Taking InRefinement Seriously January 31 -- March 31, 2025

 I created InRefinement Inc. and this Blog several years ago. Its last entry was inked on March 29, 2025 when I was thinking about personal changes (I called the experiment InRefinement) that I might consider during the last years of my life. [But ultimately, refinement is a journey rather than a destination. It's an ongoing commitment to improvement challenging us to elevate the ordinary into the extraordinary. Copilot] The last entry was written March 25 wherein my closing remarks on the disaster that follow Donald Trump's pronouncements has started a Tariff War with Mexico, and Canada, and Greenland, and with China. If you agree or disagree with my assertions please take whatever action you deem appropriate.

The previous entry written on March 17 was not by me, but by the acclaimed political activist American Ralph Nader who at 91 years of age is as feisty as ever. Mr. Nader has considerable clout in consumer protection and American government reforms throughout his adult life. 

This post dates back to its inception on February 3, 2025 and will end on March 31, 2025. 

I understand you may be confused because my last entry is the first to read, and my first thought is last to read. I did this to assist those readers who may have visited this blog several weeks ago. This procedure allows them to easily skip the earlier comments. Does this work for those of you who are reading this material for the first time? No, that's good.

Thank you for your interest.

Introduction:

My interpretation of InRefinement applies to personal growth in core values and skills but continually refined through learning and experiences. It can also be technical improvements in functional but rudimentary equipment. But ultimately, refinement is a journey rather than a destination. It's an ongoing commitment to improvement challenging us to elevate the ordinary into the extraordinary. (Copilot)

Visual refinement can take many forms: perhaps the thought of a well dressed man in the Gatsby era wearing a tailored suit with casual but sharp lines, a waistcoat, a pocket watch, a vintage tie pin, and a smoking pipe hanging from his lip could establish the look of a refined person.

This person shall be known as Alexander McSage

Several years ago I may have introduced my one employee/employer incorporated company as the brainwave of the fictitious Alexander McPope. [I created that person (who is now known as Alexander McSage from February 2025 onward).] That was then, and now I am writing what I ask you to read. Additionally, I'll quote significant others with supporting credit. 

InRefinement Inc.'s solo employer/employee Gary L McDonald

I enjoyed being Alexander McPope and so has my lovely sister Marilyn whose nom de plume is Weed, for she has recently renamed him Alexander McSage.

Forgive me, I digress from time to time. I want to take this writing seriously. Furthermore, I believe that my long contemplative life--83years--at present creates opportunities to look for refinement every waking day. No one can change one's response or behaviour during past occasions, but now I choose to look forward and consider what I may say or do if the same or similar circumstance arises.

A pearl of wisdom that came to me today is from our youngest son Rob who works at a major Canadian Bank: "So using this agile process as a reference, never stop learning,  growing and striving to make things clearer and better for the next person because every pomodoro counts." (Rob McDonald)

When in India a few years ago Terryl and I dropped into a home where Mahatma Gandhi lived. His abode is now a museum of artifacts, letters and materials marking his lifetime and the impact he made on mankind. This sculpture is proudly displayed along with his childhood chair/desk and his July 23, 1939 letter to Adolf Hitler stating, "...Today you are the one person who can prevent a war...." There are many simple poignant pieces marking his effective life learning and teaching the quality of mercy and peace among men.

Mahatma Gandhi Oct 2, 1869 -- January 30, 1948

It's March 29, 2025 with only two days remaining in my InRefinement Experiment. I'm asking myself what have I learned? What have I thought about changing if similar circumstances reoccur in my life? Am I ready to do anything as a result of this self analysis? I know there is no one of us on this earth that cannot be a better person. I've known that for a long time. What I had tried for was one of specifics: let's call it item A, item B and item C, etcetera. 

    I have now thought for two days and arrived at a conclusion. I'm not providing an answer in this post because it would need to be specific. After thinking about an answer I realized there would be no place for another idea that may spring to mind in a month or a year from now.

    Believe me if you will. I do hope to never stop learning and trying to be the best guy that I can be at all times. Thank you for reading my thoughts that conclude right below this paragraph. The inception of this you will find at the start of this post.

Four days earlier;

March 25, 2025 is 55 years after the birth of our son Gregory Leonard McDonald. My two sons have been shining examples of light that brightened and paved the paths of my life. Happy Birthday Greg.

In my last post I indicated the last word on a problem would be written by Ralph Nader. Well I can't do that. This problem is more than our governments' issues and problems; it is every one's problem. Full stop.

In the USA we have a president who said that all of its citizens were not above the rule of law. Do you remember Trump's chants "Lock them up." It mattered not that his targets were honoured citizens like Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and many more. He was talking about his enemies, but not the gang who raided The Capital building on January 6, 2020, who attempted to take over the place and injure more than a hundred respected caretakers of their historical and functioning government offices. From Trump there was no lock them up, it was go in there and fight like hell for your freedom. One of the rioters was caught on tape saying, "Kill Pence" (vice president of USA). 

We are now in Trump's second term as president (five years later) whereby the freshly minted commander in chief pardoned and released those same rioters from various prison terms under 'his rule of law.'

After 61 days of Trump's second term as president he has also violated the rule of law by blackmailing major law firms for engaging any citizen or company who argue against Trump or his government in a court of law. Does that bother you as much as it does me? Trump has disallowed several major news outlets from the Whitehouse because they don't speak well of him and his current activities for example, dumping roughly half of the government department's employees that assist seniors, war veterans and citizens requiring various social services such as health care and employment assistance and support. Does he know that the phones are ringing but not answered now? Do you think he is satisfied with these results of his Executive Order or does he need more evidence that his orders have produced negative results? The Tsunami of Lawsuits and Executive Orders that follow the Republican Party's method of government will hammer our shores. And I mean all of us from the Gulf of America [Mexico], the shores of the Pacific, Atlantic and the Arctic.

Inside the USA the war that is unfolding is a Tariff War that Trump has started between the US and Canada, and Mexico, and Greenland and China so far. Why is it called a war? In our globalized well-connected world's economies, a Tariff War could and probably would financially destroy us. The reasons to fight back are clear.

In Canada we have been terrorized by newly created Trump's tariff announcements foreign to his signed 2018 USMCA agreement. At the time he said, "This is the finest Tariff agreement that we have ever had." Fast forward to 2025 and Trump now states, "And Canada is one of the worst." [regarding tariffs.] What changed Mr. Tump? Canadians know how tariffs work. Nothing has changed, your citizens paid the agreed to tariff to the USA, and our citizens paid the agreed to tariff to Canada--that is the way tariffs work and everyone received the goods and services they needed and remained competitive in world markets. The change we are having to deal with is that you have gotten it into your head that you are a King who is above the law. Furthermore, you want to annex Canada and make it your 51st State. What an insult to Canada, a country that has been more than an agreeable neighbour and supporter of the USA for more than two centuries now; that's 200 Mr. President not 2,000. 

In the year 2025 your newly bloated tariffs have forced  Mexico and Canada to ask you not to make the mistake of doubling or tripling your tariff on our goods and services. Why? Because if you don't listen to rational-thinking and put a stop to these ill-considered increased tariffs we will be forced to do the same and therefore cripple three North American economies instead of none. Your current proposal will make many North American exporting companies non-competitive in its own backyard. Why would the USA want to be in an isolated position like this? We in Canada certainly don't.

I predict that European, African and Asian countries will not add significant tariffs between themselves, which will give them a field day in trade and prosperity simply because they have not increased the price of their products to their trading partners.

We are having an election in Canada to provide Governmental leadership for the next four years. The three main parties' leaders now view Trump as an enemy. That's not just Canada talking, it's most countries that have worked with all of North America regarding free trade. They may be worried that the daggers that have been thrown by Trump at Mexico, Canada and Greenland will soon find their way to European, African and Asian countries who have fairly traded with the USA.

I promise to do everything I can to make the citizens of the USA and Canada aware of the trauma Trump has already caused and will continue to create if he is not stopped. I solicit help from all citizens to hound both government's leaders to make the changes necessary now, and not to wait for their mid-term elections to do it for them. At the very least, lets let Trump sit powerlessly on his throne-like chair and be the King he thinks he is. 

To add additional fuel igniting the fire that may stop Trump from destroying global economies I have included several significant individuals comments to this blog. This addition comes from Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum:

“So, you voted to build a wall.

Well,  dear Americans, even if geography isn’t your strong suit—since you  consider America a country rather than a continent—you should know that  beyond that wall, there are 7 billion people.

And  since the word 'people' might not resonate with you, let’s call them  'consumers.' 

These 7 billion consumers can switch from iPhones to  Samsung or Huawei in less than two days. 

They can swap Levi’s for Zara or Massimo Dutti and, within six months, replace Ford and Chevrolet with Toyota, KIA, Mazda, Honda, Hyundai, Volvo, Subaru, Renault, or  BMW—brands that often outperform in quality.

They can cancel Direct TV, and though they might not want to, they can stop watching Hollywood films in favour of higher-quality productions from Latin America or Europe, which offer richer narratives and better cinematography.

Believe it or not, people can skip Disney and instead visit the Xcaret resort in Cancun, or explore destinations in Mexico, Canada, South America, and  Europe. 

Even in Mexico, you’ll find better hamburgers than McDonald's, with superior nutritional value.

Have  you ever seen pyramids in the U.S.? 

Egypt, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, and Sudan all have ancient wonders—none of them in the U.S. 

If they did, Trump would probably have bought and sold them by now.

We know that Nike isn’t the only sneaker brand—there’s Adidas, and even Mexican brands like Panam. 

We understand the economy more than you think.

And we also know that if these 7 billion consumers stop buying American products, unemployment will rise, and your economy—trapped within its self-imposed wall—will crumble to the point where you'll beg us to tear  it down.

We didn’t want to do this, but... You wanted a wall? 

Well, you got one.” 

(Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum's "So You Voted to Build a Wall' message to Trump and to the world has been copied from Social Media.)

Claudia Sheinbaum will flatten Trump in any language

Who has the power to say or write these famous words to Donald Trump that Mahatma Gandhi wrote to Adolf Hitler in 1939 "...Today you are the one person who can prevent a war..."? Will Trump respond to these words like a Dictator or a President? My answer is a Dic.....!

If we are not successful in ending this Tariff War then we'll watch a financial disaster roar onto our shores. Let us not forget the authoritarian rulers that created our 1939--1945 Tsunami.

Here’s Trump shouting over Zelensky “You don’t have any cards and you never said thank you.” [Except for your minerals we'll take for debt repayment.]

Six days earlier: 

Today is March 17, 2025 and I have concluded that my remarks regarding Trump and Canada's Trade War with the USA has taken enough of our time. So, I'll close my argument and leave you with an American's point of view regarding this almost unbelievable daily news coming out of the Whitehouse. I believe Ralph Nader's comments plucked from a USA News source, is worth your while. 

"There are reasons why influential or knowledgeable Americans are staying silent as the worsening fascist dictatorship of the Trumpsters and Musketeers gets more entrenched by the day. Most of these reasons are simple cover for cowardice.

Start with the once-powerful Bush family dynasty. They despise Trump as he does them. Rich and comfortable George W. Bush is very proud of his Administration’s funding of AIDS medicines saving lives in Africa and elsewhere. Trump, driven by vengeance and megalomania, moved immediately to dismantle this program. Immediate harm commenced to millions of victims in Africa and elsewhere who are reliant on this U.S. assistance (including programs to lessen the health toll on people afflicted by tuberculosis and malaria).

Not a peep from George W. Bush, preoccupied with his landscape painting and perhaps occasional pangs of guilt from his butchery in Iraq. His signal program is going down in flames and he keeps his mouth shut, as he has largely done since the upstart loudmouth Trump ended the Bush family’s power over the Republican Party.

Then there are the Clintons and Obama. They are very rich, and have no political aspirations. Yet, though horrified by what they see Trump doing to the government and its domestic social safety net services they once ruled, mum’s the word.
What are these politicians afraid of as they watch the overthrow of our government and the oncoming police state? Trump, after all, was not elected to become a dictator—declaring war on the American people with his firings and smashing of critical “people’s programs” that benefit liberals and conservatives, red state and blue state residents alike.
Do they fear being discomforted by Trump/Musk unleashing hate and threats against them, and getting tarred by Trump’s tirades and violent incitations? No excuses. Regard for our country must take precedence to help galvanize their own constituencies to resist tyranny and fight for Democracy.

What about Kamala Harris — the hapless loser to Trump in November’s presidential election? She must think she has something to say on behalf of the 75 million people who voted for her or against Trump. Silence! She is perfect bait for Trump’s intimidation tactics. She is afraid to tangle with Trump despite his declining polls, rising inflation, the falling stock market and anti-people budget slashing which is harming her supporters and Trump voters’ economic wellbeing, health and safety.

This phenomenon of going dark is widespread. Regulators and prosecutors who were either fired or quit in advance have not risen to defend their own agencies and departments, if only to elevate the morale of those civil servants remaining behind and under siege.
Why aren’t we hearing from Gary Gensler, former head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), now being dismantled, especially since the SEC is dropping his cases against alleged cryptocurrency crooks?
Why aren’t we hearing much more (she wrote one op-ed) from Samantha Power, the former head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under Biden, whose life-saving agency is literally being illegally closed down, but for pending court challenges?

Why aren’t we hearing from Michael Regan, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under Biden about saboteur Lee Zeldin, Trump’s head of EPA, who is now giving green lights to lethal polluters and other environmental destructions?

These and many other former government officials all have their own circles – in some cases, millions of people – who need to hear from them.
They can take some courage of the seven former I.R.S. Commissioners — from Republican and Democratic Administrations — who condemned slicing the I.R.S staff in half and aiding and abetting big time tax evasion by the undertaxed super-rich and giant corporations. I am told that they would be eager to testify, should the Democrats in Congress have the energy to hold unofficial hearings as ranking members of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees.

Banding together is one way of reducing the fear factor. After Trump purged the career military at the Pentagon to put his own “yes men” at the top, five former Secretaries of Defense, who served under both Democratic and Republican presidents, sent a letter to Congress denouncing Trump’s firing of senior military officers and requesting “immediate” House and Senate hearings to “assess the national security implications of Mr. Trump’s dismissals.” Not a chance by the GOP majority there. But they could ask the Democrats to hold UNOFFICIAL HEARINGS as ranking members of the Armed Services Committees!
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker can be one of the prime witnesses at these hearings – he has no fear of speaking his mind against the Trumpsters.
On March 6, 2025, the Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Times, Elisabeth Bumiller, put her rare byline on an urgent report titled, “‘People Are Going Silent’: Fearing Retribution, Trump Critics Muzzle Themselves.”
She writes: “The silence grows louder every day. Fired federal workers who are worried about losing their homes ask not to be quoted by name. University presidents [one exception is Wesleyan University President Michael Roth] fearing that millions of dollars in federal funding could disappear are holding their fire. Chief executives alarmed by tariffs that could hurt their businesses are on mute.”

To be sure, government employees and other unions are speaking out and suing in federal court. So are national citizen groups like Public Citizen and the Center for Constitutional Rights, though hampered in alerting large audiences by newspapers like the Times rarely reporting their initiatives.
Yes, Ms. Bumiller, pay attention to that aspect of your responsibility. Moreover, the Times’ editorial page (op-ed and editorials) are not adequately reflecting the urgency of her reporting. Nor are her reporters covering the informed outspokenness and actions of civic organizations.

Don’t self-censoring people know that they are helping the Trumpian dread, threat and fear machine get worse? Study Germany and Italy in the nineteen thirties. [ ***** These five red stars drawing your attention to Nader's penultimate paragraph are added by yours truly, Gary L McDonald.]
The Trump/Musk lawless, cruel, arrogant, dictatorial regime is in our White House. Their police state infrastructure is in place. Silence is complicity!"
 

Ralph Nader is an American political activist in his 91st year

Two days earlier:

Today's date is March 15, 2025. Our new Prime Minister is Mark Carney picked by 87% of the Liberal Party supporters to replace Justin Trudeau who had served for 11 years as PM. Carney then appointed 28 current MP's to his cabinet. A Federal election needs to be held soon, but before that the people of our great nation will need Carney to be elected.

Carney's first visit outside of Canada took place the following day when he flew to Europe. Under normal circumstance he would have travelled to the USA first, but these are not 'business-as-usual' days. We are at war with the USA--a longtime friend and ally of Canada. Pundits call it a Trade War with Donald J Trump the President of the USA. Why? During America's run up to election day in November 2024 Trump declared that tariffs are the answer to some of their economic woes, and, that he would announce 25 to 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum exported from Canada and Mexico to the USA. He did that one day after his inauguration on January 20, 2025. Many felt he wouldn't do it, but Le Grande Orange did what he said he would and damn the torpedoes full speed ahead. Well those 'bombs' were felt at home and around the world.

The stock markets cratered 5% instantly and the rest of the Democratic world's leaders got together to come up with a plan to limit the damage that would soon hit them in their economic gut.

When Mark Carney returns to Canada he/they will have a plan and the USA will be put in a position that their people do not deserve. That nasty place is called 'Isolation.' The people of the USA don't deserve it because their recent history (before Trump that is) tells a different story: one of friendship with her allies providing military and social assistance around the world has provided humanity with 80 years of peace.

Trump has also made a serious error by putting unelected Elon Musk--of Tesla fame--in charge of his newly appointed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has taken a chainsaw to many departments and discharged up to 70% of their staff with ruthless abandon. District and Supreme Court Judges have declared many cuts to be unlawful and told Trump's Republicans to rehire them. Here is an example of a person in Arizona who was fired and then subsequently rehired for a position in Washington DC. Musk's people demanded her to report for duty in three days time or the position would no longer be available.

The newspapers and television News are full of similar and different examples across the board. One dangerous example is the Department that monitors the safe storage and management of nuclear weaponry housed in North America has had major human dismissals that experts declare will make these facilities unsafe for Americans as well, as the rest of us around the world. 

I've written a great deal about this matter and sincerely hope that sanity returns to DJT who would like to be the leader of the free world: a title that many before him like FDR and JFK have justly earned.

Four days earlier:

On March 11, 2025 the USA and Canada are involved in a Trade War. President Donald J Trump has claimed for all the world to hear that Canada has been taking billions of dollars more than a signed agreement in 1988 (NAFTA) which was then revised in 2018 and signed (USMCA) by US, Mexico and Canada on November 30, 2018.

Trump is using brown numbers and dollar signs; meaning their brownish colour are issued and filtered through his lower orifice.

In Canada the Liberal Party elected a new leader in Mark Carney who has been the Governor of the Bank of Canada 2008 to 2013, followed by the Governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. Carney will be Prime Minister of Canada effective March 13, 2025 at a time when most Canadians feel a new election will be called soon. Carney will be going head to head against the Leader of the Opposition (Pierre Poilievre) with his aim to be Prime Minister of Canada with a majority, and not a minority that the governing Liberals have had with our past Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Of course I have watched and read the subscribed news confirming whose thoughts and hopes are best for the USMCA, but not according to Trump any more. He states the USA has been ripped off long enough by Canada, and he's doing something about it with his 25% and 50% Tariffs on Canadian goods entering the USA. Trump was President when USMCA was signed in 2018 which makes one wonder why he signed it all.

Personally, I don't believe I can do or say anything to alter the input or final result of this trade war. Please advise me if you think I could, other than buy only Canadian made products? However, I will follow our economic situation and learn as much as possible about Tariffs: and who it helps or hinders as a result. That effort and process does follow my current pursuit identified in this Blog.

Mark Carney 

This is what I have found when the USA announces a Tariff on Canadian made aluminum purchased and then shipped to the USA:

• What they are:

  Tariffs are essentially taxes on imports, meaning goods brought into a country from another country. 
• Who pays:

  The companies importing the goods (USA) pay the tariffs to their home country's government (USA) 

  Question-- What will the USA government do with all the extra money coming from the American consumer? 
• Why they are used:

  Tariffs are used for various reasons, including:

  • To protect domestic industries: By making imported goods more expensive, tariffs can make domestically produced goods more competitive. 
  • To raise government revenue: Tariffs can be a source of income from American consumers and paid to the government. (USA) 
  • To influence trade: Tariffs can be used to encourage or discourage the import of certain goods or services. 
  • To exert political leverage: Tariffs can be used as a tool in trade negotiations or to respond to actions taken by other countries. (In this situation the USA is initiating the Tariff.)
• How they work:

  When a company imports goods or services into their own country, it must pay the tariff along with any other import duties and taxes. The company will then add the cost of the tariff to the overall price of their product or service, which is then passed on to the consumer. (USA) 

The above explanation is as complete as we need.

Now if we can get Trump (and his butt kissers) to read this, maybe, just maybe everyone will come to their senses and end this disturbing thought that "Canada should be annexed to become the USA's 51st State." (So sayeth Donald J Trump.) 

Four days earlier:

This is a red-letter day March 7, 2025, for on this day, and two days earlier I decided to complete my 2024 Income Tax Return on my computer. I have a suspicion that the software my paid accountant has been using for the last fourty years is one and the same, albeit with constant fundamental revisions that technological improvements demand. 

I think this decision falls into our InRefinement goal 'to gain personal growth in core values and skills' continually refined through learning and experiences.

At this point the return is finished. If more documents arrive in my mailbox the information can be dropped into place and the magic 'return' key will do the required mathematics in a flash. 

Apple MacAir fully loaded

Two days earlier:

Today is the second day of the tariff (war) between the initiator (USA), and her closest neighbours and allies (Canada and Mexico), the recipients. Today is March 5, 2025 one day after the USA--through Donald Trump's address to Congress--delivered their government's gilded account of benefits to USA, as well as hardship that will fall on Canada and Mexico.

Trump's assessment is that Canada and Mexico have had the upper hand regarding the USMCA trade agreement, signed in 2019 was long enough, and it was high time that America drew the long stick and put it to its neighbours without any discussion verbally or written toward an acceptable agreement between three governments and finance ministers of all concerned. Canada is expected to retaliate with tariff's of their own today and Mexico will do the same in six days time.

In my view these dictates will create more problems than promised benefits for most of the working people of our three countries, and I hope that additional industrial graveyards are not unnecessarily spawned from these initiatives.  

The Ship Graveyard of Montevideo Uruguay

Five days earlier:

It's February 28, 2025: the last day of February. 

During the past week we cancelled the New York Times, enjoyed lunch with Peggy Fraser Smith at Piper Arms in Burlington, voted for Doug Ford as the Premier of Ontario, listened to two men and two women vying for the Liberal Leadership prior to the Canadian Federal election this spring, hit golf balls at Brampton Golf Club Simulator, and generally had a good time well spent.

These activities are routine except the cancellation of the NYT daily digital news. I ascertained that my digital daily inbox is too full. And because I receive three newspapers daily, I thought one must go--leaving me with one Canadian and one USA source for news should reduce my perusal of digital content by about 35%. [I've also gained valuable time by lessoning the bane of my existence called Donald J Trump.] I will unsubscribe to emails that I delete within three seconds of seeing the subject line, therefore opening up more time studying the Portuguese language, reading more book material and experiencing new thoughts by accident, or by design.

This feels like house cleaning and getting things in the 'out with the old and in with the new' category as well as liberating additional time. The above falls into InRefinement addressed in this post. And it's working.

Before we leave this date, "a day that will go down in infamy." A word used by Franklin D. Roosevelt right after December 7, 1941 and the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

President Donald Trump and JD Vance of the USA hosted President Zelensky of the Ukraine  in the Whitehouse Oval Office. According to many in journalistic fields Trump and Vance raised their voices to silence Zelensky several times when he was talking. Their collective purpose was supposed to discuss ways and means of bringing Putin of Russia to the table and discuss a peace treaty. Out of the blue Trump behaved improperly--demanding an apology as well as scolding Zelensky with comments suggesting he was in a weak position and wasn't holding any cards. Zelensky said he wasn't playing a card game; he was here attempting to end a war that has killed thousands of people in the last three years in Ukraine and Russia. This type of over-heated discussion displayed by Trump and Vance may have been tolerated in private meetings but never when the room is full of reporters and cameras. (Try to find it on news reports on many of the world's agencies.) I'm recalling an occasion where Trump continuously talked over Joe Biden in a debate in 2020 forcing Biden to say to the moderator, "Does this guy ever shut up?" 

Four days earlier:

The last ten days have passed and we are enjoying February 24, 2025 while getting ready to drive to Burlington and visit with Peggy Fraser Smith for lunch at a local pub. Peggy prefers pubs over her senior home's dining room so we'll be going to a new one of these. So far we've enjoyed The Judge and the Pipers Arms only a few minutes from her home. When we return I'll post a picture and some copy of our activity on this day. 

Instead, this is a magnificent Amaryllis on our coffee table

Ten days earlier:

Today is the day after February 14, 2025 or, Valentine's Day: a day for expressing love for our near-dear ones in the memory of Saint Valentine who lived in Ancient Roman times.

My nearest and dearest for the last twenty-five years has been Terryl A. Smith; I call her Pud. We were introduced by a mutual friend who described us to one another, and, also by another woman who voiced a particular view of me long before we would meet at a Christmas party. Terryl and I first met on October 28 for a drink at a bar named Bert and Ernies. I wore a plastic bag covering my right foot (a recent bunion surgery) and she wore a beautiful smile under her nicely groomed red hair. Our second date was six weeks later at a Christmas party attended by many of Terryl's friends who worked for Air Canada. That night was my window on Terryl's world. I liked what I saw: lots of men and women in their middle ages working, playing and sometime commiserating with each other at ground level as well as 35,000 feet. Their's is a three-way bond connecting them more than any group I had ever met.

Last night I surprised Terryl with a red blouse--she never wears red--to wear at  our celebration dinner at a favourite dining room where she was offered a single long stem red rose, and I was presented with a lovely card. In the morning I hopped on the laptop to record my 2024 Valentine's Day letter:

February 14, 2024

To my dearest, kindest, generous and loving Terryl:

We have shared this day for many years now, and yes, it has not been about you or me—it has always been about us.

My love for you fills my days wherever we may be. Our Condo has been something we wanted for years—and we took our time and did it together. Our vacations have been something other couples could only dream of. With you, my dreams have come true.

I promise to make your dreams a reality. 

You are my Valentine today and always will be.

Sent With All my Love,

Your B and my P together FA&A

This is P for Pud, B for Bezel, FA&A for Forever and Always

This photograph was taken on vacation two months ago. Today in Port Credit and surrounds we have a snow warning in place where many establishments are closed. This doesn't happen often, but when it does nothing much changes for me. I think about my past and look ahead to learn more about myself, and where I can potentially find Refinement and write about it.

Three days earlier:

I've been reading or listening to the news as written by New York Times, Washington Post, and the Globe and Mail on February 11, 2025 from 06:15 until 09:30. And now I'm writing while in night attire and had a thought: What do I feel about the news compared to what I may have thought 30 years ago? If it's a weekday I wouldn't have the time that I have now; if it's the weekend I would. 

The digital world is all around us. The newspapers I read on my computer cost a pittance compared to the non-digital world of ink on paper where I had earned a comfortable living at Arthurs Jones Lithographing from 1963 to 1998. 

I'm thinking about the luck I had employing AJ's best years as a craft-oriented process. That concept changed when higher technical digital equipment took the wrench out of the hands of the craftsman and handed the baton over to the computer. I realized that then, and certainly now. 

A thought for today begs the question; Is that a good thing or not? I say the answer is blowing in the wind and the wind never stops blowing--especially in every different direction. Let's talk about communication in Television, Phones, Books, and Social Media. Our TV's are gigantic with incredible clarity in enormous sizes; has it put 'going to the movies' out of business yet? Our phones travel with us 24/7 and provide a slew of additional functions that would have been handled by other means and/or people only 17 years ago; has the phone become our best friend yet? The printing of a book took weeks or months to execute the old process, now after the file has been turned into dots and pixels and successfully stored, we press a button, print, bind, hold and read it the next day; are there fewer people employed today, and God knows there are many more different books to choose from? After all these years Social Media has given everyone a voice and pen to write and publish their thoughts which could be heard and read by millions of people that they will never meet; has some of this information been referred to as noise? In these times I feel it is more important to be selective on what avenues of communication one chooses to reduce the noise, and allow only that which makes us grow in kindness to our fellow man; to gain truthful intelligence and share with our fellow man; and above all to learn and grow into the person we would like to be. 

 

Salvador Dali was a craftsman with a wonderful imagination

Two days earlier:

On February 9, 2025 we are watching the Phoenix Golf tournament with Thomas Detry a European leading by 5 strokes followed by Burger, Spieth and McIntyre with 7 holes to play. [Detry went on to win by 7 strokes.]

Additionally, we are reading The Washington Post and an article revealing Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) efforts to revamp the workplace and output of other government departments in the USA. Here is some of it: "In less than three weeks, Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service has followed the same playbook at one federal agency after another: Install loyalists in leadership. Hoover up internal data, including the sensitive and the classified. Gain control of the flow of funds. And push hard — by means legal or otherwise — to eliminate jobs and programs not ideologically aligned with Trump administration goals. The DOGE campaign has generated chaos on a near-hourly basis across the nation’s capital. But it appears carefully choreographed in service of a broader agenda to gut the civilian workforce, assert power over the vast federal bureaucracy and shrink it to levels unseen in at least 20 years. The aim is a diminished government that exerts less oversight over private business, delivers fewer services and comprises a smaller share of the U.S. economy — but is far more responsive to the directives of the president." (Author Jeff Stein)

“Chaos is often the birthplace of new orders, new systems and new paradigms. Washington doesn’t know how to deal with people who refuse to play the game by their rules,” said investor Shervin Pishevar, a longtime friend of Musk’s. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk are two different storms backed by a majority of Americans — one political, one technological. But both are tearing through the same rotting structure.”

I met Dennis Oliver a few years ago because he and Suzanne LaFerrier (a friend of Terryl's) began to date. The word 'Chaos' was used by Dennis in a conversation about careers and how they may have evolved for some of us. One of many ideas Dennis used is: "To look for a situation where confusion or chaos abounds and create a program or thought to clear the confusion, and then, make that your career."

"Musk’s allies have established their strongest footholds in three agencies: OPM, which oversees the federal workforce; GSA, which controls real estate and logistics; and the Department of the Treasury, which manages the nation’s finances. Each office aligns with a key Musk goal: to reduce the number of government workers, to diminish the government’s overall footprint and to slow the flow of government cash to recipients deemed unworthy." Written by WP editors.

This is me talking now: Musk and Trump are two different storms for sure, but I don't believe the majority of Americans are backing their current activity within the Government Department's 'rotting structures.' My take on their actions is to slow down and study initiatives placed years ago instead of the 'slash and burn' employee positions out of existence immediately.

These two men along with others who support the DOGE current activity with Federal employees is a disaster when looked at from a humanitarian's point of view.

One day earlier:

We have reached Saturday February 8, 2025 and the end of a week where plenty of political issues are building in Canada and the USA. We have the Ontario Provincial Election with Doug Ford (Premier) wanting a new mandate allowing him to effectively deal with the proposed tariffs put on our goods entering USA, and immediately following the election of a replacement for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a Federal election in Canada will be called. 

However, with all of this political action here in Canada the American News is top-of-mind for this writer. Elon Musk has been given carte blanche access to many established administrations by Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). And that is to slash and burn processes to save money. Almost every headline in the news coming from the USA has Trump's name attached to it. And most of it is not in admiration of his presidency, or of Elon Musk's initiatives as a nominated unelected official. Bernie Sanders was a US Representative for 16 years before he was first elected to the US Senate in 2006 and continues to serve to this day. I watched him perform last night and he was brilliant in his speech detailing the decline of the USA especially in the last 19 days: the day of Trump's inauguration as president. It's on you tube forever.

One day earlier:

Rorschach and Logorrhea are brand new words for me now that February 7, 2025 has arrived. I don't believe I will ever use them in conversation; in writing that's another reality.

Amor Towles writes few words not easily known by most readers in his book The Lincoln Highway. Why not? I believe that he writes his stories to effortlessly get off the page and into as many of his reader's minds with ease and just plain every day vocabulary. Something I have learned over time is (to) write as few words as possible for the message to have (the) clarity (that one needs to have.) [Dear reader, please delete the words from the last sentence that are in brackets and read the sentence again.]

Two days earlier:

Prior to February 5, 2025 the outstanding Canadian citizen Adrienne Clarkson had this to say about Donald J Trump: "Let’s face it: the rules of the game have changed. The election of Donald Trump means we are now in a world whose rules we never imagined could be broken so quickly and so arbitrarily. When I watch the Rorschach blobs of orange and yellow [Psychological testing in which a person is asked to describe what he or she sees in 10 inkblots in which some are black or gray and others have patches of colour.] that signify the image of the current President of the United States, I diagnose him with logorrhea [pathologically excessive and often incoherent talkativeness or wordiness that is characteristic especially of the manic phrase of bipolar disorder] – he cannot start talking without continuing to talk – and talk – and talk. The moment he sees a microphone, he has to talk. On inauguration day, this 78-year-old man continued nonstop, from microphone to microphone, with his incoherent ramblings."

"At times, I see hope in his condition because he obviously doesn’t know what he’s saying most of the time. However, the people who he has put in power and who are interpreting his instructions are very frightening. He has been democratically given the authority to try anything. He can call the Prime Minister of Denmark and try to buy Greenland. He can rename the Gulf of Mexico and announce that he will take back the Panama Canal."

"We watch Mr. Trump’s breakneck hurtling down the airless passage of monomania. [A condition in which someone is extremely interested in one thing.] We cannot escape it without cutting ourselves off from the reality of everything that is around us."

Thank you Adrienne Clarkson, our former Governor General of Canada who uses generational words to describe La Grande Orange. In her choice of words describing Trump we rest our case. No redirect your honour.

One day earlier:

It's February 4, 2025 and the Tariff issue is top of mind again. Many notable Canadians and others have let us know that Le grand orange (Trump) of the USA is barking up the wrong fruit tree with his announcement that China, Mexico and Canada are getting away with contaminating the juice that will make America great again (MAGA). John Manley, former Finance Minister in Canada and General Milley, former General in the USA army to name only two have written letters in Social Media that tells revealing stories of the damage Trump is doing to his own country as well the CMC. 

    I'm working on mine as we speak.

One day earlier:

On February 3, 2025 news broadcasts on Tariffs between USA, China, Mexico and Canada [CMC] are leading the headlines. The Dow Jones opened at 500 points negative with Nasdaq about the same percentage because previous initiatives announced by the USA against CMC are scheduled to begin at midnight tonight. Why is this happening when there are treaties governing trade in place for years? Because Donald J Trump made it a plank on which he had been elected president of USA last November. From my perspective, Trump might have called CMC saying, Folks I think it’s time for us to renegotiate our trade agreement. He didn’t do that; he selfishly announced his plan to slap a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican exports to USA, plus an additional 10% on China's shipments already tariffed significantly to USA.   

I’ve started this discussion just for you and me to see where this conversation might go.