In spite of what has been the single nastiest election in American history (yes, ever) many folks are already turning their bloodshot eyes to the 2020 election.
(Assuming we’re not all dead or in internment camps, obviously.)
“Will he? Won’t he?”
That’s the question folks are asking themselves.
In spite of Biden’s declaration, it’s still unclear if Biden actually will run in 2020. Which hasn’t stopped countless hopefuls from working themselves into a frenzy.
Posted in America, government, history, news, politics
Tagged 2020, Biden, democrat, election, fans, gaff, hawk, internet, Iraq War, israel, issues, Joe Biden, Joseph Biden, Mass Incarceration, Mass Surveillance, meme, memes, Neoliberalism, Policies, president, The Onion, Trump, Vice President, War on Drugs
Legalizing recreational marijuana was part of Justin Trudeau’s election campaign platform, but it wasn’t something many people took seriously. What with the common mistrust of politicians and the opposition of the very powerful Hell’s Angels gang, who stand to lose a lot of revenue if pot becomes legal, it was hard to take Trudeau’s proposition seriously.
That’s why I was surprised to hear that the Federal Health Minister had announced plans to legalize marijuana by 2017. CBC’s recent episode of Cross Country Checkup gave Canadians an opportunity to respond with a few of their thoughts on the new legislation. Many of the callers brought some great points to my attention, some of which I’ve touched on below. However, it was apparent that some callers were still buying into weed propaganda, from exaggerated health benefits to exaggerated threats. For this post I decided to pull together a few of the best arguments I’ve heard from both camps and try to find at least a little research to support their claims.
Pros of Legalization
1. Legalization could reduce an unnecessary drain on police resources
Cannabis related offences are the most common type of drug offence in Canada, especially here in British Columbia.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Aggregate Uniform Crime Reporting Survey.
According to Stats Canada, “in 2012, 43% of Canadians reported that they had used marijuana at some time in their lives, and 12% reported using it in the past year”. That means half of all Canadians could have been charged with possession at one time or another. Although in some places police will turn a blind eye to mere pot possession, there are still a significant number of cases reported by police. CBC explains that
there were 57,314 marijuana possession-related “incidents” reported by police nationwide, according to Statistics Canada. More than 24,540 people were charged as a result. The year before that, 25,819 Canadians faced charges.
What’s disconcerting about this grey area of crime is that police can often use their discretion when it comes to actually prosecuting an offence. According to a recent CBC News analysis, where you live can affect if you will be charged. They report that “you’re almost 23 times more likely to face a possession charge in Kelowna, B.C., than in St. John’s.”
Marijuana use is so widespread that it is taking a massive amount of police resources to even pursue pot users. According to a report last year, “police report a pot possession incident every 9 minutes in Canada”. Inevitably, chasing down the almost endless amount of pot users and dealers takes police away from pursuing other criminal activity. Continue reading
Posted in business, Canada, health, politics
Tagged adolescent, Alcohol, alcohol percentage, brain, British Columbia, campaign, Canada, Canadian, cancer, cannabis, CBC, Colorado, concerns, cops, crime, decrease use, decriminalize, drain, drugs, effects, fat cells, Federal Health Minister, gang, government, health, heavy user, Hell's Angels, issues, Justin Trudeau, legalization, legalize, long term research, marijuana, medicinal, medicine, Mental illness, misinformation, opportunity, police, Portugal, pot, profit, recreational, resources, scientific, scizophrenia, Stats Canada, tax, THC, tobacco, under the influence, weed
Since the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, I encountered several articles that criticize the way the Western world responded to the tragic loss of life in Paris. While each of these articles bemoans the loss of 132 innocent lives, they also highlight similar atrocities that happened before the Paris attack and were almost completely overlooked.
In a lot of ways this event, and its media response, reminded me of the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001. While the media response to this tragedy has been a little more self-aware, our international reaction has been similar to how it was last time this kind of tragedy affected a Western nation. Rather than discuss the way we responded to these attacks, I wanted to examine why we reacted the way we did.
1) It felt close to home
I remember waking up the morning of 9/11, walking into the living room to see my mom crying. My dad turned to me and told me the world had changed overnight. Hearing about the attacks on Paris gave me the same shiver of fear that I felt that day. I don’t think it’s hard to dissect what motivates that feeling. These particular attacks were frightening because they happened to Western nations, and we in the West are very accustomed to feeling in control. We took control over much of the world during an age of imperialism, colonization, and slavery. Today we continue to control much of the world through unfair aid practices and political manipulation. These kind of attacks are terrifying because they make us feel like we don’t have as much control as we think we do.
Even though last Thursday 45 innocent victims lost their lives to a terrorist attack in Beirut and, 6 months ago a similar attack in Kenya killed 147 innocent people, many of us heard little to nothing about those attacks until their news coverage was compared to what occurred in Paris. In our effort to show solidarity with Paris, the Western world made it apparent that certain tragedies frighten us more than others.
As Elie Fares explained in his blog comparing the media response to the Paris and Beirut attack,
“When my people died, they did not send the world in mourning. Their death was but an irrelevant fleck along the international news cycle, something that happens in those parts of the world.”
Posted in morality, news, politics
Tagged #ParisAttack, 9/11, aid, anger, answers, atrocities, attack, Beirut, change, colonialism, comfortable, complex, control, death, demonize, disturbed, Elie Fares, evil, Fear, frightening, future, George Bush, hate, human, imperialism, innocent victims, institution, Iraq, ISIS, issues, Kenya, liberal, love, manipulation, media, media response, news, paris, politics, prevent, professor, racism, radio, rationalize, Refugee, response, responsible, safe, selfish, slavery, students, Syria, terrorism, threats, tragedy, Tumblr, Twin Towers, underestimate, university, University of Missouri, unsafe, war on terror, War on Terrorism, west, western nations, world
And that’s a weird question to ask- especially coming from me.
Yours truly, for any new readers, is a dude. I’ve never worn high heels, and with my long and elegant (if somewhat hairy) legs, I’ve never had cause to.
Like this, only more so.
In spite of my obvious lack of experience, compounded with a whole gamut of cultural-historial-societal variables, I’d still wholeheartedly call myself a feminist. As such, I still feel compelled to ask-
Can a feminist wear high heels?
And I know this isn’t a new issue. For years, folks have generally agreed that high heels are uncomfortable and impractical. There’s not shortage of studies demonstrating the range of health issues they can cause: calf cramps, chronic (and permanent) pain, pelvic issues, callouses and corns, inflammation, pinched nerves, tendinitis, and a host of others which I could spend this entire post just listing.
I’m not going to do that.
According to science and common ****ing sense, no one’s are…
High heels are bad for you. That’s a cold, hard medical fact, and one that most everyone’s familiar with by now. Still, women continue to wear ’em, which again begs the question of “Why in heaven’s name would they put themselves through this?” Continue reading
Posted in advertisement, advertising, bizarreness, business, design, fashion, feminism, history
Tagged 2nd wave, advertising, arguments against, arguments for, cosmo, Cosmopolitan, Culture, damage, feminine, femininity, feminism, Feminist, Foot Binding, footwear, health, heels, high heels, history, issues, Jezebel, make-up, Medical, Men, Necktie, Prada, Stilleto, style, Versace, women
So roughly two months ago Gordon said I would be “providing some cutting observations on the state of Tumblr”, and I’ve finally gotten to the point where I’ve done enough research to finally tackle this thing. In this case “this thing” refers to “the internet’s conceptions of Tumblr and its users, specifically those who have been deemed ‘social justice warriors'”. It’s going to be a long one, so sit back, buckle up, and do one other thing you would do when riding in a vehicle.
Everybody Hates Tumblr
I’m not going to pretend I know where you spend your time on the internet, but chances are that you’ve come across the general sentiment that Tumblr is “all that is wrong with the internet” or “a literal cancer” or some other hyperbole. It’s gotten to the point where just invoking the site’s name in relation to anything can be, and usually is, a damning condemnation.
As far as I can tell, there exists a much stronger bias towards it than even 4chan, with the latter being heralded as the primordial ooze that the vast majority of our memes come from, a primal, unadulterated place that has stood true to its roots. That’s a conversation for another time, but the point is that Tumblr has come to carry more negatie connotations than other social networking sites, with a lot of that having to do with it being the homeland of SJWs, or “Social Justice Warriors”-
What Is A Social Justice Warrior? [Wow, Google Image Search Has Not Been Kind To That Search Term]
This YouTube video is a pretty short, funny breakdown of what one is:
If you didn’t feel like watching it, here’s what the dude defines it as, providing three definitions that get more and more easy-to-understand:
Post four about Taylor Swift. How on earth did we get here? I suppose it’s because, for better or for worse, she’s managed to attain the kind of pop culture prevalence and staying power which has resulted in my writing:
Which brings us to this Friday, three days after the artist donated $1,989 to a fan to help her pay off her student loans.
Click the image to be linked to the tumblr post cataloguing the full gift-opening.
The fan in question, Rebekah Bortnicker, created a video which she posted to tumblr, and which I’m half-watching as I write this. It’s actually pretty great. You know what else is actually pretty great, though? The way that some people have been reacting to this news, like nicole and Angela in the comments section of the People article I linked to up above:
Posted in celebrity, internet, money, morality, music
Tagged 1, 1989, 989, argument, bigger problems, comparing, comparisons, criticism, debt, fan, issues, logic, money, more serious, problems, Rebekah Bortnicker, student loans, Taylor Swift
Culture War Reporters 