Donald Trump says Canada: “wants the benefits” of being a U.S. state “without being one.” But he forgot to tell us what those benefits would be. Would it be a country with no universal health care, which Canada has and the US doesn’t? Would it be an electoral system where political parties control district boundaries […]

Friday midnight came and went with no deal. The US is imposing what it hopes will be crippling tariffs on Canadian industry. Canada will retaliate. It is an article of faith in America’s civil religion that no-one can beat them in a trade war. Donald Trump has made it very clear to other countries that […]

I thought about writing a commentary to go along with the image, but it really does speak for itself.

Deal or no deal? The latest deadline for Canada and the USA to come to a trade agreement is tonight at midnight. What do you think will happen? I suspect that for most people trade talks are deadly boring, so I have not been spending much time here on the ongoing trade dispute. It mostly […]

There will be fireworks beside the pier in Old Orchard Beach tonight. Despite the police chief’s objections. The Thursday night fireworks have been at 9:45 for decades. I seem to remember them being at 9:30 when I was younger, but my memory for such things isn’t guaranteed. Earlier this summer they were moved to 9. […]

What’s in a name, Shakespeare asked. I’m pondering that in advance of a concert in Ottawa tonight. It was the names that attracted me. Three seventies powerhouses, two with sixties roots. Jefferson Starship, Kansas and Deep Purple are sharing the stage. I have seen these bands before. But not there versions. There is one original […]

Some people sleep in when they are on vacation. Not me. I have always been an early riser. That made m a natural for morning radio – I was awake already at the early hour required. it has been 20 years since I did morning radio, but I am still awake before five most mornings. […]

No not that moon. This one. Walking along Old Orchard Beach at dawn earlier this month, I noted a number of snails and snail shells. I suppose that is not unusual, but it seemed to me to be more of the one type than I remember from previous visits. Looking it up, i discovered that […]

It has been a log hot summer. People have been complaining about the heat and humidity. I’m one of them. It won’t last though. In the near future we will be complaining instead about the cold and snow. In the dog days of summer we forget how much we hate winter. When the snow is […]

Do they do any good? The rallies, the protests, the signs? Driving through North Conway, New Hampshire, I noted a demonstration against ICE (that’s  US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), probably a protest over the recent shooting of an immigrant. Not the first time ICE has killed someone who had committed no crime. i thought about […]