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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/25/2025 in Posts

  1. This is an anti-vax activist "journal" run by anti-vaxxers, not a real medical journal used in the medical field.
    3 points
  2. 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/
    2 points
  3. 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.
    2 points
  4. 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.
    2 points
  5. 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.
    2 points
  6. 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.
    2 points
  7. 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. 🙃
    2 points
  8. The farmers' message was heard loud and clear....in the form of crickets chirping across the country.
    2 points
  9. 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.
    2 points
  10. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Fu7827r5u/?mibextid=wwXIfr Coles Notes: a doctor with a small practice had 32 patients that were injured by the Covid vaccine, and after he spoke publicly about it the College of Physicians and Surgeons accused him of spreading disinformation and brought charges against him. The doctor hired a top lawyer, and got eight expert witnesses from around the world, and gathered over 1000 pages of evidence to defend himself in court. When the college of physicians and surgeons saw the mountain of evidence against them, and they knew that they had no chance of winning in court, they pulled the ultimate commie move and applied to the court for “judicial notice”, to disallow any evidence or testimony from the defendant to the effect that the vaccines were dangerous, just because it had been approved by Health Canada. When the judge denied their commie tactics they dropped the charges, but they didn’t admit that it was because they knew they were going to lose, they said that the lawsuit had run its course by silencing him. In reality, silencing him like that was still just another commie tactic by the college of physicians and surgeons. The college of physicians and surgeons literally sees their job as preventing people from hearing the truth from actual medical professionals. According to the doctor speaking in that video, a new law was brought in since then, and now doctors who are found “guilty of spreading misinformation” in the future can receive up to $200,000 in fines and six months in prison. The days of the church locking people up for challenging the orthodoxy have been replaced by the days of the college of physicians and surgeons locking people up in order to silence them. Are all of you Vax-fascists still really happy about this? Do you still feel like you were on the right side of history, eyeball, ex flyer, hodad, beaver, Herbie, etc.? Once Health Canada speaks, does every doctor in Canada just have to shut their goddamn mouths and do and say exactly as they are told, or face ruinous fines, and jail time?
    1 point
  11. It's science buddy, that means it's refutable but you need to refute it with science not the manure you're spreading.
    1 point
  12. You disagree with the science Pembina conducted? Burning 1 million barrels of Alberta Crude per day will in fact produce 317,000 metric tons of CO2. That's almost 116 million tons per year. That's just from one pipeline and Alberta wants pipelines going in every direction. Most Canadians do not want to make climate change worse than it is by adding more and more CO2 year after year after year.
    1 point
  13. 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.
    1 point
  14. The democrat party is all about abusing the people - creating masochists is the democrat way.
    1 point
  15. Every single observation you make is sullied by the onset of rampant TDS.
    1 point
  16. 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.
    1 point
  17. 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.
    1 point
  18. Oh I think he knows. I think that's why he has these little meltdowns, he knows he looks like a fool and he reverts to some sort of childish 7-year-old Behavior he obviously learned when he was quite small and it's his only way of coping. That's why he cries, why he demands everyone other than him is a loser, why he just reposts the same things over and over like a child throwing a hissy fit and Screaming and kicking. This is adolescent Behavior from somebody who just never grew up from that child state. Is immaturity combined with his lack of ability to make a reasonable argument or defend himself logically we seem to frustration and bad behavior. I mean you see it with children all the time and their parents don't raise them right
    1 point
  19. Awww broke you again i see Spamming the forum isn't very nice, don't make me write a note to your mommy telling her you can't play nice with others I'd write to your dad but even your mom seems unsure of who that might be. So many possibilities
    1 point
  20. 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.
    1 point
  21. Wow just wow. That was a lot of batshit verbal diarrhea that still didn’t answer the question. I repeat: If Ivermectin is a miracle cure why aren’t they just promoting that? It’s also made by “big pharma” drug companies doncha know. If covid vaccines don’t work and only make people sicker why is there a vast conspiracy by all levels of governments, MSM, the medical community, academia, public interest groups, etc to encourage people to take it and why does the government pay for it? Since hundreds of millions of people around the world are now vaccinated why hasn’t there been a mass die off? The fact is you can’t answer any of those questions why is ehy you lashed out with your cheap lame insults and then barfed up all that irrelevant and fake news batshit
    1 point
  22. 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.
    1 point
  23. Who could have predicted these cases getting tossed? Aaaaand the clown show marches on. I don't think this will make Trump any less corrupt, or will make his slavering fans any more concerned about corruption, but it is nice to see a little justice left in the justice system.
    1 point
  24. What? Does any of this drivel have a thought behind it?
    1 point
  25. You're supporting it over the F-35s. What do you know that the military doesn't?
    1 point
  26. Unlike the halfwits protesting they couldn't get back from a country they couldn't get into in the first place, at least the farmers have enough brains to give it up when they want to protest against the wrong party.
    1 point
  27. Are you Like Mike Hardner . . . stand for nothing and sneer at those that do?
    1 point
  28. @WestCanMan Can you take a step back and remind us again why there’s this supposed vast conspiracy amongst virtually everyone in the world with a post-secondary education to promote a vaccine that they supposedly know is so dangerous? Because when you guys first went off the deep end on this it was during the pandemic and the claim was just that “they” were desperately rushing to find a solution and not exercising appropriate caution and testing. But now that the pandemic is over that argument doesn’t work anymore. Some of the nutjobs were peddling nonsense about a secret cabal wanting to kill off a significant percentage of the earth’s population because of “population control” or some such nonsense but with the majority of the public now vaccinated and no mass die-off having occurred, that batshit conspiracy doesn’t hold water either.
    1 point
  29. 1 point
  30. No, I don't think YOU do in the least. It has nothing to do with filling roles others wish us to, nor in spite of Trumpian bullshit and bluster anything to do with spending money. It's a voluntary organization to defend the West backed by US nukes that has a suggested military spending target not a country club that marches to the tune of whatever fool is in the White House.
    1 point
  31. 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.
    1 point
  32. You are fixated on money. Okay, how much did the transmountain pipline cost. If we build hundreds of reactors, the cost comes down.
    1 point
  33. You do not seem to grasp the cost of hot doing away with burning fossil resourses. I am curious to know what you physics prof told you about the ramifications of rapid climate change?
    1 point
  34. 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.
    1 point
  35. Replace it with nuclear power and electrified rail systems. Ships can run on nuclear power. Life on earth depends on transitioning off fossil fuel.
    1 point
  36. Yes, coherent phased array systems have a difficult time detecting targets that display the cross-section of a golf ball.
    1 point
  37. Fixed that for you. Even the Almighty Yanks can't go to Rupert, Bella Bella, Port Hardy or down the Inside Passage.
    1 point
  38. How many AI copy/pastes are you going to make about the same topic?
    1 point
  39. I’m just trying to correct your overly dramatic exaggeration. We know you’re desperate to drum up bad news and say “itself all Carney’s fault his government is in charge ” and then when good news comes along say “itself has nothing to do with Carney his government only just got into office” That’s an old game. Back to the topic, if Trump decides anything sold in America must be made in America then there’s little we can do other than wait for midterms or a new president or TACO to once again reverse himself. TBH highly mobile low-skilled manufacturing for the US market probably isn’t an industry we should be banking on, they just ask for one subsidy after another, they’ll never take the knife away from our throats. A lot of those jobs are held by new immigrants and TFWs anyway which is now a dwindling resource. And we should want to get out of this vicious cycle where we keep importing TFWs to fill the jobs at these places and then keep subsidizing the factories to keep those jobs.
    1 point
  40. Who is Elizabeth May? Is she that communist in the NDP party? I believe that only buffoons and idi0ts will listen to her lies and bull chit. 👎
    1 point
  41. They're welcome to drive tractors across Canada in the winter. Might help their cause if they ever want to explain why.
    1 point
  42. I don’t think they need the Emergencies Act to remove trucks blocking traffic. Just need cops willing to enforce the law.
    1 point
  43. To all the Canadian vets and the ones down south, may fortune find you and yours, may your pain be turned to joy . I hope you spent this day with friends and family laughing mostly about those good times spent with comrades, and to shed a tear for those we lost. I raise a pint of beer to you all...We will not forget them ever...Pro Patria.
    1 point
  44. Sigh… I swear, why must you folks routinely push this BS like this about vaccines and disease? No, measles is not like having the flu. Measles is more contagious, and for those who get it will be more deadly, with more complications and higher hospitalization. All of which is almost entirely preventable in a vaccinated population.
    1 point
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