It is going to be a great night for American democracy. It is a humbling time to be in this country. Not for a hundred years have such a large percentage of people voted. They have voted in a time of a mass pandemic. They have voted when their society is under immense strain. They are voting when all their media and most of their journalists are telling them nose-stretching lies about the candidates. So in the midst of all...
She has the same lunacy that inspired hundreds-of-thousands of our spiritual sisters to put mock vaginas on their heads. It is the same lunacy that makes many of my journalist colleagues claim that a vote for Trump will overturn American Democracy or bring about another civil war. It is the same lunacy, on the other side of the political fence, that convinces people to think about kidnapping their politicians.
They are the worst mass murderers in the history of humanity and they have chosen to face down the National Basketball Association (NBA). If you missed this week’s foreboding story of communist Chinese taking umbrage at a seven-word tweet by a relatively unknown (by international standards) NBA manager, this is what happened. Daryl Morey is the intelligent, maverick general manager of the Houston Rockets. He tweets about a range of subjects, mostly basketball but ranging to speed chess and jokes about...
Its not about sex. You might think that it was all about sex if you read many of the articles on the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Epstein is the wealthy New Yorker financier indicted for sexual trafficking of potentially hundreds of underage girls. The media is full of salacious stories presented in an ‘Evils-of-Pornography-we-bring-you-a-26-part-special-investigation’ style. These stories feature tales of massages, recruitment of other teenagers and lots of bodily parts. All of these stories spectacularly miss the point. This case is...
The timing could not be better. Just as the sporting world endures another hot-air session a.k.a. an international conference on match-fixing sponsored by the Qatar 2022 World Cup Committee, out comes a new report on labour conditions in Qatar and the building of the World Cup infrastructure and stadiums. The report, by the external company charged by FIFA to monitor workers' conditions, makes for sobering reading. It seems – no surprise – that despite all the words, all the clichés, all the high-level negotiations...
This is an appalling, grotesque - but true - story. As Donald Trump unveils a new military strategy in Afghanistan, here is a story that will have you twisting with rage but understanding why NATO is failing in that country. If you have not been paying attention to the western intervention in Afghanistan since 2001, you may only be familiar with the story promoted by the mainstream media: NATO troops are fighting, accompanied by honest, decent Afghan allies, against the terrible,...
There is an argument going up and down the halls of power in Washington. No, it has nothing (well, not directly) to do with Donald Trump. Rather on one side are keen, hungry FBI agents and their Department of Justice counterparts. These police and prosecutors are usually clothed in dark suits, dresses with shoulder pads and black sunglasses. They spend their weekends competing in triathlons or running up and down mountains. On the other side of the argument are the...
Five years ago, Canadian politics changed inside a boxing ring. The then backbencher MP Justin Trudeau fought the Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau. Trudeau won so convincingly that he began his rise to power. Now on the anniversary of the fight Toronto Star contributor Declan Hill - who also fought that night - jumped in the ring with our Prime Minister to check his boxing form and to interview him about the fight and the state of our nation. In the...
“You’re the opposition party. Not the Democratic Party. You’re the opposition party. The media is the opposition party.” Stephen Bannon is right. Sadly, he may even be right in the second part of his now-famous quote to the New York Times, “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while now.” I hate writing these words. I am not a Trump supporter. I disagree with much of his social policies. As a...
They have lost the plot. The reaction of much of the mainstream media and some left-wing leaders towards the new American President Donald Trump is beginning to show signs of insanity. If you have read the headlines in the New York Times, Guardian and other international news outlets over the last few weeks you would be forgiven for thinking that many of their stories were written by people who have forgotten rationality. “Trump has already failed America” (he was not even president...
