I think Trump Mar-A-Lago “raid” was either: -a major national security scandal about a trove of top-secret documents that Trump was trying to sell to Putin or the Saudis; OR  -a Got Junk? cleanup of old presidential souvenirs that the Tr…

Wouldn’t you just love to be a fly on Hillary Clinton’s wall tonight?

pic.twitter.com/Vcq1VffIGn

— mamabear (@lmoon79) August 9, 2022

Dark Brandon works pretty fast, doesn’t he?

trump couldn’t lock up hillary in 4 years, brandon raided his home in 2. pic.twitter.com/kbEA4ll3fR

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) August 8, 2022

Karma just grabbed Trump by the p*ssy.

— Mayo 🌻 (@MayoIsSpicyy) August 8, 2022

An FBI raid on a former president sets a dangerous precedent by implying the rule of law applies equally to everyone.

— Seva (@SevaUT) August 9, 2022

FBI: Raids Trump’s for-profit house.

World: Wow, I wonder which of Trump’s crimes this is about.

— Hunter (@HunterDK) August 8, 2022

Ok this is funny as hell🤣#VoteDemocratStraightDownTheBallot https://t.co/Q6hVmoeBWk

— Cat Joe💙 🌊 (@Mr_gsPenguin) August 9, 2022

Raw Story reports: 

Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi walked MSNBC viewers through what the Miami Field Office had to do to execute today’s search warrant on Mar-a-Lago… .

…the New York Times and CNN have sources confirming that the raid focused on the National Archives documents. Figiluzzi also confirmed it with as much certainty as he could….

“I have a medium to high degree of certainty that this at least is focused in part on national archives case…

The time to negotiate and turn everything over is long gone, and now we’ve reached the point where agents are convincing a judge that they have evidence of a crime.” 

It’s really hard not to just enjoy the hubris of Mr. “Lock Her Up” being raided by the FBI, but let’s actually just focus on what it all means that Donald Trump has had Mar-A-Lago raided today.  

The specific search seems to be about some Presidential records and classified documents that Trump took to Mar-A-Lago, but it’s also fair to say that we don’t know what those records supposedly show, and therefore whether or not this is connected to one or both of the Grand Juries investigating the attempt to overturn the 2020 election with fake electors and January 6th, respectively. That said, on some level, the details don’t matter for the politics of all of this, and that’s where the GOP are in deep, deep trouble. 

…[the GOP] are not going to make strategically optimal decisions to appeal to the centre ground, because their heads are so far up their own asses that they think loyalty to Trump matters more than electability. 

… the GOP are shooting themselves in the feet and letting Democrats reframe this election away from Biden and to a choice between them and a cast of fucking crazy people. 

Democrats can now tie together the defence of criminality here with the incredibly restrictive abortion policies of state GOPs and create a coherent narrative about their sensible, pragmatic approach to helping everyday Americans and the GOP’s weird obsession with criminalizing women and defending Trump. If that’s not a winning message, I don’t know what is. 

Big Democratic win today in the US Senate. This “Dark Brandon” meme seems to have legs:

Thanks, @POTUS. pic.twitter.com/2PxrbDOtJB

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) August 8, 2022

#DarkBrandonRises pic.twitter.com/skjETVXU5Y

— Molly Cochran ☮️🇺🇦🌻 (@MollyC82) August 8, 2022

pic.twitter.com/v1dOoaxKPb

— ShV77💙 (@Sharon9177) August 8, 2022

I love DARK BRANDON!! pic.twitter.com/2PX6b4kopa

— Kathy McCarty (@KMTBERRY) August 8, 2022

Rob Reiner knew:

Said it before. I’ll say it again. Joe Biden has accomplished more in his first two years than any President in the last 60. We all need to shout this from the rooftops!

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) August 3, 2022

Not one Republican in the Senate voted for the most consequential bill to address Climate Change and the lowering of Prescription Drug prices in US history. We have President Biden, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats to thank. Never forget that.

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) August 7, 2022

Somewhere, Harry Reid is looking down and nodding “Well played, grasshopper. Well played!”

Give props to @SenSchumer He kept at it even after BBB collapsed. He kept his negotiations w Joe Manchin completely secret until the CHIP bill passed, brilliantly outmaneuvering McConnell. He threaded the needle on climate to get Manchin, on taxes to get Sinema. Well done, Chuck!

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) August 7, 2022

Credit to them all. https://t.co/yxOQ4suzUu

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 8, 2022

I dumped all over Schumer three months ago. I would like some A1 sauce with my crow https://t.co/iXGYJBOkJ6

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 7, 2022

Let’s not get carried away here https://t.co/GQCzLqqxGJ

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 8, 2022

If voters this November cast their ballots exclusively for the candidates and party that are most likely to help improve their lives there will not be a single Republican elected to the House or Senate.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 8, 2022

what a difference a real POTUS makes. and a party that’s not a cult. kudos to Biden and Dems. https://t.co/OSsStwvf0H

— Raffi Cavoukian (@Raffi_RC) August 8, 2022

Moving on, here are tweets that lay down some truth!

It took a few years but the Reform Party is finally destroying the Conservative Party.

— Ron☘ (@kellr2010) August 7, 2022

Anger had replaced ideology for so many conservative writers. And anger not at injustice but at change.

— Reverend Michael Coren (@michaelcoren) August 6, 2022

Sorry but if we let people choose their own gender then what’s next? Something else that’s none of my business and won’t harm me in the slightest? I mean where does it end?

— Martha Kelly (@MarthaKelly3) July 30, 2022

There is no both sides in Ukraine. Russia is wrong. Ukraine is right. End of story

— Paul Massaro (@apmassaro3) August 4, 2022

The thing about Nancy Pelosi visiting Taiwan is that eight Republican congressmen spent the Fourth of July in Moscow one day after it was confirmed they meddled in our election.

— Ethan Persists (@EthanResists) August 6, 2022

Now this one — wow, what a thread!

this to be the headline? Might it be that they are trying to run out the clock because there are elections in the CPC & UCP, and what they REALLY don’t want is a country focused on the vast amount of material we should be discussing that reveals what it/2

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

like victims of the Holocaust. They’ve believed conspiracies, claimed a global pandemic isn’t real, wouldn’t get vaccinated but would take veterinary medicine for horses. They’ve screamed about our PM, driven around with the worst stickers & decals on their/4

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

ever done anything other than scream about supposed rights and freedoms and conduct themselves in a way that made sure others did get sick? And that’s patriotism and love of country? They hooked up together as white supremacists, Yellow Vesters, conspiracy /6

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

elections. Do Conservatives want us focused on this, rehashing and having serious discourse about this? No! So knowing the centre-left and left will happily distract ourselves responding to their ridiculous chatter about our PM on vacation, they keep /8

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

fatigue in Canada. I don’t know who they asked & how they asked it, to land on this theory, but it’s nuts. The fatigue in Canada is with Conservatives. This isn’t just a Canadian phenomenon, it’s a global phenomenon. People are sick to death of the /10

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

We are sick of the Trumps, MAGA, Ultra MAGA, Bannon, Alex Jones, Joe Rogan, Pierre Poilievre, Maxime Bernier, Ezra Lavant, Rebel News, Stephen Harper, Andrew Sheer, Kenney, UPC, CPC, Rex Murphy, Tamara Lich,Pat King, Danielle Smith, Le Pen in France, Orbán/12

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

we’ve been trying to peacefully live alongside, then, man, you do not understand what’s going on in Canada,& elsewhere, because I can assure you, we’re exhausted from it & we are so, so sick of it. And to think that in Canada, we’d be tired of the one guy /14

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

of, that Pierre Poilievre looks attractive to us? Hahahaha!! Do you not see how funny this is? It’s bizarre. So have your games where you plant seeds & then pretend you’re just reporting on how every day Canadians think. Bull shit. Bull shit. Bull shit./16

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

on making sure you never get elected. I’m not distracted; neither are the ppl I know. You aren’t worthy of governing if you use lies & conspiracies to manipulate, if you harbour white supremacist ideology,& if you want to dismantle 🇨🇦 to build a kingdom./fin

— Heidi Scott 🌻 (@scottheidi576) August 7, 2022

On the lighter side, what a sweet story:

All the feels. 💕 Bravo, @theweeknd! 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/UDrOvYFNZR

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 8, 2022

The stories in this thread are hysterical:

When an article says “some scientists think” then remember this: I, a scientist, once thought I could fit a whole orange in my mouth. I could, it turns out, get it in there, but I hadn’t given sufficient thought to the reverse operation.

— John Kennedy (@micefearboggis) August 3, 2022

It includes stories like these:

I used to work in a pool bar. I once had to call ab ambulance for someone who got cueball stuck in his mouth for a bet. When paramedics arrived they asked what happened and his friend demonstrated and got one stuck in his mouth

— Peaked Interest (@Peaked1nterest) July 21, 2022

When we first got a shredder at work, my department overlooked it. We watched the finance manager walk purposefully down from upstairs, insert some papers, then turn to us with an expression of dawning horror to ask, ‘Isn’t this the fax machine?’

— urbanmammal 🕊 (@theurbanmammal) July 21, 2022

This is cute, isn’t it:

I don’t normally do political tweets but in these times of hate and divisiveness, I think this is a message we can all get behind.

📸: Jenny Sowry pic.twitter.com/U3tUWal1Nf

— Paul Bastard Bronks (@SlenderSherbet) August 7, 2022

Finally, here’s another great one:

Starting with some good cartoons:   The GOP’s miscalculation:Handmaids vote. #MobilizeForMidterms pic.twitter.com/xeatccejZJ— Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸 (@NickKnudsenUS) August 6, 2022 We thought everybody had already been divided into voters and vessel…

This is true for us lefty Canadians too: In fact, I’m so crazy I wrote an article about it!https://t.co/DQtpnHeMeq— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) August 5, 2022 Being timid, defensive, and afraid is a losing strategy according to Anat Shenkar-Osario, pre…

And here’s an unexpected twist:

“In our nation’s 246 year history there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our Republic than Donald Trump.” Dick Cheney pic.twitter.com/erBPBNy8ah

— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) August 4, 2022

Watching people find ways to agree with Dick Cheney has been my favorite part of Twitter for the last day or so

— Matt Gurney (@mattgurney) August 5, 2022

Turning to Canadian politics, just this tonight:

The major divide in politics today isn’t between left and right. It’s between people who believe politicians exist to validate their feelings about the world, and those who believe politicians are there to at least try to run the friggin country responsibly. #cdnpoli

— Jeff Rybak🍁 (@JeffRybak) July 31, 2022

pic.twitter.com/UIDRHD0dPH

— Hans Collin (@HansCollin2) August 4, 2022

I seldom pay much attention to the latest right-wing anti-Liberal hate-fest — from SNC Lavelin to WE, they started out with the Trudeau government looking awful while the national media huffed and puffed to try to blow Trudeau’s house down, and in the end, Meh! 

On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly was asked if her office was aware of the intelligence that Ukrainian staff for foreign embassies were allegedly on Russia’s list of targeted individuals — and deliberately withheld the information from the local staff at the mission. 

“Never did I or the department have any information targeting locally engaged Canadian staff. We never got that information, nor me or my team or the department,” Joly told reporters at a joint news conference with her visiting German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, after the two met to discuss the energy and food security crises as well as trade. 

“I know we have a specific duty of care. I know this is in conversations within the department whether that duty of care applies to locally engaged staff. I would say that morally we have an obligation toward locally engaged staff.”

…Joly said she had spoken “directly” with the locally engaged staff about their safety and security during her visits in Ukraine in January before the war and followed up with the department and Canadian ambassador in Kyiv, Larisa Galadza, on this issue, throughout, including on Feb. 24, when the war was declared. 

“Ukraine is a war-torn country, we wanted to make sure that they had options. They were offered options to come to Canada. Some of them have decided to come. Some of them have decided to stay,” said Joly, who praised the contributions of the local Ukrainian staff members. 

 “They were also given full payment and compensation and benefits, although for some time the diplomats were outside of the country.”

In other news, the CPC had another leadership debate tonight. 

Every time someone tells to subscribe to the @NationalPost I ask, Have you read it lately? Why don’t you ask me to subscribe to Pierre Poilievre’s digital media scripts about wood or woodpeckers of whatever he thinks Canada’s bird brains want to hear? https://t.co/MhbZnjgK3H

— Charles Adler (@charlesadler) August 3, 2022

Our P.M gets a haircut. Conservatives & their media go berserk.
The P.M takes his family on vacation the conservatives & their media go berserk.
The Liberals rack up a 5.3 billion surplus nothing.
Pierre Poilievre is afraid to debate Charest, Nothing. Welcome to Trumpland

— Clay Thompson (@harryt59_harry) August 3, 2022

Incredible! Tonight has shown, beyond any shadow of doubt, that universal access to safe and affordable abortion care is incredibly popular. When Kansas votes 2:1 to support abortion care, I think the conversation on “public debate” is pretty much over…

Some chatter these days about how conservatives and progressives aren’t talking to each other very much anymore. Another day of nightmare oppression in communist Canada 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/msNUsft7Se— Dr. Ian Garner (@irgarner) July 17, 2022 We don’t a…

For Saturday night, here’s a collection of odd tweets and commentary from the last week or so: I think one thing they didn’t count on was that even Newsmax couldn’t resist a Jon Stewart hit.— Schooley (@Rschooley) July 30, 2022 Which group was ACTUAL…

Reconciliation visit: The final stop for Pope Francis in Canada was a visit to Iqaluit. The Globe and Mail reports: On Friday, [Pope Francis] met with several school survivors In Iqaluit before an outdoor performance that included tradit…

The Pope’s reconciliation events were in Quebec today – above is a photo of a delegation from the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, where the last Quebec residential school closed in 1991. The group of a dozen people walked 275 km to reach the Quebec Cit…

In the end, the Pope’s apology is important, though it will not ease the pain. Pope Francis was able to give the long-awaited apology, speaking in his language, but most of us do not have that ability any more. Our language is a whisper in our minds, …

Papal reconciliation visit:

Even though Russia spent much of last week floating claims that they were going to take more and more and more of Ukraine, the truth seems to be that Putin’s offensive in the Donbas has stalled out short of objectives. 

While there continues to be fierce exchanges at many points along the front line, and Russia continues to launch attacks toward positions like Bakhmut and Bohorodychne, there are no confirmed reports of a significant gain by Russian forces in over two weeks. 

In that same period, a number of villages either returned to Ukraine or been thrown into dispute as Ukraine has refused to give Russian forces a chance to catch their breath. 

At this point, the Ukrainian ministry of defense estimates the Russians have suffered 39,000 killed in action over the course of the invasion. U.S. intelligence estimates that 85% of the Russian military is already actively engaged in Ukraine. 

When Russia discovered it could not quickly take all of Ukraine, it withdrew and refocused on capturing a much smaller area. Months later, it hasn’t managed to accomplish even that. 

And on the lighter side:

Real Men Love Cats—and they work hard at feeding hungry people for @WCKitchen. My good pal @natemook with Noosha the cat in Donetsk, Ukraine. Stay safe, buddy, we all love you. pic.twitter.com/HV0Ryamehd

— Lorenzo The Cat (@LorenzoTheCat) July 23, 2022

#PopeFrancis arrived in Edmonton on Sunday to an honour drum song ahead of what he describes as a “penitential” trip aimed at advancing reconciliation with Indigenous people over the lasting harm suffered in residential schools.#PapalVisit2022 pic.twi…

But first: what a race! 🔥🔥🔥 Gold for 🇨🇦 in the 4×100 at the Worlds!!Big tip of the cap to our dudes @KingsleySC and @De6rasse big backstretch from Jerome Blake, shoutout Brendon Rodney!! 🇨🇦🔥🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/1Gf88AmRMn— Tim Micallef (@tim_micallef) Ju…

Lots of news from Ukraine lately: First, a new deal was announced today to move Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea:New: A deal allowing the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea has been signed in Istanbul, the UN SecGen says. The ag…

Tonight’s Jan 6 Committee hearing made lots of news tonight. But as Brian Stelter reported in his Reliable Sources newsletter tonight, perhaps the most important comment came from Michigan Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s closing remarks at the Jan 6 C…

 I had never seen this before, its absolutely hilarious. Here’s another great Twitter story:Frank Slade was helping his Aunt Ethel run her gas station in Goldsboro, North Carolina, when there was a knock on the door. Two men told him he had a…

Today’s news: In the past few days our entire MSM has been preoccupied with:1. The Prime Minister’s hair (not a typo)2. A nonsense “Canada is communist” statement made by an American far right radio provocateur3. A fully manufactured notion that there’…

Uvalde Massacre update: The Uvalde preliminary report is out and it is damning. pic.twitter.com/1pIjB5hVwX— mrs.LHS 🇺🇦🍀🌻☮️ (@ABPC84) July 18, 2022 We’ve gutted education financing to fund police departments just so nearly 400 Uvalde cops in ful…

 Hey, Gangnam Style was 10 years old as of Friday! And Psy is still going stong – he has now released 9 albums and is on tour again this summer.Eine kleine Banjo musik A little summer banjo. Here’s a little ditty written by Alison Brown …

The Tale of the Ten-year Old has now become a shameful part of American history for Republicans and for American media.  Every conservative thought experiment about the pregnant 10 year old rape victim is more disturbing than the one before it. M…

The shot: From six years ago  The chaser: From Friday Obviously the news agenda for at LEAST the next 72 hours is CANCELLED while we decide what we think about Justin Trudeau’s new Caesar haircut. pic.twitter.com/WXf1J6ICXs— Mike Gibbs🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦 …

The US story of the day is the news that the Trump’s White House Secret Service deleted its text messages from Jan 5 and 6 2021. Accidentally! Yeah, sure… I would like to see some indication that the Secret Service & FBI are actually o…

As of April 1st 2022, the Canadian border will no longer require a pre-arrival negative COVID-19 test from fully vaccinated travellers entering or returning to the country. Previously, a rapid antigen test or a PCR test indicating a person does not have COVID was required by border authorities. This rule change should encourage Canadians to […]

After being closed for nearly 19 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on November 8th 2021 the United States land border officially opened to all fully vaccinated Canadians. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced they will be staffing their border at pre-pandemic levels, but warns that wait times may be longer than in […]

On August 9th 2021, Canada opened its border to all fully vaccinated Americans allowing tourists from the United States to visit the country once again. The US border remains closed to Canadians, however, and American authorities recently extended the border closure until September 21st citing COVID-19 transmission rates south of the border as well as […]

Most Canadians are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Consequently, Canadians are starting to think about international travel again, and are beginning to research possible vacation destinations. This leads to the question, which countries can a fully vaccinated Canadian visit? As of July 2021, Canadian citizens who have received two doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, or […]