Tag: Politics

• Community

  Our School District is 80% Unified

   This article is excerpted from a report I made to Trego’s school board several years ago.  I don’t have an answer to what went on when Eureka Elementary and Lincoln County High Schools were unified by election in 1988 – the relevant board minutes were missing, and Joel and I were unable to find them. 

  I began looking for data when I read of Eureka’s Elementary district’s inability to pass a levy for a new school building – the suggested alternatives included getting the high school to build a new school, and passing the existing high school on to the elementary district.  While it was offered as an “out of the box” solution, it has been done before – the Lincoln County High School I attended is now the Eureka middle school.

  As a Trego taxpayer, I have the privilege of supporting LCHS and Trego Elementary – but when LCHS buildings go to Eureka Elementary, we Trego residents have effectively been taxed to support Eureka Elementary as well as Trego Elementary.  (Joel tells me that Eureka Elementary paid LCHS a fair price for the old high school – but as I rewrite these notes, I still don’t know what the fair price was.  Trego and Fortine districts provide about 20% of the High School tax base.  Turning the old high school into the middle school is a great deal for Eureka – but may have been unjust taxation for Fortine and Trego landowners. I have assurances that that is not the case – but I do not have figures that allow me to do my own calculations.

  Understanding the significance requires data.  And that data is available at https://svc.mt.gov/dor/property/cov#/256 where the state shows market and taxable values for each district.  To minimize the data dazzle, I will attempt to explain using only the market values of District 13 elementary and District 13 high school, then converting them to percentages for ease of understanding.  (this data is from my original report to the Trego board, and is not current)

  High School District                                1,375,196,172

  Elementary District                                 1,108,162,025

  Subtracting the elementary market value from the high school market value shows that 2,670,341, or 19.4% of the property tax values going to LCHS are from Fortine and Trego districts.   The decisions on running the high school are made by five board members elected from the Eureka elementary district – the appearance of representation for Fortine and Trego is a member from each small district, outvoted at the best, and, at the worst a pair with Quisling quality loyalty to the communities they represent.

  I believe that the codes mandate that the Fortine district trustee be voted in by Fortine, and Trego’s trustee be voted in only by Trego voters – but I have found no evidence that elections have occurred in that manner.

  I have been gathering data to better understand the governance of Lincoln County High School over the past three years.  It is a bit perplexing . . . LCHS has, throughout my lifetime, been closely related to Eureka Elementary.  When I attended LCHS, the cafeteria was over in the Roosevelt building.  Roger Ranta was superintendent over both LCHS and Eureka Elementary.  The lines of demarcation were never well defined.  In many ways, LCHS and Eureka Elementary have behaved as a unified district over at least the past sixty years – but with lip service toward recognizing the outlying districts (now only Fortine and Trego) as part of Lincoln County High School’s district and independent of Elementary 13.

  MCA 20-6-101-3(4) states “As used in this title, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, a county high school is a high school district that has not unified with an elementary district under 20-6-312.  The context of the name “Lincoln County High School” does not clearly (or even murkily) indicate unification with Eureka Elementary.  I suspect that this section of the law was why discussion of the need to change the high school’s name was reported in the Mountain Ear when the unification was discussed in 1988.  (Joel tells me that the two districts are not unified, but that they operate together under a memorandum of agreement)

  I began searching for documentation of unification when I read that comment in the Mountain Ear archives.  I now have a copy of the April 20, 1988 letter to the trustees of Eureka Elementary, District 13 from Cindy Middig, then Lincoln County Superintendent of Schools.   That letter begins: “Congratulations on the success of your unification election” then gives instructions on actions that need to be completed before July 1st, 1988. 

  Since Eureka/LCHS does not term itself a “Unified District” while Libby does, I am assuming that a more detailed review of the LCHS minutes, or the Lincoln County Superintendent’s correspondence will unearth more relevant information.  Middig’s letter ends with “The additional high school trustee nominating areas (the 3 outlying districts) will remain the same.  The trustees presently representing them, Mrs. Lora Johnson (Trego), Mrs. BeeGee Cole (Fortine) and Penny Williams (Rexford) are hereby appointed to hold office until a successor is elected and qualified at the next regular school election in April of 1989.”

  The fortunate thing is that BeeGee Cole and Ted Roo (LCHS board chair at the time) live.  When I called BeeGee she recalled being appointed to the High School board to represent Fortine, but had no firm recollection of anything being done to unify the districts.  She explained to me that she was a Fortine board member and sent by the board to represent the Fortine District at the LCHS board meetings.  This differs substantially from the role Marcy Butts  filled on the LCHS board, and it appears that change is a result of Cindy Middig’s letter.  It appears that Middig did not consider that her change to the board structure would essentially create a taxation without representation situation when the Eureka Elementary Board could vote to take high school properties that were 20% funded by Fortine and Trego.

  I spoke with Ted Roo, whose recollection was that Cindy Middig’s letter removed all the high school board members and gave all the authority over the school to the elementary board.  From Ted’s recollections, we can point to April 20, 1988 as the time when the event occurred.  (Ted only served on the high school board, and ceased being a board member with Middig’s letter.)  If Ted’s recollections are correct, we need to see if “The Lincoln County High School Trustees” performed all the requirements for the first transaction listed in Middag’s letter.

  Since the May 16, 1988 minutes show LCHS board members Ted Roo, Lora Johnson, Penny Williams, L. Jack Higle, Andy Ivers and BeeGee present, we need only review the minutes from that date through July, 1988 to determine if the LCHS board completed that required transaction before July 1, 1988.  My reading of the Middig Unification letter is that, if that transaction was not performed by the LCHS board before July 1, the unification did not legally occur.  The old Mountain Ear article pointed out that there was a discussion that the name of the high school would be changed – yet it remains Lincoln County High School.  The unchanged name suggests that there is a significant possibility that the requirements listed by Middig were not performed.

  If those three specific actions Middig’s letter says were required before unification could occur were never done, as I read the letter, the unification was never completed.  Yes, that would create a challenge to getting LCHS a high school board after the Elementary board has controlled both operations for 35 years – but I know of no statute of limitations that forces us to accept governmental misconduct or blunders.  MCA 20-6-312 lists the requirements for County high school unification.  20-6-313 seems to support Middig’s instructions: “(1) Whenever a county high school is unified with the elementary district where the county high school building is located, the following transactions must be completed on or before the July 1 when the unification becomes effective:”

  Since the High School continues to operate as Lincoln County High School, which name does not clearly indicate the unification with Eureka Elementary, and after talking with then LCHS board chair Ted Roo, I have questions on whether those required transactions occurred – the LCHS name continuation suggests that there is, at the least, some probability that the Middig letter unified the districts, but the other activities that were required to occur before July 1, 1988 did not.

  I (along with Superintendent Joel Graves reviewed the records from May 16, 1988 through August, 1988, and we were unable to find the minutes that described the board activities to complete the following transactions required in Supt. Middig’s letter:

  1.         The Lincoln County High School trustees shall surrender all minutes, documents, and other records to the trustees of the “new” high school district.

  2.         The county treasurer, after allowing for any outstanding or registered warrants, shall transfer all end-of-year fund cash balances of the county high school to similar refunds established for the high school district.  All previous years’ taxes levied and collected for the county high school shall be credited to the appropriate fund for the high school district.

  3.         The board of county commissioners shall execute, in the name of the county, all necessary and appropriate deeds, bills of sale and other instruments for the conveyance of title to all real and personal property of the county high school, including all appurtenances and hereditaments, to the high school district.

  Another necessary search through Eureka’s records is to determine the circumstances of the transfer of the old high school building from LCHS to the Eureka elementary district.  If the LCHS board was eliminated – and I trust Ted Roo and his memory – the Eureka Elementary board held five of the votes that transferred the county high school to the Eureka Elementary District.

  I asked Suzy Rios, Lincoln County Superintendent of Schools, to search her department’s records from May 16, 1988 to August 1, 1988 to see if documentation exists that provides further information on the unification election – but I suspect that the county superintendent’s record went the same way as Extensions – and I disposed of Extensions records when they had been spoiled by years of a sewage leak in the annex basement.  

   Middig did not complete her term of office, and was replaced by Mary Hudspeth as County superintendent of schools.  The dates when Cindy Middag left the office and Mary Hudspeth came in may explain some of my confusion.  (At Trego, we are missing our 1988 and 89 board minutes)

  If neither Superintendent can find evidence that the LCHS board took the action Superintendent Middag required, our next step is to ask Sedaris Carlson (County Treasurer) to see if those actions required of the county treasurer occurred.  If they did, it is evidence that the unification occurred.  If not, it supports the null hypothesis.  Again, 1988 was early in computer evolution – any records will be on paper, and have long been stashed away somewhere.

  We can also check the county commission’s records for the same time period to see if their required actions were performed.  Their minutes for the middle of 1988 will show, or not show, if they did what they were required to do.

  As I understand it, if Superintendent Middig’s letter stood without negation,  we have a high school that is unified with part, but not all, of its constituent elementary districts.  Since Fortine and Trego both exist as independent districts, Eureka elementary has essentially been granted power to tax both Fortine and Trego for the high school district, then turn the high school property over to the elementary district.  If I recall correctly, taxation without representation was the impetus behind the American revolution.  This situation also suggests that if the unification did occur, Cindy Middig did not correctly consider representation and taxation of Fortine and Trego – which is probably a constitutional issue.

  My conversations with BeeGee and Ted leads me to these tentative (and testable) assumptions:

  1. Prior to the unification vote the outlying districts assigned board members to the LCHS board.  This makes sense in terms of communication both ways.
  2. The unification vote that was announced as a success by Supt. Middig was partially enacted – the high school board was replaced by Eureka Elementary’s board, plus a mandated representative from Fortine and from Trego.  Rexford later entered Eureka as a consolidation – ownership of Rexford school and its history may show something:  If the necessary transactions were completed, the building would have been property of the consolidated district when Eureka took over Rexford district.  Additional research needs to be done on the old high school.  Joel explained that Eureka Elementary bought the old high school building from LCHS – that can provide a great deal of light to the questions.  If it was purchased from LCHS, that indicates that there is no unified district.  If it was sold at less than fair market value, that indicates the high school and elementary districts were acting as a unified district to the economic disadvantage of Fortine and Trego taxpayers.  If the building was still owned by LCHS, it strongly suggests that the transactions Superintendent Middig demanded were not completed.

  3. Whether LCHS and Eureka Elementary are unified or not, the LCHS board is set up to exploit Trego and Fortine.  I cannot even vote against the Eureka board member who votes to finance a new high school and sell the existing building to Eureka Elementary for $100 the minute the high school bonds are paid off . . . and a single Trego rep, not even connected with Trego’s board can’t change that.  A governing board with five votes out of seven can institute a policy that elementary students can be transported by high school buses from Trego, through Fortine, to Eureka Elementary.  This amount of power over the two small districts that Cindy Middig granted to Eureka Elementary seems not only unconscionable, but unconstitutional. 

  My thanks to Joel Graves and Suzy Rios for their help in reviewing the records – and demonstrated the old research adage: “Absence of Evidence is not evidence of absence.”

  Our high school board is not (and has not been for over 35 years) matching this description:

  Montana Code Annotated 2023

  TITLE 20. EDUCATION

  CHAPTER 3. ELECTED OFFICIALS

  Part 3. School District Trustees

  Membership Of Elected Trustees Of County High School District And Nomination Of Candidates

  20-3-356. Membership of elected trustees of county high school district and nomination of candidates. (1) The trustees of a county high school district must include the following:

  (a) four trustee positions filled by members residing in the elementary district where the county high school building is located; and

  (b) three trustee positions filled by members one of whom resides in each of the three trustee nominating districts in the territory of the high school district outside of the elementary district where the county high school building is located. The county superintendent shall establish the nominating districts, and, unless it is impossible, the districts must have coterminous boundaries with elementary district boundaries.

  (2) The provisions of 20-3-305 govern the nomination of candidates for the trustee election prescribed in this section.

  April 22, 2025
• Community

  Why Lincoln County Government Doesn’t Work

  I was reading an article that described several reasons why the government doesn’t work.  It was a generalized article, and as I thought of the additional challenges our three county commissioners have – beginning with the geographic challenges – I realized that it was time to develop a few articles that explain the challenges to good government that our county faces.

  It isn’t that we have bad county commissioners – as I was retiring from SDSU and moving back home, Lincoln County had one of those rare elections for commissioner . . . one with two good candidates, Mike Cole and Steve Curtiss.  Mike won – but whichever way the vote had gone, the county would have had a good commissioner.  After a single term, Mike Cole lost his bid for reelection to Josh Lecher.  This year, after a single term, Josh lost the primary to Noel Durum.   And whether he does a good job or a poor one, Noel is unlikely to win reelection at the end of his first term.

  To understand why Lincoln County’s government doesn’t work well requires a bit of study.  I’m going to start in 1909, when Lincoln County was carved out of Flathead.  Things started with a good, logical base.  The problem in function came 60 years later, with a change in geography.

  Lincoln County was created to duplicate the Kootenai’s drainage – and along with that, the county was connected by the railroad.  In 1909, the county towns (excepting Yaak and Sylvanite) were connected by the railroad.  A slow train, stopping at each station, connected what had been isolated communities.  It wasn’t a bad idea.

  Sixty years later, the gates at Libby Dam closed, and Ural, Warland, Rexford and Gateway were flooded.  The railroad was relocated to a spot where it runs through Stryker, Libby and Troy, stopping only at Libby.  Still, the railroad served as central to the county for a short time – but the link was the ranches and towns along the Kootenai.  When Libby Dam was complete and Koocanusa filled, the commercial link between north county and south county was severed.  J. Neils had linked lumber workers from Libby through Rexford for 60 years – but the Dam ended the railroad, the social linkages and the commercial timber connections.

  For the past half-century, Lincoln County has been disconnected, with a nearly unpopulated area that exists from Jennings Rapids to the mouth of Pinkham Creek – connected by the lonely highway 37.

  Next issue – why our elected county government lacks control over our hired bureaucracy.

  November 12, 2024
• Community

  Third Party and Libertarians Votes High This Election

  Historically, independent voters, and voters for minor third parties, do not get a large percentage of votes. Often, they’re considered “spoiler” candidates, who lose the election for someone by dra4wing critical support away during a close race. Or their thought of as simply “protest candidates” with no chance of winning.

  In Montana, for the presidential race and senate race, there were very small percentages (0-2%) for third party candidates. But further down on the ticket, libertarians often carried 3-4% of the vote.

  And there were some interesting exceptions. In the race for public service commissioner of district four, the contest was between a republican and an independent. The independent carried 45% of the vote.

  This year, in the races for state senate, there were more contested elections than not. In the one race that had three parties (District 45- Mineral County), the independent carried 8%.

  State representative races were less consistently contested. Thirteen were uncontested, all republican. There were two instances of three party races, and one contest between a libertarian and a major party. In Yellowstone County, the Libertarian running against a republican carried 42% of the vote.

  As for Lincoln county, we had a higher percentage of votes for libertarian candidates at the state level, and a 28% vote for the independent public service commissioner of district four (significantly less than the 45% she carried across the district, but higher than the percentage usually won in our county by democrats in equivalent races).

  Interestingly, in the race for county commissioner, the democrat candidate took 14% of the vote, while the libertarian carried 20%. Noel Duram, republican, carried only 66% of the vote. A majority, but a substantially smaller one than republicans have typically enjoyed.

  This year, only three of our county positions were uncontested: Clerk of District Court, Clerk and Recorder, County Superintendent of Schools. Unfortunately, this is still a tremendous percentage considering how few county positions were up for election. These were the only partisan county elections, other than the race for county commissioner and state representatives.

  November 12, 2024
• A Science for Everyone Demography

  Thinking Karl Marx

  I suspect that today’s average leftist or socialist has left a bunch of Karl Marx’ writings unread.  The big thing to remember is that Karl spent a lot of years studying capitalism, identified a lot of systemic inequities, then proposed communism as an alternative.  Since the closest thing to his proposed communism at the time was the utopian socialist agenda, and utopian socialism wasn’t a major player, he didn’t have a lot of examples of the inequities that occur under socialism.

  I tend to look at things from a demographic perspective – and I do use Marx’ Social Conflict Paradigm.  As we look at Marx’ terms, and attempt to fit them in with today’s political parties, we find a spot where his structure doesn’t match today’s parties.

  Karl had divisions among the Bourgeoisie – the haute bourgeoisie and the petit bourgeoise.  Marx expected the concentration and centralization of capital would, sooner or later, put the petit bourgeoisie into the ranks of the working class (like the peasants would become the proletariat regardless of their attachment to the land.  The petit bourgeoisie basically hired laborers and worked alongside them.  The haute bourgeoisie on the other hand, didn’t work alongside the wage slaves they hired.

  So if I look at the folks who drive the game, Soros, Gates, Musk, Zuckenberg, Dorsey, Pelosi, etc. qualify as haute bourgeoisie, while Rand Paul as an MD is a great example of the petit bourgeoisie.  I think Donald Trump might be a better fit as a petit bourgeoisie than as one of the haute bourgeoisie – the top cutoff line is definitely well above a million dollars.

  The difference between the proletariat and the lumpenproletariat is the difference between the skilled and semi-skilled workforce and the chronically unemployed.   Marx studied capitalism – but, born in Prussia in 1818, lived under the late stages of feudalism instead of something more similar to our system where votes select the leadership.  The university system at the time was just beginning to break away from church dominance – Marx hypothesized about a more ideal social system during a time of tremendous social change.  There is a bit of irony in the fact that Karl Marx could complete a Ph.D. but never hold a job other than journalism.  We live in a time when many, like Marx, are highly educated but do not find particularly great employment.

  Marx saw the haute bourgeoisie, the petit bourgeoisie, the proletariat, and the lumpenproletariat.  He didn’t foresee the emergence of a highly educated class that crossed into all those four groups.  That intelligentsia with minimal capital is a fifth group that screws up Marx’ hypothesis – largely by taking jobs in the bureaucracies of government and education.  Max Weber studied bureaucracies after Marx died.  To understand Marx, we need to remember he wrote hypothetically of a world that he understood largely from his studies of capitalism.  The new educated class may not have the property to fit well with the petit bourgeoisie, but they give orders and make good incomes.

  So if we look at today’s politics, we see the left, the left – as home to an alliance of haute bourgeoisie and the lumpenproletariat – something that Marx’ dialectic did not predict.  While Karl did see the petit bourgeoisie learning that their best interests were shared with the proletariat, he never saw the petit bourgeoisie allying with the working class proletariats to become the dissatisfied republican voters.  The educated class that Marx didn’t consider can either give orders like the petit bourgeoisie, follow orders like the proletariat workers, or be fundamentally as hard to employ as the lumpenproletariat – but they tend to identify with the left. 

  Some of Marx’ writings and thoughts created a solid foundation for my own work.  I appreciate the good work he did.  On the other hand, he died 140 years ago.  There are many things he did not foresee – and a college educated proletariat subgroup is one of them.  The college educated lumpenproletariat was likely even harder for Marx to envision. 

  February 15, 2022
• Community

  

  Following the Freedom Convoy

  Following events as they are happening takes a bit of work, and this more so than most. It has the advantage of being stretched out in time, so the reader isn’t overwhelmed by a bunch of things happening all at once, but finding what, and why and when proved more difficult.

  Here’s what I have found (incomplete, both due to the sheer amount of information, and my inability to read French).

  Headlines

  Friday Jan. 14– Freedom Convoy Facebook Page Created

  

  Sunday Jan. 16– GoFundMe page created by Tamara Lich

  Canadian Health Minister Defends the need for Trucker Vaccine Mandates (Global News)

  

  Tuesday Jan. 18- BC truckers to join convoy across Canada in protest of mandatory vaccine (Western Standard)

  

  Canada’s trucker vaccine rule is making freight and fruit pricier (Financial Post)

  Thousands of Canadian truckers plan ‘Freedom Convoy’ to protest COVID jab mandates (Life Site News)

  Thursday Jan. 20– Routes and Times for the Convoy became available.

  Adopt-A-Trucker set up on GiveSendGo, by Warroom Canada (actually probably happened sometime earlier)

  From coast to coast, truck drivers agains COVID-19 vaccination regulations have gathered under the pan-Canadian banner ‘Convoy for Freedom 2022’
  
  Thousands of truck drivers plan to slowly converge and meet on Parliament Hill on Jan. 28

  ‘Slow-roll’ protest planned by Quebec truckers against COVID-19 vaccination mandate (Global News)

  GoFundMe was nearly $580,000 (Global News) at this time.

  

  Saturday Jan. 22– First Convoy was scheduled to leave Prince Rupert, Canada at 7 AM

  Also seems to have been the start of Worldwide Freedom Rallies, so that also accounts for some protests going on within Canadian cities.

  

  Monday Jan. 24-Convoys were scheduled to depart from Calgary, Lloydminster, and Prince Albert for Regina

  Anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown protests erupted all over Toronto this weekend (blogTO)

  Truckers are the proxy protesters for a lot of angry Canadians (National Post, Opinion)

  “Freedom Convoy” set to pass through Regina on trek to Ottawa (620 ckrm)

  Alberta senator calls anti-mandate protesters a “systemic problem” (The Counter Signal)

  Trudeau slams ‘fear mongering’ over COVID vaccine mandate for truckers (National Post)

  Who’s Fuelling the Truckers Protesting Vaccine Mandates? (The Tyee)

  The trucker caravan from the Edmonton, Alberta, area alone yesterday was said to be more than 40 kilometers in length before arriving in Calgary to head east to Ottawa.”

  50,000 trucks heading toward Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates (Life Site)

  

  Wednesday Jan. 26– Convoy scheduled to depart Kenora for Thunder Bay

  Freedom Convoy 2022 was well received entering TB (Lake Superior News)

  Transport minister concerned trucker convoy becoming a lightning rod for far-right fringe (National Post)

  “Freedom Convoy” organizer says it’s not affiliated with extremist groups (Daily Hive)

  Massive Crowds Cheer as Canadian Truckers Lead ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protesting Vaccine Mandates (CBN News)

  Trucker convoy reaches Ontario amid fears of violence from fringe groups in Ottawa (blogTO)

  “The small fringe minority of people who are on the way to Ottawa who are holding unacceptable views that they are expressing do not represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other”

  -Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

  Friday Jan. 28– Convoys depart for Ottawa- with only two routes scheduled to reach Ottawa on Saturday

  

  Canada must confront the toxic ‘Freedom Convoy’ head-on (Washington Post, Opinion)

  Support for Freedom Convoy heats up despite Trudeau’s chill (Post Media)

  There’s a lot of trucks in Freedom Convoy 2022 but not nearly the 50,000 they claim (National Post)

  Freedom Convoy spokesman Benjamin Dichter joins Tucker Carlson to discuss the huge trucker protest (The Post Millennial)

  Canadian Freedom Truckers Inspire The World As they Get Closer to Ottawa To Stand Up To Trudeau (SGT Report)

  Ottowa police warn residents to stay away as ‘Freedom Convoy’ arrives in the city (The Peterborough Examiner)

  Trudeau concerned trucker convoy converging on Parliament Hill could turn violent (Vancouver Sun)

  Convoys of Canadian trucks are en route to Ottawa for a protest against vaccine mandates. (New York Times)

  Here’s the Latest Update After GoFundMe Froze Millions Raised for Canada’s Anti Vaccine Mandate ‘Freedom Convoy’ (Daily Wire)

  What the truckers want (and why Ottawa can’t give it to them (National Post)

  GoFundMe finally releases $6.3 million for Trucker Freedom Convoy (From the Trenches)

  Sunday Jan. 30– Protests Day 2

  Freedom Convoy: Truckers cause chaos in Ottawa after second day of protests (BBC)

  Multiple criminal investigations underway for ‘desecration’ of Canadian monuments after protests against Covid-19 mandates, police say (CNN)

  Freedom Convoy 2022 live updates: House to resume sitting, truckers plan new protests (National Post)

  ‘Freedom!’ Dutch Truckers Join Canadians in Convoying Against Lockdown Measures (Breitbart)

  Convoy protesters make for ‘a really tough day’ at Ottawa’s Shepherds of Good Hope shelter: CEO (Calgary Herald)

  Swastikas, other hate symbols displayed at Canadian protest against COVID Mandates (Times of Israel)

  ‘Tyrant On The Run’: Internet Blasts Trudeau For Fleeing Capital As ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protest Heads His Way (Daily Wire)

  Australian Freedom Convoy 2022 in pictures and videos (Faith Reporters)

  Police Report No Violence as Thousands Stage Peaceful Protest in Canadian Capital Over Mandates (Epoch Times)

  Justin Trudeau moved to a secret location as thousands in Canada protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for truckers and other restrictions (Yahoo News)

  Everything we know so far about the Nazi Flag guy (True North)

  Convoy to DC 2022 (Marshall Report)

  Saskatchewan premier issues letter in support of truckers: Police makes ‘no sense’ (The Gazette)

  Tuesday Feb. 1– Protests Day 4

  Truck blockade continues at U.S. border as RCMP ready to make arrests, tow vehicles (Lethbridge News)

  Freedom Convoy: Blockade at Alberta border crossing ‘unlawful’ (BBC)

  Canadian police move against truck blockade at US-Canada border (Freight Waves)

  Alberta towing companies reject requests to supply trucks to RCMP (Western Standard)

  Canada ‘Freedom Convoy’: Ottawa police set up hate crime hotline despite admitting protests remain peaceful (Tribune Media)

  Canada’s Freedom Convoy has perfectly exposed legacy media’s conceited bias (EU Times)

  Freedom Convoy refuses to free Ottawa (National Post)

  

  Israelis To Join Canada, Other Countries in ‘Convoy of Freedom’ (Israel 365 News)

  Canada convoy: Truckers ban media as Trudeau refuses meeting and calls protest an ‘insult to truth’ (Independent)

  After Over $10 Million Raised for Canadian Truckers, GoFundMe Freezes the Page (Pacific Pundit)

  Thursday Feb. 3 Protests Day 6

  Freedom convoy plans move to Winnipeg (The Carillon)

  Freedom Convoy: No plans to call in military, says Trudeau (BBC)

  RCMP and CBP say safety is top priority in the freedom convoy protests (Montana Right Now)

  

  Freedom convoy’s GoFundMe suspended following complaints from Ottawa government (Rebel News)

  Quebec Premier open to meeting with Quebec freedom convoy (Rebel News)

  Facebook and GoFundMe Attack Freedom Trucker Convoy in Attempt to Derail Workers’ Uprising (SGT Report)

  Justice Centre representing 2022 Truckers’ Freedom Convoy (Justice Centre)

  How Canada’s ‘freedom convoy’ was overtaken by a radical fringe (National Post)

  Toronto police, mayor say they won’t allow ‘Convoy for Freedom’ to negatively affect residents, businesses (Toronto.com)

  Toronto doing ‘everything we can’ to prevent repeat of Ottawa’s disruption at Saturday truck protests, Tory says (Toronto Star)

  Saturday Feb. 5 Protest Day 8

  ‘Freedom Convoy’ supporters roll through Niagara (Niagara Falls Review)

  Freedom Convoy: GoFundMe seizes funds of Canada ‘occupation’ (World Justice News)

  

  Crowds of demonstrators join rallies across Canada as Covid-19 trucker protests spread (CNN)

  As ‘Freedom Convoy’ hits Toronto,other cities, the anti-mandate movement is larger and faces more opposition than ever (Toronto Star)

  ‘Beginning of the end’: GoFundMe faces avalanche of backlash after yanking Freedom Convoy campaign (BizPac Review)

  GoFundMe Reverses Plans on ‘Freedom Convoy’ Donations, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Promises Investigation (MSN)

  Republican leaders commit to investigating GoFundMe because the company took down the Freedom Convoy’s fundraiser (Blaze Media)

  Here’s How the so-called Freedom Convoy is still raising ‘thousands of dollars’ per minute even without GoFundMe (Toronto Star)

  Elon Musk Responds to GoFundMe Canceling Freedom Convoy Fund For Canadian Truckers (Daily Wire)

  Freedom Convoy: Media SMEAR Campaign (SGT Report)

  Toronto sees massive Freedom Convoy protest packing city’s downtown (Rebel News)

  Farm Tractors in Toronto to Support the “Freedom” Convoy (Nouspique)

  Ottawa declares ‘state of emergency’ amid continuing blockades and raucous protests over covid measures (MSN)

  Watch: Driver Deliberately Hits 4 Protesters in One Of The Many Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protests (Clash Daily)

  Man plows SUV into Freedom Convoy protesters (News Wars)

  Hit-and-run injures protesters at Winnipeg freedom rally (Rebel News)

  

  Monday Feb. 7 Protest Day 10

  Backers of ‘Freedom Convoy’Cite Overcoming Communism in Their Support of Canadian Truckers (Singapore Daily News)

  Breaking: Ontario Superior Court grants injunction against honking in downtown Ottowa (Rebel News)

  Breaking: Ontario Liberals threaten to Confiscate trucks from peaceful protesters if they don’t leave Ottawa (The Post Millennial)

  UK Freedom Convoy tells GB News: ‘We’re not far-right, we want the freedom of choice’ (Global News)

  Trucker convoy: Statement calls police fuel confiscation ‘inhumane’ (Vancouver Sun)

  The Freedom Convoy has been peaceful and respectful, despite claims to the contrary (Life Site)

  Freedom Convoy movement spreads across the globe (European Renaissance)

  Ottawa is canceling police officers’ days off as the Freedom Convoy protests continue. Some have worked 2 weeks without a break. (Insider)

  GiveSendGo fundraiser for Freedom Convoy hits $4.5 million after GoFundMe shuts page down (The Gazette)

  Saturday January 15th- requirements for entry into Canada changed for unvaccinated (or partially vaccinated) truck drivers. While Canadian truck drivers can still enter Canada (and be subject to testing and quarantine requirements), those that are not Canadian will be turned away at the border.

  COVID-19 vaccine mandate, ongoing labour shortages challenging for Manitoba trucking industry (CBC News)

  Monday Jan. 17– Truckers Protest Vaccine Mandate at the Emerson Border Crossing

  

  Wednesday Jan. 19– Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) releases statement on Protests- in short, they do not support them.

  The trucking industry was caught by surprise on Jan. 12 when the Canada Border Services Agency sent a statement to media saying that unvaccinated and partially vaccinated truck drivers crossing into Canada from the United States would remain exempt from the vaccine mandate that had long been expected to come into force last weekend.

  The federal government reversed that the next afternoon with a statement that said the information shared the day before had been sent in error.  The exemption would still end Jan. 15, meaning truck drivers would need to be fully vaccinated if they wanted to avoid a two-week quarantine and pre-arrival molecular test for COVID-19 before crossing into Canada.

  Freedom Convoy Truckers Protesting Covid Mandates Travel to Ottawa (Discover Weyburn)

  Friday Jan. 21–Truck convoy to pass through Toronto in protest against vaccine mandates (blogTO)

  A GoFundMe has raised more than $800,000 to support the truckers, and fundraiser organizer Tamara Lich demands the government stop all mandates.”

  blogTO

  Convoy of truckers against vaccine mandates ready to roll on Ottowa (Toronto Sun)

  Sunday Jan. 23– Convoy was scheduled to leave Prince George at 7 AM, bound for Calgary, while another departed for Calgary from Vancouver.

  Hundreds of truckers headed to Ottawain ‘Freedom Rally’ convoy against vaccine mandate (CBC News)

  Rallies also occurred at overpasses.

  GoFundME over $2.5 Million (CBC News)

  Tuesday Jan. 25– Convoys were scheduled to depart from Regina for Kenora

  ‘Freedom Rally’ truckers convoy hits Ontario- picking up Conservative political support as it rolls (Toronto Star)

  Funds frozen after millions raised for truckers protesting vaccine mandate (CTV News)

  Trucker convoy might not get the $5 million it raised to protest vaccine mandates in Canada (blogTO)

  

  Trudeau Is Ignoring The Freedom Convoy Because He Knows His Agenda Is Failing (National Telegraph, Opinion)

  Canadian Truckers Lead ‘Freedom Convoy’ To Ottawa To Protest Vaxx Mandate (Daily Wire)

  Thursday Jan. 27– Several Groups rolling on thursday; The group from Thunder Bay scheduled bound for Sault STe. Marie, with additional groups departing from St. Johns, Enfield, Riviere-du-Loup, Windsor, Sarnia, Niagra and Toronto

  

  Canadian ‘freedom’ truckers massive vaccine mandate protest convoy may smash world record (Fox News)

  Canadians Furious After Trudeau’s ‘Fringe Minority’ Comment As Thousands of Truckers Head to Capital (Daily Wire)

  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is isolating after learning of COVID exposure (Toronto Star)

  Freedom Convoy plans to gridlock Ottawa until all vaccine mandates repealed (Edmonton Journal)

  Elon Musk tweets in support of Canadian truckers ahead of ‘Freedom Rally’ protest (MSN)

  Large Amount of support for Freedom Convoy (Lake Superior News)

  This trucker thing probably isn’t going to end well (National Post)

  Polls Show Popular Support for Trucker Convoy in Canada Despite Trudeau’s Claim it Represents ‘Fringe Minority’ (American Greatness)

  Saturday Jan. 29– Last two convoys scheduled to arrive in Ottowa

  

  Freedom Convoy: Why Canadian truckers are protesting in Ottawa (BBC News)

  Trucker convoy rumbles into Canada’s capital carrying COVID and mandate beefs (Freight Waves)

  Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ of up to 50,000 truckers begins to arrive in Ottawa ahead of a weekend of protests against the vaccine requirements to cross (Canada Free Press)

  Washington Post political cartoon labels trucker convoy as ‘fascism,’ which ignites fierce firestorm: ‘Devoid of wit or truth. Shameful and pathetic.’ (Blaze Media)

  Demonstrators descend upon Sask. Legislative Building for ‘solidarity convoy’ opposing vaccine mandate for truckers (CTV News)

  Fact Check: Canada truck convoy not an official Guinness World Record (Yahoo News)

  Freedom Convoy 2022, Saturday: Thousands pack Parliament Hill for protest (National Post)

  

  Province in Canada bans gathering along highway ‘in support of the 2022 Freedom Convoy’ (BizPac Review)

  Trudeau Flees as trucker convoy Enters Ottawa (The Week)

  Trucks traveled great distances to be in Ottawa, so did police snipers (Toronto Sun)

  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau silent as thousands join truckers’ protest in Ottawa (National Post)

  Justin Trudeau and his family flee Canadian capital Ottawa as up to 50,000 ‘Freedom Convoy’ anti-vaccine mandate truckers arrive at his office -days after he dismissed them as a ‘small fringe minority’ (Daily Mail)

  The “Freedom Convoy” is being prepared in Europe (French Daily News)

  Ottowa Freedom Convoy Peaceful (Lake Superior News)

  Monday Jan. 31– Protests Day 3

  Is Freedom Convoy Coming to America? (Transportation Nation)

  Freedom Convoy Organizer Tearfully Tells of Canadians Helping Truckers (Daily Wire)

  “Freedom Convoy” draws support and criticism (Toronto Star)

  More than $9 million raised for so-called Freedom Convoy (Daily Hive)

  Soup kitchen harassment to confederate flags: Controversial moments at Canadian trucker convoy protest (Independent)

  Freedom Convoy dismantles stereotypes about who is opposed to vaccine mandates (National Post)

  Washington Post, MSNBC trash Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ truckers: ‘It’s a cult’ (Fox News)

  

  Wednesday Feb. 2
  Protests Day 5

  

  Canadian trucker ‘Freedom Convoy’: 2 charged, 13 active investigations (Fox News)

  ‘Significant element’ from U.S. involved in self-described ‘Freedom Convoy’ in Canada, official says (Washington Post)

  

  New developments in border protest, local businesses see impacts (Montana Right Now)

  Freedom Convoy Working? Saskatchewan Dropping All COVID Restrictions, Vax Passports By End Of Month (Sign of the Times)

  Freedom Convoy: Organizers pledge to stay ‘as long as it takes’ (BBC News)

  Freedom Convoy: Police Move in as public turns on truckers blocking US-Canada border (Independent)

  Ottowa police may seek military assistance as ‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters dig in (Toronto Star)

  Day 5: Freedom Convoy still strong in Ottawa (Rebel News)

  Friday Feb. 4 Protest Day 7

  My First Week in Canada– A bit lengthy, but written by someone in Ottawa

  ‘Freedom Convoy’ Lawyers Demand GoFundMe Release Fundraising Haul (Daily Wire)

  #Breaking: GoFundMe refuses to release money donated to Freedom Convoy (True North)

  Majority of Canadians disagree with ‘freedom convoy’ on vaccine mandates and lockdowns (McMaster University)

  West Virginia Attorney General Slams GoFundMe, Urges Residents To Report Deceptive Practices After ‘Freedom Convoy’ Page Shut Down (Daily Wire)

  Ottawa Police ADMIT to lobbying GoFundMe to withhold funds from Canadian truckers (The Post Millenial)

  

  Ottawa police promise heavy crackdown on Freedom Convoy, despite data showing crime down in Ottawa (Rebel News)

  Liberal MP compares freedom convoy funding to “terrorist financing” (True North)

  Fact Check: Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ protest didn’t surpass size of country’s army (Yahoo News)

  We need protections from the ‘freedom convoy’ in Ottawa that don’t involve the police (Queens Journal)

  Counterprotesters vs Freedom Convoy (notTV)

  Military tells Ottawa to find someone else to evict the truckers (National Post)

  Freedom Convoy Expected to Grow! Truckers Vow to Continue “Until It’s A Free Nation Again (SGT Report)

  Where did all of the THOUSANDS of trucks end up in Ottawa? Diverted by police AWAY from downtown (Rebel News)

  

  Truck convoy: $9.8M class-action lawsuit filed against “Freedom Convoy”; GoFundMe ends fundraising campaign; Protesters spotted in the suburbs; Kitchen erected in Confederation Park (The World News)

  ‘Vancouver doesn’t want you here’: Mayor addresses Saturday’s planned protest convoy (Vancouver is Awesome)

  Possibly a Freedom Convoy getting started in Berlin, but my German is as poor as my French, so I’m not certain.

  Sunday Feb. 6 Protest Day 9

  Breaking: Man charged in Winnipeg car attack on convoy protest is radical-left anarchist (Rebel News)

  Freedom Convoy Raises $2M on GiveSendGo After GoFundMe Removes Campaign (Newsweek)

  ‘Freedom Convoy’ protest exposes hypocrisy in Ottawa (Toronto Star, Opinion)

  Canadian policecall the Freedom Convoy a ‘nation-wide insurrection’ (The Blaze)

  GoFundMe unable to stop donations to Freedom Convoy (Lake Superior News)

  Ottowa Police Back Down to Freedom Convoy Protesters (The Liberty Beacon)

  Cruz Takes Action In Pushing Federal Agency To Investigate GoFundMe For Canceling Freedom Convoy (Daily Wire)

  

  Ottawa Police Seize Fuel From Freedom Convoy Protest Site, Make More Arrests (The Epoch Times)

  The Freedom Convoy dance part in downtown Ottawa continues (Canada Free Press)

  Several people arrested for bringing gas to ‘Freedom Convoy’ demonstrators in Ottawa, police say (CTV News)

  Breaking: Police begin ARRESTING convoy protesters outside parliament (Rebel News)

  ‘Possibly Illegal behavior’: Ashley Moody blasts GoFundMe after Freedom Convoy Flip (Florida Politics)

  Note: If you want something up to date, go elsewhere. We come out on Tuesdays.

  Not much on the blockades at the border? No, that’s a separate post.
  
  If you’re interested in following this in real time, your best bet would seem to be using social media and watching live-streams.

  February 8, 2022
• Laws, Ordinances & Regulations

  Canadian Libertarian Leader on Mandates

  Tim Moen, from up near Edmonton, has led the Canadian Libertarian party for the past 7 years.  His views regarding the unacceptability of pandemic mandates are available at timmoen.net.  He doesn’t write like the late L. Neil Smith – and the article I’ve linked to is definitely beyond Biden. 

  Moen starts with details on the non-aggression principle – while he describes it as completely as Smith did, it’s a bit harder read:

  Libertarians hold that the only morally legitimate use of force is in response to the initiation of force against a person or their property. So when we are determining whether the use of force is ethical (or legal in a libertarian order) we need to know whether the force was initiatory or defensive (in response to initiatory force).”

  He adds

  The argument being made by radical centrists (ie most politicians and establishment bureaucrats) is that all sorts of force must be used during a pandemic in the name of protecting people or decreasing pandemic spread or death. Libertarians do not judge government force (policy) based on whether it had the desired outcome, we judge it based on whether that force is moral or immoral, defensive or initiatory.”

  Moen offers thoughts on essential and non-essential workers:

  During the covid pandemic the government divided people into two classes; essential workers and non-essential workers. Ironically the language “essential worker” used to be used by government to force striking employees to go to work and now its being used to force people to not work. If you disobey government orders and open your “non-essential” comic book store, restaurant, or movie theatre you’d get some warnings and eventually men with guns would come and use force to shut you down. Is this force justified?

  A business owner is not initiating force against anyone by opening his store and serving customers. The customers are not initiating force against anyone by patronizing that store. So any force used against these peaceful people engaged in consenting activity ought to be considered criminal. It is not defensive force because it is not responding to any initiation of force. On the other hand if a person in that store is covid positive then they are initiating force against others assuming that their exhaled air containing harmful contagious pathogens is being inhaled by those around them. Force would be justified against the force initiator but not the innocent individuals.”

  It isn’t an easy read – but he does make his points and reasoning clear – which is a lot different than most of the political rhetoric we read.

  September 28, 2021