All entries by this author

Canadians still “deeply disturbed and saddened” by “attack on democracy” in USA .. but still like Willie Nelson too

Jan 5th, 2022 | By | Category: In Brief

NEW YEAR SPECIAL FROM L. FRANK BUNTING, PANCAKE BAY, ON. 2 AM ET, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2022. It has lately been seriously enough cold up here on the eastern shore of Lake Superior (though nothing like Edmonton, Alberta at – 26° C). Most recently in the local metropolis of Sault Ste Marie the weather has […]



Anti-political mood softens as world “part overcomes, part assimilates the pandemic”

Nov 18th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK : L. FRANK BUNTING, VISITING COLUMNIST FROM PANCAKE BAY. GANATSEKWYAGON, ON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16/WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021. I am just down from the new north on a visit, communing with the head office staff, reintegrating into the mind of the herd, and enjoying unusually brilliant autumn colours here on the northwest shore […]



An anti-political mood descends across the land (or at least the part of it I live in)

Oct 20th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

SPECIAL FROM L. FRANK BUNTING, PANCAKE BAY, ONTARIO. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021. The deep northern autumn is setting in. Forecasts here call for a low of 0° C this coming Friday night (and early Saturday morning). I’m in one of my recurrent anti-political moods. I agree with the UK emeritus professor Malcolm Gaskill, who writes […]



Understanding the strange state of conservative theory and practice today

May 23rd, 2021 | By | Category: Countries of the World

SPECIAL FROM L. FRANK BUNTING, PANCAKE BAY, ONTARIO. 24TH OF MAY WEEKEND. The May 13, 2021 issue of the New York Review of Books has an essay by Mark Lilla on the German novelist Thomas Mann (1875–1955), and his rather strange 1918 book Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man. (The NYRB Classics series is in fact […]



Biden’s “bizarre closing” on March 11, the real tragedy of Harry and Meghan, and the future of the British monarchy in Canada

Mar 14th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

SPECIAL FROM L. FRANK BUNTING, PANCAKE BAY/ALONA BAY, ONTARIO. Some on Twitter have been reacting with bemusement to President Biden’s closing remarks in his first televised address to the American people this past Thursday night : “Thank you for taking the time and listening. I look forward to seeing you.” It is the very last […]



Waiting for Biden-Harris at the last minute .. on a great lake in the far north

Jan 18th, 2021 | By | Category: In Brief

SPECIAL FROM L. FRANK BUNTING, PANCAKE BAY, ON. JANUARY 18, 2021, 2 AM, 2 PM ET : Some worried that yesterday would be a kind of state-Capitol reprise of what transpired at the national Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. According to CNN, however : “Weekend protests at state capitols stayed small amid heavy […]



Is it really true that, whatever else, Donald Trump “isn’t as bad as Warren Harding”??

Oct 7th, 2020 | By | Category: In Brief

SPECIAL FROM L. FRANK BUNTING, PANCAKE BAY, ON. OCTOBER 7, 2020 : On a trip last year I bumped into a gentleman from the white suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia who claimed that, whatever else, Donald Trump “isn’t as bad as Warren Harding.” For those of us who know next to nothing about Warren Gamaliel Harding, […]



Meditations on the 5th of July 2020 – USA today from a short distance away (on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario)

Jul 5th, 2020 | By | Category: USA Today

L. FRANK BUNTING : History is written by the winners as the old adage has it. Looking at Donald Trump’s USA halfway through 2020 suggests a corollary : it is also constantly being re-written as the winners change. “America” today is not what it was in 1920, to say nothing of 1820, 1720, or especially […]



COVID-19 reflections on “Classified project; Nevada Desert” (turns out a lot of people like working from home?)

Apr 6th, 2020 | By | Category: In Brief

Our spies in the Golden State North have sometimes lately alluded to a possible great trek east out of San Francisco along US Interstate Highway 80, in search of better ground. The concept is not unique. As long ago as March 22 the Los Angeles Times was reporting : “As the coronavirus pandemic tightens its […]



Will Michael Bloomberg unmask the fake Wizard of Oz in the White House at last?

Feb 10th, 2020 | By | Category: In Brief

[UPDATED FEB 19, 20]. One particular strange thing about Steve Bannon’s appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Friday, February 7, 2020, was his portrayal of Boris Johnson’s Brexit- at-last on January 31 as an achievement of Donald Trump. In a similar vein I do not at all agree with the Daily Beast assessment that […]