Friends, bolstering their well-deserved reputation for iron-fisted repression, the strongmen who rule Canada have decided to disperse the protestors occupying the area around Parliament in Ottawa. Frankly, I don't entirely blame them for clearing an "occupation" that was disruptive of commerce and daily life, and clearly against the law. In fact, I wonder why they didn't do it a lot sooner. What's troubling, though, is how the tactics used by Canada's police state have been reflective of the (allegedly fascist) cause of the protests. I mean, it's illegality that should dictate a police response, or the freezing or confiscation of funds, right? That's to say: the law should be applied equally to all law-breakers, regardless of their ideology. As we all know, however, the establishment Left loves to give us object lessons in how, when those who cherish liberty or conservative values protest or engage in civil disobedience, the crackdown will be fierce. But when leftist agitators break the same laws, or when they go much further and engage in rampant criminal violence, the authorities will take a dispassionate view, and they will enforce the law sparingly, if at all. If this "fair"? Heck no! But then we already knew that life isn't fair, so there's no reason to be shocked. What's more, we need to factor in the two-tiered system of justice and law enforcement in place throughout the West, and plan our campaigns of defiance and resistance accordingly. There are, undoubtedly, occasions when the law must be flouted, but my advice to you as a conservative is: never, ever cross that bridge lightly. Unless we rabble-rouse very selectively, we will almost certainly do ourselves and our cause more harm than good.
It looks like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to target the finances of Freedom Convoy protestors caused some ripple effects in Canadian banking. Interesting. I wouldn't go as far as to suggest that all conservatives should hide their cash in their mattresses, but I would say: if you've got a choice between parking your money in a big, woke, corporate bank, and a small, local bank, choose the latter!
https://fee.org/articles/did-justin-trudeau-s-financial-crackdown-really-spark-a-bank-run-in-canada/
The U.S. government says a Russian invasion of Ukraine is more or less guaranteed at this stage. Do I believe it? I honestly don't know what to believe!
https://www.newsmax.com/headline/blinken-putin-invading-ukraine/2022/02/20/id/1057628/
The good news? Trump's new social media platform is about to launch. The bad news? Most people will access it through the Apple and Google Play app stores. Apple and Google are probably both itching to, and planning to, remove Truth Social from their stores at the first sign of "incitement", or "white supremacy", or even "freedom" (which is almost as bad). This will be a big challenge for Trump and his digital confederates.
https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/truth-social-app-debut-trump-apple/2022/02/20/id/1057609/
As you must know by know, laws can't possibly be enforced when a disproportionate number of the people caught breaking them are BIPOC. I mean, that would be racist! The ideal solution: repeal the offending laws, and let society slide into a reassuringly equitable form of anarchy. And we're well on our way!
https://www.theblaze.com/news/seattle-mandatory-bicycle-helmet-law-racial-equity
We here at WaddyisRight wish Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II a speedy recovery from the ravages (and/or minor annoyances) of COVID. On the other hand, now that the coronavirus is fashionable among the crowned heads of Europe, maybe the rest of us will want a generous helping of it for ourselves? Monkey see, monkey do...
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/02/20/triple-jabbed-queen-elizabeth-ii-95-positive-for-covid/
Dr.Waddy from Jack: I sincerely hope for her Majesty's well being! By my lights, she is our Queen too!
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy from Jack: There can be no doubt that were the demonstrations of leftist provenance, nothing but abject apology would have been of Trudeau's intent! His arrogant disdain for the financial hazards run by so many of the truckers andtheir families is obvious! He could have said" I recognize thepersonal hazzard run by so many of you in this effort! It is incumbent on me to give your concerns full and fair audience. " But no, nothing but contemptuous dismissal and comparison to Nazis and other elements easily condemned by those outside the US!
ReplyDeleteSo Her Majesty the Queen reigns supreme over Jack, but NOT over Ray. Duly noted. Ray, I hope this severe setback doesn't impede her recovery!
ReplyDeleteJack, Trudeau was very passionate in his dismissal and condemnation of the truckers. He certainly came across as thin-skinned. I wonder if Canada will experience a trucker shortage? I mean, given the abuse they've taken in the frozen north, why would any trucker want to work there?
Thank goodness that Queen Elizabeth was triple-vaxxed. As a result, her bout of COVID is mild, versus being deadly (esp. at 95).
ReplyDeleteHey There Rod,
DeleteAnd just think, when big Pharma gets done testing its "vaccine" out on the masses (including the queen), they can start testing it on lab mice. Think of it as scientific advancement ably assisted by Fu Manchu.
It's ironic to see the conservative media jump on Trudeau. I thought conservatives were for law and order.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, suspending licenses and towing trucks is fine with me, particularly since there have been numerous warnings. But freezing bank accounts is a major step too far.
On the contrary Rod, for The Left, freezing bank accounts is not too far at all. That asshole Macron in France would like to take citizenship from the French who refuse to get vaccinated. Nothing is too far from any authoritarian regimes anywhere, to include our current regime. Wake up!
DeleteDr.Waddy et al from Jack:Given our sincere devotion to constitutionally authorized and justly enforced law and order we on the right SHOULD be ready to explain problems understandably seen in our defense of the Canadian truckers. When certain expressions and actions , of people or organizations are repeated enough as much as to say to those of common sense, or especially
ReplyDeletethose thereby disadvantaged: " this is reasonably to be expected from these sources", it is justified to consider them to be predictable patterns. Knowing, from , what we considerto be overwhelming evidence of the left's intolerance of any beliefs contrary to its dictates and its support of any measureswhich advance its totalitarian intent we can hold with confidence that leftist Trudeau treated the truckers unjustly.He would certainly have treated leftist demonstrators doing analagous disorder with great deference.
Sorry - its analogous.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Truckers do not ,generally, have high incomes. And if they own their tractor or the whole rig, the investment can be astronomical. Its no small thing for them to give up the profession, especially if they are in their 40s to 70s and have been on the road all their working lives. Merle Haggard's Working Man Blues and White Line Fever and Dave Dudley's Six Days on the road are worth a listen for their portrayals of truckers' lives. I expect that genre is not of Master Trudeau's entertainment pantheon.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: When dealing with authority or forces characterized by the consummate bigotry so definitive of the left and Master Trudeau, do not expect of stand up guys and gals like those of the trucking world, pusillanimous retreat. They have GONE to the WALL in Canada!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Its Monday and Putin has taken the next step andI think it fits the cautious Russian pattern since the advance of Nato. I maintain that all he seeks is restraint on the part of Nato even unto expressed refusal to incorporate Ukraine; only, simp!y, that! Maybe he does have dreams of the reestablishment of the Russian or Soviet empire. That's a dream, though perhaps partially doable. But this confrontation has everything to do with Russia's still remarkably controlled patience with persistent Western suggestion of investment of Ukraine, even if of armament. What would we have thought of European intent to retrieve Va or Mass. in our expansive 19th century?. Putin is a smart man and in this he has still, today, taken a tentative step. Let us not push Russia beyond its endurance. Sanctions? If we must Iguess we must. I would guess the Russian leadership is ready for it! But someday we may push Russia, yes Russia, too far. Remember 1962; Russia may!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack:I'm looking forward to accessing President Trump's new forum. I think it probable that he and its staff have anticipated the guaranteed vicious onslaught by the totalitarian American left. We know that the left found that it was not welcome in the talk radio world. Perhaps that was because Rush was "nonpareil" in that world and set an example very hard to beat. But there could be cultural and demographic reasons and I hope that they do not hobble conservative social media. Here is hoping my concerns are groundless. President Trump has a medium he used with honesty and courage to some advantage again available to him despite leftist bigotry. This is, I agree,to be celebrated!
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: Well, if we need examples of anarchic settings for our consideration of the effects of such an ambience why they are readily, increasingly so, available. This is due to frantic efforts of earnest and purposeful woke mayors, DAs and demagogues,enjoying a probably brief interlude of leave to enact their insane counterintuitive endorsement of the noncriminality of crime and criminals and of the ignorantGUILT of the lawful! That is, before the real America takes electoral action, after its stodgy wont.
ReplyDeleteRod, I'm glad the Queen has a mild case too. Is it due to the vaccine? Maybe. Or maybe she's just a tough old broad. Sometimes it's best to give thanks and not sweat the details.
ReplyDeleteRod, I'm glad to see you disapprove of the (warrantless) freezing of Canadians' bank accounts. Of course, all sorts of laws about due process were relaxed back in the War on Terror days. Now those infringements of our liberties are coming back to bite us. But I agree that, when public thoroughfares are blocked, the police have little choice but to open them up with the requisite use of force.
Ray, you're so right that COVID has brought out the worst streak of authoritarianism in the Left (and sometimes not just the Left). The scary part is how blithely the public accepted its own oppression.
Jack, you'll get no argument from me: Trudeau would never in a million years have been so dismissive of protestors or of "unrest" had it been motivated by approved minority grievances. The Left's indifference to the riots of summer 2020, and its blanket condemnation of law enforcement, will forever stain its honor and its judgement.
Yes, so far Russia's move into the easternmost parts of Ukraine is, as Jack says, "tentative". It could herald...almost anything. It could, for instance, be a fig leaf behind which Russia will hide while it backs down in the wider sense and forbears to invade Ukraine proper. Or, it could be the first bite out of an apple the whole of which will soon be in Russia's belly. Your guess is as good as mine.
I too wish Trump and Truth Social well. If they pull it off, and by "it" I mean the creation of a new Big Tech social media platform (that's "Big", not "small"), I'll be mightily impressed. I would give them maybe one-in-three odds.
Yes, Jack, I think we can safely assume the current fashion for excusing violent criminality is about to be tossed out the window, sometime around early November!
Does anyone recall that a few years ago Russia grabbed the Crimean Peninsula, which was part of The Ukraine, for warm water ports on The Black Sea? Doubt if many Americans can even point out the Crimea on a map, or even The Ukraine, much less give a damn what happens to it.
ReplyDeleteThese fools who now run our country have manufactured a situation far away from our country in order to divert attention from what is going on here. The fate of The Ukraine is none of our business! All Russia asked for initially is that The Ukraine not become a member of NATO. Does anyone remember "The Cuban Missile Crisis"? Any similarities there? Does anyone know anything about Russian History?
Dr.Waddy from Jack : Ray- megaditto to all you said above. Some know Russian history; Dr.Stephen Cohen of NYU predicted several years ago that we risk a Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse by toying with Russia over Ukraine.In '62 the Cuban based Russian IRBMs were a fundamental threat to our national security! They were in no way vital to Russia's security, so they wisely backed down, knowing they had gone too far! Ukraine is not of vital importanceto us UNLESS WE FOOLISHLY WILL IT SO! I think it conclusively obvious from Russia's history and geography, well beyond any consideration of a renascent Russian empire and of political doctrine, that Russia regards any manner of Ukrainian cooperation with a plainly (and justifiably) anti Russian alliance to be, ABSOLUTELY beyond any Russian toleration.We are already sorely testing their patience in this with our military aid to Ukraine. The Russians had forces in Cuba and we tolerated it. But the missiles were "too much". We are fast approaching Russia's "too much" in Ukraine now and for what does that justify risking even unintended WAR with RUSSIA, Russia itself!? If they want assurance that Nato will not admit Ukraine , why, give it to'em! No skin off our noses, sitting pretty as we do in Eastern Europe! And ethnic Ukraine might well thereby avoid execrable Russian rule, which could result from Russia perceiving that it had no alternative. We must faceup to this truth: Russia would surely even fight Nato to keep it out of Ukraine . The have been warning us for years (eg. in Georgia) and now, they are still just warning us . . . .!!!
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy etal from Jack: Here is another factor: in '62, we had much concern that Khruschev (who appeared open to some negotiation) might be summarily overthrown by hardliners. How can we be sure that this could not happen to demonstrably negotiable Putin?! "Why, enough of this of this "TUFTA" (in Russian, 'horseshit')nonsensical shameful kissing of the Nato arse!! Turn us loose! "
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy et al from Jack: I think the bottom line is this, under either relatively approachable Putin or very hardliners: Russia WILL do whatever it sees necessary to prevent Nato investment of even a very sliver of Ukraine. If that means Russian investment of all of Ukraine, no matter the risk or cost, even unto combat with Nato itself, it WILL be done. PERIOD!
ReplyDeleteDr.Waddy et al from Jack: Plausible suggestion has been made of this situation to 1938 and Czechoslovakia. Hitler was a diagnosably intensively insane person. I read about this in a psychological study o f the Nazis. It may account for his reckless adventurism (eg. the reoccupation of the Rhineland etc, etc.) I do not think this syndrome defines Putin. And yes,some of Czechoslovakia had some historic connections to some German states due to mutual inclusion in the Holy Roman Empire but not any comparable to Russia's relationship to ancestral Ukraine .Hitler was a frantic expansionist and convinced of the infallibility , or perhaps even devinely inspired confirmation of his personal daring. That's not Putin. .Does Putin dream of the reestablishment of the Warsaw Pact? I think not. I believe he is a Russian nationalist and may purpose the eventual East Eurasian dominance of Russia but Idon't think he imagines penetration of Nato. He would, I trust, show Nato Russia's mettle in Ukraine only and alone but without any restraint!
ReplyDeleteRay, I, for one, CAN find Crimea on a map! I delight in doing so, moreover. :) I agree 100% with your point, however, that most Americans don't care about Ukraine, and thus we were foolish ever to involve ourselves in Ukrainian affairs. I regard us as responsible for misleading Ukraine into the belief that it could extract itself from the Russian sphere of influence. All such efforts were fated to go badly. We should have seen that coming.
ReplyDeleteJack, you ask all the right questions. Now, sadly, Ukraine's opportunity to save itself, by forswearing NATO membership, has passed it by. It would have been so easy to avoid this catastrophe! And yet here we are.
Jack, I don't believe that Putin has designs on NATO either, and I also regard him as sane -- to a fault! The problem is that NATO and the West are telegraphing extraordinary weakness -- not to mention stupidity -- in their approach to the Ukrainian crisis. Ergo, Putin must now be wondering something like: if they won't even stop buying my oil and gas when I invade Ukraine, how weak would their response be if I invaded the Baltic states or Poland? Ordinarily, I would agree that Russia would never tangle with NATO. Now, though, it's gone from a 1% possibility to a 20% one. And, if we keep up our empty threats, that number could go still higher.