By Kiyan Kassam   August 24, 2024

U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., wrote a letter last week calling on the Canadian government to scrap its controversial ArriveCan app for anyone seeking to enter the country, referring to the mandate as a “misguided burden” on travelers.

ArriveCan ostensibly screens incoming travelers for Covid-19 while enabling the federal government to collect a wealth of electronic data, personal information, and medical records, including someone’s vaccination status. Refusing to use the app while traveling to Canada can result in significant fines and even mandatory quarantine.

“The ArriveCan app serves no public health purpose and continues to harm both commerce and the flow of traffic at our border. I urge you and the Canadian government to cease this app’s harmful impacts on our border communities and immediately halt its required use,” the congresswoman stated.

When it comes to testing, vaccination status, and quarantine requirements, the app is completely at odds with new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). So why exactly is Canada refusing to follow the so-called science?

Prolonged processing and wait times at the U.S.-Canada border are also being attributed to the app, as Stefanik suggested. “We’re so short-staffed and spending so much time dealing with this app that we really don’t have time to do our actual jobs anymore,” said Mark Weber, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union.

Pressure has been mounting on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ever since a “glitch” earlier this summer mistakenly ordered more than 10,000 people to quarantine at home. The government waited 12 days to notify them of the error, prompting concern from data and privacy experts who say the ArriveCan app may be violating constitutionally-protected mobility rights.

In May, it was revealed that Canadian authorities had “closely tracked” citizens via their smartphones — without their knowledge — during the pandemic. Through unprecedented surveillance, public health officials were reportedly “able to view a detailed snapshot of people’s behavior, including visits to the grocery store, gatherings with family and friends, time spent at home, and trips to other towns and provinces.”

(more…)

March 4, 2022   By Cody  WISNIEWSK   I Cody J. Wisniewski (@TheWizardofLawz) is the Director of Mountain States Legal Foundation’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms. He primarily focuses on Second Amendment issues but is happy so long as he is reminding the government of its enumerated powers and constitutional restrictions.

By Charlie Gasparino   March 1, 2022

Russia appears to have officially declared cyberwar on the US, taking what’s been described as preliminary steps at crippling its banking system and possibly other major industries, the Post has learned.

The Biden Administration has been working with bank executives for months about preparing for cyberattacks in as retaliation over US sanctions.

The big US banks — JP Morgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs — are under constant attacks by cyber criminals looking to disrupt operations and steal client information. The usual suspects are most often located in Iran, China and of course Russia.

Bank executives tell the Post they’ve spent billions of dollars annually to protect against cyber criminals, but they say the recent wave of attacks is different. Sources describe them as a subtle but intensified assault on banks’ technological infrastructure that began after the sanctions over Ukraine were announced.

(more…)

• The measures represent a complete reversal of Germany’s post-Cold War Russia policy — which focused on pursuing economic ties rather than confrontation with Moscow — and mark a definitive end to the era of former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
• “We are living through a watershed era. And that means that the world afterwards will no longer the same as the world before. The core question is whether power is allowed to prevail over the law. Will we allow Putin to turn the clock back to the 19th century and the age of great powers? Or can we muster the strength to keep warmongers like Putin in check. That requires strength of our own. Yes, we fully intend to secure our freedom, our democracy and our prosperity.” — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Bundestag, February 27, 2022.
• The significance of the German U-turn cannot be overstated: Germany will become the biggest spender on defense in Europe.
• In a major policy reversal, the German government has also decided to suspend technical certification of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would double shipments of Russian natural gas to Germany by transporting the gas under the Baltic Sea.
• “Olaf Scholz is changing decades of German foreign policy in a single speech. Russia went too far and now Germany is waking up. Incredible.” — Marcel Dirsus, German political scientist.
• “I have to say I don’t recognize Europe as it responds to Putin’s gangsterism against #Ukraine… all of a sudden I see the Continent grow a spine. Way to go!” — Andrew Michta, veteran transatlantic security analyst.
• “Watching Scholz in Bundestag today is watching decades of German foreign policy change in a few minutes before your eyes.” — Andrew Gray, politics editor for Politico.
• “Putin knew well why he invested so much in friendly relations. Germany was open to that. But the attack on Ukraine changed everything. Comes certainly as a shock to Putin.” — Ulrich Speck, German foreign policy analyst.
• “It is hard to overestimate how much Putin’s attack on Ukraine changed Germany. Less than a week ago Nord Stream 2 was still alive, delivering lethal weapons to Ukraine taboo & cutting Russia out of Swift out of the question. Putin’s invasion changed Germany. Turning point.” — Michael Knigge, German journalist.
• “Germany basically doing what Donald Trump demanded that they do — to widespread ridicule — for the four years of his Presidency. I know it galls people to hear it, but Trump was right about some very big things.” — John McGuirk, Irish political commentator.

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced a paradigm shift in German defense and energy policies in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that Germany will substantially increase defense spending and take immediate measures to reduce its energy dependence on Russia.

  (more…)