This was really well-written. Thank you!

I’ve always wondered about this! Do you know whether the population used for “per capita” calculations includes illegal immigrants? Citizens and legal visa-holding residents, surely, but how do illegal/undocumented people get counted for this? I haven’t been able to find a good answer before.

I loved all the breathless coverage of **The Line**™️ when it was announced. Because so few were willing to say what was obviously and transparently true: “this thing will never, ever, ever get built.”

In a bit of a similar way, I feel like there’s also a lot of irrational cultural resentment that’s really only going in one direction.

Currently: Twitter, but only in a bad way

This does not reflect my experience with most of the local, provincial and federal politicians I’ve met in my life. Some, sure. And others a combination of deeply held beliefs with a desire for power/status. But most have had a pretty genuine belief in doing good for their communities.

Thank you! I’m sick of every very serious pundit addressing this resentment like it’s a mechanical reaction to material circumstances. And it’s bloody well not.
There’s no policy solution that’s going to change the minds of people determined to resent you.

As someone with painfully scant knowledge of the criminal justice system, I vote for you and Jonny to have regular back and forths here so I can spectate and try to learn something.

I really don’t love that a fifth of the electorate is detached from reality and buying pro-MAGA propaganda.

Thanks for sharing that. They’re really good quotes.

My appetite for rehabilitation is inversely related to their socioeconomic privilege.
A poor kid from a from a messed up home does some drug dealing or theft? Sure, lots of room for rehabilitation.
A rich business owner or lawyer ignores the law for financial gain? Make a fuckin’ example of them.

Man, just *thinking* about that big dumb game makes me smile. I’m sure the barrier to entry is an issue, but that magic of getting that game 15 years ago and feeling like there was a game made just for me is worth a lot of DLC.

He can’t get tired of it; it’s all he’s known for like a decade and a half at this point. It’d be like a fish being tired of water.

I second this! I remember it being okay, but certainly not “worst book ever” territory. I’d love to hear Wyman take it apart.

Along those lines, have you come across the 80s british satire song “Never Met a Nice South African”?

I still remember him doing an interview on the radio a few years ago where he argued that Alberta would have an easier time getting pipelines built through BC if Alberta was an independent country.
Whatever his former credibility as an economist, he’s traded it all for partisan influence.

+10 internet points to you for sharing that. Thanks!

Yeah, sorry, wasn’t trying to put words in your mouth. I should’ve phrased that as “consumers’ dumb irrational purchases of ever larger SUVs/trucks can’t be blamed on the government.”