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martinrayner.bsky.social
Martin Rayner
@martinrayner.bsky.social
7.8K followers 520 following 24K posts
“Si fractus illabatur orbis impavidum ferient ruinae” — Horace
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martinrayner.bsky.social
Interesting discussion about the cagey politics behind Carney’s pipeline MOU between the federal government and the province of Alberta in an uncertain world of future oil prices and global energy transition.
#CdnPoli
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXqH...
Is Mark Carney Crazy Like a Fox? Max Fawcett Thinks He Is
YouTube video by Energi Media
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:42 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Oh goody. Annoying pop-up ads... just what everyone wanted in their new car or truck on start-up or whenever it’s stationary.

Hopefully, the negative backlash to this practice avoids it from becoming a widespread industry trend. Probably wishful thinking. 😉
www.jalopnik.com/2034692/pop-...
Pop-Up Ads Are Appearing On Stellantis Infotainment Screens Again - Jalopnik
How would you feel if you started your car, and a sales promotion appeared on the screen offering a discount on a new car?
www.jalopnik.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:23 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Some straight-talk explaining why beef prices are so high lately. Also a look at the rigged markets that American farmers and ranchers operate within and why most of them remain aligned with “conservative” politics despite their complaints about the system.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm82...
Why Farmers Keep Voting For Big Business
YouTube video by Farm to Taber
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:01 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
For what it’s worth, via “The Christian Post” (natch), here are the “Most Sinful Cities in America” that were assessed as being “where illicit activities and vices alike are the most widespread” according to a recent study by the personal finance company WalletHub.
tinyurl.com/3fnphc86
America's top 5 most sinful cities: list
America s sin problem isn t confined to Las Vegas, according to a new study
tinyurl.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:30 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Looks like Trump is slumping about as badly as the ridiculously overvalued stocks and essentially worthless cryptocurrencies that are linked to him. 😉
Trump slumped over breakfast (perhaps snoozing after a long night of rage "Truthing") at his swamp castle for yet another weekend of taxpayer funded golfing. Graph showing how Trump-related stocks and meme coins have tanked since he became president.
November 30, 2025 at 6:17 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
What happens when you give a “jailbroken” (i.e., hacked to bypass safety restrictions and ethical constraints) artificial intelligence LLM control over an autonomous robot with a gun?

Spoiler: A “Black Mirror” nightmare come to life. 😲
www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQm...
I put ChatGPT in a real robot to see if it would hurt me.
YouTube video by InsideAI
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:47 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
“Great Gate of Kiev”… the exultent finale to Isao Tomita’s 1975 distinctively unique and groundbreaking re-interpretation of Mussorgsky's “Pictures at an Exhibition” using synthesizers and a variety of electrical instruments.
#Musicsky
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIPR...
Tomita - Great gate of Kiev
YouTube video by Izolika68
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 5:15 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
“The Triumph of Christ” (circa 1965) by the visionary Austrian artist Ernst Fuchs. The highly intricate work uses a complex array of personal and traditional Christian symbolism to fantastically depict the union of heaven and earth and Christ’s ultimate victory over death and evil.
#Art
“The Triumph of Christ” (circa 1965) by the visionary Austrian artist Ernst Fuchs.
November 30, 2025 at 4:52 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
In a cynical effort to delegitimize critical reporting by the media, the White House has launched a Bizarro version of “Politifact” aimed at naming and shaming what it deems as “Fake News” but instead just further propagates Trump’s lies w/ erroneous “fact checks”. 🙄
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2dS...
Trump HUMILIATED After White House Stunt BACKFIRES
YouTube video by Harry Sisson
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:23 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Despite recent tensions (thanks to Trump), the annual tradition of gifting an enormous Xmas tree to Boston, MA continues. Started in the 70s, the gesture commemorates assistance provided in the wake of the horrific 1917 explosion that devastated Halifax.
#CdnPoli
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5hY...
THE BOSTON CHRISTMAS TREE - A HALIFAX TRADITION
YouTube video by Charlie Angus
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 3:26 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
A surprisingly edifying video about the history of what is for many us an indispensable condiment, Worcestershire sauce.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q5Q...
The REAL History of Worcestershire Sauce (and a few others...)
YouTube video by Tweedy Misc
www.youtube.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:29 AM
martinrayner.bsky.social
This brand of beer from down under has recently surfaced online, much to the displeasure of some Canadians that it’s rubbed the wrong way for being ill-conceived, wrongheaded, inappropriate, tone deaf, etc.

Maybe so, but perhaps it was well-intentioned. Check out some of their other cheeky brews.
Listing for Behemoth Brewery's "51st State" Canadian Red IPA. Check out that price for a four-pack! ($30 US, $43 CA). BTW, it's from New Zealand, not Australia as shown here. Various craft brews poking fun at Americans, one even named "Dump the Trump".
November 30, 2025 at 3:12 AM
martinrayner.bsky.social
“Strawberries” (1820) by the German artist Johann Adam Schlesinger. Beautiful alone as a botanical still life, the painting is also rich in symbolism, whether as a “Vanitas” theme or some other religious or philosophical interpretation.
#Art
“Strawberries” (1820) by the German artist Johann Adam Schlesinger.
November 30, 2025 at 2:40 AM
martinrayner.bsky.social
D’oh! 🍁😆

Funny, but also kinda worrying that a news publication like “Time” magazine can be so easily duped.
#CdnPoli
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j05-...
A made-up quote from the Beaverton made it into Time magazine | Hanomansing Tonight
YouTube video by CBC News
www.youtube.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:23 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Try to make sense of the Trump regime’s incoherent policy of wantonly murdering alleged “narco-terrorists” (a blatant war crime) while simultaneously offering to pardon a convicted Honduran drug trafficker (and also meddling in a foreign election in the process). 🤷‍♂️
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yaX...
MAGA Pete ADMITS TO CRIMES As Trump Term CRUMBLES
YouTube video by Harry Sisson
www.youtube.com
November 29, 2025 at 5:58 AM
martinrayner.bsky.social
A really compelling appeal to rural Americans.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2ni...
RURAL FOOD INSECURITY!
YouTube video by Will Westmoreland
www.youtube.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:05 AM
martinrayner.bsky.social
From the humble price tag to a world in which companies exploit data harvesting and sophisticated AI-powered algorithms to “dynamically” take advantage of consumers... a perverse tale of back to the future when it comes to price fixing and manipulation.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8PZ...
Goodbye, Price Tags. Hello, Dynamic Pricing.
YouTube video by New York Times Opinion
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 9:43 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Pretty much sums things up as they are when it comes to Trump’s Kremlin-authored “Peace Deal”.
#cartoons
Editorial cartoon by Arend van Dam (Netherlands) depicting Trump conceding to all of Hitler's demands. "How Trump would have ended the Second World War"...
November 28, 2025 at 7:33 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Nothing better than a “Snow Day”!

(Love the gauge at the bottom of the map.) 😆
“Large Snowball, Zermatt” (2012) by British painter Andrew Macara.
November 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Wonder what’s going on inside... 🤔
X-ray of Trump's "brain" (intestinal tract shown).
November 28, 2025 at 6:30 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Of course, here in Canada, this happens a whole month sooner!
November 28, 2025 at 6:15 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
This shutdown is actually good news. The pellets in question were being shipped to the other side the world in order to feed Drax’s highly controversial (and heavily subsidized) wood burning power station in northern England, which is the UK’s largest single emitter of CO2. 🤷‍♂️
tinyurl.com/bddtvn69
Drax to shut B.C. wood pellet plant by year's end, says not 'commercially viable'
A company operating a wood pellet plant in the British Columbia Interior says the facility will be shuttered by the end of the year due to a lack of available fibre.
tinyurl.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:12 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Hardly shocking news, but Pierre Poilievre is a shameless liar. As usual, this can be easily proven w/ the slightest bit of fact-checking, something he must assume that his ardent supporters simply cannot be bothered to do and/or just don’t care about.
#CdnPoli
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgMX...
Poilievre EXPOSED - Caught LYING Again
YouTube video by Claus Kellerman POV
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:50 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Irony abounds…

ICE, Trump’s racist gestapo, has now taken to rousting indigenous Americans, presumably on grounds of being suspiciously non-white, dismissing their tribal identification as “fake”…
tinyurl.com/r34vpjb7
Indigenous actor says ICE agents branded her tribal ID ‘fake’ during stop
Elaine Miles said her son and uncle were also previously detained by ICE over tribal ID questions, but later released
tinyurl.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:12 PM
martinrayner.bsky.social
Dear Media,

Please stop calling this guy a “branding genius”.

Because he’s not.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Trump floating two incredibly bad names for "Trump Republican".
November 28, 2025 at 6:39 AM