The UN has warned that we are very close to starving to death a whole generation of children in Yemen. Onward Christian soldiers. After I read about this, I came across a new report. For some time under Trump, U.S. drone bombers were bombing civilians – and drone bombers make
Continue readingMontreal Simon: How the Cons and the NDP Are Trying To Destroy Team Canada
It couldn't be a worse combination. The coronavirus is surging, and may kill even more Canadians than it did during its first deadly wave. Even as pandemic fatigue sets in, and many people are too tired, or too numb, or too depressed to fight it. And if our leaders can't
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On local decisions
I haven’t paid a lot of attention yet to Saskatchewan’s municipal elections, due primarily to the reality that anything which happens at that level can be undone by a provincial governments which considers itself entitled to override the will of municipalities. (And sadly, there’s little indication that respect for other
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Strange bedfellows: Trump’s political base
Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally in Arizona. Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr. Earlier in his career the world had watched him with amusement, that people refused to take him seriously, and as one action after another met with amazing success, this amusement was transformed into incredulousness. It
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Why the Concept of Self-Id is risible and anti-feminist.
Precisely. The nebulous concoction of self id and ‘gender-identity’ are virtually orthogonal to the real world situations women face. No one can ‘identify into’ or ‘out of’ the structural sex based oppression that exists within our societies.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Zeke Hausfather reports that 2020 is projected to be the warmest year in recorded history. And Johnathan Watts reports that one of the most dire possible events which could lead to complete climate breakdown – the release of frozen methane deposits from the
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Ford’s Continued War On Education
Doug Ford’s image — thanks to the pandemic — has undergone a makeover. But, Linda McQuaig writes, when it comes to education, there’s been no make over: It may seem like a lifetime ago — that carefree day in pre-pandemic times when two million Ontarians crowded into downtown Toronto to
Continue readingScripturient: The Long Read Lost
“What we read, how we read, and why we read change how we think, changes that are continuing now at a faster pace,” wrote Maryanne Wolf, a neuroscientist, in her book, Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in the Digital World (Harper Paperbacks, 2019). It’s the sequel to her previous
Continue readingThings Are Good: Cooking With Electricity is Cleaner than Gas
Gas stoves have reputation for being good to cook with, but they are really quite bad for everything else that happens in the kitchen – like inhaling air. Indoor fas stoves can actually make your kitchen air quality worse than a highway’s. Thankfully, electric stove technology has improved to the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Foregone Conclusions.
A reader asked me recently why I was paying so little attention to the two by-elections in Toronto Centre and York Centre in Toronto. Knowing the two ridings like the back of your hand does not make them more interesting. It just makes the process more boring. But if you
Continue readingAlberta Politics: How propaganda became memory: Pierre Trudeau, Alberta and the National Energy Program
On this day 40 years ago, prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s finance minister and deputy PM, Allan MacEachen, rose in Parliament to introduce a new national budget. Warning that Canada could become increasingly dependent on foreign supplies of oil and subject to the vagaries of the world oil market, Mr. MacEachen
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Night Cat Blogging
Cushioned cats.
Continue readingIn-Sights: Indifferent to existential threats
While natural gas producers now pay nothing to the BC public in comparison to earlier days, production of the fossil fuel has about doubled in the last ten years. Fossil fuels may pose an existential threat to the world, but politicians in Canada are either unaware or indifferent. Evidence suggests
Continue readingKersplebedeb: Oct 31: Demonstration in Solidarity with Dollarama Warehouse Workers
DOLLARAMA WAREHOUSE WORKER SOLIDARITY DEMONSTRATION We are not temps! We are essential! Join the demonstration in front of a Dollarama store to fight for: PERMANENT JOBS FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS! Saturday October 31st, 1pm to 3pm Next to Dollarama store 7017 St Hubert street-South of Jean-Talon (Jean-Talon metro) Since the beginning
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Greens cheated in B.C. election
The election in B.C. last Saturday should have elevated the Green Party to the status of power broker. It failed. The Greens’ 15 percent of the popular vote should have provided 13 seats in the legislature. It provided a grand total of three. The NDP’s 45 percent of the vote
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Media Worth Listening To
Who is worth listening to? Well, the short answer is, everyone. But of course, given time limitations, some voices are more worthy of our time than others. I have written analyses of the media before, but perhaps there is value in distilling a list of best sources, even further, given
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Corporate Fascism 101
We do not live in a democracy. We now live in an oligarchy, or plutocracy, or corporatocracy, if you prefer, as ivy league studies and systems analysis have confirmed, in a case of science confirming the obvious. Most people are now aware of that obvious fact, but sadly, most people
Continue readingMagpie Brûlé: The Dishonourable Senator from Northwestern Ontario: Breaking New Ground Stateside
For those who have been regular readers of this space know that I’ve had a fair bit to say about the dishonourable Senator from Northwestern Ontario Lynn Beyak. It seemed that her awful story of ignorance, unwillingness to give a fulsome apology and her attempts to save her Senate seat
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: MP MACGREGOR INTRODUCES BILL TO ADDRESS FREIGHTER ANCHORAGES IN THE SALISH SEA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 26, 2020 MP MACGREGOR INTRODUCES BILL TO ADDRESS FREIGHTER ANCHORAGES IN THE SALISH SEA OTTAWA – Today, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor introduced Private Member’s Bill C-250 to amend the Canada Shipping Read more… The post MP MACGREGOR INTRODUCES BILL TO ADDRESS FREIGHTER ANCHORAGES IN THE SALISH
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Randy Robinson writes that Doug Ford’s gratuitous austerity will have severe costs in both jobs and lives. And James Downie comments on the desperate need for a Biden administration to make major investments in an equitable and sustainable U.S. economy. – Justin
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