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A 30-yr old male drove his SUV into the crowd at the Filipino Lapu Lapu street festival in Vancouver on Saturday, killing 11 (some reports say 9) and injuring dozens. Something made him think this was the right thing to do. Conservatives online were quick to say “this is why we need Poilievre” and this, for me, is the problem.

Two parties in Canada right now are working hard to sow discord and division, mistrust, resentment, fear, and outright hate. The Conservative Party and the People’s Party both want you to believe that the problem is The Other, and that your vote can fix it.

It is a cruel lie, and almost half the country is eager to believe.

I would love to know how a conservative government (Conservative or PPC) could have saved those 11 lives. More police? More militarization of the police? Put that driver behind bars after his first infraction and keep him there? Privatize the prisons?

All tempting, I’m sure. I mean, none of that has ever worked anywhere else, and it all ends up costing way way more (someone has to pay for the added police and retail prisons), but maybe it would be different here?

That’s the thing. All those fear-based solutions have been tried. They don’t work. They don’t reduce recidivism. They erode trust in the police. They increase fear. And they actively draw money away from longer-term solutions that DO work.

If you want a healthy society with less crime, you have to invest in it. Free, robust, abundant public education for all. Free healthcare for all. Livable wages for all. According to all the evidence, that’s it. That’s what works. Because healthy, educated, employed people commit less crime – and they contribute to the economy.

Fear-based thinking claims that this means less for you. Facts show that it means more for everybody. It’s the definition of a thriving economy.

In a society that works for everybody, maybe that driver would not have slipped through the cracks. Maybe he would have received the care he needs long before he reached this crisis.

A few things are certain: Putting him in prison won’t bring anyone back, it won’t fix him, and keeping him there will be expensive. Killing him would make us killers.

So, no, a conservative government will never be the answer. I’m all for curbing wasteful spending, but you can’t rely on short term fear-based thinking to define “wasteful”. The question is: do we want to live in fear, or do we have the will to invest in a better future for all of us?

We vote on Monday.

You no longer have to wonder what the Germans felt during the rise of the worst of humanity. You’re living it. What are you doing about it?

Harvey Fierstein posted:

I have been banned from THE KENNEDY CENTER.

A few folks have written to ask how I feel about Trump’s takeover of The Kennedy Center. How do you think I feel? The shows I’ve written are now banned from being performed in our premiere American theater. Those shows, most of which have been performed there in the past, include, KINKY BOOTS. LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, TORCH SONG TRILOGY, HAIRSPRAY, SAFE SEX, CASA VALENTINA, SPOOKHOUSE, A CATERED AFFAIR, THE SISSY DUCKLING, BELLA BELLA and more.

I have been in the struggle for our civil rights for more than 50 years only to watch them snatched away by a man who actually couldn’t care less. He does this stuff only to placate  the religious right so they’ll look the other way as he savages our political system for his own glorification. 

He attacks free speech

He attacks the free press.

He attacks America’s allies.

His only allegiance is to himself – the golden calf.

My fellow Americans I warn you – this is NOT how it begins. 

This is how freedom ENDS!

Trump may have declared “woke” as dead in America.

We must prove him wrong. 

WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!!

The theory is that trump is jerking tariffs around to cause predictable market stumbles, making it easy for his puppet masters to get richer(er) . He’ll keep doing it. As Canadian consumers , our only defense is to hold the line – keep buying Canadian. Punish American producers long term for enabling him. Unite his country against him.