Assorted content to end your week. – Benjamin Austin, Edward Glaeser and Lawrence Summers make the case for economic policy focused on reducing regional disparities. And Chad Shearer and Isha Shah highlight how inclusion is a necessary element of sustainable economic development: (B)etter performance on one measure [out of growth,
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Accidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – May Boeve and Michael Brune comment on the danger that political- and court-based attacks on U.S. unions could substantially weaken the progressive movement as a whole. But Jane McAlevey writes that West Virginia’s successful teachers’ strike may provide an important reminder that the
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Free Speech, When The “Debate” is You (and You’re Not Invited)
Shout: “Help, I’m being silenced!” There’s a duplicitous game of sleight-of-hand that is taking place in discussions about freedom of speech in academia and the public square. Here’s how it works: at first, a person fishes for controversy by saying several things that they know will offend people. If this
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Matt Bruenig examines the multi-million-dollar increase in the household wealth of the U.S.’ top 1% over the past decade. And Ian Welsh discusses how the extreme concentration of wealth bleeds into political choices: The corruption of vast inequality is that it makes some
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day Andrew Scheer Was Impaled On His Own Petard
Andrew Scheer tries so hard to hide his religious fanaticism behind a facade of normality.And a creepy smile that seems almost screwed or glued on to his face.But something always give him away. Like the way he went after Justin Trudeau for defending Julie Payette. Or his burning obsession with punishing
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Sticks and Stones – Jim Kavanagh
Longish essay on counterpunch, this pull quote doesn’t reflect the thesis of the piece, but rather something that should be concerning to progressives and people who want to see change in society. The status-quo is resilient for a reason, and not taking that into account pretty much dooms whatever
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Anti-semitism, racism and other old white supremacist prejudices die hard
Anti-semitism, racism and other prejudices are on the rise in most established democracies. Still, silencing white supremacists on the Internet is counterproductive. It would only lead to more senseless acts violence similar to those perpetrated by Anders Breivik and Rhodesia-inspired Dylann Roof. The post Anti-semitism, racism and other old white
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Silencing white supremacists on the Internet breeds more racist violence
Silencing white supremacists on the Internet would only lead to white feelings of persecution, paranoia, white genocide conspiracy theories and acts violence similar to those recently perpetrated by Anders Breivik and Rhodesia-inspired Dylann Roof. The post Silencing white supremacists on the Internet breeds more racist violence appeared first on The
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Free expression at universities gagged by anti-Trump backlash
Ryerson University suppressed free speech rights when it cancelled a planned panel discussion featuring conservative academics and former Rebel Media journalist Faith Goldy, argues James Turk, the director of the Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson. The post Free expression at universities gagged by anti-Trump backlash appeared first on The
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Fascist Movements and Free Speech
Some people are upset because Ryerson cancelled a panel discussion featuring Faith Goldy, of Rebel Media, who openly expresses the belief that Muslims are a problem in our country. A Ryerson spokesperson said, “After a thorough security review, the University has concluded that Ryerson is not equipped to provide the
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Inconceivable! His Dinner with Chomsky
Wallace Shawn sat down for a chat with Noam Chomsky, and here’s what they talked about – slightly abridged and loosely quoted (for clarification purposes) with links. It’s a great recharge for activists! Shawn – Many people are shocked to see the president is now a cruel, brutal, greedy type
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Slippery Arguments and Women at Google
You can read most of the infamous Google memo here, and for the record, I don’t think opening up this discussion should be a fireable offence, but I’m just concerned with this one piece of the puzzle right now: “the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ
Continue readingA. Picazo: How the far-right co-opted “free speech”
This column was published at Maclean’s on May 1, 2017 It was the third time in as many months that supporters of President Donald Trump gathered in Berkeley, Calif., the historic birthplace of America’s Free Speech Movement and the cradle of anti-war protests in the Vietnam War era—but when met with
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Can peaceful grassroots activism stop the white supremacist movement’s embrace of violence?
The threat of white supremacist terrorism is a constant in U.S. history, writes Shane Burley, author of the forthcoming book, Fascism Today: What It Is and How We End It. The post Can peaceful grassroots activism stop the white supremacist movement’s embrace of violence? appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Mostly Male Whinge of “Anti-Free Speech”
The New York Times has featured Lindy West writing on the free speech conundrum on how entitled white dudes are getting their knickers in a knot because minorities and non white dudes dare to criticize features of society that make dudes happy. See the flaming mound of poo that is
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Facebook’s Secret Censorship Rules Protect White Men from Hate Speech But Not Black Children
Internal Facebook documents reviewed by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom, reveal that the social media behemoth’s censors often condone hate speech by white men but punish racialized minorities and activist groups for legitimate political expression. The post Facebook’s Secret Censorship Rules Protect White Men from Hate Speech But Not
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: Hate Speech is Free Speech
I know, you’re reading my entry title and thinking, wow…that is one bold statement or rather, what the hell is this guy thinking!? Free speech is a right that all humans should have, this is a basic, but crucial statement regarding life on Earth. After experiencing people of all places
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – John Harris discusses the appeal of Jeremy Corbyn’s tendency toward genuine conversation rather than soundbites. And Gary Younge notes that the pundit class’ dismissal of Corbyn has proven to say a lot more about their faulty assumptions than about the prospects of
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Andrew Potter Affair #nlpoli #cdnpoli
For those interested in the controversy caused by an opinion piece in Macleans, here are some useful links. 1. “How a snowstorm exposed Quebec’s real problem: social malaise” Sub-head: “The issues that led to the shutdown of a Montreal highway that left drivers stranded go beyond mere political dysfunction” Andrew
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Mean Tweets #nlpoli
In the United States, a late-night television program created a regular feature that has celebrities read the comments made about them on Twitter. The comments are – to borrow the words of Constable Joe Smyth – “rude, inappropriate, [and] hateful”. He was speaking about comments aimed at politicians but his
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