of the trigger-worthy truth bombs dropped by Carson on what proved to be his last time on the airwaves for the radio station.
Carson is not the only high profile individual to speak out against the Trudeau approved narrative on the freedom movement, which is now in its third week of protesting against COVID-19 mandates outside of Parliament.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Lawmakers Burst Out Laughing at Justin Trudeau Saying ‘Responsible Leadership’
Far-left Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced another round of heckling and widespread laughter in Parliament on Tuesday, prompting audible cackling at his use of the term “responsible leadership” after invoking the never-before-used Emergencies Act against anti-mandate protesters this week.
The Emergencies Act is a law passed in 1988 that allows for widespread federal civil rights violations in the event of violent civil unrest, terrorism, and other emergencies. The law replaced the War Measures Act which granted similar sweeping powers and was last used by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the current head of government’s father, against secessionist terrorists in Quebec. The violence in 1970 that prompted such a move is almost entirely absent in the current anti-mandate movement, however, leaving many — including a large number of provincial leaders — baffled as to why the younger Trudeau invoked the act.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Christians Suggest Proposed UK Speech Law Could Make Christian Teachings Illegal
The UK government is working on the Online Safety Bill to reduce the spread of “harmful” content through online platforms.
However, it has been noted that the bill could end up censoring Christian teachings.
The Christian Institute has announced that it appreciates the government’s commitment to fighting harmful content. However, it feels that the bill could also make expressing Christian beliefs unlawful.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: COVID Positive and No School Thanks to Cooldrink
Schoolchildren in Berlin produce positive SARS-CoV-2 test results with the drink “Capri-Sun” and thus get a few days off from school.
It has already been proven how unreliable the SARS-CoV-2 tests are. This applies to both the PCR tests and the antigen tests.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who mysteriously died last year, achieved worldwide fame when he had the effectiveness of the PCR tests checked. Among other things, Magufuli had samples taken from animals and fruit and tested while “disguised” as human samples. A papaya and a goat then gave positive results.
Later, the antigen tests were also “tested” by scientists and politicians in Italy and Austria by dripping various fruit juices and other drinks on them. The result: Some fruit juices, Coca-Cola and Red Bull could produce a positive test result.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy May Allow Coronavirus State of Emergency to Expire at End of March
Italian Undersecretary of Health Andrea Costa has claimed that the government may let its state of emergency expire at the end of March, paving the way to the end of coronavirus restrictions and the country’s health passport system.
Undersecretary of Health Costa spoke to broadcaster RAI this week, stating that he expected the government could let the state of emergency expire on March 31st, which could lead to the relaxation of various Wuhan coronavirus restrictions and measures.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Massive U-Turn: Austria to Repeal Almost All ‘Corona Apartheid’ Rules Targeting Unvaxxed
In what amounts to a seismic u-turn in policy, Austria is to relax all ‘Corona Apartheid’ rules targetting the nation’s unvaccinated, despite having previously promised to keep unjabbed individuals under perpetual lockdown.
Austria’s coalition government has announced that the vast majority of lockdown measures in place in the country — including the almost all “Corona Apartheid” restrictions specifically targeting the nation’s unvaccinated — are to be scrapped from March 5.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Teen Ambushed by Mob of 40 ‘Youths’ In Belgium
A 19-year-old male is recovering from injuries sustained during a brutal beating inflicted by a mob of around 40 ‘young people’ in Belgium this week, according to reports.
The horrifying attack unfolded at around 4:30 p.m. on Monday in Namur, capital of the Wallonia region of Belgium.
The victim, a teenager identified as Liam, was on his way to a train station after leaving school when he was singled out by an individual with whom he was familiar.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Labels Russia’s ‘Retaliatory’ Shelling of Kindergarten ‘False Flag Operation’
The Prime Minister and several government ministers have labelled Russia’s claims surrounding shelling that struck, among other locations, a school in Ukraine a “false flag operation” intended to discredit Ukraine.
A “Kindergarten” junior school in Stanytsia Luhanska, Ukraine, was struck by shellfire that impacted several villages and towns near the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine on Thursday morning. According to the Ukranian government, as of Thursday afternoon, there had been “42 cases of shelling” recorded which had not caused any deaths, but had seen buildings damaged and seen several people injured, including at least four civilians and one soldier.
In military parlance, “shelling” is understood to be a concentration of indirect artillery fire intended to impact a wide area, rather than directed fire attempting to destroy a particular target. Generally, it involves explosive ordinance, or shells fired in a barrage.
The Russian government provided their own take on events, saying in a release from state media service TASS that the shelling was not by Russian forces but from “forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic” — in other words forces loyal to and equipped by Moscow — and was initiated in response to Ukraine shelling them first.
Ukraine denies having shelled at all and says the weapons used by Russia in the bombardment are from heavy guns and a tank banned by the Minsk accords signed in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Accuses Russia-Backed Fighters of Bombing Kindergarten
Militants allegedly backed by Russia in the occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk bombed a kindergarten in the Ukrainian settlement of Stanytsia Luhanska on Thursday, the National News Agency of Ukraine (Ukrinform) reported.
“Today at about 9:00 [am], Russian occupiers fired on the village of Stanytsia Luhanska. One of the shells hit a kindergarten where children were at the time. According to preliminary information, kids have not been injured, but two teachers have received blast injuries,” Ukrinform, a government news agency, reported on February 17.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
TikTok Sucks Up More Data Than Any Other Social App. Where it Goes is a Mystery.
Mobile marketing firm URL Genius conducted a study that found out that YouTube and TikTok collect the most data, compared to other social media apps. YouTube mostly collects data for its own use. But TikTok shares almost all the data it collects with third parties, and it’s not clear where the data goes.
URL Genius recorded app activity on iOS to conduct the study. They used the feature to record how many domains track users’ activity across 10 social media apps. The study was conducted for one visit, without even logging in.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Website of Rights Group Blocked in Hong Kong
The website of Hong Kong Watch, a rights group based in the UK, is now inaccessible through some networks in Hong Kong.
The site’s inaccessibility raises concerns that the island might soon experience more of the internet censorship experienced in China.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
New Zealand Threatens to Use Military Against Civilian Anti-Mandate Protesters
The New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) warned Wednesday it was poised to deploy “Defence Force assets” to Wellington to disband an anti-coronavirus vaccine mandate protest near New Zealand’s parliament building after the rally pushed into its ninth consecutive day.
“An NZDF spokeswoman said discussions on the possible deployment of Defence Force assets remain ongoing, and no decisions have been made,” New Zealand’s Stuff news site reported on February 16.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
NSW Took Months to Disclose Massive Data Leak of COVID QR Check-in System
Something that many experts have warned is entirely predictable — taking into account both the quality, or lack thereof, of proper oversight, has unfortunately come to pass in Australia. There, data from over half a million check-ins performed using Covid measures-mandated QR codes has been compromised.
The huge leak — from some 566,318 locations — has embarrassed the New South Wales (NSW) government, which put the mandate in place via its Customer Services Department, saying at the time it was to protect Australians in the pandemic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Tonga Volcano: Plume Reached Half-Way to Space
An indicator of the great power of last Saturday’s volcanic eruption in Tonga is the height reached by its plume.
UK scientists examining weather satellite data calculate it to be around 55km (35 miles) above the Earth’s surface.
This is at the boundary of the stratosphere and mesosphere layers in the atmosphere.
Dr Simon Proud, from RAL Space, said these were “unheard-of altitudes” for a volcanic plume.
The most powerful eruption in the second half of the 20th Century came from Mount Pinatubo in 1991. Its plume is thought to have climbed to roughly 40km.
However, it’s possible today’s more accurate satellites would have given a higher altitude for the Philippines event, cautioned Dr Proud, who is affiliated to the UK National Centre for Earth Observation.
The spreading ash was visible from the International Space Station
To work out the position in the sky of the plume from Tonga’s Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcano, data from three weather satellites — Himawari-8 (Japan) GOES-17 (USA) and GK2A (Korean) — was used.
“Because they’re all at different longitudes, we can use the parallax between their views of the eruption to determine altitude. This is a pretty well established technique for storm cloud heights, and should actually work better here as the altitude [and hence parallax] is greater,” Dr Proud told BBC News.
Only a small part of the cloud is seen to get to 55km. This is most likely water vapour, rather than ash, that was pushed upward at the head of the updraft. The main umbrella of the plume is at 35km. A lower plume feature is evident in the lowest layer of the atmosphere — the troposphere.
The so-called Kármán line, which is often quoted as the atmospheric boundary with outer space, is at 100km…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Left-Wing Swedish Politician Surprised by Sex-Tourism Reporter in the Gambia
On February 12, a Swedish reporter Christian Peterson published a video on Twitter, where during a visit to The Gambia he unexpectedly encounters the Left Party’s legal policy spokesperson Linda Snecker, a politician who has not infrequently had angry outbursts against white men.
The 39-year-old politician has attracted attention for her attacks on white men as well as for her proposals to impose harsh penalties on white men who buy sex from women. At first she appears quite friendly, but when she is asked what she has been doing in The Gambia and if it feels good to be far away from white men, she is clearly bothered and asks Peterson to “fly back home”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Business Council is calling for the skilled migration cap to be lifted to 220,000 over the next two financial years to assist acute worker shortages.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Dozens of Illegal Migrants Take Over Empty Brussels Hotel
A large group of illegal migrants recently began squatting in a former hotel in Brussels, according to reports.
Authorities were dispatched to the address on Sunday, where they discovered around 50 migrants hailing mostly from Africa had taken over the building in Saint Josse, a municipality in the Belgian capital.
“They were able to see that the occupation had been in place for more than 24 hours, which rules out any intervention by the police,” RTBF reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Frontex: Illegal Migrant Arrivals to EU Increased 78 Per Cent in January
The European Union border agency Fontex has reported that illegal arrivals into the European Union in January of this year have increased by 78 per cent compared to the same time in 2021.
Frontex reported on Tuesday that the number of illegal migrant arrivals reached 13,160 in the first month of 2020, a 78 per cent increase from January 2021 and a 23 per cent increase from January 2020, prior to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal Alien MS-13 Gang Members, Freed Into U.S., Stabbed Boy to Death
Four MS-13 Gang members, at least two of whom are illegal aliens, have been sentenced for the murder of a teenage boy in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Illegal aliens Jonathan Tercero Yanes and Henri Salvador Gutierrez, both from El Salvador, were sentenced this week in federal court with their fellow MS-13 Gang members Erick Lopez Flores and Djavier Duggins for murdering a teenage boy.
On July 30, 2018, the gang members lured the boy into a Lynn playground where they pretended to be friends with him. While in a wooded area in the park, the gang members surrounded the boy and stabbed him to death with knives.
The gang members then left the boy’s body in the park. An autopsy found that the boy had been stabbed a total of 32 times and was repeatedly stabbed with blunt force in the head.
Prior to the murder, Yanes had been twice stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. In November 2017, ICE agents sought to keep him detained, arguing that he was a threat to public safety. That same month, Yanes was allowed to bond out of federal custody.
Gutierrez, in addition to the Lynn murder, was also involved in the murder of a teenage boy in the East Boston region of Massachusetts on December 24, 2016. In that murder, Gutierrez and other MS-13 gang members stabbed the boy to death in a public soccer stadium — slashing his throat and stabbing him in the neck and chest repeatedly.
The following year, in 2017, Gutierrez was arrested by ICE agents after he had been ordered deported from the U.S. He first arrived illegally in the U.S. in 2014 and applied for asylum despite his affiliations with the MS-13 Gang.
In immigration court, Gutierrez said he was not affiliated with the MS-13 Gang and had not committed any crimes in the past. Relying on his false testimony, a federal immigration judge released Gutierrez into the U.S. interior on June 22, 2018, and helped secure him a green card…
| — Hat tip: JW | [Return to headlines] |
Researcher Warns Nordic Countries of Refugee Flow From ‘Migrant Nation’ Ukraine
Norway and other Nordic countries must stay prepared for an influx of Ukrainian refugees in case of war, previously described as imminent, researcher Jakub Godzimirski of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs has warned.
A “possible” war between Russia and Ukraine could trigger a major refugee crisis in Europe, Godzimirski told the newspaper Vårt Land. While nearby nations such as Poland, Romania, and Slovakia will bear the brunt of the migrant crisis and are already preparing to receive thousands of refugees, Norway and other Scandinavian nations must also prepare for more refugees as a result of a war, Godzimirski said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Priti Patel Hires Australia’s Migrant Guru in Bid to Help Solve Channel Crisis
A former minister who played a key role in Australia’s controversial asylum seeker ‘pushback’ policy has been hired to shake up Britain’s border measures.
Priti Patel will announce today that Alexander Downer, ex-minister for foreign affairs Down Under, will carry out a thorough review of the UK Border Force.
His remit will include looking at the influence of unions over the agency’s effectiveness.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Element Introduces New End-to-End Encrypted Way to Share Location With Friends, Family
The Element app — a free and open-source software messenger sitting on top of the Matrix protocol — has announced that it is launching end-to-end encryption (E2EE) location sharing.
Location sharing in online apps is a tricky business — on one hand, it provides convenience that most users crave, but on the other, it can be, and often is a privacy nightmare, complete with data mining, and tracking for the sake of infesting people’s devices with unwanted ads.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Private schools across the country are training teachers to expose kids as young as four years old to sexually explicit content — in secrecy and without parents’ knowledge — directed by the National Association Independent Schools (NAIS) as part of a “queer-inclusive” curriculum.
Breitbart News has reviewed an extensive trove of NAIS documents and teacher trainings supplied to private schools nation-wide, which, under the guise of being “queer” and “LGBTQ+ inclusive,” urge the use of graphic sexual material in classes starting at Pre-K.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“In other news, Austria has done a 180-degree turn on COVID restrictions, and decided to repeal all of them.”
Justin clearly isn’t paying attention.
“New Zealand Threatens to Use Military Against Civilian Anti-Mandate Protesters”
Wonder how many soldiers are going to side with the public. Pre-corona I would’ve said the majority, but seeing how many people fell for the propaganda, I’m not so sure anymore.
I had heard when the police arrested 100+ people, 1,500 showed up to replace them. They stopped arresting them.