Canadian Politics

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Sunday Link-Off: The Fun Never Ends

reka-ebergenyi-3suisses13-01Well, this has been a fun week, hasn’t it? All that Rob Ford stuff sure was weird. I doubt it there could possibly be more this week so we’ll have some F1 coverage and I think I should be able to get a gaming post up by the end of the week. First, we have to kick the week off with the links and the links with Hungarian model Reka Ebergenyi.

The Toronto Star’s lead reporter on the Rob Ford crack tape, Robyn Doolittle, tells the tale of the tape. (Toronto Star)

Meanwhile, a new Rob Ford tape has come out which shows him threatening to kill a man. (Toronto Sun)

Let’s take a one-link break from Rob Ford to hear what Russell Brand thinks about his Newsnight interview of a few weeks ago and why he doesn’t like current democratic systems. (The Guardian)

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Wednesday Link-Off: We Are All on Drugs

kelly-brook-newlook13-01Well, the moment we’ve been waiting for finally arrived… Sorta. We were hoping for the Rob Ford crack tape but we still got fairly close. Well, let’s get right to the action. First, here’s Kelly Brook.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford confessed to smoking crack cocaine. Tell us something we don’t know. (Toronto Sun)

Even with the confession, we’re still expecting more big noise from the Rob Ford investigation. (Toronto Star)

One of those bombshells is that the mayor’s office hired a hacker to recover the crack tape. (Vice)

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Sunday Link-Off: All It’s Cracked Up to Be

rachel-mortenson-fredericks13-01It’s the end of another week… or is it the beginning of a new one. That’s the problem with North America and Europe disagreeing on whether Sunday or Monday starts a week. Anyway, it’s Sunday which means that it’s time for the links. Let’s start with Rachel Mortenson.

Funny story, after the Lisi fella was arrested, a co-worker asked if I actually thought the Rob Ford crack video existed. He thought it was all fake. Well, the Toronto Police Chief says he was wrong. (Toronto Star)

And Mayor Ford also called into a news talk radio show under a pseudonym to defend himself. Smart move. (Boing Boing)

Meanwhile, in federal government, Prime Minister Harper isn’t responsible for anything going wrong in Parliament… Unless he is to blame. (National Post)

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Wednesday Link-Off: The Political Games

barbara-palvin-victoriassecret13-22Boom! Links! Pow! Barbara Palvin! Was that how the intermission promo from Blades of Steel went, right? Anyway, it’s time for the Wednesday links. Let’s get this post started.

Sandy Kohn, who works for Fox News, tried signing up for Obamacare. She figures that a few hours was justifiable to save thousands of dollars a year. (Fox News)

Meanwhile, the Republican Party is too internally divided to figure out how to move forward after seeming to lose the battle of public opinion over the government shut down. (Washington Post)

Senator Mike Duffy told all in the Senate last night. It looks like he wasn’t about burning bridges so much as napalming it with the Harper Government. (CBC News)

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Wednesday Link-Off: The News That’s Fit For Print

andreea-diaconu-victoriassecret13-01Well, you definitely can’t say that the last few days have been boring news day. We have a few interesting stories to catch you up on. Let’s start today’s links with Romanian model Andreea Diaconu.

Mitt Romney is quite insistent that he never said that 47% of the American population would vote for the President no matter what because they rely on government handouts. (Mother Jones)

One juror in the George Zimmerman trial explains how the jury arrived at their verdict. (Think Progress)

Here’s a story that could and should get big soon. Military doctors are misdiagnosing vets and causing them to lose all their benefits. (WTKR)

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Have Attack Ads Outlived Their Welcome?

harper-vs-trudeauA funny little poll came out late last week. It was the first national poll conducted after the Liberals selected Justin Trudeau as their new party leader. Oddly enough, the results of the poll showed that the Liberal Party holds a seven point lead over the governing Conservatives.

While there are plenty of explanations that one could attribute to the reason for the swing in polling numbers, my theory is that it comes down to the Conservative response to Trudeau’s election. Rather than promote themselves, the Conservatives have gone back to the well with attack ads about Trudeau’s inexperience and past statements. Could this mean that their old attack ad strategy might not be working anymore?

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