the KKK, the KGB and the FBI all love Trump

At the end of Bill Maher's unfunny comedy news program last night, during which he used the word "fascist" a number of times to describe the possible government of the U.S. after Tuesday, he apologized for the show's negative rhetoric during past elections and remembered fondly the decent human beings of the former Republican party - the previously reviled Mitt Romney and John McCain now look like kindly and smart if a bit misguided gentlemen. George W. Bush looks like a wise elder statesman. Bring them back. And never did I think I'd be saying those words.

As someone pointed out, this is the first time in history that the KKK, the KGB and the FBI are all backing the same candidate. And that could not be worse news for our planet. It's terrifying. Maher went on about this being a far-right-wing coup, engineered in part by Russia in collusion with the Republican party and the FBI. We've just seen what a careless, blind, anger-driven, media-manipulated vote did in England. And now we have to watch again.

At the beginning of the show, Maher showed a clip of an interview he did with the brilliant, thoughtful President Obama at the White House. It is impossible, truly impossible to believe that the nation which elected that man might now elect a giant orange blowhole. What happened? I know, there will be many books written about it all.

Okay, got to move along or I'll sink into depression about mankind, and that's no place to be on a mild fall weekend. Yes, our incredible autumn sunshine continues to give us record-breaking highs. What country am I living in? There is confusion.

Despite the turmoil south of the border, here it feels as if life has finally settled a bit after weeks of chaos, and I will try to focus on the cheer of that. Yes, wires gone in the garden. Yes, functional washing machine. Yes, working home phone. Yes, at last, as of 8.15 a.m. this morning when Edgar from Rogers - originally from north-eastern China - delivered and installed a new PVR cable box, the television brings in the channels I actually watch, including, for a few free months, the Sundance channel and Book TV, which may be the most boring channel ever, watched only by 17 writers. The fact is that after all that, I will still hardly ever watch. But if I want to, I can, and that's what's important.

What's important today is that my daughter and her boys are winging across the country, off to Saskatoon to visit Anna's best friend Ashley from university days; Ashley lives in Lloydminster and has two kids just a little older. There's a plan: after the long flight and for Ashley's kids the long drive to the airport, they'll spend an hour in the airport itself letting them run, then drive an hour to a McDonald's that has a playland where they'll spend another hour, then the rest of the drive home. They know what they're doing, these moms. I went across town to say hello and goodbye and take them to their favourite sushi restaurant. Ben is now walking non-stop; he walked almost the whole way home, crazily, like a drunk, veering as often as possible into the road, while Eli zoomed up every wall and across everyone else's front lawns. Could I love them more? Guess.

And here, after all the ugliness and horror of the news cycle, is a shot taken just up the street - O Canada. I'm so glad to live here.