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I disagree. The PCs have been at least as venal as anyone else- probably worse. The reason there are as few examples as there are is, I suggest, because they have behaved so poorly as to usually disqualify themselves from power. The book "On The Take" describes the rampant corruption in the Mulroney government, in Saskatchewan, I believe 12 PCs- most cabinet ministers were convicted and here in Manitoba, there is the example of former PC cabinet minister Eric Stefanson and there are others. The PCs have a very low opinion of those who vote them in and see them as sheep to be shorn.

Keystone XL Pipeline Sponsor Abandons Project After Biden Permit Block BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline said Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the contentious project after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office. Calgary-based TC Energy said it would work with government agencies “to ensure a safe termination of and exit from” the partially built line, which was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska.

What matters is that the placebo effect can be very powerful. During WW2 a shipment of what was supposed to be morphine to the ETO was actually saline solution by mistake, but the analgesic effects were very nearly as powerful- surgeries were performed while the patients were anaesthetized and unconscious while sedated by saline solution.

GOP congressman asks if US Forest Service can 'change the course of the moon's orbit' to fix climate change The good news is a Republican U.S. Congressman appears to believe climate change is real and can be fixed. The bad news is he thinks the federal government can somehow alter the orbit of the moon – or the earth – to do so. "Is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM [Bureau of Land Management] can do to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit?" Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asked Jennifer Eberlien, the Associate Deputy Chief at the U.S. Forest Service, as the Daily Dot reports. "Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate." His "profound effects" remark seemed to be an afterthought. For those who will say the Congressman from Texas was just kidding, he began his query by saying, "I was informed by the immediate past director of NASA that they've found the moon's orbit is changing slightly and so is the earth's orbit around the sun. We know there's been significant solar flare activity." Eberlien politely did her best to hold back a guffaw, replying, "I would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr. Gohmert." "Yeah, well if you figure out a way that you and the Forest Service can make that change, I'd like to know," Gohmert said. *sigh* This idiot ought not to be allowed out in public without a responsible adult.

We will probably never know if Andrew Harris's positive test result was the result of an accidental ingestion or a deliberate one. The high level that he produced in the playoff and Grey Cup game does not resolve the question. Lots of people take supplements to improve performance (over the counter "testosterone enhancers" for example) and report improvements anecdotally even though there is no clinical evidence to indicate that these libido enhancers actually work. Its called "the placebo effect".

Now you've gone and ruined it for all the chortlers out there. Shame on you.

Would have preferred Morgan Freeman.

I'm guessing that the Tories have decided that they are probably going to lose the next election, so Palister & Co. have decided to enrich their buddies. I saw that in the last days of the Devine government in Saskatchewan and in the last days of Gary Filmon's Reign of Error. They're PCs. That's what they do.

And ER bills.

Testimony from an anti-vaxxer goes 'off the rails' Ohio lawmakers debating a bill Tuesday that would allow anyone to refuse any vaccine for any reason and would give them the "right" to not be "discriminated" against or even asked about their vaccination status, heard from Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, recognized as one of the world's top spreaders of vaccine disinformation. After falsely claiming that 5000 Americans have died from the coronavirus vaccine, Dr. Tenpenny told lawmakers that the injections, which have saved countless lives around the world, make people magnetic. "Right now we're all kind of hypothesizing," a fast-talking Tenpenny said, after being asked about the "EMF frequencies," also known as electromagnetic frequencies, she "hypothesizes" are associated with the COVID-19 vaccine. "I mean what is it that's actually being transmitted that's causing all of these things? Is it a combination of the protein which now we're finding has a metal attached to it?" Tenpenny posited to lawmakers. "I'm sure you've seen the pictures all over the internet of people who've had these shots and now they're magnetized, and put a key on their forehead, it sticks, they can put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick because now we think that there's a metal piece to that," she claimed, not saying who "we" refers to. There is exactly zero proof this is legitimate. She also pushed the false claim that vaccinated people are shedding unknown properties onto unvaccinated people. "There has been people who've long suspected that there was some sort of an interface," she continued, using air quotes, "yet to be defined in the interface between what's being injected in these shots, and all of the 5G towers. Not proven yet, but we're trying to figure out what is it that's being transmitted to these unvaccinated people." The name of the Ohio bill, HB 248, is the "Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act," to protect science-denying unvaccinated Ohioans from discrimination. As far as Dr. Tenpenny goes, the Center for Public Integrity reports "Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, who offers a $595, eight-week course in anti-vaccine talking points despite a federal judge having found her 'unqualified' to weigh in as an expert witness on a vaccine-related lawsuit Watch: Testimony from an anti-vaxxer goes 'off the rails' - Alternet.org

Soooo...business as usual in Cowgary?

No one has ever accused Clint Eastwood of being a great actor.

Did you enjoy his one-man show talking to an empty chair at the Republican convention that elected Trump?

Sad, but true.

Clint Eastwood turned 90 on the weekend. Safe to say, the only riding he's gonna be doing is on his Laz-Y-Boy.

Aren't he and his brothers into hockey?

'We have to act now': Historian lays out a 'nightmare' scenario for a stolen 2024 election Historian/author Timothy D. Snyder, who teaches at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, has had a lot to say about the history of authoritarianism — and during Donald Trump's presidency, he warned about growing authoritarianism in the United States. According to Snyder, the modern Republican Party hasn't grown any less authoritarian since Trump left the White House on January 20. And in a Substack article published on June 4, Snyder describes a "nightmare" scenario in which Republicans could steal the 2024 presidential election even if the Democratic nominee wins both the popular vote and the electoral vote. "I have the Cassandra feeling this spring because it is so obvious where all of this is heading," Snyder warns. "President Trump tells a Big Lie that elections are rigged. This authorizes him and others to seek power in extra-democratic ways. The lie is institutionalized by state legislation that suppresses voting, and that gives state legislatures themselves the right to decide how to allocate the electoral vote in presidential elections." Snyder continues, "The scenario then goes like this. The Republicans win back the House and Senate in 2022, in part thanks to voter suppression. The Republican candidate in 2024 loses the popular vote by several million and the electoral vote by the margin of a few states. State legislatures, claiming fraud, alter the electoral count vote. The House and Senate accept that altered count. The losing candidate becomes the president. We no longer have 'democratically elected government.' And people are angry." 'We have to act now': Historian lays out a 'nightmare' scenario for a stolen 2024 election - Alternet.org

For anyone who has forgotten, its two weeks for the full effect to kick in,

Male elk have a habit of urinating all over themselves to make themselves more attractive. Seems appropriate.

Rep. Mike Nearman is a traitor -- New video shows him coaching how to breach the Capitol Pro-Trump website 'TheDonald' confirms detailed plans to storm Capitol and kill members of Congress Mike Nearman is the man who let armed protestors into the Oregon Capitol building in December, which led to a violent encounter with the police who were trying to remove them. The protestors attacked the police and used pepper spray. Nearman willfully endangered their lives, along with the lives of his fellow lawmakers and Capitol staff. Although the original video of him letting them in was pretty damning, a new video has emerged that made no doubt that it was planned. The new video shows Nearman walking his constituents through on how to breach the Capitol building, step-by-step, in a scheme called "Operation Hall Pass." He gives instructions on how to text him, where to stand, and how to get in. He knows what he is doing is illegal, which is why he intersperses his instructions with coy language. He says he will deny knowledge of the scheme, and that he will give out a random number---which happened to be his cell phone number. He was speaking to an anti-union group called the Freedom Foundation, which is funded by billionaires such as Charles Koch and the DeVos family. The Democrats in charge of the legislature have already stripped him of his committee assignments, and forced him to give up his badge to access the building. They have asked him to resign, but he has refused. The Oregon GOP is, as expected, deadly silent (complicit)—just as the national Republicans are about January 6th. Nearman also faces criminal charges. Rep. Mike Nearman is a traitor -- New video shows him coaching how to breach the Capitol - Alternet.org Steve Schmidt's dire warning: US just one election away from permanent Trumpian autocratic rule Lincoln Project co-founder and GOP strategist turned Democrat Steve Schmidt, ahead of Donald Trump's speech this weekend to the North Carolina Republican Party issued a dire warning: America is just one election away from permanent autocratic rule from the former president and his allies. In a 512 word Twitter thread Schmidt warns that Republicans have grown even stronger since the January 6 insurrection, and those who think Trump being out of the spotlight and off social media has weakened him are "fools." He also urges the media to stop focusing on the demise of Trump's blog. Trump is the "presumptive nominee" for the 2024 presidential election, Schmidt, a student of history, says, warning that "elected officials of the Republican Party are obedient soldiers in Trump's cult of personality." "His words will surely kill again," Schmidt says. Here's the entire Twitter thread in full (a few minor changes made in capitalization due to the way Schmidt writes his tweets): Steve Schmidt's dire warning: US just one election away from permanent Trumpian autocratic rule - Alternet.org

In all this, there are some valuable learnings. For children (and some adults), there is the lesson that the welfare of all is the responsibility of all, and at times our individual wishes necessarily are subordinate to the well-being of others. It is the price we pay for being in community and being a part of the whole. It has also revealed that there are those among us (and some in positions of power) who are willing to ignore the welfare of others to pursue their individual agendas. In times of crisis, we reveal the true "us", the true selves we keep hidden for good reasons. Power can be a drug that drives selflessness or the worst parts of our egos.

Correct, and that is why we need to keep vigilant over our elected officials and community leaders of all sorts. As Mark Twain said, "Politicians and diapers need to be changed often and for the same reasons."