Triple Espresso of Coffee Talk

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Way early but 42% support for the Tories is pretty huge. To compare, Forum never had them polling above 36% after 2012 in the lead up to the last election and they mostly hovered around the 31% they eventually got at the ballot box in October throughout 2015.

Conservatives maintain lead in support amid SNC-Lavalin controversy, polls says | The Star

Further, another poll had Tory support at 40% and had support for them in the 905 at 20% higher than Trudeau. They were also pulling 29% in Quebec which is 12% more than the votes they got in 2015 and that's despite losing Maxime Bernier to his new Le Parti Nazi.

Most Canadians side with Wilson-Raybould, believe Trudeau has lost moral authority to govern: Ipsos poll

This could still all blow over but if it doesn't in the next few weeks I can't see the Liberal Party not mutinying.

 

[forty_three]

heh

And it is not a photoshop. She really tweeted that.

 

[thedddd]

Trump Organization's insurance records subpoenaed by NY financial regulator as investigations widen

Wonder if the Hillary tweets are to deflect his real issues.....

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Meanwhile in Brazil...

 

[elocomotive]

So the Washington Post has a good article on the closing of the Lordstowne plant in Ohio and the 5,000+ people that will lose their jobs. And to me it just encapsulates the failed attitudes and decisions people are making while instead blaming immigrants, environmental regulations, the government, etc. From the article...

...General Motors is shuttering its plant here, and (Scott) Mezzapeso is one of roughly 5,400 casualties. Mezzapeso earned $22 an hour with good benefits at Magna, a GM supplier that made seats for the Chevy Cruze, but he was laid off last summer as the auto giant scaled back Cruze production and suppliers did the same. Now he makes $11 an hour working part time at Bruno Bros. Pizza, the only job he has found after months of sending out his résumé. ...“To be 100 percent honest, I thought I would be laid off for a few months and then go back to work,” Mezzapeso said. “At 47, I’m too old to go back to school.” Most jobs Mezzapeso sees pay half of what he used to earn. His 1999 Chevy Tahoe gets lousy gas mileage, making it difficult to take a low-paying job a long drive away. Friends urge him to go to school and try welding or advanced manufacturing. He and other GM casualties here qualify for the federal government’s marquee retraining program — Trade Adjustment Assistance — that covers all costs for up to two years of classes plus a weekly stipend, meaning they get paid to attend school. But only about 30 percent have enrolled in TAA, according to Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services.​

It's sad that this guy is losing his job through no fault of his own. And honestly, GM is relocating most of the jobs to other factories in other cities, but Mezzapeso can't relocate due to his very senior parents needing care. I get that. But why does a guy making $22/hour buy a Tahoe? That's a pricey ride and takes tons of gas. Or why doesn't he sell it and get a more fuel efficient car? Why is he saying he is "too old" for school (he's only 47 and nobody is talking about a 4-year bachelor's degree)? Listen to your friends, man. There has to be some personal responsibility in all this. Especially when there is literally a program he could take for free AND be paid for to help him. The coal miners, the auto workers. Nobody promised you that job forever. Nobody promised the world would not change. It would have been naive even 30 years ago to assume so, much less today. The world requires adaptation and growth. You cannot declare love for the free market and then grimace at it's dirty underbelly.

The county he lives in was traditionally blue, but went for Trump in 2018. The program that would help him was one promoted by President Kennedy and came into law under his administration.

The inability to grow and recognize their own foibles is the problem in white, working/lower middle class America now. Black Lives Matter didn't make you buy that Tahoe. Socialism didn't quit that program on your behalf, it made it possible in the first place. Immigrants didn't prevent you from moving to where the better paying jobs are available (which is literally what immigrants are doing in the first place). And the fake news didn't create your privileged attitudes about what you deserve.

All these pointed fingers are causing the unrest in this country. They should be pointed inward.

 

[dash]

Why is he saying he is "too old" for school (he's only 47 and nobody is talking about a 4-year bachelor's degree)? Listen to your friends, man. There has to be some personal responsibility in all this. Especially when there is literally a program he could take for free AND be paid for to help him.

This is very well said eloco and if I may, I'll use a personal example. I've been working in the same application software for almost 25 years now, but in that time, it's added enhancements as new innovations (web development, portal and mobile applications for smart phones) have come on the scene. I've have to learn these new components as companies are embracing these new techniques to allow their employees easy access to their own data. As technology changes and evolves, you have to be willing to learn these new features or you'll just turn into a dinosaur and become extinct in short order.

 

[forty_three]

So the Washington Post has a good article on the closing of the Lordstowne plant in Ohio and the 5,000+ people that will lose their jobs. And to me it just encapsulates the failed attitudes and decisions people are making while instead blaming immigrants, environmental regulations, the government, etc. From the article...

...General Motors is shuttering its plant here, and (Scott) Mezzapeso is one of roughly 5,400 casualties. Mezzapeso earned $22 an hour with good benefits at Magna, a GM supplier that made seats for the Chevy Cruze, but he was laid off last summer as the auto giant scaled back Cruze production and suppliers did the same. Now he makes $11 an hour working part time at Bruno Bros. Pizza, the only job he has found after months of sending out his résumé. ...“To be 100 percent honest, I thought I would be laid off for a few months and then go back to work,” Mezzapeso said. “At 47, I’m too old to go back to school.” Most jobs Mezzapeso sees pay half of what he used to earn. His 1999 Chevy Tahoe gets lousy gas mileage, making it difficult to take a low-paying job a long drive away. Friends urge him to go to school and try welding or advanced manufacturing. He and other GM casualties here qualify for the federal government’s marquee retraining program — Trade Adjustment Assistance — that covers all costs for up to two years of classes plus a weekly stipend, meaning they get paid to attend school. But only about 30 percent have enrolled in TAA, according to Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services.​

It's sad that this guy is losing his job through no fault of his own. And honestly, GM is relocating most of the jobs to other factories in other cities, but Mezzapeso can't relocate due to his very senior parents needing care. I get that. But why does a guy making $22/hour buy a Tahoe? That's a pricey ride and takes tons of gas. Or why doesn't he sell it and get a more fuel efficient car? Why is he saying he is "too old" for school (he's only 47 and nobody is talking about a 4-year bachelor's degree)? Listen to your friends, man. There has to be some personal responsibility in all this. Especially when there is literally a program he could take for free AND be paid for to help him. The coal miners, the auto workers. Nobody promised you that job forever. Nobody promised the world would not change. It would have been naive even 30 years ago to assume so, much less today. The world requires adaptation and growth. You cannot declare love for the free market and then grimace at it's dirty underbelly.

The county he lives in was traditionally blue, but went for Trump in 2018. The program that would help him was one promoted by President Kennedy and came into law under his administration.

The inability to grow and recognize their own foibles is the problem in white, working/lower middle class America now. Black Lives Matter didn't make you buy that Tahoe. Socialism didn't quit that program on your behalf, it made it possible in the first place. Immigrants didn't prevent you from moving to where the better paying jobs are available (which is literally what immigrants are doing in the first place). And the fake news didn't create your privileged attitudes about what you deserve.

All these pointed fingers are causing the unrest in this country. They should be pointed inward.

Agree with you on the reluctance to re-train. Lordstown is not that far from places like Akron and Cleveland where IT jobs are at or near underemployment. Meaning there are more openings than candidates. 2 or 3 week-long classes will get him back to the pay he was at or better at an entry level job, and he won't be far from mom & dad. I was in retail, rising up the ladder like crazy and realized "this is gonna suck when I'm older" so I started learning about computers. Anyone can do it if they put their hearts into it.

I have long thought that part of collecting an unemployment check should include job re-training classes. If you're "willing" to work. You should be willing to learn to do something else when your job goes away.

But don't go busting on the man's ride. It's 20 years old. He bought it when he was 27. Probably living pretty well for his age with his great union job. And he splurged. What we should kind of look at it is why a guy who was making relatively decent money hasn't been able to buy a new car in 20 years...

 

[elocomotive]

But don't go busting on the man's ride. It's 20 years old. He bought it when he was 27. Probably living pretty well for his age with his great union job. And he splurged. What we should kind of look at it is why a guy who was making relatively decent money hasn't been able to buy a new car in 20 years...

I think more likely he bought that car used 9 years ago. Good points!

 

[elocomotive]

Anyone can do it if they put their hearts into it.

That should be on a motivational poster (and maybe Jack Johnson's locker).

(edit: sorry for the typo, lol)

 

[forty_three]

That should be on a motivational poster (and maybe Jack Johnson's locker).

(edit: sorry for the typo, lol)

That's exactly Jack Johnson's issue. he has bad hears.

 

[elocomotive]

US trade deficits hits 243-year all-time high at $891 billion. Always a tweet...

 

[forty_three]

US trade deficits hits 243-year all-time high at $891 billion. Always a tweet...

So, that's the answer? Just cut China off?

Walmart sells the most Chinese goods of any company and employs 1.4 million Americans (1% of all American workers). What could go wrong?

 

[elocomotive]

Based on Trump's understanding of trade deficits, we now have to send China $800 billion.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

The sad thing is it was almost entirely certain that Butts was the one who wrote this law to begin with and therefore is the one who pulled this note from the OECD Convention:

 

[thedddd]

@Bloody Brian Burke just when you think Canadian politics can one up the US, I give you this interview:

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

@Bloody Brian Burke just when you think Canadian politics can one up the US, I give you this interview:

Come on, any decent family man would do the same.

 

[thedddd]

Come on, any decent family man would do the same.

And then brag about it with a man whose last name is Bush while on a bus.

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Come on, any decent family man would do the same.

You think I'd give away $35K, much less $105K, to save my kids some embarrassment?

Shiiieeeet, they're already embarrassed by me everyday; what harm's a little more?

 

[elocomotive]

White House officials argued that rather than being a setback, the immigration trends could bolster Trump’s argument that he is justified in taking unilateral action on the border. Federal authorities detained 76,103 migrants at the southern border in February, up from 58,207 a month earlier.Press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday that the numbers were clear evidence that Trump was right to declare a national emergency last month. “If that doesn’t define crisis, I don’t know what does,” she said.


Missiles in the air
An earthquake
An imminent attack on the country
A lack of power nationwide
A hurricane
The infiltration of national security servers
Bombers headed towards our border with malicious intent
Massive shortage in the nation's food supply.
27% unemployment rate

That's just off the top of my head in 60 seconds. Hope it helps, Sarah.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Trudeau keeps going on about these 9000 jobs that would supposedly be lost if SNC winds up being barred from federal contracts for ten years (again, because they bought $2 million worth of hookers for Ghaddafi’s son lol).

Some things that make no sense about this:

1) If they’re threatening to move their HQ to London (which I find funny considering corporations are fleeing the UK like wildfire), that doesn’t mean they’re going to suddenly give up all of their Canadian contracts and no longer have a presence here and even if they did someone else would be picking up that work. They do not employ 9000 people in their HQ. Those jobs are staying here regardless of what happens in this case.

2) Even if SNC totally and immediately pulled out of Canada, those projects that they would work on would be picked up by other contractors. Not sure if Junior’s noticed but construction jobs aren’t exactly scarce in Canada right now. Those would be some of the shortest unemployment stays in history.

3) By continuing to mention these “9000 jobs”, he’s pretty much laying the groundwork for when his new AG lets SNC off the hook in a month or two when the noise dies down, which is batshit insane at this point and would pretty much confirm that he fired Raybould as AG because she wouldn’t change her mind about this.

My question is what the hell do the SNC people have on Trudeau that he's risking his premiership on this? Usually once a scandal breaks you do everything you can to disassociate yourself from the source of that scandal; Trudeau appears to be laying the groundwork to double-down. I don't think it'd be bribery since he's already pretty rich.

Nazi costume party? Blackface? Hookers and cocaine?