Ulterior Motives

 

This popped up on my anti-social media feed today.  Worth a read.

 

I know a little something that so many do not appreciate about Donald, but that those of us who worked with him in the financial services game have known for many decades—LONG before he ever made a run at politics. 

 

His stated motives rarely reveal his true agenda. His showmanship and charisma bedazzles the uninformed, which is exactly how he likes it.

 

He never signed a contract or met an agreement he wouldn’t violate or wriggle out of if it suited his hidden agenda. He never met an investor whose purse he didn’t consider his own in some strategic way. And he never met a human being he wouldn’t screw in order to advance or satisfy himself. 

 

If you want to understand his beef with Panama, don’t look at the canal to which he now points. Look at Trump enterprises and their fraught financial and criminal relationship with Panama, and look to the Russian oligarchs who bought condos in his Panama Tower.

If you want to understand his fixation with Gaza, don’t look at the Palestinian or Israeli people; look at the real estate value he now perceives that Gaza holds, and he’d like to unlock. 

 

If you want to understand his insane, obsessive beef with energy renewable windmills, don’t look at the wind energy aspect; look at his beef with Scotland over his golf course and the nearby windmills that damaged his idea of its aesthetics. 

 

If you want to understand his irrational hatred of Obama, don’t look at the policies of the Obama administration; look to the annual press corp dinner where Obama poked fun at him and bruised his ego. If you want to understand his demonization of Democrats, look not to Democratic social policy, but to the fact they didn’t want him to run under color of their party. 

 

If you want to understand his hatred of “immigrants” don’t look to the actual contributions and challenges related to immigration, but to his own germophobia and personal disgust for all things “dirty and brown.” 

 

What he does SO masterfully, as many sociopaths do, is figure out how to align, however temporarily, his own personal agenda with the drives of those he can then USE to help him execute it. And the GOP fell right in line with that abusive strategy. 

 

The GOP now looks much like a battered wife who would LOVE to quit Trump, but who also knows their financial security, personal comfort, and social status would collapse if they ran away. And they fear they won’t get much sympathy or support from the people who tried to warn them not to marry the dude—a serial, liar, cheater, thief, sadist, and a generally Bad Person. 

 

Many of the GOP politicians today are busily masking their own abuse from the general public; at some point, however, as they watch their power continue to erode, their reputations get smashed, and themselves get blamed for the extensive abuse they now suffer, something’s gonna give. 

 

I don’t know what it is, but every bone in my body FEELS an energetic convergence heading toward a massive, MASSIVE explosion—coming soon.

 

Author ~ Eilene Workman

I Do the Best Tests

 

Recent news about a certain medical test caught our attention.

Jon has a comment, of course.

We Stand With the Penguins

 

In the past week, amid the on again, off again, on again, who-knows-what-state-we're-in tariff war, the American administration levied tariffs on two islands in the Antarctic Ocean, Heard Island and McDonald Island.

Those two islands are uninhabited. No, wait, they're inhabited by penguins.  Penguins who have been, according to Trump, ripping off the USA for years.  One wonders how.  The Interweb, however, responded, in hilarious fashion.  A selection:

Canada has sent "Friendship Scarves" to the penguins

The penguins have been grateful for the support from Canada and from around the world

On a slightly more serious note, one could blame this whole ridiculous episode as being the fault of a very poorly functioning education system in the USA.  Or to the poorly qualified members of Trump's "team", or, perhaps, to Trump himself, although one wonders if he bothered taking enough time away from the golf course to come up with this list.

So many questions.  

Many media outlets weighed in, about the only way they could - a mixture of seriousness and derision.

"Nowhere on Earth is Safe..." from the Guardian.

"Nowhere is Safe" ... from the BBC., which went on to say:

Heard and McDonald Islands - a territory which sits 4,000km (2,485 miles) south-west of Australia - are only accessible via a seven-day boat trip from Perth, and haven't been visited by humans in almost a decade. 

Australian trade minister Don Farrell told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the tariffs were "clearly a mistake". 

"Poor old penguins, I don't know what they did to Trump, but, look, I think it's an indication, to be honest with you, that this was a rushed process."

 

Bogus Part I

 

(From elsewhere on the Internet)

Trump's Lies About Canada Vs. Reality

Subsidies/Trade Deficit

Trump Lie: Trump said March 13: "In the case of Canada, we're spending $200 billion a year to subsidize Canada."

Reality: Trump has repeatedly exaggerated the U.S.-Canada trade deficit which is closer to $35.7 billion, according to the latest trade data released from the U.S. Census Bureau on March 6. The overwhelming driver of the deficit with Canada is that the U.S. buys a lot of unrefined oil from Canada. If you take out energy (that the USA desperately needs AND gets from us at a discount!), Canada is running a small deficit with the United States.

Dairy

Trump Lie: Trump said on March 7: "In Canada, we find that they're charging us over 200% for dairy products"

Reality: The over 200% tariffs on U.S. dairy products are only triggered if U.S. dairy exports exceed certain yearly duty-free limits, and U.S. dairy manufacturers say they have never been close to exceeding these limits. These tariffs were negotiated during the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which Mr. Trump signed during his first term.

Fentanyl

Trump Lie: March 4: "They have allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens."

Reality: Trump cited Canada's failure to halt the flow of illicit drugs as a reason for imposing tariffs, saying that fentanyl has been coming from the country "at levels never seen before." He claimed, "The fentanyl coming through Canada is massive." In 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the U.S.-Canada border, accounting for roughly 0.2% of all fentanyl seized by CBP that year. By contrast, approximately 21,100 pounds — about 96.6% of the total — was seized at U.S.-Mexico border.

Oh Alberta (reprise)

 

File this under the category of "What Was She Thinking"?

A Canadian Premier urging a foreign leader to adjust his policies just to avoid pissing off Canadians in the runup to an election?  

Dan Yell's supporters and advisors might try to spin this differently, but read what she apparently said.  

Yeah, it's Offensive, all right.

Alberta Premier's office denies Smith urged US to interfere in Federal election.

Anything that can legitimately show this in a better light?  This is what I read:

During a March 8 interview with Breitbart, a right-wing U.S. media company, Smith said the Conservative Party of Canada was far ahead of the governing Liberal Party in polls before the trade war. But the threat of "unjust and unfair tariffs" had boosted Liberal support.

Smith told U.S. administration officials that she hoped "we could put things on pause," so Canada could get through an election, she told Breitbart. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is more aligned with the Trump administration's agenda, Smith said.

"The longer this dispute goes on, politicians posture, and it seems to be benefiting the Liberals right now," Smith told Breitbart.

"Let's just put things on pause so we can get through an election," she said. "Let's have the best person at the table make the argument for how they would deal with it — and I think that's [Conservative Leader] Pierre Poilievre."

Explain how we should see this as anything other than an invitation to interfere in the election of a sovereign nation.

Whither Democracy

 

Events over the past few weeks in American politics has caused many people and some organizations to question what will become of Democracy in the USA.

US Could lose Democracy status, says global watchdog

MAGA Man (A Neil Young Parody - Canada Ain't Your 51st State)

Making the rounds on social media, this takeoff from Neil Young.

As If We Didn't Know Already

 

Several million voters elected an eejit to the White House.

But we knew that already....

How Can You Tell When Trump is Lying?

 Apparently whenever he opens his mouth.  This analysis from subversives within the Federal bureaucracy.

Alt National Park Service

stdernoSophlafh1h7g83a5381iff18628g606tia8g1hf91t2357u0i6800 

That speech didn’t age well. Here are some notes on the false and misleading claims.

“We won the popular vote by big numbers and won counties in our country 2,700 to 525.”

This is misleading. Trump won the popular vote in 2024 but only by a small margin (1.5%), one of the smallest in modern history.

“Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded.”

False. February had about 8,300 border encounters, far from historic lows. In the early 1900s and 1960s, annual crossings were much lower.

“Hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month, and virtually all of them including murderers, drug dealers, gang members and people from mental institutions and insane asylums were released into our country.”

False. While crossings were high under Biden, there’s no evidence that most migrants were criminals or from institutions.

“I withdrew from the unfair Paris Climate accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars.”

False. The Paris Accord is nonbinding, and the U.S. set its own commitments. Trump’s cost estimates come from industry-backed studies that ignore benefits.

“We ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our autoworkers and companies from economic destruction.”

False. Biden promoted EV incentives, not a mandate. Automakers had already committed to EVs due to global trends.

“I have directed that for every one new regulation, 10 old regulations must be eliminated.”

False. No reliable metric shows Trump cut more regulations than past presidents. Studies found his claims exaggerated.

“We’ve ended weaponized government where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent like me.”

False. No evidence Biden directed prosecutors against Trump.

“We inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”

False. Trump inherited low unemployment, falling inflation, and strong growth.

“We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years. But perhaps even in the history of our country, they’re not sure.”

False. Inflation peaked at 9% in 2022, lower than the 1970s and post-WWII spikes.

“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control.”

Misleading. Egg prices spiked due to bird flu, not Biden’s policies.

“The appalling waste we have already identified … We found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud.”

Unproven. Claims rely on questionable math, miscategorized spending, and false fraud allegations.

“…$45 million for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma …”

False. The funding was for scholarships in Myanmar, not DEI programs.

“…$10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique …”

False. It was a public health initiative to reduce HIV/AIDS.

“…$20 million for the Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East. It’s a program. $20 million for a program …”

False. The main funding came from private foundations, not U.S. government grants.

“…$59 million for illegal alien hotel rooms in New York City …”

Misleading. NYC received a grant for migrant housing at standard, not luxury, rates.

“We have hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have not been showing up to work.”

False. Many federal employees telework, but Trump’s numbers are exaggerated.

“It was one of the main reasons why our tax cuts were so successful in our first term, giving us the most successful economy in the history of our country.”

False. The economy was strong, but not the best in history—other periods had higher growth and lower debt.

“Over the last three months about Mexico and Canada, but we have very large deficits with both of them. But even more important, they’ve allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before.”

False. Mexico is the main source of fentanyl, not Canada.

“We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico of hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Misleading. Trade deficits aren’t subsidies, and Trump’s numbers are exaggerated.

“We have had $1.7 trillion of new investment in America in just the past few weeks.”

Dubious. Claims rely on recycled announcements, vague commitments, and unrelated Biden-era policies.

“Not long ago. And you can’t even believe these numbers. 1 in 10,000 children had autism. 1 in 10,000. and now it’s 1 in 36. There’s something wrong.”

Misleading. The rise is partly due to better diagnosis and broader definitions.

“But it was built at tremendous cost of American blood and treasure. 38,000 workers died building the Panama Canal.”

False. The actual number was under 6,000, mostly non-Americans.

“Europe has sadly spent more money buying Russian Oil and Gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine — by far!”

False. Military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine exceeded energy spending.

“We’ve spent perhaps $350 billion [on Ukraine], like taking candy from a baby. That’s what happened. And they’ve [the E.U.] spent $100 billion.”

False. U.S. aid was $183 billion, while the EU’s total support exceeded that.

“Biden has authorized more money in this fight than Europe has spent by billion and billions of dollars.”

Misleading. The EU has committed and spent more than the U.S., but disbursement rates differ

If Trump was President in 1940

Think back.  Think waaaay back.

John Stewart on DOGE

 

The video is about 20 minutes long, but it's worth watching.

I understand that Musk has agreed to come on The Daily Show, if nothing is edited or censored.  This could be funny to watch.

OUTRAGEOUS

 

Yesterday's meeting between Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, DonOLD Trump and his sidekick JD, descended into what can only be described as a old-style Mafia shakedown.

Trump, Vance shout at Zelenskyy in Heated Oval Office Meeting.

This is simply outrageous.  Ukraine was invaded by Russia.  Ukraine has been trying to defend itself with cautious help from allies for 3 years.  One of those allies used to be the United States.  Not any more, apparently.

Under Trump and his boy JD, the USA seems to have abandoned democracies, has been heard repeating Pootin's talking points about who started this war (as if there was ANY doubt) and has been suggesting that if only Ukraine would settle with Russia, all would be good.

Aurel Braun, a professor of international relations and political science at the University of Toronto, said the exchange was "something extraordinary" that will only play well with a fraction of Trump's most ardent supporters.

"Many Americans will be appalled by this. Most Americans do not want to see this kind of public bullying and humiliation of some ally, which is fighting for its life," said Braun, who is also an associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University.

"I think this has very long historical implications, I think this is most unfortunate, and it is not over. Trump can change his mind in a New York minute, but what has happened today has been something that will darken whatever legacy [Trump] has forever."

 In another story, The Day the Old American Order Cracked in the Oval Office, there were these comments:

To find a precedent, one expert looked back to the defunct Soviet bloc, and how the Kremlin would treat subservient communist leaders.

"How they humiliated them in public. How they bullied them. There has been no precedent in the United States," said Aurel Braun, an expert on eastern Europe at the University of Toronto, calling the meeting "extraordinary."

Naturally, Russia was celebrating.

In Moscow, the celebratory posts online popped like champagne corks. Referring to Zelenskyy, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev posted on X: "The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office."

Once again, one has to ask.... is there a Russian Agent in the Oval Office? 

Russian Agent in the Oval Office?

 

Pretty hard to believe, given the decades of anti-Soviet, Red-Scare crap that came out of the US, but the question is being asked, and recent comments from the main characters aren't very reassuring.

This all goes back quite a few years, close to 40, to be exact.  For example, The Guardian had this story, written in 2021.

'The perfect target": Russia cultivated Trump as an asset for 40 years - ex-KGB spy

During tЯump's first term as President, there was this exchange (Trump sides with Russia against FBI at Helsinki summit) 

"At a news conference after the summit, President tЯump was asked if he believed his own intelligence agencies or the Russian president when it came to the allegations of meddling in the elections.

"President Putin says it's not Russia. I don't see any reason why it would be," he replied.

US intelligence agencies concluded in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale of the US election against Hillary Clinton, with a state-authorised campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media."

tЯump has also parroted Russian nonsense about the war, claiming that Ukraine started it.

Even more recently (basically yesterday, in the United Nations) the US sided with Russia on two different resolutions.

US Sides with Russia in UN Resolutions on Ukraine

So the question has to be asked.... is there a Russian Agent in the Oval Office?

More to come, I'm sure.

An Alternative to Retaliatory Tariffs

 Much air time over the past two months has been taken up with talk about tariffs.  Trump has threatened Canada (and other countries) with import tariffs, seemingly believing that those tariffs will be paid for by the exporting country.  Just one of many things that Trump doesn't understand.

In Canada, all levels of government are looking at ways to retaliate if those tariffs are put into place.
One problem with those strategies is simply that if we place a tariff on items coming into Canada, that will increase prices for Canadian consumers.  That assumes, of course, that Canadians consumers are willing to have anything to do with American imports.  Anti-American sentiment recently has been almost instantly negative in a way that I think has surprised many of us.
Tech writer Cory Doctorow wrote an article on January 15th, 2025, suggesting a different approach, one that seems to have merit.  If adopted, it would save Canadians money AND it would hurt the huge tech companies in the USA who have mostly all decided to stand with Trump.
The whole article can be read here:  

Canada Shouldn't Retaliate with US Tariffs 

As a background, around 2000, the USA, Canada and Mexico, negotiated a replacement to NAFTA, which became known as USMCA, although it wasn't really much different from the agreement it replaced.  Trump boasted how it was a "big, beautiful" trade agreement.  It would appear it only took 5 years for his opinion to change.
Part of the agreement included "anti-circumvention laws" which make it illegal to tamper with digital locks on a whole range of items, from tractors to iPhones.  Mexico was brought in under those new laws through the USMCA; Canada had already capitulated.  We can blame two Canadian Conservative politicians for that, Tony Clement and James Moore, who sold Canada out back in 2012.
What it means, in practice, is Canadian owners of a whole range of items end up not really "owning" what they purchased and so are forced to buy proprietary ink for printers, parts for cars and other machines (like tractors) and any apps written for iPhones MUST go on the Apple Store minus 30% skimmed off the top by Apple.
Doctorow goes into a bit more detail, but basically, since Trump is tearing up the USMCA, Canada should go ahead and develop a Canadian App Store and provide jailbreaking kits to enable Canadian owners could put what apps they want on their phones, Canadian developers would receive more money for their work and Canadian farmers would gain the ability to increase the operability of their tractors by bypassing John Deere's digital locks.  Canadian farmers (and farmers around the world) would acquire the right to repair and modify their own equipment.
He concludes his article by saying:
"What’s standing in the way of a Canadian industrial policy that focuses on raiding the sky-high margins of American monopolists with third-party add-ons, mods and jailbreaks?
Only the IP laws that Canada has agreed to in order to get tariff-free access to American markets. You know, the access that Trump has promised to end in less than a week’s time?
Canada should tear up these laws — and not impose tariffs on American goods. That way, Canadians can still buy cheap American goods, and then they can save billions of dollars every year on the consumables, parts, software, and service for those goods."

Book Burning 21st Century Style

 

The metaphorical book burnings have started, just with a 21st Century twist.  But first, some history, lest we forget.

Germany in Olden Times

In the 1930s, there were a well-documented series of ritual book burnings carried out by the German Student Union, targeting books deemed subversive or deemed to represent ideologies opposed to Nazism.  The burnings included books written in English, French, Jewish authors, people like Albert Einstein and Helen Keller.

As with any good, well-planned authoritarian campaign, the Nazis compared this to Luther's ritual burning of the papal bull.  As with many authoritarian comparisons, it wasn't similar, the Nazis engaging in cultural genocide which later morphed into actual genocide.

Canada in More Recent Times

Canada had a short-lived brush with the attempted authoritarian control of science, in our case.  The government of Stephen Harper engaged in a campaign to close and/or destroy research libraries and research documents.  His government also tried to muzzle scientists, especially any who were engaged in climate and/or environmental research.

I was told of a personal situation where a National Park Interpreter (Park interpreters give guided walks and presentations about the natural world as it exists in Canada's National Parks) was smacked down for presenting a comedic scene between a caribou and a pika that asked "why do people do what they do".

In and around 2013, the Harper government conducted what has been described a chaotic series of closures of federal research libraries and the destruction of research material.  This sad time in Canadian history has been told in many ways from many sources, such as:

Federal Library Closures and the Harper Government's Monoculture of the Mind.

What's Driving Chaotic Dismantling of Canada's Science Libraries?

"Libricide": Harper Government Closing and Junking Environmental Libraries

The conclusion quickly reached was that the Harper government was engaging in a long-term strategy to suppress Canadian science, a story documented here.

Book Burnings 21st Century Style

Fast forward to the past two weeks.  The Trump administration has seemingly engaged in the removal of research files and data related to public health, environmental research and other related areas.

There's a Canadian connection here, interestingly.  A Canadian researcher was contacted by a colleague to see if she was aware of the imminent destruction of key data sets held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  In a matter of hours, a number of archivists managed to download and save the entire CDC website.  The story first appeared here:

Canadian Residents are Racing to Save the Data in Trump's Crosshairs.

Some studies that could inform future decisions about the H5N1 virus (bird flu) also appeared to be at risk.  Also disappearing was a website containing the names of the January 2020 insurrectionists, and websites that monitor HIV infections.

There is an Internet Archive, but it could become a target of the Trump Administration and his Brown Shirt goons.  However, the Internet Archive is backed up here in British Columbia as well, putting it beyond the reach of the aforementioned goons.

This campaign of destruction might seem puzzling, but keep in mind two things.  First, the Republican Party in the USA has become increasingly antagonistic towards science, a fact that should be apparent to pretty much anyone.  Second, Trump is the one quoted saying: "If We Stop Testing, We'd Have Fewer Cases".  

No Donald.  If you stopped testing, you'd have the same number of cases, you just wouldn't know about them and wouldn't know enough about what was happening to make sensible public health decisions.  Which, I suppose is exactly the problem Trump was having.  This is one more reason why the USA had one of the highest death rates during COVID.  Poorly informed and proud of it.

Trump idiotic claims have been retold and refuted in many places, such as here, and here, and here.

One Final Note

It's worth remembering these stories and what happened here in Canada around 2013/14.  One of the future contenders for Prime Minister in an election that will likely take place this spring, was a Cabinet Minister in Harper's government.  Pierre Poilievre has provided no reassurance that any future government of his won't engage in the same kind of tactics we're seeing south of the 49th.  I wouldn't trust him as far as I could spit.