I love the movie, still, and I also think the comparison works.  If you disagree, tell us what movie character he most resembles?

He’s hard to hate.  Tom Mulcair and assorted Tories try, certainly, but they usually just come off sounding bitter and/or jealous.  Trudeau (unlike his Dad, unlike Stephen Harper) is the Lloyd Dobler of politics:  like that immortal character in 1989’s Say Anything, Trudeau is the guy in high school who gets invited to every party, breaks up fights, and makes sure no one drives home drunk.  He isn’t a straight-A student or the valedictorian, but that’s also why you don’t hate him.

 Lloyd Dobler, Justin Trudeau: coincidentally never seen in the same room.

Backing Conrad Black Sabbath. Nobody dimebagged me. 

Come throw things at us!

Lisa being interviewed by CBC outside the courthouse.

I have to tell you: when we were before the Justice of the Peace and the Crown early this morning, I wasn’t at all confident we were going to win.  The pre-enquete hearing, as it is called, is not commonplace.  And we were essentially asking the Court to go over the heads of the Toronto Police Service (who had done precisely nothing, for years) and the provincial Attorney-General (ditto) to charge the editor and publisher of the neo-Nazi rag Your Ward News with a criminal offence.  Private prosecutions are pretty rare.

But, in the end, the JP said we were credible witnesses, and that we had “made out a prima facie case.” An order would therefore be made to charge James Sears and Leroy St. Germaine with uttering threats – to wit, saying our family should be “bludgeoned to death.”

I’m very proud of my wife, who handled most of the media with passion and intelligence.  

Just about every media person we spoke to was professional and ethical, and (privately) appalled by how the cops had done zippo, zero, zilch about Your Ward News.  

Here’s just a few of the many, many stories that came out of today’s events.  Now that the battle is underway, there is a lot more to come.

Thanks to all of you who have offered support.  We really appreciate it.

• Toronto Star
• National Post
• CBC
• CITY-TV
• Toronto Sun
• Globe and Mail
• Cornwall Free News
• CBC Toronto (30 min. mark)

Now in HuffPo!

Here:

• Warren Kinsella gives kids a glimpse into the heyday of punk with Recipe for Hate (Dundurn), which details how a group of punks took down a gang of neo-Nazis after the murder of two of their friends.

It’s actually for adults, too, so don’t get fussed about the YA tag.

You can pre-order here. Pre-order multiple copies, even!

I have heard very, very troubling things. This, for example, is extraordinary and pretty damning.

The good folks at the Peterborough Examiner asked him, straight out:

Councillors didn’t debate the prospective sale in public – that happened in closed session. But they did vote unanimously on the plan in the open meeting. Mayor Daryl Bennett voted too.

Bennett is a director of a numbered company that owns the Liftlock Group of companies, which owns land nearby at 728 Rye St.

But in an interview following the meeting he said he doesn’t stand to benefit from the sale.

When asked by The Examiner why he did not declare a pecuniary interest, he said he was “a bit offended” by the question.

“What are you talking about? It has no benefit to me whatsoever,” Bennett said of the property sale.

It’s not national news, but I intend to make this a focus of this little web site for the next while.

Something stinks in Peterborough.

…if they’re Ontario Liberals, that is:

The Liberals are the choice of just 23% of decided and leaning voters — down from 34% — and would secure just nine seats if an election were held now, the pollster projects.

Forum Research found that 44% of decided and leaning voters polled support the Progressive Conservatives and 24% back the NDP.

Those findings would translate into an 87-seat majority for PC Leader Patrick Brown and 26 seats for NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, making her party the official opposition, Forum Research projects.

The Liberals are struggling in their stronghold of Toronto and the GTA, explaining the nine-seat projection, according to Forum.

The requisite caveats:

• It’s Forum
• Seat projections are voodoo science
• No one is paying much attention
• An election is a year away
• Wynne’s been counted out before
• She has a top-notch legislative staff

However, it’s (a) consistent with many other polls over many months (b) Brown now has folks like Velshi and Robertson, et al., who won big for Harper (c) the PCs have a massive money advantage and are using it, and (d) my gut tells me it’s probably about right.

What do you think, O Smart Reader? Comments are open.