I've been enjoying a brief blogging break; taking time off to give my injured right arm time to heal.
And in my free time doing nothing much more than waiting for Spring to arrive.
For it's still not here, it's still too cold, and it's going to snow tonight,
Which makes me wish I was in Scotland, where even in the moody highlands my family tells me, the crocuses are blooming.
And at nearby Brodie castle I'm sure the daffodils are too...
But sadly, here in Canada, the only thing growing is the fungus of the fake scandal.
Which just keeps oozing along, day after day, week after week, for eight weeks now.
With the latest episode featuring Jody Wilson-Raybould making another
Jody Wilson-Raybould threw another can of gas on the SNC-Lavalin fire — and prompted calls for her expulsion from the Liberal caucus — with the revelation Friday that she secretly recorded a phone call in which she claims her job as justice minister was threatened if she didn't intervene in the criminal prosecution of the Montreal engineering giant.
Which couldn't be more staged, more creepy, and of course, more unethical.
But while I can only hope that creepy behaviour will cause her halo to dim in the minds of at least some decent Canadians.
We already knew that she was a lousy Justice Minister, and that the fake scandal was all about her. But now that we know that she secretly taped her colleagues, dare we also hope that her fake halo will finally go out? https://t.co/scpsCuLzix #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/tDJ56tyvHI— ๐จ๐ฆ Simon ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ๐ (@montrealsimon) March 29, 2019
It didn't seem to bother our Con media one bit.
Because they are in yet another feeding frenzy.
And those who point that out like Frank Graves...
Get jumped on by Con gasbags like Andrew Coyne.
Who seems to have mislaid his moral compass, in his frenzy to get at Justin Trudeau.
As have so many of his brutish, biased colleagues, who have taken journalistic depravity to a new low in this country.
And what makes all of the above even more disgusting, or more cringingly embarrassing, is that it's such a small, shabby fake scandal.
Such a small little story compared for example to the Brexit horror story.
Where Theresa May is slowly eating her own government,
Damn ๐ฒ She got the whole thing ๐๐๐๐๐๐#Brexit #BrexitShambles pic.twitter.com/fFnUdDme4U— Hear Me Roar (@Stop_Trump20) March 29, 2019
And the Brexit hardliners are in the streets, calling those who want to stay in the E.U."traitors."
All of which has the distinguished former Globe editor Geoffrey Stevens calling our teeny weeny scandal a political farce.
Why should anyone who is not suffering from oxygen-depletion in the Ottawa bubble care how many angels can dance on the head of this pin?
It is the stuff of political farce, a crisis inspired by a news media that cannot, or does not choose to, distinguish between a political disagreement and a political scandal, and embraced by opposition politicians shopping for weapons to bring down the Liberals.
And although we have heard the same story repeated over and over again, Jane Philpott, the other half of this Connie conspiracy, still insists there is "much more" to be revealed.
I'm skeptical. I think the "scandal" is played out. It was a distraction not a historic event. There are many more important issues to be addressed and policies (both government and opposition varieties) to be weighed before the nation goes to the polls.
When in fact all that remains to be revealed is how Trudeau and his Liberals are going to deal with those two rogue MPs.
Geoffrey Stevens says he hopes Justin will take some guidance form his father.
His father, more ruthless than the son, would not have been so patient. He would have booted the arsonists before they burned their party to the ground.
But I don't know. It might only give the two Connies more publicity. And let's face it, this fake scandal is bigger than both of them
It never would have happened if our media wasn't so corrupt, and if in this big country there weren't so many little people.
And one thing is for sure. Jody Wilson-Raybould will never be able to pose as a saint again.
Her halo has fallen off....
Now she's just another Con clown.
And one way or the other her day will soon be over...
51 comments:
I haven't been able to listen to the tape. She knew the call was coming; did she prepare a script to put herself on a golden throne ? If it reads that way she is even more dishonest than I thought.
She supports a Charter beating judge, and then writes a skript and makes here own scripted reality show. She is a wingnut of the highest order, make her fly JT.
We will see soon enough whether the voting public agrees, Simon. There are two sides and each has its ardent supporters. There is a third, possibly larger group, that sees neither side with clean hands. With FPTP still in place, just a few percent is enough to make a huge difference. That's where the uncommitted vote becomes so critical. Harper won his majority with 39.62%. Trudeau won a significantly larger majority with 39.47%. Both men got slightly less than two out of five votes.
Curiously enough I just listened to a spirited discussion on LBC London about ridding the UK of FPTP in the wake of the Brexit fiasco. That would have ensured we would never be at risk of an Andrew Scheer government.
Not doing much more than waiting for spring to arrive. Simon, here on Vancouver Island, Nanaimo, we skipped spring and are into summer. Its lovely. All the bulbs are up, flowers blooming, yes, and the drought has started with no real rain for 3 weeks. Flooding else where in North America, but here I've had to water the plants already.
Simon, just letting you know I follow your Blog, and always count on your voice for our side, amidst the white noise of the opposition politicos of every stripe & the media-driven anti-Trudeau Sturm und Drang.
Get well! And God Bless.
Can we surmise that JWR is Fife's "source" and he was aware of the surreptitiously taped audio used to bolster her claims of "pressure"? JWR came off as if she was talking from a script and Fife and the G&M have hit a new low.
Jesus, I bet she kompromatted the whole cabinet. She must have Justin on tape talking about risotto recipes and pizza too. Brutus and Cassius will get theirs eventually, but whatever happens in October, I think (or hope at least) that time will heal these wounds and Justin will be able to publicly "rehabilitate" whether he stays involved with the stupidity of politics or not. George W. killed people, and now goes on TV talk shows showing off his dog paintings and handing candies to Michelle Obama. Bill Clinton was impeached by a partisan circus during a massive sex scandal and now he's a bestselling author. Mulroney got bribe money in envelopes; now he owns a weed company with John Boehner and gave a eulogy at Pappy Bush's funeral. No one cares anymore the finer nuances of the sponsorship scandal or the brawling between Chrรฉtien and Martin. Doug Ford was a dope fiend and his brother a crackhead, and yet there sits the cult of Ford Nation running a wrecking ball through Queen's Park. Only Harper is so reviled by everyone other than rabid Con partisans that he has lower approval numbers than cancer. You know what that means: "Andrew who?" Heck, even Trump is taking a victory lap NO COLLUSION NO COLLUSION. At this point he probably could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes.
What did Justin do? Did he pay off a porn star? Did he cheat on his wife with a live boy, a dead girl or a barnyard animal? "I did not have socks with that woman!" Did he put two wars on a credit card? Commit election fraud on behalf of Pierre Poutine? No. He disagreed with someone who couldn't handle disagreement, and is getting some really bad advice from a chaotic PMO that's apparently keeping him in the dark whether due to neglect, paranoia or one hand just not knowing what the other is doing. If he goes down, he might need to take a hiatus somewhere outside the country lest Weak Andy call an inquiry and send the Mounties after him LOCK HIM UP LOCK HIM UP style, but he's not a bad guy and nowhere near the ridiculous caricature he's portrayed as in the media. It's not Watergate North despite the eye-rolling "symbolism" of a "17-minute recording." It's a messy, ugly divorce that spilled out into the papers. He's not Brett Kavanaugh and she is by no means Christine Blasey-Ford. Eventually this will all be forgotten except in the annals of Wikipedia. He'll write a book, name and shame whoever needs to be named and shamed, and people will be like "Why did we not like that guy again? He's cute! Look at him cracking jokes with Stephen Colbert!" Canada may need to shit out its own Baby Trump for a short while as a result of this intestinal infection, but ultimately that too shall, well, "pass."
I don't care if Canadians don't like him or think he's "Crooked Hillary." I'd still have a beer with him (or a Canada Dry as I don't drink) and just want to see him clear his name.
OMG, will this never end. Not the non scandal, but the writing about it. In my opinion, the only ones who benefit from all this "discussion/posting/commenting, etc." are the Conservatives, their supporters and MSM. The MSM will continue to carry on about this as long as progressive blogs such as this keep at it.
Here on Vancouver Island, the 'recording' news has already blown over. there may be those who think JWR ought to be tossed from caucus for recording, but lets get real. Who cares? Really who cares? In this world, where almost everything is recorded and put on Facebook, Twitter, instagram and whatever, this is nothing. It was one politician recording a bureaucrat while they were having a discussion about a sensitive topic and she wanted a record. So what. We've been doing this for as long as I can remember. You went into meetings and some one recorded the meeting in shorthand, then people started typing on their computers, then they started recording. No big deal. No one in B. C. is "tearing: their hair out about this. In B.C. we're more concerned about the billions being laundered via casinos and real estate and the high cost of housing, oh and death by fent.
Having a look at Ontario you'd think people there might have some other things to get themselves worked up about, you know autistic kids, lack of social workers for kids in foster care, budget cuts, lack of appropriate care for seniors, the list goes on.
As long as all of you keep slamming JWR the media is going to keep at it, somewhere because it is a lovely divisive thing. Trudeau hasn't bounced JWR from caucus because he knows out in B.C. it won't play well. If the Liberals replace JWR they may loose the riding.
Trudeau is not his father, Trudeau, Sr. and times have changed. An autocratic style worked back then. Today, not so much. JWR's riding is quite interesting. It encompasses some of the most expensive real estate in the City of Vancouver, and thus the country. It then goes into economically deprived areas, where you only have to pay a million or so for a home. However, renters are just hanging on, because it has been an area which lower family incomes. To hang onto this riding, Trudeau would be wise to keep her or the Liberals may loose the seat. Ever lost federal Liberal seat will be a gain for some other party. It might not go NDP because of the high income areas the riding covers. It could well go Conservative. If that's what you'd like keep at it. You're really helping that along.
Faced with troublesome unethical behavior bordering on the criminal an experienced lawyer with training as a crown prosecutor would have made her views known in no uncertain terms with a cease and desist letter if all forms of more tactful resistance failed. She chose the "golly gee I did my best in the face of insurmountable pressure" and by the way here is a secret tape with my scripted resistance to prove it. If it is as she claims she is either totally incompetent for not pushing back hard enough,had another agenda or a combination of the two. She obviously knew a showdown was coming but figured veiled threats would delay it at least until after the next election which would have suited everyone as the SNC trial is moving at a snails pace and nothing will likely change on that file until after the election. Then the "big scandal" would have surfaced with 4 years of power struggle against a background of naturally declining party popularity that might have encouraged a mutiny. All that changed when the time frame was moved up. Was the timing another form of just bumbling along or deliberate? Hopefully the Liberal team will get a whole lot sharper when they move into election mode.
RT
Hi Simon - wanted too to let you know I follow your Blog, and as a "fourth generation Canadian" (I am of Scottish descent but who cares, we're all Canadian!) although we here in the BC Okanagan are not quite in blooming bulbs spring, at least the snow is gone. I am kind of gobsmacked where the political conversation has gone in the last eight weeks in the media, especially driven by some/most awful so called journalists. Although I do wish our Prime Minister had stood up earlier this year and said, look, I'm sorry I appointed an AG who was so inexperienced and unqualified in every way for the job, and in the future I will endeavour to appoint cabinet ministers on merit. And I'm saying that as a middle-aged woman who firmly believes in gender equality ... just not "because it's 2015".
"The MSM will continue to carry on about this as long as progressive blogs such as this keep at it."
And here I thought the MSM regurgitated feeding frenzy was due to JWR's or JP's weekly bomb drop on their own Liberal party. Silly me.
JD
Enough is enough. If JT has a game plan by keeping JWR and JP in the Liberal caucus while they continue to stab him in the back I fail to see it. It only adds fuel to the fire and the appearance that he's afraid of what they may say or do whether true or false. Well, I'm not sure what more they can say to further damage the party because as JWR said, no laws were broken other than maybe her staged, secret recording.
We've now seen the devious, treacherous methods JWR and JP are capable of and the lengths she has gone to in her vendetta against JT and how it's tearing the Liberals apart. It's time to give these two the boot and hopefully JWR will be disbarred for her gross, amateurish violation of ethics with her little poison pill recording which amounts to nothing more than a big fat nothing-burger. It's interesting to note how Wernick's repeated questions as to why she didn't seek a DPA went unanswered. Why? I'm guessing it would have interfered with her payback scheme over the Joyal situation.
It's easy to now see how an innocent man had to spend an extra 18 months in jail while the file that exonerated him, sat on JWR's desk, gathering dust, while she plotted and schemed her way right out the door. It was all about Jody, all the time, 24/7. That is the real scandal in this entirely sordid, pathetic mess.
JD
Simon I can't stop shaking and crying. This fake scandal has the Cons leading the polls and Jody is on a mission to destroy Trudeau's good name. Then there was that gaffe with the native protesters at the 1500 a head fundraiser... I havn't slept in two days and I'm afraid of what's to come.
The way it sounds is even more revealing than the way it reads, istm. I hear Wernick sounding like the voice of reason, trying to reason with her to keep an open mind; explore all options; practically pleading. Making sound arguments all the while. I know a threatening tone, too, when I hear one--if someone argued with me in that manner, I'd consider it pretty darn decent, compared to some of the approaches I've witnessed.
I am disgusted with the political opportunism that's unfolding before our eyes.
Canada's top lawyer engaging in entrapment and disclosing 'evidence' obtained without a warrant.
Judas.
Firing JWR and Jean Philpott and other opportunists would be a political disaster.
They're all burning their own bridges and will never have a job again.
They are shameless.
A lot of people say Justin is not like his father. However, the comment he made at the fundraiser that had the talking heads so upset was exactly the kind of thing Pierre would have said. And, he would not have apologized. Times have changed. Justin should be the person for our times. His problem is that he is too nice and too trusting. He is trying to do things differently. Unfortunately, he has ended up with some in Cabinet that were not up to the challenge.
UU
I am also literally shaking at the prospect of a Conservative government! Women dying in back alley abortions, the army in the streets!
The ethical questions around taping conversations are many, especially with someone like the good JWR who should know better. The whole mess is really an inflated internal squabble which JT should have nipped in the bud without the "cabinet shuffle" approach which gave her an excuse to take this thing public. Although election losses are always the fault of many, I will place the blame at her feet for getting this going and a Scheer gov't we can always thank Ms Raybould for stoking the flames. JT needs to fire both she and Phillpot like yesterday, and move on.
Read Sunita's thread posted here from the other day. Makes you wonder whose payroll she's on.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1106335674066558976.html
The NDP are bankrupt and the Greens are irrelevant. The LPC is the only thing standing in the way of Canada becoming a de facto one-party state with its own Politburo in Ottawa. (Let me tell you, as an American I'm not particularly fond of having the IDU living upstairs from me either.) I have no idea if Jody is directly connected to Harper or not. What is obvious is that the Cons benefit from her being a "my way or the highway" type who will stop at nothing to get what she wants (like he is), and if you get in "her way" then be prepared to end up roadkill on the highway. The press is a propaganda arm of the Cons and they sure love them some dead unicorn meat. Witness how they've shrugged off the countless assassination threats against PMJT practically since he started his political career.
I still think SNC was a red herring, one of many files that she botched -- Huawei, aid-in-dying, even the marijuana legislation which was supposed to be his signature accomplishment -- and Trudeau got tired of cleaning up the fallout from. This is about getting rid of Trudeau, pushing the radical reconciliation platform by any means necessary and ripping up the Charter, which Joyal is obviously no fan of either. Whose crowning achievement was the Charter? Pierre of course. To gut the Trudeau legacy by way of wrecking his son's reputation and career is a gateway to gutting Canada itself. And who better to do that than daddy's little girl who "always wanted to be prime minister."
Following the links in this thread, the AFN platform actually plays well into the hands of Koch-style and Koch-adjacent groups looking to sell the country to the highest bidder using FN land interests as a shield. It would seem then that far from being a "truth teller" and St. Jody of Arc, she may very well be a grifter who'd sell out the "big house" to the prospectors as long as she gets her cut. There's (black) gold in them thar hills, and I'm sure she'd love to be the queen of it all. Either that or she's a useful stooge who'll get packed off on a Trail of Tears with the rest of her people, once she'd served her purposes and let the snakes come marching (or slithering) in. One way or another and whether she's aware of it or not, she's betraying a lot more than Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party. She's destroying the country itself.
If Canada had actual investigative journalists, they'd be looking into this and blaring the horns. The problem is that because of the emotionally-charged climate of race and gender issues and "intersectionality," it's a third rail that you're not allowed to speak of unless you check all the right boxes on the census form. All I know is, the party hates her, and for good reason. Trudeau is keeping mum for the most part right now but I sincerely doubt her colleagues will once the dust settles. As for what Trudeau's "game plan" is, well, maybe he is afraid, afraid that she's blackmailed all of them to play her sick little LARP as Deep Throat. Scheer has his Ceausescu fantasies and she has her Nixon ones. Yuck.
For all anyone knows, maybe she was a Con mole all along who's recorded everything since 2015 and has kompromat on the entire cabinet. Families even. What was it Trump's favorite paper used to call this? A "kill file"? I don't doubt for a minute that recording Wernick is part of a pattern of similar behavior. The only reason she gets away with it is because the Con media really is in a feeding frenzy and, like the US M$M with Hillary Clinton, rabidly hates Trudeau.
His Tru story once the dust settles on all this will be a must-read.
JWR's latest blurt made me wonder. She gives the impression that she is not only opposed to a DPA agreement in this case but in all cases. The problem is she has known about DPA's for years and that this is a typical case for its use ( a non violent accounting transgression with wide social and economic implications.
She was an MP who voted for the law. She was a member of the Liberal caucus and supported the DPA act. She was a member of the cabinet and supported the decision to go ahead. She was the boss at the ministry that wrote the law.
To come forward now, after years of agreement seems a little phony.
I haven't slept well either and have found myself shaking and crying over this too. My advice is to try and find a distraction or some constructive activity to get involved in. I actually went and did some "retail therapy" and splurged on some Trudeau-related items recently. Especially now that the weather is getting warmer there'll be more things you can do outside. As Fred Rogers said, look for the helpers -- or become one yourself. Volunteer, get involved with a charity or an animal shelter or, heck, go door-to-door canvassing. It helps to feel like you have skin in the game, and aren't a passive observer watching a slow-motion train wreck in the making. Recharge as necessary. Maybe go watch Star Wars and keep in mind that eventually, the empire does strike out.
One thing I did was I actually wrote Trudeau a letter of support, which you can read here. I sent it via snail mail because I put a lot of emotion into it and had a lot I wanted to say. Mostly about bullying, which is clearly what's taking place here. You can either send one old-fashioned style at the post office, or use the contact form on the LPC website or his email:
pm @ gc.ca or justin.trudeau @ parl.gc.ca
https://openparliament.ca/politicians/justin-trudeau/contact/
You can do that and/or contact some of the Liberal MPs who are engaged in this fight, whether one is yours or not. I'm outside Canada so I don't have an "MP" in the States, but I found that to be at least somewhat helpful. Perhaps if he, and they, see that there are still people supporting them, the truth will out, reputations won't get burned so badly and it will bolster the good fight against the traitors. You can also write a letter to the Toronto Star, which other than the French-language press out in Quรฉbec seems to be the only outlet publishing anything of relative sanity amid all of this. Encourage everyone you know to boycott the rest of the Con media. Don't watch CTV, CBC or Global and cancel any subscriptions to Postmedia rags, G&M and/or MacLean's. The representative will ask you for a reason you're cancelling. Tell them it's because of their one-sided coverage of the fake scandal that reeks of a coordinated hit job against the Liberals and Trudeau.
A word of advice from south of the border, "because it's 2016." Hillary Clinton is reviled as "crooked" by a good half of the US for no good reason whatsoever, and the M$M played one of the biggest roles in making it that way. But it hasn't stopped her from fighting Trump. She got to work right away on her What Happened, and he no doubt will too. Justin will never give up on Canada and Canadians either, and he certainly won't let them use their spite against him to wreck his father's legacy. He's also got the Liberal caucus united behind him and livid beyond belief at the two mean girls. This won't be over for a long time yet, so take care of yourself and gear up for the long haul.
The word we use down here is "resist." So do just that. I frankly don't see the country that gave the world hockey giving up without a fight. Or giving up at all. Was it over when the Germans bombed Alderaan? <3
Further thoughts; questions.
The Michael Wernick we heard on tape was consistent with his testimony, and despite not knowing he was being recorded, he never rose to her bait.
Makes me think, had he known, it wouldn't have stopped him cold from having to say what he had to say. And, when I wonder if he'd have said it all differently, I have my doubts--except, perhaps, the last bit about one way or another. But maybe not--even it? Since, effectively, her repeat response to his every effort to communicate with her, was her doing the threatening.
I am interested in more perspectives on this...
Also, now that we know about the tape, Wernick's comment, about not wearing a wire, which engendered much tut-tutting at the time, during his testimony, takes on a whole new salience. I wonder if he then suspected, and when he knew.
Hi rumleyfips....I was struck by two things when I listened to the tape. (1) she was clearly working from a script designed to bait the decent Michael Wernick into getting exasperated and providing her with what she needed to make her sound like a victim instead of the victimizer. (2) She doesn't sound like somebody who could be bullied. On the contrary she sounds like a bully herself. No wonder she worked through four Chiefs-of staff in just three years...
Hi brawnfire....I agree with you, Wernick sounded like the mild mannered and very Canadian voice of reason, while JWR sounded as aggressive as a female wrestler. To think that she hounded a decent public servant like Wernick out of a job should haunt her forever...
Hi Steve...As other lawyers who have worked with her have said, her approach to the law is very conservative, and quite frankly reminds me of Stephen Harper's approach. She's a Connie if ever there was one...
Hi Mound....I don't want to get into a discussion on electoral reform, since at this point it can't happen before the election. But most polls show that despite a one-sided offensive by the Cons and their bought media, Scheer has only a two point lead over Trudeau and the Liberals, that could evaporate overnight. Scheer has yet to present his platform, he is extremely vulnerable on climate change, and don't forget that Maxime Bernier is still out there ready to siphon off as many votes as he can. So while it might be closer than last time, I'm still betting on a Trudeau victory...
Hi e.a.f...I know some smarty pants from BC. would be along to brag about their perfect weather. But that's OK I'll just have to perform my reverse rain dance, so you end up looking like a charred version of the Sahara desert...๐
Hi anon...thanks a lot, I could do with that kind of encouragement.,for not only did I injure my arm, I also threw out my back, so just turning over in bed can be really painful. I think the Cons must be sending some old Harper curse my way. But it doesn't matter, I should be fine by the middle of the week, but now I'm really angry, and just as we trashed Harper, we're going to do the same to Scheer and his ugly gang...๐
Hi anon...I have always suspected that JWR or somebody very close to her was Fife's source. And after hearing her trying to bait the decent Wernick I have no doubt that she is capable of anything to make Trudeau pay for daring to shuffle her out of her dream job...
Word of the day, another one to add to the 2019 Canadian "Trughazi" / Julius Caesar Superstar election tragedy, along with schadenfreude, Sturm und Drang and other things that sounded better in the original German:
Swiftboating.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiftboating
As I've often said, the CPC are an outsource of the GOP that is Canadian in name only. The term originates with the nasty, relentless smear campaign against John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election that they later put on steroids to use against Hillary Clinton.
To make it sound more "Canadian," I suppose you could say that Justin Trudeau got swift-canoed. The fact that it was an attack from within is arguably even worse than what's come to be expected from the rotten opposition. But then Judas Jody is a Con artist and so is her accomplice Calamity Jane, just like the ratfucker Kinsellas.
Karl Rove would be proud of all of them.
I don't know why there are some people who are so surprised by the notion that JWR could be a Con in Liberal clothing simply because she's a woman of minority ethnic identification. Remember Patrick Brazeau? He's still a Con. Never underestimate the penchant for the party of Nazi sympathizers to court tokens who are just as selfish and willing to screw over their own people (and anyone else for that matter) because they're only looking out for themselves. Minorities aren't a monolith any more than whites/men; assholes come in all shapes, colors, and stripes and check off any number of boxes on paper. Clarence Thomas, Susan Collins, and Bibi Netanyahu are just a few of these that come to mind. Kapo -- another word that sounds better in the original German.
His problem is that he is too nice and too trusting. He is trying to do things differently.
A yearbook snippet from when he was teaching in B.C. was making the rounds online a couple years back when, I guess, the world was still in love with him. The blurb talks about his fondness for Star Wars, Leonard Cohen and Cyrano de Bergerac, but one line stands out in particular:
His worst fear is betrayal of trust.
https://imgur.com/a/LR3Kjjc
Cohen was among the famous pallbearers at Pierre's funeral. Alongside him were, well, Fidel Castro and... Jimmy Carter. Only Carter is still alive, another fundamentally decent human being who got run out of office after one term by the seemingly intrinsically nasty and rabid nature of political animals. (That nastiest of primates being none other than Bonzo Reagan. But there was also a "Dems in disarray" problem on our end from cynical opportunists who either failed or refused to unite behind Carter.)
My hope is that Trudeau will flourish outside of this wretched hive of scum and villainy just like he did. "People-kindness" is at the core of his being. He is by no means the grotesque caricature of the Con media, which either through blatant statements or innuendo has likened him to everyone from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump to even Ted Bundy, Charles Manson and the guy who was running that bizarre cult that the Superman actress and the airheaded Bronfman sisters got involved with (and lunatic-fringe, QAnon/Pizzagate Twitter insists Justin is part of too). But rather than look to him as an example of how to be, I guess it makes the business-as-usual ratfuckers and media hacks feel inadequate and bad... that he genuinely tries to be good.
When the dust settles, I hope he goes and builds Habitat for Hockey homes all over the country. The backstabbers and ratfuckers can all go stuff it where the sunny ways don't shine. Hillary is hated too, by both fascists and tankies alike, but she is still in the fight helping us all to resist. Justin is the person for our times. What he isn't is a ruthless, self-serving autocrat and dirty trickster. So what if he was a "drama teacher." Better that than to be like Jody, the drama queen... who tied him to a kitchen chair, broke his throne and cut his hair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttEMYvpoR-k
Hi Jackie...Did Justin Trudeau really say “I did not have socks with that woman?” For that really would be The End.�� But seriously, you sum up the situation brilliantly. This fake scandal is our shabby media’s attempt to find a big league scandal they can run with, and it couldn’t be more pathetic. It’s consuming our country and for what? The only good news is that the polls suggest that the Con media’s eight-week onslaught has had very little effect. Scheer is now marginally ahead, but it’s nothing that can’t be reversed well before summer arrives...
Hi e.a.f...I think you have things backward. It’s JWR and her friends in the Con media who are keeping the fake scandal going. And as long as they do I’ll keep writing about it, because that is the real scandal...
Hi RT...What is clear to me is that JWR never should have got the job in the first place. She doesn’t believe in DPAs even though they are the law of the land, and seems to think that her moralistic approach is the best one. But you’re right, let’s just hope that the Liberals can get a lot sharper as the election approaches...
Hi anon...Yes, we are all Canadian, although with the weather we’re having and the fake scandal going on and on, Scotland is looking better and better to me. But yes you’re right. I think Trudeau’s mistake was focusing too much on who JWR is, and not enough on whether she was the best person for the job. Although I should add that gender equality is so important making a mistake doesn’t negate the larger good...
Hi anon@6:56 PM...Relax, don’t worry, it’s all going to work out well. The fake scandal is just hot air, and those “native protesters” weren’t from Grassy Narrows, or even native. So trust me, Trudeau is going to win the next election...
Hi UU....yes, I think you summed up the situation well. The two loudmouths who disrupted his speech were’t from Grassy Narrows, and weren’t even native so Trudeau’s “gaffe” easn’t As bad as his many enemies tried to make it appear. And yes, Justin probably is too nice for the ugly times we live in, and I’m sure most Canadians woukdn’t mind if he put on the gloves and let his enemies have it every now and then...
Hi JD...Maybe you’re right, and I’m getting too soft. The Liberal caucus will be meeting on Wednesday with Justin Trudeau out of town, so that might be a good opportunity to give The two Connie’s the boot. My preference was to let them wither away on the back benches, and fire them after the Liberals are re-elected, but since they are clearly so dangerous and so unscrupulous, maybe the sooner they go the better...
Hi bcwaterboy...I agree with you that this case should be used as an example of how not to manage a crisis. But Trudeau and the PMO did have a lot on their plate at the time, and who could have guessed that JWR could be so incompetent and so vindictive. She seems not to care a bit about whether her antics could help elect a fascist Scheer government, it’s only ever been about her. So for that reason alone maybe she should get the boot. For who knows what she might do to help elect Scheer, and make her revenge. We are living in dangerous times and we can’t afford any traitors in our own ranks..l
Hi rumleyfips....excellent point, and one that I didn’t quite grasp until I heard the tape. The arrogant and very Harper-like JWR seems opposed to the use of DPAs under any circumstances, even though it is part of our legal system, and she supported their creation all the way. It’s just one more reason that makes me believe that she is out of control, and is only interested in making Trudeau pay for the “crime” of shuffling her out of her dream job...
Hi Simon, I wouldn't say you're getting too soft, I would be happy to see them just wither away as well but their choreographed "bombshells" that keeps feeding this ridiculous nothing-burger to the Con media is what's keeping it alive. I was concerned as Anon 9:28AM was that firing them would be a political disaster but after weighing both scenarios, leaving them in the caucus is already proving to be a political disaster(thanks to the Con media). There would be fallout but at least the traitors from within will be gone and a more united Liberal party will emerge from the ashes.
It will be interesting to see what Mr. Butts has or will be giving the commitee in response to JWR's staged recording. I'm guessing JWR will once again be exposed for the treacherous opportunist that she is.
JD
Looking at the Big Picture, the Opposition CRAP started back in October 2015!
this is one of those occasions where we will have to disagree. I don't see JWR as having "friends" in the Cons media. The Cons media smell blood in the water and are on a feeding frenzie. The Liberals could have stopped this and haven't. There are some in the Liberal Party who aren't happy JWR because she wasn't going to go along with the matter regarding SNC. Now SNC is in my opinion a corrupt corporation and out here in BC. there are more than a few of us who don't trust them. we believe JWR did the right thing.
In my opinion, the progressives are spending way to much time attacking JWR. Its divisive. we can speculate who leaked what, but we have no proof. as to the recording of the phone conversation, its not unethical. its business. people need to move on before they tear the Liberal party apart.
perhaps those in the east thought SNC should get a pass with DAP, but there are those in B.C. who don't. They are considered by some not such a great company and other bloggers have written about them for years regarding work they did in B.C.
omg you need to study some law and get over being a drama queen/king. it wasn't entrapment and it isn't evidence obtained without a warrant. its perfectly legal to record a conversation as long as one person is agreeable to it and JWR was. there is no legal requirement to notify the other party they are being taped. about all the law permits is for an argument where the tape can be used. usually that isn't in a criminal court. in this case what JWR did is perfectly legal. JWR isn't a Judas. she made a smart move. some of us learn early on, its not good to trust everyone, even those within your own family, company, political party.
"The problem is that because of the emotionally-charged climate of race and gender issues and "intersectionality," it's a third rail that you're not allowed to speak of unless you check all the right boxes on the census form."
Lol! And who's to blame for that? The left pushed political correctness so hard it's backfired. Just like appointing a gender equal cabinet has come back to haunt Trudeau.
Thanks Jackie and Simon. I'm going to try and get out more. All this stress isn't good for my blood pressure.
@Anon 7:54 or is it Jordan Peterson in disguise? I didn't say this was Trudeau's fault or that he deserves this. You sound like a sadistic Con who's enjoying him being "haunted," as a gotcha weapon to discredit the cause of gender equality altogether. I feel genuine heartache for him, as I pointed out with that sad and prophetic yearbook snippet about broken trust. The "scandal" is, as I said elsewhere here, the equivalent of a messy divorce that spilled into the papers; it's almost like being cheated on, so why sympathize with the cheater who went public with the sordid details of their prenup, rather than the one who had his heart broken? This has gone from "Even Stupider Not Watergate" to a Canadian version of a John Cusack movie.
I have said on a number of occasions that Justin is getting bad advice, and another commenter said that he is too nice and trusting. He gave Jody and Jane a chance and they spat in his face. The fault is not with the cause of genuine equality or those who believe in it. In fact, a belief in genuine equality would hold that women and minorities can have the same human flaws and personality problems as someone from the dominant group, and thus can be and are as ruthless and conniving as any white guy. Trudeau misinterpreted (perhaps due to a bit of social ineptitude?) but I don't see why he should suffer for a truly honest mistake. The fault here lies, and I do mean LIES with cynical and self-serving people who EXPLOIT those issues and those causes for their own gains instead of acting on behalf of the greater good.
Justin Trudeau earnestly and sincerely wants to advance the status of marginalized people. He is the only one with integrity here and he is being unfairly punished for it. That he perhaps naively trusted and believed in JWR and JP only to have them stab him in the back and abuse their identity as a shield is not his fault but theirs. The Cons and their media apparatus don't believe in that cause at all and are only interested in using his beliefs as a cudgel to hit him with, thus using their own craven spin on the "Trudeau doctrine" as a "teaching tool" for why women and minorities shouldn't be promoted at all.
Jane and Jody's callous opportunism is no reason to throw everything out with the bathwater and return to the 1950s. As a matter of fact, that's what they're doing: selling out other people who check all the same boxes because they only care about themselves.
Now go finish your lobster rolls and clean your room.
FYI, Simon
Further to: I wonder if he then suspected... and wondering if I'm alone in that
Voila. Martyn Brown, too:
"Perhaps now we all know what Michael Wernick may have suspected in his infamous comment to the Commons justice committee that he didn’t record his conversation and that he “wasn’t wearing a wire”."
This quote comes from an aptly-named article: Holy Crap Canada... published at 8:56 am on March 29th, the day the tape came out but prior to its release.
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