th<\/sup> 2022<\/i><\/p>\nBryan Zepp Jamieson<\/i><\/p>\n
By now, people who thought Ottawa was an indigenous tribe in Kansas know of the Canadian capital. Ottawa in February is a bleak, gray place, buried in snow and still beset by temperatures well below freezing. It\u2019s the second coldest national capital on Earth next only to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Yes, it\u2019s even colder than Moscow.<\/p>\n
The place comes to life in the Spring, which is usually on a Tuesday. The world-famous tulips erupt, the forests are eye-searingly green, and the tourists arrive. Winter returns in November and the place goes back to a monotonal study in gray: gray skies, gray buildings, gray streets, gray slush. Even the residents get a bit gray as the tans wear off. Only night relieves the grayness.<\/p>\n
So Ottawa doesn\u2019t make the news very much, and even in the rest of Canada people don\u2019t know much about the place outside of Parliament Hill. It has two seasons, really: Life is Wonderful, and Oh, God, Please Kill Me Now.<\/p>\n
How is it I know so much about the place? It\u2019s the city of my birth, and I spent a fair bit of my childhood there. Wonderful people, but not exactly the wildest place to grow up in.<\/p>\n
The truckers rally\/protest changed all that. It is, at its heart, an astroturf movement. Fully 90% of all licensed eighteen-wheel operators in Canada are fully vaccinated and can cross the border freely. And it\u2019s a pretty safe bet that even amongst the unvaccinated drivers, only a small minority are willing to sign on to a movement that enrages most Canadians, paralyzes cities, and features such non-Canadian flags as the American rebel flag, Trump flags, and even swastikas. Nearly all the known funding underwriting this movement is coming from American sources. Most of the cheerleading of politicians are among the scummier Americans, such as Donald Trump, and some of the scummier American politicians who renounced their Canadian citizenships in hopes that people wouldn\u2019t notice they can\u2019t be president, such as Ted Cruz. Compare with actual Canadian politicians, where rabid dissent come in the form of \u201cWell, they might have a point. Let\u2019s listen to what they have to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada has right wing extremists, but nothing like the neo-Nazi madness that has beset America for the past six years or so. Fascists haven\u2019t been able to flood the population with propaganda the way they have in America. Canada has no equivalent to Faux News, or fascist propaganda pits such as the Heritage Society or the Federalist Society.<\/p>\n
But it does have social media, which has been a boon for the extremists. They figured that out right away\u2014even back in the 80s, when \u201con line\u201d meant local privately owned networks called \u201cBBSes\u201d or Bulletin Board Systems, right wing extremists flooded the nets with neo-Nazi, KKK and Christian fascist propaganda. They began with a presence far out-sized to their actual numbers, and they do to this day. Coupled with financial and communication support from America\u2019s fascist billionaires, they were able to transform a small and powerless fringe group into a force that has paralyzed several cities and as of today, the busiest single border crossing spot in North America, the bridge that connects Windsor with Detroit.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an effective tactic. Ordering a fleet of 18-wheelers to disperse isn\u2019t going to work if the drivers of the trucks don\u2019t want to disperse. All they have to do is set their air brakes, and moving said truck will be nearly impossible.<\/p>\n
But what little popularity the movement had is evaporating fast. Residents felt besieged by the endless sounding of air horns and fireworks, and a court finally did uphold an injunction against that tactic in Ottawa yesterday. A significant incident late last week is getting a lot of attention: two males ignited fire starter blocks in the lobby of a 400 unit apartment building near the wood panelling of the lobby, and then used duct tape to make the lobby doors impossible to open from the inside. If the parties responsible were associated with the truckers in any way, the events just slopped over from raucous demonstration and major annoyance into the realm of outright terrorism. Fortunately, the arson attempt failed, and nobody was hurt.<\/p>\n
Ottawa authorities have already blocked fuel from entering the truck zone, leaving the truckers to deal with Ottawa\u2019s marvelous February climate once the tanks run dry. I would advocate that the RCMP and other authorities go through the ranks of the trucks, demanding passports and\/or licenses from the drivers, with the promise that they will get them back at the city limits, and if they try the same thing a second time, the papers would be confiscated. It probably wouldn\u2019t hurt to let the citizenry of Ottawa to parade peacefully amongst the trucks, chanting, blowing whistles, and beating drums. After all, if the truckers don\u2019t want people to get any sleep, then there\u2019s no reason they should be able to enjoy a nice nap while they freeze.<\/p>\n
Because Canadians did get vaccinated in large numbers (83% as opposed to America\u2019s 61%) several provinces are already planning to drop mask and access provisions over the next couple of months, and barring any more surprises from this disease, can do so safely. But border crossings will still be problematic, particular since the Canadians aren\u2019t the only ones who demand proof of vaccination at the border.<\/p>\n
This tactic will spread rapidly to America, where the outcomes are much more likely to turn bloody.<\/p>\n
If Canadians find a solution that doesn\u2019t get people hurt and opens up the roads again, not only will it be good for Canadians, but it may save many lives in America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Other Truckers Expect tactic deployed in Ottawa to spread February 8th 2022 Bryan Zepp Jamieson By now, people who thought Ottawa was an indigenous tribe in Kansas know of the Canadian capital. Ottawa in February is a bleak, gray place, buried in snow and still beset by temperatures well below freezing. It\u2019s the second coldest … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Other Truckers — Expect tactic deployed in Ottawa to spread”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,602,5,450,3,60,735],"tags":[1344,1343,1342,404,1341,918,1340],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-psyche","category-civil-war","category-foreign-affairs","category-health-care","category-personalmisc","category-politics","category-terror","tag-anti-vaxxers","tag-astroturf","tag-blockades","tag-canada","tag-demonstration","tag-ottawa","tag-truckers"],"yoast_head":"\nOther Truckers -- Expect tactic deployed in Ottawa to spread · Zepp's Commentaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=1226\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Other Truckers -- Expect tactic deployed in Ottawa to spread · Zepp's Commentaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Other Truckers Expect tactic deployed in Ottawa to spread February 8th 2022 Bryan Zepp Jamieson By now, people who thought Ottawa was an indigenous tribe in Kansas know of the Canadian capital. 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