A Japanese iris.

The petition to Canada's Parliament demanding that Trump not be allowed to enter the country has now garnered 60,000 signatures. Should be an interesting debate once parliament is back in action..

Kudos to The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde who, at the National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration, implored Donald Trump to “have mercy upon” immigrants and LGBTQ+ individuals. Few Christian leaders have been so courageous in calling out the Emperor for lack of clothes.

As well as racism, misogyny, and war-making, humanity has a cognitive problem. We're great at creating short-term solutions, poor at considering their long-term effects. Too many bugs? Spray DDT everywhere... that worked well! This may be why many don't want to act on global warming.

A rainy night in olde Toronto.

Krampus sez, "Take magnesium if you're troubled by kramps. Oh, and Merry Christmas, you little devils."

Party of Hold Onto Power, Screw Ethics.

A modified crossing of branches. Not an ad for Twitter....

"There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language." - George Orwell

Yes, and during a postal strike, too. Apparently that news hasn't reached the Philippines yet.

John’s Substack | John Oughton | Substack Reflections, suggestions & discoveries from a long life of writing, editing, and reviewing. Posts should interest both writers (published and aspiring) and those rare beasts, people who simply love re...

My new Substack essay, A Successful Failure, is available for perusal at johnoughton.substack.com

I got a text message yesterday telling me "my package" was being held at Canada Customs because of an incorrect zip code, yada yada. I checked the country code for the sender, and it was the Philippines. I didn't know Canada Customs was outsourcing work that far!

Golden light-- a couple of months ago.

Working on an idea for a concept for a new dystopian novel. So far, I've just got the title: Emotional/Intellectual Toddler To Get Nuclear Launch Codes.

Blue Sky.

Does anyone else have the feeling that the Vandals have been elected to ru(i)n Rome?

The long way down.