Monday, October 24, 2022

Today's News: Ukraine update

I will be travelling over the next few days so I may not be able to put up more posts this week
Tonight, I am trying to figure out the latest from Ukraine. 
They likely will have a few more weeks of decent weather until winter strikes, so I hope they can liberate Kherson and more of the Donbas soon. Meantime, Russia continues to try to frighten the world into withdrawing support from Ukraine. 
I hope it won't work. Here is some discussion about Russia's overall goals: Right now, Russia is trying to scare the world with talk about "dirty bombs" -- first, it needs to be understood that there actually is no such thing, not really -- it is a "speculative" weapon, in the words of Wikipedia. It might be possible to build a bomb that combines conventional and nuclear explosives, but it isn't clear whether anyone has actually done so. 
But whenever the media mentions "dirty bomb" it sends people into a panic (it reminds me of the police fentanyl panic myth) and this is what Russia is counting on. The US, Britain and France aren't having it:

Sunday, October 23, 2022

More great stuff

What a week -- we really need some great stuff right now, don't we, and I've got some. 
But first, let's consider the nominees for this week's "Christ, what an asshole!" 

Is it Doug Ford?  First he posted a three-amigos tweet that included his fire pit, then twitter exploded because said firepit is not legal in Toronto, so then he just deleted the tweet - Christ, what an asshole! Or Danielle Smith? The National Post is calling her Canada's first "alternatively-informed" premier.  Smith now seems to think she can override public health orders, abandon Kenney's federal commitments, and basically do whatever she wants - Premier Loon indeed. 
Or maybe our very own Scott Moe? He heard that Singh was coming to Saskatchewan for the NDP convention and instead of welcoming him as a fellow politician, Moe decided he had to try to insult him instead -- Christ, what an asshole! I can't decide ,... so, I guess it must be ALL THREE! 
But wait, there's more -- I'm wondering if any of the Brain Trust advising Moe has considered whether they are scaring people away from Saskatchewan? The Globe and Mail is not impressed: The Globe and Mail writes:
...Last week, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe presented what he claimed was a serious analysis of how federal climate rules will hurt his province. But it was in fact the opposite, a threadbare and mathematically halfwitted sketch that was brutally panned. The episode was much like, earlier this year, the widely lambasted “sovereignty act” put forth by the new and embattled premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith.
In both cases, the Prairie premiers made a basic mistake: They conflated what are ordinary provincial-federal policy debates and disagreements with accusations of Ottawa’s undue constitutional overreach. It is akin to shouting “fire” when nothing is ablaze....
Standing up for a province is one thing; doing so with misleading and disingenuous proposals is another.
If Saskatchewan wants more control over immigration or policing, that’s a reasonable idea. But it’s not reasonable to try to ignore federal climate policy. The constitutional questions are settled. And if Mr. Moe wants to make serious claims that are worthy of debate, he should start with a course in remedial math.

Friday, October 21, 2022

Today's News: Buh-bye

Today we said "buh-bye" to Liz Truss. 
The tweets were priceless: 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)

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Today's News: Updates

Just a short one tonight. 
 First, about the POEC hearings: And some of what we are hearing is just BS: CSIS, on the other hand, says this: An interesting point here: I know what was happening to people in Ottawa during the FluTruxKlan occupation was terrible -- here is an excellent list of everything the FluTruxKlan put them through.
But I think it was the border blockades that really caused the most trouble for the country as a whole -- senseless, chaotic, jeopardizing the economy, shattering international relations. The border blockades ranged from 3 days at the Pacific Highway Crossing in Surrey BC, to 18 days at the Coutts, Alberta crossing, and included 6 days at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor Ontario and 6 days at Emerson, Manitoba. 
It was nuts, nonsensical -- even if Canada had been willing to let unvaccinated truckers into the country, the United States was not, so Canadian truckers would still have needed to get vaccinations before they could cross the border.  This made it impossible to negotiate an end to the blockades. No level of government - municipal, provincial, federal - could meet the FluTruxKlan demands because they didn't make any sense.
But nonsense never stopped the FluTruxKlan!
And it was the border blockades that really made this into an international story.

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Today's News: I think we know where this is going

If there are any two politicians in Canada who always know which way the wind is blowing, it's Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford. 
So today Trudeau stood behind Ford and held a straight face -- didn't even roll his eyes once -- while Ford talked about how he had stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Trudeau during the enactment of the Emergencies Act in February.
As Tammy says, its a crock. 
  But it demonstrates that it WAS necessary for the Trudeau government to bring in the Emergencies Act and that Ford knows it.
Its only Day 4 of the POEC hearings but it is clear even now that something drastic needed to be done about the FreeDumb Convoy (AKA FluTruxKlan), not just in Ottawa but across the country, because they did not intend to leave. And -- as they had also demonstrated during the pandemic -- the provinces were not up to the job.
Hmmm... quite a change in tune for Dougie: As much as the Conservatives and their media are still trying to assert that the Emergencies Act was just an "over-reaction" by Trudeau, they can't make the case. 

Monday, October 17, 2022

FreeDumb Convoy Greatest Hits


Now that the Public Order Emergency Commission hearings are getting underway, Canada is being reminded of just how awful the convoy crisis was, not only in Ottawa but also across the rest of the country. 
It was exciting at first, of course -- hundreds of people exorcised their January blahs by lining the highways waving flags and cheering as they watched the big trucks thundering past. There was lots of "freedom!" shouting, and a warm sense of solidarity and joining together for a common cause and other fun stuff.
So the convoy seemed to think a majority of Canadians actually supported them. 
But their Ottawa occupation and border blockades soon deteriorated into a noisy, chaotic, messy, dirty, disrespectful, horn-honking debacle. 
They didn't have the sense or the leadership to just declare victory and leave. We are now seeing a determined effort by Conservatives to minimize and trivialize what actually happened during the convoy crisis. I hope they don't get away with it: So tonight I was checking tweets and also scrolling back through my posts in early February. Hey, remember what actually was happening? And remember the brave people who fought back?

Saturday, October 15, 2022

From the Bookmarks

Here's the Daily Mail live feed on YouTube  
Kwasi Kwarteng served Truss as finance minister for 38 days -- reminiscent of how Tony
Scaramucci served as White House communications director for 10 days in 2017. 
So we now have a new reference for measuring time in politics: Today's "Christ, what an asshole!" is Elon Musk: Today's "fuck around and find out" is the FluTruxKlan:

Friday, October 14, 2022

Today's News: "I'm going to punch him out"

I don't have a lot of stuff to talk about tonight, but I did see some good tweets about the two hearings today - including Nancy Pelosi's "punch him out" line.

Jan 6 Committee hearing: 
Trump knew he lost but he didn't want to admit it.

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Christ, what an asshole!


Back in 2006, blogger Charles Lavoie did a post to assert that all New Yorker cartoons would still be just as funny with the caption "Christ, what an asshole" and everyone was surprised about how well that works. It works with most cartoons and it became a meme. 
So I was reminded of this again today when I saw these posts on Twitter -- they could all just be summed up with the phrase "Christ, what an asshole!" 

 First up -- Putin, of course! Alberta premier Danielle Smith: And Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe: The Saudis: Elon Musk: I know which one my money is on! 

Nova Scotia RCMP are in the news again: This guy thought he could just run a bank out of his house -- what could go wrong? And Toast the Cat:

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Five questions for the Public Order Emergency Commission

Over the past several months, I have been collecting comments and tweets related to the FluTruxKlan, anticipating the upcoming Emergencies Act inquiry and the likely shit-show we will be seeing in the media .
I expect we will see a lot of hysterical tut-tutting about how the Emergencies Act was all just SUCH an OVER-REACTION by the Trudeau Liberals because all our provincial governments - Conservative (Ford, Kenny, Stephanson) and NDP (Horgan) - were doing lots of great stuff pretty soon right away so everything would have been JUST FINE because any day now they would have got a grip and the Convoy would have faded away and ...blah, blah, blah. 
The Commission into the use of the Emergencies Act to end the protests is supposed to start this week and continue through November. (It had been scheduled for September but was delayed for Commissioner Paul Rouleau's surgery).   
The inquiry witness list was dropped this morning.
The Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) website is here and they are looking for comments:
As the months have gone by, we have found out more about what was happening in Canada last January and February, in Ottawa and across the country: When I review the tweets I flagged over the last few months, I have five questions that I hope the Public Commission will answer: 
1. Whose side were the police really on?
2. Whose side are the media really on?
3. Whose side is the public really on?
4. Conservatives, WTF?
5. Are the hearings going to be a clown show?

Today's News: Congratulations to Brandi Morin!

Congratulations to Brandi Morin, in New York City tonight to receive her Edward R. Murrow Award for her article: A "lingering evil": From residential schools to murdered women. In the United States, today used to be known as Columbus Day but is now becoming known as Indigenous People's Day:

Sunday, October 09, 2022

More Great Stuff

Remember Friendly, Jerome and Rusty?
   
Here is an hilarious thread:
Here are some other memories of an earlier time: Hey, Happy Thanksgiving this weekend, everyone:

Friday, October 07, 2022

Today's News: Starting the nuclear conversation

Back in the spring when there was a bunch of chatter about how the US and NATO should save Ukraine by declaring a no-fly zone, Biden categorically refused to consider it, saying that Americans had not elected him to start a nuclear war.
But now that Ukraine is winning the war, I think Putin is going crazy and trying to take everyone else with him. He's been talking about using nuclear weapons to win, which means the world is facing a nuclear war anyway, regardless of what the US or NATO does.
So Biden now must prepare Americans for this possibility -- tonight, he started his conversation with the US public:
Biden's words have been reported around the world -- except for his comment about how much damage Trump did to American foreign policy. But we already knew that, didn't we.
Anyway, here is analysis tonight from  CNN White House reporter Stephen Collinson:
...Biden appeared to be making an argument, which Putin will now be sure to hear about, that the idea that the use of a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine could be contained and not lead to a wider conflagration is wrong.
The entire strategic logic between maintaining nuclear weapons for self-defense is that they are too terrible to be used, and any nation that did would be writing their own death warrant.
The President has now sent a clear signal to the Russian leader that crossing the nuclear threshold in any way could cause an escalation that would lead to a disastrous full-on nuclear war.
“I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” Biden said at the fundraiser.
His comments underscore the most important mission of his presidency – shepherding the world through the most dangerous nuclear brinkmanship in 60 years.
People are also figuring out what might happen if nukes were used in Ukraine: And this is a brutal truth, isn't it:

Wednesday, October 05, 2022

From the Bookmarks

Just a random selection of stuff tonight.
First, I just cannot understand why anyone in Florida would still vote Republican. 
Here is what the Hurricane Ian storm surge looked like, and the governor and country officials didn't tell people to evacuate until it was way way too late. 
It was impossible to survive something like this: I appreciate what James Carville is saying here. Florida needs to rebuild and DeSantis just isn't capable of leading such an effort:

Tuesday, October 04, 2022

Today's News: Playing nuclear chicken?

Well, this is terrifying, isn't it? It sounds like Russia is getting set to try to play a game of Nuclear Chicken with Ukraine and the west: Oh, I really hope the Telegraph is wrong and these guys are right: Given how poorly they have done everything else in this war, if Russia does try to play nuclear chicken with the West then it likely won't work out very well for Russia. But as Ukraine wins back more and more of its territory, Putin will be increasingly desperate: Canada's decision to support NATO membership for Ukraine surprised me, because in the past it seemed that NATO had always backed away from provoking Putin too much. 
But maybe now the West is realizing that mollifying Putin is no longer an option so so we might as well take it to him: Fukuyama is making a prediction: This was true yesterday, but may no longer be true now: