Photo: Donald Trump with United States Secretary of Commerce Kim Kardashian (kidding). There was no shortage of political news to talk about this week on the Ryan Jespersen Show. On Friday morning I joined political analyst John Brennan, Global News provincial affairs reporter Tom Vernon and Ryan Jespersen to talk about
Continue readingTag: donald trump
Montreal Simon: Justin Trudeau and the Treason of the Cons
You might think that at a time when the maniac in the White House has declared war on Canada.And Justin Trudeau is fighting to save hundreds of thousands of jobs in this country. And by most accounts doing an admirable job of letting Donald Trump know that nobody bullies Canadians.You might think that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – CBC talks to Robert Frank about the role of luck and privilege in generating concentrated wealth. And Kate Bahn highlights the reality that collective action is needed to help level a playing field currently tilted to benefit those who already have the most.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: The risk of being Trump.
It is always play time at the fun house on the Potomac River. This is Mr. Trump’s domain these days and he takes great delight at pushing the buttons of power. In his childlike way, he abuses the powers of his office. Friend or foe alike, he cares not for
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Day Justin Trudeau Told Donald Trump Enough Is Enough
Justin Trudeau's relationship with Donald Trump has always reflected our national character.He was always polite, he tried to be as friendly as possible, but he didn't let Trump manhandle him.And when he tried to bully him, and Canada, he finally said enough is enough.Read more »
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Conrad loves Donald.
It is hard to think of two people more deserving of their mutual admiration. Both Conrad Black and Donald Trump think the American President is a wonderful guy. And Lord Cross-the-Pond Black has written another coffee table tome to hopefully prove it. As book number 47 (or so) by friends
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Lambert Strether points out that standard estimates of income inequality (jarring though they are to begin with) tend to ignore the capital gains which accrue disproportionately to those who already have the most. – Scott Alexander makes the case for a basic income
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Incredible Crassness of Donald Trump
As we all know by now, Donald Trump is a man without a moral compass, and without a discernible trace of human decency,And this tweet on Memorial Day, the day the U.S. remembers its fallen soldiers, is more evidence of that: And as if that wasn't bad enough then there was
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Laura Basu discusses the media’s role in accepting and perpetuating the corporatist ideology behind privatization campaigns: (R)esearch carried out by myself at Cardiff University has shown that while austerity has been controversial, trickle-down reforms like privatisation, deregulation and corporation tax cuts have
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Looking south; looking askance.
While cheerfully ignoring the Trump presidency as much as possible these days, I am sure most of my readers do not mind. I find that he can be boring. He is as awful and as dangerous to world peace as ever but it feels good to ignore the bastard for
Continue readingMontreal Simon: What Does The Return Of Stephen Harper Mean for Canada?
In case you have been wondering whether Stephen Harper has come back from the dead to haunt us again.Or will only be with us for a short time, before returning to well deserved obscurity in that musty coffin in his basement.Well wonder no longer.For it seems he's here to stay,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Andrea Horwath is going to win Ontario on June 7 – that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!
Happy Victoria Day! I’m feeling good about my prediction that the next Premier of Ontario will be Andrea Horwath. When I made that prediction back on Feb. 27, scads of commenters on social media and quite a few on this blog and at Rabble.ca said I was crazy. This being
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – The CCPA offers some questions and answers on the problems with “social impact bonds” designed to turn the delivery of needed programming into a source of corporate profits. And Andy Blatchford reports on the Trudeau Libs’ secretive attempt to undermine any prospect of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Many Similarities Between Doug Ford and Donald Trump
As I predicted before the campaign began, Doug Ford's Team Harper handlers are trying to muzzle him.Or at least restrict media access to him, just like they did with their Great Fallen Leader.To try to prevent Ford from sticking one or both feet in his mouth.But it's just not working.Read
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Gary Younge comments on the highly selective willingness of far too many privileged people to acknowledge suffering around them. And Paul Krugman calls out the Trump administration’s gratuitous cruelty toward the people who already have the least: There’s something fundamentally obscene about this
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Our ‘Pollyanna’ foreign minister.
You have to be very gullible to believe the statements Canada’s foreign minister Chrystia Freeland has been making after each of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) sessions. It seems lately that only Mexico is being obdurate over those proposed clauses that will harm that country’s positions. And yet
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta then and now: Marking the third anniversary of the unexpected victory of Rachel Notley and the NDP
CALGARY Three years ago today, Albertans did the unexpected in the province’s 29th general election and elected a majority New Democratic Party government. In truth, despite Albertans having been instructed for generations by those who are supposed to know better that they lived in the most conservative province in Canada,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Terry Schwadron writes about Donald Trump’s war on the poor, while Rosemary Feurer and Chad Pearson highlight how U.S. businesses and their political pawns have undermined the labour movement. And David Climenhaga and PressProgress point out that we should expect exactly the same
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jake Johnson writes about the obscene amount of money handed to the wealthy in the U.S. by the Republicans’ tax scam. And Robert Reich discusses how the spread of inequality and isolation helped to lay the groundwork for Donald Trump’s destructive presidency.
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Donald Trump and the Disastrous Return of Rudy Giuliani
Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani haven't been seen together since the heady days of the Republican leadership race.But Trump has been shaking up his legal team as Robert Mueller closes in on him, so he decided to call on Giuliani again.And it may have been one of the worst decisions of
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