i could just imagine the first meeting between putin and schwarzenegger.

"you must be the new president."

"yes. i'm sure you recognize me, i'm very famous."

"yes. you were in kindergarten cop."

austria is not a nato member. they could do this.

the only better way to intimidate putin than the rapid ninja strike force (i really hope that this is being developed) is with the terminator.

i meant annex all of austria. not just that part.

well, who's going to stop them?

the british?

right. starmer's practically a liberal.

wait, i've got an idea.

why don't we just get arnold to tell everybody he was born in hawaii? who's ever going to know?

what if the united states annexed austria?

does it work like that?

i have no further comment on the rescued pilot.

seems like good theatre for the long weekend. 

enjoy.

it's moments like tonight where i'm sad that the actor playing the president could not be arnold schwarzeneggar. 

now it's personal.

communists are in favour of more automation. it's the point of communism. it's what communism means.

there's a fight brewing in canada about electric vehicles, which is aligning organized labour with the regressive right.

this is an old anarchist drinking debate.

take it away, antonio:

The trade unions, the Camere del Lavoro, the industrial federations, the Confederazione Generale del Lavoro, are the type of proletarian organization specific to the period of history dominated by capital. In a certain sense it can be maintained that it is an integral part of capitalist society, and it has a function which is inherent to the regime of private property. In this period, in which individuals have value in so far as they are owners of goods and trade in their property, workers have also had to obey the iron law of general necessity and have become merchants of their only property, labour power and professional intelligence. More exposed to the risks of competition, workers have accumulated their property in ever more vast and comprehensive “firms,” they have created this enormous apparatus of concentration of flesh and graft, they have imposed prices and hours and they have disciplined the market. They have assumed from outside or they have generated from within a trusted administrative personnel, expert in this kind of speculation, up to the job of dominating the conditions of the market, capable of stipulating contracts, of assessing commercial vagaries, of initiating economically useful operations. The essential nature of the union is competitive, it is not communist. The union cannot be an instrument of radical renewal of society: it can offer the proletariat knowledgeable bureaucrats, technical experts in industrial questions of general character, it cannot be the base of proletarian power. It offers no possibility of choosing individual proletarians capable and worthy of leading society, it cannot generate hierarchies which embody the vital thrust, the rhythm of progress of communist society.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/1919/10/unions-councils.htm

so, unifor is sounding very conservative, and what is left of the left shouldn't be upset by it. there have been periods where capitalism has foolishly declared war on it's labourers, but capital has figured out that this is stupid and there are better ways to maximize surplus value than with the back of a shovel. unions are a necessary evil to make sure the capitalists remember this, but the unions will always align with capital, in the end.

once some chinese car manufacturers set up in ontario and there are union workers on the assembly line, the unions will shift their opinion. they will follow. they won't lead.

environmentalists are going to have to fight against the unions, who will resist change, but they should have always expected that.