The Democrats are quite pleased with their showing in the U.S midterm elections. From where I sit, it doesn’t look quite that cheerful—they lost the House of Representatives and may yet lose the Senate. Nonetheless, the prediction was for the usual midterm result which is a drubbing for the president’s
Continue readingTag: Republican Party
Views from the Beltline: The Republican counter-revolution rolls on
Has the Republican Party turned against democracy? It’s beginning to seem so, and if it has it’s the culmination of four decades of revolt against the country’s post-war social progress. After WWII, the United States was in a triumphal mood. It, alongside its allies, had defeated threats to the global
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: This Is Not A Parody
A little something for those Canadians who pine for the re-opening of the border to Amerika. Rarely have I seen such a sterling expression of commitment and leadership: Recommend this Post
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Make America fair again?
The United States is the most unequal of the advanced countries. By far. And it’s getting worse. The ratio of the average income of the richest 10 percent to the poorest 10 percent in the U.S. is 18.5 whereas for most Western countries it’s closer to ten. (Canada’s is 9.4.)
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The difference between a Democrat and a Republican
One of the brightest lights to appear recently on the stage of American politics is the absolutely delightful Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Bright, charming, compassionate and—I have to say it—gorgeous, the Democratic Representative from New York brings a touch of polish to a tarnished democracy. And then there is her polar opposite
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Trump and the definition of fascism
Is Donald Trump a fascist? He has been accused of being one, including by me in previous posts, but the left is inclined to label conservatives they particularly dislike as fascists, just as conservatives label progressives they particularly dislike as communists. So let’s take a close look at the Trump
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Has Trump revived fascism in the Republican Party?
I am surprised and disappointed at those Republicans who support Trump to the point of rejecting the will of the American people and even democracy itself. The recent effort to allow Vice-president Pence to potentially replace Electoral College votes for Mr Biden with votes for Mr Trump came close to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Gary Mar on Keystone XL: Likely the only guy who can save Jason Kenney’s Keystone XL pipe-dream is Justin Trudeau
It may not quite be impossible for Jason Kenney to see his dream of completing the Keystone XL Pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast on his watch come true, but it will be almighty difficult with Democrat Joe Biden in the White House. What’s more, if the project is to
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Requiem for a Fascist Clown
In a fitting end to four years of chaos, bigotry, and wilful aversion to the truth, Donald Trump is refusing to accept the results of the election that he lost, surprising no one. His campaign has filed lawsuits in multiple states, seeking to overturn, or at least forestall, Joe Biden’s
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Requiem for a Fascist Clown
In a fitting end to four years of chaos, bigotry, and wilful aversion to the truth, Donald Trump is refusing to accept the results of the election that he lost, surprising no one. His campaign has filed lawsuits in multiple states, seeking to overturn, or at least forestall, Joe Biden’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: U.S. election exposes ‘Triple-E’ Senate myth once and for all as a democratic disaster
Does anyone recall the Reform Party of Canada’s campaign starting in the late 1980s to impose on our country a “Triple-E Senate” – that is to say elected, effective, and, above all, “equal”? Pushed by the likes of Calgary-area farmer Bert Brown and would-be philosopher king Preston Manning, this call
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The morning after the night before: Meet America’s Alexander Lukashenko, Donald J. Trump
If what is happening in the United States were taking place in another country, the American foreign policy and media establishment would now be denouncing the behaviour of President Donald Trump as that of a tyrant. As is well known, Mr. Trump did better than the polls had suggested he
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta must learn to walk and chew gum at the same time, premier muses on the topic of energy and the environment
Jason Kenney may have missed it, but Lyndon Johnson’s famous comment about how certain people weren’t up to walking and chewing gum at the same time was an observation about their lack of intelligence, not their ability to get away with saying contradictory things at the same time. Alberta’s premier
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Globe and Mail Letter
Clifford Orwin argues in a Globe and Mail op-ed that both Republicans and Democrats are behaving hypocritically in their fight over filling the Supreme Court vacancy before the election. In today’s Letters section, I concisely defend the Democrats’ approach: It does not seem like hypocrisy for U.S. Senate Democrats to
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Globe and Mail Letter
Clifford Orwin argues in a Globe and Mail op-ed that both Republicans and Democrats are behaving hypocritically in their fight over filling the Supreme Court vacancy before the election. In today’s Letters section, I concisely defend the Democrats’ approach: It does not seem like hypocrisy for U.S. Senate Democrats to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Alternate Reality
With a pathological liar as its president, it probably does not come as a shock that many Americans live in an alternate reality. Promoted and cultivated endlessly by Donald Trump, their master, and spread wide by pernicious social media and house organs like Fox ‘News’ and One American News Network,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ted Morton, worst premier Alberta never had, has had another big idea, this time about a sales tax
From time to time it’s worth reminding ourselves that Ted Morton is the worst premier Alberta never had. That’s because now and then Dr. Morton, now 71, pops up like the proverbial bad penny with some scheme so ridiculous we need to give our heads a shake and recall this
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta discourse may still be mired in climate change denial, but the rest of the world is moving on
Public discourse in Alberta may still be mired in climate change denial, but the rest of the world is changing and changing fast. Even the New York Times, which along with much of the mainstream media in the United States could be accused until recently of seriously underplaying the climate
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why are Conservative-run Canadian provinces turning down federal cash? The answer’s in the Republican playbook
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau observed back on April 16 that the Ontario provincial government led by Premier Doug Ford was throwing roadblocks in the way of Ontario municipalities accessing federal money for needed transportation infrastructure, Conservatives responded with angry denials, and not just in Ontario. The prime minister had
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Andrew Sheer would let Canadians rot in foreign jails before giving up an electoral edge!
I rarely paid much attention to John McCallum during his years as a federal Liberal cabinet minister under three prime ministers and, on the few occasions I did, he never left much of an impression one way or the other. But I was shocked last week both by the specious
Continue reading