I have been saying and posting for months about Trump wanting our water and minerals and that has been the basis for all the "51st state" talk. I got ridiculed and attacked. It is so obvious that it is painful. En garde, Canada.
I think it's less focused than that. My take is that he has megalo-maniac ambition but is actually rather short on thinking any of it through. My guess is he'll take anything he can get from anyone he can bully, without any shred of decency and moral restraint. Water and minerals, sure, but let's not forget forestry, agricultural land, manufacturing centres and oil. It's the perfect sociopathic personality for a dictator, impeded by the inconvenient fact that he IS president of a still afluent nation with a long and well established history of real democracy. It'll be a tough four years but let's hope that America comes to their senses the next time they get a crack at it.
My wife just treated me to that little meeting between trump, Mr Vance and Mr Zelenskyy on TMZ. I avoid social outlets like TMZ like the mind pollution it usially really is, but there is no disputing of both the importance and journalistic integrity that segment displayed. There was an absolutely uncouth pandering demagogue, one more would be megolo maniac dictator, with all of his worst failings on full display for all the world to see. Addressing trump's fan base, I totally get how fed up they were with a woke entitled economically inept Democratic left. But we have unwittingly let in a wolf at the door, a glorified thug who is simply doubling down on the wretched excesses of his opponents. I doesn't matter how many grievances trump trots out against the Ukrainian president. Leaving aside trump's usual penchant for almost ridiculous exageration and outright falsehood, and leaving aside that, yes, the Democrats in large measure pulled that same garbage on him in his first term, the president of one of the most powerful democracies in the world is supposed to rise above it. The dignity of his office demands it. Of that dignity mr trump has none.
It's amazing what insight a brief moment of actual videotape can bring. I remember Nixon and Watergate. Mr Nixon's domestic sins were inexcusable, and forced resignation was the right outcome. But politics, especially internationally, is a tough dirty game, and I always thought he handled that part rather well. I viewed his end more as human tragedy than a study in small minded evil. Then, decades later, I got to hear the tape. Never was there a sadder revelation of petty small minded malice and a greater disappointment in a man I had at least respected in spite of his flaws. My thanks go out to president trump for not making us wait forty years to see up close and personal just how large his ego really is and how small and thuggish his intellect really is. I guess that in front of a live camera he thought he could do no wrong. I'm sure some of his power base are cheering, but an awful lot of people who were of reasonable middle ground, not expecting perfection on either side, and willing to look at his past record and policy attempts with a very neutral and objective eye, are now rethinking it. Indeed. I'm one of them. He got his mandate and now is out to prove that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I do remind all however that America (like our own country) is split just about evenly right down the middle. Trump got his "landslide" by a very small actual percentage of the electorate. And I blame the American and Canadian entitled radical left as much as a demagogue like trump for ramping up that split and fanning the flames of discord.
I just want to add one other small observation to the disgrace that was the trump, Vance, Zelenskyy meeting. Offense was taken by the US administration that President Zelenskyy showed up in casual dress -- "street clothes" as it were. It must be pointed out that leader Zelenskyy showed up from a country that has been under several years of constant merciless attack by their powerful military neighbour Russia. His fellow citizens are lucky if they still live and breathe and have a place to lay their heads, much less the time and wardrobe to suit up for the Prince's ball. Zelenskyy's informal no nonsense attire sends a powerful reminder that he comes from the trenches and is a man of the people. I wonder if trump even thought of looking at it that way. But no, it's all about Donald and being obsequious and respectful. Real people are dying overseas sir. Even if trump's charges that Mr Zelenskyy is in reality a dictator and the provocateur who actually started the war were true (and by any objective standard they are not), the optics of being a "leader of the common people" still stand. So get a grip mr. t. It's not ALWAYS about you.
I thank the several good souls who were kind enough to endorse my recent postings about our good friend Mr Trump. Disagreement is also welcome, provided it is balanced and objective, the better for me to learn something constructive from it. One of the objectives I wish to promote is civil discourse, free of the profanity and ramped up emotional charges that just get in the way of reaching any compromise or consensus.
I perceived a bit of merit and an awful lot of wretched excess on both sides of the political divide in these past nine years or so of US and Canadian politics, so picking sides in the US debate was something of a toss-up. Russian collusion? I disagree. The evidence and some political common sense contradict it. A sex abuser? Probably, but on a much lesser scale than predecessor Bill Clinton. If the America left wing gave Clinton a pass then it's a little late to get foaming at the mouth over Trump's rather lesser offenses. A "convicted felon"? Yes, technically. But I agree with commentators (some far from right wing) who are calling it political "lawfare". He paid off a blackmailing porn star, period. A far cry from the sins of say Nixon or a Bernie Madoff.
Moving further into Trumps' failings, he aspires to be a visionary leader of one of the world's premier free and democratic societies. I have hesitated to take much issue with his tariff war against my own country because I feel I must obviously be biased against it. It's difficult to be "impartial and objective" when it is your own hind end being kicked. "Tough negotiator", "business is business" and all that suck it up buttercup advice. Yet it seems not to have occurred to Mr Trump that by picking a fight with your leading free democratic neigbour and usually good ally, surely he weakens our whole western and democratic world in the view of our common opponents in Russia, China, North Korea, and elsewhere. Now Ukraine, and I wonder, who will he turn against next. Will it be South Korea? Or Taiwan?
Some have noted mixed motives in Trump's treatment of Canada. "51st state" need not be his exact objective, since it would entail such obstacles in the short four years he has that it is unlikely of success, even for the "biggest" of dreamers. Far better to reinforce us as a vassal state, utterly beholden to the US for even our very economic existence. Do note for example that while he wants to impede trade with us greatly he still wants the Keystone pipeline completed with immediate priority. I'm not sure if Trump's inner thinking is quite that nuanced though -- perhaps he's not quite all that clever. Looking for example at his disgraceful performance with President Zelenskyy, was it truly a bully out of control or was it theater for his voter base? That's the trouble with politics; you never quite know what is really going on.
I leave the good mister Trump (irony intended) and resolve not to let him darken my hours again. This past evening I watched the spectacular landing of the Firefly company's Blue Ghost lunar lander. It was well put together from multiple footage segments from the lander's multiple live cameras, and the accompanying music elevated it to inspirational. Did anyone notice how unrelentingly gray and lifeless our moon is, with the gold insulation on the lander being the only splash of brilliant colour in the whole panorama? And that bright white orb above the moon's horizon is actually our precious Earth, its blue washed out from over exposure because it reflects the sun so brightly. The experience gave me perspective. All the petty politicians and despots of the Earth and our mean spirited affairs are nothing in this vast amazing universe. There suspended like a precious jewel above our clever machine of exploration shone "home". We should take better care of it. And thank you to anyone who might have taken a moment to look over my own poor attempt at elevating our thinking.
I have been saying and posting for months about Trump wanting our water and minerals and that has been the basis for all the "51st state" talk. I got ridiculed and attacked. It is so obvious that it is painful. En garde, Canada.
I think it's less focused than that. My take is that he has megalo-maniac ambition but is actually rather short on thinking any of it through. My guess is he'll take anything he can get from anyone he can bully, without any shred of decency and moral restraint. Water and minerals, sure, but let's not forget forestry, agricultural land, manufacturing centres and oil. It's the perfect sociopathic personality for a dictator, impeded by the inconvenient fact that he IS president of a still afluent nation with a long and well established history of real democracy. It'll be a tough four years but let's hope that America comes to their senses the next time they get a crack at it.
My wife just treated me to that little meeting between trump, Mr Vance and Mr Zelenskyy on TMZ. I avoid social outlets like TMZ like the mind pollution it usially really is, but there is no disputing of both the importance and journalistic integrity that segment displayed. There was an absolutely uncouth pandering demagogue, one more would be megolo maniac dictator, with all of his worst failings on full display for all the world to see. Addressing trump's fan base, I totally get how fed up they were with a woke entitled economically inept Democratic left. But we have unwittingly let in a wolf at the door, a glorified thug who is simply doubling down on the wretched excesses of his opponents. I doesn't matter how many grievances trump trots out against the Ukrainian president. Leaving aside trump's usual penchant for almost ridiculous exageration and outright falsehood, and leaving aside that, yes, the Democrats in large measure pulled that same garbage on him in his first term, the president of one of the most powerful democracies in the world is supposed to rise above it. The dignity of his office demands it. Of that dignity mr trump has none.
It's amazing what insight a brief moment of actual videotape can bring. I remember Nixon and Watergate. Mr Nixon's domestic sins were inexcusable, and forced resignation was the right outcome. But politics, especially internationally, is a tough dirty game, and I always thought he handled that part rather well. I viewed his end more as human tragedy than a study in small minded evil. Then, decades later, I got to hear the tape. Never was there a sadder revelation of petty small minded malice and a greater disappointment in a man I had at least respected in spite of his flaws. My thanks go out to president trump for not making us wait forty years to see up close and personal just how large his ego really is and how small and thuggish his intellect really is. I guess that in front of a live camera he thought he could do no wrong. I'm sure some of his power base are cheering, but an awful lot of people who were of reasonable middle ground, not expecting perfection on either side, and willing to look at his past record and policy attempts with a very neutral and objective eye, are now rethinking it. Indeed. I'm one of them. He got his mandate and now is out to prove that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I do remind all however that America (like our own country) is split just about evenly right down the middle. Trump got his "landslide" by a very small actual percentage of the electorate. And I blame the American and Canadian entitled radical left as much as a demagogue like trump for ramping up that split and fanning the flames of discord.
I just want to add one other small observation to the disgrace that was the trump, Vance, Zelenskyy meeting. Offense was taken by the US administration that President Zelenskyy showed up in casual dress -- "street clothes" as it were. It must be pointed out that leader Zelenskyy showed up from a country that has been under several years of constant merciless attack by their powerful military neighbour Russia. His fellow citizens are lucky if they still live and breathe and have a place to lay their heads, much less the time and wardrobe to suit up for the Prince's ball. Zelenskyy's informal no nonsense attire sends a powerful reminder that he comes from the trenches and is a man of the people. I wonder if trump even thought of looking at it that way. But no, it's all about Donald and being obsequious and respectful. Real people are dying overseas sir. Even if trump's charges that Mr Zelenskyy is in reality a dictator and the provocateur who actually started the war were true (and by any objective standard they are not), the optics of being a "leader of the common people" still stand. So get a grip mr. t. It's not ALWAYS about you.
I thank the several good souls who were kind enough to endorse my recent postings about our good friend Mr Trump. Disagreement is also welcome, provided it is balanced and objective, the better for me to learn something constructive from it. One of the objectives I wish to promote is civil discourse, free of the profanity and ramped up emotional charges that just get in the way of reaching any compromise or consensus.
I perceived a bit of merit and an awful lot of wretched excess on both sides of the political divide in these past nine years or so of US and Canadian politics, so picking sides in the US debate was something of a toss-up. Russian collusion? I disagree. The evidence and some political common sense contradict it. A sex abuser? Probably, but on a much lesser scale than predecessor Bill Clinton. If the America left wing gave Clinton a pass then it's a little late to get foaming at the mouth over Trump's rather lesser offenses. A "convicted felon"? Yes, technically. But I agree with commentators (some far from right wing) who are calling it political "lawfare". He paid off a blackmailing porn star, period. A far cry from the sins of say Nixon or a Bernie Madoff.
Moving further into Trumps' failings, he aspires to be a visionary leader of one of the world's premier free and democratic societies. I have hesitated to take much issue with his tariff war against my own country because I feel I must obviously be biased against it. It's difficult to be "impartial and objective" when it is your own hind end being kicked. "Tough negotiator", "business is business" and all that suck it up buttercup advice. Yet it seems not to have occurred to Mr Trump that by picking a fight with your leading free democratic neigbour and usually good ally, surely he weakens our whole western and democratic world in the view of our common opponents in Russia, China, North Korea, and elsewhere. Now Ukraine, and I wonder, who will he turn against next. Will it be South Korea? Or Taiwan?
Some have noted mixed motives in Trump's treatment of Canada. "51st state" need not be his exact objective, since it would entail such obstacles in the short four years he has that it is unlikely of success, even for the "biggest" of dreamers. Far better to reinforce us as a vassal state, utterly beholden to the US for even our very economic existence. Do note for example that while he wants to impede trade with us greatly he still wants the Keystone pipeline completed with immediate priority. I'm not sure if Trump's inner thinking is quite that nuanced though -- perhaps he's not quite all that clever. Looking for example at his disgraceful performance with President Zelenskyy, was it truly a bully out of control or was it theater for his voter base? That's the trouble with politics; you never quite know what is really going on.
I leave the good mister Trump (irony intended) and resolve not to let him darken my hours again. This past evening I watched the spectacular landing of the Firefly company's Blue Ghost lunar lander. It was well put together from multiple footage segments from the lander's multiple live cameras, and the accompanying music elevated it to inspirational. Did anyone notice how unrelentingly gray and lifeless our moon is, with the gold insulation on the lander being the only splash of brilliant colour in the whole panorama? And that bright white orb above the moon's horizon is actually our precious Earth, its blue washed out from over exposure because it reflects the sun so brightly. The experience gave me perspective. All the petty politicians and despots of the Earth and our mean spirited affairs are nothing in this vast amazing universe. There suspended like a precious jewel above our clever machine of exploration shone "home". We should take better care of it. And thank you to anyone who might have taken a moment to look over my own poor attempt at elevating our thinking.