New Years Day has come and gone and among the treasures that you've put away for another year are those favourite movies that transport you to happier times. Charlie Brown and The Grinch and A Cristmas Carol with Ebeneezer Scrooge (only the Alister Sims version) and The Wizard of Oz have all lifted your heart to face the coming year, and you need it because look what the last few days have delivered.
There has been so much written about the kidnapping of the Venezuelan president and so many interviews aired that I won't load you down with another rambling opinion essay. It was extremely dangerous in setting a precedent for other dictatorships and an escalation in the disintegration of American democracy. If that's obvious, stay alert; if not, go drink. The fallout will call for vigilance and intelligent response or numb acceptance.
The pieces that have captured my attention have been those referencing the rise of dictatorships in Europe during the 1930s. The book burnings in German cities in 1933 were a precursor to the ovens of Dachau in the 1940s. The Italian bombing of Ethiopian villages in 1937 presaged the later use of deadly coercion in bombings of Coventry, London, Dresden, Tokyo and finally, Hiroshima. Escalation of violence occurs, with each event adding to the social callous in the normalization of cruelty.
So now we are all enrolled in a master class in managing life in 2026 and the koan for the times might well be, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kanas anymore."
Those lazy days when things happened at the speed of radio or TV announcements have given way to news at the speed of AI generation. If you see a newscast you want to have Snopes fact-check it before trusting it. We all saw photos of President Maduro of Venezuela flanked by US infantrymen - "faked AI" says Snopes. Arrested, yes; kidnapped, certainly; approximately 100 Venezuelans killed in the invasion, unfortunately true. Now the unravelling begins.
Who is this political figure, follower of Hugo Chavez, the president who instituted so many educational reforms and annoyed US oil companies by nationalizing his country's petroleum industry to finance them? Is he really a "narcotics kingpin" reponsible for smuggling so much cocaine into North America? Keep checking. I will. And I won't be quick to repost or pass along every news blurb coming from the White House press secretary.
What I will pass along are some song lyrics from the late 60s-early 70s. Kent State students protesting the Vietnam War had been killed by members of the American National Guard. The lyrics are powerful, but you really should hear them performed. Go to your favourite app and give 'em a listen. Today, student protesters are arrested, expelled and/or deported and university presidents are silenced under penalty of defunding their institutions. The 1930s are being replayed. Different continent; same design.
What I will also pass along are two items, one coming from The Best Sentences of 2025
Dec. 29, 2025 By Frank Bruni of the NY Time and the last from my collection of anecdotes illustrating my own propensity for stupidity (You'll love it until you see yourself). Here's Frank with one of his harvested "best sentences":
In The Globe and Mail of Toronto, Tony Keller suggested that Trump’s economic and diplomatic dealings amount to “a failed Hollywood blockbuster” with a nonsensical plot: “It‘s ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ with no GPS, a steering wheel facing the rear window and a distracted driver who can’t stop going on about his William McKinley decals.” (Nadine Sherwin, Vancouver, British Columbia)
And here's me, reporting an illustration of that rear window driving. It comes from a session in the est training which I did in the late 70s and it was meant to illustrate the way many of us proceed with life by using the wrong tools and desperately clinging to strategies that won't work. I was a slow learner and took a couple of truck hits before deciding to let go of the rear-view mirror and see what was really coming at me.
What if we had a strange perceptual mix-up so that wherever we saw the word "steering wheel" in our Learning-to-Drive manual, we read "rear-view mirror"? We would grasp the mirror in the mistaken belief that it was the steering wheel and holding firmly on to it, we would reverse out of the driveway. Fortunately, no traffic and a slight incline of the roadway causes our car to align itself with the direction of travel on the road. We then accelerate forward, staring into the rear-view mirror and clenching it ever more tightly as hazards appear in our peripheral vision. Again to our good fortune, our wheels lodge themselves in streetcar tracks and for a while, all seems fine. This "seems fine" feeling convinces us that we are doing the right thing. Any unusual aspects in our perceptual environment would only cause us to grasp the mirror more tightly. Until the truck hits us.
Well, OK, it was a little dramatic, but analogies are like that. Take from it what lesson you will and check those news sources. This isn't Kansas, Toto.
Ohio by Neil Young (1971)
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Gotta get down to it, soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been gone long ago
What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la
Gotta get down to it, soldiers are cutting us down
Should have been gone long ago
What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
Four dead in Ohio (four)
Four dead in Ohio (I said four, I said four)
Four dead in Ohio (how many more?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (I wanna know why)
Four dead in Ohio (you better tell me why)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why did they die?)
Four dead in Ohio (you tell me why)
Four dead in Ohio (I said why)
Four dead in Ohio (I wanna know why)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (I said why)
Four dead in Ohio (why, Lord?)
Four dead in Ohio (why did they die?)
Four dead in Ohio (I said why)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (yeah, why?)
Four dead in Ohio (please tell me why)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (I wanna know)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why did they died)
Four dead in Ohio (you tell me why)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio (why?)
Four dead in Ohio
Thank you
What's Goin On by Marvin Gaye
Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, yeah
Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
Oh, what's going on (What's going on)
What's going on (What's going on)
What's going on (What's going on)
What's going on (What's going on)
Right on, baby
Right on, baby
Right on
Mother, mother
Everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply 'cause our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Come on talk to me
So you can see
What's going on (What's going on)
Yeah, what's going on (What's going on)
Tell me what's going on (What's going on)
I'll tell you, what's going on (What's going on)
Right on, baby, right on
Right on, baby
Right on, baby, right on
Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Hoo, they're red, white and blue
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief"
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no senator's son, son
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no furtunate one, no
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don't they help themselves, Lord?
But when the taxman come to the door
Lord, the house lookin' like a rummage sale, yeah
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no millionaire's son, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no
Yeah-yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes
Hoo, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask 'em, "How much should we give?"
Hoo, they only answer, "More, more, more, more"
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no military son, son, Lord
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, one
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate one, no, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no fortunate son, no, no, no
It ain't me, it ain't me...