Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

The revolution will be supervised.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Republicans don’t trust women.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

T R E 4 5 O N

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!

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A Happy and Healthy Canada Day to all our readers, commenters, and/or lurkers from the Great White North!

I used to send a different video version of this song to my late, and dearly missed, colleague who was originally from Quebec every year on Canada Day. It is considered to be one of Canada’s unofficial anthems. So this is for you Donna – repose en paix.

Open thread!

 

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  2. 2.

    Patricia Kayden

    That last drawing is a timely reminder that Nazis need to be taken down by any means necessary. Looking at you, Trump.

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

  9. 9.

    Platonailedit

    Putin called Russia boss Stanislav Cherchesov before the hosts defeated the 2010 champions on penalties.

    “Before the match, around noon, the president called the coach and wished him well,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

    “Win or gulag, comrade”

  10. 10.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Adam L Silverman: It’s good that Prime Minister Trudeau is targeting Republican interests in regard to retaliatory tariffs. It’s amazing that Republicans are okay with this unnecessary trade war given its real life damage to American business owners.

  12. 12.

    Brachiator

    Also, allow me to repost this little historical nugget, particularly as we note past US/Canada alliances

    Here’s a nasty little footnote to history

    Gudrun Burwitz, the true-believing daughter of Heinrich Himmler, the architect of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany’s highest-ranking official after Adolf Hitler, died May 24 in or near Munich. She was 88….

    Mrs. Burwitz, who was sometimes called a “Nazi princess” by supporters and detractors alike, remained unrepentant and loyal to her father to the end. Although she had visited a concentration camp, she denied the existence of the Holocaust and, in later years, helped provide money and comfort to former Nazis convicted or suspected of war crimes.

    For some reason, Ivanka came to mind as I read this obit.

    From WaPo

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/gudrun-burwitz-ever-loyal-daughter-of-nazi-mastermind-heinrich-himmler-dies-at-88/2018/06/30/6d57d42a-7c76-11e8-93cc-6d3beccdd7a3_story.html

  14. 14.

    Platonailedit

    @B.B.A.: Yes, if the opposing teams are going to be so obliging. Also, too, fuck Spain and their tiki-taka.

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Patricia Kayden: It isn’t that they’re okay with it, rather they function by three overlapping and reinforcing dynamics:
    The first is that the revanchist Freedom Caucus functions as a rump faction within the GOP caucus in the House. While they do not have the numbers to actually move legislation themselves, they do have the ability to stop legislation. As such they have leveraged the cohesion of their faction to achieve an asymmetric advantage, which gives them a functional veto over anything the GOP majority tries to accomplish in the House. The second dynamic is that the far larger group of non Freedom Caucus Republicans in the majority lives in constant fear of attack by the President. Essentially they live in fear of mean tweets that can galvanize the GOP’s base of movement conservatives, and the politicized herrenvolk curious portions of white evangelical Christians to deny them reelection in the Republican primaries. The fear of mean tweets is shared by the actual majority of Republicans in the House of Representative, regardless of whether they are the self described moderates or just the less revanchist members of the exceedingly conservative Republican Study Group. Finally, the Republican leadership in the House, which also lives in fear of mean tweets, has surrendered all the power to the Freedom Caucus and the President that they unconditionally support. They have done this by establishing rules, specifically the Hastert Rule, that only allow legislation to be brought to the floor for debate and a vote if it is determined, before being brought to the floor for debate and a vote, that it has majority support within the Republican majority caucus. This has effectively locked out the Democratic minority completely, except when Speaker Ryan is desperate to pass continuing resolutions to keep the government from shutting down.

  16. 16.

    Brachiator

    Interesting story on Axios that Trump wants to blow up the WTO

    Axios has obtained a leaked draft of a Trump administration bill — ordered by the president himself — that would declare America’s abandonment of fundamental World Trade Organization rules.

    Why it matters: The draft legislation is stunning. The bill essentially provides Trump a license to raise U.S. tariffs at will, without congressional consent and international rules be damned.

    Trump advisors tell him this is unrealistic, but supposedly he is hot to get this done. I wonder what agreements might come out of Trump’s meeting with Putin.

    Link:

    https://www.axios.com/trump-trade-war-leaked-bill-world-trade-organization-united-states-d51278d2-0516-4def-a4d3-ed676f4e0f83.html

  17. 17.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: I saw that earlier. Perhaps the obliviousness on display is what drove you to make the comparison. Though in Gudrun’s defense, she was only 12. Not in her mid 30s…

    When she was 12, Gudrun accompanied her father to the Dachau concentration camp, which was the site of Nazi medical experiments and the execution of tens of thousands of people.

    Gudrun recalled the visit in her diary: “Today we went to the SS concentration camp at Dachau. We saw everything we could. We saw the gardening work. We saw the pear trees. We saw all the pictures painted by the prisoners. Marvelous.

    “And afterward we had a lot to eat. It was very nice

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Brachiator: He wants to do it through Congressional action. Even if Ryan could get it through the House, and to be perfectly honest I’m not sure Paul Ryan could get the house to pass legislation renaming a post office for Ronald Reagan at this point, it will never make it through the Senate. But it does provide incredibly insight into the President’s thinking. Also, did you notice the phrasing?

    Name of the bill:

    The United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act

    White House response to Axios:

    Spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said, “It is no secret that POTUS has had frustrations with the unfair imbalance of tariffs that put the U.S. at a disadvantage.

    Trump Doctrine lingo: check!

  24. 24.

    Mike G

    @Brachiator:

    There’s a documentary on Netflix “Hitler’s Children” about the children and grandchildren of the top Nazis. Most of them were horrified by their family past and trying to live it down or make up for it.
    I think it was one of Himmler’s granddaughters who married an Israeli. Her meeting the in-laws for the first time must have been interesting.

  25. 25.

    debbie

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Didn’t Trump announce he was postponing dealing with NAFTA until after the midterms? That this kind of stuff will be continuing for another four months can only mean chaos which won’t garner him or the GOP more votes.

  28. 28.

    HypersphericalCow

    That “Get Your Teeth Into Your Job” poster is pretty great. Off to Google Image Search to find more Canadian WWII-era propaganda…

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: @chris: Its all the Mickey Ds and KFC. That much grease mixed with all the carbonization from the large amount of Diet Coke he drinks is going to cause some horrendous effects!

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: Nope. Every biographical article and biography – from Wayne Barrett to David Cay Johnson to the trio of books that came out in the 00s – about how he conducts his business all say the same thing: he doesn’t do details, has no idea how anything actually works, doesn’t care what people are actually hired to do. He just hands out assignments willy nilly to whoever is around. And the only person who actually knows anything about every deal, project, etc is the Trump Org Executive VP and Chief Corporate Counsel. This guy was hired by Fred Trump and has been there from day 1 when the President took over the business. He’s the only one who could provide a proper accounting of everything.

  40. 40.

    Mike in NC

    Looking forward to Trump’s imbecilic trade wars against our allies as being what brings him down.

  41. 41.

    efgoldman

    @debbie:

    He has no fucking clue how any works, does he?

    Not politics, not elections, not congress, not trade, not economics, not race….
    And he doesn’t know or care to learn. In fact, doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and needs to learn.
    Operating strictly by id

    Fuckem

  46. 46.

    Amir Khalid

    @Brachiator:
    @Adam L Silverman:
    This is the fast road to getting America cut off from the global economy. (Pardon me for stating the obvious.) As far as I’m concerned it’s prima facie evidence of Trump acting in the service of a hostile foreign interest.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    New to me is Impossible Peace, apparently from History Channel – Australia. Wonderfully put together and globally wide ranging, with a pointedly acerbic but not inaccurate narration complementing the astounding array of historical film footage included, covering the years from the end of WW1 to the start of WW2. Stumbled upon it on Amazon Prime. Binge worthy series. A teaser.

  50. 50.

    Patrick II

    @Adam L Silverman:
    That was the Hastert rule. The Ryan rule is that a bill won’t get a vote of it can’t pass with entiere!y Republican votes, not just a majority of Republicans voting for it.

  52. 52.

    JAFD

    Salutations, Canadians & Canadiens !

    As someone, half of whose ancestors came from Poland, I think we USA’ns ought to appreciate having good neighbors ;-)

    One is also reminded of the old question;
    ‘Do they have a Fourth of July in England ?’
    ‘No, they’ve removed that date from their calendar, and they have a 31st of June to make up for it.’

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Amir Khalid: No argument here. The butcher’s bill will only really be evident after the Helsinki Summit, but Bolton was telegraphing it this morning. Based on Bolton’s remarks this AM, I expect that even if the President is better behaved at the NATO summit and then his post summit meeting with Theresa May than he was at the G7, and I don’t think that’s a given and I wouldn’t put money on it, he will recognize Russia’s right to have seized Crimea and accept the Russian rigged Crimean referendum that was held to validate Putin’s actions. Once that happens, there’s no reason for the US to impose sanctions on Russia as the sanctions exist to punish Russia for seizing Crimea. So he’ll lift them. I also expect he’ll be announcing a US pullout from Syria. He’s already forced the commanders on the ground to abandon the rebels we were supporting in Daara. They are now being barrel and white phosphorus bombed by the Syrian and Russian Air Forces. Jordan has closed their border. Those folks are desperate and will have to try to get somewhere. Israel, Lebanon, wherever. All this will do is precipitate a new refugee crisis and further destabilize the region. It will also further empower Iran. I expect it to be an ugly July, but we won’t know how ugly until we after he meets with Putin for his annual review.

  56. 56.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Patrick II: It is exactly the same rule: if legislation isn’t supported, as in can pass, with only a majority of the GOP caucus supporting it, it isn’t brought to the floor. It’s why even the compromise House immigration bill that failed last week was negotiated solely within the GOP caucus. It wasn’t a compromise with the Democrats, it was, supposedly, a compromise within the GOP caucus.

  58. 58.

    Steve in the ATL

    @efgoldman: HR got an email from a guy that morning saying “pursuant to this morning’s SCOTUS opinion, please stop my dues payments immediately!”. Was heartbroken to tell them that that decision applied to public sector workers only, but please be patient as it’s just a matter of time before they make right to work a national law.

    Give these fuckers credit for playing a long game, even if it’s one that is destroying our country.

  59. 59.

    StringOnAStick

    @chris: I learned both those Stan Rogers tunes from a Canadian friend, such fun songs to perform, especially Barrett s Privateers.

  61. 61.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Didn’t Congress pass a bill that put more sanctions on Russia? Oh wait, the admin isn’t enforcing those. How can the Republicans be okay with this? The same party that had Ronald “I’ve signed legislation outlawing Russia forever…” Reagan as its leader?

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steve in the ATL: They’re actually setting themselves up for failure because despite their claims as originalists (or sometimes constitutionalists) they are the preeminent constitutional legal historians, they are actually terrible historians. I know you know this history thought. What they don’t know, because their theory of law is a bullshit justification to just do whatever they happen to politically want anyone, that one of the reasons that even the comparatively weak union laws and rules that the US private sector ultimately accepted, and which ultimately got mirrored in the public sector, was to promote a system of regularity within the workplace, the labor force, and in relations between the labor force and management. What they’re going to ultimately get by doing this is what we saw with what were essentially, because of right to work laws, wildcat teacher strikes in W VA, AZ, OK, and several other states earlier this year. If you take away the regime, in the sense of a predictable, regulated, curated, and managed set of rules covering labor-management relations, then when labor has had enough you have a hard time stopping them from mobilizing. These idiot Federalist Society members, and the deep pocketed ideologues who bankroll them and their efforts and these lawsuits to get these rules over turned, all have this idealized, but factually and historically inaccurate understanding of how things were prior to the creation of what we think of as modern labor laws. The reality was a lot less pleasant and a lot more brutal for everyone involved.

  67. 67.

    B.B.A.

    I still think Trudeau needs to address the sexual harassment charges against him and resign. It’s the standard that he’s held other members of his administration to, so it’s hypocritical to say they don’t apply to him too.

    And trust me, I’m well aware that charges have been brought in bad faith, that human memory is frail, and that once someone is seen as an abuser, events that seemed innocuous and consensual at the time can easily be reperceived as abuse. But all things being equal, sometimes you have no proof beyond “he said, she said,” and I’d rather live in a world where false allegations are believed than one where true allegations aren’t. No one is indispensable, especially not a straight white man.

  70. 70.

    Tokyokie

    In honor of Canada Day, I regaled a friend with my rendition of O, Canada. In French. (I also try to make at least one game when the Toronto Blue Jays play the local nine, just so I can get strange looks from everybody sitting in my section.)

    Yes, my brain is landfill of useless information.

  72. 72.

    Fair Economist

    @Adam L Silverman: No, the Hastert rule allowed legislation that had majority support in the Republican caucus but needed some Democratic support to pass, like Medicare Part D. The Ryan rule is that it has to be able to pass with no Democratic votes (otherwise they could frequently tell the Freedumb Caucus to pound sand.)

  74. 74.

    MisterForkbeard

    @B.B.A.: I don’t have any details on this, but when you’re 25 and you do something like this at a concert, I don’t want that held against the leader of nation when he’s 45. It doesn’t sound like it was incredibly bad at the time, and it’s not like he was Trump doing this stuff in his 40s and 50s with ample additional evidence of harassment and sexual assault.

  77. 77.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Adam L Silverman: I didn’t get a chance to watch that particular youtube video – just had to hope it was the right one.

    I’m typing this while letting my kids watch “PJ Masks” on my other monitor, so I couldn’t listen to it without interrupting them. I too am mystified if Tony Blair shows up anywhere in it.

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Fair Economist: Let’s all explain to the guy with the PhD in political science, who actually just looked up the literature on it for an analysis I just completed last week, how things work in Congress. I’ll put this in econ speak for you: assume (<- this was the technical econ term for your convenience) I actually DO KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT IN AREAS OF MY ACTUAL FUCKING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION! We now return you to your regularly scheduled comments thread. Please have a nice night.

  80. 80.

    TriassicSands

    Happy Canada Day my butt. I can see Canada from where I live and they’re up there conspiring to take us over, make us UNgreat again, and generally undermine everything we do. Sure, they seem mild-mannered and easy going, but deep down they’re nothing but American wannabes who are jealous of our supreme fabulousness. Tariffs? We should nuke the bums.!

    Oh, wait, Canadians. I was thinking of Kanzanians, you know in the Midwest. Yeah, that’s different. They’re more like us than they want to admit, but also very different in extremely important ways. Back in the late 70s, I was on a road trip from Colorado to Alaska. The US was having gas shortages, which was inconvenient, but Canadian breweries (at least in Alberta and BC) were on strike and there was BEER rationing. Can you imagine? Talk about barbarism. It was the first time I realized that there was something better in the US than in Canada. Beer rationing? The end of civilization.

    So, yes, Happy Canada Day and, please, keep on opposing every stupid, cruel, evil thing Trump does. We here in the States have a better chance of surviving Trump if we have the support of those poor beer rationers up north. And if they help us, I promise to send some good microbrewery suds north should they ever have another brewery strike.

  81. 81.

    Amir Khalid

    @B.B.A.:
    There are no charges against Trudeau that I am aware of, only largely unsupported accusations. I would expect more than the latter, a lot more, to justify demanding that anyone’s head must roll.

  82. 82.

    efgoldman

    @Jackie:

    my Mariners are climbing up the Astro’s back

    Meanwhile the Red Sox excuse for a pitching staff (Chris Sale and a bunch of midgets) gave up 19 runs in two losses in a three game series.
    David Price served whole platters of meatballs.

  84. 84.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Jackie: blue state team over red state team? Hell yeah!

    @JAFD:

    As someone, half of whose ancestors came from Poland, I think we USA’ns ought to appreciate having good neighbors ;-)

    Great point!

    @Adam L Silverman: if it makes you feel better, last week my 21-year old daughter tried to lecture me on employment law. It did not go well for her.

  86. 86.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Steeplejack (tablet): ha! Also, I have an unwritten rule (because it doesn’t need to be written) against repeating slogans coined by people with face tattoos. Or talking to people with face tattoos. Or even acknowledging their existence.

  87. 87.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steve in the ATL: That isn’t it. The informal rule itself hasn’t changed, the dynamics within the GOP caucus have. Hastert never had to deal with the Freedom Caucus and he had Tom Delay doing his enforcing for him. Both Boehner and Ryan have to deal with the Freedom Caucus and their majority leader is Kevin McCarthy, who is not as smart as my socks. So the majority of the majority dynamic has changed so that unless it is must pass to keep the government open/pass a CR, neither Boehner nor Ryan (because Ryan saw what happened to Boehner) have been willing to go to war with Meadows, Jordan, and their merry band of kooks and nuts. Same informal rule, difference in how the GOP caucus functions.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    @Steve in the ATL

    Guy with many face tattoos was denied entry into (IIRC) Dubai a couple of years back. Reason given was that he was, from appearance only, a practitioner of witchcraft.

  92. 92.

    Steeplejack

    @Steve in the ATL:

    HR got an email from a guy that morning saying “pursuant to this morning’s SCOTUS opinion, please stop my dues payments immediately!”

    In my fantasy world, H.R. would shoot back an e-mail:

    Pursuant to your request to stop paying union dues, please contact us to schedule an appointment to negotiate your new compensation package. For reference purposes, we are currently offering 20% less in base pay, one week less in paid vacation and no health insurance. (We presume you will be securing your own.)

    In addition, by announcing your intent to leave the union, you have triggered our “no backsies” clause, which means you cannot go back to union coverage after now relinquishing it.

    Have a nice day!

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Fair Economist: I’m very sorry for jumping all over your shit in my response at comment 78. I should have just explained why, after reviewing the literature on it, I understand the current dynamic as the informal Hastert Rule, which I did once I calmed down in comment 87. I’m not going to delete my comment, since I don’t want to gaslight anyone, but I did want to take a moment and apologize for letting you have it with both barrels. It was unnecessary, no matter how frustrated your comment made me, you didn’t deserve it, and I’m sorry that I subjected you to it. I’ll endeavor to do better in the future.

    ETA: the “un” to unnecessary. Apparently I can’t even apologize correctly anymore…

  96. 96.

    B.B.A.

    Fine, I get it. This isn’t fertile ground for #MeToo hardliners. I’ll lay off for another few months.

    Gillibrand 2020! *runs*

  99. 99.

    Adam L Silverman

    @B.B.A.: It may just be that most people haven’t heard about this. I pay attention to Canadian news that deals with national security and foreign policy, so this is the first I’m seeing anything about it. And I haven’t read enough to form an intelligent opinion.

  101. 101.

    MobileForkbeard

    @B.B.A.: Good for Gillibrand. I like her.

    And yes, we agree with MeToo as well. So we’ll see you in a couple months.

  102. 102.

    MoxieM

    @NotMax: @NotMax: Wouldn’t that be something along the lines of “die MädelB-H” ? Apologies for not remembering all (any) the rules for creating compoundwords.

  103. 103.

    NotMax

    @MoxieM

    Was going to with Rhinemaidenform bra, but then thought that was twisting an already by now somewhat hazy historical reference into too much of a pretzel.

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