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Iconic Canadian band Northern Pikes Sunday at the Krossing

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There was a time when the Northern Pikes were one of the hottest bands in the country. It was a time of Blue Rodeo and Grapes of Wrath.  The Pikes are all Saskatoon lads who formed in 1984. After 4 years of relentless bars, clubs and demos, they rose to stardom across North America with the release of 1987’s Big Blue Sky.  Hit singles like “Teenland”, “Things I Do For Money” and “Dancing In A Danceclub” brought the band’s music to a whole new audience as they became regulars on Much Music and MTV.

I met Jay Semko when in 1987 I moved to Saskatoon to launch a brand new TV station; what is now Global television. Personable, humble, polite, and quiet; he didn’t seem like a typical rockstar. I was already a fan of the band and meeting Jay cemented my interest.  I was further hooked the moment I heard Crystal Taliefero of John Mellencamp fame wail at the 1:12 mark of the song “Girl With a Problem”. When I saw the band in concert, I was blown away by their energy and musicianship. They epitomized the hope and promise that the prairies have always held for me. They can do it. So can all of us!

The Northern Pikes have been part of musical fabric in this country for more than 3 decades. In that time, they’ve toured the world, pursued solo projects, notably Jay Semko who in the early 90’s wrote the theme song for what would become Canada’s most successful internationally syndicated TV series, “Due South”.  The series was the first Canadian-made drama to debut and air on a major network in the USA (CBS-TV). More than 65 episodes were made from 1993-98.

Jay has 10 solo releases and has recorded with such music luminaries as Garth Hudson (The Band), John Sebastian (Lovin’ Spoonful), Crystal Taliefero (known for her work with John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, etc), Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies), Melanie Doane, Ashley MacIsaac, Ken Greer (of Red Rider and the Road Hammers), Bob Egan (of Wilco and Blue Rodeo fame), Serena Ryder, Patricia Conroy, Matt Andersen and Greg Godovitz (Goddo), and worked in the studio with Grammy-winning engineers/producers/mixers Bob Clearmountain, Hugh Padgham, Ed Stasium, and Bob Ludwig.

The Pikes bring their special 30th anniversary edition of their debut album, Big Blue Sky to The Krossing. I know that I, for one, will be right there in the front soaking up some of the most iconic songs Canada produced in the late part of the last century, performed by a band with energy and enthusiasm that is surpassed only by their longevity.

 

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President Todayville Inc., Honorary Colonel 41 Signal Regiment, Board Member Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award Foundation, Director Canadian Forces Liaison Council (Alberta) musician, photographer, former VP/GM CTV Edmonton.

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Business

Donald Trump appoints Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone as special ambassadors to Hollywood

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From LifeSiteNews

In a surprise post on Truth Social, Trump announced, ‘It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.’

In an unexpected move, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected Mel Gibson, along with Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight, to be “special ambassadors” to Hollywood in his next administration.

“It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday.

Elaborating on his decision, Trump continued:

They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!

These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!

All three of the Hollywood stars are baptized Catholics and have, to varying degrees, professed and defended their beliefs both in God and in conservative principles more generally.

The appointments come just days after Gibson, who is well-known as an outspoken Catholic actor and director, appeared on the popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast, making headlines for defending the resurrection of Christtalking about the post-Vatican II crisis in the Catholic Church, and speaking candidly about the important role his faith has played in his life. Gibson’s house was also one of many to have burned down in the fires ravaging Los Angeles, describing it as a form of “purification.”

Similarly, Stallone, who talked about his return to Christianity in the early 2000s after drifting away in his younger years, was also in the news recently for saying for the first time publicly that he is the survivor of abortion.

As for Voight, he was raised Catholic and attended the Catholic University of America, and is well-known for holding conservative views and talking openly about his belief in God. He is also the father of famous actress Angelina Jolie.

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Censorship Industrial Complex

UNESCO’s New Mission: Train Influencers About Combatting Online “Misinformation”

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The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is now incorporating teaching influencers how to “fact check” into its activities.
UNESCO claims that influencers have become “primary sources of news and cultural information” around the world – which prompted it to carry out a survey into how these online personalities verify the “news” they present.

Related: World Leaders Sign New Censorship Declaration at UN Event While Secretary-General António Guterres Pushed for Increased Online Censorship

Citizens in UN member-countries may or may not be happy that this is how their taxpayer money funding the world organization is being spent these days. But UNESCO is not only conducting surveys; it is also developing a training course for said influencers (which are also interchangeably referred to as content creators in press releases).

It’s meant to teach them not only to “report misinformation, disinformation and hate speech” but also to collaborate with legacy media and these outlets’ journalists, in order to “amplify fact-based information.”

The survey, “Behind the screens,” was done together with researchers from the US Bowling Green State University. 500 influencers from 45 countries took part, and the key findings, UNESCO said, are that 63 percent of them “lack rigorous and systematic fact-checking protocols” – but also, that 73% said they “want to be trained.”

This UN agency also frames the results as showing that respondents are “struggling” with disinformation and hate speech and are “calling for more training.”

UNESCO is justifying its effort to teach influencers to “rigorously” check facts by referring to its media and information literacy mandate. The report laments that mainstream media has become “only the third most common source (36.9%) for content creators, after their own experience and their own research and interviews.”

It would seem content creators/influencers are driven by common sense, but UNESCO wants them to forge closer ties with journalists (specifically those from legacy, i.e., traditional media – UNESCO appears very eager to stress that multiple times.)

Related: United Nations Development Program Urges Governments to Push Digital ID

Under the guise of concern, the agency also essentially warns creators/influencers that they should be better aware of regulations and “international standards” that pertain to digital media – in order to avoid “legal uncertainty” that exposes them to “prosecution and conviction in some countries.”

And now, UNESCO and US-based Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas have launched a one-month course which is currently involving 9,000 people from 160 countries. The goal is to train them to “address disinformation and hate speech and provide them with a solid grounding in global human rights standards.”

The initiative looks like an attempt to get “traditional” journalists to influence the influencers, and try to prop up their outlets, that are experiencing an erosion in trust among their audiences.

If you’re tired of censorship and surveillance, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.

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