Andrew Leach joins Dave Cournoyer on the Daveberta Podcast to discuss the state of Alberta’s economy, economic diversification and how the politics of oil and pipelines are developing in 2020. He also shares some thoughts and reflections on climate change policy from his time as chair of Alberta’s Climate Change
Continue readingTag: donald trump
Montreal Simon: Donald Trump’s Most Wonderfully Hellish Week
I feel like I've waited half my life to get a picture of Donald Trump as good as that one, for never have I seen him look so beaten.It sums up what was one of Trump's worst weeks ever, and hopefully will be the one that will cost him the presidency.As
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: American Lemmings.
American supporters of Donald Trump only act like lemmings. Lemmings are rodents that live in northern tundra areas, are very stupid and have about a 12-month life cycle—even if they survive their natural predators. They are not necessarily suicidal creatures but have been known to fall off cliffs and into
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Eric Levitz points out how the damage COVID-19 has caused to the U.S.’ economy arises largely out of underlying ailments, including its dependence on discretionary spending by people with extreme wealth. And Robert Reich highlights how Donald Trump’s racist demagoguery has distracted
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A pandemic is no time to be Tory.
You need to be considerate of your conservative friends in these troubled times. You might even think kindly of inviting some conservatives into your circle. Share the lottery of covid-19 with them. They are suffering the conviction of their politics. Their American hero Donald Trump is scraping the nether regions
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alert the media! Fair Deal Panel recommendations to be trotted out today
Today we will see the results of the efforts of Alberta’s Fair Deal Panel throughout the first half of 2020. We know this because the Kenney Government yesterday emailed out one of those media notices beloved of all democratic governments (and some not-so-democratic ones as well) alerting the media to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What Manner Of Man Is This?
The short answer is that he is not a man at all. A man, as opposed to a raging narcissist/sociopath, would never do what Donald Trump is planning as he gets ready to put tens of thousands of his loyalists at risk at his upcoming Tulsa ego-fest. Note the series
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Somehow South Tyrolean autonomy doesn’t sound like the best way to sell the Alberta Fair Deal Panel’s dumb ideas
Sure sounds like Jason Kenney has a problem. He’s promised to release his Fair Deal Panel’s report next Monday, but it’s not at all clear Albertans are going to like what they hear. In politics, like the dairy cooler, things come with a best-before date. And the Fair Deal Panel’s
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Why #DeleteFacebook
Not because Mark Zuckerberg is a self-entitled white-privileged frat boy who based Facebook on an app he developed called Facemash to rate students “hotness”. Not because of Facebook’s Predatory Business Model that leverages users and their friends personal information to maximize profits. Not because Facebook wants to replace the open
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Justin Trudeau Sends Donald Trump Another Silent Message
They have been marching all over the world to remember George Floyd, and denounce police brutality and anti-black racism.They have been peacefully demonstrating in Canada too, from coast to coast to coast… And in Ottawa yesterday, Justin Trudeau spoke powerfully again without saying a word.Read more »
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Donald Trump and the Road To Fascism
Donald Trump has been in an absolute frenzy all week, firing off more tweets than he ever has before. And never sounding more delusional and more dangerous. It all began when it was revealed that he had been rushed into a White House bunker And people started calling him
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Despite COVID-19, 15,000 people join Fight for Equity rally against racism at Alberta Legislature
A mostly youthful throng estimated at more than 15,000 people braved the coronavirus pandemic yesterday evening to join the Fight for Equity rally against racism at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. The rally was organized in response the public murder of George Floyd, an African American man, at the hands
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Justin Trudeau’s Silence and the Shame of Jagmeet Singh
It was the 21 seconds of silence that was heard around the world. Part of Justin Trudeau's reply to a question about Donald Trump.And it couldn't have been clearer or more Canadian.Read more »
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Robert Reich writes about the end of any pretense that Donald Trump was acting as a president rather than a self-serving social media influencer. – Branko Milanovic discusses why it’s useless to make modeled economic predictions in a time of complete uncertainty
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Signs of the times
It’s been awhile since I’ve done much with Photoshop, and I can’t take credit for the concept of working with this background. But for those interested, a couple of takes on Donald Trump’s most prominent recent sacrilege:
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump will not go gentle into that good night.
Welsh poet Dylan Thomas was talking about older people and death in that often-quoted poem. It is much to far ahead of the election to make a confident prediction but I can cheerfully suggest what might happen when Joe Biden beats Trump in November. When all avenues for dispute are
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Mr. Trump’s Stupid Wars.
It is hard to say what the Americans have done wrong to deserve this. They have the best equipped standing army in the world and they elect a guy like Donald Trump as commander-in-chief. It’s enough to make you cry. That jerk could not understand the strategy for a snowball
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Day Kenney Bet $7.5 Billion on the US Election
In September 2019 Jason Kenney began negotiating with TC Energy to invest $7.5 billion in cash and loan guarantees in the Keystone XL pipeline. In March 2020 Kenney announced negotiations were complete and the government had signed an agreement which he said had been rigorously vetted by the government and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Linda McQuaig warns us not to tolerate yet another around of austerian demagoguery when investment in people’s well-being is a positive step toward every end other than the goal of pushing people into additional precarity. And Marilyn Watkins examines how Washington state was
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Is Donald Trump Trying To Poison His Own People?
As we all know the depraved Donald Trump has been posing as a U.S. President for what seems forever, and failing miserably. Over and over again.But the raging pandemic, and those 90,000 dead Americans, have spooked him almost as much as Joe Biden's rising polls.And now he's playing doctor, and claiming he's
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