Trump and Canada as 51st state

Ionel posts meme of road sign with "Welcome to CANADA: We don't have S. Africans telling us what to do".

Sean mumbles something about the scenario in which Canada becomes the 51st state.

Ionel: You are right: there is a non-zero chance that Canada could become the 51st state and if that shit-show does happen, a South African telling us what to do is probably not going to be even in the top 5 list of my worries 🙂 If that happens, I will likely activate my EU citizenship and keep it on standby just in case...

Sean: I’m really hoping Congress is rethinking that War Powers Act thing. Just when you think he couldn’t come up with something even more unimaginable…

Ionel: Well, after taking the Gish Gallop to new heights, and elevating its use to the real world on Jan 6 (by reversing its implications while rewriting history), the Stable-Orange-Genius-Giving-Young Simps-Order-Cum-Kicking is (in)advertently expanding its uses in the realm of statecraft as well.

As to the War Powers Act of 1973, presidents have 60 or 90 days to use military force without Congressional authorization. One could argue, that neither limitation applies to Canada, Panama or Greenland, as they could all be sacked or cowed in less than 14, 7 and 1 day respectively. If by some remote chance, more time is needed, POTUS could hit pause on his military "maneuvers", reset the game clock and start over as many times as needed and/or transfer command to its patsy NATO as Obama/HRC have done in 2011 in Libya and/or simply ignore or veto any Congressional performative attempt to block his actions, as ALL presidents have done since 1973 whenever they needed more than 60 days to clean up whatever military "activity" they started all on their own.

As to strengthening Congress' war powers, some might argue that Congress has done the opposite in 2002 with AUMF (which is increasingly used to run over the comatose WPA) and more importantly, that Congress has virtually no backbone or legal muscle on taking on POTUS, especially the incoming one given the MAGA-style GOP spine self-removal or that it has any clue on how to circumvent SCOTUS from laying down even more decisions to bolster its quid-pro-quo decades-long unitary executive theory course.

Tableau d'hiver dans le sud de l'Ontario

Two days before the new year, it's 5C and raining. A group of about half-dozen dozen starlings were taking turns bathing in a puddle in our back yard, a squirrel was hopping along the drainage ditch, a red cardinal flew across the clearing and a few blue jays were flying near the starlings being their usual impish selves. As me and Eddie approached the starlings, they first flew and perched on the nearby crabapple and birch saplings. As we got closer, they moved along the ditch into the neighbor's willow and then further along in the tree canopies as we kept moving in their direction.

When we reached the five-paces long and narrow clearing kept by our neighbors along the ditch on the currently unopened (formerly open) dirt road (that is flanked by trees on both sides and trails into dense bushes and eventually ends into a cross-ditch interrupting the road), many chickadees (or similar small birds) kept swooping between bushes and small saplings, flashing their underwing white feathers as the jays and a squirrel played along slightly higher up in the trees.

Eventually, the starlings flew away from the ditch and back to where they came from, the chickadees momentarily disappeared in the thicket, and only the jays and the squirrel remained within sight.

As we turned back and came out of the clearing, a few chickadees appeared again jumping between the short bushes near the pond and, in the distance, near the main road, another squirrel ran and skipped alongside it in its typical squirrely way.

Very closely, but out of sight, two small ponies (Pearl and Bentley) and one chestnut mare (Luna) are nibbling on fresh hay, and one small deer mouse (Millie) is sleeping in its labyrinth after a typical busy night.