Merry Christmas, Dear Readers!
I bring you tidings of great joy!
Our neighbour to the south is about to reach Peak Trump, if it hasn’t occurred already. It’s all downhill for The Donald from there.
From reports that redacted portions of the Epstein files are legible if you highlight, copy and paste, to the news of the president’s plan for a Golden Fleet (golden fleece, more like) led by Trump Class battleships, to the temporary new name of the Kennedy Center make it clear: that flushing sound you hear from the south is more than just a golden toilet.
The prevailing explanation for the unexpectedly legible state of the redacted portion of the Epstein Files is, according to The New York Times, because they were too hastily censored. It’s more likely, it’s said here, that the “error” was deliberate, yet fully compliant with the order to redact all mentions of Donald Trump.
Almost everyone except President Trump understands that battleships are obsolete and why – it costs a hell of a lot more to make ’em than to sink ’em. When it comes to targets, bigger is not always better, in other words. Peak Battleship, by the way, was in 1918.
As for the Kennedy Center, even Mr. Trump’s thickest fanboys are surely starting to see this as evidence that the man’s not quite right in the noggin.
The president’s senility, after all, is on full display. A lot of people have concluded that he’ll have to go if the United States is to survive as the world’s predominant power. So go he will – probably sooner than later, likely discreetly and gently into a quality old folks’ home. He may even be able to continue to believe he’s the president of the United States and has full access to social media.
One certainly hopes so. After all, Mr. Trump still has lots of supporters within the borders of the United States, some of them powerful in their own right, and it would be foolish to rile them up too much, which, for example, an impeachment and conviction would tend to do, let alone something harsher, as happened to another problematic dictator on this day in 1989.
But the state of his dementia is so obvious and unhinged that more Americans by the day become nostalgic for the Deep State – as competent economic, government and military managers have come to be disparaged by the MAGA movement.
Here’s a bet that one way or another Mr. Trump will be out of a job by the start of 2027. If the smart money’s not on that now, it soon will be.
When that happens, some bad things about American will stay the same, but many will seem a lot more normal, no matter who is sitting in what’s left of the half-demolished White House. In the meantime, likely as a result of Mr. Trump’s increasingly obvious incapacity, his MAGA movement itself is beginning to fracture even as his ugly style endures.
But this is a blog about Alberta politics, so the related question we need to be asking is: Has Alberta reached Peak Danielle Smith yet?
Perhaps not. Still, in a few days it will be a New Year, traditionally an opportunity to start fresh on old problems.
The news has not been particularly good of late for Ms. Smith. There was a Christmas Eve story in The Globe and Mail, which readers need to read for themselves given the propensity of some of Premier Smith’s supporters to strategically litigate against unsupportive commentary even when it’s just quoting other media.
Unfortunately, the story headlined “Former AHS board member obtains rare court order, alleging intimidation by podcasters,” is behind a paywall. But readers can be assured that there is a connection to Ms. Smith’s separatist and MAGA government.
Unlike her political hero south of the Medicine Line, Ms. Smith has the advantage of not being senile quite yet, although she’s not certainly the cheerful culture warrior she was not so long ago.
Nevertheless, she still has the ability to make her terrible and often destructive ideas sound sensible – at least as long as she keeps yakking. In Alberta, throughout 2025, almost every day was a master class in gaslighting, and there’s no reason to suspect that is going to change much any time soon.
Nor are we blessed to have an Opposition party that is actually prepared to act like a government in waiting.
There are grounds for hope, just the same. The MAGA movement south of the Medicine Line has been a deep well of bad ideas to inspire Ms. Smith. If Mr. Trump goes soon, so will a lot of the worst ideas we see inspiring the premier and her party.
However, now that Ms. Smith’s libertarian mask has dropped and her authoritarian face is clearly revealed, this won’t change her willingness to defy democratic norms at the drop of the Notwithstanding Clause to get her way.
The Edmonton Journal noted in a Christmas Eve report that Ms. Smith no longer even pretends reluctance to use the Notwithstanding Clause to get her unconstitutional way as she did back in 2022. She’s ready to use it any old time on any old bill that encounters resistance now.
Her eyes remain firmly fixed on what would be the biggest grift in Canadian history – getting control of Albertans’ share of the Canada Pension Plan so she can play Santa Claus for the fossil fuel industry – and she’s willing to risk the future of the country by opening the door to a foreign-funded separatist movement if that’s what it takes to make that happen.
Obviously, Peak Dani can’t come soon enough.
I don’t know about those Epstein files. When it all blows over there’ll be no charges laid because no crimes were committed. It was a high class dating service, all consensual. In exchange the girls got to rub shoulders with the rich and famous and a taste of the luxury lifestyle. Now years later, egged on by the lawyers, are claiming they were victims of a sex trafficking ring and have been traumatized for life.
That’s disgusting. Kids can’t consent to sex. Grown men shouldn’t be rubbing shoulders (or any other body part) against girls or boys!
If you have never been molested then maybe you’d think like this. But if you were ever molested then you know it’s traumatic.
Is your rationalization for rape some kind of tell?
You have such a Trumpian way of avoiding the truth. I am sorry but grow up.
All consensual ?!?
Happy New Year
“It was a high class dating service . . . ” says the low class troll: “People who like to provoke, often called provocateurs, do it for control, attention, or to feel powerful, deriving pleasure from others’ emotional reactions (anger, distress) as a form of “supply,” common in narcissism, or simply out of boredom, insecurity, . . . They use tactics like baiting, passive-aggression, or hitting insecurities to create drama, . . . ”
“The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, as amended, provides the tools to combat trafficking in persons both worldwide and domestically. The Act authorized the establishment of the State Department’s TIP Office and the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to assist in the coordination of anti-trafficking efforts.”
https://www.state.gov/international-and-domestic-law/
“There were plenty of tools in the US Attorney’s [disposal] to charge him [Jeffrey Epstein] with sex trafficking, but he [Alexander Acosta] just didn’t.” Noting that, President Pussy Grabber’s buddy “broke the law by concealing a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) from Epstein’s victims.” Criminals of a feather must stick together, apparently.
“The presence of young girls under questionable circumstances in Epstein’s life has long been noted by several journalists and high profile figures, including President Donald Trump — yet Epstein was largely not held accountable for the long list of abuses he is accused of committing. “When pre-pubescent kids are bought and sold into the sex trade, there is universal outrage, but as soon as a child reaches the age of physical development, which can be as young as 11, 12, 13 years old, they are integrated into these sex markets.””
“The sex trafficking of underage children is driven by demand, but poverty fuels the supply. Whether they are sold into trafficking or are lured into a pact they are powerless to break with the promise of money, children living in poverty — from the Philippines to Tanzania to the US — are uniquely vulnerable to being trafficked.”
The ‘invisible hand’ of supply and demand plus a market economy allocating goods and services and freely setting prices. It is merely an example of capitalism writ large in all of its glory, so it obviously must be A-OK.
This post is clear evidence that “ronmac” should be forever blocked from commenting on this site from hereon in. He’s excusing the sexual molestation of minors by powerful people.
As noted to another commenter, Jerry, I shouldn’t have posted that comment. Still, it is a useful reminder of how the MAGA right thinks, and I believe this kind of thinking is not just that of a “bad apple,” or a one-off comment from someone having a bad day. I am quite certain it represents a strong theme in MAGA thinking. DJC
Everyone is ignoring the obvious overhanging theme of what Epstein’s crimes and those complicit with them, mean.
It is a declaration that the children of the working class, regardless of age are the property of the oligarchy to do with, what it wills or to commit any depredation on them.
This is the Hellfire Club writ large.
Giving a child a packet of sweeties or money after grooming and abusing them in myriad ways them does not make the child _complicit_, it makes the child _compliant_ to the control of a powerful adult.
These people want it ALL and that includes our children. Their greed and desire for conquest knows no bounds.
There’s always been consensual exchange of money between adults for services rendered. That has little to do with this although many on the payment ending of that were groomed to accept that role.
This is more akin to the slave states of Greece or Rome than any form of egalitarian democracy.
We need to stop kidding ourselves about what we’re facing if this is not punished.
Ron is likely just a troll but does highlight the thinking of many modern “conservatives”.
CX: I think Ron is more than just a troll. He’s a regular reader without a doubt. Over the years, there has usually been at least one, sometimes two, regular readers of a UCP persuasion, who regularly express their dissent. Ron is cruder than most, but he does seem to actually read the posts. I try hard not to censor the posts that take issue with what I’m saying, unless they’re abusive, pointless, unclear, defamatory or something similar. When it comes to making a decision, like George W. Bush, I am the decider. DJC
@djc
There is another blog I read regularly (Whatever, by John Scalzi). He also has to deal with trolls. Kudos to you (and Scalzi) for the perseverance to keep blogging, even with all the warts you have to deal with.
It has always amazes me when semi-literate trolls try to take on professionals, on the pro’s own websites, which the pros CONTROL.
Honestly, the only way a trolls can “win” is by a flood the zone strategy AND the blogs proprietor not caring. Speaking as a computer programmer, it’s not hard to batch delete & block!
No never block ronmac, let him have his mental orgasm. He has been doing this for years. He salivates if he gets blocked and gets win pins from other groups more like him.
It keeps us on our toes to read stuff as idiotic and on the Danielle Smith side of the no brain existence.
You are a pretty good representative of the modern Conservative movement ronmac.
Apparently, statutory rape doesn’t exist in some people’s worlds. You can’t explain that.
I probably shouldn’t have printed that comment, but it is useful to be reminded from time to time, about how the right thinks. Or, to be fair, some elements of it. DJC
You’re going to feel stupid about this later when enough of what *actually* happened trickles into your silo and you wretch on the taste it leaves in your mouth knowing that you have covered for quite literal monsters.
Uh as far as “no crimes were committed” Epstein was convicted once and happened to die before a second trial could go forward. He was facing the rest of his life in prison, crimes were committed.
Ghislaine “the lady with the funny name” if you’ve actually read enough to know what I’m talking about, was convicted of ghastly crimes. She’s in prison.
I’m not going to even begin to dig into the more salacious bits here, it’s beneath the dignity of this blog, but yes there are serious allegations involving many powerful people, I seem to remember the house of Windsor had a whole ‘nother prince that is gone now for some reason….
I don’t know why conservatives need to be CONSTANTLY reminded of this but if someone is not yet of age, they are a child, and children cannot consent to sexual relationships.
Hope that clears it up, either you’re being wilfully ignorant or you’re harbouring some really sick ideas. They were children Ron, and there were THOUSANDS of them.
Thousands? Where do you get that number. At various time Trump, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton have been accused of being pedophiles despite a lack of evidence. The whole thing has taken on a Salem witch trial atmosphere. Mix in politics, layers and money and this is what you get.
One of these victims was a Days of our Lives soap actress. She sent a signed photo to Epstein (as an adult) with the caption “To Jeffrey — Thanks for rocking my world”. In 2020 she was awarded $5 million from the Epstein estate.
Ronmac: I’ll go this far with you, it’s clear that the the late Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell made an effort to have their photos taken with any celebrity who crossed their unsavoury paths. So, you’re right, we ought not jump to conclusions based on the presence of someone we disagree with in a photo with either of them. There is plenty of additional circumstantial evidence, however, about the nature of the goings on aboard Mr. Epstein’s aircraft and his island, in the case of some celebs – notably Messrs. Trump, Clinton and Mountbatten Windsor – to assume there was more happening here than just a high-class bawdy house, if that is not a contradiction in terms. As for Mr. Biden – who appears nowhere in the Epstein files, by the way – there is no shortage of less controversial unethical behaviour among Republicans leading to charges of the same thing being made against Democrats. This is popularly called projection. Mr. Trump is famous for falsely accusing others of doing what he himself is doing. It is a strategy that has been a consistent feature of his response to criticism both in business and politics. DJC
When the terms pedophelia and children come to mind I think of 6, 7 or 8 year olds, not 20 or 21 year olds etc. So far most of these Epstein “victims” coming forward were adults in their 20’s acting on their own free will. No evidence of basement dungeons on Epstein Island were they were kept under lock and key. I admit the whole affair has an unsavoury vibe to it but these high class bawdy houses have been around thousands of years and will last thousands more years. A profile of some of these Epstein victims.
https://www.mtracey.net/p/these-professional-epstein-survivors
“Yes, a July 2025 memo from the Department of Justice and the FBI stated that an “exhaustive review” of investigative materials “confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims.”
There is that along with the allegations of an intelligence agency honey trap/kompromat operation, where; governments and their representatives acting to ensure their own survival sometimes engage in (lawless) activities often regarded as crimes that are sufficient to ensure their own survival.
Disqualifying the facts and evidence that are publicly available and creating doubt enables both the covering up of elite public crimes and the protection of the powerful and the privileged. Disinformation and misinformation serves that purpose exquisitely. “Intelligence agencies of various nations utilize disinformation—the intentional spread of false or misleading information—as a strategic tool to sow confusion, manipulate public opinion, and advance national interests.”
Further, the fact that there is a class war and the fact that the belief system of the economically powerful and privileged strongly demonstrates that there is a definite class system and that there are also two tiers of justice for the two different classes of citizens in the legal system. For example, in his own words at about the 2 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps4OWNm0rU4
“Though Trump hasn’t appeared in person in the civil case filed by writer E. Jean Carroll, lawyers played a video from a deposition last October in which the former president derided the lawyer asking him questions and stood by the infamous comments he made in a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he can be heard saying: “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab ’em by the pussy.”
“Historically, that’s true with stars,” Trump said in the deposition about the taped remarks, adding, “If you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.”
“And you consider yourself to be a star,” Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, asked.”
“I think so, yeah,” Trump replied.’
That much is both unambiguous and irrefutable. Mises also makes a similar statement:
“You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who are better than you.”
https://cdn.mises.org/21_4_3.pdf
It is all so very Nietzschean and Aryan in both its outlook and application:
“Everything we admire on this earth today – science and art, technology and inventions – is only the creative product of a few peoples and originally perhaps of one race.”
https://mondopolitico.com/library/meinkampf/v1c11.htm
In a hierarchical system that idolizes wealth, power, and celebrity, those who are ‘better’ or ‘superior’ are simply oftentimes treated very differently from the expendable masses, Apparently.
Yea Ron where do we come up with the number of 1000+?
From the extensive reporting on the court documents, victim testimony, and the testimony of the people who worked for Jeffrey, like his groundskeeper and pilot.
Even if Epstein never trafficked a single child to someone else, which he did, absolutely; having multiple girls brought to his house every single day for year necessitates at LEAST hundreds of victims.
They established an entire modelling agency to traffic girls. Jean Luc Brunel (his partner in that venture) died in prison too.
This is also just what we know about, what has come out in court or other avenues.
I’ll say this as well, as long as this case has been talked about and examined, time and again the facts when they come out have been WORSE than what’s previously been alleged.
Quite frankly it’s my opinion all these people belong on an island, that we subsequently nuke from space.
An alternative to the Globe and Mail story referenced above is one from Dec 23 in the Edmonton Journal (no paywall) entitled: “Former AHS board member claims podcasters paid to smear him ahead of Mentzelopoulos testimony”. Lots of details there.
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/former-ahs-board-member-claims-podcasters-paid-smear-mentzelopolous-testimony DJC
A Tale Of Two Dictators. I believe that time is running out for Donald Trump and for Danielle Smith and her UCP gang. The damage both are doing is immense. Also, the MH Care (Corrupt Care) scandal is still there. Danielle Smith can’t hide from it. Regardless of what the Conservatives in Alberta were able to get away with before, this is much different. Watch Danielle Smith get even more agitated, and see her and the UCP behave as if a provincial election was coming. After the Alberta Auditor General, Doug Wylie, finishes his findings into that mess, it’s game over for Danielle Smith and the UCP. It’s very disappointing to see the MSM brush this off. They won’t be able to do that for much longer. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.
Yes BS DS can hide it. Unfortunately. At least from the NDP who are conspicuously silent/absent from most of the critical issues facing Alberta.
…it costs a hell of a lot less to make ’em than to sink ’em.
Other way round, I think.
And hey, the TRUMP-Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts will be an excellent venue for a Ted Nugent/Kid Rock double bill!
Merry Christmas, David, and thanks for all of the work that you put in to this fine blog.
Lars: Thanks for pointing out the obvious. It’s been fixed. I had the missiles in mind when I wrote that. Then, despite reading it over three times, I never saw iut. DJC
In 1947 (LEDUC # 1) Presto’s Papa promised gullible Albertans that Alberta’s newfound prosperity would usher in an era of no property taxes and streets paved with gold. Today, Presto mouthpiece compels municipalities to squezze ordinary Alberta homeowners and small businesses while oil companies abandon their wells and their taxes owed. The Gold? Well Presto, Harper, Coal Miners, Tylenol hucksters, and assorted UCP creeps cash it in. Speaking of coal, Smith has left a large dump (maybe it ain’t coal?) on the doorstep of Alberta seniors. In 2026, Albertans will still be as gullible.
Tenent: An interesting sidebar to the Leduc blow-out is it was controlled by drilling two off-set wells from a surface distance of two miles. Never-the-less farmers and ranchers were stripped of their right to refuse an oil company entry for drilling on their land on the theory oil rigs could only drill straight down. This set the stage for the decade’s-long despoliation of farm and ranch land in Alberta by entitled oil companies, and the inability of landowners to either protect their property or profit from its exploitation. In Alberta this created a level of hatred for a captured government which is now manifest in the Trump/UCP efforts “to make government small enough to drown in the bathroom sink”, as one MAGA type remarked.
That was Grover Norquist, the inspiration for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, in 2001: “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” So, definitely pre-MAGA, although perhaps Ur-MAGA.
Re: The Globe and Mail paywall. Search Apple News if you have it.
Rob: There is also a similar story in the Edmonton Journal, which I missed when I was writing this. https://edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/former-ahs-board-member-claims-podcasters-paid-smear-mentzelopolous-testimony DJC
No Peak Dani is no here yet and I wonder if it will ever be. Last week I was scolded for calling her an idiot. I was told how lucky we all were for having such a a courageous and smart woman as premier. Obviously our standards are quite different but not difficult to find people that support Dani snake quite openly. I can understand liking her style, but what else is there other than an empty vicious brain?
Look at the utter nonsense that is now happening, and the deluded people who believe this, as evidenced by the comments in this Postmedia article. Now, Jeffrey Rath wants to go to Latin American countries to pitch Alberta separation. Danielle Smith is a separatist, and that was obvious all along. She enables Jeffry Rath. It could also be that he is like David Parker and Take Back Alberta, because they are the ones pulling the strings of Danielle Smith and her UCP gang. On top of that, people will have a tough time explaining what exactly the UCP has done which has benefited Albertans? They have made things worse, in numerous ways.
Will push for Alberta independence gain momentum with U.S. outreach? | National Post https://nationalpost.com/news/after-u-s-outreach-alberta-separatists-will-head-to-latin-america-to-rustle-up-support-for-their-cause
A woman who dumpster dives to get politically incriminating information & makes a truly unwise walk across a legislature has deservedly earned the “idiot” sobriquet.
Trashcan Dani – in her interview now she brags about being a school board trustee, without mentioning that her shenanigans got her fired with the rest of the board.
Brilliant stuff, David. What’s more is the USA has lost control of the central currency. Their $3 trillion debt call due before the end of the year WHILE picking a fight with the only nation who can bail them out. The empire is crumbling while oil trends to $35 WTI, and Smith has hitched our wagon to them. Alberta is in for a rude awakening in 2026.
Sadly the American economy is more based on rents than productivity, the dollar is a great example of that actually. They can print as much as they want of US CURRENCY that’s what a central bank is for. As long as most global players agree that it’s a dollar and accept it as a dollar, it’s a dollar. It’s not tied to anything other than the power of American economic projection.
Because the dollar is used as a reserve global currency countries that want to trade with each other (and the US) have to buy dollars, or do enough trade with the US (again in dollars) so they may have their own stash of dollars to do global trade with.
Unfortunately this is unlikely to change unless both of these things change at roughly the same time. It seems unlikely that people will choose a competing currency as there already is a basic consensus and it seems unlikely the dollar will collapse as long as that continues. It’s a big casino, but American economic projection I would argue is even more important than military projection, and a tool that gives them much more power globally.
Before someone chimes in with a comment about BRICS they have explicitly said that a common currency (a BRICS “dollar”) is not something they’re interested in developing so I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one.
Upending the “dollar system” as it runs now would be a HUGE disruption to globalization, and these trade flows happen much too quickly to pause them for a few quarters while everyone figures out what currency we should use. Capitalism will collapse long before that IMO.
As per the Epstein files, yes I think the failed redaction was deliberate. Nobody that knows anything about “blinding” in a text would be that stupid–never mind a deepstate operative.
I disagree that Trump is senile, however.
Like all megalomaniac cult leaders, Trump is doing what they do, in textbook fashion. The more they are worshipped and coddled, the farther and farther they go in their self-deluding ideology until many of their cult members bail out–followed by said leader diving deeper and deeper into depravity while dragging the last of their sycophants with them down the slide of criminality, abuse and violence–too often ending in a self-defeating implosion.
The USA is a dying empire and as such, dying empires historically don’t choose their leaders, wisely.
1. “But man, proud man, dressed in a little brief authority, most ignorant of what he’s most assured, plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make the angels weep”
2. “Fundamentally, we say this is an attack on the court’s process if witnesses cannot expect to participate in the justice system without fear of harassment and reprisal.”
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/former-ahs-board-member-claims-podcasters-paid-to-smear-him-ahead-of-mentzelopoulos-testimony/ar-AA1STrff
3. Of course, the question remains: How is the dissembling authoritarian and all around small time tyrant, the one that takes her authority and childish dreams of omnipotence very seriously going to respond to these most recent developments?
Further dogmatic arrogance? A greater contempt for the law? A further compulsive clinging to the levers of political command and control? An increasingly distorted view of the world? Further attempts at politicizing independent institutions? The aggrandizement of executive power while checks and balances are reduced?
Where fabricating a convenient reality means transitioning from falsehoods to full fledged self deception, and where those distinctions between true and false become increasingly blurred. It is a process that is both calculated and deliberative.
4. “Do we have confidence that our judiciary is reflective of the values that we have in our province? Because most of our judiciary is appointed by the federal government, and we’ve had 10 years of judges being appointed by Justin Trudeau,” she said. “When you see ideology getting into these judgments and the judges, they don’t face the electorate the way we do.”
https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/albertas-smith-notwithstanding-clause
It is all nonsense of course, as the standard practice that is the direct and unambiguous ideological governance exhibited by the UCP is being presented as apolitical and nonpartisan, while; at the same time attempts are being made to politicize independent institutions.
It is one of the many Big Lies being fed continually to the citizenry. ( “By way of deception you shall engage in war.” and on the other hand “By way of deception you shall engage in politics.” The strategic intricacies and their implementation are something that Mr. Harper and his intelligence agency friends are most certainly very well aware of.)
“The values that we have” are simply those values embraced by the UCP, its leader, and the UCP ‘base’, or core supporters. As a subset of the population, they are hardly reflective of the attitudes and beliefs of the citizenry in general.
Anyone who believes, as I do, that politics is how good public policy gets done would have to question that the UCP is trying to “politicize independent institutions.”
Given its recent use of the “notwithstanding clause”— without qualm—, its perfectly obvious attempts to hide how it spends public money on the healthcare system, and its increasingly frantic use of stopgap legislation to hold back the walls closing-in, it’s hard to show how the UCP does any politics at all.
I think the UCP is making institutions supposed independent commit to doing it favours—like not investigating suspected corruption, malfeasance, and simple ineptitude, or not cooperating with any independent investigation of its governance, associates, or beneficiaries. Sweating, replacing or eliminating head public bureaucrats might be considered “politics” in the dirty-pool sense, but it’s hardly for the public good. The public’s independent institutions could get irreparably bent.
The UCP isn’t trying to politicize supposed independent institutions, it’s trying to make them (as many as meets its needs—which are multiplying more and more all the time) partisan allies. Not only is that nonpolitical, or even apolitical, it is also unethical and likely illegal.
“Independent” really means nonpartisan, unbiased, and impartial. To the extent independent institutions or public “watchdogs” use the government apparatus and resources to do the public good, they are ‘political,’ but what the UCP is doing is purely partisan and without merit in the public interest. It doesn’t do the public good. It really doesn’t do public politics as it was elected to do.
The “small gubbmint” folks fail to see the obvious.
Even if you have a king and sycophantic bureaucrats, when the system doesn’t work for the society citizens all know how to force it to work and if necessary, to remove it. History is riddled with examples.
When a country isn’t working for its people but the entire population is slaves to hidden nobles and oligarchs the first thing to go is the government–who actually have to account to the public for their actions.
The #1 contributor to saving lives, for example, is food watchdogs. In olden days this consisted of not letting bakers use sawdust in the bread dough and working in dirty premises that spread disease. The libertarian answer is “but then that person won’t be able to sell more food”. History tells us that businesses in capitalism drift towards monopoly. When there’s no one else to buy from, everyone eats tainted food.
Oversight means that large swaths of the population don’t die from e-coli and salmonella.
Does anyone think that the monopolists actually care about such things if they can make a larger profit or pay an insufficient fine?
I’m staying tuned for 2026. I think 2025 was just the warmup.
Thank you for another year of sterling reporting on Canada’s most interesting provincial politics. All the best for the New Year
,,,and Happy Christmas!
Yes, we are certainly at or past peak Trump. Although he continues to dominate political discussion due to his ridiculous antics, it seems the majority of people in the US are getting tired of him. On a somewhat related note, there is such a thing as over exposure and its after effects can be very bad, just ask JT.
While Smith is not as senile, quite as outrageous or omnipresent, I do feel our dear premier is not far behind her orange mentor. Those 20 or so recall campaigns seem to indicate some major level of dissatisfaction.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the increasingly concerned US Republicans come up with some way to shuffle off Trump. If he is as senile as some claim, it should not be too hard to do. There is a long history of supposed strong men being overthrown as they become older and preoccupied or weakened by health issues. Unfortunately for his party, their VP is not anymore appealing to the public.
Smith will be more tricky to get rid of, as she works hard to keep the support of her extremist base but, I suppose that is what elections are for. Also in Alberta popularity tends to decline with length of time in power and in correlation with oil prices. So I do feel early 2026 will be when it becomes apparent we are at or past peak Smith also.
I am not sanguine about the provincial election which is supposed to save us, either this spring or in the hinterlands of 2027. The municipal elections were just a warm-up, a muscle flex, as it were, in disenfranchisement, discouragement and disinformation, all backed by interesting money. I think we all have a whole lot of work to do, right now, to ensure free, fair and informed voting. Not entirely sure we have the chops.
Hello DJC and fellow commenters,
On a more cheery note, I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. And I wish everyone a great 2026.
What we are seeing down south is perhaps the worst display of top shelf narcissism mixed with obvious dementia. Not exactly a great combo. I imagine what we are witnessing gives insight to what the Romans experienced in the waning days of Caligula. That said I must disagree with our host that Trump will be gone before his term is up. His gargantuan sized ego will just not allow it and his supporters, who still worship this ugly excuse of a human being, will not allow it either. Americans are stuck with him, just as we are stuck with our own blight on humanity here in Alberta, Fraulein Schmidt.
About 50 years ago I told a lawyer that I thought lawyers were nothing more than trained liars and I still do.
Much to my surprise he agreed with me that many were, and the worst ones were the ones who couldn’t make it as a lawyer so they became a politician, they make great liars, as we have all seen.
It’s “chow time for tyrants” in Alberta and beyond. The stage is set. Check out “How Dictators Come to Power in a Democracy” and read “lessons for us today” at the end.
https://www.cato.org/commentary/how-dictators-come-power-democracy
Modern dictators need us to be stupid, poor and sick. They’ll do anything to make it happen so they can control us and consolidate their personal power. Are we going to stop them?
I am not sure if this is kosher but for paywalls one could always stop by
Removepaywalls.com
Welp, being Cassandra again, here–it’s irrelevant if Trump fails.
Trump isn’t the disease, he’s the symptom.
The US Empire has always covered up its crimes, it’s greed, lust for power and desire for dominance was always there under a veneer of propaganda. They’re using the British/French/German playbooks. They were just better at the propaganda part of it until the internet exposed the rotting underbelly of USA and European foreign policy. Suddenly, the whole world could look at a map and see how many hundreds of US bases were spread across the world like a rash and read how many coups they were responsible for right there on Wikipedia.
Trump is the naked face of Imperialism.
It will still be going on under the Democrats or other Republicans when he’s gone.
Getting rid of him in a public display of retribution we can hope will at least curb the oligarch’s worst excesses for awhile.
I think in the background, we’ve hit peak Smith. She’s basically lost all her capacity to govern within the party. Jeffery Rath and the UCP have pretty much out maneuvered her, turning her into a figurehead, or their puppet. She has no power, Albertans are tired of listening to her babble and are turning toward Rath and the separatist UPC party. Rath has already confirmed that the UCP is for separation. The NDP, the official opposition seems to be lost in the woods, without a compass and a voice. Unless something changes, it’s going to be a very frightening future for Alberta. So we need a leadership, that is willing to educate and enlighten, fight for Alberta and Canada, fight for “The True North Strong and Free. ” Any takers? Anybody,……..Anybody at all?
Thomas Lukaszuk is in tactical mode, fighting the separatists. So far he has ruled out going strategic ie returning to elected politics. No “political home”, his own words. That said, I hope he does find a party. I may not ever vote for him, but we need him back in the saddle.
It’s a tragedy that, facing what might well be the most important election in half a century, Albertans are saddled with the weakest opposition party in that same period.
Thank you for publishing ronmac’s comments. If they are not published people forget those opinions exist. By giving them air, people will be able to understand there are people who have all sorts of excuses for the sexual explotation of children. The young women seen in the photos from the Epstien case look about 16, 17, 15. They are children. They are so much easier to groom than adult females in their twenties. Of course these men want females who will think they are just great, when in fact a lot of them aren’t the greatest in the sack at all. That is why they prefer children.
Sex trafficking goes on all over the world. Its a huge business and those who participate in it are in it for the money they make. their wealthy clients believe they are entitled to the use of these children;s bodies.They have unlimited “free passes: in life. they don’t care about these children. In their world those children don’t count. when people such as ronmac write as he did, it reminds all of us, there are people who view things through a different lense.
Back in the 1980s it was reported a pedophile ring had been broken up in Europe. It involved wealthy powerful men. It involved politicians, rich men. For some time afterwards I kept looking for following articles about arrests, trials, etc. but nothing much came of it. amongst some classes sex with children is simply considered their right.
It would be nice if all those involved were arrested, convicted, and sent to jail for ten years and fined at least a million or more. It is doubtful we will see any of that.