Letter From the Great White North
 

Hi, all.

I was going to take a long vacation from posting in this forum but before I do, I thought I'd let you guys know how things are going just north of y'all.

Not much is new around here. Well, there is this: we hate you now. Seriously. We want bad things to happen to our former best friends. You people elected a mentally ill megalomaniac who is bent on world conquest and appears to want to begin with his Northern neighbor. He said he was going to do it, you elected him and now he's doing it. Promises made, promises kept. We can't see anybody else to blame except the American electorate. You guys brought this on.

And (if you're paying attention), don't take the conciliatory approach of our politicians as the will of the Canadian people. We really don't like you anymore. Personally, I feel particularly slighted. I grew up in the
USA and the experience influenced me bigly(!). I felt aligned with American goals and objectives, American culture and politics to the extent that I really didn't differentiate them fom those of Canada. With this most recent attack from your country, obviously that no
longer goes. I am all on board with cutting off hydro-electric power, strategic minerals, raw materials and all
energy shipments to the United States and will vote for the first politician of any party who suggests any (or preferably all) of these as viable reactions to this unwarranted American attack.

I'm not alone, either. Check the news outside of your own little bubbles. Canadians are now avoiding purchase of American products wherever possible. We are canceling US destination vacations in droves. And it goes beyond that: your illustrious leader has evaporated over a century and a half on mutual interest and goodwill with one stroke of his Sharpie. We are now constantly trying to think of new and interesting ways to fuck you guys up, and American voters are responsible for this unfortunate development, not just those who voted for the current administration, but those whose apathy and inaction made their election a reality.

As mentioned, if you're even listening, don't go by what
you hear from Canadian politicians. It's just polite Canadian window dressing. Trust me, we're pissed. The ill will we bear you is now floating around and we didn’t put it there, but we will act on it. What are we gonna do? Well, to paraphrase an immortal Canadian leader, just watch us.

I'm American and I really don't like most Americans any more, either. That includes the 90 million who couldn't even be bothered to vote.

Why do people insist on thinking Americans=MAGA? The election margin was actually tiny. To answer my own question, they got control of America's face and power, andvit's now coming after you.That's what you see.

I fully understand and I don't blame you Canadians. A certain political party put the frog in a pot of water and gradually turned on the heat. The other political party behaved like it was just going to be a warm bath. Maybe we, the boiled frog will find a way to leap out of that pot. Maybe not. Right now I'm not so certain. I'm not so sure America has the strenght for the fight anymore :(

As an american, I don't think you have any excuse for saying "most Americans." Sounds like you've bought into Trump's claim that he won in a landslide. He absolutely did not.

Muskrat's paid AI driven bots and trolls are so prolific that it seems that way. What blows the collective minds areound the world is how so many Americans could buy into this clusterfuck. Anyhoo, like I said years ago on this very forum, the GOP has been at war with our democracy for a long, long time. The only question now is this only a battle or the war?
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It's time we had some Democratic leaders begin to fight back based on that very fact. It infuriates me when I hear the likes of Musk and trump's "Little Johnson" say "It's what the people wanted" :mad:

Understand your reactions to us neighbors to the south. Having family ties in your great country. Love it well I do.

The election was a close one. One side is much louder and forceful then the other one has been. In the past it has had it's moments of being heard and listened to. We shall see if and when their voices will be listened to by the other.

I have nearly as much problem with the complacent ones who allowed this to happen as I do with the arrogant narcissists who made it happen.

And as stated above, it seems like most Americans have lost the will to fight. All our American friends and acquaintances who haven't gotten on board with MAGA seem to be claiming fatigue and keeping their heads in the sand.

Well, ~70 million voted for Trump and 90 million didn't vote. Current population 334 million. 72 million of those are under 18 so I won't count those.
Of 262 million over the age of 18, 160 million didn't bother to vote, or voted for a felon who behaves like a spoiled child. That's 61 percent of the population, which is 'most'

Also I don't know how the hell you got that I in any way support Trump from what I posted.

Great post and a very good analogy.

Its all out war, the GOP wants an end to democracy as we have it now. I am not sure if they want a Russian style oligarchy, but doubt they know what they want. But their dream is for a White Christian state, no taxes, no regulations, no minority rights, no abortion and guns for all. even the religion is for identity, not a theological state.

If they do get to this point, eventually the guns will get them because poverty brings out the worst in people.

I am wondering if there is a way for states like CA, NY, IL and MA to temporarily keep the Federal tax withholding. Perhaps not possible for national companies, but for in state small businesses to send their Federal withholding into a state administered escrow fund.

I don't blame the people mostly because I have very low expectations from them, and what little faith I may have had went out with the advent of social media.

But I blame this loss primarily on Biden and the Democratic party. In a two party system, one has to vote for one party or the other, unless one stays home.

Their ill conceived coronation of Hillary gave us Trump I and whatever made them think that this country will elect a black woman who is an established political lightweight.

I place great fault on Democrat party leadership because they let the GOP define who and what we were. The start should have been going tooth and nail against every Repub that refused to acknowlege President Biden and politely calling what trump was doing "misinformation" instead of calling it what it was, outright lying. The party leadership knew Joe was approaching his "sell by" date and did nothing to plan for after that. Some of the younger party leaders should have been turned loose on trump to get some alternatives for the next election known and they wouldn't have had to punt to Harris when Biden stumbled.

Lack of an honest primary in 2016 led to Trump I and no primary in 2024 led to Trump II.
Trump was a very weak candidate in 2016 and had lots of baggage and a Felon badge in 2024, and yet he won.

To begin with, the Democratic should make it their election process to hold primaries and no one over 70 years of age should hold an elected office which will then bring in young new political leaders.

Will they do it? Nah, they would rather go for obscure causes and lose their audience.

Please. I didn't say you support Trump. I said you are supporting Trump's claim that he won in a landslide. That claim is foundational to their claim that they can do what they do because it is 'the will of the people.' Which is always the justification used by dictators to make their power absolute.

It plays into their narrative to lump non-voters into the count of Trump supporters.

I think people will fight if inspired by a leader who sees that we have to. The Republicans have leaders who keep saying 'Fight Fight Fight!' It's gotten to the point where we could use Trump's words to mobilize against him: “We fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.” It's bitterly ironic that these words have become true.

The one Democrat who I hear saying things that indicate he gets this is Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. "...we are staring the death of democracy in the eyes right now."
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/vi...right_now.html

That’s some real pretzel logic there Don.

Trump did not have to do anything. The Biden admin was just arrogant.

Oh but he did, plenty.

Understatement of the year.

Or he foolishly trusted or believed in the electorate being more informed and intelligent. Able see the road ahead with the choices given the facts at hand.

Was wrong is so seems now!!

The war on Biden began with the J6th insurrection and move on to Hunter and then expanding to charges of Biden's family being a band of crooks (a case of defamation), the Biden economy (which was doing great).

The crooks and liars were the ones throwing these accusations but the voters have lost the ability to think for themselves and now American democracy is being bulldozed and no one can do anything about it.

Someone needs to inform the DNC leadership.

Attachment 4375

The DNC also failed to understand the power of stupid people in large groups. The GOP did understand.

Some are stupid, sure. A lot just have a complete lack of empathy for anyone different than they are.

But, I have hope........Hope that things will turn around.
The other day, I had lunch with a person who, during the election, was a Harris hater and a Trump supporter. Out of the blue, that person declared the inability to support the crazy things Trump is doing......... specifically, slashing whole departments and failing to address the rising cost of consumer goods.
Ok, I know this is just one person........but, there must be more out there who are like minded and are feeling voter's remorse.
My only hope is that the tide will turn soon enough to limit the damage Trump is doing. If those people, and more contact their representatives, there will be change.
According to Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Senate is receiving around 1,600 calls each minute, compared to the 40 calls per minute they usually receive. This has to make some sort of difference sooner or later.

I work in a majority MAGA office. None are stupid or wackadoodles. They are starting to openly say things like... "wish I could have my vote back" "what the eff did we do" etc

I have yet to say "told you so" and probably won't. I do walk in and say stuff like "WTF is your boy doing"

Well, another in my ongoing "America Reaps What She has Sown" series ...

Canadian vacationers are canceling US destinations in droves. We're aiming to make it a very quiet Spring Break this year. My wife and I sold our remaining US properties last year and ruled out our usual Southwest winter break on November 5 of last year.

In our new quest to poke a thumb in Uncle Sam's eye, we are avoiding purchase of anything whatsoever made in the USA. Used to be I would shop with the objective of limiting my expenditures to North American or Commonwealth-made products, but have now modified that plan to exclude anything of American origin.

Implementing this strategy isn't as simple as it sounds due to the interconnectedness of our two economies, and is requiring no small amount of research. But we believe it's a worthwhile pursuit and worth the effort, especially if the effect is compounded by similar actions on the part of millions of other Canadians who have been motivated by the actions of your fearless (or is that feckless?... wait, I guess two things can be true) leader.

Oh, and big hockey game tonight! Having spent my formative years in a place that favored baseball and football, I was never a huge fan, but I'm gonna tune in if only to enjoy hearing the SSB get drowned out in a chorus of boos.

As I pointed out in my OP, don't blame us for this ill will ... you guys brought it on with your actions (or inaction) at the ballot box last November.

What should concern the US most about Canada is that any disruption, especially during the winter months to the supply of electricity, oil and gas will have a huge economic impact on the border and Midwestern states. Besides, some of the Midwest refineries can only process Canadian crude. Add in loss of tourism especially from Canada (#1), Europe and perhaps also Mexico (#2), states like Florida is screwed.

We are not unaware of those points. You guys need to make sure that your representatives are similarly aware.

But very few Americans are, especially regarding crude oil. Most believe that we get our crude oil from the Middle East yet 52% is from Canada and less than 10% from the ME.

And as for our representatives, they are all in hiding, Reps from fear of Trump's retribution and Dems from their own electorate for helping elect Trump twice.

My understanding is China and others have or are building the capacity to refine Canadian crude. Canada it seems doesn't take kindly to bullying. Seems that barrel Felon thinks he has them over is more like a bucket.

So you guys are all utterly helpless, then? Bummer. For all of us.

Yes, we are all utterly helpless for now and in the near future like say, two years until the next election. For proof, Hegseth, Noem, Kennedy and Tulsi Gabbard all got confirmed without a fight and so will Kash Patel who is perhaps the least qualified. And the Federal government is being gutted in a chaotic fashion. I think his plan is to de-centralize the Federal workforce and spread them in other states, basically put the largest employer in DC out of business.

And once the tariffs kick in, egg prices (when we can get them) will seem like a bargain. I personally do not believe that the Aluminum and steel tariffs will ever kick in since that will be a huge blow to US manufacturing.

Just think of all the things eggs go into...... plus as one who had chickens and collected eggs. They don't just replace quickly...

Plus who's to say they will not just get sick and die again!

Happy Flag Day, Canucks!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ifax_9_-04.JPG

Thanks, Bob. And now we get another crack at you guys in the hockey tournament.

Back to topic though, I just finished an article in The Guardian about Macron's big Ukrainian summit wherein it was revealed (as I interpreted it) that NATO would be essentially toothless without US support in an Article 5 situation and, member or not, nobody is sending troops to the Ukraine under any circumstances.

So I guess Canada won't go looking for help there when Trump starts massing troops on the 49th.

Well, at least we won the damn hockey game.

All indications that Trump is moving fast. He has learned a lot from his first term and remembered Obama who squandered his first two years by not dealing with his platform immigration issue.

Damn! I did not see the de-centralization part. Trump is reducing somewhat the costal cosmopolitan heft.

It warms my heart the Canadians won. Congrats!

Yes, we have to cling to the little things. Thanks for the kind words, Bob.

CANA-DUH! CANA-DUH!