Well, there goes the entire business model of the GoFundMe organization.

In a rather jaw-dropping development, the crowdfunding organization is taking the position that Canadian officials have labeled the Canadian Freedom Convoy protest as an “illegal occupation” of the city of Ottawa.  As a result, GoFundMe will not release the funds to the organizers of the protest, and will, instead, only transfer those funds to an authorized and credible charitable organization like “Black Lives Matter”.

The statement in Full:

♦ GoFundMe supports peaceful protests and we believe that was the intention of the Freedom Convoy 2022 fundraiser when it was first created.

♦ We now have evidence from law enforcement that the previously peaceful demonstration has become an occupation, with police reports of violence and other unlawful activity.

To ensure GoFundMe remains a trusted platform, we work with local authorities to ensure we have a detailed, factual understanding of events taking place on the ground. Following a review of relevant facts and multiple discussions with local law enforcement and city officials, this fundraiser is now in violation of our Terms of Service (Term 8, which prohibits the promotion of violence and harassment) and has been removed from the platform.

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Gasoline prices have risen, on average, 40% in the past 11 months.  This leads to higher consumer costs across the board.  Oil, currently $90/barrel, is going to go even higher as a merge of Biden economic, regulatory, energy and foreign policies are going to make things worse.

As the Obama-Biden administration previously said when they achieved their last historic increase in gas prices, “U.S. energy prices will necessarily skyrocket“, in order to achieve their ideological climate change objectives.

(VIA CNBC) Gas prices rose to the highest level in more than seven years Friday, on the heels of the U.S. oil benchmark topping $90 per barrel for the first time since 2014. 

The national average for a gallon of gas stood at $3.423 on Friday, according to AAA, slightly surpassing the prior high-water mark of $3.422 from Nov. 8.  Friday’s price means consumers are now paying the most at the pump since Sept. 10, 2014, AAA data shows.

The national average stood at $2.44 a year ago.  The rapid rise in prices is contributing to inflationary fears across the economy and is creating a headache for the Biden administration. (read more)

Yes, a president can and does control the price of gasoline.  What can a U.S. President and administration specifically do?  We have abundant U.S. energy resources.  Quite literally the strongest in the entire world.

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Ya think?…

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Creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti convicted again.  This time he was convicted for fraud and theft from his client, former porn star Stormy Daniels.

New York — Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of charges he cheated the porn actor Stormy Daniels out of nearly $300,000 she was supposed to get for writing a book about an alleged tryst with former president Donald Trump.

[…]  Avenatti still faces other legal problems.  He has yet to begin serving a 2 1/2 year prison sentence he received in 2020 for trying to extort up to $25 million from sportswear giant Nike.

He also is awaiting a retrial in Los Angeles on charges that he ripped off clients and others for millions of dollars. He represented himself last year for six weeks before a mistrial resulted. (read more)

Oh noes, media sad.

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The United States Speaker of the House of Representatives, a Democrat, told the U.S. Olympic athletes today to drop their inherent freedom of speech perspective and comply with the Chinese Communist Party rules.

It seems the viewpoint of the United States being a beacon of freedom has morphed into a situation where the official position of government is to turn off the lights and adhere to the totalitarian state.  Quite a remarkable shift in worldview.  WATCH:

Then again, in Pelosi’s defense, it’s not like she could warn the Chinese government there would be hell to pay if a single U.S. athlete was ever threatened or harmed.  After all, the Chinese have purchased Pelosi’s compliance.

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There really isn’t an adequate way to encapsulate what the Bureau of Labor and Statistics has done with their reported January jobs result [Main Data Here].   If you want a deep weeds review of the actuarial scheme deployed READ THIS ARTICLE.

In my lifetime of reviewing data and analytics, I have never reviewed a level of statistical manipulation that even comes close to this.  Well, at least not since the 1980’s junk bond valuations used for corporate restructuring and asset removal.  What the BLS produced today will likely go down in the annals of actuarial history as one of the most comprehensively fraudulent manipulations of labor and statistics in history.

In order to get to a point of being able to claim 467,000 job gains last month, the BLS needed to revise four years’ worth of claimed jobs and population data. By subtracting over a million prior jobs from 2021, essentially wiping out the COVID pandemic monthly impact, and by changing the workforce population over the same number of years, the BLS was able to recalculate the current number of people in the workforce and claim 467,000 jobs were recently created.

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Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly held a press conference on Friday announcing measures to combat the continued Freedom Convoy protests in the streets, and to block any additional protesting support from arriving. [Full Presser Here] In essence, the Ottawa police are going to use domestic terrorism authority against the Canadian freedom protest groups.

The outlined measures include deploying an additional 150 municipal police officers and undercover federal agents to infiltrate the protest and gather intelligence useful for the purpose of eliminating their effort.

Chief Sloly outlined that federal intelligence authorities will be “collecting financial, digital, vehicle registration, driver identification, insurance status and other related evidence that will be used in prosecution.”

The jackboots will focus on using acts of mischief, hate, harassment, intimidation and other threatening behaviors, whether real or created by Canadian intelligence operations, to target the protestors.

Additionally, a “surge and contain” strategy will be used to isolate the protest in the red zone area in front of Parliament Hill.  Ottawa police will use heavy concrete barriers as barricades, to create no-access roadways throughout the downtown core, and they will likely close highway off-ramps and bridges to stop additional support and/or protest groups from arriving.

The goal is to isolate the current protest groups, cut off their supply and support logistics and pick them off.

Further, any police officer who is caught aiding, assisting, supporting, sympathizing with or facilitating the ongoing freedom protest in the city will be removed from duty and subject to arrest.  All Ottawa police officers are to regard the protesting group as an unlawful, extremist and hate-filled mob and have a duty to comply with the instructions of the command and control structure.  WATCH:

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the JoeBama Administration and Presidency.

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”

“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”

~ Mike Vanderboegh

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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There are some good developments and some disappointing developments recently in the Freedom Convoy efforts to regain personal liberty and remove the COVID mandates in Canada.  First, the good development…

The RCMP attempted to get the contracted support of a Western Canada towing company, Inter-Pacific Transporation, in the effort to break up the Alberta truck blockade in/around the border crossing between Coutts, Alberta (CA) and Sweet Grass, Montana (USA).  However, the towing company released a public statement saying they stand with their brothers, the truck drivers:

In a less positive development, the interim voice of the Canadian Conservative Party, Mrs. Candice Bergen, had her first opportunity to confront the Trudeau administration in support of working class Canadians.  She failed miserably.

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