If you follow business news, you know this is the year of Twitter. It might be its last. Thanks to Donald Trump and his millions of Twitter followers, this has been a banner year. And thanks to Donald Trump this might be the year of Twitter’s disgrace. Twitter co-founder and
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Donald Trump: Ego Infantus.
The third presidential debate is over. Donald Trump’s run for the presidency is over. He is a lost cause. That was not a man ready for the American presidency we saw last night, it was a spoiled child acting out. From our first observations of this year’s American process for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What’s in it for us?
That is not a selfish question. It came up the other day when reading another boring presentation to the House of Commons special committee on electoral reform. “What is in it for us” is likely to be the cri de coeur of Canadians when they see what the months of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Stepping up to the political plate.
It brought back memories. Having spent New Years of 1980 up north in the winter wonderland of the Huntsville area, the family were barely in the door before the phone was ringing. There was an election on and we could hardly escape it. The first caller was our old friend
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The one shouting loudest tells the truth.
What? You do not believe that? Why just the other day, we received a large envelope from the Liberal Party of Canada. In big capitol letters across one side of the mailing were the words “Transparent. Open.” and “Real.” And if you believed that you were deluding yourself. Inside the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Justin’s honeymoon rolls on.
The other day columnist Bob Hepburn of the Toronto Star gave Justin Trudeau’s Liberals an ‘A-‘ for their first year grade in office. Bob is a fine gentleman and a good writer but much too generous in his assessment. The truth is that much of this first year in power
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Donald Trump: Catastrophic Candidate.
We have figured it out that Republican candidate Donald Trump is more eloquent when discussing something he knows nothing about. He obviously assumes that if he knows nothing about it, his followers will know even less. Ergo he can say whatever he wants. He was testing that assumption last Sunday
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Pardonez-moi M. Lisée.
Paul Wells of the Toronto Star offers it as evidence that sometimes a journalist can make something of himself. Besides an ass, we assume. Wells was writing about Jean-François Lisée who won the leadership of Quebec’s Parti Québécois last Friday. We all had a good laugh at the PQ last
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Donald Trump: Ego Unchained.
Some wit on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio opined the other night that the public corporation could no longer report on Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump as news. He thought it should all be referred to the CBC’s Entertainment Division. But there are changes coming folks. Donald Trump says he is
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When the crisis is the candidate.
There was an interesting op-ed in the Toronto Star a while ago by a former New Democrat strategist claiming that political crises cannot be managed. He boiled it all down to the simple statement that you have to bury a crisis before it buries you. He was getting some reluctant
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What gender wars are these?
It is among the usual platitudes of those proposing proportional voting systems for Canada that more women will be elected if we just switched to a proportional voting system. Nobody can tell you why this is supposedly the case but they point to countries such as in Scandinavia that have
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump’s Troubles.
You hardly measure an event such as the second presidential debate last night as won or lost. It is more like a war of attrition as ground is lost and taken in an interminable back and forth. But last night Donald Trump needed to regain some ground and he failed.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A nugget among the dross.
When you find you have been panning the provincial and federal Liberal parties, it is wonderful to come across someone who just might be a nugget of real gold. This is a liberal who thinks for himself, invests time in research and speaks out with truths as he sees them.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: And then the children’s hour.
It was the turn of the American Vice President contenders the other evening. As did most watchers, we gamely stuck with it for the first half hour. That was the limit that most could handle. It was not just bad television; it was bad politics. It was like watching children
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Patience: Elites at work.
It seems we might be seeing more of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s elitist senate. A committee of senators think they should have their own television channel. It is just a recommendation at the moment but you never know with these things. After all, who would have believed a TV channel
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Election day is not a holiday.
One of the objectives of the current special parliamentary committee on electoral reform in Canada is to look at ways of encouraging more people to vote. To-date they have considered suggestions of everything from paying people to vote to making it law. Some American companies considering the importance of the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Donald Trump: Ego Equitus.
In very few weeks from now, the American people will have their say. Given nothing catastrophic in the intervening weeks, the Republican candidate is going to hear “You’re fired!” It will spell the end of the worst reality show in American political history. Nobody deserved this. It has been a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Donald Trump: Ego Parentus.
It is truly amazing how Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump can put down women so casually and then hide behind one. The question is though whether his daughter Ivanka is like any ordinary woman you know? She fronted Trump at the Republican convention in the summer and is back again
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Donald Trump: Ego Imperious.
Watching the Trump phenomenon in the United States has become a Canadian pastime. It is almost as good as the Toronto Blue Jays making it to a bid for the wild card. Though it is nowhere near as exciting as the Canadians winning that faux World Cup of Hockey the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Donald Trump: Ego Rampant.
Watching the claims and counterclaims of the presidential candidates in the United States this past week has been both a political apparatchik’s nightmare and a spin doctor’s dream. As expected both sides claimed victory at the first debate for presidential candidates. As a political apparatchik, you look at the mistakes,
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