Tuesday, April 24, 2018

I've Said It Before And I'll Say It Again...

ActivistsCanBe
LawyersTooVille


...They will always try to smear the one they fear most.



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What's it all about this time Alfie?....Well....This.


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Tuesday, April 17, 2018

The Vancouver Model...."$800,000 In Twenties Is Very Heavy."

2009WasALongLongTimeAgo
Where'sIGETNowVille


Well, well, well...

The Globe and (NoLongerEmpire) Mail is floating the idea, in the form of a piece under Adrienne Tanner's byline, that our money laundering problem should be subjected to a public inquiry.

Of course, the usual suspects agree that we should get to the bottom of the matter:

...That view (that we should get to the bottom of things) is shared by two former provincial attorney-generals, Wally Oppal (Liberal) and Ujjal Dosanjh (NDP). Both applaud Mr. Eby’s efforts to get at the truth but say calls for a public inquiry are premature...


Except that, of course, we wouldn't want to really go whole hog because that would be very bad for business or some such undefined thing:

...Public inquiries work best when they are narrowly focused. Both Mr. Oppal and Mr. Dosanjh agree the person best positioned to limit the scope is Peter German, a respected former RCMP officer hired by Mr. Eby to investigate money laundering and its connections to real estate...


Hmmmmm....Not sure I agree.

Still, if you want narrow Mess'rs Oppal and Dosanjh, I'll give you narrow.

Because I am of the opinion that an in-depth inquiry specifically into the whys and wherefores of the following would open up all kinds of legitimate avenues for investigation by, say, stringers from the New York Times:




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Need background?...It's here.
Quote in header?....Mr. Eby goes to Ottawa.


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Monday, April 16, 2018

The Dilbit Pipe Chronicles (ctd)...Mr. Scheer Follows Ron Down The Rabbit Hole, Obviously.

Who'sSocialist
NowVille


On Saturday we pointed out that Mr. Mason of the Globe has concluded that Mr. Trudeau would be blamed by Albertans, regardless, even if he does succeed in getting the pipeline built.

What's it all about this time Alfie?

Well...

Noted obviousologist Andrew Scheer, as quoted by Mike de Souza in his excellent NatObserver piece published Sunday, explains (and amplifies) the Ron's thinking for all to behold:

..."I believe conversations around using taxpayers' dollars to backstop the project is a result of the crisis that we're in, that is of the prime minister's own making," Scheer said. "Had he seen the lay of the land politically in British Columbia and quickly referenced any jurisdictional questions to the Supreme Court back in the fall, had he not brought in Bill C-69, which further destabilized the investment community's confidence in these type(s) of project, we very well may not be under the May 31 deadline."...

Gosh.

Is it possible that somebody's very best Western affairs columnist really does have his finger on the pulse of the political zeitgeist....errrrrrrr...the finest of the fine folks whispering sweet nothings in his ear?


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Saturday, April 14, 2018

Ron Hits The Dilbit Pipe Hard, Obviously.

ThereIsNoChichesterCathedral
InBurnabyVille


According to Mr. Mason of the Globe, Justin Trudeau will lose even if he wins.

Because, apparently, every grain of prairie grass will diss him for doing so.

Or some such thing:

...If he (Trudeau) does succeed in pushing the pipeline through, he’ll anger people in Metro Vancouver where most of the opposition to the venture is based. But he would also get little credit in Alberta, or the neighbouring jurisdictions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where there is a common view he made a hash out of this issue unnecessarily...


Meanwhile, heading to a place the authorially obvious one dares not tread, 'Curious George' actually did some actual analyzing of the situation on the Twittmachine:



****

In less obvious news of the deeply buried lede kind, it turns out that the good Mr. Mason would like at least some of his readers to conclude that 57% of British Columbians did not actually elect the members that formed the minority government led by Mr Horgan:

...Mr. Trudeau had to have known this pipeline had the potential to grow into a national nightmare the moment Mr. Horgan’s NDP was allowed to form government in B.C...


Gosh.

Just who was it, exactly, that elected the ol' sportswriter and made him a member of the puffed-up proMedia poli-punditry anyway?




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You want a real take from a proMedia member who is actually paying attention?....Check out this thread from the GStraight's Travis Lupick.
And, just in case you missed it, Horgan has taken up blogging....Imagine that!


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Friday, April 13, 2018

So...Why Didn't George Bush Pardon Scooter Libby?

Fitzmas
RevisitedVille


So, why, indeed, did George Bush the younger not pardon Scooter Libby for his part in outing CIA operative Valerie Plame back in the darkest days of yet another venal Republican administration?

Well...

Over the next news cycle or two you will likely hear and read all kinds of variations on the theme that Bush didn't believe Libby 'deserved' it  given the so called 'facts' that had been unearthed by Saint Patrick the Lord of Cross Harbour slayer.

But there is something else very important to consider, especially when you also hear about the 'message' that Mr. Trump is apparently sending to all of his minions, both current and former, who have been hooked by Mr. Mueller.

The world's top Plameologist, Marcy Wheeler, made that point yesterday before the slow moving Saturday Night Massacre, Part Deux, started rolling out, in slow motion, this fine Friday afternoon:

"...Bush commuted but did not pardon Libby, then refused, against PapaDick (Cheney)’s plaints, because (smarter lawyer) his lawyer counseled that’d be obstruction [update, or counseled that Libby could still incriminate Bush]. Trump can’t fully pardon his firewall, for the same reason: bc these witnesses will lose Fifth Amendment privileges against self-incrimination..."


Do you see the problem for the likes of Mess'rs Manafort, Kushner, Gates, Cohen, Flynn and, perhaps, Bannon there?



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Update: And now, unbeknownest to so many of this in blogworld earlier today, Ms. Wheeler has been given the big stage on the biggest page....This is a good thing.
And what's likely to be the next stop on the slow rolling Trump Train to Massacray?....Ms. Wheeler thinks it just might be the end of Rosenstein at the DOJ (the guy who appointed Mueller after the Sessions recusal and the Comey firing)...Interestingly, this afternoon Rosenstein started to pushback against one of the screamers' shouting points (that is sure to show up on Fox and Friends if it hasn't already).
Meanwhile....Patrick Fitzgerald point out that Mr. Trump is full of obstructionist oompaloompafish offal when it comes to the Judy!Judy!Judy!-backed 'reason' for the pardoning of Scooter Boy.


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Tuesday, April 10, 2018

The Winnability Whinermeisterer.

ProjectEverything
KloutKlubVille


This just in...


Don't know about you all but I, for one, sure am wondering who, exactly, the good Mr. Marissen 'always' said this to.

If you get my drift.


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Link to the MoCo story referred to is here...Based on the numbers and graphs in the actual piece the header is more than a little misleading...And, based on those massive corporate money mounds that the Clarklandians amassed in 2016 and 2017 I can almost forgive the Horganites for accepting the big money globs up to the deadline...Almost...Regardless, Mr. Weaver and friends are the only folks that come out of this one clean which should, in my opinion, be the real story here.
In other, more important, news analysis re-nalyzed news...Norm Farrell takes Colby Cosh's latest apart completely and discovers that it is made entirely of sand buried deep beneath a dilbit pond...Seriously.


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Sunday, April 08, 2018

Kids These Days.



After six weeks spent (literally) tap dancing around Europe, littler e. flew in from Copenhagen via Reykjavik last night.

And, with a few days to go before she goes back to work, this morning she rushed off to the train station to catch the Amtrack to Seattle.

Gosh.

If only kids these days had some get up and go.


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Saturday, April 07, 2018

Relative Affordability.

IsThisTheUDI
OrJustAnotherCountryVille



"...Condominium properties are the last bastion of relative affordability in Vancouver..."


Sure thing Mr. Soper.

Because...

You know.


...The average price for condos hit $723,827 in March, up 22.8 per cent from a year earlier and just shy of the record $751,358 in January...


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Subheader
put a worm in your ear?....This!


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