This week, two labour historians talk about their new books on Canadian and US workers’ movements in the 20th century, books which offer important and practical lessons for unions today. First up, I speak with Barry Eidlin, Assistant Professor of Sociology at McGill University, about his just-published book, Labor and
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In-Sights: Truth
Oh, Billy. We don’t actually practice these things. We only preach them.
Continue readingThings Are Good: How Good Policy Alongside Good Design Improves Lives
Tishaura Jones, the first female treasurer of St. Louis, set out to improve her city through good design. Through her own struggles dealing with the city’s bureaucracy she identified many problems with how information is presented, she noted she wasn’t the only one running into bad design. Jones decided to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Face of Barbarism. What, We’re Surprised?
The only thing that surprises me is that we have looked the other way for so long. What did we imagine we were dealing with after this?
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: What Then Must We Do? Canada’s Place Alongside the United States in Turbulent Times.
Do you ever wonder how close the United States may be to abandoning democracy? Do you ever wonder what that might mean for Canada? Are you familiar with the word, “anschluss”? Even The Economist recently rated the US as a “flawed democracy.” That might have been overly generous. A paper released
Continue readingThings Are Good: America Might Find Salvation in Satire
2016 witnessed the election of Donald Trump thanks in a large part to Russian meddling in the American democratic process. One of the most effective things that the Russians did was lie and spread contradictory information to make it hard for people to discern reality. Trump’s marketing skills made use
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: West Virginia teachers strike to win
This episode is dedicated to the recent, inspiring and victorious teachers’ strike in West Virginia. West Virginia teachers went out on strike in late February over low pay and continued attacks on the health insurance plan they share with all other state workers. They stayed out despite an initial deal
Continue readingThings Are Good: Jaywalking Shouldn’t be Illegal
So far in 2018 a car driver has killed a person every week; if this continues Toronto will see yet another year in which more people die from vehicles than guns. Automobile advocates argue that it’s the victim’s fault for dying and demand stricter punishment for trivial things like jaywalking.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Resistbot Makes it Easy for Americans to Reach Politicians
The inability to easily take action is a leading factor in why people don’t engage in political change. The creators of a new service, Resistbot, want to make it simple for Americans to have their voices heard. Resistbot is a bot you can interact with via SMS or using it
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Nuclear Posture Review and You.
I’m reassured with the knowledge that a small legion of smart people are actively planning the demise of civilization and the majority of human life here on Earth. I’m thinking that these people need to be called the Fermi Corps because they are actively trying to prove Fermi’s Paradox and
Continue readingIn-Sights: Republican’s genius strategy
History Professor Alfred McCoy produced The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia in 1972. The CIA interfered with the book’s publication but its condemnation of American complicity in the drug trade is accepted as accurate and reliable. Dr. McCoy appeared with Jeremy Scahill on the March 7 edition of Intercepted Podcast.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I’ve Got an Idea to Rescue Justin From His Slump
Unfair or not, Justin Trudeau has taken a hit in the public’s mind over his pretty clumsy trip to India. With JT et famille sporting an elaborate wardrobe of Bollywood’s best fashions, the Indian press took the piss out of him pretty relentlessly. The local scribblers piled on. Now Trudeau’s
Continue readingWe Pivot: “Defend Lives, Reform Laws.”
We need artists, geniuses, radicals and random brilliance to disarm society and its pathologies. Normal doesn’t work anymore. “Some of the negative comments claim what we did was insensitive, but if you think that this is crossing the line and … [Read more]
Continue readingThings Are Good: Why the Parkland Shooting can Change the Gun Conversation in the USA
Out of the tragedy of the Parkland school shooting might come some good. You might be sceptical as Americans are used to schools being attacked by gunmen and we’ve heard before that the most recent shooting will change things. Indeed, school shootings are still so common that the Onion runs
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: A Disassociated Public Guarantees a Generational War
If democracy is to be a useful concept for our future generations one aspect that is necessarily going to have to change is the level of engagement people have toward their political system. What is in play now is a plutocratic distortion of what representative government is supposed to look
Continue readingMichal Rozworski: The problems with progressive free trade and a divided labour movement
…And we’re back to regularly-scheduled programming. Apologies for the podcasting hiatus to (now really faithful) listeners; I hope to be back to regular episodes once again. I’m restarting the show this week with two great guests. First up, I speak with Angella MacEwen about the on-going NAFTA re-negotiations and whether
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: When The Earth is an Easy Bake Oven – A Few Words to Fry By…
Our actions are causing the earth to warm. This is easy slam dunk science. Yet somehow the leader of the free world didn’t get the memo. Michael Klare writes: “In energy terms, what does dominant mean in practice? For President Trump and his cohorts, it means above all the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: 10 Seconds Could Save Many Lives…
I think, perhaps, the American public – so disassociated with what democracy actually is – has already begun the labourious task of wallpapering over the elephant in the room. http://appropriately-inappropriate.tumblr.com/post/170959554865/saphire-dance-my-kid-is-in-middle-school-and Is there a more obvious example of how undemocratic a supposedly democratic national is (hmm..18 years of being at war
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Poverty is An Acceptable Outcome – Political Realities in the US.
An excerpt from Kennith Surin’s Essay, “Poverty American Style”. There are not many aspects and norms that are left to chance in society. The norms we accept, the ‘common knowledge’ we are all expected to understand, and “the way things are” are all socially constructed choices. The decision whether to
Continue readingThings Are Good: It’s Time to Tax Car Drivers by the Kilometre
The RAND Corporation is calling for a new way to tax drivers in the states: by distance traveled. Car drivers may feel like they’re paying too much in taxes already, but the reality is that the costs of maintaining road infrastructure are far greater than revenue from vehicle-specific taxes. In
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