Robert Jobst

[Energi Media @EnergiMedia]

This isn’t just politics—it’s about the integrity of elections.

Duane Bratt draws a striking comparison between AB’s proposed electoral changes and tactics used in Hungary.

#AlbertaPolitics #Democracy #Gerrymandering #Canada #EnergyMedia

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

Congratulations, Hungary. Wish we were overthrowing the far-right authoritarian government in my Canadian province of Alberta.

[Mark @cmadsq]

https://t.co/KYp59gRIdq
Viktor #Orbán has called Péter #Magyar to concede defeat in today's election. #Hungary

With 53.45% of votes counted, Magyar's TISZA looks set to win a super majority.

A defeat for Putin, a defeat for Trump, a victory for Europe, and above all, a victory for the Hungarian people.

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

When the Police Chief pleads with you to do something for the sake of public safety and the UCP minister says "Nah".

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

#AlbertaSeparation #Separatards #Alberta

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

@That_Bebbzy_Guy @globeandmail Good God, man, they’re called the Op-Ed pages. Opinion and Editorial. They feature columnists who offer opinions on matters of the day. This has been a feature of newspapers for probably a couple of centuries.

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

@DevinDVote Actually, Dev, YOU are irresponsible waste of taxpayer dollars. I don’t see why Alberta taxpayers should be asked to pay for your mismanagement and bad decisions.

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

@DevinDVote UCP = Utter Chaos Party

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

@nenshi UCP = Utter Chaos Party

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

Hey @encana, it's been 16 years. When do we get the York Hotel back?

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

The 'Coles Notes' on the Canada Pension Plan.
Well worth 2 minutes of your time.

[It's Augustina watching the Blue Sky explode. @AugustinaStudio]

The Coles Notes on the Canada Pension Plan.
Be informed, don't be bamboozled.

Big shout out to https://t.co/qiNAe81VbY for allowing me to put this together, free of charge. Yup, watermarked, and rightfully so. Thank you!

#CPP #HandsOfTheCPP
#NeverVoteConservative

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

Time to put to rest downtown Calgary's reputation for emptying out after 5 pm. It's humming on Stephen Avenue this evening. And it has been every time I've been down there this summer. Yes, it's just on a few blocks of that one street... but it's one hell of a street!

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

“If Dr. Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.” 😄

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

A British writer penned the best description of Donald Trump I’ve ever read:

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?”

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

-Nate White

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

THIS @cityofcalgary

[The Cultural Tutor @culturaltutor]

12 Reasons Why Cities Need More Trees:

1. Temperature Control

One large tree is equivalent to 10 air conditioning units, and the shade they provide can reduce street temperature by more than 30%.

2. Noise Reduction

Trees can reduce loudness by up to 50%. In urban areas filled with the sound of cars, construction, sirens, aeroplanes, and music, trees are essentially the best way to block noise and keep cities — along with the homes and workplaces in them — quieter.

3. Air Purity

Trees remove an astonishing amount of harmful pollutants and toxins from the air. In urban areas air quality is often disastrously bad — with severe consequences for our health. Trees make the air we breathe much cleaner.

4. Oxygen

And, while absorbing all those pollutants, trees also put more oxygen back into the urban environment. Oxygen levels are significantly lower in cities compared to the countryside; trees help to solve that problem.

5. Water Management

Trees do more than just shelter us and our buildings from rain — which is, in fact, extremely important. They also absorb huge quantities of water, reduce run-off, neutralise the severity of flooding, and make flooding more unlikely altogether. Not to forget that their roots absorb pollutants and prevent them from feeding back into a city's water supply.

6. Psychological Health

Studies have proven what we instinctively know to be true: that human beings are significantly happier when surrounded by nature rather than sterile urban environments. Our emotions, behaviour, and thoughts are shaped by the places we spend time — and trees have a profoundly positive effect on our psychology. The consequential benefits of being happier and more peaceful — as individuals and as a society — are immense.

7. Physical Health

Beyond all the other ways in which trees improve air quality and the urban environment, much to the benefit of our health, they also encourage people to go outside. Cycling, running, and walking are all more common in urban areas with plenty of trees. A knock-on effect of people spending more time outdoors is also social integration and stronger communities.

8. Privacy

A simple point, but not inconsequential, is that trees provide privacy.

9. Economics

The total economic benefit of urban trees is hard to calculate. There are costs, of course, including the repair of infrastructure damaged by roots and maintaining the trees themselves. But the total economic benefit — a consequence of everything else in this list and more — far outweighs the expenditure. Trees make cities wealthier.

10. Wildlife

Trees are miniature cities all of their own, serving as a habitat for hundreds of different species, including birds and mammals and insects.

11. Light Pollution

Trees don't only block the light shining down, therefore keeping us and our cities cooler — they also disrupt light shining up, from street lighting, cars, houses, and billboards. Skies are clearer in cities with more trees.

12. Aesthetics

And, finally, trees are beautiful. They break up the potential monotony of urban environments — the sharp geometry, the greyscale roads and buildings, the endless rows of cars — with their trunks, boughs, canopies, and flowers.

Just think: the gold and red of falling leaves in autumn, the white and pink blossom of spring, the vast green canopies of summer, and the branches lined with hoar-frost in winter. Every single tree is a myriad of intricacy and texture, of colour and scent, of dappled light on the pavement, mottled bark, knotted roots, of clustered leaves and delicate petals and stern boughs.

Few streets would not be improved by the kaleidoscopic aesthetic delights of a tree, not to mention the many different species of tree, all over the world, whether willow, oak, lime, cherry, aspen, maple, birch, horse chestnut, dogwood, hornbeam, ash, sycamore... the list goes on.

There are some drawbacks to urban trees, most of them context-specific, and they are not — of course — universally appropriate. But it seems fair to say that many cities would benefit from at least a few more trees here and there.

[Jason Scott 🇨🇦 @JasonOnTheDrums]

#Ableg

Congrats Alberta - we made INTERNATIONAL NEWS!!!

The New York Times is the 3rd LARGEST newspaper in the US; and top 20 in the WORLD!!!

We’re OFFICIALLY the Province where our leader COMPARED vaccinated adults to Nazis!!!

How is this good for investment???
@BrianJeanAB

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

There were once 63 'Rapattack' elite firefighters stationed around the province – including at Edson, Fox Creek and Lac La Biche – before the UCP cancelled the program in 2019.
#ABFires #AlbertaWildfires #FiretheUCP
https://t.co/KYZgDwX2m8

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

@HeySeto @cmcalgary This was Grosvenor's plan from several years ago. I don't know if it's changed since then. Doesn't seem to be on their website.

[Robert Jobst @RobJobst]

I worry that too many Albertans don’t understand this, think it’s overblown or simply don’t care.

[Rachel Notley @RachelNotley]

I worry about what we’re seeing from Danielle Smith and its impact on our democracy.

Albertans deserve so much better than this.

[MandelaMushroom 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 NEVER VOTE CONSERVATIVE @SpeakUp407]

@DrJaredWesley #DanielleSmithIsUnfitToLead

[Jared Wesley @DrJaredWesley]

More than any other 10 minutes in her premiership, Danielle Smith's call with Artur Pawlowski makes it clear she is unfit for office.

Here are 5 reasons why. +

[Duane Bratt🇨🇦 @DuaneBratt]

This is an effective ad!