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Election 2017 is over, My last thoughts and the desire for change and continuity.

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Election 2017 is over and a few surprises.
Our population as a whole decreased last year by 975,so one would expect fewer people to vote and the number of people voting went down to 20,247 from 20,364 in 2013.
The Mayor easily won re-election to serve a second term.
In regards to councillors the incumbents running for a second term, increased their votes, Tanya Handley 9,658/6,623, Lawrence Lee 8,784/8,406, and Ken Johnston 7,364/7,134. (2017 votes/2013 votes).
The incumbents running for their 3 or more terms faired less well. Dianne Wyntjes won but received 9,173/9,841, as did Buck Buchanan 7,430/8,435 and Frank Wong 6,284/8,019. Incumbent Lynne Mulder lost her seat as her vote fell 6,094/8,341.
New comers Michael Dawe and Vesna Higham will be the game changers this next term. Vesna Higham lives north of the river along with Frank Wong and Michael Dawe has written extensively about Red Deer’s history and the issues hounding the residents north of the river.
This election saw only one council incumbent retiring and it appears the residents demanded continuity but expected and wanted some turnover.
I expect to see a higher turnover next election as I expect, 1 councillor vies for the Mayor’s seat and up to 3 others retires. 4 vacancies in 2021.
The public school board had a race with all incumbents running and they also saw 2 new comers win seats and incumbents lose votes. Bev Manning won her seat with fewer votes, 5,609/6,754, as did Bill Stuebing 5,008/6,759, Dianne Macaulay 4,724/4,819, and Bill Christie 4,435/5,853. Incumbents Jim Watters lost his seat as his vote fell 4,077/4,943 as did Dick Lemke 3,608/4,823.
New comers Nicole Buchanan and Laurette Woodward will be the game changers this next term. They just might add their voices to building the next public high school north of the river.
The kicker comes from the catholic school board where 2 of the 5 incumbents retired leaving a 40% vacancy rate. The 3 incumbents increased their votes to ensure continuity with 2 new comers.
Adrianna Lagrange 3,716/3,274, Anne-Marie Watson 3,597/3,168 and Murray Hollman 3,230/2,056,
New comers Kim Pasula and Cynthia Leyson will be the game changer this next term.
For the next 4 years we will have 2 new faces on council, 2 new faces on public school board and 2 new faces on the catholic school board. Let us welcome them and see what they can bring to the table.
We have 15 returning faces and I hope they took notes and collectively hit the reset button on the issues raised over the campaign and I hope that the issues, raised during Election 2017, will not be shunted into a closet until the next election in 2021.
The issue of term limits came into play as those running for the umpteenth time saw a decline in support and I hope they remember that in 4 years. Till then. Thank you.
It was an interesting race, but I am glad it is over. Aren’t you?

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Daily Caller

All Epstein Files Are In, Attorney General Reveals What Will Go Public Starting Thursday

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Hailey Gomez

If something’s redacted, you will know the line, and you will know why it’s redacted, the victim’s name, identifying information of a victim.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday evening on Fox News that the thousands of withheld files on deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein are now in the hands of the FBI, adding certain redactions will be made, with an explanation provided for each one.

The Department of Justice released the first phase of “The Epstein Files” — an over 100-page document — on Thursday, but it failed to contain a majority of new information, sparking controversy online. On “Hannity,” Fox’s Sean Hannity addressed the controversy, asking Bondi for her response. She said she had been informed fewer than 24 hours before the release that “there were way more documents that they were supposed to turn over.”

“You’re looking at these documents going, ‘These aren’t all the Epstein files.’ There were flight logs, there were names, victims’ names, and we’re going, ‘Where’s the rest of the stuff?’ That’s what the FBI had turned over to us,” Bondi said. “So a source said, ‘Whoa, all this evidence is sitting in the Southern District of New York.’ So based on that, I gave them the deadline, Friday at 8, a truckload of evidence arrived.”

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“It’s now in the possession of the FBI. Kash is going to get me, and himself really, a detailed report as to why all these documents and evidence had been withheld,” Bondi added. “We’re going to go through it, go through it as fast as we can, but go through it very cautiously to protect all the victims of Epstein, because there are a lot of victims.”

Before the release of “Phase One,” Bondi told Fox News last Wednesday that the DOJ would be releasing “some” of the files by Thursday, hoping the public would see “a lot of flight logs, a lot of names, a lot of information.” However, the DOJ and Trump administration faced pushback online after conservative influencers obtained a binder labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” Some of those influencers were seen smiling and holding it up outside the West Wing.

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Hannity pressed Bondi about additional potential redactions in the files.

“National security, some grand jury information, which is always going to be confidential, but we’ll see. Let’s look through them as fast as we can. Get it out to the American people, because the American people have a right to know,” Bondi said. “Not only on that, but on Kennedy, on Martin Luther King, on all of these cases that the Biden administration has just sat on for all these years.”

“It’s really — it’s not sad. It’s infuriating that these people thought that they could sit on this information, but they can’t,” Bondi said. “And when we redact things, Sean, what we’re going to do is not just pull pages out like they used to do. If something’s redacted, you will know the line, and you will know why it’s redacted, the victim’s name, identifying information of a victim.”

Epstein was arrested and charged in 2019 with sex trafficking, only later to be found dead in his New York Metropolitan Correctional Center cell a month after his arrest. Since his death, Republicans, including Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, have called for the full, unredacted records of Epstein to be released to the public, which includes his infamous flight log.

After the release of phase one, Bondi requested that the FBI deliver the remaining documents to the DOJ by Friday at 8 a.m., tasking newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel with investigating “why the request for all documents was not followed.”

“We believe in transparency, and America has the right to know. The Biden administration sat on these documents. No one did anything with them. Why were they sitting in the Southern District of New York? I want a full report on that,” Bondi said.

“Sadly, these people don’t believe in transparency, but I think more, unfortunately, I think a lot of them don’t believe in honesty,” Bondi added. “It’s a new day. It’s a new administration, and everything’s going to come out to the public. The public has a right to know. Americans have a right to know.”

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Daily Caller

US Pauses Military Aid To Ukraine

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Hailey Gomez

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation Monday evening that military aid to Ukraine has been halted.

All current military aid to Ukraine is paused until President Donald Trump can determine a good-faith commitment to peace from Ukrainian leaders, according to Bloomberg. The pause, which includes weapons either in transit or in Poland, comes just days after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy got into a heated discussion while meeting in the Oval Office on Friday to finalize the U.S.-Ukraine mineral deal.

During the gathering, Zelenskyy publicly criticized the U.S. for not attempting to halt Russia. Trump quickly responded, stating that Ukraine was not in a position to call out the U.S., given the billions in aid already provided to the country, and he warned Zelenskyy that he was “gambling” with World War III.

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Following the gathering, Trump later posted on Truth Social that Zelenskyy was not ready for “peace” with the White House telling Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese that “nothing will be signed.”

While Trump has advocated for peace between Russia and Ukraine since his campaign, Zelenskyy has appeared to flip-flop on ending the war. In a statement Sunday evening, following the Oval Office argument, Zelenskyy said an “agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet,” according to the Associated Press.

In response to Zelenskyy, Trump posted on Truth Social Monday, calling out the Ukrainian president. He wrote that it was not only “the worst statement” that could’ve been made, but that America “will not put up with it for much longer.”

“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S.,” Trump wrote.

While Democrats have criticized Trump and Vice President JD Vance over their meeting with Zelenskyy, Republicans have called out the Ukrainian president’s behavior. Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a historically staunch defender of Ukraine, said Zelenskyy “obliterated” the U.S. efforts to bring peace.

In reaction to the aid pause, retired U.S. Army officer Daniel Davis told Fox host Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle” that he hopes the halt will change Zelenskyy’s “disposition” as the U.S. seeks to bring peace between the two countries.

“I certainly hope it changes its disposition,” Davis said. “Instead of recognizing reality, Zelenskyy, unfortunately aided by the Biden administration, and then all of Europe continued to ignore the reality and just go year after year fighting this war that could never have been won.”

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“His people have been killed in huge numbers since. Now that you have Trump coming in, who’s unequivocally saying this war is coming to an end and he doesn’t want to,” Davis added. “So now then, that really, in my view, just sealed the deal for Trump because Trump’s trying to get the war over with, and this guy seems to want to fight it. If he does, then he can try to do it on his own.”

Before all aid was paused, the Trump administration also halted financing for new weapons sales to Ukraine, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The financial pause comes after American taxpayers have contributed over $130 billion to aid the country since former President Joe Biden involved the U.S. in February 2022. Notably, Zelenskyy told the Associated Press on Feb. 1 that he had received only about $75 billion of the $177 billion the United States had approved for Ukraine.

On Friday, Zelenskyy told Fox News host Bret Baier that he was still open to signing the U.S. mineral deal and thanked U.S. leaders on X following the Oval Office meeting.

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