Your “How ‘Bout A Change Of Pace?” Thursday Evening Open Thread

NFL Noise:

  • Demaryius Thomas has been arrested for vehicular assault.
    • He was the driver in a single-vehicle, rollover accident where a passenger was hurt.
    • Under Colorado law, “vehicular assault” occurs when a person drives recklessly or under the influence of alcohol and the driving causes serious bodily injury to another person. It does not require intent to injure, and is a felony.
  • The Combine height measurements are out, and Kyler Murray is officially 5-10 1/8″ in height.
    • Russell Wilson was 5-10 5/8 at the 2012 Combine, as point of comparison.
  • Jason Witten has had enough of Booger McFarland and has rejoined the Cowboys.
    • “The fire inside of me to compete and play this game is just burning too strong.”
      • Also helping – $5 million.
    • He had signed a four-year deal with ESPN.
      • They are not unhappy, as the three-man team seemed a bit unwieldy.
      • They are “keeping his seat warm” in case he wants to return, and they have no other options.
  • Shocking news: Robert Kraft has pleaded “not guilty” in his solicitation case.
    • He has asked for a non-jury trial.
      • This will allow prosecutors to enter any video evidence they have into the (very) public record.
        • Unless he’s able to have it disqualified.

If you’re tired of the Cohen testimony, why not turn to a quaint little scandal we have brewing up here in Canada?

As Wakezilla brought up earlier today, we are currently wrapped in the warm embrace of a purely Canadian affair. SNC-Lavalin is one of Quebec’s – and Canada’s – largest engineering & construction firms, employing thousands of people and contributing millions of dollars to the federal & provincial economy. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, or Quebec Pension Plan, is one of its largest investors. If SNC-Lavalin goes down, it goes down hard & takes a lot of people with it.

To crib the details from Global News:

In 2015, the RCMP charged SNC-Lavalin, along with its international division, with corruption and fraud in relation with their business dealings in Libya.

The RCMP said officials at the company attempted to bribe several public officials in the country, including dictator Moammar Gadhafi, as well as other businesses in Libya.

RCMP officials said SNC-Lavalin also lied to Libyan companies to defraud them of nearly $130 million.

If convicted, the company would be barred from bidding on federal projects for 10 years, and current federal contracts would be in jeopardy.

[Not part of this scandal but part of a different one: allegations SNC-Lavalin arranged strippers (or hookers, depending on the site) for Gadhafi’s son when he visited Montreal. They also allegedly tried to assist in smuggling him from Libya to Mexico just as his father’s government was collapsing.]

Among other things, the company was trying to avoid a trial by pressuring government officials, and the Prime Minister – Trudeau, who represents a Quebec riding – into getting government prosecutors to levy a fine instead of proceeding to trial. The fine would allow them to end proceeding and still be able to bid on government contracts.

The scandal comes from various officials trying to convince the then-Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to get her team to change their minds. She refused those missives, and a few weeks later was shuffled out of the Attorney general position and into Veterans’ Affairs, a clear demotion. A few weeks later, she quit the government cabinet altogether, because she apparently has ethics and refused to sit at the same table with people she didn’t believe she could trust.

The Globe & Mail published a news story reporting on the alleged pressuring, which led to a series of denials and public hearings, which culminated yesterday in her testifying that she was pressured by various forces, including the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister’s Office.

PM JT has always said that the decision to proceed with prosecution was hers, and in his mind I believe him. He probably raised the issue with her, and she testified that it was made clear to her the economic issues that would be realized if they were tried & convicted. Other Quebec MPs also lobbied her on behalf of the province’s third-largest private-sector employer. But her ethics – as a former Crown prosecutor – led her to pursue the course of justice, and for that she lost the political game & her position.

But she might win the war. She believes that the lobbying on SNC-Lavalin’s behalf was undue pressure. Most everyone agrees that she has done nothing wrong, and that the PM – at best – made a poor judgment call in trying to put economics ahead of the law. At worst, he kicked her to the curb for not doing the legal-but-shady thing he was asking her for, all out of satisfying rich donors to his party.

The reason Trudeau hasn’t resigned (yet) is because this scandal barely hurts him outside of keeping his name in the news with ominous tones. Standing up for a Quebec company (and indirectly the Quebec Pension fund) actually wins him support in Quebec, where 1/3 of the Liberals support comes from, and makes him look like a protector of Canadian industry. Also, the opposition leaders are Andrew Scheer of the Conservatives,

who looks & sounds like a wilted penis, and Jagmeet Singh of the NDP,

whose socialist party has never come close to forming government because they make AOC look like a fascist.

We have a federal election in October, and unless someone has photos of JT doing cocaine off a hooker’s back, he’s likely to win another term, albeit in a minority governing position. What’s the old Erasmus saying – in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. But there is now talk of SNC-Lavalin moving it’s headquarters to London if it’s convicted & locked out of Canadian contracts for 10 years. So, that’s interesting.

Canada: we scandal the old-fashioned way – corrupt businessmen influencing government.


Tonight’s sports:

  • NHL:
    • Lightning at Bruins – 7:30PM | NBCSN / Sportsnet
  • NBA:
    • Warriors at Magic – 7:00PM | Sportsnet1
    • 76ers at Thunder – 8:00PM | TNT / TSN
    • Jazz at Nuggets – 10:30PM | TNT / TSN
  • NCAA:  
    • Xavier at St. John’s – 6:30PM | FS1
    • Nebraska at Michigan – 7:00PM | ESPN
    • Connecticut at Wichita State – 7:00PM | ESPN2
    • Arizona at Oregon State – 9:00PM | FS1
    • Southern California at UCLA – 9:00PM | ESPN
    • Minnesota at Northwestern – 9:00PM | ESPN2

Honest to Cthulhu, I’m tired of turning on the news & hearing about all this bullshit. JUST GIVE ME MY SPORTS, TEEVEE!

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Beerguyrob
A Canadian man-child of indeterminate age, he stays young by selling alcohol at sporting events and yelling at the patrons he serves. Their rage nourishes his soul, and their tips pay for his numerous trips to various sporting events.
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[…] the SNC-Lavalin scandal, which I broke down in February 2019 […]

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

Ah, jet lag. Nothing like waking up at 3 a.m. after a good healthy nine hours of sleep.

Hopefully I can get back the rest of the way to normal by tomorrow.

theeWeeBabySeamus

Normal? What fun would that be?

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Evening. I went to the gym after dinner and a few glasses of wine. Mistakes were made.

theeWeeBabySeamus

comment image

Unsurprised

“Stevie Nicks has thousands of shawls, keeps them in a temperature-controlled vault ”

When you remember that AV Club used to be part of The Onion, but now, it’s just dogshit.

SonOfSpam

I kinda enjoyed the article, especially when she said she writes Game Of Thrones poetry.

The dragons are fierce
And will level the wall
Jon Snow could stop them
With the right kind of shawl

Unsurprised
Duchess

So will Trump
A. Leave Office
B. Impeached
C. Put on trial after leaving office
D. Refuse to leave office
E. Die of a heart attack for being so damn swoll… Err eating so many hamberders
F. Nothing

SonOfSpam

A/C) Indictments will happen despite DOJ memo. He will die in prison.

SonOfSpam

Sean Hannity to Trump in tonight’s interview, on Michael Cohen and the hush-money payments: “I can tell you personally, he said to me at least a dozen times, that he made the decision on the payments and he didn’t tell you.”

This is Stupid Watergate except whatever word is stronger than “stupid”

blaxabbath

Sounds like Hannity would a be a good individual to subpoena to the Oversight Committee. After all, until Gym Jordan can be convinced of the veracity of Michael Cohen’s claims, they have no choice than to keep dragging in TrumpWorld figures for testimony.

Mr. Ayo

F. Plus a 2nd term.

Unsurprised

G. Finish two terms.

Duchess

So the Right has CPAC what does the left have… music festivals?

Sharkbait

Burning Man?

SonOfSpam

Lives?

Unsurprised

Nothing. As if the last 40 years haven’t made it abundantly clear.

Redshirt

Wednesday, February 27th: 62° and Sunny
Monday, March 4th: 18° and 6″ of Snow

Cincinnati Weather: Gotta Luv It!!!!!

King Hippo

lucky, we just alternate 67 with “cold shitty rain”

theeWeeBabySeamus

Don’t forget the wind blowing trees over.
Sheesh, what a week.

Senor Weaselo

I’m grading papers to make sure my students actually practiced over the break and someone wrote that the violin is an easy instrument if you practice. My reaction?
/Sorry in advance, on my phone
https://youtu.be/gzDYgRc6eic

herodotus450

What’s the big deal? Just rosin up the bow and play that fiddle hard.

Gratliff

A few more radical liberals and Dems may be almost as left as 1970’s moderates

King Hippo

nah, we are just waiting for the Rooskies to decide who we should have

Unsurprised

I love the Post suggesting that liberal and moderate aren’t the same thing: the right-wing of the party.

Redshirt

Its the same logic of people saying I’m really a Democrat because I believe the right to bear arms can coexist with gun control. Apparently, unlimited guns for everyone is worth 99% of what makes a Republican and everything else is just gravy.

King Hippo

Also, the media loves NOTHING more than these oh noes! Demmycrats in disarray!!1111 stories.

It’s a Big Tent/coalition party, always has been and always will be. But it’s a far cry from having a caucus heavily composed of hard-core segregationists that gave conservatives a de facto majority (like much of the 1940s-1980s)

Redshirt

If I’m wide enough to be considered an accurate sampling, abortion is a Poison Pill for some Moderates. If it wasn’t for that, you guys would have 300+ seats in the House, 70+ seats in the Senate and a Democrat at 1600 Pennsylvania.

King Hippo

the right knows how to fearmonger effectively (and the reverse doesn’t work because our coalition needs to be “inspired”)

The Dems listen to all parts of the coalition, which is at least something. Everyone can’t drive the bus. And choice is very, very important to our base (and the fastest-growing segment of the coalition).

Redshirt

I’m not sure how coalitiony you’re camp is, but my camp is being led by the Anti-Life Equation with “Darkseid” crudely scribbled out and replaced wrote “Donald Trump” so I’m in no valid position to argue.

loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding × guilt × shame × failure × judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=DONALD J. TRUMP!!!!!

Senor Weaselo

I fear you’re gonna get Omega Beamed in the face for insulting Darkseid.

Duchess

“Here we have a free market like problem, However, we have wrongly gone about attacking supply, this has been a failed endeavor and government is never efficient and wastes your hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Now through a more cost-effective measure, we can attack the demand side of things.”

How to answer every question as a moderate… even abortion.

King Hippo

Kamala Harris. Sends Hippo so very many e-mails.

Imagine after I order the bumper stickers for teh family…

litre_cola

comment image

Duchess

Newds???

King Hippo

Good call, I shall respond “tits or GTFO” next time and see wha happen

Gratliff

Sounds like someone wants to get into fighting forest fires

Redshirt

Here’s a pair of tits to tide you over.

comment image

Unsurprised

Not everyone likes small tits.

Redshirt

You should try living in Ohio during a Presidential Election Year. I was getting so much mail from Hillary and Donald, I wasn’t sure if they wanted my vote or my maidenhood.

King Hippo

Hillary’s pegging likely would have hurted MOAR than the orange thimble ,, ppl forget that

Sharkbait

Living in New Hampshire during election years was AWFUL.So many people accosting me to take polls/pitch their candidate.

Duchess

Virginia sucks too just because it is a “battleground” and 1/3 of its economy runs on political ads

President Election
Virginia Gubernatorial -/State Elections
Midterms
President Primaries
Repeat

throw in being in the dc metro and I get ads for Maryland as well

Unsurprised

And that doesn’t even factor in the non-stop horror of defense and IT contractor ads.

King Hippo

God, those are the WORST. And all over JV NFL exhibitions. Zombie Ike screams from beyond “I told ya so!!”

Redshirt

Ghost of George Washington: “I warned you bitches, but you didn’t listen!!!!”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_Farewell_Address#Political_parties

Senor Weaselo

It can be two things!

Unsurprised

The one time you probably would’ve preferred to live in Michigan.

Brick Meathook

In 1947, Howard Hughes testified before a congressional committee about contracts that Hughes Aircraft received, primarily for the H-1 Hercules flying boat, but really they were looking to nail him for anything, doing the bidding of Juan Trippe who headed Hughes rival Pan American Airways (Hughes controlled TWA).

Among the issues they questioned him about were how Hughes Aircraft “wined and dined” U.S. Army Air Force officers and civilians who were responsible for awarding wartime contracts. Hughes just looked at the committee and said matter of factly that he didn’t like the “wining and dining” either but that’s what his competitors did and that’s the way the aircraft industry worked and Hughes Aircraft had to do it or they’d lose the bids.

He said it so frankly that the committee basically dropped the questioning on that topic right there.

Hughes was already crazy as a loon at that point but he could always get it together to talk about airplanes with a near photographic memory of almost every detail. His testimony is online and he is awesome. He just shuts down everybody who accuses him of corruption.

King Hippo

as a fellow recluse, I pay teh man mad respek, yo

Unsurprised

Do you think The Aviator did a good job covering that period of his life?

Brick Meathook

A little bit, but Hughes’ life could not be covered in one film, even if you limited it to a one year period. The guy was living extremely large, and he could afford it.

King Hippo

Relive Jason Witten’s verbal fucktardery!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7syGx2J3nRM

herodotus450

Tavares going to Toronto was really an inside jorb? Islanders win 6-1.

Sharkbait

Toronto won’t make it past the 2nd round.

litre_cola

Preach Sharky! Preach!

herodotus450

Looking like theyd play Bahston in the first round, prime meteor-match candidate.

Sharkbait

Toronto wins games 8-7. Those games don’t happen in the playoffs. They’re fucked.

herodotus450

Looks like those two met in the first round last year, Bruiouns in seven. This year MappleThorpes added Tavares, and the Bruins are another day older, closer to death. But that’s just the first round.

litre_cola

I do hope they get their souls crushed again.

Senor Weaselo

I’m surprised and disappointed that the Mausoleum didn’t collapse.
/Now it’s NYCB Live Presents the Mausoleum!

blaxabbath

What’s the deal with different kinds of steak knives?

King Hippo

it’s about what level of douchebro one wants to be about them

blaxabbath

I want to replace our old janky set.

King Hippo

A set should get solid Amazon ratings, and cost less than $100

King Hippo

I bought these, they are fine. I was annoyed that the wood handles obviously faded from going in the dishwasher, but I ain’t hand-washing like some 19th century plebian.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010AQ0GJS/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

herodotus450

Yeah but what kind of name is Equinox? I neeed a knife with a good knife name, like CutCo, or InterSlice.

King Hippo

Does they also make an “at home” bris set? – Tim T., Gainesville, FL

Senor Weaselo

The better to throw at people!

King Hippo

who due they think they r, #BFIB??

blaxabbath

Fans are the best:

Sharkbait

Fuck yeah, today is my Friday. I was slightly disappointed it wasn’t a sexy Friday open thread here.

herodotus450

Shoulda gone with something about Kraft getting his Helmet Caught… in her mouth.

litre_cola

Scheer is a pale misogynistic racist. Fuck that guy.
Sadly my Liberal MP had found himself in a sexual harassment issue. I believe it to be true as I have had drinks at the pub with him and he is a supreme dickhead. He is a quadriplegic who was shot in a road rage incident where he was the aggressor.

herodotus450

Heh, trying to find a picture of an MP40 to post as a response, but google keeps suggesting innocent alternatives. No, I didn’t mean “mp3 gum,” you fuckheads.

Unsurprised

Bing.

blaxabbath

Man, we gotta repeal the House Apportionment Act. We’re supposed to have like 7x as many House members.

Imagine all the nutjobs we can put in government with appropriate representative numbers!

nomonkeyfun

“What am I, a full bag of marbles?”

-L. Gohmert

Redshirt

I’d say lets put 2000 people in the House Chamber and lock the doors. The 435 survivors gets to serve the next two years.

Unsurprised

We already have Immortan Joe as president.

nomonkeyfun

The guy does have perseverance. A quadriplegic who still harasses women, and was dedicated enough to his road rage to get shot by a Canadian.

blaxabbath

Damn – another hour until Arizona/OSU?

Man — its been a long time since I’ve watched a sporting event I’ve actually cared much about at all.

Low Commander of the Super Soldiers

Fun fact: “Libya” is the nickname for the liberal version of Dubya from Earth Dimension B-131.

Redshirt

America B-131 hasn’t been the same since President Donald Jrump declared a false National Emergency to proclaim all Illegal Aliens as National Born Citizens.

Redshirt

Boy, this week has been brutal. (looks at calendar) OH, GOD! ITS NOT OVER YET?! (breaks down crying)

blaxabbath

I’ll take that revolver after you.

Redshirt

I’ve been told things will be better once I eat my gun, but I don’t get it. I’ve been hitting the Tums like crazy.

litre_cola

This week truly has been awful. One more day for Bleerghs sake.

King Hippo
nomonkeyfun

But the month is done. Now that Black history month is over, white people will go back to being normally shitty.

No one has an issue with the next group of people we will be celebrating. [Checks calendar] March, I mean that is Women’s history month. No one has an irrational homicidal hatred of women. [Reads a history book.]

Nevermind. Hand me that gun when you’re done with it.

blaxabbath

It’s amazing how well the power brokers of the free world treat dictators.

rockingdog

found a funny:
*sea captain violently shakes first mate* WAKE UP MATEY THE KRAKEN IS UPON US “What’s a kraken sir!?” NOT MUCH WHATS A-CRACKIN’ WITH U

herodotus450

SNC-Lavalin was also interested in Libya’s main export, corncomment image

blaxabbath

Very good.

nomonkeyfun

I guess they were trying to be Freund-Lavalin with Ghadafi.

SonOfSpam

Libya is a land of contrasts.