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Friday, December 27, 2024
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Lisa Van Dusen

The civilizing effect (touch wood) of lockdown on social media

  • For all the incalculable personal tragedy and economic disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has produced, there have been, if not entirely countervailing positives, at least
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 18, 2020
Casual consumption indicates that New Zealand actor Sam Neill isn’t the only one using his Twitter feed as a pandemic palliative, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Twitter/TwoPaddocks

The civilizing effect (touch wood) of lockdown on social media

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 18, 2020
  • For all the incalculable personal tragedy and economic disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has produced, there have been, if not entirely countervailing positives, at least

The civilizing effect (touch wood) of lockdown on social media

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 18, 2020
  • For all the incalculable personal tragedy and economic disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has produced, there have been, if not entirely countervailing positives, at least
Casual consumption indicates that New Zealand actor Sam Neill isn’t the only one using his Twitter feed as a pandemic palliative, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Twitter/TwoPaddocks

The Joe and Kamala cavalry

  • As the world heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris declared the projected president and vice-president-elect of the
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 8, 2020
In their Nov. 7 speeches in Wilmington, Del., U.S. Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris and President-elect Joe Biden presented an end to rambling belligerence and a return to world-reassuring, principled coherence, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot courtesy of YouTube/PBS NewsHour

The Joe and Kamala cavalry

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 8, 2020
  • As the world heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris declared the projected president and vice-president-elect of the

The Joe and Kamala cavalry

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 8, 2020
  • As the world heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris declared the projected president and vice-president-elect of the
In their Nov. 7 speeches in Wilmington, Del., U.S. Vice-president-elect Kamala Harris and President-elect Joe Biden presented an end to rambling belligerence and a return to world-reassuring, principled coherence, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot courtesy of YouTube/PBS NewsHour

Performative politics and the redundancy of Borat

  • The buffoonish hamming, the slapstick vulgarity, the imbecilic racism, the bunko set pieces, the cartoonish misogyny, the elaborate dupery, the unseemly honeytraps … with
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 28, 2020
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat character hinges on the premise that it’s much easier to con people playing an imbecile than playing a genius, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot courtesy of YouTube/Amazon Prime Video

Performative politics and the redundancy of Borat

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 28, 2020
  • The buffoonish hamming, the slapstick vulgarity, the imbecilic racism, the bunko set pieces, the cartoonish misogyny, the elaborate dupery, the unseemly honeytraps … with

Performative politics and the redundancy of Borat

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 28, 2020
  • The buffoonish hamming, the slapstick vulgarity, the imbecilic racism, the bunko set pieces, the cartoonish misogyny, the elaborate dupery, the unseemly honeytraps … with
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat character hinges on the premise that it’s much easier to con people playing an imbecile than playing a genius, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot courtesy of YouTube/Amazon Prime Video

The morning-after elephant: whom will Canada be sleeping (or not) next to for the next four years?

  • There is no cliché about Canada’s relationship with the United States more over-flogged than the famous Pierre Trudeau quote about how living next to
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 21, 2020
The reason there’s no sane debate to be had about which elephant Canada would be better off waking up next to on Nov. 4 is that Donald Trump himself has settled the question, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr image by DonkeyHotey

The morning-after elephant: whom will Canada be sleeping (or not) next to for the next four years?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 21, 2020
  • There is no cliché about Canada’s relationship with the United States more over-flogged than the famous Pierre Trudeau quote about how living next to

The morning-after elephant: whom will Canada be sleeping (or not) next to for the next four years?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 21, 2020
  • There is no cliché about Canada’s relationship with the United States more over-flogged than the famous Pierre Trudeau quote about how living next to
The reason there’s no sane debate to be had about which elephant Canada would be better off waking up next to on Nov. 4 is that Donald Trump himself has settled the question, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr image by DonkeyHotey

Economic inequality, COVID-19, and the butterfly effect

  • Back in 2013, when Beyoncé was Drunk in Love, Justin Bieber was breaking up with his pet monkey, and Donald Trump was still tweeting about Barack
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 14, 2020
The unprecedented factor in this recovery effort as opposed to 2009—domestically and internationally—is the exponential, inhibiting, and exploitable power of uncertainty, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Capital in the Twenty-First Century screenshot via Netflix

Economic inequality, COVID-19, and the butterfly effect

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 14, 2020
  • Back in 2013, when Beyoncé was Drunk in Love, Justin Bieber was breaking up with his pet monkey, and Donald Trump was still tweeting about Barack

Economic inequality, COVID-19, and the butterfly effect

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 14, 2020
  • Back in 2013, when Beyoncé was Drunk in Love, Justin Bieber was breaking up with his pet monkey, and Donald Trump was still tweeting about Barack
The unprecedented factor in this recovery effort as opposed to 2009—domestically and internationally—is the exponential, inhibiting, and exploitable power of uncertainty, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Capital in the Twenty-First Century screenshot via Netflix

Donald Trump, power tool of the new barbarians

  • During the last two major global clashes between democracy and totalitarianism—unleashed by the rise of fascism that produced the Second World War and of
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 7, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump is pictured at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Oct. 3. The political, geopolitical, and intelligence interests currently using Trump, among other tools, to undermine and discredit democracy care about one thing: power, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Joyce N. Boghosian

Donald Trump, power tool of the new barbarians

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 7, 2020
  • During the last two major global clashes between democracy and totalitarianism—unleashed by the rise of fascism that produced the Second World War and of

Donald Trump, power tool of the new barbarians

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 7, 2020
  • During the last two major global clashes between democracy and totalitarianism—unleashed by the rise of fascism that produced the Second World War and of
U.S. President Donald Trump is pictured at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Oct. 3. The political, geopolitical, and intelligence interests currently using Trump, among other tools, to undermine and discredit democracy care about one thing: power, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Joyce N. Boghosian

Schitt’s Creek II: The Roses of Rideau Hall is the reality show the world needs

  • As much of the world takes up a new form of foxhole God-bargaining in which the divine intervention deliverable is ending the reality show
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 23, 2020
Canadian comedy Schitt's Creek won big at the Emmy's on Sept. 20, the show stars and creators Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Levy, and Annie Murphy are pictured. Maybe when Governor General Julie Payette’s term is up in 2022, the questions of both successorship and the demand for more of Schitt's Creek could be solved by appointing Eugene Levy as Canada’s first Jewish governor general, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Schitt's Creek's Twitter

Schitt’s Creek II: The Roses of Rideau Hall is the reality show the world needs

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 23, 2020
  • As much of the world takes up a new form of foxhole God-bargaining in which the divine intervention deliverable is ending the reality show

Schitt’s Creek II: The Roses of Rideau Hall is the reality show the world needs

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 23, 2020
  • As much of the world takes up a new form of foxhole God-bargaining in which the divine intervention deliverable is ending the reality show
Canadian comedy Schitt's Creek won big at the Emmy's on Sept. 20, the show stars and creators Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Dan Levy, and Annie Murphy are pictured. Maybe when Governor General Julie Payette’s term is up in 2022, the questions of both successorship and the demand for more of Schitt's Creek could be solved by appointing Eugene Levy as Canada’s first Jewish governor general, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Schitt's Creek's Twitter

In any normal election campaign

  • To lead with an exotic platitude in a time of perpetual hyperbole: election campaigns contain surprises. Twelve years ago this week, on Sept. 15,
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 16, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump, pictured during an indoor campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept. 13. As the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign enters its crucial final weeks, it’s hard to imagine what could upend this race, given the pre-existing horror show, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot courtesy of C-Span

In any normal election campaign

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 16, 2020
  • To lead with an exotic platitude in a time of perpetual hyperbole: election campaigns contain surprises. Twelve years ago this week, on Sept. 15,

In any normal election campaign

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 16, 2020
  • To lead with an exotic platitude in a time of perpetual hyperbole: election campaigns contain surprises. Twelve years ago this week, on Sept. 15,
U.S. President Donald Trump, pictured during an indoor campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept. 13. As the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign enters its crucial final weeks, it’s hard to imagine what could upend this race, given the pre-existing horror show, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot courtesy of C-Span

The day the banality of evil died

  • Nineteen years ago this week, two passenger jets loaded with hostages to history, self-styled martyrs, and weaponized jet fuel hit the World Trade Center
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 9, 2020
Aside from the enormous geopolitical and security consequences unleashed on that Tuesday morning, 9/11 was different from most terrorism because the logistics of the attack repurposed the element of surprise for maximum suffering, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Robert J. Fisch

The day the banality of evil died

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 9, 2020
  • Nineteen years ago this week, two passenger jets loaded with hostages to history, self-styled martyrs, and weaponized jet fuel hit the World Trade Center

The day the banality of evil died

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 9, 2020
  • Nineteen years ago this week, two passenger jets loaded with hostages to history, self-styled martyrs, and weaponized jet fuel hit the World Trade Center
Aside from the enormous geopolitical and security consequences unleashed on that Tuesday morning, 9/11 was different from most terrorism because the logistics of the attack repurposed the element of surprise for maximum suffering, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Robert J. Fisch

It’s the economics, stupid: corruption, greed, and the war on democracy

  • In “The 300,000-year case for the 15-hour work week,” a major essay in the Financial Times recently, anthropologist James Suzman soothingly offered an evolutionary rationale for a re-think
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 2, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump gives his nomination acceptance speech at the White House during the Republican National Convention on Aug. 27. YouTube screenshot via PBS NewsHour

It’s the economics, stupid: corruption, greed, and the war on democracy

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 2, 2020
  • In “The 300,000-year case for the 15-hour work week,” a major essay in the Financial Times recently, anthropologist James Suzman soothingly offered an evolutionary rationale for a re-think

It’s the economics, stupid: corruption, greed, and the war on democracy

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 2, 2020
  • In “The 300,000-year case for the 15-hour work week,” a major essay in the Financial Times recently, anthropologist James Suzman soothingly offered an evolutionary rationale for a re-think
U.S. President Donald Trump gives his nomination acceptance speech at the White House during the Republican National Convention on Aug. 27. YouTube screenshot via PBS NewsHour

Saudade for sanity: missing the rebels in an echo chamber of nonsense

  • Watching Anthony Bourdain lope his way around Lisbon the other night as a way of reconnecting with a mask-less, unrestricted, pre-pandemic reality, reminded me of
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 26, 2020
Former U.S. President Barack Obama shares a meal with the late Anthony Bourdain in Vietnam in 2016. White House photograph by Pete Souza

Saudade for sanity: missing the rebels in an echo chamber of nonsense

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 26, 2020
  • Watching Anthony Bourdain lope his way around Lisbon the other night as a way of reconnecting with a mask-less, unrestricted, pre-pandemic reality, reminded me of

Saudade for sanity: missing the rebels in an echo chamber of nonsense

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 26, 2020
  • Watching Anthony Bourdain lope his way around Lisbon the other night as a way of reconnecting with a mask-less, unrestricted, pre-pandemic reality, reminded me of
Former U.S. President Barack Obama shares a meal with the late Anthony Bourdain in Vietnam in 2016. White House photograph by Pete Souza

No time like the present: America’s unprecedented election

  • If you’re a columnist writing regularly about U.S. politics, one of your lazy, go-to tropes is the Schoolhouse Rock song I’m Just a Bill (on
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 19, 2020
Clockwise from top left, U.S. President Donald Trump, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Democratic vice-president pick Kamala Harris, and Vice-President Mike Pence. Flickr photographs by Gage Skidmore

No time like the present: America’s unprecedented election

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 19, 2020
  • If you’re a columnist writing regularly about U.S. politics, one of your lazy, go-to tropes is the Schoolhouse Rock song I’m Just a Bill (on

No time like the present: America’s unprecedented election

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 19, 2020
  • If you’re a columnist writing regularly about U.S. politics, one of your lazy, go-to tropes is the Schoolhouse Rock song I’m Just a Bill (on
Clockwise from top left, U.S. President Donald Trump, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Democratic vice-president pick Kamala Harris, and Vice-President Mike Pence. Flickr photographs by Gage Skidmore

The swindled and the vile: America’s bomb-less Blitz

  • Years ago, when I first lived in Washington, D.C., the city was so paralyzed by snow one January Saturday that friends who came for
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 12, 2020
After years of subterfuge and chicanery, today’s world war has now produced the perfect-storm crescendo of a transformation-rationalizing pandemic and a transformation-rationalizing American president in the process of staging a coup against his own country, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Tia Dufour

The swindled and the vile: America’s bomb-less Blitz

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 12, 2020
  • Years ago, when I first lived in Washington, D.C., the city was so paralyzed by snow one January Saturday that friends who came for

The swindled and the vile: America’s bomb-less Blitz

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 12, 2020
  • Years ago, when I first lived in Washington, D.C., the city was so paralyzed by snow one January Saturday that friends who came for
After years of subterfuge and chicanery, today’s world war has now produced the perfect-storm crescendo of a transformation-rationalizing pandemic and a transformation-rationalizing American president in the process of staging a coup against his own country, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Tia Dufour

Welcome to the new McCarthyism

  • If Godwin’s law has been among the many casualties of reality-show fascism, it is quickly being replaced by the rule that, in any debate about China,
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 5, 2020
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, pictured with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa in June 2016. Mr. Wang recently compared American policies towards China as McCarthy-style paranoia, but today’s tension between the world’s democracies and Beijing over China’s totalitarian bullying isn’t about communism, writes Lisa Van Dusen. PMO photograph by Adam Scotti

Welcome to the new McCarthyism

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 5, 2020
  • If Godwin’s law has been among the many casualties of reality-show fascism, it is quickly being replaced by the rule that, in any debate about China,

Welcome to the new McCarthyism

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 5, 2020
  • If Godwin’s law has been among the many casualties of reality-show fascism, it is quickly being replaced by the rule that, in any debate about China,
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, pictured with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa in June 2016. Mr. Wang recently compared American policies towards China as McCarthy-style paranoia, but today’s tension between the world’s democracies and Beijing over China’s totalitarian bullying isn’t about communism, writes Lisa Van Dusen. PMO photograph by Adam Scotti

Pining for outside during an indoor summer

  • One of the many ironies of life in this pandemic is that, while nature is probably the safest place for us, our default retreat
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 29, 2020
As anyone who grew up in the country knows, you never quite lose the hankering to climb a tree if it’s been too long, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay

Pining for outside during an indoor summer

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 29, 2020
  • One of the many ironies of life in this pandemic is that, while nature is probably the safest place for us, our default retreat

Pining for outside during an indoor summer

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 29, 2020
  • One of the many ironies of life in this pandemic is that, while nature is probably the safest place for us, our default retreat
As anyone who grew up in the country knows, you never quite lose the hankering to climb a tree if it’s been too long, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay

Good trouble: Lewis, Mandela, and authentic power

  • John Lewis, whose scarred, unbreakable skull was a luminous monument to the “good trouble” he so passionately advocated, did not die on Mandela Day. But by the time
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 22, 2020
The late U.S. Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, pictured in June 2017, followed a different path to the same beliefs about nonviolent resistance than fellow icon Nelson Mandela, but their legacies are fittingly intertwined, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Mobilus In Mobili

Good trouble: Lewis, Mandela, and authentic power

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 22, 2020
  • John Lewis, whose scarred, unbreakable skull was a luminous monument to the “good trouble” he so passionately advocated, did not die on Mandela Day. But by the time

Good trouble: Lewis, Mandela, and authentic power

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 22, 2020
  • John Lewis, whose scarred, unbreakable skull was a luminous monument to the “good trouble” he so passionately advocated, did not die on Mandela Day. But by the time
The late U.S. Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, pictured in June 2017, followed a different path to the same beliefs about nonviolent resistance than fellow icon Nelson Mandela, but their legacies are fittingly intertwined, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Mobilus In Mobili

The great escape: Vol de Nuit and the summer of our discontent

  • Sometimes, during the first two decades of this Jeremy Bentham-meets-Elmore Leonard century, I’ve feared that reality has spoiled me for fiction. That living in
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 8, 2020
Vol de Nuit, the 1931 work by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, pictured near Montreal in 1942, stands out in COVID-19 quarantine as a paean to outside and for its empathy, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Wikimedia Commons image

The great escape: Vol de Nuit and the summer of our discontent

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 8, 2020
  • Sometimes, during the first two decades of this Jeremy Bentham-meets-Elmore Leonard century, I’ve feared that reality has spoiled me for fiction. That living in

The great escape: Vol de Nuit and the summer of our discontent

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 8, 2020
  • Sometimes, during the first two decades of this Jeremy Bentham-meets-Elmore Leonard century, I’ve feared that reality has spoiled me for fiction. That living in
Vol de Nuit, the 1931 work by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, pictured near Montreal in 1942, stands out in COVID-19 quarantine as a paean to outside and for its empathy, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Wikimedia Commons image

Happy Canada Day! Pass the vodka cooler and thank God we’re a middle power

  • It’s tempting, at a time like this—not that there’s ever been, let’s face it, a time like this—to say that this is the weirdest
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 1, 2020
Justin Trudeau’s rule-of-law orthodoxy in response to Beijing’s norm-obliterating hostage diplomacy has isolated him in a way that says far more about China’s role in our current global unpleasantness than it does about Trudeau’s entirely normal position, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade, Flickr photograph by Janne Wittoeck

Happy Canada Day! Pass the vodka cooler and thank God we’re a middle power

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 1, 2020
  • It’s tempting, at a time like this—not that there’s ever been, let’s face it, a time like this—to say that this is the weirdest

Happy Canada Day! Pass the vodka cooler and thank God we’re a middle power

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 1, 2020
  • It’s tempting, at a time like this—not that there’s ever been, let’s face it, a time like this—to say that this is the weirdest
Justin Trudeau’s rule-of-law orthodoxy in response to Beijing’s norm-obliterating hostage diplomacy has isolated him in a way that says far more about China’s role in our current global unpleasantness than it does about Trudeau’s entirely normal position, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade, Flickr photograph by Janne Wittoeck

Trump’s fake Cold War: the pre-election spin on China

  • Because Donald Trump has transformed the American presidency into less of a global leadership role than an anti-democracy propaganda vehicle, it was going to
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 24, 2020
The notion that the United States and China are now engaged in a classic great-power rivalry and new Cold War situates the dynamic between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping within a conventional geopolitical context rather than the unconventional one in which it exists, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Shealah Craighead

Trump’s fake Cold War: the pre-election spin on China

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 24, 2020
  • Because Donald Trump has transformed the American presidency into less of a global leadership role than an anti-democracy propaganda vehicle, it was going to

Trump’s fake Cold War: the pre-election spin on China

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 24, 2020
  • Because Donald Trump has transformed the American presidency into less of a global leadership role than an anti-democracy propaganda vehicle, it was going to
The notion that the United States and China are now engaged in a classic great-power rivalry and new Cold War situates the dynamic between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping within a conventional geopolitical context rather than the unconventional one in which it exists, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Shealah Craighead

Bully versus pulpit

  • If Donald Trump were not worried about the supernatural status of some of his most potent opposition these days, surely he wouldn’t have stood
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 17, 2020
At Washington National Cathedral, which overlooks the city as America’s unofficial church, ‘Black Lives Matter’ nightly illuminates the neo-Gothic façade of the landmark, in stark contrast to a president who goes around wagging a bible like some kind of medicine show huckster, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Victoria Pickering

Bully versus pulpit

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 17, 2020
  • If Donald Trump were not worried about the supernatural status of some of his most potent opposition these days, surely he wouldn’t have stood

Bully versus pulpit

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 17, 2020
  • If Donald Trump were not worried about the supernatural status of some of his most potent opposition these days, surely he wouldn’t have stood
At Washington National Cathedral, which overlooks the city as America’s unofficial church, ‘Black Lives Matter’ nightly illuminates the neo-Gothic façade of the landmark, in stark contrast to a president who goes around wagging a bible like some kind of medicine show huckster, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Victoria Pickering

America’s reality show election: Trump versus anarchy?

  • Like many journalists, some of my earliest professional experiences involved dealing with the police. As a radio reporter working the late shift in Vancouver,
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 10, 2020
In Washington, an impeached reality-show president in a White House surrounded by perimeter fencing and rent-a-cops makes the 2020 election a choice between a performative authoritarian coup and Joe Biden stopping this lunacy, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Shealah Craighead

America’s reality show election: Trump versus anarchy?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 10, 2020
  • Like many journalists, some of my earliest professional experiences involved dealing with the police. As a radio reporter working the late shift in Vancouver,

America’s reality show election: Trump versus anarchy?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 10, 2020
  • Like many journalists, some of my earliest professional experiences involved dealing with the police. As a radio reporter working the late shift in Vancouver,
In Washington, an impeached reality-show president in a White House surrounded by perimeter fencing and rent-a-cops makes the 2020 election a choice between a performative authoritarian coup and Joe Biden stopping this lunacy, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Shealah Craighead

‘I have a nightmare’: Donald Trump’s racist whirlwind

  • As Donald Trump tweeted from his Pennsylvania Avenue lair last Saturday night about setting “vicious dogs” on protesters outraged over George Floyd’s murder, it
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 3, 2020
Protesters participate in a Black Lives Matter rally in Seattle, Wash., on May 30. The asymmetry of the power, disproportion of the force, and shamelessness of the racism on display during George Floyd’s murder explain the outrage being expressed across America, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Kelly Kline

‘I have a nightmare’: Donald Trump’s racist whirlwind

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 3, 2020
  • As Donald Trump tweeted from his Pennsylvania Avenue lair last Saturday night about setting “vicious dogs” on protesters outraged over George Floyd’s murder, it

‘I have a nightmare’: Donald Trump’s racist whirlwind

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 3, 2020
  • As Donald Trump tweeted from his Pennsylvania Avenue lair last Saturday night about setting “vicious dogs” on protesters outraged over George Floyd’s murder, it
Protesters participate in a Black Lives Matter rally in Seattle, Wash., on May 30. The asymmetry of the power, disproportion of the force, and shamelessness of the racism on display during George Floyd’s murder explain the outrage being expressed across America, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Kelly Kline

The year of the fait accompli

  • Of all the trends in politics and governance being led by democracy-degrading actors this year—in addition to the usual lying, bullying, and careening shamelessness—the
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 27, 2020
Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, delivered a classic fait accompli message on Sunday, intended to expedite a new status quo through Beijing’s plan to install its national security agencies in Hong Kong under the new Basic Law. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. State Department

The year of the fait accompli

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 27, 2020
  • Of all the trends in politics and governance being led by democracy-degrading actors this year—in addition to the usual lying, bullying, and careening shamelessness—the

The year of the fait accompli

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 27, 2020
  • Of all the trends in politics and governance being led by democracy-degrading actors this year—in addition to the usual lying, bullying, and careening shamelessness—the
Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, delivered a classic fait accompli message on Sunday, intended to expedite a new status quo through Beijing’s plan to install its national security agencies in Hong Kong under the new Basic Law. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. State Department

Can the intelligence community save democracy?

  • Among the questions that loomed after September 11, 2001, was how intelligence agencies would handle the power they’d acquired through a confluence of unprecedented
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 20, 2020
U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence pictured April 16 during a COVID-19 task force briefing. With a global pandemic being leveraged and a presidential election under attack by not just Russia and other usual suspects, but also by the incumbent himself, can the intelligence community marshal its formidable outcome-curating powers to thwart corruption, restore sanity, and save democracy? Photograph courtesy of The White House's Flickr/Joyce N. Boghosian

Can the intelligence community save democracy?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 20, 2020
  • Among the questions that loomed after September 11, 2001, was how intelligence agencies would handle the power they’d acquired through a confluence of unprecedented

Can the intelligence community save democracy?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 20, 2020
  • Among the questions that loomed after September 11, 2001, was how intelligence agencies would handle the power they’d acquired through a confluence of unprecedented
U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence pictured April 16 during a COVID-19 task force briefing. With a global pandemic being leveraged and a presidential election under attack by not just Russia and other usual suspects, but also by the incumbent himself, can the intelligence community marshal its formidable outcome-curating powers to thwart corruption, restore sanity, and save democracy? Photograph courtesy of The White House's Flickr/Joyce N. Boghosian

Cinema Quarantena: what to watch (and not) in isolation

  • After so many weeks of Isolation Nation quarantine that snow is now as discombobulated as the rest of us about which season it is,
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 13, 2020
There is an entire genre of pandemic movies and shows out there, but watching a pandemic movie during an actual pandemic strikes Lisa Van Dusen as an act of karmic provocation comparable to licking every doorknob within 20-square blocks of the couch. Screenshot via Netflix

Cinema Quarantena: what to watch (and not) in isolation

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 13, 2020
  • After so many weeks of Isolation Nation quarantine that snow is now as discombobulated as the rest of us about which season it is,

Cinema Quarantena: what to watch (and not) in isolation

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 13, 2020
  • After so many weeks of Isolation Nation quarantine that snow is now as discombobulated as the rest of us about which season it is,
There is an entire genre of pandemic movies and shows out there, but watching a pandemic movie during an actual pandemic strikes Lisa Van Dusen as an act of karmic provocation comparable to licking every doorknob within 20-square blocks of the couch. Screenshot via Netflix

Isolation tips: coping with long, annoying commercials

  • In this latest of my series of intermittent public service columns on how to cope with life in pandemic isolation, we’ll tackle the conundrum
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 6, 2020
Now that the world is one big captive audience trapped with the nightly COVID-19 advisory stylings of a man touting the anti-viral benefits of Clorox ingestion, it’s time to adapt, by becoming the master of your mute, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay

Isolation tips: coping with long, annoying commercials

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 6, 2020
  • In this latest of my series of intermittent public service columns on how to cope with life in pandemic isolation, we’ll tackle the conundrum

Isolation tips: coping with long, annoying commercials

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 6, 2020
  • In this latest of my series of intermittent public service columns on how to cope with life in pandemic isolation, we’ll tackle the conundrum
Now that the world is one big captive audience trapped with the nightly COVID-19 advisory stylings of a man touting the anti-viral benefits of Clorox ingestion, it’s time to adapt, by becoming the master of your mute, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay

Israel/Palestine and the Pottery Barn rule of toponymy

  • As the infinity-loop melodrama of Israel’s political corruption capture careens on amid an amplifying pandemic crisis, it might be a good time to consider creative solutions
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 29, 2020
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pictured in Ottawa in 2012, is likely one of many who would balk, but the binomial nomenclature of ‘Israel/Palestine’ is the only truly accurate and appropriate name for the conjoined entity that he now presides over, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

Israel/Palestine and the Pottery Barn rule of toponymy

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 29, 2020
  • As the infinity-loop melodrama of Israel’s political corruption capture careens on amid an amplifying pandemic crisis, it might be a good time to consider creative solutions

Israel/Palestine and the Pottery Barn rule of toponymy

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 29, 2020
  • As the infinity-loop melodrama of Israel’s political corruption capture careens on amid an amplifying pandemic crisis, it might be a good time to consider creative solutions
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pictured in Ottawa in 2012, is likely one of many who would balk, but the binomial nomenclature of ‘Israel/Palestine’ is the only truly accurate and appropriate name for the conjoined entity that he now presides over, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia
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Diplomacy strikes back: ‘State’ versus the shallow state

  • The trajectory of America’s diplomatic brain trust over the roughly one thousand days since U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration reads like a covert degradation
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 13, 2019
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, pictured, is set to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 15. As the impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump has progressed with the help of testimony from career diplomats, Mike Pompeo has assumed the role of Secretary of Misdirectional Irony, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine's Flickr

Diplomacy strikes back: ‘State’ versus the shallow state

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 13, 2019
  • The trajectory of America’s diplomatic brain trust over the roughly one thousand days since U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration reads like a covert degradation

Diplomacy strikes back: ‘State’ versus the shallow state

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 13, 2019
  • The trajectory of America’s diplomatic brain trust over the roughly one thousand days since U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration reads like a covert degradation
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, pictured, is set to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 15. As the impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump has progressed with the help of testimony from career diplomats, Mike Pompeo has assumed the role of Secretary of Misdirectional Irony, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Embassy Kyiv Ukraine's Flickr

The rime of Andrew Scheer

  • I learned about the propensity of Canadian Conservatives to devour their leaders the way children absorb the alphabet, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or what snow
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 6, 2019
Even in this age of previously unthinkable norm obliterating, the lack of restraint and respect for protocol in the clamour for Andrew Scheer’s head on a pike is remarkable, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The rime of Andrew Scheer

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 6, 2019
  • I learned about the propensity of Canadian Conservatives to devour their leaders the way children absorb the alphabet, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or what snow

The rime of Andrew Scheer

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | November 6, 2019
  • I learned about the propensity of Canadian Conservatives to devour their leaders the way children absorb the alphabet, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or what snow
Even in this age of previously unthinkable norm obliterating, the lack of restraint and respect for protocol in the clamour for Andrew Scheer’s head on a pike is remarkable, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Canada’s next choice: chaos or collaboration?

  • As anyone interested enough in politics to be reading this knows, between the narrative rudder of agitprop social media storms, the normalization of previously
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 30, 2019
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrates the election results in Montreal on Oct. 21. The international reaction to Trudeau’s re-election included many who lauded the result as a victory for small-L liberalism, but Canadians delivered a verdict that will make progress conditional on compromise, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Canada’s next choice: chaos or collaboration?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 30, 2019
  • As anyone interested enough in politics to be reading this knows, between the narrative rudder of agitprop social media storms, the normalization of previously

Canada’s next choice: chaos or collaboration?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 30, 2019
  • As anyone interested enough in politics to be reading this knows, between the narrative rudder of agitprop social media storms, the normalization of previously
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau celebrates the election results in Montreal on Oct. 21. The international reaction to Trudeau’s re-election included many who lauded the result as a victory for small-L liberalism, but Canadians delivered a verdict that will make progress conditional on compromise, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The ballot as the ballot question

  • The first election campaign I spent on a plane was the first one in which I was eligible to vote. It was 1984 and
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 16, 2019
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pictured at a Liberal rally in Ottawa on Oct. 11. With less than a week to go until the election, there’s no consensus on the ballot question. Lisa Van Dusen writes that maybe it should be about the survival of the system that enables this process. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

The ballot as the ballot question

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 16, 2019
  • The first election campaign I spent on a plane was the first one in which I was eligible to vote. It was 1984 and

The ballot as the ballot question

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 16, 2019
  • The first election campaign I spent on a plane was the first one in which I was eligible to vote. It was 1984 and
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pictured at a Liberal rally in Ottawa on Oct. 11. With less than a week to go until the election, there’s no consensus on the ballot question. Lisa Van Dusen writes that maybe it should be about the survival of the system that enables this process. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

The blurred line between interesting and incriminating

  • Among the consequences of the recent, bizarre decoupling of character from electoral success has been the eradication of settled conventional political wisdom on how
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 9, 2019
In the process of padding his resumé, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer created a new category on the interesting versus incriminating spectrum for political scandals that are at once incriminating and deeply, monumentally uninteresting, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

The blurred line between interesting and incriminating

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 9, 2019
  • Among the consequences of the recent, bizarre decoupling of character from electoral success has been the eradication of settled conventional political wisdom on how

The blurred line between interesting and incriminating

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 9, 2019
  • Among the consequences of the recent, bizarre decoupling of character from electoral success has been the eradication of settled conventional political wisdom on how
In the process of padding his resumé, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer created a new category on the interesting versus incriminating spectrum for political scandals that are at once incriminating and deeply, monumentally uninteresting, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

‘Magical’: half a century of painting the Château Laurier

  • Reading about the fight to preserve the architectural integrity of Ottawa’s Château Laurier the other day brought back childhood memories of the hotel: sliding
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 2, 2019
To an artist, that integral presence of the Château Laurier—the skyline-defining, postcard-perfect landmark and tourist beacon—is about more than sheer bulk, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Painting by Shirley Van Dusen

‘Magical’: half a century of painting the Château Laurier

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 2, 2019
  • Reading about the fight to preserve the architectural integrity of Ottawa’s Château Laurier the other day brought back childhood memories of the hotel: sliding

‘Magical’: half a century of painting the Château Laurier

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | October 2, 2019
  • Reading about the fight to preserve the architectural integrity of Ottawa’s Château Laurier the other day brought back childhood memories of the hotel: sliding
To an artist, that integral presence of the Château Laurier—the skyline-defining, postcard-perfect landmark and tourist beacon—is about more than sheer bulk, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Painting by Shirley Van Dusen

From Baghdad to Brexit: Britain’s bookend mea culpas

  • One of the signature features of life in our rambunctious 21st century seems to be the narcotic luxury of a collective amnesia that enables a
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 25, 2019
Former U.K. prime minister David Cameron, pictured during a visit to Canada in 2011. Cameron recently apologized for catalyzing a narrative that led his country down a garden path of lies and corruption that seriously compromised his reputation and expedited public mistrust in institutions, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times file photograph

From Baghdad to Brexit: Britain’s bookend mea culpas

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 25, 2019
  • One of the signature features of life in our rambunctious 21st century seems to be the narcotic luxury of a collective amnesia that enables a

From Baghdad to Brexit: Britain’s bookend mea culpas

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 25, 2019
  • One of the signature features of life in our rambunctious 21st century seems to be the narcotic luxury of a collective amnesia that enables a
Former U.K. prime minister David Cameron, pictured during a visit to Canada in 2011. Cameron recently apologized for catalyzing a narrative that led his country down a garden path of lies and corruption that seriously compromised his reputation and expedited public mistrust in institutions, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times file photograph

So far, so relatively sane

  • At the one-week mark of Canada’s 43rd federal election campaign, we seem to have mercifully dodged the sort of outrageousness that has stalked elections
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 18, 2019
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured Sept. 11 at Rideau Hall to make the official election call. So far in the 43rd federal election campaign, we seem to have mercifully dodged the sort of outrageousness that has stalked elections in other democracies, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

So far, so relatively sane

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 18, 2019
  • At the one-week mark of Canada’s 43rd federal election campaign, we seem to have mercifully dodged the sort of outrageousness that has stalked elections

So far, so relatively sane

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 18, 2019
  • At the one-week mark of Canada’s 43rd federal election campaign, we seem to have mercifully dodged the sort of outrageousness that has stalked elections
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured Sept. 11 at Rideau Hall to make the official election call. So far in the 43rd federal election campaign, we seem to have mercifully dodged the sort of outrageousness that has stalked elections in other democracies, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Cloud nein: Will the neuro-mash kill novels?

  • There’s a special sub-genre of technology writing that I like to think of as the Ativan of the new new journalism—the stuff that soothingly
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 11, 2019
Contrary to the idea that literature will be rendered obsolete if we can plug into each other’s brains, we don’t read great fiction, like that of late author Toni Morrision, to know the raw, unrefined blather of a writer’s mind, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Angela Radulescu

Cloud nein: Will the neuro-mash kill novels?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 11, 2019
  • There’s a special sub-genre of technology writing that I like to think of as the Ativan of the new new journalism—the stuff that soothingly

Cloud nein: Will the neuro-mash kill novels?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 11, 2019
  • There’s a special sub-genre of technology writing that I like to think of as the Ativan of the new new journalism—the stuff that soothingly
Contrary to the idea that literature will be rendered obsolete if we can plug into each other’s brains, we don’t read great fiction, like that of late author Toni Morrision, to know the raw, unrefined blather of a writer’s mind, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Angela Radulescu

The new ‘C’ word

  • Like most editors, I have a bit of a thing for words: where to stick them, how to spell them, whether shi*show requires one
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 4, 2019
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28. We should rehabilitate the word ‘conspiracy’ before certain entirely unaffiliated players—like Donald Trump and Russia—begin to seriously target the freedom of speech that might otherwise describe their actions not as random, purely coincidental chaos, but a shameless, cynical hijacking, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Shealah Craighead

The new ‘C’ word

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 4, 2019
  • Like most editors, I have a bit of a thing for words: where to stick them, how to spell them, whether shi*show requires one

The new ‘C’ word

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | September 4, 2019
  • Like most editors, I have a bit of a thing for words: where to stick them, how to spell them, whether shi*show requires one
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28. We should rehabilitate the word ‘conspiracy’ before certain entirely unaffiliated players—like Donald Trump and Russia—begin to seriously target the freedom of speech that might otherwise describe their actions not as random, purely coincidental chaos, but a shameless, cynical hijacking, writes Lisa Van Dusen. White House photograph by Shealah Craighead

Joe Biden and the electability trap

  • One thing that has always been true about Joe Biden is that he’s not cynical. Not just not cynical about life, America, or the
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 28, 2019
Jill Biden, pictured with husband, Joe, on Jan. 21, 2013, has taken the odd tack of telling voters to hold their noses and vote for Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee—a move ill-advised on so many levels that it looked like a leaked role-play exercise in what not to say, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Glyn Lowe

Joe Biden and the electability trap

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 28, 2019
  • One thing that has always been true about Joe Biden is that he’s not cynical. Not just not cynical about life, America, or the

Joe Biden and the electability trap

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 28, 2019
  • One thing that has always been true about Joe Biden is that he’s not cynical. Not just not cynical about life, America, or the
Jill Biden, pictured with husband, Joe, on Jan. 21, 2013, has taken the odd tack of telling voters to hold their noses and vote for Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee—a move ill-advised on so many levels that it looked like a leaked role-play exercise in what not to say, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Glyn Lowe

Philadelphia story: an early lesson in the new politics

  • In the midst of America’s most recent, gratuitously divisive, and antediluvian racist drama unleashed by its own president, I turned, as has become a
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 21, 2019
At a time when campaigns, and politics in general, have been overtaken by hypertactical gaming to direct narratives and alter outcomes, there’s a lesson to be gleaned by candidates on both sides of the border from then-candidate Barack Obama’s March 18, 2008, A More Perfect Union speech in response to a political scandal, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Jared Polin

Philadelphia story: an early lesson in the new politics

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 21, 2019
  • In the midst of America’s most recent, gratuitously divisive, and antediluvian racist drama unleashed by its own president, I turned, as has become a

Philadelphia story: an early lesson in the new politics

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 21, 2019
  • In the midst of America’s most recent, gratuitously divisive, and antediluvian racist drama unleashed by its own president, I turned, as has become a
At a time when campaigns, and politics in general, have been overtaken by hypertactical gaming to direct narratives and alter outcomes, there’s a lesson to be gleaned by candidates on both sides of the border from then-candidate Barack Obama’s March 18, 2008, A More Perfect Union speech in response to a political scandal, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Jared Polin

The new Rasputins

  • With a Canadian election looming in October and the U.S. 2020 presidential cycle now officially underway with the unveiling of the 2019 Iowa State Fair
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 14, 2019
The rogues gallery of ‘crap Rasputins’ include U.S. cartoonish villains like former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, senior adviser Stephen Miller, and U.K. adviser Dominic Cummings. Their radical worldviews serve to rationalize previously unthinkable abrogations of democratic norms by politicians, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photographs by Michael Vadon and Gage Skidmore, and YouTube screenshot

The new Rasputins

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 14, 2019
  • With a Canadian election looming in October and the U.S. 2020 presidential cycle now officially underway with the unveiling of the 2019 Iowa State Fair

The new Rasputins

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 14, 2019
  • With a Canadian election looming in October and the U.S. 2020 presidential cycle now officially underway with the unveiling of the 2019 Iowa State Fair
The rogues gallery of ‘crap Rasputins’ include U.S. cartoonish villains like former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, senior adviser Stephen Miller, and U.K. adviser Dominic Cummings. Their radical worldviews serve to rationalize previously unthinkable abrogations of democratic norms by politicians, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photographs by Michael Vadon and Gage Skidmore, and YouTube screenshot

Hong Kong: the storm before the crackdown?

  • The images from Hong Kong last Friday night made an indisputable statement. Tens of thousands of civil servants—generally not a societal subset known for rabble
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 7, 2019
Nearly two million people hit the streets of Hong Kong in peaceful protest on June 16 to protest a controversial bill. But since the bill’s withdrawal, the narrative has evolved from one of freedom versus tyranny into one of order versus chaos, and the question of who’s instigating the recent escalation of violence has become a little murky, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Etan Liam

Hong Kong: the storm before the crackdown?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 7, 2019
  • The images from Hong Kong last Friday night made an indisputable statement. Tens of thousands of civil servants—generally not a societal subset known for rabble

Hong Kong: the storm before the crackdown?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 7, 2019
  • The images from Hong Kong last Friday night made an indisputable statement. Tens of thousands of civil servants—generally not a societal subset known for rabble
Nearly two million people hit the streets of Hong Kong in peaceful protest on June 16 to protest a controversial bill. But since the bill’s withdrawal, the narrative has evolved from one of freedom versus tyranny into one of order versus chaos, and the question of who’s instigating the recent escalation of violence has become a little murky, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by Etan Liam

Enemy of the People?

  • If you’ve never been to Baltimore, you may not want to trust Donald Trump’s Yelp review. Instead, maybe consider the range of artists who’ve each depicted
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 31, 2019
U.S. President Donald Trump recently turned his Twitter ire to Baltimore Rep. Elijah Cummings. Using the presidential Twitter account as a racist flamethrower against entirely rational, proportional outbursts against injustice isn’t just about retaliating against Cummings—it’s a way of discouraging anyone else who might feel sufficiently outraged to do the same, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Enemy of the People?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 31, 2019
  • If you’ve never been to Baltimore, you may not want to trust Donald Trump’s Yelp review. Instead, maybe consider the range of artists who’ve each depicted

Enemy of the People?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 31, 2019
  • If you’ve never been to Baltimore, you may not want to trust Donald Trump’s Yelp review. Instead, maybe consider the range of artists who’ve each depicted
U.S. President Donald Trump recently turned his Twitter ire to Baltimore Rep. Elijah Cummings. Using the presidential Twitter account as a racist flamethrower against entirely rational, proportional outbursts against injustice isn’t just about retaliating against Cummings—it’s a way of discouraging anyone else who might feel sufficiently outraged to do the same, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

The new meaning of ‘tech zombies’

  • It’s hard not to swoon for the pitch for implantable brain-machine interfaces (BMI). Based on the promotional content, the technology that will allow your
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 24, 2019
Eccentric visionary Elon Musk unveiled his brain monitoring computer chip project, Neuralink, last week, which raises the question of how it could be abused at a time when the politicization of surveillance is a growth industry, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by JD Lasica

The new meaning of ‘tech zombies’

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 24, 2019
  • It’s hard not to swoon for the pitch for implantable brain-machine interfaces (BMI). Based on the promotional content, the technology that will allow your

The new meaning of ‘tech zombies’

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 24, 2019
  • It’s hard not to swoon for the pitch for implantable brain-machine interfaces (BMI). Based on the promotional content, the technology that will allow your
Eccentric visionary Elon Musk unveiled his brain monitoring computer chip project, Neuralink, last week, which raises the question of how it could be abused at a time when the politicization of surveillance is a growth industry, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photograph by JD Lasica

Happy Birthday, 501 Pennsylvania

  • Who could have known, when the government of Canada purchased an abandoned Washington, D.C., lot a stone’s throw from the U.S. Capitol for $5-million
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 17, 2019
The Embassy of Canada to the United States in Washington, D.C., is the best-located chancery in the capital of the free world, and over the past 30 years has gone from mystery monument to local landmark to popular social, cultural, and political attraction, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Neil Moss

Happy Birthday, 501 Pennsylvania

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 17, 2019
  • Who could have known, when the government of Canada purchased an abandoned Washington, D.C., lot a stone’s throw from the U.S. Capitol for $5-million

Happy Birthday, 501 Pennsylvania

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 17, 2019
  • Who could have known, when the government of Canada purchased an abandoned Washington, D.C., lot a stone’s throw from the U.S. Capitol for $5-million
The Embassy of Canada to the United States in Washington, D.C., is the best-located chancery in the capital of the free world, and over the past 30 years has gone from mystery monument to local landmark to popular social, cultural, and political attraction, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Neil Moss

No Zoloft for this: KAOS malaise and public health

  • We’re all aware of the small, daily health effects of the drastic changes to our political landscape wrought by the collision of democracy and
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 10, 2019
The symptoms produced by witnessing the previously unthinkable daily to-do list of New World Order cartoon villains, sinister non-state actors, political rogues, and geopolitical bullies is beginning to read like the hair-raising side-effects disclaimer on a prescription drug commercial, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay

No Zoloft for this: KAOS malaise and public health

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 10, 2019
  • We’re all aware of the small, daily health effects of the drastic changes to our political landscape wrought by the collision of democracy and

No Zoloft for this: KAOS malaise and public health

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 10, 2019
  • We’re all aware of the small, daily health effects of the drastic changes to our political landscape wrought by the collision of democracy and
The symptoms produced by witnessing the previously unthinkable daily to-do list of New World Order cartoon villains, sinister non-state actors, political rogues, and geopolitical bullies is beginning to read like the hair-raising side-effects disclaimer on a prescription drug commercial, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay

The Canadian idea: right now, not so different from the American idea

  • One of the bits of non-athletic content that went viral during the spectacular NBA championship run of the Toronto Raptors was a Toronto streeter montage
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 3, 2019
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Osaka G20 summit on June 29, where Canada dealt with a range of bilateral irritants, including mobilizing an international coalition against the retaliatory detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. Screenshot courtesy of CityTV Toronto

The Canadian idea: right now, not so different from the American idea

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 3, 2019
  • One of the bits of non-athletic content that went viral during the spectacular NBA championship run of the Toronto Raptors was a Toronto streeter montage

The Canadian idea: right now, not so different from the American idea

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 3, 2019
  • One of the bits of non-athletic content that went viral during the spectacular NBA championship run of the Toronto Raptors was a Toronto streeter montage
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Osaka G20 summit on June 29, where Canada dealt with a range of bilateral irritants, including mobilizing an international coalition against the retaliatory detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. Screenshot courtesy of CityTV Toronto

Kevlar is the New Teflon: Boris, Donald and the race to the boorish bottom

  • The least important similarities between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are the superficial ones: the unleashed-id toddler temperaments; the apparent inability to find a
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 26, 2019
One of the most important parallels between U.S. President Donald Trump and prospective British prime minister Boris Johnson is how they conduct themselves in a time of hyper-tactical politics and previously unthinkable outcomes, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photographs by Gage Skidmore and Annie Mole

Kevlar is the New Teflon: Boris, Donald and the race to the boorish bottom

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 26, 2019
  • The least important similarities between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are the superficial ones: the unleashed-id toddler temperaments; the apparent inability to find a

Kevlar is the New Teflon: Boris, Donald and the race to the boorish bottom

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 26, 2019
  • The least important similarities between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson are the superficial ones: the unleashed-id toddler temperaments; the apparent inability to find a
One of the most important parallels between U.S. President Donald Trump and prospective British prime minister Boris Johnson is how they conduct themselves in a time of hyper-tactical politics and previously unthinkable outcomes, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Flickr photographs by Gage Skidmore and Annie Mole

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