"Friends."

Frankly, I can count more on my enemies in a crunch than I can most people I know who claim to be friends. One thing you discover early on and then through the years is the astonishing number of users who are only there for what they can get: a job, a loan, a free ticket or meal you get to pay for. Those people aren't friends and aren't worth anyone's time. They're just leaches. And then they have the colossal nerve to judge you.

And when the sap croaks, 99% of them will instantly develop amnesia about who you were. And they are so fucking self-centered, more often narcissistic with only their precious ego and pride in the driver's seat. Well, fuck 'em.

And so ends the sermon of the day.

Trump Will Always Be Trump.

This is a guy whose private sector claim to fame was not paying his contractors, using bankruptcy protection more often than not and stiffing his own lawyers.

So come on, is anyone, anyone who's still breathing surprised that he's using his political donations to pay for his latest crop of lawyers? You know, the so-called billionaire.

Like I said up front: Trump will always be Trump. Thank God he's out of office and with God's help may he never, ever, win a second term.

Quebec Election: PCQ Breakout.

People aren't generally spreading the word that they're for the Quebec Conservatives -- just like what happened last time with the CAQ. Their election caught a lot of people off guard.

So we sense the building of PCQ momentum, which went down recently but seemingly in the end did not peak too soon. Recent polls have the PCQ at anywhere between 16 and 20 percent. Previously, one poll had them as high as 24 percent.

It's starting to look like Duhaime will be at least Leader of the Opposition if his support holds all the way to October 3. But could the CAQ actually collapse? You bet it could -- quite literally anything could happen -- and if it does, Éric Duhaime will find himself as the next Premier of Quebec. Don't bet the farm on it, but don't rule it out either.

His Majesty The King.

I don't have a good feeling about His Majesty Charles III. Am I the only one who has noticed that he's often red in colour? Makes me think about possible hypertension, and perhaps uncontrolled at that. Not good. And then there are those hands. Like I said, not a good feeling.

Putin "Wants" To End This War.

Putin can forget about ending this war for two reasons: first of all, the Ukrainians will continue fighting in an attempt to recover every inch of territory taken by the Russians. And far more important than that, the discovery of bodies in Izyum confirms what we always suspected as fact: that war crimes and crimes against humanity were perpetrated on a wide scale by some Russian forces in Ukraine.

That means Putin had better start praying that his troops can turn the tide in this war because Izyum won't disappear into the mist ever, and Russian leadership will sooner or later ultimately be held accountable for those deaths.

The time to pay the piper is not that far off. Wouldn't want to be the Russians.

Is The Country Really A Microcosm Of The CPC?

That's it in a nutshell. The party has unified and is now wagering all its marbles on a giant leap into the politically unknown. In short, is Canada becoming more and more right wing -- is it less than or a plurality, or far more unlikely a majority of so-called silent Canadians?

You all know the old chestnut about silence implying consent. Poilièvre is clearly working with that. For my part, I've got huge doubts about the validity or political soundness of such a strategy. In fact, I think PP and Byrne are more than likely out to lunch on this one.

But hey, Pierre is the duly elected leader so it's his call and his game. Like I said, I've got mucho doubts.

So he can play it any damned way he sees fit. But PP already knows that if he and Byrne are ultimately proven wrong, then it's definitely bye bye on becoming PM after the next election.

I don't see things their way but who the hell cares what I think, especially in the CPC. Maybe the party is absolutely on target, or utterly deluded, but at least one of those two conclusions is dead on.

So, stay tuned. It's bound to, at minimum, keep you glued to your seat. And then nirvana or hades awaits. Take your pick.

Canadian Political Quiz Time!

Come on now, most of you are already thinking it, so who's going to be first to throw someone under the bus to have a decent shot at winning?

Trudeau or Poilièvre? LOL. It's coming. At least it'll be ruthless.

The Party Now Belongs To Poilièvre.

A mandate from the party of 69 percent is an unprecedented leadership mandate, much higher than Harper got. So, the rest of us have two choices: stay and move heaven and earth to defeat Trudeau, or his successor, in the next election OR leave.

For my part, I'm sticking around. My head says one thing, but my gut hopes for the best. We'll see what happens.

I don't plan on having much to say going forward. It's sort of like the same rule as when one is asked about a dead person. You know.

Mina läsare i Sverige.

Jag vill bara ta en stund och tacka mina svenska läsare för att de hållit fast vid mig fram tills nu. Jag vill att alla ska veta hur mycket jag uppskattar deras läsekrets.

CPC Ballots.

678,702 party members were eligible. 437,854 voted, which is about a 65 percent turnout. Now, what does that mean about the various leadership teams and their strategic abilities? We're about to find out.

Her Majesty The Queen: My God, What A Terrible Loss.

The Queen has said and done so many impressive things but this one will live with me forever: she was recently at a cake-cutting ceremony, I think, and I remember her saying how she was not important. First, it showed the incredible down to earth level of the Queen, not to mention her remarkable modesty after serving in her role since 1952.

Of the legion of things that she said and did over decades, nothing will ever come close to that. Diana likely was for so many the People's Princess, as Blair correctly observed. But in the final analysis, the Queen outdid Diana and was the People's Queen. Not that that was ever her intention.

With her death, the 2nd Elizabethan Era comes to an end and many things will change forever in its wake: the Commonwealth, quite predictably, will shrink and not just a little. More nations will become republics. And with that will come lesser respect for the monarchy and dare I say it, less admiration. It will be a slow chipping away process under His Majesty The King. Try as he may and as earnestly as he will, the British monarchy will never be the same.

Put another way, the hole has finally made its way straight through the dike. If he's lucky, Charles III will not be the last. One remembers how Edward VII was truly beloved by his people. Charles would do well to go there and use that reign as a template for his own.

The only monarch I've ever known of is gone. It will take quite a while to wrap my head around that.

Fare-thee-well, Majestic Majesty.

 

The Canadian Natural Resources Titans.

If you're in this sector, watch what serially successfully people do:

Robert Friedland

Pierre Lassonde

Seymour Schulich

N. Murray Edwards

Robert Quartermain

Ian Telfer

Ross Beaty

Clive Johnson

Terry McGibbon

Robert Dickinson

Sean Boyd

André Gaumont

Sean Roosen

John Burzynski

Robert Wares

David Garofalo

Peter Marrone

The foolishly discounted Rob McEwen

Paul Brink

Nolan Watson

Michael Steinmann

Keith Neumeyer

Amir Adnani

Adam Lundin

Ivan Bebek

John Robins

Jim Paterson

Sandeep Singh

And finally, the two sector geniuses:

Eric Sprott

Rick Rule

Trump Is Probably Fucked Six Ways From Sunday.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Really. All kidding aside, this moron-idiot (McMaster and Tillerson spotted it first.) had top secret documents lying about in proximity to the so-called public rooms at Mar-a-Lago. No padlock, no safe, no nothing. How Russian and Chinese intelligence must have loved it!

Now, they're shitting on Barr for telling the truth: that the Justice Department was able to show cause and get the warrant. So this guy is in one hell of a lot of trouble -- he's got the Florida thing, the Georgia election thing which may or may not be obstruction of justice during the famous phone call and then, most deadly of all, the New York City Trump Organization thing.

But will Trump ever hit the slammer? Probably not. The American people have largely lost their patriotism. Now they're either loonishly for or against Trump. That's all that matters. They don't think for themselves anymore. They just believe what a pathetic person says, whether he or she comes from the right or left of the political spectrum. Like I said, no more love of country à la McCain, George H.W. Bush, Reagan, Bush, Carter, Clinton or Obama. Jail time would likely ignite a civil war and, hopefully, most Americans aren't keen for another one.

But what all of this will do is weaken Trump and, by ricochet, Republican momentum in Senate and House races. FFS, look what happened to Palin in ALASKA, of all places. So the writing is on the wall  -- sure, Trump will be the nominee, but it won't even be close on election night. Trump is already burnt to a crisp with a plurality of Americans, especially with the largest group of all, known as independents.

In 2024, if it's Joe, he could still and likely will lose to the Republican as long as that's not Trump. If it's anyone else, the Republicans lose big-time.

So...Trump will continue endorsing primary candidates and the chips will fall where they may. Some of his picks will win and others will lose. 2022 is still an election for Republicans to lose, but it's getting closer. Mitch put it so well about the quality of candidates. And McConnell has seen more than his fair share of election nights. 

That's the big story: Trump is weakening as titular party head and as an endorser. Success is no longer almost guaranteed for his candidates. November is but a few moments away. Can't wait to see what the off-year does, or doesn't do to Trump.