"Proud Boys" a national shame

Due to employment related restrictions I'm not as free to post opinions on the internet as I once was, but when I saw this I thought it was something the ink strained wretches should know about and possibly look into. Seem a bunch of  Gavin McInnes' little brownshirts decided to disrupt a First Nations and Metis event on Canada Day. Further, it seems they are all serving members of the Royal Canadian Navy, at least for now.
http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.ca/2017/07/military-proud-boys-disrupt-mikmaw.html

Let's have a little Locker-Room talk ...

“This was locker room talk,” says Donald Trump about his vulgar and very dangerous comments whereby he bragged about his willingness to commit sexual battery. (If you’ve been living under a rock and missed it, just Google it. I won’t be linking to it). 

Men’s locker rooms: I have been in countless of them over the course of my life, from high school and hockey arenas to military barracks and high-intensity training centres. 

Is Trump correct in placing his recorded mindset and language in “the locker room”? Well, yes, and no.

Teenagers, with hormones raging, occupy the locker rooms of high schools. There was, if my fading memory serves me correctly, a lot of talk about sex and girls. There were always the braggarts who would claim to have bedded the “hot chicks”. Virtually all of that turned out to be utter BS. It was high school and claims ran higher than any substantive activity. I can never remember, at any time, anyone suggesting that the best way to get the attention of any girl was to force oneself upon them. 

Over time, with age, the conversation in most locker rooms changed. The people were more focused on the task ahead or one just completed. I spent hours in locker rooms in the company of some of the toughest men on this planet. Whether we were training to be divers, jumpers, fire-fighters or just win a soccer game, any talk of sex was fleeting and discussions about women were pretty minimal. The language would have been considered by many to have been extremely foul, but it was linguistic embellishment, common in an all-male environment. In the naval service, (I was in two of them), we were particularly adept at constructing sentences peppered with expletives which served only to add colour to the language. 

Once in a while a guy would come along who DID start talking about his sexual exploits. And, on even fewer occasions, someone would go down a path asserting a psychopathic disdain for women, objectifying them as a group and suggesting that women “wanted” to be sexually assaulted or abused. It was never a “discussion”. It was usually an unwelcome monologue foisted on the group by one loud-mouthed individual seeking to become the centre of attention. In a locker room or a barracks or a mess-deck, it usually meant, to us, that the person doing the talking was attempting to cover some inadequacy in his competency or character. It typically ended when another person told him to shut up, (a gentrified way of describing it), or his audience simply left the room. 

I have witnessed, in a public pool locker room, some guy ask if we saw “the hot babe in the blue bikini”, only to find himself tapped on the shoulder and be told by an indignant stranger, “That’s my daughter.” The offender immediately assumed a state of mortified silence.

So, Trump is partially correct. It IS locker room talk. It’s what HE says in a locker room. It’s what HE says on a bus. He takes over the conversation and spouts his psychopathic bile. 

Where he’s dead wrong is that it isn’t locker room talk until he starts talking. 

(And apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way). 

Line up, you lying, cheating Harperistas ... here comes the bus

Remember this?

How about this or this?

So, from the mouth of a Harper conservative we get this:

“Basically what happened was that they used robocalls to misdirect NDP voters, to split the vote and allow Gary Lunn to win,” Duffy said.

“He knew nothing about it, except that they phoned him afterward and said ‘You’re welcome Gary.’ He said ‘What?’ (They said) ‘We got you in’.”

Lunn told The Canadian Press on Thursday that he has no recollection of the June 2009 lunch, never knew who made the misleading phone calls and never told Duffy that it was Conservative headquarters.

Somebody is lying. 

What is it about Conservative politicians and airplanes?

Remember when Harper ordered (and the commander of the RCAF submitted to) the repainting of one of the RCAF CC-150 to better represent the "Harper Government"?
Here ... this will remind you.

Well, British prime minister, David Cameron, (often referred to as a spoiled brat from a better home), while announcing billions of pounds sterling in spending and program cuts, did this.

The PM has ordered a £10m refit of an ex-RAF plane just a week before the Tories announce billion-pound cuts in the Autumn Statement

Pampered David Cameron's new jet will only start saving money after 13 years, Downing Street has revealed.

And ... this.

Tory Cabinet ministers are to get a fleet of new executive jets - on top of the special plane for David Cameron . 

Oh yes, the Royal Navy gets this. 

The Government is to axe the Navy’s flagship to save costs despite spending £65million on upgrading the vessel a year ago.

Just sayin'.

Pissing on the fear monkeys' BS

No one is so confident in their opinion as an ignorant person.

The screams coming out of the right-wing about the horrors of resettling 25,000 refugees from the bloody Syrian-Iraqi corridor controlled by Daesh, (you may know the group as ISIS or ISIL), is an illuminating example.

They even have their own petition to stop the rescue of refugees. (No, I'm not linking to it).

Their greatest fear, (and they are certainly demonstrating huge amounts of that), is that in a single intake of 25, 000 refugees, terrorists will come in with them. And then they demonstrate their profound ignorance by pointing at the Paris attacks while they wet their pants.

1. To date, none of the Paris attackers, so far identified, were refugees. They were native-born French or Belgian. Whatever their ethnicity, religious beliefs (if they actually had any), or training, they were home-grown radicalized thugs, many of whom had criminal records in Europe.

2. The refugees being brought to Canada are currently already identified. Most are living hand-to-mouth existences in refugee camps where conditions are the closest thing to a living hell anyone can imagine. Your typical terrorist isn't drawn to that type of lifestyle. Some of the Paris attackers were described by their own families and acquaintances as hard drinkers, smokers and party animals. The refugees being brought to Canada are unique in that on this occasion we actually get to pick them. These are not people showing up on a sinking boat or putting their lives in the hands of human smugglers.

3. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Tell me WHY any idiot inclined to come to Canada to blow up the doorstep of some semi-informed redneck westerner would be so stupid as to come in via the refugee system?!
Go on ... tell me.
There are too many security, criminal and health checks and WAY too much control and supervision. It is considerably easier to show up in Canada as a TOURIST. Much less hassle and nowhere near the detailed examination of one's past to which every refugee must submit.

So, the right-wing fear monkeys cannot present the refugee-terrorist-infiltrator as an argument. They'll have to come up with something else. And with every uninformed position that gets cut away from their argument, we come closer to the real reason. And it's ugly.

Well, actually, it's about the Duffy Trial

You may have been as confused as I was.

Why, given Harper's known inability to take orders or suffer any form of supervision, would he opt to remain a sitting Member of Parliament, now relegated to the opposition benches.

This is a guy, who during his concession speech, (which was a hastily re-written victory speech), didn't have the conventional decency to state his intentions to his audience before he scampered off the stage. His intention to resign as leader of the Conservative Party came via a statement released by the party president, John Walsh and even it was a rather muddled sounding bit of poli-speak with all the clarity of a cold latte. Conservative MPs have no idea if Harper is their leader.

What did come out was that Harper would continue to sit as an MP. And one doesn't have to dig too deeply to understand why.

The Duffy Trial.

Parliamentary Privilege.

As long as Harper is a Member of Parliament he cannot be compelled to testify as a witness in any civil, criminal or military proceeding. You can bet he'll be hanging onto that seat until the Duffy trial is concluded.

Game 5 ALDS.

Go Jays Go !!!!

The G&M Will Again Endorse the Harperian Nightmare.

I can hardly bear the suspense.

It should be any day now that Phillip the Crawley yet again instructs his pet editorial board at The Grope and Flail to endorse the Harperian junta.

The torturous language required in order to do that is what has me in suspense. I'm sure the tame scribes will do a bang up job of it or face the consequences.

It should make for an enraging read.

Just my opinion . . .

For some reason, Chris Alexander and Kellie Leitch remind me of the mutants in the Midwich Cuckoos . . .

Dianne Watts' most amazing adventure

This load of crap was a mail-out received by some residents of Surrey, BC. Dianne Watts, former mayor of Surrey claims it was sent out from Ottawa without her knowledge. I'm calling "Bovine Scatology" on two counts: She's running for the Harper Conservatives and clearly knows what a feces-covered operation she's in, and, her friggin' name is on it and she hasn't disavowed it in any way.

Let's attack this astounding piece of crap.

1. The newspaper on the upper left is bogus. Dianne Watts or a person representing her wrote that headline. Everything in it was manufactured by some amateur Harper Conservative operative with the mind of a 9-year old.

2. Dianne Watts was the mayor of Surrey from 2005 to 2014. During her tenure, Surrey became known as The Murder Capital of Canada as an unrestrained gang-war erupted. On 19 October, 2007 the now-famous Surrey-Six murders occurred in which two innocent bystanders were slaughtered. In 2013 the danger on the streets of Surrey reached unprecedented proportions as the gang-war exploded into daily shooting incidents resulting in 25 murders. Dianne Watts sat powerless in her mayor's chair.

Dianne Watts, with no international experience, isn't going to fight anything. You only have to look at her record to prove it. She can't even keep her own home turf safe and people did not feel secure in their bedrooms in Surrey when she was mayor.

Now, on the 18th anniversary of the Surrey-Six murders, which happened on her watch, she wants you to elect her so she can protect you.

There are better choices.

Windows 10 Question

Windows 10.

I've got the installation file sitting idle waiting for me to make a decision.

Should I install it?

Macleans Magazine Wakes Up

Thanks for finally noticing, Macleans. Better late than never I suppose but really, it's just too late to matter.

The destruction has been  completed.

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/vanishing-canada-why-were-all-losers-in-ottawas-war-on-data/

Change abounds . . .

MANY CHANGES — some good, some bad — are headed our way. Hopefully an end to our political CONstipation will be one of 'em, especially if folks who think nationally will act locally.

Even the Canadian Mint is getting into the act. "VOTE FOR OUR 2017 POCKET CHANGE" is a new promotion, inviting us to "Celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary with pocket change designed by Canadians and chosen by you".

Until October 9, vote as often as you like for your favourite coin design in each of our five categories. The more you vote and share your choices with your family and friends on Facebook and Twitter, the more you increase the chances of seeing your favourite designs on our 2017 coins.  

Some of them are quite nice, like the design you see above, others are awkward. As I reflect upon what Stevie's economic policies have done to our Loonie, I have a suggestion . . .

What, me worry? Compared to the election, this is chump change.

Just in case you didn't grasp the obvious ...

Stephen Harper thinks his own supporters are too stupid to see past his monotonously unaltered talking points regarding his intransigent and shameful approach to a global refugee and displacement crisis. (You can find the oft repeated talking points right here).

First, he tells us that a majority of these refugees come from a "Terrorist War Zone", as though that is somehow unique.

The truth of the point he won't acknowledge, (and none of the media have jumped on him for it), is that over the centuries virtually all refugees are attempting to escape terrorism and war. There is nothing unique in the nature of this crisis. But Harper keeps pounding that one point in an effort to keep his real reason for not acting, (whatever that is), from surfacing.

Then, he hits his second scripted talking point. He tells us he has a great concern about security and that all refugees must be thoroughly screened and vetted, (so, there will be no acceleration of a very slow process). Because ... they come from a terrorist war zone.

Really. A conservative screening process is the last thing any of us should trust. These guys cannot properly vet candidates that get caught peeing in cups on public TV programs or have public You Tube channels where they engage in lewd and arguably illegal behaviour.

All of this could tell us many things, but without Harper coming out and telling us what's going on in his head, we can safely assume two things: Harper has no idea what a refugee is, and; Harper cold-bloodedness comes from not having the intelligence to grasp the magnitude of the problem. 

How Will Paulson and the RCMP Intervene in This Election ?

We'd be fools not to expect them to.

So what is it likely to be? And when?

I suspect it will be late enough in the campaign so that the few journalists remaining who care about such things won't have time to look into anything too deeply. After all Harper won't care if it's discovered after the vote - he'll be able to pass another retroactive law exonerating his state police of any wrong doing.

They could barge into some all candidates meetings and march out the LPC and/or NDP candidates in handcuffs while muttering empty phrases about 'terrorism' and 'suspicions'. Again best done right before the event so that no curious journos, if there still are any, could look into it.

They will do something. They are Harper's police force and will do as they are instructed.

Monday Rant

Have we had a PM or government in the past 60 years or so that respected the Constitutional role of the Senate?

No.

Does that mean the Constitutional role of the Senate is meaningless and the place should be done away with?

No.

What it does mean is that we haven't had a PM and government in over 60 years that respected the Constitution. Not even Pierre.

Harper has treated the Senate as a resort for retired bagmen and thugs and look where it's gotten him. Chretien and Mulroney did the same.

Mulcair, and presumably his squadrons of trained seals as well, would rather eliminate it, I suspect, because they'd prefer to avoid the possible legislative oversight and leave *all* oversight to the various Courts. Which judges would, naturally enough, be appointed by them.

But wouldn't it be marvelous if the Senate was treated with respect and actually *was* a house of sober second thought, a truly non-partisan chamber with no present ties to any political party, populated by Canadians of distinction and probity from all walks of life whose task was to examine proposed legislation to ensure that it would be to the benefit of all.

Because that is in fact it's Constitutional role.

We elect assholes, conmen and shysters, time after time after time, and expect them to behave like honest, upstanding citizens.

We are unworthy inheritors of democratic tradition and soon enough we'll have lost it.

Not because of some small man or woman in a big office somewhere but because we ourselves became distracted and sated and smug.

As well as more and more profoundly stupid and ham fisted even as we became more and more highly educated and specialized.

Blood soaked monkeys, that's us.

Rant over.

Another Day of Mourning.

Maybe we'll get lucky and Johnston will prove to have a backbone made more from democratic convention than autocratic opportunism.


Who am I kidding?

Johnston will probably be prevailed upon to actively campaign for Furious Leader. If he did we don't have a media that would tell us it was inappropriate - largely because much of the media probably doesn't know or care.

Another Harper majority about to be served up the middle between two parties too arrogant,  self-delusional and grand to think the well being of the country should be more critically important than their own egos.

Very sad day.

Gabrielle Penney, 20, and Kyle O’Neill, 26

These two troglodytes decided that it would be cool to go on vacation and leave a 9 week old puppy locked in the bathroom of their apartment - for 2 weeks. 

Here's the thing.

At some point in the future one or both of them are quite likely to become parents. In a perfect world not together but still...

What does some poor unsuspecting human child have in store ?

Higher Education For Your Ass

I think I've mentioned before that I am of the opinion that modern western universities bear a certain portion of responsibility for the mess the world finds itself in.

Highly educated chemists work for Monsanto and are actively involved in developing products that are rapidly decimating the pollinators of the planet.

Highly educated geo scientists are busily seeing to the destruction of groundwater capacities throughout the world.

Highly educated MBA graduates oversaw the near destruction of the global economy in 2008 and many of them made millions of dollars speculating on just how extreme the damage would be.

No need to get into the armaments industry which I'm fairly certain isn't a high school diploma kind of activity. 

On and on I could go.

Universities have demonstrated that they don't concern themselves with whether or not what their graduates go on to do in life enhances the life of the planet or diminishes it.

As Humanities departments have been eliminated so too have operational ethics and morality in even the most august institutions.

And now U of T is demonstrating that medical science needn't enter into the conversation when it comes to teaching about vaccination.

And that nepotism is alive and well in academic circles. 

The Adrian Dix Playbook

Shorter Mulcair and Trudeau: "We like the way the BC NDP and Adrian Dix did it and that's how we're going to do it too."

Oh goody.

Why can't some adults take over for these little boys.

They're on their way into a gun fight armed with an all day sucker.

Idiots.