Author: The Mound of Sound

Will China up the pressure on Canada after today’s decision from the B.C. Supreme Court finding that the bank fraud charge against Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou is an extraditable charge. In the months since Meng’s arrest, China has repeatedly expressed anger at Canada for arresting Meng.  The Chinese government has targeted

Many have imagined the Covid pandemic will usher in  a new era marked by fundamental change.  To some that means a low-carbon world just ticking along on alternative, green energy. The planet-destroying carbon-fuel era is over goes the refrain. Don’t bet on it. Justin Trudeau, straining under the weight of

I remember the flight of Yuri Gagarin. I remember the suborbital flight of Alan Shepard and the three-looper of John Glenn.  I grew up devouring the progress of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programmes that culminated with Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. Back then we knew their

Some creatures, the oldest, carry within them billions of years of evolutionary history. Human activity is putting that history in jeopardy as we drive those species into extinction. It’s ironic that just as we’re beginning to unlock the evolutionary history these species offer us, we’re wiping them out, erasing that

When Stephen Harper began popping up in the news again I felt like an abused dog finding itself crossing paths with his evil former master. Give him his due, Sideshow Steve can still set stomachs a’churning. He’s just that kind of nasty and he makes it obvious that he’ll never

The headline really isn’t funny – “Every living premier in Ontario blames long-term care facilities problems on their predecessor.” The process started when reporters asked Doug Ford about the accusations. He quickly pointed the finger at Wynne, who immediately jogged by and told everyone it was McGuinty, who stopped cancelling

So much for Doug Ford’s brief stint as the caring, concerned premier of Ontario. The province’s Covid-19 response changed public opinion of the giant blonde lout. Then this. Cockroaches, rotten food, patients with ulcers left bed-bound, staff moving from unit to unit wearing contaminated gear.  Those are just some of

Donald Trump is furious that his favourite communications vehicle, Twitter, intends to fact check his lie-laden tweets. Donald Trump responded to Twitter‘s new policy to add a fact-check link on his misleading tweets on Tuesday. The president tweeted, “.@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election. They are saying

The Alberta government sees a silver lining in the Covid-19 lockdown. With social distancing measures in place, pipeline opponents would find it hard to gather for protests, which makes this the perfect time to build a pipeline, Alberta’s Energy Minister Sonya Savage said on a podcast by the Canadian Association

Soldiers are supposed to be pretty tough but they weren’t prepared for what they witnessed when sent in to assist at Canadian nursing homes. Canadian Armed Forces members deployed to long-term care homes have reported witnessing “extremely troubling” incidents in Ontario facilities.  Trudeau did not detail the incidents reported by

Every arrival took a toll. European settlement, measles, smallpox, Spanish Flu, Christian missionaries – decimated their numbers. The survivors learned some brutally costly lessons but, when Covid-19 rolled around, BC’s coastal first nations were ready to lockdown in their own way.  From BBC News: The idea of Covid-19 entering the

It was Donald Trump who chose Charlotte, North Carolina to host his year’s Republican convention where his presidential nomination will be rubber stamped. Now he’s warning the state governor he’ll take his convention elsewhere unless the state exempts the event from social distancing requirements. “I love the Great State of

It’s a form of natural selection, survival of the fittest. Covid-19 isn’t just a human disease. It’s also a catalyst for change. Pier 1 is shutting its doors. Reitman’s is gone. It’s hard to know which companies will be standing when this pandemic is over. As people stop flying, the

It’s a lesson that came at a murderous cost but the Covid-19 pandemic opened Canadian eyes to the national disgrace of our nursing homes which accounted for 82 per cent of the death toll. A survey out of the Angus Reid Institute finds that two-thirds of Canadians are fed up. 

Fans and followers of the satire group, Mrs. Betty Bowers, will agree she’s just taken it to a whole new level. Betty body slams right wing evangelicals.

Donald Trump is a showman. So he donates his $400,000 annual salary and regularly reminds us of his generosity. What he doesn’t mention is how he has turned Washington and the federal governments into his personal money machine. Prospect.org has produced an interactive look at how Trump and his gang

Last week I wrote a post slamming Donald Trump for his persistent refusal to wear a facemask in public. What made it egregious was that a president is supposed to set an example for his people. He’s their role model. His conduct was failing the American people. I was wrong.

At a time when medical experts are questioning whether there will ever be a vaccine to defeat the Covid-19 virus there’s good news on the anti-viral front. Anti-virals alleviate some of the damage caused by the novel coronavirus. They can improve the chances of survival, speed up recovery times, and

The Tyee’s great petro-scribe, Andrew Nikiforuk, reveals how Alberta is exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic to suspend environmental monitoring of the Oil Patch. On the very day Premier Jason Kenney deemed it safe again to play hockey in Edmonton, the Alberta Energy Regulator released two more decisions basically saying the tribulations

Donald Trump has forced us to see the bilious side of American society – the shamelessly racist, misogynistic,  xenophobic, fearful, angry, paranoid and downright stupid half of the public that today controls the Republican Party and keeps their president within striking distance of re-election.  Foot soldiers of a culture war