Life In Scarborough: Gulls Before A Storm

So the wife and I spent our evening  on the balcony of our condo unit drinking a bottle of wine.  We noticed a flock of  gulls in the air, surfing the turbulence in advance of a line of storm clouds.  These were  the same gulls that usually inhabit the roof of a Metro across the parking lot from us, standing in their 100s in the shallow puddles that form after a rain.  Normally you imagine them groundlings, begging for a wedge fry from people going to and from their cars.

But tonight they had all taken to the air. And they were like a mob of kids on their skate-boards.  This was not about looking for a meal.  It was all about skidding sideways like the guys in Tokyo Drift, but through the sky, and diving and darting and pulling a rivals tail-feathers in full flight and swooping low and then sailing 100% vertical on a hot  current.

And their squawking seemed exultant, not at all like the sound they make fighting over the spilled guts of a squirrel someone has run over with their car.

Its nice to watch animals "having fun".  They are always so into it.

Ontario Election Leadership Debate Analysis

I didn't watch it.  I was eating wings in my favorite wings place watching a hockey game.  But I was checking my twitter feed occasionally, and this is what I gleaned from it.

1) Kathleen Wynne's opening pitch speech was good.  Something about yeah you hate me but you like my policies sorry sorry sorry yada yada.  She got a few good jabs in later against Doug Ford.

2) Doug Ford fumbled the Nazi meme thing.  "You are all motherfuckin' Nazis," he said of the NDP.  He also looked "stiff".  Which, if you've ever met the guy...you can mistake him for a cardboard cutout of himself.

3) Andrea Horwath didn't say anything worth noting, as far as I can tell.  But she didn't get trapped into anything either.  So for her that's a win.

So maybe a 0-0-0 draw, or  0-0 negative 1 score for Mr. Ford for misplaying the Nazi card.

Doug Ford Shouldn't Let Andrew Lawton Run For PCPO Nomination in London

Andrew Lawton is running for  the Ontario PC party’s nomination in London West.  Doug Ford should not let him.

For many reasons, but this one is my favorite.  Back in 2010 Andrew and some buddies wanted to bring alt-right notable Mark Steyn to London (Ontario).  First to the  University of Western Ontario and then, when that fell through, to the London  Convention Center.  But it all went South on them at the LCC as well, and they blamed Islam.  From Andrew's old blog, which doesn't appear to exist anymore:

“The reason offered by the LCC [in a Tuesday morning phone call] was that they had received pressure from local Islamic groups, and they didn’t want to alienate their Muslim clients. It’s interesting to note that the LCC is owned by the City of London, and is therefore a government operation,” wrote Strictly Right’s Andrew Lawton at the website.

But as I argue here, Andrew's explanation doesn't work.  Basically, the site for Steyn's speech had already changed once, and it would have been impossible for any of these "Islamic groups" to have known which new potential venue to threaten.

Andrew actually responded to my argument in the comments, and pretty much admitted the major points of it.  As I wrote at the time:

Andrew,

So will you acknowledge that, whatever you might have been told by the LCC, it would have been impossible for local "Islamic Groups" to have had any real influence on their decision. This is not to say anything about the LCCs decision making processes, which may well have involved considerations about what how their Muslim clients might have reacted to Steyn's appearance.

So, in short, Andrew Lawton tried to arrange to have an alt-right lunatic speak at the LCC, bunged it up, and blamed Muslims.  If Doug Ford wants to convince Ontarians he isn't a Trump clone, one way to do it  would be to kibosh this nomination run.

Caroline Mulroney: Off To A Grand Start!

Caroline Mulroney defined energy poverty at #MNC2018 as only an elitist can.

"People are living in energy poverty, people have to choose between buying hockey equipment or going out to dinner with their families"https://t.co/AF582tnkGo#PCPO #PCPOLdr pic.twitter.com/RSMtT9dUSm

— JohnToryWatch (@JohnToryWatch) February 10, 2018

Serious, though, this is the kind of thing that makes Doug Ford PCPO leader.

Ezra And The Law: A Small Victory?

Ezra Levant's twitter feed from back in the fall of 2017:

Ezra's twitter feed today, after I sent a series of emails to the Alberta Law Society and then the Law Society of  Ontario arguing that, since the guy is no longer a lawyer, he shouldn't be allowed to go around calling himself one:

Now, correlation does not = causation, but I know the Ontario body was in touch with him (File 2017-211411), and I'd like to think I helped in a small way to make Ezra's life more miserable.

Life In Scarborough: The Bus Drivers of Scarborough

The lady bus driver on the bus today was wearing a nose-ring.  And the TTC let her drive the bus like that.  She was a white chick so it couldn't be a religious accommodation thing.  But people will get on her bus and see her nose-ring and think fuck why shouldn't I commit some crimes for  a new time of Barbarism has surely arrived?  I come from an era before tattoos and frivolous adornment and I am telling you today's young people are armoring up to look fierce for the dark ages they see descending, what with nothing but shit jobs on the horizon and the only way of advancement mortal combat, possibly with an AI enhanced yuppy scumbag.  But public institutions like the TTC should be holding the line against Chaos, at least until I can retire and get my consciousness uploaded into The Matrix and get away from this shit.  So I say the TTC dress code should have no place for nose-rings.

That is all.

Jason Kenney's Alberta Victory: An Analysis

The knock against Jason Kenney is he is almost 50 and still unmarried.  Is he hiding an "artistic streak"?  

PS.  Just try to jam that pipeline down BC's throat, tar-miner.  There will be hell to pay.

That is all.

Fire Bill Morneau

He's a fuck-up, a total 5 alarm fuck-up, fucking up  a simple slam-dunk "tax fairness" issue like this.   Bye bye idiot-stick!  Kick his ass so far, Justin, that it doesn't land until 2018.  

That is all. 

Not A Good Thing

The short version:  at this year's stampede Calgary Blood & Honour Member ("Leader"?) Kyle McKee got close enough to PM Justin Trudeau to have him autograph what turned out to be a Nazi flag.  The long version can be found here.  It was the Neo-Nazi idea of a harmless jest, I suppose, but in the current atmosphere I'd suggest the PM tighten his security procedures.

Life In Scarborough: Paul Bernardo's Old Neighborhood

Famed serial killer Paul Bernardo graduated high-school from Sir Wilfred Laurier Collegiate, down in The Guild. Apparently they've left the picture of his graduating class (him included) on the wall there. I was down in The Guild today and heard a story I didn't know: that every year the picture goes missing a few days before graduation, as the kids ride it around Scarborough on public transit.  Then it reappears on the wall when nobody's looking.  I have no idea whether this story is true but if it is: that's the spirit, kids!

Barbara Kulazska, Lawyer To The Canadian Far Right, Has Died. Memorial Event Tomorrow

The news can be found here.  As you can see at the site, a "memorial event" is to be held tomorrow at the Richview Library in Etobicoke.  Tributes will be given by such CDN Neo Nazi-types as Marc Lemire and Paul Fromm. Who knows who else will show up.   If you feel like contacting the library and telling them its a bad idea, their facility manager can be reached at 416-394-5120.

Life In Scarborough: The Building Confronts Kitec Plumbing Problem

So the condo corp held a big meeting the other night.  They rented a room at the local community center.  They'd already sent around a letter so everyone knew what it was about; the building has Kitec plumbing.  You can look it up but the stuff was manufactured between 1995 and 2007 when the  number of recalls they were getting made them stop.  Under certain circumstances it wail fail prematurely, and when it fails it blows (splits, more technically) and you get floods.  The meeting was held so the condo Board could tell us we would have to pay about $3,500 to $5,000 per bathroom, and maybe more in the townhouses, to get it removed.

So despite the fact that the engineer Atilla wasn't overly communicative, and they had mic problems, it didn't become a shit-show.  I said my bit urging caution--I know a lot of folk in the R.E. profession who think this is more media driven than real (remember UFFI?)--but in the end the decision to re-plumb the whole place had already been made.  And the lady next to me texted her husband while we were sitting there, and confirmed that the insurance company he worked for wouldn't touch houses/apartments with the stuff in it.  Others will hike your rate.  So perhaps it is for the best.

 And people took it OK.  Probably the most exciting bit of dissent was when the old Filipino guy got up and said "This will not end well!  You laugh now, but in time you will cry tears of blood!"  And a couple other old guys got up and yelled at the clouds. But the overall mood stayed relatively mellow.

Word at the meeting was that there were 2,000 condo towers around the city with this kind of plumbing in them.  I'm not sure if that's an exaggeration, but there's surely a lot of them.

Dear Galactus: A Word From Trey Gowdy, GOP Congressman From South Carolina...

I have contacted Galactus and The Eater Of Worlds is apparently solid GOP.  He will be accessing his pay-pal account and forwarding Mr. Gowdy $5.  The Eater of Worlds is not made out of money.

The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta Is Recruiting Its Own Troll Army!

Talk shit on the Internet for Jason Kenney! Fat shame the socialist hordes!  Threaten the cucks and the squishes with death!  Most interesting bit is if you AREN'T a Conservative supporter but are willing to talk shit strictly for money, the #PCAA is OK with it.  I'd find this kind of job demeaning, but maybe desperate millennials who are jonesing  for craft cheese might sign-up..

Hard being young these days. 

Found it here.

MOTHERFUCKIN' NEWS ALERT!!! TABBY'S STAR IS DIPPING!

ALERT:@tsboyajian's star is dipping

This is not a drill.

Astro tweeps on telescopes in the next 48 hours: spectra please!

— Jason Wright (@Astro_Wright) May 19, 2017

This is what you should be paying attention to now.  Fuck that bullshit with that Trump asshole.  There is a small but non-zero chance that the dips are being caused by a MOTHERFUCKIN' ALIEN MEGA-STRUCTURE!!!!   YYYUUUGE, BABY!   The size of JUPITER at least and maybe one of many such structures orbiting  KIC8462852, a star 1,600 light years away, in the direction of Uranus, a really dark and hairy part of the night sky.

But seriously.  There's a real news story about it here.

But that's the only one.  Everything else is about that orange haired fucktard making an idiot of himself in lands far away.  THIS SHIT IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT!!!!  If it really is aliens, we can pray to them and slaughter people in their name, and then maybe get taken away to some planet on the other side of the galaxy that's all like California as our reward.

Or it could be a bunch of stupid comets.  But I'm hopin'.

Life In Scarborough: The Buses Of Scarborough

On the bus in Scarborough this morning two youths were listening to angry gangster rap music on headphones.  They were both rapping along fiercely to completely different tunes. They became quite loud, and it sounded like they might scrap.  But in fact the two never became even aware of one another's presence.

Also, if you are stuck behind a City garbage truck long enough, you notice that they have steering wheels on both sides.  I didn't know this before that but it makes sense.

That is all.

Oh, and there are folks down in The Guild protesting a new condominium project because it will "block their view", but their view is of a couple of public housing towers from the 1970's that look like they'll blow over in a storm, so...

People just like to complain.

That is all.

On Ann Coulter And Free Speech: She Ain't Always Been For It

From 2005:

"They're always accusing us of repressing their speech," she said. "I say let's do it. Let's repress them."

She later added, "Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the First Amendment."

Read through the link.  There's more there.  Worth noting after all the latest kerfuffle.

On Keeping Ms. Wynne As OLP Leader

This is from an email from Ontario Proud, who may be a PCPO front group:

And it's true.  I cannot see a party led by some coup leader doing better than the current leader. As for recent polls, McGuinty was down 15% back in 2011, which is similar to today's numbers after inflation.  And if politics was the UFC I would say that the OLP is good fighting on their backs. They can find Patrick Brown's weakness, and submit him.

Remember that line from Beowulf : Luck, Often Enough, Will Find A Man If His Courage Holds.

Kellie Leitch Among The Haters

Forget the alleged nazi-era gun.  Her meeting with Ron Banerjee's Rise Canada and other assorted nutjobs is probably the more important story.  My readers will know Ron; he is let us say special. His greatest hits can be found through this link.

O Inglorious Justin: Bad Bit In New Budget!!!

The Liberals are killing the public transit tax credit. #Budget2017 pic.twitter.com/83OcClkwFU

— Andrew Scheer (@andrewscheer) March 22, 2017

This one is a personal kick in the nads for both the wife and I, as we prefer to take the buses in and out of Scarborough on work-days rather than upgrade our car insurance.  If the Star is right, then going on with the status quo will cost me an extra $264 a year.  I have always kept the car for weekend shopping and the odd vacation, but that might literally have to change if this measure goes through. So maybe one more car on the road 7 days a week, and Mother Gaia has to go fuck herself.   Not very green, Justin.

Also, not very terribly gender-based, as women make up 57% of the TTC's ridership. The nannies that get bused in and out of  rich-folks neighborhoods will be crying tonight.  But I guess they're the wrong type of women, or at least not the type this budget is concerned with.

 I know almost nothing else about what's in it, but that one measure left a bad smell in this TTCentric, greeny-weeny household.

Who's the new guy for the NDP again?