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Friday, October 18, 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 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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Autocratic Lives Matter? Saudi Arabia and the sovereignty card

  • One of the many ironies of our current political moment is that while, for the first time since 1970, sovereignty isn’t on the ballot
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 15, 2018
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to back down after Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland’s tweet about human rights sparked a diplomatic spat with Saudi Arabia. They’re pictured heading to a press conference in Ottawa on May 31. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Autocratic Lives Matter? Saudi Arabia and the sovereignty card

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 15, 2018
  • One of the many ironies of our current political moment is that while, for the first time since 1970, sovereignty isn’t on the ballot

Autocratic Lives Matter? Saudi Arabia and the sovereignty card

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 15, 2018
  • One of the many ironies of our current political moment is that while, for the first time since 1970, sovereignty isn’t on the ballot
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to back down after Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland’s tweet about human rights sparked a diplomatic spat with Saudi Arabia. They’re pictured heading to a press conference in Ottawa on May 31. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

A Watergate anniversary: that night the system actually worked

  • We’ve all seen the only clip that mattered so many times, it’s hard to believe that the five seconds it took for Richard Nixon
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 8, 2018
When Richard Nixon announced his resignation on Aug. 8, 1974, it set a ground-grazing bar that Donald Trump and the Republican Party haven’t tried to reach, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot courtesy of YouTube

A Watergate anniversary: that night the system actually worked

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 8, 2018
  • We’ve all seen the only clip that mattered so many times, it’s hard to believe that the five seconds it took for Richard Nixon

A Watergate anniversary: that night the system actually worked

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 8, 2018
  • We’ve all seen the only clip that mattered so many times, it’s hard to believe that the five seconds it took for Richard Nixon
When Richard Nixon announced his resignation on Aug. 8, 1974, it set a ground-grazing bar that Donald Trump and the Republican Party haven’t tried to reach, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot courtesy of YouTube

Shock and Awe in pre-post-truth America

  • If you were going to choose a date to mark the dawn of the ironically, erroneously labelled post-truth era, it wouldn’t be the day
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 1, 2018
In Shock and Awe, James Marsden, left, and Woody Harrelson play two Knight Ridder reporters who are skeptical of the Bush administration's claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Photograph courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Shock and Awe in pre-post-truth America

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 1, 2018
  • If you were going to choose a date to mark the dawn of the ironically, erroneously labelled post-truth era, it wouldn’t be the day

Shock and Awe in pre-post-truth America

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | August 1, 2018
  • If you were going to choose a date to mark the dawn of the ironically, erroneously labelled post-truth era, it wouldn’t be the day
In Shock and Awe, James Marsden, left, and Woody Harrelson play two Knight Ridder reporters who are skeptical of the Bush administration's claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Photograph courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

The ABBA antidote the world needs

  • Let’s just get one thing straight: this is not a defence of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Nobody in the film—from Meryl Streep in
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 25, 2018
Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried, and Julie Walters in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Universal Pictures photograph courtesy of Jonathan Prime

The ABBA antidote the world needs

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 25, 2018
  • Let’s just get one thing straight: this is not a defence of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Nobody in the film—from Meryl Streep in

The ABBA antidote the world needs

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 25, 2018
  • Let’s just get one thing straight: this is not a defence of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Nobody in the film—from Meryl Streep in
Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried, and Julie Walters in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Universal Pictures photograph courtesy of Jonathan Prime

Brexit and Brand Britain: authority abhors a barmpot

  • In his Financial Times column on the weekend, Janan Ganesh unfurled a theory as to why the British accent holds such appeal on this side of
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 18, 2018
Protesters fly a balloon over London of U.S. President Donald Trump as a baby during Mr. Trump's British visit on July 13. Photograph courtesy of Michael Reeve

Brexit and Brand Britain: authority abhors a barmpot

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 18, 2018
  • In his Financial Times column on the weekend, Janan Ganesh unfurled a theory as to why the British accent holds such appeal on this side of

Brexit and Brand Britain: authority abhors a barmpot

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 18, 2018
  • In his Financial Times column on the weekend, Janan Ganesh unfurled a theory as to why the British accent holds such appeal on this side of
Protesters fly a balloon over London of U.S. President Donald Trump as a baby during Mr. Trump's British visit on July 13. Photograph courtesy of Michael Reeve

Donald Trump doesn’t have a cold; he’s the tipping point in an epidemic

  • In the besieged practice of journalism, there is sometimes a moment when a narrative hits a Gladwellian tipping point beyond which what had been
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 11, 2018
U.S. President Donald Trump is not in an anomaly, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The prime ministers of Israel, Italy, and Hungary, Benjamin Netanyahu, Giuseppe Conte, and Viktor Orbán, are all part of a larger effort to harden borders and skirt the truth. The Hill Times file photograph and photographs courtesy of the Italian president’s office, Gage Skidmore, and European People’s Party

Donald Trump doesn’t have a cold; he’s the tipping point in an epidemic

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 11, 2018
  • In the besieged practice of journalism, there is sometimes a moment when a narrative hits a Gladwellian tipping point beyond which what had been

Donald Trump doesn’t have a cold; he’s the tipping point in an epidemic

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 11, 2018
  • In the besieged practice of journalism, there is sometimes a moment when a narrative hits a Gladwellian tipping point beyond which what had been
U.S. President Donald Trump is not in an anomaly, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The prime ministers of Israel, Italy, and Hungary, Benjamin Netanyahu, Giuseppe Conte, and Viktor Orbán, are all part of a larger effort to harden borders and skirt the truth. The Hill Times file photograph and photographs courtesy of the Italian president’s office, Gage Skidmore, and European People’s Party

Happy Fourth of July, America! We’re in this hostage drama together

  • Dear America, Happy Fourth of July! I just want to start by apologizing for all those passive aggressive #CanadaDay tweets implying that being Canadian
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 4, 2018
While U.S. President Donald Trump has made the Canada-U.S. relationship status complicated now, maybe one day both sides will look back on this and not laugh but at least smirk ruefully, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Happy Fourth of July, America! We’re in this hostage drama together

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 4, 2018
  • Dear America, Happy Fourth of July! I just want to start by apologizing for all those passive aggressive #CanadaDay tweets implying that being Canadian

Happy Fourth of July, America! We’re in this hostage drama together

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | July 4, 2018
  • Dear America, Happy Fourth of July! I just want to start by apologizing for all those passive aggressive #CanadaDay tweets implying that being Canadian
While U.S. President Donald Trump has made the Canada-U.S. relationship status complicated now, maybe one day both sides will look back on this and not laugh but at least smirk ruefully, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

When Trump erupts, reach for your wallet

  • Years ago, during a trip to Paris, my then-husband and I were strolling to dinner at dusk on Boulevard Saint-Germain when we were sucked
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 27, 2018
U.S. President Donald Trump is a master of political distraction, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The danger is what he leaves us distracted from. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

When Trump erupts, reach for your wallet

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 27, 2018
  • Years ago, during a trip to Paris, my then-husband and I were strolling to dinner at dusk on Boulevard Saint-Germain when we were sucked

When Trump erupts, reach for your wallet

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 27, 2018
  • Years ago, during a trip to Paris, my then-husband and I were strolling to dinner at dusk on Boulevard Saint-Germain when we were sucked
U.S. President Donald Trump is a master of political distraction, writes Lisa Van Dusen. The danger is what he leaves us distracted from. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

The beautifully subversive politics of Anthony Bourdain

  • While he avoided expressing partisan views in his shows, Anthony Bourdain was political in a way that didn’t feel as political a decade ago.
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 20, 2018
Whatever his other fears may have been, food writer Anthony Bourdain was fearless about solidarity, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of the Peabody Awards

The beautifully subversive politics of Anthony Bourdain

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 20, 2018
  • While he avoided expressing partisan views in his shows, Anthony Bourdain was political in a way that didn’t feel as political a decade ago.

The beautifully subversive politics of Anthony Bourdain

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 20, 2018
  • While he avoided expressing partisan views in his shows, Anthony Bourdain was political in a way that didn’t feel as political a decade ago.
Whatever his other fears may have been, food writer Anthony Bourdain was fearless about solidarity, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of the Peabody Awards

Hell is empty, boys

  • The most predictable thing in the world these days is the unpredictability of Donald Trump. With every reversal, 180, and pre-emptive or ad hoc
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 13, 2018
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. Photograph courtesy of Donald Trump's Instagram

Hell is empty, boys

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 13, 2018
  • The most predictable thing in the world these days is the unpredictability of Donald Trump. With every reversal, 180, and pre-emptive or ad hoc

Hell is empty, boys

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 13, 2018
  • The most predictable thing in the world these days is the unpredictability of Donald Trump. With every reversal, 180, and pre-emptive or ad hoc
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. Photograph courtesy of Donald Trump's Instagram

The immortal legacy of John McCain

  • There’s a long tracking shot at the beginning of the new HBO documentary John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls, during which the camera follows
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 6, 2018
U.S. Senator John McCain is pictured aboard the guided-missile destroyer that bears his name in June 2017 during a visit to the ship deployed in Vietnam. U.S. Navy photograph by Joshua Mortensen

The immortal legacy of John McCain

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 6, 2018
  • There’s a long tracking shot at the beginning of the new HBO documentary John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls, during which the camera follows

The immortal legacy of John McCain

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 6, 2018
  • There’s a long tracking shot at the beginning of the new HBO documentary John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls, during which the camera follows
U.S. Senator John McCain is pictured aboard the guided-missile destroyer that bears his name in June 2017 during a visit to the ship deployed in Vietnam. U.S. Navy photograph by Joshua Mortensen

The G7’s post-truth moment: Trump, Trudeau, Tusk—and zombies

  • The last of Donald Trump’s predecessors to spend any serious time in La Malbaie, a resort town in the Charlevoix, Que., region, was William Howard
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 30, 2018
The rift among G7 leaders was on display at the 2017 summit in Italy when U.S. President Donald Trump, third from right, broke with the rest of the group on climate change policy. Photograph courtesy of the Italian G7 Summit

The G7’s post-truth moment: Trump, Trudeau, Tusk—and zombies

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 30, 2018
  • The last of Donald Trump’s predecessors to spend any serious time in La Malbaie, a resort town in the Charlevoix, Que., region, was William Howard

The G7’s post-truth moment: Trump, Trudeau, Tusk—and zombies

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 30, 2018
  • The last of Donald Trump’s predecessors to spend any serious time in La Malbaie, a resort town in the Charlevoix, Que., region, was William Howard
The rift among G7 leaders was on display at the 2017 summit in Italy when U.S. President Donald Trump, third from right, broke with the rest of the group on climate change policy. Photograph courtesy of the Italian G7 Summit

At a wedding in Windsor, a more hopeful reality soars

  • By the time you read this, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may seem like a million miles and a thousand headlines
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 23, 2018
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's May 19 wedding gave the world a show of unity, hope, and globalism amid dark times, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Alexi Lubomirski photograph courtesy of Kensington Palace

At a wedding in Windsor, a more hopeful reality soars

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 23, 2018
  • By the time you read this, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may seem like a million miles and a thousand headlines

At a wedding in Windsor, a more hopeful reality soars

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 23, 2018
  • By the time you read this, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may seem like a million miles and a thousand headlines
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's May 19 wedding gave the world a show of unity, hope, and globalism amid dark times, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Alexi Lubomirski photograph courtesy of Kensington Palace

Welcome to the era of hypercorruption

  • The phenomenon of “post-truth” politics—the condition whereby lying is systematically normalized in order to obscure reality—isn’t defined merely by the epidemic of explicit falsehood
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 16, 2018
In a commencement speech at Rice University on May 12, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, pictured in 2009, introduced the word ‘corruption’ to the conversation about the state of United States politics now. Ralph Alswang photograph courtesy of the Center for American Progress

Welcome to the era of hypercorruption

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 16, 2018
  • The phenomenon of “post-truth” politics—the condition whereby lying is systematically normalized in order to obscure reality—isn’t defined merely by the epidemic of explicit falsehood

Welcome to the era of hypercorruption

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 16, 2018
  • The phenomenon of “post-truth” politics—the condition whereby lying is systematically normalized in order to obscure reality—isn’t defined merely by the epidemic of explicit falsehood
In a commencement speech at Rice University on May 12, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, pictured in 2009, introduced the word ‘corruption’ to the conversation about the state of United States politics now. Ralph Alswang photograph courtesy of the Center for American Progress

Trump and the age of the weaponized narrative

  • As America continues to thrash through the daily onslaught of political and psychosocial destabilization emanating from its own president, it may be time for
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 9, 2018
United States President Donald Trump boards the Marine One presidential helicopter at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 5. White House photograph by Andrea Hanks

Trump and the age of the weaponized narrative

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 9, 2018
  • As America continues to thrash through the daily onslaught of political and psychosocial destabilization emanating from its own president, it may be time for

Trump and the age of the weaponized narrative

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 9, 2018
  • As America continues to thrash through the daily onslaught of political and psychosocial destabilization emanating from its own president, it may be time for
United States President Donald Trump boards the Marine One presidential helicopter at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 5. White House photograph by Andrea Hanks

What would a reunified Korea look like? Better ask China

  • When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the world’s focus was on the physical destruction of the concrete symbol of the Cold War between
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 2, 2018
North and South Korean leaders Kim Jong Un, left, and Moon Jae-in walk together over the Military Demarcation Line in the demilitarized zone in the border village of Panmunjom on April 27. Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps photograph

What would a reunified Korea look like? Better ask China

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 2, 2018
  • When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the world’s focus was on the physical destruction of the concrete symbol of the Cold War between

What would a reunified Korea look like? Better ask China

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 2, 2018
  • When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the world’s focus was on the physical destruction of the concrete symbol of the Cold War between
North and South Korean leaders Kim Jong Un, left, and Moon Jae-in walk together over the Military Demarcation Line in the demilitarized zone in the border village of Panmunjom on April 27. Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps photograph

The true grace of Barbara Bush

  • The word came up again and again last week as the political world marked the loss of former United States first lady Barbara Bush:
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 25, 2018
Former president George H. W. Bush and his now late wife Barbara Bush, pictured at an event in Newport News, Va., Oct. 7, 2006. White House photograph by Eric Draper

The true grace of Barbara Bush

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 25, 2018
  • The word came up again and again last week as the political world marked the loss of former United States first lady Barbara Bush:

The true grace of Barbara Bush

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 25, 2018
  • The word came up again and again last week as the political world marked the loss of former United States first lady Barbara Bush:
Former president George H. W. Bush and his now late wife Barbara Bush, pictured at an event in Newport News, Va., Oct. 7, 2006. White House photograph by Eric Draper

Facebook and Nerdpocalypse: regulating the knowledge gap

  • In 1984, when the movie Revenge of the Nerds hit theatres, the concept of a nerd uprising was entirely aspirational and constrained to a single fictional
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 18, 2018
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony in Washington, D.C., before Congress on April 11 is horseman of the Nerdpocalypse, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot via CNBC

Facebook and Nerdpocalypse: regulating the knowledge gap

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 18, 2018
  • In 1984, when the movie Revenge of the Nerds hit theatres, the concept of a nerd uprising was entirely aspirational and constrained to a single fictional

Facebook and Nerdpocalypse: regulating the knowledge gap

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 18, 2018
  • In 1984, when the movie Revenge of the Nerds hit theatres, the concept of a nerd uprising was entirely aspirational and constrained to a single fictional
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony in Washington, D.C., before Congress on April 11 is horseman of the Nerdpocalypse, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Screenshot via CNBC

The systemic subterfuge of Trump’s news firehose

  • In the days when the news cycle was still a cycle and not a vortex, the cliché among critics and many alumni was that
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 11, 2018
U.S. President Donald Trump 'not only revels in chaos; he exploits it as a political strategy,' author Brian Klaas writes in the Washington Post last week. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

The systemic subterfuge of Trump’s news firehose

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 11, 2018
  • In the days when the news cycle was still a cycle and not a vortex, the cliché among critics and many alumni was that

The systemic subterfuge of Trump’s news firehose

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 11, 2018
  • In the days when the news cycle was still a cycle and not a vortex, the cliché among critics and many alumni was that
U.S. President Donald Trump 'not only revels in chaos; he exploits it as a political strategy,' author Brian Klaas writes in the Washington Post last week. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

What would Martin Luther King think?

  • On this 50th anniversary of Reverend Martin Luther King’s assassination, his memory somehow feels less like a testament than a question—less “Here’s what he thought”
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 4, 2018
Reverend Martin Luther King speaks at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. U.S. Information Agency photograph by Rowland Scherman

What would Martin Luther King think?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 4, 2018
  • On this 50th anniversary of Reverend Martin Luther King’s assassination, his memory somehow feels less like a testament than a question—less “Here’s what he thought”

What would Martin Luther King think?

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 4, 2018
  • On this 50th anniversary of Reverend Martin Luther King’s assassination, his memory somehow feels less like a testament than a question—less “Here’s what he thought”
Reverend Martin Luther King speaks at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. U.S. Information Agency photograph by Rowland Scherman

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