Jaywalking Shouldn’t be Illegal
So far in 2018 a car driver has killed a person every week; if this continues Toronto will see yet another year in which more people die from vehicles than…
USA
Resistbot Makes it Easy for Americans to Reach Politicians
The inability to easily take action is a leading factor in why people don’t engage in political change. The creators of a new service, Resistbot, want to make it simple…
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…
I’ve Got an Idea to Rescue Justin From His Slump
Unfair or not, Justin Trudeau has taken a hit in the public’s mind over his pretty clumsy trip to India. With JT et famille sporting an elaborate wardrobe of Bollywood’s…
“Defend Lives, Reform Laws.”
We need artists, geniuses, radicals and random brilliance to disarm society and its pathologies. Normal doesn’t work anymore. “Some of the negative comments claim what we did was insensitive, but…
Why the Parkland Shooting can Change the Gun Conversation in the USA
Out of the tragedy of the Parkland school shooting might come some good. You might be sceptical as Americans are used to schools being attacked by gunmen and we’ve heard…
The problems with progressive free trade and a divided labour movement
…And we’re back to regularly-scheduled programming. Apologies for the podcasting hiatus to (now really faithful) listeners; I hope to be back to regular episodes once again. I’m restarting the show…
It’s Time to Tax Car Drivers by the Kilometre
The RAND Corporation is calling for a new way to tax drivers in the states: by distance traveled. Car drivers may feel like they’re paying too much in taxes already,…
A Blast From the Past. Remember the "Peace Dividend"?
The world but especially the Western alliance breathed a huge sigh of relief at the collapse of the former Soviet Union in late 1991. Over the following years, nation after…
Why Net Neutrality is Important
The current federal administration in the USA is really challenging norms in American society, the most recent attack is on net neutrality. Earlier this year the Trump administration tried to…
The USA Is Disconnecting From Reality
The US government is a deranged, terrorist state. There is a broad epidemic of people throughout America with damaged mental health who are unhinged from reality. That people are trolling…
Whether the USA survives as one nation and not two or several…
…is anyone’s guess. I ain’t no psychic. So. Something I’ve been saying since Obama was elected and the right-wing vitriol fallout is that this was the beginning of the end…
American Startup Creates Job Board for People with Criminal Records
Americans like to think of themselves living in the land of the free, ironically the country has the highest incarceration rate on the planet (and the greatest number of people…
Tonawanda Provides a Template for Transitioning a Town’s Economy from Coal
Globally, coal is on the way out and in America small towns are suffering because coal demand is dropping. The predictable plight of coal-backed small towns in the USA has…
Even Massive Multinationals Support Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is what allows the internet to be what it is, and without it the internet would be pretty much useless. The Trump administration is presently trying to eliminate…
To Fight Inequality we Need to Fight Poor Perception
Inequality is on the rise throughout the developed world and there’s no better example of this increase than in the USA. The concept of the “American Dream” has led to…
Is this why Trump won?
Here’s one analysis of why Trump won and the Clinton Democrats lost: Why? Because Trump’s brand of populism — and more importantly, that of working-class whites — differs in important…
Who’s Laughing at America [And Why]
When T$$$p says people are laughing at America, it’s because he thinks he is America. Here are some ways this is wrong, beyond the obvious. Read some of the King…
Get Rewarded for Supporting Civil Disobedience
If your idea to change the world is creative enough then you could get $250,000 from LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman. Technically, it’ll be from MIT Media Lab with money from…