The title of this post is likely known to most. It means taking actions that will do nothing to avert disaster. And that is precisely what Doug Ford is doing as his response to the Greenbelt theft, the scandal that has a tenacious grip on his government and just won’t
Continue readingAuthor: Lorne
Politics and its Discontents: Only A Good Start
What can be said about the overdue resignation of Housing Minister Steve Clark, other than that it is only a good start? His departure from cabinet (which I am sure is only temporary) is either a measure of Doug Ford’s increasing desperation over the ongoing fallout of the Greenbelt
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Word Without Thoughts
Just another short post today. There is a scene in my favourite Shakespearean play, Hamlet, in which King Claudius, who killed his brother and stole his crown, is suddenly overcome with guilt. He prays ardently in his chapel, hoping for God’s forgiveness. There is but one catch: he is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Spinning, Spinning, Spinning
Regrettably, I don’t have too much time these days to post, and today is another busy day, so I shall leave you with the following editorial cartoon from Greg Perry, and links to some stories that are damning indictments of the Doug Ford cabal. Oh, and one more thing: Premier
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Crime Against Everyone
The Enclosure Movement was a push in the 18th and 19th centuries to take land that had formerly been owned in common by all members of a village, or at least available to the public for grazing animals and growing food, and change it to privately owned land, usually
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Pictures, Not Words
While a flurry of columns, articles and editorials continue to rail against the Doug Ford cabal theft of Greenbelt lands, I thought that a couple of editorial cartoons might be sufficient for today, images that effectively encapsulate the corruption and resulting pungent odour we in Ontario are contending with: Recommend
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Pick A Card. Any Card
As most of us know, magicians use misdirection to accomplish their seemingly amazing feats. In the hands of a skilled practitioner, the process is seamless and awe-inspiring. In the hands of a rank amateur, contemptuous laughter and ridicule are more likely responses. Doug Ford is no master of prestidigitation. That
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Word Of The Day
It is a word that I don’t often use, but it is one that seems especially apt in describing the Greenbelt corruption stench currently assaulting us in Ontario. Many Ontarians, as I have been posting, are indeed nauseated by the flagrant and brazen way in which the Ford government is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Clearing The Air
H/t Moudakis Here in Ontario, there are two reasons our air quality is compromised: this summer’s ongoing forest fires and the stench of corruption whose source is Queen’s Park. Of the two challenges, the latter is the most foul. The good news, however, is that people are no longer just
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The "C" Word
No, I’m not referring either to cancer or a crude anatomical term. The “C” word of the day, and of many, many days ahead, I hope, is CORRUPTION, writ large when thinking about and referring to Ontario’s Doug ford’s administration/cabal. Hard driving questions from the media, and a wealth of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: To Remember Is To Have Real Power
I realize that on the surface, the troubles we face in Ontario are likely of little more than passing interest to those living in other jurisdictions. However, wherever citizens live, any government that chooses to lie to its electorate has a corrosive effect on democracy. Some will ask, “What is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: There Will Always Be A Place For Doug Ford
H/t Greg Perry Some people have very deep, expansive pockets. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Time Of Reckoning
Most have probably heard about or seen the video of the violent confrontation occurring in Montgomery, Alabama the other day. A riverboat was unable to dock because a group of white louts took up its berth. After 45 minutes of trying to get them to move their small vessel via
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Hoping Against Hope
If you are part of the Doug Ford cabal, you must certainly and ardently hope the above is true. If it isn’t, you may intuit that you are in big trouble with the electorate, despite the crowing of some Tory insiders that the legislature does not resume until the end of September,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: "Banana Republic Corruption"
H/t Theo Moudakis If you have read anything coming out of Ontario Auditor General’s report into the removal of Greenbelt lands for development, you will know that the stench of corruption is deep and pervasive in the Doug Ford government. I watched Ford and Housing Minister Steve Clark’s damage-control news conference
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Blame Trudeau
Everyone else does. THE PROVOCATION: Justin Trudeau @JustinTrudeau · Aug 6 We’re team Barbie. Famous windbag Piers Morgan expressed his displeasure this way. “So glad I’m not Canadian.” But the ramification of the ‘transgression’ goes far beyond old Piers’ disapprobation: THE CONSEQUENCE: The galaxy has spoken. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: When Education Becomes Perverted
“If you’re not straight, white, and conservative, it doesn’t feel safe” – Raineesha Day, California teacher. Having had a career as a teacher, I have always believed in educations’s mitigating effects: it can help bridge the gap between ignorance and critical thinking and can mean the difference between poverty and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Sickness Unto Death
“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss – an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. – is sure to be noticed.”― Søren Kierkegaard, The
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What Else Can You Do?
Because of the absurdity of the world today, sometimes all one can do is go along for the ride but season it with some sarcasm, some satire, some absurdity. Here is a clip that captures it all, in my humble view. I’d rather watch this than cry. H/t Tim Young
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Timely Reminder
With prosecutor Jack Smith excoriating Trump for his attack on democracy in seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election, the following is both prescient for its time and a relevant reminder of the peril Americans currently face: It’s not. But it can be. It’s not. THE NEWSROOM (2012-14) This is
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