We have previously discussed the unrelenting attacks by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his allies on free speech. There has been a steady criminalization of speech, including even jokes and religious speech, in Canada. Now, the Canadian parliament is moving toward a new change that would allow the imposition of life imprisonment on those who post views deemed supportive of genocide. With a growing movement calling Israel’s war in Gaza “genocide,” the potential scope of such a law is readily apparent. That appears to be its very draw for anti-free speech advocates in the country.
The Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63 increases the potential penalties from five years to life imprisonment. It also increases the penalty for the willful promotion of hatred (a dangerously ill-defined crime) from two years to five years. The proposed changes constitute a doubling down on Canada’s commitment to reducing free speech for citizens despite criticism from many in the civil liberties community.
There is also a chilling option for house arrest if a judge believes a defendant “will commit” an offense. In other words, if a judge thinks that a citizen will be undeterred and try to speak freely again.
Justice Minister Arif Virani employed the same hysteria to convince citizens to surrender their freedoms to the government. He expressed how terrified he was with the potential of free speech, stating that he is “terrified of the dangers that lurk on the internet for our children.”
It is not likely to end there. Today the rationale is genocide. However, once the new penalties are in place, a host of other groups will demand similar treatment for those with opposing views on their own causes.Ā This law already increased the penalties for anything deemed hateful speech.
The law comes after Canada blocked a Russian dissident from becoming a citizen because of her violation of Russian anti-free speech laws. In a telling act, the government said that the same conduct (i.e., free speech) could be a crime in Canada.Ā Indeed, it may now be punished even more harshly.
Dear Prof Turley,
‘Genocide’, the deliberate killing or severe mistreatment of a large number of people from a particular national or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group, is already outlawed by international law/treaty.
The question of whether Israel, e.g., is committing genocide in Gaza is presently being weighed by the ICJ.
” HAGUE, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel on Friday to take action to prevent acts of genocide as it wages war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip but stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire.”
If the ICJ, or Canada, determines Israel to be committing acts of genocide in Gaza .. . I seriously doubt Canada will be rounding up supporters of Israel?
*also, SC Smith’s case against Trump for ‘classified documents’ should be dismissed, with prejudice, imo. .. the ‘espionage act of 1917’ is itself unconstitutional (no due process) and sitting presidents (as distinct from Sen. and vice presidents) are the final authority on all matters of ‘national security’ (not NARA or the DoJ).
“The question of whether Israel, e.g., is committing genocide in Gaza is presently being weighed by the ICJ.”
The laws on genocide are clear, and Israeli actions represent the opposite of genocide and value human life. Hamas is violating all sorts of international law. Israel is fighting a war where civilian loss of life is lower than the wars fought by the US, Britain, etc. What we have are people who are anti-Semitic, acting stupid, trying to make others believe that genocide occurred when it didn’t.
Of course, some miserable people support Hamas launching missiles against civilian populations in Israel and then, as a shield, using women and children. Civilians can leave Raffah for safe areas where there is food, but Hamas threatens to kill them. I find people who support that type of murder to be heinous.
Ask yourself who took hostages. Who slaughtered 1,200 innocents?
If Canadians let this Peter Puffer party of totalitarian dolts led by the son of a Cuban dictator impose these constraints upon their freedoms and liberties without a fight, then they donāt deserve freedom and liberty.
A simple comment in support of Israel destroying the terrorist network Hamas could be deemed by an activist prosecutor and judge “supporting genocide.”
Jews existing could be guilty of “supporting genocide” if they don’t disavow Israel.
Putting up posters with the faces of the hostages still in captivity with Hamas could be deemed “supporting genocide.”
Once you give the government the power to decide what speech is unacceptable, they can define it any way they want.
Orwellian.
The Left is a totalitarian movement at its core.
A protester in the UK was arrested simply for holding a sign that read “Hamas are terrorists.” Mustn’t upset the terrorists.
Putin and Kim Jong Un has laws like this that come in handy with disposing of critics.
Here in the US, there have been talks of “reeducation camps” for Trump voters. Trump is currently facing legal challenges for telling his supporters to “peacefully let their voices be heard”, while Democrats in power actively encouraged nationwide riots and the firebombing of federal buildings and police precincts.
If you support free speech, vote Republican or Libertarian. The Democrat Party has gone so far left that it’s abandoned any semblance of moderation. It’s unrecognizable from the time of my grandparents, when they believed the Democrat Party helped the working man.
I mean what do you think Republicans are trying to do in the US to squash any criticism of Israel and Zionism….
How?
Moiz, It wasn’t Republicans who tried to shut down the NYT presses today nor is it Republicans terrorizing university students in America. It’s Muslims. Even the Chinese are sick of them.
Take heed, America. What is happening to our neighbors up north is coming here if we do not wake the f up to this urgent reality: AMERICA is being destroyed by captured United States Government.
*don’t be the fool saying “I did nazi it coming”
@Anonymous
Yep. We are too consumed by staring at phones to notice. No one on the current, modern left, even the smart ones, has any idea what they are voting for. This is coming from the north and the south, and we had better be prepared to defend the middle, because at some point we will have to. The dems have already shown there is no low too low.
It’s dreadful that the youngest generations of Canadians will not know the free-speech liberties that their ancestors once had. An equally distressing question I have is, “How long will it be before those Canadians who have once tasted from the fountain of liberty watch it dry up?”
Or, worse, start invading as do blue state refugees.
mistressadams said: “Or, worse, start invading as do blue state refugees.”
Self-styled political refugees sometimes seem to have a perverse tendency to recreate the conditions that they claim to be fleeing at their destinations.
It’s hard to believe what is happening in Canada to free speech and other fundamental rights. The good in Canadian culture is its emphasis on politeness and respect; the bad is Canadian citizen’s willingness to acquiesce in subtle and not-so-subtle government domination. Still, this would not happen without Trudeau’s authoritarianism. One wonders how long it will take Canadian citizen’s to react.
@Anonymous
It isn’t hard to believe. This has been brewing for years; England is a country with a great many more problems to address, but getting out of the EU wasn’t one of them. This could very easily become us. Make no mistake: the recent ruling on Tik-Tok was a way for the dems to have a back door into Twitter (X) with precedent (they were happy to sacrifice something aimed at teens, whom they consider to be their clay, to go after the bigger white whale, which i a platform that makes its own rules); and it is indeed stupid that freedom of speech on a social media platform is the thin line in 2024. Watch the dems try to exploit this before November. just watch. Suddenly community notes will be ‘harmful speech’, and they have something in court to squash it. We are in a fight we never dreamed we would be again, and that the average folk don’t see it might be our undoing. Our 1A and 2A are all that stand between us and absolute tyranny, and its why the dems insist on destroying those rights. Stand firm. November is going to be terrible, no matter how you slice it.
James said: “the recent ruling on Tik-Tok was a way for the dems to have a back door into Twitter”
That appears to be the second time you have made that claim. My understanding of the legislation is that its application is limited to requiring disvestment of social media companies controlled by a nation declared to have interests adversarial to the those of the US. “X” appears to be owned and controlled by Elon Musk. Musk appears to hold citizenship in South Africa, the US, and Canada. Please explain how a law regulating social media companies owned by entities controlled by nations with such adversarial interests could be applied to “X”. I have mixed thoughts about the actions taken regarding Tik Tok, but I don’t see a foundation for your contention regarding the direct consequences of same.
The next “genocide” will happen at the push of a button. The tactical nuclear warfare will eviscerate scores of individuals indiscriminately. So the censorship penalties should be held to those with their hand on the button. The people have no control over these mechanisms of death, this (Canadian) censorship is as useless as holding Julian Assange incarcerated until death.
Only the ones with the power of genocide at their Hands need be contained by such means.
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The nuclear deterrence capabilities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are set to be significantly enhanced as the US Air Force’s newest fifth-generation fighter jet, the F-35A Lightning II, has been operationally certified to be equipped with B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bombs for the first time.
By: Tyler Durden ~ Mar 08, 2024
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/f-35a-becomes-first-certified-5th-gen-fighter-carry-thermonuclear-gravity-bombs
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āOppenheimerā is expected to win big at the 2024 Academy Awards. But one point of controversy is that the director did not depict any images of the devastating aftermath of the dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Getting those images out to the public was a longtime quest for Herbert Sussan, then a 24-year-old filmmaker who filmed in Japan at the time.
By: Jon Kalish – The World ~ March 8, 2024
https://theworld.org/stories/2024-03-08/oppenheimer-film-fails-show-devastation-atom-bombs-postwar-japan-critics-say
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While the graying Hiroshima Generations who survived the atomic bomb attack seven decades ago are struggling to pass their memories to the younger generations, much of the world has allowed that fateful morning on Aug 6, 1945 to slip from their minds.
About 66,000 people, mostly civilians, perished, according to a report prepared by the US Army one year after the attack. Another 69,000 were injured and tens of thousands more were affected by radiation disease.
But how to show the damage more clearly? We’ve developed an application that allows you ššØ šÆš¢š¬š®šš„š¢š³š šš”š ššš¦šš š šØš šš”š š¬šš¦š šššØš¦š¢š ššØš¦š šØš§ šš§šØšš”šš« š„šØšššš¢šØš§ š¢š§ ššØššš²’š¬ š°šØš«š„š, š¬š®šš” šš¬ š²šØš®š« š”šØš¦šššØš°š§. You may be surprised at the extent of the damage.
By: Kuang Keng Kuek Ser – The World ~ Aug. 5, 2015
[Link] theworld.org/stories/2015-08-04/what-if-your-hometown-were-hit-hiroshima-atomic-bomb
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By: DB Kelly ~ May 17, 2020
[Link] grunge.com/210106/the-bombings-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-were-worse-than-you-thought/
Guess what? None of us care how hard Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hit. They deserved it. The bombs ended the war, and that was a good thing. Had Japan not surrendered we would have had to invade, and we already knew that this would cost at least 100,000 of our own soldiers’ lives. (And also several million Japanese, so the bombs saved far more of them than they killed too, but that’s not the important consideration.) The fact that they saved so many of our own soldiers’ lives is enough to justify them no matter how many of the enemy they killed.
Milhouse said: “None of us care how hard Hiroshima and Nagasaki were hit. They deserved it.”
Ironic you should make that post in comments to a column about message control by government and groupthink. By the way, your arrogant use of “us” is erroneous: you do not speak for me.
You may not care what happened to your “enemy” but the bombs pointed at you are 1000x larger and you should care about them. BTW, the narrative that the bombs were needed to end the war and that there was ever a likely loss of 100K American soldiers has long since been debunked. Leslie Sussan (Herbert Sussan’s daughter)
I remember when Canadians were a free people. This is really alarming.
I remember when “Canada, shame of the North” was a joke in the National Lampoon.
The U.S. State Department should issue a travel warning for Canada if this law is enacted.
Won’t come from THIS administration. They want to copy them.
Oh well, Canada still has elections, and if the Canadians re-elect the same bunch of losers, then they belong in prison for life.
Canadians should read the American Declaration of Independence as it suggests a solution to tyranny.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
As my State Constitution states….occasionally we should look back and learn from the past.
So should the Canadians…..and we should too.
You folks sound pretty dreary. So, in an effort to perk up your spirits…..
Today is ā (Pi) Day!!!
ā Facts: The decimal places of the ā number go on forever; the numbers do not repeat themselves in any way.
For the sick, lame, lazy or crazy, today is ā day because today is March 14, or 3.14, which are the first 3 digits of ā. The value of ā is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. For those who never had to memorize the first 100 digits of ā, you now have the following catchy, knee slapping video to practice and chase your blues away. You’re welcome. š
Sooooooo Happy ā š„§ Day to all of the science nerds
My personal favorite: Fresh strawberry with whipped cream. š
Estovir,
Just before the housing crisis, I got a cold call from a mortgage company. The fast talking young lady gave her pitch, then asked for my current mortgage rate. I answered,
“3.14159.”
At the time it was at 5.5%.
There was a long pause, she asked if she could put me on hold while she “checked” if she could match that “rate.”
I am guessing she talked to someone who knew what the number meant, as she came back and in a very short, annoyed voice,
“Have a good day, sir.” š
Brilliant! Humor is our best hope bruh
š
In other news…”Males who have gone through pubertyāeven after undergoing hormone suppression treatmentāretain a biological advantage over women āwhich no woman can achieve without doping,ā says the suit…” Hormone suppression treatment IS doping by any other name. This case is long overdue.
https://www.thefp.com/p/exclusive-female-athletes-sue-ncaa-transwomen
Par for the course for Fidel’s illegitimate son.
Tyrants can’t stand any voice of opposition…not even one.
@Mark
Nope, and currently, it is still ‘someone else’; it can become ‘us’ real quick. I don’t think the earth would survive another world war (and that’s the great irony of modern leftist stupidity on too many levels to mention). Vote anything but blue in November. Anything at all. Vote for Kermit the frog. Anything but the dems.
I would suggest that the US, south and west of the northeast , and east of the west coast extend an invitation to the Provinces of Saskatchewan , Alberta, Northwest Territories, Manitoba and British Columbia to join the US. I would, of course, carve out Vancouver and rename it Northern Seattle and maintain a Highway between the two with no off ramps between the 2 cities. That would free about 1/2 of Canada then slowly peel off the rest of Canada except for Quebec and Ontario and leave them landlocked and unable to cause much trouble.
I’ll second that motion.
There’s no way around it anymore – we are dealing with fascists the likes of which we haven’t seen in many decades. The modern left will the destroy us if we don’t stop them. This is freaking unbelievable, and my heart goes out to all freedom loving people in Canada.
The PM and his ilk are tyrants – we might as well say so