Discovering Steve Boots, a funny, amiable socialist and teacher who does Canadian political analysis on YouTube.
Entertaining the possibility that we might actually dodge electing a Conservative government in this year’s federal election
This has been an unplanned somewhat political post, thanks to tariffs and other actions and comments from some increasingly senile old white guy who wears a lot of orange makeup because he is a clown, and we are all part of the circus now.
An interweb pal suggested the perfectly stupid name 7-11’s Big Gulf as a substitute for the real life and even more stupid renaming (for Americans) of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
Because I am easily amused, I created this as it might look in the web version of Apple Maps:
In Canada, I hope the federal Liberals elect a competent, interesting and articulate new leader and go on to win another minority or maybe even majority government. For a long time the Conservatives have had a big lead in the polls, but it seems suddenly shaky after Trudeau announced he is stepping down. Pollievre would be a terrible prime minster, as he’s completely consumed by ideology and politics–and is out of step with most Canadians on many core issues and values. I’m not a huge Liberal fan or anything, but they would be far, far better than anything we’d get under Pollievre’s leadership.
In the U.S. it’s simpler still: That Trump and his acolytes don’t destroy democracy. It’s too early to call it yet, but early signs are not looking good.
And that’s all I have to say about politics. Now I must take a bath to cleanse my body, if not my soul.
I shot this rather pretty green hill as I was walking along North Road today (through a fence, I should add). If I had been able to reach the edge of the hill, I could have taken a photo of the detritus of the Trans Canadian oil pipeline expansion site: a huge and empty wooden spool, a few tarps covering mounds of soil, some small metal structures. The workers are gone now, and I don’t know if the site is going to be reclaimed or just left as is. I suspect the latter.
And while the grass looks pretty, here’s a Google Maps street view from 2017, the last year when the area was completely untouched by the pipeline construction:
It’s rather ironic that a buried pipeline required thousands of trees to be chopped down. And only grass is put back in their place. I suppose the view is nicer now without all the pesky trees blocking it.
The pipeline–a colossally expensive, stupid and unnecessary project that was about to be cancelled before the federal government swooped in to save it–is just about complete now, as the world transitions away from fossil fuels. If I think about the pipeline, it makes me angry. So I try not to think about it much.
That grass sure looks nice, though. You’d never know.
A few days ago I unsubscribed from two well-written, timely and informative newsletters.
Both focused on covering politics and the news, mostly in terms of how politics often is the news. Both were American-centric, but the U.S. does have a rather lot of influence on the world.
Over the past few days, I found myself starting to read the current edition of each newsletter, then stop. A few times I just straight up deleted them, unread. I thought about how I stopped checking the news on a daily basis and how every time I have checked the news since then, it reinforces what a wise decision that was.
These newsletters were making me feel pretty much the same way as ingesting the news on a daily basis had: bad.
If I want to feel bad, I can just step on the scale. It’s quicker, costs me nothing and fifteen minutes later I’ll have either forgotten about it or rationalized it in some way (“Focus on the long term, not daily fluctuations”). The bad feeling does not linger.
Reading bad or unpleasant news–especially political news–lingers. It burrows into my psyche. I don’t like that. Is it a me problem? Possibly.
But I have an easy me solution–just don’t read that stuff! I can still stay informed without soaking in it, as it were.
And so my email inbox grows slightly slimmer. Now if I can just do the same.
I don’t discuss politics much here any more (one of the perks of generally avoiding news sources), but I was amused by this YouTube comment made in response to a video covering today’s announcement of former President Trump’s (first) indictment:
Daring Fireball linked to a quaintly prehistoric photocopy of an Isaac Asimov piece written for Newsweek circa January 1980. As a frame of reference, this was a little under 11 months before Reagan was elected president.
It is biting, acerbic and works precisely as well in 2020 as it did 40 years ago. One might make a persuasive case for it being even more effective now. A quote:
We have a new buzzword, too, for anyone who admires competence, knowledge, learning and skill, and who wishes to spread it around. People like that are called “elitists.”
The sarcasm, it burns.
And the closer:
I believe that every human being with a physically normal brain can learn a great deal and be surprisingly intellectual. I believe that what we badly need is social approval of learning and social rewards for learning.
We can *all* be members of the intellectual elite and then, and only then, will a phrase like “America’s right to know” and, indeed, any true concept of democracy, have any meaning.
In 2020, nearly 74 million Americans voted for four more years of President Donald Trump.
I don’t write much about politics–and especially not in 2020 when leaders around the world have often not just disappointed but been actively harmful, but this shot from the CBC News site of side-by-side stories captures the results of BC’s election yesterday. With advance poll and mail-in ballots still remaining to be counted, the results won’t be official for a while, but it seems clear the NDP won their biggest majority ever and the BC Liberals will almost certainly be looking for a new leader soon.
You know who I’m talking about. I don’t post much about politics because so much of it is flat out depressing, but I think it’s important to examine the politicians who make it into government, to learn from them, even when they are terrible. Or maybe especially when they are.
I came across this piece on John Gruber’s Daring Fireball. It’s an examination of Trump, what he is and where we are now. It’s depressing, accurate and important.
And so they ask Trump questions about what he’s saying, and he talks about what he always talks about; he never knows anything useful, cannot tell the truth about the few things he knows, and is pulled by his own preposterous vanity and insecurities back toward the only thing he really cares about, which is himself. This is what the news is made of, now—the things that a vainglorious fraud says, and then the things that other people on television say about how Dangerous and Irresponsible they are, and then what Trump says about that in his amphetamized after-dark Twitter sessions or scrambling tantrum-swept mornings. It’s not that the things Trump says aren’t actually dangerous or irresponsible: They absolutely are. The bigger problem is that the definition by which these things are considered news—basically, because the president says them—is no longer workable.
Bonus quote. Really, go read this now:
…what Trump says will always be nonsensical and self-serving because his brain is a gilded bowl of rotten nectarines
Let’s have a look now that we are eight months into this year of 2019:
World peace: Could be better, could be worse. Trump is still president, so likely to get worse.
Measles: on the rise, thanks to anti-vax paranoids. Thank you, Luddites and irrational fearmongers!
Global warming: We are doomed, pretty much.
Politics: Authoritarianism and despots on the rise, democracy ailing, even in places where it should be strong. This could change–but it could also change for the worse. See the first bullet point.
BC politics: The minority NDP government has proven adept and sane, boding well for the next election, though the general insanity of voters is always a worrying factor. It’s helped that the BC Liberals elected an out-of-touch rich white guy as their leader.
And my own list:
Meditation: Thought about it, but have yet to meditate. Before I can even begin, Pocket has already offered an article on the sinister side of meditation, where you apparently think tranquil thoughts about murdering people or something.
Stretching: Not really. A little here and there, but no concerted effort. This needs to be a higher priority unless I actually reverse the aging process.
Writing: The less said, the better. Which is how I’ve approached writing this year.
Drawing: I think about doodling. Then I never do it. But the doodles in my mind are great.
Reading: My pace is picking up again. If I stay at it, I may end up matching last year, which will be good.
Blogging: Generally running to catch up, as is the case this month where I’m tapping last minute inspiration to get to 31 posts before midnight.
Running: Doing more, and the runs are going well. I have yet to tackle a 10K this year, but will try to before we get fully into the fall weather.
