but this is 280 lbs of bullshit! (2 min) Bullshit is the lack of connection to a concern for the truth with indifference to how things really are ... the bullshitter by his very nature is a mindless slob." – Harry G. Frankfurt, professor emeritus of philosophy, Princeton University. Why do we accept bullshit? Two pithy little books by Read more...
(3 min) The Perfect Storm: An extremely bad situation in which many bad things happen at the same time. Five threatening forces Billionaire Ray Dalio, founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, warned in an interview (Apr. 13/25) on NBC News' "Meet the Press" about tariffs, growing debt and looming economic and political realities forming into the "perfect storm." Read more...
... it's the feet that matter! (3 min) Gordie Howe was a legend and "elbows up" is a catchy meme, but when it comes to fighting Captain Orange of Team USA, we need a show of strength that Canadians have not been very good at for a very long time. In fact, like many democracies, it's our Achilles heel. Read more...
... the President of the United States is being admitted (3 min) We need Nurse Ratched in the White House! The 1962 book by Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the 1975 Academy Award winning movie of the same name, is a marvelous, entertaining depiction of art imitating life. A story of fiction running on the Read more...
you are cut off from reality – since childhood "Donald Trump has committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era. Almost everything he said—on history, economics and the technicalities of trade—was utterly deluded." – The Economist All you need to know is in this recent article (4 min) in The Economist (founded in Read more...
... 'cause if she rises up, you're lunch! (3 min) "Bad officials are elected by good citizens who don't vote." – George Jean Nathan In this winter of discontent American citizens might want to turn their attention to America's great sleeping bear, hibernating in plain sight, ignored by all. Not only should little Donny Trump beware the bear, Read more...
The near-catastrophe aboard Apollo 13 was nothing compared to what Captain Space-X and his orange crew chief are now launching in America (11 min read) "Houston, we've had a problem." Jim Lovell, American astronaut, April 1970 Like the problem (explosion) on Apollo 13, the current firestorm raging from the White House could blow up if we don’t throw off our Read more...
still trapped in Plato's cave! "The prisoners would mistake the shadows for reality." – Socrates, The Republic, Book VII (20 min) About 2,376 years before Fox News was founded (1996), Plato wrote his renowned Allegory of the Caves (380 BCE), introducing it with Socrates saying, "And now, I said, let me show in an allegory how far our nature Read more...
in everything from hope and anger to failure, character, leadership and friendship (4 min read) Two men. Two Presidents. Two stories. Two books. Two Americas. Two visions (well, at least one). One rooted in hope and promise. One rooted in anger and self. "So which kind of person do you want to be?" – Ann Dunham (Obama's mother) Must-reads! Read more...
Canadian democracy in decline: An essay (7 min read) “All politics is local." – Tip O'Neill I remember the day, November 27, 2017. A Monday morning. The sky was blue, the coffee fresh, my adrenalin flowing. I said to my computer, “Today’s the day.” For two years, I’d been writing a column in the daily newspaper, Northumberland Today––as a volunteer––and Read more...