Posted inAlberta Politics

Thanks to Donald Trump, the post-war American imperium that’s run like a Swiss watch is coming unsprung!

PHOTOS: U.S. President Donald Trump’s inaugural parade makes its way through Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2017, just before the stuff hit the fan and everything went to hell in a handbasket. (Photo: United States Navy.) Below: President Trump, former president Barack Obama, the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and former Australian PM and […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Donald Trump: He’s bad, but I’m here to tell you he’s not the worst president our neighbours have ever had

PHOTOS: Donald J. Trump. Never mind what you think. He’s not the worst American president ever. Actually, he’s probably about the 7th worst … so far. (Photo: Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons.) Below: Worse presidents James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, Andrew Johnson, Andrew Jackson (in his dotage), Franklin Pierce and Millard Fillmore. People, I’m here to […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Impact of growing opioid crisis on life expectancy in the United States is more evidence that neoliberal austerity kills

PHOTOS: This scene is in Paris. It could be anywhere in our “globalized,” that is, neoliberalized world. (Photo: Eric Poulhier, Wikimedia Commons.) Below: Rundown but dignified Havana, high-profile U.S. economist Paul Krugman (Photo: Flickr, Commonwealth Club) and political economist Alan Nasser (Photo: Evergreen State College). Will Mexico eventually decide it wants to pay to build […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Those lame green coroplast arrows point to one thing: the UCP’s cozy relationship with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

PHOTOS: United Conservative Party MLA Wes Taylor with his notorious green coroplast arrow. Below: An example of the fun made of Mr. Taylor by Internet wags; Porky the Waster Hater, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s mascot; Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt and Wildrose Leader Brian Jean in happier times with their lame CTF-style signage; and UCP Leader […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

New Year’s bitter Twitter attacks on fact-checking economists suggest UCP will try to make 2018 the Year of the Big Chill

PHOTOS: University of Alberta economist and professor Andrew Leach. Below: Calgary-Fish Creek United Conservative Party MLA Richard Gotfried (Photo: Mr. Gotfried’s Facebook page), UCP Leader Jason Kenney, and University of Calgary economist and professor Trevor Tombe (Photo: U of C). New Year’s in Alberta blew in on a bitter winter wind. That was the weather. […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Happy New Year! It wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve without AlbertaPolitics.ca’s Top Ten political predictions for 2018

PHOTOS: Will U.S. spear hunters like this guy still be able to come to Alberta after 2018? Your blogger predicts they’ll have to find ursine victims elsewhere. (Photo: Youtube screengrab, grabbed by the CBC and re-grabbed by me.) Below: Demonstrators on Cambie Street in Vancouver protest against the Kinder Morgan Pipeline expansion in November. (Photo: […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

As the year runs out, here are AlbertaPolitics.ca’s Top Ten developing Alberta political news stories of 2017

PHOTOS: As time runs out on 2017, here are AlbertaPolitics.ca’s Top Ten developing new stories for the year. Below: Opposition UCP Leader Jason Kenney, NDP Premier Rachel Notley, serial conservative screw-up Derek Fildebrandt and Labour Minister Christina Gray. It’s easy to pick list of news stories that caused a big splash the day they appeared. […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

There was a whole lotta scrambling going on, 24/7 … can the 2015 PMO security breach whodunit be solved?

PHOTOS: Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, at right, somewhere in Iraq in 2015 (Photo: Screenshot of Global News video). Below: The very model of a modern major general, although not necessarily a Canadian one (Photo: Wikimedia Commons), and the Canadian defence minister of the day with some ghostly military personnel passing behind him (Photo: […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Put the Christ back in Christmas? Never mind that! Keep the marks in the market! Merry Christmas!

PHOTOS & ILLUSTRATIONS: Early opponents of the War on Shopping fight back at Christmastime (Photo: Chicago History Museum). Today consumerism is the state religion of both the United States and Canada, helping to put the marks back in the market. Below: Sol Invictus. Any resemblance to the Statue of Liberty is purely coincidental. Is it […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

R U #Fildeforgiven? Never say die, Derek! It sounds as if Jason Kenney wants you back

PHOTOS: Once and future United Conservative Party MLA Derek Fildebrandt in a favoured pose. Below: Mr. Fildebrandt, nowadays the Independent MLA for Strathmore-Brooks, with UCP leader Jason Kenney. Both photos were grabbed from social media. Just when we thought it would never be safe to go into a farmer’s field with a high-powered rifle ever […]