Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday February 9, 2017

It’s a special occasion this week on Open Sources Guelph, and we’re inviting a lot of friends over to mark the day. What’s the occasion? Why we’re marking six and a half decades of Queen Elizabeth II’s rule, and we’re going to celebrate with our old friends in the Conservative leadership race, our good pals in the Trump administration, and all those both concerned and elated to making our little town by the two rivers an official “sanctuary.”

This Thursday, February 9, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

1) Last Tangle in Halifax. He came, he saw, he was… the butt of many jokes. Kevin O’Leary participated in his first Conservative leadership debate in Halifax this weekend, officially a part of the oversized ballot of politicians all vying to be the leader of the Official Opposition and the presumptive prime minister in waiting. All eyes were on O’Leary, who did acquit himself well in his first official political event, but with 14 people on stage in a two-hour event it was already hard for any one candidate to make an impression. With less than four months to go until the leadership event in Toronto, what will it take to start seeing some real movement in this race?

2) They Sell Sanctuary. Following in the lead of London, ON, two Guelph city councillors thought that idea of making the Royal City a Sanctuary City was a good idea. There was some disagreement on that point. A Guelph Today article announcing the intent of Cllrs James Gordon and Phil Allt to put forward the motion unleashed a torrent of anger and ignorance in the comment section. (Meanwhile, a story on the Magic 106 website didn’t even bother to open comments.) But then there was the fact that the mayor’s comments of support to the victims of the Quebec attack unleashed a racist tirade, and a Walmart cashier was fired last week for racial discrimination, all of which begs the question: What’s going on in our sorted little ‘burb?

3) Elizabeth: The Sapphire Age. Queen Elizabeth II marked 65 years on the throne this week, that’s the Sapphire Jubilee for those keeping score at home. From here on out, every year as the queen is another record for Her Royal Highness, and at the age of 90 she really shows no signs of slowing down. She’s even become a pop culture icon thanks to the Netflix series The Crown, which chronicles the turbulent early years of Elizabeth’s reign. But on this auspicious occasion of the Queen’s Sapphire Jubilee, we look back at the life and legacy of Elizabeth II, and ask the inevitable question: Have we hit peak Queen?

4) Secret Wars. Monday. President Donald Trump gets up at U.S. Central Command in Florida and tells the troops that the dishonest media were playing down the number of terrorist attacks in Europe. Meanwhile, questions arose from the weekend about some concerning false equivalencies Trump made between the U.S. and Russia and about how he put political advisor Steven Bannon on the National Security Council without even knowing it. Elsewhere, the Democrats filibustered the vote to approve Trump’s secretary of education appointment Betsy DeVos, a federal judge agreed to hear arguments to reinstate the travel (don’t call it a) ban, and it was revealed that Trump’s labour secretary pick had hired undocumented immigrants. And one again, that was just Monday.