Since @erinotoole has invited Liberals to show Conservatives’ connections to the US far right, here are 25 tweets doing so. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (1/25).

There are only a couple of degrees of separation between some Conservative politicians in Canada and the extreme right, because of The Rebel & Hamish Marshall who worked for Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer, and the Manitoba PCs. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (2/25)
Canadian conservatives have been taking policy and tactics from U.S. republicans for many years. After the success of Fox News in the US, Conservatives tried to create “Sun TV,” then modelled “Rebel Media” on Breitbart. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (3/25)
For years, The Rebel has been weaponizing & inciting hate for profit and political gain without care for the consequences. It is a global source of radical right-wing hate - its ties with conservative politicians across Canada are deep and long-standing. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (4/25)
From 2015 to 2017, Hamish Marshall was one of 3 board members for The Rebel, the far-right propaganda outlet helmed by Ezra Levant. Marshall was a consultant on the PCs 2016 election campaign, and his company, Torch, built the PCs current website. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (5/25)
The Rebel’s correspondents have included: Gavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016, a far-right militia group that has been part of running street violence in the U.S. for months. #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/BlnSHrULqH (6/25)
McInnes grew up in Ottawa & founded Vice Magazine with a government grant. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (7/25)

https://t.co/fUonRd3LrP
McInnes left Vice in 2008. After a failed attempt at shock comedy, McInnes drifted as a correspondent for a series of far-right outlets. As a Rebel Media correspondent, McInnes posted a video called “Ten things I hate about Jews.” #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/iHKwHmnaVk (8/25)
McInnes was at the storming of the U.S. Capitol. In December, Proud Boys in Washington, DC were wearing shirts that read “6MWE” - Six Million Wasn’t Enough, suggesting that even more Jews should have been killed in the Holocaust. #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/QaiRZ0ZTqI (9/25)
Another Rebel flack was Faith Goldy, whose screeds drew condemnation when she attended a “Unite the Right” Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia where white supremacists struck and killed a peaceful protestor. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (10/25) https://t.co/5LkDiEErDS
Goldy gave an interview with a neo-nazi website Stormfront & was fired from the Rebel. She returned at a “United we Roll” rally where CPC Sen. David Tkachuk said truckers should “roll over every Liberal left in the country.” #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/TGswX4R92M (11/25)
Keean Bexte promoted the “Yellow Vests Convoy” in Ottawa. Bexte was a recruiter for the Manning Centre for Democracy & Staffer for a CPC Alberta MP & called for ending birthright citizenship in Canada at a CPC policy convention. #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/BJG5SvyR1I (12/25)
Bexte ran “FireForce Ventures” a website that sold Rhodesian military paraphernalia from a time when Zimbabwe was ruled by a white supremacist government. #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/zqXTsY5kfc (13/25)
Bexte’s FireForce partners included Canadian Military & another CPC staffer, Adam Strashok. Strashok ran Jason Kenney’s call centre during his United Conservative Party leadership run. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (14/25)

https://t.co/xC9GqWcTci
Other Rebel correspondents include Katie Hopkins, banned by multiple platforms for hate, but hired by The Rebel; Tommy Robinson, a far-right convicted criminal and from the UK. #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/eLftCFEXKd (15/25)
The Rebel’s conservative connections are deep. In the 1990s and 2000s, Ezra Levant worked with a who’s-who of conservatives: Preston Manning, David Frum, Stockwell Day. He gave up his nomination for a by-election in 2002 so Stephen Harper could run. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (16/25)
Levant was successfully sued on a number of occasions. He had to apologize for defaming George Soros in a column for the Sun newspapers; in another case, a court found that Levant “spoke in reckless disregard of the truth.” #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/JjwSOcABcj (17/25)
The 2011, CPC platform pledged to strip out hate speech provisions of Canada’s Human Rights Code, and a private member’s bill did that. Then-Minister for Public Safety, Vic Toews, praised the bill. So did neo-nazis. #mbpoli #cdnpoli https://t.co/A2Ob8v32jt (18/25)
Levant worked for Sun TV, which was headed up by Korey Teneycke - Stephen Harper’s D. Comms. Teneycke maintained close contacts with Levant, mediating a dispute between Levant and a UK correspondent. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (19/25) https://t.co/RatBVc7wfM
Last year former CPC leader Scheer referred to a conspiracy theory about a UN agreement b/w countries to deal with the refugee crisis. So did Danielle Smith. The conspiracy theory was that it would make criticizing Islam a crime. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (20/25)

https://t.co/743ir61MHp
Pierre Poilievre was tweeting about the “Great Reset” which has a theory attached that if you refuse to get a vaccine, you will be thrown in jail. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (21/25) https://t.co/XG83vtiOGJ
Some Canadian Conservatives have been embracing the same far-right tactics to manipulate voters as extremists in the States: misinformation, false accusations, conspiracy theories, and radicalizing their own supporters by demonizing their opponents. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (22/25)
It’s clear that when people died in the Washington Coup last week, politicians who incited the crowd were stunned to find out people believed their lies. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (23/25)
We need a shared reality to agree on. The extremists in the Conservative party are not just at its fringes, and even if they don't believe the extremists - they still pander to them. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (24/25)
Despite all this - there are plenty of principled, smart, kind conservatives who aren’t like this and don’t buy into it. Same thing with the NDP, Liberals & Greens. I added links above to provide evidence. It is not true of everyone. We can all be better. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (25/25)

More from Government

Long thread: Because I couldn’t find anything comprehensive, I’m just going to post everything I’ve seen in the news/Twitter about Trump’s activities related to the Jan 6th insurrection. I think the timing & context of his actions/inactions will matter a lot for a senate trial.

12/12: The earlier DC protest over the electoral college vote during clearly inspired Jan 6th. On Dec 12th, he tweeted: “Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA.”


12/19: Trump announces the Jan. 6th event by tweeting, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” Immediately, insurrectionists begin to discuss the “Wild Protest.” Just 2 days later, this UK political analyst predicts the violence


12/26-27: Trump announces his participation on Twitter. On Dec. 29, the FBI sends out a nationwide bulletin warning legislatures about attacks https://t.co/Lgl4yk5aO1


1/1: Trump tweets the time of his protest. Then he retweets “The calvary is coming” on Jan. 6!” Sounds like a war? About this time, the FBI begins visiting right wing extremists to tell them not to go--does the FBI tell the president? https://t.co/3OxnB2AHdr
Let me take a stab at this after years of reporting on Marine One, HMX-1, Continuity of Government, etc. None of this is definitive, but it could help explain what folks are seeing:

1.) HMX-1, which flies the VH-3D and VH-60N 'White Top' helicopters used to move... 1/X


the President and VP around, those helos being called Marine One or Two when either is onboard, need to train. The urban landing zones, including WH and VP Residence, are not simple to get in and out of. So, crews need some currency training. They are not just tasked with... 2/X

moving POTUS and VP to get them around the region and to Andrews AFB for long-haul flights, they are essential to Continuity of Government operations. This means that if a threat were to emerge, they need to be ready to snatch POTUS and VP in minutes. This is partially... 3/X

why they have a full forward operating location at Naval Support Activity Anacostia, just 3 miles from the WH. As such, practice is important and considering the state of things, it is critical now more than in any recent memory. 4/X

2.) Considering what happened last week, including mobs of Trump supporters screaming in unison to hang the VP for doing what the constitution states, absolutely despicable in every way, security has been tightened just as it has been all over. Using the helicopters instead.. 5/X
Which metric is a better predictor of the severity of the fall surge in US states?

1) Margin of Democrat victory in Nov 2020 election
or
2) % infected through Sep 1, 2020

Can you guess which plot is which?


The left plot is based on the % infected through Sep 1, 2020. You can see that there is very little correlation with the % infected since Sep 1.

However, there is a *strong* correlation when using the margin of Biden's victory (right).

Infections % from
https://t.co/WcXlfxv3Ah.


This is the strongest single variable I've seen in being able to explain the severity of this most recent wave in each state.

Not past infections / existing immunity, population density, racial makeup, latitude / weather / humidity, etc.

But political lean.

One can argue that states that lean Democrat are more likely to implement restrictions/mandates.

This is valid, so we test this by using the Government Stringency Index made by @UniofOxford.

We also see a correlation, but it's weaker (R^2=0.36 vs 0.50).

https://t.co/BxBBKwW6ta


To avoid look-ahead bias/confounding variables, here is the same analysis but using 2016 margin of victory as the predictor. Similar results.

This basically says that 2016 election results is a better predictor of the severity of the fall wave than intervention levels in 2020!

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1/ Here’s a list of conversational frameworks I’ve picked up that have been helpful.

Please add your own.

2/ The Magic Question: "What would need to be true for you


3/ On evaluating where someone’s head is at regarding a topic they are being wishy-washy about or delaying.

“Gun to the head—what would you decide now?”

“Fast forward 6 months after your sabbatical--how would you decide: what criteria is most important to you?”

4/ Other Q’s re: decisions:

“Putting aside a list of pros/cons, what’s the *one* reason you’re doing this?” “Why is that the most important reason?”

“What’s end-game here?”

“What does success look like in a world where you pick that path?”

5/ When listening, after empathizing, and wanting to help them make their own decisions without imposing your world view:

“What would the best version of yourself do”?
Recently, the @CNIL issued a decision regarding the GDPR compliance of an unknown French adtech company named "Vectaury". It may seem like small fry, but the decision has potential wide-ranging impacts for Google, the IAB framework, and today's adtech. It's thread time! 👇

It's all in French, but if you're up for it you can read:
• Their blog post (lacks the most interesting details):
https://t.co/PHkDcOT1hy
• Their high-level legal decision: https://t.co/hwpiEvjodt
• The full notification: https://t.co/QQB7rfynha

I've read it so you needn't!

Vectaury was collecting geolocation data in order to create profiles (eg. people who often go to this or that type of shop) so as to power ad targeting. They operate through embedded SDKs and ad bidding, making them invisible to users.

The @CNIL notes that profiling based off of geolocation presents particular risks since it reveals people's movements and habits. As risky, the processing requires consent — this will be the heart of their assessment.

Interesting point: they justify the decision in part because of how many people COULD be targeted in this way (rather than how many have — though they note that too). Because it's on a phone, and many have phones, it is considered large-scale processing no matter what.