freedom convoy

did you think a problem would go away

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/12/rand-paul-trucker-protest-super-bowl/

As many anti-vaccine and anti-mandate protesters in trucks continue to paralyze Canada’s capital and block border crossings, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he hopes truckers would come to the United States as soon as this weekend to clog up streets in Los Angeles during the Super Bowl or next month to Washington.

Participants in the self-styled “Freedom Convoy” are expected to flood Ottawa for a third straight weekend in what Ontario Premier Doug Ford called a “siege” as he declared a provincial state of emergency. Protesters have also blocked several U.S.-Canada border crossings, affecting industries on both sides of the border.

Why are ‘Freedom Convoy’ truckers protesting in Canada?

Yet when Paul was asked about his thoughts on the convoy and the potential for it to spill over into Los Angeles, home of Sunday’s Super Bowl, or into the District, he said “it’d be great” if the anti-mandate demonstrators came to the United States to “clog things up.”

“I’m all for it,” Paul, a longtime opponent to masking and vaccine mandates, told the Daily Signal, a conservative outlet, on Thursday. “Civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in our country, from slavery to civil rights to you name it. Peaceful protest, clog things up, make people think about the mandates.”

He added, “I hope the truckers do come to America, and I hope they clog up cities.”

cities in particular, why is that rand.

anyway, it started in ottawa but this seems bound to be a global phenomenon soon. i do consider even the initial ottawa events to be a partnership import-export deal between canada and the u.s., with the the u.s. providing a lot of inspiration for just hating each other as human beings as well as expanding the possibilities of extreme libertarian bullshit at all levels, from the grassroots to rand paul.

anyways, the u.s. won't learn about this until the super bowl tomorrow

the USA has a white supremacist paramilitary problem. they have learned strategic thinking. right wing cable news is their willing propaganda arm. it's all still very bad. fascism is not shrinking.

if i understand my movie history right, this is where we all become hackers, order pizza online, and it's dark and it rains all the time

it just sucks that i'm sitting here, trying to mind my own business in the year 2022, and i just had the thought "i wonder if i should go to the store and stock up on a few essentials just in case the maga+qanon+white evangelical apocalypse coalition decides that it's time to counterattack for the years of passive-aggressive indignity they suffered as black lives matter protesters disrupted traffic and intersections and highways

there's one such protest in France now directly inspired by Canada.

Canada's seems to be dispersing, said only about 20 vehicles remaining as the cops were empowered by the courts to go in.

I have my doubts OUR courts would give them that ability.

i do worry about shit like this. a lot.

i think that i underestimated the influence and the reach of the far-right video sharing websites like Rumble and Bitchute. if you've never had a relative that sent you a link from one of those, those are websites where it's basically a free-for-all, no journalistic standards, anyone can have a show and post about whatever they want, and yes, that means there's some neo-nazi shit on there in between all the stuff on libertarian bullshit and crypto and ron johnson is a smart man and here's the 45-minute commentary on the latest joe rogan episode. anyone can post anything.

i always thought of websites like that as just kind of pathetic dead ends for people who didn't know what the fuck they were talking about. but it's a bigger problem. i didn't understand how they create this shared, fertile disinformation ground for a variety of groups and interests, not just "fools". yes, there are plenty of fools on there, and while they're there they get used to seeing incredibly racist shit, people casually demeaning entire continents of people, that content right between the juicy stuff they crave about the Freedom Convoy. they might not turn into a proud boy, but they might start getting really used to being proud boy-adjacent, and maybe not that worried about them because they're on the same "side", in terms of making and watching videos featuring "citizen journalists" with banners hanging behind them that were printed at Kinkos and it's always some shit like "THE FREEDOM REPORT"

and yes, also a nexus for white evangelicals to the white supremacists and qanons - scattered in all those videos are predictions of imminent apocalypse, connecting current events to scripture, all that shit

it's funny how all the interests of these groups - white evangelicals, qanon, white supremacists - align and point toward annihilation and anticipated rebirth of a new society

Was talking about this with a friend yesterday. In our imaginations, you’d always be part of the Resistance when you saw fascism creeping in. In reality, it’s the boiling frog problem combined with “holy shit, I need to keep my job.”

oh shit i just broke the dmac 3 posts and you're out suggested rule! lol

truly, that is a good rule and in the spirit of good guy mitt romney i will temp self-deportation

if nothing else, be an upstander not a bystander

the freedom convoy belongs in the united states. this is the intellectual heart of the movement of believing whatever people around you who just so happen to make money off of you if you believe want you to believe

alright, the leader has weighed in and surprised no one

Trump on Fox & Friends Saturday about the Canadian trucker anti-vax protests: "Our country I think is far more of a tinderbox than Canada." pic.twitter.com/8XisxL6JOI

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 12, 2022

"the whole world is watching and has respect for what they're doing"

The Windsor-Detroit bridge is still blocked as of now.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/13/protests-grow-across-canada-as-police-struggle-to-reopen-key-bridge

I was going to post an article from the Beeb but it was particularly blinkered. Their commentary meanwhile is basically advocating for the wingnut position.


Is Trudeau losing his fight against truckers? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60311988

I believe the bridge is cleared now.

alright, the leader has weighed in and surprised no one

― snarl self own (Karl Malone),

guess Trump learned "tinderbox" from his Siouxsie collection

He probably thinks he coined the phrase.

A version of this passing through my metropolis of a home town (pop. 6,000) Friday night. Supposedly they're planning on making it a regular Friday-night thing. The ultimate in forest, tree falling, etc.

https://www.facebook.com/karel.jennings/videos/519367632828509

They should just keep driving until they hit the ocean, and then go a little further.

Canada's seems to be dispersing, said only about 20 vehicles remaining as the cops were empowered by the courts to go in.

I live in downtown Ottawa and no. Maybe you're thinking of Windsor specifically? We're posting regularly about it on the Canadian politics thread.

NZ tries bad music: https://www.npr.org/2022/02/14/1080623397/new-zealand-protests-james-blunt-barry-manilow

Stashes of firearms, plans for same, outside money, more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/14/canada-protests-justin-trudeau-use-rare-emergency-powers

That's a pretty good article, much better informed than the BBC piece that failed to distinguish between the War Measures Act and the Emergencies Act and the NYT's line that this act gives JT the power to curb civil liberties.

God bless your country’s ram ranches

Oh this is rich.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell this week sent a truck full of pillows up to Canada in a show of solidarity with anti-vaccination mandate protesters.However, it seems that the plan to reward Lindell's anti-vaxxer allies with free pillows hit a snag when Canadian officials rejected his crew for being unvaccinated.

Brian Glenn, a Lindell ally and correspondent for the Right Side Broadcasting Network, told viewers the unfortunate story of the pillow truck's plight during a Tuesday broadcast.

"Upon entry to Canada, we were asked several questions," Glenn explained. "What's our purpose for business, show proof of citizenship, things like that. The last question they ask you is, 'Are you vaccinated?' or 'Do you have a negative PCR molecular test?' And, of course, I'm not vaccinated, nor do I have a test."

Glenn went on to say that he and his crew were then detained for several hours, and he said the custom agents were "very professional, but very stern" in how they dealt with him. "There wasn't any kind of small chit-chat back and forth," he complained. "No communication at all, it was just sit there and wait."

Eventually, they were told to go back to the United States.

https://www.rawstory.com/mike-lindell-truckers/

have we considered that all of these mypillow fanatics are fucking the pillows

mom bought me one before realizing what a kook Lindell was. I filled mine back up with diarrhea and sent it return to sender

did the package make sloshing noises

please

please tell me

lol

the package was elected the 45th President

Say it ain’t so N.

Given the only source for this sad tale is the grifters themselves.

of course they had to add all of the appropriate martyr pathos to make it uber-juicy for their base