When your only weapon is word salad:

https://twitter.com/Justin_Ling/status/1491777390976335872

I think he has misidentified an element of the convoy — the "seasoned street brawlers whose primary goal is to further erode the legitimacy of the state…of democracies generally."

The cadre of political actors who want to hasten the downfall of the state — what we called in the 90s the "patriot movement," what we call today "accelerationists" — are a very dangerous subset of the far-right, via groups like The Base, Atomwaffen, the Order of Nine Angles.

These accelerationist groups tend to either overlap or co-opt movements with existing extreme anti-government views — neo-Nazis, mostly, but there has been some effort to recruit from or emulate violent Islamism, the "left hand path" of the occult, and fundamentalist Christianity

I will caveat this by saying that we are often slightly behind the ball when it comes to identifying these emergent extreme groups, but I've seen scant evidence that the anti-vaccine movement has strong accelerationist ties or tendencies, especially not in Canada.

I don't believe the accelerationist movement in Canada are well-formed enough that they could mobilize a significant quantity of people to engrain in this occupation without us noticing. I could be wrong. (I hope not. God I hope not.)

But, I think @mattgurney

is right in noting this vibe inside the occupation. I think there is a core of the occupation who are thinking about how to entrench and defend what they're built in downtown Ottawa. And I think we'd be foolish to think that means smiles and hugs.

So in short, I don't think this occupation borrows from existing extremist networks, per se. But I believe it involves people with knowledge in how of mount a muscular defence — and who see themselves as "defenders" against a tyrannical government.

That is really worrying.

>>15593927

>the "left hand path" of the occult

giving us clues?

>>15593941

https://www.ottawapolice.ca/Modules/News/index.aspx?newsId=46eea503-f886-4e7a-9188-edbecabca0a6

The Ottawa Police Service is seeking the public’s help in identifying two individuals as persons of interest in the investigation of an arson.

The incident occurred in the early morning hours of February 6, 2022, at a building in the 200 block of Lisgar Street. It’s believed that one or more persons entered the building and started a fire using undisclosed materials. The fire caused minor damage but thankfully no injuries occurred.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/convoy-protesters-police-tactical-knowledge-1.6345854

How organizers with police and military expertise may be helping Ottawa convoy protest dig in

Those involved with organizing protest include former RCMP and military officers

For nearly two weeks anti-vaccine mandate demonstrators and their big rigs have entrenched themselves in Ottawa's parliamentary district and its neighbourhoods.

Despite a strategic strike by police to cut off supplies to truckers encamped in the city's downtown core, protesters appear to still have the upper hand on police.

It's a success that experts partly attribute to the deep knowledge of law enforcement and military tactics that exist in the convoy's organizational structure.

The group Police on Guard, formed during the pandemic, has endorsed the truck convoy. On its website, it publicly identifies more than 150 mostly retired police officers who are against government-imposed public health measures, such as vaccine mandates. More than 50 former Canadian Forces soldiers are also named on its site.

The organization says it has "boots on the ground" in Ottawa and has linked to YouTube videos of its members participating in the protest.

Furthermore, the leadership team for the protesters calling themselves the Freedom Convoy includes:

Daniel Bulford, a former RCMP officer who was on the prime minister's security detail. He quit last year after refusing to get the vaccine and is the convoy's head of security.

Tom Quiggin, a former military intelligence officer who also worked with the RCMP and was considered one of the country's top counter-terrorism experts.

Tom Marazzo, an ex-military officer who, according to his LinkedIn profile, served in the Canadian Forces for 25 years and now works as a freelance software developer.

>>15594011

>Those involved with organizing protest include former RCMP and military officers

Organizers suggest close relationships with police

The leaders of the Freedom Convoy refuse to be interviewed by journalists unless they consider them friendly to their cause, and CBC News has been barred from their media conferences. In a video posted from one of those news conferences posted on social media, Quiggin gives his assessment of the political and police response in Ottawa, which he calls "the opposition."

"I would say the opposition at this point doesn't actually have a strategy. They have a sort of weak goal and that they want the streets cleared, but they have no real idea how they want to get there," he said.

During his tenure at the RCMP, Quiggin was a member of the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), which was created to thwart terror threats following 9/11. At INSET, Quiggin worked alongside top officials at CSIS, Canada's spy agency, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and municipal police forces.

In that same video, he referenced the blockades at the border crossing in Coutts, Alta., and parallel protests in Toronto, Quebec City and Sarnia.

"I think what we're going to see is people start going to the government and saying 'Get this fixed.' And if you don't, we're realizing that we have the power to shut things down," said Quiggin.

While speaking in the video, Bulford bragged to the select reporters about his close relationship with the RCMP, the Parliamentary Protective Service, Ottawa police and Gatineau police. He urged demonstrators to stay "peaceful" and connect with officers on patrol.

"[Police] all know that this group is here for everybody, and I make a point of saying to other police officers, when I see them, it's like, 'Just so you know, in my mind and in my heart, we're doing this for all of you as well,'" said Bulford.

Police have not commented on any conversations they may have had with either Quiggin or Bulford.

>>15594017

Protesters have military, police training, expert says

Michael Kempa, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, says the convoy's policing and military expertise can be seen in the co-ordination of their activities in downtown Ottawa.

"They have this sort of military or police or at least survivalist training. Look at the sophistication of what they're setting up in terms of an encampment in downtown Ottawa," said Kempa, who studies policing across Canada.

"It looks like a military operation."

As examples, Kempa pointed to the tents and wooden structures used for kitchens that organizers have set up and the supply chain that has sprung up across the city to keep people fed, working and protesting.

Kempa says police made the "grievous error" of permitting transport trucks to drive up to the gates of Parliament Hill.

Police have called those heavy trucks potential weapons, but they are also essential tools used to transport supplies, such as two-by-fours to build shelters, firewood and burn barrels to keep protesters warm and propane tanks for barbecues.

In the core, abandoned cars and trucks with their tires removed are blocking streets. To Kempa, the placement of these vehicles is not random but rather strategic in that they may prevent police infiltration.

Residents have noticed protesters taking shifts getting into the cabs of idling trucks to blare air horns. The ear-piercing sound rang out at all hours until a court injunction earlier this week forced a temporary pause.

Ottawa police say there are currently more than 400 trucks parked downtown and they can't move them because tow operators with city contracts are refusing to help. Making matters even more difficult, police say families with children are sleeping in approximately a quarter of them.

"These are not your average protesters," Kempa said.

>>15594024

Logistics camp raid

But perhaps the best example of co-ordination can be found at the logistics camp set up by protesters just six kilometres east of Parliament Hill at the RCTG baseball stadium on Coventry Road.

The Titan baseball team's owner Regan Katz says the city asked him if they could use the lot for temporary parking for some of the trucks to alleviate congestion in the core. Police told him they would only require the lot for one weekend, but the truckers never left.

Instead they set up a supply centre.

At the Coventry camp, there are several canopy-style tents set up and two tractor trailers stocked with food, along with rows of portable toilets.

When shipments of diesel, gasoline and propane arrived, volunteers would transfer the fuel into hundreds of red and yellow jerry cans that would be driven downtown to be distributed to truckers so they could keep their vehicles idling.

With temperatures in Ottawa that have, at times, dipped to –30 C, at least three saunas were trucked in so protesters could stay warm.

On Sunday evening, as demonstrators were gathering for dinner, dozens of officers, some carrying riot guns capable of launching rubber projectiles and tear gas, raided the camp. In an attempt to cut off the supply route, police say they seized 3,700 litres of fuel and two vehicles including a diesel tank.

But within hours of the raid, protesters from the camp broadcast a reassurance to their supporters.

"People are still in high spirits. Donations are still here. Fuel is still here and it will still get to the truckers," said demonstrator Terence Rowland-Dow, in a Facebook live stream.

The day after the police raid, protesters continued to deliver fuel to downtown truckers as they executed a co-ordinated effort to exhaust police resources. Demonstrators pulled wagons full of jerry cans past officers who just watched.

Ottawa police Deputy Chief Steve Bell said demonstrators were "filling gas canisters with water to distract officers … attempting to subvert our efforts." He said one officer was swarmed while trying to confiscate fuel.

>>15594030

Police 'underestimated' protesters

Amarnath Amarasingam researches radicalization and extremism. The assistant professor of religion at Queen's University watched the Facebook live stream after the raid and was impressed by the level of co-ordination he saw.

He says protesters had consistently telegraphed their intentions to dig in on social media and that police miscalculated the resolve of the convoy protesters.

"If anyone was paying attention to the online content … leading up to this convoy — they shouldn't have been underestimated," he said.

Amarasingam says police initially placated protesters because they prepared for the wrong outcome and assumed they would engage in overt violence.

Instead, protesters broke many bylaws, such as those barring public urination, defecation and intoxication, and refused to wear masks. But for the most part, their actions didn't cross the line into criminal acts and resulted in fines, not jail time.

"The [police] approach was — are they going to storm government? Or are they going to do something exceedingly violent? I don't think that was necessarily their objective from the beginning," Amarasingam said. "It was more so to cripple the city."

He says the convoy also has the means to continue their operation indefinitely. Since GoFundMe cancelled their initial fundraiser, they are aiming to raise $16 million US on Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo and are more than halfway there.

Unless there's an internal collapse of the organization, Amarasingam worries it will end in violence.

"Either there are mass arrests and violence on the streets or violence on the streets results in mass arrests and potentially military intervention."

>>15594033

Police want reinforcements as protests spread

To date, police have made 23 arrests, issued more than 1,500 tickets and launched more than 80 criminal investigations. Bell called the remaining demonstrators "dangerous and volatile."

Police say they need 1,800 more reinforcements from the federal and provincial governments to help end the crisis.

New protest camps are springing up across the city in shopping mall parking lots and near the access road to Ottawa's international airport. As another weekend approaches, the crowd on Parliament Hill is expected to swell again.

Meanwhile, American media have arrived in the capital, the convoy has also spawned copycat protests in other parts of the world and the crisis is expanding far beyond Ottawa.

Judy Trinh

CBC Reporter

Judy Trinh is an investigative journalist with CBC News. She covers a diverse range of stories from breaking crime news to the #MeToo movement to human rights court challenges. She aims to be both critical and compassionate in her reporting. Follow her on Twitter @judyatrinh

https://twitter.com/Gray_Mackenzie/status/1491799132138197004

CPC Interim Leader Candice Bergen now wants to the protests to end.

“I believe the time has come for you to take down the barricades, stop the disruptive action and come together. The economy you want to see re-opened, is hurting … I believe this is not what you want to do.”

>>15594052

https://twitter.com/Gray_Mackenzie/status/1491636403100389382

You can hear the cop tell the protestors that there is “no issue with propane fuel” and “he’s just trying to help”

>>15594079

https://outline.com/teLmPs

Know your status and get an HIV test, says Prince Harry

February 10, 2022

And the Duke of Sussex said he wants to continue his mum's "unfinished" work in removing the stigma around the virus.

His comments come as figures show that for the first time in 10 years, the number of new HIV diagnoses among heterosexuals is higher than for gay and bisexual men in England.

On the Tackle HIV podcast he spoke with Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas, who lives with HIV, about how normalising HIV testing could help achieve the goal of ending new HIV cases in the UK by 2030.

As a result of the pandemic, there has been a 33% drop in heterosexuals getting STI tests. This is compared to a 7% decrease among gay and bisexual men.

Sexual health charity The Terrence Higgins Trust says the rise in the number of heterosexual people contracting HIV is likely to be driven by a belief that they are not at risk of getting it.

Prince Harry said he was so passionate about advocating over HIV because: "Once you get to meet people and you see the suffering around the world, I certainly can't turn my back on that."

The late princess, who died in a car crash in 1997, changed the global view of HIV and Aids, raising awareness of the condition and supporting hospices.

When Prince Harry publicly took an HIV test alongside Rihanna in 2016, the broadcast contributed to a 500% increase in the number of people requesting a test on the Terrence Higgins Trust website.

And former Wales full-back Thomas, who revealed he was HIV positive in 2019, said: "It wouldn't be scary if you understood what living with HIV in 2022 is."

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus - the immunodeficiency is the weakening of the immune system by the virus

If untreated it can lead to late-stage HIV or Aids, the name for a collection of illnesses caused by the virus

Medication helping those with HIV to live long, healthy lives has been available for decades

Modern medication reduces the viral load to undetectable levels, meaning someone can't pass on HIV and their health is protected

There were more than 106,000 people living with HIV in the UK in 2020

Thomas, who came out as the first openly gay rugby union player in 2009, said it was a daunting experience to walk into a sexual health clinic, but felt it was so much easier to test now, in the privacy of your own home, or at drop-in clinics.

"The sooner you find out if you're positive then the sooner you can start treatment. If you leave it too late, then it can have circumstances that are irreplaceable, irreparable," he added.

https://twitter.com/GovCanHealth/status/1491065478781050885

>>15594105

>>15594061

>Trump denies CNN report claiming he regularly clogged White House toilets by flushing documents: ‘Fake story’

>>15594098

>Russian FM Sergei Lavrov described his talks with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Ukraine as "a conversation between the mute and the deaf."

>>15594088

>Trinh – who was 4 years old when her parents fled Vietnam – discusses what she remembers about the harrowing journey

>>15594119

https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/662070477737893888

Guilty as charged. 🍕

https://web.archive.org/web/20151104205831/http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/hillary-clintons-campaign-powered-pizza-analysis-shows-n457306

Hillary Clinton's Campaign Is Powered By Pizza, Analysis Shows

For hungry Hillary Clinton staffers, the meal of choice is something that doesn't cost a lot of dough — pizza.

Pizza accounted for 66.2 percent of the Clinton campaign's fast food spending in the third quarter, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings from news site Vocativ.

The campaign spent more than $4,100 at various pizzerias from July through September — a hefty chunk of the more than $6,000 spent overall on fast food in Q3.

Staffers also turned to subs (which made up 21.1 percent of Q3 spending on fast food) and doughnuts (11.2 percent). Bagels comprised 1.5 percent of the cost of grub.

The biggest fast food meal ticket during the quarter? A $1,251.26 bill at Need Pizza in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on July 17, Vocativ found.

Clinton raised more than any other 2016 in the third quarter, according to Bloomberg — nearly $30 million.

That's a lot of pizzas.

>>15594334

https://www.vocativ.com/246509/these-pizza-joints-are-powering-hillary-clintons-campaign/index.html

Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Runs On Pizza

Good luck volunteering for Hillary and trying to stay paleo

Hillary Clinton may have raised more than $28 million last quarter, but the staffers running her campaign aren’t eating fancy fare. In fact, Clinton’s White House bid is largely fueled by pizza.

According to filings from Q3, Team Hillary spent more than $6,000 on fast food in the months of July, August and September in 21 identifiable chow sessions. A full two-thirds of that was spent on pizza, with subs and donuts taking second and third, respectively, according to a Vocativ analysis. Bagels are the team’s breakfast of choice.

Clinton took her Iowa staff and volunteers for lunch at Need Pizza in Cedar Rapids on July 17, hours before she appeared alongside her fellow Democratic candidates at the Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Dinner. The campaign dropped $1,251.26 at the establishment in the battleground state, the single biggest spend on fast food during the third quarter. Here’s how the rest breaks down:

The filings show Team Hillary bought another stack of pizzas at Gusto Pizza in Des Moines, Iowa on June 22, to the value of $1,119.19, in the days following her campaign launch there. In fact, between July and September, Clinton’s Iowa campaign team accounted for most of their fast food purchases, including almost $700 at Dunkin’ Donuts in June. Better not tell Michelle Obama.

A tally of all the obvious fast food joints in the filing suggests Clinton’s team paid at least $4,132.60 for pizza during Q3, but her team regularly indulged in subs, too (It is not, repeat not a paleo campaign). During those months they spent $1,317.51 on submarine sandwiches, including $231 at a Jimmy John’s in Champaign, Illinois on July 7, $216.20 at Jersey Mike’s in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 16 and $199.28 at Subway in Reno that same day. Additional fast food expenditure is likely contained in reimbursements to individual staff members listed under the “Catering, Food & Beverages” category in FEC filings. And the campaign hasn’t even hit its stride yet. In January 2008, Clinton’s campaign spend $11,000 on pizza in a single month.

The minutiae of fast food spending are, of course, a tiny financial morsel amid a massive food, beverages and catering bill, which amounts to almost $260,000 for the quarter. In the same section you’ll find splurges like a $15,000 tab at Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Manhattan, where the Clinton campaign hosted a fundraiser, and a $13,000 bill for another bash at the New Jersey Molly Pitcher Inn, where Jon Bon Jovi entertained guests who paid upwards of $1,000 a ticket.

You gotta spend money to make money.

This story has been amended to reflect the full amount the Clinton campaign is know to have spent on fast food, which was more than $6,000, not $4,000 as previously stated.

>>15594373

>>15594376

>Covid: Charles met Queen two days before testing positive

https://www.tdg.ch/geneve/actu-genevoise/liasses-billets-retrouvees-toilettes-bistrots/story/27448715

Bundles of banknotes found in bistro toilets

Tens of thousands of euros also clogged the toilets of the UBS vault in town. A lawyer was questioned.

2017

Amazement in the hushed corridors of UBS at the Corraterie. Shortly before the start of summer, the toilets of the unfathomable vault, the fortress of the financial establishment, were clogged… with wads of banknotes! Disturbingly, a few days later, the sanitary facilities of three neighborhood bistros, including the Café du Center and the Molino, suffered the same disappointment.

>>15594402

>back for good

Is that Viva Frei dude the only not annoying live streamer? Everyone else is so damned obnoxious.

City of #Ottawa YouTube is currently hacked #ottnews #OttawaSiege

https://mobile.twitter.com/Smardie96/status/1491761391484735494

So expect delays at @FlyYOW, about 30+ trucks are slow rolling the airport loop, both departures and arrivals.

They are gonna do this all day, they are laughing and honking..

@OccTranspo @cbcotttraffic @grahamctv

>>15594500

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4-Ak1FVahs

>>15594514

>30+ trucks are slow rolling the airport loop, both departures and arrivals.

How is Trudeau gonna get reinforcements in unnoticed now? Are there other airports nearby?

>>15594488