#Denis Bernier

[ama-ships]

I hate but love that my best friend knows me... They know I'd like that man and will fight vehemently to deny it... I hope he gets sucked into a black hole and NEVER knows of my existence... Stupid handsome bastard!!!!

I. HATE. EVERYTHING. ABOUT. YOU. SIR!

I am now leaving!

Regards; Amaryllis Bernier~`

[terriwriting]

The right-wing grift continues

The event got off on the wrong foot after Community Solidarity Ottawa issued a community alert about the event promoting panels featuring several far-right speakers linked to the 2022 Freedom Convoy, including Randy Hillier, Tom Quiggin, Maxime Bernier and True North’s Andrew Lawton.

Things went from bad to worse after PressProgress reported some organizations listed as event sponsors denied being sponsors, some people listed as festival employees didn’t exist, plus the man behind the whole event, Ray Samuels, was a far-right People’s Party activist and a prolific UFO conspiracy theorist.

Before the end of the first day, Tourism Ottawa, the Embassy of Mexico, an upstate New York PBS affiliate and former Much Music VJ Bill Welychka – who was the emcee of the event – had all publicly cut ties with the festival.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I’m coming to the HowTheLightGetsIn festival in HAY-ON-WYE with my novel Red Team Blues:

Tomorrow (May 28), 1130AM: The AI Enigma

Monday (May 29), 12PM: Danger and Desire at the Frontier

I’m at OXFORD’s Blackwell’s on Monday (May 29) at 7:30PM with Tim Harford.

Then it’s Nottingham, Manchester, London, Edinburgh, and Berlin!

#10yrsago Bank of Canada kills editorial cartoon, calls it “counterfeiting” https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/jack-knox-the-90000-duffy-buck-stops-here-bank-of-canada-decides-4592661

#10yrsago Toronto mayoral car-crash: homicide detectives search mayor’s office after tip on crack-smoking video; top staffers quit https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/two-senior-members-of-toronto-mayor-rob-fords-staff-resign/article12168106/

#10yrsago UK Ministry of Justice denies that the court system is to be sold to hedge funds https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/may/28/moj-denies-privatisation-courts-service

#10yrsago Shambling Guide to New York City https://memex.craphound.com/2013/05/28/shambling-guide-to-new-york-city/

#10yrsago Canada’s business groups wants to hack your computer even more than the creeps at the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property https://www.thestar.com/business/2013/02/08/business_thinks_antispam_law_should_protect_them_not_consumers_geist.html

#10yrsago Disaster porn and elite panic: the militarized lie of savage disaster aftermath https://web.archive.org/web/20130609055535/http://www.ochbergsociety.org/magazine/2013/05/in-haiti-and-beyond-learning-to-look-for-resilience/

#10yrsago Toronto cops hospitalize hotel guest who recorded them arresting another guest https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/05/26/exclusive_toronto_police_arrest_man_take_phone_after_attempt_to_film_takedown_at_sheraton.html

#5yrsago The first cyberattack took place nearly 200 years ago in France https://www.economist.com/1843/2017/10/05/the-crooked-timber-of-humanity

#5yrsago Germany’s scientific texts were made free during and after WWII; analyzing them today shows the negative effect of paywalls on science https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/effects-copyrights-science

#5yrsago 8 years of austerity have turned the UK into a bleak Victorian dystopia, where pensioners without electricity die from fires ignited by their candles https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/world/europe/uk-austerity-poverty.html

#5yrsago Canadian Conservative parliamentarian accuses black rival of “thinking the world revolves around her skin colour” https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bernier-cesar-chavannes-tweet-1.4680467

#5yrsago RIP Gardner Dozois, pioneering, genre-defining science fiction editor who helped launch my career https://memex.craphound.com/2018/05/28/rip-gardner-dozois-pioneering-genre-defining-science-fiction-editor-who-helped-launch-my-career/

#5yrsago Futuristic designs for products the EU’s stupid new copyright law would kill https://web.archive.org/web/20180615000000*/https://futurenotmade.eu/

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Hay-on-Wye, Oxford, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"MRS. CHAPDELAINE TO APPEAL AGAIN," Montreal Star. July 11, 1934. Page 2. --- Counsel Seeks Dismissal of Judgment Denying Right to New Trial --- SHERBROOKE, Que., July 11. - (C.P.) Notice to the Supreme Court of Canada that Beatrice Bernard Chapdelaine, twice convicted of murdering her husband and at present under sentence of death, will appeal the decision of the Court of King's Bench, appeal side, denying her the right to a new and third trial, was served today by Cesaire Gervais, counsel for the condemned woman.

Following her second conviction in the Court of King's Bench here last fall, Mrs. Chapdelaine, charged with giving her husband, Ludger Chapdelaine, an East Angus taxidriver, a fatal dose of poison, carried her case to the Appeal Court for the second time on June 29. Her appeal was dismissed and she was ordered to be hanged on September 21.

Special reference was made in the judgment to the evidence of Gedeon Bernard, convicted accomplice of his sister and at present serving a five-year sentence in St. Vincent de Paul Penitentiary for manslaughter. Mr. Justice Louis Cousineau, it was pointed out, had made a serious statement when he instructed the jury that since the defence wanted Bernard declared an accomplice in a crime involving the principal culprit, the one who actually committed the crime had to exist. However, Justice Cousineau had limited his remarks to an accomplice and did not align Mrs. Chapdelaine in her husband's case as such.

MAJORITY JUDGMENT In the notice of appeal to the Supreme Court given by Mr. Gervais and served upon Hon. L. Α. Taschereau, Attorney-General of the Province of Quebec, the clerk of the Court of King's Bench, appeal side, and Wilfrid Lazure, K.C., prosecutor for the district of St. Francis, it is pointed out that the judgment was a majority judgment of the Hon. Justices Bernier, Galipeault and Walsh, with Chief Justice Sir Matthias Tellier and Justice St. Jacques dissenting in law from the verdict of guilty of murder.

Chief Justice Tellier and Justice St. Jacques dissented, Mr. Gervais remarks, because in their opinion the verdict was unjust and resulted from illegal proof admitted at the woman's trial, such as the declarations of Ludger Chapdelaine. These two justices also labelled Mr. Justice Cousineau's charge to the jury "illegal and unjust:" and remarked that without these alleged illegalities it is impossible to say if the verdict would have been the same.

[jenforyeshua]

Maxime Bernier says 'NO' to digital currencies, government 'control' over citizenry

[torontoarenas]

Leafs in the Playoffs! 9

Nobody ever interacts with my posts anymore, but that’s fine. I’ll keep chuggin’. If anybody’s still here, you know what the deal is with this. Let’s go.

Boston

Nick Foligno (2021) [LTIR]

Anton Strålman (2007 to 2009) [minors]

Carolina

Frederik Andersen (2016 to 2021)

Jake Gardiner (2011 to 2019) [LTIR]

Ondřej Kaše (2021 to 2022) [LTIR]

Stefan Noesen (2021)

Colorado

Alex Galchenyuk (2021)

Denis Malgin (2020; 2022)

Dallas

Mason Marchment (2020)

Matt Murray (2022 to present). Hang on. I’m just getting word that there’s actually two different NHL goaltenders named Matt Murray.

Edmonton

Jack Campbell (2020 to 2022)

Cody Ceci (2019 to 2020)

Seth Griffith (2016) [minors]

Zach Hyman (2016 to 2021)

Greg McKegg (2014 to 2015) [minors]

Calvin Pickard (2017) [minors]

Florida

[N/A]

Los Angeles

Trevor Moore (2018 to 2020)

Minnesota

Nic Petan (2019 to 2021)

New Jersey

Jonathan Bernier (2013 to 2016) [LTIR]

NY Islanders

Pierre Engvall (2019 to 2023)

Matt Martin (2016 to 2018)

Richard Pánik (2014 to 2015) [minors]

NY Rangers

Jimmy Vesey (2021)

Seattle

[N/A, but I’m still annoyed we let them take Jared McCann in the expansion draft]

Tampa Bay

Zach Bogosian (2021)

Toronto

Nick Abruzzese (2022 to present) [minors]

Noel Acciari (2023 to present)

Zach Aston-Reese (2022 to present)

Jordie Benn (2022 to present) [minors]

T. J. Brodie (2021 to present)

Michael Bunting (2021 to present)

Kyle Clifford (2020; 2021 to present) [minors]

Carl Dahlstrom (2022 to present) [minors]

Semyon Der-Arguchintsev (2022 to present) [minors]

Mark Giordano (2022 to present)

Erik Gustafsson (2023 to present)

Justin Holl (2018 to present)

Mac Hollowell (2022 to present) [minors]

Pontus Holmberg (2022 to present) [minors]

Calle Järnkrok (2022 to present)

Erik Kallgren (2022 to present) [minors]

David Kämpf (2021 to present)

Alexander Kerfoot (2019 to present)

Matthew Knies (2023 to present)

Filip Král (2022 to present) [minors]

Sam Lafferty (2023 to present)

Timothy Liljegren (2020 to present)

Mitch Marner (2016 to present)

Auston Matthews (2016 to present)

Jake McCabe (2023 to present)

Bobby McMann (2023 to present) [LTIR]

Victor Mete (2022 to present) [LTIR]

Matt Murray (2022 to present)

Jake Muzzin (2019 to present) [LTIR]

William Nylander (2016 to present)

Ryan O’Reilly (2023 to present)

Morgan Rielly (2013 to present)

Nick Robertson (2020 to present) [LTIR]

Ilya Samsonov (2022 to present)

Luke Schenn (2008 to 2012; 2023 to present)

Wayne Simmonds (2021 to present)

Alex Steeves (2021 to present) [minors]

John Tavares (2018 to present)

Connor Timmins (2022 to present)

Joseph Woll (2021 to present)

Radim Zohorna (2023 to present) [minors]

Vegas

Michael Amadio (2021)

Byron Froese (2015 to 2016) [minors]

Ben Hutton (2021)

Phil Kessel (2009 to 2015)

Winnipeg

David Rittich (2021)

[thegnmsolution]

Wyeth Memo - August 27, 1979 Single lots of vaccinations are spread out over a wide geographical area which prevents the doctors and public from connecting the cause of illness to a specific batch of vaccine

*Single lots of vaccinations are spread out over a wide geographical area which prevents the doctors and public from connecting the cause of illness to a specific batch of vaccine* *Wyeth Memo - August 27, 1979* "After the reporting of the SID cases in Tennessee, we discussed the merits of limiting distribution of a large number of vials from a single lot to a single state, county or city health department and obtained agreement from the senior management staff to proceed with such a plan." Wyeth Memo ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...except there is an analogy here that goes way beyond the memo. Barbara Loe Fisher and Harris Coulter lay it all out in *"A Shot in the Dark," *subtitled "Why the P in the DPT vaccination may be hazardous to your child's health." Barbara is regularly portrayed in the media as an anti-vaccine zealot, but the book's discussion of what happened in Tennessee is pretty convincing. (And she was instrumental in getting a safer version of the vaccine onto the market.) From the book: "When statistics are applied to the study of vaccines, political immunology demonstrates its infinite flexibility: statistical evidence demonstrating cause and effect is denied, when this same evidence, applied to any other branch of medicine, would be accepted without question," Coulter and Fisher write. "This convenient method of reasoning was displayed with particular clarity in connection with the government's investigation of *SIDS deaths in Tennessee. In 1978-79*, eleven babies were found to have died within eight days of a DPT vaccination. Nine of the eleven had been vaccinated with the same lot of pertussis vaccine, Wyeth #64201 and five (four from the same lot) had died within twenty-four hours of vaccination. "A statistical analysis of the clustering of deaths revealed that the likelihood of observing four or more deaths occurring randomly on any of the first eight days after the use of lot #64201 was 3 in 100. ... E.B. Mortimer later reported that the probability of this being a chance association was even lower -- between 2 and 5 in 1,000. "The statistical evidence in favor of a connection between the deaths and the DPT shot was strong. Would the medical authorities bite the bullet and admit the vaccine was related to the deaths? Absolutely not." It's a long and unpleasant tale, but when all was said and done, "the tombstone was placed on what happened in Tennessee three years later, in the September 1982 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, when Bernier and his colleagues at the CDC wrote their epitaph on the infant deaths. ... They ... made this amazing statement: 'Whether or not this temporal association reflects a causal relationship remains undetermined; we found no evidence to support such a causal association.'" Fisher and Coulter mention the Wyeth memo, saying the company "apparently also decided to act to prevent a clustering of deaths following DPT vaccination from a single lot from ever occurring again in a single geographical area." They don't reproduce the actual memo; as far as I know, this is the first time it has been published. (And no, neither Fisher nor Coulter was my source.) It packs quite a wallop, doesn't it? Since these are described as "Interim Measures In Affect" (sic!), and include a "Permanent Policy Proposal" to put into effect (sick!), wouldn't it be interesting to know how they distribute lots these days? Is this the kind of approach that Rosalynn Carter and Amanda Peet (I'll leave Paul Offit out of this) want to be hooked up with? Might they consider asking their benefactors for an explanation, since as far as I know none has been forthcoming although the memo's existence has been known for a couple of decades, at the least? Do the drug companies, the HMOs, the AAP and the CDC really have a track record of tracking down every report of side effects, encouraging the public to make use of the VAERS system and vigilantly monitoring the VSD database? Are they the ones we want to trust to tell us whether there is any "causal association" between vaccines and SIDS, or autism, or asthma, or ADD? I vote no. I also can't help pointing out that A Shot in the Dark was first published in 1985, just before the modern Age of Autism began. Too bad no one in a position to do anything about it took seriously the deep and disturbing implications of this incident -- and the continuing power of "political epidemiology" to bury its mistakes in unmarked graves.

Read the full article

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Elephant in the room: If we DID have proportional representation, the PPC would have 5.1% of 338 seats. They would have 17 seats. Before the PPC existed, there wasn’t a threat of a dangerously extremist party having more than 1% of the vote. The percentage of votes the PPC got will probably be used as an excuse to deny proportional representation from being implemented.

It will be but extremist parties under First Past the Post are worse.

Also Proportional voting system can have cutoffs, say 5-10%, meaning any party that gets less than 5-10%, can't get added proportionally (removing PPC). This is done to weed out fringe parties without broad support.

Additionally, people should be reminded, that Bernier lost control of the Conservative party by less than 1% of the vote. Under our system Bernier could have pushed PPC policies in the Conservative party and if elected, he could have gotten a majority government with no way for any other party to stop his agenda for 4 years.

Also under FPTP parties like the PPC can help radicalize bigger Conservative parties because they see them taking their votes away, so you could have in future elections O'Toole adopting some of the PPC's policies in order to have a better chance of forming a majority.

In a proportional system, we might have a few in Parliament, but they will have zero political power, because the majority won't support them.

Also for every PPC MP we’ll also gain leftist/communists. Greens, etc.

[cricketcat9]

Maxime Bernier is an idiot and a fucking disgrace

“ Canadian Maxime Bernier, the leader of the right-wing People's Party of Canada, is a popular man at the Ottawa protests. He's been here every weekend giving speeches to the crowd, and will host a "pancake breakfast" on Sunday. As we walk along one of the roads leading to the main protest site, he is stopped every few metres by someone wanting to shake his hand or even pass them his baby to hold. In the first week of the Freedom Convoy protests, Nazi flags were seen in the crowd - but Bernier denies the movement has become a rallying cry for far-right groups around the world. "No it is not. I was here that weekend and there was one guy in the crowd with a Confederate flag," he says. "This is not a far-right movement, it is people fighting to regain their freedom. That is it."

FYI, from Wikipedia: He was the only leader of a party represented in the House of Commons to reject the scientific consensus on climate change. He said he would do "nothing" to deal with climate change, and that Canada should withdraw from the Paris Agreement on carbon emissions. On September 2, 2019, Bernier posted a series of tweets in which he called Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg "mentally unstable". On September 4, after receiving widespread backlash, Bernier backpedalled.“

He is an antivaxxer, anti-immigration, anti- multiculturalism white supremacist, pro-healthcare privatization alt-right, and in general despicable person. 😡

[geezerwench]

Another conservative anti-vaccine radio talk show host succumbs to COVID, third in a month

30 August 2021

Marc “Mr. Anti-Vax” Bernier of WNDB in Florida, died Saturday, 08/28/2021.

He was preceded eight days earlier by Phil Valentine, a 61-year-old conservative talk radio host in Tennessee who mocked coronavirus vaccines but changed his tone after getting sick. He battled the disease for a month.

Also having a change of heart, before his stopped, was Dick Farrel, a former Newsmax commentator and all-around coronavirus-denying, vaccine-resistant right-wing radio talk show host. The South Florida radio host died of COVID-19 complications on Aug. 6, at age 65, after exhorting fans not to get the vaccine, calling the entire coronavirus crisis a “scam-demic.”

Both Farrel and Valentine urged friends and followers to get the vaccine as the disease closed in on them and said they regretted not doing it themselves.

________________________________________________

"Also having a change of heart, before his stopped, was Dick Farrel..."

It seems the coronavirus is especially deadly for conservative radio talk show hosts.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Treehugger:

Climate Arson was a term I first heard from Seattle architect Mike Eliason, who used it on twitter to describe people who go beyond simply denying the reality of climate change, but through their actions actually abet it. A climate arsonist knows that what he is saying isn't true, but willfully does it anyway for personal or political gain. But perhaps it is not the best term; others are making the same point with "climate nihilist." Bernier, and American politicians who put the fossil fuel industry ahead of climate, probably fit in this. Charlie Smith wrote in the Georgia Straight last year:

At the root of climate nihilism is the endless pursuit of fossil fuels to power the economy, regardless of the ecological consequences.... The nihilists are basically saying: "To hell with carbon budgets in the Paris climate agreement. To hell with scientists raising alarm bells about the melting of the polar caps and ice on Greenland. To hell with farmers who are not going to have water to irrigate crops. To hell with the billions of people who rely on rivers fed by glaciers for their drinking water. To hell with plant and animal species that are going extinct. To hell with those who have to endure more intense hurricanes. We simply don't care."

The NRDC notes that climate nihilism is prevalent in the American government too. Last year, when gutting the fuel efficiency standards, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the planet was warming, but that reducing carbon emissions from cars wouldn't make much of a difference, but would make cars cost more. So why bother? Jeff Turrentine writes about the difference between skepticism, denialism, and nihilism:

This is, to put it mildly, a twist on the usual rules of engagement between those who advocate for climate action and those who don’t. We’re used to fighting skepticism. But outright nihilism? That’s a new one. We’ve been rebutting climate change deniers—and their faulty data and conspiracy theories—for years, and as disturbing as it is to see their ilk installed in the executive branch, we at least have a template for fighting back: Lead confidently with the science, never let a bogus claim go unchallenged, and have faith that truth will ultimately win the day. But how are you supposed to respond when those who oppose climate action actually do accept the science behind global warming, and do understand that climate change poses an existential threat to humankind . . . but simply don’t care?

[pnwpol]

August 19, 2019 | Canada's election watchdog has warned environmentalists that saying climate change is real could break the law.

The issue arose because one party running in October's election denies climate change is a threat.

That has led Elections Canada to warn groups that running paid advertisements about climate change could be considered partisan activity.

Advocates called the guidance "ludicrous" and say it will dampen urgent climate discussions.

The UN has called for decisive political action by 2020 to put an end to climate change.

Why is climate change a partisan issue?

Keith Brooks, programme director for advocacy group Environmental Defence, says Elections Canada told him that because one candidate denies that climate change is an issue, any ad urging action on climate change, or calling climate change an emergency, could be considered partisan.

Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People's Party of Canada, has said numerous times that he does not believe climate change is a crisis.

"There is no climate change urgency in this country," Mr Bernier said in June.

Mr Bernier split from the Conservative Party of Canada last year to create the People's Party.

The party's platform states that "it is an undisputed fact that the world's climate has always changed and will continue to change".

Read More

[astxlphe]

Day 2 // Kuniatsu

Kunikida and Atsushi’s relationship, a year after getting together.

love languages / enduring “Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away.” -Louis de Bernieres, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

( @bsd-rarepair-valentines-week) 

(Not sure it fits the prompts that well, but well.)

“Atsushi?”

Atsushi looked up from his paperwork. “Is there something wrong?”

“I’m closing the office.” Kunikida approached to stand next to him, glancing at the files on his desk. “Are you finished?”

“Not yet — I’m checking a few details for tomorrow…” he trailed off as Kunikida scowled.

“You need to wake up early tomorrow. I’ve calculated, you will to be waking up at 5:15.”

“It’s way too early!”

Him and Dazai started the day in surveillance — tailing a suspect in the latest murder case the agency had been asked to help with in the hope of catching their accomplice. And Atsushi did not want to mess this up.

“Unless you go home now.” He checked the time. “To be at full capacity for your case tomorrow morning, you need to start sleeping in exactly 12 minutes.”

“But—”

“You’ll do fine,” Kunikida interrupts, leaning over his shoulder to close the file. “If you get some sleep.”

“…All right.” He smiled sheepishly. “I’ll go to bed.”

Kunikida nodded sharply, and waited for Atsushi to put his things away. They walked back to their shared dorm together, Atsushi’s hand resting at the crook of his elbow.

Precisely 12 minutes later, they were in bed. Atsushi curled himself up against Kunikida, head on his laps, and closed his eyes, willing to let himself drift to sleep.

The older man turned on his lamp and open his book, his fingers running through Atsushi’s hair, scratching his scalp just enough to make him more comfortable.

A soft scratch at the right spot dragged a low, rumble like sound out of him. “I like that,” he mumbled.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” Kunikida asked.

“You made me purr.”

“Tigers don’t purr, they chuff. You chuffed. It was adorable.” He put off his reading light and closed his book. Then, he lied down into bed, pulling himself closer to Atsushi, who immediately grabbed him like a hug pillow.  

“You usually read for longer than that.”  

“As your senior,” Kunikida said, propping himself up on his elbow, “I need to be a good example for you, to make sure you actually sleep. I don’t want to keep you awake; it wouldn’t be professional.”

Unprofessional, as if said senior wasn’t currently sharing a bed with him.  

“You’ve kept me awake plenty of times. Are you…” Atsushi chuckled. “Are you worried?”

“No, I’m not.” Seeing the way Atsushi’s eyebrow almost went over his hairline in disbelief, he elaborated: “I have no reason to.”

Atsushi pushed himself up and kissed Kunikida on the lips. He spluttered a little.  

“Not even a little bit?” Atsushi asked playfully.

Face flushing, Kunikida huffed. “You don’t trust yourself enough, so I have to do it in your place. I know you, and even if your recklessness is the bane of my existence—"

“Wasn’t that Dazai?”

“Yes, it is, actually, Dazai,” he conceded. “But it comes close second!”

“You wouldn’t like me half as much if I wasn’t prone to recklessness?” Atsushi tried.

Kunikida wrinkled his nose. “Maybe.”

It made Atsushi smile. “Thank you,” he whispered. “For trusting me. Now just let me—” He snuggled some more against him, sighed in contentment, and promptly fell asleep.

After wondering how Atsushi could fall asleep so soon after closing his eyes, Kunikida marveled at how calm he felt.  

Loving Atsushi was the most unexpected, yet the easiest thing Kunikida ever did. He had spent a long time denying the strange twist in his stomach every time he thought of him ever existed — because Atsushi didn’t meet 29 of his 58 requirements.

And now there was the calm settling inside him as he listened to Atsushi’s soft breathing, his arms thrown around him, making Kunikida feel warm enough to fall asleep content.

Perfect, he thought. Requirements met or not, this was perfect.  

+

“So—”

Atsushi almost ignored him. “What is it?”

“I saw you and Kunikida leave together yesterday night.”

“How did you— you had already left for an hour!” Atsushi shook his head. “And of course, we left together, we live together.”

“But you never leave work together! He’s having a terrible influence on you. Now you work overtime.”  

“I was only doing overtime because I was worried about today,” Atsushi admitted. ”Kunikida convinced me to stop working.” He shook his head when Dazai gasped loudly, and leaned against the wall. “He made me feel better.”

Dazai wiggled a suggestive eyebrow. “Did he?”

Atsushi rolled his eyes. “Aren’t you a 24 years old man?”

“You’ve changed so much, Atsushi! I can’t tease you anymore — you used to get all red whenever someone brought up you and Kunikida!”

“I’m not blushing anymore because I’m not exactly shy about it anymore. It’s —” he frowned, looking for the right word. “It’s different now.”

And he still wondered, over a year later, why this man had decided he was worth his time — he wasn’t the smartest, most well read, most punctual, most…whatever Kunikida had expected from partner. He was just the brat.

“Different,” Dazai repeated plainly. “Really?”

“Yeah! It’s…comfortable?” He tapped his chin, thinking. “Remember at the beginning? I was always nervous around him because I was so in love with him, and our relationship was really new, and I was thinking about what should I wear, what’s should I say, I was—”

“You were scared,” Dazai completed for him, “of not doing enough.”

Nodding, Atsushi twisted the collar of his coat. “I guess so? And once I wasn’t scared about it anymore, I was scared that my feelings were fading.”

“Couples starting out all over each other and it fades after some time.” He nodded as if he’d come up with the concept himself.

“That’s it. We were just…settling in some kind of normalcy.  and I was worried over nothing.” He laughed awkwardly. “I’m still a bit of a scaredy cat.”

“I don’t think you are,” Dazai said pensively. “You were worried because you care.” He gave him a complicit smile. “Here is a secret: Kunikida was always worried about everything at the beginning too. But Dazai, he’s not going to like that. Dazai, do you think Atsushi would mind? Dazai, tell me if Atsushi likes this kind of flowers! Dazai, Dazai, Dazai—”

Atsushi hid his face behind his hand. “I don’t believe you.”

“I was his resident Atsushi expert. At least, until he figured the formula to make you happy.”

“Dazai—”

“But it’s true! Kunikida is a worrywart.”

“No, Dazai, look! That’s them!”

Dazai peaked from the corner of the street, following his gaze. “You’re right!”

+

Under Kunikida’s paperweight was a little note. Since Atsushi had left before he was awake, he had put it on their table in the morning, and it was covered with his scratchy, barely legible for the average human being handwriting.

“Have a nice day! I’ll see you tonight” it read. He slipped it out from under the paperweight and into his notebook to serve as a page marker.  

The office door opened. “We’re back!” Dazai bellowed, and flounced across the room to end up at Kunikida’s desk. “The police almost didn’t let us go.”

Kunikida’s eyebrow twitched. “What did you do?”

“They just wanted our statements,” Atsushi told him as he walked in behind Dazai. Kunikida kissed him hello, and he noticed the rip in the sleeve of his shirt, just under the shoulder. “He tried to stab me,” Atsushi explained sheepishly.

“He means the criminal,” Dazai clarified when Kunikida’s sharp eyes focused on him.  

“We managed to catch them and gather enough evidence to prove their guilt, and they’re now in police custody. We will give you the report tonight.” Atsushi went on, getting on his tiptoes to straighten Kunikida’s glasses. “They were askew.”

“Did I hear about paperwork? Aaaand that’s where I take my leave,” Dazai announced as he disappeared from their field of vision. “It’s been a long day!”

“Maybe you should wait for tomorrow for the report.” Kunikida looked miffed. “Dazai is bouncing on the walls, he’ll just distract everyone.”

“Are you telling me not to finish my paperwork early?” He smiled cheekily. “Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?”

“See if I’m this lax with you again,” he scoffed. “It was supposed to be a reward for a job well done, but it seems like you don’t need it. I want that report in an hour.”

“Wait no! Please let me do it tomorrow! I was almost stabbed!”

“Fine! Tomorrow night. But don’t tell the others, they will think I’m going soft.”

“They already think that.”

“Tomorrow, lunchtime.”

“UUgh!”  

+

“You don’t have to help me sew my clothes every time something happens.”

“We would have to buy a new one once a week. Besides, I want to help.”

“Thanks but, we wouldn’t —” Atsushi winced at the thought. “I would bribe Akutagawa into fixing it for me.”

They sat at their table; Atsushi’s ripped shirt spread in front of them. Kunikida held the sleeve as Atsushi did the needlework, closing the hole in the cloth.  

“One day Akutagawa will stop taking your bribes.”

Atsushi snorted. “He won’t. He likes me too much for that.” Not that he would ever admit it. “Dazai was pretty happy when Akutagawa started dragging me to his team dinners.” He made a face. “It still feels weird saying it. You should come, sometimes.”

“I don’t think they would want me here.“

“They wouldn’t mind that much; they think you’re okay.” They had no reason to dislike Kunikida. “Oh, also, Dazai told me something about you today and…” He almost dropped his needle. “I’m not sure I really believe him—”

“What did he say, now?”

“He said you would always ask him for advice? About me? When we started dating last year.”

“That man—” Kunikida muttered. “He promised.”  

“You mean it’s true?”

“Be careful with your finger.” With a short movement, Kunikida adjusted the sleeve’s position so Atsushi had easier access. “It’s true,” he ended up confessing. “I’m not sure how to express this.”

“If you throw random words out, I’ll probably be able to take a wild guess?”

“It’s just that I had such a clear idea of who I was going to fall in love with, I already knew who they were, what they were going to like and then—”

“And then it was me.”

“Don’t say it like that,” he scolded, and cut the thread once Atsushi was finished sewing. “But yes, it was you, and you threw a large, occasionally tiger-shaped wrench in my carefully crafted plans.”

The wording made Atsushi laughed. “So you asked Dazai for help?”

“You two are very close! It was a logical decision, if not a little risky. And I made a list in my notebook.”

“Alright now I’m curious about that. Is it about me?”

He tugged on the shirt’s sleeve, testing the strength of Atsushi’s sewing, and acquiesced.

“What does it say?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“You can’t just tell me you wrote in your notebook, about me, and not expect me to ask about it!”

It was a list of things Atsushi liked.

A long, bullet point list of everything that he could use to make Atsushi smile. Back then, he’d thought it necessary, but he knew all the information he’d gathered by heart now. Like the exact spot to scratch in Atsushi’s hair.

He’d started it without realizing it, and by the time he had over dozen entries, he’d wondered how he ever doubted loving Atsushi.

“Your shirt is fixed,” he simply said. “Do you want to try it on to make sure it’s fine?”

It took a second for Atsushi to answer, during which he stared for what seemed like a long time. “You’re really sweet, you know?” he declared, as if he’d guessed what Kunikida was thinking. Then, he pulled the shirt off the table and put it back on, flexing his arm a bit. “It’s perfect, thank you!”

“Just be thankful it wasn’t beyond repair.”

“I’ll try to keep the number of people trying to kill me to a minimum, I promise.”

[onpoli]

An Elections Canada official warned groups in a training session earlier this summer that because Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People’s Party of Canada, has expressed doubts about the legitimacy of climate change, any group that promotes it as real or an emergency could be considered partisan, said Tim Gray, executive director of the advocacy group Environmental Defence.

Any partisan activity — including advertising, surveys, or any kind of campaign costing at least $500 — would require a charity to register as a third party for the election, an onerous requirement that could jeopardize a group’s charitable tax status, Gray said.

It is “discouraging” that Environmental Defence and other charities may have to zip their lips about climate change being real during the campaign period “because one party has chosen to deny the existence of this basic fact,” he added.

[newsfromstolenland]

Federal Debate Review: Maxime Bernier

I won't bother talking about Bernier for long. He spouted his usual xenophobia and racism, while doubling down on past discriminatory tweets.

He gave non-answers when asked about indigenous rights, and outright denied the existence of a climate crisis.

Highlights: None.

Low points: Everything he said, from the economy, to indigenous rights, to immigration, to the environment.

Overall score: 1/10

Other versions: Scheer, Singh, Trudeau, May, Blanchet

[science-jules]

The immutable undeniability of climate denial 

In 2015, Senator James Inhofe, with the maniacal, blissful look of someone who knows they’re about to prove everyone wrong, brought a snowball into the US Senate. His rationale was glaringly simple, obvious even - how can the Earth be warming when it is so indisputably cold outside? 

In Canada, episodes of outright and blatant climate change denial like these seem to be few and far between, but not unheard of: in September, Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People’s Party of Canada, told the Toronto Sun that “while the climate may be changing, this is not due primarily to human activity”. The day after the 2019 Canadian election, the hashtag #wexit (for “Western exit”) blew up on social media, as an organization called WexitAlberta began to share separatist sentiments while disputing numerous climate-related issues, among them: halting the building of pipelines, and the carbon tax.  

All this begs the question: why are people in denial? What is fueling and intensifying this global spread of misinformation? This article explores the role of partisanship in the spread of misinformation focusing in particular on increased ideological polarization with respect to climate change. Their research has shown that this wide partisan divide on climate change can be reduced by drawing attention to the views of powerful politicians who explicitly acknowledge the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change. This research is significant because the climate change divide remains one of the only major partisan issues that involves a dispute over scientific fact - facts which, as this paper emphasizes, may be no match for partisan loyalty. One important finding stood out: the study participants’ attitudes towards climate change could be swayed and concern about climate change increased in cases where their own parties made corrective statements about climate change and accepted the scientific consensus, but not if the statements came from non-partisan scientists or the opposing political party. 

It’s important to note that while many climate change-denying statements made by politicians are obviously met with public incredulity by climate scientists, other politicians, and the general public, certain devastatingly misinformed opinions can still hold substantial and very real weight in some, particularly right-leaning, communities. The future of the climate crisis is uncertain, but this paper provides us with important research that has the potential to inform meaningful political discussion about how climate change is communicated, and how we can aim to unify an inexorably divided world against a very real, but not yet fully recognized, adversary.