As if any president ever went shopping for gifts. PULEEEZ. That’s the second main reason why Bill had Monica. “Get yourself something nice and put it on my tab, Mon. Maybe a new dress? And, while you are at it, could you get something for Hillary, too? It’s her birthday coming up. Thanks, hon.”
But Trump did say, “I got her a nice card. A really nice card.” Seems he snuck out of the White House long enough to shop for a nice card. What kind of idiot would even SAY that? Trump is on record as speaking total nonsense through gibberish but very few husbands are so stupid as to say THAT!
Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in have said they will denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. HUGE deal. This done after a successful Olympic Games that included both countries. The Koreans are getting along. My guess? China had a word.
Emmanuel Macron cosied up to Trump only to diss him completely when making a speech before the US Congress. He said Trump’s policies are insane.
So……which of the two ‘world leaders’ sounds better right now? Kim or Trump?
Call me crazy but Kim is lookin’ better by far.
I dunno. I have an appetite for politics and I confess that Trumpism is, if nothing else, a constant spectacle of political dysfunction and madness for me. But that nutcase is addictive. He reminds me somehow of the comedian Bobcat Goldthwait. When I first saw the Bobcat, he was so manic that I thought a crazy person had accidentally gotten on stage. His delivery was so insane and intense that, at first, it made me squirm just watching him. His voice was screechy and he seemed to be unraveling right on stage.
But then I kinda got used to the Goldthwait shtick and, while still amusing, my getting used to him diminished his affect. The Bobcat hysteria and the appeal (his and mine) waned.
Trump is doing much the same to me now. NOT completely but some. The more I am exposed to the voice, the rambling, incoherent illogic, the lies, the contradictions, the less he matters. It’s weird. He is still POTUS. He still has the nuclear football and he can still wreak havoc and seems clearly intent on doing so but, like, I dunno….it’s something akin to watching a Chihuahua go nuts….it can still bite but, really…?
Anyway, consistent with that observation is my disinterest in that observation. Right now, I am more interested in book 3. ACCIDENTAL FUGITIVES will be released in a couple of weeks. LOTS of fun. It’s a quick read. Approximately 275 pages (different number depending on the format – if it’s an Amazon print or a kindle e-book or a private, local printer, the page numbers change). The story is an action adventure starring two old people.
I can’t recommend it because doing so is kinda self-serving and obnoxious not to mention egotistical and pompous but, what the heck..you know me by now….so seriously consider getting it and do so with the complete understanding that your money will be wasted.
Do it for Sal.
On a closing note….the water pump is pumping, the funicular is funning and the new fuel tank is in place (lifted and placed by Sal and I – NOT easy). Sal’s boat motor soon to be serviced, the garden starting to go in and a little soiree planned for tomorrow night. All is currently right with our world…..mostly….
….a few aging friends are of concern.
Oh! And get this: Grandson, Leo is 6 months old and doing fine. My son called last night to tell me, “Leo ate his first clam tonight. Actually ate two.”
“Clams? Leo is eating clams? What the hell….?”
“Yeah. Seems to love ’em. Mom put a clam between her fingers and he sucked and chewed at it till it was gone. So she did a second. He likes clams.”
“That’s hysterical! Weird. Sheesh. Who woulda thunk it. Thanks for sharing that.”
DAVE! Why tell us your grandkid eats clams. You losing it?
The way I see it is this: POTUS is insane. Trudeau is barely a man-child wanting to act in dramas of his own making and the Korean clown that was Kim Jong-un is starting to look good to me. Is reporting on my grandkid’s appetite for clams any more insane than all of that?
Our Off the Grid Home 
It is a world full of ironies. My favourite irony is choices made against the choosers own self interests. Why would a party fearful about border security cut $390 million from Canadian Border Services(CBS)?
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Well, the Harpercons were the most fear mongering…..was it them? The Trudeau Liberals see refugees and immigrants as Rebecca saw Sunnybrook Farm….totally rose-coloured. Was it them?
My own view is that refugees and immigrants are needy and unfamiliar, they are different and contrary to a natural extent, they are likely to be hardworking and ambitious but somewhat corrupted by the culture they came from and ,by definition, they will be in angst and fear. In other words, they are both good and potentially bad. The Harpercons and the Liberals handle it all badly. Like DFO handles fish.
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The party. I’m thinking of loves “drill baby drill,” Sarah P. The one that does not believe in global warming and thinks it is okay to pollute because everyone in the world is polluting so they have permission to be polluters too. Alberta will soon be the most polluted province in Canada. Those ironists.
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How can the party of Sarah Palin (GOP-Republicans) cut the budget of the CANADIAN border service?. You mean the Harpercons? The Cons who occasionally put Progressive on their label? The ones who keep resigning for being found out about something?
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The Canadian Cons love resource extraction at any cost. “Drill baby drill.” The Canadian Conservatives, rationalize this resource extraction because, ‘everyone is doing it.’ Why should Canada put the environment before economic prosperity, the Canadian Conservatives ask.The concept of environmental stewardship is an elusive one for the Cons. Hence it begs a comparison of Con oil policies to those of Sarah P.
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Well, as bad as they are and they are very bad, it is the snakes in the grass Liberals pushing Kinder Morgan. The same snakes who promised electoral reform and then reneged. The Liberals haven’t restored the good programs the Cons cancelled either. . The Liberal DFO is still useless. The parliament is still filled with crooks, liars and fools. . The Liberals are almost as hard to take as the Harpercons. Almost.
One more crying jag from Justin and I am considering them AS bad….
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You make a good point. But the Cons are pushing hard for the pipeline too, all the while claiming that the Liberals do not want the pipeline built. Which is it, do the Liberals want it or do they secretly want the pipeline to fail? Oh the guile. The ruling Conservative party for last forty years that could not diversify the Alberta economy, balance its budget nor be steward of the environment wants back in. Jason’s party prefers the cycle of boom and bust. And Jason is willing to roll the dice on the safety of the BC coast.
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They are also the party that raised and spent the Heritage fund of billions. 100% the rat-weasels of the political world and that’s a world of rodents.
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Yes, yes, yes! The former Premier of Alberta, Jim Prentice in his final election campaign speeches told Albertans, “To look in the mirror.” To recognize how they as Albertans had benefitted from tax cuts and no PST. But the entitled Albertans tossed him out and turned to the NDP.
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I am not so sure they did turn to the NDP…. I think they saw a neocon in NDP clothing. Rachel has none of the NDP traits. She’s hard, mean, petty and ambitious. And it shows. Fix, as an example of typical NDP types is a weak chinned apologist who wants to sing Kumbya. Parties are just brand marketing and, in Rachel’s case, she is just a con-style rabid dog in sheep’s clothing.
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Uhhh! The Alberta Heritage Trust Fund is valued at $17.5 billion as of Dec. 31, 2017. Better check your facts.
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Thanks, John. I have been wrong before. But….didn’t the Cons blow the funds sometime back in the day? And wasn’t much if it unaccounted for? I recall distinctly that being the case….or am I wrong again?
Glad you’re back.
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The Alberta “Heritage Fund’ started in 1976 ….and pillaged by its own govt ever since..
Perhaps they should have been more fiscally responsible with their money like Norway?
https://www.google.ca/url?url=https://www.desmog.ca/2017/09/26/norway-s-oil-savings-just-hit-1-trillion-alberta-has-17-billion-what-s-gives&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjT596ymt3aAhXHLmMKHUU1CSkQFghBMAU&usg=AOvVaw0F1UTUuC7TOSlUCVGfogxj
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You are on target. Absolutely on target. She became a Conservative in policy and her popularity has risen by more than 5% in Alberta. She will out Jason, Jason. To the extent that Jason has little to disagree with, how can he attack Notley? Alberta has the fastest growing economy in Canada, will Jason make it grow faster? Not a chance.
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It is described as a fair market value for the Heritage Fund. Not its actual value which is only determined upon redemption.
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Who’s going to redeem? We’re not even close to a rainy day yet. Alberta economy is doing quite well.
Despite that, we would just like BC to get in on the jobs and revenue that the expansion would bring (oh, and cheaper gas, and fuel for YVR, and crude for the WA refineries……….)
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Fifty jobs max after the construction phase. Fifty being optimistic given computerization. Cheaper? Seriously? BC has never caught a price break on Petro products. Always the highest in Canada and NA. Our economy is varied but a large part is dependent on the area immediately surrounding the Gulf. That is our temperature and climate moderator. The Gulf is our tourist area. Fish. Natural beauty. You are asking us to risk the heart of the province in exchange for fifty jobs and market priced fuel. You are asking us to risk disaster for nothing. And, let’s be clear: you aren’t asking….you are demanding and threatening.
What would you do, John, if the situation was reversed? Ask for the Vaseline and bend over?
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Maybe you should run for parliament, Dave? Or maybe you are an ex-pollie…..
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I did once. First ran for the nomination. Lost. Learned a lot – none of it good. Looked deep and found more passion for the wilderness than the cesspool I had just experienced and so changed course. That was twenty years ago. But I still have the hunger, just not the stomach for it.
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The learning a lot part is important. It turns a lot of good people off putting themselves forward.
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Re |John from Alberta
The Alberta Heritage fund(formed in 1976 by Peter Lougheed) is now worth $17 billion.
The Norwegian Trust fund( 1980’s?) is now worth $1 Trillion.
Its a shame the Alberta govt used it as a cash cow to fund infrastructure, healthcare, etc etc etc. so they could keep bragging the Provincial sales tax was still at o%
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The Norway fund may be high, but their tax structure is also extremly high. Thyey don’t use the fund just tax everyone instead.
Alberta has been using some of the fund and we also have a very nice tax structure. So….high tax, save fund OR low tax use fund.
Hope British Columbians enjoy their 7% sales tax and $1.50/L gas.
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So John…..? Does our artificially caused financial pain at the pumps give you a sense of revenge? Satisfaction? Justice? Righteousness? Do the people of BC DESERVE to be punished for trying to protect their environment? Are we wrong? Should we be punished by Rachel for defending our backyard? I am curious….what EXACTLY do you mean by ‘hoping we enjoy taxes and high gas prices?’. I know that you are crowing but what about, exactly? You like to see your neighbours in discomfort? Does the imaginary border between us separate us? Are you now to be considered the enemy? Is that it? You WANT a fight? You hate us?
What exactly is your point John?
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“Thyey don’t use the fund just tax everyone instead.”
++++++
Well.
Their strategy for a retirement/ investment “rainy day fund” for future generations …..
Seems to be working very very well for them.
$1,000,000,000,000.00 vs
$17,000.000,000.00.
You do the math.
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I agree. Almost everything I learned about the political process was in contravention of the principles they wrap around themselves. The people were never their concern.. Who gets what, how to cheat, us vs them, money, money money…..all the values, ideals, principles, theories, concepts and morals espoused publicly played not even a minor role in the party thinking To think they would was deemed naive. The first time they asked me to run, I demurred. The head cheese called and tried to convince me. “Dave! Just think. You’ll get a pension for life!”
“Thanks for that. You just helped make my decision. No! A thousand times no. You could not have said anything stupider than that to me but it reveals so much!”
The second time, years later, I was talking about the ideals presented in their written platform. “Oh, that! Never mind that. You say what we tell you to say. Leave the platform statements to the leader.”
“Thanks for that reminder. I quit.”
I have tried on three parties for ‘fit’. None had ethics or the common good on their agenda. I was disappointed until I was disgusted. Now I am removed.
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For the record, the last bunch of two-faced, arrogant, self centered cliques was the Greens! God help us all.
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That last nasty comment requires an explanation but it’s nasty enough already. I’d rather not get into it. Tons of writing to explain ‘fixed’ outcomes and ignorant elitism. Forgive me for dropping the morsels and not following through. Just petty crap consistent with all political parties and ambition.bottom line: the values espoused get lost in the political mud.
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Are you concerned about the seeming rise of fascism? The former American Secretary of State Albright, has written a book about Fascism’s rise in Trump’s America. The Canadian political landscape shows disquieting signs of fascist preoccupations.
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I guess I should be……but one of the benefits of being old and living remote is not caring as much about the insanity that is the urban political, money-worshippers grand psycophathy experiment as it tumbles off the rails. I don’t want to see people hurt but it is so obviously headed that way, I may as well watch the spectacle. As a species we are killing ourselves. As a civilization, we are barbaric, ignorant and selfish. As spiritual beings we have decided to worship the golden calf. We are greedy, corrupt and totally disrespectful of the planet we inherited. And, for fun, we focus on the vacuous lives of celebrities. Fascism? Just one of the many ways we are going wrong.
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I agree that the situation is as you describe. This situation is further exasperated by the decline of civility is social political discourse. The mocking of institutions south of the border, the rise of the alt-right in Europe, the premise in Canada by some that Charter Rights are easily undermined by opinion makers and various ideologies and political pundits. These groups would have the average Canadian think that the the Charter of Rights is irrelevant. We know what happens when Rights are quashed.
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My reading of history is that quashing rights has no repercussions. The only thing that ever got the hoi polloi active was lack of food. Hungry people rebel. Not hungry people shrug and obey. The US has effectively been curbing rights for decades. The Patriot Act was not the latest gross misjustice. Canada gives lip service to rights and freedoms but then condemns people by allegations and political correctness. We stand by when the rights of the accused in sexual matters arise and we even now give support to the self-determined victims without proof, evidence or due process interfering. Rights and freedoms are paper words easily ignored by being tasered, shot or arrested for nothing. Don’t hang your hat on your rights if the police mistake you for someone else. You’ll be dead to Rights in a millisecond.
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Civil society is central. You recently said, ‘Do not threaten me!’ What ensures a civil society? Civility.
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True. But just because I want one and they tell me they are keeping me safe does not mean there is one, they are any good at the job and I am not paying a huge price for their incompetence. And the truth is, they are NOT keeping me safe. They are keeping corporations safe but they don’t care about me. Or you. Or the hoi polloi. I am not paranoid because I don’t think they are after me, care about me, count me except for taxes or would even see me if I showed up.
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I see little reason for Canadians to fearful. You are correct that no one is thinking specifically about you and your safety because emergency services are primarily reactive. No emergency, no activity. But social intelligence suggests that civil society is worth preserving. We see it in civil communities where you live. Neighbors help neighbors. But most city folks are in silos of their own making and often feel alienated and discontented. Public discourse that deepens this alienation is destructive to developing a more civil society. One only needs to look South of the border to see the erosion of a civil society.
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