"O'Hara bows out, Melania is shamed, Pattison pivots, Poilievre flexes and Hootsuite faceplants - It's just another week in Lotus Land, sipping sarcasm with my coffee."

Jim Pattison, ICE and the border politics of Donald Trump is not the set-up to a bad joke. We're living in a world where a BC billionaire's Hanover County, Virginnia warehouse might become an American immigration holding and processing centre where migrants are detained, processed and sorted like Amazon returns, if US Department of Homeland Security is successful in purchasing it.

Vaclav Havel, the Czech playwrite-turned president, in his 1978 essay, "The Power of the Powerless" described how regular people went along with the friction of the then governing Communist party, because not pretending was a career-limiting move. The average shop keeper didn't believe a word of the government slogans plastered on his window - he just wanted to sell cabbage, without a visit from the Thought Police.

{Runtime: 4min./25sec.] Observations from a Canadian Boomer:

It's 1983 and Daryl Davis, a Black American blues musician from Maryland, finishes a gig at a country bar. A white guy comes up, says he's never seen a Black man play piano like Jerry Lee Lewis. Davis explains Jerry learned from Black blues players - turns out that fan is in the KKK. Hijinks ensue.

"Learning anything new - be it paddle-boarding, smart-phone photography, or figuring out how to stream hockey games without accidentally subscribing to three different networks - follows the same rough path called the learning curve, usually unfolding in four very human stages."

Epstein Files now allegedly link Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard as one of three Canadians mentioned. Nygard's alleged interest in younger ladies, with job promises and party invites has been known about in some circles, for years.

"A few Great Canadian celebrities all share a birthday today, January 8th 2026. Two great rock-n-rollers, an iconic hockey broadcaster and a film maker. Commonalities, include, weather, knees and the joys of aging as only a Canadian can."

"Join me as I unpack energy, politics and life's shifts - like Alberta's bitumin to asphalt pivot amid US oil grabs with relateble jargon-free takes."

"From the misty Left Coast, I'm your friendly observer and occassional coffee-spiller, sharing some light-hearted takes on Canada's top fixes for 2026: affordable homes, healthcare without the novel length waits and politics kinder than a ferry line-up. Chuckle, share and like - because grumpy Boomers need friends too."