Trump vs. the FBI. The Liberals vs. a reputation for incompetence. Alberta vs. reality, and how and why conservatives are turning into liberals. In a bad way.
It's not Canadian Conservatives becoming "Liberal" in tactics, they're emulating the *American* conservative style that's decades old. Most performatively since the Newt Gingrich advice to use terms like "sick, perverted, diseased, treasonous" in a famous 1995 memo. By the turn of the century, Ann Coulter ("Trump's brain") was writing books with titles like 'Treason', and 'Godless'.
Outsize American conservative panics would include the Red Scare, Missile Gap, Domino Theory, Babies in Incubators, Saddam-nukes-to-Al-Qaeda. Of course, they actually manufactured most of those panics, as with the recent Mar-a-Lago panic. (Real threats, on the other hand, they can studiously ignore, like Hitler taking France and bombing London.)
Sorry, comparing little panic-of-the-month events like the FBI Raid to decade-long, war-selling panic-projects like Domino Theory, and Saddam's Nuke, is disproportionate.
It's better to compare it to the Fox News "TV panics" like The Caravan, the New Black Panthers, and MS-13. Or the Internet-based "The government is coming for you" panics like Jade Helm or Ruby Ridge.
I got a million of 'em: moral panic has been a right-wing go-to for a long time. Hey, remember Reefer Madness?
If Mr. Robinson would like to list off the left-wing moral panics that were puffed-up by performative complaints, and turned out to be no big deal in the long run, like cannabis, or the Gay Agenda to teach school so as to recruit children (major concern of Alberta Report, where Poilievre had his one non-political-party job), he's welcome. There have certainly been a number of them, as breast-beating is a widespread political tactic.
But I suspect the right-wing list goes on much longer. Since my original point was that our guys are now aping Fox News panic-generators, I get to use the VERY long list of American panics.
I was thinking that if there are not yet school classes in casting off one's chains and seizing the means of production, that we aren't quite to communist schools yet, when it hit me:
You what workers have cast off their chains and seized the means of production? Matt and Jen! In fact, come to think of it, Matt proudly noted their being ahead of the curve on *self-criticism* just a few posts ago - they're Maoists, I tell you...
When you proclaim that climate change is a leftist scare, you should recognize that it is only true believers who accept such assertions.
Roy Spencer and John Christie have been wrong in more ways than one and, as a consequence, have adjusted their views. Have you?
In April of 2015, John Christy, Roy Spencer’s partner, made the following assertion: “NASA, NOAA, EPA, DOE, those are agencies. Agency leaders are appointed by the government, by the current administration. They do not represent objective independent scientific organizations. They can't. They are appointed by the head. They try. People who come out with different views in their organizations are found to be squashed. There is an agenda in those agencies, so it does not surprise me when they go full bore on something like climate change. They are marching to the drum of the administration.”
If follows from that belief that when Trump came to power, the agencies would adjust the data in order to reflect the interests of his administration. That didn’t happen, so one must either accept that they were wrong or conjure up a new devil to align with the faith. (don’t know who they chose or actually if they came up with a new one, but I am aware that you have a replacement)
With the advance of time, a good number of deniers have adjusted their gospel. This includes Spencer – you leave it unclear as to which Spencer you actually believe. Is it the one who, in 2012 stated that “we may see very little warming in the future” and in 2008 wrote that “There’s probably a natural cause for global warming” or the one that acknowledged that global temperatures after 2012 were all higher than that year (and continue to climb), that the earth could see a temperature increase of 1.5 to 2 degrees and that climate change could be mostly human caused?
Spencer believes, on religious grounds, that God controls the climate so that it is “suitable for human flourishing”. It is more than plausible that that belief colours the kinds of conclusions that he can allow himself to draw.
You are a true soldier of denial, perhaps a better one than even Spencer is turning out to be. (how close is he to becoming a heretic?)
I realize that J + M aren’t going to trash talk the journalistic standards of CBC News, but seriously?
In fact, it is pretty depressing to fast forward to a time in the not too distant future where there is ONE Canadian news reporting organization left standing in many markets and that’s the CBC. The on the dole CBC and subject to a CRTC broadcast license. The Line has done a splendid job of dissecting the new CRTC 5 year license that emphasizes political goals ahead of programming that people want to watch. It isn’t too hard to imagine overt political influence drifting into news coverage too. (Although there will be more than one subscriber to The Line who will cynically wonder: isn’t that happening now?)
I think the best hope is a serious reduction in government funding to the CBC that will force a period of renewal to make the programming relevant and watchable. And in the case of CBC News a chance to retool and live up to its claim to be “Canada’s most trusted news source”.
Your update on the CBC was interesting. I would argue that 60 percent of their programming is already for those interests. I stopped listening to the CBC a few years ago because it was so one sided on so many issues and basically dishonest on others. That's why I joined Theline. I do not like a number of things that the new right advocates but the CBC needs a major shakeup
I too used to listen to the CBC and really enjoyed it. Jurgen Gothe and Discdrive, Clyde Gilmour and Gilmour's Albums, Anthology on Saturday night at 10pm.
Today I could not arm myself with enough of my trusty Air Canada air sickness bags to endure even a newscast.
There is only one solution for the CBC, namely, defunding. If people want to listen to it and revel in stories about gender inequality in the Altoplano dowry regime, let them pay the cost but don't charge me and the millions of other Canadians who are not interested.
20220812 23:50 "... all their socials go silent..." Amazing comment. Hopefully this attempt to listen doesn't freeze like the last one I tried many episodes back. Quatorze be lucky tonight!
20220813 00:30 It worked.
01:05 Anyone following Twitter during the Freedom Convoy protest knew there were negotiations ongoing prior to the implementation of the EA. Lautens and The Star now pretending there was a secret, civilized out-from-the-mess convo with the feds? That back then they seemed to be just bully boy met you on the street saying, "I'm peaceful, why are you hitting yourself?" should never be forgotten.
"...that would be the last thing you ever do my friend, I promise you..."
This pearl clutching by the liberal set about the invocation of the EA is dangerously incredulous. It was necessary, not a political sideshow. Note: Tow truck drivers in Toronto were shooting each other quite recently; lest we forget.
"... PostMedia or Torstar goes bust ... except Pierre, the Conservatives don't have any incentive to keep this sh** going..."
Amazingly funny! Conservatives may not care but Pierre would likely appreciate Rebel eating the detritus from PostMedia or Torstar.
"... Panama ... what are you talking about? ..."
Yeah. What ever happened with the Panama Papers? My brain is hurt too.
Neither yields anything to the other in totalitarian instincts, lack of ethical compass or staggering ineptitude.
But, mirabile dictu, despite our deeply held belief that we Canadians are
an urbane, suave and sophisticated foil to the coarse, unrefined Americans, it was the USA that gave its Tru-twin his marching papers while the Canadian version remains firmly ensconced in power.
In the end, one might ask who are the real chumps in NA?
My bet is that any concerns about the wisdom or propriety of Trump having national security-sensitive documents at his home, will shortly be submerged in a rehash of the controversy about Hillary’s emails on her private server. I can hear it now::“the FBI didn’t charge HER did they!”.
Let me add two additional observations. First, most criminal statutes involving things like espionage require that there be an intent to use purloined material in favour of some foreign interest, and I doubt that the government can prove that mental state. Trump, reading the documents and scheming how to use them against US interests? Reading? I doubt it. Second, don't assume that, in today's US, you could find a jury that would unanimously convict Trump. This furor reminds me of the fuss about the Mueller Commission, which left Trump virtually unscarred and there are far more legal and delaying tactics available in this setting. Finally, it is unclear whether there can be criminal proceedings involving a SITTING president, so a victory in 2024, may put things off for another four years, all by itself.
Hey Lyle, you don’t have to agree. But Taibbi is an American, and he’s not a republican or a Trump supporter. He’s well respected and I think his perspective is valid and interesting. I’ve come to realize I’m pretty dismissive generally about concerns or views I don’t share. For example, if you hold that the FBI and DOJ are objective, non-partisan and professional - any defense of Trump in this situation seems outrageous. But consider as a matter of public record that the FBI used the Steele dossier, which was commissioned by the Democratic Party, and which they (FBI) knew was developed by a compromised source, to obtain a FISA warrant and multiple renewals against Trump. https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/politics/steele-dossier-reckoning/index.html
I hate taking a position to defend the guy in any way, but why would Trump issue a Fatwa? Put yourself in his shoes... how would you feel about the FBI?
My brain is toast from the stupidity of our Federal Government.
It's not Canadian Conservatives becoming "Liberal" in tactics, they're emulating the *American* conservative style that's decades old. Most performatively since the Newt Gingrich advice to use terms like "sick, perverted, diseased, treasonous" in a famous 1995 memo. By the turn of the century, Ann Coulter ("Trump's brain") was writing books with titles like 'Treason', and 'Godless'.
Outsize American conservative panics would include the Red Scare, Missile Gap, Domino Theory, Babies in Incubators, Saddam-nukes-to-Al-Qaeda. Of course, they actually manufactured most of those panics, as with the recent Mar-a-Lago panic. (Real threats, on the other hand, they can studiously ignore, like Hitler taking France and bombing London.)
Sorry, comparing little panic-of-the-month events like the FBI Raid to decade-long, war-selling panic-projects like Domino Theory, and Saddam's Nuke, is disproportionate.
It's better to compare it to the Fox News "TV panics" like The Caravan, the New Black Panthers, and MS-13. Or the Internet-based "The government is coming for you" panics like Jade Helm or Ruby Ridge.
I got a million of 'em: moral panic has been a right-wing go-to for a long time. Hey, remember Reefer Madness?
If Mr. Robinson would like to list off the left-wing moral panics that were puffed-up by performative complaints, and turned out to be no big deal in the long run, like cannabis, or the Gay Agenda to teach school so as to recruit children (major concern of Alberta Report, where Poilievre had his one non-political-party job), he's welcome. There have certainly been a number of them, as breast-beating is a widespread political tactic.
But I suspect the right-wing list goes on much longer. Since my original point was that our guys are now aping Fox News panic-generators, I get to use the VERY long list of American panics.
I was thinking that if there are not yet school classes in casting off one's chains and seizing the means of production, that we aren't quite to communist schools yet, when it hit me:
You what workers have cast off their chains and seized the means of production? Matt and Jen! In fact, come to think of it, Matt proudly noted their being ahead of the curve on *self-criticism* just a few posts ago - they're Maoists, I tell you...
When you proclaim that climate change is a leftist scare, you should recognize that it is only true believers who accept such assertions.
Roy Spencer and John Christie have been wrong in more ways than one and, as a consequence, have adjusted their views. Have you?
In April of 2015, John Christy, Roy Spencer’s partner, made the following assertion: “NASA, NOAA, EPA, DOE, those are agencies. Agency leaders are appointed by the government, by the current administration. They do not represent objective independent scientific organizations. They can't. They are appointed by the head. They try. People who come out with different views in their organizations are found to be squashed. There is an agenda in those agencies, so it does not surprise me when they go full bore on something like climate change. They are marching to the drum of the administration.”
If follows from that belief that when Trump came to power, the agencies would adjust the data in order to reflect the interests of his administration. That didn’t happen, so one must either accept that they were wrong or conjure up a new devil to align with the faith. (don’t know who they chose or actually if they came up with a new one, but I am aware that you have a replacement)
With the advance of time, a good number of deniers have adjusted their gospel. This includes Spencer – you leave it unclear as to which Spencer you actually believe. Is it the one who, in 2012 stated that “we may see very little warming in the future” and in 2008 wrote that “There’s probably a natural cause for global warming” or the one that acknowledged that global temperatures after 2012 were all higher than that year (and continue to climb), that the earth could see a temperature increase of 1.5 to 2 degrees and that climate change could be mostly human caused?
Spencer believes, on religious grounds, that God controls the climate so that it is “suitable for human flourishing”. It is more than plausible that that belief colours the kinds of conclusions that he can allow himself to draw.
You are a true soldier of denial, perhaps a better one than even Spencer is turning out to be. (how close is he to becoming a heretic?)
I realize that J + M aren’t going to trash talk the journalistic standards of CBC News, but seriously?
In fact, it is pretty depressing to fast forward to a time in the not too distant future where there is ONE Canadian news reporting organization left standing in many markets and that’s the CBC. The on the dole CBC and subject to a CRTC broadcast license. The Line has done a splendid job of dissecting the new CRTC 5 year license that emphasizes political goals ahead of programming that people want to watch. It isn’t too hard to imagine overt political influence drifting into news coverage too. (Although there will be more than one subscriber to The Line who will cynically wonder: isn’t that happening now?)
I think the best hope is a serious reduction in government funding to the CBC that will force a period of renewal to make the programming relevant and watchable. And in the case of CBC News a chance to retool and live up to its claim to be “Canada’s most trusted news source”.
Your update on the CBC was interesting. I would argue that 60 percent of their programming is already for those interests. I stopped listening to the CBC a few years ago because it was so one sided on so many issues and basically dishonest on others. That's why I joined Theline. I do not like a number of things that the new right advocates but the CBC needs a major shakeup
I too used to listen to the CBC and really enjoyed it. Jurgen Gothe and Discdrive, Clyde Gilmour and Gilmour's Albums, Anthology on Saturday night at 10pm.
Today I could not arm myself with enough of my trusty Air Canada air sickness bags to endure even a newscast.
There is only one solution for the CBC, namely, defunding. If people want to listen to it and revel in stories about gender inequality in the Altoplano dowry regime, let them pay the cost but don't charge me and the millions of other Canadians who are not interested.
20220812 23:50 "... all their socials go silent..." Amazing comment. Hopefully this attempt to listen doesn't freeze like the last one I tried many episodes back. Quatorze be lucky tonight!
20220813 00:30 It worked.
01:05 Anyone following Twitter during the Freedom Convoy protest knew there were negotiations ongoing prior to the implementation of the EA. Lautens and The Star now pretending there was a secret, civilized out-from-the-mess convo with the feds? That back then they seemed to be just bully boy met you on the street saying, "I'm peaceful, why are you hitting yourself?" should never be forgotten.
"...that would be the last thing you ever do my friend, I promise you..."
https://www.blogto.com/city/2022/02/man-pot-trucker-convoy-leave-ottawa/
This pearl clutching by the liberal set about the invocation of the EA is dangerously incredulous. It was necessary, not a political sideshow. Note: Tow truck drivers in Toronto were shooting each other quite recently; lest we forget.
"... PostMedia or Torstar goes bust ... except Pierre, the Conservatives don't have any incentive to keep this sh** going..."
Amazingly funny! Conservatives may not care but Pierre would likely appreciate Rebel eating the detritus from PostMedia or Torstar.
"... Panama ... what are you talking about? ..."
Yeah. What ever happened with the Panama Papers? My brain is hurt too.
Two Tru-twins, one American, one Canadian.
Neither yields anything to the other in totalitarian instincts, lack of ethical compass or staggering ineptitude.
But, mirabile dictu, despite our deeply held belief that we Canadians are
an urbane, suave and sophisticated foil to the coarse, unrefined Americans, it was the USA that gave its Tru-twin his marching papers while the Canadian version remains firmly ensconced in power.
In the end, one might ask who are the real chumps in NA?
My bet is that any concerns about the wisdom or propriety of Trump having national security-sensitive documents at his home, will shortly be submerged in a rehash of the controversy about Hillary’s emails on her private server. I can hear it now::“the FBI didn’t charge HER did they!”.
Let me add two additional observations. First, most criminal statutes involving things like espionage require that there be an intent to use purloined material in favour of some foreign interest, and I doubt that the government can prove that mental state. Trump, reading the documents and scheming how to use them against US interests? Reading? I doubt it. Second, don't assume that, in today's US, you could find a jury that would unanimously convict Trump. This furor reminds me of the fuss about the Mueller Commission, which left Trump virtually unscarred and there are far more legal and delaying tactics available in this setting. Finally, it is unclear whether there can be criminal proceedings involving a SITTING president, so a victory in 2024, may put things off for another four years, all by itself.
Agreed with Mr. Robinson. I am a Taibbi reader as well. He’s excellent and his take on this situation is well worth a read.
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-third-world?r=z7n83&utm_medium=ios
Hey Lyle, you don’t have to agree. But Taibbi is an American, and he’s not a republican or a Trump supporter. He’s well respected and I think his perspective is valid and interesting. I’ve come to realize I’m pretty dismissive generally about concerns or views I don’t share. For example, if you hold that the FBI and DOJ are objective, non-partisan and professional - any defense of Trump in this situation seems outrageous. But consider as a matter of public record that the FBI used the Steele dossier, which was commissioned by the Democratic Party, and which they (FBI) knew was developed by a compromised source, to obtain a FISA warrant and multiple renewals against Trump. https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/politics/steele-dossier-reckoning/index.html
I hate taking a position to defend the guy in any way, but why would Trump issue a Fatwa? Put yourself in his shoes... how would you feel about the FBI?
Thank you both.
Jen, stop hurting your brain. Your instincts are right and it's all too ridiculous for words.
Happy weekend, the silly season is almost done.