How Free Are We?

Sometimes I am really glad that I drive an old car. Some of the technology in newer cars is getting scary. It is no comfort to me that an insurance company can put a device in your car to monitor whether or not you are a safe driver. There are also other electronics that can be added to your car with questionable capabilities. I am posting the following article not knowing if it is true or possible. However, it does provide some insight as to where we might be headed.

A website called “Freedom Headlines” recently posted the following:

As a result of this protest in Canada truckers in the United States have followed suit and have assembled a trucker’s convoy in Washington DC.

And it looks like some of the corporate heads are showing their true colors in the United States just like they did with Canada.

It’s being reported by at least one trucker that the Penske Corporation remotely shutdown a trucker’s vehicle because they do not support this sort of protest.

According to Yahoo,

A Burkburnett man taking part in a national truck convoy protest found himself without a ride Friday.

Jeff Sandberg has been vocal in his support of the convoy on social media and was driving a rig bearing a banner covered in slogans.

“We’re just trying to show what the people who back us believe — and our own beliefs — of what our country needs to go back to,” Sandberg told the New York Times Wednesday.

By Thursday night, Sandberg was sidelined because the company he rented his truck from, Penske, shut down his truck remotely.

“Penske does not support the people’s convoy movement,” Sandberg said on a Facebook stream. “So, I’m in a situation where I’m not going to be able to continue on.”

There are some questions surrounding this story, however:

Penske said that they didn’t cut the power to the truck, but instead they pulled him as one of their drivers because he had a “Let’s Go Brandon” banner on his truck.

According to one man, that’s not the truth because he has a good friend who is higher up in the company and relayed that information, but I guess we can’t truly know for sure.

I am neither mechanically inclined nor electrically inclined. Can a truck engine be shut down remotely?

Standing Up To Tyranny

On Friday, Red State posted an article about how two bitcoin companies responded to Trudeau’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, talking about freezing financial accounts of people involved in the truck protest and the people who are supporting them financially. Many of the major banks instantly cooperated, but two bitcoin companies had a different response.

The article reports:

Bitcoin wallet company Nunchuk announced that they’d gotten a request to freeze accounts from the government, “Yesterday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice sent us a Mareva Injunction, ordering us to freeze and disclose information about the assets involved in the #FreedomConvoy2022 movement.” But Nunchuk explained to the clueless government that they don’t hold any money like a custodial financial institution, they don’t collect user information apart from emails, and they don’t hold the keys to any of the wallets — that it’s all private to the user, by design.

…“Please look up how self custody and private keys work,” the company chided the government. “When the Canadian dollar becomes worthless, we will be here to serve you too.” Now, that’s gold. They even learned a lesson from this experience with the government, and now will be making it even more private by not even holding the email information in future updates.

The article also reports the response of Edge Wallet, another bitcoin company:

In the wake of ongoing turmoil taking place in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has requested, via the Emergencies Act, that various financial services companies freeze accounts of those linked to protesters occupying the region, as well as those providing funding to the protests, but not present physically.

Regardless of whether the protests resonate with individuals or not, financial seizure is an unprecedented action that must be taken seriously. It’s with great consideration that we would like to share our official response to the request that Canadian users’ Edge accounts be frozen:

They finished with this meme.

I wish the major banks had that kind of courage.

Tyranny Expands When It Is Not Stopped

I have no idea what the eventual fate of the protesting truck drivers in Canada will be. I can only hope that some law enforcement and some banks will not comply with the illegal emergency actions that are planned. I can only hope.

On Wednesday, The Conservative Review posted an article about some of the extreme actions that government is taking.

The article reports:

Canadian parents who bring their children to demonstrations the government considers to be “unlawful” can now face thousands of dollars in fines or jail time, CBC News reported.

The new power reportedly comes after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act this week, granting itself exceptional measures to address the country’s ongoing Freedom Convoy trucker protests. It marked the first time the act has been invoked since its passage in 1988.

As has been said by people much smarter than I, this is not the purpose of the Emergencies Act. The Act was not designed simply to quell views opposed to the ruling class.

The article concludes:

In a notice issued Wednesday, Ottowa police told protesters, “You must leave the area now. Anyone blocking streets, or assisting others in the blocking streets, are committing a criminal offence and you may be arrested.”

“You must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you will face charges,” the notice added.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino similarly commented, “To those who may be thinking to come to Ottawa this weekend — don’t. At best, the residents of the city have made it clear that this is not the time. And at worst, you may be tying yourself to dangerous criminal activity.”

While announcing the invocation of the Emergencies Act on Monday, Trudeau noted that the military would not be called in to disperse the crowds but said the nation’s police would be granted greater power to impose fines and imprisonment on those engaging in “illegal and dangerous activities.”

“This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people’s jobs, and restoring confidence in our institutions,” he said.

The protesters are not the ones undermining confidence in Canada’s institutions–the runaway tyranny of the government is doing that.

Freedom Under Threat

The truckers in Canada have been protesting for approximately two weeks. The Canadian government is looking for ways to shut it down. So far they have been unsuccessful. At some point in the near future, they may resort to methods that are questionable in a so-called free society. On Wednesday, The U.K. Daily Mail posted an article about an instance where the police definitely used unnecessary force.

The article reports:

A 4ft-10inch great grandfather was handcuffed and arrested by two Canadian cops for honking his horn in support of Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa on Sunday – a day before a judge outlawed blaring horns due to left-wing backlash against the anti-mandate protesters who have been smeared by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as ‘swastika-wavers’. 

A bystander filmed while two officers pulled over Gerry Charlebois, 78, for beeping his horn.

‘What did he do wrong?’ the bystander asked. ‘None of your f****** concern, man,’ one officer responded. 

The six-minute video shows officers shouting back and forth with furious onlookers and Charlebois as he protests his arrest. Eventually an officer in a blue surgical mask grabs Charlebois to restrain him, and brings the vaccinated great-grandfather down to his knees in the middle of the street before handcuffing him against his van. 

Charlebois sustained injuries to his arms, hands, shoulders and knees. He was later fined $118 for ‘unnecessary noise’ but has not been criminally charged.

An Ontario Superior Court Justice temporarily banned honking and air horn blowing for 10 days on Monday, after a lawsuit brought by a downtown resident who measured the noise in her apartment at more than 80 decibels during the protests, which began on January 29. 

The daily demonstrations, going on day 12, began as a protest against vaccine requirements for truckers who enter the country by land, but has since expanded to call for the dismantling of nearly all COVID-related restrictions.

Police have arrested 23 people and issued more than 1,300 tickets. 

Admittedly, Canada does not have a law protecting free speech (which I assume includes honking your horn in support), but the police reaction here seems a little over the top. Unfortunately, I suspect this is only the beginning of something that is going to be genuinely ugly.