Paradise Revisited
The massive wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise, California last month might be just an introduction to our new normal. Hell on Earth: Ruth McLarty, an experienced surgeon, was…
December 2018
How San Francisco Helps Culture Survive Gentrification
Major cities around the world continually grabble with the complexity of gentrification, at the recent World Cities Culture Summit San Francisco shared what they do. One of the city’s approaches…
Persons who help themselves get most.
The headline was supposed to be ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ It did not seem right though to invoke a Deity. Considering how many Deities are promoted around Toronto…
Meme Monday #3
Makes me smile every time. This video is from the Queen’s 90th birthday celebration. Shedoes love her animals. My mother often has the same reactionto cows, sheep, goats, etc. Loyally…
Canadian Connection To Man Who Murdered Heather Heyer
Not long ago, members of the far-right in the United States were inexplicably confident that the man who struck and killed Heather Heyer and injured several others in Charlottesville would…
Has Jason Kenney Evolved?
The Up Series is an amazing documentary that follows the lives of 14 British children over five decades. The children were interviewed every seven years starting in 1964 when they…
George H.W. Bush: A wimp is rehabilitated
Nothing improves a reputation like dying. Last week, former U.S. president George H.W. Bush was laid to rest after 94 remarkable years of life. The praise for Bush was effusive,…
With One Foot in the Bunker Already, Trump Needs a Tough-Minded Chief of Staff.
The “stable genius” of the Oval Office is shopping for a new chief of staff. The current placeholder, retired general John Kelly, is leaving in just a couple of weeks.…
Bleed the Fatted Calf. It’s Only Fair.
Renowned economist, Thomas Picketty, and a posse of 50 other prominent economists, historians and former politicians, have a prescription to relieve the dangerous pressures building in Europe – TAX THE…
Why Can’t Andrew Scheer Stop Lying like A Loser?
Pity poor Andrew Scheer, he's never looked more like a loser. He just can't seem to do anything right. He has tried everything to try to smear and destroy Justin…
this week, give 15 minutes of your time to defend human rights #write4rights
Are you writing for rights? I almost gave myself a pass this year. I’m living out of a hotel room and I don’t have easy access to a printer, and……
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Charles Smith and Larry Savage write that Justin Trudeau’s use of back-to-work legislation against postal workers may have far more significant consequences…
Saturday Photo: Hanging in There…Oak Leaves and Snow
Today’s lesson is about persistence. It has always been my long suite. The fact that my family is very long-lived helps because I’ve been pretty sure since I became aware…
Carbon Guilt
I saw this today and thought it might be worth re-posting: Of course, there’s still something to be said for pushing the guilt on mass consumption in Europe, North American…
Bridge Building
Robin Sears writes that the funeral for George Bush Sr. illustrated the difference between politics as bridge building and politics as a zero sum game: George Bush, Brian Mulroney, Jack…
When the Kingfish rules.
While many see him as a Trump-lite, Ontario’s premier Doug Ford is more of a politician in the tradition of Louisiana’s governor Huey P. Long (Born 1893 – Assassinated 1935).…
Democracy in decline?
As my small cadre of regular readers will know I have been writing about our Canadian democracy for nearly 10 years much of that time spent documenting the Harper Regimes…
Former UCP MLA alleges ‘suspicious donations’ from PAC associated with Jason Kenney used in 2017 to undermine Brian Jean
Calgary-Greenway MLA Prab Gill used the final Question Period of the fall 2018 session of the Alberta Legislature Thursday to allege that “more than $40,000 in very suspicious donations” was…
Something smells
Despite indulgent remuneration provided the BC Legislature’s senior executives — including sums paid secretly — financial problems at the institution have continued for more than a decade.