A Ray of Hope
Some day we might think of Omicron as the friendly Covid variant. English experts confirm that it is both milder and shorter-lived than its predecessors, the Alpha and Delta variants.…
December 2021
Paris, the City of Bike Lights
When I visited Paris long ago it was a traffic clogged mess, with lovely architecture. Parisians have had enough of bad traffic and decided to solve their mobility challenges by…
The Real Thing
The moral authority of organized Christianity lies in tatters. With some of that religion’s loudest adherents claiming that Donald Trump was anointed by God to re-order the world, who could…
No, He’s Not His Father.
Prime minister Justin Trudeau recently told Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star that he was not his father. I knew that. I respected his father. His father respected the liberal…
The Year in Climate. What We See and What We Don’t See.
Deutsche Welle has a recap of the global climate emergency in 2021. The summary touches on what I would call the “big ticket” events, the ten most costly climate disasters.…
The Secret U.S. War on innocent People.
The scene is common in the middle east. Families, adults and children, are leaving their places of worship. These are quite innocent people, not at war with anybody, not a…
Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Marieke Walsh and Carrie Tait report on Canada’s grim milestone of two million COVID cases recorded – even as the medical system braces…
The Secret U.S. War on innocent People.
The scene is common in the middle east. Families, adults and children, are leaving their places of worship. These are quite innocent people, not at war with anybody, not a…
Lost in the mountains on Christmas day
Originally published by The Orca.ca Lost in the mountains on Christmas day DECEMBER 21, 2019 DANIEL MARSHALL The forbidding Cascade Mountains in winter The untold story of the fearsome winter…
On "Fixing" ASD
I watched a course-load of videos by Dr. Alok Kanojia (@HealthyGamerGG) this past summer. He’s a therapist specializing in addiction in his day job and focused on gaming addictions online,…
Marking the 15th year of AlbertaPolitics.ca, which begins today, here’s a list the Top Ten UCP Scandals of 2021
With less than 48 hours to go until Christmas Day, I predicted on Dec. 23 that the UCP’s Edmonton pandemic party at the Parlour Restaurant two and a half hours…
The dangerous rise of the anti-vax far-right
Anti-vax sticker in Vienna during a rally against vaccine mandates, November 20, 2021. Photo by Ivan Radic/Flickr. As the pandemic has spread across the globe, the far-right has been at…
The Well-Worn Warrior.
I certainly hope conservative leader Erin O’Toole is enjoying this holiday break from parliament. He deserves some rest. He needs to sit back in a warm easy chair, his feet…
Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Nick Dunne interviews Colin Furness about the impact the Omicron COVID variant figures to have in schools – and the need to…
Daphne Bramham: Relearning the lessons of our matriarchs
Opinion: COVID-19 and recent catastrophic flooding have made me appreciate the simple luxuries of butter, flour and sugar, a.k.a. shortbread. Author of the article: Daphne Bramham Publishing date: Dec 24,…
My latest: governments, naughty list
In political life, certain things are predictable. Predictable things include: elections. Also: votes. And: speeches. Almost always: scandals. Out here in the real world, there are predictable things, as well.…
a reading plan for 2022, plus how the 2021 plan fared
I’m enjoying my new-ish habit of having a reading plan for the year ahead. I like having the structure and the direction. But I also like — and need —…
A Lot of Canada’s Leaders are on Very Thin Ice.
Let’s put it this way. When called to rise to the occasion this year, Canada’s political leadership – the premiers and the prime minister – failed to distinguish themselves. First…
The Friendly Warrior.
The wife said it. I told her that I wanted to write something positive about federal new democratic leader Jagmeet Singh. I happened to have a newspaper page open in…
Conservative Premier Scott Moe sides with Big Oil campaign, ignores the climate crisis
Regina city councillors proposed legislation to ban advertisements from oil and gas industry. The industry responded with an astroturfing campaign. Here we have yet another example of right-wing politicians supporting…