“Carol Off digs deep into six words whose meanings have been distorted and weaponized in recent years—including democracy, freedom and truth—and asks whether we can reclaim their value.”
Sounds like an excellent and really important book.
Would love to chat about @urbantruth.bsky.social, Carol.
Alberta teachers are extraordinary. Great questions. And always a delight to join forces with Tim.
Thank you Bookman!
Margaret is one funny woman and her Book of Lives: a Memoir of Sorts is one great book.
Thanks for teaching me how to make a tit puppet, Margaret.
I will have a look. Thanks for the tip.
I’m told that it can capture it. Or it soon will. maybe it will be sufficiently “human” to satisfy publishers and readers. Market forces.
And I will always enjoy the task of writing. But I despair that one day the publisher will not bother waiting for me to prime the pump or stoke the wood stove.
Yes books will survive. Written by AI. Technology will take over the task. I despair.
As I struggle each day to write another book I can't help but think that this activity will one day be as obsolete as hand-pumping water from a well or stoking the kitchen stove with wood in order to cook dinner.
Our #BlueskyBookClub pick today is from Senior Consultant @alysonfair.bsky.social: At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage, by Carol Off
It's a powerful reminder that civil discourse isn’t just nice, it’s necessary.
#BlueskyReads #BestPoliticalReads #ConversationMatters #canpoli
Ha! I arrived at our cottage to find this issue from last year still on the coffee table. Before the US election. Before Trump 2.
SCOTUS already in place to enable him.
What a difference a year doesn't make.
Voting in favour of a bill that you know will hurt your people but presuming they won’t find out until you are re-elected is the height of cynicism.
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/u...
Republicans want to slash food and medical aid for impoverished Americans in order to subsidize Jeff Bezos extravagance. These things are directly connected.
How do these people sleep at night?
Thank you Barbara!
I need you!
I hear you. It’s a difficult time for those folks.
It's dubbed the "None is to many" law. Canada sends asylum seekers back to the United States under a treaty that's supposed to protect their rights. We know it's not happening. Canada has legal obligations here.
My latest substack. Free to read. Free to subscribe.
open.substack.com/pub/caroloff...
Violent attacks on journalists who are trying to cover the protests around Los Angeles, according to @adamrose, the Press Rights Chair at Los Angeles Press Club.
Trump wants to create violence in California as a distraction while his agents round up families, farm workers and students for detention and deportation.
Canada is sending refugees back to the US -- a regime that violates their rights and deports women and children.
We have obligations to those people. It's time we honoured them.
Mr. Carney, tear down that wall.
My latest substack.
open.substack.com/pub/caroloff...
Canada's Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States is endangering the lives of countless people.
It's immoral and probably unconstitutional.
Mr. Carney, tear down that wall.
My latest substack. Free to read. Free to subscribe.
Beauty pageants, the flag, the search for symbols.
“We are defined by what we do, not by what we wear or what authority figure we can trot onto stage. We have a lot of reconciliation still to do at home but, mixed as it is, I believe our record can speak for itself. It's better than most.”
Good question! I would say our parks.
Why is it so hard for Canada to show the world what we are?
Canada: a nation in search of an identity and a symbol.
My latest substack. Free to read; free to subscribe.
open.substack.com/pub/caroloff...
Canada is standing up to the global neighbourhood bully -Donald Trump. And the world is watching.
Their takeaway? Never underestimate nice people.
My latest free Substack.
open.substack.com/pub/caroloff...
A woman with dark, shoulder length hair and piercing blue eyes gazes directly at the viewer.
A book with a white background and the title, At a Loss for Words: Conversation in the Age of Rage. At the bottom of the book are letter blocks that spell both "fake" and "fact".
For #gettinglitwithlinda, @caroloff.bsky.social addresses her new book, At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage & examines how #freedom, #democracy #truth are being hijacked & weaponized to diminish liberal democracy. @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social
embed.acast.com/$/6086d520cf...?
In all seriousness, this is the very scenario I was imagining. Hasn't he asked for a military parade on his honour?
This may be just the dress rehearsal. It will be of much greater concern if Trump appears in uniform as a general.
In Canada, a government can actually override someone's charter rights and do it legally. In fact, Pierre Poilievre vowed he would do that - using the notwithstanding clause.
Trump Says ‘I Don’t Know’ When Asked About Due Process and Upholding Constitution www.nytimes.com/2025/05/04/u...
Once people have bought into a movement it's difficult to leave it. Cults work that way as well.