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Daily Reading and Thoughts...

Daily Reading and Thoughts...

In no particular order. Labour Arbitrator overturns demotion of fire fighters who lost licenses due to impaired driving | 2017 CanLII 12120 (ON LA) - In a Labour Arbitration ruling which is well written and alive to the relevant issues of law, a Labour Arbitrator has ruled the City of St. Catharines was not justified in demoting two firefighters who could not drive fire apparatus after having their driver's licenses revoked for drinking and driving. The ruling justifying overturning the demotions (and 10% pay cuts) by noting the demoted category of Fire Fighter Class 2 normally includes driving, and therefore the City's argument the demotion is due to lack of driver's license is mute. This does leave the door open to...

In no particular order: Uber Drives Into Big Trouble | NPR On Point - a great discussion of the reputation crisis facing Uber during the past few weeks with informed guests and good callers to the show. Sifting through the spin | The McMaster Silhouette - after McMaster undergraduate students voted down a new university-backed student fee of hundreds of dollars per student per year, the University found $10-million towards athletics expansion, and the MSU is holding a new referendum to try and get students to approve the rejected fee. The Silhouette editorial takes on the spin....

My not so-daily sharing of links from across the WWW In no particular order: OMB Reform: Contested development | Toronto Star - the first of a three-part series by The Toronto Star about the Ontario Municipal Board. Idea: An Indivisible guide for journalism | Dave Winer - Dave Winer loves journalism, and with good reason is disappointed in journalists. On this blog, Winer calls for journalists to teach people to conduct journalism "We could have eyes and ears everywhere" Politics, Media and President Trump | The Brian Lehrer Show - A good discussion with Greta Van Susteren about "partisan politics and partisan media in the age of President Trump". Oscar-Nominated Documentaries: 'OJ: Made in America' | The Brian Lehrer Show...

My Daily* sharing of links from across the WWW. The power of the press can’t hold populism down, Peter Preston, The Guardian - he's right, the world is happening despite mainstream media positions. The media wants to defend their sources in government, and people want to replace failed institutions. The result is that people are looking to information that enables them to enact change, and in the absence of good information and serious leaders, they are drinking the sand. It's worth remembering that Bernie Sanders rose despite the media as well, the challenge facing me - how do I ensure the citizens of Hamilton have access to the information they need to find the serious leaders to address the...

My not-so-daily list of readings from across the WWW. In no particular order: Fake news is a red herring - a great read from Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT, published by Deutsche Welle....

My increasingly not daily list of readings from across the WWW In no particular order: Rose: Thoughts about the demise of electoral reform – or, we should have seen it coming - Queen prof Jonathan Rose on electoral reform. Using Machine Learning to predict parking difficulty - an interesting read on the Google Research Blog on how difficult it is to predict vehicle parking demand....

My daily sharing of readings from across the WWW In no particular order. What Yates Should Have Done and Quick Thoughts On Sally Yates’ Unpersuasive Statement: Two posts which make good arguments that former Acting Attorney General of the United States Sally Yates mishandled her response to the Trump Muslim Ban Executive Order. These challenged my viewpoint, I share them with you....

My Not-So-Daily List of Reads from Across the WWW I need to do better staying up on my readings and writing. I've been watching tonight's events in the ongoing and growing constitutional crisis in the American Republic. You can find me retweet about the crisis over on my Twitter account. I spent the past few days on a legal matter - seemingly resolved - and destressing by having coffee and tea with friends. In no particular order: Dear Mainstream Media: Why so liberal? - I'm enjoying WaPo's Erik Wemple's series answering reader questions. Journalists grapple with online unpublishing and the “right to be forgotten” - a short piece on this topic. I've received requests to unpublish from one individual who...