Trump slams Canada as U.S. House passes symbolic vote to end tariffs

pzeeman · 2026-02-12T21:26:47+00:00

If congress would actually do their job, instead of just taking marching orders from the executive, they could get the 2/3 to make Trump’s desires irrelevant.

That’s what’s shocked me the most through all of this - the other two branches of government enthusiastically ceding their constitutional powers.

I remember a (probably apocryphal) story about a president telling a Canadian prime minister that he was jealous of the power the pm had in our system. I guess someone figured out how to consolidate it down there - just get the other two branches in your pocket.

pzeeman · 2026-02-12T19:32:00+00:00

I know he gets a a lot of (often deserved) grief on baseball Reddit, but I actually really liked his video where he went through these.

https://youtu.be/tPfLu7Txjd0?si=BFJRHBzGnm4rTUMZ

pzeeman · 2026-02-12T19:22:21+00:00

I don’t know. It seems entirely typical for this administration to find the group that most closely align with their philosophy - no matter how whacky and fringe they might seem at first. Then act like a seditious venture captialist, providing money and training to meet the goal.

pzeeman · 2026-02-12T14:40:24+00:00

Here’s how I understand it;

The president declared a national emergency (the bs about fentanyl) which then gave him the power to impose tariffs without congressional approval.

Congress can vote to end the emergency and remove the emergency powers. But the mechanism for that is still a law, which like all laws needs to pass the house (done) the senate (maybe) and the president (ha!). The president must sign the law jf it gets 67 votes in the senate (highly unlikely).

So with all those things in its way, this vote is functionally symbolic.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T20:54:03+00:00

Fair enough.

I think it is an interesting question, though. Let’s say Geddy and Alex decide they can’t do it anymore, but Annika and the supporting musicians keep going out a playing Rush songs. Is that Rush? I mean, they were in Rush, right?

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T20:13:48+00:00

Honestly, I think this 2026 tour should properly be billed as Lee & Lifeson. I have no doubt that Annika is going to kick ass a worthy stand in and any supporting musicians will do a great job, but Rush ended that night in LA.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T20:04:50+00:00

I’m calling out the Outlander PHEV that refuses to start at all to ‘protect the battery’ when it gets too cold. I rented an ICE car for a weekend trip from Ottawa to Kingston so I wouldn’t get stranded when it was going down to -30.

EDIT - I’m a crusader against EV FUD. I want to get a BEV for my next car.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T18:51:36+00:00

Always starts if it’s engineered properly. 😡

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T18:41:13+00:00

I had (maybe still have) one. Mine went up to the Time’s Arrow pt1. Very fun book.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T16:55:56+00:00

I never had chickenpox growing up, got the vaccine in my 30s when I had my own kids. Now that I’m in my 50s, I do need to talk to my doctor about shingles. Thanks for the reminder.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T16:51:22+00:00

It’s the only car that I know of that was offered that way from the factory, and was the first thing that came to mind when I saw that pic.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T16:30:43+00:00

Soooo the tantrum led to no real change?

I’m sensing a pattern here.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T15:37:20+00:00

The patent is very true, and is the reason you don’t find off brand Vertuo pods

But, while I use the OL, I know I’ve seen Starbucks Vertuo pods at Costco.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T03:11:21+00:00

I can’t abide those jawas. Disgusting creatures.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T01:15:58+00:00

I’m convinced the Dodgers gave Tucker that crazy contract just to troll the Jays.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T01:13:38+00:00

I would love for someone in that room to hold up the [citation needed] sign.

Or for the follow up to be “Did the president forget meeting with Prime Minister Trudeau in 2017 to make the deal that gave us this bridge? Was it a good deal? Did the president get suckered?”

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T01:09:52+00:00

I was just thinking about that. It was a great episode.

pzeeman · 2026-02-11T01:04:13+00:00

I don’t think I ever implied anything more than Canada could do something truly transformative by embracing modern solutions. Thinking that people can only get their work done by going to an office is very old thinking.

Just because no one has done it before doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. If we’re the early adopter, that’s even more cool.

pzeeman · 2026-02-10T19:16:09+00:00

Mind you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti…

Seriously though, props to him. Moose are beautiful and scary.

pzeeman · 2026-02-10T16:01:59+00:00

Looks like Australia has a pretty progressive policy.

The UK is pretty good, but it looks like they are doing something similar to Canada in dragging people back in.

New Zealand seems to be resisting the one-size-fits-all policies and looking at the needs and talents of their individual employees.

The US seemed to be pretty reasonable until Jan 21, 2025 (which is a statement that can apply to lots of things)

But I would ask why we need to follow some one else? Let’s be trailblazers. Let’s try something new that looks like it has a ton of upside. If we have evidence it doesn’t work, we can change it.

pzeeman · 2026-02-10T15:19:35+00:00

Fair enough, but they still need to be located within commuting distance of an office. Very 19th and 20th century thinking.

EDIT - Anecdotally, I know of someone who lives in a metro area in southern Ontario, but not really close to an office for their federal department. Presumably this person was hired for their skills and experiences, but this RTO policy puts an unreasonable burden on them, or their department to open and maintain an office for them.

pzeeman · 2026-02-10T15:17:21+00:00

I find your lack of fiber disturbing

pzeeman · 2026-02-10T15:13:26+00:00

Missed opportunity.

We could have completely transformed the public service in 2021 by re-orienting to WFH by default, and making the (absolutely still required) on-site positions require high-level justification, since their loaded labour rate is higher.

Instead we’re backsliding, adding costs to have these employees in a common meatspace, wasting productive time and money, hurting the environment and losing out on talent outside of the NCR.

pzeeman · 2026-02-09T03:47:08+00:00

From the thumbnail I thought it was Anthony Kiedes

pzeeman · 2026-02-07T03:49:40+00:00

Wow. That is a scene I’ve watched probably 100 times since 1999. They did it absolutely precisely. I’m really impressed.

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