Trump and Putin’s press conference
Here’s how the Washington Post described Trump and Putin’s press conference in Helsinki: Trump just colluded with Russia. Openly. Here’s the New York Times on the response to the press conference: Republicans Rebuke Trump for Siding With Putin as Democrats Demand Action Whether Putin is holding something over Trump or not, Trump clearly sided with […]
The problem with the Supreme Court
Of all the scary things happening in the US one of the scariest is the possibility that the Supreme Court will be skewed right wing for decades once Donald Trump’s nominee gets in. People are going to need to call their congressperson to stop that from happening. Here’s an article by E.J. Dionne Jr. from the […]
Stopping Doug Ford from doing terrible things
We need to stop Doug Ford from doing the most terrible of the terrible things he has planned. Martin Lukacs in The Guardian points out we’ve done it before, under Mike Harris. People who care will need to focus on what’s important and make their voices heard. Doug Ford’s disastrous agenda can be derailed by […]
Try sanctioning Trump instead of the US
Governments around the world dealing with the current US administration need to think outside the box. This is not a normal administration. Scott Gilmore in Maclean’s has come up with a brilliant idea. Pointing out that Trump failed to divest himself of his business interests, contrary to all other presidents before him, Gilmore suggests these […]
The case against Donald Trump
Here’s a sobering interview with journalist Sarah Kendzior in which she points out that things people are surprised about now were actually known months or years ago and the problem is that no one did anything about them. She has plenty of blame to throw around. “The Mafia White House”: My no-holds-barred interview on The […]
The case against the Republican Party
Jonathan Rauch and Benjamin Wittes at The Atlantic argue that the time has come for everyone, liberals and conservatives and everyone else, to boycott the Republican Party. They’re very clear about their reasoning: the Republican Party “has proved unable or unwilling (mostly unwilling) to block assaults by Trump and his base on the rule of […]
The war against expertise
David Brin, on his blog “Contrary Brin,” describes what he calls the war against expertise and portrays it convincingly as the most important problem in the US right now. He points out that all fact-centred professions are under assault. How could “tens of millions of Americans — who benefited spectacularly from the rise of science […]
Taxes: it shouldn’t be a dirty word
Here’s an article from Heather Mallick from The Star. She points out the incongruity that taxes give us things that we treasure, yet no politician can ever say they’re raising taxes. In short, taxes are “the price we pay for civilization.” Why I love taxes — and so should you: Mallick We should be willing […]
How to avoid a right-wing populist wave
Here’s an article by Amanda Taub from The New York Times. She describes how all the ingredients for a right-wing populist wave exist in Canada, but because of a collection of reasons it doesn’t happen. Probably key is that “immigration and racial diversity are sources of national pride.” Taub gives some historical context, going back […]
Maybe Democrats shouldn’t impeach Trump
I was under the impression that Donald Trump as president was a unique threat to the US and that since there are several good reasons for him to be impeached they should get right on it. As for Mike Pence, who will become president if Trump goes away, I figured he was a more run-of-the-mill […]