Pundits and political scientists will measure the time-of-death and arguments will flare up occasionally but the agreement is that news, as we knew it, is dead. We can celebrate its life but the reality of the death is still there. It is circling the drain of civilization. We live in
Continue readingAuthor: Peter Lowry
Babel-on-the-Bay: Embittered and Embarrassed.
Nobody wants to talk politics anymore. I hear that some people are even refusing to watch television news or (God forbid) read a newspaper. It is like the phenomenon on the left coast years ago when another Social Credit regime would win a majority in the B.C. legislature. The next
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A house without manners.
You would think their mother would have taught the Ford boys some manners. Maybe she tried but then maybe it just did not take with her sons. You would think that the crack-smoking younger brother, the late Rob Ford, would have prepared us for the lack of manners in brother
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: What is your party?
Coming into the dog days of summer is a good time to reflect on what we want in our political party. Speaking from hard won experience, we know starting from scratch with a new type of party is not the best of ideas. People will step boldly into the future
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Division in the Land of Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves: Donald Trump freed the truth. America is a nation divided as never before. It is increasingly vulnerable to its enemies. It has heaped scorn on its friends. Its inner anger is spilling over its borders to the north and south. Those betrayed are its own
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When “anti-social sewer rats” are black.
Only the Toronto Star would pay good money for a resident reporter as an apologist for Toronto’s black community. When an angry Toronto mayor John Tory recently called some thugs “anti-social sewer rats” for shooting two young girls, it was hardly a racist comment. Nor do you expect the Star
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump versus Trump-Lite.
It seems that we have spent enough time by now to have taken off our sackcloth over Doug Ford and the conservatives winning the Ontario election in June. Yes, I pooh-poohed the outrageous idea that Doug Ford could lead anybody anywhere. And we have certainly had enough recriminations about Kathleen
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: For love of money.
Never having met Mayo Schmidt of Hydro One, I really cannot pass judgement on the six million dollars he was reportedly being paid. Not that I think anyone is worth that much, unless he can also guarantee that the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey club will win the Stanley Cup. But
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The Trumps do Europe this summer.
Donald Trump and his lovely wife Melania are doing Europe this summer. Distaining the very pedestrian bus tours, the Trumps are using Air Force One and helicopters to speed their European journey. God forbid that they should have to meet and communicate with any of the lower classes. It was
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump-Lite’s Triumph.
On returning to Rome after winning wars, Roman generals were customarily awarded a triumph. This was a parade through the streets showing off the slaves and other booty of war. In Ontario, this triumph takes the form of a ritual parade through the legislature to the chambers where the lieutenant
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Catching the auto called Brexit.
Have you ever wondered what dogs do if they catch the car? It seems that dogs have fun chasing cars but they really have little idea what they might do with one if they ever catch it. We have an excellent example of the problem for you: it is called
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Changing politics in Toronto.
We are seeing increased efforts in Toronto to end the frustrations and lack of direction for the city. What we are seeing though is a mishmash of solutions that are counterproductive and going nowhere. Most of the action is coming from interest groups that in themselves have nowhere near enough
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The threats of Trump’s thugs.
You would think you had heard it all. It is as though President Trump and his followers in the United States are proud of their ignorance. The other day, it was reliably reported that Trump appointees were threatening other countries over mothers’ milk. It seems they went to the World
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trudeau’s petard simmers for the summer.
Tough as he might be on boys who misbehave, Justin Trudeau has the summer to figure out how to handle the insidious questioning in parliament of his own behaviour. It seems as a young man—some 18-years ago—Trudeau was reported to have acted inappropriately with a lady of a similar age.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Sales people can be the easiest sale.
Justin Trudeau blew it the other day. His task was simple. He was to sell Premier Ford of Ontario on helping to save the environment. And while he was at it, he also needed to help Ford understand that Canadians try their best to help refugees. At the same time,
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: You get what you pay for.
It comes as a surprise to learn that the new democrats across Canada are a bunch of paupers. We are told that they are not paying Jagmeet Singh for his work as leader of the party. He is unelected and therefore not being paid from the public purse either. It
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Secrets of the speech writer.
There seems to be a wealth of expertise today on why the Ontario liberals failed us in the June election. One of the more recent apologists was a speech writer who tells us he has spent, probably too much, time at Queen’s park. His article made me wonder about how
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump, America’s problem.
The rest of the world is just annoyed. Canadians are thoroughly pissed. If Donald Trump is America’s problem, why are the rest of us having to deal with it? We never wanted Trump, we never asked for Trump. Why is he spending so much time telling us alternately that he
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Patrick Brown is back.
The wife was worried with my unrestrained laughter over breakfast. “Brown is back,” I finally managed to tell her. It was word in the Toronto Star that Barrie’s own Patrick Brown is running for chair of Peel Region that had sent me into paroxysms of laughter. She did not think
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Voting reform or disaster in B.C.
Our friends on the left coast must be already smoking something serious. I am stunned by what they are suggesting as the choice for reformed voting in British Columbia. While the proposition is obviously designed to push people to proportional representation. I would suggest that they consider the better option—for
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