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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

@blackwellmerlin.bsky.social

820 followers 470 following 1.1K posts

Mayor/ Politician with great concern for our civil society and the future of our planet. Bizarrely also a Japanese automotive historian, who will move that work to another Bluesky account.

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · Jan 5

I need to pin this!

michaeledward @michaeledward.bsky.social · Jan 4

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 5h

American politics has officially jumped the shark on a jet powered unicycle.

Holly Anderson 🍇 @hollyanderson.bsky.social · 7h

you fucked around and now the Episcopalians are doing memes. are you happy now. are you

Screenshot of a Facebook post featuring three of the Portland protesters wearing inflatable frog costumes with the following text:

Episcopalians on Facebook
Elizabeth Rose Elrod • 22h •
Exodus 8:2-6
"But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs...
The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials."

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Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

Rasta @rastasack.bsky.social · 1d

Buy Guitars, not Guns!

#Guns #GIfts #Guitars

Dear Dads,
Don't buy him a weapon. Buy him a guitar. He won't hurt anybody with it, and he might actually get a girlfriend

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Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

The Tyee @thetyee.ca · 1d

Violent threats against government workers and businesses and a shocking physical attack on an elderly neighbour of the farm have highlighted how tensions around a CFIA-ordered cull of hundreds of ostriches have taken a very dark turn.

@jenstden.bsky.social reports. #canpoli

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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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

Yup. Cars as riprap.

There’s a road up a sandy hillside near Little Fort built on flattened 50s and 60s cars.

Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

Saimi Hanma ⚔️ @saimihanma.bsky.social · 1d

This article starts out with this and only gets worse.

www.seattletimes.com/business/the...

They had money problems. They turned to chatgpt for solutions

When Myra Donohue’s father, who is a financial planner, offered to help her with her finances, she politely declined

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

We have also seen the degradation of compassion because we all have our own- sometimes questionable -“news” sources that should really be called “opinions”.

Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan get more airtime in some people’s heads than traditional media now.

Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

Exactly.

“I’m happy you are happy to be knee deep in WEF conspiracy theories and to rage against vaccine mandates, but that doesn’t get the pipes fixed or the roads paved”.

My job as an elected official is to work in the same basic “reality” as other muni’s and the provincial government.

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

Yes. I had a conversation with Patrick Johnstone of New Westminster about this.

Clearwater still has our local paper, but just barely.

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

The discussion… I get a couple quotes in this one.

Two points to shine more attention on.

1. Recall legislation needs to happen.

2. Covid, combined with the Facebook news ban and the deregulation of social media platforms, has done huge damage to municipal democracy.

thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

Mayor of Chaos: How Kamloops Politics Became Infamous | The Tyee

Car dealer Reid Hamer-Jackson won office with charisma and ideas. Then the wheels came off.

thetyee.ca

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

Political experience is a must in my books. The first 18 months in political office is a very steep curve.

I’m 14 years? into it and I’m still learning things.

Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

We aim to please.

Does this qualify as a “Tyee restaurant review”?

Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

Let me know next time you’re here, I’ll buy “the starving writer” a coffee.

Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

It may not be you, but someone is or will be writing a book about this.

And yes, the publishing industry ain’t what it used to be. I have 20 copies of my dad’s book on a shelf here somewhere.

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 1d

Fantastic read.

I’ve had a seat in the bleachers for this game, with many “front row” interactions with Kamloops Council via our time together at the regional district and at conferences, etc.

@tyolsen.bsky.social nails it. I feel a book coming on.

Jen St. Denis @jenstden.bsky.social · 7d

The definitive history of Kamloop's very own "Mayor of chaos" by @tyolsen.bsky.social and @castanet.net's Kristen Holliday #bcpoli thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

Mayor of Chaos: How Kamloops Politics Became Infamous | The Tyee

Car dealer Reid Hamer-Jackson won office with charisma and ideas. Then the wheels came off.

thetyee.ca

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Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 3d

9-yr-old Ukrainian Sasha Paskal has won gold&bronze medals at the All-Ukrainian Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition "Black Sea Cup"

In the summer of 2022she was seriously injured by a Russian strike and underwent a leg amputation

Sasha didn’t give up.She went through rehabilitation
📹bokareva.solovey.m

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Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

Canadian History Ehx @cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social · 3d

Did you know the first thanksgiving celebrated by Europeans in North America happened in Canada?
Or that the Indigenous celebrated autumn harvests long before Europeans arrived?
Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving a month earlier than the United States?
This is the story.

🧵1/10

A festive Thanksgiving dinner table featuring a roasted turkey as the centerpiece, surrounded by an array of dishes including green beans, stuffing, sliced ham, and a pumpkin pie. The table is decorated with pumpkins, sunflowers, candles, and autumnal flowers, with wine glasses and plates set for a meal.

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 3d

New York, Montreal, San Francisco… loved them all.

Tokyo and Kyoto are two of my favourites if they were to do Japan or Asia.

Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

Nora Reed (they/them ze/hir) @nora.zone · 4d

cry havoc and let slip the frogs of war

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Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

Andrew Kurjata @akurjata.ca · 4d

This has become way more political in light of what is going on in Portland

Andrew Kurjata @akurjata.ca · Aug 23

important new signage

A sign on a tree with an image of a boot stepping on a frog, which is crossed out

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 5d

The Late Brake Show and Yorkshire restoration? Is building a Talbot Mantra Rancho on a Subaru chassis. It’s on YouTube.

Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 5d

Some of these are 60-100 years old. They’re all over B.C..

It’s very rare that these were built in recent memory, except the ones built by beavers.

Did they have an idea of when it was built?

Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

Bruce Arthur @brucearthur.bsky.social · 6d

The fight about the BC ostrich farm is not really about the ostriches. It’s about far more important things than that. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...

Bruce Arthur: The B.C. ostrich affair is not about the birds

This isn’t really about the ostriches, but rather it's about basic biosecurity in the age of viruses, and whether a government can make and enforce laws and policy.

www.thestar.com

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Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦 @blackwellmerlin.bsky.social · 5d

It’s a good one. Quite the tale.

Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

The Tyee @thetyee.ca · 5d

Conservative Party of BC Leader John Rustad confirmed Thursday it was his idea to search the phones of party MLAs to try to find the source of a suspected leak during a caucus meeting this week.

Andrew MacLeod reports. #bcpoli

Rustad Defends His Push to Search MLAs’ Phones | The Tyee

The effort to identify the source of leaks from the divided Conservative party failed.

thetyee.ca

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Reposted by Merlin Blackwell of Clearwater🇨🇦

Castanet.net @castanet.net · 6d

Interior Health announces new president and CEO #Kelowna

Interior Health announces new president and CEO - Kelowna News

The search to replace Interior Health's chief executive officer has come to an end.

www.castanet.net

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