Drop Turd, The Herd Will Follow.

ForThoseWhoCanBe

SteeredVille

The media herd that is.

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Yesterday, Norm Farrell wrote about the many municipalities in British Columbia, including the City of Vancouver, that are sitting on mountains of 'surplus' cash:

At the time, I couldn't help but note that despite this, based on a pretty much data-free report from the Mayor's budgetary task force, we would soon be hearing about how we could get out of the phantom fiscal woods by selling off public assets.

And today, whadd'ya know...

Digital front page.

Vancouver Sun.

Can the thundering hooves of the Keef be far behind?


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The Keef Report...Savvy Is As Savvy Does.

AllTheCynicalWorldWeariness

ThatFitsVille


As far as Keef-the-Savvy is concerned, it's all about absolute winners and losers in the political power game:

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Meanwhile, Aaron Wherry, courtesy the MoCo, gives us an actual  sober assessment of what the federal Lib/Dib 'pact' is all about and what it could/might/might not mean in terms of actual political outcomes that could/might/might not affect actual people:

...A governing party that lacks a majority of the seats in the House of Commons essentially has three options. It can attempt to form a coalition government with one or more of the other parties. In that case, the parties would share the responsibility of government, with ministers from each party sitting in cabinet.

Conversely, it can attempt to negotiate with the other parties on a case-by-case basis to pass individual pieces of legislation.

Somewhere in between those two options is what the Liberals and NDP have chosen to pursue. In a confidence-and-supply arrangement, one party agrees to vote to keep the other party in power for a certain amount of time. In return, the party in power agrees to pursue certain priorities and initiatives — typically with some concessions to the smaller party's desires....

{snip}

...The NDP will want to establish that it made certain things happen — things like expanded dental care and the foundation for a pharmacare system. But the Liberals now have some assurance of stability and some reason to believe they will be able to go into the next election with a record of having done things.

Another three years in office also ensures that the big things the Liberals have been working on — climate policy, child care — will be more established by the time any other party gets a chance to make changes...


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Jay Rosen explains the penchant of a certain segment of the pro-punditry to be seen as stylistically savvy...Here.


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The Keef Report...Bonding With Ron Obvious.

TheMoreThings

ChangeVille

I've been giving the good Mr. Baldrey a pass during COVID, mostly because I view all that that encompasses to be (mostly) a public health matter rather than a political one.

But now that the Keef has turned his attention back to the pols...

Now, of course, a journalist suggesting that a political party should choose their 'new' leader from the non-candidate pool because of things he likes what he sees is bad enough on its own.

But when you add in the 'call to the herd' factor it's almost as if our local Lotuslandian media version of the Glimmer Twins is back in the saddle again...

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Previous Keef Reports can be found....Here.

Ron Obvious?....This.

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The Keef Report: Getting It Right For Once.

Keefin'It

1600Ville

Remember when the Keef said this:

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Well, it looks like stopped watches and all that...

Banned by Facebook and Twitter, Donald Trump has gone back to the future with an online communication tool that might be described as a glorified blog.

His retro webpage, billed “From the Desk of Donald J Trump”, appears at DonaldJTrump.com/desk and features a small photo of the 45th president writing in a book on his desk...

Oh the humanity!

(not to mention, presumably, the fever swamps to come in the comment threads)

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Previous Keef Report can be found...Here.


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The Keef Report: Blue Moon Rising?

Link

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but....

I actually agree with the Keef one thousand percent when it comes to 'Ball Four'.

Although, to be clear, that iron-clad agreement likely has as much to do with our similar vintage it does with Mr. Bouton's literary chops.

My second choice would be a book called 'Seven Days To Sunday' which is an insider/all-access account of a pivotal week for the New York Football Giants during the 1967 season. Fran Tarkenton was the quarterback, Tucker Fredrickson was the runner, Allie Sherman was the coach, and Spider Lockhart was the free safety, an undersized skinny guy I would soon pretend to pattern myself after while playing for the purple and gold of the Oak Bay junior bantam Marauders.

Imagine that!



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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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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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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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The Keef Report...There's No Access Like Behind The Mask Access.

AlwaysBe
InsidingVille

Link

Gosh.

Does this mean that BC Ferries schwag ain't what it used to be?

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Despite the fact that the Whackadoodle is no longer with us, I still take a once weekly walk out where the North Arm of the Big Muddy meets the Salish Sea.

It is a fine patch of sand, etcetera, that is directly under the path of those damnable Jets from Heli.

And if the newly unleashed Horgan doesn't now do the right thing on Site C?

Well,  I'm going to have to start shaking my fist at the white and blue coloured whirlygig machines whizzing by overhead all over again.

OK?


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The Keef Report....In Which Our Hero Appears To Forget An Old Saw About His 'Profession'.

He'sMostDefinitelyAMan

ButIsHeAlsoMadVille

"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations."

George Orwell (maybe).

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Well, whadday'a know....

A PR firm has ranked local journalists currently covering British Columbia's provincial election.

And, thanks to the horse's mouth itself, we actually know who comes out on top:

Now...

We have no idea how, exactly, 'Brandwatch's proprietary ranking system' works but you might be seriously wondering about that 'analysis of total followers' bit, unless, of course, you actually think the BeeGees were better and more influential than, say, the Ramones.

If you get my drift.

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Interestingly, the Keef has used the opposite tactic in an attempt to discredit folks who, in his opinion at least, are of no consequence because they do not have enough popularity points....errrrr....followers...Perhaps more interestingly, however, was that time that the Shatner did not agree with him.


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The Keef Report....In Which A Former Club Member Works The Refs.

Link

I mean, just have a look at who the good Mr. Johal tagged on that thing.

Sheesh.



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Former Keef Reports can be found...Here.

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The Keef Report....The Revenge Of Shawnigan Lake.

HaveMemory,WillUse
ItVille


Remember this from early 2016?

More than 500 people gathered at Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island on Wednesday morning to raise awareness about the effects of dumping allegedly contaminated soil near the community's watershed.

The province has granted a permit to allow the dumping of salt water dredgings from Port Moody into a quarry near the Vancouver Island lake. But thousands of people in the area north of Victoria rely on the watershed for drinking water.

"We want people to understand this is not an NIMBY issue. This is a contaminated landfill that got approved without going through the government's own process," said Shawnigan Lake regional director Sonia Furstenau...

And, remember how the Keef responded to a righteous local citizen uprising backed by a then little known regional director:

Well, it would appear that our favourite TeeVee political pundit man has been proven wrong.

Again.

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And how, specifically, was the good Mr. Baldrey already wrong about this thing originally back in the pre-2017 provincial election day?... Well, this.

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The Keef Report: Wagging The Lagging Indicator's Tail...Again.

AllYourLaggingIndicators'R
HimVille


Remember when the good Mr. Baldrey said this a few weeks ago?

Well, today our man from the snowy globed TeeVee found a brand new comparator and said this:

Which is all fine and good if you want to ignore curve position and rates of change, etcetera.

However, if one focuses on how our hospitalizations have changed since our active cases started to rise sharply once again, there is the following to consider:

OK?

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As always, previous Keef Reports can be found...Here.

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The Keef Report...Perspective A-Go-Go.

PublicHealthFree
TeeVeeVille


This was then (i.e. last week):

This is now (i.e today; please note the hospitalization info):

Gosh.

It would appear that the institution of higher (est?) learning where the good Mr. Baldrey studied epidemiology did not cover lagging indicators.

Or some such thing.



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Laila Weighs In On Site C.

RevengeOfTheIdiot

BloggerVille

It would appear that at least some of the creme de la creme of the local proMedia contingent has finally started to catch up to the citizen journalist who was once derided as little more than an unreliable activist by a certain Keef not named Richards.

More importantly, Laila Yuile is back, at least for the moment:

In the age old tradition used by politicians of every stripe who are forced to release bad news, the NDP waited until late Friday before the BC day long weekend to tell the public about the long overdue progress reports on the Site C dam.

And the news wasn’t good…. delays and rising costs related to the Covid pandemic had taken its toll, and now the project was facing cost overruns, and unknown in service date and worse yet…. a final budget figure couldn’t even be given! In fact, a quick google search shows the majority of headlines and excerpts on this by media bought the carefully crafted press messaging hook line and sinker on the Covid angle, with some not even mentioning the bigger story held within the report...


Go read her latest in its entirety.

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The Keef Report: Demonstrating Why Only Major News Outlets Should Be Allowed To Ask...

...The Really Important Questions.

Remember this, from last week:

That was the good Mr. Baldrey explaining why only he and his should be allowed to ask the questions at online provincial government presser's because it was they who would make sure all the important information got out to the public in the best way possible.

Well...

Apparently, in the theatre of his own mind at least, the Keef made sure to do just that at today's COVID-19 update:

Sheesh.


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The Keef Report...And The Keefs Shall Inherit All Of The Media Earth.

Competition?
WeDon'tNeedNoStinkingCompetition!Ville


It would appear that, according the good Mr. Baldrey, only guys like him and his should get to ask questions at government pressers.

Because, 'big', or some such thing...

But why, you might be asking yourself, Mr. B's talk of  'biggism rules, exclusively' problematic?

I mean, it's not as if we haven't been forced to deal with the fall-out from back scratch-fevered, insider access-driven big press/gov't symbioses around here in the past.

Right?



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Previous Keef Reports, wherein you may just find some tracks of the symbiotic tears mentioned above, can be found...Here.
And, just to take the good Mr. Baldrey's argument one step further off the ledge...Is he suggesting that he and his would not actually tell his really big audience about a matter of import that came to light as the result of a question and/or line of inquiry started by a small media outlet?


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The Keef Report...Evidence? We Don't Need No Stinking Evidence!

TurfProjection
ItBurnsVille


Taking his cue from one of Lotusland's top layers of the astroturf from days gone by, a fine fellow who once successfully helped push for a big dollar policy change with a protesty-ish gang of six (count 'em, six!) that led to the building of the ice bomb bridge, the Keef sounds off:

When called on it by Sandy Garossino, the Keef came up with a most interesting, if not laughable, retort:

I mean, even if it was tongue-in-cheek, what the heckfire?


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As always with this stuff, take note of the timestamps....
Previous Keef Reports can be found...Here.


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The Keef Report...Define 'Massive'.

YouKeepOnUsingThat
WordVille


As we noted in the last edition of the KReport, our man about Victoria town recently said the following in a most provocative post-yardarm tweet:

At that time we wondered what information, exactly, the good Mr. Baldrey was using to the come to the conclusion that public opinion was massively against the protests against protests at the ports and the legislature (i.e. in British Columbia).

Since then Angus Reid has actually released poll results on just that matter:

A 'massive' majority?

Gosh, I see a plurality nationally with significant undecideds.

As for British Columbia?

In aggregate it's 49% opposed and 46% in favour which, when taking into account the margin of error, is essentially a dead heat.

OK?


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To give the Keef his 'corrective' due, more recently he just uses the term 'majority'....But when fine media folks throw conclusions into the mix based on nothing that, themselves, influence public opinion....Well?
Looking at those AReid numbers, above....Based on StatsCan numbers, Is not Sask/Man oversampled given that their combined pops is barely half that of BC?
Subtitle got your earworm turning?....This!


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The Keef Report...Place Your Bets!

Link

Here' hoping the Keef got good odds.

The real question, of course, is...

What information, exactly,  led the good Mr. Baldrey to come to such a hard, fast and 'massive' conclusion?


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Previous Keef Reports can be found here.
As always, check the time stamp on Mr. B's digital bleat release.


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