Today's main story is about an anarchist group in Canada who was ordered to remove the anarchist A symbol from their building

because the city said it was a hate symbol akin to a swastika.

You know, I think it's about time I put together a playlist called Backfires because I've probably got a dozen videos about these authoritarian policies backfiring on those who tend to advocate for them.

Because it's not just this one anarchist group, there's more news.

LGBT creators are complaining about YouTube censorship, how their channels are being put in restricted mode, about how they're being demonetized.

Yet for some reason, they are still advocating for these hate speech policies.

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Our first story is from the CBC. Hamilton orders removal of anarchy symbol, calling it hate material.

The city of Hamilton has forced a local anarchist group to remove the circle A anarchy symbol from his headquarters, saying it is hate material similar to the swastika.

City officials say they're taking direction from Hamilton police on the issue, but police say that's not the case.

City spokesperson Marie Fitzpatrick told CBC news on March 16th, the city started a by-law investigation into the symbol being displayed on the woods covering the windows.

The anarchist symbol is considered hate material by the city of Hamilton and Hamilton police services, and as such, must be removed.

Fitzpatrick said in an email. Fitzpatrick told CBC news that the Hamilton police hate crime unit provides the city with a list of hate symbols.

But Constable Jerome Stewart said police do not classify the anarchy symbol as problematic.

It does not meet the threshold of a hate crime, he said. To the best of our knowledge, it is classified as an extreme left sign.

So I don't know where the direction came, that Hamilton police have identified it as a hate crime sign, because as per our hate crime coordinator, that is not the case.

What makes this story interesting is the conflict within the government.

It seems like there are some police saying it's not a hate symbol, and they don't know where this direction is coming from, but the city spokesperson is saying it is, and it must be removed.

So we have a couple potential scenarios. Either the city has classified it the police are wrong, and these people have to remove it, or someone within the government has decided to wield this power against those they disagree with politically.

Using hate speech as grounds to target those they might disagree with.

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