Tag Archives: Canada

April 5, 2025 · 16:09

A political game

You know the setting for President Trump with his tariffs are out there. As only 4 hours ago we got word (via Reuters) that another $5 trillion has been wiped of the markets (at https://www.reuters.com/markets/global-markets-stress-graphic-pix-2025-04-04) we saw another piece of news at NBC (at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nintendo-switch-2-pre-orders-us-delayed-trumps-tariffs-rcna199729) giving us ‘Nintendo Switch 2 preorders in U.S. delayed because of Trump’s tariffs’ and my cogs started to think. The population of Seattle is around 4,018,762. Now if only 10% wants to get a Nintendo Switch 2 (I reckon that number is much higher) we end up with 400,000 Washingtons wanting that novel contraption and as such the option for Vancouver to get an additional 2 billion in revenue seems clear. And a smuggling game emerged from my brain. The setting is around the interstate bridge ad connect that to a classical game named Frogger and the setting is near complete.

In this setting we get the frog to make it to the other side. Now we change the setting to:

Here we see the interstate bridge, like frogger (now in a north south setting) we move from truck/car to truck/car, the slow vehicles get its there and the fast vehicles get us there faster. And there seems no real challenge and the blue rectangle is the part we see in the game, so the game scrolls. 

Now we get to the border, the guards move from left to right (the don’t care about the Canadian side), if the guard spots you you are royally screwed and you are out $800, if not you pass and you gain $1500. Now on the way back you get by taxi, but here you can skip from taxi to taxi as they pass, if there is a Maga cap in that taxi, it is yours and when you wear the cap for a second trip the border patrol ignores you when you wear a Maga cap. The task is to smuggle as many as Switch 2 consoles as possible. And you can team up, each their own game, but the scores are shown I reckon 2 (or 4 in true Switch 2 mode). In higher levels the guard move faster and the gaps between cars/trucks increase a little. So, we should thank President Trump to give us a lovely smuggle game. We can improve the game in many ways, like adding fentanyl shipments, which gives us a bonus bump (like times 5), so that the profit goes to $7500, however if you are caught you are stopped for 30 seconds and that is where the opponents get 30 seconds of optional gains. There are a few other things you can do, but I leave that to you. I hand over this idea to the clever Canadian with programming skills. It is an Australian ‘Gudday’ to our Canadian brothers and sisters (the she-form of the male can program just as good as the man can). 

How life can throw you a bonus? Well here you have it and there is not a Trump in sight to stop you. And as I go to enjoy the weekend now, I dream of desperate traders throwing themselves off buildings as their fortunes melted away among the trillions in market value. Trump might have stated ““Hang tough,” he urged his followers on social media. “We can’t lose.”” (Source: BBC), but the desperate and greed driven never hang tough, when the reaper comes reaping, the greed driven become suicidal. A simple lesson from life (1929 to 1939, the great depression where 7% committed suicide). 

So have a great day and when the stocks bite, pray you have a Canadian son/daughter who can program. This me having a spell of additional dark humor.

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April 4, 2025 · 23:24

When is the cure worse than the disease?

That is the question that is haunting me. I see ideas in several media and they make sense, they really do. Yet I am still haunted with the ideas in my head, realising very well that I could be wrong. So is it about right and wrong? No, in the first instance it has become about the unreliability of the press. There are too many signals out there. Then the ‘influencers’ came. With their need for digital gratification, digital reinforcement and the other settings, the conspiracy theorists. As some see me as one of those, I offer the idea that I am merely looking for evidence and that requires a reliable press, one that too often no longer exists. Whilst we look at the signals, we often ignore the spreader of the news and the channels they are moved to. 

There are noises that some republicans are deserting President Trump and stop the tariffs on Canada. It is a first setting, but is it enough?

I believe the damage was already done, and whilst you think that this is a joke, consider the other one. 

So, is the joke a mere meme? Is the meme real? Well, the data can be checked and as such why exempt Russia and not Canada? Fentanyl? The data show that Canada is hardly a bump on the scales. Then we get the classification of Fentanyl. According to the United States Sentencing Commission 86.4% were United States citizens. So what gives? According to their statistics

  • Southern District of California (229);
  • District of Arizona (177);
  • Western District of Texas (128);
  • Southern District of New York (94);
  • District of Massachusetts (90);
  • Eastern District of Missouri (90).

As such, the direct route from Canada into the US, we get from Vancouver into Seattle and the state of Washington doesn’t get to that list, which is what I would expect. It can be reached by bridge, the Interstate Bridge to be exact and it takes 130,000 vehicles daily. So as I see it, the numbers do not match the crime and the accusations. 

So what is this really about? In my version is is a distraction on how bad the finances of the United States really are. With 36 trillion in debt, the interest is about 1 trillion a year. We don’t get to much on that do we? So why slap the tariffs on the Commonwealth? The only think that kinda makes sense is that America is on the verge of defaulting its loans and it needs to prevent this, but that idea (the one I am having) is flawed. So is President Trump merely doing a distraction? The reason for this setting is that the press should have been all over this, but they are (by my reckoning) too busy for the grabbing of digital dollars. If the other nations economically collapse America stands a chance, but I agree the evidence to this is flimsy at best. But the other versions are even less likely, still they do have merit. And in all this, Russia gets no tariff? Not even pro forma? It makes no sense to me, but then I was never an economic.

On March 10th the US markets get to write off 4 trillion dollars, so when was that a good thing? As I personally (and possibly wrong) see it, when the markets lose value, the debt of America goes down as well (shake statement), or at least America gets to make deals, because when holding the debt is all that remains, the larger powerbrokers want to hold on to what they can. It gives America time to find a solution (not that there is one). As I personally see it, the real money is in Saudi Arabia and the UAE for staters, but they are the largest jewels in any crown and whilst America gets rid of any competitors through tariffs, their options open up. In the end America gets to compete with the Commonwealth, the EU and China. Three in stead of 30, it makes tactical sense. And the first issue is that all wars are set in deception following that premise the acts of President Trump make perfect sense. But is my vision on what happens right? That is what I wonder about, because I recognise that I might be wrong and the press is less help than usual.

That is merely my view on the matter and as such I stand behind PM Mark Carney and Canada, because Canada is a Commonwealth brother as are the other Commonwealth nations. So feel free to deny my vision, it is OK to oppose this or ignore this. But see what the evidence shows you and take it from there. That is all I can tell you, make up your own mind.

Have a great day, it’s almost Saturday for me (in about 40 minutes).

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April 1, 2025 · 01:46

Accused, Bluff, Carney

It is a regular A,B,C. And at first I let it slide but then I got a response from the most ignorant stupid Canadian on the planet, I kid you not. As such I had to pick this up. 

Mark Carney (formerly known as Markie Mark of the British Bank) is now at present the PM of Canada and there is an election coming up. So now we get the accusation (as far as I can see) from the National Post. A magazine who is on the side off whomever opposes Mark Carney (conservatively minded), and will you believe it, they are pushing for plagiarism, weirdly enough, the article is well written making the setting a larger problem and all the other sources basically repeat what the National Post gave its readers. 

Two stood out
First there is the Independent (at https://www.independent.co.uk/politics/mark-carney-canada-prime-minister-plagiarism-oxford-b2723812.html) here we also see ‘Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney accused of plagiarism in his Oxford thesis’, now the issues I had was that the accusation came right when there is an election, the larger setting is that this happened 30 years ago and it was at Oxford and academics take plagiarism as the big booboo. As such there is a larger look at Plagiarism (I remember my days in Uni and there is a frightening fear for that word). 

The independent gives us “The accusations were reportedly made by three academics chosen to assess the liberal leader’s 1995 theses for his doctorate by the conservative newspaper the National Post.” More important we were given ““As an academic of nearly 40 years, I see no evidence of plagiarism in the thesis you cited, nor any unusual academic practices,” she emphasized.” This is given to us by Margaret Meyer, an American economist and an economics fellow at Nuffield College in Oxford University. In addition she gives us “Mark’s thesis was evaluated and approved by a faculty committee that saw his work for what it is: an impressive and thoroughly researched analysis that set him apart from his peers” added to that we get “A spokesperson for the Liberal campaign, Isabella Orozco-Madison, called the allegations an “irresponsible mischaracterization” of Carney’s work.” So far, so good. I believe that a thesis would not be unattended for 30 years, not from a place like Oxford. You see, Oxford is surrounded by close to a thousand reporters in any given day, and they have Cambridge looking over their shoulders, just like Oxford is watching Cambridge like a hawk. As I see it, there are issues to some degree and as such we get to the second piece. It comes from 

Where we are given “In my January 2024 blog post, “Plagiarism Witch Hunts Cause Harm,” about the case of former Harvard University President, Dr. Claudine Gay, I pointed out that we appear to be in an era where plagiarism is increasingly weaponized against public figures. Following the resignation of Dr. Gay amid plagiarism allegations, we have seen a troubling pattern of using academic integrity as a political weapon rather than an educational concern.” And this is followed by “There is no singular or universally accepted definition of plagiarism. Oxford University defines it as “presenting work or ideas from another source as your own.” However, interpretations of definitions, as well as the definitions themselves can vary from one university to the next, as I have pointed out elsewhere. In Carney’s case, his doctoral supervisor defended his work, stating she saw “no evidence of plagiarism in the thesis,” whereas academics consulted by the National Post disagreed. One professor, Dr. Geoffrey Sigalet, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) stated that the unattributed quotes are “what we call plagiarism.” According to the National Post article, Dr. Sigalet is a member of the UBCO’s institutional president’s advisory committee on student discipline, “which handles cases of plagiarism for the university”. This disagreement underscores the subjectivity in evaluating academic integrity.” With the added question that gives weight to a few issues I have being “Upon reading the National Post article, one question that I had was: was Mr. Carney informed of the allegations before they were investigated?” My issues was that the media could be in hotter waters than they think. As I see it they propagated this setting by basically whaling whatever the National Post handed down to their audience. The added setting given to us is the one why I basically rejected the article, especially as Markie Mark is an Oxford graduate, on a personal note it isn’t the University of Technology Sydney, but they are a larger lead in university educations. And as such when we are given “Investigating work completed nearly 30 years ago raises questions about motives and impact. As I have pointed out previously when I commented on the Dr. Claudine Gay case, “a retroactive investigation into a person’s academic work while they were a student is often an exercise in discrediting someone in their current professional role.”” I basically rejected the stance as I presumed the clarity of the “using academic integrity as a political weapon”, yet I personally would want to call it “abusing academic integrity and misaligning it as a political weapon” A setting that one raised probably in favor of their Conservative Leader (I believe that in Canada it currently is Pierre Polivicious) and that setting we get to the last part given to us by Sarah Elaine Eaton, PhD, a Professor and Research Chair in the Werklund School of Education. She gives us the cherrie of the pie. It is given through “So, Did Mark Carney Plagiarize or Not? The answer is, I don’t know. When I conduct an analysis of text for possible plagiarism, it is a meticulously in-depth and detailed process. I start with the allegedly plagiarized text and I go through it line-by-line comparing it to the original sources from which text has been allegedly lifted without attribution. That can show whether or not there is a potential ‘text match’. There are examples of possible text matches in the National Post article, but they are selective. I cannot make a call on whether or not there was plagiarism based on excerpts. I would want to see the full texts (original and allegedly plagiarized), not bits and pieces.

If we can identify a possible text match, then we need to look for additional evidence. Was this sloppy scholarship or poor academic literacy? For example, were the original sources perhaps listed in the bibliography, but the direct quotations were not attributed in the main body of the text? In the context of the entire thesis, would it appear as though the student was deliberately trying to deceive their supervisor or academic advisory committee. (Intent to deceive is difficult, if not impossible to prove in many cases.)” This is the cherrie as it allows to ask the media to ask these questions, especially the media that merely copied what the National Post gave us. And these publications gave us lacking settings in addition. Who talked to the supervisor of Mark Carney? Who took the questions to Nuffield College, Oxford? Seems like two essential sources for these articles. I see several sources lacking. 

As such I have said my piece and I do not believe that there is a case for plagiarism against Mark Carney. Not because I got the paper (I basically lack economic knowledge), but for the simple setting that a place like Oxford will slap down any student who pushes Plagiarism, intentional or not. Such plagiarism cases hurt Oxford as much as the student. Then there is the timeline. Do you think that the Bank Of England takes on a student who attempts plagiarism? The timeline includes Goldman Sachs (that place is loaded with economy guys) and his work would have been scrutinized by dozens of people and 30 year later, just at the upcoming election someone makes a breakthrough? It smells like yesterdays diapers as Baby Herman told Roger Rabbit. 

Have a great day and enjoy the smell of coffee today.

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March 30, 2025 · 06:45

The need for a credit card

That is what we all think at times. There are two stages that stop us for getting one, or to get the credit limit upgraded. The first is work. It is hard to tap into that ‘virtual’ resource when you are out of work. The second stage is that if you have a job and it pays, the future of the company you work for makes upgrading limits a genuine problem. Even if the bank approves it, you yourself at times wonder if you should make that jump. Rightfully so as you soon realise that you are merely working to pay the interest bills.

So where is this going?
Well America is in that situation right now. It failed to ‘bolster’ its size by claiming Canada and it is now in a bullying stage then there is Greenland, which is funny because no one wanted Greenland for the longest of times and now it get ‘courted’ by America. Of course the courtship (like any courtship) is usually based on lies and on presentations in a different direction. Like most men, the first notion of a courtship is to push his dick onto her vagina no matter the cost to her. This reminds me of a joke Jack Whitehall stated: “We all look at the village idiot in some way, here in the UK we put him on the street, In America you love village idiots. They end up in the White House” and that is basically the setting they face. His bully tactics are coming up short and for the most part the skeptics are watching what is coming next. I considered the options and as I have been keeping an eye on the American economy, I see the play they essentially need to play. You see, America has run out of Credit Card Space and they need to upgrade their credit card. So first they talk trash on Canada and try to make it their 51st State. But now that it is failing they need alternatives. 

But the cause is worse than the need, they now face massive changes as Canada, part of the Commonwealth is seeking alternatives with Commonwealth nations. Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom seem to be on board to support each other and that is what America never counted on. Then there is the EU and some of these nations (two at present) are dumping their F35 aspirations and they are looking elsewhere for their planes. It might not be large customers, but it is a beginning and that gives rise to alternatives.

Getting back on point.
We see news by several channels, ABC for one gives us “Mr Trump iterated that the island was important for US national security. The US president has not clarified how or when he aims to annex it, but he has not ruled out using military or economic power.” As I personally see it, the real reason is “Greenland has rich untapped mineral resources and oil and gas, but development has been slow” that same setting exists for Canada and the US desperately needs to upgrade its Credit Card and that is one way to set it to a reality. As I see it, as a Courtesan truly worthy of the name village idiot he sets the trash talk to stellar to make these two ladies drop their briefs and that isn’t happening. Moreover (I for one) and plenty of others feel very protective of Canada. Greenland less so, but that is a Danish/EU setting. The method employed is just too icky. And now as American debts are surpassing thirty six trillion dollars with no handle on spending, the credit card needs to be upgraded before America has to default on things. As such Canada needs protection from the Commonwealth nations or it gets dragged into that hole named America. And that debt is shown as $36,000,000,000,000 and two elements will hammer America. The first is that the debt is now higher that its GDP, this might not seem like it is a big thing, but these are trillions and there is no stop spending in effect. Also the larger issue is interest. You see, then we look at that we see that Australia has a 3.28% debt setting. I cannot say exactly what America’s is but it should be over 2%, this means that 720 billion dollars interest will be due every year (a little over simplified) and seeing that the American tax office collected $4.9 trillion in FY 2024, we see that 14.693% of the taxation is lost on interest payments and it is getting worse. So a nation that is spending in all the wrong places gets to live of 85% of its budget and last year (2024) it was dealing with a deficit of $1.8 trillion (or 1800 billion dollars). So what happens when you have to do this on 85% of your budget?

This is why America needs to upgrade its credit card and it is falling short. Especially as nations rally against the baboonic trash-talking bully tactics of the president of the United States. As well as national interest, particularly Canada and Denmark.

There is but one larger solution in play. When America defaults before it resorts to military options, the game is over for America. It would become a third world nation over night. If not than we have a non-preferred option and that is to run into the arms of People’s Republic of China. There is the chance that the world will react to a larger degree all American items, which is bad news for Apple and Microsoft, but that is the stage that is evolving.

I have the stage (personally fueled) that America collapsing is not the worst thing, but all those enjoying retirement plans that they saved up for their whole life, they can rejoin the workforce until they die. I reckon the ultra rich will lose a chunk of their value and they will evade to Bermuda, Monaco or the UAE to life out their lives. The rest will learn that the vote of 2024 was the worst day in their life but that is what we face. The rest of the nations have no reason to celebrate. When the dollar goes, so do the Yen and the Euro. As I see it, President Xi was ready for this by playing the waiting game. He will gain the economic options of 27 EU nations and up to 56 Commonwealth states. On the upside, Canada might get an infusion of cash as they build several airbases on their southern border (a presumption of me). The irony is funny, to pretend to serve national interests, president Trump caused the creation of Chinese airbases on their northern borders.

As Wall Street fixes on what is likely to happen, they need to set the shores of financial options and as I personally see it, those shores remain under attack for the better part of a decade and the is bad news for Wall Street as the economy doesn’t have that much time anymore. Im actually not sure how America survives 2026 at present. 

Well, have a nice day and consider where you are and where you are likely to be soon enough.

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March 28, 2025 · 16:59

The mostly ignored stage

This hit me yesterday in between all kind of other stuff I was brooding about. It was set off by thinking of something else. As I was replaying Hogwarts Legacy, was thinking about the collectors edition that was released on day one and at $599 that was not. Leap I was ready to make. That set another track n the rails. You see, most places are lacking Power-points and some have solutions for that, but the larger issue is ignored. You see when you put a few things together, you start wondering a few things. With night stand lamps, office lamps and all kind of lamps in every room, there is a clear setting to have these places ‘illuminated’ with USB-C ports, for all kind of reasons. Charging mobiles and other mobile devices. Collect gimmicks and as such the average gamer needs about 10 points of contact. The office person has their own need and a few more. But color me happy, the big boys (in this case IKEA) never seem to have acted on this. I saw one part on TEMU, so why is that largely overlooked?

Screenshot

Now, this TEMU contraption needs a power source and as it is a bluetooth speaker, an alarm clock, a nightstand, a charger for mobile, earbuds and watch this makes sense. But most people (like me) merely have a mobile and optionally a watch to charge. As such adding a USB-C to most lamps will solve the issue without people have to find connection points for charge ports. And as most will suffice with a 15 watt solution, most rooms will have the stage solved for iPad, Watch, Mobile, and optimally enough space for the a mobile wifi hotspot. And in an instance the required need for 5-8 charge points are reduced to a mere 1-2 spaces. Most solutions are done with in an instant when we add a USB-C port to most lamps. So why was this never done? Some will say it was the price. But if TEMU can offer a 5 charging station with bluetooth speakers and alarm clock for a mere $15, I reckon that the pricing isn’t it (or at least not anymore). 

Was it the required brainpower that was needed? Well it seems that these captain of industry (as they call themselves) are in dire need of an overhaul to say the least. 

So where did they leave their innovation? With their marketing department, whist the marketeers needed time to think over the term innovation. So far this decade I have only seen one innovative marketeer and that person is the Canadian Ryan Reynolds (probably he got assistance from that youthful young sprout Blake Lively in that regard), beyond that there was the Heineken marketing teams in the 80’s and 90’s. The rest are mostly iterative players on ideas already phrased in some ways. So where are the boffins? The fact that I have at least three goals over DARPA makes one think whether true innovation has left the field and its stadium of operation. And that was merely the upper soil tossed, there is a lot more under the rubble and where are those innovators? They seemingly left Apple almost a decade ago, Microsoft hasn’t given us innovation for decades and mostly that is regurgitated from ideas from way passed. We see that when we see Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 with the initial release date on November 19th 2024. There is no mention of the Flight Simulator 2020, which gives us “It is an entry in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series which began in 1982, and was preceded by Microsoft Flight Simulator X in 2006.” I remember that as I had the CBM64 edition (which set me back $299, and in 1985 that was serious cash), never regretted that move. It was the first time that I saw true innovation in the face of lacking resources and make no mistake, getting any flight simulator running on 64KB is an achievement. So when I saw the 2020 edition (I had the X version in 2010) blew me away, so seeing the 2024 version with an initial release data of that year kinda makes my blood boil (a little). To disregard innovators to that degree is not cool and it shows that big tech and their marketeers need to review what they think innovation is. 

And that takes me back to the present. As we see more and more items requiring a USB-C point, the idea of having this option inserted in laps (as such) gives us a much larger station for consideration. And the Collectors Edition is still desirable even after having played it several times over the last 25 months. So what will we do when another collectors edition requires a charge point and that is before we consider what other house smart ideas will grace our presence. Smart buttons, smart lights, smart speakers and all needing a USB-C point. So why didn’t IKEA (as merely one place) consider this option 1-2 years ago?That’s it for now, my Friday is almost gone, in Vancouver (the most eastern point of intelligence in the time line it starts in a little over an hour). Have a great day.

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March 25, 2025 · 00:37

A simple question

I question arrived in my mind today. You see, The Times of Israel gave us roughly one day ago ‘Ballistic missile fired at Israel from Yemen lands in Saudi Arabia’. This setting is given to us by both the Times of Israel and All Israel News. Yet that setting is not given to us by the New Arab, Arab News, Al Jazeera or a few other news media. So, I need to wonder, is this news filtered, did it really happen, or is there another reason?

I reckon that if Saudi Arabia is hit, there is a larger need to take out these terrorists. But I merely see a one sided news and other (western News media) give us nothing. So I need to wonder, what is going on.

My main reason is that I no longer trust the media to give us the goods and the question becomes. Why aren’t we given the news, why are some people giving us optionally disinformation and why is this done? There is a reason for Saudi Arabia not giving ‘us’ the news if the missiles landed in that huge litter box called ‘the desert’ and they decided that it wasn’t worth mentioning this. Is the Israeli media trying to convince the local population that Saudi Arabia is under attack, but the Saudi’s are refusing to answer that call, as to leave the Israeli’s to believe that they are alone in this fight? All reasons, but which one is true? That is the question I come to as the media is regarded as less and less reliable.

So what is the news? This is important as Al Jazeera reported a little over 3 hours ago ‘US fires on Sanaa as campaign against Yemen’s Houthis continues’ as news goes ‘per minute’ the western media should have been on top of this, especially American media. From their side, AP News merely give us the news 47 minutes ago. As I personally see it, the fact that Al Jazeera is more on top of this then American sources gives us a debatable setting. What gives, and why does the (speculative) accessible news go through stake holders? There is a larger question on settings and I seemingly see it more and more people are (read: should be) left with questions. 

This is the simple question that I have. It is not my imagination, the media (at present) has less credibility than the average drug pusher and that is not a good thing. The problem here is verification of the news given to us. The Media (as I personally see it) seems to be in hands of stake holders who seem to filter what is ‘need to know’ to us and this has been going on for a few years and as such I look at more and more media sources. The media stakeholders all have their own ‘needs’ and filter as such. Feel free to doubt my written words (which is always a good idea), but when you consider what others decide to give us and what is filtered as ‘trivial’ becomes a new age stage. In an age where multicultural sides are conflicting with what is filtered, there is the larger question that is prepping my mind. You see, what news is filtered away from Muslims in the western world. What news is filtered away from Asian and Latin Americans in the western world. If only there were rainbow tables that do that. Because I personally suspect that people are filtering the results of what Google gives people set to localisations of the reader. It is hard to find evidence of that setting, but that is a personal consideration I am left with. There is also the chance that for example Arab News might not be searchable outside of the Arabian Peninsula, I get that, but whether that is the case is the question. 

It leaves me with the stage that there is a larger gap in the schooling of people. We all (me included) need to learn on where we can set the ability to have access to some news. And that is a side that is not on Google, it is on us and on the publisher, but there is a larger stage where publishers could limit the visibility their news to limit the bandwidth approach of their internet workings. There are several options. Yet as I see it. The fact that Al Jazeera had it for three hours and AP News for less than an hour remains a setting that I expected more than these two. Several newspapers should have had that news (for example: the Guardian, the Observer, the Times, LA Times, San Francisco Courier, Boston Globe) and several others, so why were they absent from the searches?

Do you not think that these papers should have given their local populations the goods as America attacks Houthi positions? Just a simple question really.

So, have a great day and if you are in Toronto, enjoy your early breakfast, I’ll have tomorrow’s breakfast in Sydney in 6 hours.

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March 24, 2025 · 02:50

Fantasy in the past

We all have that, we dream of things, more often than not it will be sexually tainted and I have them too, but not this time. The CBC put that (not so) old fantasy on the forefront of my mind with the story (at https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/olympics-2026-hockey-venue-update-march-2025-1.7489606) titled ‘Construction of hockey arena for 2026 Olympics facing a ‘tight schedule’’ Here we are introduced to a new Hockey arena build in Milan we also are given the text “The schedule for completing the arena that will be used for many hockey games at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will be “very tight,” organizers told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week at the organization’s 144th Session in Greece.” And it came to me that the thoughts of that stadium given to us by Karissa Donkin gives more options. It is (for now) build for other purposes, yet it could become more.

You see, The Italian Hockey League has options (as I see it) and it takes a larger setting to impact settings. The Italian Hockey Leagues has:

  • Alleghe
  • Aosta
  • Brixen/Bressanone
  • Como
  • Eppan/Appiano
  • Fassa
  • Feltre
  • Fiemme
  • Kaltern/Caldaro
  • Pergine
  • Toblach/Dobbiaco
  • Valpellice Bulldogs
  • Varese

And of course my delusional brain added team number 14 to that (coming to that). You see, in my fantasy I got to the Scotiabank Arena (Home of the Toronto Maple Leafs) and of course, as a non NHL player, I decided to get through to the sneaky sneaky scoundrel side in me and I created ‘my own’ team, based on another jersey, a soccer jersey (see below)

So in comes visiting Father Larry van Rijn (number 62) from the IHL league team Vatican City as a visiting (massively wannabe) Goalie for Vatican City. And the men were fantastic and of course they massively loved the idea to push a puck in my goal and that was how I got my first day going up against an NHL team without qualifications and a certain level of lacking skills. You know it all starts with a mere dream.

Yet now, that thought gets a larger setting. With Women Hockey teams gaining speed all over Global Hockey Arena’s. As far as I can tell, America and Canada have their leagues, but there is also the Australian Ice Hockey League, International Ice Hockey Federation, Elite Ice Hockey League, Liiga, Asia League Ice Hockey, IHL, Emirates Ice Hockey League, Saudi Arabia national ice hockey team and a few more. Yet in this setting now (due to some political person) the American leagues are less and less welcome and now that Women’s Ice Hockey is gaining traction, having A European League would not be a bad idea and as Canada gets more and more competition, the idea of an American League become less and less essential. OK, essential might not be the proper word, but Canada could use some friendly competition in a few ways. Take that with the setting that a women’s league might do well in the Arabian countries as well gives it more front page. The idea that the western leagues final could end up being Vatican City (with yours truly as the goalie versus the Abu Dhabi Shaheen Falcons does have an unusual appeal. A setting where America has pushed too many buttons and now there is the stage where Europe and other places will find the need to enjoy a sport, preferably one without America. 

The idea that there is a larger need to promote women in sports and too many places where they are treated too inferior, and now the door to a larger competition drive could open the world to a global sport where the women are under their own power an equal league of their own.

So have a great day and feel free to have your own fantasy (optionally involving food).

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March 20, 2025 · 17:50

A letter from Hugh

Yup, it happened to me, Hugh Grant send me a letter (a modern message in Email).

You know, the man who was made famous through the movie “Four startups and a Bankruptcy”. And behold, this morning there was a letter in my mailbox, stating:

Dear Lawrence,

For over ten years in opposition the Labour Party promised to implement the Leveson reforms.  These reforms would raise standards in the media and protect the public from intrusions into grief, blatant falsehoods, and other abuses. 

Sir Keir Starmer, meanwhile, talked a big game about ending corruption in politics and putting the public first.
Yet since his election as Prime Minister, Sir Keir has done nothing to keep his party’s promises and end the scandal of press abuse.

In his failure to act, he is protecting the status quo and putting newspaper owners ahead of the public.

We need to remind him: his Government is accountable to the British public, not newspaper owners.  And his Party’s promises – to ordinary people affected by press abuse, and the wider public – must be kept.

And here is the link to write to your MP (at https://www.hackedoff.org/campaign-actions/britains-press-power-without-responsibility-demand-real-press-accountability-now?utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=Hugh follow-up&utm_medium=email&utm_id=38)

You will get to enter your UK Postcode and as I as a test enter a post code of Birmingham (as a test)  The system replies with 

Dear Shabana Mahmood,

Despite reaching over 70% of the public every month national newspapers are unregulated – allowing them to spread lies, disinformation, and to commit intrusions with impunity.

Every issue facing the country – from human trafficking to climate change to domestic violence – is affected by the ability of newspapers and their websites to cover them inaccurately and unethically.

The Government’s inaction on press regulation is holding Britain back from meeting these challenges – as well as leaving newspapers able to cause extraordinary damage to individuals’ lives through harassment and intrusion into grief.

You merely have to add your Name, Address and Email address details and the letter is ready. Easy, peasy, Chicken easy.

It will be a rough reminder for the Labour Party and his fellow minions to do something about the outstanding promise to set the Leveson papers in action. The media has become too much of a clear and present danger to the people, and many people in the UK have had enough. So this is a rather large remembrance page with the automation for the people to add their details and do something about it.

It gave me pause to think of hat the UK media is facing. It is already facing irrelevancy and a loss of readers on a global scale. No matter what our faith is, papers like New Arab, Arab News, Khaleej Times and several other newspapers are making string insides into the world population. And that is not all that is happening. In support we see that Dubai Media (the first recipient of my film script “How to assassinate a Politician”) is making rather larger visibility moves. Mostly in Bangladesh , Egypt and Indonesia, but it is a start). In this Al Saudiya (part of the SBA) is doing the same, but I am unaware how large their foot print is becoming. Mostly due to my lack of Arabic I cannot see the complete setting of the Saudi Broadcasting Authority. A Saudi TV group meant for 33 million is reaching out to a population of over half a billion (the Dubai Media group (UAE) as well). They are diminishing the channels that were until recently the targets of Reuters, AP News and the BBC. The people are through with these false prophets and are now giving these two a chance. After the track of the late eighties and 90’s that CNN had, they are given a green light by the people in many ways a similar setting.

Western people have had enough of the lies and innuendo that Western media gives us. As such the term sports-washing, meaning “Sportswashing is the use of sport to redirect public attention away from unethical conduct. The intended effect is to improve the reputation of the offending entity, by using the immense popularity of sport to ‘wash’ away poor publicity.” A term as I see it invented by the western media and nearly always used to describe Saudi involvement. But as I see it, the Western media should be using the same term (although not always involving sports) to strengthen their innuendo for digital dollars. They do, but to hide the actions of involved people like Sony (TPP policy 2016) and a few others. It was the first clear setting where I saw media ‘protecting’ big tech. I wrote (rather clumsily) about that in ‘Lessening the consumer?’ On April 27th 2016 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2016/04/27/lessening-the-consumer/) after that I saw the actions by Microsoft and others and the media was holding the hands over the heads of Big Tech (speculatively to score advertisement money) and that was how I started to keep my eyes of the media until now and see how the media today has less value than the average porn magazine, they might reflect on ‘Sex Sells’ but the value of their contribution has lost its value and then some. As media largely goes into the same direction, not giving us news, but referring to out as entertainment and as I see it, the ABC News Channel is the only news channel giving Australia actual news, the rest is flaccid entertainment. This is the same all over the western world hiding behind the term “A news and current affairs show”, where the emphasis is set to ‘current affairs show’ and the ‘insiders’ referring to that being the same. The world is waking up to the setting of being lulled asleep by the media and the Leveson papers was the first stage to getting the people awake. That was the first step for the media to wake up and that so far The Leveson Inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011. A series of public hearings were held throughout 2011 and 2012. The result were 4 documents giving us over 2000 pages of wake up medicine for the media regulations. So far it hasn’t happened, for reference the Lord Of the Rings is a novel a mere 1077 pages, so there is that too, one is fiction , the other is a rude awakening of what the media is up to. The News of the world owned by Rupert Murdoch shut down in 2011 when the News of the World, owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens. Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US. He got out when he was no longer able to hide the actions of some. But not all is lost, the Arabian versions of the news are now shown all over the world mainly the three I mentioned in the beginning. And now we see the growth of Saudi and UAE media and they now have solid systems that can reach the whole western world too. Now we might not get all the shows the 1st gives us, but that is merely one step away from coming. The fires in California have settles the people in optionally leaving California and the UAE and Saudi stations could give them a new beginning, many to Canada, but with the promise of decent incomes Saudi Arabia and the UAE could collect on the cream of American Script writers. I saw this option opening up and (even though magnificently unsuccessful)  , I decided to attempt to sell my first script in the UAE (Dubai media). There is an inkling of faith that it was merely my lack of skills, and it was my first script, but I have three more on route. As such other (a lot more successful than me) could open the road to more scripts and that is what Hollywood fears, the drain of knowledge. They thought they were on top of the world with their setting, yet as Covid hit, followed by the strikes and the California fires, the Hollywood setting is to some degree now an empty shell and that leaves Canada, the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE open to wildly grown in all directions. The Guardian gives us “The entertainment industry is estimated to create $43bn in wages every year for the Californian economy and recent events have not only forced a pause in the short term but also raised concerns over long-term recovery.” These incomes have been impacted from 2020 onwards. We were given “Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released by mid-March 2020 were postponed or canceled around the world, with film productions also being halted.” Then we got the strikes in 2023 which stopped it all again and the fires on January 7th 2025, the impact has roasted the core of Hollywood with burning down what was left. Consider the setting that the people in Hollywood were given $43 billion annually and that their incomes have been impeded with a near 80% lacking of a total of over $200 billion. The quality of life is setting the massive options for the other nations and as the Hollywood moguls are happy to pay the others as little as possible, they and up having no recourse for themselves. 

And now we get yet again the Leveson inquiry hitting the UK shores. The mess is now near complete and the media will have to surrender market shares to the Arabian nations and see where they end up being, because the events in Saudi Arabia (2030) and the UAE will likely have all the Arabian journalists and very little other ones, especially with vloggers all over the place and YouTube (and TikTok) having the new fields all to themselves and their creators. That is what I see happening al up to late 2027 and that is long before Hollywood becomes a shadow of itself.

That is the reality of exploitation at some point the people give up and seek richer grounds, Hollywood is now becoming largely without cohesion to itself, so where do you go then? You all have a productive day.

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March 17, 2025 · 04:53

On the left you’ll see

That is the setting, but is it the difference? You see Canada might have lost Justin Trudeau as the Canadian Prime Minister, but President Trump is about to face his most dangerous opponent ever. It is AP News (at https://apnews.com/article/carney-canada-uk-france-trump-arctic-60993a6e738f797977ef544dc5857ea3) that gives us ‘New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks alliances in Europe as he deals with Trump’ and before the ‘loyal’ Trumpetists shout “So what?” People need to realize that Mark Carney was the former Governor of the Bank of England. As such he has friends in very high places and has access to a lot of non official routes to information, A lot more than PM Trudeau ever had. I still think of him as Marky Mark of the British Bank (off the record). As such PM Carney can push new buttons Canada never really had access to. The second setting makes a lot more impact. He was the first noncitizen to be named to the role in the bank’s 300-plus-year history. That doesn’t merely imply that he was good, he was the best the Bank of England could get their fingers on and he was heading the race with more than 5% advantage over number two in that race. 

Another setting (given here) is “Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto, said Carney is wise not to visit Trump. “There’s no point in going to Washington,” Bothwell said. “As (former Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau’s treatment shows, all that results in is a crude attempt by Trump to humiliate his guests. Nor can you have a rational conversation with someone who simply sits there and repeats disproven lies.”” I cannot vouch for that, but the logic of Professor Bothwell is sound. The setting that everyone seemingly overlooks is that the Five Eyes group could become the Four Eyes Commonwealth. That is the larger issue that Trump faces and PM Carney as former Governor of the British Bank will have the UK and its MI5 and MI6 on its side. I reckon these two rascals (aka Sir Ken McCallum and Richard Moore) on his side and with that Australia (Mike Burgess and Kerri Hartland) will accept the new setting. I do not now where the The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service sits, but I reckon that they will most probably unite behind their Australian and UK parts (Andrew Hampton), I have no idea if there is a separate MI5/ASIO version for New Zealand, but it might be a reason to have one. As soon as America is booted of the Five Eyes group President Trump might throw a gasket or two and from then on we face a less friendly CIA/NSA. They don’t like to be excluded from anything. As I see it, they allowed Donald Trump to be elected, so they are part of the mess they created. This is not a given, but it is a possibility that PM Carney can throw for. In the second setting he could start the talks for a replacement for the F35 and the Typhoon is certainly up to the task, as such he could start these talks right now with the BAE. I reckon that President Trump will appreciate the loss of billions (who he’ll likely blame on deepfake intel from China).

As such there is also a need to get trade routes and alternatives arranged for industry losses of Canada and see what Canada can deliver to the UK and EU, who in turn can also be less dependent on America. I think he should also do this with Australia and New Zealand, but that need to happen in a separate meeting (let’s face it, has he ever seen the Sydney Opera House), as such PM Carney might have a pretty filled ball book this march. So in 14 days he can say to Trump “Did you see the Five Eyes report? No? April Fools you are no longer a member.” I reckon that Canadians and Australians share a nice set of dark humor moments. 

So enjoy this winning goal shot America, I reckon you will get this sinking feeling a few times more before April 1st. You pissed off more than merely Canadians in your 51st state setting, the other three are angry as well (even though not as angry as Canada is). President Trump angered more than Canadians. He showed for the first time that the Commonwealth needs to unite. China or Russia never gave us that need before. 

So, you all have a great day and see the fields where the pucks grow, Now we merely need to get Australia to appreciate the game of the puck and the 4 eyes nations to get a new competition started. Who knows in a few years time Australia and New Zealand could also beat America in overtime. #JustSpeculating

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March 16, 2025 · 05:59

Political Dundie Awards anyone?

There is a special award that people fear. It is a lot worse than the Razzies (Golden Raspberry Awards), it is the “Dundie Award for Worst Salesman of the Year” and this year it goes to President Trump. In one swift setting he made the Commonwealth drop America as an ally and in the second setting over two articles the first being (at https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/portugal-wary-trumps-nato-policy-pick-fighter-jets-2025-03-14/) ‘Portugal wary of Trump’s NATO policy in pick of fighter jets’ where we see “Portugal could replace its aging American-made F-16 fighter jets with European jets rather than F-35s following U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy shifts, the country’s defense ministry said on Friday.” And the second one is seen (at https://news.az/news/canada-explores-alternatives-to-us-made-f-35-fighter-jets) with ‘Canada explores alternatives to US-made F-35 fighter jets’, where we are given “Canada is considering alternatives to the U.S.-made F-35 stealth fighters and has begun discussions with competing aircraft manufacturers, Defense Minister Bill Blair announced late Friday, shortly after being reappointed to the role in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s newly established Cabinet.” The F35, which is currently going as hot cakes although each of these hot cakes go for the price of $109,000,000 each. So I reckon that Lockheed Martin is out a few pennies now and in light of the fact that sustainment costs are estimated to be around $1.58 trillion for the entire life cycle, these pennies tend to add up. And that is before you realize that several countries are still on the fence to change their order now. As such we might think that Saudi Arabia now certainly gets consideration as a customer (after a few years of denying them as a customer), yup President Trump really put his foot in that one. The nice part is that Portugal wasn’t a factor until yesterday and now it is costing Lockheed Martin billions. Considering that Norway recently got three of them nearly completing their order of 52 of them bad boys, consider what Portugal is now replacing and Canada is openly seeking another vendor. Of course, the Eurofighter (Eurofighter Typhoon) might have the inside track here. Yet wouldn’t it be the icing on the cake if China with its Chengdu J-20 wins that one? The irony to this  will be seen as howling with laughter.

OK, I admit that it is unlikely to happen, but the setting that President Trump started with the option of gaining a 51st state and now needs to build second wall to the north to keep the dozens of mighty dragons at a walls length. Canadians merely will have to fill the space between the two walls with water and we have a whole new setting movie like setting. I merely ask that they send 10 canoes to every Native American community there is (there are a few dozens), as such we get a new setting. It is as far as I can tell the first time a president became a clear and present danger to its own defense system selling on a near global scale. The distance between Canada and Portugal makes it near global as I see it. A parameter I actually didn’t see happen as a president is there for a mere 4 years and these babies get sold with decades in mind, but there you have it and there is more. YouTube is getting more and more video’s with American shops (Supermarkets and LCBO shops) where alcoholic drinks from the US and groceries from America are banned by the thousands of Canadian customers, this is all adding up. Perhaps the White House could consider pissing off the people with a nationalistic view? As I see it America first is now becoming America dropped first. In the last week we saw headlines like ‘Jack Daniel’s maker says Canada pulling stock worse than tariffs’ and in this case it grows with “Morgan Stanley analyst Eric Serotta said in a note to investors that tariffs would pose unique challenges for Brown-Forman, with the effects likely to linger. He added that 55% of the liquor manufacturer’s sales come from outside the U.S., and bourbon laws require domestic production so it cannot be produced internationally.” And this opens the doors of ‘connoisseur’ of that liquid as they might now explore the excellence of Japanese Whiskeys. A worry that the makers of Jack Daniels never had before. It makes it not a temporary, but a permanent loss. That threat is now at Lockheed Martins door if these nations pick the Eurofighter. It makes a tremendous win for Eurofighter GmbH, BAE Systems, Airbus, Alenia Aermacchi, and DASA. They are now offered billions of new business on a silver plate because of this and that could also mean that Saud Arabia might now set their sights to the Eurofighter as well. The one nation that was fixed on the F35 could now be shopping somewhere else. That implies a loss of planes, support systems and infrastructure spanning up to a new market of up to 283 combat aircrafts. How many trillions will that amount to? I reckon that it is up to five times the infrastructure of Norway, making the RSAF a $6,000,000,000,000 crown jewel for any company. All that lost by trying to force annexation down the throats of Canadian and pissing off NATO by catering to President Putin all whilst they are in a stage to denying assistance to NATO. So what is next? Consider that The Five Eyes is comprised of Commonwealth nations plus America, it is not without risk that the four will go it alone. You see intelligence merely matters as long as you have it and that is where the CIA might come up short soon enough. A larger setting that short sighted people in the White House administration overlooked. That can be considered as we saw the news by AP yesterday ‘Musk meets with head of National Security Agency to ensure it is aligned with Trump, spy agency says’, I reckon that there will be a certain level of panic whilst the CIA reports that their meeting could get seemingly cancelled. Now the NSA will have to focus on local issues and read in the FBI to at least a dozen projects. I know, it is merely speculative what I say, but that danger wasn’t even realistic last August, now in less than 9 months the pregnancy issues of intelligence might become a massive issues for America and it only recently got over the issues of that traitor Manning and COVID issues. So that is another mess America now has to deal with.

In the second stage, why was Elon Musk dealing with this? Shouldn’t the NSA address any issues directly with the President of the United States? And the questions rise. And the Political Dundie Awards (PDA) has a nice ring as Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a pattern of behavior in which kids go to extremes to ignore or avoid anything they perceive as a demand. That aligns here just so beautifully. 

Ah well, Another day another giggle with a coffee. So you all have a nice day and Canada, I have your back (although from a distance). By the way congrats to Markie Mark of the British Bank, now to be known Markie Canuck of Canada.

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