Giving back at 50
For 50 years I’ve lived a pretty comfortable, privileged life. Time to give something back. I’m giving up my birthday up to fundraise for the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Read…
2017
Remember Who Did the Heavy Lifting Last Time
As liberal democracy gives way to authoritarianism from the United States to Hungary, Poland, Turkey and even into Britain and France, it is helpful to remember the turbulent 50s and…
It’s Not a Wonderful Life
I’m convinced many Americans – Donald Trump among them – think Frank Capra’s famous film, It’s a Wonderful Life, was a documentary, not entertainment. It has all the elements of…
Emperor Trump Fiddles While the World Burns
New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, shows how Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the reality of climate change is a death sentence in distant corners of the world.
Saturday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Owen Jones highlights the need for social democratic parties to present a real popular alternative to neoliberal government, and offers his suggestions as…
Start With Community
Progressives are pretty pessimistic these days. That’s because, Murray Dobbins writes, they’ve forgotten the importance of community. Margaret Thatcher famously said, “There’s no such thing as society, only individuals.” That…
Just The Beginning
I think we all know that this story, and many others like it, will not end well. A long-running rift in the Larsen C ice shelf grew suddenly in December…
Why Michael Chong probably won’t win the CPC Leadership race.
I think this poll by Ekos asking whether people of different political stripes whether they believe this statement tells you why Mr. Chong won’t win: When Lisa Raitt, another…
Meet the Elites: The News Media.
It has always come as a surprise to us that the news media could think of themselves as one of society’s elites. (And just because Donald Trump says it, does…
update from the land of the missing white dog
We miss Tala a lot. Of course. Need it even be said. Somehow I have gone from abject grief to poignant acceptance quicker than I expected. I have no idea…
The “12 basic needs of Christmas”
Today (on the 13th day of Christmas), Make Poverty History Manitoba rallied at the Manitoba Legislature to call on the provincial government to ensure that the basic material needs of…
Friday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Colin Busby and Ramya Muthukumaran offer some suggestions as to how to ensure there’s an adequate social safety net to support people stuck…
Musical interlude
Rodg – High On Life
T***p, the Inauguration and Our Kids’ Mental Health
Now that T***p’s inauguration is 2 weeks away I’d revisited a great piece from 2 months ago that explored how to help our children deal with what America is becoming.…
Unpresident Trump: puppet to Russia or traitor to the United States
He’s one of those things. He either knew Russia was attacking the U.S. in a way that constitutes an act of war – in which case he has committed treason.…
When Will the US Confront Its Role in Fueling Terror Attacks Across the Planet?
Photo by DVIDSHUB The immensity of the tragedy of Iraq – the cause of great destabilization in West Asia and North Africa – has been utterly forgotten. It is easy…
How the Spectre of Oil Trains is Deceptively Used to Push Pipelines
Either support new pipelines or your community will be incinerated by an oil-carrying train. It sounds outrageous, but it’s been a foundational argument made by the pro-pipeline lobby ever since…
This Could End With a Bullet
Former CIA director James Woolsey bailed out on Donald Trump yesterday. Former CIA Director James Woolsey, a veteran of four presidential administrations and one of the nation’s leading intelligence experts,…
In Chicago, They Kill With Guns. In Vancouver, It’s Fentanyl.
Chicago logged a record 762 murders in 2016, most of them by hand guns. Vancouver, while much smaller than the Windy City, saw hundreds of deaths from fentanyl overdose including…