James H McLaren @JamesHMcLaren@qoto.org

So, like, is everybody house poor now?

Just looking at some of the latest mortgage data and wow. 😮

I'm working on a story about this for CBC Calgary and looking to speak with people who recently renewed a mortgage and got stuck with higher payments.

(Ideally people in #Calgary, specifically, or #Alberta, generally. But open to anyone!)

Anyone want to share their mortgage story? Or know anyone who'd be willing to chat with me about that?

#yyc #yeg #journalism #ableg #cdnpoli #realestate

Wildfire season is off to an, um, early start this year (reposting with alt-text this time for the chart):

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/wildfires-outlook-forecast-1.6865791

#wildfire #wildfires #canada #alberta #novascotia #abfires #climate #climatechange

Nikki Haley said the most important issue facing teenage girls is unfair competition from transgirl athletes.

An estimated ONE MILLION high school girls have been raped based on a 2021 (NBC) report. In 2021, 2590 children under 18 were murdered by guns (Pew). Before age 18, 3.5 Million girls have been stalked. One in 10 girls is a victim of dating violence.(Childrens Hosp of Phila).

Meanwhile, (Apr 21, 2023) Newsweek reports 15 high school transathletes competed in high school sports, of those 15, only THREE are girls.

MAGA will exaggerate and lie about victimization to justify hate and bigotry. Nazis did this, too. It's not harmless.

Yesterday morning around 6:15 am in the Toronto Beaches. Sony a6100, 7Artisans 28mm f/6.3 lens #photography #toronto

When we talk about how billionaires shouldn’t exist I don’t think people really understand the massive difference in scale between a million and a billion. One million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 31 years. It’s an unfathomable amount of money that no one should have. Even uber-rich mega millionaires - hundreds of millions - really shouldn’t exist. We need to tax the rich; they’re the real free loaders. They’re the drains on the economy. They’re the ones dragging society down.

True.

nanu nanu

"No one ever died from reading a book about gay people. And yet, Republicans, who are determined to loosen or eliminate gun laws in the midst of an epidemic of mass shootings, consider books—and the ideas in them—the real threat to American life. It’s why Republicans have declared war on education, putting the livelihoods of teachers, librarians, and academics at risk."

~ Molly Jong-Fest

#Republicans #CultureWars #LGBTQ

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/05/ron-desantis-gop-book-ban

“Until a drag queen walks into a school and beats eight kids to death with a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird, I think you’re focusing on the wrong shit.”

- Wanda Sykes

FACT CHECK: Elon Musk didn't break the Internet.

He only broke Twitter.

The rest of the Internet is working just fine.