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Ontario Universities Ordered to Protect Free Speech, of Face Budget Cuts

Ontario’s new Premier, Conservative Doug Ford, ordered colleges and universities across the province to come up with free speech policies.

They have until January 1, 2019 (one semester), to comply.

This is welcome news at least in principle.   Free speech must unrestricted, otherwise it no longer is free.

The original program from TV Ontario, a publicly funded show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YdFlKaJv4g

Audio of the infamous Shepherd/Rambukanna/Pimlott/Joel recording

Lindsay Shepherd/Dave Rubin, Decemebr 1, 2017.

It will be interesting to see the policy once it is actually fleshed out, and how the schools will deal with it.

Further, will schools still be able to censor (even if on a reduced basis) by claiming that topics are hate speech or inciting violence?

It will be of interest to read up on the Chicago Principles, aka the Chicago Statement, which serves as a model for free speech and open inquiry in the U.S.

To fully understand this proposal, some backstory and context is necessary for the readers.

One of the main incidents was in November 2017, when Wilfred Laurier University graduate student Lindsay Shepherd made international news.  The Waterloo university staff had reprimanded her for showing part of a TVO clip (which was public TV anyway).

Needless to say the incident (which was recorded), caused a backlash against WLU specifically, and universities generally.  Lindsay herself made many media appearances, and took free speech/open inquiry as a calling.

Shepherd founded the Laurier Society for Open Inquiry, L-SOI, and has deliberately sought speakers with different and controversial viewpoints.   One event was a debate on pro-choice v.s. pro-life.

However, one event was cancelled when Faith Goldy was scheduled to talk, on March 20.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/03/20/faith-goldy-talk-at-wilfrid-laurier-university-shut-down-by-fire-alarm-after-protest.html

As an aside, Lindsay Shepherd and Jordan Peterson (the prof referred to as ”Hitler”), both have legal claims pending against Wilfrid Laurier University, and the 3 staff members from the meeting: Nathan Rambukkana, Herbert Pimlott, Adria Joel.

Suppression of free speech is not at all limited to Canadian schools.    There are many examples of this happening in the U.S. as well.

(a) In 2015, Mizzou (University of Missouri), was involved in a series a race-related events.   It also involved a faculty member, Melissa Click, asking to ”get some muscle over here” to remove a journalist covering an event.

(b) In 2017, there were violent riots across Berkeley University in Berkely, California.  Berkeley holds its ”free speech week” every year.   Typically conservative and controversial speakers are invited to give new views to students.  While protests are frequent, this onethis one ended in arson, when Milo Yiannopoulis came to speak.

(c) In 2017, In Evergreen State College (in Olympia, Washington), biology professor Bret Weinstein actually caused a mob takeover of the school when he emailed that the ”day of action” was a bad policy.  This was a day where whites were to ”leave for a day”, an inversion of the ”day of absence”, where black students and faculty leave for a day.

(d) Less dramatic incidents of speakers being shouted down are  rampant throughout the news and on YouTube.  An interesting observation is that it is almost exclusively ”left-wing” protesters trying to silence ”right-wing” speakers.

Author’s Note:  This is certainly a step in the right direction.  While I certainly applaud any news the promotes and defends free speech, there are many details I would love to ask Premier Ford.  Here are a few:

(1) Will colleges/universities still be able to ban groups they do not agree with, such as men’s issues awareness, and pro-life groups?  Will they be able to weasel around this law by saying it ”protects marginalized people”?

https://chimeratsk.com/canadian-universities-fighting-against-free-speech-and-free-association-in-court/

(2) Will colleges/universities still be able to ban political groups and talks it disagrees with?  One such example being University of Toronto banning the Canadian Nationalist Party, even though the founder specifically says they are not a race-based party.

U of T bars Canadian Nationalist Party from hosting rally on campus

(3) What measures will be put in place to ensure that colleges/universities can’t still suppress free speech under false claims of hate or bigotry?

(4) How will this actually be enforced?

I left university years ago.  Thankfully, as a STEM student I largely avoided this nonsense.  However, evidence of attempted suppression is everywhere.  I too despise actual hate speech and calls to violence, but false claims seem to be a convenient tactic to simply silence dissenting views from being heard. Still, this is a promising step.

Interestingly, Shepherd herself has questioned the merit and effect of “forcing” universities and colleges to adopt free speech guidelines. After all, how committed can they really be?

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Chris Cuomo of CNN Defends Antifa Violence, Free Speech be Damned


(From Bearing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0iXllUjIqI
(From Fox News)

Yes, this is old by the time that this post goes up.  However, just putting in my 2 cents.

Chris Cuomo, a ”Journalist” working on the American station CNN, shocked the U.S. public by defending the group Antifa.

This group showed up for ”Unite the Right 2”, in Charlottesville, where white nationalists were going to march.  This was on the anniversary of the violence last year that left 1 dead, and many injured.

However, there were only about 25 white nationalists, who left quite quickly.  But there were thousands of counter-demonstraters, seemingly with no one to stop.

Without an enemy to oppose, Antifa decided to attack members of the public, including journalists.

Antifa, short for Anti-Fascist, or (anti first amendment, as it is often denegraded), is a left wing semi-organised Communist group that has a lengthy history of committing violent acts to shut down speakers they accuse of ”hate speech” or of ”endangering others”.

While Antifa is mostly known in the U.S., there are branches of it that operate in other western countries.

Yes, preventing violence …. by engaging in violence.

Of course, this makes sense because they conflate ”ideas” with actual ”violence”.  Others speaking right leaning ideas is violence apparently.

What is truly disgusting this that Cuomo, who pretends to be a journalist, has gone full blown activist by defending the group, saying that their violence is not the same — morally — as people preaching hate.

    Author’s Views
There are very disturbing facts about Cuomo’s monologue.

First: Cuomo is a journalist, at least he claims to be.  The 1st Amendment is sacrosanct in the American way of life, enshrining free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom of association and assembly.  The 1st Amendment is something necessary to protect free speech and a free press.  How a journalist on a major news network shrugs that off is stunning.

Second: Cuomo doesn’t believe that people shouting hate should have the right to speak.  Certain people are disgusting, yes, but they do have the right to speak their vile garbage.  Words, unless they are: (1) threats; or (2) a call to violence are not actual violence.  Sickening, but yes, this is a defense to racist people.

Third: Cuomo, in his monologue, omits that Antifa routinely attacks people who are right leaning, though not white supremacists.   This happens to speakers such as Ben Shapiro, Milo Yiannopolous, Ann Coulter, and many others.  Being an outspoken conservative does not equate to being a nazi.

Fourth: Cuomo seems fairly indifferent to Antifa attacking innocent bystanders, and yes, even journalists.  Perhaps collateral damage is okay as long as the intent is good.

Fifth: Cuomo is disingenuously being selective about which violence is ”wrong”, and which is ”morally right”.  Double standards should not exist if one is morally consistent.

Sixth: Cuomo omits that Antifa has been classfied as a terrorist organization by the Department of Homeland Security.  Yes, the Feds consider them terrorists.

Seventh: Cuomo doesn’t seem to register that these ”defenders of the people” almost always conceal their faces with masks or bandannas, yet the ”bad guys” never do.  Odd.

My thought is that censorship should be a last resort, not a first.  It is very unsettling that some are completely fine with taking away people’s right to speak.  Calling someone a racist, or calling their words or ideas hate speech doesn’t make it so.   And even if it is, why start down the path of censorship?

Wise words: I disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.

Chris Cuomo is a disgrace to journalism.

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Measured Discussion on Multiculturalism is Apparently Off-Limits

Andrew Scheer (left) and Maxime Bernier (Right)

August 13, 2018 — Maxime Bernier, a Member of Federal Parliament in Canada (and a senior member of the Conservative Party), caused a stir when he sent off 6 tweets.  He questioned to what limits the push for diversity and multiculturalism should  go in Canada.

To disclose bias right away: political correctness gets us nowhere.  Truth and open discussion are valued over censorship anytime.  And Bernier was tweeting what many people believe, specifically that there has to be some limit to the push for ”endless diversity”.

Recent ”diversity” moves include: (a) gender quotas for filling cabinet positions; (b) letting terrorists with dual citizenship keep their Canadian citizenship; (c) marching in gay pride parades while endorsing religions who want to slaughter gays; (d) calling it offensive to label honour killings as ”barbaric”; (e) Motion M-103, the anti-blasphemy legislation; (f) publicly saying that Canada has and should have no core identity; (g) altering the national anthem to make it ”gender neutral”; (h) making it mandatory for MPs to support abortion, but taking no position on sex-selective abortions, which target female babies; (i) comparing ISIS fighter to Italian, Polish and Chinese immigrants; (j) refusing to denounce religious and cultural practices which are incompatible with a free and equal society,  and so on…..

In all fairness to Bernier, he never called for anyone to be prohibited from entering the country, to be mistreated, or suggested that people are not equal.  He did question: (1) dividing Canadians into ever smaller groups and ”Balkanizing” the country; (2) accepting ideologies which are truly incompatible with Western societies; and (3) obsession with identity politics does nothing to unify a country.  All of these things seem very reasonable.

Left leaning Liberals and the NDP had a field day, calling Bernier a bigot and calling for his ouster from the parties.  That is no surprise.  Virtue signalling is how the left operates these days.

The more right leaning Canadian Nationalist Party enjoyed it as well, albeit for different reasons.  Members took it as proof that the Conservatives are too weak to stand up for a strong unified Canada. Here is an article from the Nationalist Party of Canada.

The real surprise (at least to me), was how reluctant fellow Conservatives were to support him.  They claim to be against political correctness and the silencing of open discussion, but showed true hypocracy here. The media condemned Bernier here, here, here, and here.

Outside Parliament and the mainstream media however, there has been large public support for Bernier and his having the courage to at least address a difficult topic.

It seems unlikely that Maxime will be kicked out of the party, if for no other reason than it will destroy any claim that Conservatives value free speech.  However, the damage seems to be already done.

And another observation: go to almost any ”multi-culture” city and you will find it segregated along cultural and ethnic lines.  This is not the government’s doing, but rather people doing it voluntarily.

Final Thoughts: Most don’t have a problem with people of other races, and (for to a degree) cultures living in Canada.  Where the line should be drawn is: (i) when the goal seems to actually be to break the country down; (ii) the cultures are truly incompatible; (iii) when asking valid questions becomes hate speech.

People are equal.  Ideas are not.  Ideas should be openly discussed, including ones that involve the direction the country is going.

Here is Maxime Bernier’s Twitter account, and specifically, here are the INFAMOUS 6, which caused the stir.

Update to the Story
Maxime Bernier left the Conservative Party on August 23. Bernier talked about many policy differences, while Scheer cited some personal differences. Bernier founded the (Communist sounding) People’s Party.

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Canadian Universities Fighting Against Free Speech and Free Association in Court

February 28, 2018 — Universities like to champion themselves as defenders of different peoples and ideologies.

However, while the former may be true, anyone who has ever spent time at one knows that the latter is not true.

In this case, 3 Ontario post-secondary institutes were facing legal challenges.  But now a Superior Court has ruled in their favour.

They are: (1) Ryerson University for refusing to grant official status for men’s issues awareness, and both the (2) Durham College & UOIT and (3) University of Toronto Mississauga for refusing official status for pro-life groups.

Here are a few links to related media:

CLICK HERE CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE CLICK HERE

Student Union fees are mandatory at colleges and universities.   However, Student Unions are in effect able to force money from students whose views they censor.

There is no open to ”opt-out” if the school promotes certain views, or censors others.

A group dedicating to raising awareness to how issues such as higher suicide rates, job loss, courts that are stacked against them, and a general lack of resources for men is not openly hostile to women.  Regardless of some feminists will say, men are not the enemy.

Likewise, a group who wants to spread their views that unborn children should have rights is not an enemy to women.   Regardless of a person’s individual views on abortion, it is wrong to condemn those who take issue with the issue of stopping a potential future person.

Yet, with this February court ruling, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has said that it ”is” okay to shut down and ban student groups if their views are disliked.

Interesting observation: though probably a coincidence, it seems that those opposition to both groups are a way for some women to flex their political muscles.

Banning a men’s issues awareness group can be a way to ensure that the only issues that receive public attention are women’s concerns.

Banning a pro-life group can be a way to ensure that abortion is only looked at through the lens of the mother and her suffering, and not that of the unborn child.

However, universities are not places for free speech and open inquiry, unless the speech and inquiry are of ”approved” views.  This is to say that they are not places of free speech and open inquiry at all.

This ruling just proves it yet again.

 

 

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Call Yourself a Woman, get Cheaper Auto Insurance

Car insurance rates in Canada can be very expensive, especially for men.  Provinces such as Alberta and Ontario charge men much higher rates than women, especially at a younger age.  The rationale is that statistically speaking, men get into more serious car accidents than women.

But one person (can I call her a man, or him a woman?) has come up with an interesting way to get around that.  This is the story: Here and here.

The person, known as ”David”, got his Alberta birth certificate changed from ”M” to ”F”, then got insurance as a ”woman”.  It cost about $1100 less a year doing this.

Alberta had made it easier to change the gender on documents in an effort to make the process easier for transgender individuals.  Clearly, this was not the intent of these legal reforms.

However, the LGBTQ Community has objected, claiming that this is making a mockery of the laws meant to protect them.   Some in the government have claimed that this is in fact perjury and fraud.

Curiously enough, many Canadians have been left with a sour taste given all of the SJW policies, including what is seen as excessive trans accomodation and the blurring of actual biological differences between the sexes.

Author’s Views: I have no issue with people living as the people they wish to be or feel that they are.   As long as it doesn’t infringe on myself or others, people are free to be who they are.  However, the fake outrage that is so often on the news is very offputting.

My own leanings are somewhat conservative/libertarian, and my beliefs are that people should be treated equally and fairly.  No prejudice, no special treatment.   And different rates for men and women is discrimination.

I do think it is an amusing way to combat the prejudicial practice of charging men higher rates for insurance.  A sense of 2 wrongs making a right.

 

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CCS #1: Overview; Major Lies Of The Climate Change Scam

(A Children’s Video Explaining Photosynthesis, Peekaboo Kidz, 2015)

1. Debunking The Climate Change Scam

CLICK HERE, for #1: major lies that the climate frauds tell.
CLICK HERE, for #2: review of the Paris Accord.
CLICK HERE, for #3: Bill C-97, the GHG Pollution Pricing Act.
CLICK HERE, for #4: in 3-2 decision, Sask. COA allows carbon tax.
CLICK HERE, for #5: controlled opposition to carbon tax.
CLICK HERE, for #6: controlled opposition Cons ==> Supreme Court.
CLICK HERE, for #7: climate bonds pitched as $100T industry.
CLICK HERE, for #8, Joel Wood pitching various pricing options.
CLICK HERE, for #9: Mark Carney and UN climate finance.
CLICK HERE, for #10: Goldman Sachs, Obama, Clinton, Chicago CX.
CLICK HERE, for #11: Coronavirus, Pirbright Inst, Gates, Depopulation.
CLICK HERE, for #12, AOC and the “Green New Deal”.
CLICK HERE, for #13: UN seeks new development financing.
CLICK HERE, for #14: New Development Fund, bait-and-switch.
CLICK HERE, for #15: UN exploring global taxation ideas.
CLICK HERE, for #16: Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai lays it all out.
CLICK HERE: for #17: climate change blamed for arson in BC.

CLICK HERE, for BOLD Like A Leopard Guest Posting.

2. Why This Series?

The “Climate Change” programs and conventions, (mostly UN sponsored) that go on are a complete scam.
-They do nothing to help the environment.
-They are based on junk science.
-They are based on predictions, not proof.
-They drain money from nations, and from their people in the name of virtue signalling.
-They are hypocritical, considering they want to “lower” carbon emissions

3. First Major Lie

Carbon Dioxide, CO2, is touted as a “greenhouse gas” which contributes to all kinds of environmental disasters

“Global warming” is a term not used as much anymore, since “climate change” is more vague, and can be more easily adapted.

However, carbon dioxide occurs naturally, just from breathing.

The human body converts carbohydrates, fatty acids, and proteins into smaller “waste products” such as water and carbon dioxide in order to extract energy from them.

Carbon dioxide is not a “waste product” to be eliminated. It is a necessary resource plants use for photosynthesis

6 CO2 (carbon dioxide) + 6 H20 (water) + sunlight ===> C6H1206 (sugar) + 6 02 (oxygen)

While only plants engage in photosynthesis, both plants and animals respire

C6H1206 (sugar) + 6 02 (oxygen) ===> 6 CO2 (carbon dioxide) + 6 H20 (water) + usable energy

The photosynthesis and respiration cycles are not some big mystery. They have been taught in grade schools for many years. See here, see here, and see here

4.Second Major Lie

Climate models are not proof of anything.

The simplified explanation is that data is fed into a computer. And from there a conclusion is predicted. But it is only a guess, it is not proof of anything. The model may be validated after the fact (or more likely, debunked), but they are just predictions.

The education or experience of the people running the simulations does not change the fact that they are just guesses.

At the risk of sounding cynical, models can be easily manipulated by selecting only certain parts of data, or by what algorithm is used in the programming. Furthermore, innocent mistakes can be made simply by having incomplete data.

Current technology is not able to predict the weather (yes, a simplification) more than a week or 2 in advance. Yet these models will tell us what the temperatures or water level will be in 100 or 200 or 1000 years?

5. Third Major Lie

Furthermore, the United Nations holds an annual summit each fall. While exact sizes of the delegations are difficult to come by, it is fair to say that at least 10,000 people attend every year. If driving and flying contribute to “climate change”, then why is it necessary to do so on such a large scale? Here are a few numbers to ponder:

2018, coming to Katowice, Poland, 30,000 delegates are expected to attend.

2017, from Bonn, Germany, more than 30,000 people attended

2015, from Paris, France, about 40,000 people attended. Of those, at least 300 delegates were from Canada alone.

2013, from Warsaw, Poland, more than 10,000 people attended the UN Climate Change Conference.

2012, from Doha, Qatar, approximately 17,000 people attended the UN Climate Change Convention

So, what environmental benefits come from shipping tens of thousands of people around the globe every year? Are they not hypocrites for creating their own massive carbon footprints? Why not do an online or video convention, as the technology is there?

6. Fourth Major Lie

If nations do not “meet their commitment”, then they are allowed to “purchase credits”. This is absurd, as paying a body instead of money instead of taking action does nothing to help the environment.

See here, or here, for some more information.

It did make Al Gore and David Suzuki pretty rich.

The claim of global warming is also a great way to increase government coffers. See this.

7. Summary Of Main Points

To recap, the UN climate change conventions are a total scam. Here are 4 big reasons

(1) It is based on junk science. CO2 is not a pollutant, but a necessity of life.

(2) Predictions are done by computer modelling, which is guesswork, not proof.

(3) The annual conventions, which involve shipping tens of thousands of people each year, shows the conventions are hypocritical on their face.

(4) In practice, this is a way to find new taxes and fees to hit citizens with. These taxes and fees do nothing to stop climate change — junk science notwithstanding