As IF Times

link Rob Ford crack scandal: What’s behind mayor’s ‘mind-boggling’ PR strategy? – Canada – CBC News.

Finally, something interesting happening in Canadian politics.  Rob Ford’s personal shortcomings and foilbles have even managed to make the headlines of all of the U.S. news outlets.  As is the case south of the 49th parallel, when a contentious issue comes to the fore, an easy shortcut to determine which side is the wrong side is to observe which side the ‘enlightened’ media favors.

In this case, the CBC and Toronto Star, long time vocal and strident critics of Ford’s are demanding that he step down.  Hmm.  On the one hand, a rough hewn, plain talking, crack smoking mayor and on the other, the notoriously left leaning CBC and Toronto Star.  Tough one.

Given that Mr. Ford has publicly admitted his shortcomings and has reduced the likelihood of further embarrassment to himself, (unless they find small boys chained in his basement), the CBC and Star are out of bullets.  What surely galls these two media sources the most is that Ford’s approval rating among voters has apparently gone up since his outing of being a crackhead!  When past Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was revealed to have smoked pot years ago, there wasn’t a clamor by the CBC for his resignation.  Indeed, his progeny, the Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has admitted the same, but no finger wagging there either.

Thus far, the voters are shrugging off this explosive revelation about Ford, because despite this ugly blotch on his character, he is still seen as the guy that is working on their behalf. Unlike voters in other parts, people in the Toronto region were tired of the corruption and ineptitude in their city before Ford was elected.  Ford’s charm for the people is that he appears to be one of them, not like the weather vane headed weasels that  are typically offered in politics.  He’s like a skinnier, blond, crack smoking Chris Christie, the recently re-elected New Jersey Governor.  They love him in those parts too.  Both of them are plain speaking, take no guff personalities who are obviously not vegetarians, the exact opposite of the effeminate, placating pols that populate public offices today.

You know that the quality of politicians has reached a low ebb when a character like Ford, with considerable and obvious warts, is still embraced by the electorate.  It may be that  people are just fed up with the usual cast of disingenuous ideologues that typically are in office.  The CBC and Toronto Star may feel that Ford’s behaviour is an affront to the dignity and credibility of Canadians.  On that score, they’re even.

link Arming TSA officers hits resistance on the Hill – Kevin Robillard – POLITICO.com.

In case anyone has missed it, the never ending clamor to reign in the ability of law abiding citizens to possess and carry firearms continues unabated and in fact rises in volume anytime someone gets shot.  Strange then that in the wake of the shooting of a TSA officer in Los Angeles recently, there is a push by the union representing the TSA for arming their rank and file.

Through the years of the existence of the TSA, this is the first such incidence of such violence occuring against an employee among the thousands of them staffing the nation’s airports.  While it is of course sad that the unfortunate employee was killed at work, the job is not really a dangerous one.  Despite the official uniforms, badges and surly demeanor, the TSA staff are essentially a layer of ticket checkers for passengers in advance of them boarding a bus.  While their jobs capture the scorn and contempt of many travellers, they are only performing a job that someone higher up in the command chain thinks is useful.

If we’re going to consider arming people because of violent attacks, there are many other constituencies in society that should also be eligible.  Statistically, operators of 7-Elevens, liquor store employees and pizza delivery people are far more likely to encounter gun violence while simply peforming their jobs than a TSA employee.  In fact, a quick check of recent news incidents tells you that if you were sitting in a movie theater, a student at school or just shopping at a mall, you were just as likely to encounter gun violence as a TSA employee.

In the wake of all of those other newsworthy incidents, the immediate knee jerk response was to re-ignite the gun control rhetoric.  As far as I can tell, the only difference seems to be that all of the other victims of crime weren’t wearing uniforms.  It’s not clear why they wouldn’t be better off being armed as well.  The point here is not to ascertain who should or should not be armed.  It is to point out that mental cases will strike without predictability in a free society.  If one segment of the law abiding population is entitled to be armed, then everyone should be.

If they decide to arm TSA staff, the experience of travelling will be even more fun than it is today.  Being told to remove shoes, belts and articles of clothing by an armed person so that they can grope you… isn’t that the quintessential bad date?