Monthly Archives: April 2023

Change

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As soon as I sat down, Camp had news for me. Not good news, just some numbers and figures. ‘For 33 days, the global average temperature at the sea surface has not fallen below 21 degrees, according to data from the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This has never happened since satellite records began in 1981,’ he said.  ‘Usually, a period of cooling begins from mid-March. Now we are at the end of April, and there are still no signs of a drop in temperature.’

‘Well, around here it’s still rather cool, too cold to swim for me.’

He ignored me. ‘Here is another interesting stat. ‘So far this year the world population has increased by 22 million people, about the population, of Ontario (15mio), Alberta (4.5mio) and BC (5mio) together. All that in just 4 months.’ 

‘Ok, so what you’re saying is the world and the oceans are warming up; there are millions of more people who all want more stuff and the world isn’t getting any bigger.‘

‘You got the gist,’ Camp said, leaning back in his chair. ‘We’re fucked.’

‘I want to point out to you that all is not lost. The trees are budding, the spring flowers are blooming, the seeds are sprouting and our garden looks the best ever. That is a project we can do something about and I’ll be damned if I just sit around and think about the demise of the human project. Moping in gloom and doom is not a healthy mental condition and is mostly the territory of old people. And I’m not old, just older.’

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America Groans:

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Joe Biden wants to run again

Here is a translation of an article by Martin Suter Published: 22.04.2023, 22:01 in the Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich, Switzerland. It’s a different Point of View.

The president wants to announce his renewed candidacy on Tuesday – so there will probably be a rematch against Donald Trump in 2024. The loser has already been decided: the USA.

The once proud superpower, torn apart from within and hostile from the outside, faces the most unspeakable of all rounds of elections next year. According to his team, Joe Biden’s will announce his candidacy for a second term the day after tomorrow. So far, all signs indicate that the Democrat will again have Donald Trump as his opponent, whom he chased out of the White House two years ago.

A repeat of the drama of 2020 is not at all what voters want. According to an AP poll this week, only 46 percent of Democrats approve of Biden’s candidacy; 52 percent disapprove. Overall, no less than 73 percent of adults wish that he should no longer compete.

Biden’s numbers are even worse than Trump’s at a comparable time. Last September, two months before the ex-president announced his candidacy, 61 percent of all participants in a poll wanted him to please refrain from doing so.

Biden forgets a lot and constantly trips over his own words

For many, Biden’s age is the main problem.  The president would be 86 years old at the end of his second term. Even at the age of 80, his abilities are noticeably diminishing. His doctor says that he is fit for the most demanding job in the world. The oldest of all U.S. presidents may seem sprightly, but he tipped over with his stationary bike and stumbled multiple times on the stairs to the presidential jet.

He never underwent a cognitive test. His mental weaknesses are now becoming brutally noticeable. Biden’s speech today is audibly more slurred than he was during the last election campaign. He forgets a lot and constantly mis-speaks himself. After speeches, he gets lost on the stage, and again and again he stretches out his hand where no one is waiting. On one occasion, he approached a uniformed man as a Secret Service agent, while he was serving in the Salvation Army.

Biden’s unpredictability is dangerous abroad. Recently, he confused the host country with China in Canada. On several occasions, his statements on the issues of Russia and Taiwan contradicted official policy, so that the White House had to hastily make a correction.

However, the electorate does not notice how bad Biden’s mental fitness really is. With the exception of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, no US president has given as few press conferences as Joe Biden in 100 years. Unlike Trump, he does not refer to the media as “enemies of the people”, but he treats them as such: he rarely grants interviews; He has never answered the questions of journalists from the “New York Times” or the “Washington Post”.

Biden’s team is keeping the incumbent under wraps for fear of political damage. His advisers can live well with the fact that the president reads speeches from the teleprompter and signs laws, but otherwise only appears shielded.

As an ancient figurehead, Biden inspires confidence and obscures the fact that progressive leftists set the tone in the White House. Secretly directed by them, gigantic spending packages were crammed through and the entire administration was sworn into a radical climate course and a woke redistribution policy that would have been unimaginable under Barack Obama.

Leadership by an invisible Politburo, depending on ideological preference, can please domestically. Abroad, it fails. As an Atlanticist, Biden was able to commit NATO to a resolute defense against Russia’s attack on Ukraine. But indirectly, with the withdrawal debacle in Afghanistan, he encouraged Vladimir Putin to attack. Neither before the start of hostilities nor afterwards did he seriously engage in diplomacy against the war in Eastern Europe.

Trump and Biden enjoy their roles

Meanwhile, the American world order is falling apart. Russia is forging new alliances, taking the helm of the OPEC oil cartel and is spreading its influence in the Middle East. The arch-enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia come to an understanding. Israel stands alone. While China is arming itself and gathering territory and labor markets in the World’s South, Biden’s envoys are handing out reprimands. In the words of a politician from a developing country: “From China we get an airport. From the United States we’re getting a lecture.”

America’s weakness comes from the weakness of its president. His country and the world must be spared four more years of Biden as urgently as the return of the egomaniac Trump. However, both politicians like themselves so much in their roles that they can hardly be dissuaded.

Unless they are forced to do so. Trump could be thrown out of the race by criminal charges, Biden by the dramatically widening scandals surrounding his family’s potentially corrupt foreign business. Undoubtedly, it would be best if the president voluntarily renounced the second term. However, the old man lacks the strength for this decision.

Built to Fail

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‘This has to be the wettest April ever,’ Camp complained as soon as we were seated. ‘Mind you people read books when they can’t go outside. And the ducks are happy.’

    ‘My washing machine broke down, meaning the machine sounded like it was full of chains instead of laundry. I spent the next few hours trying to find out what’s wrong, how to fix it and how much it would cost.’

      ‘Let me guess: You couldn’t find a tecky in Gibsons, the problem could be fatal for the machine and parts could be weeks away and the cost prohibitive,’ Camp said.

        ‘How did you know? I spoke to a rep for two hours until he asked me for my zip code at which point he confessed that his branch office did not service Canada. A sad waste of time. Next, I watched some U-Tube clips about fixing my specific washer problem and how to solve it. Turns out that the machine is built to fail, after about ten years. An aluminium part next to a stainless steel drum which is frequently full of water. There is such a thing as galvanic corrosion which happens when the metals are exposed to a liquid like water. Really? Electricity is conducted between the stainless-steel cathode and the aluminum anode. It’s a washing machine for chrissake!  Something the makers of these machines are perfectly aware of. My machine is only six years old.’

        ‘Spacex is building a new Starship since the first one exploded shortly after takeoff. Musk calls it a success. Think about that! I suppose you’re buying a new washing machine?’

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Hammer and Nail

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We’ve had a very wet and cold Easter Weekend here on the Westcoast and Quebec has just had the worst ice storm in recent memory that knocked out power for over a million people, including Montreal. Sitting in our usual spot in the heated pub this doesn’t feel like spring at all yet. ‘Give me back Mexico,’ I said to Camp taking off my rain-soaked jacket.

Camp raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘Here is a quote I read: With a hammer in hand, everything looks like a nail. With a gun in hand, everything looks like a potential target. Add a uniform to go with the gun, everything looks like an actual target. It’s about the Mexican Military taking control of the country. AMLO (Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador)dissolved the federal police and handed civilian security over to the military. There is no more civilian oversight and Mexico is turning into a military dictatorship. They build airports, resorts, run the railroads and the lucrative customs; they manage themselves and act with impunity and the blessing of their misguided president.

‘Doesn’t surprise me,’ I said.  ‘He’s an admirer of Ortega, Castro and Chavez and even went hat in hand to El Chapo’s mother in Sinaloa. When video surfaced of his brother accepting bags of cash or his son living in a mansion in Houston, he blames the media.’

‘He is a populist who believes in amulets and spells and his ‘hugs instead of bullets’ gospel did not curb Mexico’s rampant violence,’ Camp said raising his pint.

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