Blue Diaspora

A Home Away from Home for Toronto Sports Fans

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Is Donald Trump's Lead Just an Illusion?

Is Donald Trump’s Lead Just an Illusion?

http://gty.im/497920448 As Donald Trump continues hold the attention of the American media, it looks like his grip on the “closed” primary and caucus process is less firm One of the things that has intrigued me during Donald Trump’s vacuous rise to the top of the Republican Party presidential nomination process is his generally weaker performance in closed primaries and caucuses. We know he can…

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Sorry, Michael Den Tandt - You're Wrong on the Duffy Scandal

Sorry, Michael Den Tandt – You’re Wrong on the Duffy Scandal

http://gty.im/468753065 Michael Den Tandt has a penchant for missing the mark on important issues I have trouble accepting Michael Den Tandt as a serious thinker. This is especially true when he suggests the lingering stain of the Duffy scandal on Stephen Harper’s re-election hopes is really just the consequence of poor media relations. Yes, Den Tandt has essentially reduced the whole Duffy…

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Tom Flanagan Sells a Doozy on Stephen Harper

Tom Flanagan Sells a Doozy on Stephen Harper

http://gty.im/480869183 Tom Flanagan rushes to the defence of his former star pupil, Stephen Harper, once again Tom Flanagan is invested in the success of Stephen Harper – I get it. His continuing relevance as a right-wing political commentator and his standing legacy as a once-respected professor of any real influence depend on it. Unfortunately, his claims about Harper’s supposed omnipotence…

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2015 Federal Election Will be a Different Beast

2015 Federal Election Will be a Different Beast

http://gty.im/170804900 Party leaders, including the prime minister, shouldn’t bank on a similar election dynamic this time around In light of today’s expected election call, it’s worth seeing how recent polls compare with those taken immediately before the 2011 election. Five public opinion polls were released in the same week that the 2011 election began. These polls came from Angus Reid (March…

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The Problem with Attacking Justin Trudeau

The Problem with Attacking Justin Trudeau

http://gty.im/451600032 On Monday, the Conservatives unveiled their latest round of attack ads against Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. The ads can be found almost everywhere – television, Facebook, Twitter – and focus on Trudeau’s alleged inexperience. The idea that Trudeau isn’t ready to govern Canada has been stressed before. It makes sense if you ignore the fact Trudeau will never actually gain…

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Are the Conservatives Starting to Panic?

Are the Conservatives Starting to Panic?

http://gty.im/451081238 The Conservatives aren’t your typical, knee-jerk reaction party. They like to plan things out months, if not years, in advance and stick to their plan with uncompromising consistency. Hence, the endless parade of empty talking points (if you repeat something long enough, it must become the truth, no?) and well-honed attack ads. April’s federal budget – a document that…

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Tories Continue to Focus on Justin Trudeau, Miss the Big Picture

Tories Continue to Focus on Justin Trudeau, Miss the Big Picture

http://gty.im/181923817 To their credit, the Conservatives excel at three things: 1) abusing the public purse for partisan gain; 2) exploiting political crises for partisan gain; and 3) running attack ads for partisan gain. (Sense a theme?) It’s with this in mind that I now turn your attention to the latest Conservative attack ad. The ad takes direct aim at Justin Trudeau and repeats an old…

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Someone Has Stolen Justin Trudeau's Mojo

Someone Has Stolen Justin Trudeau’s Mojo

http://gty.im/457541642

Michael Den Tandt wrote an excellent piece on Justin Trudeau’s lost mojo yesterday, and I highly encourage everyone to read it. This is actually something I’ve been thinking about for the past several months so it’s good to see that I’m not alone on it: something has happened to Trudeau.

When Trudeau first became leader of the Liberal Party, he promised a new type of…

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Intelligence Models in Practice: The Case of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Intelligence Models in Practice: The Case of the Cuban Missile Crisis

http://gty.im/119823261

The Canadian Military Journal (vol. 15, n 1) recently published an article of mine (“Intelligence Models in Practice: The Case of the Cuban Missile Crisis”) that applies different intelligence models to the Cuban Missile Crisis. This topic isn’t really a reflection of my primary academic interests, but it does represent one of my major interests outside of the Ivory Tower:…

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EKOS, Forum and Nanos Point to Trouble for Stephen Harper

EKOS, Forum and Nanos Point to Trouble for Stephen Harper

http://gty.im/450338960

EKOS was the first to report a tightening, three-way race at the federal level. This was quickly followed by a similar poll from Forum Research.

The difference between the two polls rests in the details – EKOS shows the NDP in second place while Forum shows the Liberals in second place – but they paint the same basic picture at a general level: Stephen Harper’s…

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Measuring Failure: Darrell Bricker and the Edge of Sanity

Measuring Failure: Darrell Bricker and the Edge of Sanity

http://gty.im/83270928

What do the recent elections in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta all have in common?

One possible answer would highlight Ipsos Reid’s rather poor performance in each election. The Ontario election was particularly bad for them, but they also missed the mark in Quebec and Alberta.

Of course, this isn’t just my opinion. In his postmortem assessment of pollster performance for each…

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Bill C-51: A Political Divide on the Left or the Right?

Bill C-51: A Political Divide on the Left or the Right?

http://gty.im/466514338

Let’s turn conventional political wisdom on its head.

For the past four years, we’ve been told ad nauseam that Stephen Harper’s path to a second majority government lays through the divided left. This argument hinges on the simple belief that the Liberals can be safely characterized as a “progressive” party.

I don’t think that’s a fair presumption.

From what we’ve seen of…

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David Akin has Fun with the Truth

http://gty.im/119960075

Times are tough for the federal Liberals – at least, that’s the basic message behind David Akin’s latest column in the Toronto Sun.

I think there’s some truth to this claim – the Liberals under Justin Trudeau’s uneven leadership have been stuck in neutral since the fall and you can almost feelthe ground beneath them beginning to shift – but I also think the situation is…

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Toronto Blue Jays - A Month to Forget

Toronto Blue Jays - A Month to Forget #bluejays #gojaysgo #lovethisteam

After going 21-9 in May and surging into first place in the American League East, the Toronto Blue Jays (45-39) struggled in June going 12-15.

As a result, the Blue Jays’ once secure grip on first place has loosened considerably, dropping from a high of six games to now stand at one game. If there’s any good news, it concerns the generally poor state of the American League East. Despite the Blue…

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Toronto Maple Leafs - A Defence in Transition?

Toronto Maple Leafs - A Defence in Transition? #tmltalk #goleafsgo #leafsnation

When the NHL free agency period opens later today, you can expect the Toronto Maple Leafs to focus primarily on upgrading their leaky defence.

This focus has already been indicated by the decisions to trade Carl Gunnarsson and buy out the remaining two years on Tim Gleason‘s contract. In return for Gunnarsson and the 94th pick in this year’s NHL entry draft, the Leafs acquired Roman Polak from…

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Toronto Blue Jays - Another Late Rally Comes Up Short

Toronto Blue Jays - Another Late Rally Comes Up Short #toronto #bluejays #gojaysgo #jaysnation #jaysarmy #lovethisteam #mlb

The Toronto Blue Jays’ offence certainly isn’t doing the team any favours these days.

For the second game in a row, they made a lame, last-minute effort to beat the Chicago White Sox, but they couldn’t close the deal. Instead, both games were lost in the final frame by one run.

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Toronto Blue Jays - A Night of Fireworks

Toronto Blue Jays - A Night of Fireworks #bluejays #gojaysgo #lovethisteam

Last night was one of those rare nights when the opposition out muscles the Toronto Blue Jays.

In total, the Chicago White Sox and the Blue Jays combined to hit seven home runs. Chicago hit four of them, including a pair of home runs in the seventh inning that proved the difference, while Toronto hit the remaining three.

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