Let Freedumb reign (and send me all your money)!

Well, now this was inevitable: gofundme withholding $4.5 million in "protest convoy" funds raised through site until plan presented

From the story:

"We require that fundraisers be transparent about the flow of funds and have a clear plan for how those funds will be spent. In this case, we are in touch with the organizer to verify that information," Rachel Hollis, a spokeswoman for the crowdfunding platform, said in an email.

"Funds will be safely held until the organizer is able to provide the documentation to our team about how funds will be properly distributed."

As of Tuesday afternoon, funds were raised from 58,300 donors, according to the GoFundMe page of the "Freedom Convoy."

Tamara Lich, who is also secretary of the fledgling Western separatist Maverick Party, launched the campaign on Jan. 14. It states that the money will go toward fuel as well as food and lodgings for big-riggers taking part.

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 Conservative politicians smelling cash in the water, naturally want to latch onto this like lampreys. Some, like the odious Ontario MPP Randy Hillier (a man so ignorant that Doug Ford kicked him out of the Ontario PCs) and  fascist grifter Mad Max Bernier, see a group of not-too-bright easily-led rubes who will, if not get them elected, at least keep them on the conservative gravy train. Others, like Canadian Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole or Doug Ford, fearing the electoral leverage this gaggle of idiots might have, are afraid to tell the drooling crowd of horse dewormer enthusiasts that water is wet, the sky is blue and Covid can kill you. After all, Mad Max got five per cent of the vote nationally in the last election and came second in the CPC leadership race.

More dangerously, other, even more nefarious extremist groups - separatists, racists, neo-nazis and other charmers - are using COVID and vaccination resistance as a wedge issue to pull people to their side with "clever" rhetoric like "well if you can't believe the media and science and establishment about COVID, what else are they lying to you about? Can they prove it isn't conspiracy to steal your jobs/fluoridate the water/sell your children into sex slavery by the Blacks/Jews/Arabs/Communists/Chinese/Space Aliens?"

We've seen in the U.S. over the last five or six years what happens when you angry up the stupids for years with ridiculous lies. You get Donald Trump holding the reins of power and angry mobs of armed morons storming the seat of government.

The amazing part is the political cowardice on the part of so-called "sensible mainstream" conservatives. Over 80% of Canadians are vaccinated and very quickly running out of patience with those who are not. 

From the National Post:

More than one in four Canadians support jail time for the unvaccinated, poll finds

Now, given the National Post's obsession with hating Justin Trudeau tendency to sound sympathetic to anyone who hates the Liberal government, one wonders whether this story is simply intended to appeal to the conservative sense of entitlement and victimhood to amp up their hatred for liberals of any kind who want to tell them that the laws passed by a duly elected government need to be enforced no matter how much they want to run around yelling "Justin Trudeau is not the boss of me!" "Freedom! But at the same time, any kind of poll I've seen suggests there is declining sympathy for those who think they can drive drunk because it is "my car and my taxes pay for this road!" reckless endanger other people because they don't like being inconvenienced.

 One is strongly reminded of John Stuart Mill's famous comment on conservatism and stupidity:

“Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives...
I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it. Suppose any party, in addition to whatever share it may possess of the ability of the community, has nearly the whole of its stupidity, that party must, by the law of its constitution, be the stupidest party; and I do not see why honorable gentlemen should see that position as at all offensive to them, for it ensures their being always an extremely powerful party . . . There is so much dense, solid force in sheer stupidity, that any body of able men with that force pressing behind them may ensure victory in many a struggle, and many a victory the Conservative party has gained through that power."