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No constitutional right?I found this op/ed piece cogent. While I don't agree with many points of view, I do think they deserve to be aired. I think the Truckers are wrong--even as i also think that they are being wronged by the govt. and social media. the comparison with the treatment of the BLM is telling.
The 1st does not depend on whether or not one agrees with what is being said or represented. Now, let it be known, that Canada is not the US...and there is no Constitutional right...however, i do think that there is a distressing tendency to define what rights we do have by what viewpoints we support.
I cannot think of anything more unamerican~
Police in riot gear block trucker protest area on US-Canada border
Canada appears to be facing its greatest threat since Benedict Arnold came close to seizing Ottawa in 1775. The source of this "insurrection" and "attack on democracy," however, is not a foreign government but Canadians who have descended on their own capital to protest continuing COVID mandates.
The protest has been peaceful - and highly successful in cutting off key highways. But the most alarming development has not come from the convoy but from the commentary about it, including calls for mass arrests and even vigilantism. Ottawa's police services board chairman has called it a "nationwide insurrection," adding: "Our city is under siege."
CNN analyst and Harvard professor Juliette Kayyem was apoplectic at the thought of truckers shutting down roads and interfering with trade. She tweeted out a call to "Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks." CNN correspondent Paula Newton said this act of civil disobedience was nothing less than a "threat to democracy. An insurrection, sedition."
Blocking streets, occupying buildings or shutting down bridges have long been tactics of protesters. Yet what constitutes a protest or an insurrection often seems to depend on the cause involved. When rioters caused billions of dollars in damages, burned police stations and occupied sections of American cities in the summer of 2020, for example, few in the media declared them to be terrorists or a threat to democracy. But CNN's Kayyem once called conservative protesters occupying a state capital to be "domestic terrorists." GoFundMe, which previously helped fund arrested BLM protesters, froze over $10 million raised for Canadian truckers to prevent it from being used to support them.
After the money was frozen by GoFundMe, supporters switched to GiveSendGo to "adopt a trucker." The Canadian government then moved successfully to freeze millions of donations to the truckers, and Canada's supreme court approved the freeze in a major blow to free speech and associational rights in Canada.
In the meantime, the government has demonized the convoy. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who praised truckers just two years ago as heroes, has denounced them as "trying to blockade our economy, our democracy."
What is most concerning now is the unwillingness to consider Canadian truckers as anything other than knuckle-dragging, racist insurrectionists. Like so much in our age of rage, our political opponents cannot be anything but caricatures or cutouts, because reason no longer has a place in our national discourse. Yet it is precisely the isolation of dissenting voices and groups that leads to such acts of disruption and disobedience.
Canada's truckers obviously feel marginalized and dismissed by their government. That feeling was magnified when Prime Minister Trudeau fled to a secure location and refused to meet with them. Officials then threatened anyone giving aid or gas to the truckers.
There is a worldwide movement against COVID mandates and rising complaints over the censorship of those with opposing views of these policies. Many of those objections are now being treated as mainstream questions, from the efficacy of masks to the value of lockdowns, from the origins of the virus to the protection of natural antibodies.
Once again, an alliance of government, social media companies and the mainstream media is fueling public divisions, even as such condemnation of the truckers appears to be having less and less impact. Rage gives a license to treat opposing views as unworthy of expression or tolerance. But people who feel marginalized tend to get mad and find their own outlets for speech.
I believe the truckers are wrong to continue the blockade unless the government yields to their demands. But the government also is wrong in how it has dismissed the truckers and cracked down on fundraising and other support for the movement.
Uh..OK. I might remind you that there is no US Constitution in Canada?No constitutional right?
You must be joking.
Trudeau stood up for the constitutional rights of those who were being inconvenienced by those idiot truckies.
Where do you idiots dream up these things? Of course they have constitutional rights.
You're so off your face about trudeau beating them you've lost the plot completely.
I found this op/ed piece cogent. While I don't agree with many points of view, I do think they deserve to be aired. I think the Truckers are wrong--even as i also think that they are being wronged by the govt. and social media. the comparison with the treatment of the BLM is telling.
The 1st does not depend on whether or not one agrees with what is being said or represented. Now, let it be known, that Canada is not the US...and there is no Constitutional right...however, i do think that there is a distressing tendency to define what rights we do have by what viewpoints we support.
I cannot think of anything more unamerican~
Police in riot gear block trucker protest area on US-Canada border
Canada appears to be facing its greatest threat since Benedict Arnold came close to seizing Ottawa in 1775. The source of this "insurrection" and "attack on democracy," however, is not a foreign government but Canadians who have descended on their own capital to protest continuing COVID mandates.
The protest has been peaceful - and highly successful in cutting off key highways. But the most alarming development has not come from the convoy but from the commentary about it, including calls for mass arrests and even vigilantism. Ottawa's police services board chairman has called it a "nationwide insurrection," adding: "Our city is under siege."
CNN analyst and Harvard professor Juliette Kayyem was apoplectic at the thought of truckers shutting down roads and interfering with trade. She tweeted out a call to "Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks." CNN correspondent Paula Newton said this act of civil disobedience was nothing less than a "threat to democracy. An insurrection, sedition."
Blocking streets, occupying buildings or shutting down bridges have long been tactics of protesters. Yet what constitutes a protest or an insurrection often seems to depend on the cause involved. When rioters caused billions of dollars in damages, burned police stations and occupied sections of American cities in the summer of 2020, for example, few in the media declared them to be terrorists or a threat to democracy. But CNN's Kayyem once called conservative protesters occupying a state capital to be "domestic terrorists." GoFundMe, which previously helped fund arrested BLM protesters, froze over $10 million raised for Canadian truckers to prevent it from being used to support them.
After the money was frozen by GoFundMe, supporters switched to GiveSendGo to "adopt a trucker." The Canadian government then moved successfully to freeze millions of donations to the truckers, and Canada's supreme court approved the freeze in a major blow to free speech and associational rights in Canada.
In the meantime, the government has demonized the convoy. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who praised truckers just two years ago as heroes, has denounced them as "trying to blockade our economy, our democracy."
What is most concerning now is the unwillingness to consider Canadian truckers as anything other than knuckle-dragging, racist insurrectionists. Like so much in our age of rage, our political opponents cannot be anything but caricatures or cutouts, because reason no longer has a place in our national discourse. Yet it is precisely the isolation of dissenting voices and groups that leads to such acts of disruption and disobedience.
Canada's truckers obviously feel marginalized and dismissed by their government. That feeling was magnified when Prime Minister Trudeau fled to a secure location and refused to meet with them. Officials then threatened anyone giving aid or gas to the truckers.
There is a worldwide movement against COVID mandates and rising complaints over the censorship of those with opposing views of these policies. Many of those objections are now being treated as mainstream questions, from the efficacy of masks to the value of lockdowns, from the origins of the virus to the protection of natural antibodies.
Once again, an alliance of government, social media companies and the mainstream media is fueling public divisions, even as such condemnation of the truckers appears to be having less and less impact. Rage gives a license to treat opposing views as unworthy of expression or tolerance. But people who feel marginalized tend to get mad and find their own outlets for speech.
I believe the truckers are wrong to continue the blockade unless the government yields to their demands. But the government also is wrong in how it has dismissed the truckers and cracked down on fundraising and other support for the movement.
Golfing Gator the proud libertarian is silent over this leftwing attack on civil liberties
Ahh..so you would agree that the BLM was wrong to block traffic for a candlelight vigil? that MLK's sit-ins and marches were wrong? After all, they infringed on people's right to free movement, right?
Bullshit is the right word anyway~
Trying someone twice for the same act is a breech of civil libertyThere are no civil liberty attacks you right-wing fascist pig.
Good to know you’d freeze the bank accounts and arrest MLK and his followers.Wrong.
No right is absolute or unlimited; rights are subject to lawful, appropriate regulation by government.
In the United States, First Amendment/free speech jurisprudence has long held that protests and demonstrations that interfere with the functioning of government or a jurisdiction are not entitled to Constitutional protections.
For example, the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations several years ago were not protected speech or protest – citizens do not have the right to engage in long-term occupation and disruption of streets, sidewalks, or other thoroughfares.
Likewise, the trucks blocking highways and bridges were unlawful, compelling the removal of the trucks blocking highways in no manner ‘violated’ or ‘infringed upon free speech.
Arresting people without bail and freezing their bank accounts for not violating any law is what in your vocabulary?There are no civil liberty attacks you right-wing fascist pig.
He can't. He's just a blowhard wanna be lawyer.Show us the law, or regulation limiting the free exercise of religion.
Idiot alert^^^Trudeau has not been exposed as a tyrant. What has been exposed is the international conspiracy behind the fascist drivers with trucks. many of these fascists were supported by fascists in the US. This is clearly a coordinated attack by the right on Canada.
What happened to real liberals? Remember they would protest the war, campus sit ins, equal rights, ruining of the earth and on and on. Today we have no liberals to stand up for the working class, or to protest government over reach. At least the ACLU is liberal enough to still take on challenges, the Democrats are not. They are a very conservative bunch when it comes to free speech.I can only believe that your reply is disingenuous. Peaceful protest is a protected right..in the US, anyway. Civil disobedience..which is what is really going on--has a long and honored tradition in this country..and in many others. Perhaps you might be happier thinking of it as 'the right to free expression' ?
The thrust of the article was that people..many people---are of the belief that your rights are contingent on what you believe.
That's a pretty dangerous thing.
Wow! I thought that the stolen election people were nuts, it seems like you have gone that way as well. The people protesting are common folk that work very hard for a living and feel that the government of Canada is infringing on their right to work. So you can excuse with all the BS in the world, however no one else is buying it.Trudeau has not been exposed as a tyrant. What has been exposed is the international conspiracy behind the fascist drivers with trucks. many of these fascists were supported by fascists in the US. This is clearly a coordinated attack by the right on Canada.
How do truckers blocking traffic help the Canadian people?Doctor Fauci represents the part of the scientific community that thought it would be a good idea to alter existing viruses in a lab so that they could study them. Doctor Fauci represents the part of the scientific community that unleashed a virus that killed millions of people! Why we're listening to what Fauci or any of the other idiots who thought that was something we should do escapes me! They were the "kids playing with matches" that set the world on fire!
It's a pushback on the "mandates" that politicians think they have the right to impose under "emergency" status! People are sick of the masks. People are sick of the shut downs. People are tired of having to get more shots. They want freedom again.How do truckers blocking traffic help the Canadian people?
Unless it's BLM or ANTIFA, right, Tokyo Rose?Wrong.
No right is absolute or unlimited; rights are subject to lawful, appropriate regulation by government.
In the United States, First Amendment/free speech jurisprudence has long held that protests and demonstrations that interfere with the functioning of government or a jurisdiction are not entitled to Constitutional protections.
What a bunch of sissy ass wimps. Everybody is sick of masks.It's a pushback on the "mandates" that politicians think they have the right to impose under "emergency" status! People are sick of the masks. People are sick of the shut downs. People are tired of having to get more shots. They want freedom again.
Blocking traffic hurts their fellow Canadians. Trump likes hurting people. It's that revenge mentality. What a shame. Everybody is sick of masks. .. but these grown men need to act out.I can only believe that your reply is disingenuous. Peaceful protest is a protected right..in the US, anyway. Civil disobedience..which is what is really going on--has a long and honored tradition in this country..and in many others. Perhaps you might be happier thinking of it as 'the right to free expression' ?
The thrust of the article was that people..many people---are of the belief that your rights are contingent on what you believe.
That's a pretty dangerous thing.
What they're sick of is the posturing that's going on, Surada! At this point it's rather obvious that the whole mask thing didn't do what we thought it would. So why are we still forcing our kid's to wear them? Why are people driving around by themselves in a car wearing a mask? It's become a badge of honor for some...a declaration that THEY are better than you...that THEY care more than you do! Which is a total crock.Blocking traffic hurts their fellow Canadians. Trump likes hurting people. It's that revenge mentality. What a shame. Everybody is sick of masks. .. but these grown men need to act out.
