Socrates and Saunderson
In Plato’s dialogue Gorgias, Socrates debates with three sophists — Gorgias the rhetorician and his pupils Polus, and Callicles — about justice, power, morality, and virtue. Socrates also questions the…
Power
Freedom & Power
I am, for the record, perfectly comfortable with where and how I have positioned myself. I am passionately and steadfastly in favour of freedom, democracy, constitutional rule and human rights;…
Knowledge Is Power. Panic Is Death. Reconnection Is Resilience
Knowledge is power. Bacon was right about one thing, at least. People are afraid of wolves, coyotes, snakes, bugs, bears…the flu. Our ability to assess danger rationally in our modern,…
The Talibangelist Conspiracy to Rule America and the West
Talibangelists (aka (aka the pseudo-Christian, far right) would love to force everyone believe in and obey their highly-adulterated pseudo-religion, and to punish those who don’t. Or won’t. Punishment is big…
Countries can Greatly Reduce Carbon Emissions by Improving Transmission
In order to avert climate catastrophe we’re going to have to make boring changes to our built infrastructure. Politicians find it hard to argue for these sorts of enhancements because…
Dissolving Clouds
Came across this and began to wonder… If I could do it too… So today I dissolved some clouds using only the powers of my mind. It took longer than…
Desmond Cole, the Toronto Star and Another Existential Crisis for Professional Journalism
DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. I see this as a two-fold issue; firstly, actions and secondly, words. I’ll consider both briefly and then…
THE PROBLEMS OF CARDING: Excising the Discriminatory Police Street Check Process
Over at Academia.edu, I have posted an updated public policy analysis of the police practice of carding, also known as “street checks” that I did as part of my Master’s…
France Phasing out Coal by 2023
Not to be outdone by other nations, France has announced that the country will eliminate use of coal for electricity by 2023. Yesterday we looked at Canada’s plan to phase…
Columbus is no hero of mine
Italian-North Americans — especially those of us with roots in the Mezzogiorno (and I include the Ciociaria and Abbruzzo here) — don’t need a Genoese genocidal rapist as our hero.…
From Participatory Budgeting to Co-operative Tenant Control: An Alternative Policy Recommendation For Toronto Community Housing
Toronto Community Housing (TCH) is a huge organization with a crucial mandate. Located in Canada’s most-populous city and the capital of the Province of Ontario, TCH provides housing for 164,000…
Raise Corporate Taxes To Fund Ontario’s Infrastructure Deficit: An Alternative Policy Proposal
The province of Ontario currently faces a significant public infrastructure deficit which is harming its economic productivity and its quality of life. The government’s own numbers estimate that deficit at…
GOOD READING: @camilacore on the political economy of Uber in Toronto
Today, taxi drivers are demonstrating in Toronto over the city dragging its heels on regulating Uber. Cabbies have also let the politicians at Queen’s Park know how they feel. Ontario…
Notes on the Political Economy of the Hydro One Privatization or: Why Isn’t The Ontario Business Sector Paying Its Fair Share For Infrastructure?
Ontario’s provincial government faces a massive public infrastructure deficit. The province’s own numbers estimate the deficit at “tens of billions of dollars.” Among the high profile components of this deficit…
A Brief Note On #Elxn42 And Moving Toward A New Left
This much is clear: with the NDP’s federal collapse last night, the neoliberal Third Way experiment can clearly be declared a failure. But now what? Now, to build ─ not…
The only real downer over my holidays…
…was when my 8 year old son asked who else has been Prime Minister in his lifetime. And we had to say that Harper has been the only one. My…
Ontario’s Common Sense Revolution at 20: A Look Back
Today marks 20 years since the Progressive Conservative Party foisted its so-called “Common Sense Revolution” on Ontario. Former PC Ontario leader Tim Hudak took to Twitter this morning to extol…
Ontario’s Common Sense Revolution at 20: A Look Back
Today marks 20 years since the Progressive Conservative Party foisted its so-called “Common Sense Revolution” on Ontario. Former PC Ontario leader Tim Hudak took to Twitter this morning to extol…