You Can Fool Some Of The Billionaires Some Of The Time...

TheGriftInThe

CoupMachineVille


From Richard Luscombe in The Guardian:

A Donald Trump supporter who donated $2.5m to help expose and prosecute claims of fraud in the presidential election wants his money back after what he says are “disappointing results”.

Fredric Eshelman, a businessman from North Carolina, said he gave the money to True the Vote, a pro-Trump “election ethics” group in Texas that promised to file lawsuits in seven swing states as part of its push to “investigate, litigate, and expose suspected illegal balloting and fraud in the 2020 general election”.

But according to a lawsuit Eshelman filed this week in Houston, first reported by Bloomberg, True the Vote dropped its legal actions and discontinued its Validate the Vote 2020 campaign, then refused to return his calls when he demanded an explanation...

****

As you might have guessed the grifters eventually doubled down at 40 cents on the dollar:

...True the Vote had offered him (Eshelman) $1 million if he would drop any plans for a lawsuit...

Imagine that!

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The WaPo has a solid account about how the sycophants and quislings surrounding Mr. Trump have facilitated the coup de grift at every turn...here.


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Killing Hundreds Of Thousands With Malice Aforethought.

JustSayNoToPurdue's
DrugsVille


From the Associated Press:

Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty Tuesday (Nov 24th) to three criminal charges, formally admitting its role in an opioid epidemic that has contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths over the past two decades.

In a virtual hearing with a federal judge in Newark, N.J., the OxyContin maker admitted impeding the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's efforts to combat the addiction crisis.

Purdue also acknowledged that it had not maintained an effective program to prevent prescription drugs from being diverted to the black market, even though it had told the DEA it did have such a program, and that it provided misleading information to the agency as a way to boost company manufacturing quotas.

It also admitted paying doctors through a speakers program to induce them to write more prescriptions for its painkillers...


Gosh.

What would Nancy Reagan have said?



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Money Laundering In B.C..... The Thirty-Fifth Origin Story.

PublicEyeWillNever

DieVille


Super busy with all this online teaching stuff, but...

Just wanted to mention that Sean Holman wrote 34 stories about issues surrounding gaming enforcement back in the darkest days of GordCo, Inc. (i.e. 2009).

Now he has written a thirty-fifth.

If you haven't already, go read Sean's latest over at The Tyee.



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I'll be back with more in a few days once this frenzy subsides a little...

And, ya, just for Sean, the sub-header earworm is...This.

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The Keef Report...Always Be Pimping.

TheWurlitzerKeepsOn
ChurningVille

The first rule of Keef Club....

Always be pimping each other's stuff.

As circularly as possible.

Link

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Previous Keef Reports can be found...Here.

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Ms. Thornthwaite Explains...Sort Of.

ThePartyOfMyPartyIsNotNecessarily

MyActualPartyVille

Former BC Liberal Party MLA Jane Thornthwaite has written an Op-Ed that was published today in the Vancouver Sun.

According to the good Ms. Thornthwaite, pretty much everything that happened to her after the voters of British Columbia learned that she had shamed a fellow MLA in a sexist manner on a BC Liberal Party-sanctioned video call is everyone else's fault.


...As soon as I saw the recording of the roast video I should have immediately apologized. The fact that I didn’t was a mistake that I sincerely regret, which is why, shortly after, I did. Our leader, on the other hand, waited another two days before addressing the issue, which meant the platform announcement did not get the attention it deserved...'

...Listening to Andrew Wilkinson tell British Columbians that I made a fool of myself” despite saying the opposite to me privately was soul crushing and likely cemented the loss of my seat...

...I received no negative feedback from the roast prior to it becoming public: In fact a senior staffer messaged me after the roast. “Great Job Jane. You were good. This is fun to watch.”...

... (L)istening to Wilkinson throw me under the bus, I experienced what many women in our organization have experienced — a double standard between the treatment of men and women...

...Wilkinson never said Laurie Throness “made a fool” of himself when he refused to stop advertising in a magazine containing anti LBGTQ2+ content. Or when he likened free birth control to eugenics. I never heard Wilkinson call male MLAs “fools” after they took part in rallies against a woman’s right to choose or when they advertised for federal campaigns after being told not to do so...


For this, we thank Ms. Thornthwaite.

After all, it is good to know, if only after the fact, that her party's soon-to-be-former leader traffics in double standards and that at least one senior party staffer thinks that such shaming is 'fun to watch'.

But here's a question...

If Ms. Thornthwaite had retained her seat in the legislature would she be educating the voters of British Columbia as to the rotten core of her party right here, right now, three weeks after the provincial election?

****

As to what she, herself, actually said on that video call?

Well, just before she apologized to the MLA she shamed,  Ms. Thornthwaite also wrote the following:

...I made a terrible mistake. This is not who I am and is not reflective of the decades I’ve spent advocating for women in politics...


That is most definitely good to know.

However...

Those things that you actually said on that Zoom call, Ms. Thornthwaite.

Those things that denigrated another woman.

They were your words.

And those words came from your thoughts.

And saying those words that came from your thoughts was actually your deed.

Correct?



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Cullen Inquiry...Three Way Showdown Coming Down.

AllOurSolicitorsAreNotNecessarilyGenerals

HeSaidHeSaidHeSaidVille


Ian Mulgrew of the VSun is reporting that there is a big showdown coming at the Cullen Inquiry. Here is his lede (and a wee bit more):

Former Solicitor-General Kash Heed will get his showdown on Tuesday with the former Mountie who trashed him and former cabinet colleague Rich Coleman at the B.C. Commission Into Money Laundering.

The former RCMP officer-in-charge of the Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team from 2005 until December 2007, Fred Pinnock, told the commission he tried to warn Coleman about the infiltration of organized crime in casinos starting in 2009, but was spurned...

{snip}

...When pressed for evidence, Pinnock produced secret recordings from 2018 in which he claimed Heed confirmed those 2009 allegations.

Scandalized, Heed demanded the right to appear at the commission to cross-examine the man who described himself as a former colleague and friend. Cullen said he deserved the opportunity...



Meanwhile, again, courtesy Sean Holman, circa 2010... Here is what we believe should now and forever be, Exhibit 1A:

 

OK?

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For more context, Sam Cooper has a very good Twittmachine thread...Here.



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One Stop Audio Shop...

Our latest audio blogs all in one place...

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Quitting, LLC.

WordSaladRe-Visited

LeaderSchmeederVille

I came across the story quoted below, by CTV's Shannon Paterson, after the release of the first round of B.C.'s provincial election results.

And then I promptly forgot about it until recently when I stumbled upon it while culling my bookmarks post-election results release, part deux:

Christy Clark isn't surprised BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson announced he's stepping down just two days after disastrous election for his party.

"If I was in his shoes, I would say, 'Well, why would you want to stick around?' Really, what for?" said the former premier, who stepped down herself after the Liberals won the most seats in the 2017 election, but failed to form government...

{snip}

...Clark believes whoever takes the helm of the party next needs to have a message beyond the Liberals' traditional economic one.

"Issues like racial justice, the wage gap for women, access to child care, climate change. Those are things the BC Liberals, we used to all about a lot more than we do now," said Clark. "I think it's about the sense that people look at a leader and say they authentically care about the issues that concern them." ...

Word salad aside, why wouldn't an actual leader maybe, perhaps, want to stick around and try to rebuild a political party by bringing issues that people 'authentically care about' to the fore? 

Hmmmm...

Is it possible that they might decide to 'not stick around', at least in part, because they might have a nice, cushy senior advisor-type gig to parachute into?

A gig, like, say, this:

And what, pray tell, might a leader who doesn't want to stick around do, post-parachute deployment?

Why, make podcasts, of course!

****

For the record, the above is an audio experience that I, for one, plan to miss on purpose.

Especially given the double-whammy of the involvement of the good Ms. Clark and the old needle thrower himself, Johnny Baird.


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And, yes, I do still have a memory and I plan to keep on using it...

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The Emperor's New Coup.

NicePolite

RepublicansVille 

As I've mentioned before, I listen to way too much National Public Radio.

It all started a long time ago, back in the time of Clinton, when we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and between Giants and A's games I would play NPR incessantly on the old analog radio propped up on my lab bench.

Mostly, it was an audio buffet of nice, polite Americana running running in the background while I spent twelve or fourteen hours a day shuffling between the culture hood and the nearby microscope to do stuff like, say, this.

Anyway.

These days I usually punch up the Bay Area affiliate, KQED, on my phone early in the morning to listen to the California Report, Marketplace and All Things Considered, all of which are wrapped around Joe McConnell's traffic reports. That way, in addition to hearing about who governor Gavin Newsom might choose to fill Kamala Harris' soon-to-be empty Senate seat, I always know where the crashes are on the I-80 freeway between Berkeley and the Bay Bridge.

All-in-all, even now, it's pretty soothing.

But this week something has increasingly gotten under my skin, which is the way on a whole lotta levels, be they local, regional or national, everybody just keeps on reporting and commenting on, matter of factly, what the good Mr. Trump and his minions are up to as they their best, post-election, to subvert what remains of American democracy.

Meanwhile, there is stuff like this out there, from Ezra Klein of Vox:

...The Trump administration’s current strategy is to go to court to try and get votes for Biden ruled illegitimate, and that strategy explicitly rests on Trump’s appointees honoring a debt the administration, at least, believes they owe. One of his legal advisers said, “We’re waiting for the United States Supreme Court — of which the President has nominated three justices — to step in and do something. And hopefully Amy Coney Barrett will come through.”

If that fails, and it will, Mark Levin, one of the nation’s most popular conservative radio hosts, is explicitly calling on Republican legislatures to reject the election results and seat Donald Trump as president anyway...

Is this not the real story of the man who would be emperor, his clothes, and his coup?



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Mr. Klein himself can sometimes climb the smooth-o-meter a little too far when he talks about his own favourite pet subject which is how to 'reasonably' deal with the polarization of American politics which he views as a both sides/duopoly-driven game...More on that another time...Maybe.

Update: A. Reader has pointed out that Mr. Mason of BellGlobeCTVRDSTSNMuchCrunchMedia and I are in agreement on this one...Jeebuz!....First it was the Keef and now...This....What is this world coming to?

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Bury His (Political) Heart At Monashee?

We'veGotMail

InBallotsVille

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Sunday Noon Update: Looks like mail-ins will most likely result in NDP flipping two from BCL (Vernon-Monashee and Abbotsford-Mission) and BCL flipping one from Greens (WestVan-S2S)...

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Last week we learned that Mr. Andrew Wilkinson's heart had gone out to failed incumbent Ms. Jane Thornthwaite in the wake of the latter's disgraceful comments on that infamous BC Liberal party sanctioned Zoom call that the then party leader failed to call out at the time (or at any reasonable time thereafter).

Anyway.

It would appear that is what is left of the good Mr. Wilkinson's political heart just might be buried at Vernon-Monashee.

The old CP warhorse Dirk Meissner has the call:

...Liberal incumbent Eric Foster started Friday with a lead of almost 200 votes over New Democrat Harwinder Sadhu, but he now trails the newcomer by 50 votes in Vernon-Monashee...


As for the other ridings in play...

Well, here's hoping that Angus Reid and Co's pseudo-predictive pre-election poll from back in the day was/is still right:

OK?

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On the flipside, pretty sure that Mr. Beer 'N Hockey is jumping for joy while he stomps on the Saturday terra out in Abbotsord...

And, yes, have been sitting on that header for a full week now...

And, double-yes, my Sammyfreude, writ wide, has not yet subsided...

Update: Saturday afternoon...Two-thirds of they way through the mail-ins it looks like the AReid poll was/is pretty much bang-on...As a result, Dipper lead in Chilliwack-Kent increased by a thousand votes...One bit of weirdness now has fellow Zoom call member, Jason Sturdy, who at least kinda/sorta tried to do the right thing right after, is now up slightly over the Greeniac in WestVan.

Updatier: Saturday night...It now looks like Kamloops-North Thompson just might be in play...BCLer Milobar's lead on Dipper Hunter down to 400+ votes with 1,300+ left to count.



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For Our American Friends....You Will, Indeed, Make It Through This Year.

YouBrokeFreeOnA
SaturdayMorningVille



Apropos of pretty much everything...





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Mr. Wilkinson's 'Most Trivial Thing'.

OhHis
HeartVille


Bob Mackin got ahold of a post-election BC Liberal Caucus call, and Mr. Wilkinson's comments on that infamous Zoom session make it abundantly clear that he does not understand what 'trivial' means.

...“Jane (Thornthwaite) and I talked the day after, during the fuss, and I said to Jane, we’ve got to stick together, call me anytime. My heart goes out to Jane,” Wilkinson said.

“In this role you can be skewered for the most trivial thing. In today’s media world, it’s just fundamentally unfair, the fact that those remarks got out was a big problem.”...


The fact that it 'got out' was a 'big problem'? It was a publicly advertised fundraiser for gosh sakes!

As for Mr. Wilkinson's heart and who it goes out to?

Well.

We'll just leave that one alone entirely.


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So where were Wilky's Wizards at the time?...Well, they were on the Twittmachine essentially, you guessed it, trivializing the matter...This Sgt. Schultz strategy by the Wizardry was fleshed out by Justine Hunter and Ian Bailey in the Globe and Mail  last weekend (i.e. weeks after the fact unlike, say, idiot bloggers who were actually paying attention as the actual deal was going down at the actual time)...

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The Keef Report...You Have Not Heard This One Before.

Link

Didn't think this would ever happen, but...

On this one I actually agree with the Keef.

Imagine that!


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Previous Keef Reports can be found...Here.



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