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.

_____

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?

______

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!

______

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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My Morning Ride.

InTheNotSoEarly
MorningRainVille


In these, the dog days of baseball and academic summer, getting in to the lab early is not a priority.

And besides, in the absence of the cross town east-to-west public school stampede, it is relatively safe to ride during the reckless 'minivans-in-a-hurry' morning time that takes place every weekday between September and June.

But nevermind all that for the moment.

Because it sure was nice to don the raincoat and put on the waterproof booties for a ride in the rain this morning.

Of course, by the weekend temperatures are supposed to approach 30°C in Lotusland once again, but for a couple of days at least it sure was good to feel like the world was not on fire.


_____
Earworm in the subheader?....Of course...this! (from a then still young Mr. Lightfoot)...Or, if you prefer, there's this schmalzed-up, later-period Gordian version with Ian and Sylvia.



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It's The Privatization, Stupid.

TheFalconAndThe

SnowcloneVille


James Carville, the rapidly aging Ragin' Cajun who once ran strategy for Bill Clinton, has been in the news a lot recently for all the wrong reasons.

Essentially, over the past few weeks Carville had been pushing the post-Biden mini-primary concept that is pretty much dead-as-a-doornail now that the Obamas have gone all in for Kamala Harris.

Anyway.

A long time ago it was Carville who came up with the winning slogan 'It's the economy, stupid', for  Clinton's first successful presidential campaign in 1992.

Which brings us to the 'snowclone'  of a header sitting atop today's post...

It seems that our finest of the fine provincial political pundits are all a twitter about whether or not the Dipperian claim that the Cons will cut four billion out of the healthcare budget is legit.

But the real story is one that even the Dean of Legislative Press Gallery, the good Mr. Palmer, was able to recognize, albeit in a partially buried lede:

...(BC Conservative) Party leader John Rustad would only say that the goal of reducing waiting lists would probably mean an initial “spike” in spending before levelling off a few years on.

That’s quite likely, given the Conservative plan to speed up delivery of surgery and other medical procedures by allowing patients to access non-governmental (read: “private”) clinics...

Hmmmm...

Mr. Rustad's euphemistic 'patients first' edge of that big fat wedge sure is nice and thin, eh?

____

Of course, Mr. Carville didn't always win...His losses include the presidential campaigns of John Kerry in 2004, Hillary Clinton in 2008 and Michael Bennett (who?) in 2020.

I did my best to come up with a sub-header that coupled Kevin Falcon and Ross Perot but I just couldn't quite get there today...Maybe next time...Although, the way things are going it's not clear that Falcon will even come close to garnering Perot's 18.9% on Election Day...

Off topic, but....Beer's post is good today.

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Japandroids Resurgent.

ThisHouseThatYouCall
HomeVille

Lotusland's own Japandroids, my favourite band of the 2010's, are back!

For a limited time at least:

Celebrated Vancouver rock duo Japandroids have announced that they're breaking up and releasing their final album. The farewell LP Fate & Alcohol will arrive October 18 through Arts & Crafts and ANTI- Records, and the single "Chicago" is out now...

What's really going on?

It's not entirely clear, and there are no tour dates as of yet. 

Could it be that these two (still) reasonably fresh faced fellows have decided that they want to leave their musical youth frozen in exuberant amber while they move on to other things?

I dunno for sure.

Anyway...

Here's my warbly, feedback- and fuzz box-freed version of their most well known tune...

 

_____

I put this arrangement together before, as I explained to littler e., I stumbled across this kid's version...Something has seeped into my brain there, I reckon.

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Norm!

WhereEverybodyKnowHis
NameVille


The best BC Poli Blogger in the business, Norm Farrell, is out for a little while while he gets some of his plumbing scrubbed.

For those who have been paying attention, Norm is the most diligent digger out there who gathers the data first, critically analyzes the data second, and then writes the post, third.

The result is wonderful edifying stuff like the following, posted last September:

...Site C was conceived when output per MW of capacity was higher than it has been in recent years. BC Hydro has regularly claimed that 1,100 MW capacity at Site C will annually produce 5,100 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity. That would be 4.64 GWh per MW of capacity, almost a quarter more output than BC Hydro’s dams have collectively produced in the last five fiscal years.

Site C has the extra disadvantage of being constructed on unstable land. Because of that, energy produced will be the costliest large source of electricity in BC. If Site C produces only 4,100 GWh of electricity each year, the energy will be unconscionably expensive...

The passage above is from just one important post amongst many about Site C that I know from personal correspondence is a real thorn in the side of those involved in decision making processes.

But, again, if you've been paying attention you already all this about Norm's work.

However, there's a little secret you might not know about Norm*.

Which is that, as great as it is to read his stuff it is even more enjoyable to sit down and talk to him about pretty much everything under the sun.

And I, for one, am very much looking forward to both the reading and the chatting with Norm as soon as he's back in the saddle again.

OK?


_____

*Of course, if you ever listened to Norm chat with Ian Jessop on CFAX 1070 back in the old days this is no secret for you...Here's a sample of one such chat.


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The Strong Man Alliance.

Despots
'RThemVille


"I get along very well with President Xi. Great guy. He wrote me a beautiful note the other day..."

"Kim Jong-un. He's a lotta nuclear weapons. I got along with him great."

"And Orban was right. We have to have somebody who can protect us.

Donald Trump

Grand Rapids Michigan, July 20, 2024

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He's Baaaack!!!

Link
GeeIt'sGoodToBeBack
HomeVille


Donald Trump's very own Paulie Walnuts Manafort is back, on both the Republic Convention floor and in the inner sanctum.

Emptywheel, who knows a thing or two million, opines on what this means:

...Among all the other criminals and insurrectionists, Manafort no longer sticks out.

And with JD Vance’s selection as VP, Manafort’s support for a pro-Russian Ukraine also looks banal, rather than alarming. But there is likely a backstory few want to pursue.

Back in May, when Paul Manafort’s return was first reported and then denied, 24sight described how (as he had done in 2016), Paulie had been and kept working the back channel...

{snip}

...Trump is running not just as someone who explicitly wants to be a Dictator from Day One, someone who supports all the same policies as a Project that targets divorce and birth control along with the very idea of civil service.

He is running with Russian help on a plan to give Russia what it wants, starting, but not ending, with Ukraine on a silver platter.

Trump, and the guy Trump pardoned for lying about what happened with Russia in 2016, are simply picking up where things left off.

_____
Obvious Earworm in the SubHeader Machine...This!



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His Most Exalted Excellency, Lord Governor Of The Albertalands?

SnarkToday

SnarkTomorrowVille

In case you missed it, pardoned criminal and serial passport changer Mr. Conrad Black is no longer a member of Great Britain's House of Lords:

Former media baron Conrad Black, who famously but unsuccessfully sued then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in his fight to secure a British peerage, has been removed from the House of Lords over his lax attendance.

House of Lords Speaker Lord McFall announced Wednesday (July 10th) that a number of lords have ceased to be members of the House "by virtue of non-attendance," including the Montreal-born Black, known as Lord Black of Crossharbour...

Mr. Black's response?

...When reached Wednesday, Black said he not aware that his membership had been terminated. He told CBC News it didn't really matter to him but he was surprised he wasn't notified first...

But don't cry for he, former Lord Tubby.

After all, given that it was one Mr. Donald J. Trump who pardoned Mr. Black for his federal US'ian crimes...

If and when the petrolbraum portion of the 2025 doctrine is invoked and David Climenhaga's Albertalands are annexed to ensure that fossil fuel extraction keeps on keepin' on, would it be any surprise if Mr. Trump were to name the good Mr. Black governor?

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Snark (def'n): an attitude or expression of mocking irreverence and sarcasm.


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