He was defending the party’s stance as recently as March, so my skepticism remains…pretty darned high.

I’m by no means suggesting that the FDA cuts are good (they are, to be very clear, dumb and bad), but in theory, food is still being tested at the state level.

I can only hope that the Government of Canada is aware of the state programs, and whether they are suitably robust.

Here’s to those 14 years of complete mismanagement…

I was ready to pack it in after the first, and I’m not convinced the Jets deserved that win after the abysmal away games, but damned if they didn’t get it together tonight…eventually.

The incidental music during Thirteen’s run was a little too much like video game ambience loops for my taste.

That’s a fair comment - I have thought the same thing, though perhaps in a more positive way. It’s almost like playing Metal Gear Solid or something.

I really don’t like the writing trope of “here’s a super powerful group that exists to protect the world, only they have terrible OpSec so it’s easy for people to infiltrate them”.

I’m generally able to accept this sort of thing as a plot device, but yes it’s worth acknowledging that it’s very silly.

One fun bit that I forgot to mention: the “Albion Channel” being one of the disinformation outlets.

Very clever tie-in with “73 Yards”.

Oh, that’s a shame. A “meet the parents” scene could have been fun.

Probably cut for time.

Yeah, the outcome was…acceptable, under the circumstances.

Additional Thought The First: if Conrad and his group return in the finale, it could give a very different meaning to “The Reality War”…

Totally fair…though competence isn’t what one expects from the right-wing reactionaries.

Conrad and Ruby’s relationship had been seeded as a subplot over a few episodes maybe it would have worked better?

The thing that worked really well for me is that I was naturally inclined not to trust him from the start - I have seen an episode of television before, after all - but they seeded just enough misdirection through Conrad’s “desire” to be like the Doctor (which carried through to the promotional interviews) to retain some surprise in the reveal.

I did like the scenes with Ruby’s homefront matriarchy

As much as I think Belinda has been a step up from Ruby, it was very nice to see the whole family again.

What can you do when compassion and empathy simply bounces off the person you’re trying to reach? That is a very real and current question, and I’m sort of glad that the show didn’t try to answer that neatly for the sake of a feelgood ending.

It managed to handle things very deftly, while still being very blunt in its messaging (which I don’t think is a bad thing). Honestly, coming off of an election in Canada less than a week ago, the whole thing kind of turned my stomach. Really visceral stuff. I can see this being an episode that I return to throughout the week, and I might have more thoughts to share later on.

One thing I really appreciated was the ambiguity of Kate, and how far she’s willing to go when the Doctor’s not around. They have a fine line to walk in the department, but I think they did it really well here.

One thing I don’t appreciate is the inconsistent handling of UNIT over the years. They’ve got helicarriers, then they’re gone, then they’re back, then their budget has been slashed, now they’re back again…I really hope this episode (and the upcoming spinoff) marks a final commitment to keeping them around as a player. We don’t need to see them repeatedly destroyed and resurrected like some kind of Gallifrey.

Flood Watch 2025

“Governor” was capitalized in the subtitles, so I think we’ve got a name, along with a pretty solid indication that she’s a Time Lord.

I don’t see any glaring incompatibilities with Kinew’s agenda. The “build, baby, build” attitude is something they’ve shared as of late.

Another thing to consider is that many people simply aren’t that engaged, and the news ecosystem on both sides of the border has deteriorated to the point where it’s very easy to go through life with bad information, or no information at all.

It’s probably not that hard for a low-information voter to be swayed by big talk, even if they’re not a cultist.

I think it’s a nuanced question - I’ve heard that the Cuban community in Florida is very Republican because they’re seen as stronger against the Cuban regime.

In other cases, I think people are very willing to vote for people who promise to help them with their most immediate problems (regardless of how credible those promises are), and overlook the rest.

And we should never underestimate the willingness of people to close a door behind them once they’ve gotten through it.

One thing he doesn’t touch on (much) is that a significant number of NDP supporters - probably “working class” supporters - seemed to flip to the Conservatives, and not the Liberals.

The party is going to have to reckon with that, too.

It’s probably another move to distance himself from Trudeau’s choices.

That’s up to the CPC.

Carney said a byelection should be held as quickly as possible to give Poilievre an opportunity to win a seat in the House of Commons, if that’s what the Conservative Party wants.

Carney’s message is that he’s not interested in playing Parliamentary games. I’m not convinced it’s a good idea, but it’s an interesting move.