Canada on Wednesday announced new trade duties on some $21 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to President Donald Trump implementing universal steel and aluminum tariffs. America's northern neighbor is the largest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S., and experts have warned Trump's duties would be passed on to consumers. In a news conference Wednesday announcing the retaliatory duties, a Canadian government spokesman called Trump's tariffs "completely unjustified, unfair and unreasonable." "The U.S. administration is once again inserting disruption and disorder into an incredibly successful trading partnership and raising the costs of everyday goods for Canadians and American households alike," said François-Philippe Champagne, Canada's minister of innovation, science and industry. Canada's announcement comes despite a detente having been reached Tuesday with the Trump administration to resolve threats of a 25% surcharge on American consumers of Canadian electricity. Trump had threatened Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs climbing to 50% if the province of Ontario followed through on the surcharge. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/canada-retaliatory-tariffs-21-billion-us-goods-trump-tariffs-latest-rcna196012

@ShiroKuro I was actually referring to the steep decline in the stock market as "The Trump Slump"....

I've been reading it from my daughter's subscription. Notices appear that her sub expires in 3 days. Looks like she's not renewing.

Most interesting.

I did a lot of work on DVD plants/machinery over the years - pretty much up to when most companies moved production overseas. I remember the techs predicting that those discs wouldn’t last as the process they used was crap

She's a poor choice for a poster child - for anything.

Hard to pick a favorite, but the view from the dinner plate and the first mouse are up at the top!!

@wtg said in Tariff pricing: What are the lessons of the 1930s? The current administration does not do lessons. We are all doomed.

I think this is the same article that @AndyD referenced. Title is different, but the author and text seem to be the same. https://archive.is/pcMoS

Sakura season in Japan is the best! I’ve never been in Tokyo in spring, but the thing about Japan is, there are cherry trees across the country. And they’re planted in clusters, so you can get that amazing impact of all the trees looking at once. The other thing is that there are a bunch of other ornament trees as well, although they don’t get as much press. For example, ornament plum trees, which bloom a little bit earlier than Someyoshino cherry trees. The amazing thing about plum trees, besides their beauty, is their fragrance. Cherry treees don’t have any scent, but plum trees do. In Mr. SK’s hometown, there are lots of cherry tree spots, but there’s also one plum tree place, right near where we got married. It’s in this small outdoor amphitheater type space, you can’t really tell it’s there rom the road, you sort of just have to know. It doesn’t look like anything until you start walking down into it. So it’s an amphitheater, I think it must have been built there because the terrain was naturally like that.. Anyway, it’s like the plum trees are planted all along the sides of a bowl (for lack of a better description). As you walk down, you start to smell them, and when you get to the bottom, you can just sit there, surrounded by pinks and reds and the scent envelops you. It is truly amazing…. I found a few photos online, not very impressive to look at perhaps, but this was always one of my favorite spots. We got married in March, so I first came here w Mr SK just days before our wedding. It was in full bloom and so, so fragrant [image: IMG-0752.jpg] [image: IMG-0753.jpg]

I enjoyed reading that. “I mean, you put on a CD and even dogs leave the room,” Kassem grumbled... LOL

Thanks for the additional information about your process! I love mixed media work! Mamie’s Wall Is absolutely wonderful!!! Square foot shows are becoming quite popular! An artist friend of mine has done them annually for a few years as well. I know that, in his case, it started because larger pieces weren’t selling as easily so he was trying to make his work more approachable for folks who wanted original art but couldn’t afford thousands of dollars.

@RealPlayer said in Canada is not the United States: Here is a NY Times article from this morning. Should be a gift link. Trump’s Canada fixation is about more than tariffs. Apparently well publicized in Canadian media, but not here. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/world/canada/trump-trudeau-canada-51st-state.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2E4.Wl1s.HkMjJ0CPOYAR&smid=url-share I didn’t realize it wasn’t being publicized in the US. It definitely is well known here. That’s why we are so mad.

That guy is a transactional bully. A complete and total asshole. And a lot of much nastier names. I don’t hate many people, but that man is on my list.

Americans are still in the dark about the scope and scale of what Elon Musk is doing with DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, which is working to drastically shrink the size of government by aiming to cut $1 trillion or more in government spending. But there’s some insight into what’s driving Musk — namely, an effort to combat what he referred to as “civilizational suicidal empathy.” During a three-hour interview with the podcaster Joe Rogan released February 28, Musk talked about his deeply held belief in the conspiracy theory that Democrats are working to import as many undocumented immigrants as possible so that they can take over the US government forever. “If they had another four years, they would legalize enough illegals in the swing states to make the swing states not swing states,” Musk told Rogan. “They would just, they would be blue states. Then they would … win the presidential; they’d win the House, the Senate and the presidency.” https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/politics/elon-musk-rogan-interview-empathy-doge/index.html

I'm sure they're going to say they will go through the photos and pull out the "errors". Of course that's a really good use of a federal employee's time, just when we're cutting back the workforce and trying to reduce costs...<insert facepalm here>

“High new and used car prices, along with higher auto loan rates, have left a record number of car owners with $1,000+ monthly payments,” Gulley said. That's pretty bad. I'm not boasting, but I bought a 10-year old car with less than 70k miles on it. 36 month loan, $222/mo. $1k/mo for a car sounds obscene to me.