1. PAUL DECHENE IS AT A STADIUM TECHNICAL BRIEFING RIGHT NOW! Big announcement today, and, wait! Here’s some pictures!
2. GUESS WHO’S LOOKING FOR A JOB? University of Saskatchewan president Ilene Busch-Visniac is out, out, out. This is a huge deal. The Globe And Mail isn’t just covering it, it’s running editorials. This all matters because universities have been under attack by bean-counters since the 1990s, and academics and legitimate experts have been routinely smeared and mocked as “elitists” in this country at least since the day the Harper government took office (could probably trace this back to the Harris government in Ontario). Sensible people are fed up with thinly-veiled attacks on public institutions such as the TransformUS initiative, because it’s blatantly obvious what they’re all about: suppressing criticism. More here, here and here.
3. STICKING UP FOR PRIVACY The Canadian Civil Liberties Organization has launched a lawsuit against telecommunications companies that give citizens’ personal information to government agencies without warrants. Good.
4. AROUND THE WORLD The collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet could devastate global food production, it’s officially a military coup in Thailand, 11 are dead in Ukraine violence, Egypt sends reporters back to court, some old French Nazi fuck wants an Ebola epidemic and that film of Palestinian teens executed by Israeli soldiers? Yep, it’s genuine.
5. THERE’S A ZILLION REAL PROBLEMS, BUT LET’S IGNORE ‘EM AND RESTRICT ABORTION The Southern United States needs massive psychiatric help, or something.
VIDEO: THERE’S A DOCUMENTARY ON ROGER EBERT Dammit, I really, really miss him.