As always, always, always, J & M - no, make that G & G that way I don't have to worry about which of you to put first or second - a sterling dispatch.
However, however, and this is - perhaps - on Matt, the "military" one of you. You didn't even mention the Russian nukes. It is my recollection that the Russian "collection" of nukes has been described as the largest in the world. Whether that description is or is not accurate is moot simply because Russia has lots and lots of nukes. And leaky nuclear power plants, etc. All in all, this is a further recipe for sleepless nights.
As for JT and his Sunny Ways crew, you are correct that Mendocino must go and, yes, Lametti also.
You correctly note that Terry Glavin has done stellar work on the residential schools issue, including on the unmarked graves story. The fact that he has been vilified for that work simply means that those who have so stupidly criticized him just haven't read his work which is careful and respectful of native leaders and communities. It is simply a fact that again we have this, what is the word? woke? Well, it will have to do; we have this "woke" attitude that says that anything that looks to being careful, respectful and accurate in the reporting of the whole residential school issue is unacceptable and must be destroyed in the name of - what? What exactly? There is certainly not any interest in truth by these people.
So, now we come back to Lametti. Yes, he should go. And Mendocino. And Hussan. And, and, and, and.....
And, now for Bell... Yes, please do release them from their requirement to broadcast local news. More specifically, release them from their broadcasting licences and that will allow them what they seek: no more requirement to broadcast local news, simply because they will no longer be broadcasting. See? Simple.
Oh, and your "appeal," your "shameless" hucksterism that has led you to ask for bucks. Don't feel bad; it works for Ezra Levant. Not that I am comparing you to Ezra; not at all; but understand this: you do need to take advantage of this business model that uses the equivalent of "Go Fund Me pages." As for me, I will in a few moments send my pittance.
But don't be ashamed. Remember: Hucksterism works! Hucksterism works! But, you can refine it and make it more genteel; I have faith in you. But Just Do It! [apologies to Nike]
Honestly, the nukes are like 500 words I just didn't think the (already long) dispatch could afford. But it was definitely part of my thinking when I wrote about what Putin might feel pushed to do to show how strong and in control he is/remains.
At the risk of being accused of sucking up - guilty, of course - I can take more verbiage from G & G because I absolutely know that you don't abuse that process but add value with whatever words you offer to we, your readers. Like I say, guilty of sucking up. But then the truth is like that.
The major concern is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in occupied Ukraine. Reports in recent weeks have suggested that the Russians have started to prepare to cause a nuclear incident there, I assume with the intention (or for the purpose of threatening) to inflict scorched-earth retaliation if they're forced to retreat.
If you read the following please make a baksheesh to The Line. If you are affluent enough to also subscribe to the following then make ten times the monetary subscription to The Line.
I beg you to please read Mikhail Zygar via David Remnick: "Putin’s Weakness Unmasked - How Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion exposed the Russian President" By David Remnick - June 24, 2023 - The New Yorker.
Please use the search function on The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/ (Your first article is free.)
The attempt circumstances, and how far it got so quickly, smells like Prigozhin had enough of the faction pots onside to risk success. The very abrupt retreat smells like Putin informed Prigozhin that Wagner would be annihilated by certified Putin loyal tactical nuke teams at the unavoidable river crossing stages. Putin’s nuclear trump card squashed Prigozhin’s attempt to “out Putin” Putin. Reason prevailed for now.
My donation follows in thanks for your valuable work.
On David Lametti: Did you notice how SNC-Lavalin's problems simply vanished when he necame Justice Minister? A sweetheart deal, a slap on the wrist, and SNC-Lavalin is still in business, co-prime-contractor for Ottawa's LRT rapid transit line, and Montreal's REM that is years late and billions over budget, and Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown. What ever would we do without SNC-Lavalin? Thank you, Minister Lametti.
On BCE: Bell was a telecommunications company until 2001, strictly forbidden to have anything to do with content. The social contract was that Bell had to provide universal affordable service, even to the guy sitting on top of a 10,000 foot mountain or on an island in the middle of Lake Huron. The social contract had nothing to do with media -- that is a separate social contract, and a very byzantine one it is. This is not to let BCE off the hook. If they are making excessive profits, then telecommunications prices need to come down, not media subsidies to increase. As many have noted, in turn that requires more competition. Removing the barriers to large scale foreign entrants would be a nice start.
As to the future of local media: There very well might not be any. In the old days, people bought the local newspaper for sports, financial markets, and the classified. Very few were interested in the doings of city council or the school board -- and they still aren't. On the other hand, if an issue comes up that does require a response, social media are great at mobilizing neighborhoods. In my opinion, local democracy is much better served now.
On the future of new media, such as The Line: I think that it subscriber funding is the best way to go for any media that values its independence. The old advertising-based model impacted media independence, too much for my taste. We are well rid of it.
"Social contract" is an oxymoron. It allows companies like Bell and Air Canada to claim they deserve exceptional treatment because they serve some nebulous social purpose that is neither explicit nor measurable. Best to open telecom and commercial aviation to competition and cancel the "social contract".
I subscribe to The Line and The Real Story and gasp! MSM representative Calgary Herald (although the daily crossword and sudoku might be the main draw). In light of the announcement of the Postmedia and Nordstar proposed merger, I wonder how we will be able to just get some news without subscribing to various niche sources that may mean we’re not being as informed as we think, as we’re learning through a particular lens, and Yeah I get the argument that’s already happening. I agree bill C-18 is a concern. But then I’m a senior after all and I think shouldn’t have to work at just being informed and also how much do I need to pay to be informed? I don’t expect you can answer this just thought I’d add my thoughts, and yes I will make a donation.
Jan, honestly, it's a great question. Paul Wells was writing about this yesterday, echoing what we have long said. Advertising was (just to use a round number) about 90% of journalism's revenue. If you subscribed to a paper at home, you weren't paying for the journalism in that paper. The advertising did that. What you were paying for was the logistics of the delivery of that dead tree onto your lawn. Printing it off, bundling it up, trucking the big stacks to distribution points, and then the kid on the bike throwing it onto your lawn or porch. That's what your subscription paid for. The reporters and editors and photographers and columnists and all the myriad support staff — the marketing budgets of companies big and small paid for all that.
But not anymore. Papers (in my opinion) have been afraid to raise prices and be honest with the public about the how and why. So they've tried to cut costs down to where they felt they could raise subscription costs. It hasn't worked. And we're seeing what looks like the collapse unfolding in real time right now.
To your question of how much you'll have to spend to be reasonably well informed, gosh. All I can say is more. Ten times what a subscription would have been 30 years ago (adjusting for inflation, obviously)? Maybe 20 or 30 times? I don't know. But news is going to be a niche consumer product, or it'll probably die all together.
A typical hallmark of an authoritarian regime is to either ban something or make it mandatory. This government has done both liberally (pun intended). Vaccine policies, C-11 and C-18, grocery bags, and now the idea of banning dissent or any form of questioning against residential school graves - all seem right up their ally.
It is just a sad situation that the overall narrative spun is that the CPC is somehow the authoritarian party while the Liberal Party is the savior of democracy. I wonder when the narratives will change to reflect reality.
...I wonder when the narratives will change to reflect reality.
With all due respect, you will be wondering for a long time.
Our subservient media is so captured that it will never turn around to bite the hand that feeds it.
So relax, sit back and look forward to a tsunami of patented 'Junior waves goodbye to no one at the airport' photos coming your way for at least the next decade.
You should follow the Ezra Levant model and start angry petitions, to build lists, and start fundraising for lawsuits every month or so. Get people emotional, especially boomers, and they will open their wallets.
As an aside, what exactly has Bell done to deserve their cosseted position in Canadian life? Time to just cut bait and let Canada be a media free for all. Cut the legacy to zero, including the CBC. A vacuum will be formed and filled by the next generation of news outlets. After all, no one deserves to be protected from competition.
As polarizing as Ezra is, for all kinds of reasons, his model does seem to work and we certainly do do some things inspired by it. But not others! The honest question, and I think an unsettled one, is whether it's possible to build a similarly engaged readership by appealing to better emotions than fear and anger.
I don't know. I might even go as far as admitting I suspect not. But we're gonna try.
I do find Ezra funny in his own (very) odd way. I hasten to note that I am not a subscriber to Rabble News and I have not made a donation but it is, to me, a fascinating model.
I think that you are correct insofar as your thought that he has grown through emphasizing fear and anger, which are not emotions that I associate with G & G. I do associate with G & G very well deserved snark for some of our "worsers" [definitely not our betters] but said snark is, as noted, well deserved and it is terrifically well written. There, sucking up once again!
As for the Ezra model I think that you don't need fear and anger simply because you have reason and - oh, so important! - questions [you don't try to have answers for everything]. Nevertheless, I think that your donation appeal today should get you somewhere and I think that you need to keep it in your back pocket and bring it out on a regular basis. Carrying that idea forward, I think that you need to have a website (hello, Ezra) that discusses the principles upon which you operate and make clear that periodic appeals for purposes of raising funds will be part of the process.
If you look at Ezra now you definitely wouldn't describe him as quiet but one must always remember that the public persona isn't always the same as the private persona.
I think you mean Rebel not "rabble", that's a heckuva swing from right to left. I expect you're right, the public Ezra is a schtick, but to this moderate, a dangerous one. can you not be passionate about your position without being angry and agressive?
Kevin, my use of Rabble was quite deliberate; I do know that the official name is Rebel News but I chose to use the term Rabble News.
I do enjoy the caricatures that Rebel News presents and I sometimes think that they are right (no pun intended). Further, I think that they sometimes cover stories that the mainstream either missed or felt were "unworthy," whatever that might mean. Please note the use of the word "sometimes."
Now, having said that, I chose to use "Rabble" as their approach is - to me - very much oriented to stirring up shit and being themselves rabble rousers.
I agree that Ezra's persona is a schtick. Personally, I think that he does believe what he says but that doesn't mean that he is in his personal life that bombastic individual. Further, I don't see him as dangerous. Actually, I think that his model is useful and, perhaps, a reasonable counter balance to some of the leftist rabble rousers that we see - who I also see as being interesting purveyors of comment.
So, rabble rousers on the left, rabble rousers on the right and I think between both sides they provide a service in bringing attention to stories that are not covered or are inadequately covered and that our worsers would rather we don't know or know only what they deign to tell us.
Please, Please, Please take the high road. As a life long leftie who has moved closer to the centre as time goes on. I'm starved for right of centre sources that aren't The Rebel. I gladly pay my subscription (and I'll pony up a donation as well) to get that well thought out, intelligent content. The internet does not need another angry mob shaking their fists in the air.
Unlike fine wines which improve with age, each iteration of the Liberals gets worse.
And when Atlantic Canada and the 905 exchange dutifully vote in yet another Liberal government next time around we should expect legislation outlawing dissent on the Residential Schools file and, everyone's favorite, laws which to all intents and purposes are blasphemy laws andwhich will immunize from criticism the doctrines of Junior's favorite religion. Hint it is not Catholicism.
I don't think the 905 can be reasonably considered a LPC safe haven any longer. If PP can keep the "bozo eruptions" limited, I think the CPC wins the next election.
You wrote ... "attacking them on social media and going so far as to show up with shovels demanding to see the bodies. "
That word "shovels" triggered me. You neglected to mention that several authoritative sources almost-immediately "looked into" that allegation ... and it apparently never happened. No record of it whatsoever ...
But presumably that’s not to say somebody shouldn’t just show up with shovels and offer to help find the “truth”. Two years on and nothing done? I really am curious.
Jonathan Kay (yet another NP alumnus) on his Deeply Problematic SubStack has a great incisive take on the whole denialism schtick.
...except that he ghost wrote Justin Trudeau's book. I guess the ability to present Trudeau as insightful and genuine speaks to Kay's skill as a writer.
I don't begrudge anyone's pursuit of a livelihood...In the words of Krusty the Klown when questioned about licensing his brand to Kamp Krusty, "They drove a dump truck full of money up to my house, I’m not made of stone!"
I'm very impressed that you had the courage to admit that you have no idea why Prigozhin slammed on the brakes - when he was by all appearances about to cross the finish line in a race he bet his life on winning.
I've been following the Russo-Ukrainian War very closely since it started, I've been following all of the subject-matter experts on a daily basis, I am in one of the best possible unclassified positions to have heard a reasonable explanation for why Prigozhin called off the coup, and there's nothing. Every expert I follow has thrown up their hands.
It's hard to admit you have no idea why something is happening when you're professionally responsible for explaining why things are happening, but in this case - where the wise are baffled and only the fools are confidently holding forth - you've once again renewed my faith in The Line.
On Prigozhin's mutiny: Michael Kofman's take is that Prigozhin miscalculated. His intent was to use the mutiny as a form of hardline bargaining for limited objectives, to preserve Wagner. He wasn't prepared to go as far as seizing Moscow. So he ended up backing down. https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1672999622032195584
Power corrupts. I too have long been aware of everything that you noted in David Lametti's obviously impressive CV ... and have been flabbergasted by Buddy's actual performance as a lapdog Minister in Prime Minister Trudeau's cabinet.
It just does not compute. As most of us "political new junkies" already know, CognitiveDisonnance (sic) is more than a very productive and perpetually mischievous troll in certain Comment Sections over at the Mop and Pail.
On C-18: I always felt the logical solution was to tax all Canadian online advertising and pay that out to media outlets based on some auditable readership/viewership metric. That would follow what we did with recordable media -- there's a levy on tapes and CDs that's paid out to musicians and publishers via SOCAN. It would seem to be a imperfect but reasonably viable way to address the digital advertising challenge without picking winners and losers.
I'm not sure why that wasn't seriously looked at -- whether legacy media didn't want a methodology based on popularity as they felt they'd lose over time?
Agree the C-18 is terrible policy that's doomed to fail. So, what comes next?
Perhaps that is why The Toronto Star and the National Post don't send me income tax receipts, just the Globe. Why do they have this exalted tax-exempt-subscription status?
Good call on not calling the latest version of Russian roulette. Clearly the Don was no Rubicon... and Prigozhin is no Gaius Julius. Now he’s off to make mischief in Belarus. Good luck with that!
My monthly online subscription to The Globe and Mail counts as a tax write-off in support of Canada's media. Have you looked into gaining tax deductible status for The Line subscriptions?
I think (but admit I'm not certain) that you're referring to the Qualified Canadian Journalism Initiative. Or something like that. Alas, as The Line is owner-operated, we don't qualify for qualification as Qualified.
"Rumour has it" that the more photogenic Minister of Global Affairs is gonna soon be getting "kicked-up" to Finance ... and a corner office ... and maybe soon Deputy PM under Justin Trudeau ... and Chrystia Freeland may become the new Special Rapporteur from Ukraine reporting from Canada's "suspected" safe-house beneath Kiev.
As always, always, always, J & M - no, make that G & G that way I don't have to worry about which of you to put first or second - a sterling dispatch.
However, however, and this is - perhaps - on Matt, the "military" one of you. You didn't even mention the Russian nukes. It is my recollection that the Russian "collection" of nukes has been described as the largest in the world. Whether that description is or is not accurate is moot simply because Russia has lots and lots of nukes. And leaky nuclear power plants, etc. All in all, this is a further recipe for sleepless nights.
As for JT and his Sunny Ways crew, you are correct that Mendocino must go and, yes, Lametti also.
You correctly note that Terry Glavin has done stellar work on the residential schools issue, including on the unmarked graves story. The fact that he has been vilified for that work simply means that those who have so stupidly criticized him just haven't read his work which is careful and respectful of native leaders and communities. It is simply a fact that again we have this, what is the word? woke? Well, it will have to do; we have this "woke" attitude that says that anything that looks to being careful, respectful and accurate in the reporting of the whole residential school issue is unacceptable and must be destroyed in the name of - what? What exactly? There is certainly not any interest in truth by these people.
So, now we come back to Lametti. Yes, he should go. And Mendocino. And Hussan. And, and, and, and.....
And, now for Bell... Yes, please do release them from their requirement to broadcast local news. More specifically, release them from their broadcasting licences and that will allow them what they seek: no more requirement to broadcast local news, simply because they will no longer be broadcasting. See? Simple.
Oh, and your "appeal," your "shameless" hucksterism that has led you to ask for bucks. Don't feel bad; it works for Ezra Levant. Not that I am comparing you to Ezra; not at all; but understand this: you do need to take advantage of this business model that uses the equivalent of "Go Fund Me pages." As for me, I will in a few moments send my pittance.
But don't be ashamed. Remember: Hucksterism works! Hucksterism works! But, you can refine it and make it more genteel; I have faith in you. But Just Do It! [apologies to Nike]
Honestly, the nukes are like 500 words I just didn't think the (already long) dispatch could afford. But it was definitely part of my thinking when I wrote about what Putin might feel pushed to do to show how strong and in control he is/remains.
I believe you, I do, I do.
At the risk of being accused of sucking up - guilty, of course - I can take more verbiage from G & G because I absolutely know that you don't abuse that process but add value with whatever words you offer to we, your readers. Like I say, guilty of sucking up. But then the truth is like that.
The major concern is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in occupied Ukraine. Reports in recent weeks have suggested that the Russians have started to prepare to cause a nuclear incident there, I assume with the intention (or for the purpose of threatening) to inflict scorched-earth retaliation if they're forced to retreat.
If you read the following please make a baksheesh to The Line. If you are affluent enough to also subscribe to the following then make ten times the monetary subscription to The Line.
I beg you to please read Mikhail Zygar via David Remnick: "Putin’s Weakness Unmasked - How Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion exposed the Russian President" By David Remnick - June 24, 2023 - The New Yorker.
Please use the search function on The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/ (Your first article is free.)
The attempt circumstances, and how far it got so quickly, smells like Prigozhin had enough of the faction pots onside to risk success. The very abrupt retreat smells like Putin informed Prigozhin that Wagner would be annihilated by certified Putin loyal tactical nuke teams at the unavoidable river crossing stages. Putin’s nuclear trump card squashed Prigozhin’s attempt to “out Putin” Putin. Reason prevailed for now.
My donation follows in thanks for your valuable work.
I concur ... keep it short and focussed ... no need to ramble-on about stuff everybody already knows.
A few comments.
On David Lametti: Did you notice how SNC-Lavalin's problems simply vanished when he necame Justice Minister? A sweetheart deal, a slap on the wrist, and SNC-Lavalin is still in business, co-prime-contractor for Ottawa's LRT rapid transit line, and Montreal's REM that is years late and billions over budget, and Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown. What ever would we do without SNC-Lavalin? Thank you, Minister Lametti.
On BCE: Bell was a telecommunications company until 2001, strictly forbidden to have anything to do with content. The social contract was that Bell had to provide universal affordable service, even to the guy sitting on top of a 10,000 foot mountain or on an island in the middle of Lake Huron. The social contract had nothing to do with media -- that is a separate social contract, and a very byzantine one it is. This is not to let BCE off the hook. If they are making excessive profits, then telecommunications prices need to come down, not media subsidies to increase. As many have noted, in turn that requires more competition. Removing the barriers to large scale foreign entrants would be a nice start.
As to the future of local media: There very well might not be any. In the old days, people bought the local newspaper for sports, financial markets, and the classified. Very few were interested in the doings of city council or the school board -- and they still aren't. On the other hand, if an issue comes up that does require a response, social media are great at mobilizing neighborhoods. In my opinion, local democracy is much better served now.
On the future of new media, such as The Line: I think that it subscriber funding is the best way to go for any media that values its independence. The old advertising-based model impacted media independence, too much for my taste. We are well rid of it.
Well, I'm off to make my donation to you.
"Social contract" is an oxymoron. It allows companies like Bell and Air Canada to claim they deserve exceptional treatment because they serve some nebulous social purpose that is neither explicit nor measurable. Best to open telecom and commercial aviation to competition and cancel the "social contract".
I subscribe to The Line and The Real Story and gasp! MSM representative Calgary Herald (although the daily crossword and sudoku might be the main draw). In light of the announcement of the Postmedia and Nordstar proposed merger, I wonder how we will be able to just get some news without subscribing to various niche sources that may mean we’re not being as informed as we think, as we’re learning through a particular lens, and Yeah I get the argument that’s already happening. I agree bill C-18 is a concern. But then I’m a senior after all and I think shouldn’t have to work at just being informed and also how much do I need to pay to be informed? I don’t expect you can answer this just thought I’d add my thoughts, and yes I will make a donation.
Jan, honestly, it's a great question. Paul Wells was writing about this yesterday, echoing what we have long said. Advertising was (just to use a round number) about 90% of journalism's revenue. If you subscribed to a paper at home, you weren't paying for the journalism in that paper. The advertising did that. What you were paying for was the logistics of the delivery of that dead tree onto your lawn. Printing it off, bundling it up, trucking the big stacks to distribution points, and then the kid on the bike throwing it onto your lawn or porch. That's what your subscription paid for. The reporters and editors and photographers and columnists and all the myriad support staff — the marketing budgets of companies big and small paid for all that.
But not anymore. Papers (in my opinion) have been afraid to raise prices and be honest with the public about the how and why. So they've tried to cut costs down to where they felt they could raise subscription costs. It hasn't worked. And we're seeing what looks like the collapse unfolding in real time right now.
To your question of how much you'll have to spend to be reasonably well informed, gosh. All I can say is more. Ten times what a subscription would have been 30 years ago (adjusting for inflation, obviously)? Maybe 20 or 30 times? I don't know. But news is going to be a niche consumer product, or it'll probably die all together.
Thanks and I increased my subscription rate so guess I’m on the right trend!
A typical hallmark of an authoritarian regime is to either ban something or make it mandatory. This government has done both liberally (pun intended). Vaccine policies, C-11 and C-18, grocery bags, and now the idea of banning dissent or any form of questioning against residential school graves - all seem right up their ally.
It is just a sad situation that the overall narrative spun is that the CPC is somehow the authoritarian party while the Liberal Party is the savior of democracy. I wonder when the narratives will change to reflect reality.
...I wonder when the narratives will change to reflect reality.
With all due respect, you will be wondering for a long time.
Our subservient media is so captured that it will never turn around to bite the hand that feeds it.
So relax, sit back and look forward to a tsunami of patented 'Junior waves goodbye to no one at the airport' photos coming your way for at least the next decade.
It's always good to leave your reader smiling. 🙂
You should follow the Ezra Levant model and start angry petitions, to build lists, and start fundraising for lawsuits every month or so. Get people emotional, especially boomers, and they will open their wallets.
As an aside, what exactly has Bell done to deserve their cosseted position in Canadian life? Time to just cut bait and let Canada be a media free for all. Cut the legacy to zero, including the CBC. A vacuum will be formed and filled by the next generation of news outlets. After all, no one deserves to be protected from competition.
As polarizing as Ezra is, for all kinds of reasons, his model does seem to work and we certainly do do some things inspired by it. But not others! The honest question, and I think an unsettled one, is whether it's possible to build a similarly engaged readership by appealing to better emotions than fear and anger.
I don't know. I might even go as far as admitting I suspect not. But we're gonna try.
I do find Ezra funny in his own (very) odd way. I hasten to note that I am not a subscriber to Rabble News and I have not made a donation but it is, to me, a fascinating model.
I think that you are correct insofar as your thought that he has grown through emphasizing fear and anger, which are not emotions that I associate with G & G. I do associate with G & G very well deserved snark for some of our "worsers" [definitely not our betters] but said snark is, as noted, well deserved and it is terrifically well written. There, sucking up once again!
As for the Ezra model I think that you don't need fear and anger simply because you have reason and - oh, so important! - questions [you don't try to have answers for everything]. Nevertheless, I think that your donation appeal today should get you somewhere and I think that you need to keep it in your back pocket and bring it out on a regular basis. Carrying that idea forward, I think that you need to have a website (hello, Ezra) that discusses the principles upon which you operate and make clear that periodic appeals for purposes of raising funds will be part of the process.
End of business advice. For now.
Thanks to both of you.
I went to Junior High with Ezra. I remember him as quiet and nerdy.
If you look at Ezra now you definitely wouldn't describe him as quiet but one must always remember that the public persona isn't always the same as the private persona.
If it's all for show, and I do believe it is, why wouldn't he play a character in public as well?
I think you mean Rebel not "rabble", that's a heckuva swing from right to left. I expect you're right, the public Ezra is a schtick, but to this moderate, a dangerous one. can you not be passionate about your position without being angry and agressive?
Kevin, my use of Rabble was quite deliberate; I do know that the official name is Rebel News but I chose to use the term Rabble News.
I do enjoy the caricatures that Rebel News presents and I sometimes think that they are right (no pun intended). Further, I think that they sometimes cover stories that the mainstream either missed or felt were "unworthy," whatever that might mean. Please note the use of the word "sometimes."
Now, having said that, I chose to use "Rabble" as their approach is - to me - very much oriented to stirring up shit and being themselves rabble rousers.
I agree that Ezra's persona is a schtick. Personally, I think that he does believe what he says but that doesn't mean that he is in his personal life that bombastic individual. Further, I don't see him as dangerous. Actually, I think that his model is useful and, perhaps, a reasonable counter balance to some of the leftist rabble rousers that we see - who I also see as being interesting purveyors of comment.
So, rabble rousers on the left, rabble rousers on the right and I think between both sides they provide a service in bringing attention to stories that are not covered or are inadequately covered and that our worsers would rather we don't know or know only what they deign to tell us.
Please, Please, Please take the high road. As a life long leftie who has moved closer to the centre as time goes on. I'm starved for right of centre sources that aren't The Rebel. I gladly pay my subscription (and I'll pony up a donation as well) to get that well thought out, intelligent content. The internet does not need another angry mob shaking their fists in the air.
Unlike fine wines which improve with age, each iteration of the Liberals gets worse.
And when Atlantic Canada and the 905 exchange dutifully vote in yet another Liberal government next time around we should expect legislation outlawing dissent on the Residential Schools file and, everyone's favorite, laws which to all intents and purposes are blasphemy laws andwhich will immunize from criticism the doctrines of Junior's favorite religion. Hint it is not Catholicism.
I don't think the 905 can be reasonably considered a LPC safe haven any longer. If PP can keep the "bozo eruptions" limited, I think the CPC wins the next election.
I hope that I am wrong and that you are right!
You wrote ... "attacking them on social media and going so far as to show up with shovels demanding to see the bodies. "
That word "shovels" triggered me. You neglected to mention that several authoritative sources almost-immediately "looked into" that allegation ... and it apparently never happened. No record of it whatsoever ...
But presumably that’s not to say somebody shouldn’t just show up with shovels and offer to help find the “truth”. Two years on and nothing done? I really am curious.
Jonathan Kay (yet another NP alumnus) on his Deeply Problematic SubStack has a great incisive take on the whole denialism schtick.
For years I have been a huge fan of both Mr. Kay, and his mom! Strong, clear-headed, and fearless ...
...except that he ghost wrote Justin Trudeau's book. I guess the ability to present Trudeau as insightful and genuine speaks to Kay's skill as a writer.
I don't begrudge anyone's pursuit of a livelihood...In the words of Krusty the Klown when questioned about licensing his brand to Kamp Krusty, "They drove a dump truck full of money up to my house, I’m not made of stone!"
Filson's slogan/motto simply rules ... 🙂
As this superb article in The Walrus will easily confirm ...
https://thewalrus.ca/the-justin-trudeau-i-cant-forget/
Agreed. And she has her own closely-related discussion in this weekend’s National Post: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/barbara-kay-lametti-considers-illiberal-cone-of-silence-over-residential-schools
Oops, apologies Ron -- I note that by embarking on this exchange you and I potentially are guilty of thought-crimes....
But while we’re at it, in for a penny and all that, it’s also a passing subject of the 1867 Project recently brought to my attention: https://c2cjournal.ca/2023/06/a-country-worth-saving-the-1867-project/.
No thought police here.
And, if there were ...... to quote Scott Moe, that fellow from Saskatchewan, "Come and get me."
I'm very impressed that you had the courage to admit that you have no idea why Prigozhin slammed on the brakes - when he was by all appearances about to cross the finish line in a race he bet his life on winning.
I've been following the Russo-Ukrainian War very closely since it started, I've been following all of the subject-matter experts on a daily basis, I am in one of the best possible unclassified positions to have heard a reasonable explanation for why Prigozhin called off the coup, and there's nothing. Every expert I follow has thrown up their hands.
It's hard to admit you have no idea why something is happening when you're professionally responsible for explaining why things are happening, but in this case - where the wise are baffled and only the fools are confidently holding forth - you've once again renewed my faith in The Line.
On Prigozhin's mutiny: Michael Kofman's take is that Prigozhin miscalculated. His intent was to use the mutiny as a form of hardline bargaining for limited objectives, to preserve Wagner. He wasn't prepared to go as far as seizing Moscow. So he ended up backing down. https://twitter.com/KofmanMichael/status/1672999622032195584
Power corrupts. I too have long been aware of everything that you noted in David Lametti's obviously impressive CV ... and have been flabbergasted by Buddy's actual performance as a lapdog Minister in Prime Minister Trudeau's cabinet.
It just does not compute. As most of us "political new junkies" already know, CognitiveDisonnance (sic) is more than a very productive and perpetually mischievous troll in certain Comment Sections over at the Mop and Pail.
On C-18: I always felt the logical solution was to tax all Canadian online advertising and pay that out to media outlets based on some auditable readership/viewership metric. That would follow what we did with recordable media -- there's a levy on tapes and CDs that's paid out to musicians and publishers via SOCAN. It would seem to be a imperfect but reasonably viable way to address the digital advertising challenge without picking winners and losers.
I'm not sure why that wasn't seriously looked at -- whether legacy media didn't want a methodology based on popularity as they felt they'd lose over time?
Agree the C-18 is terrible policy that's doomed to fail. So, what comes next?
A reasonable suggestion? Maybe limit all replies to 400 words ... per dispatch.
It would help writers to focus their minds ... a good thing ...
Perhaps that is why The Toronto Star and the National Post don't send me income tax receipts, just the Globe. Why do they have this exalted tax-exempt-subscription status?
Good call on not calling the latest version of Russian roulette. Clearly the Don was no Rubicon... and Prigozhin is no Gaius Julius. Now he’s off to make mischief in Belarus. Good luck with that!
...or his dismembered body is off to Belarus. I wonder if he will ever be seen in public again.
My monthly online subscription to The Globe and Mail counts as a tax write-off in support of Canada's media. Have you looked into gaining tax deductible status for The Line subscriptions?
I think (but admit I'm not certain) that you're referring to the Qualified Canadian Journalism Initiative. Or something like that. Alas, as The Line is owner-operated, we don't qualify for qualification as Qualified.
"Let me be clear ... " 🙂😉 ... the Minister of Finance would *never* "sign-off" on that!
"Rumour has it" that the more photogenic Minister of Global Affairs is gonna soon be getting "kicked-up" to Finance ... and a corner office ... and maybe soon Deputy PM under Justin Trudeau ... and Chrystia Freeland may become the new Special Rapporteur from Ukraine reporting from Canada's "suspected" safe-house beneath Kiev.
Cybil Shepherd vs Grampa Munster?