28 Comments

The PM just froze all the bank accounts of every single protester. Tell me professor. Is this authoritarian? The protesters did nothing wrong. I suppose all the riots for the summer of 2020 were perfectly fine with you though, right?

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Thank you! I live in Australia, and have a few friends that have gone off the charts with this anti-mandate theme. These are the same people that I have protested with in the past (like coal mining and the Greta protests) I have a hard time talking to them about this, they just keep saying it's "The Australian Way" and has nothing to do with the alt right, they keep inviting me to come along. I just try to keep planting seeds. But nothing is getting through.

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What happened in Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada will likely pale compared to what the same forces have planned in the U.S. Organizers said they're planning a cross-country trek involving 1,000 trucks that begins late this month and ends in Washington, DC. https://www.newsweek.com/peoples-convoy-truckers-reportedly-heading-dc-mandate-protest-1679678

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SC wrote: We'd been writing about them for months. So why were the police either unaware or, if they were aware, why did they not take them at their word?

Doesn't this sound a lot about what was said after Jan 6?

To repeat what I said before. Prosecute them.

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For what? Exercising their rights?

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Interesting correlation to 1/6. I would think local governments i.e. mayors, city councils would also be updated to help strategize.

Does the trigger for action ( prevention) lie solely with the police?

That seems a high concentration of power & decision making for one local entity. What's new to the scene are these highly organized, forecasted events (which can morph quickly due to social media) which no one is acting upon?

It seems like police might be acting on an old playbook where you simply wait and then respond. Nothing is done beforehand? I guess I miss the days of good old-fashion flowcharts.

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As Barbara Walter has noted in her observations about how civil wars begin, social media is a significant causal factor in precipitating violence. Social media will continue to exist. Whatever response governments plan must include strategies to corral the negative consequences of social media. And finding ways to do that consonant with democratic values is going to be a real challenge.

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It remain the wild west...

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If only it were that organized.

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It would be interesting to look at comparisons of policing/enforcement differences in dealing with indigenous water protectors and insurrectionists. Is it because one group has many women and the other doesn't? Is it First Nations as opposed to entitled white guys? Non-violent vs. armed? Even some counter-protesters trying to keep truckers out were treated more immediately and harshly by police than theose driving their trucks to the blockade. Also, how many police and even government officials are members of the insurrection or sympathetic? Unequal enforcement, not just for this, but for almost everything, is very frustrating. Finally, is there any thought this is part of the Russia plan to disrupt US and allies?

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See my post from early this week. The International Russian Mafia is very active.

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Big distractions for NATO members.

In conversations I have sensed in recent weeks, people are silent in regard to the Ukrainian plight. Does that imply a siding with Russia --- a powerful white-only population? Hope that sentiment is not brewing. Concerning, alarming.

People are unschooled in history.

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Interesting conversation on what happened in Ottawa and how basic police enforcement can be used to disrupt these kinds of events. But what if the police are sympathizers/part of these protests? Would police here use enforcement to disrupt anti-vax, MAGA-type convoys?

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Thin Blue Line is an organization you wouldn’t want to be a part of.

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There's talk of trying this in a US city or two. If so, would they do it in a state with a Republican governor? Or target a blue state with a dem governor say like Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan for example? And are public officials and governors here ready with a concerted response based on what they've leaned from the Ottawa experience? Their game is disruption, destabilization and economic sabotage of democratic societies. This can not be tolerated for even a second. Leaders here must be prepared with a response that is swift and overwhelming.

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Seems a federal umbrella guidance strategy is required.

Consistency. But who would coordinate such guidance across the statelines?

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Maybe Homeland security?

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They are being watched, cautiously.

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The plan was to go to Washington DC.

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They can start with using police and then use the National Guard if they have to?

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This is exceptional and exactly what many have been warning about. Trucks will be gone, once policing kicks in. Then, that platform will move to something else. Free society’s are under attack. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

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Further disruptions to the supply chain would cause further angst.

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Yes. Most disruptions were due to the pandemic and playing demand catch up. Now it is being used as a wedge by those wanting to destroy us.

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"....those wanting to destroy us"

You've been reading too many Capt. Marvel comics.

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Put your big boy pants on and join the real word. There are many. You’re welcome for what generations before you, including me, did for you.

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Well, the real world is certainly not part of the US at the moment. With an obviously criminally rigged election issuing in the corrupt, unsound of mind, Biden... surrounded by looney lefty "climate change" believers who are more worried about "carbon emissions" from the military than the Russians surrounding Ukraine. btw If I'm in my seventies there's nothing much you did for me.

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We could have done it together. I’m with you in age. We don’t agree on the election, Biden’s fitness, the left or climate change. I did have gravy with my mashed potatoes tonight. Maybe we could agree on that. Check out “Barents Observer.” Independent Arctic journal. They watch the boomers out of Murmansk for us. Putin’s doing a big operation up there tomorrow.

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