Somewhere Hitler Is Smiling
Just a passing note. A friend and colleague said to me many years ago that two problems would never be solved in his lifetime … troubles in the Middle East and poverty.
Gerry died a couple of decades ago. You see the progress we’ve made on those fronts. Welcome to Ottawa refugees.
Sorry, Gerry.
Civilization moves forward at an excrutiatingly slow pace. Forget about changing the world. It won’t happen. Apathy reigns.
But you can make precious small changes. Take your little wins where you can get them. They are few and far between.
When your agent was young, we never listened to old people despite them having a great amount of wisdom accumulated over the years. Seniors were ignored and stowed away like cattle. Thus far, I’ve missed the cattle stage.
Now that I’m old, young people don’t listen to me and most of my friends. So they make the same mistakes repeatedly.
I see it in what’s left of journalism but we see it in society as well. We are repeating our mistakes. Forgetting the lessons of war. Old people have spent a lifetime watching these mistakes. Younger people are voting for Donald Trump
If you want to know how Trump turns out, watch the movie Citizen Kane. If he wins in November, the world will decay into chaos. Ukraine will be lost and so will other countries and issues. Civilization is overlooking the precipice. Trump has already had his failed Munich putsch. His night of the long knives almost got his former vice-president Mike Pence killed on Jan. 6. Pence now knows how Ernst Rohm felt.
Radical right-wing groups are growing around the world. Imagine a world governed by Trump and his buddy Putin.
Somewhere Hitler is smiling. We have forgotten the lessons of the past.
Get ready for refugees Ottawa … if Canada as we know it, continues to exist.
Maybe we will be the refugees.
Ken Gray
Sorry, but is that Donald Trump in Citizen Kane?
For You:
Canadians Dread Trump Presidency: POLL
J.D. Vance Worst Trump Hire: Scaramucci
Quebec Gets Most From Canada: POLL
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– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
Wonder which country Mike Pence will seek asylum in if Trump wins. Do you think if he comes here (which I don’t think he will), he’ll be offered a place in our tent city while we seek transitional housing for him?
Ken. I think you should re-watch the clip you played a few weeks ago of Bill Maher explaining why the world is moving to the right. It was very interesting when he noted that in Sweden, the world’s established stronghold of socialist government and culture, the people have moved towards right-wing politics. Turns out Sweden’s open door policy created a battleground for Somalian drug dealers and voters said “Whoa!”. Maher concluded that much of the world is moving to the right and that wherever you live your government will likely do so too; and be prepared because you’re probably not going to “like” the new guy. Do we need to like the new guy (by the way, I use word “guy” here in a generic context) or do we need leaders who are going to be effective? While watching and listening to the Bill Maher video I had problems determining whether he leaned to the left or to right; he seemed to show disdain for both groups. So, when I saw his most recent book in my local bookstore I purchased it and after reading it I realized he doesn’t pick sides, he supports “not stupid”. While I am not a fan of Donald Trump (he’s what we call a “me me me” in our house), I understand why he appeals to some people. And if he wins the election, and immigrants from the USA look towards Canada as an escape option, I’m sure Justin Trudeau will welcome them with open arms because he wants to be the “cool guy” who is everything to everyone everywhere, the guy the world adores (secretly, I think he’s a self-centred choose your own noun here who wants to win the Nobel Prize). Trudeau’s immigration policies have had a major negative impact on this country in recent years, vis a vis your most recent article concerning sprung housing. And it’s not so much the policies themselves I have an issue with (hell aside from the natives, we’re all immigrants from somewhere), but the speed at which they have been executed. I have ample opportunity (daily in fact) to read articles about Donald Trump and The Bulldog makes negative comments about Pierre Poilievre on a semi-regular basis. I realize The Bulldog concerns itself primarily with municipal politics but you have opened the door here, so please feel free to give Justin Trudeau the kick in the ass he so rightly deserves when you have a couple of minutes available. He’s a perfect topic for Ken Gray’s caustic wit.
plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
Just read a series of books on fascism.
It is here in Ontario with the centralization of power to the province from cities and school boards, politicization of the public sector including boards, tribunals , the judiciary, allowing mayors to pass by laws with 1/3 of the vote, illegally (according to the Chief Justice) cutting the number of municipal councillors during an election – using the NotWithStanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And more.
Reading list available. Start with On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the 20th Century by Timothy Snyder…it is a quick and potent read.