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Author: John Hanno
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Bogan High School. Worked in Alaska after the earthquake. Joined U.S. Army at 17. Sergeant, B Battery, 3rd Battalion, 84th Artillery, 7th Army. Member of 12 different unions, including 4 different locals of the I.B.E.W. Worked for fortune 50, 100 and 200 companies as an industrial electrician, electrical/electronic technician.
Judge publicly refutes RNC claim that Capitol riot was ‘legitimate political discourse’ while sentencing rioter
Mia Jankowicz – February 11, 2022
Police use tear gas around Capitol building where pro-Trump supporters riot and breached the Capitol on January 6, 2021.Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
A judge took aim at the RNC’s resolution calling the Capitol riot ‘legitimate political discourse.’
Federal judge Amy Berman Jackson refuted this during the sentencing of a Jan. 6 rioter, per ABC News.
“It is not justified to descend on the nation’s Capitol … and disrupt the electoral process,” she said.
A federal judge rebuked the Republican National Committee (RNC) during sentencing remarks for a January 6 rioter on Thursday, saying that the 2021 assault on the Capitol was “not ‘legitimate political discourse.'”
“Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse,” the document said.
D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson directly quoted that three word phrase during her sentencing of rioter Mark Leffingwell, but vehemently disagreed with it.
Per ABC News, Berman Jackson said: “It is not ‘legitimate political discourse,’ and it is not justified to descend on the nation’s Capitol at the direction of a disappointed candidate and disrupt the electoral process.”
“Cancelling out the votes of other people with a show of force is the opposite of what America stands for,” she added, ABC said.
According to court documents seen by Insider, Leffingwell, a resident of Seattle, pleaded guilty in October to charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding an officer.
On Thursday he was sentenced to six months in prison, two years of supervised probation, and community service on his release, the Seattle Times reported. He was also fined $2,000.
The complaint said he entered the Capitol on January 6 and tried to push past a police officer. When the officer barred him, Leffingwell punched the officer twice, in the head and the chest. He also punched a second officer. He later apologized, one officer noted.
Indeed, while we all are experiencing frustration and fatigue from pandemic-related restrictions, listening to the flippant attitude of pundits like Bari Weiss on Maher’s show doesn’t help to unify us in meeting this national and global challenge.
Perhaps Weiss should take a page from our ancestors, whom I’m sure, after years of sacrifice, might have felt “done” with World War II and other world crises. Many in past generations came together to face hardship with persistent determination and selfless courage.
In contrast, Weiss presents a disturbing caricature of millennial self-centeredness that is so often the target of Maher’s ridicule.
Susan Dunn, Valley Glen
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To the editor: Hiltzik completely misses the point of Maher’s position on government COVID-19 measures. Maher fully understands the carnage this virus has and continues to wreak. He just points out that it’s almost entirely among the unvaccinated.
If you’re fully vaccinated and do not have the well-known risk factors, such as serious asthma or obesity, then your chances of hospitalization are very small, and your chances of dying are miniscule.
If you’re not fully vaccinated, then you’ve ignored every warning from every expert. You are no longer my responsibility. Let the rest of us go back to our lives.
I agree with Maher in that we should target our response to the disease. As a small business owner, I’m ready to accommodate employees who cannot be protected by vaccination. As a citizen, I support plenty of equipment, pay and time off for healthcare workers. But as a parent, I’m fed up with my vaccinated child not being able to fully experience school and friends.
Government should keep vaccinations free. It should keep shouting good advice. But for those of us who have taken the advice, leave us alone.
Joel Karafin, Los Angeles
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To the editor: As a longtime fan of Maher, I’m in lock step with Hiltzik with regard to Maher’s strange reaction to the pandemic.
Normally rational and fact-based, Maher has become rather hysterical in his oversimplification and dismissal of anyone choosing to still wear masks. I tend to believe his rant is schtick rather than a disavowal of science.
Yes Mr. Maher, we’re sick to death of this COVID-19 buzz kill, but masks do prevent viral transmission. Period.
Greg Hilfman, Topanga
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To the editor: How is “done with COVID” different from “done with traffic lights”? It has been a long time since anyone died at Wilshire and Sepulveda, so because the traffic lights have worked so well we can take them out.
The U.S. Dairy System Is in Crisis and Exporting More Milk to Canada Won’t Fix It
U.S. farm policies are bad for dairy farmers, cows, customers and the climate. We shouldn’t try to defeat Canada’s dairy system—we should learn from it.
Niaz Dorry – February 11, 2022
GETTY IMAGES
Last month, the United States won a dairy dispute with neighboring Canada under the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). A panel, convened in May 2021, agreed with the United States that Canada had been restricting the access of U.S. dairy to Canadian markets, in favor of domestic dairy producers and in violation of the agreement.
In a Jan. 4 press release, U.S. Ambassador Katherine Tai celebrated the decision: “This historic win will help eliminate unjustified trade restrictions on American dairy products, and will ensure that the U.S. dairy industry and its workers get the full benefit of the USMCA to market and sell U.S. products to Canadian consumers.”
While this might look like a victory for trade negotiators, however, U.S. dairy farmers and consumers have nothing to celebrate. U.S. dairy policy has driven family-scale dairy farms out of business for decades while at the same time increasing environmental damage.
The decision fails to address the fundamental problems confronting dairy farmers in any meaningful way. On the contrary, it dismisses the positive example of Canada’s dairy supply management program that has stabilized the country’s supply of milk, provided protective subsidies to small farmers, ensured most of the dairy production is consumed domestically and offered fairer prices to farmers and consumers.
Canada’s quota system has also enabled dairy farmers to invest in more sustainable, climate-friendly farming practices. In Canada, the average dairy herd size is 96 cows, allowing more opportunities for pasture grazing and soil carbon sequestration. This combination of minimal emissions and maximum soil carbon retention represents one of the most positive versions of dairy production.
The centerpiece of the U.S. dairy crisis, on the other hand, is chronic low prices for family-scale dairies, consolidation within the market, and the subsequent overproduction of milk which hurts the economic bottom lines of farmers and consumers alike. U.S. policies pushed by dairy industry lobbyists have pressured farmers to continually increase herd size, boost production, rely on tax-payer funded subsidies and seek ever-expanding and unreliable export markets. This has driven family-scale dairy farms out of business for decades while at the same time increasing environmental damage.
In the 1990s, the United States largely dismantled its own version of a supply management system in the name of market fundamentalism. This led to rapid consolidation within the dairy sector, outpacing other sectors of our agriculture system. Today, 5% of the largest dairy farms account for 56% of all milk production. Many of these operations keep well over 10,000 cows in crowded factory-farm conditions, applying excessive levels of manure to the land and economically undercutting small and mid-scale dairies.
Displacing smaller, dispersed grazing herds of dairy cattle with huge, concentrated, herds is a net loss for soil health, carbon sequestration, sustainability, the climate, and farming communities. This new trade agreement, far from solving these problems, will only incentivize a few corporations and pseudo-cooperatives to control more of the global market.
The Biden administration and leaders in Congress have expressed their intention to promote fair competition and support rural communities. To seriously address the dairy crisis, they must stop listening to trade lobbyists and stop pretending that exporting our way out of our crisis will benefit family-scale farmers, the environment, and those who rely on dairy as a critical part of their daily food needs.
COVID-19 truck blockade in Canada shuts down Ford plant
February 10, 2022
A blockade of the bridge between Canada and Detroit by protesters demanding an end to Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions forced the shutdown Wednesday of a Ford plant, sparking broader implications for the North American auto industry.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, stood firm against an easing of Canada’s COVID-19 restrictions in the face of mounting pressure during recent weeks by protests against the restrictions and against Trudeau himself.
The protest by people mostly in pickup trucks entered its third day at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. Traffic was prevented from entering Canada, while U.S.-bound traffic was still moving.
The bridge carries 25% of all trade between the two countries, and Canadian authorities expressed increasing worry about the economic effects.
Ford said late Wednesday that parts shortages forced it to shut down its engine plant in Windsor and to run an assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario, on a reduced schedule.
“This interruption on the Detroit-Windsor bridge hurts customers, auto workers, suppliers, communities and companies on both sides of the border,” Ford said in a statement. “We hope this situation is resolved quickly because it could have widespread impact on all automakers in the U.S. and Canada.”
Shortages due to the blockade also forced General Motors to cancel the second shift of the day at its midsize-SUV factory near Lansing, Michigan. Spokesman Dan Flores said it was expected to restart Thursday and no additional impact was expected for the time being.
Parts shortages
Later Wednesday, Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin said the company will not be able to manufacture anything at three Canadian plants for the rest of this week due to parts shortages. A statement attributed the problem to supply chain, weather and pandemic-related challenges, but the shutdowns came just days after the blockade began Monday.
“Our teams are working diligently to minimize the impact on production,” the company said, adding that it doesn’t expect any layoffs at this time.
Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, reported normal operations, though the company had to cut shifts short the previous day at its Windsor minivan plant.
“We are watching this very closely,″ White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said earlier of the bridge blockade. “The blockade poses a risk to supply chains for the auto industry because the bridge is a key conduit for motor vehicles, components and parts, and delays risk disrupting auto production.”
Trucker vaccination mandate
A growing number of Canadian provinces have moved to lift some of their precautions as the Omicron surge levels off, but Trudeau defended the measures the federal government is responsible for, including the one that has angered many truck drivers: a rule that took effect Jan. 15 requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated.
“The reality is that vaccine mandates, and the fact that Canadians stepped up to get vaccinated to almost 90%, ensured that this pandemic didn’t hit as hard here in Canada as elsewhere in the world,” Trudeau said in Parliament.
About 90% of truckers in Canada are vaccinated, and trucker associations and many big-rig operators have denounced the protests. The U.S. has the same vaccination rule for truckers entering the country, so it would make little difference if Trudeau lifted the restriction.
Protesters have also been blocking the border crossing at Coutts, Alberta, for a week and a half, with about 50 trucks remaining there Wednesday. And more than 400 trucks have paralyzed downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in a protest that began late last month.
While protesters have been calling for Trudeau’s removal, most of the restrictive measures around the country have been put in place by provincial governments. Those include requirements that people show proof-of-vaccination “passports” to enter restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and sporting events.
Easing of some rules
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia announced plans this week to roll back some or all of their precautions. Alberta, Canada’s most conservative province, dropped its vaccine passport immediately and plans to get rid of mask requirements at the end of the month.
Alberta opposition leader Rachel Notley accused the province’s premier, Jason Kenney, of allowing an “illegal blockade to dictate public health measures.”
Despite Alberta’s plans to scrap its measures, the protest there continued.
“We’ve got guys here — they’ve lost everything due to these mandates, and they’re not giving up, and they’re willing to stand their ground and keep going until this is done,” said protester John Vanreeuwyk, a feedlot operator from Coaldale, Alberta.
“Until Trudeau moves,” he said, “we don’t move.”
As for the Ambassador Bridge blockade, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said police had not removed people for fear of inflaming the situation. But he added: “We’re not going to let this happen for a prolonged period of time.”
The demonstration involved 50 to 74 vehicles and about 100 protesters, police said. Some of the protesters say they are willing to die for their cause, according to the mayor.
“I’ll be brutally honest: You are trying to have a rational conversation, and not everyone on the ground is a rational actor,” Dilkens said. “Police are doing what is right by taking a moderate approach, trying to sensibly work through this situation where everyone can walk away, nobody gets hurt, and the bridge can open.”
To avoid the blockade and get into Canada, truckers in the Detroit area had to drive 70 miles north to Port Huron, Michigan, and cross the Blue Water Bridge, where there was a 4½-hour delay leaving the U.S.
“Drop the mandates”
At a news conference in Ottawa that excluded mainstream news organizations, Benjamin Dichter, one of the protest organizers, said: “I think the government and the media are drastically underestimating the resolve and patience of truckers.”
“Drop the mandates. Drop the passports,” he said.
The “freedom truck convoy” has been promoted by Fox News personalities and attracted support from many U.S. Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who called Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates.”
Pandemic restrictions have been far stricter in Canada than in the U.S., but Canadians have largely supported them. Canada’s COVID-19 death rate is one-third that of the U.S.
Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen said in Parliament that countries around the world are removing restrictions and noted that Canadian provinces are, too. She accused Trudeau of wanting to live in a “permanent pandemic.”
Ontario, Canada’s largest province with almost 40% of the country’s population, is sticking to what it calls a “very cautious” stance toward the pandemic, and the deputy premier said it has no plans to drop vaccine passports or mask requirements.
On Thursday, Peters was forced to turn herself in on a new arrest warrant stemming from an altercation with Grand Junction police officers on Tuesday. Peters was arrested this time and released after posting a $500 bond for “obstructing a peace officer.” Business Insider got its hands on the warrant for this new arrest and, along with the video of the arrest, it sheds light on what went down.
In the video seen below, which began as officers placed their hands on Peters to turn her around and try to handcuff her, Peters is resisting arrest. At one point she says they are hurting her and tries to kick backwards at the two officers. She is subsequently taken outside where we can see her, handcuffed, speaking with authorities and another person.
The affidavit fills out a lot of the details. According to the warrant, the Grand Junction officers were responding to a request for assistance from investigators with the Mesa County District Attorney’s Office, who were at the bagel shop where Peters and her associates were at the time. Those investigators had been serving a warrant for the search of Peters’ iPad after the judge in her accomplice’s criminal case asked that it be retrieved to check for recordings of the proceedings that Peters denied, but numerous witnesses in court said she was making.
The Denver Post received a statement at the time of Peters’ first arrest this week from her legal defense fund spokesperson Rory McShane claiming: “The search warrant presented listed exactly one item, an iPad with a white case. Clerk Peters complied with that, then officers began attempting to take other items of personal property, not listed in the warrant including her car keys, which is illegal.” But according to the affidavit and the video, McShane and Peters seem to be conflating events in order to change the narrative of obstruction Peters seems to be making a career of these days.
As I was approaching the front door, I observed DA Investigators Heil, Struwe, and Cannon in a heated discussion with a group of people seated and standing near the front table inside the business. As I stepped inside, I heard DA Investigator Cannon advise he had probable cause to charge a female with whom he was in contact with Tampering With Physical Evidence, a felony.
According to Grand Junction police, the scene they came upon—and the reason the district attorney’s office called for law enforcement’s help—was Peters’ refusal to give up the iPad after being presented with the search warrant. Not only do they allege she refused to give it up, but she then proceeded to keep investigators from getting their hands on the device, while passing it around among her associates at the bagel shop and possibly erasing evidence of her crime.
The affidavit goes on to explain that a male suspect was the main person in-between the district attorney and the table of associates passing around the iPad in question. When the officer told the man to step away, Peters stepped in front of him with her back to the officer, literally obstructing him from approaching the table with the iPad.
I took the female suspect [Peters] by her left bicep and tried to move her to her right where Sgt Church and Officer Tafoya were located so I could access [redacted] The female suspect then began actively resisting and was placed in handcuffs for obstructing officers. As she was being placed in handcuffs, Officer Tafoya repeatedly told her to not resist. As I was attempting to double lock the handcuffs, Officer Tafoya was attempting to get a car key/fob out of the suspect’s right hand. At this point the suspect attempted to kick back with her right leg to strike Officer Tafoya. She missed Officer Tafoya’s body but did contact Officer Tafoya’s Taser and magazine pouch which were located on Officer Tafoya’s belt. I told the suspect “Do not kick! Do you understand!?” Sgt Church also asked the suspect to “please relax” which she yelled “No!”
Remember how Peters and her legal representative tried to characterize what happened as police overreach in asking for more than what was in the original search warrant? Well, as you can watch below, it seems that officers weren’t trying to take her car key fob as part of the search, they were trying to get her hand behind her back as she resisted arrest for obstruction. Considering what we have seen Black folks go through—like the cases where “obstruction” and “resisting” were simply the person asking why they were being arrested—Peters gets a lot of runway. It’s a good thing she wasn’t a Black girl between the ages of 6 and 17 or she may have been treated a lot less civilly.
Then the conversation that one cannot hear in the video is given by the report. The woman talking to Peters is told by police to step away:
As the female was not stepping away from the suspect, who was not calming down, she was escorted across Main Street to where my patrol car was located. She continued to actively resist and was just going limp and attempted to crumple to the sidewalk. I advised her she was under arrest and she needed to stand up and walk. I placed her in an escort position and continued walking her to my marked patrol car. She continued to yell and scream at officers that we were hurting her. I again told the suspect she needed to stand up and walk. As we got to the patrol car the suspect again yelled to let her go, I again advised her she was under arrest. When she asked why, I advised her she was under arrest for Obstruction.
The police officer says that they then searched her pockets, which she resisted, and put her into the back of the police vehicle. “Once inside the patrol vehicle and out of view of the multiple people recording this interaction on cell phones, the suspect calmed down immediately. As I was attempting to buckle her, she asked if I knew what I was doing and then she stated I was assisting a Merrick Garland (unk spelling). She continued talking about something pertaining to the election as I closed the patrol car door, but this was indiscernible as she was almost whispering once in the car.”
The district attorney seems to have asked the police not to charge her themselves with duplicate charges of obstruction as the district attorney would be adding that to their list after Tuesday’s events. Then the district attorney came over, at which time Peters said he should be investigating election fraud. (At least she’s a consistent MAGA zealot, right?) The district attorney explained that they would be taking her iPad, which was how this all started in the first place. “Peters denied the iPad being hers.” Ha! The district attorney then asked that Peters be released.
According to the affidavit, the moment she was out of handcuffs she “ignored DA Investigator Struwe and had a female take photos of her wrists as she was complaining that she was injured.” Police offered her an ambulance to check her wrists, which she refused.
We are focused on facts, not rhetoric, and will present them no matter what our critics say.
By Liz Cheney – February 10, 2022
Former Vice President Mike Pence officiates as the House and Senate convenes to confirm the 2020 electoral votes in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.PHOTO: POOL NEW/REUTERS
I keep on my desk a copy of the oath my great-great-grandfather signed when he re-enlisted in the Union Army in 1863. Like the oath given by all those who serve in government and every member of our armed forces, Samuel Fletcher Cheney swore to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.” Generations of Americans have sworn that same oath and given their lives to defend the Constitution and our nation.
Last week, former Vice President Mike Pence spoke about the events of Jan. 6, 2021. President Trump was “wrong,” he said, to insist that Mr. Pence or any vice president could “overturn” the election by refusing to count certified slates of electoral votes. That notion was, as Mr. Pence said, “un-American.” What Mr. Trump had insisted that Mr. Pence do on Jan. 6 was not only un-American, it was unconstitutional and illegal.
Article II and the 12th Amendment govern how the nation selects the president. Congress doesn’t select the president; the states do. Every state in the union now selects a presidential candidate through a popular vote. And every state identifies the manner in which disputes regarding the election are addressed under state law. Those laws set forth a process for challenging an election when concerns arise, including potential recounts or audits and an opportunity to litigate disputed issues in court. When courts have resolved any election challenges, and the election result has been certified by the governor of a state, the election is over. That is the rule of law.
The 12th Amendment also leaves little doubt that Congress must count the certified electoral votes it receives from the states: “The president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for president, shall be the president.” This provision doesn’t say, for example, Congress must count certified electoral votes unless it has concerns about fraud allegations, or unless it disagrees with the outcome of state or federal court litigation. And the vice president, as president of the Senate presiding over the count, can’t simply refuse to count a state’s certified slate of electoral votes—either under the Constitution or under the Electoral Count Act of 1887.
Republicans used to advocate fidelity to the rule of law and the plain text of the Constitution. In 2020, Mr. Trump convinced many to abandon those principles. He falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him because of widespread fraud. While some degree of fraud occurs in every election, there was no evidence of fraud on a scale that could have changed this one. As the Select Committee will demonstrate in hearings later this year, no foreign power corrupted America’s voting machines, and no massive secret fraud changed the election outcome.
Almost all members of Congress know this—although many lack the courage to say it out loud. Mr. Trump knew it too, from his own campaign officials, from his own appointees at the Justice Department, and from the dozens of lawsuits he lost. Yet, Mr. Trump ignored the rulings of the courts and launched a massive campaign to mislead the public. Our hearings will show that these falsehoods provoked the violence on Jan. 6. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have begun to pay the price for spreading these lies. For example, Rudy Giuliani’s license to practice law has been suspended because he “communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump, ” in the words of a New York appellate court.
The Jan. 6 investigation isn’t only about the inexcusable violence of that day: It is also about fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law, and whether elected representatives believe in those things or not. One member of the House Freedom Caucus warned the White House in the days before Jan. 6 that the president’s plans would drive “a stake in the heart of the federal republic.” That was exactly right.
Those who do not wish the truth of Jan. 6 to come out have predictably resorted to attacking the process—claiming it is tainted and political. Our hearings will show this charge to be wrong. We are focused on facts, not rhetoric, and we will present those facts without exaggeration, no matter what criticism we face. My friend the late Charles Krauthammer once said: “The lesson of our history is that the task of merely maintaining strong and sturdy the structures of a constitutional order is unending, the continuing and ceaseless work of every generation.” Every generation of Americans has fulfilled its duty to support and defend the Constitution. That responsibility now falls to us.
Ms. Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, is a U.S. representative and vice chair of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
Trump reportedly packed White House boxes in secret, took ‘top secret’ documents to Mar-a-Lago
Peter Weber, Senior editor – February 10, 2022
Top secret documents in Trump White House Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The National Archives found documents clearly marked as classified, including at the “top secret” level, among the 15 boxes of papers and memento former President Donald Trump improperly took home from the White House, The Washington Post reports, citing two people familiar with the matter. Those documents are now being kept in secure storage by the Justice Department while officials determine the next step.
A “top secret” classification, according to the National Archives, applies to documents in which unauthorized disclosure “could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.” Even if the Justice Department doesn’t launch a criminal investigation into how such materials ended up at Trump’s not-secure club, former federal prosecutor Brandon Van Grack tells the Post, “the FBI would want and need to review the information and conduct an investigation to determine what occurred and whether any sources and methods were compromised.”
One key question for federal or congressional investigators is how highly classified information ended up in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago boxes.
One person familiar with the scramble to pack up Trump’s belongings suggested some of the documents Trump piled up in the White House residence may have inadvertently ended up at Mar-a-Lago. But multiple people close to the former president told the Post that “Trump was very secretive about the packing of boxes that were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago last month, and did not let other aides — including some of his most senior advisers — look at them.”
And “Trump has been loath to return the boxes of documents he took from the White House, despite repeated efforts by the National Archives to obtain them,” starting last summer, when archivists noticed some high-profile records were missing, The New York Times reports. Eventually, “officials at the National Archives threatened to send a letter to Congress or the Department of Justice if he continued to withhold the boxes,” and Trump started going through the files in December.
Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich told the Post that “a normal and routine process is being weaponized by anonymous, politically motivated government sources to peddle Fake News,” and the National Archives could “credibly dispute this false reporting” but isn’t.
Liz Cheney Warns Critics Of Jan. 6 Investigation Exactly What To Expect
Lee Moran – February 11, 2022
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Thursday took a defiant stand against Republican critics of the House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot.
“Those who do not wish the truth of Jan. 6 to come out have predictably resorted to attacking the process — claiming it is tainted and political,” Cheney wrote in a scathing Wall Street Journal op-ed headlined “The Jan. 6 Committee Won’t Be Intimidated.’”
“Our hearings will show this charge to be wrong,” Cheney said. “We are focused on facts, not rhetoric, and we will present those facts without exaggeration, no matter what criticism we face.”
Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) last week were censured by the Republican National Committee for sitting on the committee. The party sanction, which also declared the Jan. 6 violence “legitimate political discourse,” was even rebuked by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
‘Freedom Convoy’ deploys kids as human shields, and Ontario has finally had enough of this show
Mark Summer, Daily Kos Staff – February 11, 2022
As protests in Canada extend into the third weekend, the situation is becoming ever more serious. Not only are the organizers of the “Freedom Convoy” targeting U.S.-Canadian border crossings and airports to maximize the level of disruption, but they’ve also deployed their own small children as human shields, risking toddlers in an effort to cause more damage and evade punishment.
As BBC News reports, officials in the province of Ontario have had enough. A state of emergency has been declared, making blocking critical infrastructure subject to arrest, a fine of up to $100,000, and the possibility of a year in jail. Trucks used to blockade access to bridges, airports, and border crossings can be seized, held, and sold at auction.
“There will be consequences, and they will be severe,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “To those who have attempted to disrupt our way of life by targeting our lifeline for food, fuel, and goods across our borders, to those trying to force a political agenda through disruption, intimidation, and chaos, my message to you is this: Your right to make a political statement does not outweigh the right of hundreds of thousands of workers to earn their living.”
The cost of the blockades so far has been estimated at $300 million a day.
Ford is a member of Canada’s Conservative Party, and has been an opponent of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. However, unlike Republicans in the U.S. and authoritarians overseas, who have been able to promote and fund the chaos from a distance, Ford is seeing the damage caused by the blockade close up. He isn’t finding it funny.
In addition to fines and imprisonment, Ford also intends to push for rules that will give the province authority to seize both personal and commercial driving licenses from truckers involved in the protest. Ford doesn’t mention any punishment for those who positioned their toddlers to block a major highway. Information on the situation has been forwarded to the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa. This comes after many people have expressed concern about kids being brought along during the protest and living in unsafe conditions for a period extending into weeks.
Both the protesters and U.S. conservatives rushing to pile on are blaming COVID-19 restrictions in Canada on Trudeau. However, almost all of these restrictions exist only at the provincial level, where both Liberal and Conservative leaders, including Ford, had set out rules on masks and vaccines to meet varying levels of community spread. Most of these restrictions have already been lifted—though the “convoy” and their U.S. supporters continue to pretend otherwise.
As the Associated Press reported on Friday, representatives from President Joe Biden spoke with Trudeau’s government on Thursday and urged federal action to end the truck blockade. Those calls came after several auto plants and other manufacturers in the U.S. were forced to skip shifts or close plants due to a lack of parts coming in from Canadian suppliers.
Plants from Ford, GM, Stellantis, Honda, and Toyota have all been idled. Not only does this mean hundreds of thousands of workers going without pay due to the action of a small number of people along the border, but it’s also exacerbating a continued shortage of new cars. That shortage, caused by supply chain issues including an international shortage of microcontroller chips, was the single largest factor in inflation for 2021, with increasing vehicle prices alone accounting for 2.1% of rising costs. The additional disruption caused by intentional blocking of border crossing can be expected to make these shortages worse.
With the support of Fox News, including lavish attention from pundit Tucker Carlson, a group of U.S. truckers has announced their (vague) intentions to imitate the Canadian protest, with a cross-country “slow roll” designed to make it to Washington D.C. in time to muck up the State of the Union address. Other groups have promised to recreate the action in Europe, with a series of actions that would center on Paris. That has prompted officials across Europe to pass preemptive bans on road blockades that feature both serious prison sentences and heavy fines.
In the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security has sent out a warning to state law enforcement agencies with reports of the proposed U.S. action and the potential for roads to be blocked in major cities.
NEWS PROVIDED BY – International Brotherhood of Teamsters
February 10, 2022
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The following is the official statement of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa regarding the ongoing blockade by the Freedom Convoy protest at the United States-Canada border.
“The Teamsters Union denounces the ongoing Freedom Convoy protest at the Canadian border that continues to hurt workers and negatively impact our economy. The livelihood of working Americans and Canadians in the automotive, agricultural, and manufacturing sectors is threatened by this blockade.
“Our economy is growing under the Biden Administration, and this disruption in international trade threatens to derail the gains we have made. Our members are some of the hardest workers in the country and are being prevented from doing their jobs. The Teamsters call on the organizers of this action to end this protest and instead, engage in meaningful political discourse with the Canadian government to find a solution.”
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and “like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.
