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Ontario: A Canadian In America Laments Tim Hudak’s Anti-Gay Election Ads

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In Ontario, the race for Premier — the leader of that Canadian province — has been marred by something very rare: negative campaign ads, and anti-gay marginalization by Tim Hudak. Today’s election will tell who won and who lost, but in the end, all Ontarians lose when politics becomes this ugly. A Canadian in America, Michael Talon, explains.

While Canada has long served as an example of progress socially, both to the U.S. and the world, there has been a slow, creeping yet powerful force that is moving within the borders of the “friendly and nice” country. Conservatism as a whole is not a concept that we as Canadians view in the same right-wing rhetoric based stupidity that we often see exemplified here in the U.S. (Michele Bachmann, the Mormon Church,the Tea Party.)

Canada’s Conservative Party — born through the amalgamation of the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party — is one that is fiscally and governmentally conservative. Platforms have long held to reform and a move to a more right of centre model that would allow continued and maintained structure of a country solidly building on a foundation set out in 1864 when we branched off from the British Empire and began to govern ourselves.

Proudly, Canadians boast that we never supported slavery and in fact maintained a free end destination for the Underground Railway, universal healthcare, community-built free clinics and hospitals, employment and housing anti-discrimination, equality and standards that have paved the way for lesbian and gay rights bills and marriage stemming from a Constitution ratified in 1982 that was to keep the federal government out of the bedrooms of the nation.

Overall, as a country that receives more immigrants from varying backgrounds, including strict to extreme Christian, Muslim and other faiths and cultures, progress continues to be made. In fact, former Prime Minister Jean Chretien was proud of the work that we as a people did in support of each other to include protections for all in each step of our evolution. Allowing for same-sex marriage, for example, while at the same time protecting the sanctity of the pulpit and not forcing denominations to perform these marriages as their faith would see fit.

Both sides peacefully and equally co-existing. A shining, at least to the best of any imperfect entities ability, beacon of hope to all that we could be equal and yet maintain the differences that enhance and enrich our world culture.

In the early 1990’s, the election that would see the greatest of losses for the Progressive Conservatives under the leadership of the first woman Prime Minister, Kim Campbell, sweeping in a victorious Jean Chretien and the Liberal Party, there was a shift that many allowed to go unnoticed in the grander scheme. Campbell employed an attack ad, reminiscent of a U.S. election, where they played on the crooked way Chretien spoke, due to Bell’s Palsy. This was the first of many influences divisive messaging would begin to creep into Canadian politics, and by proxy the public’s way of reacting to situations.

As many readers know, MP Tim Hudak of the Ontario PC Party, recently sent out attack ads that painted Liberal Premier McGuinty as keeping parents in the dark about the true education being given to school children. With emphasis clearly on LGBT issues and the anti-discrimination measures put in place for all minorities and socially accepted, vetted groups, Hudak and the PC Party have once again shown the right-wing agenda that is growing. Attack ads of this sort were unheard of in most political races in Canada. Policy and administration are often prime targets, however there is a standard that has long served our country well, you do not attack minorities and you do not bring religion into the mix. Those are personal beliefs and protected welcomed unique attributes that we cherish. Those days seem to be fleeting into the memories of true Canadians, to be
replaced by religiously slanted and immoral rhetoric.

Being born and raised in Ontario, as well as having lived under the McGuinty administration in my province, I would like to disclose at this juncture that I am not supportive nor do I feel McGuinty is doing/has done a very good job with leading the province. However, the attack ads led by the PC Party are inexcusably linked to attacking the LGBT community and the very fabric of a nation that is fiercely proud of all its groups, minorities, cultures and celebrated differences. We accept the right-wing, left-wing and everything in between. Vote to keep your freedoms and vote to allow those freedoms to be extended to others, for you never know when you will be the group in the hot seat.

It is sad to see this change happening and I can only hope that there will be a shift back to the proper and true course of Canada. I have personally extended the invitation to the PC Party in Ontario and in particular to MP Hudak to interview with me and The New Civil Rights Movement concerning the ad and the beliefs of Mr Hudak as well as the Party and the direction they believe the province should be moving.

The completely intolerant and homophobic rhetoric is enough! This is one Canadian who will not stand by and let everything we have built be torn down by easily influenced and semi-reasoning, self-promoting politicians and religiously influenced. U.S. LGBT citizens have seen what happens when complacency and a fear of “rocking the boat” instead hoping for a civil discourse that would valiantly change people’s hearts and minds. While thundering proclamations on behalf of some “loving and all knowing” god fuel bigots and the ignorant, gain sway. We have said that it is enough.

Across Ontario, parents and education boards, trustees and teachers have forced many of the politicians to take more than a step back from this attack ad, they are back pedaling faster than a Bible belt fundamentalist minister caught in the local department store men’s room giving a helping hand. I applaud the fact that there is still a progressive zeal within Canadians to not let those who would tarnish and sully the good work of past generations and woefully negate that progress.

Join your voice with ours, sign this petition on Change.org that is calling for Mr Hudak and the PC Party to explain its attack on the LGBT community, along with its continued bigotry against us, by doing an interview with The New Civil Rights Movement, answering questions from outraged and vigilant advocates for equality, no matter the citizenship.

 

Growing up in Northern Ontario as a Jehovah’s Witness, Michael Talon experienced firsthand the struggle for equality. Now living in the U.S. with his partner, they work with advocates for federal equality, including immigration. Working side by side, Michael and his partner Brad, head of Luna Media Group, help to deliver messages for equality to the nation.

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OPINION

Noem Defends Shooting Her 14-Month Old Puppy to Death, Brags She Has Media ‘Gasping’

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April 26, 2024

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Republican Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, a top potential Trump vice presidential running mate pick, revealed in a forthcoming book she “hated” her 14-month old puppy and shot it to death. Massive online outrage ensued, including accusations of “animal cruelty” and “cold-blooded murder,” but the pro-life former member of Congress is defending her actions and bragging she had the media “gasping.”

“Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old,” Noem writes in her soon-to-be released book, according to The Guardian which reports “the dog, a female, had an ‘aggressive personality’ and needed to be trained to be used for hunting pheasant.”

“By taking Cricket on a pheasant hunt with older dogs, Noem says, she hoped to calm the young dog down and begin to teach her how to behave. Unfortunately, Cricket ruined the hunt, going ‘out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life’.”

“Then, on the way home after the hunt, as Noem stopped to talk to a local family, Cricket escaped Noem’s truck and attacked the family’s chickens, ‘grabb[ing] one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another’.”

READ MORE: President Hands Howard Stern Live Interview After NY Times Melts Down Over Biden Brush-Off

“Cricket the untrainable dog, Noem writes, behaved like ‘a trained assassin’.”

Except Cricket wasn’t trained. Online several people with experience training dogs have said Noem did everything wrong.

“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote, calling the young girl pup “untrainable,” “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with,” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog.”

“At that moment,” Noem wrote, “I realized I had to put her down.”

“It was not a pleasant job,” she added, “but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.”

The Guardian reports Noem went on that day to slaughter a goat that “smelled ‘disgusting, musky, rancid’ and ‘loved to chase’ Noem’s children, knocking them down and ruining their clothes.”

She dragged both animals separately into a gravel pit and shot them one at a time. The puppy died after one shell, but the goat took two.

On social media Noem expressed no regret, no sadness, no empathy for the animals others say did not need to die, and certainly did not need to die so cruelly.

READ MORE: ‘Assassination of Political Rivals as an Official Act’: AOC Warns Take Trump ‘Seriously’

But she did use the opportunity to promote her book.

Attorney and legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold says Governor Noem’s actions might have violated state law.

“You slaughtered a 14-month-old puppy because it wasn’t good at the ‘job’ you chose for it?” he asked. “SD § 40-1-2.3. ‘No person owning or responsible for the care of an animal may neglect, abandon, or mistreat the animal.'”

The Democratic National Committee released a statement saying, “Kristi Noem’s extreme record goes beyond bizarre rants about killing her pets – she also previously said a 10-year-old rape victim should be forced to carry out her pregnancy, does not support exceptions for rape or incest, and has threatened to throw pharmacists in jail for providing medication abortions.”

Former Trump White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin, now a co-host on “The View” wrote, “There are countless organizations that re-home dogs from owners who are incapable of properly training and caring for them.”

The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson blasted the South Dakota governor.

“Kristi Noem is trash,” he began. “Decades with hunting- and bird-dogs, and the number I’ve killed because they were chicken-sharp or had too much prey drive is ZERO. Puppies need slow exposure to birds, and bird-scent.”

“She killed a puppy because she was lazy at training bird dogs, not because it was a bad dog,” he added. “Not every dog is for the field, but 99.9% of them are trainable or re-homeable. We have one now who was never going in the field, but I didn’t kill her. She’s sleeping on the couch. You down old dogs, hurt dogs, and sick dogs humanely, not by shooting them and tossing them in a gravel pit. Unsporting and deliberately cruel…but she wrote this to prove the cruelty is the point.”

Melissa Jo Peltier, a writer and producer of the “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan” series, also heaped strong criticism on Noem.

“After 10+ years working with Cesar Millan & other highly specialized trainers, I believe NO dog should be put down just because they can’t or won’t do what we decide WE want them to,” Peltier said in a lengthy statement. “Dogs MUST be who they are. Sadly, that’s often who WE teach them to be. And our species is a hot mess. I would have happily taken Kristi Noem’s puppy & rehomed it. What she did is animal cruelty & cold blooded murder in my book.”

READ MORE: ‘Blood on Your Hands’: Tennessee Republicans OK Arming Teachers After Deadly School Shooting

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OPINION

President Hands Howard Stern Live Interview After NY Times Melts Down Over Biden Brush-Off

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7 hours ago

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April 26, 2024

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President Joe Biden gave an nearly-unannounced, last-minute, live exclusive interview Friday morning to Howard Stern, the SiriusXM radio host who for decades, from the mid-1990s to about 2015, was a top Trump friend, fan, and aficionado. But the impetus behind the President’s move appears to be a rare and unsigned statement from the The New York Times Company, defending the “paper of record” after months of anger from the public over what some say is its biased negative coverage of the Biden presidency and, especially, a Thursday report by Politico claiming Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger is furious the President has refused to give the “Grey Lady” an in-person  interview.

“The Times’ desire for a sit-down interview with Biden by the newspaper’s White House team is no secret around the West Wing or within the D.C. bureau,” Politico reported. “Getting the president on the record with the paper of record is a top priority for publisher A.G. Sulzberger. So much so that last May, when Vice President Kamala Harris arrived at the newspaper’s midtown headquarters for an off-the-record meeting with around 40 Times journalists, Sulzberger devoted several minutes to asking her why Biden was still refusing to grant the paper — or any major newspaper — an interview.”

“In Sulzberger’s view,” Politico explained, “only an interview with a paper like the Times can verify that the 81-year-old Biden is still fit to hold the presidency.”

But it was this statement that made Politico’s scoop go viral.

READ MORE: Justices’ Views on Trump Immunity Stun Experts: ‘Watching the Constitution Be Rewritten’

“’All these Biden people think that the problem is Peter Baker or whatever reporter they’re mad at that day,’ one Times journalist said. ‘It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.'”

Popular Information founder Judd Legum in March documented The New York Times’ (and other top papers’) obsession with Biden’s age after the Hur Report.

Thursday evening the Times put out a “scorching” statement, as Politico later reported, not on the newspaper’s website but on the company’s corporate website, not addressing the Politico piece directly but calling it “troubling” that President Biden “has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term.”

Media watchers and critics pushed back on the Times’ statement.

READ MORE: ‘To Do God Knows What’: Local Elections Official Reads Lara Trump the Riot Act

“NYT issues an unprecedented statement slamming Biden for ‘actively and effectively avoid[ing] questions from independent journalists during his term’ and claiming it’s their ‘independence’ that Biden dislikes, when it’s actually that they’re dying to trip him up,” wrote media critic Dan Froomkin, editor of Press Watch.

Froomkin also pointed to a 2017 report from Poynter, a top journalism site published by The Poynter Institute, that pointed out the poor job the Times did of interviewing then-President Trump.

Others, including former Biden Deputy Secretary of State Brian McKeon, debunked the Times’ claim President Biden hasn’t given interviews to independent journalists by pointing to Biden’s interviews with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and a 20-minute sit-down interview with veteran journalist John Harwood for ProPublica.

Former Chicago Sun-Times editor Mark Jacob, now a media critic who publishes Stop the Presses, offered a more colorful take of Biden’s decision to go on Howard Stern.

The Times itself just last month reported on a “wide-ranging interview” President Biden gave to The New Yorker.

Watch the video and read the social media posts above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t Care if Pregnant Women Live or Die’: Alito Slammed Over Emergency Abortion Remarks

 

 

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CNN Smacks Down Trump Rant Courthouse So ‘Heavily Guarded’ MAGA Cannot Attend His Trial

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9 hours ago

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April 26, 2024

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Donald Trump’s Friday morning claim Manhattan’s Criminal Courts Building is “heavily guarded” so his supporters cannot attend his trial was torched by a top CNN anchor. The ex-president, facing 34 felony charges in New York, had been urging his followers to show up and protest on the courthouse steps, but few have.

“I’m at the heavily guarded Courthouse. Security is that of Fort Knox, all so that MAGA will not be able to attend this trial, presided over by a highly conflicted pawn of the Democrat Party. It is a sight to behold! Getting ready to do my Courthouse presser. Two minutes!” Trump wrote Friday morning on his Truth Social account.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins supplied a different view.

“Again, the courthouse is open the public. The park outside, where a handful of his supporters have gathered on trials days, is easily accessible,” she wrote minutes after his post.

READ MORE: ‘Assassination of Political Rivals as an Official Act’: AOC Warns Take Trump ‘Seriously’

Trump has tried to rile up his followers to come out and make a strong showing.

On Monday Trump urged his supporters to “rally behind MAGA” and “go out and peacefully protest” at courthouses across the country, while complaining that “people who truly LOVE our Country, and want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, are not allowed to ‘Peacefully Protest,’ and are rudely and systematically shut down and ushered off to far away ‘holding areas,’ essentially denying them their Constitutional Rights.”

On Wednesday Trump claimed, “The Courthouse area in Lower Manhattan is in a COMPLETE LOCKDOWN mode, not for reasons of safety, but because they don’t want any of the thousands of MAGA supporters to be present. If they did the same thing at Columbia, and other locations, there would be no problem with the protesters!”

After detailing several of his false claims about security measures prohibiting his followers from being able to show their support and protest, CNN published a fact-check on Wednesday:

“Trump’s claims are all false. The police have not turned away ‘thousands of people’ from the courthouse during his trial; only a handful of Trump supporters have shown up to demonstrate near the building,” CNN reported.

“And while there are various security measures in place in the area, including some street closures enforced by police officers and barricades, it’s not true that ‘for blocks you can’t get near this courthouse.’ In reality, the designated protest zone for the trial is at a park directly across the street from the courthouse – and, in addition, people are permitted to drive right up to the front of the courthouse and walk into the building, which remains open to the public. If people show up early enough in the morning, they can even get into the trial courtroom itself or the overflow room that shows near-live video of the proceedings.”

READ MORE: Justices’ Views on Trump Immunity Stun Experts: ‘Watching the Constitution Be Rewritten’

 

 

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