CBC's coverage of the federal election call starts in a few minutes... they are just now having a bit of background comments
Earlier this morning, cartoonist Barry Blitt was interviewed on CBC radio's "Sunday Magazine" program. Here's a quick range of his New Yorker covers, as collected by Google: https://25problems.com/images/barry-blitt-covers.jpg
Earlier this morning, cartoonist Barry Blitt was interviewed on CBC radio's "Sunday Magazine" program. Here's a quick range of his New Yorker covers, as collected by Google: https://25problems.com/images/barry-blitt-covers.jpg
Opinion section
By Roman Kowalczuk
March 15, 2025 - besides the old jingle (“You'll enjoy shopping at Simpson's, with their money-back guarantee...”) and the spectre of Bonnie Brooks, the single image that haunts me about The Bay is the 1980's TV commercial that had Bob Peter conviently bumping into Cher (as in the actor from the movie Moonlight and Sonny and Cher, The Beat Goes On etc.)
Related reading: https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2015/06/the-room
----------
March 13 - I have had trouble finding this book of recent. Probably because the first word in the title is "An", not "The".
Ha, the publisher is Harper Collins. They of the annotated Bible.
https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/an-ugly-tru ... 60689.html
----------
February 21 - Fact-checking Marit Stiles in the Toronto Star: https://archive.is/M0Rej
Doesn't look like she got too many things wrong and when she did it could be put down to a poor choice of words. Likewise it seemed to me that Bonnie Crosbie did fairly well under the Star's scrutiny.
January 6 - I posted a comment on Youtube re: the CPR and Metrolinx's bridge-head at Don Mills and Eglinton Ave. E...- https://25problems.com/viewtopic.php?p=250#p250
Friday December 20, 2024
A troubling opinion piece in the Toronto Star shows a bit of what it's like to try to be a general medicine practitioner these days - https://archive.is/2MWJi
Fentanyl and the effects of the drug crisis on marginalized groups were discussed at the Board of Health at City Hall. One speaker flat-out said the Province of Ontario was spreading lies in relation to Premier Doug Ford’s opposition to safe consumption sites.
Unlike many people I've been down to the corner of Queen and Bathurst Streets many times in the last 15 years say.
----------
Sept. 12, 2024
Isabella Gamk ran for mayor in the 2023 by-election; she sent in the following piece. It’s been a while since I’ve seen or heard anyone use the words "renoviction" and "demoviction" together in a single sentence!
- Roman
Renoviction and Demoviction Solution
This is POOF Protecting ODSP OW Funding's 2024 demand statement.
No one should be forced out of their neighborhoods due to financial insecurity. If a working person gets renovicted or demovicted or evicted for other trivial reasons or has to move out simply because they can't afford to pay a rent hike on their current unit and can’t pay the average market rent for the same sized unit in their neighborhood the government should make up the difference in rent costs. The same goes for ODSP and OW clients. Forcing people out of their neighborhoods at the end of a gun or forcing them out of their neighborhoods with financial inequality results in the same thing. If one looks down on those forcing people from their neighborhoods at the end of a gun one must also look down on those forcing people from their neighborhoods by way of financial inequality. Enough is enough.
If average market rent money was guaranteed for Canadians constitutionally the Federal Government would ensure rent prices would be reasonable and wages adequate so that they themselves wouldn't have to pay out so much in rent subsidies. It’s not rocket science. Stop funneling disabled people out of their neighborhoods and into homelessness and Shelters to wait for RGI/Subsidized Housing that is more akin to a jail cell than a home.
If one has troubles with other tenants in their RGI/Subsidized Housing or with people in their neighborhood and or are being kept up or woken up at nighttime constantly and can’t get a transfer from their Housing provider and can’t afford to move out on their own this is torture and a life sentence for being poor. Being poor and or disabled is not a crime so stop treating poor and or disabled people as if they are criminals. Forcing disabled people from their neighborhoods which thereby excludes them from their neighborhoods is the very opposite of inclusion. And just because someone lives in RGI/Subsidized Housing it does not necessarily mean they aren't still living in poverty. We need a new publicly posted poverty-line that actually reflects reality and not made up stuff like cost of living increase percentages that when added together for the last 6 years don't equal or reflect the 100% increase rent has gone up in the same last 6 year period.
With this being said POOF Protecting ODSP OW Funding demands current RGI/Subsidized Housing platforms be abolished and Average Market Rent by Postal Code be implemented instead so that Disabled Canadians can stay in their neighborhoods if they so choose to do so.
We also demand that the ODSP Basic Needs Allowance be adequate enough for Disabled Canadians to thrive and not just subsist in poverty. No one should be forced to use foodbanks in order to survive. This year the ODSP Basic Needs Allowance should be at least $1300.00 a month.
We also demand that the OW Basic Needs Allowance be adequate enough for OW clients to be able to buy food and have transportation and communication money to help them subsist while looking for work or waiting for Disability Benefits.
Isabella Gamk
POOF Protecting ODSP OW Funding
----------
Monday August 5 - I just saw this in the New York Times. I like anti-trust action but I didn't realize that FTC chair Lina Khan's dismissal is actually a topic of discussion in some corners. Khan and "black boxes" feature in some of the books I've recently mentioned. And Brian Tyler Cohen interviewed her on Youtube recently.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/03/business/dealbook/saying-the-quiet-part-out-loud.html
July 23 - This is one of the strangest U.S. politics items I've read in a long time: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/us/politics/republican-election-campaign-2024.html
July 10 - I actually saw the Crosstown LRT working! "Training cars" were out and about; one eastbound train or hookup of two or more cars paced the Eglinton East TTC bus that I was on.
The Toronto Star had a write-up about a recent report about Phil Verster.
----------
Friday June 28 - Doug Ford's ducking reporters’ questions about the Science Centre this week was something to see. First the house’s going into their summer recess, then the sudden announcement, late on a Friday afternoon, then the hasty photo op by Kinga and the Transport minister, and he’s refusing to discuss the issue.
I’m no fan of the LPO but I thought Ford's Trump-style tweet about Bonnie Crombie was crude, even vulgar. He's been kinder to the Queen (eg. the late Queen Elizabeth, of Canada) in the past.
Sunday June 23 - the Toronto Star republished a letter from Raymond Moriyama, written before the architect died, that says the concrete is fine. Contrary I guess to the Ernst and Young report.
I'm no fan of the Toronto Star but I'll certainly take them over, say, John Carmichael!
I'm reminded how former city councillor Doug Ford said that the provincial Tories would "get rid of" the science centre. Ummm... perhaps because the all-powerful Metrolinx agency needed the right-of-way for their Chicago-style "EL" (railway) trackage??? Duh!
At the time I posted a little doodle of the area going down the drain. Does anyone have a 3-D (.OBJ format) model of a kitchen sink?
To contribute to this section please send e-mail
March 15, 2025 - besides the old jingle (“You'll enjoy shopping at Simpson's, with their money-back guarantee...”) and the spectre of Bonnie Brooks, the single image that haunts me about The Bay is the 1980's TV commercial that had Bob Peter conviently bumping into Cher (as in the actor from the movie Moonlight and Sonny and Cher, The Beat Goes On etc.)
Related reading: https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2015/06/the-room
----------
March 13 - I have had trouble finding this book of recent. Probably because the first word in the title is "An", not "The".
Ha, the publisher is Harper Collins. They of the annotated Bible.
https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/an-ugly-tru ... 60689.html
----------
February 21 - Fact-checking Marit Stiles in the Toronto Star: https://archive.is/M0Rej
Doesn't look like she got too many things wrong and when she did it could be put down to a poor choice of words. Likewise it seemed to me that Bonnie Crosbie did fairly well under the Star's scrutiny.
January 6 - I posted a comment on Youtube re: the CPR and Metrolinx's bridge-head at Don Mills and Eglinton Ave. E...- https://25problems.com/viewtopic.php?p=250#p250
Friday December 20, 2024
A troubling opinion piece in the Toronto Star shows a bit of what it's like to try to be a general medicine practitioner these days - https://archive.is/2MWJi
Fentanyl and the effects of the drug crisis on marginalized groups were discussed at the Board of Health at City Hall. One speaker flat-out said the Province of Ontario was spreading lies in relation to Premier Doug Ford’s opposition to safe consumption sites.
Unlike many people I've been down to the corner of Queen and Bathurst Streets many times in the last 15 years say.
----------
Sept. 12, 2024
Isabella Gamk ran for mayor in the 2023 by-election; she sent in the following piece. It’s been a while since I’ve seen or heard anyone use the words "renoviction" and "demoviction" together in a single sentence!
- Roman
Renoviction and Demoviction Solution
This is POOF Protecting ODSP OW Funding's 2024 demand statement.
No one should be forced out of their neighborhoods due to financial insecurity. If a working person gets renovicted or demovicted or evicted for other trivial reasons or has to move out simply because they can't afford to pay a rent hike on their current unit and can’t pay the average market rent for the same sized unit in their neighborhood the government should make up the difference in rent costs. The same goes for ODSP and OW clients. Forcing people out of their neighborhoods at the end of a gun or forcing them out of their neighborhoods with financial inequality results in the same thing. If one looks down on those forcing people from their neighborhoods at the end of a gun one must also look down on those forcing people from their neighborhoods by way of financial inequality. Enough is enough.
If average market rent money was guaranteed for Canadians constitutionally the Federal Government would ensure rent prices would be reasonable and wages adequate so that they themselves wouldn't have to pay out so much in rent subsidies. It’s not rocket science. Stop funneling disabled people out of their neighborhoods and into homelessness and Shelters to wait for RGI/Subsidized Housing that is more akin to a jail cell than a home.
If one has troubles with other tenants in their RGI/Subsidized Housing or with people in their neighborhood and or are being kept up or woken up at nighttime constantly and can’t get a transfer from their Housing provider and can’t afford to move out on their own this is torture and a life sentence for being poor. Being poor and or disabled is not a crime so stop treating poor and or disabled people as if they are criminals. Forcing disabled people from their neighborhoods which thereby excludes them from their neighborhoods is the very opposite of inclusion. And just because someone lives in RGI/Subsidized Housing it does not necessarily mean they aren't still living in poverty. We need a new publicly posted poverty-line that actually reflects reality and not made up stuff like cost of living increase percentages that when added together for the last 6 years don't equal or reflect the 100% increase rent has gone up in the same last 6 year period.
With this being said POOF Protecting ODSP OW Funding demands current RGI/Subsidized Housing platforms be abolished and Average Market Rent by Postal Code be implemented instead so that Disabled Canadians can stay in their neighborhoods if they so choose to do so.
We also demand that the ODSP Basic Needs Allowance be adequate enough for Disabled Canadians to thrive and not just subsist in poverty. No one should be forced to use foodbanks in order to survive. This year the ODSP Basic Needs Allowance should be at least $1300.00 a month.
We also demand that the OW Basic Needs Allowance be adequate enough for OW clients to be able to buy food and have transportation and communication money to help them subsist while looking for work or waiting for Disability Benefits.
Isabella Gamk
POOF Protecting ODSP OW Funding
----------
Monday August 5 - I just saw this in the New York Times. I like anti-trust action but I didn't realize that FTC chair Lina Khan's dismissal is actually a topic of discussion in some corners. Khan and "black boxes" feature in some of the books I've recently mentioned. And Brian Tyler Cohen interviewed her on Youtube recently.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/03/business/dealbook/saying-the-quiet-part-out-loud.html
July 23 - This is one of the strangest U.S. politics items I've read in a long time: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/us/politics/republican-election-campaign-2024.html
July 10 - I actually saw the Crosstown LRT working! "Training cars" were out and about; one eastbound train or hookup of two or more cars paced the Eglinton East TTC bus that I was on.
The Toronto Star had a write-up about a recent report about Phil Verster.
----------
Friday June 28 - Doug Ford's ducking reporters’ questions about the Science Centre this week was something to see. First the house’s going into their summer recess, then the sudden announcement, late on a Friday afternoon, then the hasty photo op by Kinga and the Transport minister, and he’s refusing to discuss the issue.
I’m no fan of the LPO but I thought Ford's Trump-style tweet about Bonnie Crombie was crude, even vulgar. He's been kinder to the Queen (eg. the late Queen Elizabeth, of Canada) in the past.
Sunday June 23 - the Toronto Star republished a letter from Raymond Moriyama, written before the architect died, that says the concrete is fine. Contrary I guess to the Ernst and Young report.
I'm no fan of the Toronto Star but I'll certainly take them over, say, John Carmichael!
I'm reminded how former city councillor Doug Ford said that the provincial Tories would "get rid of" the science centre. Ummm... perhaps because the all-powerful Metrolinx agency needed the right-of-way for their Chicago-style "EL" (railway) trackage??? Duh!
At the time I posted a little doodle of the area going down the drain. Does anyone have a 3-D (.OBJ format) model of a kitchen sink?
To contribute to this section please send e-mail