The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
Drew says:
It is a great town. My wife and I honeymooned in Toronto.
Check out Chinatown. I am trying to think of the restaurant we went to. Not sure if it is still there…
Oh, and some great bars. Lots of local musical talent.
yam says:
I love Tim's coffee
MikeB-C says:
This will sound odd to those that haven't experienced it directly, but get yourself a hot dog/sausage from one of the street kiosks. They have a relish bar!
Rick says:
If more Americans visited, perhaps this "socialist Canada" thing would go away. As an ex-pat Canadian, health care is about the only thing I can remember not having to pay for.
J. Dryden says:
That was *precisely* my reaction to Toronto. "It's like Chicago, only cleaner." Enjoy your time there!
Ryan says:
My parents are headed up for the holiday weekend; the weather looks beautiful.
I hope all of you have a horrible time while I'm stuck in Michigan.
dbsmall says:
Tim Horton's. Double Double.
(Not the same as an In-and-out Double-double)
Also, my son really likes their donuts.
Seconding the hot dog carts.
(and, if you have time, and the interest, was floored by the Royal Canadian Museum's collection of dinosaur bones.)
SV says:
Hello,
I am sure you've already checked "36 hours in Toronto" but just to be safe:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/travel/17hours.html
Wifi is not readily accessible in Toronto and I am not sure why. Most public libraries in the US have free wireless, not the case in Toronto. It can be quite annoying.
Regards,
SV
J. A. Baker says:
You know, read a certain way, those last two sentences sound particularly naughty. :P LOL
Joanna says:
Tim Horton's? I envy your digestive fortitude.
Jeff says:
When I've gone to Canada, the hotel's I've been to have wifi in at least the lobby (though I've never been to Toronto).
Nothing was quite as surprising when I left Indiana for upstate NY and found Tim Horton's everywhere. Wonderful doughnuts, in my opinion.
hR says:
Is it moose urine up there?
Prudence says:
The Canadians love Timmy Horton's so much they spent $2M to open one on Kandahar Air Field. I've seen it, and weirdly, the doughnuts taste just like the ones in Canada. Mmm…
jazzbumpa says:
As one of my Canuck friends put it – for a Canadian, what could be better than buying donuts from a hockey player?!? But it's not just Tim's. Toronto has a damned donut shop of some sort on every corner.
Here in the Detroit area we have Tim's everywhere. It is really, really dangerous.
Desmond says:
To each his own, but in my qualified opinion as a Canadian, there's really nothing special about the coffee. Maybe I'm just too accustomed to the stuff, but I'd take McDonald's over Tims any day.
edub says:
Had the same trouble with wifi in Montreal recently. We had to go to a local coffee shop to get connected.
Even so, I'm gonna have to put Toronto on my must visit list.
Val says:
It's unfortunate that you did not have access to internet at your hotel. I don't know if that's the trend at all hotels, but it sucks.
Now, there are many coffee shops with free internet access. Years ago we had free internet in a the downtown area, but that was a pilot project from the city.
I'm glad you liked Toronto, it's a great place!
Robert says:
Poutine! I made some for a couple of Canuckistani nationals I know recently. Not like Tim's, but still tasty.
Nathan says:
You've got it wrong: we here in the T-Dot (no, we don't really call it that, though some pretend to) are not only socialist, we're hard-line communist, so much so that we deny wifi to rich, fatted, American imperialist tourists.
(It is provided in some city parks, I shit you not. So that makes us hippies, too.)
I don't drink coffee but I have it on good authority that Tim's is shit. Not THE shit, just shit. On the other hand, the beer here…
Johnnyboy says:
Yes, but does Toronto have a LuLu's? Possibly the best chinese anywhere. If they have something close, I'll visit.