Sandy Hook was three years ago today

— 12.14.2015 08:11 AM

And what has changed in the US in that time?

Nothing.

In fact, it is probably easier to get firearms in the United States now than it was three years ago.

After Sandy Hook, I gave up hope that Americans will ever change. If the deaths of twenty small children cannot do that, nothing will.

Here are those twenty children, and the six adults who died with them.


Comments (13)

Election 2015: the bettors are back

— 12.13.2015 11:55 AM

Way back in March or so, four of us – former Liberal leader senior staffers all – gathered to bet on the outcome of the election. I won’t reveal the identities of the other three, but my prediction is seen below. 

Last night, we gathered again chez nous.  We had fun debating it all. I had predicted a Liberal win, bien sur, but I sure overestimated CPC support in Ontario. Otherwise, not too bad. 

Been quite a year, politically. What’s your bet for 2016?

  


Comments (6)

Dubya returns

— 12.13.2015 11:09 AM

It’s kind of scary when W. and Palin actually turn out to be smarter than any of the current GOP field, ain’t it?


Comments (9)

This is a f**king disgrace

— 12.11.2015 12:53 PM

I am shocked.

“The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia has struck down an anti-cyberbullying law passed in response to the death of Rehtaeh Parsons, calling the legislation a “colossal failure” and saying it infringes on charter rights.

The Cyber-Safety Act was the first law passed in Canada aimed at protecting victims of online harassment. The Nova Scotia government introduced it two years ago under intense public pressure after Parsons, a 17-year-old girl, was bullied, attempted suicide and subsequently died.

Parsons’s family alleged she was sexually assaulted in November 2011, when she was 15, and bullied for months after a digital photo of the incident was passed around her school. She was taken off life-support after attempting suicide in 2013.”


Comments (19)

Then again, he probably wouldn’t even notice the difference. Which is kind of the point.

— 12.11.2015 07:40 AM

UPDATE: Smart reader Jonathan Scott adds it’d be “Captained by Rosie O’Donnell.” Also-smart regular Howard Margolian informs us: “In 1895, NY City Police Commish Teddy Roosevelt assigned an all-Jewish detail to protect a visiting anti-Semitic preacher.”


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Before he won in a landslide in 2010, I recall the same things being said about Rob Ford

— 12.09.2015 08:03 AM

As in: he can’t win, he won’t win, he won’t last past [pick a date].

Well, here we are, folks. Donald Trump is going to be the GOP nominee – unless there is a gang-up, in which case he will be the new Ross Perot. Either way, I’m reminded of what I usually say to my bewildered urban pals: “There’s another country out there, and most of us progressive types have never been to it.”


Comments (24)

Mbongwana Star – Malukayi (feat. Konono No.1)

— 12.09.2015 07:57 AM

You must listen to this. You must.

Matt Galloway was playing it on CBC’s Metro Morning as I came in today. I asked him who it was. Here’s what he read to us:

“In 2015, no piece of music so transfixed me as Mbongwana Star’s “Malukayi”. It summons an entire landscape. It moves like weather. Mbongwana Star is a group formed by two Congolese men in their 50s: Coco Ngambali and Theo Nsituvuidi, former members of Staff Benda Billi, who play music from their wheelchairs.”

This song is incredible. It recalls some of the ambient stuff I (secretly, usually) love: Public Image’s Radio 4, Pere Ubu’s Blow Daddy-o, the Liars’ Be Quiet Mr. Heart Attack. And anything by Wendy Carlos, going back to when I was 16, when he was Walter.

Check it out. And thanks, Metro Morn.


Comments (2)