Cathie from Canada: Sunday Funday: Canada Strong, plus some cartoons, some good posts, TrumpWatch, Animal Crackers and Wildfire Update

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Sunday Funday: Canada Strong, plus some cartoons, some good posts, TrumpWatch, Animal Crackers and Wildfire Update

Canada Strong

Carney's speech and press conference Saturday morning:

I saw no criticism anywhere about what Carney said or how he said it - clear, informative, straightforward, understandable.

I'm seeing posts and comments everywhere today about the trade deal rejection. Here are some good ones:

My read of the situation as someone who has dealt with Trump and his people? They were headed to a deal at the table. Someone around Trump (probably Lutnick and/or Navarro) threw in a poison pill at the last minute for commercial or ideological reasons. Trump is not a details guy. He may not have been fully aware of the consequences. Probability that he TACOs before market open on Monday is north of zero. There will be moments like this as long as Trump is president. PM and team are doing a great job under enormous pressure. Keep calm.

- Gerald Butts

Read on Substack

I’m not going to lie to you, I was surprised to learn that Mark Carney brought Canada’s negotiators home from Washington last night. I’m travelling today, but I wanted to share a few thoughts with you all. I’ll write more before Monday. I want to talk about what this means – why we could have seen it coming – and why I think it’s the right call. First, this is real and it won’t be pleasant. Those 50% tariffs kicked in last night, on about 5% of Canada’s exports to the US — electronics, plastics, wood products and some other stuff. Jobs and livelihoods depend on that business. This isn’t a game. As Candace Lang at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce wrote on Friday night: “For a small Canadian exporter operating on tight margins, it means looking at your orders, your payroll and your employees and asking what you can still afford.” Well, then why break off negotiations? I’m writing this before Carney talks to reporters on Saturday, but I know this much. First, there’s precedent. 39 years ago, at just about the same time of year, Brian Muloney brought Simon Reisman back from Washington because the Americans weren’t treating Canada seriously at the negotiating table. Mulroney always said you have to be willing to walk away from a bad deal. Second, Mark Carney has said you have to be willing to walk away. In fact at one point he said it more strongly than that. Three days before the 2025 election, he gave an interview to Village Media. Here’s what he said about Trump: “I know the guy, I know the way he negotiates. The first offer is going to be a bad deal, and we’re going to walk away from it.” Third, the Trump gang just kept making it clear they saw Canada as just another target for a shakedown. That’s what JD Vance said about Carney at that fundraiser in the Hamptons on Wednesday: “Carney presents this as some victory for Canada when fundamentally, they climb down on a lot of issues.” We’ve seen it before. The Trump gang always think they’re the tough guys. They always have to be shown — by Zelensky, by Greenland, by the people of Minneapolis — what tough looks like. Sure there’s risk in it. But the greater risk is to lose your soul. Look at what these people have done in just the last few days. Trump threatened a think tank with a $5 billion lawsuit for publishing a report on crime rates that he didn’t like. The editor, publisher and a reporter at Stars and Stripes were fired after the editor stood up for truth in reporting. And Trump cut military cooperation with South Korea because he still has some kind of stupid crush on the dictator in North Korea. This is who we’re up against. Yes, Americans are our closest neighbours, and our biggest customers, and a lot of them are still good people. But taking every abuse they hand us, just because they’re bigger, isn’t realism or maturity. It’s just asking for more.

- Paul Wells

Read on Substack

So US negotiators made impossible, humiliating demands on Canada. Were they arrogant idiots or did they not want a deal? I know, those aren’t mutually exclusive propositions. Soon Kim Jong Un will be Trump’s only friend.

- Paul Krugman

Read on Substack

It strikes me now how incredibly gullible the Alberta separatists have been, because they are playing right into Trump's hands with all the Referendum and anti-Canada talk

From the traitors' corner

Cartoons!

Interesting posts

New York City stories

Mandami is showing the world how to be a mayor

Good news for Vancouver

After Hunter said it appeared like his dad was dying, this is great news

And speaking of Hunter Biden, he is doing podcasts and shows

Space stuff

Medieval stuff

About Africa

About animation

Early Cartoon Network was hugely inspired by the UPA animator Bobe Cannon. Artists like Genndy Tartakovsky loved his style of movement, studied it and put it in their work. We're looking into Cannon's methods and how they shaped these shows:

- Animation Obsessive Staff

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Funny posts
Trump is losing his mind and he's taking the United States with him.

Trump announced he is getting 300 tonnes of mystery meat ("ground beef product") from some unknown place so he can lower beef prices before the mid-terms, and American cattlemen who all voted for Trump are furious.

About the passing scene

Maybe there really was a Nigerian prince trying to email people

- KGB Report by Kevin G. Barkes

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- Dj Renigade

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These school blackboards are really fascinating

People hate being watched by cameras all the time

Fun with time travel

When you get it, you get it:

We share the finest science memes, feel free to join us for more.

- Science Is Fun

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Fun with science

- Science Is Fun

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Meanwhile, in Alberta

Getting Old(er)

TrumpWatch - posts about the world's most anticipated event.

Animal Crackers

Playful bees?

- KGB Report by Kevin G. Barkes

Read on Substack

This is mesmerizing, especially the dog

Finally, here's a short Wildfire Update

4 comments:

Cap said...: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi: There is "no intention of negotiating for now."
MB Premier Wab Kinew: "We should be prepared to duke it out for two years."

I think waiting out Trump's term in office is a good approach. We know Trump's word and signature are worthless, and any deal is just the basis for demanding more concessions.

Waiting out Trump will be painful for us, just as it will be for Iran. The trick is to make it more painful for Americans. They are the ones who failed to jail him and then voted him back into office. They are the only ones who can remove him now.; 9:19 am
Cathie from Canada said...: Yes Cap, they are.
Luttig says the next problem will come on Jan 3, if Johnson refuses to seat the newly elected Dem majority because of "election fraud"; 12:18 pm
Cap said...: Let's not count chickens before they're hatched and assume a Dem majority. Trump still has plenty of time between now and November to obstruct the vote in key precincts, fabricate a need for national-security powers to purge and miscount ballots, falsely charge fraud, illegally seize ballots, threaten election workers, and claim foreign interference. And, let's not rule out Dems stepping on rakes and causing their own voters to stay home, like Jeffries meeting secretly with Kushner.; 6:27 am
Northern PoV said...: "Let's not count chickens before they're hatched "
good advice .....
"The Supreme Court clears the way for Trump to restrict mail-in voting; 3:12 pm

Cathie from Canada

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Sunday Funday: Canada Strong, plus some cartoons, some good posts, TrumpWatch, Animal Crackers and Wildfire Update

4 comments:

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