Carney Dismisses Lutnick's Knowledge of Canadian Politics in Thunder Bay

(Leith Dunick, Thunder Bay Newswatch) 

On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a visit to my hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario to announce $4.7 billion (roughly $3.4 billion in U.S. dollars) in funding for Alstom to build and maintain 300 plus rail cars for VIA Rail, Canada's national passenger rail system.

Following the press conference, Carney was asked about Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick's comments that Canada walked away from the deal for domestic political reasons. 

Indeed, Lutnick has made this claim on more than one occasion. Last month, Lutnick asserted that Carney's claim concerning the use of French language on labeling was intended to affect the ability of the Parti Quebecois to win provincial election in Quebec next month.

Then on Wednesday, Lutnick claimed that Canada started "adding crazy ideas to the mix" at the last minute and that he asked "one of the ministers" if he was trying to blow up the deal. Lutnick alleged that minister told him he wasn't permitted to say so. The only minister present at the negotiations at the time was Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc who has not commented on the matter.

For his part, Carney replied in part, "I don't think, with all respect, appointed, unelected cabinet members in the United States are experts on Canadian politics."

Indeed, I doubt that Lutnick could find Thunder Bay on a map much less name all 10 Canadian provinces and our three territories.

I also doubt that LeBlanc or anyone in the Canadian delegation made a non-denial denial to Lutnick about trying to blow up trade negotiations. Given Lutnick's dishonesty about his association with Jeffrey Epstein (not to mention his association with a pathological liar like Trump), I am not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

While Trump, Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent decry Canada, Carney is moving forward in helping to bring more manufacturing to my home and native land. 

My work colleagues are staggered to hear a world leader speak with an even tone in complete sentences (in two different languages) who actually tries to work for the betterment of the people he was elected to lead.

There's No Difference Between JD Vance & Abdul El-Sayed

Vice-President JD Vance and Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed believe the other is evil.

So far as I am concerned there is no difference between Vance and El-Sayed. They both aid and abet evil in equal measure.

Chief among those evils is anti-Semitism. 

Vance will no more disavow Tucker Carlson than El-Sayed will disavow Hasan Piker.

During a White House press briefing today, Vance said this about Carlson:

Tucker is a friend of mine. Tucker is a friend, despite the fact that we disagree on a number of things. And I’m not going to play the game where I throw friends under the bus because I have political disagreements with them.

I think that is a terrible place for the United States to go.

In just over a week, we will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Carlson is on public record claiming Israelis had advanced knowledge of the attacks. 

That isn't disagreement, it's defamation. 

In scapegoating Israel, Carlson absolves al Qaeda of its responsibility and Vance's friendship aids and abets his defamation.

For his part, El-Sayed is taking a more Trumpian approach with regard to Piker pretending as if he doesn't know him but won't disavow him just the same:

We’re in the state of Michigan. If you want to make this race about a streamer in California, I just think you’re missing the boat. This is about affordability in Michigan. This is about being able to see a doctor in Michigan. This is about Donald Trump’s disastrous policies in Michigan. That’s what I’m focused on right now. I am not interested in a conversation about a social media person in California.

Well, El-Sayed chose to make his campaign about that streamer in California. And without him and his followers, El-Sayed isn't facing Mike Rogers in November.  

While El-Sayed isn't calling Piker his friend, he notably told Charlamagne tha God on Monday, “There’s this massive effort to cancel Hasan—my point is that I don’t do cancel culture."

El-Sayed's "I don't do cancel culture" is no different than Vance's "I'm not going to play the game where I throw friends under the bus because I have political disagreements with them."

Sadly, there is also one other area where this is no difference between Vance and El-Sayed. Jews in the Republican Party are prepared to make excuses for Vance while Jews in the Democratic Party are prepared to make excuses for El-Sayed which makes it more difficult to confront the cancer of anti-Semitism.

In truth, neither JD Vance nor Abdul El-Sayed deserve a moment's consideration from the Jewish community nor anyone else in this country. They are both equally unworthy men.

Will Angels Take Flight After Arte Moreno Sells Team to Stan Kroenke?

In a surprise move, Arte Moreno announced plans to sell the Los Angeles Angels to Stan Kroenke, the current owner of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams pending approval of MLB.

Moreno purchased the team from Disney in 2003, a year after the Angels won their only World Series title in franchise history. 

At first, this wasn't such a bad thing. The Angels would win the AL West five times between 2004 and 2009 reaching the ALCS twice. 

However, since 2009, the Angels have made one post-season appearance in 2014 when they were swept in the ALDS by the Kansas City Royals who went on to win the AL pennant. 

The Halos haven't had a winning season since 2015 and entered tonight with a record of 53-86, the worst in all of MLB. Should the Angels go 9-14 or worse the rest of the way then they will have lost 100 games for the first time in franchise history. The team lost 99 games in 2024 under former Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington who went to the World Series in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and 2011. It is remarkable when you consider that the Angels have had Mike Trout paired with both Albert Pujols and Shohei Ohtani in the middle of their lineup at various points. Long term contracts handed out to Pujols as well as Josh Hamilton and Anthony Rendon left the Angels in the dust.

Since Mike Scioscia departed the team after the 2018 season, the Angels have had six managers - Brad Ausmus, Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin, Ron Washington, Ray Montgomery and now Kurt Suzuki. And don't expect Suzuki to last beyond this season given that he signed a one-year contract to manage the club. 

There have also been dark shadows such as the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart and two of his friends at the hands of a drunk driver early in the 2009 season and then the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs due to a drug overdose a decade later. In the Skaggs case, an Angels employee gave the pitcher the drug that would take his life. Skaggs' family brought suit against the club, and the case was finally settled out of court last year.

Then earlier this year, Moreno raised eyebrows when he declared that a winning ballclub was not a top five priority for Angels fans.

All things considered, the Angels really have nowhere to go but up. The question remains how quickly. Let's consider that in the space of two years, the Chicago White Sox went from having the most losses in a single season to being on the verge of winning the AL Central. 

I think it is more likely than not that the Angels will eventually take flight after Stan Kroenke takes over the team. Angels' fans should be happy. That is unless Kroenke decides that the Angels should take flight somewhere else.

Markey Trounces Moulton in Massachusetts Democratic Senate Primary

Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey easily fended off a Democratic primary challenge from soon to former Congressman Seth Moulton.

With 68% of the polls in, Markey has a lead of just under 30 points over Moulton despite being more than 30 years older than Moulton.

This is more than triple the margin by which Markey bested Joe Kennedy III exactly six years ago today.

While I prefer my Democrats to be moderate as opposed to progressive, I loathe candidates who believe they are entitled to my vote by virtue of their age by the vice of someone else's. The older I get the less patient I am with this line of reasoning. Critique a politician for their performance not for what year they were born.

I also found Moulton utterly insufferable when he went out of his way to say he would return AIPAC donations last year. When I hear that from a politician, I hear a politician telling me that Jews should not participate in the political process. With that being said, Markey has long been hostile towards Israel. So, I have no great affection for him either. 

Markey will face Republican John Deaton who is also critical of AIPAC's participation in the political process. Not that it matters much. There's no way Massachusetts is electing a Republican to the U.S. Senate no matter how anti-Trump he might be.

I am a stage in my life where I just don't have a high opinion about politicians whatever their party. 

As for whose side I am on, I am on my side. I prefer to keep my own counsel and will do for as long as I can.

Thoughts on Treasury Secretary Bessent's Contempt for Canada

 

Despite Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's role in helping to derail trade negotiations between Canada and the United States, the Trump cabinet member with the most contempt for Canada might very well be Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

Consider Bessent's interview with CNBC yesterday in which he declared:

Very unfortunate that PM Carney has turned this into a political shouting match. I mean, we’re not at war with Canada.

What are they going to do — take their two submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us?

Shouting match?

Clearly, Bessent has never listened to Carney speak. He is remarkably even keel. The same cannot be said for Bessent's boss.

Of course, this didn't prevent Bessent from further claiming that Carney was doing what was best for himself rather than for the Canadian people. 

It must be said that Bessent works for a man who uses the federal government to enrich himself.

In any case, the Canadian people don't share Bessent's assessment. They spoke in three by-elections last night giving the Liberal candidate more than 50% of the vote.

You would be hard-pressed to find a Canadian who believes Bessent's claim that Canada was "offered the best trade deal of anyone on the globe and he walked away from it at the last moment.”

Now, I'm sure that Bessent is saying all of this to stay in Trump's good graces.

But it must also be remembered that Bessent has seen fit to publicly criticize Carney on other occasions while demanding Carney not criticize Trump. For bad measure, Bessent has also praised Alberta's separatist movement. So Bessent's concern for the interests of Canadians rings false.

For his part, Carney has said that Canada is prepared to return to the table if and when the Trump Administration will "stop doing memes, stop posturing, stop trying to be tough and start being serious."

Unfortunately, the Trump Administration doesn't do serious where it concerns its closest allies.

Michigan AG Nessel Saying Jews Must Place The Needs of The World Above Our Own Survival is a Suicide Note

In an address to the Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus yesterday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stated:

We have a moral imperative to place the needs of the world above even our own self-interest and, yes, even our own survival.

Mind you, this is the same individual who only last month publicly made it known she did not feel safe attending her own party's state convention.

It is clear to me that Nessel will endorse Abdul El-Sayed after his so-called apology to Jewish Democrats over his equivocation on the terrorist attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.

Given her role as Michigan's top law enforcement officer, it is dereliction of duty for her to tell Jews to set aside our very survival. 

How exactly are the needs of the world incompatible with the survival of the Jewish people?

And where is the morality in sacrificing our survival and that of our children?

She is telling Jews we have nothing to offer the world and are thus expendable.

As Rabbi Hillel asked, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?"

Nessel is giving Jews a false choice. Her declaration amounts to a suicide note for the Jewish people. 

She also displays a remarkable ignorance about Judaism by misrepresenting the story of Queen Esther:

It is perhaps up to us now to follow in her path and sacrifice the comfort, safety and security and even the very future of our own people in exchange for the opportunity to save the rest of humanity.

Except that Esther did not sacrifice the future of her own people to save humanity. She saved the Jews of Persia from a pogrom at the hands of Haman by having an audience with King Asasuerus without being summoned, an act punishable by death. Esther's intervention allowed the Jews to defend themselves from Haman. Jews celebrate this triumph during Purim.

Yet, by Nessel's logic, Esther saving her fellow Jews failed to consider the needs of the world at the time. If Nessel has such as a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of Purim, I shudder to think how she understands Chanukah and Passover. 

Then again, for Dana Nessel, being a Democrat in good standing with Abdul El-Sayed is more important than being Jewish in good standing with G-d.

Trump's Lake Ontario Renaming Stunt Proves Yet Again He Does Not See Canada as a Partner

 

A little over 72 hours ago, President Trump saw fit to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America by an Executive Order.

This move is, of course, reminiscent of when he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America on his first day in office of his second term.

As silly and stupid as Trump's Executive Order is, it still carries weight and Google Maps has gone along with it for users in this country.

For Canada and the rest of the world, the easternmost of the Great Lakes will remain Ontario. 

Yesterday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford erected a large sign near Grimsby, Ontario bearing the inscription, "Lake Ontario Now and Always" in both official languages.

Ford stated, “Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario.” 

Above all else, it demonstrates once more that Trump does not view Canada as a partner but as a nuisance because it will not roll over and play dead. 

Yet I would not be surprised if the Trump Administration makes overtures to Canada to return to the negotiating table between now and Labor Day weekend as Canadian counter-tariffs are due to take effect on September 8th. 

But as long as CUSMA is a dead letter, these tariffs are in place, and the White House insists on using the Lake America moniker then there is nothing for Canada to discuss with the Trump Administration.