Mid-week update: patriotic videos; funny posts and observations; today in the War of 2025

Credit: Brian McFadden, as posted on Daily Kos

I am so impressed that people are making their own patriotic tributes to Canada:

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Preparing for whatever comes

I think the world is already adopting the "Gargle My Balls" slogan in dealing with the United States.

Preparations to fight Trump, with his annexation agenda and his pro-dictator policies, now seem to be underway around the world -- in Europe, in Asia, even here in Canada.

Basically, the democracies of the world are moving on without the United States. 

Just a week ago, Black Cloud Six wrote: 

For months, I’ve been calling for decisive action to improve our defence capabilities and disentangle Canada from the U.S. It seems—finally—our leadership has realized this too. We may reach a point where the West makes a clear break with Trump and his regime in Washington, but we’re not there yet. Europe (along with Canada and the UK) will try almost anything to prevent such a break. I just hope it doesn’t come at the cost of our sovereignty and honour.

I dare to believe that already the clear break is happening. 

Last week, the European Union met in London with Trudeau and everyone carried on without the US.

Europe is seeking to lead peace negotiations in the Russian- Ukrainian War-

The West is at a “crossroads in history,” Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer told European leaders at a pivotal summit in London, as the continent sought to wrestle control of negotiations over the… pic.twitter.com/Bl5jvkFS7v

— Thomas (@Thomas984634784) March 9, 2025

Timing is everything

Justin Trudeau always did have great timing.

You know, when you think about it, perhaps one of the greatest services Trudeau ever did for Canada was to resign at exactly the right time. 

If Trudeau had been trying to save his leadership over the last two months, I expect a significant number of Canadians would have written off his warnings about Trump as just outlandish and self-serving hype - "oh, it can't be serious, Trudeau is just trying to scare us to get us to support him, Trump couldn't possibly be so stupid...." while the Conservatives would have howled about another Justin lie... 

But as of January 6, we knew Trudeau was resigning - and we knew there was no political future in Canada for him anymore. 

Later in January, when Trudeau started to talk about Trump's goal of economic destruction and annexation, Canadians almost immediately took him seriously.  

Also, because he was resigning, Trudeau was unleashed - he didn't have to worry anymore about future prime-ministerial calculations or advantages. Canadians quickly accepted that Trudeau had no reason to obfuscate or mislead about Trump, and we started serious discussions about what our next steps should be.

Even when Trump tried to undermine Trudeau's rising popularity by posting that Trudeau was manoeuvring to save his leadership (which is, of course, exactly what Trump himself would do) Canada didn't take the bait -- we immediately saw this for what it was, just another Trump lie.

So the warnings from Trudeau and Joly and LeBlanc were believed and taken seriously by most Canadians - a unexpected but magnificent surge of unity and patriotism and solidarity has been the result. 

Here are some of the imspiring cartoons and posts I have seen in the last month:

It's Carney!

Mark Carney is the new Liberal leader and Prime Minister designate - we will find out soon what the schedule will be for Trudeau resigning and Carney being sworn in.

 

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Carney's acceptance speech was basically his introduction to the Canadian electorate. I thought he did a good job and hit the right notes - his good humour was evident, along with his opposition to Trump and Poilievre.  

I really hope he has the time and energy to travel across the country over the next few weeks - yes, he did a lot of travelling as a candidate, but he wasn't introducing himself to ordinary Canadians, who need to meet him as soon as they can.

Yes, the Annexing Canada talk is serious now. Deadly serious.

People have been chatting about this sotto voce for weeks, but also saying "it's so paranoid, I don't really believe it, not really..." 

We will look back on March 7 as the weekend people finally believed it -- that Trump and his crazy administration actually do want to take over Canada - by referendum, or by annexation, or by war.

Trudeau and Joli already knew this and they've been sounding the alarm.

Now, we're all listening.

Canada Bureau Chief Matina Stevis-Gridneff / New York Times

How Trump’s ‘51st State’ Canada Talk Came to Be Seen as Deadly Serious

President Trump, in an early February call, challenged the border treaty between the two countries and told Justin Trudeau he didn’t like their shared water agreements.

After President Trump imposed tariffs on Canada on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an extraordinary statement that was largely lost in the fray of the moment.

“The excuse that he’s giving for these tariffs today of fentanyl is completely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false,” Mr. Trudeau told the news media in Ottawa.

“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” he added.

This is the story of how Mr. Trudeau went from thinking Mr. Trump was joking when he referred to him as “governor” and Canada as “the 51st state” in early December to publicly stating that Canada’s closest ally and neighbor was implementing a strategy of crushing the country in order to take it over.

...Mr. Lutnick called Mr. LeBlanc after the leaders had spoken on Feb. 3, and issued a devastating message, according to several people familiar with the call: Mr. Trump, he said, had come to realize that the relationship between the United States and Canada was governed by a slew of agreements and treaties that were easy to abandon.

Mr. Trump was interested in doing just that, Mr. Lutnick said.

He wanted to eject Canada out of an intelligence-sharing group known as the Five Eyes that also includes Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

He wanted to tear up the Great Lakes agreements and conventions between the two nations that lay out how they share and manage Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario.

And he is also reviewing military cooperation between the two countries, particularly the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

...In subsequent communications between senior Canadian officials and Trump advisers, this list of topics has come up again and again, making it hard for the Canadian government to dismiss them.

The only soothing of nerves has come from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the four people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Rubio has refrained from delivering threats, and recently dismissed the idea that the United States was looking at scrapping military cooperation.

But Canada’s politicians across the spectrum, and Canadian society at large, are frayed and deeply concerned. Officials do not see the Trump administration’s threats as empty; they see a new normal when it comes to the United States....

Weekend funnies: Jim Cuddy's song, some funny posts from Mark Hamill, the Beaverton, Trudeau and more; and Animal Crackers

 

 ...Oh no What went wrong

Used to be the singers in a two part song 

Guess all good things come to an end 

But we used to be the best of friends 

Lately there’s been a storm on high 

Things got bad and god knows why 

Give us a call when the fever ends 

Used to be the best of friends 

Yeah we used to be the best of friends 

Ah maybe we could be best friends again 

 ...let's hope. 

 Well, its been another one of those weeks, hasn't it. The crazy has been unrelenting and exhausting:

💤

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— Mark Hamill (@markhamillofficial.bsky.social) March 8, 2025 at 12:56 PM

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Today's Memes: Trudeau Take Thursday, Musk Lose Sky, Trump Drop Trou, and today in "Elbows Up"

Following along with the "Trump Take Egg" meme, I think we need to title this one "Trudeau Take Thursday"

Q: “The foreign affairs minister called all of this a psychodrama - how do you characterize it?” TRUDEAU: “Thursday.” 🔥

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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) March 6, 2025 at 8:21 PM

Elbows Up -- and laughing

Scrolling through social media today, the anger was unrelenting and the patriotism palpable. 

But nothing can stop Canadians being funny -- here's some good stuff from today: 

First, a word on terminology:

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I am Canadian!

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"We will fight and we will win" - Inspiration from Justin Trudeau, comments from Wesley Wark, Charlie Angus, Evan Scrimshaw, Paul Krugman, Jeff Tiedrich. And in late news, US now saying "never mind"?

My illustration today was posted by CdnHistoryEhx - it shows the Battle of Queenston Heights, Oct 13 1812 by John David Kelly. Despite being outnumbered by three to one, the Canadians and the British won against the United States. 

It seemed appropriate because once again Canada finds itself fighting an unwanted battle against a much stronger bully.

 

Trudeau gave a brilliant speech today, and held a brilliant press conference. 

"We will fight, and we will win. ... We're going to make sure nobody goes hungry, and everyone carries their share."

Yes, I agree this was the most remarkable part - Trudeau is not pussyfooting around:

“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that'll make it easier to annex us." This is the most extraordinary statement by a Canadian prime minister in the history of this country. The Trump administration is at war with Canada.

— John Ibbitson (@johnibbitson.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 11:39 AM

If you can't listen to all of it, read Wesley Wark's excellent analysis:

Wesley Wark / Wesley Wark’s National Security and Intelligence Newsletter

Trudeau comes out swinging

Or, he gets three big punches in, but shadow boxing

... This was Trudeau the boxer, on his toes....

He aimed three big roundhouses.

The very first, right off the top, was aimed at the Trump administration as a whole, that bizarre coterie of loyalists, weirdos, and the under-qualified...

The second punch was aimed at the gut of the American people. Canadian counter-tariffs, Trudeau indicated, was never a shot we wanted to take....

The third swing was to the chin of the Donald. Trudeau didn’t refer to him as The President or Mr. President, just “Donald.” Lese majeste! Cue up howls from the rabid right wing media in the US. This was almost a worse afront than failing to wear a suit. Trudeau reminded Donald that over the course of their respective political careers, “we have done great things together.” Note to Trudeau speech writers—Donald’s memory and grasp of history is not the best (but it doesn’t matter). The PM then went on to really power it in, quoting and agreeing with the Wall Street Journal--that “Donald—this is a very dumb thing to do.”

Then finally, he turned to the Canadian people, not with a punch, but a promise, hopefully not a fairy-tale. American tariffs will be tough, he said, no sugar-coating, but the government will be there to support you.

Probably the most unscripted thing that Trudeau had to say, which came out in the brief Q and A with the media, was that what Trump wants to see with the tariffs is a total collapse of the Canadian economy, which would make it easier for Trump to annex us. Not going to happen, he said.

It was inspiring for everyone:

Elbows Up! Responding to the Trump tariffs

Well, here we go. 

And Canada is in it to win it:

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Trudeau tried. 

But Trump is just in love with breaking things. And I think he is tired of Musk getting all the press lately for Making America Great Again so Trump desperately wants to get some for himself.  And he seems to think that tariffs will return America to his daddy's ideal world - the 1880s. 

And besides, what could go wrong? 

An underrated part of this video is you can watch the Dow go down in real time in the bottom right

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— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund.online) March 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM

Canada will show him what can go wrong.

BREAKING: Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has confirmed that Canada will implement retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Tariffs will soon be placed on U.S. exports, including orange juice, peanut butter, wine, coffee, cars, trucks, steel, and aluminum.… pic.twitter.com/ecV3DSs2Us

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) March 3, 2025

CANADA — In response to Trump’s tariffs, Ontario Premier Doug Ford: “I’m going after absolutely everything. And I don’t want to.” pic.twitter.com/lJ60QmOOjf

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) March 4, 2025

"Why is everything so stupid right now?"

Yes, its crazy. 

Just a short one today -- a great theory of the stupidity now in the US, a few funny posts, and Mike Myers.

Brittlestar 

My Global Gas Leak Theory 

Why Everything and Everyone Is So Stupid Right Now

And I have a theory: there has been a global gas leak.

That’s right. The whole planet is just slightly woozy, stumbling around like it stood up too fast after three espressos on an empty stomach. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. Because otherwise, we have to accept that rational people are willingly walking into disaster with the enthusiasm of a dog charging towards a vacuum cleaner.

Look at the sheer volume of decisions that defy any survival instinct. Countries are electing leaders who seem to actively despise them, like a villain in a cartoon who’s just found out he owns the orphanage and now wants to burn it down for insurance money.

Governments are passing laws that seem designed to make life harder for the very people who voted for them. Policies are being rolled out that appear to have been brainstormed in a room where someone left the oven on and no one noticed.

This isn’t just one country, or one political ideology, either. This is happening everywhere, across all spectrums of thought. It’s as if, overnight, a memo was sent out saying, “Let’s see what happens if we just drive straight into the wall, full speed.” And the worst part?

People are cheering for the wall.

... what happens when there’s a gas leak?

People get confused, make terrible choices, and ultimately, the situation goes from “ha-ha, why did I put my car keys in the fridge?” to “oh no, we’ve blown up the entire house.”

And that’s exactly what global politics feels like right now. Leaders and voters alike are stumbling around in a haze, seemingly unaware that they are making decisions that are setting fire to their own futures.

So what’s causing this metaphorical gas leak? Maybe it’s social media, pumping brain-fogging fumes into our collective consciousness. Maybe it’s the 24-hour news cycle, which feeds us a steady diet of outrage and confusion until we’re too disoriented to tell up from down. Or maybe, just maybe, there is an actual gas leak, and we need to open a window, take a deep breath, and reassess before we collectively pass out in the kitchen.

The good news? Gas leaks can be fixed...

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— Rick (@rickylongthread.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 9:11 AM

So Trump made Zelenskyy an offer. But Zelenskyy refused ...

Just when I think Trump can't possibly get any worse... on Friday, he turned into The Orange Corleone: 

“You’re either gonna make a deal or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out,” said Mr. Trump. “I don’t think it’s gonna be pretty, but you’ll fight it out. But you don’t have the cards, but once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting at all thankful, and that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest, that’s not a nice thing.”

And there was more:

 

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So Trump tried to bully Zelenskyy. And it didn't work. And by doing this in public, the whole world now understands that Trump is a vain, stupid, cowardly man, and so is Vice-President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio. The impact of this realization will be incalculable.

Criminalizing drug addiction: "We can't punish the trauma out of people by creating more trauma."

Saskatchewan and Alberta are both bringing forward legislation to criminalize 

drug use as well as drug trafficking. 

It seems to be as much a performance, as a plan. 

But the people it will hurt are real. 

In Saskatchewan, the focus seems to be on stopping drug use on the street because its icky: 

Brody Langager / Saskatoon Star Phoenix 

New drug penalties could further marginalize users: PHR executive director 

Prairie Harm Reduction is raising concerns about new drug-related penalties it says could potentially further marginalize people.

The provincial government this week announced legislation to address the battle against methamphetamine and fentanyl in Saskatchewan, including fines of up to $1 million for drug trafficking; seizing property used for or purchased with the proceeds of drug sales; reclassifying drug use and “other disruptive activities” in semi-public spaces as trespassing; and classifying drug-related items (including needles) as street weapons to let officers seize them immediately.

Also under the new measures, driver’s licenses, provincial firearms licences, hunting and fishing licences, and in some cases business and other municipal licenses can be cancelled. As well, provincial benefits could be cancelled.

“While we recognize the need for action in response to the overdose crisis, we firmly oppose punitive approaches that further marginalize people who use drugs,” Prairie Harm Reduction executive director Kayla DeMong said this week following the government announcement.

“For decades, the government has focused on criminalization as a way to solve systemic issues. Instead, they push people further into unsafe conditions, increasing overdose risk and barriers to health care.”

DeMong said charging people for possession of needles or potentially taking away income assistance will strongly impact those who are using substances, not those selling the drugs. She said labelling sterile needles as a weapon is “a direct attack” on efforts that have helped reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, and that needle exchanges and safe consumption sites are proven to save lives.... 

“Saskatchewan needs more low barrier voluntary treatment, accessible housing, investment in health care & mental health care, more harm reduction services, & decriminalization & supportive policies”. thestarphoenix.com/news/local-n...

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— Laurence Thompson (@thompsonlg.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM

This is the way America ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.

We are the hollow men 

We are the stuffed men 

Leaning together 

Headpiece filled with straw.

Alas, here we go again:

Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada — which he inaccurately used drug trafficking to justify — were paused at the last minute. Now, it seems that Trump’s massive tariffs are back on.

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— The New Republic (@newrepublic.com) February 27, 2025 at 7:51 PM

The rest of the world is now realizing what Canada learned a month ago, that America is no longer Reagan's "shining city on the hill". 

It is turning into Mordor.

Every single day in America with Trump as president is the worst day in history, until the next day.

— Outspoken™️ (@out5p0ken.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 9:44 PM

Today's News: Liberal debate night two "Chrystia Freeland won on tone, Mark Carney won on policy"

It was the second night of the Liberal leadership debates, and once again, no fireworks:

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This Liberal leadership debate is so boring, so rife with specific policy ideas delivered in a careful, measured manner by four intelligent wonks, all who are being respectful of each other and scathing towards the PCP leader and I’m so grateful for it…

— 🇨🇦Lisa Gabriele🇨🇦 (@lisagabriele.bsky.social) February 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM

Watching the Liberal Leadership debate. The U.S. could take lessons on how to have a civilized debate from us. Carney is shining!

— Mike the Canuck (@mikekraan.bsky.social) February 25, 2025 at 8:19 PM