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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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Civil liberties, democracy under fire across the globe

  • Since we seem to be living through a serious (also frequently un-serious) shift in geopolitical dynamics, it might be a good time to explore what
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 21, 2017
China has put a sweeping surveillance system in place to monitor activity in Tibet. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay

Civil liberties, democracy under fire across the globe

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 21, 2017
  • Since we seem to be living through a serious (also frequently un-serious) shift in geopolitical dynamics, it might be a good time to explore what

Civil liberties, democracy under fire across the globe

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 21, 2017
  • Since we seem to be living through a serious (also frequently un-serious) shift in geopolitical dynamics, it might be a good time to explore what
China has put a sweeping surveillance system in place to monitor activity in Tibet. Photograph courtesy of Pixabay

Truth, lies, and Trump

  • As we hit peak tactical fake news this week, with an entirely plausible but false Time magazine cover on Donald Trump headlined “Liar in Chief”
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 14, 2017
Then-FBI director James Comey, alongside then-deputy attorney general Sally Yates, addressing the media after the Orlando nightclub shooting last year. U.S. President Donald Trump fired both officials, and Mr. Comey has said he had refused a request from the president to pledge loyalty to him. Photograph by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, courtesy of Flickr

Truth, lies, and Trump

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 14, 2017
  • As we hit peak tactical fake news this week, with an entirely plausible but false Time magazine cover on Donald Trump headlined “Liar in Chief”

Truth, lies, and Trump

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 14, 2017
  • As we hit peak tactical fake news this week, with an entirely plausible but false Time magazine cover on Donald Trump headlined “Liar in Chief”
Then-FBI director James Comey, alongside then-deputy attorney general Sally Yates, addressing the media after the Orlando nightclub shooting last year. U.S. President Donald Trump fired both officials, and Mr. Comey has said he had refused a request from the president to pledge loyalty to him. Photograph by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, courtesy of Flickr

Is Donald Trump an alpha male? Only if it’s 1959

  • What with covering actual developments in the Trump presidency being a content-generating activity akin to producing crackpot plot recaps for Reality TV World, let’s focus this
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 7, 2017
If Trump is an alpha male, he’s an alpha male of the 1959 variety: blustery, belligerent, and constantly trying to prove he’s the most important guy in the room, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Is Donald Trump an alpha male? Only if it’s 1959

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 7, 2017
  • What with covering actual developments in the Trump presidency being a content-generating activity akin to producing crackpot plot recaps for Reality TV World, let’s focus this

Is Donald Trump an alpha male? Only if it’s 1959

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | June 7, 2017
  • What with covering actual developments in the Trump presidency being a content-generating activity akin to producing crackpot plot recaps for Reality TV World, let’s focus this
If Trump is an alpha male, he’s an alpha male of the 1959 variety: blustery, belligerent, and constantly trying to prove he’s the most important guy in the room, writes Lisa Van Dusen. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Ich bin ein Münchner: Merkel’s beer tent breakup

  • “I believe we are at a critical juncture in human history and the U.S. needs to overhaul its relations with the international community.” Those
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 31, 2017
'The times in which we could completely depend on others are, to a certain extent, over,' German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pictured in 2015, said this week. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

Ich bin ein Münchner: Merkel’s beer tent breakup

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 31, 2017
  • “I believe we are at a critical juncture in human history and the U.S. needs to overhaul its relations with the international community.” Those

Ich bin ein Münchner: Merkel’s beer tent breakup

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 31, 2017
  • “I believe we are at a critical juncture in human history and the U.S. needs to overhaul its relations with the international community.” Those
'The times in which we could completely depend on others are, to a certain extent, over,' German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pictured in 2015, said this week. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

Don’t blame Twitter for an atomic president

  • Like Albert Einstein exclaiming “Woe is me” on hearing of the bombing of Hiroshima, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is shocked and appalled at what
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 24, 2017
Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona last October. Photograph by Gage Skidmore

Don’t blame Twitter for an atomic president

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 24, 2017
  • Like Albert Einstein exclaiming “Woe is me” on hearing of the bombing of Hiroshima, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is shocked and appalled at what

Don’t blame Twitter for an atomic president

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 24, 2017
  • Like Albert Einstein exclaiming “Woe is me” on hearing of the bombing of Hiroshima, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams is shocked and appalled at what
Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Phoenix Convention Center in Arizona last October. Photograph by Gage Skidmore

Wait for it: nobody knew Middle East peace could be so complicated

  • It’s long been a fantasy among many who hold an interest in the Middle East peace process that one day, it might be transformed
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 17, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Israel on May 22 and 23. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Wait for it: nobody knew Middle East peace could be so complicated

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 17, 2017
  • It’s long been a fantasy among many who hold an interest in the Middle East peace process that one day, it might be transformed

Wait for it: nobody knew Middle East peace could be so complicated

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 17, 2017
  • It’s long been a fantasy among many who hold an interest in the Middle East peace process that one day, it might be transformed
U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Israel on May 22 and 23. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Emmanuel Macron and the hope of audacity

  • The victory of the passionately pro-European Union, Bardot-gapped Emmanuel Macron in Sunday’s French présidentielle wasn’t just a triumph of globalism over nationalism, it was a triumph of
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 10, 2017
New French president Emmanuel Macron, right, meets with Paraguay's finance minister, Santiago Peña, in 2016. Photograph courtesy of the Paraguayan Finance Ministry's Flickr account

Emmanuel Macron and the hope of audacity

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 10, 2017
  • The victory of the passionately pro-European Union, Bardot-gapped Emmanuel Macron in Sunday’s French présidentielle wasn’t just a triumph of globalism over nationalism, it was a triumph of

Emmanuel Macron and the hope of audacity

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 10, 2017
  • The victory of the passionately pro-European Union, Bardot-gapped Emmanuel Macron in Sunday’s French présidentielle wasn’t just a triumph of globalism over nationalism, it was a triumph of
New French president Emmanuel Macron, right, meets with Paraguay's finance minister, Santiago Peña, in 2016. Photograph courtesy of the Paraguayan Finance Ministry's Flickr account

The pre-existing dysfunction of American health care

  • For Canadians who thought debates over the byzantine and uniquely inefficient American health-care system ended on March 23, 2010 when then-president Barack Obama signed
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 3, 2017
Barack Obama's 2010 health-care bill was the closest thing to a 'public option' that could be passed in the U.S., argues Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

The pre-existing dysfunction of American health care

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 3, 2017
  • For Canadians who thought debates over the byzantine and uniquely inefficient American health-care system ended on March 23, 2010 when then-president Barack Obama signed

The pre-existing dysfunction of American health care

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | May 3, 2017
  • For Canadians who thought debates over the byzantine and uniquely inefficient American health-care system ended on March 23, 2010 when then-president Barack Obama signed
Barack Obama's 2010 health-care bill was the closest thing to a 'public option' that could be passed in the U.S., argues Lisa Van Dusen. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Good news in the Middle East, and it’s Canadian

  • At the Neve Ilan exit off Route 1 between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem lies the least divisive shrine in the Holy Land. In a
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 26, 2017
The 2016 class of McGill University's International Community Action Network fellows with Jim Torczyner, far right, Amal Elsana Alhjooj (fourth from right, purple scarf), and Syrian fellow Adnan Al-mahied (back row, glasses, behind Amal). Photograph courtesy of ICAN

Good news in the Middle East, and it’s Canadian

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 26, 2017
  • At the Neve Ilan exit off Route 1 between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem lies the least divisive shrine in the Holy Land. In a

Good news in the Middle East, and it’s Canadian

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 26, 2017
  • At the Neve Ilan exit off Route 1 between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem lies the least divisive shrine in the Holy Land. In a
The 2016 class of McGill University's International Community Action Network fellows with Jim Torczyner, far right, Amal Elsana Alhjooj (fourth from right, purple scarf), and Syrian fellow Adnan Al-mahied (back row, glasses, behind Amal). Photograph courtesy of ICAN

Spicer obliterating unwritten rules of press chief protocol

  • Of all the inexplicable phenomena associated with the presidency of Donald Trump, the most outrageous in terms of shocks to the political culture is
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 19, 2017
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Spicer obliterating unwritten rules of press chief protocol

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 19, 2017
  • Of all the inexplicable phenomena associated with the presidency of Donald Trump, the most outrageous in terms of shocks to the political culture is

Spicer obliterating unwritten rules of press chief protocol

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 19, 2017
  • Of all the inexplicable phenomena associated with the presidency of Donald Trump, the most outrageous in terms of shocks to the political culture is
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Ignatieff now in the perfect role in Hungary

  • MONTREAL—The late Czech dissident-turned-president Vaclav Havel was a proponent of the “as-if” approach to dissent: the belief that the power of the powerless living
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 12, 2017
Michael Ignatieff is now the rector of the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Ignatieff now in the perfect role in Hungary

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 12, 2017
  • MONTREAL—The late Czech dissident-turned-president Vaclav Havel was a proponent of the “as-if” approach to dissent: the belief that the power of the powerless living

Ignatieff now in the perfect role in Hungary

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 12, 2017
  • MONTREAL—The late Czech dissident-turned-president Vaclav Havel was a proponent of the “as-if” approach to dissent: the belief that the power of the powerless living
Michael Ignatieff is now the rector of the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Advantage: Xi Jinping

  • MONTREAL—The president of the United States will be meeting with the president of China Thursday and Friday at Mar-a-Lago, the new weekend White House.
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 5, 2017
Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2015 G20 Turkey Leaders Summit in Antalya, Turkey. Photography by Aykut Unlupinar courtesy of G20 Turkey

Advantage: Xi Jinping

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 5, 2017
  • MONTREAL—The president of the United States will be meeting with the president of China Thursday and Friday at Mar-a-Lago, the new weekend White House.

Advantage: Xi Jinping

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | April 5, 2017
  • MONTREAL—The president of the United States will be meeting with the president of China Thursday and Friday at Mar-a-Lago, the new weekend White House.
Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2015 G20 Turkey Leaders Summit in Antalya, Turkey. Photography by Aykut Unlupinar courtesy of G20 Turkey

Marine Le Pen, the New World Order’s mercenary Marianne

  • MONTREAL—While the rolling car-wreck of Donald Trump’s United States presidency has been sucking most of the oxygen out of the earthly political atmosphere lately,
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 29, 2017
France’s Front National Leader Marine Le Pen, pictured last year, has praised both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Photograph courtesy of the European Parliament

Marine Le Pen, the New World Order’s mercenary Marianne

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 29, 2017
  • MONTREAL—While the rolling car-wreck of Donald Trump’s United States presidency has been sucking most of the oxygen out of the earthly political atmosphere lately,

Marine Le Pen, the New World Order’s mercenary Marianne

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 29, 2017
  • MONTREAL—While the rolling car-wreck of Donald Trump’s United States presidency has been sucking most of the oxygen out of the earthly political atmosphere lately,
France’s Front National Leader Marine Le Pen, pictured last year, has praised both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Photograph courtesy of the European Parliament

Jimmy Breslin: not an enemy of the people

  • MONTREAL—I was reminded Sunday of an applause line Joe Biden used during the 2012 presidential campaign to sum up the state of America: “Osama
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 22, 2017
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jimmy Breslin, pictured here at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival, died on Sunday at the age of 88. David Shankbone photograph courtesy of Wikimedia.

Jimmy Breslin: not an enemy of the people

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 22, 2017
  • MONTREAL—I was reminded Sunday of an applause line Joe Biden used during the 2012 presidential campaign to sum up the state of America: “Osama

Jimmy Breslin: not an enemy of the people

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 22, 2017
  • MONTREAL—I was reminded Sunday of an applause line Joe Biden used during the 2012 presidential campaign to sum up the state of America: “Osama
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jimmy Breslin, pictured here at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival, died on Sunday at the age of 88. David Shankbone photograph courtesy of Wikimedia.

Think Trump politics is invading Canada? Watch the NDP leadership race and think again

  • MONTREAL—In one of those great moments in multi-streaming the other day, I clicked on a Politico piece called “Trump’s Dictator Chic” in the middle of watching
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 15, 2017
NDP leadership candidates at a party-organized debate in Ottawa on March 12: Guy Caron, Charlie Angus, Niki Ashton, and Peter Julian. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

Think Trump politics is invading Canada? Watch the NDP leadership race and think again

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 15, 2017
  • MONTREAL—In one of those great moments in multi-streaming the other day, I clicked on a Politico piece called “Trump’s Dictator Chic” in the middle of watching

Think Trump politics is invading Canada? Watch the NDP leadership race and think again

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 15, 2017
  • MONTREAL—In one of those great moments in multi-streaming the other day, I clicked on a Politico piece called “Trump’s Dictator Chic” in the middle of watching
NDP leadership candidates at a party-organized debate in Ottawa on March 12: Guy Caron, Charlie Angus, Niki Ashton, and Peter Julian. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

Free appendectomies, Timbits, and now Canadians can also boast we beat America at democracy

  • MONTREAL—It says something about the state of democracy that the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2016 Democracy Index, published just over a month ago, is already
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 8, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump 'is not to blame for this decline in trust, which predated his election, but he was the beneficiary of it,' according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Free appendectomies, Timbits, and now Canadians can also boast we beat America at democracy

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 8, 2017
  • MONTREAL—It says something about the state of democracy that the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2016 Democracy Index, published just over a month ago, is already

Free appendectomies, Timbits, and now Canadians can also boast we beat America at democracy

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 8, 2017
  • MONTREAL—It says something about the state of democracy that the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2016 Democracy Index, published just over a month ago, is already
U.S. President Donald Trump 'is not to blame for this decline in trust, which predated his election, but he was the beneficiary of it,' according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

O’Leary isn’t Trump, but they’re both heat-drawing wild cards

  • MONTREAL—Is Kevin O’Leary the Canadian Donald Trump? It’s a question more complicated than the straight calculation of whether the political alchemy that propelled one
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 1, 2017
Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary, left, poses for a picture with fans at last week’s Manning Conference in Ottawa. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

O’Leary isn’t Trump, but they’re both heat-drawing wild cards

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 1, 2017
  • MONTREAL—Is Kevin O’Leary the Canadian Donald Trump? It’s a question more complicated than the straight calculation of whether the political alchemy that propelled one

O’Leary isn’t Trump, but they’re both heat-drawing wild cards

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | March 1, 2017
  • MONTREAL—Is Kevin O’Leary the Canadian Donald Trump? It’s a question more complicated than the straight calculation of whether the political alchemy that propelled one
Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary, left, poses for a picture with fans at last week’s Manning Conference in Ottawa. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

Trump’s antics no cause for schadenfreude

  • MONTREAL—Does the fact that something happens in the White House, just by sheer dint of location, normalize it? In the first 30 days of
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 22, 2017
Mr. Trump's behaviour in the White House so far has been just as impolitic as it was during his campaign for the presidency. Gage Skidmore photograph

Trump’s antics no cause for schadenfreude

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 22, 2017
  • MONTREAL—Does the fact that something happens in the White House, just by sheer dint of location, normalize it? In the first 30 days of

Trump’s antics no cause for schadenfreude

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 22, 2017
  • MONTREAL—Does the fact that something happens in the White House, just by sheer dint of location, normalize it? In the first 30 days of
Mr. Trump's behaviour in the White House so far has been just as impolitic as it was during his campaign for the presidency. Gage Skidmore photograph

Trudeau takes a trip into Trump’s upside-down world

  • MONTREAL—An Oval Office bilateral “pool spray,” during which a delegation from the White House press corps records for posterity the president of the United
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 15, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump, fourth from right, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, sit down with female executives, including Mr. Trump's daughter Ivanka, beside Mr. Trudeau, on Monday in Washington. Twitter photograph courtesy of the White House

Trudeau takes a trip into Trump’s upside-down world

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 15, 2017
  • MONTREAL—An Oval Office bilateral “pool spray,” during which a delegation from the White House press corps records for posterity the president of the United

Trudeau takes a trip into Trump’s upside-down world

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 15, 2017
  • MONTREAL—An Oval Office bilateral “pool spray,” during which a delegation from the White House press corps records for posterity the president of the United
U.S. President Donald Trump, fourth from right, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, sit down with female executives, including Mr. Trump's daughter Ivanka, beside Mr. Trudeau, on Monday in Washington. Twitter photograph courtesy of the White House

Trump taking fear-mongering to new heights

  • “Getting along with people is very important to success.” -Donald Trump, from an episode of The Apprentice My favourite Donald Trump parody Twitter account
Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 8, 2017
Donald Trump speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

Trump taking fear-mongering to new heights

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 8, 2017
  • “Getting along with people is very important to success.” -Donald Trump, from an episode of The Apprentice My favourite Donald Trump parody Twitter account

Trump taking fear-mongering to new heights

Opinion | BY LISA VAN DUSEN | February 8, 2017
  • “Getting along with people is very important to success.” -Donald Trump, from an episode of The Apprentice My favourite Donald Trump parody Twitter account
Donald Trump speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Photograph courtesy of Gage Skidmore

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