Opening Your Eyes Can Be Painful

I would like to think that Canadians far and wide harbour few illusions about the United States. Seeing them as a trusted ally harkens back to an earlier era, and most understand that harsh truth. Indeed, statistics support that many, many of us are shunning visits to that benighted land, supporting provincial bans on U.S alcohol, and working fervently to buy Canadian and non-American products as much as possible. 

However, the hope that a new and more productive relationship with the Empire is possible still stubbornly resides in the upper echelons of government. Yes, Mark Carney is doing the right thing in trying to diversify our trade, a process that will take many years to bear real fruit. But he is seeking these new relationships with one hand tied behind his back where, his fingers crossed, hoping he can do so without enraging the beast. 

Carney is now visiting China with hopes of reseting relationships there; however, as has been widely reported, many say he has to tread a fine line, lest he do something (like reducing the tariffs on Chinese EVs in exchange for canola tariff relief) that will provoke Trump. And that's where I think many government mandarins prefer a sweet lie to a bitter truth.

The bitter truth? That there will always be something the Americans don't like, and with that displeasure will come more punishing sanctions. Consider, for example, that U.S. trade representative Jameison Greer recently said:

Dropping provincial boycotts is part of a longer list of conditions ... 

that Canada must meet in order to extend the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement (CUSMA).

Fortunately, all provinces except Alberta and Saskatchewan are holding firm on that ban. 

Another demand is that we dismantle our supply-management approach to farming, a sacred cow for provinces like Quebec, and one that Carney said he will protect. 

As well, consider this:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) on trade is “irrelevant” to him and Americans don’t need Canadian products.

“It expires very shortly and we could have it or not,” Trump said while touring a Ford plant in Michigan. “It wouldn’t matter to me. I think they want it. I don’t really care about it.”

Trump statements have rattled Canada and Mexico ahead of a mandatory review this year of the future of the continental trade pact. The president told reporters that “Canada wants it” but the United States doesn’t need anything from its northern neighbour.

Perhaps it's a negotiating ploy or perhaps he really means it. To me there is little difference, inasmuch as it amply illustrates the volatility and irrationality of the American leader who, emboldened by his coup in Venezuela, feels every right to rule the world, or at the very least dictate all policy, both domestic and foreign, to his vassal states, i.e., the rest of the world.

I could adduce a lot more evidence of the unrestrained imperialism that now grips the mad king and his enablers. However, in the final analysis, the quicker we realize that we are in a rigged game we cannot win, the faster we can break free and chart, as much as possible, our own course. 

Unless, of course, we are content to live as a mere extension of "the American Dream."

Well-Said!

I came across this on Facebook, and the Australian who offered this hard-hitting post sets into stark relief what we are contending with today. It is also prescriptive for Americans,, as you will see.

Alright, I’m saying this as an Australian who is absolutely sick to death of watching the world hold its breath every time this blabbering blubbering blithering blustering baffoon opens his grotesque mouth.

You see folks, as far as I can tell, from the outside, this is what it looks like: America has elected a man who talks and behaves like a megalomaniac, and the rest of the planet is supposed to just trust that he won’t completely lose his grip on reality and drag us all into catastrophe.

You want to steal Greenland.

You want Cuba to “make a deal before it’s too late”.

You talk about bombing or invading Mexico.

You kidnap a President and knock off the peoples oil in Venezuela.

You joke about annexing Canada like it should be a shopping centre car park you can just claim because you feel like it.

Do you have any idea how insane that sounds to the rest of us?

This isn’t tough talk. This isn’t strategy. This is a deeply unstable old man threatening sovereign nations like he’s flipping over a Monopoly board because he’s losing. This is not normal behaviour. This is not leadership. This is not strength. This is a walking, talking international crisis.

And Americans, this is where it comes back to you. Not just MAGA, not just the people who voted for him, all of you. Because when the President of the United States starts talking about kidnapping leaders, annexing countries, and issuing ultimatums like a mob boss, the rest of the world doesn’t get a vote. We just get the consequences.

You don’t get to shrug and say, “Well I didn’t vote for him.” That might fly at a dinner party, but it doesn’t fly when nuclear powers are watching this circus and recalculating their own red lines. This is your system. Your presidency. Your responsibility.

From the outside, it looks like America lit the fuse and then wandered off while everyone else stands around the bomb wondering who’s going to cut the wire.

And let’s be brutally honest. This man is nearly 80. He’s frail. He’s clearly deteriorating. He is not some long term visionary playing chess. He’s at the end of his lifespan and acting like nothing matters after him. That is the most dangerous type of leader there is. A man with nothing to lose and an ego that demands constant feeding. [Emphasis added.]

Why should the rest of the world pay for that?

Why should families in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, anywhere, have to worry about war, trade collapse, energy shocks, or global instability because America couldn’t get its own house in order?

This is not about left or right anymore. This is about basic sanity. This is about stopping a psychopath before he does something irreversible. Because once a war starts, once a country gets invaded, once alliances fracture beyond repair, you don’t get a reset button.

So yes, this falls on Americans. You got the world into this mess, and you damn well better roll your sleeves up and get us out of it. Impeach him. Remove him. Contain him. Do whatever your system allows, but do it fast.

Because the rest of us just want to live our lives, raise our families, pay our bills, and not wake up one morning to find out World War Three started because an unhinged old man wanted to feel powerful one last time.

This isn’t funny anymore.

It isn’t theatrical.

It isn’t tolerable.

Get this lunatic under wraps before he ruins it for everyone.

UPDATED: Pandering To The Emperor

I'm often fond of saying that nothing surprises me anymore. Although my  capacity for disgust remains, wars, rumours of wars,  state executions, invasions of sovereign territories, etc., none of those truly rattle me. 

Given my world-weary cynicism, to say at my age the world still disappoints is a strange statement. Yet that's how I felt this morning when I read this:

President Trump indicated on Thursday evening that he will meet with María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader, next week in Washington, after refusing to support her to lead the country following the U.S. seizure of Nicolás Maduro.

Ms. Machado has tried to ingratiate herself to Mr. Trump and earlier this week offered to give him the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded last year. Mr. Trump has long coveted the award.

No matter how Machado tries to spin it, this craven, servile offering to the emperor can only be interpreted with extreme distaste, but spin it she has:

On Monday, Ms. Machado said on Fox News that presenting the prize to Mr. Trump would be a token of gratitude from the Venezuelan people for the removal of Mr. Maduro. She had previously dedicated the award to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump said in the Thursday interview that “it would be a great honor” to accept the award, adding that it was “a major embarrassment to Norway,” where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, that he had not been given the prize.

Such fluffing of the monstrously egotistical Trump can only lead to more horrors, but so far that is stopping no one from feting him thus. He has already said that he will be the final arbiter of what is right and wrong. 

President Trump told The Times during a wide-ranging interview ...that he alone was the arbiter of his authority as commander in chief. He brushed aside international law and other checks on his power to order the U.S. military to strike or invade nations around the world.

When asked if there were any limits on his global powers, Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” 

It was the most blunt acknowledgment yet of Trump’s worldview: that national strength alone should be the deciding factor when nations’ interests collide. Past presidents, he suggested, have been too cautious with American power.

The world is now awash with toxic arrogance. To fan the flames of such is only to invite more death, more destruction, and more steps toward world domination. 

UPDATE: It appears Ms. Machado's  efforts to bribe thank the Emperor for his 'intervention' in Venezuela cannot come to fruition; perhaps her 'offer' should be filed under But it's the thought that counts, eh? category.

On Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Institute clarified the rules governing the award, writing that the facts were “clear and well established.”

“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others,” the institute wrote. “The decision is final and stands for all time.”

No doubt Norway will face some form of reprisal from the Trump regime, but it is indeed refreshing to see someone exhibit a measure of integrity in these trying times. 

 

They Have The News Anchor They Want, Not The One America Needs

I can only imagine that Walter Cronkite, the esteemed icon of CBS News who presided over many earth-shattering events, is gyrating wildly in his grave, and the still-alive Dan Rather is weeping deeply. The reason should be clear to anyone who has tuned in to CBS News since Trump-enthusiast Bari Weiss (she of 60 Minutes infamy) chose Tony Dokoupil to be the new anchor of its evening broadcast. Dokoupil's first appearance in that position came on Saturday, where he enjoyed a 30-minute interview of Pete Hegseth following Amerika's invasion of Venezuela.

The session was a nauseating exercise in extreme sycophancy as the anchor acted as the second banana to the Secretary of War. The tone was set with his opening remarks, which went along the lines of Dokoupil expressing relief to Hegseth that no American lives were lost during the 'operation'. Other gifts to Hegseth included his asking whether there would be American troops staying long-term to "stabilize the [Venezuelan] government. Conspicuously absent were any questions about the legitimacy of the invasion. 

And I'm not the only one who feels this way. Referencing the above interview, Daniel D'Addario says it was an unchallenging interview

in which the administration’s perspective was aired so thoroughly as to raise the question of when an interview becomes a press release. 

Then, in Monday's broadcast,

Dokoupil blandly stated to the camera that a Russian-Chinese-Iranian base of influence in Venezuela will be destabilized by the U.S. military action, without citing any source or consulting any guest...

As well,

a brief interview with a financial expert about how the events in South America will affect the price of gasoline never broached the notion of whether the U.S. extracting Venezuelan petroleum is legal.

One of the most disquietly segments of last night's broadcast was his interview with Doctor John Lapook about new guidelines issued by Bobby Kennedy regarding childhood vaccines:

Dokoupil began... by asking what this expert would say to “parents out there who are celebrating,” because they thought their kids were obliged to be injected with too many vaccines. He ended the segment by declaring “So, parents are going to have some options for themselves!”

You can watch a clip of the above here.

D'Addario ends his piece with a prediction that CBS will continue to occupy the basement in network news ratings:

Thankfully, just like parents, viewers have some options for themselves — and few, it seems likely, will choose this reboot. The hypothetical viewer who wishes their news were pitched at a more conservative tenor is super-served by Fox News and Newsmax...

People who have read this blog for a time will know that I have long been a supporter of MSM. To say that faith has been shaken over the past few years is perhaps to state the obvious, but just as many others have done, I am finding more and more relevance in alternative media sites readily available on YouTube. Yet I must confess to a sadness that objective news reporting in any form is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. 

UPDATED: War Mongers - 2026 Edition

 

Well it didn't take long for old Uncle Sam to flex his muscles. After getting in shape by murdering Venezuelans in boats, he decided it was time to strike a blow for 'freedom' and attacked the South American country, kidnapping its president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife to face 'justice' in the United States.

The legal authority for the strike — and whether Trump consulted Congress beforehand — was not immediately clear. The stunning, lightning-fast American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would face charges after an indictment in New York.

Team Trump is exultant, if the wormlike VP. is to be believed.

Vice President JD Vance said in a statement on X: “The president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States. Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says.

Kudos to our brave special operators who pulled off a truly impressive operation.”

 U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau says the military action and seizure of Maduro marks “a new dawn for Venezuela,” saying that “the tyrant is gone.”

He posted on X hours after the strike. His boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reposted a post from July that said Maduro “is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government.”

World reaction to the attack is less enthusiastic.

 “The EU has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition. Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected. We call for restraint.”

— Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for “de-escalation and responsibility. International Law and the principles of the United Nations Charter must be respected,” Sánchez wrote on X.

— Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it is “extremely alarmed” and called for “immediate clarification,” according to a statement posted Saturday on the ministry’s Telegram channel. The ministry said such actions, if confirmed, would constitute “an unacceptable infringement on the sovereignty of an independent state.”

— British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. was not involved in the U.S. operation in Venezuela and that he would seek more information from Trump. 

As they say, there is more to come, with Trump scheduling a news conference later this morning from his gilded Florida compound. In the meantime, no doubt there is some solace to be found for those who crave consistency in these troubled times: 2026 is already showing that might still makes right, eh? 

UPDATE: Well, this is certainly reassuring news, eh?

The United States will run Venezuela following a "large-scale strike" early Saturday that ultimately resulted in the U.S. capturing the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday.

The United States will lead Venezuela until a "proper transition can take place," he said during a news conference.

As well, there is this: 

Asked about the future of Venezuela’s oil industry, Trump replied: “We’re gonna be very strongly involved in it. That’s all. What can I say? We have the greatest oil companies in the world – the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it.”

Capitalism and fascism. Could there be anything finer?  

My Wish For 2026

 My favourite editorial cartoonist, Theo Moudakis, expresses it best.

Happy New Year, all.

Remembering Trump

 I'm still on a break from this blog, but I came across something too good not to share.

Gee, I hope I'm not accused of having TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome).

UPDATED: A Tale Of Two Corporations

 

Well, as the year winds down, I find myself with the same thoughts as I'm sure many others have: the ongoing devolution of the United States into outright fascism. A recap of all the examples attesting to this fact seems hardly necessary unless you live off the grid in some remote realm, so I'll skip them to focus on one aspect: corporate appeasement of Trump.

Myriad examples exist: the corporate rush to abandon diversity initiatives and the settling of meritless lawsuits: YouTube/Alphabet, Paramount/CBS, and ABC/Disney. These are but the most egregious instances of craven corporate submission. There are many others, but the following offers a study in contrasts between both submission and resistance, serving as a striking illustration that resistance is not futile.

First, the servile grovelling, via Home Depot:

Ken Langone, co-founder of The Home Depot, says he has “never been more excited about the future of America” than he is under President Donald J. Trump. In an interview on CNBC, Langone praised President Trump’s economic policies, leadership, and return of the American spirit.

Here’s what you missed:

• On optimism: “If I told you how bullish I was, you wouldn’t believe it. I have never been more excited about the future of America than I am right now, right this minute, for a lot of reasons. Number one, like it or not, this guy is getting things done … He’s acting presidential. I’m impressed with the people he’s got around him.”
• On his past reluctance: “I am sold on Trump … I think he’s got a good shot at going down in history as one of our best presidents ever … What I’m seeing happening is absolutely nothing short of a great thing. People are walking with more bounce in their [step] — it’s all around … When you made a mistake, admit it.”
• On tariffs: “Initially, my concern was I don’t like tariffs; I like free trade. However, I think — damn it, give Trump credit. His instincts are good. Some of these things need to be fixed.”
• On the One Big Beautiful Bill: “I was worried about inflation and I was worried about the deficit. I think there’s a lot of merit to the notion that it’s going to trigger such significant economic growth that we might see tax revenues going up through the profitability bracket.”
• On foreign policy: “The world is a mess, but I think it’s coming more in our direction than it was. I think that strike in Iran had significant symbolic meaning for the world that America is here and when our interests are at risk, we’re going to do something about it.”

 

Next is Costco's approach, as reported by Eric Blais:

 The U.S.-based retailer — which, in an irony not to be overlooked, has become one of the most trusted institutions in this country — filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the legality of Trump’s emergency tariffs.

And it didn’t do it with grandstanding or theatrics. Its complaint is calm, methodical, and devastatingly clear: Trump’s tariffs are unlawful, economically reckless, and imposed under emergency powers that courts have already said don’t apply.

Costco is a store I have patronized for a long time; many years ago, my son worked there while a university student, and I was impressed by the way the company treated him and all of its employees.

 Earlier this year, Léger released its annual reputation survey ranking the most admired companies in the country. Costco was the No. 1 most admired retailer in Canada across more than 300 companies in 30 sectors.

Noteworthy as well is the fact that Costco refused to abandon its diversity initiative, remaining steadfast in the face of a Trump administration hostile to anything that doesn't especially and exclusively favour white people.

And rather than simply label some products with a T (to indicated a tariffed item) as many stores did, Costco's approach has been refreshingly defiant.

Costco is ... challenging the government responsible for the tariffs in court. Not as activism, but as brand behaviour. Costco’s identity has always been rooted in stability and fairness. It cannot function in a landscape shaped by improvisational trade policy and “emergency” powers deployed like marketing slogans.

Blais suggests that such behaviour needs to be rewarded.

Corporate behaviour responds to incentives. When a retailer pushes back against political overreach, especially from a president known for punishing dissent, consumers should be willing to say: this matters. We notice when a company defends transparency and predictability. Values that ultimately protect Canadian consumers too.

 In a perfect world, we wouldn’t rely on retailers to steady the geopolitical turbulence swirling around us. But in this moment, Costco has done something rare: it stood up. Calmly. Respectfully. Persuasively.

And Canadians should notice.

Because the marketplace could use more courage.

And Costco, astonishingly, but not surprisingly, just showed us what that looks like.

And to that, I have nothing to add.

On a personal note, I will be taking a break for a few days this holiday season, so I'll use this opportunity to wish all my readers the best of the season, and extend a thank-you for reading my blog. 

UPDATE: For the latest in corporate cowardice, click here to read about the most recent fiasco at CBS, this one a tawdry tale of overt political censorship exercised against 60 Minutes.

 

 

 

This Is What You've Become, America

Initially, I was only going to post the above without any further commentary, since Trump's vile, debased and inexcusable comments speak for themselves. However, I read a piece by Bruce Arthur this morning that offers some pungent observations about the nature of the man who posted them, and what he has unleashed.

... we live in a world dominated to an unreasonable degree by Donald Trump, and the American president’s reaction was vile, even for him.

Trump blamed Reiner for his horrendous, awful death, and in fact painted the murderer as a Trump supporter, because Reiner didn’t like Trump. Like so much of Trump — going way back, decades, in a way that we have both normalized and memory-holed — it’s just sick, wretched, and repellent on a human level. It’s a celestial level of narcissism, and another implicit call to political violence.

And it’s another clarifying moment in our age of moral collapse. The American right — and some Canadians, too — were zealotic after the assassination of Charlie Kirk; hundreds of Americans were fired for their commentary after his death, and both media figures and politicians vowed revenge, and to suppress rights.

It was transparently partisan. More and more, the modern right revels in inhumanity, and the incentive systems have been set up to reward dehumanization in almost every way possible, with AI as gasoline on that fire. As Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told The New Yorker earlier this year, “We thought we were creating a more civilized, more solidarity-based, more humane society. The result is worse. It’s as if there is a lamp, and when you open the lid the evil people come out.” 

Trump is getting worse — one is reminded of the diminished inhibition of some dementia patients as the disease takes hold — but the information system is so thoroughly polluted that it probably sinks beneath the waves. What is clear is Rob Reiner stood for a gentle, honest, and principled version of humanity — when Charlie Kirk died, for instance, he expressed genuine horror and sympathy. In his art, he reflected that humanity. In his life, too.

Trump is like a demon, possessing the soul of America and giving license to its worst parts. And that's all I have to say. 

 

A Very Upsetting And Unsettling Experience

With the news constant about Jeffrey Epstein's files and his many depravities, I decided to brace myself to read the following book:

A very brave book written by the late Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's most prominent and outspoken victims, it is a chronicle of the victimization of a vulnerable teen who grows up to be a resilient and dogged fighter for justice. 

You probably know her as the one who blew the whistle on the former Prince Andrew who, it can be concluded with certainty, sexually abused her three times. In his abject cowardice, he has always denied the claims, despite this picture with Giuffre when she was about 17.

While Andrew consistently denied ever meeting her in a disastrous interview for the BBC, there is no doubt that both the picture (which he claimed was a fake) and Giuffre's assertions were true. Indeed, Andrew ultimately paid her a reported £12 million, strange for a man who claimed to be so grievously wronged.

However, the book goes far beyond the sensational headlines, weaving a narrative revealing Guiffre as a victim of sexual abuse at an early age by both her father and his friend. Virginia was a very damaged girl almost right from the beginning, making her relatively easy prey for the diabolical duo of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was the former's chief procurer and now reposes in an almost-recreational prison. Indeed, Trump has not denied considering her for a pardon. 

Virginia faced many difficulties in her life after Epstein, but she became much more than a victim. She married an Australian and had three children, to whom she was a loving mother. But her determined pursuit of justice, not just for herself but Epstein's many victims, cost her dearly. She had a number of health battles, perhaps the worst being a broken neck from a fall that left her in regular pain. Yet those physical struggles did not stop her.

Heroism is something we often equate with daring feats: people rushing into a burning buildings, pulling people out of crashed cars, putting themselves on the line for a belief, striking in the face of armed goons, standing up to those who would tear us down. Well, in my view, Virginia Guiffre's adult life was one of heroism; she never lost sight of the goal that justice is for all victims, not just the individual. 

That battle, however, which she never flinched from, meant she had to constantly relive the trauma and the degradation of her abuse, often in front of a hostile world and the powerful of that world. But it is not my purpose here to recount those battles, only to acknowledge the courage of a very fallible yet determined woman. And it is for that reason I think this book should be widely read. We can all benefit not just from seeing that heroism, but also examining our own souls and the times we might have thought of women as lesser human beings. 

It is for that reason I think it would be particularly useful for young men and women to read it, even older teens who, in this world of readily accessible pornography, may often see girls as objects solely for their lust and pleasure. Young women could be particularly moved by bearing witness to Virginia's bravery and realize that self-respect is not just a quaint notion but a very realizable objective.

We have all seen the results of the #MeToo movement and the consciousness it has raised. Nobody's Girl is a more than worthy addition to its efforts to change the course of society's relationship with its female members.

This Should Keep Them Out, Eh?

It puzzles me that people still choose to visit the United States. Each day offers a myriad of reasons to avoid that diseased country, and although the number of Canadians going there is significantly down, people still go. Perhaps there are elements of denial about reality in the tourism decisions people make. Perhaps some blithely assume that because they are not (yet) among the targeted victims of an increasing unhinged administration, they are safe. In any event, all should be aware that the number of 'undesirables' is increasing.

Tourists to the United States would have to reveal their social media activity from the last five years, under new Trump administration plans.

The mandatory new disclosures would apply to the 42 countries whose nationals are currently permitted to enter the US without a visa, including longtime US allies Britain, France, Australia, Germany and Japan.

In a notice published on Tuesday, the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) said it would also require any telephone numbers used by visitors over the same period, and any email addresses used in the last decade, as well as face, fingerprint, DNA and iris biometrics. It would also ask for the names, addresses, birthdates and birthplaces of family members, including children.

Maybe it's just me, but I find it abhorrent that the state can invade visitors' privacy to such a degree, the price to be paid for proving you are a 'worthy' visitor. And this has been in the works since Trump was re-elected, when he signed an executive order:

[T]he US president called for restrictions to ensure visitors to the US “do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles”.

The US has already started squeezing foreign tourism in other ways, slapping an additional $100 fee per foreign visitor per day to visit national parks, such as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, on top of the regular admission fees. Nor will national parks have free admission on Martin Luther King Jr Day any longer: they will now only be free to visit on Trump’s birthday.

Now, defenders and supporters of this lunacy, i.e., the MAGATS, would undoubtedly argue that if you have nothing to hide,  what's the problem. Or, of course, they could say if you don't like it, don't visit. Many are, in fact, opting for the latter.

California tourism authorities are predicting a 9% decline in foreign visits to the state this year, while Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles reported a 50% fall in foot traffic over the summer. Las Vegas, too, has been badly hit by a decline in visits, worsened by the rise of mobile gambling apps.

Statistics Canada said Canadian residents who made a return trip to the US by car dropped 36.9% in July 2025 compared with the same month in 2024, while commercial airline travel from Canada dropped by 25.8% in July compared with the previous year, as relations between the two countries plummeted.

Who else is on the proscribed list?

As recently as last week, the administration told consular officials to deny visas to anyone who might have worked in factchecking or content moderation – for example, at a social media company – accusing them in blanket terms of being “responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the US”.

I'll leave the final word with Sarah McLaughlin, a member of the free speech advocacy group Foundation For Individual Right and Expression:

“Those who hope to experience the wonders of the United States – from Yellowstone to Disneyland to Independence Hall – should not have to fear that self-censorship is a condition of entry” ...

 “Requiring temporary visitors here for a vacation or business to surrender five years of their social media to the US will send the message that the American commitment to free speech is pretense, not practice. This is not the behavior of a country confident in its freedoms.”

And as we are seeing, those freedoms are now more of an illusion than a reality. 

 

Good For A Giggle

I have absolutely nothing to add to this, other than to observe that America's debasement continues apace.

‪Republicans Against Trumpism‬

 ‪@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social‬

· 1h

Trump, five days apart. A pathological liar.

Violence In The Classroom

I am a long-retired high school teacher who saw his share of unpleasantness in the classroom, but the events currently transpiring across the country are nothing I ever had to confront.

Recently, The Globe and Mail offered a detailed examination of widespread violence in  schools, and that includes violence perpetrated against both fellow students and teachers. Fortunately, because we are not a culture that worships the gun, as do the denizens of the Benighted States, most of that violence is physical and verbal, although dangerous weapons are not completely unknown.

Because the causes are myriad, there are no simple solutions. Poor parenting, frightened staff members, feckless administrators and large classes with few supports all contribute to the problem, and I shall excerpt just one paragraph from the piece that sheds some light:

The first step in addressing violence in schools is to puncture the culture of silence that surrounds it. Nobody on the ground wants to talk. Teachers are afraid they will be accused of incompetence or of betraying student confidentiality. Principals don’t want to alarm parents or to expose their own weakness as leaders. School boards worry about legal action. Victims fear retribution.

While those were problems even in my day, I can only imagine they have intensified. My retired teacher friends often lament the lack of institutional memory among today's staff, a memory that includes standing up to supine administrators and not being to afraid to make a fuss about problems. There were always firebrands amongs us, but today's staff, I suspect, are taught that having problems reflects badly on them and hence the impulse to let things fester. The norm has changed, and not for the better.

Globe and Mail readers offer some insights well-worth considering:

School of thought

Re “Violence in Canadian schools is reaching a tipping point. What needs to change?” (Opinion, Nov. 29): Schools are becoming more violent. Who is responsible? Well, everyone.

But it does start with parents who fail, often by example, to teach their children values such as empathy, compassion and respect for others. And it ends with parents, too.

As a former school trustee, here’s how I see that working: Teachers are unable to enforce discipline because they cannot rely on principals to back them up; principals in turn cannot count on support from administrators, who in turn cannot count on boards of trustees; elected trustees can be soft on discipline because of ideology or because they are terrified of voters, a great many of whom are parents.

This downward spiral will likely persist until those within the system get a grip and stop letting the buck be passed around. Instead, say “no” and hand it back.

Tom Masters Former Victoria school trustee; North Cowichan, B.C.

 

Before I retired, I taught in a school with a police officer stationed there on a daily basis (a school resource officer). He happened to be Black.

I witnessed the benefits as he broke down preconceived notions about the police, as well as prejudiced views about Black people. The students loved him and would often turn to him with their personal problems; he was like a big brother to them. There was no violence.

I witnessed the same interactions in a school where I did a stint as a supply teacher after retiring. That officer also happened to be Black. In both cases, the benefits were obvious.

I knew it was a big mistake when political groups insisted on terminating the program because of misguided concerns. The presence of these officers served not only to protect, but also offered fine role models for students.

Sheryl Danilowitz Toronto

It is said that the first step in solving a problem is acknowledging its existence. With so much evidence staring us in the face, it is past time to move on to the next step: addressing the violence in all ways possible. 

 

Competition For Word Of The Year

Despite the fact that rage bait has been named the world (phrase?) of the year by the Oxford University Press, I much prefer John Cleese's above word. It definitely is one for the times, eh?

Evil Abounds

 In my long time on this planet, I have borne witness to a lot of evil. However, at least in my memory, the more egregious nefarious acts people perpetrate on their fellow humans used to be somewhat sporadic in nature. In between wars and insurrections, there were troughs of civility. Either that or I am romanticizing a past that never really existed.

Today, thanks to the ubiquitous, near-instant coverage of world events, we have windows on a world that seems increasingly ugly, ungoverned by the rules that used to cast at least a veneer of civilization over our inhumanity. If someone, be they individuals or countries, did something wrong, there was an accounting. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

Take the following, murders openly committed by Israeli border police:

To anyone of normal values and sensibilities, the above depicts outright murder. Yet those possessed of hatred for "the other' see it differently:

The shooting on Thursday evening, which was also witnessed by journalists close to the scene, is under justice ministry review, but has already been defended by Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who declared that “terrorists must die”.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement admitting two men were shot during a joint IDF operation with the Israeli border police around Jenin. It said the shooting “is under review by the commanders on the ground and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies”.

 Even in conflict, the execution of unarmed prisoners is a war crime.

The increasingly toothless UN human rights office offered its condemnation:

“We’re appalled by the brazen killing by Israeli border police yesterday of two Palestinian men in Jenin in the occupied West Bank in yet another apparent summary execution,” said the UN human rights office spokesperson, Jeremy Laurence.

“The execution documented today is the result of an accelerated process of dehumanisation of Palestinians and the complete abandonment of their lives by the Israeli regime,” said Yuli Novak, the executive director of the B’Tselem human rights group. “In Israel, there is no mechanism that acts to stop the killing of Palestinians or is capable of prosecuting those responsible.”

Anyone who regularly follows the actions of Israeli forces knows that the above is not an isolated event but rather part of a much larger pattern of abuse, violence and murder perpetrated against Palestinians. Sadly, however, the Jewish state has no monopoly on that market.

One thinks immediately of the murders perpetrated by the U.S. against alleged drug smugglers.

US strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean have been under way for months, along with a US military buildup in the region, and Trump has authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela.

They have carried out at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September, killing at least 83 people.

The president told military service members this week that the US would “very soon” begin land operations to stop suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers.

Something tells me that the targeting of Venezuela, and the executions of people in boats allegedly ferrying drugs has little to do with interdicting cocaine supplies and more to do with regime change, given that Trump doesn't like President Maduro. And perhaps the even greater evil here is that Congress has surrendered its legislative monopoly on declaring war to their mad king.

Strangely, but not surprisingly, this apparent Trumpian passion against pushers has sharp limits. How else can one explain this?

President Trump announced on Friday afternoon that he would grant “a Full and Complete Pardon” to a former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who, as the center of a sweeping drug case, was found guilty by an American jury last year of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.

The news came as a shock not only to Hondurans, but also to the authorities in the United States who had built a major case and won a conviction against Mr. Hernández. They had accused him of taking bribes during his campaign from Joaquín Guzmán, the notorious former leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico known as “El Chapo,” and of running his Central American country like a narco state.

In the end, Mr. Hernández was sentenced to 45 years in prison in Federal District Court in Manhattan, capping what prosecutors had presented as a sprawling conspiracy.

Mr. Trump’s vow to pardon such a high-profile convicted drug trafficker appeared to contradict the president’s campaign to unleash the might of the American military on small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that his administration says, without evidence, are involved in drug trafficking. 

It seems pointless to try to plumb some logic from this bizarre pardon, yet it is, once again, an example of the disappearance of even a semblance of morality in a world ruled by the morally insane and all who support them.