I know many have suspicions of Whatsapp privacy. I know the claim still needs to be proven, but the allegation is troubling.

Hello!

Two potential feature requests. I'm sorry if I'm retreading some kind of old issue. I also think this is probably one of the longer posts. Thank you kindly should you end up reading it!

TLDR: I got a post moderated and was surprised at what I saw. First suggestion is to ask for a notification that moderation was done to a user's post, and for the user to access or backup the effected post. Second suggestion is to spread the work volume between users/moderators/admin with an easily visible "stress" test that is not dependent on user reviews or comments, plus a more prominent make your own version of the community to encourage greater duplicative communities in PieFed.

Question: What can a user expect when their post is deleted, and their options.

Expectation: Users with posts deleted - for whatever reason - should receive notices that their posts are taken down, a grace period to back up their targeted content, and an easy way to figure out the reason(s).

Reason: If someone is subjected to censorship on PieFed/Lemmy (I'm not saying I was), and their posts are systematically taken down without notice or an option to back up their posts, there should be a grace period to allow them to do so. I think there should also be an easy table to show which posts of theirs were targeted so they can assess for themselves if they are targeted for censorship.

Example: I recently made a post that was designated "Off-Topic". Of course, I'm not here to raise the issue of whether I agree or not here. But what I found was I had no idea my post was deleted because there was no notification. Also, when I did realize my post was deleted, I looked over the post to see that the body was deleted, and I didn't know where to go to refer to the original content to assess further.

I then went to the modlog, and found that the post was deleted with a stated reason. But the link didn't lead to a version that was available for assessment, just to the post with the deleted body, and the comments that were made.

Second Request

Question: Can the community be leveraged to assess a community's stress, and options to relieve that stress?

I believe that the moderator role is already a volunteer position, but the content poster/user is also a volunteer position. There should be a balance to to alert the user if something is changing their posts or not, and whether this is appropriate. I feel that the way the workflow is set up now, the assumption is that the moderator is simply right, and there's not a balance or check to see if the moderator has gone renegade or no longer behaving as expected.

Modlog simply documents the change, but doesn't allow the public to assess if the action steps taken are appropriate. So, for obvious big moves like a moderator deleting every post, the Modlog looks useful. But for subtle changes like light or "soft" censorship, the Modlog doesn't seem able to show that.

Feature Recommendation

Also this flows into another recommendation, and I'm not sure if this is duplicative work (long post, sorry!), the current work flow seems to travel from user by virtue of volume, then to moderator, then to admin. I'd say the greatest points of stress in this workflow appear to be moderator, and then admin to police policy on both users and moderators. As a related requested, I'd suggest to somehow spread the workload more consistently among these roles.

If Piefed builds in a recommendation to users to consider posting to alternative communities or start their own, the hope is to spread that volume. Even if those new communities start slow, they will be in place ready to be added to Topics or Feeds. PieFed is also purpose built to combine similar posts together, and for the so called multi-reddits. PieFed can leverage that better than Lemmy.

I'm thinking out loud here, maybe some color coded heat mapping to just show users in the Modlog whether Mod/Admin staff exercise large volumes of actions to posts, and a recommendation (Grade A to F) based on arbitrary numbers of actions that can be revisited or tweaked, and a prominent easy button to just pick a new community or start a new one on another instance.

Why? I suggest that if a community exceeds an arbitrary number of administrative actions, it's a loose and indirect factor that the community could be experiencing high or excessive volume, and consequently stress. By using such a factor, PieFed users don't necessarily have to worry about inviting other people's reviews of a community - which can be compromised by brigading or other toxic behaviour.

PieFed users instead can be directed to smaller communities or to start their own upfront to create a new culture of building smaller spaces unified by PieFed's Topics or Feeds feature.

Justice Minister Mickey Amery is attacking the foundations upon which the Justice System is built upon with a series of power grabs on behalf of the same UCP members responsible for bringing Albertans CorruptCare.

Albertans will recall that Justice Minister Mickey Amery has close ties with the infamous Sam Mraiche, and the CorruptCare Scandal. I would note that the Scandal, and its subsequent damage to the Alberta Healthcare system, continues to rock Albertans to this very day. Worse, those implicated in the Scandal continue in key roles of government.

The Minister may now be seen grabbing for power from within the Alberta Law Foundation, an organization that notably handles the funding for many Justice system adjacent services that include Women's Shelters, Pro Bono legal advice, and other support systems that are intended to help the vulnerable seek further help.

What is troubling here is this statement:

Jenkins's statement said the Law Society of Alberta made its decision to replace their foundation board representatives "entirely independent of the government." She added that the ministry believes the foundation will provide an update in the coming days about the steps it's recently taken.

Now remember earlier in Nov 2025 when two senior Crown prosecutors were also suddenly sacked without notice. I suggest that Minister Amery carried out the same attack:

“The recent actions of the government highlight the need for our members to have employment protections that insulate them from losing their employment without articulated cause,” the statement says.

“Without this protection, Crown prosecutors are susceptible to being dismissed from their employment for improper reasons.”

At the legislature on Thursday, Justice Minister Mickey Amery said there was "no government involvement whatsoever" in the senior Crowns' departures. He said Dale McFee, the former Edmonton police chief who is now head of the Alberta Public Service, also "had absolutely nothing to do" with it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-crown-attorneys-association-edmonton-chief-crown-employment-9.6986908

Dale McFee, of course, was also tied to Sam Mraiche.

https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/02/14/AHS-Scandal-How-Tight-Dale-McFee-Sam-Mraiche/

While the world absorbs the news of the US invading Venezuela, Canada may be concerned that Trump has activated an Emperor/King scenario.

One person’s opinion with the conspiracy cap on, so take it with salt.

Some observers have pointed out that the invasion itself was an attempt of Trump’s to distract from very serious allegations of paedophilia carried out during his relationship with Epstein. And, while I certainly do agree that there is a meaningful motive to explore, I suggest that multiple layers of motives still need to be explored.

Looking further back, the US January 6 insurrection was essentially a play taken straight from history via Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch. Trump’s overtures to white surpremacists is not new, and neither are Musk’s overtures by way of literal Nazi salutes. But, in so doing, they’ve activated extremists around the world, including Canadian groups.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/white-supremacist-conference-vancouver-9.6970604

Now, the Americans have invaded Venezuela, but this too has precedent. From the War of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, the public has learned that strong signals from US military strategists, professionals, diplomats, and other government officials, warned that the US was not going to achieve its objectives in the region. They were aware of this situation from the outset of the conflict, despite the public US position that progress was being made on a near daily basis.

Of course, the world saw the truth for itself as Biden notoriously concluded US operations in the region, only to essentially hand off all equipment and government functions back to the Taliban. But, what also happened was the rise of the Private Military Corporations (which I want to highlight), and the Military Industrial Complex. The American people were basically handing their money over to private mercenaries who were efficient at extracting this money.

Back to Venezuela, President Trump has claimed that American companies can start making money from their oil fields within 18 months. I’d suggest that the same play is active. Trump doesn’t need the oil fields to be at full capacity, he just needs the money they can generate to fund another round of PMCs. At the moment, some parts of the US GOV will quibble about who will pay for this latest invasion. If the US military will not be engaged with the long term security of the area, then surely the task will fall to PMCs.

This time, January 6 won’t be the Putsch with a bunch of clout chasing amateurs. Trump is likely building up a war chest to hold power beyond a second term. Venezuela is just a down payment.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4grxzxjjd8o

But, to be clear, Trump has signalled to the world that the free trade rules based order for trade is done. He’s sanctioned the ICC, attacking long standing Rule of Law principles, and finally he’s committing acts of war potentially to position himself as a dictator.

Trump’s camp has already extracted more money from working class Americans, handing it over to billionaire friends. Such friends will not want to personally fund a coup, risking treason. But PMCs have less scruples, and even less loyalty. If they survive, they can spend the rest of their lives elsewhere with their ill-gotten wealth.

Canada should start a program of Disaster Preparedness that includes courses in the many uses of sugar, and how to convince friends and enemies alike of what to do.

Birnam forest is literally moving to Dunsinane.

US social media usually doesn't like sharing their actual human traffic, and bots are now difficult to detect due to racks of phones controlled by software and other methods.

Here we go!

Vacation travel to U.S. down as Canadian tourists make strategic decisions on where to spend time, money

As Mexico sees steady growth in Canadian tourists, the U.S. is experiencing a decline.

Data from Tourism Economics and the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office reveals a 24% drop in Canadian tourism to the United States during the first six months of 2025.

Major cities such as Las Vegas (down 50%), New York (down 46%) and Honolulu (down 41%) are being hit hardest, said Amra Durakovic, communications director with Flight Centre Travel Group in Toronto.

Florida remains the most resilient, but is down 22%, she said.

The UCP are deliberately attacking systems of government to keep Albertans fractured and occupied so they can rob it.

Michael Higgins: How do you feel about the recall petition targeting the premier, and her response?

Naheed Nenshi: It’s Christmas time and I want to be generous, but the hypocrisy there is off the charts. This is her legislation. Her government put forward this legislation. When it was used against Mayor Gondek in Calgary, (the premier) was an enthusiastic cheerleader for it.

Now it’s being used against all these UCP MLAs, so people are misusing it. She has compared grandmas going door to door in Bowness in Calgary with militants overthrowing her government. If in fact she believed recall should only be used in these extreme circumstances, she ought to have written the legislation that way. The legislation is very clear that anybody can launch a recall against any MLA.

The boundary for the number of signatures you need is very high. It’s incredibly flawed legislation, but it is the UCP’s legislation. For them to lash out against citizens using their legislation, I think is a bit rich.

The UCP used the Notwithstanding Clause to take away teachers rights to negotiate for better working conditions, and to enable them to negotiate in bad faith.

I think this bad faith is similar to the UCP's use of legislation to punch a hole in Canadian retirement funds when AIMCo gambled away around $1.3 Bln. Links below.

Jason Schilling, the president of the ATA, said at a news conference on Friday that he believes the government is attempting to “rewrite its own commitments,” and that the ATA wants clarification on what was agreed to at the bargaining table regarding the plan to bring in additional teachers.

“What was told at the bargaining table and then was commented afterwards, it seemed to be two different things and we need clarity on them,” he said.

“What will come out of the complaint is hopefully that we hold the government [accountable] for what they said.”

...

In the ATA’s recent email to its members, it said the “ATA understood — and TEBA’s bargaining conduct implied — that these 3,000 teachers were additional to the staffing already funded and announced in Budget 2025.”

Schilling said the government "insists" that the phrase “net new” meant any increase in teachers over the prior year, even if those positions were already funded by Budget 2025.

“If that was their interpretation, then nothing was new at all,” he said.

“The 3,000 teachers they pointed to during the bargaining were already announced, already budgeted and already counted in the 2025 budget.”

...

https://kopitalk.net/c/alberta/p/93282/alberta-tries-to-legislate-ban-on-lawsuits-about-aimco-losses

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-aimco-bill-12-9.6992283

Speaking to the bill earlier in the evening, NDP critic Kathleen Ganley called it “offensive to the rule of law and to our entire democracy” to use the overarching power of the notwithstanding clause on transgender youth who are “already at a higher risk of suicide.”

“It was put in the Constitution to be used judiciously, to be used rarely, to be used only in exceptional circumstances,” Ganley told the house.

“I don’t think anyone ever envisioned the possibility it might be used four times in a month by a government.”

...

The Canadian Medical Association has challenged the law in court, saying it violates a doctor’s right to freedom of conscience.

The Alberta Medical Association has repeatedly said puberty blockers do not render a person infertile or sterile and protect transgender children from more permanent changes that come with puberty.

Some families of transgender kids involved in a separate lawsuit that challenged the health-care restrictions have said their kids will be devastated once the law comes into effect, and some have said they will need to leave the province for the safety of their child.

Did the premier of Alberta attack the constitutional role of the courts in Canada’s democracy? Yes, she did, and in no uncertain terms.

“The will of Albertans is not expressed by a single judge appointed by Justin Trudeau and never faces any kind of recall campaign, never faces any kind of election,” stated Danielle Smith on Dec. 6.

She continued by saying, “The people have told us through our consultation, through our elections, the kinds of things they want us to do, and then we go and do them, and then the court can override it. And again, most of the judges are appointed by Ottawa and not by us. An unelected judge is not synonymous with democracy. Democracy is when elected officials who have to face the electorate every four years get to make decisions. That’s what democracy is.”

If you listened only to Smith, you’d think Canada is ruled by a shadowy cabal of “unelected judges” bent on bending “the people” to their progressive whims.

https://archive.is/i5cR3

The Globe and Mail's Tom Cardoso, Carrie Tait, Mark Mackinnon, and Stephanie Chambers have the deep dive on Sam Mraiche. I'll include some highlights, but this deserves a good read because it provides an overview with additional information about some of the relationships between Sam Mraiche, Danielle Smith, Jitendra Prasad, and Mickey Amery.

Her former chief of staff, Marshall Smith, hired multiple relatives of Mr. Mraiche at the same time as he was living in a home owned by one of Mr. Mraiche’s sisters.

...

“All of my family is in Canada now,” said Jamil Omairi, a pharmacist in the nearby town of Lala, another springboard for people destined for Alberta. Mr. Omairi is related to Mickey Amery, Alberta’s justice minister, himself a long-time friend and relative of Mr. Mraiche.

“All the young people here, people between 16 and 20, they have two ways to go,” he said. “If they find work, they stay. If there’s no work, they travel, and Brazil and Canada are the first destinations.”

...

Mraiche may be a capable import/exporter, but his world view could be mercenary. An exchange between Mraiche and BTNX, a supplier of COVID rapid tests, highlights this view.

The following week, Mr. Mraiche proposed a solution: He did “a lot of business” in Turkey, he explained, and suggested the BTNX executive use those contacts to obtain additional tests.

Mr. Mraiche also returned to the idea of diverting tests, this time from the federal government. “They’re really going to notice that a million is missing?” he asked.

“They will, yes,” responded Mr. Sunderani.

As deliveries fell further and further behind, Mr. Mraiche, who told Mr. Sunderani he was under intense pressure from Mr. Prasad, became increasingly frustrated.

“Do you know what you’re doing to me, Iqbal?” Mr. Mraiche said in an early February call. “I don’t only sell rapid test kits. I’m one of the biggest constructors here, too. Do you know what you’ve done to me? I’ve had so much mud thrown on my face, it’s not even funny.”

“You better hope there’s another wave that needs rapid tests,” he continued later in the call.

“Sam, that’s – that’s a bad thing to hope for,” Mr. Sunderani said.

“Is it? Me and you are in the business.”

“Sam, you know what? At the end of the day I don’t know about you, but I’ve made enough money. I don’t want to wish –”

“Has Jeff Bezos made enough money yet?”

“I don’t care who Jeff Bezos is,” Mr. Sunderani replied. “He has – I mean, I don’t want to wish –”

“No one’s wishing anything. It’s just going with the flow,” Mr. Mraiche said.

A month after that call, BTNX sued MHCare for $7.5-million, alleging Mr. Mraiche’s business failed to pay for more than 200,000 test kits and refused to pay for a truckload it received in error. MHCare countersued for $62.5-million, alleging BTNX overcharged, caused the company to lose money and tarnished its reputation. The two companies remain locked in litigation, and neither party’s allegations have been proven in court.

...

By the spring of 2022, the government’s response to the pandemic left Premier Jason Kenney battered. A scant majority of United Conservative Party members supported him in a leadership review in May, 2022, and he agreed to step down after the party selected a replacement.

Danielle Smith, then a party leadership hopeful, campaigned on COVID-19 grievances, railing against mask mandates and vaccine passports. Within a few months, she’d established herself as a front-runner.

A copy of Ms. Smith’s private calendar obtained by The Globe shows she took meetings during the campaign with everyone from physicians to executives – including Sam Mraiche.

In August, 2022, she was scheduled to dine at his north Edmonton home, the calendar shows.

Five days later, she was booked for a 30-minute Zoom call with Mr. Mraiche and Mr. Prasad, who retired from Alberta Health Services in the spring but stayed on as a consultant.

Ms. Smith, Mr. Prasad and Mr. Mraiche did not respond to questions about the meetings.