I think it’s called overplaying your hand. That the continual display of indignant outrage is necessary to Trudeau’s defense (that no laws were broken and no lines were crossed) is not in doubt: But—you have to be careful about where you choose to display your rehearsed umbrage. Talking to journalists? Lie away--politician's prerogative. Taking questions from the general public? Lie-sauce, lay it on thick. Caucus? Those meatheads would be upset if you didn’t lie to their faces. Question Period? More like LieYourFaceOff Period, AMIRITE? Questions of law can be settled in none of those forums. Where questions of legality can be settled is in a court of law. Which is why Justin Trudeau’s decision to get his lawyer to threaten Conservative leader Andrew Scheer with libel seems like folly, a blunder of the Oscar and Bosie variety. In 1895, having received a note from the Marquess of Queensberry accusing him of being a “somdomite” [sic], Oscar Wilde decided to sue the Marquess. Bad call. At the time of the accusation, Wilde was in an intimate relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, known as “Bosie.” Sodomy remained a criminal offense in England. Tread carefully. Take the insult on the chin, like the guy can’t even spell. Sticks and stones. Are there people out there who can prove you have been somdomiting the shit out of them and/or Bosie? Then don’t ask a court of law to test those claims. Oscar and Bosie got their day in court, the one Oscar had demanded—and smooth move, Oscar!—both of them got sentenced to hard labour in prison. Trudeau has himself similarly trapped. He wants to take this thing to the courts? Hell yeah, we’ll see you in court and if we don’t, the country will take this as an admission of guilt, that you have broken laws. Or so Scheer’s lawyer writes in his response: “If the Prime Minister does not commence the lawsuit he has threatened, Mr. Scheer will conclude that the Prime Minister has properly acknowledged that Mr. Scheer’s statements were appropriate and grounded in evidence before the Canadian people.” (emphasis added) The drums in "A Statue to Wilde," off The Trembling Blue Stars' 2007 lp The Last Holy Writer sound like an "An Homage to Ride", imitation being the highest compliment or however it goes. The drums are pure "Vapour Trail" from Nowhere, the 1990 debut album by the inimitable (except on this track) Oxford band Ride. That's not an accusation, it's a compliment.
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