Will Mr. Rustad Whack His Whackaloons?

BackroomFever
SchemesVille

________

Sunday morning update at the bottom of the post.

________

Well, well well, whadd'ya know...

According to Rob Shaw at least, writing in the now glacierified Orca media outlet, the Con/Soccer Party deal began when a couple of surrogates got together in a backwaterish-type room:

...It started Sunday, when Caroline Elliott, the United candidate for West Vancouver-Capilano, former party vice president and Falcon’s sister-in-law, reached out by text to Angelo Isidorou, the Conservative party’s executive director. Would he be willing to meet and talk about where things are at, she asked...

{snip)

...Elliott and Isidorou sat down at Browns Socialhouse in North Vancouver’s Lonsdale area for an informal chat Sunday evening — two trusted interlocutors from either side feeling out, over a Guinness, whether there was enough common ground for a formal meeting...

Now, leaving aside the fact that the two bosses lacked to the intestinal fortitude to start the 'talks' themselves for the moment, here's what, again according to the esteemed Mr. Shaw, happened next:

...Tuesday, at 2 p.m., Elliott and United executive director Lindsay Coté gathered in a boardroom in Vancouver with Isidorou and Conservative president Aisha Estey.

The Conservative staffers took the meeting with low expectations. Some of the same people had tried unsuccessfully to broker a deal in May. The failure to do so, had led to three BC United MLAs defecting to the Conservatives...

More lackeys!

Quelle surprise.

But then, if the extremely insightful and plugged-in(able) Mr. Shaw is correct about all tis, things got downright interesting, and just a wee bit Machiavellian:

"...United then offered up its large package of opposition research on controversial views held by Conservative candidates (the party had been planning to release information on a Conservative candidate who believes in the chemtrails conspiracy on Wednesday, but did not) and divulged which Conservative candidates it believes have documented problematic views."...

And, so, did Mr. Rustad take the bait?

According to the exalted Mr. Shaw, who appears to have reached the highest of high points on this story that no other Ledgie Boy has even begun to scale so far, the answer is yes.

...Rustad had for months refused to consider any deal with United where it would require him to dismiss candidates he’d previously recruited and were loyal to his party — even if they ended up being revealed to have extreme views on social policies, science and COVID-19 vaccines.

The question he faced now was, would it be worth compromising on that position, and replace a few candidates with United members, if it meant removing the United party off the board entirely for the Oct. 19 election?

Ultimately, he agreed...

So, no matter how hard super fine folks like, say, Marky Mark, who used to have backroom clout, try to deny that it could happen, it is entirely possible that Mr. Rustad will soon try to jettison the flotsam as he starts to tack back towards the center.

The only problem with such a strategy, which would, of course, welcome any and all deflector media spike spin from very fine 'columnists' who work for previously not-so-secret right-sided prop organs, is that it will be pretty hard for Mr. Rustad to jettison himself.

If you get my (way, way,  rightward) drift.


______

Sunday morning update: Cindy Harnett has a story up at the Times Colonist that confirms the broad strokes of Mr. Shaw's story including the players, the rooms and the handing over of the oppo research...What it does not have is Mr. Rustad taking the bait/agreeing. Instead, Harnett quotes Falcon saying that he got a 'commitment' from Rustad to work in 'good faith' taking Falcon's 'advice' which he could 'choose to ignore'...Oh, ya, and Falcon also conceded that his actions in the days prior to Wednesday's announcement of the big deal may have been viewed 'as perhaps' duplicitous...You think?

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Did The Kevinator Do The Deal To Prevent a Klout Klub Takeover?

MakingMachiavelli
BlushVille


Earlier this afternoon we wondered if the Kevinator acted alone when he made the deal with the Whackaloons to blow-up the Soccer Party.

Now, reader Lew E. has brought the following to our attention:

Gosh.

Is it possible that the Klout Klub tried to hijack the whole thing?

Well...

I dunno for sure, but it is clear that Marky Mark is spoiling for a Klout Klub Kat Fight:

Imagine that!

_____

Update: Re: The rumoured KK hijacking...Why, exactly, would Marky Mark question/care whether or not the Kevinator has the authority to make like John Candy and blow things up real good on his own?

These super fine folks do know that we're watching what they do and say, right?

.

Is The Kevinator Acting Alone?

AManOfDubious

ConvictionVille

I'm writing this early Thursday afternoon as the news of the BC Liberal party 'folding' is just starting to hit the Wurlitzer.

So, things will likely be a little clearer later in the day after we have heard from both Mr. Falcon and Mr. Rustad, the leader of the far, far right Whackaloon party that appears to have stomped on the corpse of whatever teensy, tiny bit of 'centre' still remained in the now defunct Campbell/Clark-Off Soccer Party.

But here is something interesting that might be worth returning to in the aftermath, from the Canadian Press:

Mike Bernier, who represents Peace River South, said he's been unable to reach BC United Leader Kevin Falcon amid reports the party is folding, while the rival BC Conservative Party says Leader John Rustad will be making a "major statement" about the election at 2:40 p.m.

Bernier said he called the meeting because there's "obviously something going on" but he was unable to say exactly what, and his phone has been "blowing up" with calls from concerned staff and other MLAs....

Hmmm...Does this mean that Mr. Falcon has done the deed/taken the deal from the Whackaloons on his own?

That must be some deal if the early reports are correct that Mr. Falcon has been telling anyone who listen that he will not run in the upcoming election.

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The First Rule of Klout Club.

BurrardIsNotAComms

StrategyVille

First, there was this, a couple of months ago, floated in the Star and the Globe:

Former B.C. premier Christy Clark says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to be replaced and suggested MPs begin having private conversations with the Liberal Leader about the party’s electoral prospects if he stays on.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail Thursday, Ms. Clark said Monday’s by-election loss in Toronto-St. Paul’s is a sign for the Prime Minister that the Liberal Party needs a change.

“I think the Leader needs to be replaced,” she said. “I think it’s time for him to move on to other, fairer pastures.”...

Then, last week, there was the following from the local Lotuslandian Global politics guy:

So.

What's going on and why does it appear that the Klout Klub is working so hard to get the CorpMedia to pay attention to Ms. Clark's meandering musings?

Well...

I must admit that I was initially flummoxed.

And then, while riding through the rain last night, I suddenly realized that smart 'n savvy media minder-binder types like Klout Klub man-about-inlet-town Marky Mark just might be trying to convince any and all Big Fed-Red Machine mavens who will listen that Ms. Clark could be the super-duper leadership switcheroo game changer they've been looking for.

Just like, say, Kamala Harris.

Imagine that!


____
The first rule of Klout Klub?....Always be pushing...Thing is, while that may have worked back in ancient times (i.e. see DION, Stephane), it doesn't appear to have worked out so well more recently for super fine political folks like Hector Bremmer, Michael Lee or, even, the good Mr. Marissen himself...

As for those French lessons alluded to in Mr. Zussman's word salad?...One can only wonder if, perhaps, the former premier took them at the Sorbonne?



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The Latest In 'Objective' Journalism - False Equivalent Fact Checking.

WhenNothingIsTrue
WeAllLoseVille


If you've been paying attention to CorpMedia coverage of the rapidly evolving US'ian presidential election campaign you may have noticed a sudden orgy of fact checking of the trivial.

One of the best examples is the powers that be taking the bait of the Nouveau Richie Rich Ratsf*ckers to wurlitzer and amplify the slightest of quibbles regarding Tim Walz' past statements.

Kevin Drum, by way of Digby, had that story on the weekend:

Let us investigate the vast history of 'lying' by Gov. Tim Walz as alleged by the Trump campaign:

Retired from the National Guard as a command sergeant major...He did rise to the rank of command sergeant major, but upon retirement his rank reverted to master sergeant.

Had children via IVF...Walz almost always refers only to “fertility treatments,” but a couple of times has used the term IVF. In fact he and his wife underwent IUI, commonly referred to as IVF but actually a different, more affordable fertility treatment.

Won an award from the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce (2006)...It was the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Taught in China for a year through a program at Harvard University (2006)...It was a program affiliated with Harvard.

Earned the title of Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the Year (1989)...He did indeed earn this award, but so did 51 other people. I’m not sure how this counts even under the strictest definition, but I’m including it for completeness.

Referred one time to “weapons of war, that I carried in war” (2018)...Has admitted this was a misstatement.

Denied he had been drinking when he was pulled over in 1995 for speeding (2006)...Possibly the only serious falsehood, from 18 years ago. However, he corrected the record himself six years ago when he ran for governor.

****

But now, it turns out that there is something even more insidious going down, which is the use of the CorpMedia fact check machine to bury significant historical events.

Mike, our friendly and knowledgeable, fellow biologist is tracking this phenomenon:



Here’s what Trump uttered April 23, 2020:

"And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it’d be interesting to check that."

Mike calls this 'fact checking as gaslighting', which is a good name for a very bad thing.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that this type of thing is likely a water-headed response, at least in part, to the hard slogging of Daniel Dale and its potential to adversely affect the bottom line of places like the venerable New York Times.

Gosh.

What's next, a daily eyeball/click grabbing version of the 'Fact Check Game, Wordleized Edition'?


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Not One Penny.

MakeAmericaChildhoodDiseased

AgainVille

"I will not give one penny (of federal funds) to any school that has a vaccine mandate..." 

Donald Trump, May 15, 2024.

“There’s been no commitments. But, you know, I met with President Trump, with family, with his closest advisers, and we just made a general commitment that we are going to work together."

Robert F Kennedy Jr, August 25, 2024.

****

Now.

Setting aside the poor grammar and the bizarre double-minty-fresh-in-the-same-breath speak that would cause a super fine fellow like Mr. Kennedy to state that a 'general' commitment is actually 'no' commitment for the moment...

Does this mean that Josh Marshall is right to conclude that Mr. Trump and his MACDA acolytes are  running on the Pro-Polio/Tetanus ticket?

My only additional comment is that Mr. Marshall appears to have forgotten to mention the whooping cough - loving wing of the party.

Meanwhile, over in Horsey-McHorse-Face Race Land, ABC News asks:

"How much momentum will RFK Jr.'s endorsement give Trump?"

Good grief.

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An Expert In A Field Not Quite Dead.

FootlooseAndFancy

FreeVille


Saturdays, the Whackadoodle-II and I usually head out early to find a body of water for her to frolic in somewhere.

But this morning I used the crummy (but good for wildfire prevention!) weather here in Lotusland as an excuse for sleeping in a little.

And then I had a bit of trouble getting going.

Luckily, Ben Sinclair's Tour Diary popped up on the left sidebar and I spent a little time reading about 'The Beths'  recent day spent in Boise Idaho that included the backing of their big blue bus and its trailer around multiple tight corners, the soldering of Craig's list-acquired mic cables, park exploring, the post-show cross loading of gear into a Subaru station wagon, burritos, and all manner of being young New Zealanders run amok in America (for example, sometimes they play cricket with a home made bat while on the actual bus).

Next I went full metal para-social and watched the gang wake-up and frolic the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle a few days ago. This was followed by a spate of Tubian queue making in advance of listening to the latest from the band's road show:



The tune above is, as Sonny Bono and Townes once said, a medley of The Beth's hit, singular, called 'Expert in a Dying Field'. This particular video version is from a show yesterday in, of all places, Ogden Utah.

Okay...

Now that I'm all revved up, I've got to put the fun stuff away because the time has come to re-learn a little histology, which is, essentially, the microscopic study of tissues using old fashioned blue and pink stains that underpins much of classical pathology. Pathology is a field that is rapidly changing, what with all the high throughput, multiplex imaging and spatial genomics that is blossoming at the moment.

Nonetheless, histology is not quite dead because, before you do all the fancy stuff that helps to improve the precision of pathologic diagnosis and prognosis (i.e. naming the problem and making an educated guess at the likely outcome), you need to know what the tissue concerned looks like prior to getting messed up.

Long story short, back when I was a gradual student I became a pretty good histologist who could pick out a single antibody producing plasma cell swimming in a sea of dermal collagen based on its blue clock face nucleus or Paneth cells filled to bursting with little pink antimicrobial granules located deep within an intestinal crypt.

Unfortunately, those skills have waned significantly in the intervening decades. However, all that degradation must now be reversed because this fall I've agreed to help out passing along such skills to a passel of budding young health professionals.

Which means that, given that I'm not writing a grant at the moment,  I've got to buckle down and hit the books on the shelf over my left shoulder and/or the online atlases to make sure that I can tell the difference between cardiac and skeletal muscle cells before Labour Day. 

What fun!


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Image at the top of the post?...The W-II dipping her toes into Englishmen's River last Saturday morning over on the People's Republic of VanIsle...I'll take her to beach tomorrow morning...Promise!

And, for the record...I have no idea what the most colourful, and somewhat disturbing,  Cleveland Dam Ghost Walkers are all about over at NVG's place...

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The Soccer Party's Concern Troll Conductor-In-Chief.

AllOurNineHundredNinetyYearLeases

'RHimAndHisVille


From Kevin Falcon's fingertips straight to Elon Musk's bot-infested pixel factory:

But, as the CorpMedia story that Mr. Falcon himself links to above makes clear, this is/was more than a 'strike'.

It is/was, at least in part, a lockout:

An end to a countrywide rail stoppage may be in sight, but riders of British Columbia's West Coast Express are facing at least one more day without the service.

The federal government on Thursday asked for binding arbitration in the dispute involving the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union, Canadian National Railway Co., and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd.

CN said soon after that it had ended its lockout of workers and CPKC said it was preparing to resume operations after the two railways' first-ever simultaneous stoppage...

Which means that, in the case of CN Rail, it was the employer who drove the stoppage on, presumably, former BC Rail rails using, again presumably, former BC Rail rolling stock.

And as for that long ago BC Rail sale/not sale deal to CN Rail... 

The following is from a December 2004 report by the intrepid Mr. (now Professor) Sean Holman quizzing the then pre-Soccer Party Attorney General (and future 'there was no prior inducement' proponent), Geoff Plant, about what the charging of then pre-Soccer Party aide Mr. David Basi was really all about:

Attorney General Plant: I don't know a whole lot really about what's happened today other than the information that I received a copy of an hour or so ago..... And the question of how this relates to various aspects of B.C. Rail and the CN Rail partnership is a question that is more appropriately directed to (Transportation Minister) Kevin Falcon.

Media: Will Kevin Falcon be made available today?

Attorney General Plant: I'm not responsible for Kevin's whereabouts.

Imagine that!


_____
Tip O' The Toque to Bob Fedderly for bringing this to our attention on the bot-infested pixel factory.

And, yes, as I seem to be saying more and more often these days...I do have archives...And I'm going use them!


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Vaccines For The Fall.

ThisIsAPublicService
AnnouncementVille


This is a snark-free/serious/no-fooling post to follow-up on today's earlier snarkoleptic bit on how bad it would be if RFK Jr were to become the US'ian Director of Health and Human Services

****

Katelyn Jetelina is an epidemiologist who does a great job of explaining all things public health so that there rest of of us can understand what is really going on.

She's got a great explainer up right now regarding the vaccines that will be available this fall for the Flu, COVID-19 and RSV.

It's a really great, informative post that summarizes the pros and cons on the various vaccines and provides informed suggestions on when to get them.

Here, for Bigger E who has been asking a non-epidemiologist about this (i.e. her Dad), is a quick summary on when to get the latest batch of COVID 19 shots:

If you were recently infected, wait 4-6 months. It doesn’t hurt if you get it earlier, but some research shows that waiting allows our antibody factories to update more effectively.

If you were not recently infected, the timing is a tough call. Either get it now—we are in the middle of a huge infection wave—or wait to increase protection against the winter wave (which may be closer to November). I will be getting mine when it becomes available.

I'm pretty sure that most of us olds here in Lotusland have been timed to get the next C-19 shot in the early fall (estimated by counting back six months to those spring shots most of us were offered). 

The upshot, as per Dr. Jetelina, is the following:

...There are some nuances for those looking for ultimate protection, but in the end, the best vaccine is the one you get!...

______
Earworm in the sub-header?....This!

Image at the top of the post...Taken directly from Dr. Jetelina's post who is happy to have her work disseminated far and wide.



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Make America Childhood Diseased Again.

BeetsBearsAndBattlestarCraptaculars

SnarkVille


Well, well, well, whadd'ya know...

According to ABC News at least, it looks like America's favourite failson is getting ready to drop out of his run in the Horsey McHorseface race that was originally financed by the billionare class so that he would suck votes away from then Dem candidate Super-Old Guy. This, it is alleged by the very same ABC News, will allow the good Mr. Kennedy to endorse the only remaining horse in the race who is also against the use of vaccines to improve the collective public health:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to drop out of the presidential race by the end of this week, sources familiar with the decision tell ABC News.

Sources tell ABC News that Kennedy plans to endorse Donald Trump -- but when asked directly by ABC News if he will be endorsing the former president, Kennedy said, "I will not confirm or deny that."...

Rumour has it that Mr. Kennedy has been angling for the Director of Health and Human Services job in a second Trump administration as part of the 'deal'.

We are pretty sure that poliovirus particles hidden under the seat cushions (and in wading pools) everywhere are rejoicing.

_____
As an aside...Don't you just love it when 'major' media outlets use unnamed sources as the basis for both of the first two paragraphs in a their 'blockbuster' ledes...As US'ian flyover country's top liberal blogger/podcaster, Driftglass, wrote recently...."Critiquing the media these days is like fishing at a fish farm. With dynamite." 

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My Morning Ride.

Chlorophyll
GoneVille

Jeez.

Didn't summer just start, like, yesterday?

The image above, with all those leaves on the ground under darkened skies, was from my ride in this morning, early, because...

Today was my first lecture of the 'fall'.

Sure hope those budding young health professionals who were forced to listen to my gibberish for an hour or so understood what a big deal it is for me to get respectable by changing out of (long/baggy) bike shorts into pants....In August!



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Memes Of The Very Weird, ctd...

Estrogen-FreeWomen
WhatAreTheyGoodForVille


The Vanceing continues, as noted by Bess Levin writing in Vanity Fair:

...In a 2020 podcast interview discussing the benefits of grandparents in children’s lives, (US'ian Republican VP Candidate JD) Vance agrees when the host says, “That’s the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female.” But wait, the incredibly creepy takes don’t stop there! Later, while recounting that his wife’s mother lived with them for a year after the birth of their first son, Vance does not object to the host declaring that that is “this weird, unadvertised feature of marrying an Indian woman.” (Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, is of Indian descent.).

Noting that his mother-in-law is a biology professor and took a yearlong sabbatical to help out, Vance says, “it’s just one of these things that…this is what you do.”...

As for the unacknowledged elitism being trumpeted there...Well, that's pretty darned elegiac of him don't you think?

Sheesh.

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More Receipts From The Pre-Soccer Party's Tax Cut Party In 2001.

WhatOnceWasLostHasNowBeen
FoundVille


Yesterday we noted that former pre-Soccer Party member George Abbott took current Soccer Party leader Kevin Falcon and his then fellow Campbellerians to task for their massive tax cut in 2001 that is now being reprised twenty-three years later:

...“Although the tax cut was undoubtedly popular among many British Columbians, few fully understood the fiscal repercussions that would follow,” Abbott wrote. “Cautionary advice was dismissed and tax cuts quickly translated into a $4.4-billion deficit and deep expenditure reductions for ministries other than health, education and advanced education.”...

Mr. Falcon does not agree with Mr. Abbott's summary of events, as noted by Andrew MacLeod in The Tyee:

...“I disagree completely with the greatest respect to my friend George,” Falcon said. “The evidence showed we had the fastest growing economy in the country (after the 2001 tax cut)...

Well, actually,  no:

Progress Board, you ask? 

Is it a left wing thinky thing designed to tank the pre-Soccer Party party and its policies?

Well, also no, as noted by Paul Willcocks in days gone by:

...(Gordon) Campbell asked a group of business leaders — David Emerson was the first chair, Jimmy Pattison was on board — to set measurable goals for the province, report on progress each year and offer advice on critical issues.

The boards out six important areas — economic growth, standard of living, jobs, the environment, health outcomes and social conditions. Then it identified key indicators that could be used to measure how well the province was doing each year, things like exports per capita and birth weights and educational achievement...

{snippety doo-dah}

...It’s been a useful exercise. Citizens, and government, can see what is and isn’t working. The spin by government and opposition can be replaced by facts...

Imagine that - the current Soccer Party leader hoisted with the pre-Soccer Party's own petard!



_____
And, once again....I have archives and I'm going to use them!...And, just to be clear, I would be happy to summarize year-over-year Progress Board reports but, unfortunately, although not surprisingly, the board and its works were disappeared by the Wizards of Clarklandia almost immediately after they seized power.

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Death By 5.4 Billion Cuts.

WayWayBack
ToTheFutureVille


Well, well, well...

It would appear that Kevin Falcon is throwing a $5.4 Billion Hail Mary straight over a fiscal cliff:

A B.C. United government would eliminate the provincial income tax on the first $50,000 earned by every British Columbian, Leader Kevin Falcon announced Tuesday.

The move would save British Columbians an average of $2,050 a year each at a time when people are struggling to afford the rising cost of living, Falcon said.

The tax cut would cost the province $5.4 billion in tax revenue, B.C. United says...

Of course, the good Mr. Falcon says that he can do this without cutting services and programs:

...Falcon insisted he would not cut social services to offset the $5.4 billion hit to the provincial coffers, but instead would find savings in the "government waste" he claims has ballooned under the B.C. NDP...

****

There's only one problem with the wind whistling between Mr. Falcon's ears and out of his mouth.

Which is that people who have been paying attention, including The Tyee's Andrew MacLeod, aided by George Abbott, have the receipts for the pre-Soccer Party's previous foray into voodoo-inspired Falcon and the Snowman economics:

...Several times Falcon compared the proposed (BC United party) tax cut to one the BC Liberal government he was part of made in 2001.

During that campaign his party promised a dramatic cut to personal income taxes — which they announced to be 25 per cent after they were elected, an amount so large even some BC Liberal insiders were surprised.

One of Falcon’s cabinet colleagues from that time, George Abbott, wrote a PhD thesis and book on how the 2001 tax cut created a massive hole in the budget, failed to spur economic growth and inevitably led to service cuts, often with damaging results.

“Although the tax cut was undoubtedly popular among many British Columbians, few fully understood the fiscal repercussions that would follow,” Abbott wrote. “Cautionary advice was dismissed and tax cuts quickly translated into a $4.4-billion deficit and deep expenditure reductions for ministries other than health, education and advanced education.”

Since the three protected ministries made up 70 per cent of the province’s budget, deep cuts had to be made in the resource and social ministries that make up the rest of provincial spending...

So, there you have it.

What was codswallop in 2001 is still codswallop twenty-three years later.

No matter what Mr. Falcon and/or his (still?) loyal lickspittles have to say:

______

Norm Farrell, who is back in the saddle again, bites the bullet for all of us and takes the entire Falcon/Soccer Party platform, such as it is, to task over at his place...

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Memes Of The Very Weird.

AllTheirHeritageHedges
'RThemVille


The following is part of a US'ian Heritage Foundation training video for the 2025 Project that was recently unearthed by ProPublica:




Essentially, the goal of this meme of the very weird is to paint policies and pols that/who try do something about Climate Change as being Anti-Family.

With that in mind...

Cue up the shape shifter of many names:

...In (JD) Vance’s July 28 interview (on Fox News), host Trey Gowdy asked him whether childless people can still be invested in America’s future. Vance, who is a father of three, responded, “of course,” and accused Democrats of blowing his remarks “out of proportion.”...

{snip}

... “It’s the fact that the Democratic Party has become explicitly anti-family in some of their policies. In fact, you just heard Kamala Harris in a surfaced clip recently talk about how it was a bad idea to have kids because of climate change anxiety. So, really, what I’m trying to get at here, Trey, is that it’s important for us to be pro-family as a country.”...

Here is what Ms. Harris actually said at a Community College in Pennsylvania in September of 2023:

...Because young people — and, in particular, young voters — said, “We are going to direct and decide what is the direction of our country” … Because young people said, “We’re not leaving it to other people to decide how we’re dealing with the climate crisis” —  you know, I’ve heard young leaders talk with me about a term they’ve coined called “climate anxiety.”

Right? Which is fear of — of the future and the unknown of whether it makes sense for you to even think about having children, whether it makes sense for you to think about aspiring to buy a home because what will this climate be?

But because people voted, we have been able to put in place over a trillion dollars in investment in our country around things like climate resilience and adaptation, around focusing on issues like environmental justice...

In other words, Ms. Harris did not say that she thought it was a 'bad idea' to have children due to climate change, only that young people had concerns about doing so.

Regardless, if one were to buy into this particular meme of the very weird for just a moment, at least tangentially.

Doesn't this all mean that policies that significantly mitigate the effects of climate change are actually be pro-family - at least in the eyes of those young folks who are currently suffering from climate anxiety?

And, if that is the case, doesn't this mean that super fine folks like the trainers in the Heritage/Project video above and Elegiac Hillbillies everywhere should be backing the policies of Ms. Harris over those of, well...

You know.

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The Lord of Litigation.

PathsOfMany

BridlesVille

Awhile back, Mr. Conrad Black, writing in the newspaper he once owned, had the back of his good friend, and sometimes Mar-A-Lago- adjacent man about Palm Beach town,  Mr. Harold Peerenboom.

According to Mr. Black, Mr. Peerenboom once helped him out with 'residential matters' while he was dealing with a 'pressing tax problem':

As this is my last column here before Christmas, and in 2019, I would like to make it a gift, in this case to my friend Harold Peerenboom, who did me a favour three years ago. He assisted me in residential matters when I was dealing with a pressing tax problem; I am making other arrangements now, and this is not intended to repay his favour, but is an arm’s-length gesture of solidarity with a friend of more than 50 years, who has been mired in intense legal combat in the United States, a subject of which I, too, have had some experience...

So.

Fast forwarding to now, it would appear that things have soured between the good Mr. Black and the peerless Mr. Peerenboom after things went south with that little 'residential matter' Lord Black mentioned five years ago.

The following is from Kevin Jiang's news(ish) round-up in last Friday's Star:

The ex-media baron (Black) is suing his old friend Harold Peerenboom for $12 million after he sold Black’s “ancestral home,” Jacques Gallant reports. Peerenboom bought the Bridle Path mansion in 2016 for $14 million, after the CRA found Black owed $15 million in unpaid taxes. The two allegedly made a verbal contract to split the profits — but when it sold for $36.5 million last year, Black didn’t see a dime...

Gosh.

Is it possible that there no honour among, well...

You know.

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Sunday Set - August 11, 2024

BreathAsHardAs
KeroseneVille


We're over on the Island, again, this weekend.

This time we're here for the wedding of one of E and e's cousins...

This Set of warbling was recorded ahead of time, on Thursday night, in a bit of a rush/with little practice (just like the old days!) before littler e and I went out for a practice drive - she's working on moving from the L to the N in a few weeks.

Anyway...

There's an old Felice Brother tune in this one. Why? Well, because any day is a good for a little bit of the Felices. And, as an added bonus, they have new music out thanks, at least in part to the patron saint of all things FB, Conor Oberst:

...What do a doomed heiress chanteuse, a devoted New York City bellhop, a prostitute in pastel tights, a dead man’s guitar, and a wistful railroad traveler have in common? Each appear vividly in songs on the latest album from The Felice Brothers, Valley of Abandoned Songs, the band’s first on Conor Oberst’s new label, Million Stars...

Additionally, this particular Sunday Set is bookended by a medley of Townes Van Zandt's hit, singular, and Lucinda Williams' tribute to one of Townes' buddies, Blaze Foley. That's them at the top of post. There's also a little bit of old, old Neil with an on-the-fly key change and a wee bit of Indy CanCon from Danny Michel electrified.

Selah.

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Friday night we were all at Grandpops house, and E and her musical and more partner A were working on their wedding song set list...One of the tunes was that big Sonny and Cher hit...Which sent me to searching thinking that there could be no way that Mr. Bono could have written that song...I figured it was probably somebody like Lieber and Stoller or something...Turns out Sonny, who at the time was working for Phil Spector did actually write the thing...But the real shocker that popped up from all that searching about Sonny?...Well, Townes' quip about playing 'Pancho and Lefty' as a medley of his 'hit' was actually swiped from Bono, who once said the same thing about his only hit without Cher, 'Laugh at Me'...Go figure.




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The Mayor And His Minions.

BrandEvery

ThingVille

"He's so dense the light bends around him."

                                                                                                                      Malcom Tucker

Before he came up with the mildly amusing 'Veep', a satirical TeeVee show about a hapless US'ian Vice-President and her band of merry, and almost always utterly useless, political goons, Armando Iannucci was the creative force behind the brilliant, and much darker, 'The Thick Of It' that often featured the British Prime Minister's kinda/sorta fictional chief enforcer Malcom Tucker and his team of Caledonian Bollocking Boys.

Well...

Who'd a thunk that our very own Mayor of Central Lotusland would have is own team of B Boy Wannabes.

Kirk Lapointe, now writing for that most esteemed media mish-mash machine, Glacier News, has the story:

...Before Vancouver council could put the brakes on her work next week, Integrity Commissioner Lisa Southern outflanked them (last) Friday (August 2nd) in releasing two reports they likely wish would not have seen the light of day.

In broad outline, the reports portray efforts by senior city officials to extend their reach into decision-making of the city’s park board, and the rancorous relationship between the board’s top commissioners and the office of Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim...

{snip}

...In one report, Southern wrote that (Parks Board Chair Brennan) Bastyovanszky complained that (Mayor Ken) Sim, or those acting on his behalf, pressured him to step down as the board’s vice-chair, dictated to commissioners who should be hired as the board’s general manager, falsely claimed to councillors and commissioners that he was under investigation by the integrity commissioner, tried to pressure commissioners to choose someone other than him as its chair, and ultimately moved to dissolve the park board “because he was unable to control decisions of Park Board Commissioners.”

In dismissing the complaint, Southern noted there was no direct link to Sim with the actions of (his Chief of Staff Trevor) Ford and (his Senior Advisor David) Grewal, nor any evidence of retaliation.

In the other report, Southern noted Ford and Grewal complained that (Parks Board Commissioner Scott) Jensen recorded two phone conversations and permitted Bastyovanszky to listen to one of them. In the call, Ford and Grewal told Jensen he should support Sim’s choice as park board chair and that Bastyovanszky was under “active investigation” by the integrity commissioner that would disqualify him as a candidate for the role.

There was no investigation underway, although senior PNE officials had written the integrity commissioner with no more than what Southern called “hearsay and double hearsay” about an occurrence involving Bastyovanszky backstage at a concert, so the complaint wasn’t investigated...

So.

What's this really all about Alfie?

Well, it's not unreasonable, based on the evidence and the timelines involved, for a reasonable person to formulate the opinion that the good Mayor did his best to squash the workings of the Integrity Commissioner before all this evidence of the attempted bollocking of the Parks Board Chair by his most highly non-effective minions got out.

The trouble was, of course, that the Integrity Commissioner beat the minions at their own game, for real, as noted by Frances Bula writing in the Globe and (no longer Empire) Mail:

The City of Vancouver’s integrity commissioner has released two reports that detail a troubling work environment in the mayor’s office, just days before city councillors are expected to suspend the work of her office...

FABula's story in the Globe was published this past Monday, August 5th.

Since then there have been two further developments.

First, the Mayor backed down on the suspension, at least for the moment, apparently in response to the actions of Green Party councillor Pete Fry.

Second, yesterday the Chair of School Board, Victoria Jung, made like the Chair of Parks Board before her and quit the Mayor's ABC Party Party (as the late, great Ed Broadbent might have quipped, perhaps just a tad sarcastically, if he had gotten the chance):

Note that bold face type in Ms. Jung's statement - especially the bit about the public vs. the private interest.

So.

It looks like even the ABC insiders, at least those with a shred of integrity left, are still concerned about what that business about the 'potential' clearing of the tracks for privatization that will occur in the wake of the dissolution of the Parks Board is really all about.

Now. 

In my humble opinion, the best case scenario is something like, say, Stanley Park being brought to us by the squabbling heirs of the Logan Roy....errrr...Ted Rogers family fortune and/or the pool deck at the park's Second Beach, pictured above, becomes home to a 24/7 Tim Horton's franchise.

As for the worse case?

Well, there is that small matter of the potential landjacking of one hundred or so 'non-permanent' parks dotted around the city to consider.

OK?

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Kinda/sorta fictional enforcer?...The M. Tucker character was based, at least in part, on Tony Blair's real life enforcer, the now allegedly super chill, calm and reasonable podcaster, Alistair Campbell. 


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Scientists I Have Known.

BaconNumbersInTheCellular

MachineVille


Truth be told, it turns out that I'm a bit of a scientific Zelig who has been lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time a number of times for reasons I can't really explain, at least not in purely scientific terms.

For example, when I was a post-doctoral fellow, which is the final stage in the long apprenticeship of a junior science geek, there was this really sharp young post-doc named Goberdhan working in the lab next door who needed some human cells with a limited lifespan because he wanted to subject them to a test he was developing that would turn cells blue when they were old, worn-out and ready to stop dividing.

Now, back then, in the early '90s, keeping human cells going/dividing that hadn't become 'immortal', either because they were derived from tumors, like, say, the infamous cells isolated from Henrieta Lacks' cervical cancer, or because they had been infected with viruses that turned off important cell cycle checkpoints so that they could get past the then still mysterious 'Hayflick limit', wasn't an easy task.

And here's where the luck of the Zelig comes in...

Before I was a post-doc, I had been lucky enough to do my PhD with Nelly Auersperg who was a world expert in culturing human cells from normal tissues with just the type of limited lifespan that Goberdhan was looking for. So, I got Nelly to ship me some of her cells and made like that old Trooper song in the tissue culture room. Essentially, I grew some of Nelly's cells for a good/short time (i.e.  so that they were still happily dividing) and some of them for a long time (i.e. so that they were starting to get tired just before they stopped dividing for good). Then I  handed the cells over to Goberdhan so that he could try his little trick. Lo-and-behold, it was the cells that were old and tuckered out that turned blue.

Why does this matter?

Well, from Zelig perspective #1, I was lucky enough to become a co-author on Goberdhan's paper which has gone on to become a block-buster in science-geek terms with over 8,000 citations (that's a lot - I'm very happy that I have a number of other papers with hundreds of citations, but none of those even comes close to that 8,000 plus number - and fellow geeks and university administrators pay attention to those kinds of stats, kind of like baseball players and team owners with OPS+, if you get my drift).

As for Zelig perspective #2, it turns out that that Goberdhan's test, which he developed while working for one of the smartest scientists I've ever met, Judy Campisi, ushered in the modern version of the field of 'senescence' which, for good reason, is now all the rage in anti-aging circles.

All this happened more than thirty years ago while I was working for another super smart scientist named Mina Bissell at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which is perched on the hill up above the UC Berkeley campus.

Another nearby lab was run by yet another unbelievably sharp scientist named Shyamala Gopalan, shown at the top of the post, who was at that time working to figure out the functional relationships between estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and a funky cell surface protein called Her2. Anyone who has dealt with, or has a loved one who has dealt with, breast cancer will know those terms because they are three of the most important biomarkers of the disease that can now be targeted using rational therapeutics rather than the old fashioned slash-and-burn therapeutics that still need to be used when they are not present.

I never collaborated or worked directly with Shyamala, who was tough as nails and did not suffer fools gladly. However, I knew a little bit about steroid biochemistry due to my previous work with adrenocortical cells which she appreciated given that estrogen and progesterone are both steroids. I think she also gave me a bit of a benefit of the doubt because I was Canadian and had spent a little time as a gradual student at the Lady Davis Institute in Montreal where she had been before Mina helped bring her back to Berkeley.

Which brings me to Zelig perspective #3, which has nothing whatsoever to do with science, because...

If you haven't figured it out already, it turns out that Shyamala was Kamala Harris' mom.

Imagine that!

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Why was Goberdhan's paper a blockbuster back in the days when video stores were king?...Because you can do his little trick in situ (i.e. in animal and human tissue and biopsies)...Thus, this became the first, and still only really good, way to track aging cells in the body in all sorts of situations, including during disease manifestations.

Dr. Gopalan never mentioned her kids when we chatted way back when... After all, her kids were all grown up by then (Kamala graduated from law school in 1989)...But she never missed a chance to ask how the then very tiny (now Bigger) e. was doing...Gosh...As I've said around here more than once before, it really does all go by in a flash...

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