Rafe: NDP-Greens good to govern – but beware Weaver’s IPP support
Andrew Weaver (left) and John Horgan (Photo: BCNDP/Flickr CC Licence) Looking ahead at our political situation in BC and assuming that the NDP will govern with a one vote majority,…
June 2017
Tuesday Night Cat Blogging
Collapsed cats.
Is Trump’s Evangelical Lawyer Just Another Dirtbag?
Why does Donald Trump surround himself with so many real dirtbags? Trump’s latest legal mouthpiece, Jay Sekulow, is a perfect example. The Guardian has published an expose on Sekulow that…
The deck chair
Filed under: art
HuffPo Calls "Bullshit" on Trudeau on Electoral Reform Promise
The title of the piece speaks volumes: “Trudeau Blames Opposition For Not Reading His Mind on Electoral Reform. The prime minister could have been honest with Canadians.“ Prime Minister Justin…
Economic power to the people!
Photo by Jose Luis Magana I want to inaugurate this new column by harkening back to something old. I recently came across a pamphlet first published in 1943 by the…
Have you no sense of decency left, you lying sack of shit?
This is the Joseph N. Welch "have you no sense of decency" moment. And the media provided it. #USPolitics pic.twitter.com/CYvkZVhy0D — Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) June 27, 2017
The Basic Income debate
On April 13, 2017, about 300 people, all of them united in their desire to improve the well-being of the most vulnerable among us, took their seats in the OISE…
Historical foundations of Aboriginal rights
Aboriginal Rights Claims and the Making and Remaking of History Arthur J. Ray McGill Queen’s University Press, 2016 Having long ago established himself as a foremost scholarly interlocutor of Canadian…
Addiction among the middle class
Opium Eater: The New Confessions Carolyn Zwarenstein Nonvella Publishing, 2016 In recent years, my newsfeed has played host to a steady trickle of articles documenting the alarming rise of opioid…
Exploring settler-colonial culture
Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada Emma Battell Lowman & Adam J. Barker Fernwood Publishing, 2015 Lowman and Barker’s Settler really dwells on the dominant culture in Canada…
What If… Britain Had Won America’s Revolutionary War?
Did America really “win” the Revolutionary War in 1776? Just what exactly did it win? That question is pondered by Neal Pollack, the self-described “Greatest Living American Writer since the…
First choice for a younger generation
Indigenous Nationhood: Empowering Grassroots Citizen Pamela Palmater Fernwood Publishing, 2015 No doubt for a younger generation of activists, Palmater’s Indigenous Nationhood will be a first choice. Her cadences — and…
Québecers mobilize against intolerance and exclusion
The testimony gathered by media covering the January shooting at a Québec City mosque brings to light a somber situation. According to a representative of that city’s Muslim community, many…
Trumping nature
Photo by Luis Sinco “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.” The Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists this year advanced the hands…
"Comrade Christy" Has BC’s Conservative Liberals’ Heads Spinning
In an act of abject debasement, British Columbia premier, Crispy Clark, has thrown her entire, Liberal (in name only) Party under a very large bus. Her “hail Mary” throne speech…
Define "Peace" In the Age of Forever Wars.
What is “war”? Hard to tell anymore. Even harder to define these days is “peace.” As for “victory” well, good luck. Our common understanding of these terms is anchored in…
Trump: making America hated again
Just extraordinary findings by the Pew people. Someone said to me last night: “I hate America.” I was astonished this person, in particular, would say such a thing. Apparently they’re…
NDP Leadership Race: A Labour-Themed Debate Brings Most Substance Yet
On Thursday, the five candidates for the NDP leadership met in Toronto to debate issues largely relating to workers and the labour movement. The event was hosted by the United…
Crystal Ball Gazing: How Sudbury Gets a New Kingsway Event Centre – Not on Merit, but on a Technicality
Here’s why we’ll have a new Event Centre on the Kingsway after tonight’s Council meeting. For the most part, I believe that the decision will be decided not on the…