Whatcha doon Saskatoon? Happy 4/20! It’s a beaut afternoon that could use a little more sunshine maybe: 16°C according to my pocket computer, with a revised high of 17 coming right up. The sun sets tonight at 8:13 p.m. and you won’t see it again until 5:55 a.m. tomorrow. It was up at 5:58 today for a grand and glorious total daylight time of four hours and (almost) 16 minutes. DING DING DING NEWS TIME!
1. SASK PARTY SUPPORT DROPS This is a surprise? Maybe that’s why they’re suddenly reviewing their $4.5 million cuts to libraries. Wait until the cuts really hit. Also, DON’T PISS OFF LIBRARY LOVERS. Also also: raise the PST another point, then roll it back by one per cent before the next election. And don’t tell my NDP pals (I may have one or two) that I gave you that solid political advice. Shhhh!
2. CRIME, CRIME, CRIME Guns fired in hotels, kids vandalizing schools, more human trafficking arrests. Why won’t anyone step back and take a look at Saskatchewan’s crime problem? Oh wait, Dale Eisler did.
3. LONG-AWAITED MARKET CORRECTION Saskatoon renters are starting to see lower rents as vacancy rates skyrocket. Dunno if anyone’s done a study but I submit that skyrocketing rent from 2006 to, say, 2012 will be shown to have been be a key factor that kept tons of regular people from benefiting from the boom. Stuff like that ain’t no accident, buttercups.
4. IT REALLY IS PRETTY NICE OUT THERE, DESPITE THE GREY Our On-The-Scene Mulligan took this photo for you! Look! Prettyyyy!
5. SO NOW GIRAFFES ARE ENDANGERED? YAAAY One of the most charismatic of megafauna should be listed, say conservationists. Threats to giraffes include human-caused loss of habitat, human-caused collisions with cars and…power lines? yeesh, and human-inflicted poaching and trophy hunting. Jesus, our species. We really are smarter, and better, than this. We’ve got to act like it.
6. THE ECONOMY SWOONS BUT THE BUD BIZ BOOMS Medical marijuana company CanniMed is putting $10 million into its Saskatoon plant. I doubt they’re doing it for vanity. There’s money in them thar buds.
7. A GOOD DEATH CBC has a story about the peaceful death of a husband with terminal cancer who opted for euthanasia. No dry eyes at this desk.
8. A BREXIT MULLGAN? The European Union parliament’s president said if Brits tuef the Tories, they could become unBrexited. Hmmm.
9. A PARDON: SOMETHING YOU EARN OR SOMETHING YOU BUY? People with criminal records who are eligible for pardons usually don’t have $631 lying around. They’re spending that money on their kids, or rent, or food, or prescriptions. A high price for pardons is fundamentally misguided and I’m glad the Liberals are looking into fixing the mess Stephen Harper and his gang of sociopathic goons created.
10. TORONTO LGBTQ COPS DEMAND CITY PULL PRIDE FUNDING I can see their point. I can also see how chronically racist policing pisses people off so much that they organize to punt uniformed cops and their parade floats out of Pride.
11. COLBERT’S “TRIBUTE” TO BILL O’REILLY Nicely done.
12. IT’S 4/20! Happy “Pot Is Still Illegal But Not For Much Longer” day. Looking for some stuff to read? Start with Beatty’s feature in the current Planet S, then check out Now’s interview with pot activist Jodie Emery. The Georgia Straight has a report that tears apart the Liberal’s legalization plans and the Toronto Star has a story on the origins of 4/20. Pro-weed Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger has tons of stuff to read, including this article on the history of Washington state’s trail-blazing cannabis regulations and this David Schmader piece on vaginal pot suppositories that has awesome sentences like “the sun is rising in my uterus”.
Let’s wrap this up with Adam Ruins Everything’s reality check on marijuana. See you tomorrow!
