Go Joe go!
I am so happy. Joe wins, literally two minutes after voting stops.
February 2020
Oregon Jury Refuses to Convict Climate Protesters
A group of Extinction Rebellion activists were put on trial for trespass. It was pretty open and shut, they did it. Except that they pleaded “justification” in their defence. It…
Ontario: Ford Recall
Time for a Ford recall. Sign the petition.
And Now, Just a Few Words, "In God We Trust"
In 1776, America’s founding fathers proclaimed that the official motto of their freshly minted United States would be “E Pluribus Unum” or ‘out of many, one.’ Let’s not clutter this…
Full Dither Ahead
There are rarely political solutions to scientific perils. That point is lost on our federal government that insists that action on climate change must be tailored to economic priorities. The…
Magpie Brûlé Podcast: Wet’suwet’en Protests & Covid-19
The newest episode of the “Magpie Brûlé” Podcast is now up! In this episode, I talks about the week that was in the House of Commons, the latest on the…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Joseph Stiglitz writes about the need to cultivate solidarity as an alternative to neoliberal selfishness. And Chuck Collins reminds us how the very…
Saturday Photo: The Cover…
So this is the cover for my next book. Pretty nifty, I think. And also here’s a cartoon from the March 2, 2020 New Yorker. The caption is: “You might…
Sound Familiar?
Teachers’ strikes continue to roil Ontario. The basic issue: Doug Ford wants to employ fewer teachers. After all, if you cut the payroll, you save money. To achieve those savings,…
The end of an era.
We were unlikely novitiates in the liberal party of the 1960s. I honestly do not remember where or when we met. Yet I do remember the launching pads of our…
Edmonton author Wayne Arthurson’s Red Chesterfield tops independent bookstores Alberta bestseller list
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020. The lists are compiled…
Musical interlude
Tennis – Runner
Buffalo Theatre
Well! Alberta’s had a busy few weeks, hasn’t it? It really has become it’s own unfolding disaster everyone just gets to watch in slow motion because Albertans, and Canadians, typically…
The Con Leadership Fiasco: Is This All There Is?
The deadline has come and gone. Nominations for the Con leadership race are now closed.And one thing is immediately obvious, this country has never seen a lousier line-up.In fact so…
Loki Hulgaard of Medicine Hat Pleads Guilty to Hate Crimes Charge
Loki Hulgaard, originally arrested in 2018 and charged with willful promotion of hatred, has pled guilty as of February 28, 2020. From Medicine Hat News: Hulgaard, who was arrested in…
Overplaying Your Hand
It’s late Friday afternoon and after sitting for a couple of weeks, the House of Commons is taking a weeklong break. That means that we’ve now see proximately six sitting…
On Immigration
Canada welcomed the highest number of new immigrants in more than a century last year, opening its doors to 341,180 people from 175 different countries. That annual total, which exceeded…
#Cdnpolicast – Protests & Growing Concerns over CoronaVirus
The newest episode of “Cdnpolicast” is now up. In this episode Alyson Fair, Susan Smith, Neil Brodie and I talk about the developments this week in protests happening across the…
Tweets of the Day
Here’s a Friday palate cleanser for ya: No way! ? pic.twitter.com/Sr4XeP3ngX — CCTV IDIOTS (@cctvidiots) February 27, 2020