The third quarter of any year is mostly the summer, with a week and a half of autumn at the end. In any case, 2016 is almost over and without further adieu here are the top 10 counterweights articles for the third quarter of this fateful year, as selected by our own central committee :

* Meditations in time of almost civil war .. US election, Dallas shootings, and summer in a northern city 2016. Jul 8, by L. Frank Bunting.

* If Bird’s bebop finally did become the new pop music it just might sound like Allison Au and Tara Kannangara. Jul 15, by Citizen X. (“On the evening of 14 July 2016 a 19 tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and injuring 434.” Our article on Bird’s bebop here was prefaced with “CW EDITORS NOTE :  Nos cÅ“urs et les esprits vont vers les gens du premier pays de mère européenne du Canada, à la suite de l’attaque terroriste épouvantable à Nice hier — un jour que tous ceux qui aiment la liberté et la démocratie dans le monde d’aujourd’hui célèbrent, épaule contre épaule avec le peuple de France.”)

* And now for something not completely different : blaming it on Rio for the 2016 Olympics. Aug 3, by L. Frank Bunting. (Mr. Bunting noted :  “Does anyone really think the US presidential campaign of Donald Trump is the only weird thing going on in the global village right now ? Whatever else, the start of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this coming Friday will confirm that this is a bizarre year across the planet”).

* Mel Hurtig and (very) early second thoughts about where the new Trudeau government is taking Canada ?? Aug 8, by Counterweights Editors.

* Do Hillary’s current poll numbers mean she’ll win ? Remember : NDP leading in Canada on August 27, 2015! Aug 14, by Randall White.

“Portrait Of An Urban Princess” – Ms Vedelago in London.

* August in Ganatsekwyagon : “On the dangerous flood / Of history that … / … Held one moment, burns the hand.” Aug 19 by Counterweights Editors. (This piece was illustrated with photos from Elvira Vedelago – who we bumped into when we searched the W.H. Auden first line ‘August for the people and their favourite islands’ on Google Images. As Ms Vedelago explains : ‘I’m a 24 year old [now 26 in fact] SW London blogger just expressing my personal style to the world … I’m half Nigerian and half Italian but currently living in UK.’ She would later remind us of Zadie Smith! Except in the Vedelago case it’s SW not NW London. And last month Ms Vedelago and her boyfriend visited one of her two ancestral lands in Nigeria.)

* How important was Rob Ford’s brother in latest Ontario byelection? Sep 4, by Randall White.

* Northern lights on US election II : What if Conrad Black is right and Donald Trump actually wins ???? Sep 7, by Citizen X.

New Year’s Eve in Toronto.

* Is the old British dominion in Canada still half-alive (sort of) .. as well as historically interesting? Sep 15, by Counterweights Editors. (This linked to another chapter of Randall White’s current Canadian republican book project, and ended with : “And then Dr. White and his business manager wandered off to buy more fresh corn – traditional crop of the ancient Wendat/Huron nation due north –  on the last unseasonably warm day of summer 2016.” Now Dr. White tells us his New Year’s resolution for 2017 is to make much more progress on his sketch of the historical roots to today’s Canadian democracy, buoyed by the 2016 year-end poll showing that “Majority of Canadians say ties to monarchy should be cut when Queen dies.”)

* Australia asylum seekers face a refugee policy to condemn, not replicate, despite what PM says. Sep 24, by Greg Barns. (We were especially pleased to hear from Greg Barns and Anna Talbot in Melbourne – in a piece which began with “This past Tuesday Australia’s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, stood in front of world leaders and claimed his government’s refugee policy was the best in the world. But many people in Australia will tell you that Mr Turnbull’s boasting was misplaced.”)

Our final quick review of the 2016 fourth quarter will be posted tomorrow, as we all get ready for a happy new year’s eve the day after that!