DONALD, LISTEN TO ME, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE WALRUS WAS PAUL ALL ALONG, THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME, MAN. NO KIDDING. FOR REAL. THIS WALRUS BEFORE YOU IS AN IMPOSTER. IS IT EVEN A REAL MOUSTACHE? HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO PULL IT OFF? MAYBE YOU CAN TRY AND PULL OFF EACH OTHER'S FAKE HAIR FOR A JOKE AND POST IT ON SNAPCHAT. BUT THE WALRUS IS PAUL, DONALD. THE WALRUS IS PAUL.

mr. rouhani,

i bet the russians would love a nice deep water port on the indian ocean.

mmmmm?

the era of american regime change on demand is over in the middle east.

kookookachew.

the russians have demonstrated that they are both willing to facilitate and in truth actually invested in a change of government in tehran.

but, they will protect iran from the use of american force to the extent that they can.

the only serious option on the table is diplomatic.

iran is also increasingly in china's back yard, and they are the real wild card in the equation.

an american attack on iran may be most notable to history for the initiation of chinese forces into the middle east.

is the united states capable of regime change in iran?

well, that depends on a number of factors, most importantly russian involvement.

here's the thing: i don't imagine that putin is particularly ensconced with the iranian form of government, & the iranians themselves are less than excited about allowing the russians to move in, as they don't tend to go home, either. but, if the iranians & russians can make a defense deal - which they have in fact already done - then that forces america to react on the ground, because those russian air defenses.....what they do is force the americans to use stealth bombers, which they are almost certainly unwilling to do.

and, this is the part of the situation that few americans, or canadians, or members of the nato-alliance in general are truly cognizant of: whatever you think of trump's words, the reality is that his threats are hollow.

the only real strategic option that the americans have against the iranians is nuclear, and you're insane to put that option on the table.

so, is the audience domestic, then?

clearly.

there's not much to the story, itself, i don't think.

again: my imagination is that trudeau physically escorted a reporter away from him at a festival, which is only a groping accusation under malice. that's just an intuitive reading. nobody has facts. and, i think that's why nobody is saying anything about it: if you want to take him down, you want to let people assume the worst.

but, facts and perception are different things.

and, this may just be the start....

the story was initially pushed by warren kinsella, who is a wild card, and is now being pushed by penny collenette, who is not.

when kinsella & collennette are both out to get you, you've got some problems with the big wigs in the liberal party of canada. and, that's bad news for justin trudeau.

the good news for justin trudeau is that if this is the best they've got...

...but, the good news for the country is that this is some evidence that the left side of the liberal party is beginning to revolt against trudeau, who campaigned on a return to historical canadianism and traditional liberal party values but has instead governed like an american democrat - which is on the very far right of the canadian political spectrum, often times appearing indistinguishable from the conservative party, and at times even worse.

i suspect that the issue that's getting in their craw is nafta. trudeau seems to be fully pro-nafta. the liberal party higher-ups were always deeply skeptical of nafta, always felt forced to co-operate against their will by mulroney, always wanted a bilateral agreement with the states, and i suspect they don't like how he's handling this. trudeau also appears to have a kind of anti-russian streak that the party has historically seen as anathema. there is simply no pro-war wing in the liberal party of canada.

i've been calling for the party to push back for a while. while i don't suspect they're actually listening, there may be a confluence of opinon developing.

you can like justin trudeau if you want, but you have to understand that he's in the wrong party, in canada - he's a conservative, in canada. go blow your mind out in the car, but it's true. & this might be the first rumblings that the party may have had enough of it...

https://www.hilltimes.com/2018/07/23/pm-trudeau-failed-offer-satisfactory-response-groping-allegation-owes-full-explanation-caucus-retreat-saskatoon/151716

yeah.

so, i think what i'm learning here is that evicting the tenant below me would not have been sufficient to solve the problem.

i do think she's gone. and it is way better. no question, but, it's not good enough.

and, that's kind of what i reasoned. well, what i decided was that she'd likely be replaced by something as bad, or worse. i mean, at least she works. what if she was down there all day? egads.

i may be stuck here another month, but i'm confident i made the right choice in getting out.