[Lennox970]

Canada has no advanced air defense systems on Canadian soil. IIRC Canada did place an order worth 100's of millions to buy a Patriot defense battery for Ukraine. Also, from best I can tell Canada placed an order for some Swedish MANPAD anticraft systems a few years ago. The order was about $250 million so I don't think that would buy very many MANPADS. We need thousands of them on Canadian soil, and I would bet most are in Europe "to protect NATOs eastern flank".

Canada is completely defenseless from an aerial assault or ground invasion from the United States. The meagre number of anti-tank missiles that Canadian Forces have are in Europe "to protect NATOs eastern flank".

For months now I have been saying on this forum that Canada needs to prioritize defense of our homeland and that NATO will not protect us from an American invasion and I have received nothing but ridicule. With Trump now threatening a military take-over of Greenland my concerns don't look ridiculous anymore. That an American president would threaten a military takeover of the sovereign territory of a fellow NATO country proves that the NATO alliance is meaningless and dead.

I don't know about anyone else on this forum, but it fills me with dread when I contemplate what Trump has in store for us. Yesterday Trump tore up 66 international treaties signed by the US over the past decades. How long before Trump declares that the United States does not accept the territorial boundaries of Canada. What are we going to do about it?

Carney is travelling to China to discuss trade next week. Will Trump allow Canada to do trade with China? He has ordered Venezuela to only trade with the United States. Forget about trade talks resuming with the US. Trump will be giving orders to Carney.

IMHO, the foremost implicit defence planning assumption for over half a century is that the Americans will protect us, so no need to take national defence seriously. Defence spending and capability have pretty much been descending from the late 1960s, before plummiting in the 90s. And we expect Americans to respect our sovereignty when we don't even take it seriously ourselves? Laughable.

Not the perfect example, but a good rule of thumb for what Canada may be if we took defence seriously is to look at Australia (it's a big continental-sized nation in the southern hemisphere, tucked under Indonesia, English-speaking population with an uncannily similar history to ours). History seems to have taught us to expect the Americans to help us; history (1939-45) has taught Australians different lessons. Help has to be earned, and a credible defence force and security policy makes partnering with Oz a strength, not a liability.

Can we get off the fainting couch and start to grip our defence?

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

Biden was surrounded by BLM, "no one is illegal" and other radical leftists, to the point that rational advisors on the border were ignored.

Yet, when the Biden admin finally came to their senses on the border issue and tried to pass a bill a year before the presidential election, it was Trump's MAGA forces in the congress that torpedoed the bill. Because why actually fix the issue when you can perpetuate it and then use it as a convenient talking point to campaign on? "They're eating the dogs!"

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

I know this might sound crazy, but if Trump or "Trumpism" survives a third term in 2028

Less a question of "if", more a question of "when". And nothing crazy about it. They've been prepping the groundwork for his third term ever since he started his second. Here's just his latest musings over it:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2008578477520548257

You can be sure that they'll come up with an appropriate "constitutional movement" in time for 2028.
"We move to declare that the 22nd constitutional amendment does not apply to any president who did not serve his first and second term consecutively"
"The constitution can move aside when we're in the middle of a shooting war with China"
"We have moved the constitution to the basement of the Smithsonian, where it belongs"
SCOTUS is stuffed with Trump enablers. No one will stop him.

 

[picard102]

Ultimately, the actual tearing down of a single statue of Macdonald is more damaging to the fabric of our nation than all the rhetoric from the Orange Man

LMAO.

 

[Towered]

Less a question of "if", more a question of "when". And nothing crazy about it. They've been prepping the groundwork for his third term ever since he started his second. Here's just his latest musings over it:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2008578477520548257

You can be sure that they'll come up with an appropriate "constitutional movement" in time for 2028.
"We move to declare that the 22nd constitutional amendment does not apply to any president who did not serve his first and second term consecutively"
"The constitution can move aside when we're in the middle of a shooting war with China"
"We have moved the constitution to the basement of the Smithsonian, where it belongs"
SCOTUS is stuffed with Trump enablers. No one will stop him.

He'll declare martial law before the next election, due to "internal leftist terrorist forces". They're already setting up that narrative.

 

[Lennox970]

LMAO.

Hollow out a culture, and it has nothing left to defend.

LMAO.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Yet, when the Biden admin finally came to their senses on the border issue and tried to pass a bill a year before the presidential election, it was Trump's MAGA forces in the congress that torpedoed the bill. Because why actually fix the issue when you can perpetuate it and then use it as a convenient talking point to campaign on? "They're eating the dogs!"

Because it was too late for Biden, the law he wanted to pass could have been presented the first week he was elected. The Republicans in Congress that Biden needed the support of knew that Trump was coming and that he'd be stronger on the border. And that's exactly how it turned out, with today as near as zero illegal crossings at the southern border. No way Biden could have achieved that.

SCOTUS is stuffed with Trump enablers. No one will stop him.

The country needs to hit rock bottom before it can recover. It's not there yet.

 

[kEiThZ]

He'll declare martial law before the next election, due to "internal leftist terrorist forces". They're already setting up that narrative.

I am not too worried about this. Elections in the US are, thankfully, state run. There really isn't much he can do to interfere. What becomes more dicey is when he simply refuses to recognize the result and vacate. We'll cross the Rubicon the and see if Congress, the federal public service and the military go along with that.

 

[picard102]

Hollow out a culture, and it has nothing left to defend.

LMAO.

Canadian culture isn't a statue of a long dead Prime Minister. It's laughable that you even believe it is.

 

[Mihairokov]

I am not too worried about this. Elections in the US are, thankfully, state run.

I fail to see how at this stage this is even remotely reassuring given how some states have decided they want to be run and operated, in particular some major swing states.

There really isn't much he can do to interfere.

There's been a number of policy attempts by the current administration to disenfranchise voters, either through gerrymandered redistricting, lack of polling stations, or other means.

What becomes more dicey is when he simply refuses to recognize the result and vacate. We'll cross the Rubicon the and see if Congress, the federal public service and the military go along with that.

Congress has been going along with anything else he'd like to do. It's a spineless, ineffective body at this stage.

I seem to recall Bannon floating around a loophole in an amendment that would allow for Trump to run again. If not, it's possible they find some patsy to run as President with a Trump VP ticket and then have that be the de facto setup. I doubt Trump's health lasts for another three years - at this point it would be surprising if he has three months left.

 

[Richard White]

I seem to recall Bannon floating around a loophole in an amendment that would allow for Trump to run again. If not, it's possible they find some patsy to run as President with a Trump VP ticket and then have that be the de facto setup. I doubt Trump's health lasts for another three years - at this point it would be surprising if he has three months left.

That is also illegal.

The 12th amendment prevents anyone who is constitutionally ineligible from being president from being VP.

 

[Monarch Butterfly]

Minneapolis woman killed by ICE agent was a mother of three who was new to the city​

From https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-renee-nicole-macklin-good-ice-agent-minneapolis-mother/

The woman shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday was Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had recently moved to Minnesota.

She was a U.S. citizen born in Colorado and appears to never have been charged with anything involving law enforcement beyond a traffic ticket.

In social media accounts, Macklin Good described herself as a “poet and writer and wife and mom.” She said she was currently “experiencing Minneapolis,” displaying a pride flag emoji on her Instagram account. A profile picture posted to Pinterest shows her smiling and holding a young child against her cheek, along with posts about tattoos, hairstyles and home decorating.

Her ex-husband, who asked not to be named out of concern for the safety of their children, said Macklin Good had just dropped off her 6-year-old son at school Wednesday and was driving home with her current partner when they encountered a group of ICE agents on a snowy street in Minneapolis, where they had moved last year from Kansas City, Missouri.

Video taken by bystanders posted to social media shows an officer approaching her car, demanding she open the door and grabbing the handle. When she begins to pull forward, a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range.

In another video taken after the shooting, a distraught woman is seen sitting near the vehicle, wailing, “That’s my wife, I don’t know what to do!”

Calls and messages to Macklin Good’s current partner received no response.

Trump administration officials painted Macklin Good as a domestic terrorist who had attempted to ram federal agents with her car. Her ex-husband said she was no activist and that he had never known her to participate in a protest of any kind.

He described her as a devoted Christian who took part in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger. She loved to sing, participating in a chorus in high school and studying vocal performance in college.

She studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Virginia and won a prize in 2020 for one of her works, according to a post on the school’s English department Facebook page. She also hosted a podcast with her second husband, who died in 2023.
He described her as a devoted Christian who took part in youth mission trips to Northern Ireland when she was younger. She loved to sing, participating in a chorus in high school and studying vocal performance in college.

She studied creative writing at Old Dominion University in Virginia and won a prize in 2020 for one of her works, according to a post on the school’s English department Facebook page. She also hosted a podcast with her second husband, who died in 2023.
Macklin Good had a daughter and her son from her first marriage, who are now ages 15 and 12. Her 6-year-old son was from her second marriage.

Her ex-husband said she had primarily been a stay-at-home mom in recent years but had previously worked as a dental assistant and at a credit union.

Donna Ganger, her mother, told the Minnesota Star Tribune the family was notified of the death late Wednesday morning.

“Renee was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known,” Ganger told the newspaper. “She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”

Ganger did not respond to calls or messages from the Associated Press.

 

[zang]

Hollow out a culture, and it has nothing left to defend.

LMAO.

Since Sir John A is so important to modern-day Canadian culture, I suspect you have a picture of him hanging in your home? Named anything after him? Thought about him more than once outside of any mention of taking his name or likeness off something?

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

Yet, when the Biden admin finally came to their senses on the border issue and tried to pass a bill a year before the presidential election, it was Trump's MAGA forces in the congress that torpedoed the bill. Because why actually fix the issue when you can perpetuate it and then use it as a convenient talking point to campaign on? "They're eating the dogs!"

Accept there where no radical leftists advising Biden. At all. When are people here going to come to their senses that this kinda thinking is bonkers? And to put that politely.

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

Accept there where no radical leftists advising Biden. At all. When are people here going to come to their senses that this kinda thinking is bonkers? And to put that politely.

I mean, what is referred to as "radical left" by Americans is just mainstream in EU and Canada. I personally don't think Biden admin suffered from the influence of "the radical left". What it suffered from was complete incompetence, wrong priorities, being out of touch with the American people, not getting anything done yet still resting on the laurels of the few things they actually accomplished. Whether that was due to their advisors suffering from the woke keyboard warrior syndrome, like some are suggesting here, I don't know. The end result is all the same though.