Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov wrote this and more in The Atlantic. Donald Trump likes to say he doesn’t actually lose elections–only the “rigged” ones. Such comments are not mere bluster, […]
Thank you editorial cartoonists
How long before editorial cartoonists are banned in the USA?
Democracy, protect it, or lose it
The concept of collective policy-making has existed for a long time, but democracy, which allows most adults to vote, has a relatively short history…
Facebook censorship
Minutes after I placed a link on Facebook to the IN-SIGHTS article Road to Dictatorship, the post was removed. Facebook labelled it spam, which is typically defined as irrelevant or inappropriate advertising and messages sent on the internet. The article had no advertising. Instead, it linked to Trump’s White House, The Atlantic magazine, a prestigious research institute at a Swedish university, and a legal resource centre….
Road to dictatorship
According to a democracy research project based at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, 27 countries have transitioned from democracies to autocracies since 2005. Nations controlled by strongmen now outnumber those where citizens exercise control through elected representatives. Democracy is disappearing in the USA and is threatened in Canada…
Points to ponder
I’ve been working with a group of people to launch CANADA WEST FORUM. Busy days are further complicated by the recent onset of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL). It is easing with treatment. For me, the discomforts of advancing age are more than balanced by observing young family members reach or near the age of majority. It is gratifying when they show themselves to be people of high character. Nevertheless, deafness has not stopped me from reading widely. Anyone not anxious about our future is not paying attention.
Rule of chaos, not the rule of law
Conservative J. Michael Luttig, a former U.S. Appeals Court Judge appointed by Republican George H.W. Bush Luttig, wrote in the NY Times about Trump’s “stunning frontal assault” on the rule of law. Luttig says the casualty “could well be the constitutional democracy Americans established 250 years ago.
Impoverishment of thought
In an age of extreme media coverage and immediacy, the associated defeat of intelligence is worrying. Genuine intellectual debate all too often disappears in favour of ersatz ideas dominated by the one-track thinking and the politics of offence.
Chaos — the autocrats’ game plan
Neofascists in the 21st century care nothing about the consequences of tyranny, but they understand how tyrants gain power. They intend to control media, damage the economy, and cripple the justice system, expecting resulting chaos will bring an end to democracy.
The threat to democracy
Dan Froomkin is an American journalist worth following. Andrew Coyne is not afraid to speak out, but Froomkin wondered why most people in legacy media don’t appear to believe the current threat to democracy is real.
Trump “metastasizing, mutating, rapidly worsening”
A brilliant essay in The Globe and Mail. Andrew Coyne has spent decades observing and writing about Canada. He has interacted with politicians of all sorts, but none like the Russian agent in the White House. Coyne sees that democracy in North America is threatened and he presents a powerful warning…
America’s oligarchy is now fully exposed
Professor Robert Reich discussed the connections between wealth and power. Oligarchs have used their wealth and power to gain control of legacy media and that control is being used to increase their wealth and power.
Last honest election
Who needs competition in politics when rules can be rigged to favour people who make the rules? Real democracy is inconvenient for those who wish to govern.
The current world situation
This is a guest post by Chris Merrick, a school friend who has serious concerns with the state of the world. Most of us can say that in our lifetimes, Canada has never experienced such a direct threat to its continued existence. It is vital to build country-to-country relationships in other parts of the world. The U.S. President is not our only problem because a large number of American politicians and plutocrats are Trump’s fellow travellers.
Canadians will never kiss the gangster ring
Charlie Angus, a longtime Member of Parliament from Northeastern Ontario, published his observations about recent NATO meetings in Brussels. American historian Heather Cox Richardson reinforced some of the concerns expressed by Angus.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana stated the words shown here in his work The Life of Reason. With the rising tide of fascism in the USA and elsewhere, we should be attentive to his warning. According to University of Edinburgh historian Stephan Malinowski, a small group of powerful actors played a critical role in the creation of the Third Reich. In the 21st century, a different small group is again promoting fascism.
Defenders of democracy must speak out – UPDATED
I told Michael James, the writer recently featured here, that I wished more journalists had the strength of character to oppose authoritarianism now threatening democracy. Doing so involves professional risks because the Trump/Musk administration is supported by plutocrats who control major parts of the USA economy. There are also risks to an individual’s safety and well-being because one of the persons currently exercising power has pardoned dangerous criminals and marshalled massive numbers of would-be oppressors who, like him, ought to be in jail.
Is democracy doomed in North America?
With the Musk/Trump administration ripping huge holes in America’s social safety net, it is frightening to observe how major media properties have sagged onto bended knees to pay homage to wealth and power. There is a parallel to Germany in the 1930s. There, political leaders took control of media that did not serve the Nazi Party. A cocktail of naked opportunism and misplaced arrogance among the country’s most powerful men facilitated the rise of the Third Reich. With the media silenced or controlled, it was relatively easy for evil men to consolidate power and punish opponents…
Michael James update…
Mr. James posted a follow-up to the short essay he recently published on Facebook. His first piece was shared tens of thousands of times, but it attracted many hateful responses. According to James, Trump supporters reacted with threats, insults and rage. Many people favour freedom of speech only when they agree with what is spoken. Commentators on both sides of the political spectrum tend to oppose words that go against their personal values or beliefs.
Demagoguery
On the information platform Medium, Jack Dallaire describes himself: “Former tech CEO turned journalist-in-training. Psychology degree holder with a mission to uncover how tech giants are shaping a digital dystopia.” He wrote a piece about Pierre Poilievre that is worth attention.
in-sights.ca 
Blair Fix at _Economics from the Top Down_ also wrote two very good papers on the converion of housing into…