ZenHeathen 🇨🇦

Secular Zen Buddhist. Preachy. Cranky. Political. ADHD.

I don't always do follow-backs, so please don't expect it--it's not you, it's me.

Expletive-laden. Accept, or find another corner of the internet.

As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.

:progresspride_flag:

Place: Canada - Forever Free
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Stuff: Zen & Buddhism, ADHD, Canadian politics, houseplants, sci-fi, anti-AI, yada, yada, yada...

Public Key

npub14fjmms3rngeye22938mzrm6z4t52ck3pxfpmxexzvgq8urxj8klq7gq4pk

NIP-05 Address

zenheathen_at_beige.party@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs25edacg3e5vjv49zcna3paap2469vtgsnysanvnpxyqr7pnfrm0spz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dskp3lq9

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub14fjmms3rngeye22938mzrm6z4t52ck3pxfpmxexzvgq8urxj8klq7gq4pk

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Last Notes

2026-06-10 17:43:31 UTC

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Do you have any idea how much you and your little clan are cared for by random strangers on the internet?
You are an inspiration. I don't follow your account, myself, because a) it's often boosted to me anyway, and b) I don't want to be crying happy tears quite *every* day. 🙂
💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

2026-05-16 00:17:19 UTC

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So... Trump the American is working for Russia and Israel, and Carney the Liberal is working for the Conservatives...
Fuck. I miss "hope". That's what we called it, right? It's been so long...

2026-05-12 22:10:24 UTC

Back in the '90s, I was in a tabletop RPG game set in the near future, where our GM classified our semi-cyberpunk characters as "Sinless"--a play on the idea of having no recorded identity in The System and the Canadian Social Insurance Number (like the USA's Social Security number), or SIN.
I'm sure he wasn't the one who came up with the idea and label. But I never found the (obviously) Canadian author or IP where this might have first appeared.
Anybody got info for me?
#Canada #cyberpunk #TTRPG #sinless

2026-05-05 14:24:15 UTC

I'm seeing basically nothing of #RedDressDay in my feed, which surprises me.
Women, girls, 2-Spirit and other individuals from Indigenous nations still disappear or turn up murdered *far* more than any other group in Canada. Much remains to be done, and even knowing about the problem is low-bar Step One. #mmiwg #mmiwg2s

2026-04-24 21:01:44 UTC

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"Grandfather style". From how you describe the tea, you shouldn't have any problem. Suggest you leave the leaves in at the bottom of the cup, and add water again, several times over.

2026-04-12 23:26:51 UTC

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Hell, if you see *anyone*, of any gender description, wearing a t-shirt of a band you care about? Celebrate! Listen to their stuff together! Why would you want to work toward *fewer* people enjoying the band you like?!?

2026-04-12 22:55:43 UTC

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I'm new to composting. What do you consider "the right temperature"?

2026-04-07 18:37:09 UTC

If only angry old men would fall,
So bombs would not

2026-04-07 16:20:30 UTC

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Leonard Cohen was a monk for a time.

2026-04-05 18:26:18 UTC

As the old joke goes,
Every day, a man goes to a newsstand. He checks the front page of the paper, grunts in disappointment, and leaves.
Eventually, the newsagent says, "man, what are you looking for?"
"An obituary."
"Sir, they don't print those on the front page."
"The one I'm waiting for, they will."

2026-03-27 21:12:22 UTC

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I was just watching something about this, thanks to @npub1hf6…lfs9. Apparently, five people were involved in the rescue, but there are four figures in the statues, leaving the topmost person with their arm outstretched, as if to take *your* hand... reminding us all of the importance of working together as community.

2026-03-23 18:51:06 UTC

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Jack chose him? Aw, nuts. He couldn't have annointed someone else from among the large number of new Quebec seats they'd just won?

2026-03-23 18:10:02 UTC

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Mulcair's an ass. If he was so chummy with the Cons right before, then why did the NDP take him in and make him leader? Guy pissed away the biggest showing the party has ever had. Ass.

2026-03-20 17:06:35 UTC

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Getting paid to *not* do a thing. Wow. Good (non-)work if you can get it.

2026-03-06 14:47:03 UTC

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Mastodon has definitely taught me to be unapologetic about my choices of content *I* post in *my* account. I've had to block friends over it. But yeah--I don't seek to offend, but otherwise... If (the hypothetical) you don't like the things I post, I won't self-censor, you know where the door is.

2026-03-03 21:24:45 UTC

If you ever watched PhysicsGirl on YouTube, Dianna is back!!!
She's been down with *terrible* effects from coming down with Covid early in the pandemic, and hasn't been able to work, has barely been able to do anything at all, in *years*. She's just put up her first video in three years!
In case you unsubscribed, thinking the channel would disappear, she's back! Let's show her lots of love!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3m3AMRlYfc

2026-02-22 00:23:46 UTC

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Even without a solution, they might appreciate knowing that you're thinking of them and wishing them well. They might be happy to have someone (or someone more) to talk about it with. Or, of course, they might not. It's very hard to know without reaching out.

2026-02-21 23:54:56 UTC

On the off chance that *your* hobby might save me a bunch of internet searching, I'm looking for a good place to learn about what perennial flowers are native to southern Ontario. I bought a few packets of seed a couple of years ago with an awesome mix, but nothing really grew, and I don't have the packets anymore with the listing on the back. I'd like to try new seeds of many of the varieties, but starting them indoors and introducing them when the weather is good, rather than simply scattering seeds like I did before. But I need to remember what to get.
TL;DR: Looking for website for southern Ontario native meadow flower species.
#gardening #flowers #permaculture

2026-02-13 13:06:42 UTC

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Lithgow was asked directly about this. Said basically, "I don't care". Ass.

2026-02-05 01:33:04 UTC

Your age, politics, or demographic don't matter to what I'm about to say. I mean, *everybody*.
There's a little movie from 1976 called *Network*.
Keep it in your head that this was fifty years ago, and that what that movie had to say about television applies today to the internet, and *watch it*. Watch it twice if you have to.
The truth in it will give you nightmares.

2026-02-03 22:41:02 UTC

Elliot can tell it's going to be cold tonight. He's all set with his blanket. He looks good in green. #cat #cats
https://media.beige.party/media_attachments/files/116/009/099/865/617/607/original/209c52ca211a8d94.jpg

2026-02-02 16:25:57 UTC

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*sigh* This is exactly what was done.
The "citizen's assembly" part is where it bogged down. They were told to study it and come back with the specific recommended system. They didn't. That's what killed it, not Trudeau.

2026-01-31 02:22:38 UTC

At some point last evening, most of the lights off, I was coming up the stairs, and was meowing at the cat. The cat meowed back, and we were having "a conversation", as you do.
I became aware that the cat was in front of me, but the meowing was coming from further up the stairs.
That's when I realized the cat wasn't saying anything, but my wife and I were meowing at each other, each of us thinking the other was the cat.
Meanwhile, the cat was sitting between us, wondering what these two idiots were talking about.
#cat #cats

2026-01-16 21:49:42 UTC

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NOT looking forward to a return of landmines. I want Ukraine and Poland defended, but damn. 😕

2026-01-16 17:05:13 UTC

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To you and your brother both, and all your fellow Minnesotans in the fight at whatever level: Here's a guy in southern Ontario who is incredibly proud and in awe of you. We see your fight, we can only begin to imagine how hard it is. But your writing here really nails it: Do what you can at the level you can, everyone is needed. "And remember this: Try." ✊

2025-12-31 22:58:36 UTC

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Undoubtedly, the healthiest diets short of modern nutritional advances are those closest to those we evolved eating, the basic hunter-gatherer diet. Move with the herds, eat what's available, eat what's seasonal, store preserve what you can for lean seasons. Certainly, our species spent far longer eating like that than any way we've eaten since, and evolution is slow, so we're probably still built for that.

2025-12-31 22:44:05 UTC

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Awesome! Thanks!

2025-12-31 21:53:53 UTC

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That's in Tudor Monastery Farm, right? When she's got pottage cooking?

2025-12-31 21:14:25 UTC

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Yeah, I like best the ones where she's with the boys. I've seen some of the "factory" ones, and it's clear that she's just a contributor to someone else's show, not one of the ones creating it, and I'm not as into it.

2025-12-31 18:35:16 UTC

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Yes, indeed. More's the pity.
Have you seen all the ones from the Edwardian Farm crew?
Tales from the Green Valley
Tudor Feast at Christmas
Victorian Farm
Victorian Pharmacy
Edwardian Farm
Wartime Farm
Tudor Monastery Farm
Secrets of the Castle
Full Steam Ahead

2025-12-31 18:13:54 UTC

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Absolutely! And we discovered others through looking for them, like Jimmy's Farm and Jimmy's Forest, and some I've forgotten. Going to have to go back and re-watch them all, I guess. 🙂

2025-12-31 16:53:31 UTC

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I miss these series. Our family watched them all religiously, and repeatedly. So much to learn.

2025-12-26 11:27:20 UTC

My (for now) son was wearing a discreet little trans flag pin (with a dragon, natch) when we went for lunch with his grandma last weekend. None of us have said anything about his feelings or explorations to her yet. We're not ready for how that might go. She noticed the pin, asked about it, we only mentioned the dragon.
Yesterday on a phone call, out of nowhere, she asks if she can get one like it. My wife can't stand the hovering tension anymore, asks her, "you know that's the trans pride flag, right?"
She says--get this!--"yeah, I know. But I like those people, and more people should be nice to them." 👀
Christmas miracle? The conversation may be coming sooner than we expected.

2025-12-25 14:15:59 UTC

I've got six pieces of leftover KFC, four Rice Krispies squares, it's six hours until I can go home, it's quiet, and I wish I was wearing sunglasses. Hit it.
Special Christmas and other holiday greetings to all the healthcare workers, first responders, delivery drivers, security guards, transit workers, and anyone on-call who have to work despite the holiday, because you're indispensable. I see you, and I value you. #JoinIn

2025-12-18 20:25:49 UTC

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Called it.

2025-12-16 21:33:30 UTC

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Sanity gap. Intelligence gap. Empathy gap. Gap between election promises and reality.

2025-12-08 17:53:12 UTC

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Goes way beyond "shenanigans". Is "contempt of the legislature" a thing?

2025-12-08 16:44:14 UTC

Looking into puttering around in #Gopherspace. Might be a nice change of pace.
Since I got my online start in about '93, when the "www" was just one of several parts of "the information superhighway" and no one knew what to use it for, this will probably feel like coming home.
Can anyone recommend a few good starting sites to see?

2025-12-03 01:12:06 UTC

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Canada is my home. Canada is my heart. I want Canada to be... well, somewhere on the side of sanity and Right and trying to help, to make a positive difference (it's long past time that we could be anywhere near the forefront). I don't want us to be the anchor, the millstone, to make ourselves the enemy of the surviving world.

2025-11-12 17:25:33 UTC

👏✊
Indigenous activists storm UN climate summit in Brazil, demanding action | CBC.ca
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6975981

2025-11-05 15:15:43 UTC

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If their marginal tax rate didn't increase *by a lot*, then no, they are not paying nearly their fair share. @npub1xyl…pwlc @npub1spc…3gwu

2025-10-21 18:29:01 UTC

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*Canada has entered the chat*

2025-10-21 12:54:17 UTC

I'm so mad that Trump is destroying the White House.
That's a Canadian job.
#WarOf1812

2025-10-15 10:27:26 UTC

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Restaurant menus. There are certain classics that have a specific name because they are a specific thing. When a chef starts making additions or substitutions, the thing is a new thing, not the old thing with the old name, so they shouldn't use the old name.
A "club sandwich" is one of these specifics. If you instead put it on ciabatta, you shouldn't call it a club sandwich anymore, because it's not.
French onion soup. Caesar salad. There are more.

2025-10-13 22:26:07 UTC

There's a film studies term I'm trying to remember that won't come to me. It describes an object within the narrative which drives the plot. Everyone's after it, the whole story turns on where it is, who's got it.
R2 and the Death Star Plans. The Ark of the Covenant. The Maltese Falcon. The glowing thing in Marcellus Wallace's briefcase. The Loc-Nar. The "dingus". The One Ring.
Somewhere out there among the accounts following me, or those they know, is a director or #film student who knows the term I'm looking for. Can you help me?

2025-10-07 20:30:25 UTC

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Or, for f*'s sakes. That's pathetic. I could jaywalk and have a harsher penalty.
Is there anything about them not associating with others from the movement?

2025-10-07 18:24:37 UTC

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Then what's the last six? Being put up at a swanky hotel?

2025-09-30 15:31:10 UTC

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Holocaust denial in a different wrapper. I'd like to see this treated the same way.

2025-09-18 00:51:50 UTC

I have been watching Star Wars movies, shows, comics, novels, etc, etc, etc. since I was old enough to walk, from the *beginning*. That ends TODAY, ABC.
ABC, Disney, owns Lucasfilm these days, as well as Marvel. ABC has, through cowardice and bending the knee to the petty, fascist tyrant, cancelled Jimmy Kimmel for NOTHING.
CBS and Paramount, now owned by Skydance, owner of all of Star Trek, another of my favourites, cancelled Stephen Colbert, through bending the knee to the petty, fascist tyrant, for NOTHING.
Until ownership changes, MASSIVE IPs, in many ways foundational to my life, Star Wars and Star Trek, are dead to me. NO MORE.
If you bow to the fascist, you support the fascist. I DO NOT. Goodbye, ABC, Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, CBS, Paramount, Star Trek. You've been a part of my life for almost fifty years, but I'll find something else to watch.

2025-09-17 23:58:05 UTC

Dear Americans who care about what America was supposed to be about:
Get your asses up here to Canada NOW. You need to get out, and we're going to need your help.
America is lost. That place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated there... nothing valued is there.
What is there is dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger...

2025-09-06 01:17:28 UTC

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What a fucking disappointment. I *hate* that he's still the best of a bad lot, but holyfuckinggoddamn, that's a low bar.

2025-09-03 20:43:55 UTC

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For how many damn decades now have we known that you have to *spend* your way out of a recession? Give people in the bottom 75% money, and they'll spend it, cycling it through the economy and making everyone more prosperous. We f*in' *KNOW* this.

2025-08-26 20:05:49 UTC

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I have items in my fridge old enough to remember that.

2025-08-24 22:16:00 UTC

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This... um... WTF?!? I support both causes, but there's *no cause* for one hijacking and sabotaging the other.

2025-08-20 13:35:21 UTC

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Forget international cooperation. Would be great, but never gonna happen. If most countries agree to, say, 10%, but you set your country's at 5%, maybe they all flock to you and you get lots of revenue. They'd compete, not cooperate. @npub12pw…zvxn

2025-07-04 22:30:55 UTC

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I never saw it leave "normal", just some gently-worded shit about considering your electronics, which the US ambASSador immediately said wasn't an issue, which everyone knew was a lie.

2025-07-04 19:55:53 UTC

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Canada's "travel advisories" for the US are paltry and inadequate.

2025-06-29 19:21:07 UTC

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At an official level, we're cowards. It's long past time to speak up and flat-out tell Canadians not to go there. It's become--in the words of one particular philosopher--a shithole country.

2025-06-27 10:17:24 UTC

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I didn't think the Senate's job was to "make the PM happy".
I am more than disappointed, I am disgusted.

2025-06-13 15:33:53 UTC

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Once it became okay in the US to sue news orgs for ungodly sums when they make mistakes in honest-effort news reporting, they got so scared to actually say anything. Add to that oligarch ownership now, and "news" almost does more harm than good. @npub1spc…3gwu

2025-06-13 15:11:45 UTC

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Tired of the framing "the war in Gaza". It's not a war if only one side has an army.

2025-06-13 12:42:04 UTC

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How the hell do you smuggle in *missiles*?

2025-06-02 14:57:48 UTC

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WordPad is already gone (recently), isn't it?

2025-05-30 19:10:44 UTC

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WordPad, exactly. For rtf. Reinventing the damn wheel again.

2025-05-17 13:01:43 UTC

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How does one contact this distributor?

2025-05-13 20:25:16 UTC

I am so fucking sick and tired of "managing my cookie preferences".
I have my cookie preferences, and they are set. I don't need to manage them. *You*, website--YOU need to manage MY preferences. I want to set them once and have every site obey them.

2025-05-08 14:19:46 UTC

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Again, are they wrong? Yet to be seen, but I wouldn't be surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised.

2025-05-08 13:48:36 UTC

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Are they wrong, though?

2025-05-06 17:01:37 UTC

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I think "squatter" is a good name we should be throwing at Poilievre (re. Stornoway)

2025-05-02 14:07:58 UTC

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When you're already committing genocide, crimes against humanity and international war crimes on the daily, and then you step it up another notch... What do we even call that?

2025-05-01 11:41:44 UTC

This May Day, remember that there is no such thing as "middle class". If you're not the owner class, then you're the worker class. Stop letting them divide us against each other.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day

2025-04-28 21:27:52 UTC

Someone I work very closely with knew people directly involved in the horrific vehicle attack against the Filipino community in Vancouver. A friend of his is in hospital, and lost his wife. My friend is visibly affected. We're close, but not close enough for me to offer a hug--we're just not quite that. But I wanted to. My heart breaks for him and the whole community and their loved ones.

2025-04-25 00:15:39 UTC

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"Sharon Osborne can fuck right off" has been true for, what, twenty or thirty years, right?

2025-04-24 18:54:28 UTC

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Foreign election interference

2025-04-19 19:48:20 UTC

"Let us sit upon the ground, and tell JOYFUL tales of the death of kings..."

2025-04-17 14:54:43 UTC

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Yes, I learned that "28 days" part last night. Even more mystified about the whole event now. I think the entire debates commission and their rules--including about media--need an overhaul.

2025-04-16 20:21:11 UTC

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Then I'm sorry, Alison, I shouldn't have poked at your wording. I need to poke at the article's wording. It could and should be worded better, to avoid the misunderstanding that I'm seeing all over Masto this afternoon.

2025-04-16 16:25:28 UTC

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Alison's post stated the commission pulled the invite because the Greens pulled candidates to not split the vote. Both may be true; a) Greens pulled candidates to not split the vote, and b) commission pulled the invite because candidates were pulled. But stating them together in one phrase can give the impression that c) the commission pulled the invite because the Greens didn't want to split the vote which is untrue (or at least unknown).

2025-04-16 16:18:34 UTC

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True enough. But that's not what was posted. I've got a bugbear about anything election-related, I really want information to be accurately stated.

2025-04-16 15:37:05 UTC

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They were dropped for not running the required 90% of candidates, though they'd told the commission they would. They may have dropped candidates for a good and useful reason, but that's not part of the commission's rules.

2025-04-12 20:24:44 UTC

Okay, #Canada
You've got your elbows up! Good for you.
You're buying Canadian, or at least not American, wherever you can. Excellent!
You're changing travel plans, staying the hell away from that dangerous place down south. Awesome!
There's one more VERY IMPORTANT thing you need to do to show that Canada matters to you, and you'll work to defend it:
VOTE!
Don't stay home. Don't assume the outcome is set. Don't abdicate your responsibility. You're a citizen--this is your duty. Take part, be a part of the system so that you can be a part of the solution. Show your fellow Canadians that you care, and show the United States that when they throw their weight around, Canadians take notice and stand tough!
Elbows up, Canada! VOTE!
#canPoli

2025-04-01 18:22:49 UTC

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I've been steered wrong by them in the past.

2025-03-26 21:58:58 UTC

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Seems to me the Roman Empire knew over two thousand years ago that "bread and circuses" kept the people from rising up. Can't do bread and circuses without bread.
@npub1mv9…gjs0

2025-03-20 17:23:52 UTC

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Is Pierre Poilievre a squinty, fashy, lying little piece of shit? Hey, I'm just asking questions.

2025-03-15 20:43:03 UTC

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I was talking with my wife this morning about the boost in the Liberals' numbers in these polls over the last couple of weeks, even from companies fully in the bag for the Conservatives. And a new thought occurred to me.
Sooner or later, almost certainly sooner, the election is coming. *If* they deliberately, falsely, told us the Liberals were swinging way out in front... would it serve to convince some Liberal voters not to bother showing up? It has sure looked like efforts just like those happened the last couple of times...