Episodes
Sunday Feb 28, 2021
Sunday Feb 28, 2021
A lone figure fled across the Syrian desert in a bid to escape his potential fate. Days earlier, he attempted to assassinate the President of Iraq, the man who stood in the way of the Ba'athist Movement from taking power for themselves. Despite inflicting some damage on him, they failed to kill him. Now, the would-be assassin was en route to the safety of Egypt. The harsh environment burned him during the day, and blew harsh cold at night.
While his current situation seemed hopeless, this man is the future dictator of Iraq. Saddam Hussein would become a household name worldwide. To some, he would become the face of Arab unity and anti-imperialism. To others, he was a tyrant and murdered. Despite improving Iraq's infrastructure and welfare, he wasn't afraid to order the use of military force and even chemical weapons against any domestic dissent.
His notoriety would place him directly in the sights of the United States. Their excuse to intervene against him came in August 1990, when Saddam ordered the invasion of the small country of Kuwait to the south. The storm brewing over the desert for decades finally reached its peak.
Music:
Desert Combat Loading Theme
Clips:
H. W. Bush on Policing the World: Opposing Iraqi Aggression by The American Experience
"This Aggression will not stand, man!" The Big Lebowski
Margaret Thatcher on the Gulf War, Aspen, 1990
Tuesday Feb 23, 2021
Bad Spelling, Lama-Deers, and Other Nonsense
Tuesday Feb 23, 2021
Tuesday Feb 23, 2021
Jonah has turned 28! In celebration, he and Lyndsay are sitting down to read through a relic from Jonah's past. For two years, Jonah and his family toured with the Cirque du Soleil show Varekai, living in 13 cities across Canada and the United States. While on tour, Jonah and his brother attended school in a trailer on site. From the window of his classroom, he had an excellent view of the Sun inspired big top.
Flash forward to 2020. While cleaning out the storage room, Jonah's dad discovered an old journal containing entries written as homework assignments during his time on tour. Seeing an opportunity to discuss his time with Cirque, as well as provide some laughs. Happy Birthday, Jonah!
Monday Feb 01, 2021
Tommy Douglas: The Greatest Canadian
Monday Feb 01, 2021
Monday Feb 01, 2021
It's the 1930s. The world is in the midst of the Great Depression. Stalin's grip on the Soviet Union has tightened, and fascism has come to power in Italy and Germany. The Stock Market Crash hit Canada particularly hard, as most of its trade was with the United States. This affected prices, and in some cases, halted exports completely as nobody could afford to buy. People were struggling with high unemployment, drought crippling agriculture, and lower wages for those who managed to keep their jobs. Discontent soared during this time, leading to calls for the Canadian government to take better care of its citizens instead of just the social elite. This growing sense of populism would ripple across the country with full force.
Enter Tommy Douglas, a middle-aged man working on his PhD. While studying in Chicago, he saw the transient camps which housed nearly 75,000 people, with various institutions doing little to nothing to help these impoverished people. Once wishing to become a Baptist minister, his witnessing of the devastation the crash had caused brought him on a different road. He found himself within the ranks of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a new democratic socialist movement foiunded with the aim of uniting farmers and labourers, as well as protect their rights and improve their working conditions. From there, Douglas would rise through the ranks of the party to lead the first socialist government in North America, and later begin the process of forming Canada's medicare program. His legacy remains today, and culminated in his naming as the Greatest Canadian in 2004.
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