FRANCIS MARION JOINS THE WESTERN FREEDOM CONVOY

Francis Marion has joined the western freedom convoy and is sending pictures  from the scene. As our on the spot TBP correspondent sends more pictures, I’ll add them to this thread.

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COMMON SENSE – 2017

“Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.” John Adams

Thomas Paine was born in 1737 in Britain. His first thirty seven years of life were pretty much a series of failures and disappointments. Business fiascos, firings, the death of his first wife and child, a failed second marriage, and bankruptcy plagued his early life. He then met Benjamin Franklin in 1774 and was convinced to emigrate to America, arriving in Philadelphia in November 1774. He thus became the Father of the American Revolution with the publication of Common Sense, pamphlets which crystallized opinion for colonial independence in 1776.

The first pamphlet was published in Philadelphia on January 10, 1776, and signed anonymously “by an Englishman.” It became an instantaneous sensation, swiftly disseminating 100,000 copies in three months among the two and a half million residents of the 13 colonies. Over 500,000 copies were sold during the course of the American Revolution. Paine published Common Sense after the battle of Lexington and Concord, making the argument the colonists should seek complete independence from Great Britain, rather than merely fighting against unfair levels of taxation. The pamphlets stirred the masses with a fighting spirit, instilling in them the backbone to resist a powerful empire.

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THE MOUNTAIN

Guest Post by Francis Marion

I could here the roar of the Canoe River and its tributaries as they made their descent hundreds of feet below me. I couldn’t see them from the logging road we were on but their flight was so steep and so rapid that it filled the valley with mist and noise as the various creeks and the river itself made the first leg of their inevitable journey south and west to the Pacific. The road and surrounding vegetation were damp as the mist from the creek filled the air, climbing upwards with the tips of giant spruce and pine towards the ridges that birthed the torrent below while simultaneously mingling with the sun and creating hues of yellow, blue and purple in the spaces between the trees and the sky. Standing on the road I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as the moisture slipped past my nostrils, filled my lungs and cooled my skin. Buzzard sat next to the truck and camper in a lawn chair glassing white dots on the upper ridges of the valley that surrounded it all.

“They’re on the south slope this morning feeding towards us. We’d better suit up and get going before they move off the mountain.”

Photo of a photo. The headwaters of the Canoe on the way up.

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CHICKEN!

Guest Post by Francis Marion

“Chicken!”

The truck ground to a rumbling halt as Buzzard piled out the passenger door with his 10/22 in one hand and a loaded twenty-five round mag in the other.

About thirty yards away a ruffed grouse, supposedly invisible against the backdrop of willows, stood motionless waiting for whatever commotion had broken out to subside.

Buzzard took a bead on the ‘chicken’s’ head and squeezed off a round. The bird replied by promptly flipping onto its back and gave a kick – maybe two – then expired.

“Nice shot Buzz!”

It ain’t easy to hit something as small as a grouse in the head from a standing position – even at thirty yards. Buzzard slowly stalked the dead bird while watching the tall grass behind it. Ruffed grouse have a tendency to travel in large flocks this early in the season. I think Buzz was hoping for more.

As he stepped out of the ditch and into the grass that lined the willows along the forest’s edge the rest of the flock erupted in a frenzy of wings and feathers. He caught one rookie that decided to land in a nearby tree and the rest headed for the hills.

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BUZZARD AND I

Guest Post by Francis Marion

Buzzard and I sat quietly in his Chevy pick up watching the sun set over a horizon of rape seed and peas. We were glassing a small mule deer buck that was feeding just about a hundred yards off the driver side door down towards the creek bottom in the rape. We were hoping to get a look at a bull moose before the season started the following week when Buzzard turned to me and said: “Francis, don’t you ever wish you could just turn it all off?”

I was a little surprised at his query – it seemed out of context and out of character for the guy. I hadn’t thought of Buzzard as a deep thinker so the question was enough to make me put the binoculars down and forget – at least momentarily – about the swarm of mosquitoes that had infested the cab of the truck.

“What do you mean?” I replied, knowing full well what he was talking about.

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Notley’s War on Alberta – Scorched Earth Policy Part II

Guest Post by Francis Marion

I’m posting this here primarily to show that we have several lying pieces of shit from my country who visit this site on a regular basis. Cdubbya is the primary culprit. He made a statement last week that my assertion that the NDP government was shutting down the coal industry in Alberta was a lie. I responded by posting the party’s platform on the topic. Here it is again:

http://www.albertandp.ca/notley_to_introduce_motion_calling_on_government_to_phase_out_coal_in_alberta

Trolls, agents and useful idiots of the far left will say pretty much anything to avoid dealing with the truth. The truth is the Notley government is dangerous not just because of their ideological stance but because of their inability to do basic math and their propensity towards extreme incompetence. Ontario has been suffering under similar management for years and is now one of (if not the largest) sub sovereign debt holders on the planet:

http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/with-twice-the-debt-of-california-ontario-is-now-the-worlds-most-indebted-sub-sovereign-borrower

Alberta is now competing for that position and if they continue at the rate they are going the province will literally be gutted financially before the next election rolls around. Of course, given the hostility towards the private sector working class in the West by people like Notley and our friend Cdubbya who writes:

“The sooner Alberta is relegated to it’s former position of relative unimportance as a source of beef and skiing while power naturally returns to the mature and civilized end of the country (Ontario/Quebec) the better for all.”

that may very well be the plan. I suppose you should never attribute to incompetence that which can be explained by plain old malice. There is a movement afoot in this country to break the backs of the private sector middle class. The far left, finally having seized the reigns of political power federally and in many cases provincially, is now busy using the hammer of the state to do just that. And they will do it by miring us in so much debt and by increasing our cost of living so dramatically that only the very wealthy be able to afford to live here. The rest of us can simply eat cake. Right Cdubbya?

http://www.therebel.media/notley_s_ndp_owe_billions_in_cancelled_contracts_after_alberta_power_companies_drop_coal_fired_energy


Notley’s War on Alberta – Scorched Earth Policy

Guest Post by Francis Marion

Prologue:

There is a lot of background to this video that most of you would not be aware of. Suffice it to say that a FAR left gov’t took the seat of power in Alberta about a year ago after Albertan’s who were fed up with the arrogance and corruption of the conservative parties (it was blatant and ugly) representing the province either failed to show up to vote or cast a vote in protest. What they got what was something none could have imagined would happen in Alberta – an NDP (borderline communist) government. For those of you who think this label to be extreme I invite you to research the background of many of their MLA’s.

Since taking power the NDP have been openly hostile towards free enterprise of any kind and especially towards the people of rural Alberta. They have been very busy pissing people off and stacking the deck in their favour to better their chances of being reelected. They are shutting down the coal industry, passing egregiously intrusive legislation on the province’s farmers (Bill 6), taxing the shit out of producers and, according to some media sources have at the same time swelled the ranks of the civil service by tens of thousands of new positions in the short time they have been in office. They are essentially buying votes on the one hand and punishing those who they know will not vote for them on the other.

In light of all this one cannot help but wonder if their actions in relation to the provinces El nino fire season are not simply another nail in the coffin of rural Alberta’s economy and a stab at the private sector working class? When you look at their actions from a broader more holistic perspective it appears this is quite possibly the case. Moreover, watch and listen carefully to the Ag and Forester Minister’s response to the line of questioning in the video provided. His tone of voice, cadence and inability to string together anything coherent is indicative of someone who has something to hide.

Sheila Gunn Reid reports, Alberta’s water bomber open tenders for fighting forest fires were cancelled April 29 of this year. Watch the video to find out why Notley’s government should have known better yet failed to do the right thing. MORE http://www.therebel.media/watch_notle…

THE BEAVER VS. THE EAGLE

Prologue:

Recently I’ve been writing some new stuff but I’ve also been digging up articles I wrote decades ago just for shits and giggles. Every once in a while I come across something that is still somewhat relevant to today’s world. This one is from about 2001 and fits the bill so here it is. With a few minor changes and with tongue placed somewhere near the vicinity of cheek I present:

THE BEAVER VS. THE EAGLE

by Francis Marion

I’ve said it for years and I’ll say it again: Americans are simply Canadian’s waiting to happen. Errr… that is our two worlds aren’t as far apart as they sometimes seem. More to the point it appears that Americans may be beating us Canuks at our own game in some ways…

What? Don’t cha believe me? Hmmmm…. then you must be from the US.

Well, it’s true I tell ya. So let’s make a few comparisons and explore the similarities between our two « collectives » shall we?

Us And Them

Canada has a graduated income tax system – one of the many planks of the communist manifesto. The US also has a similar tax system backed up by a bigger, meaner and all together nastier bureaucracy: the IRS. The only difference between the two systems is degree of theft. In principle it’s all the same shit – just a different and larger pile depending on which side of the border you’re on.

Canada has a federally controlled police force (the RCMP) that does the bidding of our left-wing, socialist, juggernaught of a government. The US has the FBI, the BATF, the NSA and a whole host of other alphabet soup style thugs to do the bidding of a slightly less left-wing but nonetheless tyrannical government. Which leads me to believe the primary difference between a Republican and a Democrat may simply be spelling.

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Firearms in Canada

An Introduction for Foreigners and Domestic Newbies

by Francis Marion

Photo from magazinewraps.com

Gun ownership in Canada is best described (as stated in the video below) as a well kept secret. Contrary to popular belief there is in fact a long held tradition of firearms ownership amongst the general public here that goes back hundreds of years. Indeed, there are millions of gun owners in Canada. In fact no one is sure exactly how many; the government of Canada says about 2 million but estimates from other sources put that number upwards of 4 to 5 million. Why the discrepancy? Government numbers are based on licensing data (not everyone is licensed) which brings me to the primary difference between the US system and ours. In order to own a firearm “legally” here one must be “licensed”. This will seem abhorrent by American standards but the “licensing system” here is not totally unlike the process of buying a firearm in the US and is in some ways better and in other ways worse. How can that be? Well, stand by and I’ll tell you.

First, a little background:

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The Initiate

Guest Post by Francis Marion

Prologue:

I am big believer in the idea that the recipe for raising good kids is simple. Be patient and give them your time. If you spend time with them, take and interest in who they are and what they like and include them in activities (both work and play) that are gateways to adulthood then most of the time you’ll end up with good kids. I’m especially proud of both of mine. They are both turning out to be very fine human beings.

 

In the years that I have lived in British Columbia I have learned that hunting deer in the southwestern region of the province is simple. In the opening days of September the deer are still in their summer range. This means they are up high. As the season wanes, the weather cools and the first snows hit they move to lower elevations.  I say this facetiously of course, as this is where the simplicity ends.

Early deer season in our part of the world is decidedly not simple. I am a child of the prairies and growing up in Saskatchewan, “deer hunting” meant pushing whitetails out of pockets of bush in the agricultural zones. It is an activity as much akin to wing shooting as anything else. The same activity pursued in my current local is dramatically different. Here, just getting to where the game lives is more akin to an “Iron Man” competition than it is to hunting elsewhere and the older I get the less that statement seems like hyperbole.

Over the years I have learned a few important things about hunting in the high country: everything is steeper, further and heavier. Small mistakes can compound themselves quickly. Too little water, the wrong clothing, a slip of the knife or the foot or grabbing the wrong branch can spell disaster. Simply being in the alpine is risky. Hunting deer and other game there is challenging. Successfully taking game there is life affirming. It is why I go back year after year whether I am successful or not.

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SAVE THE CHILDREN – GIVE THEM GUNS

Guest Post by Francis Marion

Prologue:

I wrote this piece back in 2001. I have left it unedited – though there are a few things I would change today I don’t think I knew just how relevant it would be to today’s society ‘way back then’. I thought it would tie in nicely with Stucky’s question of the day regarding the ‘one reason’ so here it is.

 

I was 11 years old when my parents gave me my first real firearm. It was a Lakefield Mark II .22 caliber repeater that I still own. It’s killed a lot of squirrels and grouse in the last seventeen years and in the process I’m convinced that it — with a little help from my father — saved my life.

Of course it never downed a charging grizzly or wounded a marauding thief. Nope. All it did was keep dad and I busy on the weekends filling the freezer with grouse and slaying errant pop cans. But those activities coupled with the sense of responsibility the ownership of such a tool entailed were enough to keep me out of a lot of trouble that other kids — mostly friends of mine — seemed to have an easy time finding.

Now I’m not saying I was an angel as a young man. I too had something of a taste for adventure and like a lot of other teens in the small community I lived in I suffered all too often from the Saturday morning flue and other similar self induced ailments. But I never participated in destructive activities and I never hurt anyone. I had — whether I could articulate it or not — a very clear understanding of the concepts of property and justice. I understood from the time I was quite young that a man is responsible for his actions and that I would be held accountable for any damage I perpetrated on another human being.

Deadly Tools and Responsibility…

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THE BULL

Guest Post by Francis Marion

Prologue:

There is something about the process of harvesting your own food that is liberating for the soul. Perhaps it is simply this: Self reliance breeds freedom. Just my humble opinion of course. I get a similar satisfaction from growing my own food as well. A head of lettuce from the back yard is so much sweeter than one from the supermarket. The same goes for meat. Since I don’t farm, I hunt. This is the story of my first bull moose.

 

The Bull

By Francis Marion

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The Great Canadian Identity Crisis

Guest Post by Francis Marion

Prologue:

Hi Jim and the rest of the crew at TBP,

In the spirit of HSF rehashing of old pieces I thought I’d send you this. It is an old piece I wrote shortly after I graduated from university – a lifetime ago…

Little known fact about yours truly. I used to do a fair bit of writing – paid and unpaid during this time period. I was blogging before it was called blogging and had a ‘webzine’ of my own along with a paid artist and – when I could – I even paid my contributors. It helped – as Montefrio (I think) stated – to pay the electrical bill but not much else. I quit doing it when we started having children as my focus changed to more productive economic activities. This piece got more milage than it should have. It garnered me the attention of our largest news radio station on the west coast accompanied by an interview which I struggled with. I am a better writer than speaker and later when our national state owned broad casting company invited me to come on a political program they were doing I declined.

I have lots of these – but this is one of the first I ever wrote and I thought it relevant to folks on both sides of the border so I am sending it.

As a side note I thought I’d lost interest in writing anymore until I stumbled across TBP (a few years ago now) but as someone stated elsewhere – this site and sites like it are why the internet was built. Like many here I come to the TBP because in a world of lies, distraction and superficialness the TBP is an oasis. Free speech tempered with shit flinging and thoughtfulness is the best way to describe this place. It’s an odd concept by today’s standards but critical to intellectual growth. I can imagine that the old philosophical schools of the ancients would have resembled this place somewhat. It is a combination of free speech, rational thought and merciless shit flinging (when mouth or fingers are engaged before brain). Thank God for it.

This place is what our modern educational institutions ought to resemble but don’t. So – thanks to Jim and the rest of you who make this place what it is. Don’t ever change…

Continue reading “The Great Canadian Identity Crisis”

Black Lives Comes to Canada

Guest Comment by Francis Marion

I live in a major metropolitan area in the western part of the country. In the last week I can count on one hand how many black people I’ve seen. Lots of Asians and imported Indians but next to zero black folks. I understand there is more black people in eastern Canada than in the west but overall they constitute about 2.5% of the entire population. That’s right – 2.5%. There was never slavery in this country unless you were a native enslaved by another tribe or a young white kid living in indentured servitude on some Quebecois farm during the 19th century.

You’d never hear this kind of horse shit from the Asian population here who comprise at least 15% of the over all population and depending on what city you are in – often comprise a near majority. This is because Asian people come here to do this thing called ‘work’. They are self motivated to be successful. They are citizens. They do not complain about racism because by and large it plays such a tiny factor in our lives that to dwell on it borders on moronic. That is unless you are a college student at a modern institution of Marxist indoctrination… most commonly called a university.

I can hardly believe this garbage has finally come to this country. Makes me want to puke.

Story Below via Via The Rebel

“Don’t devalue my degree with your nonsense.” Black Coalition demands Ryerson University change its name, remove Egerton statue

Black students at Ryerson have put together a list of demands aimed at the University’s administration.

The Black on Campus Coalition posted their demands to their United Black Students Ryerson Facebook page. Their first demand states, “in solidarity with First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, we demand the university administration launch a process to rename the university and remove the statue of Egerton Ryerson.”

MORE: Is Black Friday racist? These college students say it is

They go on to demand more scholarships for black students and a reduction in tuition fees. In addition, they want a ten percent increase to the number of Black tenured faculty, upper administration and full-time staff.

LAUREN SOUTHERN: Two Canadian universities make Indigenous Studies courses mandatory

When it comes to actual education, they demand more courses that “speak to the histories, experiences and realities of Black and Racialised communities to be taught by tenured Black and Racialised faculty.”

Their full list of demands can be found at this link.

They conclude by saying, “Ryerson University must make a commitment to acknowledge its ongoing racist practices that have contributed to the violence and trauma faced by black people on our campus for the purpose of profit and upholding it’s investment in white supremacy.”

MORE: Dartmouth College apologizes to black protesters who made racist remarks to white students because of Conservative media backlash

Outgoing Ryerson president Sheldon Levy spoke to the Ryersonian regarding the demands. “Do I think the campus is perfect? Absolutely not … when there are these types of protests and movements, many times they make us take a harder and a better look at things.”

“They can protest higher fees, they can do all that. It’s all legitimate … I would rather have a society that feels they can take on these issues and push the administration … for change, than to say you’re not allowed,” Levy said.

WATCH: Students react to University of Ottawa cancelling yoga classes over “cultural appropriation”

Meanwhile the Facebook post that encouraged supporters to ‘share widely’ has been criticized by at least one student.

“A process to rename the university,” Joshua D’Cruz quotes. “Please don’t devalue my degree with your nonsense.”


 

Democracy eh?

Guest Post by Francis Marion

“You have to live in Truth to be spiritually free. Life in Truth consists of recognizing the Truth and defending it. Truth never changes. It cannot be destroyed by any legal decision or act. Our slavery stems from our surrender to the rule of the lie, our failure to expose it, and to protest against it in everyday life. Instead of exposing the lie we keep silent, or pretend to believe it. A person who tells the Truth is free despite repression, imprisonment, or custody.”

Jerzy Popiełuszko

The election is over. The Liberals are in. I am relieved.

Did I get your attention? Good.

How can I be relieved? For me it is simple. I do not like to live a delusion. I prefer reality to a lie and as much as I have enjoyed more or less being left alone this past decade or so under a ‘conservative’ government the one thing we must always realize is that we have never truly lived in a conservative democracy – or truly a democracy at all. But I’ll get to that shortly.

The idea that we have been living in a conservative democratic nation has at best been a convenient myth. In my life time we have never lived in such a place and conservatism being what it is has rarely been the reality even when present in government. What it has been is a temporary reprieve from the escalating demise of our civilization. It has been a small stroke of luck, a stop over on the road of decay and an illusion – a distraction if you will. It has allowed us to live as though the reality around us was not there and with the thought that all will be well with the next election cycle.

But the truth is our nation is not conservative or even mildly libertarian. It is socialist (at best) politically and narcissistic/nihilist socially. Look how easily the tide has come in. How and why did this happen? Because – you dear reader – should you consider yourself a conservative or freedom loving person of some sort – are vastly and greatly outnumbered. In a nation where 30% to 40% of eligible voters do not vote and where there are at least three viable left wing/progressive parties vying for and splitting said vote it was all simply a matter of time before the right conditions came back into play.

Continue reading “Democracy eh?”

A Letter to My Countrymen…

Originally published at https://canadianguns.com and written by Francis Marion, valued TBP member. The articles are meant to educate Canadian gun guys on elementary political philosophy, as Francis lives in Canada. The wealth of writing talent among TBPers is truly amazing. 

First columns are among the worst sort. Deciding where and how to begin is an agonizing, hair pulling, brain splitting task.

Where to begin? How about with right now? Where are we and how did we get here?

By the time you, dear reader, see these words the 2015 Canadian Federal election will have come and gone. For better or for worse and regardless of the outcome the challenges that face us as nation will remain the same. “How can this be??” you will most assuredly ask. For if our firearm friendly Conservatives are voted back into power, either with a minority or a majority, we will be safe from further encroachment upon our beloved past times, sports and property for a few more years. If either of the other major opposition parties are voted in we will be instantly on the defensive. There is a good or bad outcome by most voting standards whether you are left or right leaning.

But I would argue that this is true only to the extent that our political system in general is on life support. We are, at this stage in our history as a nation, and indeed in the broader perspective as a piece of western civilization, in a state of terrible decline. Most of the battles fought and won whether for property rights, self defence, freedom of speech or conscience are in a sense a rear guard action. We win battles dear reader but the broader conflict we are constantly in jeopardy of losing. Whether you recognize it or not western civilization, its democracy, its freedoms and its culture, is in a fight for its very existence.

Continue reading “A Letter to My Countrymen…”