For my Canadian friends

1771858994577.png

YUMA, ARIZONA — In a bold demonstration of rugged prairie independence, a group of Alberta separatists were reportedly spotted in a sunny RV camp in Yuma this week, collecting signatures for a referendum to leave Canada.

Nothing says “strong and free” quite like launching your sovereignty campaign from a lawn chair beside a luxury RV in a U.S. retirement enclave.

Photos circulating in a Facebook group charmingly titled “Liberals Must Go” show a lineup of snowbirds eager to sign the petition while wearing sandals, sipping iced beverages, and enjoying the fruits of a country they insist is broken beyond repair.

The irony is almost too efficient.

For decades, many of these same boomers built their wealth in Alberta’s oil and gas sector. The very industry that benefited from national infrastructure, federal programs, equalization frameworks, and access to Canadian and global markets. The same industry whose workers rely on Canadian pensions, healthcare, and financial systems. The same industry they claim Ottawa has been “robbing.”

Apparently robbed people can still afford diesel pushers, golf memberships, and six months of sunshine in Arizona.

Even more impressively, they are managing to ....

MORE>
 
Alberta would start off $600 billion in debt, their financial plan hinges on one resource (oil), and they would be stuck with huge division in their new 'country' where loads of them wanted to remain part of Canada. Doesn't sound like a recipe for success to me

1772112479510.png
 
Shiftless2 said:
"Alberta would start off $600 billion in debt, their financial plan hinges on one resource (oil), and they would be stuck with huge division in their new 'country' where loads of them wanted to remain part of Canada. Doesn't sound like a recipe for success to me" S2 #402
Click to expand...
Sadly, tragically, horrendous political agendas through recent centuries of human history demonstrate some of the most atrocious political objectives have been pursued by those that seem to imagine themselves to be heroic champions of justice, etc.
Often not.

Exceptions include Poland's attempt to separate from the Soviets during the Cold War. History has demonstrated separating from the Soviets generally benefits the separatists.

Ottawa is not Moscow.

It's likely Alberta separatists perceive some slight from Ottawa their imagination perceives separation would not merely address, but improve.
Even if so, at what cost?

SURELY it seems far-fetched, BUT !!
Suppose a madman were elected president in the United States of America (unlikely), AND
suppose that madman advocated assimilating Canada into the United States (preposterous!).
In that scenario, how would Alberta provide for its own military defense, if divorced from Canada proper?

Think it through Albert. Sober up! You couldn't want a better federal alliance. If you have issues, address them. The appropriate medical protocol for a headache is not decapitation. Take a pill. Grow up.
 
sear said:
..... it seems far-fetched, BUT !!
Suppose a madman were elected president in the United States of America (unlikely), AND
suppose that madman advocated assimilating Canada into the United States (preposterous!).
In that scenario, how would Alberta provide for its own military defense, if divorced from Canada proper?
Click to expand...
The separatists would have joined the US long before that ....
 
People confuse what they want with what is best.
Europe was best when it was under the rules of a republic with the large Holy Roman Empire.
It was such a diverse federation in central Europe, that it had to standardize over universal rights instead of just what anyone just wanted.
The Napoleonic wars broke that up into smaller countries that then were far more abusive.
WWI broke down Germany into even smaller countries that were more abusive, like Czechoslovakia and Poland.
Now even Czechoslovakia has broken down into Czech Republic and Slovakia, which are even more abusive.

We see it in why the UN is such a failure.
It is just a power grab based on what the Security Council wants, instead of the Rule of Law and Blind Justice of a constitutional republic.

Alberta should be reminded how dangerous it is to base government on what you want instead of rights and justice.
 
1772299416931.png

A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute shows something that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

Sixty nine percent of Canadians now view the United States as a potential threat rather than a close partner.

Let that sink in.

For generations, the Canada U.S. relationship has been treated as stable, automatic, almost permanent. We share the longest undefended border in the world.

Our economies are deeply integrated. We cooperate through NORAD. Our supply chains cross the border daily without most people even noticing.

But public sentiment is shifting.

Favourability toward the U.S. has dropped sharply, with only about one in five Canadians holding a positive view under the current administration. And this isn’t isolated to one region or one political camp.

The caution is national.

That doesn’t mean Canadians suddenly want confrontation. It means trust is eroding.

Tariff threats. Buy American provisions. Political volatility. Rhetoric that treats allies like leverage points instead of partners. When that becomes the backdrop, people start reassessing assumptions.

Here’s the strategic part.

Public frustration is understandable. But strategy still matters.

The United States remains Canada’s largest trading partner by far. Millions of Canadian jobs depend on cross border commerce in energy, autos, agriculture, aerospace, and manufacturing. Geography isn’t changing.

So the answer isn’t ....

MORE>
 
643898845_122362507724002837_7276561003286242364_n.jpg
 
sear said:
There's a broader lesson here.
So many of the clichés I was taught as a child were inaccurate. - I cannot tell a lie, I chopped down the cherry tree - George Washington
As an oldster I've learned to not take such historic "lessons" not too seriously.

While we're at it
the Hippocratic oath:


Don't get me started Heg-meister !
Click to expand...
attrition is a classic campaign strategy. Forcing your opponent to overspend on urgent voter messaging not only drains their resources but can also give you a significant financial edge while keeping your own costs lower.


It’s a smart way to leverage the economics of campaigning in your favor without necessarily changing voter opinions directly.
 
Jasica said:
"attrition is a classic campaign strategy. " J #411
Click to expand...
Greetings J #411.
Welcome to CV.us

Attrition is a time strategy. In what otherwise would be a stalemate, wait until the opponent fails.
When applied by the U.S. attrition succeeded in the Cold War, failed in Vietnam.

As you suggest, attrition rewards efficiency.

Thanks for joining us @CV.
Visit often.
Post a lot.
 
Jasica said:
attrition is a classic campaign strategy. Forcing your opponent to overspend on urgent voter messaging not only drains their resources but can also give you a significant financial edge while keeping your own costs lower.


It’s a smart way to leverage the economics of campaigning in your favor without necessarily changing voter opinions directly.
Click to expand...

For attrition to work, you need to have an inherent advantage that you can count on to win in small engagements over time.
Trump is following Hitler's playbook in order to leverage nationalism and racism against illegal immigrants.
But the problem his supporters do not realize is that once you can disparage the rights of anyone, then the rights of everyone are no longer safe.
 
Shiftless2 said:
"the GD poem" meme S2 #414
Click to expand...
Mr. meme:
The -GD poem- was comment on the Nazi Holocaust by pastor Martin Niemöller.

savor the irony

By reminding us of the broader scope of this bloodshed, J #411 can remind us of the horrific, consequential blunder of allowing Putin to nuclear blackmail the West, first by conquering Crimea, and next by attacking & waging War against Ukraine.

Russia / Putin is conspicuously resistant to negotiating peace, as Putin seems to believe the longer he can continue his War, the greater the eventual benefit to Russia, despite the river of Russian blood already lost there.
That is an extraordinarily bad message to reinforce for a murderer as dangerous as Putin.

It's quite likely Putin would be more amenable to negotiating peace regarding Ukraine, if Ukraine / West had dumped as much ordnance on the Kremlin as the Kremlin has dumped on Kyiv.
 
sear said:
Mr. meme:
The -GD poem- was comment on the Nazi Holocaust by pastor Martin Niemöller.

savor the irony

By reminding us of the broader scope of this bloodshed, J #411 can remind us of the horrific, consequential blunder of allowing Putin to nuclear blackmail the West, first by conquering Crimea, and next by attacking & waging War against Ukraine.

Russia / Putin is conspicuously resistant to negotiating peace, as Putin seems to believe the longer he can continue his War, the greater the eventual benefit to Russia, despite the river of Russian blood already lost there.
That is an extraordinarily bad message to reinforce for a murderer as dangerous as Putin.

It's quite likely Putin would be more amenable to negotiating peace regarding Ukraine, if Ukraine / West had dumped as much ordnance on the Kremlin as the Kremlin has dumped on Kyiv.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but I think Putin is the good guy in the Ukraine.
If you go back to 2014, there was no problem until the US interfered and bribed massive murder and treaty violations, destroying the elected democracy.
All for greedy, wealthy elite, Ukrainians to make more profits with the EU than they could with Russia deals.
 
Rigby5 said:
"All for greedy, wealthy elite, Ukrainians to make more profits with the EU than they could with Russia deals." R5 #416
Click to expand...
It is axiomatic that individuals act in their own enlightened self-interest.
When "The Wall" fell, it was not West Germans streaming over the border to glimpse a refreshing gaze upon grinding totalitarian poverty and martial oppression.
It was East Germans that flooded across the border to see if contrary to Kremlin propaganda, the rumors Western prosperity were true.
They were.

Rigby5 said:
"All for greedy, wealthy elite, Ukrainians to make more profits with the EU than they could with Russia deals." R5 #416
Click to expand...
There's room for quibble about wealth distribution.
But generally the standard of living seems to be better in Western style environments than in Russia.

I'm not sure the contemptuous characterization "greedy, wealthy elite" promotes objective understanding here.
Why have aliens legal and not, been flooding into the U.S. for so many generations?
"Greed"?
More likely, opportunity, the chance of making life better for their own bloodline.
 
sear said:
It is axiomatic that individuals act in their own enlightened self-interest.
When "The Wall" fell, it was not West Germans streaming over the border to glimpse a refreshing gaze upon grinding totalitarian poverty and martial oppression.
It was East Germans that flooded across the border to see if contrary to Kremlin propaganda, the rumors Western prosperity were true.
They were.


There's room for quibble about wealth distribution.
But generally the standard of living seems to be better in Western style environments than in Russia.

I'm not sure the contemptuous characterization "greedy, wealthy elite" promotes objective understanding here.
Why have aliens legal and not, been flooding into the U.S. for so many generations?
"Greed"?
More likely, opportunity, the chance of making life better for their own bloodline.
Click to expand...

That is not completely fair.
Things like college tuition are free under East Germany, but then instead of paying society back for their investment, the doctors wanted to go to the west where they could become very wealthy.
There is no question capitalism has much more opportunity for wealth, but there also is much more grinding poverty, homelessness, and denial of essentials like health care.
The reason for immigrants to the US is the same as why ancient Rome has so much immigration.
People follow their money.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, in order make money it first requires one to have money to build the factories, or even factory farms.
So in most of South America, it is the US who owns most of the means of production and therefore skims the majority of wealth.
Just like in the Harry Belafonte "Banana Boat" song, about the evil United Fruit Company.
So they come here in order to escape our indentured servitude we impose there.
 
Rigby5 said:
"That is not completely fair.
Things like college tuition are free under East Germany, but then instead of paying society back for their investment, the doctors wanted to go to the west where they could become very wealthy." R5 #418
Click to expand...
Generally we characterize a whole by a representative sample, not an unrepresentative exception.
My generalization applied to a general population trends, not exceptions.
Bottom line, the Soviets erected the Wall, less to keep Westerners out, rather more to keep Soviet prisoners in.

And while you can dismiss Ukraine as greedy as quantified by East German college tuition,
let's not pretend that's a one-sided coin.

I've encountered anecdotes of Havana bartenders making more money than Cuban brain surgeons, because
Castro's medical doctors were compensated according to the Castro regime's economics,
whereas Havana's bartenders earned tips, and thus often earned more that Cuba's most prestigious.

Rigby5 said:
"There is no question capitalism has much more opportunity for wealth, but there also is much more grinding poverty, homelessness, and denial of essentials like health care." R5
Click to expand...
And there are multiple ways to quantify this, rather than obfuscate with anecdote.

Statistics, per capita standard of living an obvious example.

But even more fundamental, international immigration / emigration trends.
 
sear said:
Generally we characterize a whole by a representative sample, not an unrepresentative exception.
My generalization applied to a general population trends, not exceptions.
Bottom line, the Soviets erected the Wall, less to keep Westerners out, rather more to keep Soviet prisoners in.

And while you can dismiss Ukraine as greedy as quantified by East German college tuition,
let's not pretend that's a one-sided coin.

I've encountered anecdotes of Havana bartenders making more money than Cuban brain surgeons, because
Castro's medical doctors were compensated according to the Castro regime's economics,
whereas Havana's bartenders earned tips, and thus often earned more that Cuba's most prestigious.


And there are multiple ways to quantify this, rather than obfuscate with anecdote.

Statistics, per capita standard of living an obvious example.

But even more fundamental, international immigration / emigration trends.
Click to expand...

The number of people wanting to leave East Germany was actually not large.
{...
Approximately 5,000 people crossed the Berlin Wall before it was taken down. This number reflects the numerous attempts made by East Germans to escape to West Berlin during the years the wall was in place.
...}
And while I could care less about wealth, I do hate to constantly see the grinding poverty and homelessness of the US.
Immigration has to do more with dictatorships the US has imposed on almost all countries south of the border.
If you look at a current problem, like the MS-13 gang, the reality is the US is at fault.
{...
The Salvadoran Civil War was a twelve-year conflict from 1979 to 1992 between the U.S.-backed Salvadoran government and the leftist FMLN guerrillas, resulting in over 75,000 deaths and widespread human rights abuses.
The war was rooted in deep socioeconomic inequality and political repression in El Salvador. Land and wealth were concentrated in the hands of a small elite, particularly coffee oligarchs, while the majority of the population, including peasants and indigenous communities, remained marginalized. Attempts at reform were often violently suppressed, exemplified by the 1932 massacre known as La Matanza, which silenced opposition and entrenched military and oligarchic control. By the 1970s, opposition movements advocating land reform and social justice began to emerge, escalating tensions with the government and military.
...}
If I had to pick a side, it would with MS-13, since they appear to be the oppressed innocents.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top