Adam Pankratz: Election proves David Eby is an embarrassing failure - "In 2022 David Eby was handed the power of John Horgan’s thumping 57 seat majority, when Horgan stepped down for health reasons. Saturday night, British Columbians decided Eby didn’t deserve it anymore. Results are incredibly close and recounts are scheduled for several ridings but as it stands the NDP are elected or leading in the most seats with 46, the B.C. Conservatives stand at 45 and the Greens hold the balance of power with two seats. Forty-seven seats are required for a majority in BC’s legislature. For David Eby there is no way to sugar coat the results: this is an embarrassment and a rejection of him and his failed policies. He may remain premier, but not because British Columbians want him there. Indeed, he holds the dubious distinction of being premier but never actually being chosen by the citizens of British Columbia for that honour; he was given power by Horgan and will only survive with Green support. Worse, this embarrassing result comes after an election in which Eby fully sold his soul and dumped any semblance of principles in order to hang on to office. Let us not forget that just prior to the election, Eby suddenly abandoned the carbon tax and also did an about turn on involuntary care for people with addictions. As recently as two weeks before his about-face on the carbon tax, Eby had labelled Conservative leader John Rustad a “climate denier leading a band of conspiracy theorists” for his anti-carbon tax stance. But, as the Conservatives rose in the polls and the NDP sank, Eby decided the carbon tax needed to go... Eby now relies upon the Green party to hold on to power. This is the party he openly encouraged voters not to vote for , worried it might split the vote of the NDP. It is also the party which ultimately only cares about one thing, and that’s the environment. It doesn’t take a genius to see what the Greens are going to demand in return for their support: maintaining the carbon tax. To stay as premier he will likely need to pull another switcheroo on the people of B.C. and keep the tax he said British Columbians couldn’t afford. In his election night speech Eby did his best to put on a brave face, but it was clear he was crushed by the result. The best he could offer was to say that “We don’t know what the final count is going to be in the province, but we what we do know is that there was a clear majority for the progressive values that are so important.” He then vaguely noted that the message to him and the NDP sent by British Columbians was that “we gotta do better.” We know that had he won a majority, even a slim one, he would have proclaimed that British Columbians had decisively rejected hate and conspiracy theories. After branding the Conservative party writ-large as racist crackpots during the campaign does this mean Eby currently presides over a province which embraced such ideas? The answer is no, but Eby will have to work hard to convince British Columbians he doesn’t actually view many of them as regressive troglodytes... John Rustad and the Conservatives, elated though they are, must feel a small tinge of regret. While they ran an incredible campaign, which spoke to the affordability issue British Columbians face, it wasn’t perfect. Candidates with very questionable past social media post, for example, inevitably contributed to an overall sense that perhaps the Conservatives weren’t quite ready for government. Those candidates could have been removed prior to the election and the results may well have been an extra seat or two. That’s all it would have taken. Nonetheless, John Rustad — regardless of what lies ahead — will go down in B.C. political legend for taking a moribund party which last election garnered only 1.8 per cent of the vote to within one seat of government in 2024."
Amy Hamm: The NDP fought dirty. I wish John Rustad had fought back - "In his end of night address, which sounded much like a concession speech, Eby begrudgingly let Rustad have a small win: “He spoke to the frustrations of a lot of British Columbians,” he said, unsmiling. But then went on to add: “We’re fighting hate and racism and division.” We all know exactly who Eby is pointing the finger at. He has signalled his intention to continue insulting the character of anyone who disagrees with him. By contrast, Rustad was all smiles and spoke of the incredible rise of his party. This was a Conservative victory, no matter the ultimate outcome... There’s no question that the public is tired of the status quo. We are tired of rampant homelessness, of unaffordable housing, of harm reduction failures, of public crime and disorder, of a health-care system on the brink of collapse, of a lacklustre economy, of government behaving as though our children’s minds belong to the state, and of a ruling party that — similar to Prime Minister Trudeau’s government — has embraced divisive identity politics beyond the point of being palatable to anyone but the most hardcore party base. As it happens, people find it distasteful to be referred to as racists, anti-vaxxers, bigots, homophobes, and conspiracy theorists... The NDP had no choice, really, other than to run a dirty campaign. Any party with such a deplorable record as Eby’s must rely on deflection, projection, and distraction. The NDP leader demanded the Conservatives drop as many as seven candidates for old social media posts, which would have conveniently ensured the party was granted another majority. Through his campaign, Eby was snide, condescending, and contemptuous towards his opponents; his attitude and behaviour were so unchallenged, however, that people may have started to wonder if he had a point... Regardless, the NDP is going to have to reckon with the fact that they’ve lost many supporters and have, by extension of their attacks, intimated that huge numbers of British Columbians are “anti-vax,” bigoted, conspiracy theorists for supporting the Conservatives... Naguib spoke at Vancouver Art Gallery in support of Samidoun leader, Charlotte Kates, following her arrest for praising Hamas and Hezbollah and chanting, “Long live October 7,” one month earlier. “We will not be intimidated. We will not go away … We will keep being loud. We will keep disrupting,” Naguib announced. In Mission, B.C., Naguib, and a merry band of terrorist supporters, relied on emotional blackmail to push for a ceasefire motion: he suggested that if council did not do as he pleased, then they would reveal themselves to be the type of people who’d go along with genocide and would have celebrated Canada’s residential schools in real time. In Port Moody, where the city’s ceasefire motion was rightfully revoked, mayor Meghan Lahti cited harassment and threats as a large part of the city’s decision. “This motion has been co-opted by a group that has spread hate,” Lahti said. The keffiyeh crowd intimidated and slandered those who spoke against the motion. One went so far as to threaten the child of a city councillor. They are, frankly, maniacs. Samidoun’s calls for “death to Canada” at a Vancouver rally on the anniversary of October 7 were not surprising in the least. As Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Indeed."
What a sore loser
'We're the only ones that can fight back': Why the federal NDP is taking a close look at the B.C. election - "NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the initial election results in British Columbia are proof that the New Democrats are the “only ones” who can fight back against Conservatives and said his troops are gearing up for a similar battle at the federal level."
Weird. Left wingers like to claim that the BC NDP is unrelated to the federal NDP, and that the BC NDP is really a conservative party
B.C. Green leader spoke with NDP's Eby, but didn't pick up when Conservatives called
You're not allowed to talk to anyone the left disapproves of
Muslim teacher, 30, who told pupils Islam was going to take over and branded Western girls 'lunatics' is banned from teaching after 'undermining fundamental British values' - "A Muslim teacher has been banned from teaching for life after telling pupils Islam was going to take over and branding Westernised girls as 'lunatics'. Aqib Khan, 30, was sacked from the profession for 'undermining fundamental British values' by a professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency. Khan was an English teacher at Harborne Academy, Birmingham between December 2020 and March 2023, the panel heard. But during that period he made a series of comments on a Microsoft Teams group which where professionally unacceptable. Among those comments were how he discussed how to 'get girls' and showed a topless photo of himself flexing his muscles to one pupil. The panel also heard he openly attacked feminism in his classes... He told pupils how he rejected a female doctor who earned £70,000 because he couldn't be with a woman who made more money than him, the panel heard. Khan also told his students a woman having a baby over the age of 30 was more likely to be disabled than a wife having one with her cousin... referring to the increasing Muslim population Khan allegedly told his students: 'Natural selection increasing our numbers as a result. By 2050 the whole of UK, France and Germany will look like Birmingham' 'The number of Muslims went up 44 per cent in 10 years. Everyone else is falling or growing at a snail's pace. Traditional values > liberalism' In another post presented to the panel, Khan allegedly shared a news article stating 'alcohol ban helps female fans enjoy hassle-free football in Qatar'. He captioned the post: 'White women enjoying life under shariah lol' The panel heard that he also informed students that they would be 'replaced by Muslims' if they supported feminism or progressive ideologies. 'If you believe in feminism, if you believe in aborting babies, in man and man and woman being married, if you believe in working until you are 35 years old and not having any children. If you believe all this stuff, that's fine, believe in it,' he said. 'But I am telling you one fact, you're going to get replaced by Muslims even faster, they will replace you even faster'."
Islamophobia!
Meanwhile in the US teachers talk about their personal lives with their students to groom them, and if you object, you're a bigot
The real reason why Ontario megaprojects go off the rails - "Governments of the day live for the hard hat and shovel announcements. Politicians have big egos with short memories and are rarely still in power for the eventual disappointments, so they make the projects unnecessarily large in scope with overly ambitious designs. As projects progress, however, inevitable challenges that were likely predicted by the experts but ignored, crop up necessitating scope changes. All of which increase costs and throw projects off schedule — none of which is likely revealed to the public. Politicians also love to minimize the cost of their pet project to ensure the voting public knows they are being fiscally responsible and naysayers stay on side. Budgeting for such projects is based on the year it is planned and does not consider inflation and other economic conditions, which will inevitably boost the cost by the time construction ends. This is one reason a $1 billion price tag becomes $2 billion... Many people have waited on the completion of their pre-construction home or big renovation project, so they are familiar with the fluid predictions of contractors. Opening dates for megaprojects are guesstimates at best but that is rarely spoken about openly to update the public every step of the way. To a politician or leader, explaining delays honestly throughout construction may seem risky to their career or popularity, but the truth leaks out eventually. The public is more resentful when they feel lied to. Agencies are getting better at communicating real-time construction impacts, but politicians still have the inclination to minimize the headaches coming. We’ve all heard the false assurance that building a subway underground is painless. There are some folks living on Eglinton Avenue who know that’s b.s. Building infrastructure can be exceptionally painful and that’s another truth that can’t be hidden forever. Navigating through permits, environmental assessments, and public consultations can lead to delays and add costs but meeting these requirements can’t be shortchanged. The not-in-my-backyard folks can effectively stall projects but rarely will politicians risk angering voters by saying that out loud... Although we’ve been burnt a lot of late, transit project delays and cost overruns aren’t unique to Toronto. Crossrail in London encountered complex engineering issues, funding shortfalls and labour shortages, resulting in delays and budget overruns. The Sydney Metro project in Australia also faced similar problems with similar results."
The downside of Anglo democracy and property rights is building housing and infrastructure is harder
oomf magazine on X - "The upper middle class yearns for public transit but without poor people"
wanye on X - "This is a common category error. The fact that they’re poor is incidental. Imagine a disordered person, an aggressive person. Somebody who gets in fights for no reason, disobeys rules to no particular end, is aggressive, confrontational. Maybe we’re just imagining a person who doesn’t take care of themselves, who looks disordered, who stinks. Is this person an engineer or medical doctor? A middle manager at an insurance firm? No, all things being equal, people who behave this way are not going to do very well in a modern, polite, economy. They will be poor, in other words. The poverty is an effect, not a cause, not the thing anybody cares about when they’re next to this person on the bus."
Thread by @NathanLands on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "I'M SHOCKED. After living in Japan for over two years, I recently visited the USA with my wife. It made me realize that the USA is dysfunctional in so many ways and has such a low-quality standard across the board. Here are the things I noticed:
Everywhere you go, you run into little things that don't work. Half the escalators I saw were not working, soap was missing in the bathrooms, etc. Once you notice it, you see it everywhere in America. Things just don't work. Everything works in Japan, and it would be unacceptable if things didn't work. Service is so bad compared to Japan, and you have to tip. We stayed at a nice hotel in Boston, and the workers went on strike. This meant our rooms didn't get cleaned, etc., and they banged on drums outside the window. My wife couldn't believe people would do that. I get it. From the Japanese perspective, it's like, how could the people we were paying to provide us with service not provide the service? Furthermore, not only did they not offer the service, but they harassed us. In contrast, while we were in Japan, my wife got gifts for about eight people at her workplace, including her boss, to thank them for letting her take time off. The culture and respect for work are just so different... basically, different planets. Everything is so expensive. To my surprise, it's dramatically cheaper living in Japan than most of the US. Waikiki was especially nuts.
There is a sense of danger walking around US cities that doesn't exist in Japan. We had two homeless people harass us; one ran in front of us like a zombie, and it freaked my wife out. And on two different occasions, we saw large men threatening women. One was very bizarre. In a mall dining court in Waikiki, a man threatened his girlfriend who was running from him that he would "bash her fucking brains in if she didn't come back". Then, when we returned to Japan... I felt a sense of relief. Here you never have any sense of danger anywhere you go, at any time. I have a feeling a lot of people are living with anxiety from those kinds of encounters, and they don't even realize it.
Homeless people in the US sometimes insult you if you don't give them money. Happened twice in Waikiki. In Japan, homeless people are rare. And when you do see them, they are almost always very respectful and don't bother people. There are more car accidents than in Japan. I got stuck in traffic twice due to accidents. I asked Perplexity and apparently on a per capita basis, there are 2.5x more car fatalities in the USA than Japan.
Flights get delayed way more often. Perhaps this is another quality control issue? In America, the TSA is very rude and threatening. In Japan, they're extremely polite and helpful. They're so different. So many things are locked up in stores in the USA. My wife asked me what that was, but she didn't understand. And when I told her, she couldn't believe how bad it was. It scared her to know that was an issue. Immigration in the US is slow, and they ask you tons of questions, which is wild considering our current border issue and how easy it is to get into the country illegally. In contrast, they asked one question in Japan, smiled, and let me in.
Public toilets are so disgusting. In Japan, you don't have this problem at all. Oh, and of course, now, USA toilets feel incredibly primitive after living in Japan. In cities, everywhere smells like weed. Or worse. The portion sizes are so huge. I gained 7 pounds in 2 weeks. Of course, there are also good things about the USA, like the diversity of food, etc. And there is something a little exciting about the chaos. But I now feel way less interested in moving back to the USA. It feels like something is more deeply wrong than I realized."
Thread by @timjcarden on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "In 2018, Burger King pulled off the biggest heist in food history. They stole millions of McDonald's customers using one sneaky trick. The result? 1.5 Million app downloads in 9 days. Here's how they did it:
In 2018, Burger King was in a pickle. McDonald's had 14,000 US locations. Burger King? Just 7,000. They couldn't compete on convenience. So they decided to compete on creativity. Enter "The Whopper Detour campaign":
The concept was simple, yet brilliant: Offer a 1-cent Whopper to anyone within 600 feet of a McDonald's. But here's the twist: customers had to order through the BK app. Burger King spent a year developing this technology:
It was no mean feat:
• Geofencing all 14,000 McDonald's locations
• Ensuring the app could handle massive traffic
• Creating a mobile ordering system from scratch
But the payoff was worth every penny...
On December 4, 2018, the campaign launched. Social media exploded. News outlets picked up the story. People were driving to McDonald's... to order Burger King. It wasn't just marketing. It was performance art. And by the end of the campaign? The results were staggering:
• 50 million views on Twitter alone
• 1.5 million app downloads in 9 days
• 3.3 billion earned media impressions
• BK app jumps from #686 to #1 in App Store
Burger King had turned McDonald's biggest strength into a weakness.
But it wasn't just about the numbers. The campaign showcased Burger King's brand personality:
• Clever
• Irreverent
• Willing to take risks
They weren't just selling burgers. They were selling an attitude. The marketing world took notice:...
The long-term impact?
• Stronger brand loyalty
• A new playbook for digital marketing
• Increased app usage and mobile orders"
F* Your Short Memory 🏴 Anti-Cult of Absurdity on X - "One dude. No militia. Already released on bail. Local law enforcement say there were threats, but none in their or the surrounding counties. Known 24 hours ago. For the media lecturing citizens about spreading harmful rumors, they learned it from you. 😒"
Arrest made amid security threats prompting FEMA contractors to ‘stand down’
Meme - Jonatan Pallesen @jonatanpallesen: "General purpose infographic template I'm working on. What do you think?"
"Overlooked Causation. Grey causal arrows emphasized. Blue causal arrow ignored"
"Smart parents -> Home library -> Teen skills
Smart parents -> Genes, general upbringing -> Teen skills"
Jeremy Wayne Tate @JeremyTate41: "Research data from 160,000 adults in 31 countries concludes that a sizeable home library gave teens skills equivalent to university graduates."
Collin Rugg on X - "Man comes 'back to life' as surgeons began the process of harvesting his body parts after they determined he was de*d Kentucky man TJ Hoover II was thrashing on the table & "crying visibly" as doctors prepared to remove his organs. Before the process, the family raised concerns that Hoover was alive because his eyes seemed open and he looked around while being wheeled to the operating room. They were told that it was a "common reflex." Hoover had been declared "brain de*d" after an overdose. When Hoover started thrashing and crying, he was sedated and doctors *still* planned on going forward with the organ recovery, according to NPR. The transplant was ultimately cancelled leading to several employees quitting. The Kentucky Attorney General and US Health Services Resources Administration are now reportedly investigating the incident. "I feel betrayed by the fact that the people that were telling us he was brain de*d, and then he wakes up," his sister told NPR."
A man declared dead almost had surgery to donate his organs, but he was still alive : Shots - Health News : NPR
How ignorant. They should've trusted the experts. Medical school isn't something Google can replace, after all
Meme - "Why does my son have a spoon stuck to his gaming screen?"
Meme - "You have 3 Nukes. Choose where you want them explode"
"1. Antarctica to see what the global warming crowd would do.
2. San Andreas Fault to speed things up with getting California off us.
3. Hiroshima, just in case they thought we were sorry."
Meme - "Warhammer 40k"
"How long do you think modern humanity would fare against an ork invasion?"
"++ADMIN NOTICE++ The next person who mentions BLM in this thread will be removed and blocked from our entire network."
Meme - ceiling bird @ceilingbirdbeep: "The new Home Depot commercial. No comment." *Black woman changing smoke detector*
Meme - Dangerous Matt @MattyVero: "My mate spent £5700 in a stripclub last night and this what he has to say for himself:"
"So unfair they pretend they love you"
Meme - Ant: "Man... these are the best Crumbs I've ever had!"
Man: "Ayoo no wayy!! I thought I lost this cum sock ages ago!!"
Ant:
'Unesco-cide': does world heritage status do cities more harm than good? - "Chew Jetty in Malaysia’s George Town attracts tourists by the boatload. Historic homes are now commercial stalls branded with neon signs; one-time fishermen peddle T-shirts, magnets and postcards. Tour buses deposit vacationers from early in the morning until well after sunset. The daily intrusion has clearly taken a toll: windows are boarded, “no photo” signs are pervasive, and tenants quickly vanish at the sight of a foreign face. “I would like to remind people that we are not monkeys, and this is not a zoo,” says Lee Kah Lei, who runs a souvenir stall outside her home on the Chew Jetty... Once, the “clan jetties” on the outskirts of George Town on Penang island, were a bustling seafront hub. A ramshackle collection of stilt houses and sheds, stretching along a line of wooden piers each bearing the surname of its Chinese clan, they are one of the last intact bastions of Malaysia’s old Chinese settlements. The seven remaining jetties survived two world wars and Japanese occupation, but as the decades wore on the piers deteriorated. And when the formidable threat of encroaching developers raised its head, the owners of the jetties had only one place to turn: they made an 11th-hour bid to Unesco for protection... Now, however, residents say the victory was not what they hoped for at all. Where fishermen, oyster harvesters and fortune tellers once plied their trade, souvenir vendors and snack bars have taken root. The locals say they were caught unawares by a tide of tourism that has washed over their stilt village. It’s a similar complaint that has resounded across Europe this summer, as cities from Barcelona to Venice try to balance the positive effects of tourism with the inevitable downsides... The phenomenon has even been given a name by Italian writer Marco d’Eramo, who argued in New Left Review that Unesco preserves buildings but allows the communities around them to be destroyed, often by tourism. He calls it “Unesco-cide”."
Meme - "Don't try to change her, replace her. *Man with fat woman* *Man with thin woman*"
Women can be very proud about replacing their partners, so (e.g. that joke about losing 200 or something pounds referring to breaking up with her boyfriend)
Are we entering a new analogue age? Gen Z is leading us there - "Many of these young vinyl collectors don't have a turntable because they don't need to. They can lie on their bed examining their new physical album purchase for its artwork, liner notes and lyrics while streaming it. From that perspective, it's the best of both worlds. It also offers a break from screens. Some have ditched listening on headphones, too, because they can make one feel disconnected. CD sales are still falling, but the rate of decline may be slowing as gen Z gets into that format, too. For them, the CD is just as ancient as an LP or a cassette, but it's a real-world object. That's both a novelty and reassuring. And physical representations of music have given birth to a new type of fandom, status and expression of identity. "I'm willing to spend THIS MUCH on things like records and CDs to prove that I'm a big music fan! I have five feet of shelving to display my music collection!" Trying doing that with Spotify or a hard drive full of digital files. Artists have been responding to this trend, led by Taylor Swift and her endless issuance of multiple vinyl versions. Physical editions help fuel fandom and superfandom. The Weeknd, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter know this, too. I spoke at a high school earlier this month in front of about 300 students, a sizable portion of whom were wearing T-shirts displaying the logos of '90s bands: Nirvana, Rush, Metallica, The Hip, even more niche acts like Suicidal Tendencies. Such retro merch far, far exceeded that of any current artist. When I asked a few of them about their favourite era of music, most of them cited the '90s. I also spotted more than one student rocking a flip phone. This desire for feature-free phones has caught the attention of the industry. Earlier this year, The Boring Phone was released and was so successful that a second version is coming soon. "Tired of being controlled by your phone? It’s time for a change. Introducing BP2 (Boring Phone 2) – the next generation of tech that respects your time and attention." They could have also added, "We won't harvest your personal data so that we can sell it." It's not just phones, either. Notice that standalone cameras are back again thanks to gen Z? Not just film cameras, either; even the Polaroid camera is a thing again. The somethings grainy, often imperfect photos that result are valued for their realness and authenticity."