[HN Gopher] Names of Canada truck convoy donors leaked after rep...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Names of Canada truck convoy donors leaked after reported hack
        
       Author : arkadiyt
       Score  : 297 points
       Date   : 2022-02-14 16:40 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.reuters.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.reuters.com)
        
       | tedivm wrote:
       | I went through the leaks last night and they're wrong about the
       | IP addresses. All of the IP addresses listed are internal to the
       | service itself- they recorded the IP addresses of their own nodes
       | (or possibly cloudflare edge nodes), and they're all from one of
       | a few ranges or localhost.
       | 
       | The email addresses, names, country and zip codes all seem legit
       | though.
        
         | throwawaysleep wrote:
        
           | cloudedcordial wrote:
           | Wayback machine has taken snapshots of GoSendGone including
           | the csv.
        
             | brigandish wrote:
             | What is GoSendGone?
        
               | adamrezich wrote:
               | GiveSendGo is a crowdfunding site like GoFundMe, made by
               | Andrew Torba and the others behind Gab etc., as an
               | alternative to GoFundMe given that GoFundMe is
               | politically picky about which kinds of causes it allows
               | donations for and which kinds of causes they redistribute
               | the raised funds of to other charities instead.
               | 
               | it could have a better name imo
        
               | renewiltord wrote:
               | GiveSendGo is what he meant. All these guys are mixed up
               | about the name.
        
               | frogpelt wrote:
               | A distant cousin to GiveSendGo, apparently.
        
               | cloudedcordial wrote:
               | Sorry I meant GiveSendGone. Butter fingers!
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | charcircuit wrote:
               | A crowdfunding site like gofundme
        
           | monkeybutton wrote:
           | There was a moment in time that the hacked site redirected to
           | a page with the data and an embedded YouTube video.
        
           | tedivm wrote:
           | I am not the hacker- someone posted it online and I
           | downloaded it. I heard about the whole thing on twitter.
        
         | tanseydavid wrote:
         | The IP addresses in the leak appear to show all of them (or at
         | least most) as being Class B private addresses (172.16. _._ )
        
           | quartesixte wrote:
           | Irrelevant to my actual opinion of the whole protest, I find
           | this fact hilarious.
           | 
           | And somewhat sad...true tech literacy will never be reached I
           | guess.
        
             | manquer wrote:
             | I don't think it is literacy really, just sloppy
             | engineering process.
             | 
             | Typically this happens when someone develops a service
             | which is front facing without any proxy/ LB before it, goes
             | to production and gets validated IP and other logs are
             | great everyone moves on . Few months/years down to scale
             | their service or improve security a LB or CF type proxy is
             | put in front and no bothers to check the IP logs are still
             | valid because no one actually uses IP for anything in their
             | tooling( like filters/blocks or geomapping etc) so won't
             | notice the break at all.
        
             | mynameisvlad wrote:
             | I mean, I wouldn't expect the general public to have "true
             | tech literacy" to the point of knowing the difference
             | between IP classes. That seems above and beyond "literacy"
             | to me. Hell, I wouldn't even expect the general public to
             | know what an IP address is; their exposure to them is both
             | so minimal and so shallow that it doesn't make sense to
             | learn the intricacies of.
             | 
             | For instance, I consider myself to be fairly techy. I run
             | multiple VLANs on the class A space on my home network, so
             | I have decent exposure to IP addresses. And I routinely
             | struggle with CIDR notation to the point where I basically
             | have to use a converter each time because I can't remember
             | which bits correspond to which ranges.
             | 
             | If I have this much trouble, I wouldn't expect the general
             | public to even _know_ what any of what I said is.
        
         | kepler1 wrote:
         | Where does one find the leaked list?
        
           | amadeusw wrote:
           | I'd like to know as well. The Distributed Denial of Secrets
           | [1] page states that "Due to PII in the dataset, the dataset
           | is only being offered to journalists and researchers."
           | 
           | [1] - https://ddosecrets.com/wiki/GiveSendGo_Freedom_Convoy_d
           | onor_...
        
       | mastazi wrote:
       | As a fully vaccinated person who thinks that people who disagree
       | with me should have rights, and who values freedom more than
       | wealth, I'm proud that my name is on that list.
        
       | talentedcoin wrote:
       | For those of you still on the fence or just learning about this,
       | here's a rundown of the fine people in charge of this travesty of
       | a "protest":
       | 
       | https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/who-is-who-a-guide-to-the-majo...
       | 
       | PAT KING: Pat King is a far-right protester who has said in
       | videos posted to social media that there may be future plans to
       | target politicians' homes and that "the only way that this is
       | going to be solved is with bullets." He has called for the arrest
       | of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ottawa Police Chief Peter
       | Sloly.
       | 
       | King has gained attention online for a video posted to Twitter in
       | which he decries the "depopulation" of white people, as well as
       | another video posted in 2019 in which he makes racist remarks
       | about Jewish, Muslim, and Chinese people.
        
         | throwaway894345 wrote:
         | I genuinely wonder how many of the people protesting actually
         | know who this person is or what he believes (if the parent
         | comment even accurately represents him--I really have no idea).
         | Reminds me of how people would criticize BLM protests on the
         | basis that some people in the BLM org had ties to communism--a
         | very weak criticism considering how many _better_ criticisms
         | existed and how few of the protesters had related views. The
         | parent comment seems like a similarly weak indictment of the
         | protesters.
        
           | AlimJaffer wrote:
           | King is literally a founding convoy organizer who calls the
           | shots and has a massive following and influence on the convoy
           | members. His videos get 100's of thousands of views and he
           | influenced the convoy 'manifesto' that they created to try to
           | overthrow the government. Your comment shows you have done
           | zero research into the matter. He's a vocal white supremacist
           | who believes Islam has taken over the government to kill
           | white bloodlines. You can find many videos of him saying this
           | to be broadcast to his following.
        
             | throwaway894345 wrote:
             | I don't doubt he's crazy, I _do_ doubt his crazier views
             | represent those of protesters more broadly. But in
             | whichever case, the administration could take the wind out
             | of his sails by yielding--no need to organize under King if
             | the goal is accomplished. If the government didn 't take an
             | authoritarian stance in the first place, King would be
             | marginal.
        
           | talentedcoin wrote:
           | You think pointing out that there's far-right extremists
           | managing this whole show is a "weak indictment" when one of
           | the stated goals of said protest is to overturn a
           | democratically elected government?
        
             | throwaway894345 wrote:
             | It's a strong indictment to the extent that this person
             | actually "runs the show" and his views about race represent
             | the majority of protesters' views. Which is to say "yes,
             | it's a weak indictment".
        
               | talentedcoin wrote:
               | Idk. At best you are defending the idea that the majority
               | of protestors are pawns in someone else's game, no? Just
               | because someone doesn't know they're being used doesn't
               | mean they aren't being used ...
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | If that's the case then you're screwed either way because
               | Trudeau's racism is thoroughly documented. :) But
               | thankfully (much to the chagrin of the media and others)
               | these protests have centered narrowly around the bodily
               | autonomy issue rather than unsavory race views, and the
               | likelihood of the protests transforming into racial
               | protests is small. Further still, the establishment could
               | completely take the wind out of the alleged protest
               | leaders' sails by acquiescing (no need to organize under
               | these guys if the need to organize goes away altogether).
        
               | talentedcoin wrote:
               | If you think Trudeau wearing blackface (also bad, obvs)
               | is comparable to the occupation of the capital of Canada,
               | I wish you well -- we really have nothing to discuss
               | here.
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | I _don 't_ think they're comparable. Peaceful protests
               | are a _good thing_ and blackface (by an authoritarian no
               | less) is a _bad thing_.
        
               | talentedcoin wrote:
               | Yeah, seems super peaceful:
               | 
               | https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/mobile/ottawa-police-report-a-
               | nigh...
               | 
               | Please, spare me, and spare the rest of us, your poorly
               | informed takes.
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | From your own link:
               | 
               | > Residents complained about another night of illegal
               | fireworks, loud music and horn honking Saturday night and
               | Sunday morning.
               | 
               | Loud music? Say it isn't so!
        
               | talentedcoin wrote:
               | Also from my link:
               | 
               | "Overnight, demonstrators exhibited extremely disruptive
               | and unlawful behaviour, which presented risks to public
               | safety and unacceptable distress for Ottawa residents,"
               | said police.
               | 
               | Go ahead, keep digging. I can do this all day.
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | Oof. That's how the police characterized "illegal
               | fireworks, loud music and horn honking". In fairness to
               | you, your quote from the police was at the tippy top of
               | your article and mine was _multiple paragraphs_ later.
        
               | talentedcoin wrote:
               | Well, if I'm being charitable, that's exactly the
               | question mark here.
               | 
               | There are reports of intimidation and other bad
               | behaviour, but there are also a whole bunch of other
               | people just enjoying the party atmosphere. I think both
               | narratives can be true. To be clear, some of the honking
               | has been going on 18+ hours a day, which is bad, but
               | there are suggestions of worse things under the surface.
               | This happened a couple weeks ago, for instance:
               | 
               | https://globalnews.ca/news/8581568/ottawa-shepherds-of-
               | good-...
               | 
               | My probably subjective impression is that wandering
               | around this protest is a bit of a choose-your-own-
               | adventure. There's friendly folks, but there are
               | troublemakers around too, and unfortunately the
               | troublemakers seem to be more senior in the planning
               | process ...
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | I think your standard for "peaceful protest" seems
               | unreasonable. How many large scale protests have there
               | been which had zero _reports_ of "bad behavior"? Can you
               | name any protest in the last 5 years whose scale was
               | comparable to these protests which had no reports of bad
               | behavior?
        
       | liminal wrote:
       | The lack of effective policing is what's most disappointing to
       | me. The Ottawa police have completely failed to enforce any
       | boundaries. This further erodes public trust in the police and
       | public safety in general. In that sense the protestors are
       | winning.
        
         | rablackburn wrote:
         | What is effective policing meant to look like in circumstances
         | like this?
         | 
         | This is an unarguably large amount of people practicing civil
         | disobedience. How many police does Ottawa have on hand to deal
         | with it?
         | 
         | All the tactics I can think of to truly control a crowd this
         | size are rather...harsh (lines of riot police and water cannons
         | etc). So if you don't take that option you're left with
         | tactical deployment of officers.
         | 
         | Seems like a hard problem to get right. Just because they're
         | not perfect doesn't mean they're not effective.
         | 
         | The fact that they're seizing weapons caches before any
         | particularly heinous outbreaks of violence makes me think
         | they're prioritising their resources somewhat effectively?
        
         | dukeofdoom wrote:
         | Police will not attack their own citizens. Sometimes it
         | happens...shocker. Usually when the government is out of line
         | with the sentiment of the people. So now they will try to send
         | in the RCMP to the dirty work. This is a tactic often used by
         | dictators. Send in out of town people to suppress the locals.
        
       | sebow wrote:
       | That's a nice way of spelling doxxing.Remember "it's bad only
       | when the other side does it".
        
         | barbazoo wrote:
         | Publishing the already publicly available data isn't doxxing
         | yet.
         | 
         | This is necessary information the public needs to see to start
         | estimating how much of that money is coming from foreign donors
         | so we can question why and deal with it accordingly.
        
           | totony wrote:
           | I'm eager to see passwords leaks as well as all the other
           | personal info leaks for the last decade be exposed then.
           | Remember the Desjardins leak a few years ago? Is that OK?
           | 
           | I fail to see why a leak is considered "public information"
           | to you or why specifically it's ok for this case but not
           | equifax, desjardins and all the others.
        
           | hunterb123 wrote:
           | Didn't seem necessary when it was the Hunter laptop, or the
           | Ashley diary, or the DNC emails.
           | 
           | Those things were ignored in the MSM as "illegally obtained"
           | and "disinformation" and banned from discussion on social
           | sites "due to hacking".
           | 
           | But this civilian donor list is "necessary information" and
           | the media is licking their chops wanting to broadcast it for
           | their brown shirt goons. Disgusting.
        
       | AlimJaffer wrote:
       | As a Canadian I humbly request Americans stay out of our
       | politics, particularly when it comes to influencing them via
       | monetary donations. Get your own house in order, don't encourage
       | wannabe insurrectionists who had a manifesto to take over the
       | government in blatantly undemocratic ways.
        
         | durovo wrote:
         | That is ironic coming from a Canadian. Just recently, a lot of
         | money poured in from Canada to support the farmer protest in
         | India. Here is one example:
         | https://www.gofundme.com/f/donatetofarmers
         | 
         | PS: Not that I support the current Canadian protests.
         | 
         | Edit: Some other examples: 1.
         | https://globalnews.ca/news/7680005/farmers-india-protest-bil...
         | 2. https://thewire.in/rights/justin-trudeau-farmers-protest-
         | ind... 3. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-
         | columbia/farmers-prot...
        
           | sudosysgen wrote:
           | As a matter of principle I agree with you, however there is
           | also a large Indian diaspora in Canada and it's quite
           | possible most of that money was donated by Indians; it
           | doesn't make a lot of sense for a Canadian living in the US
           | to donate the money from a US account though.
        
             | nonamechicken wrote:
             | I agree on the Indians in Canada donating part. But
             | Canadian PM should have stayed away from making comments
             | supporting the protest.
             | 
             | https://thewire.in/rights/justin-trudeau-farmers-protest-
             | ind...
             | 
             | Especially since some of these protestors are rumored to
             | have backing of Khalistani separatists who have blown up an
             | Air India flight in the past killing 329 people.
             | 
             | https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/khalistan-terror-
             | group...
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182
        
           | nonamechicken wrote:
           | As an Indian, this double standard was the most amusing thing
           | for me in all these. When farmers in India protested,
           | Canadian PM himself supported them (probably because he
           | wanted the Sikh community votes?).
           | 
           | Indian government only used police officers with batons and
           | were sometimes chased away by the protesters.
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1qFKUtfvMc
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7so5TwIMyM
           | 
           | Then yesterday I saw videos of heavily armed RCMP officers
           | deployed to remove some of the blockades!
        
         | BitwiseFool wrote:
         | > particularly when it comes to influencing them via monetary
         | donations
         | 
         | Were any of the GiveSendGo funds marked towards supporting
         | political candidates?
        
         | eindiran wrote:
         | Looking through your recent comments, there are multiple
         | examples of you commenting on American politics and monetary
         | policy...
        
           | sudosysgen wrote:
           | Sure. Did they give money to US politicians?
        
         | hunterb123 wrote:
         | As an American I'd love if we all stayed out of each other's
         | politics, but that's not how the world works, sorry.
         | 
         | That being said, a lot of Americans want freedom everywhere,
         | especially for their neighbors in the north, what's so hard to
         | understand about that?
         | 
         | Btw, your insurrection claim is played out and laughable, there
         | is no violence, use words properly.
         | 
         | I look forward to seeing your comments about our 2022 midterm
         | elections or our 2024 presidential election.
        
         | 0xy wrote:
         | The majority of the donors were Canadian, so presumably you're
         | in favor of the multiple millions of dollars flowing to the
         | group from Canadians?
        
           | sudosysgen wrote:
           | You can look at the data - there were around twice as many
           | foreign donations than Canadian ones.
        
         | yesco wrote:
         | While I have not donated anything to this cause, as an American
         | I fundamentally reject your humble request.
         | 
         | The reality is that while in this moment you are against it,
         | the second a protest is in your favor, I'm willing to bet you
         | will turn a blind eye. Nearly all international charities are a
         | form of foreign influence whether you agree with them or not,
         | and your politicians are the ones happy to allow these
         | charities to operate within your nation.
         | 
         | If I support a cause within Canada and truly wish it the best,
         | then I will donate to it, just like everyone else in the world
         | already is. I do not support hypocrisy.
         | 
         | https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-trump-clinton-u-s-el...
        
         | cf100clunk wrote:
         | The U.S.A., and previously Great Britain, has always had an
         | enormous political and economic influence on Canada, for better
         | or for worse. Today we are being noticed in the U.S.A. because
         | we're struggling. Having worked and traveled internationally
         | for many years it is my opinion that at most times we, as a
         | sovereign nation, rarely even occur to American minds. Such is
         | life, and I'm okay with it.
        
       | olivermarks wrote:
        
         | Bud wrote:
         | Notorious? And the best source for this is a 52-year-old
         | article from a student newspaper in the US, with no listed
         | author or sourcing?
         | 
         | The linked article also reveals that the separatists in
         | question were kidnapping multiple people at the time. This
         | seems like ample reason to arrest a bunch of them.
        
           | olivermarks wrote:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau#October_Crisis
           | Easy to find more details of this historical event elsewhere.
        
           | jeromegv wrote:
           | I mean if you are Canadian or Quebecois, there is no denying
           | that Trudeau father is famous for having invoqued martial law
           | in Quebec. This is something everyone from Quebec knows and
           | the merit of this measure has been debated and discussed for
           | decades in various movies, books, news articles. I don't know
           | why you are debating the source, this seems irrelevant.
        
             | Bud wrote:
             | I'm not Canadian and the reason I asked for a better source
             | is not at all irrelevant. Those who are not Canadian might
             | want a higher-quality source to learn about the topic in
             | question. It is, obviously completely irrelevant whether
             | "everyone in Quebec knows" this. Most users here, to put it
             | rather mildly, are not from Quebec.
        
               | bawolff wrote:
               | You could just look it up on wikipedia.
               | 
               | The october crisis is one of the most important events in
               | modern canadian political history.
        
           | gxt wrote:
           | I am a Quebecker and yes he is notorious for that. Here's a
           | 51 year old video from CBC, Canada's state media.
           | https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1241195075951
           | 
           | "The state must use every means at its disposal" ... "Just
           | watch me"
        
           | radford-neal wrote:
           | The word "notorious" is appropriate for those who think
           | Pierre Trudeau's invocation of the War Measures Act was
           | wrong. And that is a widespread (but far from universal)
           | opinion among Canadians. Note that one reason for invoking
           | the War Measures Act was that it allowed for the arrest of
           | people for whom there was no good evidence of criminal
           | conduct.
        
             | beerandt wrote:
             | There's no need for ideological alignment to be notorious.
             | Something being controversial is more than enough.
        
           | hammock wrote:
        
             | dang wrote:
             | Please don't cross into personal attack. You can make your
             | substantive points without that.
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
               | hammock wrote:
               | Can I edit it?
        
           | peripote wrote:
           | The question isn't about arresting them. Nobody disagrees
           | that the FLQ activists who committed violence should have
           | been arrested. They even murdered a provincial cabinet
           | minister.
           | 
           | What is disputed is whether putting the entire country under
           | martial law, canceling all civil liberties and sending the
           | army into the streets, as Trudeau did, was an appropriate
           | response.
           | 
           | It's impossible to discuss this objectively at the moment,
           | because everyone will simply line up with whatever position
           | supports their side in the current contro, but I think it's
           | safe to say that up until this moment the majority view
           | (certainly among the educated class) has been that this was
           | an authoritarian excess and a bad precedent, and that the
           | criminal justice system would have sufficed to deal with the
           | threat.
           | 
           | It is one of the most famous episodes in Canadian history,
           | and remains debated, so the word notorious is accurate.
        
             | bawolff wrote:
             | > sending the army into the streets, as Trudeau did, was an
             | appropriate response.
             | 
             | the army part was the premier of quebec not trudeau.
             | Policing is a provincial responsibility. Having the armty
             | come in was a provincial call that was unrelated to the war
             | measures act.
        
               | [deleted]
        
         | DFHippie wrote:
         | It's also dark that people respond to being governed by someone
         | they didn't vote for by blockading their country's economy. And
         | that this action is funded by people in other countries who
         | never had a vote in the first place.
        
           | azangru wrote:
           | > And that this action is funded by people in other countries
           | who never had a vote in the first place.
           | 
           | I am somewhat puzzled by this take. Consider how much people
           | donate to people in other countries that they've never met
           | and in which they've never voted. Consider how much people
           | donate to content creators that they want to support
           | (youtube, substack, etc.). Consider that there are currently
           | several fundraisers on GoFundMe for the people of Ukraine,
           | who are afraid of an invasion -- also, presumably, from
           | people from other countries. Why are the donations to the
           | truckers by the people who are sympathetic to their cause any
           | darker?
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | soupbowl wrote:
           | Hello,
           | 
           | I am a Canadian and my government has allowed someone we did
           | not vote in to shutdown our economy and restrict me. If the
           | government can do that, we the citizens can do it.
           | 
           | My province has increased covid rules and keeps pushing
           | opening up for vaccinated down the road. While everywhere
           | else is easing off. We can't even go to a gym to work out and
           | our hospitals are way under normal capacity.
           | 
           | I am not pro outsiders funding our citizens to do these
           | things but at this point I'll take the help I can get.
        
             | Apocryphon wrote:
             | So you're saying that your country, Canada, yearns for
             | freedom?
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | olivermarks wrote:
           | https://nymag.com/strategist/article/where-to-donate-for-
           | bla... interesting how the media will lavishly solicit
           | donations for divide and rule activities but not report or
           | comment on any actions versus those in actual power
        
         | defaultname wrote:
         | Alternately, yet another right wing "alternative" site had poor
         | security practices and got exploited. They had S3 buckets full
         | of customer data sitting open for some time, and they stayed
         | accessible days after it was widely known.
        
           | keneda7 wrote:
           | So just so I am no misunderstanding you here.
           | 
           | You are implying if your site or company has poor security
           | practices its okay for hackers to steal data?
        
           | Arrath wrote:
           | Time and again these sites have demonstrated their disdain
           | for security, and it bites them yet again. Anyone making the
           | jump to conspiracy or state sponsored hacking is making quite
           | a logical leap, imo.
        
           | rvz wrote:
           | Exactly. Just like GoDaddy and Twitch had poor security with
           | everything that they stored on their servers from PII and
           | source code getting breached and leaked by hackers right? [0]
           | [1] I'm sure everyone was happy with that hackivism and those
           | guys should have gotten their security right the first time.
           | /s
           | 
           | Can't wait for someone else to say, _' Security is so hard'_
           | but also cheer on hackers that breach sites they don't like.
           | 
           | [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28770590
           | 
           | [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29306554
        
             | DoctorOW wrote:
             | Not sure about the details of the Twitch hack, but yeah the
             | GoDaddy setup was pretty insecure.
             | 
             | > Can't wait for someone else to say, 'Security is so hard'
             | but also cheer on hackers that breach sites they don't
             | like.
             | 
             | The top comment of the GoDaddy post you linked literally
             | says "This could have been an easily avoidable data
             | breach."
        
             | defaultname wrote:
             | I don't think whataboutism is productive. Nor did I "cheer
             | on" anything: It sucks when people are exploited by
             | incompetent actors.
             | 
             | We've repeatedly watched as "the mainstream restricts us so
             | we'll do our own thing" sites are built with absolutely
             | rudimentary security faults. They're rushed, have a very
             | eager and non-discretionary userbase that is chomping at
             | the bit. They usually have compromised motivations.
             | 
             | And then they fall. It has become sadly predictable.
        
               | rvz wrote:
               | > I don't think whataboutism is productive.
               | 
               | Except that this isn't _' whataboutism'_ since I already
               | agreed with what you said, that GiveSendGo definitely had
               | poor security whilst also not supporting or justifying
               | with hacktivists, criminals or script-kiddies attacking
               | _anyone 's_ site.
               | 
               | > Nor did I "cheer on" anything:
               | 
               | Never directly accused you for cheering: I'm only
               | predicting the obvious.
               | 
               | If one is supporting hackers breaching other peoples
               | websites they don't like, whilst defending another with
               | that _phrase_ which applies to everyone as an excuse for
               | it, then you would fall under that category.
               | 
               | > And then they fall. It has become sadly predictable.
               | 
               | Yes, it's very predictable. Unfortunately it can happen
               | to anyone. Whether if you are big like GoDaddy or small
               | like GiveSendGo. These hackers are not on anyone's side.
        
         | klyrs wrote:
         | The police handled these protesters with kid gloves compared to
         | how they treat pipeline protesters, all under Trudeau junior.
        
           | hourislate wrote:
           | B.S.
           | 
           | The Government did nothing when the Natives blocked the rail
           | links causing harm to CN/CP and Canadians across the country.
           | Your attempt to obfuscate the facts makes you unqualified to
           | comment and you should refrain from participating in this
           | conversation.
        
             | klyrs wrote:
             | Request for self-censorship duly noted and denied. Read up
             | on Fairy Creek, for example.
        
           | olivermarks wrote:
           | So far and only because they didn't have strategies in place
           | to deal with events, which they will ultimately frame as a
           | 'insurrection', make examples of people, shame and doxx them
           | as a dark warning to others to to try this in future
        
             | klyrs wrote:
             | What do you mean, they don't have strategies? Billy clubs,
             | steel toe boots, rubber bullets, pepper spray and tear gas
             | on day 1. Haul the truckers out of their cabs, flanked by
             | SWAT troopers with assault weapons. Drag 'em out by their
             | hair. They've got tons of practice doing that already. Why
             | did the police wait for an injunction this time? Why did it
             | take weeks to secure that injunction?
        
               | olivermarks wrote:
               | Quite a few of the goon quad types you describe are more
               | interested in their personal freedom than beating people
               | up it seems based on watching the Glasnost-esque live
               | feeds from Ottawa etc
               | 
               | This has been quite a problem for the ruling classes
        
               | klyrs wrote:
               | The police are highly Conservative. When "the people"
               | represent points to the left of the government, the
               | police state is activated. When "the people" represent
               | points to the right of the government, it's policing by
               | consent. It's not _always_ a problem for the ruling
               | class. Folks on the right complain about being
               | persecuted, seemingly oblivious to how they 've supported
               | the persecution of their political enemies throughout
               | history. It's a bit tedious.
               | 
               | And, for what it's worth, I support the rights of the
               | truckers to protest. When they're blocking highways, it's
               | civil disobedience, and they're subject to arrest. I just
               | wish other protesters were treated so well.
        
       | advisedwang wrote:
       | I'd be very interest in the distribution of donations? E.g. are
       | there big donors or is the money mostly from small donors.
        
         | ineedasername wrote:
         | From another comment it looks like the IP addresses are not
         | accurate. Otherwise, it would have been interesting to see if
         | many small donations were coming from the same IP.
        
         | monkeybutton wrote:
         | The median is $50 and the 95th percentile is $200 so it's
         | mostly small donations with a few (22) donations over 5K. Plus
         | the one 215K whale.
        
           | advisedwang wrote:
           | What's the total number of donors / amount of donation?
           | Apologies for not doing the research myself, I'm at work.
        
             | monkeybutton wrote:
             | 8.4M in donations plus another 0.57M going to GSG (not a
             | bad racket eh?) over 92k rows. I'm using the word rows
             | intentionally here because I can't make any claim about the
             | number of actual individuals.
        
               | advisedwang wrote:
               | Thank you for all this great data! So the "big" donors
               | (>=5k) are something like 4%. Truely does seem fairly
               | grassroots-ish, assuming no shenanigans with the records
               | people thing.
        
               | monkeybutton wrote:
               | If you believe the donation display names in the file,
               | you'd think this was all an inside job by Mayor Jim
               | Watson, police chief Peter Sloly, Hunter Biden, Kamala
               | Harris, etc. etc. ;)
               | 
               | The comments are.. special. Lots of Christian religious
               | stuff which makes sense given the site's background. As
               | someone who is very much not religious, this makes me
               | just as uncomfortable.
        
               | [deleted]
        
           | sudosysgen wrote:
           | I know a few people who made repeated donations, so you can't
           | necessarily assume each donation is an individual.
        
       | thinkcontext wrote:
       | I'm confused, is only the truckers convoy data available or was
       | all of GiveSendGo's database compromised? GiveSendGo hosts
       | fundraising campaigns for the full constellation of alt-right,
       | Proud Boy, J6, etc groups that don't get hosted by GoFundMe.
        
       | Bud wrote:
       | Reuters is behind a paywall (if you are over their article limit
       | due to being a news addict); could we get a non-paywalled link
       | for this please?
        
         | gpm wrote:
         | It's not actually being a paywall - it's behind a login wall -
         | but they don't ask for money (or a credit card) and seem to
         | actually mean unlimited access.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30334289 was originally a
         | reply to this but I detached it and pinned it to the top of the
         | thread, which we sometimes do for archive links.
        
       | renewiltord wrote:
       | Jesus Christ, you can't just leave your S3 bucket open, guys.
       | There are lots of warnings from Amazon before you end up doing
       | that, and it's so easy to not do (pre-signed URLs if you really
       | need a URL).
       | 
       | I guess it's rather interesting to see the reactions from the
       | media and HN comments. Sort of reflects the relative politics:
       | 
       | - Patreon leak. Media didn't go download everyone's data and
       | threaten to get info. HN blamed Patreon.
       | 
       | - GiveSendGo (a terrible name imho). Media downloads the data and
       | threatens to get info. HN blames the hacker.
       | 
       | I think I'm going to choose consistency here. I hate these data
       | breach guys, but it's sort of like I hate mosquitos. If I could
       | cleanse the Earth of them I would, but I can't. So I accept they
       | are just a natural constraint. But if your hotel has mosquitos
       | I'm going to blame your hotel.
       | 
       | This 'hack' is dealing with amateurish security. If you're in a
       | controversial place you've got to do better. GiveSendGo has a lot
       | of work to do (unless this was something weird this specific
       | campaign did). And their security position on this was terrible:
       | https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/08/ottawa-trucker-freedom-con...
       | 
       | > _TechCrunch contacted GiveSendGo co-founder Jacob Wells with
       | details of the exposed bucket on Tuesday. The bucket was secured
       | a short time later, but Wells did not respond to our questions,
       | including if GiveSendGo planned on informing about the security
       | lapse those whose information was exposed._
        
         | ratsmack wrote:
         | The question I have is, did GiveSendGo concede that _they_ left
         | the bucket open, and if not, how was it opened.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | wmil wrote:
         | Patreon is a bay area startup with loads of VC funding. Their
         | engineering team is well paid and people hold them to a higher
         | standard.
         | 
         | GiveSendGo has amateurish security because it's an amateurish
         | company.
         | 
         | Think of it this way. Patreon's security failure made bay area
         | techies look bad because it turned out that you couldn't just
         | hire a bunch of them and expect things to go well. GiveSendGo's
         | security failure makes bay area techies look bad because it
         | turns out cloud security isn't as easy as they'd like to think.
         | 
         | Also taking down small sites that provide services to the out
         | group of the bay area is unacceptable in a democracy. It
         | invites legislative reprisal.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | Apocryphon wrote:
         | Thank you for writing a comment that is actually about opsec
         | and technology, unlike so many others in this thread.
        
       | dev_by_day wrote:
       | wayback machine FTW
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20220214093323/https://www.reute...
        
       | 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
       | I'd be curious to see foreign donors.
        
       | fortran77 wrote:
       | There was an excellent article about who these truckers are here:
       | https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/what-the-truckers-want?r=6p...
       | They're not exactly the group of people one might expect.
       | 
       | I miss the days when progressives were on the side of the working
       | man and woman, and long-haul truckers were considered folk
       | heroes.
        
       | negzero7 wrote:
       | Whether you're for or against the truckers, the timing of this
       | seems to point to state sponsored hacking, no?. Of course it
       | could just be that GiveSendGo became a target due to the recent
       | press, but this seems awfully convenient for the Canadian gov to
       | discourage support.
        
         | _moof wrote:
         | "When you hear hoofbeats behind you, it's probably centaurs."
        
         | bawolff wrote:
         | The protest is super unpopular in canada. It could just as
         | easily be a random canadian citizen who is pissed about the
         | protest and wants to prove that the protest is not grass roots
         | but foreign meddling.
        
           | olivermarks wrote:
           | Unpopular with wealthier people who are inconvenienced, very
           | popular amongst what the media like to call 'populists' - ie
           | the people who deliver the rich people's chattels
        
             | bawolff wrote:
             | Wealthy people are fine. They are mostly screwing over the
             | working class.
        
             | iso1631 wrote:
             | Maru polls show very little difference between income
             | levels. Of all the different demographics, the one with the
             | most support for the goals and means of the truckers is
             | Alberta residents, where about 1 in 3 support them and
             | their means, and 1 in 2 don't support them at all
        
             | mrtesthah wrote:
             | _" The People are on our side!" "Everyone against us is
             | against The People!"_
             | 
             | Hmm, where I have heard that rhetoric before...
        
               | MomoXenosaga wrote:
               | This one? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_de_lib%C3
               | %A9ration_du_...
               | 
               | The claim can be proven or disproven with elections. But
               | I think that Trudeau would win rather easily pitted
               | against this extremist, apparently foreign funded fringe.
               | 
               | Even Canada's conservatives don't want to be associated
               | with them anymore.
        
               | inter_netuser wrote:
               | Conservatives are tabling a motion for a vote on removal
               | of restrictions today.
               | 
               | They've just performatively asked truckers to leave, so
               | that they can always point to that later in their
               | election campaign. Why would they want them to leave?they
               | don't.
        
               | adra wrote:
               | I'm not a conservative mind you, but if your goal is to
               | eventually get elected, you probably want to win on
               | topics that will actually gain you votes vs. those that
               | take them away.
               | 
               | This is a wedge issue, and as such they're casting their
               | votes to alienate a huge (likely majority) of voters away
               | from your platform before the leader has even been
               | selected.
               | 
               | Secondly, this protest has been a huge news vacuum
               | attracting non-stop coverage. This is bad for a party
               | that needs to drum up any support for a leadership race
               | to carry them more seats in the next election. By the
               | time this plays out, the conservatives could be half way
               | through their election and most Canadians may not even
               | know the candidates.
        
               | mywittyname wrote:
               | We all know that elected officials rarely get elected
               | based on what they've actually done. They get elected by
               | parroting the empty promises their party bosses tell them
               | too.
               | 
               | Plus, politicians who do vote against their constituents'
               | wishes can run in a district that's more friendly to that
               | vote.
        
             | acdha wrote:
             | Do you have a citation on that claim? For example, it seems
             | like they're on the wrong side by a large factor on things
             | like vaccine mandates:
             | 
             | https://theconversation.com/majority-of-canadians-
             | disagree-w...
             | 
             | It also seems unlikely that, say, the workers at factories
             | who were prevented from working are rich people...
        
               | armagon wrote:
               | https://angusreid.org/omicron-incidence-restrictions/ -
               | scroll down to "Part Four: What now? Majority want
               | restrictions to end"; 54% of Canadians want the mandates
               | to end.
               | 
               | OTOH, this poll https://abacusdata.ca/ottawa-survey-
               | freedom-convoy/ suggests that about 22% of Canadians
               | support the convoy and 67% don't.
        
               | acdha wrote:
               | That's about what I expected -- nothing warranting "very
               | popular", and most of the gap shown is going to come down
               | to what percentage of even people who do want some or all
               | public health measures suspended approve of doing so
               | outside of the democratic process.
        
               | inter_netuser wrote:
               | Angus is far more reputable.
               | 
               | Abacus never fails to find support for government
               | approved narratives.
        
               | synthos wrote:
               | It's all down to how a poll accurately frames a question:
               | 
               | Do people like restrictions? No, nobody likes
               | restrictions. Do people like restrictions that save
               | lives? Still don't 'like' them but believe sacrifice is
               | necessary for the greater good.
               | 
               | Do I support people's right to protest? Yes, but... You
               | can't honk all night Block major infrastructure for days
               | Desecrate war monuments Flood 911 with fake calls
               | 
               | Etc.
        
               | suckmore wrote:
               | To play devil's advocate, and provide another
               | (intentionally) biased framing:
               | 
               | Do people want to continue with restrictions that have
               | pushed the opioid epidemic to a new high [1]. Pushed
               | mental health in youth to 'completely unsustainable'
               | levels [2]. Stolen normal development/socialization from
               | children & young adults using restrictions that were not
               | always clearly evidence based [3]. And, all this
               | considering the current outlook of the virus is far more
               | positive than it once was.
               | 
               | The Angus Reid poll phrased their question like this, for
               | anyone interested:
               | 
               | >It's time to end restrictions and let people self-
               | isolate if they're at risk.
               | 
               | [1]: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/deadliest-year-in-b-c-s-
               | opioid-crisis-...
               | 
               | [2]: https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-
               | news/completely-unsusta...
               | 
               | [3]:
               | https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/kids-
               | masks...
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >Do I support people's right to protest? Yes, but... You
               | can't honk all night Block major infrastructure for days
               | Desecrate war monuments Flood 911 with fake calls
               | 
               | I suspect how much people support "people's right to
               | protest" is directly proportional to how much they
               | support The Cause. If they don't support The Cause, they
               | want protesters to be as out of the way as possible (ie.
               | "free speech zones"). If they do support The Cause,
               | anything up to and including violence/vandalism is
               | justified, because a few causalities would be canceled
               | out by all the positive effects that The Cause would
               | bring.
        
               | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
               | Or even more specifically: Do I like restrictions? No. Do
               | I want restrictions to end? Yes. Do I want all
               | restrictions to end now? No. Do I want any restrictions
               | to end now? Maybe.
        
           | nathanaldensr wrote:
           | If protests were popular they wouldn't be protests.
        
             | alisonkisk wrote:
        
           | coolso wrote:
           | > The protest is super unpopular in canada.
           | 
           | Given the unfair media coverage, is it any wonder?
           | 
           | There seems to be, including in your own post, a lot of ad
           | hominem attacks ("one person had a confederate flag! some
           | people in the US support the cause too! this means it's
           | totally evil") rather than addressing the human rights the
           | protestors are fighting for, and it's a shame. But it's no
           | surprise given the opposite media coverage for the opposite
           | type of protest (violent riots) two summers ago.
        
           | amscanne wrote:
           | The polls I've seen had ~half of Canadians sympathetic to the
           | protests [1], and about 20% strongly supporting. It's
           | completely true that it could be one highly motivated
           | individual, but that has nothing to do with your first
           | assertion (which is a mixed truth at best). I think that the
           | government's claim (echoed by many media outlets) that this
           | is purely a fringe movement has added fuel to the fire.
           | 
           | [1] https://globalnews.ca/news/8610727/ipsos-poll-trucker-
           | convoy...
        
             | bawolff wrote:
             | I see your poll and raise you this one
             | https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/02/12/two-thirds-of-
             | canadia... where 2/3 of canada don't just dislike the
             | protest but hate them so much they want the military to
             | deal with them.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | inter_netuser wrote:
               | Different demographics. The support is very high in
               | younger cohorts, and elderly want them killed.
               | 
               | Polarized in every way imaginable.
        
               | iso1631 wrote:
               | The polls roughly match. About 1 in 4 support the goals
               | and methods, 1 in 4 support the goals but not the
               | methods, and 2 in 4 don't support the goals or methods
               | 
               | Tables at
               | 
               | https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a17333eb0786935ac
               | 112...
               | 
               | 24% of 18-34 and 34-55 support the truckers and what they
               | are doing
               | 
               | 27%/26% support them but not the way they are doing it
               | 
               | 49%/50% think they are completely wrong and need to be
               | stopped regardless
               | 
               | There's no real difference between young and middle age,
               | although over 55s skew significantly to "stop them". Not
               | much difference on income, but educational attainment
               | shows significant skew, with university educated far less
               | likely to support the truckers
        
               | monkeybutton wrote:
               | Schrodinger's Canadian: Simultaneously supports the
               | occupation and wants to see it crushed.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | Maybe they just enjoy a good martyrdom.
        
               | monkeybutton wrote:
               | Seems like it: https://www.rcmp-
               | grc.gc.ca/en/news/2022/alberta-rcmp-make-ar...
        
             | Tiktaalik wrote:
             | There's sympathy shown in the polls (Canadians are a
             | sympathetic people!) but the polling shows a pretty clear
             | super majority of people that want the protesters to go
             | home (Canadians don't like disorder).
        
             | lesuorac wrote:
             | > An Ipsos poll published Thursday and conducted
             | exclusively for Global News showed that nearly 46 per cent
             | of Canadians say they "may not agree with everything" the
             | trucker convoy says or does, but the frustration of
             | protesters is "legitimate and worthy" of sympathy.
             | 
             | I don't think your statement is at odds with gp's. A
             | legitimate concern doesn't make it popular.
             | 
             | However, the greater issue is a lack of organization and so
             | nothing (very little) is going to get done (much like with
             | BLM).
        
               | adra wrote:
               | Don't forget the 99%!
               | 
               | The best thing ruin collective disputes is to add more
               | noise and discourse so that the original cause is lost in
               | the shuffle and the majority just sit back and shrug. "I
               | can get behind solving one problem at a time, but when
               | they're shouting for 20, I can't be bothered to care."
        
               | inter_netuser wrote:
               | They have an NGO, some directors and a lawsuit they are
               | working on for constitutional challenge against the
               | mandate by one of the Constitution drafters.
        
               | amscanne wrote:
               | Had the parent post said merely "unpopular", I'd probably
               | agree. However "super unpopular" to me feels aligned with
               | the government message that this is a tiny fringe
               | minority, which quite frankly, is dishonest.
               | 
               | Re: getting things done, so far it seems counter-
               | productive in the sense that now the government doesn't
               | want to seem "weak" and relax restrictions, even though
               | it's what reasonable governments are doing at this point.
               | I'm not going to put this at the feet of the organizers
               | (whoever they are); it simply deepens my already deep
               | disappointment with the Canadian government since thats a
               | political move.
        
           | 0xbadc0de5 wrote:
           | The protest is super unpopular among certain politicians,
           | certain state sponsored media, and certain supporters of
           | those politicians and media. However, there are a very large
           | number who support ending all lockdowns and mandates
           | immediately - as evidenced by their ability to raise money,
           | repeatedly, as well as by the physical presence of so many
           | supporters across the globe.
           | 
           | That said, I agree this is most likely the work of an
           | individual. For all its usefulness in raising money, GSG has
           | probably never been subjected to a real-world pentest by a
           | highly motivated attacker. Not to mention the legions of
           | attackers one would expect from such a polarising subject.
           | This was unfortunate but entirely predictable.
        
             | jamincan wrote:
             | There are also a lot of Canadians who don't support
             | mandates and want easing of restrictions and also oppose
             | the protestors.
        
         | jagger27 wrote:
         | I love seeing these completely unsubstantiated conspiracy
         | theories posted here over and over.
        
         | 1024core wrote:
         | From the TC article:
         | 
         |  _It's not known for exactly how long the bucket was left
         | exposed, but a text file left behind by an unnamed security
         | researcher, dated September 2018, warned that the bucket was
         | "not properly configured" which can have "dangerous security
         | implications."_
         | 
         | So... this has been a known problem since 2018. Time to stop
         | tilting at windmills.
        
           | arbitrage wrote:
           | If it's all theater, then it's worth pointing out the A/C/M
           | times of files are easy to fake. A competent intruder can
           | feather filesystem times and modify logs to point
           | investigators toward the wrong conclusion.
        
             | electroly wrote:
             | Not in an S3 bucket you can't. We're not talking about a
             | filesystem here.
        
             | wizzwizz4 wrote:
             | Depends on the filesystem access. I didn't think Amazon
             | buckets generally allowed that kind of thing.
        
               | kayodelycaon wrote:
               | It doesn't. There's no S3 API to change upload dates.
        
         | msie wrote:
         | Facebook Groups supporting the convoy created by foreign
         | content mills:
         | 
         | https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/politics/2022/02/12/repo...
        
         | throw7 wrote:
         | The gov't doesn't need to crack in this case. They shut down
         | the funds through the courts. These "donation" sites
         | (gofundme/givesendgo) are going to be scrutinized much more
         | closely from this point forward.
        
         | barbazoo wrote:
         | Is there any trace of evidence that this is state sponsored?
        
         | gpm wrote:
         | > the timing of this seems to point to state sponsored hacking,
         | no?
         | 
         | No.
         | 
         | The hack was obviously politically motivated, beyond that,
         | nothing here points towards it being state sponsored. Non-state
         | actors are equally motivated by the timing.
         | 
         | The idea that the Canadian government hacked GiveSendGo is also
         | frankly ridiculous. Our government just isn't that lawless,
         | _and_ they could almost certainly get this data via legal
         | means.
        
           | rajin444 wrote:
           | > Our government just isn't that lawless
           | 
           | Both recent and historical evidence does not really support
           | this claim. It is very very very easy to find many examples
           | of governments breaking the law for their own benefit.
           | 
           | I don't think it was the Canadian government either, but your
           | logic does not seem good.
        
             | 908B64B197 wrote:
             | > It is very very very easy to find many examples of
             | governments breaking the law for their own benefit.
             | 
             | The current premier's father had feds planting explosive in
             | people's mailboxes [0] and tried to pin it on some
             | political group he didn't like back in the 70's. Talk about
             | a coincidence.
             | 
             | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_inv
             | olvin...
        
             | gpm wrote:
             | Both the words "our government" (i.e. the current canadian
             | government), and "that" are doing work. Neither examples of
             | random governments committing significant crimes, nor of
             | the Canadian government committing less significantly
             | corrupt crimes, contradict the premise.
        
               | rajin444 wrote:
               | There is ample evidence of the Canadian government
               | breaking the law for their own benefit and there is ample
               | evidence for these occurrences being "significant".
               | 
               | And that's not even taking into account that once trust
               | is broken there are likely many more instances that
               | aren't known.
        
               | gpm wrote:
               | So by "significant" I'm excluding nonsense like this [1]
               | where the government comes up with a creative (incorrect)
               | interpretation of the law, and things like "a few rogue
               | members of the government break the law" (e.g. [2]).
               | 
               | Neither of those would explain a government entity
               | hacking this website to leak this data in an attempt to
               | benefit the government.
               | 
               | I can't produce evidence that there isn't a history of
               | actions like this, since my evidence really is just the
               | lack of evidence. Thus I'd ask you to produce the "ample
               | evidence" you claim exists.
               | 
               | [1] https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/09/0
               | 4/ontar...
               | 
               | [2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/17/canada-
               | covid-c...
        
             | belval wrote:
             | imo our government is probably lawless enough, but I doubt
             | that it is competent enough to pull something off like
             | that. The CSIS pays bad wages, their employees are mostly
             | there for the cushy 9 to 5.
        
               | el_memorioso wrote:
               | So incompetent they couldn't access an unsecured Amazon
               | S3 bucket that was known to be insecure for some time? It
               | sounds to me like GiveSendGo is simply incompetent with
               | respect to security and some unskilled "hacker" took
               | advantage of their incompetence.
        
         | alisonkisk wrote:
        
         | ineedasername wrote:
         | Why jump to state-sponsored? This would be the exact right time
         | for anyone ideologicaly opposed to the protest's motivations to
         | hack donor data.
        
           | hammock wrote:
           | Are there non-authoritarians that want jab mandates so badly
           | that they will hack websites to doxx innocent protestors?
           | Could be, I haven't met any (thankfully)
        
             | lazide wrote:
             | Plenty of people may not want jab mandates, may not be
             | authoritarians, but are in earshot/irritation reach of the
             | protests. And considering how badly the information was
             | secured, pretty much anyone who knows anything about an S3
             | bucket seems like they could have done it. Not even really
             | hacking.
        
             | ineedasername wrote:
             | Supporting vax mandates doesn't make someone part of the
             | "state". Plenty of people that are not part of the
             | government support mandates.
             | 
             | You're also assuming that support for mandates would be the
             | only motive: While less likely than mandate support,
             | someone may simply have been very angry that their life had
             | been turned to chaos & misery by the protestors.
        
               | hammock wrote:
               | >You're also assuming that support for mandates would be
               | the only motive:
               | 
               | Not my assumption. The premise of the comment I replied
               | to was that they were ideologically opposed
        
           | mywittyname wrote:
           | Also, "the state" seems to tacitly support the protests.
           | Others have rightly pointed out, that had this been a left-
           | wing protest, "the state" response would have been brutal and
           | decisive. So it's kind of hard to see why they'd do it this
           | way rather than taking a much more direct approach.
           | 
           | I have no doubts that the true culprits for this hack will be
           | found and the punishment will be orders of magnitude worse
           | than anything the truckers will receive.
        
             | JacobThreeThree wrote:
             | >had this been a left-wing protest, "the state" response
             | would have been brutal and decisive
             | 
             | Recent history does not support this view.
             | 
             | When left-wing railway blockades shut down the entire CN
             | rail network, there was no "brutal and decisive" response.
             | It took the better part of a year to resolve, and the OPP
             | didn't enforce the court ordered injunction CN got, and the
             | Liberal government was meeting frequently with the
             | protestors.
             | 
             | https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marc-miller-path-forward-
             | pr...
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | Even though many Anglo left-wing groups are sympathetic
               | to, and act in solidarity with the First Nations, is it
               | accurate to label indigenous protesters as left-wing
               | protesters? How united was the left when the Mohawks
               | stood in the way of Quebecois nationalism? Perhaps it is
               | imprecise to conflate incipient nationalist groups within
               | Canada with "left-wing."
        
             | alisonkisk wrote:
        
         | AYBABTME wrote:
         | There's plenty of techies in Ottawa with the means, motives and
         | opportunities to perform this action. People over there are
         | quite annoyed at the truckers, so I wouldn't be surprised if
         | it's someone related who's annoyed at the whole situation. No
         | need for state sponsorship to find poorly secured data.
        
         | jeroenhd wrote:
         | It could be state sponsored hacking, but I think it's more
         | likely to be don't by someone who got annoyed by the protests.
         | 
         | If I had trucks honking in front of my window, I'd do whatever
         | I could to get them to fuck off as well. No need for the state
         | to get involved if you just piss off enough random people.
        
           | dehrmann wrote:
           | I doubt someone who lived that close to the honking had the
           | ability and chutzpah to do this.
           | 
           | After seeing how angry people got over Joe Rogan, I
           | absolutely think there are militantly progressive people who
           | are more concerned with the content of speech than the
           | chilling effect of limiting free speech who would do this.
           | Which isn't to say I agree with the Ottawa protesters or
           | bridge blockaders; I think both went well outside the bounds
           | of free speech.
        
             | novok wrote:
             | Why wouldn't they? I've heard they're all over city cores
             | and you wouldn't think a socially inept tech worker or
             | teenager in a toronto tower would get annoyed enough on a
             | pure noise basis to do something like this?
        
             | peter422 wrote:
             | So is somebody physically blocking a bridge with a giant
             | truck and refusing to move it less militant than somebody
             | pulling their music off Spotify and writing a letter
             | explaining their choice?
             | 
             | Why did you use the term "militant" to describe the side
             | that is not using military tactics.
        
               | RIMR wrote:
               | This is the standard right-wing strategy. Speak of your
               | opponent exactly as you deserve to be spoken about. As
               | long as you do it first, it makes accusing you of what
               | you're actually doing less impactful, and sows doubt.
               | 
               | Basically, they know that one side is militaristic, and
               | the other is not, but they side with the militaristic
               | side ideologically, so they reflexively demonize their
               | opponents with terms that better describe themselves,
               | Knowing it's a bad look intentionally distancing
               | themselves from the reality of what they stand for.
        
               | cudgy wrote:
               | Blocking bridges with trucks and no guns is a military
               | tactic? I believe that is an example of civil
               | disobedience. Words matter.
        
               | lobocinza wrote:
               | To be fair civil disobedience can be a military tactic if
               | it's employed to achieve a military/political goal.
               | 
               | And this isn't to pass judgment on any of the groups, I
               | don't live in Canada, I'm not a Joe Rogan listener or
               | Spotify user, I really don't care.
        
               | dylan604 wrote:
               | Yes, blockades are a timeless military tactic.
        
               | bena wrote:
               | Yes. Disrupting supply chains is a thing militaries do.
               | Regardless if they used guns or not. Militaries would
               | love to win all conflicts with as few guns as possible.
               | So if they could blockade a country with no guns at all,
               | that would be ideal.
               | 
               | The point being made is that pulling one's music from
               | Spotify is a personal choice about stuff you control.
               | 
               | Blocking bridges is forcing others who may not even be
               | involved in your conflict to suffer the consequences of
               | it. This is generally considered "a dick move".
        
               | RIMR wrote:
               | Shutting down routes in and out of a city for such a
               | selfish, delusional cause is well beyond what any
               | rational person would call "civil disobedience". There is
               | no basis for allowing the intentional permanent
               | disruption of public resources and services to fight for
               | a cause. You can't just filibuster society by sabotaging
               | infrastructure like this.
               | 
               | With self-driving tech being a present reality, these
               | truckers are just giving everyone a reason to automate
               | them out of their jobs. A robot can't throw a tantrum,
               | join a gang, and terrorize your city.
        
               | doctor_eval wrote:
               | They said "militant". That does not mean "military", it
               | means "confrontational".
        
             | bentlegen wrote:
             | This weekend a bunch of counter protesters went out and
             | blocked a street in Ottawa to prevent new convoy protestors
             | from entering the downtown core.[1]
             | 
             | I think if the ire of your neighbors has risen to the point
             | that they'll go out and sit in -20C weather all day to stop
             | you, it's not unlikely that someone would spend an
             | afternoon poking at your website.
             | 
             | [1] https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/counter-protesters-block-
             | convoy-ve...
        
           | jollybean wrote:
           | It's almost assuredly not done by someone who was directly
           | 'annoyed' by the protests, that's a relatively small area,
           | and hackers with skills are not that common.
           | 
           | The protests are an ideological touchstone, there are surely
           | a lot of hackers in this world keen on 'exposing terrible
           | people' (in their purview) and my money is on just some
           | random 'hacker'.
           | 
           | I'm doubtful that it would be a government action, because
           | those secrets are hard to keep and if it was leaked, the
           | current political situation would collapse immediately.
           | Trudeau & Co. would be gone for good. The details wouldn't
           | really matter that much. I mean, he survived Blackface but he
           | won't survive that kind of scandal.
           | 
           | That said, I'm pretty sure there was a de-facto systematic
           | collusion between gov. offisials and GoFundMe etc. to shut
           | down funding. The gov. can show GFM 'police reports' etc. and
           | that can be used as a basis for cancellation. This is a bit
           | problematic because all protests of a certain size have
           | 'unlawful activity' and as soon as something is on the books,
           | it's hard to put in context. This gives systems like GFM (or
           | Apple, or Google or Amazon or VISA) the legitimate 'cover' to
           | do kind of whatever.
           | 
           | I don't support the truckers, I see their TikTok's and they
           | are rather uninformed antivaxxers, however, I kind of have to
           | accept their right to protest.
           | 
           | Protesters in Portland literally took city blocks by force,
           | threatened violence with serious weapons, two people died,
           | there was tons of avoidable crime, police and rescue not
           | allowed to enter etc. and they didn't seem to get quite the
           | disdain that the truckers are, rather the press kind of just
           | seemed to 'avoid them'. I understand every situation is
           | different ... but still.
           | 
           | Truckers are dug in in Ottawa and Police are wary of
           | confrontation, there's hints that the rank and file of Ott
           | Police and RCMP are a bit sympathetic, and the Tow Trucker
           | drivers are as well and don't want to face blowback. There is
           | 'just enough empathy' among the Canadian public that it could
           | 'tip in their favour' if we saw the firehoses or CS gas break
           | out. It's definitely a very delicate political situation.
           | 
           | But in the end - Occam's Razor: some guy did this and leaked
           | it, that's that.
           | 
           | They will eventually go home.
        
             | manquer wrote:
             | > That's a relatively small area, and hackers with skills
             | are not that common.
             | 
             | It is not some high end zero day they discovered. It is
             | just a misconfigured s3 bucket. There are tools out there
             | which scan for this kind of thing without any code
             | required.
             | 
             | While some level of technical expertise is required, most
             | developers could something like this if sufficiently
             | motivated
        
             | throwaway0a5e wrote:
             | >I'm pretty sure there was a de-facto systematic collusion
             | between gov. offisials and GoFundMe etc. to shut down
             | funding
             | 
             | No need to collude or conspire when everyone is already
             | happy with each other's actions and everyone knows what the
             | others want and which actions will step on their toes and
             | which will be neutral or build good will.
             | 
             | Real collusion/conspiracy where there is actual
             | communication between big actors like these is vanishingly
             | rare. Behavior like "we set out price same as our
             | competition's because why undercut each other" is dirt
             | common.
        
           | btbuildem wrote:
           | The language of the manifesto suggests someone.. irate
        
             | HappySweeney wrote:
             | 20 hours of air horn outside your window will make you ...
             | irate.
        
               | verisimi wrote:
               | ... but 2 years of government mandated economic
               | destruction is fine?
               | 
               | They didn't do all this in Sweden.
        
               | sudosysgen wrote:
               | Sweden's economy actually dropped harder than ours in
               | Canada. The government was really generous, and while
               | many especially in hospitality are worse off, few were
               | truly devastated.
               | 
               | None of which are the supposed leaders of the
               | manifestation, truckers, which actually did pretty well
               | through all this - ask me why.
        
               | peter422 wrote:
               | Sweden has vaccine rules too...
        
               | logifail wrote:
               | > Sweden has vaccine rules too...
               | 
               | Can't you enter Sweden with either vaccination _or_ proof
               | of recovery _or_ a negative test?
               | 
               | https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/the-public-health-
               | agency...
        
               | Daishiman wrote:
               | You know the reason why things aren't back to normal has
               | little to do with mandates and a lot to do with the fact
               | that, mandate or not, there was a deadly virus hanging
               | around for two years and that's gonna change social
               | behavior anyway?
        
               | lazide wrote:
               | Don't forget that 2 years of stress, angst, fear, new
               | rules, normal hate of rules, etc. will make almost anyone
               | stressed out and angry no matter how much they believe in
               | the purpose behind it all, or how important it is.
               | 
               | Which when it's society wide, makes society stressed out
               | and angry.
               | 
               | Stressed out and angry people do dumb and counter
               | productive things. Sometimes even to the point of severe
               | self harm.
               | 
               | Society when it is stressed out and angry tends to
               | fragment and be less cohesive. Sometimes even to the
               | point of severe self harm.
               | 
               | Wondering which side (or which sides there are, or why
               | there even are 'sides') is doing the MOST dumb and
               | counter productive thing is mostly part of the problem,
               | not actually a solution, in the same way as a tired angry
               | person trying to figure out who to yell at/blame, instead
               | of getting some sleep or whatever.
               | 
               | Society wide, we need to do some serious self-care and
               | calming the hell down - which would be nice, but good
               | luck. So I expect we'll get a lot more fighting.
        
               | iqanq wrote:
               | Things aren't back to normal because of politics. There
               | have been places where things have been normal for over a
               | year now.
        
               | Daishiman wrote:
               | No, there aren't.
               | 
               | I live in a place where you can shit on restrictions all
               | you want. Things aren't back to normal because people are
               | still careful on how much they socialize and what the
               | risk profile is. Things aren't back to normal because
               | people have moved away from offices and it turns out a
               | lot of people like that just fine, meaning a lot of old
               | businesses have shut down, new businesses have opened up,
               | and habits have changed.
               | 
               | The old world isn't coming back, ever. The world has
               | changed. Even post-pandemic (which we are still far from
               | over) I'm just gonna be more conscious about spending
               | time in very closed spaces for extended time. The
               | uncompromising are gonna sit a few things out even more.
               | Also something like 0.5% of the population died and a few
               | percentage points have ongoing long-COVID.
        
               | logifail wrote:
               | > Also something like 0.5% of the population died [..]
               | 
               | Q: What % of the population would be expected to die in a
               | "normal" (pre-Covid) year?
               | 
               | (I realise there is a discussion about excess deaths, but
               | it's not quite as simple as being able to assign the
               | excess to Covid, see
               | https://www.health.org.uk/publications/long-reads/what-
               | has-h... )
        
               | colinmhayes wrote:
               | Yes, the majority of the population supports vaccine
               | mandates.
        
         | vmception wrote:
         | > the timing of this seems to point to state sponsored hacking,
         | no?
         | 
         | what does hack _timing_ have to do with the state? I don 't
         | follow your logic at all. I would never make that connection.
         | It's just an insecure website and server, anyone can run their
         | testing suite and have gotten the same info. Why rationalize
         | incompetence with state sponsored?
         | 
         | I'm really about to sell some Q branded coffee mugs to everyone
         | with an email address in this leak, so fckin gullible.
        
         | albroland wrote:
         | I'd think it's far more likely that GiveSendGo doesn't have the
         | most sophisticated and well maintained tech stack and an
         | exploit was easily found by hacktivists engaging in defacement
         | and doxxing.
        
           | nostrademons wrote:
           | It was an open S3 bucket linked from the source code of the
           | Freedom Convoy's donation page:
           | 
           | https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/08/ottawa-trucker-freedom-
           | con...
        
             | spoils19 wrote:
             | An open S3 bucket is a huge red flag that this feels state
             | manufactured. Most people aligned with this protest
             | probably possess the technical chops to know to do better.
        
             | cudgy wrote:
             | Let's put it in the cloud, man. Everybody's doing it!
        
             | mattferderer wrote:
             | The Tech Crunch article is much more informative.
             | 
             | Not only was this S3 public for reading but sounds like you
             | could create & update as well since 2018. It contained "50
             | gigabytes of files, including passports and driver
             | licenses".
             | 
             | Per the Tech Crunch article:
             | 
             | > It's not known for exactly how long the bucket was left
             | exposed, but a text file left behind by an unnamed security
             | researcher, dated September 2018, warned that the bucket
             | was "not properly configured" which can have "dangerous
             | security implications."
        
         | ren_engineer wrote:
         | wouldn't take state sponsored hacking to do this to most
         | startups, probably just a few people using open source tools to
         | look for basic stuff
         | 
         | people love to dunk on companies in situations like this but
         | probably 95% of startups would get hacked like this if the MSM
         | put a bunch of attention on them and made them a target. Even
         | huge companies get pwned due to basic security issues
        
         | jeromegv wrote:
         | Foreign support to this movement is not exactly a secret. They
         | were waiving Trump flags, confederate flags and lots of MAGA
         | signs were seen among the protesters. Also the movement has
         | been publicized on Fox News and by famous right-wing people in
         | the US, that's just normal that it would eventually lead to a
         | lot of people in the US deciding to start donating. The
         | simplest explanation is more likely than the conspiracy that
         | the Canadian government had time to make up fake donations from
         | the US.
        
           | blast wrote:
           | This is a bit removed from your point about foreign support,
           | but the flag thing appears to have been exaggerated for
           | political purposes. The Confederate flag guy was shunned by
           | the protestors and stood out like a sore thumb to begin with:
           | https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1487834109678395392.
           | (I'm not endorsing that Twitter account - it's the only link
           | I know of to the video, and the video is interesting.)
           | 
           | It has also been commonly reported that the protestors are
           | Nazis carrying Nazi flags, but this reporting is also
           | excessively politicized. Here's a first-person account giving
           | a completely different picture:
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtN4VqBeCMg#t=6932.
           | 
           | There are hundreds of hours of livestreams on youtube showing
           | the protests. Anyone can dip in at random and get a sense.
           | That's how I ran across that last link of the guy talking
           | about the swastika flag. From the livestreams it seems clear
           | that this is an authentic and peaceful working class protest,
           | not some far right "insurrection" (a word that has also been
           | chosen for political reasons). The most fascinating aspect of
           | this event is what it reveals about the class divide in
           | Canada, and the West in general, since each country has its
           | own version of this right now.
        
             | BeefWellington wrote:
             | > From the livestreams it seems clear that this is an
             | authentic and peaceful working class protest, not some sort
             | of far right "insurrection" (a word that has also been
             | chosen for political reasons). The most fascinating aspect
             | of this event is what it reveals about the class divide in
             | Canada, or the West in general, since each country has its
             | own version of this right now.
             | 
             | This is actually quite disingenuous. All it tells you is
             | the general comportment of what people are doing around
             | those livestreaming (who are almost all clearly marked).
             | 
             | What you aren't seeing or being exposed to in this way are
             | the countless complaints of harassment, death threats, and
             | rape threats the people living in this area are facing on a
             | routine basis, even when the person being threatened was
             | trying to help the protestors.[1][2][3][4]
             | 
             | As I've mentioned in other places, there's a lot of
             | protests in Ottawa. It's the nation's capital and it's
             | often a symbolic target if nothing else. Ottawa's citizens
             | are familiar with protestors. This is a whole different
             | ballgame.
             | 
             | In terms of it being working class, I think that's also a
             | disingenuous label. As you can see in this walk through of
             | the stopped convoy, there's _VERY FEW_ actual big rigs
             | participating, and the people here are largely driving
             | recent pickups.[5] These are not put-out truckers, these
             | are anti-vax /anti-mandate people from across the spectrum,
             | and not a lot of them.
             | 
             | [1]: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/ottaw-tow-
             | truck-op...
             | 
             | [2]: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/moo-shu-ice-
             | cream-empl...
             | 
             | [3]: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/unruly-protesters-
             | prompt-earl...
             | 
             | [4]: https://globalnews.ca/news/8594809/covid-freedom-
             | convoy-otta... -> Multiple sources in first paragraph.
             | 
             | [5]: https://mobile.twitter.com/Gray_Mackenzie/status/14929
             | 139048...
        
             | cf100clunk wrote:
             | Peaceful? I think news of armed militants amongst the
             | protesters will soon be commonplace, like today's arrests
             | of this heavily armed cadre:
             | 
             | https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/coutts-protest-
             | blocka...
        
               | User23 wrote:
               | Was there any actual violence? If not then it was
               | peaceful. Merely being armed certainly increases the
               | capacity for violence, but it's not violence in and of
               | itself.
               | 
               | I'm not familiar with Canadian law on the subject, so I
               | don't know if possession of the items in question is
               | unlawful or if there was some other cause for the
               | arrests.
        
               | cf100clunk wrote:
               | > I'm not familiar with Canadian law on the subject
               | 
               | That's the crux of this - their weaponry was way out of
               | line according to Canadian law.
        
               | spoils19 wrote:
               | I think it's not the worst thing in the world for there
               | to be visual elements inspired by the 2nd Amendment. If
               | nothing else, it puts pressure on the government and
               | shows that many free thinkers have solidarity with
               | Canadians.
        
               | blast wrote:
               | In Canadian terms it's politically one of the most
               | foolish things you could do. There's little constituency
               | for 2nd Amendment style gun rights in Canada, so they'd
               | be sawing off the limb they're sitting on. And that's
               | apart from whether they broke the law, which would also
               | be politically foolish since it undermines their argument
               | of civil disobedience. I don't know anything about the
               | facts of this case though.
        
               | spoils19 wrote:
               | The point is that many other countries should adopt
               | rights similar to the 2nd Amendment, because it has been
               | proven to increase civil liberties with very few
               | downsides. Canadians who refuse to do so are more likely
               | to be trampled by big government.
        
             | jstream67 wrote:
             | planting a 'nazi/white nationalist' in protests and then
             | having the media focus on it seems like such a obvious
             | tactic now that it is making me question every time this
             | kind of thing occurs.
             | 
             | For example, remember the recent election in Virginia where
             | there was a ton of media retweets of a picture of a handful
             | of 'white supremacists' in front of the tour bus for the
             | Republican candidate. The media made a huge deal about it
             | and the reporter who was on the scene made all kinds of
             | absurd tweets about things she 'overheard' them say.
             | However it didn't take long before people found pictures of
             | the 'White Supremacists' working for the Democrat
             | candidates campaign. One was even driving the tour bus!
             | 
             | https://redstate.com/bonchie/2021/10/29/busted-multiple-
             | part...
             | 
             | That was a almost absurdy poorly executed attempt at a
             | political smear but it really opened my eyes to how easy it
             | is to insert bad actors into an event - especially when you
             | have a complicit media.
        
               | nicoffeine wrote:
               | How are the complicit media organized? Is there a secret
               | WhatsApp thread going on between the hundreds of media
               | organizations? Who runs the organization? How do they
               | keep it a secret?
        
               | _-david-_ wrote:
               | There is / was a secret group of journalists called
               | JournoList. The original was shut down and there is now a
               | new one.
               | 
               | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/JournoList
        
             | twic wrote:
             | > From the livestreams it seems clear that this is an
             | authentic and peaceful working class protest
             | 
             | I would question the "working class" bit. Most of us on HN
             | are office workers, who don't get out much, so we tend to
             | assume anyone who works outdoors, including driving a
             | truck, must be working class. But remember that every
             | trucker participating in this protest has a truck to
             | participate in: they are either owner-operators, or
             | participating on behalf of trucking firm. Owner-operators
             | are petite bourgeoisie; owners of firms are capitalists.
             | Neither are working class, in an economic sense.
             | 
             | Really, when we office drones say the truckers are working
             | class, what we actually mean is that they are rednecks.
             | They come from rural areas, they probably don't watch the
             | same TV shows as us, and perhaps they don't even drink
             | speciality coffee. But you can be a redneck petit
             | bourgeois, or a redneck capitalist!
        
             | 908B64B197 wrote:
             | Honestly the odds that was a fed are pretty high. The
             | father had feds planting explosive in people's mailboxes
             | [0] and tried to pin it on some political group he didn't
             | like back in the 70's. Feds were forced to confessed when
             | one got busted doing it, quite literally red-handed.
             | 
             | [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_inv
             | olvin...
        
           | hammock wrote:
        
             | talentedcoin wrote:
             | Because Canada is not part of the USA?
        
             | gpm wrote:
             | Because they're all symbols of foreign political
             | figures/deceased foreign governments?
        
               | hammock wrote:
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | gpm wrote:
               | No, but if a bunch of people flying Peurto Rican flags
               | swarm the Texas legislature it's probably reasonable to
               | assume that there is a degree of support from people in
               | Puerto Rico/outside of texas.
        
             | ben_w wrote:
             | Commenting only on the flags themselves and not the protest
             | or the hack:
             | 
             | Canada is not part of the USA.
             | 
             | Trump was a President of the USA not Canada; the
             | Confederacy was made from the bits of the USA furthest away
             | from Canada; and while a literal interpretation of the word
             | "America" in the initialism "Make America Great Again"
             | would refer to the entire continent, it is usually
             | understood as specifically just the USA and not Canada (and
             | _definitely_ not Mexico or Cuba let alone the rest).
             | 
             | Flags are widely used as a symbol of identity. Could be an
             | (excuse the term, I can think of none other that fits)
             | _false flag_ , but there's a reason why that term exists.
        
               | 908B64B197 wrote:
               | Honnestly, there's a lot more people moving from Canada
               | to the US than the reverse. Maybe there's a desire to
               | embrace the American way (of course, the state media
               | won't touch it!).
               | 
               | When hiring, we get a ton of resumes from Canada to
               | transfer to the US but the reverse almost never happens.
        
             | mrtesthah wrote:
             | Foreign support is grossly apparent from the leaked data.
             | Individual donors        36,975 Canadian        55,870
             | Foreign        92,845 Total             Amount donated
             | $4,311,287  Canadian        $12,532,326 Foreign
             | $16,843,613 Total
        
               | sam_goody wrote:
               | I think that most people mean "foreign" as foreign
               | government (such as CCP) support, not just support from
               | middle-class Americans (and Europeans) who identify with
               | the protests and happen to be foreigners.
               | 
               | And while it could be that foreign governments have
               | donated with false identities over GSG, it is more likely
               | that they would send in people to figure out who is
               | really capable of moving things, and contact them with
               | cash, tips, and resources.
               | 
               | (I am not commenting on the envoy, as so far have only
               | seen it in news outlets [such as CNN & NYT on the left
               | and Fox on the right] who have not earned my trust - so I
               | do not know what is really happening.)
        
               | gpm wrote:
               | As a Canadian I absolutely count donations from
               | foreigners in the US and Europe as foreign money and
               | absolutely think that that should be illegal (though I
               | have no clue as to what the current legal status of that
               | is).
        
           | mrtesthah wrote:
           | > _The simplest explanation is more likely than the
           | conspiracy that the Canadian government had time to make up
           | fake donations from the US._
           | 
           | Isn't it convenient how all contradicting evidence is
           | dismissed by evidence-free conspiracy theories?
           | 
           | https://www.wired.com/video/watch/why-you-can-never-argue-
           | wi...
           | 
           | And the evidence from the leak is fully testable and
           | falsifiable! You could literally just email people who
           | donated and ask them.
        
       | okokwhatever wrote:
       | Reading this thread demonstrate to me why we (as a society, no
       | matter where you're living) can't live together as we've been
       | doing anymore. The ideas are colliding in too many areas and all
       | of them look like a rat trap. Something hostile in human behavior
       | we are unable to remove is deeply rotten and who knows how we can
       | fix it. This are sad (but non desperate) times to live.
        
         | snarf21 wrote:
         | It is all pushed by digital ad revenue. Conflict is _extremely_
         | profitable. As long as socials and infotainment (it 's not
         | news) companies make more selling conflict and outrage, that is
         | all we'll get. They will amplify anything for more dollars.
         | When is the last time you saw a headline that wasn't click-
         | bait? Everyone is so busy hating their neighbor they miss the
         | oligarchy printing money.
        
         | AviationAtom wrote:
         | I don't think much has changed, what has changed is we now have
         | the Internet and technology, enabling the ideas and information
         | to be heard.
        
           | tablespoon wrote:
           | >> Reading this thread demonstrate to me why we (as a
           | society, no matter where you're living) can't live together
           | as we've been doing anymore. The ideas are colliding in too
           | many areas and all of them look like a rat trap. Something
           | hostile in human behavior we are unable to remove is deeply
           | rotten and who knows how we can fix it. This are sad (but non
           | desperate) times to live.
           | 
           | > I don't think much has changed, what has changed is we now
           | have the Internet and technology, enabling the ideas and
           | information to be heard.
           | 
           | It's not just that. The internet and technology also allow an
           | unprecedented levels of disconnection, dehumanization, and
           | "filter bubble"-ing.
           | 
           | IRL interaction put breaks on a lot things that online
           | interaction has now removed.
        
         | redisman wrote:
         | I'm somewhat hopeful. For me getting out of the media bubble
         | was actually super easy once you just do it and now I feel like
         | I have a more accurate view of the world and a lot less stress.
         | If people stop overdosing on CNN and Fox and Facebook then
         | after the withdrawals I think everyone will feel just better
         | and clearer. Now how do we make everyone stop doing that? No
         | idea.
         | 
         | Wikipedia current events is my "news" source now and I couldn't
         | be happier
        
         | jdrc wrote:
         | Governmental centralization control has grown steadily since
         | the start of the 20th century. Control and micromanagement of
         | human behavior and thought, especially in big cities, has grown
         | beyond what humans are capable of tolerating
        
       | fennecfoxen wrote:
       | "Public advocacy is for everyone, not only those able and willing
       | to weather abuse. And donors have good reason to fear abuse." --
       | Jeremy D. Tedesco
        
       | MomoXenosaga wrote:
       | I didn't join in on the BLM protests because I'm neither American
       | nor arrogant enough to tell Americans how they want to run their
       | society.
       | 
       | Ban foreign money entering your political system. Nothing good
       | will ever come from it.
        
         | Dma54rhs wrote:
         | Well I'm sure these truckers think and say it's a human rights
         | issue not political, if you ban that you would ban the
         | mechanism liberal democracy values get spread around the world
         | financially speaking, usually under the name of human rights.
        
         | pinephoneguy wrote:
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | tagoregrtst wrote:
         | How about Canadians living in America who are de facto barred
         | from entering their country to visit relatives?
        
           | criddell wrote:
           | Who is barred? I've travelled to Canada to visit family a
           | number of times last year and once so far this year. I have
           | another trip planned for late spring.
           | 
           | Canadian citizens enter by right.
        
             | ne0flex wrote:
             | There was a time that entering as a Canadian citizen by air
             | would get you escorted to a gov't approved place of
             | quarantine for a few days, regardless of your living
             | situation / ability to self-isolate. Granted, that's not
             | the situation currently.
        
             | tagoregrtst wrote:
             | Unvaccinated Canadians older than five who have to
             | quarantine for fourteen days.
             | 
             | A 14 day quarantine for an endemic virus just as present in
             | Canada as anywhere else is a de facto prohibition.
        
               | yohannparis wrote:
               | Nope it is not, this is an abuse of the term
               | "prohibition".
        
               | fuzzer37 wrote:
               | Just get vaccinated. It takes, like, 5 minutes.
        
               | dukeofdoom wrote:
               | Just comply and the regime will not threaten you is not
               | really how a free person thinks.
        
               | tagoregrtst wrote:
               | No. It is immoral for a healthy, COVID recovered man to
               | get a vaccine best used in the third world.
               | 
               | To travel, and get around my moral qualms, I signed up
               | for a vaccine trial. I was refused or got the placebo.
        
               | micromacrofoot wrote:
               | The vaccine reserved for you did not go to the third
               | world instead.
        
               | tagoregrtst wrote:
               | I'll help your argument out and make it stronger (because
               | "reserved" vaccines have indeed been shipped overseas):
               | 
               | Once a vial is opened the vaccines contained therein
               | can't be shipped overseas and will expire in a few hours.
               | I could therefore wait outside a Walgreens before closing
               | and get the shot.
               | 
               | Except Im not a utilitarian. I cannot take what is
               | rightfully another's just because they cant enjoy it. I
               | believe that all young people should have refused the
               | shot, therefore liberating millions of doses. Mine is but
               | the first (literal) drop in what should be an ocean; and
               | Im actively encouraging my friends to do the moral thing
               | and refuse to get boosted.
        
               | micromacrofoot wrote:
               | Do you only do this for vaccines? other medical
               | treatment? food? water?
               | 
               | I don't know where to draw the line myself, so I wonder
               | what kind of rules you set for yourself. This sounds like
               | one of the most extreme examples I've heard.
        
               | cik2e wrote:
               | Nice sentiment but this is analogous to the concept of
               | not throwing out food because there are starving people
               | out there. The vaccine you're not taking isn't going to
               | magically get reappropriated for use in the third world.
               | Most likely, it will just go to waste.
        
               | tagoregrtst wrote:
               | Yes it is. My parents were vaccinated with vaccines not
               | used by first world countries.
               | 
               | EDIT:
               | 
               | Also, consider that perhaps the West should be consuming
               | (far) less resources including food? Eat what's on your
               | plate, even if you're full, and skip the next meal. Your
               | discomfort and hunger will help remind you next time to
               | have an appropriate serving.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | I've heard this spin multiple times.
               | 
               | Fun fact - people who live or have lived in disease-
               | plagued areas of the world are far more likely to
               | willingly adhere to guidelines on masks, isolation, and
               | the like, because they've seen, firsthand, the
               | devastating effect of pandemics and epidemics.
               | 
               | Let's not pretend for one moment that your average
               | antivaxxer in the US or Canada is in any way on some sort
               | of moral crusade for the third world.
               | 
               | It's just a "better" reason than "because I'm selfish".
        
               | seattle_spring wrote:
               | Gosh, that's a really tough position to be in. If only
               | there was something they could do to be exempt from the
               | 14 day quarantine. Anything at all.
        
               | hanselot wrote:
        
               | beaconstudios wrote:
               | Well, maybe they should get vaccinated then.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | tagoregrtst wrote:
               | Point stands they're barred entry.
               | 
               | Look, I get it. They're icky and Canada has a long
               | history of denying or trying to deny entry to "icky" ppl.
               | Mediterraneans, Asians, Eminem (though I forgot about
               | that one eh?).
               | 
               | Canada has just a long list of things its apologized for.
               | Like barring entry to Mediterraneans, Asians and Eminem.
        
               | seattle_spring wrote:
               | Comparing racial exclusion and barring felons to how
               | unvaccinated people are being treated is some seriously
               | disingenous nonsense.
               | 
               | > Look, I get it
               | 
               | No, you don't.
        
               | kstenerud wrote:
               | Yes, so they don't contribute to the clogging of
               | hospitals (90% of COVID related hospitalizations are
               | unvaccinated people).
               | 
               | Stop being so selfish and get vaccinated.
        
               | zapdrive wrote:
               | Not all unvaccinated people end up in a hospital though.
               | So aren't we discriminating against them?
               | 
               | It's equivalent to saying that lets bar all male Canadian
               | citizens from entering Canada, since over 90% of rapes
               | are committed by men!
        
               | kstenerud wrote:
               | > Not all unvaccinated people end up in a hospital
               | though. So aren't we discriminating against them?
               | 
               | We absolutely are, and I applaud the effort.
               | 
               | If they were fighting against rabies or measles or
               | tetanus vaccinations, I'd say "Good on you! Do your part
               | to clean out the shallow end of the gene pool."
               | 
               | But once their stupidity endangers others, we as
               | civilized people step in and stop them.
               | 
               | When unvaccinated COVID patients flood the hospitals, it
               | means that other people with serious or life threatening
               | medical situations can't get the quality treatment they
               | need. At this point, the antivax stupidity crosses over
               | into danger-to-society.
               | 
               | So yeah, block them until they no longer pose a threat.
        
               | logifail wrote:
               | > When unvaccinated COVID patients flood the hospitals
               | [..]
               | 
               | In our part of the world, despite eye-watering infection
               | rates over the last few weeks, hospitals are absolutely
               | nowhere near capacity (and that's putting it mildly).
               | 
               | Were younger and fitter people really flooding hospitals
               | if they got Covid? Thought the data on age and
               | comorbidities is pretty clear and has been for a while
               | now.[0][1]
               | 
               | [0] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PII
               | S2666-7... [1] https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology
               | /article/75/11/222...
        
               | kstenerud wrote:
        
               | logifail wrote:
               | > The fact that Canadian hospitals haven't been overrun
               | is testament to how well the situation is being handled.
               | But one must remain vigilant. Even Germany had problems
               | with their hospitals despite their best efforts.
               | 
               | Q1: Were Swedish hospitals overrun?
               | 
               | Q2: If not, why not?
        
               | shagie wrote:
               | https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4833 (December 2020)
               | 
               | > Health officials in Sweden have warned that intensive
               | care units (ICUs) in and around Stockholm are under
               | severe pressure and close to capacity for the first time
               | during the pandemic.
               | 
               | > Although the city's hospitals could increase the number
               | of beds allocated to ICUs, there are insufficient
               | specialist staff to support them, said Bjorn Eriksson,
               | director of Region Stockholm Healthcare.
               | 
               | > He told The BMJ, "So far, we have been one step ahead
               | of the virus by continuously opening more care places so
               | that they're available when the need arises. Now,
               | healthcare staff are so hard pressed and the margins are
               | so tight that on 10 December I formally asked the
               | National Board of Health and Welfare for more specialised
               | staff."
               | 
               | > One option being considered is "borrowing" trained
               | staff from private care providers, he said.
               | 
               | > The Swedish government changed its approach to the
               | pandemic last month when it introduced tougher
               | restrictions on social interactions after cases started
               | to rise. The soft approach the government had adopted,
               | based on recommendations and voluntary behaviour of
               | citizens, has shifted as cases of infection with SARS-
               | CoV-2 have continued to surge along with hospitalisations
               | and deaths.
               | 
               | > This week Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced that
               | the ban on gatherings of more than eight people would
               | extend to the Christmas holidays, while secondary schools
               | have been told to switch to distance learning for the
               | rest of the term. The government has also asked the
               | parliament to grant it more authority to implement new
               | measures such as closing shopping malls and gyms.
        
               | kstenerud wrote:
               | > Q1: Were Swedish hospitals overrun?
               | 
               | Yes, they were. And they're still under strain.
        
               | pessimizer wrote:
               | Thank God nobody old or frail ever caught the disease
               | from a young fit person.
        
               | tagoregrtst wrote:
               | Im not arguing for or against vaccination. Im just
               | pointing out that some _Canadians_ are _de facto_ barred
               | from entry.
               | 
               | The law also doesn't recognize natural immunity which is
               | not that ineffective, is it?
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | Upstream in this thread we have "it's not torture because
               | no-one is making those residents who live in the area
               | stay" - because of course, they all can afford the time
               | and effort to go stay in a hotel out of the area for a
               | few weeks...
               | 
               | Here we have "oh, well, it might as well be a ban, if
               | you're going to inconvenience someone for a few weeks".
        
               | corry wrote:
               | Quarantine != "barred". Perhaps inconvenient to the point
               | of rethinking the trip, yes, but that's different than a
               | citizen being denied the right of return by their
               | government.
               | 
               | And even that inconvenience can be removed with a free,
               | safe shot that takes 30 seconds to get for those that
               | aren't prevented by some other health condition.
        
               | Spinnaker_ wrote:
               | Former Newfoundland Premier Brian Peckford, one of the
               | men who helped draft our Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
               | is suing the government, claiming that these travel
               | restrictions on Canadian citizens are unconstitutional.
               | 
               | It's a pretty remarkable situation to have someone who
               | wrote our constitution pointing out that the government
               | is in error.
        
               | tagoregrtst wrote:
               | The last man alive who sat with PET and the other
               | premiers to discuss how Trudeau's unacceptable
               | constitution (to the premiers who had to be on board) was
               | going to pass muster.
        
               | BeefWellington wrote:
               | The case was doomed before it was filed because the
               | pretense and premise is a bit absurd. Air Travel is not a
               | right on its own and the federal government is freely
               | able to place limits on who is allowed onto an airplane
               | already, for a lot of arbitrary reasons (Canadians or
               | otherwise). Setting that aside, provinces also have a say
               | in how that works and could easily also force isolation
               | on returning travelers and invoke the notwithstanding
               | clause to enforce it. Either way, by the time it is
               | argued we will hopefully be past COVID restrictions.
               | 
               | It will also be interesting to see the moment of
               | Peckford's lawyers arguing the intent of the constitution
               | and the crown having to argue against it, given Peckford
               | was there at its drafting. However, it would be foolish
               | to believe the man to be automatically correct and
               | infallible on this point in the court's eyes.
               | 
               |  _However_ , I do believe the discussion is worth having
               | because if nothing else it will force the Canadian
               | government to rethink its policies that were clearly
               | developed on the fly without due consideration. Right
               | now, with the benefit of hindsight, 14-day enforced
               | quarantines and 3-5-day enforced stays at government
               | designated hotels don't seem to have done much of
               | anything other than throw the hospitality industry a
               | bone. Personally, I would have preferred to see more
               | aggressive testing done at points of entry, with
               | quarantine notices essentially handed out to individuals
               | who need it. Unfortunately successive governments
               | undermined Canadian biotech industries and left the
               | country without the needed capacity.
               | 
               | There need to be better policies and plans in place for
               | the next time this happens and it is important to have
               | the discussion of just how much you're able to dictate to
               | a given individual.
        
               | jcadam wrote:
               | Next time this happens, public health agencies will be
               | dealing with large swaths of their populations who have
               | zero (actually, negative) trust in them and refuse to
               | comply with any and all measures from day one.
        
               | mcguire wrote:
               | How would that differ from the last two years?
        
               | pessimizer wrote:
               | They're having to deal with that _this_ time. Some people
               | can 't be told, it seems to have little to do with any
               | earned mistrust.
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | >"notwithstanding clause"
               | 
               | This thing makes a mockery of Canadian Bill of Rights
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | > Quarantine != "barred". Perhaps inconvenient to the
               | point of rethinking the trip, yes,
               | 
               | The original quote was "de facto barred". If something is
               | "inconvenient to the point that it makes the trip
               | infeasible" it's pretty much as good as barring entry.
               | 
               | > And even that inconvenience can be removed with a free,
               | safe shot that takes 30 seconds to get for those that
               | aren't prevented by some other health condition.
               | 
               | I'm vaxxed and boosted, but at this point it doesn't seem
               | like vaccines inhibit transmission and thus it's purely a
               | matter of bodily autonomy. "yield your right to bodily
               | autonomy and you may enter" is some authoritarian
               | nonsense.
        
               | TurningCanadian wrote:
               | First, vaccines do inhibit transmission. They're not
               | perfect, and the protection begins to wane after a few
               | months, but to say that they don't inhibit transmission
               | is false.
               | 
               | Further, the vaccines have consistently significantly
               | reduced hospitalization, and most Canadian hospitals
               | continue to be stretched with a long backlog. The
               | continued strain from COVID hospitalizations continues to
               | impact others. Freedom has always been limited when it
               | interferes with the rights of others, (in this case
               | timely access to healthcare) and borders have always had
               | stricter rules than normal life within a country.
               | 
               | We're in a gray area here, granted. Ideally ones' own
               | health choices would not impact others, and hospitals
               | would be back to normal, but the restrictions are not
               | nonsense.
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | > First, vaccines do inhibit transmission. They're not
               | perfect, and the protection begins to wane after a few
               | months, but to say that they don't inhibit transmission
               | is false.
               | 
               | I was a little imprecise--I don't think the transmission
               | inhibiting effect is literally zero, but I suspect it's
               | marginal (based on US health officials remarks about
               | 'everyone is going to get omicron'
               | https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/health/us-coronavirus-
               | tuesday...).
               | 
               | > Freedom has always been limited when it interferes with
               | the rights of others, (in this case timely access to
               | healthcare) and borders have always had stricter rules
               | than normal life within a country.
               | 
               | I can't take this argument seriously while Canada
               | tolerates so many other things that increase one's risk
               | of consuming hospital resources (drinking, smoking,
               | driving, etc) and fails to mandate other things which
               | would similarly reduce load on hospitals (diet, exercise,
               | etc). In these other cases, it's regarded as the
               | responsibility of the government to provide enough
               | healthcare to meet demand-- _not_ to infringe on the
               | rights of citizens.
               | 
               | > We're in a gray area here, granted. Ideally ones' own
               | health choices would not impact others, and hospitals
               | would be back to normal, but the restrictions are not
               | nonsense.
               | 
               | I think we left the gray area when it became clear that
               | COVID would be endemic and vaccines don't do much to
               | reduce transmission.
        
               | fock wrote:
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | ffs...
               | 
               | > Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy,
               | regardless of the reason, and is publicly funded as a
               | medical procedure under the combined effects of the
               | federal Canada Health Act and provincial health-care
               | systems
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Canada
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | And Trump has never, and will never be the Canadian Prime
               | Minister, yet we see plenty of Trump flags at these
               | protests.
               | 
               | And confederate flags too, for that matter.
        
               | tagoregrtst wrote:
               | I literally said "de facto". A 14 day quarantine when one
               | has 10 days vacation a year is _de facto_ a bar.
               | 
               | Nor did I argue, or am interested in arguing, the merits
               | of banning the unvaccinated. I just stated that they are
               | effectively banned from entry.
        
               | jcadam wrote:
               | That is the entire point. International travel is not for
               | the plebs.
        
               | pessimizer wrote:
               | There are probably about 100 other reasons they can be
               | banned from entry if they don't comply. Saying they are
               | "banned" if they don't get a vaccination (even though of
               | course it's not a ban, it's a "de facto" ban) is no more
               | interesting than if they're "banned" if they won't submit
               | to a search, or if they've filled their car with fruit.
        
               | yohannparis wrote:
               | Being barred to enter a country because of a lack of
               | vaccination is nothing new from the pre-Covid-19 era.
               | Like Brazil requires a Yellow Fever vaccination for
               | people from some African countries.
        
               | go_blue_13 wrote:
               | they can go get the safe, effective vaccine for free so
               | they don't have to quarantine
        
               | mywittyname wrote:
               | Quarantine procedures were in place during Zika and Ebola
               | outbreaks as well. And those procedures were
               | substantially more harsh. Major metro hospitals had
               | quarantine facilities brought in for Ebola. Patients were
               | shoved into a mobile field hospital for 14 days. Not a
               | single protest happened for that.
               | 
               | The takeaway here is that none of this is new. People are
               | mostly just pissed off that the quarantine procedures now
               | apply to them. It was a-okay when other people were
               | shoved into isolation tanks because, "that's what happens
               | when you go to Africa."
        
               | tagoregrtst wrote:
               | Right, but the virus was contained. A quarantine when you
               | have as much COVID as anyone is petty.
        
               | manquer wrote:
               | Effectiveness is not metric that changes legality. A lot
               | of government policy is ineffective does not make it
               | illegal or unconstitutional .
        
               | FpUser wrote:
               | When the rights are infringed upon just for the fuck of
               | it without solid proof that it is to prevent endangering
               | large amount of lives - maybe it is technically legal but
               | I think it is crime.
        
               | manquer wrote:
               | You can make it illegal and actually a crime. The
               | democratic way to make it one is either make that point
               | democratically elected leaders in a civilized manner or
               | vote against them next election and organize into
               | parties/block to influence policy.
               | 
               | Terrorizing and hold regular people hostage with noise
               | pollution, blockade and disrupt their lives is what
               | revolutionary/terrorist organization would do.
               | 
               | If protestors behave like terrorists and insurgents then
               | sooner or later they will be treated like one.
        
           | sequoia wrote:
           | As has been pointed out, you can visit relatives in Canada.
           | What you _can 't_ do is zip back and forth across the border
           | willy nilly during this pandemic, while refusing to take the
           | preventative measures 4/5ths of your (eligible) countrymen
           | have taken, namely vaccination.
           | 
           | I'm an American living in Canada. Like you I chose to live
           | across an international border from my family. Guess what?
           | Living abroad inconvenient from time to time! During a
           | pandemic when one country (USA) chooses to behave
           | idiotically, the result being a 3x per capita death rate
           | compared to Canada, it's even more inconvenient. Ironically,
           | people like you (who can't be bothered to do anything to
           | prevent virus spread) are the reason we have to have all
           | these damned restrictions.
           | 
           | Despite the inconvenience to me (didn't see family for over a
           | year) I support the border closures and restrictions fully. I
           | am very proud of Canada's success in keeping death and
           | hospitalization rates down compared to USA, and proud of
           | Canadians' civic spirit and collective solidarity. That civic
           | spirit is a big part of why I prefer living here.
           | 
           | If you never want to be inconvenienced in your travels to and
           | within Canada: _move back home_. You are opting into a
           | certain amount of inconvenience by living abroad, that is
           | your choice.
        
           | sudosysgen wrote:
           | I've had relatives come into the country from different
           | countries many times, with no issues. They had to quarantine,
           | one of them with us, but they were never denied entry, and
           | even that is getting dropped progressively.
        
           | vkou wrote:
           | I am a Canadian living in America, and my non-Canadian co-
           | workers have been driving up for ski vacations all through
           | the omicron surge.
           | 
           | Nobody's barred from going anywhere. Go get your shots.
        
           | jagger27 wrote:
           | Canadian citizens are always free to re-enter Canada.
        
       | ars wrote:
        
         | jeromegv wrote:
         | You seem misinformed, Canada does allow "recovered from COVID"
         | as a way to bypass testing requirement when you enter Canada
         | through the borders. Source: https://travel.gc.ca/travel-
         | covid/travel-restrictions/covid-...
         | 
         | Canada also has no vaccine passport. Vaccine passports are
         | decided by provinces and every provinces is free to choose
         | criteria of their choice for the passport or if they want a
         | passport at all. Not every provinces have a vaccine passport
         | anymore.
        
           | ars wrote:
           | From the link you gave:
           | 
           | "What is not accepted as a fully vaccinated traveller
           | 
           | Recovered from COVID-19 with only one dose
           | 
           | If you've recovered from COVID-19, you still need at least 2
           | doses of an accepted COVID-19 vaccine or mix of 2 accepted
           | vaccines."
           | 
           | And Canada does have a vaccine passport, for example, you
           | can't go to WalMart of Costco without vaccination.
        
         | zulban wrote:
         | Maybe soon, but not yet. Hospitals are still stretched, mostly
         | by unvaccinated patients. If provincial passports included
         | covid recovered, many people who haven't yet gotten infected
         | would have an incentive to get infected.
        
         | DoctorOW wrote:
         | From the article you linked: > For one, the new report was
         | based on data only through November, before the U.S. booster
         | campaign really took off. It also looked at data during the
         | Delta wave and does not account for the surging Omicron
         | variant.
         | 
         | The study doesn't take other variants into account. This is
         | important because later findings reflect the unvaccinated would
         | have immunity from just the one variant and not all of them
         | uniformly. The language would have to be "recovered from all
         | COVID variants" and the protesters have absolutely no interest
         | in health or science.
        
           | ars wrote:
           | > the unvaccinated would have immunity from just the one
           | variant and not all of them uniformly
           | 
           | And "the vaccinated" have immunity from just one protein,
           | from one variant, which is even lower.
           | 
           | If anything recovered people have better immunity, not worse.
           | 
           | The best strategy right now is to get vaccinated, and also
           | get Omicron - then you have the best of both worlds, without
           | the risk. But someone who took the risk, and recovered, is
           | perfectly safe.
        
             | DoctorOW wrote:
             | That's literally not true though:
             | https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-
             | varian...
        
               | ars wrote:
               | I read your link and there is not a single word about
               | people who recovered. So what exactly is it meant to
               | refute?
        
             | native_samples wrote:
             | Even worse, it's immunity to a spike that hasn't been
             | around for years now. The vaccines were developed for the
             | 2019 strain. The idea that people who got it and recovered
             | two months ago have less immunity than a vaccinated person
             | is based mostly on statistical biases in the way public
             | health agencies measure effectiveness, that can create the
             | appearance of (temporary) effectiveness in water.
        
           | bentcorner wrote:
           | Source data from that article:
           | https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/pdfs/mm7104e1-H.pdf
           | 
           | That article is misleading, because it's comparing hazard
           | rates of people who have had COVID before and were
           | unvaccinated versus people who didn't have COVID before and
           | were vaccinated. Best case scenario are people who are
           | vaccinated and had COVID. Worst off are people are not
           | vaccinated and hadn't had COVID.
           | 
           | I've seen this claim elsewhere and it's frustrating because
           | people just read the headline and regurgitate this nonsense.
           | So much for "doing your own research".
        
             | DoctorOW wrote:
             | Is that not intentional? To compare the immunity gained
             | from having the virus, to the immunity gained from
             | vaccination?
        
       | newsclues wrote:
       | You cannot trust the news.
       | 
       | Only verified facts.
       | 
       | There is a information war and the propaganda is being amplified
       | on full blast.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | dade_ wrote:
       | It appears this was the result of terrible security at
       | GiveSendGo. I'd agree it could be state sponsored, but I am
       | certain there are enough people with the skills to do this on
       | their own downtown Ottawa (even if it turned out they work for
       | the gov't).
       | 
       | That said, I am thoroughly disappointed the Federal gov't and
       | much of the media coverage. They have done nothing but make the
       | situation worse. I think it is intentional (I assume some
       | political end game), but their actions are fueling even more
       | outlandish conspiracy theories.
       | 
       | The most insane was that all layers of government did nothing to
       | stop the noise (truck horns), but it ended when a 21 year old who
       | simply filed a court injunction and the protesters complied.
       | 
       | https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/injunction-ottawa-granted-1...
       | 
       | I've watched the Toronto Police Service play their A game through
       | this entire debacle. They shut down the protests hard and were
       | clearly visible throughout the city with heavy trucks and busses
       | to block roads and maintain control of the situation.
       | 
       | https://www.cp24.com/video?clipId=2376560
       | 
       | The idea that Justin Trudeau needs martial law to deal with
       | parked trucks is outrageous. This isn't an insurrection
       | (reference to an MOU was removed from their website and I agree
       | with the assertion that it was a poorly thought out idea, not a
       | threat), there is no violence, and no obvious danger. The last
       | person to use martial law was Trudeau's father (Pierre) for an
       | actual terrorist attack and kidnapping (the diplomat was later
       | murdered). Get some proper police on the job and drop mandates
       | for ineffective measures and let's move on with our lives.
        
         | eldaisfish wrote:
         | >there is no violence, and no obvious danger
         | 
         | While there is no outright violence, there is torture to local
         | residents, there was attempted arson, there is continued
         | intimidation and harassment of those wearing masks, there is
         | intimidation of visible minorities, there are attacks on
         | businesses....
         | 
         | Is that enough to convince you that the situation is out of
         | hand and than stricter action is needed?
         | 
         | The protestors haven't complied with not honking.
         | 
         | Please, please be careful with how you frame this. There was
         | severe inaction and dangerous incompetence displayed by Ottawa
         | police but please don't spin this as the federal government
         | overstepping.
         | 
         | Edit - within seconds of posting, this is downvoted. Truly a
         | shameful display by the folks here.
        
           | wizzwizz4 wrote:
           | > _Edit - within seconds of posting, this is downvoted. Truly
           | a shameful display by the folks here._
           | 
           | Please don't comment on downvotes like this; it's not useful.
        
             | throw10920 wrote:
             | Complaining about downvoting is straight-up against the HN
             | guidelines https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
             | :
             | 
             | > Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It
             | never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
             | 
             | And in this case, it's more than a little manipulative.
             | "Truly a shameful display by the folks here."
        
           | ctoth wrote:
           | > While there is no outright violence, there is torture to
           | local residents
           | 
           | Why did you use the word torture here? Torture is a well-
           | defined word with an accepted meaning. Do you feel that it is
           | appropriate? Or are you looking for an emotionally-loaded
           | reaction? Can I also claim that my loud college neighbors are
           | torturing me when they stay up too late on the weekend? Of
           | course I can, but it sure is disingenuous to anyone who has
           | actually been tortured.
        
             | BeefWellington wrote:
             | > Can I also claim that my loud college neighbors are
             | torturing me when they stay up too late on the weekend? Of
             | course I can, but it sure is disingenuous to anyone who has
             | actually been tortured.
             | 
             | If they did it for a week straight after you'd lodged
             | several noise complaints and had the police go nowhere,
             | yeah, I think that would qualify. It's certainly not the
             | most severe type of torture but intentionally depriving a
             | person of sleep and attempting to damage their eardrums
             | qualifies.
             | 
             | If your loud college neighbours were setting off a train
             | horn outside your building, repeatedly, I think you'd
             | expect them to be handled by the police (if not arrested)
             | pretty immediately.
             | 
             | If your loud college neighbours were assaulting people in
             | the streets, shouting death and rape threats at you, you'd
             | probably consider them violent.[1] Another post of mine has
             | many more links if you're interested.
             | 
             | I'm not sure how much actual violence is required for a
             | protest to become violent. Is it just that nobody's been
             | killed yet? That seems to be what everyone is waiting for
             | and I sincerely hope we don't get there (thankfully it
             | looks like things may be defusing today).
             | 
             | [1]: https://globalnews.ca/news/8594809/covid-freedom-
             | convoy-otta...
        
               | [deleted]
        
             | cf100clunk wrote:
             | If a person or group knowingly deploys sonic psychological
             | warfare techniques upon innocent people, they are
             | torturers. In this context, the constant blaring of truck
             | horns is deliberate and not meant in kindness or frivolity.
             | The negative psychological effects upon the local residents
             | are now well known and well documented.
        
               | ctoth wrote:
               | Okay but the thing about torture is, in order to be
               | torture you must be prevented from leaving the situation.
               | Are they literally trapping people in their homes? No.
               | You just really really don't like them and so are trying
               | to delegitimize their protest with use of loaded
               | language. Torture means things like having your skin
               | pealed off or your fingernails removed. Torture means
               | things like being imprisoned and repeatedly being made to
               | feel as though you are drowning. Constant honking must
               | certainly be annoying! But as far as I'm aware, protests
               | are supposed to be uncomfortable and annoying. This is
               | not torture. It's like terrorist. The word terrorist now
               | means somebody did a thing that the government doesn't
               | like. Are we going to do this same thing with torture?
               | Because I'm not here for it.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | Oh, it's fine, because everyone can afford to go to a
               | hotel for a few weeks, then, right?
        
               | ctoth wrote:
               | Me pointing out that this is not torture, that torture
               | means specific things and that this doesn't meet the
               | commonly-accepted definition of torture, followed by you
               | glibly inserting the phrase "its fine" is a perfect
               | microcosm of why online discussion is doomed. Torture
               | means you are in pain and you cannot stop it. Not by
               | getting on the bus and riding across town, not by wearing
               | earmuffs, it means that you, the person being tortured,
               | cannot stop the torture. This is clearly not the case
               | when there is noise outside your house that you dislike.
               | Words have meanings, let's please stick to using them.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | You want to be absolutely pedantic about torture "meaning
               | specific things", and where "commonly-accepted
               | definitions" happen, conveniently, to mean what's more
               | convenient to you.
               | 
               | Dictionaries, on the other hand, define torture as
               | "inflicting pain and suffering on".
               | 
               | The UN Conventions on Torture in no way specify that
               | imprisonment, formal or otherwise, is a required
               | component for something to be defined as torture.
               | 
               | So my opinion is that your vision of torture in this
               | instance is far more narrow, because it fits your
               | worldview more.
        
             | imwillofficial wrote:
             | I mean maybe, "that last paranormal activity movie was
             | absolute torture."
             | 
             | I assume (charitably) they mean it in a hyperbolic sense
        
           | blast wrote:
           | I didn't downvote you, but you're using extreme language like
           | "torture" (I know noise and sleep deprivation are associated
           | with torture but this sort of verbal escalation is not
           | objective) and the only in-depth reporting I've seen on the
           | arson thing makes it seem completely debunked:
           | https://twitter.com/jonkay/status/1490557119816425474 (or
           | https://twitter.com/jonkay/status/1490525934948081666 - I'm
           | not sure what the right link is). That's a biased source, but
           | I can't find anything comparably factual that is taking the
           | allegation seriously. At a minimum, it's not fair to repeat
           | words like "arson" as if they are established facts when at
           | best they are highly disputable.
        
             | cf100clunk wrote:
             | > this sort of verbal escalation is not objective
             | 
             | Objectively, the sonic onslaught of their constantly
             | blaring truck horns is equal in effect to well-known
             | psychological warfare tactics. It is fair and accurate to
             | call it torture in this context.
        
               | rpeden wrote:
               | Even worse, it wasn't just truck horns. There were
               | several trucks driving around with train horns installed.
               | And plenty of the apartments in Centretown are right up
               | against the street.
               | 
               | I don't think making 80+ decibels of noise 10 feet from
               | people's windows is even an okay way to protest, no
               | matter who you are or what your cause is.
               | 
               | I used to live in this neighbourhood, right by Somerset
               | and Metcalfe. Protests happened all the time. Some of
               | them were anti-government, even. And none of them
               | launched this kind of sustained assault against innocent
               | citizens. I get the sense a lot of them think they're
               | sticking it to the liberal elite, or something like that.
               | But really - Centretown is (or was when I lived there, at
               | least) one of the more affordable parts of Ottawa.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | 80? I had heard in some cases it'd been measured at up to
               | 140dB.
        
               | rpeden wrote:
               | I wouldn't doubt that for the train horns, especially
               | outdoors. ~80db inside an apartment is what I heard
               | personally from someone I trust who lives there still, so
               | that's usually what I go with.
        
             | eldaisfish wrote:
             | i would challenge you to test your opinion by spending even
             | seven days living in downtown Ottawa. You would then
             | seriously reconsider my labelling of 18 hours of illegally
             | loud truck horns as torture as being "extreme language".
        
             | FireBeyond wrote:
             | Weeks on end of horns outside your window are absolutely
             | torture. They are demonstrably linked to mental health
             | issues. It's not a verbal escalation. We are talking about
             | people who have literally attached train and ship horns to
             | vehicles and are using them incessantly.
             | 
             | That passes beyond "nuisance". Extreme situations can
             | utilize extreme language.
        
             | dekerta wrote:
             | It's absolutely torture. I don't live in Ottawa, but I was
             | eating at a restaurant near the trucker protest that sprung
             | up in my city two weeks ago, and I nearly lost my mind just
             | hearing the horns blaring for an hour straight. I can't
             | even imagine what the poor people in Ottawa are going
             | through.
        
             | FpUser wrote:
             | >"...I know noise and sleep deprivation are associated with
             | torture..."
             | 
             | You could stop right there. It is torture. Especially when
             | you consider old frail people.
        
             | purephase wrote:
             | They're honking for 16-18 hours per day. For people that
             | live near the convoy, they've been able to sleep for over
             | two weeks due to this. I have friends and family affected
             | by this. I'm fairly sure this constitutes torture if you
             | don't have the resources to up and leave your residence for
             | days at a time in order to sleep.
        
               | moralestapia wrote:
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please do not posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait
               | comments to HN. You can make your substantive points
               | without that.
               | 
               | If you wouldn't mind reviewing
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and
               | taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart,
               | we'd be grateful. Note this one:
               | 
               | " _Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive,
               | not less, as a topic gets more divisive._ "
        
               | cf100clunk wrote:
               | No, a dog barking 16-18 hours per day is illegal almost
               | everywhere in Canada and the person(s) responsible face
               | fines, at the least.
        
               | moralestapia wrote:
        
               | cf100clunk wrote:
               | A line in a Traveling Wilburys song goes "everything is
               | legal as long as you don't get caught." That's what came
               | to mind as I read your reply, which tacitly agrees with
               | my parent comment.
        
               | pvg wrote:
               | It's specifically about Jersey, a sentiment older than
               | the song and one that also pops up in _Hamilton_.
        
               | moralestapia wrote:
               | That's a nice quote, thanks.
               | 
               | I'm arguing a slightly different thing, that authorities
               | are quite aware and tolerant of the situation in many
               | cases, so they don't care to do much.
        
               | purephase wrote:
        
               | moralestapia wrote:
               | Yes, I am. Noise pollution has the same effect on people
               | regardless of the source.
               | 
               | You pretty much proved my point by diminishing the one
               | particular source of noise that you personally don't
               | consider "as bad".
        
               | smokelegend wrote:
               | 14-16hrs? Seems a bit weak.
               | 
               | How about 24hrs? Now that's torture, or as we Americans
               | like to claim "enhanced interrogation"... [Enemy
               | combatants were exposed to sensory deprivation which
               | included 24hrs of American heavy metal music and 24hrs of
               | flood spotlights to prevent sleeping.]
               | 
               | I get it, after living peacefully before these protests
               | started it might appear as torture, however it is again
               | just annoying behavior not torture. As mentioned by other
               | comments, ear plugs are a thing, sleeping pills could
               | help, glass of warm milk perhaps.
               | 
               | You have options in this scenario, unlike when you are
               | being physically tortured, you have no options but to
               | endure.
        
               | purephase wrote:
        
               | moralestapia wrote:
               | Chill, no need to curse to get your point across as it
               | only paints a poor image of you.
               | 
               | Anyway, noise is noise, whether it comes from a truck, or
               | a dog, a party, or w/e. If you're unable to understand
               | that, then I guess this discussion is futile.
        
               | rpeden wrote:
               | As a counterpoint - it's _not_ the same regardless of the
               | source. This is happening in my old neighbourhood, and
               | several of my friends still live in the area so I 've
               | heard firsthand accounts.
               | 
               | It's not just trucks blowing their air horns. That would
               | have been annoying. A bunch of them installed train horns
               | and during the first week were honking them 24/7. It was
               | loud enough to cause hearing damage indoors. I'd be
               | impressed if a dog could bark that loud.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | Please don't take HN threads further into flamewar hell.
               | I understand that emotions are high on this topic, but
               | comments like this are a noticeable step in precisely the
               | wrong direction, and strongly against the site
               | guidelines.
               | 
               | If you wouldn't mind reviewing
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and
               | taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart,
               | we'd be grateful.
        
               | tablespoon wrote:
               | > They're honking for 16-18 hours per day. For people
               | that live near the convoy, they've been able to sleep for
               | over two weeks due to this. I have friends and family
               | affected by this. I'm fairly sure this constitutes
               | torture if you don't have the resources to up and leave
               | your residence for days at a time in order to sleep.
               | 
               | Are earplugs not a thing in Canada?
               | 
               | Calling honking torture is ridiculous hyperbole. That
               | word should be reserved for the extremely serious kinds
               | of acts it's normally used to describe, lest it become
               | effectively meaningless.
               | 
               | Words themselves don't have any power, and if you try to
               | harness the power of a concept by misusing a word that
               | refers to it, you just cause the word's definition to
               | shift and to weaken its association to the concept
               | (potentially making that concept much harder to access
               | and refer to).
        
               | endemic wrote:
               | Earplugs just deaden sound, they don't eliminate it.
        
               | throw10920 wrote:
               | I challenge you to find earplugs that can be worn 24h a
               | day without any physical discomfort, provide 60dB of
               | attenuation across a wide range of frequencies (these
               | horns probably span low 100's of Hz to mid kHz), and are
               | reasonably inexpensive.
               | 
               | Even if you could find such beasts (which I don't think
               | you can), then you have the problem that you effectively
               | can't use your hearing. You thought that social
               | interactions were hard with a mask? Imagine not being
               | able to use your hearing _at all_.
               | 
               | (yes, 60 dB is necessary because that's how much you'll
               | need in order to sleep - the human ear has an incredibly
               | large dynamic range and even 30 dB_SPL conversations are
               | enough to keep some people awake for hours)
               | 
               | As it stands, many of the residents near these protests
               | are being subjected to low-level sleep deprivation, which
               | is _literally_ torture (as in, used as such by
               | organizations who actually want to extract information or
               | confessions from people).
               | 
               | To clarify - it's not _honking_ that 's torture, it's
               | _sustained honking at a duration and intensity that will
               | cause sleep deprivation and other psychological damage_.
               | 
               | Completely independently of the _reason_ that these
               | people are protesting - this particular means is not
               | humane.
        
               | tablespoon wrote:
               | > I challenge you to find earplugs that can be worn 24h a
               | day without any physical discomfort, provide 60dB of
               | attenuation across a wide range of frequencies (these
               | horns probably span low 100's of Hz to mid kHz), and are
               | reasonably inexpensive.
               | 
               | > Even if you could find such beasts (which I don't think
               | you can), then you have the problem that you effectively
               | can't use your hearing. You thought that social
               | interactions were hard with a mask? Imagine not being
               | able to use your hearing at all.
               | 
               | > (yes, 60 dB is necessary because that's how much you'll
               | need in order to sleep - the human ear has an incredibly
               | large dynamic range and even 30 dB_SPL conversations are
               | enough to keep some people awake for hours)
               | 
               | Those sound like overkill requirements meant to totally
               | mute the horns like they're not there, when the realistic
               | problem is to reduce the noise to the point where someone
               | could sleep.
               | 
               | I kind of find it hard to believe that's not possible
               | with and indoor location + silicone ear plugs (and maybe
               | white noise if you're very sensitive).
               | 
               | > As it stands, many of the residents near these protests
               | are being subjected to low-level sleep deprivation, which
               | is literally torture (as in, used as such by
               | organizations who actually want to extract information or
               | confessions from people).
               | 
               | Again, calling it "literally torture" is ridiculous
               | hyperbole. A noisy neighbor is being _annoying_ to his
               | neighbors, not torturing them.
        
           | fallingknife wrote:
           | Do you have a source on any of that?
        
             | jeromegv wrote:
             | If you have family or friends in Ottawa, you know.
             | 
             | Here's an interview with a MD in downtown Ottawa, speaking
             | of her and her staff at a medical clinic getting harassed
             | in the street for wearing a mask.
             | https://www.npr.org/2022/02/12/1080354245/health-care-
             | worker...
        
               | adolph wrote:
               | I read the story. The MD does not claim she or her staff
               | has been harassed. Her one claim is "And a lot of people
               | have been harassed, have been told to take their masks
               | off." The MD also claims "I would say that a huge
               | 18-wheeler is not a peaceful thing to have in the middle
               | of your city" which is weird since large trucks are a
               | primary and pervasive mode of transporting goods nearly
               | everywhere. The story also does not disclose that the
               | interviewee is an Ontario public employee, essentially a
               | spokesperson for the government position, which is in
               | opposition to the protestors.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | > The MD also claims "I would say that a huge 18-wheeler
               | is not a peaceful thing to have in the middle of your
               | city" which is weird since large trucks are a primary and
               | pervasive mode of transporting goods nearly everywhere.
               | 
               | I must have missed where large trucks sit for days on
               | end, engine running, horns blaring endlessly as part of
               | their "useful public utility".
               | 
               | > The story also does not disclose that the interviewee
               | is an Ontario public employee, essentially a spokesperson
               | for the government position, which is in opposition to
               | the protestors.
               | 
               | This is blatant bias on your part. Doctors employed by
               | the state to provide healthcare are not government
               | spokespeople, however you're trying to spin it here.
        
               | adolph wrote:
               | The interviewee does not assert that "large trucks sit
               | for days on end, engine running, horns blaring
               | endlessly," just that "a huge 18-wheeler is not a
               | peaceful thing."
               | 
               | I deny that pointing out the obvious and undeclared
               | conflict of interest is bias, blatant or not. The
               | physician is articulating the same position as her
               | employer who is in opposition to the protestors. Would it
               | be fair for a Facebook employee to comment on an issue
               | regarding their employer and not disclose it, especially
               | if they worked in a portion of the company directly
               | involved in the issue at hand?
               | 
               | EDIT:
               | 
               | Also, the parent comment to mine claimed of the NPR
               | interview: "Here's an interview with a MD in downtown
               | Ottawa, speaking of her and her staff at a medical clinic
               | getting harassed in the street for wearing a mask."
               | 
               | This description is not true of the interview text
               | available at the link when I read it.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | I assume of course that you're equally vehement that any
               | protestor who is employed by the government or military
               | also makes sure to point out that they're a government
               | employee and that they're speaking against their
               | government's policies as an individual, just so we don't
               | confuse them for spokespeople too, yes?
               | 
               | We would not want confusion and ambiguity there either,
               | after all.
        
           | purephase wrote:
           | I've said this before. There's a strong libertarian bent to
           | HN and I'm not surprised if there's a large contingent of
           | this site that actively supports the convoy. There's people
           | here that are strong supports of Peter Thiel, if that's any
           | indication of where their sympathies lie.
           | 
           | But, most of them are not residents of Ottawa, and the lived
           | experiences of people in that city, particurlarly those who
           | have had run ins with the protesters, or struggled through
           | the 16-18 hours / day of honking, had to walk around or be
           | harrassed by them, see the awful imagery of Trump,
           | Confederate etc. flags being waved around, the yellow star
           | morons etc. cannot simply be dismissed as bad or inaccurate
           | media.
           | 
           | A city is being held hostage by an extreme minority and, even
           | in OPs post they mention that the Toronto police handled it
           | properly, but question the admonition levied against the
           | Ottawa police.
           | 
           | The Ottawa police are complicit in this now as well as city
           | council. They sat on their hands while allowing this to
           | spiral out of control, and now want to play the victim or
           | blame others (e.g. blaming counter protesters today).
           | 
           | It doesn't matter if you side with the protest or not. The
           | sheer fact that they've been allowed to have large impact on
           | the city and it's residents, for this long, is proof that the
           | so-called lack of freedom that they're fighting for is simply
           | not the bogeyman they've made it out to be. Especially if
           | you're white.
        
             | Karrot_Kream wrote:
             | > I've said this before. There's a strong libertarian bent
             | to HN and I'm not surprised if there's a large contingent
             | of this site that actively supports the convoy. There's
             | people here that are strong supports of Peter Thiel, if
             | that's any indication of where their sympathies lie.
             | 
             | Wait and you've extrapolated this from claims of a downvote
             | made in the first hour after posting a reply on a
             | politically controversial topic? HN is a huge site, are you
             | really expecting unanimous political views? This is par for
             | the course on these threads.
        
               | hanselot wrote:
        
             | j_walter wrote:
             | >A city is being held hostage by an extreme minority and,
             | even in OPs post they mention that the Toronto police
             | handled it properly, but question the admonition levied
             | against the Ottawa police.
             | 
             | >The Ottawa police are complicit in this now as well as
             | city council. They sat on their hands while allowing this
             | to spiral out of control, and now want to play the victim
             | or blame others (e.g. blaming counter protesters today).
             | 
             | >It doesn't matter if you side with the protest or not. The
             | sheer fact that they've been allowed to have large impact
             | on the city and it's residents, for this long, is proof
             | that the so-called lack of freedom that they're fighting
             | for is simply not the bogeyman they've made it out to be.
             | Especially if you're white.
             | 
             | This is really not much different than how Portland handled
             | the BLM protests in 2020. 100 straight nights of extreme
             | protests with violence against police and federal
             | buildings. Only difference is this is during the night and
             | many neighborhoods were terrorized as it moved from
             | downtown. Not much media coverage of this other than
             | conservative journalist Andy Ngo who has himself been
             | violently targeted for simply recording and publishing
             | video of what is happening.
        
               | pessimizer wrote:
               | A major difference is that the police would issue
               | dispersal orders, then attack the BLM protesters
               | indiscriminately, or call curfews which basically
               | declared open season on any kind of protester,
               | journalist, civilian, doing anything outdoors after X
               | o'clock. The police were shooting rubber bullets at
               | people sitting on their own porches.
               | 
               | This is not how Ottawa is being handled, this is not how
               | January 6th was handled, and if BLM protesters decided
               | they were going to shut down an international bridge that
               | provided 1/3 of trade with the US, that wouldn't have
               | made it a hour before an extreme response was taken.
               | 
               | If the trucker protest were treated like the BLM
               | protests, you'd see people blinded and dead, and it would
               | be completely torn apart every night to have to be
               | reassembled the next day. At least compare it to Occupy,
               | although they were in a park instead of blocking roads.
        
               | _-david-_ wrote:
               | >this is not how January 6th was handled
               | 
               | January 6th police had real bullets and shot and killed a
               | person. You could argue Jan 6th was handled more strictly
               | than BLM.
        
               | j_walter wrote:
               | The police protected buildings from being set on fire and
               | their officers being attacked with lasers and fireworks.
               | Dispersal orders were only given AFTER the protests
               | turned violent.
               | 
               | Comparing 100+ nights of protests and riots with Jan 6th
               | is ridiculous...one was night after night of the same
               | thing and having a plan in place to defend and the other
               | is a single day where the police lost control and they
               | actually shot someone with real bullets.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | > A major difference is that the police would issue
               | dispersal orders, then attack the BLM protesters
               | indiscriminately, or call curfews which basically
               | declared open season on any kind of protester,
               | journalist, civilian, doing anything outdoors after X
               | o'clock. The police were shooting rubber bullets at
               | people sitting on their own porches.
               | 
               | Whilst also advising Proud Boys and Three Per Centers of
               | their "enforcement plans", texting them to "take cover"
               | and that they'd be given an "all clear" when they come
               | back out.
               | 
               | Or being advised that although their leaders had active
               | arrest warrants, that they would not be arrested at any
               | protests that were "supervised" by Portland Police
               | Department, so they should "feel free" to come to
               | protests.
        
               | j_walter wrote:
               | They were in contact with both sides of the
               | conflicts...only one side made their plans clear and also
               | applied for permits. I'm not saying it was the right
               | call, but one side was violent toward police and the
               | other was not...not a huge surprise that the police would
               | choose to work with them.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | The Proud Boys applied for a small fraction of permits.
               | 
               | And if you are ordering a protest to disperse, you don't
               | tell one side to go home. If you have a curfew (leaving
               | aside opinions there), it's not a curfew for one side.
               | 
               | If you're telling people who have warrants for their
               | arrest that you will actively not only NOT arrest them
               | but protect them, that's not working with them, that's
               | working for them. Which is unsurprising in PDX, given how
               | many LEOs are members of those same organizations.
               | 
               | Nothing in what you said was a good justification. You're
               | right though, it's not a huge surprise that police would
               | choose to work with militant right wing organizations.
        
               | purephase wrote:
               | Not much media coverage? I saw coverage of it all the
               | time. It was covered as if it was the end of civilization
               | and it continues to push the narrative today that BLM
               | protests were burning cities to the ground across the
               | country.
               | 
               | I'm not sure where you're getting this whole idea that
               | there wasn't much media coverage on it. A quick google
               | search shows literally thousands of news stories about
               | it.
        
               | j_walter wrote:
               | Main stream media...I live near Portland and the local
               | news covered very little about it. 30 second clip of the
               | peaceful start...and little about the destruction and
               | chaos that was seen night after night.
               | 
               | Eventually even the local news started showing what was
               | going on when their crew were attacked covering the
               | story. However this happened many times before and they
               | simply left and didn't cover what was happening.
               | 
               | https://katu.com/news/local/police-declare-riot-near-
               | justice...
        
               | oo0shiny wrote:
               | Andy Ngo isn't exactly a reliable source.
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Ngo#Credibility
        
               | FredPret wrote:
               | But I'm sure his Wikipedia page is
        
               | autoexec wrote:
               | The nice thing about Wikipedia is that claims are
               | sourced. I had no idea who this guy was, but I looked
               | over the statements critical of his credibility and at
               | first glance many of them are sourced at heavily biased
               | media outlets which isn't encouraging. I'm not digging
               | into it enough to say those articles are wrong, but I'd
               | say the clams that he isn't credibile on his wikipedia
               | page aren't looking very convincing so far, or at the
               | very least that view on the guy doesn't seem widely
               | accepted by mainstream sources.
        
               | FredPret wrote:
               | Since even a sourced and cited claim can be utterly
               | bogus, it is actually worse. Because it looks
               | authoritative at a glance when there are many citations
               | next to a claim.
               | 
               | But some citations are nature.com, and some are People
               | Magazine, and they all get the same superscript number.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | Then if those claims are bogus, it becomes a matter of
               | your sources vs. their sources, and it ends up all being
               | a matter of faith and perhaps gut feeling.
        
               | autoexec wrote:
               | It's not just their sources vs your sources, it's about
               | the data those sources have, where/how they got it, and
               | how much of it you can verify.
               | 
               | You have to evaluate the evidence and the sources to
               | decide which is more credible. Some things you have to
               | take on faith, but that doesn't make it a dice roll. When
               | it matters you can apply some critical thinking skills,
               | and at least be able to justify the position you've
               | settled on.
               | 
               | In this case I don't care enough about this Andy guy to
               | dig into it, but I was able to determine that I couldn't
               | justify forming an opinion about his credibility using
               | what Wikipedia was presenting to me. If I wanted to get
               | into the woods, I'm sure I could end up with an informed
               | opinion based on more than a gut feeling.
        
               | j_walter wrote:
               | He posts video...how is raw video not a reliable source?
               | He certainly has an agenda, but also posts things that
               | many will not. He was not afraid to post video when the
               | actual news teams were threatened and attacked during the
               | riots (by specific groups that you can't really talk
               | about since they don't exist...it's just an idea).
        
             | [deleted]
        
             | AzzieElbab wrote:
             | what is wrong with listening to "minorities". Doesnt BLM
             | represent a minority, especially in Canada? Also, a couple
             | of confederate and nazi flags do not define these protests.
        
               | cf100clunk wrote:
               | False equivalence? The behaviour of these recent
               | protestors is the crux of the issue.
        
               | purephase wrote:
               | Hahaha.. this is a hilarious comment.
               | 
               | These people are not the minority. They're self-professed
               | victimes of so-called tyranny that doesn't exist. The
               | sheer fact that they're able to protest for this long, in
               | this way, at the nations capital is ample evidence that
               | this so-called tyranny they're fighting is a delusion.
               | 
               | Equivocating that with the lived experience of millions
               | of people who are fighting for true equality is truly a
               | laughable position.
               | 
               | Honk, I guess.
        
               | adolph wrote:
               | Canada is confusing. The below two comments come from the
               | same person, likely Canadian, referring to other
               | Canadians who are an extreme minority who are not the
               | minority.
               | 
               | > > A city is being held hostage by an extreme minority
               | 
               | > These people are not the minority.
        
               | purephase wrote:
               | My mistake. In my first comment, I should have referred
               | to the truck convoy protesters as perceiving themselves
               | as having minority status. I made this comment before
               | people starting to compare these protests to BLM, which
               | is for a an actual minority group.
        
               | redml wrote:
               | thats a lot of mental gymnastics you're doing there to
               | avoid that cognitive dissonance
        
               | dahfizz wrote:
               | You literally called them a minority:
               | 
               | > A city is being held hostage by an extreme minority
        
               | AzzieElbab wrote:
               | minority does not need to be defined by race sex or
               | religion. What about people who had covid and reluctant
               | about vaccines? All that word soup is irrelevant. Getting
               | fired after having worked through the heights of epidemic
               | is a serious "lived experience" and also "an ample
               | evidence" of bureaucratic overreach. Anyway, bunch of
               | provinces including Ontario already cancelled vaccine
               | mandates and vaccine passports, only real holdouts are BC
               | and Quebec. Trackers already won. The government can
               | easily deescalate but choosing not to due fear and spite
        
               | purephase wrote:
               | Getting fired for not getting vaccines was a line that I
               | didn't agree with.
               | 
               | However, the vast majority of organizations that did this
               | were private though, and it was the organization that
               | implemented these policies. I'd hardly equate that with
               | government overreach, and especially not the federal
               | government if you're a nurse/healthcare worker, or worked
               | in a local municipal government.
               | 
               | My point is that these protests don't have anything to do
               | with vaccines, mandates or some perceived minority status
               | that not following them bestows (which, again, is a
               | choice..). If that was the case, they would not be in
               | Ottawa. There might be some people paying lip service to
               | these ideas, but the majority of the people protesting
               | are self-labelling as minorities due to some perception
               | of tyranny from the federal government that does not
               | exist.
               | 
               | Unless you're a federal employee that was fired due to
               | your position on vaccines (over 95% of federal employees
               | are vaccinated) then protesting in Ottawa doesn't make
               | any sense.
        
               | roenxi wrote:
               | > ... and it was the organization that implemented these
               | policies ...
               | 
               | That may not be true. It is common for governments to
               | implement the _really_ unpleasant policies by using
               | businesses as an enforcement arm (eg, surveillance via
               | banks and telecom companies). It bears asking why
               | companies have all, in coordination, picked up a set of
               | policies that are both ineffective and divisive - it is
               | entirely on the table that it is because of government
               | pressure in the form of OH &S guidelines.
               | 
               | Firing unvaccinated people barely does anything w.r.t.
               | changing the odds that people get COVID eventually. We've
               | seen ample evidence that being vaccinated doesn't change
               | the transmissible situation. So why are companies doing
               | this? Their employees are still going to turn up and
               | transmit COVID. By this point, the anti-vaccine types
               | have probably caught COVID and gained natural immunity
               | anyway so these policies would represent companies
               | shooting themselves in the foot. It is possible they'd do
               | that of their own initiative but it is nevertheless a bit
               | weird.
               | 
               | > My point is that these protests don't have anything to
               | do with vaccines, mandates or some perceived minority
               | status...
               | 
               | Why do you think these protests have just mushroomed up?
               | Have trucker protests been an ongoing thing in Canada for
               | many decades?
        
               | AzzieElbab wrote:
               | Majority of the BLM weren't killed by a cop standing on
               | their necks. Your point was understood and invalidated
        
               | armagon wrote:
               | It seems pretty clear to me that the protests have
               | everything to do with the vaccine mandates.
               | 
               | Why should only people who are fired be allowed to
               | protest? Most of the truckers are vaccinated, but they
               | are protesting for the right of those who aren't to be
               | allowed to do their job.
        
             | Dig1t wrote:
             | I'm a total moderate, I try very hard not to view these
             | things through a partisan lens. As a free thinking human I
             | feel no need to have my opinions dictated by any group of
             | people. I think your comment is one that has some merit WRT
             | the police's actions and what they might be able to do
             | better, but it is framed in such a hostile, inflammatory,
             | extremely partisan way. You criticize this website for
             | being bent on some partisan streak that you don't like and
             | needlessly bring race into the conversation when this
             | entire thing has nothing to do with race whatsoever.
             | 
             | > is proof that the so-called lack of freedom that they're
             | fighting for is simply not the bogeyman they've made it out
             | to be
             | 
             | It's disingenuous to equate the lack of freedom that they
             | are talking about with the lack of freedom to protest. They
             | are not the same thing, the protesters are talking about
             | vaccine mandates specifically.
        
             | newsbinator wrote:
             | > I've said this before. There's a strong libertarian bent
             | to HN and I'm not surprised if there's a large contingent
             | of this site that actively supports the convoy. There's
             | people here that are strong supports of Peter Thiel, if
             | that's any indication of where their sympathies lie.
             | 
             | To me the political bent of HN isn't relevant when reading
             | a comment. I'd rather take each comment on its own merits,
             | without guessing or assuming what the ideology of the
             | commenter would have to be.
             | 
             | I recently lived in a country in which wearing the wrong
             | color socks is grounds for instant prison, so I prefer when
             | my government's monopoly on violence errs on the side of
             | restraint, as in the case of these protestors.
             | 
             | Should individual protestors get shut down when they harass
             | mask-wearing doctors or honk horns in the middle of the
             | night? Obviously.
             | 
             | But there is some fuzzy line in which we let protestors do
             | otherwise illegal or fineable things that we don't let
             | individuals do.
             | 
             | I could be convinced that skin color is a factor as you
             | mentioned, but at the moment I have no idea.
        
               | SauciestGNU wrote:
               | I don't know what the answer is with these protests, but
               | criminalizing them isn't the answer. I'm an active
               | leftist and do a lot of mutual aid and protesting. I've
               | been beaten by cops and had them deploy munitions against
               | me. Giving cops more latitude to deal with this protest
               | movement will mean that they deploy even more force
               | against me the next time I'm politely asking that they
               | stop murdering people.
        
             | MomoXenosaga wrote:
             | They had farmer protests in the Netherlands with tractors.
             | I think we may have invented it?
             | 
             | https://www.politico.eu/article/angry-dutch-farmers-swarm-
             | th...
             | 
             | Anyway society loved it at first until they caused too many
             | traffic jams. Public opinion turned and it was over
             | quickly. If you are a work at home software dev these kind
             | of protests don't affect you until Amazon stops delivering.
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | 99_00 wrote:
           | Looking at the live streams, I see visible minorities going
           | to the protests and supporting the truckers and the
           | atmosphere seems festive and celebratory more than anything
           | else.
        
         | RIMR wrote:
        
           | ctoth wrote:
           | I'm just trying to understand here, you're advocating that
           | people lose their livelihoods for donating to a protest
           | movement you don't approve of? Not participating in illegal
           | action, not physically hurting anyone, just giving money to
           | the wrong people online?
           | 
           | Can you possibly think of any circumstances where this sort
           | of principle might backfire?
        
             | FireBeyond wrote:
             | > not physically hurting anyone
             | 
             | It's a good thing 140dB horns for 18 hours a day for weeks
             | comes with zero risk of physical harm to people's hearing,
             | apparently.
        
             | RIMR wrote:
             | Shutting down roadways into and out of cities is a little
             | bit more than just a disagreement. These people are
             | criminals.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | hamaluik wrote:
         | I'm curious where you're getting the talking points from?
         | You're literally the third person I've heard from today
         | suddenly blaming the media for what is going on while
         | minimising the damage the protests are causing.
        
           | JacobThreeThree wrote:
           | Why couldn't three people independently reach the same
           | conclusion?
        
         | smnrchrds wrote:
         | > _there is no violence, and no obvious danger_
         | 
         | A number of illegal weapons, high capacity magazines, and a
         | large quantity of ammunition were seized in a blockade in
         | Alberta. I would not be surprised if there are people with
         | weapons in Ottawa as well, waiting for an opportunity to
         | strike.
         | 
         | https://globalnews.ca/news/8618494/alberta-coutts-border-pro...
        
           | rpaldb wrote:
        
           | tablespoon wrote:
           | > A number of illegal weapons...were seized in a blockade in
           | Alberta.
           | 
           | > https://globalnews.ca/news/8618494/alberta-coutts-border-
           | pro...
           | 
           | Your link doesn't describe anything as "illegal weapons." It
           | just says "long guns" and "handguns" which are both pretty
           | broad terms that undoubtedly encompass guns that are legal in
           | Canada.
        
             | sudosysgen wrote:
             | By definition a handgun not in storage or in transport to a
             | shooting range is an illegal weapon in Canada.
        
             | klyrs wrote:
             | Most hand guns are prohibited[0] weapons in Canada. You
             | need explicit authorization to transport [2] prohibited
             | weapons. There are pretty strict rules[3] for how they're
             | to be transported, too. You're not just allowed to drive
             | around with handguns rattling around in the car, this isn't
             | the US. Large capacity magazines are illegal in almost all
             | cases [1]. Even that machete might be illegal given the
             | context [4].
             | 
             | [0] https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/firearms/classes-firearms
             | 
             | [1] https://www.grc-rcmp.gc.ca/en/firearms/maximum-
             | permitted-mag...
             | 
             | [2] https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/firearms/authorization-
             | transpo...
             | 
             | [3] https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/firearms/storing-
             | transporting-...
             | 
             | [4] https://cubetoronto.com/canada/are-machetes-illegal-in-
             | canad...
        
               | HWR_14 wrote:
               | A machete may be considered a weapon in certain contexts,
               | but that's not a unique law. The US also reclassifies
               | things as weapons once they are used as weapons (in that
               | instance.) Attack someone with a machete and it suddenly
               | becomes a deadly weapon.
        
               | klyrs wrote:
               | Canada bans a lot of weapons for looking "scary" --
               | nunchuks and butterfly knives for example (both of which
               | are rather notoriously more dangerous to the person
               | wielding them than anybody else). Americans who come to
               | Canada are frequently surprised by the different laws up
               | here. Yes, an attack with a machete renders it illegal in
               | both countries. A concealed machete is illegal in Canada,
               | regardless of intent or use. I'm not so sure about the US
               | (especially with the variance among state laws)
        
             | smnrchrds wrote:
             | Handguns require a license to transport (ATT). Even if they
             | were acquired legally (and that's a very big if because of
             | RPAL), their presence at the border is very illegal.
        
           | nec4b wrote:
           | These are the people of the truck convoy who protest: https:/
           | /twitter.com/MichaelPSenger/status/149273926633759539...
           | 
           | Does it look like they are all packing and waiting to strike?
        
             | smnrchrds wrote:
             | The tweet is deleted. Regardless, I am sure not "all"
             | protesters are looking for violence, but the ones who
             | brought weapons and ammo certainly did. And I am sure not
             | all of them have been found and arrested.
        
           | newsclues wrote:
           | Painting with broad strokes is dangerous.
        
             | joseph8th wrote:
             | "How dare you use my words and actions against me!"
        
             | alex_anglin wrote:
             | When asking if anyone in the protest had firearms, a
             | journalist was ejected from a news conference. Would have
             | been a good opportunity to disavow violence, but here we
             | are. In this case, it's not so much painting with broad
             | strokes as much as judging by the company they keep.
             | 
             | Source: https://twitter.com/alexboutilier/status/1493319507
             | 846176769...
        
           | slavboj wrote:
           | Surprisingly, despite "a willingness to use them against
           | police", they didn't use them against police, so it's
           | likelier than not that the story is made up or
           | mischaracterized.
        
             | threeseed wrote:
             | A lot of people will say they are willing to do something.
             | 
             | But when their life is on the line they suddenly
             | capitulate.
        
           | dukeofdoom wrote:
           | What a convenient thing to happen on the very same day he is
           | expected to announce the taking away of civil liberties of
           | Canadians, and give themselves the right to seize property
           | and equipment.
        
         | vzidex wrote:
         | Definition, martial law: Martial law is the temporary
         | imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions
         | or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in
         | response to a temporary emergency where civil forces are
         | overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. [1]
         | 
         | The key phrases are "imposition of direct military control of
         | normal civil functions" and "suspension of civil law by a
         | government".
         | 
         | The Canadian Emergencies Act, which was invoked by the Liberal
         | government today, specifically states the following: "For
         | greater certainty, nothing in this Act derogates from the
         | authority of the Government of Canada to deal with emergencies
         | on any property, territory or area in respect of which the
         | Parliament of Canada has jurisdiction" [2].
         | 
         | I'd do a deeper reading but I'm a bit lazy, but my
         | understanding is that the EA does not allow, in any way, a
         | shift in governance that could be described as "martial law" -
         | where the military is in control of civil functions and can
         | create or remove laws as military leadership desires. Even with
         | the EA invoked, the federal government still controls the
         | Canadian military (but can be assisted in enforcing civil law
         | _by_ the military).
         | 
         | I'm no fan of Trudeau either, but we should seek to be precise
         | when discussing hot situations like this. People can get very
         | inflamed off of internet posts and the idea that we're under
         | "martial law" is riling people up.
         | 
         | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law
         | 
         | [2] https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/e-4.5/page-1.html
        
           | pyuser583 wrote:
           | My understanding is that international law requires nation
           | have some form of martial law.
           | 
           | The idea is that if your nation is "hosting" a battle field,
           | and the police start arresting belligerents and charging them
           | with civilian crimes, the military can override them and say
           | "you can't charge invading soldiers with a crime for
           | honorably doing their duty" - they must be treated as POWs,
           | not criminals.
           | 
           | For example, if Russia is attacking Toronto, and a Toronto
           | Police Officer comes across a wounded Russian soldier with an
           | AK-47, she can't charge the soldier for possessing an illegal
           | weapon. The soldier would have to be treated as a POW.
           | 
           | This means the military must - must! - be able to say "this
           | area is under martial law".
           | 
           | I doubt this applies to the current situation.
           | 
           | But if Canada is as diligent as they claim to be about
           | International law, they need to have the ability to declare
           | martial law.
        
             | imwillofficial wrote:
             | "Must"
             | 
             | That's now how that works, at all.
             | 
             | A soldier doesn't need to be on a declared battlefield to
             | get battlefield treatment.
             | 
             | Being a member of a military in uniform is enough.
        
           | tablespoon wrote:
           | > I'd do a deeper reading but I'm a bit lazy, but my
           | understanding is that the EA does not allow, in any way, a
           | shift in governance that could be described as "martial law"
           | - where the military is in control of civil functions and can
           | create or remove laws as military leadership desires. Even
           | with the EA invoked, the federal government still controls
           | the Canadian military (but can be assisted in enforcing civil
           | law _by_ the military).
           | 
           | Is that martial law is? What you're describing sounds more
           | like a coup to me ("where the military is in control of civil
           | functions and can create or remove laws as military
           | leadership desires").
           | 
           | My understanding of martial law (very colored by being an
           | American) is basically direct enforcement of domestic
           | government authority by the military with little or no
           | recourse to normal civilian oversight (e.g. courts). However,
           | the military isn't acting independently, but is still taking
           | orders from some civilian leader in some part of the
           | government.
        
             | CryptoBanker wrote:
             | Both of the situations you described can be accurate
             | simultaneously.
             | 
             | There are two levels of civil government. The military can
             | override the civil functions of the lower level (the
             | states) while still taking orders from the upper level (the
             | federal government)
        
               | cf100clunk wrote:
               | Please apply what you've just said directly to
               | contemporary Canadian governance and polity.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | arcticbull wrote:
               | In ordinary functioning of government and civil society
               | there's an effective separation of the army and the
               | police in law enforcement. In the US, this is governed by
               | the posse comitatus act. Canada doesn't really have an
               | analogue, the government can request the assistance of
               | the army when lower levels of government are unable to
               | perform their duties sufficiently to maintain order.
               | 
               | The use of the emergencies act makes it clear that this
               | is one of those situations and allows the government to
               | utilize the military to support lower levels of law
               | enforcement.
               | 
               | This is not martial law. This is not a coup. This is not
               | unprecedented - after all Pierre Trudeau used the War
               | Measures Act (predecessor to the Emergencies Act) to
               | restore order in the October Crisis.
               | 
               | This is more like a state calling in the national guard.
               | 
               | The answer to lower levels of government not being able
               | to maintain order isn't to roll over. It's to bring in
               | more help. That's what's being done here. And it's
               | governed by the Charter. Much more stringently than the
               | War Measures Act ever was.
               | 
               | [edit] We cannot allow a small, loud, group of
               | individuals to overturn the democratic will of the people
               | as decided in the last election. This is un-democratic,
               | unfair, and must end immediately. We can talk about
               | ending restrictions in the open, but not with a boot on
               | our throats. This occupation must end before we decide on
               | what to do next. I remind you of the interview Pierre
               | Trudeau gave re: the October Crisis.
               | Pierre Trudeau: Yeah, well there's a lot of bleeding
               | hearts around who just don't like to see people with
               | helmets and guns. All I can say is, go on and bleed, but
               | it's more important to keep law and order in this society
               | than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don't like
               | the looks of a soldier's helmet. [1]
               | 
               | I highly recommend listening to the longer speech [2].
               | Far more interesting than any speech given by Justin,
               | IMO. Obviously a different situation, but with similar
               | roots: wanting to overthrow a democratically elected
               | government because they don't like the lawful, legal,
               | constitutional decisions.
               | 
               | They can have their say in peaceful protest, in court or
               | at the next election - and not before.
               | 
               | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeTsQQ22Uwc
               | 
               | [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHaoBD-eakk
        
               | imwillofficial wrote:
               | "government because they don't like the lawful, legal,
               | constitutional decisions." This is a massive
               | mischaracterization of your political opposition.
        
               | arcticbull wrote:
               | If it's unlawful, illegal or unconstitutional then
               | avenues exist within the courts to resolve their
               | grievances do they not? I'm led to believe that rule of
               | law continues to prevail within Canada.
               | 
               | [edit] Not just that, Trudeau operates a _minority_
               | government, meaning two other parties could gang up and
               | oust them at basically any time. And yet, he remains in
               | office. I think this really speaks to how small the vocal
               | minority is.
               | 
               | They've brought guns, ammo, knives [1], built
               | encampments, stashed them full of diesel and propane [2],
               | disrupted trade, jobs, lives, supply chains, threatened
               | violence. Harassed and intimidated healthcare workers.
               | And for what? This is not your average picket, and it's
               | gone on more than long enough.
               | 
               | We're all frustrated, we're all tired of this. I'm open
               | to revisiting the health measures, but not like this.
               | 
               | [1] https://news.sky.com/story/freedom-convoy-guns-
               | seized-in-rai...
               | 
               | [2] https://www.newsweek.com/ottawa-police-seize-fuel-
               | truckers-a...
        
         | Cd00d wrote:
         | > "drop mandates"
         | 
         | That little throw away at the end, where we just give in to
         | people making demands outside of democratic methods says it
         | all, I think.
        
           | JackFr wrote:
           | That protests are 'outside of democratic methods' says quite
           | a bit itself.
        
         | HWR_14 wrote:
         | I didn't see (nonfringe) calls for martial law. I saw calls for
         | the military to tow the trucks because the actual truck towing
         | companies the police normally subcontracted to were
         | unwillingness to piss off their customer base/risk of violence
         | from truckers/agreement with the protests. And, of the various
         | government agencies, only the military had access to the heavy
         | vehicle movers that were needed.
         | 
         | > I think it is intentional (I assume some political end game)
         | 
         | Most media doesn't have a political endgame. They have a bias
         | for sensationalism and clickbait.
        
         | ahthat wrote:
         | Media coverage of these protests is vastly negative. I remember
         | only a few years ago (2020) when protests were undoubtedly
         | violent across the United States. Video evidence of this
         | violence as well as mass crowd driven theft was widely
         | documented and distributed. I have yet to see video evidence of
         | any violence from freedom convoys, and the ground based video
         | evidence I have seen appears vastly peaceful. This does not
         | mean there isn't violence. Indeed, blockading roads could be
         | construed as violence based on an argument for different
         | definitions of the word. Yet, from my personal observations, it
         | seems that the protests are essentially peaceful, citizens
         | living in these cities are in support in large numbers, and
         | this is running counter to the narrative being espoused in
         | mainstream media sources, with the possible exception of Fox
         | News. More or less it seems as though media sources are
         | mischaracterizing these protests overall. Furthermore, it can
         | be effectively argued that forcing workers to get vaccinated or
         | lose their jobs is inherently discriminatory and perhaps even
         | anti-freedom. But these are only my personal observations and
         | conclusions, be what they are, a single individuals insight
         | into the times occurring around him, debate as you will.
        
           | mplewis wrote:
           | There's a lot to unpack here, but Ottawa residents are
           | largely _against_ the truckers occupying the roads of their
           | city.
        
             | giantg2 wrote:
             | Support in large numbers and largest against are not
             | necessarily contradictions. There can be a majority against
             | something and still have a large minority for something.
             | For example, if 1 in 4 support something, that 250k Ottawa
             | residents.
        
             | gengelbro wrote:
             | How about citizens of Seattle when the CHAZ was operating?
             | Were they majority for that?
        
               | seanmcdirmid wrote:
               | Considering that the CHAZ was in Capitol Hill, I assume
               | the people in that neighborhood were supportive. As for
               | the rest of us in Seattle, most of us never even visited
               | or saw the place (how often does someone who doesn't live
               | in Capitol Hill visit Capitol Hill?), so it was just
               | something we would see on CNN if we were bothering to
               | watch the news at all (it was cool to see FoxNews have
               | some of our buildings burning down even if it wasn't
               | true, their media narrative was pretty messed up).
        
           | skeeter2020 wrote:
           | >> citizens living in these cities are in support in large
           | numbers,
           | 
           | what are you possibly basing this on?
           | 
           | >> But these are only my personal observations and
           | conclusions
           | 
           | Oh, opinion. So you complain that the media coverage is
           | "vastly negative" because... you feel it is.
        
           | danudey wrote:
           | > it seems that the protests are essentially peaceful,
           | citizens living in these cities are in support in large
           | numbers
           | 
           | This is not true in any of the relevant cities; it is an
           | extremely vocal, and very small, minority of people who are
           | in support, and I can guarantee you that most of the few
           | people who do support it would change their minds if it was
           | their neighbourhood people were honking in all night.
           | 
           | Note that over 90% of Canadian truckers are already
           | vaccinated, and similar percentages of the large urban
           | centres being harassed are vaccinated as well. Most people
           | are entirely against these "protests", and will be happier
           | when they're over.
           | 
           | > Furthermore, it can be effectively argued that forcing
           | workers to get vaccinated or lose their jobs is inherently
           | discriminatory
           | 
           | It cannot be effectively argued, because it is not
           | discriminatory; "people who refuse to believe in medical
           | science" is not a protected class. If you need to get a
           | background check to get a job, that is not discriminatory. If
           | you need to have a license to do a job, that is not
           | discriminatory. If you need to be vaccinated to do your job
           | (not just COVID, but otherwise), that is not discriminatory.
           | 
           | > and perhaps even anti-freedom.
           | 
           | Freedom has limits. You don't have the freedom to endanger
           | others.
           | 
           | Freedom does not mean "I get to eat my cake and have it too";
           | it means you're able to make a choice. Do you want to get
           | vaccinated and do your job, or do you want to refuse to get
           | vaccinated and leave that job so that you aren't endangering
           | others?
           | 
           | What these people are protesting is that they made their
           | choice and have to deal with the consequences of that choice.
           | If you don't want to get a driver's license, you can't
           | protest that you should still be allowed to drive a car; if
           | you don't want to get a passport, you can't protest that you
           | should still be allowed to travel internationally. The rules
           | and restrictions are clear and up-front.
           | 
           | Also: I have friends in Ottawa, and am hearing multiple
           | reports of people being harassed or threatened by these
           | "protesters" (many of whom are acting more like terrorists,
           | trying to intimidate everyone around them) for something as
           | simple as wearing a mask.
        
           | alspacka wrote:
           | 11 people were arrested on weapons charges at the Alberta
           | blockade (handguns and body armor) and one person was
           | arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder for
           | trying to run over police with his tractor
        
             | giantg2 wrote:
             | That says a lot if that's what a violent protest looks like
             | in Canada when the "peaceful" ones in the US involve
             | millions of dollars in property damage and numerous
             | injuries or deaths.
        
               | flyingcircus3 wrote:
               | While we're on the subject of the fallacy of relative
               | privation, you'll surely acknowledge that the closure of
               | the Ambassador Bridge for a week is a couple orders of
               | magnitude worse than the 2020 protests. After all, the
               | appropriate measure of a protest is dollars lost, and
               | hundreds of millions of dollars of goods cross the bridge
               | every day.
        
               | danudey wrote:
               | Well yeah, it's not like we lost a hockey game or
               | anything.
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Vancouver_Stanley_Cup_
               | rio...
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Vancouver_Stanley_Cup_
               | rio...
        
             | jterrys wrote:
             | That's still a considerably small number of people
             | considering the protesters number in the tens of thousands
        
           | II2II wrote:
           | > Furthermore, it can be effectively argued that forcing
           | workers to get vaccinated or lose their jobs is inherently
           | discriminatory and perhaps even anti-freedom.
           | 
           | From my understanding, this is only the case for truckers
           | crossing the border. Most of the vaccination mandates I have
           | heard of have been at the provincial or municipal levels and
           | only affect employees of the government or publicly
           | controlled institutions (health, education, police). Even
           | then, it is typically on unpaid leave. Relatively few
           | mandates have come from Ottawa, simply because it isn't their
           | jurisdiction. They aren't leaving much room for human rights
           | complaints, particularly since I believe employers were
           | already within their rights to demand certain vaccinations. I
           | very much doubt that it would even qualify as discriminatory,
           | since it does not affect protected classes.
        
           | colinmhayes wrote:
           | > citizens living in these cities are in support in large
           | numbers
           | 
           | Source? The US polls I've seen show 60% support for vaccine
           | mandates, which is probably why the government feels so
           | confident in shutting down the protests. The media I've seen
           | isn't portraying the protestors as violent but as a nuisance.
        
             | danudey wrote:
             | It does irritate me that the media are referring to it by
             | their own name, "The Freedom Convoy", when it should be
             | something more neutral and objective, like "the Harassment
             | Convoy".
        
             | giantg2 wrote:
             | Do the polls have how many support the protest? If 20% do,
             | then that would be 200k residents in the city. I consider
             | 200k, or 20% of the population to be a large number. Still
             | a minority, but a large minority.
        
           | 908B64B197 wrote:
           | > Media coverage of these protests is vastly negative.
           | 
           | Keep in mind that in Canada a lot of the media is state owned
           | and operated. So the media coverage might reflect more on
           | what the ruling party wants the people to think of the
           | protests.
           | 
           | On the livestreams they had music blasting and children
           | playing in the snow near the trucks. Doesn't look like an
           | "insurrection", as the state media described it, by any
           | stretch (unless they fear snowballs!).
        
             | SketchySeaBeast wrote:
             | > Keep in mind that in Canada a lot of the media is state
             | owned and operated. So the media coverage might reflect
             | more on what the ruling party wants the people to think of
             | the protests.
             | 
             | Sure, there's the CBC but the rest of our media is not
             | state owned, so that's a weird claim to make.
        
               | ghettoCoder wrote:
               | You're partially correct. Don't forget the goodie bag the
               | media gets to "support journalism" which basically is a
               | huge pot of money. Or Telford bragging she could get
               | articles written published to smear to smear someone. It
               | not too hard to make the connection between money and
               | favours now is it?
        
               | lowkey wrote:
               | Except in this case the major private Canadian media all
               | participated in taking something like $600 million
               | Canadian dollars in subsidies from the government. Justin
               | Trudeau even had the audacity to joke about having bribed
               | the media. [0]
               | 
               | I think it is reasonable to consider the possibility that
               | these handouts may have biased the media to the point
               | where they may be reluctant to bite the hand that feeds
               | them.
               | 
               | [0] https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/justin-
               | trudeau-60...
        
               | SketchySeaBeast wrote:
               | I'm not arguing there's not some possible influence, I
               | don't know if you can say that with any media in any
               | country, I was just taking exception to the blatantly
               | false "state owned and operated".
        
               | kukx wrote:
               | Well they live in large part on state money according to
               | VivaFrei.
        
             | dragonwriter wrote:
             | > On the livestreams they had music blasting and children
             | playing in the snow near the trucks. Doesn't look like an
             | "insurrection",
             | 
             | Except for the existence of snow, it sounds like things
             | I've seen around fighters in the Palestinian intifada. I
             | think you have an unrealistic view of what an insurrection
             | looks like.
        
         | 908B64B197 wrote:
         | > That said, I am thoroughly disappointed the Federal gov't and
         | much of the media coverage. They have done nothing but make the
         | situation worse. I think it is intentional (I assume some
         | political end game), but their actions are fueling even more
         | outlandish conspiracy theories.
         | 
         | Didn't the father do the exact same thing back in the 70's?
         | 
         | Of course there's political gains, as they say, never get a
         | crisis go to waste.
        
         | beebmam wrote:
         | What sort of laws would you support against people that hack
         | websites like this?
        
           | imwillofficial wrote:
           | We have sufficient laws, it's the uneven enforcement that I
           | have a problem with.
        
         | TrispusAttucks wrote:
         | WHAT!
         | 
         | People standing up for their rights!
         | 
         | Cue the media attack dog and smear campaign. We need some
         | corporate approved misinformation to get ahead of this.
         | 
         | It's such an obvious formula at this point. Does anyone still
         | not see through it?
        
         | 99_00 wrote:
         | Also the Ambassador Bridge blockade was ordered by the court to
         | clear on Friday midnight. Police cleared it Sunday with some
         | arrests, some resistance but not much else.
         | 
         | Pretty standard when it comes to Canadian protests.
        
         | BeefWellington wrote:
         | > The most insane was that all layers of government did nothing
         | to stop the noise (truck horns), but it ended when a 21 year
         | old who simply filed a court injunction and the protesters
         | complied.
         | 
         | > https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/injunction-ottawa-
         | granted-1...
         | 
         | This did not work though:
         | 
         | https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/protesters-violate-cou...
         | 
         | The court order is just a threat and the Ottawa Police Service
         | appear to not care to enforce the order.
        
           | ryandrake wrote:
           | I think one point that the last two years has nailed home
           | (around the world) is that how protestors are treated has
           | little to do with what their tactics and behavior are, and
           | more to do with simply whether their message ideologically
           | aligns with the police.
           | 
           | If the police agree with some group of protestors, then
           | they're treated with kid gloves, and can get away with
           | anything. The police will throw their hands up and say "nope,
           | can't possibly enforce the law anymore, so sorry!" and stand
           | back. If the police _do not_ agree with some other group of
           | protestors, they 're going to get beaten, pepper sprayed, and
           | shot with rubber bullets, no matter how they behave. All of a
           | sudden, enforcement is no problem.
        
             | imwillofficial wrote:
             | Things I've seen this year.
             | 
             | People who Molotov cocktailed a police van with people
             | inside. Let off with probation.
             | 
             | Police beat an unconscious person until they died. Internal
             | investigation cleared them of wrongdoing.
             | 
             | It definitely matters what the protest is
             | supporting/fighting.
        
               | FireBeyond wrote:
               | Portland Police Department is just one particularly
               | egregious example. Numerous leaked text messages between
               | officers and the Proud Boys. Letting them know to take
               | cover before tear gas is deployed and that they'll be
               | told when it's "all clear" to come back out, letting them
               | know that though some of their leaders have active
               | warrants for arrest, that they are clear to come to the
               | protest because there's no "other agencies" involved in
               | enforcement, so there's no risk.
        
         | rpaldb wrote:
        
         | ar_turnbull wrote:
         | > "there is no violence, and no obvious danger."
         | 
         | This is false and I would expect better of HN posters.
         | 
         | A group of the protestors locked the doors to a downtown
         | apartment building with handcuffs and then attempted to set
         | that building on fire.
         | 
         | Although nobody has been injured yet, there have been plenty of
         | weapons seizures as well as incidents of protestors ramming
         | police vehicles and/or attempting to arrest police officers.
         | 
         | Residents of Ottawa are scared to leave their homes for simple
         | tasks like buying groceries because the protestors have
         | assaulted vulnerable individuals for wearing masks.
         | 
         | The entire thing is a tinderbox just waiting for one unhinged
         | protestor to make a wrong move. And even if we escape this
         | incident peacefully, there are the toxic diesel fumes from
         | idling trucks which have been polluting downtown Ottawa's air
         | for the last two weeks and are likely to become trapped in the
         | urban environment.
        
           | coolso wrote:
           | > Residents of Ottawa are scared to leave their homes for
           | simple tasks
           | 
           | Kind of like almost everyone in the US and Canada for a
           | period of almost a year thanks to governmental policies?
           | 
           | Another way to look at things is these protests will
           | indirectly help flatten the curve, especially if they go on
           | for two more weeks.
        
           | blast wrote:
           | > A group of the protestors locked the doors to a downtown
           | apartment building with handcuffs and then attempted to set
           | that building on fire.
           | 
           | What evidence is there that that was real? An allegation was
           | made on Twitter, but only thing I've found that digs into the
           | details looks like a complete debunking (see links at
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30336974). It's from a
           | biased source and I'm open to any factual refutation, but
           | I've looked for contrary reporting that digs into the
           | details, and haven't found any. Only a lot of repetition of
           | the original allegation.
        
           | honkdaddy wrote:
           | The arson thing was pretty thoroughly debunked. "I would
           | expect better of HN posters."
        
             | Naga wrote:
             | When was that debunked? The last I heard the police were
             | investigating. I even saw video from it.
             | 
             | https://ottawacitizen.com/news/police-arson-unit-probes-
             | otta...
        
               | honkdaddy wrote:
               | A direct quote from the Ottawa police chief:
               | 
               | "We don't have any direct linkage between the occupation
               | --the demonstrators--and that act." [1]
               | 
               | [1]https://www.cpac.ca/episode?id=fa5721d6-af8b-48d9-9848
               | -73dcf...
        
               | ar_turnbull wrote:
        
               | honkdaddy wrote:
               | That's fine, you have every right to your suspicions, but
               | unless you feel you have better information about the
               | incident than the police that investigated it, I'm not
               | really sure what your comment adds. The GP made the claim
               | that protestors in Ottawa tried to burn a condo down and
               | a quote from the police chief proves this to be false.
               | 
               | This is one of several accounts I use because my personal
               | identity is tied to my main account, and accusations like
               | the above concern me when I know there are vigilantes out
               | there who find joy in doxing people with different
               | political leanings than them. Rest assured I've been a
               | member of this community since 2014, I'm not one of the
               | dreaded "alt-right trolls" some users are so comically
               | paranoid of.
               | 
               | On that note, I'm not really sure what's alt-right about
               | repeating a quote from an investigating officer, but then
               | again, most people who use that phrase aren't being
               | intellectually honest anyway.
        
               | ar_turnbull wrote:
        
               | Naga wrote:
               | Oh, so the 'debunking' is not on whether or not an
               | attempted mass murder/arson occurred, but that there is
               | no "direct linkage" between the occupation and the crime.
               | 
               | What that likely means is that they don't know who the
               | people in the video are. It seems pretty likely to me
               | that it's related to the occupation, especially since
               | there was a 'confrontation' earlier that day with
               | residents of the building. It's not like buildings are
               | burnt down in Ottawa every day.
        
               | JacobThreeThree wrote:
               | >It's not like buildings are burnt down in Ottawa every
               | day.
               | 
               | No building was burnt down.
        
               | Naga wrote:
               | In the country I grew up in, trying and failing to commit
               | crimes is still a crime. The act itself is the crime, not
               | the success of it. Unfortunately these days it seems like
               | the better determinant of whether something is a crime is
               | someone's political affiliation.
        
               | totony wrote:
               | Nitpick but parent said "no building were burnt down" and
               | not "no crime was comitted"
        
               | honkdaddy wrote:
               | That's great that it "seems pretty likely" to you, but
               | that doesn't seem to be the case. Unless you have
               | concrete information which the OPS doesn't have, I don't
               | think speculation is very useful here.
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | skinkestek wrote:
           | Compared to the violence, burning and looting in front of the
           | American election this is absolutely nothing and have only
           | lasted a few days
           | 
           | Those demonstrations were mostly peaceful according to those
           | we are supposed to listen to, so obviously the current
           | demonstrations are even more peaceful.
           | 
           | Edit: I'm triple vaccinated myself and recommend it for
           | everyone else, but if we have freedom to choose that also
           | must include freedom to do what I think is less smart.
           | 
           | In fact I think at this point the attempt to force people to
           | vaccinate is scaring people away from it.
        
             | pelasaco wrote:
             | People still have their rights to do "dumb choices". I'm
             | triple vaccinated, got omicron one month later of being
             | vaccinated, still believe that the vaccine helped me to
             | have it almost asymptomatically, but I'm ok with people
             | saying that dont want to be vaccinated.
        
               | skinkestek wrote:
               | If it wasn't clear I think we agree very much.
        
           | chucksta wrote:
           | With a couple rouge agents being your definition of obvious
           | danger, there can never be another protest. Apply that same
           | logic to the protests a year before and see how it goes
        
             | DocTomoe wrote:
             | I feel like that is an understatement. This is not a few
             | good old boys throwing a snowball. It's acts of arson,
             | attempted murder, probably fits the definition of
             | terrorism. And that's just the apartment building incident.
             | 
             | And of course the protests a year before were in no part
             | better.
        
               | chucksta wrote:
               | I didn't mention severity or intention on purpose. Even
               | the most just causes have a few self-righteous assholes
               | willing to justify the means
        
               | roenxi wrote:
               | Every large protest fits the definition of terrorism,
               | especially I suspect from the perspective of the
               | politicians that the protest is trying to pressure. This
               | is why people have been arguing that the definition is
               | misguided and far to broad pretty much since the
               | inception of that definition.
        
           | twofornone wrote:
           | >A group of the protestors locked the doors to a downtown
           | apartment building with handcuffs and then attempted to set
           | that building on fire. For some reason the media failed to
           | show the images in their stories, but the two arsonists on
           | camera (not a group) had purple hair. With all the talk of
           | white supremacist instigators at BLM riots, I wouldn't be
           | surprised if this were a case of the opposite, anti-trucker
           | instigators trying to give the protestors a bad name, and
           | purple hair is more likely associated with the left...which
           | ironically has taken a pro government stance on this issue.
           | 
           | In any case afaik no actual tie to the protests has been
           | reported.
        
           | dghughes wrote:
           | Add to that ER doctors needing police escorts to hospitals.
           | Hospital staff told not to wear scrubs or anything that
           | identifies them as hospital staff.
        
       | zrglkjlkrh wrote:
        
         | cde-v wrote:
        
         | colechristensen wrote:
        
       | zrglkjlkrh wrote:
        
       | canadianeh2 wrote:
       | i have a 4 year old daughter in ontario who has never seen her
       | friends faces or her teacher's face. she eats outside even when
       | it's -20. as of today, no end in sight for these rules. why? it's
       | shameful. im surprised the civil unrest in canada isnt worse.
        
         | synthos wrote:
         | May I highlight this is your _very_ first comment on this
         | website. Why did you suddenly decide to make an account and
         | post your first comment here? Do you work in technology?
        
           | bmarquez wrote:
           | > Why did you suddenly decide to make an account and post
           | your first comment here? Do you work in technology?
           | 
           | I wasn't aware that only people who work in the tech industry
           | were allowed to post on Hacker News.
           | 
           | If you think someone is trolling, then email dang.
        
             | synthos wrote:
             | Thank you, I will email dang. Is the address dang at
             | ycombinator dot com ?
        
               | selimthegrim wrote:
               | hn at ycombinator dot com
        
           | xdennis wrote:
           | Because some people don't feel safe in the software industry
           | to make comments under a username tied to their public
           | identity when it comes to Covid (or other polarizing stuff).
           | 
           | I've been on this website for about a decade, but this
           | account I use now is only 10 months old.
        
             | synthos wrote:
             | My comment or question was more rhetorical. There is a
             | nigh-zero chance that the comment-OP responds to any of my
             | questions or posts any more comments. I leave it to the
             | reader to extrapolate why that is the case.
        
             | bentlegen wrote:
             | The only article I could find about "kids eating outside in
             | the cold" is this one, which clarifies that "no, we won't
             | be sending kids outside in the cold"[1]. If you can find
             | one, let me know. I am a parent in Ontario and I've not
             | heard a single anecdote about this from anyone.
             | 
             | Regarding "as of today, there is no end in sight for these
             | rules": there has been a plan in place for months outlining
             | the key dates when mandates will be relaxed. Just hours
             | before OPs comment, the Ontario government announced they
             | will be accelerating that schedule by 4 days, and the
             | vaccine passport will be retired in just 2 weeks.[2]
             | 
             | Your comments re: new accounts are fair, but given the
             | above I don't believe there is any truth to OPs comment, so
             | I personally believe the account is intentionally created
             | to spread FUD about the pandemic response in Canada and to
             | create sympathy towards the convoy and its arguments.
             | 
             | [1] https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/furey-school-
             | board-ni...
             | 
             | [2] https://globalnews.ca/news/8617879/ontario-covid-
             | restriction...
        
         | purephase wrote:
         | Unless there's some crazy school board out there, there's no
         | way they have kids eating outside when it's -20. Most school
         | boards won't even have outdoor recess on days like that.
         | 
         | I have 11 nieces and nephews in 5 different school boards in
         | Ontario, and not one of them has these restrictions. They eat
         | indoors, they can take their masks off at lunch, and during gym
         | class. Their teachers regularly post videos for students to
         | watch, with their masks off, so that they can have that level
         | of interaction with their students.
         | 
         | We still do play dates with kids too. And birthday parties,
         | where we can opt to go maskless if everyone is tested and
         | comfortable with it.
        
           | suckmore wrote:
           | I don't live in Ontario and don't have kids, so I don't have
           | any personal experience. This section of Joel Lightbound
           | speech stood out to me though. It is regarding the apparent
           | quarantine measures in Quebec. I can't substantiate it, so
           | maybe it is completely sensationalized.
           | 
           | >In Quebec in January 22, we've locked up kids aged 6 to 10
           | years old for up to ten days in windowless rooms. Kids who
           | tested negative, who had no symptoms, who came in contact
           | though, with someone who had the virus.
           | 
           | Starts at 3:48
           | 
           | https://youtu.be/xuASydTUatI?t=228
        
             | sudosysgen wrote:
             | No, this isn't the normal procedure. Kids aged under 12
             | only have to quarantine for 5 days unless they test
             | positive and have no symptoms, this is to happen at home,
             | not at school, and only if it was a very close contact.
             | 
             | It may have been an emergency where parents for some reason
             | refuse to stay home with their kids and no alternative had
             | been set up yet; but it absolutely is not the protocol.
        
             | loginatnine wrote:
             | It's a one of, a seriously screwed up one, but it's not the
             | normal quarantine procedure. I have a lot of respect for
             | Lightbound but his speech was a lot of measure dropping
             | with no context and no alternative proposed. I do respect
             | that we need to be united more though.
             | 
             | https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/in-jail-teenagers-
             | spent-10-days-...
        
             | purephase wrote:
             | I don't live in Quebec or have any knowledge of what is
             | happening in that province, but this either sounds like
             | there are mitigating situations that we're not aware of for
             | this reaction, or an overreach by some board/school.
             | 
             | In Ontario, we were asked to isolate at home if there was
             | any close contact with COVID at school and use remote
             | learning if it was available for your class.
        
           | synthos wrote:
           | Thank you. Schoolboard don't risk lawsuit from freezing
           | children. Parent post is pure misinformation from brand new
           | account with, quite honestly, the most eyerolling 'Canadian'
           | name someone thought of.
        
           | dang wrote:
           | Comments like this will get you banned here, no matter how
           | right you are or feel you are, or how wrong someone else is
           | or you feel they are. If you'd please review the site
           | guidelines and stick to the rules when posting to HN, we'd
           | appreciate it. Your comment would be completely fine--and
           | considerably more persuasive--without those beginning and end
           | bits.
           | 
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
         | trhway wrote:
         | In 1830 in Sebastopol it similarly took 2 years of pointless
         | quarantine for people to rebel
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevastopol_plague_uprising
         | 
         | The powers-to-be, civil and military, had great "business"
         | going because of the quarantine by pillaging most of the funds
         | the government provided for the city supplies (as the normal
         | trade and supply was broken by the quarantine) while population
         | was starving. The military doctors responsible for the
         | quarantine received pay several folds higher than their usual
         | pay. To maintain the supposed epidemic, ie. to generate
         | sufficient number of deaths which were all chalked to plague
         | even though in reality there weren't any plague cases, they for
         | example forced people to sit in the sea in winter supposedly
         | for public hygiene purposes, and naturally the malnourished
         | population was getting ill and died in numbers. Anybody who
         | showed any signs of any illness would be put into total
         | quarantine into a hospital building with especially bad
         | conditions which all but guaranteed the death.
        
         | tagoregrtst wrote:
         | My buddy lives near Hamilton. The stuff his kids are going
         | through is insane.
        
           | purephase wrote:
           | Yeah, I have 5 nieces and nephews and friends with kids that
           | live and around Hamilton. Tell me what they're going through
           | that's insane.
           | 
           | Don't just drop comments like this without backing up your
           | assertions, because it's false. Is it ideal for the kids
           | right now? Fuck no. None of us want this. But to sell the
           | narrative that there's a whole class of
           | parents/teachers/administrators who are not trying their
           | goddamned hardest to make this as easy on kids as possible,
           | while stradling the line of what's responsible during a
           | pandemic, is just belittling all of the effort being done for
           | no discernable purpose at all.
        
             | tagoregrtst wrote:
             | My oldest kid been going to in-class school since
             | _September 2020_ [1]. Maskless since October 2021. She
             | missed, in a year and a half, a total of two or three weeks
             | of school. This is a blessing that my kid has received.
             | 
             | I cant speak of your nieces.
             | 
             | EDIT:
             | 
             | [1] The year is correct, 2020.
        
         | sequoia wrote:
         | _NB for people outside Ontario: this is very likely a made-up
         | untrue story. If parent commenter provides some details
         | substantiating this unusual circumstance, I apologize in
         | advance._
         | 
         | What school district? This is nothing like what I've seen in
         | the Toronto schools which tend to be more cautious due to
         | population density here.
         | 
         | I'm willing to believe this isn't a made up story, but am
         | interested in details as this is very different from what I've
         | heard or seen in Ontario.
         | 
         | Also why can't your child see their friend's faces outside of
         | school? This is all quite confusing.
        
         | 908B64B197 wrote:
         | What? Covid is over. Everyone was unmasked yesterday at the
         | Superbowl.
         | 
         | I assume the premier's kids are going through the exact same
         | restrictions. Socialized healthcare means you are all in this
         | together right?
        
           | dade_ wrote:
           | The premier's daughter is definitely unmasked, and an adult
           | as calculated by age:
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krista_Haynes
           | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-anti-
           | vac...
        
         | boplicity wrote:
         | My children in Ontario public schools eat inside -- always
         | have. Strangely, when they eat, they even take off their masks
         | and _see_ the faces of their classmates. Even more strange,
         | they see their classmates faces even with masks on, just a
         | smaller portion of their faces.
         | 
         | Today is quite cold, so they're not having outdoor recess at
         | all. They're staying inside. Eating inside. Maybe your school
         | district has different policies?
        
         | boringg wrote:
         | My 4 year old goes to school every day in Ontario and plays
         | with her friends and sees her teachers face. This is called
         | misinformation, nice try troll.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | synthos wrote:
         | So your daughter has remote learning or not? You can't make
         | both arguments without clarifying.
         | 
         | If she was remote learning she knows her teacher's face. If she
         | isn't remote now she knows her teacher's face
        
           | armagon wrote:
           | Presumably she goes to school in-person but everyone is
           | wearing a mask.
        
         | loginatnine wrote:
         | Nobody eat outside, especially at -20C you're just lying.
         | 
         | My 4 years old at the kindergarden doesn't wear a mask and
         | neither does her classmates. She eats indoor every day.
         | 
         | My 7 years old in first grade wears a mask indoor but not
         | outdoor. She eats inside with all of her classmates, unmasked.
        
       | busterarm wrote:
       | I guess that's what counts as hacktivism these days. Doxxing
       | working class people and their supporters.
       | 
       | It's nice to see the left and right's true colors here and how
       | easily they pulled back the veil of opposition to reveal their
       | true contempt for the lower classes and the real class war
       | underpinning everything.
       | 
       | These last two years, I have seen so much scary authoritarianism
       | from well-meaning people using their own moral righteousness as
       | all the justification they need for oppression. I fear things
       | will get worse before they get better.
        
         | BoorishBears wrote:
         | Being objective here:
         | 
         | - 90 percent of Canada's truckers are vaccinated, so why are
         | you using working class as a substitute for protestor, then
         | using that to call this class warfare?
         | 
         | - Don't you think working class people will care most about
         | this list? The people with the most time to scour lists and
         | make angry tweets probably most likely aren't UHNW
         | individuals...
         | 
         | - Don't you see the irony is claiming authoritarianism has
         | landed under the guise of morality, then assigning morality
         | based on party orientation? Somehow painting the right as
         | working class victims, and the left as upper class aggressors?
        
           | mardifoufs wrote:
           | You can be vaccinated and be against the mandate.
        
           | busterarm wrote:
           | > then assigning morality based on party orientation? Somehow
           | painting the right as working class victims, and the left as
           | upper class aggressors?
           | 
           | Actually you read that into that based on your own biases. I
           | was deliberate _not_ to do this specifically. The
           | establishment media and government mouthpieces, both left and
           | right, have demonized the shit out of this protest and
           | painted them as nazis, terrorists or any other fear word they
           | can get away with.
           | 
           | Truly independent journalists have been painting a very
           | different picture by doing the things that traditional media
           | won't do: long form interviews with protestors and ordinary
           | Ottawans.
        
             | BoorishBears wrote:
             | I don't get this...
             | 
             | You're saying it's my bias that the protestors are right
             | leaning, and therefore the attackers are left?
             | 
             | Isn't that just an open fact? You omitting it doesn't make
             | it not true...
        
               | busterarm wrote:
               | > Isn't that just an open fact?
               | 
               | No, it isn't. Not in their own words. If you've only been
               | watching CBC/CNN, well, that's a big part of the problem
               | then.
        
               | BoorishBears wrote:
               | This doesn't feel like a reply in good faith.
               | 
               | I mean it's easy enough to see the political aspect here
               | isn't tied to the political leanings of news source:
               | 
               | https://www.foxnews.com/media/freedom-convoy-trucker-
               | canadas...
               | 
               | I got the impression you were browbeating me for not
               | intentionally ignoring very plain context as you did, and
               | you seem to be confirming that.
        
               | busterarm wrote:
               | Not a reply in good faith?
               | 
               | I stated from the beginning that this is a class issue
               | and not a left/right one. You in your very first reply
               | said "being objective here" and then went on some screed
               | about how this is obviously left wing vs right wing
               | politics.
               | 
               | Then I stated that if you look at the only actual
               | interviews being done with these people and hear them in
               | their own words they say that this is not a left wing vs
               | right wing thing here and you say that I'm commenting in
               | bad faith.
               | 
               | Not anywhere did I tell you to refer to Fox News as a
               | source for content. You picked that source entirely on
               | your own to suit your argument. As myself and others have
               | mentioned in the thread, the only long form interviews
               | being done with these people are being done by
               | independent journalists on youtube.
        
               | BoorishBears wrote:
               | > I stated from the beginning that this is a class issue
               | and not a left/right one.
               | 
               | And you are blatantly wrong. You omitted mentioning
               | left/right when talking about a conservative protest,
               | that does not change the fact it's a conservative
               | protest.
               | 
               | You're certainly free to keep floundering about this but
               | it won't change the simple reality:
               | 
               |  _Freedom Convoy is a largely conservative protest, as it
               | is largely speaking to conservative talking points._
               | 
               | -
               | 
               | That doesn't mean _every person_ there is a conservative,
               | it does not mean being against vaccine mandates makes you
               | a conservative, _it simply means the people most
               | represented by the tenants of the convoy are
               | conservatives_.
               | 
               | You _are_ commenting in bad faith because either you don
               | 't know enough about this subject to realize it's a
               | right-oriented movement... or you're aware of this but
               | intentionally trying to bury that fact to force a pretty
               | unrelated diatribe.
               | 
               | > Not anywhere did I tell you to refer to Fox News as a
               | source for content
               | 
               | You tried to blame my source of news for a take not at
               | all tied to news articles, which was ridiculous.
               | 
               | To humor you I chose one that was opposite of the ones
               | you mentioned, the source of news does not change the
               | reality that this is a conservative movement.
        
           | hammock wrote:
           | I'm pretty sure OP is explicitly NOT assigning/painting left
           | and right, but rather saying with the "pulled back the veil
           | of opposition" comment that left vs right is an
           | illusion/artifice, and the struggle is actually upper vs
           | lower class.
        
             | BoorishBears wrote:
             | I'm confused, aren't the protestors and their entire cause
             | very openly right leaning?
             | 
             | Or am I getting browbeaten for making the connection _the
             | specific_ working class are in fact right leaning...
             | 
             | OP didn't write their comment in a vacuum. Can we not
             | pretend that we're unable to apply context, like _a massive
             | conservative movement sparked by conservative anti vaxx
             | sentiment_.
        
           | adamrezich wrote:
           | > 90 percent of Canada's truckers are vaccinated
           | 
           | is this actually true, or is this just an extrapolation of
           | "90% of Canadians are vaccinated"?
           | 
           | regardless, it's not as though only 10% of truckers are
           | involved in this protest...
        
             | BoorishBears wrote:
             | According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance, 90% of
             | truckers are.
             | 
             | Also your wording is very confusing
             | 
             | "only 10% of truckers".
             | 
             | You realize it's not anywhere near 10% of truckers actively
             | involved right? That it's a much lower number, with
             | estimates putting them at most hundreds to a few thousand
             | out of hundreds of thousands of truckers total
        
             | busterarm wrote:
             | Or that any less than 100% of truckers are working class.
        
         | palijer wrote:
         | This read [1] is pretty interesting in regards to the increase
         | in support for authoritarianism that you are seeing. It could
         | just be yet another evolutionary quirk that doesn't work in the
         | modern age.
         | 
         | Perhaps all the development into algorithms that make people
         | click on things, when people click on things they are outraged
         | about is a contributing factor to this if there is a link
         | between perceived moral division and support for
         | authoritarianism.
         | 
         | [1] - https://www.psypost.org/2022/02/study-provides-first-
         | evidenc...
        
         | dang wrote:
         | Please don't take HN threads in the direction of generic
         | ideological flamewar. It makes the discussion much more
         | predictable and repetitive, and usually much nastier. We're
         | trying to avoid all that here, and you can make your
         | substantive points without it.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
           | nathanaldensr wrote:
           | To pick out _this_ comment when people upthread are calling
           | what amounts to a party in downtown Ottawa _an insurrection_
           | and an _attempt to overthrow a democratically elected
           | government_ is pretty gross.
        
             | dang wrote:
             | I'm not picking out or singling out anybody's comments or
             | any dogs in any of these fights. I'm trying to neutrally
             | apply the site guidelines in a bog-standard way. Alas, that
             | involves making mistakes--quite a few of them, because the
             | quantity of material posted here doesn't allow for a close
             | reading of everything, or even a quick reading of
             | everything (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&pr
             | efix=true&sor...).
             | 
             | Nevertheless we need to try to prevent this place from
             | being engulfed in flames, since that's (a) the default
             | internet outcome and (b) everything HN is _not_ supposed to
             | be for.
             | 
             | One of many ways everyone can contribute to this effort is
             | by resisting the reflex to assume that the moderators are
             | secretly privileging the side you don't like. That's a
             | common illusion (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page
             | =0&prefix=true&sor...) but it makes things worse.
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
             | jagger27 wrote:
             | Hey Nathan, I see you don't live in Canada! You simply
             | don't have a clue what's going on here if you think it's
             | just a party.
             | 
             | Multiple organizers have openly made those exact
             | statements. You are misinformed.
        
               | 0xy wrote:
               | Do you have any proof, or is it isolated incidents of
               | conveniently fully masked agitators waving Nazi flags?
        
               | jagger27 wrote:
               | I am talking about written and video statements made by
               | organizers, not individual protesters.
               | 
               | > conveniently fully masked agitators
               | 
               | I shouldn't even bother responding to this kind of
               | disingenuous bait. Of course it's all a massive psyop
               | false flag conspiracy to smear the good names of working
               | class Canadians in it for the good fight, right.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | I don't mean to pile on, having just responded to you in
               | another thread
               | (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30337439), but your
               | comments on this topic are standing out as breaking the
               | HN guidelines, and we need you to stop. Not only does
               | this sort of flamewar contribute to destroying this
               | place, it's not in anyone's real interest--including your
               | own. I understand why emotions are super high on this
               | topic, and legitimately so--but commenters here need to
               | follow the site guidelines no matter how high their
               | emotions are. Indeed, that's pretty much the only
               | condition under which most of these guidelines are even
               | needed in the first place:
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
        
             | busterarm wrote:
             | It's because I called this all out for what it is and the
             | moderation here has the thinnest veneer of fairness. A few
             | very high profile posters get away with absolute murder on
             | this board (especially in the form of personal attacks)
             | because they pass the SV ideological purity test, but the
             | rest of us have to keep our opinions to ourselves.
        
               | dahfizz wrote:
               | This is way off base. dang is an excellent and fair
               | moderator.
        
               | busterarm wrote:
               | Usually. Nobody is perfect.
               | 
               | There are certain topics and certain people that do not
               | get moderated fairly and HN itself has certain biases
               | that are encouraged or have opposition to them
               | discouraged. If you know what they are, you know what
               | they are.
               | 
               | Bringing up HN's (often subtle but often not-so) bias
               | against average poor people gets heavily moderated here.
               | 
               | I give dang credit versus other moderators elsewhere who
               | are explicitly biased and don't give a fuck how you feel
               | about it.
        
               | dang wrote:
               | > If you know what they are, you know what they are.
               | 
               | I don't know what they are! Perhaps you could clue me in
               | at hn@ycombinator.com?
        
               | dang wrote:
               | I'd like to see links to the personal attacks you claim
               | we're tacitly ok with. I can only think of one user who I
               | carve out occasional exceptions for (for reasons other
               | than you'd expect, and not someone very-high-profile).
               | Other than that, I'm pretty confident in saying: no, we
               | don't do that.
               | 
               | All this has zero to do with "SV ideological purity
               | tests". If you follow the moderation here, you should
               | know that we have no such "tests" and couldn't care less
               | about "purity". Unfortunately, one consequence of that is
               | that everyone with strong ideological passions ends up
               | accusing us of being enforcers for the side they don't
               | like. It's clearly a cognitive bias and probably hard-
               | wired in all of us: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all
               | &page=0&prefix=true&que....
        
           | busterarm wrote:
           | This is anything but generic ideological flamewar here, dang.
           | I'm clearly slamming both "tribes" for their tribalism here.
           | 
           | More importantly, I'm someone deeply involved with the kinds
           | of people that would have been able to perform this kind of
           | hack and would do so for political reasons. I am directly
           | calling their behavior awful.
           | 
           | I'm explicitly condemning the doxxing of ordinary people for
           | their political activity and frankly am shocked that you
           | would even suggest that to be against the rules or even
           | controversial.
        
             | dang wrote:
             | Ok, fair enough. On closer reading, I think I pattern-
             | matched your comment the wrong way!
             | 
             | (That said, it's still rhetorically in the flamewar style
             | and that's the wrong style for HN. We want _curious_
             | conversation here.)
        
               | seneca wrote:
               | > Ok, fair enough. On closer reading, I think I pattern-
               | matched your comment the wrong way!
               | 
               | Just want to say I respect and appreciate the humility
               | here. It's easy for a moderator to just shut down
               | disagreement.
        
         | purple_ferret wrote:
         | Yes, it's very idealistic to think 'hacktivists' would take the
         | upper ground here in what is already a very dirty fight.
         | 
         | I mean you have 61% of donors not even being Canadians. They're
         | funding a movement that shut down a major commerce corridor
         | into the US, directly affecting the US economy.
         | 
         | To say this is about the 'working class' is naive. I mean you
         | think Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, was tweeting
         | support of it because he loves the working class?
        
           | 0xbadc0de5 wrote:
           | To be fair, the US has roughly 10x the population of Canada.
           | So any support from the US is going to appear outsized unless
           | interpreted on a per-capita basis.
        
           | _-david-_ wrote:
           | A large number of donors for BLM weren't from the US. Do you
           | also support doxing them?
        
             | purple_ferret wrote:
             | I don't support doxing anybody. I just don't believe the
             | narrative that the truckers and their supporters represent
             | the oppressed working class.
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | Isn't this freedom? The right to donate and the right to know
         | who did? Aren't these donations considered speech (US centric)?
         | 
         | Or it only distasteful when your speech and opinion is public?
         | I support _very robust_ free speech perspectives and freedom of
         | speech rights, but there are also consequences for our speech
         | (and the protections, in the US at least, are from your
         | government only).
        
           | fr33d0m_ wrote:
           | Last I heard, "hacking" and DDoS attacks were illegal and
           | against the law?
        
             | toomuchtodo wrote:
             | I don't endorse illegal activities, ever, full stop. I
             | speak only of the results.
             | 
             | Don't speak or support what you'd be embarrassed to see
             | successfully attributed to you on the front page of a
             | newspaper. Everyone's opsec streak runs out eventually, and
             | anonymity should have bounds once you're influencing the
             | public sphere (politics, in this case).
             | 
             | (all of my political donations are public in FEC filings,
             | even those I'm not required to disclose)
        
               | dahfizz wrote:
               | Do you also support exposing homosexuals who don't want
               | to come out?
               | 
               | People have a right to privacy. Stealing private
               | information is the opposite of freedom.
        
               | toomuchtodo wrote:
               | Only in the case where the subject in question is pushing
               | public policy to hurt homosexuals while secretly being
               | one themselves. Public figures are held to a higher
               | standard of accountability, and a loss of some privacy is
               | expected depending on how far your life dips into public
               | policy and influence. The purpose in this case would be
               | to expose the malicious hypocrisy.
               | 
               | You're Average Joe or Jane? Of course not, not under any
               | circumstances. Their bedroom is their business only. I
               | can't stress this enough.
               | 
               | > People have a right to privacy. Stealing private
               | information is the opposite of freedom.
               | 
               | Higher level, to demand anonymity when pushing resourced
               | ($$$) speech in a democracy is attempting to subvert the
               | political system while avoiding recourse for bad faith
               | intent and/or actions (my observations from a systems
               | analyst perspective).
               | 
               | Nuance and absolutism are incompatible.
        
               | meany wrote:
               | It sounds like you're saying the "ends justify the
               | means".
               | 
               | Perhaps its not embarrassment that makes people want
               | privacy, but fear of retribution. Consider someone living
               | during the McCarthy era in the US. Speaking up could be
               | career ending, and in the long run, if things had
               | progressed to a more authoritarian regime, life
               | threatening.
               | 
               | As one of the earlier posters said, I think many people
               | see a slide into authoritarianism on both sides of the
               | political spectrum. And it strikes me, that not being
               | able to have secrets or privacy supports authoritarianism
               | more than furthering democracy.
        
             | bawolff wrote:
             | So are much of the protest activity (not in general, but
             | many of the specific activities of this protest are)
        
           | busterarm wrote:
           | One of the four pillars of ethical journalism is minimizing
           | harm. Knowing if there are big and powerful donors may be
           | important to surface, but outing your neighbors has no
           | journalistic upside. It's all about tribe vs tribe at that
           | point. If you publish this and target the mob at ordinary
           | people, you deserve to be forced out of the profession, in my
           | opinion.
        
             | fr33d0m_ wrote:
             | Where are the "ethical journalists" trying to publish the
             | donors of...
             | 
             | "GoFundMe allowed support for CHAZ/CHOP zone in Seattle
             | even after murders"
             | 
             | Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles
             | https://www.gofundme.com/f/h2tqv-black-lives-matter-los-
             | ange...
             | 
             | ANTIFA Takes Donations (for NAACP)
             | https://www.gofundme.com/f/antifa-takes-donations
        
         | hans1729 wrote:
         | For all you know, this was
         | $state_actor_invested_in_western_chaos, so don't be ridiculous.
         | How you derive the "true colors" of "the left and right" from
         | the fact that someone decided this is an exploit worth
         | investing in, seems to be beyond my understanding?
         | 
         | edit: fascinating, this comment received positive votes and
         | then went straight to -3 within seconds.
        
         | rpmisms wrote:
         | Per dang's nice request, let's open this up a bit and talk
         | about _why_ this is happening. It 's now acceptable (and even
         | lauded in the comments of this post) to doxx people with the
         | wrong opinion. What changed to make otherwise reasonable people
         | approve of this course of action? I want to know what societal
         | switch flipped.
         | 
         | I've seen it posited that it's due to the pseudo-anonymity of
         | the internet, but that doesn't seem to fully explain it.
         | Something has fundamentally changed to allow this level of
         | dehumanization towards the "others".
        
           | h2odragon wrote:
           | we slaughtered religion, so people need _some_ fountain of
           | self-righteousness to drink from. The nebulous  "Consensus"
           | we're supposed to hold holy now is thin and unsatisfying
           | gruel so more fevered flavor is needed to mask the essential
           | blandness.
           | 
           | we used to be able to say "you're wrong about $X, but we can
           | still work together on $Y in agreement." That's unfashionable
           | now. We demand inhuman purity from our idols, de-idolizing
           | them or de-historizing their imperfections as necessary to
           | the dictates of the moment. We expect ideological harmony
           | from our peers, or at the very least meek acceptance of our
           | views without any backtalk. You can think differently, as
           | long as you're quiet about it. and don't let anyone see
           | evidence of your deviance.
        
           | barbacoa wrote:
           | Not everyone can work from home on their MacBook while
           | wearing PJs. Let's be honest, the people who are part of this
           | protest do not represent the socio-economic interests of
           | those who make up HN. It really boils down to elitism.
           | 
           | HN is mad that the working class is advocating for themselves
           | and not busy delivering our Amazon packages and making us
           | lattes.
        
           | tux1968 wrote:
           | > Something has fundamentally changed to allow this level of
           | dehumanization towards the "others".
           | 
           | Nothing has changed in the level of dehumanization. It's
           | clearly a very human failing that has played out in history
           | time and again. The only reason it feels more prevalent, is
           | because we've turned it inward toward what used to be a more
           | cohesive group. So we can ask why we're breaking apart, but
           | there's no mystery about why we dehumanize the "others" -- we
           | always have.
        
       | Dig1t wrote:
       | Interesting side thought, this whole debacle has made me see the
       | real value of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies..
        
         | acdha wrote:
         | You mean where your support for a controversial political
         | movement would be irrevocably public? If this list had leaked
         | Bitcoin addresses, the next thing you'd see would be a report
         | of everything else those addresses had been used for.
        
           | kobalsky wrote:
           | if I want to make an anonymous donation I can send BTC to any
           | big player that consolidates outgoing transfers from their
           | hot wallets and you won't have a chance in hell of knowing
           | who sent it.
           | 
           | of course you can't move millions or illegal monoey like that
           | (you can't use it like a tumbler) because it would be
           | traceable if coinbase or whoever get subpoenaed
           | 
           | but you on this case you would be safe from persecution from
           | supporting some political activism that gets ppl frothing in
           | the mouth and want to make other ppl lose their jobs.
        
             | acdha wrote:
             | That's like saying you could give cash to someone else and
             | then there won't be a link. We know that most people, even
             | fairly committed users, do not have perfect opsec and cut
             | corners for convenience. If you're proposing something for
             | general use, you need to make your plans about what's safe
             | for the median user rather than the 99th percentile.
        
           | Dig1t wrote:
           | True, but its much harder to dox this number of people if all
           | you have is a big list of Bitcoin addresses. It requires
           | significantly more work, plus it's also harder to stop the
           | disbursement of funds like what happened with the Canadian
           | government freezing bank accounts and transactions with this
           | campaign.
        
             | acdha wrote:
             | > True, but its much harder to dox this number of people if
             | all you have is a big list of Bitcoin addresses.
             | 
             | This is also true of any other mechanism: if this was just
             | a list of credit card transaction IDs, it'd be hard to do
             | much with it as well. The problem is when you combine those
             | with other metadata and it seems highly unlikely that
             | anyone would spontaneously stop collecting that
             | information.
        
               | Dig1t wrote:
               | Sort of true, but also credit card numbers are useless
               | without the PII metadata. If you're storing credit card
               | info like this then you pretty much have to store the
               | sensitive stuff that can be used to dox people alongside
               | it. The metadata isn't a requirement in the Bitcoin case.
               | In fact, the way that bitcoin works, you wouldn't even
               | end up with a centralized list like this of all the
               | donors to get leaked in the first place. Some interested
               | journalist or activist would have to go and manually
               | compile it by looking at all the transactions themselves.
        
               | acdha wrote:
               | Do you think they would not otherwise store names if they
               | weren't accepting credit card donations? If they were
               | using Bitcoin, I'd bet that the only difference might be
               | the lack of a billing address -- it seems exceedingly
               | unlikely that the crowdsourcing site or people running
               | the campaign weren't planning to be able to contact their
               | supporters and in many cases they need that for
               | accounting or tax purposes, too.
        
             | maccard wrote:
             | The equivalent of a list of bitcoin addresses would be a
             | list of credit card numbers, which this is not. This is
             | closer to a list of names on an exchange like coinbase than
             | a list of wallet addresses.
        
         | ineedasername wrote:
         | Bitcoin or other crypto would just be the payment mechanism,
         | alongside any other option like CC, paypal, bank transfer, etc.
         | The donation platform could still collect any other data as
         | part of the user profile.
         | 
         | Sure, they could choose _not_ to collect or retain that data
         | for crypto, but they could do the same with other payment
         | mechanisms as well. Crypto wouldn 't confer much more in the
         | way of anonymity benefits above and beyond what a donation
         | platform could provide right now if they wanted to.
        
           | hammock wrote:
           | Who needs a donation platform?
        
             | ineedasername wrote:
             | It's a service that provides a convenient form of
             | aggregation. It's not impossible to do things without one,
             | but doing ad hoc peer-to-peer donations from a large number
             | of donors to a large number of recipients in a very short
             | amount of time is pretty difficult without some type of
             | infrastructure to facilitate it. It doesn't have to be a
             | general purpose donation platform, but whatever it is will
             | have the same privacy factors I referenced already:
             | independently of whether it accepts crypto, it will have to
             | decide if/what user data to retain.
        
         | nitwit005 wrote:
         | I'm not at-all familiar with Canadian law, but receiving money
         | from foreign donors for political activity is often illegal.
         | These funding platforms would probably need you to disclose who
         | you are even if you gave bitcoin.
        
           | Dma54rhs wrote:
           | The movement has to brand it as human rights issue (which
           | they possibly have) and the political activity problem flies
           | out of the window.
        
       | zrglkjlkrh wrote:
        
       | dukeofdoom wrote:
       | Less than hour before the equivalent of Marshall Law is declared
       | here in Canada and my civil rights are taken away. What should I
       | do in my last hour of freedom?
        
         | sudosysgen wrote:
         | No, it's not the equivalent to martial law. Every civil law
         | still applies, parliament and the courts are still operating
         | normally with their full powers. It's closer to sending the
         | national guard.
        
           | dukeofdoom wrote:
           | They can put you in prison, and take your car and seize your
           | life savings and property for protesting them, or for giving
           | money for protestors that lost the means to support
           | themselves. Not sure what you're talking about...they decide
           | what is an illegal protest. They will even force tow truck
           | companies to force them to tow protestors vehicles.
           | 
           | And Trudeau just admitted he used American companies to tow
           | Canadian vehicles. Literally used aid from a foreign nation
           | to break up protests in his own country. Presumably with the
           | help of the Michigan governor.
        
         | redisman wrote:
        
       | zrglkjlkrh wrote:
        
       | motohagiography wrote:
       | Comments I've read say the file has over 100k names, postal
       | codes, and email addresses of people who have donated. Now,
       | they've likely been radicalized by being doxed, and they can find
       | each other both online, and by postal code.
       | 
       | By releasing this data, these hackers have provided probably the
       | most valuable organizing, fundraising, and sales pipeline list
       | for conservative causes and businesses ever created in the
       | country, and it is that quality of forethought that I think makes
       | this a Canadian state backed operation. The wisdom behind this
       | was truly exemplary.
        
       | talentedcoin wrote:
        
         | josephcsible wrote:
         | From the guidelines:
         | 
         | > Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling,
         | bots, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades
         | discussion and is usually mistaken.
        
           | talentedcoin wrote:
        
             | pvg wrote:
             | If you are not mistaken, email your evidence to the mods.
             | You can't post like this because it trashes the site and,
             | unfortunately, almost all such posts are by people who turn
             | out to have been mistaken or can't reliably show that that
             | they weren't.
        
               | talentedcoin wrote:
        
               | pvg wrote:
               | Again, send you evidence to the mods.
        
             | synthos wrote:
             | You are not mistaken. Check my reply to an account (created
             | 1hr after OP post) with one comment here. Comment was self
             | contradictory and has misinformation.
             | 
             | If it walks, talks, and looks like a duck...
             | 
             | Political posts should require accounts older than X to
             | comment, imho
        
         | spookthesunset wrote:
         | > this illegal, foreign-funded protest
         | 
         | If you dig into the bowels of any protest or movement, I'm sure
         | you'll find shady funding somewhere. I mean OLPC was probably
         | funded in part by Epstein money if you look into it hard
         | enough.
        
       | zrglkjlkrh wrote:
        
       | daenz wrote:
        
       | awaywithcovid wrote:
       | I am triple vaccinated, require people who come into my house to
       | be vaccinated, always where a mask inside a building even if not
       | required, and support vaccine mandates.
       | 
       | I am also a huge fan of the truckers
       | 
       | After watching hundreds of violent riots last year, watching our
       | most senior leaders support these riots and even help fund raise
       | for them, watching the media fawn over the rioters to the point
       | that there was a live broadcast calling them peaceful protests in
       | front of a burning building, seeing mayors and police chiefs
       | harassed at their homes to the point where they needed to move
       | and/or resign from their posts, a police station burned down,
       | federal buildings attacked, seeing people use to commute to work
       | stopped, and seeing _prosecutors_ ask for leniency for a person
       | who acknowledged that they burned a person to death while
       | committing arson .....
       | 
       | .... I am appalled by the hypocrisy on how these protests, which
       | appear to be truly peaceful, are treated by the media and our
       | politicians.
       | 
       | It is easy to image the outcry if the riots were treated in any
       | way similar to the way the truckers are being treated, and the
       | conclusion would be that America is a fascist state.
        
         | boringg wrote:
         | Honestly your post looks like a fraudulent/troll post as you
         | have only posted once. Professing to be a very concerned covid
         | citizen and then saying how peaceful this protest is.
         | 
         | It has significant impacts so far: Shutdown the largest trade
         | border, cache of guns found in Coutts protest, local downtown
         | core of Ottawa closed, $800,000 per day to the police services
         | to manage it, harassment of people on the street, white
         | nationalist flags and other imagery, attempted arson for an
         | apartment building.
         | 
         | Also it isn't some friendly truckers who are just fed up - this
         | is an organized protest by two fringe politicians from Alberta
         | who planned to use the wedge issue to get traction for their
         | party. Most truckers (90%) are vaccinated and working currently
         | - this is a vocal minority raised combined with a non-truckers
         | right wing nationalists jumping on the protest train.
        
           | AnimalMuppet wrote:
           | > this is an organized protest by two fringe politicians from
           | Alberta who planned to use the wedge issue to get traction
           | for their party.
           | 
           | Source? Evidence?
           | 
           | (I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong - I don't follow
           | Alberta politics. I'm just saying, I've never heard anything
           | of this, so throw me some breadcrumbs here...)
        
             | boringg wrote:
             | Tamara Lich is Maverick Party BJ Dichter is Peoples Party.
             | A lot of this is grievance politics imported from the US
             | and Canada West - and definitely some from Ontario. Maybe
             | its breadcrumbs ...
             | 
             | Here's the coles notes on the key people behind this
             | protest:
             | 
             | https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/who-is-who-a-guide-to-the-
             | majo...
             | 
             | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-a-look-at-
             | the...
        
       | throwaway879080 wrote:
        
       | magwa101 wrote:
        
       | btbuildem wrote:
        
       | jsnodlin wrote:
       | I don't even feel like a bad person saying I hope they all die of
       | Covid.
        
         | dang wrote:
         | We've banned this account for repeatedly breaking the HN
         | guidelines.
         | 
         | Please don't create accounts to do that with.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
         | twoxproblematic wrote:
        
         | infamouscow wrote:
         | The overwhelming majority of the truckers are fully vaccinated.
         | In fact, as a group, they are more vaccinated than the general
         | population of Canada.
        
         | tanseydavid wrote:
         | The forces that promote Divide-and-Conquer tactics are
         | absolutely dependent on otherwise normal people, suddenly
         | feeling justified with wishing death upon their neighbors.
        
       | abernard1 wrote:
       | As one of the donors included in this hack, I am not entirely
       | sure what they're out to accomplish.
       | 
       | Despite eye-rolling media mischaracterizations of these truckers
       | as you-know-whats, it's a run of the mill workers strike. It has
       | also been extremely peaceful and frankly comical at times. (We
       | can contrast this with the "fiery yet mostly peaceful protests"
       | of 2020 that negatively affected working class neighborhoods and
       | how that was endorsed as an exercise in contrast. CHAZ, CHOP,
       | etc.)
       | 
       | These workers and people who have to work in meatspace have had
       | their lives impeded for two years now, but because white collar,
       | work-at-home employees are mildly inconvenienced for a week,
       | they're advocating police action against them and calling it an
       | insurrection.
       | 
       | I'm proud to endorse this honkery, and I do not mind if it
       | inconveniences some bureaucrats, as my neighborhood in Austin had
       | police helicopters circling overhead for a week, cars set on
       | fire, many buildings along 6th entirely destroyed, all while
       | employees at my company enjoyed and supported the carnage
       | financially.
        
         | olivermarks wrote:
        
         | smrtinsert wrote:
        
         | cycomanic wrote:
         | Considering that you live in Austin how do you know the exact
         | nature of the protests? Have you visited? Or is this what you
         | read/saw in media?
         | 
         | It's also interesting how you contrast this to the BLM
         | protests. I'm not sure how long a BLM protest would have been
         | allowed to block a major traffic artery worth the 100s of
         | million $ per day?
        
           | hammock wrote:
           | >arson, vandalism, and looting between May 26 and June 8 were
           | tabulated to have caused $1-2 billion in insured damages
           | nationally--the highest recorded damage from civil disorder
           | in U.S. history, surpassing the record set during the 1992
           | Los Angeles riots.
           | 
           | "$1-2 billion" from the George Floyd protests is between $70
           | million and $140 million a day, for 14 days. So that data
           | might help you triangulate an answer to your question of "how
           | long."
           | 
           | Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Floyd_protests
           | #:~:tex....
        
         | newobj wrote:
         | Mischaracterizing CHOP while critiquing a mischaracterization
         | of CHOP. The head truly spins
        
         | mindslight wrote:
         | By spending much of your comment denigrating other protests
         | (presumably on issues that you care less about), you are doing
         | exactly what you claim to be condemning. Try advocating for the
         | specific laudable goals of your own cause rather than putting
         | others down.
        
           | zdragnar wrote:
           | Considering that donations to the truckers were being turned
           | down because the truckers were forming an "occupation", while
           | individuals in the previous occupations (including the
           | aforementioned CHOP and CHAZ) had received funds off the same
           | platform... The composition seems relevant. Especially with
           | all the name calling (that the truckers are forming an
           | insurrection) being done by the same people who either stayed
           | silent on, or actively supported Antifa as they shot
           | explosives into occupied government buildings.
           | 
           | The truckers are on strike. Not really any different than any
           | other worker strike, which socialists would normally fall
           | over themselves supporting. The thing is, it seems, they
           | cannot abide people going on strike against what they view as
           | unjust government action.
        
         | czzr wrote:
         | You live in Austin and donated to support protests in Canada?
         | 
         | I'm curious about that - why are you actively getting involved
         | in another country?
        
           | quetzthecoatl wrote:
           | Come on. None other than Justin Trudeau vocally supported the
           | middlemen blocking highways in India against the farming
           | reforms that Indian government passed in parliament. Some
           | self introspection please.
        
           | db1234 wrote:
           | Why not? Canadian PM expressed support for a protest going on
           | in a foreign country last year which was purely an internal
           | matter of that country.
        
           | foodstances wrote:
           | Because they were not one of those inconvenienced by the
           | protests.
        
           | tagoregrtst wrote:
           | Maybe he's Canadian?
        
           | jjulius wrote:
           | Not OP (and this shouldn't be considered an endorsement of
           | their donation/views), but it's similar to how someone in
           | Nantucket might've donated to groups protesting police in
           | Minneapolis in summer 2020. It's a cause you believe in and
           | you want those fighting for it to keep going, and you may
           | also want that fight to influence others local to you to get
           | more vocal.
        
             | Apocryphon wrote:
             | Nantucket and Minneapolis both belong to the same political
             | union. Canada is not yet a constituent member of the United
             | States.
        
               | beerandt wrote:
               | For matters of state jurisdiction, like police power,
               | it's interstate and extraunion.
               | 
               | As opposed to -lets say- issues related to international
               | trade and crossing an international border between two
               | signatories to NAFTA/USMCA.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | A blockade of the border is a matter of international
               | concern, the occupation of Ottawa is not unless the
               | stability of the regime is in question, which would be of
               | interest to the State Department.
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | Absolutely correct, but that doesn't really change the
               | validity of either of the points that I made.
        
               | fredophile wrote:
               | So you think it's acceptable for citizens in one country
               | to fund political movements in other countries? Would you
               | feel the same way about oligarchs in Russia or China
               | funding political organizations in the US?
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | >So you think it's acceptable for citizens in one country
               | to fund political movements in other countries? Would you
               | feel the same way about oligarchs in Russia or China
               | funding political organizations in the US?
               | 
               | Please don't be so quick to put words into other's mouths
               | and then go after them for something they never said.
               | 
               | Someone asked why another user might want to donate to
               | political causes in another country. I responded,
               | clarified I wasn't OP, then - and this is key - _further
               | clarified that my post "shouldn't be considered an
               | endorsement of their donation/views"_, and then simply
               | posited why someone might want to. See how I said that
               | you shouldn't see my comment as an endorsement of their
               | donation?
               | 
               | Discussing why someone might want to do something is
               | different from arguing whether or not it is right to do
               | so. At no point have I engaged in the latter. They _can_
               | be lumped into the same conversation, but I haven 't done
               | that in this comment chain.
        
               | xdennis wrote:
               | It's quite amazing to see Americans complain about
               | political interference now.
               | 
               | Eastern European right wing politicians have always
               | complied about westerners forming NGOs to promote their
               | ideology like same-sex marriage.
        
           | abernard1 wrote:
           | Because I'm sympathetic to their plight.
           | 
           | I'm a class traitor frankly. My whole family works in jobs
           | like this that have been impacted. One of my old co-founders
           | was a 24 big-rig truck mechanic and his dad is being put out
           | of business by the California CARB restrictions.
           | 
           | But aside from the specifics, I find it odd that people are
           | decrying cross-national donations of money to causes. Were
           | similar complaints made about CA->US donations in 2020? How
           | about national disasters? I don't need a reason to give
           | charitably to causes I care about in the world, and a
           | supposedly cosmopolitan populace wondering about
           | transnational giving seems contradictory to me.
        
             | ineedasername wrote:
             | I don't think national disasters are in quite the same
             | category of charitable giving.
        
             | Apocryphon wrote:
             | These protests are a disruption specific to the internal
             | affairs of Canada. The U.S. has long had a dominant power
             | relationship with the rest of the continent. The way that
             | Americans have imposed their views on _both sides_ of this
             | internal conflict is both patronizing and deleterious to
             | the self-determination of the Canadian people. It would be
             | as suspect if one was to donate to the Shining Path, the
             | Contras, the Medellin Cartel, or any other faction.
        
               | adamrezich wrote:
               | if we're gonna start playing by the "if it has nothing to
               | do with your country then keep out of it" rule then it's
               | a great idea to establish this now before the 2024 US
               | elections, ideally before the upcoming midterms as well.
               | 
               | I'm fine with this development as long as we all agree to
               | play by the same rules and remain consistent.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | If these protests become an issue for American national
               | security and strategic geopolitical interest then yes
               | NATO should make preparations as in other flashpoints but
               | for now the situation has not yet escalated to such a
               | degree. The U.S. did not intervene during the coup
               | attempt against Erdogan in Turkey in 2016 either.
        
               | adamrezich wrote:
               | my post had nothing to do with official government
               | actions or interventions but with the rights of citizens
               | of different countries to sympathize with and donate
               | money to causes outside of their own country. we allowed
               | our cities to burn and lives to be lost to violent summer
               | protests that were funded in part by citizens of other
               | countries. if the general sentiment is that we should not
               | allow this any more, that would be fine with me, but only
               | if such actions are applied equally and unilaterally.
               | 
               | as far as I am aware, no lives have been lost nor
               | businesses destroyed during the current events in Canada.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | Your comment evoked the current Ukraine crisis. What do
               | the midterm or general elections in the United States
               | have to do with American citizens sympathizing with and
               | donating money to causes in other countries? That is not
               | an issue that is on the ballot. At least foreign policy
               | is something that is germane to those elections. This is
               | a complete non sequitur.
        
               | adamrezich wrote:
               | > Your comment evoked the current Ukraine crisis.
               | 
               | this was wholly unintentional, I'm not sure how you read
               | that out of either of my prior comments! we were talking
               | about citizen crowdfunding
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | > At least foreign policy is something that is germane to
               | those elections.
               | 
               | > What do the midterm or general elections in the United
               | States have to do with American citizens sympathizing
               | with and donating money to causes in other countries?
               | That is not an issue that is on the ballot.
               | 
               | > This is a complete non sequitur.
        
               | adamrezich wrote:
               | why are you quoting yourself to explain how "[my] comment
               | evoked the current Ukraine crisis"? I think we're talking
               | past each other, you really want to connect things to
               | Ukraine and I don't, so I apologize for taking your time.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | No apologies necessary, thank you. My point is that you
               | bringing up upcoming elections in the U.S. in the context
               | of discussing the appropriateness of American citizens
               | funding campaigns abroad is a total non sequitur, as it
               | is not a campaign issue. Something such as the Ukraine
               | crisis, in contrast, might actually be a campaign issue,
               | in keeping with your '"if it has nothing to do with your
               | country then keep out of it" rule' reference.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | Agreed. The xinjiang intern- uhh... vocational education
               | and training centers are an issue that that's specific to
               | the internal affairs of China. The U.S. has long had a
               | dominant power relationship with the rest of the world.
               | The way that Americans have imposed their views on both
               | sides of this internal conflict is both patronizing and
               | deleterious to the self-determination of the Chinese
               | people. It would be as suspect if one was to donate to
               | the Shining Path, the Contras, the Medellin Cartel, or
               | any other faction.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | China is not located in the Americas, while Canada is.
               | American geography education is indeed in a dire state.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | 1. I'm not sure how you got the impression that I implied
               | china was located in the americans. My comment was
               | specifically worded to not imply that.
               | 
               | 2. Does america's influence on the world not exist? Why
               | does your original claim of "Americans have imposed their
               | views on both sides of this internal conflict is both
               | patronizing and deleterious to the self-determination of
               | the Canadian people" only apply if it's on the same
               | continent? Is it better to impose your views on people
               | half way across the world?
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | America has long had a unique influence over the rest of
               | the Americas while it did not on the rest of the world
               | until very relatively in the postwar period. It also has
               | not had a hegemonic influence on nations such as China,
               | unlike it has had over Canada and most of the American
               | continent. Historically, the United States had a
               | relatively weak presence in China, while the European
               | powers and Japan have had a far stronger hand there.
               | Therefore the analogy to China is false, unless you were
               | to claim that it was part of the Americas, which given
               | the flagrant inaccuracy of your statement seemed to imply
               | that it was made in earnest.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >America has long had a unique influence over the rest of
               | the Americas while it did not on the rest of the world
               | until very relatively in the postwar period.
               | 
               | So influencing canada is bad because they were doing it
               | since 1776, but influencing china is fine because they
               | only did it starting in 1945?
               | 
               | >Historically, the United States had a relatively weak
               | presence in China, while the European powers and Japan
               | have had a far stronger hand there.
               | 
               | Do you also think "european powers" should stay out of
               | genocides in africa, because of their outsized influence
               | in the past?
               | 
               | >Therefore the analogy to China is false, unless you were
               | to claim that it was part of the Americas, which given
               | the flagrant inaccuracy of your statement seemed to imply
               | that it was made in earnest.
               | 
               | You failed to state the justification, so I was forced to
               | guess.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | > So influencing canada is bad because they were doing it
               | since 1776, but influencing china is fine because they
               | only did it starting in 1945?
               | 
               | The U.S. didn't even influence China until the
               | normalization of relations under Nixon, in 1972.
               | Furthermore, the relation was always less unequal between
               | the two, than it was and is between the U.S. and other
               | countries in the Americas.
               | 
               | > Do you also think "european powers" should stay out of
               | genocides in africa, because of their outsized influence
               | in the past?
               | 
               | European powers have historically been very bad at
               | handling African genocides. Even as recently as the 1994
               | Rwandan Genocide, France initially supported the
               | government of the Genocidaires, and did not aid the
               | victimized Tutsis. Given Europe's awful track record in
               | this area, it is impossible to say how constructive
               | intervention could be.
               | 
               | > You failed to state the justification, so I was forced
               | to guess.
               | 
               | I apologize for underrating your grasp of geography.
        
               | beerandt wrote:
               | >specific to the internal affairs of Canada.
               | 
               | It's a Canada policy, but is specific to crossing the
               | border from the US.
               | 
               | "Specific to internal affairs" is a stretch at best.
               | 
               | >Shining Path, the Contras, the Medellin Cartel, or any
               | other faction.
               | 
               | You forgot BLM.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | BLM is based in the United States, so that reference
               | would not make sense unless you are talking about funding
               | crossing state lines.
               | 
               | > It's a Canada policy, but is specific to crossing the
               | border from the US.
               | 
               | Up until the blockade of the border, it was an internal
               | matter entirely, but you are correct here. If the border
               | situation escalates, then the OAS needs to get involved
               | to mediate a ceasefire and ensure that free and fair
               | elections can take place.
        
               | beerandt wrote:
               | Canada and international donations to blm is.
        
               | Apocryphon wrote:
               | Are you alleging that the Logan Act has been violated?
               | That is a serious accusation.
        
             | cjbgkagh wrote:
             | "Ninety percent of Canadians live within 100 miles of the
             | US" I think in many ways, geographically and culturally,
             | they're closer to Americans than they are to each other.
             | Not that Canadians see it that way.
        
               | valarauko wrote:
               | I might suggest that Americans within 100 miles of the
               | Northern border more closely resemble Canadians than they
               | do their other compatriots.
        
           | brnaftr361 wrote:
           | This is normal. The Greek and Spanish civil wars received
           | support from other nations and individuals, up to and
           | including volunteers to fight. Orwell, a Brit, fought in the
           | Spanish Civil War. Homage to Catalonia, good book.
        
         | whatshisface wrote:
         | Is this about vaccines or worker's rights?
        
           | g8oz wrote:
           | - Health care workers in Ottawa had to be advised not too
           | wear work wear in the streets to avoid harassment and
           | assault.
           | 
           | - The Canadian Trucking Alliance have stated that between 85
           | and 90 per cent of truckers are already vaccinated.
           | 
           | - 65% of Canadians think the Freedom Convoy represents a
           | small minority of selfish Canadians. (Leger poll)
           | 
           | - Hate groups spotted among the protesters include the
           | Soldiers of Odin, Three Percenters and followers of the
           | Soltrean hypothesis. I'm sure there are some very fine people
           | among them as well.
           | 
           | - Prominent among the organizers are advocates of the "white
           | genocide" theory.
        
           | monkeybutton wrote:
           | Its about the fringe right being angry.
        
             | whatshisface wrote:
             | Maybe, but angry about vaccines or worker's rights? :-)
        
               | monkeybutton wrote:
               | Angry about sience! https://preview.redd.it/pj9zbnm03gh81
               | .jpg?width=640&crop=sma...
        
               | whatshisface wrote:
               | "Crazy people make trouble for no good reason" is almost
               | too hard to believe, are you sure there's nothing they
               | want in particular?
        
               | analog31 wrote:
               | What do they want? Do we know? Is there a document we can
               | point to, that we know expresses the grievances of the
               | protesters? Of a majority of protesters? Of their
               | supporters?
        
         | soared wrote:
         | I thought these protests were negatively affecting working
         | class neighborhoods as well by honking horns during the night?
         | I'm not holding a strong opinion on the subject but it's kind
         | of silly bias to compare this to blm with your phrasing.
         | 
         | Blacks have been through much much worse for hundreds of years,
         | so the truckers going through troubling times for 2 years
         | doesn't really justify the comparison.
        
           | throw_m239339 wrote:
           | > I thought these protests were negatively affecting working
           | class neighborhoods as well by honking horns during the
           | night?
           | 
           | Truckers aren't burning down neighborhoods or looting small
           | business right now. Yet a good chunk of Americans had no
           | problem with all that US 2 years ago, in the middle of a
           | freaking pandemic. But honking is now where people draw the
           | line?
           | 
           | > Blacks have been through much much worse for hundreds of
           | years, so the truckers going through troubling times for 2
           | years doesn't really justify the comparison.
           | 
           | How is truckers struggles any less valid than any other?
           | cause the people demonstrating are white or something?
        
             | bentcorner wrote:
             | > _How is truckers struggles any less valid than any
             | other?_
             | 
             | Far be it from me to downplay the plight of others but it's
             | a vaccine. Literally takes 10 minutes. Every baby in Canada
             | receives a bunch of vaccines on a regular schedule. Many
             | (all?) provinces have laws that state children must be
             | vaccinated before attending school. This is nothing new.
             | Transportation employees that cannot be vaccinated for
             | COVID due to medical contraindication can have a medical
             | exemption.
             | 
             | Any struggle here is completely self-inflicted.
        
             | soared wrote:
             | Uhhh it's definitely less valid? Truckers are complaining
             | about vaccine passports, blm was complaining about being
             | killed by police officers.
        
               | throw_m239339 wrote:
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >Uhhh it's definitely less valid?
               | 
               | The truckers see vaccine passports as an oppressive
               | government action, and people getting killed by police
               | officers as no big deal. The BLM protesters see police
               | killings as an oppressive government action, and vaccine
               | passports as no big deal. See the issue here? We as a
               | society need standards for behavior that don't just boil
               | down to "if you think it's justified then you can do
               | whatever you want".
        
               | mcphage wrote:
               | Do you think the truckers would consider replacing
               | vaccine mandates with police killings as a step _down_ in
               | oppression?
        
               | native_samples wrote:
               | Er, you don't know truckers think people getting killed
               | by police officers is "no big deal". That appears to be
               | something you just made up right now, as there's no
               | obvious way you could possibly know that for sure. Or do
               | you have some specific evidence, like a poll of the
               | truckers on what they thought of BLM last year?
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | >Er, you don't know truckers think people getting killed
               | by police officers is "no big deal".
               | 
               | I agree that "no big deal" was an overstep, but the
               | argument works fine with "is justified"/"is not
               | justified".
               | 
               | >Or do you have some specific evidence, like a poll of
               | the truckers on what they thought of BLM last year?
               | 
               | Unfortunately not, but based on this poll[1] and
               | demographic factors of truckers (ie. less likely to be
               | college educated, more likely to be republican), it seems
               | pretty reasonable to conclude that most truckers oppose
               | BLM.
               | 
               | [1] https://civiqs.com/results/black_lives_matter?annotat
               | ions=tr...
        
           | rvz wrote:
           | And where is that lost millions in donations that was
           | supposed to go towards their causes, exactly?
           | 
           | I'm mean first we have those defending hundreds of millions
           | of damage to businesses including black-owned ones and now we
           | have ones defending fraudsters unable to file their financial
           | reports and instead go off with millions worth of donations
           | unaccounted for.
           | 
           | Sounds like a very successful scam executed by the founders
           | to fool lots of people driven by emotion and outrage.
        
           | rajin444 wrote:
           | > Blacks have been through much much worse for hundreds of
           | years, so the truckers going through troubling times for 2
           | years doesn't really justify the comparison.
           | 
           | There's no way you can objectively back this up. Not to
           | mention you're saying because some dead people had worse
           | conditions it's ok to make conditions for the living bad.
           | That type of logic only applies to groups you dislike.
        
             | soared wrote:
             | Umm objectively there was slavery and segregation from
             | before the us existed until <70 years ago, which is
             | hundreds of years
             | 
             | I couldn't follow the logic on the second point, but
             | current generation African Americans were negatively
             | impacted by their great grandparents being slaves - it's
             | like generational wealth but the opposite.
        
           | brnaftr361 wrote:
           | If you wanna bring up race, the US and CA black populations
           | have lower rates of vaccination. The truckers want mandates
           | withdrawn. Regardless of their intentions, they're doing a
           | public good which will lend itself to the black population.
        
           | josephcsible wrote:
           | Your right to peacefully protest isn't supposed to depend on
           | anyone else's opinion of how legitimate the cause you're
           | protesting for is.
        
           | billbrown wrote:
           | No person protesting during the BLM riots had "gone through
           | much worse for hundreds of years." The truckers had
           | personally experienced the thing they are protesting against
           | (or would be affected by it going forward).
        
             | msie wrote:
             | To clarify, the truckers have not been affected by the
             | vaccine mandate until now. They were given two years to get
             | an innocuous jab.
        
         | peeters wrote:
         | If you're going to attack "media mischaracterizations" let's be
         | truthful.
         | 
         | > but because white collar, work-at-home employees are mildly
         | inconvenienced for a week, they're advocating police action
         | against them and calling it an insurrection.
         | 
         | "Mildly inconvenienced" is an interesting term for shutting
         | down a border crossing that handles $350 million in trade per
         | day.
         | 
         | "Mildly inconvenienced" is an interesting term for residents
         | having to put up with medically unsafe volumes of horn honking
         | all throughout the nights. Some had brought train horns and
         | were blaring those.
         | 
         | We're "calling it an insurrection" because that is a stated
         | objective of the organizers, to overthrow the elected
         | government of Canada. The fact that this is being encouraged
         | and funded in large part by Americans is frankly, while
         | unsurprising, an overtly hostile act being done to an ally.
        
           | jazzyk wrote:
           | > to overthrow the elected government of Canada
           | 
           | This is a serious claim, and one that I have not seen coming
           | from the protesters (they want an end to the Covid mandates,
           | from what I can tell) . Can you please provide the source for
           | your allegation?
        
             | peeters wrote:
             | As commented elsewhere
             | 
             | > One of the main organizers behind the convoy, Canada
             | Unity (CU), acknowledged that they had planned to submit
             | their signed "memorandum of understanding" (MoU) to the
             | Senate of Canada and Governor General Mary Simon, described
             | in the MoU as the "SCGGC". The MoU which was signed by
             | James and Sandra Bauder and Martin Brodmann, was posted on
             | the Canada Unity website in mid-December 2021 and publicly
             | available until its February 8 retraction. Bauder, whose
             | name is at the top of a CTV News' list of "major players"
             | in the convoy, is the founder of Canada Unity. CTV cited
             | Bauder saying that he hoped the signed MoU would convince
             | Elections Canada to trigger an election, which is not
             | constitutionally possible. In this pseudolegal document, CU
             | called on the "SCGGC" to cease all vaccine mandates,
             | reemploy all employees terminated due to vaccination
             | status, and rescind all fines imposed for non-compliance
             | with public health orders. _If this failed, the MoU called
             | on the "SCGGC" to dissolve the government, and name members
             | of the CU to form a Canadian Citizens Committee (CCC),
             | which is beyond the constitutional powers of either the
             | Governor General or the Senate._
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Convoy_2022#Protest_g
             | o...
        
               | jazzyk wrote:
               | So they tried to "overthrow the government" by filing a
               | petition to call for early elections? That's quite a
               | stretch...
        
               | peeters wrote:
               | Well it's a matter of interpretation. You can call it
               | just fundamental misunderstanding of the Canadian
               | constitution, or an attempt to overthrow the government,
               | but either way having the GG, Senate, or Elections Canada
               | force an election while the government enjoys the
               | confidence of the house would be a coup. I'm fine with
               | giving the protesters the benefit of the doubt and just
               | agreeing that they don't understand how the electoral
               | process works in Canada.
        
               | jazzyk wrote:
               | They were only _petitioning_ for early elections - _in
               | case Covid restrictions were not immediately removed_.
               | Not unconditionally.
               | 
               |  _Petitioning_ for early elections (even if impossible
               | legally) is a far, far cry from  "overthrowing the
               | government"*.
               | 
               | Would you be willing to edit your original post to
               | provide some context here?
        
               | peeters wrote:
               | It depends _whom_ you petition. If you petition the House
               | to call an early election, that 's part of our normal
               | democracy. If you petition the army to remove the
               | government, that's attempting a coup.
               | 
               | In this case the MoU was not petitioning the House to
               | call an early election, it was petitioning the Senate and
               | Governor General to call an early election, who do not
               | have the legal authority to call an election while the
               | government has the confidence of the House.
               | 
               | And whether it's conditional on your demands being met is
               | irrelevant. You can't hold a gun to someone's head and
               | tell them to do something, and then say "well I was only
               | going to fire if they didn't do it". The problem is in
               | the threat, not the ask.
        
               | haberman wrote:
               | I just read the MoU (https://web.archive.org/web/20220122
               | 173201/https://canada-un...). It is a ridiculous
               | document, suggesting that CU and the central government
               | will form a joint committee to set Covid policy together.
               | But nowhere in the document do I see anything about
               | calling an election, dissolving the government, or being
               | beyond any constitutional powers. The Wikipedia quote
               | upthread does not seem like an accurate summary of the
               | MoU.
        
               | peeters wrote:
               | Obviously it takes some suspension of disbelief to take
               | anything in that document seriously, but it suggests that
               | the Senate and Governor General (both unelected) make up
               | the new "Government of Canada", with no mention of the
               | House (elected). It's pretty clear that the intention of
               | the "offer" is to remove the duly elected government from
               | the picture in the mistaken belief that the Senate and GG
               | are of higher authority to the House.
               | 
               | As far as the petition for an early election goes, I
               | agree I can't find it in the MoU. Perhaps it was reading
               | between the lines and combining statements made outside
               | the MoU with what was found within.
        
               | talentedcoin wrote:
               | No idea why this is being downvoted. This is the PROBLEM,
               | people. Many Canadians support removing mandates but very
               | few of us support removing the government through extra-
               | legal mumbo-jumbo. We just had an election in Canada a
               | few months ago and mandates were very much an issue that
               | was debated and discussed.
        
           | sleepingadmin wrote:
           | >"Mildly inconvenienced" is an interesting term for shutting
           | down a border crossing that handles $350 million in trade per
           | day.
           | 
           | One lane of the bridge was open and the Detroit tunnel had
           | absolutely no blockade. This is a mild inconvenience.
           | Protests are inconvenient to be sure. If the media you
           | consume portrayed this as if there was no traffic at all
           | between detroit and windsor... time for you to look to new
           | media. I am curious where you have gotten this idea? CBC?
           | Some other 'government accredited media'?
           | 
           | https://www.post-
           | gazette.com/news/nation/2022/02/12/Detroit-...
           | 
           | >"Mildly inconvenienced" is an interesting term for residents
           | having to put up with medically unsafe volumes of horn
           | honking all throughout the nights. Some had brought train
           | horns and were blaring those.
           | 
           | Ottawa has a population of 1 million and their downtown area
           | will always have honking. Like you know... every other
           | downtown area of a large capital city. Calling this
           | 'medically unsafe' is quite a stretch. Our homes are quite
           | insulated here in Canada given the cold. The same insulation
           | reduces road noise a lot. If you cant sleep because of road
           | noise downtown... move because that happens year round.
           | 
           | >We're "calling it an insurrection" because that is a stated
           | objective of the organizers, to overthrow the elected
           | government of Canada. The fact that this is being encouraged
           | and funded in large part by Americans is frankly, while
           | unsurprising, an overtly hostile act being done to an ally.
           | 
           | No, that's just not in touch with reality at all. Parking
           | large trucks on roads and having a peaceful protest is not an
           | insurrection. There was absolutely no 'otherthrow the elected
           | government of canada' that's a complete fantasy. They haven't
           | once entered buildings or drawn weapons against anyone or
           | anything.
           | 
           | I highly recommend you consume different media because you
           | are not even in the ballpark here.
        
             | jamincan wrote:
             | Since you donated money to them, you probably would like to
             | know that the manifesto of the organizers who setup the
             | GoFundMe and started the convoy explicitly wanted the
             | Governor General and Senate to meet with the organizers and
             | form a committee to replace the federal government. [1]
             | They only recently stepped back from the manifesto a few
             | days ago. [2]
             | 
             | 1. https://www.iheartradio.ca/newstalk-1010/audio/podcasts/
             | the-... 2. https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/protest-
             | organizer-no-...
        
               | sleepingadmin wrote:
               | >Since you donated money to them, you probably would like
               | to know that the manifesto of the organizers who setup
               | the GoFundMe and started the convoy explicitly wanted the
               | Governor General and Senate to meet with the organizers
               | and form a committee to replace the federal government.
               | [1] They only recently stepped back from the manifesto a
               | few days ago. [2]
               | 
               | I never donated to them for the record. I wouldn't even
               | join some solidarity thing.
               | 
               | The first link doesnt load any audio for some reason. So
               | i dunno there.
               | 
               | The second link being from a 'government accredited
               | media' org basically just says this MOU was withdrawn.
               | Never provides a sentence of the MOU of what it says.
               | Though they say:
               | 
               | >The group had been accused by some of using the document
               | to try to legitimize an attempt to seize power from the
               | federal government.
               | 
               | Yes well, the group was also called white supremacists,
               | so lets just look at the real deal.
               | 
               | >By having the Senateof Canadaand theGovernorGeneralof
               | Canadasign this MOU into action, they agree to
               | immediately cease anddesist all unconstitutional,
               | discriminatoryand segregating actionsand human
               | rightsviolations.It calls for animmediate instruction
               | toall levels of the Federal, Provincial, Territorialand
               | Municipal governments to not only stop but furthermore
               | waive all SARS-CoV-2 (and not limited to SARS-CoV-2
               | subsequent variations)fines that have been issued and
               | imposed upon its citizens, institutions, and private
               | enterprises.Further, to immediately re-instate all
               | employees in all branches ofall levels ofgovernments and
               | not limited to promote the same to the private industry
               | and institutional sectors employees with full lawful
               | employment rights prior to wrongful and unlawful
               | dismissals.Lastly it instructsall levels of government
               | and private Sector that the Illegal use of a Vaccine
               | Passportto cease anddesistimmediately
               | 
               | OK, I can certainly see where some people are coming
               | from, but absolutely don't agree with the conclusion they
               | are trying to seize power. In fact no reading or
               | interpretation of that has them asking for power. They
               | are asking for the GG to simply restore our rights. Which
               | is absolutely something we have in Canada that may seem
               | abnormal to say the USA.
               | 
               | No doubt why the national post doesn't actually copy and
               | paste any of this. This is entirely what the Monarch and
               | GG is supposed to be for. Hurts me to say because I think
               | we should cut all ties to the British monarchy and move
               | toward a republic. Coming back to context of my comments.
               | The use of our monarchy being used as if to be an
               | insurrection is the most absurd thing I have ever heard.
               | Our monarchy is still our monarchy. If our monarch
               | decides something, we must abide and that's not
               | insurrection.
        
             | msie wrote:
             | > Ottawa has a population of 1 million and their downtown
             | area will always have honking. Like you know... every other
             | downtown area of a large capital city. Calling this
             | 'medically unsafe' is quite a stretch. Our homes are quite
             | insulated here in Canada given the cold. The same
             | insulation reduces road noise a lot. If you cant sleep
             | because of road noise downtown... move because that happens
             | year round.
             | 
             | I've had honking in Downtown Vancouver from a group
             | supporting the convoy and it certainly does not resemble
             | the usual city noise. If it was horrible for the couple
             | hours I experienced then it must have been hell for those
             | Ottawa citizens when it went on for days.
        
               | sleepingadmin wrote:
               | >I've had honking in Downtown Vancouver from a group
               | supporting the convoy and it certainly does not resemble
               | the usual city noise. If it was horrible for the couple
               | hours I experienced then it must have been hell for those
               | Ottawa citizens when it went on for days.
               | 
               | Would you say this honking in vancouver was 'medically
               | unsafe'?
        
               | penjelly wrote:
               | am Ottawan, live about 6 blocks from 2 of the main
               | blocked roads (parliament and kent street) noise is not
               | bad for me, headphones block it out completely. Theyve
               | stopped honking for the last 5 days too fwiw.
               | 
               | "hell" is an overstatement for something that can easily
               | be ignored with earplugs/headphones.
               | 
               | construction work is certainly worse when its nearby as.
               | it penetrates buildings better and often produces noise
               | for longer periods of time. Though for people living less
               | then 1 block the first 2 weekend days were probably
               | irritating.
        
           | tagoregrtst wrote:
           | Some of us remember the "mostly peaceful" characterization by
           | CNN of the protests in Kenosha.
           | 
           | We also remember the blockade of the rail in Canada.
           | 
           | We're also not impressed by the pleas by inconvenienced
           | government bureaucrats who couldn't be bothered to
           | investigate the arson of 40 places of worship in Canada.
        
           | powerslacker wrote:
           | Not an insurrection. Not trying to overthrow the government.
           | Not illegal to send money to people you like or across
           | borders. Not an overtly hostile act. Truckers have rights
           | too.
        
           | inter_netuser wrote:
           | Medically unsafe volumes claim has not been substantiated
           | with any real evidence, and quite frankly absolutely false at
           | first glance because the driver located right next to the
           | horn would have permanently ringing ears by now.
           | 
           | There is however evidence of many false claims, later walked
           | back, just like the assault at the shelter, which as it turns
           | out, was: 1) verbal assault 2) did not involve anyone from
           | the convoy. Conveniently that claim was spread by a charity
           | mostly funded by the City of Ottawa (10mil), of which 9 mil
           | goes to salaries and only 450k to groceries and 850k to
           | programs.
           | 
           | Disgusting.
           | 
           | As for the residents of ottawa, living in the nation capital,
           | and not expecting boisterous protests is plain privledge and
           | entitlement. That's what you see in the mirror every morning:
           | privilege and entitlement.
           | 
           | Calling a strike an insurrection is an insult to millions in
           | Canada who have fled actual wars. It's also an insult to
           | every socialist that supports the right of workers to
           | organize and strike, that you want to now shutdown with
           | martial law.
           | 
           | Disgusting.
           | 
           | Oh, truckers can find another job if they don't like the jab?
           | So you can move to another city too.
           | 
           | Just like the jab, nobody forces you to live in Ottawa, it
           | was YOUR. CHOICE.
        
             | dang wrote:
             | Please don't cross into the flamewar style like this. It's
             | not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for.
             | You can make your substantive points without that.
             | 
             | We want _curious_ conversation here.
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
             | 
             | Edit: you've been doing this in other threads too (e.g.
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30333616). Could you
             | please not? Here's an old line from PG, which I love, that
             | expresses what we actually want here: _Comments should be
             | written in the spirit of colleagues cooperating in good
             | faith to figure out the truth about something, not
             | politicians trying to ridicule and misrepresent the other
             | side_.
        
               | newbie789 wrote:
        
           | gruez wrote:
           | >"Mildly inconvenienced" is an interesting term for residents
           | having to put up with medically unsafe volumes of horn
           | honking all throughout the nights. Some had brought train
           | horns and were blaring those.
           | 
           | I think "loud but mostly peaceful protests" is an apt
           | description.
           | 
           | https://i.kym-
           | cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/035/101/CNN...
        
           | larryflint wrote:
        
             | dang wrote:
             | We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines.
             | You can't post like this here. Moreover, it's not in your
             | interests to post like this here, because all it does is
             | discredit the position you're arguing for--a bad trade for
             | a little momentary venting.
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        
           | jollybean wrote:
           | If these people are an 'insurrection' then BLM protests
           | during which 25++ people died, was 'seditions rebellion'. [1]
           | 
           | The 'truckers convoy' is completely within the normal
           | framework or populist protest, this is not new, it's common.
           | Farmers used to bring in their tractors to do this.
           | 
           | The people at the border were moved. The people in Ottawa are
           | concentrated downtown, mostly not near housing, and I believe
           | the honking has ben curtailed.
           | 
           | They are now camping out and dancing to The Macarena.
           | 
           | In Portland, an entire section of the city was taken over by
           | armed bandits threatening violence, not letting Police or
           | emergency services in, two people died, people's rights were
           | very seriously curtailed. Now that was a hard problem to
           | solve.
           | 
           | At this point we just have a bunch of angry people in trucks
           | downtown, that's mostly it.
           | 
           | It will eventually peter out and they will go home ...
           | 
           | [1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/31/americans-
           | kill...
        
           | echelon wrote:
           | > We're "calling it an insurrection" because that is a stated
           | objective of the organizers, to overthrow the elected
           | government of Canada.
           | 
           | I'm liberal, but the far left jumping to call _protests_ an
           | act of  " _insurrection_ " makes me want to warn you that
           | this is an extreme characterization that will only further
           | polarize us. We have to stop this nonsense.
           | 
           | It's like when those on the far left call for an end of free
           | speech. The pendulum has swung completely for these folks.
           | It's not a good idea to perpetuate or associate with these
           | leanings.
           | 
           | Protests on both sides, while kept nonviolent, are a good and
           | healthy mechanism to diffuse pent up anger, air grievances,
           | and open new channels of dialogue.
        
             | monkeybutton wrote:
             | Why is it a far left position to call out what protest
             | leaders stated in their memorandum of understanding?
        
               | brnaftr361 wrote:
               | Here's how the MoU actually reads:
               | 
               | "Give us our shit back, Randy."
               | 
               | "No."
               | 
               | "Fuck right off, Randy."
        
               | echelon wrote:
               | Because that's not reality. No democracy is going to be
               | overthrown. It's an extreme characterization, and it's
               | wearing down our ability to fight the actual important
               | battles [1].
               | 
               | You can say that there are radical elements within the
               | protest that are anti-Canadian, white supremacist, etc.,
               | but to throw around the term _insurrection_ so lightly
               | and characterize the whole movement that way draws very
               | harsh lines that are hard to walk back. I guarantee that
               | you 'll find friends and allies on both sides of most
               | issues, yet we're worked up to the point that we're ready
               | to start jailing one another.
               | 
               | The far left are crying wolf way too loudly and often,
               | and it's going to bite come election time. The moderates
               | are not going to listen anymore.
               | 
               | [1] Surveillance and freedom of speech, EARN IT Act,
               | algorithmic manipulation, etc.
        
               | monkeybutton wrote:
               | I agree that is unlikely for them to succeed. But just
               | because a demand is futile doesn't mean it wasn't made.
        
             | peeters wrote:
             | You're ignoring what I wrote entirely. We're not calling it
             | an insurrection because it's a protest. We're calling it an
             | insurrection because it's a protest with _the express
             | stated goal of overthrowing the democratically elected
             | government._
        
               | hammock wrote:
               | Play that out. How will it happen?
        
               | jjulius wrote:
               | Not OP, not taking sides, but the "how" of it playing out
               | is irrelevant if the stated intent is to overthrow a
               | government.
        
               | echelon wrote:
               | Every political compass direction has these elements.
               | They're fringe.
               | 
               | This issue is about dialogue with constituents. Meanwhile
               | there are dozens of more pressing matters that actually
               | deserve serious attention. Ukraine, EARN IT (US for now,
               | but it'll go global), etc.
        
               | cjbgkagh wrote:
               | I haven't followed very closely so perhaps I missed it,
               | but is there a source on that?
               | 
               | Only thing I can find is the reporting on Jagmeet Singh
               | comments who is opposed to the truckers.
        
               | monkeybutton wrote:
               | https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/trucker-convoy-
               | organi...
        
               | peeters wrote:
               | The Wikipedia article is probably your best bet for a
               | summary of factual information at this point.
               | 
               | > One of the main organizers behind the convoy, Canada
               | Unity (CU), acknowledged that they had planned to submit
               | their signed "memorandum of understanding" (MoU) to the
               | Senate of Canada and Governor General Mary Simon,
               | described in the MoU as the "SCGGC". The MoU which was
               | signed by James and Sandra Bauder and Martin Brodmann,
               | was posted on the Canada Unity website in mid-December
               | 2021 and publicly available until its February 8
               | retraction. (...) CTV cited Bauder saying that he hoped
               | the signed MoU would convince Elections Canada to trigger
               | an election, which is not constitutionally possible. In
               | this pseudolegal document, CU called on the "SCGGC" to
               | cease all vaccine mandates, reemploy all employees
               | terminated due to vaccination status, and rescind all
               | fines imposed for non-compliance with public health
               | orders. If this failed, the MoU called on the "SCGGC" to
               | dissolve the government, _and name members of the CU to
               | form a Canadian Citizens Committee (CCC),_ which is
               | beyond the constitutional powers of either the Governor
               | General or the Senate.
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Convoy_2022#Protest
               | _go...
        
               | native_samples wrote:
               | So in other words, overthrowing the government isn't
               | their goal. Their goal is:
               | 
               |  _" CU called on the SCGGC to cease all vaccine mandates,
               | reemploy all employees terminated due to vaccination
               | status, and rescind all fines imposed for non-compliance
               | with public health orders"_
               | 
               | The stuff about dissolving the government is what they
               | want _if those other things_ aren 't done.
        
               | peeters wrote:
               | They were calling on the "SCGGC" to do those things, i.e.
               | they were calling on unelected bodies to bypass the
               | elected House (which, by the way, is currently a minority
               | government and therefore is being held up with opposition
               | support).
        
               | cjbgkagh wrote:
               | It is indeed stated, I did not know that, thanks for the
               | reference. I don't think it's serious though. By the same
               | measure Extinction Rebellion would be considered an
               | insurrection. I kinda remember BLM stating demands that
               | included a separatist black country in the south. Hardly
               | constitutional.
               | 
               | I think the threat would have to be serious to count as
               | an insurrection, as in an actual credible plan to carry
               | it out to fruition.
               | 
               | Otherwise every crackpot would be guilty of insurrection.
        
               | brnaftr361 wrote:
               | Prove to me this effort is centralized and not some loon
               | with zero say-so that a broadcast company quoted in a
               | video to incense people and increase engagement. This is
               | a protest with loads of people, and however much you want
               | to distillate them into a caricature, they're ultimately
               | acting independently and can withdraw their support. That
               | is to say, because some few individuals may have said
               | some extreme thing, doesn't mean that the whole condone
               | that message or the intention.
               | 
               | Just like not everyone in a protest is black block.
        
               | BeefWellington wrote:
               | Canada Unity is one of the co-organizers of this
               | event.[1]
               | 
               | This is what their "Memorandum of Understanding" stated
               | one month ago[2] (January 13):                   ARTICLE
               | 1. SCOPE of ACCORD              Canada Unity (CU) offers
               | this "Memorandum" to the Senate of Canada and the
               | Governor General of Canada, the highest authorities
               | representing the Federal Government (SCGGC) as "The
               | Government of Canada". Acceptance by endorsement of this
               | "Memorandum" and its valuable considerations, will
               | solidify our mutual accord as further detailed in the
               | understanding.              ARTICLE 2. OBLIGATION and
               | COOPERATION              The appointed "Entities" agree
               | to work together in the true spirit of partnership to
               | ensure there is a united, visible, and responsive
               | leadership of the "Initiative" and to demonstrate fair
               | practice according to the Canadian Constitution, Canadian
               | Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Privacy Act and as
               | further described in Article 3.d. of this "Memorandum"
               | administrative and managerial commitment to the
               | 
               | "Initiative".                   ARTICLE 3. MANDATE
               | a. CU & SCGGC agree to form a committee, called the
               | Citizens of Canada Committee (CCC).              b. SCGGC
               | undertakes and appoints authorized (CCC) representatives.
               | c. CU undertakes and appoints authorized (CCC)
               | representatives.              d. CU & SCGGC adopts and
               | adheres to The Government of Canada's agreements on
               | transparency in matters related to the Canadian Federal
               | Referendum Act, Canadian Constitution, Canadian Charter
               | of Rights and Freedoms, Access to Information Act and the
               | Privacy Act, Canadian Human Rights Act, Canadian Bill of
               | Rights, National Security Act 2017, Crimes Against
               | Humanity and War Crimes Act, Tri Council Policy
               | Statement, National and International Human Rights
               | Declarations and such Regulations et al, the Nuremberg
               | Code, the Declaration of Helsinki all as provided by law,
               | and not only limited to latest additions, addendums and
               | revisions; and to be precise including laws, regulations
               | and declarations prior to SARS-CoV-2, and any subsequent
               | variations of SARS-CoV-2.              e. SCGGC will
               | effective as of midnight on this ___, day of ___________,
               | 2021 instruct all levels of the Federal, Provincial,
               | Territorial, and Municipal governments to immediately
               | cease and desist all unconstitutional human rights,
               | discriminatory and segregated actions, and not limited
               | to, immediately instruct all levels of the Federal,
               | Provincial, Territorial and Municipal governments to not
               | only stop, but furthermore waive all SARS-CoV-2 (and not
               | limited to SARS-CoV-2 subsequent variations) fines that
               | have been issued and imposed upon its citizens,
               | institutions, and private enterprises.              f.
               | SCGGC will effective as of midnight on this ___, day of
               | ___________, 2021, instruct all levels of the Federal,
               | Provincial, Territorial, and Municipal governments to re-
               | instate all employees in all branches of governments and,
               | not limited to promote the same to the private industry
               | and
               | 
               | institutional sectors employees with full lawful
               | employment rights prior to the wrongful and unlawful
               | dismissals that stem from the SARS-CoV-2 (and not limited
               | to SARS-CoV-2 subsequent variations) vaccine passport
               | mandates.                   g. SCGGC will effective as of
               | midnight on this ___, day of ___________, 2021, issue a
               | cease-and-desist order abolishing all Federal,
               | Provincial, Territorial, and Municipal Vaccine Passport
               | requirements, Vaccine discriminatory regulations,
               | initiatives, and mandates in regard to SARS-CoV-2 (and
               | not limited to SARS-CoV-2 subsequent variations).
               | h. Further, SCGGC will effective as of midnight on this
               | ___, day of ___________, 2021, issue a cease-and-desist
               | order to the respected Honorable Members of the
               | Government of Canada with the consequent instructions to
               | further instruct the Premiers of the Provinces and
               | Territories, the
               | 
               | Mayors of the respected Municipalities and, the respected
               | Federal, Provincial, Territorial, and Municipal Medical
               | Officers to stop all such unlawful activities pursuant to
               | ARTICLE 3. MANDATE section d. of this "Memorandum."
               | i. Canada is a lawful member of the Helsinki Declaration
               | to name one but not limited to additional Canadian and
               | International Human Rights Laws and Regulations et al and
               | therefore enacts its duty and responsibility to make any
               | and all laws and regulations available to its citizens;
               | further, to enforce and uphold such laws, regulations,
               | and declaration(s) on behalf of its Citizens of Canada.
               | j. By signing this "Memorandum", CU will immediately stop
               | "Operation Bear Hug Ottawa", demonstration / convoy and
               | Federal Referendum activities and will strive to work
               | with all groups and entities et al to bring this country
               | together in unity.              k. CU & SCGGC agree to
               | have the CCC committee formed within 10 days of
               | acceptance and signing of this "Memorandum".
               | l. CU & SCGGC agree to have a final "signed" and publicly
               | released agreement in place within "no later than 90
               | days" of acceptance and signing of this "Memorandum".
               | m. CU & SCGGC agree to only release jointly approved
               | media / press statements on a daily basis during the time
               | schedule specified in ARTICLE 3. MANDATE section
               | paragraph k. and l.              n. SCGGC will
               | immediately make available all schedules as described in
               | ARTICLE 3. MANDATE section paragraph d. available to the
               | CCC committee.
               | 
               | (Document continues)
               | 
               | Effectively they want to appoint a governing body to this
               | committee and usurp the governance of the duly elected
               | MPs of the government, effectively dissolving it, and
               | then end all federal and provincially-imposed imposed
               | mandates. The problem is, the Federal government cannot
               | force provinces to end mandates.
               | 
               | They have since withdrawn this memorandum specifically
               | because they found out their movement was not as popular
               | as they believed.[3]
               | 
               | It is currently very unpopular.[4]
               | 
               | [1]: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/who-is-who-a-guide-to-
               | the-majo...
               | 
               | [2]: https://web.archive.org/web/20220113155334/https://c
               | anada-un...
               | 
               | [3]: https://web.archive.org/web/20220213145435/https://c
               | anada-un...
               | 
               | [4]: https://angusreid.org/trudeau-convoy-trucker-
               | protest-vaccine...
               | 
               | Edit: tried to clean up formatting & missing end of
               | sentence.
        
               | brnaftr361 wrote:
               | This is not convincing, source 1 reads like a hit piece,
               | and ultimately only lists _12_ people with _zero_
               | authority out of _thousands_ of other participants.
               | Organizers have questionable sway in any case. Everything
               | else is an aside, except for source 3, which indicates to
               | me that it was probably a product of internal pressure. I
               | came to that conclusion independently, and upon looking:
               | 
               | "It has come to the attention of Canada Unity that the
               | Memorandum Of Understanding (herein referred to as MOU)
               | _does not reflect the spirit and intent of the Freedom
               | Convoy Movement 2022_ "
        
             | defaultname wrote:
             | "Far left"? I'm a conservative. _Most_ normal conservatives
             | are vigorously against these protests, for exactly the same
             | reason that we were against railway blockades, and against
             | violence and mayhem that occurred under the umbrella of BLM
             | protests. I am simply in awe that so many of the same
             | people that were viciously against BLM protests are
             | supporters of this protest.
             | 
             | Regardless, the literal stated goal of the organizers of
             | this convoy was that the convoy would not leave until the
             | government resign en masse and that the governor general
             | basically decree this protest group the government. That is
             | a textbook insurrection. This memorandum was replaced on
             | February 8th because it was so fantastically treasonous
             | that as it gained wider attention it became unpalatable.
             | 
             | So yes, when people say insurrection, they are absolutely
             | correct. It isn't the "far left" pointing out that fact.
             | 
             | Just as it isn't the "far left" who point out that two of
             | the primary organizers are a long time white supremacist,
             | and the other is a _literal_ separatist who has long
             | petitioned that Western Canada should join the US.
        
               | echelon wrote:
               | My point is you can't call this an _insurrection_ without
               | shifting the Overton window.
               | 
               | Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think any
               | appreciable number of people are actually trying to
               | overthrow Canada.
               | 
               | We're polarizing everything to the point we can't focus
               | on the topics that matter. We'll forget about this in a
               | matter of years, yet our ears and minds will be deafened.
        
               | BitwiseFool wrote:
               | I see it as wanton hyperbole. Demanding members of the
               | government resign does not an insurrection make.
               | Especially if you sincerely think they have abused their
               | powers and have infringed on human rights.
        
               | sofixa wrote:
               | > I am simply in awe that so many of the same people that
               | were viciously against BLM protests are supporters of
               | this protest
               | 
               | Where do you think that hypocrisy comes from? I'm across
               | the pond so very far from the action, but I'm very
               | curious how people reason about this.
        
               | beardedetim wrote:
               | > Where do you think that hypocrisy comes from?
               | 
               | Me and my brother watched the Super Bowl last night, me
               | rooting for he Rams and him for the Bengals. We saw the
               | same play happen live, resulting in the Bengals getting a
               | penalty for holding and the Rams being awarded free
               | yards.
               | 
               | He saw it as "fucked up" and I saw it as "just".
               | 
               | When the Rams were called for a penalty, the roles were
               | reversed and I felt like the refs were in the pocket of
               | the Bengals for calling such a stupid penalty.
               | 
               | ---
               | 
               | All that to say: when _my_ team does stuff, it's okay.
               | When _their_ team does stuff, it's bad. This is the same
               | line of reasoning that is being played out with the above
               | hypocrisy.
        
               | caeril wrote:
               | The logical case against the legitimacy of BLM protests
               | is primarily predicated on evidence. Specifically, that
               | while police brutality is definitely a problem in the US,
               | there's no evidence that it disproportionately impacts
               | people of color. When you look at the actual data, it
               | seems that police like to brutalize and kill innocent
               | suspects in a relatively colorblind manner. There are
               | even a few outlier studies that suggest police actually
               | show _greater_ restraint with black suspects, although
               | those studies do have some methodological issues.
               | 
               | It's effectively one of those "reals before feels"
               | situations for those of us who prefer to view politics
               | through a lens of actual data rather than baseless
               | emotion.
               | 
               | Nobody batted an eye when Daniel Shaver's murderer was
               | cleared. The protests should have been explicitly anti-
               | police-brutality, not race-baiting nonsense.
        
               | beerandt wrote:
               | Because many on the right (and center and left) are naive
               | enough to think that left-leaning groups/entity protests
               | getting "mostly peaceful" positive coverage during the
               | height of lockdowns in 2020 was actually an unbiased
               | shift of norms, and not just media partisanship.
        
               | defaultname wrote:
               | It arises when supporting a group is all that matters,
               | and one's "values" morph and twist into whatever is
               | optimal to support the tribe at any given moment. It
               | yields a lot of meaningless words.
               | 
               | This happens all over the political spectrum. It happens
               | in technology discussions. It happens in, as another post
               | said, sports commentary.
               | 
               | Without values it's just loads of angry spittle.
        
           | good8675309 wrote:
           | The definition of an insurrection is "a violent uprising
           | against an authority or government." Where is the violence?
           | I'm seeing people dancing and enjoying themselves. So much
           | joy. It's like a big festival. People are helping each other
           | and coming together. I see families and food banks being
           | filled, trash cleaned up. Please post videos of all the
           | violence. Btw, you can see an endless feed of the types of
           | events I've described on Youtube. The only violent act I saw
           | was a confirmed antifa member running over civilians.
        
             | Dig1t wrote:
             | Exactly! The media portrayal of the events is so
             | incongruous when you actually watch the videos and see the
             | pictures of the protestors. The headlines do not match what
             | these people are actually doing at all. They are playing
             | hockey in the streets, walking around waving flags with
             | "freedom" on them. Yes they're noisy, but that's what
             | protests are all about right? Making noise to be heard.
        
               | inter_netuser wrote:
               | Because the majority of media in Canada is funded by the
               | government under the guise of protecting home grown
               | talent and such. It's heavily subsidized and has all
               | sorts of benefits at taxpayers largesse in order to
               | survive the competition from the US.
               | 
               | Without that regulatory backing, it would be dead under a
               | year.
        
               | vkou wrote:
               | The CBC is not 'the majority of media'.
               | 
               | Some subset of Canadian media is required to publish some
               | % of Canadian-produced content, but that does not make it
               | _funded_ by the government.
               | 
               | I don't know where this misinformation comes from, but I
               | have some suspicions.
        
               | mardifoufs wrote:
               | What do you mean? You realize even private media receives
               | massive subsidies in Canada? And that those subsidies are
               | usually promised at election time meaning there is a
               | clear incentive to not cross the party that promises the
               | most money (vs let's say a party that promises to slash
               | support for the media). Even provincial government are
               | starting to provide massive amount of cash to "support
               | our journalism"
        
               | vkou wrote:
               | Just about every man, woman, child, dog, or organization
               | in the country receives government subsidies for one
               | thing or another.
               | 
               | What percentage of their budget is 'massive', and what
               | conditions do they have to meet to receive them? Is
               | shilling for the whigs one of them? Who determines that
               | they've shilled enough? Do you have a source? One that's
               | not a tabloid op-ed?
               | 
               | I don't think your take on what 'media ran by the
               | government' matches what media in countries where it is
               | actually ran by the government looks like.
        
             | peeters wrote:
             | I don't believe there has been a level of violence that has
             | been concerning or comparable to other protests. There has
             | been the usual behaviour you see in these protests,
             | including harassment of people wearing masks, healthcare
             | workers, businesses, etc. A small amount of riot-associated
             | behaviour like breaking windows of businesses. It has
             | largely been peaceful.
             | 
             | Overt violence isn't necessary to the definition of
             | insurrection. Here are some other definitions I found:
             | 
             | - "an act or instance of revolting against civil authority
             | or an established government"
             | 
             | - "a _usually_ violent attempt to take control of a
             | government "
             | 
             | https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insurrection
        
               | _-david-_ wrote:
               | >an act or instance of revolting against civil authority
               | or an established government
               | 
               | Which protest does not meet that criteria?
        
               | peeters wrote:
               | Most? You can protest against a government while still
               | acknowledging its legitimacy.
        
               | BitwiseFool wrote:
               | Requiring an acknowledgement of a government's legitimacy
               | seems like a bad thing. Ultimately I think "insurrection"
               | is just being thrown around far too freely.
        
               | _-david-_ wrote:
               | I don't think the truckers are trying to say that the
               | government is illegitimate though? They are saying the
               | mandate laws are illegitimate.
        
               | gruez wrote:
               | 1. merriam-webster isn't a good source because they have
               | a history of redefining words for activism purposes, eg.
               | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52993306
               | 
               | 2. if violence isn't necessary for an "insurrection", and
               | "revolting against civil authority or an established
               | government" suffices, does that mean rosa parks or MLK
               | are insurrectionists?
        
               | cjbgkagh wrote:
               | The "usually" violent was added to that dictionary in
               | 2013.
        
               | brnaftr361 wrote:
               | Truncated for posting:
               | 
               | Insurrection (?), n.: 1. A rising against civil or
               | political authority, or the established government; open
               | and active opposition to the execution of law in a city
               | or state.
               | 
               | "It is found that this city of old time hath made
               | insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and
               | sedition have been made therein."
               | 
               |  _Ezra iv. 19._
               | 
               | 2. A rising in mass to oppose an enemy. [Obs.]
               | 
               | Syn. -- Insurrection, Sedition, Revolt, Rebellion,
               | Mutiny. Sedition is the raising of commotion in a state,
               | as by conspiracy, without aiming at open violence against
               | the laws. Insurrection is a rising of individuals to
               | prevent the execution of law by force of arms. Revolt is
               | a casting off the authority of a government, with a view
               | to put it down by force, or to substitute one ruler for
               | another. Rebellion is an extended insurrection and
               | revolt. Mutiny is an insurrection on a small scale, as a
               | mutiny of a regiment, or of a ship's crew.
               | 
               | https://www.websters1913.com/words/Insurrection
        
         | davewritescode wrote:
         | BLM protestors were routinely arrested, beaten and teargassed
         | on live TV for everyone to watch.
         | 
         | Donating directly to a mob causing havoc thousands of miles
         | away from you because you're annoyed that your coworkers did
         | the same is why this country and frankly the western world is
         | so entirely broken. This is a wonderful example of the politics
         | of spite in action. Making the world a better place has gone
         | out the window, it's simply about making the world a worse
         | place for people you don't like
         | 
         | Harassing people wearing masks and minding their own business
         | and stealing from foodbanks because restaurants refuse to serve
         | protestors isn't exactly peaceful.
         | 
         | Where does this end? Is it ok for me to pay homeless people to
         | stand outside your house with a rifle and scream at your house
         | all night?
        
           | tagoregrtst wrote:
           | No they weren't!
           | 
           | People protesting BLM didnt get scratched as America got
           | together to condemn police brutality.
           | 
           | Antifa, who highjacked the protests and torched cities, got
           | arrested. But most were released by sympathetic DAs.
           | 
           | In fairness the BLM organizers are getting arrested. For
           | fraud.
        
             | davewritescode wrote:
             | I don't want to get political here, that's not my intention
             | but this even was 100% peaceful protestors who just
             | happened to be somewhere the President wanted to go were
             | gassed for no reason.
             | 
             | https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867532070/trumps-
             | unannounced-...
        
         | jeromegv wrote:
         | As you are from Austin, you clearly have no idea that this is
         | just more than bureaucrats but actual people live there. Many
         | and have had to move out of their house as they couldn't sleep.
         | This is honking all nights but also intimidating business
         | owners, people walking by with a mask, verbal harassment, etc.
         | This is all documented.
         | 
         | The people in those protests are also anti-vaxers, while 90% of
         | the population is vaccinated, so they don't represent the
         | working class. The Qanon "Queen of Canada" and all their
         | crazies are there, harassing health care workers. This is very
         | much the 1% of crazies, the working class is extremely
         | irritated by having their health care workers being harassed.
        
           | tomas_nort wrote:
        
         | altcognito wrote:
         | > As one of the donors included in this hack, I am not entirely
         | sure what they're out to accomplish.
         | 
         | > as my neighborhood in Austin had police helicopters
         | 
         | Well, they certainly accomplished one goal: Out foreign
         | donations.
        
         | talentedcoin wrote:
         | Please, stick to messing up your own country, and leave Canada
         | alone.
        
         | good8675309 wrote:
         | Yeah, well the establishment journalists are doing everything
         | they can to cover for Trudeau. Meanwhile if you really want to
         | be informed you can find tons of livestreams on Youtube from
         | every angle of the protest in Ottawa, 1988 Watchman is good.
         | I've been watching for over a week now and I've seen people
         | helping and feeding each other. Filling the food banks, food
         | banks are declining food donations now. Cleaning the streets.
         | People dancing and singing, kids playing hockey in the streets.
         | It's a big festival and a lot of people are showing up to
         | celebrate and come together. It's inspiring in a time when
         | people are so divided to see joyful people having fun.
        
         | gruez wrote:
         | > As one of the donors included in this hack, I am not entirely
         | sure what they're out to accomplish.
         | 
         | Find targets to cancel. ie.
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Eich#Appointment_to_CE...
        
         | sleepingadmin wrote:
         | >As one of the donors included in this hack, I am not entirely
         | sure what they're out to accomplish.
         | 
         | No different than any other cancel culture etc.
         | 
         | >Despite eye-rolling media mischaracterizations of these
         | truckers as you-know-whats, it's a run of the mill workers
         | strike.
         | 
         | This is very important I learnt this weekend. Not to be glossed
         | over.
         | 
         | Trudeau himself attacked the convoy as fringe minority,
         | racists, sexists, and white supremacists. The 'government
         | accredited' media was very fast to show the nazi flag and
         | confederate flags. Conveniently very expensive professional
         | camera gear right there to take pictures.
         | 
         | Yet the real media went around showing that the group is pretty
         | diverse. https://notthebee.com/article/come-and-laugh-with-me-
         | at-the-...
         | 
         | So what gives? Well what happened? Antivaxxers are unemployed?
         | But who are the antivaxxers? ~50% of black canadians are
         | unwilling to get vaccinated. ~25% of arabic and indian
         | canadians are unwilling. When the average is ~85%. It means
         | whites are above 85%. I didn't know this.
         | 
         | It means Trudeau and the 'government accredited' media who
         | rushed out this narrative that they are white supremacists in
         | fact knew they were disproportionally harming not-whites. That
         | to label this convoy as white supremacist might discourage not-
         | whites from joining. This 1 nazi flag has to be a journalist
         | because the convoy is certainly not white supremacist.
         | 
         | At what point does the 'government accredited' media who pushed
         | this white supremacist narrative get labelled government
         | propaganda?
        
         | rwj wrote:
         | I don't mind if it inconvenience the government, but they have
         | severely impacted residential neighbourhoods as well. Others in
         | the movement have blocked commercial traffic across the border,
         | putting people jobs at risk.
         | 
         | Ironically, I think these higher pressure activities will back
         | fire. They could probably find a lot of support for easing
         | restrictions, but destroying people's homes and jobs is not
         | going to make or keep friends.
        
           | _-david-_ wrote:
           | You believe the same thing about BLM right? They took over
           | residential areas and blocked commercial traffic from coming.
           | Look at Chop/Chaz.
        
             | rwj wrote:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
        
           | good8675309 wrote:
           | They are leaving or have already left the residential areas:
           | https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-mayor-says-truckers-have-
           | ag...
        
         | nverno wrote:
         | It's not just a run of the mill worker's strike, though, it's
         | tactically ingenious- they were able to put huge pressure on
         | people very quickly without ever needing to get violent or
         | aggressive. Good for them.
        
           | rpmisms wrote:
           | They're simply seizing the means of transportation, and
           | reminding the government that the economy is dependent on
           | them.
        
             | sudosysgen wrote:
             | Yeah they failed massively at that. There were a few
             | hundred trucks out of around 300,000, and they got
             | denounced by their own unions. Basically the only thing
             | they will do is inconvenience the government who doesn't
             | want to look bad by removing them forcefully.
        
         | barbazoo wrote:
         | You don't know what you're talking about in terms of negative
         | impact these illegal blockades of the borders have on the
         | economy.
        
         | annexrichmond wrote:
         | Yeah I found it to be tone deaf when my supposedly progressive
         | software eng colleagues would share videos of lockdown
         | protestors on IG saying F you idiots, as they work their cushy
         | job. A lot of these people were protesting because they _want_
         | to work, and not be dependent on government handouts.
        
           | msie wrote:
           | The truckers were given TWO YEARS to get the jab and they
           | refused to. They only need the jab if they are going into the
           | United States and returning. They can do trucking within
           | Canada without a jab. Also, the United States has imposed a
           | similar mandate on truckers entering the US but I don't see
           | the convoy protest that. 90% of truckers are vaccinated BTW.
           | 
           | https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/unvaccinated-
           | canad...
        
         | tagoregrtst wrote:
         | What to fear? Some lunatic calling an employer and citing
         | Trudeau to say the donor supports homophobe racists. Its
         | happened with other leaked lists.
         | 
         | Another problem is that, if the Canadian government tightens
         | the screws, the donation might be deemed material support for
         | crime. BS, but I wouldn't trust the Canadian judiciary.
        
         | JKCalhoun wrote:
         | GiveSendGo appears to be a Christian crowdfunding platform.
         | Maybe it's nuanced but I am unable to see a Christian
         | connection to the mask mandates or whatever the truckers are
         | protesting.
        
           | synthos wrote:
           | It's especially ironic when they argue "their body their
           | choice" w.r.t. vaccines. Then when asked about abortion only
           | the most rational ones will see the parallel.
        
           | hammock wrote:
           | Might be a good idea to learn what they are protesting,
           | before trying to draw connections between what they are
           | protesting and other things like religion.
        
         | 12bits wrote:
        
       | talentedcoin wrote:
       | https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/coutts-protest-blocka...
       | 
       | Mounties said in a release Monday that they became aware of a
       | small organized group within the larger protest at Coutts.
       | 
       | They say they had information that the group had access to a
       | cache of firearms and ammunition. Officers seized long guns,
       | handguns, multiple sets of body armour, a machete, a large
       | quantity of ammunition and high-capacity firearm magazines.
        
         | 0xy wrote:
        
           | talentedcoin wrote:
           | Lmfao, it's the RCMP saying this, but sure.
        
         | newsclues wrote:
         | Oka crisis in the 90s had gun battles between FN and the
         | police/military
        
         | cf100clunk wrote:
         | This type of revelation will likely be commonplace in the
         | days/weeks ahead as militant extremists are exposed.
        
           | elevenoh wrote:
           | You're eating up the propaganda.
           | 
           | These are regular folks.
        
           | mjfl wrote:
           | There is also potential for it being false flag operations in
           | order to justify more militaristic responses.
        
           | redisman wrote:
           | There will always be some opportunistic groups looking to
           | cause more mayhem in chaotic situations like this. These
           | protests have been literally "mostly peaceful" no?
        
             | cf100clunk wrote:
             | I got voted down for saying what you did but in a more
             | terse, direct fashion. Too much heat in here with one-day
             | HNers, yourself excepted.
        
               | jacquesm wrote:
               | one-day HN'ers can't downvote (400 Karma threshold)
        
             | tablespoon wrote:
             | >> This type of revelation will likely be commonplace in
             | the days/weeks ahead as militant extremists are exposed.
             | 
             | > There will always be some opportunistic groups looking to
             | cause more mayhem in chaotic situations like this. These
             | protests have been literally "mostly peaceful" no?
             | 
             | Exactly. Didn't "Bugaloo Bois" try to hijack the Black
             | Lives Matter protests?
             | 
             | I think it's important to be careful, and not try to paint
             | an entire protest movement with a small unreasonable
             | minority that may be within or adjacent to it.
        
               | mikeyouse wrote:
               | Several of the most prominent acts of violence during the
               | BLM protests were indeed Boogaloo Boys (murders of
               | multiple police officers in Oakland, arson at a police
               | precinct in Minneapolis, shooting up a different precinct
               | with an AK-47 while shouting "Justice for Floyd!")
        
               | vorpalhex wrote:
               | Are we in the same reality?
               | 
               | https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-pleads-guilty-
               | minne...
        
             | ceejayoz wrote:
             | > These protests have been literally "mostly peaceful" no?
             | 
             | That's fair, yes. Economically disruptive, but largely
             | peaceful.
             | 
             | I'd wager the left isn't going to pass "it's legal to run
             | over protesters" in response to these, though.
             | https://www.vox.com/2021/4/25/22367019/gop-laws-oklahoma-
             | iow...
        
               | manquer wrote:
               | Sleep deprivation and continuous noise is considered
               | torture under Geneva Convention and by the U.N.[1] and
               | Canadian law[2]. U.S. and others have been condemned
               | heavily for using such techniques and U.S. has since
               | stopped (at least officially) even in black ops places
               | like Gitmo.
               | 
               | Protests and blockade are one thing, continuous noise in
               | areas where people live and work is not peaceful .
               | 
               | [1] https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Do
               | cuments...
               | 
               | [2] https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/yes-sleep-
               | deprivation-is-tor...
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
        
               | toqy wrote:
               | It sucks that your neighbor has gathered many large
               | trucks and is honking them for 18 hours a day in order to
               | compel you to do something. Why isn't anyone doing
               | anything about it? Now that you know you're being
               | tortured what are your plans?
        
               | sudosysgen wrote:
               | If your noisy neighbor was setting of a blowhorn with a
               | high duty cycle for multiple days with the express intent
               | to cause harm to you, it would probably be fair to call
               | that some form of assault.
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | > with the express intent to cause harm
               | 
               | Citation?
        
               | sudosysgen wrote:
               | Do I need a citation that people honking to cause a
               | distrubance intended to disturb?
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | > Do I need a citation that people honking to cause a
               | distrubance intended to disturb?
               | 
               | Wow, that's _quite_ a comment and a remarkably
               | transparent backpedaling from  "intent to cause harm".
        
               | sudosysgen wrote:
               | From the Merriam Webster,
               | 
               | Disturbance, 2) : noisy or violent activity : commotion
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | Good grief. Yes, a disturbance can refer to noise _or_
               | violence, but that doesn 't imply that a noise is
               | violence. This is the lowest quality argumentation I've
               | seen on this site for a while.
        
               | sudosysgen wrote:
               | I'm giving a definition that applies to my own words.
               | That's the way I meant distrubance. Also, it's not
               | because something isn't violent that it isn't harmful.
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | You specifically likened it to assault. A noisy protest
               | is _annoying_ and it can _disturb the quiet_ but it isn't
               | harmful in any sense that could be considered assault.
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | It seems super disingenuous to imply that noisy protests
               | are "violent" by citing laws and regulations which
               | pertain to the treatment of detainees.
               | 
               | Our media entertained a serious debate about whether
               | looting or burning a neighborhood to the ground was
               | "violence" or not, and the many preferred to refer to
               | these events as "fiery but mostly peaceful protests". How
               | did we go from that to tenuous analogies of torture?
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | From your own _overtly biased_ link:
               | 
               | > Under the new law, an Oklahoma driver will no longer be
               | liable for striking -- or even killing -- a person if the
               | driver is "fleeing from a riot ... under a reasonable
               | belief that fleeing was necessary to protect the motor
               | vehicle operator from serious injury or death."
               | 
               | Super disingenuous to characterize that as "it's legal to
               | run over protesters".
        
               | ceejayoz wrote:
               | Never seen a cop get off with "I feared for my life", eh?
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | Occasionally self-defense laws protect guilty people, but
               | that doesn't imply that the law _isn 't a self-defense
               | law_. I'm sure there's lots of good criticism of this
               | law, but characterizing it as the OP did is patent
               | dishonesty. Even _Vox_ wasn 't willing to go that far
               | ffs.
        
             | karpierz wrote:
             | Depends on how you define peaceful; if you consider it
             | peaceful to make enough noise in a neighbourhood such that
             | thousands cannot sleep there for weeks, then yes.
        
             | kerneloftruth wrote:
             | Yes. I've seen no evidence of stores being looted,
             | businesses burned, or anybody throwing rocks at police --
             | all of which were common in 2020 BLM protests.
        
               | paulmd wrote:
               | Well, now you have.
               | 
               | https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-police-
               | arson-in...
               | 
               | https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/coutts-protest-
               | blocka...
               | 
               | As for the police - helps that a lot of them were tacitly
               | helping the rioters. As usual, giving them fuel and
               | supplies, and ignoring clear-cut violations of the law.
               | Why throw rocks at an ally?
               | 
               | Toronto and other cities may have shut them down, but the
               | Ottawa cops were pretty much assisting. Not really a
               | surprise, cops are pretty right-wing aligned in general.
        
               | adolph wrote:
               | _On the footage, he described seeing two individuals
               | lighting a fire in the lobby shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday.
               | After the suspects leave, another individual is seen
               | coming into view and quickly extinguishing the fire near
               | the elevators, Munoz said._
               | 
               | ...
               | 
               |  _Police have not confirmed any link between their
               | investigation into this incident and the ongoing convoy
               | protest._
        
               | throwaway894345 wrote:
               | From your own link:
               | 
               | > Police have not confirmed any link between their
               | investigation into this incident and the ongoing convoy
               | protest.
               | 
               | Anyway, there's a pretty considerable difference between
               | whatever this was and the images of burned down
               | neighborhoods in the US.
               | 
               | https://www.google.com/search?q=kenosha+aftermath&client=
               | saf...
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | 908B64B197 wrote:
         | Did they accidently query their own payroll?
         | 
         | Trudeau's father had the Mounties plant bombs at civilians
         | (Canadian citizens on Canadian soil) back in the 70's and tried
         | to blame it on some political group to justify armed
         | intervention [0].
         | 
         | [0]
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversies_involvin...
        
       | xanaxagoras wrote:
       | I didn't donate but I should have. My name would be in great
       | company on that list.
        
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