Musings from Canada's far east
In the past 36 hours, social media has exploded over a controversial headline in The Telegram. The story, by court reporter Rosie Mullaly, covered the first day of testimony in the trial of Carl Snelgrove, an RNC officer charged with sexual assault against a young woman to whom he offered a ride home in the
I considered composing my own annotation of Donald J. Trump's inauguration diatribe, but instead will defer to this excellent piece from Vox. http://www.vox.com/a/president-trump-inauguration-speech-transcript-annotations
A school bus rides along an open country road in winter. The children are laughing and jostling, the two in back waving at the man in a pickup following behind. Suddenly, the driver loses control. She tries to straighten the vehicle, but instead swerves off the edge and trundles down an embankment. The man in
Saying Russian hacking had nothing to do with the outcome of the U.S. election is like saying sexting other women had nothing to do with Anthony Wiener's political career. The former New York congressman may well have botched things all on his own, but revelations about penile postings — including messages allegedly sent to a
Many years ago, I was at a New Year's Eve party and a fellow I knew suggested we put this song on at midnight. I knew why, but you have to listen to the whole song to realize. Not long afterwards, he committed suicide. So, here's a happy new year to you all. Hope it's
Nobel award-winner Bob Dylan basically defined the protest song in the 1960s. What do protest songs sound like today? Well, here's a favourite example, from 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fju9o8BVJ8&feature=youtu.be
Thanks, everyone, for your encouragement on my new blog. Thanks to Ed Hollett in particular for giving me a little plug on Bondpapers the other day. He is truly one of the originals, having blogged on (mostly) provincial and federal politics for the past 11 years. He's received a couple of notable nods for his
I hate Christmas. Those who know me are painfully aware of this. They call me "the Grinch" or "Scrooge" or some other moniker drawn from the repertoire of Christmas water torture that makes me despise the season in the first place. In fact, I don't hate Christmas at all. Despite a predilection for scientific skepticism,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUGTzpntLs8
Christie Blatchford complains in the National Post that women have become over sensitive about words, at the expense of accurate language. Fair argument. Then she throws in a jab at Newfoundland minister Cathy Bennett's newser this week about online/email misogyny and abuse. Is it really just about developing a thick skin? Seems the two are