A Republican candidate running for his party's nomination to face Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona this fall has sparked fury with a new Western-style ad
Ad shows Jim Lamon dressed as a sheriff, shooting at actors playing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Kelly is married to Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman who was shot in the head at an event with constituents in 2011
'DISGUSTING,' wrote the founder of the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America Sharon Watts
Lamon doubled down on ad, which will air in Arizona during the Super Bowl
Kelly's campaign has not commented on ad but Lamon's rivals for the GOP nomination criticized it

After crusading against Hillary Clinton for her emails, Republicans are noticeably quiet about Trump literally ripping up government documents he was supposed to save https://bit.ly/3GvC5AV w/ @ArthurDelaneyHP @igorbobic

The full video is deeply distressing. This is the kind of country we're becoming. A place where mobs threaten to hang the leader of the opposition over a conspiracy theory. And they were incited and validated by the prime minister.

The phenomenon has been evolving for some time now, for a whole slew of reasons. Fox News and ultra-conservative podcasts cross the border; Canada’s ethnic composition has changed and that worries certain people; a new and far more right-wing Conservative Party replaced the more moderate Progressive Conservatives in 2003; and an increasingly active and organised number of people in western Canada – Alberta in particular – see Ottawa not as the seat of government but as a threat, even an enemy.

Now comes a convoy of lorries, self-styled “Truckers for Freedom” or the “Freedom Rally”, making its way from British Columbia on the west coast to Ottawa, a distance of about 2,800 miles. It’s ostensibly a group of truck drivers and their supporters who are opposed to Covid-19 vaccine mandates, but the truth is a little more complex and unsettling.
----

There are echoes of the Capitol Riots of 6 January in Washington DC in this apparent rejection and denial of the democratic process.
----

The fundamental issue here is that while Canadians often look and sound American, the essence of the country — its political, emotional and sociological identity — is actually far more north Europe than North Carolina. Just like the NHS, Canada’s socialised medical system has an iconic status, and welfare provisions, absence of military bombast and sheer self-perception have always distinguished Canada from the United States. Canadians may watch US television, benefit from the US economy and many spend winters in Florida, but for generations they’ve been governed by and from the centre.

It’s this reality that so riles the truckers and their base. The convoy is an outward manifestation of a deeper break in Canadian society, an attempt to smash the sacrament and reject the orthodoxy. There’s a whole smorgasbord of resentments and beliefs swirling around: opposition to gun control, dislike of official bilingualism, anger at entirely justified and long overdue Indigenous protests and demands, and the usual certainty that “real” Canadians aren’t being listened to.

This isn’t a nation divided, in that the new conservatism is a minority voice, but it is a country in process and progress, perhaps realising that easy governance may not be as straightforward as was once thought.

A police officer who told Washington governor Jay Inslee to “kiss my a**” as he signed off duty after a statewide vaccine mandate has died from Covid-19.

Robert LaMay, 51, served with the State Patrol for 22 years before being forced into retirement last October, refusing to get vaccinated.

He garnered widespread attention online for signing off his final shift by telling Gov. Inslee he “can kiss my a**”.