ValueSubtracted

joined 2 years ago
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I’m a senior reporter covering the Conservative campaign this week.

We've seen unprecedented efforts at message control from the Poilievre campaign that have broken with tradition in a number of ways.

The CPC is the only party to bar media from its campaign plane and buses. The Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole campaigns all allowed media to travel with the leader, and charged sometimes exorbitant amounts of money for the privilege. The other parties do the same, and also charge.

Poilievre takes fewer questions than other leaders, a maximum of four per event, and insists on choosing which reporters are allowed to ask. After a week following the campaign, neither I nor my CBC colleague Tom Parry have been permitted to ask any questions.

Sometimes, CPC staffers try to get reporters to say what they plan to ask — a question a reporter is not supposed to answer. However, we have seen local media pressured into answering. Obviously, if a reporter declines, that could factor into the decision of who gets to ask questions at all.

The decision on who asks questions is always last-minute. A CPC staffer holds the microphone, ready to pull it away. No follow-up questions are permitted.

On occasion, CPC staffers have gotten physical with journalists, such as on the public wharf at Petty Harbour, N.L., where there was pushing and shoving.

Today, in Trois-Rivières, we asked to be allotted a question. Party staffers said yes, so long as it was asked by my colleague Tom Parry. We responded that I would prefer to ask it. At that point the party took away our question and gave it to another outlet.

The difficulty of trying to keep up with a campaign that has its own chartered aircraft is a logistical problem that can be mitigated to some extent. But the extreme message control makes it all but impossible to bring the same level of accountability to the Poilievre campaign that other campaigns are subject to. It also protects the campaign from having to answer tough questions and is a marked departure from previous Conservative campaigns I have covered.

 

The overall security advice remains green, "take normal security precautions/"

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 26 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Dominion Review is a Canadian publication providing novel and dissenting perspectives on issues that matter to our country.

Oh.

And look at that, the site's editor has been published in...

-The Epoch Times (19 times!)

-The Financial Post (4 times)

-The Vancouver Sun (twice)

-The Western Standard

And other publications that I'm sure are highly esteemed and worth our time.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 32 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I guess they think "respectful and firm" is their best shot at taking a stand without alienating their base.

I don't think it's going to play.

I truly wish I had some advice for you, but I honestly have no idea what to say to someone who thinks a "news" source like that is worth a grain of salt.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 14 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I found their website (not going to link it here), and it looks like a bog-standard right-wing misinfo outlet to me.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The overall advisory level remains green, "Take normal security precautions."

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The whole thing was ill-advised, and the execution makes it even worse.

In the picture, the white line crossing it out looks more like vandalism than part of the actual ad.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 25 points 2 months ago (6 children)

"I provided a specific list of demands the next prime minister, regardless of who that is, must address within the first six months of their term to avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis," Smith said in a statement Thursday after a morning meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Alberta capital.

So it's extortion, then.

It's really impossible to discuss this without also discussing the fact that international students have been exploited for decades.

Make the weapons bolt-action.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 60 points 2 months ago (20 children)

There is no kill switch for the F-35, but the JPO’s statement points to the very real problems with the weapons system. In its own words, the jet “operates under well-established agreements,” its strength “lies in its global partnership,” and JPO “[remains] committed to providing all users with the full functionality and support they require.” In other words, the F-35 doesn’t fly unless JPO helps you, but don’t worry because it’s committed to helping.

The F-35 may not have a “kill switch” in the traditional sense, but the countries who bought it are locked into an irrevocable pact with Lockheed Martin and America. ALIS/ ODIN might not be able to turn off the F-35 remotely, but losing access to it can make it impossible to fly.

Only one country has escaped the F-35 software and logistics trap while still being able to fly the jet: Israel. The IDF’s contract for the jet allows it to operate its own software systems without ALIS/ ODIN and conduct its own maintenance.

[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] ValueSubtracted@startrek.website 10 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I don't mean anything, as I didn't write the headline.

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