i've got a long day coming up and am kind of nursing a hangover, still. sleep is important just right now. but, it's time to get up soon, too.

i got the printing done. $0.07/page, actually. remember - it's $0.25/page at the public library. so, that's a third of the price, which means i got to print three for the price of one, if you want to imagine it like that.

and, i have the card there now if i need it....even if the fact that the public library is across the street often overpowers.

i'm going to try to wake up, but i'm not going to try too hard.

well, i called ahead and they're telling me i can buy the card for a $1 and it's $0.08/pg to print.

let's hope it works out.

so, i've got everything in order, including my three cd-rs, i just need to find a printer.

application record - 74 pages
book of authorities - 9 pages
factum - 6 pages
certificate - 1 page
========================
90 pages

90x3 = 270.

i'm realizing that the website i found that claimed pages were $0.08 is from 2013. it's on the library's main site, but is it current? let's hope so. if it is, i should be able to do this for less than $22. and, i'll need to print the bus tickets, too.

it would be almost $70 to print that at the public library, which is too expensive. if we have to do it like that, i'm going to end up doing one copy and feigning ignorance.

i do think it's silly to have to waste so much paper....

it's raining right now, and i'm going to have to wait it out, so i might do some reviews. i'm not going to be out until the afternoon. but, let's see if i can figure out what the costs are, first...

it's the point i was trying to make leading up to and during the election: the country is being run by a bunch of overgrown children.

listen...

what you saw in that video with trudeau & macron was not a hot mic, it was a planned stunt by a pmo that operates at the maturity level of a bunch of high school students. they basically thought it would be "cool" if they caught trudeau on film making fun of trump. the intent was to flog it for personal political gain.

this is a part of the reason i'm not bothering with this - i know better. this was a stunt, and it's in a long line of similar stunts.

does it reflect poorly on the prime minister? well, the guy's a complete idiot, and that's been obvious since he first opened his mouth. there's a point where you've done everything you can do to yourself, and you can't really defame yourself any further.

he thinks he's really cool, though. he really does.

but, whoever you are, and however you're approaching this, you have to understand the point - this wasn't an accident. he did this on purpose...

so, i hit plaid on friday night and the armed on saturday night, and the combination of things (it's been too cold to bicycle, so i walked in the cold) has knocked me on my ass. i left the armed show before 1:00, hoping i could get to the bus stop in time, but had to double back to the city club and wait for the 8:30 bus. i should have stayed at trumbullplex. *shrug*.

so, i need to do some cleaning in here, and get things ready for tuesday. if i have time, i'll do a review.

after tuesday, it is very likely that i'll be in for the rest of the year, and potentially until the spring.

i'm not the first person to point out that jagmeet singh does not appear to be very good at playing chess.

i'm going to give him a little advice.

being the leader of the ndp in a minority parliament is a hard job in any circumstance, and even harder given that they don't actually have the balance of power right now. if the ndp supports the government with too much enthusiasm, then what's the point of voting ndp? why not vote liberal, if you get a liberal anyway....or green if you want a real protest? on the other hand, if they're too aggressive, they do run the risk of being seen as running interference, of being perceived as disinterested in actually governing.

jack layton actually ran a lot of interference, and he was rewarded for it, but it's because he was up against not one but two prime ministers that had a lot of entrenched opposition on the left. more to the point for today, layton could vote against martin's budget because he was paul martin - somebody that the left side of the liberal party had spent years pushing back against. it's not clear that trudeau is going to generate that kind of backlash any time soon.

rather, the mood in the country, foolishly or not, seems to be to give him another chance and hope he does a better job, this time, which is a level of goodwill that probably originates with his father and is probably going to be more seriously tested before the next election.

the ndp are not getting anywhere by being pliable - they will need to stand up for their principles when they are challenged, or they will need to cede their position as the party of principles. after mulcair & notley, as well as darrell dexter and a few others, their reputation for being principled has been severely damaged.

but, if this is the best argument they have for voting against the speech, it's not very compelling.

blanchet is actually doing this right - you start off by broadcasting a desire for co-operation, by taking them at face value, by indicating a desire for compromise, and then you viciously attack them when they break their promises. that way, you can go to liberal voters and say "they promised us this and this and this, and then they betrayed all of us.".

the cynical analysis is that the ndp doesn't think it even has the strength to run against the liberals as the hypocrites that they are, that it's essentially trying to prevent itself from being a factor in the operation of parliament. but, if that's the case, then they should just disband. if they're not going to show up, they're wasting everybody's time, and it won't work out for them - not with the greens coming up behind them, like they are.

back at the beginning of the nafta negotiations, i tried to suggest in this space that the liberals should spend some time reading or watching some dawkins, as he's done a lot of important work on evolutionary strategies that is keenly relevant, in context. we then got completely embarrassed at the nafta negotiations, and signed a deal we really shouldn't have. i have to wonder if the outcome would have been a bit better if we had a better negotiation team in place, one that was more focused on game theory as an optimization tool.

i'm going to repeat the suggestion to mr. singh and the ndp. there's a gentle introduction in the form of a film called nice guys finish first.

as of right now, blanchet is following the correct strategy and singh is following an incorrect one.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/singh-says-bloc-won-t-push-government-after-supporting-throne-speech-1.4719205