Today's News: Buh-bye

Today we said "buh-bye" to Liz Truss. 

The tweets were priceless:

In light of Liz Truss' resignation, I made a chart to explain UK politics for anyone confused pic.twitter.com/uBweUvQU0o

— Lapis (@DegenerateThing) October 20, 2022

Liz Truss lasted 4.1 Scaramuccis

— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) October 20, 2022

Just been sent this… Hahahaha pic.twitter.com/4u9z5rb18t

— Anthony Hamilton 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (@1974Hamilton) October 20, 2022

“The King has asked me to become Prime Minister because this nonsense has gone on long enough.” pic.twitter.com/eFL3fgSfVL

— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) October 20, 2022

Can a lettuce enter the Conservative Party leadership contest?https://t.co/PyFo7ugNXP

— Daily Star (@dailystar) October 20, 2022

Gotta agree with Larry. Liz Truss and Kevin McCarthy have a lot in common. Bye bye Liz and bye bye Kevin. You don’t get wreck our economy the way Liz wrecked the Brits. https://t.co/2bVtqavavP

— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) October 20, 2022

If Larry Kudlow thinks Truss is OK, no wonder she crashed and burned. 

Hey, did you know that Republicans also now want to delay paying Social Security until age 75, and stop paying it at age 90? What, do they think 90-year-olds should support themselves by getting a part-time job at MacDonalds? 

Here's a strange one (Medvedev is a Putin wanna-be, and Musk is...Musk)

just two edgelords living in the moment pic.twitter.com/iouBxhGnkI

— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) October 20, 2022

This isn’t a party. It’s a suicide cult for clowns. https://t.co/jrp63BzyGz

— Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦 (@acoyne) October 20, 2022

The only good thing about Boris Johnson maybe coming back as British PM is that he is fully supportive of Ukraine. 

Because it scares me what might happen in the US if the Democrats don't maintain control in the House and the Senate:

I have never seen a weaker or more craven leader than Kevin McCarthy. He will do what his crazies in the caucus demand. And that will be a cut off of aid to Ukraine. https://t.co/QQbAOeB5tm

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) October 21, 2022

NEW: Biden responds to notion that GOP might not fund Ukrainian effort—

"These guys don't get it," Biden said. "It's a lot bigger than Ukraine. It's Eastern Europe. It's NATO. It's real serious, serious consequential outcomes. They have no sense of American foreign policy."

— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) October 20, 2022

Turning to Canada, the longer the POEC goes on, the more questions are being asked about police incompetence:

I was thinking about this. It could well be true, but I’d add this as important context: the original baffling failure was wildly misunderstanding what was headed their way. The panic that flowed out of that planning failure is where Luke’s theory takes over. https://t.co/JtnTxJeJRl

— Matt Gurney (@mattgurney) October 21, 2022

But it was a “peaceful protest.” https://t.co/fOygbIQeun

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 20, 2022

A fascinating 60-tweet thread from Kurt Phillips (ARC Collective) gathering together all of his Karen Convoy coverage from January to now. 

Here is how he introduces this mighty thread:

2. The occupation in Ottawa eventually inspired anti-vaxx/anti-mandate people to block border crossings in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario, slowing and in some cases stopping international trade. pic.twitter.com/ctE4CJNChA

— Kurt Phillips🧛‍♂️ (@ARCCollective) October 20, 2022

4. Political figures, including those regarded as mainstream (or at least previously so) tied themselves to this movement seeing the occupiers as a potential base of support. pic.twitter.com/IvNOJxPDLK

— Kurt Phillips🧛‍♂️ (@ARCCollective) October 20, 2022

Here is his conclusion:

57. First we see that the circumstances surrounding the pandemic were perhaps the most significant radicalizing events in my lifetime.

Second, social media and the dissemination of conspiracies has had a corrosive impact on democracy here and abroad.

— Kurt Phillips🧛‍♂️ (@ARCCollective) October 20, 2022

59. Fifth, but not finally, what was created out of the occupation isn't going away. It is going to be a part of political discourse for better or worse (I'd suggest worse) for years to come.

— Kurt Phillips🧛‍♂️ (@ARCCollective) October 20, 2022

Oh, and also tomorrow you will hear a lot about the phone call transcript just posted on the Mass Casualty Commission website, of RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s teleconference with Nova Scotia RCMP on April 28, 2020. 

Already I'm seeing tweets about "Trudeau must resign!" and "Lucki must resign!" but there is nothing outrageous in this transcript, just weary frustration on Lucki's part -- four days after the Portapique mass shooting, including the death of an RCMP officer, and not only was Lucki unable to find out what guns the killer had used, the Nova Scotia RCMP couldn't even provide their boss with a timeline and a map of how the killings had happened.

Here are some links:

These transcripts are just a damp squib, not a smoking gun. They definitely do not demonstrate that there was political interference from Liberals; nor that Lucki insulted or demeaned NS officers. Thanks for posting these.

— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 😷🏳️‍🌈 (@CathieCanada) October 21, 2022

Transcripts of the calls are here - you can also search the MCC site for "audio recording of April 28) and the call should pop up (again in three parts)

Part 1 https://t.co/BgcU2KLwO7

Part 2 https://t.co/ZY3hzUD1Zg

Part 3 https://t.co/LojyFIoQjq

— Cat Tunney (@cattunneycbc) October 20, 2022