Plausible deniability vs. undeniable implausibility

We all know what plausible deniability is. It’s when somebody does a dirty, but has a plausible alibi. For example, when those Nordstream pipelines mysteriously exploded, all eyes immediately turned to DC. But DC had several alibis in the can, ready to go. They ranged from low plausibility ( the Rooskies blew up their own pipeline) to quite plausible yarns (Ukrainian operatives renting a yacht). Our curiously incurious media sniffed plausible deniability, and left it at that. No need to further investigate this horrendous crime against the environment, not to mention a devastating terrorist attack on the critical infrastructure of a US ally. Then there’s undeniable implausibility. Anyone who watched the debate of the century last night knows there’s no plausible possibility that mumbling, rambling, vacuous, shell of a President Biden is the person executing the executive functions of his office. This is a problem for the folks operating America’s Democracy Theatre. There’s always room for a wee flourish of fantasy in any theatrical production, of course, but trotting out Dementia Joe for a debate with Donny J, a seasoned stage pro who made hundreds of millions in reality TV? That’s just elder abuse!

Trump-Biden debate; America's Theatre of Democracy in full bloom

Please remember; America is the beating heart of the “democratic world.” There’s an election coming up, and tonight, democracy fans around the world will get a taste of what democracy looks like when practiced in the USA; the Mecca, the North Star, and the Jerusalem of Democracy all rolled into one. America’s democracy has given the voters a choice between two essentially identical old white dudes. Both of them are beholden to billionaire donors. Both are gung-ho supporters of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Both are committed to an economic model of perpetual growth on a finite planet. Both are slavish adherents to the gospel of US supremacy in perpetuity. They may have some differences on peripheral issues; abortion, gun control, and so forth, but on the things that really matter to billionaire donors and AIPAC, there’s no daylight between them. When your democratic choices have devolved into no choice at all, the spectacle, the theatre of democracy becomes paramount. After all, we have to keep up appearances. To that end, tonight’s debate will be a hybrid of UFC cage match and reality TV. Look for a lot of name-calling. They only got Jake Tapper to moderate because Jerry Springer is dead. There’s nothing like a good spectacle to demonstrate the robust good health of US democracy. I’m getting the popcorn ready!

Kenya's cops go where RCMP fear to tread

Canada has had an RCMP-led police training mission in Haiti since 1993. The longer we train them, the worse things get! And we were surprised these jokers couldn’t figure out how to clear the Freedom Convoy out of Ottawa? But they’re breathing a sigh of relief in Haiti today. Two years after the Haitian government asked for international help to combat rampant gang violence, the first plane-load of Kenyan police arrived in the country. Kenya is leading the Multinational Security Support Mission to restore law and order, good governance, and possibly even democracy, to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The glory of leading this mission could have been ours. When Geriatric Joe visited Ottawa in 2023, Haiti was on the agenda. There was much speculation we would jump at the opportunity, as we’re generally keen to curry favour with Washington, but surprisingly, PM Fluffy turned it down. I for one applauded that decision. After failing for over thirty years to whip the Haitian police into shape, we’re willing to admit we’re not up to the job. In order to make amends, Justin did however announce a $100 million investment in the Haitian National Police at the time. Now that the Kenyans have arrived, I’m sure we’ll soon see good results for our money! On the same day, back in Nairobi, mobs of disgruntled ingrates with no respect for democracy, a veritable Kenyan Freedom Convoy, stormed the parliament and tried to burn it down. Kenyan police shot 23 of them dead. They would have got those truckers outta Ottawa pronto!

Edmonton Oilers lose Stanley Cup on same day Julian Assange wins freedom

Must confess I got swept away by the tide of Edmonton Oilers hysteria that has gripped the nation of late. Watched that game start to finish, the first time I’ve done that in at least twenty years. The experience reminded me what a fantasy bubble professional sport is. The adverts that came with the game uniformly featured with-it progressive folks glorying in the latest diversity-affirming products from TD Bank, General Motors, and McDonalds. That’s the world of professional sports; owned by billionaires and used as a platform to promote their agenda. Assange, on the other hand, has never promoted the billionaires’ agenda. That’s why he was toxic to America’s ruling class. He exposed the US Empire as a cabal of war criminals. That’s why they spent the past 14 years trying to destroy him. So what up with this sudden U-turn? I figure it’s the result of a beyond-desperate Biden regime trying to claw back some of the “progressive” cred they’ve squandered with their wholesale backing of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We’re four months out from the election… oh lookee, we freed Assange! I don’t think that’ll do it.

Doug Ford swaps you Science Centre for beer at the corner store

This is a win-win for sure! For one thing, this swap saves lives at both ends. Imagine the carnage if the Science Centre’s roof collapsed while the place was packed with hordes of kids on school trips, as it is on virtually every school day. Doug’s timely and decisive intervention has prevented imminent catastrophe. And think of the lives that will be saved when beer is available at the corner store. No longer will you have to get in your car and drive to some far-flung government booze outlet when it’s ten minutes to closing time and you’re half in the bag. That’s potentially deadly! Ontario will be much safer when you can just stroll down the street. If lives-saved isn’t enough to convince you, there are other benefits to boot. Attaching the new-and-improved (ie downsized and privatized) Science Centre next to that world-class spa & casino complex gives patrons of the latter a handy, not to mention educational, place to drop off their kids! And as if that’s not enough wins, think of all the luxury townhouses some lucky developer’s going to put on the former Science Centre site, thereby ameliorating the housing crisis. True, they’ll only be affordable to the same folks going to the spa, but a roof is a roof. There you have it; a win-win, win again, and win some more! Too bad about the losers…

Globe & Mail treats readers to massive dose of war propaganda

Chris Alexander had an entirely unremarkable career as a diplomat and politician. However, his three year posting at the Canadian embassy in Moscow as “Third Secretary,” long before Putin arrived on the scene, makes him one of this country’s foremost experts on all things Russian, especially the current war in Ukraine. As a Putin expert, he recently weighed in with this effort which appeared in the Globe a few days ago; The world needs to win in Ukraine. You know which “world” he’s talking about; the roughly 15% of the world firmly in Uncle Sam’s pocket. The “golden billion” as some writers refer to it. The other seven billion denizens of Planet Earth couldn’t care less about Ukraine. Outside of Canada, USA, and NATO/EU countries, virtually nobody has so much as joined sanctions against Russia, let alone provided military support to Ukraine. They don’t buy the bullshit about this existential battle between “democracy” and “authoritarianism.” Alexander claims, “Defeating Russia’s invasion in Ukraine is the pivotal fight of our time – one that will determine whether our children grow up amid crumbling institutions and besieged democracies, or with renewed opportunity.” How silly is that? If Putin prevails, our children will grow up amid crumbling institutions? What does he think they’re growing up with now? He bemoans the fact that NATO have been acting like fraidy-cats. We can’t save democracy with the half-assed efforts we’ve been making for the first two and a half years of this war. No siree! We must put our economies on war footings! We gotta scale up missile production and 155mm shell production etc to ensure Ukraine’s victory! How stupid is that? What democratically elected leader in the West is going to campaign on that? Outside of a few Baltic pipsqueaks, none. Certainly not ours. But it gets even sillier; “Canada should lead. In the Second World War, a town like Ajax, Ont., rose to be the largest shell factory in the British Commonwealth. We could make such extraordinary efforts again.” We could? I don’t think so. That’s the problem with Canadians of Alexander’s pedigree; they can’t stop fantasizing about a global leadership role for Canada, and thereby for themselves. Just because we could do stuff in the past doesn’t mean we can today. During WWII we built 4,000 ships. Now? Almost 150 years ago, we built a railroad clear across the nation in ten years. Today, ten years might get us ten kilometres of subway, if we’re lucky. The only thing Canada leads the world in today is health warnings on tobacco products. Canadian taxpayers have already sunk at least $10 billions into propping up Ukraine. Our “democracy” will no doubt plod along business-as-usual if we never spend one more dollar propping up Zelensky’s kleptocracy. It’s time to cut out the war propaganda and focus our efforts on the many urgent needs experienced by our own population.

Colours of Edmonton; diversity is the Edmonton Oilers' secret weapon

I'm talking about their fan base, not their roster. Check out some of the videos of Oilers fans going nutso koo-koo after the team’s win the other night. Both Global News and CBC have video clips available, as do the sports networks. There’s more diversity in that crowd than you’ll find in a Benneton catalogue, if such a thing can be imagined. All those BIPOC Oiler fans obviously weren't there to support the one non-white dude on the team, as he was on the injury list. I saw a playoff game in Edmonton in 1979, the last season before the Oilers were folded into the NHL. The crowd didn’t look like it does today. I don't recall seeing a single non-white face. Let’s take a moment to thank the billionaire Jewish owner for providing us with something that brings us together!

Do we really "share values" with mass murderers? Time to interrogate our support for Israel

Here’s a recent headline from Canadian Press; Russia needs to be accountable for 'the genocide' of taking Ukrainian kids: Trudeau. Isn’t it odd that PM Fluffy would use the G-word with respect to Russia, but has yet to utter it with respect to Israel? Why is that? I’ll tell you why; it’s because Israel is our ally, and Russia is our enemy. In two and a half years, Putin’s illegal, brutal, unprovoked, and full-scale invasion of Ukraine has taken the lives of an estimated 600 Ukrainian children. In comparison, Israel’s exercise of its inherent right to defend itself has taken the lives of 15,000+ Palestinian children in eight months. You’ll notice The Greatest Leader Since Moses is not being accused of taking Gaza’s children. It’s a crying shame he didn’t take all of them, and take them to safety in Israel, before unleashing his war of extermination. Who knows how many more Ukrainian children would have died if the Russians had not spirited them out of harm’s way? But in our disturbingly myopic world view, Putin is guilty of genocide, while Netanyahu gets a pass. And that’s the thing about our allies and our “shared values.” We are relentlessly hectored by our legacy media about “standing with our allies.” Unless you take your news exclusively from legacy media, you know that “standing with our allies” really means taking orders from Washington. The American Empire Loyalists who regulate content on Canadian news platforms never fail to remind us that in this epic battle between good and evil, we and our allies are the good guys. We have shared values, after all! The genocide ongoing in Gaza was announced in advance by Bibi and Gallant. “No food, no water, no fuel for the terrorist animals in Gaza.” Almost nine months later, children are starving to death in Gaza… who could have seen that coming? I would guess anyone who saw Bibi and Gallant’s presser on 9 October saw it coming. Yet here we are, still standing with our ally Israel. Shared values! Today NATO supremo Jittery Jens paid a visit to Ottawa to remind us of what multiple media pundits remind us of every day; WE MUST SPEND MORE ON WEAPONS! Specifically, all kinds of fancy, over-priced, and obsolete US weaponry. A few hundreds of billions for 20th Century war kit won’t help us win the 21st Century war we seem eager to embrace. But it will, for sure, prevent those hundreds of billions from being wasted on frills like affordable housing, health care, and education. Canadians have a choice. We can bankrupt ourselves by standing with our allies. Or we can back away from those allies and chart an independent course, a course that would disavow the values on display in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and prioritize the needs of Canadians.

All-you-can-eat democracy; Joey Chestnut for President

Joey Chestnut is the right hero for this time in America’s devolution. Joey makes the headlines on a regular basis whenever Major League Eating (that’s actually a thing) sponsors an all-you-can-eat competition. That’s a uniquely American trait right there; the glorification of gluttony. Joey is famous because he can down more hotdogs in a sitting than any other “competitive eater” in the USA. He’s won the Nathans Hotdog Eating Championship an unprecedented 16 times. Only in America! USA! USA! USA!… Modern hotdogs consist of hyper-processed “meat product” sausages on a hyper-processed “grain product” bun. At least there’s no dog meat used anymore, which is where the hotdog got its name. At other times in America’s history, we might have had other heroes. George Washington, Abe Lincoln, General Patton. Ty Cobb. Joe Louis. Babe Ruth. But those were other times, simpler times. The first Nathans Championship was held in 1972. That heralded the dawn of the Age of Excess. By 1982, corporate stock buybacks were legalized. That enabled companies to spend their profits on buying up their own shares in the market. Previously, profits were ploughed into R&D, new technology, or even, on occasion, the wages and benefits of their workers. But we’re more civilized now. We raise animals in industrial-scale “barns” where they can live their entire cradle-to-abattoir life cycle without ever being inconvenienced by sunshine or rain. That’s humane farming! And we’ve outsourced most of our factory jobs to Mexico and Asia, and for those jobs we can’t offshore, we’ve insourced Mexican and Asian labour. Talk about a win-win! Reduced costs, enhanced profits, bigger paydays for the shareholders and management… what’s not to like? Well, for the tens of millions of formerly middle-class Americans slowly being ground into poverty over the past 50 years, there’s nothing to like. Turns out enriching owners while impoverishing workers is not a wildly popular strategy from the point of view of the general public. That’s how the faux populist Trump got elected in 2016. That was eight years ago. Much has changed. Many in America fail to understand how shoveling hundreds of billions to Ukraine and Israel serves the interests of anyone other than the corporate officers and shareholders of the companies profiting from the carnage. There’s an election coming up. The faux populist may prevail over the walking-dementia-patient Biden, but they are equally beholden to the same wealthy donors who profit from murder and mayhem. I believe it’s time for Joey Chestnut to launch his own political party. Gluttony is a banner Americans can rally around. He’s only a front-man for a wiener company, not Raytheon or Lockheed Martin. I’ve seen no evidence he gives a fig one way or the other re: Israel or Ukraine, which between them are in the process of destroying America’s standing in the world. Make America (really) great again… free hotdogs and a living wage for all! Joey Chestnut for president!

Never surrender

I think it starts when you hit 60. That’s a hard number. Deep inside everybody “celebrating” their 60th, is a 16 year old wondering what the fuck happened. And it only gets worse from there. There’s a lot of societal pressure to see yourself as “old,” a “senior citizen,” etc. They lure you in with so-called “senior’s discounts.” Who doesn’t want to save five bucks on a haircut? Succumb to that, and you’ve embraced the senior citizen identity. Which I have, to be perfectly honest. I do like to save five bucks on a haircut… and it pays to visit Shoppers Drug Mart on seniors day. But there is a dark side to getting old. You get old. For the first time in your life you’re following your bowel movements the way you once followed your favorite sports teams. Go Leafs go! Then there’s the testosterone thing. Your testosterone factory has pretty much shut down by the time you’re a pensioner. There’s a lot of guys who are in denial about that. They take pills for that “special moment.” Ya right. You wake up every morning of your life with a boner, and now you have to take a pill? That doesn’t make a “special moment” for anyone who remembers their youth. But we want to delude ourselves with the fantasy that we still “have it.” While it’s inevitable that one make allowances for the passage of time, “old age” catches up to you sooner or later if you live long enough. That in itself is a cause for celebration! I’ve already passed the life expectancy I had at birth… party like it’s 1955! Nobody actually celebrates old people in our culture. My understanding of Indigenous societies is they revere and respect their elders. They’re way ahead of us in that department. In our society, elders are viewed more as a profit centre for nursing homes and pharmaceutical companies. But here’s my point; just because you’re old, doesn’t mean you have to act like it. My role model in that respect is my dear father. When we first arrived at Falling Downs, nearly twenty years ago, he was well into his seventies. We’d invited Mom and Dad up for an al fresco luncheon. They brought the fluffy white buns from Bunsmaster in the city, and we provided the cold cuts. I glance out the kitchen window while I’m putting things together, and there’s Dad, a good thirty feet up a pine tree, hacking away with a pruning saw because some of those branches might eventually impede the power line. You can’t stop the clock, and you ain’t gonna get younger no matter what pill you take. But you can keep climbing trees and living your life. That’s my shout-out to Dad this father’s day.

Is "the climate emergency" really an emergency?

About a week ago there was a deluge of scary headlines clear across the media landscape, all screaming the same hysterical message; 2023 WAS HOTTEST YEAR IN RECORDED HISTORY OH MY GOD WE’RE DOOMED!!! In my rejoinder to those scary headlines, I pointed out that “recorded history” is about 150 years of planet earth’s approximately 7,000,000,000 years of history. I further pointed out that the previous record was set in 2016. To my way of thinking, when the climate crisis takes a dawdling eight years to set a new record, we’re not really in the lights-and-sirens phase of this “emergency.” What I didn’t have at the time was a solid number for how much the new record eclipsed the old one. I have since found that information at the website of the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Institute. That’s the institution guiding EU climate policy. The EU is way ahead of us when it comes to saving the planet. Here’s the money line; “2023 had a global average temperature of 14.98°C, 0.17°C higher than the previous highest annual value in 2016.” All those scary headlines were triggered by a 0.17 degree Celsius increase over eight years. Does that justify all those scary headlines? I think not!

The nothingburger that devoured Ottawa

I bought an electric chainsaw recently. Like virtually all electric tools, it was made in China. Since my trusty Stihl blew a hole in the piston, the foliage between my stoop and the pasture across the way has grown mightily, and was obstructing my view of the cows grazing there. That’s a pasture I rent out to the neighbour, for a very modest sum, who’s been a beef farmer all his life. He’s got a couple hundred acres he inherited from his beef-farmer dad, who inherited from his dad. He farms it with his son. Beef is all that family has ever done. He rents a few hundred additional acres, including mine, to sustain a cow-calf operation of about 150 head. I justify the modesty of my land rent by taking comfort in the fact I’m subsidizing a way of farming that is slowly dying. Beef cattle that graze in open pastures have a great quality of life. I think that’s worth something. Chicken or pork is mostly raised in industrial-style operations these days, and beef is heading that way, where the cattle spend their entire lives in a feedlot. Industrial farming is so much more efficient, so a generation from now I think free-range beef will be but a memory. That Chinese chainsaw with an American brand name on it did a great job on the excess foliage. The best thing about it is, compared to any gas-powered chainsaw I’ve owned, there is no swearing involved in getting it started. Forget about pulling the cord twenty times. I took this puppy out of the box, charged the battery, and I was off to the races. It’s amazing what the Chinese have done with battery technology. It’s so amazing Biden just put a 100% tariff on electric cars from China. China can build and sell an EV for $10 grand. America can’t compete. There’s no reason to imagine Canada can either, so in the real world all those billions in subsidies to foreign multinationals to establish an EV supply chain here are entirely contingent on putting up trade barriers against China. In the twilight of my teaching career, I remember showing my Civics class a video of China building a 1,000 bed hospital in ten days. That typically takes ten years here. I recall telling the students, “these people will bury us.” We used to have good relations with China. That changed after Obama announced America’s “pivot to Asia” in 2011. The American Empire had awoken to the realization that China was becoming a serious competitor. Anything that threatens the Empire is a threat to Canada as well, at least to the American Empire Loyalists who rule the commanding heights of academia and media in our country. Gradually you saw the tone of China coverage become increasingly hostile. Relations between Canada and China went into a downward spiral. In our enthusiasm to kowtow to US dictats, we tossed senior Huawei executive and daughter of the company’s founder in jail at America’s behest. That led directly to the “Two Michaels” melodrama. Fast forward a few years, and the anti-China alliance has a new gambit. China is meddling in our democracy! We know that because anonymous sources in CSIS, our CIA, leaked that info to the Globe and Mail. CSIS got the heads-up from their American counterparts. No proof was offered, and none was requested by our elite journos. We’ve gone from one frivolous accusation to another in the course of two official inquiries, yet nothing in the way of evidence ever turns up. This ginned-up scandal has “nothingburger” written all over it. The latest scary headlines accuse some MPs of knowingly conniving with our enemies to subvert our democracy. Oddly enough, the whiff of scandal has now tainted relations with India! Seems the Chinese commies haven’t been the only ones diddling our democracy. PM Fluffy publicly accused India of assassinating a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil! How did he know? The Americans told us! Let’s think this through. As a former fellow-colony of the British Empire, not to mention “the biggest democracy in the world,” we’ve always enjoyed good relations with India. We are suddenly on the outs due to information from Washington. Does Washington have a beef with India? Oh yes! Those Indians have been violating US sanctions on Russia! Uncle Sam said boycott Russian oil or else. India responded by increasing purchases of Russian oil by ten-fold. Obviously, they need to be taught a lesson! In the space of a few months India went from long-time friend of Canada, to the second most important threat to our democracy after China. That’s according to those parliamentarians privy to the top-secret info that we mortals are forbidden to see. It looks to me like the China and India threats to our democracy originate in Washington. Who's going to call out the Americans for interfering in our democracy?

Just another old white billionaire who couldn't keep it in his pants

I see where Frank Stronach’s sins have found him out. Sins from fifty years ago, in some cases. Or as recently as last year, if such a thing can be imagined! The dude is 92 years old! Frankly, you gotta tip your cap to a guy that age who can still rustle up the means and the motivation for an indecent assault. Are they sure it’s not just a case of senile dementia? That often manifests as inappropriate contact; crazy old guy grabs everything within reach, etc… Of course, that could just be their cover story. But what interests me more are the stories from fifty years ago. How does somebody not remember something for fifty years? Or maybe they just hit the self-actualization stage after fifty years of therapy? Or maybe they figure the lecherous old billionaire is soon gone, and if they want to punch their ticket, they better do it soon? Who knows. But I do feel bad for a guy who got off the boat with nothing, and made a go of things. It’s a shame to see him end his days in disgrace. To my way of thinking, he did more disgraceful things in his life. His Magna used to be a Canadian manufacturer, but after NAFTA came in Frank was happy enough to build one new plant after another in Mexico. Tens of thousands of $20/hr Canadian jobs were transferred to $20/wk Mexicans. On the other hand, he forged a truce with the unions who had tried for years to organize his Canadian operations. He invited them in, on condition they sign no-strike contracts. That sounds a bit like union capitulation, but look at it this way; he could have just shut those plants down and moved the jobs to Mexico like all those others.

American puppets

The Lima Group was a collection of US patsies who sought to curry favour from the Big House by recognizing Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela. If I’m not mistaken, our very own Chrystia Freeland was the leader of the Lima Group. Alas, that was a US-sponsored regime change plot that fizzled out, but not before the Trudeau government gifted $53 millions to the cause. Chrystia squandered a great deal of Canada’s international rep with that ill-advised adventure. Where is Juan now? Near as I can tell, working as an adjunct professor at a university in Florida. Where is Chrystia now? Working as the finance minister and deputy PM of Canada. The enthusiasm with which its vassals embrace Washington-approved leaders is how our betters in DC judge our loyalty. While we may not have much political capital left in the eyes of most of the world, we’re still looking good in Washington. We backed Guaido, and we’re totally gung-ho for the next US pet, Churchill-Mandela-Zelensky. The Z-man was the guest of honour at the D-day shindig in France today. The president of Russia was not invited. That’s somewhat ironic. If you recall your WW II history, it was Russia that did most of the heavy lifting in that war, while Ukraine’s contribution was somewhat nebulous, to say the least. The leader of Russia is snubbed, while the leader of a state that continues to celebrate its collaboration with Nazi Germany is given a standing ovation.

When will Canada stand up against US meddling in our democracy?

There’s been a lot of noise here in the Great White North about foreign meddling in our democracy. Specifically, it’s been the Yellow Peril and the towel-heads in India that have attracted infinite opprobrium both on our national propaganda network, the CBC, and in the pages of our putative “newspaper of record,” the Globe & Mail. A truly shocking tidbit came out today; there are MPs sitting in parliament today who have connived with foreign governments, ie India and China, to subvert our democracy! What to do!? Hmm… In the first place, calm down and get a grip. What’s behind our fear of India and China? Our American allies (some would say “overlords”) have been steering our China policy for some time. Remember the “Two Michaels?” They were in jail in retaliation for Canada jailing a prominent Chinese business executive at the behest of the US government. For over two years the Two Michaels served as a cudgel to beat China with. China always claimed they were spies. Canada always protested they were innocent civilians ruthlessly abducted by the tyrannical Chines Communist Party. That fell apart when it came out one Michael was suing the other for ratting him out to his spymasters. Our diplomatic relationship with India has been severely strained since PM Fluffy did his dress-up tour in 2018, but it went down the toilet for good when our PM publicly claimed India was responsible for the murder of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil. He made that statement on the strength of intelligence from our Washington ally, also known in Ottawa as “the boss.” American influence over Canadian policy continues unabated, and unchallenged by our legacy media. Hardly a day goes by without another example of US interference. Today CBC reports some American politicians are upset we’re not doing our part to prevent the Uyghur “genocide” because we’re not sufficiently diligent about protecting our supply chains. Why does the CBC assume we need to appease those American politicians? Why do we tolerate US meddling in our political affairs? This seems a far greater threat than the alleged political meddling of China and India.

Our planet's on fire!!! Or not...

No doubt you’ve heard the news by now that 2023 had the highest average daily global temperatures ever in recorded history! It’s a very scary story! Mankind is doomed! And just in case you’re inclined to gloat over a doomed “mankind.” bear in mind that the womankind and otherkinds are doomed alongside them. The Climate Catastrophe doesn’t care if you’re non-binary. These scary stories, and they’re everywhere today, tend to leave out some relevant context. For one thing, what exactly is “recorded history?” It’s the last 150 years or so, whereas the unrecorded history spans roughly 7 billion years. We’re making policy around stats gleaned from perhaps .0000001 % of the actual historical record. For another thing, they never mention the previous record was set in 2016. That means it took eight years to top the previous apex of climate hysteria. That gives me cause to hope the global temperature rise will cool off for the next few years. Another thing that’s cooling off fast is the enthusiasm of the big car companies for EVs. The big boys are cancelling EV production left and right, mainly because there’s not enough demand to justify the investment. Ford supposedly lost $30k on every F-150 electric truck. They probably make that on a regular truck. The only place that has a boner for EVs these days is Canada. We’ve been promising subsidies galore to foreign conglomerates to establish EV battery production here. Without those multi-billion $ inducements, those multinationals would go somewhere that makes sense, like Indonesia. They actually allow mining in Indonesia. We lure them in not only with extravagant subsidies, but with the promise of our abundant resources. Ha! We’ve got the resources alright, but the odds of ever getting them out of the ground don’t look good. Between the environmental studies and the social impact studies and the negotiations with the various First Nations involved, it’ll be at least 50 years before a new mine opens in Canada. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Top expert explains rise in Jew hate, and it's not about Gaza

There’s been a lot of attention focused on the unprecedented rise in antisemitism in Canada these past few months. Never before have things been so bad that a Parliamentary committee had to be convened to find out why Jewish students felt unsafe at their universities. Turns out it’s because of those anti-genocide encampments that have sprung up over the past month or two. We can’t call them that, obviously. That would make the counter-protesters “pro-genocide,” and we can’t go there. So instead, we call them “pro-Palestinian,” or “pro-Hamas,” or '“anti-Israel.” I’m no expert, but my hunch is the spike in antisemitism is due largely to what the world has watched unfold in Gaza since last October. In the aftermath of the Hamas attack on 7 October, which claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis and saw another 250 taken hostage, Israel had the sympathy of the entire world. But, as the weeks and months of Israel’s counterattack dragged on, and the death toll among Gaza civilians climbed into the tens of thousands, mostly women and children, that sympathy soon enough gave way to outrage over the excesses of the IDF. South Africa petitioned the International Court of Justice claiming Israel was committing genocide. I think there’s a connection between all that and the unprecedented rise in antisemitism. So I was looking forward to hearing the thoughts of a bona fide antisemitism expert on CBC’s Sunday Magazine this morning. Piya Chattopadhyay had Bernie Farber on, and Bernie’s got a nose for hate of all stripes. He’s made a career of sniffing it out and snuffing it out. I was quite surprised, therefore, that Bernie was unable or unwilling to make a connection between Gaza and the uptick in antisemitism. In her intro, Piya had mentioned something she called the “Israel-Hamas war,” but Mr Farber didn’t bring it up at all. Nor did he mention Gaza, 7 October, 35,000 dead civilians, the ICC request for war crimes charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, or the genocide proceedings at the ICJ. No! None of that has anything to do with the climate around anti-genocide encampments and a spike in antisemitism. Jew hate is the oldest hate in the world, and its ebb and flow has something to do with the arc of history. No connection to anything going on in Gaza today. In fact, he explicitly detached events in the Middle East from antisemitism in Canada by reminding us we can’t expect to solve the “problems” in the Middle East because they’ve been going on for 5,000 years, and will likely go on for another 5,000. There you have it! Antisemitism ebbs and flows with the arc of history. Nothing to see in Gaza… move along!

We must gird our loins for battle

After all, we must prepare ourselves to “stand with our allies,” and the odds are even that in the very near future our allies will be forced to fight China to save Taiwan, fight Russia to save Ukraine, fight Iran to save Israel, and fight North Korea to save… not sure. Maybe South Korea? That’s a lot of fighting, and as the experts at the Globe & Mail never tire telling me, Canada is woefully unprepared. Just today the editorial board proclaimed that “It’s time to boot up defence.” They’re in a bit of a swoon due to Defence Minister Bill Blair having come out for the procurement of a submarine fleet. A long-overdue step in the right direction, they opine. And it should bring us up to the NATO threshold of spending 2% of GDP on defence. It’s not clear if Bill want us to build them or buy them. Either way, BAE Systems will be the big winner. Their stock is up over 300% since those dark days when Trump was massively negligent about starting new wars. We’ll hit the 2% target alright. By the time Canada has built a sub fleet we’ll easily be at 5%, at least! And for what? So our grandchildren can pay for this idiocy in perpetuity? A submarine fleet has long been a dream of the war lobby, and the pointy heads in Ottawa got a severe case of submarine envy when lowly Australia was invited into the AUKUS alliance while we were snubbed. That snub caused a lot of hurt feelings at DND. The price to Australia to become part of the Big Boys Club with US and UK was to commit to the purchase of a submarine fleet. That’s expected to cost Australia almost $400 billions over the next 30 years. But it’s worth it, because hey, Australia is respected in London and Washington, and we’re not. There’s nothing the editorial board at the Globe craves more than respect from our former and current colonial masters. So by all means, let’s build those subs and there’ll be no more snubs! Alas, we might not be as quick off the mark as Australia, who are expecting to field their fleet by the 2040s. We’ve got an entire surface combatant fleet to build before we start on the subs. That’s multiple hundreds of billions right there. And don’t forget we’ve committed to a multi-billion fleet of F-35s as well. Keep shoveling hundreds of billions into defence, and pretty soon you’re talking serious money! And here’s what concerns me most about the incessant warmongering Canadians are exposed to from our legacy media. The question of opportunity cost. Look at all the things we can’t afford in this country. We can’t afford to build public housing. We can’t afford to keep small-town hospitals open. We can’t afford to train enough doctors and nurses to meet Canada’s needs. We can’t afford to pay living wages to educational assistants and child-care workers and personal support workers. We can’t afford to build public transit that works. We can’t afford school breakfast programs. We can’t afford to provide old age pensions that permit a dignified retirement. The editorial board at the Globe thinks it’s more important to “stand with our allies.” I say, let our allies go it without us. Save Taiwan and Ukraine and Israel without our help, and let the government of Canada stand with Canadians instead.