Andrew Coyne offers what’s probably the most reasonable argument to treat the negligible threat of terrorism differently from the other risks we so readily accept (and indeed which are regularly exacerbated by deregulation). But Coyne’s argument falls well short of justifying the response actually on offer from the Cons –
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The Canadian Progressive: “Violent extremist Jewish organization” wants Harper to win 2015 federal election
The Canadian chapter of the Jewish Defence League is set to open a Montreal office dedicated to delivering the 2015 federal election to Stephen Harper. The post “Violent extremist Jewish organization” wants Harper to win 2015 federal election appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the Cons’ attempt to spin an election narrative out of a fictional bogeyman rather than protecting or helping Canadians. For further reading…– The National Academy of Sciences offers a comparison of death rates from multiple causes in Canada and elsewhere, while Statistics Canada has more detailed data. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jeffrey Sparshott discusses new research into how automation stands to displace workers and exacerbate inequality, while a House of Lords committee finds that 35% of the current jobs in the UK could fall prey to exactly that process. And Szu Ping Chan
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Ralph Nader: What’s Happening to Canada? Open letter to Stephen Harper
Ralph Nader tells Stephen Harper, “You talk like George W. Bush,” warns that the Conservatives’ anti-terror Bill C-51 would harm Canadian democracy. The post Ralph Nader: What’s Happening to Canada? Open letter to Stephen Harper appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tessa Jowell writes that we need to treat inequality as a disease which can be cured through effective public policy, but the Star points out that the Cons have instead gone out of their way to make it worse. Fair Vote Canada
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Mariana Mazzucato argues that we need to change our conversation and our policy choices on public investment in Canada’s economy: As in many other countries, the conversation about government and public investment in Canada has for decades distorted and underplayed the role
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On unclear motivations
Shorter Peter MacKay: We should tremble in our boots at the possibility that the people plotting a mass shooting in Halifax might have been susceptible to motivation by religious fervour. But if they’d instead carried out their actual plan, we should be willing to write off the resulting deaths as
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Friend Or Foe?
You decide. A message from Anonymous to ISIS: We will hunt you, take down your sites, accounts, emails, and expose you…From now on, no safe place for you online…You will be treated like a virus, and we are the cure…We own the internet…We are Anonymous; we are Legion; we do
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The 28-Pages that Could Condemn the House of Saud and Liberate the West.
The Gulf princes and sheikhs, especially the House of Saud, have been very successful in ducking scrutiny over their role in launching, funding and covering for every Sunni terrorist group from al Qaeda to ISIS to whatever bunch is now being organized to carry on their Islamic civil war pitting
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Gregory Beatty reports on Saskatchewan’s options now that it can’t count on high oil prices to prop up the provincial budget. And Dennis Howlett writes about the need for a far more progressive tax system both as a matter of fairness, and as
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Profound Timidity
H/t The Toronto Star Yesterday’s post dealt with the profound reluctance of Messieurs Trudeau and Mulcair to oppose Harper’s latest incursion into our civil rights, Bill C-51, lest they be accused of being ‘soft on terrorism’ (“Oh, the horror!”). Better, in their minds, to betray the interests of Canadians than
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Joe Gunn reminds us that ignoring the issue of poverty won’t make it go away. And Sara Mojtehedzadeh reports on a national campaign demanding a plan to deal with poverty at the federal level. – Roderick Benns discusses the prospect of a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – 24 Hours offers a debate as to whether or not we should pursue a basic income – though it’s striking that the “con” case is based almost entirely on a message that a secure income for everybody can’t be achieved, rather than any
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Timely Warning From Edward Snowden
But will anyone listen? Edward Snowden, the man wanted for leaking U.S. security documents in 2013 says Canadians should be “extraordinarily cautious” in reference to an anti-terror bill proposed by the Harper government. Snowden and journalist Glenn Greenwald spoke to a group of Toronto students Monday evening. Recommend this Post
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Elizabeth Stoker Bruening discusses the effect of poverty at the family level, particularly when coupled with policies designed to force workers to chase jobs far away from home and family: If you want to see the right-wing denuded of its usual bluster
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s Orwellian Anti-Terror Bill C-51 Troubles Privacy Czar
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada warns that Bill C-51, Harper’s proposed new anti-terrorism legislation, would further erode Canadians’ privacy rights. The post Harper’s Orwellian Anti-Terror Bill C-51 Troubles Privacy Czar appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – James Baxter discusses why there’s no reason to buy into the Harper Cons’ fearmongering in the first place: Let’s accept a basic truth: There’s only so much money we’re willing to ‘invest’ in having the government to protect us from bad things and, when you
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Herr Harper, Who Is Your Goebbels?
Having returned from our Cuban sojourn last evening, I have not yet had time to get caught up on the Canadian political scene, but this item by Heather Mallick deconstructing one of Herr Harper’s recent 24/Seven productions caught my eye. Its martial music, military imagery and depiction of Dear leader’s
Continue readingWhy are Americans so frightened?
If you were asked what the American people’s top policy priority was, what would you answer? The economy perhaps? Immigration? Global warming? You would be wrong. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans’ top policy concern is terrorism, with 76 per cent ranking it as a top priority, just edging
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