Press reports from Canada suggest satisfaction with yesterday's meeting between Prime Minister Carney and President Trump. As the Globe and Mail reported, there were no breakthroughs but also no blowups. Given recent events, that's considered a win. Most notable is the personal politics of the encounter. Trump made no secret of his dislike of former Prime Minister Justin … [Read more...] about News flash: Prime Minister Carney’s meeting with President Trump wasn’t awful
DOGE Aide Who Helped Gut CFPB Was Warned About Potential Conflicts of Interest
DOGE Aide Who Helped Gut CFPB Was Warned About Potential Conflicts of Interestby Jake PearsonProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.Last month, a Department of Government Efficiency aide at the nation’s consumer watchdog agency was told by ethics attorneys that he held … [Read more...] about DOGE Aide Who Helped Gut CFPB Was Warned About Potential Conflicts of Interest
Could Trump put “his military” on the streets of America?
If you are like me, you spend far too much time sitting around with your friends talking about just how bad things could get with Trump. These chats are frequently accompanied by some embarrassment that we are talking like this. So much seems both ridiculous and plausible at the same time, but here we are. Living in Toronto as I do, I have had conversations about what U.S. … [Read more...] about Could Trump put “his military” on the streets of America?
America’s Refugees: An Uncertain Future (Updated)
UPDATE: Reuters: “A federal appeals court rejected on Monday [May 5] a request by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to allow it to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans living in the United States.” Hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans are living in the … [Read more...] about America’s Refugees: An Uncertain Future (Updated)
TRUMP’S LET THEM EAT CAKE MOMENT
Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage – following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images Adam G. Klein, Pace University Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stood before a captivated audience of conservative activists from the U.S. and laid out his vision … [Read more...] about Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage – following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control
Good to know it’s “highly unlikely” Trump will attack Canada
It must tickle the guys who write South Park that their running gag about war between Canada and the U.S. has morphed from hilarious bit to actual front page news. Both the storyline from the long-running show and Trump’s musings are goofy, but only one is funny. Speaking as a Canadian, we are not amused; we have never been amused. In a lengthy interview on NBC’s Meet the … [Read more...] about Good to know it’s “highly unlikely” Trump will attack Canada
Could Trump’s attempt to control the media work?
Two stories today stand out as indicative of the continuing war Trump is waging on the media. The first, reported widely, is that he signed an executive order late Thursday to end public funding of PBS and National Public Radio. The measure is being taken to, as the order says, stop "biased and partisan news coverage." According to a statement released by the White House on … [Read more...] about Could Trump’s attempt to control the media work?
Trump and many GOP lawmakers want to end all funding for NPR and PBS – unraveling a US public media system that took a century to build
Cast members of the children’s television show ‘Sesame Street’ pose with Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Ernie, Bert and Oscar the Grouch in 1969. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Josh Shepperd, University of Colorado Boulder The Trump administration’s drive to slash government spending on everything from the arts to cancer research also … [Read more...] about Trump and many GOP lawmakers want to end all funding for NPR and PBS – unraveling a US public media system that took a century to build
ICE throws citizens out of their home in their underwear during botched, rainy raid
One evening last week, about 20 armed ICE agents broke into an Oklahoma City home whose four female residents are citizens; sent them to stand outside in the rain in their underwear; took their phones, computers and cash; and failed to leave any record of who they were or how the residents were to retrieve their property. The family, a mother and three daughters, recently … [Read more...] about ICE throws citizens out of their home in their underwear during botched, rainy raid
Trump Dump
All rights reserved. Copyright Donar, Political Graffiti https://toons.to/go/daviddonar … [Read more...] about Trump Dump
What’s in a hug? A lot, and nothing
Embed from Getty Images Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who many consider a likely candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, has been trying to square the circle in her relations with President Trump. Early reports are that it's not going well, at least judging by some critics. On the one hand, keeping in mind the massive role the federal government can play in … [Read more...] about What’s in a hug? A lot, and nothing
Canadian Election: The Liberals secure a fourth mandate
Embed from Getty Images As of Tuesday morning Mark Carney and the Liberal Party of Canada are projected to win another term in federal Parliament - their fourth in a row. The only outstanding issue is whether they will lead a minority or majority government, with a majority requiring 172 seats. Currently they have won or are leading in 168 ridings. While they may pass the … [Read more...] about Canadian Election: The Liberals secure a fourth mandate
NEGATIVE CRIMINALS (CARTOON AND COLUMN)
One reason Donald Trump will never be a good negotiator is that he cares about the polls too much. Before he shut down the government in his first term, he boasted to Nancy Pelosi that he would take the blame. After he shut down the government and the polls blamed him, he couldn’t take it, and he caved. He got none of his demands, and Nancy played him like a cheap pair of … [Read more...] about NEGATIVE CRIMINALS (CARTOON AND COLUMN)
Trump and the IRS: All Politics
For a man whose companies have been convicted on multiple charges of criminal tax fraud, for falsifying records to evade taxes, and found guilty on 17 counts, it seems preposterous for Trump to go after his enemies using the IRS to try and ferret out discrepancies in their tax returns. There were also civil cases of Trump defrauding banks where he was found guilty and ordered … [Read more...] about Trump and the IRS: All Politics
Election Day in Canada
Canadians go to the polls today to choose a prime minister, which could mean sticking with the one they have or taking a chance on a new guy. Whatever happens, this will be one of the strangest elections in the country's history due to the polling swing that has taken place over the past several months. You might wonder if such instability in a Canadian election is for the same … [Read more...] about Election Day in Canada
WHAT THE ANCIENT WORLD CAN TEACH US ABOUT DEATH
By Robert Garland I first became fascinated by death when I was 8 and my mummy took me to the British Museum to look at the mummies. When, at a slightly older age, I began to study death and the ancient world—first the Egyptians, then the Greeks, then the Romans, the Mesopotamians, and so on—what struck me most, despite many fascinating cultural variants, was the uniformity, … [Read more...] about WHAT THE ANCIENT WORLD CAN TEACH US ABOUT DEATH
Trump’s first hundred days and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad polls
There are stories everywhere this weekend around the theme, as a CNN headline has it, that "Trump's approval at 100 days is lower than any president in at least seven decades." If you want to dig through some of the numbers, in addition to the CNN poll conducted by SSRS, there is an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, an Associated Press/NORC Centre for Public Affairs poll, … [Read more...] about Trump’s first hundred days and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad polls
Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho- Its Away From Woke We Go
The Snow White live action movie is the straw that broke the camel's back for some critics who feel Disney is becoming too woke. It has left a poisoned apple taste in the mouths of some critics. This moment of realization for Disney has been a long time coming. Disney CEO Bob Iger released a statement saying their mission is "to entertain not send messages". This epiphany for … [Read more...] about Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho- Its Away From Woke We Go
Fear, love and the limits to Trump’s power
There is a story today, widely distributed, that residents of Arkansas made homeless by recent tornados have been denied federal recovery aid by President Trump because he rejected the request from the state that impacted regions be designated major disaster areas. Interestingly, the request was made by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders after devastating storms and tornados … [Read more...] about Fear, love and the limits to Trump’s power