kar0ling

It may not concern others quite as much as it does me that ad revenue dried up for newspapers because with all the traffic Facebook was soaking up from the traffic it got from sharing news articles on their platform (especially when they add in algorithmic creepiness targeting). Not everyone is journalism adjacent and likes getting paid for their work.  It may not concern others quite as much as it does me that they added insult to injury by making it so we can't post news on Facebook here in Canada. Not everyone makes a good half of their posts around news articles.  But it should bother all of us that the tech giants raking in billions of revenue are able to squirrel out of an obligation to pay reparations to Canadian media. And you can blame our dear Mr Carney who made it one of his first acts as Prime Minister to just let the tech bastards off scot-free seconds away from them finally paying up. Nothing changed but there was no money.  So, when Tax Fairness offered a l...

With the help of France and Britian, Canada took the teeniest tiniest calcium pill today for its gelatinous spine and “agreed on the need to take action to prevent further damage” because “The Government of Israel’s actions in the West Bank are undermining the possibility of a two-State solution.” (Where have they been the past 30 years?) With the support of Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK, Canada has found the courage to “confirm their intention to introduce national and/or support European restrictions on trade in goods with settlements which are illegal under international law, or that they are actively considering these and other measures, in accordance with their national procedures.” Wow. So bold. So decisive. I'm sure it'll be effective. Ready Global Affairs' statement here I saw it online and couldn't restrain myself from snarking off on Bluesky: Violent settlers have been rampaging through the ...

As its name suggestions, World Beyond War, like me, doesn’t think war effectively solves any problems and would best not exist. But one must at least engage with the premises, so here, I’ve added some of my own spice to their letter urging Canada to at least not cooperate with the military of a country we’re at war with, even if it’s “only” a trade war. Dear Mark Carney You seem to think Canadians are stupid. It's embarrassing how correct you are, but not all of us are asleep. You warned us you'd try to undermine our best interests and even use the law against us, but all most people heard was your obviously false promises on election night to "fight for us." Or did we only hear a proposition where there was none? Because it seems you are in fact fighting alongside our greatest threats. At your press conference on Saturday to announce the suspension of trade talks with the US and the imposition of countervailing tariffs, you were asked: “Why does it feel like, to...

Canadian health care is far from perfect — it has never achieved all Tommy Douglas dreamed for it: from tip to toe (teeth are still missing, as are a lot of drugs) — but unleashing unfettered two-tier is the opposite of fixing it.  So I joined with the Canadian Medical Association in pleading for the Canadian government to grow a spine and stop unhinged Smith's attempt to violate our own rules within her province.  As someone on Bluesky observed, if Stephen Harper tried to do this, we'd be at the gate with pitchforks. Where is the outrage. Daddy Warbucks Carney’s latest just-barely satisfactory performance in trade negotiations should not blind us to his failure to prevent this from happening.  The letter to the health minister, CC my MP and the shadow ministers: The Canadian Medical Association says the Canadian government must stand up for Albertans and all Canadians to ensure Alberta's new legislation doesn’t create a new normal of health care haves and have-no...

On August 20, 2026, the Canadian government made a statement along with France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom on the Israeli Government’s decision to publish construction tenders for the E1 settlement project. “The Israeli Government’s decision to publish construction tenders for the E1 settlement project is unacceptable. The international community has long opposed this settlement expansion and has voiced their grave concerns privately and publicly.” It continues saying “International law is clear that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal. This is the position of the international community reaffirmed by the United Nations Security Council.” So said Canada. But what? Rabid, violent narcissts are rampaging over the West Bank, destroying life – vegetable, mammal and human – while the State's heavily armed and fully armoured teenagers in uniform just watch.  The time when having the courage to make a contradictory statement could be laud...

I open a lot of emails, skim the alarmed subject lines and the paragraphs denouncing the action government is either taking or failing to take, then click to sign the letter they have drafted to send. Sometimes I add my own spice (as is amply demonstrated on this blog).  This time they were inviting me to submit a letter to the editor to several publications instead, so here I go! It's fairly off-the-cuff so I highly doubt it'll be published anywhere, but if Stand for Earth is right that 60% of people in Canada don't want a publicly funded pipeline (depressingly low when you think about it; but I suspect most of the other 40% just don't even understand what's at stake or care to even try to understand), then we need our media to start reflecting that in their reporting. If some letters to the editor help newspapers gauge public sentiment to guide their reporting, then I hope this adds to the weight of opinion in a good way.  Prime Minister Carney says we can'...