Happy (mostly) Halloween!

I have collected quite a batch of Halloween cartoons so I thought I would post them tonight instead of waiting for my Sunday Funday column.  Enjoy!

 

Librarian horror stories:

Canada and EU sitting in a tree....
The Canada-Europe Summit ended today on a great high note when the Alliance for the Future was announced.

Canada and Europe have announced a new alliance of like-minded nations. This is a powerful move that is bound to unsettle Trump. If special invitations are being handed out, the answer is Yes from this Australian. 🇪🇺 🇨🇦 🇦🇺 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

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— Kerry Jaggers 🇦🇺 (@kerryjaggers.bsky.social) October 30, 2026 at 10:45 PM

Reporter: Would President Trump be welcome in the Alliance for the Future? (Carney didn't answer btw)

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— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson.bsky.social) October 30, 2026 at 12:09 PM

Here's an interesting interview between Carney and the German public broadcaster DW (Deutsche Welle):

I spotted this on Facebook, from the Montreal Gazette cartoonist Aslin (Terry Mosher), titled "Let's Hope"

 


Blue Wave a-coming? 

Nobody knows yet whether the Blue Wave will actually happen, but here are some opinions I respect.

Evan Scrimshaw writes

...This year there is almost complete harmony on the story being told, from red pollsters and blue, Democratic optimists and pessimists, from where the parties are spending money, and where Trump is going. Trump Tele-rallies and Republican freak outs about Louisiana, money being dumped into South Carolina by the GOP, Republicans spending on House seats nobody would have even considered being in play this cycle, the national polls, the state polls, and the district polls all point in the same direction. Either this is a blue wave or the entire American polling industry should be dismantled and the entire apparatuses of both the Democratic and Republican parties should be as well. ...
I said earlier it’s about the math, and by any reasonable estimate of the math this will be a very blue year. But it’s not just about math, it’s about faith - faith in America to do the right thing, maybe, but just faith that the thousands of people who poll for a living have decided to do something more than running back the same errors another time. We’ve spent two years having the same conversations about Trump, which is his numbers keep getting worse but can we believe it. It’s not about disagreements about what the polls say, or whether these methods decisions are worth more or less than others. The problem is, basically every poll of every swing state is very good for Democrats. Outside of Iowa and Kansas, I can’t think of a state where you can make a good faith argument for either side without resorting to “but all (or almost all) the polls could just be wrong”. The polls all point in one direction, but it’s about whether we believe.
In Canada, you see people cope and seethe through elections where their side ends up losing. Some would argue I did that in BC, though by the end I came to my senses. But in Canada it’s funny watching the diehards cling to a belief that gets increasingly refuted. It was high comedy in 2024 watching the Trudeau zealots find new and inventive conspiracies to explain why actually he was popular and still on track to win again, precisely because it was conspiratorial nonsense masquerading as analysis. It’s funny when a Liberal says that losing a Byelection in a seat you had won by 24% the election before by 500 votes isn’t a sign of panic, because it’s so hilariously unaware of the reality that winning St. Paul’s by 500 votes instead of losing by that much would have been equally disastrous.
In the US, it’s not so funny, because they could be right. They’ve been right before, as Democrats have had big leads fall apart on them as the clock ticks over on election night. At this point, US election prediction is about math, but it’s also about faith. And this time I have it, if only because I can’t countenance living so scared of what everything is saying right in front of my eyes. I believe in the wave. And, somehow, I believe it’ll crest deep in the heart of Texas.

Kevin Boucher writes

...Turnout isn’t magic, and it isn’t partisan. Donald Trump won in 2024 on near-record turnout. Whoever mobilizes wins.
British Columbia showed the flip side last weekend. David Eby called a snap election nobody wanted, and turnout fell to about 48%, a record low for the province. The Conservatives formed their own government for the first time since 1928, even though they got almost 49,000 fewer votes than they did in 2024. The NDP lost around 274,000. The Conservatives didn’t surge. NDP voters stayed home.
That’s the lesson from all of it. When people feel something is at stake, they show up, and the people who were counting on them staying home lose. When they don’t, a motivated minority decides for everyone.
Israel may be the clearest test still in progress. With 85.6% of votes counted, Netanyahu’s bloc had 53 seats, eight short of a majority. Eisenkot’s bloc had 48 and the Arab parties had 19. Whether the opposition can turn that into a government is another question. But Netanyahu, who has spent years on trial for corruption, couldn’t hold his majority with that many people voting.
Enough is enough
Hungarians said enough. Serbians said enough. Brazilians were losing on election night and said enough three weeks later. None of them did it by complaining. They did it by voting, in numbers too big to ignore.
Americans will get their chance on Tuesday. Every poll, every betting market and every nervous move out of the White House says the mood has turned. But a mood doesn’t change anything on its own.
Democracy isn’t something you have. It’s something you do. Enough is enough only counts if you show up.

And I thought this was great, too:

You can tell the mid-terms are going bad for Trump by the elevated rhetoric against Canada. Our economic war is hitting home. Hoekstra is already blaming us for losing Michigan and Maine. What? Just two states? C'mon Canadians, we can do better than that. charlieangus.substack.com/p/canada-the...

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— Charlie Angus (@charlieangus104.bsky.social) October 30, 2026 at 7:20 AM