American Politics – Page 23

The NRA’s ‘Call to Arms.’

July 7, 2017 by Peter Lowry

Anywhere but America, this would be considered an act of treason. Why anyone involved in directing the National Rifle Association of America is not locked away at this time is the question? Instead the argument rages as to the truth of a recent advertisement created to support the NRA. To understand the argument, you need to analyse the advertisement word for word. The pictures used were only designed to inflame.

The opening words are: They use their media to assassinate real news. You are supposed to know who “they” are? It seems strange the NRA cannot use a less volatile word than “assassinate”?

It continues: They use their schools to teach children that their president is another Hitler. This is where the hyperbole becomes straight lies.

And then: They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and award shows to repeat their narrative over and over again. Frankly, the tweets from the White House create the only narrative, until now, that is amazing people.

The next sentence is a puzzler: And then they use their ex-president to endorse “the resistance.” It makes you want to find out where to sign up.

The following part needs no comment. It is just too off the wall: All to make them march. Make them protest. Make them scream racism and sexism and xenophobia and homophobia. To smash windows, burn cars, shut down interstates and airports, bully and terrorize the law-abiding–until the only option left is for the police to do their jobs and stop the madness.

The next part is chilling: And when that happens, they’ll use it as an excuse for their outrage. The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with the clenched fist of truth. This is the incitement to riot. The only problem is, if they bring their guns, it is insurrection.

The ad concludes with the signature line: I’m the National Rifle Association of America. And I’m freedom’s safest place. Thanks for the advice but I think I will feel safer in Canada.

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Rule of law beats bigotry.

July 6, 2017 by Peter Lowry

We should all get down on our knees and thank whatever God we worship that we live in a land ruled by law. This argument over a multi-million-dollar settlement and an apology for Omar Kadr is a disgrace. It is not a political decision. It is a legal settlement for years of torture and mistreatment for a child soldier who grew old in confinement.

Those Conservative hacks who are getting face time on television or their name in the paper as decrying the amount of the settlement are coming across as ignorant and bigoted.

You also need to recognize that Kadr’s lawyer deserves to be compensated for his many years of work for which he had little hope of ever seeing payment. He was breaking legal ground with a client who was the only child soldier to be charged for supposedly committing murder on a battlefield.

The very existence of the American prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba was a direct avoidance of law by the American government. And all Americans bear the guilt for its excesses of cruelty.

It was at Guantanamo Bay that Kadr was taken before a kangaroo court and charged with the unusual crime of “murder in violation of the laws of war.” Just where such a strange law came from and who was responsible for it was never made clear.

On the basis that he could serve his sentence in Canada under international agreement, Kadr pleaded guilty.

The law suit that we hear has been settled in favour of Kadr, charges that under the Harper government, Canadian intelligence agents denied the young man his rights as a Canadian citizen. The Harper government also spent millions fighting the case in Canada’s Supreme Court. For there to be any more comment from former members of that government is just making them look stupider than they might be.

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The tremors of Trump.

July 1, 2017 by Peter Lowry

Each year at this time, we do a little introspection. While Canada Day 2017 is as joyous as ever, we feel it is the impact of the American President that causes those ground tremors we are feeling. The man seems to stomp a lot.

At first, we were under the impression that he might just ignore Canada. Oh well, so much for that hope! We sent our Prime Minister down to the White House with a welcoming casserole but President Trump was not that interested. It did not seem to matter that Justin thought he had made another friend.

And maybe not. That ignorant man in the White House soon brought up the old chestnut about softwood lumber and threw in milk for good measure. Mr. Trump has never learned how to be a good neighbour. All he accomplished was to drive up the price of new homes on the American west coast and embarrass Wisconsin dairy farmers. The happy lumber kings of Oregon and Washington are making a killing. It was President Trump’s way of saying he wants to renegotiate the North-American trade deal between The U.S., Mexico and Canada.

The only problem is that Mr. Trump’s version of negotiating is to bully, cheat, lie and steal. There is no honour in a Trump style deal. That is how he made his billions whereby he could buy his way to the American presidency.

But deals between sovereign nations are based on good faith. That is an essential component of trade agreements. The objective to be negotiated has to be fair to all parties. And fairness is not just a word on paper, it has to be the perception of all parties.

No doubt both Canadian and Mexican negotiators will also bring their lists of trade irritants to the treaty meetings. Mr. Trump will soon learn that he cannot bully his way to creating advantage from a deal entered in good faith.

While most Canadians appear to consider President Trump to be something of a horse’s ass, we can expect him to be around for a while. He will continue to be stomping on things he should not. He is our neighbour and we might as well get used to him.

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Inviting President Trump.

June 28, 2017 by Peter Lowry

In politics, you are not always able to dine with people you like. All to often you have to deal with the position rather than the person. And in the case of someone such as the President of the United States of America, the position outranks the person. And what would you ever expect to gain from insulting the position?

The truth is that there is nothing to be gained from insult. And it silly to insult Donald Trump. You can make note of your more scathing thoughts about the man and you can save them for your memoires. Nobody gives a darn in memoires and if it makes you feel better, why not.

And if you really want President Trump to honour commitments his country made in regards to the Paris environmental conference, you are not going to make any progress slagging the guy. And it is obvious that he ignores all indications of global warming. Maybe the man has yet to have some learning opportunities and might still see the light.

But you can feel sorry for the Brits. They have already invited President Trump to London where he will be drawn through the streets in a golden carriage and afforded a state dinner with the Queen. Prime Minister May is still paying the price for that foolish invitation. More than 2 million Brits have already signed a petition demanding that this Trump triumph be withdrawn. It is important to note though that while the state dinner and regal trappings were asked to be revoked, there is no objection to Trump coming to the U.K. as a tourist.

I still remember the time Bob Nixon MPP sent me an invitation to a luncheon for then Quebec Premier René Lévesque that was being hosted in Toronto. Bob knew how much I despised what Lévesque stood for. While there was no way the guy could convince me of anything, I had to admit, when listening to him, that he was serious and seeking answers.

But in the case of Donald Trump, it is hard to believe that he believes in anything other than himself. His misogynistic and narcissistic characteristics make him a lampoon of himself.

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The Trials of Trump’s Translators.

June 23, 2017 by Peter Lowry

The news that there is a serious search underway to replace President Trump’s loyal White House spokesman Sean Spicer is sad. That poor befuddled man has become something of a favourite of the media. And where else would you find someone with the experience required, stupid or vain enough to take the job.

Mind you, I would volunteer to take it if the American President would just promise to never again put anything on Twitter. Something has to be done to save him from his continued feed of nocturnal twits. He could have the best spokesperson ever on the White House podium but there would be no point if he continues to make the news of the day from a platform for the unthinking.

Do people realize the disgraceful waste of time of professional journalists having to follow Trump on Twitter? This is a communications tool for children and the challenged. It is not even a viable platform for entertainment. It is only there for people who can only think in less than 140 character sentences. It is certainly not Sudoku.

While some take pleasure in ridiculing Trump for his short attention span, it really is not that funny. Boiling down the problems of the United States to something that President Trump can comprehend is a serious challenge. His devotion to problems that he can see and partially understand is producing simplistic solutions. A ten-year-old might do a better job.

And while a ten-year-old might have the same narcistic tendencies as septuagenarian Trump, you would expect a ten-year-old to outgrow them.

But this is not solving the spokesperson problem. What I would suggest is that we are looking at the problem as one of understanding the news media. This is wrong. We need someone who understands Donald Trump.

Now that Melania Trump is resident in the White House, she should earn her keep. And what better person to stand before the world news media each day and explain her husband’s nocturnal twits and his take on world affairs. And he has already shown that he is not embarrassed by nepotism. She just might be the only person to actually understand him. It hardly matters if she likes him or not.

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The anger factor.

June 22, 2017 by Peter Lowry

A reader on the west coast asked the other day if we are seeing anger in Liberal ranks directed at Prime Minister Trudeau’s disrespect for the party? What was strange about the question was that most of that anger is building on the west coast. The flash point will be the funding and tooling up of the of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion over the Rockies.

Anger is the emotion you look for in politics. We saw it in the United States over the last election. We knew that Americans of all political leanings were angry at the stalemates and infighting of their congress. In Canada, we were angry at the arrogance of the Harper government. In England, it was the feeling of helplessness as a member of the European Union: enter Brexit.

And now that same English anger is re-directed at Prime Minister May. The French took out their angst on their right wing. Anger in itself is not political; reaction becomes political.

No doubt many psychologists have published learned papers on this anger. There is really mothing new about it in politics. Anger is a blunt instrument used by politicians at their peril. The key is to lead, to direct the mob against a person, party, race, religion, tribe or nation. Blowback is when the mob knows they have been used.

But you can never tell a mob that they are being used. Just think of the last time you tried to convert a Donald Trump supporter? That person has all their hopes and fears wrapped up in the promises of a professional con-man. Deprogramming the true believer is no easy task.

And what is really frustrating is the rejection of logic. You can use the simplest of easy to understand logic and your argument will be rejected. The true Trump supporter does not care. They want their pound of flesh at any price. They do not care what the cost is to them.

Given time, people such as Donald Trump destroy themselves. He is already showing his distaste for the job he thought he wanted. It is not offering him the satisfaction he expected. He is still hitting out at supposed enemies. He needs to spend more time playing golf.

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How would Harper have handled Trump?

June 11, 2017 by Peter Lowry

When listening to Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland give her very important speech on the new world order, there was one disturbing thought. It was a silly question as to how would our previous prime minister have handled the situation? The one thing for sure was that Stephen Harper would never have allowed his foreign affairs minister to make such an important speech. It could have only been Harper himself in the spotlight.

And the more you think of it, you realize that the speech lost something by being delivered in the House of Commons. Harper would have taken it far from the Hill. He might have even taken the speech to New York or Philadelphia. That would have guaranteed world-wide attention.

Mind you it has been most of a century since anyone gave a truly momentous speech in our House of Commons. And that speaker was a Brit by the name of Winston Churchill.

Freeland’s speech was in essence a proposed walk-around to the situation with American President Trump. And it never needed to mention his name. (The only insult the son of a bitch recognizes is being ignored.)

And Freeland’s proposed solutions are long overdue. Canadians have really had enough of being treated as two-legged pets by the Americans.

We might have counted on their protecting us under the North American Air Defence Agreement (NORAD) but who the hell is protecting us from Trump? (Are we hoping he will invade Mexico first?)

But it would sure be nice to have a real Canadian military again. Trump will be long gone before we get our military up to snuff but it will be the effort made that counts. We might even get fighter aircraft to meet Canada’s needs.

Harper would not have liked the spending part of the speech. It would be more his style to only threaten to have a real Canadian military. Yet he would have agreed to going after more bi-lateral trade deals to try to keep Canada on its feet if Trump continues to destroy the American economy with his ignorance.

But would Harper have really stood up to what is going on in the Disturbed States of America? Probably not.

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The Trials of Trump’s Trekkees.

June 3, 2017 by Peter Lowry

We knew that U.S. President Donald Trump would be a continuing problem as long as his followers remained loyal. They certainly kept mute as mounting evidence of his narcissistic personality complex became irrefutable. (Maybe they were unaware that it meant he only loved himself.) They appear to think he is still true to them. They cheered when he supported coal. They applauded when he told companies to keep the jobs stateside. They whistled when he insulted Canada and Mexico. And we have been looking for their wedge issue.

We might just have found it. Trump just rained on his own parade. He did the one thing that could ultimately disillusion his devoted followers. He convinced the entire world that the United States of America does not keep its word. And that is not easy.

Trump has not made America great again: he has made it look mean and money grubbing again. He showed us that nobody can trust America under Trump. The bloated capitalist image of America has become Trump. Trump has become a parody of himself.

The world used to be jealous of America’s wealth and power. Now the world has a focus for hate.

The America we loved showed leadership and goodwill in signing the Paris agreement on combatting climate change. Trump has thoroughly trashed his country’s honour, its trust and its leadership in world affairs.

Not that his followers would notice. You can sit these people down and you will find that they are very complex people. It is the fact that they cannot see beyond their own small world that is worrisome.

But when Trump’s promises disappear in the coal dust. When his pledge of jobs is found to be fiction. When your small patch of land is flooded. When your trailer sails off down Tornado alley. When your medical insurance is no longer in force, you will wish you never heard of that son of a bitch: Donald Trump.

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Trump’s travels as ‘The Ugly American.’

May 27, 2017 by Peter Lowry

U.S. President Donald Trump has been out of the country this week. Life in Washington has been more peaceful. While Congress is despairing, trying to make sense of his budget, they have sent Trump to the Middle East and Europe on a pilgrimage to find his true religion and meaning.

What Trump is really doing is a reprise of Eugene Burdick and William Lederer’s 1958 novel The Ugly American. His first visit to the House of Saud was the classic example of the American tourist; flattered to be fed American foods, spoken to in American English and sleeping on an American style bed.

Trump was either unwilling to understand or unaware of the Saudi’s duplicity in funding Islamic extremists and where those American arms are ending up in Mid-East wars. Like Trump, the Saud family have too much money for anyone’s good.

Having learned nothing of the religion of the Prophet Muhammad, he was off to Jerusalem. Here at least, he was taken to the ancient Western Wall of the Second Temple. He appeared to have no prayer to leave in the wall.

Air Force One barely had time for an oil change before heading on to its next stop in Rome for the President to visit Pope Francis. It would have been interesting to know what the President and his wife were having a difference about. When leaving their multi-million dollar plane on the tarmac in Rome you saw Trump reaching to hold her hand and she batted it away. Being Catholic, maybe she wanted to appear more virginal for the audience with His Holiness.

The First Lady and her (Jewish) step-daughter Ivanka wore mantillas as head coverings out of respect for the Pope. As in Trump’s visits with the two other hosts, there was no insight into what was said during their meetings.

It was a pushy Trump who headed on to Brussels to meet with his peers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He lectured them instead of listening. He complained they were reluctant to pay their way. Is this the organization that told its members to keep their remarks of Twitter size? They seem aware that Trump has the attention span of a nine-year old.

But it was in a palatial Sicilian hotel overlooking the Mediterranean, that Trump really left the largest pile. As just one of the four new leaders of the G-7, Trump was the untrained elephant in the room. He criticized the Germans, reiterated his denial of climate change, insulted his hosts and probably told a horrified chef to burn his steak.

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When the Pope meets the Antichrist.

May 22, 2017 by Peter Lowry

The arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump in Rome needs a Cecil B. DeMille style Hollywood epic production. It would have trumpets and bass drums, rolling black clouds in the sky, flashes of lightening. We would see a Donald Trump dressed in black, towering over the gargoyles of Hell in his retinue. He would be met by a cowering claque of priests led by their Pope holding tightly to his cross.

That would be a bit melodramatic but Trump would like the showmanship involved. He certainly has no idea of how to act with a pope. There would be a considerable hypocrisy to him referring to the pope as “Your Holiness.”

There will be no epiphany. Trump would no more think that he is representing his country’s Catholics to the Vatican as he would be representing America’s Jews in Jerusalem. The Saudi’s had no thought of inviting him to drop in at Mecca as representing America’s Muslims.

The trouble with Trump is that he has no idea what he is doing or who he represents. He never seriously believed he would win the presidency. All he did was feed on the anger of the people coming to him. Tea Party darling Sarah Palin introduced Trump to the Republican convention as beloved of the rock ‘n’ rollers and holly rollers but she left out the bikers and white supremacists, the losers and the angry, the people mired in poverty without hope and anyone else that ‘civilized’ Americans had written off.

This American proletariat knew that Trump was a bigot, a chauvinist, ignorant and ill-equipped to be president but they all helped set up the accident that was the Electoral College. They chose him in anger and bitterness in a country of denied promises. They knew the weaknesses of America’s claim to greatness. They wanted their share and, if they could not have it, they simply wanted to get even.

And now they think Trump is serving them. He serves no one other than his own ego. They delude themselves and they delude Trump with their continued devotion. For Trump is the Antichrist.

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