twitter is simply not a representative sample of the population. and, it's not hard to see the bias built in to a groupthink service with a character restriction. the right thinker here is gramsci.

twitter is irrelevant, except as a parroting of what's being pushed down by the status quo.

but, in the broader scheme of things, the lesson the liberals need to learn before it's too late is that they need to stop trying to be fucking democrats. canada is not california. and the liberal party is not the democratic party. it has a different history, different values, different voters...

i think i'm wasting my bytes, here, though. yet, note - in the end, a good analysis of the situation will be that the liberal party was taken over by bourgeois millennials that spent most of their 20s in the united states and completely lost touch with their own voters.

the key part of voter renewal in the liberal party is going to be remembering that they're not democrats.

is this something like what happened in bc all those years ago?

if so, trudeau should just be forthright about it.

http://fortune.com/2018/04/04/fake-metoo-claims-pew-research/

if you're still dragging around this idea of women as delicate, and men as protectors, you don't belong in this century.

i'm not even going to tell you you're a conservative, at this point. you're just a hopeless anachronism.

yet, if you read it critically, that's the basic premise of #metoo.

if you're a liberal - not a progressive, not a democrat, but a liberal - you have to go both ways on this topic.

you have to accept that women are human beings with autonomous rights.

but, that goes the other way from the puritan doctrine, too: you also have to accept that they're not delicate flowers, and can take it like a man, when they have to.

it's that second point that seems to have been lost somewhere in the #metoo movement - and that canadian liberals are likely to see as, perhaps, even more important than the first one.

canada just doesn't have the puritanical fake left that the united states does because it doesn't have that kind of history. large amounts of canada were actually settled by americans trying to escape that kind of bullshit.

some conservatives are likely to get offended. and, there is a "progressive" strain in the new democratic party, sure.

but, trudeau's liberal party base isn't just likely to shrug it off, but likely to criticize anybody making a big deal out of it as puritanical zealots that are cynically politicizing a non-issue.

it actually sounds to me like he grabbed her and pushed her away because he didn't want to deal with journalists at the concert.

a creston valley handshake, if you will.

https://twitter.com/kinsellawarren/status/1004504658403119105/photo/1

this trudeau groping thing...

i don't know the facts. but, i think the political analysis is off base, and there's even an opportunity for trudeau to stand up and be an actual liberal, here.

to begin with, the canadian equivalents of the militant components of the #metoo movement in the united states would mostly reject voting liberal in canada, a priori. these would be partisan new democrats, mostly - or maybe activists that often lean green. as we don't really have much of an analogue to the republican party in canada, a lot of people that call themselves "progressives" in the united states would actually just be conservatives in canada. so, this idea that he should be fearful of a kneejerk reaction is really reading the spectrum wrong.

the contrast between al franken & that...i don't know the other guy's name...but, that contrast was guffawed at a few months ago in the united states. how did al franken get sacked by his own party over what were really undefined allegations - just suggestions of possible wrong doing - while this republican guy admits being a paedophile and everybody shrugs? an outrageous juxtaposition? sure. and, a naive understanding of the canadian spectrum would suggest the liberals would take out the knives while the conservatives collectively shrugged...

yet, it was patrick brown and erin weir that got taken down from the inside on largely frivolous charges, and kent hehr that remains in caucus over something that sounded a little more concerning.

canadian liberals don't tend to be self-righteous, or into fire & brimstone as punishment the way that "progressive" democrats are. and, i'd actually like to hear trudeau stand up and clarify that difference.

i don't know what happened. but, he's better off with a mea culpa than a denial. and, while it is no doubt true that he'll get nailed by both parties, i think canadians will forgive him for it.

ugh.

i'm not advocating smoking crack, don't get me wrong, here.

but i's actually rather deal with a crackhead neighbour than a pothead neighbour. at least the crackhead neighbour will help me stay up, whereas the pothead neighbour is causing me to be as unproductive as she is.

i think we should just all drink coffee, most of the time. but, it's true: if i have to make the choice as to which pollution i'm inhaling, i'd rather inhale the upper.

of course, if you don't want to pay the fine - and i'd rather call it a fine, a punishment, than a tax - then you should lower your carbon footprint.

and, if you don't care? well, sorry. i don't much care about you, then.

me? i should get a monthly check in the mail from this. and, if costs of certain things go up, i'll substitute them for things that cost less.

.....because i do care.

http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/and-heres-your-very-small-carbon-bill-canada