Nothing tops a can of spray paint when it comes to the fragile self-esteem and sense of self-worth of a woebegone artist who feels that society has and is continuing to ignore them.

Want to be seen?  Want to be experienced?  Want folks to know you’re out there?  Want them to know just how important you really are?  And how gosh-darn talented?

Then, in the dead of night, while much of society sleeps, take your  little can of spray paint and vandalize the front of an innocent business, in fact a business not yet open for business.  Tag them before their grand opening, people are sure to notice that.  Never mind the fact that the owner has dropped about $200,000 in start-up fees to get the place up and running.  Never mind the fact that the business owner has taken a somewhat ragged little storefront on Renfrew’s main drag and transformed the corner location into one of the most eye-appealing presentations on the entire street, a street over-represented by cannabis shops, dollar stores, and tattoo parlours.  It’s a restaurant, novel in its concept, someone’s dream and vision coming to reality.  A labour of love.

Continue reading “TAG! YOU’RE HIT!” →

I was just watching a video of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking with CNN’s Dana Bash. I came away completely impressed.

I’ve not been a huge fan of Arnold, and I’m not completely sure why. I remember his rise as an actor, witnessed with surprise his election as governor, and witnessed the manner in which he helmed America’s most populous state. At some point, you’ve got to give a person the credit they deserve based upon the actions they’ve taken and the way in which they walked their talk.

Continue reading “SHWARZENEGGER SPEAKS ABOUT THE PROLIFERATION OF HATE” →

I can’t say I’m surprised about Don Lemon leaving CNN. There was something up with him for a while, and I guess it finally boiled over.

To me, he started to appear less confident on-air, and then suddenly, he lost his prime-time spot.

He was tossed into an early morning mix with Poppy Harlow and rising star Kaitlin Collins, no longer having his own show. Ouch.

The Nikki Haley thing was probably the final straw. Suggesting that women were only useful for two or three decades sort of hit the floor with a clank. And maybe he just screwed up, but there was enough there for the network to act.

Unlike Fox, CNN has all kinds of talent coming up and they’ve got to make room for them at some point.

Tucker Carlson leaving Fox News is, on its face, good news. With that level of following and riding the power of Rupert Murdoch, a person like Carlson can become dangerous, and he was. So losing his big bully pulpit will help.

But Tucker Carlson is still out there. And it’s where he pops up next that we should be worrying about.

Steve Bannon. Alex Jones. Now Tucker Carlson. All on the loose.

Hmm.

I’ve got to get Elon Musk out of my head.  I’m giving him way too much airtime, which would give the billionaire a kick if he were even aware of a small little blogger like me.

But just one more time.

Remember when Pierre Poilievre asked to Musk to label the CBC as “government-funded media” on Twitter?  And do you also remember how Musk willingly did that very thing?  The result was CBC suspending its official Twitter account and a number of satellite accounts while they assess the situation.

Then Musk comes back with something different.  Instead of “government-funded media,” the new advisory is “69% government-funded media.”

I wonder how Elon arrived at the number 69?  Just some random number that he snatched out of the sky?  I have some strong doubts about that, given that Musk is an adolescent who responds to media requests with a poop emoji.

The poor number 69, forever associated with a sex position, and this is what he trots out as a response.  Like, what is he, twelve?

A funny, funny man, that Elon.

And his massive SpaceX rocket that blew up this past week after launch?  That was pretty funny too.  The way he’s running Twitter into the ground after massively over-paying for it in the first place?  What a gas.  Those names he gave his kids?  Hilarious.

A funny little man with a huge ego who, like other little men who get a measure of power, use it to bully people or groups of people.

I’ll bet Elon was a target in school, the kind of kid that other kids would stuff in a locker, knock books out of his hands, or jam his face in a toilet bowl.  If that’s true, I have one question for the people who made Elon’s life hell at school:  

Why in the hell did you ever stop?

It’s been reported recently that the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, quietly and behind the scenes told some of his NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) counterparts that Canada would “never” reach the alliance commitment of member nations to spend 2% of their GDP on defence.  If true, it’s not the kind of thing I was expecting to hear, nor is it the kind of thing that will go down well with the folks living on the other side of the fence in the United States.

It’s important to note that NATO member countries are not required to spend a specific amount of money on defence each year. There is, however, a guideline for member countries to aim to spend at least 2% of their respective Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence by 2024, something agreed upon during the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014.  It’s not a legally binding obligation, but rather a target for member countries to work towards.

Continue reading “TRUDEAU HINTS CANADA MAY NOT MEET 2% NATO SPENDING GUIDELINE” →

My family, over the years, has been involved with newspapers and media, with several family members over the generations taking up their tasks as part of the fifth estate, myself included.  We’ve owned newspapers, travel magazines, and print shops.  We’ve sold advertising, written opinion pieces, and reported on events that were local, regional, national, and international.

We took money from nobody other than subscribers or advertisers, and we were all well-apprised of the golden rules of journalism, even though we were never sat-down and taught them.  We didn’t have to be, because they were self-evident.

Continue reading “THE ATTACK ON JOURNALISM” →

Cockleburs, also known as burdock, are one of the most hateful plants I’ve ever come across.  They’re known for their distinctive burrs, which are robust spiky clusters of bracts covered in tiny hooks that cling to fur, clothing, and other surfaces.

These things started popping up along the edges of the property where I live, and the burrs kept getting into the fur of my dog.  And once that happens, they’re miserable sons-a-bitches to get out, and it’s almost always a job the requires a pair of scissors.

So I set out to destroy them.

Continue reading “BURDOCK: THE INDESTRUCTABLE ENEMY” →

Elon Musk is a disruptor.

I guess you have to have some smarts to turn yourself into the second-richest person on the planet.  Except for a series of self-inflicted wounds, he could be, and once was, the richest.  And for a guy like Musk, I’ll bet that second-richest tag stings.

He’s an angry little man, that Elon, weird as all giddy-up too, but you’d think being a billionaire would soften the blows.  But no, that doesn’t seem to be the way it works with most of these guys.  It seems like their money serves as a multiplier for any grievance they may be carrying in their hearts.

Continue reading “CLEVER POILIEVRE ASKS TWITTER TO DESIGNATE CBC AS “GOVERNMENT-FUNDED MEDIA.”” →

Today in Louisville, Kentucky.  Late last week it was Nashville, Tennessee.  A few days before that, somewhere else.  It happens with such regularity that you forget the names of the places.

Today a guy walked into a bank and started shooting.  There were fatalities and there were wounded.  A shoot-out between responding law enforcement and the shooter.  The death of the shooter.  

It’s almost a predictability that it will happen again and soon.  Instead of a bank, maybe instead it will happen at a church, or a mall, perhaps a Walmart or a movie theatre, quite possibly a school.  Some deeply troubled human being will walk into some place geared up for war and will shoot it up, systematically murdering other human beings before ending up dead themselves, often by their own hand.

Continue reading “MASS SHOOTINGS BECOMING A REGULAR THING” →