Good afternoon! It’s 13°C just before 2:00 on a chilly, rainy yet likable Wednesday afternoon. As we near solstice, we’ve got 16 hours and (almost) 25 minutes of daylight. Sunset tonight is 9:11, sunrise was the usual 4:46 a.m. Here’s some news.
CHILD SETS OTHER CHILDREN ON FIRE IN LARONGE Horrible.
THERE ARE SO MANY GUN NUTS IN AMERICA EVEN REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS GET SHOT SOMETIMES A gunman wounded four Republicans in Alexandria, Virginia at a bipartisan charity event. The shooter, predictably, is now dead. Given that the suspect was a Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer, this appears to be a rare case of left leaning would-be killer. Assholes with guns are usually libertarian sociopaths or profoundly unwell young men. Well, now everyone’s deranged. Great. Oh and hey, I hear there’s also there’s a been a mass shooting in San Francisco.
CHANGING PRIDE POLITICS ARE ROOTED IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY That’s what I took away from this excellent article, which talks about ongoing tensions in the LGBTQ* movement over issues like police participation in Pride parades. It focuses on Toronto but these conversations and debates are ongoing everywhere.
FLINT, MICHIGAN WATER CRISIS: HEALTH BOSS CHARGED WITH INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER Story here, and more here. Makes me wonder if someday we’ll see Canadian politicians and public servants charged for First Nations’ chronically shitty drinking water.
MEET YOUR NEW AMALGAMATED HEALTH BOARD Now let’s all Google these individuals and see if there’s any sketchy ideology going on. Also, having just one health board for the whole province is probably a terrible idea.
FROMAGE FIGHT Canada and the EU are arguing over cheese. As a cheese-eater with only moderate concern for Canadian producers whose research is limited to reading this story, I think Europeans have a point.
NAZI BLOGS FUCK OFF An Edmonton keyboard creep has been charged with willful promotion of hatred. Meanwhile, Alberta’s education minister filed a police complaint over anti-LGTBTQ* flyers. Alberta’s conservative base sure has some winners, doesn’t it? By the way, Saskatchewan did fairly well on that hate crimes report that came out the other day. Sometimes this place is all right. Then again, considering I know someone who suffered a brain injury in a gay bashing, have met people who think “Hitler was right about a lot of things” and have seen a lot of crap on Facebook written by Saskies, it’s pretty clear there’s still a lot of hate and fear here.
HAPPY 30TH, BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Last month was the 30th anniversary of one of my favourite animated films, which incidentally was produced by Radio Canada (suck it, CBC haters). Frederic Back’s adaptation of Jean Giono’s novel L’homme qui plantait des arbres won the 1988 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. I’m shocked I couldn’t find an anniversary tribute online—arts journalism has really beaten beaten to hell in this country, hasn’t it? Regardless, The Man Who Planted Trees is gentle and lovely, and spring is a wonderful time to watch it — especially in this ominous era of unchecked climate change and rising fascism.
https://youtu.be/KTvYh8ar3tc