Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jesse McLaren offers a reminder that a COVID-19 vaccine isn’t a cure-all, as measures to help people through the pandemic (including paid sick days) remain a must. – Aris Roussinos writes about the UK’s “guilty men” responsible for a feckless response to a
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The Disaffected Lib Mk. II: The American Republic Is On the Ropes. Will History Repeat Itself?
Two millennia ago there was another great Republic, Rome. It too was brought down, not from without but from within. It too had fallen into the hands of a megalomaniac, a man who convinced the citizens that he alone could save their country. He offered them law and order. They
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: If You Were Hoping Americans Would Finally Have an Epiphany
Newsweek thought, in the aftermath of Trump’s terrorist attack on Congress on Wednesday, it might be a good idea to consult Republican supporters. Were they aghast? Were they finally done with their fiendish cult leader? Brace yourselves. Almost half of surveyed Republican voters, 45 per cent, said they strongly
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Musical interlude
Best Ex – Gap Tooth
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Mr. Trump, May I Introduce You to Michelle Carter
Words have consequences. Each of us is deemed by law to intend the logical and foreseeable consequences of our actions. Around this time last year Michelle Carter was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for cajoling her supposed boyfriend, Conrad Roy, to take his own life. Evidence showed that Carter, then
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Lindsey Graham Attacks Senate Sergeant-at-Arms for Failure to Protect the Capitol from His President’s "Terrorists."
South Carolina senior senator, Lindsey Graham, held a press conference today. Graham began by saying he agrees with Democrat Chuck Schumer that the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms needs to resign or be fired. Graham said that it is incredible that, 20 years after 9/11, the Capitol building was undefended against attack by
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: The Coven In Trump’s Bunker
Mike Pence is PNG, persona non grata, with his president after failing to somehow derail the confirmation of the electoral win of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Pence is said to be likewise furious with the Mango Mussolini. The wife of Trump’s new whipping boy, Mitch McConnell, transportation secretary,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: I Tried. Close But No Cigar.
When I got up yesterday morning I was almost immediately hit by the realization that it was the 6th of January, the day when the final results of two senate runoff elections in Georgia would be announced and the day when Congress certified the Electoral College results, confirming the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – David Macdonald examines (PDF) the continued pay gap which sees CEOs rake in more money the morning of the first day of work than their employees will earn all year. Canadians for Tax Fairness highlights how that signals the need to eliminate
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Senate and House Recess as Trump Mob Breaks In to Capitol Building. Romney Accuses Trump of Inciting "Insurrection."
This morning, outside the White House, Donald Trump inflamed his gathered supporters with outright lies and tall tales about how the election was stolen by the Democrats; by weak and dishonest Republicans; by a disloyal Supreme Court, three of whose justices owed their jobs to him. Since then he
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Trump Feeds the Crowd Incendiary Lies
He showed up on the stage about an hour late but when they finally figured out the sound system, Trump unleashed an almost unbearable diatribe to the gathered crowd of Gullibillies. The highlights: – Trump will not concede – The election was rigged. Trump actually won the greatest election victory
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Robyn Urback writes that the second wave of COVID-19 can be traced largely to people – including far too many political leaders – who have been able to treat a pandemic as somebody else’s problem due to their own privilege. Aaron Wherry points
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: LA Times: Ambulance Crews Told Not to Transport Patients Deemed Unlikely to Survive
Can you imagine what it must feel like going home at the end of your shift with the reality that you had to choose who to leave, abandoned to their fate? After nine months of fighting Covid-19, nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers are already succumbing to burn out. Now
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andre Picard warns not to expect the end of the COVID-19 pandemic (however distant that may be) to result in any particular triumph. And Reuters reports on the looming possibility that the vaccines developed to date may not protect against the coronavirus
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Krugman: How the Republican Party Went Feral
Yes, the GOP has gone feral, but much of America has entered a Lord of the Flies fantasy-nightmare that could threaten the very survival of the Union. Like most democratic states, America has always had a political dichotomy that functioned, usually, pretty well. Of course those were the days when
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Why These Covid Scofflaws Matter. They’re Almost As Infectious As the Virus Itself.
A lot of Canadian pols got their tits caught in the wringer for taking holidays abroad at Christmas. It was the height of hypocrisy. A couple of these bastards even pre-recorded fireside messages to their constituents about the need to follow pandemic precautions, real fireside chat stuff. We don’t know
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Can We Stop This Nonsense About "Assange the Martyr"?
Julian Assange has won a reprieve from efforts to extradite him to face charges in the United States. For many on the left, Assange is a great martyr, a defender of free speech and a champion of press freedom. I think that’s a load of crap. I could give you
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: It’s Not Exactly the Cuban Missile Crisis, But…
Donald Trump is clearly in mental freefall, what the shrinks call “decomposition.” If you were incapable of distinguishing belief from reality you might be in the same condition. For the past five, six years we’ve been treated to a non-stop spectacle of a grasping man fueled by his delusions.
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