We’re a long way from Flip Wilson’s comedy show but religion remains very much a part of government. This in spite of numerous attempts worldwide over a succession of centuries to separate the two. I cannot fabricate a more intolerant, illogical and un-Christian way of forcing one’s bald magic upon others. The political scene remains infested with the likes of Geraldine most recently manifested by the erstwhile twice impeached insurrectionist and comedy show magnate Trump. This is a strange and malicious way to make America great again.

When asked whether he feels he played a role in the reversal of Roe v. Wade, after having appointed three conservative justices to the high court, the former president told Fox News: “God made the decision.”

Continue reading →

The effluxion of time is very often the palliative to anxiety. But to a point. The primary cure is not the passage of time, rather it is the knowledge that comes with it. No matter how one prefers to characterise distress, the hurdle is overcome only by win or defeat. Clarity. Never ignorance or neglect. Wisdom. Real problems don’t disappear.

Continue reading →

It occurred to me early this afternoon while dawdling on the patio of the golf club leisurely perusing the latest accomplishments of artist Kenneth Emig of the Village of Clayton in the County of Lanark and Province of Ontario that he like most successful artists is a member of a preferred class. Though this may resound of “nose in the air” culture, I mean it instead as a frank and purely deductive observation. Permit me to explain.

Years ago when I began practicing law my burgeoning focus upon the material world ascended quite literally from the ground up. I moved progressively from real estate to Persian rugs to mahogany furniture to silverware, porcelain and stemware. Finally after having sated my interest in the rudimentary hardware of accommodation and household provisions I began frequenting art galleries for expression more evocative and scintillating. Not that I didn’t adore my Chelsea Ship’s Bell!

Continue reading →

Shaye Moss and her mom Ruby Freeman had their lives turned upside down when then-President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani singled them out in an increasingly unhinged effort to overturn the election. Giuliani accused the two election workers from Fulton County, Georgia, of pulling out suitcases of fake votes and passing a suspicious USB stick to each other while counting election results. But the “USB stick”—which Giuliani later suggested might be dope—was a ginger mint, Moss told the January 6 committee in stunning, emotional testimony Tuesday.

Continue reading →

It felt almost offensive to be returning from an urban weekend when the weather prescribed the ideal summer day; viz., azure sky with fluffy white cumulus, blazing temperature and balmy air. Late this afternoon I drove to the grocery store to replenish our provisions.  Everything about the day screamed summer! There was very little traffic for a business day of the week. I imagined that masses of people had launched their summertime resort and vanished into the interior. The grocery store echoed the abandonment of drivers. Once again It was though I were violating an unwritten summertime loyalty, that I should have instead been on a deck overlooking a pool, sipping a coloured drink and chortling with disregard.

Continue reading →

Following breakfast this morning at the trough on the 18th floor of the hotel we checked out electronically and descended with our luggage from the suite in the sky overlooking Toronto harbour to the commotion of the lobby below. The city was alive with Monday morning vigour. We’re currently situated adjacent Front Street directly across from the Royal York hotel in Union Station at the lounge waiting to board the eastbound train to bring us home.

Continue reading →

We’re in luck again today! It’s a fresh and sunny morning in Toronto! To make it even better we have no plans, no obligations, no agenda. We intend only to absorb what is at hand. The strawberry jam and butterballs on this morning’s festive board in the lounge afforded a soothing recollection of forgotten times at my mother’s breakfast table. Two elderly couples seated next to us were overheard discussing the old Seigniory Club (now Montebello) and other railway hotels across Canada including Banff Springs and Lake Louise. Yesterday I read on a plaque attached to the front of the Royal York hotel that at the time of its construction it was the tallest building in the British Empire.

Continue reading →

Cabbagetown in Toronto has become an increasingly influential and sought after venue.  For many years now it has been the resource of a Parliament Street congregation which for our purposes has been highlighted by Gilles and Scott. It was among other salient moments the place of their late afternoon wedding dinner following completion of the ceremony at Casa Loma in which we had been privileged to contribute. Today we celebrated Gilles following his recent precipitous and unanticipated death. It was a hugely successful and uncommonly buoyant congregation.

Continue reading →

Initially my excitement about visiting Toronto this weekend was the train ride to get here. It turns out that travel by train isn’t far removed from travel by plane. It is but another example of public transportation. There is still the panic to get to the station on time; the lineup to board; the fuss to find one’s seat (and squeeze around those in the aisle trying to stow their bags in the overhead compartments); the babble about who wants the window seat; the gymnastics to get into the seat; and finally the manipulation of the seat to its best advantage.

Continue reading →

There is much hardship in the world. I direct this to disadvantaged people in particular. While the physical privation may not be as acute for those of us currently on the other side of fortuity, there is no assurance that any one of us will escape similar or worse difficulty. I have personally seen a young lawyer from a reputed “good “ family in the exclusive Village of Rockcliffe Park descend within a matter of a year from an awakening solicitor to an addlepated idiot. By complete coincidence months following our legal encounter on opposite sides of a commercial transaction, as I was walking on Rideau Street in downtown Ottawa where I had a condominium apartment, the young lawyer passed me. He did not acknowledge me. He was shabbily dressed. He was talking to himself. He kept circling his hands on either side of his head. I subsequently heard (perhaps through his former clients) that the young chap had completely decomposed.

Continue reading →