Brendan Monk

Demkiw and Ford know this. If they don’t, that’s arguably an even bigger indictment of them as public officials.

Churchill said “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all the others we’ve tried.” Same logic applies to trials - they are not perfect, because we are not perfect. But they are better than a private, unchallenged report from an obviously partial third party.

The intellectual dishonesty from Doug Ford and Chief Demkiw is staggering. To suggest that we should reject the findings made by an impartial judge during a public trial that were based on the expert evidence called by both Crown and DEF for this OPP’s report is absurd.

Mark Carney’s outstanding Davos speech. His best speech yet, I think! Here it is in full.

@johnkonrad @GeoRobert57 This is an insane take. If your idea of close allies means saying we say yes to every foreign policy misadventure you undertake then the term you’re actually looking for is vassal. We’re not interested. Good friends tell you when you’re wrong.

@GeoRobert57 I’m not saying you were wrong not to go into Iraq I’m saying that the claim we are friends and great allies and “brothers” is bullshit

We had a good thing, Canada. A quiet arrangement. You kept watch up north, didn’t make noise, didn’t screw around. We covered the heavy lifting. You backed us up, built a few ships, some icebreakers, flew the flag at NATO, pretended to be a country that gave a damn. We saluted your officers and let you slide when things got bloody. We asked for help and you sent 26,000 to places like Korea while we sent 1.1 million. We suffered more deaths than your total deployed forces and that was ok because you were nice and you had to remain focused on keeping the north defended. Now look at you. Your navy’s a joke, less combat power than a drug cartel with a Zodiac boat. Your GDP’s circling the drain, and instead of fixing it, you’re too busy playing dress-up at climate conferences and pretending that TikTok diplomacy will stop a hypersonic missile. You have 3 rusty submarines and a few small frigates. You have more generals and Admiral than working tanks. You spend less per GDP on defense than Albania or Slovakia. You won’t spend. You won’t build. You won’t fight. You won’t even build icebreakers. You are a Pacific Nation but couldn’t defend your selves from the Chinese fishing fleet let alone their Coast Guard or Navy. But you’ll sure as hell talk. Talk about “shared values” while you freeload off the defense umbrella we pay for. Talk about “peacekeeping” while China cuts your undersea cables and Russia maps your Arctic. Talk about how important your role is in NATO knowing full well your only authority is the billets, joint exercises and training we give you, You think this continent defends itself? You think because you’re polite and bilingual and serve maple syrup at the G7, you get a pass? That someone else, USA, will show up when it gets hot in the Arctic or North Pacific? Not gonna happen because we don’t have a single icebreaker that hasn’t suffered a catastrophic loss and no longer have a fleet capable of evacuating our bases in the Pacific let alone defending your coast. You had a good thing. You could’ve been useful. You chose to be a burden. And when the day comes, and it will come, don’t expect a call back. We’re done babysitting the unarmed. You had two jobs. Two. Stop the spread of Communism by nodding along with our anti-marxist rhetoric and defending your own coast. You have failed miserably at both. And now you’re no longer even nice. You roll over to china and waive fentanyl through our border while booing the American flag and banning our products. Then when we call out the truth you start pulling on our sympathy strings with posts like these. I love and admire all 516 you lost and all 26,000 Canadians who served but I absolutely zero respect for today’s Royal Canadian “navy” or your politicians. We had a great thing going Canada and paid you trillions in sweetheart deals like NAFTA, open borders and all our best intel vis five eyes. All you had to do was be nice, not elect commies and patrol your own coast in return. You blew it. P.S. it wasn’t the “Korean” war, MacArthur destroyed the North Korean army, it was the UN China war. P.S.2. You didn’t send anyone to fight with us in the pacific campaign of WW2 or in the Vietnam war either because your king told you defending Europe is more important than helping us in your Pacific Ocean backyard

30 day stay of execution for our economy over a literal non-issue after Trump accepts the proposal we suggested weeks ago. Plus, the added bonus of more incoherent rambling about annexation. Absurdist political theatre of the highest quality.

@lawandchocolate Burritos are fine, but I miss those halcyon days where it seemed every time I went into set-date or plea court some guy was sitting bare-chested in their bedroom chain smoking Belmonts unmuted and with their video on.

Shout out to the person in Zoom Court who I just watched eat an entire burrito in two bites. Impressive.

🤬

@RHDefence @bittonlaw Thanks, Ryan!

@bittonlaw @MonkBrendan I picture the two of you making a great team. A bright future is ahead for both of you!

My client was just acquitted of possession of stolen property and possession of a loaded prohibited firearm. Congrats also to counsel @MonkBrendan who was counsel for the co-accused whose client was also acquitted of all charges. I wouldn’t trade being a defence lawyer for anything in the world!

@rwesthead Statscan data says 60% is in line with the clearance rate of violent crimes across Canada. Many reasons why charges might not be laid - can’t ID the perp, the complainant doesn’t want to proceed, exculpatory evidence is uncovered etc - not just cops disbelieving complainant.

Days after London police announced four NHL players and one former NHL player have been charged with sexual assault, the London Police Service is being asked to explain why roughly 40 percent of sexual-assault complaints it received in 2023 did not lead to any charges. Of the 587 sexual-assault complaints received by LPS in 2023, 254 did not lead to charges. The London Police Services Board says the public deserves an explanation. thestar.com/news/ontario/l…

@domluszczyszyn @reporterchris @kevin_mcgran

@reporterchris @kevin_mcgran jesus christ

#Leafs to unveil Pizza Pizza tonight as a helmet sponsor for home games … Replaces TikTok

@KikuchiBeliever 🦄

Man he’s fucking special. Listen to the sound of this off his bat

I was at this game. 20 years later, still the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen live across all sports. Delgado’s a lock for my personal Blue Jays Mount Rushmore.

@KikuchiBeliever @NaeNaeTakes Look on the bright side - Schneider had the greatest start to a career *ever*, Bo has been great while healthy, the rotation has been elite, Biggio took a huge step, there are few truly easy outs in the lineup. There’s lots of copium on offer here.

@NaeNaeTakes I wish our young Dominican generational hitter could casually put up a 5 war season😭

Fernando Tatis had a long (self-inflicted) break from baseball and also has underperformed all his expected stats this year. He’s still going to finish with ~5 WAR. My very early MVP pick for next year.

@AjaxRunner @MarkBourrie It’s not a question of trust, it’s a question of protecting source information. Sounds like this was Five Eyes intelligence and disclosing details likely - or at least potentially - compromises the source of the info. He has every incentive to provide details, but he can’t.

Today's great logical flaws in Canadian punditry: 1. CSIS is on the ball and all its leaks on Chinese interference are completely, take-it-to-the-bank trustworthy; but 2. CSIS can't be trusted when it says India had a Sikh agitator whacked in Canada and we need to see proof.

I gave my tickets for tonight to @MonkBrendan. If the Blue Jays bunt, blame him.

@davidslavick I couldn’t agree more.

@davidslavick I guess we missed the NDP promise to dismantle the state, abolish wage slavery, dispossess corporations and return capital to worker syndicates while creating a grassroots democratic socioeconomic system

@Wilnerness Man, forget these jokers. It is ludicrously hard to hit MLB pitching. The fact that anyone can hit is almost an absurdity. Crash Davis never saw an “exploding breaking ball” like the ones from relievers today. Can’t treat it like it’s a moral failing when guys don’t get a hit.

KILLER INSTINCT!!! This isn't hockey.