In March 2024, Canadians with mental health problems who haven’t found significant relief from their condition will be able to get Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). As I wrote recently of the mental health crisis, “We no longer lock people up in asylums; instead, we give them less than they
Continue readingTag: suicide
A Puff of Absurdity: Cultural Differences of ASD
I was once introduced to a new colleague who made very direct, sustained eye contact, and I thought to myself as I spoke with him: he’s on track to be in admin. He just seemed the type to make connections and get ahead and would likely end up at the board
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Trans Suicide Myths – How to Coerce Your Parents
Parents with Inconvenient Truth about Trans is a substack you should follow if you are interested in the pushback against transgender ideology and defending children from harm. “If PITT readers each had a dollar for every time we’ve heard the much debunked, emotionally manipulative “live son or dead daughter” myth
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Chris Hedges on Our Current State of Paralysis
Hedges writes on Substack now, if you haven’t been able to find him lately, and his piece today is excellent. He starts by pointing out the growing rich-poor divide that is seeing the top earnings increase by almost 90% in the last decease in the states, while the lowest struggle
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Peter Smits et al. examine some of the risk factors which tend to produce particularly severe breakthrough cases of COVID-19. The Economist summarizes what we know so far – and still have left to learn – about long COVID. Mark Lieberman discusses
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday #skvotes Links
A roundup of news from Saskatchewan’s provincial election as the last day of advance polling begins. – Crystal Palmer writes about her observations and experiences losing someone close to her to an utterly broken addictions and mental health system. And Gillian Massie highlights the how the Saskatchewan Party’s excuse for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday #skvotes Links
Nearly 63,000 voters have applied for mail-in balloting packages, and those who haven’t are being encouraged to go to advance polls over the course of this week. So with many people casting their ballots, let’s take a look at the latest from Saskatchewan’s provincial election campaign. – Ashleigh Mattern reports
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday #skvotes Links
The latest from Saskatchewan’s provincial election campaign. – PressProgress traces nearly half of the Saskatchewan Party’s donations (which are of course the driving force behind its nonstop ad blitz) back to deep-pocketed corporate donors under the lax electoral financing rules they’ve refused to change. – The Canadian Press reports on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jack Goldstone and Peter Turchin offer an introduction to what they anticipate will be the Turbulent Twenties, while noting the need for the U.S. to develop a new social contract to shift from its current path. – Meanwhile, Hadley Freeman rightly challenges the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Lori Fox writes that the COVID-19 pandemic reflects a fundamental break with what had been business as usual – making it essential that we both grieve what’s behind us, and work on developing what comes next: Things aren’t going to go back
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – As the Libs continue to stall on announcing a promised transition from an expiring CERB to a revised employment insurance system, David Macdonald details who stands to lose out if EI simply operates as it has in the past. – Leslie Young reports
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Robert Reich discusses how Donald Trump’s insistence on pushing reopening without a plan to alleviate an ongoing pandemic has led to disaster both for the U.S.’ economy and its public health. And the Economist highlights the need to make basic health precautions into
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Jason Markusoff writes about the absurdity of Jason Kenney’s continued bluster about attacking the rest of Canada rather than working on improving the lives of Albertans. And Shama Rangwala and Danielle Paradis discuss the warped idea of “freedom” underlying the ideology of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Ryan Hayes and Edward Hon-Sing Wong discuss both the importance of collective action to protect workers’ rights, and the strategies which are proving most effective. Hamilton Nolan writes about the increasingly strong case for sectoral bargaining. And Chelsea Nash examines the gig-worker unionization
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Simon Holmes a Court challenges the argument that any country or industry can opt out of being part of the response to our climate crisis. And Emily Holden comments on the oil industry’s control over public discussions about climate change, while Christopher Knaus
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Kate Aronoff offers a reminder that the right’s constant bleating about limiting government spending never applies to the cost of wars of choice. – Laura Glowacki reports on how Doug Ford’s choice to allow rent increases will only make matters worse for Ontario’s
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – As affordability takes a central place in most Canadian election campaigns, Kofi Hope and Katrina Miller propose a definition based on public health: Health is the great equalizer. No matter where we’re from, what our values are, what our age or our political
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Ann Pettifor discusses how a Green New Deal will pay for itself while making use of readily available sources of financing. And Clive Thompson points out the positive social impacts of Dunkirk’s decision to offer free transit. – Meanwhile, Emily Holden reviews
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Charles Smith and Larry Savage write that Justin Trudeau’s use of back-to-work legislation against postal workers may have far more significant consequences than he seems to have anticipated. And Christo Aivalis examines the next steps for Canada’s labour movement – as well
Continue readingA. Picazo: Anthony Bourdain, suicide, and lifelines
For the CBC on June 12, 2018 Many of us experience a heaviness in the early morning hours; a feeling that the Swedish word vargtimmen perfectly encapsulates. Robert Macfarlane, author of The Lost Words, writes that this term translates to “wolf-time; the menacing transitional hours of night into dawn.” How fitting that during
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