News
Attendance Trending Higher At Westerner Days!
The second day of Westerner Days Fair & Exposition saw the community come together in celebration for McDonald’s Kids’ Day, despite the rain that came down in the evening. Over 20,000 people entered the grounds to test out the rides, eat some fair food in the Grub Hub, and check out classic rockers Chilliwack and Kim Mitchell in the ENMAX Centrium, sponsored by 106.7 The Drive and 100.7 CRUZ FM.
The concert was clearly a Red Deer favourite. It kicked off at 8:00pm with 3,400 fans crowding the stands to see Chilliwack. Not long after, co-headliner Kim Mitchell took the stage, finishing the show off with a standing ovation.
Tonight’s ENMAX Centrium Main Stage show is Tom Cochrane with Red Rider, and openers Jamie Woodfin and Ken Stead. Fair-goers can get free reserved floor seating by going to the Tickets Alberta Box Office in the lobby of the ENMAX Centrium at 4:00pm today. These tickets are free with gate admission.
The Grub Hub has been a busy place this year, where attendees can chow down on all of the carnival classics, like corn dogs and mini donuts. A favourite this year is The Smokehouse, which offers mountains of meat sandwiches to fill your belly and delight your taste buds.
Fair attendees can win Grub Hub cash by participating in the Openhwy “Come Together and Get Social” contest, sponsored by Plato’s Closet. While here, use #WesternerDays and #TicketsAlberta when posting on social media to win daily prizes! If you are a winner, we will notify you day of to pick up your prize at the Guest Services booth.
Visitors should make sure to visit the various livestock areas on the grounds. Check out the Red Deer Motors North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships at 6:00pm daily (except on Sunday, when they are at 2:00pm), or stop into The Little Red Barn and visit the petting zoo. Be sure to participate in the Peavy Mart Ag-Mazing Scavenger Hunt, where you can be entered to win the Ultimate Urban Farm Experience prize package. Details are available at westernerdays.ca/information/raffles.
In addition to regular fair activities, some of the Westerner Days entertainers went to the Red Deer Regional Hospital and Ronald McDonald House to “Share the Fair”, presented by Olymel, a program designed to bring a taste of the fair to children who may not be able to attend due to an illness. Doo Doo the Clown, Bandaloni, and The Magic of Aaron Matthews participated.
“Most of the time the kids entertain me as I’m entertaining them,” says Bandaloni, the One Man Band. “[It raises my spirits to see the kids] however, it’s nice to see that there’s not many children here, which is a great thing.”
Check out the full Shaw TV segment about Share the Fair, featured on their YouTube channel (ShawTVRedDeer).
For more information, including event schedules, visit westernerdays.ca
Fair Attendance
Wednesday, July 19, 2017 – 13,583
Thursday, July 20, 2017 – 20,940 (Record set in 2016 with 23,133)
Total Attendance for 2017 – 34,523
Red Deer Motors North American Pony Chuckwagon Championships
1st – Louie Johner, Wei’s Westerner Wear, Red Deer – 1:16:61
2nd – Brian Cardinal, Challard Pipeline, Rocky Mountain House – 1:17:45
3rd – Dale Young, Calgary Flames Ambassadors, Calgary – 1:17:50
4th – Neil Salmond, ABC Restaurant, Red Deer – 1:17:51
Top Four Wagons from Thursday, July 20, 2017
Top Four Wagons Overall After Two Nights
1st – Louie Johner, Wei’s Westerner Wear, Red Deer – 2:32:43
2nd – Lee Adamson, A-1 Rentals, Camrose/ Wetaskiwin – 2:35:15
3rd – Linda ShippeltHubl, KFC/Taco Bell, Red Deer – 2:35:45
4th – Brent Lang Red Deer RV Parts, Red Deer – 2:35:94
Censorship Industrial Complex
‘Don’t Write About The Laptop’: Two Reporters Allege Outlets Killed Stories About Bidens
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Harold Hutchison
“I was covering Biden at the time, and I remember coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we need to write about the Hunter Biden laptop.’ And I was told this came from on high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop.
Two former reporters with Politico accused the outlet of suppressing negative stories about former President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential election in a video clip posted to YouTube Thursday.
Dozens of former intelligence officials signed an October 2020 letter published by Politico that claimed a bombshell New York Post report about emails from a laptop supposedly abandoned by Hunter Biden “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” Puck News reporter Tara Palmeri and Axios reporter Marc Caputo discussed the Politico newsroom’s alleged approach to unflattering reports about the Bidens on Palmeri’s podcast, “Somebody’s Gotta Win,” though the outlet has denied their allegations.
“Politico did that terrible, ill-fated headline: 51 intelligence agents, or former intelligence agents, say that the Hunter Biden laptop was disinformation, or bore the hallmarks of disinformation. Turns out that story was closer to disinformation because the Hunter Biden laptop appeared to be true,” Caputo told Palmeri, who responded. “But then Facebook also pulled all stories down about the Hunter Biden laptop, and I think Twitter did at the same time, too.”
WATCH:
Twitter locked multiple accounts, including the New York Post’s and the personal account of then-White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for sharing the Oct, 14, 2020 report, citing a “hacked materials” policy. Documents released to journalist Michael Shellenberger by Elon Musk show that the FBI contacted Twitter about the potential for leaks involving Hunter Biden prior to the New York Post’s report.
“Correct, they punished The New York Post, that didn’t help. I mean, Politico, my former employer and I knew at the time, didn’t do itself any favors,” said Caputo. “I was covering Biden at the time, and I remember coming to my editor and saying, ‘Hey, we need to write about the Hunter Biden laptop.’ And I was told this came from on high at Politico: Don’t write about the laptop, don’t talk about the laptop, don’t tweet about the laptop. And the only thing Politico wound up writing was that piece that called it disinformation, which charitably could be called misinformation, at the least.”
Palmeri claimed to have experienced difficulty getting a story regarding Hunter Biden’s purchase of a .38-caliber revolver in 2018 published. Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony counts related to buying the gun in June 2024, but received a pardon from his father on Dec. 1.
Biden pardoned five other family members shortly before his term ended.
“Yeah, I mean, I had a hard time — you know I wrote some pretty serious reporting on Hunter Biden, which actually ended up getting him prosecuted — the story on the gun,” Palmeri said, with Caputo responding, “Yeah! And I remember you consulted with me cause you had, you did the original report on the gun and you came to me like, ‘How do I write about this?’ I’m like, ‘Honestly, I don’t know.’”
“Cause it was hard to get it done. I spent three months on it, I went to the laptop shop, and I did all of the reporting in Delaware, and I did all of that. But yeah it had, it had to be like much, it had to be 100% nailed down. I had everything, you know, the police reports, every, like, you know, I’m a solid reporter. But I do wonder if it could have, if it would have been published a little quicker if it was a different type of story,” Palmeri said. “It was the beginning of his administration, it was a honeymoon period — you know what I mean?”
Caputo recounted that Hunter Biden’s laptop was not the only story regarding the Bidens that was allegedly killed by Politico’s editors.
“Since we’re spilling tea about our former employer, I still have a copy of the story on my external hard drive. In 2019, a rival presidential Democratic campaign of Joe Biden’s gave to me the tax lien — the oppo research — the tax lien on Hunter Biden for the period of time that he worked at Burisma,” Caputo said. “And I wrote what would have been a classic story saying, you know, ‘The former vice president’s son was slapped with a big tax lien for the period of time that he worked for this controversial Ukrainian oil concern, or natural gas concern, which is haunting his father on the campaign trail.’ That story was killed by the editors, and they gave no explanation for that either.”
“We just get called, like, ‘the terrible mainstream media.’ It’s like you don’t understand the process there,” Palmeri said, with Caputo responding, “Well, you also don’t understand the dumb decisions of cowardly editors that are made above us.”
Politico disputed Caputo’s recollections in response to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation and sent a list of references to their past reporting on the Biden family.
“It’s bullshit. During the years referenced, POLITICO journalists lead the way on wide-ranging reporting on the business dealings of Joe Biden’s closest relatives. Ben Schreckinger was probably the top reporter in the country reporting on these matters—he literally wrote the book on it,” a Politico spokesperson told the DCNF. “Through deeply reported coverage—both pre- and post-election—POLITICO provided readers with a nuanced understanding of the dealings of James Biden, Hunter Biden, and other relatives of the president, along with the ethical questions they raised. Notably, POLITICO was the first to confirm that Hunter Biden’s laptop contained genuine material and to report on the gun incident that led to his conviction.”
Business
Facebook / Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg on the Joe Rogan Experience
Earlier this week Mark Zuckerberg rocked the world of information with the news that Facebook, Instagram, and his other Meta properties would no longer use third party fact checking groups to censor information. As the week wraps up, Zuckerberg sits down for an extended conversation with Joe Rogan. For anyone interested in the world of information, this is a must see / listen.
From the Joe Rogan Experience
Mark Zuckerberg is the chief executive of Meta Platforms Inc., the company behind Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, Meta Quest, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, Orion augmented reality glasses, and other digital platforms, devices, and services.
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