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RichardJR

@electricbluesfan.bsky.social

1.9K followers 1.5K following 35K posts

Proud grandfather to four amazing grandchildren. Interests: history, politics, space science, electric guitar blues, environmental science, computing science, philosophy, heart-healthy recipes, vinyl recordings. 313 ppm Ad astra per aspera!

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13d

Danielle Smith taking $14 million of our taxpayer dollars to flog her delusional pipeline pipedream.

ZERO Private Funding Interest!

RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · Jul 21

1/31 🚨 TAXPAYER ALERT: WE COULD SOON FACE A FINANCIAL PIPELINE DISASTER 🚨

$1.3B LOST on Keystone XL. $34B on Trans Mountain with $5-18B taxpayer losses projected.

This isn't bad luck. It's systematic failure.

Alberta wants more pipelines 🧐

Analysis by RichardJR.
#TaxpayerRisk #Pipelines #ABppli

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

9/9
The dispute has become a dangerous flashpoint where a science-based public health order is being met with anti-government rage, intimidation, and real-world violence, putting public servants and private citizens at serious risk.

Jen St. Denis, The Tyee
thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

How the Ostrich Farm Cull Has Unleashed Threats of Violence | The Tyee

The CFIA union head says members and their families are being threatened.

thetyee.ca

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

8/9
The union head says his members are just doing their jobs to protect Canada's food supply & public health, & they shouldn't have to face harassment and threats.

"We’re doing a service for the country," Dyck said. "It’s quite shocking that we’re being attacked for trying to do our job."
#cdnlab

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

7/9
The CFIA's cull order is based on sound science. Though the surviving ostriches appear healthy, they can still be carriers of the virus.

Allowing the flock to live is "playing with fire," says a veterinary professor, because avian flu has an "amazing ability to keep on reassorting & #mutating."

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

6/9
While the farm's owners have urged supporters to remain peaceful, the rhetoric has been inflammatory.

The union pointed to one video where a supporter warns of "consequences" and promises to "fight back" if police intervene in their protests, saying "we are legally allowed to defend ourselves."

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

5/9
The situation has turned shockingly violent on the ground.

On Sept. 22, the farm's 72-year-old neighbour, Lois Wood, was allegedly assaulted. A man associated with the farm's supporters is accused of punching her in the face and pouring gasoline on her and her home.
#Violence

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

4/9
The farm rallied a passionate group of supporters, many of whom are part of the #Convoy protest movement that opposed COVID-19 measures.

Multiple businesses suspected of working with the CFIA have received threats, including one in Metro Vancouver threatened with having their offices "shot up."

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

3/9
The dispute centres on #UniversalOstrichFarms in #Edgewood, #B.C., where 15 per cent of the 400-bird flock died of #H5N1 avian flu.

The #CFIA has a "stamping out" policy that requires the culling of entire infected flocks to prevent the virus from spreading and potentially mutating.
#AvianFlu

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

2/9
The head of the Agriculture Union says CFIA employees have been getting disturbing phone calls and texts.

"The biggest problem is that some of our members are then having their partners tracked down, their children tracked down. It’s very, very concerning," said national president Milton Dyck.

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

1/9
🇨🇦 B.C. OSTRICH FARM CULL AMIDST THREATS OF VIOLENCE 🇨🇦

The union for #CanadianFoodInspectionAgency ( #CFIA) employees says its members face disturbing threats as tensions escalate over a cull order at a #B.C. #ostrich #farm infected with #H5N1.

Jen St. Denis, The Tyee.
#BCpoli #PublicHealth

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 13h

Thank you for doing this Thomas! Another small donation is on its way to cover some of the fuel costs.

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Reposted by RichardJR

Hon. Thomas A. Lukaszuk @lukaszukab.bsky.social · 15h

This and next week, the #ForeverCanadian Unity Bus and I will be in:

Mundare
Vegreville
Vermillion
Wainwright
Viking
Camrose
Stettler
Strathmore
Brooks
Medicina Hat
Lethbridge
High River
Calgary
Canmore
Banff

I look forward to meeting with proud Canadians everywhere.

#cdnpoli

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

11/11
The rate of lung transplants for CF patients plummeted by 75%. Patients who were once hospitalized are now running competitively. They're getting married, having children, and planning futures.

A testament to decades of tireless scientific research.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

How Cystic Fibrosis Went From Fatal to Treatable

This Medical News article is an interview with pulmonologist Michael Welsh, MD, the co-recipient of the 2025 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his research on cystic fibrosis.

jamanetwork.com

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

10/11
That search led directly to the life-changing drugs we have today, like Trikafta.

This triple-combination therapy uses "corrector" drugs to help the broken protein get to the cell surface, and a "potentiator" drug to prop the channel open once it's there. A targeted, molecular repair job.

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

9/11
"We can’t put people in the refrigerator to treat their CF," Dr. Welsh jokes, "but maybe one could develop a medicine to do that."

IThis gave drug developers the confidence to push forward, searching for chemicals that could do what the cold temperature did.

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

8/11
A key moment of hope came from a surprising experiment. For the most common CF mutation, the protein channel is made but gets stuck inside the cell.

Researchers cooled the cells down and the simple temperature change was enough to help the broken protein get to the cell surface—it worked!

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

7/11
The next discovery was just as crucial. They figured out what the CFTR protein actually did. It wasn't a regulator; it was the chloride channel itself.

If scientists could find a way to fix this broken protein, they could potentially treat the entire disease. They finally had a target.

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

6/11
Then, in 1989, came the bombshell: scientists discovered the single gene responsible for CF. They named it CFTR.

Dr. Welsh's lab quickly did a critical experiment: they put a healthy copy of the gene into a CF cell in a dish. The defect was corrected. There was a clear path forward.
#Genetics

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

5/11
Dr. Welsh & colleagues narrowed it down further. In the lungs, the defect was located at the "apical membrane"—the side of the airway cells facing the air. A tiny gateway for chloride ions was broken.

A unifying hypothesis for how a single defect could cause such widespread problems.

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

4/11
But why was the sweat salty? The next big break came from a scientist who had CF himself. He discovered the problem wasn't that the body was making too much salt, but that the sweat glands couldn't reabsorb it.

This pinpointed the problem to a specific cellular function: chloride transport.

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

3/11
For decades, CF was a confusing mix of lung, pancreatic, & intestinal disease. During a 1948 heatwave a doctor noticed his CF patients were uniquely prone to dehydration.

He discovered their sweat was abnormally salty. It led to the "sweat test," the primary diagnostic for CF for generations.

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

2/11
The story begins with a patient who haunted a young Dr. Michael Welsh in the 1970s: a 7-year-old girl, breathing hard, whose room smelled of the infection that would kill her before she left her teens.

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 15h

1/11
HOW CYSTIC FIBROSIS WENT FROM FATAL TO TREATABLE.

In the 1970s, #CysticFibrosis (CF) was terminal. Today, many with CF can expect to live a normal lifespan. This is the story of the journey that made it possible, told by a doctor there from the beginning.
#Science #Medicine

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Reposted by RichardJR

Wen Jackman @wenjackwoman.bsky.social · 21h

#DangerousBeavers #ElbowsUpCanada
Trump is a dangerous felon.

RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 21h

5/8
Canadian Prime Minister Mark #Carney approached Trump to correct him for calling him "president" of Canada.

Trump's retort: "You are fortunate I did not call you governor."
#CdnPoli

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Reposted by RichardJR

Hon. Thomas A. Lukaszuk @lukaszukab.bsky.social · 20h

TODAY, there are 110 #ForeverCanadian signature collection locations across Alberta. Certainly, there is one not too far from you.

Please, take a moment to sign this important petition. We need your signature to reach our goal to keep Alberta in Canada.🇨🇦
www.forever-canadian.ca/sign-the-pet...

Forever Canadian Official Campaign Website

Forever Canadian campaign is a grassroots coalition of Canadians aimed at reinforcing Canadian unity. It is a proactive vehicle to secure Alberta's continued place in Canada.

www.forever-canadian.ca

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RichardJR @electricbluesfan.bsky.social · 21h

8/8
The summit a stage for Trump's personal whims, where a leader's standing was judged not by their country's importance, but by their perceived toughness, wealth, or willingness to flatter the host.

Trump: "I am the only one that matters."

The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

‘I am the only one that matters’: Trump deals praise and insults at Gaza summit

Self-styled world’s greatest peacemaker calls Meloni ‘beautiful’ and Erdoğan a ‘friend’, but takes jab at Iraqi and Canadian leaders