Wednesday Night #1845

The dominant news is of the débacle of the Republicans’ attempt to repeal & replace ObamaCare (see Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare 2017); the saga of Donald Jr’s meeting with the Russians, who was there –the list keeps expanding– and what was or was not said, and for those of us who like to probe more deeply, the cast of unsavoury characters -the real ‘deplorables’- and enablers  (A Definitive Guide to the G.O.P. Insiders Enabling Donald Trump) surrounding these events; Donald Trump’s excellent adventure in Paris in the company of M. Macron whose major outcome seems to be analysis of The Trump-Macron Handshake: A Play in Four Acts

Be prepared for prolonged and likely unpleasant negotiations if Maclean’s is correct that Donald Trump’s plan to overhaul NAFTA goes much deeper than a tweak

Th death of Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo in custody has provoked an international outcry, exacerbated by the clumsy controversial ocean burial which supporters saw as a deliberate attempt to deny them a place of pilgrimage.

Another in the series: “David (Jones) North Korea Offers No Good Choices v David (Kilgour)” North Korea and the Danger of Doing Nothing Pretty gloomy outlook from them both.

Then there is the war on George Soros being conducted by Victor Orban aided and abetted by Benjamin Netanyahu who raised the stakes in this feud last week when his foreign ministry issued a statement that, in effect, backed a Hungarian government propaganda effort against Mr. Soros and joined its denunciation of him. -strange bedfellows as the saying goes

We all -or most of us- are keen on electric cars, but the Montreal Formula E is testing our enthusiasm and that of many others. In particular the denizens of Radio Canada HQ are seriously unhappy, and with good reason. This appears to be one more case of inept negotiation and management on the part of the City.

Therefore, we thought it might be fun to offer you some alternative, quirky, but not fake, news.

But first some news of Wednesday Night friends and one request:
Nancy Wright asks
“Just received an email from Ryan Hicks, a great friend of the family who has been the CBC’s Quebec National Assembly correspondent for the last couple of years. He’s going into McGill law school in August and is looking for an apartment.
He writes: “Wondering if you could spread the word that I’m looking for an apartment (3 1/2), ideally in the Plateau with washer/dryer ( or hook-ups for w/d at least). If not in the Plateau, within a 30 minute public transit radius of the law school. I’m looking for August 1, but could also take it for mid August. I start school (that feels weird to say) on Tuesday, August 29, so I’d like to be moved in before then. I could also make Sept 1 work if I had to.
“Given that time is ticking and I’m not seeing a lot of selection in terms of apartments (majority of the good ones were probably gone July 1), I’m starting to consider Plan B options….which could be house-sitting for someone in the first few months that I’m back in the city while I try to find something that I really like. If you hear of anyone who may be looking for a house-sitter, let me know.”
If you have any leads or ideas, please let me know.”

Tracey Arial is running for Verdun borough councillor in Crawford Desmarchais – we just wish she were running for another party. Denis Coderre is becoming increasingly annoying.
Meanwhile. to our great regret, Guillaume Lavoie is leaving politics (at least for now).

Anne-Sophie Coleman-Honn and her family have left Stockholm after three wonderful years. Following family holidays, they head back to Washington for language training and on to Moldova starting in Summer 2018.

Stephanie Jensen-Cormier married Frederik Dolmans on July 1 in what sounds like a magical ceremony in the Serengeti. On the same continent and same day, Jaime Webbe presented Bert with their third son in Nairobi.

Meanwhile, much closer to home, our thoughts are with Marion Canute whose mother turns 88 today and is fighting for her life in hospital after undergoing surgery and having multiple complications.

Dobson Foundation donates $2-million to McGill to fuel entrepreneurship
… the foundation on Tuesday pledged $2-million over 10 years to McGill University in Montreal to enable entrepreneurs on campus to focus on taking their late-stage startups to the next level of investor and market interest.
The donation, the foundation’s largest gift to his alma mater to date, would provide $5,000 stipends for young entrepreneurs selected for the McGill X-1 Accelerator, a 10-week summer program established in 2015 through the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship.

The UK unveils its Jane Austen £10 note.
The polymer note was revealed by Bank of England governor Mark Carney on the 200th anniversary of the writer’s death. Besides the queen, Austen is the only woman pictured on an English bank note in circulation But not everybody’s happy.

Thanks to Pedro Gregorio for DC security robot quits job by drowning itself in a fountain and the comment “Must be friends with Marvin the paranoid android from the Hitchhiker’s Guide..”

There is something mystical – or mythical – about the Avro Arrow – it just won’t die!
Raise the Avro Arrow: Group looks to recover prototypes from Lake Ontario, 60 years later

Winnie the Pooh reportedly just got blacklisted by China
Winnie the Pooh has been censored on Chinese social media, the Financial Times reports
The cartoon bear first appeared in 2013 when Xi met with then U.S. President Barack Obama
No official explanation was given, but the FT cited observers who said the crackdown may be related to past comparisons of the physical appearance of President Xi Jinping to the fictional bear.
Crackdown is the latest ban in the run-up to this fall’s Communist Party Congress
President Xi Jinping is not amused – pity, most people would be flattered!

A corruption case against Pakistan’s prime minister hinges on his family’s use of the wrong font
(Quartz) Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz submitted “original copies” of two certified documents dated February 2006, refuting ownership of several plush London properties in question. The damning detail: the papers were typeset in Calibri, a font that was not publicly available until a year later.