j reacts to the possibility of naomi klein running for the leadership of the ndp

it says avi lewis.

i'd rather see naomi klein run, myself. and, frankly, i'd say she's probably the smart money at this point. it's in 2018.

still want to move to canada?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/potential-ndp-leaders/article29582403/

see, here's the thing: naomi klein is a partisan hack. well, at least she is in canada, anyways. she's married to the scion of the ndp ruling class. she is the hatfield to trudeau's mccoy.

but, she makes some good points, too.

i've posted enough here over the last few days to get my point across: trudeau is, in truth, a very pretty spokesperson. in that sense, he's more like reagan than he is like kennedy. he knows enough about what is happening to avoid looking foolish (most of the time). and, he'll pass any beer test you throw at him. but, he's a front for a party establishment with very deep roots in this country. and, no - he's not as liberal as you'd like to think.

but, as far as lesser evils go, the liberals (broadly, not just trudeau) are head and shoulders above anything else on offer. they are a lesser evil. unambiguously. they work for the banks. but..

here's one example: health care. the history is complicated, of course. but, if you ask the liberals, they'll tell you that they continue to support public healthcare because they see it as providing the country with a competitive advantage in labour costs. the end result is universal healthcare, and we're all very attached to it. but, if you listen to them carefully, it comes down to a pro-business policy. it's the same thing with the indexing of the minimum wage. it's very progressive and everything, but if you listen to them talk what they will tell you is that it's meant to drive aggregate demand. so, yes: they will consistently come down on the progressive side of things, but it's more because they're driven by numbers than anything else. except when they don't (pipelines, for example). so, it's always a lesser evil.

but, despite being a lesser evil, the reality is that, in practice, they're more comparable to the green party than the democrats. so, you need to pull her back a little.

but, this may be a launching speech. and, this may be the next election: trudeau v klein.

(and some conservative will no doubt also run)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/24/trudeau-is-less-liberal-than-you-think.html

mellow out, or you will pay.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/elementary-students-meditation-1.3526011

"yeah, i have a very strong crossover appeal: cia/fbi/nsa."

"the only audience i'm building is in the secret service."

"when i say my audience is listening...."

"i think i'm bigger than allen dulles."

shit hillary said vol 26

"I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts."