Liberals Win In Canada, Conservative Leader Loses Seat

 

Once again proof of that truism "Everything Trump touches dies" -- in this case, the hopes of Canada's Conservative Party:

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was voted out of his own seat in Parliament as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won Canada’s federal election, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation projected Monday.

The loss of his seat representing his Ottawa district during Monday’s election capped a stunning decline in fortunes for the firebrand Poilievre, who only a few months ago appeared to be a shoo-in to become Canada’s next prime minister and to shepherd the Conservatives back into power for the first time in a decade before U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada and suggestions it should become the 51st state outraged voters and upended the election.

Poilievre, a career politician, campaigned with Trump-like bravado, even taking a page from the “America First” president by adopting the slogan “Canada First.” But his similarities to Trump may have ultimately cost him and his party in Monday’s election.

After polls closed, the Liberals were projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservatives. It wasn’t immediately clear, though, if they would win an outright majority — at least 172 — or would need to rely on one of the smaller parties to pass legislation.

The Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada’s economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state. Trump’s actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power...

Therefore, the election was a win-win, in that mini-Trump Poilievre and his right- wing party lost and the Malignant Fascist proved his toxic bona fides once again.

One bone to pick with the Liberal Party leader:  please, it's not "Americans" who want to take over Canada;  it's the moron madman Malignant Fascist.  Polls show that less than one in five Americans support the insane idea.  It's. Not. Going. To. Happen.  The vast majority of Americans with a functioning brain cortex cherish our good neighbor to the north and our long history of peaceful alliance.  Unfortunately, conflating America with the Malignant Fascist is fair game, since a plurality of us voted him back into office in a stunning display of stupidity and moral vacuity.  We take to heart that once the MF broke the bond of trust with Canada (and other friends and allies), the relationship will never be quite the same again.  And that is to our everlasting shame and regret.

(Photo:  Prime Minister Mark Carney /Frank Gunn,The Canadian Press via AP)

QOTD -- Running / Ruining Everything

 

“The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys.  And the second time, I run the country and the world.” -- the convicted felon Malignant Fascist, quoted in The Atlantic (no link $$), letting his full-blown megalomania flag fly.  He stopped short of saying, "I run the country and the world... into the ground."  What a sick, deranged narcissist.

Trump Sees Polls, Ketchup Flies

 

The madman moron Malignant Loser is BIG MAD at the pollsters reporting his tanking poll numbers! Get ready to clean ketchup off White House walls!

 

The Giant Toddler's MENTAL STABILITY, MATURITY and JUDGEMENT are making us all feel safer and more confident in the FUTURE!

 

Skeets Of The Day

 

How are those "tariff deals" coming along? --

 

JAPAN ECONOMY MINISTER AKAZAWA: NO CHANGE TO OUR STANCE WE ARE DEMANDING FULL REMOVAL OF U.S. TARIFFS

— FinTwitter (@fintwitter.bsky.social) April 28, 2025 at 6:16 AM

 

China Foreign Ministry spox overnight: “Let me make it clear one more time – China and the US are not engaged in any consultation or negotiation on tariffs.” Treasury Secretary Bessent on CNBC just now: *BESSENT: ALL ASPECTS OF GOVERNMENT IN CONTACT WITH CHINA Who you gunna believe?

— George Pearkes (@peark.es) April 28, 2025 at 8:03 AM

 

China's Trade Playbook: Warming Ties with Asia, Talking to EU, Cold Shoulder to U.S.

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— China Trade Monitor (@chinatrademonitor.bsky.social) April 24, 2025 at 4:24 PM

 

Empty shelves and the #SummerOfScarcity is starting to make Page One. @financialtimes.com

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) April 28, 2025 at 5:41 AM

My neighbor is a trucker. This idiot had these flags up for a year for all the kids to see. Now the ports are empty I'm thrilled he's going to get what he voted for.......

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— Bleed the oligarchs (@longleafpine2024.bsky.social) April 28, 2025 at 7:13 AM

 

Compare/ contrast --

 

Despite all the good he did, Joe Biden was “too old” for folks. So now we’re stuck with “sleepy Don” — a corrupt bigot for a president. Nice work, America!

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— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) April 27, 2025 at 12:09 PM

 

He was "too busy" to get Melon a birthday present, she couldn't wait to ditch him -- 

Back from Rome and Melania couldn’t get away fast enough. Separate motorcades.

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— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) April 27, 2025 at 11:24 PM

Our broken, Trump-compliant media ("60 Minutes" excepted) --

 

And now, a note on Bill Owens who, until this past week, was the executive producer of 60 Minutes. We’ll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.

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— 60 Minutes (@60minutes.bsky.social) April 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM

 

the contrast between the journalists at 60 minutes who are risking their careers for their independence and the white house correspondents chuckling at nerdprom about how they helped trump get elected is pretty jarring and infuriating

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— mtsw (@mtsw.bsky.social) April 27, 2025 at 10:25 PM

Pritzker gets it, impresses... --

 

Hard to think of someone who gets what it's going to take to get us to 2028 and how to win than Pritzker.

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— L O L G O P (@lolgop.bsky.social) April 28, 2025 at 6:36 AM

... Schumer doesn't  😒 --

 

AOC for Senate

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— Adam Parkhomenko (@adamparkhomenko.bsky.social) April 27, 2025 at 11:02 AM

Russian rats' "unconditional ceasefire," with conditions, of course --

The Kremlin will keep putting forth completely unacceptable demands in order to make it seem Ukraine is to blame for a lack of progress in the “peace process.”

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— Euan MacDonald (@euanmacdonald.bsky.social) April 27, 2025 at 1:37 PM

 

What's that Musk-y smell?  London calling --

 

Meanwhile in London 🎯🔥

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— WuTangIsForTheChildren (@wutangforchildren.bsky.social) April 26, 2025 at 12:47 PM

 

 

Elections in Canada

 

Canadians go to the polls today to register their anger at the deranged Malignant Fascist's punitive tariffs and numerous insults toward Canada. In one of the biggest turnarounds, Canada's Liberal Party, which was struggling at the outset of the year, is poised to elect their leader Mark Carney as their new Prime Minister. From the Associated Press:

"Until the American president won a second term and began threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty, even suggesting the country should become the 51st state, the Liberals looked headed for defeat. [snip]

Trump’s truculence has infuriated many Canadians, leading many to cancel U.S. vacations, refuse to buy American goods and possibly even vote early — a record 7.3 million Canadians cast ballots before election day. Trump also put Poilievre and the Conservative Party on the back foot after they appeared headed for an easy victory only months ago.

'The Americans want to break us so they can own us,' Carney said recently, laying out what he saw as the stakes for the election. 'Those aren’t just words. That’s what’s at risk.'” (our emphasis)

Carney's opponent, Conservative Party's Pierre Poilievre, has styled himself as a version of the Malignant Fascist with his right-wing "populism" and his appeal to grievances. Now, what appeared to be a Liberal Party defeat may put their party in control for the foreseeable future. At each new threat or insult by the Malignant Fascist, the Conservative's prospects go down:

"Poilievre, a populist firebrand who campaigned with Trump-like bravado, had hoped to make the election a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau......But then Trump became the dominant issue, and Poilievre’s similarities to the bombastic president could cost him. [snip]

Trump dialed back his talk of Canada becoming the 51st state during the campaign until last week, when he said Canada 'would cease to exist as a country' if the U.S. stopped buying its goods. He also said he’s not just trolling Canada when he says it should become a state.

'The Liberals ought to pay him,' Bothwell said. 'Trump talking is not good for the Conservatives.'” (our emphasis)

As the saying goes, everything Trump touches dies. 

 

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon: Moving Fast, Breaking Things

 

(click to enlarge)

South Afrikaner fascist and co-President Elon "Leon" Musk has convened a meeting of the worst, most anti-American Cabinet in American history to get their reports on destroying things, which they gladly provide. Even the distracted Malignant Fascist points to his destructive tariffs, to the fawning admiration of bellboy JD Vance. It's a satiric cartoon, but entirely real.

Please consider supporting Tom's work by going here.

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

Gilles Gui was looking for the magical purple bluebells that raise their heads each spring under the budding beech leaves of the Hallerbos forest, an annual explosion of color that draws crowds from around the world.

And in these times full of stress and anxiety about wars, economic threats and other tensions, he found something else too: a sense of tranquility.

“I notice that there’s a lot of silence in my head when I’m done,” Gui said. “Yeah, it helps me keep some peace in my mind, really just take my mind away from everything that’s going on.”

Spending time in nature, experts have long said, can be a balm in troubled times.

“From a stroll through a city park to a day spent hiking in the wilderness, exposure to nature has been linked to a host of benefits, including improved attention, lower stress, better mood, reduced risk of psychiatric disorders, and even upticks in empathy and cooperation,” a 2020 article of the American Psychological Association said.  [snip]

That hug from nature is just about everywhere right now. Japan is awash in a sea of cherry blossoms, which mesmerize people around the world. Bluebell season also coincides with the prime tulip season in the Netherlands. The renowned Keukenhof garden there has become a playground for influencers and those seeking that ultimate selfie...

It's great advice to disconnect from time-to-time and recharge your emotional and psychic batteries, especially now with Spring's beauty unfolding all around.  Take advantage whenever you can.  You'll need it as you read on...

The bad:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has broken its silence, conceding its agents were responsible for the arrest of two men during a raid on a downtown Charlottesville courthouse and promising that the bystanders who questioned those agents will be prosecuted.

ICE also blasted the area’s top prosecutor, who has announced he will be investigating the raid, as “posturing for the media.”

“It is shameful,” wrote an ICE spokesman who declined to be named in a Saturday morning statement, “that the Commonwealth Attorney, a sworn officer of the court and fellow law enforcement officer, has decided to prioritize politics over public safety — placing a criminal’s wellbeing above that of the brave women and men in law enforcement, whom the Commonwealth Attorney took an oath to support.” [Ed.: get the shovel out for this anonymous spokesman's pile of gaslighting bullshit!]

The spokesman was pushing back against Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingeley, who has announced an investigation into the raid and warned that “further actions like the courthouse arrests yesterday would constitute a grave danger to our community.”

Hingeley has taken particular issue with the manner of the detention. Of the three plainclothes ICE agents captured on camera arresting one of the two men as he emerged from Albemarle County General District Court on Tuesday, one was wearing a balaclava masking his face and none displayed badges or arrest warrants to the man.

While Albemarle County Sheriff Chan Bryant said the ICE agents did produce proper badges and paperwork to bailiffs inside the courthouse prior to the confrontation caught on video, Hingeley stands by his assertion that arrests that resemble kidnappings are a danger to the community and could provoke violent confrontations.

“It is a fact that the method chosen by ICE agents to make these arrests constituted a risk to public safety, and I stand by that statement,” Hingeley told The Daily Progress in an email.

He also took a swipe at ICE.

“In Albemarle County, at least, if not at ICE, facts are facts, and I am confident my constituents appreciate my efforts to bring facts to light,” Hingeley continued...

From it's loathsome thug Acting Director Tom Homan to the various ICE- holes conducting these Gestapo- like arrests, this is an out- of- control government ignoring due process and threatening retaliation against anyone who challenges its dubious authority and "kidnapping" methods, going so far as having the FBI arrest a judge in Wisconsin as a warning to other jurists not to interfere.  This is what fascism looks like, folks.

The ugly:

Campgrounds, boat ramps and other facilities in at least 30 locations at federal lakes and reservoirs in six states will be closed or have their hours curtailed as of mid-May as the Trump administration tries to rapidly shrink the U.S. government.

Officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the lakes and reservoirs and their amenities for boating, camping, hiking and sightseeing, said they are dealing with staffing shortages and other budgetary restrictions.

Corps spokesman Douglas Garman said concentrating staff at fewer recreational sites will allow those sites to keep the “full range of services” that visitors expect.

The Corps' district office in Omaha, Nebraska, which oversees facilities across a large swath of the Great Plains from western Iowa and Nebraska to Montana's border with Canada, said the changes also will protect hydropower and dam operations.

"Decisions to make operational changes at recreation areas are not made lightly, and we understand those decisions can be disruptive to the public’s travel plans," Garman said in an email to The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump imposed a federal hiring freeze after beginning his second term in January, and his Department of Government Efficiency is trying to eliminate tens of thousands of government jobs.

In Pickstown, South Dakota, residents were “appalled” to learn the Corps plans to close its visitor center at the Fort Randall Dam and suspend tours of the dam's powerhouse on May 1, said Cindy Broyhill, the president of the town’s Board of Trustees.

“”We have a lot of fishing and boating, but we also have a lot of just plain tourists coming through to see the dam," Broyhill said of Pickstown, located a little more than a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) east of the dam on the Missouri River, about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) north of the Nebraska state line.

“I think there are other places where they could cut that would make more sense," she added...

Those "other places" being where there are lots of Democrats, black, brown and LGTBQ folks, she didn't say.  How did the Pickstown district vote in the last election, you didn't ask?

Every state mentioned in the quote was a solid Malignant Fascist state, so expect reactions there to be the same (i.e., "We elected him to screw those people, not us!").

So a big FAFO to you!

Across The Universe, Cont. -- Barred Spiral Galaxy

 

(click on image to enlarge)

From NASA/ ESA, April 23, 2025: The Hubble Space Telescope captured in exquisite detail a face-on view of a remarkable-looking galaxy. NGC 5335 is categorized as a flocculent spiral galaxy with patchy streamers of star formation across its disk. There is a striking lack of well-defined spiral arms that are commonly found among galaxies, including our Milky Way. A notable bar structure slices across the center of the galaxy. The bar channels gas inwards toward the galactic center, fueling star formation. Such bars are dynamic in galaxies and may come and go over two-billion-year intervals. They appear in about 30 percent of observed galaxies, including our Milky Way.

[Image description: Barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 observed by the Hubble Space Telescope takes up the majority of the view. At its center is a milky yellow, flattened oval that extends bottom left to top. Within the oval is a bright central region that looks circular, with the very center the brightest. In the bright central region is what looks like a bar, extending from top left to bottom right. Around this is a thick swath of blue stars speckled with white regions. Multiple arms wrap up and around in a counterclockwise direction, becoming fainter the farther out they are. Both the white core and the spiral arms are intertwined with dark streaks of dust. The background of space is black. Thousands of distant galaxies in an array of colors are speckled throughout.]

Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI

 

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Gary Markstein, Creators.com)

(Lee Judge, King Features)

(Pedro Molina, Counterpoint)

(David Horsey, The Seattle Times)

(Clay Jones, claytoonz.com)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Dave Granlund, politicalcartoons.com)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Michael Ramirez, Las Vegas Review-Journal)

(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)

(Peter Brookes, Sunday Times, London)

(Christian Adams, The Telegraph, London)

(Joe Dator, @airmailweekly)

QOTD: Not Scared Enough

 

S.V. Date, writing in the Huffington Post, listing the reasons that the Malignant Fascist's actions in the first 100 days into his second term should prompt fear for the preservation of our democracy:

"However scared you might be for our democracy, you are not scared enough.

"The president of the United States, from the moment he regained the office, has been step-by-step following the autocrat’s playbook. He has gone after universities for not obeying his decrees. He has extorted law firms for having on staff, or just once-upon-a-time having had on staff, people who crossed him. He has targeted for prosecution former aides who challenged him. He has arrested a local judge for not helping him round up migrants for deportation. He has attacked the free press for not bending to his will. On his very first day in office, he released from prison hundreds of domestic terrorists, effectively a personal militia, who assaulted police officers in his name.

"And now, not 100 days into his term, he has done what so many democracy advocates have feared he would eventually do, something that no president has dared try in the more than two centuries since Marbury v. Madison’s precedent that the judiciary would be the ultimate authority on what is and what is not legal: He is straight-up defying the United States Supreme Court." (our emphasis)

The Malignant Fascist first stated he'd be a dictator from day one, later saying he'd be a dictator just on day one. He was right the first time. 

Sunday Reflection

 

"We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home." -- legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow ( 4/25/1908 - 4/27/1965) from his Report on Sen. Joseph McCarthy, CBS News, March 7, 1954. The nation feared a reckless, cruel alcoholic McCarthy (R-WI) and his willful destruction of people's reputations by casting them as Communists during the "Red Scare" of the early 1950s. Murrow stood up to the bullying coward when few others would. Murrow later was appointed by President Kennedy as the first director of the U.S. Information Agency, the parent agency of the Voice of America, which the Malignant Fascist is attempting to shut down.

The Malignant Fascist's attack on our democracy is far worse than what Murrow could have imagined. Using his power for revenge, extortion and personal wealth, the MF will continue because his party's politicians fear his revenge more than they love this country.

 

"A Disastrous Start"

 

We realize we're putting a lot of polling information out there, which we do for several reasons:  they provide a temperature check on the mood of the country;  and they can provide much-needed positive energy for the resistance to the fascist coup taking place in America.  Pollsters also use the first 100- days point in an administration to gauge how the public views the rollout of a President's agenda and how it compares to other Presidents.  With that brief preview, we checked out the "Opinion Today" Substack gathered by the New York Times, starting with Nate Cohn, who sums up how the Malignant Fascist is faring:

We have the first New York Times/Siena College poll since the election, and almost everyone will probably agree on this much: The findings are not good for President Trump.

You would be hard pressed to find a single “good” number for Mr. Trump in the survey.

His job approval rating is just 42 percent, and voters disapproved of his handling of every issue tested in the survey, including longstanding strengths like immigration and the economy.

Only 43 percent view him favorably, down from 48 percent in the final Times/Siena poll before the election and the lowest since his attempted assassination last July.

On question after question, voters say he’s going too far. Sixty-six percent of them say “chaotic” describes Mr. Trump’s second term well; 59 percent say “scary” fits at least somewhat well.  [snip]

Imagine that you didn’t know anything about this president or his actions so far. You knew only that this is a president with a 42 percent job approval rating after almost 100 days.

If that’s all you knew, you would have to say this presidency was off to a disastrous start.

For most presidents, the first 100 days are as good as it gets. It’s hard to remember now, but at this time four years ago Joe Biden was still being compared to F.D.R. Even the doomed presidents — think Jimmy Carter’s first term or George W. Bush’s second — still had positive approval ratings at this stage.

It’s not easy to burn this much good will so fast, and it doesn’t usually get any easier from here. [snip]

Bring yourself back to the beginning of the year, when Mr. Trump was basking in victory, when there was talk of a rightward cultural “vibe shift” or even an incipient realignment.

From this perspective, Mr. Trump’s first 100 days would count as a political disappointment — at best. [snip]

... Not only has he forfeited whatever political opportunity existed at the beginning of his term, but he has also managed to turn his usual strengths into liabilities. Voters no longer say his policies will help them personally anymore, one of the central reasons for his victory just six months ago...

Cohn goes on to discuss the MF's decline in ratings and looking ahead to the next =ugh= 1,365 days.

The "Opinion Today" Substack also links to other polls, which validate each others' view of the MF's shaky start. Here are their top lines:

"President Trump has lowest 100-day approval rating in 80 years; Majorities of voters disapprove of many of Trump's policies" -- Gary Langer, ABC News

"Trump approval sinks as Americans criticize his major policies, poll finds." -- Dan Balz, Scott Clement and Emily Guskin, Washington Post

"Americans have a negative economic outlook, even as many feel their personal economic situation hasn't changed." -- Chris Jackson, Mallory Newall, Sarah Feldman, and Johnny Sawyer, Ipsos

"Voters see Trump's use of power as overreaching, Times/Siena poll finds" -- Shane Goldmacher, Ruth Igielnik, and Camille Baker, New York Times

Well, that's enough of the zeitgeist for now.  And just to pre- but a certain point of view:  we don't (and you shouldn't) give a shit about what MAGAts think, say, or do.  As John Pavlovitz put it recently,

... [A]s far as his cheerleaders, champions, kindred spirits, sycophants, and disciples—they are proving themselves unreachable with reason, impervious to compassion, and mortally allergic to anything that reasonable human beings value. [snip]

Compromise is not an option, and because of that many of us are going to need to lean into our convictions and move away from people we know, love, and once respected.

Sadly and tragically, that’s just how this has to be."

They are not our destiny;  we are.

(Photo:  low-energy Grandpa Sundowner on April 23 / Samuel Corum/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

 

"Rearview Mirror" -- Paul McCartney's Photographs December 1963-February 1964

 

Paul McCartney comments on an exhibition of his photographs taken during The Beatles first visit to America that will be shown at the Gagosian gallery in Beverly Hills, CA, from April 25-June 21.   Joshua Chang, the Gagosian gallery's director of photography, accompanies McCartney at Griffin Editions in Brooklyn, NY, to review the prints to be exhibited.  McCartney has some nteresting personal insights on his impressions of the moment, music creation and, of course, his fellow Beatles.

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

(R.J. Matson, CQ/Roll Call)

(Steve Breen, Creators.com)

(Kevin Kallaugher, The Economist, London)

(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Robert Ariail, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, SC)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)

(Petar Pismestrovic, Kleine Zeitung, Austria)

QOTD: The Vandal, Autocrat, Gangster, And Fool

Jonathan Freedland, writing in The Guardian, has a detailed look at how the Malignant Fascist exhibits his true identity as a vandal, an autocrat, a gangster, and a fool in his actions toward the besieged Ukraine and its attacker Russia:

"There is no mystery to Trump. It’s all plain to see – the habits of the vandal, the autocrat, the gangster and the fool – with Ukraine as clear a guide as any. Not that that is any comfort to the people of that besieged land. They don’t want to be a cautionary tale, a demonstration case of the fecklessness and menace of Donald Trump. They want to be a free, independent nation. Their great misfortune is that the mighty country that should be their most powerful friend is now in the hands of an enemy."

The entire article is an excellent read.

(photo: Mugshot of MF, the racketeering gangster / Fulton Co. Sheriff's Office)