[Northern Light]

As a general U.S. story..........several American cities are experience waves of violence, notably murders that would shock the Toronto psyche.

I post this not to engage in any self-righteous Flag waving; we're at 40 homicides this year in Toronto, slightly above the 10-year average, with far too many shootings, and must, ourselves, do better.

Still, this is newsworthy to me.............

In the Wake of Covid-19 Lockdowns, a Troubling Surge in Homicides

“People have gotten to the point where they just don’t give a damn,” said a minister in Kansas City, which is on pace for a record number of killings.

www.nytimes.com

The article notes that Kansas City, pop. 491,000 has had 122 murders so far this year.

Their population is roughly 1/6 of ours. So, if Toronto had their homicide rate, we'd be at 732 homicides.......

Chicago, which is a bit smaller than us is at 450 homicides (as of Aug 2). A population adjustment would add 10% if the same rate were applied to Toronto (495 homicides to date).

I can hardly fathom that this is accepted.

 

[AlbertC]

Over half of Americans oppose Trump tariff on Canadian aluminum, survey suggests

August 11, 2020

A new opinion survey suggests Donald Trump's recent decision to slap a tariff on Canadian raw aluminum is garnering poor reviews on both sides of the border.

In a web survey conducted by polling firm Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, 58 per cent of American respondents said they disagreed with the 10 per cent import tax.

In what comes as less of a surprise, 90 per cent of Canadians who took part in the survey objected to the White House's tariff.

The survey was conducted Aug. 7 to 9 among 1,513 Canadians and 1,003 Americans, 18 or older, who were recruited from an online panel.

Over half of Americans oppose Trump tariff on Canadian aluminum, survey suggests

OTTAWA — A new opinion survey suggests Donald Trump's recent decision to slap a tariff on Canadian raw aluminum is garnering poor reviews on both sides of the border.In a web survey conducted by polling firm Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, 58 per cent of American respondents said

ca.finance.yahoo.com

 

[lenaitch]

As a general U.S. story..........several American cities are experience waves of violence, notably murders that would shock the Toronto psyche.

I post this not to engage in any self-righteous Flag waving; we're at 40 homicides this year in Toronto, slightly above the 10-year average, with far too many shootings, and must, ourselves, do better.

Still, this is newsworthy to me.............

In the Wake of Covid-19 Lockdowns, a Troubling Surge in Homicides

“People have gotten to the point where they just don’t give a damn,” said a minister in Kansas City, which is on pace for a record number of killings.

www.nytimes.com

The article notes that Kansas City, pop. 491,000 has had 122 murders so far this year.

Their population is roughly 1/6 of ours. So, if Toronto had their homicide rate, we'd be at 732 homicides.......

Chicago, which is a bit smaller than us is at 450 homicides (as of Aug 2). A population adjustment would add 10% if the same rate were applied to Toronto (495 homicides to date).

I can hardly fathom that this is accepted.

Ya, it's pretty bad when Chicago's latest response includes raising the drawbridges over the downtown moat (river). I've not lived there but it strikes me that the numerous 'divides' in US society (political, economic, rural/urban, regional, racial, etc.) may serve to make the level of violence rationalized or understood more than "accepted". During casual travels and the odd work-related trip, I have seen poverty areas that make our worst urban public housing seem comparatively palatial. When government is seen as a necessary evil, at best, individualism wins out over collective civil society. The average citizen is left with fortifying their residence and buying more guns.

The current administration, playing to its base, gleefully points out that most of the violence is occurring the cities controlled by Democratic mayors.

 

[Rufus8]

Kamala Harris as VP, I hope Biden knows what he is doing. I keep hoping America will wake up and realize how they have been conned by alleged-billionaire-whats-his-name. Fingers crossed for November's election not to mention the end of the nightmare that is 2020.

 

[adma]

Seriously, what could make it to a Trump library ? In this bizarro world, tweets, executive orders, and his suspect golf score cards might be the only " tangible" records of his doing anything.

Again: library, schmibrary. Trumpers aren't into libraries.

If anything, the likelier "library" there would relate to Marjorie Merriweather Post and Palm Beach society, with a bit of Trumpy garnish. Unless, of course, a "Trump library" serves a broader "Trump studies" purpose that isn't about simple hero worship. (Which might be Mar-a-Lago's saving grace: that it actually precedes Trump, rather than being an ex novo Trump creation a la Drake on the Bridle Path.)

 

[adma]

During casual travels and the odd work-related trip, I have seen poverty areas that make our worst urban public housing seem comparatively palatial. When government is seen as a necessary evil, at best, individualism wins out over collective civil society. The average citizen is left with fortifying their residence and buying more guns.

Heck, that "casual travel" experience of the US is nothing new. I suspect that most anyone who crossed the Peace or Ambassador Bridge in the 1970s was taken aback by how nasty and brutish the real-life US seemed compared to Canada--they really never got over the racial and social unrest of the 60s, or else chose to escape to "safe zones" instead and leave the rest to rot. But because Americans were so good at packaging an idealized self-image through prime-time television and the like, we tended to turn the other cheek and go with the flow that provided...

 

[kEiThZ]

Kamala Harris as VP, I hope Biden knows what he is doing.

He absolutely knows what he's doing. He picking a VP who will deliver the soccer mom and the African American vote in an election where turnout matters.

 

[adma]

He absolutely knows what he's doing. He picking a VP who will deliver the soccer mom and the African American vote in an election where turnout matters.

Probably a target battle btw/ the silent-majority soccer moms and anti-mask Karens here. (And much like Trump himself, Karens are oxygen hogs--all too often, it takes a certain analogous cheesy huckster narcissism to be a mommy blogger or "influencer", which might be why that realm's so prone to quackery)

Mom Influencers on Instagram Are Spreading Anti-Mask Propaganda

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, social media has become a hotbed for misinformation about the novel coronavirus — and now, about masks.

www.rollingstone.com

 

[Rufus8]

Seriously, what could make it to a Trump library ? In this bizarro world, tweets, executive orders, and his suspect golf score cards might be the only " tangible" records of his doing anything.

Books for herr drumpf's library - Tax avoidance, how the internet can be manipulated and as a nod to his early statement that he could shoot someone and still get elected - a gun library where the serial numbers are filed off.

 

[old boy]

Books for herr drumpf's library - Tax avoidance, how the internet can be manipulated and as a nod to his early statement that he could shoot someone and still get elected - a gun library where the serial numbers are filed off.

And the list keeps growing...

 

[AlbertC]

That's Florida for you...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1293555359198654464

 

[W. K. Lis]

All in the family...

Eric Trump likes tweet calling Kamala Harris ‘whorendous’

From link.

President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump endorsed a tweet calling Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) a whore.

President Donald Trump tends to conflict with powerful women on the national stage. In the past several months he’s clashed with female reporters, he frequently calls women “nasty,” and when faced with the fact that women are abandoning his campaign, he called all women in the suburbs “housewives,” neglecting the work they do outside the home and as mothers.

Already, Trump has come out swinging after Harris became the official Democratic choice for Vice President, and his allies are as well.

You can see the tweet Eric Trump “liked” in the photo below:

Tweet has been deleted.

 

[Johnny Au]

Probably a target battle btw/ the silent-majority soccer moms and anti-mask Karens here. (And much like Trump himself, Karens are oxygen hogs--all too often, it takes a certain analogous cheesy huckster narcissism to be a mommy blogger or "influencer", which might be why that realm's so prone to quackery)

Mom Influencers on Instagram Are Spreading Anti-Mask Propaganda

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, social media has become a hotbed for misinformation about the novel coronavirus — and now, about masks.

www.rollingstone.com

That's what happens when Instagram is owned by Fakebook, a company notorious for spreading falsehoods backed by confirmation bias.

 

[AlbertC]

The books keep on coming

https://twitter.com/x/status/1294012368884764673

 

[AlbertC]

'Do you regret all your lying?' White House reporter's question startles Trump

Aug 14, 2020

SV Dáte had waited five long years to ask Donald Trump one question: “Mr President, after three and a half years [of Trump’s presidency], do you regret at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?”

Confronted with Dáte’s question at Thursday’s White House briefing, Trump responded with a question of his own. “All the what?” he said.

Dáte: “All the lying, all the dishonesties.”

Trump: “That who has done?”

“You have done,” said Dáte, who is the Huffington Post’s White House correspondent. “Tens of thousan–”, he began to say, before Trump cut him off and called on another journalist, who asked a question about payroll tax.

In July, the Washington Post reported that Trump had told more than 20,000 “false or misleading claims” over the course of his presidency.

'Do you regret all your lying?' White House reporter's question startles Trump

SV Dáte takes the president to task for repeated untruths but is quickly cut off

www.theguardian.com