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Nobody hates anyone lol

Has anyone else noticed how impressive that cute little blonde who does the White House briefings is? Karoline Leavitt?

She sure makes that job look easy lol...

I guess it's a lot simpler when you don't have to lie about how brain-dead the Commander In Chief is

That's not to mention how stupid democrats are...

Now that IS funny Tony. Thanks for the snort and a tarrif which you have to pay.

Two words, John... "Tea Party".

Americans have always been "funny" that way LOL

What promise has Trudeau kept lately?

To retaliate for the stupid trade war Trump started.

The word "trade" implies mutual agreement and fair exchange, John...

Yes exactly. And it seems Trump knows nothing of what trade means and only thinks in terms of I win you lose...and using his bully pulpit and lies to do it.
But his tactics will only result in a big hole in his foot and the feet of Americans.

Think about it. Tariffs will be collected by the US government from the importer, not the Canadian exporter.
Yes, there will be some negotiating tactics as to who will foot the bill, but your prices WILL go up.
The opposite will happen to the tariffs Canada will charge where we will pay more

But Canada has also taken other actions because our system can.

For example, our provinces have jurisdiction over alcohol and act mostly as central buyers.
Well all US booze is now off our shelves to varying degrees depending on the province. In Ontario it is all of it. in BC I understand it is only for the "Red" states.
The idea is that they have Trump's ear and if a "Blue" state is hurting, their pain won't be felt by him

Ontario and Quebec will both be using their ability to at first hike the price of electricity from the NorthEast to Minnesota and are prepared to stop the flow altogether.

Ontario will also halt the sale of nickel to the USA...you get 50% or so of what you need from us. Potash and uranium too are going to be a problem
Well, Uranium maybe not because your new best friend Russia has the other big deposits.

Do you know why?

Trump's expressed intent is to secure the border from Fentanyl which he blames Canada for (baselessly---total lie), but it is his only available reason to use tariffs it as a matter of national security.
He definitely has delegated powers to enact tariffs from Congress who has constitutional jurisdiction over them

His I'll do anything I want behaviour ....which we have seen unfold internationally as the US sides with Russia and against traditional allies and trading partners they have agreements with .....means we really have to respond like we believe him when he said he is looking to make us the 51st state.

His aim is to disrupt us economically and weaken us to see if he can then walk in and incorporate the Great White North(ern) pain in the ass he says has been taking advantage of you for so long.
Of course he is only after our water, energy and natural resources and very importantly a warming Arctic Ocean that the USA has little exposure to and finds a border between him and our wealth a pesky thing.

Now you may think that is utter BS and WTF!!???, but we have seen him for what he is and we are simply getting ready for the worst he says he wants to do and to fight back.hard.

And this goes from government to ordinary Canadians who will no longer spend money on anything made in USA and will no longer travel there.

Oh I am sure there will be things hard to give up...but even if 80% of Canadians will still use Amazon or subscribe to Netflix, that WILL be felt...and I expect if things escalate, that will go down further.

The sentiment I hear is that even if Trump backs down and begins to act responsibly, the major damage has been done and the USA will feel it.
Our shopping and sourcing behaviour has changed and we are actively avoiding anything US...have been for a month or more now

Just think of your own Buy America on steroids because everyone is already working together to identify what to boycott.
Difficult, 100% made in USA vs partly sourced in USA but finished here...US ownership vs US product.
BUT everyone along the supply chain is helping identify what is safely Canadian so consumers here can vote with their money.

The overarching idea is to absorb the trade blows inflicted on us while hitting back to hurt as hard as we can.
Those feeling the pain will help talk sense into legislators and those with the ear of the presidency.

But because we are Canadian, our Premier Doug Ford has apologized to ordinary Americans as he detailed what Ontario would do.
He said he needed to gain the attention of the powers that be and this was the only way he could.

In a nutshell, Trump fired the first shot in this. We have to show we can absorb it and then hit back as hard as we can in your most vulnerable spots.

Yes. Congrats!

"The word "trade" implies mutual agreement and fair exchange, John..."

If the whole rest of the world wakes up and follows your stated Canadian initiative, then countries will become independent and self sufficient again. Sovereignty will take precedence over global economy, and the world will get out of this Bull$hit trade deficit and global debt scam.

But we've had this conversation before... So, I really don't expect you to understand, John.

THEN,
there's prophecy... LOL

Hold on to your hat, John.
Someone is eventually going to show up with a solution that you can accept... and he will probably convince you that god (little g) is just misunderstood.

Nope, I have no idea what you are talking about so I guess we'll have to leave it at that Tony.

Glad you have trade agreements and trade figured out.

Hey these guys know what they are talking about


Note the demand from them is that the US withdraws the guarantees made between UK, USA, Russia & Ukraine to ensure its sovereigny ...which Russia has violated, and now the US is as well.
This agreement removed all nuclear weapons from Ukraine, Bellorussia & the Baltics and in exchange for Ukrainian sovereignty guarantees.

From Lech Walensa former President of Poland and a key world figure in his day
After the US decision to suspend supplies to Ukraine, if the answer was in my gesture it would be "Let's do our part" not a step back. AMEN.
This is the text we signed:


Your Excellency Mr President,
We watched the report of your conversation with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenski with fear and distaste. We consider your expectations to show respect and gratitude for the material help provided by the United States fighting Russia to Ukraine insulting. Gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood in defense of the values of the free world. They have been dying on the frontline for more than 11 years in the name of these values and independence of their Homeland, which was attacked by Putin's Russia.

We do not understand how the leader of a country that is the symbol of the free world cannot see it.

Our panic was also caused by the fact that the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation reminded us of one we remember well from Security Service interrogations and from the debate rooms in Communist courts. Prosecutors and judges at the behest of the all-powerful communist political police also explained to us that they hold all the cards and we hold none. They demanded us to stop our business, arguing that thousands of innocent people suffer because of us. They deprived us of our freedoms and civil rights because we refused to cooperate with the government and our gratitude.

We are shocked that Mr. President Volodymyr Zelenski treated in the same way.

The history of the 20th century shows that every time the United States wanted to keep its distance from democratic values and its European allies, it ended up being a threat to themselves. This was understood by President Woodrow Wilson, who decided to join the United States in World War I in 1917. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood this, deciding after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 that the war for the defense of America would be fought not only in the Pacific, but also in Europe, in alliance with the countries attacked by the Third Reich.

We remember that without President Ronald Reagan and American financial commitment it would not have been possible to bring the collapse of the Soviet Union empire. President Reagan was aware that millions of enslaved people were suffering in Soviet Russia and the countries it conquered, including thousands of political prisoners who paid for their sacrifice in defense of democratic values with freedom. His greatness was m. in. on the fact that he without hesitation called the USSR the "Empire of Evil" and gave it a decisive fight. We won, and the statue of President Ronald Reagan stands today in Warsaw vis a vis of the US embassy.

Mr. President, material aid - military and financial - cannot be equivalent to the blood shed in the name of independence and freedom of Ukraine, Europe, as well as the whole free world. Human life is priceless, its value cannot be measured with money. Gratitude is due to those who make the sacrifice of blood and freedom. It is obvious for us, the people of "Solidarity", former political prisoners of the communist regime serving Soviet Russia.

We are calling for the United States to withdraw from the guarantees it made with the Great Britain in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which recorded a direct obligation to defend the intact borders of Ukraine in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons resources. These guarantees are unconditional: there is no word about treating such aid as an economic exchange.


Lech Wales, b. political prisoner, Solidarity leader, president of the Republic of Poland III
Mark Bailin, b. political prisoner, editor of independent publishing houses
Severn Blumstein, b. political prisoner, member of the Workers' Defense Committee
Teresa Bogucka, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition and Solidarity
Gregory Bogut, b. political prisoner, activist of democratic opposition, independent publisher
Mark Borowik, b. political prisoner, independent publisher
Bogdan Borusewicz, b. political prisoner, leader of the underground Solidarity in Gdansk
Zbigniew Bujak, b. political prisoner, leader of the underground Solidarity in Warsaw
Władysław Frasyniuk, b. political prisoner, leader of the underground Solidarity in Wrocław
Andrew Gintzburg, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity
Richard Grabarczyk, b. a political prisoner, Solidarity activist
Alexander Janiszewski, b. a political prisoner, Solidarity activist
Peter Kapczy otrski, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition
Mark Kossakowski, b. political prisoner, independent publicist
Christopher the King, b. a political prisoner , independence activist
Jaroslav Kurski, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition
Barbara Swan, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity
Bogdan Lis, b. political prisoner, leader of the underground Solidarity in Gdansk
Henryk Majewski, b. a political prisoner, Solidarity activist
Adam Michnik, b. political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition, editor of independent publishing houses
Slavomir Najniger, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity
Peter the German , b. political prisoner, journalist, and printer of underground publishing houses,
Stefan Konstanty Niesiołowski, b. a political prisoner , independence activist
Edward Nowak, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity
Wojciech Onyszkiewicz, b. political prisoner, member of the Workers' Defence Committee, Solidarity activist
Anthony Pawlak, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition and underground Solidarity
Sylwia Poleska-Peryt, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition
Christopher Push, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity
Richard Push, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity,
Jacek Rakowiecki, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity
Andrew Severn, b. political prisoner, actor, director of the Polish Theater in Warsaw
Witold Sielewicz, b. political prisoner, printer of independent publishing houses
Henryk Sikora, b. a political prisoner, Solidarity activist
Christopher Siemien Krski, b. political prisoner, journalist, and printer of underground publishing houses
Gra ,yna Staniszewska, b. a political prisoner, leaders of Solidarity of the Beskids region
George Degrees, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition
Joanna Happy, b. political prisoner, editor of Solidarity underground press
Ludwik Turko, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity
Matthew Wierzbicki, b. political prisoner, printer and publicist of independent publishing houses

Another international take on the situation...French Senate address

Transcript below of speech in the French Senate several days ago by Mr. Claude Malhuret.


“President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.

Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.

This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.

The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.

Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.

This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution.

I have faith in the strength of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.

Eight days ago, at the very moment that Trump was rubbing Macron’s back in the White House, the United States voted at the UN with Russia and North Korea against the Europeans demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.

Two days later, in the Oval Office, the military service shirker was giving war hero Zelensky lessons in morality and strategy before dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign.

Tonight, he took another step into infamy by stopping the delivery of weapons that had been promised. What to do in the face of this betrayal? The answer is simple: face it.

And first of all, let’s not be mistaken. The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe. The Baltic States, Georgia, Moldova are already on the list. Putin’s goal is to return to Yalta, where half the continent was ceded to Stalin.

The countries of the South are waiting for the outcome of the conflict to decide whether they should continue to respect Europe or whether they are now free to trample on it.

What Putin wants is the end of the order put in place by the United States and its allies 80 years ago, with its first principle being the prohibition of acquiring territory by force.

This idea is at the very source of the UN, where today Americans vote in favor of the aggressor and against the attacked, because the Trumpian vision coincides with that of Putin: a return to spheres of influence, the great powers dictating the fate of small countries.

Mine is Greenland, Panama and Canada, you are Ukraine, the Baltics and Eastern Europe, he is Taiwan and the China Sea.

At the parties of the oligarchs of the Gulf of Mar-a-Lago, this is called “diplomatic realism.”

So we are alone. But the talk that Putin cannot be resisted is false. Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Russia is in bad shape. In three years, the so-called second largest army in the world has managed to grab only crumbs from a country three times less populated.

Interest rates at 25%, the collapse of foreign exchange and gold reserves, the demographic collapse show that it is on the brink of the abyss. The American helping hand to Putin is the biggest strategic mistake ever made in a war.

The shock is violent, but it has a virtue. Europeans are coming out of denial. They understood in one day in Munich that the survival of Ukraine and the future of Europe are in their hands and that they have three imperatives.

Accelerate military aid to Ukraine to compensate for the American abandonment, so that it holds, and of course to impose its presence and that of Europe in any negotiation.

This will be expensive. It will be necessary to end the taboo of the use of frozen Russian assets. It will be necessary to circumvent Moscow’s accomplices within Europe itself by a coalition of only the willing countries, with of course the United Kingdom.

Second, demand that any agreement be accompanied by the return of kidnapped children, prisoners and absolute security guarantees. After Budapest, Georgia and Minsk, we know what agreements with Putin are worth. These guarantees require sufficient military force to prevent a new invasion.

Finally, and this is the most urgent, because it is what will take the most time, we must build the neglected European defence, to the benefit of the American umbrella since 1945 and scuttled since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It is a Herculean task, but it is on its success or failure that the leaders of today’s democratic Europe will be judged in the history books.

Friedrich Merz has just declared that Europe needs its own military alliance. This is to recognize that France has been right for decades in arguing for strategic autonomy.

It remains to be built. It will be necessary to invest massively, to strengthen the European Defence Fund outside the Maastricht debt criteria, to harmonize weapons and munitions systems, to accelerate the entry into the Union of Ukraine, which is today the leading European army, to rethink the place and conditions of nuclear deterrence based on French and British capabilities, to relaunch the anti-missile shield and satellite programs.

The plan announced yesterday by Ursula von der Leyen is a very good starting point. And much more will be needed.

Europe will only become a military power again by becoming an industrial power again. In a word, the Draghi report will have to be implemented. For good.

But the real rearmament of Europe is its moral rearmament.

We must convince public opinion in the face of war weariness and fear, and especially in the face of Putin’s cronies, the extreme right and the extreme left.

They argued again yesterday in the National Assembly, Mr Prime Minister, before you, against European unity, against European defence.

They say they want peace. What neither they nor Trump say is that their peace is capitulation, the peace of defeat, the replacement of de Gaulle Zelensky by a Ukrainian Pétain at the beck and call of Putin.

Peace for the collaborators who have refused any aid to the Ukrainians for three years.

Is this the end of the Atlantic Alliance? The risk is great. But in the last few days, the public humiliation of Zelensky and all the crazy decisions taken in the last month have finally made the Americans react.

Polls are falling. Republican lawmakers are being greeted by hostile crowds in their constituencies. Even Fox News is becoming critical.

The Trumpists are no longer in their majesty. They control the executive, the Parliament, the Supreme Court and social networks.

But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads.

The fate of Ukraine is being played out in the trenches, but it also depends on those in the United States who want to defend democracy, and here on our ability to unite Europeans, to find the means for their common defense, and to make Europe the power that it once was in history and that it hesitates to become again.

Our parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost.

The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.

Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.”

John,

America is not the world police; It's not even a beacon of Christian morality anymore. America is barely the last Christian holdout...

Bottom line...
Unless America has a vested interest in Ukraine, then America has no reason to interject itself into an ancient foreign territorial dispute; Especially since both combatants are so politically corrupt.

Mr.Claude Malhuret is obviously showboating for political points and, frankly, it's about damn time the French started making some noise in the EU. The EU most certainly should step up; It should have settled the dispute before it started.

However,

The whole world knows that "Democratic Europe" is just as corrupt...

Tony,
in Afghanistan American troops did not fight alone. Ukrainian troops and many others joined forces to fight against the terrorists. Remember 9/11 ... America was attacked. It's amazing, when they fought together with us, they weren't corrupt.Now since Trump hates them, they are?

Is this the way you treat troops that fought your fight together with you? Don't you call that a vested interest?

Good grief... Soldiers don't wage wars, Rob...

Trump is busy pulling the "proverbial log" out of America's eye!

USA HAS a vested interest in that at the USA behest, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons and USA guaranteed its territorial integrity.

USA has a vested interest in keeping its promises to allies and other countries it made agreements with does it not?

Funny part about Canada is that our Free Trade Agreement (CUSMA) is due for re negotiation next year, and Trump only had to wait until that window opened.
Instead we have a trade war based on a pretext of National Border Security.

It will harm the US economy and Trump himself admits a recession is coming because of it...but he will take that as OK

So price hikes from tariffs, and a US recession as fired federal workers, no US agricultural sales to USAID and resulting farm job losses, and no us arms sales (job losses in the Military Industrial Complex)
swell the unemployment ranks.

WTF?

I sure miss intelligent conversation...

Fine!
For the record...

I HOPE TRUMP DOES TURN UKRAINE AND GAZA INTO GOLF COURSES!

Changed my post slightly Tony...but OK....if you want Trump to turn the Ukraine and Gaza into golf courses....you are free to wish as you want.

If you feel the USA can make promises to its allies and others, then simply break them ....you are free to think that

As for intelligent conversation....maybe you should simply talk to yourself from now on

Seems we have nothing to offer.

What would be in it for the US if he did that? Trump golf courses don't make America great again. They make Trump richer.

Trump is in the process of isolating America from his military allies because they aren't paying him enough and now China, Russia and Iran are doing joint maneuvers in the Golf of Oman. This doesn't sound good at all.

China, Russia and Iran are always practicing/threatening war...

I'D RATHER PLAY GOLF!

MAGA Bitches!

By all means Tony, go play golf and don't bother yourself with this. It will come at you soon enough.

Lol... I never liked Canadian bacon anyway

Well, so far you could choose between American or Canadian bacon. Trump now wants to put 250% tax on Canadian bacon and eggs and more stuff. Now you don't have a choice anymore. Soon, you won't even remember what foreign food tasted like. And the egg prices will explode. But don't worry, Canada is paying those taxes. Did he ever say that you won't be able to afford vegetables in winter anymore because they don't grow in the US in winter and Mexican vegetables will be much more expensive. But relax, Mexico will pay for that, just like they paid for the wall that never was built.

We will take it as it comes.
I'm just bummed that I will no longer be able to get a flannel shirt!

Ya'll really should pay more attention to history...

Why do you think the world trade center was destroyed? 9/11?

What really deserves scrutiny is what Trump is attempting with AI and Cryptocurrency...

The banks of Europe are a bit older and more "established" than America. The EU isn't going to tolerate Trump challenging their "authority".

Well on the theme of learning from history....the last time the USA entered tariff protection mode it was economically disastrous.

Did not start the Great Depression, but it sure helped it along. Google Smoot Hawley.

And yes Tom, we all will have to ....and it will all affect us individually depending on individual circumstance.
Hope you find a nice flannel shirt in a flea market somewhere

Canadians as a whole have been galvanized by this.
The vaste majority of Canadians now actively boycot US products and have stopped travelling there

But as we are polite, we first apologized to the American people before going for your jugular, saying it is not you, it is Trump
What you may not realize is that you are effectively up against Canada and all of its provinces individually.
The way jurisdiction over matters was devolved means both our Federal and Provincial governments have power to act decisively and with impact.

So, every province regulates its own alcohol, gaming etc .....every province has pulled US booze off the shelves. All of them.
Kentucky already said it is unfair....Premier Ford said to go tell Trump that.

Every province develops and owns its power generation and grids....so Ontario and Quebec have raised prices by 25%, and will cut power entirely if Trump persists.
That affects all border states from Maine to Minnesota. LATE FLASH Trump says that is fine. The USA does not need our electricity.

Furthermore, if Trump persists, Ontario will no longer ship you nickel...something you need and take lots of, that we have in abundance and something the entire world wants.
Potash too will no longer flow too easily.
Alberta still wants to ship you heavy oil tariff free, but their premier may align with the rest of us and slap export tariffs on it.

In the end, nobody will win.

Try to relax John,

I dont know how this plays out, but in 1929 the markets were leveraged up to 90%, It is not now. And a lot of major wealth is in cash.
There is too much disunity in the European Union for them to mount a consolidated attack. China, however is a problem. They make all of our sh+t. Every light fixture that I ever bought was made in China.

My prediction:
Your new leader is a corporate style politician. Build consensus. Blame others for failures.
Trump is an Andrew Jackson sort of populist. "F 'em."

Canada's GDP is the size of Texas GDP. Canada cannot stare down the US in a trade war.
The other day on NewsNation they interviewed the Canadian ambassador. She stated that there were no tariffs on some farm products. She stated that Trump had lied about that. The interviewer, pressed her and asked if there were tariff thresholds that kicked in after a certain dollar amount was hit. She admitted that there was but did not want to elaborate on the actual mechanics. Leaving that out of her assertion was a distortion of the actual trade situation.

Many of us Americans want those types of things sorted through and we want confirmation that tariffs are non-existent, equal or reciprocal.

This morning Donny said that all this could be resolved if Canada would simply become our cherished 51st state.
That isnt going to happen. But the acidity of the statement indicates where Trump stands.

I suspect that negotiations have already started.

Try to relax. It will be fine. Americans like Canada.

If those in power were like you Marty, perhaps....but we simply have to take Trump at his word here.
It would be irresponsible for our leaders not to.
His remarks to Canada totally denigrated our Prime Minister, and he made realistic threats.
So he has created the conditions where we will not sit back, relax, and wait

And the size of our GDP vs yours is not the issue....trade is.
We have lots of dry powder in our economic arsenal as Federal and Provincial borrowings as a % of GDP is much lower that the USA, plus we have very important items the USA needs
AND Trump has galvanized us ....so we will stare you down.

Marty, it is not you....but Canada will make it so that Americans will feel the effects so that you put pressure on your leaders to get rid of the illegal tariffs...... ( we see it as illegal because a) Trump lied about the security of our borders vs Fentanyl as being his reason to be able to use National Security reasons and b) CUSMA is up for renewal next year at which time he could have negotiated his grievances...meaning he broke that trade agreement...the same he called great before because it was negotiated under his first watch when called it great)

We simply cannot trust the current US administration...full stop. We cannot trust the cabal of billionaires running the country with him....full stop.

Today from Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump is lashing out at Canada and using some of the strongest language he's ever deployed against the one-time ally and trading partner, vowing to ruin the country economically after Ontario levied a surcharge on U.S.-bound electricity to hit back at his initial tranche of tariffs.

In a series of social media posts Tuesday morning, the day after Ontario Premier Doug Ford's electricity levy took effect, Trump said he will make Canada pay "a financial price for this so big that it will be read about in History Books for many years to come."

Trump upped the ante on his annexation taunts saying the only way for Canada to avoid his attempts to torpedo the economy is for the country to "become our cherished Fifty-First State."

"This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear," he claimed.


Tell me again how we should just sit back and relax

John,

You and I only know what the media feeds us. All politicians lie. All major newscasters are paid well, to propagandize for the sake of targeted biased markets.
The takeaway is that we can't ever be sure of what the truth is. We can only be sure of what someone said that it is.
X is a monster, but TWITTER was the truth? Billionaire donors?

As far as Trump insulting your politicians? Of course he did. He always does. He'll be in-love with them again and saying all of the smoochie stuff.

Trump called the trade treaty great because he negotiated it.
But now, it may be that the tariffs are imbalanced too one-sidedly in favor of Canada. I don't know whether they are or not.
Treaties between nations are good only so long as people act in accordance with them. They often stop.
There were treaties between the West and Ukraine, the West an Russia, Russia and Ukraine...but they were all violated and nullified.

In this case, Trump decided that the trade relations were unfair and he wants the tariffs to be equal for both nations. Reciprocal.


If they are not equal, I am in favor that they become equal?
Are you in favor of that or not in favor of that?

All little babies grow teeth... Mommy has to take away the nipple...
And, pacifiers make their teeth crooked.

Tough love, kiddies! Trump's cuttin' the chord.

What really deserves scrutiny is what Trump is attempting with AI and Cryptocurrency...

The banks of Europe are a bit older and more "established" than America. The EU isn't going to tolerate Trump challenging their "authority".

Martin we currently have a trade agreement among the US, Canada and Mexico that was negotiated by him and highly touted by him and which is up for renegotiation in a year.

Are you then in agreement he can violate that on some border security pretext? Are you in agreement he should use tariffs destructively and vindictively in a way that harms ordinary people in both countries?

And I keep saying Canadians are very well informed and enabled to reach credible media sources free from US noise and influence.

We trust our mainstream media much more than you do I think, and personally I dig into what is important to me.

If you believe that he is being bombastic and just playing his art of the deal, by all means. I know you think things though and your opinion is respected.

But I take no comfort in it and neither should any Canadian.

Be prepared was our boy scout motto

So we'll keep hitting back where it hurts and hope your version prevails

I've had CNN going while I was working on something. Per CNN,

Ukraine has agreed to a 30 day cease fire.
The US has reinstated all of the back up that was withdrawn.
All friends again.

Now, the Rooskies, will be presented with terms.

The MOMENTARY position for Ukraine is that they have US arms and intel back in their corner.
The Rooskies have to weigh that presence in an ongoing, 3 year old war that appears to be a quasi-stalemate with a Russian advantage...if they decide to wave it all off.

The takeaway...wait and see. Maybe the sun will come back out.

The takeaway for Canada...
Your relationship with Trump has much lower stakes and no battlefields with dead bodies.

Realize that there are Americans who want our trade agreements to be equal, regarding tariffs. If they aren't, we want them re-negotiated.
If Canadians are mad because they cant have an unequal advantage...Well....

Relax, while they take a look.

If Trump's various insults are that disorienting to your leaders, you need some different leaders. Trump is comedy now.

Marty

Read the news out of Jeddah and it is encouraging what those developments and details include...saw no mention of minerals....let's hope things turn out positive
I am encourage Europe too is involved. If the US team can honestly broker affairs now to a positive agreed to outcome for both the Ukraine and Russia they the deserve praise and thank you.

Substitute Americans for Canadians and we say the same Marty. It is why we had the autopact, the Free Trade, then CUSMA, which were all negotiated

I expect we have tariffs and you have tariffs, and historical imperitives, cultural differences and political organization drives our activities like trade which will result in disparity.

By that I mean one of your beefs is that our lumber is harvested off government lands and harvesters pay stumpage fees. US timberlands are privately owned resulting in their wanting as much as they can for their lumber.
Canadians can produce it cheaper, hence our long running timber dispute.

Dairy industry here has definite advantages in that their output quotas via marketing boards supports independent dairy farmers and an independently owned industry..lot of agriculture here is that way
Your recent egg shortage is a wonderful example of our differences. Here the industry is widely owned among independent farm owners, while your infected hens were all on large battery farms
A cull on one of those facilities took out a lot of fowl. Your chicken industry is concentrated and its economic reach is consequential
Here it is farm by farm and networks of egg producers and farms that stage the growth from egg to hen to market changing hands in between as farms specialize in various stages of development
Some networks deliver only to one destination, like one I knew of that supplied only KFC

So we have differences in what and how we produce and who we are which is under extreme attack in escalating rhetoric

So..breathing better about Ukraine but still elbows up

John

Your last post was very Canada centric.

I take from it that whether tariffs are inequitable or equitable, your main concern is not that, but, Canadian industries doing well.
I'm not Canadian. I'm an American who lives in Texas. I'm interested in the US industries doing well.

If the tariffs are heavier on your side of the border than ours, I and many others would like to see them reciprocated by our leaders.
If they already are the same, leave them alone.

If you Canadians believe that matching tariffs will destroy your egg industry, I hope that US negotiators would say...

""Okay, we will carve that out of the arrangement and protect your eggs. If we do that, what will you do for us?
And merely saying "thank you" will not get it done.""

Seems fair, does it not?

In other news...the cease-fire is something to be glad about. Biden never got to even talking about one. Harris was not going to be any different.
But the Rooskies and the Ukrainians, now have a million dead bodies to hate each other for. Peace will be difficult.

And if Trump kicks Bill Gates, China, and other foreign entities off of American farmlands...?

LOL Marty I totally agree and still see Canadian for American in what you say. Fairly and equitably it should be

But that "way it should be" is being disrupted and he should have waited and approached us differently instead of disrespecting us to the extent he did.

Remember
1) The facts did not support his authority to impose tariffs as the conditions of his stated border concerns were false.
2) He totally belittled our leader personally, downplayed our sovereignty and our border, and expressed open interest in US geographical expansion
3) His last term when HE had the last word on the trade agreement he highly praised, it was great, so great, the greatest ever....

Walk softly and carry a big stick has changed to approach aggressively and brandish wildly

Yes Tony. Large landowners who get big agricultural subsidies should be on the DOGE list .....

Whatever...

John,

I think I was listening to MSNBC or CNN the other day and some guy made a point that sounded insightful. He said,

The abolition of tariffs is for the benefit of Wall Street and the wealthy. It is globalist.
The installation of tariffs is for the benefit of Main Street and assembly line workers. It is populist.

Trump is a populist. He is wealthy, but he trades in populism.
He destroyed the political machines that tried to destroy him because he has legions of people who support everything he does. And have no concern for his faults.
When that bullet grazed his ear, that sealed the deal and brought the outspoken admiration of people like Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

The takeaway is that your leaders are going to have to learn to deal with him.
He is the single biggest personality that has occurred in the West since I have been alive.

Like him or hate him to the marrow, he has achieved cultural "greatness."
He has taken over culture and become the clock that the western world now sets itself to. You and I have lived in TrumpWorld for going on a decade.
And lucky you, he is president of the country that you lucky Canadians live next to. Keep your seat belt securely fastened.

Marty

Mmmmm overlook his awfulness for his cultural greatness?

Single biggest biggest personality in your lifetime?

To me the measure of a man and lfe lived is in how much better they make this world.

That is not cultural greatness or biggest pernsonality but the positive changes they make to those around them.

Now time will tell if he will be ultimately good or bad but we will have to live through the next 4 years ...mid terms will be telling.....meeting his approach aggressively brandish wildly foreign policy toolkit

Trump came back from the dead to defeat his enemies. Has a 2-1 record. Incredible feat.
You hate every nuance of him. Try to imagine that there are people who do not.
If his platform had been solely to seal the border and nothing else, I would have voted for him. And he did it in the first three weeks.

If he falls, it won't be Russia, Ukraine or even Canada.
It will be the global economy debt which has been covered over and kicked down the road and ballooned since 2008.
It looks like we could possibly be in the beginning stages of an avalanche that would destroy any presidency.

Trump, the businessman is the best person to be in office if that does come to pass, but it may be too big for any personality to survive.
I hope that I am just being overly dread-y.

In the meantime, wait a bit and Trump and your guys will be back to hugging and kissing each other.

Have a good evening,

Marty

Do hope so Marty....the current atmosphere sucks big time

Trump the business man...
The Trump Taj Mahal, which was built and owned by President Trump, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991. The Trump Plaza, the Trump Castle, and the Plaza Hotel, all owned by President Trump at the time, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992. THCR, which was founded by President Trump in 1995, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2004. Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., the new name given to Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts after its 2004 bankruptcy, declared bankruptcy in 2009.

Trump Shuttle Inc., launched by President Trump in 1989, defaulted on its loans in 1990 and ceased to exist by 1992. Trump University, founded by President Trump in 2005, ceased operations in 2011 amid lawsuits and investigations regarding the company’s business practices. Trump Vodka, a brand of vodka produced by Drinks Americas under license from the Trump Organization, was introduced in 2005 and discontinued in 2011.

Also, Trump Mortgage, LLC, a financial services company founded by President Trump in 2006, ceased operations in 2007. GoTrump.com, a travel site founded by President Trump in 2006, ceased operations in 2007. Trump Steaks, a brand of steak and other meats founded by President Trump in 2007, discontinued sales two months after its launch.

Also, The Trump Organization recently paid $750,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia accusing the organization of misusing nonprofit funds from the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee.

https://www.google.com/search?clien...mp;vld=cid:9981b8a4,vid:FZC2kUwTpTM,st:0

Here's one thing I don't understand: On Tuesday, March 4, tariffs were issued on Canada under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to curb the flow of illegal border crossings and drugs into our country. What do drugs and border crossings have to do with economics? Now, 8 days later, everybody is talking about tariffs because of Canada's trade surplus, because of unbalanced trade. Why were tariffs put in place? Because of drugs? Because of border crossings or because of unbalanced trade? I wish Americans could decide why they are punishing Canada.

Because socialist "WOKE" democracy has failed, and Mama Liberty's tits are sore!

I hope "The View" and CNN move to Canada...

I've stayed out of this argument because I have egg on my face because I was a fan of Trump until now, I still agree with some of the things he is doing but I'm lost at other things he is trying to do, like bankrupt my home country. I compare him to Jahu in the bible or a bull in a China shop. When it comes to tariffs on agriculture products, I can see why we need a tariff to protect our food supply. Farmers in the South have a great advantage over farmers in the North, it is called climate. Your farmers can raise food a lot cheaper than we can because climate favours you. In some crops your farmers can get two or three crops a year off the same field, we get one, but in the meantime, we should not depend 100%on the US to supply our food, in times of drought the US will feed its own before feeding Canadians.
As God has blessed the US with climate conditions, he has blessed Canada with other things that the US needs, therefore we trade. Canada is blessed with lots of water, minerals, oil, electricity, timber, etc. We don't charge tariff to you on those things, your president is doing that, the consumer pays that cost in the end. Aluminum takes a lot of electricity to make it, we have abundance of electricity, you do not, so you need this item, why make it more expensive than it needs to be by adding tariffs. Don't make sense to me but to Trump it strangely does, he doesn't want to buy it, he wants to annex the country to steal it. He wants everyone to play in his sandbox, bring all manufacturing into the US, let Canada be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Personal greed is bad enough but when it comes to National greed, that is what starts wars.

Rob,
Very thorough history lesson going back to 1990. And I don't challenge anything there as not factual.
You did not footnote that the world danced on the edge of a catastrophe that destroyed Lehman and numerous banks in 2006-2011.
And where is your historical accounts of his achievements, after suffering those losses?
What defines him? His failures? Or his comebacks?

Last night, wife and I watched "Reacher" on Netflix. When we were setting up it up, we noticed that NetFlix was offering re-runs of The Apprentice.
Years ago, we spent a few days in Vancouver, BC. One of the most elegant buildings in town had TRUMP branded across it. There are other achievements to point to, not the least of which is election to POTUS twice.

These talking points about Atlantic City in the 1990s and so forth have lost their sting anywhere but die-hard echo chambers. Even MSNBC has given up pounding these points. In fact, instead of calling him a "failed businessman and a bankruptcy fraud," they have switched to calling him "billionaire-oligarch-authoritarian." All but the dumbest ones have even dropped "Hitler-Nazi-fascist-racist."


Everett,

Trump is talking about "reciprocal" tariffs. Even-steven.
Why should Canada be allowed to tariff a product category at a higher rate than the United States?

If that is not occurring, there are no issues.

Oh, Hell... Everett has drank the cool-aid...

The MATH doesn't add up!

JUST BECAUSE AMERICA IS THE LARGER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE NATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT SHOULD PAY MORE IN TRADE!

America has a lot more people to feed and a lot more houses to build.

WE CAN GROW OUR OWN TREES, GENERATE OUR OWN ELECTRICITY, AND MAKE OUR OWN DAMN ALUMINUM!

AND WE DON'T NEED ANYBODY ELSE'S FUK'N OIL!

Well seems Trump has done a car commercial for his biggest donor Musk who is in the dumps because people hate him enough personally that passions have arisen against him through all things Tesla. Thus unfortunately includes owners and others who do not deserve to be targeted

Seems it is against the law for him to have done that because he symbolically bought the Tesla on federal property, the White House ...no proven bill of sale\consideration exchange....huge car commercial....
Total reversal of his prior rails against electric in favour of american made conventional engine cars and oil and gas and drill baby drill.

Motivation for Trump doing this?
Biggest donor favour. Trump not quite right thinking..going back history of behaviour....? Hard to speculate as only Trump knows what is going on in his own mind.
May be held to account for that move....legality of use presidency and government property in situation?

Tony when you say make your own damn aluminum, when you have your own bauxite you can. In the meantime as the President said you don't hold any cards other than where else you can get aluminum from and the US takes lots of it yearly in high paying manufacturing jobs. Aluminum recycling too is big business

And paying more than trade means something else for you than me obviously because for me its the sum number resulting from complex set of arrangements and agreements and cross border networks and private arrangement and skills and trades and all kinds of goods and services that cross the border multiple times when proximinity makes that advantageous. It is financial transactions that cross the border. There are more I am sure, but it is simply the sum in a measure of how our economies actitvities engage over a measure of reporting period

Tariffs exist and I agree with Marty and others that the area of tariffs is worthy of looking at because we all want trade to be fair predictively stable and advantageous for Americans and Canadians (Marty pov) and Canadians and Americans (John pov)

There are things about adherance to trade agreements and negotiation protocols and agreed to timings of negotiations that we disagree on which Marty gives excuses for, but we both want a fair and honest resolution that works for everyone.

Making Canada the Fifty First makes no sense in that eliminating borders and tarrifs means nothing really changes and the status quo goes for the most part in terms of activities among us. But getting there means dealing with an entirely different political system as a parliamentary democracy and member of The Commonwealth, history and story of who we are, culture, society, priorities, legal history and tradition and current operation ....a lot of points of important difference

Had a thought this morning on a such a union on terms I would agree to

1) The US Senate expands to 210 seats and Canada the 51st state is accorded the 110 new seats as its price for distribution among its current provinces and territories and various first nations and one for me for coming up with the idea
2) The US Congress expands by its constitutional formulation authority by population.....makes my Greater Golden Horseshoe a powerful center....really gives Buffalo a boost and we will finally get a regular ferry from Toronto to Rochester.
3) The Supreme Court of the USA gets an even more Supreme Court with a tradition in Common Law going back to Rome, that will serve as the final final arbiter of legal matters below the Fifty First and Alaska.
4) The President of the USA shall be trilingual English, French and Spanish and be encouraged to speak Dutch
5) Because the Fifty First State and former 49th Parallel sum to 100, (the sum of former senate seats should be noted as a favourable omen) the Metric system will be the adopted measurement come ubiquitous