Can We At Least Fix Our Infrastructure Deficit?
Last week saw a number of opinion pieces, in the Globe & Mail, the New York Times and the Washington Post, discussing the failure of political will across the West…
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#Elxn44 Roundup
Links, notes and comments up to and including the first week of Canada’s federal election. – Shannon Proudfoot reports on Innovative Research’s polling into how voters perceive the federal parties…
Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The Globe and Mail’s editorial board discusses the need for far more Canadians to be vaccinated as part of any realistic plan to…
Afghanistan. Seizing Power is Easy. Paying for It Is a Vexing Problem.
It’s been estimated that the Taliban government has a revenue stream – drug trade included – of about $1.6 billion annually. The government the Talibs toppled had a budget of…
NYT – Finding the Will to Survive
Today’s editorial in the New York Times questions whether the will to avert climate catastrophe exists and where it might be found. We knew, three decades ago, about global warming…
If He’s Right, Does It Matter Whom We Vote For?
A lot of the posts on this blog over the past 15 years have dealt with two themes: the looming threats facing our civilization and the declining will or ability…
Musical interlude
Tove Lo – Sweettalk My Heart
Even If We Don’t Want to Admit It, We’ve Thrown In the Towel.
Is our decline now unstoppable? Author, professor and newspaper editor Andrew Potter argues it is and his arguments ring of truth: One of the more alarming features of our current…
Wheels Spinning Within Wheels
“When this religious militancy, the seed of which has been sowed by Pakistan, heads towards Pakistan, it will be catastrophic.” Since the Taliban overran Afghanistan there’s been no end of…
On time-shifting
There’s been some discussion about parts of Canada’s federal election campaign which are surfacing somewhat earlier than usual – ranging from party platforms (with the notable exception of the Libs‘),…
How Much Lasting Damage Does Wildfire Smoke Cause?
It’s bad enough that wildfires are now erasing towns and scouring neighbourhoods across western Canada and the US, more attention is being focused on the smoke problem. Wildfire smoke is…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Scott Larson reports on the continually rising number of active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan. Lauren Pelley discusses the likelihood that even fully-vaccinated…
Monbiot – We Can’t Win This While Humanity Comes in Second.
George Monbiot takes stock of the struggle to avert climate catastrophe and finds little cause for optimism. To the contrary, he writes that our political caste has thrown all of…
State violence against homeless encampments and the refusal to know
Many years ago, I was walking in downtown Hamilton with a friend. As often happens in downtown Hamilton, a woman we walked by asked us for spare change. I no…
State violence against homeless encampments and the refusal to know
Many years ago, I was walking in downtown Hamilton with a friend. As often happens in downtown Hamilton, a woman we walked by asked us for spare change. I…
Give Sarah the Last Word – the Taliban Takeover Was an Inside Job
Former journalist/Afghan activist/military advisor Sarah Chayes has, for the past 20 years, lived and breathed Afghanistan. Now she reflects on how the Taliban returned to seize control seemingly overnight. No…
After 20 Years, What’s With All the Surprise?
If you were an Afghan would you have fought to defend a weak and corrupt central government that, after 20 years was an utter failure? Defend what? For all those…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mickey Djuric reports on Saskatchewan’s alarmingly high rate of positive COVID-19 tests as students prepare to return to school. And Heidi Atter reports…
Tuesday Night Cat Blogging
Sun-lounging cats.