Said this before here, but as a Canadian I am sickened by Trump and what he is doing to America. We are America's best ally. Read the book "The Good Allies" by Tim Cook for an understanding of the depths of Canadian commitment to America and to North American defence in WW2. I absolutely LOVE my American friends, even the dumb ones. We can't let this deranged man ruin a relationship of global acclaim.
Approximately 50% of Americans do not vote. 53% read at a 6th grade level. Leaving 25% or so of eligible voters that voted for him based off lies and disinformation campaigns. Majority of citizens know he is a dangerous dumdF’ing fascist and love Canada. Donnie’s schtick is to overwhelm with outrageousness. The greater the outrageousness, the more $ and power he is trying to grab behind the scenes, and if exposed, he accuses the other side of the crime/scheme he himself is guilty of. Take a page from Mexico’s President. Stand up to him in the strongest possible language. Stand up to him like Zelensky to Putin. ( it’s an Ultra Nationalism playbook Donnie is following, but he doesn’t have the acumen to follow through with it). Call his bluff.
It is distressing to the majority of Americans that we are putting our neighbors and the world through this BS. Our “time of troubles” is just beginning. I’m so sorry. 😞
Canada's biggest provincial premier (like a governor of the biggest=population state) is already floating ways to penalize the US if Trump makes good on tariff promises on Canadian goods. These would be a violation of the very free trade agreement Trump forced a negotiation on the last time he was in power! I am certain most federal and provincial politicians in Canada will not allow bullying and economic interference to go unanswered. Canada has several levers it can use to pressure the US government to back off and think of the harm it is doing to itself and to Canada. I, personally, think the targets of sanctions/tariffs etc. should be carefully selected to harm Republicans more than Democrats, and above all to Republican politicians, federal and state. This has been done before, since Democrats are typically much more reasonable with regard to Canada.
Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, announced very quickly that Ontario would stop sending hydro-electricity to the northern states where it currently is provided/sold. He has walked those threats back now, because smarter people educated him on the words "national" and "security" as those words pertain to America. i.e. National Security. With capital letters. Because that is how the U.S. views those words when they feel threatened or when they need a convenient reason to pull some shit of one kind or another. And the last thing we, as Canadians, need to do is to give Trump a reason. But we are fighting back already. There is a plan, more are being made, and a tariff war is never won. It merely hurts both sides. And it will hurt America as well. I'd like to hope that we could target idiot Republicans and their backward thinking states, but we all know these things are never that precise. I've said it here, and I've said it over on Heather Cox Richardsons substack, ... we will fight. Economically, culturally, militarily if need be. Can we win? Nope. Can we make a massive mess? Oh yeah, absolutely.
I gotta be Miss Simple message again: I hope that our Canadian and other friends know that it is not a majority of the people in the US who can STAND Donald Thump Dump. Not even a majority of those who voted for him agree with insulting, threatening and belittling our allies. A ratio on each country is ignorantly turning to these ultra radical right wing ideas, mostly out of ignorance of history and a full menu of misinformation and scare tactics.
Fossil-fuel related sanctions are interesting, but if a Conservative government comes to power in Canada -- and that will likely happen by the spring of 2025 -- it will be very much in the pocket of Canada's fossil fuel industries. So unless those industries think sanctions can be effective without damaging their bottom line too much, it might be a stretch.
This is a really interesting topic that is very much up for debate currently here in Canada. A Conservative government in the pocket of the fossil-fuel industries sounds like a pretty standard arrangement, but it may, ironically, not be the case under a Poilievre government. He has taken an opposite approach, possibly just until he gets elected, of "standing with the common man" (even though he is about as far from the common man as Trump) and has been outwardly quite antagonistic toward big business of all types, including gas & oil. Another interesting aspect of all this is that each province has some jurisdiction and control over how they each might wish to respond to Trumpian tariffs. Danielle Smith, for instance (the Premier of Alberta - our most conservative province - think "Wyoming with a string dash of "I wanna be Texas") - she has suggested strengthening the border protections to alleviate Trumps concerns of fentanyl trafficking. Her province ships much of its fossil fuel products (I hesitate to call them "oil" because of the incredible viscosity, it is much more like "tar" (interesting side note: we used to call them the "Tar Sands" but that was hard to sell to environmentalists so back in the late '80's a marketing firm just changed what everyone calls it to the "Oil Sands" - who says marketing doesn't work?) to the U.S. for refining and post-production sales. So she doesn't want to get involved in fighting Trump, and to be clear, her policies would otherwise closely align with his. We have our nutjobs and Grade 6 readers as well.
Maybe Canada could threaten to turn off that "big giant water faucet" that Trump thinks is up there, that feeds water all the way to Southern California! My God, he's an idiot. Sigh...
Raf, I wouldn't even mind if such measures hurt me in Southern California as long as they penalized Trump and his greedy friends. Go for it!! Love Canadians!
We did speak up. We did talk back. And in the end over four million people who voted for Biden in 2020 sat home. Over a million voted third party. Those votes would have gotten Kamala the win. Instead seventy seven million voters chose Trump and elected Democrats are talking bipartisanship! The pain that's coming and that has started will be felt by all.
I agree Elon made a big showy splash at the end, and he looks like he made a difference. But I think the reason there was this improbable stolen election with no protest and no dmoking gun is because of a lot of research and implementation on how to get that done. Just like the judicial system has been taken over from the low level judges first and then came to attention when it was too late, they are a patient and thorough machine with unlimited backing and they applied themselves to our system of elections. From this point of view, Elon was just a welcome diversion while the real work was done elsewhere. Similar to drumpf spouting insanity every day about big-ticket topics while our government offices are being stocked with MAGA drones.
I like to look at numbers in a "glass half full" perspective. Excuse my rounding up, but trump didn't gain many more votes from last election when he lost to Biden's 81M votes. Yet Harris won about 74M votes in spite of rampant sexism and, yes, racism in the US. The pendulum always swings. I believe that the no-show American voters are going to learn over the next four years that oligarchy and authoritarianism is not so great.
Absolutely. I read an indepth report that said it's not that Trump won, it's that Harris lost. The final numbers clearly show Trump didn't gain that much from 2020. It was people, particularly in blue areas, just didn't show up for Harris. Knowing at least 53% of white women voted for Trump really angered me. And the younger ones posting about "Genocide Joe" don't understand Trump doesn't give a flying fuck about Gaza. It's all going to burn down because at the end of the day too many people weren't going to vote for a Black woman.
I am sick of figuring out what to do to or about that creep. We need to focus on how we can improve the message to all those voters who just don't understand fascism and authoritarianism, pure and simple, and now oligarchs and ultra-wealthy controlling all information. We have GOT to simplify the message.
Please help me in NC! I Canvassed like crazy in NC from July 22 to Nov 3rd. On November 6 I could not put two sentences together so devastated was I and my soul. However I did feel great about the work we did to elect Governor Josh Stein; Rachel Hunt Lieutenant Governor and Jeff Jackson Attorney General- also Mo Green for Superintendent of Schools. We also won a seat on the North Carolina Judiciary with Justice Allison Riggs. Allison won by 734 votes over Judge Jefferson Griffin (Republican). Of course Griffin is challenging the slim margin. We raised money to do two state wide recounts- 5.5 million votes each time Allison gained a dozen more votes. Then Griffin sued and we the NC Dems sued. We have 1 Dem on the North Carolina Supreme Court —Justice Anita Earls. This would be a generational change to have 2 DEMs and it is why the Republicans have not conceded and now want to toss out 60,000 votes (largely Black Votes) as those votes “might” not be qualified under the HAVA Act Griffin believes. I am pissed and want to bring a voice to our fight mainly because if they can do it in NC they will try it somewhere else. Griffin wants to overturn the win by Allison Riggs! We can’t let that happen. Like and share widely please! Thank you! https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/08/north-carolina-supreme-court-blocks-certification-allison-riggs
I think the message was simple. This is what we're fighting: The white Christian nationalists believe Trump is their savior. They are militantly anti abortion and anti LGBTQ. They are triggered by woke wars. The billionaires and ultra wealthy only care about themselves and want more wealth with tax cuts. They are also vehemently against regulation. A large group of "Arabs for Trump" bought into Trump lies about ending the war. Alot of insecure young men bought the whole bro culture vomited out by Joe Rogan types. FOX News is Russian state television and lies 24/7. Finally racism and xenophobia are alive and well whipped up by a movement that celebrates cruelty. And it doesn't help that legacy media has been in the bag for Trump for years. You could have used small words, held their hand and laid it out. It would not have mattered.
Maybe they'll start to understand when they don't get the massive tax cuts and they find they're without healthcare, rural hospitals, social security, Medicaid, OSHA regs, clean air & water, climate mitigation. All the things red states need. But they'll love trump leaving NATO because of Greenland. Just wait. His voters are the ones who'll suffer more than any others.
And there you have it. I can't tell you how sick I am of the finger pointing by Democrats: Harris didn't reach out enough, they should have done this, they should have done that. No. The number one reason for trump's win is Fox (UAN,NewsMax,etc) and their blatant lies insinuating themselves into American homes and minds.
I know I am not supposed to feel happy about this but actor, James Woods, lost his home in the fire. May I not be struck by lightning because I just want MAGA to hurt somehow. Does this make me an awful person?
No, it does not. Anger is a natural reaction to the kind of bitter frustration, and helplessness, so many millions of people are feeling right now. It's not the feeling that is not good. It's what we do with the feeling.
Ted: absolutely correct and beautifully stated. Spared me from saying as much, and not as well.
Overwhelm with outrageousness. That should be the name of this movie, or perhaps the Broadway comedy revue if it goes the comedy route. It's the cornerstone of the whole act; drumpf may be in charge of the absurd day-to-day details, but he marches within a framework that's in the hands of vicious power hungry semi-humans that know what they're doing. Do they ever. Drumpf is an excellent frontman because every day he says something or other that panics the Dems. All according to plan.
I posted this in the comments section of another Substack earlier today. Forgive the f bombs in advance as this has been very frustrating and 2 months plus after the election I'm still processing the fact that this felon POS will be president again, this time with immunity thanks to SCOTUS:
To me, it seems like trump is doing what he does in debates: Gish Gallop. He just constantly throws so much bullshit against the wall, some sticks and some doesn't. He absolutely knows it is impossible for all of his nightmarish plans to be addressed or covered if he does this.
So, is it an intentional distraction to say this shit about Canada, the Panama Canal, and Greenland? Unknown, but we ARE talking about this and most media is covering this. Know what's not being discussed and covered in the meantime? His fucking incompetent nominations to head departments and agencies. He is a master at manipulating media, so IMO, this is not by accident. What is the real threat? That he refuses to rule out military force against these countries as is being covered in MSM or that we have Hegseth, Patel, Gabbard, and the whole slew of fucktards being nominated and those confirmation hearings will be starting soon?
Sure, D leaders can make comments, but to assume that it means they are caving in because they aren't responding to all of his bluster is not necessarily true. If he wants to take military action against any or all of these ALLIES, wouldn't he need congressional approval? If so, we'd have to hold out hope that there are a few sane R members of Congress who haven't guzzled the complete insanity laden potion of MAGA nonsense and will push back or conveniently be absent and thus making it moot.
Admittedly, maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part.
You ask: "What is the real threat? The answer for me changes from day to day. Today's answer is the disintegration of our national security. I fear that what may happen would put trump sharing top secret documents with foreign leaders and guests at Mar-a-Lago look safe....
Thank you, Sophia, and I agree. We've actually already seen and heard him do exactly what you describe. I meant it as more of a rhetorical question in the context of what I was saying: he's got everyone talking about nonsense while the real issues of importance are being ignored. Limited attention spans apply to everyone - and that includes media. That they, media, are driven purely by profit means they push click bait rather than actually what needs to be discussed. And yes, it will change from day to day as you suggest, but that's not by accident.
After nearly 10 years, the media fails miserably at covering what matters about this con man and felon as he has effectively controlled the media's messaging on him. He says outrageous things that he knows will become the main thing covered. It satisfies his "all about me" mentality while also directing our attention exactly where he wants. During the campaign, what got covered the most, his completely insane approach to child care, health care, and the coming destruction of democracy or that "they're eating the dogs". That's rhetorical also as we all know that the eating the dogs weas covered for weeks while real issues were not discussed. Who did that benefit? Certainly not the person, Harris, who actually had at least some policy details rather than concepts. He's doing the same thing now IMO.
Completely agree. I've just aired out similar thoughts, somewhere in Substackland. Constant misdirection, and it is tiring. To borrow a phrase from a post I responded to, their strategy is: overwhelm with outrageousness. But like hou say, you can never be sure which bits deserve attention.
Yep...he yo-yos us with sensational diatribes which intend to keep our attention from serious stuff he doesn't want in the public attention. This whole hoo-ha about Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal is to take the pubic attention - and outrage - off his unspeakable cabinet choices.
I once had the displeasure of working for Terrible Hollywood Person Jon Peters, who was known to be Actually Illiterate. His assistants had to read screenplays to him. Ability to read has nothing to do with the ability of scum like Senator Skeletor to rise to the top of the pond scum.
Yeah, I know he had an important job screwing people over on their health insurance claims. He made a lot of money. But what was he guilty of crime wise? Or was that settled out of court? Anyways, just saw him in an interview and he appeared genuinely stupid to me.
It is important to accept that Americans do have different conversational capacities in terms of education and learning skills and tools.
It is important to note, also, that the general, comparative level of educational and general learning capacities, tool-sets, and shared ideas were not so different when the Constitution was constituted. But, clearly, there was a qualitative difference that needs to be understood and made sense of.
Is it education or is it will to learn to learn and to learn lessons from one's own choices and from evidence of experience that is now a significant qualitative difference? In re my question then, is the task, or set of tasks now in need of doing and doing in the most pragmatic and democratic, public manner the tasks of discussing among ourselves
finding areas of agreement for social purposes, social objectives and formal self-governance that effectively brings us together, again, by our own choices and in recognition of the fact that our basic personal needs and interests are better satisfied in finding such agreements, as well as for managing our disagreements and our grave and potentially confrontational views?
Almost 55 years of public interest activism reminded me that, in spite of or in the presence of any problem of understanding one another, it is not generally education but personal and civic commitment to social process, honest dialogue, and a respect for rule of law that have made the qualitative differences in outcomes.
My remarks aren't intended as philosophy and are not intended to be negative in re differences in conversational understanding and communication. Commitment, honesty, and mutual respect have counted, in the end, for any and all mutual social benefit and in reaffirming and extending the voluntary reach of active support of rule of law governance.
Correct me if I misunderstand. Please.
Of course, these problems are real and very serious.
I’ll settle for a candidate being demonstrative good person of which there are fewer and fewer Republicans. Combine with basic intelligence, and well I don’t see any left.
I am truly terrified of what's to come. The only thing that makes me feel any hope is to focus on the midterms and do everything in my power to urge everyone in my community to vote....
Remember--no one is alone to deal with all of these things. There are legions of us who will stand together to block whatever evil comes our way. Not much else is more important. After all, few of us are called upon to defend our country against "enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC", except in wartime. Now is our chance, and our duty.
Sophia, it will awful and ugly. We must steel ourselves against the further PTSD we will suffer under this regime. Do Not Obey In Advance should be on “repeat” in our minds.
I feel that Trump's agenda is to distract people from the fact that he said he could "fix the economy on day one" and he knows damned well he can't! While I take his threats seriously, it's his M.O. to take the focus off of what really matters to us: the economy, food prices housing costs and everything else he promised to "fix". He's not only an embarrassment to our country, he's a clear and present danger to us, and the world.
OR as a nurse at the walk in said this morning - if we all had just laughed at him from the beginning? Possibly he would have had a tantrum and disappeared!
Really - at first who among us thought this sleazy corrupt conman would get to where he is right now? Ridiculous, right?
Expose Trump et al's weak and dangerous arguments, evidence, and purposes [compared to reasonable to expect outcomes]. This takes lots of us making very sound arguments, with very reasoned and factual alternative, doable approaches to realizing shared national interests.
Trump is saying, in effect, that
we have a Constitution and constitutional governance, but we don't need it;
we have strategic alliances and we have international agreements, but we don't need them;
we have very plural and experienced-based subjective beliefs and points of view, but we don't need the many when his are what he intends to pursue;
and so on with his self-interested nationalism and other isms as his preferable tools for all Americans to be given benefit from.
That we share living as Americans with, approximately, as you note, with the voters and non-voters, with extremes in levels of and respect for education, and with widespread and growing acceptance of poor information of many categories, is the place to begin developing improved track record of public discussion and public involvement, together.
Take the desirable along with the not-so-desirable.
It is useful in so far as it enables a set of views that sometimes amount to alternative views useful for forming parallax vision.
I must add, in order to respect Ms Vance's genuine concern, that Trump's publishing publicly the 'map' of North America as he would have it be is a very dangerous and significant choice and action. This is so for Trump but not only for Trump alone. This is nasty protected expression. It needs an immediate and resounding outcry from any and from us all, and we also need to send our elected representatives and others in our government that this 'proposal', this disposition is not shared and will not fly in this America.
Trump is not speaking for America, but for himself as a person alone. Who knows why he is saber-rattling? We need to take that sort of saber away from him. The US Congress needs to realize that; probably some of them are forming resolutions to deliver to express not only disapproval but disgust and the capacity to effectively oppose Trump from misusing his office, once he is inaugurated and has sworn himself to uphold the Constitution, for this sort of aggression. Internationally illegal aggression.
If Congress doesn't, I am opposed and I will make the effort to block his effort.
I gather the Mexican President just "trolled" Trump. She said the US should be called Mexico America by pointing to a 1607 map that shows the US named that. She's got backbone and a sense of irony.
I work retail and I have never forgotten the day I was complaining to my manager about people not bothering to read and he told me that a lot of people can't! I was and still am gobsmacked by this fact.
Let's turn off the MSM whenever they report on him, quote him, live cover his speeches. I already do this. I don't care what he and his minions say. They lie.
Trump won by appealing to the 50-53% you mention. .. the low info voters that usually don’t vote. He shot himself in the foot n 2000 by suppressing his own vote (insisting that only in person voting was legit). This time, S Wiles ignored him and encouraged all voting channels. Must the bought bullet ballots in the swing states.
Maybe we need to encourage him to return to voter suppression.
Well stated, Ted. As an erstwhile Republican and a conservative by temperament (if no longer by public proclamation), I could not agree with you more. I am still broken-hearted with the defeat of Vice President Harris and Governor Gipper.
Did you vote? Did you work on your candidate’s election campaign? Are you continuing to work w your constituency to educate your voting block(s).? In your House of Reps, on your local School Board, your governing bodies in your town?
It’s so easy to point fingers, but much more fulfilling to stay committed to the responsibility of showing up and bringing your views, your opinions to your elected city, county, state representatives.
We are joining Winnipeg friends next month on a cruise. I am embarrassed by his words of violence and take-overs snd that 49% of America voted for him after the fiest disastrous term!
Friendly correction: 49% of VOTERS. Given that only 64% of eligible citizens bothered to vote, he can hardly claim a mandate to do all these things he's doing. That senators aren't willing to do their due diligence and ensure that the people running our most critical agencies are actually qualified is making all this so much worse.
This is an issue - those who don’t care enough to vote will be surprised when 47, like the spoiled toddler he is, breaks everything in our country that “We the People” have taken for granted.🤬
Please give sincere apologies to your Canadian friends from 75million decent Americans. Many, many decent Americans are ashamed of our President-Elect’s behavior and will #resist mightily.
It sickens me too, that he is bullying our friends. No one signed off on this not even the dolts who voted for him. He did not campaign on overtaking Greenland and Canada. The Panama Canal was nowhere in any Republican platform.I am beyond outraged that this small man is doing these things even before he has been inaugurated. I am calling my reps to express my outrage and others should too.
Over fifty years ago, my mother said that she felt that Canada was a more civilized version of the United States. Living in Australia almost sixty years ago, my father stated to another U.S. engineer that he loved Australia because, "Australia is everything the United States is without the burden of arrogance." Both must be writhing in their graves. 🤢
My frame of reference to Canada is quite positive. ✌🏽
Learning about the underground railroad that eventually produced great Afro-Canadian baseball pitcher, Ferguson Jenkins. 🥎
From Canada's sacrifice, in relative terms, being significantly higher (perhaps by as much as 60%) than the casualty rate suffered by the United States in defeating fascism and upwards of twice the casualty rate on D-Day (i.e., 7% of the troops landed and 15% of the casualties being Canadian). 🙏
Other sports heroes growing up including Gordie Howe, Tim Horton, or Jean Pronovost (not a hall-of-famer but a very gentlemanly acquaintance of my parents as a member my home-town PGH Penguins). 🏒
From cher Canada's giving sanctuary to young men fleeing the draft during a wretched, immoral war in Viêt Nam. 😇
From the Canadian Embassy in Teheran taking a possibly existential risk by pulling off the 'Canadian Caper' that freed six U.S. diplomats in January of 1980 during the hostage taking at the U.S. Embassy; hard bitten, dissipated college senior as I was, that maneuver brought tears of joy and gratitude to my eyes. 🥳
From Canadians' sacrifices in Kandahar in Afghanistan with no atrocities reported; Canada suffering the third highest number of soldiers killed in action during Operation Enduring Freedom. 🙏
From Canada's magnificent beauty, relatively modest culture, fine education system, universal health-care, and unspoken superpower in clean fresh-water supplies; 96% of the amount of water as the U.S. with one-tenth the population. ❤️
Yes, there is a whole lot we U.S. Americans -- better termed estadounidenses per the term employed by other Americans to the South of the United States -- have to be thankful for, and learn from, le Canada magnifique. ❤️🤝⚖️
Trump can go to HELL; go directly to HELL; not pass GO; not collect two hundred dollars. 👎
There will be a military coup before Baron von Blimpoman careens off of the Great Lakes or drumpfs any other ally like Denmark or neutral like Panama. No tanks rolling up to the portico of the White House but in senior military officers -- taking their oaths to the Constitution seriously -- belaying orders from a venal, small-minded, self-centered authoritarian. 🫣
That will lead to a crisis, possibly with Trump's removal as per the twenty-fifth Amendment and the accession of then Vice President Vance to the soiled presidency. Let us hope Senator Vance has played along to get along. Let us hope his highly flaunted conversion to the R.C.s, together with, fingers-crossed, the inner refinement of character of his refined wife will rub off on him enough to end this descent into egoistic, narcissistic madness. 💔
If Senator Vance remains true to his current, hopefully apparent, form, say hello to civil conflict in the United States. Frankly, the incoming Vice President makes me feel like what Alcibiades, Aaron Burr, or Napoleon would have been like: superior minds, inferior characters. 🤢
Right now Trump is like a suicide bomber. It is like he is trying to blow up the world, and if we don't capitulate endlessly to his bullying he is willing to go along with the destruction of the planet which he seems determined to do. It is so extreme and sickening, but I am thinking of all the people in WWII who watched the Nazis march into their country and destroy their lives, at least those who did not capitulate. All of them should have stood up much earlier. Right now is a defining moment for us, and we all need to be writing our politicians be they red or blue and saying, No way! This is not who we are and Trump is not even president. By saying this, Biden should be having him imprisoned for Treason right now! But, Biden is clearly done with taking on Trump. The only thing Biden could do to save us is to declare war on Russia and declare a national emergency, and stay Trump coming to office. Instead, Trump has tanked Canada's prime minister, and one by one he is ticking off the opposition to Putin and picking mostly on small countries to do so. This is from the Hitler playbook, only this time Americans who do not stand up to Trump get to be the Nazis!
Thank you, Dennis. I live just south of Vancouver. We are so very grateful for our Canadian neighbors, and hope that what trump is saying is just typical of his BS cannon of distractions. He & his oligarchs have their agendas, though, and I wouldn't trust them.
Even I, with my limited knowledge, know how much Canada means -- or should mean -- to those of us in the United States who care enough to observe what is happening. One of the two biggest mistakes I ever made was not pursuing a Ph.D. -- I was lazy -- in Canada. 🤝
Dennis, I have a long essay highlighting the many praises for your country that I hold in my heart. Do not worry, if Trump is serious, there will be a military coup or civil war before troops cross the border. In any case, this is Baron von Blimpoman's transparent negotiating strategy: ask for the moon and settle for what you want. It will not work. ✍️
Many millions of us in the States are sickened as well and apologize for how bad the results of the last election were. I hope to high heaven that some of the Rs in Congress will find their spines and their consciences, acknowledge (if only to themselves) that they have unleashed Frankenstein's monster, and will do what they can to mitigate the damages. Of course I won't be holding my breath.
We live in a 55+ resort community in AZ and have so many Canadians as friends and neighbors; we’ve been to CA twice but “only” to Vancouver Island. Any issues you have with your politicians pales in comparison to the orange menace.. he’s dangerous and embarrassing, at the least . I will look up Tim Cook’s book.
My maternal side of the family go back many generations (early 1700’s) in New Brunswick; I am proud of my Canadian (& Scottish) heritage and have spent a lot of time in Canada. I am disgusted that so many of our voters didn’t vote, that way too many of those who did vote are MAGA supporters of this incompetent, destructive, immoral man. Not content with trying to destroy the US, he is now threatening our closest loyal northern neighbor.💔
I hope that Canada takes a firm stand against this unhinged bully - it’s the only way to deal with him.
Just got back from a couple months in Quebec so I wouldn't be here for election day, and I'm headed back there so I'm not here for inauguration. I apologized to every Canadian I could find to listen, and I'll apologize to you, too. I AM SO SORRY. I have a few ideas but I really don't know how 76 million of us got so stupid and greedy. This deranged man has attracted scores and scores of similarly deranged, selfish, greedy people who will bring us to our knees. I'm just so sorry.
Casually stating that you will ruin an economy that supports 40 million Canadians is not funny - certainly not to those of us to live in
Canada. Canadians have fought in every war alongside the US, supported the US after 9/11, and been there in solidarity with our neighbours. I am a dual citizen, living in Canada, ashamed to see what is happening. The word nice gets used to describe Canadians, and that word gets a bad rap - being nice doesn’t mean you are a doormat.
Sane Americans AGREE!!! I'm a Mainer and we have a huge reciprocal relationship with Quebec and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We Mainers LOVE our Canadian neighbors!
I grew up in Montreal and our family took camping trips to all the New England states when I was a kid. In my 23 years living in the US never once was I greeted with anything but acceptance, so I have no quarrel with the vast majority of Americans.
A subtantial most of us in the U.S. understand this and feel reciprocal. The p-elect speaks for some of us, perhaps, on this. He certainly didn't mention any of this during the campaign that I know of.
I agree with you, Kim. He didn't make these delusional land-grabs a campaign issue. He was just a con artist trying to stay out of prison. In order to get enough voters beyond his base to accomplish that, he learned from watching Kamala Harris that he needed to promise voters lower rent and lower grocery prices. So he did and those economy voters were really needing help and voted him into office believing him. So now, we have an individual who holds the levers of power and he is now all about embellishing his "brand" - whatever it takes. He only will have until Nov 2026 because he's highly likely, after these land-grab threats to lose his economy-voters by then. Hopefully, Dems can impeach him in the House and maybe convict him in the Senate, then he can stand trial for the rest of remaining years of his life.
Here is a video that has been circulating on social media of MP Elizabeth May smacking down Trump on his lack of knowledge on how government in Canada works, and inviting California, Washington and Oregon to become a new Canadian province. I know Canada has its own set of problems, but this is pretty good. Cascadia anyone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAyG0HmATc
Loved this video. As for not having anything the US needs, something like 43 million barrels of oil and hydro electricity that keeps the lights on in many US states is hardly nothing. He’s an ignorant bully.
I am in the Northwest Los Angeles area (Chatsworth) and the winds have been pretty fierce the past couple of days. Shout out to our fire fighting force and a shout down to ass-hole Trump blaming the California governor for the weather event. No other way to say it…Trump is so full of 💩; it’s indefensible.
My son & his family [wife & 2 small kids] are in Glendale. They smell smoke but haven't been ordered to evacuate [yet]. As an ex-resident of Santa Monica, my heart goes out to all of you.
Hi Mauimom, Glendale issued an evacuation order for Chevy Chase canyon. Hopefully it is just a precaution. Winds are supposed to die down a bit later today. 🤞🤞🤞
That is true Bryan. This event is a super charged Santa Ana wind event, not one that we normally experience. Usual wind direction for this is out of the North Northeast so if you are south of the fire, you need to stay alert.
I have a friend living up near Big Bear - so far shes only had to deal with smoke from a couple of the fires. It is scary - shes arthritic and has to use a walker - lives out in the country. Worrisome.
I was of draft age throughout the Vietnam war, so I was well aware of the history of southeast Asia in general, Vietnam in particular and our Country's policy regarding Vietnam. The U.S. never proposed to take over Vietnam (i.e., incorporate it as part of the U.S.). Trump is threatening to incorporate Canada and Greenland as part of the U.S.
But Canada is largely people who look like us! White people! People we can't call racist names and pretend they're not fully human so we can bomb them into oblivion!
If you know U.S. history, you'd realize that the U.S. has not only threatened to invade and/or take over other countries, "we" have actually done it. Many times. True, some of the invasions were during World War II (and were responses to Nazi aggression), and others go back to the early 19th century, but Iraq and Afghanistan were in this century, and Vietnam and Indochina more generally were in my lifetime.
The U.S. has never taken over another country - taken control and incorporated the country into the U.S. The closest we have come to that was our invasion of Puerto Ricco during the Spanish-American War in 1893. We pulled Puerto Rico away from Spain but did not incorporate it as a state of the United States. To this day Puerto Rico is self-governing as an unincorporated territory of the U.S.
Hawaii's history is much like Puerto Rico's except that it ultimately became a state. Google "history of Hawaii" to get the full background. A short summary is:
1) 1893; wealthy sugar cane planters staged a coup, overthrew the monarchy and established a provisional government. Then President Grover Cleveland’s condemned the coup and stated support for the queen.
The provisional government refused to step down and established the Republic of Hawaii.
2) The Republic of Hawaii pushed for the US to annex Hawaii. In 1900 US Congress did annex Hawaii but as a self-governing territory.
3)Between 1919 and 1947 the Republic of Hawaii proposed multiple times that the US make Hawaii a state. By 1940, two of every three voters in Hawaii supported statehood. Bills to make Hawaii a state failed in Congress in 1947, 1950, 1951 and 1953.
3) In 1959 a law was passed and signed by President Eisenhower making Hawaii a state. Hawaii voters ratified statehood by an overwhelming margin of 17 to 1.
For decades the US government was reluctant to make Hawaii a state. From 1940 to 1959 a significant majority of Hawaiian voters wanted Hawaii to become a state. Clearly, the US did not take over Hawaii and make it a state in any sense that Trump is proposing to take over and incorporate Canada and Greenland against the will of those governments.
So basically the robber barons were enabled by no action.. good long game plan for the imperialists.. sounds kinda like a semi transparent take over to me
The ultimate annexation of Texas by the U.S. had similarities to Hawaii. Settlers from the U.S. set up an independent provisional government and then appealed over decades to US presidents and Congress to annex Texas. Presidential candidates and members of Congress had opposing views about annexing Texas because it was a slave state. It didn't happen for decades and the process was much different than Trump's threats to take over Canada and Greenland.
No U.S. President should ever propose using force (military or financial) to threaten the sovereignty of another nation.
I am another Canadian sickened and angered by this continual outrageous trolling. We are your best friends. We have been there for you time after time. As our outgoing Prime Minister said yesterday, "There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada will become part of the United States." We have our own authoritarian traitors and quislings to deal with, in particular Pierre Poilievre and the Conservates who are yowling for an election. No. It's not funny. No fucking way.
He knows waffling publicly on that would lose a lot of votes, so of course he has to say no to American annexation. But he'll sell us out for sure one way or another if he gets in. Anyone but Conservatives!
I am reminded of Randy Newman’s old song, POLITICAL SCIENCE: “…boom goes London, boom, Paree…more room for you and more room for me…. They all hate us anyhow, let’s drop the big one now….” Lo, satire has become reality. TRUMP MUST BE STOPPED.
Yes, it has. And it is causing me to weep. muskrat's tunnel, already in existence but about which I'd heard absolutely NOTHING until now, is the beginning of the hell our nation is turning into.
My real concern is that this is not Trump talking but the cadre behind him who will do him in as soon as he's inaugurated. Then we are in real trouble.
It's hard not to think that a lot of what he says is just misdirection or bluster to hide the real action or purpose. Thank goodness for Joyce Vance and others who see the game within the game. I wish we had more of them. If you don't want to be fooled it is important to understand the con and not just report the performative setup.
I agree. He loves to spew bluster and then do nothing but hit the golf course. I think we have to be careful to watch what he says but, more carefully, what he does.
I agree. I think this is actually coming from Russia with Musk and his pals pushing it. I'm convinced Putin desperately needs and wants unimpeded access to maritime shipping routes for his oil and gas. China may be pushing this as well. That means the Panama Canal, or more directly one of the channels through or over the Arctic. That's the more direct route for Russia. Which means control of Greenland and a friendly government in Canada.
Trump 2.0 is Chaos on steroids. He is emboldened by his re-election and working to surround himself with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse to wreak havoc. It's hard to take your eyes away from the impending distruction.
About the fires in California - first, thanks to our neighbors to the North. And if this had to happen, better under Biden than Trump - since CA voted Blue, he might not have sent any federal aid. He discussed that in the last term.
I was thinking about that too. Unfortunately there will be a next time, and then what? I've gone through these crises for years but always thought at least FEMA would be there for us. No longer. Maybe we should secede after all. (I don't actually think it's a good idea but I'm willing to re-examine my feelings about it.)
the “trump” touch is already on it. I saw that he is blaming Newsom for this - nothing about the tragedy that tens of thousands are experiencing right now. it is going to be a long 4 years
As a dual national here, my family in Canada have some suggestions for Trump - many not printable! One of my nephews suggested that they would be happy to take the USA as the 11th province. The country would be called the United Provinces of Canada. Everyone would have universal healthcare but they would have to learn the metric system! He suggested maybe Mexico could have Texas though! And the electoral college would be gone!
And to think over 70 mil Americans voted for this demented craven lunatic!
"we have learned that we cannot live alone at peace, that our own well-being is dependent on the well being of other nations far away," he declares, "We have learned to be citizens of the world. We have learned...The only way to have a friend is to be one." - FDR January 20, 1945
The trauma of Trumpism. How true. How debilitating--and it must be fought. We are in a strange world where a man not yet sworn in a President can create a new upheaval by ranting about annexing Greenland. Good grief---what is happening to world powers........
Gawd so sick of this mendacious, traitorous, rapacious, felonious vulgarian. At the present — and as usual — he is sucking all the air out of the room, and at a time when our focus should be on one of the most honorable men to ever hold the office as President as he lies in repose in the Capital. Rest in peace, Jimmy Carter.
Trump is using the Canada and Panama rhetoric as a way to bust up NATO. His threats or action could trigger NATO members obligation to protect the country that is attacked; what would the members do, attack the US? More likely it would cause NATO to break-up.
Remember what we did for the city of Halifax after the explosion during WWII and what Canada did for us after 9/11. These are but two examples of what being a good neighbor means.
Said this before here, but as a Canadian I am sickened by Trump and what he is doing to America. We are America's best ally. Read the book "The Good Allies" by Tim Cook for an understanding of the depths of Canadian commitment to America and to North American defence in WW2. I absolutely LOVE my American friends, even the dumb ones. We can't let this deranged man ruin a relationship of global acclaim.
Approximately 50% of Americans do not vote. 53% read at a 6th grade level. Leaving 25% or so of eligible voters that voted for him based off lies and disinformation campaigns. Majority of citizens know he is a dangerous dumdF’ing fascist and love Canada. Donnie’s schtick is to overwhelm with outrageousness. The greater the outrageousness, the more $ and power he is trying to grab behind the scenes, and if exposed, he accuses the other side of the crime/scheme he himself is guilty of. Take a page from Mexico’s President. Stand up to him in the strongest possible language. Stand up to him like Zelensky to Putin. ( it’s an Ultra Nationalism playbook Donnie is following, but he doesn’t have the acumen to follow through with it). Call his bluff.
It is distressing to the majority of Americans that we are putting our neighbors and the world through this BS. Our “time of troubles” is just beginning. I’m so sorry. 😞
Call his bluff. Talk back. Speak out and speak up! That’s what you do with bullies. CAUSE THEM PAIN. That is what they understand..
Canada's biggest provincial premier (like a governor of the biggest=population state) is already floating ways to penalize the US if Trump makes good on tariff promises on Canadian goods. These would be a violation of the very free trade agreement Trump forced a negotiation on the last time he was in power! I am certain most federal and provincial politicians in Canada will not allow bullying and economic interference to go unanswered. Canada has several levers it can use to pressure the US government to back off and think of the harm it is doing to itself and to Canada. I, personally, think the targets of sanctions/tariffs etc. should be carefully selected to harm Republicans more than Democrats, and above all to Republican politicians, federal and state. This has been done before, since Democrats are typically much more reasonable with regard to Canada.
Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, announced very quickly that Ontario would stop sending hydro-electricity to the northern states where it currently is provided/sold. He has walked those threats back now, because smarter people educated him on the words "national" and "security" as those words pertain to America. i.e. National Security. With capital letters. Because that is how the U.S. views those words when they feel threatened or when they need a convenient reason to pull some shit of one kind or another. And the last thing we, as Canadians, need to do is to give Trump a reason. But we are fighting back already. There is a plan, more are being made, and a tariff war is never won. It merely hurts both sides. And it will hurt America as well. I'd like to hope that we could target idiot Republicans and their backward thinking states, but we all know these things are never that precise. I've said it here, and I've said it over on Heather Cox Richardsons substack, ... we will fight. Economically, culturally, militarily if need be. Can we win? Nope. Can we make a massive mess? Oh yeah, absolutely.
I gotta be Miss Simple message again: I hope that our Canadian and other friends know that it is not a majority of the people in the US who can STAND Donald Thump Dump. Not even a majority of those who voted for him agree with insulting, threatening and belittling our allies. A ratio on each country is ignorantly turning to these ultra radical right wing ideas, mostly out of ignorance of history and a full menu of misinformation and scare tactics.
Cut off our gas. A majority of the gas in American cars comes from Canada. Give all the Millenial Morons who voted for him a taste of 1973.
Yes. If Trump does everything he said he will do, maybe there will finally be some voter remorse.
If Trump does half of what he said he will, there won't be a democracy left when the sheep awaken. Read Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.
Fossil-fuel related sanctions are interesting, but if a Conservative government comes to power in Canada -- and that will likely happen by the spring of 2025 -- it will be very much in the pocket of Canada's fossil fuel industries. So unless those industries think sanctions can be effective without damaging their bottom line too much, it might be a stretch.
This is a really interesting topic that is very much up for debate currently here in Canada. A Conservative government in the pocket of the fossil-fuel industries sounds like a pretty standard arrangement, but it may, ironically, not be the case under a Poilievre government. He has taken an opposite approach, possibly just until he gets elected, of "standing with the common man" (even though he is about as far from the common man as Trump) and has been outwardly quite antagonistic toward big business of all types, including gas & oil. Another interesting aspect of all this is that each province has some jurisdiction and control over how they each might wish to respond to Trumpian tariffs. Danielle Smith, for instance (the Premier of Alberta - our most conservative province - think "Wyoming with a string dash of "I wanna be Texas") - she has suggested strengthening the border protections to alleviate Trumps concerns of fentanyl trafficking. Her province ships much of its fossil fuel products (I hesitate to call them "oil" because of the incredible viscosity, it is much more like "tar" (interesting side note: we used to call them the "Tar Sands" but that was hard to sell to environmentalists so back in the late '80's a marketing firm just changed what everyone calls it to the "Oil Sands" - who says marketing doesn't work?) to the U.S. for refining and post-production sales. So she doesn't want to get involved in fighting Trump, and to be clear, her policies would otherwise closely align with his. We have our nutjobs and Grade 6 readers as well.
Maybe Canada could threaten to turn off that "big giant water faucet" that Trump thinks is up there, that feeds water all the way to Southern California! My God, he's an idiot. Sigh...
Raf, I wouldn't even mind if such measures hurt me in Southern California as long as they penalized Trump and his greedy friends. Go for it!! Love Canadians!
We did speak up. We did talk back. And in the end over four million people who voted for Biden in 2020 sat home. Over a million voted third party. Those votes would have gotten Kamala the win. Instead seventy seven million voters chose Trump and elected Democrats are talking bipartisanship! The pain that's coming and that has started will be felt by all.
Somebody spent a lot of time and money to implement this outcome and it looks like they're going to get their money's worth.
Elon's money bought him the presidency.
I agree Elon made a big showy splash at the end, and he looks like he made a difference. But I think the reason there was this improbable stolen election with no protest and no dmoking gun is because of a lot of research and implementation on how to get that done. Just like the judicial system has been taken over from the low level judges first and then came to attention when it was too late, they are a patient and thorough machine with unlimited backing and they applied themselves to our system of elections. From this point of view, Elon was just a welcome diversion while the real work was done elsewhere. Similar to drumpf spouting insanity every day about big-ticket topics while our government offices are being stocked with MAGA drones.
Along with China & Russia.
I like to look at numbers in a "glass half full" perspective. Excuse my rounding up, but trump didn't gain many more votes from last election when he lost to Biden's 81M votes. Yet Harris won about 74M votes in spite of rampant sexism and, yes, racism in the US. The pendulum always swings. I believe that the no-show American voters are going to learn over the next four years that oligarchy and authoritarianism is not so great.
Absolutely. I read an indepth report that said it's not that Trump won, it's that Harris lost. The final numbers clearly show Trump didn't gain that much from 2020. It was people, particularly in blue areas, just didn't show up for Harris. Knowing at least 53% of white women voted for Trump really angered me. And the younger ones posting about "Genocide Joe" don't understand Trump doesn't give a flying fuck about Gaza. It's all going to burn down because at the end of the day too many people weren't going to vote for a Black woman.
I am sick of figuring out what to do to or about that creep. We need to focus on how we can improve the message to all those voters who just don't understand fascism and authoritarianism, pure and simple, and now oligarchs and ultra-wealthy controlling all information. We have GOT to simplify the message.
Please help me in NC! I Canvassed like crazy in NC from July 22 to Nov 3rd. On November 6 I could not put two sentences together so devastated was I and my soul. However I did feel great about the work we did to elect Governor Josh Stein; Rachel Hunt Lieutenant Governor and Jeff Jackson Attorney General- also Mo Green for Superintendent of Schools. We also won a seat on the North Carolina Judiciary with Justice Allison Riggs. Allison won by 734 votes over Judge Jefferson Griffin (Republican). Of course Griffin is challenging the slim margin. We raised money to do two state wide recounts- 5.5 million votes each time Allison gained a dozen more votes. Then Griffin sued and we the NC Dems sued. We have 1 Dem on the North Carolina Supreme Court —Justice Anita Earls. This would be a generational change to have 2 DEMs and it is why the Republicans have not conceded and now want to toss out 60,000 votes (largely Black Votes) as those votes “might” not be qualified under the HAVA Act Griffin believes. I am pissed and want to bring a voice to our fight mainly because if they can do it in NC they will try it somewhere else. Griffin wants to overturn the win by Allison Riggs! We can’t let that happen. Like and share widely please! Thank you! https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/08/north-carolina-supreme-court-blocks-certification-allison-riggs
Marc Elias and Democracy Docket have been on top of this. Thank you for your efforts.
I think the message was simple. This is what we're fighting: The white Christian nationalists believe Trump is their savior. They are militantly anti abortion and anti LGBTQ. They are triggered by woke wars. The billionaires and ultra wealthy only care about themselves and want more wealth with tax cuts. They are also vehemently against regulation. A large group of "Arabs for Trump" bought into Trump lies about ending the war. Alot of insecure young men bought the whole bro culture vomited out by Joe Rogan types. FOX News is Russian state television and lies 24/7. Finally racism and xenophobia are alive and well whipped up by a movement that celebrates cruelty. And it doesn't help that legacy media has been in the bag for Trump for years. You could have used small words, held their hand and laid it out. It would not have mattered.
Maybe they'll start to understand when they don't get the massive tax cuts and they find they're without healthcare, rural hospitals, social security, Medicaid, OSHA regs, clean air & water, climate mitigation. All the things red states need. But they'll love trump leaving NATO because of Greenland. Just wait. His voters are the ones who'll suffer more than any others.
Probably. And Fox/Trump will find a way to blame it on Democrats. Watch.
And there you have it. I can't tell you how sick I am of the finger pointing by Democrats: Harris didn't reach out enough, they should have done this, they should have done that. No. The number one reason for trump's win is Fox (UAN,NewsMax,etc) and their blatant lies insinuating themselves into American homes and minds.
Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It just frustrates you and irritates the pig.
I know I am not supposed to feel happy about this but actor, James Woods, lost his home in the fire. May I not be struck by lightning because I just want MAGA to hurt somehow. Does this make me an awful person?
No. It makes you human.
Before this is over, if it has an end date, we'll all suffer. Except the oligarchy.
Unfortunately the loss of his home will have zero effect on him or his beliefs.
He's already blaming "woke" Democrats. I loathe that pos.
I have the same feelings sometimes.
No, it does not. Anger is a natural reaction to the kind of bitter frustration, and helplessness, so many millions of people are feeling right now. It's not the feeling that is not good. It's what we do with the feeling.
Ted: absolutely correct and beautifully stated. Spared me from saying as much, and not as well.
Overwhelm with outrageousness. That should be the name of this movie, or perhaps the Broadway comedy revue if it goes the comedy route. It's the cornerstone of the whole act; drumpf may be in charge of the absurd day-to-day details, but he marches within a framework that's in the hands of vicious power hungry semi-humans that know what they're doing. Do they ever. Drumpf is an excellent frontman because every day he says something or other that panics the Dems. All according to plan.
I posted this in the comments section of another Substack earlier today. Forgive the f bombs in advance as this has been very frustrating and 2 months plus after the election I'm still processing the fact that this felon POS will be president again, this time with immunity thanks to SCOTUS:
To me, it seems like trump is doing what he does in debates: Gish Gallop. He just constantly throws so much bullshit against the wall, some sticks and some doesn't. He absolutely knows it is impossible for all of his nightmarish plans to be addressed or covered if he does this.
So, is it an intentional distraction to say this shit about Canada, the Panama Canal, and Greenland? Unknown, but we ARE talking about this and most media is covering this. Know what's not being discussed and covered in the meantime? His fucking incompetent nominations to head departments and agencies. He is a master at manipulating media, so IMO, this is not by accident. What is the real threat? That he refuses to rule out military force against these countries as is being covered in MSM or that we have Hegseth, Patel, Gabbard, and the whole slew of fucktards being nominated and those confirmation hearings will be starting soon?
Sure, D leaders can make comments, but to assume that it means they are caving in because they aren't responding to all of his bluster is not necessarily true. If he wants to take military action against any or all of these ALLIES, wouldn't he need congressional approval? If so, we'd have to hold out hope that there are a few sane R members of Congress who haven't guzzled the complete insanity laden potion of MAGA nonsense and will push back or conveniently be absent and thus making it moot.
Admittedly, maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part.
You ask: "What is the real threat? The answer for me changes from day to day. Today's answer is the disintegration of our national security. I fear that what may happen would put trump sharing top secret documents with foreign leaders and guests at Mar-a-Lago look safe....
Thank you, Sophia, and I agree. We've actually already seen and heard him do exactly what you describe. I meant it as more of a rhetorical question in the context of what I was saying: he's got everyone talking about nonsense while the real issues of importance are being ignored. Limited attention spans apply to everyone - and that includes media. That they, media, are driven purely by profit means they push click bait rather than actually what needs to be discussed. And yes, it will change from day to day as you suggest, but that's not by accident.
After nearly 10 years, the media fails miserably at covering what matters about this con man and felon as he has effectively controlled the media's messaging on him. He says outrageous things that he knows will become the main thing covered. It satisfies his "all about me" mentality while also directing our attention exactly where he wants. During the campaign, what got covered the most, his completely insane approach to child care, health care, and the coming destruction of democracy or that "they're eating the dogs". That's rhetorical also as we all know that the eating the dogs weas covered for weeks while real issues were not discussed. Who did that benefit? Certainly not the person, Harris, who actually had at least some policy details rather than concepts. He's doing the same thing now IMO.
Yes, Sophia, my thoughts exactly.
Standing ovation.
Completely agree. I've just aired out similar thoughts, somewhere in Substackland. Constant misdirection, and it is tiring. To borrow a phrase from a post I responded to, their strategy is: overwhelm with outrageousness. But like hou say, you can never be sure which bits deserve attention.
Yep...he yo-yos us with sensational diatribes which intend to keep our attention from serious stuff he doesn't want in the public attention. This whole hoo-ha about Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal is to take the pubic attention - and outrage - off his unspeakable cabinet choices.
Hello Cynthia. My sentiments exactly. You have to meet them where they're at.
Now I’m wondering how many US Senators and Congressman can only read at a 6th grade level. Senator Rick Scott’s and Rep Boebert come to mind.
Scott was a health care exc. He can read. He just made a choice a long time ago to sell his soul for wealth and power .
I once had the displeasure of working for Terrible Hollywood Person Jon Peters, who was known to be Actually Illiterate. His assistants had to read screenplays to him. Ability to read has nothing to do with the ability of scum like Senator Skeletor to rise to the top of the pond scum.
He also is a scam artist just like his jeebus.
You hit the nail on its head!
Yeah, I know he had an important job screwing people over on their health insurance claims. He made a lot of money. But what was he guilty of crime wise? Or was that settled out of court? Anyways, just saw him in an interview and he appeared genuinely stupid to me.
Don’t forget Tuberville and Mace.
How about an IQ test and psychiatric evaluation in order to run for public office? Oh wait, the R’s wouldn’t be able to field enough candidates.
Tommy Tuberville can’t even read at a third grade level.
They're both in the 30% who read at or below a 5th grade level.
Tommy Tubbervile!
Thanks for this observation, Ted.
It is important to accept that Americans do have different conversational capacities in terms of education and learning skills and tools.
It is important to note, also, that the general, comparative level of educational and general learning capacities, tool-sets, and shared ideas were not so different when the Constitution was constituted. But, clearly, there was a qualitative difference that needs to be understood and made sense of.
Is it education or is it will to learn to learn and to learn lessons from one's own choices and from evidence of experience that is now a significant qualitative difference? In re my question then, is the task, or set of tasks now in need of doing and doing in the most pragmatic and democratic, public manner the tasks of discussing among ourselves
finding areas of agreement for social purposes, social objectives and formal self-governance that effectively brings us together, again, by our own choices and in recognition of the fact that our basic personal needs and interests are better satisfied in finding such agreements, as well as for managing our disagreements and our grave and potentially confrontational views?
We are far, FAR past having the time to philosophize about this. Rome is burning now.
Republicans are setting up to mine the ashes of our Democracy.
Thanks for this comment, Ms Miller.
Almost 55 years of public interest activism reminded me that, in spite of or in the presence of any problem of understanding one another, it is not generally education but personal and civic commitment to social process, honest dialogue, and a respect for rule of law that have made the qualitative differences in outcomes.
My remarks aren't intended as philosophy and are not intended to be negative in re differences in conversational understanding and communication. Commitment, honesty, and mutual respect have counted, in the end, for any and all mutual social benefit and in reaffirming and extending the voluntary reach of active support of rule of law governance.
Correct me if I misunderstand. Please.
Of course, these problems are real and very serious.
I’ll settle for a candidate being demonstrative good person of which there are fewer and fewer Republicans. Combine with basic intelligence, and well I don’t see any left.
Tuberville 2nd grade level, and a low average 2nd grader.
Well, Rep Boebert dd finally get her GED!
Don't forget that dolt Tuberville from AL.
I am truly terrified of what's to come. The only thing that makes me feel any hope is to focus on the midterms and do everything in my power to urge everyone in my community to vote....
Remember--no one is alone to deal with all of these things. There are legions of us who will stand together to block whatever evil comes our way. Not much else is more important. After all, few of us are called upon to defend our country against "enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC", except in wartime. Now is our chance, and our duty.
Sophia, it will awful and ugly. We must steel ourselves against the further PTSD we will suffer under this regime. Do Not Obey In Advance should be on “repeat” in our minds.
Thank you for empathy....
Hi Sophia! Keep your energy strong and continue reporting your commitment to all of us. We can follow Your Lead!
Thank you for the pep talk....
Yes! Let the trumpskis be outrageous for a year and then.....fight like hell (and effectively!!!) to get the House & Senate back.
What Ted said! I am so embarrassed and sorry.
They should be embarrassed.
I feel that Trump's agenda is to distract people from the fact that he said he could "fix the economy on day one" and he knows damned well he can't! While I take his threats seriously, it's his M.O. to take the focus off of what really matters to us: the economy, food prices housing costs and everything else he promised to "fix". He's not only an embarrassment to our country, he's a clear and present danger to us, and the world.
Anything to get the spotlight and avoid doing the things he promised voters, except for lowering taxes for the wealthy.
OR as a nurse at the walk in said this morning - if we all had just laughed at him from the beginning? Possibly he would have had a tantrum and disappeared!
Really - at first who among us thought this sleazy corrupt conman would get to where he is right now? Ridiculous, right?
Thanks for these comments, Ted.
Expose Trump et al's weak and dangerous arguments, evidence, and purposes [compared to reasonable to expect outcomes]. This takes lots of us making very sound arguments, with very reasoned and factual alternative, doable approaches to realizing shared national interests.
Trump is saying, in effect, that
we have a Constitution and constitutional governance, but we don't need it;
we have strategic alliances and we have international agreements, but we don't need them;
we have very plural and experienced-based subjective beliefs and points of view, but we don't need the many when his are what he intends to pursue;
and so on with his self-interested nationalism and other isms as his preferable tools for all Americans to be given benefit from.
That we share living as Americans with, approximately, as you note, with the voters and non-voters, with extremes in levels of and respect for education, and with widespread and growing acceptance of poor information of many categories, is the place to begin developing improved track record of public discussion and public involvement, together.
and hr is incorrect in his assessment of what America needs. it is not lowering the price of eggs?
Thanks for this, Ms Somerville.
Is ''hr'' his royality? I am not as socially immersed as most Americans. I am often without some important social references.
bob, lack of 'immersion' has many positives. :---)
Thank you, Mr. McKown.
Take the desirable along with the not-so-desirable.
It is useful in so far as it enables a set of views that sometimes amount to alternative views useful for forming parallax vision.
I must add, in order to respect Ms Vance's genuine concern, that Trump's publishing publicly the 'map' of North America as he would have it be is a very dangerous and significant choice and action. This is so for Trump but not only for Trump alone. This is nasty protected expression. It needs an immediate and resounding outcry from any and from us all, and we also need to send our elected representatives and others in our government that this 'proposal', this disposition is not shared and will not fly in this America.
Trump is not speaking for America, but for himself as a person alone. Who knows why he is saber-rattling? We need to take that sort of saber away from him. The US Congress needs to realize that; probably some of them are forming resolutions to deliver to express not only disapproval but disgust and the capacity to effectively oppose Trump from misusing his office, once he is inaugurated and has sworn himself to uphold the Constitution, for this sort of aggression. Internationally illegal aggression.
If Congress doesn't, I am opposed and I will make the effort to block his effort.
I would not be so quick to assume that 53% of the half that votes reads at 6th grade level.
Yes, but 10% MORE would be a blessing right now!!
I gather the Mexican President just "trolled" Trump. She said the US should be called Mexico America by pointing to a 1607 map that shows the US named that. She's got backbone and a sense of irony.
And of the 53%, 60% of them cannot comprehend and read at a 5th grade level.
https://www.google.com/search?q=reading+level+of+american+adults&client=safari&sca_esv=cf26ac7335e7e159&channel=mac_bm&sxsrf=ADLYWIKh593_oZCvfqd6H3-fZWnWlTZ73g%3A1736361391497&source=hp&ei=r8V-Z9OXHKWWkPIPm-em4Qc&oq=reading+levrl+of+Americans&gs_lp=EhFtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1ocCIacmVhZGluZyBsZXZybCBvZiBBbWVyaWNhbnMqAggCMgcQABiABBgNMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB5I9HdQ4RBYtGFwAngAkAEAmAHoAaABxh-qAQYxLjIxLjS4AQHIAQD4AQGYAhygAo4hqAIPwgIHECMYJxjqAsICBxAuGCcY6gLCAgQQIxgnwgIKECMYgAQYJxiKBcICCxAAGIAEGJECGIoFwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAg4QLhiABBixAxjRAxjHAcICERAuGIAEGLEDGNEDGIMBGMcBwgIFEC4YgATCAg0QABiABBixAxhDGIoFwgIWEC4YgAQYQxjHARiYBRiKBRiaBRivAcICChAAGIAEGEMYigXCAgoQLhiABBhDGIoFwgIQEAAYgAQYsQMYQxiDARiKBcICCxAuGIAEGJECGIoFwgILEC4YgAQYsQMY1ALCAg8QABiABBhDGIoFGEYY-wHCAggQLhiABBixA8ICDRAuGIAEGLEDGEMYigXCAgUQABiABMICChAAGIAEGLEDGArCAgcQABiABBgKwgIKEAAYgAQYsQMYDcICCBAAGBYYChgemAMK8QXkWDIusSRiYpIHBjIuMjEuNaAH28kB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-hp
oh, man. that explains so much.
I work retail and I have never forgotten the day I was complaining to my manager about people not bothering to read and he told me that a lot of people can't! I was and still am gobsmacked by this fact.
Let's turn off the MSM whenever they report on him, quote him, live cover his speeches. I already do this. I don't care what he and his minions say. They lie.
Trump won by appealing to the 50-53% you mention. .. the low info voters that usually don’t vote. He shot himself in the foot n 2000 by suppressing his own vote (insisting that only in person voting was legit). This time, S Wiles ignored him and encouraged all voting channels. Must the bought bullet ballots in the swing states.
Maybe we need to encourage him to return to voter suppression.
Well stated, Ted. As an erstwhile Republican and a conservative by temperament (if no longer by public proclamation), I could not agree with you more. I am still broken-hearted with the defeat of Vice President Harris and Governor Gipper.
Thank you. We must all come out of the election sleep.
I have a high regard for our Canadian neighbors and am ashamed that Americans voted to put a con man and blow hard back in the White House.
I want my country to be a good neighbor to Canada,not a bully threatening violence.
thanks for supporting us!!
Did you vote? Did you work on your candidate’s election campaign? Are you continuing to work w your constituency to educate your voting block(s).? In your House of Reps, on your local School Board, your governing bodies in your town?
It’s so easy to point fingers, but much more fulfilling to stay committed to the responsibility of showing up and bringing your views, your opinions to your elected city, county, state representatives.
I suspect that anyone who takes the time to read and comment on Joyce's substack is doing what they can in their own community.
Easy there. Bitchy is only saying what we all are! Not pointing fingers.
We are joining Winnipeg friends next month on a cruise. I am embarrassed by his words of violence and take-overs snd that 49% of America voted for him after the fiest disastrous term!
Friendly correction: 49% of VOTERS. Given that only 64% of eligible citizens bothered to vote, he can hardly claim a mandate to do all these things he's doing. That senators aren't willing to do their due diligence and ensure that the people running our most critical agencies are actually qualified is making all this so much worse.
Important to convey this. Thanks.
Truly. I’m going into prayer mode now. The day has already been too long.
77,303,000 voted for the Felon
75,019,000 voted for the prosecutor
an estimated 89 million Americans, or about 36% of the country’s voting-eligible population, did not vote in the 2024 general election.
Disgusting, isn’t it?
And appalling, to say the least. We had such a chance ….😢
Very important facts.
That is disgusting. Appalling. Incomprehensible. Embarrassing. At it disturbs me no end.
I still feel that Trump won, not because of the people who voted for him, but for the people who did not show up to vote for Vice President Harris.
Far far away from a mandate - less than 3 million! He only squeeked by!
Su numeros es correcto.
This is an issue - those who don’t care enough to vote will be surprised when 47, like the spoiled toddler he is, breaks everything in our country that “We the People” have taken for granted.🤬
Please give sincere apologies to your Canadian friends from 75million decent Americans. Many, many decent Americans are ashamed of our President-Elect’s behavior and will #resist mightily.
It sickens me too, that he is bullying our friends. No one signed off on this not even the dolts who voted for him. He did not campaign on overtaking Greenland and Canada. The Panama Canal was nowhere in any Republican platform.I am beyond outraged that this small man is doing these things even before he has been inaugurated. I am calling my reps to express my outrage and others should too.
Over fifty years ago, my mother said that she felt that Canada was a more civilized version of the United States. Living in Australia almost sixty years ago, my father stated to another U.S. engineer that he loved Australia because, "Australia is everything the United States is without the burden of arrogance." Both must be writhing in their graves. 🤢
My frame of reference to Canada is quite positive. ✌🏽
Learning about the underground railroad that eventually produced great Afro-Canadian baseball pitcher, Ferguson Jenkins. 🥎
From Canada's sacrifice, in relative terms, being significantly higher (perhaps by as much as 60%) than the casualty rate suffered by the United States in defeating fascism and upwards of twice the casualty rate on D-Day (i.e., 7% of the troops landed and 15% of the casualties being Canadian). 🙏
Other sports heroes growing up including Gordie Howe, Tim Horton, or Jean Pronovost (not a hall-of-famer but a very gentlemanly acquaintance of my parents as a member my home-town PGH Penguins). 🏒
From cher Canada's giving sanctuary to young men fleeing the draft during a wretched, immoral war in Viêt Nam. 😇
From the Canadian Embassy in Teheran taking a possibly existential risk by pulling off the 'Canadian Caper' that freed six U.S. diplomats in January of 1980 during the hostage taking at the U.S. Embassy; hard bitten, dissipated college senior as I was, that maneuver brought tears of joy and gratitude to my eyes. 🥳
From Canadians' sacrifices in Kandahar in Afghanistan with no atrocities reported; Canada suffering the third highest number of soldiers killed in action during Operation Enduring Freedom. 🙏
From Canada's magnificent beauty, relatively modest culture, fine education system, universal health-care, and unspoken superpower in clean fresh-water supplies; 96% of the amount of water as the U.S. with one-tenth the population. ❤️
Yes, there is a whole lot we U.S. Americans -- better termed estadounidenses per the term employed by other Americans to the South of the United States -- have to be thankful for, and learn from, le Canada magnifique. ❤️🤝⚖️
Trump can go to HELL; go directly to HELL; not pass GO; not collect two hundred dollars. 👎
There will be a military coup before Baron von Blimpoman careens off of the Great Lakes or drumpfs any other ally like Denmark or neutral like Panama. No tanks rolling up to the portico of the White House but in senior military officers -- taking their oaths to the Constitution seriously -- belaying orders from a venal, small-minded, self-centered authoritarian. 🫣
That will lead to a crisis, possibly with Trump's removal as per the twenty-fifth Amendment and the accession of then Vice President Vance to the soiled presidency. Let us hope Senator Vance has played along to get along. Let us hope his highly flaunted conversion to the R.C.s, together with, fingers-crossed, the inner refinement of character of his refined wife will rub off on him enough to end this descent into egoistic, narcissistic madness. 💔
If Senator Vance remains true to his current, hopefully apparent, form, say hello to civil conflict in the United States. Frankly, the incoming Vice President makes me feel like what Alcibiades, Aaron Burr, or Napoleon would have been like: superior minds, inferior characters. 🤢
I'm with you, Mr. McDoodle. We live close enough to Canada so that we often have gone there on vacation. We LOVE our Canadian neighbors!
Are y'all NOT the lucky ones. ❤️😊🖖
Right now Trump is like a suicide bomber. It is like he is trying to blow up the world, and if we don't capitulate endlessly to his bullying he is willing to go along with the destruction of the planet which he seems determined to do. It is so extreme and sickening, but I am thinking of all the people in WWII who watched the Nazis march into their country and destroy their lives, at least those who did not capitulate. All of them should have stood up much earlier. Right now is a defining moment for us, and we all need to be writing our politicians be they red or blue and saying, No way! This is not who we are and Trump is not even president. By saying this, Biden should be having him imprisoned for Treason right now! But, Biden is clearly done with taking on Trump. The only thing Biden could do to save us is to declare war on Russia and declare a national emergency, and stay Trump coming to office. Instead, Trump has tanked Canada's prime minister, and one by one he is ticking off the opposition to Putin and picking mostly on small countries to do so. This is from the Hitler playbook, only this time Americans who do not stand up to Trump get to be the Nazis!
None of this behavior should be surprising because sociopaths cannot be anything else but sociopaths. And it is not curable.
Dennis, we love you too!! My in-laws live in Canada and for years I envied them. Now I'm as worried for all of you as they are for us.
Thank you, Dennis. I live just south of Vancouver. We are so very grateful for our Canadian neighbors, and hope that what trump is saying is just typical of his BS cannon of distractions. He & his oligarchs have their agendas, though, and I wouldn't trust them.
Even I, with my limited knowledge, know how much Canada means -- or should mean -- to those of us in the United States who care enough to observe what is happening. One of the two biggest mistakes I ever made was not pursuing a Ph.D. -- I was lazy -- in Canada. 🤝
Dennis, I have a long essay highlighting the many praises for your country that I hold in my heart. Do not worry, if Trump is serious, there will be a military coup or civil war before troops cross the border. In any case, this is Baron von Blimpoman's transparent negotiating strategy: ask for the moon and settle for what you want. It will not work. ✍️
Many millions of us in the States are sickened as well and apologize for how bad the results of the last election were. I hope to high heaven that some of the Rs in Congress will find their spines and their consciences, acknowledge (if only to themselves) that they have unleashed Frankenstein's monster, and will do what they can to mitigate the damages. Of course I won't be holding my breath.
We live in a 55+ resort community in AZ and have so many Canadians as friends and neighbors; we’ve been to CA twice but “only” to Vancouver Island. Any issues you have with your politicians pales in comparison to the orange menace.. he’s dangerous and embarrassing, at the least . I will look up Tim Cook’s book.
My maternal side of the family go back many generations (early 1700’s) in New Brunswick; I am proud of my Canadian (& Scottish) heritage and have spent a lot of time in Canada. I am disgusted that so many of our voters didn’t vote, that way too many of those who did vote are MAGA supporters of this incompetent, destructive, immoral man. Not content with trying to destroy the US, he is now threatening our closest loyal northern neighbor.💔
I hope that Canada takes a firm stand against this unhinged bully - it’s the only way to deal with him.
🙏 ❤️🇨🇦
He’s the madman on your doorstep, that’s for sure.
Thank you.
Dennis,
Just got back from a couple months in Quebec so I wouldn't be here for election day, and I'm headed back there so I'm not here for inauguration. I apologized to every Canadian I could find to listen, and I'll apologize to you, too. I AM SO SORRY. I have a few ideas but I really don't know how 76 million of us got so stupid and greedy. This deranged man has attracted scores and scores of similarly deranged, selfish, greedy people who will bring us to our knees. I'm just so sorry.
Dennis, it means something that your post here has almost 400 likes. As Joyce aptly says, “We’re in this together” and we are. Stay safe.
Casually stating that you will ruin an economy that supports 40 million Canadians is not funny - certainly not to those of us to live in
Canada. Canadians have fought in every war alongside the US, supported the US after 9/11, and been there in solidarity with our neighbours. I am a dual citizen, living in Canada, ashamed to see what is happening. The word nice gets used to describe Canadians, and that word gets a bad rap - being nice doesn’t mean you are a doormat.
We Canadians will not bend over for the Orange Dictator. He is an orange stain on humanity.
Thank you. In the end, real Americans will appreciate your help. Only the fascist traitors will follow the tangerine turd.
Sane Americans AGREE!!! I'm a Mainer and we have a huge reciprocal relationship with Quebec and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We Mainers LOVE our Canadian neighbors!
I grew up in Montreal and our family took camping trips to all the New England states when I was a kid. In my 23 years living in the US never once was I greeted with anything but acceptance, so I have no quarrel with the vast majority of Americans.
❤️❤️🇨🇦🇨🇦
And there are huge numbers of us who will stand with you and hope you will let us in!
I am a stay-&-fight guy; "We're all in this Together".
A subtantial most of us in the U.S. understand this and feel reciprocal. The p-elect speaks for some of us, perhaps, on this. He certainly didn't mention any of this during the campaign that I know of.
I agree with you, Kim. He didn't make these delusional land-grabs a campaign issue. He was just a con artist trying to stay out of prison. In order to get enough voters beyond his base to accomplish that, he learned from watching Kamala Harris that he needed to promise voters lower rent and lower grocery prices. So he did and those economy voters were really needing help and voted him into office believing him. So now, we have an individual who holds the levers of power and he is now all about embellishing his "brand" - whatever it takes. He only will have until Nov 2026 because he's highly likely, after these land-grab threats to lose his economy-voters by then. Hopefully, Dems can impeach him in the House and maybe convict him in the Senate, then he can stand trial for the rest of remaining years of his life.
Being nice just means being nice. The alternatives are being nasty or self-absorbed.
Here is a video that has been circulating on social media of MP Elizabeth May smacking down Trump on his lack of knowledge on how government in Canada works, and inviting California, Washington and Oregon to become a new Canadian province. I know Canada has its own set of problems, but this is pretty good. Cascadia anyone? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAyG0HmATc
Loved this video. As for not having anything the US needs, something like 43 million barrels of oil and hydro electricity that keeps the lights on in many US states is hardly nothing. He’s an ignorant bully.
I am in the Northwest Los Angeles area (Chatsworth) and the winds have been pretty fierce the past couple of days. Shout out to our fire fighting force and a shout down to ass-hole Trump blaming the California governor for the weather event. No other way to say it…Trump is so full of 💩; it’s indefensible.
Hoping these winds die down for you all....so very sorry
Thank you Ann, I hope so too.
My son & his family [wife & 2 small kids] are in Glendale. They smell smoke but haven't been ordered to evacuate [yet]. As an ex-resident of Santa Monica, my heart goes out to all of you.
Hi Mauimom, Glendale issued an evacuation order for Chevy Chase canyon. Hopefully it is just a precaution. Winds are supposed to die down a bit later today. 🤞🤞🤞
Thanks. They have all now evacuated to in-laws in San Diego.
Stay safe. Sounds horrific.
Thanks Kim.
Stay safe, Mike! I am in Simi Valley and am also keeping an eye on the situation. Our firefighters are the absolute best!!!
Cal-Fire has a 3D Map posted. "Watch the way the wind blows"
That is true Bryan. This event is a super charged Santa Ana wind event, not one that we normally experience. Usual wind direction for this is out of the North Northeast so if you are south of the fire, you need to stay alert.
You too, Paula. Can now smell the smoke from the Altadena fire.
Ugh. I can't smell anything here, thank goodness. Stay safe!!
Paula, I'm your neighbor & hoping my power is restored tonight or tomorrow. Hats off to all of the First Responders!!
I have a friend living up near Big Bear - so far shes only had to deal with smoke from a couple of the fires. It is scary - shes arthritic and has to use a walker - lives out in the country. Worrisome.
Hi Maggie, The Big Bear area should be ok as that is North of the fire zone.
Thats how its been so far. Still worry.
Did you ever think the U.S. would threaten to take over other countries, much less our allies?
Trump threatens our support of our allies, our standing up for the sovereignty of nations and world peace.
We must push back forcefully.
Please contact your representatives.
What do you think the Viet Nam 'war' was? If you think it was to bring democracy to Southeast Asia, well, it was not.
I was of draft age throughout the Vietnam war, so I was well aware of the history of southeast Asia in general, Vietnam in particular and our Country's policy regarding Vietnam. The U.S. never proposed to take over Vietnam (i.e., incorporate it as part of the U.S.). Trump is threatening to incorporate Canada and Greenland as part of the U.S.
But Canada is largely people who look like us! White people! People we can't call racist names and pretend they're not fully human so we can bomb them into oblivion!
If you know U.S. history, you'd realize that the U.S. has not only threatened to invade and/or take over other countries, "we" have actually done it. Many times. True, some of the invasions were during World War II (and were responses to Nazi aggression), and others go back to the early 19th century, but Iraq and Afghanistan were in this century, and Vietnam and Indochina more generally were in my lifetime.
The U.S. has never taken over another country - taken control and incorporated the country into the U.S. The closest we have come to that was our invasion of Puerto Ricco during the Spanish-American War in 1893. We pulled Puerto Rico away from Spain but did not incorporate it as a state of the United States. To this day Puerto Rico is self-governing as an unincorporated territory of the U.S.
Does Hawaii sound familiar?
Hawaii's history is much like Puerto Rico's except that it ultimately became a state. Google "history of Hawaii" to get the full background. A short summary is:
1) 1893; wealthy sugar cane planters staged a coup, overthrew the monarchy and established a provisional government. Then President Grover Cleveland’s condemned the coup and stated support for the queen.
The provisional government refused to step down and established the Republic of Hawaii.
2) The Republic of Hawaii pushed for the US to annex Hawaii. In 1900 US Congress did annex Hawaii but as a self-governing territory.
3)Between 1919 and 1947 the Republic of Hawaii proposed multiple times that the US make Hawaii a state. By 1940, two of every three voters in Hawaii supported statehood. Bills to make Hawaii a state failed in Congress in 1947, 1950, 1951 and 1953.
3) In 1959 a law was passed and signed by President Eisenhower making Hawaii a state. Hawaii voters ratified statehood by an overwhelming margin of 17 to 1.
For decades the US government was reluctant to make Hawaii a state. From 1940 to 1959 a significant majority of Hawaiian voters wanted Hawaii to become a state. Clearly, the US did not take over Hawaii and make it a state in any sense that Trump is proposing to take over and incorporate Canada and Greenland against the will of those governments.
So basically the robber barons were enabled by no action.. good long game plan for the imperialists.. sounds kinda like a semi transparent take over to me
Much different than Trump's threats to incorporate Greenland and Canada as part of the U.S. and to take control of Panama
Hawaii comes to mind. Also Texas.
Read my comment above about Hawaii.
The ultimate annexation of Texas by the U.S. had similarities to Hawaii. Settlers from the U.S. set up an independent provisional government and then appealed over decades to US presidents and Congress to annex Texas. Presidential candidates and members of Congress had opposing views about annexing Texas because it was a slave state. It didn't happen for decades and the process was much different than Trump's threats to take over Canada and Greenland.
No U.S. President should ever propose using force (military or financial) to threaten the sovereignty of another nation.
I am another Canadian sickened and angered by this continual outrageous trolling. We are your best friends. We have been there for you time after time. As our outgoing Prime Minister said yesterday, "There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada will become part of the United States." We have our own authoritarian traitors and quislings to deal with, in particular Pierre Poilievre and the Conservates who are yowling for an election. No. It's not funny. No fucking way.
And yet even Poilievre has expressed hostility to annexation and to the idea of it being brought up. The vast majority of Canadians are opposed to it.
The idea of anyone wanting to be taken over is insane to me. That there might be even one Canadian who's receptive to the idea boggles my mind.
I'll bet Danielle Smith thinks it's a swell idea.
I had to google her. I certainly hope you're wrong.
He knows waffling publicly on that would lose a lot of votes, so of course he has to say no to American annexation. But he'll sell us out for sure one way or another if he gets in. Anyone but Conservatives!
I am reminded of Randy Newman’s old song, POLITICAL SCIENCE: “…boom goes London, boom, Paree…more room for you and more room for me…. They all hate us anyhow, let’s drop the big one now….” Lo, satire has become reality. TRUMP MUST BE STOPPED.
Yes, it has. And it is causing me to weep. muskrat's tunnel, already in existence but about which I'd heard absolutely NOTHING until now, is the beginning of the hell our nation is turning into.
Randy Newman! I remember listening to, and enjoying him, a very long time ago. Thanks for bringing back memories.
Yes, Randy gave us all "reason to live".
My real concern is that this is not Trump talking but the cadre behind him who will do him in as soon as he's inaugurated. Then we are in real trouble.
It's hard not to think that a lot of what he says is just misdirection or bluster to hide the real action or purpose. Thank goodness for Joyce Vance and others who see the game within the game. I wish we had more of them. If you don't want to be fooled it is important to understand the con and not just report the performative setup.
I agree. He loves to spew bluster and then do nothing but hit the golf course. I think we have to be careful to watch what he says but, more carefully, what he does.
Such as running in a fevered panic to SCOTUS to save his his arse from sentencing this Friday before Judge Merchan
.
Trump's "Emergency Appeal' [not] first goes to the Circuit judge, Justice Sotomayor. She could deny DJT's fevered cry for ... help!
But, per regular order an all-9 SCOTUS Conference is already set for this Friday. Regardless, sentencing remains on calendar January 10, 2025.
Advocacy: We need 1 Justice for EACH Circuit & an odd number of appointed Justices to avoid ties. Make that 13 justices ASAP.
I agree. I think this is actually coming from Russia with Musk and his pals pushing it. I'm convinced Putin desperately needs and wants unimpeded access to maritime shipping routes for his oil and gas. China may be pushing this as well. That means the Panama Canal, or more directly one of the channels through or over the Arctic. That's the more direct route for Russia. Which means control of Greenland and a friendly government in Canada.
Trump 2.0 is Chaos on steroids. He is emboldened by his re-election and working to surround himself with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse to wreak havoc. It's hard to take your eyes away from the impending distruction.
About the fires in California - first, thanks to our neighbors to the North. And if this had to happen, better under Biden than Trump - since CA voted Blue, he might not have sent any federal aid. He discussed that in the last term.
I was thinking about that too. Unfortunately there will be a next time, and then what? I've gone through these crises for years but always thought at least FEMA would be there for us. No longer. Maybe we should secede after all. (I don't actually think it's a good idea but I'm willing to re-examine my feelings about it.)
the “trump” touch is already on it. I saw that he is blaming Newsom for this - nothing about the tragedy that tens of thousands are experiencing right now. it is going to be a long 4 years
The trauma of Trumpism. The unknown consequences sure to come. Good grief ‘Merica!
As a dual national here, my family in Canada have some suggestions for Trump - many not printable! One of my nephews suggested that they would be happy to take the USA as the 11th province. The country would be called the United Provinces of Canada. Everyone would have universal healthcare but they would have to learn the metric system! He suggested maybe Mexico could have Texas though! And the electoral college would be gone!
And to think over 70 mil Americans voted for this demented craven lunatic!
Yes to United Provinces of Canada.
I could go for that!
Maine and Vermont could join Canada... Not sure if New Hampshire would want to.
"we have learned that we cannot live alone at peace, that our own well-being is dependent on the well being of other nations far away," he declares, "We have learned to be citizens of the world. We have learned...The only way to have a friend is to be one." - FDR January 20, 1945
The trauma of Trumpism. How true. How debilitating--and it must be fought. We are in a strange world where a man not yet sworn in a President can create a new upheaval by ranting about annexing Greenland. Good grief---what is happening to world powers........
Gawd so sick of this mendacious, traitorous, rapacious, felonious vulgarian. At the present — and as usual — he is sucking all the air out of the room, and at a time when our focus should be on one of the most honorable men to ever hold the office as President as he lies in repose in the Capital. Rest in peace, Jimmy Carter.
Trump is using the Canada and Panama rhetoric as a way to bust up NATO. His threats or action could trigger NATO members obligation to protect the country that is attacked; what would the members do, attack the US? More likely it would cause NATO to break-up.
Same as Brexit. A Russian psy op to weaken the west to bring us down to Russia’s level. What a disgrace by Republicans.
Remember what we did for the city of Halifax after the explosion during WWII and what Canada did for us after 9/11. These are but two examples of what being a good neighbor means.