Ungoverned Space
I have an essay in CIGI’s new data governance series, called Ungoverned Space: How Surveillance Capitalism and AI Undermine Democracy. My key points are: The threat to democracy from misinformation…
Uncategorized
European Left Divided Over Brexit
A panel of progressive parties of Europe discuss the UK’s plan for Brexit, with reps from the UK’s Labour Party, Spain’s Podemos, Greece’s Syriza and Germany’s Dei Linke — Read…
Revisiting ‘the Wimp Factor’. Will it return?
For most of the 1970s, Canada had the coolest leader in the room. His name was Pierre Trudeau, and he was undeniably the hippest, coolest, and dare I say “grooviest”…
Earthgauge News – March 19, 2018
Edition #12 of Earthgauge News for the week of March 19, 2018 A weekly Canadian environmental news podcast featuring stories from across Canada and around the world. Join me here…
Media release: Alberta needs a provincial sales tax
(March 20, 2018-Edmonton) Today, a coalition of researchers, economists, and members of civil society released an alternative budget to boost Alberta’s economic growth while reducing income inequality. “Alberta is on…
Miami Bridge Collapses
Why did the ABC bridge have its pivot supports removed before the overhead support cables visible in the finished design were installed? Days ago: Community gathers to watch 950-ton bridge…
Republican’s genius strategy
History Professor Alfred McCoy produced The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia in 1972. The CIA interfered with the book’s publication but its condemnation of American complicity in the drug…
Earthgauge News – March 5, 2018
Edition #11 of the Earthgauge News podcast for the week of March 5, 2018 A weekly Canadian environmental news podcast featuring stories from across Canada and around the world. Join…
Italian Government in Chaos as Far-Right Parties Surge
Italy’s election on Sunday didn’t produce a clear winner, making the task of negotiating a coalition government particularly challenging. Raffaele Laudani, professor at the University of Bologna, discusses possible outcomes…
Queen Survived New Zealand Assasin
This is a wild tale of a misguided 17 year old kid who later killed himself after being in and out of jail.
Stuff I Learned This Week no. 4: It’s Academy Awards Sunday. Prepare to be lectured.
I’ve always been a bit of an Oscar junkie. When I was a kid, and had to go to bed before the best picture winner was announced, I’d sit at…
“Nationalism versus Continentalism: Clarksonian Perspectives”
Greg Inwood This is a contribution from Greg Inwood for the series commemorating the work of Stephen Clarkson who died in 2016. Greg Inwood is a Profesor in the Department…
Don’t Make It Sound Like There’s More Than One Thing
“recognize its own climate change efforts, such as carbon capture and storage. ” Effort, not “efforts”. There’s only been one effort made, and arguably the CCS project increases emissions since…
Amarillo Police Shoot the “Good Guy With A Gun”
This is pretty much how you could imagine things would go wrong if you were caught disarming a crazed gunman before or as police arrive on the scene. Garces and…
Public Salon talk
I recently had the opportunity to give a talk at Sam Sullivan’s Public Salon in Vancouver. A great regular event hosted by the former mayor and current MLA. My talk…
Stuff I Learned This Week no.3: Why our best ever Olympics feels like a loss
The Olympics are over, and we in Canada can now go back to ignoring ‘big air’ and ‘half-pipe’ and even ‘mixed-doubles curling’. The record book will show that this was…
One man’s struggle against boredom
In the article More Energy Ministry duplicity, I wrote: Deputy Minister Dave Nikolejsin’s employment cost taxpayers almost $350,000 in the last fiscal year, including $90,255 in expenses, an amount that…
How safe are Canada’s elections from fake news on Facebook?
Here is an interview I recently did on CBC’s The Current on the digital threat to the next Canadian election. My argument is that a focus on discrete threats (from…
Earthgauge News – Feb. 5, 2018
Edition #9 of the Earthgauge News podcast for the week of Feb. 5, 2018. A weekly Canadian environmental news podcast featuring stories from across Canada and around the world. Join…
EUROPP – What happened to Europe’s left?
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2018/02/20/what-happened-to-europes-left/