Political Musings

Tell trump To Stuff It

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Just read this succinct piece by Charlie Angus: “The Power Of The Boycott“.

Here’s what he has to say:

The power of the grassroots Canadian boycott is being felt in a big way across the United States. Just ask the US tourism industry.

Since Trump began his goon squad reign, they have suffered a precipitous plunge in reservations and trip bookings from Canada. Donald Trump says there is nothing America needs from Canada.

Turns out Canadians are by far the biggest spenders of tourism dollars in the United States. We might be polite, but we hate bullies. In homes across this country, Canadians are resisting tyranny by simply changing their tourism plans and shopping lists.

And this is causing the US tourism industry to panic.

Here’s what’s at stake:

  • In Florida, Canadians represent 38% of the tourist dollars coming into the state.
  • In Texas, Canadians spent $403 million last year. Both states have seen significant cancellations, as have other states.
  • If just 10% of Canadians hold firm in the boycott, it would mean the loss of 140,000 jobs.

It is still too early to say just how many Canadians have decided to rip up their tourism plans, but the messages I am getting from across the country paint a picture of a grassroots boycott that has become deeply embedded in the sense of Canadian nationhood.

This past week, I’ve shopped with a careful eye on where products are manufactured or grown – anything from the US got put back on the shelf. I know my local fabric store is a bit uneasy because a good deal of the fabric on hand is produced in the US and customers have been asking about that. The machines are actually made in Asia, the parent company is Swedish, and I do think shipments are direct to Canada without having to go through the US. Yup, if we keep up our boycott the US will feel it.

Angus ends with:

Once the impacts of the bourbon boycott, the grocery store actions and the cancelled travel bookings begin to pile up, you are going to see a lot of American businesses calling out the predator-in-chief.

As for Canada? Keep the boycott going. We will last one day longer and be one day stronger than the creeper in Washington.

I agree. Pay close attention to what’s going on. Read the whole piece – it will encourage you to make the effort!

The Destruction

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This morning in my email there were links from friends, passing on items I hadn’t seen because I don’t do Facebook. Three of them are serious analyses of this past week in the US.

I also found today’s NYT Editorial “Now Is Not The Time To Tune Out“

It’s becoming obvious that people in the US are finally waking up to what is really going on in their country and they’re starting to push back. Too bad they weren’t paying attention before the election! The warnings were there, loud and clear. People needed to see what the real consequences of putting trump in the presidency would be. And they’re not pretty.

It was all predictable. trump wasn’t hiding his plans. Project 2025 laid them out clearly in hundreds of pages of detail! The majority of people disregarded it all. But his agenda has been clear since 2015! And now he (and his oligarchs) are executing the plan!

I could see it coming – I wrote this the day after the election in November:
https://jmn111.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=11973&action=edit&calypsoify=1
Lots of other people could see it coming, too. Now it’s happening.

People are also writing about how citizens can resist – Robert Reich offers a long list of actions individuals can take to push back against the destruction: Robert Reich – What You can Do

I wish I could be sharing my fibre art but I’m not producing much these days (I’m not even getting much knitting done, either). I managed to edge stitch the appliqué circles on that piece I was working on. I began thinking I was making a quilt – this is as far as I could go with the idea. The background is too dark – a reflection of what I’m feeling these days? I need to try another using lighter fabrics. Perhaps that will brighten my outlook!

It still isn’t finished – I’m planning on a very narrow binding using a black fabric with tiny circles. I’m also going to back it with a bit of stiffening so it retains it shape when it’s hung. Another day or so of work to finish it. After that – I have no idea. Likely a couple of garments that are waiting to be made.

My creativity seems to be on hold right now when I definitely need it most!

A Pivotal Moment

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I have three links for you: read this piece by John Pavlovitz – it’s a call to action – follow his admonition! (I love his pieces, they read like sermons – not a surprise since he’s a former Pastor):

It’s Time to Pick a Hill Worth Dying On

This piece from Robert Reich: 

What trump ignores

Enjoy the cartoon, have a giggle, and pass it on widely! (BTW, the cartoonist, Bruce MacKinnon, is Canadian, from Halifax NS where I live!) – It was in Reich’s piece but I thought you should see it on its own, it’s worth a million words!

If you’re looking for a resistance movement that’s growing fast, check out Indivisible – indivisible.org – find yourself a local group and get busy! 

As Pavlovitz says – use your voice now or forget you have one – I believe the window of opportunity is getting smaller…

How Dumb Is This?

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From the Globe and Mail: “Trump says he wants U.S. to redevelop, take ownership of Gaza Strip after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere”

“President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Feb 4 2025) suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area.

Trump’s brazen proposal appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

The provocative comments came as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies to help the people of Gaza recover after more than 15 months of devastating conflict. Now Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the U.S., perhaps with American troops.”…

trump’s serious! He caved when Canadians and Mexicans pushed back! (Well it wasn’t our pushing back that made him cave, it was the stock market fall early in the morning on Monday that did it, and his cronies reaction to what would have turned into a rout, but anyway…). 

He doesn’t, in god’s name, expect the Palestinians to vacate meekly! He’s going to have to slaughter every last one of them! I know that’s what the idiot would really like to do, then give the land to the goddamn Israeli settlers, that’s what he’d really like to do. 

I’m sure every single young Palestinian will fight to the death over this lunacy.

Please someone with sense – listen – it’s time to lock trump up!

trump Caved. Now What?

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A local comentator yesterday made an interesting assertion – she didn’t think anything Trudeau or Sheinbaum had to say to trump made the difference. trump is claiming a win for the US. Yes, both Canada and Mexico agreed to strengthen the borders with increased policing but those were actions already being undertaken, and likely desirable. No, she believes the pushback against the 25% tariffs came from a few significant close trump confidants who screamed loudly when both Canada and Mexico revealed their retaliatory tariffs and some personal businesses (like Tesla and Starlink) were going to be hurt! (The early morning big drop in both US and Canadian stock markets was an indication of what would come if the tariffs were actually levied.)(A good explanation by Matt Stoller.)

OK, so the tariffs have been shelved for the next 30 days. Where does that leave us? Stuck with the same “cat and mouse” game, more musings about the “51 state”, questions about what will happen in a month answered with a cryptic “Watch.” We’re stuck in limbo for a month.

Yesterday Canadians, (Mexicans, too, I’m guessing) began boycotting “produced in US” products. My grocery shopping on Sunday took me 20 minutes longer because I read every label and put back anything connected with the US. I wasn’t shopping yesterday but I know when I go to any local store in the next day or two I’ll find Canadian products marked with shelf labels or small Canadian flag stickers to make my shopping Canadian easier! I must check whether any such labelling will happen online – I have to look for it. I have to make the same effort to buy Canadian when shopping online!

The thing is, we Canadians need to keep that up, not just for a week. Not just for a month. We need to make buying Canadian a priority going forward. Our politicians need to keep this conversation going.

In part that will happen because there’s an election in Ontario shortly, and the Liberal Party of Canada is in the midst of a leadership race where these threats made by trump will continue to be a major issue. When parliament resumes in March, I expect the government to fall to be followed by a national general election where our vulnerability to trump’s whims will be front and centre.

While PP (Poilievre) has managed to take a “tough” stance on Canadian retaliation to the stupid tariffs, he can’t resist lying about our energy exports, he can’t stop himself from belittling anything the Liberal government puts forward. His “Canada First” is tinged with a kind of bombast that reveals the posturing he’s addicted to. I have a very close friend, a staunch Conservative, who keeps telling me PP is “a smart politician”. I can’t see it. Forced into defending Canada, he’s still singing his one song – he can’t bring himself to stand as a leader of a signifiant resistance to a US takeover. He’s certainly not persuading me to vote for him. I wonder how many other Canadians are evaluating the situation similarly.

The next thirty days are important. I have decided to stop worrying about the impending tariffs, not because they’ve been set aside, but because I refused to live with the uncertainty. I do believe as March 3/4 draws nearer the nonsense from south of the border will reappear, with new unmeetable demands and both Canada and Mexico will scramble once more to strategize ways to push back.

In the meantime every Canadian needs to be creative about finding small ways to strengthen our sovereignty! It’s not enough to refuse to buy US today. We need to keep it up going forward and for the foreseeable future! It’s part of the “playing offence” that Jean Chretién was advocating!

In the meantime sign the Pledge For Canada!

It’s Really About Submission

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I do think Canadians – a good number of us, at least, understand that the tariffs are about submission and nothing to do with US national security. It’s sheer bullying with all the hallmarks of bulling – unpredictability, impossible/inexplicable/changing demands which cannot be met, taunting, and on and on. We’re organizing, here, too – I thought it would be against Poilievre (our mini-trump), but turns out, it’s against trump himself! Even Poilievre is on board with this resistance with full out support for retaliatory tariffs and other withholding of necessary commodities to the US! I also think a good number of Canadians understand this may be for the long haul, at least until the pain is great in enough in the US for people to start marching against Washington screaming in rage against the insanity of it all.

Robert Reich offers a very clear synopsis of the madness of what’s going on both with regard to tariffs, but also about the coup that’s taking place in the US largely without public awareness!

What You Need To Know About trump’s Madness
Robert Reich

And Then There Were Tariffs…

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The tariffs were levied yesterday! Finally the suspense is over. Now we can do something about it.

Here’s a invitation to Pledge for Canada:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/pledge-for-canada-petition

Wondering what the tariffs are all about (not what trump says they are). A great analysis by Paul Krugman – “Why trump has gone soft on China“

If you’re interested in the extent of trump’s anti-constitution moves, Heather Cox Richardson explains them well.

Lots of comprehensive analyses out there. I’ll share more as the world unfolds. In the meantime if you haven’t discovered Substack.com, take a look. That’s where you’ll find reliable news reporting from people like Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Timothy Snyder, Jim Acosta…

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/pledge-for-canada-petition

Our “1938”?

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A friend commented this morning: One wonders if this moment is our “1938”?

I replied:

“It’s 6:30am. I can’t fall back to sleep. I’ve been thinking the very same thing! Yesterday it was Columbia! On Feb. 1 it will be Canada and Mexico. The militia are now armed and active and there’s no one who will stop them wreaking havoc against the “enemies”. The courts are a joke. There are people who see what’s coming, but they are powerless to stop it. The moment for that has come and gone. And then there’s the tech panic over China’s latest AI announcement. And out of control AI. This time it’s all out economic warfare and who knows what else! And it’s all happening so fast that nobody can see it all, no time to react, and no way to run from it or toward it. There’s so much disruption you can’t get a handle on it. We will all need to make the personal decision to go along or to resist and resistance will need to be creative. Yes, I do think this is our 1938 moment!”

Last night I watched “Resistance: They Fought Back” on PBS – a documentary about Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. It premiered last night – International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“We’ve all heard of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but most people have no idea how widespread and prevalent Jewish resistance to Nazi barbarism was. Instead, it’s widely believed “Jews went to their deaths like sheep to the slaughter.”  Filmed in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Israel, and the U.S., Resistance – They Fought Back provides a much-needed corrective to this myth of Jewish passivity. There were uprisings in ghettos large and small, rebellions in death camps, and thousands of Jews fought Nazis in the forests. Everywhere in Eastern Europe, Jews waged campaigns of non-violent resistance against the Nazis.“

That’s partly why I couldn’t fall back to sleep. Since the day trump was elected I’ve been uneasy. OK, now people will get what they voted for, I said to myself. It wasn’t going to be pretty; he’d telegraphed his plans openly with Project 2025. I wasn’t prepared for how fast everything would unravel. In a single week it’s become clear how trump’s agenda will unfold.

The best example of what’s coming is what happened to Columbia yesterday/day before – Seth Abramson gives the most succinct description of what transpired: https://sethabramson.substack.com/cp/155917891. trump sent deportees to Columbia without any prior consultation with Columbia, and he used a military plane to shuttle them – an overt display of disrespect to Columbia. Columbia rejected the military flight (though not explicitly the deportees). trump then issued a 25% tariff on Columbian exports to US along with withdrawing diplomatic clearances. Columbia threatened retaliatory tariffs on coffee, corn, flowers. The corn got somebody’s attention – corn farmers? Columbia backed down, trump withdrew the tariffs. The outcome of all of this? The rest of the world is on notice that tariffs is the big 2×4 trump plans to wield if you don’t give him what he wants.

But capitulation can’t be the go-to response for nations under threat. Canada/Mexico have been under threat of tariffs for weeks (months). The purported reasons are illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Both countries have taken steps to improve border control to prevent people and drugs crossing into the US. However, it’s not about people and drugs; it’s about subjugation! February 1 is a few days away. I expect the tariffs will be applied on Canada/Mexico exports, anyway. Then it will be retaliatory tariffs and other restrictions imposted against the US by Canada/Mexico. And on it will go.

Back to the documentary. What do you do, what can you do, when your livelihood, your very life, is threatened. The Jews in Europe redefined “resistance” – surviving any way you could was fighting back against Nazi extermination plans. Walking to the gas chambers with dignity – they knew that was the fate they were facing – spit in the face of their Nazi exterminators. Surreptitiously holding religious services, smuggling books into the ghetto, singing, sharing what little they had, looking after one another were all actions of resistance.

What forms of resistance can nations take? We’re going to find out, I guess. It’s not going to be pretty – people aren’t at all prepared for the hardship and difficulty to be managed when nations face bullying like trump’s. They’ll rage against leaders who resist, and many will scream and push for compliance, not understanding that caving in brings more bullying!

I wasn’t alive in 1938. I have no idea how the German population understood what Hitler was proposing to do to the “enemies within” and to national neighbours. Some obviously did – they emigrated as quickly as they could. This time, there is no place to immigrate to – where would you go to be out of reach of China or Russia or the US if it comes to that?

This is a stand and be counted moment, if there ever was one. At the end of week one I’m exhausted and overwhelmed and terrified.

As Maggie Muggans said: “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow!” It’s not looking good. Start making connections, keep an eye out for people and groups that will help you stand tall and strong.

Invisible Costs

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One of the invisible costs of trump being elected appeared in my email today.

I subscribe to “Your Local Epidemiologist” – a blog (on Substack) by Katelyn Jetelina an epidemiologist who writes about epidemiology in understandable ways. Her piece today is sobering!

“Now What For Public Health?” she asks.

The U.S. election this week sent shock waves through the field of public health—not just domestically, but internationally as well.

For many in public health, like me, the prospect of national leadership by individuals with an established track record of ignoring the evidence is deeply disconcerting. This has led to anxiety (and even feelings of loss and sadness). So much is unknown about the future of this field—from policies like routine vaccinations, to the impact of falsehoods moving mainstream, to the resources available to hold up an “invisible shield” for the public’s health.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that we are entering a new world. 

Public Health is one of those government functions that runs in the background. It provides what epidemiologists call “The Invisible Shield“. But public health, today, is increasingly under siege, underfunded, fighting hard to keep the public healthy in an environment of conspiracy theories, crackpot science, and a vaccine denier about to assume the responsibility for keeping the American public healthy!

Wanna bet there will be significant cuts to funding for the CDC? What about vaccine research (not just ongoing for COVID-19, but for flu, measles, RSV, all those regular viruses that come around year after year?). Forget about regular immunization for kids to attend school – that will become a thing of the past, I’m sure. Can you not anticipate how the health of the nation will fare?

Public health also oversees water quality, food safety, and on and on. Here’s a list from the American Public Health Association:

Every day, public health people are working – mostly behind the scenes – to prevent hazards and keep people healthy. For example, public health is responsible for:

  • Tracking disease outbreaks and vaccinating communities to avoid the spread of disease.
  • Setting safety standards to protect workers.
  • Developing school nutrition programs to ensure kids have access to healthy food.
  • Advocating for laws to keep people safe, including smoke-free indoor air and seatbelts.
  • Working to prevent gun violence.
  • Addressing the impact of climate change on our health.

All pretty important functions. All likely about to be curtailed to some extent or other.

I can’t imagine the exasperation, frustration, outright rage of public health officials who know what the impact of cutting public health funding and departments is going to have on public health!

And this is just a single invisible cost. I anticipate there will be so many others.

Let’s hope we don’t turn on our public health workforce here in Canada!