Trump says 10 per cent global tariff coming after Supreme Court ruling
There was a day the Royal Family was seen as untouchable.
And let’s face it, certain members of that family have done some pretty wild things, even some would say, shady things. Think toe sucking. Thank you, Sarah Ferguson, for that one. Prince Charles, now the King, doesn’t get off lily white here either. Need I produce certain phone conversations?
But let’s agree, those stories for the most part just produced late night laughs. None of them came to challenge what we’ve witnessed of late from the one-time prince, Andrew, he of Koo Stark fame (yes, I know I’m dating myself; you may have to Google that one). Andrew, just two days ago, was dragged out of the royal sheets early that morning and hustled off for some serious questioning on a serious charge – misconduct in public office. If found guilty you could go to jail for a long time, a very long time.
Why is all this happening? You guessed it – Jeffrey Epstein and the scandal that’s costing a lot of people their reputations, their jobs, and in some cases, their lives. Unless, of course, you are caught up in this mess, but you are also a friend or an acquaintance, or better still, a cabinet secretary of one Donald J. Trump. Then it seems you get what the one-time prince may never get: a get out of jail free card.
Hannah Furness, the Royal Editor of The Telegraph, helped out by some of her colleagues:
Andrew leaves police station after Epstein scandal arrest
Moving on, how do you think Donald Trump felt when he was told that Mark Carney may be masterminding a huge new global trade pact between the European Union and certain Indo-Pacific countries?
The pact would be specifically to set up trade patterns without having to rely on the United States. You think he’d be upset? You betcha. Well, if Carney has those powers to create new trade pacts, maybe he should try his hand at peace talks. Maybe he could replace Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is globe-trotting the world trying to work out peace deals in the name of his boss. Maybe Carney should try that. Sit at the table with Putin and Zelensky. Just think, if he could pull that off, he’d probably win the Nobel Peace Prize. Just imagine how popular that would be with you know who.
All right, enough silly thoughts. Let’s focus on whatever Carney’s role is in this big trade deal. This piece in Politico has it covered:
Carney offers to ‘broker a bridge’ to build giant anti-Trump trade club
This was a big week for Mark Carney on another front, and you can be sure Donald Trump was getting briefed on this too.
It’s another example of Canada moving away from the United States. It’s the country’s defence industrial strategy. Veteran analyst and commentator Don Newman has his thoughts on this in Policy Magazine:
Carney’s Shift of Canada’s Defence Centre of Gravity
So, if all these moves make Carney look stronger and Trump look weaker, and that’s a big “if”, but if they do, where does that lead?
Some people think it leads to an election. Maybe, says a man who knows a lot about back-room strategy, Robin Sears:
Remember when the NDP used to be a player on the national stage?
It wasn’t that long ago that the late Jack Layton was the talk of national politics. Well, his party and its members are barely on the national stage now, but they’re hoping that will change when they have a new leader. They had another debate this week, their final one, of the five who want to be leader. The Canadian Press had a synopsis of what happened:
NDP leadership candidates pitch their rebuilding plans to voters in final debate
Time to check in with our two major YouTube podcasts from this week.
Good Talk with Bruce Anderson and Chantal Hebert can be found here.
(Here’s the Politico poll we discussed).
And the latest Moore Butts conversation is available right here.
With millions of documents about the Epstein story now being released, just how are news organizations dealing with the massive job of trying to determine what’s in them, what’s reportable, and what’s significant?
This is where transparency is important, sharing with your audience what you are up against and how you are making the decisions about what’s important to report and what isn’t. The New York Times has a great piece this month answering some of those questions:
How The Times Is Digging Into Millions of Pages of Epstein Files
Anyone wondering about signs that dementia, or to be exact, Alzheimer’s, may be a worry in their future or the future for those they care about, will find this interesting.
It’s from Carolyn Y. Johnson in the Washington Post:
🔒 New Approach Roughly Predicts When Alzheimer's Symptoms Begin
Did you see that amazing video the other day of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in a fist fight?
A real punch-up. Or was it? It wasn’t. It was a fake video created by AI to add to the list of where you are left asking the question: “Was that real?” AI videos have come a long way, as the NY Times found out:
Why an A.I. Video of Tom Cruise Battling Brad Pitt Spooked Hollywood
Remember all the big talk that Donald Trump had about Greenland a few weeks ago?
Invasion. Purchase. He was putting Greenland up front in all his chatter about expanding his territory. Well, so far at least, he hasn’t, and it may have just been all talk. But it turns out it was talk Greenland is now benefitting from. Think tourism:
