A Very Timely Reminder

In 1984, the Enemy of the State was the elusive Emmanuel Goldstein, likely a contrived figure upon whom the masses could hurl their hatred, while Big Brother, the real enemy, surveilled and controlled the same masses. In the noir world of Trumpland, it appears the first of what will likely be many official enemies of the state has been revealed. Probably to no one's surprise, it is the media.

Just days after President Trump spoke of a “running war’’ with the media, his chief White House strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, ratcheted up the attacks, arguing that news organizations had been “humiliated” by the election outcome and repeatedly describing the media as “the opposition party” of the current administration.

“The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while,” Mr. Bannon said in an interview on Wednesday.

“I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party.

The fraught times in which we live demand constant vigilance. Now would seem to be a good time for some crucial reminders via the ever-pertinent George Orwell. Special thanks to my friend and former colleague, Mary Ann, for bringing the following to my attention:

Canada's Carnival Sideshow

While people with normal cognitive abilities likely see the farce in Kevin O'Leary's effort to become the next leader of the Conservative Party, it would be unwise to underestimate the power of less able and less stable people to influence the course of events. If nothing else, the Trump spectacle attests to the importance of such a caution. It is therefore incumbent upon those who want the best for the country to warn about the worst, as these letter-writers do today:

Blustering of days past: O'Leary's views, unadorned, Jan. 21

In the last week the Star has detailed two opposite Kevin O’Learys. One would like to bust unions (Jennifer Wells); the other says he would like to make unions more “efficient.”

Can we really believe O’Leary suddenly wants unions to better represent workers (i.e. more gains) while saving money through efficiency? Both would make his nemesis more powerful.

He has started off following his idol’s path: he and Trump believe in lying big to fool ordinary workers. Let’s take a lesson from Trump and put the label “lying Kevin” on this impostor.

Will Presley, North Bay

It is wonderful to learn that Mr. O’Leary’s primary goal is to “go to bed richer than when he woke up in the morning.” The question now is: how many Canadians will be going to bed poorer because of Mr. O’Leary’s obsession with putting more money into his own already bulging pocket?

Herb Alexander, Thornhill

O’Leary espouses on corporate social responsibility, “Social consciousness, that’s ridiculous. Businesses do not have a social conscience” (like most people do).

It explains Citizens United (corporations with equal rights as citizens), and why the leaders of many of these corporations have no social conscience, to be polite.

So, as Mr. O-so-Leary clearly states, Citizens United is just a con, and why under their newly crowned “Orange Hitler” the U.S. should repeal Citizens United immediately.

He’s an astute U.S. businessman. The U.S. business elites should listen to him.

Richard Kadziewicz, Scarborough

I read with concern Kevin O’Leary’s decision to run. My fervent hope is that the media does not treat his campaign as a joke and give him excess coverage that he so craves. We see how that worked out in the U.S where Trump used that free publicity to prey on the fears and prejudices of people who bought into his fake message of doom and gloom and false promises.

Canadians should never allow opportunistic politicians whose messages of divide and conquer and racial overtures to gain a foot hold in our political system. The media has a responsible role to play and should not promote sensationalism and lies at the expense of truth.

Mort Achaia, Brampton

Clarity From Robert Reich

Robert Reich simply and brilliantly deconstructs Trump's construction plans. Lest Canadians feel tempted toward complacency, check out Trudeau's infrastructure bank plans, which will likely have the same effect of enriching corporate investors at our collective expense.

And So It Begins

For those millions of Canadians who chafed under the information embargo by Stephen Trump, this will be all too familiar:

Donald Trump wants to be known as the president who tweets, but his administration is prohibiting government researchers from sharing their findings with the Americans who pay for their work.

The president signed executive orders Tuesday that cut off all new contracts and grants for the Environmental Protection Agency — and he also banned the agency’s employees from providing updates on social media or to journalists, the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture sent an email Monday morning, which was obtained by BuzzFeed News, prohibiting its employees from communicating with the public about their taxpayer-funded work.

Those “public-facing documents” include news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds and social media content, said Sharon Drumm, chief of staff of the Agricultural Research Service.

The U.S. Department of the Interior reportedly ordered employees to stop posting messages on government Twitter accounts after the National Park Service a post comparing the size of Trump’s inauguration with President Barack Obama’s in 2009.

Dark, dark days ahead, my friends. Very dark days.

Eerily Prescient

This is what former Supreme Court Justice David Souter said four years ago. I think you will quickly see the reason for the post's title:

A Hoax With Impact

Even though global temperature records are being set, it must be reassuring to many in Trumpland that climate change is but a Chinese hoax. Now, if only Mother Nature would read the memo:





And now, scenes from the apocalypse in California:

Facts Are Clearly Overrated

Thanks to my friend Jonathan for sending this along: