On non-disclosure
Much of the pushback against any discussion of Scott Moe’s patterns of drinking and driving, vehicle accidents and general refusal to own up to anything of the sort boils down…
2020
Lindsey Has Caught "Mad Trump Disease"
Lindsey Graham figures South Carolina is just fine with black people or at least some blacks that may or may not actually exist. In a candidate forum with the South…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Matthew Yglesias discusses how the Republicans avoid having to answer for antisocial plans (such as wanting to limit access to health insurance…
COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll on Toronto’s homeless
Over 9,200 people in the city of Toronto meet one of the definitions of homelessness. Photo by Terry Ozon/Flickr. The following is an excerpt from “Cooperative Funding: An Evaluation of…
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone
Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving today or the more conventional holiday tomorrow, it’s good to give thanks on this weekend. We should be thankful for our families, even if it is…
Kamala In Westmount
Dan Bilefsky is a Canadian correspondent for the New York Times. He grew up in Westmount, where Ms. Harris and her mother and sister moved after her mother divorced her…
Bring Back the Salons
Today if someone mentions a “salon” you probably think about a haircut or manicure. But in the 18th century, prior to the French Revolution, salons were the focus of civil…
Social assistance: Do higher benefit levels lead to higher caseloads?
As part of my PhD thesis, I did some statistical analysis in which I asked the question: “Do higher social assistance benefit levels lead to higher caseloads?” I have recently…
The only fair vote is a run-off vote.
Nobody claims first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting is perfect. What it gives us is a means to get things done. It is fast, efficient and trusted. It is the solution to the…
Covid Journal, October 11, 2020
Events in Michigan last week are disturbing on so many levels and may be pointing to a bigger crisis coming our way if Biden/Harris win in November.
Something to think about…..
James Hamblin kicks off “Clean: The New Science of Skin” with a confession: He virtually stopped showering years ago. Hamblin, a physician and staff writer for The Atlantic, still sprinkles…
Young Ben Harper gets a well-heeled start in politics, thanks to dear old dad’s former lieutenant
Give Ben Harper’s old man his due: he got his son a better first job in Alberta than the elder Mr. Harper’s pop got him. Readers with functioning short-term memories…
Trudeau government drops the Covid-19 ball again, failing to warn of possible airborne transmission
With both the U.S. CDC and World Health Orginization warning that SARS-Cov-2 may be transmitted by airborne aerosols, Canada is once again a day late and a dollar short with…
Oct. 1o: Evil
75 years ago, I was a child standing on a main street in downtown Montreal and spellbound by the hysteria of thousands of people. A huge crowd followed a leader…
what i’m reading: all my puny sorrows by miriam toews
I’ve just finished reading All My Puny Sorrows, the haunting, heartbreaking, hilarious, and life-affirming 2014 novel by Miriam Toews. It’s difficult for me to write about fiction. I don’t like…
North Cowichan councillor who sits on Cowichan Tribes disqualifies herself from vote
Council seeks public’s patience amidst ‘uncharted territory’ North Cowichan councillor Debra Toporowski has disqualified herself from a vote on consultation with First Nations on the Municipal Forest Reserve on the…
Coals to Newcastle
From what I’ve read, sales of legal marijuana (government stores and licenced retailers) haven’t lived up to expectations. This is especially true for what was once known as the Napa…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Alisha Haridasani Gupta discusses why so many women have been excluded from the workforce during the course of the coronavirus pandemic. And Kathryn…
Has Bill Barr Decided It’s Now "Every Man for Himself"?
Bill Barr deserves no sympathy, none. As Attorney General, Trump’s very own Renfield, has betrayed the American people, disgraced his office, damaged the Department of Justice over which he presides…
Does Trump Want to Spread Covid-19?
It’s hard to imagine an American president choosing to put the public in harm’s way as a pandemic rages but those expectations don’t apply to the Trump administration. With “second…