Wednesday, September 02, 2026

Today in "Christ, what an asshole!"


And we all know who today's asshole is.

Hegseth punching down because he is a douchebro and a bully

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— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman.bsky.social) September 1, 2026 at 10:15 AM

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In The Globe and Mail, Vancouver reporters Andrea Woo and Mike Hager gathered some Canadian opinions about the post:
...B.C. Premier David Eby called the post an embarrassment.
“It tells you everything you need to know about the amateur-hour, distracted, bizarre leadership that Americans are being subjected to right now,” he said in response to a reporter’s question at a news conference in Burnaby on Tuesday.
“That includes a pointless, stupid, self-defeating trade war against Canada, of all countries in the world. I look forward to a change in that leadership. I’m astonished at the depths they continue to explore with their public rhetoric.”
Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, who served as minister of national defence in 2015, also pushed back against Mr. Hegseth’s post.
“In the midst of a hot war against a mortal enemy of the United States, the Secretary of War of the world’s only super power finds time to troll folks at a cadet camp for teenagers in Vernon, British Columbia,” Mr. Kenney wrote. “To our many friends in the great United States of America: What’s going on?”
Dimitris Soudas, former director of communications to prime minister Stephen Harper, said the Canadian Cadet Organizations help young Canadians develop leadership, discipline, self-confidence and a commitment to their communities.
“Mocking these young people says far more about the person doing the mocking than it ever will about the young people wearing the uniform,” he wrote on X.
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis replied to Mr. Hegseth’s post saying that “cadets do great work, and are not members of the military.” He continued: “158 members of the Canadian military gave their lives in Afghanistan after your country was attacked. Canada and the US have a great history of fighting together for freedom and justice. It’s history worth remembering.”
The reporters also found out how Hegseth got the photo:
...The image came from an Aug. 24 Instagram post by the Vernon Cadet Training Centre in B.C.’s North Okanagan, celebrating the conclusion of its 2026 summer program. It depicts a commanding officer of one of the Western Canada cadet squadrons in military camouflage handing a medal to a cadet wearing a scarlet beret
The first woman, a Cadet Instructor Cadre officer, is paid by the reserve forces of Canada’s military to train young cadets.
On Monday,an account called Veterans for Freedom, which purports to be a Canadian veterans community group, posted the image in a reply on the social-media platform X, deriding the fitness of military members. Popular conservative Montreal-based streamer Nick Belanger, also known as the Pleb Reporter, posted the image a few hours later.
Mr. Hegseth shared the image with his two million followers later that night,...

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Canada's chief of defense staff General Jennie Carignan also responded on Tuesday, though if she felt outraged about what happened, the CBC quotes used in the interview didn't show it
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Its all part of Trump's "lets trash Canada" campaign and his cabinet of lickspittles are getting into the act.

Sean Duffy says Canada "doesn't have a military." Canada lost more than 45,000 in WWII, sent 40,000-plus to Afghanistan and lost 158, and its ambassador was first to propose NATO's only-ever Article 5 invocation, made for the United States after 9/11.

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— Mike Young (@micyoung75.bsky.social) August 24, 2026 at 9:26 AM

Bessent: “We’re not at war with Canada. How are we going to be at war with Canada? What, are they going to take their two submarines from the Edmonton mall and sic them on us?” Because mocking allies is what the US does. Plus: remove CBC from covering Rep convention. Because CBC tells the truth.

— jocelynreekie (@jocelynreekie.bsky.social) August 31, 2026 at 9:45 PM
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Carney says "It's beneath their office"

Reporter: What do you make of U.S. cabinet secretaries insulting the Canadian military? Carney: It's beneath their office. 🎥 Credit CBC News ❤️🍁🇨🇦TEAM CANADA FOREVER🇨🇦🍁❤️ ❤️🍁🇨🇦VIVE LE CANADA🇨🇦🍁❤️

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— 🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 (@teamcanadaforever.bsky.social) September 1, 2026 at 9:18 AM
Wow. For Carney, acting with respect in an executive office is one of his highest values. So there is likely no greater insult that Carney could express than saying that a Cabinet Secretary has acted "beneath their office".
Carney also says Americans need to stop being stupid.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ci90UBbs8&si=rwqjf4SyYWjdfmNQ Standing up to the bullies

- Lola Lala

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And he explains why he shut down the trade negotiations
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I don't think there will be any more negotiations for a long long time.

All Pretence Has Been Abandoned. War Has Been Declared. The United States of America has now made its demands and its intentions clear. The direction has been obvious since January 2025: bring American industry home, dismantle the industrial partnerships built with allies, and put walls around the American market. That part was never a mystery. But America cannot isolate itself from the world and still obtain everything it needs. Its own National Security Strategy effectively acknowledges that reality. So the answer was not simply economic nationalism. It was to assert American primacy over the Western Hemisphere and treat the sovereignty, resources and economic choices of neighbouring countries as subordinate to American interests. Canada included. For everyone who is only now waking up to what is happening, pull your head out of the sand. There is a binary choice in front of this country. We can lose the industrial partnerships we have enjoyed with the United States and lose our sovereignty with them. Or we can lose those industrial partnerships, remain a sovereign and independent Canada, rebuild industry here and form new partnerships with countries that still understand what the word partner means. Choose your path because we already have. Because “return to normal” is off the table. So is “keep my American branch-plant job and hope none of this affects me.” That option disappeared back in November of 2024. Pretending otherwise will not bring it back but it will help our enemy. Americans may hate what their president is doing. Millions undoubtedly do. But Donald Trump is the President of the United States. Until Americans change that reality, he speaks for their government and commands its enormous power. Canada has to deal with the United States that exists, not the one we wish existed. And if “I don’t want Canadian cars, I don’t want Canadian parts, I don’t want Canadian anything” isn’t enough to get every Canadian auto worker and every employee of an American branch plant to understand what is happening, I genuinely don’t know what will. Perhaps an invasion. And maybe not even that. So if you’re frightened about what comes next, good. Take that fear and do something useful with it. Join The Resistance. The absolute least any patriotic Canadian can do for the workers, families and communities being hit by this economic war is stop financing the country waging it. Change your buying habits now. Not one American product even when a reasonable alternative does not exist. Go without or find a different solution. Learn to do without the US now and help to build the supply chains that will sustain us when the option no longer exists. And for the sake of all that is good and holy, stop vacationing there! Boycott any meetings, conferences, and shows. Stop pretending your individual choices don’t matter. Or stop pretending you are a patriot. We are under attack and you’re not being asked to take up arms, just to put down packages that feed the US economy. Join the consumer boycott. Pretend the border is already closed to American goods. Because Donald Trump has just told us, in the clearest possible language, that as far as Canadian goods are concerned, he intends his side of it to be. Join The Resistance!

- Wayne Horton

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As Paul Wells says about Trump
Gee, he sure sounds like he wants a deal.
“I don’t want Canadian cars, I don’t want Canadian parts, I don’t want Canadian anything,” Donald J. Trump wrote on Sunday afternoon on his janky social-media site. “I deal with the Leadership of many Countries, but I find Canada to be the worst.”
For comparison, lately Trump has been compulsively posting photos of himself with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, with whom “I get along GREAT!” Kim periodically executes political opponents using anti-aircraft fire, whereas Mark Carney used the word “hydronym” in a tweet. I think we can all see who the real monster is.
It’s fun reading Canadian commentators argue that with just a few more concessions we could get to some level of NAFTA-minus-a-bit, which would be a stable basis for workable bilateral relations going forward. Here’s what’s actually on offer, straight from the horse’s, er, mouth: “Let all Canadian Companies that are doing business with America move to the United States, immediately.”...
Stephen Marche wrote a New York Times op-ed last week [gift link], and then was interviewed by Chris Hayes.
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3 comments:

Cap said...

Looks like Hegseth's distraction worked like a charm. Everyone's discussing the Canadian cadets. That sure beats discussion of two out of three of his top generals quitting:

It also worth noting that just yesterday, the U.S. Secretary of the Army AND the U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of the Army both reportedly resigned from their roles, leaving the United States without the Army’s number one and number three man.

The timing of these resignations, in conjunction with SecWar Hegseth reportedly endorsing a new military plan of action yesterday, raises significant questions as to the current American strategy in the Iran War.

6:16 am
Northern PoV said...

"America’s ongoing quest to stop firing $4 million missiles at $30,000 drones" ......
Bessent insult reminds me that we are fools to buy into the military-spending nonsense (2% ...5%) that Carny is leading us into, especially if we buy weapons/F35s from the USA or contribute to the Golden Dome fantasy.
Our number one enemy is now our closest neighbour. We should emulate the Ukraine and Iran: build hidden drone and missile factories and mobile launch platforms. Much cheaper and more effective at defeating modern hegemons.

8:24 am
Northern PoV said...

Build a new pipeline? Be afraid, very afraid.
This article is from oilprice.com, Number 1 Source of Oil and Energy News ....
"Solar Has Crossed a Critical Economic Tipping Point
By Leon Stille - Aug 29, 2026, 4:00 PM CDT
Solar now requires no more upfront capital than coal or gas to produce the same annual electricity, reversing a disadvantage that was as large as five-to-one a decade ago.
Batteries and wider grid flexibility still add real system costs, but firm solar-plus-storage is already competitive with new fossil generation in favorable markets.
For capital-constrained emerging economies, solar no longer means paying more today to save money tomorrow. Increasingly, it is the cheaper entry ticket as well."

Note that China is building solar-panel factories and electric motorcycle factories in Africa.

8:41 am

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