Putin against the Eurotards

I saw Ursula on Al Jazeera, threatening grave consequences for those phony referenda, or referendums if you prefer, that Putin imposed on the occupied territories. To no one’s surprise, the referenda revealed that another 15% of Ukraine will become Russian. Cue the outrage! But what will the EU do about it? Ursula has the answer; sanctions! Didn’t they try that already? And how is that strategy faring out? Not too bad for Putin and not too good for the EU, from what I can see. If more of the same is the best we got, maybe it’s time to fold the tent. Meanwhile, how is Liz Truss doing in making GB great again? Oh, I see the pound just hit an all-time low against the dollar… And she’s hardly two weeks in! God only know where this imbecile will take us. It’s Putin against the Eurotards. My money’s on Putin.

Russian ruble only major currency outperforming USD

That's quite a head-scratcher given that six months ago all the talk was about how we were crushing Russia's economy with sanctions from hell. Back in March, a Russian had to fork over 140 rubles to buy one US dollar. Today he can buy that USD for a mere 58 rubles. Meanwhile, if you follow currency markets you'll know that the USD is rising fast against all major Western currencies, including the CAD, simply because in volatile times cash seeks a safe haven. Obviously, a lot of folks are operating on muscle memory if they still seriously see the USD as a safe haven. Reality has changed, but trading habits haven't. Yet. But they will. America's economic dominance was always backed up by military dominance. The "military dominance" theory took a sever beating in Aghanistan, and Ukraine isn't looking that great. In the real world, both America's economic and military dominance are coming to an end. The share of global trade done outside the USD is growing exponentially. Buy rubles!

Tards 'o terror back in the news

John Nuttall and Amanda Korody were arrested in 2013 on terror charges as sensational as they were dubious. The RCMP invested many millions in trying to secure terror convictions against these two alleged jihadists. The entire episode smelled so fake that eventually even the jury at their trial concluded that our hapless terrorists were nothing more than victims of an RCMP witch hunt. Nine years later, an enterprising CBC journo has resurrected their story. Seems they now have a legal team and are suing for millions. I hope they win. Here’s one of the posts I wrote on the topic during their trial in 2015. TARDS 'o TERROR Seldom have as inept a pair of would-be terrorists been paraded before the public as the reason we should all be afraid... very afraid! Afraid to the point where we'll gladly give up what little privacy we have left so that Big Steve's Bill C-51 can keep us safe from harm. Die-hard Islamic jihadists John Nuttall and Amanda Korody couldn't keep themselves in groceries, jobs, apartments, or crystal meth, but they kept the RCMP frame-up squad busy for months fabricating lurid headlines about home-grown terror. That campaign has been so effective that even the soft-left pundits at the Toronto Star are writing editorials pleading that the RCMP be gifted more money and more manpower to fight the scourge of home-grown evil-doers. What a crock of shit! The RCMP has been forced to cut back the pursuit of real criminals and real criminal conspiracies to fund these politically motivated show trials of supposed home-grown terrorists. The Nuttall-Kolody case would have cost millions to bring to trial. The trial itself is costing millions more. After the guilty verdict, which is a forgone conclusion, we can then pay many millions more to keep these losers housed and fed for the rest of their lives. This is for two people who, without the coaching of their RCMP minders, would never have come up with anything more grandiose than knocking over the local 7-11 for drug money. It's not about them, of course. Marginalized misfits will always be vulnerable to the machinations of a ruthless state bent on creating "enemies" to further their agenda. Framing up threats to freedom has been a time-honored mainstay in the arsenal of totalitarian states since at least the era of Hitler and Stalin.

Letting dudes wear skirts and pantyhose ain't gonna help the Canadian Army meet its recruiting targets

And face tattoos too... It's all part of the vision that the political leadership has for the Canadian Armed Forces. The pols are of course hyper-sensitive to whichever way the winds of wokery are blowing. The way they see it, at least this week, is that CAF is failing to meet its recruiting targets because there's not enough diversity etc. In my estimation, this is precisely the wrong way to go about making the CAF an attractive career choice. The political leadership may have bought the woke agenda, but the young folks they're hoping to entice generally haven't, especially the young men. They're looking for people who are physically fit and have a thirst for adventure. They're looking for people they can turn into killers willing to sacrifice their lives for their country. That's a tough sell under the best of circumstances, especially given the disrespect routinely shown our men in uniform. How many career officers have had their reputations destroyed in the past few years because the political class saw fit to pursue their public shaming over alleged misconduct in basic training? A kid contemplating a career in the forces is bound to take notice. And that's before they get around to contemplating the prospect of sharing a foxhole with a dude who wears pantyhose. You can be woke, or you can have a serious military. What you'll never have, is a serious military that puts social fads before old-school concepts like esprit de corps and unit cohesion.

The banality of overdose deaths

I was in the off-leash dog park the other day, having myself a pleasant few laps while Bruno snoozed in the shade. On the other side of the fence were two ambulances, a firetruck, and four police vehicles. Being curious, I stopped and peered over the hedge. A dude on a stretcher. A couple of first responders doing life-saving stuff. I did a couple more laps and took a moment to check out the progress each time. By the fourth lap, they’d loaded the dude into the ambulance. They drove off without the lights and sirens on. What struck me was how normal it’s become to witness someone dying on the street in the middle of the day. When I was a kid, such a spectacle would have drawn a crowd. The only audience on this occasion were the first responders, and it’s their job to care. Other than that, people walked by, cycled by, drove by, and noticed nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Just another day at the dog park.

If dentists could write tickets for careless flossing...

We'd have to have Dental Courts. Had a visit to the dentist today. Remember that Alice Cooper lyric to the effect "your teeth are OK, but your gums gotta go?" Well, I'm living the dream. Not that my gums gotta go just yet, as long as I keep flossing and proxa-brushing at least 45 minutes per day, and brush my teeth after every meal, can of pop, or beer. According to the dentist, gum care should be the number one priority in your life. For sure; if you don't have healthy gums, you got nothing. On the other hand, at my age I figure I'm playing out the forth quarter. Might get a little injury time if I'm lucky, but I really don't need to treat gums or teeth as if I'm gonna need them for the next fifty years. But that's not how the dental profession sees it. They have this innocent way of asking if you've been sticking those little brushes between your teeth. They already know from looking at them that you haven't, but they ask you anyway, just to pile on you the added guilt of being a liar on top of the shame of negligent gum care. I don't care for all that stress, so today I fessed up off the top; I'm a complete failure as a flosser. Nothing happened. Guess they can't write tickets yet.

American Democracy a complete clown show

A country that can't control its borders has no right to claim statehood. That's pretty much rule number one in the game of nation states. How are the USA measuring up on that score? Not so well. Governors in border states have taken to shipping the border jumpers north, even as far as Martha's Vineyard, presumabley to share the blessings of diversification. The good folks of Martha's Vineyard had the National Guard cleanse their community of unwelcome migrants within two days. Which is a pity, because they represented some of the best and brightest who have been fleeing the oppressive Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela, where we have been lobbying for freedom and democracy since forever. We bait them with promises of freedom and democracy, and on arrival we call the National Guard to remove them? Shame on Martha's Vineyard.