A Canadian Writer’s View on American Politics
A Black man falls asleep in his car at a Wendy’s parking lot in Atlanta, Georgia. Police are called, a tussle ensues. The man is shot and killed at the hands of the police. A Black man being senselessly murdered by police officers are the stories our children have grown up on. Hansel and Gretel be damned. Continue reading “OPINION | High Noon in Atlanta: the Killing of Rayshard Brooks”
In the 1992 film, Sneakers, the most chilling scene is as our hero, Robert Redford, slowly assembles tiles from a Scrabble game to spell out the phrase “TOO MANY SECRETS”. As it turns out this group of intrepid security experts have discovered a computer program able to hack any computer system. The scene ends with Redford lamenting, “No more secrets”, a more prophetic social commentary than any Orwellian future. In the Trump era, the future is now. Continue reading “Truth in the Trump era…and why the president hates it”
Today, I can write that Heather’s Heyer’s assailant, James Field Jr., is a murderer. Many had thought it, people had tweeted it, but now it’s official. At age 21, he will be sentenced as any murderer should.
In Trump’s long tunnel of madness, Charlottesville is but a speck in the rearview mirror. But many will recall the incident—the pain, the anger, the sudden sense of helplessness and loss that will not soon be forgotten. Still, some may argue that as Canadian living thousands of miles away, I’m on the fringe. No, I didn’t know Heather Heyer, but both our nations appreciate the stand she took, and the ultimate price that she paid. Continue reading “Opinion | Heather Heyer and the price of justice”
As the 60’s rock group, Buffalo Springfield once sang, “There’s something happening here…There’s battle lines being drawn.” The devastation at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is the most recent mass shooting involving an assault-type rifle. The debate over gun control has been fueled by a combination of enraged and engaged students, a town hall meeting gone bad for politicians, and a White House listening session that resulted in crude and dangerous recommendations by President Trump. Add to the mix a CPAC meeting, where the NRA’s executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre, gave a defiant speech warning that a perceived socialist agenda would strip away 2nd Amendment rights. Continue reading “Opinion | Buffalo Springfield, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and The Hour of the Gun”
When my father proposed to my mother, he did so on one knee. The Knighthood ceremony requires the candidate to take one knee before the Queen. When we bend down to speak to a small child, we often do so on one knee. I don’t know why Donald Trump hates one knee so much, but for the simple fact it challenges him— everything he is and ever wanted to become.
Continue reading “Opinion | Take a knee: What DOES Trump’s presidency really stand for?”
Special Report
The last week has held America’s emotions hostage. Outrage. Shock. Awe. The more we learn about the Niger incident are the more questions we have. Like a hydra, we chop off one bureaucratic head, only for two more to grow in its place. We look for leadership, moral or otherwise, and it’s not to be found. Trump obfuscates his responsibility as Americans and the families of four fallen soldiers are left to piece together the remains of the in Niger incident.
During President Trump’s Rose Garden press conference, he refused to answer the question about Niger and instead segued to whether or not past presidents contacted the family members of fallen Continue reading “The Ugly “Truth” behind Niger, Chad, and Donald J. Trump”
On Monday afternoon the president tweeted, “A great day at the White House!”, the social media equivalent of whistling in the dark. “I’m not afraid” it seemed to say. But the jig is up, Trump is scared. After Friday’s most recent failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, and with Trump’s own Republican member John McCain delivering its death blow, it should have been a quiet weekend, perhaps one of reflection for the president, or for any president.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders has warned us that when the president gets attacked, Continue reading ““The lights on at the White House, but President Alone and in the Dark””
I knew there were no tapes. Most people knew, but we played along. It was a news byte, tension, suspense, intrigue, all the hallmarks of a good television show or film. Wait! Trump is now president, this isn’t either of those. Then why the charade? What may be good marketing in private industry is unconscionable form for the president of the United States. Continue reading “Planet of the Tapes”
Covfefe. Yes, I said it, blurting it out for the world to hear as my homemade spaghetti sauce hit the floor, the cupboards, my shoes and suit, avoiding the kitchen apron I wore. My dinner guest stood at the doorway, her mouth covered, laughing. Yes, the perfect evening was ruined. Covfefe.
But why covfefe? Because as a writer this latest addition to the vernacular has dogged, plagued and riddled my life with an unanswerable question ever since Trump’s notorious midnight tweet of May 31: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.” Then nothing. That morning, the original tweet deleted, the president followed up: “Who can figure out the true meaning of ‘covfefe’??? Enjoy!” Continue reading “The True Meaning of Covfefe (Figured Out)”
