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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 55m

Unfortunately, this evil tech ghoul isn’t trending for the reason most people were probably hoping for… just more of his insane pseudo-theological prattle about the Antichrist, which is attracting attention, for some reason. 😠

Veronica 🇺🇸 🇮🇹 🇺🇦 🇳🇴 🇲🇽 🇩🇪 @vero1986.bsky.social · 4h

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist

The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

www.theguardian.com

Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 1h

I second that emotion. Disappointing, to be sure.

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 1h

Hey, if you have to be on the picket line, a big dog in jammies sure helps cheer things up.

His name is “Archie” btw, a 3-year-old St. Bernard who is, I was told, “very political” (some of which, his owner said is “bullshit” but, she went on, “what can you say?”). Oh and he loves strawberries! 😆

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 1h

Crappy day to be on the picket line... Striking government workers at the Victoria Public Library.

The ones with the portable campfire and lawn chairs in the outer courtyard sure came well prepared!
#CdnPoli

Striking government workers (BCGEU and PEA unions) at the Victoria Public Library on a rainy day.

A very busy inner courtyard... for obvious reasons.

Outer courtyard of the VPL... Love that campfire!

Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 1h

A pissed off trucker ranting about an Alabama-based transport company filing for Chap. 7 bankruptcy and ceasing operations, resulting in 1,000 employees (600 of them truckers) being immediately put out of work w/out any notice, all thanks to Trump's failed policies.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XIh...

600 truckers just got fired in Donald Trump's failing economy.

YouTube video by The Enemy From Within

www.youtube.com

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 1h

Swing and a miss, CKKQ-FM, imho.

Still, perhaps it says something about the zeitgeist... tariffs being very much on the minds of a lot of folks these days. 🤷‍♂️
#CdnPoli

Bus shelter in front of the old HBC store (now the Victoria Market) with an advert for CKKQ-FM 100.3 FM (The "Q"... for some reason).
Bet they get free advertising, seeing the station is also owned by the Pattison Group, which has a signage division, which has numerous bus shelters around town, billboards, etc.

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 2h

“Heist Story” by Marianne Nicolson (2023).

Mural on the Hudson condominium building, Victoria, BC.

The artwork is a reverse depiction of colonization viewed from an Indigenous POV.
#StreetArt, #art

• More about the Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw tribe: mdtc.ca

“Heist Story” by Marianne Nicolson (2023).
Mural on the Hudson condominium building, Victoria, BC. (Used to be an ugly parkade for the old Hudson Bay Co. department store back when it was still in operation on the other side of the block.)

Plaque describing “Heist Story” by Marianne Nicolson (2023).

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 2h

Interesting comparison between Canada and Australia, two culturally related countries with much in common (both good and bad), along with very similar trade dependencies, economic challenges, and opportunities.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu5l...

Two Economies, With One Set of Flaws: The Economies of Australia and Canada | Econ

YouTube video by Econ

www.youtube.com

Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 2h

In case you thought that MTG was actually starting to make some sense... Not so fast!

AOC: “They’re not mad because he’s speaking Spanish. They’re mad and she’s mad because she can barely speak English, and the idea of introducing any more words is too much to bear.“ 😆
tinyurl.com/2s7dzeem

MTG demands ‘English-official’ law be passed before Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl show

The far-right congresswoman called Bad Bunny’s selection for the Super Bowl ‘perverse’ and ‘unwanted’ as she fumed about his impending halftime show

www.independent.co.uk

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 3h

Pretty ironic that NY Attorney General Letitia James is being selectively prosecuted over an $18K hypothetical “loss” to a bank by a vindictive asshole who is arguably stealing BILLIONS of dollars through his various grifts, corruption, and financial misconduct.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJOV...

Trump's BOGUS Indictment CRUMBLES UNDER SCRUTINY

YouTube video by Talking Feds with Harry Litman

www.youtube.com

Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 3h

A little bit of Greece on the side of the road.

Kind of a bright spot on a gloomy day... love the white rocks (nice touch, that). ❤️🇬🇷🏛️

Greek food truck (there's also a taco truck not pictured to the left). Cook and Mason Streets, Victoria, BC.

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 3h

LIVE: Fred Wellman and “White Dude” Mike Nellis talking about Trump’s war on half of America.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqSp...

LIVE: Trump Regime TARGETS AMERICANS…Dem STRIKES BACK

YouTube video by MeidasTouch

www.youtube.com

Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 3h

Well, it is just 302m from Royal Athletic Park, but it’s sure no mansion. In quite a state of neglect and disrepair, sadly. Wonder what it looks like inside... 🤔

Used to be an art gallery on the other side that displayed some cool sculptures (like Giacometti, but illuminated!).

Nice flag... 🍁

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 3h

A former prosecutor and constitutional lawyer explains what a horribly flawed law the Insurrection Act is. Also, why Trump’s invocation of it will be immediately challenged in court because the required circumstances are wholly inconsistent with facts on the ground. 😆
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq2i...

this is GREAT!!

YouTube video by The Romano Report

www.youtube.com

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 4h

Where dead people go up in smoke... literally.

Crematorium exhaust stack, Sands Funeral Chapel, Victoria, BC.

Such an incongruous building w/ its quasi-Spanish style architecture. Couldn’t find any info about it, unfortunately as it’s not listed as a historical building or heritage site.

Exhaust stack of the crematorium at Sands Funeral Chapel, Victoria, BC.

Sands Funeral Chapel, Victoria, BC. (1803 Quadra Street)
My mother actually worked here every weekend for over a decade as the receptionist until she retired at age 80 (for many years, she literally worked 7 days a week into her 70s... amazing woman!).

Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 5h

Brilliant move by Carney and the Libs, imho.

Would have been even better had the implementation timeline been sooner than 2027, however, seeing as this idea has been kicking around for the last 5 years! Still... 👍

More here: tinyurl.com/4rh77jvp
#CdnPoli
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ3i...

Carney announces automatic tax filing, makes school food program permanent

YouTube video by CBC News

www.youtube.com

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 5h

Seems they’re not “trying harder” anymore... 😉

Avis closure notice, downtown Victoria, BC. (Douglas Street)

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 6h

Wonder if this temporary restraining order will have any effect on halting (or at least reigning in) Trump’s War on so-called Blue cities like Chicago and Portland.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJJt...

Trump gets PUT IN HIS PLACE by PISSED OFF Judge in CHICAGO

YouTube video by MeidasTouch

www.youtube.com

Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 7h

Another horrific story of outrageous abuse, nightmarishly Kafkaesque pointlessness, and Nazi reenactment from Stephen Miller’s ICE Theatre of Cruelty & Racism.

Fun fact: According to the ACLU, pending claims against ICE since July total in excess of $55 billion.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fykx...

DHS Lied About a Veteran They Wrongfully Arrested (w/ George Retes)

YouTube video by The Bulwark

www.youtube.com

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 7h

Skipping to the “what we can do” part, have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed by this: “When and if We the People are ever back in charge..." (sigh). 😔

Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 7h

Curious how the Biden administration managed to actually deport more people than the Trump regime (by a small percentage)... but without all of the drama, cruelty, and terrorizing innocent people in the process.
www.visaverge.com/news/is-trum...

Is Trump Deporting More People? What the Data Really Shows

In 2025 the Trump administration prioritized immigration enforcement through visible operations, voluntary departure incentives, new apps, and expanded expedited removal. ICE reported 157,948 removals...

www.visaverge.com

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 7h

What an utter fiasco these brutally hamfisted ICE attacks on US citizens & immigrants peacefully going about their daily business are. Masked thugs kidnapping & “disappearing” people to concentration camps... Really making America “great” again there, huh, MAGAts? 🙄
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozm7...

Trump CAUGHT ON TAPE as INVASION goes TERRIBLY WRONG

YouTube video by MeidasTouch

www.youtube.com

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 8h

A video about how Canada “lost its faith” and became a secular nation in just a few generations. “One of the most remarkable transformations in modern history. A transformation so quiet, so polite, so quintessentially Canadian that it happened in complete silence.”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDmE...

How Canada’s Faith Quietly Died—and No One Noticed

YouTube video by Professor Archive

www.youtube.com

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 8h

One almost has to admire the total lack of irony involved. “A true peacemaker” claims some delusional MAGAt, posting that now iconic picture of Trump screaming “Fight, Fight, Fight!” after one of his fans, for entirely mysterious reasons, tried to assassinate him, allegedly. 🤨

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Martin Rayner @martinrayner.bsky.social · 9h

If ever the expression “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” certainly seems to apply to Trump and his beloved tariffs. Gawd, that man is such a phenomenally thick clod. He is, as Mark Carney said recently, a “transformative president”... just not in any sort of a good way.

Dean Baker @deanbaker13.bsky.social · 10h

I'm sure Xi is shaking in his boots www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... No one ever said Donald Trump was very sharp, his tariffs just don't mean much to China at this point.

Trump threatens tariffs on China, says he may cancel meeting with Xi

President Donald Trump said he is unhappy about China’s “hostile” move to limit access to rare minerals used in manufacturing.

www.washingtonpost.com