Weekend: Music, and Animal Crackers

 

Hey, Gangnam Style was 10 years old as of Friday! 

And Psy is still going stong - he has now released 9 albums and is on tour again this summer.

Eine kleine Banjo musik

A little summer banjo. Here’s a little ditty written by Alison Brown and me. Foggy Morning Breaking. pic.twitter.com/HpLeY5hrJI

— Steve Martin (@SteveMartinToGo) July 15, 2022

The BC Agriculture Minister Lana Popham heard the Langley Ukulele Ensemble playing outside the BC legislature and she invited them in to play Somewhere Over The Rainbow on her office balcony and Halleluja inside the dome. Beautiful stuff:

3/3 After that…with happy tears in my eyes, I said how about playing inside the legislature!!!! They said yes! And it was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard in that building. ♥️♥️♥️♥️#bcpoli #Hallelujah #yyj #langleyukuleleensemble #langley pic.twitter.com/fpmuTIlZtq

— Lana Popham (@lanapopham) July 17, 2022

If I saved an elephant’s life by giving it elephant sized CPR you couldn’t tell me a thing for the rest of my life. I would answer to nobody. https://t.co/lCI0V34qpP

— kang (@jaycaspiankang) July 16, 2022

Dan Piraro, https://t.co/go6xvp2tHl pic.twitter.com/puBwuqgpbT

— Editorial & Political Cartoons (@EandPCartoons) July 18, 2022

Send this guy to the attic to talk to the raccoon about how he wants to be elected Prime Minister of Canada. That should scare the shit out of this Canadian raccoon and he will run like hell. Small cleanup necessary afterward. pic.twitter.com/iAaWW0r1eD

— Denis Viens du Lac 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 (@nelsonstreetlad) July 17, 2022

Today's News: The Tale of the Ten-Year-Old

The Tale of the Ten-year Old has now become a shameful part of American history for Republicans and for American media. 

Every conservative thought experiment about the pregnant 10 year old rape victim is more disturbing than the one before it. Maybe you guys should just admit that there’s no world in which a child should have a child?

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) July 16, 2022

This is exactly why abortion should be only a medical procedure, as it is in Canada, not a morals test. And now this sad and ugly story is being followed by bombastic boasting and strutting around from red state AGs about how they're going to pass this law and that law and some other law, all of them against women. 

And then they try to avoid taking actual responsibility for what they are going. 

Very disgusting.

I know this person is already a main character today but “it’s liberals’ fault for warning women gop governments will prosecute them even though gop governments literally wrote the laws that way and openly brag about it” is an indescribably deranged take pic.twitter.com/SasBBddiTp

— kilgore trout, death to putiner (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 17, 2022

On her substack, Jessica Valenti writes:

It was a glimpse into what we can expect in a post-Roe America: Real life suffering shrugged off as rumor or political fodder, and the picking apart of any experience that might make abortion bans look bad. ...

It’s clear that traditional journalism—and male reporters, in particular—are not ready for the complicated stories that will come out of states where abortion is illegal. Consider The Washington Post’s fact-checking columnist Glenn Kessler, who defended his piece by calling the abortion provider an “activist on one side of the debate.” Why would a police officer’s account, or a state official’s, be more reliable than a doctor’s? Are we to believe that in a state where abortion is criminalized, law enforcement and government officials are objective?

The American system is not set up to believe women or girls—in fact, it’s designed to do just the opposite. Our experiences, especially those having to do with our bodies or sexual assault, are disbelieved, maligned, or relentlessly picked apart for ‘biases’. In a misogynist country, all women are suspect.

So we know what will happen now: Whenever a child is raped, a woman dies, or someone is arrested for a miscarriage, conservatives will deny any of it is happening. They will try to gaslight us into submission. If that doesn’t work, they’ll go on the attack; those who dare to shine a light on the horrors of abortion bans will be targeted. (Right now, for example, conservative media is focusing on the provider who gave the 10 year-old an abortion, posting her picture on Fox News and calling for her license to be revoked.)

None of this is new, but it is about to get a lot more awful.

:

it took three weeks from overturning roe to arguing that actually it’s okay for a 5th grader to be pregnant

— Marisa Kabas (@MarisaKabas) July 17, 2022

The fact that a 10-year-old girl has been raped makes every inch of your eyes water eternally. But the fact that we have an entire party in this country forcing her to take that baby to term… That is some Isis shit right there!

— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) July 16, 2022

If you’re shocked to learn that there are men in power who believe that little kids can consent to sex I’d like to remind you that we are a country that sent toddlers to immigration hearings on their own.

— Dr. Elizabeth Sacha Baroness Cohen (@alixabeth) July 15, 2022

I mean, this whole notion of preventing interstate travel for abortions idea is complete lunacy. How about Amtrak? Or airports? Before the train or plane leaves a red state....what? A bunch of state troopers get on board and yell "PAPERS, PLEASE," and then look for baby bumps?

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) July 16, 2022

Today's News: Shot / chaser

The shot: From six years ago  

The chaser: From Friday 

Obviously the news agenda for at LEAST the next 72 hours is CANCELLED while we decide what we think about Justin Trudeau's new Caesar haircut. pic.twitter.com/WXf1J6ICXs

— Mike Gibbs🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦 (@Mikeggibbs) July 16, 2022

The shot:  So this happened -- the hospital in Kamsack SK is closing its acute care beds, so on Thursday about 200 Kamsack people gathered at the hospital grounds to meet Sask Party rural health minister Everett Hindley, local Sask Party MLA Terry Dennis and a smirking staff aide. The protestors heard the usual bafflegab about how any minute now Sask Health is going to be hiring lots more people, don't worry, move along move along, you can all just use the hospital 40 KM away at Canora instead.

The crowd was not impressed - Brady Lang at CTV reported:

 Dennis and Hindley addressed the rally first just after 10 a.m., for about 10 minutes prior to a tour of the Kamsack Hospital, which just saw its facility lose its remaining five acute care beds, along with shrinking emergency hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. 

“We’re trying to do as much as we can,” Hindley told the concerned citizens.

“Sometimes, we’ve got to think outside the box, because rural health care isn’t the same it was 20 years ago,” said Dennis.

Following the 10 minutes, Hindley’s aid can be seen working to move Dennis and Hindley into the facility, with a smirk on his face.

Those who weren’t smirking, the entirety of the crowd of 200, then booed the Minister and the local MLA.

Yes, it was the CTV reporter himself who used the term "smirking" to describe the demeanor of the staff aide.

Today's News: Whose side are these guys on?

The US story of the day is the news that the Trump's White House Secret Service deleted its text messages from Jan 5 and 6 2021. 

Accidentally! 

Yeah, sure...

I would like to see some indication that the Secret Service & FBI are actually on the side of American democracy.
Clearly, Mike Pence had his doubts.
As do we all.

— Steve Shearer (@PiquedPensioner) July 14, 2022

People are remembering that Pence refused to get in a car with these guys. And remember when Biden's dog got in trouble for biting one of the White House agents?

Major Biden knew something was off with one of the Secret Service agents. This is one of the reasons why I love dogs.

— Hunter Cullen 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇬🇧🇨🇦🇦🇺🇳🇿 (@HunterJCullen) July 15, 2022

JUSTICE FOR MAJOR BIDEN #SecretService pic.twitter.com/cccQEagzU5

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) July 14, 2022

I'm just sittin' here watching the wheels go round and round

 

 So I saw this tweet tonight:

What line from a song really stuck with you?

— Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) July 14, 2022

And of course I immediately got lost in all the wonderful lyrics people posted in reply -- basically, I was just watching the wheels go round and round, in John Lennon's great lyric. 

Here was my contribution to the thread:

Late last night I heard the screen door slam.
A big yellow taxi took away my old man.
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til its gone.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. (Joni)

— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 😷🏳️‍🌈 (@CathieCanada) July 14, 2022

And here is Joni's song:

 

Moving on:

Here are some of the serious comments  - first, about Canadian healthcare:

I know the trend of the day is 'let's make it Trudeau's fault' but living through Covid the Premiers may have overplayed their hand here....far too many losses in LTC alone in every province to play 'victim of the' feds here

— Univrsle (@univrsle) July 13, 2022

Next, comments on the Ukraine war:

Very useful thread on HIMARS systems in Ukraine. https://t.co/1uaXos8u3z

— Samuel Bendett (@SamBendett) July 13, 2022

Instead of becoming resigned to a never-ending war, the West should be focusing on how to shorten the conflict by enabling Ukraine to win. A long war, after all, probably favors Russia. https://t.co/Unx1rWnHAV

— Max Boot 🇺🇦 (@MaxBoot) July 11, 2022

Finally, Uvalde becomes even more tragic:

"They edited out the sound of children screaming." One short sentence that breaks your heart. #Uvalde

— Yolanda Pierce, PhD (@YNPierce) July 13, 2022

Today's News: Ain't we havin' some fun now!

The Jan 6 committee held another hearing today - they're taking aim right at Trump now, putting the "fun" in "fundamentally nuts":

As bad as we thought it was…it was much, much worse.

— Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) July 12, 2022

This:

(Although to be fair reporters had books to write and there were sources that one did not want to rub the wrong way, so I guess understandable, right??) https://t.co/ZoHEageifV

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) July 12, 2022

Cheney rightly ripping the argument from Trump defenders that Trump was misled by Team Crazy. Says no "rational or sane" person in Trump's position, given everything he was told, would have believed he won, and that "willful blindness" isn't a defense.

That's exactly right.

— George Conway🌻 (@gtconway3d) July 12, 2022

People should remember Trump effectively QUIT the presidency following the November election. He didn’t do Jack shit. He pouted and played golf. While the GOP plotted January 6th.

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) July 12, 2022

This is one of the most powerful moments of the entire Jan 6th hearings.
Tears are flowing.

There's still hope for us. #January6thHearings https://t.co/jVvKDaixfd

— Tara Setmayer 🌻 (@TaraSetmayer) July 12, 2022

But this is still infuriating, too:

The first part of today’s hearing was infuriating to me. Again, attys who thought Trump’s plan was “nuts,”thought it was illegal, warned others not to go to the Capitol, then saw what happened on 1/6 & none revealed what they knew at Trump’s impeachment trial on 2/13. pic.twitter.com/GgLnuQO5nt

— Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) July 12, 2022

"How is all of this only coming out now?" It's THE question for all who could have made a difference. At any step along the way.

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) July 12, 2022

Today's News: Finally!

Well, finally. 

Somebody in the White House seems to have taken charge of the abortion issue -- maybe Harris, maybe Becerra, maybe Biden himself -- and this is actually getting DONE!

Biden to Dobbs critics: “Keep protesting. Keep making your point. It’s critically important. We can do a lot of things to accommodate the rights of women. In the meantime, fundamentally, the only way to change this is to have a national law that reinstates Roe v Wade.” (WH pool)

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 10, 2022

Under the law, no matter where you live, women have the right to emergency care — including abortion care. In no uncertain terms, HHS will enforce this. pic.twitter.com/anf9KdySYP

— Secretary Xavier Becerra (@SecBecerra) July 11, 2022

BREAKING: President Biden just announced that Medicare facilities will be required to perform abortions that save the mother’s life *regardless of state law*

This decision will save lives. So grateful for @POTUS's leadership.

— Ariel Kelley (@ArielKelley) July 11, 2022

Biden administration says hospitals must provide abortions in emergencies: The Biden administration on Monday said federal law allows women access to abortion in emergency situations, even in states that recently banned the procedure. via NBCNews https://t.co/IlBEPM6P2Q

— Jeffrey Levin 🇺🇦 (@jilevin) July 12, 2022

And so what if somebody sues - OF COURSE somebody will sue, and it will go all the way to SCOTUS because that's the chaos that the Court should have realized it would instigate when it made its awful decision. 

Then the less-rabid justices could narrow the Dobbs decision, if Roberts can persuade Kavanaugh or Gorsuch to go along with him. 

Other impacts:

My story today: How the GOP crackdown on abortion could upend red/blue state competition for jobs & businesses

Harder now for CEOs to treat red-state social policy as a sideshow

“I’ve spoken to C.E.O.s who are rethinking those states,” says @SecRaimondohttps://t.co/SaNi8Epe04

— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) July 11, 2022

The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe is beginning to effect college enrollement in red states, as more and more female students are rethinking their applications in states that block their right to abortion.

Good!

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) July 11, 2022

BREAKING: A California doctor proposes a "floating abortion clinic" in the Gulf of Mexico aboard a ship in federal waters, outside the reach of Republican-controlled state laws. RT IF YOU SUPPORT THIS IDEA!

— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) July 11, 2022

Texas is threatening employers with $100K fines if they assist employees in seeking out-of-state reproductive health care. I'm sure that they and the other red states will do everything possible to ensure forced births or penalize Women seeking this care.

— Hondo Resists ☮️ 💔🌻 I stand with Ukraine! 🌻 (@HondoResists) July 11, 2022

In Nova Scotia with appropriately sloganed coffee mug... pic.twitter.com/PnKmeyCY2F

— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) July 11, 2022

Today's News: Ukraine update

Here is some recent news from Ukraine:

While the famine is growing around the world, harvests in occupied by Russia Kherson region are burning all the time. Reported by the media and the local residents pic.twitter.com/95UnIDaZOt

— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) July 9, 2022

Farmers across Ukraine are increasingly feeling the financial strain of Russia’s Black Sea blockade, and the sector’s economic collapse is affecting food security across the world.

Ukraine accounted for 10 percent of global wheat exports in 2021. https://t.co/5Uu98KGoWl

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 8, 2022

Here is a significant update from Phillips O'Brien about Ukraine troop strength and the intention to take back the south.

The most important point is that the Ukrainian defence minister @oleksiireznikov isn making it very clear that the Ukrainians actually have many 100,000s of soldiers that they can deploy into the fight than the Russians. Says a million here... pic.twitter.com/nQ61jvhnDK

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) July 11, 2022

Now, we have the Ukr changing tone, preparing the population for the army to go on the offensive in the south (Zelensky yesterday), and saying that the army is very large and getting better equipped and trained. https://t.co/oRf28qiepN

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) July 11, 2022

Worth noting that Ukrainian armed forces are prominently tweeting this story. https://t.co/CmGF3GEWGh

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) July 11, 2022

Also, this:

Ukrainians being very open telling civilians to get out of the Kherson area. https://t.co/HYpdDXXqvz

— Phillips P. OBrien (@PhillipsPOBrien) July 9, 2022

I am amazed at this courage:

#Lithuania has expanded restrictions on the transit of goods through its territory to #Kaliningrad, Reuters reports.

As of today, cement, timber, alcohol and alcohol-based industrial chemicals are banned, a #Lithuanian customs official said. pic.twitter.com/DcS5dP5ve2

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 11, 2022

Weekend updates

An historic day of remembrance for Canada's WWI soldiers in the No. 2 Construction Battalion

Members of the battalion served with distinction in the First World War but faced anti-Black racism. https://t.co/qVmFcJYmdI

— CBC News (@CBCNews) July 10, 2022

This battalion of 500+ men worked mainly in the forests and lumber mills of France to provide the wood slats etc needed for trenches, construction, and so forth, and they also trained in infantry.

Today, the Government of Canada is apologizing for the treatment of No. 2 Construction Battalion: a segregated Canadian military unit, formed amid racist policies in the First World War. 🧵 #BLM pic.twitter.com/AVCg1pTXgC

— Library and Archives Canada (@LibraryArchives) July 9, 2022

We’re pleased to offer a webinar about No. 2 Construction Battalion and those who served in it. Learn to explore military service files, war diaries and other historical records. https://t.co/dzzLq7WPQe pic.twitter.com/7JuD9Sc3oi

— Library and Archives Canada (@LibraryArchives) July 8, 2022

Rejected by recruiters, they fought to fight for a Canada that treated them less than equal.

They served and returned to face the same discrimination.

Remember No. 2 Construction Battalion. pic.twitter.com/JKQqyk9R0p

— Canadian Forces in 🇺🇸 (@CAFinUS) July 9, 2022

"We cannot ever let what happened to No. 2 Construction Battalion happen again," Trudeau said. "And we cannot let the service of any member of our forces ever be overlooked and forgotten." #Cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/5TYSVO2qJ8

— Jaro Giesbrecht 🇨🇦🇸🇰 (@JaroGiesbrecht) July 9, 2022

This is the Legacy Shadow Quilt, a quilt created to perpetuate the memory of those who served with the No. 2 Construction Battalion. It will be displayed as part of the events surrounding the Canadian government’s official apology to those who served with the Battalion pic.twitter.com/YI0j2uP6BG

— Canadian War Museum (@CanWarMuseum) July 9, 2022

Thankful to join with community, descendants and LG Mirasty at the Regina Armoury hosted by the Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum and the Regina Rifles to observe the long overdue apology of the Government of Canada to No. 2 Construction Battalion. pic.twitter.com/79n11YWg6t

— Trent Wotherspoon (@WotherspoonT) July 9, 2022

Today's news: Nelson moments

 

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

There was that day-long Rogers outage:

Having Rogers internet down all day meant spending the day talking with family. They seem like nice people. 🤣

— KNugent4118🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 (@knugent4118) July 8, 2022

I can't grasp the scale of how bad this is at Rogers. This is an unprecedented disaster. Been down now for over 12 hours and they still don't know why.

And they have really smart engineers working there. I know, I've worked with them.

— Catelli 2.0 🚣🚴🏕 (@Catelli2Oh) July 8, 2022

You start a simple kitchen reno. And then next thing you know you're jacking up the house and rebuilding the foundation from the footings up.

There is no "just put the wall back up and hide the mess we found"

— Catelli 2.0 🚣🚴🏕 (@Catelli2Oh) July 8, 2022

They appear to have turned their router off and back on again.

— David Cochrane (@DavidWCochrane) July 9, 2022

And that story about SCOTUS justice Brett Kavanaugh being chased out of Morton's by protestors:

The Morton's restaurant chain opened in 1978 and is therefore not "deeply rooted in the nation's history and traditions."

— Lawrence Glickman (@LarryGlickman) July 8, 2022

Yup, you have to articulate the right at the most specific level you can so that you can find that the right doesn’t exist. There is no fundamental “right to eat at Morton’s in DC on a Thursday night without leaving through the back due to protestors”

— Defend the Truth and Defeat the Lies (@fitzador) July 8, 2022

On the other hand, they could argue that the right of powerful white men to ruin other people’s lives and expect to not face even the mildest of consequences is very much “deeply rooted in the nation’s history in tradition”

— Jacob Harris (@harrisj) July 8, 2022

What did Brett Kavanaugh and his right wing Supreme Court pals think their lives would be like after they criminally assaulted 200,000,000 American women? Did they think people would just smile at them in restaurants? Also goodbye Mortons for aggressively taking Kavanaugh’s side.

— Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) July 8, 2022

It doesn't matter if protesters interrupt his meal because Brett Kavanaugh believes dinner begins at reservation

— Frank Lesser (@sadmonsters) July 8, 2022

All six of the SCOTUS majority are too arrogant and stupid to understand that they will never eat an unspat-in restaurant meal for the rest of their lives.

— Randy Cauthen (@Joe_Bourgeois) July 8, 2022

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.

I find it hilarious that Tamara Lich's lawyers awarded her some bs "freedom award" that ended up causing her to lose her freedoms. Good job JCCF! #cdnpoli #FreeDumbConvoy

— Rob Gill (@vote4robgill) July 8, 2022

We have now entered the glorious “Find Out” phase.

I bet she’s pissed her little attempted martyrdom didn’t get the goobers worked up enough to overthrow the Commie Nazi tyrant Trudeau. 😂🤣😂https://t.co/irmv1TDheI

— Jay Gamble (@DrJayDrNo) July 8, 2022

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.

Elon Musk has announced he is not going to buy Twitter as he needs more time to stay at home with his families.

— Gene Spafford (@TheRealSpaf) July 8, 2022

BREAKING: Elon Musk has terminated his deal to buy Twitter, which is shocking because I didn’t think he knew how to pull out of anything.

— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) July 8, 2022

Today's News: Looking for their soul

First up, some comment about what has happened to the soul of the Conservative party in Canada:

The leadership of the CPC is still theoretically up for grabs, but the battle for its soul is over -- and the anti-vaxxers have won. #cdnpoli https://t.co/Txl0pNSu46

— Max Fawcett 🇨🇦 (@maxfawcett) July 7, 2022

Ottawa journalist Rachel Gilmore had a major article on Global News today - How close is too close to the far-right? Why some experts are worried about Canada’s MPs. 

She is writing about Conservative support for the Convoy, particularly from Poilievre, and how this can legitimize the far-right in Canada. As we see the United States careening toward a fascist white supremacy ditch, it gives me hope to see Canadian media stepping up and taking seriously the risk of white supremacy in Canadian politics.

Gilmore says: 

It’s unclear why Poilievre “felt that he needed to” meet with Topp, said Stephanie Carvin, a former CSIS analyst who now teaches at Carleton University.

“But it definitely was a choice with consequences,” she said — including, potentially, emboldening and legitimizing the more extreme views among the convoy’s supporters. 

...experts are starting to worry about the influence politicians could have in legitimizing extreme ideas.

 “They seem to be playing this culture war knowingly,” said Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, in an interview with Global News. 

For Balgord, what Poilievre chose to do on June 30 “wasn’t a surprise.” 

“He was positioning himself to earn the support of the far-right in his leadership race.” 

Gilmore has been doing an extraordinary job in covering Canada's far right - for example, this tweet:

I was looking over videos I took during the Canada Day convoy protest and came across this one.

The man I spoke to very politely told me that he’s not sure Trudeau was democratically elected.

There is zero evidence to back up this claim. pic.twitter.com/N8x4lKvugg

— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) July 6, 2022

Finally we see a journalist used the definite description --"zero evidence" -- instead of mealy-mouthed bafflegab. 

She is hitting a nerve, too -- here's Poilievre's hysterical reaction to her article:

Poilievre's team sent this to me on Tuesday in response to my request for comment.

It read like a press release then.

I guess it *was* a press release.

Here are the questions I asked, which - instead of answering - he replied to by calling me "unprofessional."

1/5 https://t.co/ZjVsgKH5Y9

— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) July 7, 2022

Scrimshaw notes how incredibly stupid and thin-skinned it was for Poilievre to issue this press release:

But why this press release matters is that the Poilievre team just tipped their hands about a very important point – they can get blown off message incredibly easily. 

A TV interview with Evan Solomon got Poilievre to confirm he’d fire the Governor of the Bank Of Canada, and now an article about Convoy ties to the far right has Poilievre invoking Trudeau’s Blackface (I’ll leave it to your imagination how those two things happened). 

It’s genuinely thin-skinned bullshit, but even more than it being thin-skinned, it’s just not a good trait in a political leader to have the political equivalent of Tourette’s Syndrome, to quote the post-Sorkin West Wing. 

Swinging at every pitch in politics is a disaster, because sometimes the right move is to avoid the trap, and this pattern of behaviour from Poilievre and his team is evidence that he doesn’t have that tool in his arsenal. 

He is as addicted to the news cycle and the Twitter likes and the Facebook views that he has to pump out this shit daily, but the problem is, sometimes you don’t have to make news. Sometimes, it’s better to sit one out, and just leave an unfriendly article alone. 

How many more people do you think saw the Global article at the core of this fight after his press release? Giving oxygen to this story is an insane idea if you’re Poilievre.

Nevertheless, she persisted. Here is a follow-up story tonight:

Um, this is...massive?

James Topp's arrival in Ottawa -- which Pierre Poilievre joined him for -- appears to have been, at least in part, organized by someone affiliated with Diagolon.

Yikes.

Yikes. Yikes. Yikes. https://t.co/3X5phqRNX0

— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) July 7, 2022

Undoubtedly, there is additional stuff to come on this story.

Walking on the funny side

First, the latest from Jolly Old England:

Imagine the Titanic refusing to admit that the iceberg won.

— Kathleen Donohoe (@KathleenDonohoe) July 6, 2022

The commentary is heavily implying that Larry the Cat is about to resign. pic.twitter.com/MwURn7setH

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) July 6, 2022

https://t.co/zZA13BMDEM

— Grace Delanoy (@begraced) July 6, 2022

The best, the most, the greatest:

My wife just said "if you hate everyone, you should eat something, and if you think everyone hates you, you should go to sleep" and I don't think I've heard a better life hack

— Norman the PhDM (@metadoxy) July 3, 2022

The Supreme Court's overruling of 50 years of rights was the most arrogant misreading of history and law that you could ever find. https://t.co/kkVXP9Ujj0

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 30, 2022

This is the greatest headline of our times (via @guardian) pic.twitter.com/ZMqgpRIe7I

— dan nguyen (@dancow) July 3, 2022

Today's news: Comments on the passing scene

Its been a crazy day, eh? 

Patrick Brown is out:

So arrogant he doesn't even show up to debate other #CPC hopefuls, this after likely eliminating Patrick Brown. @PierrePoilievre so confident he's got the #CPC Leadership, he is skipping the Calgary leadership debate, will attend party with Brett Wilson.https://t.co/SbrOV0jZMc

— Jaro Giesbrecht 🇨🇦🇸🇰 (@JaroGiesbrecht) July 6, 2022

Patrick Brown is out of the running for the CPC leadership. The CPC wants PP. That's fine. The Liberals and NDP want to run against PP too. https://t.co/44Pbl3isLp

— Unbranded (@Unbranded63) July 6, 2022

Scrimshaw writes: 

...this is probably good for the Tory Party in terms of general election posture in 3 years, because with Brown out of the race, it basically stops Poilievre from having to continue his tack right. 

It’s now not the case that he has anything resembling a threat to the leadership, and if he’s smart, he can tone back the negativity and the anger and start a more fulsome pivot to the centre, which will enable him to avoid any more quotes or moves in the leadership that end up fucking him in the General. 

Wise advice, which is why I wouldn't expect Poilievre to follow it -- he'll say something stupid again soon.

Ha. Didn't know Coyne was now a comedian. https://t.co/ao8DGuROfU

— Saskboy from Saskatchewan (@saskboy) July 6, 2022

And here's the morning "media take":

"not since Erin O'Toole have we seen such a visionary leader." https://t.co/McwFG5gkxQ

— Jonathon Van Maren (@JVanMaren) July 6, 2022

Today's News: Declare victory and leave

If former Sask premier Brad Wall had ever bothered to learn French, he could have been a Conservative prime minister. He had the persona of a golden boy and the Toronto suburbs might have voted for him. 

But as it turned out, just as well he stayed in Swift Current. 

The news came out today that he had been advising the Convoy back in February. He basically told them they weren't going to get the Liberals to resign, so they should just declare victory and leave, with their bank accounts and reputations (relatively) intact. 

It was good advice from an experienced politician who knew when a battle wasn't going to be won. So of course the Convoy didn't follow it. 

Ultimately their leaders went to jail, their so-called "movement" was discredited with the thousands of credulous people who had supported it, they lost all their money, and they were chased out of the border crossings and away from Ottawa after Trudeau commandeered the tow trucks.

Phone dump shows Wall suggested convoy "declare a victory of sorts" over mandate rollbacks and give money to charities. He also proposed a headline for a press release. https://t.co/DWvsOitOCc pic.twitter.com/x1MMNZrn1L

— Glen McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) July 4, 2022

Sounds like coordination to me https://t.co/NP9wuNvcnR

— Devin's Red Hat (@DevinShat) July 5, 2022

This is the fellow Brad Wall gave advice to on how to successfully cause mayhem on the streets of Ottawa during the convoy. Real stand-up guy. https://t.co/31UK7T7d58

— Eric Bell (@eric_bellMB) July 4, 2022

Saskatchewan is furious:

Today's News: Weekend updates

Conservative leadership update:

Maybe Poilievre has hired a new PR firm not staffed by 12-year-olds. 

He released a video today that conservatives actually liked.  As for me, it worried me -- it doubles down on the Conservative "freedom" meme which actually means "be as prejudiced as you want, we won't stop you". 

Some see through it:

Take Back your Freedom. "Reclaim what has always been yours." It's Cdn #MAGA - Pining for the Canada of the "good old days" when the wood in the video was used to build barns. Brace yourself for more messaging that rubs the tummies of "old stock Canadians" - making others cringe. https://t.co/ASNbMmwSVt

— Charles Adler (@charlesadler) July 4, 2022

Some do not:

This message of "freedom" is a powerful one, even though what it actually means is letting Canadians be racist and sexist, underpay workers, operate unsafe factories, fire teachers, & dismantle any other "state interference" that actually gives us all real freedom.

— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 😷🏳️‍🌈 (@CathieCanada) July 3, 2022

Basically, its all just more Poilievre BS:

Pierre Poilievre is a dendrophiliac.

— Dean from Winnipeg (@Dean_Winnipeg) July 4, 2022

And his little stroll with the the so called “convoy” boys yesterday fell pretty flat & he cancelled some speech he was due to give.

— Janice D🇨🇦🐾 (@janbear105) July 3, 2022

Can we make sure that meme includes the white nationalist he was having a chat with while on a stroll? I don’t want anyone to forget about that. https://t.co/c9f1Mx7qpR

— Lisa Kirbie (@lisakirbie) July 4, 2022

Meanwhile, Trudeau-bashing continues apace, especially from Jean Charest's campaign manager who has a book to shill and gets a National Post column to do it:

“Woke”. I find it remarkable that the power brokers and wordsmen have successfully convinced millions of stupid people that being aware, knowledgeable, educated and fair is shameful and evil and that ignorance is godly. Genesis. Same old story.

— Rogue Chimp (@roguechimp99) July 3, 2022