How to Understand the News.
Much (most) of our news is based on lies. So, feeling miserable about the world in general, I thought I’d devote a blog to samples of people who lie about…
April 2021
Time of Use Billing is an Assault
By returning to the money-grabbing time-of-use (TOU) billing, Ontario’s Hydro One continues its unrelenting assault on the province’s seniors, stay-at-home parents, the unemployed, night shift workers, those under lockdown, and…
What Does it Mean to Enrol in a Course?
I guess the answer seems pretty obvious: you provide your personal contact information, maybe pay some money, maybe show you’ve satisfied a prerequisite, such as admission to an institution, and…
Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Justin Ling writes that the third wave of COVID currently swamping conservative-run provinces can be traced back directly to our leaders’ refusal to…
The Madness of Nietzsche
Nietzsche was either terribly misinterpreted, as my dearly departed scholar brother was adamant to say, or he was simply mad his entire life, and his philosophy was a philosophy of…
Media literacy 101, Redux
Omg he is citing the National Post! That’s a right wing newspaper! They say, pouring over their daily ingestion of the now truly extreme right wing, corporate oligarchy-driven mainstream “liberal”…
Unmasked, Undaunted, And Unhinged
Such is the state of things in Ontario. Huf Gym, in Mississauga, refuses to close despite the law. Indeed, as the following video report makes clear, the law seems to…
“Martial law.” Seriously? A thread.
Politicians hollering “martial law” about Ontario are being dishonest or ignorant. Or both. #onpoli — Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) April 17, 2021
Bruce Arthur demands crucifixion, and then, when he gets it, complains about the view
Correlation between @TorontoStar columnists who demanded Ontario emulate Australia’s hard lockdown rules and @TorontoStar columnists who are now outraged Ontario actually emulated Australia’s hard lockdown rules: one. #onpoli #cdnpoli —…
More Deadly
Bruce Arthur was with medical professionals at the Brampton Civic Hospital when Doug Ford announced his government’s latest plans to fight COVID: The doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists watched…
The Ford Agenda.
It is hard to tell if the pandemic is helping hide premier Doug Ford’s agenda for Ontario or just slowing it down. His plans seem to be everything except the…
Why Conservatives love the monarchy, and how without a Canadian monarch real republicans could be democrats
It’s been more than a week since the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, but his pale blue eyes still stare resolutely from the home page of the…
Shadow Life, graphic novel by Hiromi Goto, tops Alberta independent bookshops’ fiction bestseller list for week ended April 11
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, April 11, 2021. The lists are compiled…
Musical interlude
Donovan Woods – Whatever Keeps You Going
Enlightenment Today: by The New Dr. Pangloss
It is amazing to hear such a mish-mash from two intelligent and seemingly well-read individuals. I used to like them both, Steven Pinker and Stephen Fry, (video linked below) and…
Ontario’s COVID-19 Disaster in Five Words
The Ontario government would like to blame the behaviour of Ontario’s citizens for this disaster implying somehow we are so much worse than the citizens of other countries, and even…
The Plot, Completely Lost
It’s Friday, the weather is supposed to be nice this weekend and this should be a time that most of us de-stress, relax and try to put the stresses of…
Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Alex Hemingway writes about the massive concentration of wealth among the richest few Canadians while most people have struggled through the pandemic. And…
Climate change and climate change denial
Climate change is no longer deniable: it’s happening, is human caused, and is potentially catastrophic. But denial is still a huge factor that keeps us from doing what we must,…
A Stinging Indictment
The Covid numbers in Ontario today are grim: 4,812 new cases and 25 more deaths. The following report by the CBC’s Ellen Mauro places the blame precisely where it belongs:…