octave

In the case of Canada, the last year for which they have the figures (2023) showed more Americans crossing into Canada than Canadians crossing into the US. Minuscule amounts of fentanyl cross the border from Canada 19 Kg seized compared to 9600 from Mexico and indeed fentanyl passes from the US border into Canada with 10.8 pounds seized that year. (I am happy to post the sources for these figures. So how do tariffs on Canada which will cause damage to Canada and the US make sense?

this is an interesting article. Tariff On Canada Not Justified By U.S. Immigration And Drug Claims Furthermore, the migration flow is not one-sided. In 2023, the last year for which we have statistics at the moment, more people crossed illegally from the United States into Canada than in the opposite direction. With Canada experiencing a labor shortage and increasing economic opportunities, it is likely that the number of individuals moving north in 2025, both legally and illegally, will continue to surpass those moving south. In Fiscal Year 2024, USCBP seized 21,148 pounds of fentanyl at the southwest border, mostly smuggled from Mexico. In contrast, only 43 pounds were intercepted at the northern border. This means that less than 1% of all fentanyl seizures occurred at the U.S.-Canada border. Furthermore, drug flows are not a one-way street. In 2024, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) seized approximately 10.8 pounds of fentanyl coming into Canada from the United States. In comparison, CBSA reported that 17.6 pounds of fentanyl were smuggled from Canada into the U.S. This suggests that the trafficking issue is not as one-sided as the administration claims.

My understanding is that Canada is not a huge source of drugs compared to Mexico. This surely this should be something that the US has some control over at its border. How much Canadian fentanyl crosses into the U.S.? As the opioid epidemic raged in the United States, killing thousands, Congress in 2020 established a commission to look into ways to reduce the flow of the drugs into the country. The commission found that “Canada is not known to be a major source of fentanyl, other synthetic opioids or precursor chemicals to the United States, a conclusion primarily drawn from seizure data,” according to its February 2022 report. Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted about 19 kilograms of fentanyl at the northern border, compared with almost 9,600 kilograms at the border with Mexico, where cartels mass-produce the drug. As far as trade imbalance goes. In 2023, the goods and services trade between the two countries totalled $923 billion. U.S. exports were $441 billion, while imports were $482 billion, resulting in a United States $41 billion trade deficit with Canada.[1 This hardly seems enormous, especially given the differences in population US 345 Million and Canada 41 Million. What is Canada supposed to do, buy stuff it does not need? Trump sees the fact that the US buys more from Canada than Canada does from the US as an injustice but it is just about what one country has to sell and what another country needs to buy.

It is not clear to me what the tariffs on Canada are supposed to achieve. Perhaps one of the Trump supporters here can explain the game plan.

Trump’s treasury secretary gives the world’s richest person entry to one of the most sensitive US government databases

When it comes to public toilets I can think 2 facilities that are unisex nearby. One is by the water near the pier. It is two long columns of cubicles with a long row of sinks. The other is in the arts centre. This facility is pretty swish. It is a large area of sinks, mirrors hand driers etc and around the outside of the walls are cubicles some marked unisex others marked male or female for those who care. As FH pointed out this is old news in many countries. I remember my father telling me that when he travelled to Japan 40 years ago. He was momentarily surprised when washing his hands at a sink that there was a young woman next to him putting on makeup. He had not realized at first that it was unisex and thought maybe he had gone into the wrong toilets, but he was fine with it. Whilst I can see that change causes issues that will need to be sorted such as sport, I can not see why people get so flustered by this. I have a neighbour who moved in about 5 years ago. This young woman seemed very reluctant to engage in conversation, That was fine, I am naturally inclined to chat to anyone. Gradually I noticed that they were transitioning. It did sadden me that this person probably thought due to our age that we might be hostile, nothing could be further from the truth. Four years later my wife and I are pretty good friends with this person. Their defining characteristics for us are their wit, intelligence and kindness. I don't give a toss what their chromosomes are.

Oath. Perhaps not having his hand on the bible is like making a promise with your fingers crossed behind your back.

Yes, we should rely on peer-reviewed science from well-respected scientists and organisations, not from unqualified think tanks masquerading as scientists.

Many people are saying that Trump is only deporting criminals, not too sure about that - Man votes for Trump, wife gets deported

Yes, Heat Reduces Solar Panel Output. But Not Enough To Worry About

I think that is probably right. I guess it is a matter of what credit in the success of a company is due to its CEO. Hiring the right people is very important. I think like Henry Ford, Musk as a human is extremely flawed (which is the polite way of putting it) You can be innovative as well as a scumbag,

GON I am curious, do you support Trump's pick for health secretary? Also, did you watch any of the confirmation hearings?

I have no idea what Musk's intentions were I would not assert anything. Prominent far-right-wingers have posted suggesting they believe he is one of them. He surely should be making it clear to those far-right-wingers that is not what he meant. He then addressed the German far-right AfD party. BS Anyone on this forum knows that I have been an enthusiastic supporter of Tesla such that until recently I owned shares in his company. I still think he has achieved amazing things in the EV field and in the space industry but he is a right-wing crank. You must surely agree that the stills going around of democrat pollies are misleading. I have no opinion on what Musks gesture meant and I don't care. Perhaps just the weird behaviour of someone on Ketimine (that's not an allegation he admits it)

Yeah, I watched the Senate hearings. Trump's learned pick for health secretary is a dangerous nutjob.

It is a silver 2004 Holden sedan, I looked it up on rego check. I can give you the VIN if you like 🙂

Here is the first one it recommended It seems pretty straightforward.

I just went to this site https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au/ to check out if there were any better deals. All you need is the NMI number from your electricity bill and it downloads your data and gives you a list of deals. As it happens I am happy with my present deal but it is not rocket science to make comparisons.

The point is the poster was complaining about having to research a product which they thought was too difficult and that they should not have to do that. Whether it is banking services or electricity or buying a house or any goods or services the bottom line is you have to do your homework. I did my homework.

This is the beauty of the smart meter and app. I can see what I am being charged for each 30-minute increment. I can also go back through my whole history with them and see what I was charged 4 years ago on a particular day or even half. I also have a graph that compares this year with the same time last year or a particular day. An increase in charge would be obvious. My retailer is a quite straight forward price structure.

This is not particularly new. When you buy a car you don't just point and say "I'll have the blue one" Most people will look at reviews ask friends etc. I think in the past the price of electricity was pretty standard all round. Yes now it is not so straight forward but you can save heaps if you really want to. My elderly mother used to enlist my help to get a good deal. When I first moved to Vic in 2011 (after 21 years living off grid) my first electricity bill was over $600 for 3 months (I think around $580 with the paying it on time discount). Now my bill for a whole year is a bit over $600. Each to his own but I know I would rather spend my dollars on things other than power. Yep I acknowledge this. Increasingly batteries will ease this. This power is not totally wasted with the albeit small these days feed-in tariff. We load the dishwasher in the morning and if we are going out we press the "start delay" button. The hot water comes on in the afternoon.

There are plenty of options out there. My bills are extremely cheap and I am not a lawyer or economist. For a start for those in Victoria, there is this site https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au/ When we did this we were paid $250 just for uploading a bill which they compared to other retailers. As we already knew we were on a good deal anyway. We did this 2 years in a row so we scored $500 over 2 years. If people think that sounds unbelievable $250 Power Saving Bonus Program I think this scheme may have finished now but there are similar schemes running. In addition, I seem to get a $ 75-a-quarter credit on my electricity account from the Vic government. My electricity bill before applying these rebates is about $650 a year (all electric - no gas) By using the monitoring software from my retailer and also the app for my solar system I have been able to tweak my usage. It is not that I am continually monitoring my power system but early on I learnt how to use power more wisely. We run a dishwasher once a day however we used to put it on in the evening. Now we put it on around midday when it usually would be entirely powered by solar. Hot water only comes on in the afternoon and is likewise powered mostly by solar. It is not really rocket science and actually, I find it enjoyable. With effort comes reward.

GWPF (Global Warming Policy Foundation) is not necessarily well thought of in scientific circles. I have no interest in prosecuting this old argument again however I urge people to be thorough in accepting any source and preferably look at many sources. This is worth a read The Global Warming Policy Foundation

Pity he pardoned Jan 6 thugs many of whom are extremely violent. One of these criminals has already been killed in an altercation with a police officer.

There are a lot of tin foil hat conspiracy theories out there