It was bitter cold that broke Napoleon’s army in Russia in 1812. It was the same murderous cold that broke Hitler’s army 130 years later. Today, Ottawa is blanketed in that same cold. Minus 14 this afternoon. Minus 22 overnight. According to Environment Canada, windchill will take that to somewhere
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The Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Jerry Falwell Jr. Comes Clean, Tells All to Vanity Fair.
He was a crown prince of the evangelical movement but he tells Vanity Fair it was a scam. “BECAUSE OF MY LAST NAME, PEOPLE THINK I’M A RELIGIOUS PERSON. BUT I’M NOT. MY GOAL WAS TO MAKE THEM REALIZE I WAS NOT MY DAD.” For the first time, Falwell opened up about his
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Musical interlude
Cannons – Shadows
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: A Great Photo
A Great Lakes bulk carrier heading downriver past Detroit on its way to Lake Erie.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Zak Vescera reports that the Moe government’s push toward privatizing COVID testing has turned into such a fiasco that even the for-profit operators are calling for somebody to apply regulations to protect the public. Ninan Abraham et al. call out a Globe and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Tribal America
NYT columnist, Frank Bruni, writes that Covid has brought out the worst in his fellow Americans – tribalism. The pandemic, which could and should have brought us together, has instead driven us further apart, exacerbating our tribalism, which is an enemy of real progress but a friend to all
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Anthony Fauci Looks Back on the Last Two Years and a Nation in Decline
He hasn’t had a day off since Covid-19 took hold in America and he’s exhausted. But the pandemic has not been Anthony Fauci’s real struggle. “There is no truth,” Fauci says, for effect. “There is no fact.” People believe hydroxychloroquine works because an Internet charlatan claims it does. People believe
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Playing To the Fringe. Like the Republicans Before Them, Canada’s Tories Cozy Up to Extremists
It’s no secret that the prairie provinces are the Conservative heartland. It’s also no secret that some six million Canadians, ardent fans of Donald Trump and Trumpism, are mainly from those same provinces. Sadly, these far right loonies have become an indispensible part of the Tory base. The near-insurrection
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: O’Toole Autopsied. It Ain’t Pretty.
Conservatives are wondering how in hell they lost the last election? A post-mortem review might have them asking how they did so well. The last Conservative campaign suffered from eroded trust after years of party infighting, poor outreach toward ethnic communities in urban centres and disappointing communication from leader
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Nikiforuk – Let’s Just Pretend It’s Over
Andrew Nikiforuk pierces the curtain of political obfuscation on Covid-19. His message – it’s all horsecrap. I come on behalf of many of Canada’s public health officials, along with our fearless political leaders. They have asked me to deliver some important news here on your screen in the form
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Stephanie Carvin, Kurt Phillips and Amarnath Amarasingam discuss how anti-vaxx themes in Canada are being pushed and used by the fascist right. Alex Boutilier and Rachel Gilmore highlight how the convoy supported by Scott Moe, Jason Kenney, and so many other right-wing
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Is This "Climate Departure"?
In 2013, climate scientists at the University of Hawaii, analyzing a small mountain of recent data, discerned change afoot. It is a region’s departure from its previous climate to a new, considerably hotter climate. There would be no more cold years. Every year after departure would be hotter than
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Emma Farge and Mrinalika Roy report on the World Health Organization’s warning that it’s dangerous to act like the COVID pandemic is over. Davide Mastracci observes that governments who have been willing to bother protecting citizens against substantial community spread have been successful even
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Africa’s Population Bomb
The climate emergency grabs all the headlines, obscuring the threats posed by our rapacious over-consumption of dwindling resources and our overpopulation problem. On population growth, Africa is the great unknown but it’s chilling. In 2022 the world’s population will pass 8 billion. It has increased by a third in just
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: So Much for Unbridled Optimism
In fairness, I did say it seemed counterintuitive when, yesterday, I wrote a piece on good news about how some were prediciting that the Omicron variant would transform Covid-19 from a pandemic to a manageable endemic virus. Within hours, the head of the World Health Organization, contradicted the optimistic assessments
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andre Picard recognizes that stoking sentiment about being “done with COVID” only increases the likelihood of further transmission and mutation, while Gail Bowen writes about the need to cultivate the strength to push back rather than succumbing to a sense of futility.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: The Pyrocene
Human civilization depended on many things. We usually consider the development of agriculture as a pivotal factor. However, even before that, man had to master fire. Humankind, alone among all species, has evolved thanks in no small part to putting fire to work for us. Thousands of years later we
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: America Has Entered the Anocracy Zone
Barbara Walter has made a career out of studying civil war. The UC San Diego professor and author of “How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them,” claims that the United States has entered a new polity, “anocracy.” Anocracies are neither fully democratic nor fully autocratic; their citizens
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib Mk. II: Omicron, a Blessing in Disguise?
To me it sounds counterintuitive but, hey, if it’s true it’s welcome. There’s a lot of talk about the Omicron variant of Covid-19 effecting a transition from pandemic into an endemic virus. It’s on the front page of both the New York Times and National Post. So, what’s the
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