His name is Sadiq Khan, he's just made history, and struck a big blow for decency over bigotry.
By being elected as the first Muslim mayor of London.
Sadiq Khan has been elected mayor of London, reclaiming the post for Labour after eight years of Conservative rule and becoming the first Muslim mayor of a major western capital.
Khan took 1,310,143 votes (57%) after second preferences were taken into account, beating Conservative Zac Goldsmith into second place on 994,614 (43%). His tally gave him the largest personal mandate of any politician in UK history.
Even though his opponent, the loathsome Con Zac Goldsmith, used every dirty trick in the book against him.
I'm sure it was the last thing Stephen Harper needed to know, in his present mental condition.
Know that Lynton Crosby, his Aussie political guru, who he had counted on to help him win the election, with his ugly politics of division...
Only to fail him so miserably, when Canadians blew his flying monkeys out of the sky.
Isn't lying there like Harper, licking his wounds like a loser.
He's getting knighted for his faithful service to David Cameron.
I was going to write a post about young Canadians and the campaign to get them to vote. But like so many of them I was just too tired, after attacking the punching bag at the gym like I wanted to kill it.
I had to, I was that angry.
For this this was the day when the horror of this campaign finally sank in, and made me explode with rage. Rage at the bigotry of the Cons, or at other bloggers for seeming to surrender.
Because I just can't believe to what monstrous place Stephen Harper has taken us.
Stephen Harper and his Aussie attack monster Lynton Crosby must be delighted.
Not only do they now have the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal to wave around as a shiny bauble to try to distract voters.
The niqab issue is back in the spotlight.
The Federal Court of Appeal has denied the application for a stay of the Federal Court ruling in favour of Zunera Ishaq, clearing the way for her to wear a niqab during a citizenship ceremony.
So they can hope to keep riding it to victory.
It was weird out there last night. A massive modern art show was going on all over the city, from dusk to dawn.
And in my neighbourhood there were all kinds of strange and disturbing sights. Like people writhing on the sidewalk, or a hall full of 30,000 black paper moths, which when you were there seemed to close in on you in a threatening manner.
But it was the raven figure on the wall that I found most chilling. For it made me think of Stephen Harper lurking in the darkness trying to figure out how to increase the climate of fear.
And then I saw this story.
I must admit it is getting a bit grim out there. Fall has finally arrived, it's getting colder and darker, the skies over this ghastly Harperland are filled with flying monkeys.
Stephen Harper is a frenzy urging them on to destroy his enemies, with his poisonous wedge issues.
And of course this is a living nightmare.
Less than two months ago they were fitting him out for his political coffin, he was being battered by the Duffy scandal and growing less popular with every passing day.
Now he's back, and gunning for another majority.
I think it safe to say that with less than three weeks to go before the election, and Darth Harper and his Aussie alien Lynton Crosby preparing to use the foulest wedge issues to try to win another mandate.
As you can see by this latest tweet from Great Ugly Leader.
The last thing I probably needed to know was that the NDP and the Liberals are fighting each other. Again.
Or see the gratingly Con friendly Jen Gerson crow that the left is eating itself.
I thought it was the best debate so far, if only because at long last it was all about our precious and very threatened Canadian values.
And as predicted, as soon as Stephen Harper stopped groping the hands of his opponents, he set out to destroy them.
By reaching into Lynton Crosby's sweaty bag of dirty wedge issues, and challenging his opponents to criticize his decision to strip a convicted terrorist wannabe of his Canadian citizenship.
And since it is such an explosive wedge issue, I was glad to see the way Justin Trudeau rose to the challenge.
Well don't say I didn't warn you. In one of my last posts I wrote that Jason Kenney would go absolutely wild at the thought that Justin Trudeau was going after the so-called ethnic vote.
And yesterday that's exactly what he did,
In a grotesque three-act performance or freak show that began with him trying to smear Trudeau in a way that couldn't be more bizarre or obscene.
Well there was Stephen Harper in Quebec yesterday, locking a promise never to raise taxes into a giant safe.
Vowing to put a tax lock on our future.
Stephen Harper is making a promise to keep his promise.
A re-elected Conservative government would introduce so-called “tax lock” legislation that would prohibit increases to federal tax rates, Harper announced Friday.
The gesture is a symbolic one, enshrining in law what Harper has already repeatedly promised and allowing him to say other parties — should they form future governments — would have to break the law in order to raise taxes.
And while some wondered whether he got the idea from a Saturday Night Live skit.
If you missed last night's French-language debate you can relax because you didn't miss much.
The debate had its lively moments, but there were no knock out punches, and I very much doubt that it will move many votes in Quebec or in the rest of Canada.
Tom Mulcair survived the combined assault of his opponents, Justin Trudeau more than held his own, Elizabeth May did surprisingly well considering she doesn't speak French as well as the others. And Gilles Duceppe started strong and quickly faded.
But what the debate did show conclusively is that Stephen Harper is determined to use the niqab issue to try to win the election.
Well now we know for sure. Now there is no longer any doubt. Stephen Harper will use bigotry to try to win the next election.
He is that desperate, and that crazy.
He will not not call off his bloodthirsty hounds.
The Conservatives are seeking to throw up another roadblock to a Muslim woman's quest to be able to vote in October.
The government announced Friday it will seek a stay of a Federal Court of Appeal decision this week that would have allowed Zunera Ishaq to wear a niqab while swearing the oath of citizenship.
He will have his pound of flesh.
And now he's launched another bigot offensive to try to divide Canadians.
I was planning to stay away from writing about polls for a while because all of them suggest a three-way tie, and with the margin of error could mean anything.
But something about this latest Nanos poll bothers me.
Not because of the result, which with a margin of error of 2.8% could have any of the three parties in the lead.
But because of the tracking line...
Well there was Stephen Harper yesterday, trying to show he's really a nice guy, by releasing a lobster over the side of a fishing boat.
But of course for the real story of that photo-op, you'd have to read this account of that media nightmare.
To understand that in Harperland nothing is what it seems to be.
And that his phoney Mr Nice Guy act didn't last long either.
Because now he's back to peddling the politics of fear.
When the story broke that the Australian attack dingo Lynton Crosby was working for the Cons, I was struck by how angrily the political thugs in the PMO reacted.
The Con flak Kory Teneycke tried to play down the news, claiming first that Crosby was not here, and then that all he was doing was analyzing polls.
While other Cons muttered darkly about how some in their campaign were trying to "sabotage" the party.
And I assumed that was because of Crosby's unsavoury record, as a wedge artist, a racist, and a master of the dark arts.
But what if it was something else?
It couldn't be more desperate or more absurd or more obscene. And the timing couldn't be worse.
Just as Stephen Harper seems to be bowing to public pressure, and preparing to finally do something to help desperate Syrian refugees.
The Conservatives, after continued criticism they are not doing enough to address the Syrian refugee crisis, are expected to announce within days some new ways Canada could help.
After claiming for days that they were too dangerous to allow into Canada...
Garnotte/Le Devoir
We find out, a day after he bounced Jenni Byrne off the bus, that his campaign is being managed by the man known as the Wizard of Oz.
