Win, lose or draw, Bernie Sanders has shown his country the way. To Americans, their country has always been the stuff of unfulfilled dreams. It has been the country that could have been. It has sunk into the acidic bog of capitalism gone rampant under Donald Trump. Is it not
Continue readingTag: American politics
Writings of J. Todd Ring: US 2020 Election: One Choice Only – The Oligarchy
Chris Hedges states there is no choice in the 2020 US election if it is a choice between Trump and Biden: both are a vote for the consolidation of the oligarchy. Now that sums it up perfectly well. Mind you, it was the same in 2016. People in Germany felt
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Importing From China: A Virus? Or A Totalitarian Model Of Elite Control?
Someone prescient once said, “Those who would sacrifice a little freedom for a little security, deserve neither, and will lose both.” We would do well to remember those words now. And we are most definitely in the process of losing both, as we speak. But maybe we aspire to be
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Bridging the American Divide.
The democratic party achieved a breakthrough of sorts last weekend in Las Vegas. It was a win for leftist Bernie Sanders and was the first clear indication of why Sanders is the answer to Trump. It also looks like the first proof that the old-time democrats need to draw up
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Major moments in life.
No doubt each of us has had one or more major moments in life that help to define us. I was wondering about that during the recent State of the Union address by Donald Trump. It seems to be one of his many excesses that define his presidency. I thought
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The motivated American voter.
You do recall, do you not, that the voter turnout that elected Donald Trump president four years ago, was the lowest turnout in a presidential election in the past two decades? When less than 60 per cent of voters make the decision in a presidential election, there is lots of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Can an atheist claim ‘divine right?
This might not be a theological question. How can a well-known American lawyer stand in front of the senate and the nation and tell us a man elected by the self-serving rabble of America, is really the choice of God? When Alan Dershowitz defended Donald Trump in his senate trial
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The newest ‘persecuted class.’
It has always been amusing that the news media make a point of having reporters on hand who represent this persecuted class or that one. They are always at the ready to claim that the racial group or demographic they represent is being persecuted by the presumed powers who are
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump’s guilt is not the question.
What kind of trial is this in the U.S. senate chamber, where the rules are controlled by the jurors? Does a trial matter if people have already made up their minds? Can ordinary citizens be satisfied with a moral victory? Can the voters be satisfied with a sham? Maybe it
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The terrors of Trump’s testosterone.
You never know what you will read in the Economist. Just the other day I was reading about the lower levels of testosterone in modern American males. Despite the changes in diet and the higher levels of male obesity, this is probably good news for the Me-too movement. Let’s face
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Only the brave make predictions.
People love to make predictions as we start a new year. I was laughing at a particularly amusing one the other day by a Toronto Star writer, Tony Burman. He was predicting that Donald Trump would resign from the presidency and get a pardon from incoming president Mike Pence. All
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘You’re a mean one,’ Mr. Trump.
It is a surprise that nobody has taken that novelty Christmas song about the Dr. Seuss character who did not like the Who having Christmas and simply substituted ‘Mr. Trump’ for ‘Mr. Grinch.’ But here it is Christmas and it is the proper thing to find something nice to talk
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: In a divided America.
Where else would the GOP be? But sitting on Donald Trump’s knee. The symbiotic relationship involved defies logic. Donald Trump, his followers and the republican party are bound together at the hip. They need each other and they deserve each other. And do not use logic to try to split
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Gunfighter versus Gunfighter.
It’s a classic Hollywood film script. The ‘good’ gunfighter has to buckle on his six-gun just one more time to take on the ‘bad’ gunfighter. Whether the ‘bad’ guy is coming in on the noon train or waiting down behind the livery barn, there is always a lot of worrying
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: With no respect for the U.S.A.
Every once in a while, it seems necessary to mention Donald John Trump. He is a man who has taken on the presidency in the United States of America. It has been a destructive act. He did it because he could. A corrupt system of governance allowed him to purchase
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: All Americans need decide Trump’s fate.
It seems undemocratic for Congress to decide the fate of the American president. As self-serving and as obnoxious as president Trump might be, he was the choice of American voters. They should decide his fate. As a relatively impartial Canadian, I make this suggestion as I am as concerned for
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Trump tramples on our territory.
The other day something caught my eye on the opening page of Microsoft’s browser. The company was doing a survey to find out why people dislike their MSN News. I did the survey, but I was reaching for different ways to spell ‘crap.’ This is news lifted from news-gathering people.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Mr. Trump’s Fascist Following.
It was a heavy-set woman who could be in her 50s in the crowd, as the camera scanned it, that caught my eye and had also caught the attention of the camera person. She had an enraptured look on her face as she screamed: “Send her back.” It was just
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Playtime with Donald Trump.
It seems reasonable, with all his other problems, that young Donald Trump’s parents had to pay other children to play with him. And to this day, he still seems unable to deal with more than one playmate at a time. The problem is evident in the revolving door at the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The tired triteness of Trump.
American president Donald Trump is wearing thin. He is the stand-up comedian who does not know when to leave the stage. There is not much you can say about him that is new or enlightening. When Martin Sheen played the role of president in The West Wing, the dialogue was
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