The first residents are moving into a long, long awaited affordable housing project in Delbrook.
Hollyburn Community Housing Society’s Hollybrook apartment will house low-to-moderate-income residents in 86 subsidized one-, two- and three-bedroom units in a four-storey building on what was once the old Delbrook Rec Centre’s parking lot.
“As the housing crisis continues to dominate public discourse and questions around urban density persist, the recent move-ins at Hollybrook offer a welcome sign of progress. Already, we’re seeing the early formation of social ties and a growing sense of stability – key ingredients that will contribute to the long-term vitality and cohesion of the neighbourhood,” said Mark Friesen, executive director of Hollyburn Community Services Society.
Under BC Housing’s formula, 20 per cent of the homes are subsidized to be affordable for residents living on disability or income assistance rates. Half of the units are priced to be no more than 30 per cent of a family’s gross annual income, and the remaining 30 per cent will be offered at rents considered to be at the low end of the market. (continued here)
This morning, J.D. Wolf of Meidas News pulled together all of Trump’s self-congratulatory posts from Sunday morning, when the president evidently was boosting his ego after Friday’s disastrous meeting with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Trump shared an AI-generated meme of himself with a large male lion standing next to him and the words “Peace through Strength. Anyone can make war, but only most courageous [sic] can make peace.” He posted memes claiming he is the “best president…in American history” and the “G[reatest] O[f] A[ll] T[ime], a “legend.”
Trump also reposted material from two QAnon-related accounts and pushed the QAnon belief that the Democratic Party is “the party of hate, evil, and Satan.” Trump has faced a rebellion among his QAnon supporters as he and administration officials have refused to release information from the federal investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and have moved Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking children, to a minimum-security prison camp and given her work-release privileges. It appears he’s working to make QAnon supporters forget that he was named in those files and to lure them back to his support.
For their part, Russia Today trolled Trump’s “peace through strength” boast this morning by posting a video of an armored vehicle first going slowly on a road and then dramatically speeding up. The vehicle was flying both Russian and U.S. flags.
Trump’s social media account this morning posted a long screed saying the president is “going to lead a movement to get rid of” mail-in ballots and voting machines, and lying that the U.S. is the only country that uses mail-in voting because it is rife with fraud. As usual, the post claimed that Democrats “CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE” and claimed they “are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM.” The post said he would sign an executive order “to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections.”
Then the post claimed that “the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them, FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY, to do.”
This is bonkers across the board. Dozens of countries use mail-in voting, and there is zero evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S. Just today, news broke that right-wing channel Newsmax will pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems for spreading false claims that the company’s voting technology had been rigged to give the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. (continued on Page 2 or here)
Commentary by Heather Cox Richardson on August 16th
Yesterday, military personnel from the United States of America literally rolled out a red carpet for a dictator who invaded a sovereign country and is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes including the stealing of children. Apparently coached by his team, Trump stood to let Russia’s president Vladimir Putin walk toward him after Putin arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, putting Trump in a dominant position, but he clapped as Putin walked toward him. The two men greeted each other warmly.
This summit between the president of the United States and the president of Russia came together fast, in the midst of the outcry in the U.S. over Trump’s inclusion in the Epstein files and the administration’s refusal to release those files.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff had been visiting Moscow for months to talk about a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine when he heard through a back channel that Putin might be willing to talk to Trump in person to offer a deal. On August 6, after a meeting in Moscow, Witkoff announced that Russia was ready to retreat from some of the land it occupies in Ukraine. This apparent concession came just two days before the August 8 deadline Trump had set for severe sanctions against Russia unless it agreed to a ceasefire.
Quickly, though, it became clear that Witkoff’s description of Putin’s offer was wrong, either because Putin had misled him or because he had misunderstood: Witkoff does not speak Russian and, according to former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, does not use a notetaker from the U.S. embassy. Nonetheless, on Friday, August 8, Trump announced on social media that he would meet personally with Putin in Alaska, without Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky.
That the president of the United States offered a meeting to Putin on U.S. soil, ground that once belonged to Russia and that Russian nationalists fantasize about taking back, was itself a win for Putin.
As Jonathan Lemire noted yesterday in The Atlantic, in the week before the meeting, leaders in Ukraine and Europe worried that Trump would agree to Putin’s demand that Ukraine hand over Crimea and most of its four eastern oblasts, a demand that Russian operatives made initially in 2016 when they offered to help Trump win the White House—the so-called Mariupol Plan—and then pressure Ukraine to accept the deal.
In the end, that did not happen. The summit appears to have produced nothing but a favorable photo op for Putin. (continued on page 2 or here)
Ed Note: Sir Francis Bacon famously stated that “some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested”. This quote, found in his essay “Of Studies,” reflects his view on how different types of books require varying levels of engagement from the reader.
Tsundoku, the Japanese art of stockpiling unread books, is something to cherish, not feel guilty about
What can you do with a bunch of books you haven’t read yet? You can stack them up and make a shaky nightstand next to your bed, creating a ready-made stash of reading material for those times when counting sheep isn’t working. (Although an avid reader on a Reddit site mentioned that his makeshift bookcase toppled over on his new girlfriend, leading her to think there was an earthquake taking place. Not a pleasant way to entertain a guest, especially one you hope will return.)
“You collect books to be read at the right time, the right place and the right mood.” | Credit: Getty
You can whittle the pile down by not setting foot in any bookstores or libraries. You can label yourself a hoarder and swear you won’t buy any more books until the cows come home (an odd promise for a city dweller like me) breaking your promise almost immediately because … well, you’re someone who revels in the pleasure of Tsundoku.
The Japanese word Tsundoku describes the act of owning a lot of unread books, with some using it to describe the pile itself.
The Japanese word Tsundoku describes the act of owning a lot of unread books, with some using it to describe the pile itself. It is the buying of books with the intention of reading them either now or in the future, as opposed to bibliomania, which is about collecting, perhaps rare volumes or first editions, for the sake of collecting. “Bibliomania; or Book-Madness” is also the title of a quirky 19th century tome by Reverend Thomas Frognall Dibdin, who claimed that the act of being unable to stop collecting literature was a kind of malady. Those afflicted with the condition were obsessed with unique books such as first editions and illustrated copies. Perhaps the cure was written about in a medical textbook, a worthy addition to almost any learned person’s book compendium.
The term Tsundoku, which dates from the Meiji era, comes from a combination of tsunde-oku (to let things pile up) and dokusho, meaning to read books. It was initially used sardonically about teachers who possessed many books but never read them.
The Value of Intellectual Humility
Lebanese American scholar Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in his 2007 book “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable,” dubbed his ample collection of unread books an antilibrary, acting as a reminder to gather knowledge and to remain curious. He wrote, “You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly.” (continued on page 2 or here)
Today, flanked by California’s Democratic elected officials and union leaders, California governor Gavin Newsom responded to Trump’s attempt to strongarm the Texas legislature into redistricting the state to give Trump the five additional congressional representatives to which he feels “entitled.” Newsom announced that California will hold a special election on November 4 for voters to consider redistricting their state temporarily if Texas redistricts, so that California can neutralize Trump’s rigging of the state of Texas. The plan would only go into effect if Texas—or any of the other states pressured by Trump to redistrict to get more votes—launches its mid-decade redistricting that is transparently designed to help resurrect the Republicans’ prospects for 2026 and 2028.
After years of criticism that Democrats have not fought hard enough against Republicans’ manipulation of the system to amass power, the California plan, along with Newsom’s announcement of it, flips the script. The plan leverages Democrats’ control of the most populous state in the Union to warn Republicans to back away from their attempt to rig the 2026 election.
At the same time, the plan’s authors protected against claims that they were themselves trying to rig the game: the plan goes into effect only if Republicans push through their new maps, and it declares that the state still supports the use of fair, nonpartisan redistricting commissions nationwide, a system Republicans oppose.
Newsom’s announcement of the plan continued a shift in Democratic rhetoric from defense to offense. After years of Trump and Republicans attacking California, Newsom celebrated his state and the principles it reflects. “We are in Los Angeles, the most diverse city, in the most diverse county, in the most diverse state, in the world’s most diverse democracy,” he said. “And I’ve long believed that the world looks to us…to see…it’s possible to live together and advance together and prosper together across every conceivable and imaginable difference. What makes L.A. great, what makes California great, and what makes the United States of America great—is that…we don’t tolerate our diversity, we celebrate our diversity, and it’s a point of pride, because we’re all in this together,” he said.
California has the population of 21 smaller states combined, he pointed out, and the fourth largest economy in the world. Pushing back on the trope that says, “Don’t mess with Texas,” Newsom warned: “Don’t mess with the great Golden State.” In a reference to the 1846 California Republic, also known as the “Bear Flag Republic”—a history captured by the California grizzly bear on the state’s flag—Newsom echoed the words of Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) when he added: “Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back.”
Newsom emphasized that democracy is under siege by Trump and his MAGA loyalists, a point illustrated by the fact that officials had sent more than a dozen masked and armed Border Patrol agents to the Japanese American National Museum in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles, where Newsom was speaking. Some of the agents were carrying rifles. A Border Patrol chief, Gregory Bovino, made it clear the agents were there to intimidate state officials, saying: ““We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place, since we don’t have politicians who can do that. We do that ourselves.” (continue on page 2 or here)
Answer: Could it possibly have anything to do with $en. Cassidy’s desire to be re-elected?
SENATOR BILL CASSIDY: …If you are confirmed, do you commit that you will not work to impound, divert or otherwise reduce any funding appropriated by Congress for the purpose of vaccination programs?
ROBERT KENNEDY: Yes.
On March 10, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) terminated at least 33 research grants for projects studying why some people are hesitant to receive vaccines or evaluating strategies that could encourage vaccine uptake. NIH to ax grants on vaccine hesitancy | Science | AAAS.
Ed note: Ron Chernow’s new 1100 page biography is very entertaining if you like the cheerful often biting approach Twain uses to bring us all down to size–particularly politicians and preachers. I’m only 10% along in my reading, but highly amused with both Twain and the incisive analysis of Chernow.
Chernow, Ron. Mark Twain (p. 141). Penguin Publishing Group.
Just how far Twain had journeyed from his political origins in a border state grew abundantly clear a year later when he wrote a newspaper piece, “The White House Funeral,” that gave an imaginary version of Andrew Johnson’s final speech to his cabinet. It was a savage burlesque that would have had Radical Republicans brigades standing in applause, for it named the many sins they ascribed to the outgoing president. “My great deeds speak for themselves. I vetoed the Reconstruction acts; I vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau; I vetoed civil liberty; I vetoed Stanton; I vetoed everything & everybody that the malignant Northern hordes approved; I hugged traitors to my bosom; I pardoned them by regiments & brigades…I smiled upon the Ku-Klux, I delivered the Union men of the south & their belongings over to murder, robbery, & arson; I filled the Government offices all over this whole land with the vilest scum that could be scraped from the political gutters & the ranks of the Union haters.”[24]
Posted inBooks|Comments Off on We need a little more Twain in our politics
The painting beckoned me from across the room. In a bright, high-ceilinged gallery of the Courtauld, a small museum in London known for its collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, I moved past van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear,” beyond Degas’s dancers and Seurat’s fisherman, straight to a small Monet titled “Vase of Flowers.” I stood before it and felt my breath slow. My husband walked over to me. I wanted him to understand. “This is the way I see now,” I said quietly.
It was my year of living blurrily. After the discovery of a small tumor behind one eye, I’d had surgery and radiation. My doctors told me I would probably survive. I would also gradually become blind in the affected eye — a small price, it seemed, to pay for my life. But the slow leaching of my sight played havoc with not just one eye, but both. My “good” eye seemed to be acting in sympathy with my affected one — possibly a result of a medical phenomenon known as “sympathetic ophthalmia” — and so the world softened, receded into a haze. Faces were unrecognizable until I got up close. Familiar streets became difficult, even frightening, to navigate.
It was in places and spaces I didn’t know well that I felt most unmoored. On this trip to London, I had been experiencing a near-constant state of dizziness. Disoriented, I steadied myself against walls, tested the depth of curbs before stepping off. A trip in the underground with its maze of tunnels and escalators felt topsy-turvy, as if it had sprung from an M.C. Escher lithograph. At one point, we ran to catch a train, and I stepped inside just as the doors slid closed, only to turn and look out the smudged windows at my husband’s stricken face, his palms flat against the other side of the glass. I couldn’t read the signs and didn’t know the stops. The doors slid back open and my husband joined me, but for that second, it felt to me as if I could become lost in the world.
But here was “Vase of Flowers.” An extravagant explosion of mallows in a mossy ceramic vessel, it was a painting Monet had begun in the 1880s, then set aside and finally completed around 1920, six years before his death. The label suggested that the viewpoint creates “a strange feeling, as if the table and flowers are tilting forward and the forms dissolving.”
“Vase of Flowers” by Claude MonetCredit…Claude Monet, via The Courtauld
But for me, the feeling wasn’t strange at all. I saw the whole world now as an Impressionist painting. It was a comfort to know that at least in this moment, standing in front of “Vase of Flowers,” I was not alone. I was seeing it as any museum-goer would.
Monet suffered from cataracts, but had resisted surgery for years, the subject of a poem called “Monet Refuses the Operation” by Lisel Mueller that had assumed great meaning for me as my own vision deteriorated. In Mueller’s poem, Monet chides his doctor for assuming he’d prefer to see clearly, extolling the virtues and beauty of blurred sight. “I tell you it has taken me all my life / to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels, / to soften and blur and finally banish / the edges you regret I don’t see.”
When Monet returned to his long-discarded “Vase of Flowers,” he would have been at the nadir of his vision, the middle of his cataract period. (He finally relented and had the surgery in 1923, just three years before he died.) What allowed him to finish the painting? What softness? What self-forgiveness? What awareness of the beauty of forms dissolving? What willingness to be lost in the world?
CreditCredit…
Until that moment, I had longed for the crispness of sight I had taken for granted until it was gone. I had railed against being seen — or seeing — as a fragile person. I wanted to cross against the light, scamper up and down steps and leap onto trains. But now, surrounded by the work of Impressionists who dedicated themselves to capturing felt experience rather than reality, I sensed for the first time since my ordeal began that perhaps I would be OK — no, more than OK — with my altered sight. We learn, after all, that beauty is transient, that fading is only a matter of time. As I stood in that gallery before “Vase of Flowers,” the sharp and noisy world receded. I didn’t regret not seeing its edges.
Posted inArt, Health, History|Comments Off on My Year of Living Blurrily
Over the past several weeks, Trump and his MAGA stooges in Congress have passed legislation to strip health care from 10 million people; cut food stamp benefits for 40 million Americans, half of them children; slash $8 billion from lifesaving foreign aid programs; defund public radio and television stations nationwide; kill hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs; and hand $4.5 trillion in tax breaks to Trump and his billionaire friends. And that’s not nearly all of the damage.
How do we respond to this catastrophe?
I think of Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic, whom I met in 2003, in Prague. What struck me about him was a warmth and optimism that radiated outward. When we walked into a small restaurant, all the diners stood and applauded, and sang.
Havel had become politically active as poet, playwright, and dissident after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 — which put him under the surveillance of the secret police. He was repeatedly jailed, the longest from 1979 to 1983. (In 1989, his Civic Forum party played a major part in the Velvet Revolution that ended Soviet dominance, and he was elected president shortly thereafter.)
While in jail, Havel wrote something that seems particularly relevant for us in these very dark times:
“The kind of hope I often think about (especially in situations that are particularly hopeless, such as prison) I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world. Either we have hope within us or we don’t; it is a dimension of the soul; it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation.
Hope is a not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced, and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.”
The damage Trump is doing can create a mental and emotional prison, if we allow it to. That prison can be suffocating, taking away the breath of hope and pushing us into despair.
I’m sure you’ve had the same conversations I’ve had — about how horrible Trump is, the cruel and sadistic things he and his regime are doing, the blatant corruption, the brutality and suffering he is inflicting, the institutions he is destroying, his endless lies.
All true. But if the conversations end there, they can be spiritually suffocating because they don’t include the work that we must do — work to protect the vulnerable, work to end his regime, work to change America so that a demagogue like him can never again take control.
We must do this work, not because it will succeed — I believe it will, but that’s not the point. We must do this work because, as Havel said, it is good.
So many great artists have shared one very special love: the love for cats. Here you will find six modern artists who loved their felines and have taken photos with them.
1. Salvador Dalí with His Pet Ocelot, Babou
Salvador Dalí with his ocelot Babou, 1965. The Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA.
In the 1960s Salvador Dalí bought a pet ocelot called Babou, which accompanied him on a leash and a studded collar nearly everywhere he went – including, famously, a restaurant in Manhattan. When a fellow diner became alarmed, he calmly told her that Babou was a normal cat that he had “painted over in an op-art design.”
2. Henri Matisse Loved His Cats: Minouche and Coussi
Robert Capa, Henri Matisse with the cat curled between his legs, working from his bed, Nice, France. The Robert Capa and Cornell Capa Archive, Gift of Cornell and Edith Capa, 1992.
In the last decade of his life, Henri Matisse suffered from cancer and spent most of his time in bed or in a wheelchair. A number of cats kept him company. (continued page 2 or here)
