Roundup: A tale of two rage-farmers

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Yesterday during Question Period, I made an unoriginal joke about Garnett Genuis’ terrible performance. But we live in Extremely Online times, and so Andrew Scheer decided that he was going to do something about my lame joke. He claimed that I called for Genuis to be shot—which I most certainly did not—and began the process of online intimidation through rage-farming. Of note, Scheer tried this previously against Gerald Butts for using the term “defenestrated,” and that whipped up a huge frenzy, because of course it did. While a handful of randos started the process of harassing me, a short time later, the Canada Proud account decided to pick up on it, putting out a wholly unoriginal shitpost declaring me to be a “Liberal journalist” who owes Genuis an apology for advocating he be shot—which again, I did no such thing, and I owe him no apology. If anything, he owes everyone an apology for subjecting us to his attempt to be clever with the lyrics of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” And lo, more of Jeff Ballingall’s winged monkeys tried to harass me online, with one or two Conservative MPs chiming in, insisting that I “crossed a line,” which again, I did no such thing. I fully expect Pierre Poilievre to put out another wounded-sounded fundraising email about me by tomorrow.

The point here is that this is how the intimidation game is played, and why they think that journalists are uniquely vulnerable. If you are critical about anyone on their team, they declare that you are biased, even though you are critical about every team. They howl and moan, in the hopes that you either apologise and retract, and then they know that you’re weak, and that they can silence you through these kinds of tactics. It’s partially why so many journalists have resorted to scrupulously both-sidesing all of their lies—because they screamed and moaned about being treated unfairly, and insisting that they were “insulted” when they were called out for their blatant falsehoods, and yes, this has absolutely happened—until those reporters and their editors stop calling them out, and instead, just both-sides what is said. Both-sidesing in turn allows them to lie with impunity, because they know they won’t be called out for it, lest they begin this cycle again. And now, our political discourse is completely fucked as a result. So no, I’m not going to let Scheer or Ballingall intimidate me, and their winged monkeys don’t scare me.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 210:

Russian president Putin announced a partial mobilisation of Russian reserves to fill positions in the army, if that’s any indication of how well this is going for him. Meanwhile, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a video address to the UN General Assembly, assuring victory for Ukraine, but also calling for punishment for Russia, including stripping them of their permanent seat on the Security Council.

Good reads:

  • At the UN General Assembly, Justin Trudeau condemned Putin’s latest threats, and did pony up Canada’s fair share to the Global Fund replenishment.
  • Trudeau has also indicated he will be heading to Japan over the weekend to attend the state funeral of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.
  • Marco Mendicino is promising that a bill to declare Indigenous policing to be an essential service will be tabled this fall.
  • Ukraine is asking for more Canadian military hardware, but we may not have enough left in stock to give them.
  • The federal government is investing $1.9 million over three years to help develop automated tools to flag violent and extremist content online.
  • In the event that you’re confused about the three different online bills, the Star has you covered, with a primer on each of them.
  • The Snowbirds are allowed to fly again now that the cause of their latest crash has been determined and corrected.
  • Five years later, the Canada-EU trade deal still is not fully ratified because 12 European countries have not formally signed off on it.
  • New census data shows a decline in home ownership, the state of Indigenous housing, and that Indigenous children are overrepresented in foster care.
  • At committee, senators had some scepticism on web giants worrying about the sanctity of their algorithms.
  • There are concerns that Senator Marilou McPhedran may have falsified documents to try and help some Afghans leave the country before the fall of Kabul.
  • The Conservatives say they may support the bill to double the GST credit, but not the dental care bill (which is a terrible kludge in any case).
  • Alberta’s former justice minister, Kacee Madu, has praised the convoy/occupation movement, because he cares that much about the rule of law. Cripes.
  • Philippe Lagassé and I delve into the royal family’s finances to explain why the notion that they are “taxpayer-funded” isn’t really true.

Odds and ends:

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6 thoughts on “Roundup: A tale of two rage-farmers”

  1. On the attack from the Cons on your tweet, thanks for exposing their bike tactics. Keep resisting their bullies and continue refusing to be intimidated by them.

  2. Once again, Dale, a shout out for bringing clarity and truth to the lashing out by the CPC against journalists, in particular, at this time.
    The “bothsideism”, is killing the integrity of the Press, and should be called out every time by all of us.

  3. The Tory member so grievously wounded by criticism stood in his place with all parliamentary protection and blatantly lied about his treatment by “Mr. Smith.”
    Aided and abetted by the smarmiest of all Cons a once PM, red blood still oozing from the knife wounds administered by his loyal collogues, the falsely aggrieved backbencher will undoubtedly be supported further today by a plethora of weak minded sycophants slavishly suited to the support of their new leader who like the MAGA criminal to the south advocates an authoritarian form of government. Not in Canada I say! I have been permanently banned from commenting on a national news network because I referred to a group of Albertans as rednecks, which they deemed racist.” I am Alberta born and raised and managed to rise above the ultra mean conservative elements that have and are the reason that Alberta has become a pariah in Canada.
    Yet this same national network abets the telling of lies in their reporting of QP and elsewhere every single day. CPP, Unemployment Insurance, Fossil Fuel Levies are not “taxes.”
    Keep calling them out Dale. I am right there with you.

  4. Don’t buckle to them, Dale. You’re one of the very, very few in Canadian journalism who not only doesn’t engage in spineless both-siding, but actually calls out LIES with that very word. The rest of the PPG and certainly the “pundits” and opinionators could take a lesson from you. And furthermore, Jagmeet Singh needs to read your book about how the Canadian government operates, and why jurisdiction matters and why it isn’t just a “these aren’t the droids you were looking for” hand-waving cop-out from the Liberals! Do you have “The Unbroken Machine” in kindergarten picture-book form to make it easier for him to understand?

  5. Thank you J.B. I’m sure you have read my comments on the absolute ignorance of Singh and others of JURISDICTION. This is how corrupt politicians hide what they say about Trudeau and the Feds. They know that most Canadians never stop and think about which level of government is responsible for what. Thus all complaints are dumped on Trudeau which is unfair and ignorant, yet the media panders to this so I guess we will have to rely on Dale to continue to call everybody out.

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