Cory Booker shines again

Cory Booker just finished giving a 25 hour, 5 minute, speech on the floor of the U. S. Senate, speaking in opposition to Donald Trump's policies and executive actions. The black man broke the previous record of 24 hours, 18 minutes, set by white segregationist Strom Thurmond in 1957, speaking in opposition to the Civil Rights Act.

 In 2019, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) threw his hat into the 2020 presidential ring. He was impressive at the time, although he didn't get very far in the competition. He sat out the 2024 election, in deference to Joe Biden and then to Kamala Harris when Biden dropped out of the race.

It's a much different world today. Biden won in 2020, Harris lost in 2024, and we're all watching as Trump and his minions run roughshod over American institutions, in a clumsy yet brutal attempt to remake the USA into the Germany of the late 1930s.

The Democrats were so thoroughly defeated in 2024 that they still haven't recovered. They do not have a champion, a leader, someone with the charisma of Bill Clinton or Barack Obama to show them the way out of their wilderness. The Republicans in Congress, in the courts, and in most of the states, will not oppose Trump, and the Democrats are in every way too weak to oppose them.

I was mildly optimistic about Booker in 2019. He was certainly a better alternative than Hillary Clinton. But maybe now is his time to stand up, take on the mantle of leadership, unite the Democrats, and do something effective to oppose Trump. It's been five months since the election, three and a half months since the inauguration, and we have around three years to go until the next presidential election -- that is, if we get to have one.

Democrats need to unite behind somebody. Booker just showed that he may be the man for the job this time.

The Tariff Wars: Canada Strikes Back

 I know that, to many Americans, there is no weather north of the US-Canada border. USAnian weather maps often show clouds, storms, winds, and temperature readings right up to the border -- and no further.

Likewise, to many Americans, there is no civilization and nothing newsworthy north of the US-Canada border. All the news happens in the USA, and the only civilization that matters is in the USA.

Well, if Americans aren't watching Canada today, then they are missing something important.

Canada has long been the USA's closest and most faithful ally. You may not know it, but when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Canada was the FIRST Western country to declare war on Japan. Canada declared war on the evening of December 7, the same day as the attack. The USA declared war on Japan the next day, on December 8.

Since 9-11, Canadian troops have fought alongside American troops in every theatre of the Global War on Terror. They never came late to the fight, and they never came afraid or unarmed.

All of this is to say:

If you weren't watching the news carefully today, you missed something important. In the dark predawn hours of Tuesday morning, Donald Trump slapped his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. After the sun came up, Canada slapped back. Hard.

If you want to see what was said, and what is being done, head over to CBC.ca, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website, and have a look. (That link will go stale in a few days. The world keeps turning, you know.)

In a nutshell, Canada's Prime Minister said that a trade war now exists between the US and Canada. He slapped a 25% retaliatory tariff on $155 billion of American goods. He removed American goods from store shelves. And he warned that the provincial premiers (like state governors) were going to take additional action themselves.

PM Justin Trudeau pointed out that Canada's quarrel wasn't with the American people, and in true Canadian fashion, he apologized for the pain it was going to cause them. He made it clear that Canada's beef was with "you, Donald."

The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, announced that American wines, beers, etc. had been removed from the provincial liquor stores, representing a gigantic loss of revenue for American producers. He announced that governments in the province would no longer be doing business with American contractors or commercial entities. He announced that the province had torn up its contract with Starlink. He warned that Ontario would be switching off the flow of electricity from the province to Minnesota, Michigan, and New York state if Trump didn't cancel the tariffs.

The premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, announced that the province was ready to close the taps on oil and gas flowing south. The premier said, in effect, "This doesn't worry us too much. We can always find someone else to buy it from us."

That's just the start of it. Canada has taken the gloves off. They basically said, "You want a fight, you got it. Both sides are gonna get bloody, but we're not gonna lose."

#TrueNorth