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Just getting that out here, about this.

Takes big constitutional balls to say what he has said, very clearly. Ipso facto, I (and Coyne, probably) love the guy.

As Premier Philippe Couillard appears set to kick off a renewed push towards negotiations for Quebec to sign on to the 1982 Constitution, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to want to stay out of it.

“You know my views on the Constitution,” Trudeau told reporters in French on Thursday morning in Ottawa. “We are not opening the Constitution.”

The CBC’s French-language service, Radio-Canada, was among media reporting late Wednesday that Couillard is set to release a 200-page document outlining his government’s vision of Quebec’s role within Canada and laying out arguments in support of reopening negotiations.

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Who could it be?

What Toronto City Councillor wrote that his/her residents have "a grade 2 understanding" of issues? #topoli #onpoli pic.twitter.com/cXzAl7PpIM

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) April 19, 2017

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You’ve probably seen this by now, but it still makes me spit my morning covfefe all over my desk.

Here’s the Unpresident:

Crooked Hillary Clinton now blames everybody but herself, refuses to say she was a terrible candidate. Hits Facebook & even Dems & DNC.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 1, 2017

And here’s my candidate:

People in covfefe houses shouldn't throw covfefe. https://t.co/M7oK5Z6qwF

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 1, 2017

Game, set, match.

Dear Agent Orange: she plays chess.  You still play checkers – badly.

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Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  A half century.  Incredible.

I don’t remember it coming out, on June 1, 1967.  I was six, and we were living in Dallas.  Much later on, I recall, certain songs would start to leave a mark – Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Within You Without You (I shared George’s fascination with Indian instrumentation and still do), the title track.  All genius.

And, much later, I’d be amazed that the Fabs did what they did with just four and eight analog tracks.  Eight!  Last weekend, SFH were in a studio that had 64, all digital.  What would Sgt. Pepper have sounded like with that, I often wonder. (And McCartney essentially created DI for his bass! Seriously!)

Anyway: it was this song that remains, to me, the crowning achievement of that extraordinary album – and which is still the greatest pop song of all time.  Some days, I felt like it was written just for me.  You know a song is brilliant when it makes you feel like that.

So – happy birthday, Sgt. Pepper, wherever you are.  You changed the world.

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Link here.  Story:

Former Ontario ombudsman André Marin has been ordered to pay $68,000 in legal costs to the provincial legislature and the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman.

The Superior Court of Justice ruling comes after a judge quashed Marin’s wrongful dismissal lawsuit against his former employers in March.

Marin has been ordered to pay $18,552 to the ombudsman’s office and $49,984 to the legislature.  They had requested $34,835 and $88,353, respectively.

He sought over $3 million in damages when he wasn’t reappointed in 2015 after serving two consecutive five-year terms, according to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He alleged he’d been fired without cause or notice, stating that two years of notice would have been “reasonable.”

The legislature asked the court to dismiss the case due to lack of jurisdiction and the ombudsman’s office asked that Marin’s statement be struck from the record because there was “no reasonable cause of action.” Justice Peter Cavanagh agreed to both requests.

All together now: ha ha ha.

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Two heroes, killed by a hater. 

This was hard to read.

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From Michael Coren’s carefully-researched piece in the new NOW magazine:

• “Scheer’s religious faith is especially significant. He is a traditional Roman Catholic, the son of a deacon. He is an opponent of abortion, equal marriage, trans rights and euthanasia. He voted against Bill C-16, which adds “gender expression or identity” as a protected ground to the Canadian Human Rights Act…While Scheer has insisted that he will not open up most of these issues for debate, he has also talked on the campaign trail about a “friendlier more welcoming Parliament for individual members to introduce legislation protecting pre-born human rights.”
• “He’s especially committed to home-schooling and independent schools, both very much part of the conservative Christian community. He has proposed a $1000 tax credit for home-schooled children and to make up to $4000 of independent school tuition tax deductible.”
• “The influential anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia group Right Now wrote on its Facebook page on Sunday: “Still celebrating the victory of Andrew Scheer becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada! Thank-you to all our volunteers who worked tirelessly selling memberships and getting out to vote! You made the difference!” … Rest assured that Christian conservatives will remind Scheer and his people, many of them right-wing Christians themselves, how much they “made the difference” at every opportunity.”
• “One of Scheer’s central supporters, campaign manager Hamish Marshall, a long-time conservative organizer and former Harper aide, is also a director of The Rebel News Network, the website run by Ezra Levant and that Maclean’s recently described as one of the “world’s top purveyors of conspiracy and far-right bombast.” …How much influence the Rebel gang will have with the new Conservative leader remains to be seen.”
• “Beyond satisfying his supporters, Scheer toes the hard line himself. During Britain’s Brexit campaign, he wrote an ill-informed and rather callow column for the National Post supporting Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union…Aside from the intrusion of a Canadian MP (Scheer is also a former Speaker of the House) taking a side in a foreign nation’s vital referendum, he effectively allied himself with the right of Britain’s Conservative Party and with United Kingdom Independence Party on the issue, which has more than its share of racists and fanatics.”

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It hasn’t been mixed or mastered yet, and the engineer actually cuts the song off at the end.  But it’s rather Hot Nasties-ish, I must say. The addled Gregorian chant at the start? It’s an inside joke, like the whole band is.

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