Saturday, July 5, 2025

A Open Letter to Americans

 Dear America,

Yesterday was a bleak July 4th in the United States, as your country slips deeper and deeper into the authoritarian abyss.  Each and every day, Donald Trump chips away at fundamental democratic rights.  It's very disconcerting that over 70 million Americans voted for him.  Some Trump voters claim that they didn't get what they expected when they supported him.  The writing was certainly on the wall, but they didn't see what was coming.  Some just didn't think Trump actually meant what he said.  They soon discovered that he meant every word of it.  Some were brainwashed by Fox News and social media.  They were fed lie after lie. Despite Trump's record of bankruptcies, they thought he would handle the economy well.  Instead, he imposed tariffs that threaten to upset the economic stability of the world.  These tariffs are expected to send the economies of some countries into recession, including the United States itself.  Make no mistake, Americans are already paying the price for Trump's foolish tariff policy. 

Time and time again, spineless Republicans and corporate media have allowed Trump to get away with things that no other politician has dared to say or do.  He spews hate.  He makes racist remarks and misogynistic statements.  He is the worst bully in the world.  This man is not fit to lead the most powerful country on the planet.  He is ill, mentally and physically.  His cognitive decline is obvious.

I am writing this from Toronto, Canadas.  Like many of my fellow Canadians, I have no desire to travel to the United States.  Nor do I have any desire to buy American products.  I do not blame the American people.  I blame the Trump administration.  I have lived in Canada all my life and I have never seen an American government so hostile to my country.  I have never seen an American leader insult Canada and Canadians the way that Trump does.  I have always known that there is a difference between Canada and the United States.  It pains me to hear that our border is artificial and that Canada should be the 51st state.

On July 1st, Canadians celebrated Canada Day.  Here is what our prime minister, Mark Carney, told the crowd in Ottawa that day.  "Canada, because Canada is more than a nation.  We are, and we always will be, a confederation, a sacred set of ideals and ideas built on practical foundations.  That we know we're not always perfect, but we always strive to be good.  We do things not because they are easy, but because they're right.  That we see kindness as a virtue, not as a weakness.  Most importantly, we know that our strength lies in our resolve to work together as a country.  It relies on our unity."

Prime Minister Mark Carney

Can you imagine Trump saying anything like that?  Never!  Not in a million years.  Trump thinks that kindness is a weakness.  He hates anyone who opposes him politically.  He divides Americans in so many ways.  He continually polarizes.  He builds walls, not bridges.  He hates Democrats and Latino immigrants.  He objectifies women.  He is a malignant narcissist.  Deep inside, like every bully, he is psychologically weak.

There is an unverified quote attributed to Erma Bombeck, a popular American humourist that seems quite ironic and very relevant in 2025: "You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who pile by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness/"  

Erma passed away in 1996 at the age of 69, after a kidney transplant.  She died during the presidency of Barack Obama, so she did not live to witness the Trump era.  The beloved author and columnist would have been shocked to know that the current president did indeed preside over a military parade on June 14th of this year. in Washington.  It was his 79th birthday and he wanted to appear like the dictators he so admires - Vladimir Putin of Russia and Kim Jong Un of North Korea.  The horror is that the United States has the look and feel of Germany in the 1930s.

Emma Bombeck

Erma would have been appalled to see what has happened to America under Trump, especially during his second term in office.  She would have been distressed to see immigrants being hauled away by ICE agents behaving like Gestapo.  She would have been shocked that the president inspected a migrant detention centre in Florida dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz."  Erma would have wanted no part of the hatred that Trump engenders.  Erma made people smile and laugh, but I don't think she would have found anything funny about a president who lacks empathy and compassion, a president who can't even laugh at himself. 

Do not lose hope.  The pendulum swings and all things must pass.


Regards,

Joanne

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Why was B.C. firefighter denied entry into the United States?

Jamie Flynn
Here's another appalling story about the immigration practices of Trump's America.  Jamie Flynn, is a British citizen and a Canadian permanent resident living in Squamish, British Columbia (halfway between Vancouver and Whistler).  He is a firefighter and a Search and Rescue volunteer.  A few day ago, Mr. Flynn was denied entry to the United States from Vancouver International Airport. 

 On Thursday, June 26th, Jamie Flynn posted the following on social media about what happened to him.  

Today I was meant to fly to Birmingham, Alabama to represent @vancouver firefighters / @vanfirerescue and compete in Jiu Jitsu at the World Police & Fire Games (@bhm2025). -- an international event uniting frontline responders through sport.

Instead I was denied entry to the USA.  No reason given.  No appeal.  No answers.  

I'm a British citizen living in Canada.  

I've fought for the United States, wearing their uniform on Special Forces operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I'm a Canadian firefighter, a Search & Rescue volunteer, and I have no criminal record.  

I've trained for months.  I've done everything right.  And still, I'm grounded -- sidelined not by injury or lack of effort, but by bureaucracy and silence.

No one at the US border, the US consulate, or the ESTA program can explain why.  This feels like a clerical error -- but it's cost me thousands of dollars & for what?

I'm gutted.  I'm angry.  And I want answers. 

If you believe this is wrong -- share this post . . . 

"We were good enough to fight their wars - - but not good enough to cross their borders."

I am sharing this story as Jamie Flynn requested.  I certainly believe what happened to him is very wrong, and I am disgusted by how Mr. Flynn was treated by US immigration.  This upstanding citizen, a firefighter who has fought in Iraq and Afghanistan wearing the uniform of the United States, was denied entry to Trump's America.  Why was such a man treated like a criminal?


- Joanne

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Trump and Iran

 
The United States is now at war with Iran.

A single person - Donald J. Trump - has released the dogs of war on one of the most dangerous countries in the world, and done it without the consent of Congress, our allies, or even a clear explanation to the American people.

Anyone who has doubted Trump's intention to replace American democracy with a dictatorship should now be fully disabused.

- Robert Reich, AlterNet, June 22, 2025

The last person in the world I want to write about, or even think about, is Donald Trump,  Unfortunately, he is wreaking havoc on the United States and the rest of the world.  He has threatened the sovereignty of my country - Canada. He is a scourge to humanity.  He is in our face every single day.  The man is totally unhinged and he is in control of the most powerful country in the world.  It is indeed a tragedy that this convicted felon was returned to the Oval Office.

I am writing this because I cannot stand idly by.  I must make my voice heard peacefully, as should all people who support democracy and the rule of law.  No one knows how this chaos will end, but it has to play itself out.

Trump took an oath of office and swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States.  He has violated his oath of office and should be impeached for a third time.  Republicans, who respect the rule of law, should be calling him out.  Instead, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Ted Cruise are standing behind this despot. They stand behind him as he makes the world a more dangerous place by bombing Iran, demonizing hard-working immigrants and cutting foreign aid.  His cruelty is unparalleled for an American president.  His behaviour is that of a petulant child.

Mary Trump, the president's psychologist niece, and one of his fiercest detractors. has suggested that her uncle ordered a missile attack on Iran in part because his "fragile ego" was still hurting from being called TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) by critics.  She said that he felt so humiliated that he launched a military operation that could entangle the United States into a Middle East.  He wanted to appear tough and decisive.

In her The Good in Us newsletter, Mary Trump wrote the following:

It is long past time that we stop imputing some deeper or reasonable motives to Donald Trump. Despite being depraved and cruel, much like his cohort Benjamin Netanyahu, he is driven by the most primitive impulses that center almost solely around protecting his fragile ego from humiliation (about which he has a pathological terror) and himself from the reality that he is a complete fraud.

If Mary is right, then Americans and the rest of humanity are subject to the whims of a leader who shows all the signs of malignant narcissism.  His behaviour is becoming more and more erratic and unpredictable.  He should be nowhere near the nuclear button because he is a sick man.  He probably has some form of dementia, which is only going to get worse as it progresses.  Section 4 of the 25th amendment may have to be invoked.  It reads as follows:

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Sooner or later (I hope sooner), Republicans and Fox News are going to have to admit that the emperor wears no clothes.  They are going to have to admit that Trump is unable to "discharge the powers and duties of his office."


- Joanne

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Suggestion for Summer Reading

It's Summer Reading Time

Today marks the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.  It's the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.  It's also the perfect time to relax with a cold drink and  a good book.  If you are looking for some summer reading during those lazy, hazy days, may I humbly suggest my two novels -  Children of Dieppe and The Missing Reporter.  They are novels of mystery and intrigue.  For further information, click on the link below to reach my author's page. 

Joanne Madden – Author

NOTE:  I am a self-publishing Canadian author.  At the moment, I am working on my third novel, The World Reporter, a sequel to my second novel, The Missing Reporter.  I am grateful for your interest and support.  Thank you very much.  I wish you all a happy, healthy and safe summer.  I know it's not the beginning of summer in places such as Australia and New Zealand,, but you cam enjoy reading during any season of the year.

Sincerely,

Joanne