genuinewitty.com – Page 21 – Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger

May 07

Who’s The “Settler Ally” Taking The Money For The Tsleil-Waututh’s Case Against The NEB?

By grenouf in Council of Canadians, Dogwood Initiative, First Nations, Sierra Club, Thomas Mulcair, TIDES Canada, TIDES Foundation, unifor

Irwin Oostinde- Ex poverty pimp, current 'settler ally'

Irwin Oostindie- Ex poverty pimp, current ‘settler ally’

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation in BC announced last week that they’re filing a legal challenge against the National Energy Board’s review process. Their allegations include that the NEB failed to properly consult the Tsleil-Waututh on the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline “on key decisions about the environmental assessment and regulatory review of the project”; and that the NEB’s evaluation process doesn’t consider external factors (like storage facilities & tanker terminals).

The story got a fair amount of coverage in the media, but most journalists simply regurgitated the press release. As usual, reporters ignored key questions including; “who’s behind it?” and “where is the money coming from?”. Of course, had they asked these questions, the gig would have been up before it got started- looking behind the curtain we find the same cast of activists and NGOs we see at every other protest and action.

May 04

Talking With Ezra Levant About Robocall Rallies And American Style Dirty Politics (Parts I & II)

By grenouf in Ezra Levant

Part I:

May 03

[Updated] Anarchist Mayhem In Vancouver: Three Pipeline Protesters Arrested!

By grenouf in DTES, Occupy Vancouver, Unist'ot'en Camp, VPD

Masked up pipeline protesters on E. Hastings St.

Masked up pipeline protesters in ‘solidarity’ with the Unist’ot’en action camp

Update: Someone just shared an interesting video of Sasha Wiley-Shaw (sharing a stage with NDP MP Libby Davies) saying that Davies “has been a political mentor of mine since my childhood”, and then discussing the incident in 2012. Very interesting, and answers a few questions…

Update 2: The arrested cyclist is Jakub Markiewicz, whose prior claim to fame was being arrested after filming a Vancouver mall’s security staff arresting someone. Garth Mullins published an interview with him on his website that ignores the fact the cyclist had already been warned, ignoring his “Help I’m being oppressed” line, and making no mention that the organizers called for violence against the police.

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Anarchist May Day marches are a relatively new phenomenon in Vancouver, this year was the third. Last year’s parade was wild, featuring a group of masked thugs with flaming torches marching through downtown streets; and at one point, swarming the entrance of the Pidgin Restaurant (torches and all). Many people questioned Vancouver Police’s lack of reaction to the flaming torches- some predicted this could lead to an escalation.

There were no flaming torches at this year’s march, but the militancy was still there. The event began with a series of speeches that unabashedly called for violence, and three people were arrested after clashes with Vancouver Police. In-between all this, protesters taunted the cops, blasted loud music, lit fireworks, and shut-down traffic on many downtown streets. All of this hapened in the name of the Unist’ot’en Camp, an anarchist influenced indigenous squat on Crown lands near Smithers, BC.

May 02

Will The Unist’ot’en Camp Be This Summer’s Clayoquot Sound? (And which NGOs are taking the money?)

By grenouf in Council of Canadians, Harsha Walia, Unist'ot'en Camp, Zoe Blunt

Harjap Grewal & Harsha Walia: Dangerous people who profess violence…

Last December when a joint review panel recommended that the government approves Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project, it didn’t take long for the activist community to declare war; promising a long hot summer of protests, blockades, and (potentially) sabotage and violence. Ben West of Forest Ethics encapsulated the mood well, telling the CBC:

“If these pipelines are pushed through, this could make Clayoquot Sound look like a walk in the park.”

Clayoquot Sound is a remote area of mid-western Vancouver Island that, back in the 90’s, became the site for the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. Thousands of people gathered to protest MacMillan Bloedel’s logging activities, many were peaceful, but there were some who came to engage in more militant activities like spiking trees and getting aggressive with the police (an activity much beloved by the anarchist contingents).

So, when and where will see the next Clayoquot? As always, the best way to figure it out is to follow the money…

Apr 26

Robocall “Scandal”: An Insider’s View Of A Shameless Political Hitjob (Feat. LeadNow.ca)

By grenouf in Judy Rebick, Politics, Robocalls

Libby Davies: "I think what we should most be concerned about is that American dirty politics has now come to Canada"

Libby Davies: “What we should most be concerned about is that American dirty politics has now come to Canada”

UPDATE: I’ve made some changes to the chart, adding the TIDES Foundation and their New Age plastic shaman centre Hollyhock. I also added the Ottawa event, where Brigette DePape spoke. The results were quite telling…

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When I first read about the Robocall scandal in February, 2012, the allegations shocked me. If it was true that the Conservative Party was using auto-diallers to guide voters en-masse to the wrong polling locations, it would have been an affront to our country’s democracy. There wasn’t much information available back then, but I did my best to dig-in and see what I could find.

A couple of days later I saw an event posted on Facebook by a man named Jon Allan, a meeting to plan a protest. Wanting to learn more about the Robocall issue I figured this could be a good place to start. I also had an idea I wanted to share- that, rather than using all of the scandal’s energy to complain about the past, why not use this as an opportunity to get more people to vote in the future! I’d led US voter registration drives back when I was in university, and thought we could replicate the idea by setting-up a table and a laptop.

Walking into the meeting, one would never had expected it was anything but grassroots. We sat in the basement of Trinity-St Paul’s United Church, in a room used for teaching small children- it was almost too grassroots. Then as time passed and the first protest came to fruition, it quickly became obvious I was observing an AstroTurf fraud.

Apr 23

Why Should Toronto Care About Denzil Minnan-Wong’s Foreign Travel Funding? (Feat. Rob Ford)

By grenouf in Denzil Minnan-Wong, Rob Ford, Toronto

Denzil Minnan-Wong: Thumbs down to chairs, thumbs up to foreign travel expenses!

City Council’s executive committee recommended today that councillors who receive external funding for trips outside the country should provide financial details. It’s a logical request, one often requested of people in businesses, universities, or virtually any organization with sensible governance. There are important reasons to do this; partly to keep the bean counters happy, but also to ensure there aren’t conflict of interest problems.

Rob Ford tore into councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong today for a trip he took to Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam in 2013. Ford said that Minnan-Wong claimed $1,265 for ‘meals and incidentals’ over 18 days- what wasn’t exposed was how much the Canada-Vietnam Friendship Association paid for his hotel and airfare (nor who paid for his visa service).

In an interview with the Toronto Star Minnan-Wong stated that only 7 days of the trip were expensed, and the rest of the time was personal travel. He then kicked into spin mode saying:

“Is the mayor complaining because taxpayers didn’t pay for expenses paid by the organizing group? If he’s complaining that a third party is paying for it, doesn’t that save the taxpayers money?”

Okay, so nothing to see here, right?

Apr 21

Letter To Kristyn Wong-Tam About The Cost Of Policing Toronto’s Events (Feat. Christopher Hume & QUAIA)

By grenouf in Kristyn Wong-Tam, Politics, Toronto Star

Kristyn Wong-Tam is not amused (neither is Your Humble Narrator)

Hi Kristyn,

I was (begrudgingly) reading the Toronto Star this afternoon when I came across Christopher Hume’s article about how Toronto Police officers Make Out Like Bandits when working to provide security at our city’s events. I don’t agree with you very often, but I must say that I’m absolutely on the same page. I’ve covered dozens of our city’s events, and have always been uncomfortable with the amount of money that’s been spent on policing- that said, there have also been disturbing incidents where the police failed to show up and left dangerous people free to wreak havoc.

Unfortunately, though we both agree that the costing of policing the city’s events is often egregious, it appears that there’s a big gap between us when it comes to analysing the root causes. While it’s most certainly true that the payoffs of all that event-related overtime are a great way for Chief Bill Blair to keep his troops happy (Ontario’s Sunshine List says it all), it’s incredibly naïve to write-off the fact that city events face some clear and present dangers.

Of course, I’m being incredibly generous using the word ‘naïve’- your history indicates you know a lot more about what’s going on than you claim…

Apr 21

Kevin Annett Over-Celebrates 4/20, Declares He’s Dissolved the Catholic Church! (Feat. Henry Makow)

By grenouf in Cathy Walker, Kevin Annett

Kevin Annett: Davin Ouimet’s “bud”dy & mentor

In a week where the world has been captivated by the intersection of the earth and the moon, there’s been another intersection this week. Sunday was not only the Christian holiday of Easter, but it was also 4/20- a date when marijuana enthusiasts around the world gather to light-up a joint at 4:20pm. Tens of thousands of pot smokers around the world gathered (after church, presumably) to imbibe their beloved Mary Jane- and, inevitably, some individuals made fools of themselves. Some idiots went as far as to set a palm tree on fire in Victoria, BC.

There’s no better proof of the old adage that “the world is full of idiots” than BC’s homegrown con-artist extraordinaire Kevin Annett. Not that he’s an idiot, far from it, the man has been able to get 100’s of people around the world to believe he’s the one man who can save the earth from the evils of the Catholic Church. The real idiots are Annett’s followers- people so desperate to see change in the world (or so corrupt) that they’re willing to believe his tall tales without demanding some sort of evidence.

There’s a sucker born every minute…

Apr 17

TDSB Administration Cancels Anarchist Field Trip! (And The Failure Of Their Safe Space Policy)

By grenouf in Sakura Saunders, Student School, TDSB

sakura-saunders-profiting-off-line-9-enbridge-hijacking

Sakura Saunders: Role model for The Student School

Last Friday this site broke the story of how pupils at Toronto’s Student School planned to join a group of anarchists at their annual protest against Barrick Gold’s AGM. Led by American professional protester Sakura Saunders, the anti-Barrick protests are perfect example of how Toronto’s union affiliated activist community has evolved into a distasteful self-parody.

Many readers were alarmed to hear that a school in the Toronto District School Board had approved their students to engage in illegal activities (side-by-side with a convicted and imprisoned ringleader of the violence during the 2010 G20). That said, people who have been following the antics of the TDSB weren’t really surprised at all- our city’s school system has become highly politicised.

The word started to get out about the Student School’s plans, the story got linked by a couple other websites, people started to speak up- and, today, Your Humble Narrator has some great news to share…

Apr 12

Save The Whales! Screw The Auditors? (Feat. PHS, Sarah Blyth & KPMG)

By grenouf in Gregor Robertson, Sarah Blyth, Vancouver

Sarah Blyth: Defender of whales and poverty pimps

The Vancouver Aquarium is a beautiful facility, the first time Your Humble Narrator visited I was truly impressed- they’ve got great lighting, informative displays, and an amazing selection of creatures to peer at. That said, it was somewhat disturbing when we got to the whales. The first question I asked myself was “how did they let this happen”? Then I leaned over to my partner and commented “How does a city with such a progressive government allow this to happen? You’d think someone would have spoken out about this!”.

Six years later, they’ve finally spoken out. Vancouver Parks Board commissioners Sarah Blyth and Constance Barnes announced on April 5th that they want the Vancouver Aquarium to shut down their whale and dolphin enclosures. Blyth admitted this isn’t a new issue, and that the Parks Board has been going back and forth on it for the past 20 years. Since then, Mayor Gregor Robertson has come out in agreement.

This leads us to the question; why is this issue coming to the forefront right now? We’ve known about the problem for decades, Victoria’s Sealand of the Pacific was shut-down in 1991. Blyth’s story is that they’re motivated by Blackfish; a movie about whales kept in captivity that was released in December 2013. But is there more to the story, perhaps it’s meant to distract us from something?