Colin

Ghost figures of past, present, future haunting the heart 🇨🇦

[Cool Glamma 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇦🇺☮️ @shalin43031]

This is when I was convinced that I will be voting for Mark Carney

[Colin @GonzoColin]

@Bus_stop_ratbag Hormone Replacement Therapy!?!?

“To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear"

[Jeff 💋 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 Slava Ukraini ❤️🥰 @Always_Me_Jeff]

BREAKING: CNN's fact-checker exposes an AVALANCHE OF LIES from Trump about Canada — and there's a new one almost every day.

Donald Trump doesn't just have policy disagreements with Canada. According to CNN's chief fact-checker Daniel Dale, who happens to be Canadian himself, Trump has built his entire trade war narrative on a foundation of demonstrably false claims — and the lies keep coming.

Just today, Dale documented, Trump falsely claimed Canada's unemployment rate is "10% and rapidly rising." The actual number: 6.4%, and it's been DECLINING for three straight months. Trump also falsely claimed Canada does "95% of its business with the US." The real figure is 72%.

He blamed the entire US-Canada trade deficit on high Canadian agricultural tariffs, despite the fact that roughly 97% of US agricultural exports to Canada are already tariff-free, and the actual deficit stems overwhelmingly from cheap Canadian crude oil imports that benefit American consumers.

And that's just today's batch. Dale's running tally over the past 18 months reads like a highlight reel of fabrication.

Trump has falsely claimed Canada doesn't buy American agricultural products, when it's actually the world's SECOND-LARGEST buyer of them. He's falsely claimed Canadians support becoming America's 51st state, when polling shows overwhelming opposition.

He's falsely claimed Canada is among the world's highest-tariff nations, when World Trade Organization rankings place it near the bottom. He's falsely claimed Canada "essentially doesn't have a military," ignoring that Canadian forces have fought alongside American troops in multiple wars and rank in the upper half of NATO by force size.

He's also falsely inflated the US trade deficit with Canada to "$200 billion" (nowhere close), falsely claimed Canada bans American banks (more than a dozen currently operate there), falsely claimed Canada is "constantly surrounded" by Chinese and Russian ships (fiction), and falsely accused former PM Trudeau of using trade tensions to run for reelection — despite Trudeau, quite obviously, not running.

This isn't policy disagreement. This is a dispute over the nature of reality!

This is a sitting president manufacturing an entire economic conflict with one of America's closest allies using numbers he simply invented, over and over, across nearly two years, with virtually no correction or accountability.

When the facts don't support your trade war, apparently the solution is just to make up new facts. Someone needs to tell Trump that the world doesn’t work like that, and it may as well be CNN’s Daniel Dale.

Please like and share if you’re sick of Trump’s lies!

[Don Winslow @donwinslow]

1 US milk is illegal in Europe
Too many chemicals

2 US bread is considered cake in Europe
Too much sugar

3 US eggs are illegal in UK
They wash off the natural protection

4 US meat is banned in 160 countries
Due to hormones

5 US apples are coated with wax also used for cars

6 In US, 60% of food contains stuff banned in other countries
-@SydesJokes

[Senator Patty Murray @PattyMurray]

Let’s be clear about who pays a 50% tariff on Canada: American businesses. American families. 

Costs are already too high thanks to Trump’s war and OTHER tariffs—and Trump just made them HIGHER.

A tariff is a tax WE pay. STOP TRUMP’S TARIFFS.

[MAGA Cult Slayer @MAGACult2]

Turns out the world doesn’t wanna trade with bullies. Trump got left at the negotiating table… Three different tables. This is going to do nothing but cost us money. And by us, I mean you and me. No one fears or respects Donald Trump.

[🇨🇦 Annie Dufour @anniedufour99]

Trump Blinked at Midnight: How Banker PM Carney’s Quiet $436 Billion Weapon and America’s $40 Trillion Debt Trap Might Have Influenced His Decision

The guillotine—a 50% tariff hike on a host of new products—was set to drop at midnight on Tuesday.

Donald Trump backed down, and events related to U.S. sovereign debt may have influenced his decision.

Let’s look at the timeline of events in the financial and bond markets on Tuesday, August 18—the day before the deadline.

U.S. debt officially crossed the $40 trillion threshold (more on that later).
Yields on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds surged to a 19-year high, matching levels seen prior to the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
A few hours later, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a surprise, massive buyback of the government's own debt (!) to prevent a collapse of the U.S. bond market.
That evening, Trump announced he was suspending the tariff hike. The bond market reacted with immediate relief, marking the link between the the two events.

SHORT-TERM DEBT TRAP

Why and how sovereign debt (Treasury securities, the bond market) and its financing are linked to our negotiations.

On Tuesday, Scott Bessent executed the following financial maneuver to stop bond yields from climbing (to 5.3%!!!).

Using U.S. Treasury funds, he bought back long-term Treasury bonds while simultaneously issuing short-term Treasury bills.

His goal: to prevent long-term sovereign debt from being locked in at a 5.3% rate and to drive that rate down. Otherwise, the government would have been forced to pay that rate to its debt holders for decades—potentially ruining the budget—while consumers would have paid that same rate through their home mortgages and auto loans.

However, the risk taken in doing so is considerable: all this debt is now short-term (spanning weeks or months), and its interest rate is subject to the usual risks—inflation, exchange rates, geopolitics, and so on.

Simply put, the "short-term debt trap" is akin to the U.S. government choosing a high-risk variable-rate mortgage over a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

That day, letting massive tariffs hikes fall at midnight, causing rates to spike, was certainly on Trump and Co's minds....
Just listen to Trump in video worrying about interest rates Wednesday..

HOW PM MARK CARNEY CAN (and likely has) LEVERAGE THIS

As the former head of two central banks, PM Carney understands these issues better than anyone. It is reasonable to assume that, behind the scenes, he is exploiting this U.S. vulnerability. Here are a few cards he could play:

Threats of inflationary retaliation: As we have seen, the U.S. cannot afford a significant rise in inflation given its debt, which is now largely short-term and variable-rate. By imposing counter-tariffs on key sectors of the U.S. economy (steel, agriculture, energy, autos), Canada could drive up prices—and thus inflation—in the United States.
Faced with this inflation, a hamstrung Federal Reserve would be forced to keep interest rates very high to douse the flames. This is where the massive debt comes into play: the U.S. must refinance $40 trillion in short-term debt on a weekly basis; even the slightest rate hike instantly costs them hundreds of billions of dollars. Ultimately, the revenue generated by the tariffs they impose on Canada would be less than the money lost due to rising interest rates.

“Trump” card, Canada

Using our holdings of U.S. sovereign debt as a deterrent: It is worth noting that, under our "banker Prime Minister," Canada has made massive purchases of U.S. sovereign debt since he took office. Our holdings have surged by $110 billion over the past two years, reaching nearly $436 billion. While it is standard practice for governments to buy U.S. debt (it retains its status as a liquid, safe-haven asset, albeit to a lesser degree), it is interesting to note that this trend runs counter to that of other G7 nations, which are either reducing their U.S. debt holdings, keeping them stable, or increasing them only marginally.
What, then, distinguishes Canada from the other G7 countries?
The United States wants to annex it and is waging a ruthless trade war against it. While not certain, one might hypothesize that there is a strategy behind this staggering accumulation of debt. By holding $436 billion in U.S. debt, Canada has reached a threshold where it could influence interest rates and inflation if it decided to sell off its holdings. We know just how sensitive U.S. debt is to such factors now. Prime Minister Carney—an accomplished banker—surely has these calculations in mind. He does not even need to carry out the threat; merely possessing the weapon is enough.

“Trump” card, Canada

In short, within this trade war, U.S. finances represent a vulnerability that works to Canada’s advantage—one that Prime Minister Carney can surely exploit.

What about you? Do you think Prime Minister Carney had the vulnerability of U.S. finances in mind throughout the negotiations?

#cdnpoli #polqc #cdnecon

[God @TheTweetOfGod]

Now if THESE foreigners got the ICE treatment I’d be down with that.

[Colin @GonzoColin]

@ArmstrongGN So losing in game 7 , OT wouldn’t be as bad ?

[Colin @GonzoColin]

@martycon73 The Beatles are all I need 🎶

[CaufieldIsKing⚡️ #FIREMLF #LITTLE2SUN @CaufieldRINGSZN]

Sabres fans should this goal have counted?

[Carolina ❤️‍🔥 @realCarola2Hope]

Congratulations Israel, you’ve outdone Hitler.

[Colin @GonzoColin]

@Lucky_NUM13 @CanadiensMTL

[Colin @GonzoColin]

@ArmstrongGN

[Colin @GonzoColin]

@ArmstrongGN @NHL It’s a fast game for the referees to keep up and soccer mentality is creeping into the @NHL

[Ankit Mayank @mr_mayank]

Only two states in History declared death penalty for one particular race —

1) Nazi Germany against Jews
2) Israel against Palestinians

“YOU BECOME WHAT YOU HATE”

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

🚨 Ukrainian intelligence confirms: Russia shared satellite imagery of Prince Sultan US Air Base in Saudi Arabia with Iran — right before Iran struck it and injured American troops.

Russia gave Iran the targeting data.
Iran used it to hit Americans.

Trump lifted sanctions on Russia the same week this war started.

The EU confirmed Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to kill Americans.

Now Ukrainian intelligence confirms the specific targeting data for the Prince Sultan strike came from Russian satellites.

Russia helped Iran hit an American base.

Trump’s response: silence.

No condemnation. No consequences. No sanctions restored.

[sarah @sahouraxo]

Israel murdered every single person in this photo today in South Lebanon.

Every. Single. One.

2 journalists
7 paramedics
1 Lebanese soldier

They bombed the journalists’ vehicle — then bombed them again when paramedics rushed to help.

[Colin @GonzoColin]

@krassenstein Check out Beauty’s for breakfast 93 mount-royal W.

[Colin @GonzoColin]

@RayA574 @Mellyfax $1.70 regular here in West Island Montreal. 😵‍💫😳