That startling sound you heard yesterday was probably just a co-worker spitting their coffee over their smartphone after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith clutched her pearls and advised progressive politicians to take it easy on their MAGA Canada counterparts lest someone get hurt.
“I certainly hope that some of the progressive politicians here are careful of their language because they’ve been talking about conservative politicians in the same way and they need to dial it down,” Ms. Smith told reporters at the premiers’ meeting in Halifax, referring, of course, to the now notorious events at that Donald Trump rally in Pennsylvania Saturday.
“When it starts getting personal and names get called and labels get called, I think it can have a way of heightening and animating the level of polarization,” Ms. Smith piously told a reporter in a CBC news clip. “We’ve all gotta be mindful of that.”
God knows, we could use a little more civility in Canadian politics nowadays, but the irony of Premier Smith’s military-grade gaslighting is palpable.
Consider some of the things she, her government, her party, and its supporters have had to say about political opponents like, just to pick a couple of examples, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Of the latter, alert readers will recall Ms. Smith herself told far right American commentator Tucker Carlson on a public stage in Calgary last January that “I wish you’d put Steven Guilbeault in your crosshairs.”
Now, as must be ritually recited at times like this, I’m sure Ms. Smith didn’t mean the man described as the leading voice of white grievance politics in the United States should literally put Mr. Guilbeault in the crosshairs of a rifle scope – merely that the far-right bloviator should say more defamatory things about Canada’s environment minister.
Still, what other kind of crosshairs are there? And what kind of ideas would you expect the sort of folks who take Mr. Carlson seriously take from that suggestion?
True, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. But sometimes a metaphor is inappropriate, including the one about crosshairs.
I guess we’re all going to have to learn that in-the-crosshairs is now an inappropriate thing to say in political discourse of any colour. But this means the people with the bumper stickers that say “The West Wasn’t Won With a Registered Gun” and “Fuck Trudeau,” as well as the Alberta politicians they favour, are going to have to learn to dial it down a bit themselves!
Alert readers will recall that there was a shooting and firebombing at Edmonton City Hall literally the day before Ms. Smith and Mr. Carlson sat down on stage for that congenial public chat.
Moreover, police have said they believe the violence, which took place while school kids were touring the building, was politically motivated. Thankfully, there were no injuries.
Still, given what happened the day before, the high-profile Calgary kaffeeklatsch featuring the premier and her American pal would have been an excellent place to spread the word that it was high time to cool the political rhetoric on all sides before someone was hurt.
As I wrote at the time, “One would have thought this would be a great opportunity to speak about the need for peace in our society, how our differences ought not to divide us, and how attacks on symbols of democracy are attacks on us all.”
So what did Ms. Smith actually have to say about that political violence, the day before, right in Alberta’s capital city?
All but nothing. One tweet on the evening of the shooting … praising the police for getting there quickly.
There was nothing from anyone else in her government.
There wasn’t even a statement on the government’s official website, where there is always room for a spurious attack on Mr. Trudeau or Mr. Guilbeault, like the premier’s unhinged statement at the COP28 Conference in Dubai last December in which she accused the environment minister of “treachery against our province” and “actively sabotaging the interests of Albertans.”
However, Ms. Smith did make one public comment the night after the shooting in Edmonton. She cheerfully tweeted a photo of herself in the company of Mr. Carlson, National Post founder Conrad Black, and misogyny apologist Jordan Peterson.
In retrospect, this was a telling omission. It informs us just how much Ms. Smith really cares about the potentially violent impact of harsh political rhetoric – at least when it’s directed at politicians she doesn’t agree with in a city that doesn’t vote for her party.
As a result, we can be pretty confident right-wing political discourse in Alberta will return to normal within days, if not hours.
As for progressives, I suppose, if the Trump/Smith effort to stop them from even mildly criticizing Republican-style policies on either side of the international boundary works, it will soon be safe to go back to reviling them as ineffectual snowflakes and crybabies.
CORRECTION: The Premier’s Office reminded me today that Premier Smith, or someone tweeting for her, did in fact make a brief comment on the evening of the shooting, thanking the police for their swift response. In the interests of technical accuracy, the story has been updated. DJC
Smith thinks Progressives need to give it a rest????> OMG that woman is stupid, stupid, stupid. Perhaps this was her attempt at trying to sound like she knew what she was talking about. Aren’t a lot of those conservative types gun advocates
Lets see, wasn’t it all those red necked truckers who created such trouble in Ottawa, closed a bridge back east and a customs office in Alberta. Now that sounds like a bunch just a few steps away from more violent action. Perhaps Smith could sit down with pp and give him instructions on how to behave when you’re the Leader of the Opposition. Yes, we know that won’t work because the premier of Alberta has her own challenges when it comes to professionalism while in office.
Trump helped create the atmosphere in the U.S.A. which created the enviornment which led to his being shot. Wasn’t he the one who wanted to have Black Lives Matter protestors shot? Wasn’t he the one who would not try to stop the Insurrection. He seemed to think it was just fine that police officers died, that some were seriously injured and other have PTSD. He seems to be keen on the NRA. He wants to put Liz Cheney on trial in a military court and have it televised. For what?
trump’s actions and words are filled with violence and it would appear Smith is following in his foot steps. We will wait to see if she attends the Leg. in cowboy boots and a rifle.
The hypocrisy from Danielle Smith knows no bounds. I remember that attack from the gunman at Edmonton’s City Hall. Danielle Smith didn’t really condemn it. The Coutts border blockade, which likely cost us billions of dollars, wasn’t condemned by Danielle Smith either. People there did have weapons and also wanted to overthrow the governments. In a foolish and an unparliamentary way, she Danielle Smith thought she could pardon Artur Pawlowski, who also had involvement in that border blockade, and wanted some sort of uprising to occur, like the Alamo. UCP MLAs, also invited criminals who were involved with the Coutts border blockade to be at the provincial Legislature. I remember when Justin Trudeau was being threatened, and there were right wingers who thought that was an act, when it wasn’t. Danielle Smith wants to have some type of Republican state. Even with this firewall style crap she is pursuing, that’s exactly the direction she is aiming for. Peter Lougheed was against that firewall nonsense.
I think that the first glaring misrepresentation this morning came from CTV news, with reporter Coaltin Praill, reporting “live ” from Halifax, with images of reporters busy snapping pics of all the Premiers around the table— and front and centre was —– Heather Stefanson- Manitoba – Chair President….
I’m on my first coffee and first reaction, was wait, what? Why is she there? Meanwhile the room is still being panned, closeups and I’m still confused, when the coffee kicked in and I realized that the “current ” Premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew was nowhere at the table. WTF is going on? Started searching online and yup, same thing on CTV online— live
July 15 2024 10:52 am PDT
|T| why you can trust CTVnews
NOT when you’re showing the meeting from the last Premiers meeting in February of 2023.
I am still fuming…..
—‐‐———————————–
As far as turning down the rhetoric, Marlaina doesn’t do anything about the c’ ap that her followers post to her X account, anymore than PP does. Nor does it seem to matter that along with his Slogan rhyme merch is shirts with pic of PMJT and a noose.
But being the hypocrites- it’s okay for me but not for thee–
Personally, I feel like the Conservatives (N&S) are using this incredibly ugly event as a way to stifle any comments from their opponents. Any negative criticism in the next 3mths is going to be dissected, and brought to bear — See, you’re turning up the rhetoric, not us.
It’s just another lose lose situation, as far as I see it. Especially after the VP choice.
The train tracks are really starting to vibrate.
All this talk about divisive politics tearing society apart is all show. The fact is the political classes in the United States are more united than ever before, probably agreeing on 90% of the issues. To differentiate themselves the parties have become experts at polarizing emotions in the electorate into thinking they have a choice (hey vote for us! because democracy is at stake!).
Progressive politicians would do well if they hang out more with the likes of Tucker Carlson as he has become a consistent critic of the military industrial complex . In that vein I have to share a precious tweet from Candace Owens yesterday. Soon after he was named as Trump’s VP, JD Vance went on the networks and started blabbing about hitting Iran hard. Tweeted Owens, “Like is it possible for us to get one effing person in office who doesn’t immediately speak about how we need to continue bombing the Middle East?”
Gore Vidal was not wrong when he characterized the US system as a single party with two right wings. And we live in that system. We have a ruling class, and they rule everything. Which is why we get “prog” politicans in an ostensible democracy who give us a half-billion dollar welfare scheme to build a hockey rink for a small group of plutocrats. They own the education system, they own the media, they own the judiciary, they own academia and they own the political system, lock, stock and barrel. Progs represent a historically anomalous hot-house flower development of the post-war welfare state. Their wokeism is entirely a bait-and-switch/divide-and-rule psy-op. This is not questioned by progs, and any suggestion of it is characterized as right-wing conspiracy theory. There’s a reason Franco was left alone for thirty years after “the Great Crusade Against Fascism” but the Canadian state really got behind the mass murder of one in five North Koreans between 1950 and ’53. Tucker Carlson is literally a CIA asset whose Daddy oversaw significant US psy-ops during the Cold War.
Many years ago somebody made the joke, I believe with regard to Stockwell Day, that the Holy Rollers believe that the Flintstones is a documentary. Does this work hold an equivalent place in the minds of our “political opposition”?
“White Like Me”
And here’s me, scrolling down to the end of the response list, when lo and behold? One of the best SNL bits arrives en flagrante! Wowser! I was going to post a shopping link for Dani to buy Melania’s “I Just Don’t Care” trench coat! I am ashamed of myself when confronted with superior comedy! Such is the Rodney Dangerfield syndrome!
Thank you for exposing Premier Smith’s dangerously-inflammatory partisan-hypocrisy. Can one hope that law enforcement folks take note and advise her to cool her jets?
Another great column, David, thanks for writing it.
Reading it made me realize how Danielle Smith’s crosshairs comment is essentially the same thing as the bullseye comment Joe Biden made:
Biden: “It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye”
Smith: “I wish you’d put Steven Guilbeault in your crosshairs.”
One difference, however, is that Joe Biden now admits his bullseye comment was a mistake. Smith, on the other hand, was given the opportunity to make the same admission yesterday, when reporters challenged her on her crosshairs comment in response to her complaint about progressive people’s language here, and she held her ground.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-says-it-was-mistake-say-bullseye-reference-trump-2024-07-15/
Bob: Ms. Smith’s response was interesting. She went, literally in less than a second, from comfortably gaslighting about how we all must stop personal attacks to launching another personal attack against Mr. Guilbeault. The only possible sign she was even aware of the change of course, is that her eyes bugged out – as illustrated in the screengrab used ads the main illustration for the piece. DJC
Let’s not forget the statement by that chronic embarrassment and very small excuse of a man, Shane Getson. The Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland MLA posted a photo on Facebook which read “I need you to take Trudeau to the train station,” a reference to the TV show “Yellowstone” which means to kill someone and hide their body. When Getson was was questioned about his death threat to Trudeau he claimed he had no idea what he was talking about which is par for the course for Smith and the UCP. True to form, the Alberta media let this death threat slide. I can only imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth by the Alberta media had something like this been said about Smith.
You have to admit, though, JE, that “I have no idea what I’m talking about” is a credible defence for someone like Mr. Getson. Not as good as that employed by former B.C. boss, Social Credit energy, mines and petroleum minister Bob McClelland, who, called to testify about the use of his credit card at a house of ill repute, told the judge, “I’m sorry, m’Lord, I was too drunk to recall.” Or words to that effect. DJC
Yes, that sounds like a Socred cabinet minister.
Having lived in B.C. since 1951 and heard just about all of their lines, it might be a good thing to compile them all.
If it hadn’t been so serious in a number of cases, it would have been funny
What Danielle is saying is “We can fire metaphorical bullets at you, but you, the left, must tone down your political comments to us.”
This sounds like the Israeli government and the Zionists saying that to criticize the Israeli government over their actions in Gaza and the West Bank is antisemitic.
It is pathetic.
Harsh comments are becoming very commonplace. I heard a young lady make the comment “ I wish someone would shoot Trudeau” the other day as the Trump news was on the tube.
Very sad.
What is happening to Canada?
Chuckstraight: I believe the problem started with the foolish decision of the CRTC in the 1970s and 80s to allow wholesale import of geographically local U.S. TV stations to various parts of Canada. This wasn’t a particular problem to Ontario (upstate New York) or British Columbia (Seattle), say, but it was particularly bad news for the Prairies. You could tell when you started to hear the accent changing in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, now hotbeds of MAGAfication. The MAGA virus followed the accent across the border. DJC
Thank you sir. I am afraid, very afraid.
I second your thoughts on the CRTC. It was a huge mistake.
Contrast and compare:
“When pressed on his “bullseye” comments, Mr Biden said: “It was a mistake to use the word. I didn’t say crosshairs. I meant bullseye, I meant focus on him. Focus on what he’s doing.””
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1rzde0n4do
“Earlier this year, Smith told famously inflammatory commentator Tucker Carlson she wanted him to put Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault in his “crosshairs” — and had accused the federal minister of “continued treachery” against Albertans because of his climate positions.
Smith was asked about those comments, shortly after she cast blame on others for calling her and Poilievre “dangerous.” She offered no regret for demanding Guilbeault be fired, and said she’ll “continue to be robust” in her commentary about him.””
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/analysis-danielle-smith-trump-shooting-ndp-liberals-dangerous-1.7264543
Danielle Smith had opportunity to tone down her own rhetoric, but she chose to add fuel to the fire. No apology, no regrets. We can expect to hear more of it from her. It’s “robustness”, and “calling for him to be fired” when she does it. It sounds like a poorly-acted B flick mafiosa uttering threats to me. Purely coincidental that Carlson headed to Russia immediately to interview Vladimir Putin, I’m sure.
This is just a reminder that the Coutts trial is still ongoing in Lethbridge. Also a coincidence, I’m sure, that an outspoken professor in Lethbridge had his front window shot out last week, ahead of a Diagolon meeting down the road in the Oldman River valley.
This is the climate in Alberta, in which Danielle Smith promises to continue using language that fans flames, without remorse or regard for the safety of others. Our leader, into the fire.
what is happening to Canada? well some people don’t understand shooting a politician can cause some one else to be shot. Not all shooters are accurate.
At some level I suspect a lot of people don’t understand what it means to shoot some one. They have never seen anyone shot in “real life”, only on film and that isn’t all that messy. Shooting some one is very messy. Most people who make those sorts of comments just don’t know what they are talking about.
Wanting to shoot Trudeau or any other politician is simply stupid. It won’t change anything, politically but it will destroy the lives of their families. Trudeau has three children, a Mom, brother, extended family and friends. How would his death effect them? Any one stop to think about that. I may not like PP’s politics and if he retired I’d be thrilled. Shooting him simply is not on. He has a wife, children, family, friends. Do people really want to make these men’s children orphans and go without their father for the rest of their lives. Have they ever known people whose parents were killed?
Don’t really recall any politician being shot improving the world or much else. Don’t believe in executions, don’t believe in killing politicians. Once the killing starts, where does it end?
“Premier Smith’s military-grade gaslighting” hilarious, I like it.
I loved this one except I think it is Nuclear Fusion grade.
Carlos and Mickey: Let me explain my logic. “‘Military grade’ is a buzzword commonly used in marketing and advertising for consumer goods. It is generally used to describe an item or product that satisfies a United States Military Standard. … In marketing, ‘military grade’ is meant to symbolize and evoke higher-than-usual levels of toughness, durability, efficiency, and quality, as well as the implication that the product was tested and ‘approved’ by some (non-existent) overseeing body or is regularly used and trusted by militaries — even if none of those are true.” (From the Wikipedia, lightly edited.) I reckoned that would be funnier than the usual cliches for professional level lying. DJC
DJC, Mickey & Carlos…as an ex military wife, there would be 3 options for the “military grade gas-lighting, imho.
1. Pongo
2. Powderpuff
3. Hairy ‘arse
Given that Alberta is landlocked, 3 does not apply (?) No matter how much she wishes it was.
Powderpuff would send her followers over the edge (chem-trails ya’know).
Which leaves Pongo*- aka “organ grinder’s monkey ”
which may be most apropos? Hmmm.
*with sorry not sorry to certain family members lol.
Randi-lee: I thought a pongo was what someone from the Navy called someone from the Army. Usually phrase “just a f&*kin’ pongo.” DJC
And which end of the spectrum threw rocks at Trudeau? And tried to crash the gates at the PM’s residence? And hounded former MP Catherine McKenna such that she resigned her seat? And shut down Ottawa and bridges to the US? Just asking, Danii, just asking.
How timely that the “friendly sausage maker” has been granted statutory release.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/corey-hurren-stormed-rideau-hall-granted-conditional-release-1.7264186
Smith’s plea for dialing down political rhetoric is like someone with a drinking problem suddenly preaching about the virtues of abstince – for others!
The UCP and Smith have had more than their fair share of nasty attacks against their political opponents over their short history as a party. So it seems odd they are now telling others to behave better, but it does go with Smith’s generally smug unquestioning sense of superiority. Perhaps the unexamined life the philosopher Socrates spoke of is worth living, at least for her.
While I assume she does not have a profane anti Trudeau bumper sticker on her own vehicle, I have never heard her chide her supporters about that. Or their comments on the former Twitter which at times can be a cesspool of derogatory and comments against those with different political ideas.
Yes, this sort of “it is all the other guys fault” is the type of comment that reeks of entitlement and denial. It is a wonder her nose did not grow longer when she said it, but it is the sort of glib sound bite the type Smith says, that sounds good to some in the moment said, but will probablt be quickly forgotten.
No doubt Smith and her followers will continue to have their political opponents in their crosshairs today, tommorow and after. Their motto here seems to be – civility is for others.
Speaking of noses, what Smith&Parker and PP’s Taxaxspikehike gangs are doing might indicate entitlement or denial in certain heads of their disrespectful herds, but in any case they are ALL cocking a snook at JT and the Feds (MAGAnuts haven’t quite unshrivelled enough yet to dare direct the same ad hominem at Alberta’s new NDP leader as the federal Liberals regularly get from the Take United Back Conservative Reform Alberta Party) and, now that Danielle has taken the knee for tRumpublicanism in, of all places, Halifax, at all progressives, everywhere.
Nose-thumbing is mirthful entitlement to NOT deny hypocrisy.
Scotty: A true fact, also speaking of noses, is that in one of the four attempts to assassinate Benito Mussolini, the bullet nicked his nose, but did not do serious harm. He was successful in turning the minor injury and the threat it symbolized to his political advantage, turning up at a political speech hours later with his nose bandaged. In that speech, he said: “If I advance, follow me. If I retreat, kill me. If I die, avenge me.” I frankly expect to hear something along those lines soon from You-Know-Who. DJC
The harmers incite violence,then play the dumb card ,who would have thought
Says the Premier who harms child and youth via grooming and other rhetoric,the Premier who is excited about death ,who would have thought ?
Irony would be some MAGAnaut violently attacking a progressive for criticizing Danielle Smith’s hypocrisy.
The “protesters” at Coutts had plans to murder police officers. One can read all about it, as they’re being prosecuted for it now.
If she was made aware that the organizers of the Tour de France have imposed a mask mandate, will bicycles be banned in Alberta?
Danielle Smith has no concept of reality. She seems to also suffer from Alzheimers.
She obviously does not like to be called DANGEROUS. She mentioned it many times.
Well I am sorry but that is exactly what she is. Not just dangerous, she should see a psychiatrist to check on her brain activity if any.
By the way this is not an insult. This is what I think about her.
Is that a hand-beaded red dress brooch representing MMIW on Smith’s lapel? I can’t tell for sure. How ironic, given the context of the words coming out of her mouth.
That is what I see, yes. DJC
There isn’t a week that goes by where Smith isn’t hostile towards anyone in opposition to her and her party. Smith’s latest response to the hostile political environment is nothing shy of inflammatory, laying blame on the progressives for it. This is tantamount to setting the Reichstag on fire and blaming the act of arson on the opposition in classic fascist style. She is the queen of inflammatory rhetoric, hate and violence, calling the federal minister of the environment “an extremist” and “a zealot” and supporting those behind the Freedom Convoy and Coutt’s blockade. Let’s stop treating these fascists with kid gloves and give them back what they deserve – ridicule, derision and mockery.
This woman literally tried to intervene in the cases of people who literally tried to do an insurrection, had body armour, assault rifles and significant amounts of ammunition, some of whom were also members of a far right organization that is literally trying to create a new country they call diagolon.
What is she even talking about. Shut up Trash Can Dani. The guy who shot trump was a registered republican.
Another wide-eyed (or should that be wild-eyed) performance from our premier thespian. Dave, I have to wonder – do you deliberately choose the freakiest looking Dani photos or has this past year caused a serious deterioration in her looks?
LAS: I took two screenshots of that interview. I used the one was was less flattering, but more interesting. It was grabbed at exactly the moment she switched from calmly urging us to stop making personal attacks to, in instant response to a reporter’s question, making a personal attack. That said, screenshots are problematic because not every moment you stop the video will it be in focus. This is not high quality film. So you kind of have to take what you can get. The premier’s official photographer does excellent work, by contrast, always sharply in focus, and it is posted royalty free on a government website. I reckon everything there has been approved by the Premier’s Office so they can’t complain whichever ones I choose. I try to pick shots that illustrate the contents of the story, not necessarily that make the premier look good or bad. As have we all, Ms. Smith has aged noticeably since she became premier. DJC
Given the events in the US, and their completely unsurprising occurances of violence, it’s hard to take the side that this — the violence — is a bad thing. If anything, given the policy positions and subterfuge of CONs over the decades, they have clearly run themselves off a cliff. There was a time, before Ronald Reagan, that Republicans really believed that there are too many firearms in the US. Indeed, it was even considered, as a policy position, decades ago that the GOP should consider the validity and the rationality of limiting gun ownership. Indeed, considering the sancrosant Second Amendment as a divine right to unlimited gun ownership rights was a fraud. Or, at the very least, restricting the types of firearms that individuals can own, was a good idea. But with the Reagan Revolution, America loves guns, and the more guns the better.
The majority of political assassinations that have occurred in US history were the result of one shooter with a rather limited weapon, be it a small pistol or an antiquated Italian rifle. These days, American gun owners have access to enormous firepower. Indeed, the amount of destructive power that has been wielded in numerous mass shootings over the years has reached extreme levels. At one school mass shooting, the bodies of the victims were so mangled by the bullets that struck them, the only way to identify the remains was by dental records or DNA. This is the present that gun violence in America has wrought.
CONs for all their unhinged insane ranting are now calling for their opposition to cool it? Really? Queen Danielle is playing the victim card time and time again. But this time, saying it’s her opposition who are the ones pressing for violence is pretty rich. I know the woman lives in her weird podcast reality, but they rest of us don’t have to.
As for the US, let them fall into chaos and an endless orgy of violence. This has been long foretold and warned about. They worship a culture that fetishizes and warfare. Let them burn.
Just Me— and happily for the “Conservatives ” , the public attention has been focused away from Project 2025. Which going by the article in the Tyee**, re chapter 11/education, is so eerily similar to what the UCP are doing in Alberta, one could get the idea that they are following ‘that ‘ book.
Tyee- Inside the twisted fantasy project of a new America….July 11th Crawford Killian…
Well worth the read, imo–
The only reason conservatives advocated gun control (which happened when Reagan was governor) is because the Black Panther party was carrying legal weapons around everywhere and scaring the hell out of the good white folks. Most notably, and reportedly accidentally, on to the floor of the California state legislature. In fact, Americans at many points in history been encouraged to have guns, settler violence was a big part of how the west was pacified. Some democrat types like to do this sort of gotcha where they say something like “see Republicans used to be reasonable, they supported abortion or gun control or started the EPA or whatever, but it’s very much a losing strategy. The right doesn’t care and you’re talking about something that no longer exists just to avoid dealing with the cold reality of things.
America loves the gun. Democrats do, Republicans do, Communists do, that ain’t never going to change.
Ironically, when US troops began coming under fire in Iraq, a country where gun ownership was widespread and seen as part of a families duty to protect it’s members, the US Army imposed limits on gun ownership on the citizens. Given the symbolism of weapons to Iraqis they limited it to 1 gun (usually an AK-47) per household, but it was still an interesting , and not widely publicized, stance.
It’s one thing to say let ’em reap what they sow but it’s something else entirely when you realize the dire consequences it would have on the world (especially Canada) if civil war were to become reality. Not to mention the trickle effect such an event would have on the Maple MAGAts in this country. If you think they are emboldened now….
Paradoxically, Smith is at her most dangerous not when making inflammatory statements supporting the unsupportable in her own party and baselessly attacking political opponents, but rather when she isn’t. At those times her demeanor softens, her voice lowers, and she takes on a neighbourly, over-the-back-fence tone while transitioning seamlessly away from valid questions and criticisms to deliver soothing non-sequiturs that ease the anxiety of all but the most hardened critics. It is this habit of speech that is most to be feared.
It doesn’t happen often but today it did. At times the writing skill of some of the commentators actually approached that of the blogger. Like David’s work, scary but impressive.
DJC– re: correction
Did she make a public statement aka the news, or did she just post something on her social media page, that only a small segment of the population would see ?
Randi-lee: She made no announcements, delivered no statements, encouraged no others to comment. She (or someone working for her) published a single tweet, a reply to another tweet and therefore seen by even fewer people. Really, I no no difference beyond the technicality between “nothing” and “a single reply tweet, thanking the cops for hurrying, no less.” That said, I am serious about accuracy and will always publish a correction in such circumstances, which are bound to happen from time to time. DJC
This is a superb picture of Daniellezebub in her best grade six girl pose of pretend astonishment and feigned innocence (i.e. the “Who? Me?” look). She learned how to do this in grade six when she was caught passing nasty notes, something she continued to do when she was a soon-to-be-fired school trustee.
Well I guess after admitted to shopping for Dani, I should at least get her approval before I buy it and have cameras at the ready when it’s delivered to the ledge! https://www.amazon.com/Really-Melania-Trump-Jacket-Womens/dp/B07V3SNDPC
POGO—- Oh please do….it’s absolutely the perfect jacket for her to wear. LMAO…
So after these Reformers starting with Ralph Klein have deliberately helped the rich steal the people of Alberta’s oil and corporate tax wealth by slashing taxes and royalties Danielle Smith wants the rest of Canada to provide her with Equalization Payments to make up for the financial mess she has helped them create. I wonder how stupid she thinks Canadians are?
Given that she has attained the highest elected political office in Alberta, she has plenty of reason to think that some Canadians are stupid indeed.
One of the members of the shooting range that the Trump shooter was a member of said he was a terrible shot . Isn’t that too bad?