SpankyMcFarland

What sort of government allows one of their senior diplomats to behave like this? https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ambassador-hoekstra-rant-9.6957854

In fairness, Rob Ashton is a manly man but a rather dreary one. I suppose really manly men often are grimly dull DIY types sharing wonderful yarns of lathes and adzes they have known. He’s no Jack Layton, that’s for sure. And now I’m contradicting myself when I said they needed a solid union guy. It’s like that monkey’s paw horror story where they got more than they asked for although it’s dreadfully anti-simian to call monkeys’ hands paws, don’t you think? The NDP wouldn’t do that. I’m getting a bit Trumpy in my free association here.

So it’s hard to tell what’s going on exactly between the US and China after the Trump-Xi meeting. The good news is that rare earths seem to be flowing from China for now and some effort will be made to curb fentanyl precursors, while soy beans will be going the other way. We’ll just have to see how the details work out. So far I’m feeling the Chinese got the better of it.

Sounds like a remake of The Wall.

My Hungarian landlady in Calgary fled communist Hungary in the Forties and was a devout NDP supporter.

I’m seeing very little of the NDP leadership candidates on CBC other than Heather McPherson. I must say I like the cut of her jib on the style front. She’s a good speaker with a nice cadence who gets her points across well. Definitely an improvement on Singh. I said I’d like to see a more working class perspective and Rob Ashton has called my bluff. He is all that but falls short on the style front - ponderous and lugubrious, a real Bassett hound. I don’t want to sound superficial, but the NDP doesn’t need another beardy, especially a low energy, bespectacled, baldy beardy who sounds like he’s going to a funeral. Politics is partly about sales and, yes, sex appeal. The only other candidate that I’ve noticed, Avi Lewis, is too far out there on climate policy and free trade.

We’re not all going to die…well, I knew that anyway and it’s the scantest of consolation imaginable. Just think of the heatwaves, wildfires, smog, droughts, floods and hurricanes that are in store for Canada. We also have no idea what feedback loops will kick in as global temperature rises. It’s a terrible risk to run on the only planet we have. That some humans will survive is not a great comfort to me.

Nobody stopped Russia from choosing liberal democracy. The country was not obliged to restart 19th century wars of aggression with multiple neighbours who now live in constant fear. It’s not us, it’s them. They are the problem. The idea of, say, France and Germany going to war again in the near future is ridiculous. That’s how far Europe has moved on from the likes of Russia.

Sliwa never had a hope in Hell of winning but he split the anti-Mamdani vote. Cuomo must hope that a lot of people are too embarrassed to admit to pollsters they are going to vote for him. In his particularly infamous case that is possible.

A word about Sliwa. New York is a Democratic city. He never had a chance of winning but out-performed my expectations and made effective debate appearances. By staying in the race he divided the anti-Mamdani vote and may have scuppered Cuomo’s chances. Cuomo’s only hope now is quiet voters too embarrassed to admit to pollsters they support the dirty old lech. That could be a large wad of folks. Nobody is that enthusiastic about him.

I think the Liberals would benefit if the other parties bring their government down. Canadians are in no mood for another election and would punish those who caused it. When a deal with the Americans has taken shape there will be lots to discuss about how Canada’s economy is run but not now.

Yes, before William was born in 1982.

Just watching new premier Tony Wakeham tonight, very pleased with himself and communicating no pressing urgency whatsoever to review the deal ASAP while we still have a chance to get it signed. I think I’m more stressed than he is about the whole thing!

Rarely does a day go by that we don’t think about it, a seemingly endless stint in Purgatory. We know the fundamentals at this stage.

After the Soviet Union, Russia could have become a normal democratic European rule of law country getting itself ready for EU membership. Instead it reverted to corruption, authoritarianism and belligerence, a tragedy that may trigger the break-up of Russia itself.

His gait doesn’t look as bad this week as it did in Alaska on the red carpet. We’ll just have to wait and see what emerges. With Putin there was nothing in the end, for example, but Trump does have some signs of potential trouble like the bruising and the ankle edema.

Does the fact that person A has a problem mean that person B does not?

Because America is becoming a police state under Trump, and the sickos here are cheering him on. They’d love to do this in Canada too while hotly insisting they’re not doing it.

Look around you. China is the workshop of the world. It makes most of the drones and the ships and damn near everything else. Cell phones, robots, even AI? No problem, China can do it. America was in that position once - during and after WWII. The Russians did the fighting but the Americans supplied them. No longer. I don’t see how America could sustain a long, conventional war against such a prodigiously productive country. Any initial advantage would disappear as Germany’s did against the Soviet Union and its allies.

What is happening in the West Bank? I see constant theft. At the moment Netanyahu seems keen on another war. The Americans are trying to restrain him and his loony friends. Good luck with that.

Obvious to whom outside a secure facility? Is this satire, a badly designed bot or what? Of course he was asking for votes to be made up. How much more obvious do you need it?

Do you know what moral relativism is? You wouldn’t need that lame rhetorical device if you weren’t cheering for somebody as dreadful as Trump. Unlike Romney, McCain or Bush he can’t be defended on his own merits. Instead there’s the constant childish resort to spurious allegations of similar offences by others as if that excuses everything he does. The corruption by the Trump family in this administration already dwarfs anything Hunter Biden got up to in his entire life.

What about an auto sector without any big local automakers? I wonder about the profit margins on making cars in the future. Granted, it was a great business in the previous century but is that changing? You hear about empty parking spots in Toronto condos because the kids just rent a car when they need one. They’re not so into cars any more as a part of their identity. Whatever about Trump, I’d be surprised if the industry employs anything like as many here in twenty years time as it does now. I remember the great wringing of hands in Britain as the great brands there died or passed into foreign hands. The country survived. By all means encourage foreigners to build cars here but recognize it’s a mature industry with modest returns. They will be doing it more cheaply elsewhere.

The Brits need to IKEA-size their monarchy and bring it down to William and the kids like the Scandinavians and Dutch do. Everyone else should be a civilian. Charles should abdicate so William can take over while he’s still young enough to do the job properly. And visit us at least, like, once every five years. And cut the drama. Enough of the bowing and scraping. They are ordinary people chosen to represent the country. That’s all they are. The celeb culture around them is actually destructive of their true meaning.

Let’s face it, we are a plague.