Showing posts with label Trump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trump. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Today's News: The Beginning of the End?

Three stories tonight seem to have the same theme -- that it may be the beginning of the end for Pierre Poilievre, for Elon Musk and for Donald Trump. 

First, for Pierre Poilievre
Evan Scrimshaw analyzes the Angus Reid poll tonight, comparing Poilievre at 3 months to the other Conservative leaders, and it is NOT good news for PP.

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Today's News: Christ, what an asshole!

Time for this week's edition of "Christ, what an asshole!" 

So this happened: Leading, of course to this: Here's the reference:
   

 Speaking of perfection: And here's the reference:
   

Monday, September 19, 2022

Today's News: Ratioed

To begin, I need to give a definition of "ratioed" - Merriam-Webster defines it as "A quantitative measure of how little they like your take." 
A tweet is "ratioed" when only a few people "Like" it or "Re-Tweet" it, compared to the large number of people who are hitting "Reply" to say something negative about it:
This week, we saw two painfully ignorant Ratio examples, both related to the Queen's funeral and Canada's attendance there-at. 

First, a tweet from the Globe and Mail - 300 likes vs 1,900 replies:
The response was immediate and incredulous. I thought this was a funny one: And this one:
People were also annoyed to see the Globe and Mail refer to PMJT as just "Mr. Trudeau" when they should have been calling him Prime Minister Trudeau -- the funeral isn't a campaign event, he is attending in his official capacity as Prime Minister. 
But mainly, the thousands of Canadians replying to this tweet were annoyed with the needless, gratuitous and mean-spirited sniping at PMJT.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Today's News: "We have a lot to do"

This pretty well summarizes everything, doesn't it: Across the country, Canadians are worried about the breakdown in hospital services -- because too many health care workers keep on getting sick with Covid, at the same time as the system grapples with the cumulative effect of two years of delayed surgeries and neglected health conditions. 
Premiers seem to think that "privatization" will magically make more services available, and indeed it may prove to be sensible to create stand-alone clinics for some routine surgeries like joint replacements, if it actually frees up hospital beds for more complex cases - rather than just allowing hospitals to cut their staff budgets accordingly.  No provincial politician should ever think that "privatizing" will save money while making people happier with their health care.
This is how Ontario thinks it will solve hospital crowding: Here in Saskatchewan, ERs are in crisis, ambulances are delayed, and rural health care facilities are struggling: Here's a great idea: The website he created is here: Sk Service Disruptions Why Sask Health hasn't done this already, I don't know. 
And PS - Covid is not over!

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Today's News: What a week!

Beginning with a wonderful palate cleanser: A short stop at today's Globe and Mail: At this point, Bell Media will have to offer LaFlamme the National News vice-presidency before this controversy will be quelled. And I would be fine with that.
   
Moving to today's news, first here is a great cartoon illustrating the trolls Canada is dealing with these days:


Which one of these characters would be that guy from Grande Prairie who cursed at Chrystia Freeland yesterday as she was getting into an elevator? 
The portion of the video after he had been kicked out of the hotel shows he was just so very pleased with himself, so absolutely delighted to "own the libs".  Everyone is pointing and laughing at him now, but we're also acknowledging that this kind of behaviour is unhinged and possibly dangerous:
Canadian politicians from all parties are also speaking out against this - even Conservatives, albeit with a little nudging: Canadians were shocked and angry, and thousands tweeted support for Freeland: Class:

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Today's News: CTV News is losing its soul

The very definition of a professional news organization is one that reports news without fear or favour. 
Over the years, news organizations have fired reporters, editors, anchors, editors, publishers, for good reasons and bad, pleasing or angering their audiences. But when a news organization also lets its own corporate actions compromise its objective news judgements, and then starts slanting its news stories to justify or cover up its own unethical behaviour, it has lost its soul. 
That began to happen to CTV News today. 
For the last two weeks, CTV and Bell Media has been embarrassed by the burgeoning corporate Going Grey movement, because corporations across Canada have been reflecting Canadian anger with CTV's unwarranted firing of Lisa LaFlamme. 
Today CTV News finally "covered" this story, but in a threatening way - they picked up a Canadian Press story which had found a "retail analyst" and a marketing professor to provide contrarian "takes" about how companies endorsing Going Grey really needed to watch their steps.  Then Bell Media outlets and CTV stations across the country dutifully "tweeted" the story out, one after the other.
The thuggery couldn't have been clearer - "nice little brand you got here. Be too bad if something were to happen to it"

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Today's News: Night and day

I don't have a lot to talk about tonight, but I read a couple of articles today and I was struck by the contrast in these descriptions - the leadership Biden shows in dealing with Russia's war against Ukraine, compared to the ridiculous, childish ineptitude of Trump.
Here is Biden developing the complicated strategy of defending Ukraine without starting World War 3, as described by the Washington Post:
Using mounted maps on easels in front of the Resolute Desk, Milley showed Russian troop positions and the Ukrainian terrain they intended to conquer. It was a plan of staggering audacity, one that could pose a direct threat to NATO’s eastern flank, or even destroy the post-World War II security architecture of Europe.
...As he absorbed the briefing, Biden, who had taken office promising to keep the country out of new wars, was determined that Putin must either be deterred or confronted, and that the United States must not act alone. Yet NATO was far from unified on how to deal with Moscow, and U.S. credibility was weak. 
....Months later, Milley still carried in his briefcase note cards encapsulating the U.S. interests and strategic objectives discussed at the October briefing. He could recite them off the top of his head.
Problem: “How do you underwrite and enforce the rules-based international order” against a country with extraordinary nuclear capability, “without going to World War III?” 
No. 1: “Don’t have a kinetic conflict between the U.S. military and NATO with Russia.” 
No. 2: “Contain war inside the geographical boundaries of Ukraine.” 
No. 3: “Strengthen and maintain NATO unity.” 
No. 4: “Empower Ukraine and give them the means to fight.” 
Biden’s advisers were confident Ukraine would put up a fight. 
Compare Biden's articulate, thoughtful and courageous approach with how Trump acts, as described by David Roth:
By this point in our national relationship with Donald Trump, everyone who is not paid to pretend otherwise pretty much knows what he does and why. 
...[Trump] does everything he does for one reason, which is that he wants to do it at the moment it occurs to him to want it; that simple flash of want, which chirps out at periodic intervals like the sounds a smoke detector makes when its battery is dying, justifies anything that he takes or tries simply by virtue of its existence. ...raw spite and aimless resentment and relentless self-centered entitlement... 
Without Biden, Ukraine would have had no chance. It is terrible to contemplate.
Here's a ridiculous "take" on Biden's success:
Here's a little more fun: And in response to CBC pearl-clutching: They're back, baby!

Saturday, August 13, 2022

Today's News: #TRE45ON is trending tonight





Here's some cartoons I saw today about the Mar-A-Lago raid -- the warrant and document lists are out, and its bad for Trump. 
Very bad.
Once again I expect there will be a determined effort on the part of GOP leadership to throw Trump overboard, but Fox News and MAGA will not permit it. The only possibility for change now is absolute electoral defeat of Republicans in 2022, 2024, 2026 and 2028 -- with gerrymandering and corruption all the way up to the SCOTUS, I don't know if it is still possible: They have now figured out the new line -- that Trump had "declassified" all the documents before he took them out of the White House so, by definition, he's good! Yeah, sure.

Friday, August 12, 2022

Today's News: Going Nuclear

Ain't we havin' some fun now?  
So Garland threw down the gauntlet to Trump - put up or shut up. 
He told Trump he was applying to the court to release the search warrant and evidence list from Monday's raid, and dared Trump to oppose it - which I fully expect he will try to do somehow. Two days ago, I said this raid was either: 
-a major national security scandal about a trove of top-secret documents that Trump was trying to sell to Putin or the Saudis; OR 
 -a nothing-burger Got Junk? cleanup of old presidential souvenirs that the Trumps had been too lazy to box up themselves and get to the National Archives. 
On Tuesday, it seemed like the nothing-burger story might be credible, By Wednesday the GOP started realizing maybe it wasn't so they started smearing the FBI. 
Today, the seriousness of the national security scandal came into focus.
In his nightly newsletter, CNN's Brian Stelter provides a timeline of commentary from Garland's press conference at 3 pm. Up until 8 pm, it was business as usual for the GOP and their sycophant networks -- defund the FBI, Trump is just a memento guy, "This was just a fishing expedition." etc. 
Then at 8 pm, BOOM - the Washington Post broke the news that the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for stolen nuclear documents. 
All of a sudden, the story changed - even though Fox News still tried to minimize it, the whole world took the story much more seriously:

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Today's News: Taking the Fifth

Tuesday the Mar-A-Lago raid story was all the news. 
Thanks, Donnie, for killing the Mar-A-Lago raid story in just one day! The attempt to minimize or trivialize the Mar-a-Lago raid -- an attempt that seemed to have some plausibility last night - couldn't actually withstand the cold light of day today. So today the GOP moved to Plan Two and we got a parade of "the FBI planted evidence!" accusations -- an even less plausible scenario, because of course the implicit sub-text is that damning evidence can be found in the boxes of stuff the FBI took away. Funnier takes:

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Today's News: Less than meets the eye?

I think Trump Mar-A-Lago "raid" was either: 
-a major national security scandal about a trove of top-secret documents that Trump was trying to sell to Putin or the Saudis; OR 
 -a Got Junk? cleanup of old presidential souvenirs that the Trumps had been too lazy to box up themselves and get to the National Archives. 
Of course, it could be both. 
But the New York Times may be coming down on option 2: 
... the F.B.I. conducted the search on a day when Mr. Trump was out of town and the club was closed. The agents carried out the search in a relatively low-key manner, people with knowledge of the matter said; by some accounts they were not seen donning the conspicuous navy-blue jackets with the agency’s initials emblazoned on the back that are commonly worn when executing search warrants. 
... agents began going through a storage unit, where items like beach chairs and umbrellas are kept, in the basement. They progressed to his office, which was built for him on the second floor of the main house, where they cracked a hotel-style safe that was said by two people briefed on the search to contain nothing of consequence to the agents. 
 Then they moved to Mr. Trump’s residence, the person said. 
 Ultimately, they removed a number of boxes of documents, people familiar with the search said. It is not clear what the agents were looking for or what they took. Nor is it clear whether the search was carried out simply to ensure that the documents and other material were properly turned over to the archives or it was a possible precursor to a prosecution of Mr. Trump for mishandling classified material or obstructing efforts to get it back. 
Of course, back in 2016 the New York Times had been tricked into publishing what turned out to be the Rudy Giuliani / FBI New York Field Office "take" on the Russia story, a couple of weeks before 2016 - nothing to see here, move along, move along:
If the Trump raid is indeed a nothingburger, then the Department of Justice will have let everyone down AGAIN by not issuing a press release describing the file retrieval, rather than remaining silent and thus allowing Trump and his flying monkeys make Trump look like a persecuted hero. 
Cuomo got a lot of push-back for this tweet, but he is right: On a lighter side of the story, here are more funny takes:

Tuesday, August 09, 2022

Today's News: Girl!

Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on Hillary Clinton's wall tonight? Dark Brandon works pretty fast, doesn't he? Raw Story reports
Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi walked MSNBC viewers through what the Miami Field Office had to do to execute today's search warrant on Mar-a-Lago... .
...the New York Times and CNN have sources confirming that the raid focused on the National Archives documents. Figiluzzi also confirmed it with as much certainty as he could....
"I have a medium to high degree of certainty that this at least is focused in part on national archives case...
The time to negotiate and turn everything over is long gone, and now we've reached the point where agents are convincing a judge that they have evidence of a crime." 
It’s really hard not to just enjoy the hubris of Mr. “Lock Her Up” being raided by the FBI, but let’s actually just focus on what it all means that Donald Trump has had Mar-A-Lago raided today.  
The specific search seems to be about some Presidential records and classified documents that Trump took to Mar-A-Lago, but it’s also fair to say that we don’t know what those records supposedly show, and therefore whether or not this is connected to one or both of the Grand Juries investigating the attempt to overturn the 2020 election with fake electors and January 6th, respectively. That said, on some level, the details don’t matter for the politics of all of this, and that’s where the GOP are in deep, deep trouble. 
...[the GOP] are not going to make strategically optimal decisions to appeal to the centre ground, because their heads are so far up their own asses that they think loyalty to Trump matters more than electability. 
... the GOP are shooting themselves in the feet and letting Democrats reframe this election away from Biden and to a choice between them and a cast of fucking crazy people. 
Democrats can now tie together the defence of criminality here with the incredibly restrictive abortion policies of state GOPs and create a coherent narrative about their sensible, pragmatic approach to helping everyday Americans and the GOP’s weird obsession with criminalizing women and defending Trump. If that’s not a winning message, I don’t know what is. 

Tuesday, August 02, 2022

Today's News: A problem with definitions

Some chatter these days about how conservatives and progressives aren't talking to each other very much anymore.
We don't agree on some basic definitions anymore, do we. 
For example, "freedom" to some conservatives seems to mean that they should be "free" to not have to follow any rules or laws about how to treat people. And second, I don't know who is selling this fantasy, but pro-life conservatives in the US are pretending now that US state laws against "abortion" really only ban the pregnancy terminations they don't approve of, while the terminations they DO approve of - ie, the terminations that save a woman's life - aren't really abortions at all and therefore are still legal. The extent of right-wing - conservative anger is getting frightening - it was bad enough in Canada in 2019, throwing gravel at Trudeau, but the FluTruxKlan extravaganza this winter seems to have created a fury of hate. 
 Recent example -- last week in Canmore Alta, a guy destroyed his family business just because he couldn't resist sending an unnecessary transphobic insult email. Here's a good analysis of how this could happen - mainly, because of the right-wing bubble that these people live in, where they believe they are in the mainstream and everybody secretly agrees with them: But there are even hate-crimes happening in little ole PEI, for heaven's sake, just because Trudeau happened to drop in to a Charlottestown pub one day. What is the matter with people like this?
Its hard to figure out how this type of ill-will can end, or where we will be when it does. 

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Some great stuff

 
I had never seen this before, its absolutely hilarious. 
Here's another great Twitter story:
Moving on, one of the bizarre things I noticed about the Trump administration is that things were ALWAYS worse than they first appeared to be. No matter how bad something looked when first reported or exposed - from the Muslim Ban to the Helsinki meeting to the child separation policy to Jan 6 insurrection etc etc - it always turned out to be even more senseless, cruel, abusive, greedy or criminal than it first looked. 
And Trump is still doing this, from beyond the grave, so to speak - it is now clear that misplaced loyalty and. I assume, the promotion of too many incompetents, has compromised the US Secret Service.
Here's the end of a long thread from Rick Wilson plus links that is worth reading - he also talks about Trump's ability to inspire the worst in everyone near him. 
It was Wilson who in 2016 coined the hashtag #ETTD - Everything Trump Touches Dies: And what a grievance-hoarder Trump is:

Saturday, July 09, 2022

Today's news: Nelson moments

 

Today seemed to be a day of "Nelson" moments. 

There was that day-long Rogers outage: And that story about SCOTUS justice Brett Kavanaugh being chased out of Morton's by protestors:

And Tamara Lich is back in jail:
I'm reading angry tweets that Lich is a martyr -- but honestly, what did she think would happen after she breached her bail conditions? Her lawyers did her no favours.

And Elon Musk wants to pull out of the Twitter deal.
You know, I always believed  that the only reason Musk wanted Twitter was because he had promised to reinstate Trump, but then it got too complicated and Musk never actually wanted to work that hard.