2020
Canada’s COVID-19 Response Is Leaving the Homeless Behind
Homeless men sit on a stoop in Toronto. Photo by Matthew Gray/Flickr. The COVID-19 pandemic has dispelled any uncertainties about where Canada’s loyalties lie. At the onset of the crisis,…
trulocal.ca for healthy, local meat and seafood delivered to your home or workplace
Tl;dr version: TruLocal delivers a wide variety of local meat, poultry, and seafood from family farms to your door. They serve Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. And they’re great! *…
What I Learned From the Film ‘Crip Camp’
I just finished watching the fascinating, fun, exciting and yes, inspirational Netflix documentary film, Crip Camp. Crip Camp is the story of a summer camp for disabled teens that ran…
Here’s an Idea. Stop Eating Bats.
By now, Covid-19 has become a household term. What about Covid-20, 21, 22, 23 or Covid-24? Researchers have found at least six new strains of coronavirus in bats. Some speculate…
The Real Resistance: Lessons From History
It does not require a majority to defeat tyranny and defend liberty, but only a small and dedicated minority – as we saw in the American and French Revolutions,…
No Comfort From Chris Hedges
Reading Chris Hedges is never a fell-good experience. His unflinching assessments, his unsparingly bleak prognostications, offer no comfort. During the very trying times we are currently living through, why subject…
Glenn Gould On Orwell
Yo, listen up, blokes! (He says, in order to mash and mangle and generally have fun with various voices, inflections, accents and colloquilisms, as Gould was fond of doing himself,…
Understanding the Anti-Reality Narrative in America
Those of us who have been arguing for sustainable growth and a carbon neutral economy for years know that people don’t listen; in fact people argue against the very concept…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Andrew Nikiforuk highlights where we stand in responding to the coronavirus – including the dangers of declaring victory at a point where there’s…
A survey of music biographies
Over the past 15 years or so, my taste in reading has gravitated heavily toward biographies, and one significant sub-genre of them has been musicians. I’ve read a lot of…
Give Ford the credit he deserves.
Premier Doug Ford of Ontario had two choices. He could continue the bombast and bluff of his usual approach to politics, or he could learn from his mistakes and tone…
Plauge Update: POStmedia Shows Its Soul
That's sick. Heaven forbid that poor people not be poor on the other end of a crisis where they lose family members and friends. Wouldn't want to accidentally make the…
Tuesday Night Cat Blogging
Surrounded cat.
Covid & the Left: An open letter
It matters not what group it was this letter was addressed to. What matters is the content. Please read: (Note that WordPress randomly gets buggy on me and will not…
Talking the State of Canadian Politics with Critical Thinking
A few weeks back I had the chance to finally get to join the crew at YourTV Brockville’s “Critical Thinking”, with host Leigh Bursey & guest host Josh Bennett. Finally…
Pandemic video: Miss You
I saw a pandemic-time video Nick Lowe did with his son and I loved it. Just the two of them, playing in their living room. Was awesome. So, I decided…
This Is What You’re Up Against. Why Neoliberalism Must Go.
It’s useful, every now and then, to reflect on what we’re up against. To some, neoliberalism has become just another dirty word. Neoliberalism = bad. Puppy dogs = good, I…
The Case for Emergency Benefits
As government and our society responds to the crises created by Covid-19, we’ve seen governments at all levels take actions that would have seemed completely unthinkable just a couple short…