blackbird

Where did you get the idea it has propellers? The photo you showed could be the one from China but there is nothing there to indicate it was a spy balloon. It could still be a weather balloon. I think making assumptions without knowing what it actually was is not too bright.

No I never agreed. Where did you find the picture you posted? I have not seen that kind of thing on the media of the balloon from China we are talking about. Can you give the link where you got the photo? Even the picture you posted does not prove it is not a weather balloon and does not prove it is a spy balloon.

I googled it. To go incognito mode requires an involved process. That is still no guarantee you will be able to read the article without registering with Globe and Mail. Did you try it yourself? incognito mode edge - Search (bing.com)

The weather balloons which were launched from the weather ship had no propulsion and no solar panels. Weather balloons don't need propulsion. They just drift with the wind. There was no indication this balloon spotted drifting over north America had any propulsion. The media and politicians claiming it was a spy balloon are really making a bizarre claim in my opinion. There are countless other ways they could spy. A drifting balloon would not be one of them. What is that a picture of and the thing hanging under the balloon? Not a weather balloon The weather balloons that were launched on the weather ship had a small radio transmitter and sensors hanging from the balloon and were powered by a small battery. No need for any solar panels. A small battery can run a low-powered transmitter for days. The electronics package weighed perhaps half of a kilogram and perhaps four inches by four inches. It was much smaller that the balloon that's been on the news. Weather balloons don't need any sort of propulsion. They just drift with the wind and rise because of the helium in them.

I heard on the news today they figured it was the size of four buses. I admit it is very large. That doesn't mean it weighs tons. Even a large balloon would not weigh much. It requires a large balloon filled with helium gas to lift a small weight. They are made of very light material, just strong enough to hold the gas without bursting, so they will go up. We don't know what the weight of the equipment it is carrying is. Might be just a few pounds. In any case, there is no evidence it is a surveillance or spy balloon. Could still be just some sort of weather balloon. I am hoping they recovered it with any electronics so they can determine what it is. Will they tell the public though? Lots of drama on the news.

What is that?

They want me to subscribe for $1.99 a week or sign in with Facebook or Google and give my Email address. I am not willing to give my info and perhaps credit card number just to find out if I can read it for free. Jumping through hoops that are geared for them to sell subscriptions.

I tend to think it is a weather balloon for a few reasons. 1. So far all we have heard is speculation from the politicians and media that it is a spy balloon without any evidence at all. They are outraged over China using a ballioon to spy on the west. 2. They claim is was "hoovering" over sensitive areas. But its movement is entirely controlled by the wind currents which exist at the high altitude it is flying. It was first discovered over Alaska, then over Canada and finally over the U.S. It cannot control its path and is entirely dependent on where the wind currents take it. 3. It is almost funny how it is on the CTV news at this moment. The host called it a "suspected balloon". Of course it is a balloon. CTV is very careless with their words. 4. One reason why I believe it is not a spy balloon is it is completely obvious it would be observed and be shot down as it was. It would be an extremely amateurish to use a balloon to spy in this modern age of the vast amounts of digital technology, the internet, spy satellites, and the probable number of spies and groups working for the CCP in north America. 5. Canada had a weathership fifty years ago in the north Pacific ocean which launched weather balloons every six hours although they may have been smaller than this one. They carried a small transmitter with weather sensors below the balloon and transmitted the information back to the weathership as they rose around 100,000 feet. Then somewhere up that altitude they would burst and fall into the ocean and be lost. My job was to track the balloon on a computer-controlled radar system, not to recover it, but to record its altitude, speed, and direction. I believe the sensors sent back the temperature and humidity and different altitudes as it went up. After it burst, that was the end of it. Nobody cared about it because it disappeared into the ocean. The reason this one from China is still up there is probably because of its weight, the strong material it is made of, and inability to go any higher. It is floating at a balance point and strong enough to withstand bursting. 6. It just does not seem like a sensible way to spy on the west when there are countless other methods of spying, including satellites that can take fairly detailed photographs of things on the earth and the equipment can photograph anything they wish with the technology they have today. A balloon which just floats randomly without any control of its movement just doesn't make sense as an instrument to spy. Now that it has been shot down after all the hype about it being a spy balloon, the question is will they tell us the truth about what they found if it is not a spy balloon? It would require a big climb down by the politicians and media after all the assumptions and hype. There has been incredible hype about this balloon. "Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the Biden administration’s response to the balloon an “embarrassing display of weakness.” “The [administration] should have taken care of this before it became a national security threat,” McCaul said in a statement posted to Twitter on Saturday." Why the US waited to shoot down the China balloon (msn.com)

Unfortunately, there is no article to read at the last link because it requires subscribing to globe and mail. Also did a brief search and could find no free article on her opinion. Maybe someone else can find one.

You make it sound like FNs actually may own the land, which is completely false. FN red power activists and their left wing supporters are the ones spreading the myth that it is somehow "unceded land" or their territory. That is complete nonsense. When the British government took over it became crown land and belongs to the British Crown as the representative of Canada. It is not native land just because they claim hundreds and thousands of square kilometers as their "traditional territories". They have hunting and fishing rights, but they do not have sovereignty over the land. They were given reserves to live on. The left wing NDP and Liberals are causing enormous trouble that will be very difficult to sort out. Unfortunately the people living on the island and those who come to enjoy it will pay a heavy price and are paying now. There are many examples of the insane things the NDP are doing with FNs that are going to harm the other 95% of the population in parts of B.C.

Michael just doesn't care. You notice he explains nothing in detail but simply repeats the same remarks of adoration for whatever the government does. Usually just two or three sentences. He knows if he says more than that, he will trap himself because he really has no answers. This government is strictly a one-man band show. Trudeau appoints whoever he wants to be minister and the main qualification is they must be compliant to his wishes totally or they will not be there. That's why he appointed Christia Freeland to be Finance Minister and Deputy PM. She is totally in awe of him and does exactly what he says like a jumping trick dog. Same with the other ministers such as the radical Greenpeace activist and the one who brought in C11. Both jumping trick dogs that do what they're told.

"Now what do “discrimination, hate propaganda and hate crimes” mean? The Ontario Human Rights Code mandates “the use of genderless pronouns on request.” Does this mean those who do not agree with transgender ideology and decline to use genderless pronouns will be convicted of hate crimes? If a pastor quotes from Scripture and condemns homosexual behavior as sinful, as the Bible does, is that a hate crime? Is it “hate propaganda” for someone to share God’s truth that we were created male and female (Genesis 1:27) to a friend who is thinking about transitioning from one gender to another? Telling people they are wrong can be offensive, even if done in the most gentle and loving way possible. Will offense be the standard by which we judge hate crimes? Telling people they are wrong can be offensive, even if done in the most gentle and loving way possible. Groups against this new bill claim this is “government mandated speech” and that “this law will not be used as some sort of 'shield' to defend vulnerable transsexuals, but rather as a weapon with which to bludgeon people of faith and free-thinking Canadians who refuse to deny truth.” Canada Forces Government Speech and Bans Bible Verses | Answers in Genesis

The government has already proven they are anti-God and anti-Bible morality when they passed laws celebrating and protecting certain classes of people, who identify as non-binary, from anything that anyone might consider as hate speech. So for the government to bring in a bill to control speech on the internet is just another step in the direction of control of what Canadians can say, even if it contradicts their religious beliefs. You are obviously OK with that. Canada Forces Government Speech and Bans Bible Verses | Answers in Genesis

No it is not over quoted. I have not even heard it quoted once on this forum. Making things up again are we? The famous author George Orwell was visionary when he wrote that book. Who would have predicted even the existence of the internet when he wrote that book? Who would have thought when Orwell wrote that book that the Thought Police would use a wire to spy on people? That was incredible insight. That is exactly what is happening with the internet which runs on wires throughout the telecommunications system.

You are talking about wilderness areas that do not belong to FN. These are areas that FN claim as their "traditional areas" around such places as Kennedy Lake, a very large uninhabited area. FNs claim the whole province of B.C. as their "traditional areas". They do not own the province or the areas around the west coast and Tofino. But politicians in Tofino and regional district are sucking up to FN, putting them on the regional district board and generally caving into their red power demands. They are essentially using FN red power people to intimidate tourists and campers to force them out of the area. That is criminal. Since when have you stood up for the public on the regional district board? Also banning people from camping in the wilderness is a violation of freedom of movement and is being done to try to force a few more people to go into Tofino and pay to stay in their high-priced west coast resorts. The whole thing is crooked coersion. There are no hundreds of people or raves. That is highly doubtful and is probably a lie by the extortionists. A group of people who want to camp in the bush is not a rave. That is a fake claim. Don't forget the area is a highly desirable tourist destination because of Long Beach and the west coast scenery, fishing, whale watching, etc., and does not belong exclusively to the resort owners and business people in Tofino. Who are you representing on the regional district? Not the ordinary people who don't have a fortune for the resorts. Apparently they are not even allowing anyone to sleep in their vehicle in Tofino. It is an extortion racket.

"How often, and on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire (computer terminal?) was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everyone all the time. But at any rate they would plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live--did live--from habit that became instinct--from the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized." Orwell's book, 1984.

Wow!!! Well, thank you again sir for telling me my right to speak comes from the government. I would never have realized my very existence and right to breath, speak and everything else was due to the benevolence of our big brother, the Trudeau government.

Do you still work on the board of the regional district that condemns people that slept in a vehicle in the town of Tofino instead of paying for accommodation in the ridiculously high-priced resorts? Do they actually send the police after people who camp in the wilderness in the area?

“The idea of any hierarchical politico deciding what a man or woman is allowed to write to fit a proscribed national agenda is a horrid thing. I am wondering if anyone on the staff of our Minister of Canadian Heritage understands this.” “I think, overall, we have lately become a land of scapegoaters and finger pointers, offering accusations and shame while believing we are a woke society. Cultural committees are based as much in bias and fear as in anything else.” “No decree by the CRTC could, in any way, tell us what Canadian content should or should not be, or who should be allowed to bob their heads up out of the new murkiness we have created. " Rex Murphy: Trudeau-appointed senator gets it right in condemning government censorship (msn.com) This C11 is right out of Orwell's book 1984 where big brother watches and controls every inch of everyone's life. "There was no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork." Orwell's book "1984". This is what we can expect from the highly-paid bureaucrats in the CRTC who will be authorized and expected to carry out this mandate.

Really??????????? So you actually hold the Orwellian belief that government has the right to tell me that I have the right to freedom of expression? Well, thank you sir for being so benevolent and allowing me to believe I receive this freedom from the government. I didn't know I needed their permission to have it.

"Forcing or attempting to force YouTube, TikTok or other platforms to prioritize Canadian content may be well intentioned, but it is naïve… Forcing people to view content because it’s Canadian does not encourage people to like that content. It is more likely, I feel, to breed negative perceptions of Canadian content from the user," testified digital creator Stewart Reynolds, perhaps better known online as Brittlestar. "If they know a video is being shown to them primarily because it’s Canadian and not because it is what the user is searching for, it can make the video seem inferior regardless of whether it is or not. It’s like going to a restaurant with corn content or corncon rules. Even though you order the Alberta sirloin, you receive a bowl of corn. Good, perhaps, but not what you wanted," Reynolds told the Senate committee." Online streaming Bill C-11: What you need to know | CTV News The neo-Marxist mentality is that they think if they force feed the population something, it will be accepted. People are not that stupid. They will know when something is of inferior quality and will reject it. This could mean so-called Canadian content will be judged more harshly because it is being force fed on the people. I know there are movies that are made in other countries like Germany, the U.S.A., and Europe that are of incredible quality. Nobody should be forced to watch something of poor quality just because it comes from one's own country. Good quality movies can come from anywhere in the world and the citizens should not be stopped from being able to choose what they want to watch. An unforgettable movie in my opinion was "As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me". Produced by a German company and using a very large number of staff. The list of people who produced it is endless. It is in the German language but has English subtitles so is still easy to watch and understand. As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me ( 2001) - YouTube

"Throughout its efforts to update Canada's Broadcasting Act regime, the government has remained adamant that Bill C-11 is focused on ensuring social media and streaming giants are subjected to Canadian content requirements and regulations comparable to traditional broadcasters, and as a result promote and pay their fair share towards Canadian creators. This insistence has come in the face of alarms being sounded by certain industry voices, the Conservative party, and platforms such as YouTube, Google and Meta, which have suggested that the Liberal proposal could have knock-on effects for user-generated content and content creators, as well as free-speech implications. In their efforts to lobby against this bill, some of the tech giants have gone to great lengths. For example, this fall, YouTube ran a campaign warning users who earn money making videos about how the legislation could impact their livelihoods. YouTube, TikTok say streaming bill fails to protect creators Critics have also made the charge that, due to the "discoverability" provisions that would empower the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to compel platforms to promote Canadian content, it's a bill aimed at censoring what gets seen online." Online streaming Bill C-11: What you need to know | CTV News I see two serious general problems with this: 1. Government control of what platforms put on the internet with the purpose of promoting Canadians content. This means content will not be judged on its merit, but rather platforms will be forced to promote it even if it is sub-standard and of low quality. This is not the kind of entertainment Canadians should be forced to watch and pay for. Also small individual creators could be harmed with the bureaucracy and interference by the government. 2. There is still a belief by many that this bill also intends to censor and control what individuals post on social media or on youtube. If this is the case, it could be a violation of freedom of expression. When governments are given a chance to control media, the bureaucrats doing it might be given the freedom to do whatever they think. This is dangerous censorship. The big problem is that the government views the internet as a broadcast medium when its not that at all. It is more of a communications medium between people. How can social media even be considered as broadcasting similar to radio and television. It is not broadcasting. The government has no business in regulating or controlling what people post on social media. This bill is a revolutionary change in that it brings the internet under the authority of the CRTC as if it is a public broadcaster. Authoritarians like this idea of controlling the communications and thoughts of the population. I would not be too sure that this is not the direction this bill is heading.

Ahh but we are living in Trudeau's (or Orwell's) 1984 era of big brother knows what is best for us to watch.

You need to study C11. I don't think you have much idea of what it is all about. You seem ok with have the CRTC bureaucracy controlling the internet in certain ways but you don't understand what it is all about. Considering how poorly this government has managed many departments, it is surprising you would trust them with managing anything on the internet. We need to dig deeper into this bill to learn exactly what it means before making too many broad nonsensical comments. Just one small example of government mismanagement is the pandemic hotels. The government spent millions of dollars renting hotels for quarantine and many times they were hardly used. Try Google and see how many millions dollars they spend on one hotel in Calgary for a small number of people. Yet you trust them with everything. They are also under the microscope for giving contracts worth a vast amount of money to McKinsey corporation for advice. Trudeau writes cheques like money is water.

Ironically one good thing about this appointment is that there are news reports that many politicians in Quebec are unhappy about this appointment. Almost all politicians in Quebec oppose this appointment.