Friday, May 1, 2026
this is the biggest mistake the united states has made in centuries. it is a bigger mistake than vietnam, a bigger mistake than iraq.
keeping germany under the control of america's jackboot by stomping it down at the neck is imperative for maintaining global security, and allowing germany to rearm will lead us directly into a third catastrophic world war.
the german chancellor is right: iran is making a fool of the united states, who has proven itself easily led around by it's nose. the americans have beaten the iranians very badly in the war, but that advantage has been squandered by an incompetent push for diplomacy, which is an act of weakness, rather than a strong drive to finish the job from a position of dominance. only inherently weak actors seek diplomacy over the use of force.
what the germans will learn from this is that if they insult the yankees then they'll fuck off and go home. are the japanese paying attention?
i'd like to better understand this as well. i don't want to come down too harsh because i have called for a sovereign wealth fund in canada and would strongly support one. specifically, i'm strongly concerned about the tactic carney announced a few days previous about trying to fund these projects with foreign investment, which is an idea that only makes sense under american hegemony (aka us-backed globalization), which carney has claimed is ending, which i don't think is a correct analysis, but which i don't think is the right approach, nonetheless.
canada should seek to avoid doing things like selling airport or oil infrastructure to foreign investors, which mostly means arab investors. when a country doesn't own it's own wealth, it loses it's sovereignty. this idea was doublethinked and politically correctified over during the first part of the post cold war era of american hegemony / globalization. there was nothing scary about letting foreigners buy up your resources and take control of your wealth. that's racist.
but as american hegemony has unfolded, the dangers of this kind of thinking have made themselves apparent. deindustrialization and the offshoring of wealth has created tremendous problems in developed economies. the next step is dealing with the social and political ramifications of having your economies controlled not just by foreign states, but by repressive and authoritarian and theocratic foreign states.
if i had to choose, i would rather join the united states than be taken over by saudi arabia. the latter is no solution to the problems posed by the former.
so, yes, canada should be trying to keep control and ownership of it's own resources in canada. the era of american hegemony is probably not over, but the era of globalization that required the projection of american dominance has taken a hit and may not recover. the americans no longer seem to be interested in protecting free markets within the structure of an american empire via overwhelming american force, but seem to be shifting towards using that military hegemony to advance their own interests, at the expense of their client states, which they now see as competitors. without the protection of american military dominance, the idea of selling our resources to anybody at all - even european countries that seem friendly today but have horrible recent histories - seems perilous, and the idea of selling them to the arabs or chinese appears flat out stupid.
i would not have proposed what carney is proposing. as mentioned, the details are thin. it's a very homo economicus approach. i am no advocate of free markets and i know what happens when you try to democratize via dividends. is there even going to be a guarantee that canadians are buying into it, or will it be open to the rest of the world? by making share ownership difficult to track, it may do the opposite of what's being suggested - it might backfire and result in difficult to understand, measure or regulate and increased foreign ownership of the resource economy. or maybe that's actually the point.
the liberals are famous for campaigning on the left and governing on the right. today, they seem to be campaigning as economic nationalists and governing as globalists. we should not have expected anything different.
i would prefer to see these projects funded via the bank of canada and set up as crown corporations. i've been calling on this for over ten years but the liberal party seems to have some deep ideological opposition to it, and it's not likely to develop. there was a clause in trudeau's platform in 2015 about a green infrastructure bank as a part of the bank of canada that i strongly supported and that the liberal party hierarchy has violently prevented. it would upset certain large investors, who don't want to unravel the nixon shock.
most of what i'm calling for was supported by pierre trudeau and torn down by brian mulroney, then side-stepped during the chretien years, put off for later, and now forgotten about. some time after the martin purge, the liberals became violently opposed to their own legacy and deadset on destroying it. the liberals have run on these ideas because they know they get votes, but they won't implement them until something changes at the top of the party or a real left-wing alternative gets elected.
as it is, carney seems to be trying to be a nationalist and a globalist at the same time and is likely as tied into the doublethink as anybody. i expect that the globalism will overpower the nationalism, to the detriment of canadians.
i'm not interested in canada buying up resources elsewhere, although canadian companies certainly own large mining and mineral resources in africa and latin america. a canadian sovereign wealth fund as it exists in norway would look something like nationalizing canada's substantive foreign mineral holdings, which carney would not contemplate doing for ten seconds. that would be interfering in the private sector and deeply un homo economicus. it would be a heresy against the church of free market economics.
this is a list of things i've purchased to fix things in the house and that now belong to the house. it's meant as a running total that will eventually be sent to the landlord.
3) the door at the top of the stairs should have a frame on it somebody already fixed this, apparently. great.
i'm going to approach this with the perspective that the landlord has discretion to refund me. i moved in here with the understanding that i would need to do some work, and i will do that work for free to better the space. that's fine - i wanted a big space for cheap and i got it, and i'll do the work required to fix it. that was the deal. however, as i'm not going to take these things with me when i eventually leave, as they are now a part of the house and will be inherited by the next tenant, the landlord should volunteer to refund me for the materials.
| item | total cost | amount
used |
did it work? | purchased from |
brand, link |
receipt | should i request costs? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| crack sealer caulking | 20x$3 + taxes ~ $70 | 17 so far | to a point | canadian tire | alex dap, link | i can't find them but they're around. | the windows and walls had a lot of cracks. this approach has kept out bugs and kept in heat. it's imperfect in terms of thermal insulation, but it helps a lot with the bugs, particularly ants and roaches. i'm also using paper towel and packing tape to create a kind of cheap blocking layer that helps dissuade rodents, although they could eat through. they don't like to chew through caulk or tape and avoid it, although they can. i created a weak barrier on purpose to figure out where they're coming in and they just didn't come in. fine. this would be a tenant cost of <$10 if it was one or two containers, but the fact that i've needed 17 contaners and counting makes it a landlord cost, imo; sealing drafts is tenant when it's minimal, but should really be landlord when it's dramatic, and the amount of sealing needed in this space has been dramatic. the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen are basically done. i will likely need to buy another 5+ containers to finish up in the living room and hallways and need to take a different approach altogether in the laundry and front entrance. |
| pink interior insulation | 2x$25 + taxes ~ $60 | almost 1 of 2 | yes, so far | home hardware | owens corning, pink-panther r12, link |  |
there's a large hole in the backyard leading directly into the laundry creating access for rodents and creating drafts. insulation should always be a landlord cost. certainly. |
| 12 rat traps | $22.50 + taxes ~ $25 | all | not very well | amazon | lulucatch, link |  |
this is a landlord responsibility, and my position is that whether the landlord should pay for tenants buying traps should be dependent on if it works. landlords shouldn't pay for tenants to aimlessly and ineffectvely hunt rats, but if a tenant does something that is effective, they should be compensated for costs. i did catch a few rats with these traps, and they did alter their movement, so they made a difference, but they mostly went around them. that was good enough for me in the short run. i haven't seen any rats in a few weeks. there was apparently some baiting done outside, and it has worked in the very short run for now, so this has been dealt with, at least for now. this is of least concern to me. maybe split it in the end. |
| downspout extender | ~$20 | all | yes | amazon | binazon, link |  |
the water is falling right on the foundation and leaking into the basement. this is absolutely a landlord responsibility to fix. |
| water proof rubber sealant | ~$20 | all | tbd | amazon | flex seal, link |  |
the holes in the sunroom, both on the side and in the front, and under the spout, are the result of poor work that was done. this sealant was purchased to address damage created by water leaking in from the downspout, coming off the roof. if there's any left, i'll use it to weatherize the hole on the side from the inside. the hole shoud also be bricked over from the outside. this is landlord, but i'd do it myself and not think about it, if there wasn't so much to do. let's see if it works. |
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| leak plugging tape | ~$17 | tbd | so far. no further leaks as of yet. | amazon | link |  |
the window frame around the bedroom window has had difficulty keeping rain out during downpours. i tried to use the dap but it was not completely effective and gave out completely during the tornado last month. i applied the dap over what looks like an old application of great stuff, which was no longer working, if it ever did. this is again the result of poor previous work. so that doesn't seem to be the right approach. i believe the water is actually coming in from the upstairs window, which is open because it has an air conditoner in it. i will take a look outside soon to see if i can clean the area up and identify places the water is pooling. i was going to use some of the tape to weatherize the inside of the hole on the side, but i may re-evaluate, after noticing it was kicked in. due to the most recent vandalism, the exposed drywall may need to be completely redone before the outside is bricked over. this is landlord, but it's also the kind of thing i'd just do myself and not think twice about it, if it weren't for the fact that there's so much of it to do. let's see if it works. |
| weather proofing tape | ~$23 | tbd | so far, yes, this has made a big effect on the drafts. | amazon | link |  |
this is to address drafts inside the unit and keep heating costs down. i will run it around parts of the windows, around the doors |
| duct tape | ~$20 | tbd | so far | amazon | link |  |
i had purchased some duct tape as well. it turns out the duct tape works better than the wood in blocking holes for now. i'm also noticing a developing roach problem that seems to be in the venting. i roach proofed the inside of the unit as the first order of business when i came in. the reason all of my food is secured was not for the rats but for the roaches. i half expected roaches. i didn't expect rats. i've lysoled around the areas in the ducts i can but i'm going to focus on sealing the ducts up with tape and on leaving the blower running for now. i have not seen roaches inside the unit proper but i'm increasingly seeing them in the laundry, only, and particularly around the ducts. again, i would just do this myself and forget about it, if it weren't for the compounding costs. let's see how much i use and if it works. |
| drip trays for stove | ~$20 (17.99 + tax) |
all | yes | amazon | link |  |
the stove was filthy but works fine after a thorough cleaning. the drip trays are long overdue for a change. i've kept the old ones if you still want them, but they're basically rusted completely through, and may have been ripped open by rats. i don't want to take the drip trays with me, so they belong to the stove. |
| running costs | $150 | $70 (caulkng) + $30 (insulation) + $12.50 (half of rat traps) + $20 (downspout extender) + $20 (drip trays for stove) = $152.50
i'm not yet done with the sealant or the tape. this is discretionary and a request. i'm not going to sue you or anything. the rent is affordable. it would be different if the rent was higher, but it isn't; low rent comes with this kind of thing, and i expect it. but the flip side is that if i'm going to do this work as a tenant, a responsible landlord should volunteer to cover materials, and write off labour as the deal in the low rent, in my opinion. |
i also have a list of items to do that i cannot do myself and are going to require some contracting:
front entrance area:
1) the incorrectly closed hole on the side of the front entrance, under the stairs, needs to be bricked over, and the drywall may also need to be redone
2) the poorly boarded up front window needs to either be replaced or boarded up better. there is some water damage as a result of it not being closed up well. on closer inspection, it's not as bad as i thought. i thought the window was smashed and boarded up half-assed. it's merely cracked and the board seems to be functioning more as a light blocker. the water damage may have actually been from the front door. while i'd rather use the sun room as a sun room (i may even plant some food in here if we're sure about the rodents), i will focus on weather-proofing this, instead.
4) electrical work: light fixture at top of stairs, converting junction box to outlet under the stairs
side entrance:
- installing a door to minimize the drafts and increase safety
kitchen:
- patching a small hole left by the heavy stove hood, which fell out of the ceiling because it was screwed directly into the plaster rather than into any wood. but i may just install a light fixture instead. easier, apparently.
bathroom:
- chuck punched a hole in the wall to fix the plumbing which was never patched. i taped over it and that kept the rats out. the plumbing leak left substantive water damage. the rats came back to that area and left a gross mess that needs to be cleaned up. some drywall/plaster work is necessary in here from the basement side and somebody is going to need to get into the floor to clean it out, either from down or upstairs.
update: i have opened it up and cleaned it out and taped it back up. the difference in smell was not immediate as the stench appears to be coming from more directly under the floor. i've been running bleach in the shower and it's getting better.
update again: i'm going to tape over it with cardboard and paint over it. whatever.
backyard:
- the hole in the back needs to be properly sealed up with cement or concrete
- there are cats crawling into the vents. rats are smaller than cats, if barely sometimes. that would need some kind of cover on it.
pest control:
- the rats are gone for now, although i noticed some candy wrappers in the laundry last night. no droppings. i hope it fell through the floor and i duct taped over some more cracks to try to stop that.
- i got the cat out of the vent and to the humane society for medical work. it was starving to death. i want to help this cat. i hope the evicted tenant goes to get the cat as it was frantically looking for her. if it's not adopted quickly, i will bring it back here and it can be a house cat. i'll take care of it and let it roam. it's a friendly cat that will be good with kids and that i think would even like kids.
- i haven't seen anymore roaches in the back after lysoling and sealing the vents. there may be roaches in the walls eating the rat carcasses and their feces. it may be a problem in the long run.
- there are a lot of blow flies, coming from everywhere, indicating a lot of dead things. the flies are actually the biggest problem right now, but it should clear up on it's own.
and i still need a 9 volt for the fire alarm. i'll need to buy one and add it to the list if one doesn't come in soon.
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