Metaneos

CBC News This is hardly surprising. This should have been a top priority during the new government's installment over these past few years, but it hasn't. Things should be far better, but they're more or less the same as the previous government. Being slightly better than the Cons on taxes on the well-off isn't an inspiring reason to re-elect these chumps, and they're well within the danger zone of losing the next election over reasons such as this. Why bother voting Liberal if all Canada's getting is less-mean Conservatives. Canadians wanted change , not this tepid nonsense. Worse off, the optics are awful. Canada needs that tax revenue, now more than ever, what with the government fumbling around in regards to that US President who's intent on tanking economies world-wide.

Matt Tabbi, Rolling Stone I share the concerns voiced in this article. Honestly, the Russians had nothing to do with the 2016 election. The claims being made are now becoming toxic and insensible. It's difficult to bare with progressives and liberals carrying water for neo-liberals and neo-conservatives. People are being fed yellow cake, and are eating it all up, crumbs and all. There's no good to be had, attacking Trump from this angle. It's absolutely shameful.

CBC News Sounds like good advice, returning payroll back to local hands. "A sustainable solution will take years and cost more than the $540 million the government expected to spend to resolve pay problems," the audit concluded. A stark assessment. I wouldn't be surprised if the government was off by billions. The longer the problems continue, the greater the price to fixing the system. They can lose money trying to make this faulty system work, or they can return to a tried and true method. It should be an easy choice, but it's not likely to happen.

EarthSky Update: Welp, I've already made changes to the spreadsheet I've been working with (and also edited the spacing in the posting). Take my numbers, and think of them as worse than I initially expected. I forgot to account for inertia. Of course, I was only doing this as an exercise for the brain. The numbers grow more and more dismaying, though. And these are just estimates, based on nothing more than news articles. I can't imagine the actual numbers, and what scientists and statisticians are finding. It's just awful. Well, this was to be expected, right? If global warming is rising exponentially, then all that follows should match. Such should include climate change. We should be expecting stranger weather at an increased rate until normalization occurs, which should be decades after maximum warming. The Earth has enough carbon to produce six degrees of warming in total, but we wish to keep it to two and a half degrees. However, we've already hit two de...

The Atlantic My goodness. What is suggested in this report is how a changing climate can negatively effect our physiology, which could turn our own bodily systems against itself. Only one factor fit the bill: climate. The places where the saigas died in May 2015 were extremely warm and humid. In fact, humidity levels were the highest ever seen the region since records began in 1948. The same pattern held for two earlier, and much smaller, die-offs from 1981 and 1988. When the temperature gets really hot, and the air gets really wet, saiga die. Climate is the trigger, Pasteurella is the bullet.

Made a comment at The Disaffected Lib . Reposted here for personal archival purposes, as I may build upon some of the themes within. _____ Historically, people like Trump tend to be empire's second-to-last leaders. Leaders who lead their nations into stagnant and ruinous policies. Think Brezhnev. Mehmed V. It's generally a series of unfortunate coincidences that lead to their installments, and it's usually a series of blundering events they create leading to their empire's decline. Well, helping to lead to their empire's decline. The political atmosphere which foster these sorts of leaders helps, too. Trump crawled fully formed out of a membrane which was vomited onto the floor in the United States during the end of Age of Reagan. I really can't say it was inevitable that Trump would win election in the USA, but it was inevitable that someone much like Trump eventually would. It's down to the momentum of history, I suppose, that it happened....

Personality politics emerge as pipeline dispute pits Alberta against B.C. "For Ms. Notley to tell British Columbia that somehow chasing the 20th century is the way for our future is not a good sign for her and her economy in Alberta," Weaver said. "Frankly, I think she should get with the program and embrace the 21st century as well." I've gotta agree with this. The tar sands have become a money pit, an economic black hole from which Canada needs to try escaping before they take down the entire economy. Back in 2009, Canada was spending $30 billion a year in subsidies so that the tar sands could generate a mere $10 billion in profit. That's, frankly, insane. That was when the price of crude was well over $100 per barrel. With prices falling dramatically to below $50 per barrel, that $10 billion in profit dried up rather quickly. And whatever profit was being generated fell just as much as the price of oil, which means Canada's now probably spendin...