Pondering Pride
A group of us had a lively discussion at a Markham hotel bar last night about the differences between tolerance and acceptance. It’s an important distinction, especially now, during Pride month.
…Politics
This.
I’m not pro-abortion. No one should be using abortion as birth control. But I believe the so-called pro-life faction should be renamed anti-choice. A woman’s body should be hers to make decisions about. On last week’s SNL, Leslie Jones gave a sincere and angry response to Alabama’s hard-line, new anti-abortion law. She didn’t even have to say a word.
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Jagmeet’s Story
I like Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. I don’t yet know whether or not I like him enough to vote for him. He is the first turban-wearing Sikh elected in Ontario. He’s smart, accomplished, and, like most people, makes loads of mistakes.
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Starved for News
Most Americans have no idea that their local news sources are in trouble. Pew Research found that 7 out of 10 respondents believed their local newspaper was doing “very well or somewhat well financially”. I haven’t found a similar survey in Canada. But it’s likely – or at least possible – that the results would be somewhat similar.
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Headline Afterthoughts
The pay-for-admissions scandal in the US dominated last week’s news. That is, until the horrific mass murder of 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand. If people should be safe anywhere, it’s in their houses of worship, but it just keeps happening. This time, streamed live online. It’s beyond tragic and I just want people to be safe from these twisted madmen.
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International Women’s Day – On Being Liked
On this International Women’s Day, I suggest to you, my sisters, that we need to stop worrying about being liked. I stopped some time ago.
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Sentiment and Sensibility
It’s not really possible for journalists to be unbiased. Everyone has a bias. The goal for journalists is to overcome their bias for their work. They can do it. And I’ll show you how.
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The Price of Life
I’m not a conspiracy theorist about a cure for cancer. I don’t believe the government or big pharma are keeping it from us to force us to feed the beast by buying expensive drugs. But I do believe that big pharma is mostly a disgusting greed machine that pumps out important innovations and then holds us hostage to the cost. I’ll give you an example.
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Snowbound and Discontented
We had a lovely, low-key weekend, trapped as we were inside because of the snowfall. Just when Derek was seriously considering firing up our snowblower, we looked outside and someone had done the end of our driveway for us. Thank you, invisible stranger!
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Baby, It’s Hot in Here
Those who wish to be society’s moral conscience are at it again. The 1940s cold weather duet, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, is being pulled from radio station playlists as some equate its lyrics with rape culture. Absurd! …
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The Rank of Balloting
Monday is municipal election day in Ontario. London is the first municipality in Canada to use ranked ballots. It’s confusing, even to candidates, some of whom are giving their supporters some bad – and self-defeating – advice. …
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I Inhaled
The first time happened in high school. Susan Hopper smoked me up, as they say, under the bridge in Smithville. And then I had to go to a class. The teacher droned on and I couldn’t tell whether or not I was acting normal. I rarely smoked it after that, and never at school. …
Where Few Have Traveled
I’m starting the week with a post that’s part fan-letter, part information-sharing via my former colleague, Avery Haines. We were coworkers at CKFM/MIX/CFRB roughly a century ago. We saw David Cassidy and Danny Bonaduce perform together! Now, she’s an investigative journalist with W5 and she’s just back from North Korea. …
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My Limit of F***s
When Donald Trump made fun of sexual assault victim Christine Blasey-Ford, I knew I was close. When he walked up the steps of Air Force One with toilet-paper stuck to his shoe, and no one told him, my laughter created a little bit of room for more. But the confirmation of undoubtedly biased Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court nailed it. I’m out of f***s. …
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Drive Dirty
Drive Clean is over as of April 2019. I believe its intentions were honourable but it turned out to be a joke. …
Social Outcasts
Jian Ghomeshi wrote an essay about what his life has been like since he became a pariah. In the piece for the New York Review of Books Ghomeshi admits some stuff and ignores other stuff but mostly just explains how his life has changed. It’s a rare and fascinating character study. …