Imagine if real leadership from the grassroots comes now from the moderate, democratic/republican right, and not the centre or the left. Considering that the centre and left, almost without exception, have their heads up their asses, this mortifying development is entirely possible. Let us hope that basic sanity, in
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Cognitive Dissonance, Mass Insanity & Covid Hysteria
Check the numbers. The disease is not ravaging us, is not unprecedented, but has killed 1/3rd the death toll of a typical year of the common flu. DOES ANYBODY FACT-CHECK ANYMORE?! If 300,000 to 700,000 deaths per year from the common annual flu, which is typical, and happens every year,
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Decline, Decay, Death and Rebirth of Democracy and Freedom
The two greatest threats to democracy and freedom in the West, or to peace, justice, equality, or even a viable future for humanity, are without question, the currently reigning de facto world government of neofeudal corporate oligarchy, also known as neoliberalism, and the fascist order which it is rapidly
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Welcome To The Brave New World
Speaking of censorious scrupulosity…. While censorship is rising rapidly, with Google, Facebook and Twitter, as well as the major media, controlling and restricting what people can see or read, say or share; Facebook is now blocking me from posting my own essays from my blog to my Farcebook page. Welcome
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Laying Waste To The Religious Right
A few brief thoughts for perspective: “Censorious scrupulosity” – Stephen Toulmin is as witty as he is brilliant. Make it viral (so to speak… Yikes, we will soon have to be censoriously scrupulous in avoiding that phrase, now that the global police state is here): “Is that a touch of censorious
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Waiting For The Crazed Clown Show To End – Or, Welcome To The Brave New World
I don’t know when I will be able to go to the gym or library again, or a park, or my favourite local bookstore or record store – or whether they will still be in business when this is over, if it does indeed end; or when I will be
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Coronavirus: Martial Law & The New Police State
An excellent live webstream discussion was given last night by Sayer Ji, the founder of GreenMedInfo – the best source I know of for science-based health information. His remarks offer a calm, well-reasoned, fact-based entry into the discussion as to what in the world is really going on with the
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Importing From China: A Virus? Or A Totalitarian Model Of Elite Control?
Someone prescient once said, “Those who would sacrifice a little freedom for a little security, deserve neither, and will lose both.” We would do well to remember those words now. And we are most definitely in the process of losing both, as we speak. But maybe we aspire to be
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Fantasy and Indoctrination: Rough notes on a few fantasy novels: part one
New Spring, The Novel: The Wheel Of Time: In The Beginning – Robert Jordan (so the cover says) (Lord of the Rings films and Terry Brookes Shannara novels got me hooked on epic, high fantasy – and no, I have no slight embarrassment about that. I think too much. Sometimes,
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Build a Wall? Canada’s Response to Trump
Donald Trump’s main export to Canada has been a sense of national smugness, that his outrages and absurdities could never find purchase here. But it would be an act of monumental self-deception for Canadians to believe that we are an island set above the rage bubbling across the world.
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Toronto Star: Build a Wall? Canada’s Response to Trump
It would be an act of monumental self-deception for Canadians to believe that our country is an island set above the rage bubbling across the world.
Continue readingScripturient: Stalin’s ghostly influence today
I recently finished reading the second volume of Stephen Kotkin’s magisterial biography of Josef Stalin: About 1,700 pages so far, with another 400 or so in small-type notes. Brilliant stuff, but a lot to absorb and consider. A bit of a slog if you’re not at least somewhat familiar with
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Help, Barbarians at the Gate!!
I just realized that, from British Columbia’s eastern border, the barbarians are in control all the way to Quebec. Scheer and Kenney, Moe, Pallister and Ford. Two thousand miles of knuckle-draggin’ mouth breathers. We don’t need pipelines. We need a wall. Quebec, come in Quebec. — Public intellectual and McMaster
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on Scott Moe’s choice to pursue strongman politics indistinguishable from the Donald Trumps and Doug Fords of the world. For further reading…– D.C. Fraser reported on Moe’s willingness to stand with and behind Ford no matter how preposterous his claims. And Fatima Syed noted that both Moe and Ford
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Then Must We Do? Canada’s Place Alongside the United States in Turbulent Times.
Do you ever wonder how close the United States may be to abandoning democracy? Do you ever wonder what that might mean for Canada? Are you familiar with the word, “anschluss”? Even The Economist recently rated the US as a “flawed democracy.” That might have been overly generous. A paper released
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Imagine a World Where Every Leader Was a Variation of Donald Trump
Donald Trump likes to pretend he’s shaking everything up. In fact he’s tearing everything down and what he can’t tear down his instinct is to bog it down. You could say that he’s the first poster boy for the Age of Entropy. Yesterday I reviewed an article by political scientist
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Republican Senator’s speech against McCathyism could have been about Trump
In the eleven years since I started publishing this blog, I have almost entirely focused on Alberta politics. But while my writing focuses on provincial politics here at home, like many Canadians I pay close attention to what is happening… Continue R…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Pope Warns We May Already Be In "Piecemeal WWIII"
Has the world already stumbled into a third world war? Pope Francis thinks that could well be the case. Denouncing war as “madness”, the Pope made his remarks while visiting Italy’s largest military cemetery. In Saturday’s homily, standing at the altar beneath Italy’s fascist-era Redipuglia memorial – where 100,000 Italian
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Of Zombie Politics and Culture War
In a system that reduces life to a chain of disconnected reactions to shock, personal communication tends to lose all meaning… The individual under terrorist conditions is never alone and always alone. He becomes numb and rigid not only in relation to his neighbor but also in relation to himself’;
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: What The Senate Ruling Says About Harper
The Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on the Senate Reform questions that Harper put to them last year came out today. The ruling itself is not terribly surprising, but what is more interesting is Harper’s reaction. Harper said he had no option left after the high court concluded that no
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