Things I saw today: some great videos and interesting posts, Klippenstein on Iran, Krugman on tariffs, Scrimshaw on Alberta

Three great videos today:

It was only a matter of time before someone did the Hitler downfall parody and Trump economics.

- The Irish Politics Newsletter

Read on Substack

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Weekend funny stuff: Being old(er), the history of Europe in bubbles, a few good posts and jokes, Elbows Up, and Animal Crackers

I know you're only as old as you feel, but really....my score on this is zero.. 

Oops!

An incredible observation:

A short guide to European history:

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Today's News: Big Daddy Carney, Elbows Up, and Hands Off

Big Daddy Carney
Isn't this hilarious?

As I reported yesterday at a rally in Scarborough a woman shouted from the crowd "Big Daddy, lead us!" and everyone laughed. Now its a meme - this photo was posted at EhBuddyHoser on Reddit.

A recent CPC attack on Carney accused his father, who was principle of an indigenous school, of denying the damage caused by residential schools. Here is Carney's reply:

#MarkCarneyLiberalMajority

- #CanadiansAgainstPoilievre

Read on Substack

Some of the attacks on Carney are getting sorta extreme:

I heard Mark Carney once cut through Sears Canada to go to the mall without buying anything. https://t.co/oRd6tCYs5Z

— Sears Canada Parody (@SearsStores) March 29, 2025

Mark Carney messed up, big time.
Sources say they have proof of the Prime Minister swimming less than an hour after eating a large meal.

Everyone know you're supposed to wait a full hour!

The Liberal Party is bracing themselves for the impact of this newest bombshell.

— Canadian Albertan (@furmsies) March 29, 2025

Today's News - Teflon Carney; Collapsing America; Trump's Shame

Teflon Carney - they keep throwing stuff at him but it just doesn't stick 

One of the most impressive attributes that Mark Carney brings to Canada is respect, both given and taken. 

As he is going across the country, meeting people and giving speeches, Carney shows such respect for all the people he deals with -- he isn't arrogant in the least, he doesn't have to show off how smart he is by putting down ordinary people.

This dude got Carney to sign his jersey. pic.twitter.com/uDlHEqlGum

— Glen E. McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) April 4, 2025

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Carney even shows respect for Trump as the American president, though he doesn't hesitate to call him out for the damage he is doing to the world economy. 

Just as Carney respects others, he also demands respect for himself and his office and his country -- before he would even speak to Trump, he demanded that Canada be respected as a sovereign independent country -- I don't know what Carney said during that phone call but we aren't hearing any more "jokes" about the 51st state and "Governor Carney" crap. 

Poilievre and the CPC are trying desperately to come up with some smear that will stick -- they're tried sneaky, Brookfield, the blind trust, plagiarism, poor French, Jeffrey Epstein, his father's job as principle of an indigenous day school - all stupid and pointless. Carney just rises above it - replying "look within yourself, Rosemary" whenever his character, integrity or truthfulness is questioned - and it slides right off his back, forgotten within a news cycle. 

Today's News: Carney says "We are masters in our own home" and Poilievre gets a "killer" endorsement

On Thursday, Carney gave a major speech about the US tariffs and it was great:

"We must respond with both purpose and force," he said. "We are a free, sovereign and ambitious country. We are masters in our own home. We will fight to bring these tariffs to an end." Ottawa "will do everything in our power" to protect workers, including with financial assistance, Carney said, while promising to direct all tariff funds raised by taxing American goods toward helping employees affected by what could be a very tumultuous time ahead. 

Carney also said in the shorter run, while the US economy is likely going to fall into a recession, Canada can do better than the US if we put support and investment measures in place. In the longer run, he said, if the United States no longer wants to lead in the world economy, Canada will,

Today's News: Trump has a sad that the world is mean to America. Well, bub, you ain't seen nothin' yet! #ETTD

Listening to Trump's babbling at his big Tariffs press conference this afternoon, he was talking again about his yearning for the Belle Epoque -- those golden olden days at the end of the 19th Century, when the US government was small enough to be financed by the tariffs it collected, meaning that the poor and the middle class ended up paying a disproportionate share of their income for those tariffed goods, while the wealthy paid a relative pittance. In Trump's mind, that was just marvelous - noblesse oblige and all that. 

So this afternoon, he again talked about what a mistake it was in 1913 that the US decided to collect income taxes instead of financing everything with tariffs.
Then he went on about how poorly the United States has been treated by the world -- yes, we're all been so mean to the poor poor United States, forcing them to pay for the best military in the world and to put up those bases all over, demanding to use the US dollar as the world currency, requiring them to fight wars everywhere, making them develop world-class universities and industries and lead the world in democratic governance -- have they ever had it rough!

Then he holds up a placard with a list of tariffs on it that nobody could read, and keeps on talking.

I expected a marching band and a juggling act too, but then CBC cut away so I didn't see them whenever they showed up.

As Alex Ballingall at the Toronto Star wrote in their live coverage piece:

This feels very Trumpy to me: a global audience fraught with anxiety about how his actions will vapourize wealth and jobs, learning how hard they’re getting hit by squinting at a placard the president is clutching in the White House Rose garden.

I see that Trump, as well as rambling like an idiot, is using state of the art (circa 1980) presenting techniques with his Eurovision style scoreboard to describe his new tariffs.#trumptariffs #trump pic.twitter.com/oxLNbZsyuC

— Marcy Jay (@wisebirdswords) April 2, 2025

Today's News: CTV scurries away from Rachel Gilmore

 

I am appalled that CTV would hire Gilmore then fire her immediately because of Conservative push-back. Are they so out-of-touch with Canadian social media that they didn't realize they were going to get this kind of crazy reaction from the Cons, and they would need to expect it and figure out how to deal with it? 

Its like the CTV bosses have no idea that the journalists they want to hire are prominent because they have an independent profile and national standing (oh yeah -- Lisa LaFlame!)

I won't repeat the blow-by-blow that LeBrun reports, but here is how his article ends:
Luke LeBrun / Press Progress

CTV Cancelled a Fact-Checking Segment in Response to Political Pressure From Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives
Audio recording shows CTV cancelled an ‘election misinformation’ segment with journalist Rachel Gilmore after online backlash from conservatives
...Gilmore says she worries about the message CTV is sending to other journalists, especially women, people of colour and younger journalists, who will feel chilled about covering issues impacting vulnerable communities and democracy for fear they will suffer professional consequences if they become a target too.
“Newsrooms should stand by their journalists,” Gilmore said. “These campaigns are disproportionately deployed against women and against people of colour, and that means that those are the people who will be disproportionately taken off of the airwaves when newsrooms give in to these bad faith campaigns.”
“The only way you can control it is by reducing your presence online and not covering the kinds of stories that piss these people off … The reason these people initially hated me was because I covered vaccines, the Freedom Convoy, the far-right and rising neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements within our country.”
Despite the threat of online harassment and pressure campaigns designed to make journalists pay a price professionally for using their voices and exercising their right to free expression, Gilmore says she will “not stop telling stories about things threatening our democracy and our society.”
“I didn’t get into journalism because I wanted to see my name on CTV News,” Gilmore said. “I got into it because I want to make the world slightly less shitty.”
“I cover these stories because they help people.”

Looks like Trump is creating new world alliances. But they're against America...

It has only been five months since America voted for Trump instead of Harris, but the world is changing rapidly in response to what Trump is doing to America.

Tonight I'm reading about the alliances that are forming against America now. Trump and his goblins thought they could have all of it their own way, but that isn't going to work out very well, I don't think. 

As fascism in America rises, people are beginning to flee:

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People can move but nations cannot. 

Weekend funny stuff: our awful weather, some funny posts. house hippo warnings, American cartoons, Animal Crackers, and Elbows Up!

Speaking of the weather, hasn't it just been awful:

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At least baseball season has finally started.

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Today's News: This is what losing looks like.

Don't tell Trump that he lost on Friday.

But he did:

Today's News: Poilievre is crashing while Carney is leading "like Churchill with better lighting"

(Chart from Tom Parkin Data Shows)

So I opened my tablet today and this is what I read in the news:

Robert Fife and Laura Stone / The Globe and Mail

Doug Ford’s campaign manager warns Poilievre on track to lose federal election
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s campaign manager says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will lose the federal election unless he quickly pivots and responds to Canadians’ fear and anxiety over U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic war against Canada.
Kory Teneycke, who oversaw Mr. Ford’s three back-to-back majority government wins, bluntly told an Empire Club of Canada discussion about the election Wednesday evening that alarm bells should be ringing loudly in the Poilievre campaign.
....“You got to get on that issue,” Mr. Teneycke said. “And you know, you might not totally win, but you can’t lose by 20 points on it. You can’t get blown away on it.”
He later added: “If they don’t get on it, and get on it quick, they are going to get obliterated.”
...According to internal Progressive Conservative polling shared with The Globe by Mr. Teneycke, the federal Liberals hold a significant lead in Ontario, with 48 per cent compared to 33 per cent for the Conservatives and 11 per cent for the New Democrats...

The Toronto Star is also on it:
Robert Benzie / Toronto Star

Doug Ford’s internal polling paints grim election prospects for Pierre Poilievre in Ontario
Ford’s campaign manager warns that unless the Tories “get on it quick, they are going to get obliterated.”
....Teneycke expressed grave concern at the direction of Poilievre’s campaign, which remains fixated on tax cuts while Carney is focused on the threat of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods.
“For the Conservatives ... in the campaign cockpit, every buzzer and alarm is going off and the plane is like going ‘bzzzzz’ and it’s like, ‘Pull up, pull up, pull up,’” he told the 200 attendees at the event.
“You’ve got to have a pivot that’s taking some of the momentum of that issue shift and direct it towards things that are yours. It’s not going to happen if you’re talking about the World Economic Forum or the Century Initiative or God knows whatever other thing that is ... of little or no relevance to voters.”
That was a reference to Poilievre’s preoccupation linking Carney, a former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor, with “globalist” elites.
...“He looks too much like Trump. He sounds too much like Trump. He uses the lexicon of Trump,” he said, noting the CPC campaign slogan “Canada First for a Change” mirrors the president’s “America First.”
Campaigning in Coquitlam, B.C., the Tory leader would not specifically answer a question on Teneycke’s comments and played down public-opinion polls that show his party trailing Carney’s Liberals.
“We’ll wait for Canadians to make their choice on election day,” Poilievre told reporters.

Oh, we will, we will.

In fact, we can hardly wait...

Ok, this is pretty funny -- some comments that will make you laugh

So here are some funny posts about some maybe-not-so-funny events.  

But we do need to laugh sometimes, don't we:

About the election campaign:

Someone clearly advised Pierre Poilièvre to smile more.

He really shouldn't.

— True North Eager Beaver Media (he/him/Mr Beaver) (@TrueEager) March 25, 2025

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Today's News: Carney knocks it out of the park; Poilievre is stuck in FAFO

First, Carney's National Corridor for Canada proposal is the kind of big-picture thinking that Liberals seem to do best. 

Dean Blundell

Canada Just Checked Trump’s Ego: Carney’s Super-Corridor Sets Stage for a Global Power Shift Without America
The Maple Curtain Drops: Carney’s Corridor will turn Canada into a Global Superpower as America Watches Helplessly
...By trying to bully us, Trump only succeeded in awakening a sleeping giant north of the 49th. Canada’s answer? Build our own path to prosperity and power, no permission from Washington needed.
Carney’s masterstroke is a National Energy/Shipping/Travel/Digital Corridor, a coast-to-coast-to-Arctic strategy to unite the country like never before.
This isn’t just a pipeline or a highway—it’s everything. Imagine a multimodal lifeline spanning 7,000+ km—road, rail, pipelines, power lines, fiber-optic cables—all in one corridor. That’s the vision. The concept has been called a “visionary project that could unlock extraordinary economic potential.”
Now, it’s government policy.
Carney outlined a First Mile Fund to connect remote energy sites to the grid of roads and rails. There will be no more stranded resources; if we dig it up or pump it out, we’ll ship it out. A “one-window” approval process will blitz through red tape for nation-building projects while still upholding top safety and environmental standards. For once, Canada is acting with wartime urgency in peacetime—because economically, Trump declared war on us. Well, game on.
This corridor strategy is already putting runs on the board. The federal government chipped in $200 million for a new Indigenous-led LNG facility in BC, ensuring Canadian natural gas reaches global markets
Another $175 million is reviving the rail line to the Port of Churchill on Hudson Bay – our Arctic deep-sea gateway​. That investment will “expand and open new transportation corridors” and help get Canadian products to the world​. In short, we’re spending big to ship big. Ottawa is finally betting on Canada’s own infrastructure, not U.S. goodwill.
The corridor doesn’t stop at the Arctic Circle – it embraces it. Climate change is melting polar sea ice, opening up the coveted Northwest Passage for navigation. Canada isn’t going to watch from the sidelines as others rush in. “Climate change is increasing access to Arctic resources and shipping lanes… heightening competition”, warned Canada’s Defence Minister. Damn right, it is – and Canada now plans to win that competition. By investing in Churchill and northern infrastructure, we’re staking our claim as gatekeepers of an emerging superhighway of global trade.
Just how valuable are these Arctic routes? Hugely. Scientists project that summer sea routes over the pole could be 30–50% shorter than today’s Suez or Panama Canal paths, cutting transit time by 2+ weeks
That’s a logistics revolution, and those who control these routes will reap the rewards. The Arctic is loaded with natural resources, too – oil, gas, critical minerals, and fish stocks – a potential goldmine as the ice recedes. No one will gift us our share of this bonanza; we either assert control or get sidelined. As one analysis put it, control over Arctic waterways and resources are “ripe for dispute and potential conflict,” and a “race to build infrastructure to support and control navigation has already begun”. Canada is now decisively entering that race....

Oopsie and Yikes - two crazy blunders

Two crazy stories today, but at least in the end they combined into one very good joke:

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Yes, it was a crazy day.
First up, Crazy Blunder #1: Oopsie!
The White House National Security Advisor added an American journalist to a chat group that was planning last week's Yemen strikes.

Weekend stuff: Carney and Myers; more in Elbows Up!; Poilievre's problems; some funny posts; and Animal Crackers

Here's some funny stuff I have collected this week. 

First, a cartoon -- and when you get it, you get it!

Next, this great clip has just exploded online:

(And by the way, Connor McDavid's number is 97.) 

Canadiano:

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"Dear Misinformed Americans...the idea that the US is bankrolling Canada is as fictional as a moose riding a polar bear to work"

picture created by Denis Benoit

Here is a great statement about why Canada doesn't owe the United States a single damned thing:

Pete Hillier, CD, CISSP
Founder/Systems Security Engineering practitioner/ISO 27001 Auditor/Veteran/Mental Health First Aider/Veteran Advocate and Mentor 

Dear Misinformed Americans,
It has come to our attention that some of you believe the United States is generously subsidizing Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year. Oh, Canada! How lucky we are to bask in the financial benevolence of our southern neighbors!
Unfortunately, we regret to inform you that this is complete nonsense. So, let’s break this down in a way that even a Tim Hortons-deprived soul can understand:
Foreign Aid? We Must Have Missed That Cheque.
Canada is not on the U.S. foreign aid list. No pallets of cash arrive at the border. No direct financial assistance. No “Canada Relief Fund” tucked into the U.S. budget. We checked. Twice.
Trade Is Not a Subsidy, It’s a Transaction.
The U.S. and Canada engage in mutually beneficial trade worth over $850 billion a year. Canada buys more American goods than any other country, except possibly China. If anyone’s economy benefits from this relationship, it’s the U.S., which enjoys a trade surplus in services and buys our oil at a discount while selling us overpriced military gear.
Defense Spending: We Do Have a Military, You Know.
Contrary to what Hollywood might suggest, Canada actually funds and operates its own military—shockingly, without waiting for America’s allowance.
Canada also patrols the Arctic, secures NORAD, and participates in NATO. No, we don’t have 11 aircraft carriers, but we do own the world's second-largest landmass, which means the U.S. gets a free security buffer zone without having to annex us (not that you haven’t tried before).
Resources: You’re Welcome, by the Way.
The U.S. relies on Canadian oil, lumber, minerals, and electricity. We send you power, and you send us… conspiracy theories about our Prime Minister.
If anything, Canada is subsidizing the U.S. with affordable energy and raw materials.
If the U.S. Was Sending Us $200 Billion, Our Roads Wouldn’t Have Potholes.
We’re still driving on roads that look like they lost a fight with a meteor shower. If Uncle Sam were secretly sending us billions, we’d have paved highways made of maple syrup and gold by now.
America, You’re Not Our Sugar Daddy
While we appreciate the enthusiasm, the idea that the U.S. is bankrolling Canada is as fictional as a moose riding a polar bear to work (though, admit it, that would be cool).

#Canada #USA #FactsMatter #Economics #Trade #Politics #USCanadaRelations #MooseDontNeedSubsidies #OhCanada

The United States is unsafe for travel now

Canadians used to think of travel to the United States as just a normal part of our lives -- we made trips for work across the US, for fun in Vegas or Disney World or Nashville or Hawaii, shopping trips to New York, tours to California wineries, sports in Chicago or Houston or Atlanta, concerts in Seattle - good shopping, interesting cities, relaxing beaches, beautiful landscapes, great arenas ...

Not anymore
There's just too much risk now in crossing the US border, too much danger of tripping over some kind of invisible racist circuit-breaker or annoying some border agent on a power trip -- it's just too much to worry about.
Like, have we ever had any kind of issue in the past with getting a visa for the US? Overstay by even a few hours? And which entry port are we trying to use? And did we ever criticize Trump on social media? Do we have any tattoos? Or funny photos on our phones? Do we draw comics? And even, what's our opinion on climate change?

Jasmine Mooney / The Guardian

I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped
I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky
I restarted the visa process and returned to the same immigration office at the San Diego border, since they had processed my visa before and I was familiar with it. Hours passed, with many confused opinions about my case. The officer I spoke to was kind but told me that, due to my previous issues, I needed to apply for my visa through the consulate. I told her I hadn’t been aware I needed to apply that way, but had no problem doing it.
Then she said something strange: “You didn’t do anything wrong. You are not in trouble, you are not a criminal.”
I remember thinking: Why would she say that? Of course I’m not a criminal
She then told me they had to send me back to Canada. That didn’t concern me; I assumed I would simply book a flight home. But as I sat searching for flights, a man approached me.
“Come with me,” he said.
There was no explanation, no warning. He led me to a room, took my belongings from my hands and ordered me to put my hands against the wall. A woman immediately began patting me down. The commands came rapid-fire, one after another, too fast to process.
They took my shoes and pulled out my shoelaces.
“What are you doing? What is happening?” I asked.
“You are being detained.”
“I don’t understand. What does that mean? For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
That would be the response to nearly every question I would ask over the next two weeks: “I don’t know.”
...To put things into perspective: I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, resources, media attention, friends, family and even politicians advocating for me. Yet, I was still detained for nearly two weeks.
Imagine what this system is like for every other person in there.
...When I finally landed in Canada, my mom and two best friends were waiting for me. So was the media. I spoke to them briefly, numb and delusional from exhaustion.
It was surreal listening to my friends recount everything they had done to get me out: working with lawyers, reaching out to the media, making endless calls to detention centers, desperately trying to get through to Ice or anyone who could help. They said the entire system felt rigged, designed to make it nearly impossible for anyone to get out.
The reality became clear: Ice detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a business. These facilities are privately owned and run for profit.
Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. It’s a lucrative business: CoreCivic made over $560m from Ice contracts in a single year. In 2024, GEO Group made more than $763m from Ice contracts.
The more detainees, the more money they make. It stands to reason that these companies have no incentive to release people quickly. What I had experienced was finally starting to make sense.
This is not just my story. It is the story of thousands and thousands of people still trapped in a system that profits from their suffering. I am writing in the hope that someone out there – someone with the power to change any of this – can help do something.
The strength I witnessed in those women, the love they gave despite their suffering, is what gives me faith. Faith that no matter how flawed the system, how cruel the circumstances, humanity will always shine through.
Even in the darkest places, within the most broken systems, humanity persists. Sometimes, it reveals itself in the smallest, most unexpected acts of kindness: a shared meal, a whispered prayer, a hand reaching out in the dark. We are defined by the love we extend, the courage we summon and the truths we are willing to tell.

The latest in "Elbows Up!"

I've been collecting more "Elbows Up" posts - Canadians are so inventive, so funny, everyone loved it when Trump said in a recent interview that Canada is "nasty" because it gave us something else to laugh about:

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Oops! Poilievre just shot himself in the foot.

Well now.

For the last week, the Conservatives have been trying to gin up a scandal about Carney's stock portfolio, hoping Canadian media will follow Rosemary Barton's lead and adopt a hectoring, suspicious "But her emails!" tone about Carney's blind trust - they seemed to want to burst Carney's rising balloon and bring him down to earth, make him look uncomfortable and sneaky, ducking and weaving -- and that was starting to happen, I was reading more posts and seeing more commentary and news stories about how Carney "needed to say something", with the usual "poor optics" complaints when there wasn't anything else to criticize.

   

So today I'm watching Power and Politics, and David Cochrane is interviewing several guest pundit types about the latest federal polls and other stories, of course including Carney's stock portfolio blind trust and maybe it was suspicious etc etc. 
Because there wasn't really anything else to talk about this afternoon anyway -- Carney had already completed his European and Iqaluit press conferences, the polls have been turning around for the Liberals but everybody already knew that, and there hadn't been any new tariff news. The only big news of the day seemed to be those astronauts coming home from the space station.
It did seem to me that maybe the whole "Carney is sneaky" smear from the CPC might just be gaining some media traction, with pundits discussing whether Carney was hiding conflicts of interest in his stock portfolio and why wouldn't he just tell everyone what he owned and what was he maybe hiding and lets talk about it some more and interview some more people while we're at it...
Then, at about the 30-minute mark, kaboom....
Cochrane announced he had just received an email from CPC's Jenni Byrne announcing that "there will be no media contingent on the Conservative plane" during the election campaign.
And then it just hit the fan!
All of a sudden, Canadian media had something to talk about.
And so did dozens of columnists across the country, and hundreds of posters on social media.
Now, I don't know why Poilievre and the Conservatives decided to kick reporters off his campaign plane -- Poilievre has always had a prickly relationship with many Canadian reporters, he doesn't like them, he doesn't respect what they do, and the feeling is mutual. It seems to be very hard for Poilievre to talk easily to reporters - or anybody, really - in that breezy, friendly, off-the-cuff way that reporters love and politicians cultivate. And Poilievre obviously feels more comfortable with the media right-wingers who like him. So maybe it was everything, everywhere, all at once, who knows.
But what amazed me about this today was - why NOW?
I could not believe it...for heaven's sake, why would CPC announce this right now, this afternoon, on the very day that its smear campaign against Carney might finally be bearing some fruit, so to speak.
Talk about stepping on a rake, knocking yourself out, distracting from your agenda and sabotaging your own message.
Of course, when Byrne sent her email, Carney's stock portfolio immediately became old news, and reporters started speculating about Poilievre's fear of reporters,  and rehashing those many many Poilievre media clunkers.

How do you like THEM apples?