Saskatchewan Soviet

The buzz this week is about (aboot) a Saskatchewan family that moved to Russia to escape woke-ism, gays, freedom of speech, etc. Things are not going well.

The universe can often speak to us in unique and mysterious ways. Other times, if answers our questions by laughing in our faces.

That was the case with parents of 8 children Arend and Anneesa Feenstra, who decided that their home was just too liberal for them to raise their large family in. Instead, they moved to Russia.

If that seems extreme, it’s because it’s freaking insane. Sorry, I guess that’s a little opinionated for a standard news article. But this is like saying “We don’t like the rain all that much, so we’re moving to the Sahara.”

“[Our home] is not the same country it used to be and we didn’t feel safe for our children there in the future anymore. There’s a lot of left-wing ideology, LGBTQ, trans, just a lot of things that we don’t agree with that they teach there now, and we wanted to get away from that for our children.”

As you can imagine, however, the Feenstras bit off a little more than they could chew. After having their bank accounts frozen, they realized that maybe, like so many other immigrants around the world, they should have learned at least a little of the language before pulling up their roots and relocating.
Andrew Simpson / Political Flare

For Reference Purposes Only:

Semi-Sequitur: Wonkette

Wonkette is a pretty off-the-wall, and highly entertaining, ^something _something something site.

Their staff includes, but is not limited to….

The site includes the Ten Steps for a perfect wedding. We don’t want to spoil the fun, so we’ll just give #1:

1) Move someplace where people are going to have to travel a very long way to attend your nuptials. That way, you will have a house full of 15 people for a minimum of three days, and you can get the long-festering family-drama fights out of the way in the comfort of your own home instead of leaving them for the reception.

We are thankful that they don’t cover twine-related issues, or we’d face some serious competition.

Back to the Bone Heads: The YouTube Channel

Even for YouTube, Mr. Feenstra’s channel is profoundly dull. Up until he made the big move, his slice-of-maga-life (Canadian style) videos were getting between 300-500 views.

If you must: https://www.youtube.com/@countrysideacreshomestead2008/videos

Mr. Feenstra, who became disillusioned by the challenges of immigration (frozen bank accounts, “they talk funny over here”, etc.), posted a YouTube video to vent his frustration. Mr. Feenstra was politely, yet firmly, encouraged to take down the video, and in it’s place is his profound apology to the good people of Russia.

Cream Skimmers

Mr. Feenstra is riding the crest of technological, economic, social, and scientific progress. Instead of using this Crown of Creation to, say, improve the lives of 3rd world children ($1.09 will treat one child with a vitamin A deficiency), he squanders his talents by getting a huge motor home and driving his family around the US, complaining about everything that doesn’t fit his narrow world view. Or he pours his energies and resources into the Canadian Convoy Protest^[1], to protect the rights of virus particles because, you know, …. freedom.

Profoundly Shallow Theology

If I were granted an interview with Mr. Feenstra, my first question would be, “Name ten books you’ve read in the past year.” My next question would be, “Okay, name one book you’ve read in the past ten years.” Then, just for laughs, “Could you please give us your definition of ‘freedom’?”

In The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, Tim Alberta describes the idolatry of Christian nationalists and fundamentalist. The idols that have been prioritized are:

country
political affiliation
guns
self-righteous indignation
whiny victimhood
a weird blend of Old Testament machismo and misogyny and arrogance

Semi-Sequitur: The Look

What do all this handsome devils have in common?

Semi-Sequitur: Aspirational Alpha Males! Don’t let your lack of facial hair be a barrier to Alpha-ism

Semi-Sequitur: Mature Self-Reflection

Hats off to Canadian Mennonite for their sense of humour!

Canada Convoy Protest (CCP^[1])

A series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the Freedom Convoy (French: Convoi de la liberté) by organizers, began in early 2022. The initial convoy movement was created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border, but later evolved into a protest about COVID-19 mandates in general. Beginning January 22, hundreds of vehicles formed convoys from several points and traversed Canadian provinces before converging on Ottawa on January 29, 2022, with a rally at Parliament Hill. The convoys were joined by thousands of pedestrian protesters. Several offshoot protests blockaded provincial capitals and border crossings with the United States.
Wikipedia

Mr. Feenstra and his family participated in this brave act of freedom: freedom to allow unfettered access to a deadly pandemic without government interference. “What so ever you do for the least of my brothers….”.

From Mr. Feenstra’s YouTube post:

American influence

Ottawa’s police chief, Peter Sloly, described a “significant element” of American involvement in the organization and funding of the convoys. Some of the donors participating in the protest’s GoFundMe campaign were from the United States, and many used false names or remained anonymous. The polarization of American politics meant that Obama-era Democratic operatives like Bruce Heyman and Brett Bruen saw Donald Trump’s hand in the mess, as quoted in an article by news syndicate The Canadian Press.

CBC News and The New York Times described the protests as a “cause célèbre” for the American right. The convoys and protests were widely praised and promoted by American conservative political figures, who have been accused of propagating exaggerated claims about the protest, or making unfounded claims about the roles and actions of Canadian authorities and politicians with respect to the protest. The protest was endorsed by Trump, who, during his time in power, had regularly clashed with Trudeau over policy differences. In response to the convoy, Trump referred to Trudeau as a “far-left lunatic” who “has destroyed Canada”, and invited protesters to organize on Truth Social, his proposed social network. Various commentators have called the Freedom Convoy an example of Canadian Trumpism.
Wikipedia

Donor list hacked

On February 13, 2022, the GiveSendGo website was hacked and its data on donations was released to journalists and researchers through Distributed Denial of Secrets…. Of the 92,845 donations, 55.7 per cent of donors were from the United States, and 39 per cent from Canada. Many of the American donors’ names correspond to the names of Donald Trump donors. The hack also revealed that one $90,000 donation allegedly came from American software billionaire Thomas Siebel. Some members of the Ontario Provincial Police were revealed to have donated to the convoy on GiveSendGo, prompting the OPP to launch an internal conduct investigation.
Wikipedia

In North Korea, “re-education” means political indoctrination. In the US, it means junior high biology, civics, and an introduction to etiquette.