Know which news sources are truly Canadian owned, and which are American owned. Once you’ve narrowed that down, figure out which sources are owned by rich Canadians who might be profiting from uncertainty or hostility.

I’m sure this will work exactly as planned, and have no negative consequences whatsoever.

Sometimes it’s nice to dream.

This is just the right kind of absurd for our current government circus. I believe the headline completely without even reading the article.

I keep in mind that, unlike in many countries, our military pledges an oath to the Constitution, not to a person.

Neither do I, but sometimes people are just fantastically stupid.

Judging by the home page, it appears to be a legitimate news source.

At best, meat grinders are amazingly thoughtless. At worst, they’re a cruel, unfunny prank.

Look at how Justice Amy Coney Barrett looks at our duly elected President, the man who put her on the Supreme Court. She looks very bitter.

Um, justices don’t owe the president who selected them any favors. Was she supposed to be fawning over him? If she’s beginning to think for herself, and won’t let the big orange baby have everything he wants, good.

Besides, anyone who says she’s “not conservative enough” hasn’t been paying attention.

I’m glad he’s not dismissing America as a whole, but putting the blame where it belongs: Trump.

We are. Even though a lot of us didn’t vote for him, the shame remains.

This is a very thoughtful reply. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

I don’t think he has that authority, but he’d do it anyway. Except he wouldn’t, because fuck you.

I wonder if she’s making those “jokes” because she’s overcompensating, because she’s hanging out with shitty people, or both?

Whatever the reason, I think talking to her is the way to go.

We know that new(er) cars have spyware controlled by some government or corporation. If my privacy is going to be violated, I’d rather have a hostile gov/co do it. I’m not a government employee. When it comes to national security, I’m a complete nobody. I don’t give a shit what Beijing knows about my life, because they don’t care, and probably won’t share info with the West. Maybe they’ll share it with Russia, but again, that’s irrelevant to me.

I want Washington (and, to a much lesser extent, Ottawa) to know as little as possible, because I don’t trust them, and it’s much, much easier for them to make my life difficult if they want to.

I’d like to hear your opinions on this take.

I haven’t printed anything in years, but damn, this sucks.

My guitar teacher had me learn on a steel-string acoustic for this very reason. It sucked at first, but the calluses built up fast. Much, much better than superglue!

A government that will invade on the flimsiest of pretexts, kidnap your citizens, and lie constantly is anything but a “friend”.

Frankly, European politicians should have seen something like this coming. It’s never been a secret that the U.S. doesn’t share the same values as the EU. Storing sensitive data in America? Buying weapons from America? Who the fuck thought outsourcing national security was a good idea?

It will take generations for the U.S. to earn credibility again, and I don’t expect that we’ll ever earn the same level of trust. We don’t deserve it.

Tourists are usually only rich people who can afford traveling around the world.

That’s an excellent point. A lot of people are getting their impression of Americans from those of us who are likely conservatives, and therefore the least likely to show any humility or empathy.

I think a lot of it comes from being the military and economic superpower of the world. We Americans must be an exceptional people, since we are so powerful in so many ways! (Please, feel free to add as much sarcasm as you feel is necessary to the previous statement, but remember that a lot of people say that with almost religious seriousness.)

Not enough people take geography into account, either. It has had a major effect on American society and our attitude towards other countries. We Americans have rarely needed to share. Our country is almost as big as, and quite isolated from, all of Europe. Our neighbor to the north largely speaks English, and is culturally quite similar to us. Our neighbor to the south has a culture worthy of admiration, but they are not seriously respected by most Americans.

That’s it. Two neighbors sharing borders with mainland USA. On the east and west, we have huge coastlines on two of the world’s largest oceans.

The most serious military threats to America were caused by countries an ocean away, and they were ultimately unsuccessful. Don’t forget our civil war… but even through all that, the government survived (and I’m glad it did, because we were basically fighting against people who wanted to uphold the right to keep slaves. Sure, you can argue that I’m oversimplifying things, but I’m not wrong). Add to that the concept of Manifest Destiny. People sincerely believed that it was GODS WILL that we conquer the land all the way to the Pacific, natives be damned.

Americans have believed in American Exceptionalism for about as long as America has existed. I can’t blame people for having a view that was drilled into their subconscious, but I can (and do) blame us when we’re insensitive dicks about it.