O Brave New World
I have reached the point in my life where whatever optimism about the future I might have once held has given way to a searing, even corrosive pessimism. Looking at…
August 2020
"at your library" in the north island eagle: columns published since re-opening, parts 2 and 3
Ancestry Library: Your Library Can Help You Discover Your Roots As the lockdown began, I posted some “At Your Library” columns that were suddenly irrelevant, among them a column about…
"at your library" in the north island eagle: columns published since re-opening, part 1: library takeout
Since the lockdown ended, I’ve been writing my column in the free local newspaper again. These columns seem very specific and not of wide interest, but since I started collecting…
The scandal is us, not WE
Demi Lovato at We Day 2012, Vancouver. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. The most concerning element of the WE Charity scandal is not that Justin Trudeau and his finance minister, Bill…
Donald Is A Dork
Paul Krugman writes that, if there is an axiom that applies in Trumpworld, it’s this: Take whatever Trump says and expect the opposite to happen. Three months ago, Donald signed…
"SHE IS "KICKING ASS" ! " (Shea says…) – Car plate: Quebec KFH 808 – "nomadic station" for DEW attacks?
Criminals in control of red car Quebec KFH 808 plate? Pulsed Energy Projectiles and Portable WeaponsIs it the gang of criminals, rapists ...in "good clothes", in "good jobs" running the…
"SHE IS "KICKING ASS" ! " (Shea says…) – Car plate: Quebec KFH 808 – "nomadic station" for DEW attacks?
Criminals in control of red car Quebec KFH 808 plate? Pulsed Energy Projectiles and Portable WeaponsIs it the gang of criminals, rapists ...in "good clothes", in "good jobs" running the…
"SHE IS "KICKING ASS" ! " (Shea says…)
Portable Sound weapons? Quebec KFH 808 plate? Criminals in control? MORE COMING SOON…
My latest: suck it up, Opposition whiners, and get to work
The metastasizing WE scandal has many tendrils, like a noxious weed. It is spreading, inexorably, into the centre of the Trudeau government. It may kill it. The fundamentals are well-known.…
The people this tweet is aimed at won’t get that this tweet is aimed at them
Dear political staffers: Ten years is a great run. That’s all you get. You aren’t supposed to be a staffer forever, because you get cynical and tired and miserable. It’s…
Scraping the barrel bottom
The Trump campaign suggested journalists to be considered as moderators in 2020 Presidential debates. Jonathan Swan and Chris Wallace were not on the list. These people were…
Education Minister’s K-12 curriculum news conference by turns bizarre, deceptive, incoherent, and a comedy classic
No one who watched Education Minister Adriana LaGrange’s news conference on the United Conservative Party’s plans for Alberta’s K-12 curriculum yesterday could come away with the impression our province’s education…
First It Was Total, Now Exxon. The Verdict Is In. Athabasca Bitumen Is a "Stranded Asset."
When word got out on Wednesday that energy giant Exxon was writing down 20 per cent of its fossil fuel assets – Athabasca bitumen and natural gas – the writing…
How to fund smaller class sizes? Simple, take it out of the teacher pension fund….
Emergency measures have impacted just about everyone, people are having to deal with stresses they never before contemplated. With that being said it has certainly been worse for some, far…
Canada’s International Graduate Students and COVID-19: Beyond the Rhetoric of Welcome
Prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada hosted over 640,000 international students. Photo from Flickr. One of the first actions taken by governments across the globe in the…
Remembering John Loxley
The progressive economics community, in Canada and around the world, lost a wonderful colleague, comrade and friend with the passing of John Loxley on July 28, 2020. Here I would…
Covid Journal, August 6, 2020
I admit this is a full-on rant about what a mess our education system is, from the Premier to union to teacher to parent. We keep forgetting that kids are…
It’s A Good Time To Quit Site C
Originally published by The Times-Colonist Increasingly dire reports of the instability of the land on which the Site C Dam is being built are deeply troubling. John Horgan blames COVID…
The day that reason died
I’m not a believer in alien visitations and UFOs, but I’ll bet if an alien did swing by, after an hour or two observing us, checking out Facebook or Twitter,…
Trump has empowered racist jerks to act like bigger racist jerks…
The elected Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus in the United States and Member of the House of Representatives Karen Bass, who is also a leading contender to become Joe…