And another thing (from Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes): the guy who considered his football game to be far more important than knowing whether or not his girlfriend was pregnant. Not unusual. Most men worship football. Guys, especially jocks—you have been brainwashed. It’s a fucking GAME. A game of tag with a game of catch. To see …
June 2025 archive
Jun 29 2025
“just kidding around” / “just a joke”
Jodi Picoult’s excellent novel, Nineteen Minutes, got me thinking, yet again, about when people (most often males) claim they were “just kidding around” or that it was “just a joke”, what they really mean is “I don’t want to be held accountable for what I just did.” And it’s appalling that such immaturity persists well …
Jun 27 2025
Spending — I finally get it.
I finally get it. A few days ago, I bought some stuff from a new local bakery, not because I needed what I bought or even because I really wanted it, but because I wanted to support the business, I wanted to help the owner and her small staff stay in business, because so many …
Jun 26 2025
“Banking on Climate Chaos”
“Last year was the hottest year on record, but that did not stop global banks from walking back climate pledges and significantly increasing fossil fuel financing. Over 65 banks across the world, including CIBC, TD Bank, and Royal Bank of Canada in the top 15, have committed $10.8 trillion to fossil fuel financing since 2016 …
Jun 23 2025
Mountainhead (on Crave)
Maybe I’ve just been naïve, but I found this movie very frightening. It gets a bit silly about 1.5 hours in, but otherwise … Via ‘new’ tech that exacerbates to the nth degree everything that’s horrifying about AI and apps that enable fake pictures, videos, and text/news—essentially, lying—it shows the concentration of power in the …
Jun 20 2025
An exit strategy (for Trump)
(You seem to be painting yourself into a corner, and you’re 79, and you need an exit strategy …) ‘You know, someone asked me the other day, what am I gonna do next? Well, I’ll tell you. I’m gonna quit. Quit while I’m ahead. That’s the smart thing to do. I’m the richest man on …
Jun 18 2025
The trade war
You know, I’m confused about this whole trade war thing. Better a trade war than a nuclear war, for sure, but … Isn’t it good for a country to reduce its dependence on other countries? Isn’t it good to reduce one’s deficit, to balance the budget? If the States doesn’t want to buy as much …
Jun 16 2025
Trump on trans rights
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2024/05/10/trump-promises-rollback-on-trans-rights-heres-what-hes-said/ Yes! (Canada, take note!)
Jun 14 2025
Strip Search – movie by Tom Fontana – highly recommended NOW
I watched this years ago, but happened to watch it again today (it’s on CRAVE), and WOW. Talk about timely. The current political context in the States adds so much to the viewing. Highly recommended. (Though I the classroom ‘What if?’ bookends are unnecessary and, actually, reduce the film.)
fiction
