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This is an anti-vax activist "journal" run by anti-vaxxers, not a real medical journal used in the medical field.

Here’s a good article by Wesely Wark, one of this country’s top security and intelligence experts … The F-35 decision: Canada getting pregnant in the Norway way? https://open.substack.com/pub/wesleywark/p/the-f-35-decision-canada-getting?r=3adb8b&utm_medium=ios Back in 2008, Norway, a staunch NATO ally with a history of close defence cooperation with the US, faced the same dilemma that currently confronts the Canadian government and the RCAF—whether to buy the US F-35 fighter jet or the Swedish JAS Gripen to replace its aging fleet of F-16s. (Our CF-18s are even more aged). The decision was surrounded by intense political controversy, strong campaigns by both aircraft companies (Lockheed-Martin and Saab), and from both governments, anti-US sentiment on the socialist/labour flank of Swedish politics, and efforts to measure the relative economic benefit to Norway. While the decision went in favour of purchasing the F-35 on technical aircraft capability grounds (though the analysis was never released in public), we do have some partial insights into the US governmental advocacy campaign, thanks to the mass Wikileaks/Julian Assange release of US diplomatic cables (“Cablegate”) in 2010-2011. One such diplomatic cable, sent by the US ambassador in Oslo, on September 22, 2008, argued that the Norwegian government decision had entered a critical phase, that public perception was shifting against the F-35, and that high-level US government advocacy was needed.[1] The US ambassador was concerned that any Norwegian decision to buy the Saab Gripen could have a domino effect on pending decisions on fighter jet acquisition by other European countries, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, and could have very negative consequences for bilateral relations, political, economic and military, between the US and Norway. Another revealing cable from Oslo, one that came in the aftermath of the Norwegian decision to choose the F-35 in November 2008, tried to chronicle the decision and offer some lessons for the US.[2] It mentioned a series of visits by US officials in the Fall of 2008 “to make the public case on why the F-35 is an excellent choice, and the private case on why the choice of aircraft will have an impact on the bilateral relationship.” The embassy noted that the Norwegian government decision in favour of the F-35 was accompanied by “unusually strong language (for domestic political reasons) to say the Gripen was uncompetitive.” In a “very relaxed meeting” between the US ambassador and the Norwegian Deputy Defence Minister, the Norwegian official was noted as saying it would be “very helpful” if the US Government publicly stressed the strength of the F-35 and confirmed “there was no USG political pressure to buy the plane.” The ambassador’s cable stressed that the eventual success of the US campaign to sell the F-35 to Norway reflected the technical capabilities of the plane “despite perceived weaknesses in other areas such as the industrial [benefits] package” and followed consistent and sustained US public and private advocacy. He noted that the US campaign tried to walk a careful line between outright pressure on Norway and more diplomatically couched reminders to the Norwegian government of the potential impact of the decision on the bilateral relationship. The ambassador noted that the private advocacy campaign was “much more forceful,” presumably meaning more iron fist and less velvet glove. Is Canada about to get pregnant in its fighter jet decision in the Norway way? Will some combination of the alleged technical superiority of the F-35 for various classified military scenarios, never to be made public, over the Saab Gripen, combined with a public and behind the scenes pressure campaign, bend the decision in favour of going through with the full purchase of 88 F-35 jets (36 more than were bought by Norway)? Canada may not get pregnant in the Norway way, but the circumstances are remarkably similar. (Though don’t expect a Canadian “cablegate” with a glimpse behind the scenes). We just get the very public Pete Hoekstra. [3] What Norway never considered was the possibility of buying both competitor planes and running a mixed fleet of military aircraft. Why not? The reason is straightforward. Norway’s military needs are distinctly different, and much less complex, than those that face Canada. They operate in one well-defined geographic theatre against one identified foe. A mixed fighter jet fleet may be a Canadian strategic necessity in a way it never was for the Norwegians. There is no question that operating such a mixed fleet would be a complex endeavour that would put a strain on pilot supply, maintenance capabilities, infrastructure and basing, and supply chains. Yes, Canada has done it before, but in an age of much less sophisticated, simpler jet fighters. Also in an age when we had more air force pilots and ground crew. But is there a path to a responsible mixed fighter fleet? A former RCAF commander, Yves Blondin, believes there is. He thinks Canada should go ahead with the full purchase of the F-35, despite his concerns around US control of software upgrades and weapons and sensor systems for the planes, but layer in a subsequent purchase in the mid-2030s of a second, European fighter jet like the Saab Gripen. [4] He makes this argument by balancing NORAD air defence needs with a “credible expeditionary capability in Europe.” It’s a beguiling option (although a full f-35 fleet plus an additional complement of expeditionary aircraft would present a very significant, maybe bank-breaking, expenditure). Cost issues apart, the big problem with the Blondin vision of a mixed fleet is that it scrambles the options. If Canada wanted to create a distinctive air expeditionary force to operate in Europe with NATO, the best plane for that purpose would be the F-35, which is already or soon to be operated by key NATO allies. The Saab Gripen, on the other hand, is well suited, arguably better-suited than the F-35 to fulfill an air defence and air surveillance/sovereignty assertion mission in Canada. Faster, longer-range, more serviceable, cheaper, more operationally deployable and reliable in northern airspace, and with a much better industrial benefit package for Canada. Also, it carries all the lethality and sensor capabilities needed. Buy the Saab Gripen in sufficient numbers to fulfill Canada’s air defence needs. Buy the F-35 in sufficient numbers to make a credible expeditionary arm for NATO. Let the experts decide what those numbers should be and how to layer them in on a timetable as we retire the long-serving CF-18 (“Hornets”). Forget US arguments that Canada must fly the same plane as the US for NORAD purposes. We don’t now and never really have (not since the Korean war). Arguments about inter-operability concerns lack all credibility. Part of the challenge of maintaining a mixed fleet could be solved by jointly basing an F-35 expeditionary air arm with a NATO ally. Norway would be an excellent candidate. They are the first country to complete the full acquisition of their F-35 fleet, all 52 of which are now available to the Norwegian air force. They have nearly a decade of experience with the plane. They have available space at Norwegian air bases, with hardened shelters, for a Canadian contingent. Maintenance and infrastructure costs, training and exercising, could be shared. Win-win. Get pregnant that Norway way. Meanwhile, if the Saab offer to build an assembly capacity in Canada is forthcoming, go for it. The industrial benefits package from the F-35 is paltry (as the Norwegians discovered ). Building the Saab Gripen in Canada would not be the Avro Arrow redux, but something much more tried, true, realistic and needed. [1] US Embassy Cable, Oslo, “Norway Fighter Purchase: High-Level Advocacy Needed Now,” September 22, 2008, https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08OSLO522_a.html [2] US Embassy Cable, Oslo, “Lessons Learned from Norwegian Decision to Buy JSF,” December 16, 2008, https://web.archive.org/web/20250323202410/https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08OSLO670_a.html [3] Tonda MacCharles, Toronto Star, “Future of trade talks depend on Canada’s purchase of American fighter jets, U.S. ambassador says,” November 23, 2025, https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/future-of-trade-talks-depends-on-canadas-purchase-of-american-fighter-jets-u-s-ambassador/article_fd0daf89-2d9b-4b96-b391-bf9b6cf1aff8.html; CTV News, “U.S. Ambassador calls F-35s ‘phenomenal success’ as Canada considers Swedish fighter jets,” November 20, 2025, https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/f-35s-are-phenomenal-success-us-ambassador-says-as-canada-considers-swedish-fighter-jets/ [4] David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen, “Canadian General who recommended F-35 deal now calls for purchase of other jets,” March 27, 2025, https://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadian-general-recommended-f-35-080012093.html; Yves Blondin and Justin Massie, “The idea of a mixed fleet of Canadian fighter jets should not take flight,” November 17, 2025, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canadian-fighter-jets-f-35-mixed-fleet-defence/

Let’s be clear the Democrats in the video reminded service personnel that they have a LEGAL DUTY to disobey illegal orders, they must obey the law and constitution at all times, which every serviceperson knows. That includes illegal orders from the President. It isn’t automatically legal just because the president orders it. Those are simply the facts.

The problem is that folks did in fact give enough ammunition to the anti-vaxers to sow this kind of conspiratorial doubt. Folks in the scientific community were so hell bent on pushing the COVID vaccine and Pandemic fear-mongering, as well as left-wing leaders and politicians. We were lied to. They did, in fact, conspire to keep information from us. Politicians and the scientific community, in their haste to push the noble lie, or to hypocritically push pandemic fear-mongering power grabs, have done more to damage their reputation all on their own and to fuel all the other anti-vax madness.

They'd been splashing around the deep end for years before COVID. Waste Can Man cut his teeth on 9/11 conspiracies. A good solid third of right wing conservatives went into COVID so gas-lit with misinformation and nonsense they couldn't think straight if their lives depended on it and that's why so many more of them died of COVID. Of course it didn't help that so many more conservatives around the world accepted these whack-a-doodles into their big tents. Talk about super-spreading, now it looks like 2/3 of conservatives are getting close to losing their shit.

Hardner is entirely partisan. He just likes to phrase everything in such a way that it sounds like he's taking a position but then when called on it he claims he's not taking a position. He absolutely makes his opinion known but won't stand beside it. He's the wishy-washy kind of loser who prefers word games over actually addressing points and making an argument. He is, as he would say, a chud. I don't think you're like him to be honest, you may be wrong but at least you're not afraid to state what your position is and try and make an argument. I respect that more than mikey's cowardly ways.

Coming from you, that's rich. Sarcastic drive-by snipes in cherry red are your specialty, aren't they? Getting lumped in with Hardner is okay with me though. I probably disagree with him on as many things as I agree, but one thing that he has that most of you don't is a bit of perspective. When you say he stands for nothing, what you really mean is that he's not just a partisan screecher and that you find it frustrating that he actually asks you to answer questions and to defend your viewpoints. 🙃

The farmers' message was heard loud and clear....in the form of crickets chirping across the country.

No she doesn't. YOU DO! Want another pipeline? Build it along TMX and a big terminal at Roberts Bank. YOU want a new pipe, then YOU take on the risks.

The problem is it does take a fair bit of time to switch and not all the equipment they have is suitable for harvesting different types of crops. They're not going to want to retool just to go from corn to flax if you know what I mean. Also there aren't all that many crops that produce the kind of money that some of them ones like Canola do. In time though adapt I'm sure but unfortunately it's not a quick process and that decision has to be made well in advance of the season, so it'll be too late even for next year I'm sure. Like I say eventually they'll adapt but in the meantime many could very well go out of business which means they get bought up by the big companies again and suddenly our entire food production system is owned by a handful of corporations.

Well, don't forget Capt Queeg was suffering from PTSD...once known as cowardice back in the day. There's definitely a good reason for keeping an eye on the Capt. Ever seen Crimson Tide? Apparently only the President can authorize a nuclear launch... presumably someone has an eye on him.

The marine industry is well aware of this, its why vessel masters abide by the Collision Regulations and things like Safe Manning requirements which are essential for complying with the COLREGs and specifically maintaining a proper lookout. The Caine Mutiny comes to mind as well. I've always thought these COLREGS and such would be fairly applicable to running a government safely.

This has been one of the biggest problems for the vax injured in Canada, in getting any compensation for injuries. Courts will not allow any evidence that shows the jabs were, and are, not "safe & effective" and Health Canada is not required to show their work on where the claim came from or what it is based on. Judges accept their opinion as fact, with no evidence. Deborah Birx, in the US, finally came out and said the claim was based on nothing but "hope" and Pfizer execs have testified that the jabs were never tested for their ability to stop transmission. "Safe & effective" was a lie from the beginning, and they knew it. But how was Pfizer supposed to make $billions if they told the truth?

Let me get this for ya, I'm currently looking for a "nujob" anyway: Yes, and making it more transmissible is exactly what gain of function is all about. It's done to better predict the effect of infectious diseases... if it gets away from you though just say it was squirrels or racoon dogs that spread it. Repeat that often enough and "people will totally believe it," according to climate Barbie anyway, and I think she was right. Yes, in the ate fall of 2019 four lab workers were hospitalized with covid symptoms. Maybe they were eating squirrels but I'm a little suspicious. If I recall the dates right it was briefly included in open source reporting early in 2020 but it fizzled out pretty quickly... I looked for more information on it at the time but found little. The idea was ridiculed and people were de-platformed for even suggesting it. Apparently the squirrels ate all the evidence. Sure he did, if he didn't it would have been better to replace him with one of the squirrels. At least they were paying attention.

They enjoy the pipeline of money Alberta pumps into their province year after year . . .

The democrat party is all about abusing the people - creating masochists is the democrat way.

Or lack of effort on the part of the actual fishermen that do the over fishing. Complain there are no fish, complain about government getting in your business, then complain of mismanagement when fish stock gets depleted. Methinks the root cause is the fishermen themselves because they are the ones doing it and actually seeing it.

Every single observation you make is sullied by the onset of rampant TDS.

Title says it all. For those who gave up their lives in the past, for those who suffered incredible hardship and lived with fear and violence wondering if they would ever see their loved ones again in order to ensure that we had a chance to build a life that we believed in I could be proud of. my most heartfelt thanks for your sacrifice. And for those who served and stood ready to give up their lives for the same reasons, and those who will as they answer the call in the future, thank you for your commitment. Least we forget. In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

I'm no expert but wouldn't some crop diversification be a good idea for some farmers? And as long as this tariff stand-off is happening the Feds should help the farmers as they're doing with other industries. And at least the farmer's convoy idea is about a real problem, unlike those Wingnuts from the 'Freedom Convoy'.

Says the spam bot posting little more than links to Facebook posts and videos...

“Canada” doesn’t buy, import or distribute oil. The private companies in the oil industry do, most of which are foreign or US-owed and couldn’t give a flying fck about Canada. Why don’t you ask them? Im sure they’ll tell you that it’s a global market and on any given day they buy it from wherever it damn well pleases them and they ship it to wherever it damn well pleases them and then they’ll tell you you’re a lefty enviro-communist for daring to question them

Let's be clear, they insinuated there were already illegal orders, and they offered ZERO examples. They are encouraging mutiny and chaos. There is no need to state the obvious otherwise. There is no crisis of illegal orders happening, nor any crisis that the military is not being educated, nor understands these things that a handful of partisan Democrats need to put out a television ad to do something about. It's pure disgusting political theater, playing with the military chain of command.

Reaffirming this simple obligation--which once would NOT have been even the least bit controversial--is causing a crazy amount of wailing and gnashing. Trump demands blind obedience above all. So this makes him angry. Which in turn makes his cultists angry. -- All about something upon which everyone used to eagerly agree. Strange times.

I don’t run away any more than adult runs away from a toddler having a meltdown. You don’t have a family or social life outside of this forum or away from your computer and you don’t get bored from repeating yourself ad nauseam but we successful and intelligent people do.

If you had ZERO PAGES in the pool, you have lost.

I thought that we had a Charter of Rights where it is written in the Charter that freedom of expression was protected by the COR? It did not say well perhaps, might be, maybe, could be, we will think about it or anything like that. It just says that Canadians have the right to their freedom of expression and there was nothing more added to it, and no doctor or whoever should be denied their right to freedom of expression. Let transparency and truth prevail no matter what and dam the bloody consequences. Why are we always being allowed to be lied too. Why does our Canadian lieberal media and our leftwing lieberal politicians have so much contempt for the truth and we the people? Is this what really runs the world is lies? The establishment system especially big pharma seems to be always against anyone who tries and expose the truth about anything especially against big pharma and big medicine. They do not want any exposure by someone calling out their lies and bull crap. Big pharma makes hundreds of billions of dollars every year off of forcing we the people to have to take their vaccine poisons whether they are good for us or not. Health Canada is now a leftwing lieberal outfit that is truly not on we the people's side. Health Canada has already been bought and sold to big pharma and they cannot be believed with anything that they say or do. Everything in Canada is pretty much lieberally corrupt. The people needs to stop listening to those liars who pretty much now have authority over our health and freedoms. To listen to those people will no doubt be bad for your own health. Just my opinion of course. 😇

Yes. My original post is vague and simplified. The jist of the matter is that Canada requires a new fleet of fighter jets as what we have are outdated, and purchasing anything less than the best (F35s) puts our territory at risk of incursion, whether by invasion or simply reconnaissance and/or provocation, by potentially hostile foreign powers. Looking at sophistication and expected length of lifespan of technology, the F35s have the edge. Of course we need to patrol the Arctic. The Gripens may have an edge in the cold. Any detailed examination of military history will show that logistical supply lines play a most important role in success of military deployment. Whether Canada purchases a majority of Gripens or F35s, it is necessary that we also implement the aircrafts' required supply and support lines. Canada's reputation, which I hope we all hope to uphold, is for our military to collaborate especially in peacekeeping missions which tend to be non-Arctic. Whether they are Arctic or not, we need to have the supply lines ready to deploy in Arctic as well as non-Arctic environments. If we need to commission support lines to aircraft, better they be many and close than few and far apart, so as to be adaptable to both Arctic and non-Arctic conditions. I stressed the importance of right-to-repair in my original post. To expand upon this, what is necessary is for Canada to alter the deal we currently have with the US-based supplier(s) of the F35s, to ensure a deal is reached such that both Canada and the US could survive military activity for a sustained period, with their F35s, without reliance on the other. This means controlling and being able to program and maintain our own F35s at home, with technology readily available to home-based maintenance facilities. I have Alert and Iqaluit as examples of where Canada should be showing our military presence. We need to be showing our military presence all over the Arctic, and not only via fighter jets. We also require more icebreakers, more navy docked at Arctic ports, and Navy and Coastguard vessels safeguarding Arctic passages. I am not aware of our current submarine patrol levels, but of course that is extremely important, also.

He's one of those people that will downplay and ignore it until it's HIS wife or daughter getting beat up and set on fire.

What? Does any of this drivel have a thought behind it?

herbie is a shill for global marxists.

America's industrial capacity dwarfs Sweden's, and until the planes actually arrive in Canada, all we're talking about is "What fighter planes will they be able to give us in 3-8 years?" If anything major happens within that time frame, it's not unlikely that Sweden or the US would say "These aren't available for sale abroad right now because we need them ourselves." (I'm pretty sure that we reneged on a deal to give the Saudis some armoured vehicles at one point recently) America's larger standing air force and greater capacity means that they might be able to spare at least a few aircraft or increase production more dramatically than Sweden can. Also, 1) America's planes are more battle-tested, and real-world effectiveness is light years past theoretical effectiveness, plus 2) any new systems that are built by American contractors like Raytheon, etc, to upgrade fighter planes' capabilities, will be designed so that the first iteration of that system fits the F-35. It will probably require some re-sizing or tinkering to implement that same system on other NATO fighters. It seems like an afterthought right now, but the F-18s that we currently have were upgraded many times over their decades of service, and no doubt the next batch of fighters we get will have to last us 40 more years. The easier, cheaper and quicker it is to update them, the better. A last addition to that thought, any shortcomings that develop over the next few years with the F-35's capabilities, as adversarial aircraft, weapons systems, detection systems, etc grow stronger, will probably be brought to light sooner because they will be in action more than the Grippens - America's nose is always in something, Sweden's, not so much. If Grippens don't see a lot of battle, it could take them longer to find out which ways they're lacking, so upgrading them might lag by a generation. It only takes one chink in the armour to bring down a plane, or squadron, and we can't afford that.

That requires the capacity for perspective. He doesn't have that.

The CF-18's have served us fairly well for over the last 40 plus years. It only makes sense to purchase the most technologically advanced fighters if we expect them to last the next 40 years. And our pilots who fly these things deserve the best. I'm no expert but I keep hearing the F-35's are the best of the best.

You are fixated on money. Okay, how much did the transmountain pipline cost. If we build hundreds of reactors, the cost comes down.

I guess it must be the growing numbers of guests I have who pull into my driveway with electric cars. I don't expect you to understand because, as you should know, electric cars were never mentioned in the Bible.

Fixed that for you. Even the Almighty Yanks can't go to Rupert, Bella Bella, Port Hardy or down the Inside Passage.

Because there's nothing we can do about American oil tankers. Thankfully we can do something about Canadian tankers from BCs North Coast. Which starts with saying no to a pipeline and leaving the oil in the ground where it belongs in the first place.

Our true dumderheads unclear of both the concept of Internatioal waters and the coastline of Western Canada must constantly post a dozen threads a week of misinformation about the same subject and every variation of. Neither one of which lives in the affected areas or receives dividends or lobbying money from oil companies. Why bother?

Oh FFS spread the BS on as thick as you can why don't you? There is no pipeline east is that no one has offered to build one. The reason is because it's not financially viable. And it will remain so unless there's come middle east embargo that goes on for years. Even then they'd squeal and finagle to get the govt to pay for it.

It hasn't got anything to do with climate change. You're so stuck on some principles you disagree with you imagine they have something to do with everything else you disagree with. Like so many others. It's got to do with $$$$ the thing you so totally agree with. The oil companies, gas stations and refineries are in it to make as much as they can, absolutely no other reason. Just like every business is. They could buy Alberta oil and gas out of Texas terminals and pay more if they were there to serve yours and Canada's best interest, which they aren't.

For dating Katy Perry? The incels!

They're mad at Trudeau.

They're welcome to drive tractors across Canada in the winter. Might help their cause if they ever want to explain why.

Just want to say thank you for the tribute, it means a lot on this day. And thank you for all that went out and attended a ceremony...It does make this day go a little easier...