there's actually some plants popping up outside my bedroom windows. i think they're just weeds, or maybe random trees, but the increase in air quality is appreciated.

so, i like this place.

it's a shame about the losers following me around. 

i'm noticing this afternoon that my trusty house centipede guard is back on patrol. i can do a million other things using barriers and chemicals, but the centipedes are more effective than anything. i wish i could go buy some but it's not legal, apparently.

i gotta keep the humidity up for these little buddies to survive down here and eat everything else, or they dry out and die, and i find them shriveled up in the corner.

canadian trade authorities should be aggressively seeking to crack down on this.

Canada’s Connection to Prison Labour

Though our trip focused on the prison labour system in Alabama, a large portion of our time over the summer was spent examining ties between the US prison labour system, and goods sold in Canada. Our research indicated that the Canadian supply chain has many likely linkages to prison-made goods from the US, particularly in the automotive and food sectors.

When we looked into the auto industry, we noticed that many auto parts manufacturers are based in the southern US, with Alabama leading in auto parts exports in 2023. Since many companies in Alabama use prison labour, this pointed us to a potential issue. The auto industry relies on a complex supply chain, with parts often crossing the Canada-US border multiple times before final assembly—making it hard to track the origin of each part. However, some parts are only made in specific factories. If one of those factories uses prison labour, then any car sold in Canada that includes that part was likely produced using prison labour.

The food industry is another sector with many potential linkages to prison labour. In 2023, the US exported $32 billion in agricultural goods to Canada, which highlights the prominent agricultural trading relationship between the nations. The food industry is difficult to trace, due to the structure of the modern food supply chain. Raw products produced using prison labour can be intermingled with other products and heavily processed before becoming a product for final purchase by consumers. Corn is a great example: corn might be harvested by incarcerated workers, and then processed into corn syrup, which is then used to make products like candy or beverages. Still, we were able to find links to food produced using prison labour at several major grocery stores and restaurants in Canada.

In addition to these primary industries, we found potential links to prison-made goods in the Canadian supply chain in home furnishing, pet stores, children’s products, and lumber companies, to name a few. Given the trade relationship between the US and Canada, it’s likely that prison-made products are a part of the daily lives of Canadian consumers—without them even knowing.

https://ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/news/uncovering-us-prison-labour-canadian-supply-chains

a retaliatory tariff on american prison labour by all affected parties, or even an outright ban on goods and services made in american prisons, would be a proportionate response that would also send a clear political message to the americans. 

i am generally opposed to placing tariffs on goods entering canada from the united states. canadians don't benefit by paying more for orange juice, or not being able to buy vodka. that doesn't help us. it's just a punitive tax on ourselves.

but we should not be supporting the continuing reality of forced labour in the united states' penal system. canadians should not be buying goods made in american prisons. at all. period.

further, i would not support lifting that ban or set of tariffs as a part of negotiations. i would keep that restriction, until they change their laws.

Prison labor in the U.S. generates significant economic output. Incarcerated workers provide services valued at $9 billion annually and produce over $2 billion in goods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_labor_in_the_United_States

The U.S. is home to the world's largest prison population and the highest per-capita incarceration rate. As of May 2020, there were 655 people incarcerated per 100,000. Prison, parole, and probation operations cost U.S. taxpayers $81 billion a year.

https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/origins-modern-day-policing

while i would welcome and support any american economic sanctions on forced labour, and strongly oppose canadian attempts to build trade agreements with countries like indonesia and vietnam who i would rather place canadian tariffs on for exactly that reason, the trump adminstration should begin by examining their own prison labour population, which they have actually been dramatically expanding since 2016.

allowing slave labour is actually a good reason to place tariffs on somebody, and one that i would generally support. but it's the americans that continue to have slave labour in their prisons as a result of the disgusting 13th amendment, not us. 

i would support placing economic sanctions on the united states until they abolish the 13th amendment.

the last time i watched even a minimal amount of television was in the months leading up to when i moved out of my dad's basement in february, 2007. that is the right date - 2007. i went home to finish my math degree.

i have not watched anything on tv since early 2007. like, at all. i might watch ten minutes in a bar here and there or something. i have no understanding of what tv even is at this point, and i'm really not remotely interested.

in fact, the years between about 1998 and 2007 were themselves a process of slowly tuning out. i don't think i've watched a single full snl episode since they cut norm mcdonald and i've pointed out before that it's really directed at teenagers staying up late on saturday night. you grow out of it by design. i have not watched a single sitcom or even anything at all in prime time since the end of seinfeld.  i have not been interested in drama on tv since they cut the xfiles.

after 2002, i was pretty busy - working, going to school, composing and even spending time with friends. i did not have a lot of time or interest in tv. i would watch the odd episode of conan o'brien or jon stewart, and a lot of simpsons reruns, and that was really the totality of tv i had interest in or time for.

i did not think stephen colbert was very funny. he was a very safe, conservative comedian that wanted to appeal to an upper class audience. he was not very silly, but he wasn't very sharp, either. he went after low lying fruit, in conscious attempts to appeal to high brow but low intellect audiences. he was a good fit for the show, but i just didn't watch the 11:30 slot, even when i watched a lot of tv, as a young kid. even if i had a tv set up with a cable (and i have not since 2007 and never will again), i would not have watched a mediocre, middle of the road, safe as fuck, don't-offend-anybody style comedian like stephen colbert. that's not something i would be remotely interested in.

i expect that they will bring the format back relatively shortly and this is just as an excuse to cut his contract and let him go.