For a very long time, I have believed that the political right wing, and the religious far right in particular is far more politically organized and well-funded than most of us would like to believe. Back in 2010, Marci McDonald published a book called “The Armageddon Factor“. It’s a bit
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The Cracked Crystal Ball II: The UCP Goes "Hold My Beer" To The CPC
Author's Note: I started writing something about the UCP's policy resolutions in October, but it seemed redundant. Now that the UCP has held their AGM, and these have been voted on, it's time to take a look at the shape of the party that results from it. In September, the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Letter to UCP MLAs
Dear UCP MLAs: I’m a constituent without an MLA because your new leader decided I don’t need one. Apparently urban issues (unlike rural issues) are the same all across the city and I can take my concerns to the UCP MLA in the next riding. Anyway I’m just checking in
Continue readingCathie from Canada: Just following up ….
Tonight, just some follow-ups on some of the stuff I talked about earlier this week: More on conspiracy theories and rage farming: Unbelievable. Do conspiracy theories cluster? Um, yep. – GMO fearmo Don’t forget the wind turbines that kill everything that flies and the poor kids mining cobalt for solar
Continue readingCathie from Canada: Today’s News: This you?
Its sorta hysterical, really. So yesterday Biden announced $10,000 student-loan forgiveness policies, which are a great thing that will help millions of people. And predictably, some Republicans went nuts about how irresponsible Biden was to just wipe out indebtedness with the stroke of a pen. And, also predictably, Twitter then
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Inmates Run Amok
One of the people I follow religiously on Twitter is Caryma Sa’d. A Toronto lawyer and satirist, her online presence is largely devoted to video she shoots of the unhinged amongst us, i.e., those Canadians obviously infected by the American disease whose symptoms include uncritical acceptance of conspiracy theories popularized by
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Time Is Out Of Joint
I spend a fair bit of time in this blog discussing my aversion to the United States. Widely populated by benighted souls, it is a country I now shun and have no intention of ever again visiting. However, my smug convictions about the superiority of Canadians relative to our
Continue readingScripturient: Those Wacky 5G Conspiracy Believers
Although it surfs the tidal wave of anti-intellectualism and anti-science in our society, the whole “5G-is-evil” conspiracy has been amusing, I must admit. From burning down cell towers, to accusing Bill Gates of spreading COVID through 5G waves, it’s been a delightful cavalcade of the funniest, stupidest notions to flitter
Continue readingScripturient: Flat Earth Beliefs on the Downslope?
It’s been a while since I wrote about Flat Earthers and their inane —but laugh-aloud funny — ideas about science, religion, and politics. Their worldview is wrapped up in wacky conspiracies, then layered with a topping of pseudo-biblical claptrap, crypto-mythology, scary demons, and your basic rightwing paranoia about the “deep
Continue readingScripturient: This Says It All
The clearest, most concise statement about the alt-right protests and demonstrations comes from Mark Carney, former governor of both the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada. This protest was never about freedom: it was always about pushing a virulently rightwing agenda, endorsed by the treasonous Donald Trump, to
Continue readingScripturient: Freedom or Just Free-Dumb?
It’s a sad statement on modern affairs that the word “freedom” has been reduced to a generally meaningless term, thanks to the constant gaslighting by the right. Every rule, regulation, protocol that the right doesn’t like, doesn’t agree with their ideology or that hurts their feelings is trumped up as
Continue readingKersplebedeb: The Reality of Denial and the Denial of Reality [Cured Quail Journal]
[This article was originally posted on Cured Quail on December 9, 2021.] Antithesi / cognord Download PDF This text was written and published in Greek in September 2021. It was meant as a polemic intervention in a debate around the questions of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, the measures and tools against
Continue readingScripturient: Jail the Unvaccinated
In a recent opinion piece in Macleans Magazine, Scott Gilmore wrote what I expect many vaccinated Canadians felt about those who still refuse to get vaccinated and help end this pandemic: We need to begin treating the vaccine holdouts as the fools they are. It is not fair that reasonable
Continue readingScripturient: We’re Doomed. Doomed, I tell you.
While walking our dog recently, we encountered another couple “our age” (somewhere between 65 and 90) also walking their dog. While the two pets sniffed and frolicked, we chatted with them (at a safe distance, of course). And, as might be expected during a lengthy pandemic, one of the first
Continue readingScripturient: We Need New Names for Stupid
I was reading a story in CollingwoodToday about another anti-mask/anti-lockdown protest recently — this one in Barrie, Sat. April 24 — and thought to myself that our language does not have the appropriate words to describe the combination of selfishness, stupidity, and ignorance that fuels this sort of event. Sure,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Conspiracy theories are for losers: What does this tell us about Jason Kenney’s UCP?
Are Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party nuts? I mean, are they actually nuts, going down the rabbit hole of bizarre and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories like some of their Republican brethren in the United States? Former Alberta premier Rachel Notley, now leader of the Opposition in the provincial Legislature
Continue readingScripturient: Brandolini’s Law
Ever had the frustrating experience trying to correct someone’s obviously un-factual post or meme on Facebook? And found yourself in a swamp of comments all telling you you’re wrong, an idiot, it’s just your opinion, it worked for my friend so it’s true, or you don’t know anything, followed by
Continue readingScripturient: Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
News that asteroid “2018 VP1“, will pass within about 480 kms of Earth on November 2, 2020, has raised social media hopes that it might be drawn in by the planet’s gravity and crash on the White House, thus ending any speculation about the reviled Donald “Putin’s Puppet” Trump’s re-election.
Continue readingScripturient: The day that reason died
I’m not a believer in alien visitations and UFOs, but I’ll bet if an alien did swing by, after an hour or two observing us, checking out Facebook or Twitter, they’d lock their doors, hang a detour sign around our planet, and race off. They’d tell their friends not to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Just Wear A Mask
That is the message, simple and direct, delivered by CNN’s Becky Anderson: Somehow, I doubt her message will resonate with the unhinged who have emerged from their lairs during the pandemic. This recent delegation at a Palm Beach County hearing into masks should provide more than ample incentive to avoid
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