Mediaboss Marketing

Open this photo in gallery:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives for the NATO 75th Anniversary celebratory event at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on July 9.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images

Re U.S. plans to press Canada, other NATO allies at summit to meet 2% spending target (July 9): Canada will be grilled about financial commitments. Canada should go beyond GDP numbers.

Our massive land mass compared to the United States is roughly the same, but our population is not. We cant be expected to similarly maintain physical and communication infrastructure with much lower tax contributions from individuals and companies.

The remaining Group of Seven countries are smaller in size with larger populations. Metro Tokyo alone has approximately the same population as Canada.

Forget an apples and oranges comparison of countries. In the G7, we have a grape population in a watermelon land.

Alice Marshall Peterborough, Ont.

Re When Liberals talk about Poilievre, Trudeau drowns out the sound (July 9): One should take the recent ditch the Liberals, turf Trudeau polls with a grain of salt, particularly considering the recent Toronto-St. Pauls by-election results whereby only 43.5 per cent of the eligible 84,934 voters turned out.

A close race was also watered down by numerous questionable candidates fomenting a sound and fury of nothing. It was a Conservative victory to be sure, but the contest was so close that it may indeed reflect how the nation votes once we get down to it.

For the Conservatives, please do not continue to slag Canada as broken. For the Liberals, it would be a fraught time to stay the course.

For Justin Trudeau, he would do well to remember there is no I in team.

Marian Kingsmill Hamilton

Re Seeing energy policy only through the lens of climate change? That time is over (Report on Business, July 3): Thanks for reporting on the survey of Canadian perspectives on energy and climate change. What, if anything, are respondents doing to counteract affordability concerns?

Are they driving a hybrid or electric vehicle? Do they heat with high-efficiency gas or heat pump? Are their attic and basement walls insulated? Have they switched to LED lights? Do they turn off the lights, radio and television when not in use?

The payback on some of these choices may not be prompt. We can do them now or do them later, but they are going to have to be done.

Brian Yawney Toronto

Re As artificial intelligence rises, data-centre costs spiral. Quantum is the solution (Report on Business, July 3): I read about quantum computing nearly my whole IT career at a major company, but it has so far not achieved operation at scale and forever seems just around the corner.

We should keep focused on the objective: finding solutions to problems for companies and society, be they corporate efficiency goals, climate change initiatives or new medical treatments, among others.

Quantum computing offers the promise of addressing issues quickly with less resource consumption. Traditional computing is now powerful enough to run large language model artificial intelligence to do the same.

But neither is a panacea. Quantum computing, as powerful as it is, would be able to unlock encryption algorithms and compromise security. Traditional computing requires massive amounts of electricity.

Being an optimist, I believe well muddle through and find innovative methods to address our collective requirements. And it will use neither current computing nor quantum computing, but some combination thereof.

John Madill Oshawa, Ont.

Re Ontario gets it right with advertising and news businesses (July 3): Governments at all levels across Canada should prioritize Canadian news publications when placing government advertising, as it can be a vital lifeline for news publishers. Supporting our domestic news industry is critical to sustaining high-quality, fact-based journalism.

However, government advertising should be informative to the public and not veer into partisanship. I believe Ontario got it wrong with its recent $8-million Its happening here ad campaign, which appears to be more about making the government look good rather than providing useful information to Ontarians.

While promoting provincial pride has merit, ads with little substantive content, especially during challenging economic times, should raise questions about the Ford governments priorities and use of millions of taxpayer dollars for communications bordering on political promotion. Partisan promotion should be seen as a misuse of public money, regardless of which party is in power.

ric Blais Toronto

Re Alice Munro betrayed us, and her legacy (July 9): Alice Munro was my first literary hero, Lives of Girls and Women a revelation to me at a tender age. There was no greater compliment than being told ones attempts at fiction were Munrovian.

However excellent, her writing is now tainted for me, her words deceptive, her honours, accolades and adulation undeserved. For me, there is no hand-wringing angst over trying to separate art from artist, no need to defend her talent. I dont want to read work by someone who chose her predatory husband and literary fame over her own daughters safety.

Ms. Munro is no hero to me; if she is now notorious because of her unwillingness to help her daughter heal, then I believe it is deserved.

It seems that all the adults in Andrea Skinners life failed her. Less importantly, Ms. Munros hypocrisy in leading us to believe she had insight and empathy fails us all.

Shirley Phillips Toronto

If history is written by the victors, then revised by the disgruntled, social mores can be said to be afflicted by the reflexive disgust of bourgeois media. Mentioned are various cancel culture victims (Michael Jackson, Ezra Pound), but the lesson inherent in their enduring legacies should be: Art really is separate from the individual.

Perhaps one never liked Kevin Spacey, but has a soft spot for Roald Dahl. J.K. Rowling shaped ones childhood, but now friends say shes an enemy of the trans community. Yet when these books are reopened, the only stain to be identified is the one placed there by ones self.

Every artist has peccadilloes or worse in their background as do we all. Art transcends these, and the passing predilections of the shocked class.

Michael Devine Halifax

How can we read her again, ever? My answer to that rhetorical question would be: With something approaching reverence.

It is asserted that Alice Munros private life, now partially revealed, calls for a necessary reassessment of her work. Syllabuses, publishers plans, bookstore shelves so much rearranging to do. How about public book-burning?

The crystal clarity of Ms. Munros writing will always chime for me, her gorgeous textures will always evoke worlds.

John Metcalf, Editor, Biblioasis Ottawa

Sounds right out of an Alice Munro story.

Anne Hansen Victoria

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

Go here to see the original:
Liberal outlook plus other letters, July 10: For Justin Trudeau, he would do well to remember there is no I in team - The Globe and Mail

Moderates have broke the woke in New Yorks Democratic Party.

A left-leaning political revolution that swept over New York Citys sleepy northern suburbs in 2018 and 2020 has receded with outspoken progressive politicians like Squad Rep. Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones and Alessandra Biaggi swept out or no longer in office.

The liberal activism unleashed in reaction to Donald Trumps 2016 election and presidency has taken a nosedive in four years with the hard-left incumbents and candidates defeated and Democrats taking a hard swing toward the center in major races.

Political power rests on a pendulum which swings back and forth, New York state Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs told The Post.

When it swings too far in one direction, it is sure to swing back the other way, said Jacobs,a moderate who is also the Nassau County Democratic leader. That is what we are seeing today in New York and across the country.

The pendulum has swung back. The Democratic voters made clear that they favor a moderate approach.

Controversial policies like Defund the police andopposingIsrael are unpopular positions among rank-and-file Democrats that are pushing suburbanites away from extreme candidates, party officials and strategists said.

The shift to the center includes:

Political consultant Jake Dilemani said the changes in the burbs can be a sign of the way the party is going way beyond the state.

Comparing now from a couple of years ago the elected representation in Westchester is certainly more in the hue of mainstream Democrats than far-left Democrats, he said.

It became the most expensive House primary in history, partially because it was a message election, Dilemani said.

That could potentially set up a domino effect for these other members of the Squad nationwide, the next one up being Cori Bush in Missouri, he said. So obviously the Bowman-Latimer [upset] is significant, but not just for that one district but potentially nationwide ramifications.

Sign up for our Metro Daily newsletter!

Some of the liberal voices were amplified during Trumps term, he said, because some Democrats were pushing to vote as far away from Trump as humanly possible.

And so in a lot of contests when youre dissatisfied with politics and whats happening nationally, a lot of Democrats cant take it out on Republicans because in a lot of these districts, the Democratic nominee is the de facto winner in November, so they take them out on incumbents or mainstream Democrats in a primary, he said.

But by 2022, in the midst of the Biden administration, the pushback had already begun, he said.

Meanwhile, on Long Island, Republicans have won virtually every major office in a voter backlash after Democrats in Albany approved the unpopular cashless bail law in2019. But in a bright spot for the party, moderate Tom Suozzi in February won back the 3rd Congressional District he previously held in a special election after serial fibber Republican Rep. George Santos was expelled.

Centrist John Avlon was able to easily win over Stony Brook University chemistry professor Nancy Goroff in the East End/Suffolk Countys 1st Congressional District.

Jacobs said Democratic voters are clearly rejecting extremism while claiming the Republican Party is embracing it by renominating Trump for president.

This trend debunks the Republicans false narrative that the Democrats are the party of the far left. We are not, Jacobs said. We respect their views, but we are a moderate party that promotes common-sense solutions to the real everyday challenges facing our states and nations voters.

Jacobs stopped short of spelling out the issues where moderates carried the day, other than to say that being pro-Israel is the sensible position in suburbia, and he previously backed changes to tighten the bail law.

But Democratic campaign strategistJon Reinish said voters turned against the hard-left politicians push for policies perceived as more pro-criminal than pro-safety and being more obsessed with bashing Israel than addressing bread-and-butter issues.

Most voters are common-sense voters who reject extremism of any kind and that includes defunding the police and being anti-school choice, said Reinish, whos worked with charter schools.

Voters want to be safe and prosperous, he added.

The rebellion started in 2018 when progressives toppled four incumbent state senators who were part of the Independent Democratic Caucus that was allied with Republicans the kiss of death in the deeply blue state during the Trump era.

Meanwhile, Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also upset veteran Queens-Bronx Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary that year.

Democratic socialist candidates won six seats in the state Legislature in the prior electioncycles.

The far left was ascendant but New York voters found out they were extremist themselves, Reinish said.

The Working Families Party, which backs many left-leaning candidates and sometimes is allied with the Democratic Socialists of America, backed Bowman in his unsuccessful race.

But the WFP noted its candidates fared well in statelegislative races.

Faced with challenges from the right, we were able to successfully defend every one of our state legislators. We also added three new women of color to the Legislature. New Yorkers want leaders with bold vision who will make real changes to improve their lives, said WFP sposman Ravi Mangla.

Bowman is still on the WFP ballot line, but the congressman isnt running an active campaign to play spoiler and siphon votes from Latimer, the current Westchester County executive.

Latimer is facing pediatrician Miriam Levitt Flisser, the Republican candidate, in November in the Democratic-leaning district.

The state legislative races were a mixed bag for the political left.

For the second consecutive time, moderate Assemblyman Michael Benedetto easily defeated Jonathan Soto in the 82nd District in the north Bronx. Soto was backed by Ocasio-Cortez, the DSA, and the WFP while Brooklyn incumbent Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman beat backa challenge from DSA insurgent Eon Huntley .

But DSA candidate ClaireValdez won a seat in western Queens,prevailing over Democratic Party-backed candidate Johanna Carmona and incumbent Assemblyman Juan Ardila, who was dogged by sexual abuse accusations, in the 37th District covering Ridgewood,Long Island City and Sunnyside.

DSA incumbents, like most incumbents including Brooklyn Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher easily won re-election.

Read the original post:
Woke policies fall flat as NY suburban Dems fight to take back party in blow to activist liberals - New York Post

Doggett referred to President Lyndon Johnson, who made the painful decision to withdraw from the 1968 election due to his waning popularity against Richard Nixon. President Biden should do the same, Doggett said.

Bidens lackluster performance at last weeks presidential debate, in which he gave lengthy, often incoherent answers and repeatedly failed to refute Trumps dangerously inaccurate claims, has created growing waves of dissent throughout the previously united Democratic Party. In the debates wake, Democrats have started pushing for Biden to step aside, so that a younger candidate can take up the mantle of securing the White House.

This dissent may only continue to grow among Democratic lawmakers. While the Biden campaign has rushed to assure donors and activists that the president is still up for the task of defeating Trump, there has been little outreach to the Democrats on Capitol Hill, according to Politico.

See the rest here:
Conservative Behind Trump Agenda Issues Cryptic Threat to Liberals - The New Republic

The Liberals seem to think they have a surefire wedge issue against the Conservatives: their hardhearted opponents want to snatch away free dental care from the nations kids and seniors.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on the offensive in late May, talking at some length about the threat the Tories pose to programs such as dental care.

These measures are based on the idea that everyone in this country should have access to the care they need no matter where they live, or how much money they have in their bank account, he said during a news conference in Truro, N.S. And yet, the Conservative Party of Canada opposes this idea at every turn. They opposed free dental care for kids and now for seniors, including pushing on dentists across the country to not sign up to offer free dental care to vulnerable seniors.

Its a great line of attack, except for one minor detail: almost nothing that the Prime Minister said is true, starting with his characterization of the federal dental benefit.

For a start, there is no free dental care, despite Mr. Trudeaus repeated assertions to the contrary. (He made the same claim in the House of Commons on March 20 and May 22.)

Sure, there is a Canadian Dental Care Plan. And yes, that plan does currently cover dental services for children, seniors and adults with disabilities. But there are still out-of-pocket expenses. One is the co-payment required for any recipient whose adjusted net family income is higher than $70,000.

Even those with family incomes below $70,000 will still have to pay for dental care, since dentists fees can exceed the amount that government pays out. The official description of the program is perfectly clear on that question perhaps the Prime Minister should bookmark the page.

Then there is the conspiracy-theory-tinged accusation that the Conservatives are somehow manufacturing dissent among dentists. When asked for proof of that assertion, the Prime Ministers Office deferred to the Health Ministry, which dispatched boilerplate language that did not answer the question. So, no proof, then.

For its part, the Canadian Dental Association is quite insistent that its concerns are largely rooted in the mistaken belief, and resulting ire, of some patients that the federal program is free a misperception amplified by Mr. Trudeau, among others.

The pity of it is, the Liberals have a perfectly good sales pitch to make on their new dental program. As this space has previously said, the design of the dental care plan is a blueprint for a modernization of social programs.

The benefits are targeted to those most in need, rather than diffused to higher earners who dont really require Ottawas help. The co-payments are part of that targeting, and are an excellent innovation.

The programs design recognizes the importance of the private sector. It does not displace existing private-sector dental plans. And rather than hire a slew of bureaucrats, the government chose to outsource the administration of the program to a private company with expertise in the area.

Then there is the latest innovation which Mr. Trudeau studiously ignores that allows dentists to charge more than the reimbursement amounts set by the government. Patients will end up paying something for services rendered, but the subsidies from Ottawa will substantially defray those costs.

The decision to not attempt to cap dentists fees avoids recreating the artificial scarcity that has left millions of Canadians without a family doctor.

The Liberals could take that policy success and brandish it as evidence of pragmatic innovation, and lay out a contrast with the Conservatives. That should be an easy debate to win, particularly since the Conservatives voted against the interim dental plan, and have yet to say what they would do with the current plan if they were to form government.

But that would require a Liberal Party that embraced the political centre, a party that was not afraid to talk about the virtues of the private sector, a party that was happy to highlight its enthusiasm for limiting costs to the public purse and to talk about its blueprint for modernizing social programs.

Instead, Mr. Trudeau is busy trumpeting a badly distorted version of that policy, preferring progressive fantasies to the reality of his governments own handiwork.

Go here to read the rest:
A Liberal attack line on dental care that has no bite - The Globe and Mail

Its time to stop fucking around, Mr. Reiner posted on X yesterday. If the Convicted Felon wins, he said, referencing President Trump, we lose our Democracy. Joe Biden has effectively served US with honor, decency, and dignity. Its time for Joe Biden to step down.

As far as shoves out the door go, this one viewed more than 5.2 million times was gentle. The reaction of Mr. Reiners followers was not. While its wise not to overstate the importance of posts on social media, that few of the more than 29,000 comments are supportive indicates that the outrage carries weight.

Mr. Reiner is the son of actor Carl Reiner. The son became a fixture on TV in the 1970s and later transitioned into directing such classic films as This Is Spinal Tap. With the advent of social media, he fashioned his fame into a platform for left-wing rage and a bullhorn for its conventional wisdom.

The privileges of wealth and fame mean Mr. Reiner can to speak his mind without fear. Mr. Bidens loyalists made clear that they have voices, too, and theyre going to use them to shout against friend or foe who rebels against him.

Stop panicking and show some guts, a civil rights attorney, Andrew Laufer, replied to Mr. Reiner. Vote for Joe. Many said they were unfollowing or even blocking the actor, who on X dropped overnight to 2.3 million followers from 2.4 million followers.

Others called Mr. Reiner Meathead, his nickname on TVs All in the Family, so branded by Archie Bunker because he was dead from the neck up. One responder, Resistance Sister, reposted Mr. Reiners post-debate tweet, where he cast the choice as between a good decent man and a Convicted Felon who will destroy our Democracy, and asked what had changed.

In calling for Mr. Bidens ousting, Mr. Reiner forgot a rule from his sitcom days. Whenever producers changed the actor portraying a character, fans revolted. Take Michael Evans, who portrayed Lionel Jefferson on All in the Family and its spinoff, The Jeffersons.

Viewers loved Michael Evans, and when he was replaced by Damon Evans, to whom he bore no relation and little resemblance, the new actor was rejected, prompting the originals return. Audiences are no more favorable to recasting candidates and thousands of them voted to put Mr. Biden on the stage.

If Mr. Reiner thought his post would be a Nixon-goes-to-China moment rallying others to his banner, it backfired. Only one fellow celebrity jumped out in immediate agreement: Sean Lennon, son of the late singer and one-time Beatle, John, and his wife, Yoko Ono.

Im really surprised it took you this long, sir, Mr. Lennon responded. It has been obvious for years that Biden is cognitively unfit to serve. It was backhanded support, and in a thread that gave the impression Mr. Reiner is on an island, it was among the most positive.

The left wing has long cheered Mr. Reiner, who has equated Republicans with Nazis and Trump with Adolf Hitler. That the actor-director came out against Mr. Biden and faced what the elder Lennon called Instant Karma in his song of that name demonstrates that the president has more staying power than the party sachems seem to think.

After Mr. Bidens appearance on MSNBC this morning, Mr. Reiner addressed those who think hes strayed. If we see the Joe Biden that appeared on Morning Joe today every day until Nov. 5, he tweeted, hell be able to shut up people like me who think he should step aside.

Mr. Reiner may wish for someone new at the top of the Democratic ticket, but Mr. Bidens fans find the idea odious and disloyal. Expect would-be Democratic defectors to take notice of the backlash. A substantial chunk of the party base still bets on their old warhorse, and theyll revolt against anyone who tries to put him out to pasture.

More:
Hollywoods Rob Reiner Tweets Biden Should Step Down and Liberals Lose Their Minds - The New York Sun