Right now Roland King is in the woods behind our cottage, clearing brush in the bitter cold, sawing it, stacking it and selling it back to us as firewood. Roland just turns up, often working in the dark, always working for cash. Few people know more about forests and trees than he does. Roland’s been […]
The Plague-Ground – Are you an elite, or a professional, or neither, or both? Read More »
Four years ago, Robyn Doolittle wrote a series for the Globe and Mail called Unfounded. That word is stamped on sexual assault cases closed by police for lack of evidence. After a 20-month investigation, Doolittle found that one in five reported cases were dismissed this way. Not surprisingly, a large number of them involved Indigenous
The Plague-Ground – One Way to Close the Power Gap Read More »
In just a few hours last week, Joe Biden began dismantling what Donald Trump took four years to build up. This made Sleepy Joe one of the fastest 78-year olds in America. His 30 executive orders included rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, keeping the US in the World Health Organization, halting construction on the wall
The Plague-Ground – “Give me your tired and your poor…” Read More »
Amanda Gorman is as different from Donald Trump as any American can be. She’s young and Black and smart and funny and self-effacing and beautiful. She was raised by her mother, a middle school teacher, in Los Angeles. She got into Harvard honestly and graduated the same way. Her star is rising faster than Trump’s
The Plague-Ground – The Girl With the Speech Impediment Read More »
Sexual perversity is not what I thought I’d be writing about on this morning in America when the Presidency passes from a mentally-ill person to a sane and decent one. But the QAnon Movement has grown since its birth in 2017 from an unhinged conspiracy theory of the demented right, to a virus infecting the
The Plague-Ground – A Primer on Pedophiles Read More »
We’ve all met someone we instantly dislike – even before they open their mouths. It’s not that you’re total strangers. A mutual friend is introducing you. But as the three of you stand there, there’s just something about him (or her) that ruffles your fur. Their thin smile? Their hearty handshake? Their ridiculous shoes? No
The Plague-Ground – I see you. I know you. I jail you. I kill you. Read More »
Enough of reality. It makes my head hurt. We’re all locked-down. It’s not even February. So rather than writing about plagues and insurrections, today’s Plague-Ground will be unimpeachably and giddily about you. Here are some ways to divert yourself. The Bart Simpson Gloom Eliminator. Test your blackboard writing skills. Tell Miss Jones what you really
The Plague-Ground – How to divert – and defend – yourself this weekend. Read More »
Remember the shirtless, horned rioter who carried his 6-foot spear into the US Senate chamber last Wednesday? Jake Angeli is 32-years old and lives in Phoenix. He’s an unsuccessful actor and voice-over artist who’s now an entrepreneur, selling online courses on how to combat “dark forces” for $44.44. He believes the pandemic is a hoax,
The Plague-Ground – Stupid White Men Read More »
No, Donald Trump is not Adolf Hitler. The Republican Party is not the Nazis, and America is not the Third Reich. But in these fiery last days of America’s first seditious President, there is a sense that The White House will become the President’s bunker. So it’s worthwhile to go back to Berlin in May 1945
The Plague-Ground – Trump in the Bunker Read More »
“Where were you when….?” Yesterday was one of those days. I’d chalked up two of them in the past four years, to balance the two engraved in my brain for many years: November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and September 11, 2001, or Nine-Eleven. My most recent Where were you…? moments
The Plague-Ground – Strike 4. We’re out. Read More »
I urge you to set aside an hour of your life to listen to a man whom you likely disdain and whose predations account for untold misery in America today — especially this very day. I want you to listen to Donald Trump’s phone call last week with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where
The Plague-Ground – A Masterclass in Thuggery Read More »
The vaccine’s no longer coming. It’s here. The trouble is, its presence is as spotty and enduring as our response to the pandemic itself. And by “here,” I don’t just mean Canada, but the world. EU leaders on the weekend rushed to quell “mounting disquiet over the slow pace of national vaccination campaigns,” while in
The Plague-Ground – A shot in the arm Read More »
