helene

Surprise!

The City of Vancouver has just announced they had a $530 million surplus last year. It follows a $860 million surplus the year before, and years of $300+ surpluses. It's the annual reminder that when local politicians say times are tough, they're usually being misleading to suit their agendas.

I've done this story a few times — B.C. municipalities are very fiscally conservative, avoiding large debt and putting surpluses immediately into reserves they can't touch. For the most part it's a good news story! But politicians like to hide that for their own spin. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Here’s my story on a juicy text, allegedly from a very prominent Vancouver developer, that reveals the financial strain on some of the biggest projects in the city. Kudos to @twseal.bsky.social for breaking it! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Border Patrol’s Digital Playbook: Hack iPhones, Raid iCloud Accounts

News In Photo:

Trump ends trade talks with Canada, resumes trade talks with Canada, ends trade talks with Canada, demands to know which European country is Canada

🚨 JUST IN: Trump spotted heading to his golf course amid government shutdown

Someone followed the Notional Guard around DC playing the Imperial March from Star Wars.

NEW: For years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed discredited theories linking vaccines to autism. Now, scientists studying the condition fear he has preconceived notions that will harm the field and taint new funding for research. propub.li/41JYl7o

Republicans move to block Democratic effort to force release of Epstein files

Trump says he’s punishing Brazil with 50% tariffs in retaliation for its prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro over his attempted coup

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’s disastrous Fourth of July Speech as Melania was awkwardly standing next to him before Donald signed the disastrous budget bill.

I'm not done mocking this RE/MAX "study" that declared Mount Pleasant a hidden gem, despite being arguably the most gentrified and hipster neighbourhood in all of Metro Vancouver. They say Mt. Pleasant is home to Everett Crowley Park. Which is on the other side of the city. honestly embarassing

The B.C. government has updated its estimates for the cost of hosting FIFA World Cup games at B.C. Place next year. The maximum cost for hosting the seven games has gone up from $581 million to $624 million. Overall, they estimate a net loss of $85 to $176 million.

Coyote pups at a cemetery in Chicago. Watch with sound on.

It's 2015. President Barack Obama has accepted a "sky palace" jumbo jet from the Qatari government, which he'll own after he leaves office. "Everybody relax," he says in an interview with the New York Times. Everyone does. The networks then televise the military parade in his honor on his birthday.

An important Saturday message from our co-founder: www.meidasplus.com/p/important-...

Guess listening to the hotel association lobbyist (*cough* mostly USA owned hotels) to blindly ban STR wasn’t the best move for Canadians & British Columbians

Here's something I found interesting. Ken Sim has a reputation for travelling a lot to sell the city's benefits, which has proven divisive. So I looked at all mayoral travel expenses for a decade. Sim travels a lot more than Kennedy Stewart, but he's pretty similar to Gregor Robertson.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene disclosed that she had purchased between tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock on April 8 and 9, the day before and the day of President Trump’s announcement that he was pausing a sweeping set of global tariffs.

Soofia’s story is one heartbreaking example among many, and builds upon myriad anti-immigrant policies Trump tested out during his first term. ⤵️

By Evan Dyer CBC. This is highly problematic.

BREAKING Members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, including White House national security adviser Michael Waltz, have conducted government business over personal Gmail accounts.

"Two US officials said Waltz has created and hosted multiple other sensitive national-security conversations on Signal with cabinet members, including on Russia/Ukraine and on military operations. They declined to say if classified information was posted in those chats." www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

AI tools like ChatGPT — and the shortcuts to knowledge they provide — are becoming a new normal among powerful people, too.

@robbotterell.bsky.social please please please just oppose Bill 7. This is not a bill to be “amended” or have more “transparency”. It is anti-democratic to its core. Don’t vote for your own irrelevance. #StopBill7 #SaveDemocracyBC www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

“We have also seen reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is trying to deport the Palestinian poet and journalist Mosab Abu Toha, who has written extensively in the New Yorker about the condition of the residents of Gaza and warned of the mortal danger to Palestinian journalists.”

Spotify removes Andrew Tate 'pimping hoes' class after employees complain. 🔗 www.404media.co/pretty-vile-...

My latest: The president of the United States is trying to destroy Canada

This actually tells you a lot.

vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/02/22/p... Fellow Canadians, let’s do this!

If all that McDonalds and Ketamine could hurry it up a little bit, we'd be forever grateful.

CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It's where Canadians go for news and entertainment. Sadly, it's not here, but still posting on X; a platform that is hostile to it and Canadians. As a publicly-funded institution, the CBC answers to the people. Contact CBC ask@cbc.ca at 1-866-306-4636.

Centers for Disease Control cuts expected to devastate Epidemic Intelligence Service, a ‘crown jewel’ of public health in U.S EIS officers investigate disease outbreaks and health threats in the U.S. and abroad www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/t...

The U.S. is the largest source of illegal handguns in Canada, according to the Department of Justice Canada. In Ontario alone, pistols from the United States made up 90 per cent of all crime-related handguns traced by police in 2022, with Texas as a leading source state www.cbc.ca/newsinteract...

NEW - Ottawa Senators fans booed the American national anthem at the beginning of tonight’s hockey game.

CBC News is hiring reporters in more than a dozen new cities including Fort St. John, Salmon Arm, Abbotsford, Penticton, Red Deer and Banff, using money paid out by Google under the Online News Act (the act that prompted Facebook to remove news in Canada rather than pay) www.cbc.ca/news/editors...

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/o...

The message to Democrats is clear: you must dump neoliberal economics | Joseph Stiglitz

The nays have it - Montague's July amendment -inspired recommendation to re-introduce gas for space and hot water heating in new construction in Vancouver FAILS! with Bligh, Dominato, Meiszner joining Carr and me in opposition to support climate resilient solutions

Experts warn Trump dangerously close to figuring out where Canada is

#Nanaimo is dealing with #bombcyclone. #bchydro says expect to be w/o power overnight. www.nanaimobulletin.com/local-news/t...

So, where are the Blacks for Trump? A cabinet should represent and reflect its people. This collection resembles an exclusive country club.

The Robber Barons are in charge www.nytimes.com/live/2024/11...