Category Politics
Welcome To September
The conventions are over, and now the US presidential election campaign begins in earnest. The 2020 campaign will be like none other before it, coming as it does in the midst of a global pandemic. Americans are faced with a clear choice. Mind you, that’s what commentators say every four years – and somehow things […]
Was Donald Trump Right For Once?
I had expected today to talk about the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. He or she was supposed to be announced before 9 p.m. Ottawa time Sunday. Yet as I write this at 8:30 Ottawa time (2:30 a.m. where I am), due to mechanical issues with the machines that opened the mail-in […]
Counting The Ballots
It’s the biggest turnout for a party leadership vote in Canadian history. A day before the deadline more than 150,000 ballots had been received at Conservative Party headquarters. (Don’t tell Donald Trump – it was a mail-in contest.) When the leadership contest started I had intended to devote the occasional post to the campaign. That […]
Quacking Like A Duck
“Stephen Harper used prorogation to avoid difficult political circumstances. We will not” – Justin Trudeau, 2015 So much for promises. Again. The funny thing is, Canada’s Prime Minister has good reason to prorogue (reset) Parliament. A new plan for the COVID-19 era makes sense. It’s the timing that makes it look so bad. He appears […]
Is This Really Democracy?
Almost every day I’m getting emails about registering to vote in the upcoming American presidential election. They are not spam. When I worked in radio I was on a number of mailing lists. I stepped back from radio last year, but haven’t unsubscribed. Just in case. The emails are coming from a public relations firm […]
Trump and Funk
I find myself paying more attention to the upcoming American presidential election than I was earlier this year. Is that true for you too? It still seems strange to imagine Donald Trump as President of the United States. It seems as if I ave somehow fallen into some science fiction parallel universe. And you are […]
Sad Commentary
I’ll admit I laughed when I first saw this. Then immediately felt embarrassed for having done so. It is a sad indictment of the state of politics in America that such a concept could be taken seriously, but political divisions seem to have deepened in recent years. Demonizing your opponents appears to be the […]
Rolling The Dice
Political junkies in Canada are watching an unusual story unfolding in Parliament today. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to appear before a parliamentary committee to answer questions about his latest ethics scandal. The general rule of thumb is that Prime Ministers don’t appear before committees, especially not ones investigating them. That Trudeau is ignoring this […]
No Shame Anymore
The feeling was one of sadness as I heard the news reports on Canada’s latest government scandal. “Not again,” I thought. “What about integrity is unclear?” Maybe it is all part of a government conspiracy to lower voters’ expectations. Make ethical breach after ethical breach. Apologize when you are caught, saying your actions were unintentional. […]
The Past Repeats Itself
One of the problems with Donald Trump is that you never can be sure he means what he says or believes his own words. Can his most recent musings be taken seriously/ If you remember 2016, Trump suggested before the vote that if he lost the election it was because the results had been rigged. […]
random thoughts from lorne 
Recent Comments