Orange Ogre once again dominates headlines clear across Free World

Yessiree! From the BBC to CBC to MSNBCNNFox to France 24 and Deutsche Welle headlines have gone totally Trumpian once again. Don't fall for it. Donald Trump is the SHINY OBJECT they distract us with in hopes we don't notice what's really going on. At his moment in time, what's really going on is that the combined efforts of the USA and her NATO flunkies, after a year of proclaiming over and over that a few more months and a few more billions will see glorious victory for Ukraine, are being exposed as a catastrophic defeat. The Stingers and Javelins didn't turn the tide. Ditto for howitzers and HIMARS. Sanctions from hell are hell on Europe and barely noticed in Russia. Tanks and F-16s won't turn the tide either. This reality is beginning to dawn on the deep state brainiacs who created this disaster. What to do? Clearly a diversion is in order... OH MY GAWD THEY'RE GONNA ARREST TRUMP!!!

War is a team sport

It’s a sport, war is! That’s what Stephen M Saideman, director of the Canadian Defence and Security Network, opines in todays Globe and Mail. Not just any sport, but a team sport. Perhaps a little more deadly than football or hockey, but a team sport none the less. And just like on any sports team, a military is only as good as its weakest link, which is why diversity is so important, because diversity is our strength. That’s what allows us to excel in the big games, like Passchendaele, where the score was over 800,000 dead, or Hiroshima, which to this day holds the War Sports Hall of Fame record for number of civilians incinerated in a single day. Addressing the recruitment challenges facing the Canadian Armed Forces, this expert is confident that once the CAF remakes the Forces into a properly hospitable destination for under-represented racial and gender minorities, enlistment is gonna take off! Because war is a team sport! This is par for the course for the war-mongering propaganda outlet that David Thomson’s pet paper has become. David Thomson, 3rd Baron of Fleet, is a hereditary peer and in the top couple of dozen on Forbes billionaire list. There’s not a President or Prime Minister anywhere in the world who doesn’t take his calls. He’s as establishment as they come, and The Globe and Mail reflects the attitudes of he and his class. War is a game our team can win.

Israel on brink of suicide

I saw Smotrich’s speech on Al Jazeera today. He’s the settler Bibi put in charge of the West Bank as part of his horse-trading to form a coalition government. A settler in charge of the West Bank? That won’t end well for anybody. Top plank in the settler platform is expel all Palestinians from Judea and Samaria. This will not go unchallenged by the Palestinian resistance and their allies, namely Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran. There have been huge protests in Israel for months over Netanyahu’s plans for “reforming” the supreme court. The reforms would allow the government of the day to over-ride the court. If the government of the day is propped up by religious nutters, they’ll be the ones over-ruling the supreme court. That prospect is what has led hundreds of thousands of normal Israelis to protest in the streets on a scale never before seen in Israel. In his speech, Beelzebub Smotrich exhorted his followers to take to the streets to counter the street protests of the normal Israelis. They will no doubt heed his call, and with great enthusiasm. After all, beating up a few fags waving the Pride flag will be a nice change from beating up Palestinian farmers tending their olive groves. Yesterday Bibi fired the Defense Minister for speaking out against his reforms. The Defense Ministry has often been a bastion of sanity in Israeli politics, because the DM is the politician most intimately acquainted with the thoughts of the upper leadership of the IDF. There’s a long history of the top bananas in the IDF speculating publicly about how many incoming rockets Israel should expect in the event the shit hits the fan. Usually they do this after they retire. Estimates run from 50,000 to 500,000. Iron Dome will take out the first couple of dozen. That’s why the top IDF leadership are pacifists compared to the political leadership. When the political leadership falls into the hands of people who think they’re writing a new chapter in the Old Testament, there’s big trouble ahead.

When Canada had not one, but two official communist parties

Nathan Vanderklippe gets a half page in today’s paper to spin Yellow Peril scare stories. I found his point of departure intriguing. We begin in 1971, with the arrest of a couple of Black Revolutionary Party operatives in Iowa. They are linked to Canada and hence to a member of the Chinese consulate at the time. Ergo, China has been undermining our democracy for over fifty years! What is never mentioned is the context of that alleged political interference fifty years ago. That was a time when both communist Russia and communist China were supporting different communist movements around the world. They were bitter rivals. The Black Revolutionary Party was affiliated with the American Communist Workers Movement, and was started by a group of former Black Panthers in Iowa. This was at a time when the Black Panthers were being actively hassled out of existence by the US government. “Hassled out of existence” up to and including cold-blooded murder. They enjoyed the support of both the ACWM and the Canadian Communist Party (Marxist Leninist edition). The Communist Party of Canada was the other Canadian communist party. Yup, back in the day, Canada had rival communist parties! One was backed by China, the other by Russia. Any support China may have given to the Black Revolutionary Party would have been intended to subvert Russian influence, not the US or Canadian government. Fast forward fifty years, and neither Russia or China are communist. No, they are most assuredly capitalist. Capitalism definitively won the game that was playing out in the 60s and 70s. But there are those who still want to fan the flames of “the commie threat.” It’s a useful tool for the cheerleaders of Empire. Fall in line behind Uncle Sam in the garden or risk being destroyed by the vicious beasts in the jungle.

Biden more popular in Ottawa than in Washington

I caught Sleepy Joe's speech to Parliament today, and I gotta say at least he didn't come off as sleepy. And do they ever love him in Ottawa. I lost track of the standing ovations. So what do we know now that we didn't know yesterday. Nothing. America leads the free and democratic world, always has, always will, and Canada has been and forever will be shoulder to shoulder with our friends and relatives south of the border. Yes, we strive to be lap-dog number one, faithful to the end and beyond. Canada's political elite are obviously thrilled to keep kissing Uncle Sam's ass no matter what disastrous roads he leads us down. It was truly cringe-worthy watching Freeland and Joly preening for the cameras while seated behind good friends Justin and Joe. Ukraine came up a lot. That's another second-tier country that put all its faith in Uncle Sam. How's that working out for them? The taste for ass-kissing Uncle Sam extends to our media. Yesterday the main op-ed at The Globe was all about how we should be embarrassed that we're not part of AUKUS, that nuclear sub scam that saw Australia agree to pay $300billion plus for the privelege of serving as a nuclear submarine base for the US Navy for the next 50 years. I don't know why Australia's political elite saw fit to pay hundreds of billions to cement their subordinate role in the fading US empire, but that's their problem. It's Australia that should be embarrassed.

Only in America can boys dream of growing up to be Woman of the Year

Perhaps boys grow up with that dream in other places too, but only in America can their dreams come true! Proving yet again that American Exceptionalism is even more exceptional than anyone dared to imagine. But that's the thing; America is so great that it can and does define its own reality. For the past 80 years or so America has dictated reality to the rest of the world too. The "rules based international order" was dictated by the USA, as were the so-called values Ukrainians are dying for in their tens of thousands. You know the ones; freedom, democracy, and human rights are the big three. You know, like the freedom, human rights and democracy Empire has bestowed on Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, just to name a few recent examples. Alas, we have entered a time of great change. A critical mass of resistance to American leadership of the global order is emerging. More and more countries are waking up to the fact that the Emperor is buck naked and the World Cop is shooting blanks. It was always absurd to believe that the mightiest military on earth, having failed to subdue the Taliban after twenty years and trillions of dollars, had any hope in hell of taking on Russia, China, and Iran, all at the same time. But such is the hubris, arrogance, and self-delusion of the Exceptionalists in Washington that they're willing to take a crack at it. For now, the Ukrainians are bearing the brunt of America's delusions, but eventually dreams will die in DC too.

America's Democracy Theatre operating in Full Retard mode

Let's see if I've got this right. America is on pins and needles tonight because Donny J may or may not be arrested. This could be it, Jan 6, Doom Edition. Every media outlet is transmogified with spasms of hand-wringing anxiety... Reality Check; did anybody other than Trump ever say he'd be arrested today? And you consider him a reliable source? Get the fuck outta here! And the back-story is what... gothic steam-punk neoclassical in plotline? Manhattan dude who inherits 15,000 apartment units in NYC lifts himself up by his bootstraps to become reality TV star. Then he decides to switch to politics and spreads a few quid around to keep loose lips from flapping too much, and before you know it one of his disposable lawyers making the payoffs goes to jail for stealing from one of the payees, and now he's a star witness... are you still with me? This is news Americans care about! This, and OH MY GOD A WOMAN WITH A WIENER JUST WON THE 100m FREESTYLE AT THE STATE SWIM CHAMPIONSHIPS!!! Meanwhile, life expectancy continues to shrink, the multi-trillion dollar national debt continues to expand, the military is becoming a laughing stock, the economy teeters, half the country hates the other half, and the brightest lights, the keenest minds, the sharpest tools in the exceptionalist shed, are unanimous that what the nation needs most is more of the same.

Hygienic diversity in the classroom

Diversity is all the rage these days. Racial diversity, gender diversity, even neuro-diversity is a thing now, and nowhere more than in the classroom. But one thing nobody talks about is hygeine diversity. The hygienically diverse are still in the closet, so to speak. Teacher training renders them invisible. It's time to end the oppression of the hygiene diverse. Based on 25 years of personal observation, most classrooms enjoy a rich diversity of hygiene habits. You've got your middle class normies, the kids who shower every day and whose mom's do their laundry. Then you've got kids whose parents have neither a laundry room nor laundromat money, or kids with no parents. A subset of that cohort may be lacking indoor plumbing, and some will have no home at all. Throw thirty kids in a room together, and the air can get pretty thick really fast. I recall a student who was both hygiene and neuro diverse. By grade ten he still hadn't figured out how to clean up after a crap, but there were psychological reasons. A psych team was working with him with hopes they'd have him up to sniff in time for graduation. Unfortunately he dropped out of school before his team tasted success. Then there was the time a kid dropped what must have been way more than a fart. He was known for it. He used farts constantly to harrass his classmates. I'd stepped out of the classroom for a moment, and as I was making my way back, I was shocked to see several of my students running in the opposite direction. His favoured tool of aggression must have got away from him. The point is, it's high time society got over its elitist hangups about what stinks and what doesn't. The Big Tent of progressive humanity must make room for the hygienically diverse.

Red or Blue?

You might have thought I was off on an exploration of the pros and cons of the Republicans vs the Democrats. But I'm not. Not that I couldn't have some fun going down that road. American politics - what a... joke? No, the stakes are way too high for jokes. It's more of a tragedy, American democracy is. But I digress. I was talking about toques, not politics. Old-style toques, with the pom-pom on top, like Bob and Doug used to wear. Took my 5k walk today in blizzard conditions wearing my blue toque. Got home and settled into the Lay-z-boy, where I'd left the red toque. I'm a guy who cares about his image, so I said to the Farm Manager, "What works best, the red toque or the blue?" I modelled both of them for her. After a rather brief assessment, she says "As long as you don't leave them lying on the fucking couch for me to put away I don't really care."

First Republic Bank loses 1/3 of value day after $30 billion bailout

Yesterday they closed at 34 and change. Today they close under 23. Looks like maybe that $30b injection wasn't enough. Now what? There's a bunch of stuff going on in the world at large that does not bode well for the US dollar. The main thing being other countries have noticed Americans can't be trusted. Just this century the USA has outright stolen billions from Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Afghanistan, and Russia. In every case there is the usual bullshit about values and fighting tyranny etc, but the Global South and even middle powers are acutely aware that Uncle Sam isn't a reliable partner because he can turn on you anythime. Just ask Noreiga or Saddam. Another thing the "ROW" (rest of the world outside the USA dominated 25% of the planet) is noticing is that the supposed "mightiest military in history" is mighty reluctant to engage Russia head-on. Why might that be? Spoiler alert; I don't think it's because our values would prevent us from shocking and aweing Russia off the map if the USA and the NATO flunkies thought they had even a remote chance of pulling that off. They don't.

First Republic Bank down 25% since yesterday's $30 billion bailout

Oopsie! Well, that's not a good look! Those 30 billions allegedly came from the donor banks "own money," rather than the taxpayer. Sure it did! But at least $25billion came from the Big Boys, the certified Too Big To Fail gang. In other words, if this bailout goes sour and drags down the big guys, they'll once again play the "too big to fail" card and be backstopped, yet again, by the US taxpayer! First Republic closed yesterday at $34.47. At $25.25 as a write these words. That's a drop of over 25% in less than 24 hrs. Does not bode well for the prospects of the US banking system going forward. What we need right now is some extravagant headlines to take our minds off this shit show... OH LOOKY THERE! PUTIN CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES!!!

Too big to fail last week; down the toilet this week

We live in interesting times. The American Empire is in the process of de-empiring. This is good news for the world at large, but there could be a few bumps in the road as the Exceptionalists in DC double down and double down again on their strategic mission to maintain “full spectrum dominance.” An increasing percentage of global trade has been avoiding the US dollar. This trend has been visible for at least ten years. But the current cluster-fuck has greatly speeded up the process. Confidence in the USD is waning world-wide. Quite aside from the two minor banks that went tits up in America in recent days, there’s a global banking behemoth staggering around in its death wobble. That would be Credit Suisse. That’s near top of the pile of banks too big to fail. It has failed, and state intervention is the only thing standing between Credit Suisse and bankruptcy. If major Swiss banks are at risk, why do we blithely assume our major Canadian banks are untouchable?

Brandon heads to Ottawa to coordinate Haiti invasion with PM Fluffy

Political interference in sovereign states is a hot topic in the nation's capital these days. Those dastardly CHINESE COMMIES have been subverting our democracy, don't you know. What an outrage! Half the country thinks Fluffy was in on it. Double outrage! Here's a news flash. When it comes to meddling in other countries' affairs, China got nothing on Canada. Canada has been second only to Uncle Sam in tormenting the people of Haiti and chopping its democracy off at the knees every time the fools elect somebody we don't approve of. Like a certain priest who was the first democratically elected president of Haiti ever. Most Canadians seem to be completely oblivious to our extensive history of subverting democracy in Haiti. Thanks largely to our efforts, democracy in Haiti has been stymied at every turn. We don't do this for the Haitians suffering on the ground. We do this for the Haitian elites in Miami, Montreal, and Switzerland. To be fair, there are occassionally Haitian elite in Haiti too, but they all have second and/or third domiciles elsewhere. The situation on the ground in Haiti is approaching critical mass. Things are not going great for the elites. For one thing, not only do their people hate them, they are at war with one another. We're being bombarded with CBCprop about how it's never been worse in Haiti. SOMEBODY GOTTA DO SOMETHING!!! If you've been paying attention, you'll be aware that the DC crowd has determined that their Canadian allies will take the lead in this mission to save freedom and democracy and the oligarchal cesspool of corruption that we have nurtured in Haiti lo these many many decades. Sleepy Joe is coming to Ottawa to personally brief Justin on exactly what's expected of us. How can China violate our sovereignty when we gave that up to Uncle Sam long ago?

Gluten-free fish 'n chips

You can forget about dining at your typical fish 'n chip joint if you're trying to avoid gluten. I's a struggle, but I've been able to find decent pizza and burgers. The Boone bakery in town makes some awesome gluten-free bread (for ten bucks a loaf!), but today we found the real deal - gluten-free fish and chips! It was the first sunny day this week, and we thought we'd take a tour down the coast Kincardine way. There's a restaurant there we've visited often over the past 25 years. The Erie Belle is practically on the harbour, and has long been locally famous for its fish and chips. Sure enough, they have figured out a gluten-free batter! I gotta give those folks a solid thumbs up. Their gluten-free offering is every bit as tasty as their regular fare. On to the next challenge; finding gluten-free liver and onions just like Mom used to make. Liver well-done but not overdone - a fine balance. Creamy mashed potatos, gravy, and fried onions.

SVB goes pft... and just like that, it's gone

Makes you wonder what else might unexpectedly go pfffft in the days and weeks ahead. I'm thinking Tesla. The hallucinatory overvaluation of Tesla is what's enabled Elon to become a big deal in politics. He could afford to pay 40 billions for Twitter. That's at least 10X what the fundamentals would suggest it's worth. No problem! The market insists Tesla is still worth more than VW/Toyota/Mercedes/GM/Ford combined! Gross revenue per second isn't a metric I've run into very often, but Finasko informs me that VW generates over $9000 per second, Tesla under $800, yet Tesla dwarfs VW by market cap. I suspect the US economy is on the cusp of a great awakening. Friday's collapse of SVB isn't exactly a confidence booster. Internationally, the USD is steadily losing market share in terms of global trade, largely because America's willy-nilly application of unilateral sanctions on whomever displeases Empire is eroding confidence. This weeks historic agreement between Saudi and Iran will only speed up the death spiral. I think Elon is bankruptcy proof however. He's got gazillions in government contracts in realms that make him a very deep player in America's deep state. Tesla is just a front.

Sleepy Joe gets pantsed

By far the most important news story in the world today is summed up in this Wall Street Journal headline; “Saudi Arabia, Iran Restore Relations in Deal Brokered by China.” Oddly enough, the Saudi Foreign Minister has spent the last couple of days in Moscow huddled with Lavrov while Iranian and Saudi delegations were fine-tuning their rapprochement in Beijing. The three top enemies on Uncle Sam’s shit list just wrapped a deal to normalize relations with America’s number one ally in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia, an American satrapy since the 1940s. While Team Biden bestrides the globe, spewing empty threats and empty promises, their chosen enemies are busy getting things done. Among other things, this deal means trade between three of the biggest global oil producers and their customers will be done outside the USD. This is a massive blow to American influence and prestige. It’s also good news for those victimized by America’s proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, and Iraq, among others. Meanwhile, Washington’s toadies in Ottawa continue to embarrass themselves by one-upping one another’s anti-China rhetoric. Wake up, you morons! American Exceptionalism has had a good long run, but things are changing. We’re now in a multi-polar world. You can stop kissing Uncle Sam’s ass already!

Ottawa is the crybaby capital of the world

I was out for a drive with CBC on the radio. The topic at hand? A Tory MP had allegedly implied that one of our female Lib pols had failed to sufficiently intimidate Chinese officials on the matter of supposed election interference. This misogynistic outburst almost derailed the hearing! Just to show that Tory MPs have thin skin too, here’s Kyle Seeback, quoted in Hansard; Mr. Speaker, the member keeps using the term “wacky” when referring to Conservative members of the House… Oh my God! Please make the horror stop! This came on the same day that four prima donnas from the women’s national soccer team arrived in Ottawa to whine about not getting enough money or respect, but mostly money. Prima Donna Numero Uno revealed the soul-crushing news that the former boss of Soccer Canada had referred to their whining as “bitching.” Well! Never in her life had she ever been so insulted! Today I open my Globe and Mail to find that our Governor General, recipient of what is surely the plumpest patronage appointment in all the land, has also been the recipient of many offensive social media comments… someone went so far as to call her an “old bag,” if such insolence can even be imagined! Buck up, GG. You’re just encouraging the basement dwelling nose-pickers who get their jollies flooding social media with their anonymous snot-smears. Show some resilience, the lot of you. Lead by example!

It takes forever to get nothing done

I was catching some early-spring vitamin D out on the stoop this afternoon. Bright sunshine but a cold wind. I was sheltered out of the worst of it. A feed truck goes by. I hear it slow down once it's out of my line of sight. I figure he's making a delivery to the barn next door, where the neighbour has a couple dozen head wintering. Then I hear him backing up. The truck stops at the end of the drive. An old guy climbs out and heads my way. He's got the slightly stooped walk of a man who's done his share of hard work. We exchange how ya doin's and he tells me he stopped to enquire about the Allis-Chalmers backhoe parked behind the barn. Is that an 815 he wanted to know. Nope, it's a 7-something-or-other. Turned out he had owned a couple of different 815s. We talked about the Perkins diesel. Told me they rebuilt one but the cylinder liners was leaking Prestone into the oil. So they filled the radiator with diesel and the thing ran fine. I tell him the story of how my Allis came to her resting place. Just parked her there and next time I went to fire her up, sparks and smoke from the general direction of the starter motor. I meant to get on it right away, but she was parked with the bucket arms blocking access to the undercarriage. So I put it off... I'll have lots of time to deal with it when I retire. And there she sits, slightly cockeyed due to one of the back wheels having lost its seal, and trees growing up through it. The problem with retirement, I tell him, is it takes forever to get nothing done.

NYT presents Uncle Sam's alibi re: the Russia-Germany pipeline we destroyed

It had to come sooner or later, the US administration's realization that the NordStream story wasn't going away. Almost a month after Seymour Hersh let the cat out of the bag, the New York Times issued the official alibi. Seems the Russians didn't destroy their own pipeline after all! No, it was some dodgy band of pro-Ukraine privateers, with no, repeat NO, connection to the Zelensky government. And definitely, no possible way, not-in-a-million-years, did they have any connection whatsoever to the US government. Hmm... Hersh has already teased he's got more info coming out. That should be fun! My hunch is he won't be confirming the NYT story! Even the CBC has obliquely acknowledged the story. Today they had a brief audio clip of NATO boss Stoltenberg on the hourly news, reminding us we shouldn't jump to conclusions until investigations are completed. But for the most part, CBC is still regaling us daily with yarns of Ukrainian bravado and how that fabulous Canadian training made all the miraculous Ukrainian victories possible. Our elite journos should be having a huddle on how to break it to Canadians that our best friend, closest ally, leader of the Free World, the country on the other side of the worlds longest undefended border, isn't above committing acts of war against its allies and lying about it.

Things get pissy at the dog park

The local dog park where me and Bruno visit four or five days a week has a Facebook page. They had some stark headlines on view over the weekend; "Man seen urinating at dog park." This caused quite a kerfluffle. Comments were extremely anti-pee-guy. But when I brought it up with a couple of the regulars this morning, they didn't seem too bothered. "Dogs piss here all the time. What's the big deal?" The other offered, "My guy hardly ever pees in the house." While I take their point, (and let me point out I pee off the stoop daily, but said stoop is set 100 yards off a lightly travelled side-road) I think we need to draw a line somewhere. If we normalize guys taking a wizz in public, your radical feminists are going to go ballistic on the equal rights thing, and rightfully so. But here's the problem; once you've normalized squatting to pee, anything can happen. Next thing you know, it's gonna look like downtown Seattle! That's why we can't have dudes pissing in the dog park. It's a slippery slope to a shitty place.

A dog's sense of smell is so acute it thinks a poop is a Picasso

I was doing laps with one of the regulars at the dog park, and we got to speculating about what goes through a dog's mind. For a dog, the sense of smell is allegedly 5000 times more intense than for us humans, but their eyesight is iffy. That's why you're never going to see a dog lingering in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, but you will see them lingering over a random turd at the dog park. Speaking of which, I'm appalled at how many people don't notice when their best friend is taking a crap. I'm in the habit of taking the shovel along on the first lap, and there's usually at least half a dozen piles to be dispatched over the fence. I blame the dog owners who socialize by the gate, chit-chatting amongst one another, instead of minding their dogs.