Wrapping up the week with some great news for the Sask NDP and Carla Beck

Carla Beck may well be Saskatchewan's new premier, according to today's Mainstreet poll:

This is such great news:

Final Mainstreet poll predicts Sask NDP will win the popular vote in a close race to the finish. https://t.co/TKJNkMwQkg

— Sask Votes 🌾 🗳️ (@SaskVotes2024) October 26, 2024

I have been reading news snippets over the last week or so about how Carla Beck and the NDP are moving ahead of Scott Moe's tired old Saskatchewan Party but I couldn't really believe it. 

The Mainstreet poll highlighted above finally puts Beck ahead by more than the margin of error, from surveys completed two days ago.

Not only that, but hey...Carla Beck will make a great premier!

Today's News: "Get the clearance, take the briefing, protect the country"

A week ago, when Poilievre's lack of a security clearance first hit the fan, because of Trudeau's testimony to the foreign interference inquiry, reporter Stephen Chase tweeted a statement from Poilievre's office -- they tried very very hard to perish the thought that a security clearance is important, saying our boy doesn't really need one anyway, not really....:

Pierre Poilievre received a briefing Monday from the PM's national security adviser on the allegations against India, his office said Tuesday. "If the government believes that there is further information that Mr. Poilievre needs to know, they can, through CSIS, utilize 'threat reduction measures' under section 12.1 of the CSIS Act, to make further information available in a manner that would not limit Mr. Poilievre’s ability to speak to Canadians," his office said Tuesday.

Hmmm -- but that wasn't good enough:

Worth noting, every level of law enforcement, leaders of every party and all three levels of government are now basically saying Pierre Poilievre is hiding from his NatSc background check for obvious reasons. pic.twitter.com/1QaVBTkxY3

— Dean Blundell🇨🇦 (@ItsDeanBlundell) October 22, 2024

Hmmm -- so now Poilievre is getting Liberal zingers, with Trudeau leading off:

“Get the clearance

Take the briefing

Protect the country”

Priceless.⬇️ https://t.co/cEwkWwSp0F

— Ana Lia Pauchulo She/Her (@Ana_Pauchulo) October 23, 2024

Today's News: Afternoon of the Rubber Knives, Liberal Caucus Edition

You could almost hear Ottawa deflate this afternoon as the Liberal caucus "let's get rid of Trudeau!" frenzy squiffed out. Night of the Long Knives turned into the Fish-Slapping sketch.

CBC gives us the (un)exciting play-by-play:

...Sources speaking to Radio-Canada said that 24 MPs signed an agreement to call on Trudeau to step down as Liberal leader.

Two sources told CBC News that B.C. MP Patrick Weiler read out a separate document — which laid out an argument for Trudeau's resignation — during the meeting. MPs were given two minutes each to address the room during the three-hour-long meeting. About 20 — none of them cabinet ministers — stood up to urge Trudeau to step aside before the next election, sources said. But a number of MPs also stood to voice support for the prime minister.

The dissident MPs gave Trudeau until Oct. 28 to decide on his future, sources said.

Boy, sounds like they really drew a line in the sand for Trudeau, eh? 

Well, maybe not so much. 

The story continues:

But no consequences attached to that deadline were mentioned in the document read to caucus Wednesday.

The prime minister himself addressed the meeting and two MPs told CBC News that he became emotional when he talked about his children having to see "F--- Trudeau" signs in public.

At the end of the meeting, Trudeau said he would reflect on what he heard but didn't indicate that he would resign.

Several MPs left Wednesday's meeting indicating that they'd had an open conversation on which caucus members needed to reflect. Others said that the party is "united" in fighting the Conservatives and their leader Pierre Poilievre.

So, not exactly drawing another line in the sand either.  

In fact, apparently everybody is singing Kumbaya together now:

"It was a great discussion, the type of discussion that Canadians would be proud to see," Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said.

"What really matters in the end is that we come out of that caucus meeting united, resolved and delivering for Canadians."

"One thing that we're united on — everybody — is beating Poilievre," Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada said.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller acknowledged the frustrations of some MPs and said he respects those who voiced those frustrations directly to the prime minister.

"Fundamentally, this is something that has been simmering for some time and it's important for people to get it out," he said.

"This isn't a code red situation. The prime minister can sure as hell handle the truth."

Ontario MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith said it was a "healthy conversation" but argued that Trudeau needs to take the message from disaffected MPs to heart.

"The prime minister has to listen to the frustrations — and in some cases the really valid frustrations — of his caucus colleagues and incorporate that into changes moving forward," he told reporters as he left the caucus meeting.

It's not clear what changes Liberal MPs are asking for, or if Trudeau promised anything. Erskine-Smith indicated that he thinks the Liberals need to focus on advertising

Aha! So what is really pissing off the back bench is those repetative Conservative "Mountain Pierre common man of the people" ads  Well, yeah, I can understand that -- they're driving us all around the bend.

Today in the Stupid: Trump

That's it. 

That's the title. 

Two weeks to go but I think America has already reached its gag limit. 

The McDonald's stunt may have been the last.

Tim Walz has ZERO f*cks to give:

“At McDonald's, he looks more like Ronald McDonald and Ronald wears less makeup. Everything about this guy is fake - next he's going to tell you he's a cop or construction worker because he dances to the Village People."

pic.twitter.com/b4wSFal9o5

— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) October 22, 2024

Post by @craig_anthony99

Today's News: Provincial elections; and another friendly sausage-maker moment

We've had two provincial elections in the last week -- BC was a squeaker for its progressive party, but New Brunswick was a resounding progressive success.

Canadian Media today: BC elections reflect the political state of Canada, and it doesn't look good for Trudeau.

Canadian Media tomorrow: NB elections reflect 100% local issues and do not reflect the political status of Canada.

— Antonio Foix 🇮🇹🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@Aho2ToMan) October 21, 2024

Funnies and Long Threads: from King Charles to airplane seats; from hurricane stories to Bob Dylan

Let's start with some funnies:

Post by @patricknessbooks

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Post by @ogginblog

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Post by @the.language.nerds

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Did anybody have "Big Dick Envy" on their Trump Bingo Card?

Trump just can't hold it back anymore:

A nonzero number of Americans are voting for Trump so they can call stuff “gay” again and meanwhile their guy’s out here lost in a reverie about the late Arnold Palmer’s literal penis pic.twitter.com/2mHtuZqnwT

— Pablo Torre 🕳️ (@PabloTorre) October 19, 2024

Big dick envy:

(📢) This is real. There is something wrong with Donald Trump. Even Republicans are saying so now.

From THE NEW YORK TIMES: pic.twitter.com/3vrHW1t8rS

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 20, 2024

Arnold Palmer was “appalled” by Trump, his daughter Peg said (in 2020):

“My dad didn’t like people who act like they’re better than other people. He had no patience for people who are dishonest and cheat. My dad was disciplined. He wanted to be a good role model. He was appalled… pic.twitter.com/khpr88QIOE

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) October 20, 2024

Comedy tonight: Poilievre lettuce-watch, plus some funny stuff about Trump, Harris, birds, art, dogs, dope, and being old

The Poilievre lettice watch begins:

Start the countdown. Pierre Poilievre or this head of lettuce. pic.twitter.com/zUHF4u7XPS

— Roddy 🇨🇦 (@RodKahx) October 16, 2024

POILIEVRE'S CAT pic.twitter.com/5NfqfCGl9z

— Brittlestar (@brittlestar) October 17, 2024

Hey, really folks, it was only a little light treason...

Elizabeth May isn’t the hero we asked for, but she may be the one we need. https://t.co/nGz2HrkjVW

— Jason P. (@JasonPYYC) October 18, 2024

Starting a sentence off with “Listen you lunatics” is a great way to show people a valid point.

The coping that is happening right now with the slogan fuckalopes is just hilarious. pic.twitter.com/EfJpL9DCBg

— JB | Polisci (@cdnpoli101) October 17, 2024

Having some fun now! Trudeau at the PIFI hearing, and Harris on Fox News

First, Trudeau testified at the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference hearings today. 

Trudeau was supposed to be embarassed, bumbling, and exposed by this inquiry - but instead, it was Poilievre who found himself stumbling -- unfit to lead because he won't, or can't, get a high-enough security clearance for CSIS briefings. 

Reminded me a lot of this old skiing cartoo - stunned Poilievre doesn't know what hit him, while competent Trudeau continues on his merry way:

PIERRE POILIEVRE IS NOT A SERIOUS PERSON.
Watch and listen (clip from the PM's testimony at the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference – October 16, 2024 ~11:50am). pic.twitter.com/oRFtwpf7HK

— AMC 🇨🇦 (@AMCinHogtown) October 16, 2024

Trudeau calls it “bewildering” and “inexplicable” that Pierre Poilievre will not get the necessary top secret clearance to protect the integrity of the Conservative Party of Canada.

— Judy Trinh (@judyatrinh) October 16, 2024

Two former CSIS directors have just said that there isn’t a justification for briefing Poilievre’s chief of staff when Poilievre himself won’t get the clearance. #PnPCBC

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) October 16, 2024

Also an excellent summary tonight from Wesley Wark A National Security PM? One more word on the PM’s testimony before PIFI

...He was forthright in stating that he was astonished to learn, for the first time through CSIS evidence presented to the Inquiry, about a liberal Parliamentarian who had been targeted by FI. He said he should have been alerted but also claimed that the changes that have made to the dissemination of intelligence would guarantee that if these events had happened in the present he would have been informed.

But then the PM turned to how best to ensure that all political parties were aware of foreign interference. He expressed some reservations about a policy of briefing Parliamentarians using intelligence information. But he extolled the value of bringing all opposition party leaders into the secret tent so that they could be made aware of intelligence on foreign interference threats targeting Canadians and their parties. This requires opposition leaders to be security cleared to a high level so that they can receive classified briefings. Jagmeet Singh for the NDP and Elizabeth May for the Greens have taken this step. Yves-Francois Blanchet for the Bloc said he would, but appears not to have followed through. The PM said he regarded this approach as non-partisan in nature. Knowledge raises all boats.

But then the PM went on to unleash a fierce attack on the Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, for his refusal to obtain a security clearance. He called this decision by Poilievre “bewildering,” “lacking in common sense,” and “irresponsible.” He stated later in cross-examination that Poilievre lacked seriousness about national security and appeared unconcerned that his own leadership race may have been impacted by foreign interference. There was a to and fro with the counsel for the Conservative Party on this. It got juicy. I think Trudeau won that one on points.

This was both an electioneering moment and a legacy moment. The PM positioning himself as best placed to defend the country’s national security and deliver policies and actions in the national interest. ...

Today's News: Quick Takes on Trudeau, Poilievre, the House of Commons, Harris, Trump, the US Election, and Brexit

Just a few Quick Takes - some stuff  worth reading tonight:

Trudeau

My latest: This is not a diplomatic spat — it’s state terrorism, and Canada is right to call it out https://t.co/GZGbDh6kNU pic.twitter.com/jOYXwM6RyM

— Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@acoyne) October 15, 2024

WAKE UP
Seriously, the future depends on these two people. The alternatives are unthinkable. There are very dark days ahead if demented Trump & sociopathic Poilievre are running the show and driving our democracies into the dirt. #IStandWithTrudeau2025 #HarrisWalz2024 pic.twitter.com/YY5oe0tYGW

— IslandMan (@LaBeaujardine) October 13, 2024

I’m posting this slow-motion clip of Justin Trudeau running his fingers through his hair just to watch Maple MAGA heads explode. pic.twitter.com/smG1yRATss

— cαηα∂α нαтεs тя☭мρ (@Trump_Detester) September 26, 2024

Today's News: Extraordinary warning about threats from India

Well, I was going to put up a light-hearted post tonight about Thanksgiving - cartoons, nice stories, etc. 

But then this happened:

RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme told a news conference in Ottawa that the force decided to take the “extraordinary” step of warning the public after Indian government officials refused to co-operate in an investigation into the threats #cdnpoli #ParlCA https://t.co/P0CxbKjJL3

— iPolitics (@iPoliticsCA) October 15, 2024

The Toronto Star article gives us a blow-by-blow of how Canada tried to inform India about its findings: Inside Canada’s struggle to engage with the Modi government — and why it ended with the expulsion of six Indian diplomats RCMP alleges that Indian diplomats and consular officials in Canada are tied to murders, violence, intimidation and threats against Canadians.

...The two countries each expelled six diplomats as the Mounties disclosed their suspicions in a news conference after efforts by top Canadian officials, in Washington and Singapore, failed over the past week to resolve an impasse in their investigations.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters that the situation required immediate public disclosure in an effort to disrupt what is going on.

...So far, Duheme said, eight people have been charged in Canada with homicides — although he refused to specify the number of Canadian deaths or the time frame involved.

And 22 individuals stand charged with extortion, or acts of intimidation, coercion, threats and harassment that Canadian authorities now see as likely connected to agents acting at the Indian government’s direction. Police have given warnings to 13 Canadians since last September that they are potential targets of Indian agents. Some have received multiple threats, and they have been on the rise in recent weeks, police say.

More explosive is the allegation that Indian government officials posted in Canada are “directly” linked to the violence.

...things ramped up in earnest about six weeks ago.

The RCMP had by then determined a pattern in a series of investigations in a number of cities across Canada, the sources said: it appeared Indian diplomats and consular officials in Canada were conveying information about the movements and activities of certain Canadians back to Indian intelligence officials in India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, known as RAW.

According to the sources, speaking confidentially in order to discuss Canada’s findings, that information appeared to be then conveyed to a criminal gang in India, whose leader Lawrence Bishnoi is in Indian prison custody but uncharged, and in turn passed on to individuals in Canada who police allege are “agents of India” acting to intimidate, threaten and even kill Canadians.

The prime minister, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters on Monday that the primary targets of the interference have been Sikh Canadians, but said the threats went beyond that community to include other South Asian Canadians. All three said they have shared the information with counterparts in the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance that includes the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand....

Today's News: Freaking Out about the Presidential Polls

 

https://www.270towin.com/mp

Three weeks to go and the Presidential polls are freaking everyone out:

If you are noticing that the only national polls Trump is leading in are the ones taken by a single far-right polling outfit known to be run by a Trumpist you are reading this image correctly pic.twitter.com/Y810f4z1rv

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 13, 2024

Cannot stress enough that Rs would not be dropping dozens of polls into the battlegrounds to move the polling averages if they thought they were winning.

Harris leads by 4 in PA in new NYT poll. More red wave polls there than any other state. https://t.co/YruOCllTBx

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) October 12, 2024

With three weeks to go we should note that Rs have dropped more than 60 polls into the polling averages over the last few weeks to red wave 2024.

The only reason they would be doing that is that if they though they were losing. https://t.co/p0AwV6wH6v

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) October 14, 2024

More desperate, losing candidate vibes from Trump: 6/https://t.co/tgZXEWHH4z

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) October 12, 2024

Today's News: Oh for f**ks sake, why would Trudeau step down NOW?

Lots of news today about how a group of unnamed Liberal back-benchers are supposedly organizing to get Trudeau to resign as party leader. 

Yeah, sure -- whose bright idea was that?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will face mounting pressure from his caucus this week to step down from the leadership of the Liberal party.

A group of backbench MPs, primarily from Atlantic Canada and southwestern Ontario, are in discussions to formally release an ask for the prime minister to consider the future of the Liberal party in making a decision about whether to stay at the helm of it....

CTV News spoke to 24 Liberal MPs Friday, about half of whom said they were aware of a so-called letter circulating but had not put their name to it. Half a dozen of the MPs said they had heard "about 30 people are signing it" but had not seen the signatures themselves. Three MPs told us they could only speak for themselves but would support the prime minister re-considering his bid to lead the party into the next election and another three MPs said it was "news" to them the letter existed.

Each MP requested anonymity out of concern of reprisal for speaking out. Many told CTV News the Prime Minister's Office has taken a harder line on MPs leaking to the press as of late.

The media were just delighted as they rushed to "break" this story but really, come on folks -- there is no reason at all for Trudeau to "step down" right now, not just before the US election, 3 weeks away. But there is all the reason in the world for him to stay the course until he sees what will be happening to our largest trading partner.

Imaginary News

We have all heard now about Fake News - see also Truthiness, Alternative Facts, and Mis-information. Now, we're hearing "imaginary news" --

We’ve all become desensitized, but it’s amazing how at this point the Trump campaign rests entirely on denouncing things that aren’t happening — a imaginary bad economy, imaginary runaway crime and now an imaginary failure of Biden and Harris to respond to natural disaster

— Paul Krugman (@pkrugman.bsky.social) September 30, 2024 at 3:37 PM

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And Trump just keeps on lying:

Yet again it turns out the 'Scranton firefighters for Trump' at his event were not firefighters but just random people holding signs pic.twitter.com/W3NgyZTEt9

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) October 11, 2024

Interviews with Harris and Walz

Harris and Waltz are doing media all over this week (except tne New York Times and Politico, and boy are they pissed!) 

Anyway, here are some good clips: 

From Howard Stern:

How Howard Stern ended his interview with Kamala Harris: “I think you'd be a great president. You're compassionate. I love your experience as a prosecutor and I want to thank you. I love you as Vice President. I want to encourage anyone who thinks similarly to me to vote." pic.twitter.com/73SmGO2xo4

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) October 9, 2024

From Colbert:

This was Stephen Colbert's opening monologue tonight of his interview with VP Kamala Harris. Holy shit. 🤣🔥 pic.twitter.com/zIWVpvZswc

— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) October 9, 2024

"They know how to pronounce my name!" -- rockstar reception tonight for Kamala Harris on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.bsky.social) October 8, 2024 at 11:00 PM

Even the band is excited!

And yes, she drinks beer:   

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