Monday, August 24, 2026

Analysis of Canada Tariff situation

 I saw this in yahoo comments




BOT MAGNET 2.0


2d


Folks here is what I believe is really happening with the massive tariffs on Canada.

There are 5 items that we get from Canada that we can get from no other single country in the same volume except one other county.

Those 5 items are oil, natural gas, processed metals, llumber and potash for fertilizer.

The only other country that has all 5 of these in the same quantities as Canada is Russia.

I believe that Trump was misled for years leading up to the election about the state of the war in Ukraine.

I believe he was getting most of his information from people with contacts inside Russia.

I believe he was told that the US was paying for everything and that as soon as that was cut off that Ukraine would fold.

Of course that was a lie. Europe has paid for the bulk of Ukraines support for the last 4 years and the Ukrainians are way more resilient then anyone expected.

This is why Trump thought he could end the war on day one because he thought all he would have to do was cut off support for Ukraine.

The plan was through the peace negotiation process tie our economy to Russias.

There were going to be two selling points. First off that it was necessary for peace.

Secondly that it would be cheaper.

Well to ensure the second part would be true he would need to artificially inflate the prices of the products we were getting from Canada. Also if you were paying attention last year. One of Putins demands for peace was economic ties with Russia and every time Trump would hold a press meeting after talking to Putin Trump would always say there would be a lot of money to be made after the peace deal.

Once you put all this together it all starts to make sense why Trump would put such large tarrifs on our largest trading partner, neighbor and closest ally.

Well it looks like there may be an actual chance for peace coming because Putin is hemorrhaging money and his economy is collapsing.

If you are one of Trumps billionaire associates you are looking at a war torn economy like Russia that will be tied to the US consumer through a peace agreement and in desperate need of investment then you are salivating.

Trump is trying artificially raise the prices on these goods so he can get us the American voter to accept tying our economy to Russia for peace and artificial lower prices.

Don't fall for it.



I tweeted what I think is a link to this comment

Saturday, March 21, 2026

Scammers pretending to be celebs on social media

 I'm sure we're all aware -- or I hope so -- that if someone comments on your post in response to a celeb, claiming to be a celeb -- or, if they contact you in any way on social media, pretending to be a celeb -- they are scammers.  They should be reported and blocked.  

Please do not be seduced into thinking that your favorite celeb is reaching out to you personally under a secret account.  That is not happening.  If they reach out to you, it will be with their verified account.

Unfortunately, the social media platforms often don't take them down.

Here is a recent post on X that I made about this topic.



Typically, if you report a scammer, they want to know which user on their site is being spoofed.  That works, if the real celeb in question actually has an account on that site. If the celeb does not have social media accounts, it becomes more difficult.  Examples of celebs who do not have social media accounts:

  • Keanu Reeves
  • Elon Musk is only on X
  • High ranking military officers in the Pentagon (typically mentioned in romance scams)
Of course, many romance scammers are not pretending to be celebs. They just pretend to be ordinary people.

Definitely do not send money to anyone who you have not actually seen in person and who has not actually asked you in person for money.  If they're pretending to be a family member, you should call that family member directly and ask if the person calling was really them.

Tuesday, December 16, 2025

regretfully declining @joshgroban & @IAMJHUD

 I got an e-mail announcing Josh's new tour.  I must regretfully decline.  I like his music, but his arena concerts have been awful.  

Here is an embedded X post.



Here are some screen shots of the post.




Monday, November 3, 2025

Court decisions challenging Trump

 This is copy pasted from Google


During his current presidential term (which began in January 2025), several judicial decisions have found actions taken by the Trump administration to be unlawful or illegal. These decisions have often resulted in preliminary injunctions temporarily blocking the policies as the cases proceed. [1234


Courts have issued such rulings in several key areas: 
  • Immigration and Deportation:
    Courts have addressed the use of the 
    Alien Enemies Act 

    to detain and deport Venezuelan nationals, attempts to end birthright citizenship, the deployment of National Guard troops for immigration enforcement (found to violate the 
    Posse Comitatus Act 

    ), and mandatory detention policies for certain immigrants facing deportation 


  • Tariffs: Lower courts have questioned the President's authority to impose broad tariffs under emergency powers. 
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Programs: A court blocked parts of executive orders aimed at eliminating DEI initiatives, citing violations of the First and Fifth Amendments. 
  • Government Funding and Operations: Rulings have addressed attempts to freeze SNAP and other funding, mass termination of probationary federal employees, freezing humanitarian spending abroad, and the misuse of funds appropriated for other purposes. [2456789101112131415
Many of these lower court rulings are subject to appeal and some cases are ongoing. The Supreme Court is expected to hear several major cases on presidential power this term. [1101617



AI responses may include mistakes.


Thursday, August 21, 2025

Sunday, April 27, 2025

conflicts of interest chez Trump

 This is kind of a bookmark to a post that interested me