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By slamming experts, Pierre Poilievre and his staff are degrading political debate Stephen Maher is a political journalist and author of The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau. On Tuesday, when Doris Grinspun, the CEO of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, told CBC that Ontario’s decision to close 10 supervised drug consumption sites is “a death sentence for people that use substances,” the federal Conservatives were quick to attack her. Sebastian Skamski, a spokesman for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, slammed her on X: “CBC’s so called ‘expert’ (with 23 letters behind her name) deems Trudeau’s crime ridden drug dens ‘essential’ & equates them to cancer treatment centres. These are the WACKO ‘experts’ Trudeau uses to defend his drug disaster. These are the WACKO ‘expert’ voices media peddles.” Story continues below advertisement Mr. Skamski, who is entitled to put two letters behind his name, may not fully appreciate the value of the letters after Dr. Grinspun’s name. They show, among other things, that she is a registered nurse and a PhD, that she has an honorary law degree and is a member of the Order of Ontario. Those letters do not show that she is right about supervised injection sites, but do show that she might know what she is talking about, and is the kind of person we ought to hear from. If she has good reasons to believe that supervised drug consumption sites save lives and reduce the harm of addiction, then she has a responsibility to speak out. Mr. Skamski is impolite, therefore, to call her names and treat her disrespectfully for doing her job. But he is following the example set by his boss. Mr. Poilievre is going after the people working on the front lines of the opioid epidemic. It is part of a pattern. Story continues below advertisement Mr. Poilievre has previously attacked Indigenous survivors of residential schools, the chief electoral officer, former governor-general David Johnston, a small-town reporter and variousexperts. Mr. Poilievre is often careless about others’ reputations. In February, for example, in the House of Commons, where he can speak without fear of defamation law, he called housing expert Mike Moffatt a “failed Liberal academic,” an ill-considered, inaccurate and unfair smear on a public intellectual who has done as much as anyone in Canada to explain the housing crisis and propose solutions. In the online conservative world where Mr. Skamski and Mr. Poilievre likely spend too much time, it is normal to refer to some people as NPCs – non-playable characters. It’s an idea from video games: NPCs are the figures nobody is controlling, like the pedestrians who get hit by cars in Grand Theft Auto. Conservatives who are “very online” – meaning they are excessively engaged with internet culture – use the term as an insult. Elon Musk used the phrase recently to complain about hostile media coverage of his boring conversation with Donald Trump. But in a way, many citizens are NPCs in politics; they are non-partisans who nonetheless can participate in debates. It is a bad idea to sneer at those people, or discourage them from speaking. Story continues below advertisement Mr. Poilievre has a fearsome reputation because of his unerring ability to quickly identify his opponents’ weak spots and attack them ruthlessly. He sometimes goes further than necessary, but the parliamentary system depends on no-holds-barred exchanges. It is wrong to expect the Leader of the Opposition to treat the Prime Minister and his cabinet as flawed but well-meaning. That’s not how the game has ever been played – not by John A. Macdonald, John Diefenbaker or Jean Chrétien. If you don’t want to be attacked, do not run for office. But when Mr. Poilievre is disrespectful to NPCs – like Dr. Grinspun or Mr. Moffatt – he is making our public conversations even viler than they need to be. Our debates do not need to resemble YouTube comment sections, where nasty basement dwellers anonymously trade vicious insults with strangers. Mr. Poilievre has had a commanding lead in the polls for almost two years. His party is united behind him while the Liberals are confused and dispirited. Everyone thinks he is going to be prime minister. He would be smart to start acting like it and direct his partisan attacks only at those who put their names on ballots. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-by-slamming-experts-pierre-poilievre-and-his-staff-are-degrading/

While filming a political video at Arlington Cemetery, an Arlington employee told a Trump cameraman that he was forbidden from entering or photographing Area 60, where the most recent veterans are buried. Doing so, she explained, was a violation of Federal law. But we know that Trump and his cronies don’t give a damn about Federal law, nor respecting our veterans. The statement from the U.S. Army said Trump’s staff “unfairly attacked” an Arlington National Cemetery employee: “This incident was unfortunate, and it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked,” a statement from the Army’s public affairs office said, referring to Arlington National Cemetery. “ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve.” Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, said in a statement that the cemetery official was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode” and that the campaign was prepared to release footage of the confrontation to support its account of the clash. The campaign did not provide that footage after several requests. Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, added in a separate statement that the cemetery official was “a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.” PROOF that Donald Trump and his cronies have no respect for the men and women who serve our nation.

The Piece of Shlt named Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. This is a fact, because the United States is a nation of laws. Those laws were followed, Trump filed his ridiculous 64 lawsuits and lost them all, so done deal. Even his hand-picked Supreme Court refused to overturn the election. And Fox News lost $785 million in a defamation lawsuit because they lied about Trump’s loss. Repeat: Fox News paid $785 million because they repeatedly lied to their viewers. Now the traitor says he will pardon the seditionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol, including people convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 17 years in Federal prison. One of Trump’s closest confidants, Stephanie Grisham, said that while spending the holidays with the Trump family, Donald repeatedly called his own supporters “basement dwellers.” That’s what Trump thinks of YOU. He thinks you’re a “basement dweller.” And, maybe you are. Trump hates the United States Constitution, hates disabled veterans, illegally uses Arlington Cemetery for political photo ops, illegally tear-gassed people for another photo op, and is still facing felony charges in DC, Florida and Georgia. This convicted 34-time felon is facing sentencing next month. Republicans are supporting a traitor who hates everything about America. Donald Trump wants to turn America into an oligarchy just like Russia, with no civil rights, where reporters are jailed without trial and nobody has freedom of speech… and the only people with money are a handful of a few dozen oligarchs. That’s Trump’s America. More tax cuts for billionaires, and nothing to help the middle class.

Why are so many conservatives afraid of imaginary monsters?

But he didn't get things done. He committed to the failed Afghanistan withdrawal, he couldn't even build a border wall (and people just used rope ladders to climb over what was built), and he ruined the economy by creating chaos with his mismanagement of Covid and his failed insurrection attempt. His only policy is to grift money for himself, pardon himself, and give more tax breaks to billionaires. You guys don't care about policy at all. You just want to burn it down to own the libbies.

these leftist Academic elites run every institution in Canada as a result, Canada has followed their Woke Progressive agenda to the letter and in less than a decade, that has resulted in widespread chaos and a sharp economic decline across the board no we are apparently supposed to feel sorry for these vacuous fops as the fires of populist revolt inevitably rise around them

It's too bad that biden/Harris incompetence led to so many dead veterans. Very sad indeed

Not only that, sounds like some anti-Trump leftist bureaucrat tried to abuse their power to make a scene too. The families invited him. The families took pictures with him. Yes, he did honor them.

Yet FB was directed to censor people the Demoncrats didn't like. You Libbies don't "protect" Democracy...you actively destroy it.

Woops - all caps AND bold. You really riled him up this time @Deluge . You can practically hear the foam forming when he types LOL

Because he's present and paying respects? Yeah. Funny how that works. More than she did Do.... do you realize that pretending to studder makes you look like a tard? Of course not, you're a tard. Do... do you realize that what you just said makes it even MORE shameful Kamala didn't show? Of course not, you have no sense of honor or decency. Oh well. I guess we can't expect you to recognize decent behavior considering you can't recognize a vagina.

I used to be a vigilante but quit when my profession was being overrun with vaginalantes who were all fakes.

I love when they demand peer-reviewed studies and I provide them, then they reject them all. And my other favourite, "The FDA said blah blah blah". I don't care what the lying FDA said about ivermectin, there are 87 peer-reviewed studies and datasets from all over the world that say otherwise. 🤣

No, no, this isn’t important!!! Pay attention to the fake attack by Trump on Arlington instead…this is how things work these days. Fake news to distract from real news.

Yes I agree with those basic principles. Humanity is in an imperfect fallen state. The cause is disobedience, eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I think that the Garden of Eden story is, much like the Tower of Babel story, about human arrogance and presuming to be God. When humans commit this act of hubris, a fall is inevitable, which is all the more reason to resist our narcissistic proud secular values. This isn’t just storytelling. There are many historic examples of humanity pretending to have all the answers and to know who is worthy and who isn’t. The Holocaust is a great example. He who forgets the sins of the past is likely to repeat them.

Aww - all you've got left isn't it little guy Let me guess - that's the tattoo you've got on your butt so your boyfriend can figure out where things go right? I mean, you guys can't recognize a vagina, you're bound to need some instructions LOLOL - kid, you're a mess Is that who's doing it for you every day? Seems like you spend a lot of your time here crying

And there you have it normal people. Libbies just don't care. They hate people. The only thing they understand or want, is power. IMO...It's way past time we turned their coveted desires... On Them.

LOL - well you may not have logic on your side but at least you've got lyrics!

Do you pass your posts through a Dillon-Wagoner Graviton Polarity Generator before clicking submit?

It would absolutely be an issue of Kamala turned a visit to the cemetery into a campaign event where her team assaulted a cemetery staff member and she posed like a f*cking grinning idi0t over somebody's grave, you're deluding yourself if you think otherwise.

No experience? Harris has far more government experience than Vance and Orange Felon Criminal Shlthead combined. Kamala Harris is more experienced at prosecution criminals. Donald Trump is more experienced at being a criminal.

I guess most people would rather be a 'basement dweller' than a 'deplorable person' in the eyes of their gov't? LOL People don't (or shouldn't) hire a gov't to be friendly and likeable. They hire gov'ts that can get crap done and make their lives better. Biden failed in that. Harris who was right there the whole time would be even worse by an order of magnitude. She has no experience and is twice as extreme left. Trump is an ass. That's baked in, everyone gets that. But he will deliver a decent economy, and will do a decent job managing the countries interests abroad and domestically, as he did in his first term. And that's what people want. Of the two he will deliver better governance and better results. Nobody cares what he thinks about anyone else.

Well, f*ck…. Whaddya know, Trump’s gone and violated Federal law AGAIN. And his people were told they were violating Federal law. How hard is it to walk out of a section of a cemetery? “Oh, I’m sorry, pardon me, my bad…. I’ll just move over here.” How f-ing hard is that? But now, Trump’s people ignored the officials, made up their own rules, broke Federal law, and then claimed that the person who rightfully and properly ASKED them to move was having a mental health episode. TRUMP lead an insurrection, TRUMP’s been indicted on felony charges by FIVE GRAND JURIES, ALL UNANIMOUS. CONVICTED OF 34 FELONIES AND LIABLE FOR A $500 MILLION FRAUD JUDGEMENT. It’s a shame that YOU HATE AMERICA.

First, Harris had NO POWER to make those decisions. STOP LYING. Second, more died under Trump's command:

Every side, every event, every situation has an expert that can be called upon to try and validate a position. Conversely, every position can be dismissed by another expert.

So, now the Biden administration is using an official Army public affairs spokesman for politics to attack a rival campaign. There is no low this administration will not sink to in abusing their power.

Sure. Get back to us when the left here has killed millions of people. But of course you already think that was in the bag during COVID so... Your righties are ridiculous.

Just making sure pups like you understand by using pictures and video. Apparently though, even those visual aids are over your head. Meh...pups...

Those "weather balloon" memes were hilarious 🤣

That's simple. Because their deity demands it. Say "Hello" to the Libbie deity...

I don't hate anybody, roboshill, I just hate the way you f*ckers think. Here's an idea: what if you lemmings were to cry less about Trump, and demand more from your waste of sperm candidate? You may be surprised over how quickly this country would unite.

It's definitely revealing of how many of you right wing freaks have no problem with using dead soldiers as political campaign props when it's your grinning shithead doing it.

Even if he was, federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries including photographers, you genital-obsessed psycho.

LOL if Harris had shown up a the cemetery with photographers in tow for a cheap pop, you apes would be howling about her using the dead servicemen as political props. But when old bone spurs does it you guys lap it up like the rubes you are.

The covid response was like that "one big fight" in a relationship, after which the couple can never go back to the way things were, and it is only a matter of time before the divorce is final. We may still have to live together for a time, but the relationship has soured beyond repair. Prior to covid, it was possible to at least pretend that the majority of people were *somewhat* sane. We now know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the majority are mindless, bleating sheep, and that a subset of them are spiteful, petty tyrants. We could pretend that, while odious, the factions that govern us were simply misguided in their ministrations. We now know that they are nothing less than evil psychopaths.

You might be stupid and gullible but not everyone else is.

You need to seek the services of a licensed mental health professional.

Agreed. And... There are about 4 posters on here who would find some blame on both sides.

You're right. Totally unfair. We should start having people stand trial in the jurisdictions in which the crimes were committed to avoid any appearance of bias.