i want to clarify: should we have a trade agreement with china? absolutely. but, it shoudn't be a "free trade" agreement.

i mean, it can't be a free trade agreement. that's impossible, given the realities of things. that should be obvious to anybody qualified to negotiate; it should even be a condition to be qualified. but, none of the "free trade" agreements are actually free trade agreements. so, if they try and pull that over you, you know they're just selling the country out. those words, "free trade", are red flags, nowadays.

rather, a trade agreement with china should clearly list tariffs on goods like clothing and electronics, which are made with child or slave labour. the intent of such an agreement should be to increase the price of chinese imports to compensate for endemic human rights abuses and give local manufacturers an ability to better compete.

if we don't get such an agreement in place, these abuses will get worse.

so, yeah: i support a trade agreement with china, but not in the way anybody in the media or government wants to do it.

....and what i'm saying is actually what you would expect, historically, from a liberal government in canada.

in principle, the idea that you can't separate human rights in china from free trade discussions is indeed absolutely critical, because you can't begin to talk about free trade with china unless you talk about the lack of worker's rights in the country.

....which is why all they're talking about is journalists.

it's a bait and switch. and, it broadcasts that it's extremely unlikely that what will get signed will be a free trade agreement. it will be another investors rights bonanza, full of special clauses for specific special corporate interests.

this is just mercantilism. and, the way we use 'free trade' today is something like the way orwell used the 'ministry of peace'.

that said, we clearly need an agreement with china. china isn't going anywhere. we have to deal with this.

what's worrisome is the idea that it may end up as the same kind of deal that countries like peru are signing with them. and, watch the chomsky video i posted yesterday for a discussion of the problems endemic within that.

we are hewers of wood. they want our resources. and, they're going to want to sell us back the products they make at slave labour wages. that's not free trade, it's becoming a colony in the neo-mercantilist chinese empire.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/07/04/china-canada-relations-hurt-by-trudeau-government-bowing-down-to_a_23015643/

so, my cash is in.

i only got access to $100 of it today. i meant to get my release limit increased this afternoon, but i forgot my photo id. i don't know what they're going to take it up to, but i'll have to wait until tuesday to get the rest of it released.

i spent the $100 on groceries.

i'm more interested in increasing my debit limit. it hasn't really been an issue up until this point, but if i don't get it increased, i may have to buy over several days.

i have gst coming in tonight and trillium on friday. i need to try and get my hard drives tomorrow, and it will certainly be nice to have my tv working again, that's for sure. i'm also going to be looking at getting my bike fixed tomorrow, cost permitting.

for tonight, i need to check july show listings, first, to see what i do or don't have to plan for for the weekend.

here's the cincher.

this is the absolute proof. it would stand up in court. QED.

ready?















































i like 90s radiohead better than 00s radiohead.

gen x.

clearly.

sorry....

it's true.

master rhymez. killer beatz. da fucking master.

somebody did a wutang/fugazi mashup that got a few spins from me, back in the day. i want to hear somebody convert rem's best material, stipe's best spits, into some really dank shit.

...because it would fit. flawlessly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N21472M8p9E

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FLOW, BABY!

i don't know who the backup singer is.

i bet you kids nowadays didn't get it, either.

behold, michael stipe: the world's first white rapper, making fun of fukuyama a good five years before he even said it. original hipster, right?

(or, proof that hip-hop was in actual fact overwhelmingly influenced by white beatniks)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY