Standing Rock is Everywhere
Around the world, indigenous peoples are occupying the front lines in the battle to defend the planet’s environment. Chief Avrol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota people,…
The Mound of Sound
The Guardian Meets Charles Dickens
When it comes to my daily scour of the news it always starts with a quick scan of the CBC website and then on to the serious stuff, beginning with…
Climate Lemmings. You Either Are or You’re Not.
I think very few among us have any realistic idea of how far down the climate change road we’ve already gone. That includes our political leadership. No question about that.…
Monbiot, Again – This Time on the Scourge of Wealth Accumulation
It’s not a plot. The hyper-rich haven’t masterminded some scheme to suck the wealth and power out of the rest of us. Guardian columnist, George Monbiot, says it’s an entirely…
Another Reminder of Why Athabasca Bitumen Must Be Left In The Ground
It’s February. In the Arctic it’s pitch black. The darkness lasts until early March. February in the Arctic is normally cold, very cold. Only it’s not, not this year. It’s…
It Ain’t Over Until Fat Donald Cries "Uncle"
Donald Trump is so desperate to get free of his very own Russia scandal that he’s reading things into documents that simply aren’t there. Ed Luce, writing in the Financial…
Monbiot – The Town that Discovered a New Medicine for What Ails Its People.
The Guardian’s George Monbiot has a look at how the town of Frome, Somerset, managed to slash its emergency room admissions by tackling loneliness and isolation. This week the results…
Swindled. How Worried People in America and Elsewhere Were Conned into Faux Populism
Donald Trump’s die hard supporters still believe he’s a populist who will deliver them from the evils of globalism. He’s not. He’s a swindler and the Gullibillies are his lawful…
The NYT Asks: What Does Real Populism Look Like?
The term “populism” has been smothered in negative connotations lately as though it is the preserve of sketchy characters like Donald Trump or Victor Orban. Yet theirs is a perversion…
There’s No Time for Ottawa’s "Bitumen-Green" Economy.
We’re writing the future now for generations of Canadians to come and it’s indelible. A new study concludes that every five years we delay strong action on climate change will…
And So It Goes. Mueller Files New Charges against Manafort and Gates.
The indictment is sealed meaning it will be a while before the nature of the new charges against Paul Manafort and his former sidekick, Rick Gates. Gates has pleaded guilty…
What Is Trump Hiding?
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman concludes that Donald Trump’s abject indifference to Russian hacking of America’s elections admits of just two possibilities: either Trump is criminally incompetent or there’s…
The Case for Resuscitating Liberalism (While There’s Still Time)
Is liberalism dead in the modern era? The Atlantic’s James Traub (former editor of Foreign Policy) argues that it’s certainly on the ropes but might be salvageable. erhaps, like God,…
Well that Explains It. How, Yet Again, Little Norway Kicks the World’s Ass.
It has a population way smaller than the Greater Toronto Area’s 6.4 million. Norwegians come in at just 5.3 million. It’s a country of many truly remarkable “firsts.” Longevity, standard…
The Social Pathologies of Collapse
As a companion piece to the previous post, here’s Umair Haque’s essay, “Why We’re Underestimating America’s Collapse.” Haque offers up five trends, pathologies that he contends evidence America’s collapse. These…
Requiem for American Democracy
It truly was a death of a thousand cuts. It was years in the making and, when the heart stopped beating, few even noticed, fewer still cared. Thom Hartman traces…
Brain Candy – Can We Break Our Smartphone Addiction?
Definitely worth a read. Psychiatrist Norman Doidge and former Blackberry CEO Jim Balsillie kick around the growing problem of smartphone addiction. It may be a far worse problem than you…
Well, They All Got a Shoo-In from Ottawa. Thanks, Ottawa. Thanks.
The Globe and Mail has a feature story on how well Vancouver’s fentanyl bosses are making out and where they’re laundering their money – in high priced Vancouver real estate.…
Meanwhile, Less Than an Hour Drive from the Bloodstained Halls of a Parkland High School..
What would Presidents’ Day Weekend be without a three-day gunshow? Wall to wall “black guns,” assault rifles, AR-15s the weapon of choice for every school massacre. Instruments of mass carnage…
Want to See How Easy It Is for Russia (or Anyone) to Manipulate Ordinary People?
And Trump has denied this, denounced it as a “hoax,” for so long that experts say it’s already too late to take meaningful action to safeguard American democracy in this…