Economic disruption of the blockades was similar to the Mohawk blockade of railways about 2 years ago:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ottawa-rejects-police-intervention-to-put-an-end-to-blockades/

Similarly, mass lay offs and multi-billions of dollars of goods stuck sitting around waiting to get to the industries needing them.

Since at least 2012 the attempted expansion of an existing pipeline(Trans Mountain) was targeted continuously by blockades. Opposition and resulting delays leading to cost overruns so large that company ultimately halted the multi-billion dollar project.

In terms of dollars being lost, the convoy protest wasn't special. More over, the blockade of the border in Ontario that was causing the real economic damage was dismantled and removed before the 'emergency measures' were enacted. Which is to state, the emergency measures were primarily intended to clear out downtown Ottawa. In downtown Ottawa though, the damages were at minimum as localized as any of the lumber or pipeline blockades mentioned.


Prime Minister Trudeau couldn't be more unequivocal when he was expressing his support for the farmer protests in India and the Floyd protests in the US. Clip if you'd like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9EaSF6Y0eE

The protests in India absolutely did immensely more harm to India's economy than the convoy here did in Canada. The protests in support of Floyd were again unequivocally more violent than the convoy in Canada.

There really is no basis by which to point to the convoy's actions and find them in any way unique or distinct from multiple other protests within Canada, or ones abroad that have been either given more latitude, or outright embraced and supported.

The distinction as even you can't resist going after, is that their beliefs they are protesting for are stupid and wrong, so no right to protest for them. That isn't how the right to protest within a democracy should be allowed to work.

I also have to point out the 'ethical' argument isn't as cut and dry as you want to make it out either.
-Pipelines bad so blockading is good ignores the fact the same oil gets pumped regardless, it just gets loaded into trucks that burn even more oil to haul it and have a fair greater risk of accidents and spills.
-Defending the rights and lands of Aboriginal peoples(like at Coastal Gas Link site violently attacked with millions in damages while the convoy was being vilified for 'incitement') is anything but obvious. The Wet'suwet'en hereditary leaders made claim to parts of the pipeline route and demanded it be shut down. However, the same Wet'suwet'en people's multiple elected Band Councils signed on with their wishes to proceed with the project. In fact, ALL elected representatives of ALL the Bands with land along the route had ALL signed onto the project and wanting it to proceed. It is in no way obvious that ignoring the will of those other bands to favour the conflicting claims of the hereditary leaders is clearly the most respectful of the people's wishes.

@newtboy,

Finally we're talking about my Canada .

I'm agreed with calling 90% of what the convoy and truckers are protesting as being misguided, ill informed or flat out wrong. That however shouldn't be what the right to protest is based upon.

The extent of the protestors illegal activity seems to have been blocking of roadways and borders. Which in Canada isn't exactly new:
-Blockading of roads to logging work sites to "protect old growth forest"
-Blockading of roads pipeline construction sites
-Blockading of transportation highways and railroads

In the past 2 years alone, those various sites have seen blockades ranging from weeks to months. In virtually every single one of those instances the Liberal government went out to meet and negotiate with the protestors while allowing them to continue for weeks to months. In one of the biggest protests Trudeau himself went to meet with the groups in person. Trudeau has a video of himself praising the farmer convoy and blockades in India, declaring his government will always defend the right of groups to protest.(those groups blocked multiple border crossings)

This time though, Trudeau started out with insulting, ridiculing and belittling the protestors. Within the first day of the protests, politicians and our national news corp in CBC were demanding an immediate end to the protests.

The protests that have seen comparable zero violence to the protests in the US in support of Floyd(which I support), where condemned repeatedly by the CBC and Trudeau as terrorizing the populace and inciting violence. For reference, Trudeau remained steadfast in support of the Floyd protestors right to protest.

The federal government essentially tried insults and ridicule to try and end this protest though, and when that didn't work they invoked a national emergency measures act that requires both:
-A threat to Canada's sovereignty
-A threat that can not be addressed by any other laws or means

The government then proceeded to empower themselves to not merely arrest protestors, but to freeze/seize the bank accounts of anyone considered to be supporting the protest, with no court oversight required.

The difference in how protestors are treated based upon what it is they are protesting is alarming and should be a red flag for anyone and everyone.

For reference, while these protests were going on, a pipeline worksite in BC that has been continually shut down by protests for the last several years was attacked in the night by a mob wielding machetes and axes. The workers and security were chased off and millions in damages were done to the site afterwards. Trudeau didn't feel the need to even address the incident though because he was to busy villianizing the convoy. The CBC media buried the incident under local BC news, and downplayed it as an 'alleged' incident, despite RCMP having responded and even having had an officer injured in the incident. CBC also emphasized there wasn't any verified connection to the ongoing protests against the pipeline...

When you look at the narrative, despite my disagreeing with the vast majority of what the convoy is wanting to say, I am disgusted by the attempt to remove their right to say it and everyone wanting to support a strong democracy with the right protest should feel the same.

After impact it took 29 seconds for the train to stop. Engineer will need a cab ride back to the crash site.

I liked this site much better when I didn't have to wade through so much political grandstanding and bloviating... could we just ban the politics and enjoy some interesting and insightful videos?

Unless they have intent to use them, or have knowledge that that’s what they’re made for, no? That’s what it says in the law, isn’t it?

“ Every person having upon him or her in his or her possession a picklock, crow, keybit, crowbar, screwdriver, vise grip pliers, water-pump pliers, slidehammer, slim jim, tension bar, lock pick gun, tubular lock pick, bump key, floor-safe door puller, master key, ceramic or porcelain spark plug chips or pieces, or other instrument or tool with intent feloniously to break or enter into any building, railroad car, aircraft, or vessel, trailer coach, or vehicle as defined in the Vehicle Code, or who shall knowingly make or alter, or shall attempt to make or alter, any key or other instrument named above so that the same will fit or open the lock of a building, railroad car, aircraft, vessel, trailer coach, or vehicle as defined in the Vehicle Code, without being requested to do so by some person having the right to open the same, or who shall make, alter, or repair any instrument or thing, knowing or having reason to believe that it is intended to be used in committing a misdemeanor or felony, is guilty of a misdemeanor. ”

I have this opinion, (that police (and some prosecutors) will ascribe intent to anyone in possession of any tools, even those with other uses, so they wouldn’t hesitate to do the same for tools that are clearly purpose built breaking and entering tools having been advertised as such and with no other use,) because I watched a friend be arrested in the 80’s for having a screwdriver and pliers in their backpack that the police called “burglary tools”. He did not have a history of burglary. The case was dropped when they instead charged him with <.5 grams of marijuana for some crumbs found loose in the bottom in his backpack and sent him juvie for 6 months. (I think he was on probation, I know the police wanted to charge him with anything….and did.). I was accused of having lockpicks once because I had picked up a few metal brush bits from a street sweeper in a parking lot and police saw me pick them up, arrested, then released me on site when the supervisor showed up and heard their story.

I think the last sentence of that paragraph puts him in danger, since he clearly has reason to believe at least some of the burglary tools he sells to the public are going to be used criminally.

I don’t want to see you give someone advice that could get them in serious trouble, I know you would feel terrible. You might be correct, technically without intent to commit a crime they’re legal to own, but in reality police and prosecutors decide your intent and I don’t trust them one whit.

They should subpoena his customer list. He’s selling burglary tools, and not just to first responders (should be limited to actual police/fire departments and locksmiths IMO)….and putting out videos describing how to break into businesses.
If there’s a sudden rash of business break ins with no door damage he should be charged as an accomplice. I can’t believe he sells multiple burglary tools on his site, I thought he just proved how bad most padlocks are, I never saw him do a breaking and entering how to before. Yikes!
It should be noted, just getting caught with burglary tools can be a 6 month sentence in California.

I’ve been thinking about how to rate users and had a few ideas….
First I thought it might help to incorporate comment votes, but that doesn’t really take into account the lowered traffic in the last few years and still leaves inactive members as the top.
Second I thought maybe only count votes from the last year (or two)….but that discounts the efforts of those who are still active but less so than before.

Third, and this one made sense to me, maybe rank by “golden one” and/or “silver tongue” badge level. That ignores traffic rates and rates by percentage of current votes but doesn’t ignore older poster’s contributions, it rates/ranks them. Then, people who submitted many popular videos aren’t outranked by people who submitted fewer and less popular videos but at a time when there was just more site traffic.
Just my thoughts…

Let me remind you….you are still one of the 30% that think Trump did a good job (by what metric I can’t tell….not economic, not infrastructure, not public health, not jobs, not the state of the union, not trust in government, not international standing, not trade, not lower crime, not cooperation (government or civil), not by simplifying the tax code, not by lowering spending….so how, how did he succeed, by bankrupting the treasury to give welfare to billionaires? The only thing he actually won are titles for most corrupt administration in history hands down, first to be impeached twice, only president ever to deny certified election results, first to attempt to falsify election results, first to attempt to overthrow a valid election by force, and biggest debt by 1/3 and biggest deficit by far more than double.).

You are also one of the 30% that, after months of denying Republican involvement at all now thinks violently attacking the government with bombs, fire, guns, knives, tear gas, projectiles, and heavy clubs, killing police and trying to murder representatives is a great job, patriotic. 🤦‍♂️

You are also one of the 30% who denied Covid was ever an issue that needed to be addressed until Jan 20, 2021 when it suddenly was horrific and all the president’s responsibility….but no fucking way in hell you’re going to listen to his advice.

Bob, I couldn’t say the last time you were correct on any topic. I may be incorrect up to 5% of the time, and gladly accept true correction (but not simple obstinate contradiction without fact) and willingly admit mistakes. I actually research. You are totally wrong on every detail closer to over 95% of the time, you’ve never once even looked into the ridiculous claims you cut and paste from right wing propaganda sites…I doubt you would know how, and never once have you admitted a single of your uncountable and verified mistakes that you make in every single argument you attempt….and I’m talking about factual mistakes, not grammar.

Let me also remind you, Biden has a 42% approval rating, not 30%. Trump had 39% at this point. 🤦‍♂️

ROTFLMFAHS!!! Projection is absolutely the MO of the right, and of yourself. You’re trying to blame Covid on Biden, and accept zero blame for dismantling the office created to avoid exactly pandemics like this, no blame for not quarantining and letting it in the country after knowing how deadly it was, no blame for denying it’s existence, it’s danger, it’s virulence, it’s mortality rates, or for actively opposing any and all public health measures to minimize it…but now want to blame Biden for the outbreaks among morons that listen to antivaxing right wingers rather than Biden’s public health professionals.
You know there were hundreds of Republican plots to fraudulently vote or intentionally deny valid votes in the last election, yet with no evidence you still claim there was fraud on both sides (and imply there was far more from the left but still can’t show a single example), and despite all evidence to the contrary you still claim Democrats stole the election through fraud.
That’s called projection, Bob, blaming others for disasters and crimes you are actively causing. Derp.

Liar. There’s no way in hell you are even 100IQ. You have no reasoning or problem solving skills at all, zero verbal/English skills whatsoever, and you do not think like an an engineer, never methodically going step by step without glossing over the important bits and ignoring pertinent details….but we know you’re a proud liar already, one that applauds perjury. Test again. I think the mindset you’ve fostered in yourself for decades now has lowered it significantly if it was honestly ever above 100. I retested around 4 years ago for fun, scored one point higher than in school.

I’ve known engineers that weren’t all that intelligent….just not extremely successful ones. Dad owned an international high tech insulation company with dozens of engineers on the payroll. The less competent end up being maintenance techs and cleanup crews rather than R&D techs, designers, and inventors. Somebody has to load and drive the hazardous materials truck to the disposal site, somebody has to do maintenance on machines, somebody has to check dates on inventory to be certain chemicals don’t oxidize, etc, they don’t give those jobs to the best engineers.

What lockdowns? Biden just reportedly had the best job creation year in the nation’s history. Over 500000 jobs per month since he took office (and rapidly rising wages), how many jobs were lost under Trump? Estimates range from 10,000,000-18,000,000. Holy shit, you think that’s bad for Biden?!! Mental defectives with 75 IQ can see how wrong you are….but you can’t.

The tax cuts came in 2017, growth didn’t come until 2021, jobs didn’t come until 2021. It’s utterly ridiculous to try to claim the tax handouts for the wealthy had a thing to do with the economy getting better, especially since they expired for non billionaires before the upturn. I thought you just claimed to be intelligent. 🤦‍♂️

-3.5% Bob. Trump’s last year was -3.5% GDP growth. NEGATIVE.
Overall Trump managed 2.33, 3, 2.16, -3.49 =4% / 4years = 1% GDPY under Trump, who didn’t start in a major recession but left one. Lol! What’s that IQ again, buddy? Obama GDP > Trump GDP

It’s likely, because they never had a real majority thanks to 2 DINOs, so didn’t perform great, so many Trump era disastrous policies and appointees are still in place, and there’s no chance that’s going to change this term thanks to Democrats not actually having a majority. Sadly, too many morons won’t look at why there’s so little progress and just won’t vote, ensuring things won’t change and Republican obstructionism will rule the day. The party “in charge” always loses the midterm. What makes you think I don’t see that. I do not underestimate the stupidity of the American voter.

Lol. I notice you didn’t list any failures, and actually admitted some you listed last time are nonsense (now admitting “Biden economy is doing great” VS earlier claims “failed economy”). LMFAHS!
You get one talking head on CNN agreeing with you and one pro-Republican poll and suddenly you think everyone wants Trump back. You are so silly. When the polls don’t support you, you say they’re worthless, when they do, they’re gospel.
If Garland was doing his job and prosecuting senators and representatives, Democratic numbers would jump by double digits. It’s lack of action that’s losing them support. It’s certainly why I’m dissatisfied….but to assume that means most would vote Republican because they’re dissatisfied with Democrats performance is asinine, par for the course from you.

PE of 360 Bob. Anything over 25 is overpriced, over 100 is a bubble. Duh….again, you just claimed to be intelligent, but have repeatedly proven that false already. They made under 1 million cars last year out of around 75 million. Ford sold almost as many of one model, F150’s as Tesla sold of all models, and would have sold more if they had the chips to make more. They’re doing well, but are still a little minnow in a big pond, and if they lose their battery monopoly they’re toast. They aren’t the only, or even the best choice for electric cars anymore. If you think they won’t have competition, you’ve proven a lack of intelligence once again.

Summer time when you lost over 1/4 of your value overnight must have been scary. It won’t be the last time.

Good luck. In 5 years I expect they’ll be near worthless once more stable, more energy dense batteries are developed. I’m happy making more money from a diverse portfolio that’s not insanely overvalued.

LOL very close to what I do for a living, actually. Slightly less messy than in the video, pre-saturated, steam expanded and hardened on site, also works as a chimney flue liner.

OMG!!
The big investor in Trump’s social media company is a group of Chinese investors from Shanghai that have been repeatedly sanctioned and thrown off the stock market for opening multiple fraudulent companies in America, taking them public, and never actually having a company, no employees, no physical assets.

If you signed up for Trump’s site, expect all your data to be in Chinese hands….you gave it to them. Also know you likely gave up any rights to complain that your identity has been stolen when you signed up.

Who’s owned by the corrupt Chinese again? I know you like to say Biden is, but the paper trail and bribe money paid say something completely different.


LMFAHS!

Stop trolling please. You know exactly how you can avoid seeing movie trailers. Use the filters supplied. You’ve been informed uncountable times.
Just stop with your insistence that everyone else cowtow to your random whim.

I’m going to up it to three trailers every time you whine, because you’ve become intentionally annoying and Trumpian, thinking yours is the only opinion that should matter and the entire site should cater to you, even though you’ve never contributed a thing. WTF man?! Narcissistic much!?

Not compared to his predecessor.
He’s your president….hardly a has been when he’s the current leader of the free world. 🤦‍♂️
He appears presidential to me, and our allies, in stark contrast to xenophobic insecure bunker baby, temper tantrum throwing Trump.

So sadly delusional, bob. Keep telling yourself he was popular with 36.4% approval, lower than Biden’s lowest, that he couldn’t be beaten, that you have no evidence after a year looking under every rock, but you just know it was rigged because the least popular president ever who personally exacerbated a pandemic that was preventable, caused a recession, and was floundering in every direction couldn’t lose.
🤦‍♂️

The left NEVER claimed fraud as sore losers, most blamed Clinton and the DNC. Liar. The left didn’t say Trump was an illegitimate president, just that he only won by quirky outdated technicality, not by votes. The left didn’t try to overthrow democracy because they lost an election they ran.

Cheating is the only method used by the right now, vote suppression, Gerrymandering, voter purges….all Republican dirty tricks. America will never forget which party tried to overthrow democracy. More info on how complicit the Republicans were comes out daily.

Trump removed the pandemic response team that would have identified the virus earlier and maybe stopped even the first outbreak in China, because Obama instituted it. Trump allowed 40000 people from China in with no screening, no quarantine, no tracing. His “stopping flights” was only stopping Chinese people, so WAS racist, blatantly, and useless, obviously.
🤦‍♂️

Trump whining, on every subject every single time. Never took responsibility for a single of the multiple daily failures of his administration. You loved it. Suddenly you don’t like it, because Joe wears the wrong jersey.

Lol. Pole numbers. Thanks for being our jester. You can still make me laugh. Every site needs a clown.



Not some future infrastructure week, but real infrastructure funding. That’s success.

Edit: 39%, your lowball number, is still higher than Trump at this point who had 37% 283 days in, and he inherited an economic boom, a stable nation and healthy democracy, and no pandemic….unlike Biden.

This sacrifice to the construction gods will ensure another year without on site injuries.