Cold weather made Canada unique

In yet another lame attempt to fan the embers of Canadian patriotism, the Globe trots out Stephen Marche to speculate on the hows and whys of the alleged resurgence of nationalist fervor in this fair land. Seems we've been uniquely conditioned by Mother Nature to defy Uncle Sam due to our cold weather. That somehow made us stubborn... which is apparently a great asset in these turbulent times. Not sure I follow Stephen's logic. When 90% of Canada's population lives within 100 miles of the USA, it can't be that much colder. In fact, at least a dozen cities in northern states have colder winters than Canada's biggest city. It therefore stands to reason we can't be that much more stubborn. According to Marche, Canada's defiance is an inspiration around the democratic world. Carney is moving Canada closer to Europe, where the key E-3 allies are all keen for war with Russia. Yup, that would be a wise tie-in! As for Canada's alleged galvanizing of others to stand against Trump, that's not something I've ever read in the foreign press. Seems mostly a fantasy entertained by "journalists" at CBC and the Globe & Mail. What I wish they would do is more actual journalism. That might reveal we're not quite as anti-Trump as we pretend. How many stories have you read about the $4 billions in contracts with US defence contractors Carney has approved just in the past few months? Couple of billion for General Dynamics and a couple billion more for Lockheed Martin, but it's OK 'cause they hate Trump as much as Canada does!

The slow lane

I live in two worlds. One is the world I see on my computer screen. It's hard to take your eyes off that world, because we live in very interesting times. As a life-long cheerleader for the demise of The Empire, I recognize the import of this moment. Regardless of what you hear on Fox News, The Empire is in dissaray. We are witnessing the dissolution of Empire in record time. It typically takes decades or even centuries for a sclerotic failing Empire to collapse. Donny J seems determined to "git-r-dun" in one term! The other world is the one I see from the stoop. It's a different world, a world I'm trying to spend more time in. That's a challenge because wi-fi is excellent on the stoop. Willpower! Ya, as if! But I'm happy to report I spent a good four or five hours out there today sans laptop! In an entire afternoon out in the fresh air I saw a dozen cars, two dozen pickups, and a couple tractors go by. Plus, some logging trucks. There's a guy down the way harvesting his woodlot. Gets me wondering if my 20 acres of woodlot might yield a new Kubota with heated cab and snowblower. But I digress. Things aren't looking all that great for Western Civ in general, and as far as I can see, there is essentially zero leadership in the "Free World." The Eurotwats want to be ready for war with Russia by 2030, because... I don't know... freedom and democracy I suppose. Anyway, as Carney scours the world for new trading partners, none of the computer-screen drama impacts my daily routine, and it's hard to imagine it ever will. Mind you I am within the 160km danger zone the experts have designated around Bruce Nuclear. If Putin hits that puppy I just gotta hope there's nor-westers blowing that day instead of sou-westerlies. Anyway, life goes on, and I pretty much stick to the slow lane, at least if I can't just walk there. At this point, "life goes on" is in itself a declaration of victory! I know I've been whining about health challenges, but SHUT UP ALREADY!!! So long as one can eat and shit... don't worry... be happy!

American Empire facing multiple vortices of doom

You have to give credit to Bibi and Trump; they've succeeded in leading two nuke-equipped nations to defeat by a non-nuke nation! It's hilarious to watch Pistol Pete Hegseth, aka "Greasy Pete," standing in front of TV cameras claiming one victory after another. Every victory so glorious the entirety of human history has never seen anything like it... Ya... or maybe not. I gotta say, from my perspective, looks to me like the towelheads have got Uncle Sam over the proverbial barrel- the barrel of oil, that is. Not only are they giving Team Trump the finger re: his various ever-changing demands, they're still shipping boat-loads of oil out the allegedly-blockaded Persian Gulf. And when they let foreign ships through, it's only after they've paid a juicy toll in something other than USD. There goes the petrodollar! American cred in the military sphere has already gone for a shit. In the first place, US tech is distinctly over-priced and underwhelming. Billion-dollar AD systems taken out by a drone swarm that doesn't amount to $100k. I'm no expert, but that doesn't strike me as a formula to win a war. And our "Israeli Allies" have truly become the albatross around America's neck. They obviously can't get anything serious done on their own. They've been waging total war against Hamas for the better part of three years and everybody knows Hamas is nowhere near defeated. Even their genocide requires non-stop American support. Americans are turning away from Israel's war crimes like never before.

Globe & Mail opinion writers express their Canadian patriotism by calling Trump names

In particular, their glee over Carney's alleged calling out of Trump at Davos doesn't appear to be based on what our PM actually said. A careful reading shows Carney was calling out the "rules-based international order," which he claims has been a fiction "for decades." In other words, long before Trump. Good on Carney for that. The prevailing view, not only in the pages of the Globe but at the CBC, is that the rules-based order was chugging along, happily bringing peace and prosperity, American style, to all who dare to sip from the cup of Freedom, Democracy, and American hegemony, until the wicked and evil and insane rapist and probable child molester Donald Trump got his tiny grubby hands around its throat. As Carney rightfully pointed out, that's been bullshit for decades. Canadian elites, American Empire Loyalists all, believe Trump is the problem, and that absent a Trump victory in '24, Canadians would still be basking in the eternal sunshine of perpetual rule of the Clintons' Democratic Party machine. Grow up! If that's not enough, quite a few patriotic pundits are taking oodles of umbrage at Trump's claim that some of the NATO allies did their best to avoid the heavy lifting in Afghanistan. Does he have a point? All 30 NATO members contributed troops to the International Security Assistance Force, yet only two members, USA and UK, sustained 90% of combat fatalities (Canada had 3rd highest total). On a per-capita basis, Estonia, Denmark, US and UK are the only members with more casualties than Canada's 4.7 per million. Compare that to 1.4 in France, .88 in Italy, .76 in Germany, and a miniscule .09 for Belgium, home of NATO's HQ! Trump is obviously right; many NATO partners have been content to let other's do the heavy lifting.

Carney misses chance to cut puppet strings

I've noticed a pattern in the response of various countries to Trump's attack on Caracas and the kidnapping of the Venezuelan President. The more dependent a state is on America, the more effusive their praise for Trump's criminal actions. That's why Israel and Ukraine were so blindingly quick off the mark. Israel needs Trump to keep the genocide humming, to maintain the bomb supply and run interference at the UN. Ukraine hopes to convince Trump it is not yet a lost cause, so they see no viable options other than continuing to smother the Orange Ogre's ample arse with kisses. Countries not tied down by bonds of vassalage to American interests, for example the BRICS countries, are more apt to call out US violations of international laws and norms. Even some of our NATO allies are decrying Trump's attack. Spain's PM Sanchez said;"Spain did not recognize the Maduro regime, but neither will it recognize an intervention that violates international law and pushes the region into uncertainty and belligerence." In contrast, Canada "welcomes the opportunity for freedom, democracy, peace and prosperity for the Venezuelan people." Oddly enough, that's pretty much the same buffet of good stuff the American war machine promised Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and Somalia, to name a few. For some reason it never seems to pan out. At the very least, Carney could have expressed some reservations, but he's super-keen on not pissing off Trump. Mark Carney doesn't want to be the next foreign leader to get a helicopter ride!

In both Ukraine and Gaza, US-led peace negotiations are a hoax

From the BBC to CNN to CBC to Fox News, our free press agree the main obstacle to peace in Ukraine is Putin. Everybody else wants peace, and Bad Vlad won’t even negotiate! Didn’t he hear Marco Rubio? Peace requires compromise. I’m not so sure. What compromises did Canadian General Charlie Foulkes offer the Germans when they surrendered to him in the Netherlands? None that I’m aware of, yet peace ensued. In war, compromises are made by the losers, not the winners. The pique over Putin’s refusal to negotiate is because Western elites can’t bring themselves to admit defeat. Instead, they float ever more desperate fantasies about NATO boots on the ground to keep the peace that Trump is so tantalizingly close to achieving - if only his good buddy Putin would cooperate. Generally speaking, any legitimate peace negotiations require a neutral mediator. How does anyone imagine the Americans to be a neutral mediator in the Russsia- Ukraine conflict? NATO and the USA are parties to the war, not impartial observers. The entire “Trump is trying to broker a deal” charade is an insult to our intelligence. If that’s a ridiculous farce, America’s pretend efforts to “broker a deal” in Gaza is absurdist tragedy. Supporting Israel’s genocide is a genuine bipartisan project in Washington. Even as American officials profess their “hearts are breaking” at the wanton slaughter of women and children, they continue to veto one UN ceasefire proposal after another. All the Americans need to do is stop the flow of money and weapons to Israel, and you’d see a ceasefire within hours.

The folly of trying to spend our way into Donald Trump's good graces

Mark Carney has a two-part strategy to get Canada off Trump’s shit list. It’s been a humiliating ordeal for every decent Canuck to hear those “51st state” jibes over and over again, even after our king politely hinted to the American king that many Canadians didn’t like it. Part one is spending a shit-load of money on what we call “defence.” This is considered a viable strategy because we know one thing Mafia Don really and truly respects, even more than women with big boobs, is shit-loads of money. Part two is hiding Part one from decent Trump-hating Canadians. Hence the “mis-direction” about turning to Europe for defence partnerships. That’s kinda rich, because, while CBC and the Globe would rather keep you in the dark, every leader in NATO is literally begging Trump to re-commit to America’s leadership role. That’s because they know they don’t have a hope of vanquishing Putin without him. The bad news is they won’t defeat Russia with him either. Here’s some numbers NATO fans should keep in mind. In 2021, the year before Putin’s full-scale and fully unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, combined NATO/USA military spending was 1.22 trillion USD. Russia’s was $66 billion. By 2024, Russian military spending had more than doubled, to 149 billion USD. That’s an $80B USD boost. NATO spending went from 1.2 T to 1.56 T. In other words, while Russia bumped spending by 80 billions, NATO bumped spending by almost 400 billions. And what happened on the ground in those two years? NATO and their Ukrainian patsies are making Russia look great again, that’s what! The only reason the war continues is because admitting defeat would mean the end of NATO, and there are far too many Important People collecting fat pay packets to ever allow that to happen. ONWARD FREE AND DEMOCRATIC NATIONS - TO THE LAST UKRAINIAN!

Trump-Zellensky and the Angels of Death

I’m pretty sure the entire script for Trump 2.0 is coming out of Dana White’s WWE writer’s workshops. If you can get your mind around that, it explains a lot of otherwise inexplicable shit. Like how a scene that was cut from Godfather III showed up at the Pope’s funeral. Everybody knows that’s how history works. The protagonists sit down alone, and hammer out the future mano a mano. The future of Crimea is Russian. The future of Odessa is Russian too. Unless… As the Great Men of History shape the future there in the Vatican, it’s just Trump and Zelly and some random dudes in swishy floor-length black gowns. Those are the angels! Alas, not all of the angels are working in the employ of Heaven. In fact, there is reason to believe that at least some of them are Putin loyalists. Not sure how Dana’s people will handle that plot twist. Remember in that infamous beat-down in the Oval Office how JD and DJ were tag-teaming Zelly with the “you ain’t got no cards” mantra? Today Trump was admitting he doesn’t have any either. Which leaves the Free World with a stark choice. Do we admit defeat? Or do we make a deal with Putin and call it victory?

Globe & Mail editorial board laments death of Pax Americana

According to the clique of American Empire Loyalists who comprise the Globe & Mail’s editorial board, the post-WWII era of US hegemony, “Pax Americana,” was a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity in the world. It was? Try telling that to the millions of Koreans who paid the ultimate price from 1950 to 1953. Try telling that to the further millions who made the ultimate sacrifice in Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia in the 1960s and ‘70s. Try telling that to the millions in the Middle East who have enjoyed the non-so-tender machinations of the Leader of the Free World, from the overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected government in 1953, to the destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya, to the unlimited support for Israel’s decades long campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestine of Palestinians. Try telling that to the peoples of El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chile, and Argentina where US support for fascist governments disappeared hundreds of thousands. The cozy smug American Empire Loyalists at the Globe editorial board don’t remember any of that. All they recall is 80 years of peace and prosperity! Now, in the space of a week,… Mr. Trump has ended Pax Americana. Oh, for fucks sakes! How can you publish such overwrought rubbish? Yesterday’s editorial goes on to proclaim that Canada is left with no choice but to follow the liberal democracies of Europe as they rally to keep Pax America afloat without America. This means joining the unelected Ursula von der Leyen’s jihad to raise a trillion euro’s for the defence of democratic Ukraine. Ya sure, why not? Another trillion down the “whatever it takes for as long as it takes” black hole? That’s beyond stupid, beyond counter-productive, beyond complete mental retardation. Yup, that’s the road we want to take! And it’s not just the editorial board at the Globe. Top Globe thought-leader Andrew Coyne has become completely possessed by Trump Derangement Syndrome, to the point where his latest rants are a cry for professional intervention. In one single recent 800 word op-ed, he informs his readers that Trump is: a nullity, depraved, callous, insane, a criminal, a madman, crazy crazy crazy, a threat to the peace of the world, and a moron. Dude! Lean back in your La-Z-Boy, put on some Bob Dylan, and fire up a fattie. Works for me.

Doug Ford, the mouth that roared

Did anyone else figure that brou-ha-ha in the Oval Office last Friday looked suspiciously like it might have been scripted by Dana White? Think about it. Don and Dana are pals from way back. Dana’s got the secret sauce that can get the rubes to cheer for… whoever he wants them to cheer for! That’s why I worry about Doug Ford. Doug is Preem of my province. He recently pissed away $180 millions to hold an unnecessary election so he could have a strong mandate to take on Trump. For all those millions, his party gained one solitary seat. I’m surprised he got as much support as he did. At the onset of this unnecessary campaign, he announced he had a plan to ensure every Ontarian had a doctor within four years. I thought, hey Doug, you’ve already been Preem for seven years, why the fuck don’t we have doctors already? But you know politics… I can see Dana’s scriptwriters penciling in Trump’s next victim after Zelly. Doug Ford, the mouth that roared.

Is NATO over?

That wasn’t a mere turd JD Vance dropped in the punchbowl in Munich last week; that was a full-on double-barreled shit. So, is NATO over? It should have been over 35 years ago, obviously, but keeping it chugging along served a useful purpose for the American Empire. It made America’s adventures in Yugoslavia and Libya look like there was more behind them than America’s lust for destruction. It also kept the money flowing to America’s military contractors. As anyone even peripherally acquainted with the facts of the Ukraine war will know, without Washington’s policy of NATO expansion, there would have been no war. Lucky for Uncle Sam, NATO has long absorbed the Baltic chihuahua’s, whose ever-shrinking populations haven’t diluted their historical Russophobia. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, with a combined population less than the greater Toronto area, and no military capabilities to speak of, are the loudest voices for war with Russia in all of NATO. So it’s no surprise they were blindsided when Vance broke the news Washington doesn’t love them anymore. It’s quite a slap in the face to the American Empire Loyalists in the heights of media and academia in Canada. Until very recently, we were treated to multiple Globe and Mail opinion writers exhorting us almost daily that we need to spend gazillions of dollars on fighter jets and submarines so we can “stand with our allies.” Now that we understand how Uncle Sam really feels about us, ie, 51st state if we’re lucky, we’ve suddenly realized all those sacrifices to the national treasury we’ve been demanding, would be made so we can “stand with” Latvia and Lithuania? And we haven’t even got to the best part; Trump and Putin are now solving the Ukraine war without consulting the EU, NATO, or even Ukraine. This absolutely, positively, has to be the last nail in NATO’s coffin. But yet… Just how frightened are the vassals now that Uncle Sam has dumped his Ukraine war in their laps? Are they scared enough to cough up 5% of GDP for US weaponry? Are the scared enough to up that to 10% if the Empire demands it? I have a hunch Trump-Putin negotiations may not end to America’s liking. Uncle Sam could well need a posse again in the near future. If so, look for a lot of kissy-face hypocrisy as the Big Dog and the poodles make up.

Two weeks of Trump and heads are exploding all over the place

He can’t do that! Then he does it. Pulling the plug on USAID and NED is long overdue and highly laudable. Those are the two most potent tools that have been used to spread chaos throughout the world for the last half century. Sure, USAID does some legit humanitarian work, but mostly they stir up shit against foreign governments who are reluctant to take instruction from DC. Interesting to note that virtually all “independent media” in Ukraine has been silenced by the pause in USAID funding. How did we ever get to a place where we considered US-funded media in foreign countries to be “independent?” The retardation runs deep. Here’s another conundrum I’m grappling with; how is it possible for anyone on this planet to imagine that Trump’s coalition of billionaires are in fact the champions of the working class? The McDonald’s stunt and the garbage-truck stunt were brilliant PR strokes, but those were stunts, people! But here’s a bunch of working class hosers celebrating Mafia Don. Those stunts work! And that entire Gaza Riviera fantasy is beyond belief. You gotta give that new press secretary full marks for how she batted that back the next day. I’ll go out on a limb here and predict that both the working class and Arab Americans will regret their votes for Donny J sooner rather than later.

How Trump can stop two wars on Day One

I did a little research and found out Trump's pad there in Florida has 126 rooms. Surely he can spare a few rooms for a couple of world leaders on the lam. Just about the only obstacle to ending the carnage in the Middle East is the Greatest Leader Since Moses. He needs to keep the war going. Otherwise, emergency powers would end, he'd be forced to call an election, and would have to face the multiple corruption charges that await him. Let's make it easy for him; a suite of rooms at Mar-a-Lago. No trial ever! And the beach is right out the front door, with the added bonus that it's out of range of terrorist drones, unlike his place in Caesarea. Just about the only obstacle to ending the carnage in Ukraine is Winston Mandela Zellensky. He can't negotiate with Putin because his Azov pals would hang him from the nearest lamp post. Send in the Marines and whisk the poor sod outta there. Another suite of rooms for Zelly and the misses, and, no matter how you look at it, Trump's still got at least 100+ rooms for his clan. Sure, having those whiners hanging around would get tired fast, but let's face it. It's a small price to pay for peace.

Mysteries of the "deep state"

As you know, the folks who run America’s democracy theatre have a big event coming up in a few weeks; the election. You know the main characters; in the red corner, the Black Hat, Donald J Trump. And in the blue corner, the White Hat, Kamala. Due to the limited intelligence of the average American voter, the script-writers like to keep things simple enough that your typical WWE enthusiast can follow the action. Polls tell us the race is too close to call. In order to shake things up, the brain trust running the White Hat’s campaign sent her out on a media blitz recently. I’ve seen the Opra interview, the 60 Minutes interview, and her appearances on Colbert and The View. Sending Kamala out to meet the people has been, in my opinion, a tragic mistake. The woman has exposed herself as a complete airhead. “So what will be your policy priorities, Kamala?” “Well… before I address that, I just want to say how much I love the American people. I grew up in a middle class home, and you know, ambition and work ethic! I love the American people because we have dreams… we have aspirations… we work hard… we have dreams…” Other than that, and badmouthing Trump, she ain’t got nuthin! Meanwhile, what’s the Black Hat up to? As we know, Trump is a bad guy who can’t wait to end democracy in America. What do you expect from a Putin fanboy? And he’s ready to stab Ukraine in the back! Who can even imagine such an outrage? Ukraine, the plucky little country fighting Putin so democracy can survive, not just in Ukraine, but all over the world! And Trump wants to pull the plug on our support for this bravest of all democratic nations! And let’s not forget that Trump’s number one backer is the odious Elon Musk, the world’s richest man! The man who bought liberal, freedom-loving Twitter, and turned it into a hate-spewing fascist propaganda organ! There you have the broad outlines of the narrative, the plot, so to speak, for the Big Show. Now let me step back for a moment and play theatre critic. Aside from being the world’s richest man, and an enthusiastic promoter of far-right conspiracy theories, who is Elon Musk? Why, he’s the beneficiary of $hundreds of billions in financial support from the US government for his various deep-state-adjacent enterprises. Like Space-X. If you suspect NASA was privatized and Elon ended up with it, you wouldn’t be wrong. Which brings me to the Atlantic Council. That’s the “intellectual” think-tank arm of NATO. It is funded by the US government and a gaggle of defence contractors. It is 100% committed to the doctrine of American exceptionalism and is a “deep state” creature through and through. Every year, on the occasion of the UNGA shindig in NYC, the Atlantic Council celebrates a few world leaders for their service to Empire by bestowing upon them the “Global Citizen Award.” This year, one of the recipients of the Global Citizen Award was PM of Italy, Georgia Meloni. If you recall, when she was elected, the mainstream media couldn’t give you enough scare stories about how she was the reincarnation of Mussolini! Pro-Putin and anti-American! Fortunately, on winning the election, she came to her senses and soon embraced the urgency of standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes. And who presented her the award? None other than that anti-establishment rebel, Elon Musk! Yup, the same guy bankrolling Donald Trump, the anti-establishment once-and-future swamp-drainer! Wow! Well, clearly this two-horse race could go either way. Luckily for freedom, democracy, and human rights, these two diametrically opposed candidates can agree on one crucial thing; they both 100% support Israel, no matter what.

Random insights from the stoop

Did you see where our FM Joly made a surprise kissy-face visit to China? All of a sudden we’re trying to forge better relations? Looks to me like the commies aren’t content to meddle in our politics at the local constituency level; no, they’re trying to manipulate the upper echelon of the Liberal Party! How does that jibe with the gird-your-loins-for-war-with-China mantra that’s been coming out of Official Ottawa for about the last ten years? It doesn’t! That’s just one of the many puzzles I try to puzzle out as I while away the hours on the stoop. It was a good day for watching the buzzards soar. Just the right combination of sunshine and breeze that these amazing creatures could literally soar for hours without flapping their wings. The Zen of buzzard watching. Last night I watched the closing ceremonies of the RNC convention in Milwaukee. That’s when they bring out the heavy hitters. Kid Rock. Dana White. Hulk Hogan. The Orange Ogre himself for the grand finale. The entire spectacle proved yet again my theory that the more remote actual democracy becomes, the greater the importance of Democracy Theatre! And next week will provide a bonanza of food for thought; the Greatest Leader since Moses will arrive in Washington to address the US congress, where he will be treated to multiple standing ovations. That’s hilarious, considering everybody from the far right to the far left hates his guts in Israel. Democracy is a bitch! But I digress… back to the stoop. Once in awhile there’s some traffic passing by. Sometimes it’s a $750,000 John Deere towing another half-million combo of seed-drill and chemical tanks. The big cash-croppers like to bathe their crops in chemicals from seeding to harvest. What freaks me out is how often the kid piloting that train is looking at his cellphone. Other times it just the local youngsters, driving solo to their jobs at the stone quarries in their V8 pickup trucks. You’d think they’d at least car pool. Here’s another mystery. Why do some people who ride Harleys insist on having loud stereos? I’ve always loved the Harley sound. It’s music in its own right. Tonight a guy comes roaring along with CCR blasting so loud coming around the bend I heard John Fogarty before I heard the bike! That’s just not right! Some things just shouldn’t go together. I like getting mellow with a doobie and a beer. I like scenic drives in the countryside. But putting them together wrecks both experiences… and possibly wrecks your car too. So, keep life simple, is my advice. Count your blessings, not your grievances.

The Mighty Wurlitzer at work

Google “mighty wurlitzer” and you’ll get two definitions. I’m talking about the second one; a metaphor CIA official Frank Wisner used to describe the Agency’s influence over public opinion. Wisner may have been wielding that metaphor fifty years ago, but the mighty Wurlitzer plays on today. Mainstream and social media toot the same notes at the same time, whether the tune is about George Floyd or Greta Thunberg or Little Bana or Donald Trump or Covid. The CIA probably has more influence on public opinion today than it had fifty years ago. Of course, any hint of such a thing is nothing but a “conspiracy theory.” If I’m not mistaken, the term “conspiracy theory” was coined by the CIA, about fifty years ago.

Why Canada's "inadequate" defence spending won't get it kicked out of NATO

The CBC has a scary story on view about how our NATO allies may soon tire of Canada’s reluctance to ramp up military spending to 2% of GDP. As Donald Trump pointed out a few years ago, neither Canada nor many other NATO members reach the 2% threshold. It’s big news across our media that, according to recent leaks, PM Fluffy has allegedly told allies Canada will never meet its funding obligations. That’s led to much tut-tutting from defence industry funded think tanks like the Council of Defence Associations. Unsurprisingly, they’re gung-ho for more military spending! Why? Well, apparently we’re not standing close enough to our allies in the fight for human rights and democracy playing out in Ukraine. They expect more from us. They do? According to NATO, in 2022, only seven of 30 member states met the 2% target. That’s 3/4ths of the entire club that didn't! Canada is in good company. In fact, the freeloaders make a robust majority! When three-quarters of your club are outcasts, you’ve got a problem! Trump’s problem, shared by CBC and Globe & Mail “journalists” today, is that USA is paying twice as much to secure freedom and democracy as the rest of NATO combined. Given that NATO has been reduced to an arm of US foreign policy, I think the Americans should pay 100% of the costs. The vassal states are doing their part by giving NATO a gloss of multilateralism. Why should they pay cash on top of giving up their sovereignty?

Newsweek pushes "FBI corruption" conspiracy theory

We know FBI corruption is a conspiracy theory because no less an authority than the FBI has told us so. So why is Newsweek promoting such egregious misinformation? Check it out; "FBI Gaslights America Over Twitter Files." What’s more, since when does mainstream media use expressions like “wrongthink?” That term is a clear signal that the writer is up to no good. If the media gatekeepers were on their toes, this article would have been “pre-bunked” before it saw the light of day. What’s going on here? We obviously need much more regulation of not only the internet, but media more generally. Otherwise all sorts of nonsense is likely to be spread by the likes of Newsweek. If we can’t even trust the FBI, what’s next? The CIA killed JFK? Putin and Trump not secret lovers after all? The mind boggles…

Trump tax filings reveal rich people pay no taxes

Well there's a shocker! Who knew? Lose an imaginary billion here or there, and that's written off against real income in perpetuity! The US tax code truly is a thing of wonder. After all, it was tax lawyers who wrote it and revise it, ensuring it meets the needs of the best and the brightest who naturally rise to the top in the American meritocracy. Here's what's extra special. Legions of thousand-dollar-per-hour and up legal wizards have been duking it out over Trump's tax filings for about seven or eight years now. Donald Trump made billable hours great again!

Stupified by our own stupidity

I see where the latest off-broadway production in democracy theatre has ended its run. The Jan 6 show was an embarrassing attempt to promote the twin theses that a) America is a democracy, and b) Donald Trump remains a grave threat to said democracy. First of all, America's democracy bona fides are somewhat lacking. This is not democracy. This is a leadership clique comprised of the best and the brightest of career politicians and the best and the brightest in tech, academia, big business, and the military-industrial complex looking to curry favour. "Best and brightest" is of course a euphemism for best funded and favoured by the Davos crowd. In other words, the textbook definition of a fascist state. If the American public can't see that, what else can't they see? A lot of them haven't even figured out Trump is just part of the show. Nor have they figured out that the Zelensky fever that engulfed the free world these last 10 months has been a PR campaign of epic proportions, run by folks who otherwise might be coaxing you to buy a Toyota or a Big Mac. It's all PR and bullshit, folks, brought to you by the usual crowd of corrupt corporate lobbyists shilling for the Big Five defense contractors. The defence lobbyists even sponsored a party at the Ukr embassy in Washington last week. Why not? Ukraine's war has been an absolute bonanza for them! For Ukraine, not so much.