- Knowing that he can't hope to get a progressive budget that adequately taxes the wealthy and big corporations through Congress, Joe Biden appears to be trying to get the Republicans to publicly oppose such measures, hoping that they'll harm their own popularity in so doing. Worth a try, certainly, though it's hard not to think of the aphorism paraphrasing John Steinbeck, that "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
- Given that Great Salt Lake is in danger of becoming the American version of the Aral Sea, some hard decisions are likely to be necessary. Local farmers would have us believe that they support solutions to the problem, but given that extraction of water for agriculture is a big part of the problem, their protestations have to be taken with more than a few grains of the lake's namesake.
- A former longtime Boeing employee who had raised concerns about quality control issues in the production of its aircraft has apparently shot himself.
- The Youth For Christ skatepark in Winnipeg is having a hard time getting staff and volunteers as a result of negative publicity over their policies towards the LGBT* community. I dunno, maybe it should be turned over to the city, or another nonprofit, if YFC can't keep it open enough to serve it's function.
- Recent fires in apartment blocks have caused serious difficulties for the displaced tenants as they try to find new accommodation in a tight rental market. Meanwhile a commercial building is a total loss after a fire last Friday.
- Community activists are concerned with the pace of action on a potential search of the Prairie Green Landfill. The premier is being coy about the matter; presumably there are complex negotiations involved, but one can understand the activists' frustration.
- A 27 year old woman in Alberta, who has autism, is trying to access MAID, and her father is trying to get a court to stop her. She was scheduled to be put to sleep last month, but an injunction halted the process. It's an ugly scene no matter how you slice it, and I don't envy the judge who has to make a decision on this.
- In South Korea, where addressing the country's low birth rate by increasing immigration is anathema to most of the population, they're now deploying talking AI dolls to keep lonely seniors company. Some studies indicate that this has reduced depression among seniors.
No comments:
Post a Comment