Saturday, November 02, 2024

Today's News: It's FAFO time!


I think we're reaching "Fuck Around and Find Out" time: 

In Canada, Poilievre's blithe "Of course I'm going to cancel programs to fund a GST reduction on new houses" and his equally-blithe "of course I'm not going to get a security clearance" is starting to tank his favourables. 
Today's Ekos study found a drop of 12 points in Conservative voting intentions. They are still ahead of the Liberals, but not by as much as they used to be:
No wonder Poilievre is desperate to get a non-confidence motion passed right away. 
Poilievre likely thought his bright idea to eliminate the GST on middle-class new houses would be a big winner and everybody would start talking about how much money the Cons would save them.
But then the media started asking PP how he would pay for the GST cut and he fumbled out something about how easy-peasy it would be to just cut some Liberal programs.
So instead of getting lots of publicity about his GST cut, Poilievre got complaints that he was threatening popular Liberal programs:
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Thursday, October 31, 2024

Halloween Apples!

We always used to yell "Halloween Apples" when I was trick-or-treating, I'm not sure why because if anyone ever gave us an apple we threw it out because razor blades. 
Anyway, Halloweening is a great memory - circling through the neighbourhood, running to keep warm under the frosted streetlights, plotting our route, checking with the other groups we met about where the best house was - there was always one giving out real full-size chocolate bars! 
(One year the dentist who lived across our street handed out toothbrushes for heaven's sake!  The next summer he set his garage on fire because he thought he could use gasoline to kill the weeds in the walkway, which gives you a good idea of how bright he really was!)
Anyway, the challenge was always to assemble a costume that could be worn to the costume parade at school but would also accommodate a winter jacket underneath, so you didn't get too cold and have to go home too soon.
Then when the pillowcase was full we would tear home and dump the bags to sort out our loot, what a sweet confusion, to decide what we wanted to gobble down first.
When my own kids were halloweening, we used their loot bags as "back-ups" to our own stash, deftly sorting out the candy they didn't like so we could supplement our own handouts, and make sure we didn't run short.
When we lived in Victoria, fireworks were a Halloween tradition and we always assembled with the neighbours to set off some fireworks in the cul-de-sac and hand out sparklers to swoop around in the dark - great fun. When we moved back to Saskatchewan, we did miss that there were no fireworks here-- so much of the time, it is just too cold on Halloween night to spend extra time outside! 

I'm glad we never ran into these guys!
Best Halloween video ever!
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Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Worth the read: Upside-down maps; Russian spy stories; Presidential election thoughts; and Canadian ghoulies & ghosties

Just a short post tonight, to highlight some remarkable articles published recently. 
First up, look at this "corrective map" of the world: 


It is one of the fascinating maps from this great article at Everything is Amazing by Mike Snowden Why All Our Maps Are The Wrong Way Round Head-spinning lessons from rebellious cartography. 
Snowden concludes:
....Is it fair for any country to be geographically regarded as “the lowest of the low,” as Chile, Argentina and Australia are? How would a south-upwards map of the “bottom half” of the world change the way we treat each other and see ourselves?
Or we could just throw all caution to the wind, as Melbourne University student Stuart McArthur did, and turn the whole damn thing upside-down for good:
(This map [shown above] launched on Australia Day in 1979, has now sold over 350,000 copies.)
However you choose to see the world, never forget that it’s a choice. Maybe not exactly yours, for practical reasons, but certainly someone’s, at some point in time.
And if that’s true, what other elements of our “basic common sense” views of the world are up for grabs, if we choose to look at them a bit differently? It might be fun to find out.
At Bug Eyed and Shameless, Justin Ling writes So You've Become a Russian Asset I testify on the nature of Kremlin info-ops. Things get weird. He talks about some of the great gossipy history and recent revelations of Russian influence in media reporting, and concludes:
...In the same way that we ought to proactively disclose evidence of foreign influence operations here, we need to be careful not to make hasty and rash allegations based on insufficient evidence. In all cases, we should let the evidence to do the talking, or else we’ll wind up shadowboxing, growing more distrustful and paranoid. Then, we’ll be doing our adversaries’ work for them.
Yes, some instances of foreign meddling involve million-dollar payments and a clear paper trail. But lots of clandestine work falls into a gray zone.
At Scrimshaw Unscripted, Evan Scrimshaw writes US #ScrimshawSix, One Week Out On The Presidential Election And Other Races  He concludes:
...it is absolutely the case that Trump is a threat to democracy and is an absolute lunatic. We can’t become complacent or start failing to understand just how terrible he is. He is not just a run of the mill far right politician. He is a genuine threat to the Republic and lord knows he must not win. Please don’t fuck this up.
Finally, at Canadian History Ehx, in tribute to Halloween, historian Craig Baird is publishing articles about Canadian ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night. Check out all his pieces including The Haunted Galt Museum, The Screaming Tunnel, The Coffin Surfing Ghost, and The Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes.
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Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Carla came close


So NDP leader Carla Beck came close, but it doesn't look like she will be Saskatchewan's new premier:
There are some very close seats, and the mail-in ballots still remain to be counted:
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Monday, October 28, 2024

Sask Party's Greatest Screw-Up Hits!


I just saw this amazing thread from Regina Poster Boy about the Sask Party's parade of screw-ups and I had to share it tonight -- our Saskatchewan election is Monday!  Its very long, but I'll break it on Monday night when I post another tweet. The latest polls show Carla Beck and the NDP maybe winning a majority of the Sask seats, and this can't come too soon for me!

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Sunday, October 27, 2024

Today's News: Pre-emptive surrender from the gutless Washington Post and LA Times

Can't really describe how terrified I am about the US election -- I hope and pray that Harris can close the deal with the American people. 
Her rally last night in Houston was epic, as was the Kalamazoo rally today.
But talking earlier tonight with our son, we agreed how dark the situation is today compared to 2016. Then, people could say they didn't know what to expect with Trump, but now they know exactly what he will do, yet millions of Americans still want to vote for him.  
We are seeing both cowardice and courage in the United States now, and I just don't know whether the courage will be enough. 

Cowardice: 
The news that the billionaires who own the LA Times and the Washington Post are just too gutless to endorse Harris is discouraging -- can America demand more courage from its ordinary people than it is getting from its richest?
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Saturday, October 26, 2024

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:
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!
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Friday, October 25, 2024

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: Hmmm -- so now Poilievre is getting Liberal zingers, with Trudeau leading off:
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Thursday, October 24, 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.
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Wednesday, October 23, 2024

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.

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Tuesday, October 22, 2024

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.
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Monday, 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
View on Threads
Post by @ogginblog
View on Threads
Post by @the.language.nerds
View on Threads
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Sunday, October 20, 2024

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


Trump just can't hold it back anymore:
Big dick envy:
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Friday, October 18, 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: Hey, really folks, it was only a little light treason...
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Thursday, 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:
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. ...

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