Why I got fired from my coaching job

Way back in the day before the day, I was briefly the playing coach of an industrial league hockey team. Now that we don’t have industry anymore, this level of hockey is known as “beer league.” The reason I volunteered to “coach” was because taking on that responsibility meant you didn’t have to pitch in for ice fees, a saving of maybe five bucks a week at the time. Don’t laugh - that got you a case of beer in those days. While there was no actual coaching involved, beer league athletes being generally immune to coaching of any kind, the position did entail some responsibilities. A decent coach was expected to coral enough sponsorship to at least get a set of hockey sweaters and maybe a subsidized box of beer for the locker room on game day. So I went and chatted up Lino of Lino’s Fruits and Vegetables fame. Lino’s was a local institution and the go-to place for the freshest of fresh fruits and vegetables. Lino agreed to sponsor our team! A couple of weeks later I drag a big cardboard box into the locker room to debut the new jerseys. I got a team set in Oakland Seals colours, which was maybe not the best choice. Shoulda gone with the old reliable blue and white. But what really doomed it was the lettering on the back. “Lino’s Fruits and Vegetables.” Bags of umbrage were taken, to put it mildly. The sporting world is a somewhat macho space. It’s OK to be Sharks or Devils, but nobody wants to be known as Fruits or Vegetables. Funny thing is, today you’d be applauded for championing marginalized communities!

Banana Handlers on strike

I was reading about the strike at Metro. 27 stores are on strike in the Toronto area. Apparently the workers want a bigger slice of Metro's record profits. Just for fun, I googled "Collective Agreement between Unifor Local 414 and Metro." According to the contract that came up, which may not be the most recent, the start rate per Appendix A was 17.25/hr as of 2019. That's probably not a bad starting wage for a know-nothing kid out of high-school. Then I got into the job categories. There's Metro employees making a half-decent buck. Fork-lift operators at 26.96/hr. Reciever at 27.04. Senior stationary engineer at 27.41. At the apex of the wage scale are the Banana Handlers, clocking in at 27.54/hr. And that's as of 2019! They're probably over thirty bucks an hour by now. There's gotta be a lot of banana handlers out there working for less. Who knew?

More evidence Canada no longer a reliable ally of American Empire

Looks like the “world community” (USA and me-too states) has convinced the government of Kenya to go where all other US flunkies fear to tread; Haiti. That Jimmy BBQ dude and his G-9 hombres have put the fear into every other candidate for the job of bringing peace and stability to Haiti, including Canada. If you recall, that issue was on the agenda when Big Sleepy visited with Fluffy back in March. Joe was hoping Justin would pick up the torch in the battle to restore peace and democracy in Haiti, which has gone seriously off the rails since the last time we restored their democracy. Justin was initially keen, but when he found out Jimmy BBQ’s crew had guns and might shoot back, he demurred, and wisely so. After all, Canada is known far and wide as the country that brings a parliamentary commission to a gunfight. Rule of law, don’t you know! Kenya, not so much. They bring guns to the gunfight. Their security forces just spent a few days knocking sense into folks protesting a doubling of the fuel tax. Sure, a couple of dozen protesters died, but that’s a small price to pay for law and order. Besides, during the last big wave of protests, thousands died, so relatively speaking, Kenya has evolved into a peaceable nation. That’s why they’re the perfect candidate for the Haiti mission. Besides, the Western Liberal Democracies are going to feel better if it’s black Kenyan peace-keepers gunning down the black Haitian protesters.

CBC needs to get over its obsession with Donald Trump

I clicked onto CBC News website just after 7pm. I'd had a pleasant couple of hours chatting with the Farm Manager and playing with the dog. Time to catch up with what's happening in the world. The first five stories were all about Trump. Really? Apparently he has some new legal difficulties... this is news? In Canada? Why? I guess it's mainly because top knob Brodie Fenlon and his Merry Band of Wokesters still see a pay-off in invoking the Trump brand. He's an easy punching bag for lazy journalists. Hey Brodie; just a thought, but how about some Canadian stories? I profoundly resent having to subsidize a government-funded news site determined to import US political drama to my screen.

Tip for Liberal Party- forget the cabinet, ditch the doofuss

Overall I'd have to say that cabinet shuffle was something of a nothing-burger. Change for the sake of change. Bill Blair in Defence is certainly a feather in his cap, but a different face mouthing the same script written in Washington isn't a change at all. Lametti is no loss. He's the legal genius who opined that mandatory sentences for gun crimes should be waived if the perp was from a disadvantaged community. Don't know anything about his replacement, but dropping a newbie into a serious post like that smacks of typical Trudeau virtue signalling. Applaud now! Pay later! To my mind the choice of guest speaker at their recent convention tells you everything you need to know about the Liberal Party. Hillary Clinton. If a washed-up corrupt hack like Hillary is who you bring in to motivate the troops, you're screwed. But that's the best Team Fluffy could come up with. The main problem with Team Fluffy is Fluffy, a PM who manages to embarrass us on the world stage virtually every time they let him out of Ottawa. From his multiple foreign cringe tours where he likes to play dress-up, to his self-righteous posturing over human rights everywhere, to his repeated declarations of uniquivocal support for Ukraine when he knows we got nothing, to blowing smoke up NATO's ass over our commitment to the alliance, to making plain his enthusiasm for totalitarian measures with his abuse of the Emergency Act, our PM has been a disappointment. Fix that now. Worry about a new cabinet later.

America's fake democracy theatre goes to outer space

These are tough times for the Exceptional Nation. The Americans are set upon from all sides. Look at the big picture. Vietnam didn’t end well. Neither did Iraq or Afghanistan. And now Uncle Sam and his NATO fan club are embarrassing themselves with their proxy war on Russia in Ukraine. Things are no better on the home front. Half the population wants to kill the other half. It’s the eternal battle betwixt good and evil. Between the rockers and the mods. Between left and right, black and white, gay and straight, Jets and Sharks, Outlaws and Hells Angels and blah blah blah. It’s tribalism at its best, promoted by the usual suspects, and it’s tearing America apart… Oh My God! Look up there! Could that be an alien spaceship!? So, as the country goes down the shitter, Congress is… investigating UFOs?

More signs US influence is fading

This week 17 African heads of state will sit down with Russian president Putin. They'll discuss topics of mutual interest, no doubt including the Ukraine war. The African nations trotted out a peace plan for the war about a month ago. That was dismissed in Western media as a fool's errand because the Africans fell short of demanding Russia vacate all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. In fact no African nation thus far has joined America's call to cease and desist trading with Russia. We are led to believe that Ukrainian grain exports are essential to preventing famine in Africa. In reality, virtually all grain exports over the past year went to rich countries, mostly as cattle feed. That's why Africa doesn't buy the bullshit that Putin is starving them. It'll be an interesting meeting. Isolated Russia is non-stop engaged with high-level meetings with countries around the world. Mainwhile, America's top diplomat, Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken, is in Tonga (population 125,000) bragging up the new US embassy building and the partnership with Tonga to contain China. While Russia forges alliances with Africa (population 1,250,000,000), America forges alliances with Tonga.

Greatest Leader since Moses determined to destroy Israel

Back in the day, I knew a few well-meaning idealists who went to Israel to volunteer on the kibbutzim. In the early days post ‘67 there was still a belief amongst do-gooders that a two-state solution could lead to peace and the lion would lie down with the lamb etc. Instead, here we are, fifty years later, and that idealized notion of an Israel magnaminous in victory is long dead. In fact, Israel is on the cusp of civil war. In the Bibi era the future of the state has been held hostage by personal ambition. Netanyahu has always been a man who puts himself before the best interests of the country. The Bibi of 20 years past was a moderate compared to the Bibi of today. With every election he swings further to the right to facilitate coalition building. That’s because society at large is moving ever rightward. And that’s why the Israel we used to know is fast disappearing. “The only democracy in the Middle East” is fast becoming an embarrassment to democracy. If the current “reforms” go through, the land belongs to settler extremists. If Bibi backs down this time, you know that in six months or a year there’ll be a next time. I read where the Greatest Leader since Moses just had a pace-maker installed. He’s obviously determined to see things through. Only a fool would bet against him.

Pot-addled hillbilly accidently smokes live earwig

First off, I gotta say earwigs get a bad rap. Ya, they're creepy-crawly and they give you the heebie-jeebies. Truth is, they don't bite, they're completely harmless, and they wouldn't know your ear from your arsehole. That said, I'm no fan, and it disturbs me that they seem to be having a good summer. I've seen more earwigs on the stoop this year than ever before. Which is how it came about that I accidently smoked one. I'd been watching the turkey vultures soaring a good part of the afternoon, and somewhere along the line I had a pull on the vape. Left my stash out there in the open, fully exposed. A few hours later I reload the vape, and by the way, I recommend these little gadgets to every old-school pot-head who still insists on twisting up a reefer. They're so much easier on your lungs. Anyway, I pack my vaporizer in the semi-darkness, and when I hit the on switch, I start to hear something, which is odd, because in all my time on this technology it's been absolutely dead silent. Sounds like something's sizzling... What to do? Well, better have a few more pulls on the vape while I ponder this. That's when I notice the earwigs crawling around in the shoe-box lid that serves as my shake tray... I'd just inhaled an incinerating earwig!

Getting out of Bozeman

It was the middle seventies when I was hitch-hiking my way across the USA. Didn't have any trouble getting to Bozeman, but it was a helluva time getting out. Couple of Billy-Bobs in a old pickup picked me up just past Helena. The passenger side guy stepped out so I could squeeze in the middle. That's always a little unnerving. The lads seemed a bit jacked on something, plus they were passing a hash-pipe back and forth. I'm sitting in the middle, so I just figure, when in Rome... Billy-Bob driving is giving her pretty good. Scary good. Ninety miles an hour on roads where a false move means a 900 foot plunge into the river below. I'm concerned, but the cardinal rule of hitch-hiking is you don't give the good samaritan who picked you up driving tips. Suddenly we pull to a stop on the side of the road, right behind another pickup. The driver reaches across and pulls a handgun out of the glove box. Buddy to my right explains, "we're just doing some business and he wants some protection." Alrighty then. I'm just catching a lift with these dudes. Deal done, we head on down the highway at 90mph. At the Bozeman turn-off they tell me I'm better off staying on the highway if I want to make it to Chicago, and before I had a chance to reflect, they left me under an overpass on the Interstate. That turned out to be my home for the next three days. You couldn't hitch a ride out of Bozeman to save your soul. Just before noon on day 3 an old bald guy in a Chrysler New Yorker pulled over. Praise the Lord! We weren't ten minutes down the highway and the dude was already rubbing my leg. Well, I really wanted to get the fuck out of Bozeman, so I let him rub my thigh a little longer than I otherwise would have, but at least I got out of Bozeman. Ten minutes with my thumb out and I'm sitting on the passenger side of a brand new Ford pickup. There's a young hispanic dude behind the wheel. His very pregnant girlfriend is sitting between us. He's working in a silver mine and they're just coming back from a medical appointment in Bozeman. When I tell them it took me three days to get a ride out of Bozeman, they tell me nobody picks up hitch-hikers around Bozeman because there's been a spate of random killings wherein hitch-hikers were victims but also possible perps...

Canada can't find workers for $65/hr construction laborer jobs, according to CBC

This story caught my eye over the weekend; Construction labour crunch leaves Canada in need of boosting ranks of homebuilders. Here’s the money quote; “There are tens of thousands of unfilled construction jobs across the country — including up to 20,000 open positions in Ontario alone — that the Labourers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) says it could fill, if only it could find the workers”. So just for fun, I looked up the collective agreement between LIUNA and the Ontario Concrete and Drain Contractors Association. These are the big dogs in the land development industry. Nothing else is gonna happen until sewers are in the ground. If you scroll down to page 37, you will find the current hourly rate for a construction labourer in the greater Toronto area is $44.72 per hour. Plus $9.30 per hour for your pension contribution. Plus a whole lot of other pluses that bring total hourly compensation to $65.59. To be clear, these are labourer jobs. You don’t have to have a fancy five year apprenticeship to join LIUNA. A twenty year old kid in LIUNA is doing better than I was after 25 years in the Ontario Teachers Federation! I find it hard to believe there is a shortage of eager applicants for these jobs. LIUNA are obviously doing a piss-poor job of promoting the wonderful opportunities available. Were I thirty years younger I’d take a crack at it myself.

Why my students were busted for having swordfights with their letter-openers

And of course, whenever students display inappropriate enthusiasm for acts of juvenile delinquency, it's teachers who get blamed! Contrary to what those seeking to end my teaching career believed, I actually ran a pretty tight shop. Before they got on the tools, I demanded a reasonable facsimile of a technical drawing, an order of operations, and a bill of material. I guess they fooled me from time to time. When I approved the plans for those "pencil-holders," my gut told me all along they looked more like hash pipes. Nevertheless, you want to give students the benefit of the doubt. It's part of building trust. "No, Mr Neumann, it's a pencil holder. Look, you put the pencil in right here..." Sure thing kid. Sure enough, the cops bust a local dealer with a stash of "drug paraphenalia," and want to know how they managaged to manufacture their paraphenalia in my manufacturing class. I thought those were pencil holders. Similar thing happened with the letter openers. There must have been some confusion with the scale on the so-called blueprint. I thought I'd approved letter-openers with a four inch blade. The reprobates made letter-openers with four foot blades. I admit those could easily have been mistaken, by an uninformed observer, for swords. I rarely took a day off, mainly because I loved my job, but one fatefull day I had to skip my morning class for a medical appointment. Sure enough, the little shits impressed the supply teacher by holding a swordfighting exhibition with their letter-openers. The supply teacher panicked and called the office. Man, did I ever have to do some fast talking to get out of that one!

A rat among the chipmunks

We've been having a number of unwelcome visitors at the bird feeders. Starlings. Yes, they're birds, but they're not much to look at, and they travel in packs. When there's a gang of starlings monopolizing the bird feeders, the more aesthetically pleasing birds, the ones you spend money on bird-feed to see, stay away. Chipmunks and squirrels. Cute enough in their own right, they can down $20 worth of feed in about ten minutes if they're not discouraged. And then there's the rat. He's been trying to blend in with the squirrels, and if he had a bushy tail, he could probably pull it off. Trouble with rats is if there's one there's more. I figure they're most likely coming from the barn, but there's also the compost pile fifty feet from the house. Either way, once he's at the bird-feeders, he's getting way too close. So I said to the varmits, a change is gonna come. Went to Canadian Tire and got me a CO2 air pistol. 465 fps muzzle velocity with a .177 pellet. That should be enough to make an example of Mr. Rat, and then the others would hopefully have the good sense to leave the feeders to the songbirds. The gun is a replica of a .357 Magnum. That's another reason to not live in the city. Wave that around in town and the SWAT guys will make a news story outta you in no time. I string up one of Bruno's doggie toys right by the bird feeders and do some practice shots. Between my shaky hands and the long barrel, it takes me 16 shots before I hit the target. Things are looking good for the varmits! In a perfect world, I'd be sitting here on the stoop with a shotgun. Shotguns are very forgiving of shaky hands. Ratsky would have been dispatched with the first shot. Trouble is, shotguns take you into Canada's restricted weapons territory. You need to jump through multiple layers of regulatory hoops before you legally own an actual firearm in this country. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. As a guy with two ex-wives and a few near misses I'm pretty sure I'd never have made it to retirement age if gun laws here were like Ohio or Kentucky. There's always work-arounds, of course. The teen gang-bangers in Toronto get around Canada's gun control laws by shopping in Ohio and Kentucky. If you have the tech savvy, you could make your own gun with a 3D printer. Unfortunately, my tech savvy is limited to making phone calls on my iPhone, and it took years to get the hang of that. I remember when I worked at K-Mart, you could buy an Italian made starter's pistol for ten bucks in the sporting goods department. It took .22 cal blanks, which were the same diameter as regular .22 ammo. Any kid who took a machine-shop class in high school could have turned it into a real gun in under an hour. Maybe that's why those shop teachers were always running into difficulties. I recall there was a chap at College Heights who was in a heap of trouble for creative machine shop practices. Then when I actually joined the ranks of high school shop teachers, I worked with a guy who got crucified for melting lead wheel weights, the ones you use to balance a tire, into .50 cal bullets. Apparently you weren't supposed to do that. Alas, even though I avoided illicit weapon manufacturing in my shop (the "letter-openers" with four foot blades notwithstanding), I still got in trouble with the school board. They spent a million bucks trying to fire me. The teacher's union spent the same fighting for my job. The case was before the Ontario College of Teachers for almost eight years. But that's another story.

The shitholification of Canada

Towards the end of June a tent appeared near the local dogpark. A week later there was a second. Today there were seven. Next week?.. who knows? This is happening in a small city of barely 20,000. In world-class Toronto, with it's world-class ten-year waiting list for public housing, newly elected mayor Olivia Chow has promised to tackle the housing crisis, beginning with the scandal of 3,000 recent refugees clogging up the already over-burdened emergency shelter system. Her first order of business is to convene a meeeting between the city, province, and federal government to discuss the issue. That's the political class' "solution" to damned near everything, isn't it? Have discussions. Strike a committee. Hire expert consultants. Have more discussions... That's the same political class that swoons over our great achievement of adding a million new would-be Canadians in 2022. Aren't we awesome! Not sure how awesome it feels to those refugees. Maybe living on the streets in Toronto remains preferable to living in a refugee camp in Syria or Somalia, but surely that's not the standard we should be comparing ourselves to. Going forward, I predict in a few years they'll be celebrating the arrival of two million immigrants annually. The three levels of government will still be having discussions, stiking committees, and hiring consultants. That's the same political class that imagines they can solve the opioid crisis with safe injection sites. We'll solve the doctor shortage by poaching from third world countries. We're pushing back against declining math scores by dumbing down the math curriculum... and so it goes. Is our political class really this incompetent? Or is reducing Canada to "shithole country" status their actual agenda?

Zelensky goes home with lots of promises but no candy

Looks like Zelly pretty much struck out in Vilnius. “Our thoughts and prayers are with you, pal, now piss off”! How long do you figure it’ll take for the ultra-nationalist factions in Ukraine to wake up to the fact that they and all Ukrainians have been used, abused, and betrayed by USA/NATO? The wake-up call is long overdue. From the get-go Ukraine’s Western “allies” slow-walked every military assistance package. Ukraine was pleading with NATO to close the skies since the first days of the war. It took over a year to get limited commitments of F-16 fighters, and none have arrived in country. Meanwhile, Ukraine was pressured into showing results for our grudging release of a few hundred main battle tanks, AFVs, and artillery, all of which are essentially useless without air cover. And now we lecture Ukraine about how they need to show more gratitude? Once the ultranationalist factions appreciate the gravity of their betrayal, they’ll hate America and NATO more than they hate the Orcs. There will be payback.

Just like a young girl should?

When I was in high school I had a chance to see the Rolling Stones for twenty bucks. Student council had set up an excursion whereby that twenty would get me a bus ride to Toronto and a ticket to witness history. I passed on the offer, on account that twenty bucks could get me not only the latest Stones album, but a bag of weed and a case of beer to boot. Yup, twenty bucks went a long way back in the day. Fast forward a couple of lifetimes and I’m sharing the math office with a seriously straight-laced teacher of “academic” math. He’s got the serious kids who are studying calc and trig and heading to the finest universities. I’ve got the “at risk” kids who are getting high school credits for the grade 4 math I’m teaching them. They’re heading to prison and poverty unless I can inspire them to change their trajectory. I was shocked when he told me he’d seen the Stones live. Seven times! When you look at a Stones show in the modern era, it looks like a bunch of middle aged folks at a $400 per ticket singalong. No doubt there’s a few math teachers on hand, singing along to Brown Sugar. Who knew fifty years ago that a song celebrating slavery and sexual sadism could ever become singalong material?

The wily Erdogan strikes again

Mainstream Western media were full of hallelujas today over Sultan Erdogan's climb-down re Sweden's entry to NATO. What didn't get much attention was the fact this concession was part of a quid-pro-quo; in return, Sweden will press for Turkiye's admission to the EU. Think that through. Turkey has been lobbying for EU entry for fifty years - long before Erdogan's time in power. There's a reason the EU keeps kicking that can down the road. Membership has its privileges. Like visa free travel throughout the Schengen zone. Basically, anyone with Turkiye ID gets free-range travel privileges across the EU. Given the abundance of Islamist radical factions supported by Erdogan's government, having untrammeled access to Europe should be a total laugh-riot! It will be all the more hilarious now that untold numbers of Stingers and Javelins diverted from the always corrupt and ever leaky Ukrainian supply chains are circulating in the black market. What could go wrong?!

Stoltenberg tells Zelensky: no NATO invite till war is over

Whenever NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg gets in front of a microphone, he starts bopping up and down and flapping his hands. The more vigorous his bopping and flapping, the more egregious the bullshit he’s spewing, and by golly, I thought the man was gonna take flight today. Jens had a good-news bad-news announcement for Ukraine today. The bad news is that Zelly isn’t going to join NATO at the Vilnius summit; he’s not even getting an invitation to apply… not until the war is over. In other words, not till Russia vacates every square inch of Ukraine, including Crimea, or until the last Ukrainian, whichever comes first. The good news is that NATO promises to support Ukraine until victory (or the last Ukrainian). Alas, even the good news has a downside. NATO support, so essential to keeping this war going, yet so far from winning it, is primarily happening in the PR sphere today, because team NATO has depleted its inventories to such an extent that all it can deliver are promises, not F-16s or tanks or 155mm artillery shells. All Ukraine has to do his hang tight while NATO countries revamp their military-industrial infrastructure and put their economies on a war footing. So buck up, Zelly, you’ll be awash in superior Western weapons by, oh… maybe 2030 or so. In the meantime, know that we are unwavering in our commitment to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes!

NATO cluster-f*ck

Must admit I was taken aback when I heard Lloyd Axworthy on CBC expressing profound reservations about Biden's decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Lloyd is an American Empire Loyalist through and through, so for him to come out with such heresy is surely a bad omen going into the Vilnius NATO summit this week. NATO fans have been busy bragging up how the Ukraine war has made NATO bigger, stronger, and more unified than ever before. We'll see how unified they are after the summit. The far majority of NATO members have signed onto the prohibition against cluster bombs, which was a Lloyd Axworthy initiative. If Lloyd were to keep quiet about this decision, he can kiss his ambitions for Secretary General of the UN goodbye. What seems to be over-looked in the reportage is the real reason Biden made this decision. It's because the 155mm cluster shells are all the US and NATO have to give to Ukraine. Remember when we were in a panic about sending 155 howitzers to Ukraine? That was one of the earlier "game-changers" in the steady escalation of game-changing weapon systems we have been gifting Ukraine as they struggle to save the free world. The fact we're sending the outlawed cluster bombs is because we've got nothing else. NATO's cupboard is bare. So much for "whatever it takes for as long as it takes."

Don't look now, but Canada is the buffer zone between USA and Russia

Just like Ukraine is a buffer between Russia and NATO. Innumerable knobs from sundry Raytheon-Lockheed-Boeing financed thinktanks routinely get vast acreage in the pages of The Globe and Mail to exhort us to crawl ever deeper up Uncle Sam’s arse. Thank God we finally agreed to a F-35 purchase that’ll run into the hundreds of billions! And let’s not be stingy about the NORAD refresh. And let’s get a nuclear submarine fleet! Oh how it hurts not to be invited into AUKUS! And what about the Arctic? Maps can be deceiving. But look at a globe and you’ll see what’s on the other side of “our” Arctic… RUSSIA! OH MY GOD!!! Luckily, we’ve got our Rangers up there. Yup, a few dozen Inuit dudes with government-issue antique snowmobiles and WW2 era military rifles. No offence intended to those Inuit dudes, but to protect our Arctic against Putin’s aggression we’re gonna need a bit more than that. We need to get some serious colonization of the north happening. We gotta get boots on the ground and bums in the seats, so to speak, to cement Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. Fortunately for the future of Canada, the think tank here at Falling Downs has come up with a plan. “Temporary” foreign workers! That’s right! Defending our Arctic is another one of those jobs Canadians don’t want to do, like apple-picking and chicken-catching. Bring in a million new TFWs per year with a fast-track to citizenship, with the proviso that they commit ten years to living in the Arctic! That’ll also ease the pressure on the housing market, because they can just build igloos as required. By golly, I think we’re looking at a win-win and win again here! We populate the far north with Canadians. We stymie Putin’s plan to annex our barren (or so he thought) northlands. And we alleviate the housing crisis! As a special bonus, we can easily fit 60,000,000 new Canadians into those vast empty spaces, thereby achieving the goal of bringing our population to 100 million! Century Canada indeed!

America at 247: the rot is palpable

Americans are celebrating the 247th birthday of their republic with the usual block parties and mass shootings. Makes you wonder how long the shit-show can possibly go on. My hunch, and bear in mind I have a pretty poor record making predictions, especially about the future, but I’m thinking not that much longer. Look around. The democracy theatre is scraping bottom when the guy in the White House is a senile crook, and his likely rival in the next election is… Donald Trump? This is the best they can do? This is the exemplar we hold up for the rest of the world to follow? Ya gotta be kidding me! One reason Uncle Sam keeps losing cred on the world stage is because the rest of the world isn’t as stupid as we’ve long assumed. For a long time America was able to silence the skeptics by pointing to “the best fighting forces in the history of warfare.” The fact that America hasn’t won a war since 1945 is something the rest of the world notices even though the beltway boffins pretend Vietnam and Afghanistan never happened. They couldn’t win there, but they’re walking into war with Russia and China? Perhaps the debacle in Ukraine will be a wake-up call to the Exceptionalists in DC, and they will hit the brakes before it’s too late, but I’m not optimistic. While things look ominous on the world stage, they’re not any better on the home front. I’ve been a fan of Team America since I found radio stations from New York and Chicago on my bedside tube radio in the ‘60s, and frankly, the USA has never been as fucked up as it is today. Life expectancy on the down-tick. Infant mortality on the rise. Homelessness exploding. Opioid deaths at epidemic levels… and while all that is marinating in the pressure-cooker, the most pressing issue for the ruling elite and their cheerleaders in media is… gender equality for all 57 genders? Yup, our best and brightest devote their energies and your tax dollars to endless debates over whether men can have babies or women with wieners belong in the girls’ locker room. That’s America at 247. Sooner or later that pressure-cooker’s gonna blow.

CBC News drops news for 24/7 clickbait format

I checked into CBC News early this morning and was puzzled by what I didn't see. Argueably the most important stories in the world this morning were Jenin, France, Ukraine, and Sudan. CBC News had nothing about any of them. What they had instead was plenty of stories that one assumes the wokelings running CBC these days would deem click-worthy. Tornado in Alberta... noise is hurting our health... far right in EU persecuting gays... I'm sure all those stories are important in their own way, but that in no way justifies the complete abscence of far more important stories. Jenin; the biggest IDF incursion into the Palestinian refugee camp in twenty years is surely newsworthy. France; one of the key NATO allies seeing cities aflame is surely newsworthy. Sudan; when I read last year that the US was posting an ambassador to the country for the first time in 25 years, I thought, oh shit, they're in for special attention from Washington. Sure enough, six months later a lethal civil war breaks out, with no end in sight. Surely that's newsworthy. Ukraine; so far every fresh multi-billion-dollar gift to our patsies saving global democracy has been countered by Russia. Pretty much the only option left on NATO's escalation ladder is total war. Surely that's far more newsworthy than the woke shlock CBC has been sending my way all day.

A day at the beach

The air has been too full of wildfire smoke these past few days. I've been overdue to cut the lawn for the better part of a week now, but all the experts on CBC are telling me to avoid strenuous outdoor activity. Alrighty then! Instead, we've been picking up a few coolers and packing the beach chairs and heading for our favorite beach. It's a quiet out-of-the-way spot off Georgian Bay, or at least it used to be quiet and out-of-the-way. Seems to have become just about everybody's favorite out-of-the-way beach, because there was nothing quiet about it today. In the course of the afternoon, we shared beachfront with a retired hillbilly couple with a couple of retrievers, an extended family with a grampa, granny, and a mastiff, and a gay couple with a couple of poodles. If that wasn't enough, there were random interuptions by random folks who just happened to be randomly passing by and decided to drop in and chit-chat for awhile, usually about Big-Lips Bruno, our Neopolitan. Then there was the biker couple who stopped by to provide a lesson in stereotypes. We hear their unmistakeable snortin' Harley approach. A couple of minutes later a tall skinny bonde woman and a fat dude with a goatee and lots of tattoos appear. Fast forward twenty minutes. I head to the car for refills, just in time to see the "biker couple" drive off in a Dodge van. Oh my God, those gay guys must have brought their poodles in the saddlebags!