CALGARY Three years ago today, Albertans did the unexpected in the province’s 29th general election and elected a majority New Democratic Party government. In truth, despite Albertans having been instructed for generations by those who are supposed to know better that they lived in the most conservative province in Canada,
Continue readingTag: u.s. politics
Alberta Politics: Geopolitical Sunday: Don’t hold your breath waiting for the state of war to officially end on the Korean Peninsula
If the Korean War formally ends any time soon, North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Why not? Just because he presides over a very large military and leads a country that’s not very nice to it’s own citizens when they step a centimetre
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Mission accomplished in Syria? Don’t bet more than you can afford to lose on that claim!
Mission Accomplished? Donald Trump’s crowing Tweets prove the wisdom of Karl Marx’s dictum: History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. This fact is a significant blessing, nonetheless, at least insofar as Friday night’s tactically and legally dubious missile raid by U.S. military forces on Syria is concerned. How
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Kids Are Alright
You may note that in the title of this post, I chose the informal version of all right, lest there be any doubt about the ideology of many young people today. Hardly conservative in their propensities, it would seem that many of them are awaking to the potential for power
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Reflections on Easter Sunday, 2018: There really is a war against Christianity … it’s being waged by Christians
PHOTOS: Easter Sunday shoppers at West Edmonton Mall. Is nothing sacred? Well, actually, something is: The Almighty Market, god of Canada’s state religion. Below: A brass idol to the Market God in New York City’s Wall Street district. Below that, two unchristian politicians beloved by North American Christian conservatives: Doug
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Jim Stanford discusses what can be done to make international terms of trade serve the public, rather than merely offering multinational corporations control over all participants: Acknowledging that globalisation produces losers as well as winners, allows us to imagine policies to moderate the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Your Weekend BS: The straight poop on profanity in politics and the state of public discourse in Alberta
PHOTOS: Alberta politicians Deron Bilous, Jason Kenney, Derek Fildebrandt and Thomas Lukaszuk, all from the author’s vast collection of snapshots. Trigger warning! This dispatch from the Annals of Political Discourse in Alberta contains words unsuitable for sensitive and young readers. For a more fulsome discussion of why they are included
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Elizabeth Bruenig makes the case for the U.S. to make a much-needed turn toward democratic socialism: In fact, both Sullivan’s and Mounk’s complaints — that Americans appear to be isolated, viciously competitive, suspicious of one another and spiritually shallow; and that we
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Heedless Nation
One of our much-vaunted attributes as a species is our resilience. Our ability to recover from trauma, tragedy and setbacks is the stuff of legend. People devastated by wildfires rebuild; parents who lose a child to disease, accident or mayhem have another child; widows and widowers carry on with their
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Speaking Truth to Power.
By now most readers will have read that Sen. Jeff Flake ripped Trump a new one last Wednesday in a speech in the U.S. Senate and perhaps read some extracts from that speech in news reports. If you have not already done so I encourage you to read the entire
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A New McCarthyism
We all knew them growing up – the kid who would do anything to curry favour with the teacher, the one we knew variously as ‘the brown-noser,’ the ‘suck-up’ or by any number of similarly unflattering terms. This kid did it, presumably, to curry favour, to gain some kind of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Thanks to Donald Trump, the post-war American imperium that’s run like a Swiss watch is coming unsprung!
PHOTOS: U.S. President Donald Trump’s inaugural parade makes its way through Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2017, just before the stuff hit the fan and everything went to hell in a handbasket. (Photo: United States Navy.) Below: President Trump, former president Barack Obama, the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: When All Else Fails
… claim voter fraud. That is what the notoriously graceless Alabama loser and alleged pedophile Roy Moore is asserting, as he steadfastly maintains that he didn’t lose the election to Democrat Doug Jones. If you ever had any doubts about the cracker’s racism, consider this: the main basis of his
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your holiday reading. – The Star tells the stories of a few of the people working to make sure Christmas runs smoothly. And Erin McCormick points out other workers stuck in precarious (and largely care-related) positions who don’t have a choice but to take on holiday shifts
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jessica Corbett charts the U.S.’ unacceptable (and worsening) inequality. Robert Reich discusses how the Republicans’ tax scam represents a triumph for oligarchy. And Ben Steverman notes that the bill passed this month is ripe for abuse – and already being exploited to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Tom Campbell notes that we may not be far away from seeing the world’s first trillionaire – and that there’s a strong likelihood it will involve a confluence of extreme wealth and concentrated political power. – Meanwhile, Robert Reich observes that the U.S.
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Shades of Orwell
The thought police are increasingly active in Trumps Americka, ‘The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases — including “fetus” and “transgender” — in any official documents being prepared for next year’s budget. Policy analysts at
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Damian Paletta and Josh Dawsey report that cash for access is the only way for anybody to raise issues with the U.S. Republicans’ tax bills. And Ronald Brownstein views the tax debacle as conclusive evidence of the closing of Republican minds. –
Continue readingDemocracy Under Fire: Tending the Garden
“You have to tend to this garden of democracy, otherwise things can fall apart fairly quickly. And we’ve seen societies where that happens,” Former president Barack Obama In these days of a clearly ‘unstable’ individual in a position of great power in the US of Eh who does not seem
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Christopher Ingraham discusses the U.S.’ distorted distribution of wealth – and how both existing inequality and the Republicans’ plan to exacerbate it run contrary to the values of the general public: Among rich nations, the United States stands out for the extent of
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