Sickness, tariffs, musings, disquiet, fear

Around 9, last night, I started to feel a bit “off”. I’d suspected I was coming down with something, most likely due to the day spent in the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) with Ottawacker Jr. and his amputated, broken, fractured, sprained wrist. Being distracted somewhat by an episode of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, it was only around 10 that I realised I was feeling somewhat crappy. Up I went to bed, and, realising that the only chances of sleep would come from not being in bed with a big man-baby, down to the basement went Mrs. Ottawacker. I managed to sleep till around 3, when I awoke drenched, and coughing, with the mother of all headaches. I took a few Tylenol, and then lay there in bed trying to decide if I needed to go to the toilet and thus face an episode of the night shivers, or whether I could tough it out. I did neither – lying there in bed, sweating when I pulled the duvet up, and shivering uncontrollably when I took it off. It was 5 before I plucked up the courage to get up and pee.
 
At 8, Mrs. Ottawacker came into the bedroom to start her day and to sympathise with my groaning. At 9, fully fortified with more Tylenol, I moved down to the basement bedroom and slept again till 11, when Tui decided, for the first time ever, that she wanted to join me and sleep on my head. I suppose it might have been the part of me that smelled the least. At 12, I got up, showered, noted that the headache had significantly diminished, and walked into Mrs. Ottawacker’s office to find her listening to Justin Trudeau’s response to The Fanta Felon’s 25% tariffs. For The Fanta Felon has indeed imposed the 25% tariffs that people thought he wasn’t stupid enough to impose.
 
Both Canada and Ontario have hit back quite forcefully: Canada applied reciprocal tariffs on $30 billion in goods imported from the U.S., effective as of today, and Ontario cut all US firms out of its procurement opportunities, ordered the removal of all US products from its LCBO and beer stores (hurray, no more shite beer and mundane wine), and applied tariffs on the electricity it sells to the US. While it was quite pleasing to hear people I don’t like (Trudeau and Ford) speaking eloquently, forcefully, and sincerely (I could get used to it), I can’t help but feel that the only losers here are going to be the average person in the street.
 
So, here is my take on this. To me, this smacks entirely of Putin. I am pretty well convinced that The Fanta Felon is a Russian asset (would that make him the Cherry Coke Crim or the Tizer Traitor?), and this whole ridiculous charade is designed to weaken the US economy. Think about it: who will ultimately lose out? All the western allies – Canada, the EU, the UK – plus China. Ukraine has already been thrown under the bus. The only interested nation to sit there, unaffected, is Russia. With the US economy completely shafted – because, it will be, despite everything, the US will face the same issues relating to cheap labour as the UK faced post-Brexit. There, British people refused to work for subsistence wages – and they will in the USA as well. With Mexicans and Hispanics becoming increasingly personae non gratae in the USA, who will do the work for low wages? Answer: nobody – or, at least, very few people. This will create the ideal petri dish in which to foment civil unrest. This leaves the door open for Russia to do something “bold”, safe in the knowledge that it not only has its own man in the White House, it also has created a situation in which the populace is focusing on issues other than the Commie Menace.
 
Brexit has pretty much been accepted as a dry run for Trump; however, I thought it was for the first presidency, not the second. We shall see.