C Poulsen

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association reported in September that 56.8 million people in the U.S. and Canada have played online fantasy sports this year. Look at it this way: As you walk through the mall this Christmas season, pick out six people. One of them is playing Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS). That's three times as...

You may recall a line from The Godfather when, with the mayhem beginning, Michael Corleone said to the mild-mannered family counsel Tom Hagen: "You are not a war-time consigliere, Tom. Things could get rough. . . " Things have gotten rough with ISIS. Way beyond just that, of course. In North America, our leaders speak...

It is not entirely sarcastic to ask how we're going to defeat an enemy when we can't even decide what to call them.

The outlaw Aliya Nigro - a.k.a. the Carrot Kid - is the latest victim of crime and punishment in a school system. In the annals of school kids run amok, 14-year-old Aliya may be the first student ever charged with criminal assault by a small vegetable, to wit, as her prosecutor might say: a weaponized...

Having voted Liberal for the first time in some 20 years, maybe my story has a bearing on what happened. Turning points. A good choice would be the Munk debate when Justin blew away his shadow of wussiness and beat Harper like a bum of the month in the ring. Harper was just not ready....

The election polling business is in shambles. Not just because of cell phones - although that's part of it - but because of caller ID and an unwillingness of people to answer unknown callers. There are programs to reach cell numbers but even if someone answers, the pollster can't pin it to a riding. The...

Stephen Harper may start wearing a niqab so he can't be seen licking his lips over the monstrous misjudgement the other two parties have made on the issue. Can something as insignificant as a woman wearing a niqab at the citizenship swearing-in turn the election? Why not. The voters have been harassed by incomprehensible financial...

I asked a friend how she was going to vote. Her response astutely stated what many voters in this three-way tie are thinking. Here it is: “How am I going to vote? Oh, that is so difficult to say. “The trouble is that I just am not an ideologue. I cannot, on principle alone, support...

Justin brought Jean Chretien out of a gratifying obscurity last week to tell Canadians they are both better human beings than Stephen Harper. Chretien said Harper is an “embarrassment" to Canadians because of the way Harper is handling the refugee crisis. Justin had already sermonized on his moral pre-eminence. “You don’t get to suddenly discover...

Have you ever wondered why people need only one round of core vaccinations as kids but your dog or cat seems to need boosters until the day they depart? They probably don't and there's a way to prove it. There's now a relatively inexpensive test being offered by progressive vets that will determine if your...

A new study shows that tequila causes pregnancy. No, there isn’t such a study. It’s an in-joke among science researchers to suggest how cause and effect - and profit motive - can be manipulated to produce new health headlines. This has been a big year for new health studies that ostensibly debunk long established wisdom...

You may have heard the ads from the Canadian mint to sell $20 silver coins honouring Bugs Bunny. Sounds Goofy. But what better way to make money . . . than to make money? That’s what sets the Canadian Mint apart from other federal institutions. By law, the mint conducts its business “in anticipation of...

* Mike Duffy smiling for the cameras is not a sight most people want to see, while they are eating or otherwise. His lawyer has been making trouble for Nigel Wright and – by extension, of course, Stephen Harper – and Duffy had the grin of a man exonerated. Not so fast, smiley face. Duffy...