Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in The Swamp.
Conservatives vs Social Policy
Despite continuing criticism and skepticism from many members of the community, the Lethbridge safe injection site is expected to open in 2018. The decision was finalized after almost a year of discussion among executive community members and a six month needs assessment. A total of nine community information sessions were held which has garnered a lot of support. It is critical to note, however, that significant backlash is still being heard from prominent voices in southern Alberta. While they are unlikely to have a major impact at the present time, Vancouver’s history makes it clear that opposition can lead to time consuming and expensive court cases.
By Sorcha DeHeer8 years ago in The Swamp
An Eye for an Aye
Wearing a black eyepatch that made him look like a pirate turtle (“Prepare to be boarded...in five or six hours!”), Senate Majority Leader Mitch Wichconnelliswich watched as a bill to spend $800 billion to rebuild Texas after the devastation of Hurricane Harvey and raise the nation’s debt ceiling for 15 minutes easily passed his house of Congress. His eyepatch twitched emotionally, although pundits were divided on what emotion was being expressed under it.
By Ira Nayman8 years ago in The Swamp
The Assassination of Lady Liberty by the Coward Donald Trump
The late, great, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson once described Richard Nixon as the living embodiment of everything wrong with the American populous, down the line. The comparisons drawn between that infamous leader of the free world, and the one currently seated in the cushy mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue, are too plentiful to describe in any well-thought out, cohesive piece of writing. As such, this writer will not pursue such a fool’s errand. Instead, he’s going to do something infinitely more ridiculous.
By Logan Hannen8 years ago in The Swamp
Liberals Are the Only True Patriots Left
FDR used to call the contingent of isolationists who were strongly opposed to war with Germany “Shrimps” because they had a spinal cord but no brain. At the time, America had its share of Hitler admirers: Lindbergh, and Ford just a few notables. The country was lining up with conservatives very much against the war and liberals for it. Roosevelt was certain that if we did not attend the war, the war would come to us. This was the last time in American history that liberals got to play the patriot card. For World War II, liberals were the patriots and conservatives labeled as fascists and worse. Most, of course, were simply isolationists who believed that Europe could solve its own problem, but that didn’t stop the left from playing the patriot card and eventually joining the war.
By David Bulley8 years ago in The Swamp
Trump, Religion, and Harry Potter
At the end of the day, we all believe what we want to believe. And in a world so full of inconsistencies how does someone even keep up with the politically correct form of right and wrong? As a Christian-raised millennial, I grew up with two things: religion and Harry Potter. The first taught me about right and wrong, what will get you into heaven and what won’t, and how you should treat people. The second taught me that what is right is never easy, what will lead you down a promising path of life, and that everyone is the same and deserves equal treatment. From both, I learned that good always triumphs over evil in the end. So I hope it will this time, as well.
By Chelsea Cheyenne8 years ago in The Swamp
Smiley, le Carré, & 'A Legacy Of Spies'
It's been more than a quarter of a century since the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended. There's a generation that has grown up in its aftermath, looked back on what was done, and wondered whether it was worth all the toil and treasure paid out for it. It is perhaps not surprising, in a time of retrospection about that great and most secretive conflict of the twentieth century, that one of the authors who came out of it returns to it. John le Carré, himself briefly a British intelligence agent at the height of the Cold War, does so with his novel A Legacy Of Spies and he brings forth many of his best-known characters to do so.
By Matthew Kresal8 years ago in The Swamp
Tone Deaf Post — Betsy Devos
Today the US Department of Education tweeted about Nancy Devos’ trip to Wyoming to celebrate the “Rethink School Initiative.” Devos visited the school on the Wind River Reservation today. The Department of Education’s tweet included a picture quoting a Native American Proverb that said, “You already possess everything necessary to become great.”
By Cody Perry8 years ago in The Swamp
Are You Liberal, or Your Kind of Liberal?
‘I’m a believer of free speech.’ ‘I don’t judge.’ ‘People should be allowed to express their opinions freely...’ This is the current soundtrack to today’s society. It’s quite a beautiful tune if truth be told. Why wouldn’t one love to shuffle day to day through our sometimes monotonous tasks, through our rat-race paced city to this sympathetic and tolerant atmosphere? Do we not all have enough dilemmas, doubts and disputes without the addition of the judgmental, the joyless and the jaded?
By K.R Coughlan 8 years ago in The Swamp
Feminism Is NOT Cancer
In today's political realm, we are faced with mudslinging in all different directions. It sometimes seems impossible to hold an intelligent, open-minded conversation about anything in American politics or international affairs between two people of differing ideologies.
By Alice Sloane8 years ago in The Swamp
Political Perspectives
I wrote my feelings about the friendship between Barack Obama and George Bush in 2014 after being fed up with conservatives lambasting President Obama and praising former President Bush. I had a hard time as the lone liberal and minority in a very white, conservative small town. I wanted to tear out my luscious curls on a daily basis.
By Olivia Rose8 years ago in The Swamp
The Legacy of the Confederacy Part III
In 1915, the film Birth of Nation wowed audiences with its groundbreaking cinematic techniques. Critics today regard the movie as the first blockbuster, and even President Woodrow Wilson hosted a screening at the White House. The film’s three-hour run time depicts a fantasy version of the Civil War and Reconstruction that persists in the imaginations of many white people to this day.
By Robert Wells8 years ago in The Swamp
