Friday, May 13, 2022

Today's News: But did the rocks actually hit you?

I can't help it. 
I am comparing the sympathetic media reaction today toward Singh, after a few jerks screamed curses at him as he was moving toward his vehicle after a campaign event, with the cynical media reaction last September toward Trudeau, when there was a whole crowd of screaming jerks and one of them actually threw a handful of rocks at Trudeau as he was moving toward his campaign bus. 
So today we're hearing about how upset Singh was because of the screaming. 
But Trudeau was required to justify whether he had "really" been hit by the rocks or not. 
The contrast is absolutely bizarre: Yes, and  remember that "friendly sausage-maker": The reason Singh is now the target of screaming irrational Conservative anger is because of his Supply and Confidence agreement with Trudeau, so there won't be another federal election for three years. 
Frank Graves is releasing some stats tonight about Pierre Poilievre supporters: These are the people who think that Pierre Poilievre has all the answers. But maybe there is one helpful trend arising out of this Conservative leadership race now: For all his flaws, I like Steve Schmidt: Hey, isn't this the truth? 
Tom Nichols writes in the Atlantic about how former Defense Secretary Mark Esper had a duty to speak up when it would actually have done some good
 ...Sitting on crucial information about whether the president himself is a menace to the security of the United States—hello, John Bolton—is bad enough. 
But there is an assumption that undergirds this reticence that is shared by both former officials and the public, one that is inimical to our democracy: The officials who have not spoken up (even without a book deal) have been silent because they somehow seem to believe that things will just work out. 
...They might say they think Trump is unfit, unstable, a danger. But in the end, they have faith in the system. They see Trump as only one man, and the system as a bulwark of laws and regulations, people and committees, institutions and practices that will somehow kick in and prevent a catastrophe
.... when you know that the president is unhinged, when you know the country is in danger, when you know that plots are being hatched to subvert the Constitution, you have a duty to speak. 
This duty supersedes confidentiality, partisanship, or personal loyalty. It sure as hell is more important than making bank. 
 You know, I sometimes ponder the possibilities of Alternate History, particularly when people from the Trump administration are finally revealing all of the horrible, stupid, treasonous stuff Trump was doing.
 Good old John Bolton could have been a national hero if he had just spoken up during Trump's first impeachment in January 2020 instead of saving it for his book. 
His testimony about Trump's corruption and inept treason during that impeachment trial might have been enough to generate a rising tide of anti-Trump outrage that could have swept Trump out of office.
 Then Pence would have taken over as president just before Covid hit -- this would have saved hundreds of thousands of American lives, and America would have avoided the whole presidential legitimacy crisis that has been tearing the US apart for the last two years. 
And it all would have been due to John Bolton. Interesting to think about, eh? 

Moving to something much more fun to talk about, isn't it great that there might be three (3!) Canadian teams in the next round of Stanley Cup playoffs? 
It was too bad that Toronto couldn't wrap it up tonight, but it was great that Calgary won yesterday and Edmonton tonight. And this is priceless: I don't have much on Ukraine tonight, except these: Finally --  Musk tweets this now and it gets the reaction he deserves:
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