Close Reading

It’s not a US/Canada thing. It’s a Trump/Putin thing. Who needs enemies with friends like these.

C'mon David, you can't compare this encampment to freedom convoy thugs who honked all night in Ottawa, blocked roads, businesses closed down and couldn't operate, they blocked borders. US/Canada both suffered due to the blockade at Ambassador Bridge. As a long haul Trucker, I couldn't work and I was forced to stay home because of those Convoy thugs. Trudeau did the right thing about Convoy thugs. Yes, I agree, these low-class immigrants and international students shouldn't have been brought here in the first place. They shouldn't be allowed to get jobs here. They shouldn't be allowed to apply for citizenship. Canada needs to cut down on it's immigration. I don't think Poilievre will bring any revolutionary changes. I don't find Poilievre to be smart or intelligent. Poilievre is only good at whining and criticizing. Trudeau must go for all the bad policies and bad decisions he's made. I just wish we had someone like Trump here in Canada.

I remember visiting Canada and trying to get a cell phone data plan, it was imposible as a tourist without any Canadian documents. I ended up paying like $70 usd for 4GB of data with Roger which was insane. Now I just cross US/Canada border and bring my Starlink with me. The things I love about Canada is the dog friendly National Parks and the landscapes. Prices have gotten out of hand ?

The lingering and deeply embedded poison in US/Canada is suburbs. This not how humans have ever lived, or should live. It isolates you from entire human society and only outlet is commercial spaces. It's built to optimize consumption. You absolutely require a car. You sit isolated in a box then get out b$$y more and then get back at home to watch ad$ on TV. Contrast this with how humans even now live in a society that's normally built. EU, Middle East, and old Asian cities. First residential and commercial areas aren't apart by 15 miles. Instead much of the first floor is filled with appropriate commercial shops and offices. Then most streets are walking/biycycle streets, you can bring a car in but wont use it as a road to get to other side as streets are not straight and crampy. You have 5-8 blocks of buildings with walking streets in between them, these clusters of buildings are then surrounded by car roads. For 80% of things you can leave house and walk 5 mins to get them. Groceries, accountant, pharmacy, hardware store, computer store, mobile phone store, ice cream shop, dentist, general doctor, beauty saloon, barber....... all in walking distance located at first floor. This layout promotes cohesion between neighbors, builds community, builds famliarity, provides safety, kids can play in streets as there is no traffic, and it's not unnatural to have social circle of 30+ people due to this. Back to suburb... only natural human connection you are gonna get is church, walmart, parties, and once you leave college/hs... you are done.

Okay. A lot of people here have no clue how the immigration system works both in the US and in Canada. “He should just have come here legally”. Well, most of the time a legal path to emigrating to the US/Canada just does not exist, and its getting more and more impossible to be granted asylum. In the US you can’t just apply for a work visa, you can’t just apply for a green card. You got to be eligible to apply for it. For a work visa you need a job offer first, you need proof of income and most of the time the employer will have to prove they couldn’t find an American to take the position. To get a green card you either have to get married to an American, invest at least $500,000 or try applying for asylum (which is almost impossible to get nowadays). ALSO to apply for asylum you need to be either inside the US or at a US port of entry. Try to be less “patriotic” and more empathetic. People flee their countries because of war, violence, cartels, gangs, terrorism, etc. They are desperate and want to protect their families and have a better life. If you were in their shoes and staying in your home country put your family in great harm you would have done the same thing. People need to stop judging, stop being selfish and start leading with empathy.