A "Mosque Tax" – A New Proposal from Germany
At first it sounds outrageous – a tax on those attending Mosque services in Germany. Outlandish, how dare they? Only it’s not that simple. Lawmakers from Germany’s grand coalition government…
December 2018
Commemorating Thirty Years of Indifference, Neglect and Outright Mendacity
In today’s New York Times, environmental activist and lecturer, Paul Bledsoe, offers up a year-by-year record of three decades of American indifference, neglect and blatant dishonesty on climate change. It…
America’s time machine
We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin… our homes are covered with mortgages, labor impoverished; and the land concentrating…
Saturday Photo: The Hinge of the Year Has Turned…
Sunrise over Parc Outremont. Not today, because I haven’t been out yet, but I’m sure it would have looked a lot like this because there is no snow around here.…
Think Again, Canada
I sometimes feel that many Canadians are complacent about climate change, assuming that we will somehow be protected from the worst of its effects. As this CTV 2018 weather review…
Mr. and Mrs. Trump go to war.
In the last half of the 20th Century, Hollywood star Bob Hope was famous for his Christmas shows for American military. These shows took place in areas of conflict where…
Climate Change is Scary But It’s Nothing Compared to Us.
Climate change may be poised to begin killing us off en masse in the coming decades but the real killer will be us or, more precisely, human nature. An insightful…
Musical interlude
Matthew Good – Bad Guys Win
How will I vote in 2019?
Well, if Trump hasn’t killed us all before we get around to voting, this is kind of where I’m at, as 2018 grinds to a close. All pricing subject to…
How Our Shabby Media Is Enabling Andrew Scheer
It's like a third rate werewolf movie starring the creepy Andrew Scheer. And while it may be tacky it's also really scary.For the hairy Scheer may be a serial liar,…
Shorter version: if the NDP get their act together, Trudeau’s in deep shit
Of course, if my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a bus, too. Full poll here. Negative assessments of the PM’s performance have increased most two high profile areas: climate change…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Matt McGrath and Dahr Jamail each point out some of the most important immediate effects of climate change. And Kate Marvel discusses the…
Calling The Rewrite Department
Also, a new cameraman, ideology and leader might not be a bad idea for the Conservative Party of Canada: Recommend this Post
Down the Yellow Brick Road in 2019.
We have a long journey before we arrive at the Land of Oz. We have much to ask of just one small wizard. When L. Frank Baum wrote The Wonderful…
The ins and outs of Equalization #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Each year, Canadian media conduct year-end interviews with politicians and every year the interviews are nothing but space fillers. This year’s version with Premier Dwight Ball – for NTV (broadcast…
MLA asks Elections Alberta to investigate claim Jason Kenney’s UCP leadership campaign ‘deliberately hid’ donation
“The UCP denies the allegations.” We should probably get used to reading this phrase. I suspect we’re going to be seeing it quite a lot in stories about Jason Kenney’s…
Why do we need politicians and statesman?
It used to be hard to argue that politicians provide any value. In the past, one could easily point to the good that great statesmen did. One could point to…
New column day
Here, on the need for progressive leaders to treat consultation processes as a path to goals worth achieving rather than an excuse not to pursue them – particular in the…
Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Howard Mann discusses the World Bank’s new model for public-private partnerships which deliberately avoids placing any real risk with the profiteers who…