We live in a culture which exalts in self promotion. Self sacrifice is not a popular meme. It’s never been popular. But sometimes it’s necessary. It’s that necessity which we remember today. Image: (John Woods/Canadian Press)
Continue readingWise Law Blog: 140Law: Legal Headlines for the week of November 11, 2019
Here are our leading legal headlines for the week of November 11, 2019 from Wise Law on Twitter: E. Jean Carroll, Who Accused Trump of Rape, Sues Him for Defamation Trump Taxes: Appeals Court Rules President Must Turn Over 8 Years of Tax Returns Ontario government to publish doctors’ billings as
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The new Charlemagne: Emmanuel Macron?
Until the last four years, the view of Europe has been as an economic union. That is now changing and we can start to think of Europe as a political union. And as a political union, it joins China and the United States of America as one of the three
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: We get letters: a Bernier fan writes in
…it’s indecent how much I enjoy their total and complete humiliation in the election. Why don’t you crawl back to the dark hole you were spawned in. I should have known a twisted soul like you would partner with the Clintons. I hope you choke on the money you took
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Austerity – The History of A Dangerous Idea – Mark Blyth
A thick meaty discussion of the western political economy and the checkered history that has led us to the current financial mess we happen to be in. Great viewing, get some popcorn!
Continue readingwmtc: 11.11: there is no glory in war
Eleven people, on war. * * * * Imprisoned for opposing U.S. involvement in thewar in Europe, Debs ran for President from jail. He garnered 1,000,000 votes, at a time whenthe US population was 103,208,000, andonly men could vote. These are the gentry who are today wrapped up in the
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Remembering my Dad on Remembrance Day
Here he is, age 20, at officer cadet training in the Summer of 1952. Front row centre. He went on to join the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps but the war ended before he could go over. He always regretted that, but us, not so much. We miss him every single
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will the UCP’s scheme to restrict reproductive rights play in Ponoka? Maybe not …
Bill 207, which if it was honestly titled would have been called an Act to Restrict Reproductive and Other Rights in Alberta, does not seem to be playing particularly well, even in Ponoka. Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party stirred up a hornet’s nest with this sneaky bill — disingenuously entitled
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Mr Kenney’s Fair Deal Panel
They just keep coming, fast and furious, like water gushing from a firehose. Yesterday Mr Kenney announced the formation of the Fair Deal Panel, the latest in a suite of things Mr Kenney says we need to protect ourselves from those who prey on us. So far, he’s created:
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: For The Stupid, This Is Just Another Attack On Their Idol
For the rest of us, the following is not only a summation of Trump’s duplicity over his efforts to extort the Ukrainians for personal political advantage, but also an indictment of his spineless defenders and the willingness of his slavish devotees to entirely suspend disbelief: I want to take a
Continue readingCathie from Canada: Lest we forget
Chief Petty Officer Margaret Louise Byam — my mother. I have often wondered now why she did it, but she died before I thought to ask her. A small-town Prairie girl, the youngest of four daughters, she joined the Wrens during World War 2 and off she went to Halifax
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What’s Going On In Our Waters? The Climate Crisis.
Until a couple of years ago coastal British Columbia had masses of purple starfish. Then something wiped them out. Sea star wasting disease hit hard and fast. The disease arrived on the central coast of British Columbia in 2015 and rapidly killed 96 percent of the sunflower sea stars in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Arwa Mahdawi writes that the outsized influence wielded by billionaires makes them something beyond merely wealthy people. Tom Whyman challenges the worship of the excessively wealthy as a particularly destructive religion. Robert Reich points out that the means of accumulating a billion
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Enter Bloomberg
It looks like Michael Bloomberg will enter the presidential race. Whether or not that will be good for the Democratic Party is an open question But Maureen Dowd writes, things could certainly get interesting: Donald Trump has turned the White House — and America — into his crib, wailing and
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Canada’s elitist senate studies itself.
An argument in Canada’s senate recently was whether an independent member could spend public money to study the public attitude about the senate. While we are not entirely clear on why, it seems that independent senator Donna Dasko spent $15,000 of public money and expected it to be paid from
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Dead Souls
Listened to Joy Division on the way back into the city yesterday. It was the right soundtrack for a cold and bleak November landscape. Played Dead Souls three times. What a song! Which, later, led to the rediscovery of this extraordinary bit of film: Joy Division at the Ardwick Apollo
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