Blacklock's Reporter

Poet Shai Ben-Shalom writes: "I suggest nominating this manager for the Outstanding Leadership Award. In last month’s staff meeting, he came closer than ever to telling the truth..." READ MORE

Once upon a time officialdom discovered a new branch of science nobody had ever heard of. Fresh and exciting, it was quickly embraced by the smartest professors, the most progressive thinkers, the wisest judges. It swept the nation. You can’t argue with science. Only later did Canadians learn it wasn’t science at all but a hodgepodge of supposition and anecdotes perpetuated by hidden agendas. Of course by then much harm was done. There were lawsuits and unsatisfying half-apologies but the people who foisted this fraud on the citizenry were not known for their humility. It was eugenics, the scientific claim that if dull people were prevented from having children by force if necessary, society as a whole would become sharper. Psychiatry And The Legacies Of Eugenics unravels this dark and startling story, the “devastating social movement of the first half of the twentieth century.” READ MORE

The Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear a final challenge of a 1912 law requiring that lawyers in Alberta swear allegiance to the King. The oath is similar to that required of newly-elected MPs: "If it does not come from the heart it has no value." READ MORE

The decommissioned Kingston Penitentiary this fall should be transferred to federal real estate managers for sale as Lake Ontario waterfront property, says a Correctional Service memo. The penitentiary closed 13 years ago: "Anyone who says we don’t need to put everything on the table right now is not listening." READ MORE

A union’s 12-year defamation claim against Toronto journalist Jerry Agar has been dismissed by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Judges upheld a lower court ruling that “heated” or “colourful” debate on current events was "what a free and democratic society does." READ MORE

Parliament’s 2023 passage of the Online News Act left Canadians, especially those in rural areas, too reliant on mainstream media and “official voices” in news coverage, says a report to the Commons heritage committee. The Act provoked a Facebook news ban that left communities “lacking credible information on the platform they used most,” it said. READ MORE

Canadian parents remain wary of Covid shots for children even years after the pandemic, new Public Health Agency data show.  Current vaccination rates run as low as 12 percent: 'They object to what they saw as an attempt to make them feel guilty.' READ MORE