Posse Incitatus

Things Happen for a Reason

My wife is fond of saying, "Things Happen for a Reason." And as a matter of fact, I've often found this to be true. Even disappointments, setbacks and failures can result in us being better off in the long run. Sometimes, these unpleasant experiences can serve as an impetus to force us to upgrade our skills, try harder, and be doggedly persistent.

So it is with this adage in mind that I reflect on the American truckers' "Freedom Convoy" falling apart and failing to reach Washington, D.C. to protest during President Biden's State of the Union speech tomorrow night.

When the truckers left California last week, there were many dozens of big rigs involved. But by the time they got to Las Vegas, that had dwindled to five. So the event was canceled. There was also an organizational effort in Pennsylvania that fizzled out. It's just as well, because many of the truckers could have met a very bad ending in the overwhelmingly liberal Democrat Beltway.

Knowing the way Democrats operate, they would have embedded many an agent provocateur in the protests to display swastikas and Confederate battle flags while also riling up the truckers and fomenting violence. This would play right into the Democrat hands so they could return to their white-racist-domestic-terrorist narrative and clamp down hard.

Think about what has happened to dozens of Jan. 6 protesters left to languish in horrid conditions inside the D.C. jail when many of them are only guilty of having committed misdemeanors. No bail, no idea when they'll have their day in court, and no knowledge of what they will be charged with. Reports are the food is horrible, the jail cells fetid, and the guards overwhelmingly hostile. Not sure if this is accurate, but I did read that several guards had beaten some of the inmates.

The truth is, D.C. is infested with leftist Democrats: Judges, prosecutors, police, juries. There is absolutely no way truckers who were arrested would get fair treatment before D.C. law enforcement and judicial officials.

Besides that, there could have been impoundment of trucks, heavy fines, and freezing of bank accounts, a la Canada under petty dictator Justin Trudeau. I'd say these truckers dodged a bullet, but they still have plenty of opportunities to protest horrible policies by the administration.

The Democrats finally seem to be facing reality about the suicidal idiocy of maintaining strict vaccination and masking policies. They know that their policies poll horribly, and millions of people ignore the fascist, heavy-handed restrictions. So the COVID monster is gradually receding. But believe me, there are dozens of other things for truckers and other conservatives to protest, including the wide open southern border, stupid energy policies and continued race baiting with Critical Race Theory and banana republic voting practices advocated by Democrats.

In fact, as long as these Jacobin players remain in power, there will never be any shortage of policies and actions against which to protest.

Weekend at Brandon's

Eastern Europe is on fire with a bloody, savage war; Vladimir Putin acts like an unpredictable madman; inventory shortages, high gasoline prices and inflation roil American consumers; and bitter polarization over masks, vaccinations and school curriculums keeps on wreaking havoc throughout the land.

A normal president would hunker down in the White House -- or perhaps at Camp David -- with advisors to strategize on how to address the multitude of serious problems. But Joe Biden is anything but a "normal" president. Matter of fact, Teddy Roosevelt's famous putdown of Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes applies here: "I could carve a better man out of a banana."

The truth is, Brandon goes home on most weekends. As far as I know, the President's team does not and will not release visitor logs or official records of what he does at his own residence. Probably for good reason.

We'll never know with whom he meets at his Delaware digs. And if it is anyone shady (i.e., foreign operatives who have business to conduct with Hunter and/or the Big Guy), our garbage press would cover it up or ignore it. The more likely scenario is that Biden needs to be given injections of his special cocktail of drugs to keep him functional in his senescence. 

The State of the Union speech is coming up on Tuesday, so Sleepy Joe might need to spend every available moment between naps practicing with the teleprompter to make sure he's ready for the limelight. Rest up, Joe; you've gotta be rarin' and ready to go come Tuesday night!

Video evidence is plentiful of the Big Guy's embarrassing gaffes. Some believe he has dementia or is quickly heading in that direction. Others have speculated he has Parkinson's Disease. Despite the heavy damage he's inflicted upon our nation in just one year and an agenda that promises more misguided policies, many fear that if he steps down or is forced out of office, a President Kamala Harris would be an even bigger disaster.

I feel a combination of pity for, loathing toward, and anger against our president. I think his sociopath wife Jill is largely responsible for propping him up just for the sake of her as well as her relatives and cronies being in on the trappings of power and wealth. I am angry and disgusted at the tens of millions of gullible Americans whose childish hatred of Donald Trump caused them to vote for this pathetic puppet. So much for the smartest people in the room or the "adults" being in charge.

It doesn't look good when a president shows a lax work ethic and keeps escaping to his comfortable, familiar home because he cannot handle the awesome responsibilities of the presidency. But maybe we're actually better off if Brandon goes home every weekend, because it means there are fewer hours for this wrecking ball to undermine and destroy America.

As I've mentioned numerous times, these past couple of years have been rough for the morale and spirits of millions of Americans. I have long valued laughter and humor as a gift that provides a refreshing respite from anger, anxiety, worry, depression and weariness resulting from the difficulties and disappointments of life.

So, in the spirit of 'If I don't laugh, I'll cry, here is an entertaining video of a few Brandon blunders. Enjoy!

A Grim Day in Europe

The dirty deed has been done. Russian thug dictator Vladimir Putin has ordered his military forces to attack Ukraine, and as would be expected, an aggressive assault is coming from multiple locations across the country.

President Joe Biden has announced additional sanctions against Russia, but as is usually the case with sanctions, it's too little/too late. The feckless United Nations Security Council is expected to vote Friday on a resolution condemning Russia "in the strongest terms," news reports say. Ooh, scary. I'll bet Vlad is quaking in his boots.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but an agreement reached during Bill Clinton's first administration has really come back to haunt Ukraine. Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 after the United States, U.K., and Russia promised to guarantee Ukraine's security. Some experts maintain that since the Russian Federation controlled the codes to launch the weapons, Ukraine could not have used them. Others, however, believe that technical modifications could have enabled Ukraine to achieve positive operational control.

But that was nearly 30 years ago. Moving back to 2022, Russia can augment its military actions with cyber-warfare against not only Ukraine, but also countries that support Ukraine, including the United States. We could be in for some rocky times.

It's too early to determine what will transpire. But a few thoughts have bounced around in my noggin. I'm going to give them the bullet point treatment as I am simply not in the mood for writing a long commentary tonight. So here goes:

• There's been all sorts of talk about the U.S. and NATO countries sending weapons, ammo and military equipment to Ukraine to help it defend itself. Sadly, I fear much of this will end up in Russian hands, just like the billions of dollars worth of military vehicles, equipment and weapons Sleepy Joe Biden left behind in Afghanistan.
• Russia's rout could end up being a Pyrrhic victory in the long run. I foresee a long-simmering guerrilla insurgency as happened to the U.S.S.R. in Afghanistan in the 1980s and the U.S. in Iraq ca. 2004-2010. Vlad may have stepped in it.
• The nihilistic, calloused and bloodthirsty nature of Putin and his demonic comrades may be summed up by the mobile crematoriums the Ruskies have deployed to Ukraine. Best not to have lots of coffins and body bags coming back to the Motherland. It riles up the hoi polloi.
• The same naiveté with which Barack Obama and Biden have treated the mullahs in the Iran nuclear deal is also present in this situation. Talks, diplomacy, threats of sanctions, the deliberations of the vaunted international community.... It's all a bunch of horse shit. Putin understands one thing and one thing only: Brute strength, combined with iron resolve. He has utter contempt for weasily, slavish obeisance. Expecting a resolute iron jaw from Democrat presidents is like expecting a Kentucky Derby jockey to play on the L.A. Rams' offensive line.
• The climate warriors with their insufferable virtue signaling about green this and sustainable that are not just stupid, but ignorant and destructive, too. They are willing to risk having people freeze to death relying on windmills and solar panels just so they can brag about reducing use of fossil fuels. On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order halting construction of the Keystone pipeline. He has also hindered fracking and drilling in the United States, and removed Trump-imposed sanctions from the Russian-German Nordstream II pipeline. In recent days, he reinstated those sanctions (better way too late than never). But this serves as a lesson: Don't be so beholden to pie-in-the-sky green energy dreams that you're willing to aid and abet the enemy, to make Americans more reliant upon fuel from enemies who do not have our best interests in mind. 

I'm going to pray for the people of Ukraine, hoping that this war doesn't last long and will not escalate into a much larger conflagration. I will also pray that wisdom be granted to our "leaders." But at times like this, my faith is severely tested.

Coming Soon: The Return of Camp Pelosi

As a number of American truck drivers plan to converge on Washington, D.C. in time for President Joe Biden's March 1 State of the Union speech, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser are apparently planning on reimplementing a fortress M.O. as was used in the days leading up to Inauguration Day 2021.

The mayor wants to call out the National Guard, and Pelosi is reportedly "monitoring" the situation. I'd bet good money we'll see a return to fencing around the Capitol and other federal buildings. Coordination between the Capitol Police, other local agencies and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ramping up.

D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is a leftist, but I must give her credit for expressing reservations about fencing around government buildings: “While temporary fencing due to specific and credible threats is a common-sense precaution, I’d like to ensure, even before it is erected, that there are no plans to make the fence permanent,” Holmes Norton said.

I would, however, disagree with the lawmaker's use of the term "specific and credible threats." I suppose a visit from deplorables residing in flyover country would be perceived as a threat to insular progressive elitists. But by and large, truckers are not violent, destructive people. They're hard-working, down-to-earth, salt-of-the-earth folk; often highly intelligent. I know this because I actually drove a big rig for a couple of years when I found myself unemployed in a job market that was brutal for middle-aged people and I needed to find something other than low-end temp jobs to keep the wolf from the door.

One of the truckers' goals is to clog up the already congested Beltway (I-495) so severely that utter gridlock paralyzes the metro area for many hours. Although police may try to crack down on them, it's possible there will be so many truckers, law enforcement will be utterly overwhelmed. But I pity those truck drivers who do face charges, because it could get ugly.

Once again, we will witness a blatant double-standard, as we saw in Canada a few weeks ago. Hateful progressive Justin Trudeau unleashed a torrent of pejorative word salad on the Canadian truckers: homophobic, trans-phobic, misogynists and racists ... He stated they had "unacceptable views." Spoken like a true tyrant.

The same loathing of conservatives is prevalent among American leftists. I can see the police and DHS really throwing the book at truckers. Heavy fines, truck impoundment, and possibly incarceration are completely within the realm of possibility. I don't know whether the Biden administration would go so far as to freeze the bank accounts of truckers and those who support them, but I'm sure they would love to do so. Unfortunately for them, the pushback in the United States would be far more intense and long-lasting than what we saw in Canada.

In a related matter, there is good news from up north: Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Canadian banks have started to unlock financial accounts, valued in the millions of dollars, belonging to individuals who police say participated in or helped organize the truckers' demonstrations. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reports that the accounts can be unlocked now that the major demonstrations have ended.

While the government may couch this in terms of the Emergencies Act being scaled back because the protests are over, in reality it might be a reaction to widespread disgust at scenes like Canadian police officers pummeling truckers, the prime minister's childish outburst and naked petulance, and the lunacy of Ottawa's obsession with mandatory vaccinations. In short, Canada may well have overplayed its hand.

This is going to get very interesting. Although many Americans complain about the leftist media, we still have a far more effective conservative media presence than Canada, which is dominated by the leftist Canadian Broadcast Corp. and mostly woke major newspapers and TV stations. Here, we have conservative talk radio, the Wall Street Journal opinion page, Fox News, NewsMax, and many online conservative websites, blogs and publications. I believe we also have a populace that is more keenly aware of the grave threats to liberty represented by the progressive left.

We're certainly not out of the woods, but recent developments such as the failure of Build Back Better, Glen Youngkin's victory in Virginia, public opinion mobilizing against the warped COVID-19 overkill, and plummeting poll numbers for China Joe, make me far more optimistic about our future than I was a year ago. I'm hoping and praying my optimism is not in vain.

'Michigan Man' Howard Disgraces U-M and Wolverines

University of Michigan head basketball coach Juwan Howard has been a controversial figure for decades, and Sunday he disgraced himself, his team and his university with another intemperate outburst.

The Wisconsin Badgers defeated Michigan 77-63 in a game that was tied at halftime but saw Wisconsin pull away in the second half.

When the teams lined up for the traditional post-game display of sportsmanship (aka the "handshake line"), tempers were flaring. Michigan head coach Juwan Howard and Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard got into a heated shouting match that even included physical contact. The situation quickly escalated into a melee with players from both teams trying to separate the two coaches. Howard struck a Wisconsin assistant coach on the face, and at least two Michigan players were seen taking swings at Wisconsin players.

Perhaps Gard was out of line to actually touch Howard's arm to try to stop the Michigan head coach from quickly walking past him. Gard wanted to explain why he had called two time outs in the last minute of play in a game that was out of hand. That physical contact set Howard off, and then the situation deteriorated rapidly.

But the specifics of what led to the animosity must be examined. There's a general rule of thumb that when one team is way ahead near the end of a game, it will not try to pile on more points or call times outs for the sake of setting up in-your-face dunks or other showmanship. Such poor sportsmanship invariably comes back to haunt a team.

However, it's also a tradition that the coach of a team assured of victory inserts some reserves ("scrubs," in the vernacular) into the game as a reward for their hard work and loyalty. The thinking is it helps with their morale and esprit de corps, and that's probably accurate. But to plug in the scrubs, the coach must call a time out lest the clock run out.

It turns out, Gard called a second timeout because he wanted to advise his backup players on how to break a full-court press Howard's players were mounting. In the full-court press, two or more players will hound the guy with the ball, hoping to force a turnover. Of course, that leaves one or two of the ball handler's teammates wide open, IF he can get the ball to the teammate. But when you're boxed in a corner with all sorts of arms and legs flailing away at you, it can be difficult to keep your composure and calmly bounce a pass to a nearby teammate.

So Gard was within his rights to call that second time out, and there is no indication he intended for one of his reserves to try getting off a shot to pile on more points. He just wanted them to get the ball across the midway point in the allotted few seconds, then run out the clock.

But this begs the larger question: Why in the world was Howard still playing his starters when the game was lost? (Why risk injury to starters, and why not let less experienced players gain some real-game experience?) On top of that, what was he thinking employing a full-court press?

Here's a football equivalent: A game is down to its last 15 seconds with one squad up by 20 points. The quarterback takes the snap and kneels on the ground to run out the clock, while the offensive and defensive linemen barely touch each other. If there are no animosities, the opposing players may even shake hands or pat each other on the shoulder pads, saying "Good luck in the playoffs," or whatever. (Keep in mind, many of these guys played with each other in college, and with free agency and trades, some of them may have been teammates in the past.)

But what Howard did, employing a hard-nosed, no-holds-barred defense -- using his starting players, no less -- with only about 20 seconds left while trailing by 14 points, is the equivalent of the defensive line bull rushing the O-line and knocking the QB to the turf even though he took a knee. It's unheard of and over-the-top.

This comes as no surprise, because Howard was part of the corrupt and classless, trash talking Fraud Five of the early 1990s. (Suck-up sportswriters like Mitch Albom called them the "Fab Five" but I never accepted that moniker.) It was the most heralded recruiting class in the history of college basketball, yet that team never won a Big Ten championship, let alone a national championship. What's worse, they were embroiled in a scandal, taking money from a U-M booster who ran an illegal gambling ring and was laundering money. Conveniently, Ed Martin passed away before legal proceedings could unravel the full extent of Michigan's corruption, which undoubtedly went back to the early 1980s.

Joining the NCAA investigation were the Big Ten Conference, FBI, IRS and U.S. Department of Justice. It proved the be one of the greatest scandals in college basketball history. Michigan forfeited its Final Four championships, and was also punished with sanctions, loss of scholarships and two years of probation. Their recruiting took a major hit for several years.

It's worth noting that this wasn't Howard's first outburst as Wolverines head coach. In March 2021, during the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, he went after then Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon. 

The Michigan basketball team is all in on the woke nonsense, with trite memes like "Say their names" and "Equity" plastered all over the backs of their players' jerseys. No doubt, firing Howard for his loss of self-control and disgraceful behavior would spark a firestorm of "RACIST" and "RACISM" criticism from alumni, the loons on Twitter and the largely woke sportswriting community. That's one impediment to teams hiring black head coaches: It's almost impossible to let them go for cause (e.g., a losing record and lack of discipline among the players), because the default reaction will always be the "R" word.

As a Michigan State fan and alum, I don't like to throw stones. Lord knows, we've had our own issues. But the reason why I and so many others feel a sense of schadenfreude for U-M to complement our long-running contempt is the haughty, conceited attitude of so many Michigan alumni and fans. They actually think they're better than everyone else. We Spartan fans know better. We're sick of the condescending, mocking treatment we've received from MEEEECHIGAN for decades. So please excuse us if we pile on. It's too good to resist.

How's that "Michigan Man" thing working out?

Durham Sparks Full Obfuscation Mode by Left

 No sooner had Special Counsel John Durham released his initial report on the Trump-Russian collusion hoax, and the leftists began spinning furiously.

The usual suspects -- the New York Times, Washington Post, and network news shows -- have been bending over backwards to make believe that monitoring of White House and Trump Tower servers by Democrat operatives was legitimate and had nothing to do with Donald Trump being president.

Durham indicates that the Clinton campaign, through the Perkins Coie law firm, spied on Trump both before and after he was president. The Clinton campaign propped up the Russian collusion hoax through operatives including attorneys Mark Elias and Michael Sussman. Sussman is under indictment for one criminal count of making a false statement to the FBI back in September 2016.

Sussman is one of three people Durham has charged so far. The others are Russian national Igor Danchenko (a major source for the bogus Steele dossier), who was arrested and indicted on allegations he made five false statements to the FBI; and FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith. In 2020, Clinesmith pleaded guilty to a felony violation of altering an email used to maintain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants. 

Another key player mentioned in Durham's report is government contractor Rodney Joffe, a South African-American who was one of the so-called "cyber sleuths" mining selective data from servers and feeding it to Perkins Coie. Not surprisingly, Joffe had a longtime reputation as a Clinton supporter. It is Durham's job to pin down the clique of former government officials, contractors and other hangers-on who are politically connected to the Clintons and the abusive Deep State.

Durham has a tough job: Demonstrating that those gleaning information from servers at Trump Tower and the White House were twisting and cherry picking damaging information, then feeding it to the FBI sans full disclosure regarding their ties to the Clinton campaign.

The contempt and disdain with which the garbage media treats this investigation underscores their delusional conceit and non-stop projection. Keep in mind that not only did Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller find no charges to pin on Trump despite spending millions of dollars during a two-year witch hunt (while the gullible cheerleader media trumpeted the B.S. 24/7); the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, Michael Horowitz, also raised  serious questions about the Trump-Russia investigation. He found misfeasance and malfeasance on the part of the FBI.

Also remember that Durham has long been known as a methodical straight shooter. He's not partisan, and is well respected by both parties. Several Democrat senators voted for confirming him as a U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut in 2018.

Hillary Clinton and all of her Democrat operatives are oily, sneaky, veteran liars. So are the media vermin who cover for them. The good news is, where there's smoke, there's fire. This is a foul, tangled web -- one that cannot be unraveled in a few short months. Durham is nothing if not extremely patient.

As historians and military observers are fond of saying regarding China, Durham is playing the long game. He does not feel he has to present a full case and come out with both barrels blazing within a few weeks or months. Indeed, by the time he wraps up his investigation, it will undoubtedly have been several years since former Attorney General Willam Barr appointed him Special Counsel.

Good things are worth waiting for.

Shameless Democrat Chameleons

Remember the Groucho Marx line, "Who you gonna believe, me or your lyin' eyes?"

A paraphrase of that humorous rhetorical question applies to many Democrats in late winter 2022: "Who you gonna believe, the "new and improved" Democrats or your lyin' memory?"

Several months ago, when opinion polls showed huge support for voters being required to present a photo ID when they vote, many Democrats contradicted themselves. Even if they had gone on record claiming that voter ID requirements were racist and suppressed the black vote, they suddenly came out in support of voter IDs. Not only that, but they also denied ever being opposed to them. They really do think we're stupid!

More recently, other Democrats have publicly stated positions that are 180 degrees opposed to what they said during the Summer of 2020 when Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots were raging across the land.

Here are a few examples of complete reversals by Democrats -- not because they believe their new positions are wise, correct, or more principled; but rather, because polls showed the unpopularity of their previous positions, and the midterm elections are looming:

-- Many blue states are eliminating masking requirements, and some states, such as Michigan, do not require that state employees be vaccinated. This may seem surprising since Michigan's liberal Gov. Gretchen Whitmer normally loves COVID-19 restrictions. But it's a simple as this: She faces a tough re-election campaign and also has her eye on running for a national office sometime soon.

-- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that defunding the police "is not the position of the Democratic Party." She told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "Make no mistake, community safety is our responsibility." Pelosi added that firebrands like Rep. Cori Bush of St. Louis, a strong advocate of defunding the police, are not representative of the Democratic Party.

-- Robert Francis O'Rourke (I won't call him by his phony Hispanic first name), a candidate for governor of Texas, now says he wants to protect Second Amendment rights. Back in 2019 while running for president, he said, "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15." He also now says he is supporting stricter policies at the border after calling a border wall "racist"  when running for the Senate in 2017. "We’ve got to have predictability, order, and the rule of law” at the border, he said. Right.

-- Many Democrats are anti-fossil fuel and hold naive pipe dreams about how wind and solar power can replace oil, natural gas and coal. Closing pipelines, discouraging fracking and drilling for oil, and raising gas taxes are among their strategies to harm the fossil fuel producers, refiners and distributors. Their goal is to make gasoline so expensive, it will drive consumers into the arms of electric vehicle manufacturers. Ah, but there's that nettlesome inflation problem in an election year. Faced with an onslaught of complaints from constituents regarding skyrocketing gasoline prices, several Democrat senators have introduced legislation to suspend the federal gas tax (18 cents per gallon) until 2023. I guess the electric vehicles can wait.

-- Normally far-left demagogue Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota actually sent out a tweet criticizing the leftists' policy of doxxing those who contributed money to support the Canadian Freedom Convoy. Someone had hacked into the Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo and released the donors' names and email addresses. Omar tweeted it was "unconscionable" for journalists to share the hacked data that leads to harassment and threats against these individuals.

The Democrats are as shallow and self-serving as can be. One might be encouraged that at least they have the common sense to change course when it's obvious they've been wrong on many issues. On the other hand, their actions speak to stupidity and an utter lack of common sense at the outset, as well as contempt and a disdainful attitude toward their constituents, whom they regard as nothing but gullible, wimpy rubes.

We certainly can and must do better than to allow such a boatload of charlatans to populate Congress.

What's Next for Canada -- Martial Law?

The other day I wrote about the bleak experience my son and I had while on a ski trip in Ontario, Canada. I suppose we've no one but ourselves to blame for not being more leery of the COVID-19 hysteria that grips our northern neighbor. But we made the hotel reservations months in advance, and perhaps were overly optimistic about how soon the COVID panic would die down and restrictions would be eased. (I also plead guilty to naiveté with regard to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's capacity for wrongheaded, harmful policy.)

I am neither a doctor nor a scientist. But I do know that viruses, to use a figure of speech, have a mind of their own. All of the government micromanaging in the world, restrictions, masks and vaccinations will not stop these sneaky little organisms that have been around for tens of millions of years. It is typical left-wing conceit to think you can prescribe policies including lockdowns, social distancing, mandatory vaccinations and mandatory masking and somehow prevent or reduce the spread of viruses. Slow down the spread? Perhaps. But significantly reduce it? No. People are social animals and cannot be brainwashed into acting like programmed robots.

In recent days, Canada's government has taken an increasingly hard line against the truckers who have blocked streets in the Capital City of Ottawa, at the Ambassador Bridge that leads to Detroit, and in other locations. On Sunday night, the Ambassador Bridge (the busiest international border crossing in North America) was reopened after nearly a week.

Some demonstrators have been arrested; many were dispersed under threat of being arrested. Cops have cracked down hard on supporters who have brought diesel fuel, food or supplies such as blankets to truckers hunkered down in bitter cold Ottawa.

On Monday, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act, which expands federal powers over individuals, institutions and companies. Crowdfunding platforms are now under terror-finance oversight; the government has authorized Canadian banks to freeze accounts suspected of funding the blockades. Insurance on vehicles involved in the protests can be suspended.  

Now consider this: About 90 percent of Canadian truckers are vaccinated, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance. Trudeau and his fellow statists won't be happy until they can force all 100 percent to get vaccinated (something that will never happen). Those who are not vaccinated cannot cross the border, and the interruption in auto parts as well as other important cargo is already having an adverse effect in the United States in terms of lost sales, reduced revenues and employee layoffs.

Where is this heading? Will the petty dictator's vaccine coercion, which many believe is a violation of the Nuremberg Code, lead to further arrests and incarcerations? Quarantine concentration camps? More people getting fired? Who knows where it will lead.

In the United States, we have observed how the Democrats' weaponization of the massive deep state to go after political enemies with cudgels such as the IRS and Department of Justice can bankrupt citizens of modest means, destroy their reputations, and keep people locked up for many months without knowing what they're being charged with and with little or no hope of being released on bail. Trudeau, who loves blockades and "peaceful protests" when they're done by Black Lives Matter, is equally guilty of galling hypocrisy, selective indignation and administering uneven justice.

A distinct possibility is that many vaccinated Canadian truckers (and some American truckers) who regularly cross the border as part of their normal routes may decide to give a collective middle finger to the Canadian government -- even if it means they themselves will take a major financial hit and worse. It would have a devastating effect on the American automobile industry, which already has been hampered by the inability to acquire sufficient quantities of semiconductors.

In addition to auto parts and fully assembled vehicles, important commodities including fuel, meat, agricultural products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals cross the border daily. Supply shortages, price spikes and real hardship up to and including deaths caused by reduction in life-sustaining drugs could be among the consequences.

If such a bleak scenario unfolds, would Trudeau rather see widespread economic wreckage, truckers locked up, their finances destroyed, their prospects bleak, and their marriages/families devastated, just so he wouldn't have to yield on his obscene vaccine demands?

One can't help but wonder.

Have a Super Duper Sunday

Imagine singing today's headline to the tune of "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas"... I will have to come up with some alternative lyrics for the verses... How 'bout "Oh, ho, the wagering, the drinking and the food..."

Last year, I correctly picked the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, who entered the game as defending Super Bowl champions and were favored by 3 points. Tampa Bay came into the tilt featuring six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady at the helm, and boasting a powerful defensive line featuring one-man wrecking ball Ndamukong Suh. I was so confident, I bet $30 and won. (Normally, I only bet $1 or $2 per game; maybe $5 if I'm feeling cocky.) Brady, who announced his retirement a few weeks ago, won his seventh Super Bowl that day.

I've been thinking about today's matchup for several days, and having a hard time deciding who to pick and whether I would bet any money on the game. The Bengals have exceeded everyone's expectations and won two of their three playoff games on the road -- at Tennessee and at Kansas City. That's impressive. Their quarterback, Joe Burrow, is highly talented and incredibly confident for a second-year player. He deservedly won the Heisman Trophy in his senior year and led the LSU Tiger to a national championship.

The Rams' quarterback, Matt Stafford, paid his dues playing for the pathetic Detroit Lions for 12 years before finally (mercifully) being traded to the Rams. He's a talented veteran with an incredible arm, lots of toughness, and plenty of football smarts. One of his favorite targets is his tight end Cooper Kupp, All-Pro and 2021 AP Offensive Player of the Year. But the difference maker, I believe, will be the Rams' swarming and stout defensive line, led by another wrecking ball, eight-time Pro Bowl player Aaron Donald. 

Cincinnati's defensive line is mediocre at best, and I believe the Bengals have reached their ceiling. Burrow is probably going to do a lot of quick-release deliveries on slant patterns and screen passes to avoid the rush, which is guaranteed to cause him major headaches. 

Both quarterbacks are genuinely nice guys; both are a class act. It's too bad one of them has to lose. As much as I'd love to see a victory by the Midwestern squad (the underdog Bengals have been disrespected for too long), I'm afraid the Rams will win.

I almost forgot to mention: The Rams will play in their own stadium, and that definitely makes a difference. But I think it will be competitive. Let's make it L.A. 41 Cincinnati 34. The point spread is L.A. -4 (it was -3.5 up until a couple days ago). I will only be betting $5 tops, because I could easily see Cincy losing by 1,2, or 3 points on a last second field goal.

There will be no Jet's Pizza this year, but I am planning on making a batch of chili this afternoon. I will suck down a few beers (maybe three or four, but that's it). I've cut way back on beer because of my concern about the carbohydrates. I don't buy it very often anymore, and although I do keep some wine around the house, I do not keep the hard stuff on hand. Maybe once or twice a year I'll buy some whiskey (or rum during the Christmas season). But I'm just not much of a hard liquor guy.

Meanwhile, I've got a few chores to do around the house and must go out and shovel some snow/throw down salt pellets. The fluffy stuff is building up rapidly as I type. Enjoy your Sunday, and let the bread-n-circuses proceed!

My Canadian Odyssey

I just returned last night from a ski trip to Searchmont, Ontario. The skiing was fun (until freezing rain made the slopes treacherous, and my son and I bailed out early). However, dealing with the Canadians' anal COVID-19 restrictions was a major pain-in-the ass, and I don't think I'll be returning to our northern neighbor for a long time.

Details shortly, but first let me say that my disillusionment with Canada is profound, and quite a bummer. Because, for many years, I've admired Canada and Canadians.

I have cousins in Ontario, and have attended several family reunions near Markdale, Ontario, a small town about 110 miles northwest of Toronto. Or "aboot 150 kilahmetahs," to imitate the Canadian accent. My great grandparents emigrated from Benbecula, Scotland to Ontario in the 1800s. Moreover, in 2007-2008, I held a government contract job that called for me to work at an office in downtown Windsor, Ontario several days a week. I got to know and like many Canadians. We had great conversations, and I benefited tremendously from hearing new perspectives.

It's true that most Canadian people seem laid back, slow to anger, down-to-earth, and friendly. By extension, Canadian culture as a whole has long appeared to represent the people. But a caveat: In Quebec as well as in many parts of Ontario, and to a lesser extent other provinces, there are many people of French descent. And even 15 years ago, I noticed that there are elitists in Canada whose religion is green this and sustainable that and Mother Earth. They have a one-track, condescending mind that's not grounded in reality -- one that parallels their heritage across the Atlantic. I suspect this French strain is responsible for the excesses of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and many of his Liberal Party cohorts.

And regrettably it seems that, like a cancer, the left has infiltrated Canadian society thoroughly -- institutions, schools and universities, government, nonprofit foundations. What else could explain the country's paranoid obsession and Soviet like police state when it comes to COVID-19 tests, masks, social distancing and tracking citizens in an Orwellian manner? The truckers' protests have been labeled as primarily against vaccine and mask mandates, but in fact they are against heavy-handed, nanny state government in general -- a grim reality that grows worse by the day.

For the record, I've received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine -- partly because of my age (62). But now that I've learned -- too late -- that it's not as effective as advertised, and may pose long-term health risks, I do not plan to get any booster shots. I foresee a scenario where they will string us along forever, with new boosters coming out every 6-8 months. The government is full of misinformation and lies, and I've decided to cut my losses.

My son, who is 29, only got vaccinated because his employer required it. He landed a great job a year ago and is doing well, with a bright future. He didn't want to lose his job, so I don't blame him for taking the jab.

We both did some research prior to this trip to determine what we needed to get across the border. A Department of Homeland Security website I reviewed stated that to drive across, all I needed was an enhanced Real ID driver's license and COVID-19 vaccination card, which I have. My son has the same, plus a passport. My son thinks he saw the same information on a Michigan Department of Transportation website, but he wasn't certain.

When we arrived at the Canadian customs booth on the north side of the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge, the woman in the booth asked us if we had uploaded info using the "ARRIVE CAN" app. We didn't know what it was or what info needed to be uploaded. She explained that we'd need to return to the United States, get a rapid molecular PCR test, then upload the results (available within 1-2 hours), plus pictures of our driver's licenses and COVID-19 vaccination cards.

So we did a U-turn and headed to a Meijer pharmacy in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. They were booked up for appointments, but allowed us to circumvent their software by signing up for appointments on future dates at other locations. Then we drove up to the pharmacy window, they handed us the test kits, and we did the nose swabs in the car, packaged them, and returned them to the clerk.

My son received his emailed "negative" results within a half hour. But after a couple hours of waiting, mine didn't come through. I called an 800 number, got transferred around a few times, and everyone was pretty clueless about what happened to my test results (despite giving them my DOB and voucher number). So I obtained a new voucher number (via email), retook the test, then got the results within 45 minutes or so.

We had left our homes early Thursday morning and hoped to get to the resort area by noon for 3 1/2 or 4 hours of skiing Thursday, then a full day on Friday. But this rigamarole took up so much time, we knew we couldn't ski Thursday. So we planned for Friday skiing, but decided to skip Saturday even though our hotel reservations were for both Thursday night and Friday night. Why? Because a cold front was coming through, with a forecast of -15 Fahrenheit overnight (-10 F. at 9 a.m., when we would've begun skiing), and a "high" temp of 5 degrees. We are not masochists. Anyone who has ever skied will attest that the most bone-chilling time is on the chair lift ride up the mountain!

So for the second time, we arrived at Canadian Customs, showed the inspection officer our phones with the uploaded info she needed, and she nodded her head saying everything looked good. But before we departed, she pulled out a COVID-19 test kit and informed me I had been "randomly selected" to take a COVID-19 test while in Canada. I needed to take it within 24 hours, and mail the swab inside a Purolator envelope she provided.

That night at the hotel, I was reading the instructions, and it said to log onto a web site and do the nose swab while a nurse watched, just to be sure I did it right. I tried, but was kept waiting for so long, I gave up and performed the nose swab, then sealed the specimen in a biohazard bag which I placed inside the envelope to mail the next day.

We had looked forward to using the sauna, hot tub and pool, but all were closed due to the COVID-19 hysteria. Masks were required when you walked around the hotel and into the restaurant. We needed to show our vaccination cards and sign in at the restaurant. The employees seemed rude and uptight, as if this were East Germany ca. 1982.

The resort, about 25 miles way, was also Orwellian. I've posted a photo I took of a couple of warning signs at the entrance to the resort. Inside, chairs were atop tables (no place to sit), drinking fountains were covered and closed, and it was dead as a doornail. But to walk in and use the restroom, be sure to wear a mask!

We saw a few fanatics wearing COVID masks while skiing, but most people did not wear any kind of face mask, as the temperature was moderate (high 20s to low 30s). I did notice one teen in line at the chair lift who was wearing a "Green Forever Environmental" snow suit. Underneath the logo were the words "Think Green, Act Green, Live Green." And while you're at it, why not join a cult? This is truly their religion.

By Friday morning, before leaving for the resort, we had decided to head back home the same day, not knowing we would knock off early due to conditions. Driving around the confusing, pothole-laden streets of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario trying to find a Purolator drop box that was on Google Maps but still difficult to locate, was like the final indignity.

We both heaved a sigh of relief as we re-entered Michigan. We made a couple stops on the way to where my car was parked near Houghton Lake. (It made sense for us to each drive separately and meet up since we were coming from different parts of the state.)

We took a restroom break and also stopped to grab a Subway sandwich. We relished in the fact no one in northern Michigan was wearing masks. While I rode in my son's SUV, I did a little reading about the Canadian protests and Justin Trudeau. It didn't surprise me at all to learn that Trudeau had received harsh criticism back in 2013 when he was heaping praise on China and its dictator Xi Jinping.

Trudeau has also engaged in the same demagoguery as his progressive peers in the United States: He denounces the truckers as racist white supremacists, fascists and bigots. (Never mind that the protesters include numerous blacks and other minorities including Asians, Hispanics, persons of Middle Eastern descent and representatives of First Nations tribes.) I am hoping Canada's Parliament will oust the petty dictator from power in the near future.

Canada is a mess right now, and I feel sad for their people. But I am also encouraged by the fierce pushback. We even saw a few protesters standing on a Sault Ste. Marie street to greet vehicles coming off the International Bridge from the States.

The pushback is essential -- in Canada, the United States, Australia, Europe and everywhere else. This is a crucial juncture in the struggle to preserve individual liberty, because the totalitarians are relentless in their arrogance and lust for power. And once we lose our liberty, we'll never regain it. That's just the way it works.

The progressive elitists rage against and mock anyone who dares challenge their frequently inaccurate groupthink. But we're on to them and their rubbish.

It's often been said that "Truth is the new hate speech." I'd like to close by quoting the great George Orwell: "In a time of deceit, telling the truth can be a revolutionary act." Amen.