1. When the convoy organizers were arrested, the participants went home, and the #OttawaOccupation ended, a lot of people decided that the crisis was over and they moved on to other concerns.
In fact the people who were radicalized and motivated by the convoy are still active.
2. In communities across the country and despite mandates ending (we can argue about whether this is justified), the same rage based in large part on misinformation continues to fuel slow rolls, protests, and harassment campaigns.
3. Among the people still agitating are people like Chris Saccoccia (aka Chris Sky) who, having found a credulous audience who doesn't mind his frequent verbal abuse directed at them, continues to gin up fear and anger for his own aggrandizement as well as for fun and profit.
4. Yesterday Saccoccia was at another event that included a speaker named Marcus Ray.
His rhetoric is very concerning as he claims (and I do take it with a grain of salt) that 1000s of former soldiers and RCMP have been in training to take direct action against the government.
5. Having claimed that he is willing to die and that the alphas are taking over, he goes on to suggest that health professionals will be put on trial for "crimes against humanity" for providing vaccines he claims are poison.
6. So who is Marcus Ray?
A Tik Tok influencer with 90,000+ followers, ray has an... uhm... interesting CV.
7.
8.
9. And at the start of the pandemic he appears to have had a very different attitude towards Covid-19 than he does now.
10. But he does have a different attitude and was in Ottawa participating in the occupation.
11. Though he doesn't have many followers, his rhetoric on Twitter is no less concerning.
12. This tweet offers a clear view of an individual who has gone deeply down into the rabbit hole.
13. So should we take Marcus Ray's claims seriously?
I'm of two minds.
On the one hand, he seems like someone who engages in significant hyperbole and self-promotion.
On the other hand, who thought Ottawa would be what it was? Or the border blockades.
14. All things being equal I think it is important to take this seriously rather than not because as we all know it doesn't matter if his claim that there are 1000s ready to overthrow the government isn't true.
It only really takes one with a gun to cause a tragedy.
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1. By now I'm guessing that most of my Twitter followers are aware of the most recent threats against Trudeau and the subsequent of a suspect. I think there is an even more important story though related to the poisonous influence of social media
2. Dawid Zalewski was arrested for making death threats against the Prime Minister. The following video was posted to his second Facebook profile. Be warned that it may be triggering as it promotes graphic violence against the PM and others.
3. Zalewski is clearly not well, but I think would be wrong to dismissively call him "crazy" move on without further examination. There is a reason why he got to this point and I believe we can learn a great deal from his social media footprint.
1. I’ve been enjoying my summer break and have not been paying a lick of attention to the Olympics. Until today however since Twitter has collectively lost the plot.
2. Earlier boxer Imane Khelif defeated her Italian opponent in the first round when Angela Carini quit after 45 seconds stating that she had never been hit so hard.
To be fair, I don’t enjoy being punched in the face either so I can at least sympathize with Carini.
3. Now a preliminary fight would never be important enough to make international news under normal circumstances however we are, as the saying goes, living in interesting times.
1. Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) was arrested in Calgary on an immigration warrant apparently. He may have since been released, though he has to turn in his passport and remain in southern Alberta.
I'd prefer that he be kicked out immediately.
2. Despite claiming to have been a "political prisoner" many of Yaxley-Lennon's criminal convictions his Islamophobic "activism" and a number of convictions since have had nothing to do with his political views.
3. In 2005, he was convicted assaulting a police officer who intervened during an argument Yaxley-Lennon was having with his then girlfriend.
1/ It's been a while since I've done a thread here, but the recent focus on Pat King got me to wondering what was up with his own Salacious Crumb, Tyson "Freedom George" Billings.
2/ Last time I looked at Billings he was a part of the efforts to set up a permenant camp outside Ottawa so there could be daily protests, though the original plan involved surrounding the police and arresting politicians.
Suffice to say it didn't go anywhere.
3/ Billings and Ron Clark soon headed home, but they both soon got involved in other protests including the anti-carbon tax protests occurring in the province. The numbers at these events have been small but that hasn't stopped from politicians from courting the fringes it seems.
1/ Though I'm not especially active these days, I'm still sometimes gobsmacked by some of the ridiculous (though sadly effective) rage farming by some on the right. Harrison Faulkner of "True North" is just a recent example of that.
2/ So a bit of background. Musical artist Karan Aujla won the 2024 TikTok Juno Fan Choice Award at the award ceremony this past weekend.
I think it was this weekend. Truth be told I don't pay a lot of attention to awards shows.
3/ It should be noted that Aujla has been in Canada for years emigrating as an orphan. He graduated from high school in Canada. The album was produced by a Canadian on a Canadian label.