Analyzing the controversy at the national police service. Roe v. Wade is dead. Things will get bonkers now. The state of the CPC, and our institutions.
Jen/Matt, enjoyed you dispatch as always. With respect to your passionate discussion of stare decisis, we might want to have someone explain this concept to Chief Justice Wagner and the rest of the Supreme Court of Canada. They make things up all the time based on what their values and beliefs are, and then attempt to pass it off as simply enforcing "Canadian Values". I guess as long as you share their values and beliefs it is a bit of a nothing burger - until you don't share them. Really, if you are as concerned as you seem to be about this issue based on the dissent in the recent SCOTUS decision, you should really turn your attention to the SCC.
As to the last point - it is definitely time for the Federal Liberals to get a new leader. Justin Trudeau is unnecessarily divisive in already difficult and divided times. He is hurting their brand and damaging the good will of Canadians towards each other.
I seem to remember that first the provincial government and then the federal government fought tooth and nail against having a full public inquiry into the shootings. An inquiry only came after massive public outrage. Maybe we now know why.
Another "best $50 I've spent in a long time" moments. The planet is a mess, and the US is a devolving clusterfuck. What happens there usually comes here; bonkers may be an understatement.
I trust neither Lucki, Trudeau or Blair. And l have also lost a great deal of faith in the abilities of the RCMP leadership to keep Nova Scotians safe in an emergency. They totally dropped the ball that night and following day which l believe led to lives being lost because of those decisions in communicating to the public.
Our institutions are garbage, top to bottom. They should be dissolved and rebuilt from scratch. We would still have intelligent people, buildings, and equipment. The organizational capital of the institutions themselves is negative.
Is any journalist going to mention that it was the local NS RCMP that had everybody howling for their heads, the last few weeks, over incompetence that basically came down to withholding too much information from the public, costing 13 more lives - and that this bit of 'whistleblowing' changed the conversation? I really think the 22 dead are what "vaporized their reputation"...
When I heard that they hadn't released the gun information to the public, my first thought was "why"? How does it serve the investigation? Crime-TV watchers know two reasons: you withhold exact crime details so you can tell a fake confession from a real one (not applicable) and if you're closing in on the gun-smugglers, you don't let them know you're coming, which a make/model would somehow do (never claimed, and sounds farfetched).
The guns confiscated at Coutts were on TV later that same day, though I believe some were illegal, and hardly enough time had passed to be certain where they came from.
And not one journalist has asked about that, or about he larger issue: should police, like military, be able to classify anything they want, or, as they prefer, classify *everything* they are not forced to reveal? Should they have to check with Justice, or with a court, before withholding information that might assist the public with their safety?
You can bet that if the dispute were one level down, between the Superindendent and one of his staff, every detail of it would be completely unavailable, "for HR reasons".
I can get down with "Lucki must go" as long as the top two levels of the NS RCMP go first. There's nothing more "wildly inappropriate" for a police force, than blundering around in the woods for half a day while 13 more people die that might have protected themselves - with more information.
- she is a pro-gay rights, pro-choice moderate who has become increasingly vocal about the Conservative party's turn toward the conspiratorial
This is where I sit in the party too, I am not sure the CPC will survive unless it gets it's head out of it's butt and starts thinking about real issues.
Another possible aspect of the Roe v. Wade situation: About 20 yrs. ago the book Freakonomics posited that the reduced crime rate that lagged Roe v. Wade was due to the decrease in unwanted babies.
"The best thing we can do to lower the overall societal temperature is demand governments simply provide reasonably effective and efficient service, with minimal inflammatory, self-serving rhetoric, to as many people as possible." One hundred percent. The first politician and political party that grasps this will get my vote and I suspect a lot of votes.
The only way we will manage through the various crisis is if we -- citizens -- start creating incentives for leaders and the bureaucracy to do better. That means less partisanship. It means not jumping on this week's outrage. And -- especially -- it means focusing on shared persistent issues more and shorter-term annoyances less. In short we need to stop collectively acting like spoiled teenagers and start acting like mature adults. I wish I knew how we get there ...
If the government would deliver on the mundane, I would tolerate the quixotic rhetoric. Unfortunately the government can't execute on the easy stuff so doubles down on the impossible.
When I read in the comments section that our “institutions should be dissolved” I think of countries where that has actually happened -Cultural Revolution in China under Mao. Years of chaos, fear and violence. Is that really what some people are hoping for?
I’m genuinely curious about the plans Matt and Jen are making to “try and muddle through as individuals or families or small cliques” in the upcoming chaos. I used to laugh at my husband’s (mild) prepper mentality. Now I’m spending time and money stocking up on emergency supplies and strategizing on how I can obtain extra prescriptions for pets and ourselves if medical care isn’t available in an emergency. At the same time, I can’t stop thinking about this being the “last good summer” as predicted in a recent podcast by The Line, and tell myself I should be out there having fun while I can!
Jen/Matt, enjoyed you dispatch as always. With respect to your passionate discussion of stare decisis, we might want to have someone explain this concept to Chief Justice Wagner and the rest of the Supreme Court of Canada. They make things up all the time based on what their values and beliefs are, and then attempt to pass it off as simply enforcing "Canadian Values". I guess as long as you share their values and beliefs it is a bit of a nothing burger - until you don't share them. Really, if you are as concerned as you seem to be about this issue based on the dissent in the recent SCOTUS decision, you should really turn your attention to the SCC.
As to the last point - it is definitely time for the Federal Liberals to get a new leader. Justin Trudeau is unnecessarily divisive in already difficult and divided times. He is hurting their brand and damaging the good will of Canadians towards each other.
I seem to remember that first the provincial government and then the federal government fought tooth and nail against having a full public inquiry into the shootings. An inquiry only came after massive public outrage. Maybe we now know why.
Another "best $50 I've spent in a long time" moments. The planet is a mess, and the US is a devolving clusterfuck. What happens there usually comes here; bonkers may be an understatement.
I trust neither Lucki, Trudeau or Blair. And l have also lost a great deal of faith in the abilities of the RCMP leadership to keep Nova Scotians safe in an emergency. They totally dropped the ball that night and following day which l believe led to lives being lost because of those decisions in communicating to the public.
So lucid and compelling. I don't know how you two manage to write so much, so quickly, so well.
Our institutions are garbage, top to bottom. They should be dissolved and rebuilt from scratch. We would still have intelligent people, buildings, and equipment. The organizational capital of the institutions themselves is negative.
Is any journalist going to mention that it was the local NS RCMP that had everybody howling for their heads, the last few weeks, over incompetence that basically came down to withholding too much information from the public, costing 13 more lives - and that this bit of 'whistleblowing' changed the conversation? I really think the 22 dead are what "vaporized their reputation"...
When I heard that they hadn't released the gun information to the public, my first thought was "why"? How does it serve the investigation? Crime-TV watchers know two reasons: you withhold exact crime details so you can tell a fake confession from a real one (not applicable) and if you're closing in on the gun-smugglers, you don't let them know you're coming, which a make/model would somehow do (never claimed, and sounds farfetched).
The guns confiscated at Coutts were on TV later that same day, though I believe some were illegal, and hardly enough time had passed to be certain where they came from.
And not one journalist has asked about that, or about he larger issue: should police, like military, be able to classify anything they want, or, as they prefer, classify *everything* they are not forced to reveal? Should they have to check with Justice, or with a court, before withholding information that might assist the public with their safety?
You can bet that if the dispute were one level down, between the Superindendent and one of his staff, every detail of it would be completely unavailable, "for HR reasons".
I can get down with "Lucki must go" as long as the top two levels of the NS RCMP go first. There's nothing more "wildly inappropriate" for a police force, than blundering around in the woods for half a day while 13 more people die that might have protected themselves - with more information.
- she is a pro-gay rights, pro-choice moderate who has become increasingly vocal about the Conservative party's turn toward the conspiratorial
This is where I sit in the party too, I am not sure the CPC will survive unless it gets it's head out of it's butt and starts thinking about real issues.
I think we can rest assured Commissioner Lucki is on her way out because Trudeau expressed his “confidence” in her.
Crazy idea: an amendment that enshrines bodily autonomy.
Another possible aspect of the Roe v. Wade situation: About 20 yrs. ago the book Freakonomics posited that the reduced crime rate that lagged Roe v. Wade was due to the decrease in unwanted babies.
"The best thing we can do to lower the overall societal temperature is demand governments simply provide reasonably effective and efficient service, with minimal inflammatory, self-serving rhetoric, to as many people as possible." One hundred percent. The first politician and political party that grasps this will get my vote and I suspect a lot of votes.
The only way we will manage through the various crisis is if we -- citizens -- start creating incentives for leaders and the bureaucracy to do better. That means less partisanship. It means not jumping on this week's outrage. And -- especially -- it means focusing on shared persistent issues more and shorter-term annoyances less. In short we need to stop collectively acting like spoiled teenagers and start acting like mature adults. I wish I knew how we get there ...
If the government would deliver on the mundane, I would tolerate the quixotic rhetoric. Unfortunately the government can't execute on the easy stuff so doubles down on the impossible.
When I read in the comments section that our “institutions should be dissolved” I think of countries where that has actually happened -Cultural Revolution in China under Mao. Years of chaos, fear and violence. Is that really what some people are hoping for?
I’m genuinely curious about the plans Matt and Jen are making to “try and muddle through as individuals or families or small cliques” in the upcoming chaos. I used to laugh at my husband’s (mild) prepper mentality. Now I’m spending time and money stocking up on emergency supplies and strategizing on how I can obtain extra prescriptions for pets and ourselves if medical care isn’t available in an emergency. At the same time, I can’t stop thinking about this being the “last good summer” as predicted in a recent podcast by The Line, and tell myself I should be out there having fun while I can!