Rex Murphy points out how juvenile Junior is …

“ When Justin Trudeau was overheard at the summit belittling Trump for taking too long with his press conference , the Canadian prime minister sounded to many Americans like a child whining that a working parent had kept him waiting for supper.”

The press of course goes along with this charade in the hope its hopeless drama and ceremony will , ever so little , jolt circulation or viewership. This , too , is a dream. There is not a sane Canadian anywhere in this great land who has so much as postponed a trip to Canadian Tire to pick up a bag of cement or a lug wrench because the throne speech was on. And there is certainly not one Canadian , sane or otherwise , who backed off a dental appointment to harvest the wisdom of after-panels giving lip-service to “ what it really means.”

The speech from the throne is the corporate mission statement of the government , and like all corporate mission statements , it is a semantic graveyard , where dullness and pretentiousness conspire , successfully , against the life and lift of our two wonderful official languages.

MORBNOTE ; Can’t agree with ya there , Rex … The mangled version of the French language spoken in KBec and Ottawa is more comparable to the horrible injustice to the eloquent English language that is spewed out by cab drivers from the Bronx !!! …

The other speech , the really interesting speech , the speech that still has people talking and was headlined all over the Western world , came from the prime minister , at his first major international gathering ( NATO conference ) since his re-election. By calling it a speech I know I’m overdressing it ; it was really nothing more than a string of words , spontaneously exchanged between Justin Trudeau and a huddle of other smart boys ( Emmanuel Macron , Boris Johnson and Mark Rutte ) with Princess Anne listening in.

They and he appeared to be quite jollified , enjoying quite a little chuckle over ( what they would condescendingly regard as ) the antics of the erratic President Trump. They were giggling like schoolboys telling their first dirty joke. Mr. Trudeau was at his high-spirited and cheerful best , evidently taking the lead in the exchange and delivering the best howler — “ His team’s jaws drop to the floor.”

It was all very  , shall we say , catty …

Rex Murphy : A week of two speeches — one dreary , the other dreadfully juvenile …

Nancy Pelosi is bungling the impeachment inquiry …

While it is abundantly clear that the president committed grave wrongdoing , we still do not know , for instance , the extent of the cooperation with the Ukraine pressure campaign within the Trump administration and among Republican members of Congress – information that would lead to a fuller understanding of the events , and possibly other indictments.

” Abundantly Clear !!! ” … ” GRAVE Consequences !!! “…

The narrow focus of the impeachment inquiry , too , seems to be a lost political opportunity. Polls suggest that in the partisan media landscape , many voters’ opinions have already calcified , but it remains likely that a full and public accounting of Trump’s copious wrongdoing , broadcast on television and covered in detail by the media , could change minds in a way that an abrupt party-line vote on a narrow and esoteric set of issues might not.

” Copious Wrongdoing !!! “…

Trump’s violations of the emoluments clause alone would probably provide enough fodder for hearings that could last well into the summer , a political and media event that might drive home to the American people the extent of his corruption and the gravity of the 2020 vote. Pelosi and her defenders might counter that such a prolonged exercise might give Republicans and Trump defenders reason to label the impeachment inquiry as illegitimate. But they’ve called it illegitimate anyway.

” The Extent of HIS Corruption !!! “…

Perhaps more broadly , such a narrow and quick impeachment process risks being not only being politically wasteful for the Democrats , but cowardly as well. In the admittedly warped logic of American political messaging , to impeach Trump for only one of his myriad violations of ethics and law is to imply that all the rest of his behavior is acceptable.

” To impeach Trump for only ONE of his MYRIAD Of Violations !!! ” …

The narrow impeachment inquiry , then , risks dangerously lowering the standards for future presidential conduct , and setting a precedent that Trump-style criminality and self-dealing are privileges of the office. The prospect of impeaching Trump for all of his impeachable misdeeds is daunting , simply because there are so many of them …

” Trump-style Criminality !!! “… ” ALL his Impeachable Deeds !!! “…

” There’s SO MANY of them !!! “…

Right Moira … Take a couple of valium and STFU !!! …

Moira Donegan

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist

Well , Moira … You’re a MOIRON !!! …

Source:  Moira Donegan | The Guardian

Elon Musk cleared of defamation …

LOS ANGELES – Elon Musk defeated defamation allegations Friday from a British cave explorer who claimed he was branded a pedophile when the Tesla CEO called him “pedo guy” in an angry tweet.

Vernon Unsworth, who participated in the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped for weeks in a Thailand cave last year, had sought $190 million in damages for the shame and humiliation caused by the man his lawyer called a “billionaire bully.”

It took less than an hour for an eight-person jury in Los Angeles federal court to reject Unsworth’s claim after a four-day trial.

Musk said the verdict restored his faith in humanity as he quickly left the court with his security detail.

Musk – who deleted the tweet and later apologized for it – had asserted the expression was nothing more than a flippant insult that meant “ creepy old man ,” not pedophile.

Jury foreman Joshua Jones said the panel decided Unsworth’s lawyers failed to prove their case. He said they spent too much time trying to appeal to jurors’ emotions and not concentrating on the evidence.

“ The failure probably happened because they didn’t focus on the tweets ,” Jones said after the verdict was announced. “ I think they tried to get our emotions involved in it.”

And then the lawyers step in , attempting to justify their ridiculous fees that Unsworth is now on the hook for !!! …

… Attorney Lin Wood, in an impassioned and at times emotional closing argument, suggested the jury should award $190 million. Wood said $150 million of that figure should be a “hard slap on the wrist” to punish Musk for what he said was akin to dropping an atomic weapon on his client that would create problems for years like radioactive fallout.

Oh spare us the drama Linny !!! … ” dropping an atomic bomb on his client ” !!! …

He suggested the figure would be reasonable given that Musk testified his stock in Tesla and SpaceX is worth about $20 billion.

But Musk’s lawyer , Alex Spiro , ridiculed the suggested verdict as “ numbers being thrown out like ` The Price is Right ‘ “…

Musk’s lawyer told the jury the tweet did not rise to the level of defamation and cases over insults didn’t belong in federal courtrooms.

Spiro said Unsworth had tried to profit off his role in the cave rescue and basked in the many accolades he received.

Unsworth had been honoured by the queen of England and the king of Thailand , had his photo taken next to British Prime Minister Theresa May and been asked to speak at schools and contribute to a children’s book , which showed that no one took Musk’s insult seriously.

“ People accused of pedophilia don’t get celebrated by world leaders ,” Spiro said. “ Kings and queens and prime ministers don’t stand next to pedophiles.”

BOTTOM LINE ; Unsworth hadn’t demonstrated actual damage to his reputation other than asserting over a couple minutes of emotional testimony delivered with his voice cracking that he felt isolated , ashamed and dirtied , Spiro said. There was no supporting testimony from his girlfriend or other friends who could discuss the impact they witnessed , no evidence he had lost business or relationships as a result of the tweet and he hadn’t sought psychological counselling or medication …

It’s only because Musk has 20 billion that they threw out the absurd 190 million figure for a … What was it … A ‘ tweet ‘ ?!!! … If Musk was a businessman worth a paltry 2 or 3 hundred thousand … No lawyer would waste their time taking on the case …

Source: Elon Musk cleared of defamation in ‘pedo guy’ tweet trial | CP24.com